Are you a fan?
Dear Heat Fan,

I asking if you are a true fan of your team for a specific reason, I believe legitimate fans always retain commitment to their team. They hold on to this view despite what might appear to be a downturn in their fortunes. Fans suffer in the same manner as the team they love. As a Laker fan welcome to our side of the page, our Lakers have not been a serious contender for at least two seasons. Older Laker fans who suffered this past season remember the Post-Showtime era. No Worthy, no Abdul Jabbar and more importantly no Magic. As hurting as it was the Lakers remained my team, I did then and continue to bleed purple and gold.

This was the previous time the Laker brand suffered from poor performance on the court. We had to maintain the faith until the arrival of Nick Van Exel, Eddie Johnson and others. No NBA Championship was in sight however the fortunate of the Lakers changed after they began securing talent. Hey Heat fan your team will suffer in the loss column despite the best efforts of Pat Riley. Keep the faith, I believe in Pat Riley and I don’t believe he’s ready to surrender. I believe he will make his best effort to retain a competitive team on the court. Face it Heat fan you had a great run, four consecutive years in the NBA Finals and two NBA Championships. Heat fans you are disappointed but continue to believe in your team.

Sincerely,

Larry Laker

Bits n Pieces
A writer questioned what position the Bucks Jabari Parker would play in the NBA. At
6-8 and 241 pounds don’t you imagine he could play the three, four or five? Consider this LeBron James is the same height but heavier, he plays small forward. Chris Bosh is two inches taller but Parker outweighs him and Bosh has played center and power forward at times.

Prior to the season the prevailing thought in Big XII circles the Player of the Year in the Big XII would be from Canada. That’s exactly the way it turned out however it wasn’t the Canadian most expected. Everyone thought Andrew Wiggins would be accorded the honor; it went instead to Melvin Ejim of Iowa State. The 6-6 220 pound forward from Toronto had a breakout senior year. He scored at an 18.2 ppg clip while snatching down nearly 9 rebounds and shooting .513 from the floor.

Mario Chalmers indicates he wants to remain in Miami, why should this be a surprise to anyone? Chalmers has ordinary NBA credentials but managed to strike it rich he was drafted by the Wolves but traded to the Heat.  His pleas were answered, we cannot be sure if LeBron's exit may have been a factor however Chalmers was resigned.  His days may still be numbered after his poor performance in the NBA Championship, the Heat drafted point guard Shabazz Napier

I don’t work for the Greater Cleveland Chamber of Commerce the disclaimer out of the way we precede. The City of Cleveland has been the butt of jokes for years some true others exaggerations. We heard many in the media say; “They (Cleveland) have a difficult task attracting free agents.” While they may have been true at one point it certainly isn’t now. By the way Cleveland ain’t that bad apparently just ask LeBron.

Money or championship is now the Carmelo Anthony option. Anthony makes the max if he resigns with the Knicks however no championship is on the horizon. As for the Bulls that’s a different matter, Anthony could possibly be the missing piece for a Bulls team lacking an effective offense at times.

I wonder if it could work
This is not my idea and I certainly don‘t intend to take credit (or blame) for it. I have given up hope Kansas City would secure another NBA team but what about a shared franchise? The 41 home games would be divided between St. Louis and Kansas City? This is not as strange as it might first sound; once upon a time the Kings franchise was shared with the City of Omaha the teams’ name, Kansas City-Omaha Kings. There were not enough available dates to allow the Kings to play all their games in the Municipal Auditorium.

Conflicted dates would find the team playing a number of games in Omaha, later this arrangement was changed once dates in Kansas City became available. This was prior to construction of Kemper Arena which would become home base for the Kings. Is it possible a shared franchise could work again? Both cities have NBA ready arenas actually in some instances newer than many in today’s NBA. Scottrade Center in St. Louis opened in 1994 and seats nearly 20,000. Sprint Center opened in 2007 seats a slightly smaller 19,000 for basketball.

Say what?
This is nothing official, no word has come from the Lakers office; it comes to us by way of TMZ. Andrew Bynum is a free agent; the Pacers released him shortly before the playoffs. They were the third team Bynum had played for since he left the Lakers. Actually it’s only two; he spent a year on the 76ers roster but never suited up. During the TMZ interview Bynum expressed interest in returning return to the Lakers. Here me out Laker fans before shouting out NO, I say I’m okay with Bynum returning under conditions. First and foremost a THOROUGH physical exam ensuring the knees are okay, as for his head that’s a different type of physician. He must sign a veteran minimum contract; he’s paid in the neighborhood of $12 million dollars.

According to NBA.com as a 12-year veteran the Lakers would be required to pay him $1,400,000. Sign Bynum for 1-year and determine the seriousness of his intent to return to the court. As for the age factor Bynum was in the last group of players to arrive in the NBA directly from high school, he’s only 26 years old. Hopefully this doesn’t appear to be sentimental nostalgia on my part. Bynum had his best years anchoring the center position for the Lakers, as for questions regarding his attitude I don’t remember any issues with Phil Jackson at the helm. The juvenile attitude he sometimes exhibited occurred under former Coach Mike Brown. In 60 games his last year with the Lakers he scored at an 18.7 ppg clip and grabbed nearly 12 rebounds. That’s far above the numbers produced by the 3-headed center of Gasol/Kaman/Sacre.