Basketball from a fans perspective
“Luke I am your father”
Those words were uttered by Darth Vader to Luke Skywalker. Bill Walton made a similar declaration this week at the time son Luke was under consideration for the Laker head coaching position. The elder Walton an ESPN college analyst advised his son; “Don’t ever leave the Warriors.” It’s apparent the fatherly words were ignored since Luke’s accepted the job as head coach of the Lakers. As the number one Laker fan in Kansas City Missouri let’s just say I’m under whelmed.
I had several names but no one other than Tom Thibodeau, Kevin Ollie or Nate McMillan stood out to me. Thibodeau was signed earlier by the Wolves and Ollie indicated he was remaining at UConn which leaves McMillian. I’m not upset with the hire but I’m not particularly impressed either because I’m concerned his coaching record might be tainted. I speak to the time-period Walton served as head coach during Steve Kerr’s absence and the team was 39-4. I certainly hope Laker hierarchy is not expecting Walton to repeat similar numbers with the Lakers.
Coach
I’m not about to lose a friendship although my friend fails to understand. This is the issue he believes Doc Rivers is a great coach while my belief Rivers is slighted above average. Winning an NBA Championship has always been a high water mark for any coach and Rivers won with the Celtics. Folks want to discuss Kobe’s “tainted” championships with Shaq on the team I could make that same argument regarding Rivers. His first two Celtic teams finished 33-49 and 24-58 before the addition of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. These two along with holdover Paul Pierce saw the Celtics soared to a 66-16 record and the 2008 NBA Championship.
Look Rivers knows more basketball in one hand than the length of my body I grant you that. I’m just unsure if I would place him in a category of outstanding coaches. I know what you’re going to say few coaches are considered exceptional and that’s okay too but they do exist. My NBA list would include active coach Gregg Popovich, former coaches Pat Riley and Phil Jackson. In the collegiate ranks there is Mike Krzyzewski a.k.a. coach K. and Larry Brown along with former Georgetown Coach John Thompson. The late Dean Smith must be included in any discussions on exceptional coaches. I can think of other college coaches these are but a few.
Bits n Pieces
Would you hire this guy I most certainly would. I’m referring to David Blatt ex-coach of the Cavs. The Knicks and Lakers are supposedly talking to him about filling the head coaching position. Whether it was LeBron, Kyrie or Love or a combination of all three he had the Cavs winning. The Cavs were 30-11 (.732) when Blatt was asked to leave, the prior year the record was 53-29 with a .675 percentage. The only downside the Knicks and Lakers are bad not “76er” bad however they are not good. Can Blatt build a team might be the only remaining question, he can coach.
The Great Western Forum was home for the Lakers from 1967 through 1999. The story of how the building came into being is even more interesting. Laker games were played in the Sports Arena as well as a host of other sports and entertainment events. The late Jack Kent Cooke then owner of the Lakers became involved in a dispute with the City of Los Angeles over hockey. The issue was never resolved so Mr. Cooke upset decided to build his own arena which became the Forum or the “Fabulous Forum” as it was later nicknamed. They signed one of the first agreements to attach a corporate name to a sports building, in 1988 the naming rights were sold by new Laker owner Jerry Buss to Great Western Savings & Loan.
He’s a youngster and will just turn 17 in May. His name is Rongzhen Zhu and he’s a 7-foot prospect from Shandong China. He distinguished himself in the recent Albert Schweitzer Tournament held in Germany. Zhu‘s weight is unknown however he appears rather thin and must gain weight. Maintain his name in your memory bank and see if he might be the next prospect to emerge from China.
This is interesting; TNT is reported to have offered Kobe a job. I’m unsure if I can see Kobe in the role of an analysis. I would certainly say he couldn’t perform the task the question is would he want it. From my perspective I could see him in the role of an owner. Growing up in Europe he’s always had affection for soccer, I could see him as an MSL owner. On the other hand he’s got the finances maybe him and Magic and a consortium could one day purchase the Lakers.
"I always mean what I say, but I don't always say what I'm thinking"-Dean Smith
