This is the 500th edition of Words eye view, if you have been reading the blog for awhile or new I want to thank you. Thank you for choosing this site for all elements of basketball coverage, I hope you realize Words has been a labor of love for me. I write about all facets of the game I discovered as a child. I hope I’ve never conveyed the view mine is the only correct outlook. Hopefully I’ve caused you to look at a subject and say, “hmmmmm I didn’t see that or I didn’t know that.” Enjoy and continue to read Words, I’ll try and provide as much basketball information and stories as possible.

School is (was) in session
Prior to the Championship round I believed (along with the media who are actually paid) were thinking 3-Peat. Many believed the Pacers would challenge the Heat this season; we discovered they were clearly a “head-case.” In January we believed they were the best team in the East, February through their playoff elimination was a different story. The loss of course means one thing for surer there is no 3-Peat. Over the years I have been one of the biggest critics of the Spurs not because they won because I believed they played boring basketball. All of us have witnessed the Spurs “schooling” the Heat, the bell has rung and school is out.  We believed (incorrectly) this team was Duncan, Ginobili and Parker but they are also Leonard, Green, Splitter and they ain’t boring.

A friend of mine wrote; “You can't play for Gregg Popovich unless you can dribble, pass, & shoot. Any given time, ALL five guys on the floor for the Spurs can DRIBBLE, PASS, AND SHOOT!!! Beautiful basketball."  Consider this little tidbit if the Spurs hit the free-throws they missed in Game 2 we may have witnessed a Spurs sweep. Once again I will never ever refer to the Spurs as boring with Greg Popovich continuing to call the shots. We can maintain Popovich is a little strange even unorthodox and maybe even quirky at times. The other adjective that describes Popovich is he’s a winner.  A salute to the San Antonio Spurs who beat the Miami Heat 104-87 and are 2014 NBA Champions. 

Fish
To nobody’s surprise Phil Jackson hired Derek Fisher as Knicks coach. This hire will cause two events to occur, one a certainty the other uncertain. The triangle offense will be run by the Knicks next season---that’s the certain. The uncertain is the future of Carmelo Anthony; if we believe his comments he wants to win a championship. Is Anthony willing to sacrifice his game in order to accomplish the feat? Derek Fisher the coach will require a fine-tuning process; we’ll nickname it the “Jason Kidd” effect. Remember last season and the adjustments Kidd made in order to understand all aspects of the job. Fisher‘s played in the NBA for 18 years, moving from a players’ role to a bench coach requires an adjustment period. Fish must assemble a veteran coaching staff which will aid him to gain coaching knowledge. We could foresee Kurt Rambis or another coach familiar with the triangle being hired.

Unbelievable
43 is the number of collegiate coaches fired, resigned or retired since the end of the season. I found the number surprising and considerably higher than I would have expected. Danny Manning Tulsa, Craig Robinson Oregon State, Mizzou’s Frank Haith and Cuozo Martin at Tennessee are just a few of the coaches no longer at the schools behind their names. Collegiate coaches are under the same amount of pressure I believe of their NBA brethren. The differences are slight however; college colleges are generally allowed a little more time to turn a program around. In addition NBA coaches can and often are terminated in the middle of a season not so much at the college level. I guess the old adage applies at both levels; “You are hired (too possibly) be fired.

Where do these stories originate?
“The Cavs might pass on Embiid do to back issues; Julius Randle’s foot broken in high school might require surgery.” How do these stories start and how could this information become public knowledge prior to the draft in about two weeks? Is it a positioning issue, team A wants to draft player A, he might not be available because Team B is reported to have him under consideration. In the case of Joel Embiid it was public knowledge a back issue keep him in civilian clothes for the last portion of his season. As for Randle he claims the story is pure fiction, he says his foot is fine.