Please Note
There will be no Friday edition of Words eye view; I’m taking a few days vacation. Publication will resume on Monday August 4, thanks again for choosing to read Words eye view.
“It ain’t over until the fat lady sings”
By now you’ve heard or read the superior court ruled against Donald Sterling, the ruling allows Shirley Sterling to sell the team. Wait there’s more; although Donald filed the suit against sale of the team he will still receive half the $2 billion selling fee. Donald can appeal the ruling however Roger Cossack ESPN’s legal analyst explained the complication in this course of action. According to Cossack; “Under California law sale of the team can proceed hand in had with an appeal,” isn’t that interesting an appeal and sale at the same time. Finally I’m borrowing from another when describing the Sterling saga, “This is not the end but maybe the beginning of the end.”
More likely he’s a power forward
We had an opportunity to witness Thon Maker in action as his Team Loaded (VA) was in action against Game Elite (GA). Maker is the number one junior in the Class of 2016. The teams were competing in the Adidas Super 64-Showcase Game in Las Vegas. I’d only seen Maker in action via YouTube but believed as a 7-footer he was a legitimate center. No doubt he could play center but after seeing his game Maker is probably better suited as a power forward. As I watched Maker move up and down the court the play by play announcer said; “He plays like Kevin Garnett.”
In addition he’s lean and tall like Garnett and may never gain a significant amount of weight. I mentioned he was in Columbia last month checking out the facilities at Mizzou. The outcome, Game Elite won 73-70 in overtime; Maker had 21 points and 11 rebounds while 5-star prospect Jaylen Brown scored 32 points and 15 rebounds for the winning Game Elite team. Brown is a Class of 2015 prospect and also has a significant number of high profile schools attempting to attract this talented small forward. Brown is from Marietta Georgia an Atlanta suburb.
White Chocolate
Some of you might remember Jason “White Chocolate” Williams who played for the Kings. White Chocolate was the nickname given Williams for obvious reasons. He was a white guy adept at distributing the basketball. His game was a throwback to that of Magic Johnson and Pete Maravich. His teammates had to already be ready for fear of being hit in the back of the head with one of his bullet passes. Williams retired as a member of the Grizzlies in 2011.
Williams might have an heir apparent, his name is Mickey Mitchell and he’s a 6-7 220 pound small forward. This Texan from Plano in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metro area is headed to Ohio State, he‘s a Class of 2015 and 4-star prospect. It will be interesting to see if Coach Matta will allow Mitchell to play his game within the scope of the Ohio State offense. Mitchell is not just one dimensional he knows there is a defensive side to the game too.
His dream job
Did you note the three Hall of Fame players at the introductory press conference for Byron Scott? In attendance were Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Jamaal Wilkes and Magic Johnson. Magic indicated Big Game James Worthy was in Europe and Michael Cooper is recovering from surgery they would have been there as well. It’s likely none of the former Showtime Lakers will become a member of his coaching staff. I believe Scott will certainly be able to call on them for their basketball insight and they confirmed this fact.
During one portion of the press conference Scott told the story; "As a kid I would sneak into the Forum and dream of playing for the Lakers one day." As for the negative side of this story, David Aldridge of NBA TV and others have hinted the Scott hire is a “smokescreen.” They believe this is designed to defray negative commentary while the team rebuilds. Aldridge and those of the same belief are certainly entitled to their opinion, I fail to believe the Lakers are tanking.
War of words
Houston’s Toyota Center is exactly 261 miles southeast of American Airlines Center in Dallas according to Google Maps. Allow a little history reminder, Chandler Parsons claimed last summer “he” was responsible for luring Dwight Howard to the Rockets. Fast forward to the summer of 2014, Parsons becomes a free agent and “expects” his team to resign him. The Mavs went after him while his Rockets went another direction, courting Pau Gasol and Carmelo Anthony and later Trevor Ariza.
At some point the Rockets declined to match the Mavs offer and Parsons signed with them. Just to clarify this “war of words” is not between the Mavs and Rocket it exist between former Rocket Parsons, James Harden and Dwight Howard. Harden said; “Dwight and I are cornerstones the balance of the team is role players, I think we’ll be fine next season.“ Harden went on to state the Rockets lost players and gain others over the summer. ESPN or TNT has got to telecast the first match between the two Texas teams.
