Basketball from a fan’s perspective

He remains for now

The tradeline deal the Lakers were to make never occurred. You know the one sending D’Angelo Russell somewhere and bringing on board a shooter, D’ Lo remains on the roster. Not only is he still on the roster the Lakers did make a move however it wasn’t the one most of us expected. Spencer Dinwiddie was signed after he cleared waivers, according to reports it was going to be the Mavs or his hometown Lakers. Although he’s 30 years old and has been in the league for a period I don’t know a great deal about him. He played his college ball at Colorado, he was a 2014 second round draft pick by the Pistons. Dinwiddie’s played for the Wizards, Mavs and twice for the Nets.

His numbers clearly indicate he can shoot especially from three, how he fits the Lakers for now is an unknown. The only known factor he brings a veteran presence to the roster and LeBron and AD are pleased with the addition. I intend to adopt a wait and see attitude regarding this move however on the surface it looks good. Laker defense appears to suffer at times, management has discussed “adding another scorer” but my eyes indicate there are more likely defensive issues to deal with. In a move parallel to last season should we Laker suppose this is the point the Lakers begin a stretch run to earn a playoff berth. Better yet it certainly would be ideal but how about this to occur, begin the season on a high note to avoid playing .800% basketball to earn a spot in the play in tournament.

Shaq’s coach

Dale Brown retired from coaching in 1997, LSU was his last stop and he was head coach there for 25 years. Everyone has something they don’t perform at a high skill level, for Dale Brown it might have been the X’s and O’s of the game. Brown excelled at recruiting and guiding young men at life more so over basketball. I’ve never read one former player say anything negative about Brown, they all speak highly of him this native of Minot North Dakota. An example of winning but not advancing one of his LSU teams had Chris Jackson (Mahmoud Abdul Rauf) Shaquille O’ Neal and Stanley Roberts 7 foot 1 and 285 pounds. That team should have dominated college basketball but came up short.

Abdul Rauf says, “Roberts was more talented than Shaq but didn’t have a work ethic.” The statement is not one individuals impression I’ve seen an interview in which Shaq’s confirmed what I just wrote. Back to coach Brown, he was a father figure to his players and all loved playing for him. By 1992 with Roberts and Abdul Rauf gone Shaq often found himself triple-teamed in the post. Seeing how his player was being beat up Brown told his star player he needed to declare for the NBA draft. Brown always had the best interest of his players foremost in his thoughts, he closed out his college career with 448 wins. Of course Shaq left before graduation and the rest is history. Coach Brown was enshrined in the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014, he is larger to me than the game if you understand my meaning.

There is no mystery to me

Not only is Ben Simmons no mystery attempts at humor fall short for me. I was going to cut and paste the headline but decided against it. Friends I became aware of Ben Simmons early, this from his days growing up in Australia. When it was reported he intended to enroll at a school in the U.S. I had no idea it would be LSU. Seeing as many LSU games as possible on television I discovered, “He doesn’t have a jump shot.” Simmons I would learn was adept at passing the ball and setting up his team’s offense. His defense was good without being spectacular. He would submit his name for the NBA draft and in 2016 the Sixers made Simmons the number one pick in the draft.

Although his shooting was spotty in Summer League play he was expected debut in the fall until the injury. An injury forced Simmons to miss what should have been his rookie season, he would make his debut the following year. He was named Rookie of the Year in 2017, based on his numbers it’s understandable. The 6 foot 10 Simmons was a modest 15 point a game scorer but he snatched down as many rebounds as dishing out assists. 8.1 on the rebounds and 8.2 assists per game, he shot a sizzling .545% from the floor although he took no shots from three. The numbers Simmons cumulated remained steady but somewhere he appeared to lose confidence in his ability or something unknown occurred. In any event the Sixers traded Simmons to the Nets and his NBA career has continued to falter. He allowed the Philly fans to get into his head and he’s never recovered.

NBA mock draft

We often ask the question, “How accurate are NBA mock drafts?” It depends on your sources but my brief research proves at least in four instances they are pretty doggone close. In 2011 “The Klaw” Kawhi Leonard was projected as pick number 15 in mock drafts, he was actually made pick 14 by the Spurs. Checking the next year 2012 for Draymond Green, you realize he was a second-round pick. Green was supposed to be pick number 32, he actually was chosen 35 by the Warriors. We fast forward to 2018, that was the Luka Doncic draft, the Hawks chose him but traded his rights to the Mavs. The Don was projected number 3 on mock sites and that is the position he was chosen.

Isaiah Joe has become an important part of the Thunder rotation, what about him you ask? He was projected to be pick 44 in a second-round mock draft he actually was chosen 49. This is certainly not intending to paint an inaccurate portrait, these mock draft guys miss on occasion but I thought this was interesting. This unscientific survey was done randomly, I decided to choose four names out of the blue and uncover their projected position and where they were actually drafted. Laker guard Austin Reaves is an interesting study, as most of you are aware he was not chosen in this manner. He let it be known to NBA teams he didn’t wish to be drafted, he preferred to find his own team signing as a free agent. I was curious, two sources both indicate if Reaves had been drafted it would have been in the second round.

The NCAA champion

In early February we have an idea who makes the 2024 NCAA tournament. As for the championship that’s a different matter, the ideal scenario is to see a team in person. Sorry to say I don’t have that luxury so my view becomes one of televised games only. I’ve managed to see the NET Top 10 teams in action with the exception of North Carolina. With this I foresee the tournament as the last team standing wins it all. The defending champion UConn Huskies look good, Dan Hurley is an outstanding coach and manages to turn out competitive teams.

I mentioned Carolina earlier, this might be the best team Hubert Davis has placed in front of us in his third year at the helm. Others to consider would include Purdue, Houston, Marquette and Arizona. Notice who is missing from my list Kansas and Kentucky, both are good however they appear to lack that championship creed this time around. The one school that might be considered a dark horse championship possibility is Tennessee. Rick Barnes has been on the job in Knoxville and his teams are always good. Did I leave out any other candidates…of course I did, a winner is likely to come from a team I’ve failed to mention. With that said here goes certainly worth mentioning South Carolina, Baylor and X. You realize X represents the one team I failed to mention.