Warriors Record 18-22, 12th in the Western Conference
Wizards Record 7-35, 14th in the Eastern Conference
This week has got me thinking about friendship and basketball and Michigan and reunions. These patterns have been repeating lately. Or maybe all roads lead me back to these places. Either way.
The more I watch the NBA, the more clear it is that this is a very small group of people who are circulating between teams, whether as a player or as a coach (then later moving into the front offices or announcing). It’s a group smaller than my lecture classes my first year of college. I sometimes imagine everyone in the NBA sitting in MLB4 in Ann Arbor, listening to Professor Cameron talk about The Iliad, some coming in late, some taking notes, some taking notes which turn to doodles in the margins which turn to sleeping (that would be me), but everyone from GG Jackson II to LeBron James all fitting in that one space, every turnover, every dunk, every rivalry, everything contained in one lecture hall.
I had the great fortune to have one of my old friends from MLB4 stop by two weeks ago. I mean literally show up at my door unexpectedly. In the NBA, this happens all the time-people who went from spending countless hours together to seeing each other a few times a year maybe for a post-game hug or pre-game chat on the court, occasionally for a meal after a game if they are lucky.
The players move around a lot. From the 2019 Championship Raptors team, only 1 player remains, the 2020 Lakers, only AD and LeBron, 6 players from the 2021 Bucks, 7 from the 2022 Warriors and even last year’s Nuggets team has 7 players no longer on the team.
The potential for reunions of some sort at nearly every NBA game is high. Which brings me, as most conversations do, to Jordan Poole, who in two months has seen two different kinds of reunions. First, his return to Golden State in December, which feels like a lifetime ago. Set the actual game aside, it was all there in the pictures and there were so many of them. Of joy. Of friends seeing each other. Of long hugs. And then longer hugs. Of laughter and even giggles. Of moments that didn’t get to happen when they said goodbye, but with a closure of sorts in saying hello.
And a little bit of regret. Of what could have been and what might have been. Of a present where the Warriors actually need Jordan Poole but there’s no way they can have him. And the knowledge that none of these smiles would have been possible if Draymond hadn’t been suspended. After the game, GPII took him into the locker room. Stories came out of Warriors staff, of everyone greeting Poole as if he were home, reminding him that he is loved here, beloved here, welcome here.
And in a different type of reunion, Isaiah Livers has been traded to the Wizards and reunited with Jordan Poole. College roommates who are self-proclaimed besties. Like even if they didn’t play basketball, they would still be friends. While Livers has not contributed much on the stat sheet when he was with the Pistons, and he’s been injured a bunch in the NBA, he is a good egg. You can see it even in these first few games. He doesn’t know the playbook, he might not even know everyone’s names, but he’s on the bench giving high fives, standing up and cheering for a team that is not winning games. And when he eventually gets on the floor, he’s a solid 3-and-D guy who rarely makes mistakes.
Plus, his being around can only help Jordan Poole. JP seems to play best when he’s loose, when he can be a little bit silly - flash back to memories of Poole collapsing in laughter with Steph on the bench or dancing with GP II during warmups. There’s been less of that this year and having Livers around can only help him. It’s also great for me–Isaiah Livers and Jordan Poole have been my favorite Michigan players since Juwan Howard and I have often (really often) thought about how much fun it would be to have them on the same team. Let the fun begin!
And then there was a Michigan reunion of another sort, one that was 30 years in the making. At the Michigan/Ohio State basketball game, the Fab Five returned to Michigan basketball as a group for the first time since they played there. I cannot imagine the conversations it took to get there. Certainly it could only happen because Juwan is the coach and because Jalen has slowly and steadily been bringing individual Fab Five members back–to the locker room to talk to players, to the sidelines, to football games. Healing whatever rift remained between him and Chris Webber to see what we have been waiting for - the Fab Five in the place where we first met them. The reunion possibly prompted by Juwan Howard’s recent heart surgery as a reminder that time is fleeting. I’m a big softie when it comes to sports moments so of course I teared up seeing it. Many times. During the Fab Five’s sophomore year, I had just finished grad school at Michigan but was without a full-time job, and one of my many gigs was as a writing tutor for the Athletic Department. I was at study table 2-3 times a week with my football player and would see Jalen Rose in the hallways and talked to Juwan twice. I would hope that someone from the basketball team would need a writing tutor, but they never did. I didn’t know them but I was literally adjacent to them for a year. It made me feel like I knew them.
It never felt right to have all their wins vacated as if they never existed, as if not just the wins but everything else they did disappeared. They changed college basketball instantly and permanently. They are iconic as a team. They should be celebrated on campus. Cause it was about more than the banners. I hope there is a day and I hope it’s soon, when there is something that is permanent, but in the meantime, this picture of these five men will have to suffice. Old friends. Lots of ups and downs. Still having each others’ backs. Still showing up to support each other.
Which brings me back to the Warriors and the news of the sudden passing of Assistant Coach Dejan Milojević. It hit heavy and then I felt strange for feeling that way. I barely knew of him. I had never heard his voice before or his hame, spotted him a few times in videos in practice with Kevon Looney, wondering who it was that made Looney smile so much. But as stories emerged a few things became clear - this man was a source of joy who meant a lot to a lot of people in the Warriors organization, across the NBA and in Serbia. Like any good coach, he changed a lot of lives for the better, about basketball, but also about life.
And the world is heavy. Lately I’ve been feeling the collective grief of it all, which doesn’t mean that the collective grief is new, simply that I’ve been feeling it. And the same way that a person (me) can find themselves crying over a commercial (me) or while watching Rory Gilmore graduate high school for the 100th time (also me), when a public figure passes, it gives permission to feel the sorrow of the world. So I don’t know him. But I know loss. I’m sure you do too. And while I do not watch basketball to connect with grief, sometimes it happens anyway. I can’t imagine and don’t want to know what it has been like for this team and this organization but I hope they can find support and comfort in each other.
Cause we act as if the win-loss record is the only thing but it’s always about the relationships.
The Timeout Books: (books I read during the timeouts and halftimes)
A Game At A Time Playlist (the songs that pop in my head while writing this)
Loony Old Friends
Teenage Fanclub: It’s All In My Mind