Basketball from a fans perspective

Where is he

Anybody seen Markelle Fultz?  You remember him don’t you, number one pick in the 2018 NBA draft highly touted point guard.  The prevailing view after the draft the Sixers added the best point guard in the draft to their roster, Lonzo Ball was in second or maybe third place among point guards.  Once NBA teams opened training camp a strange thing occurred, Fultz began a strange awkward shooting motion. 

At the free-throw line he looked as though he had a hitch in his shooting motion at the line.  The Sixers shut him down after the first four games and he later had surgery to address the shoulder issue.  As the calendar turned from December to January the Sixer reports indicate Fultz is about ready to return.  It will be interesting to see Fultz in action and his desire to prove to all his claim of being the best point guard in the draft.     

Basketball almost becomes secondary

I thought about this subject prior to sitting down and detailing my thoughts.  I believe we expected LaVar Ball to defend the accusations leveled at BBB by the Better Business Bureau.  The response was certainly juvenile in my view, “I thought the Better Business Bureau had gone out of business,” he went on to explain YELP was a better source.  I might ask the question of LaVar what makes YELP a superior source over the bureau, I’ve read complaint letters regarding YELP long before BBB arrived in the market place.  Why not hire a publicist to address the bureau complaints rather than detailing your lack of depth, understanding and potential fall-out from this negative news? 

Dick Groat

Groat played basketball for Duke, in the 1951-52 season scored 26 points and 7.9 assists, he was second in scoring but led the nation in assists.  You might ask how come you haven’t heard of him, the answer is simple Groat chose baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates over the one year he played for the Fort Wayne Pistons.  Groat had a very successful 15-year career mostly playing shortstop. 

What’s the connection you ask, point guard Groat came close Oklahoma’s Trae Young is doing it.  Young is leading the nation is scoring and assists.  Groat was in his senior year in 1951-52 at Duke while Young is near the middle of his freshman year.  NBADraft net in its first update for the new year moved Young to the number two slot in their mock draft.    

Lonzo is on “fire”

That’s not really the case I just wanted to get your attention.  The Laker 9-game losing streak might have been exacerbated by the Lonzo injury.  Consider the fact he missed six games with the shoulder problem, I’m not stating he’s turned the corner however he’s played much better than at the beginning of the season.  His scoring average (minus the injury) has improved over the last eight games his field goal percentage is still too low however his assists (7.0) and rebounds (6.9) have remained steady.  Free-throw shooting remains an issue and demand improvement.