Basketball from a fans perspective

Always in first place
James Borrego has been hired as head coach of the Charlotte Hornets, he becomes the first Latino head coach in the NBA.  The NBA is familiar being first in diversity and gender hiring always, leading the way for professional sports.  Example, at the time Red Auerbach stepped down in 1966 he “hired” center Bill Russell as head coach.  Russell became the first black head coach or manager in a major sport at the time he took the reins of the Celtics.  this event occurred 1966 long before the NFL and MLB had hired their first coach/manager.  In 1974 Frank Robinson was hired by the Cleveland Indians and the Raiders hired Art Shell in 1989.  Since the Russell hire several others have been hired far exceeding the totals in the other two sports combined.   

How about women in the NBA, presently there are no female coaches although Gregg Popovich Spurs hired Becky Hammon in 2014 and she would become the first female assistant coach in the NBA. Hammon’s name was mentioned as a possible head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks although the position is yet to be filled.  In 1997 Violet Palmer and Dee Kanter were hired as officials, in 2014 Lauren Holtkamp was added to the roster of NBA officials.  Holtkamp is the only working official currently as for the NFL Sarah Thomas was hired in 2015 becoming the first game official.  There remain no female umpires in major league baseball, there might be in the minor leagues.  Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra’s parentage is from the Philippines, there is a mistake on the date the first Asian basketball player arrived in the NBA.  It was 1947, Wataru “Wat” Misaka Japanese-American played for the Knicks that season.  

Battle for prospects
Belleville Illinois is in the St. Louis metro a short distance from East St. Louis Illinois.  East St. Louis is the home of Mizzou Coach Cuonzo Martin, you ask where I am going with this story.  2019 4-star prospect E.J. Liddell’s home is Belleville but that’s the issue.  Martin intends to recruit every prospect, no not everyone but most in the St. Louis metro.  Liddell is a 6-foot 7-inch 220 pound forward and a few schools are seeking his services including Illinois and Mizzou.  I was questioned regarding high school basketball in metro Kansas City, although St. Louis metro is only slightly larger the east side of the state continues to produce substantially more basketball talent. 

I offer no proof of my belief just providing you my thoughts where the best high school basketball continues to be played.   Kansas City metro football talent appears to be superior to that of the other side.  Another 2019 prospect on Mizzou’s radar is Terrance Hargrove Jr. from you guessed it, East St Louis (IL).  Hargrove Jr. is a 6-foot 6-inch 200 pound small forward, although Mizzou is recruiting him he’s got a Mizzou connection already.  He and Mizzou center Jeremiah Tilmon have known each other since the 6^th grade.  How close is Hargrove to his friend Tilmon, it’s reported he refers to Tilmon’s parents as “mom” and “dad”? 

“Won’t get fooled again”
This has nothing to do with the 1971 classic hit by The Who rather it refers to me.  The story continues to evolve as a sizable number of mock sites and other sources indicate the Lakers will chose 7-foot 1-inch 233-pound Mitchell Robinson with the 25^th pick.  I’m not going to bother with providing his checkered history again but just check the intangibles.  In high school Robinson was the number one center 247 Sports and number two by Rivals. 

He was a McDonald’s All-American a Max Preps All-American and Robinson was selected as a member of the Jordan Brand Classic in 2017.  Those are just a portion of the honors this Chalmette HS (LA) senior received his senior year. As for the numbers, he scored 25.7 points, 12.6 rebounds clip along with 6 blocked shots per game.  The numbers demonstrated in high school would lead us to believe Robinson might be a diamond in the rough.  Despite reported free-agent possibilities the 25^th pick might prove quite interesting.  My only hope, I “Won’t get fooled again.”

History revisit
Several are aware of the NBA’s history, the record that says other than New York (Knicks) and Boston (Celtics) the early days of the association found it located in smaller cities in the nation.  Those days will never return but how about larger metro areas that face the same situation.  Seattle is excluded, the NBA will return to The Emerald City in _____.  Note I did not provide a date because at this point it’s unclear however it will occur.  Baltimore with almost 3 million souls had an NBA franchise on two occasions. 

The original Bullets founded in 1944 and lasting till 1954 were members of the American Basketball League and Basketball Association of America, with the merger became today’s NBA.  In 1963 the expansion Chicago Zephyrs moved to Baltimore and changed the team name to the Bullets.  In 1973 the team moved to the Washington D.C. area but retained the Bullets name, in 1997 the team name was changed to Wizards.  The Cincinnati Royals relocated from Rochester (NY) in 1957 moving to Cincinnati which became home until 1972 when they moved to Kansas City-Omaha, a name change, and they became the Kings.  In 1986 the team moved to Sacramento were they presently reside. 

The expansion Buffalo (NY) Braves founded in 1970 remained in the city until they moved to San Diego in 1978.  In 1984 the team moved to Los Angeles and were re-branded as the Clippers.  Finally, the City of Vancouver in British Columbia Canada was the NBA’s other Canadian team.  Unlike the Raptors the Grizzlies hemorrhaged money and were placed on the market twice before a July 4, 2001 sale to Michael Heisley.  He looked at several cities finally settling on Memphis and the Grizzlies began play in the fall of 2001.  On the other hand, there are cities who lost franchises however the NBA returned, those are Milwaukee, Minnesota, Charlotte and New Orleans.