There is a distinction between lack of talent and lack of effort!
-------Larry Laker

Don’t yell at me
Twitter surveyed it’s users to determine which NBA teams they followed. Surprise, surprise areas of the U.S. without an NBA presence the Lakers have the largest following. The survey also included our northern neighbor Canada where the Raptors are the clear leaders which is understandable. As for this nation I thought it quite interesting seeing purple on large portions of 49 states (Hawaii was not included). . The study has no scientific merit however it is interesting, if you want to check it out see the latest Bleacher Report.

They could have been suspended
Dayton basketball now has no player on its roster taller than 6-6. Once upon a time they had two 6-9 centers one a starter the other his backup. Neither of these centers is on the team and they are not injured. Coach Archie Miller dismissed them after they were caught stealing money from a dorm. Miller is to be applauded based on the climate that exists in much of athletic institutions today. How often do we see an athlete suspended for a game (or two) and then be returned to the active roster. Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston is not the only guilty party however he might be the prime example of coddling athletes. A few athletes have poor decision making ability, not only can their action because troubling consequences form the athlete they reflect poorly on the academic institution.

For sale
Once again word circulated Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has the team on the market. It’s my understanding he owns in the neighborhood of 70% to 80% of the team. Bruce Ratner also owns a percentage of the team too. The last NBA franchise for sale was the Clippers last season. A number of you might remember what occurred with that sale media reports indicate there was a bidding frenzy. At least two groups one including Oprah Winfrey attempted to purchase the Clippers. The sale price of the Clippers kept going up and up, when the sale price was finally revealed most of us were in a state of shock.

Former chief executive officer of Microsoft Steve Ballamer was the winner with a reported high bid say it with me in your Dr. Evil voice------$2 billion dollars. Come on, if you don’t know who Dr. Evil is I don’t know what to say. The Hawks are for sale too however to date no information on a sale price has been mentioned. Back to the Nets a moment, on the court this team is nowhere close to the Clippers in talent but there is another factor. Although the front of the jersey says “Brooklyn” this is a New York team for sale which commands more dollars than the Bucks. It was reported the sale of the Clippers only involved Donald Sterling and family with the Nets there are at least two possibly three owners. Stay tuned for future developments of this story.

They accomplished the expected
The headline on the ESPN.com college page read; “No. 1 Kentucky routs Mizzou.”
Embarrassing as the loss was I expected it; 86-37 certainly qualifies as a rout. This morning on talk radio the host said he was embarrassed for Coach Kim Anderson with the loss. He said; “It was worse than losing to UMKC the first game of the season. “ I guess this was glass half-full half empty view of Mizzou basketball. As I said I never want a loss but anticipated this one. I never expected them to lose to UMKC under a new coach attempting to build a program.

Still one of my main men
Speaking of Mizzou I turned on the television when I arrived home; I began my search for a game to watch. Although there was more than one game available I settled on the
Houston-Tulsa match. I was probably one of but a few Mizzou fans who were sorry to see Haith leave. At the time Mike Anderson departed for Arkansas I felt no loss, I believed despite his pronouncements Anderson was probably always “looking.”

As for Haith I think he saw the handwriting on the wall. The bulk of his offense left for the NBA in addition many in the Mizzou family had a problem with his Miami history. Mizzou’s administration announced Haith was their man however I’m not sure how serious they were. I don’t root for Arkansas because they are an SEC rival in addition Anderson is the coach. As for Tulsa I will root for them because of Haith.

He could have given up on life
We have no idea if the Bulls will win the NBA Championship, at this point we don’t even know if they will win the east. Those are unknowns, we know Bulls shooting guard Jimmy Butler is an ever improving talent. Entering his fourth year his average is at an all-time high (21.6) as this is written. It’s been documented the 6-7 220 pound athlete could have checked out in life early and we all could understand why. His father abandoned the family when he was an infant; at the age of 13 his mother kicked him out of their Tomball Texas home.

His bio indicates he lived with various friends throughout his high school years. As we fast forward through his life we discover Butler made his way to Tyler (TX) Jr. College not being heavily recruited out of high school. He headed to Marquette University for the next three years; in 2011 the Bulls made him the 30^th pick in the first round of the draft. What motivates a person, Butler had every opportunity to give up on life believing he’d been dealt a bad hand. We have no idea what sustained him on his upward life path to date he‘s given no indication. So as you can see this is the NBA’s “Blindside.”