Bits n Pieces

This is what I read on ESPN's Draft 2012 page? "Players can still declare for the draft by April 29. However, players can no longer go back to school once they have officially declared their professional intentions. Players also are no longer able to work out for teams and the return to school." Didn't we see this coming? (ESPN.com)

I mentioned this awhile back but it might have been missed. The announcement occurred last October at a time the Lockout was the number one NBA news. "Comcast-Spector sold the 76ers to a group of investor led by multibillionaire Joshua Harris." Purchasing a minority interest in the team was the The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith. Smith and family of course live in Hollywood but Will grew up in Philadelphia, he's been a 76ers fan since his childhood days. (Billboard.com)

Wanna know how old I am? Old enough to remember a time when an Associated Press All-American team had a center, two forwards and two guards. I don't remember when the change first occurred but sometime in the recent past the AP team became the five best players never mind the position they played. This years AP First Team is comprised of forwards Anthony Davis of Kentucky, Ohio State's Jared Sullinger and KU's Thomas Robinson. The remaining members are Creighton's Doug McDermott and Draymond Green of Michigan State.

Youth will be served is an old adage, it certainly rings true for the 2012 NBA draft. You might ask the question where are all the seniors? Two NBA Mock Draft sites draftexpress.com first senior is the number 10 pick while nbadraft.net has their first senior pick at number 17. Certainly the mock draft sites are just that and have no official connection to the NBA, that's a disclaimer isn't it? In any event I figured out the location of the seniors, all of them are in the NBA having left college 3 years ago!

Thoughts on Monday's Kentucky-Kansas championship game. I'm not sure who said this but I certainly can state I agree, "how do you get freshman to play defense like this (Kentucky), " three freshman and two sophomore starters totally amazing. Most Outstanding Player and he only scores 6 points? Sandwich that with 16 rebounds, 5 assists 6 blocked shots 3 steals, that's the stat line of Kentucky's Anthony Davis.

Will they hire him

Patrick Ewing has made it known he'd like to become coach of the Knicks, the question might be will they hire him? After outstanding Hall of Fame careers Patrick Ewing, Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas were hired by the competition. Each was never hired by the team they spent the majority of their playing time. Patrick Ewing is not the first nor will he possibly be the last. Larry Bird might have returned to Indiana because his roots were there. Although he's served the Pacers well in more than one capacity to my knowledge the Celtics never offered him a position. The same story existed for Isiah Thomas and the Pistons, the Pistons made it no secret they intended to hire Thomas for the front office just as soon as he retired. For reasons never fully explained they never hired Thomas, perhaps the Pistons knew something we didn't know. Thomas has been a "train-wreck" as a coach, general manager and president of the Raptors, Pacers and Knicks

His announcement

The number one (or two) player in the nation will make his choice known a week from today. I'm referring to the 5-star highly touted Shabazz Muhammad from Bishop Gorman High School Las Vegas Nevada. A quick explanation why I stated the number one or two player in the Class of 2012. For reasons never explained 6-10 Nerlens Noel who was number one in the Class of 2013 reclassified himself, he now intends to graduate in 2012. His reclassification caused several recruiting sites to move Muhammad to number two while others maintained him at number one. Muhammad who is a 6-6 215 pound small forward has trimmed his list of schools to three. His school of choice will be either UCLA, Kentucky or Duke. He will announce his choice on ESPNU's Recruiting Nation on the 11th. During the McDonald's All-American telecast the broadcaster made an interesting commit. He was discussing "how hard Muhammad works on his game and how much of a work ethic he has." That statement sounds like a another player his height, Kobe Bryant. Muhammad scored 21 points and was named MVP of the McDonald's All American Game as he led the West squad to a 106-102 victory. I think David Stern will be calling his name as the number one draft choice in two years on the other hand I could be wrong but I don't think so.

Speaking of coaches or rather former ones

We all realize ESPN is paying Jeff Van Gundy a salary. It seems to me almost every time I review their NBA website there is a "Van Gundyism" somewhere. The latest, "what he would do to fix tanking!" This is the term applied to teams who lose games in order to improve their position in the June Draft. This is not a "I hate Van Gundy" but I'm unsure why he has all these fixes for the NBA yet remains only employed by ESPN? It would seem one of the struggling franchises that abound would snap him up in a New York City Minute if they thought he'd be able to help them. It's not just me, think about the number of NBA coaching positions that have been available over the last four years. To my knowledge his name has never been linked to any of them. The Golden State Warriors reached into the broadcast booth and chose his former co-analyst Mark Jackson. They did this despite the fact Jackson had no previous coaching experience in the NBA, does that tell you something? Humor has it's place but I try to refrain as much as possible from using it in print. Sometimes it just doesn't come off in print as it did once last season from Mr. Van Gundy, maybe he was only kidding but in print you might be unsure as I was. "The Heat will not only be great, but historically great. So predicts the co-lead NBA analyst for ABC/ESPN. "They will break the single-season win record [of 72]," Jeff Van Gundy said. "And I think they have a legit shot at the Lakers' 33-game [winning] streak [in 1971-72], as well. And only the Lakers have even a remote shot at beating them in a playoff series. They will never lose two games in a row this year." (ESPN and Miami Herald)