Basketball from a fan’s perspective
Forget about it
The term above coined from the 1950 television series The
Honeymooners and reprised in the 1997 movie Donnie Brasco. It simply states there is no longer a
requirement to focus on the person or thing in question. In this instance it refers to Andre Iguodala
and the Lakers attempt to acquire him.
The Grizzlies reveal they want a first-round draft choice in exchange for
the veteran Iguodala. Iguodala will
turned 36 in January and the question is his value to the Lakers are any team
that huge?
Reports are Iguodala wants to join the Lakers but it ain’t
happening. Sam Quinn of cbssports.com
detailed for us the status of future Laker draft choices. It would appear Iguodala, LeBron and several
others might be retired before the Lakers have a first-round draft choice. The basis for no picks involves
the draft choices surrendered to the Pelicans in acquiring Anthony Davis. As a Laker fan I’d love to acquire Iguodala, short
of him being released it would appear that’s near impossible.
Streaking at the right time
Generally, we believe the last college team to complete a
season undefeated was UCLA. Although
UCLA had undefeated teams Indiana was the last college team to complete a
season without a loss. The 1976 team
finished the season with a 32-0 record.
How about the opposite perspective, teams losing large numbers of games
before securing the championship?
UConn led by Kevin Ollie lost 8 games yet won it all in 2014,
in 2011 under Jim Calhoun the Huskies lost 9 games before winning the
championship. In 1997 Lute Olson’s
Arizona Wildcats also lost 9 games defeating Kentucky in OT for the
championship. Danny and the Miracles,
the Kansas Jayhawks of 1988 lost 11 games, Villanova and NC State both lost 10
games in 1985 and 1983. So, as you can
see teams streaking at the right time were able to eventually win an NCAA championship.
“Talking loud and saying nothing”
In 1972 James Brown recorded an R&B hit tune with the
above title. We had a local sports talk
radio host who decided Trae Young wasn’t all that. In 100+ years of college basketball no one
had led in scoring and assists in the same season, no one until Oklahoma’s Trae
Young accomplished the feat. Young exploded on the college scene his freshman
year during the non-conference portion of Oklahoma’s schedule. Big 12 team coaches began adjusting their
defenses to stop him or if nothing else slow him down. Naturally his shooting percentage and scoring suffered during
this period.
At some point during the conference season an NBA scout said;
"Once he (Young) reaches the NBA colleges won't be able
to design junk defenses." I took the scouts words as valid rather than
the radio comments. I wonder if this host has taken time to check out Young’s
game since he arrived in the NBA. There
are some including this writer who believes Young could have easily been named
NBA Rookie of the Year last season. I’ve
mentioned this previously this radio guy was a chief reason I quit listening to
sports talk radio. 🤔
Mizzou retired jerseys
Last spring Mizzou raised Derrick Chievous’s number 3 to the
rafters. Chievous is Mizzou’s all-time
scoring leader, he played from 1984-88.
Several of the other jerseys hanging in the rafters were unknown to me
without research.
#22 Norm Stewart 1953-1956 and then Mizzou head coach from
1967-1999
#40 Steve Stipanovich 1979-1983
#43 Bill Stauffer 1950-1952
#34 Doug Smith 1987-1991
#20 Jon Sunvold 1979-1983
#30 Willie Smith 1974-1976
I’m unsure of Anthony Peeler’s status, not his play rather his
degree status. Mizzou, I believe is one
of the universities requiring an athlete to be a graduate before retiring a
jersey.
It was him not them
Do you remember reading the story circulating around the
start of training camp, in order to earn a roster spot with the Lakers Dwight
Howard signed a non-guaranteed contract.
It was reported the contract wouldn’t become fully guaranteed until
January 10. We guessed this was done at
the request of the Lakers, after all there had been drama in the past with
Howard and perhaps management wanted a guarantee.
We discover that’s not the entire story, it’s now being
reported Howard through his agent requested this type of contract. It’s believed Howard wanted to provide proof
how serious he was about playing for the Lakers this season. To date there are no reported issues
regarding Howard from management or his teammates. This Laker fan is pleased this move has been
beneficial thus far despite my early concern.
We need to see him in action
We’d better see Kofi Cockburn as soon as possible, the Big
Man (7 foot 290 pounds) will likely not remain at Illinois very long. Brad Underwood now in his third season has Illinois
playing outstanding basketball to date, we can see evidence in the Fighting
Illini beating number 5 Michigan. Part
of the resurgence for Illinois basketball can be attributed to Cockburn, this
Rivals 5-star prospect has hit the ground running. The mock draft sites list his name however
none as this is written have made any projections.
There is no doubt coming out of high school even Oak Hill
Academy he’s raw, but the potential appears to be there. With a scoring average of nearly 16 points and
10.6 rebounds a game provides us proof the freshman is ready for the rigors of playing
Division I basketball. If he continues
to develop at this level the NBA is in his future despite small ball
mentality. Unfortunately, his claim to
fame thus far is an incident where he accidently hit a game official. Did I mention he’s from Kingston Jamaica? Wonder who else hails from the Caribbean island
nation a guy by the name of Patrick Ewing.
Now I ain’t saying he’s the second coming of Ewing however let’s wait
and see.
