Basketball
from a fan’s perspective
Miz-zou
Can we say disappointment reigns this year in COMO and Mizzou
Nation? The Mizzou Tigers have not
played as well as many hoped at the beginning of the season. The wins have been few however Saturday
evening offered a rare opportunity to smile and revel in victory. The Mizzou Tigers upset the number 11 Auburn
Tigers 85-73, Mizzou was led in the win by its backcourt of Dru Smith with 28
points and Xavier Pinson also with 28 and 5 assists.
One interesting development the lineup change, Jeremiah Tilmon
is permanently attached to the bench along with Mark Smith. Tilmon after playing major minutes his first
two seasons suffered an injury and appears healed. The problem Tilmon’s propensity to foul has
kept him on the bench with the less talented Reed Nikko replacing him at
center. As for Smith the former Illinois
guard has suffered a shooting slump of epic proportions which has kept him
cemented to the bench too.
Size 22
Few could wear a size 22 shoe, Shaquille O’Neal can and
does. When your fathers exploit on the
basketball court are the stuff of legend it’s difficult to find your
space. That is the case for Shareef O’Neal son of the
Big Aristotle. Briefly he was to attend
Arizona and when it appeared the school might face sanctions from the Adidas trial,
he changed his mind.
Young O’Neal decided in favor of UCLA and was all set to make
his debut when a physical determined he must undergo surgery for a heart condition. He sat out his freshman year and the 2019-20
season witnessed him playing very little.
Shareef announced on Instagram he’s transferring to LSU his father’s
alma mater for the 2020-21 season. We
are not sure the son will ever approach the level of play of the father, in any
event we wish the best for the youngster.
International play
If you are an international player age 17-18 you have a clear
advantage over an American athlete in this area. 1.
You can place your name in the NBA draft pool and hope you are
chosen. 2. The NBA G-League is available if you believe
your game might require an additional year of play in the U.S. 3.
College play, face it several Euro players with talent have been able to
fine tune it while playing at schools here.
Detlef Schrempf from Germany might not have been the first,
he played at the University of Washington in 1981. The same could be said for Rik Smits back in
the day, born in the Netherlands he played at Marist College at Poughkeepsie
New York beginning in 1984. Both these
players and others we’ve failed to mention had long exceptional NBA careers;
they perfected their basketball skill while playing at American
universities.
Load
Management
You will receive two opinions anytime load management is
discussed. There are many in agreement
with it while others have an issue.
Let’s return to the past briefly, the chief reason Kawhi Leonard is
playing for the Clippers is the issue.
His last year with the Spurs witnessed him playing only 9 games, it was
reported at the time trust issues between the Spurs medical staff and himself
existed. It culminated with a demand to
be traded and he headed north to play for and lead the Raptors to an NBA championship. He’s since signed with the Clippers but the
issue continues to follow him, i.e. not playing when not injured or ill.
Across the hall from the Laker locker room a whole other
mindset exists. LeBron James claimed,
“Fans pay to see superstars play”, no need of sitting out unless you are
injured. Load management has created a
problem at the barber shop too. On any
Saturday morning you can find half the patrons (including the barbers) in favor
of load management while the other half is opposed. No argument there is a great deal of wear and
tear on the body playing at the NBA level.
At the same time, I’d be extremely unhappy if I purchased a $75 or $100
ticket and discovered my favorite player was sitting out. This issue will never be resolved and perhaps
the easiest method is to simply state ______is suffering from the Flu and leave
the issue alone.
