Basketball from a fans perspective
Embiid filled up the stat sheet
Joel Embiid led the way in a Sixer
victory over the Celtics in Boston 89-80.
The final score might indicate it was a close game….it wasn’t. As for Mr. “Trust the Process” his box score
was 26 points shooting 10 for 19 from the floor, 16 rebounds 6 assists and 2 blocked shots. All in an evening's work Mr. Embiid might say.
His words
I’m not going to detail the account
in full but did wish to provide Austin Rivers side of Austin Rivers. The Clippers guard indicates there are varied
reasons for opposing players view of him.
The quick take away, unlike most black athletes Austin is a child of
privilege, with dad being an NBA player he didn’t grow up in the manner of most
of his contemporaries. At the same time,
he feels the pressure being the coaches’ son, he admits he’s got an aloof
attitude.
2011
A portion of this storyline is from
a Kansas City Star article. The world
was certainly different 7 years ago, in 2018 we experience a “What if” moment
in time. In 2011 Mike Anderson announced
he was leaving for his dream job at Arkansas. Mizzou was scrambling to pinpoint
a replacement head coach; Cuonzo Martin was then head coach at Missouri State
but was under consideration for the Mizzou job according to the Kansas City
Star. Mike Alden then athletic director
wanted badly to hire Matt Painter at Purdue, Mizzou wanted Martin to stand by
while they attempted to confirm Painter as the new coach. The dominoes began to fall, Purdue fearing Painter
would leave offered him a huge pay increase to remain and Martin departed for
Tennessee.
Mizzou then hired Frank Haith from
Miami (FL) who was later implicated in an NCAA infraction which occurred while
he served as Miami’s head coach. In 2014
Haith departed for Tulsa and was replaced by Kim Anderson former Mizzou player
and assistant coach on Norm Stewart’s staff.
Anderson from Division II Central Missouri was over-matched, not in
coaching ability but in recruiting top notch talent. Losing became the norm for Mizzou basketball until Cuonzo Martin was
hired and begin to attract better basketball talent. Could Mizzou’s basketball fortunes have taken
a different direction 7 years ago, that certainly would appear to be the case. Has Mizzou turned a corner, this question requires
an annual assessment and cannot be answered after half a season.
Bits n Pieces
We’ve heard
the term numerous times, “Age ain’t nothing but a number.” Fans of the Kings, Bucks and Spurs are aware of
this fact. Vince Carter, Jason Terry and
Manu Ginobili have all turned 40 years of age, an age when most in the NBA have
retired. Carter is in year 20 while
Terry is in his 19th year and Ginobil in year 15. All three are in a reserve role with their
respective teams.
I was surprised, no I was shocked at the time I discovered the facts. I’m referring to the number of father-son combos playing in the NBA. My original intent was to list the names but there were far too many and too little space to include all. I discovered there were 4 grandfather-grandson’s and 72 father-son combos, I will list just a few:
Rick Barry Jon, Brent and Drew Barry
Joe Bryant Kobe Bryant
Dell Curry Steph and Seth Curry
Stan Love Kevin Love
It’s an interesting notion, a
friend suggesting Mizzou’s point guard problem could be resolved next season by
a grad transfer. We never know the
adjustment I remember one transfer, he was a double-digit scorer at his former
school but could never duplicate the effort at Mizzou. On the other hand, shooting guard Kassius Robertson has worked out well for Mizzou, he transferred from Canisius in Buffalo (NY).
Officiating basketball whether its
high school, college or the NBA has got to be the toughest of all sports. In addition to the small dimensions of the
court the speed of the game exacerbates the problem, even three officials
cannot always be in the proper position to make the call. In the college and NBA game instant replay
has helped if there is a play requiring review, you cannot use it on the number
of plays that might occur during a typical basketball game. Baseball other than balls and strikes might
be the easiest sport to officiate.
