Basketball from a fans perspective

Cut-back
No the NBA season will not reduce its 82 game regular season schedule if that‘s what you were thinking. The 2017-18 season might begin earlier or at least that is what is rumored. The new collective bargaining agreement is too completed before the end of the year and the start of the season is one of the agenda items. The NBA is attempting to reduce the number of back to back games and starting earlier would go a long way in that effort.

Much improved
We have longed for the day UMKC would play competitive basketball could this be the year? I certainly hope so and thus far play has improved.  The win over South Dakota gives them a 6-2 start the best in like forever.  We are yet to arrive at conference play but I wanted to check some numbers out of curiosity.  The latest Rating Percentage Index or RPI places UMKC in a tie at number 97.  That’s no place close to the top but consider this tidbit of information the number of Division I basketball programs total 351.  

UMKC will not receive an NCAA Tournament invite but certainly details growth in the program under Coach Kareem Richardson.  By the way UMKC’s ranking is ahead of Iowa State (106), SMU (109) and Oklahoma State (112).  My chief concern the majority of the teams offense emanates from the back court as for the front court it’s got to be rebound the ball by committee.  The tallest UMKC player is Aleer Leek at 6-9 however he barely sees the floor.  The roster contains two 6-8 players and one 6-7 that’s it.  

By who’s definition?
Greg Oden claims he will go down in history as the NBA’s All-Time draft bust.  I’m not walking in his shoes but I have doubts about his reflective view of his brief NBA career. There is a vast difference between players handicapped by injuries (him) than one who appears to just not care (Michael Olowokandi).  I will repeat an earlier reported assessment of Olowokandi.  At a point in time Olowokandi was a member of the Clippers who employed Kareem Abdul Jabbar as a member of their coaching staff.    

Kareem was specifically assigned to Olowokandi to teach him how to play the post effectively.The disclaimer we have no direct knowledge of Kareem’s coaching ability but we have the response of Olowokandi to someone accessing his game.  Olowokandi questioned about Kareem said; “I’ve learned all I can from him” which sounds either arrogant or just plain stupid. He had the NBA’s All-Time scoring leader coaching him and he makes an asinine statement along those lines.  

There are other “Oden’s” players who sustained injuries which curtailed their NBA careers.  Sam Bowie like Oden was also drafted by the Blazers; in fact he was drafted ahead of Michael Jordan. He would suffer a series of injuries which impacted his career. Brandon Roy also of the Blazers was on his way to an All-Pro career until injuries slowed him and then forced his eventual retirement at age 29.  

For those players such as Greg Oden and the others I believe we can only state they might have left the game with unfilled expectations but the word “bust” just doesn’t fit for me. There have been a number of players who failed to play at the level expected.  They were not curtailed by injury or even the team they with their attitude regarding the game became their worst enemy.  In the case of Olowokandi he was a Big Man so he probably lasted longer than others however his career numbers certainly don’t reflect it.