Basketball from a fans perspective
Happy birthday
By sports standards the NBA is juvenile by comparison to the National Football League or Major League Baseball. The NFL turned 95 years old last spring while baseball is much older. The American League was founded in 1901 while the National League began play way back in 1876. As for the NBA the league turned a youthful 66 years old on August 3rd. On this date in 1949 the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League merged to become the National Basketball Association.
The merger brought together many of the franchises that remain intact today though home is no longer the one they first began play. As an example the Knicks and Celtics members of the BAA remain in New York and Boston respectively. As for the Minneapolis Lakers and Fort Wayne Pistons formerly NBL members the Lakers would locate to Los Angeles in 1960 and the Pistons to Detroit in 1957. The spirit of the Syracuse Nationals and Tri-City Hawks are but a distant memory today.
No run of the mill writer
The ESPN NBA page has contained several ongoing accounts titled “The Phil Files” regarding the Knicks and Phil Jackson. The journalist is Charley Rosen; if you are unfamiliar with his name you might believe he’s just a “beat writer.” Far from it, the 74-year old Rosen stands 6-8 which might give you an idea of the sport he once played. He played at Hunter College in NYC and had a career in the old Eastern League a defunct pro league.
Rosen once served as head coach in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) and for a time as Phil Jackson’s assistant with the Albany Patroons (CBA). A prolific writer Rosen has written 15 books on the sport he loves. When he is critical of Phil Jackson he doesn’t do it for style points as a number in the media do. Rosen has credentials to backup whatever basketball discussion he chooses to delve in and that includes Phil Jackson.
Go ahead and get mad
John Calipari does it once again; he adds another “Big Man” recruit. This time he reached across the Pacific Ocean to Australia. Well that might be a little exaggeration Isaac Humphries actually arrived on our shores last season. He was enrolled at La Lumiere a prep school in La Porte (IN) and although originally a 2016 prospect will re-classify into the Class of 2015. Humphries is a 7-foot 245 pound power forward and is a 4-star prospect by Rivals.com. Although yet to be confirmed as this is published the move is very likely to occur. As for those Calipari/Kentucky haters out there get over it, Cal does what Cal does.
Is he ready?
The Nuggets made 6-5 guard Emmanuel Mudiay the 7th pick in the 2015 draft. You remember the story on Mudiay, originally headed to SMU to play for Larry Brown.
Mudiay born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo moved to the U.S. as youngster. As for college he changed his mind signed a pro contract and begins his pro career playing for the Guangdong Tigers in China.
Most of the pre-draft information listed the 6-5 Mudiay as a combo guard equally adept at play at either guard position. NBA Summer League is proof of nothing however Mudiay exhibited notable play. As for the Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson was traded to the Rockets earlier in the month, who plays the point? The roster contains 2nd year point guard Erick Green and the veteran Jameer Nelson. Training camp should be interesting to determine whether Mudiay remains a shooting guard or inherits the point guard slot.
“It must be the shoes”
Remember Spike Lee’s alter ego Mars Blackmon? He was the face behind all those Air Jordan commercials in the ‘80‘s, well to borrow his theme “It must be the shoes.” This time it's more than the Air Jordan or Nike brand another player is in the picture. As for the Nike news the company announced the signing of of the top two choices in the 2015 NBA Draft. Karl Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell were signed with no dollar amount mentioned. The veteran James Harden was also in the shoe news, his Nike contract has expired and Adidas is on his trail. It’s been reported Adidas has a $200 million dollar offer on the table for him, “It’s got to be be the shoes.“
The Usual Suspects
MGM released The Usual Suspects a crime drama movie in 1995. We could consider the 2015 basketball suspects as North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and Wake Forest. I know Wake Forest is not usually associated with the aforementioned schools. Evidently Danny Manning has made recruiting inroads because Wake Forest is usually not on the radar of 5-star prospects. I’m referring to Harry Giles number two prospect in the Class of 2016. Giles is a 6-10 220 pound forward and attends Wesleyan Christian Academy located in Winston-Salem North Carolina. Giles reduced the number of schools on his list to those listed above. Stay tuned to learn his school of choice
