Basketball from a fans perspective
Trading Places
Eddie Murphy made a movie released in 1983 titled “Trading Places”, two wealthy brothers made a bet with one another they could take a man off the street and turn him into a sophisticated gentleman. That was fiction this is real life, NBA teams trading players hope this will prove beneficial for them. The downside of a trade sometimes one team gains an advantage. There are circumstances, often a veteran player forces a trade in the instance of Kareem Abdul Jabbar to the Lakers. Sometimes a trade is simply swapping the draft rights (Scottie Pippen) for another teams draft rights.
In other instances a team is owed a draft pick from a prior trade which occurred with the Lakers. With the Cavs pick acquired in a trade they drafted James Worthy. In fairness a number of the players exchanged went on to successful careers Vlade Divac as an example however we must state Kobe Bryant had the more successful career. It should be noted the Hawks traded Bill Russell to the Celtics and he led the Celtics to multiple NBA Championships. Russell would be elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as were Cliff Hagen and Ed Macauley who came in the trade. The players in bold are in the Hall of Fame except Kobe and Dirk, they will be enshrined at a future date.
Vlade Divac for Kobe Bryant
Olden Polynice for *Scottie Pippen
Don Ford traded for James Worthy
Robert “Tractor” for *Dirk Nowitzki
Jack Marin for Elvin Hayes
Charlie Paulk & Flynn Robinson for Oscar Robertson
Connie Dierking, Paul Neumann & Lee Shaffer plus cash for Wilt Chamberlain
*draft rights traded
Bits n Pieces
Po-ten-tial, that’s the word for Robert Upshaw Los Angeles D-Fenders center. The 7 footer had issues at Fresno State and the University of Washington. He left Washington expecting to be drafted in 2015 which didn’t occur. The Lakers signed him to their Summer League team and later to the D-Fenders. Upshaw’s game is raw after playing a limited number of at two different colleges. Upshaw may turn into another Hassan Whiteside just sayin’ don’t mean it’s gonna happen. He says; “I Want To Prove I Should’ve Been Drafted.”
The Bulls Derrick Rose is mere shadow of himself; the Rose we witnessed in 2010-11 is long gone. Injuries have robbed the point guard of much of his explosiveness. Please don’t construe this as an obituary Rose is only 27 years old and likely has another five or six years remaining in the NBA. The guy wearing Bulls jersey number one is a silhouette of his former self.
The feud continues to rage once again, Superman versus Superman. Shaquille O’Neal long considered one of his alter egos Superman, along comes this kid out of high school and he said “I’m Superman.” My reference is Dwight Howard back in the Orlando days. I’ve got to believe this is Shaq more than Howard when he tweeted; “There can be only 1 Superman !!! #ME”
Interesting Kansas has signed a home and home series with former Big 12 rival Kansas. Kansas has already played former Colorado which also left the Big 12 several years ago. Kansas will have played or scheduled two former conference members, left to play are Texas A&M and Mizzou. The date for Kansas to play A&M is yet to be scheduled however Kansas will face Mizzou when Hell freezes over!
East coast bias in the Midwest kinda
Allow me to clear up the confusing headline. In this portion of the nation there are a number of complaints about teams in this area overlooked. The baseball Royals win the World Series and the Mets are more discussed in the off season. In fact the Cubs who didn’t make it to the series have been more discussed than the Royals. How about the NFL, after losing their first few games of the season the Chiefs proceeded to win something like 11 games in a row.
Only fans in the Kansas City area were excited, the Cowboys going nowhere were a prime topic on the talk shows. Now that I’ve got that out of the way the Midwest bias talk of the Big 12 being the best basketball conference in the nation. Sorry fans not so, the conference is very good but we can debate its strength. Other than Kansas when is the last time a team advanced to the Sweet 16? The local sports media has blinders on whenever Big 12 basketball is discussed.
Practically nobody saw the game
Speaking of Big Men we held a discussion the other day on Wilt Chamberlain scoring. I said; “Did you know there is no video or tape of Wilt’s 100 point game?” The three guys with me could not believe the words that came out of my mouth. March 2, 1962 Warriors 169 Knicks 147 the game was played in Hershey (PA) before a massive crowd of 4,124 hearty souls. This was the “dark-ages” for the NBA years prior to the advent of cable/satellite coverage. Even broadcast television was limited in 1962; there is a radio broadcast of the game that remains. I would guess tape of the game must be included in the Naismith Hall of Fame in addition there is a photo of Wilt holding up a piece of player with 100 on it.
