Basketball from a fans perspective
Ya Charles, we get it!
Charles Barkley reminds us on every occasion possible the “turrible” state of the Lakers, okay we get it you don’t like the Lakers. I can speak for Laker fans in stating we expected more this season, no NBA Championship just better basketball. If Barkley checked around the association he might discover a number of other “turrible” teams. Even more interesting several of these teams earned playoff berths last season. The list is not intended to be complete the 76ers, Nets and Lakers and several other teams are excluded. This should provide plenty of discussion on teams without Lakers across the front of their jersey. The standings on Wednesday morning 11/18:
Pelicans 1 win 10 losses
Blazers 4 wins 8 losses
Rockets 4 wins 7 losses
Thunder 6 wins 5 losses
Clippers 6 wins 4 losses
"Houston we've had a problem"
Those were the words spoken by Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Swigert in April 1970 on the way to the moon. That sentence might have been repeated by Rockets GM Daryl Morey recently. I don’t know about you but I was surprised by the sudden firing of Kevin McHale. The Rockets have begun the season in a disappointing manner considering they were a playoff team. A number of coaches are not good head coaches they have difficulty leading, I don’t believe McHale is one of them. According to GM Morey “the team was not responding to him and there was no time to wait for a turnaround.” Assistant J.B. Bickerstaff was named interim head coach replacing McHale. J.B. is the son of veteran head and assistant coach at several stops Bernie Bickerstaff.
Triple-Double
We have become accustom to the triple-double in basketball. It might be more noteworthy when it occurs in an unusual manner. The Heat lost 103-91 to the Heat but Hassan Whiteside had quite a game. His line from the game read; 22 points 14 rebounds and 10 blocked shots. The single game blocked shot total places Whiteside in some pretty exclusive company. Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Dikembe Mutombo and Kareem Abdul Jabbar all managed 10 or more blocked shots in a game during their careers.
Kings of Turmoil
Four veteran comedians came together to form “The Original Kings of Comedy” in 2000. This is 15 years later and we have a situation in Sacramento we could term “The Original King(s) of Turmoil” but this time nobody is laughing or telling jokes. I’m referring to a continuing issue with the Sacramento Kings head coach, player(s) and the owner. By now you have read or heard “Boogie” Cousins and his profanity laced tirade aimed at Coach George Karl. He’s said to have apologized to his team and the coach, meantime Vlade Divac claims Karl’s job is “safe.” Could we finger point--of course we can, how about owner Vivek Ranadive? In a manner similar to a movie hero he came in the 9th hour to save the Kings franchise for Sacramento, it was headed to Seattle.
For unknown reasons Mike Malone was fired and replaced by George Karl in February 2015, later reports circulated Randive had attempted to fire Karl. I’ve never been a Karl fan despite his resume, he seems to wear out his welcome and teams either fire him or he walks away. For recent history check out his last coaching stop in Denver. Nuggets. We have the Karl-Randive issue, then Karl-Cousins and finally Rajon Rondo. In July Rondo signed a 1-year contract with the Kings after falling out with the Mavs and Coach Rick Carlisle. Unlike Boogie Cousins Rondo’s game has continued on a downward path since he left the Celtics. We are weeks away from December and the question remains will the King(s) of Turmoil resolve itself?
“The future’s so bright”
The complete the line from the 1986 hit by Timbuk 3 is; “The future’s so bright I gotta wear shades.” Some of you might not be old enough to remember the recording however it could easily apply to the Wolves. They have added rookie Karl-Anthony Towns to a lineup featuring last years Rookie of the Year Andrew Wiggins and Ricky Rubio at the point. Veterans Kevin Garnett and Tayshaun Prince have been added as well to provide leadership and depth at the power and small forward slots.
23-year old Shabazz Muhammad is the first small forward off the bench and eventually rookie Tyus Jones will move to the number two position behind Rubio. Just adding talent is not always the key to success you must include the “right” coach to lead this collection of youngsters and few veterans. It’s up to Sam Mitchell to prove he’s the coach to lead this team deep into the playoffs. At some point the winter nights in the Twin Cities might be quite warm as the “Baby” Wolves continue to grow up before our very eyes.
