Basketball from a fans perspective
Honoring him
Okay haters the City of Los Angeles has decided to provide you more opportunity to hate on Kobe Bean Bryant. August 24, 2016 has been declared “Kobe Bryant Day” in the City of Angels. I see your angry eyes looking toward me; get over it he is being honored for his five championships and the thrills he bought to the city.
It could only last so long
I quit watching ESPN’s First Take due to the bombastic Stephen A. Smith. I made a statement which I’m now taking back. I said I would make no more commentaries on anything he said; unfortunately he’s once again forced my hand. I have a question for each of you to answer. “Why is it necessary for an NBA story to be about him?” The headline on the ESPN NBA page reads; “Stephen A. Smith depressed by 2016-17 season.” Turns out he claims he’s “depressed” by the addition of Kevin Durant to the Warriors. We must assume he believes the Warriors will run through the west like butter on a hot roll.
Allow me to offer a counter-point, I betcha fans in The Bay Area and Northern Ohio are not depressed. The Warriors for obvious reasons and the Cavs defending NBA Champions. I have nowhere near the audience Smith has so my view falls short of the numbers he can reach. Mr. Smith every fall I look forward to the beginning of training camp and the start of the NBA season. I do this despite my team not being championship quality. I’m not depressed I LOVE THIS GAME! I have a suggestion if one high value player moves to another team causes you depression maybe you should consider another sport.
A coin flip
The Suns have been winners over their history although never a championship. As for the Bucks and Lakers both teams tasted victory at the highest level we must return to 1969 for the complete story. The American Basketball Association was in its second year and a bidding war had begun between the two leagues. Lew Alcindor was the dominate college player that year and the ABA was salivating with the prospect of drafting him. Although Alcindor had journeyed west to play at UCLA home was New York City. The New York Nets drafted Alcindor believing the lure of playing at “home” would be an offer he couldn’t refuse.
Well despite this fact (and they raised their original dollar amount) Alcindor turned them down preferring the NBA. This is where fate dealt an unkind hand to the Suns. There was no lottery back then the Suns (Western Conference) and Bucks (Eastern Conference) would flip a coin to decide which team would receive the first pick. The Bucks won and drafted Alcindor the Suns with the second pick would chose Neal Walk. You might ask who is Neal Walk; he was a 6-10 center and played his college ball at Florida. Walk had a decent career but nothing close to the career Alcindor (Kareem Abdul Jabbar) had over 20 years. If the Suns had called heads instead of tails (or vice-versa) basketball history might have changed significantly.
This is old now
I was critical of Charles Barkley’s comments regarding Team USA basketball. His remarks were based on the manner the team was constructed and his belief in the mental perception of the team. In case you only heard from me here are his comments prior to Team USA winning gold.
“You take a guy like Kyle Lowry, who is a hell of a player, he wants to score. Kyrie (Irving) wants to score. Kevin (Durant) wants to score. DeMar (DeRozen) wants to score. So I think they have really been stagnant offensively. When they put that team together in the future, they have to realize we can’t have really, really great offensive players. They gotta have players that if they don’t get a shot, they’re not just gonna stand around and mope.”
On the surface Barkley’s statement is not totally incorrect. The portion I take issue with is his view of the future. It’s my belief Coach K., Jim Boeheim, Tom Thibodeau, Monty Williams and others have plenty of basketball knowledge and experience to assemble an adequate team. Is Sir Charles indicating this assemblage of coaches input is questionable? Barkley in his rush to judgment fails to take into account high profile players who passed on participating. A LeBron James, Chris Paul or Russell Westbrook could have made a difference in moving the basketball up and down the court. Event the close games I witnessed I saw no player in Barkley’s words “standing around moping.”
