Basketball from a fans perspective
Not surprised anymore
Remember back to last season, the Top 25 polls were steady throughout most of the college season. Don’t misunderstand there were upsets however nothing like this season. I unsure about you but I’m no longer surprised to check the scores and read or hear of an “upset.”
He said!
We don’t know where the account acquired legs, in any event if John Calipari is true to his word he claims he’s remaining at Kentucky. Interesting the story circulating about “wanting a $120 million 10 year contract” came from somewhere didn‘t it? Even more worthy of note two teams were mentioned in the report the Kings and Nets. Lionel Hollins was relieved by the Nets and they will be searching for a coach, is George Karl's job in jeopardy with the Kings?
“Stay in your lane”
The above headline would appear to driving instruction---it is kinda. All drivers are aware they remain in their lane but it also applies in discussions. Tony Korheiser used the term on Mike Wilbon during a discussion on their program. He said to Wilbon; “Why are you bringing basketball into a discussion on football?” I’d heard the same argument used last week between Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless. Once again the subject was football and firing football coaches was the topic.
In an attempt to validate his view of the subject matter Smith went to the NBA to provide justification. Smith cited the Warriors firing Mark Jackson and replacing him with Steve Kerr. There might be a few cross-over areas but I believe football ain’t basketball and vice-versa, if you can’t prove the point of your sports argument perhaps it might not be as valid as you believe---stay in your lane.
Bits n Pieces
I just decided I’m going to purchase an NBA team. The league seems unwilling to re-locate franchises at this point so my team must remain in its present city. This shouldn’t present too much of a problem, I will have a corporate jet standing by to fly me to the city. On other occasions I’ll use NBA League Pass for those games I can’t attend. Oh I forgot I must win the lottery to accomplish this financial undertaking right now.
I think I was deceived, after watching the brilliant Kansas-Oklahoma game I thought this team (Kansas) is good. There are no super teams this year and I certainly wasn’t applying that status to the Jayhawks. Kansas played almost opposite of last weeks game, I realize it was a road game but 21 turnovers and little bench production. Bill Self knows West Virginia plays a full-court pressing defense he didn‘t appear to have his team ready. Brent Musberger might have said it best; "They (Kansas) look totally out of sync.”
They are sometimes terse in their response when questioned by the media. At times they appear to have an adversarial relationship with many media members. In the NFL we have Patriots Coach Bill Bilichick, in the NBA Spurs Coach Greg Popovich. Knicks President Phil Jackson if still coaching would be a member of the group. I might be mistaken but I’m going to include Mavs Coach Rick Carlisle I the group. There is one trait that rings true for all they are winners. All have won multiple NBA or NFL Championships with the exception of Carlisle. There might be others but these guys are in the forefront.
There are some evenings I am almost totally consumed by basketball. I began this evening watching SMU play Eastern Carolina and followed that game watching LSU and Ole Miss. In between I checked in on the Pacers at Celtics and then Heat at Clippers. I switched to USC-UCLA for a minute and then changed channels and watched San Diego State win a close game over Colorado State. As you can see I have no life I am totally fixated on basketball at times.
Who are these guys?
The line from the 1969 classic movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid “Who are those guys?” The reference was the posse that was chasing after the two criminals. Well nobody is chasing anyone but I believe we’d all like to know “Who are those guys” ESPN polled when ranking All-Time NBA point guards? The poll chose Magic Johnson first and Oscar Robertson number two no issue on my part. John Stockton at three is questionable however his bio speaks loudly. I cannot in my small mind believe they listed Steph Curry at four and Isiah Thomas in fifth place.
There is a longevity factor here, Curry has nowhere near the amount of NBA mileage Thomas has. Curry (in my view) is more a shooter than a passer. Curry and Thomas would swap positions on my list. As for the small forward position I found it no shock they chose LeBron James number one. How about Julius “Dr. J.” Erving, Elgin Baylor, John Havlicek, Scottie Pippen or Rick Barry. Are you stating all the aforementioned are better than LeBron? The game has changed so much its difficult to compare the 1950’s Elgin Baylor with the 2000’s LeBron James.
