Basketball from a fans perspective

Sorry, maybe next time
No official announcement has been issued yet.  It appears the Missouri Valley has made its decision regarding the replacement for Wichita State; it appears the University of Missouri-Kansas City was excluded.  Two schools appear to be in the lead, University of 
Wisconsin-Milwaukee and University of Nebraska-Omaha are reported to be in the lead.  It’s likely one or maybe both will be added to the Valley.     

A familiar name
As mentioned Larry Bird stepped down as president of the Pacers, a name familiar to metro Kansas City replaces Bird.  GM Kevin Pritchard will take over; it’s unclear if this is a permanent move.  As for Pritchard he played guard at Kansas under Larry Brown had a brief NBA career, he was coach and general manager of the Kansas City Knights of the ABA.  Pritchard led the Knights to the ABA championship in 2001.  Later he went to work for the Blazers and 2011 joined the Pacers in their front office.  

Time to talk 2018
We now look ahead to Class of 2018 prospects and Zion Williamson.  The 6-7 230 pound forward is from Spartanburg (SC) and is rated number two on Rivals and ESPN Recruiting Nation list. Williamson attends Spartanburg Day High School a college prep school in Spartanburg.  On the recruiting side a total of 29 schools are recruiting Williamson.  The list reads like a who’s who of elite college basketball programs.  

Duke, Arizona, North Carolina, Kansas and Kentucky are just a few of the programs. Williamson had Georgetown on his list prior to the arrival of Patrick Ewing.  Ewing’s already has one player in the fold if Williamson is added to the list he’s already accomplished the first key to college basketball---recruiting.  Here I go again, Williamson’s power game reminds me of a young LeBron James, in addition he’s nearly the same size of the high school version of LeBron. 

Construction, construction 
It was some point in 2012 when I made the statement.  I saw the $1 billion dollar construction tab for Barclays Center in Brooklyn and concluded no more.  “There will be no more tax payer money spent on stadiums and arenas in this country.”  As this is written construction is progressing on arenas in three portions of the nation San Francisco, Milwaukee and Detroit. The Warriors arena will be privately financed as for the others I’m unsure which parties are responsible for construction.  
The issue is raised once again this time in Seattle; there are parties in the city that continue the desire for the Sonics and the NBA to return to the Pacific Northwest.  I located a report listing the 5 oldest arenas in the NBA and only two will continue to be used in the future, Target Center (1990) in Minnesota and MSG (1968) in NYC.  In Minnesota renovation has already begun and the Lynx will play elsewhere while contractors are working.  As for MSG its been mentioned on a couple of occasions renovations have occurred in this arena as well, it’s likely MSG will be home for the next several years.