Basketball from a fan’s perspective
They moved quickly
Wake Forest hired Steve Forbes to replace Danny Manning. Forbes arrives from East Tennessee State
where he compiled a 71-19 in the Southern Conference, 130-43 overall through
five seasons. Forbes began his coaching
career at the junior college level although there were several stops as an
assistant at D-I schools. As for his
head coaching career that began at the junior college level. His coaching record reads 260 wins and 77
losses.
He remains enigmatic
Former NBA player Kendall Gill had an interesting Dennis
Rodman story. He says he and Rodman
visited a strip club the night before a Nets-Jersey game. Gill indicates he left about 12:00 a.m. but
asked one of the women to “Let me know what time Rodman leaves.” The next morning Gill called her prior to the
Nets shoot around and she said, “He must have left between 4-5 a.m.” Gill informed his teammates “Rodman won’t be
a problem tonight.” Gill claims Rodman
snatched down 20 rebounds in that evening game.
No doubt to this day “The Worm” as he was nicknamed was different,
many discovered this while viewing Last Dance.
Others were witness to the rebounding machine Rodman would become. If you check Rodman’s college stats the guy
could score the ball, he must have believed his talent led him to become a
specialist. An athlete standing 6 foot 7
and 220 pounds leads the NBA in rebounds 7 times, how does that transpire? It occurred because Rodman was a student of
the game, he constantly studied the direction the ball would bounce off the rim. Apart from the brief period with the Spurs both
the Pistons and Bulls were able to utilize Rodman’s skill to the max.
Oprah and the
NBA
The NBA has a few celebrity owners, there might have been one
more if not for $$$. The NBA may well have gained media mogul Oprah Winfrey as
an owner. In 2014 you remember the league removed Donald Sterling as owner of
the Clippers and began a search for a new proprietor. One of the prospective
owners was a group comprised of Winfrey, David Geffen, and Larry Ellison.
As the bid process begin to rise considerably the Winfrey group
dropped out. The Clippers would eventually be sold to Steve Ballmer former
Microsoft executive for a then record $1 billion. Later Winfrey was to say she
was happy her group was unable to purchase the team. Her reasoning, “Friends
would be hitting me up for tickets.” On
a serious note was Winfrey’s effort to purchase an NBA team due to the fact the
Clippers are in Southern California or the fact she is Oprah?
Shaq and his commercials
It seems these days Shaquille O’Neal is all over our television
sets advertising a multitude of products. We might question if he uses the
products, Shaq claims he’s got a long-time connection with one of them. The
auto insurance company goes back to his college days at LSU. As you are aware a
student must provide proof of insurance to drive an automobile on campus. Shaq
claims the company he advertises on television was the only automobile insurance
he could afford. He says the allegiance has lasted through the years although
we realize he could afford any companies coverage.
