The Lake Show

Anthony Davis got booed last night in New Orleans, and then got cheered, on account of A) he's still in New Orleans even though he doesn't want to be, and B) he dropped 32 on the Timberwolves and New Orleans won.

I don't know what the moral to that story is, except that fans are fickle and really don't care about the past or the future, only the present. Deliver the W, and they'll still love ya, wandering eye and all.

This is the essential truth of a Sportsball World in which the balance of power has shifted and the players now have some clout after decades of never having any. What's interesting about that is the same greed that once kept them powerless now works in their favor, in the sense that the owners' primal instinct -- more is always better -- enables the players to dictate terms. The owners want what they want; they can't help themselves. And they'll pay to get what they want.

That's the upside to free agency for the players.

The downside?

Well, the downside is what's happening in L.A., where the Lakers are huffing and puffing along a game above .500 and don't look anything like a playoff team at the moment. Part of that is they just aren't as good as people automatically assumed they would be as soon as LeBron James arrived. And part of it is a chemistry issue that was on stark display the other night in Indianapolis, where the Pacers pan-seared the Lake Show 136-94 and LeBron spent timeouts sitting off by himself, away from coach Luke Walton's huddle.

Which gets us back to Anthony Davis.

The Lakers (and LeBron) openly explored luring A.D. during the signing period, to the point where it appeared they would be willing to part with half their roster to get him. In the end, though, the deal didn't get done. And so now the Lakers have a roster of young guys who know their organization considers them all expendable parts whose value is solely as trading pieces to get LeBron what he wants.

Or so one would assume.

The Grassy Knoll Society immediately looked at this and wondered if the Pelicans deliberately dangled A.D. just to mess with the Lakers and other teams who expressed interest. Not sure why they'd do that, but there's never been a surplus of common sense among the conspiracy theory crowd.

In any event, it will be interesting to see how things play out going forward, and just how entertaining the Show becomes out in Lake Land.  If nothing else, LeBron 'n' them can expect to hear variations of what they heard in Indy the other night -- where Pacers' fans serenaded trade piece Brandon Ingram with the chant "LeBron's gonna trade you!"

Fun times.