Basketball from a fans perspective

Familiar names

I’ve mentioned in the past my trust in ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski previously. I’ve found few instances when he’s been wrong on a story he reports. According to Woj the Lakers will announce the hire of Scott Brooks and Nate McMillan as assistant coaches. Both names should be familiar to you, Brooks coached the Thunder and Wizards. As for McMillan his coaching resume is even more extensive going back to his days as a Sonics coach. Now I suppose you are asking the question, do I feel any better about the JJ Redick hire as head coach? As often stated in this blog, “I’m from Missouri, you’ve got to Show Me.”

The 2024-25 Lakers will be a WIP, work in progress, I must wait. Despite the statement this with emphasis from me Redick is a smart dude. The question can he make the transition from a player to a head coach in a single bound? It certainly helps the cause hiring someone you believe might be an aid in one’s effort to succeed. Redick or anyone in a similar position must be willing to listen to and take advise from his coaching staff. That’s what Brooks, McMillan and whoever else might be added to the staff. As this was being finished a story was revealed on ESPN’s Around the Horn indicating these two have history. Brooks playing for the Rockets and McMillan with the Sonics got into a fight on the court while both were active players.

This might be misleading

I’m really unsure why all the complaining about the 2024 NBA draft. No, not the quality but the quantity of drafted players. As you are aware Zaccharie Risacher from France was made the top pick, he was followed in order by Alexandre Sarr also from France. For the first time two international players were drafted as the number one and number two picks. These two are joined by 9 other international’s chosen in this year’s draft. 11 total is not gigantic when you take into consideration there were 60 players drafted in two rounds. Many in the NBA community had us in a panic mode believing the sky was falling. I didn’t check past drafts nor did I read anything to determine if this was the largest total of international players ever in history.

Consider this, baseball, American football and hockey are played around the planet but not in the substantial numbers of basketball. At the present basketball is played by youth all over and in addition there are several professional leagues in all four corners of the world. On the European continent we have Euro League basketball, the NBA Academy Africa is teaching the game, in addition the National Basketball League (Australia), the Chinese Basketball Association and a host of others are playing the game. There are a few in this country who live and breathe NFL football, their   counterpart is guys like me who’s sport of choice is basketball. As I’ve stated over and over, you might as well comfort yourself with the fact international players will continue to be a part of the draft. In addition the numbers will surely increase over the next few years.

I’m replacing Rob

The Lakers failed to pay attention to my draft request, of course I wanted a Big Man. My preference would be of the rookie type but that probably was unlikely. The Lakers are in a win-now mindset, they want a championship a Big Man and not a rookie could bring. There are few quality Big Men available. With the recent signings the list has continued to shrink, let’s begin. A name available is Mo Wagner (6-11, 245 pounds), the Lakers originally drafted Wagner in 2018 but traded him to the Wizards in July 2019.

As far as I remember there were no issues with Wagner he was just part of a trade. Recently I came across the name of another former Laker who is now with the Bucks, his name Brook Lopez. He’s been a valued member of the Bucks since leaving the Lakers. Despite turning 36 before the season ended Lopez had a good season, in the instance of Lopez a trade would be required. Wagner and Lopez each bring a skill set the Lakers are lacking at this point. Once upon a time a player came into the NBA and he named himself the “Kobe stopper” indicating he was able to shut down Kobe Bryant. There is no true stopper in either player named but they do bring something to the table lacking by the Lakers to date.

There is basketball

If you are like me suffering with no basketball to watch this is your reminder, NBA Summer League play will begin play from several sites. One location for the California Classic Summer League will be Sacramento the other schedule finds teams in San Francisco, the dates for Sacramento are July 6-7 & 9. As for San Francisco its July 6-7 & 10. The Salt Lake City Summer League will be July 8-10. The conclusion will see 2K25 Summer League beginning play on Friday July 12 and concluding Monday July 22.

The games in Las Vegas will be played at the usual site, the Thomas & Mack Center. Participating team locations will be provided at a later date, as for the play these teams are put together on the fly. If you’ve not witnessed Summer League play in the past there’s not a great deal of team basketball played. Despite that negative it’s an opportunity to witness talent in action prior to the start of the NBA season. An additional note, I tuned in to many of the Laker games in 2017 wanting to see rookie Lonzo Ball in action. Kyle Kuzma was the budding star of that summer league for the Lakers and he was the player that most the last to arrive in the NBA in this manner.