Basketball from a fan’s perspective

Kentucky basketball

The State of Kentucky has long been a hotbed for basketball at all levels.  From the high school game up to many colleges and universities the state is rich in basketball lore.  The crown jewel is the University of Kentucky Wildcats.  Unlike UCLA the production of outstanding basketball players extends prior to 1948.  The athletes mentioned in yesterday’s Words eye view began attending UCLA in John Wooden’s first year and thereafter. 

As for the Wildcats their basketball heritage extends back to 1930 the date Adolph Rupp was hired as head coach.  Although Rupp’s name is forever attached to Kentucky basketball, he was born in Halstead Kansas 170 miles road miles southwest of Lawrence.  Of course, Lawrence is mentioned here because it’s home to the home the Jayhawks.  In the case of Kentucky basketball there is no acceptable method to reduce the list to 5 or even 10 players.  If we just registered the players while John Calipari is at the helm its remarkable, allow me to list just a few. 

John Wall

Anthony Davis

Karl-Anthony Towns

Jamal Mashburn

Cliff Hagan

Devin Booker

Ralph Beard

Alex Groza

Louie Dampier

Tony Delk

Several names might be unfamiliar to you, check basketballreference.com for detail.  In addition, your list might include some I missed and exclude others in my number.  The man at the helm has been responsible for the pipeline of players whether from Kentucky or some other state. 

The favorite Laker

Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant both were Lakers, neither ever played for any other NBA franchise.  Magic was 20-years old and had played two years at Michigan State while Kobe was 17-years old when he was drafted from Lower Merion High School in metro Philadelphia.  Magic’s opportunity to play was immediately as he moved into the starting lineup day one.  For Kobe it took him a while longer, he didn’t become a full-time starter until his third year in the NBA.  The common thread they shared; they became winners for the Lakers.    

Magic and Kobe expected nothing but the best from their teammates and especially from themselves, can we say they were driven.  Championship was in their DNA no doubt about that fact.  Kobe had a 20-year career all spent with the Lakers; Magic’s tenure would have been longer except for HIV which forced him into early retirement after 12 years.  With the medical knowledge now it’s possible Magic’s career could have been much longer.  Magic is thought of as a pass first point guard and a good shooter. 

It was unnecessary for him to be the focal point of the offense with the likes of Worthy, Wilkes, Abdul Jabbar and others.  Kobe, well he could score with the best of them, at the time he retired, he’d scored over 33,000 points.  As for the claim he was selfish his career assist total is nearly 5 assists per game.  NBA championships were mentioned earlier, Magic and Kobe both won 5 championships in purple and gold.  There were other Laker greats who spent their entire career with the franchise, James Worthy and Elgin Baylor come to mind immediately.  The favorite Laker probably depends on your age fans age 50-70 probably claim it was Magic, fans under 40 will say Kobe. 

Phrases 

Two phrases have come into common usage in sports over the last several years neither of which I’m fond of.  One is tanking the other is load management, both hint at failure to produce at your level of capability for a variety of reasons.  Let’s explore each, I became familiar with tanking when it was used to describe the Philadelphia Sixers.  It was hinted they were losing games on purpose to improve their position in succeeding NBA drafts.  Whether it was true or not the thought concerned me, we have the case of a professional team appearing to be unconcerned about winning or losing. 

The term tanking never went away as we begin to hear it regarding several other NBA teams.  The phrase even made it into the National Football League who play far fewer games than an NBA team.  We have no control over words and phrases used by the media however tanking is one I’d like to no longer here.  To me knowledge the term load management was first used to describe Kawhi Leonard sitting out games to rest. He wasn’t injured or any such thing he was just resting.  It was mentioned on one of the morning ESPN talk shows LeBron had played (up to that point) 355 more minutes than Kawhi. 

Athletes are the same as us, they have more a clue of their body than we do.  With that said this is the key for me (and others), I take my son to see the Clippers.  I spend $150 for two tickets and another $25 for parking, kids like to eat so I easily drop another $30 or more for food and drink.  I’ve spent well over $200 not including our transportation, we arrive at the game and discover Kawhi is not playing…load management.  You’ve got to be kidding me, I paid $200 of my hard-earned salary and discover he ain’t playing, give me a break.  As for LeBron his “load management” works better for me, his coach will insist he sit down at some point.  LeBron will not purposely sit out on his own that’s not in his DNA.