Basketball from a fan’s perspective

I.O.U. 
Celebrity attorney Michael Avenatti claimed on Saturday Nike paid Zion Williamson (Duke), Bol Bol (Oregon), DeAndre Ayton (NBA Suns) and a great number of athletes to attend Nike affiliated schools.  Avenatti has been charged with attempting to extort more than $20 million from the shoe and apparel company.  

Naismith
Recently we covered the inductees to the College Basketball Hall of Fame.  Today those going into the Naismith Hall of Fame in Springfield Massachusetts include players, former coaches and contributors.  They will be enshrined in early September 2019 they are:

Sidney Moncrief
Paul Westphal
Bobby Jones
Vlade Divac
Chuck Cooper
Al Attles
Teresa Weatherspoon
Carl Braun
Jack Sikma  

In addition to the individual’s above entire teams from an earlier period in history will also be enshrined. 

Bits n Pieces
Connected by Coach K. however this is a separate story.  I was asked recently how much longer the coach coaches?  Well I just checked the record, he just turned 72-years of age.  We don’t know if Duke has a mandatory retirement age however this is what we know.  The health of the coach appears to be good so there are no issues there.  This coach continues to reach out to Generation Y and when they play for him, he’s able to coach them successfully. 

Have you checked the anatomy of the Bucks Giannis Antetokounmpo?  He stands 6 feet 11 inches and weighs 242 pounds, he plays power forward.  The Mavs Kristaps Porzingis is 7 foot 3 and 240 pounds, he also plays the same position. If we look back in NBA history former Knick great Willis Reed was a standout at 6 foot 9 and a solid 240 pounds.  Much earlier the legendary Bill Russell played at 6 foot 10 inches and 220 pounds.  Do you see where I’m headed with this thought?  The change in the game is evident, Antetokounmpo and Porzingis and others would be centers in the 1960-1990 NBA. 

The talk of Doc Rivers moving across the hall to take over the Lakers is mind-boggling.  It might not be to anyone else, but it is to me.  This has nothing to do with his ability to coach, his record says he’s good at what he does despite my reservations.  The other issue, the world is aware Luke Walton will be fired after the season.  Why name his replacement before his seat is even cold. 

We cannot return to the Wooden days
It’s clear to most of us the glory days of UCLA basketball are in the rear-view mirror.  The basketball program cannot dominate the college scene as it did at one point in time.  Winning an NCAA championship as the school did in the 60’s and ‘70’s is certainly out of the question.  It would appear a high-profile coach is hired to run things, we look down and then up.  By the time we look up the coach has been fired and often moved on to another school. 

There have been 9 coaches at the school since the Wizard of Westwood retired.  You might discover this portion shocking every single one of those coaches had a winning record while at the helm.  I’m not going to go into detail it would take far too much time.  Let’s state it in this manner, John Wooden ain’t walking through the door and this job no longer holds the prestige it once did.