Have you seen it
I’m referring to the Sports Illustrated cover of Andrew Wiggins. “The Freshman from Wilt to Manning to Wiggins” it reads. This is not written doubting the talent of Wiggins, it’s written as I wonder if. I wonder if he’d chosen Kentucky all this hype would have followed him to Lexington. What if he’d chosen North Carolina, Duke or Syracuse all schools on his list? I don’t think there is any comparison to LeBron James; we knew James was headed to the NBA out of high school.
The media worked overtime with Carmelo Anthony at Syracuse but certainly not to this degree. In a manner of speaking I am taking a sympathic tone toward Wiggins; he should be prepared. Prepared for the first time he shoots an air ball or tosses an errant pass the boo-birds (in Lawrence) will become vocal. This is my suggestion for the young man; he should avoid newspaper sports pages during basketball season. He should stay clear of any coaches programs on ESPN, Fox Sports and CBS SportsNet In addition he should also stay away from the numerous internet basketball websites.
Hall of Fame
Last months selection of Guy Lewis (Houston), Jerry Tarkanian (UNLV) and Rick Pitino (Louisville) add to the number of coaches in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. The election of Pitino causes me to wonder, how many active coaches have been elected to the Hall? I decided to research the question and was surprised at the number. I thought this information might be of interest to many of you. NOTE: this list is not intended to be complete; women’s and international teams are not included, active coaches:
Herb Magee - Philadelphia University (Div II)
Bob Hurley - St Anthony High School
Roy Williams - North Carolina
Jim Boeheim - Syracuse
Larry Brown - SMU
Mike Krzyzewski - Duke
Wikipedia
This is not the NFL
The National Football League plays a limited number of games compared to MLB or the NBA. NFL Games are scheduled once a week, a team can fly to Europe play and return the next day if they chose. The issue is being raised again based on a discussion I heard last week. The NBA in Europe question was asked last week to incoming commissioner Adam Silver. We can only assume the media person wondered if he would receive a different response than expressed by David Stern. The discussion revolved around adequate arena facilities more than the issue of travel. I’m not opposed to an NBA team in Europe the issue was/is and continues to be travel. The 16 regular season games of the NFL are far easier travel than an 82-game NBA schedule flying back and forth to Europe. The supersonic Concorde was retired in 2003 however flying at a speed of 1,350 mph (2,172 km/h) wouldn’t resolve the issue. It would be huge if this issue was addressed with a serious tone rather than simply glossing over the primary issue-----air travel.
Win now or lose
The Nets made a major move in the off-season you remember they acquired veterans Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry from the Celtics. All three players are long in the tooth but may have at most two years. The Nets have “win now” policy in place; the trio acquired from the Celtics won’t be there in 4 or 5 years. The team should be stacked at all five positions, Deron Williams and Joe Johnson at the guard positions and center Brook Lopez.
Added to this lineup will be former Celtics Pierce and Garnett at the small forward and power forward. As for the bench it appears adequate but is yet to be tested. The gamble for Nets management, do Pierce, Garnett and Jason Terry have enough left in the gas tank? Injuries notwithstanding the Nets should be competitive enough during the regular season. Do they have enough to overtake the Heat or whoever might stand in their way?
Once upon a time
NBA players once flew commercial airlines, none of that charter stuff of today. Former Laker Michael Cooper was on Time Warner Cable Sportsnet and this was discussion topic. Cooper informed the hosts when he arrived in the NBA (1978) with the Lakers the team was flying commercial however switched to charter flights prior to his 1991 retirement. Can you imagine 7-1 Kareem Abdul Jabbar, 7-2 Artis Gilmore or 7-4 Ralph Sampson stretched out in coach or first class seating?
