Moving swiftly

This story was just reported last week but it's moving much faster than many of us first thought. Are the Warriors headed back to San Francisco, that's the report in a San Jose newspaper. The San Jose Mercury News reported on Sunday that the Warriors could relocate from Oracle Arena in Oakland to a new stadium in San Francisco by 2017. "Warriors have finalized plans to move to San Francisco. Announcement could come as early as Tuesday. Pier 30/32 arena with private money. New arena would be state-of-the-art multi-use (basketball, concerts) facility, making the most of Bay-front location. Pier 30 and 32 are just north of AT & T Park." The NBA and more specifically David Stern had made it known "the NBA would never return to Seattle until an adequate arena was built." Looks as though the arena just might be on the horizon. This project is in the infancy stage however hedge-fund manager Chris Hansen plus the City of Seattle and King County have come to a memorandum of understanding on financing a new NBA arena. Location of the arena is yet to be determined however the plans are for an 18,500 seat arena. The arena would be built in an attempt for the Emerald City to regain an NBA franchise.

 

You have my permission

If you are not a Laker fan it's okay to skip this and move on to the next story. I've had difficulty coming to this conclusion but I think it's time for a do-over for this edition of the Los Angeles Lakers, where do they go from here? This is an issue that's concerned me since the end of the 2011-12 season when they were swept by the Mavs. Two issues I refuse to discuss is Mike Brown's status or possible trades, both are to much too unpredictable and unclear at this point. We'll focus on the present roster for discussion purposes. In all likelihood Kobe Bryant will be history in 3 years, so will Metta World Peace and Pau Gasol. Who joins Andrew Bynum (if he's still there) in the starting lineup? Ramon Sessions has suffered a rough playoff after providing a spark to the team with his arrival this year. Is he the answer or will rookie Darius Morris eventually replace him at the point? Andrew Goudelock at 6-3 has a point guard body but has played caddy to Bryant during the season, can he replace him once Bryant retires? Can Devin Ebanks or Christian Eyenga (?) replace MWP at the small forward? The upside role we've seen of Jordan Hill can his play become further enhanced as a starter at the power forward position? If not the role of starting power forward might lie with Josh McRoberts whose exhibited a degree of skill as a backup. The balance of the team, Barnes, Blake and Murphy are all gone perhaps as soon as this upcoming off-season.

 

Did you know

Surprise, surprise the term alley-oop was first applied in the NFL and not the NBA as people might assume. I would go farther and state most NFL players probably didn't know the origin of the phrase either. "The term "alley-oop" is derived from the French term allez hop!, the cry of a circus acrobat about to leap. The term "Alley Oop" was first used in the 1950s by the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL to describe a high arcing pass to wide receiver R.C. Owens, who would outleap smaller cornerbacks for touchdown receptions ("The Catch", the famous Dwight Clark touchdown reception from Joe Montana by which the 49ers gained entry into their first Super Bowl was also an "Alley Oop" pass) and later became more well-known from its use in basketball." As for basketball there have been stories Wilt Chamberlain would "guide" teammates shots into the basket. The no dunk rule which existed in college at a point might have been the driving force for it being introduced into the game of basketball. In the early 1970's North Carolina State had a player David Thompson, Thompson was a 6-4 leaper who reports indicate had a 48-inc vertical. This lob and leap became part of the NC State offense as he and guard Monte Towe worked it to perfection. (Wikipedia)

 

A shout-out

I've written several stories critical of ESPN especially the .com side of the family. My criticism has been the times I think they have gone over the top. In a reversal for me I'm going to toss a few roses in the direction of the World Wide leader as it relates to basketball. It seems but a short time ago college basketball games on television were the Saturday afternoon rule, the only exception might be if you lived in or near a college town. Weeknight games forget it, they didn't exist on a national basis but that's another story. Potential recruits with NBA aspirations would say "I want to go to _____ college so I can get television exposure." Today's coverage principally ESPN you cannot escape the television eye. Back then you might have seen the last two weekend games of the NCAA tournament but no weeknight games except the championship game. That's a far contrast from today even CBS upgraded it's NCAA broadcast coverage to reflect the changing times. As for the NBA it was only available on broadcast television, a game of the week was usually telecast on a Sunday afternoon. Unless you lived in an NBA city games were almost exclusively telecast from January to the NBA championship. The advent of cable and ESPN certainly contributed to the sports boom in broadcasting. Allow me to say thank you to ESPN and others for giving us additional opportunities to view both college and NBA basketball.

 

Busy as Grand Central Station

The above is an ancient expression, the statement was often made about the train terminal in NYC. It was always busy but so was Staples Center in Los Angeles, the arena was a weekend stop for both the NBA and NHL. Saturday afternoon the Clippers served as host to the Spurs, in the evening the Lakers and Thunder played. Sunday afternoon the NHL Kings played the Phoenix Coyotes. The weekend culminated with a Sunday evening game between the Clippers and Spurs. You get that, the Lakers played Friday and Saturday night, the Clippers Saturday afternoon and Sunday night. The NHL Kings played Sunday afternoon, this arena was truly a multi-purpose, multi-use building over the weekend.