Basketball from a fans perspective                                                                                    
Annual game
The annual NBA exhibition game for Kansas City occurs on Friday October 13 at Sprint Center.  The match this year will feature the Heat and the Sixers, although not a regular season game it should be entertaining based on roster members of both teams.  The Sixers will feature rookies Markelle Fultz and Ben Simmons plus Joel Embiid former Kansas Jayhawk. The Heat feature Hassan Whiteside, Justise Winslow plus Rodney McGruder who played at nearby Kansas State.  

The coach
A coach or manager should always be in the round table deciding on trades or draft decisions. Signing free-agents is a whole different area, it’s strictly a front-office decision the coach or general manager can add their input but actually participating in the negotiations is a no-no. They should always have input however the verdict should not be theirs alone. That person looks at the player quite different from someone working exclusively in the front office.  I’ve stated for quite awhile that’s been my chief disagreement with Doc Rivers coach of the Clippers.  

Doc made the decision regarding his son however it could easily have been any other player.  
It was especially evident at the time Austin became a free-agent, news reports indicated none of the other NBA teams wanted Austin with the exception of the Clippers.  So Doc as director of personnel re-signed son Austin, my greatest issue is one of nepotism.  You could argue Doc might have done the same with a player who wasn’t related which is certainly true.  Owner Steve Ballmer’s made the move relieving Doc of his front-office duties.  The coach will return to coaching only leaving others to make the personnel decisions. 

Skip football
I’ve been saying since the middle of July ‘We can skip football I’m ready for basketball to begin.' Mizzou replaced Kim Anderson with Cuonzo Martin, Martin immediately got to work recruiting, between him and the coaching staff they managed to secure (on paper at least) one of the highest rated Mizzou teams in history.  As for the NBA the Lakers had an excellent summer too. They drafted Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma and both impressed in NBA Summer League.  

They were able to acquire shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and center Robin Lopez in separate deals.  A successive seasons of losing this Mizzou and Laker fan wants to turn the page to a more positive view.  Many of my football friends have been booing and hissing me, they do this everytime I make the statement ‘We can skip football I’m ready for basketball to begin.’  Based on where many Mizzou and Laker fans can you blame us?

I didn’t know
The NBA Board of Governors approved the Pistons move to Little Caesars Arena for the 2017-18 season.  Google Maps indicates the previous home of the Piston The Palace of Auburn Hills is about 34 miles from downtown Detroit.  I didn’t realize until reading the story the move had to be approved by the Board of Governors to locate to another facility.