Basketball from a fan’s perspective

What was he thinking...Not!  

Lately I’ve attempted to avoid Stephen A. Smith and some of his outrageous comments.  This one causes me to say what was he thinking?  Allow me to state at the beginning the Suns Devin Booker’s stock continues to rise.  I’m unsure if he’s made an All-Star team yet but believe he should.  Back to Smith, he claimed on his Friday program the Lakers should trade Kyle Kuzma and a package of players along with a draft choice for Booker.  Smith indicates he’s looking toward the Lakers future when LeBron would be retired, Booker and AD would form the base of a new team. 

On the surface this Laker fan would love to have Devin Booker on the roster however there are questions for Mr. Smith.  First question, what makes you believe the Suns would be willing to trade their star player for Kuzma a package and draft pick?  Second question, before you proposed this trade did you take into consideration the salary issue?  In the NBA teams cannot simply trade player A for player B the issue of salaries must be taken into consideration.  An effort to add a talent like Booker would be fantastic however there are serious flaws which Mr. Smith has failed to take into consideration.   

Rookie of the Year

While researching Rookie of the Year history I came across a bit of information I wanted to share, a few franchises experienced back to back award winners for this honor.  In 1962 Walt Bellamy won as a member of the Chicago Packers, the following season Terry Dischinger was the winner for the Chicago Zephyrs, same team however a name change from Packers to Zephyrs occurred in the off season.

In 1968 Earl Monroe was a winner for the Baltimore Bullets followed by Wes Unseld the following season.  In 1971 Geoff Petrie of the Blazers shared the award with Dave Cowens, in 1972 Sidney Wicks was the sole winner.  1973 Bob McAdoo won for the Buffalo Braves and was followed by Ernie DeGregorio in 1974.  The most recent dual winners were the Wolves Andrew Wiggins in 2016 followed by teammate Karl-Anthony Towns in 2017.     

It’s difficult to replace a legend

The late Laker broadcaster Chick Hearn was 85-years old when he died in August 2002.   He’s mentioned here since a writer complained about the present broadcaster Bill MacDonald.  McDonald is a good announcer he’s just not Hearn.  In November 21, 1965 Hearn began a broadcast streak that will never be eclipsed, for the next 3,338 consecutive Laker games his voice would describe Laker action. 

He broadcast Laker games for such a time many adults first listened to him as children.  Hearn would simulcast the game on radio and television a feat few copied.  Due to radio/television being one in the same he would use the term Words eye view to describe his style.  Many of today’s broadcasters have borrow several of the “Chick-isms.”  Just a few are:  

Air-ball

Bloooows the layup

(That shot) didn’t draw iron

My grandmother could guard him, and she can’t go to her left!

Slam dunk 

Some of the phrases are dated now, those listed are but a partial list of his vocabulary.  We must take into consideration most are from the 1960’s when Hearn first began his Laker broadcast career.   

Surprises and disappointments

The half-way point of the NBA season also calls us to check out the surprises and disappointments of the 2019-20 season.  This is not intended to be a complete assessment; but a thumbnail observation.  It’s been mentioned previously the Luka Doncic affect is working in Dallas, they are several rungs higher on the scale than last season.  Also, on the ascending side is Ja Morant and his Memphis Grizzlies.  After Westbrook was traded what did we expect, the Thunder have played much better than many expected. 

The Heat must be included as well, as this is written they are the number two seed in the East playoff picture.  Disappointments, got to be the Blazers, Wolves and Nets.  There might be others however we are talking the playoffs last season for the Blazers and Nets.  If the season ended today Dame Lillard, Karl-Anthony Towns and Kyrie Irving would be watching the playoffs in front of their respective television sets.  It appears the Spurs despite having the best coach in basketball have continued to slide downward.  Do we consider them a disappointment based on their consecutive playoff streak over the years?