Basketball from a fans perspective

The “New” New York Knicks
Knicks basketball will be far different this season, which could be a good thing or bad.  The Carmelo trade leaves the team with Kristaps Porzingis as the potential leader whether he wants the responsibility is yet to be determined.  Will this become a break-out year for Doug McDermott, the small forward nicknamed Buckets while at Creighton has yet to fulfilled the expectations many believed possible.  He now has every opportunity to move into the vacated Carmelo spot.  The other traded partner Enes Kanter will assume a reserve role.  The balance of the roster has been set and is unlikely to change until perhaps a mid-season trade.  How the Knick faithful feel about the Carmelo trade is yet to be fully explored.  

The Cardinal
If someone mentions Stanford University my first thought is academics and not sports.  Actually the Cardinal has been pretty good for a school with studies leading the way; I hope the statement is not considered a slam at other schools academic standards.  The school began playing basketball in 1913-14 and the school had moderate success over the years but one hire would change basketball forever at the school.  Mike Montgomery took over the program in the 1986-87 season and would remain until 2003-04.  

During Montgomery’s tenure as head coach his teams managed to win nearly 400 games while losing only 167.  During those 17 years the Cardinal earned a post-season berth every year except two.  Although Trent Johnson and Johnny Dawkins have not remained in place as long as Montgomery they continued the winning tradition established by Montgomery.  Change comes once again as former Kansas player Jerrod Haase became head coach.  The Cardinal in the first season with Haase at the helm finished the season 
14-17.  

He was the precursor to Donald Sterling
If you are a certain age the name Ted Stepien might not register with you.  This businessman purchased the Cavs franchise and was owner from 1981-83 not a significant period of time. Stepien was the “Donald Sterling” of the NBA prior to anyone knowing the name.  The owner traded five consecutive first-round picks through 1985.  One of the picks he traded was to the Lakers who would use it to draft “Big Game” James Worthy.  During Stepien’s ownership the Cavs went 66-180 had five different coaches and $15 million dollars (1983 dollars) in losses.  

Trading draft picks the NBA passed what would become the Stepien Rule which restricts how teams can trade draft choices.  He once made a statement indicating “the NBA had become too black that it was a good idea if teams had an equal number of white players on the roster.” Stepien did not own the Cavs close to the number of years Sterling owned the Clippers.  At the same time we can agree both owners ran notoriously poor franchises.  What I find interesting in the case of Stepien and Sterling in the business world both were highly successful but failed to translate that success onto the basketball court.  

The forgotten Laker 
For a number of reasons many Laker fans seem to have forgotten Elgin Baylor.  They fail to realize Baylor was the “bridge” between the Minneapolis and Los Angeles Lakers.  Home for him was Washington D.C. however Baylor would play his college ball at NAIA College of Idaho and finish at Seattle University.  With the number one draft pick the Minneapolis Lakers would draft the 6-5 225 pound Baylor he would become NBA Rookie of the Year in 1959.  

Despite the gaudy numbers Baylor was unable to save the franchise and it would move to Los Angeles for the 1960-61 season.  In this day it might be difficult to understand the 6-5 Baylor playing small forward however his leaping ability and his shot making ability allowed him to excel for the position.  At the time of his retirement in 1972 he would leave behind outstanding individual numbers.  23,000 plus points and a 27.4 ppg average along with 13.5 rebounds per game.  Those are but a few of the honors Baylor accumulated over his NBA and college career check him out look up the accolades.  It should be of note he’s been enshrined in the Naismith and College Basketball Hall of Fame.