Basketball from a fans perspective                       

Bits n Pieces
I am old and getting older by the minute and second, on Friday LeBron James had his 32nd birthday.  Wasn’t LeBron just in high school two years or so ago?

Reports are circulating Bulls Coach Fred Hoiberg is on the hot seat.  We can understand why the performance of the Bulls even with Dwayne Wade has been less than spectacular so far. The same might be said for Billy Donovan coach of the Thunder, we have an addition (Wade) and subtraction (Durant) with both teams and neither is playing close to their 2015-16 pace.    
I received a response to my question but not the one I expected.  I asked a friend if I was being too hard on Russell Westbrook and this pursuit of a triple-double season.  I informed him Oscar Robertson had accomplished this four times.  My friend’s response; "Wow I didn’t know that I thought Robertson only did it one time."  


I can be baited
Sometimes a person makes a snide remark about the NBA to me and I’ll just say okay. There are other instances I can be baited into a discussion, depends on the person and location. I’ve mentioned I follow the Chiefs and the Royals because both teams are local. I don’t believe I can carry on an in depth discussion about any other professional football or baseball team.  The reason is clear I don’t follow those sports in the same manner I do basketball and the NBA.  

In the past these are just a few of the statements my ears have picked up over the years. ‘They don’t call traveling in the NBA‘ or ‘I only watch the last quarter of an NBA game.’ An even stranger statement is this one; ‘I followed the NBA when Michael Jordan played but I don’t anymore.’  I’m sure if I followed the NFL or MLB with the fervor I do the NBA I’m sure I could discover aspects worthy of criticism but why? I just wish these folks would make their statements to someone other than yours truly.

Dumpster fire 
There is no doubt in my mind George Karl has no desire to coach again in the NBA.  We should have figured with his book titled; ‘Furious George: My Forty Years Surviving NBA Divas, Clueless GMS, and Poor Shot Selection.’  Maybe it was expected Karl would have an opinion on players he coached as for the others well that‘s a different story.  He took shots at the Blazers Damian Lillard a player he’s never coached.  Karl believes the Blazers have not played at the level expected and it’s all the fault of the point guard.  Karl indicates he thinks Lillard is too distracted by outside pursuits.  The Lillard response; ‘I’m confused at how that even came up I’ve never met him or spoken to him.’  I admit we make judgment calls on celebrities and politicians all the time people we’ve never met either.  

There is a difference we are not attempting to sell books.  We have no idea what’s inside the head of Lillard the same for Karl.  Blazer Coach Terry Stotts who served under Karl as an assistant came to his players’ defense.  I don’t agree but I understand Karl’s attack on his former players this one I fail to understand.  If someone gave me the book as a gift I would accept it and read it, for $18.00 I’ll never purchase it.  As I stated awhile back there are several veteran coaches who are great in the minds of some NBA fans Karl is one of them. As for me I have a totally different view of the man.

New York City hype
He’s 41 years old now, out of the NBA since 2002.  He once appeared to have all the tools for an outstanding shooting guard (6-5), LeBron James was on the cover of Sports Illustrated while in high school however Felipe Lopez accomplished the feat much earlier. Born in the Dominican Republic his parents emigrated to the U.S. when Lopez was 14-years old.  He became a New York City sensation while playing at Rice High School in Harlem New York. McDonald’s All American and a number of other accolades came his way.  Despite the fact he could have attended a number of schools across the nation he decided to remain at home and play for St. John’s University.   

Lopez choice of St. John’s proved beneficial and he was fairly productive during his four years at the school.  He was the number 24 pick in the first round of the 1998 NBA Draft by the Vancouver Grizzlies.  The NBA proved quite a different story for Lopez as he was never able to gain a foothold.  He would last but four years with two other NBA teams. The question did New York hype build him up to be greater than his talent level-----perhaps?  We could pose the question to Stephon Marbury, Pearl Washington or Lenny Cooke.  Lopez and the others mentioned certainly had talent however perhaps they were victims of New York City hype.