Basketball from a fans perspective
Here we go again
The Spanish team was quite a formidable foe in Friday’s game, Team USA escaped with an 82-76 victory. It will be even tougher on Sunday as they face Team Serbia for Olympic Gold. My speech of Friday morning (or Thursday night) whenever I wrote it still applies. Win or lose I will still be proud of this team despite the negative commentary by Charles Barkley and many others.
He’s returned home
I seriously doubt if most Knick fans are aware of the history of Joakim Noah. Noah played his college ball for the Florida Gators and up till now his NBA career has all been spent in Chicago. Bet you didn’t realize Noah was born in New York City? Noah’s father was professional tennis player Yannik Noah a Cameroonian-French citizen. Noah’s mom was Miss Sweden 1978 and is an artist. Joakim lived in Paris from the age of three till his 13th birthday; he took up the game while living in France.
I offer no proof however I once read young Noah begged his mom to move to the U.S., he did this because he believed at the age of 13 the best basketball competition was in this nation. Noah would attend Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville (NJ) a private/college prep institution about 60 miles from New York City. Was Noah a Knicks fan while growing up might be the question? I’ll research the question and see if I can uncover an answer. If he’s fully healed the Knicks have themselves a dynamo defensively. He can score but doesn’t demand the basketball.
What to expect
The Spurs have a long history of superior play a large portion directly attributed to Coach Pop. Don’t know the percentage however “The Big Fundamental” Tim Duncan has also been a factor. Duncan’s gone; point guard Tony Parker will turn 35 next May. 39-year old Manu Ginobili indicated this years Olympics was his last could this season also be his last in a Spurs uniform?
The Spurs won 67 games last season will they approach that number in 2016-17? Khawi Leonard (age 25) is still on the scene playing high quality basketball, in addition free-agent pickup a year ago LaMarcus Aldridge just turned 31. Free agent Pau Gasol signed over the summer at 36 years of age will not be a long-term solution. The retirement of Duncan, the ageing of Parker and Ginobili Popovich is required to do his best coaching job ever this upcoming season.
Who’s in your Top 10?
Sportsbreak.com listed its list of Top 10 Steals in NBA Draft History. One of the players they profiled was Bob Dandridge. If you are a certain age you might say Bob who? The 1969 draft would be noteworthy for the Milwaukee Bucks for one reason alone they selected Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul Jabbar) with the number one pick. Much later the Bucks would also draft little known Bob Dandridge from little known Norfolk State in the 4th round with the 45th pick.
Prior to 1989 the NBA Draft consisted of more than two rounds. Dandridge had a 12-year career most of it spent as a member of the Bucks. We can note his resume indicates this small forward/shooting guard was a 2x NBA Champion (Bucks, Bullets). Dandridge would go on to score over 15,000 points (18.5 ppg) and 6.8 rebounds during the course of his career. Dandridge would prove a far more valuable commodity than many others selected that year. I can agree with Sportsbreak Dandridge was certainly a draft steal.
