Category: Sports

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Becoming A Real Clippers Fan

If I have to pinpoint the moment I became a Clippers fan it would probably be back in 1994, when I was in the 6th grade.

Prior to moving to Lompoc, CA, I lived in Monterey and, ironically, I would see Golden State Warriors games a lot. I remember watching Tim Hardaway, Sr. cross everyone over before he was traded to Miami. Had I stayed in Monterey I would have been a Warriors fan.

My parents and I arrived in Lompoc during spring break. When the cable finally got hooked up (thank God) I found myself seeing Los Angeles Lakers’ and the Clippers’ games on TV. I was never into the Purple and Gold though and, being that it was the 90’s, I was one of millions of young Black kids that loved watching Michael Jordan.

I remember watching the Clippers trade their star player (Danny Manning) for Dominique Wilkins. At this point Wilkins was old, but was still a proven scoring threat as he averaged 28.8 points per game in 28 games for the Clippers.

Watching the Clippers, I was instantly grabbed by the underdog-blue-collar culture. Yet, back then, at the age I was, I didn’t broadcast my newly found allegiance to a dismal franchise. However, I felt like the team wouldn’t be bad forever. All teams start out terrible, but improve over time. I always had this faith in the back of my mind.

Gradually, I revealed my loyalty as a Clippers fan. As I got older, I started wearing Clippers attire: jerseys hats, etc. My friends thought I was insane, especially my friends that are die hard Lakers fans. As the years went by, slowly the Clippers got better as a franchise and a team.

The turning point definitely had to be the events that lead to long-time owner Donald Sterling selling the team to Steve Ballmer. Sterling never cared about winning; therefore, the Clippers gained a reputation for becoming a pit stop for former great players to die (retire).

Nonetheless, Clipper Nation pressed forward and held on even as the Warriors became a dynasty and won multiple championships. Well, the Warriors are in last place in the West now.

The Clippers signed Kawhi Leonard and traded for Paul George this past off season and things are looking better than ever. To be honest with ya’ll, being a Clippers fan represents me entirely because I don’t move with everyone else. I work hard. I put my time in. I make my own path.

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The Miscategorization of the Steal. Basketball Geeks Hear Me Out

misclassification of the steal

Name a defensive juggernaut in the NBA, be it player or team, now or back in the day, and you’ll notice a few different stat lines that pop out at you: rebounds, blocks, forced turnovers and, yes, steals.

It came to me in my sleep. (Well, I had to let the dog out in the middle of the night, so I was trying to go back to sleep). And it dawned on me. After 35 years of practicing, playing, living, and loving the game…it finally dawned on me.

The “steal” has been and is still misclassified as a defensive stat.

Say what?!

I said it! The steal is misclassified as a defensive stat. Hear me out real quick.

What determines an offensive possession? According to the NBA rule book, team possession is defined as follows (mind you, there is no definition of a steal in the rulebook):

A team is in possession when a player is holding, dribbling or passing the ball. Team
possession ends when the defensive team gains possession or the ball hits the rim of the
offensive team.

So, if a possession is determined when a team is holding the ball, then why do we track steals as defensive stats? Isn’t defense when you don’t have the ball and try to get it? Yet the team who stole the ball clearly has the ball and possession the exact moment the steal occured. Having the ball in your possession is called offense.

Don’t we have other stats that more closely fit what a “steal” is supposed to represent? Take the “deflection” for instance.

The deflection, to me, represents hustle, defensive execution and poor offense all rolled into one neat stat.

The steal represents those things too, but adds an opportunity to score the basketball. That opportunity to score takes on the odor of offense to me. That’s why we call offensive rebounds “offensive rebounds.” There’s an opportunity to score there. Defensive rebounds don’t provide the same opportunity to score the ball.

Another defensive stat, “blocks,” just like deflections, don’t provide you with an opportunity to score either. After a block, the ball can go out of bounds or back to the shooting team. No chance to score.

Do you see the pattern here? When it comes to defensive stats, the only one that provides a chance to score the ball is the steal. It’s the only outlier. The only misfit. Hmmm….

Besides the technicalities, reclassifying the “steal” as an offensive stat may motivate players in different ways. Some may take the reclassification and wreak havoc on the defensive end which would make them one hell of an offensive player.

Boof!

…Mind blown.

Okay. Thanks for hearing me out. Now let me have it. I know you have something to say.

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Golden State Warriors’: Still A Question Mark

Here is my take on the Warriors current situation: pending there were no injuries.

I felt they were still a dominant force in the west even after trading Kevin Durant for D’Angelo Russell. The knee injury to Klay Thompson was definitely the shock and with Steph Curry going down with a hand injury early on it only puts the dubs in a deeper situation.

Draymond Green can hold his own but even he is struggling to stay healthy and even if he’s on the floor can he guide the new guys to mesh together?

If this season was a bust that would be understandable, because it is hard to compete for high standings in the west which is very much the deeper of the two conferences.

Hey, seeing how things have ended up, who’s to say the warriors miss the playoffs and end up with a top 5 draft pick? Only time will tell but in the meantime let’s all enjoy some NBA basketball!!

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Why Tanking In The NBA Is Such A Bad Idea

tanking sucks https://coffeebeansandthings.com

In the endless talk of the demise of the Dubs, there has been nothing but pessimism and mentions of tanking. Amongst the many pundits, critics, bloggers and social media influencers (of which I am not one), I must be the only one who thinks tanking is a TERRIBLE idea.

Before I get to to my reasons, let me point out the obvious reasons in which to tank. Each one valid, but still the concept overall is disagreeable:

  • get a high draft pick

…that’s all. That’s the only benefit to tanking.

Now for why I disagree (especially as a Golden State Warriors fan):

Being a star is about opportunity — Really, it’s true. In today’s NBA, the only thing that separates a major star from a role player is the amount of opportunities a player has to make mistakes. The quantity may be determined by salary or how high in the draft the player went. Therefore, there’s a vested interested in seeing a prospect make it, but true skill is often not a factor.

Nonetheless, what makes Anthony Davis “better” than, say, Julius Randle is the amount of opportunities Davis has had to mess up, to be injured, and still demand the ball go through him on offense. Perhaps too, management and coaches’ egos keep giving a player chances so they’re not proven wrong in their decision to draft.

Lottery draft picks rarely turn out in the end. There are countless examples of lottery picks just not panning out: Darko Milicic, Kwame Brown, Michael Olowokandi, Andrea Bargnani, Markelle Fultz. To waste an entire season tanking to get a high draft pick that may not work out seems like a risky move to me.

Young, proven “vets” are more valuable than a rookie prospect. Players that were undrafted, went the G-League route and make it to the league seem to be extra thirsty competitors who want to stay in the upper echelons of basketball. They know and have what it takes to compete at the NBA level.

A rookie coming out of college, especially high school, is still adjusting to the big man’s league. It can take three to four years for that prospect to even be relevant to an NBA team any way (i.e. Jermaine O’Neal). Draft now, maybe reap rewards later is not a good look.

Winning DNA. If you are or are building a championship-level team what type of DNA do you want to infuse in your team culture and chemistry? I watched the Warriors, Clippers, Mavericks, Bucks, and more suffer for many years trying to get that elusive Kobe-Bryant-type draft pick only to be let down year after year. Their cultures took a turn for the worst and took years to build back to even being respectable.

Take the Los Angeles Clippers for instance. They could have tanked last year, got a decent draft pick and rebuilt for the next upmteen years. Rather they remained competitive, gave the Warriors fits in the first round of the playoffs and built a championship DNA. That DNA attracted the likes of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and now the Clips are on the verge of dominating the NBA for the foreseeable future.

If you’re the Warriors, you still have Steph, Klay and Draymond in the fold. Let your young players develop, but don’t call it tanking. When you’re a champion, stay a champion by competing to the fullest. Leave the tanking to the teams who have no interest in ever winning anything.

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Dubs Are In Deep Shit! Or Are They?

Will Steve Kerr have a job at the end of this year? Will Klay Thompson return better, the same or worse than his pre-injury self? Will Kevon Looney come back from this nerve thing? Will D’Lo’s ankle be alright?

These questions are major cause for concern for the defending Western Conference Champs. There are a lot of unknowns. And those unknowns make for a very, very interesting season for Warriors fans like myself.

More and more people, fans included, are starting to write-off the Warriors’ playoff hopes. I’m not so quick to pass that opinion on to you. I’m certainly growing more pessimistic each day with each missed layup or rebound opportunity, yet I still feel like the Dubs are still ok.

With Eric Paschall showing us glimpses of what he can really do, Omari Spellman energizing the bench, Cauley-Stein making an immediate difference on defense, and the shooting of the wings starting to come around, the Warriors are in better position than most would think.

This is a prime time for the lowercase dubs to get quality run early in the season, build confidence, and develop their NBA game quicker than they normally would. Besides, they’ve seen some really good teams already (e.g. Clippers, Spurs) and the experiences in those games are starting to show in a positive way.

Imagine when Curry comes back in a few months and the young Warriors are no longer the lowercase dubs we see right now; rather, they start sentences and leave no questions.

One advantage the Warriors have in abundance that most teams don’t have is youth. While it may hurt to watch them this early in the season, at just under 25 years of age, the Warriors are one of the youngest teams in the league. The Lakers are old. Rockets, old. Utah, getting there. My point is, over the course of a long 82-game season, youth certainly has its advantages. Sustained energy is one. The other is proneness to injury. I hope all players have a healthy season–both physically and mentally. However, there are no guarantees (as we just saw with Steph’s broken hand). Even the top teams are just an injury or two from exploring tanking options.

So the question becomes–and has always been (as the Spurs figured out)–how deep is your bench? How well do you develop the young guys? How solid is your G-League program? All this experience on the big stage for the Warriors’ two-way players and rookies is invaluable and will only pay major dividends in the near future.

If Golden State can secure their first win at the Chase Center against a strong Portland squad this evening, their confidence can ride them to a stronger-than-expected record with Curry out. However, if they lose, no biggie…It’s a learning opportunity and a chance to get better. On to the next one.