Basketball from a fans perspective
On the other hand
I may have been premature in my commentary on Byron Scott and the Lakers. When your favorite team has been in the cellar for the last few years I’ve been disappointed. After years of winning NBA Championships and in the playoffs till June well you get the idea. There is hope on the horizon as difficult as it might seem. Combo guard Jordan Clarkson is 23 years old, 21 year old Julius Randle is in his rookie year after missing all of last season. Despite being in Byron Scott’s doghouse most of the season point guard D’Angelo Russell is yet to turn 20 years of age.
Forwards Larry Nance Jr. and Anthony Brown are also 23-years old. See where I’m going with this, the 2015-16 Lakers are really young. What do young teams do---they make plenty of mistakes on the court. Difficult as it might seem at times I’m gonna hold on to my observations the Lakers will improve. There is one key---if owner Jim Buss continues to call the shots he must lean on his basketball staff to make the player decisions whether it’s the draft or trades. Poor play on the court by the Lakers has been exacerbated by lack of direction by the front office.
An oversight
Technically it wasn’t an error but I wanted to provide an update to an earlier communication. A Kansas City fan pointed out Larry Drew serves as an assistant coach with the Cavs. Once upon a time he was head coach at the Hawks and Bucks, the connection? Drew graduated from Wyandotte High School in Kansas City (KS). He played basketball at Mizzou for Norm Stewart. Drew would be drafted by the Pistons and played on several NBA teams during his 10-year career, just wanted to correct the record.
Freshmen
I can’t remember who made the statement but it went something like this. The coach was asked the best quality of freshmen; “They become sophomores.” The coach was describing the adjustment trials between the high school game and the leap to college. Kentucky is having a good year not a great year and that’s the issue. On Tuesday Tennessee beat Kentucky 84-77 leaving the Wildcats with a 16-6 record. This crop of freshmen is good but no comparison to the class of 2014-15. That group went through the season undefeated and didn’t lose until their NCAA game versus Wisconsin. They finished the season 38-1 and outstanding season. I know it’s not fair to make comparisons so I will stop at this point.
They are good
Anybody heard the old saying; “Dynamite comes in small packages,” I’m no munitions expert and don’t claim to be. I guess it’s meant to explain a small stick can do great damage. This season you’ve read and heard a number of stories several from me regarding Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield and LSU Ben Simmons and others. All are above average in height however you need to check out Howard University and Ole Miss. At Howard junior guard James Daniel III is leading the nation in scoring. Daniels III is scoring at a 27.5 point per game clip and even more interesting his height.
The Hampton (VA) native stands all of 5 feet 11 inches in a Big Man’s game. Howard is a Division I school but it’s likely we might not have the opportunity to see him play unless you live in the Washington D.C. Metro. In Mississippi there is 5-10 Stefan Moody a senior guard at Ole Miss. Moody is right behind Daniels III scoring 23.6 points per game. In the instance of Moody he is a leaper, video of him dunking the basketball is available on YouTube if you care to check it out. These two prove the game might now be tailored toward Big Men but if you can play you can play. It’s likely neither is headed for the NBA but that doesn’t preclude a possible professional career either in the D-League or Europe.
