Enable & Pacman: Dropping Temp was the right move for LA Thieves
During Dexerto’s Reverse Sweep, Pacman, Enable and Katie Bedford spoke about the breaking news that LA Thieves would be replacing Donovan ‘Temp’ Laroda with amateur star Carlos ‘Venom’ Hernandez.
In terms of raw star power, LA Thieves should be up there with the best of them. The team is full of proven winners, especially with Austin ‘SlasheR’ Liddicoat at the helm, but the results aren’t there.
With a very close win over a faltering Toronto Ultra, followed by a reverse sweep at the hands of New York Subliners during the Toronto Home series, something had to give.
The Thieves had obviously been looking for backup for some time, and pulled the trigger by bringing Venom in on March 22.
LA ThievesAs Enable and Pacman explain during Reverse Sweep, a roster move was inevitable and, despite the fact he wasn’t performing poorly, Temp was always going to be the player on the chopping block.
A lot of LA Thieves’ potential relies on SlasheR and how his teammates gel with him. This, Enable says (from experience), could be the reason behind Temp being dropped.
“You either hate Austin or you love him,” Enable says. “You have to have a certain attitude and personality to team with him. It’s as simple as that. If you don’t, you will not do well individually, and the team won’t do well… I just think Temp is one of those players that doesn’t do well with Austin.”
The 100 Thieves man goes on to say that Temp is an “unbelievable talent” but that he was “probably in his own head” while teaming with SlasheR.
While it now appears that Temp will be playing with top Challengers side WestR for the time being, the group also discuss Temp’s future in the CDL.
When prompted by Katie on where they imagine Temp could end up, Pacman had one team in mind.
“The easiest fit is Paris Legion,” he said. “That’s a simple fit on a team that’s actually looking really strong, and you pick up someone who’s flat out just a better player. Then there’s Florida [Mutineers]… and LA Guerrillas, I guess. But I’m not sure Donny would want to go there.”
Needless to say, all eyes will be on LA Thieves throughout Stage 2 to see if Venom really is the player to get them back on the right track. And, of course, whether Temp was really the problem.