A Few Comments Going into All Star Break 2021

 Six teams in the west: LA Lakers, LA Clips, Phoenix, Utah, Denver locked in for the playoffs, (based on volume of skilled personnel) after that it's a flip of the coin. Same holds true in the East. Only Philly, Brooklyn, Miami, and Milwaukee seem like a sure thing for reaching the finals of the playoffs before the coin goes up. It's been a weird season to say the least. So many teams are one injury or COVID restrictions from looking very ordinary, which demonstrates the value of certain players, and not necessarily scorers. Example, the Celtics loss of Marcus Smart on D. Or what happens to Phoenix and Utah if Chris Paul and Michael Connelly are lost before the playoffs?  The Blazers are hugely vulnerable if, say Derrick Jones is lost to them. Doubt me, check out his importance on defense, and shot blocking. Carmelo is still not a good defender. Will McCallum be back? There are too many X factors within the shadow of an already bizarre season to make a decent prediction beyond those few teams I've mentioned, and then maybe not even those top dogs..How about AD comes back, all's good, right? But then Caruso and Kuzma go down? Okay, just Caruso goes down. Does anybody doubt the Lakers loses significant point guard smarts, hustle, and chutzpah. 

Oh, well. 

Let's look at a couple of dark-horse teams I'm especially high on going into break. .

Recently I've come to love the look of the Washington Wizards as Bradley Beale and Russell Westbrook look like they play well together. All the Wiz positions seem to be jelling. Big Hair Lopez is clogging up the middle and can score that little hook of his. Hachimua (Japan's going nuts) is a quintessential power forward with mid-range shooting skills. Neto has been a surprise. Bertains can light it up from the 3. 

I'm also impressed with Charlotte. LeMelo is the real deal I was not willing at the start of the season to concede. Who'd have picked them to be second in their division at All Star break? LeMelo is going to be Rookie of the Year if he keeps doing what he's doing, which is as a down-hill-pressure-applier. 

And high fives to the Knicks. They'd be filling the Garden were it not for COVID. Tibs''great coaching, players playing aggressively on both ends. Immanuel Quigley a huge surprise. Perhaps a star is born. 

And finally a sad word about my home team, the Sacramento Kings, not to be confused with my real home team, the Warriors of San Francisco, ie Golden State. When you consider good teams are vulnerable with the loss of a key player, what does that mean for weak teams? If one key player goes down for the Kings, like Halibruton was down for the Charlotte Hornets game, its catastrophe. But there is more to say about the Kings unique form of catastrophe. 

Watching the Kings over a season, I've often thought that they'd been cursed. How can so many things go wrong for a franchise since Coach Rick Adelman was fired? Perhaps that's where they made their first mistake. Putting aside universally crazy mistakes such as hiring Vlade Divac as GM without an ounce of experience, let's consider what's going on with the present Kings. 

They have ABSOLUTELY no clue how to play DEFENSE  both individually and as a team. I have never seen such slow close-outs, no wonder opponents burn them from the 3 point line. One player playing team D right and 4 playing it wrong, or four playing it right and 1 playing it wrong does not cut it. I have written of this before. Since no one on the Kings is reading my blog, it's time for me to place the blame where it MUST belong - on the coach. You can't talk defense, Coach Walton, but not insist on it. You can not talk D, and not teach it. You got to own it. 

Therefore, it is time for GM McNair to find a new coach. New and new coaching staff, Not an interim coach and interim staff. A clean sweep McNair needs to do it now or as soon as possible, so the new coach and staff he choses has what's left of the season to TEACH AND INSIST. 

I'm not suggesting trades. Unless there is a perfect stud that will make a profound difference, the present roster has enough skills going for it, baring injuries, to start a culture. Trades can come in the summer. There certainly needs significant reserves improvement. But even so, fans calling for wholesale trades should consider how many games the Kings scored well enough to win, but lost because they couldn't guard their grandmothers.

Watching the Aussie Open last week, came across this small, wonderful little poem about tennis;

OLD TENNIS PLAYER  by Gwendolyn Brooks

Refuses

To refuse the racket, to mutter No to the net,
He leans to life, conspires to give and get
Others serving yet.