Basketball from a fans perspective

“Coming to America---maybe”
In 1988 Paramount released ‘”Coming to America” the movie told the story of an African prince played by Eddie Murphy and his journey to America to find a wife.  Prince Akeem (Murphy) his assistant Semmi (Arsenio Hall) had several adventures while adjusting to life in America.  Life might imitate art but this time the story begins in China rather than a fictional African kingdom.

Zhou Qi is a 7-2 209 pound center on the radar of many NBA scouts; Qi is from Henan about 600 miles south of the capital Beijing, he’s only 19 and might not submit his name for the 2016 draft.  His name is listed on a number of mock draft sites for example SI.com lists him as their number 20 choice, Draftexpress.com has him at 13 and Hooptrends have him at 14.  Whether he arrives next year or not eventually Qi might be “Coming to America.”

I won’t pretend
A lawsuit has been filed by a group attempting to delay construction on the planned San Francisco arena.  The opposition group claims emergency traffic to a nearby hospital would be impacted by traffic and parking surrounding the arena.  A fan in favor of the project wrote a letter which sums up the issue pretty clearly for me.

I’m paraphrasing portions of her letter; “The Warriors play 41 home games out of 82 and the majority of those games are at night.  41 dates out of 365 days and besides the fact people don’t always go to the emergency room at night.”  I won’t pretend to have all the answers to this issue perhaps its more than a traffic issue.  Unless there are environmental issues I think most of us might find difficulty understanding the basis for this suit.  

Urban Basketball
Has the University of Missouri-Kansas City turned the corner on its basketball program?  We pose the question because a number of folks envisioned UMKC turning into another Louisville or UCLA.  UMKC would become successful and become a magnet for local and national high school kids, the school would become an urban basketball power.  Unfortunately a number of speed bumps prevented the program rising to the level hoped.  UMKC began play at the NAIA level and in 1990 became Division I.  UMKC played an independent schedule for several years with hopes of a conference affiliation.

UMKC would join the Mid-Continent Conference which later was re-named the Summit League.  In 2013 they left that conference to become a member of the Western Athletic Conference.  While this move was occurring the school reached out and hired Kareem Richardson Rick Pitino’s assistant at Louisville.  The first year under Richardson UMKC finished 10-20 and 7-9 in the conference, last season they were 14-19 but improved to 8-6 in the WAC.  As the Kangaroos begin conference play they stand 8-8 their best non-conference record in recent history.

Don’t get it twisted
I mentioned earlier the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame changed its guidelines for player induction.  Instead of a 5 year wait after retirement the period was reduced by a year which meant Shaq, Yao Ming, Iverson and several other former players would eligible in 2016.   Drum roll please as names are announced, one name caused more opposition than others Yao Ming.  I copied two of them word for word; “yao is a hall of famer? I know what he meant to the China community but his career in the association was average at best.” or “Still don’t get Yao.  He wasn’t the 1st, he had a mediocre career, and while I understand he helped the sport in China that doesn’t mean he’s HOF material.”  The two writers (and maybe others) failed to understand it’s not the NBA Hall of Fame it’s the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Any former player selected must have impacted the game in a significant manner and that certainly fits Yao Ming.  One respondent was correct Yao was not the first Chinese player but he certainly might have had the greater impact.  In addition if we look at this issue strictly on the numbers we could question the Drazen Petrovic.  His NBA numbers are below those of Yao, a tragic automobile accident shorten Petrovic’s career.  Injuries did the same for Yao in a career that may have been greater if not cut short.  In related HOF news the selection committee announced it will shut down its ABA commission.  Prior to the merger between the NBA-ABA players it was decided to include ABA players for enshrinement.  Players in the ABA had been overlooked for consideration the commission was given the task of selecting outstanding ABA players.