D's Notebook

Tag: NBA (Page 4 of 8)

Weekend Notes

October 12, 2020 /

We’ve hit that moment in fall that is both lovely and sad: the last burst of really warm, humid weather before things change. We are scheduled to have the pool closed on Wednesday, so last weekend was our final chance to swim. Friday I cranked the heater up to be sure the water was tolerable. That took the chill off but we may not have needed it Saturday as the temperature burst into the 80s. A couple of the nephews came over and enjoyed our last day in the pool with us.

Today the sky is darkening and the air is thick with humidity, feeling more like June than October. We may get a few sprinkles later, but not enough to break the drought we are mired in. It has been nearly two whole months since we got more than 0.10” of rain in a 24 hour period. Last week I had to bleach and flush out our sump pit because it had gotten so smelly from the lack of water.

The drought has caused trees to change colors rapidly and begin losing their leaves a little earlier than normal.

It looks like we will have a few more warm days before a bigger cold front comes through late this week and gives us more fall-like temperatures for the foreseeable future. In the era of global warning, you never know how many bursts of warm weather are left. Probably more than we expect. But these moments of transition always strike something deep inside my DNA that no doubt goes back hundreds/thousands of years ago when these changes meant finding shelter and stocking up on food to get through the cold months.

Besides swimming, it was a fairly boring weekend. M went to a watch party Friday for the CHS game at a friend’s house. (They won and are 8–0 going into the big season-ending clash with the #1 class 6A team.) C had a birthday party and sleepover at a friend’s. L was stuck at home with us.

It was certainly strange having the NBA Finals, the MLB league championship series, and the NFL regular season all on the same day Sunday.

The Colts lost a thoroughly winnable game in Cleveland, and the blame falls firmly on Philip Rivers. He’s taking some heat in the normally docile Indy sports media today. The gist of the argument against him is that he’s not performing that much better than Jacoby Brissett did last year, and he’s being paid a lot more than Brissett was. There was hope that putting him behind a stout offensive line could improve his passing stats. Losing his starting running back and three key receivers doesn’t help, to be 100% fair. But he also seems to making a lot of poor decisions. The defense has been great. Jonathan Taylor looks like a terrific draft pick. TY Hilton appears to be healthy. Quarterback is the only real weak link, at least thus far.

At least he didn’t snap his ankle like a pretzel. Very glad the Colts game was on at the same time as the Giants-Cowboys game so I could miss seeing Dak Prescott’s injury.

By the time I switched over to the NBA game, the Lakers were already up by 20. I didn’t think the Heat had one last run in them so pretty much avoided the game, other than a couple brief peeks to check the score.

Quite a run by the Heat. Had they been healthy maybe they could have stretched the Lakers out another game or even stole the series. They have to feel great about their playoffs despite the ending. I don’t think anyone outside Miami expected them to rip through the Eastern Conference and come within two games of a title.

As for the Lakers, this feels less like a triumph than an inevitable result. When the Clippers and Sixers proved too fragile in constitution and the Bucks too banged up, no one was really going to pose a serious threat to LeBron, AD, and their crew.

Their win kickstarts the “Is LeBron better than Michael?” debate again. I don’t think it changes my mind. They are still 1A and 1B, and lean toward MJ because of generational bias. But it gets harder and harder to separate the two. That said, the differences in the league during their two careers is what makes the comparison so difficult. The NBA is nothing now like it was in Michael’s career. So not only are they two very different players, but they also played in entirely different circumstances. Finally, I don’t think it is ever fair to judge a player who is still on the court against someone who has been retired, at least in terms of deciding who is the greatest ever. If LeBron ever retires, that’s when I will finally force myself to settle the question in my mind.

I’ve been a sporadic watcher of the baseball playoffs, some nights locked in, some nights not watching a minute. I watched a pretty good chunk of last night’s Houston-Tampa game. It was a classically tense playoff affair. I don’t know if it is the lack of fans, my general disinterest in baseball over the summer, or something else, but I’ve been finding baseball tedious over the past few weeks. I just can’t lock into all that playoff tension right now. I wonder if is the lack of a crowd is the biggest factor. There are no shots of people losing their shit because of nerves between every pitch.

Or maybe it’s just me getting old. I don’t think I could be as locked in if the Royals were in the playoffs as I was in 2014 and 2015. I was a mess those two Octobers. Not sure I what my mental state would be if I had to go through living and dying with every pitch again.

Weekend Notes

September 28, 2020 /

It’s time for the weekly Monday sports review!

Gale

Gale Sayers was waaaaaay before my time. He retired about six months after I was born, and his final two years in the NFL were slowed by a series of serious injuries that robbed him of his breath-taking speed. But there were uncles, and friends of uncles, and other people their age who would get emotional when they talked about watching him play in his prime. I once had a boss who was from Chicago and grew up in the ‘60s. This man was gruff and cold and rarely smiled or laughed. But if you mentioned Gale Sayers to him, he would soften and talk about how he had never seen anything like Gale when he played for the Bears.

Gale Sayers died last week. He was the greatest football player to ever play at the University of Kansas, either at KU or as a pro. That’s not saying much, it being Kansas football and all. Which makes it more amazing that one of the most gifted running backs to ever play the game, someone who everybody who saw play in his prime said would be just at home in the modern game as in his era, was a Jayhawk.

Another thing about Gale: pretty much everyone who ever came across him in his post-playing days said he was one of the nicest, most unaffected former athletes they had ever dealt with. They always said he was warm and genuine.

Sayers wasn’t celebrated much when I was on campus. Which is a shame. As big of a deal as it was for Wilt Chamberlain to finally come back to campus in 1997, Sayers should have been welcomed back as often as he was willing to return. We all knew the names and stories of basketball legends of the past. Gale’s story really should have been drummed into our heads so that we knew, even if we never saw him play with our own eyes, how lucky we were that he was a Jayhawk.

KU Football

I didn’t play close attention to the build-up to last week’s game against Baylor since the game was in doubt until Friday due to Covid concerns on the Baylor roster. So perhaps I missed signals that a change was coming.

Thus I was surprised on Saturday when I saw the tweets that true freshman Jalon Daniels would be starting at quarterback. The coaching staff seemed thrilled when he committed and signed last year, but I don’t think I ever heard his name in the preseason. I wondered if he wasn’t ready for the challenges of college ball yet.

But Saturday he started well. I couldn’t see the game, only highlights that hit Twitter, but he was much bigger than I expected. Writers say he has a huge arm. He made a ton of mistakes, but also played with a swagger and confidence KU hasn’t had in a long, long time. His mistakes were out of ignorance and brashness rather than cluelessness or ineptitude.

KU played a lot of first year players Saturday. They lost 47-14. The first sentence in more important than the second. Les Miles and his staff are doing it right. They’ve filled their first three recruiting classes almost exclusively with high school players. That’s step one. Step two is playing those kids, for better or for worse. If you believe in their talent you get them on the field and let them learn by going through adversity. It sure as hell won’t pay off this year. It may not pay off next year. But unlike the wishy-washy half measures the last three coaches have taken at least this is a concrete path to the future.

Starting Daniels is the most obvious piece of this plan. To be fair, he started because at least one of the QBs who played week one was not healthy enough to play this week. But throwing Daniels out there also sends a message to this year’s recruiting class: if you’re good enough, you can get on the field quick. And look at this kid and his potential, don’t you want to be a part of what he’s going to do?

Offered with the usual caveat that this is KU football and any glimmers of hope are more likely to be brutally crushed than offer even meager payoffs.

Alex Gordon

This was Alex Gordon’s final weekend as a professional baseball player. Most of my readers are Royals fans, and thus read the many tributes to Alex over the weekend. I feel like most of what I would write would repeat those, so I’ll try to keep this brief.

Alex was the first guy who made me believe the Royals’ fortunes would change. He was the best player in college, grew up a Royals fan, and they managed to not fuck up the draft and pick him when he was waiting for them. He roared through the minors. This was it, the next great cornerstone of the franchise!

Then it didn’t exactly work out like we all planned it to. He retires being responsible for the biggest hit in franchise history, being beloved by the fanbase, and almost certain to have his number retired. But it was a bumpy road to get there, and even when he righted himself after early struggles, he still had a strange career. There was the offensive peak from 2011 until he got injured in 2015. Even then, though, he would be white hot for three weeks, then go stone cold for three weeks. He would hit the biggest, loudest, most majestic home runs you have ever seen, then look lost for weeks at a time.

He worked his ass off to become the best left fielder in the game. He may have worked too hard and hurt himself at the plate, but you could never, ever question his dedication or worth ethic. He was not the demonstrative leader that Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, or Salvador Perez were. Yet he was also the unquestioned guy that everyone looked up to.

There’s a part of me that will always view Alex’s career as a slight disappointment. He was a career .257 hitter with an OPS+ of 102. As good as he was in 2011 and 2012, if feels like he should have extended that success over a 4-5 year stretch. His defensive play always made up for his struggles at the plate, though. And “Gordon in the air to center…back, at the wall…this game is tied!” will always make up for any disappointment at his career numbers.

Kid Hoops

L’s first CYO basketball game of the year was Sunday. I am back on the bench as an assistant coach this year. We played a school we lost to by eight last year, mostly thanks to a third quarter in which we were outscored 6-0.

We led 7-5 at halftime and used a 8-0 run in the third quarter to break the game open. We got a little sloppy late but still closed it out to win 17-7.

L had four points. She hit a couple jumpers, one from a step inside the 3-point line. She also missed at least 80 layups and was 0-2 from the line. We will be spending a lot of time on layups at practice this week. I believe our team went 1-852 on layups.

I am responsible for the offense we run and the girls, well, they did not run it well. It’s a (theoretically) simple pass-and-cut offense that you can run against about any defense. They were passing and cutting, but then no one looked for the ball or posted up after their cuts. And no one looked at the cutters for a quick hit. Well, L did throw one toward a cutter late in the game, but the cutter never looked at the ball, and the defense had switched to zone so there were three defenders waiting to grab the pass.

Our defense, though, was awesome. We are pretty small and mostly fast. The team we played was bigger and slower. Our girls attacked every loose ball, jumped in the passing lanes, pressured the ball, and generally created havoc on the defensive end. Not exaggerating, we had at least 20 breakaway layup attempts that came off of steals. If we could get to even 50% on those we would be in really good shape, because half court offense is always going to be a struggle. That is middle school basketball for you.

MLB

Still trying to figure out how the playoffs work. I’ve been pretty checked out of baseball for the past month so need to start paying attention again.

NBA

Not sure if it is the bubble environment, the lack of crowds and travel, or just the strangeness of 2020, but Miami is making the playoffs feel more like an NCAA tournament. They are the team that got hot at the right time and never fade in the big moments. Some friends of mine and I like to make fun of Jimmy Butler and how he thinks he’s a superstar. If he gets the Heat to a title, I guess he can laugh at us. Lakers in six.

Sports!

August 10, 2020 /

It’s taken me awhile to get into them, but sports are back! Kind of, sort of, that is.

As I type this fall college sports are looking nervously at the drain, aware that a hand is lingering near the handle to flush them away to 2021.

But the pros have been keeping us entertained for a few weeks now. And it has been surprisingly good.

Golf

Golf was the first major American sport back, and had a glorious weekend with the first major championship of the year, the PGA Championship played at Harding Park in San Francisco. Twenty-three year old Collin Morikawa, just over a year after turning pro, won his first major with a sublime back nine Sunday.

Morikawa was in the middle of an extraordinarily packed leaderboard when he mis-hit a wedge on the 14th hole, coming up short of the green. Hoping to just get close so he could salvage a par, he chipped in to take the lead at –11. Two holes later he hit a legendary tee shot. Where others kept trying to fade the ball over the trees to the reachable par four, Morikawa took a little off his standard cut, bounced the ball just short of the green, and rolled it to six feet. He banged in his eagle putt and the tournament was his. He damn near holed a 30-foot birdie putt on 17 just to clown with people.

It was a dazzling end to a fantastic tournament. At least 120 guys had a chance to win on Sunday. Well, more like 12 or so, but it was a lot. Morikawa was the only one who could bust through, and he did it with absolute aplomb. He was the least heralded of last year’s three college megastars who turned pro together, largely because Matthew Wolff and Viktor Hovland played on one of the greatest college teams ever at Oklahoma State. All three have wins in their first year on the tour – Wolff also had a chance Sunday and is lamenting three putts that just missed – but Morikawa now has three wins including a major. The future of golf is good.

What was greatest about the weekend was ESPN’s coverage of the tournament. ESPN doesn’t get too many chances to show golf, but they balled out. Scott Van Pelt and David Duval were soooo good in their hosting duties. Duval never strikes me as a dynamic personality on his Golf Channel work. I don’t know whether Van Pelt drew it out of him or he was just more relaxed, but he was like a totally different guy. He provided great insight, was sneakily funny, and even gently roasted a few players. The network managed to show both the stars and the developing stories. Their on-air-talent was entertaining, informative, and humorous without being distracting.

In certain circles of the golf media universe, people love to kill CBS for how bad they are at broadcasting golf. ESPN gave people who complain exactly what they have been craving. I hope they can repeat the weekend’s performance when they take over non-network coverage of most PGA events in 2022.

Oh, and all PGA’s and US Opens should be played on the west coast. There’s nothing better than turning on golf at 10 AM and having it still on at 10 PM. I didn’t watch every minute of the coverage, but the TV was generally on just about every hour that ESPN and CBS were broadcasting.

NBA

The Bubble World NBA has been surprisingly entertaining. The first week I watched a lot; this past week I’ve mostly been watching only when the Pacers are playing. Where golf manages without a crowd – you lose the reactions to dramatic shots you but also lose the idiots who have to yell “GET IN THE HOLE” or “MASHED POTATOES” on every fucking tee shot – I was worried basketball without a crowd would seems sterile and boring. But it’s been alright. Granted, there is some fake crowd noise piped in, along with music and announcers. The Zoom fans are a cool touch, too.

I think what saves it is seeing the benches go nuts on certain plays. Those moments get lost a little when the crowd is going crazy. But when Joel Embiid took another piece of Myles Turner’s soul with a ridiculous dunk in the Sixers-Pacers game, seeing his teammates literally jump over the barrier in front of the bench was awesome.

As a Pacers fan, it has also been a lot of fun watching TJ Warren begin the restart on a ridiculous hot streak. He had some really good moments in the first part of the season, but also seemed to be working to find his place on the team. He’s not an alpha, content to quietly fit in, which made the transition a little more awkward. Something flipped and he’s just been going off. 53 in a win against the Sixers. 39, including a massive three with 11 seconds left to beat the Lakers. He’s been over 30 in every game but one and leads the league in scoring in Orlando.

The Pacers have also been a lot of fun to watch. They’ve been banged up, which has forced them to play small. But it is, mostly, working. I don’t know that they have enough to win a series or two in the playoffs, but at least they are entertaining.

Baseball

Baseball is also really strange without a crowd. Stadiums designed to hold 30,000–50,000 fans being completely empty gives the games a haunted vibe. Listening on the radio gives the games a spring training vibe, with the voices from the dugout and around the diamond coming through clearly.

With the short season and expanded playoffs, the math for this year is different than any other year. Teams that probably shouldn’t be taking chances to get to the postseason are doing just that in hopes they make the tournament and can then get hot.

The Royals are one of those teams. Brady Singer and Kris Bubic are clearly good enough to be in the big leagues. But I’m not sure it makes sense for the Royals to be burning a year of their big league control of each pitcher in a season in which the Royals are unlikely to contend. Then again, the Royals needed starting pitching and with there being no minor league ball this year, I guess this is the only way to allow their best prospects to keep developing. And I guess it’s a good problem if the Royals are good enough in a few years that they regret starting the service time clocks on these guys early.

For the first two weeks that decision looked especially dumb. The Royals looked pretty bad over the first 12–13 games. But now that they’ve ripped off four-straight wins, including sweeping first place Minnesota, and you start crunching numbers on how they can make the expanded playoffs. They’ve started hitting the ball. The pitching has been solid, especially the bullpen. And they are getting guys healthy.

It’s stupid to get too excited about winning four games (which translates to nearly 11 games in this year’s math). The Royals are still a pretty weak club. And baseball has made so many missteps along the way to reopening that I don’t think anyone has much confidence they won’t have to shut the game down at some point. At least there are games to watch for now.

(Mostly) Sports Notes

February 18, 2020 /

Time for some of my famous half-assed sports thoughts!

NBA ASG

Man, I am mad at myself for not paying more attention to Sunday’s All Star Game. I blame L. I told her the game was on and she wasn’t interested, so we watched other things. I turned it on for the last 30 seconds of the first half then switched away, got distracted by a book and emptying the dishwasher, and forgot about it until it was over.

Sounds like the new format was a success, though. This Elam Ending thing is certainly intriguing. I really hope that the NBA uses it in the G-League and summer league games, or even that some college holiday tournaments give it a shot. I like the concept but I really want to see it in a true game setting to understand how it works in practice. I’m suspicious about changing the context of a game within the game. But I would also love to find a way for the end of close games to not take 20 minutes of real time to play.

Astros

The Houston sign stealing scandal has gotten really good over the past few days. You have players calling out the Astros and the MLB commissioner. You have fans just destroying the team and the league. In an era when so many dramas are manufactured, this one is 100% legit and I’m waaaay in on it turning into a season-long beef.

I saw this morning that an oddsmaker set the Astros hit by pitcher total for the upcoming season at 83.5. My initial thought is that seems low, although I’m sure MLB is going to step in and do its best to chill things out if the beanings get out of hand in April, which could make that number about right.

KU

You see what they’re doing, don’t you? Marcus Garrett having the best shooting game of his life Saturday? And Devon Dotson repeating the act Monday night? They’re getting all those shots out of the way so they combine to go a very March-like 0–21 on Saturday against Baylor. At least it’s February…

Seriously, game of the year Saturday in Waco (assuming Baylor beats Oklahoma tonight). I hope KU has a better plan to attack Baylor’s defense than they did a month ago.

Marcus Morris

Plenty of chatter among KU fans about whether Marcus Morris was deserving of having his jersey retired. Since the standards were relaxed late in Roy Williams’ run, I think Marcus absolutely fits the standard: he was the Big 12 POY which, even at KU, should be enough. As a couple writers keep pointing out, he had the most efficient and impressive offensive year of any player in Bill Self’s tenure.

Still, I understand some of the reluctance. And I think it’s totally based on how Marcus’ teams never made it to the Final Four. Most of all, it goes back to the 2011 VCU game, the worst loss of Self’s career and perhaps in school history.

CJ Moore had an interesting conversation with Elijah Johnson on The Athletic about that game. Elijah is always a super interesting quote, but I can’t believe I hadn’t heard him share this story before. He said in the team’s film session before the VCU game, the coaches ended it with a highlight reel of the 2010–11 season. The design, it seemed, was to remind the players of all the good things they had done and how great they could be.

However, Johnson said, the players took it a totally different way. He said the film room was dead quiet afterward. Some players were emotional. He said instead of inspiring them, the highlights reminded them of how close to the end they were, a big deal for a team that was exceptionally tight. He also said it made him feel like no matter how they played in the VCU game, they couldn’t match what had been contained in those highlights.

Fascinating. It may explain why KU came out so dead in the opening five minutes of that game, digging a hole they could never get out of.

It also makes me madder about the game I’ll always be maddest about. A freaking highlight video kept a team with the easiest path to a national championship any KU team has ever had from beating a team that shouldn’t have even made the tournament? Going to find a stray dog to kick for awhile…

Colts

Speaking of kicking dogs, there is a lot of smoke around the rumors that Phillip Rivers could end up as a Colt. I totally get it. You go get Rivers or Tom Brady or Drew Brees or some other competent, experienced quarterback, draft someone else in the first round, and use the veteran to get through the next two years before that rookie is ready to play.

But Phillip Fucking Rivers?

For starters he’s a douche. His skills are clearly on the decline. Most of all, he and his teams were Kryptonite to the Manning-era Colts. They knocked them out of the playoffs twice, once with Rivers on the sideline injured. They ended the Colts’ perfect season in 2005.

At least Brady won Super Bowls. And even lost Super Bowls. Rivers’ teams have never gotten close. His game is clearly on the decline. He’s never been mobile. Seems like a horrible move to me. Just another reason for me not to watch the NFL, I guess.

I’m also fearful the Colts will draft Tua Tagovailoa. No doubting the kid’s heart, but he’s undersized and always hurt. Not a recipe for a franchise QB.

The Algorithm

Sometimes the various algorithms that run our lives are spooky. M is creeped out by the ads that pop up on her Instagram feed. They seem to mirror closely conversations she’s had. The other day she was saying “DOG FOOD!” near her phone, over-and-over, to see if that sparked a bunch of dog food ads. It did not, which I think proves the algorithm knows when you are trying to game/mock/test it.

I do enjoy how the algorithm works most of the time. Especially on YouTube, when it will randomly pick up some old song I haven’t listened to in years and spits its video or a performance of it out at me.

I say that because it’s been months since I’ve watched any 2014 or 2015 Royals highlight videos. Yet, last night when I was doing some research I’ll discuss in my next Reader’s Notebook entry, there were a bunch of ALCS and World Series highlight videos that kept bubbling up.

I approve, algorithm, I approve.

Kobe

January 27, 2020 /

So where was I? I was enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon after joining friends for a birthday lunch for my wife. I was watching golf – the Farmer’s Insurance Open was extra interesting this year since the hotel we stayed at in San Diego last summer bordered the course – and scrolling through Twitter when the Tweets began hitting. There was that half hour or so between the first Tweet and when someone other than TMZ confirmed that Kobe Bryant had, in fact, died in a helicopter crash when I hoped it was some horrible error.

Alas, it wasn’t an error or a joke or some cruel hack. Kobe Bryant, one of the most complex, interesting, and amazing athletes of my life, was dead at 41.

I had a weird relationship with Kobe. Early in his career I was excited about his promise, delighted by his exuberance, intrigued by his unique background, and astounded by his ability. But, in time, his act, for lack of a better word, grated on me. I found so many things he did on the court aside from the actual playing of basketball contrived. The 57 deep breaths before some big free throw. The walking around the court and pumping his fist slowly while making a determined face during a dead ball in crunch time. His weird back-and-forth with Shaq. It all seemed done for the cameras rather than organic and spontaneous.

Soon I was rooting against whoever he was playing against, delighting in those early and middle years when he failed in the playoffs.

I was not alone. I can’t think of another elite, alpha athlete who was so nearly equally loved and loathed. Whether it was for that false feeling air about him that turned me off, or people who hated his ball-hogging, shot-chucking tendencies, there seemed to be a hater for every Kobe super-fan. It made my guy Paul Pierce’s huge NBA Finals performance in 2008 even better because he defeated Kobe in the process. I know Pierce wasn’t better than Kobe. But because he was a better teammate, because he had bested Kobe on the biggest stage, it made the Celtics’ title even more special to me.

In time I learned to love how Kobe leaned into all of this hate. He fucking loved being a villain. He embraced every ounce of hate people sent his way. He knew that we didn’t hate him like a Bill Laimbeer or some other role player. No, he knew that to be a true villain is just the opposite side of the coin as the hero. Both are respected and feared. One is just on your side, the other against you. He could live with that knowing that all us haters, deep down, respected him.

Late in his career I came to appreciate Kobe more. There was that embrace of being the bad guy. There was his tireless work rate. I’m not sure anyone, not even Michael Jordan, ever put as much into games as Kobe did. It drove me nuts that he shot 800 times a game. But in time I was worn down by it and began to marvel at the sheer audacity of his career. I admired how his game didn’t slip much as he grew older, how he played at the highest level until his body literally gave out on him. There was no Willie Mays in the World Series moment, no Jordan on the Wizards moment. Kobe went out as a stone, cold assassin on the court.

The whole Mamba Mentality thing drove me nuts. (Speaking of contrived!) To be fair, though, it was his reality. He might be the most pathological basketball killer the game has ever seen, again more so than even Jordan. At times it was disturbing at how competitive Kobe was in every aspect of the game. There were those interviews where he would speak deeply about things that had nothing to do with sports. Then the interviewer would mention some slight or perceived failure, Kobe’s eyes would flash, he would get restless in his seat, lick his lips, and you would see the straight asshole he was on the court come out.

Kobe came along at a weird time, just as the Jordan era was wrapping up. As Kobe was reaching his peak, LeBron James showed up and revolutionized the game, doing things with a gigantic body that no one had done before in the history of the game. Michael was loved and idolized. LeBron was friendly and open. LeBron would, shockingly, pass to teammates in key moments. When LeBron’s career was still in its early days and we didn’t know how it would turn out – with him rivaling Jordan for the game’s all time best in a way Kobe never would – I told a friend that if I had a son who played basketball, I would much rather he emulate LBJ than Kobe. LeBron was inclusive and warm where Kobe was exclusive and cold.

In that comparison is another irony of Kobe’s career. He was one of the smartest, most intellectually curious players in the modern NBA. Yet he was so closed off in his pursuit of winning.

There is, of course, another huge moment in Kobe’s career that made many people hate him: the sexual assault case against him in 2003.

Although the charges were eventually dropped when the victim refused to testify, it was hard for me, and many others, to get over them.

I had forgotten, until a friend reminded me of it Sunday evening, about the public apology Kobe issued after the charges were dropped. I went back and read it. It is a remarkable document. I found an article that was published four or five years ago that discussed his apology. It pointed out that no prominent athlete who has been accused of sexual misconduct since then has done anything like what Kobe did. Everyone else has denied, denied, denied, sought to find character flaws in the accuser, and done their best to hide behind their attorneys.

Kobe admitted that he realized the woman he had sex with did not see the encounter as consensual. He apologized to her, her family, his family and teammates, and the city where the encounter took place. He said he did not question her motives and understood his apology could be used against him in a civil case. Most of all, he said he understood his actions had made her life hell for well over a year.

What I found most remarkable about the apology was how it does not read like it was run through an entire law firm before it was issued, with dozens of qualifiers added to protect Kobe legally. Although it was surely drafted with the help of others, ultimately it reads as something directly from Kobe’s heart.

My friend who reminded me to go back and read it is a female sports writer. She has little time for athletes who abuse women, physically, sexually, or emotionally. She said from all she heard, Kobe lived the rest of his life in a manner that was consistent with that apology. He learned from his grievous mistake and treated women differently because of that.

Nowhere was that more apparent than in his doting over his daughters. Which is the real motherfucker of the day. It’s one thing for Kobe to die early, leaving a family behind. It is so much worse knowing his daughter Gianna was with him, with one of her basketball teammates and her parents. Kobe had become a huge advocate for women’s sports. I don’t know if he ever actually said these words, but the phrase “If you can play, you can play,” was attributed to him. Former baseball player Brandon McCarthy Tweeted Sunday night that he believed Kobe was poised to do amazing things for women’s sports as his daughters grew older and he threw his weight behind more and more women’s events.

Kobe was a deeply flawed dude. Of course, we all are. His flaws were just so jarring and always out there for public scrutiny. I hated him as a player for most of his career. I was an adult when he came along, still believing to in the power of sports to elevate and unite, but cynicism was starting to creep in. Kobe did a lot to help my sports cynicism grow.

But, man, he was a remarkable player. And a remarkable person. A man who was poised to continue to affect the world even with his playing days well behind him.

Just because I didn’t like him as a player doesn’t mean I wasn’t sad about his passing.

Last night I tried to put Kobe’s career in the proper context. Journalists kept saying he was one of the greatest players ever. But where did he fit in? Rather than try to say he was #3 or #10 or whatever, I approached it from a different angle: what is the smallest number I can get to where I can comfortably say “Kobe was one of the X greatest players of all time?” You can argue he’s anywhere within this list, but putting him lower and including someone else would be ludicrous.

I settled on eight and could be talked into seven. Jordan, LeBron, Magic, Bird, Wilt, Russell, Kareem, and Kobe. I struggle with Kareem a little because he was such a unique player whose immense accomplishments have kind of been lost to time. He was a revolutionary player who won more MVPs and championships and was in more All Star games than Kobe. I’m pretty sure he belongs in this conversation, but a part of me thinks he’s the first guy you can say “Wait a minute…” about.

This morning I read NBA writer Henry Abbott’s thoughts about Kobe’s death. It is from the perspective of a parent. As the father of three girls who has fears for their safety, and as the son of a mother who died in a car accident, this piece got to me.

“This is why mothers don’t sleep” (Henry’s site works strangely and I am unable to link directly to the article. Go to his home page then select the article.)

Sports Takes

July 8, 2019 /

Some sports takes from the long, holiday weekend.

USWNT

Oh hell yes, the ladies got it done! In a tournament that proved that the women’s game is as strong as it has ever been, and getting stronger each year, the US had the toughest possible path to the title and still managed to win with a fair amount of comfort. Sure, they were a bit fortunate against England, but they were the better team in that game. Yes, it took them far too long to score in the final against the Dutch, but, again, they absolutely dominated play and were unlucky not to score at least four more goals.

It wasn’t always beautiful soccer. People who know more about the game and the US roster than I do have been taking shots at coach Jill Ellis for weeks about her lineup and strategic choices. When the team went undefeated and were never in danger of losing a knock-out game, I’m not sure it really matters.

Bottom line is the US won.

In the process Megan Rapinoe ascended as athlete of the moment. I saw a great line in a wrap-up I read this morning: I wish I could do anything with the confidence that Rapinoe places the ball on the penalty spot. Was there ever any doubt that her penalty attempts would not find the back of the net? She took on a lot this tournament, and many would have cracked under the pressure of the moment. But she embraced it, made the moment hers, and performed at well as anyone could have asked. Along the way she made sharp, eloquent comments about her views and the platform she had. Her name is now with Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach, Carli Lloyd, and Morgan’s as the best every to play for the US. She’s also placed her name with some of the giants who took strong social and political stands without fear of reprisal. All respect to ‘Pinoe.

L watched the entire final with me, although much of the game she was playing a game on her iPad and had headphones on. She was disappointed her hero Alex Morgan didn’t have a better tournament. I kept pointing out that it was hard to do much when each team’s strategy seemed to be to knocking Alex down as much as possible. Although no official word ever came, I thought that she was playing hurt during all the elimination games. She just never looked to be herself. Then again, all the attention opponents put on her opened things up for her teammates.

Rose Lavelle was my breakout star of the tournament. I watched a lot of the tune up games over the spring and she never really stuck out to me. She was just this tall, skinny, pale, very Irish looking woman who deserved less attention that the US’ vaunted stable of forwards. In the tournament she proved what a badass she is, and her goal in the final was a piece of individual brilliance. She and Mallory Pugh – another immense talent that could barely find minutes in France – are the young stars poised to step in as Rapinoe, Lloyd, and Tobin Heath begin to cycle out.

It was a good World Cup overall. Some fantastic games. Plenty of contrived controversy. A rapidly improving pool of teams. And the best team winning a deserved fourth World Cup.

NBA

OH MAH GAWD, KAWHI BROKE THE NBA!!!!

That was my first thought Saturday morning when I got up and saw Kawhi Leonard had signed with the LA Clippers and somehow managed to get Paul George traded to join him as well. Actually, my first thought was which George the headline I read was referring to, because it was way out of my level of comprehension that the Clippers might somehow work that trade out. Tate George? Jeff George? Boy George? Surely not Paul George.

But, man, what a cap to a pretty crazy week of free agency. While everyone seems to think the Lakers and Clippers are the two teams most likely to win the title, I think the league is actually full of really good teams. Throw in a handful of “too young to win but stupid entertaining to watch” teams and there is a really good argument for getting the NBA League Pass.

I mean, the Western conference could be an absolute bloodbath. The Nuggets and Jazz both made very smart moves that made them stronger. Houston seems bent on doing something big to try to stay in the mix as long as James Harden is in his prime. Portland isn’t really a title contender, but can hang with any of the elites on any night. The Warriors will still have Steph and Draymond along with D’Angelo Russell and some other nice parts that will keep them from being pushovers, and Klay Thompson could be back for the playoffs. New Orleans will be super young and likely pretty bad most nights, but also have a crazy talented roster that should be a lot of fun to watch.

The Eastern conference won’t be as stacked, and should come down to the Bucks and Sixers, with whichever team stays healthy being the favorite. Brooklyn made the biggest waves, although they will have to wait until Kevin Durant is healthy to reap the rewards. The Nets seem like the most interesting team to watch since Kyrie and KD together gives them the league lead in bitterness. Atlanta is a little like New Orleans: absolutely packed with young talent that will play amazing ball some nights and look terrible others.

The Pacers made some low-key great moves, although Victor Oladipo being out for at least the first third of the season probably means that they won’t be a factor this year. I really like just about every move they made. Malcolm Brogdon is a great compliment to Oladipo. Jeremy Lamb is a great addition for depth. Drafting a highly skilled big man from overseas was a head scratcher at first, but it gives them the freedom to move either Myles Turner or Domantas Sabonis to add another part or draft picks.

Maybe the Finals are destined to be Lakers vs Bucks for the next few years. I see the league as being super deep all of a sudden, though, with no one filling the role the Warriors filled the past five years as clearly the best team. And LeBron isn’t the LeBron of four years ago, so you can’t just pencil his team in. I think it is going to be a faaaaaantastic season.

“It’s Not Fair”

A quick word about NBA player movement in general. There was some general butthurtedness1 here in Indy about how the players have taken control and rigged the league so franchises like Indiana don’t have a chance.

Although I understand the argument, I think it’s crap.

See, Indianapolis, Sacramento, Oklahoma City, etc have never been, and will never be destinations for the highest level free agents. It has nothing to do with the players having too much control. And it doesn’t mean those, and other cities, are bad cities. It just means athletes, who are young, physically gifted, and rich want to live where the night life never stops, where there are hundreds of thousands of beautiful women, and where other entertainers tend to congregate.

San Antonio built a dynasty in a second-tier NBA city. Denver is a great city, but it’s not a destination for elite talent. Hasn’t stopped them from building a monster roster. Salt Lake City might be the least NBA city in the league. They had one of the best off-seasons in the league and are poised to battle the LA squads.

Yes, the margin of error is razor-thin. Yes, you have to get extraordinarily lucky in the draft. You have to make astute trades. You might need a generational talent as the coach. And there are heaps of other good fortune that must bless your franchise.

Don’t blame the players, though, when you look at the odds. Those odds were about the same back when Reggie Miller was playing for the Pacers and the players had far less power than they do today.

  1. Spell check tells me this isn’t a word. I disagree. ↩

US Open with A Dash of NBA Finals Notes

June 17, 2019 /

I think I firmly established my old man status by watching approximately 800 hours of golf this weekend. Now, it was the US Open, which is always big. Before we had a lake home and spent most of our June weekends there, I was still watching the Open for hours on Father’s Day weekend. And Topeka, Kansas’ own Gary Woodland leading for over half of the tournament, from his late Friday charge through his memorable back nine Sunday to win his first major, also helped.

Obviously I’m thrilled with Woodland’s win. It has certainly fueled my rediscovery of golf that he is one of the most talented players on the tour. It’s nice that he has a major win to elevate his status from just another guy with talent in a sport that is filled with those guys. His round Sunday was filled with some nervous moments. At times his game off the tee resembled mine: no idea what direction it might go. But, unlike a guy he is often compared to, Dustin Johnson, he found a way to recover from every mistake, or at least limit the damage. Along the way he hit two shots that will go down in US Open history, and be shown each time the championship comes back to Pebble Beach.

His three wood from the fairway on 14 had people Tweeting the Sam Cassell Big Balls GIF. That was just an amazing shot, up the hill, over a bunker, into a tight pin location, as his wheels were getting a little wobbly. That birdie tuned a one-shot lead into a two-shot cushion, largely eliminating Justin Rose and making it very tough for Brooks Koepka to have a chance.

And his chip off the green on 17, which he nearly holed, came after one of his worst shots of the day, an absolutely flubbed iron off the tee that came up approximately 175 yards short of the pin. Yet he calmly clipped it, without taking a divot, and left himself with a couple feet for a gutsy par. On the No Laying Up message board, someone posted that the average golfer attempting that shot would have hit the ball into the ocean or taken a huge crater out of the green. Or both.

Onions.

And then Woodland closed in style, drilling a 30-feet birdie on 18 after three shots that were almost too safe coming up the fairway.

His win was made more impressive by the run that Brooks Koepka made at him. The two-time defending champion, and winner of the last two PGA titles, birdied four of his first five holes which made it feel inevitable that the best golfer in the sport would catch and pass him no matter what Gary did. It felt like the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January, where Woodland entered the final round with a lead, shot a terrific 68 – one of only two rounds in the 60s – and yet still lost because Xander Schauffele dropped a course-record 62 on him. Sunday Brooks was going low and there was nothing Woodland could do about it.

Until we had that crazy 30–45 minutes where all of the contenders kept fucking up. Koepka would hit it into the rough. Woodland found sand on the right. Rose found sand on the left. Repeat. It was a comedy of errors as all three men seemed to wilt under pressure. As he did all weekend, Woodland found a way to make pars out of bogeys, and limit his bogeys to single shots lost rather than multiples. It was just enough to keep Koepka from ever catching him.

Good, entertaining golf all around. Although I do love the bloody US Opens where no one can break par and all the players are complaining about how unfair the conditions are.

I admit that if Woodland was not a Kansan and a Jayhawk, I would have been pulling hard for Koepka and history. Woodland is kind of the classic boring golfer. He has a huge game, but never shows much emotion. Hell, other than raising his arms and giving a fist pump after his final putt dropped, he still didn’t look a guy who had just won his first major. I think I’d be pissing myself where he remained cool and blank. But fact is he has a Jayhawk on his bag, comes from my home state, and hasn’t seemed to say or do anything super dumb, so I’m on board with him.

I’ve learned that having takes about golf means you need to have takes about the coverage. Fox did much, much better than CBS would have done and outpaced NBC’s efforts as well. Thursday and Friday were absolutely tremendous, exactly the way golf should be covered. Coverage of a wide range of golfers, reduced commercial breaks, some real quality analysis, not too many fluff pieces. Saturday and Sunday skewed more toward traditional coverage, but they still did a better job than CBS or NBC would have done. They’ve come a long way from the first couple years they had the US Open when it seemed like no one had any idea what they were doing.

Some quick words about the NBA Finals.

L is funny. She has favorite sports teams, but she can’t watch them play. Or at least not for very long. Whether it’s the US Women’s soccer team, the Royals, or the Warriors, she’ll sit down to watch a game with me, get antsy, and quickly give up, telling me, “Will you let me know who wins?” The funny thing is when I tell her one of her teams loses, she gets all frustrated. So she was very frustrated as the Raptors and the Hoops Gods defeated the Warriors.

Yeah, I said it. All props to the Raptors for winning a title I don’t think anyone gave them a chance to win. But that was clearly Hoops Gods in action. How else do you explain Kevin Durant getting hurt not once, but twice? If he plays and is healthy the entire series, the Warriors win in five or six. How else do you explain Klay Thompson, who was playing the best basketball of his life, blowing out his ACL on a fairly innocuous play in an elimination game? The Hoops Gods were either sick of the Warriors or punishing them for hubris. I’m pretty sure if game six had gone to OT Draymond Green would have gotten another T so that he would have been suspended for game seven. And if game seven was close, 100% that Steph would have gotten hurt. The Warriors were flat not winning.

So L was bummed and the Dubs’ dynasty likely comes to an end. It’s pretty crazy that they were arguably the greatest block in NBA history and a bad calf muscle away from winning five straight titles. That really shouldn’t happen in the modern NBA.

NBA ASG

February 19, 2018 /

I found myself watching the entire NBA All Star Game last night. That was kind of a surprise because that’s not something I’ve done very often in, oh, 20 years or so. Plus the Olympics were on, with some decent live coverage that didn’t revolve around four hours of figure skating for once. But L was excited to see Steph and Victor Oladipo, so we started watching and then I kept it on after she went to bed.

It was a pretty solid way to waste two and a half hours.

Well, except for the half of Fergie’s singing of the National Anthem that we caught. There’s been enough piling on this morning, so I’ll just say that even L said, “Whoo, that’s pretty bad!”

This year’s game came with the novelty of trying to de-noveltilze the game, if that’s the right word. Yeah, it was a still going to be an All Star Game with some inherent looseness compared to a “real” game. But the players and league were trying to reduce the silliness that had taken over in recent years. No more threatening 200 points or basically turning the game into a dunk contest with defenders rarely venturing inside the lane.

I think it was a pretty decent success.

I loved the concept of picking teams. And LeBron is right: if they keep this concept in place, they have to do the draft during All Star Saturday and televise it. That would be so awesome! Especially given how the dunk contest is so meh these days. But a televised draft would be amazing. Especially if you had a green room with all the potential draftees lined up and we could see the looks on their faces as they get passed over or are forced to play with someone they have a beef with. Un-drafted guys could lobby to end up on one team or the other. This would be great and really must happen.

The game? Solid. No All Star Game in any sport should be played with maximum intensity. It is an exhibition designed for the fans. Baseball tends to do a good job splitting the difference between fun and competitiveness. I think the NBA re-discovered that midpoint last night. The game was entertaining, the players seemed to be having fun and getting along and were interested in putting on a show. But it still resembled a game of basketball.

Oh, and we got a really good last four minutes or so. The intensity picked up. Defense got played. Teams were trying to get switches to good matchups not just for show, but to try to get a bucket. The last possession, when LBJ and Kevin Durant trapped Steph Curry and chased him around so he couldn’t get a shot off was just the best. It reminded me of another play I saw 10 years ago.

The big winner of the weekend was LeBron. More than any recent superstar in any sport, he has willingly taken on the role of being THE spokesman for the sport. Every word he said this weekend was perfect. Every action he made during the game was perfect. I’ve always liked LeBron. But this weekend was the first time I’ve probably ever loved him. I believe his love for the game and interest in making it better is genuine, and his efforts to use his platform to help others is equally genuine. The Jordan vs. LBJ conversation has gotten louder over the past couple years. I’m always been firmly Team MJ. But I will say, if LeBron keeps going a few more years and turns the on-the-court debate into a tie, the things he’s doing off-the-court seem like more than enough to break that tie.

Oh, and I’m not even talking about the political angle that was thrust upon LeBron this week by an idiot TV commentator. You know I’m down with LBJ there.

All this – including conversations between players and referees to try to improve on-court relations between those groups – are more signs that the NBA is the best pro league going right now. Football is a mess. Baseball seems to be tired of its labor peace as several small disputes and a few larger ones appear poised to turn ugly quickly. Meanwhile the NBA has the most exciting game to offer, puts its players out front, embraces rather than runs from making political and social stands, and is actively engaged in finding ways to make the game and game experience better.

A Weekend Without Kid Sports

October 23, 2017 /

For the first time since way back in August we had no kid sports this weekend. That meant I got to fully immerse myself in televised sports. There was plenty of baseball, soccer, basketball, and football on our TV, along with a bonus dose of college basketball on my Twitter and email feeds. Some words about all that…

Baseball

Man, what an excellent ALCS. I only say that because the Houston Astros won. Had the Yankees pulled out either game six or seven and moved on to the World Series, I would likely have a different opinion. And be done with baseball for the year.

Thankfully the Astros got some big hits late in each game, some amazing pitching in game seven, and move on to play LA. That should be a dandy of a series and will likely come down to whichever team’s top two starters perform the best. Houston better hope they can keep scoring runs, as I don’t trust anyone in their bullpen in a close game whereas the Dodgers have a lock-down pen if they need to protect a one-run lead late. Feels like Dodgers in six, but I’ll be pulling for Houston.

The cloud that hangs over all of this is that it appears as though the Yankees are about to get really good again for some time. They are loaded with young talent, have more talent high in the minor league system, and the biggest contracts on the payroll all fall off over the next two years. That’s like the perfect storm for building a dynasty. It was nice when they were irrelevant for awhile.

Football

Here we are in year like 27 of the KU football rebuild with no signs of improvement. When KU hired David Beaty three-plus years ago, I was firmly in the camp of having to give him at least four and likely five years to get things turned around. With the hatchet job Charlie Weis did to the program, Beaty had to have the luxury of time to rebuild it the right way.

And while I think it was unrealistic to expect more than a couple wins from this year’s team, what should not have been unrealistic was a team that played better. Not a team that gets blown out by mediocre MAC teams in back-to-back games. Not a team that can’t do the simplest things right. Not a team that often looks thoroughly lost.

There was some optimism, most likely misplaced, coming into this season. A close loss (that should have been a win) against TCU last year. The overtime win against Texas. The preseason Big 12 defensive player of the year. A new quarterback.

Turns out it’s the same old shit. A team that isn’t just overmatched in terms of talent, but looks poorly coached.

That’s the big rub against Beaty. When Mark Mangino took over the program, it took him a few years to increase the talent level on the roster. But he and his staff taught the kids he had how to play smart football. They might not have been able to run with Oklahoma’s receivers, but they were always in the right spot and didn’t make the same mistakes twice. This year’s team shows none of that intelligence or ability to learn. And that’s coaching.

I think Beaty is probably safe this year, simply because athletic director Sheahan Zenger will not be allowed to hire a third head football coach. No matter what he’s done to support the other sports and keep Bill Self happy, he’s the guy who panicked and hired Weis, and then bought into the idea of Beaty and his Texas ties turning the talent base around over hiring a guy with coaching chops. If I were Zenger, I’d be thinking about where I’d want to move my family later this year.

And here’s a thought: quit worrying about hiring some offensive genius. Let’s hire a defensive coach and see how that works. Hell, I’d switch to an option offense, or something crazy like that. Stop competing with, oh, every other program in the country for kids that can play in the various flavors of the spread offense and go back to a 1980s-style running game. It seriously can’t get any worse. Why not try something totally different?

Speaking of jokes, Sunday I got to watch my first Colts game of the year. Those guys are a complete disaster. And as I think Andrew Luck’s injuries are the football gods trying to fix their mistake of allowing the Colts to transition straight from Manning to Luck, I think all the other issues the Colts have are karmic retribution for not taking care of Luck. The latest? First round pick Malik Hooker blew out his knee when he was blindsided by a Jags player yesterday. He’s done for the season. Jacksonville is a rapidly improving team, but they barely broke a sweat in rushing out to a 20–0 halftime lead. A lead that really should have been 35–0. It ended up being the Colts first regular season shutout loss since 1993. Yikes. Oh well, that means more time on Sundays for me.

C actually went to the game with a friend. It was her first Colts game. They had pretty good seats, and she had a really good time. She doesn’t know much about football but knew enough to figure out the Colts sucked. She giggled while telling us stories of Colts fans booing their own team, and Jags fans who were making fun of them. And even she wondered out loud why the roof wasn’t open on the last, beautiful, warm day for several weeks.[1]

Basketball

I’m kind of digging all this buzz about the NBA. Maybe it’s just the right point in the web’s history, but it seems like more major sports sites are devoting more time to the NBA than in the past. There’s a different buzz around the beginning of the season than there used to be. We’ve watched parts of all three Pacers games so far, and a few minutes of other games. Pacers? Not good, but not bad enough to be in the hunt for Michael Porter Jr. or Marvin Bagley or DeAndre Ayton next June. Limbo is the worst place to be in the NBA.

Still, I keep telling myself as soon as college basketball begins, I’m much more likely to watch a Butler game than the Pacers, or some top 25 matchup in college than the Cavs playing Boston. To be a casual, yet devoted, fan of the NBA seems like a pretty daunting task. Which I know is a weird thing to say as a guy who watches 130 Royals games each summer. But that’s one team I have to worry about. If I dive into the NBA, there are a couple games each night I need to try to balance with shows I watch, books I’m ready, and college hoops.

I figure I’ll watch more this year than I did in the past, but I’m not ready to go all-in with the NBA just yet. If the Sixers are on, I’ll watch to try to catch Jojo’s act.[2] Until he gets hurt, that is. If the Warriors are playing in the eastern half of the country, L will want to watch them. And I’ll try to catch Wiggins, Jackson, the Morrii, and the other KU guys when they’re on national TV.

And then there was The Scrimmage yesterday in Kansas City. Yep, Kansas took on Ol’ Mizzou in a “scrimmage” to raise money for hurricane victims. As it was the first meeting between the teams in over five years, it was kind of a big deal. I was intrigued by the scrimmage, as it would certainly show more about KU’s talent than their exhibition games against D2 schools. But not intrigued enough to drop $40 for the pay per view. Not intrigued enough to sit and refresh my Twitter feed non-stop for two hours to get updates, either. But I was paying attention in between doing laundry, prepping dinner, etc.

Sounds like it was a good day all around. Big crowd, lots of money raised. Mizzou showed that Porter Jr. and his buddies are all legit talents and MU basketball isn’t a joke anymore. KU showed that Devonte Graham is a legit All-American candidate and if LaGerald Vick, Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, and/or Marcus Garrett can combine to be a poor-man’s Josh Jackson, this team can lose in the Elite Eight again. Oh, and KU looked sloppy late in the first half, fell behind by as many as six, and then dropped the hammer in the middle of the second half before cruising and nearly blowing the lead. It felt like February!

I generally support Bill Self’s stance to not play Missouri. No need to rehash the whys and who’s fault is its again. But this was a good thing. And I would not be terribly surprised if the teams are in the same bracket this coming March.

Well, there was weekend one without kid sports. L actually begins basketball practice next weekend, but no games until December, so I’ll have a few more weekends loaded with TV sports.

  1. Folks were bemused about the parameters the Colts use to decide whether the roof will be open or closed back when the team was winning. Now that the team is awful, folks get enraged about it. In truth, it’s just another sign of how dysfunctional the entire organization is.  ↩
  2. I was looking at Embiid shirseys the other night. You can get a game-worn jersey for a cool $7500!  ↩

NBA Draft Notes

June 29, 2017 /

Crap. With the NBA Draft on a Thursday going into a busy weekend, I totally forgot to share some draft-night thoughts. Which is a shame, because I probably had a couple really good ones I forgot about over the weekend!

First off, some truth: draft night was a big letdown. There was sooooooo much hype coming into it. It had the potential to be the biggest non-game night in league history. Then Boston traded down, clearing up what had been a murky picture on how the first 3–5 picks would shake out and the air began to go out of the balloon. The Jimmy Butler trade was an absolute stunner, but given how we were all keyed up for something crazy to happen with Paul George, there was still a sense of disappointment when he was still a Pacer at the end of the night.

A few other thoughts from the evening:

  • Markelle Fultz to the Sixers. Man, do they have an embarrassment of young potential on that team now. Of course, my man Jojo may never be healthy enough to play 82 games, let alone do amazing things in the playoffs. Ben Simmons has yet to play a minute of pro ball. And despite all the hype, when I watched video of Fultz, I see a guy that is kind of herky-jerky rather than a dude who blows by you or overwhelms you. Then again, James Harden isn’t the smoothest guy in the world and he’s done just fine for himself. It’s time for the Sixers to start winning some games. No pressure on any of these young cats.
  • I was rooting for the Lakers to pick anyone but Lonzo Ball. Yeah, I’m a hater. At least of his pops. I find Lonzo himself to be a pretty bland kid that evokes no strong feelings either way. And I’m not convinced De’Arron Fox isn’t going to be a better player. This pick made so much sense for everyone involved that I can’t really knock it. But I would have loved to see Ball Sr. pissed off that his kid dropped.
  • Jayson Tatum to the Celtics makes perfect sense as they are currently constructed. He’s likely going to be the best offensive player from this draft and fits right in. But if they sign Gordon Hayward and/or trade for Paul George, his role is less certain. Of course, he could be playing here in Indy if the PG trade goes down.
  • Paul Pierce retired this year, so it might as well be a KU swingman that assumes the mantle of “guy who dropped and makes everyone pay for it.” Granted, Josh’s drop wasn’t nearly as far as Pierce’s, and a lot of folks had him going right where he ended up at #4. But the thing is Josh thinks he should have been the #1 pick. For a guy who loves to play with a fire, that’s all he needs. I really hope he shoots 8000 shots a day and turns into a great all-around player. But even if he never figures out the jump shot, he’s going to have a very nice and long career locking people up on defense, catching lobs, and grabbing rebounds.
  • De’Aaron Fox. I love everything about this guy. Hope Sacramento doesn’t mess him up.
  • As my buddy E-bro in ATX said after the Knicks picked Frank Ntilikina, “What happened to the grainy video we used to get when Euros got drafted?” Ntilikina’s highlights were all in HD! And I was confused by the Frenchman’s excellent English, including the proper use of hoops idioms. We’ve come a long way.
  • There was quite a run of lanky white guys in the draft. Ten years ago your automatic thought on these dudes was, “Uh oh.” Now, though, since they’ll all turn into pick-and-pop guys who hang out behind the arc, they actually seem like decent picks.
  • With that in mind, I hated the Pacers taking TJ Leaf at #18. The franchise is in flux and likely will be rebuilding for the next 2–3 years, so I’ll admit this is a fairly low-risk pick. I’m not sure I buy that his awkward athleticism will translate to the NBA though. His dad grew up in Indy, so nice to see them taking the (quasi) local boy, I guess. I would have preferred Jarrett Allen, although how Allen fits with a team building around Myles Turner is a tough question.
  • I’m not sure how Caleb Swanigan fits in in the NBA, either. My thinking is if he can be a poor man’s Draymond Green, he can stick around. But I’m thrilled that kid got picked in the first round and had a three-year contract. I’m kinda glad it’s not with the Pacers, though. There’d be a ton of pressure on him here, especially if he takes a year or two to find his footing, which I think is fairly likely.
  • OF COURSE John Calipari ends up on the ESPN stage with a platform to himself. It’s always gotta be about him. There were other coaches in the house, but they stayed in the background. But he always finds a way to get in front of the camera and tell the world he’s all about his kids. That’s why he’s the best, I guess.
  • Frank Jackson gets picked to open the second round and ESPN proceeds to ask him six questions. Nice to be a Dukie.
  • While on the subject of the immediate interviews, ESPN’s Allison Williams was not good. But, of course, she is very pretty, which is all that matters. Again, Doris Burke would have asked each kid smart questions tailored to their experience. But since she’s not eye candy, she got the night off while the cute girl said, “I gotta ask you…” and “How does it feel…” all night.
  • FRANK MASON TO SACRAMENTO! My buddy E-bro, a former Sac resident and the only Kings fan outside Northern California, was very pleased. I hope Josh becomes a star. I hope Jojo gets healthy and can dominate for an entire season. I hope Andrew Wiggins learns how to take a smart shot and becomes a legit top-tier player. But my biggest KU NBA wish is that Frank makes the roster this year. I don’t care if he plays five minutes a game, I want that dude to sign a contract and play an entire year in the association.
  • BTW, I totally approved of all the love BIFM got. He was featured prominently in the opening highlights package. Jalen Rose kept saying, as the first round stretched out and other guys got picked, “I’m taking Frank Mason.” And when he did get picked, even more love for him. “He’s too tough not to succeed in the NBA,” said Jay Bilas.
  • Oh, and it was nice that BIFM went before both fellow Big 12 guys Juwan Evans (which was a surprise) and Monte Morris. Those guys were another sign of how the NBA has changed. With the new G-league contract options I think teams are really reluctant to give undersized guys three guaranteed years right off the bat. Guys like this trio, and Frank Jackson, will have to earn that first multi-year contract. 10–15 years ago, all four of those guys were first round picks.
  • The night could have been a lot more fun had Boston stayed at #1, someone in the 4–7 range panicked and moved up, or Paul George been traded. But it wasn’t a bad night at all.
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