Basketball from a fans perspective
The shot clock
Imagine a clock saved the NBA game, not a regular clock but one with time expiration. Bad teams in the ’50’s would often use stall tactics to keep the Minneapolis Lakers and other dominating teams of the period from scoring. The opposition would dribble the ball up the court and it became a passing game back and forth between the guards and occasionally the forwards would be involved as a player waited on the opportunity for a lay-up or wide open shot. The Fort Wayne Pistons beat the Minneapolis Lakers 19-18 utilizing this method of play. The late Danny Biasone owner of the Syracuse Nationals (Phil Sixers) general manager Leo Ferris and a scout for the team sat down and addressed the issue.
Biasone (and maybe others) believed stalling tactics were ruining the once wide open game. GM Ferris divided 2880 (the number of seconds in 48 minutes) by 120 (the total number of shots taken per game when each team took 60 shots) and arrived at a figure he believed optimal one shot every 24 seconds. Thus the 24-second clock was born and it would be adopted for the 1954-55 season and it’s been utilized to this date. The college game would see the clock much later however it was adopted principally for the same reason stall tactics. College began with a 45 second clock reduced it to 35 and in 2015-16 placed it at 30-seconds where it remains.
*Wikipedia
The results
I polled a number of NBA fans rather than just reading media comments I found the results quite interesting. The question their view of the Kyrie Irving-Isaiah Thomas trade; most of the folks I surveyed pronounced the Cavs clear winners. As for me I’m not so sure based on my conclusions. The hip injury to Thomas aside (see Bits n Pieces below) neither is an outstanding defensive player however it‘s 6-3 versus 5-9.
Without switching Irving clearly has an advantage when taken into the post over the smaller Thomas. There are significant numbers of guards able to shoot over the 6-3 Irving. On the offense end the numbers of Irving and Thomas are nearly the same, as for distribution of the basketball Thomas has a slight advantage over Irving. Not a strong or convincing argument for either player however this is as I see it. Basketball in addition to skill and talent is a game of height; the Cavs are winners in this trade.
Bits n Pieces
I guess I’m late to the party, I didn’t realize the seriousness of the Isaiah Thomas hip injury. A report I read on Friday indicated he might not be ready to play until the All-Star break. No wonder the Cavs wanted additional compensation, can we really blame them? Thomas claims he’ll return good as new and I have no reason to doubt his statement.
I don’t remember if I mentioned this news item last season so I‘m late. If you are a student at the university or live in the Kansas City metro UMKC is easily identified. The balance of the nation probably has no idea what the initials U.M.K.C. stand for. ESPN, Fox Sports and others sites begin using “Mo-Kansas City” reporting basketball scores which is sorta okay. Last season the university changed their road jerseys, they now have Kansas City displayed on the front providing the location of the school.
The top prospect in the Class of 2018 is named R.J. Barrett, Barrett plays at Montverde Academy in Montverde Florida. The 6-7 guard hails from suburban Toronto Canada and leapfrogged several players moving to number one at the beginning of summer. He’s got a plethora of schools on his radar including Mizzou. No Mizzou could not sign the number one player two years in a row……..could they?
