Basketball from a fans perspective
“Don’t be that guy! “
In this instance it’s me, I’m that guy! A website titled www.givemesports.com on every occasion posts teaser headlines. This is not a website I visit with any regularity it pops up on one of the social media sites I am a part of. Curiosity always forces me to click on the site to read the teaser story. I went to the site figuring I would read some sort of devastating news on Kobe’s latest injury.
“Kobe Bryant makes massive announcement about his career-its bad news.” The story detailed Kobe’s retirement and really offered nothing of subtenant value we didn‘t already know. An uncounted amount of brain cells, vision and oxygen was wasted by me reading a story that contained no value. In closing I’m the dummy for clicking on the site; “Don’t be that (me) guy!” Don’t click on to luring headlines just cause they appear enticing.
It wasn’t me
The Clippers continue to beat up teams with losing records. That’s not all bad as this is written they are 11-3 despite no Blake Griffin in the lineup. Griffin is not the problem it’s the bench, the bench. In a recent game against the Raptors they turned a lead over to the reserves who squandered it before losing 119-94. Doc Rivers confirmed this fact in his post-game press conference. Just who are the reserves and how do we measure their contributions. Many reading this are familiar with ESPN’s John Hollinger PER or player efficiency rating.
It’s intended to bring together all player contributions into a single number. Consider this on the plus/minus scale every Clipper starter was a plus as for the reserves it was a far different story. Jamal Crawford led the way with a -33 followed by the coach’s son with -28 and two others with -26 and -25. Doc when are you going to discover Austin is not a very good NBA player. According to Hollinger the league average is 15.0 which says “he’s a pretty good player.” Rivers is 9.04 which translates to “Definitely renting” one level above 5.0 D-League. Am I being too harsh on young Rivers I don’t think so.
The New York Knicks
I don’t believe anyone will confuse the Knicks for the Cavs, Bulls or even Heat. The teams mentioned are prime contenders to win the Eastern Conference Championship this season. Truth is told one of them might even win the NBA in 2016. The Knicks will not be in the mix for the championship however they are better than last season. As this is written the Knicks are two games below .500 sitting at 22-25 certainly not great by any means but consider this. I checked the Knicks 2014-15 schedule, on are near this time last year they stood 9-37.
They have a long ways to go in order to become a really good team. Carmelo Anthony’s “me” approach to basketball has modified his game to fit a team concept. Kristaps Porzingis will continue to grow his game (and height) while Robin Lopez has been adequate at the center position. Jose Calderon and Arron Afflalo at the guard positions have been an upgrade over last season. Despite some of the negative comments regarding Derek Fisher and Phil Jackson it appears given time they are on course to return the Knicks to winning ways.
History repeating itself
If you are a certain age you tend to believe an event only occurred once and for the first time. That is not always the case sometimes the event is forgotten or overlooked. Many have hinted and a number said it out loud; “LeBron James was involved in David Blatt being fired.” How about other instances in the past of coach-player turmoil? We tend to forget in an earlier time Magic Johnson’s fingerprints were all over Coach Paul Westhead being fired.
The Westhead firing came a short 6 months are so after the coach had led them to an NBA Championship the prior season. Remember Dwight Howard and Stan Van Gundy, they were butting heads at the time they were with the Magic. On May 21 2012 the Magic requested Van Gundy leave the building and not return three months later Howard was traded to the Lakers. There might be other examples of coaching player conflict the events mentioned stand out for me. I’m sure if you care to research it’s likely you might uncover other examples.
