Basketball from a fans perspective

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Stuff I don’t understand

A bunch of things exist we have no comprehension or understanding of the purpose, ESPN’s laid one on me. I could simply ignore it but the question is what’s the intention? For years it seems the worldwide leader has included +/- in their NBA box scores. Allow a further explanation, I knew ahead of time the Spurs lost the game against the Clippers. I decided to check Wemby’s numbers and was amazed that he recorded 9 blocked shots in the game and then it occurred.

At the end of his total was -21, what the heck was that about was my first thought, this is the ESPN explanation. “+/- denotes team’s net points while the player is on the court.” What am I missing here, Gary Payton II scored two points in the Warriors victory over the Wizards for the game his +/- was +4. I am going to ask a few co-workers who like me might be confused by ESPN’s method of assessing a players contribution to the game. On the other hand I could check a few other sites or simply ignore that portion of ESPN’s box.  

Too soon?

Duke’s Cooper Flagg is but 17-years old, you remember he reclassified and technically should be in his senior year of high school. As for the game the 6 foot 9 shooting guard/forward played his first official game Monday night against Maine. The Blue Devils beat Maine 96-62 thanks in part to the game Flagg played, he wasn’t his team’s high scorer preferring to defer his game to teammates. Check this out as he filled the box, 18 points on 6-15 shooting which included 7 rebounds 5 assists and 3 steals.

This effort represented the first regular season game for Flagg, in addition with such a lopsided win I’m unsure the strength of Maine. I declared him “ready for the NBA” however Keenan warned me this is far to early to make that type of declaration. Sometimes I witness play by a prospect and tend to believe “he’s on his way to an outstanding career.” Is Flagg ready for the NBA after all he’s only played a single college game but it appears he’s ready for play at the next level. Check ESPN, Fox Sports and the ACC if you desire to see him in action prior to the NBA.

Nobody knew

This is written November 4, 2024, however this bit of news is just now coming to the forefront. Boston Celtic forward Jayson Tatum says, “I was disappointed the Lakers didn’t draft me.” I was so confused for a minute I had to re-check the 2017 NBA draft history because I just didn’t remember. There it was, smacked me right in the face. The Lakers had the second pick in 2017, they chose Lonzo Ball, the next pick belonged to the Celtics who chose Tatum.

Can I say the Lakers swung and missed on this pick, no doubt Ball possessed talent but this news certainly causes me to ponder “What if.” Of course Ball was exchanged in a trade that brought AD to the Lakers. In 2020 the Lakers won it all in the bubble thanks in part to AD, last season the Celtics won the championship but this is the disparity. Tatum has an opportunity to win several more for the Celtics. Ball’s NBA career is on a thread, if he returned to the Lakers a championship might be possible but not likely. Much as this Laker fan hates to admit it the Celtics clearly won in 2017 and just might continue to win into the future for a time.

You know my saying don’t you…

Without checking I’m unsure who first said it, “I’m from Missouri, you’ve got to Show Me.” I just finished reading a Laker fan website article on Christian Wood. As you are aware surgery has prevented him from playing early season games, it appears his time is a late October early November appearance. I certainly don’t wish to appear negative but I was disappointed by what he exhibited on the court last season. The prior season the 6 foot 8 214 pound Wood had been a sparkplug for the Mavs in the playoffs, in his first for the Lakers I was not impressed by what I saw.

This season there is a different mindset, Wood says he intends to play with a vengeance. Was I expecting too much, perhaps the rotation pattern of the departed Ham didn’t allow Wood to play at his peak. In any event it appears JJ Redick is excited with the prospect of Wood returning to the lineup. Reddick indicates Wood’s game adds a different flavor to the mix. In any event I sure hope the coach is correct because the numbers in Dallas led me to believe the Lakers had signed a stud. What I saw this past season stud might have been changed to dud. In closing I would say to Wood, come one guy prove me wrong.

It's okay you can laugh

While researching I came across this jewel, someone produced the First Team All Name team for college basketball 2024-25. I checked the roster of Rhode Island to make sure no one was playing a joke on me. In addition we are months ahead of April 1 so they must be true, with that said here goes:

Always Wright-guard Rhode Island

Po Boigh King-guard NC Central

Gob Gob-guard Kansas City

Supreme Cook-forward Oregon

Kai Yu-center Liberty

Tennessee Rainwater-guard/forward Utah Tech