Kansas
and North Carolina State made headlines again, this time it wasn’t on the
court. It was in the court of public
opinion. Athletes have been reported to
have received financial rewards to attend Adidas schools. One of the names mentioned was Billy Preston
who never played at Kansas. All last
fall the report was Preston had an automobile accident and it was under
investigation. This story continued and
continued and then BAM he’s gone, Preston never received clearance to play and
left the school to turn professional in Europe.
Kansas
fans please note, I’m not stating Bill Self or Kansas had a hand in this
issue. As this was being completed a
second name that of Silvio De Sousa, it’s hinted a family member received
payment from Adidas for him to attend Kansas.
As mentioned Preston never played, that is not the case for De Sousa,
Kansas might be forced to forfeit the 20 games he appeared in including its Final
Four appearance. This story is still
evolving, the final installment is yet to be written.
Bits n Pieces
This
is what they refer to as a good news story.
Guard Andre Ingram played in the D/G League 10-years waiting on an NBA
call. The phone finally rang, and the
call came from the Lakers, he suited up on Tuesday against the Rockets. Although he couldn’t help them win the
32-year old rookie scored 19 points 3 blocked shots and 3 rebounds in his first
NBA game. Ingram was 4 for 5 behind the
3-point line, quite a debut and a “feel-good” NBA report. If the basketball thing doesn’t work out he
can teach, he’s got a physics degree.
I
had to check out the Urban Dictionary for a definition, the Warriors Kevin Durant has hung the
nickname “unicorn” on Kristaps Porzingis.
I was confused but just took it for a nickname, it was different. As I indicated I decided to define unicorn in
words other than mine, in the dictionary there are several definitions but this
one stands out. “Someone who is hard to catch or
simply a very rare find,” I think that fits Porzingis.
Quin
Snyder was a profanity for me at one point in time. I was upset in 2006 when he left Mizzou
before the season was complete. He took
a job as a D-League head coach also served 3 seasons as an NBA assistant and a
stint with CSKA Moscow. He was hired as
head coach of the Jazz in 2014 and since that time has maintained an upward
trend for the Jazz. The 2017-18 season
might be his best yet, the Jazz have excelled despite losing Gordon
Hayward.
Listen to the Doctor
That
is, you should listen to the words of your medical doctor as well as Sixer legend Dr. J. Cris Carter had a successful NFL and not NBA career, allow me to state that at the
beginning. On his Fox Sports program; “First Things First” he took exception to
the words of Julius Erving. The Sixers
erected a statue of Dr. J. outside the teams practice facility. After the ceremony apparently, he was asked
about rookie Ben Simmons and this was his response: “Once-in-a-decade, maybe once-in-a-lifetime-type player”. We must guess the words of Dr. J. concerned
Carter, he reminded the viewers although talented Simmons is yet to play a
complete season.
He
also said Simmons can’t shoot past 10 feet from the basket. Seems I remember another guy who came into
the league with no jumper, what was his name Ervin, no they referred to him by
his nickname I think it was Magic. I
wonder how he turned out? No disagreement
with the length of time played but there are factors to consider. We have no effective method to peer into the
future, Dr. J. must have been impressed by what he’s witnessed rather than attempting
to thank the Sixers for the statue as Carter stated. Who do you trust on this question the words
of Cris Carter former NFL player or Dr. J., a member of the Top 50 All-Time NBA
team and numerous other awards.
