Basketball from a fans perspective   

Published Monday through Friday

KAT

Wolves center Karl-Anthony Towns has been a favorite player of mine going back to his days at Kentucky. The Lakers invited him for a workout prior to the 2015 NBA draft, they had the second pick in the draft. KAT expressed interest in playing for the Lakers which sounded great to me a potential Big Man star. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your perspective} the Wolves with the first pick chose KAT. The Lakers would then choose D’Angelo Russell, which is a story in itself, he was later traded to the Nets had a stop at Golden State. Russell is now a teammate of KAT having arrived in February 2020 in a trade. In any event KAT had a game for the ages against the Spurs this week.

KAT would score 60 points along with 17 rebounds shooting 61.3% from the floor and 63.6 from the 3-line. He also shot nearly 90% from the free-throw line which is also outstanding. The Wolves are not featured much on national telecasts so the only method to follow his progress is media feeds. The Wolves will soon double the number of wins they registered over last season. Are they finally on the road to success similar to the Kevin Garnett days of the franchise? We don’t have an answer for that, this we know. The Wolves have one of the best Big Men in the game, KAT belongs in the same conversation as Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid. The only reason he’s been omitted to date is the poor record the Wolves have registered.

The winner

You might remember shortly after February 10 I went on record in opposition to most of the media. The majority of media members I believe declared the Nets winners of the Ben Simmons trade to the Nets. No need of rehashing my account we’ll just check out what’s occurred to date. James Harden has seen action for the Sixers in 8 games, Simmons has missed 11 games since he got his wish…to leave Philly. What is the problem, why is he not playing after forcing his way out of the city? This is the official word from the Nets, “competition reconditioning and back soreness.” Not much remains of the regular season and the question is asked. Conditioning and back issues aside will Simmons be prepared for a playoff run with his new teammates? More than likely Simmons has completed several walk throughs with his Nets team but that’s not close to a practice scenario or game action.

They are abandoning the ship left and right

This member of Laker Nation is highly annoyed and disappointed with play this season. Unlike some of you I have not quit on the Lakers but reading some of the comments it appears many of you have surrendered. You don’t honestly believe I’m satisfied with the production I’ve witnessed thus far, as I have often stated I bleed purple and gold blood. From 2014 through 2019 I suffered with inept Laker play, time after time players were drafted but proved not NBA worthy. Despite this disappointment the future and improved play was always in the forefront of my mind. 

If the front office was not good change was made, if the coaching staff failed in its effort to improve the team it too was changed. We went from D’Antoni to Walton to Vogel, it’s clear major adjustments are needed for the future, as stated here no more “Win one now for the Gipper.” The plan to rebuild must be clearly an effort to improve the team over the next 2-to-5-year timeframe. I know who you are, those Laker fans who left the fold. I cannot, no I rather not attempt to convince you to return perhaps your fortunes lie with another NBA team. There are plenty of good ones to choose it just so happens the Lakers are not one of them now, as for the future that is a different matter. A key free agent plus draft picks and the team is competing again; it can happen.

Houston Mizzou we’ve had a problem

With Cuonzo Martin gone there are issues besides hiring a new coach at Mizzou. Freshman Anton Brookshire is leaving the program, we don’t know if it was lack of playing time or the fact the coach who recruited him is gone. The first to leave the program was Sean Durugordon in January. What about the others, the concern is incoming freshman as well as the remainder of the roster?

With a question mark at this point but headed to Mizzou is 6-foot 8 small forward Aiden Shaw from Blue Valley HS in the Kansas City metro. Shaw might be joined by Christian Jones a 6-foot 4-point guard from Cuonzo Martin’s hometown East St. Louis. As pointed out previously the Mizzou roster contained only one senior, does the remaining roster pick up and leave too? This is early yet but many in Mizzou Nation are hopeful most of the roster remains and develops further. At the same time IF they hire the right coach and this roster remains intact, they could be competitive sooner rather than later.