The Lakers have had a rough season.
Last night went pretty well, though – especially for one fan.
The Lakers beat the Kings, and this fan swished a halfcourt shot to win $45,000.
CJ Fogler:
The Lakers need more outside shooting. Maybe they could turn to some of their fans.
Jason Terry played four years for the legendary Lute Olsen at Arizona, winning a national championship in 1997 and averaging 21.9 points a game his senior year. The Jet went on from there to play 19 years in the NBA, winning a Sixth Man of the Year award in 2009, and he was part of the 2011 Dallas Mavericks championship team.
Terry had moved into the front office side of the business and was serving as the assistant GM of the Texas Legends, Dallas’ G-League affiliate. Now, however, he is jumping back to his alma mater, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic.
19-year NBA veteran and former Wildcat Jason Terry has accepted assistant coaching job at Arizona, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. Terry departs Mavs, where he's been assistant GM of Texas Legends. Announcement expected Thursday.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 28, 2020
This is a smart hire by Arizona and head coach Sean Miller. High schoolers going to a major D-1 school all have NBA dreams and having a respected NBA veteran who can say “this is what it takes” on staff is a big plus. Besides, Terry was a smart player who knows the game and had a mentality suited to coaching.
For Terry, he’s back in a place he likes, he’s young (42) and has a world of options ahead of him.
The noise from 18,000 people can cover up a lot of sounds in an NBA arena. So when a back-bench assistant coach yells “bulls****” after a call he doesn’t like, the official never hears it and the game moves on.
Not when NBA games restart in fan-less facilities in Orlando in a couple of months. Without those fans, referees are going to get to hear that coach. And a whole lot more.
It’s going to be weird for referees in Orlando, just like for players, veteran official Scott Foster said recently on NBA TV.
Scott Foster explains what it might be like to referee in an environment without fans on #GameTime pic.twitter.com/4hQc7vLAI0
— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 27, 2020
“I know I don’t want everything that we normally say to each other going out. But normally we’re all in a professional manner out there. But it is going to be different. There’s going to be some assistant coaches that we haven’t really heard from before sitting in the second row that we’ll be able to hear now, so there’s going to be some adjustment there. And then I think we’re going to need to really talk about and analyze what is OK for the public to hear and how we’re going to go about our business.
“But it’s definitely going to be a different thing. I’m definitely looking forward to it. I think it’s going to be a really unique experience for the referees, players, coaches, everybody who’s going to go through this.”
It is going to be unique. Everybody is going to hear everything, and that is going to be very different from most nights when coaches have to go to hand signals because it’s too loud just to call out a play. It’s going to lead to some awkward and tense moments.
Everyone is going to have to adjust to the new reality, and that includes the referees, too.
The initial report on the NBA resuming with a group stage presented a 20-team scenario. There’d be four groups with five teams each – one from each tier of the current standings:
Teams would play each other team in its group, and the top two finishers in each group would advance to an eight-team tournament (effectively the second round of the playoffs, though without conference splits).
But that format could apparently include four more teams.
In brief, per several sources who have seen the league’s proposal: The NBA could take 20 (or 24) teams and divide them into groups
The simplest way to expand to 24 teams would be adding a sixth tier then forming four groups of six. That’d mean adding:
Bleh.
The more games the NBA holds, the more money the league will make. But the more people involved, the more risk of someone contracting and spreading coronavirus. It’s a fine line, and the league has sought a middle ground.
Phoenix, Washington, Charlotte and Chicago strike me as too lousy to include. Those teams are well outside the normal playoff race, and there’s no good reason to believe they would’ve made a late push.
In this environment, they might have shot, though. Coronavirus increases variability. Players have had differing access to resources and differing motivation to train during the hiatus. Once play resumes, positive tests could be scattered randomly. Would anyone view the Suns, Wizards, Hornets or Bulls as deserving of a berth in the eight-team tournament? If one of those four teams qualified, that’d probably just show the setup was flawed.
The fairest way to set the playoffs is with 20 teams, depending on structure. Resuming with just 16 teams wouldn’t be that far behind. The highest financial upside comes with all 30 teams, but that seems infeasible.
Setting the line at 24 teams seems like the worst of most worlds – including four bad teams that wouldn’t generate much interest but would threaten to disrupt everything else.
Several NBA players posted about George Floyd, a black man who died after being pinned to the ground by a Minneapolis police officer for about eight minutes.
Nuggets rookie Michael Porter Jr. struck a different tone than most.
Porter:
Brought tears to my eyes man…that is unbelievable…That is murder. #GeorgeLloyd
— Michael Porter Jr (@MPJr) May 27, 2020
It is a heartbreaking and corrupt world we live in…
— Michael Porter Jr (@MPJr) May 27, 2020
But regardless GOTTA KEEP THE FAITH til the end.
— Michael Porter Jr (@MPJr) May 27, 2020
As much as you pray for George family, gotta also pray for the police officer(s) who were involved in this evil. As hard as it is, pray for them instead of hate them…Pray that God changes their hearts.
— Michael Porter Jr (@MPJr) May 27, 2020
Knicks forward Maurice Harkless:
Somebody talk to their rook please 🤦🏾♂️ https://t.co/S6Ex1IYmwJ
— Maurice Harkless (@moe_harkless) May 27, 2020
Harkless, whose dismay was shared by many, is a seasoned veteran. Porter has made made rookie gaffes.
But I’m uncomfortable criticizing someone for calling for prayer for anyone. For some, prayer can be effective way to cope amid tragedy. Many believe prayer can change the world.
Porter didn’t say prayer alone should be the solution. In fact, he called the situation “evil” and “murder,” seemingly suggesting the need for criminal justice, too.