Another Theory

If a coach wants to find out if his team is going to be competitive or not, here's what he needs to do. He must sit down with a roster of all the teams in the NBA and ask himself the following: Would he substitute four out of five of his starters for four out of five starters on the opposing teams? If he would, then he has very little chance of winning many games. Next, he must repeat the question with the following change:.Would he substitute three out of five of his starters for three of the starters on the opposing team.?If he would, he will win a few more, but not that many more. Finally, he must ask himself if he would sub two of his starters for two of the starters on opposing teams. See where I'm going? The coach should start with the very best teams in the NBA, Miami, the Thunder, etc and work his way down the list of all NBA teams. Clearly most coaches would want to have the players from Miami and Thunder on their teams. But, would the Chicago Bulls, for example, sub their four starters for the four starters on the Milwaukee Bucks? Not. Would the Boston Celtics sub two of their starters for two starters on the Warriors? On Portland?

This morning I looked at the starting five/six players for the Sacramento Kings and went through all the NBA teams. Alas, aside from DeMarcus Cousins, I would sub all the rest of the King's starters for the starters on any of the other NBA teams, and that includes Orlando, Milwaukee, Philly, and Detroit, teams that are not doing well this season. What does this say about the Kings chances of winning this season? I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see a lot of talent on the Kings, beside Cousins and the new kid Thomas, maybe as long as being on a dysfunctional team won't take its toll on him? I like Aaron Brooks, with reservations, and Isaiah with reservations. But, as I said, it didn't take a lot of thinking to sub them for other players I believe are better.

When I played witht the Warriors, I used to love to battle against Tom Heinsohn, Hall of Fame forward for the Boston Celtics.  I'm married to a painter, and I told her about Heinsohn, the painter.
According to her, my one-time rival is a very good painter. Here's a poem for him and her.

Tommy Heinsohn    by Tom Meschery

In Kansas City, in the Nelsen Gallery
I look at the famous nude of Helga
and think of Tommy Heinsohn,
his famous hook shot that curved
more beautifully than Helga's hip
and his right cross that left my eye
bleeding, and how later in the bar
below the Garden he told me
he painted in the Wyeth School.
I was a rookie, and thought Wyeth
was a hotel chain. Today, I write
poems and admire the back-light
in Wyeth's painting of the dog
sunning himself in the window,
two men who made such violence
together, the work of the artist.