"You cannot dunk your way to an NBA championship!"

So said former Piston center and "Bad Boy" Bill Laimbeer when discussing the Clippers a week ago, I mentioned his NBA TV interview in an April 2 story. After watching the Laker-Clipper game I understand his statement, Blake Griffin had two spectacular dunks at least one of them an offensive foul. This is not a "hate Clippers" rant they are a much better team this season. The other team in Los Angeles will make the playoffs for the first time since the 2005-06 season, prior to that it was 1996-97. Prior to that playoff run it was 1992-93, see where I'm going here? A team must contend for more than one season to be considered a legitimate competition for an NBA championship. Someone other than Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro first said "you have no rivalry when you can't beat the other guy!" The Lakers won the season series and last game of the season 113-108. It's difficult to speculate on the future, there are far too many intangibles to consider but which team is best set for the immediate future? NOTE: I wrote about a week ago my reluctance to criticize officials, it's a very difficult job. I contacted the league office via email because I thought what I'd witnessed required an explanation. Later I read the Lakers had sent tape of three incidents from the same game and the league response was swift but surprised me. The dunk where Griffin "climbed" on Gasol's shoulder they said was okay, they gave Griffin a flagrant 1 on a fast-break because he pushed Gasol in the back. A push in the back on a break is certainly dangerous however it would appear being hit in your grill might be more dangerous.

I have his autograph

Currently I have only one, celebrity autograph that is. I'm unsure how I lost the others however I can locate the magazine with Danny Manning's autograph. You might remember his name, in his senior year he led KU to the 1988 NCAA championship. In June Manning was the 1st pick in the NBA draft however injuries limited his career and he failed to reach the heights many projected. He still managed a successful 15 year career for a number of NBA teams. Kansas City is but 40 miles from Lawrence Kansas where he served as an assistant coach to Bill Self. Even more interesting I secured his autograph in the DFW airport awaiting a flight to Kansas City. Why is this story so rambling, I don't know just wanted to give you what I thought was pertinent information on this former All-American. I didn't realize the head coaching job was open at Tulsa University. In any event Manning has been hired and that's great news. I certainly cannot guarantee how successful a coach he will be I do know he's a good guy.

I salute them

Applause is due the Oklahoma City Thunder, no they haven't won anything yet but allow me to give you some detail. There are several NBA teams (Clippers until recently) cry about the difficulty of competing and building a team, any team rebuilding should consider using the Thunder as a model. They have a good front office and scouting staff which allowed them to draft quality players, in addition they have been able to make trades for players who enhanced the roster even more. This team has become an NBA powerhouse, 2007-08 they were 20-62 and a .244 percentage and since then it's been a steady climb upward. Last season they finished 55-27 .671 and the only reason they won't eclipse that mark this season is the shortened 66-game NBA season. The only downward note for me, they still have the worst looking uniforms in the NBA.

Expectations versus reality

I haven't been an Isiah Thomas fan for a number of years, his post-basketball career has been a train-wreck in my opinion. Once Thomas retired he's been unable to maintain positive momentum in the positions he's held over the years, he's bounced from job to job, place to place. He claims "success" at every stop however it's sometimes questionable. This is but a brief thumbnail sketch of his bio and certainly is not complete nor in order. The Continental Basketball Association might have declared bankruptcy, we don't know all the details but guess who owned the league? The CBA had been in operation since 1946 and Thomas purchased it in 1999, February 2001 the CBA filed for bankruptcy. "The assets of the defunct CBA (including its name, logo and records were purchased from the bankruptcy court." The CBA has been operating again since the fall of 2001. How about the sexual harassment lawsuit he was part of while serving a term with the Knicks? Judgment rendered against the Knicks to the tune of $11.6 million although Thomas maintained his innocence and was never personally liable. He claimed he could evaluate talent yet a number of players particularly his tenure with the Knicks were signed to inflated contracts. The jury is still out, he claims he's been successful at drafting talent. He traded for players and then signed these players to inflated contracts far beyond their worth. Not surprising the Knicks soon exceeded the salary cap during his tenure as general manager. There are other Thomas stories but they are rumor and undocumented therefore I will not cover in this brief history. Last Friday Florida International University announced they terminated his contract as basketball coach. Thomas hired in 2009 led the school to a 26-65 record in that time-frame, his first words "This is the most surprising thing that has happened to me in basketball," Thomas said. "I never been fired before for basketball reasons. This is the first time." We can only guess the school's athletic department must have concluded Thomas was unable to produce a successful team. (portions Wikipedia and ESPN)

You need to decide

Prior to last Monday's NCAA championship game my neighbor's son-in-law asked me who I thought would win the game. I hesitated, I told him "I think Kentucky could win however Kansas had exceeded my expectations they could win." He then said you need to decide, "you don't write your blog claiming both teams can win would you?" I said of course not, I answered him stating "Kentucky but I wouldn't be surprised if Kansas won." Was I hedging, probably so but I was unsure last week at the time of this conversation. The same holds true for predictions, there are many in the sports world who love to make predications. For me there are just far too many sidebar issues which might cause a team to play at it's peak. ESPN's Andy Katz has already given us his Top 25 for next season and it's interesting for one reason alone, April of 2013 no one will remember his predictions. As I indicated there are too many intangibles to consider, incoming players and those returning are probably the two issues most key. We can just use this past season as an example, Kansas exceeded my pre-season expectations, Mizzou exceeded my pre-season expectations. Example, Katz has Mizzou as the number 25 team next season, at the beginning of this recently completed season Mizzou was ranked 25, they finished the season as the number 11 team in the nation. So here goes, pre-season predictions are worth exactly one penny or less, the possibilities are just too fluid to be worth anymore than that.