Basketball from a fans perspective
Christmas Day in the Association
The tradition of the NBA playing games on Christmas Day is traditional. National broadcast and cable being added to mix is more recent. Consider this little known tidbit the NBA on Christmas Day is older than most of you reading this realize. It actually began in 1947 the Knicks played the Providence Steamrollers at Madison Square Garden. FYI the Steamrollers a Basketball Association of America franchise disbanded in 1949.
The first nationally televised game was broadcast by ABC in 1967 with the Lakers facing the San Diego Rockets from San Diego. in 1983 cable entered the picture when ESPN began broadcasting Christmas Day games. In the 1990’s NBC began broadcasting a double-header which has continued. In 2008 Turner Sports (TNT) was added to the partnership although no games are planned today on TNT.
Celtics at Knicks 11:00 a.m. Central ESPN
Warriors at Cavs 1:30 p.m. Central ABC
Bulls at Spurs 4:00 p.m. Central ABC
Wolves at Thunder 7:00 p.m. Central ESPN
Clippers at Lakers 9:30 p.m. Central ESPN
Just the facts Jack!
It certainly would be nice if our local people checked the numbers. They go on and on about the power of the Big 12 conference in basketball. They never bother as I just did to check the numbers. I just looked at the RPI or Rating Percentage Index, the SEC has 12 schools in the first 200 schools the Big 12 has 10. That‘s not an overwhelming advantage for the SEC but it proves at least in 2016-17 its on par with the Big 12. It also says the conference might not be as dominant as those media members inside the Kansas City Metro might believe.
The NBA in Africa
The timing of this announcement was quite interesting; the NBA is set to open another basketball academy this time in Senegal. The academy will be located in Thies the third largest city in the West African nation and will open next year. Just as interesting a native son of Senegal has NBA scouts taking note. On December 18th we discussed Tacko Fall 7-6 300 pound University of Central Florida sophomore. Fall has only been playing basketball since 2012, according to a former coach he ‘loves’ the game not because he’s tall he really loves basketball.
As was pointed out previously he is being coached on further developing his skill level. With his height he could simply dunk every shot however his coaches are working on a shot repertoire with him. He suffers the curse of most Big Men Fall is a notoriously poor free-throw shooter. Once he arrives in the NBA at some future point he will become the NBA’s tallest player since the days of Yao Ming. Maybe the NBA team that drafts Fall will have a Taco Tuesday in conjunction with an area restaurant say Taco Bell. They would give vouchers for free tacos based on some exploit Fall might accomplish in the game.
The eye of a scout
Sometimes you see something is a player and think ‘He’s got it.’ You got to trust me on this one but that’s what I saw in Joel Embiid while at Kansas. Embiid had emerged from the bench and displaced Tarik Black (now with the Lakers) who was the starting center. An injury sent him to the sidelines for the remainder of the season and then the decision. He decided in favor of the NBA over remaining in Kansas for his sophomore year I thought big mistake.
The 2014 NBA draft and Embiid was made the third pick in the first round well maybe the scouts saw some of the same potential I did. Then disaster struck the first injury forced him to the sidelines for the 2014-15 season, I don’t remember now if it was the lingering injury from his days at Kansas. I thought oh well next season except Embiid would miss 2015-16 too and I thought ‘This guy will never play in the NBA and entertained thoughts of Sam Bowie.
Bowie was a talent who could never maintain health long enough to come close to the level many expected. As for Embiid I would read reports he’d been given the okay for the 2016-17 season and I said ‘okay‘ with a degree of skepticism. Although playing limited minutes Embiid is clearly 2017 NBA Rookie of the Year I don’t believe there is any serious competitor this year. His 33 point 10 rebound 3 block shot game against the Nets proves he’s arrived
