Basketball from a fans perspective

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They won Gold too

Team USA Women followed the win by the Men’s Team on Saturday with a win of their own. They managed to beat a stubborn well coached Japanese team 90-75. The inside presence of 6-foot 9 Brittney Grinner and 6-foot 4-inch A’ja Wilson proved too difficult for the smaller Japanese team to solve; the Japanese team averaged 5-foot 6-inch in height. I didn’t realize like the Men’s Team the Women’s Team also lost an exhibition game; their game was against Team Japan. Congratulations are due Team USA Women for gaining Gold.

Swing and miss

Recently I wrote “Chris Paul was a dinosaur” and it had nothing to do with his age. It was the fact I stated he was the only legitimate point guard remaining in the NBA. The guys playing the point now are more combo guards than anything, well I made a huge error. There was a failure on my part to include Mike Conley of the Jazz in the assessment, I hope fans of the team and Conley forgive me for this oversight. He is now 33-years old but remains a past first shoot second point guard. He’s performed as a traditional point guard over the course of a brilliant career first with the Memphis Grizzlies and now with the Utah Jazz. An oversight on my part and hopefully this corrects that story.

It will be interesting

The Western Conference race in the NBA will be interesting for the 2021-22 season. A little down next season the Los Angeles Clippers, Paul George is good so is Reggie Jackson. PG cannot carry this team without Kawhi Leonard for a major portion of the season. They will be plus .500 but nowhere near the level of the 2020-21 season. One of the teams trending upward competing with the Lakers, Suns and the Nuggets will be the Golden State Warriors.

You remember them don’t you…Steph Curry and company? They return healthy and invigorated with Klay Thompson inserted back into the lineup. Kelly Oubre Jr. is gone however in his place rookie Johnathan Kuminga. As a newcomer its he doesn’t exceed the minutes experienced by Oubre Jr. but expect to see him in action. Also expected to see action is Moses Moody the 6-foot 6-inch shooting guard from Arkansas. SEC foe to my Mizzou Tigers I saw Moody in action plenty, in addition to his scoring he’s a hard-nosed defender. Sorry Jerome I don’t think they have enough horses to compete for the championship, but this is a playoff team.

2-way contracts

What exactly are 2-way contracts, I’m glad you ask the question. This from nba.com, “Two-way contracts are contracts that allow for a player to play for both the NBA and the G League while being under the control of an NBA franchise for the duration of that season. These contracts are limited to two per team and can only be given to players with less than four years of NBA experience.” This past Thursday the Lakers signed Oklahoma’s Austin Reaves and Gonzaga’s Joel Ayayi to two-way contracts, there is no promise of future stardom in this type of signing.

We read glowing reports especially about Reaves and Ayayi, in fact there are claims by some scouts they were rated high enough they could have been drafted in the second round. Ask my wife, she claims I am one of the most impatient persons ever and guess what…. she’s correct. Seeing the Lakers swing a trade which concerned me rather than draft a youngster caused concern on my part. “What could the post-Lebron Lakers accomplish for the future,” we could look at Laker guard Alex Caruso. Caruso was originally signed as a two-way player he bounced back and forth between the G-League and the Lakers, eventually he secured a roster spot. It’s possible the post LeBron Lakers might witness Reaves or Ayayi play a significant role with the team.