The Sixers are playing the Lakers at Staples
Center. The broadcast announcer notes
comedian Kevin Hart is seated courtside and rooting for the Sixers. Hart’s Hollywood connection and he’s rooting
for the Sixers, I had to check his bio.
Surprise on me, I discovered Hart was born and raised in
Philadelphia. I guess that makes it okay
for him to root for the Sixers. There
appears to be an unwritten rule every comedy Hollywood produces must include
Kevin Hart; his movie career is far more extensive than I first thought.
As for the game it provided a national (and
world-wide) audience why the NBA is in such great shape for the future. The Sixers Joel Embiid is 23 years old and
Ben Simmons is 21, as for the Lakers Kyle Kuzma is 22 and Brandon Ingram 20. The quartet clearly displayed their talent
before the gathering at Staples and a television audience. Embiid prove to all when healthy he’s quite a
force to be dealt with.
The Sixer center went around, up and over the top of
Robin Lopez, Andrew Bogut and later Julius Randle in fact Randle fouled out
attempting to guard Embiid. The box
score read 46 points on 14-20 from the floor, 7 blocks 7 assists and 15
rebounds. Sixer big man Embiid has every
shot including out to 3-point range. Oh,
did I mention the guy can shoot free-throws (16-19) and in his footwork around
the basket takes us back to the days of Hakeem Olajuwon. The Sixers thanks to Embiid and Simmons beat
my Lakers 115-109.
What if
I saw this the other day and
thought it interesting, the idea behind it changing history just by saying “What if”. The history of the Kansas City Kings
indicates there were several events that could have turned this franchise
around. As for the names some might be
unfamiliar to you but trust me…. I’ve completed research on this account. With the Kansas City Kings there were a
number of these…. changes that occurred which may have allowed the team to
remain in Kansas City. What if the Kansas City Kings
had drafted Moses Malone instead of Ron Boone?
What if they chose
Adrian Dantley instead of Richard Washington, Hall of Fame Dantley that is.
What if instead of choosing Ennis Whatley those same Kings chose Clyde
Drexler. Hall of Fame Drexler. What
if adequate financing would have allowed them to keep Scott Wedman and
Otis Birdsong. What if for no other reason than civic pride Royals owner
decided to purchase the Kings when local ownership placed the team on the
market. After floundering around in
Kansas City, the team was finally on the right course with Cotton Fitzsimmons
as head coach. What if Fitzsimmons had remained coaching the Kings, he left
after a re-build and making several shrewd draft choices. He might have seen the handwriting on the
wall the direction the franchise was headed in Kansas City.
It’s been stated in several
circles the NBA required a successful team in New York City. Well that’s not exactly true, check out the
Knicks record over the last several years.
The last five years the high-water winning mark was 37 games in
2013-14. It was my belief Phil Jackson would
turn the franchise around although PJ had no front office experience. Well the experiment with PJ proved to not
work properly so exit stage right for him.
A new administration and a change, after what appeared to be years of
attempting a trade Carmelo Anthony was finally dealt to the Thunder.
I don’t know how much PJ played
a part, but two players were drafted which its hoped they would become building
blocks of the future, Kristaps Porzingis and Frank Ntilikina. Ntilikina is barely on the court and you are
referring to him as a building block? Yes,
I am, the 6-5-point guard will eventually move up in the rotation to become the
starter. The process is ongoing and with
the change at the top might take a little longer than originally planned. In any event one day the Knicks will return
to the top ranks of the NBA again.
