Per Warriors PR Guy Dan Martinez's cogent suggestion, I'm running this entry on Peter Guber's Lakers passion and general LA Sports fixation, Joe Lacob's potential Anaheim or Las Vegas entry, and leaguewide team sales trend in a supposedly down economic time for CBA negotiations.
Lacob, the supposed basketball "brains" of this operation, tried to buy the LA Dodgers with Goober not too long ago. That failure (not Goober's first Rodeo Failure!) resulted in the uncomfortable photo you see in the upper left hand corner of this page. Until Goober the Fox News correspondent and Tony Robbins mentor weirdo removes it like the Warriors removed the Chris Webber Debut (2008) press skin not too long ago.
Oh yeah, about Dan Martinez: he's the PR guy who magically ascended as soon as ONLY Ray Ridder's Flunkster Dude work was outed in the fan forums. And he's not getting fired under the "new" ownership because he's working the new media appendages so well, apparently. Buy your Jeremy Lin jersey today before the new Bay Bridge falls over again.
Anyway, some bits on general NBA sales trends and etc.:
Tim Kawakami suggested via Twitter that the Magic Johnson Pistons (Las Vegas?) interest means he's out on the Warriors. Johnson had been linked to Mark Mastrov, the shell bid cover up for Cohan's even BETTER friend, Joe Lacob, and his years-long inside track on buying and possibly relocating the Warriors to Vegas or Anaheim once league approval went through.
Las Vegas has SOME NBA team under contract already so the reactionary "no, not THAT Mandalay, moron!" talk about Vegas being an unlikely NBA market/destination is over and done with. As quickly as Dan Martinez, Howard Kushlan, and co. dreamed it up. Some have said the Warriors are the most likely candidate for that move under Guber and Lacob. This was mostly in relation to Guber's extensive Las Vegas minor league ties (NHL and MLB). His fervent and frequent failed bids on LA pro teams in every sport is a glaring red flag to Warriors fans operating under any semblance of the Bill Simmons localist/religious fan passion model. And it's an even more alarming warning sign to any fan of winning basketball. NellieBall slop is clearly the agenda in Lacob-Goober Land. Score score score, run run run, lose lose lose. As long as you were entertained! Vegas or Disneyland obviously fit his openly broadcast entertainment-dollar-first business philosophy. Joe Lacob, on the other hand, really doesn't seem to care WHAT he owns as long as he owns something. Right now. Impatience is not a virtue. He tried to buy his hometown Dodgers with Guber the Hollywood Douche Bag not so long ago. He just wants to vastly overpay and presumably to take a shot at the next Big Market (international). I freely and honestly acknowledge that this Vegas Warriors talk has no on-the-record support to this point so don't get up in arms about that. But Vegas is the top entertainment destination city in play for a Pacific Rim market team after..... Disneyland. Oh wait. Anaheim.
We'd ALL like to know which mystery team is under contract with Vegas, either way. I think it's the Pistons.
And I think a Chinese bid will win a team very soon if it has not already.
It's not surprising but at least a little weird that some new mystery investors are involved with George Postolos on the Pistons vs. Magic Johnsons's desire to get in on a team- any team- NOW in this CBA-crippling season of team sales. I think the Vegas team gets set by New Year's and it's looking like the NBA is handing out easy credit to ambiguous and unformed ownership "groups" left and right while bad owners, per the reports, wait their turn to bail out and sell.
More on Guber's Hollywood Scheisterism:
No idea why we haven't talked about this yet. Well, ONE idea. But this guy tried to buy FOUR different pro LA teams (Lakers, Ducks, Kings, Dodgers- with Lacob the LA guy on the last one) and has weird ideas about de-localizing "location-based entertainment" (that means sports, sports fans). He was also an LA-established "hit man" of sorts for the MASSIVELY OVERPAID Japanese Sony entry into the US film industry. Familiar refrain- whatever happened to that mysterious "Chinese" investment group on the Warriors?
We're dollar signs to this weasel. Period. Same as it ever was.
No interest in winning, only in earning.
There's a book written about his reign of terror/destruction at Sony Pictures. Check out the first two pages and his bit on stealing an Oscar statuette for photo ops of himself to take credit for work on films he was contractually banned from the set of: http://bit.ly/9m0xrE
http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/37245
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/15/sports/la-sp-warriors-peter-guber-20100716
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