Basketball from a fans perspective

Steal the spotlight  
Your sport dominates the conversation and it’s not even being played.  The NBA regular season concluded the middle of April, the NBA champion Warriors were crowned near the end of June.  Here we are early July and the evening news on ABC dealt with the national and world events but also contained a segment on LeBron James announcing he would play for the Lakers.  LeBron is the leading name in the NBA world so naturally he commands attention on all media outlets besides those which only report sports.          

Many of the players not named LeBron are also commanding the news on ESPN, Fox Sports, NBC Sports and CBS Sports Networks.  Several folks looked at Kareem Abdul Jabbar bewilderingly when he made this statement.  He said, “I could see a day in the future when the NBA will surpass the NFL in popularity.”  The reasons for the growth in attractiveness is far too numerous to cover in a short space, just say those under age 45 identify with the NBA over other sports.  

The return  
Jontay Porter’s return for Mizzou could prove interesting in several ways.  They could have one of the taller front lines in the SEC with 6-foot 10-inch 252-pound Jeremiah Tilmon, 6-foot 11-inch 240-pound Porter and 6-foot 7-inch 238-pound Kevin Puryear.  Tilmon spent a great deal of time on the bench during his freshman year, it wasn’t talent rather it was foul trouble.  Hopefully Tilmon adjusts to guarding opposing players without fouling this upcoming season.  Puryear a Kim Anderson recruit adjusted to Coach Martin and was often in the starting lineup in his junior year, as a senior he’s expected to provide leadership and steady play to what remains a young team. 

As for Porter, on the low side we could see him average 15 points, 8 rebounds and 3-4 assists a game.  Mizzou’s big men will have a problem unless the guards are able to get the ball to them.  Jordan Geist although not a traditional point guard returns in the role, backup will be Xavier Pinson freshman and a true point guard.  Stepping into the role of shooter is likely to be a committee of athletes.  Freshmen Torrance Watson or Javon Pickett will battle for the shooting guard position or transfer K.J. Santos a 6-foot 8-inch small forward might see spot duty at the position.  Of course, this all speculation at this point once the season begins we might witness an entirely different lineup.   

Proved us wrong
We knew LeBron James purchased two homes in the L.A. area, we knew of reports at least one of his children had been enrolled in an area school.  We knew of his entertainment and entrepreneurial interest in the L.A. metro.  This is what we knew that proved to be incorrect, ‘LeBron wanted an opportunity to win another championship, he’d only hook up with a team capable of winning.’  WRONG…. other than the Warriors on paper the Raptors, Celtics, Rockets and maybe the Spurs would be favored to win right now. 

The up and coming Lakers are nowhere near championship level.  Will LeBron raise the level of play for these young Lakers, most certainly will they compete for a championship immediately?  No, the more realistic time frame would be 2019-20.  Added immediately after the LeBron announcement Lance Stephenson, JaVale McGee and re-signing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.  It’s likely more additions will be made but this is not a ready-made to contend team.  So there, you thought you knew everything about LeBron James however you discovered one more thing.

The balance of the story 
Boogie claim’s he had no other offers but that of the Warriors.  We are unsure if that’s the case but will take him at his word.  Even more interesting is the rumors the Lakers were attempting to sign him.  Turns out that might not be correct either, Laker fan websites claim, “they made no offer to Boogie.”  Were they concerned about Achilles being fully healed healing or maybe something else?  We’ll never know the entire story however its apparent my Lakers made no effort to secure the services of Boogie.  As for Paul George he claims he wanted the Lakers last year, it was his desire the trade be consummated last season.          

They could have done this however they might have thought “why not wait until 2018 when he becomes an unrestricted free-agent, he could leave on his own.”  The strange and unusual journey of Dwight Howard continues, he signed a 1-year contract with the Wizards.  Although he never suited up for the Nets the Wizards become team number 7 for Howard.  And in consumer news LeBron James made his announcement about 5:00 p.m. Central Time July 1, about 8:30 or so that same evening sports apparel site Fanatics had a Laker unnumbered jersey with “James” embossed on the back.  At some point Monday morning or after that same jersey was available with number 23.