Basketball dominance
Anytime you cause
the rules to be adjusted that becomes the test of your basketball
dominance. That was the case for first
Wilt Chamberlain and later Kareem Abdul Jabber. Below is information and video compiled from the web.
“These rules
changed included widening the lane, instituting offensive goaltending
and revising rules governing inbounding the ball and shooting
free throws (Chamberlain would leap with the ball from behind the
foul line to deposit the ball in the basket).”
“When Lew Alcindor
started playing basketball in college for UCLA, the NCAA officials
felt that he was too dominant a player—one who could dunk the ball at will.
They felt he would be unstoppable, so they changed the rules to forbid dunking
in college games. This was called the "Alcindor Rule."
Bits n Pieces
There are several
stories which we could title “He Said-She said” or “He Said-He said”. This appears to be the case involving
Pelicans rookie forward Zion Williamson.
At this point it appears he signed with a company to represent his
interest then apparently fired them, they in turn filed a lawsuit against him. As I often say when the story is unclear, there
are too many moving parts to fully dissect this story.
Across the nation we
read and hear stories of landlords “forgiving” rents and lease payments due to
the pandemic. Evidently that has not
been the case for the NBA Store, the NBA is being sued by the owner indicating
the league failed to pay lease charges for April and May. The store was closed as other retail businesses
across the nation due to the pandemic. Is
this just a publicity stunt to embarrass the NBA? Rest assured the payment due is certainly not
walking around money, but the league is probably good for the payment.
I had an occasion last
summer to meet former NBA guard Jason ‘The Jet’ Terry, Terry was running
shooting skills training for a middle school student. After the workout I had an opportunity to
meet Terry and talk with him briefly, I found him to be quite personable and
friendly. As for this story it was
announced on Thursday Terry is headed to Arizona having been hired as an
assistant coach. This will be his first
venture into the coaching for pay, congrats Jet.
With no Draft
Combine this year we have no idea the height of LaMelo Ball. I just read one report indicating he stands 6
foot 6 inches; another claims he is 6 foot 8.
One assertion says it is 6 foot 9, the Draft Combine allows us to determine
the actual height of an athlete. NBA
teams do not entertain this nonsense as much as they once did however colleges still
play the game. The on again story then off again story of Ball "purchasing" his former NBL is on again. Sources are claiming Ball's party is close to finalizing the acquisition.
NBA Draft
This is an
unconfirmed report and should not be considered it is not set in stone. It appears the NBA Draft usually held the
third week in June will be moved to early September. This is all speculation, but it might be held
in the same manner as the NFL Draft. We
are likely to see only the draft picks, families, and close friends on our
television sets.
On a personal note I
only watched the early rounds of the NFL Draft paying attention to players the
Chiefs chose. It was different but
entertaining, the NFL commissioner appeared somewhat robotic the first evening
of the draft. The following evening Commissioner
Goodell appeared to be more at ease in his role. Commissioner Silver’s public persona is
somewhat like Goodell so hopefully given time he will overcome some of the
imperfections we saw with the NFL Draft.
