Basketball from a fans perspective

Published Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday

Bits n Pieces

This was the year Emoni Bates intended to earn a spot on the Cavs roster. The 6 foot 8 small forward arrived in the NBA last season at a skinny 170 pounds…that was then, this is now. Bates training camp weight when he arrived a few weeks ago and his weight is now 190 pounds, he’s bulked up over the summer but then misfortune struck the youngster. Last Wednesday he underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee. Bates certainly could return before the conclusion of the 2024-25 NBA season, however, that places him behind the time he might have envisioned coming into this season. 

Do you remember, probably not, the following is a portion of my Monday October 7 blog, “We’ll have an idea soon where the Boozer twins are headed. Cameron and Cayden Boozer are the sons of former NBA player and Duke graduate Carlos. Cameron is a 6 foot 9 225 pound power forward, Rivals.com places him in the number two slot in their Class of 2025 prospects. Cayden is listed as a 6 foot 4 inch 205 pound point guard, he’s number 23 on their list. I will be shocked if they fail to attend their fathers school, the expected news conference on October 10 will see them announce they are headed to Durham to play for Duke.” On Friday (Oct 11) the twins made it official and confirmed an intention to enroll at Duke. 

As most are aware the Knicks Mitchell Robinson is not in training camp nor has he been in action. Mitchell’s been sidelined due to surgery, the truth of the matter he only saw action in 31 games this past season. Despite this fact he’s found his way into this blog over the last few days due to his coach Tom Thibodeau, who has raved about his defensive presence in the middle. The timetable for his return to action is January, the team should be solid with KAT and Jerico Sims. These two will play the majority of minutes until Mitchell is able to return to action.

I don’t do predictions, at least not very well I might add. As for the Lakers the focus is on the wrong rookie in my view…it should be on Dalton Knecht or maybe not. The question might be who is more NBA ready Bronny James or Knecht, I happen to believe the answer is clear. We are a few short weeks from the start of the regular season, I’m going to look back. In three summer league games Knecht averaged 21.3 points per game while shooting nearly 42% from the floor and 39% from three. To detail for you it wasn’t just scoring he averaged 5.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists and nearly 2 steals a game in 30 plus minutes. I have no input on the coaches rotation but I could see the 6 foot 5 Knecht being part of it. On the other hand what do I know, I’m just a guy sitting behind a laptop who happens to be a Lakers fan.

His health is key

The Sixers made a key move over the summer luring Paul George to their side. At the age of 34 is there enough in the tank to aid the Sixers to win an NBA championship? Maybe a better question is there actually enough remaining for him to help them eclipse the Celtics? Without making this stats only account my focus is two areas, free throw shooting (.907), 3-point shooting (.413). Those are outstanding numbers for any NBA player especially at his age. Point guard Tyrese Maxey experienced a breakout season scoring nearly 30 points a game along with almost 7 assists.

On the surface PG and Maxey certainly are keys to success for the Sixers however there is one more name to mention. His name is Joel Embiid, he’s the 7 foot 280 pound post player and perhaps the key to on court success. Embiid’s numbers this past season were outstanding, that’s the good. The bad, he was sidelined and managed to play only 39 games. At the beginning of this account I mentioned PG’s age, Embiid will turn 31 before the 2024-25 season ends. That says the window on an NBA championship is not over but it’s slowly closing. If only Embiid could manage to stay on the court for an extended period of time, after all his health is key to any success the Sixers might attain.