Thursday, October 6, 2022

NBA23 Update

I intend to watch a lot more NBA this season, and there are two things I want to say about the league to get the 2022-23 ball rolling.

Number 1, the Washington Wizards have two players on their current roster with whom I share a birthday, and that's got to be a good sign. 

In 1995, I was living in Falls Church, Virginia, and around the time of Aug. 2 that year, someone attempted to break in to my apartment while we were all asleep upstairs. It was terrifying. Also at the time, my girlfriend and I were starting to split. And I had a pretty good little journaling discipline where I made myself write something I learned on that given day (in addition to listing everyone with whom I had an interaction, writing some memory and writing about where and how I would be spending that day if I could do so in however I wanted). Here's what I wrote for the "learned" prompt one of the days near Aug. 2:

continuing with page 701 of the dictionary in my cubicle:

•  eucharist - means communion.  it comes from a greek word meaning gratitude.

•  communion - an act of sharing of ideas, opinions or feelings; a religious fellowship; a group of christians with a common religious faith who observe the same rituals, a denomination; the christian sacrament in which consecrated bread and wine are partaken of in celebration of christ's last supper; the elements of the sacrament; the part of a mass or other religious ritual in which communion is received.

also, i learned - again, according to the pamphlet the u.s. government gave its soldiers - that in vietnam public displays of affection between men and women are widely frowned upon.  it is not uncommon, however, to see two male friends walking hand-in-hand.  also, indirect hinting is the best way to handle a request rather than being straightforward.  and, the common outstanding feature of vietnamese homes is an altar which holds a tablet bearing the names of all of that family's ancestors - at least as far back as the great-grandfather.  apparently, these altars can be as large as one-sixth of the floor space of an entire house.

Then here's what I journaled on my birthday in 1999:

A nice birthday. Spent it with my mom, my oldest brother, my sister-in-law, one of my nephews, one of my nieces. Broken-down car. No home. No girlfriend. Felt strange. Still focused on the haven'ts. My life is richer than for which I give it credit.

The car broke down somewhere in Tennessee or Alabama. I hustled and got myself a Greyhound seat that evening to Evansville and arrived in time for an impromptu birthday party with the fam. En route, the Greyhound made an extended stop on U.S. 41 on the north end of Madisonville for smokers on the bus to smoke in the parking lot of a hotel that no longer stands. It's a tenth of a mile from where my daughter is attending high school at this very moment. 

So, in summary, Number 1 that I want to say about NBA23 is, one just never knows. Season starts Oct. 18. Wizards tip next night, at Indiana.


Number 2, I really hope the Wizards sign DeMarcus Cousins.

6 comments:

  1. The thing is that it's really, really challenging to resist cynicism as a sports fan after some certain number of years.

    Josh Robbins @JoshuaBRobbins
    Kristaps Porziņģis, who suffered a left ankle sprain Monday when he stepped on an opponent's foot, is attending the Wizards' open practice. He isn't participating, but he's walking without an apparent limp. As Wes Unseld Jr. told
    @avarwallace
    last night, the injury appears minor.
    5:52 PM · Oct 11, 2022

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  2. I think the Commanders are moving to St. Louis in the next few years. Maybe the Wizards could move to Nashville.

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  3. Now the Wizards have traded for a guy, Kendrick Nunn, who was born just one day after my birthday in 1995!

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  4. Wizards' first round picks since Bradley Beal:

    2013: Otto Porter, Georgetown
    2015: Jerian Grant, Notre Dame
    2018: Troy Brown, Jr., Oregon
    2019: Rui Hachimura, Gonzaga
    2020: Deni Avdija, Israel
    2021: Corey Kispert, Gonzaga
    2022: Johnny Davis, Wisconsin

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  5. Here's how many Win Shares each of those players has delivered for the Wizards:

    Otto Porter: 27.9 win shares in 6 seasons
    Jerian Grant: Traded to the Hawks, who traded him to the Knicks
    Troy Brown, Jr.: 3 win shares in 3 seasons
    Rui Hachimura: 6 win shares in 3 1/2 seasons
    Deni Avdija: 4.8 win shares in 2 1/2 seasons
    Corey Kispert: 4.2 win shares in 1 1/2 seasons
    Johnny Davis: 0 win shares in 1/2 season

    To put these figures in perspective, consider that after three seasons in the NBA, Wes Unseld had 31.9 win shares.

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