Bits n Pieces
Unofficially he is the number one prospect in the Class of 2016. 7 foot Thon Maker is attending high school in Canada and Rivals plus other prospect sites don’t list his name, no matter he’s still a 5-star prospect. Maker reduced his list of prospective schools to six and will begin today with a visit to Kansas. The other schools on his list and in no order of visits are: UNLV, Indiana, Arizona State, St. John’s and Notre Dame.
I’ve mentioned Oklahoma City is only 5 hours drive-time from Kansas City, MOKAN Elite is one of the larger AAU teams in the local area. Big news today as it was announced Thunder forward Kevin Durant has signed on to become an official sponsor of MOKAN Elite. The AAU team is comprised of players from Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma.
Josh Jackson is down to three schools, Michigan State, Arizona and Kansas. The 6-7 guard from Napa (CA) is rated the number one prospect in the Class of 2016. He indicates he will make a decision by the end of March. Jackson is originally from Detroit but moved to California to play for Prolific Prep. My best guess it’s probably going to be Kansas however it could be Michigan State.
Sonny Vaccaro states the shoe deal for Ben Simmons will be higher than any in history. Just in case the name Vaccaro is unfamiliar a brief account, he was the marketing guy for Nike who signed Michael Jordan to the brand. Vaccaro might be responsible (or blame) for the large shoe contract explosion for players, coaches and AAU teams.
Kansas City basketball
The city had pro basketball before the ABA and prior to the arrival of the NBA Kings. The Kansas City Steers were a member of the American Basketball League from 1961 through December 31, 1963. It should not be confused with the American Basketball Association which came into existence in 1967. The ABL was founded by the late Abe Saperstein the original owner of the Harlem Globetrotters. A brief detailed history in connection with the Steers franchise. In the 1950’s up through the late ‘60’s the NBA was not the draw it is today, there was a nationally telecast Game of the Week on Sunday but few other occasions the NBA was on television. In order to draw fans to many NBA games Saperstein would have his Globetrotters play a preliminary game prior to the NBA event. This arrangement was made between the NBA and Saperstein based on a promise.
The promise once the NBA expanded Saperstein would be awarded a franchise which never came about. The Globetrotter owner upset decided to start his own league. The ABL had 8 times which was about the same number of teams in the 1961 NBA. The ABL had a number of firsts; the late John McClendon not Bill Russell was the first African American coach of a major pro team. McClendon would coach the Cleveland Pipers the 1961 and 1962 seasons. The Piper owner was the late George Steinbrenner who would later gain fame as the owner of the baseball Yankees. The 3-point basket originated with the ABL not the ABA four years later. As for the Steers they would play for the 1962 championship but lose to the Pipers. There was no championship the following year the Steers were declared 1963 ABL Champions finishing in first place.
Conspiracy theory
This is a Laker quietly hoping the team fails to secure the top draft choice. Allow me to briefly explain my madness, LSU’s Ben Simmons will be the pick and then the howling will begin. “They (NBA) fixed the draft to make the Lakers relevant again!” Think I’m crazy, a number of you might not remember the 1985 NBA Draft. The Knicks were terrible (sorta like now) when they were awarded the number one pick; stories begin circulating almost immediately the Knicks had an advantage.
As the draft lottery was being hailed that afternoon the late Dave DeBusschere then vice-president of the Knicks reached into the hopper which contained a “bent” card. The same scenario took place in 2003 although there was not as much hoopla; do you remember the top choice that year? I’ll save you it was LeBron James and yes the Cavs were a bad team too. LeBron the consensus top choice that year was from the neighboring city of Akron about 45 minutes or so drive-time from Cleveland.
