Basketball from a
fan’s perspective
Published Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday
A time difference
I tuned into the Rockets game on Monday evening to view the match against the Shanghai Sharks. After watching a portion of the game action, the television camera uncovered many empty seats throughout the lower bowl portion of the arena. We’ve been reading and hearing reports for years the popularity of the NBA in China.
The question crossed my mind, why are there so many empty seats? Then the thought hit me, “I wonder what time is it in Shanghai”? I decided to Google the time difference between Kansas City and Shanghai. It’s 7:30 p.m. Central Time Monday in the U.S. and it’s 8:30 a.m. Tuesday local time in China. Should we presume the game time was set for an American television audience to view?
The new guy’s
Klay Thompson is out until the playoffs, have no fear. Riding in to "rescue" the Warriors is point guard D’Angelo Russell formerly with the Nets and center Willie Cauley-Stein who drove I-80W to San Francisco. How will these new Warriors fit in with the squad, that fact will not fully be determined until February or March. By that time the newcomers will have acclimated themselves to the play of Dub Nation. “Scorecard, scorecard can’t tell the players without a scorecard” dates to the early days of baseball. Vendors would stand outside baseball stadiums selling scorecards which allowed you to score the game.
Klay Thompson is out until the playoffs, have no fear. Riding in to "rescue" the Warriors is point guard D’Angelo Russell formerly with the Nets and center Willie Cauley-Stein who drove I-80W to San Francisco. How will these new Warriors fit in with the squad, that fact will not fully be determined until February or March. By that time the newcomers will have acclimated themselves to the play of Dub Nation. “Scorecard, scorecard can’t tell the players without a scorecard” dates to the early days of baseball. Vendors would stand outside baseball stadiums selling scorecards which allowed you to score the game.
In addition, you had to list the roster
playing, that’s the case here…. identify the Warriors. Andre Iguodala is in Memphis, Shaun
Livingston retired however there are replacements. Shooting guard Alec Burks from Kansas City
arrives from the Jazz and will fill a reserve role. Reserve Alfonzo McKinnie takes over the small
forward spot vacate after the departure of Kevin Durant. Don’t fool yourself, the Warriors will
continue to be competitive, they will not be NBA favorites for the first time
in quite a few years. NOTE: As this was completed came word Klay Thompson
might be ready to play at some point around the date of NBA All-Star game.
He’s the forgotten man
Soon you will see his name on the list, given the task of choosing my all-time Laker team I added Rudy LaRusso. He’s been the forgotten man in the annals of Laker basketball in my opinion. LaRusso was an Ivy League graduate having played at Dartmouth, the Minneapolis Lakers would choose him in the second round of the 1959 NBA draft. I once wrote Elgin Baylor led the way as the team moved to Los Angeles. That might only be partially true, Baylor and LaRusso led the way as the team moved from Minneapolis.
Soon you will see his name on the list, given the task of choosing my all-time Laker team I added Rudy LaRusso. He’s been the forgotten man in the annals of Laker basketball in my opinion. LaRusso was an Ivy League graduate having played at Dartmouth, the Minneapolis Lakers would choose him in the second round of the 1959 NBA draft. I once wrote Elgin Baylor led the way as the team moved to Los Angeles. That might only be partially true, Baylor and LaRusso led the way as the team moved from Minneapolis.
Although LaRusso stood 6 feet 7 and 225
pounds he was nicknamed “Roughhouse Rudy” due to his playing style. LaRusso was a 5x NBA All Star and made the All-Defensive
2nd Team in 1969. He spent
the last two years of his career as a member of the San Francisco
Warriors. I believe we might refer to
him as a lunch pail guy, he came to work every day to do the dirty work, grab
rebounds and score when called on. His
nearly 17 point and 10 rebound a game average provide us proof of that. In 2004 LaRusso would succumb to Parkinson’s
Disease and die at the age of 66.
Basketball genes
6-foot 11-inch Marvin Bagley III was a star athlete in high school and at Duke. His NBA career has begun on an upward bound note, playing for the Kings his rookie season numbers offer proof. Bagley III scored nearly 15 points and 8 rebounds a game for his Kings team. The family lineage was there all along, somehow, we missed it. Bagley III is the grandson of “Jumping” Joe Caldwell, most of you might not be familiar with the name.
6-foot 11-inch Marvin Bagley III was a star athlete in high school and at Duke. His NBA career has begun on an upward bound note, playing for the Kings his rookie season numbers offer proof. Bagley III scored nearly 15 points and 8 rebounds a game for his Kings team. The family lineage was there all along, somehow, we missed it. Bagley III is the grandson of “Jumping” Joe Caldwell, most of you might not be familiar with the name.
Caldwell played at Arizona State and was
the second pick in the first round of the 1964 NBA draft. This 6-foot 5-inch guard/forward was a
Piston’s pick however his most productive years were with the St. Louis/Atlanta
Hawks in the NBA. In 1970 a time “war”
existed between the leagues he left the NBA for the ABA Carolina Cougars. He would find himself back in St. Louis as
the Cougars relocated and became the Spirit of St. Louis. Caldwell was a 2x NBA All Star and 2x ABA All
Star, in 1975 he retired from the game while playing for the Spirits. It should also be of note he won Gold for the
U.S. in the 1964 Olympics.
Dawn
We are at the dawn of the 2019-20 college basketball season. Who wins the 2020 NCAA championship, there are plenty of suitors but only one claims the crown? I use the phrase “The usual suspects” are mentioned in practically everything we read. You know them Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and North Carolina. These schools might be at the top of everyone’s list but sometimes expectations don’t pan out. Injuries plus competition and under achieving teams sometimes fail to reach the pinnacle.
We are at the dawn of the 2019-20 college basketball season. Who wins the 2020 NCAA championship, there are plenty of suitors but only one claims the crown? I use the phrase “The usual suspects” are mentioned in practically everything we read. You know them Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and North Carolina. These schools might be at the top of everyone’s list but sometimes expectations don’t pan out. Injuries plus competition and under achieving teams sometimes fail to reach the pinnacle.
The 2019 Final Four certainly looked
different in many aspects, which of the schools was expected to reach the final
round? Don’t bother looking it up, it
was neither champion Virginia nor runner-up Texas Tech. Michigan State might have figured on
someone’s list not as champion but to make the Elite Eight field. As we’ve often discussed there are no more
repeat champions impacted by the NBA. If
we look back in time, there certainly were more improbable champions than
Virginia.
How about the 1988 Kansas team, dubbed Danny
and the Miracles? Danny Manning led that
team and they finished with a 27-11 record in winning. We could drop back a few more years to 1985
when Villanova (25-10) upset the highly favored Georgetown Hoyas. Two years earlier North Carolina State
(26-10) beat the Phi Slama Jama Houston Cougars. There have been a few unlikely champions
throughout NCAA history and truth is there will probably be more.
