The Point-Fourward: Learning at Rest

Four points I’m thinking about the NBA…

1. The notion that one can learn while sleeping has gained a bit of traction recently. Research in the scientific community has shown humans to utilize the REM sleep cycle to rid the brain of superfluous information from the day. Basically, the brain has selective memory. Shocking.

What is more interesting is that upon waking, test subjects have been able to more accurately identify various auditory test patterns which were presented to them during their monitored slumber. It’s not just an info release session. Apparently, the brain can obtain and retain new information as well.

Good thing too, because this week of the NBA off-season is more effective than any Ambien. The NBA has done a masterful job of making itself relevant almost year round, but this week does not fall under that umbrella. Front office executives, players, NBA writers and almost everyone else in the NBA universe have peaced-out to various vacation spots around the globe. You know it’s the off-season when Zach Lowe is talking about his flip-flops.

Still, there is one fun activity going on at the moment. The NBA’s Basketball Without Borders has been in South Africa over the last week. An assortment of All-Stars and big time coaches made their way to Johannesburg for their typical outreach functions and an exhibition game. Yes, there was a Team World vs Team Africa game that was taken by Team World, but that’s not really particularly relevant to the NBA season. What is relevant is the time some of these players spend together on and off the court.

Off the court, the guys travel to different functions, often leaving their families to hang out with each other’s families while dad is at work. Don’t underestimate the power of familial bonding as it pertains to free agency. If a player’s family gets along with another player’s family during an international trip, it can have a rather substantial influence on future decisions.

On the court, certain players are training together who wouldn’t otherwise have had the opportunity to do so. Watching Joel Embiid, Dirk and Kristaps drain three after three is a sight to behold. The two youngsters make Dirk look almost small, all the while matching the legend’s shot making. Throw in some C.J. McCollum smooth, and the video is an absolute delight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuvya3USQ64

2. Of course, Kristaps Porzingis and Dirk Nowitzki have been mentioned together in countless articles since the Latvian became an NBA prospect. Anytime a tall, sweet-shooting European bigman blips on the NBA radar, he is compared to the greatest European born NBA player ever.

Most of the time, it is a ridiculous comparison. Even I have viewed Porzingis as more of an Anthony Davis styled player than Dirk. He has always shown great PnR potential on both sides of the ball, but frequently played like he was on roller-skates, much in the way Davis did early in his career. Dirk was thin, but never weak. Now that Porzingis has filled out, things have gotten very interesting. Porzingis plays with the same kind of nasty that Dirk has always exhibited. As his shot becomes more consistent (I still don’t love his slight tendency to land to the left of his leap), he looks poised to become a devastating combination of Davis and Dirk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW_fr8AdKJs

3. Many people assume the New York Knicks are going to have another subpar season. If it is, it is very unlikely to be the Zinger’s fault. For his sake, I hope Melo gets moved to another squad. They seem to get along just fine off the floor, but Anthony is unlikely to pass the torch quietly. At least the bigman doesn’t have to deal with Derrick Rose self-esteem issues anymore. Sigh.

On the site and in our writer email thread the past few days, we have discussed a possible Kyrie Irving for Porzingis swap. There would have to be other contracts involved. Our own Nate Smith went as far as to include Love, Irving, Tristan, Porzingis, Noah, Melo, Irving, O’Quinn, and well, almost everyone.

It’s a testament to LeBron James’s greatness that most GMs around the league would pull the trigger on that deal in a second. Putting Porzingis and Melo with LeBron is a very different activity than pairing the two with anyone else. Anthony is very unlikely to cede his alpha-dog status with Porzingis in New York, but would obviously do so with King James. It would stunt Kristaps’s numbers preventing him from reaching numerical heights, but the 7’3″ sweet-shooting, rim-protecting Unicorn could be Warriors’ Death Lineup kryptonite.

I could construct a disingenuous argument as to why Scott Perry and the Knicks should do that deal. They could finally rid themselves of the Melo headache. Their idiotic Noah signing would be a thing of the past. Kyrie Irving would sell a ridiculous amount of merchandise. Uncle Drew in New York could become a five part movie installment. Oh, and Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson are both under contract at reasonable deals.

Nope. Let’s be real. The Knicks would essentially be saying, “Yeah, we want the 2016-2017 Cavaliers, minus LeBron James and minus our young talent. Dolan isn’t a smart NBA owner and Steve Mills hasn’t shown himself to be much better, but one would think Scott Perry would veto any notion of trading Porzingis. I think it has zero chance of happening.

Ideally, for basketball fans, Kristaps is handed the keys next season, and we can watch the unicorn become a butterfly, or whatever it is that unicorns become when they reach full maturity. Cavaliers fans shouldn’t entertain the notion of it happening in a Cavs jersey anytime soon.

4. The Cavaliers unveiled their new uniforms for the 2017-2018 season. I’m not a fan of mixing too many colors in one jersey, so these are not particularly welcome changes to me. The old school Wine and Gold, or Blue and Orange are my favorites.

Whatever. I don’t really care as long as the guys wearing them play good ball. But, I suppose if we really want to analyze a jersey hype video (to this we’ve come), we could question the import of the individual use of the names Love and James, with Irving only being included in the later Big Three shot. NBA Boredom at its finest.