Basketball from a fans perspective  

Sonny Hill 

The name might be unfamiliar to most of you, Sonny Hill is 81-years old.  You ask who is Hill, he's Philadelphia basketball whether its high school, college or the NBA.  Hill comes by his love of the game as a former basketball player, at one point he was a regular analyst at the time the CBS Network held the NBA broadcast rights.  Hill serves as an advisor for the NBA Sixers and is in the Philadelphia Hall of Fame.  There is even a youth basketball league that bears his name. 

If Wilt Chamberlain had lived, he would have turned 81-years old as well, see where I'm headed?  Hill grew up in Philadelphia at the same time of Wilt Chamberlain, there were several opportunties for Hill to see the young and budding force Chamberlain would later become Wilt the Stilt and a legend.  Listen to this, Hill says Joel Embiid can become a "young Wilt Chamberlain."  That's a strong statement for Hill and one he claims to have never made regarding any player of the past.  

The strange journey of the Ball family

The latest news involving LaVar Ball shouldn’t surprise at this time.  I speak of LaVar I withdrawing LiAngelo from UCLA and the basis was the suspension of his son and two teammates regarding the shoplifting charges while the team was in China.  In October LaVar withdrew youngest son LiMelo from Chino Hills High School and decided in favor of home schooling him.  This truly appears to be a train wreck in the manner both stories have played out.  LaVar Ball is exploiting his sons, not my words what I read in USA Today. The reported basis for this move LaVar was upset with the Chino Hills coach as he cut two players LaVar wanted on the team.  

    

Do you sense a common theme regarding LaVar?  LaVar must always be in control whenever an issue involves him or his family whatever the issue involves, rules don’t apply to him they only apply to those around him.  I keep reading reports “He’s a good father”, I don’t live his life but if it’s on display as it has been I’m going to comment on it.  I’m not sure if he wins Father of the Year based on his public actions.  I believed (incorrectly on my part) LaVar Ball would “slow” once Lonzo was drafted.  Instead he’s accelerated his over the top mantra.  Why would any program college or NBA want to be involved with him or his sons at this point? 

Their decision is known

Bol Bol Rivals number three prospect in the Class of 2018 made it known.  As mentioned earlier Bol committed to Oregon on November 19.  With this seven of the top 10 Rivals have now made their intentions known.  This leaves number two Zion Williamson, number six Romeo Langford and number nine Jordan Brown as the only top 10 prospects uncommitted at the beginning of December. 

There remains plenty of time for the three to choose a college, so they are not under any required time-table.  We know of Williamson however we might not be as familiar with the others, so the following is a brief thumbnail sketch of them.  Langford is a 6-4 shooting guard from New Albany Indiana which is part of metro Louisville Kentucky.  Brown is a 6-10 power forward and hails from Napa California.  

Bits n Pieces  

I sit in the middle of Big 12 country and see something I find difficult to believe.  If you check the Top 25 on November 27 it says the Big 12 now has 5 of its 10 schools in the Top 25.  This is not to degrade any of the conference teams, but this is quite interesting based on the history of the Big 12 as the season unfolds.

“Lonzo Ball reminds me of myself” were the words of Magic Johnson president of basketball operations for the Lakers.  I took the quote with a degree of skepticism for several reasons.  Magic arrived in the NBA as an average shooter however he was much better than Lonzo.  As for rebounds and assists Lonzo might be comparable to Magic however his passive game is a concern. 

Phil Johnson might hold a record, he may be the only NBA coach fired twice by the same team.  From 1973-78 he coached the Kansas City-Omaha/Kansas City Kings, he was fired in January 1978.  In 1984 the team re-hired Johnson and he remained head coach once the team moved to Sacramento he was fired again in 1988.