“The glass is half full”
If
you’ve read Words eye view any length
of time you know the headline is one of my themes. Nothing is as bad as it looks until you get
there. In this case I’m discussing point
guard Courtney Ramey and his decision to play for Shaka Smart at Texas. Smart’s had a rough time since his arrival in
Austin however I maintain he’s a good coach.
I hope for Ramey’s sake is transition to college basketball is smooth
and he shows great promise. I would
prefer he chose Mizzou but that’s all water under the bridge now. I had to remind my friend losing out to Texas
is not the end of the world. As I
indicated earlier point guard transfer Dru Smith will not be eligible to play
until 2019-20, what do we do in the meantime.
Jordan
Geist led the team in assists returns in that role, Xavier Pinson is likely to
back him up coming in as a freshman. An
article I read on a Mizzou fan website stated Cuonzo Martin believes in
position-less basketball. With that said the Tigers add two freshman shooting guards and one wing player to the 2018-19
roster. Here’s what we didn’t know
headed into the 2017-18 season, although shaky at times Geist led the team in
assists plus big man Jeremiah Tilmon is expected to have an improved sophomore
year. In addition, there is another
player or two I’ve missed who comes to the forefront. I say rather than “half empty the glass is half full.”
Most don't know
I didn’t realize until I began research for this account, Russell Westbrook was
drafted by the Seattle Sonics in 2008.
Unlike former teammate Kevin Durant who played one year in the Emerald
City Westbrook has been strictly Oklahoma City.
On Friday night the Thunder came up short once again losing to the Jazz
96-91 and the series 4 games to 2. The
game remains a team effort however the point guard controls much of the game, Westbrook
dominates the basketball to the degree his teammates defer far too much to him
in my view.
If
we just look at Westbrook’s scoring during this series it looks good (29.4 ppg),
as for the shooting that’s another matter.
.397 from the floor indicates you are not shooting proficiently. I ain’t calling this one way or another
however the question becomes what incentive is there for Paul George. He’s got to want to approach winning an NBA championship,
I stated a week or so ago and will repeat it.
The Thunder will continue as a playoff team as structured, with
Westbrook dominating the ball they will never win a championship. After 9 years in the NBA Westbrook still
fails to tailor his game to augment his team.
Hardship
The
NBA had a hard-fast rule, you couldn’t play until your college class graduated. Wilt Chamberlain
left Kansas after his junior year, he would play the 1958-59 season with the
Harlem Globetrotters. In 1959 he began
his NBA career with the Philadelphia (Golden State) Warriors. The upstart American Basketball Association
had no such rule in fact they drafted players right out of high school
something the NBA at the time frowned on.
All a player had to do was declare themselves a “Hardship Case” and
presto-changeo their name would be added to the draft list of available players.
The
NBA realizing this talent drain also began accepting hardship players into
their draft pool. You know the balance
of the story, the leagues eventually merged.
The NBA begin reaching into the high school ranks for players such as
Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady and others.
The 2005 NBA Draft would see the last high school players drafted with a
few exceptions. At least two players
left high school for foreign shores to play at a pro level and returned a year
later. Recently we had the case of Thon
Maker and soon in 2018 Anfernee Simmons.
In their case the high school class graduated a year previous, they
played what could be a 5th year and had turned age 19 thus eligible
for the draft.
State Line Road
I’m
sure other states contained a State Line Road a street dividing two states. The street in Kansas City (MO) divides the State of Kansas from the State of Missouri,
it runs between 13 and 21 miles inside the metro before it changes names in the
southern portion of Kansas City Missouri.
The Kansas Missouri side of the metro has witnessed several area players
head to Columbia to play at Mizzou. As
for players on the Kansas side headed to Mizzou there have been very few. In 1976 guard Larry Drew arrived on campus at
Mizzou from Kansas City Kansas. Drew
might be the last player from the State of Kansas to play for Mizzou, it works
in the other direction too.
In
1989 the late Chris Lindley and Patrick Richey on the Missouri side signed letters
of intent to play at Kansas. An accident
prevented Lindley from playing however Richey played four years in
Lawrence. In January 2018 Ochai Agbaji
signed a letter of intent to play at Kansas, Ogbaji attends Oak Park High
School in Kansas City (MO). Mizzou’s
made an offer to Rivals 5-star 2019 prospect Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, the 6-foot
8 inch forward attends Bishop Miege High School on the metro Kansas side. It should be of note Robinson-Earl’s dad
played basketball at Kansas. As you can
see there is little talent crossing back and forth between the two states. Is there some kind of unwritten rule
preventing recruiting in each other’s back yard? Although Kansas and Missouri now compete in
different conferences nothing has changed.
