Basketball from a fans perspective

Jon Gruden needed wanted a job

The NFL Raiders will name Jon Gruden head coach next week.  I stated recently the NBA required no “Rooney Rule”, the league had been much fairer in hiring black and minority coaches than the NFL.  Gruden has head coaching experience and certainly is qualified to serve; the issue is the Raiders did not to my knowledge interview anyone other than Gruden.  The NFL should do what it says not what it does, Commissioner Adam Silver might be able to offer a degree of insight for his NFL counterpart Roger Goodell.   

It’s bound to happen

This isn’t intended to be a negative although it might first appear it's just that.  Freshman sometimes become disenchanted if they fail to receive adequate playing time, that may be the issue for former Mizzou point guard Blake Harris.  Harris requested and was granted a release, he indicated he will seek a school closer to his North Carolina home.  Let’s check ahead rather than behind, Terrance Phillips should receive more playing time if he can cut-down on his turnover problem.  Jordan Geist will also be given additional minutes, whether it proves beneficial we must adopt a wait and see.  As for 2017-18 Mizzou has two-point guards on their radar, offers have been made to: 

Courtney Ramey 6-3 4-star prospect Webster Groves Missouri  

Jon Kabongo 6-1 4-star prospect Toronto Ontario (Canada)

There is a concern, Harris becomes the second player leaving the program in the space of two months.  Consider both players are also freshman and point guards, unless you are Trae Young the leap from point guard in high school to college might be as wide as the Grand Canyon.           

“If it ain’t broke why try to fix it?”

There have been instances (I admit my guilt) I tinker with something attempting to enhance it.  Sometimes I’ve made the task more difficult than when I began it.  That’s the case with the “new revised” NBA All-Star format.  “The team rosters will be chosen by two captains for the pool of players voted as starters and reserves.  The captains will be the All-Star starter from each conference who receives the most fan votes in his conference.”  The chief difficulty with this change is why?  Did complaints exist about the age-old east-west format?  I’m not going to avoid watching the game…. I’m an NBA fan, I’m just not sure of the intent. 

NBA.com

Sure, blame the other guy

Recently I wrote of the Knicks Michael Beasley and his “break-out” year, his Knick team would face one of his past teams the Heat.  This meeting caused Beasley to briefly re-visit the past, he claims there is no issue now but the coach (Spoelstra) could have been more supportive of him.  A couple of points, the Heat had a young coach who endured a tremendous amount of pressure in his first attempt at managing a team. 

In addition to being new on the job he was challenged with managing the egos of LeBron, Dwayne and Chris.  Despite his talent Beasley had maturity issues the first time he arrived in Miami.  How about the second and third time the Heat picked up Beasley?  Might the coach have dealt with him based on some of the players past issues?  This sounds like an indictment of Beasley, that’s not the intent.  Beasley needs to look at his time in Miami and conclude he might not have been the most professional he could have been.