Basketball from a fan’s perspective

NBA Marketing

The NBA and markets its athletes in a first-class manner other that of other professional sports; a large percentage of this is due to the vision of David Stern.  This is not my view alone; former players make similar statements; Stern was able to convince Madison Avenue advertisers to see the future.  A league comprised of 90% black players appealing to a fan base of 75% white America, of course changes in the society aided this effort.  Keep in mind every advertiser didn’t buy in the marketing effort initially.  The NBA was infused with talented players who aided the cause, the first might be Michael Jordan. 

He was so good it allowed Nike to create his own brand… Air Jordan.  Initially the advertising was only in the shoe market, later it would be expanding into a myriad of products in the marketplace.  This many might find difficult to believe.  Except in the cities the NBA championship occurred the games were tape delayed to other markets.  It didn’t matter in a sense, there was no ESPN, Fox Sports or other method to receive an update.  All that changed due again to the efforts of David Stern.  The only instance today we are seeing a game from last night is a replay on NBA TV or another platform.  As was pointed out yesterday the growth of the NBA since 1984 cannot all be laid at the feet of David Stern, a large portion of it certainly is.   

Change, always change

UMKC (University of Mo-Kansas City) changed names and coaches.  The team is now Kansas City Roos connecting the city to the university and its mascot.  They begin the season with a new coach in place, Billy Donlon was hired replacing Kareem Richardson.  Of the six seasons at the helm Richardson had only one team finish above .500 (18-17).  Donlon arrives from Northwestern University where he was serving as an assistant coach, this is not his first head coaching job. 

Donlon was head coach at Division I Wright State for six seasons but was fired in 2016.  Unfortunately, the basketball program has been so up and down at UMKC I’ve adopted a wait and see attitude.  Mizzou has a 7-7 record prior to the start of conference play, without checking this might be the best start in memory.  This will be UMKC’s last season in the WAC, they return to the Summit League in 2020-21.  Hopefully they should find the Summit League a better working environment than the WAC.   

Blame Steph Curry

It’s not all Steph Curry’s fault allow me to explain.  NBA All Star voting has begun, and Curry’s received enough votes to place him in 4^th place among West guards.  No argument in this corner he’s a very talented athlete but he’s only played 4 games this season, what qualifies him to be an All-Star?  I’m not just picking on Curry we can add Dwight Howard to the list as well. 

As a Laker fan I love what he’s brought to the table so far this season.  Howard is a reserve player and non-starter; exactly why does he deserve to be an All Star?  In the East Tacko Fall has received 110,000 votes, Fall is on a two-way contract.  Part of his time’s been spent with the Maine Red Claws, game total with the Celtics 3.  I understand fans vote for their favorites but that’s not always concise or correct in my view.  No All Star vote forthcoming from this address.   

Only individual accolades

At the current pace James Harden will win his second scoring title at the end of this season.  He amazes us with his patent moves in route to the basket.  The question might be how important is scoring versus winning it all?  Let’s check the last 10 league leaders, Russell Westbrook has two, Kevin Durant four.  Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade and Steph Curry have one a piece.  Of the 10 how many teams won NBA championships…none. 

Kevin Durant’s scoring titles were all won while he was a member of the Thunder, so your guess is Steph…wrong again.  His team played for the championship but fell to the LeBron James Cavs.  The last 10 NBA champion teams didn’t have the league’s top scorer on their roster.  Wilt Chamberlain was a scoring machine once totaling 100 points in a game.  Despite the fact Chamberlain led the league in scoring 11 times his teams only won two championships.  What’s the point you ask, other components of the game are just as important as scoring.