Overlooked
There is not enough space and time to provide detail on the number of talented athletes even in the metro area. The exploits of Clayton Custer was brought to my attention by an acquaintance. Custer is 6-1 160 pound point guard but he certainly can score as well, he led Blue Valley Northwest to runner-up status in the Kansas State Basketball Tournament last season. BVNW lost the championship game to Wichita Heights and McDonalds All-American Perry Ellis 67-60. Clayton a sophomore starter was key to the team recording a 24-2 overall and league record 12-1. Custer is rated a 4-star prospect by ESPN and MaxPreps, Rivals awards him 3-stars. This Class of 2014 prospect from Olathe (KS) has ample time to chose Kansas State, Oklahoma, Stanford or Tulsa along with several other Division I schools.

He returns

Phil Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy were under consideration to replace Thunder coach Scott Brooks, at least that was the media story circulating at one point. Almost immediately after the story broke gm Sam Presti termed the story baloney. Presti confirmed the baloney factor last week by signing Brooks to a 4-year contract.  For the immediate time-being it appears the nucleus of this western conference champion team will remain in place. Speculation continues to reign if this small market team can remain competitive in the large market NBA. Kevin Durant has already gone on record indicating his desire to remain in Oklahoma City, as for the others there are questions. Will the Thunder eventually draft a point guard and allow Russell Westbrook to play shooting guard? Will James Harden remain faithful in the role of 6th man or will he demand playing time?

Geography

Sometimes I too am challenged with the location of a city in the U.S. As for the State of Missouri that's a different story, now and then a town name I'm unfamiliar with makes news. If the map location is not provided and I'm curious enough I consult a state map. I've discovered familiarity does not always ring true for adults. Last Sunday the Kansas City Star featured a story on Mizzou's official move to the SEC. A writers response, "Mizzou will now be affiliated with schools from three surrounding states." His letter prompted this response, "I understand Tennessee and Arkansas but I don't get the third state." Someone was kind enough to respond and explain the third state was Kentucky. My point---why send an email, seems to me it would be far easier to consult a map rather than ask a dumb question? When I explained this story to my wife she informed me "I had no sympathy." Here's an example of my sympathy sending this person the email link to Google Maps or MapQuest.

Lack of leadership

Sacramento's Mayor Kevin Johnson is applauded by me, it appears the city might lose it's franchise but it's not due to lack of effort. Kansas City missed the boat on two separate occasions regarding the NBA, the first of course was 1985 when the Kings franchise moved to Sacramento. There was no civic effort similar to Sacramento attempting to save the franchise. The second occasion was more recently August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina had devastated New Orleans and gulf portions of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. Damage to the city and it's infrastructure curtailed plans for the Hornets to compete later that year, Hornets ownership needed a temporary city for the team to play it's games. Eventually Oklahoma City became home to this Louisiana team, city officials of Kansas City never contacted Hornets management to suggest they visit the city. Keep in mind Kemper Arena had no major tenant occupying the building after the Kings departure in 1985. Traffic issues aside we had a 17,000 plus arena which certainly was underused at that time? Once Clay Bennett purchased the Sonics I thought this team will probably not remain in Seattle. There was talk and I can only classify it as talk "maybe Bennett will move the team to Kansas City?" I thought why would he do that when no government official even made an effort to contact him. The NBA will never return to Kansas City and it's probably just as well, it seems there's only room for the NFL Chiefs, MLB Royals and MLS Sporting KC. I love my hometown wouldn't move anywhere else at this stage however it's leaders certainly lack vision at times.

4th of July fireworks

Once again I was blindsided by a Laker move, all the noise surrounding Dwight Howard distracted me (and others too I'm sure). It was reported Wednesday by ESPN Steve Nash will become a Laker via a sign and trade deal. Is this how a team gets younger signing a 38-year old point guard? The Lakers now have a 75-year old back court. Nash played 33.6 minutes per game and shot .504 from the floor, .439 from the 3-point line. An excellent free-throw shooter throughout his career he was at .933 while dishing out nearly 10 assists per game. His scoring average was 15.7 ppg, the numbers are impressive for an old guy. The only question Nash has never been the speediest guy nor has he been a great defender. If Bynum and Gasol coordinate their defensive efforts better than last season teams with speedy point guards (Westbrook) might be reluctant to drive past Nash realizing the twin tandem is waiting at the basket. This is not a long-term deal maybe it might not even conclude in a championship but the Lakers will be competitive again. If this sign and trade is finalized I seriously doubt if Howard's headed to Los Angeles. It's been a little over 24 hours and David Stern hasn't disapproved this trade----just kiddin' folks.