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

Players becoming owners
Retired Hawk player and current executive vice-president Dominique Wilkins wants to purchase the Hawks. He’s not the only former player desiring to own an NBA team, we can add Kevin Garnett’s name to list. In the case of Garnett his desire is also to become the owner of the Wolves the team that drafted him and where he spent the bulk of his career. Magic Johnson owned a percentage of the Lakers until he sold it in order to purchase the Dodgers. Michael Jordan purchased the Hornets (Bobcats) from Bob Johnson several years ago and is the single proprietor. NOTE: After this was written it was announced the Hawks franchise was on the market. The original indication was only Bruce Levenson’s 50.1% share would be sold.            

The Pistons?
Was Josh Smith the culprit for the Pistons poor play? Disgruntled players can be a contributing factor however it’s still a T-E-A-M game. I find it interesting once the Pistons released him the team began playing better. A broadcaster on ESPN said; “They haven’t played anybody during their winning streak.” I say horse-pokey, as a Laker fan anytime you win more than two games in a row well you get the point. Last night they beat the Mavs 108-95 I wonder about his next comment on the Pistons. A seven game winning streak is impressive no matter who you play.

See if this makes sense
On the way home from the Mizzou-Oklahoma State game other then discussing the loss we focused on the coaching. I told my friend “Gary Pinkel has managed to establish stability and winning with Mizzou football.” I went on to state that hasn’t been the case with the basketball program, we are working with coach number three since long-time Coach Norm Stewart was forced to retire. I began this account while viewing the Tulsa-UCF game the following morning. Patrolling the sidelines for Tulsa was former Mizzou Coach Frank Haith. I’m not going to detail the history of the coaching changes at Mizzou but just look briefly around the country.

I believe continuous winning programs establish a legacy that can often extend for decades. We can look at North Carolina, Duke, Kansas and perhaps UCLA. There are others but it’s my belief long ago a tradition was established and continued to be maintained by whoever was seated in the head coaching chair. These schools and others have sometimes experienced poor performing seasons however the ship was stabilized at some point and winning ways returned once again. As for my school Mizzou is still searching for the next “Norm Stewart” a coach who not only is a winner but one who will remain in place in a manner similar to Mizzou’s football coach Gary Pinkel.

Mr. TNT
This wouldn’t occur in today’s broadcast setting a youngster fresh out of college is hired to be the broadcast voice for a professional team. That’s Kevin Harlan’s bio; although he’d broadcast Kansas basketball game in 1982 he became the television-radio voice of the Kansas City Kings. Harlan was an ancient 22 years of age at the time. He would later become the radio voice of the NFL Chiefs and later move to the broadcast booth for the Wolves. Harlan continues to broadcast a number of NFL games although I believe he’s more identified with basketball whether it’s college or the NBA.

This Kansas University grad has lived in the suburban Kansas City metro for a number of years. Harlan’s dog (if he owns one) might bite him when he arrives home, his travel schedule during the NFL/NBA/college season must be mind-boggling. Harlan’s must have a considerable sum of frequent flyer miles. TNT has a number of veteran play-by-play announcers, some of the more familiar names include Dick Stockton, Mike Breen and the incomparable Marv Albert. Harlan is at the top of the TNT broadcast team, he’s entertaining and informative; check him out when you have an opportunity.

Bits n Pieces
Students, alumni and fans of Icarnate Word I apologize in advance. Incarnate traveled Kansas City for a match against UMKC in December. I‘d never heard of the school so my curiosity led me to research the history of the school. Located in San Antonio (TX) it was Division II before moving up to Division I in 2013. Incarnate Word is affiliated with the Southland Conference.

Should an NBA team draft for needs or the best athlete available? I pose the question because I always ponder how the Tom Landry Dallas Cowboys did it. I know its football but bear with me a moment. Example, if the Cowboys had four right guards they might draft another if they were on the clock and he was the top prospect. DraftNet.com “appears” to use the same process when listing their top projections.

A recent account I listed the good and bad surprise NBA teams of 2015. A number of you might wonder why I included the Cavs but excluded the Thunder. There was method to my madness, LeBron had played a major portion of the schedule until recently yet the Cavs failed to play at the level most of us expected. As for the Thunder first Kevin Durant then Russell Westbrook and Durant again were sidelined by injury.

Big 12 arrogance is alive and well and exists, you know how I know? I’m sitting here (Kansas City MO) smack in the middle of the conference. It’s not the students, fans or alumni sporting an attitude. I’m listening to sports radio talk with conference play beginning the hosts were assessing the Big 12. I would guess because Mizzou is in the SEC the conference was discussed as well. The hosts were literally laughing at SEC basketball except Kentucky.