D2021 Warriors and KIngs & a Few Other Comments

 Warriors first. Jonathon Kuminga No 7. As they say, great upside, but will he learn to shoot free throws?. I've been watching him the last two days playing in the summer leagues. He's 18 yrs old in a grown man's body with marvelous athleticism. Right this minute he is valuable as a rebounder and a downhill scorer. He has a lot to learn. His growth will be better served in practice time and in big boy NBA games. There are a lot of mentors on the Dubs who will provide the rookie with ways to improve his game.  Igudala, for example. Welcome home Mr. Clutch! Now for the 14th pick, Moses Moody. He too has upside, but how high is the question. If it turns out his ceiling is as a strong reserve, well so be it. Bench is essential to winning in the NBA. I'm pulling for Moody because my grandson is named Moses, named for Moses Malone, not the Biblical prophet.  

Sacramento Kings: Davion Mitchell in the first round. He's short at 6 ft. But he's a bulldog with lots of skills. If his Baylor senior year 3 pt shot proves to be his NBA 3 pt shot, he'll help a great deal because he'll be a big plus on D and while not giving up anything on offense. The Kings sure need to improve their team and individual D.  It will be interesting to see what the Kings do with Buddy Hield. Bit of advise from an old NBA Jock: Hield is a downtown proven 3  point threat. Don't give him up unless you get equal value back. No first round draft choices in 2050 and other Sam Presti rookie nonsense. 

Other observations by teams: Miami Heat. I'm going out on a limb and say Lowry will not be the magic bullet at guard the Heat need. I'm not a big Butler fan either. He's a mid range shooting threat and a strong defender, but he's undersized and is no longer the youthful Butler of yore. And, I don't trust a player who bailed the way he did on the Timberwolves and Coach Tibs who gave him his start to fame with the Chicago Bulls. Character means a lot. Anyway, let's  remember Lowry is not a spring chicken himself. Unless Toronto has other ideas for Drajic, the clever vet guard will help the Raptors. Look for Van Vleet to get more open looks with Drajic feeding him. 

Detroit Pistons: Cade Cunningham is the real deal. He will have a long outstanding career in the NBA. Will he be a super star? Maybe, but for sure he's going to be a franchise player, having more to do with leadership and smarts than point totals. Read this morning that he's already being called Motorcade. Kudos to Detroit sports writers.

Cavs: Baring injuries, Mobley is a future Hall of Fame player. Get him into the weight room.

Orlando: Suggs will also have a long career in the NBA. A Billups type of guard. Already asserting his leadership. But wait! It's only Summer League. Franz Wagner? See me shrugging my shoulders. Any team interested in a down-town 29 years old Lativian shooter, keep an eye on Janis Timma. 

Raptors: Don't trade Siakim, Barnes is a question mark. 

Rockets: Green can get 20 easily every night. We'll see how dedicated he is to defense. Wasn't that a recent super star problem for the Rockets? According to my wife, Green gets the most handsome rookie award. 

I'm saving the Olympics for my next Blog, but here's a poem for the 2021 Tokyo Olympic high divers. I got a nose bleed simply watching them.

HIGH DIVER by Robert Francis.

How deep is his duplicity who in a flash

Passes from resting bird to flying bird to fish,

Who momentarily is sculpture, then all motion,

Speed and splash, then climbs again to contemplation.

He is the archer who himself is bow and arrow,
He is the upper-under-world-commuting hero.

His downward going has the air of sacrifice

To some dark seaweed-bearded seagod face to face

Or goddess. Rippling and responsive lies the water
For him to contemplate, then powerfully to enter. 

Random Comments

 Random Comment #1: NBA average free throw shooting percentage: 77.2%; WNBA average free throw shooting percentage: 80.2%

Random Comment #2: PGA of the Tee 290 yards; LPGA of the Tee; 254 yards. Makes one think that if LPGA gals were allowed to tee off 40 yards in front of the men, they could compete at every other level. Make that happen, and wouldn't a competition between genders knock the socks off of any previous golf tournament TV ratings?  

Random Comment #3 Does Ben Simmons  of the Philly 76ers, have no shame? How does a guy pulling down this amount of $ shoot so dismally? 23 % from the field. Less than 30% from the free throw line. Come On, Ben!!!

Random Comment #4: Happy to read the NFL is being sued by Saint Louis folks for the team relocating to LA. through the use of some pretty slimy tactics. How about Seattle filing a suit against the Oklahoma Thunder's owner for his slimy relocation tactic moving his newly bought team to OKC. (When he bought the team he said he wouldn't move it, Right. Liar, liar, pants on fire!)

Random Comment #5: In todays The Athletic, evaluating 2021 NBA draftee: About 3 pt shooting Corey Kispert from the Zags: "Kispert is 22, which is a fossil relative to the other players available. . . "  Takes me back to 1961 when I was drafted #1 by the Philadelphia Warriors (San Francisco Warriors/Golden State) I was a 22 year old fossil and gave the NBA and my teams ten pretty damn good years of production. I'm not sure what the diff between 10 years and 15 years means in the NBA. Lots of first round draft choices who are teens wind up in the G League being paid first round draft choice salaries while not helping the home team at all. I'm thinking of a knock-down shooter like Kisspert and another 24 year old from U of Oregon by the name of Chris Duarte. Both can come in and produce right now, not three years from now. 

Random Comment #6: As per John Hollinger in The Athletic talking about Free Agency: As a result, teams are likely to pump the brakes on a max deal for Lonzo Ball. Something in the range of 100 million over 4 years seems more likely. As my wife said, "Awh, poor baby, how will he ever manage?"

Random Comment #7: Big ATTABOY to Jacob Stenmstz, the first Orthodox Jew to be drafted #1 in the MBL. Reminds me I need to re-read Chaim Potok's The Chosen. The first part of the book takes place on the baseball field.

Random Comment #8: Nigeria and now the Aussies beat our boys in red, white and blue. And the Argentinians pushed USA hard. Now JaVale Magee joins the team. Really???? 

Random Comment #9: Congrats to Natalie Diaz for winning a Pulitzer Prize this year for poetry for her Post Colonial Love Poem, published by Greywolf Press. Natalie played basketball for Old Dominion and pro ball in Europe and Asia. Makes one think basketball players should write more poetry. 

Natalie doesn't write poems about basketball as far as I know. She does start one stanza on the Teotlachco ball court. If you're scratching your head, the Aztecs invented basketball. 

Instead of a poem, here's one of a series of Why Indians are Good at Basketball written by Nicole Tower, a journalism student at Arizona State University

We know how  to block shots, how to stuff them down your throat because when you say, "Shoot!" we hear howitzer and Hotchkiss and Springfield Model 1873.

Nigeria Beat USA + Nostalgia

 I just finished watching Nigeria's Olympic Basketball Team defeat our Team U.S.A. in a practice game in prep for the real thing in Japan. It was a first effort by both teams and could easily be an indicator of the teams' strengths and weaknesses. It was clear to me that this game was not being taken lightly by both teams. I was cheering for our guys, but by the fourth quarter when it appeared that Nigeria might upset us, I suddenly found myself cheering for the Nigerians to win. That's exactly what happened. The green and white beat the Red, White and Blue. 

 A team from the continent of Africa has never beaten a basketball team from the Untied States before. How good must the Nigerian players feel being the first. Forget, this was a practice game. It was a W. The Nigerian players will not only be heroes in their own country but in all the countries of Africa. It is probably a good time to be sure all my readers understand, there was no dearth of NBA players on the Nigerian team. Over the years the countries of Africa, primarily of West Africa, have sent the NBA some fabulous athletes, beginning with legendary Hall of Fame center for the Houston Rockets, Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon. And I should point out that many of the great European basketball players that played in the NBA in recent past and play now have West African family roots. 

I was not being disloyal pulling for Nigeria to win, I was remembering fondly and with a modicum of pride, that I was one of the first NBA players to bring basketball to West Africa. In the Summer of 1963, Bill Russell and Bob Cousy of the Boston Celtics, as part of a joint NBA and United States Information Agency (USIA) good will project, traveled to West Africa to hold basketball clinics. They worked only in the country of Senegal. The following summer, John Havelick, KC Jones, and I made the same trip to Senegal and to three additional countries: Mali, Ivory Coast and Liberia. To say basketball was in its infant stages is an understatement. Many of the young men and women we coached didn't have athletic shoes. Some played in their bare feet. Many shot the ball with two hands.The following summer I went back to West Africa with Siugo Green, point guard, of the Saint Louis Hawks, to coach again. And after I retired from the NBA in 1971, I returned for four months to West Africa in the fall of 1981, By then,  our earlier coaching lessons had taken root and many of the players were demonstrating great promise. In the 21st century, the NBA has benefited greatly from that promise.  

That was the last time I was in Africa, but I've traveled there often over the years in my memory and in my heart.  So, right on Nigeria! Right on West Africa! I'll bet you Hakeem The Dream watched tonight's game and was smiling at the outcome.

I wrote this poem for my third book of poetry, Sweat: New and Selected Poems About Sports. 

Hakeeem Olajuwon

           aka Hakeem The Dream

In Africa each morning practice starts
with warm-ups. The youngest on the team,
perhaps sixteen, always the first waiting for me,
sit in the thin shade below the backboard, 
reading the latest article about Hakeem.  
We stretch hamstrings, then slow jog
around the court. He keeps pace, all the while
talking about The Dream. "Dis donc," he says,
"With The Dream we would defeat Senegal
and be Champions of West Africa   
"Que pensez vous, entraineur?" What do I think?
I can't think about anything other than the red
and smoky sun rising over the opposite basket,
the heat already seating my shirt, and how
the rains suddenly begin half way through practice.
I shag his jump shots, the ones he says 
are like Hakeem's. He says he too will attend
the University of Houston, later play in the NBA.
"Vous m'assistez?" But his shots are ugly, too flat;
they lack the back-spin, the softness of the Dream's.
I nod my head, whatever I can do - my best shot,
I am in the country of Burkina Fasso.
Its name means Land of Up-Right people. 

Speculations, Comments, and Stupidities

I rely on The Athletic for my sports news now that our local newspaper, The Sacramento Bee, no longer does late news of any kind. For my readers information, newspapers all over the country are being bought by hedge funds and are being systematically dismantled. For example what pleasure can be derived from reading about the winner of this year's Masters two days after the green jacket was presented to the first Japanese golfer, Hideki Matsuyama?

This is by way of an intro to some of the info I've been reading on The Athletic. I'll start with three:

Warriors: Lots of speculations about what the Warriors should or should not do about this years' draft, mainly centering around should they use last years exceptionally talented first round draft choice in a  trade of solid vets to join Mr. Curry for a run at the championship, or should they bundle their 7 & 14 picks to move up to a fourth for a better youngster. The writers provide scenarios in between these two larger themes. It is my humble conclusion (and as a prior Warrior I have no inside info) that the Warriors are going to stay pat with what they've got. Sometimes teams need to make judgements and take risks. I believe taking the risk that Wiseman will be a better offensive and defensive contributor next season after a real off-season is odds on likely. He just has to be 50% better to make an impact. This would allow the Warriors to use Loony in a true back up role where he is more comfortable and for which he is better suited. As for #7 & 14, I can name a couple of college players in the draft who are not in diapers and NBA ready to contribute. I'll not name names. So Klay comes back as strong or close to strong and what do you have? On the other hand, let's say the Bucks are willing to give up Giannis for Wiseman and Wiggins and the 7th and 14th. Is that truly a no-brainer? Speculation is fun. 

Comments about the  Playoffs: I'm rooting for the Bucks to win in the East because I've always held a soft spot in my heart for Milwaukee, a true working mans town and home to my good friend Charlie Dee who never saw a scrum in rugby or a political battle he didn't like. As for the championship, I'm all in for the Suns. I'm a big fan of Coach Monty Williams, who might be the perfect example of a pro coach that has found the middle ground between toughness and compassion, between "his way' and "their way" And let's all cheer for Chris Paul. There is not a player I can think of who deserves the ring more. Always the true professional, never a complainer, always a mentor for his younger teammates. Go Chris!!

Stupidities: Todays The Athletic about Mavs hiring Jason Kidd and Blazers hiring Chauncy Billups, Kidd with a spousal abuse history (he pleaded guilty in 2001) and Billups with a more serious sexual abuse accusation for which he was found not guilty. The stupidity here is not that these two men have a dubious history. One owned up, the other was found not guilty - end of story. Move on to what makes them good candidates. Kidd has had two tries and flamed out in both. This should not inspire a lot of confidence in Mr. Doncic. Other than one year as an assistant with the Clippers, Billups has miniscule experience. Why is that important, considering Steve Kerr of the Warriors was selected having no prior experience coaching at all? Because the person the Blazers brought in for two interviews, Becky Hammon, the assistant coach for the last five years with Pop in San Antonio, is far more qualified than Billups. Talk about tokenism. Stupid? You bet. Both teams, on both counts. 

Lot's of pro golf these days. Rocket Mortgage Championship. Where the hell are the superstars in golf these days? The Open in Scotland coming up. Here's a lovely Haiku by Andy Brumer

Is golf an art
or a science?
Does a coin have one side or two? 

A Few Comments and Observations from this Morning's Sports Page

 Clippers defeat the Mavs. I was pulling for the Mavs, not for any basketball reason, but because Mav's owner Mark Cuban was such a vocal critic of psycho Donald Trump. Such a comment will cost me Trump supporter. To which I reply who wants them?

What Dallas wants  (desperately needs) is a better supporting cast for their super star. Let's start by getting rid of Porzingis So he knocks down the 3 ball occasionally and dunks a wide open feed, Big Deal! The Mavs get more D out of flat footed Boban the Giant. Ever notice that when Porzingis catches the ball within 10/15 feet from the basket with a smaller man guarding him, the 7 foot plus passes out rather than turning into a jump shot. Is he afraid of a little body contact? And who the hell can he guard? Make a trade, Mavs; there might be a sucker out there. Think young, long, athletic 3's and 4's. Next on the list is a rim protecting center who will love every minute of Donic's lob passes. Imagine a Clint Capella of the Hawks or DeAndre Jordan in his heyday. They also need a true point guard off the bench who doesn't need to score but can play solid D. Will Kleeber ever be be a reliable shooter? This a a long shot, and I don't know if it's what can be done, but how about keeping Boban in Dallas all summer working on footwork, low post moves, and maybe ballet lessons. I'm not kidding. If the bieeeegggg man were only slightly better, he'd be one hell of a back up center. You can not teach height. 

I understand what a force Denver's Jokic is, but why don't I like him? My wife says it's because he's always wiping his nose on his shirt. Maybe it's because I'm getting tired of his "pitiful pearl" whining to the officials. Jokic is huge, talented, the difference between the Nuggets losing or winning. What does he expect? He needs to check out a clip of Shaq with the Lakers. Opponents beat on the big fella relentlessly, and he hardly ever said anything, just beat everybody down. I was never a great Shaq fan, but the man was not a complainer. Have I beat this drum before? If so, it deserves beating. 

Will 76ers' Joel Embid ever stay healthy through a full season? But he played through the slight miniscus tear, and darn near brought his team from behind to beat the Hawks who almost blew a 30 point lead. 

Let's close with a hats off to two women in sports: 

Yako Sasso, a 19 year old from the Philippines won this year's U.S. Women's Open. She tied Inbee Park as the youngest winner in event's history. Question? Why are there so many Asians in women's pro golf compared to men's?

Simon Biles won her 7th U.S. All-Around Championship. Did we have any doubt?

It's take me out to the ball game season, so here's a baseball poem.

LOOKING AT AN X-RAY OF MY BACK   by Tom Meschery

I say to my doctor my spine 
looks like a curve ball,
and he says
it's breaking pitch
to the inside. I think that's funny,