Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday-May through September
Caught off guard
Stan
Van Gundy and the Pistons have parted ways after 4 seasons. This news caught many of us off guard in the
same manner of Mike Budenholzer’s with the Hawks. Despite my error there are additional
openings in the association with the Bucks, Hawks, and now Pistons searching
for coaches. I think that’s all for now
without checking however there could be more.
Budenholzer and Van Gundy were not fired they left due to issues with management,
might there be others too? In other
coaching news the Hornets intend to hire Spurs assistant James Borrengo to fill
the head coaching position. So much for
the view once held NBA teams are unwilling to hire assistants to serve as a
head coach.
She tore into the NCAA
She tore into the NCAA
Kylia Carter
played basketball at Ol Miss, she is likely more familiar than most of us with
the rules and regulations of the NCAA.
Her son Wendall Carter a McDonald’s All American played one season at
Duke and declared for the NBA draft. In
a recent panel discussion of college athletics and basketball she voiced her
view when it was her turn to speak. She
called out the NCAA for its operational methods rules and regulations.
“The problem that I see is not with the student-athletes, it’s not with the coaches or the institutions of higher learning but it’s with a system … where the laborers are the only people that are not being compensated for the work that they do while those in charge receive mighty compensation,” she said. “The only two systems where I’ve known that to be in place are slavery and the prison system. And now I see the NCAA as overseers of a system that is identical to that. So it’s difficult for me to sit here and not say that there is a problem that is sickening.”
The last OG's
LeBron James is 33 years old, regardless of his age he is playing the best basketball of his career. The question might be could he play 5 or 6 more years? The Spurs Manu Ginobili remains a question mark but if he decides to play one more year he will have turned 41. Jason Terry of the Bucks has already gone on recording indicating he intends to return next season, he’s also 41 years old.
“Half-Man-Half Amazing” Vince Carter of the Kings is already 41 and will turn 42 prior to the 2018-19 season concluding. What is with these “dinosaurs”, they play because they love the game. They also play because they are in excellent physical condition for their age. Can LeBron James play another 6 years, if we used the players listed as a guide its certainly possible. It should be noted for those who might be unfamiliar with the term OG it stands for Old Guy but don’t used that term to refer to the trio of Ginobili, Terry or Carter.
Season ending
The
Kansas City Tornados lost to the Yakima Sunkings 112-96 on Monday evening, the
Sunkings win the playoff series 2 games to 1.
The Tornados making the playoffs in their first year of existence is
impressive despite coming up short at the end.
The North American Premier Basketball League will never compare to the
NBA but I’m sure that’s not the intent.
The desire is to gather a bunch of former college players who either
couldn’t or didn’t want to play in Europe or the NBA-G League. As pointed out earlier this 8-team league
will expand by 3 teams next season adding Tampa, Raleigh (NC) and Bellevue (WA). The key of course is $$$$ for this league or
any organization or business intending to sustain itself.
They moved it
They moved it
I
believe the NBA Draft Combine has been held in Chicago since its inception,
this year is an exception. The event scheduled for May 16-20 will be held at the
Barclays Center in Brooklyn, invitations have been extended to 69 players
across the spectrum by the NBA. Who
manages to distinguish themselves in Brooklyn later this month should prove
interesting? The drills will reveal that
for us, this is fair warning don’t expect everyone to show up. Last year Lonzo Ball and several others
failed to participate however it didn’t impact their draft position.
