Basketball from a fans perspective

People of the now
David Letterman retired from his late night talk show after 30+ years. His retirement prompted reflections from many regarding Letterman’s greatness. Listen to the words of Tony Kornheiser co-host of Pardon the Interruption and Letterman’s age said; “We are a people of the now. He went on the state; “In 20 or 30 years much of the same type of admiration showered on Letterman will be granted Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon.” After his recent boxing match in which Floyd Mayweather defeated Manny Pacquiao pronounced himself “better than Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.” 

Whether its bravado or age Mayweather believes his statement.  As for Kornheiser he didn’t deny the talent of LeBron James but pronounced Wilt Chamberlain the best basketball player he’d ever seen. Kornheister is 66 years old, Stephen A. Smith is 47 years old a product of the Michael Jordan/LeBron James generation. Smith and others  near his age or younger only know what they read, video fails to give Chamberlain or anyone else of the period justice. There is absolutely nothing wrong with referring to LeBron James as the world’s best but keep in mind other talented players preceeded him. Do think I’m picking on LeBron the same goes for Kobe.

His choice?
Once upon time 6-6 small forward and 4-star prospect Tevin Mack was headed to VCU, he was headed there until Shaka Smart took the job at Texas. Mack de-committed and opened the recruitment process all over. This South Carolina native indicates he’s reduced his choice of schools to Georgia and Texas. This is written prior to his Tuesday afternoon announcement on a destination, where do you suppose he’s headed to school?

Mack’s home state of South Carolina shares a portion of its border with Georgia one of his possible destinations. If I were a betting person I’d say Mack is headed to Texas, we shall see the outcome shortly. NOTE: Trust me, I know every time folks say trust me you immediately become suspicious. I wrote the foundation of this article this morning. I checked the net about 3:15 p.m. Central Time and discovered Mack committed to Texas.

Exceeded expectations
The NBA announced its 2015 NBA Rookie teams. At the beginning of the season you may have penciled in Andrew Wiggins name despite being traded. I would have included my personal choice for Rookie of the Year Jabari Parker. Of course we know he went down with a season ending injury in December and certainly could not be included. The first team is Wiggins and includes Nikola Mirotic, Nerlens Noel, and Elfrid Payton. Certainly not expected to be selected was 2^nd round draft pick Jordan Clarkson.

Clarkson was behind Steve Nash, Jeremy Lin and Ronnie Price on the depth chart at the beginning of the season. Injuries allowed Clarkson in January to move into the starting lineup. He finished the season scoring nearly 12 points a game while dishing out nearly 4 assists. Clarkson was the one bright star in an otherwise dreary Laker season. It’s unclear if the Lakers intend for Clarkson to remain at the point or move over to the two guard slot. This is no declaration of a stellar NBA career however it does point out a second round choice can have a livelihood in the NBA. Laker GM Mitch Kupchak believes the Lakers “can get better quickly.” Bet Clarkson will be one of those guys to make them better.

Further proof
You might want to check a story written on May 13, I pointed out it was the coach and not the school that is often the driving force in recruiting players. Noah Dickerson a 6-8 245 power forward committed to Florida until. Dickerson was listed as Rivals number 81 in the Class of 2015 and was on his was to play for Billy Donovan. Of course we are aware Donovan left the Gators for the NBA Thunder. Dickerson changed his mind; he asked and received his release from Florida. Now the recruitment process begins over again.

This side of the state only
The only reason we are discussing the Mizzou-Kansas rivalry is for an update. An acquaintance of mine (a KU fan) informed me emphatically Kansas had no interest in playing Mizzou ever again. I was ready to leave the subject alone however Mizzou’s new athletic director believes he can re-start this 100 year rivalry. Mizzou’s AD has contacted his counterpart on the Kansas side to discuss renewing the series. 

I’m unsure if I mentioned this but the rivalry might exist on the Kansas-Missouri border only.
Recently I listened to the question posed to a St. Louis sports radio host. He said; “In football of course, basketball is another story.” Of course he was referring to the poor play of Kansas football compared to its basketball program. It’s been mentioned previously the deficient Mizzou basketball record of this past season. St. Louis is a distant 300 mile drive to Lawrence (KS), for us in Kansas City (MO) it’s less than 50 miles.