Basketball from a fan’s perspective

"When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on." 

Franklin D. Roosevelt   

Did the Lakers give up too soon?

This discussion was prompted by a conversation with a fellow Laker fan.  He posed the question to me, did the Lakers give up too soon on Julius Randle and Brandon Ingram, he also included Lonzo Ball in the conversation of promising players.  As for Lonzo the Lakers made him the second pick in the first round of the 2017 draft, if we check his numbers the 2020-21 season has become a career year.  Remember this issue he couldn’t shoot, well it’s not great but consider this, Lonzo’s career field goal percentage is 39.9 this season he’s at 41.9% an improvement. 

As for Lonzo's 3 point shooting he is 35% for his career and 37.6% for this season.  He continues to rebound the ball good for a point guard and his assist numbers are decent.  The question is posed again did the Lakers give up too soon? Two factors enter the picture currently the first, the team wasn’t particularly good.  In addition, there is a question if Luke Walton was a good enough coach, the Lakers needed Anthony Davis and he proved his value.  The Lakers would not be 2020 NBA Champions without him, we can state the trade was beneficial for both parties.  

We have a problem

Why do many measure basketball accomplishments on an NBA?  This is dated in a sense because most often we speak of players who play either 3 or 4 years, one and done athletes don’t qualify.  Let’s check out a few, the first player that comes to mind is Adam Morrison who played at Gonzaga.  Morrison is a two-time NBA champion with the Lakers however he hardly played.  A first round pick drafted 3^rd in 2006 he was unable to duplicate his college prowess at the NBA level, Morrison was out of the NBA by 2010. 

Many of you listen to analyst Bill Walton on ESPN and decide “He couldn’t have been very good based on his career with the Blazers and Celtics.”  Unfortunately, a series of injuries would impact his play in the NBA quite significantly.  At UCLA Walton was a dominating force against opposing teams in the play of UCLA in the late 70’s.  At 6 foot 11 he was the driving force behind the team’s 88 game winning streak.  We could also look at BYU’s Jimmer Fredette or Duke’s Christian Laettner, don't negate their exploits in college due to an average or no NBA career.    

Makur Maker

The former 5-star high school prospect has a decision in front of him, does he remain in school or declare for the NBA draft?  Last summer he created a great deal of news announcing he would attend Howard University an HBCU school located in the nation’s capital.  The first incident the 6-foot 11 Maker was sidelined with an injury, he’d only played 48 minutes in two 

Then it occurred, covid-19 shut down the Howard program and Maker's freshman season ended with a whimper rather than a bang as was hoped.  What to do, what do now...does he prepare for the NBA draft in July or plan a return to school in the fall?  The two mock draft sites I regularly peruse fail to include Maker's name even with those on the bubble.  With all the college players declaring we are yet to see Maker's name included in the number.  Does Maker train and prepare himself for a return to Howard or is it the NBA draft?  

Tell me something I DON’T KNOW 

The above title has been my theme for several years, it doesn’t matter what field we are discussing.  In this instance it happens to be sport particularly Lakers basketball.  Since the middle of February, we’ve been reading accounts how play of the Lakers has gone downhill.  The volume of negative has become a torrent over the last two weeks.  Exactly what occurred near the middle portion of February, well Anthony Davis went out of the lineup with a right calf strain and right Achilles tendinosis.  How about two weeks ago, what followed at that time? 

LeBron James suffered a high ankle sprain against the Hawks, and he too went on the injured list.  Were these members of the media expecting the Lakers to continue play at a high skill level with two superstar players out of the lineup?  We know a basketball team is comprised of more than two players however in this instance these two can make a world of difference in play.  This could easily be the Warriors, Klay Thompson missing two seasons.  In addition, Steph and Draymond Green have been in and out of the lineup with injuries.  Other changes have caused them to not play at the high skill level of previous seasons.