After OU sleepwalked past a bad Houston Baptist team in Norman … I settled in on Thanksgiving Eve and watched some NBA hoops. For the the first time this week I didn’t pontificate any thoughts on the upcoming Bedlam game. I’m ready for the game to be played.
The Warriors were absolutely sublime in their second half putting away the Sixers in a game in which they trailed by nineteen points in the first half. Most of the teams in the West have now played around twenty games or so and quite clearly the Warriors and the Phoenix Suns appear to be the class of the West. Denver has been ravaged by injury and quite simply Utah isn’t that good once the regular season ends and the competition gets stiffer. Utah is what I would call …”A fake tough guy basketball-wise.”
Golden State doesn’t even appear to need Klay Thompson or James Wiseman at this point. With Steph playing at a MVP level this roster is so deep and talented it doesn’t seem to matter.
The second half was just beautiful basketball. A clinic on ball movement and finishing. Jordan Poole, Otto Porter, Damian Lee, Juan Anderson-Toscano, Gary Payton, Jr. Andrew Wiggins, Iggy, Kevan Looney, Bjelica, Johnny Kuminga, Moses Moody… etc, etc with Steph and Draymond being the stars. My god…go ahead and give Bobby Myers GM of the Year.
Again…if Klay does come back he’ll only need to contribute around 20-22 quality minutes a game. If Spoelstra and Riley are the best coach-GM combo in the East then it would have to be said Steve Kerr and Bob Myers are the same in the West.
That’s one thing we’ve never seen in Oklahoma City. What I mean by that is that’s it’s Sam Hinkie-Presti’s show. We’ve never really observed what could happen in Oklahoma City if a strong willed independent thinking coach was at the helm. Scott Brooks, Billy Donovan, and now the G League developmental coach… who btw does do a nice job in his pressers. But at the end of the day do you want Regis Philbin or a hard-ass coach who understands how to win night in and night out at the NBA level. A head coach who commands his own space through his own unique personaility and character and isn’t just another Sam Hinkie-Presti puppet.
Rule #2 of Coaching…You coach thru your own unique personality and character.
But to Billy Donovan’s defense…he did win two NCAA national championships at a football school and he did say farewell to the Thunder and appears to be doing a decent job in Chicago. I’m guessing at the end…Billy just said to himself–“Time to move on to a franchise with a different mindset.”
Tell me with a straight face what Scott Brooks or Sam Hinkie-Presti have done in the past twelve years without Kevin Durant toting their lunchpails to school every morning? Player makes the coach…player made the GM. Portland took Greg Oden. Sam Anderson should have written that somewhere in his book Boomtown.
But now to the Lakers…our mystery team in this year’s NBA season. LeBron returned from his one game suspension last night and was basically the GOAT scoring 39 points, taking Russell Westbrook off the ball, and willing the Lakers to a win over the Pacers.
With the win, the Lakers are 10-10 for the season with LeBron so far only playing in eight of the Lakers’ twenty games to date.
What do we make of these Lakers with LeBron, AD, Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, and Rajon Rondo?
What I make of them is WTF was GM Rob Pelinka thinking when he put this roster together in the first place.
Why would Rob Pelinka add Russell to this mix except for filling in for LeBron when Lebron needs to rest?
My heart goes out to coach Frank Vogel who is a good NBA coach. Two of his teams at Indiana made it to the Eastern Conference Finals and he won a championship with the Lakers two seasons ago. He can coach. You know..maybe at some point if and when the Thunder are through tanking…Frank Vogel could be an effective coach for the Thunder.
When Russell is on the floor my eyes are on a split screen set observing Vogel’s facial expressions to some of Russell’s on court decisions in relation to the Doctrine of Time-Score.
Bless Frank Vogel’s heart. You can see the frustration fomenting at the corners of his eyes and mouth, but like the pro he is he keeps those feelings under check and keeps trying to work thru Russell’s rougher moments in relation to Time-Score decisions.
“Haven’t seen the game film yet,” Vogel answers to the tougher Westbrook turnover questions. “Need to see it on film before I can comment.” Like asking a politician if he plans on cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits.
I’ll answer for you, Coach.”Russell needs to pull his head out of his ass and play like an All-Star who’s still in search of his first ring with his career clock running out.”
I don’t know what to make of the Lakers. Obviously with LeBron they could be a factor…without him they’re not a playoff team is my take.
Frank Vogel pressers moving forward will be a part of My NBA Journal. Frank Vogel’s eyes are incredibly expressive. Look deep imto those eyes and you’ll get the answers to those questions being asked at the pressers. There are no Little Nick Gallo’s amidst the scribes in the tough LA sports media. No one will play the part of a puppy dog scribe to shield Russell from the obvious tough questions.
For Russell’s legacy sake…I hope he’s able to morph his game and grow from this opportunity to play alongside LeBron.
If not…his legacy will be he was this generation’s version of Allen Iverson. That being, an incredibly skilled player who couldn’t adapt his game to his teammates enough to win a ring.
This is Bob Myers at the conclusion of last season after the Warriors missed the playoffs. This should be a mandatory watch for Sam Hinkie-Presti and all of his lapdogs in the Oklahoma City market.
“Sometimes you have to lose to be able to learn how to win again. But this doesn’t mean you embrace tanking beyond a two year window. It means …you smarten the f–k up with your talent evaluation decision makers, adapt on the fly as per the leaague as a whole, and within a two year window put a legitimate basketball product back on the floor in Oklahoma City.” Mike Jackson