I Love LA

I wasn't planning on doing a basketball post today, but these stories were too good to pass up.

1) According to ESPN, Lakers' draft pick Ronny Turiaf needs to have open heart surgery to repair an enlarged heart, possibly ending his pro career before it begins.

2) Perhaps while they are at it, they can get a 2 for 1 deal to see if Kwame Brown actually has a heart.

3) In a move that can only be classified as maddening, the Wizards are apparently talking to "NBA" power forward/Honky Train Dancer Mark Madsen. The Washington Post reports that after signing Antonio Daniels (why?), the Wiz are content with having the same exact problem as last year, the Dream Team in the defensive front court (and of course, by "Dream Team" I mean the retards from the Michael Keaton movie, not the 1992 US Olympic Team).

4) Again, according to the Washington Post, the new collective bargaining agreement in the NBA allows each team to cut one player before October and not pay the usual dollar for dollar luxury tax penalty. Thise is yet another avenue for the already overpaid players to be rewarded for sucking. Under the new (Allan Houston) Rule teams still have to pay the player his guaranteed salary plus he gets to be a free agent and keep whatever money another team pays him on top of that. Great, as if we needed another reason for these guys to stop caring after their contract year.