NBA expansion---well maybe
New Commissioner Adam Silver is following his predecessors’ line. David Stern said over and over the NBA had no plans for expansion. Seattle was mentioned in the conversation. Silver has backed away from NBA Europe discussion, doesn‘t mean its dead it’s just appears to not be his priority. Silver used a portion of his first All-Star Game to repeat the same line regarding NBA expansion. Once again Seattle was mentioned in the discussion. The question is this judgment valid? The commissioners’ office represents the owners but do all agree with the views expressed by Stern and Silver?

It seems almost natural Mavs owner Mark Cuban would express a view slightly different than the present and previous commissioners. 1. “When the Charlotte Bobcats entered the league in 2004-05, the expansion fee was $300. (Million) When you sit in the board of governors’ meeting, you give a price and each NBA owner calculates his share,” Cuban said. “You balance it to what you’re giving up in TV and shared revenue, and you say: OK, it’s worth it. Then you say you got to do it.” Cuban said he is a firm believer that another expansion will happen before the league relocates a current franchise.” If Mark Cuban is correct future expansion is a possibility not in the distant future as Stern once said and Silver has echoed. 1. SportsDayDFW

Part Two
Russell Westbrook will return to the Thunder lineup on Thursday. Based on last Friday‘s account you might believe I don‘t like him. Far from it Westbrook is a very, talented athlete. His athletic prowess might be the thing holding him back, he appears uncompromising at times, and “I can do this all by myself.” Talent alone doesn’t make you a team player in fact it’s my belief the talent has been a detriment to a number of potential greats. The talented player would rather look for his shot than pass the basketball. It often appears Westbrook is more concerned with his numbers than those of the Thunder. He has one key advantage, he’s young and there is time for his game to mature.

Seen any Saber Toothed Tigers lately?
The answer to the above title is yes, in museums of natural history. We haven‘t seen any in the wild or in zoos. The predecessor of today’s Tiger and Lion has been extinct now for several million years. We have seen bones of the creature and can visualize how it looked at the time it roamed the earth. The Saber Toothed Tiger is extinct and so is the All-Star Slam-Dunk competition. John Wall certainly deserved to be crown champ but overall most of the dunks were not that outstanding. We have witnessed far too many Dr J., Jordan to become excited by imitations. Am I being too critical of the event, probably?

　
The “other” Missouri team
St Louis University is winning quietly, in the State of Missouri big brother Mizzou commands the greater amount of media coverage. The Kansas City media provides more coverage on the Wichita State Shockers than SLU. I’m not discounting Wichita State but the Billikens record is almost as impressive. As this is written SLU is 23-2, 10-0 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The numbers represent the best in school history, this week they emerge in the Top 10 position in the nation.

Man Cave
It’s been awhile however a reminder I have a man-cave. There are a significant number of man-caves (and maybe women caves) constructed by fans. Mine is filled with Laker stuff with the exception of an autographed photo of former Mavs guard Derek Harper. Recently I found out a buddy among other items in his man-cave had two seats from Denver’s Mile High Stadium. He (along with others) purchased the seats prior to demolition. All of us without unlimited resources place limits on our purchase of fan gear. The basketball shoes worn by Michael Jordan in the “flu game” sold recently for $104,765. Those are the shoes MJ wore in the 1997 NBA Finals game at the time he was sick with the flu. Jordan managed to score 38 points leading the Bulls to the 1997 NBA Championship.