Basketball from a fans perspective

Once more
I’ll try and make this short and brief, if you read yesterdays lead story you realize former NBA Coach George Karl struck a nerve with me.  I admitted early on I’ve never been a fan of the former coach believing he was over-rated.  That said to the nuts and bolts of this bone I have to pick with Karl.   He said he believed Kenyon Martin and Carmelo Anthony having no father in the home deprived them a masculine point of view causing them to lack maturity.  I’m paraphrasing the Karl quote read in detail if you wish but you get the general idea.  

This is the second time in a little over two years someone growing up with two parents has made a similar statement.  The first time I heard it voiced was by former ESPN and current Fox Sports person Colin Cowherd and I believe Alan Iverson was player.  I don’t have any idea how a two parent family operates see I grew up in a single parent family. My home operated with love from that parent and plenty of adult involvement from family members, clergy and mentors.  In a perfect world every family has two parents however sometimes divorce enters the picture George. Lack of maturity of a male child can occur in two parent households as well.

La Familia
Charles O’Bannon Jr. a Rivals 4-star Class of 2017 prospect made his intentions known this week, the 6-6 200 pound guard from Las Vegas verbally committed to play at USC>  His last name might sound familiar if you‘ve followed basketball any length of time.  His dad is Charles O’Bannon Sr. and Ed O’Bannon is his both O’Bannon’s played their college ball at UCLA.  The father and uncle were drafted and briefly played in the NBA however the bulk of their basketball careers were spent in Europe and Asia.  Its clear Jr. did not follow in the footsteps of his father and uncle in choosing cross-town rival USC over UCLA.

The agreement
As this is written the agreement between the players and owners has been approved. There will be no lock-out this summer and the agreement will be in place for the next 7 years.

College or the NBA?
I believe I’ve made it clear I casually pay attention to the NFL specifically the Chiefs.  The same for baseball, I could name the Royals starting lineup but have no idea of the starting lineup of any other team.  As for basketball are you a college or NBA fan?  At one point in time I could state with conviction the winner would be the NBA, I can no longer make that statement.  If I assigned a percentage I’d say the NBA is currently at 51%.  

There are evenings I must chose between a college and pro game.  Don’t misunderstand I must have some vested interest in the NBA game I’m not going to just sit in front of the television like a robot.  Last night I switched from the NBA game to watch Kentucky-Arizona State.  I won’t stop and watch any college without having interest in that particular team.  There you go, what’s your view?

It’s been awhile
The Kings left Kansas City 31 years ago; they have been history so long a number of NBA fans don’t remember Kansas City ever being an NBA city.  The Royals moved from Cincinnati in 1972 changed the name to the Kansas City-Omaha Kings sharing dates with its Nebraska neighbor some 200 miles northwest of Kansas City.  The Kings in Kansas City played their home games in Municipal Auditorium (still in use today).  The Muni as its nicknamed had a capacity of 10,500.  Over the years fewer and fewer games were played in Omaha until it was dropped all together.  In the meantime the team moved into the newly constructed Kemper Arena a 17,500 seat arena.  The Kings were sold to outside interests and moved to Sacramento in 1985.  

Television analyst Jerry Reynolds is the only remaining Kansas City holdover having been hired a year before the team departed for California.  In 13 years the team only registered four winning seasons, in that time a few outstanding players came through Kansas City. Nate ‘Tiny‘ Archibald has been mentioned in the past.  The center position was occupied by the late Sam Lacey a 6-10 talent who would give Kareem fits.  Scott Wedman was a smooth shooting 6-7 forward; Wedman would leave in free-agency for Cleveland prior to the teams California departure.  The Cavs would trade him to the Celtics and he won two NBA Championships with the Celtics.  Under coached and under managed much of the time Kansas City was home.