Basketball from a fans perspective
Guilty
The tampering case involving the Lakers and Paul George is over; the Lakers were fined $500,000 for illegally contacting George’s agent. This turns out to be Interesting in that it was Laker GM Rob Pelinka and not Magic Johnson who turned out to be the guilty party. The initial report indicated Johnson was supposed to be the culprit based on a statement he made on a late night television program.
We lose another
Rollie Massimino died at the age of 82; Massimino coached at a number of schools across the nation however one stint stands out above the others. While coaching Villanova his team upset defending Champion Georgetown in the 1985 NCAA Championship. It’s said he was a coach who just loved to coach his last job serving as head coach at an NAIA school. I thought he was already in the Naismith Hall of Fame however I discovered he just missed the vote count earlier this year. R.I.P coach one of the best and another who loved the game.
Middle of the road
The bad teams (Lakers, Sixers, Nets and Suns) are often a subject of discussion. On the other end the spectrum are the Warriors, Cavs, Spurs and Celtics who dominate the conversation on the NBA’s good teams. How about middle of the road teams, they often finish above .500 but have little chance of winning a championship. You know them as the Magic, Bucks, Pistons, Pacers and Jazz. There are probably others I failed to mention but you get the idea, these are the good but not good enough teams, they fail to move into the upper echelon of NBA teams allowing them to compete for an NBA Championship.
“Trust the process”
The Sixers remain in the business of assembling draft choices. Remember all the complaints about the Sixers drafting talent without any plan to improve. All that’s out the window now since the team is on the cusp of becoming competitive once again. The rebuild will continue in 2018, the Sixers have one first round choice and three in the second round.
Second round choices don’t always pan out however it’s never an issue to have too many draft picks; in addition there are always trade possibilities. Former GM Sam Henke caught a great deal of grief over the team compiling draft choices however the Sixers might have just about turned the corner toward success. Provided all the bodies are able to play at the same time Sixer fans should expect slight improvement over last season.
Bits n Pieces
As we move some two months from NBA arena’s open how about an update regarding the arenas under construction. The Pistons closed the door on the Palace at Auburn Hills last spring; they will begin play in Little Caesars Arena in downtown Detroit in October. As for the yet unnamed arena in Milwaukee the Bucks will begin play there in 2018, they will play one more season in the Bradley Center. The Chase Center in San Francisco will open in the fall of 2019, its interesting it was probably the first one planned and will be the last opening much of the delay due to lawsuits.
The best ever, that’s one report I’ve read regarding Luka Doncic. Never hear of him you say, he’s a 6-7 215 pound shooting guard from Slovenia and he plays for Real Madrid in the Euro League. USA Today claims he is one of the five players who could be the top pick in the 2018 draft. As I’ve often stated YouTube highlights don’t provide proof Doncic or anyone else for that matter can play basketball at a high skill level. You and I must depend on NBA scouts who claim Doncic has the ability to play at the NBA level.
As for the 2018 Rookie of the Year Vegas sees the results differently. One betting parlor in Las Vegas picked the Lakers Lonzo Ball, another chose the Sixers Ben Simmons. Simmons qualifies since he missed all of last season due to injury. For the first time in forever we have a deep, deep rookie class, don’t be surprised someone other than Ball and Simmons could actually be selected ROY.
