Weekend Shot Clock Thoughts: 10/2/16

October 2, 2016

By Stephan Philyaw

24. Lynx dominating! Sparks dominating! I can’t wait until these two titans clash!

23. You would think that Kevin Garnett would stick around the T’Wolves as a special assistant coach. Especially, since there’s a player like Karl Anthony Towns there.Kevin Garnett

22. KG was seen down at Clippers training camp working on some post moves with Blake Griffin. Maybe KG will just be a floater around the league instead of consulting just one team. Cavs have an open spot for him as well. Kareem has done something similar to that over the years.

21. Sooo what happens if Cavs don’t sign JR Smith? Nothing, nothing happens because this is just drama to keep attention on the Cavs! They’re taking notes from Lakers off-season fiascoes during the past “Golden Years.” If he doesn’t sign, LeBron and company will find another way. Still destined to grace the hardwood in April.

20. If the Clippers don’t make the Western Conference Finals it’s over for Doc and Lob City.

19. Steve Ballmer says he’ll pay whatever he needs to in order to keep Blake and CP3. We’ve seen in this new generation that money has been less of an incentive over a winning/more comfortable situation.

18. If DeAndre Jordan can start hitting FTs, he’ll be THE most dominant TRUE big man in the game.

17. With MVP Nneka Ogwumike and Sixth Woman of the Year winner Jantel Lavender on the same Sparks team, that’s close to an unstoppable combination. That means your starters annnnnnd your bench are getting it done at a high level.

Time Out. CJ McCollum was at the iHeart Festival I attended last weekend. Unfortunately, I just missed him. Would’ve been cool to run into him and let him know how special it’s been to see his growth through the years.

16. Phil Jackson losing his Zen in The Garden as players STILL struggling with the triangle.

15. Rose may have more things to worry about besides the triangle. The judge in his rape case issued a gag order to keep everybody’s mouth shut.

14. I’m not hearing anything new and positive out of the Knicks preseason progress. Nothing more than a few D. Rose plays. My stock in them is definitely going down.

13. Wade in a Bulls jersey looks like he got picked up by a fantasy team.

12. I expect Butler to take a lot more spot up 3’s this year. Hopefully he improved his shot to be as efficient as PG13 at the SF position. I also see them running a lot of small ball.

11. Everybody BUT ME is high on the Jazz right now. But with teams like the Grizzlies, Pelicans, and Suns getting healthy again don’t know if they’ll have enough wins to get into the playoffs.

10. The Timberwolves are a step ahead right now. But the Lakers’ young guys will be better in the long run.

9. Warriors have a younger bench. Iggy says they’ll be better than last year’s bench. More athletic sure. But they will miss that savvy veteranism from guys like Leandro Barbosa and Brandon Rush.

8. More stories of KD and Westbrook not on good terms. I’m looking forward to this heating up as the season goes on.

7. After having a individually successful summer, Cameron Payne will be out for awhile with a fractured foot. More work for Russ and Oladipo. Thunder definitely not deep enough to be missing anybody going down on the wings.

6. In light of Vin Scully’s retirement, bet ya didn’t know he used to do the radio play-by-play for basketball at Fordham. Yea, I didn’t either until recently.

5. Luke Walton bringing a new culture to the Lakers in so many ways. Music doesn’t only make practice fun, it prepares you for the noise in an NBA game.

4. Alex Poythress either hurt or helped his chances of getting on the Pacers. Rookie’s mistake taking out teammates with elbows. He gave Myles Turner a concussion at training camp. Turner may not make the preseason opener. Turner is a vital player to the Pacers. He should be good for start of the season though.

Time Out. Ivica Zubac bringing the sky-hook back! Y’all sleeping on this kid! I thought the early comparisons to Marc Gasol were crap, but this kid is a beast on offense and defense. Can’t wait to see “Zu-blocka” get some PT against the best competition to show what he can really do.

3. Preseason kicked-off last night with the Warriors vs Raptors in Vancouver! I thought the Warriors go up 20 by halftime. Lol… That was the way things went before getting Durant.

2. The Fresh Prince, Will Smith, and part owner of the Sixers made a special appearance for the team this weekend to give a little pep talk. They definitely need it.

1. Number 1 pick Ben Simmons fractured a bone in his foot. After rolling his ankle a week or so before. It’s an acute injury, but I’m willing to bet he’ll miss a significant length of time. Sixers still get Embiid back, but the direction and expectations of this team have completely changed. Doesn’t matter, healthy or not… Simmons was still the 2nd best pick out of the top 2 picks to me.

Ben Simmons

Stephan can be heard on The Joe Fan Show, which airs Wednesdays at 2 pm PDT on NBC Sports Radio AM920 The Game.

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