Basketball from a fans perspective

Change, you say change?
The NCAA has long used the RPI or Rating Percentage Index as the barometer of measurement to determine seeding for the NCAA tournament.  Change is in the air but is it real change you ask?  The NET or NCAA Evaluation Tool will be the new measuring stick, how will it work? “It will rely on “game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses.  (It’s worth noting here that while scoring margin is factored in, it’s impact will be capped at 10 points to prevent running up the score.)”  So, there you have it, I’m not smart enough to figure out if this new tool is more efficient than the one it replaces. 

247 sports.com

The Silent Storm 
This is not written about the 2014 movie titled The Silent Storm, we could say the title somewhat fits the individual focused in this account.  Athletes who sound off on issues are perceived differently by many fans and the media.  There is hardly ever an argument they can’t play, heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, NFL quarterback Joe Namath back in the day.  Today the NFL’s Richard Sherman and perhaps names I’m not focused on might apply today.  How about a guy whose public profile is quite minimal yet has fallen into disfavor with some?  Small forward Kawhi Leonard can score and has been outstanding defensively earning All Defensive First Team 3 consecutive years. 

All that has become null and void since last season, an injury kept Kawhi on the sidelines for practically the entire season.  More disconcerting to much of the public he appeared to make the Spurs out to be the bad guys.  Kawhi made it known he wanted to play at home (Los Angeles) whether it was the Lakers or Clippers was unclear.  The shorten version, with no meeting of the minds the Spurs traded Kawhi to the Raptors who hope to persuade him to stay.  Later Kawhi thanked Spurs fan but not much else, recently he mentioned that city again, Los Angeles.  This is another story that will not be fully resolved until July 2019 when free-agents can begin signing.

On second thought
Unless he decides to move the Clippers to Seattle Steve Ballmer's best move is to build his own arena.  This is a departure from my previous expressions regarding this issue, allow for a brief explanation.  We’ll use New York City as an example, the Nets have played in and around the city until 2012 when they moved to Brooklyn.  The latest figures I could locate indicate Brooklyn alone contains 2.649 million folks.  It would be foolish to believe all those folks are Nets fans, the point is the Knicks have witnessed no significant attendance dip.

This is evident despite having the Nets play less than 10 miles from Madison Square Garden.  Los Angeles has a population of nearly 4 million souls and a metro population double that number which indicates it should be able to accommodate two NBA teams.  On second thought the problem is an arena one, sharing Staples Center might have first appeared to be good however New York’s two teams play in separate facilities.  Ballmer’s team needs their own building it’s that simple.  NOTE:  This account was written several weeks ago, since that time Ballmer has gone on record again affirming a desire for his own arena. 

St. Louis versus Kansas City
It seems Cuonzo Martin recruits almost exclusively within a 150-mile radius of St. Louis.  If we return briefly to the past we can say former coach Kim Anderson was not much of a recruiter based on Anderson’s won-loss record.  Memory says former coaches Frank Haith and Mike Anderson recruited heavily in the St. Louis metro region.  Do you notice a trend here, these coaches travel up and down the streets and highways in and around St. Louis?  How about the western part of Missouri specifically Kansas City?  Other than Marcus Denmon and Michael Dixon Jr. in the present and Anthony Peeler in the past few athletes arrived from the Kansas City metro. 

That’s not to say Kansas City doesn’t produce it’s share of talent, it seems with few exceptions Mizzou appears to omit Kansas City as fertile recruiting ground.  I decided to check with a couple of former St. Louis residents who live here.  “St. Louis metro remains larger than Kansas City however the numbers are not that far apart.  How come St. Louis basketball appears to dominate recruiting” One person couldn’t really address the issue while the other gave me this.  He said, “AAU basketball in St. Louis has likely exceeded that of the Kansas City metro.”  It’s that simple according to Randy and he could be right.