Bits n Pieces
Maryland and Rutgers are now members of the Big 10 Conference, I was unaware the schools had been admitted in April. The Big 10 has always been a strong basketball conference adding these two schools should continue that trend.  .

A number of folks who were Heat fans appear to have switched their allegiance to the Cavs. Were these folks Heat fans all along or fans of LeBron James? I’m not mad at them however this change is noticeable among some fans.

Speaking of LeBron did you hear the Coach Cal story? 9-year old LeBron James Jr. and his AAU team recently played in Lexington Kentucky. Should we suppose Cal was there to recruit young LeBron Jr. or just watch the 10 and under team?

I was anxious to see Derrick Rose in action. The injury riddled last two seasons have seen little of Rose on the basketball court. Playing for Team USA should provide him plenty of opportunity to tune his game prior to the NBA season.

Speaking of Mark Cuban
In spring or early summer I mentioned Mavs owner Mark Cuban stated the NBA could eclipse the NFL in popularity. Several in the media roundly criticized him for the statement; the only member of the media agreeing to a point was Mike Wilbon. If the NFL continues to experience Ray Rice stories we have no idea what the future might hold. The NFL has a large contingent of female fans, if the league continues to administer minimal punishment for these types of incidents the NFL will suffer. As a reminder Wilbon stated “heavyweight championship boxing and baseball were ahead of the NFL in popularity 40 years ago in the eyes of sports fans.”

I wonder---------
The Lakers brought Michael Beasley in for a workout, as this is written there is no indication they intend to sign him. He played for Kansas State and though he left after his freshman year I had plenty of opportunities to see him in action during an outstanding year. Beasley can into the NBA the second pick in the 2008 draft, since that honor he’s had an up and down NBA career. This 6-10 235 pound small forward has managed to play for four NBA teams and none seem compelled to maintain him on their roster.

Beasley’s career numbers are actually good excluding last season with the Heat. The stumbling block has been his maturity and judgment during his NBA years. Several years ago the Lakers faced a similar issue when Ron Artest was signed. They took a chance and the rest is history, World Peace certainly was quirky at times however I don’t believe he gave the coach or management any problems. I’m going to step into the shoes of the Laker general manager; I sign Beasley to a 1-year contract at league minimum. If for any reason Beasley becomes a distraction or fails to adhere to team standards he is history.

Seattle still wants the NBA
Chris Hansen failed in his effort to secure a franchise for Seattle; it certainly wasn’t for lack of effort. News reports at the time indicated his groups’ financial package was actually superior to that of the Sacramento group. It remains my belief former Commissioner Stern wanted the franchise to remain in Sacramento. Although time has passed Hansen indicated they were still interested in securing an NBA team for Seattle.

“No one in our ownership group is interested in being a majority owner in an NHL franchise. That's been the case since the start.”  Hopefully NHL purists will not consider the statement a slam at their sport, it’s the belief of Hansen’s’ group an NBA team is a better fit for the metro. Despite comments from hockey interest it’s been my belief the same situation exist in Kansas City. Although the interest has been collegiate basketball that’s still the winter sport prefer by most here. I guess we could consider the NFL Chiefs a winter sport so I would state basketball comes in second and then hockey.