A stellar class
The 2020 class for the Naismith Hall of Fame is
outstanding. Leading the list of those
to be enshrined is Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Chris Bosh. All are first time nominees, Shawn Marion,
Michael Finley, Mark Eaton and Buck Williams are also being nominated for the
first time. Others such as Chauncey Billups, Mark Jackson and several others
have been nominated in the past but were not enshrined.
Not a shocker
James Wiseman a projected lottery pick in the 2020 NBA draft
is not returning to Memphis. This is a
surprise ending to the story but certainly not a shocker, you might remember Wiseman
was suspended by the NCAA over monetary infractions. The youngster decided instead of returning to
school he would hire an agent and plan for the June draft. If you have NBA veteran Penny Hardaway as
your coach, we can guess he wasn’t surprised either.
The 7-foot 1-inch 247-pound Wiseman appears skillful on the
basketball court, whether he can play at a high skill level in the NBA is
certainly an unknown at this point. Expect
the commissioner to announce his name in June, two mock draft sites, nbadraftrooom.com
list Wiseman as the top pick while nbadraft.net places him second. My chief concern is the verbal abuse Wiseman
and other youngsters receive from the adults around them. Place yourself in his shoes, at this point
the only path for him into the NBA is two means.
Wiseman could have played overseas (Ball & Hampton) or
attend college for a year. At 18 a
student can begin the path to adulthood by joining the military or joining the
workforce in the same manner as any other adult. The NBA at least to this point in time has a
19-year old or 1 year removed from high school statute in order to enter the
draft. One of the tired old complaints, “He’s
not interested in going to class.”
The writer has no clue if that’s the case however he’d like to believe
the words he wrote.
Bits n Pieces
I don’t hate Doc Rivers, he’s not my favorite NBA coach hence
the headline. You might remember the load
management issue LeBron James addressed; the quote was detailed on Wednesday. The Clippers coach voiced his view regarding
Kawhi Leonard and Hall of Fame and former Sonics guard Gary Payton took issue
with Rivers. Payton said the load
management issue is Leonard alone and the Clippers had nothing to do with
it. Payton accused Rivers of lying about
the issue…wow.
In this age of casual dress, it’s become somewhat uncommon to
see NBA players dressed in a suit. For
the Wednesday evening game against the Grizzlies each member of the Thunder
arrived at the arena in a custom suit. This
was Chris Paul’s idea he contracted with a tailor to take measurements of each
Thunder player during pre-season. Paul underwrote
the cost of the entire project.
Shouldn’t surprise
The Warriors have been dropped from two national
telecasts. This shouldn’t surprise us;
the schedule is out far in advance of play.
At the time the schedule was set it was believed the Warriors would be
prime time viewing. As this is written
the Warriors have the worst won-loss record in the NBA. It is possible later in the season we could
see them, the NBA schedule is adjusted from time to time.
