Basketball from a fans perspective

Published Tuesday, Thursday plus Saturday & Sunday

NBA Champions

The final score read Thunder 103 Pacers 91, thus the first championship for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Prior to the start of the game I mentioned to several acquaintances I believed the Pacers had an opportunity to win. Tyrese Haliburton avoided his usual slow start registering 9 points in a brief 7 minutes of action. The Pacers were playing an even game with the Thunder until the Haliburton injury, just as soon as he went down I told my wife, “This is over.” The initial report indicated Haliburton had suffered a lower right leg injury, it’s now believed he’s suffered a torn Achilles tendon. The Pacers hung with the Thunder for a time however it was clear they were quicker to the ball and shot much better overall. A key to the game was the lock down defense played by the Thunder, the Pacers had 21 TO’s for the game.

At one point play by play announcer Mike Breen indicated the Pacers had surrendered 20 points from several of those turnovers. SGA didn’t shoot particularly in this game but led the way with 29 points and 12 assists, there was plenty of help from teammates Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams and Alex Caruso. Of all the names mentioned I must also give a shout out to Thunder coach Mark Daigneault. He might have been a ball of nerves on the inside however television cameras certainly didn’t indicate such. Also worthy of mention is Sam Presti vice president and GM of the Thunder. He along with the front office managed to assemble a talented youthful team whose average age is 25 years. Congratulations are due the Thunder, 2025 NBA Champions. Did you realize Presti was involved in drafting Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden? All are playing for other teams now but only Durant has NBA Champ on his resume.

The trade

Talk of trading one or more Suns players began at some point in midseason. The Suns loaded with talent in the opinion of many had underachieved for the season. With a payroll of Bradley Beal, Devin Booker plus Kevin Durant and others one or more of the trio might be headed for other locations. More and more it appeared the player most likely traded would be Durant, this belief became apparent several weeks ago. On Sunday weeks of speculation ended with a report he was headed to the Rockets in a massive trade deal. The Rockets would send Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks and their number 10 pick in the 2025 draft for Durant.

In addition over the course of the next several years the Rockets will surrender 5 second round draft picks. On the surface it would appear the Rockets are in a win now mode rather than wait to develop additional talent however this move brings about several questions. It’s a little difficult for me to speculate on draft picks, they may develop or maybe not, they are an unknown, I can only see what is in front of me. This is what I see, the Rockets giving up a portion of their youth (Green age 23 & Brooks age 29) for a very talented but 37 year old forward in Durant. In the fall once the season begins Durant will don his 6th jersey if we count Seattle. Just in case you forgot, after the Sonics it was the Thunder, then it became the Warriors. Later it would be the Nets, then the Suns and now the Rockets.

Meanwhile…

I decided to check to determine if the Pac-12 Conference still existed. With only Oregon State and Washington State remaining, it is questionable whether the name Pac-12 is still appropriate. However, procedurally, the name continues to exist. Regarding other schools, while I cannot speak for football, the conference no longer exists in its previous form for college basketball, on September 23, 2024, Utah State joined the Pac-12. July 1, 2026, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State will become members of the conference. According to information online, there are three schools listed as affiliate members: Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Due to several schools being semi-attached to the Pac-12, it is unclear whether the conference can be considered a Power 5 school. Further updates will be provided as more information becomes available to me.

I don’t always focus on a players strengths, I always check the things he doesn’t do well. I believe it determines whether a player performs the work necessary to either improve it or lessen it in the eyes of the opposition. All spring or since the announcement a steady stream of present and former NBA players have provided their opinion of Cooper Flagg. With that out the way allow me to state these are not my words, they represent the view of an NBA scout.

Concerns

Jumper consistency: This season at Duke was Flagg’s first draining 3s at a high level. Is this sustainable? He will need to prove it, since it’s a vital tool that will determine his ceiling as a player.

Advanced ball-handling: He doesn’t have great creativity off the bounce yet, which means he ends up taking tough shots or needing to make multiple pivots to get his shot off. He’s growing, but the level he ends up reaching will define his ability as a go-to scoring option.

How I plan on spending my summer, the season is now concluded. The Thunder are crowned 2025 NBA Champions. This is written ahead of the draft, I will be glued to my television Wednesday and Thursday evening. I’m always anxious to see where a number of players are headed and second to that the draft surprises. You know who they are, the guys who were not expected to be drafted. After the draft, the NBA Summer League is next on the agenda, I’m not as glued to games as if were the regular season. Despite that fact there are college and international players I want to see in action. After that Kansas City certainly doesn’t rival Las Vegas or other parts of the nation however there is plenty of AAU basketball for me to check out. NBA free agency begins June 30 so once again I’m anxious to see where a player might land, second to that is checking out who gets traded and where.    

Stingy is not my word

The ink has barely dried on the paperwork signed between the Buss family and Mark Walter. The Lakers will gradually reflect the new owner, as for the headline. One scribe indicated “Changes would occur because Walter is not as ‘stingy’ as the Buss family.” Don’t request accounting services from me, it was one of the more troubling subjects in school. At the same time I question the writer for his statement, in the same manner as me they have no idea what’s going out versus what’s coming in financially. It appears in the recent past the Lakers might have lost out on free agent bids due to finances, despite my statement I wouldn’t refer to that as being stingy. This we know, there is a salary cap in the NBA, a team exceeds the cap they pay to the league. With that issue out of the way we cannot truly embrace the future of the Lakers we can look at the Dodgers as a source of speculation.

Last year a cousin told me “I hate the Dodgers,” she went on to explain how in an effort to succeed they appear to have spent vast sums of money on acquiring players. Mark Walter owns the Dodgers in case some were unaware, from reading about the man I’m making an assumption. Although he’s worth sizeable sums of money he allows the baseball people to run the Dodgers. I guess that will not change with the Lakers, JJ Redick and Rob Pelinka should have jobs for the foreseeable future. There were/or members of Laker Nation upset with the front office for its failure to make needed moves. Remember the accounting thing I mentioned earlier, because we don’t have access to the books with the salary cap plus players’ salaries plus everything else we have no idea. As for Laker Nation, don’t expect immediate change however my belief is it will occur.