Keys to success

Winning collegiate programs contain at least three ingredients, a pipeline of good recruits, a quality coach and an arena. Not any arena, one full of screaming cheering fans to intimidate the opposition.  There is not one NBA arena in the country that can make that claim.  Examples would be Cameron Indoor at Duke University, the Kentucky Wildcats probably feel invincible in Rupp Arena and finally Allen Fieldhouse home of the Kansas Jayhawks. The Dean Dome of the North Carolina Tar Heels also fits the description. Overlooked sometimes is the Carrier Dome on the Syracuse University campus and it's 22,000 fans screaming support for their Orangemen. Coaching changes and other factors caused several teams to lose their mojo in recent years. The Thomas & Mack arena on the campus of UNLV comes to mind especially in the Jerry Tarkanian days. Famed Pauley Pavilion contributed to the success of UCLA basketball for coach John Wooden and those who succeeded him. I'm sure I overlooked several but these are a few buildings that come to mind. Better yet, see if you can come up with your own additions to the list.

What happened

Lawrence Frank was recently introduced as the new head coach of the Pistons. I'm unsure of the following who has the toughest job ahead, Frank, the T-Wolves coach (whoever that might be) or President Obama. This franchise has a rich basketball history beginning play in 1941 in the National Basketball League, in 1948 they entered the newly formed National Basketball Association. Another note Detroit was not always home to the Pistons, in those early years they played out of Fort Wayne Indiana. As the NBA began to grow several franchises moved from smaller cities such as Rochester (N.Y.) and Syracuse (N.Y.) to those with larger populations. The Pistons moved from Fort Wayne to Detroit in 1957 with it's regional population of 4.5 million. The Pistons were NBA Champs as recently as 2004, they triumphed over the more highly touted Lakers of Shaq, Kobe, Malone and Payton. Three years ago the Pistons finished the regular season at 59-23, since then it's been pretty much down hill, 39-43, 27-55 and 30-52. Time will only tell if Frank is the right man for the job but he's certainly a beginning, this franchise is in desperate need of a makeover.

He's not in the Hall aready?
Artis Gilmore will be enshrined tonight in the Naismith Hall of Fame, for some reason I thought he was already there.  For those of us old enough to remember his career might ask the question, why it was necessary for the ABA committee to elect him?  It would appear this 7-2 240 pound center's career bio should have been enough? Maybe one of the reasons he was overlooked was the result of his demeanor, this lefty was never vocal or very demonstrative. In addition when you think of centers in that time-period you might think of the silky smooth moves of Kareem Abdul Jabbar or the dream shake of Hakeem Olajuwon. That was part of the problem, Gilmore was neither nor did he have any special moves around the basket he just got the job done! Numbers never provide a true picture but for younger readers I'll provide them. Gilmore scored over 24,000 points in his combined ABA and NBA career. His lifetime field goal percentage was .582, 18.8 points, 12.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocked shots per game. (Gilmore career numbers, Basketball reference.com)

Hockey, thanks but no thanks

This is for the NHL21 group in Kansas City, this is an organization of local hockey fans.  They continue to point out the NHL is a better fit over the NBA in Kansas City.  This is far from the truth in my view.  I don't think hockey was ever a good fit in the deep south and southwest portions of the country.  Check the list Dallas, Tampa Bay and Phoenix all cities either losing franchises are about too.  We can now add Atlanta to the list, the recent sale of the Thrashers drives the point home, they are now headed to Winnipeg. Alex Meruelo new owner of the Hawks says "he was never interested in buying the Thrashers." In addition Meruelo further states he has no desire to move the Hawks yet could have purchased the lesser priced hockey team.  Before hockey fans begin booing and hissing there is absolutely nothing wrong with your sport. In Canada and the eastern corridor (Rangers, Bruins etc.) the NHL remains a highly visible and viable sport. Hey NHL21 how about attendance, I'm excluding last years Miami Heat game for obvious reasons.  Do you realize NBA pre-season games have outdrawn NHL pre-season games every year since Sprint Center was opened?  That fact alone would certainly cause me to think twice about Kansas City if I were a prospective NHL owner.

We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors.-- Weldon Drew