Change at the top
Lakers Coach Mike D’Antoni has resigned, details are sketchy at this point. The small amount of information so far indicates the Lakers declined to pickup the fourth year of his contract. Did he resign because the team failed to honor the option year? My hope, Jim Buss checks his ego at the door after all he hired Mike Brown and D’Antoni. History says Buss had Phil Jackson waiting while he hired the other guy.

He’s the last to commit
The last high profile uncommitted high school prospect has committed. I watched ESPNU as Myles Turner a 6-11 240 pound stretch four announced he would become a Texas Longhorn. Turner hails from Bedford Texas a suburb in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro. Prior to his decision I speculated (incorrectly I might add) Turner was headed to Kansas. He’d eliminated all contenders with the exception of Texas and Kansas. A rumor had circulated he wanted to attend Kansas but was waiting for a Joel Embiid decision. Once Embiid declared for the draft it was believed Turner was headed to Kansas.

Trivia
The University of Central Missouri at Warrensburg has changed names several times through the course of time. Warrensburg Teachers College became Central Missouri State which morphed into the University of Central Missouri. Name changes aside the three most successful basketball programs in the nation can state one of their coaches came from the Warrensburg school. Emerging from an earlier time was Phog Allen, he coached at Warrensburg Teachers College from 1912-19. He would be hired by Kansas and served as head coach from 1919 through 1956.

Allen had one of the longest tenures as basketball coach in history. Allen’s 1952 Kansas team won the NCAA Championship. Tom Scott coached Central Missouri State from 1938 to 1946. He left for North Carolina and coaching the Tarheels from 1946 till 1952. We conclude with Joe B. Hall who coached Central Missouri State from 1964 through 1965 left to become an assistant at Kentucky. He became head coach in 1972 and left the helm in 1985, his Kentucky team won the 1978 NCAA Championship. As you can see the three schools with the most NCAA wins can thank the Warrensburg school.

A short list
Donald Sterling continues as owner of the Clippers; it appears from the commissioner’s comment that might not be for very much longer. If the NBA forces Sterling to sell the team he’ll join a unique list of sports owners. Owners have been suspended however few have been forced to sell their teams. In fact I was reminded former Yankee owner George Steinbrenner once received a life-time ban which later was suspended. The following account represents a list of modern era owners “forced” to sell their teams.

From 1981 through 1983 the Cleveland Cavs were owned by Ted Stepien. The owner made several controversial actions, bizarre trades and public statements led to the NBA taking action.  History will state “he” decided to sell the team truth is the NBA forced Stepien to sell. Marge Schott once upon a time owned the Cincinnati Reds baseball team. The time period was 1984 through 1999, she too suffered suspension prior to selling the team. Schott a lighting rod for controversy was actually suspended twice before “deciding” to sell the team.

Where is the offense?
Okay I admit at the beginning I’m second-guessing a portion of this story. The Bulls traded Luol Deng in January; they may have feared losing this talent to free agency. In my view he represented one of the few offensive threats other than Rose on this team. The Bulls made the move despite the fact their main man and offensive threat Derrick Rose was sidelined. I’ve just finished viewing them lose the series against the Wizards four games to one, the losing Bulls scored a meager 69 points.

No argument from anyone the Bulls play some of the best defense in the NBA as for scoring the ball that‘s another story. Bulls Coach Tom Thibodau is a defensive specialist; his team desperately needs to develop an offensive game besides Rose. Maybe the offensive player is already on the roster however I’m unsure of that. They could look toward the draft, free agency or a trade. Going into this series I believe all thought the Bulls would win, somebody forget to inform the Wizards. Wizard fans this is not my intent to disrespect your team they were clearly the superior team in this series.