MY FAVE CURRENT NBA PLAYERS (AND A FEW OTHER BASKETBALL OBSERVATIONS, INCLUDING MY MOST HATED PEEPS!)

Since I’ve done nothing but watch the NBA play-offs for the last three weeks, (when the postseason began with the idiotic play-in games,) basketball is on my mind more than anything else right now. So I figured this is a good time to laud some of my favorite current players. (As opposed to my All-Time Faves, a list to which this sextet has now been added.)

My modern-day fave players (in order of my love/admiration,) are: the Lakers’ Luka Dončić, the Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell, the Nuggets’ Jamal Murray, the Bucks’ “Greek Freak” Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic, and the Hawks’ Trae Young. Actually, I published this same group exactly a year ago in this e-zine, adding, “…unless their teams are playing each other, I root for them all the way.” The order may have changed a tad, but the list is still the same. (I had already written the “new” one when I checked the INAM archives to compare them. And was glad to see that my taste hasn’t changed.)

I love these guys for the same reasons: they’re uber-gifted, fair, and clean players. And especially in the cases of Luka and Jokic, charming. As to those two, plus Giannis, English is not any of their native language, yet they express themselves sooo much better than most of the rest of the league. You know that my literate self loves and appreciates that.

I have a few more reasons why I adore three of those guys.

Firstly, Luka’s face is beautiful. He’s the only NBA player I could have ever had a crush on. (I never even had one on Michael Jordan, whom I loved in his heyday…until I met him. But that’s a story for another day.)

On top of that, he did the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen anyone do in an NBA game. In the middle of the game, Luka asked one of the few female refs, Ashley Moyer-Gleich, “You didn’t see that foul?” So she asked him back, “What foul?” He charmingly answered, “I think I’m fouling in love with you.” How adorbs was that?! I was so jealous!!! I would have blown the whistle to stop the game, and then laid the mac on him right there!!! (And then been fired. But it would have been well worth it.) [Note: She’s married and he’s been with his girlfriend since they were teens, so he was just kidding around.]

And then just last week, when a mural of the late Laker great, Kobe Bryant, was desecrated, Luka stepped-up and paid the entire sum for it to be restored! What a guy; he’s been a Laker for just a couple of months and he did that!

Secondly, I have two extra reasons why I admire Jamal Murray so much. The first one happened in the 2020 pandemic play-offs that were held in the “bubble.” Someone with a camera and questions came upon him sitting by himself one day, and he was just so nice about his opponent, Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz, who had scored fifty-seven points against his own Nuggets a few days before. He was so impressed with Donovan, which made me really like Jamal. And then just a few days later, Jamal scored fifty points himself against Donovan and the Jazz! I love that whole scenario.

The other thing that made me admire Jamal even more is that during the Nuggets’ victory parade in 2023, a fan sent a picture he had painted of Jamal up to him on the fire truck he was riding on, along with a sharpie for him to sign it. This was in the middle of the parade where Jamal was celebrating with his family and teammates, and so much was going on. And Jamal actually paused his own celebration to get that done for the fan and get it back down to him. That really impressed me.

And thirdly, and much more recently, (last week, to be exact,) former Cleveland Cavalier and current Miami Heat, Kevin Love, lost his father. He hasn’t been playing, but still showed-up at the play-off game between the teams the next night. When Cavs’ star, Donovan Mitchell, was interviewed after finishing their sweep of the Heat, (which was a big deal,) instead of talking about their big win or lauding himself, the first thing he did was talk about Kevin’s loss, and send his best wishes to him. And in more than just one cursory sentence. I love that boy!

When I started working on this article, I was planning on writing about only my favorite NBA players. But while watching some of the disgusting shenanigans, (or, as some of the broadcasters refer to it, “extracurricular activities,”) by some of the more rotten players, I realized that I need to throw in a few other observations, as well.

So let me tell you which player I absolutely detest. We’ve all had to deal with his depravity for a long time. Can you guess who it is? Here’s a clue—he’s the dirtiest player I’ve ever seen in my entire life. It’s the always-violent, sneaky, morally reprehensible lowlife bully and hooligan, Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors. I think the heads of the NBA are disgusting for allowing him to still play when he could really harm someone. I’m not joking about this—he’s dangerous. He should have gone into wrestling instead of basketball.

Actually, at this point, the entire Warriors team is actually a bunch of villains. (I used to love Buddy Hield, and always rooted for him to finally have some success, but not with this team.) I will root for any team against them! They’re ruining my beloved playoffs for me.

It’s difficult to watch the games when you seriously hate some of the players. You want everyone to play their hardest, but not be hoodlums. I want to see good, honest, hard-fought competition, as is the brand of the Denver Nuggets and Cleveland Cavaliers.  I’m sure the refs dread having to call a Warriors game with that reprobate Draymond on the floor!

But enough those creeps. Let’s get back to the positive peeps. Out of all the sportscasters who do play-by-play and color commentating for the various games, I just feel better when I hear Grant Hill on the broadcast call. He makes me feel like everything’s okay.

I’ve never met any of the active players, (but life is young, even if I’m not,) but I’m happy to report that I’ve not only met some of the oldies but goodies, but have pix with a few of them, as well. (The ones I could find easily enough are at the bottom of this article, with my many looks over the years.)

And lastly, Coach Pop, Gregg Popovich, the most winning coach in history, just retired from coaching after thirty-three years!  I cried for hours when I heard the news and saw everyone paying tribute to him all during the day of the announcement and the next. He had a stroke a little over six months ago; I was hoping it was a mini one, as mine was almost a decade ago, but now that I’ve seen him on TV, I see that it was, very sadly, a major one. But he still has his sense of humor, and will now be the Spurs’ President of Basketball Operations.

In March 2023, when I was writing about the upcoming NBA Draft, and we all knew that France’s Victor Wembanyama would be the #1 pick, I wrote, “Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is my favorite basketball coach of all-time, and beloved by everyone, even opponents and the media to whom he gives one-word answers. I seriously hope for Victor’s sake that he goes to the Spurs so that he can get coached by that wonderful man.” And it came to be! (I just wish that I could just manifest some goodness for myself, as I did for Victor, Pop, and everyone in San Antonio!)

There’s so much good about Pop. But what I’m going to miss the most with him no longer coaching is his epic interviews. For those who don’t know, his answers are quite often just a word or two. And many of them imply that the interviewer is an idiot. We all love what Popovich has to say, even the people on the receiving end of his disdain.

Now, with only three of my fave players, (Donovan, Nicola, and Jamal,) left in the play-offs, I’m a nervous wreck. I’ve wanted the Finals to come down to the Cavs and Nugs all along, so I’m rooting for them harder than ever.

All that being said, I really don’t see how anyone can beat the Oklahoma City Thunder this year. (Bite my tongue.) But a girl can hope, can’t she? [Note: Right after I wrote that, my Nuggets beat OKC in the very last second in Game 1 of their series! Wow.]