Basketball from a
fans perspective
Game two
This portion is written Sunday afternoon prior to the evening game. The Cavs will win tonight, rather they better win the game. They cannot go to Cleveland down 0-2, they will not repeat rather they cannot beat the Warriors four games in a row. If they lose this game the series is all but over. Sorry fans I missed ¾ of the game, so I can offer very little to what you might have seen or heard, final score Warriors 122 Cavs 103. The series moves to Cleveland now and the Cavs are really in BIG TROUBLE. I heard one of the analyst state the Cavs simply don’t have the ability to match the Warriors firepower. Was their a Cavs let down after the Game one loss, we don't know however there might be the belief "We gave the game away."
Is it possible?
NBA draft history, one familiar story the other not so familiar. It was claimed Kristaps Porzingis refused to work out for the Sixers in 2011 he wanted the Knicks. The could have drafted him anyway but why chose a guy who apparently doesn’t want to play in your city? Much earlier in 1999 to be exact the Vancouver Grizzlies made Steve Francis the second pick in the draft. Francis made it clear he didn’t want to play in the Canadian city, fortunately a trade was consummated with the Rockets.
NBA draft history, one familiar story the other not so familiar. It was claimed Kristaps Porzingis refused to work out for the Sixers in 2011 he wanted the Knicks. The could have drafted him anyway but why chose a guy who apparently doesn’t want to play in your city? Much earlier in 1999 to be exact the Vancouver Grizzlies made Steve Francis the second pick in the draft. Francis made it clear he didn’t want to play in the Canadian city, fortunately a trade was consummated with the Rockets.
The Kings have
the second pick and the Suns with the number one pick are likely to chose
DeAndre Ayton, that would leave Luka Doncic up next. The rumor Doncic wants no part of the Kings
and will continue play for Real Madrid if the Kings draft him. The Doncic portion of this story is pure
speculation the other draft stories occurred.
Could an athlete hold an NBA team “hostage”
in placing the word in advance “I don’t
want to play for you?” It happened
before why not again?
What if
The Suns hadn’t lost the coin flip, NBA history would have changed drastically. In 1969 Lew Alcindor later to become Kareem Abdul Jabbar was the preeminent number one choice out of college. Prior to the lottery the Bucks and Suns tied for worst record would flip a coin to determine who drafted first in that 1969 draft. The Bucks won the coin flip and made their choice known, the Suns would draft the late Neal Walk from the University of Florida. Walk had a good NBA career but nothing compared to that of Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Alongside Oscar Robertson young Lew Alcindor won an NBA Championship in Milwaukee and later several more once he was traded to the Lakers.
The Suns hadn’t lost the coin flip, NBA history would have changed drastically. In 1969 Lew Alcindor later to become Kareem Abdul Jabbar was the preeminent number one choice out of college. Prior to the lottery the Bucks and Suns tied for worst record would flip a coin to determine who drafted first in that 1969 draft. The Bucks won the coin flip and made their choice known, the Suns would draft the late Neal Walk from the University of Florida. Walk had a good NBA career but nothing compared to that of Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Alongside Oscar Robertson young Lew Alcindor won an NBA Championship in Milwaukee and later several more once he was traded to the Lakers.
This
is an interesting “What if”, Kareem is drafted by the Suns and leads them to several
NBA Championships, Walk raises the level of play by the Bucks however they never
win the ultimate prize. The Lakers
motor along with West and Baylor in prominent roles on the team but no quality
big man. The Lakers make a trade for
Wilt Chamberlain and in 1972 win the NBA Championship over the Knicks but that
would be it. The next season Chamberlain
retires, and the Lakers fail to win championships in 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987 and
1988. I’m sure the Lakers would have
been competitive with Magic Johnson at the helm but consider this fact they
never won after Kareem retired that is until Shaquille O’Neal arrived on the scene.
On second thought
The other day in writing about Draymon Green I might have overlooked another temperamental athlete. Rasheed Wallace’s career overlapped that of Dennis Rodman. Drafted by the Bullets (Wizards) in 1995 he played 16 seasons for several NBA teams…he was vital to the Pistons winning the 2004 NBA title. Despite Wallace’s talent he too often had problems controlling his behavior on the court. Despite this issue I never read even to this date any of the number of coaches he played for questioning his effort or desire to win. Wallace like Rodman before and Green now would lead the lead in technical fouls. He alone might be the basis for a player being suspended after receiving an excess number of technical. Wallace remains the only player to ever receive a technical foul without saying anything other than looking at an official.
The other day in writing about Draymon Green I might have overlooked another temperamental athlete. Rasheed Wallace’s career overlapped that of Dennis Rodman. Drafted by the Bullets (Wizards) in 1995 he played 16 seasons for several NBA teams…he was vital to the Pistons winning the 2004 NBA title. Despite Wallace’s talent he too often had problems controlling his behavior on the court. Despite this issue I never read even to this date any of the number of coaches he played for questioning his effort or desire to win. Wallace like Rodman before and Green now would lead the lead in technical fouls. He alone might be the basis for a player being suspended after receiving an excess number of technical. Wallace remains the only player to ever receive a technical foul without saying anything other than looking at an official.
Steve
Javie now works for ESPN as a rule analyst however he was an NBA official for
25 seasons. In a game Wallace being his
usual demonstrative self was warned by Javie, “look at me again and you are out
of here.” The circumstances are not
quite clear I’m unsure if the call was made on Wallace or a teammate however
Wallace looked at Javie and was gone. I
was reminded of a post-game post season press conference Wallace once held, he was
an early NBA version of the NFL’s Marshawn Lynch. It was evident Wallace had no desire to
participate but league rules state players must make themselves available to
the media. Wallace was asked question
after question and no matter the question, check it out yourself you know what
to do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yXiWZyJL90
the
media received the same response, “Both
teams played hard.” Despite what
appears to be a negative Wallace as mentioned earlier was a very talented
athlete.
