It's the only job left but do you really want it?
Although not official it appears the Pistons have hired former Nets coach Lawrence Frank. That leaves only one head coaching position open, the Minnesota T-Wolves. Veteran coaches Bernie Bickerstaff and Rick Adelman will have been interviewed by the time you read this. You might ask the question why would anyone want this job other than financial? How you are treated as an employee might be a key question here. Ask former coach Kurt Rambis the question, I would agree with anyone who might say Rambis might not be a good coach. I could also agree if you said he was not a good fit and needed to be replaced, the question becomes how he was replaced. No employee of any corporation should be strung out like he was. I challenge you to point out an HR Department in any major corporation operating in this manner. I'm sure deep down Rambis probably knew he was going to be fired but there is a right way and wrong to handle a firing. The Wolves chose the wrong way!

Viva Las Vegas
Another AAU tournament of note is the Adidas Super 64 held in Las Vegas July 22-26. This tournament is a boys and girls tournament and appears to be one of the largest in the nation. How well attended is this tourney, the Lawrence Journal World claims there are over 200 college coaches present. The number one player in the nation (Rivals, Scout.com) was on hand to display his basketball skill. Shabazz Muhammad a 6-6 215 pound shooting guard from Bishop Gorman High School Las Vegas dazzled the scouts and fans. Sixteen major schools have made offers to Muhammad among them Duke, UCLA, Kansas, Texas and North Carolina.

Dickey V
Dick Vitale is a love-hate guy, I've discovered most folks either really like him or totally detest him. I'm in neither camp, Dickey V bothers me at times when he tends to go overboard heaping praise on Coach K, the Dukees and Carolina Tarheels. Other than his Carolina affinity Vitale is basically okay with me. Recently he presented his list of top 40 pre-season teams and surprise, surprise he had Mizzou on his list. He has the Tigers as the number 19 team in the nation which certainly is a good sign. New coach, new system and even a couple of new players bodes well for Mizzou. If an casual observer such a Vitale can see the potential why can't a few fans of the program?

What if
I gave up "what if's" a long time ago, I sometimes wonder why fans continue to dwell on them. The what if's go something like this, "what if the Heat had not played so bad against the Mavs in the last two games?" As human beings we seem to find ourselves caught up in this type of thinking. I put to bed this thought process ages ago, doesn't matter if we are discussing basketball or life. An old television beer commercial used the slogan "you only go around once" and it's true. I remember a game ages ago, the Abdul Jabbar Bucks were in a critical championship match against the Celtics. In one particular game the lead was back and forth between the teams. After a score or timeout I don't remember which the Celtics inbounded the ball and began dribbling up court, Bucks guard Oscar Robertson swiped at the Celtic guard knocking it across the floor. Both players raced for the ball with Robertson in front however he was unable to reach the ball before it hit a referees leg and bounced out of bounds. The referee is part of the "floor" so technically Robertson had knocked the ball out of bounds and it belonged to the Celtics. The Celtics inbound the ball went on to win the game and in time the series, I thought what if the referee had not gotten in the way Robertson surely would have recovered the ball? But the game and series could have ended with another outcome too. After that game I said to myself no more what if's, on those occasions when my favorite team loses I don't always understand why but when questioned I will offer no what if's.

Crime doesn't pay... does that mean my job is a crime?
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