Basketball from a fans perspective

Key Dates
Circle these dates on your calendar

Draft Combine - May 11-15  Evaluation of prospects
Draft Lottery - May 17  Order of selection determined
NBA Draft Early Entry Withdrawal Deadline - June 13 (5:00 p.m. EST)
NBA Draft - June 23
Free Agency Begins - July 1  The moratorium reduced by 5 days
NBA Summer League - July 2-18 Orlando; Utah; Las Vegas

NBA draft…NFL 
On more than one occasion we’ve discussed athletes who could have easily had another pro career. That might be the case for Baylor’s Rico Gathers, rather than wait for the NBA draft Gathers made it known he would try for the NFL.    The 6-8 276 pound basketball turned football player was drafted by the Cowboys.  According to a report I read he’s not played football since middle school.

Change the name
The Lakers would never change their nickname; the name is burned into our psyche forever. They moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles in 1960 a time when few franchises changed their nickname.  The Philadelphia Athletics moved in 1955 to Kansas City and retained the same name. Two years later the Giants and Dodgers to San Francisco and Los Angeles and retained their original name.  Laker doesn’t fit in Los Angeles and we certainly can’t consider the Pacific Ocean a lake.  There are other NBA teams who might under go a name change.  New Orleans Jazz worked fine when the franchise was located in New Orleans in Salt Lake City not so well. The Oklahoma City owners were prohibited from taking the name Sonics when the team moved from Seattle.

Surely we could come up with a more suitable name than the generic Thunder.  Nothing wrong with the name Grizzlies however the furious bears are now found only in the western U.S. and Canada.  Grizzlies haven’t been in the Memphis area since prehistoric times.  Thunder, Heat lets not do the weather report please.  Is Miami Heat anymore devastating in South Beach than South Texas, Louisiana or the Mississippi Delta?  The record setting Warriors should change their name back to the original name.  The San Francisco Warriors name existed for years before moving to Oakland and becoming the Golden State Warriors.

Mascots
You’ve seen them in person or on television NBA mascots.  Some have managed to become part of the team and we look forward to their antics during timeouts and at half-time of games. Several of the more noteworthy or Harry the Hawk (Hawks),   Benny the Bull (Bulls) and Rocky the Mountain Lion (Nuggets).  We also have Stuff the Magic Dragon (Magic), The Coyote (Spurs), we could also include Clutch the Bear (Rockets) and maybe the most famous Go the Gorilla of the Suns.  These mascots are hired to entertain fans and they accomplish the task vigorously.

At the same time a number of mascots have disappeared.  At the time the Bobcats under went a name change becoming the Hornets Rufus D. Lynx was forced to vacate the building.  Squatch a derivation of Sasquatch retired his services when the Sonics moved to Oklahoma City.  Others introduced failed to register with fans and were escorted to the back door.  Who can forget the Brooklynknight of the Nets or the Pistons Sir Slam a Lot?  Think the Warriors can do no wrong, answer this question where is Thunder?  He disappeared after the 2007 NBA season.

How come
Wonder the reasons why members of the media and fans as well believe they know more than the coach.  This event occurs several times daily and weekly in the sport we love.  Want an example; this is the response from two fan emails.  A player announced he was headed to Duke in the fall.  A fan wrote; “He wouldn’t play because the school had A and B on the team and they didn’t play. That’s the reason players transfer from Duke.”

A follow up from another fan said; “A has a hurt knee and B isn’t ready to play Division I basketball.”  We could question the second letter writer however it appeared he had information the original writer didn’t.  In addition sometimes I believe emotions play a role in our decision making. As for members of the media many have their own agendas.  I believe there are a number whose expressed purpose is to create controversy.  No need of compiling a list of names media members know who they are.

"Over coaching is the worst thing you can do to a player"-Dean Smith