I apologizes to my readers for my recent scanty blogging. I'm still recovering from a heart surgery and somethimes my energy level goes on a vacation. I find that extremly annoying, as my energy neve flagged as a player, teacher, or writer. Not rational? Okay, but at 87, I get to be grumpy.
So, I start by being grumpy about the constant and insipid conseerns over frigging plus/minuses for players. For anyone who doesn't know what basketball plus/minus is, here's it in a nutshell:
My Warriors: Jimmy Butler said, "We're not guarding nobody." Excusing Jimmy's double negative, he's right. The Warriors , win or lose, are always the best version of themselves when they let their Defense dictate their Offense.
On Joe Mazzola on "having fun." I'm not sure where or from whom the concept of "fun" came into the NBA league's vernacular. Coach Steve Kerr introduced "Joy" I always translated his meaning to be that in order to play the pro game with its impossible long and stressful schedule, you had to go out on the court with joy for the game an for the fact that you could this, be this kind of superb athlete, be "happy in you work" as actor Sessue Hayakawa said in the role of camp commander in the movie Bridge on the River Kwai. But, "NOT Fun" The Brit General played by Sir Alec Guinees would never have been able to sell that to his troops. I agree with Coach Mazzola. Like Coach Joe, I was never very good with fun if it applied to playing on the big court of the NBA or any court from high school through college or even on the playground courts in pick up games. I reserved having fun to hanging with friends and playing pinball at the local arcade. As an adult, I reserved the notion of "Fun" with playing with my children. My point is that FUN should be stricken from the vocabulary of the serious sportsman and the word replaced with PLEASURE. Pleasure is what all players and coaches must feel as they step onto the court, a deep abiding pleasure a their good fortune that they are there, in the life of athletics. It is a sensory experience. It is not whoope or delight. It comes with an understanding that you and your body are honoring each other.
Ah, well, enought with the philosophy.
A team to watch this season as of today: Detroit Pistons. After years of being terrible, they are emerging as a top contender in the East behind Cade Cunningham and Coach J B Bickerstaf. J.B.'s father Bernie and I were inducted into the first WCC Hall of Fame - he from the U of San Diego and moi from St. Marys' College. J.B. and Bernie are the first father/son coaching team. Great guys, great coaches. After Lenny Wilkens, J.B. may be the best coach to call on if your team is losing and you neede an overhaul to get back on to a winning track.
Speaking of Lenny Wilkins, My friend and teamate passed away recently. He was a super pt guard and outstanding coach. It is noteworthy to poing out to basketball folks that Lenny never went to his right. Hardly ever, and all his opponents knew it, but still could not sotp him. He and Zelmo Beatty when they were with the Saint Louis Hawks were, in my opinion, the first dynamimic pick and roll offense in NBA history. Now Pick and Roll offisen is almost a cliche.
Things don't look good for my Sacrramento, Kings. Lots of consecutive losses until the night before last when they surprisingly beat the Timbervolves. Luck, timing and the Stars. While my wife's grandson and my basketball buddy belives the Kings need to blow things up, I'm not so sure. Sabonus is clearly unhappy, and suffering some injuries. His absence affects the Kings negatively. But I saw some promise finally from Keagn Murry recently that leads me to believe he is finally coming into his own and maybe that big stretch 4 the Kings have desperately needed. My biggest concern with the Kings is with Coach Doug Christie, who truly did not earn the job, but was popular with the Kings' owner V. Ranadive. Is see no substance there, no understanding of match-ups. His offense is pretty ho-hum and predictable. It's my opinion that the Kings should fire Christie now, bring in a coach with lots of experience to shore things up and perhaps encourage Sabonis to buy into his team again. Nique Clifford is a find, DeRosen is as always the master of the midlevel jumper. Lavine needs to perk up. Schroder at pt guard is adequate. Monk is a solid rotation player and and Westbrook is a terrific energy guy. I'm not saying they could compete for the West, but they sure as hell could be better than their recorord indicates. Firs Chistie, do it NOW.
Recently I bought the new Tops trading cards for my grandson, Leo and he is now in possession of a Cooper Flagg signature card and a Dylan Harper rookie card. If I'd only known how popular trading cards would be and how much $ some of the elite cards would bring, I wouldn't have lost my signed Wilt Chamberlain rookie card. Ugh. I'd be a millionaire.
On the Life side of my blog: I've been reading about AI and how it can be used negatively. Avatar friends for teens? fake friends? How can that be good for teens whose ages make them vulnerable to peer pressure? If you want a fictional possibilities, read The Proving Ground by Miachael Connely in his Mickey Haller Lincoln Lawyer series.
Latest article from The Athletic is about stars being injured. I'v ebeen calling for a shorter season and more innovative fitness training. I also believe we are starting our youngster should not be involved in such serious hoops as is the case these days with all the AAU pressure.
To lighten the subject, here's a poem I wrote a while back about the philosophy my high School basketbll coach had about injuries.
Spit On It
he came up lame and wished for a miracle
that never happened. All season
he limped, but sucked it up the way
the older boys said he must to be a man
and not a pussy, a dictum he carried
with him into other sports and into life.
Today, he hears on television that so and so
won’t play because of a bruised knee
or a sore shoulder or ankle, and he hears
his high school coach yelling, “Spit on it!”
which never worked. Or did it? He recalls
the passage from the Bible where Jesus cures
blindness by mixing mud with his saliva
and rubbing it into the blind man’s eyes.
Scientists have proven saliva contains
a healing agent called histatin. As for mud,
who knows? So, he does not complain
that his knees throb or his fingers
are arthritic, or raising his right arm
causes him to grit his teeth. He sucks it up,
spits and rubs. He says it see
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