THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Scrappin' Tyler, coaching icons and why M's GM makes those moves

It’s about time.

We haven’t had a good old chat on various topics in quite a while now.

My fault.

But we’ll try to make up for it today.

Let’s start with congratulations to former Gonzaga guard Courtney Vandersloot, who set the WNBA single-game record with 18 assists Monday night, as her Chicago Sky lit up Indiana 100-87.

Vadersloot also holds the league’s career record if you measure assists per game.

Maybe it’s the water in Spokane.

Doesn’t another Gonzaga grad hold the NBA record for assists?

We should look that up.

Meanwhile…

ITEM: If you’ve been following action in the NHL’s two playoff bubbles, you’re probably guessing that Tampa Bay is going to maul everyone on its way to the Stanley Cup.

I think so, too.

The Lightning, who just dispatched Boston in five games to reach the Eastern Conference finals, are making up for that unthinkable first-round sweep at the hands of Columbus a year ago.

Speaking of the Lightning, our very own Tyler Johnson (born in Spokane, has regularly skated off-season at Frontier Ice Arena in Coeur d’Alene), wound up in one of the most unusual scuffles you’ll ever see in Game 3 of the Boston series.

Johnson, who is 5-9 and generously listed at 185 pounds, got into a fight with Bruins defenseman Torey Krug, who is almost exactly the same size.

That would be interesting enough, but what made the battle even more noteworthy was that while Johnson and Krug were exchanging blows at one end of the ice, Tampa’s Brayden Point was scoring a brilliant breakaway goal at the other end.

There was a classic moment after Point scored, when he wheeled around to celebrate – and discovered that a boxing match had broken out way, way down the ice.

ITEM: We lost two of college basketball’s most iconic coaches in the last few days, with the passing of Arizona’s Lute Olson and Georgetown giant John Thompson.

The pair were totally different, and their styles fit the geography of their universities.

A couple of quick items: When Olson’s Wildcats won the 1997 national championship, beating Kentucky in overtime behind the brilliance of Miles Simon and Mike Bibby…

I had to hold the hand of a UA alum during the tense final minutes.

Whatever happened to that guy?

Isn’t he a newspaper editor somewhere in the Northwest?

As for Thompson, here’s a classic tale from Big John’s career — courtesy of Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports.

The story involves a notorious, even vicious, drug dealer who bossed the streets in Washington, D.C.

When Thompson heard that a couple of his players were hangin’ with this character — and playing on his pick-up team — the coach summoned the drug dealer to his office.

Yes, summoned.

And that was the end of any Hoyas associating with the guy.

How many coaches could do THAT?

ITEM: Got a very sensible email from reader Felix Miera, who is not happy with Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto.

Felix asks, quite logically, why you’d trade Taijuan Walker when you need a reliable starting rotation — and then unload Austin Nola when you finally have a solid catcher who can really hit?

Dipoto actually answered both of those questions in a Zoom interview.

Walker will be a free agent in a month, and the M’s certainly aren’t going to need him for a postseason this year.

Rumors are floating that Seattle will try to re-sign Walker after he’s done with his Toronto obligations this fall — which, if it happens, would signal Taijuan’s THIRD stint with the M’s.

As for Nola, that trade was tough to the point that Marco Gonzales got choked up while talking about the departure of his friend.

But Nola is 30 now, and likely wouldn’t be a key piece when the Mariners hopefully become legitimate contenders around 2022.

Tom Murphy (,273 with 18 homers while platooning in 2019) will be back to handle the catching next year, and young switch-hitter Cal Raleigh is waiting in the wings to take that position for a long, long time.

So there you have Jerry’s take, Felix.

He’s aiming at long-term, consistent excellence — which at this point means getting younger everywhere.

Yes, Jerry is asking for patience.

Yes, more patience.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. “Moments, Memories and Madness,” his reminiscences from several decades as a sports journalist, runs each Sunday.

Steve also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball, once per month during the offseason.