Basketball from a fan’s perspective

I’m probably in trouble again
Not yet but once the Doc Rivers fan club reads this they are going to be upset with me once again. The coach is back-pedaling once again perhaps just as much during the days he played guard for the Atlanta Hawks. In an interview Rivers was reported to have said the Warriors were lucky to win an NBA Championship. Voices in Northern California rose to protest the view expressed by Rivers. First it was Steph Curry then Klay Thompson later Draymon Green and Andrew Bogut chimed in with their opinion of the Rivers statement.

"I'm going to give Klay Thompson and his whole team the benefit of the doubt on that," Rivers said. "What I said is true -- not the way it was said to them. I never said the Warriors were lucky. That's unrepresentative of what I said. I said you have to be lucky to win. It's a completely different way.” Okay maybe it’s just me but that sounds like double-talk to me. Come on coach admit it you made the statement and live with it don’t try and clean it up. Our news cycle is ever changing people will soon forget your comment but not if you continue to try and explain your actions.

Kentucky doesn’t win always
The All American list in the upcoming season contains the name of Kyle Wiltjer. Wiltjer’s name might not be familiar to all college fans. See Wiltjer began his college career at Kentucky but left after his sophomore year. Was he good you ask good enough to be named SEC Sixth Man of the Year in his second year? He transferred to Gonzaga but was forced to sit-out a year transferring. His numbers are not eye-popping at 16.8 ppg. The 6-10 240 pound forward managed to lead the Zags in 3-point field goal shooting.

Wiltjer was honored with several 2nd team All-American honors last season so it shouldn‘t be a shock he’s a choice to ascend to the first team. Those in the Eastern and Midwest Time Zones have few opportunities to witness his play. Gonzaga games (excepting weekend) are not telecast until 10:00-9:00 p.m. Eastern and Midwest Time Zones. In any event mark this one as a loser for Kentucky and a winner for Gonzaga.

The international NBA
We’ve discussed often the growth of the NBA internationally in the past. We can attribute a large part of it through the efforts of former NBA Commissioner David Stern. The latest figures I could locate indicate the beginning of the 2014 season saw 101 international players in the NBA the largest number ever. This is a far cry from the days when teams were somewhat hesitant to draft international players. Once relegated to the second round of the draft we’ve witnessed a greater number being drafted in the 1st round. This was evident in 2015 when the Knicks chose Kristas Porzingis from Latvia as the 4th pick in the first round. The Magic followed making Mario Hezonja the 5th pick, Hezonja is a 6-8 guard from Croatia.

The 26th pick belonged to the Spurs who chose 6-11 Nikola Milutinov from Serbia. While three players chosen in the first round out of 30 might not seem a large number consider the fact there have been years there were no international players chosen. As for the second round of the draft 10 of 30 players were global players. At the same time this is no declaration that any of the above will become All Star’s but they mounted the first hurdle, they were drafted. The game we love especially the NBA will continue to grow in the eyes of the world, it will never replace soccer (football) but it might be the number two sport in several world nations currently.

The return
Any of you remember The Starbury; it was the low-cost basketball shoe by Stephon Marbury and sold through Steve and Barry’s stores. The shoe sold for only $15 far less than Nike, Adidas or other major brands on the market. The shoe’s been off the market since 2009 through no fault of Marbury, Steve and Barry’s had filed for bankruptcy. Despite his talent Marbury’s NBA career flamed out but was resurrected in China as his shoe soon will be. The Starbury basketball shoe is on its way back. Rest assured once production is begun the shoe will retail for more than $15 but considerably far less than those listed above. At the time the shoe was on the market there were complaints about the quality but that might be a little misleading. We all may have witnessed NBA players suffer “blowouts” on more expensive brands.