SHADES OF JACK MOLINAS & etc

 Should anyone be surprised that the NBA is embroiled in a gambling scandal? Pas moi, dudes and dudettes, Gamblers and basketball go back a long time. I was just graduating from St Mary's College in the Spring of 1961 when the Jack Molinas' orchestrated college scandal was uncovered. Many players I knew were involved, either as point-shavers or as players who knew about the gambling and kept their knowledge a secret. Players such as Connie "The Hawk" Hawkins, Tony Jackson, Doug Moe, and Roger Brown and others were banned for life from the NBA. All four mentioned above could have been NBA All Stars and even perhaps Hall of Fame inductees. I devote a page or two in my memoir The Mad Manchurian, to that scandal and how I was personally affected by it. 

What bothers me about this particular scandal are the two players, Chauncy Billups and Terry Rozier who appear to be significantly involved. Other than they might be gambling addicts, which the info I'm reading doesn't suggest, there doesn't seem any financial reward these two could achieve by their actions. Billups approximate net worth according to the info I found on the internet is 35 million. Terry Rozier's net worth is approximately ten million dollars based on his contract with the Miami Heat. Holy Dinero?  A California public school teacher with 30 years experience earns from ninety thousand to one hundred-thirty thousand per year. I could have used numbers from careers that more closely resemble professional sports, but I wanted to make a point of the disparity we're looking at in this scandal. Why in hell of logic would Billups and Rozier allow themselves to be involved in something that netted them a few measly thousands? I understand Dontae Jones, a fringe NBA player with a low ball NBA contract who was deeply in debt and probably addicted to gambling, helping gamblers. Rozier and Billups are not as far as the news goes, deeply in gambling debt. Are there there much greater $ bribes the public is not aware of? Not that I've read or heard. Billups and Rozier are connected to gambler friends. Maybe that's it, some kind of loyalty to old chums from the hood. I can't see that either. Scratching my head, and coming up with little else, I'm left with a Forrest Gump qoute, "Stupid is, what stupi does."

Etc:

Time for the Warriors to figure out a permanent solution to the prolonged Kuminga drama. They signed him to a fair and lucartive contract. It was thought to be the solution. It helpted but not enoght. Kuminga started the season playing well within Coach Kerr's system, but then regressed, became injured, and is no AWOL. I'll not second guess Warrior player management, but it's high time something happens because, at least for the moment, I'm looking at Kuminga still as an unhappy camper. In my opinion, it is not an advantage for the Warriors to wait too much longer to find the right trade, not if they want to accomplish anything other than a play-in sport in the NBA Western Conference Playoffs. If I were them, I'd be looking for a strong defender and first round unrestricted draft choices. A lot of teams might find a young athletic slasher with an advantageous contract like Kuminga's a good acquisition. 

CP 3 retiring at the end of this season. Chris Paul is a shoo-in HofF player. He has brought honor to the NBA. He was always edgy and tough, but never dirty, even though there were times when he guarded our Steph Curry in ways that made me want to go on the court and set a few hard picks on him. I can see Chris going into coaching. 

Two teams to watch as of today: The Toronto Raptors and the Detroit Pistons. There is lots of talk about OKC repeating as NBA Champs. I believe the Nuggest are the better team in the West. We'll see. 

i was unaware that Jalen Eillimas was Vietnamses on his mother's side. One more country heard from to make the NBA an international sport. One of these days, the NBA will surpass soccer. You read it here first. 

Instead of a poem, I'm offering a novel: The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly from a Mickey Haller Lincoln Lawyer series about Artificial Intelligence. I do so, alarmed by the possibilitie that AI, if it is not governed properly by some kind of government oversight can cause a lot of damage, particularly to our young people whose brains have not yet developed fully. 

PLUS/MINUS & OTHER OBSERVATIONS

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

 

The first time he landed wrong
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