I say it again
We’ve discussed the difficulty of officiating NBA games. Too fast, players too big and court too small, all add up for missed calls by officials. My continuing problem is the NBA after the fact saying; “We made an error.” The NBA offices said they missed a travel call on Russell Westbrook with 20 seconds left in the Thunder-Warriors game.
He’s the best
The trophy for Rookie of the Year might remain in Minnesota for a period of time. Last season forward/guard Andrew Wiggins was the 2015 winner in 2016 it would become Karl-Anthony Towns. The numbers Towns posted were outstanding for the rookie from New Jersey 18.1 ppg, 10.7 rebounds and 1.7 block shots for the Wolves. We believed Towns was talented but we had questions regarding his total game. The reservation was based on the platoon system employed by Coach Cal his freshman year at Kentucky.
We saw witnesses of his talent but the total package was missing due to the limited minutes on the court. How would this youngster adapt his game to 48 minutes or more plus the wear and tear of a long NBA season? Well the answer is quite well based on his performance. What does the future appear five or six years from now for the Wolves? I believe I’ll take a young Wolves team over the others, the Thunder, Warriors, Spurs and Cavs how about you?
And now there are four
We are almost there; the 2016 NBA Championship will be decided in a month’s time. I’m sure NFL fans won’t like this statement I believe a series is the best method to decide a championship. Baseball’s World Series and basketball’s NBA Championship a team can begin with a bad start (0-2) and still come back and win the series. The Super Bowl its “one n done” period---end of story.
The Thunder versus the Warriors, the Raptors versus the Cavs. I could pick the winners in both series but based on my past predictions I’m unsure if I should. Well I’m going to do it anyway; I’m going to venture out on that shaky branch. I might add I haven’t read anybody else this is purely Larry Laker. It will be a repeat of last year for the NBA Championship the Warriors and Cavs will face-off against one another, I will call the winner prior to the series start.
Where it all began
I believe it is always good to refresh, this basketball history has been covered previously however there might be new readers to the blog. They may are may not be aware of the facts presented. The league known as the National Basketball Association is a collection of teams from two different leagues. The National Basketball League was founded in 1937 and at one time contained 38 teams. Several of today’s teams had their start in the NBL as an example; The Pistons then in Fort Wayne (IN) and the Royals (Kings) who were located in Rochester (NY). The Minneapolis Lakers and Syracuse Nationals (76ers) were also NBL teams. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Buffalo and Indianapolis also had franchises. The Basketball Association of America was younger and smaller (16 teams) having been established in 1946.
As with the NBL many of the original teams no longer reside in the city of their founding several present day NBA teams came out of the BAA. The Boston Celtics, New York Knicks and Philadelphia Warriors (Golden State) were charter members of the BAA. My research uncovered an interesting fact the August 1949 merger witnessed both leagues becoming one under the National Basketball Association. “The NBA claims the BAA’s history as its own. It reckons the 1949 deal as expansion, not a merger and does, not recognize NBL records.” What is even more interesting the same scenario would play itself out years later? In 1976 when the ABA merged with the NBA no records were recognized. ABA players have been honored with inclusion in the Naismith and College Hall of Fame but that’s it.
Wikipedia
