Basketball from a fans perspective
Winning 101
This is a baseball story but will apply to basketball as well, keep reading and I will bring it on home. Immediately after the Royals World Series win a fan wrote; “They (Royals) don’t have any superstars.” His comment smacked me in the face, where is it written a winning team must have one or two superstars to win? Fact is having too many cooks sometimes causes catastrophe in the kitchen. How about the fact you have a bunch of guys (or girls) that believe in team play, support their teammates and believe they cannot lose. Below are examples of teams wanting “IT” more than the other guy? The 1982 North Carolina State team went into the NCAA Tourney as a six seed; winning their games eventually they would face the Phi Slama Jama Houston Cougars the number one seed for the NCAA Championship. With seconds left in the game an air ball by NC State’s Derek Whittenberg landed in the hands of teammate Lorenzo Charles. Stationed under the basket for a rebound Charles just laid the ball in as the buzzer went off.
Final score NC State 54 Houston 52 and the North Carolina State Wolfpack was crowned 1982 NCAA Champion. How could Houston lose this game they had future Hall of Fame players Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler on the team? There were others, Danny and the Miracles were the tag line for the 1988 Kansas team. The team had finished 3rd in the Big 8 (now Big 12) Conference behind Kansas State and Oklahoma. Led by Danny Manning Kansas would eventually face Oklahoma and win the NCAA Championship 83-79. How about the NBA is there any example to study? The Pistons were not supposed to win the 2004 NBA Championship they had good players but no superstar athletes; they had a collection of players who refused to concede or lose a championship to a more star-studded Laker team. If you want it more than the other guy “it doesn’t matter” how many superstars the opposition has. Kenny Mayne of ESPN might have stated it best; “Losers have stories winners have wins.”
Be careful, be very careful
Jared Dudley is with his 5th team since his arrival in the NBA so might say the term “journey man” might fit him? Despite Dudley’s marginal status as an NBA player he manages to talk a great deal of trash. Kobe Bryant is an easy target so it wasn’t surprising when he made negative comments regarding Kobe Bryant. His next target was the Knicks Carmelo Anthony, Dudley in an interview indicated “Carmelo was overrated because his teams failed to advance in the playoffs.”
Evidently Carmelo didn’t appreciate Dudley’s commentary of his game because the first time he faced the Wizards and Dudley he exploded for 37 points. Carmelo’s box score read, 11-18 from the floor 11-12 from the free-throw line along with 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Oh, Dudley scored 0 points on 0-2 from the floor. Dudley made the overrated statement last May in an interview, he claims he apologized later. Can we guess Carmelo didn’t receive the text or email? Final score Knicks 117 Wizards 110.
It’s okay with me
The 6-10 225 pound phenom is listed on most mock draft lists as either the first or second pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. I speak of Ben Simmons in his freshman year at LSU who as this is written is yet to play his first game however his Snapchat comment made news. Simmons said; “You can catch me on the Lakers next year.” I’m okay if this should play out next season. Its likely Simmons is headed to the NBA after his freshman year but its likely not the Lakers. The team has no 1st round pick and I seriously doubt he slides into the second round. Unless the Lakers manage a trade or sorts Simmons is headed anywhere other than Los Angeles.
The great “wall(s)” of China
Since the retirement of Yao Ming the question has become “When is the next basketball player from China headed to the NBA?” Many believed there might be a continuous line of players as Yao‘s 2002 draft proved to be. In 2007 6-11 Yi Jianlian was drafted by the Bucks and 6-9 Sun Ye by Lakers. Both would return to China resuming pro careers while having only limited success in the NBA. There are two high profile prospects on the NBA’s radar; one is likely to arrive before the other. Just in case you may have missed previous accounts allow me to introduce you to Wang Zhelin.
Zhelin is a 7 footer who weighs in at 250 pounds, his 3-year numbers in the Chinese Basketball Association are nearly 22 points and almost 12 rebounds a game. Zhelin will turn 22 in January and don’t be surprised if you hear his name announced in the 2016 NBA Draft. Zhou Qi is 7-2 but a rail-thin 220 pounds, since he’s only 19 and needs to develop his game further its unlikely he’ll be in the 2016 draft. One area that is above average is his shot-blocking skills. NBA teams are always keen on the ability of a player to block shots. Age 22 seems to be the magic number for Chinese players to enter the NBA Draft.
