Basketball from a
fan’s perspective
Emily
Caron SI.com college reporter wrote a story I’m not exactly sure is true. She attempts to point out more and more high
school prospects are remaining at home to attend college. Ms. Caron cites Trae Young who attended
Oklahoma prior to the NBA Hawks and James Wiseman currently enrolled at Memphis
as examples. She believes this has
become a trend but I’m not exactly sure if that’s the case. I could cite three high profile high school players
two who chose to play professionally rather than attend college, has skipping
college for the NBA become a trend?
In
the instance of my account until there is overwhelming evidence, we could state
it’s not a trend. The youngsters I note
have decided college is not for them at least currently. For decades NYC prospects remained home, they
would attend St. John’s, Fordham, NYU, Long Island University and others. The largest populated metro in the country
continues to produce basketball prospects however in recent years fewer and
fewer stay home. Ms. Caron is certainly
intitled to author an account as she sees it, I’m just not exactly sure how
true it is.
I hope I’m not guilty, although I might be
Sometimes we are guilty of making incredibly dumb statements. I hope I’m not guilty, although I might be. Where am I going with this rant you ask? Recently Rivals number one Class of 2020 prospect Evan Mobley announced his verbal commit. The 7-foot center plans on attending Southern Cal, his father is on the coaching staff at Cal, did that impact his decision?
Sometimes we are guilty of making incredibly dumb statements. I hope I’m not guilty, although I might be. Where am I going with this rant you ask? Recently Rivals number one Class of 2020 prospect Evan Mobley announced his verbal commit. The 7-foot center plans on attending Southern Cal, his father is on the coaching staff at Cal, did that impact his decision?
We cannot answer the question, but the
question reminded me of a similar story a few years ago. In 2017 Michael Porter Jr. announced he would
attend Mizzou; his father Michael Porter Sr. was a member of the coaching
staff. A letter writer questioned what
he believed was nepotism in the program.
Much later it was pointed out this scenario plays out all the time be it
basketball, football or some other sport.
Relatives do influence prospects; I’ve got no issue with the
process.
Really, your reading far
too much into this
As reported earlier the Lakers signed Kostas Antetokounmpo younger brother of Giannis. Now all sorts of jokes are floating about, older brother Giannis will become a free agent in 2021. It’s believed the Lakers will have an inside edge with the younger brother playing for them. Allow me to punch several holes in that balloon, first off, we don’t know if Kostas is talented enough to become a quality NBA player. He was undrafted then picked up by the Mavs, they released him after but one year.
As reported earlier the Lakers signed Kostas Antetokounmpo younger brother of Giannis. Now all sorts of jokes are floating about, older brother Giannis will become a free agent in 2021. It’s believed the Lakers will have an inside edge with the younger brother playing for them. Allow me to punch several holes in that balloon, first off, we don’t know if Kostas is talented enough to become a quality NBA player. He was undrafted then picked up by the Mavs, they released him after but one year.
We can rest that portion of the joke, how
about the second part. Attempted
tampering come on people we are talking two years down the road. Question when players talk about coming
together and playing on the same team it’s just talk. On those occasions a team has a similar
conversation it becomes tampering. If a
team makes it known publicly, they are interested in signing player X that is
blatant. If you sign the
brother of a player on YOUR roster, “really you are reading far too much into
this.”
NBA team names
Many of the names might not be connected to what we might first believe. Consider this, the Houston team is nicknamed the Rockets. Okay they represent Houston which is home to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Well not quite, the expansion franchise was in San Diego and later moved to Houston. They were the Rockets when launched in Southern California and retained once the move was made. The saga of the Lakers has been explored previously, the franchise began play as the Minneapolis Lakers and in 1960 moved to Los Angeles. We know the State of Minnesota has a significant number of lakes, that why one of the nicknames is “Land of 10,000 Lakes”, of course there are no Lakes in Los Angeles however the team kept the name.
Many of the names might not be connected to what we might first believe. Consider this, the Houston team is nicknamed the Rockets. Okay they represent Houston which is home to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Well not quite, the expansion franchise was in San Diego and later moved to Houston. They were the Rockets when launched in Southern California and retained once the move was made. The saga of the Lakers has been explored previously, the franchise began play as the Minneapolis Lakers and in 1960 moved to Los Angeles. We know the State of Minnesota has a significant number of lakes, that why one of the nicknames is “Land of 10,000 Lakes”, of course there are no Lakes in Los Angeles however the team kept the name.
At the time the Sonics moved to Oklahoma
City they couldn’t transfer the name, a brand-new name had to be chosen. After all these years I still fail to
understand the appeal of “Thunder.”
Everywhere in the world experiences thunder Oklahoma City is no
exception. Oh well, I like the Nets
because it truly makes sense. Basketball
is played with a goal containing a net, classic. The rural portions of Tennessee are home to
black bears, grizzlies live in the Pacific Northwest and Canada not
Memphis. Did you say Canada, the team
was originally headquartered in Vancouver as the Grizzlies? Miami has ample amounts of Heat, get it? I thought Pelicans was strange at first until
I read southern Louisiana marshes are full of this species of bird. Detroit is still the automobile capital of
the nation, despite this fact the Pistons first called Fort Wayne Indiana home
and later located to Detroit.
The late Tom Benson wanted to change the
name of his basketball team. He wanted
the Jazz however Utah refused to give it up.
He settled on the Pelicans a bird native to southern Louisiana and New
Orleans. This was not the first time a
franchise underwent a name change. The
Chicago Packers began life in 1961-62 as an expansion team, the following year
they were re-named the Zephyrs. In 1963
the team left for Baltimore and undertook another name…. Bullets. The franchise would play under that name with
two more moves, in 1997 they became the Wizards. The Hawks were born as the Buffalo Bisons in
1946, from 1946-1951 they were the Tri-City Blackhawks. The Blackhawks became the Hawks in 1951 in
several franchise moves leading up to today’s Atlanta Hawks.
