End of Summer Disjointed Basketball Thoughts: Part Deux

Last year at this time, I wrote a piece entitled End-of-summer Disjointed Basketball Thoughts. Among other things, I wrote that school should start after Labor Day as God intended, questioned the NBA’s “max” and “supermax” contracts (how can something be more than the maximum?), and (most importantly), why the Spurs’ three excellent guards was a good thing, not a problem.

Little did we know in August of 2025 that those three guards would propel the Spurs to a completely unexpected and joyous regular season and playoffs.  Until, of course, well, you know.

DBT 1. I will start this season’s End of Summer Disjointed Basketball Thoughts with a DBT from last August: 

DBT 6. The Portland Trailblazers were just sold to a guy who owns the Carolina Hurricanes in something called the “National Hockey League”. Never heard of it. Anyway, the Blazers have a long history in Portland and a passionate fan base. I am sure that Blazer fans have nothing to worry about just because their new owner is based in another state. Hold that thought just one second — one of my ex-players from Seattle is on the line…

Like San Antonio, Portland has only one professional sports team. (Don’t tell me that soccer or hockey teams count.) I was born in Portland and still have family in Oregon, which makes the arena turmoil surrounding the Blazers and their cheapskate owner doubly distressing. Once again, a billionaire owner doesn’t want to pay for stuff that will make his asset more valuable — with the implied threat to move elsewhere if he doesn’t get his way.

I really hope that the Blazers cut some sort of a deal to stay where they belong — Portland losing the Blazers would be terrible. One thing working in Portland’s favor is that Portland is surely a better and more proven market than the alternatives. I don’t think the NBA would allow the Blazers owner to poach either Seattle or Las Vegas – the other owners surely want the massive expansion fees from those locations. If those cities are off the table, what’s left? Kansas City or St. Louis? Louisville? Kansas City and St. Louis? No thank you. Portland wins. Unfortunately, Seattle won too — but lost their team anyway.

DBT 2. I recently met a guy at a beach party wearing a Ken Griffey Jr. baseball cap.  He was from Cincinnati and said one of the best moments in his life was when Griffey came home to sign with the Reds after years of playing in Seattle. Griffey Jr. grew up in Cincinnati because his father Ken Griffey Sr. played for the Reds for many years. The guy with the Griffey hat and I decided that Griffey Jr. may be the most universally beloved baseball player of the past 50 years.  

That got me thinking about whether basketball has had a similar player: someone that everyone admires, even fans of other teams.  The first player I thought of is Dr. J.  Among present players, probably Steph Curry.  On a much smaller scale (in every way), maybe Patty Mills? Anyone else?

DBT 3. You may have heard that LeBron James signed with the 76ers.  Yeah, it was in the news. While it would have been more fun if he had teamed up with Curry in the over-35 league Warriors, Philadelphia was clearly the best spot for him to maximize possible basketball success. 

I told my buddy TD, a 76ers fan, that the NBA should allow the team to play with two basketballs. Another new 76er, Jaylen Brown, took the most shots in the league last year: 1,543.  Another 76er, Tyrese Maxey, took the second most shots with 1,501. If Joel Embiid had played 82 games, his 18.3 shots per game would have put him in third with 1,500 shots.  Of course, Embiid didn’t play 82 games, never has and never will.  That, and LeBron’s age might be the only things keeping the 76ers from being a powerful team (if the league does allow the two-ball thing). 

And if they somehow keep Embiid and LeBron healthy for a long playoff run, the 76ers start two small guards who will have a tough time matching up in the NBA Finals against a team with two big powerful guards.  Just saying…

DBT 4. The team LeBron left, the Lakers, has a guy who led the league in shots per game in 2025-26. Luka Doncic averaged over 22 shots per game. Several guys from my Sunday morning game beat that easily — and our games only go to 19, counting by twos and threes.  

DBT 5. One last LeBron comment.  I promise.  While the GOAT argument will go on forever (or until Victor Wembanyama surpasses both LeBron and MJ), “best career” has been resolved in LeBron’s favor. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had it for a long time, especially if you include his three NCAA titles at UCLA.  He also won Finals MVP at 38 years old, after averaging 25.7 points, 9.0 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 1.5 blocks per game in the 1985 Finals.  But LeBron’s seasons in his 40’s have put him over everyone, including Kareem.

DBT 6. All Spurs fans loved seeing those videos of much of the team working out with Victor in France. My invitation and Air France plane ticket must have gotten lost in the mail. 

The Spurs players who made the trip had a much better time than several friends who ventured to France this summer, only to arrive during the hottest July in France’s history — with much of the country on fire.  As is Spain. And Greece. And Canada.  Closer to home, Colorado, Oregon and Spokane Washington have had devastating wildfires, some of which are still burning. A few days ago, the worst air quality in the world was in Portland, Oregon. Other parts of the country, including South Texas, have suffered from massive flooding, while tornadoes have stormed through the midwest. El Nino is cooking the Pacific Ocean. 

I know Pounding the Rock is about hoops, but we also need to pay attention to what is happening in the world. It is burning. It’s not too late to fix things, but “too late” is getting a lot closer. Let’s go renewable with solar and wind so Spurs fans can worry about the opposing team’s shooters getting hot, not the planet.

DBT 7. OK, back to hoops. In November of last season, I was able to attend a Spurs game in LA and wrote this:

All of which led to this from the Pulse (on the Athletic) picking Wednesday’s Spurs vs. Lakers as the game of the night:

NBA: Spurs at Lakers
10 p.m. ET on ESPN
Wemby-powered San Antonio (5-1) heads West to meet an impressive Lakers team that’s 6-2 despite missing LeBron James for the entire year thus far and Luka Dončić for half of those games. For now, outside of Oklahoma City, this is the class of the Western Conference. Good game.

We know now that the Spurs did indeed remain among the elite.  Indeed, they became the elite. This season they will be the hunted, not the hunter.  

I am happy to see that the other two teams in the elite may have taken a small step backwards.  OKC traded away some of their depth, including Lu Dort. I won’t miss that guy. The Knicks lost key back-up center Mitchell Robinson, and moved back a bit by replacing him with Andre Drummond.  Both Robinson and Drummond are below 50% career free throw shooter, but Drummond is 4 years older, and frankly just not as good.

We will have much more to say about this later, but for now, I will just say that the Spurs should be even better than last season’s joyous success.  For many reasons.  We are all looking forward to it.