Basketball from a fan’s perspective

En Fuego

Those who speak Spanish are aware the headline says, “on fire.”  Former ESPN SportsCenter anchor Dan Patrick popularized it when reviewing the nightly highlights would describe the hot shooting of a player by stating “blank player was en fuego tonight.”  I believe Patrick could understand us borrowing the term to describe the recent play of Blazer guard Damian Lillard.     

Lillard led the way Friday in his team’s victory over my Lakers scoring 48 points, to prove this was no fluke he turned around the next night and increased his output over the prior evenings work.  He scored 51 over the Jazz leading to another Blazer victory, later you will read my belief Lillard is a volume scorer rather than volume shooter.  The guy just doesn’t miss shooting over 51% from the floor in the last two games, over the last six he’s averaged 48.8 points. 

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This report is primarily intended for fans of the University of Kansas.  Your basketball coach has berated Mizzou since 2012 for leaving the Big 12 for the SEC. A fair amount of vitriol was aimed at Mizzou while the coach said virtually nothing about Nebraska, Colorado and Texas A&M leaving.  In fact, because there is a Kansas connection at Colorado the two schools have met on the court. 

I’d mentioned this previously the revival of the Mizzou-Kansas game is of little interest to this member of Laker Nation.  Please inform Bill Self the following information is the basis for the move.  Big 12 schools received $38.8 million in revenue in 2019, for SEC schools the figure was $44.6 million.  Naturally we have no method to verify if these figures are valid, in this instance we must trust the source releasing the numbers to the public

Coming to America
The title above is not a reference to the 1988 movie starring Eddie Murphy or the 1980 Neil Diamond pop tune.  This is another portion of the legacy of the late David Stern and his impact on the NBA game.  International players were a trickle of the players arriving in the NBA when he began his tenure as commissioner, by the time he left office in 2014 the trickle had become a flood.  We have witnessed an ever-increasing number of international players over the years, but it’s been two-fold. 

We have not included the numbers who matriculate at U.S. universities, all don’t wind up in the NBA.  This is no intent to name all of them you know them, the Mavs Luka Doncic, “The Joker” Nicola Jokic of the Nuggets.  They arrived on their shores directly from Euro basketball, others like Joel Embiid, Patty Mills, Ben Simmons and Buddy Hield traveled the university route to arrive in the NBA.  Naturally these and others had to be talented enough to play Division I or NBA basketball.  With NBA Africa plus NBA India open get ready, the numbers will only increase. 

OG  

His given name is James Worthy, others might be more familiar with his nickname “Big Game James”.  He received the tag because it seemed his best games were reserved for those times the Lakers really needed his scoring and defense.  Worthy was made the number one pick in the 1982 NBA draft; the Lakers had just won the NBA championship at the time he was drafted.  How did this occur you might ask?  The Lakers were drafting in the Cavs position having secured the draft rights in an earlier trade. 

Worthy a 6-foot 9-inch small forward might have had the swiftest first step in basketball, his speed saw him the recipient of many a Magic Johnson pass.  It wasn’t just fast break dunks, there was range out to the 3-point line.  Worthy was 3x NBA champion, 1988 NBA Finals MVP and received numerous other awards.  Worthy was selected a member of the NBA’s 50^th Anniversary team and his number 42 hangs in the rafters of Staples Center.  He’s also enshrined in the Naismith and College Basketball Hall of Fame.  Retired in 1994 Worthy is now working in sports television as an analyst.  A name you should be familiar with Big Game James Worthy of the Lakers.