Basketball from a fans perspective
I don’t care
I have a hard fast rule regarding celebrities and politicians, if you are a fan please remain a fan. Don’t venture beyond that realm into areas your view is no more important than mine. If you conduct business in this manner we’ll be okay. Former presidential candidate and current New Jersey governor believed it was necessary to give us his two cents worth. A guest on the Boomer & Carton radio/television program Chris Christie provided us his opinion of the NBA and the law of a state he does not govern.
The NBA is moving the All Star Game from North Carolina, Christie claims the NBA was “Grandstanding” in moving the game due to the state’s “bathroom law.” To my knowledge no such law exists in the State of New Jersey in fact I’m unsure if its even been proposed. New Jersey no longer has an NBA team, based on this fact alone why do we care what Christie thinks about the manner the NBA conducts business. If the State of New Jersey had an NBA team we could say go for it since that’s not the case I don’t care what he thinks.
You don’t say
Any day now I expect Kareem or Doctor J. to announce they are coming out of retirement to play in the NBA. Just kidding folks but that appears to be the trend with former players. Earlier this summer it was 42-year old Derek Fisher whose not played in two years. More recently another former player added his name to the discussion of wanting to play again. 41-year old Ray Allen informed a Hartford newspaper “he wants to return to the NBA.” He too has been on the sideline since 2014.
He’s the problem
I never argue player salaries for one reason alone, I’m only paying them indirectly (ticket prices). So this account regarding Dwight Howard has nothing to do with the amount of money the Hawks are paying him. It has to do with his desire to be paid as an elite player when it’s my belief he no longer fit’s that category. Do you realize one season in Orlando he scored nearly 23 points a game while pulling down 14 rebounds. Granted injuries and age are contributing factors in the decline of his production over the last several years. Having birthday number 30 of wear and tear on his body and that doesn‘t make him old however he arrived in the NBA from high school.
Maybe it’s the coaching issue rather than his age than concerns me. Howard manage to talk his way out of Orlando talked his way out of the Lakers hinting there were Kobe problems. Arriving in Houston he might have perceived himself to be the go to guy however this was James Harden’s team. Exit stage left for Atlanta as soon as free-agency allowed. I don’t perceive Howard as a bad guy I’m just unsure how serious he is at this point in his career about winning. Hopefully now that he’s returned home perhaps he’s come full circle and will adjust.
I hadn’t counted
Can we say with conviction Larry Brown doesn’t believe in staying anyplace very long? We could guess that might be true 13 coaching stops in 40 years of coaching. Beginning his coaching career in the ABA he would move to college to the NBA and back to college with SMU. The beginning after completing his playing career in the ABA Brown would become an assistant to his mentor Dean Smith at North Carolina.
The job would last from 1965-1967 he was then hired by Davidson College as its head coach but never appeared. He resigned without coaching a single game and became head coach of the Carolina Cougars of the ABA in 1972-1974. From that point his coaching resume includes stops in Denver (ABA), UCLA, Nets (ABA) and Kansas. Later there would stops with the Spurs, Clippers, Pacers, and 76ers, Pistons, Knicks, Bobcats and finally SMU.
Brown’s longest tenure might be the six years he spent as head coach of the 76ers. In 40 years of coaching and moving we only discover 8 years his teams experienced losing records and those were all in the professional ranks. He’s accomplished a feat few will ever duplicate Brown remains the only coach to win an NCAA Championship (Kansas) and NBA Championship (Pistons). His NBA record 1,098 wins and 904 losses, in the ABA his teams won 229 games while losing 107.
As for college his UCLA, Kansas and SMU teams won a total of 266 while losing 99 it should be noted his only losing season in college was his first year at SMU when his Mustangs finished 15-17. I’ve read a number of negative accounts of Brown since his resignation; “selfish”, “He only cares about himself” were among the nicer thing said. One thing for sure the 75-year old Brown can still coach.
