The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

I HAVE been tasked with the job of putting a nice, neat, properly-tied bow on the 2015-2016 National Basketball Association (NBA) season.

Since late September to this week, I was able to watch many of the league’s top superstars perform from a reserved post for the first time in a long time as my Lakers had very little to play for from the onset. Basketball has again become fun and entertaining for me.

As a news reporter my sports knowledge is often overlooked and undervalued. I guess because of that fact alone I am prone to go out on a limb with my predictions. Those that follow this column regularly know that I am not afraid to declare my belief and stand by it no matter what.

Sometimes I come across as a sports genius to say the least and on other occasions ... let’s just say it’s hard to show my face around the town.

Case in point: last week I predicted that the Golden State Warriors would close out the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 6 and win the NBA title. Well, we all know how that turned out.

Throughout this season I have been wrong on a number of occasions so I want to take the time out to explain what went wrong with a couple of my more major unsolicited takes.

Aging Spurs

As followers of the Fourth Quarter Press throughout this past season are aware, the San Antonio Spurs were the team I pledged my “support” to.

The Spurs were easily the team of choice as I certainly thought the big off-season acquisition of Lamarcus Aldridge would have placed them on the cusp of an NBA title.

Fast-forward to June: while Aldridge did make a major difference, his youthfulness could not offset the age issue that plagued the rest of the roster. The likes of David West, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Boris Biaw and Tim Duncan were able to execute throughout the season but, once the playoffs got underway, the quick turnarounds became too much.

My do-over in this case is simple: the Spurs weren’t a bad pick. They were just too long in the tooth to devour the competition.

I firmly believe that my Spurs’ pick just came two moves too early. If the Spurs can find a way to bring in some youth at the guard and forward spots to help alleviate the wear and tear on the veterans come playoffs time, then we can see a deep playoff run as I suspected this year.

Draft-day game

changers

In a point I pushed in other circles, not so much in the Fourth Quarter Press, the 2015 NBA draft was certainly a game changer.

Early on I held some contempt for the lot of players presented in last year’s Draft. In hindsight, the most disappointing of the group still outperformed my wildest expectations.

I grade a Draft on how much the top 15 players improve the teams drafting them. Earlier on I singled out Justice Winslow, a player who was eventually drafted by the Miami Heat as the determining factor of just how good the 2015 Draft class would be.

Before you jump all over this theory and shout that he had a poor statistical year, let me be the first to say it - his stats sucked. Winslow finished the year averaging 6.4 points per game, 1.5 assists per game and 5.2 rebounds per game - miniscule to say the least. My surprise with Winslow certainly was not his stats but his performance in games where his team depended on him. The 6ft 7in forward from Duke did wonders for the Miami Heat during the late stages of the regular season.

With Winslow in the starting lineup the Heat were poised for a deep post-season run before Chris Bosh was ruled out for the season with blood clots. Winslow fits so well with the Heat that, in some circles, experts considered them dark horse contenders.

Of the top 15 picks from last year’s Draft, Karl Anthony Towns, D’Angelo Russell and Emmanuel Mudiay have all proven to be top-flight starters, with Towns in particular has shown he can carry a team.

As the 2016 Draft approaches, one can only hope that this class can produce just as much quality players.

Westbrook

no leader

“Dear Mr Wells, beyond being very interesting, you Sir are very flawed in your analysis of Russell Westbrook,” one listener to The PressBox said in an email.

Yes, I would have to agree. Do you remember how I said earlier that I was able to, for the first time in a very long time, watch basketball as an observer and not an extremist Kobe/Lakers fan? Well, yes that I had a large part to do with my issue with players like Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and LeBron James. I considered them awful players to make myself believe that the Lakers would always be superior to anyone that opposed them.

Presently, I can say without a shadow of a doubt, Russell Westbrook is not only capable of carrying an NBA team, he is ready and capable of being the face of the entire league.

My recent admiration for LeBron aside, there is no other player I love to watch more. Westbrook, like LeBron, is able to affect every aspect of the game from tip to the final buzzer. His performance early on in the Western Conference Finals certainly proved that he is fully ready for that top spot. I hope he gets it in the near future - with my Lakers.

Until we meet again, three pointers for all.

• Ricardo Wells writes every Thursday on the NBA. Comments to rwells@tribunemedia.net