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Basketball from a fans perspective

What do you think?

I’ve said over and over success or failure of an NBA draft cannot be determined immediately. We often must wait 2-3 years or more to fully assess it, there is the maturity factor of the player and second the opportunity for more minutes to consider. As for my favorite NBA team I’d like you to take a glance at what others think about the 2023 Laker draft. Below is the grade from 6 websites, again a reminder this is June 2023, they have no idea just like us what the future might hold:

nbadraft.net A-

USA Today C+

SI.com A-

sportingnews.com A

cbssports.com A

thescore.com B

From this list it appears the columnist for USA Today Sports is not particularly impressed with Jalen Hood-Schifino or Maxwell Lewis. The free agent signings of D’Moi Hodge, Colin Castleton and Alex Fudge are not included in their evaluation I believe.

NBA Summer League

Allow me to place this at the beginning of this account, I don’t place a great deal of stock in summer league play. The chief basis for my hesitation, the rosters are assembled with little if any time for team practice. Even a modest amount of practice would prevent the large number of turnovers and increase the amount of shots made by teams. With that statement concluded how about the games, this update is not complete only selected games.

Heat-Lakers

The Heat beat the Lakers 107-90 however second year guard Max Christie of the Lakers announced “I’m here” with 17 points and only two turnovers plus 4 assists. Laker Jalen Hood-Schifino could make the same claim with 15 points and 4 assists. For the Heat second year man Nikola Jovic (21 points) and rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. (22 points) led the way for the victory. The Lakers didn’t shoot badly from the floor (43.4%) but from three they managed an atrocious 21%. Contrast that with the Heat who shot 52.1% along with a sizzling 46% from three. Former Mizzou guard D’Moi Hodge came off the bench for the Lakers scoring 7 points in 18 minutes, included in his total was a steal and a thrilling dunk.  

Jazz-Thunder 

There is another slim rookie we need to check out this summer, i.e. Chet Holmgren. Yes, Holmgren missed last season so technically he is just beginning his NBA career. Do you remember all the negative comments we read or heard about Victor Wembanyama’s weight? Circle back to this time last year, the same stories were circulating about Holmgren. It certainly didn’t help his cause when he was injured and forced to miss the season, that was then, this is now. The 7 foot 1 Holmgren didn’t lead the Thunder in scoring but was a vital contributor to the 95-85 victory over the Jazz. The backing by Holmgren consisted of 15 points and 9 rebounds.  

Winning & the coach and other stuff 

There are two ingredients for a basketball program to be successful in my view. The first is a winning program over a period of time. It’s great to win national titles but that doesn’t always occur every season but competing successfully certainly does, i.e. NCAA tourney appearances. In addition to winning the coach plays just as much a vital role, besides winning how are kids attracted to Kentucky, Kansas and until recently Duke. I believe these institutions and others are recruited without the coach even mentioning a prospects name. Another caveat is location, I’ve read the campus or location of a school can also be key in a prospects decision. I’ll give you an example, Jon Bol 5-star prospect in the Class of 2024 is from Sudan but lives in St. Louis.

Bol was heavily recruited by Mizzou, one particular website indicated there was more than a 60% chance he signed with Mizzou. Last Saturday at noon Central Time Bol announced his intention to sign with the University of Florida. I’m sure you are reading this scratching your head; you are probably saying “Florida isn’t a highly sought out destination.” I’ve not seen the campus but the prospect of moderate winter temperatures in Florida when it’s 20 degrees in Missouri can be a factor. Despite what might appear to be negatives the coaching staff must continue to put forth its recruiting effort. The last recruiting tool is NIL, we are unsure the degree name, image and likeness plays in recruiting yet. NOTE: This was written earlier Bol’s de-committed from Florida, Mizzou might be in his future again perhaps?

2013

There have been years the NBA draft wasn’t lucrative, in the early days we could say scouting was not precise or extensive. If an athlete failed to live up to expectations it might easily be excused. Information was circulating on how poor the 2013 NBA draft turned out to be so I decided to check it out. That season the Cavs made Anthony Bennett from UNLV the number one pick. It was quickly discovered that Bennett was unable to play at the NBA level, by 2017 he left the league although he still plays just not in the NBA. Victor Oladipo was the second pick and though he’s had a fairly good career he’s missed significant time due to injury.

Otto Porter Jr. the number three pick has not been able to duplicate his Georgetown effort through 6 NBA teams. Cody Zeller was the number four pick from Indiana, similar to Porter Jr. he’s just been an average player in the NBA. Alex Len pick number five has been a journeyman player with 6 different teams. I’m going to stop at this point because I hope you can see the direction this is headed. You are asking yourself “was there any above average talent in that year’s draft?” The answer is yes however it was in the lower rounds. As an example Giannis Antetokounmpo was pick number 15 by the Bucks, we might debate the role of Dennis Schroeder here but I’m adding him anyway pick 16. Number 27 Rudy Gobert was drafted by the Jazz. As for those at the top of the list we can state with conviction they are being paid huge sums of money so it cannot be all bad.