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
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?
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