Basketball from a fans perspective
2017 NBA Rookie of the Year
Now the argument begins, should Joel Embiid be named Rookie of the Year. The Sixers announced the center will miss the remainder of the season which is 8-10 weeks. The issue despite outstanding play he was limited to 37 games total and there are other rookies exceeding that total already. Despite playing a limited number of minutes on the court there is no other rookie close to the numbers Embiid has compiled.
Check these out for yourself, 20.2 ppg, nearly 9 rebounds and 3 block shots nobody in the neighborhood. What about the 2016 draft class, we know Ben Simmons was already out for the season but how about the next four? The Lakers Brandon Ingram at 8.2 ppg has the highest average followed by Jaylen Brown with the Celtics at 6.1 ppg. This is not to say the 2016 Class is bad there likely are stars in the future however they are not visible currently.
Speculate
We can speculate on a number of things, we can speculate on the stock market. Speculate who wins the NCAA Championship or NBA Championship. We can ponder who wins the World Series and the Super Bowl. In other words there are a bunch of things we can speculate the exception might be the effect of injuries on a team. Kevin Durant went down in the Warriors game and first reports indicate he‘s going to be out 4-6 weeks.
The medical staff indicate Durant has a Grade 2 MCL sprain, tibia bone bruise. You know as much as me, the question how will this affect the Warriors playoff hopes? I have no idea except they managed to repeat as Western Conference Champions last season, they accomplished this feat with no Durant in the lineup. Can the Warriors duplicate last year’s effort again, at this point all we can do is speculate.
“The Iron unkind”
Tim Brando veteran announcer coined the phrase; it simply means a shot at the basket bounces off the cylinder. That has nothing to do with the subject at hand I just thought I’d throw it in. We’ve discussed in the past basketball playing sons attempting to following in the footsteps of their more famous dads. Often they have measured up to the level of dear old father, we haven’t discussed coaches have we? I submit for you the name John Thompson III, son of legendary Georgetown Coach “Big” John Thompson.
The last four seasons has witnessed only one winning record 22-11 registered in 2014-15. These last few years have been nothing close to the success of Georgetown basketball and Coach III. Key to any successful program is recruiting and truth is they are no longer recruiting at the level they once did. I’m not close enough to the program to truly know what’s going on. I do have basketball connections in the nations capital I’m going to check the temperature there, I’ll let you know.
Triangle offense
I didn’t become a fan of Phil Jackson until he became the Laker head coach. After the Knicks hired him I said “Okay this will be a different role (front office) but he should be able to handle it.” Now I am not so sure, PJ the coach excellent PJ the President of Basketball Operations I’m a little unsure. After Steve Kerr turned him down he hires former Laker Derek Fisher with no head coaching experience.
PJ insists Fisher run the triangle offense, Fisher gone and replaced by Jeff Hornacek who had prior coaching experience. Once again the issue of the triangle comes up with PJ insisting the Knicks run it. I read the headline this week former Knick Coach Larry Brown says; “If Phil Jackson wants the Knicks to run the triangle he should coach them.” That sounds right to me except PJ no longer wants to coach, I’m not going to touch the Carmelo Anthony issue.
