The name's the same
I'm sure it could be a blessing or a curse to an individual with the same name of a celebrity or personality. In this story the name might be considered a curse. The Sacramento Kings have a rookie point guard on their roster, his name is Isaiah Thomas. The Knicks in the middle of a seven game winning streak have heard few boos recently aimed at them. The boo birds returned for the Wednesday game at Madison Square Garden. The boos were not aimed at the Knicks, they were aimed at rookie point guard Isaiah Thomas of the Kings. Every time his name was announced it was followed by a course of boos. Should we presume a number of Knick fans might still hold a grudge against Isiah Thomas? Although the spelling is different the Kings Thomas was named for the former president, coach and GM of the Knicks.

"I left my heart in San Francisco"

The above is the title of a song made popular by Tony Bennett but it might be a reflection of the Warriors thinking! I'm stating up front these are talks only, no shovel has been planted in the dirt nor have any documents been signed. "The Warriors met Wednesday (the meeting was held last month) with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and Giants CEO Larry Baer to discuss the feasibility of erecting a new, state-of-the-art arena near AT&T Park that would open before the 2017-18 season." The Warriors state it's their desire to replace Oracle Arena with a 20,000 seat arena. According to the San Francisco Chronicle Oracle Arena is the oldest arena in the NBA, built two years before Madison Square Garden. If this arena comes to fruition and the Warriors move will they become the San Francisco Warriors again?
(San Francisco Chronicle)

I had to research this one

Mizzou's Flip Pressey could always score more (9.8 ppg) but it's really unnecessary based on the other intangibles. I wondered if there had ever been a player of his caliber at the point in Mizzou's history, thus I began searching the archives. I was surprised when I discovered Anthony Peeler is Mizzou's all-time career assist leader at 497, Melvin Booker is second with 488 assists. Prior to the research I've always thought of Peeler in the role of a shooting guard not a distributor. In any event Flip in the middle of his sophomore year has 270 career assists with a major portion of the season still remaining. At the present pace he will surely break Peeler's record and become the all-time assist leader. One other note, Flip's 5.9 assist per game is the highest ever for a Mizzou player, previously it was Peeler's 4.2 assists per game during the 1989-92 season. (mutigers.com)

Did you see

2012 is the 35th Anniversary of The McDonald's All-American game, the game has truly grown over the years. The term McDonalds All American after a players name holds great distinction for that player chosen. A panel of basketball experts were asked to chose a team comprised of 35 former All-Americans. The majority of players went on to NBA careers. In fact several have had careers that will eventually find them enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield (MA). Kobe Bryant and LeBron and others are headed for the hall as soon as their careers end. Others are simply waiting the mandatory time for inclusion to the hall. Injuries hampered several players and we have no method of gauging what type of NBA careers they might have had. In the case of Grant Hill (1990) and Larry Johnson (1987) both continued to play in the NBA but were unable to play at the high skill level they exhibited prior to their injuries. Others had brief NBA careers due to injuries, Bobby Hurley (1989), Jay Williams (1999) Clark Kellogg (1979) and Ralph Sampson (1979) are just a few who injury robbed them of an NBA career.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Do you remember last season when draft experts were claiming the cupboard would be bare come draft time? With any draft and continued growth in that players game the story of the 2011 draft is incomplete. Last season is behind us and looking ahead to June 2012 the experts are all smiles. As per the normal several kids will dip their foot in the pool to determine if the water is hot, cold or lukewarm. If it's cold or lukewarm they will most likely withdraw their names and indicate "I'm staying in school!" As for the others ESPN's Chad Ford claims the 2012 NBA Draft will make up for last seasons so-so draft. You know Jared Sullinger of Ohio State and Harrison Barnes of North Carolina but mark my words. A player will raise his draft stock by an outstanding performance at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in April or individual team workouts. The list of NBA players who came through Portsmouth reads like a who's-who. It's very likely the player would have been drafted anyway but the tournament might have provided a scout enough information to say "let's draft _______!" Former Mizzou forward DeMarre Carroll's outstanding tournament play at Portsmouth raised his stock considerably and most certainly led to the Memphis Grizzlies drafting him.