BASKETBALL FROM A FANS PERSPECTIVE

Shoes  
Sixer center Joel Embiid recently signed a 5-year deal with Under Armour, this signing is different in several aspects, the money which I rarely attempt to justify or discuss.  Let’s just say he’ll be the highest paid center in the NBA with his shoe and apparel endorsement.  The sales/marketing aspect is our prime topic of discussion.  Think about this a moment, other than Shaquille O’Neal can you think of a big man with a shoe endorsement?  Without research I cannot think of a single 7-footer other than Shaq.  It’s been said “Big men don’t sell shoes” which may or may not be true.

As for Shaq his first shoe was with the Reebok brand, later he would branch out and introduce his own product Dunkman.  It didn’t harm sales in that Shaq was a larger than life character, his outgoing personality allowed this big man to sell almost anything including basketball shoes.  Embiid in his short time in the NBA has also become somewhat of a character, His infatuation with pop star Rihanna, his “feud” with Suns rookie DeAndre Ayton and his use of Twitter.  The keys to Embiid’s talent plus some unmentioned point toward Embiid as one of those characters the NBA always needs. 

Key Arena  
The Seattle City Council approved a $700 million renovation of Key Arena.  The renovation is being done with the hope Seattle will gain an NHL franchise, can the NBA be far behind?  It was just a few years ago former Commissioner David Stern pronounced the building unsuitable for NBA basketball.  This statement was made despite the fact Key Arena had been home to the Sonics for several years. 

Was this negative comment made at a time Stern believed the ownership group was planning an escape to Oklahoma City?  The proposal is to demolish the structure but maintain the existing one of a kind roof.  The architect’s rendition indicates the inside portion of the arena will be brand new.  This “new” Key Arena will seat 17,400 for NHL hockey and 18,600 for basketball, planned completion is 2020 barring any delays.  Can the Sonics be very far behind, I sure hope so because I continue to believe the city got a raw deal?

What’s his name? 
There is a difference in my mind between a given name and a nickname, example.  Fat Lever played in the NBA from 1982 to 1994 for a few teams, the Nuggets is general what comes to mind.  His given name is Lafayette, according to the story at the time he and a younger sister were children his baby sister couldn’t pronounce his name.  What came out of her mouth according to the family is “Fat”, the nickname stuck.  How about given names, God Shammgod grew up in New York City played his college ball at Providence and for a few NBA teams from 1997-1999. 

Longar Longar was a member of the Oklahoma Sooners and for a time with the Thunder.  Think weapon with this next name, Middle Tennessee State had Tommy Gunn on their roster at one time.  Stetson and Alabama State had a native American play for them, Chief Kickingstallionsims.  Now for others who gave themselves nicknames, Lloyd Free arrived in the NBA as Lloyd and some point in his career decided to change his name to World B. Free, the same goes for Metta World Peace a.k.a. Ron Artest.  There are probably 100 or more names in all-sports omitted maybe some who played basketball, so this list certainly should not be considered complete.     

Position less basketball
The headline reflects the current state of the NBA, there are no longer any assigned positions.  I read an early mock draft report regarding Duke’s Zion Williamson.  The freshman stands 6 foot 7 inches but weighs an incredible 285 pounds.  Do you draft him as a power forward, center or with no position in mind?  He’s too short to play power forward or center, he might be able to play small forward.  Consider this fact LeBron James is an inch taller but plays the position at 250 pounds.  LeBron likely outweighs most of his opposition.  In any event it appears Williamson should be a lottery pick for some NBA team.       

It’s football, the explanation is basketball
Colin Cowherd’s Fox Sports says, “It’s the system that’s allowed QB Patrick Mahones success through the Chiefs first 5 games.”  I’d like to add Mr. Cowherd is only partially correct, allow a basketball clarification to his statement.  Former coach Phil Jackson was an advocate of the triangle offense.  Opposing coaches believed the triangle offense was too complicated to implement successfully.  As you are aware Jackson had much success with championship teams in Chicago and Los Angeles. 

The counter argument from many, how could his teams not play at a championship level with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Kobe Bryant and Shaq running the offense?  What about elsewhere, Jim Clemons long-time assistant to Jackson established the offense when he served as head coach of the Mavs, same for Derek Fisher with the Knicks.  In both instances the teams had less than stellar records while Clemons and Fisher served as head coaches.  We could argue the Bulls and Lakers might have won championships without the triangle.  That
might be correct however bottom line it was the system that allowed victory.