Basketball from a fans perspective
I
had no response
I’ve mentioned on several occasions in
the past my wife is a casual NBA fan, she hardly knows any of today’s NBA
players except maybe LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and Dwayne
Wade. She probably only knows Wade due
to the fact he’s married to actress Gabrielle Union, she is acquitted with the
Ball family thanks to yours truly. I
informed her Lonzo had purchased a $300,000 Rolls-Royce as a Christmas gift to
his parents. My wife said: “Did they ask
for it?” I had no further comment
because I didn’t have an answer to her question and its clear to me my wife was
unimpressed.
Integrity
I’ve mentioned this at least once last
season and it’s worth mentioning again with another
incident. The Christmas day game between
the Warriors and Cavs contained errors.
The NBA office in its “Last Two Minute” report indicated game officials
missed three fouls on Durant and one by LeBron as they guarded one
another. Game officials have missed
calls since the beginning of time is there a purpose in later admitting an
error was made?
Trivia
Tick, tick, tick the clock is ticking, do
you have the answer? Remember I stated
both have been mentioned in past basketball stories. The answer is Nate Thurmond and Gus Johnson
and I’ll provide a brief bio. Gus
Johnson was born in Akron Ohio in 1938 three years later Nate Thurmond was born
also from Akron. The 6-11 Thurmond and 6-6 power forward
Johnson were teammates at Central High School in the city. After outstanding NBA careers Thurmond would
be enshrined in the Naismith and College Basketball Hall of Fame and Johnson in
the Naismith Hall.
Johnson was nicknamed “Honeycomb” by his
college coach due to his sweet play.
Kareem Abdul Jabbar claimed of all the opposing centers he faced
Thurmond played him toughest. Johnson would
die in 1987 at age of 48 from brain cancer, Thurmond passed away at age 74 in
2016 from leukemia. I researched this
duo, as far as I could determine this is the only instance of two high
school teammates in the HOF. As I
indicated there are baseball and football teammates enshrined in the NFL Hall
in Canton and Cooperstown for baseball however they became teammates in college
or in the professional ranks.
Six
months from now
It’s not June, we
have plenty of time to decide who becomes the top pick in the 2018 NBA draft. DraftXpress
is asking should Luka Doncic be that pick, their contention the Slovenia’s is a
pro currently versus a Bagley or Ayton who still retain amateur status. If Doncic does indeed become the top choice
it will not be the first time an international play has been the top pick. I researched NBA draft history and you
probably knew this, but I wanted to remind you.
In 2002 Yao Ming
was made the first choice in the draft by the Rockets, in 2005 Andrew Bogut
became the pick that year by the Bucks.
The following year in 2006 Andrea Bargnani was the choice of the
Raptors. Several players had parents who
were born elsewhere although their off-spring were born here. In addition, I didn’t list any Canadian
players (Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett).
So, as you can see if Doncic is made the top pick in June he wouldn’t be
the first foreign born player.
