Texas turbulence
The headline might be a little misleading allow a further explanation. It seems Mark Cuban Mavs owner has been sniping at the Rockets for months, finally Rockets GM Daryl Morey responded. While these two Texas teams are feuding in the media the Spurs are quietly sitting by. There is no need for them to become embroiled in any type of turmoil they are defending NBA Champions.

There is still a problem
We’ll visit the domestic violence issue once again based on a conversation I held with a female friend. She pointed out a fact I previously failed to consider might take place. She said; “Its possible wives or girl friends might be reluctant to report physical abuse. They (wives & girl friends) may look at the Ray Rice incident and how his NFL salary is now history. The belief might be if I report him we both lose.”

The NFL is still scrambling to recover its tarnished public image. Roger Goodell spent three hours visiting the headquarters of the domestic hotline center over the weekend. I have a better suggestion for him, why not at some future point (after training) he answer the hotline for a couple of hours. I believe he might have a better understanding over just a “tour” of the building.

Canadian import
His name is Shakur Daniel he’s a 6-4 160 pound combo guard. He hails from the growing basketball hotbed Toronto Canada has become. We might pose the question is Toronto producing more hockey or basketball players. Silly question on my part of course its hockey. Despite this fact Canadian and Toronto basketball continues to produce larger and larger amounts of talented basketball players. Can Daniel play; at this point we only depend on reports indicating he’s been trained at an early age to play the game. Interesting he’s moving to the USA, this 15-year old Class of 2018 prospect will enroll at Elite 1 Academy for Academics & Athletics in September 2015. This newly opened school is located in Phoenix Arizona.

The NBA versus college
An acquaintance asked me a question he said; “You write about the NBA more than college basketball do you like college ball better?” I paused a moment before responding to his question. Other than coaching changes and a number of high school players committing little activity on the collegiate level occurs during the summer. In addition to the NBA Championship being decided in June there is the draft the following week.

NBA free-agency begins and that becomes noteworthy news. This activity is followed by Summer League for about 3 weeks and then a few trades occur. This past summer the FIBA Championship was held Team USA was comprised of NBA athletes. The balance of many of the nations competing also contained a number of NBA talent.  The NBA at least from June to October dominates basketball news there is limited collegiate news. If I were to provide you a percentage on which level I follow I must say 70% NBA and 30% college.

The world wide web
I hope I’m not guilty, guilty of name calling without providing any proof. A number of persons at all levels of the game I’ve made critical remarks in the past. I‘ll provide you an example of name calling lacking substance. A story was reported indicating the Lakers and Bucks seem to be exploring hiring Gary Payton as an associate head coach. A reader responded to the story by labeling Payton a “gang-banger”. As someone stated Payton might have been a talker he might have been a loud mouth.

Being a loud mouth certainly doesn’t line up with being a gang banger.  The term gang banger applies to someone either part of a gang or with a record of criminal activity. I wondered if the writer truly understood the definition of the term or if he is just an internet troll. You know who they are guys who surf the net for stories and provide negative emails on a story for purposes of securing a reaction. So I guess I fell into his trap thus this column. To my knowledge Payton’s never been involved in any illegal goings-on of any type, to make that type of statement might be close to libel. That’s the danger of the internet you can say almost anything without providing proof.