Basketball from a fans perspective
Should have taken a blanket
Those in attendance at United Center last Friday believed they would be home before Saturday morning, its likely there were sleepy kids and maybe a few adults not driving on the way home after the game. Three hours and 24 minutes later it wasn’t Saturday yet in the Central Time Zone however it was darn close. Depending on driving distance some Bulls fans probably didn’t arrive at home until early Saturday morning. Just in case you may have been unaware allow me to remind you the Bulls and Pistons faced off in a marathon game.
It took 4 overtimes to complete the game with the Pistons winning 147-144 which came close to the longest game in NBA history. The game almost didn’t end in the 4th overtime Bulls guard Jimmy Butler missed a shot just as the buzzer went off. The Bulls Butler lead the way with 43 points, Derrick Rose scored 34 and Pau Gasol with 30 rounds out their top scorers. Andre Drummond led the way for the Pistons with 33 followed by Reggie Jackson’s 31 and Marcus Morris with 20. I just read the Bulls had a game against the Knicks on Saturday night and did not arrive in New York until 4:00 a.m.
Speaking of the Bulls
We’ve heard stories since the beginning of time; “Coach _____ is too tough on us.” We heard that applied to the Bulls over the last few years and their former Coach Tom Thibodeau. Winning season’s aside Bulls management decided to make a coaching change after last season and they fired Thibodeau. On the other hand Bulls management may have listened to player complaints about “Tough Tom“ practices and Derrick Rose playing too many minutes. In some media circles Thibodeau was the blame for the continuing injuries with Rose and others. Exit Tom Thibodeau enter Fred Hoiberg as coach then over the weekend came this news. Guard Jimmy Butler goes on record and this is paraphrasing his statement; “Coach (Hoiberg) needs to be tougher on guys.” Reminds me of the old quote; “Damn if you do; Damn if you don't."
Does this make sense?
Have you heard about this rumored trade, the Heat is reported to consider trading Hassan Whiteside for the Rockets Dwight Howard? If this trade were to occur it makes no sense on several levels but consider this fact Whiteside will become a free-agent in July 2016. The Heat believe they will be unable to re-sign him and rather than lose him with no compensation they trade him. As for Howard you already know his story and I am not going to repeat it. Consider this fact Whiteside has progressed as a player over the last two years and continues to improve.
Howard peaked awhile back and it’s likely he’s not going to get any better---what you see is what you get. Whiteside is 26 years old (27 in June), Howard just turned 30. Whiteside is relatively healthy while Howard is coming off an injury plagued season. Offensively I give a slight edge to Whiteside, rebounding by a small margin to Howard. As for blocked shots Whiteside is clearly the leader in this category. For the portion we cannot measure (maturity) Whiteside is the apparent winner and the overall winner in several key categories. As mentioned you see the dilemma facing the Heat they feel trapped afraid to lose a talent to free agency.
He’s not the we’ve been advised
Over the years I’ve read a number of stories indicating Michael Jordan is a frugal person. One of the accounts indicated “He’d (Jordan) would rather spend your money than his. “ I had no method to determine if the story was true or false. In this instance we know the truth or at least the reported truth. Do you remember the lawsuit Michael Jordan filed against a Chicago area department chain?
The store had used his likeness in a series of commercials the only problem they appeared to make no effort to contact him. The suit went to trial and the jury sided with Jordan the court would award him $8.9 million dollars. After the judgment was rendered Jordan stated he “intends to sign the check over to 23 area charities he believes have benefited Chicago area residents.”
No super teams
The number of upsets in college basketball this season is unbelievable. Over the weekend (4) Kentucky was beaten by Ohio State while Northern Iowa slipped past (5) Iowa State in addition number 7 Duke was upset by Utah. I guess it might be a little difficult to call this an upset (24) Texas A&M beat (16) Baylor. It’s difficult to refer to the (17) Butler Bulldogs over the (9) Purdue Boilermakers. There have been a number of similar games since the beginning of the college season. The point I’m attempting to infer despite the post-season success of Duke, Kentucky and others there are no college super teams.
