Basketball from a fan’s perspective
Change again
2020-21 will be the last season Spalding basketballs will be
utilized for games, the following season the NBA will switch to Wilson. Spalding has been the brand since 1985, the
league circled back to Wilson again. The
news released no other major changes would be forthcoming. In other related news as this is written 11
NBA teams have opened facilities to players.
Are we headed to a re-start of the season for the NBA, only time will
tell?
Not gonna happen
again
This is a football connected basketball story, it is being
reported Adidas worked hard to sign NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes to an
extended contract. The word is the shoe
and apparel corporation wanted no repeat of an earlier decision. A former Adidas employee claimed in 1984
Michael Jordan wanted Adidas but technically the company did not want him.
According to this person “They wanted to concentrate on Big
Men and decided Michael Jordan was not tall enough.” Imagine that a guy standing 6 foot 6 inches,
Adidas decided in favor of 7-foot 2-inch Kareem Abdul Jabbar and passed on
signing MJ. Both athletes have long been
retired but which one’s shoe and apparel line remains highly sought by
consumers? It would appear Adidas
believes Mahomes might be one of those athletes who could approach MJ in crossover
appeal.
White Chocolate
Jason Williams was his given name in the NBA he was J Will,
but White Chocolate was the name mentioned most times. He was drafted by the Kings spending the best
years of his career in Sacramento. This
point guard drafted by in 1998 wasn’t known for his scoring, but boy could he
pass the rock as Dick Vitale might say, if you were a teammate you better have
your eyes on your defender and J Will.
A media person with the Kings came up with the nickname White
Chocolate. She said, “I came up with the
name because of his style. He has flash and pizazz. The way he does things with the ball
is incredible to me. It reminds me of, like, schoolyard street ball when I go
to Chicago.” * If you never had an
opportunity to see him in action check out the link below.
*Wikipedia
Buffalo
Anytime the northern New York State city is mentioned our minds focus on these features. It might be the frigid winter weather, the
Great Lakes we are told impact the weather greatly. They claim Buffalo wings originate in the
city which is outstanding if true. As
for sports it is the NHL Sabres and NFL Bills, few residents probably remember
the NBA. The Buffalo Braves played in
the city from 1970-1978, there were one of three expansion teams. The others were the Blazers and Cavs who
continue to operate, what about the Braves?
How and why the team left Buffalo is highly unusual, as for
the reason several non-winning seasons they suffered at the gate. The Braves owner “swapped franchises with the
owner of the Celtics, he then moved the team to San Diego where they were
re-born as the Clippers. Despite the
poor won loss record several quality players wore Brave colors. Bob McAdoo had long NBA career playing for several
NBA teams. The late Randy Smith would
set a record for consecutive games played, from 1972 through 1982 he played in
a then record 906 games. Several older
citizens remember the Braves, as for the NBA that is only a memory for them
now.
