“Too big for your britches”
Back in the day older folks would often say “your too big for your britches” if you thought you were too important. A funny thing happened on the way to the 2014 NBA Championship for the Clippers. The Suns ran the Clippers off the court in a recent game and two players announced to the media “We (the Clippers) have become the hunted.” Coach Doc Rivers quashed that statement soon after he was made aware. He said and I paraphrase; “championship teams are hunted not teams having never won anything.”
I will re-visit this once more
My belief whatever the sport the front office is operating with more information than me. I believe being in a better position allows them a view fans are unable to see for the most part this is true. Naturally there are always exceptions, sometimes a front office will view fans as knowing little if anything at all. A cut-off point exist with me and I sure other Laker fans. It was my view Mike D’Antoni may have not been the best choice as a head coach but was management’s decision. I now believe D’Antoni has reached his expiration date and should be replaced. After losing to the Bucks (the worst team in the NBA) by a wide margin what’s left? Early on I believed D’Antoni had done an adequate job considering he had no Kobe. It appears since Kobe went on the shelf again the teams’ regressed. After the Bucks completed their beat down on Tuesday former Laker great James Worthy had this to say; “there is no excuse for failure to hustle.” Over the last eight games we’ve been witness to a team that is simply not executing defensively or offensively.
On top of that as I mentioned previously D’Antoni attacks the fans because they have been critical of what they see on the court. Kobe haters love to blame him for Dwight Howard leaving for the Rockets. I say don’t be so sure of yourself, how do you know D’Antoni and his offensive scheme may have been a contributing factor? Some might claim the fans are spoiled; I can concur with that view to a point. On the other hand these fans have witnessed championship basketball, why should they be satisfied with lesser of an effort. D’Antoni needs to go, whether Jim Buss decides to pull the plug or the coach resigns. I’m sure Laker fans will be upset maybe shocked with this expression. Allow me to state I’m a Laker fan today, tomorrow and forever. The 2014 NBA Draft in June is deep with potential talent so the possibility of help is on the horizon. On the other hand it serves no purpose to simply add quality players to a team the coach is unable to implement successfully.
Bits n Pieces
The NBA is almost always willing to draft a big man as a project. On the radar of the league is senior Alec Brown at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Brown a 7-1 235 pound center scored at a modest 14.1 ppg clip but really excelled in the block shot area. He’s the all-time leading scoring in UWGB history headed into his senior year, that portion of his game bodes well in the mind of NBA scouts.
Mamadou Ndiaye certainly isn’t an easy name to pronounce. It certainly is one that leaps off the page. He’s now a freshman at University of California-Irvine and though a freshman holds a record. He is the tallest player in the nation at
7-6 and 290 pounds. Ndiaye is originally from Senegal on the west coast of the African continent. He’s extremely raw and is playing limited minutes so far this season. His game against Washington certainly details his potential, Ndiaye scored 18 points snatched 8 rebounds and blocked 9 shots. The only downsize to his game thus for is the big man’s dilemma--poor free throw shooting. This game he shot 4 for 10 from the line.
I realize my observation is gonna upset many particularly those living on the Oakland side of the Bay region. If (or when) the new Warriors arena is built ownership should consider re-naming the team. They would become the San Francisco Warriors once again which was the teams’ original name when they first located to the Bay Area.
Are they better?
Mizzou won a squeaker against NC State 66-64 last Saturday on the road. I was attempting to determine if this team was better than last season, I couldn’t so I went to the record book. Last season they were 10-2, this win Saturday left them with 11 wins and 1 loss. The question for Mizzou fans is this season’s team superior to that of last season? My assessment continues to be mixed, the backcourt of Brown, Clarkson and Ross are very good. The frontcourt is a different story; the preference is to run a team’s offense inside-out. Mizzou’s offensive backcourt prowess could lead to disappointment down the road. Remember the old adage; “you live by the jump shot you die by the jump shot.”
