Basketball from a fans perspective
Published Monday-Friday
“The hammer fell”
It wasn’t the “Death Penalty” but certainly close to the edge, the basketball world awaited the fate of Louisville. You remember the prostitution story and the former assistant coach who was involved. The NCAA finally ruled and its extensive, Coach Rick Pitino suspended for five games the school would be placed on four years probation. Wins would be vacated for ineligible players during the time-period.
It’s unclear as this is written if the 2013 NCAA Tournament win will be included in the vacated number of games. Former assistant Andre McGee received a 10-year show cause order related to basketball. McGee left Louisville earlier and became an assistant with University of Missouri-Kansas City. UMKC suspended McGee and later terminated his contract after the story broke. The administration at Louisville intends to contest the ruling so this might not be the end of the story.
I can speculate with the best of ‘em
Mock draft sites NBADraft.net and DraftExpress.com are pretty much in agreement through the lottery. We are a week away from the draft and change is in the air with one of the sites. Practically all season long they have placed Markelle Fultz at the top now to the Celtics and the Lakers with the second pick choosing Lonzo Ball. NBADraft.net is now projecting the Lakers will chose Josh Jackson from Kansas with the second pick.
Besides the obvious what does that mean for the Lakers? Jackson would become the shooting guard while Russell remains at the point. The Lakers believe Brandon Ingram is a future star at small forward therefore the Jackson move to the two. How does Larry Laker view this possible change you ask? I still believe the Lakers are in a win-win situation whether the choice is Ball or Jackson. Magic Johnson make the move you believe most beneficial to the continued growth of this young team.
They did it again
ESPN’s 30 for 30 film group did it again, they told an excellent story on the Celtic and Lakers. Celtics/Lakers Best of Enemies was done in a 3-part series over two evenings. It is well worth your time whether you are a Celtics or Lakers fan. It goes far beyond the NBA and these two storied franchises. The film covers a portion of history in America during a turbulent period in time.
You are what you eat
I’m sure many of you have heard the headline statement previously. Nowhere might it be truer than in the NBA. Rod Strickland serves as an assistant coach with the Kentucky Wildcats. For those who might be unfamiliar Strickland once played in the NBA. This is his story; he claims at the time he first arrived in the NBA he was single. His eating habits he admits were not the greatest it consisted of eating at numerous fast food restaurants.
Strickland indicates a veteran on the team call him aside one day and informed him “You keep eating like that and you will be out of the league in five years.” Strickland changed his eating habits and began eating a restaurants rather than fast-food. ESPN compiled a list of favorite eating habits of NBA players across the nation, other than Chipotle Mexican Grill all the establishments profiled were restaurants. I’m sure there still exists players who follow the habits Strickland once held however it appears most know the better restaurants in the nation.
