Rookie of the Year
The ESPN TV production
staff posted a rookie stat comparison of Magic Johnson and Sixer Ben Simmons during
the Sunday evening game. The numbers are
so close it’s almost unreal, however consider this bit of NBA history. Magic Johnson was not Rookie of the Year for the 1979-80 season, that honor belonged to a guy named Larry Joe Bird.
Shut up Stephen A. Smith
On Friday the ever-wise sage of ESPN decided
to impart us word of wisdom
regarding Lonzo Ball.
As usual he missed the target which is somewhat common place for him at
times. As this is written Lonzo Ball of
the Lakers is shooting .369 from the floor and scoring at some 10.4 points per
game clip. Contrast those numbers with Jason
Kidd in his first year? He was clearly
better than Ball at .385 from the floor and 11.7 points per game, Kidd was
0.016 from the floor and 1.3 ppg better.
I ain’t saying Lonzo is approaching the level of Jason Kidd but give him
a break, he’s not as bad as many of you claim especially you Mr. Smith. You contend Ball is not aggressive enough that's open for debate.
Research
Depends on your perspective I guess, this is
not going to be complimentary to Kansas basketball. You can cease reading at this point if you
prefer, I made a statement regarding the strength of the Big 12. I pointed out only one of the nine teams
(excluding conference games) was below .500.
A friend posed the question; “If the conference is so strong how Kansas
can win 14 consecutive championships?”
The other day a couple of local radio sports
talk host said; “Kansas is a blue-blood program, they are up there with
Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina.” How
many seasons have they played basketball you ask? Kansas has played 119 seasons, Kentucky 114,
and North Carolina 107 the remainder have played a shorter number of
seasons. Now for the real difference
between the programs, NCAA Championships. The figures below are from 2016-17
season the most recent available date.
You can draw your own conclusions from the information provided.
Kentucky 2,237
Kansas 2,217
North Carolina 2,206
Duke 2,115
Temple 1,886
NCAA Championships
UCLA 11
Kentucky 8
North Carolina 6
Duke 5
Kansas 3
Who should we take?
ESPN.com’s NBA page
posed the question, “Who do the Sixers take in the draft?” I didn’t read the account but checked mock
draft sites. The Sixers have the number
10 and number 18 pick in the first round of the 2018 draft, in addition they
have four picks in the second round. I’m
going to play general manager here, they are not…. repeat not going to add six
players to their existing roster. It’s
likely two or maybe three of the second-round players are drafted but included
as part of a trade package.
