Basketball from a fans perspective

The Sixers win the 2019 NBA championship because……
They drafted Kansas City kid Landry Shamet, I’m just kidding folks.  I was glad to see they added the Wichita State point guard to their roster.  The only problem Shamet is liable to not get much playing time behind Ben Simmons, Markelle Fultz and Jerryd Bayless.  The Sixers are solid at the point, as for the other positions Joel Embiid is firmly entrenched at center.  He demonstrated his growing talent playing a full season at the position, he might be the best center in the NBA currently. 

At shooting guard is the dependable J.J. Redick however they must have been thinking future.  They drafted home boy Mikal Bridges from Villanova later trading him for Zhaire Smith.  Dario Saric at the power forward and Robert Covington small forward complete the front-court.  The Sixer bench is steady but unspectacular.  They will not win the Eastern Conference but the slide downward of the Cavs will enhance their playoff hopes barring any major injuries.  All in all, the Sixers are certainly a contender for the top spot.

What were they thinking?
I didn’t read the story only the headline, ESPN’s NBA page contained a story on the re-entry of Puma into the basketball shoe market.  Puma never dominated but had several NBA players wearing their brand, they had “Big Game” James Worthy, Walt Frazier and much later Vince Carter and others wore the brand.  With Nike and Jordan Brand dominating the marketplace who knows what the thought process behind this move by Puma is about, sure they want to sell shoes, but the competition is even greater now. 

Nike and the Air Jordan brand remains solidly in first place, these brands are followed by and not in any order of sales Adidas, Under Armour, Li Ning and others.  Well they have jumped back in the market signing DeAndre Ayton, Marvin Bagley III and Michael Porter Jr out of the 2018 NBA draft class.  At this point we have no idea if any or all three become stars and sell bunches of shoes.  This is fact, Puma is back in the shoe wars, bring on the competition, they are ready to do battle with you.  

“I take that statement back”
About 4-6 weeks ago I wrote a piece indicating “there was no downtime in basketball.”  I made that statement attempting to convince you (and me) of that fact.  I take that statement back because the period between August 1 and September 1 not a great deal of activity occurs in the world of basketball.  99% of the NBA free-agents have signed with either the new team or an extension with the current one.  Without a thorough search I believe the Top 100 prospects in the Class of 2018 have chosen their destination, truth is a number are already on campus.  We have 10 months until the 2019 NBA draft.  We are weeks and months from the start time for college and NBA teams to open training camp.  In closing I’m going to check out tonight’s  television lineup and see if the Royals or Chiefs are playing. 

He’s an Oregon Duck
The school has an area connection, coach Dana Altman was an assistant at Kansas State from 1986-89.  Beginning in 1990 he was hired as head coach running the program until 1994.  In 2010 he moved to Oregon registered a 94-49 Pac-12 record and 209-83 overall.  How did he accomplish this winning philosophy, he did it through recruiting talented players?  One of those recruits began his basketball journey locally. 

Bol Bol, 7 feet 3 inches and 230 pounds will move into the starting lineup for the Ducks.  Bol began playing at Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park (KS) in suburban Kansas City.  Bol is the son of the late Manute Bol who played in the NBA from 1985-96.  Weeknight Pac-12 games begin in the Midwest Time Zone between 9:00-9:30 p.m. so you see my dilemma.  Weekend games might work out much better for me and others desiring to see Bol in action.