Saturday, January 9, 2021

J-Speaks: The NBA, Congress,' And Co-Host of "The View's" Stand Against the U.S. Capitol Breach And Police Brutality

 

This week saw the good and the ugly of the United States of America. It saw another police officer not be punished for shooting another unarmed African American. It saw the election of two Democratic U.S. Senators from the state of Georgia putting the Democratic Party as the lead in all three branches of the U.S. government. But then it saw the most egregious, disrespectful, and dishonorable act since 1812. The National Basketball Association (NBA), and those in the media world that know our country is better than what we all saw took place on Wednesday afternoon into the night stood up in unison and spoke there peace in the hopes for a better nation and world ahead in under 14 days from now.

When the NBA restarted the 2019-20 season in at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, FL back in July, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the league allowed “Black Lives Matter” to be painted onto the courts. They approved social justice messages on the backs of each players’ jerseys. The league allowed its coaches and players to take a knee during the playing of the national anthem.

When the Women’s National Basketball Association held its season at IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL this past season, they were also allowed to have on the court they played on “Black Lives Matter” as well as have on the back of their jerseys the name of the woman who sparked them to speak out against social injustice against minorities, especially female minorities.

Throughout last season, the name they had on the back of their jerseys was a 26-year-old EMT of Louisville, KY Breonna Taylor, whose was fatally shot in her apartment on Mar. 13, 2020 by Louisville Metro Police officers who forced their way into her apartment as part of an investigation into a drug deal operation.

While both league’s collective activism as well as their play on the hardwood got the attention of the nation as well as the world, their efforts got severely tested in late August after another unarmed African American in 29-year-old Kenosha, WI native Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back on Aug. 23, 2020 by police officer Rusten Sheskey, in front of three of Mr. Blakes children that left him paralyzed from the waist down. It was all captured on video.”

An incident that occurred exactly 90 days after Minneapolis, MN police officer Derek Chauvin killed 47-year-old George Floyd, born in Houston, TX by putting his knee on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds back in May 2020 that killed him.

In an effort to really get the attention of the nation that behavior of this nature by those in law enforcement would no longer stand, the NBA beginning with the Milwaukee Bucks decided not to play Game 5 of their First-Round series against the Orlando Magic on Aug. 26, 2020. The league in total postponed three days of the 2020 NBA Playoffs after the Bucks refused to take the floor three nights after that shooting.

The Bucks organization released a statement of what took place in their state that said, “The Bucks organization is praying for the recovery of Jacob Blake, who was shot multiple times in the back by a police officer at point blank range in Kenosha, Wisconsin yesterday. Our hearts go out to his family and friends.”

“We stand firmly against reoccurring issues of excessive use of force and immediate escalation when engaging the black community.”

“Our organization will continue to stand for all black lives as we demand accountability and systemic change on behalf of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Sylville Smith, Ernest Lacy, Dontre Hamilton, Tony Robinson, Joel Acevedo, and countless other victims. We will work to enact policy change so these incidents no longer exist.”

Major League Baseball (MLB) postponing 14 of their games. The WNBA took things a step further by shutting down their regular-season schedule for close to a full week.

The only images of the WNBA players taking the hardwood during that time was when 17 of the players in white shirts stood shoulder to shoulder with the letters of Jacob Blake’s name flanked on both side of the number seven representing the number of times Mr. Blake was shot. There was another image of those players joined by their peers holding hands wearing “Black Lives Matter” shirts and shirts that had on the back seven bullet holes displaying how Mr. Blake nearly lost his life.

That stoppage of play and planning between the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association led to teams opening up their stadiums/arenas to be used as polling places for early voting and General Election Day voting back on Nov. 3, 2020. That resulted in the country voting President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence out of the White House and kept the House of Representative barely in Democratic hands. However, those in law enforcement being held accountable for the mistreatment of minorities, like what happened to Mr. Blake has yet to happen.

On Tuesday however, the Kenosha (WI) County District Attorney Michael Graveley announced that no charges were coming against the officer that shot Mr. Blake in the back seven times.

This news elicited a wide range of emotions from the sports world on Tuesday evening.

Four-time NBA champion and four-time Kia MVP of the Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James said in his virtual postgame presser following his team’s 94-92 win at the Memphis Grizzlies that the Mr. Blake not getting any justice “sucks.”

“It’s a blow to our community once again. And we’ve been here. We’ve been here before. We feel sorry for this family and for that community itself and we just want better,” James added. “We want better, and hopefully we can get that.”

James’ teammate and former Bucks player Wesley Matthews, who grew up in Wisconsin and went to college and Marquette University said of the decision is “upsetting” not just as a native of Wisconsin but also as a human being that “justice isn’t justice.”

“But it can’t knock us off the path that we’re trying to get to, which is equality, and simply right and wrong. Just humanity,” Matthews added. “That’s all it is.”

Utah Jazz All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell said of the ruling after the team’s 111-96 loss at the Brooklyn Nets of how it is “sad” and “upsetting” of the continued brutality by certain law enforcement against minorities with no justice to follow has become “a thing.” How it doesn’t matter if you are the most famous African American person in the world or just a citizen.

That led the Bucks to make another statement that said on their Twitter page @Bucks/Twitter on Jan. 5, “The Bucks organization remains firmly against excessive use of force by law enforcement. This past year shed a light on the ongoing racial injustices facing our African American and other marginalized communities. Reoccurring instances of excessive use of force and immediate escalation when engaging the Black community must stop. We will continue to work to enact policy change so these incidents no longer exist. As an organization, we remain strongly committed to address issues of social injustice and anti-racism and to make meaningful change for African Americans and all marginalized members of our community.”

Prior to their game against the University of Connecticut Huskies, the University of Marquette Golden Eagles men’s basketball team dawned “Black Lives Matter” shirts in support of Mr. Blake as well as not stand for the playing of the national anthem. They instead kneeled in protest.

In a statement, the Golden Eagles said of the decision to not prosecute the officers that shot Mr. Blake, “This is another reminder that just because racial and social injustice haven’t received as much attention recently doesn’t mean the need to fight against it has gone away.”

The Wednesday night NBA contest between the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks, both teams took a knee after tip-off on each team’s first possession of the game for seven seconds, which signified the seven times Mr. Blake was shot by Kenosha Police from point blank range, and as mentioned in front of three of his children.

A big step towards that meaningful change came about on Tuesday when in the special run-off election in the state of Georgia, where control of the United States Senate was at stake, was won by the Democrats as Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff overtook incumbent U.S. Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler to give control to the U.S. Senate to the Democrats.

While the U.S. Senate has an equal number of Senators of 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, because former Vice President Joe Biden (D-DE) was elected as our 46th President officially on Nov. 7, 2020, the Democrats control the Senate thanks to Vice President and now former U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) represents the tie breaking vote.

While former candidate for Governor of Georgia Stacey Abrams and Latasha Brown of “Black Voters Matter” played a major role in Rev. Warnock winning for the Democrats now having control of the U.S. Senate, the WNBA’s players support for now Senator Warnock after former Senator Loeffler, beginning back in the summer also played a part in him defeating now former Senator Loeffler, who is also the co-owner of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream.

They decided though that Loeffler was not someone who represents the best of who they are in denouncing the “Black Lives Matter,” especially after what she said about the movement to FOX News back in July 2020.   

“The WNBA has embraced the ‘Black Lives Matter” political organization,” Loeffler said. “This is a very divisive organization based on marquise principles that seeks to destroy American principles, and I had to draw the line.”

From that point on, many WNBA players, including those that played for the dream wore warmup shirts that backed Loeffler’s opponent in Senator Warnock, which raised his profile to the point that he gained not only recognition in the state of Georgia but the entire country.

That push rose him from being an after thought in his race against Loeffler to where he became not only the first African American to win a race to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate but only the 11th African American to be elected to the U.S. Senate.

To put how the WNBA players rose Rev. Warnock’s platform that ultimately led to his victory, he was polling at nine percent in Aug. 2020 before the Dream and the WNBA decided to throw their support behind Warnock, which led to the rise in his platform on a national level.

What made this achievement by the WNBA is a majority of the players, even with the new Collective Bargaining Agreement that was achieved in the late spring of 2020, they do not have multi-million contracts.

That said, the WNBA players felt that Loeffler’s false statement about the “BLM” was so false that she needed to be removed from federal office.

The WNBA now though has a major problem on their hands, and it is not “Black Lives Matter.” It is Loeffler, who has clearly shown that she is against the principles of what WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s league has always been about. Opportunity, diversity, and now for “BLM.”

James did offer a solution, which may not be immediate but something to look forward to down the road saying on his Twitter page in the middle of this week @KingJames,” Think I’m gone put together an ownership group for The Dream. Whose In?” #BlackVotesMatter.

More than anything, the players of the WNBA, especially of the Dream do not like her or want her a part of the league anymore. That was made clear in how the citizens of Georgia voted on Tuesday that they did not want Loeffler to be a part of the lawmaking process that needs major repairs and adjustments.

The jubilation of that major victory by Ossoff and Rev. Warnock was short lived because on Wednesday afternoon, the day that the Electoral College results were supposed to be certified by Congress, supporters of President Trump gathered in Washington for a “Save America” march not far from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to protest President Trump’s defeat in the November 2020 election for U.S. President, just 14 days before the President-Elect Joe Biden swearing in.

The crowd was first meet by Trump’s children in Eric, Donald, Jr. and Ivanka, who drummed up the crowd with the same divisive rhetoric that Mr. Trump used during his run to the White House and after he was elected four years ago.

“This is Donald Trump’s Republican Party,” Donald, Jr. said to his father’s supporters.

Eric Trump’s wife of six years Laura followed by saying, “We are in this fight to the bitter end. We are going to take our country back.”

An hour later, Mr. Trump took the stage and continued to rile up the crowd full of anger and decent about an election, which he lost by seven million votes, that Mr. Trump says was rigged and needed to be overturned, despite not having any real proof. 

“We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn’t happen,” Mr. Trump said. “You don’t concede when there’s theft involved.” 

“We’re going to walk down, anyone you want. But I think right here. We’re going to walk down to the Capitol. You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.

By 1 p.m., the much-anticipated joint session of Congress began. When the state of Arizona, Republican representative from that state Paul Gosar stood up to object. That objection led to the separation of the House and Senate for deliberation.

A half our later, then Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) bluntly confronted his Senate Republican colleagues about their objections to the election results.

“The voters, the courts, and the states have all spoken,” Mr. McConnell said. “If we overrule them, it would damage our Republic forever.”

As the debate continued inside the Capitol Building, Mr. Trumps supporters arrived.

At close to 2 p.m., they breached the U.S. Capitol by climbing the walls and going through windows that they broke through. They bull rushed through the front barricades of the Capitol that were occupied by Capitol Hill police. They then bull rushed the front doors of the Capitol building, where they went through the rotunda of the Capitol Building carrying Trump 2020 Flags as well as Confederate Flags.

Senators and Congress people on both sides were forced to either seek shelter in their offices or closets. Some hid in the chambers ducking under chairs while they were being protected by the building’s security that barricaded the entrance while drawing their guns.

One person even broke into the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and sat in her chair. Another person even made of with her podium, while someone else got into the Senate chamber and sat in the main chair saying that President Trump won the General Election. 

This heartbreaking moment in the history of the United States came as a result of Vice President Pence calling President Trump would not aide the overturning of the Electoral College results of Joe Biden winning the November 2020 election for President of the United States.

In the early part of Tuesday morning, President Trump said on his now permanently deleted Twitter page @realDonaldTrump, “If Vice President @Mike_Pence comes through for us, we will win the Presidency. Many States want to decertify the mistake they made in certifying incorrect & even fraudulent numbers in a process NOT approved by their State Legislatures (which it must be). Mike can send it back!”

President Trump continued by saying later that morning on Twitter, “States went to correct their votes, which they now know were based on irregularities and fraud, plus corrupt process never received legislative approval. All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN. Do it Mike, this is the time for extreme courage!”

Instead, Vice President Pence, who was evacuated by the Secret Service when all hell was breaking lose decided to respect his oath and the rule of law by helping to certify the results of the 2020 Presidential Election, which took place later that evening once it was safe for the Senators and Congress people to return to their respective chambers.

“It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not,” Vice President Pence said in a statement later on Tuesday.

That led to Trump saying on his Twitter account later that afternoon before he set his followers lose on the Capitol saying, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!”

The truth of the matter is that it took nearly two hours before the National Guard was called in to restore order. The Capitol Police were very laid back in halting those individuals that stepped foot into the house of the American people and made themselves at home. Some members of law enforcement were seen taking cell phone pictures with the law breakers. Other members of law enforcement welcomed them into the Capitol.

Compared to the “Black Lives Matter” movement where back in the summer 2020 National Guard troops and law enforcement were out in full force.

It was a terrible day in the history of our nation that is at the feet of President Trump and those that enabled his behavior like Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX); Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA); Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA); Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), who rose his fist in support of Trump mob; former New York City Mayor and President Trump’s personal attorney Rudi Guiliani (R) that started a fight that seemingly has turned into a civil war just for their own self-interest.

The images, video footage from social, local, and national news media of the breaching of the U.S. Capitol elicited strong reaction from the NBA community, that also brought into question about the visible double standard that exist between law enforcement deals with Caucasian Americans and those of color.

The ESPN tilt between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat was nearly cancelled after what took place in D.C. earlier Wednesday.

Celtics head coach Brad Stevens said postgame after his team’s 107-105 win that his squad scrapped warmups and talked in the locker room.

Coach Stevens said after he and the assistant coaches left the locker room while the players still talked that he called his wife and said that she did not feel they were going to play that night. Ten minutes later after the players meet on their own, the game was played. Before they played though, the Celtics and Heat took kneeled during the national anthem, while locking arms.  

Before the tilt between the Toronto Raptors and the Phoenix Suns, they formed a circle and center court and locked arms during the playing of the national anthem.

The back end of the ESPN’s double header between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Golden State Warriors, both teams also took a knee during the playing of the national anthem. Several of the players wore T-Shirts that said, “Black Lives Matter.”

While Clippers perennial All-Star Paul George was all for the league postponing play for the night because of what happened in D.C., his teammate Marcus Morris, Sr. said in his virtual postgame presser that they made the decision as a team to “take a knee,” which he thought personally was “not enough.”

During the virtual postgame pressers, NBA players and coaches got really specific about their feelings of there being no justice for Mr. Blake, but also what the U.S. Capitol breach by Trump protestors, where four people lost their lives. One was killed after being shot by police and three others in medical emergencies.

Philadelphia 76ers head coach Glenn “Doc” Rivers called those images “pretty disturbing,” and “sad.”

“Could you imagine today if those were all black people storming the Capitol and what would have happened? So that, to me, is a picture that’s worth a thousand words for all of us to see, and probably something for us to reckon with,” Rivers added. “Again, you know, no police dogs turned on people, no billy clubs hitting people; people being escorted out of the Capitol.”

Warriors All-Star forward Draymond Green said that Wednesday showed the whole country the policing system was built against black and brown people, and that is the reason why the reactions of minorities are different, as opposed to Caucasian Americans being allowed to trample through a sacred place like the U.S. Capitol and not be meet with any real resistance. How someone can put their feat up on as mentioned House Speaker Pelosi’s desk and not face any real consequences.

Green’s head coach Steve Kerr said that Wednesday showed a “blatant contrast” in the way people are treated in this country based on the color of their skin. That thousands Caucasian Americans can storm the Capitol, who Coach Kerr called “traitors” and not face any resistance from some serious obstruction by the police. But someone like Florida native in 17-year-old Trayvon Martin or 12-year-old Illinois native Tamir Rice lose their lives in the case of Rice because they carried a toy gun or from a so-called neighborhood watchman who thought he was carrying a weapon in his pocket, but instead was a bag of candy and some juice.     

“This has been the same America that it’s been. It’s no different,” Green added. “Ironically, the news that’s come out of Kenosha [WI] and these places, you know, within the same 24-hour span as that happens, and you kind of see that it’s just like a slap in the face and a [expletive] to every Black person in America who goes through these things.”

“It’s almost like, they [Caucasian] America want to show you that they have power. And, you know, want to show you that I can say [expletive] you and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“And so, I mean, that’s just what this country is, and what this country has been. And like I said before, that’s where this country probably will stay.” 

Warriors swingman, Canadian native, and 2015 Kia Rookie of the Year Andrew Wiggins said that minorities get the worst end of the stick when they peacefully protest, and he hopes what happened in D.C. “wakes up the world” to be better from how we treat each other to how we vote to who represents us from the local, state, and federal level.

Sacramento Kings’ rookie guard Tyrese Haliburton called what took place on Wednesday as a non-funny “joke.” 

“For these human beings to come out and act like their being discriminated against because they lost a fair election or they have to wear mask is a complete joke,” Haliburton added. “To be honest, I’m 20 years old, I feel like this is as American as it gets. I think today of my lifetime was probably the biggest flex of white power and white privilege that there is.”

Heat five-time All-Star forward Jimmy Butler said postgame that Wednesday displayed the two U.S.A.’s that we live when, which he too called “sad.”

“We know what it is. You can’t fool us,” he added. “You’re not fooling nobody else. But like I said, it’s just sad, man. And everybody sees it. Everybody knows it now. You can’t say you don’t understand it.”  

Celtics forward Jaylen Brown echoed those same feelings saying how Dr. Martin Luther King once said that there are two split different Americas where in one you get killed by sleeping in your car or selling cigarettes referencing to how Atlanta, GA native Rayshard Brooks and Staten Island, NY native Eric Garner had their lives taken by law enforcement on June 12, 2020 and on July 17, 2014. In the other America, you can storm the U.S. Capitol without having tear gas thrown at you or have massive arrest take place.

“So, I think it’s obvious, it’s 2021. I don’t think anything’s changed. We still want to acknowledge that,” Brown said. “We still want to push for the change that we’re looking for. But as of yet, we have not seen it.”

Brown’s teammate in All-Star Jayson Tatum backed up his words by saying he is not “surprised” of what has been seen on television, and that what has been seen is the “world we live in.”

“I just feel like the same energy should be kept as, you know, we see our people, you know, peacefully protesting for things that we see—our people getting murdered on TV and live, and videos. And they’re [Trump supporters] protesting the Capitol or rioting the Capitol for losing an election.”

“It’s two different things, and I want the same energy on TV, you know, to be if they’re thugs and criminals, the same term they use, you know, when they see our people protesting for losing their lives.”  

Cleveland Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff tweeted @jbbickerstaff_ after his team’s 105-94 loss at the Memphis Grizzlies about Wednesday’s awful events, “Today was a deeply saddening day. My 8-year-old lil girl told my wife she was scared to do to sleep because of fear that those bad people in DC would come to Cleveland. No matter your politics that ain’t America. That is treason!”

Suns perennial All-Star guard and President of the National Basketball Players Association Chris Paul said that seeing no justice for Mr. Blake and what took place on Capitol Hill is “not a laughing matter,” and said it is a “damn shame,” that is happens continuously.

In the span of 48 hours, we saw the worst, then the best, and the worst of our nation. Another African American in Jacob Blake was nearly killed by law enforcement and they were not held to account. The state of Georgia elected two new Democratic Senators in Jon Ossoff and Reve. Raphael Warnock, putting the U.S. Senate as well as the House of Representatives and The White House in Democratic Hands. But then the U.S. Capitol was breached on Wednesday after being egged on by President Donald Trump because he still felt that the 2020 Presidential Election was rigged, which led to his defeat.

What this past week showed us is that we have a serious divide in our country that has led to a Pandemic in the Coronavirus (COVID-19) that has gone global that has paralyzed our nation economically, physically, and spiritually. We have a government that is also divided, which led to the storming of the U.S. Capitol that revealed how Caucasian America and minorities in this country are treated by law enforcement.

On Jan. 20 we will have a new President in Joe Biden and Vice President in Kamala Harris. We will have a new U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. Even with that, we will still have the same divide that will take all of us to close. It will not happen overnight. I will not happen probably another election cycle.

More than anything, we all have to come to grips with the fact that those individuals that stormed the Capitol on orders from the soon to be former leader of the free world do not, as well as all those in our federal government that enabled Mr. Trump’s behavior not from the moment, he became a presidential candidate to how is finishing his presidency should be called out and held to account.

“These people are not Americans,” comedian Jimmy Kimmel, host of ABC’s late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” said in his opening monologue on Wednesday night. “There no ‘We the People.’ There’s ‘Me the People.’”

“You are not Patriots. You do not represent America,” is what Co-host of ABC’s “The View,” and daughter of the late longtime Senator John McCain (R-AZ) Meghan McCain said of those who stormed the U.S. Capitol.

“You are the scum of the Earth, who are using and abusing, and bastardizing all that I love, and have grown up with for you own sick agenda. And that agenda has been directly sent by President Trump….”

“I am a Patriot. I come from a Patriotic family. I come from a family of service… You are hurting our country. You are becoming a national embarrassment and we have to get him [Mr. Trump] out immediately because this cannot stand…We cannot take this anymore.”

Information and quotations are courtesy of 8/24/2020 www.nba.com press release by the Milwaukee Bucks, “Bucks Issue Statement on Jacob Blake;” 1/6/2021 2 a.m. ESPN’s “Sportscenter” with Michael Eaves and Nabil Karim; 1/6/2021 3 p.m. “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Rachel Nichols, Jackie MacMullan, Kendrick Perkins, and Eric Woodyard; 1/6/2021 11:35 p.m. “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” with Jimmy Kimmel on ABC; 1/7/2021 12:37 a.m. edition of ABC News’ “Nightline” with Juju Chang and Byron Pitts, with reports from Terry Moran, and Jonathan Karl; 1/7/2021 11 a.m. edition of ABC’s “The View” with Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Meghan McCain, Sunny Hostin, and Sarah Haines; 1/7/2021 2:30 a.m. ESPN’s “Sportscenter” from Los Angeles, CA with Stan Verrett; 1/7/2021 3 p.m. “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Rachel Nichols, Vince Carter, and Kendrick Perkins; 1/7/2021 www.nba.com story, “NBA Coaches, Players React to Breach of U.S. Capitol,” by Michael C. Wright; 1/7/2021 11:30 p.m. “Cari & Jemele (Won’t) Stick To Sports,” with Cari Champion and Jemele Hill on Vice Network; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Breonna_Taylor; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floydhttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Jacob_Blake; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Eric_Garner; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Rayshard_Brooks.    

Monday, January 4, 2021

J-Speaks: The Passing Of Another Celtics/Suns Legend


The close of the year 2020 was a rough one for the 17-time NBA champion Boston Celtics who said goodbye to two prominent parts of their history in a legendary player, coach, and broadcaster as well as a championship player and coach. The start of 2021 brought even more sadness to their family as well as to the Phoenix Suns family as they both suddenly said goodbye to one of the most innovative players and coaches in NBA history.

On Saturday, Paul Westphal, who helped the Celtics win the 1974 NBA title in and later coached in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for five different teams as well as at Southwestern Baptist Bible, now Arizona Christian University, Grand Canyon University, and Pepperdine University died after a six-month battle with brain cancer, which was diagnosed in August 2020. He was 70 years old. Westphal is survived by his wife Cindy and their two children Michael and Victoria.

Westphal is the third person from the Celtics family that has died in the span of the past three months. They lost Hall of Famer Tom Heinsohn on Nov. 9, 2020 from kidney failure at the age of 86. On Christmas Day right before their tilt versus the Brooklyn Nets on ABC, the C’s suddenly lost former fellow Hall of Fame player and head coach K.C. Jones from Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 88.

Westphal died in Scottdale, AZ, according to a statement from the University of Southern California (USC), where he starred on the collegiate hardwood as a two-time First-Team All-Pac-8 and a two-time NABC All-American selection.

Westphal is also the second biggest named basketball coach to pass on in the last six months. Fellow Hall of Fame head coach of the University of Arizona Wildcats Lute Olson died in late August at age 85.  

The Torrance, CA native, who graduated from Aviation High School in Redondo Beach, CA in 1969 was a five-time All-Star in the NBA playing for 12 seasons (1972-84) with the Celtics, who drafted him No. 10 overall in 1972; the Suns for two stints, where he earned all five of his All-Star selections; the then Seattle Supersonics (now Oklahoma City Thunder); and the New York Knicks. 

Westphal registered a 318-279 (.553 winning percentage) mark as an NBA head coach with the Phoenix Suns (1992-95), Seattle Supersonics (1998-2001), and Sacramento Kings (2009-12), and a 27-22 record in his four playoff appearances. 

Before their contest, a 64-46 win versus the Utah Utes, there was a moment of silence held in honor of Westphal, whose No. 25 jersey hangs in the rafters of Galen Center in Los Angeles, CA, where he led the Trojans to a 24-2 record in 1971.

“Paul Westphal was a Hall of Famer and one of the great all-around players of his era. His toughness, skill and intellect made him a key contributor on the Boston Celtics’ 1974 championship team and a perennial All-Star with the Phoenix Suns,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement on Saturday. 

“Paul also enjoyed a successful coaching career that included leading the Suns to the 1993 NBA Finals. He will be remembered for his generosity, leadership, and love for the game, which defined his many years in the NBA. We extend our deepest condolences to Paul’s wife Cindy, and their family.”

In three seasons with the Celtics, Westphal averaged 7.3 points on 49.3 percent from the field. He was a versatile contributor off the bench for a deep and talented Celtics squad led by Coach Heinsohn and fellow Hall of Famers John Havlicek, Dave Cowens, Jo Jo White, Paul Silas, and Don Nelson, winning the championship in 1974.

“He was really a terrific offensive player,” Heinsohn said of Westphal in 2019. “He was a point guard that could score, and he could play defense.”  

Westphal and two Second-Round picks in the summer of 1975 were dealt to the Suns for fellow Naismith and College Basketball Hall of Famer Charlie Scott.

In 1976, Westphal led the Suns to the NBA Finals, playing a major role in one of the greatest games played in NBA history. That was Game 5 of that series that went to triple-overtime with the Celtics winning that 126-128 in what is often called “the greatest game ever played.” The Celtics won that series and the 13th of their 17 titles in six games.

In that fifth game, Westphal with the Suns trailing 94-91 in the closing seconds of regulation, Westphal stole the ball from White, scored and got fouled. His three-point play tied the game at 94.

In the second overtime with 15 seconds remaining and the Suns down 109-108, Westphal made another key defensive play stealing the ball from Havlicek, who had received the inbounds pass, which led to a sequence where the Suns scored to take a one-point lead 110-109.

After Havlicek scored five seconds later to put the Celtics ahead 111-110, the final buzzer sounded and the Celtics raced onto the hardwood of the old Boston Garden believing they had won. But the official ruled that Havlicek scored with two seconds left on the clock. After one second was put back on the clock. Westphal had called a timeout, which the Suns did not have that resulted in a technical foul. The Celtics made the free throw for a 112-110 lead. The Suns then inbounded at midcourt and a field goal Gar Heard went in to tie the game and force a third overtime.

Two quick field goals by Westphal cut the Suns deficit to 128-126. But his near steal attempt at midcourt failed and the Celtics ran out the clock to win Game 5.

“You know, opportunities is what most basketball players need. The offense that Phoenix ran fit him to a tee,” Scott said of Westphal’s exemplary seasons with the Suns.

Fellow Hall of Famer and perennial NBA champion as a player and coach Pat Riley, President of the Miami Heat concurred saying that Westphal from the start fit right in with the Suns and became the team’s “best player.”  

“In that Finals series, he emerged in a big, big way. Establishing himself as one of the best players in basketball,” Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Chairman and former General Manager of the Suns from 1968.

In his six seasons with the Suns, Westphal earned four of his five All-Star selections, and all four of his All-NBA selections thanks to career averages 20.6 points, 5.2 assists, and 1.6 steals on 51.6 percent from the field. His No. 44 jersey hangs in the rafters of Phoenix Suns Arena in Phoenix, AZ.

“Throughout the past 40 years, Westy has remained a great friend of the organization and as a trusted sounding board and confidant for me,” Suns managing partner Robert Sarver said over the weekend. “His number 44 will forever hold its place in our Ring of Honor, enshrined as one of the utmost deserving members.”

After the 1979-80 season, Westphal was dealt to the Supersonics for the late Hall of Famer Dennis Johnson, who helped the Celtics win two more titles in 1984 and 1986. Westphal despite averaging 16.7 points on 44.2 percent from the field in his lone season with the Supersonics. While he battled injuries that only allowed him to play just 36 games, Westphal made earned the last of his five career All-Star selections.  

In the summer of 1981, Westphal signed as a free agent with the Knicks where he averaged 10.3 points and 5.5 assists on 45.5 percent from the floor in 98 games played over two seasons. He would win the league’s then Comeback Player of the Year Award in 1983.

“You have to understand basketball from an IQ perspective to take your game to a different level in a different way. Paul had that capacity,” former Knick great and fellow Hall of Famer Bernard King said.

Westphal would finish his playing career with the Suns in the 1983-84 season, where he averaged seven points on 46 percent from the field.

His coaching career began first at as mentioned earlier Southwestern Baptist Bible College (now Arizona Christian University) in Phoenix Arizona, leading them to a 21-9 mark in his only season at the school. The next year he moved on to Grand Canyon College, which is also in Phoenix, AZ for two seasons, leading them to the National Association Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national title in 1988.

Westphal’s NBA coaching journey began in 1988 as an assistant on the late head coach Lowell Gibbs “Cotton” Fitzsimmons’ staff with the Suns for four seasons (1988-92). In 1992, Westphal succeeded Simmons as the Suns new head coach, and used the same ingenuity that served him so well as a player he helped guide a talented Suns roster led by Hall of Famer, 1993 Kia MVP, and now NBA on TNT/NBATV studio analyst for now 21 seasons in Charles Barkley, three-time All-Star Kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle, current Celtics President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge and rookie Richard Dumas to a franchise record 62 games and reached the 1993 NBA Finals in his first year on the job, losing to the great Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in six games.

“Wherever he went, he was able to make everyone around him better because that mind,” fellow Hall of Famer and two-time NBA champion Bill Walton, a fellow former Celtic said of Westphal.

While the Suns made the playoffs in each of Westphal’s three-plus seasons, they never got back to The Finals and he was fired after a 14-19 mark to start the 1995-96 season and replaced by Fitzsimmons. He compiled a record of 131-88 mark with the Suns. 

“He led by example,” former Sun Eddie Johnson, 1989 Kia Sixth Man of the Year and current Suns television color analyst for FOX Sports Arizona said. “He didn’t change of the court. It’s just a positive atmosphere that he exudes when he’s around. He always greets you with a pleasant smile. You always feel like you are a part of his clique. He’s somebody we can put on a pedestal.”

Following two seasons coaching high school basketball in Arizona, Westphal was hired as head coach of the Supersonics in the summer of 1998. He coached them until he was axed 15 games into the 2000-01 NBA campaign. He registered a mark of 76-71 mark with the Supersonics. 

Westphal returned to the collegiate ranks at Pepperdine University where he coached from 2001-06, compiling a 75-71 mark, including a 38-32 mark in conference. His best season was his first in 2001-02  at 21-9 (13-1 in conference). It was the only time they reached the NCAA Tournament, which lost 83-74 to Wake Forest University in the First-Round. Westphal was fired after a 7-20 record in 2005-06 on Mar. 15, 2006.  

He also during this time was a studio analyst for FOX Sports West/Prime Ticket for Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers games. 

On June 28, 2007, Westphal was hired as an assistant coach for the Dallas Mavericks on then head coach Avery Johnson’s staff. When Johnson was replaced by current Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle that next offseason, Westphal went from being an assistant coach to the Mavericks front office as their Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations (under GM and President of Basketball Operations Donnie Nelson).  

On June 10, 2009, the Sacramento Kings hired Westphal as their new head coach. He was fired three months into his third season with the Kings on Jan. 5, 2012, finishing with a 51-120 record. 

Two years later, Westphal joined then head coach Lionel Hollins’ staff as an assistant coach of the Brooklyn Nets. Hollins had worked under Westphal as an assistant with the Suns from 1992-95.

When Hollins was relieved of his head coaching duties with the Nets in January 2016, Westphal left the team.

“I just feel blessed everyday in basketball. It’s really something I don’t take for granted,” Westphal said once about the career he had as a player and coach. “And just being some kid from Redondo Beach who just liked to play is pretty amazing when I look back to see all the experiences that I’ve been able to put together.”

Just six months ago, Paul Westphal was diagnosed with brain cancer. A friend of his told anchor of ESPN’s “Sportscenter” Los Angeles Neil Everett at that time that Westphal was completely healthy and active as he neared his 70th birthday.

Westphal went to the doctor and his life changed, and five months later it ended.

As we have seen many times, especially with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic, big time diseases do not care about who you are or the dreams or hopes you have, or even your career resume.

Paul Westphal like many had a lot of dreams and goals, and he accomplished many of those dreams and then some.

Along the way, he earned the respect of not only the players he played with and against in his high school, college, and professional career as a player and as a coach. It earned him a place in the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018 and a year later a place in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. His college number No. 25 at USC and his No. 44 jersey with the Suns now hang in the rafters of the respective arenas of those teams.

The game of basketball made Paul Westphal one of the most memorable names in the NCAA and the NBA. While he may be gone, his name, what he did, and what he was about will never be forgotten by USC, the Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns, and the entire National Basketball Association.

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 8/28/2020 www.nba.com story, “Lute Olson, Arizona Coaching Legend, Dies at 85,” by John Marshall of The Associated Press; 1/2/2021 www.nba.com story, “Hall of Famer Paul Westphal Dies at 70,” by Beth Harris of The Associated Press; 1/3/2021 1 a.m. NBATV’s “Gametime,” presented by Kia with Ro Parrish, Channing Frye, and Grant Hill; 1/3/2021 2 a.m. ESPN’s “Sportscenter” from Los Angeles, CA with Neil Everett, and Stan Verrett; 13/2021 6:30 p.m. “New York Knicks Game Night,” presented by Lexus with Bill Pidto, Alan Hahn, and Wally Szczerbiak; Pages 13, 642, and 644, of Sporting News’ “2006-07 Official NBA Guide: 2005-06 Review and 2006-07 Preview;” https://usctrojans.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule/2020-21; https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/westppa01.html; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Heinsohn#Death; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._C._Jones#Death.     

Saturday, January 2, 2021

J-Speaks: Major NBA History Made In San Antonio Texas


Normally when four-time Kia MVP and four-time NBA Finals MVP of the defending NBA champion Los Angeles LeBron James reaches another milestone in his eventual Hall of Fame career, that would normally be the top story of the game. On Wednesday night when he reached another National Basketball Association (NBA) milestone, that historic moment was overshadowed by the history made by a Spurs assistant coach.

In the Lakers (4-2) 121-107 win at the Spurs, where James had 26 points, eight assists, and five rebounds on 11 for 23 shooting becoming the first player in NBA history to score in double figures in 1,000 consecutive games was upstaged when at the 3:56 mark of the second quarter when Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was ejected by official Tony Brown for screaming and entering the court following a non-call on a All-Star DeMar DeRozan’s layup attempt and subsequent rebound by big man Drew Eubanks and pointed to assistant coach Becky Hammon to lead the team.

Hammon coached the team the remainder of the game, becoming the first woman in NBA history to act as head coach in a regular-season game.

As the changed happened, Coach Popovich’s succinct message as he was exiting the floor of the AT&T Center to the applause from the Spurs family members in attendance in the arena, which Hammon said in her postgame presser was “You got ‘em.”

“He officially pointed at me. That was it. That was it. He said, ‘You got ‘em,’” Hammon, whose been a Spurs assistant coach for seven seasons added. “See? He doesn’t treat us any differently than he does you guys,” she added.

“Obviously, it’s a big deal. It’s a substantial moment. I say this a lot, but I try not to think about the huge picture and huge aspect of it because it can be overwhelming. I really have had no time to reflect. I have not had time to look at my phone. So, I don’t know what’s going on outside the AT&T Center.”

“It’s my job to go in there and be focused for those guys, and make sure I’m helping them do the things that will help us win.”

While Hammon tried to downplay the historic moment that took place late in the second quarter on Wednesday night, this was a major moment for the six-time WNBA All-Star, who played 15 years in the WNBA for the New York Liberty and San Antonio Stars after going undrafted out of Colorado State University.

The coaching journey for the 2015 Colorado Sports Hall of Fame Inductee to being the first full-time female assistant coach in NBA history in Aug. 2014 began after tearing her ACL in her left knee in the Stars game against the Los Angeles Sparks on July 13, 2013. In her year-long rehabilitation, Hammon attended several Spurs practices, coaches’ meetings, and games, where Coach Popovich frequently invited to contribute her thoughts and opinions. 

Those contributions made such an impression on Coach Popovich that she was hired to be an assistant on his staff with the Spurs on Aug. 5, 2014 becoming just the second female coach in NBA history after current Associate Head Coach of the South Carolina Lady Gamecocks Lisa Boyer worked as a volunteer assistant with the Cleveland Cavaliers and John Lucas in the 2001-02 season.

“I very much look forward to the addition of Becky Hammon to our staff. Having observed her working with out team this past season, I’m confident her basketball IQ, work ethic, and interpersonal skills will be a great benefit to the Spurs,” Coach Popovich stated in a media statement released at the time of Hammon’s hiring seven seasons back.

That growth and basketball IQ was on full display in three of the five previous off seasons as the Spurs head coach of their Summer League teams (2015, 2016, and 2019), where she helped to guide the Spurs to the 2015 Summer League title in Las Vegas, NV, after the organization on July 3, 2015 announced shoe would be the coach of their summer league team. Hammon became the first ever female head coach in the NBA’s Summer League, she became and the first female NBA head coach to win a Summer League title.

One year later at the 2016 NBA All-Star Game in Toronto, Ontario on Valentine’s Day, Hammon became the first woman to be a part of an All-Star coaching staff.

Hammon said once Coach Popovich was ejected and gave her the keys to navigate the team the remainder of the game on Wednesday night that it was all about getting the players in the “right spots” and getting them “motivated.”

The historic moment while exceptional in of itself, the Spurs still lost the game by 14 points, which was something that Hammon would have “loved” to have happened.

Even in defeat, the Spurs players praised Hammon for how she coached the remainder of the game and her contributions in her now as mentioned seventh season as a Spurs assistant.

“Her making history, that’s expected of someone who is just part of greatness,” Spurs’ guard Lonnie Walker IV, who had 11 points on Wednesday night against the Lakers said.

Spurs veteran swingman Rudy Gay said in his postgame virtual presser that seeing Hammon coach the team was something that was natural.  

“The future’s bright for her and I hope she sticks to it, and don’t give up,” Spurs guard Dejounte Murray, who scored a career-high of 29 points on 12 for 19 from the field with seven assists and seven boards said after the loss against the Lakers.

Veteran reserve guard Patty Mills, who scored 12 points against the Lakers said that Hammon has had a big impact on the Spurs since her arrival in 2014 and has gotten “bigger and bigger” the more she has dived into her assistant coaching role.

Hammon, a four-time All-WNBA selection and a member of the WNBA’s Top 15 Players of All-Time (2011) and Top20@20 (2016) lists has earned respect not just from the Spurs players but from a number of players and head coaches around “The Association.”

“She really knows her stuff. And obviously, she’s here for a reason,” Lakers head coach Frank Vogel said in her postgame presser about Hammon. “She equipped. She’s intelligent. The guys have great respect for her, and I think she’s going to be a head coach in this league someday.”

James echoed those same sentiments saying of Hammon in his postgame presser that she has been “great” ever since she was hired by the Spurs. He added that it is a “beautiful” thing to here her “barking” out offensive and defensive sets, and how “passionate” she is about the game of basketball.

“Congrats to her, and congrats to our league,” James added.

The praise and respect that Hammon has earned in her time as a Spurs assistant has come from flat out hard work and dedication. The kind of hard work and dedication she has displayed that made her into an all-time WNBA great even though as mentioned she did not get drafted in 1999.

Hammon signed with the Liberty on May 12, 1999 and went from backing up one of the greats in Liberty history and WNBA history in Teresa Weatherspoon, who is now assistant coach on head coach Stan Van Gundy’s staff of the New Orleans Pelicans to being a team captain in five years later.

On Apr. 4, 2007 Hammon was traded to the then San Antonio Stars, now the Las Vegas Aces where she would play the final seven seasons of her career. While with the Stars, Hammon earned the nickname “Big Shot Becky” from former Spur and seven-time NBA champion with the Houston Rockets (2), Lakers (3), and Spurs (2) Robert “Big Shot Bob” Horry, who like him made clutch shots at important moments in the regular-season and postseason.

Hammon earned respect from how she performed on the hardwood and is earning that respect from her work with the Spurs as an assistant coach.

Back in 2017, the Milwaukee Bucks interviewed her to be their new general manager. While Hammon was not considered a finalist for the position, the fact that team president Peter Feigin and the ownership group of Wes Edens, Marc Lasry, Jamie Dinan, and Mike Fascitelli had the boldness to even interview Hammon for the position said a lot about what he thought of her basketball acumen to consider her for a major position in his organization. The Bucks hired former Director of Basketball Operations Jon Horst as their new GM.

Hammon being hired as an assistant coach by the Spurs led to a number of teams looking beyond gender to who head coaches wanted as part of their staffs as presently there are 10 female assistant coaches currently in “The Association.”

Jenny Boucek, who has been on head coach Rick Carlisle staff of the Dallas Mavericks since 2018 and was the player development coach for the Sacramento Kings, where she became the third woman assistant coach in NBA history.

Former Northern Iowa Lady Panther (2011-15) Brittni Donaldson, who went from a data analyst for STATS, LLC and did the same job for the Toronto Raptors when she was hired by team president Masai Ujiri, was promoted to be the 10th active female assistant coach in the NBA in 2019. On Dec. 4, 2020, she joined the Raptors G League squad, Raptors 905 as a member of head coach Patrick Mutombo’s coaching staff.

After eight seasons as the head coach of the University of California, Berkeley Lady Golden Bears basketball team, Lindsay Gottlieb became the first NCAA Women’s head coach to be hired by an NBA team as an assistant coach, joining then head coach John Beilein’s coaching staff, that is now led by head coach J.B. Bickerstaff since the middle of Feb. 2020.

After one season as a scout/player development coach for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2018-19, former WNBA player Lindsay Harding, who played for the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx, Washington Mystics, Atlanta Dream, Los Angeles Sparks, Liberty, and Phoenix Mercury is a player development coach on the staff of Luke Walton’s Sacramento Kings.  

After coaching for four seasons (2008-12) overseas in Japan, Natalie Nakase, who went from being an intern with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2012 working under their video coordinator to an assistant for their G League affiliate the Agua Caliente Clippers under the son of former NBA head coach Bob Hill in Casey Hill in 2017-18 is the current player development coach for the team. During the Clippers 2014 Summer League, Nakase became the first woman to sit on the bench as an assistant.

On Sept. 11, 2020, the Memphis Grizzlies announced they were hiring former women’s basketball head coach of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and former assistant coach for the Wellesley College Lady Blue Sonia Raman to head coach Taylor Jenkins’ staff.

In a career that has seen win a NCAA title while with the University of Maryland Lady Terrapins and two WNBA titles with the Sparks (2016) and Mystics (2019), Kristi Tolliver since 2018 has in the offseason is an assistant coach on the staff of head coach Scott Brooks and the Washington Wizards.

Other women who have been assistant coaches in the NBA include Hall of Famer and three-time Olympic Gold medalist Nancy Lieberman, who is currently a studio analyst for the Oklahoma City Thunder’s pregame and postgame show for FOX Sports Oklahoma “Thunder Live.”

Before becoming the head coach of the Duke University Lady Blue Devils, 2005 WNBA champion with the WNBA’s Sacramento Monarchs and WNBA All-Star (2007) Kara Lawson spent one season as an assistant coach on head coach Brad Steven’s staff with the Boston Celtics. Prior to that, Lawson spent three seasons as the primary game color analyst for the Washington Wizards alongside longtime play-by-play commentator Steve Buckhantz, joining current color analyst for the Brooklyn Nets Sarah Kustok as the first primary television analyst for an NBA team. Lawson’s broadcasting career began while she was still playing in the WNBA serving as a studio analyst for the Kings and worked her way up the television ranks calling a variety of NBA and WNBA games for ESPN.

Lawson made history on Jan. 12, 2007 becoming the first woman to work a nationally televised NBA game when the then New Orleans Hornets to on the Wizards.

Long before Hammon and Boyer, perhaps the greatest example of a woman rising in the NBA ranks was Karen Stack Umlauf, the sister of former Bulls Assistant GM and GM of the Minnesota Timberwolves Jim Stack.

Following her career playing overseas after a standout career on the hardwood for the Northwestern Lady Wildcats, Stack Umlauf joined the Chicago Bulls in 1985, where she went from selling game tickets, to becoming Director of Basketball Operations for two decades, to Senior Director of Basketball Administration, to becoming the Bulls’ first female assistant coach first in Summer League in 2017, combing that role with being their Director of Team Operations.  

On Wednesday night, head coach of the five-time NBA champion San Antonio Spurs Gregg Popovich after being ejected in the team’s loss versus the Lakers, simply pointed to assistant coach Becky Hammon to lead the team.

That point was a signal of the trust he had in her to lead his team in his absence, that not only made history but was a culmination of all her hard work and dedication she put into doing one of the hardest things in the history of sports, be a woman coach in a league of men.

Hammon had all the right stuff from the moment she was hired by the Spurs and her success has led to a plethora of other women getting that same chance she got seven years ago.

That moment however is also thanks to what Karen Stack Umlauf and Lisa Boyer did before and how Hammon took her opportunity and ran with it.

The question now is Becky Hammon the eventual successor as the Spurs next head coach when Gregg Popovich decides to retire?

Besides having the respect of the Spurs current players and coaching staff as well as a plethora of players and coaches in the NBA, Hammon has shown that it is possible.

She has shown she can handle the position of being a head coach of the Spurs as demonstrated by what took place on Wednesday night. It remains to be seen though whether the Spurs front office brain trust of R.C. Buford and Peter Holt will make that move. But if they do it will not be a shock and she will have players who respect and trust her if that happens.

“One day it may happen. It may not happen, who knows? But you know, she’s definitely in the right road, and I think everybody appreciates her,” Murray said.

Information courtesy of 12/31/2020 1 a.m. ESPN’s “Sportscenter” from Los Angeles, CA with Neil Everett, and Stan Verrett; 12/31/2020 2 p.m. ESPN’s “NBA: The Jump,” with Jorge Sedano, Kendrick Perkins, and Nick Friedell; 12/31/2020 6 p.m. WABC 7 “Eyewitness News at 6” with Bill Ritter, Liz Cho, weather anchor Jeff Smith, and sports anchor Sam Ryan; https://www.nba.com/gamelal-vs-sas-0022000060/box-score; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_NBA_All-Star_Game; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Horst; https://en.m.wikpedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Sports_Hall_of_Fame; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_NBA_coaches; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becky_Hammon.

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

J-Speaks: The New Reality For Timberwolves All-Star Center Because of COVID-19


The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic has taken a lot from us in 2020. It has taken from a lot of us our lively hoods, personal relationships, and changed our feelings towards many things in life. The Coronavirus has more than anything taken over 330,000 of our friends and family. No matter if you were wealthy or not, this pandemic has changed all of us and for a number of people their lives will never be the same. No one understands this better than one of the National Basketball Association’s young star players of the Minnesota Timberwolves, who life was changed forever because of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

A week ago, two-time All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves began his sixth NBA season, hoping to put what was an awful fifth NBA season in the rearview mirror.

For most of his life, Towns was known as someone who played basketball from a young age growing up in Edison, NJ where he rise to stardom began at St. Joseph High School, to his lone collegiate season playing for the University of Kentucky and head coach John Calipari.

In June 2015, Towns was selected as the No. 1 overall pick by the Timberwolves and won Kia Rookie of the Year and was named to the 2016 NBA All-Rookie First Team. Two years later he earned the first to back-to-back All-Star selections and made the All-NBA Third Team in 2018.

Then came the 2019-20 NBA season where the 25-year-old Towns not only struggled through the first injury plagued season of his NBA career (playing in only 35 games) but the Timberwolves missed the playoffs for the 15th time in the last 16 seasons. Their season abruptly ended early on Mar. 11 because of the COVID-19 Pandemic and were they were one of eight NBA teams not invited to the NBA’s restart in Orlando, FL.

If that was not bad enough for Towns, he lost his mother Jacqueline Cruz-Towns, who was one of the early casualties on Apr. 13. While Towns’ father, Karl. Sr. also contracted the virus he was able to recover.  

On Mar. 25, Towns expressed his emotions in a video that he posted on Instagram that explained his mother was placed on a ventilator and was in a medically induced coma as a result of the virus, which led to her death. Mrs. Cruz-Towns was 58 years old.

Towns not only lost his mom effervescent, who lit up every room she walked into, he lost his biggest cheerleader who was the first to congratulate him with a hug when he got drafted six years ago. Attended all the Timberwolves home game. She was also by his side at charity events.

“It always brought me a smile when I saw my mom at the baseline and in the stands and stuff, and having a good time watching me play,” Towns said. “It is going to be hard to play. It’s going to be difficult to say this is therapy. I don’ think [playing basketball] will ever be therapy for me again. But it gives me a chance to relive good memories I had.”

He posted several videos to his social media which detailed his ordeal as he cared for his sick mother, and his feelings after she died. He said that he felt it necessary to share those videos in order for people to better understand the ramifications of COVID-19.

“I didn’t want people to feel the way I felt,” Towns said. “I wanted to try to keep them from having the ordeal and the situation I was going through. It just came from a place that I didn’t want people to feel as lonely and upset as I was. I really made that video just to protect others and keep others well-informed, even though I knew it was going to take the most emotionally out of me that I’ve ever been asked to do.”

Towns was particularly transparent about how devastating the passing of his mom was in an 18-minute mini-documentary YouTube early last month entitled, “The Toughest Year of My Life.”  

What took even more out of Towns was the loss of six other family members due to complications from COVID-19.

“I’ve seen a lot of coffins in the last seven, eight months,” Towns said. “I have a lot of people who have—in my family and my mom’s family gotten COVID. I’m the one looking for answers still, trying to find how to keep them healthy. It’s just a lot of responsibility, you know. A lot of responsibility on me to keep my family well-informed and to make all the moves necessary to keep them alive.”

The help of his teammates, guard D’Angelo Russell in particular is what helped Towns navigate in the weeks after the passing of his mother. He received a plethora of supportive phone calls and text messages from all members of the Timberwolves organization, especially from head coach Ryan Saunders, who lost his father in former Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, and Washington Wizards head coach Philip “Flip” Saunders died on Oct. 25, 2015 after a two-month and 14-day battle against Hodgkin’s lymphoma that he was diagnosed with on Aug. 11, 2015. The now 34-year-old Saunders lost his dad at age 29 when his dad was just age 60. Towns’ new teammate in lead guard Ricky Rubio, who was acquired in the offseason lost his mother when he was just 25 years old.

When the Timberwolves played their first preseason game on Dec. 12 versus the Memphis Grizzlies, it really Towns that he was playing his first game without his mother, let alone any fans in the Target Center that he could not even get off the sidelines during the introduction of the starting lineups.

How difficult of a night was that first game for Towns, he was just 4 for 13 from the field, including 0 for 5 from three-point range for 13 points, eight rebounds and three block shots.

While the emotions remained fresh, Towns’ production was per usual with 22 points, 11 rebounds seven assists, and two block shots on 6 for 10 shooting, including 2 for 4 from three-point range in the Timberwolves’ (2-2) 111-101 win versus the Detroit Pistons (0-4) in their season opener at home on Dec. 23 as they outscored the Pistons 31-16 in the fourth quarter to overcome a 12-point deficit in the third quarter.

Before the game, the Timberwolves held a moment of silence during pregame as well as had a video tribute for Mrs. Cruz-Towns.

In his postgame interview with Timberwolves sideline reporter for FOX Sports North Marney Gellner, Towns said that he was going to give the game ball to his father to put next to his mother.

“It was heavy,” Towns, who made the Timberwolves first field goal of the game after a 0 for 7 start to their home opener said to Gellner about the emotions he played with in memory of his mother. “It was different, you know. It’s just always different. I’m just happy I got this for her. I told her I wanted to get her this win and get her this ball, so I’m was just happy to be able to get it done.”

In the span of eight months, life for all of us changed because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic. We all lost something from either our lively hoods to family and friends or both.

For Karl-Anthony Towns, his foundation was altered not only with the loss of his mother Jacqueline Cruz-Towns, but he lost six other family members, and nearly lost his father as well because of the Coronavirus.

His life changed forever, and while he still can do what he has done for nearly two decades in not just play basketball for a living, but he is playing in the NBA.

While being able to compete at the highest level of basketball competition of the National Basketball Association (NBA), might take his mind of what has happened to him in 2020, Towns will never be the same person because his biggest cheerleader and one constant in his life I his mother Jacqueline Cruz-Towns is no longer here to route her son on.

Life will eventually get back to normal where most of us will work or find new work and be able to hug, love, and be present for our family and friends again. But no matter if you have or have not lost someone that meant a great deal to you, how everyone sees life will never be the same again.

“I don’t even recognize most of my other games and year I’ve played, and how I’ve felt those days. I don’t really recall or really care,” Towns, who registered his 180th career double-double (most since the 2015-16 season) said in his virtual postgame press conference after the Timberwolves win versus the Pistons.

“I only know what I’ve been through from Apr. 13 on. You may see me smiling and stuff, but that Karl died on Apr. 13. He’s never coming back. I don’t remember that man. I don’t know that man. You’re talking to the physical me, but my soul has been killed off a long time ago….”

“I only know how I feel from Apr. 13 on, and to say it’s been day-by-day is probably an understatement. I think it’s moment-by-moment.” 

Towns added about how he plans to be for his Timberwolves teammates moving forward, “No matter how bad my situation is, how [expletive] my life is, I’m gonna keep being here for these guys. I’m gonna let them see me smile even though inside I’m not smiling whatsoever. I owe that to these guys as a leader, I owe that to them as a teammate.”

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 12/4/2020 www.espn.com story, “Timberwolves’ Karl-Anthony Towns Says Season Will Be Difficult Amid Off-Court Tragedies,” by Malika Andrews; 12/15/2020 3 p.m. “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Rachel Nichols, Amin Elhassan, and Paul Pierce; 12/23/2020 2 a.m. edition of ESPN’s “Sportscenter” from Los Angeles, CA with Linda Cohn and Stan Verrett; 12/24/2020 www.espn.com story, “Emotional Karl-Anthony Towns Reflects on How He Has Changed Following First Game Since Mother’s Death,” by Royce Young; https://www.espn.com/nba/game?gameid=401265833; https://www.espn.com/nba/recap/boxscore?gameid=401267178; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Saunders; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_Saunders.  

Saturday, December 26, 2020

J-Speaks: The Passing of Another Celtics Legend And Champion

 On Nov. 9, the Boston Celtics suddenly lost one of their legendary faces who was a player, coach, and longtime broadcaster for the team. 9. On Christmas Day, the boys from “Beantown” said goodbye to another legend won helped them win a plethora of titles both as a player and coach.

On Friday morning, the Celtics before their Christmas Day national television tilt versus the Brooklyn Nets got the sad news that Hall of Famer K.C. Jones died at an assisted living center in Connecticut, which was confirmed by his family.

Jones is survived by his wife of four decades Ellen, and their son K.C. Jones (Kipper) III, and his five children other children (Leslie, Kelly, Bryna, Holly, and Christopher) from his first wife Beverly Cain, who he was married to for 18 years (1960-78).

Jones had been battling Alzheimer’s disease, and for the past several years has received care for the disease at the aforementioned living facility.

He is the third Hall of Famer from the 1965 Celtics’ title team to die this year: the previously mentioned Mr. Heinsohn on Nov. 9 and fellow Hall of Famer John Thompson, who too had greater success as a coach as the leader of the Georgetown Hoyas, who died in Aug. 30.

Before their 123-95 loss on Christmas Day versus the Brooklyn Nets (2-0) on ABC, the Celtics (1-1) held a moment of silence in remembrance of Jones, who is one of seven players in NBA history to have won an NCAA championship, an NBA championship, and an Olympic gold medal.

In a report from ESPN/ABC sideline reporter Ariel Helwani during the game between the Celtics and Nets, Jones’ daughter Bryna noted on Twitter that her dad was born on May 25, 1932, died on Dec. 25, 2020, and wore No. 25 in his career with the Celtics saying, “he loves that number.”  

During the quarter break between the third and fourth quarters, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens in speaking about the passing of Jones, and the passing of Mr. Heinsohn back in November said, “Merry Christmas to all the Celtics fans we wish were here, and specifically to the Jones family and the Heinsohn. Huge losses for all of us. We certainly miss you. We love you and we’re thinking about you today.”

Two nights before in their 122-121 win versus the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night on TNT, the Celtics held a moment of silence in remembrance of the Celtics’ Hall of Famer and Jones’ teammate in the 1950s and 1960s, and his coach in the 1970s Tom Heinsohn, who died on Nov. 9. 

Jones, who was elected to the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1986; the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1989; and to the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006 won two NCAA titles (1955 and 1956) as a member of the University of San Francisco, playing alongside fellow Celtics teammate and Hall of Famer Bill Russell. The two also led Team USA to a gold medal at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia.

With the Celtics, Jones, a Second-Round pick by the team in 1956 won 11 of his 12 titles with the Celtics, winning eight as a player in his nine NBA seasons with the C’s (1958-67), the third most in NBA history. He won a titles in his five seasons as a Celtics assistant coach (1978-83) and two more as the head coach (1984 and 1986) in his five seasons (1983-88) as the Celtics’ sideline leader of Hall of Fame trio of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish, who also won five Atlantic Division titles in that span as well. The Celtics during that time represented the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals for four straight seasons (1984-87).

His No. 25 is one of 24 numbers that Celtics have retired and are high above the floor of TD Garden in Boston, MA.    

“K.C. Jones was among the most decorated champions in the history of our game,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement on Friday. “His relentless defense as a player and remarkable poise as a coach made him essential to 12 NBA championship teams, including 11 with the Boston Celtics. From winning two NCAA titles to earning an Olympic gold medal to helping the Celtics win eight consecutive NBA Finals during his Hall of Fame career, K.C. extraordinary accomplishments and impact will long be remembered. Our thoughts are with K.C.’s loved ones and the entire Celtics organization.”

Only Russell (11) and fellow teammate and Hall of Famer Sam Jones (10) have won more NBA titles as players than K.C. Jones.  

“I just received a call letting me know my x-roommate/teammate & most of all friend the great KC Jones pass this morning. Prayers to his family. We have been friends from almost 60yrs… Friends for life #2020Usuck! #RIP @NBA @Celtics.”

Jones is one of seven players (Russell and Sam Jones, and fellow Hall of Famers Clyde Lovellette, Jerry Lucas, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and Michael Jordan, and Quinn Buckner) in basketball history to win an NCAA championship, an NBA championship, and an Olympic Gold Medal.

Following his retirement as a player in 1967, Jones’ coaching journey began in college as the head coach at Brandeis University (1967-1970) and then as an assistant coach at Harvard University for one season before joining the Los Angeles Lakers as an assistant in the 1971-72, where he earned another championship ring. Jones also had head coaching stints with the San Diego Conquistadors (1972-73) of the ABA and led the then Washington Capitals/Bullets (now Wizards) from 1973-76, coaching them to the 1975 NBA Finals. He then was an assistant coach for one season with the Milwaukee Bucks (1976-77) before going on to the Celtics and making all the aforementioned history he made as a coach.

That history began when Jones won his 10th title with the Celtics as an assistant on fellow Hall of Famer Bill Fitch’s staff in 1981.

Jones took over for Fitch three years later and over the next five seasons never won fewer than 57 games in the regular season or failed to lead the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals.

“He was a great coach to work for. He was a class act, and yet he had this competitive edge that was fierce,” Celtics President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge, who played for the team from 1981-88 when Jones was an assistant coach and then head coach said before Friday’s loss versus the Nets.  

“He had this gentleness and kindness. He was a great leader of men. I looked to him as a mentor, and a friend. Much more than a coach.”  

Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle, who was coached by Jones with the Celtics from 1984-87, winning a title as a member of the 1986 squad said Jones was a “beautiful man who knew the balance between structure for a team and giving the players the freedom to play.”

ESPN play-by-play analyst Mark Jones noted in the Celtics loss versus the Nets on Friday that Coach Jones in his time with the Celtics was a man of “very few words.”

In speaking with Celtics radio commentator and fellow champion on the Celtics teams in the 1980s Cedric Maxwell said that Jones as a coach was a man of “very few words, terse and quiet.” But when he summoned you to sit beside him on a plane ride, it was known as being “in the hot seat.” When you were in that hot seat, Coach Jones had something urgent and important to tell you.”

Color analyst Doris Burke mentioned during Friday’s telecast that in reaching out to former longtime Celtics beat writer Jackie MacMullan, who now works for ESPN.com telling about how Larry Bird was not happy when the change was made where Jones replaced Fitch as head coach of the Celtics back in the 1980s. Bird loved Coach Fitch, his teammates, not so much.

There was one story of how Bird in a tight game says that he demanded the ball and that everyone else get out of the way. Coach Jones said to Bird to take a seat on the sidelines. In the huddle, it is Jones who says to the team to get the ball to Bird and for everyone else to get out of the way.

Burke said to that moment, “That’s intelligence untouched by the great K.C. Jones.”

After his time with the Celtics, Jones then coached for the then Seattle Supersonics (1989-92) first as an assistant and then as a head coach for two seasons. He then was an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons (1994-95) before returning to the Celtics as an assistant for the 1996-97 seasons. Jones concluded his coaching career as the head coach of the New England Blizzards of the women’s American Basketball League in its final 1.5 seasons of existence.

Jones compiled a 522-252 record in his NBA coaching career in the regular season with the Bullets/Capital, Celtics, and Supersonics (81-57 mark in playoffs) is also one of three people in NBA history (Atlanta Hawks’ Rajon Rondo and Lovellette) to have won a title with the Celtics and Lakers.

In a time in our nation where equal opportunity has been at the forefront of our subconsciousness, especially in pro sports when it comes to seeing more minority representation in ownership and head coaching, when Jones got his chance, he made the most of it. He grinded his way up the coaching ranks in both college and the pros as an assistant and then as a head coach first where he really etched his name in the NBA record books with the Celtics.

“KC Jones was the first Black Coach I ever saw on TV,” Jay Scott Smith tweeted @JayScottSmith on Friday about the impact Jones had on him. “That he was the coach of the team I hated with a passion didn’t matter. I didn’t know until I was in college that dude was a Hall of Fame player with eight rings and played w/Bill Russell in College & the NBA.” #RIPKCJones.

Bill @mrcoaster1 tweeted those same sentiments saying of Jones, “Sorry to hear of KC Jones’ passing. I loved watching him as a player and coach and the impact he had on those great Celtics teams. Gone, but never forgotten”

Ben Jackson tweeted @BJacksonWrites, “Sad to read this. I was fortunate enough to have a couple of conversations with K.C. Jones when I was a teenager. He was kind and generous with the time and advice. RIP.”

Dr. Rob O’Lynn tweeted @DrRobOlynn, “KC Jones was a Celtic through and through, first as a player and then as a coach. He was a fierce competitor who respected his team and the game. I will always be a fan of Doc [Rivers] and Brad [Stevens], however I prized KC’s coach trading card as a kid,” @celtics #RIPKCJones.  

In early November, the Boston Celtics said goodbye to one of the pillars of their organization in the great Tommy Heinsohn. On Christmas Day, they said goodbye to another legend of their organization in K.C. Jones.

The two men were champions as players and then as head coaches. They were staples for over two decades, over five decades in the case of Heinsohn. They did a lot of winning. A lot of celebrating with the organization and the fans of “Beantown” as a result of those wins. More than anything, they created a lot of lasting memories for the residents of Boston, MA and their families that will live forever.

In a statement released on Friday, the Celtics said, “Where K.C. Jones went, winning was sure to follow. K.C.-his given name-was a twelve-time NBA champion as a player and coach, a two-time NCAA champion, and a Gold medal-winning Olympian and Hall of Famer. In NBA history, only teammates Bill Russell and Sam Jones have more championship rings during their playing careers. K.C. along with Russell, Clyde Lovellette, Jerry Lucas, Quinn Buckner, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and Michael Jordan, are the only players in history to achieve basketball’s “Triple Crown”—winning an NCAA Championship, an NBA Championship, and an Olympic Gold Medal. His number 25 has hung from the rafters since 1967.”

“K.C.’s coaching career was similarly illustrious. He was named to lead the Celtics in 1983, beginning what is one of the most remarkable head coaching runs the NBA has seen. K.C. helmed the Celtics for two of the most memorable seasons in the team’s rich history, first leading the team to a championship in 1984 over the Lakers during a peak of that soared rivalry. Two seasons later, he led what many consider the greatest team in NBA history, the 1986 Champion Boston Celtics. These were the highlights of an astonishing four consecutive seasons in the NBA Finals, one of the most impressive and beloved Celtics eras.”

“K.C. demonstrated that one could be both a fierce competitor and a gentleman in every sense of the word. He made his teammates better, and he got the most out of the players he coached. Never one to seek credit, his glory was found in the most fundamental of basketball ideals -- being part of a winning team. The Celtics family mourns his loss, as we celebrate his remarkable career and life.”

Information and quotations are courtesy of 12/25/2020 5 p.m. “Brooklyn Nets versus Boston Celtics,” presented by State Farm on ABC with Mark Jones, Doris Burke, and Ariel Helwani; 12/25/2020 8 p.m. “Dallas Mavericks versus Los Angeles Lakers,” presented by State Farm on ABC with Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, and Rachel Nichols; 12/25/2020 www.nba.com story, “Celtics Legend K.C. Jones Dies at 88,” by Jimmy Golden of “The Associated Press;” 12/25/2020 https://www.bostonglobe.com story, “K.C. Jones, A Celtics Legend And 12-Time NBA Champion, Dies at 88,” by Joseph P. Khan; https://starsoffline.com piece, “Ellen Jones Bio: K.C. Jones Wife, Age, Job, First Husband;” 12/25/2020 https://www.hitc.com story, “Who Is K.C. Jones’ Wife Ellen Jones? Boston Celtics Legendary Player Passes Away at 88,” by Prerna Nambiar; and  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._C._Jones#; and   https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Carlisle