It’s not easy to come up with coherent thoughts about this weekend’s split with the Bakersfield Jam. I don’t think the Jam are a very good team. I think the Vipers played good enough on Friday and, well, they lost Saturday. I think David Hinojosa did a perfect job of summing up Saturday in his recap.

I’m going to ignore the shooting woes, since neither team shot a lick on Saturday.

The Vipers committed 21 turnovers, only slightly above their season average of 19.6 per game. Last season the Vipers averaged 16.3 turnovers per game.

The Vipers only recorded 16 assists, which is below their season average of 20.2. Last year the Vipers averaged 24.44 per game.

It doesn’t look like a big difference, but those extra 3.3 turnovers can lead to opponents baskets while 4.2 fewer assists mean fewer Vipers baskets. That can turn wins into losses.

So what’s the problem?

It goes beyond not having a go-to scorer. The Vipers can score. They can spread out the offense. The real issue seems to be the Vipers don’t have a leader. There’s no Mike Harris to call a players only meeting after a poor performance. Mike Harris is playing well for Yao Ming’s team in China, btw. There’s no Will Conroy to be a veteran presence either.

The Vipers have a young team and I’m not sure if any player has stepped up to be the voice inside the locker room. If not, then I submit that that is exactly what the Vipers need. Where you get an intangible like that? Well, that’s the tougher question.

Maybe Stanley Asumnu can be that guy? A fourth-year Viper, after all. But at the same time, he’s first getting back into the swing of things after missing two weeks due to personal reasons. Additionally, he’s not a star, so will the players listen to him? I don’t know.

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The Vipers are practicing Sunday. I wonder if that was always the plan, considering they’re playing three games in four days. My guess is no. Could be a punishment practice. I only remember that happening once last year.

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Coach Finch got T-ed up again. I think he might have more technical fouls this season than he did all of last season. I might look that up. The fact I’m even thinking about suggests it’s possible or at least close. Is it mounting frustration from a slow start (there’s nothing wrong with a 6-5 record at this point in the season in the West, but the Vipers were 8-3 at this point last year and Finch has a career winning percentage of .680)? Or perhaps officials being quicker to issue the technical foul (could have something to do with the rule changes)? I’m not entirely sure. But it’s something worth trying to figure out.

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My brother turns 27 today. Happy Birthday Rafi! He’s going to be President of the United States some day. You can count on that.