Basketball from a fans perspective
The trade was a surprise
The Sixers were expected to make a trade, although sidelined now Joel Embiid has proven he was worth the wait. How did Embiid’s playing time impact the Sixers roster, Jahlil Okafor drafted last season became a backup. Nerlens Noel who divided time between power forward and center was playing limited minutes. Noel complained loudly a few weeks ago regarding his on court time.
What to do, what to do with an essentially 3 centers someone must be traded. Near the close of the trading deadline the Sixers made a move however wasn’t the move most of us expected, Noel was traded to the Mavs for Andrew Bogut and Justin Anderson and a draft choice. Where does the trade leave Okafor might be the next question, we have no idea except the Sixers know what they are doing right?
Confusing data
If you are old enough you might remember the old term “Garbage in Garbage out. Information on sport television viewing in the metro was provided recently and a portion of it doesn’t make a great deal of sense to me allow me to explain. No NBA basketball in Kansas City with the exception of our annual NBA pre-season game. I was curious regarding sports television in the metro, the baseball Royals and football Chiefs received high viewer numbers really not surprising.
I was surprised with viewer information on the NHL and NBA. For reasons unknown only NHL Stanley Cup numbers were provided which were higher than NBA telecast. This is the portion I find odd, they didn't provide figures on the NBA Championship. The figures I believe are a little misleading I'm quite sure there would be more viewers for a championship series than regular season series. The NBA is not competing with the NHL however consider this fact every year the NBA exhibition game held in Kansas City is always better attended over the NHL game.
College rather than the NBA
We might believe all Euro players are headed to the NBA but that’s not always the case. Take for example Olivier Sarr; he’s a 6-11 225 pound center from Toulouse France. Four schools are on his list, Wake Forest, Cal, UCF and Vanderbilt. Sarr is a 2017 prospect so its likely he will announce his choice soon.
He’s there instead of here
Dwayne Wade is in Chicago playing for the Bulls the team he rooted for as a child. He’s in Chicago rather than Miami were his Hall of Fame career began. This is another story I offer no proof just an observation, I believed Wade would be a Magic Johnson or Larry Bird an athlete who would spend his career in one location. I can state I had no idea who Dwayne Wade was until I witnessed him shoot-down Mizzou in the NCAA Tournament in 2003.
The Heat would make Marquette’s Wade the 5th pick in the 1st round of that draft. In the NBA you know the story he won and won and won. Now age 35 and on the down hill side of his career I believe he’s in Chicago because of Hassan Whiteside. Faced with losing the potential of the youthful (age 27) Whiteside it was a financial decision. Pay the kid or pay the old guy, despite being part of three NBA Championships the decision was to pay Whiteside. I have no idea how much time remains in Wade’s career but he will return to South Beach once he retires.
