Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday-May through September
A changing of the guard
There
is no doubting the talent of LeBron James, we have marveled at his game for the
last past 15 years. Has the time come
when LeBron can no longer yield his team to a win? “They
imposed their will on the Cavaliers”
was the comment by analyst Mark Jackson.
After the blowout win in Game one the entire world expected the Cavs to
come out of the locker room breathing fire.
Final score Celtics 107 Cavs 94.
One game fails to make a series
The
Rockets have home court advantage having won more regular season games. I have no intention of boring you with
details of a game you probably witnessed.
Kevin Durant led the way for the Warriors in their 119-106 win over the
Rockets. Durant scored 37 points while
Klay Thompson lent assistance with 28 points.
Steph Curry chipped in with 18 points, he shot .533 from the floor along
with 8 assists. James Harden had a
typical Harden game, 41 points 7 assists shooting .853 from the floor. Chris Paul scored 23 points and 11 rebounds
and Eric Gordon off the bench with 15 points.
The Warriors follow the Celtics by taking Game one.
He’s more adult than you
Not
all adults should be a source of information and direction for youngsters. Notice I said not all, in this instance I speak of 66-year old Skip Bayless of
Fox Sports. Many realize Vanderbilt is
probably the best known academic school in the southeast however the school has
a very good basketball program. As
reported earlier #6 Rivals guard Class of 2018 prospect Romeo Langford reduced
the number of schools he was considering to Kansas, Indiana and
Vanderbilt. He chose his home state team
the Indiana Hoosiers however the decision of an 18-year old failed to please
66-year old Skip Bayless.
This
is the tweet Bayless sent Langford, “Hey
Romeo Langford: I respect & understand your decision to stay in state and
play for Indiana. But should’ve signed
with the best school in the country, Vanderbilt, and joined a recruiting class
that could’ve contended for a national championship.” What do you see wrong with the picture
besides the obvious? This old fool
(Bayless) for sake of a headline or something else inserts himself in the middle
of this young man’s decision, shame on you Bayless. I want every prospect Cuonzo Martin sends an
offer to sign with Mizzou, at the same time I know it ain’t gonna happen.
NBA Draft
There
are noteworthy events in the life of the NBA, other than the NBA championship
the draft is probably right up there from a historical perspective. We are a little over a month away from the June
21 date, last night the lottery was held to determine the order teams would choose. I don’t believe Michael Porter Jr. was ever
the top pick in any pre-season mock draft however he was number 2 or 3
depending on which one you read.
It
seems since December we’ve gone back and forth on the top pick. Most sites say the top pick will be either
the talented center from Arizona DeAndre Ayton or Luka Doncic from
Slovenia. The Suns tabbed Igor Kokoskov
from Serbia as their head coach, he’s already gone on record indicating he
likes Doncic’s game. Question, does he
take a chance and draft Doncic or Ayton who is in the Suns “backyard?” That question and others will not be fully
addressed until the night of June 21.
This is interesting
The
Tornados were a playoff casualty losing to the Yakima (WA) Sun Kings. The Pacific Northwest team face the
Albany Patroons which is historic.
Historic in the sense both teams pre-date the North American Premier
League which they now call home. Yakima
began life in the Continental Basketball Association in 1990. In 2008 suffering economic loss operations
were shut down until a “new” Sun Kings was re-born in a new league in
2017.
Not
many minor league teams can claim the legendary Phil Jackson began his coaching
career in Albany before the Bulls and Lakers.
In fact, his Albany Patroons won a Continental Basketball
Championship. The Patroons left the CBA
for a period playing in the United States Basketball League before returning to
the CBA, in 2017 they too joined the new league. Many former individuals with NBA connections
made an appearance over the years with Albany.
Among the names Bill Musselman, Scott Brooks, Mario Elie and George Karl
to name a few.
Draft Combine
Today
69 invited players will undergo a series of workouts in Chicago to aid in
determining their draft status. As usual
several players skipped the event and will conduct individual workouts. The absentees include likely number one pick
DeAndre Ayton plus top International prospects Luka Doncic and Dzanan Musa along with Robert Williams
Texas A&M. If you care the action will be available on ESPN2 live streamed on WatchESPN.
