Basketball from a fans perspective
Surprised not shocked
Movie and television personality Freddie Prinz Jr. surprised me. It’s not unusual for members in the entertainment industry to be NBA fans. In the case of Prinz it was interesting listening to the pod cast he undertook with Mike Trudell reporter for Lakers.com and TWC SportsNet. Prinz Jr. surprised me with his knowledge of players and the X’s and O’s of the NBA game.
Brooklyn born and bred
New York City was once referred as the location of the “city game.” A number of high profile basketball players honed their skills on the playgrounds on boroughs throughout the city. The names could read like a “Who’s who”, Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul Jabbar), Carmelo Anthony, Billy Cunningham, Connie Hawkins, Julius “Dr J” Erving and Bob Cousy are just a few names of note. The boroughs have continued to produce talent however city and metro schools no longer have a monopoly on talent.
St. John’s, Manhattan, NYU, CCNY and Seton Hall are no longer the destination of choice for many of the cities best. Attempting to change that trend is 6-4 210 pound Isaiah Whitehead; he graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn and Seton Hall for two years. Whitehead was a second round draft pick by the Jazz in 2016, the next day his draft rights were traded to the Nets. This is no claim of future stardom just a Brooklyn player who will have the opportunity to play professionally where he was born and grew up.
Isiah speaks
I have been at odds with Isiah Thomas for a number of years. My issue has nothing to do with his NBA play its other stuff. If you’ve read Words eye view for awhile you know the stuff no need of repeating it. In this instance Thomas and I are in agreement on a subject. He says; “Describing athletes as beasts or animals is dehumanizing and use to be a fireable offense, but is now considered a compliment.” Compare my play to that of a wild animal; no I don’t like it either.
Born 1967-Died 2008
The Seattle SuperSonics shorten to just Sonics came into the NBA in 1967 as an expansion team. Seattle has MLB (Mariners) and NFL football (Seahawks) but the Sonics were the metro areas first professional team. While in the Pacific Northwest they won one (1) championship in 1979. Remember the guard Dennis Johnson; he was the MVP of that series. Most of us are probably more familiar with Dennis Johnson’s years as a valued leader and member of the Celtics. In 1970 the American Basketball Association had no issue with signing underclassmen as for the NBA that was a different matter. Spencer Haywood would leave the ABA Rockets and join the Sonics in defiance of the rules. Sam Schulman Sonics owner filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the NBA and the case would eventually be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Once the suit was resolved in the Sonics favor Haywood would go on to produce All-Star numbers. Haywood would be inducted in the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2015. In addition to Haywood there were other Sonics who would distinguish themselves players such as Lenny Wilkins, Jack Sikma, “Downtown” Fred Brown, Tom Chambers, the X man Xavier McDaniel, Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp. After six years as owner Howard Schulz sold the Sonics to Clay Bennett. Bennett indicated at one point he intended for the team to remain in Seattle. Many in the area questioned Bennett’s statement and we eventually would discover he probably intended to move the team to his hometown Oklahoma City all along. To the sorrow of a number of fans the team departed for Oklahoma City. They would take nothing with them except the team and its players. All the records and the name Sonics would remain in the Emerald City until a “new” Sonics would be re-born
