Basketball from a fans perspective
Not just them
Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram sat out the draft combine however they were not the only ones. Kentucky’s Jamal Murray and Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield in Chicago but did not participate. Dragan Bender is in Israel where his team is finishing the season. As stated in an earlier account none of those skipping the combine will affect their draft status.
New head man
The Pacers hired Nate McMillan as head coach replacing Frank Vogel. McMillan had been on the staff with Vogel serving as his assistant coach. For those who might be unfamiliar with McMillan this is not the first trip around the block for him. He played for the Sonics from 1986 through 1998 and then became their head coach serving in that role from 2000 to 2005. In July 2005 McMillan left for Portland where he would become Blazer coach and lead them until March 2012.
Timmy
On the road to the playoffs Tim Duncan experienced his poorest year in the NBA, in the 2015-16 season in 25 minutes a game he scored 8.6 ppg and grabbed 7.3 rebounds. In the playoffs his numbers dipped even lower 21.8 minutes and 5.6 and 4.2. All season long I heard member after member of the media stating; “Kobe was over the hill or similar statements.”
We never heard or hear negative comments regarding Duncan, wonder why? I can partially answer the question, future Hall of Fame candidate Duncan is quiet, has little to say to the media beyond what’s required. Kobe has always been a “lighting rod” most of it untrue and perception by media members (Jason Whitlock leads the way). Kobe and Timmy careers have been exceptional.
Bits n Pieces
I wanted to clarify a position I‘d taken earlier, I stated a desire to see assistants be taken into consideration as head coaching jobs become open. This is not across the board there are instances a youthful NBA team might require a veteran coach particularly for teaching and leadership.
The NBA Draft other than Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram is full of many questions. The draft combine provided a quantity of insight into this year’s crop of players. As it continues to unfold it doesn’t appear to be a very deep draft. Players will be evaluated on several facets of the game to determine their draft ability. In addition NBA teams will invite individual players for workouts which could impact their draft choice.
Doc Rivers continues to mystify me in some of the things he says. He indicates he has no desire to trade Blake Griffin, Chris Paul or DeAndre Jordan, he further states his bench is good. Come on Doc who you are trying to convince, Griffin missed almost half a season and the Clippers didn’t miss a beat. Jordan is a good at rebounding the basketball and plays tough defense however his effort on the free-throw line, what can I say. I wonder if the Clippers have lost any games due to his poor shooting from the line. Of all the talent I would suspect CP3 is the only no trade player on the roster.
