Through blogging I learned many things about my writing. I learned that I love writing and learning about basketball. I really enjoy learning more statistics about teams and players. I learned that writing about basketball tends to lead me to want to write the same types of posts, but I had to stay away from it. I wanted each post to be sort of a top 5, but I quickly learned that doing the same thing over and over again is boring. Readers don’t want to read blog posts with the same format that just have a different topic. I learned how to use weebly, and format my blog to look organized. If my blog was messy it would have been hard to read.
I wish we spent more time in class learning about introductions and conclusions because that was where my blogs tended to struggle. I am not very good at hooking the reader in and ending with them wanting more. I wish we spent less time with commenting during class. We took a lot of time just doing our comments during class. I found myself several times getting off topic and off task because of the long periods of time where all we did was sit and work on posts and comments. I was surprised how easy and difficult blogging can be. It was very challenging for me to find a topic I could write a lot about and have it remain interesting. It was also easy though because once I found that topic writing the post was easy. My favorite part of blogging was being able to become a better writer while still learning about basketball. It made the posts easier to write since they were about something I enjoy. My least favorite part was trying to put the statistics I found into words and trying to phrase things correctly. I found it difficult to put what I was trying to say into phrasing that made sense. I enjoyed blogging more than enjoyed writing poetry. I liked seeing my posts improve and change as we wrote more posts. Overall I enjoyed blogging more than I thought I would.
0 Comments
Dear readers,
Thank you all for coming back week after week to read my posts. Also thank you for the feedback on each post. The comments I received were very good, and also included great constructive criticism. I have enjoyed writing the post for you guys, learning more about sports through the process, and seeing my writing improve as I wrote more and more posts. I hope you also saw the improvements in my writing as time went on. Blogging was something I’d never tried before, and I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would. In the beginning I thought it would be kind of boring and difficult to do. Once I learned that blogs can be about pretty much anything it became easy. Blogging allowed me to learn more about basketball while still relating it to school. It led me to follow the NBA more closely than I would have normally. Thanks again, John DeMarino ![]() The retiring of players can be one of the saddest things to see in professional basketball. Fans, coaches, general managers, team owners, and, most off all, other players are affected by the ending of players’ careers. From the end of the 2015-2016 NBA season, to the start of the 2016-2017 season, many past legends’ careers have ended. It’s a sad thing to see older player’s careers come to a halt after watching them dominate the league for ages. One of the saddest things to see as a basketball fan is seeing a past superstar get hate as they lose their skills and athleticism with age. As a Lakers fan it was the worst seeing people hate on Kobe Bryant as his career ended because he led the Lakers to five NBA championships. After Kobe retires it marked the end of the 1996 draft class. Kobe was the last one to call it quits, but he will never be forgotten as well as all of the greats that retired from this draft class. To me it is disrespectful to a player's career when he gets hate for not being as good as he used to be. Especially if that player is a future Hall of Fame player. As a player ages they suffer a lot of wear and tear when playing at such a high level of competition. They begin to lose much of their athletic ability. With injuries and their body’s natural aging, they slow down and have to adapt their style of play. They begin to shoot more outside jump shots, and they make less and less spectacular plays. The players’ averages may go down due to the aging and they may begin taking games off. I believe that seeing a past superstar retire is one of the saddest things to see in sports. To me it comes close behind seeing a player have a severe injury. It is sad to see a player that has had major influence on the sport throughout their career have to finally call it quits. It also impacts the team without the leadership of the older players. What do you think is the worst thing to see in sports? Retirement is to me the worst thing in sports. ![]() Old NBA legends retiring, players getting greedy for more money, and injuries have caused some teams to lose their superstar players. When teams go through these issues it can cause them to rebuild their whole roster. Losing franchise or superstar players can be dealt with a number of ways. If you have more than one superstar, you can just deal with this issue and build around the superstar player you still have. Another way to deal with this problem is to rebuild your roster. You can do this by trading away some of your older players for fresh young talent and drafting up and coming players. The process of rebuilding can be long and risky. With the players you draft you have no idea how they may turn out. The best player of all time, Michael Jordan, wasn’t even drafted first. Jordan was actually drafted third overall. No one knew how he would turn out as a player. He could have had a career-ending injury like the second overall pick before him, Sam Bowie. With many teams in the rebuilding process, many young players have risen to superstardom very early in their careers. Since these players are still young and developing, they have more strengths and weaknesses than older, more experienced players. Kristaps Porzingis was drafted fourth in the 2015 NBA to the New York Knicks. Many Knicks fans were confused and angry with this pick because they had no idea who he was. Porzingis is from Latvia, and didn’t play basketball in the United States in college. Due to this no one had ever really seen him play. Early on in his first season Porzingis proved that he was a solid pick by the struggling New York Knicks. Strengths:
Strengths:
In college Russell showed great potential with his crafty play on the basketball court. D’angelo’s first season was a bit shaky as he was getting used to the high level play of the NBA. His second season on the other hand has started off much better as he continues to lead the young Lakers team. Strengths:
![]() The Houston Rockets had a good season last year finishing second the western conference, and getting all the way to the western conference finals where they lost to the Golden State Warriors. Many fans hoped that the Rockets would have another great season this year, but during the off season they lost their star center, Dwight Howard. The Rockets quickly realized that they needed to change things up this season if they wanted to be successful. They decided to take a risk by playing their star shooting guard James Harden at the point. This risk so far has paid off. Harden has had a great season so far playing point guard. He is averaging 28.7 points a game, 12.5 assists per game, and 7.8 rebounds per game. Not too bad for a player who has been playing shooting guard for most of his career. The only downside to this move so far is that Harden’s turnovers per game has gone up by 0.7, putting him at 5.3 turnovers per game. You may look at that statistic and think that having 5.3 turnovers a game is terrible, but honestly it's not that bad for a player who has had to convert from simply scoring to distributing the ball. This transition of Harden has worked positively for the team so far. They have started out this season winning 9 of their first 14 games putting them at a 9-5 record. James Harden needs to keep up this high level of play if the Rockets are to be successful. I believe he can, and if you watch him play you will agree. Harden makes some incredible moves with the ball. Harden also hits some crazy jump shots making him one of the best shooters in the NBA. His midrange game is deadly with his series of pull up jump shots and floaters over taller defenders. He is a master of the pick and roll which is why his assist and points numbers are so high. He either makes a great move for a basket off the pick, or hits the roll man with a great pass for an easy basket. James Harden is definitely developing to be one of the best point guards in the NBA today. ![]() In my first post I mentioned that many teams are creating what are called super teams. These super teams have a massive amount of talent on their rosters which makes them very difficult to win against. Teams with less superstars on their rosters have trouble matching up with super teams because they have less talent on their roster. This top 5 is on the best super teams in the NBA this year. 1.Cleveland Cavaliers: The Cleveland Cavs have negotiably the best player in the league right now in Lebron James. Not to mention they surrounded him with great talent in Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, JR Smith, and Iman Shumpert. Last season they defeated the Warriors in the NBA Finals, and you have to believe that the Cavs will continue winning games this season. 2. Golden State Warriors: Last year the Warriors set the record for most wins in one season. Stephen Curry won MVP, and had a great season. They also are known for their great perimeter because of Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. Not to mention they had one of the biggest offseason moves in a while with the addition of Kevin Durant. With this addition the Warriors will be even more difficult to beat than last year. 3. Los Angeles Clippers: The Clippers have had the same core of players for the last couple of years, and they honestly should have a title by now. With the duo of Deandre Jordan and Blake Griffin downlow, and Chris Paul at point they are very tough to beat. They also have JJ Reddick and Jamal Crawford who are great scorers. 4. San Antonio Spurs: I can’t remember a time when the Spurs haven’t been dominating the western conference. Yes, their talent is getting older by the years, and Tim Duncan did retire last season, but the Spurs are still playing strong. This is because Tony Parker, their point guard, hasn’t slowed down much with age, and their young superstar Kawhi Leonard is simply a monster on both sides of the court. Even though they lost Tim Duncan, who may be the best power forward of all time, their front court hasn’t suffered much because of Pau Gasol and Lamarcus Aldridge who are both above average big men. 5. Oklahoma City Thunder: You may look at the Thunder and think that their roster isn’t very good, and they aren’t a super team. I disagree with that for one reason, Russell Westbrook. Westbrook is not only negotiably the best point guard in the NBA, but he may also be one of the most athletic players in the NBA. He consistently puts up triple doubles with high amounts of points. The Thunder also have two big men with a lot of potential in Enes Kanter and Steven Adams. Also with their off season signing of Victor Oladipo is probably the best shooting guard the Thunder have had since James Harden. ![]() The Los Angeles Lakers have started out strong this season by winning 6 out of their first 11 games. This may not seem like a very good record, but most people expected them to win none of their first 11. This places the Lakers in the eighth seed in the Western Conference, when most people probably expected them to be sitting up around 14th or 15th. Nick Young, or “Swaggy P”, has started out this season very strong by averaging around 14 points per game which is very good for a player who's been in the league a while. Speaking of Lakers players who have been in the league a while, Louis Williams has been having a great season so far. He is leading the Lakers in points per game with around 16. Closely following him is two of the Lakers young stars, D’Angelo Russell and Jordan Clarkson. They both are averaging 15 points a game which is very good for how young they both are. Besides individual player statistics the Lakers are third in the league in points per game. This young Lakers team is making headlines while most of their talent is still young and developing, despite a few older players in Louis Williams, Nick Young, and Luol Deng. They are looking like old Laker teams from the 80’s and 90’s who played fast and flashy. Many of the players from these teams are Hall of Fame players, and you just have to wonder if these young Lakers will develop just like past players. As a Lakers fan I can only hope that they will. Many people thought that the Oklahoma City Thunder may have a bad season after losing superstar player, Kevin Durant, but that just isn’t the case. They have started their season by winning 6 of their first 10 games, and this is thanks to Russell Westbrook. He is simply refusing to let the loss of Kevin Durant effect his team in a negative way. He looks like a man on a mission on the court with his fast paced, high flying, style of play. He is averaging an incredible 31.9 points, 10.1 assists, and 9.2 rebounds per game, which is almost a triple double every night. If Westbrook manages to keep these numbers up the entire season the Thunder will definitely be one of the strongest teams in the West. Currently they are sitting in the 6th seed, but I see them being top five by the end of the year. Both of these teams could have breakout seasons in the Western Conference if they keep up this high level of play. The Lakers are hoping to make the playoffs, which they haven’t done in two seasons, and the Thunder hope to get past the Western Conference Finals, where they were defeated last season by the Warriors. Both of these teams goals look accomplishable with how they started this season. ![]() With many NBA players and franchises being desperate for a title the term “super team” has become relevant. This has led to the creation of teams with 3-4 superstars in their starting lineup. Yes, this does lead to some great games when the super teams battle it out, but it does leave some teams having absolutely no talent while they try and rebuild. This top 5 will be on what I believe the top 5 worst NBA teams this season will be. 5. The New Orleans Pelicans: You may see the Pelicans at five and begin to argue about the fact they have Anthony Davis, but besides him the team is garbage. Davis does have the ability to go out and put up high numbers in points, but one man cannot lead a team on his own. With early injuries to both Tyreke Evans, Lance Stephenson, and Jrue Holiday the team's fate is in the hands of Davis. 4. Washington Wizards: The Washington Wizards may have one of the best guard duos in Bradley Beal and John Wall, but Bradley Beal has struggled with injuries leaving the scoring up to Wall. The only way I see the Wizards being successful is if Beal stays healthy, and if another Wizards player has an above average season. 3. Denver Nuggets: The Denver Nuggets haven't made the playoffs in the last three seasons, and now lack a star player after losing Ty Lawson. They do have Danillo Gallinari who is a very underrated scorer and Kenneth Faried who is a freak of an athlete. Their point guard Emmanuel Mudiay needs to develop as a player, and maybe make some offseason moves, before this team can become solid. 2. Brooklyn Nets: All you really have to do is look at the Nets roster and you will see so many names you don’t recognize. They lack even a regular star let alone a super star, and besides Brook Lopez they lack another scorer. Everyone on their team averages about ten points a game if that which is not enough to win games in the NBA. 1. Philadelphia 76ers: The 76ers went 12-70 which is almost the complete opposite of the best record of all time held by the Golden State Warriors which is 73-9. Most if not all of their starters wouldn’t even be the 7th man off the bench for most teams. Their gm isn’t very smart because all of their recent high picks were wasted on big men. They drafted Ben Simmons who they hoped would be a superstar player, but he ended up getting injured in the pre-season. The sad thing is that the 76ers may have an even worse season this year. This has been what I believe is the top 5 worst teams in the NBA. If you disagree with my top 5 please leave your top 5 worst teams in the comments below. The players racing end to end, high flying players, and the flashy dribbling is what led me to be drawn to basketball. I started my interest in the sport when I was young. My dad introduced me to basketball, and I immediately got attached. Watching the fast paced game for most people was difficult, but it all just made sense to me. It was like poetry in motion. I’m John and that was when I fell in love with basketball.
When did you find your love for the game? If you’re anything like me then you want to learn everything there is about basketball. I’m going to do my best to supply you with facts as well as apply my personal opinion about the topics by giving you top fives of basketball. |
AuthorJohn, he is in 9th grade, and has been in love with basketball since he was 6 years old. Archives
January 2017
Categories |