No Coincidences

Tag: Kevin Durant

  • NBA 2023/2024

    NBA 2023/2024

    The theme of my blog is NoCoincidences (thus the name). This started as spiritual thoughts with some random thoughts sprinkled in. This developed into a lot of writing about being a father and having daughters as my family changed.

    There is a big passion of mine that I seldom write about.

    I love basketball.

    I’m a big NBA fan. I don’t follow other sports really at all. I’ve long cut NFL football out of my life (and never been happier). Since Mike’s passing I hardly watch college football anymore. I occasionally dip into college basketball. But NBA is the one time-suck I’ve allowed myself to keep.

    So, with it being roughly midway through the 2023/2024 NBA season, I thought I’d give some thoughts about the NBA, this season, and especially my love and passion: the Utah Jazz.

    Here’s what I’ve noticed.

    Let’s start with the Jazz.

    My Team:

    Lauri Markkanen is great. If you don’t know who Lauri Markakanen is, you’re missing out on a 7-foot-tall, Finnish, gloriously great team player. We struck gold with him. That said, I don’t think he can be the best player on a championship team without even more developments in his game. He’s made such big leaps the last couple years in who he is as a player. I don’t think he’s done getting better. But to win an NBA championship, it’s pretty much confirmed that you need a top 10 player in the NBA. I don’t know if Lauri can get there.

    Let’s go through the last 10 champions as a case study:

    Nuggets (2022/2023) – Nikola Jocic: undoubtedly a top 10 player, probably the best player in the world.

    Warriors (2021/2022) – Steph Curry: still a top 10 player.

    Bucks (2020/2021) – Giannis Antetekounmpo: at the time the best player in the world, definitely top 10 today, probably top 3.

    Lakers (2019/2020) – LeBron: it can be debated on if he’s still a top 10 player right now, at this time he definitely was. At this time, during this run, Anthony Davis was also likely a top 10 player.

    Raptors (2018/2019) – Kawhi Leonard: at the time he established himself as one of the best in the world, definitely a top 10 player.

    Warriors (2017/2018) – Kevin Durant: top 10 player for the last decade and top 20 player of all time. To say nothing of Steph Curry, another top 10 player on the roster.

    Warriors (2016/2017) – Kevin Durant: again.

    Cavaliers (2015/2016) – LeBron James: one of the best players of all time, arguably a top 10 player in the league for the last 20 years.

    Warriors (2014/2015) – Steph Curry: this is the year he established himself as one of the best players in the NBA.

    Spurs (2013/2014) – Tony Parker: at first glance, I thought this might be the exception to the rule. Upon further investigation, Tony Parker was considered by many to be a top 10 player this year. This year the Spurs had 6 players average double-digit scoring and still had the best Power Forward to ever play on the roster.

    The point is, you need a top 10 player in the NBA to win a championship. Can Lauri get there? Maybe. His ability to score one on one is a shortcoming. He’s a phenomenal player on the move, and great with his catch and shoot. But at the end of the shot clock when everything breaks down and a score is needed, all eyes still turn to Jordan Clarkson.

    Speaking of Jordan Clarkson, I love him, but he takes so many minutes from our young players. It’s a true dilemma.

    There are a lot of questions for the Jazz but I love where we’re headed.

    My Favorite Team to Watch:

    When my Jazz inevitably don’t make the playoffs, I’ve found the team I will aggressively root for. I LOVE the Oklahoma City Thunder. LOVE. I love the way they play. I love their players. I love their style. I love that they’re a small market team. I love that they’ve built through the draft. The Thunder are awesome. When they have Giddy, Gilgeous-Alexander, J-Dub, Holmgren, and Dort on the floor, and just spread the floor, it is a thing of beauty watching them patiently penetrate and kick over, and over, and over until they get a good shot. If I could play on any NBA team it would be the Thunder with the Heat in second. The Thunder are basketball ecstasy to watch.

    On the topic of top 10 players, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is that guy. For the casual fan who doesn’t watch the Thunder and doesn’t know, this is your official notice that Shai is a top 10 player, no question. He doesn’t shoot threes, but I love the way he plays. He’s never rushed. When he penetrates into the paint, he almost never forces a shot. He kicks the ball out, knowing it will get passed around and he’ll get a chance to penetrate again and get an easier shot. This is true team basketball. You can tell, at least in what I’ve seen, that the players are playing for the team, and not for themselves. The Thunder are so fun to watch. If you’re a casual fan that wonders if the NBA is ruined, come over and watch a Thunder game with me. I have them all recorded.

    Favorite Player:

    If you haven’t watched the Pacers play, tune in to see Tyrese Haliburton. He is my new favorite player. From his janky three-point shot that I love, to his pace, his lack of turnovers, his obsession with making the right play every time; he is my favorite player in the NBA right now. I love Lauri and Clarkson on the Jazz, but Tyrese is my point guard love. He replaces Jalen Brunson who I still love but I find it harder to relate to. I like Tyrese Haliburton because he plays the way I like to think I play (in my dreams).

    For those who are wondering, my all-time list of favorite players in order is:

    John Stockton

    Steve Nash

    Steph Curry

    Donovan Mitchell

    Tyrese Haliburton (working his way up)

    Favorites to Win the Championship:

    The Celtics and Nuggets have to be the clear favorites to win the championship. They are head and shoulders above anyone else I’ve seen.

    Honorable mention:

    Bucks – if Giannis and Dame can be fully unlocked, Middleton can get back to form, and they can play a lick of defense, they might be able to beat the Celtics.

    Heat – the Heat should always be feared.

    Timberwolves – I fully expect the Timberwolves to have a momentous playoff meltdown, I saw it too often in Utah to believe otherwise.

    In my opinion, the Nuggets are coming out of the West. I’ll be rooting for the Thunder.

    It’s been a fun NBA season so far. There is so much talent in the league. It’s in a great place. The expansion to 32 teams, which is coming in the next couple years, is coming at a great time. There is enough talent in the NBA to spread around to two more teams.

    I love the NBA and I love basketball.

  • Suns Experience

    Suns Experience

    Last week I got to play on the Phoenix Suns court. It was an awesome experience, one of the coolest things I’ve ever gotten to do. Huge shoutout to Robert, his wife Brooke, and Blake for making it happen. We got exclusive access to the court and were able to play pickup for three hours. Well, some of us were able to play for hours… more on that later.

    Some basketball thoughts from playing on a real NBA court.

    First, those lights are bright. When I’d shoot from the corners, if I watched the ball arc up before it got to the rim, I’d be blinded by the lights. If I looked up unconsciously while playing, I got blinded. Never thought about what it would be like to actually play under the “bright lights.”Speaking of the corners, it is a tight fit. Shooting an NBA three from the corner gives barely enough room for your feet. If you take a step back at all to try to explode toward the hoop, you’re stepping out of bounds. I have size 10 shoes. I don’t know how the size 20s even do it.

    Speaking of the lights, part of the package with getting to play on the court was we got to watch the Suns play that night against the Orlando Magic. We got to watch from the suite level with food and drink included. I’ve been to many Suns games, but this was a unique game to watch due to having been on the court just hours earlier. These things I mentioned like the lights and the tight space from the corner were things I considered more than I ever had before. The other thing that stood out to me that I’d never thought about before was how hectic an environment this was for NBA players to play basketball in.

    Basketball is a refuge for me. It’s therapeutic. Playing on an NBA court with thousands of people watching cannot be therapeutic.

    An NBA game is a chaotic and hectic experience. Of course, there are the thousands of people watching, yelling, and trash-talking. That’s crazy in and of itself. But what struck me the most after having played on the court was how loud the music was. While we played, we had a pretty chill March Madness game playing on the big screen with the volume on what I’d guess was around medium. It was still distracting. Watching that game later against the Magic I was focused on the NOISE, the MUSIC, and the BASS.

    It is pandemonium at an NBA game. For some reason I’d always thought the NBA players were a bit sheltered from the noise. After playing on the court, I realized it’s the opposite. They are at the bottom, center of a dome. All the noise and chaos are amplified on the court. It gave me my first true appreciation of home-court advantage. That chaos is one thing, but when it’s a chaos you’re not used to, (on the road visiting another stadium) with fans heckling you the whole time, it’s complete sensory overload.

    So, back to my time on the court, unfortunately I got hurt the beginning of the second game. I was running and just stepped wrong and twisted my ankle bad. It actually happened at almost the exact spot where Kevin Durant twisted his ankle while doing a routine warm-up layup a couple weeks earlier.

    Probably exactly what my ankle looked like, same spot.

    After I rolled my ankle, I at least got to see what it was like to be treated like an NBA player for a moment. Multiple trainers checked on me and brought me ice. It was a bit embarrassing. I got to spend the rest of the pickup session jealously watching with ice on my ankle from the sideline.

    Here’s the part where I insert what I learned spiritually from this experience.

    I’ve twisted that ankle at least 3 dozen times, not exaggerating. It’s never fun. It’s always painful.

    That night, I was laying in bed with my ankle propped up on pillows. I’d already discarded the ice that was on it. It was the middle of the night and my foot was THROBBING. It hurt.

    It hurt badly enough that I started praying for relief. I don’t want to be dramatic. I know that on the pain scale, what I was experiencing was pretty mild. But still, it hurt. That’s when I started thinking about every groin pull, every sprained ankle, every concussion, every headache, every upset stomach, every scalping, every stitch, every ingrown toenail, every scratch, every bruise, every heartache, every heartbreak, every disappointment, every fear, every doubt.

    How could He have felt it all?

    Here I was, writhing in pain, whining, praying for relief, over a sprained ankle. And He felt every sprained ankle of every person that ever did or would exist, all in a moment. He felt it all. How?

    I ponder often on the Atonement. I’ve tried to wrap my head around it. It’s not something we can wrap our heads around. That’s the point. He did something unimaginable. He did something incomprehensible. And he did it for us.

    I believe (I know) that Christ felt it all that night at Gethsemane. I don’t know how; I can’t understand it. But I know He did. It’s why I write about Him, it’s why I think about Him, it’s why I serve Him. Because for a long time, I tried to forget what He did for me because of guilt, or incomprehension, or selfishness. But now I think the most important thing I do outside of anything with my family is write about Him.

    I think the most important thing I do for my daughters is teach them about Him. Few things bring me as much joy as when Ivy sees a picture, I ask, “who’s that?” And she replies, “Jesus.” I hope someone reads this that needs to remember Him and what He did for us. When you think about what He did for us, ultimately it must make us more loving because we’re considering a love that is unfathomable. That makes us better.

  • The Difference Between Steph Curry and Kevin Durant

    The Difference Between Steph Curry and Kevin Durant

    This will be slightly out of brand for my blog. I love basketball so it’s surprising this is the first true basketball commentary I’ve written.

    Anyways,

    Kevin Durant is without question one of the best players in the NBA right now (when healthy), and one of the most talented players of all time. He is an extraordinary basketball player. It was big news a couple weeks ago when he requested a trade from his current team, the New Jersey Nets. It was especially relevant in Arizona because Durant listed Phoenix and Miami as his two preferred destinations.

    A quick history on Kevin Durant for those that don’t know –

    Durant was on an off-the-charts talented Oklahoma City team that had 3 future MVPs on the roster. That Oklahoma City Thunder team gave a record breaking 73-win Golden State Warriors team all it could handle. The Warriors came back from down 3-1 to the Oklahoma City Thunder. That Warriors team then lost to the LeBron led Cavaliers in the finals.

    After the Warriors lost to the Cavaliers, and beat Durant’s Thunder, Durant left his team to join the record-breaking Warriors. A true, “if you can’t beat em, join em.” I didn’t hate this move by Durant like a lot of basketball fans did. As a lover of basketball, I could see that Durant hated playing with Russell Westbrook. From watching Durant play with Westbrook, I could understand Durant’s frustration. He wanted to play with a real team. Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and Steph Curry made basketball look so fun. If I could play with any NBA team, it would hands down be the Warriors. They play basketball right. I understood Durant’s decision.

    Fast forward some years. The Warriors win two more championships in 3 years. Durant is the Finals MVP both times. Here’s the thing though. The Warriors were never Durant’s team. It was always Steph Curry’s team. No matter how phenomenal Durant was. He couldn’t be loved in the Bay Area the way Steph was.

    This led Durant to leave again. Always looking for the greener grass. He joined the Nets and hitched his wagon to a known enigma: Kyrie Irving. I won’t go into all the details, but the Nets experiment went disastrously. About as bad as it possibly could. Durant wanted to go to New Jersey to make it his city, the way San Francisco was Steph’s city. It exploded in his face.

    So here we are, full circle. Durant is wanting out again. Looking for greener pastures, again.

    Here’s the amazing thing I’m sure the casual NBA fan has missed.

    What were the two teams Durant said were his two most desired destinations to be traded to? The Suns and the Heat. Who was the number one team in the west last year?… the Suns. Who was the number one team in the East last year?…the Heat. Interesting.

    When Durant left the Thunder, he got destroyed in the media for leaving to join a better team. Despite being the player that took the Warriors over the top, potentially making them the best team in NBA history, he was never satisfied. He always seemed jaded by how he was bashed for the decision, and the perceived lack of love and appreciation he received for his basketball brilliance.

    Here we are. Years later. He’s making the same decision. He went to a team to make it his own. It was disastrous. So, he’s trying to go to another team that already has leadership and join them.

    How does Steph Curry tie into this?

    Steph Curry is a leader of men; Durant is a lone ranger. Durant is not a leader of men.

    Durant thinks because he can recruit talent to play with him, that makes him a leader. Recruiting talent doesn’t make you a leader. Elevating those around you makes you a leader. When has Durant elevated others?

    The dichotomy of Kevin Durant is wanting to be a part of good culture, then ultimately wanting to be the good culture himself. But you can’t be the good culture by the simple fact that you want to be the good culture. Good culture is humility, self-sacrifice, team before individual. Durant acts like that’s what he wants, but then he leaves the greatest team of all time because he wasn’t getting the credit he felt he deserved. He went somewhere else thinking he could have it all. A talented team and a city that loved him.

    Look who he gravitated towards in his recruitment efforts– another lone wolf, unique, kind of weird individual – Kyrie Irving. Look who else he brought in – a strip club attending, come in out of shape, (selfish), James Harden. These aren’t culture builders. What happened in Golden state doesn’t happen every day. And it does not happen by accident. It’s not every day that you find immensely talented people that are willing for it not to be all about them. Kevin Durant was never interested in it not being about him. That’s the dichotomy.

    Steph Curry brought Kevin Durant in and embraced him. He didn’t care about the limelight. He cared about winning. He proved that. Two MVP trophies that did not go his way. Why? Because he had the humility to say, definitively, “it doesn’t have to be about me.” With Steph Curry, it’s truly about the team.

    Steph Curry doesn’t try to be humble. He doesn’t try to be a uniter of men. He just is those things. They come naturally to him. He is a leader. These things don’t come naturally to Kevin Durant.

    This isn’t an indictment of Kevin Durant as a person and definitely not as a basketball player. Not everyone is a born leader. It may be unfair to compare him to the most selfless superstar in NBA history, and I don’t think it’s even close. Who has a higher combination of talent, accolades, and humility than Steph Curry?

    That said, Kevin Durant brought this comparison on himself. He had it all. Championships. A great team. Great teammates. He left that because he wanted to do it himself. When things got hard, he bailed ship faster than Kyrie bails a vaccination center. Is it any surprise that his two preferred destinations are where there’s a solid team, solid culture, solid comradery, and solid leadership?

    Durant thought he wanted to be a leader of men. He quickly realized he only wanted to play basketball. That’s fine. Hopefully, though, he doesn’t go to Phoenix or Miami, win championships, and then realize he’s still not happy. Even though, if that were to happen, it seems like a foregone conclusion that would be the result.

    Always seeking greener pastures.