Basketball from a fans perspective
Published Sunday, Monday, Wednesday &
Friday
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.
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