Basketball from a fans perspective

Trivia
The photo of Kevin Durant in a Warriors jersey brought me full circle.  I thought he’s in Oakland now and will play at Oracle Arena.  He’s also had two other home courts, can you name them?  The answer is at the bottom of the page.  Don’t cheat I can see you scrolling down.

It’s started
Tonight Late Night at the Phog will be held at Kansas University.  The Jayhawks have 5 Top 50 prospects invited to the annual start of the collegiate season with the practice game.  In addition the cable guide indicates ESPN2 has an hour plus time open on Saturday evening. Usually Dick Vitale is somewhere Kentucky or North Carolina and other media are scheduled throughout the nation.  I don’t know about you but I’m excited, NBA training camp opens and college basketball training as well.  In a few short weeks we’ll hear the rhythm of bouncing basketballs, I’m excited how about you.

The Warrior
First it was Clipper’s Coach Doc Rivers attempting to hire the recently retired Kevin Garnett. Okay that’s partially understandable after all Garnett was the driving force behind the Celtics winning an NBA Championship while Doc was coaching the team.  Next up its Cavs Coach Tyronn Lue who is also trying to hire him for a coaching position.  We shouldn’t expect movement right away for Garnett; he might even take a turn at the analyst desk for ESPN, TNT or NBA TV.  If it should occur don’t expect it to be long lasting. 

“You going or stayin’?”
Hamidou Diallo is a 6-5 shooting guard from Queens (NY), he’s the number 10 prospect in the Class of 2017.  In addition he’s got his eye on the NBA already declaring himself “available.” Remember last June I wrote once Thon Maker was successful emerging from high school into the NBA, I stated he would not be the last.  Along comes Diallo who says he graduated from Putnam Science Academy (CT) in the spring.  

I see you are puzzled how Diallo could still be in high school right?  He says he is in “post graduate” studies.  We are led to believe each student-athlete has 8 semesters of eligibility unless there are unusual circumstances.  The other question if he turns 19-years old before the end of the school year he’s automatically declared ineligible.  At the same time Diallo indicates he’s likely to enroll at one of the high profile programs recruiting him.  Just a few of the schools attempting to recruit him are Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky UConn and Indiana.  

Trivia answer
Kevin Durant was actually drafted by the Seattle Sonics and played his rookie year in Seattle. Durant moved with the franchise to Oklahoma City his sophomore year where he would become a star player and is now in Oakland.