Basketball from a fans perspective

What does he know?
There are times I disagree with the comments of TNT’s Reggie Miller, Charles Barkley and ESPN’s Tim Legler. There are others but I wanted to provide you a direction of my latest rant. In their role as analyst the individuals above often cross that line with me where I must disagree. I must consider this fact whether I agree or not they “did play the game.” Doesn’t matter if they were the last guy off the bench or had a Hall of Fame career they played basketball at the top level i.e. the NBA. That brings me back to a personal rant that bugs me.

Mike Greenberg, Colin Cowherd and Stephen A. Smith have no more insight than we do. They can and do have an opportunity to interview athletes but asking questions may not always provide insight, they are full of opinions often no more valid than ours. I once heard a local sports radio host state; “We are professionals, this is what we are paid to do.” Given time to prepare I’m sure we could prepare a set of adequate questions for anyone without being a paid professional. It doesn’t matter if have a friendship if you haven’t competed at the pro level how do you know anymore than us.

He’s okay
The Lakers have gotten off to a “glacial” start this season except for one player. His name is not Kobe it’s Jordan not that Jordan. It‘s Jordan Clarkson a 6-5 combo guard who was drafted by the Wizards as the 46^th pick in the 2014 draft. Clarkson might be one of those athletes who might prove to be better in the NBA than college. Beginning his college tenure at Tulsa he would eventually land at Mizzou where his talent would come to the forefront.

Although many (including yours truly) believed he was talented there were questions about leaving Mizzou early. Injuries last season allowed Clarkson an opportunity to play and he went to work. His numbers; 18.3 ppg, 2 assist and 2 rebounds a game shooting .558 from the floor. The focus on Clarkson is not just his offensive game he plays defense too. Will Clarkson become an All-Star is yet to be determined lets just say for now he’s steady.

Records---we break them
I heard the claim during the World Series “baseball is all about the numbers.” That’s certainly true but it’s not just that sport alone every sport is numbers including basketball. The dawn of the NBA season has seen records broken and before the end of the season we probably will see more. LeBron James joined the 25,000 point club becoming the youngest in the NBA to accomplish the feat. Active players with 25,000 or more points and their position: Kobe Bryant (3) Dirk Nowitzki (7), Tim Duncan (14) Kevin Garnett (15), Paul Pierce (16) and LeBron James (20).

There are five players with more than 30,000 points with Kobe the only active player, with time left in his career can LeBron eclipsed the 30,000 point mark? The Spurs Tim Duncan is 39 however he too established a record recently. There have been older players than his current age but none have played with one team the length of time he has. 954 games with the Spurs and counting, no NBA player has ever played that number of games for one team. Wonder what Duncan’s record will be at the end of the season. In another record breaker Kobe Bryant opened year number 20 in a Lakers uniform.

Remember him?
It’s not just me go back to June 26 2015, that’s the day after the NBA Draft. That’s also the date Stephen A. Smith went on a screaming rant regarding the Knicks. I found at least four clips from ESPN’s First Take, don’t just take my word see how Smith goes off on everything connected with the Knicks especially the draft choice. speak of Kristaps Porzingis the 7-3 Latvian who received the bulk of Smith’s complaints. It’s still early in the season and just looking at numbers does not always provide a true picture, in this instance that’s all we have to work with. He’s only shooting .396 from the floor improvement needed.

Porzingis is at 12.0 ppg and 7.4 rebounds decent enough 83% from the free-throw line are outstanding for a Big Man adjusting to the NBA. Even Smith has made a U-turn in his early appraisal of Porzingis he said this morning; “Porzingis is 2 or 3 years away.” An acknowledgement by Smith he believes the pick was justified. We can’t always guarantee the success of a player there are a number of factors. Rest assured the Wizards drafted Kwame Brown with the expectation he would have a reasonably good NBA career. It was only later they discovered his basketball skills were limited. The same for Porzingis the Knicks expectations were high at draft time despite the next day comments of one Stephen A. Smith.

Bits n Pieces
Several might remember the story of Kansas City prep school Barstow and its 2015 state high school championship. In addition to the championship the focus was on Shea Rush the son of former Pembroke Hill standout Jaron Rush. Shea was a key to the championship but so was 6-6 220 pound forward Jeriah Horne. This power forward’s stock has risen over the course of the summer; he’s received offers from DePaul, Wichita State and Kansas State among others.

Looking ahead to the June 2016 draft I came across an unfamiliar name. I checked NBADraft.net and DraftExpress.com and both listed him as an early first round choice, I’m referring to 7-1 216 pound Dragan Bender. DraftExpress list him as the number five pick while NBADraft.net has him at six. Bender plays for Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) but might be headed for the NBA next year. This Croatian native might become the second Euro player drafted in the first round in successive years. Despite being a 7-footer it’s quite likely he will be a power forward in the NBA.

The arena inside Municipal Auditorium is one the oldest bastions of basketball still in continuous use. Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis (IA) and The Palestra in Philadelphia are the only arenas believed older still in use. The “Muni” as it’s nicknamed originally opened in 1935 and has undergone renovations in 2007 and 2013. The Muni is home to the University of Missouri-Kansas City men’s team, the 7,300 seat arena also serves as host for the annual NAIA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Somebody convince me please, this is not a hate situation. I have difficulty seeing Russell Westbrook leading the Thunder deep into the playoffs. I never said Westbrook wasn’t talented it seems I continue to witness a player with a “ME” first attitude. Last season was different, due to injuries Westbrook and Durant were not often on the court at the same time. I’m ready for you to prove to all you are the best point guard in the NBA.