I’m tired
Numerous times I state I’m going to do something and then double-back on my word. I’m going to try again and hope to stick to my pledge. It seems this past season we suffered numerous arguments regarding “whose dad could beat up the other dad.” Actually it seemed several NBA veterans had issues with many of today’s NBA players. I fell into the trap too discussing a number of these even taking issue with Klay Thompson‘s statement.
When Thompson made a statement about his Warrior team being better than the Showtime Lakers I did a player by player assessment. There is no acceptable method to compare the Showtime Lakers with the Warriors although I attempted it. There were others too, “Is LeBron better than Michael Jordan or which team is better the Bulls or the Warriors. “ These are but a few instances creating discussions and even arguments at times. No more---I hope to no longer be a willing participant in these arguments.
AAU basketball
A number of college coaches have gone on record indicating “they hate AAU basketball.” There is no one clear concise reason but I believe I might have at least one answer. AAU basketball contains little if any offensive and defensive structure, I could be wrong. Despite the negatives there are positives and one of those teams is MoKan Elite from the Kansas City metro. MoKan Elite won the 17 and under Nike Peach Jam Tournament recently. They played on Friday in The 8 Championship of the Las Vegas Classic, team CP3 defeated MoKan Elite 88 -72.
The other Aussie
We might have forgotten his name, just to remind you its Dante Exum. He’s a 6-6 190 pound point/shooting guard from Melbourne. The difference between him and Ben Simmons we had opportunities to see Simmons play first at Montverde Academy (FL) and this past season at LSU. As for Exum his story was quite different. Despite being a virtual unknown Exum would become the 5th pick in the 1st round of the 2014 draft. We didn’t see his name in any Jazz box scores; we didn’t hear any broadcaster call out his name.
Exum played but 22.2 NBA minutes last season, technically he‘s still a rookie. In August 2015 he sustained a knee injury while playing for the Australian National team. Exum managed to play a single game in the NBA Summer League but that’s it. The injury along with surgery sent Exum to the sidelines for the 2015-16 NBA season. It’s interesting we have two Aussies Simmons and Exum both in the running for NBA Rookie of the Year. There are other players vying for NBA stardom and but we have two from Australia in the same year.
Summer basketball
A friend said to me; “What are you going to do now with no basketball now that the NBA Championship has been decided.” My response was quickly followed by this explanation. “Well there’s the NBA draft, then NBA free-agency. These events are followed up by two weeks of NBA Summer League ball from Orlando, Utah and Vegas. Then plenty of AAU tournaments all over the nation, in early September the Naismith Hall of Fame ceremony is held and a new class are enshrined, later NBA training camps open. In the middle of October pre-season NBA play begins.”
