Basketball from a fans perspective
Luol Deng
I’m unsure who to point the finger of blame, was it Luke Walton or the departed front office? Someone associated with the Lakers decided to sign Luol Deng and then allow him permanent residence on the bench. He turned 33-years old last April certainly not old by NBA standards. Why the Lakers signed him as a free-agent and later decided to go another direction provokes questions.
The clear answer to the question Jimmy Buss and company were clueless in how they ran the team. Through all this Deng remained the consummate professional, I never heard a peep from him in the manner he was treated. I hope he’s able to latch on with another team to play out the remainder of his NBA career. See you believed I would not be critical of my team, I will on the occasion they commit a gigantic error, and this was certainly one.
Allow me to
introduce you to
Hunter Dickinson, a 7-foot 1 inch 260-pound center and a 5-star prospect in the Class of 2020. Those in the Washington D.C. area might be familiar with him, in other parts of the nation not so much. Naturally video of him in action is available on YouTube, as mentioned in the past I prefer game highlights. I certainly have no eye of a scout it’s my belief AAU video fails to provide proof of an athlete’s skill level. Dickinson has entered his junior year at DeMatha High School in Hyattsville Maryland.
Hunter Dickinson, a 7-foot 1 inch 260-pound center and a 5-star prospect in the Class of 2020. Those in the Washington D.C. area might be familiar with him, in other parts of the nation not so much. Naturally video of him in action is available on YouTube, as mentioned in the past I prefer game highlights. I certainly have no eye of a scout it’s my belief AAU video fails to provide proof of an athlete’s skill level. Dickinson has entered his junior year at DeMatha High School in Hyattsville Maryland.
Naturally a great number of
schools are attempting to secure his services with offers on the table. Syracuse, Stanford, Notre Dame and Maryland
are just a small number of schools attempting to lure him to their campus. We need to follow his development over the
next two years to gain insight into his future possibilities. One issue we must maintain in the forefront, like
all high school big men it’s likely he’s not been often matched against someone
his size. If Dickinson continues to
develop he could have a bright future in basketball.
Home is where the heart lies
I’ve always believed the adage to reflect one’s love with being home. No matter how far we travel, it could be 30 miles or 3,000 miles most of us always have a love of home. There is something about the coziness, safety and other adjectives I fail to cover here. In my mind so too does that love to exist for other things, you feel or think best surrounded by your belief. This is a story beginning at home plate that rounds second headed for third base, you slide into HOME safe.
Home is where the heart lies
I’ve always believed the adage to reflect one’s love with being home. No matter how far we travel, it could be 30 miles or 3,000 miles most of us always have a love of home. There is something about the coziness, safety and other adjectives I fail to cover here. In my mind so too does that love to exist for other things, you feel or think best surrounded by your belief. This is a story beginning at home plate that rounds second headed for third base, you slide into HOME safe.
Well this is no baseball story,
but it does reflect love of the sport particularly the teams. I’ve made it no secret my two favorite teams
are the Mizzou Tigers and Los Angeles Lakers.
Both programs have fallen on hard times in the recent past however it’s
my belief both will return to winning form.
I hope to not bore you too much with talk of the Tigers and Lakers after
all any positive discussion is like a return home. You know what they say about home, “Home is
where the heart lies.”
“Chocolate Thunder”
I once wrote there exist a lack of characters in basketball today. If we return to the past we discover a significant number and the late Darryl Dawkins a.k.a. Chocolate Thunder must be included. He was 6 foot 10 inches in high school, in 1975 straight out of high school the Sixers made Dawkins the 5th pick in the first round. Dawkins was extremely raw; his offense was limited apart from his thunderous dunks. Collapsible basketball rims exist today due to the booming dunks of Dawkins. In a game against the Kings in Kansas City November of 1979 the Dawkins dunk pulled the rim away from the backboard and it partially collapsed, glass was strewn all over the court. He and Kings forward Bill Robizine scrambled to escape the slivers of flying glass.
“Chocolate Thunder”
I once wrote there exist a lack of characters in basketball today. If we return to the past we discover a significant number and the late Darryl Dawkins a.k.a. Chocolate Thunder must be included. He was 6 foot 10 inches in high school, in 1975 straight out of high school the Sixers made Dawkins the 5th pick in the first round. Dawkins was extremely raw; his offense was limited apart from his thunderous dunks. Collapsible basketball rims exist today due to the booming dunks of Dawkins. In a game against the Kings in Kansas City November of 1979 the Dawkins dunk pulled the rim away from the backboard and it partially collapsed, glass was strewn all over the court. He and Kings forward Bill Robizine scrambled to escape the slivers of flying glass.
He would provide names for his
dunks, this first one was, “The Chocolate-Thunder-Flying, Robizine-Crying,
Teeth-Shaking, Glass-Breaking, Rump-Roasting, Bun-Toasting, Wham-Bam,
Glass-Breaker-I-Am-Jam.” Three weeks
later in a home game versus the Spurs Dawkins did it once again. The NBA had enough, a team would be assessed
a technical foul should this trend continue, in the off-season manufacturers
went to work on the collapsible rim. That
was just one of his many named dunks, it should also be of note Dawkins claim
to be not of this earth. Dawkins stated
he was from the planet Lovetron. This 6-foot
11-inch 250-pound center never reached the level many believed capable. Injuries would cut-short his NBA career, the
other issue it seemed at times he didn’t apply himself to the craft. Dawkins might have believed he was big enough
and skilled enough to dominate on strength alone, he would conclude his playing
career with the Nets, Pistons and Jazz. This
larger than life character died of a heart attack August 27, 2015.
