Basketball from a fan’s perspective

The NBA is not in the mix
Renovation of Seattle’s Key Arena does not affect the NBA…yet.  The NHL is scheduled to place a team in the Emerald City for the 2011-22 season.  Can a replacement NBA Sonics team be in the future for area residents?  Many in the city have long held a belief the NBA would eventually return.  

As for the building escalating costs has witnessed a rise in construction, it’s now been determined nearly $900 million will be spent on renovation. Most of us probably believed renovating an existing arena would be more cost effective than securing a brand-new arena.  Rising cost might have proven this view wrong for example Chase Center in San Francisco will be north of $1 billion when it opens in the fall.  Barclays Arena in Brooklyn was reported to have construction cost of $1 billion at the time it opened in 2012. 

They won’t do it
Every season I spot a rookie I believe would enhance the Laker roster.  Usually it’s a big man, last season it was 7-foot Mitchell Robinson.  The Lakers brought him into town worked him out and then made the decision to draft someone else.  Robinson although very raw managed a promising rookie NBA season for the Knicks who drafted him.  He certainly didn’t cause older Knick fans to envision Patrick Ewing or Willis Reed in the post.  Robinson demonstrate has game had unfilled promise for the future of the Knicks.   

This season there is another big man on my radar, 6-foot 11-inch 245-pound Charles Bassey.  Bassey played his college ball at Western Kentucky although he’s from Lagos Nigeria.  His freshman numbers, 14.6 ppg along with 10 rebounds and 2.4 blocked shots per game on 62% shooting from the floor.  One scouting report states Bassey is extremely raw and relies on his athleticism too much.  That’s certainly not a terrible assessment for him, the Lakers have an opportunity to draft him lets see what they do this time around.  Chances are real good they won’t do it. 

Plausible Deniability 
What we might believe but what can be proven are two different issues.  This is what I believe will occur, Kansas basketball will forfeit games Silvio De Sousa appeared last season.  The Big 12 championship a year ago will be vacated the school will lose a scholarship or two but will be tournament ready in 2020.  Do I believe they are guilty; you darn straight somebody was aware of the Silvio De Sousa situation?  There are unconfirmed reports members of the coaching staff had knowledge of the De Sousa guardian.  How about the head coach Bill Self, it appears he’s got plausible deniability? Translate that for me please, I will be happy to do just that for you.  

“Plausible deniability is the ability of people (typically senior officials in a formal or informal chain of command) to deny knowledge of or responsibility for any damnable actions committed by others in an organizational hierarchy because of a lack of evidence that can confirm their participation, even if they were personally involved in or at least willfully ignorant of the actions. In the case that illegal or otherwise disreputable and unpopular activities become public, high-ranking officials may deny any awareness of such acts to insulate themselves and shift blame onto the agents who carried out the acts, as they are confident that their doubters will be unable to prove otherwise.”  

On the other hand, this might be an exercise in futility, Kansas basketball might escape scott-free.  No penalties whatsoever to the program or Bill Self.  We shall see what holds for the future, remember the NCAA announced a decision will be rendered soon after the tournament.

 Draft mistakes   
This is no referendum on Jay Williams in 2002 or Greg Oden in 2007 or others.  This does not include Scottie Pippen drafted by the Sonics or Kobe Bryant chosen by the Hornets but never playing for the franchise.  In the case of Williams and Oden their NBA aspirations were cut short due to injury as for Pippen and Bryant a draft day trade changed the course of history for the Bulls and Lakes.  This list is high-ranking draft picks we later discovered couldn’t play at the NBA level, where do we begin?  I’m going to apply the criteria established by an NBA scout.  He claimed you must wait at least three seasons to determine whether a player can earn his stripes.  In addition, this will be conducted in stages, this is year 2012 through 2016. 

2016 Thon Maker Bucks 10th pick in the first round
2015 Jahlil Okafor Sixers 3rd pick in the first round
2014 Open however there is a question
2013 Anthony Bennett 1st pick in the first round
2012 Thomas Robinson 5th pick in the first round