Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday-May through September
Surprise, surprise
You
have all the details however just a few notes.
The Celtics raced out to a 36-18 first quarter lead and never looked
back. The Cavs outscored the Celtics
29-17 in the third quarter but surrendered 30 points in the 4th
quarter leading them to a 108-83 win. One game does not make a series, but Game
1 proved quite interesting.
Interesting
Surprising
news relating to the NBA draft next month, the Lakers along with other NBA
teams worked out an unknown player from China.
When I read the name came surprise number two, Abudushalamu Abudurexit,
he’s a 6-foot 8-inch 187 pound small forward.
His name certainly didn’t appear to be similar to any Chinese name I’d
ever read. I was as curious as much about
the prospect as his name, a further investigation provided an explanation.
“Abudurexit is a Uyghur, a minority group
living in East and Central Asia in the
Peoples Republic of China.” Did he
impress enough in the workouts for the Lakers or some other NBA team to draft
him? That question will remain
unanswered until next month. I would say
don’t expect to hear his name in the first round however it could occur in the mid
to late second round if he impressed one of these teams. On the other hand, if he’s not drafted there
is the possibility of signing a free-agent contract.
Headed to the Virgin Islands
Mizzou
will travel to the Virgin Islands November 16-24 taking part in the Annual
Paradise Jam Tournament. Other
participants invited include Eastern Kentucky, Kennesaw State, Northern Iowa,
Old Dominion, Oregon State and Penn.
Mizzou will be making a first-time appearance as will Oregon State, Penn
and Kennesaw State. In other Mizzou news
the incoming crop of players have plans at work. Xavier Pinson the 6-foot 1-inch point guard
packs 158 pounds on his slim frame, he plans on weighing 170 pounds by the time
school begins. K.J. Santos 6-foot 8 inch
forward checked in originally at a slender 200 pounds has bulked up and now
weighs 230 pounds.
As
you can see both players preparing for the rigors of SEC play believed it might
be advantageous to acquire additional weight.
Hopefully the added weight will prove beneficial and not cause either to
lose quickness. As for that recruitment
thing I believe this was mentioned previously.
Mizzou made a big-time splash last season adding Michael Porter Jr. and
others to the roster. Although injuries
prevented them from the season most expected Mizzou was still pretty good. As for 2018 according to ESPN Mizzou has the
47th rated class in the nation.
That might not appear significant however considering there are somewhere
around 300 Division I basketball teams I’d say that’s still a respectable
number.
A brave soul
Despite
the Hawks history with coaches, despite the fact the Coach of the Year was just fired. With the uncertainty of serving as an NBA coach why would anyone
want the job? With that statement in our
rear-view mirror let us proceed to the business at hand. Lloyd Pierce has been named Hawks coach
replacing the departed Mike Budenholzer.
Pierce comes from Brett Brown’s staff and the Sixers, he’s also served
as an assistant at several NBA stops . All
I can say I understand the desire to be a head coach, but NBA teams certainly
don’t allow much planning for the future unless you are a Gregg Popovich.
Kryptonite
I
misspelled his name the other day, it should have been D w a n e
Casey. I guess it doesn’t matter anyway,
the Raptors decided to fire the NBA Coach of the Year after 7 seasons at the
helm. I guess it must be LeBron James
and the Cavs who became the Kryptonite for the Raptors. First place finish in the 2017-18 season and
the Raptors still couldn’t beat their nemesis.
I hope Casey gets another job at some point, the guy can coach he just
ran into LeBron James too many times.
We understand
LaVar
Ball’s been out of the country, he’s been in Lithuania supporting his middle
and youngest son on their pro basketball debut.
Now they (he) is back from Europe the caw-caw begins again. Those of you who read Words eye view know I
love me some Lakers but I ain’t brain-dead.
The Spurs Kawhi Leonard played only 9 games in the 2017-18 season
sidelined by an injury.
I
didn’t have the opportunity to hear the radio broadcast, I’m not even sure how
the conversation began but this is the elder Ball’s response. "Stop it! ... Hell no. Lonzo, I'm
gonna tell you what he does, makes everyone on the team better. Who don't want
to start a team with that? You put Kawhi on there, he won't make everyone
better. He's gonna do his thing. He's a specialty guy.” There is no requirement for me to do a player comparison
despite Ball’s opinion we know the truth don’t we?
