“When it rains it pours”
For those who might be unfamiliar the headline it’s an old adage. It simply implies life events sometimes will expand; a small problem can often grow into a larger one. That might be the question asked by Thunder fans, Kevin Durant, Reggie Jackson and Jeremy Lamb all on the sidelines nursing injuries. Last Thursday more devastating news occurred as guard Russell Westbrook was injured during the second quarter. The mercurial Westbrook suffered a broken bone in his shooting hand. As this is written there is no timetable how many games he might miss. It’s still early the vast majority of the NBA season remains in front of us, how these team injuries will impact the Thunder is undetermined.

Hate that word
As this is written the Lakers first two games have been blow-out losses. A fan said; “We should trade Kobe and just tank the season.” For Laker fans the season has been mixed, the return of Kobe Bryant has been good the lack of talent----well. First of all the Lakers are not going to trade Kobe as for losing games on purpose to enhance draft position. I’d rather the Lakers (or any other team) to go 0-82 making an effort to win rather than losing games on purpose. Prior to the season start the NBA Board of Governors discussed a change in the draft lottery but failed to enact any changes. The draft lottery was originally established to prevent teams losing on purpose. It now appears there is need to tweet the lottery in some manner.

Finally
Last Wednesday ground breaking ceremonies were held for Sacramento’s downtown arena. The $477 million dollar is intended to be open at the start of the 2016-17 NBA season. This yet to be named arena will accommodate 17,500 spectators for basketball. The long-delayed project (20 years) will now proceed to completion, its quite possible this may have not occurred under the Kings previous ownership group. In fact the Maloof brothers signed an agreement at one point and then back out of the proposal.

It’s not just me
No one will ever mistake 6-10 235 pound Jordan Hill for Kareem or even Dwight Howard. The aforementioned players manned the center position for the Lakers at one time. At present Hill occupies the center position for Byron Scott’s Lakers. Recently Hill had a quote for the media, he indicated “If Mike D’Antoni had returned he wouldn’t be with the team.” Hill went on to say; “He didn’t feel he fit the system the former coach ran thus he played limited minutes.” On the other hand we heard Jeff Van Gundy recently praise D’Antoni for the innovated change he‘s brought to NBA offenses. In this instance I’m not going to disagree with Van Gundy I only have a short response to him. “Hey Jeff what has D’Antoni won with his offense, isn’t defense just as important as offense?”

What’s the cut-off point?
At times my commentary may have been critical of an individual or a team. I truly hope it hasn’t appeared my remarks could be construed as mean-spirited. It appears at least two in the media can dish it out but don‘t response well when the critical remarks are aimed at them. This is a condensed discussion regarding a recent ESPN First Take and Stephen A. Smith. I am unfamiliar with the initial tweet Smith sent out aimed at boxer Floyd Mayweather however I heard the boxers’ response. Mayweather is no saint in my view he has skeletons in his closet. I’ll provide the shortened version of the tweet by Mayweather.

He said; “Last time I checked I’ve never seen Stephen A. shoot a basketball or toss a football etc. etc.” I believe Mayweather intended to point out it’s easy to sit and view an athletic event it’s a different matter to compete. Skip Bayless immediately came to Smith’s defense stating; “We (media) have a responsibility to report what we see and our assessment of the individual or team.” I could say okay, I would not want to restrain anyone from free expression. The problem for many in the media is they believe their view is only one that’s valid. They often become disturbed when they are criticized, I say if you make critical remarks expect to receive it in turn.