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.  

  

A Word of Warning & etc.

If it hasn't been said already, I'm saying it now. Be careful making predictions based on the teams you're watching on TV these days. Between COVID protocols, injury absences, and general coaching strategies to rest vets, todays teams will not be the same teams you see after the NBA All-Star break. For example, the Denver Nuggets and the Miami Heat will be far more impressive once the playoff push begins. I am basing this on the season getting back to normal as vaccines become more available and all the teams get their full rosters free of injuries on the court. 

I'm sure the pundits are noticing, but if they're not, the Sacramento Kings 12th pick in last years draft, Tyrese Haliburton, looks like he should have been a #1 or #2 selection based on his performance so far this season. I'm seeing a lot of Andre Igudala genes in him, that is he consistently makes clutch plays and clutch shots. And I love his calm. Leadership written all over him. 

On the subject of the Kings, Marvin Bagely lll, even while he is improving and is certainly working harder, remains a question mark. He seems physically weak to me. For the future of the Kings, he needs to be a stretch 3. It is the one position on the court the Kings are lacking. If they had one this season with Harrison Barnes in a  good place and playing extremely well at the 4, the Kings, led by a dynamic (Nate Archibald clone) DeAaron Fox, would have a strong chance of making the playoffs. But the absence of a solid 3 is a hole in their team that must be filled before they can get to that playoff level.    

Back to the draft: James Wiseman of the Warriors still remains in my mind the best long term impact pick of last years draft. Go Dubs!

It was said before the draft that it was not going to be such a great year for rookies. I think the rooks are proving the pundits wrong. Ball and Edwards, for example, look like the real deal. So does Achewa of the Heat. 

About the future draft, I recently watched Cad Cunningham, supposedly numero uno in next years draft. Word is he's the next Jason Tatum. Cad is good, but I don't think he's that explosive. Need to check on the other possibilities. The same evaluators who said last year's draftees were not going to be strong, are predicting this years players are much better.  

Is anyone wondering where the Timberwolves will wind up after center Carl Anthony Towns returns? (Hopefully in a good frame of mind and ball ready)  The wolves have found a really solid back up center and Edwards is the answer to their lack of an impact stretch 3. Kid can light it up. Can they get better on D? I'm hoping. Don't ask me why, but I have a soft sport for the Timberwolves since they got Ricky Rubio, and now he's back to end his career where he started. 

Can the Nets get better on D? Big Q. It is well documented by now that you can't go far in the playoffs without a solid defense..

Finally, what's the deal with Durant? I'm a little worried about where his head is since he left the Warriors. Am I mistaken, or is there a kind of arrogance or poutishness that wasn't there before. HisTweet Free Me, for example, sounds like a spoiled teenager. Comparing the NBA's strict COVID19 policy to a Wack ass PR tactic, is profoundly ignorant of the seriousness of this world pandemic. We're just lucky the NBA has been able to give us games at all. So, Kevin, put on your big boy pants and do some thinking. 

Instead of a poem, I'm going to end my blog with a suggestion. Do yourselves a favor folks. Go on line and find an editorial essay written by Leonard Pitts Jr of the Miami Herald called It is Different Being Us published in my newspaper The Sacramento Bee today, Monday 8th, 2021. It is Back History Month and what Mr. Pitts has to say and how he says it will inform your lives. I promise you. .

  

I Guess the Season Has Started

 The Harden trade completed, sending players hither and yon - confusing the hell out of my wife, who has no idea where Westbrook is playing these days -  the NBA 2021 season has officially started. 

A few words about the Hardin trade. The Beard gets the bad Karma award for dissing Rockets. Houston made you,James, have a little more class.I join everybody's question mark: how will the trio of Irving, Durant and Harden manage minutes and touches. If coaches can figure it out, offense will be unstoppable. However, championships are won on the D side, and Hardin can't defend, while Kyrie is not enthusiastic about defending beyond the first pass. DeAndre Jordan still can't shoot free-throws. And Nets are going to miss Mr. Super Afro a lot. 

Standings as of today, January 20 (Trump's Departure Date HOOWAH!): Under-performers of note are the Nuggets at 6/7; and Miami at 5/7. I'm real high on the Heats' Precious Achiuwa. How can you not love a 6"8",260 pound power forward?  Just what the doctor ordered to help Bam. (Bam & Precious) Heat lineup will solidify, then look for them to compete for Eastern Conference title again. 

Ditto, Nuggets in the West. Jocic trimmed and slimmed down body is a monster. Missing Jerami Grant, but Nuggets can upset anybody. Maybe not the Lakers who have better players all around than they did last season. Schroeder vs Rando, for one example. How the hell did the Raptors let Ibaka and Gasol leave. Huge mistake. Owners gotta pony up. You're zillionaires, pay the damn luxury tax. . 

Checking the rest of the league: I don't have a lot of faith in the Bucks to win the East. That is unless Giannis suddenly starts shooting a better percentage from the field. Again, it's all about playoffs, that's when defense picks up dramatically and all the teams are on to his drive/spin move. Oh, he'll score all right, but teams will sag off him and play him for the drive. The Clippers are going to miss Montrzel big time. Lucky they got Ibaka, but the Clips will miss Mantrzel's husstle points. Big Q, is, will Paul George be there during post season? 

Pundits seem high on the Suns. I buy that with Paul as distributor and Ayton growing into his talent. Jae Crowder, a great two -way guard pick up. Portland was high on my list at the start of this year, but now that they lost Nurkic (maybe for a season) and McCollum for at least a month, things not so rosy. I'm happy for Carmelo making a comeback but don't trust his court sense. Without Nurkic and a healthy McCollum, Dame can only carry this team into the playoffs. Good pick up of Jones.

Boston has got to find somebody in the post. Might have found a point guard of the future in Oegon Duck Pritchard. Hard to tellright now what kind of team they'll become later in the season.. They might very well surprise folks as it gets down to the wire. Philly, what can I say? Simmons can't shoot. Embid is physically unreliable. If Embid is really healthy at the end of the season, they can win the East.

Dallas needs a tough minded Big. Cauley Stein doesn't cut it. Imagine if the Mavs had, for exampe, Capella around the rim with Doncic passing. Porzingis is another player with unreliable physical health issues. There's some chatter about the Utah Jazz. Donovan Mitchell needs a second All Star at the wing. Bogan is a fine catch-and shoot to stretch the floor, but he can't really create for himself. 

Atlanta will be strong all season, but need something? I'm open to suggestions. They brought in enough players to assure they win their division. But compete for the East?  What's missing? Indiana Pacers is another team that remain dangerous about seven deep then, a drop off. Warren injured hurts. LeVert from the Nets will help. 

Finally, what to say about my Warriors? This year's playoffs depend on how fast rookie first rounder, James Wiseman grows into his awesome potential. He seems like a fast learner. Check back with me after All Star break. I'll leave it at that. 

On this day of transition, Thank God, from Trump to a real, caring, President, Joe Biden, I offer the National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman, and her inauguration poem. Too long to post. Find it on any site.

For Draymond

 Reading this morning's Athletic, I felt so sorry for Draymond Green speaking about the terrorists storming and pillaging our national capital, how in his words, if those people had been of color they would have been met by the National Guard with guns and attack dogs, beaten into submission and hauled of in unmarked vans to jail. Draymond sounded so depressed. I thought of Doc Rivers' sorrowful question, I paraphrase: Why do we love a country so much that doesn't love us back? If this isn't what was in the back of Draymond mind, it surely must have been there like a shadow of thought. 

As athletes we grow up believing in a level playing field. No person of color (or any right-thinking white) is so foolish as to believe this works as a metaphor for equal rights and opportunity in America. As a goal, however, it is surely something to hope for and play for. Sadly, what I heard from Draymond was a hopelessness that such a future level playing field will never be attained. 

That Draymond and every African American watching the Capital debacle feels this way with its related depression and anger can not be left unrecognized. As a consequence of not dealing with the promise of a level playing field, I offer this poem by Langston Hughes:

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up 
Like a raison in the sun?
Or fester like a sore - 
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and and sugar ovr
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load
Or does it explode?  

                                                            ***

So, is there anything this blog can offer that might help Draymond's depression? About the present, nothing helpful, I'm afraid. Our so-called president has managed to raise to the surface of our country all of its racial prejudices in a bunch so it sits on our body politic like scum. 

There is, however, a possible scumless FUTURE. And this might help. To identify it, one must look to television commercials for proof. Over the last decade, I'd been noticing more and more TV ads featuring inter-racial couples selling products. At first I thought these ads were designed by advertising companies for a targeted liberal east/ west coast audience, leaving the less liberal parts of America watching same-o-same-o un-mixed racial images. I telephoned my sister, a retired advertising exec to find out what the story was. The inter-racial commercials were viewed all over the country she told me. Her words, "The advertising industry has always been ahead of the demographic curve. Inter-racialism is where this country is trending."

Draymond, I don't know if this information helps you to visualize a better America. It does comfort me somewhat. I recognize it in the way my grandchildren and their friends and school mates think and inter-act positively with all races. I see the younger generations as multi cultural and multi-racial. And the generation of Trump voters see it too and are terrified by it. Thus their violence to hold on to their white power. But there is nothing they can do about the trend. An inter-racial society is coming. It is inevitable. And, Draymond, with this new and better generation of young people growing up and voting for change will finally come the level playing field you so desperately yearn for. Look around you. Check out the young people. Don't despair.   

A Few Quick Thoughts about the Opening Games of 2020/21 Regular Season

 As I watched Warriors rookie center James Wiseman play last night, I wished Curry, Thompson, and Green were 3 years younger. Why? Because it's probably going to take this young man a season to fully realize his Hall of Fame skills. The question is by then will the trio of Dubs that brought the first NBA Championship to the Bay Area be able physically and mentally to make the most of Wiseman. A season doesn't seem like a long time, but you have to take into account Thompson will be coming of his second season ending injury. Steph and Draymond will have to live through what looks - taking into account what I saw on the court last night - the brunt of opponents defensive emphasis. In other words, they're going to take a physical beating. I don't doubt they'll be up for it; they top gun pros. Still, a beating is a beating. And takes it's toll. 

BUT, Imagine our trio of vets three years younger and James Wiseman one year older. Oh boy!.

I don't mean to be negative. It's just that age is one of the relentless realities a professional athlete must take into account.  

Okay, the reality check noted, let's move on to a little MAGIC. Imagine if Wiseman comes around faster, say after the coming All Star break, and his presence lessens the stress on Curry and Draymond. Or Oubre Jr and Wiggins play up the their talents (Wiggins sure didn't last night) and help to take the pressure off Curry and Draymond. And, on top of that,  the bench becomes a tough minded defense, also taking pressure off Curry and Draymond. At which point the Warriors surprise the league by making the playoffs and maybe, more surprises, going a little further. And, And, And, the following year Klay Thompson comes back with a fury, and Wiseman is now a full year older in terms of experience. You see what I'm saying?

Some thoughts to consider. Am I making myself clear. WISEMAN IS GOING TO BE MAGNA-GREAT... 

Some other consideration about the Net's game. I usually don't agree with Sir Charles, but he was right to point out that the Nets have the best bench in the league. And though I might have mis-heard, there was some talk by the Talking Heads of a rumored trade of James Harden for a bundle of Net's players. If true, my response: DON'T DO IT. The chemistry will be a stink bomb. 

Of he Laker/Clippers game. Hard to tell. I think the Lakers will wind up missing Green's steady 3 ball. But's still AD and King James until further notice. The loss is indicative of nothing.

SPORTS     By Tom Meschery

Three days ahead have been predicted HOT
Dangerous, one writer warns. Air quality unhealthy.
Below the weather, the obituaries from the previous page:
Rita Feldman, a nurse for thirty years, a mother
of four and a grandmother of seven boys.
Two photographs, one young, the other old.
Why is that? A reminder that the past is not
so long ago? In both photographs her face is sweet.
John Thompson Jr. died, then Chadwick Boseman
and Tom Seaver. All made the front page.
Death, these days, is stifling. We wear masks
with the insignia of our favorite sports teams.
My wife's O for Oregon, my W for Warriors.
Yesterday I saw a mask that read I CAN'T BREATHE!
The Climate is changing as we speak, too danse,
it's like water too thick to drink. I've turned to prayer.
Boseman played Jackie Robinson on the screen
and made us see a black man with our hearts.
I tried an elegy for John, but found my white man's
dictionary lacked sufficient words. For Seaver,
he possessed a wicked fast ball and a slider
that drove batters of two decades nuts.
Later, I hear Cliff Robinson, of the Blazers
died, which made my three dead athletes, a quartet.
Outside, the temperature is climbing.
The Fed Ex Championship is on T.V. 
The major leagues are swinging for the fences
and in Florida the NBA is playing in a bubble.