Okay, China is Getting a Little Boring

What is the frigging PROBLEM? Adam Silver explained that the NBA supports FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Period, End of Story. Why is everyone in the NBA, including the most outspoken and politically active equivocating, vacillating, sidestepping, and generally dancing the Texas Two Step around the Chinese going ballistic over Darryl Morey's support of the Hong Kong protesters? "We in the NBA support Freedom of Speech" should be the answer to all the probing by the media that would like nothing better than to catch players, coaches, etc with their hypocritical pants down, ie: Lebron James' recent comment. James Harden apologizing for his GM. Steve, Pop, Come on???
Freedom of Speech is at the backbone of our Republic. It's not a hard concept to articulate. Our country is being faced with a President who'd like nothing better than to curtail FREEDOM OF SPEECH. We MUST defend this essential principal. That's all I'm saying. That's all folks in the NBA needed to say, but for some reason couldn't figure it out and started blathering nonsense.

HOWEVER, and there is always an however. If you feeling strongly about the Hong Kong folks protesting, then, by God, like Darryl of the Rockets, you (I'm talking to the greater YOU) need to say it loud and clear, and F**k the money. Of course, that's easy for me to say from my rocking chair retired NBA players' seat. So, I'll accept what criticism comes my way over this blog.

No poem for this blog. Except, perhaps,

"Who'll stop the rain. . ."

BREAKING NEWS!

BEIJING, CHINA:

Official Chinese Sports Federation: Yao Ming announces upcoming friendly games between Chinese teams and the following Euro-League teams Fenebahce, Olymiacos and Saski Baskonia have been canceled for lack of interest. Tickets for future Euro League preseason games have been reduced 50%.

Official Chinese Government Marketing Announcement: 90% off on all basketball gear for the following players: Nando de Colo of Renerbahce; Sergio Llull of Real Madrid; Vassilis Spanoulis of Olympiacos; Mike James of Saski Baskonia; Nikita Karbonov of CSKA

Central Government Politboro Announcement: All black market sales of NBA gear are reaching alarming levels. Citizens wearing NBA jerseys will be prosecuted. Anyone wearing a Rockets jersey will be tried for treason.

International Times Front Page: 150 Chinese citizens, wearing NBA jerseys poured gasoline over themselves in Tianamin Square and turned themselves into human torches in protest of government's anti NBA policies.

Wall Street Journal: Protesters in Hong Kong are wearing Fear the Daryll jerseys. Sales of Rocket gear in Taiwan have tripled.

White House: President Trump announces lifting tariffs on some Chinese goods. He expects China to continue boycotting the NBA, a league that is far too liberal. "If you criticize the President of the United States, bad things happen," Trump stated.

Official Chinese Sports Federation Up Date:  Tickets for Future Euro League games have been reduced by 75%.

NBA News: NBA properties show 200% increases in sales in India. New African NBA sponsored professional league is resounding success. Sales of NBA gear wildly popular. NBA to play exhibition games next season in Mongolia, much to the chagrin of Chinese Basketball Federation.

Summer's gone, but let's have one last summer poem sent to me by Ron Adams, assistant coach and defensive guru of the Golden State Warriors.

In Summer's Amber   by Gilbert Rogin (one time editor at Sports Illustrated)

Thickened with light, the spaces of summer
hold sound like the sea.
A playing-field shout outlives the play;
an outboard motor is put up, its drone preserved,
as it were, in summer's amber.
Only at night are the sounds quick and falling:
the water breaking each time the jumping fish falls;
in the white barns, horses stamping
in their dreams' dark furlongs;
grooms sitting out under the elms
in canvas chairs, on tack boxes,
telling lies. 

Back from Europe in time for the NBA Season. . .

. . . and controversy: China vs the NBA. I pick the the NBA. I've been reading all the hoopla, pundits - right and left - going off. I really don't understand what the big deal is. Adam Silver got it right when he said the League doesn't dictate players, administrators, and coaches' political opinions. "The NBA can't operate that way," Silver stated. Good for you Adam. It should have been your first statement, but you got handed a pretty "tricky' situation on speed dial.

So, here's how I see it moving forward. China dumps the NBA - Aw, poor baby got it's feelings hurt. So friggin what? The NBA sticks to its guns. Let them cancel games and gear contracts. No doubt lot's of money is going to be lost. Initially. But how about in the long range? I can't see it happening.

Can the Chinese possibly be that dumb?

Basketball is hugely popular in China. Millions and millions of their citizens - kids, men and women - are playing the sport and following the NBA and its stars. I doubt seriously that the enthusiasm for the sport and particularly for the NBA is going to diminish because of one email by Rockets' GM.. Eventually the Chinese government will have to relent. Or, of course, the government, in its wisdom, can go courting the Euro-League teams as a substitute for the NBA. Not exactly the same caliber of basketball, is it?  And the millions of Chinese NBA fans will not buy it. Name me one Euro League star who the Chinese will embrace the way they do stars from the NBA. Can't think of one? Neither can I.

When it comes to basketball (as opposed to Trump's dumb tariff war), China needs the NBA more than the NBA needs China. The people in Hong Kong may or may not get what they want, but the Chinese mainland NBA fans will damn sure get their NBA games and their NBA gear.

There is a lot to say about pressure from the bottom up. Power to the people!

And, an aside of note from the White House: Is Trump the biggest baby in the world, dissing Steve Kerr because Kerr didn't go off on the Chinese? Meanwhile Trumps' spat with the Chinese government is breaking the backs of our farmers. What a twit. Kerr's got more integrity in his little finger than Trump has in his entire obese body.

As for my beloved Warriors. They've got their work cut out for them. Klay has to come back of course, but I'd damn sure not rush it. I know Klay is "Old School" but it there is the slightest chance the knee isn't perfectly healed, he needs to be kept out the entire season. There is enough talent right now to surprise the pundits. "Oh, yeah?" I can hear the pundits now. "Oh, yeah?"

I'm not saying it will be easy. However, there's just enough offense that the Dubs can make the playoffs, as long as their Defense becomes like the steel curtain. Once the Warriors make the playoffs, and, say, Klay does come back after All-Star break, who knows? Remember Lamont Cranston, of day-time radio? "The Shadow knows."

My wife says I'm dating myself. So what? I'm Old School, emphasis on the Old. Here's what my wife and I are going to do: We're finding what the odds are of the Dubs making the playoffs and getting past the first round and putting some money down. Yeah, We're that confident/

A few general comments before my next Blog when I rank teams and go into team by team detail.

In the West:  1) The Lakers are not deep enough to go too far into the playoffs, and Anthony Davis has never played a full season healthy. 2) Even if Paul George's shoulders are not right for a while, the Clips will be better than last year, and last year they were on the cusp of being damn good. 3) I've never been sold on Hardin's D. And Westbrook is probably a smart guy, but he plays dumb, and there's just going to be too much two-man-ball, at the expense of the rest of the guys on the team. It's going to wear thin after a while. 4) Jazz, after mid-season, could be a real bad-ass threat, big personnel improvement, shooter in Bogan and terrific point guard.in Conley.  And always solid D.

In the East: 1) Should be Milwaukee's year. 2) If Simmons has learned how to shoot the trey, should be Philly's year. 3) Ain't going to be Boston's Year. Loss of Horford will cut deeply. 4) Like Hardin,
I've never been a  Kyrie Irving fan, and recently especially as he keeps yapping about wanting his "own" team. That's too much ego for me to trust his leadership. You've never heard Curry saying the Dubs are "his" team.

And finally, how about the 49ers? Haven't been back in the U.S.A long enough to catch up on the NFL, but it looks like the San Jose 49ers are the real deal. Now, if they'd only stop showing Fisherman's Wharf and the Golden Gate Bridge during television commercials. Come on, Citizens of San Jose, you paid for the state-of-the-art stadium, and they're still calling the team San Francisco.

A few weeks back in Florence where my wife and I were hanging out, checking out the Caravaggio's,
The David and the Matisse's and eating lots of Spaghetti alla Vongole, we had the pleasure of observing a boys basketball team of CUS Firenze practice and scrimmage, 36 ten to twelve year-old youngsters playing tough and working hard, and parents in the stands cheering their children on. Perhaps these boys will be the beginning of a new generation of great Italian basketball players. Good friend, Massimo, keep encouraging your son and his teammates. For the love of basketball and sportsmanship. We'll see you next year. Dinner at Toto's.

Given  our time in Italy, a poem by Virgil from the Georgics seems appropriate.

The Chariot Race

Have you not seen them fighting for the lead,
Their chariots plunging when the  barrier drops,
The drivers' surging hopes, the pounding fear
That drains exulting hearts? They close in,
Ply the lash, crouch over loosened reins,
The  glowing axle spins, the drivers' bodies
Seem now to scrape the  ground, and now to soar
Through empty air, wheels rising in the wind;
No hanging back, no rest: a gold  cloud
Of sand swirls in their wake, the  flecks of foam,
The breath of the pursuers, soak them through:
So great is their love for praise, their will to win.

NBA Stand Up For Sane Gun Laws

In the Wake of Dayton and El Paso, the NBA league and teams need to stand up for sane gun laws, not simply tougher background check. Assault weapons ban as well as strict gun and ammo purchasing laws is the only way our country will ever get back any control over the insanity that the NRA continues to support. Killing animals with assault weapons is no sport; it's murder. You can't shoot a duck out of the sky with an assault weapon. Macho men who want to play guns with assault rifles should go back to cap pistols, which better represents their level of maturity. I am not against hunting rifles, shotguns, or pistols. But I  am against crazy people and morons having access to weapons that fire hundreds of rounds in seconds. If you support the NRA do-nothing-stand, you should go to the nearest mirror and check out the Knucklehead that is staring  back at you.

Speaking of Knuckleheads, Incognito with the Raiders, give me a break.

With no injuries, Kings with new acquistions, watch out after All Star break. Could be a surprise team.



Still Hunting   by Don Welch

Once there were mallards ahead of a blizzard,
their backs to a front of sleet,
and we dug deep into a blind,

and all morning long there were ducks coming in,
maple-leading down, like the cold fast pitch
of breath over our lips.

It was Thanksgiving, a slice of season,
when you looked at my eyes.Young, there must have
been a cold ease about them and a radical vision.

But that was a long time ago. Now among the pintail,
widgeon, wood duck, and saup, the sun's low,
the wind's tailing down, and the brown phantom

of he evening's first owl's setting sail.
To watch you sluffing along, the breath-frost
in your beard whitening your face,

the stroke you've had
making you do an idiotic dance which you hate
is to watch you lean crookedly against a walking branch.

Gadwall, canvasback, redhead, and teal -
unlocking a gate, you watch the old wire swing back,
slowly catching itself in the cheatgrass.

Over the river the day's last ducks
are penciled chevrons bent in their long, careful arcs.
And pausing, you say, do this for me.

When I'm dead, name thing well.
That's all you need of integrity.

Don't Count the Dubs Out

So, Jerry West strikes again. Bravo, Jerry. Your keen eye brought the Warriors Klay Thompson, your imput helped a new GM get his feet wet. He proved his mettle and took the Warriors further after you departed, and I suspect he hasn't suddenly lost his ability to make good decisions for the Warriors' future.

I like the acquisition of DeAngelo Russell. In my humble opinion, the Dubs did not sign him to trade him. From some rocky beginnings with the Lakers, DeAngelo  has grown as a player. He is a clever ball handler, a solid driver, possesses both a middle distance (jumper/floater) and can sink 3 point shots So, the question team must ask themselves when facing the Dubs, how do you guard Curry and DeAngelo on the court at the same time? Add Klay at a stretch 3? And Green, never forget or under-estimate Draymond. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't come back next season chomping at the bit, a steadier, more determined, chip on his shoulder Green. Watch out! I'm a huge Green believer. Total basketball smarts, when focused. And last year proved he is ready to reach his potential.

Curry, oh, Should we forget at our peril, there is still the greatest three-point shooter in the history of basketball to reckon with.

And lets round out the rest of the team, starters and benchers: Looney didn't simply sign with the Warriors to give them a small-contract gift - he signed because the Warriors were always faithful to his measured growth. He's paying forward. Keep in mind how young Looney is. The bench that I had so little faith in last season is gone. Thank the Universe! Taller, longer, stronger players will join the Warriors. Damion Jones, at 7 feet, has a lot to prove. He'll be ready. Cauley-Stein is now a Warrior. The kid can run like a deer. Sure he's got some flaws, but he's definitely a pick-and-roll presence and a fast-break finisher. For the first time in years, I like what I'm seeing out of the Warriors' Summer League team. Poole looks like a downtown shooter and is not reluctant to put the pill up.

I'm betting Bob Meyers is not finished making moves? Lot's of time on the clock before the NBA season starts anew. Oh, by the way, let's not forget an amazing coach in Steve Kerr and staff, with a grit for defense, courtesy of Ron Adams.

No caveats from me. No, given health and unforeseen circumstances. The Warriors will be in competition for the Western Conference Championship because they demand TEAM first, and stardom second.

And just a small thought because the recent Kawhi thing is fresh in everybody's mind, if the Clippers rise to the top, it will not be because of Kawhi and George, but the junkyard dogs they have around the two greyhounds.

Terrific lazy day summer poem.

In Summer's Amber   by Gilbert Rogin

Thickened with light, the spaces of summer
hold sound like the sea.
A playing-field shout outlive the play;
an outboard motor is put up, its drone preserved,
as it were, in summer's amber.
Only at night are the sounds quick and falling:
the water breaking each time the jumping fish falls;
in the white barns, horses stamping
in their dreams' dark furlongs;
grooms sitting out under the elms
in canvas chairs, on tack boxes,
telling lies.