Basketball from a fan’s perspective

Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday  

“Wait till they get a load of ME!”
The immortal words above are those of Jack Nicholson in the role of the Joker one of Batman’s arch nemesis, the line was uttered in the 1989 movie Batman.  The sentence really states wait until they see me, it was Nicholson in the movie its Hardin on the basketball court.  James Hardin the Rockets man of many moves is claiming he’s got a new one for this upcoming season, he says in advance “it’s going to look like a travel but it’s not.” 

Don’t you find it thought-provoking; Hardin is defending this new move prior to it even being demonstrated during an NBA game.  The subject of traveling is a topic for a brief examination, cynics claim “They never whistle players for traveling in the NBA.”  We depend on game officials to officiate the game as they “see it,” its possible officials allow more player movement than in high school or college.  Detractors might be correct, perhaps they don’t call traveling in the NBA. 

How can he be so good so young?
Remember the name Emoni Bates, he’s a rail thin 6-foot 8 185-pound small forward.  Bates is a Rivals 5-star prospect in the Class of 2022, yes 5 stars already.  Bates just completing his freshman year is from Ypsilanti Michigan and attends Lincoln HS in the city.  How good is Bates, Mike DeCoursey of the Sporting News claims by 2022 the age restriction will have been eliminated by the NBA. 

DeCoursey indicates there in doubt he will be the first high school player drafted in the NBA since 2005.  We read his game compares to that of Kevin Durant.  SBNation.com ranks Bates number one of the Top 10 high school ballers in the nation and he’s just completed his freshman year.  Michigan, Michigan State and DePaul have offers for him currently, over the next few years if he continues to excel, we can only see the number rise exponentially. 

Bits n Pieces 
Is this ESPN.com’s basketball page or the Mavs making the call?  I’m checking out the depth chart and it shows ROY Luka Doncic at shooting guard and Tim Hardaway Jr at small forward.  Doncic’s skill certainly lends itself to play at the two, as for playing the three I don’t doubt Hardaway Jr could play the position.  This appears to be a change in philosophy for the Mavs, once training camp opens, we can further determine if this move might come about. 

In the SEC the hiring and recruiting of Jerry Stackhouse is news.  The possible repercussions regarding Auburn basketball, the arrival of Eric Mussleman at Arkansas replacing Mike Anderson is also news.  John Calipari at Kentucky is always worth several headlines.  We’ve not heard too much news regarding Mizzou which is okay for me.  It’s believed the Tigers will be much improved over last season.  Hopefully they sneak up on a couple of SEC rivals. 

Woodward Academy is in College Park Georgia in the Metro Atlanta area.  This college prep school is compressed of students K-12 at two campus locations.  It’s also home to Class of 2020 prospect Walker Kessler, a 7-foot 235-pound center and a Rivals 5-star prospect.  Kessler has 13 universities with offers for his services, its likely he reduces the number at some point.

Big Baller Brand or BBB is about to go under, the shoe and apparel company founded by LaVar Ball is close to going out of business.  If it appears, I’m poking fun at the misfortunes of LaVar Ball that is not the case.  What I am attempting to point out you should be careful in the manner you treat people.  No need of detailing any of his actions over the past three years.  What I hope occurs is for him to eat a little “humble pie” and work on re-building the company and his interactions with others tone it down a bit. 

The Spurs announce the hiring of Tim Duncan as an assistant coach.  This is interesting on several levels, first we had no idea Duncan might be interested someday in coaching.  Second, at 7 feet he might become the tallest coach in basketball history.  John Thompson former Georgetown coach is 6-10, Danny Manning current Wake Forest coach is also 6-10 and Bill Russell Celtics, Sonics and Kings is 6-9.      

On second thought
I’m not sayin’ the Warriors are going to be 2020 NBA champs; I may have sold them a bit short.  Part of my reasoning was based on the loss of Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson missing in action at least till February or March.  In addition, key reserves Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston are no longer Warriors along with several others.  Wait, on the horizon riding to the rescue are point guard D’Angelo Russell center Willie Cauley-Stein along with Alec Burks and several holdovers.  Mercurial Draymon Green remains in place among the returning Kevon Looney. 

In addition, steady Steve Kerr remains at the helm as they move into the brand-new Chase Center in San Francisco.  The danger appears to be depth, the roster as it appears in middle July doesn’t appear quite as solid as the prior season.  It would seem the Warriors have enough weapons to last them through the regular season, the playoffs could prove to be their downfall.  On the other hand, this is a veteran playoff team with several key players remaining.  They won it all BKD, rest assured they would love to prove they could win AKD.  NOTE:  BKD=Before Kevin Durant, AKD=After Kevin Durant.