There is a distinction between lack of talent and lack of effort!
-------Larry Laker
It’s official
Thon Maker announced via Twitter he’s on course to graduate high school in 2015. With this move Rivals places him immediately into the number five position in the Class of 2015. It’s a possibility he may move even higher by the end of the school year. This is just the latest move by the 7-foot center he‘s been a mover for a number of years. I mentioned previously Maker has been a world traveler, originally from Sudan he migrated to Australia. From the Southwest Pacific nation he arrived in the U.S. first attending high schools in Louisiana and then Virginia.
Maker moved from Virginia to Canada and Orangeville District Secondary School. I checked the maps Orangeville Ontario is located about 80 km northwest of Toronto. Can Maker play might be your next question with all the hype surrounding this youngster. Maker’s game bears a strong resemblance to that of Kevin Durant. I believe I must insert a disclaimer here, I didn’t say he was the next Kevin Durant I said his actions on the court remind several of us as a taller Durant.
Bits n Pieces
Marcellus Wiley of ESPN’s Sportsnation spent 10 years in the NFL and not the NBA. It’s clear to us he’s got no clue regarding the NBA. The hosts were viewing highlights of a Nuggets game and a windmill dunk produced by Kenneth Faried. This was the insightful Wiley response to the dunk. “My Clippers need to get him (Faried) so they can win the championship.” Co-host Max Kellerman reminded Wiley the Clippers already have Blake Griffin playing power forward. No response from Wiley probably realizing his statement sounded pretty dumb.
Speaking of the Clippers I believe DeAndre Jordan is a throwback; he is a reflection of the power game of Chamberlain, O’Neal and several others. At the age of 26 he’s in the middle of his 7th season in the NBA. I’m not going to go into the Doc Rivers rant regarding Jordan’s alleged All Star snub lets just say scoring 20 points and snagging 20 rebounds is certainly noteworthy. His scoring is only average (10.7 ppg) in spite of this he can rebound the ball and block shots. It’s been my belief a coach cannot “teach” someone how to rebound and block shots its instinctive thing. The 6-11 265 pound center is already an All Star but soon it will be official.
According to NBADraftexpress.com a possible late first round pick will be George Lucas. Not that George Lucas this one is a 6-5 200 pound point guard. He hails from Diademan, Brazil and plays for Bruno Caboclo's old Pinheiros squad in the Brazilian league. Can he play at the NBA level might be the next question; evidently NBADraftexpress believes that to be the case. By the way this athletes’ full name is George Lucas Alves De Paula.
They are really good however
You won’t hear this rant from me, “Kentucky basketball is good enough to compete against NBA teams.” This is the belief in some media circles the Wildcats could defeat the Wolves, Knicks or 76ers. I’m unsure if they really believe this observation or simply creating a story line. There are all sorts of scenarios that might permit the Wildcats to “hang” with an NBA team but beat them, come on. We can make this statement without any reservation; Kentucky at 26-0 is the best team in the nation not in the NBA.
I remember do you?
Remember the days when Charles Barkley simply focused on basketball? He analyzed action on the court, he may have been controversial but it was mostly basketball. In more recent years Barkley has provided insight on areas which are often more his opinion than actual fact. Don’t misunderstand me Barkley is certainly entitled to his view but only to a point. He feels free to provide us his view of social issues and other areas he may or may not be qualified to discuss. A couple of examples, he believed his opinion was required regarding NFL running back Adrian Peterson. Barkley questioned why Peterson was being accused of child abuse because he chose to spank his son. Barkley stated “If you were black and grew up in the south the manner of punishment we witnessed was common.” Well that type of punishment may have existed in some black households but not all.
Recently he found himself in the middle of a feud with Rockets GM Daryl Morey, this time the issue was analytics. I admit I do not fully understand it and further study by yours truly is required. Morey said in a tweet; “Best part of being at a TNT game live is it is easy to avoid Charles spewing misinformed biased vitriol disguised as entertainment.” Barkley had stated earlier the Rockets have one of the worst defenses in the NBA. The retort; “One (Morey) of those idiots who believes in analytics.” I will not attempt to defend analytics but simply state management must have some type of barometer to measure rate of return on an investment. The practice of analytics should not be used exclusively for decision making regarding employment. Despite leading the Grizzlies into the playoffs it was reported Lionel Hollins was fired based mainly on analytics.
