Saturday, February 22, 2020


Basketball from a fan’s perspective

A departure and arrival
The Lakers waived Boogie Cousins for now, Markieff Morris is expected to sign with them after a buyout from the Pistons.  I must admit I know more of the Morris twins Markieff and Marcus from their time at Kansas than I do their NBA careers.  Laker Nation must consider the team made the best move considering the circumstances, they did not give up Kuzma whose name was mentioned in several potential trades. 

As for Boogie I hate to see him go but there is light at the end of the tunnel.  He could re-sign with the Lakers in the off-season or perhaps another team might be interested in picking him up.  Dwight Howard needs to thank Boogie, if not for the Achilles injury the roles of these two could have been reversed.  So, in addition to a city rivalry we add to it a sibling rivalry with Markieff now a Laker and Marcus with the Clippers. 

He doesn’t know beans
Every time Trae Young achieves an outstanding accomplishment I smile.  I smile as I think back to the local radio guy.  I’ve told this story previously we had a sports talk radio host who was always suffering (per usual) from oral diarrhea, running off at the mouth and discussing basketball which it was clear he didn’t have a clue.  He compounded his ignorance by paying only attention to the Big 12 Conference and more especially Kansas basketball.  The guy tried to convince his listening audience Trae Young “had no game.” 

It was about this time in Young’s freshman year at Oklahoma.  I listened to the words of an NBA scout rather than this guy.  The scout said, “They won’t be able to draw junk defenses once he (Young) arrives in the NBA.  Since Young’s arrival in the NBA every time he has an outstanding game as I said earlier, I smile.  On Thursday the slim Hawks point guard was outstanding in his teams win over the Magic.  Young scored 50 points in the 129-124 winner over the Magic.  Young wasn’t just chunking up shots, he shot 48% from the floor.      

The Admiral
David Robinson wasn’t really an admiral, he was given the nickname as a graduate of the Annapolis, the U.S. Naval Academy.  Upon graduation Robinson was commissioned an Ensign (2nd Lieutenant) and promoted to Lieutenant Jr. Grade when he left the Navy, that’s equivalent to an Army or Marine Corp 1st Lieutenant.  Robinson was just under the height limit of 6 foot 8 inches tall but received a waiver to enter the academy, four years later he stood 7 feet tall. 

The bio indicates there was nothing noteworthy about his high school basketball, he was better at academics then sports.  Can we just say the talent was lying beneath the surface?  The next four years at Annapolis led him to be named an All-American.  At 7-foot 1-inch Robinson was too tall for duty aboard a naval ship which he hoped would become his career.  Instead his career would become the NBA and he would spend it as a member of the Spurs. 

By the time Robinson graduated from Annapolis an agreement was made with the Secretary of the Navy and Robinson would only spend 2-years on active duty.  Later with Tim Duncan they would become one of the most lethal twin towers in NBA history.  By the time Robinson ended his 14-year NBA career his play witnessed him enshrined in the FIBA and Naismith Hall of Fame.  For reasons unknown anytime a discussion on NBA Big Men occur Robinson’s name is rarely mentioned, he won championships, MVP’s yet is left out of the discussion. 

It was just the manner it was written
One of the websites I visit regularly bleacherreport.com contained an interesting article.  “Five teams who might tank to secure LaMelo Ball”, I almost fell out of my chair laughing.  It was not for the reason you might first suspect, from all indications Ball is a legitimate draft prospect.  The question, would the Knicks or the Bulls or other teams lose on purpose in order to draft him? 

We cannot be for sure, but we imagine a team with a budding superstar on the horizon might attempt to lose on purpose. What’s what provoke laugher on my part, besides the fact the youngster has at least one serious issue to eliminate.  It’s been reported Ball plays little if any defense, despite what an uninformed visitor might believe they do play defense in the NBA.