Basketball from a fans perspective
Moon walk
The late Michael Jackson was reported to have popularized the moonwalk. Not so stated another source it was actually Jeffery Daniels of the R&B group Shalamar who first moon walked for the public. Later it was determined Cab Calloway 1930’s dancer, jazz singer and band leader might have been first. This account has nothing to do with dance moves but it does pose the question “who did it first.”
Tim Hardaway brought the crossover into the NBA however he was not the first. Allen Iverson refined the move and since then Klay Thompson, Kyrie Irving, Russell Westbrook and Steph Curry have continued to utilize the move. My research indicates Rucker Park playground legend PeeWee Kirkland now age 72 may have been the first to utilize the crossover. There you have it an interesting bit of basketball trivia.
My difficulty
In the instance of a count-counter point debate you want to score points to benefit your view. I’ve mentioned on more than one occasion sometimes the words emanate from the mouth of Stephen A. Smith without any documentation. Example; on his ESPN program First Take he made a statement I could locate no proof. Smith claimed current analyst and former UNLV guard Greg Anthony “worked and earn money one year and the NCAA could do nothing about it.”
Smith claimed Anthony wasn’t on scholarship so the NCAA could do nothing about it. This is the portion I question; the NCAA had a long-ruining inquiry on Coach Jerry Tarkanian. Tarkanian eventually sued the NCAA but this is the question do we suppose this governing body would turn the other direction if such a situation existed? This debate was based on the signature Melo ball shoe and the question would he be eligible in two years. There is no doubt Melo could attend UCLA on his own money. At the same time I don’t believe just because he’s not on scholarship the NCAA cannot impact his college basketball career.
Is he really serious?
Reports indicate Nets owner Mikail Prokhorov was grinning from ear to ear when he received the news. The news of course is the sale of the Rockets for $2.2 billion dollars, reports have circulated for at least two years Prokhorov desired to sale the team……however the question becomes is he really serious? On closer inspection let’s check the sale of the Clippers and Rockets. I cannot provide a day by day countdown however it was a short period after Donald Sterling was removed as owner and Steve Ballmer purchased the team. The Clippers sale in 2014 exceeded the $2 billion dollar mark for the first time in the sale of an NBA franchise.
As for the Rockets it was mid-July 2017 when Leslie Alexander placed the team on the market, by early September Tilman Fertitta stepped forward as a buyer. As I’ve written previously few NBA franchises have failed to draw interest once they are placed on the market. Now I pose the question once again is Prokhorov really serious? I believe there would be potential owners lining up by two’s to purchase the Nets. Reports are with both Barclays Center and the Nets Prokhorov has lost a large amount of money over the last several years. I have no reason to doubt the stories however if he was losing THAT MUCH MONEY as a billionaire business man don’t you think he’d divest a losing property?
They miss the cut
The Big 12/SEC Challenge overlooked Mizzou this season, don’t misunderstand I ain’t mad. Mizzou won a grand total of 8 games so the reasoning is clear, the conferences want to match the best teams in each conference against one another. These I believe might be the key matches, should be interesting.
Tennessee at Iowa State
Texas A&M at Kansas
Kentucky at West Virginia
Baylor at Florida
