Final Thoughts

     This year was the first time I have ever wrote a blog on anything.  I don’t usually read or post on any blogs so blogging was a new thing to me.  I learned how to blog from my teacher and she taught me a lot about blogging.  I learned that blogs should be honest and opinionated but also have facts to support what you are saying.  Originally I going to talk about baseball but baseball season hadn’t started yet so I decided to stick with basketball.  Good thing I did because there was a lot to talk about especially with the Donald Sterling controversy. 

       For this blog I don’t know if I plan to blog again only because it takes up a lot if time during school and basketball is happen three quarters of the year.  If I do plan to blog on here again it might be next year or if some big basketball news happens but most likely I might not continue blogging on here.

        As a blogger I learned things must be opinionated but also have facts to back up what you’re saying.  Also you should be updated on things that are happening that have to due with your topic.  If you talk about something that happened a couple years ago, people aren’t going to relate to that as well as something that happened a week ago.  The more recent the better it is to talk about.  I learned blogging isn’t as boring as I thought especially when you get to talk and read about things you actually enjoy.  Since blogging on here I have read more and wrote more that usual.  I thought it wouldn’t be that fun to creating my own blog but it was a fun experience and I’m glad I did.  Its especially gratifying when people read and respond to your blog as well.

Steve Kerr Hire Reaction

         The NBA season has already winded down and is almost over.  It’s just a couple of more weeks before the NBA Finals and it will be exciting to watch.  Aside from the finals, I am looking forward to seeing the off-season acquisitions for various teams around the league can shape a dynasty or hurt a team as well.  The Warriors recent acquisition has me wondering if we made the right choice or not.

        Recently the Clippers have eliminated the Warriors in the playoffs and Warriors fans are disappointed.  But who was to blame here?  I think one part of our loss was the fact that we had no big men.  Our Center Andrew Bogut was injured throughout the playoffs and we had Old guys like Jermaine O’Neal as our Center.  That was the key factor to the Warriors elimination, but whenever a team loses, all eyes are on the coach.

        And because the Warriors lost, the Warriors Organization fired Coach Mark Jackson who has been coaching us for the last 3 years.  In the past 2 years he has gotten us to the playoffs and has made the Bay Area proud.  But getting rid of him wasn’t a move that made me happy.  Instead of Coach Jacksonnext year, the Warriors made a huge surprise and landed Steve Kerr.  

        This move on the Warriors part was quite surprising because he was a favorite to Coach the Knicks.  The reason I say that is because of the close relationship that Kerr and Knicks president Phil Jackson have.  That was surely a motivational factor for Kerr to go to New York but he chose Golden State.  I guess I can say as a replacement for Mark Jackson it’s an OK pick up because I don’t know what to expect of him.  He has no prior head coaching experience so who knows if he will be any good.  He does have a lot of basketball knowledge because he played for the Bulls along side Michael Jordan.

        Even though Mark Jackson is gone I don’t that everything is completely ruined.  We have a man that is passionate about basketball and is guy who lives and breathes basketball.  His no experience worries me a little bit but I think with the talent the Warriors have and the players we may pick up in the off-season I hope the Warriors owners made the right decision and we can make it back to the playoffs next season.

Who is more NBA ready?

        With the NBA season closing down and the best teams are facing off in the playoffs, it seems like the losing teams in the league are forgotten about.  The worst teams in the league haven’t lived up to a lot of expectations but there is still hope for them to come in the future.  The hope for these teams will come between the end of this season and before the 2014-2015 season.  The opportunity for these teams to revive their franchise is the NBA 2014 draft that will take place on June 26, 2014.

        This years draft is suppose to be the best draft since 2003 when LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, David West etc. came into the league.   This year, the players I have watched in college and that I am looking forward to watching next year are Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid, Jabari Parker, Julius Randle, Marcus Smart and Aaron Gordon.   I started following all of the above players except Joel Embiid before they committed to these Division 1 schools and put up amazing stats.

        Andrew Wiggins, my favorite player in the draft is undoubtedly the most hyped player in the draft and the most hyped player since LeBron James and it’s not hard to see why.  In terms of NBA readiness you can argue any other player to be just as ready as Wiggins is.  Wiggins is more athletically gifted and can jump better to get rebounds and is faster and more explosive like LeBron James but Jabari Parker has a solid all around game and can shoot, rebound, pass, and can handle.  

        Andrew Wiggins’ lack of aggressiveness is what is affecting his draft stock and questioning his ability to perform at the next level.  Jabari is bigger than Wiggins outweighing him about by 35lbs and that is a huge advantage for Parker.  But Wiggins has more hops and is explosive and can score on the fast break and has a killer spin move to get to the paint.  Wiggins fast paced game will help him transition into the pros as well.  Also when Kansas Jayhawk center Joel Embiid went down, Wiggins had to carry the team into the March Madness tournament but fell short.  Although Parker averaged19.1 points and 8.7 rebounds which is 2 more points and 2 more rebounds per game more than Wiggins, either player is a good choice pick.  

        The top 2 hyped athletic scoring freshman’s Wiggins & Parker, are both a good choice and will have successful careers in the NBA as long as they aren’t tainted by injuries and are given the opportunity to play.  They are both 19 years old and have long and bright futures ahead of themselves and are going to be fun to watch for years to come.  You can decide for yourself which player you think is going to succeed at the next level because I think both are NBA ready and will be a duo of rivalries to come just like LeBron and Durant today.

Who do you think is more NBA ready? Wiggins or Parker?

Donald Sterling Racist Reaction

        This past week in the NBA has been a wild week due to the playoffs and also one other unfortunate issue that the league has to deal with.  As most people have heard the news, it was reported that there was a recording of racist remarks towards Magic Johnson and about African Americans and when it was released, the voice was suspected to be Los Angeles Clippers Owner Donald Sterling.

              As the week went on the audio was released to the public and it the audio was a recording of his girlfriend V. Stiviano and suspected owner Donald Sterling.  There are many things in the audio that speak for itself and are disturbing and racist towards black people.  For instance he said that he doesn’t want her to promote black people on social media and got mad because she posted a photos with African American athletes like Magic Johnson and Matt Kemp.   Sterling is living in the past and claims that it is part of the culture and that he doesn’t want her to be perceived in a bad way.  Sterling doesn’t like black people and yet the over 80% of his team is black.  In the audio clip he says that, “I feed them, I give them clothes, houses, and cars.”  He treats them as if they are slave workers and the players are the ones making money for him.  The racist remarks go on about how Stiviano can do whatever she wants with black people privately, Sterling says “just don’t bring black people to my games.”   What Sterling doesn’t know is that his girlfriend is, is that she’s latino and black.

        Once the audio was leaked online everybody had reactions to this and twitter exploded with reactions especially coming from the basketball world.  It was so sudden but this issue of racism is bigger than basketball itself.  Magic Johnson was asked about his reaction to the alleged comments made by Donald Sterling and said that, "there is no room in society for it and no room in the league.  We play with other races and that’s what makes it beautiful.” I couldn’t agree more with Magic of how there’s just no room for racism anymore.  It’s the 21^st century, why is there still hostility and hatred towards someone based on their skin color?  Its just mind boggling and ticks me off that people in the world still feel that way in their hearts. 

        Actions following the comments made by Sterling on that tape were confirmed that it was him and first action taken against Sterling was the beginning of game 4 between the Warriors and Clippers.  The Clippers gathered center court and did a silent protest wearing their practice jerseys inside out so the word Clippers doesn’t show.  A couple days later Adam Silver and the owners talked about what is next for Sterling.  Commissioner Silver then issued a press conference and has now banned Donald Sterling for life from then NBA and fined him $2.5 million and owners are now going to try to make him sell the team.  I thought that Adam Silver did a good job handling the situation and showed what how the NBA stands together for what is right and showed that things like this won’t be tolerated by the NBA.

          With Silver getting Sterling out of the NBA it’s a matter of time before Sterling will hopefully leave.  NBA owners are going to vote and will try to make Sterling sell the team and hopefully put this behind them.  I still think that Sterling hasn’t completely lost yet because all these playoff tickets that are being sold are still making all that many in his pocket and if the Clippers keep winning it, they will only make him richer.  

What do you think about Donald Sterling's punishment ?

        

Thoughts on Western Conference Playoffs (4/24/14)

        With the playoffs underway we get to watch the 16 best teams in the league play and its is getting 

exciting.  Now that games are on everyday I have time to catch up on other teams in the league.  So far 

each series are two to three games into the series and it is still early to assume who will advance into 

the next round.  As the week continues we will find out who will advance to the next round.

        In the West so far, the Memphis Grizzlies have taken a 2-1 series over the Oklahoma City

Thunder which is surprising since OKC are the favorites to win.  The last two games have gone into

overtime and the Grizzlies rallied for the win.  In the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs series, 

they are both tied at one piece and the last game the former Warrior Monta Ellis scored 21 points 

leading the Mavs to a victory snapping a 10 game losing streak versus the Spurs.  Dirk Nowitzki started

off cold as well but made his next 7-13 shots.  Even though the series are tied, the spurs are the top

in the West and I think that they can make it on to the next round because of how how much veteran

experience they have.

         The most exciting series for me would be the Houston Rockets versus the Portland Trailblazers.

This is a an extremely high scoring series and Lamarcus Aldridge has been a beast in just 2 games 

averaging 44.5 points, 13 rebounds and 2.5 blocks being the first player to average 43 point in 

consecutive playoff games.   Because of all the dynamic scorers like James Harden, Chandler Parsons

and Dwight Howard the Rockets I thought that the series would at least be tied but Portlands offense

has been spectacular.  Since the Rockets are up 2-0 I think think that they can win the series in 5 or 6

games.

        Now finally in the West my favorite team the Golden State Warriors versus the Los Angeles

Clippers.  The Warriors got off to a good start in game 1 then in games 2 the Clippers destroyed the

the Warriors by 40 points.  The Warriors and Clippers have had bad blood between each other during

the past two seasons and now it has carried into this post season.  The match up that has been the toughest

is between Stephen Curry and Chris Paul since both of them are point guards but both of their games are so

different.  Honestly I want the Warriors to win but I think the Clippers are the better and will most likely

advance but if the Warriors win I will be happy with that.

        The West teams have better records than the Eastern teams so I think that this make the West more

competitive, unpredictable, and just more exciting in general.  If the East were as competitive as the West I

would probably feel more excitement but the West is just more enjoyable to watch and aren't predictable.

 I am looking forward to see the outcome of games and see who will make it to the next round.  


Who do you think will advance ?