Basketball from a fan’s perspective
Too many same names
Last
season Coach Cuonzo had to be specific when he said, “Smith I need to sub you
for ________.” Was it Mitchell, Dru or
Mark Smith he was sending into the game or giving special instruction? It might have become even more complicated
for the upcoming 2020-21 season. All three of the
Smith’s return but Drew Buggs was added to the Mizzou roster joining Dru, both
D’s are point guard…are you confused? It
might be easy to see why you might become confused with the same sounding names
and the Smith contingent. Hopefully, none of the Mizzou teammates will suffer
confusion with the names.
They had an opportunity
This
account is repeated, several may have missed reading when first published. Bet some of you did not realize Moses Malone could
have played for the Kansas City Kings? The merger reduced the number of ABA teams (and
players). The remaining ABA players were placed in a pool and NBA teams (based
on their W-L record) conducted a draft. The Kings with the 3rd pick in 1976 choose serviceable
6 ft 2-inch shooting guard Ron Boone, the Blazers with the 5th pick chose
Malone.
Money
appeared to be the deciding factor with Kings management; Boone's signing bonus
was $250,000 as for Malone his bonus was $350,000. He would not remain with the Blazers; Malone would go on to play for the Rockets and Sixers. He would become an important contributor to the Sixers winning the 1983 NBA
Championship. Malone’s outstanding ABA-NBA
career would later see him enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame. Even more depressing to fans here the Kings might have never left Kansas City if they made the correct decision, they may well have become a perennial contender with Malone in the middle.
Like his father
It is sometimes worthy and challenging if you
take up the game of your father. Good if
you can play at or near your father’s level, i.e. Kobe Bryant. The challenge, the son(s) are talented enough
to play in college but never reach the skill level of the father. Marcus and Jeffrey Jordan the sons of Michael
would be our example or Rick Barry’s offspring.
This profile is a feature on Ryan Mutombo son of Dikembe.
Ryan is in the middle of the picture so to speak;
he is a senior in the Class of 2021. He is yet to play at the college level but
appears to have talent. At 7 feet Ryan
is nearly as tall as his father but is 50 pounds shy at 210. A 4-star Rivals prospect with offers from 13
schools, the leaders for his service at this point appear to be North Carolina
and Georgetown.
New York City hype
He’s 45 years old now, out of the NBA since 2002. He appeared to have all the tools for an outstanding shooting guard (6-5), LeBron James was on the cover of Sports Illustrated while in high school however Felipe Lopez accomplished the feat much earlier. Born in the Dominican Republic his parents emigrated to the U.S. when Lopez was 14-years old. He became a New York City sensation while playing at Rice High School in Harlem New York. McDonald’s All American and several accolades came his way. Despite the fact Lopez had a choice of schools across the nation he decided to remain at home and play for St. John’s University.
Lopez choice of St. John’s proved beneficial and he was productive during his four years at the school. He was the number 24 pick in the first round of the 1998 NBA Draft by the Vancouver Grizzlies. The NBA proved quite a different story for Lopez as he was never able to gain a foothold. He would last but four years with two other NBA teams. The question did New York hype build him up to be greater than his talent level-----perhaps? We could pose the question to Stephon Marbury, Pearl Washington, or Lenny Cooke. Lopez and the others mentioned certainly had talent however perhaps they were victims of New York City hype.
He’s 45 years old now, out of the NBA since 2002. He appeared to have all the tools for an outstanding shooting guard (6-5), LeBron James was on the cover of Sports Illustrated while in high school however Felipe Lopez accomplished the feat much earlier. Born in the Dominican Republic his parents emigrated to the U.S. when Lopez was 14-years old. He became a New York City sensation while playing at Rice High School in Harlem New York. McDonald’s All American and several accolades came his way. Despite the fact Lopez had a choice of schools across the nation he decided to remain at home and play for St. John’s University.
Lopez choice of St. John’s proved beneficial and he was productive during his four years at the school. He was the number 24 pick in the first round of the 1998 NBA Draft by the Vancouver Grizzlies. The NBA proved quite a different story for Lopez as he was never able to gain a foothold. He would last but four years with two other NBA teams. The question did New York hype build him up to be greater than his talent level-----perhaps? We could pose the question to Stephon Marbury, Pearl Washington, or Lenny Cooke. Lopez and the others mentioned certainly had talent however perhaps they were victims of New York City hype.
G.O.A.T
I had to return to 2019 to locate this
account. We have had arguments in all
professional sports who was the GOAT, greatest of all time. Jim Jackson former NBA player and current Fox Sports analyst
says, “It’s Kareem Abdul Jabbar, 4 high school championships,
6-time NBA champion, 6 NBA MVP
awards numerous other awards.” We
realize unless we are discussing golf, gymnastics or some other single sport
teamwork is key.
Kareem had talented teammates except those
early years while a member of the Bucks, that aided him in accomplishing many
of the accolades and achievements during his illustrious college and NBA career. Somebody wrote “We cannot bestow the honor of
GOAT on a center, it’s necessary for somebody to feed him the ball.” No argument from me with that statement, I
can ask this question. What did Kareem accomplish once the ball was passed to him, he would shoot
his patented unstoppable sky hook?
