TRADE DEADLINE APPROACHING

 It's the end of January and we've paid our bills. Now the only other thing to worry about is the NBA trade deadline. In my case I'm most concerned with the Golden State Warriors, my #1 team and the Sacramento Kings, my #2 team because Sacto is the city in which I make my home these days and the basketball home for my wife's grandchildren. Let's begin with the Warriors.

There is lot's of speculation that the ownership of the Warriors is seeking to obtain Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Buck. Holy Greek Holiday, wouldn't that be gigantic. Imagine Giannis and Steph together. Wouldn't that guarantee another championship parade down Market Street? Notice, I placed a question mark at the end of that sentence. It's a question worth asking. Sports cognoscenti figure the Warriors would have to give two to three first round draft choices, and players: Probably Butler, if the bucks aren't scared away by a 37-year-old with two major ACL injuries. 

On to the Kings. Strong rumors the Kings want to trade Domatas Sabonis. Also in their trade sights is DeMar DeRozen and Zach Levine. Unlike the Warriors complicated situations, the Kings decision should be easy. Fire the incompetent Doug Christie. Then, trade all three players for as many first round draft choices as they can get and a few young upside players. They desperately need a top-notch point guard. This year's draft is one of the best in recent history. In the top four is the young point guard from U of Kansas, Darryn Peterson. Right now, I'd rather be the Sacramento Kings GM that Mike Dunlevy, the Dub's GM because things are pretty straight forward for the Kings. They're heading for the bottom of the NBA and will, with some trade capital, wind up with a lot of good young players to build around their young core of Raynaud, Murry, Ellis, Clifford, and Cardwell. If they do that, the Kings have a solid future that their fans can get behind. 

So, back to the Warriors. If the Warriors acquire Giannis for the players I mentioned and the draft choice they'd have to give up, would the Warriors have a future? If you consider the future as NOW, which at my ancient condition, I have to do, then maybe they do. Enough to win a championship? Possibly, but unlikely, not with OKC, Denver, and Detroit around. What happens after Steph retires? 

While we're on the topic of the Giannis trade, the talking heads have yet to mention the Lakers as a landing  spot for the Greek super star. How about a Laker package of Reeves, Hashimura,  Knecht, Vanderbilt, and first round picks for this coming draft and 2028. Imagine Steph with Giannis, now imagine Giannis with Luka, the  two European players joining forces. 

As for LIFE: 

Have we had enough to the Trump Magas? Is ICE turning into the Gestapo? Be careful America. 

As for LITERATURE:

                                                     TIP OF THE PEN

As I wrote from the start, these tips are not in any chronological order. They come to me as I'm writing my mysteries. Here's one that might be useful to a writer after he or she has finished his or her first draft. PUT IT ASIDE for a while, at least two weeks before going on to the second draft. The chances are you'll find some really funky MISTAKEES and possibly some AWFUL mistakes made in the first writing. Be particularly aware of chronological mistakes. I made one with day of the week in a recent new series I am writing that screwed up my entire plot and required a month to fix. 

MORE LITERATURE: 

For all you ballers out there, who inspired you? Did you have a gym or playground that you called home? Home where the heart is. This is my pome about the players and the playground that was my home learing how to hoop.

JULIOUS KAHN PLAYGROUND #2

 

No one said a word when my ups came.
In the eighth grad and already six feet
with a sweet jumper. Who’d planted
that seed is no longer living, this memory
being written when nature has reversed itself.
He could have been Les Brillant,
a guard I admired from Linclon High
or Goose Grider, a center, from Lowell.
Names such as these, don’t need bodies.
Each afternoon, I played until the sun
began to set. Walking the twelve block home,
drimbbling, I threw the ball ahead
of me with such a backward spin
that it always striking the cement,
returned to me, on a bounce as it
always has ever since, like a pet I’d trained.

 Championship? 

BBACK ON MY SOAP BOX & ETC

 Basketball has been good to me from the first day I felt that pebbly surface of the ball when I was eleven years old to now, at 86 years young sitting in front of our TV watching the NBA and cheering for my Dubs. However, these days between cheers, I find myself nodding off. It is not old age that brings on the yawns, it's the game, its endless drive and kick offenses. My eyes begin to glaze over. 

I wonder if anybody out there in Blog-reader-land is experiencing the same kind on boredom I am. Please respond and tell me how you're feeling. 

As I see it, most of the offensive action centers around a player in a one-on-one situation or dribbling off a screen and diving to the paint looking for a layup or a kick pass to the corner to a player waiting in the corner with his hands out as if praying for the ball like a beggar holding out his hands for alms. It's that pitiful in my mind. Begging, because he knows the 3 pt corner shot is a cheat. It is the easiest 3 at 22 feet from the basket than the 23.9 feet that is the normal three point distance. That's one foot and nine inches closer to the hoop. Yep, a cheat and the NBA game has been diminished by it. That cheat shot makes help defense more difficult, often impossible. It has taken away the natural movement of the game and boiled it down to a few repetitious driving dives, corner shots and end to end fast breaks. 

If you see this as a problem, as I do, then the fix is simple: Widen the court so the corner three is 23.9 feet from the basket. Surely, the rich NBA can manage a little additional construction costs. To save the game? It might mean eliminating a rich folk front row seating. Just as well. No more wiping beer spilled on the floor when a player lands out of bounds on someone fan's lap. 

WRITE THE NBA: NO MORE CORNER CHEATS. FLOOD THE INTERNET. CALL YOUR LOCAL SPORTS SHOW; SAVE THE GAME. 

WAtched the 49ers beat a rugged Chigago Bears team and get closer to first seed in the Western Conference. For the sake of poetry and our 49erss, it's time to repost my ode to Christian McCaffery.

McCaffrey (With apologies to T.S. Elliot

)McCaffrey’s the running back
Who’s a mystery to none at all
He breaks through any D line
He keeps his fans in awe
 
He’s the bafflement of tacklers
Defensive coaches’ despair
For when they look to find him
McCaffrey’s not there.
 
 
McCaffrey, McCaffrey,
There’s no one like McCaffrey,
He breaks the rules of velocity
His powers of misdirection
Would make magicians stare
For when the tacklers look for him
McCaffrey’s not there.
 
Defenders seek him running
Or receiving, which is hardly rare
But they are left with weeping
‘Cause McCaffrey’s never there

                                                                    TIP OF THE PEN

Thnking back to yesterday's TIP. I explained how important it was to get all the characteristics of your characters, all of them, fixed in your mind and stored somewhere where you can refer to them from time to time. Believe me, it is easy to forget  dates and types of clothing, favorite cigar brands, shades of lipstick, It is also a good idea to re-read your dialogue as you go along down the writing road. After every chapter, I do not write further until I have read the dialogue aloud. Your ear will tell you mistakes in tone and language that your eyes won't. Consistency is essential. However, do not go overboard with dialect or time period slang, accents, etc. Intro these only at specific times to remind your reader the character talking is a teen or a cop from the Big Apple. Write in contemporary English for a sort of centrist audience. 

unless my math is wrong

NNBA NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION

 We, The NBA League will endveavor to do our best to think of ways to reward our loyal fans 

this year and years to come. We are fans or our fans, and want you all to know how much your attendance at games and television viewing is at the foundation of our financial success. Signiture of Adam Silver and all owners  of teams required.

If only?

Without the cynicism, what if the hierarchy of the NBA made such a resolution? 

To encourage them, I've thought of a few ways the league could do this:

1. Lower ticket prices across the board by a few bucks, say 5%.

2. If not across the board, how about someting like discount deals: buy a season ticket this year and get 10% off on the same tickets for the following year. 

3. I like what someone called a roulette wheel deal. Spin the wheel at center court at half time with numbers that coincide with seats. If the ball lands on that seat, the winner gets four 20% off tickets next season. How about hotdog deals contests played the same way? Hotdogs at Chase cost $10 bucks. Good golly miss molly!!!!

4. Star player sits out, kids sad because their favorite player they cam to see they won't. Dad totally pissed off because he spent close to a grand on tickets for family and his kids are unhappy. What does a team do for poor dad and his checkbook? How about refund of some kind? Something? Come on, the team can't be that heartless. Think of SAD KIDDIES. I said a sad child, you dig? How about a signed something from the star who didn't play????

5. Reduce the cost of parking, or have contests/draws at center court for a three game free parking pass? It's not always about big reductions, but the belief that the team cares and is looking for ways to thank its fans. You dig? Who's listening in the front office??? Better be careful front office. In a marriage one partner begins to take the other for granted and the slippery slope to divorce is not far away. 

Okay, enough. You get the picture. I'd like all my readers to begin sending their suggestions for fan appreciation to their favorite NBA team. Go to it! 

Did you know that the Anglo Saxons of the 7th century used to enjoy making up riddle poems. Here's one from my collection of sports riddle poems: WHO DAT?

A Griffin Griffen                
 
There’s a griffin who can dunk
Unlike any other griffen.
He’s the envy of the block.
All the girls are Griffin smitten.
 
He’s the envy of the blobs
Who can’t jump above the basket.
While they’re ordinary yobs,

He’s the slam-a-jamma master.                  

NAME THE NBA PLAYER?

                                                TIP OF THE PEN:

BEFORE YOU START YOUR NOVEL:  be sure you have ALL the DETAILS you want your characters to have fixed solidly in your mind. Personality changes of your main characters will occur, especially as they are going to be part of the resolution of the mystery. There is always some kind of interior revelation your cop/PI/amateur sleuth comes to understand about him or herself or about the world around him or her at the end of mysteries. Don't forget flat character, those persons who make up the protagonist's environment, but remain static throughout the series. Be sure you have their habits and characteristics down. They will rarely change from novel to novel. Keep a written or printed record of all characters and their characteristics for reference as you write. 

A TALE OF TWO TEAMS

With a nod to Charles Dickens, I will begin my NBA version of a Tale of Two Cities. They are San Francisco and Sacramento in the State of California. Although they do not resemble each other 

much, in a basketball way, they do. They are both faced with a similar problem that include similar types of players and conditions. Should they "blow up their teams NOW and build for the future, or should they continue to try to PIECE TOGETHER their season with the rosters they have? Let me add that to remain status quo is NOT an option. As they stand, in the playoffs, neither team can beat OKC, Nuggets, Lakers, or the TWolves of the Mavs with a healthy AD in a seven game series, and while the chances of the Warriors making the first round of the playoffs are decent, the Kings will be lucky to make the play-in round. 

So, lets examine CONTINUING AND PIECING  together a better roster for a run following the All Star break:

Warriors: In this instance, the Warriors would have to keep most of their roster in place and hope they can find a more skillful, more consistent, and smarter basketball player than Jonathon Kuminga, hopefully a longer, taller and better 3-point-shooter than JK. to give him his due, JK has made an EFFORT, but it's just not happening in Coach Kerr's motion offense. The Warriors must ask themselves does a Curry, Green, Butler, make the team competitive enough to get to the final round of the Western Conference? 

Kings: Like the Warriors, they have a core of older, seasoned and effective veterans. They can gamble that when Domantas Sabonis returns from injury, things will change for the better. A risky gamble in my opinion, as the rumors are that Sabonis is not a happy King. The Kings must ask themselves does a Sabonis, DeRozen, Lavine, and Monk get you into the playoffs? 

Let's examine BLOWING UP THE ROSTERS and planning for the future:

Warriors: Trade your core three. Okay, no throwing stones. Stay with me. What can the Warriors get in return for Steph Curry, Green and Butler?  Holy Trade Gods! I'll let you speculate. First round unrestricted free agents, good young players with plenty of upside, some solid second round draft choice??? Keeping their good young players like Moody, Podzenski, Trace Davis and Post, knowing, of course, that they're going to get a huge return for their All Star Core. Can you imagine what a playoff contender, say, a Milwaukee Bucks, would give up for Steph Curry? What would the Nuggets give up for a Curry/Jokic duo for two more years, or more? I'm just asking. 

Kings: Tradeable players. Their core four of Sabonis, DeRozen, Lavine, Monk, and other reserves,  keeping only K Murry, Raymound, their surprise young rookie center and equally surprising rookie wing, Nicque Clifford, Sabonis is still young and extremely talented. Lavine is middle age by NBA standards but one heck of a three point shooter, DeRozen could only help a contending team. 

WHICH OF THE TWO ROUTES SHOULD THESE TWO TEAMS TAKE. WHAT WILL BE THE TALES OF THEIR TWO CITIES?

I will not make any predictions, I'm just laying out the only two possibilities as I see them that the Warriors and Kings can make. 

With one caveat: To trade Steph Curry would, it seems to me, be a kind of betrayal. He brought so much Glory to the Bay Area, the ownership might believe they owe it to him to let him play out his career by the Golden Gate. If that's the way they feel, then I'm heartely on board. However, that may not be the wisest move if the Warriors are looking to develop a team for the future without having to go through the AGONY of numerous losing seasons while building up first round picks. Think of how many years for OKC to build a strong team. Think about what the Jazz are trying to do. 

That's all for sports, now let's move on to literature.

Part of my Blog: Sports. Literature and Life will be adding another component. In future Blogs, I will conclude as always with a sports' poem, but I am introducing The Tip of the Pen: Suggestions about writing mystery novels. I don't consider myself an expert by any means, but I have written and published three mysteries in my Brovelli Brothers Series. More about these novels can be found on my website: warrior 14.com That said, I've learned a few things, I'd like to share. They'll not be in any chonological order. 

TIP OF THE PEN#1: The best suggestion I've ever read about writing a novel came from Novelist, E. L. Doctorow. He stated writing a novel was like driving at night "you can see only as far as your headlights, but you can go the whole way like that." When it comes to writing a mystery novel, I like to think of of the process as looking to buy a home -  two-story or single floor doesn't matter. You enter and begin going room by room, visualizing how you see it decorated. In a mystery, the first couple of rooms must provide the reader with the crime or a sense of a crime. By the time you get to the kitchen,  the investigation should be well on its way. The rooms in the rest of the house represtent the progress and resolution. I think of basements as twists in the plot. I like the idea that after you have decorated the house entirely, that you leave by the back door. For me,  that means that you've ended your book in an unexpected way. No front door: Ta Dah! Reader leave satisfied, but not entirely. 

Okay, enough for now. More Tips of the Pen coming. 

A QUATRAIN LESSON IN SHOOTING A BASKETBALL

The jump shot begins in your feet

Rising through your legs, feel it moving

Through your arms to your fingertips

Like a river rushing to the sea. 

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.