These are some thoughts after another week of basketball and another week of retirement.
Make Room for Dunk Contest- In 2023, the Philadelphia ‘76er’s waived Julian Chapagnie to make room for Mac McClung. The reason, they wanted McClung to represent them in the All-Star games slam dunk contest. Today, Chapagnie is starting in the NBA Finals for the Spurs.
NY Fans Have Jobs?- In the Knicks vs Philadelphia series and again in the Knicks vs Cleveland series, the Knicks had huge numbers of fans buy tickets for the road games. I thought that would not happen in San Antonio. As you listen to the crowd responses to plays, it seems sometimes like it is a NY home game. How can pro teams limit the tickets for away teams?
Standing Out- I heard a great line about the Spur’s Stephon Castle after the Spurs vs Thunder series. A reporter was describing how during the series the teams played with unbelievable intensity, but in a “game of total intensity, Stephon Castle still stood out for his intensity.” A great, great complement.
All Your Teams Lose?- Do you ever feel like you go thru periods of time that you should place bets on the team you are not rooting for because all the teams you root for are losing?
I am not saying that because I am a Bulls fan or a White Sox fan. It just seems like sometimes any random game you watch, if you have a favorite, they are going to lose.
Come on Fever and Spurs and Sox!!!
Speaking of Losing- It is amazing sometimes on a pro level how the teams and coaches can seem unprepared and unable to adjust within a game to the other team’s strategies.
The Fever lost to the Liberty because of an inability to handle a half-court trapping defense. It looked like they were unprepared for it and had never thought about what they wanted to do. You wouldn’t last long in HS basketball if you didn’t prepare for half court traps or if you didn’t have ability to call a time out and draw it up.
Perspectives- Obviously from my past writings, I am trying to be a Fever fan. It is obvious to me when I listen to podcasts, read articles, and have friends talk to me about the Fever. Everyone fits into at least one of the following buckets when it comes to Clark and the Fever.
1- Caitlin Clark fans- This group usually has real passion for Caitlin, and many started following her at Iowa so they have history. Many of them are unhappy if the Fever win but Clark doesn’t have a double double. Clark fans tend to be frustrated with Coach White and some of the other players.
2- Fever fans- This group are probably also Clark fans but their priority is the Fever winning. If the Fever lose and Clark has 30 points and 15 assists, they are not happy. Fever fans tend to be frustrated with Coach White and the GM.
3- Basketball fans- This group is interested in the potential of Clark and the Fever. They spend their time analyzing whether the Fever really have the ability to win.
4- UConn people- This group has never gotten on the Clark bandwagon. They don’t like Clark, they don’t like the Fever. They invest their time promoting anyone with a UConn connection. They still believe that Dallas drafting Azzi Fudd over Olivia Miles was a good pick.
Where do you fit in?
Can The Shine Be Brought Back?- People are going to look back at the Fever’s off-season- their free agency and drafts, and say that the Fever blew it. All but a handful of players in the WNBA were free agents. The Fever had one WNBA First teamer in Mitchell. The Fever in Boston and Clark have what most believe are 2 of the 3 best players under 25 years old.
Whether it was last year’s absences of Clark or this year’s mediocrity of the Fever, when you watch games, you don’t see the fans having the same enthusiasm for Clark or for the Fever. In the first year, most games whether in Indy or on the road- the Fever were the home team. That seems to be lost. Can it be brought back?
Whether it is up to Clark bring back the fan enthusiasm, the Fever team, the Fever coach, or the Fever GM— I hope somebody figures it out. They had a good thing going but they don’t now.
Cunningham and Hull- What’s the deal with their limited time? Did one of them have written in their contact that they can’t be on the court with the other?
Can’t Have it Both Ways- Right now I watch the NY vs Spurs series and think that they have to call fouls or they are going to ruin the game, and then I watch WNBA games and think they have to not call so many fouls or they are going to ruin the game. I know I can’t have it both ways but I think there is something between the WNBA and the NBA officiating.
The Supreme Court once said that pornography is hard to describe. But Justice Potter Stewart said, “I know it when I see it.” I think the same is true of fouls in basketball, it is hard to always describe but we know a foul when we see one.
I don’t want to see players dribbling up the floor and a defender bumping them the whole way. But I don’t want to see shooters flopping when barely touched. I don’t want to see shooters being contacted.
My advice to the WNBA and NBA- don’t try to reinvent the game. If contact creates an advantage that a good player can’t and shouldn’t have to play thru- call the foul.
Tony Brothers is the ref pictured above. If you see that he is officiating a game, you will see more violence than in a World War II movie.
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