Basketball from a fans perspective
Rookie of the Year????
A number in the NBA held the belief the 2016 NBA draft was not going to be very deep nor very good, unfortunately that view turned out to be correct. Top pick Ben Simmons of the Sixers was injured and missed the entire season, Laker Brandon Ingram struggled through much of the year. Despite the slow start Magic Johnson indicated the Lakers had received several trade inquiries although Magic says "He's a keeper." Joel Embiid drafted in 2014 and sidelined until last season received consideration for ROY.
The Bucks Malcom Brogdon was named ROY with the Sixers Dario Saric finishing second, Embiid finished in third place. The rookie class of 2017-18 is loaded, the Sixers Ben Simmons or the Lakers Lonzo Ball will be named Rookie of the Year in April of 2018. Despite the belief by many there is no guarantee these guys win. Simmons teammate Markelle Fultz has got to be in the mix too. Jayson Tatum of the Celtics or the Suns Josh Jackson will also be under consideration. De'Aaron Fox, Luke Kennard or Malik Monk might slip in and be named Rookie of the Year on the other hand it could be someone else.
The Zags
There is an interesting aspect to Gonzaga basketball, the school has always recruited internationally however the athlete they added last season is from Japan. Rui Hachimura is not the first Japanese athlete to play at a U.S. college. If he manages to play in the NBA he won't even be the first in the NBA either. The honor of being the first belongs to Watura Misaka who was on the 1947 Knicks. As for Rui he stands 6-8 and weighs 225 pounds, his father is from Benin in West Africa and mom is from Japan. NBADraft.net list Rui as an NBA prospect it will be interesting if he continues to develop his game.
The problem
My love of basketball reaches deep, so does my love of education. Every athlete is not a good student a number simply do minimal work to remain eligible. Do to a large number of athletes on the periphery between a solid C and a high D I believe they should miss as few classes as possible. I check out the the sports news and discover a significant number of high profile high school prospects are in Colorado Springs. Why are they in Colorado rather than a local classroom. The youngsters are competing for a spot on the USA Basketball Junior National Team.
Before you begin throwing rocks at me my desire is for the USA team to be successful but at the expense of education? This is the problem, the desire to compete sometimes is over the top most of these students have been in school a little over two months. Note i did not refer to them as basketball players they are students first. It is far too late to change we are too far down the road, there was an old saying. "It's too late to close the barn door after the cow has gotten out", the cow has long been out and sometimes we have idea where to locate it.
The Marathon
For the last nine years ESPN salutes the start of college basketball by telecasting 24-hours of basketball. Early this week the network announced no marathon this season. The timing might appear to be connected to the pending justice department investigation. Decisions involving large expenditures are no neck jerk reaction we can be assured ESPN was exploring the bottom line. As for me I never tuned in to a 3:00 a.m. or 11: p.m. game. A number of the games were plain unwatchable and you might have done what I did. Check the guide to see who was playing at a specific time and then viewing that game. If you were a fan or alumni of that 3:00 a.m. team most likely you set your DVR for it.
Bits n Pieces
Laker fans have given us their view of the upcoming season. According to SI.com from NBC Sports Laker Stubhub sales are up 130% over last season. At the same time season ticket holders renewed at 95% rate prior to the draft. After the draft the remaining 5% were sold which is quite interesting, maybe this is one of the reasons Clippers owner Steve Ballmer wants out of the shadow of the Lakers. Building your own arena will not solve the issue in my view.
Whoa.....Sixers point guard Markelle Fultz is struggling with his shot. The Sixer rookie is suffering from a shoulder injury and has been shooting poorly from the floor. All I can think about is the specter of the Embiid/Simmons hovering over the Sixer franchise. They can draft 'em but they get hurt in their first year , I make that statement as a person who is not superstitious.
Speaking of Joel Embiid how did he strike it rich(er) all of a sudden? His rookie contract was up and the Sixers signed rather than lose him to eventually to free agency. According to reports the 5-year contract has injury provisions. We can rest assured it is likely all contracts have similar clauses however this one might be more extensive than others.
