Lonzo Ball

I know many people are sick of the Ball Brothers in the news, especially of hearing outlandish claims from their father LaVar. He can be irritating but I have to admit he has made better use of the media than Madonna, or the Kardashians over their careers. I think it is more the media's fault than his since they keep giving him attention. If they treated him like they do streakers at football games and just took the cameras off him and ignored him he might stop but until that day you can expect more claims like "I could beat Jordan in my prime" or"I was the first man to walk on the moon."

Anyway his son Lonzo was recently drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers and from what I have seen during the preseason, I have enjoyed watching him play. His first game was a total dud but he came back with several triple double games. I don't think he is the go to guy for scoring or a clutch player you build around but I have enjoyed watching him dish out assists. His assist game reminds me of Jason Kidd or Magic. No I'm not saying he is as good as Magic! He has not yet proved himself but I like his court vision and ball sense and how he can distribute the basketball.



Only time will tell but I'm sure we will see some great assists from him in the future.

Team Loyalty

I think the last time I posted something on this blog was when Bill Russell won the MVP. Sorry for the extended hiatus but I'm back.

This month Gordon Hayward decided to leave Utah and play for the Boston Celtics. I was pleased to see the Jazz organization and most fans respect his decision even though it leaves a big hole on the Jazz roster. As much as I like Hayward and will miss having him on the team I don't understand the fans who all of a sudden hate him now and criticize him for leaving.

He fulfilled his contract, contributed to the team and did a great job of representing the organization, but he has decided to move on. It was a business decision and it's what he wanted for him and his family. People that call him a traitor don't seem to understand that.

I can understand fans losing respect for a player if they bash their organization, create problems for the team, and always complain about wanting to be traded, but Hayward has been squeaky clean

Those critical fans remind me of the ex boyfriends that girls have to take restraining orders out against. It's okay. Life happens and it's time to move on and focus on your current team. I even feel this way about Thunder fans when they turned against Kevin Durrant after he left. (I'll be doing a separate post about the Super Team topic later.)

Anyway I wish Gordon the best and think he is a good guy and hope to see his career continue to improve in Boston.

Dominique Wilkins

I grew up idolizing Dr. J for his leaping ability and creative dunks. Several years before Erving retired Dominique Wilkins came on the scene and took dunking to a new level. Dominique quickly became a favorite player to watch due to his amazing power dunks. Players like Baylor, Gervin, Thompson, and Erving had amazing moves where they would cradle the ball and move it around but I think Dominique was the true father of the full blown windmill dunk.

He also took the double pump dunk and put back dunks to another level. I loved Wilkins' ferocity and power. Few players have backed up their dunks with that much brute force. I'm sure you have seen his most popular dunks many times but this is a great clip of some lesser known gems that are equally impressive. Thanks for what you did for the sport Dominique! Enjoy.

All Star Voting Travesty

The NBA recently released their first vote count for the All-Star game next month. I was not surprised to see Lebron had the most votes with 595,288 votes but I was shocked to see that behind Kevin Durrant for the West's big men, Zaza Pachulia is in second place with 439,675 votes. Seriously?

Pachulia has more votes than Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis, Draymond Green, DeMarcus Cousins, Karl Anthony Towns, LaMarcus Aldridge, Blake Griffin, Marc Gasol, and Deandre Jordan. He is even the 8th leading vote getter for all of the players in the NBA.

This reminds me of when Yao Ming used to get so many votes due to all his fans in China voting. I used to love to watch the All-Star game but it has lost much of it's magic over the years and stuff like this doesn't help. I think the NBA should base their criteria on current year production and stats so players who are having a great year and deserve the honor can be involved. Even though Kobe has been one of the greatest players in the game I didn't think he deserved to be the top vote getter last year, let alone play in the game.

It appears that Zaza's homeland of Georgia got people involved in a campaign to send him to the All-Star game. I'm not sure what they are doing or if they hired computer programmers to assault the system with votes for him but it's working. Even though he is a veteran I don't recall any specific plays from his career or how he has impacted the game. I just hate to see more deserving players get slighted due to the NBA's current criteria for choosing players.

This was just the first round of voting which uses the fan's input so hopefully logic will prevail when the players and media make their votes by February 19th.

It's not over until it's over!

Just a few reminders that you should not give up until the end of the game. A lot can happen in the last few seconds.

I was always impressed with the Reign Man when he was playing in his prime. I've seen many of his
top 10 dunks over the years, but this new video of his top 50 recently came out and I was shocked that I had not seen so many of these dunks before and how great they are. This is a must watch for anyone that appreciates a great dunk. He has some of the best body control in the air I've ever seen,

Shawn Bradley

When I attended B.Y.U. Shawn Bradley was the star of the basketball team. I enjoyed watching him play at the collegiate level but like many others, I was pretty critical of his play once he arrived in the NBA. He was an impressive shot blocker but I was expecting him to put on some weight and be one of the most dominant centers of the game.

Bradley became a target for shorter players who wanted to dunk on him and was criticized frequently in the NBA. It wasn't until I saw this short ESPN video a couple years ago that I gained a ton of respect for the guy. I also appreciate Jeff Van Gundy more after hearing some of his insights.

I admire many great players for their athleticism and accomplishments on the court even though their life off the court may be a mess. Shawn is one guy who may not have met the high expectations we had for him when it comes to basketball but he gets the big picture and has his priorities right which is much more important in the long run.