AMAZINGLY LUCKY

 As a rookie first round pick by the Philadelphia Warriors in 1961, I was priviledged to begin my NBA career witnessing the greatest basketball player of all time, my fellow teammate, Wilt Chamberlain. No player at that time or players that followed could ever match the amazing athleticism and scoring ability of The Dipper. It is now my privilege at the end of my life - I will be 87 on the 26th of this month - to witness the modern incarnation of Wilt Chamberlain in the body of Victor Wembanyama. With apologies  to Nikola Jokic, presently the most skilled and efficient center in the NBA, who has a chance by the end of this career to be the NBA's GOAT, the Serbian big man does not possess the variety of skills that Wemby possesses, nor does he have the grace of function the 7'5" Frenchman is blessed with. I saw Wilt at the height of his power. I believe jokic's game is set. It is possible he will improve, but I doubt it. He is who he is. As for Victor Wembanyama, he has more in his bag. It will be a delight to see over the years what he pulls out of that bag. Oh, La vache!

The World Series set to begin, here's a haiku from my forthcoming collection of sports haiku:

34

Broom handle poised
On his shoulder ready to swing
For the window

W

NBA 24/25 SEASON OPENERS

 If anyone doubted it before this season, Alperen Sengun, the Turkish center for the Houston Rockets

in winning pocker, he'd be a Straight Flush to the Joker's Royal Flush. It would not surprise me if Sengun turnes out to be as good as Jokic. Bite my tongue, you say. Yep, maybe so, but the Rocket's Turkish Pasha has so much upside left, who knows what the future has in store for him. He is certainly the Hub of the Rocket's wheel. Note: The Rockets are sporting the tallest starting Five in NBA history. They will be a tough team to beat. Ok, so OKC beat them. But the Rockets took last year's NBA Champs to double OH VA TIME. I think most NBA fans already had the Rockets as a contender and perhaps even possible winning the West. My only problem that assessment is the coaching. I'm not on the Udoka bandwagen as much as most fans and talking heads are. He's tough and smart, but I do not see enough creativity in his approach to the game. He makes solid choices, but not the risky ones. He proved that to me last season with the Warriors outcoached him, especially in the closing minutes. 

As for the Thunder, they're still the team to beat in the West. Everybody that loves Curuso's game raise their hands. Mine's up. Ichabod Crane, oops, I mean Chet Holgren could have a break out season based on what I saw last night. No surprising, OKC missed Jalen Williams. 

Do the Lakers have any idea what their rotation will be? It doesn't look that way to me based on what I saw last night. Ok, LeBron was not there, but where were all the rest of the players? The Lakers will not win if they have to rely on Doncic playing 40 minutes a game. I also wonder how long it will take JJ Redick to figure out that DeAndre Ayton is playing for his check and not for his team. This guy has all the tools, but doesn't use them. The word is SOFT. It's only one game, so I'll cut him some slack. But I'll take bets Ayton is soon backing up some other big. At least Jaxson Hayes plays with energy.

Based on their firs outing, the Golden State Warriors, baring injuries, are going to win a lot of games. This is a team of players that know eachother and the system well. The Addition of Al Horford provides them with additional stability, smarts, rim protection and locker room presence. One may argue they are too old, but there is something to say for experience and intelligence. Jimmy Butler had a monster opening game. And I was impressed with Jonathon Kuminga, who played within himself and allowed the game to come to him, I have not been a big fan of JK, but I will own my mistake if he plays to his potential and proves me wrong. I'm crossing my fingers that Buddy Heild continues to play the way he did last night. Grandson, John Clark, a King's fan, says that won't happen. That Buddy only plays well when there is no pressure. Humm! Second Round draft pick, Will Richard impressed. And what can we say more about Steph Curry. Great dagger shot at the end. Did that shot originate on the east bank of the Mississippi? 

In honor of KD

KD       By Tom Mesche

 

From our seats

beneath the basket,
watching KD
before the game,
I’m wondering
where have I seen
such fluid grace before,
almost like liquid,
as if Durant
was out to prove
the truth
inscribed on Keats’ tombstone:
Here lies one whose name
is writ in water.
 

 

THE START OF THE NBA SEASON 2025/26

 i'm excited about my Warriors signing Al Horford, one of the great unsung super stars and glue guys in the NBA. If he can stay healthy, he will do for the Warriors what he's done for every team he's played for: Power in the paint, scoring from the 3, rebounding, and provising smarts, and locker room presence. The dubs signed Jonathon Kuminga, so that's a done deal. Proof there's a God. Both teams win. The Warriors retain the right to trade JK and JK gets the paycheck he felt he deserved. The later is in question in my mind. Look up the numbers, they should shock you. Coach Kerr said it best once the signing was announced that JK will be given every opportunity to be the player he believes himself to be. Ah, egos and Super Egos!!! It has been my experience that a great many athletes by the time they readch the collegiate level have a skewed view of their abilities. Mirror mirror, on the wall who's the . . . you get my meaning. Okay, okay, benefit of the doubt, JK is a super athlete. Maybe, just mybe, he will grow his game. I never want a player to fail. However, I believe as many coaches and talking heads do, that the Warriors still need to acquire a third young three-point shooter/athletic wing. In the meantime, let's see if Jk can fill the void. As for where the Warriors will wind up in the |Western Conference, I never sell Coach Kerr short. Remember, when Jimmy Butler joined the team last season, the Dubs were 20 wins to 8 losses before Steph Curry injured his ham-string. 

At this early stage of the season, the following teams appear to me to be the creme-de la-creme:

UGGETS: The acquisition of Jonas Valuncuna to back up Jokic creates a wall of strenght and talent at the five. Cam Johnson is a hundered percent better defender than M. Porter and a more conssistent 3 pt wing. Brown comes back for onball defense in the backcourt. Tim Hardaway Jr adds the increased bench strengh at the wing. A team that took the N\BA champs to the 7th game in the West has impromve their roster mightily. 

OKC: Not much to say here. They're the champs and check off all the positional boxes. I like the Nuggets over them.  

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS: I'm slipping my Dubs in here as a surprise team. The addition of Al Horford and a full year of Butler and Curry and Coach Kerr's smart. There are a few teams with greater athleticism and youth, but I'm going with experience and smarts.

The next two team have huge asterisks next to them.

DALLES MAVERICKS: I'm not a fan of Jason Kidd as a coach, that's one turn off for me. The other questions: Can Anthony Davis arrive at the playoffs healthy? Same goes for Kyrie Irving. Additional consideration: Will Cooper Flagg be ready as a rookie? On the positive side, there's talk that Mav's cent Lively grew three inches over the summer. Whoa! Making him 7'2"

HOUSTON ROCKETS: The Rockets would have been my third choice had not pt guard Fred VanVleet not been lost to the team for the season. The addition of KD, of course, makes the Rockets stronger, but they still remain young and in need need  of a team leader. The Rockets have a powerful young center in Alperen Sengun and two excellent backup centers in Capella and Steven Adams who will teach the team to do the Haka, the traditional Maori war dance, which mignt be worth a few extra fear points. Coaching in the clutch might be a problem. I sense inflexibility in Ime Udoka. 

LA LAKERS: It will all come down to Doncic. Can he be the leader of the team and its top scorer, and leader in assists. He damn-well almost did int the year before in the NBA Finals, so why not in LA? Then the question becomes how does LeBron fit in? Another questionmark: JJ Redick's coaching. I do not see anything better than average here. Hw made some questionable decisions in last season's playoffs. 

LA CLIPPERS: Okay, they are worth mentiong. But too many ifs for me. Those ifs: Can Kawhi state healthy? Can Brook Lopez help? Will they miss Norm Powell's creative shooting? Will Beale get his Wizards' mojo back? back?

From my collection in progress:  Landscape of Sports Haiku.  

On the outdoor court
Two boys playin basketball 
Ignoring the rain

HEAR ME WEEPING

 Over coffee this morning, I read The Athletic NBA News' article about the costs of watching this coming season's NBA games on television. By the end of the article, I was weeping. True. Tears in my eyes, tear drops down down my cheeks. Commissioner Adam Silvers made in clear that in reality we will no longer be watchin basketball games, we will be watching CONTENT. The Athletic article broke down the costs per platforms. It added up to much higher costs than in the past. The costs are in the nature of subscriptions over and above what we fans are now paying for our monthly cable television package. I will not try to explain what I could barely absorb myself, but read The Athletic or other NBA sources for the details. 

What made me weep was that all this portended for the future of televised sports in general and the NBA in particular. Commissioner Silver is asking us to walk down the aisles of the NBA/Media store and select our PROCUCTS/CONTENT. Each ITEM/GAME will have a label with a price printed on it, like any can of Pork and Beans in your local grocery store. You can shop by the month or the year. You can go cheap or go Whole Paycheck. However you chose, be certain that you will be paying considerably MORE than you did last season. 

It is not that I'm thinking entirely of myself when I say I am weeping. I weep for what this portends for the future for my children and my grandchildren. At my age, I will not be on this planet when this degradation is complete. It does not take much imagination to see the THEME of the movie, Rollerball Madness--when corporations will rule all aspects of the world. I am alarmed and dismayed. Listen and you will hear more people than me weeping. 

NFL Last night I watched a very impressive Green Bay Defense. Micah Parsons is one heck of a defensive end. I'm perplexed why the Cowboys would trade him. But since I'm not a super knowledgeable NFL blogger, I'll just leave the answer to to the experts. I personally believe the Cowboys have been cursed ever since Jerry Jones fired Jimmy Johnson. 

To finish this off, I'm excited that my new mystery novel in my Brovelli Brothers series: The Case of the Volkswagen Hippy Bus will launch on October 14 as 14 was my jersey number during my years playing for the Golden State Warriors. 

STOPING TANKING

 I just read an intriquing proposal from The Athletic about a possible solution to NBA teams tanking: It is odd at first glance, but the more I thought about it, the more it began to make sense: The idea is this: The two teams with the worst recoreds at the end of the season are gauraunteed pikc numer 4 and number 5. That leaves the the 3d, 4th, and 5th worst teams with the highest probabliiy of wining the top three picks. If this is implemented, I can see some serious competiion about the last five worst teams in the league competiing vigourously NOT to be the fust and second worst teams for the season. There would be a competion to be 3rd, 4th and 5th worst. This is a delightul reverse backhad solution to tanking. Imagine the last gaem of the season between the Wizards and the Pelicans. Whichever team wins will be in 3thired placd in the lottery. The loser will be 2nd and have no chance to get any of the top three draft choices. Could be one hard fought game. Score one for the fans, Right? And, just so the top two lop losing teams don't get shut out completly, allow me to suggest there have been plenty of greaat NBA players who've been seleced with the 4th and 5 picks. For example: Castles of the Spurs last year in the 4th; Aman and Amar Thompson with the 4th and 5th picks; Scotti Barnes in 21 with the 4th pick. D'Aaron Fox with the 4 pick in 2019 and in 2016 Tray Young with the 4th. Porzingus, DeAndre Hunter and Aaron Gordon  were all selected with the four pick. 

I've been thinking of my fatherer these days as my memoir The Mad Manchurian is now out in bookstoares andd being read. Memories of him thinking baskeball was no way for a real man to make a living. I wrote the following poem for him.

Journeyman

 

I admit sleeping in late at the Hilton,
ordering room service,
handing out big tips while other me
are opening their lunch buckets. I know
you would have scolded me:
Что это за работа для мужчины?
(What kind of work is this for a man?) 
Old immigrant, I admit all of this
too late. You died before I could explain
newspapers call me a journeyman.
They write I roll up my sleeves
andgo to work. They use words
lke hammer and muscle to describe me.
For three straight years on the job
my nose collapsed. My knees ached,
and I could never talk myself out of less
than two injuires at a time. Father,
you would have been proud of me:
I labored in the company of large men.