Basketball from a fans perspective
"Show me the money"
Remember Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.) screaming through the telephone at sport agent Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) in the movie Jerry Maguire? How about Coach Pete Bell (Nick Nolte) in Blue Chips, Neon Boudeaux (Shaq) and Butch McRae (Penny Hardaway) arrived at Bell's college lured by money. Interesting how art often imitates life isn't it? The tip of the iceberg indictments have impacted Arizona, Southern Cal, Oklahoma State, Auburn, Louisville and Miami Before fans, alumni and others get too excited I didn't say anybody was proven guilty yet.
Assistant coaches from several of these schools have been arrested by the FBI. The NCAA with the task of policing college sports was nowhere to be seen, has this organization outlived it's usefulness? As my friend pointed out the "pay for play" might be even more evident in college football. Don't you find it interesting the NCAA which has been so opposed to paying athletes this revelation comes to the forefront without their knowledge? The silence from the NCAA has been deafening.
He can't stay on the court
In 2014 we became acquainted with Dante Exum from Australia. Unlike Ben Simmons who also arrived on these shores from down under both parents of Exum were American. Exum's dad had traveled to Australia to play basketball and that's where son Dante was born. Dante followed in his dad's footsteps picking up the game and excelling at it.
Dante came to the attention of NBA scouts and in 2014 he became the 5th pick in the first round. Exum had an uneventful rookie year and then an injury caused him to miss the entire 2015-16 season. Exum's numbers improved last season and he was looking forward to 2017-18 and it happened once again....injury. a separated shoulder is going to force him to miss another full, at this point we have no idea if the 6-6 Exum can play at the NBA level.
Formidable lineup
Cavs Coach Tyronn Lue announced his opening night starting lineup.
D. Rose-1
D. Wade-2
LeBron-3
Jae Crowder-4
Kevin Love-5
Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and Jose Calderson plus others in reserve. you can see they are loaded. Consider I've yet to mention the injured Isaiah Thomas expected to return in January. It's been reported LeBron James complained privately about the lack of quality players surrounding him. Whether they win in 2018 or not LeBron cannot say in truth he's got no help.
He's the OG
By the age of 40 most of us have settled in that occupation that will become our life's work career as for athletes most retire in their middle 30's. There are always exceptions of course and I was reminded of the exception. I was viewing the Lakers-Kings game on Sunday night and on the court was Vince Carter now 40 years old. Kenny Smith's TNT nicknamed him "Half Man-Half Amazing" for his phenomenal dunks.
Frederic Weiss all 7 feet 2 inches of him never appeared in the NBA. In the 2000 Olympics the 6-6 Carter stole the ball and went up and over Weiss with a thunderous dunk which has become a classic. Weiss drafted by the Knicks never appeared in an NBA game he retired as an active player in 2011. Carter is no longer "Half Man" as he continues to play the game he loves. How much longer, only Carter knows for sure. NOTE: OG stands for Old Guy.
Whoa
I have been one in a number praising the small bit of work we've witnessed from Joel Embiid. After the Sixers center was sidelined for much of his early NBA career he's demonstrated his ability if only for a short 31-game period last season. That must have been enough for Sixers management, they signed Embiid to a 5-year $148 million dollar extension. Nothing is done in the dark so the Sixers must believe he's ready to play for the long-haul.
