Basketball from a fan perspective

Just when you think you know it all

The Knicks now have a head coach, former Wolves Coach Tom Thibodeau has/will sign a 5-year contract to coach the Knicks.  I did not realize this will be his second go round with the Knicks, he served as an assistant from 1996-2004.  Later he moved to the Rockets and Celtics as an assistant, Thibodeau’s first head coaching job was the Bulls and later he would coach the Wolves.  He certainly has his work cut out for him with the Knicks, although talent certainly exists they are one of the worst teams in the NBA.  

If you hate Duke, you can skip reading

This is no rush to judgement; the court is yet to rule.  It appears, notice the word Zion Williamson appears to have been eligible to play at Duke.  You remember the story a former agency had taken him to court over a contract his advisors terminated.  They made the claim Williamson had signed a contract while enrolled at Duke which would have made him ineligible his freshman year. 

The account from there becomes muddled even more, evidence was entered which turned out to be doctored.  A fake driver’s license and payment was made to a Williamson “family member” is a portion of the claim.  Is Williamson guilty of anything, certainly we cannot be sure at this point.  That does not appear to be the case as this is written, stay tuned for further developments.  If this account proves incorrect it will be so noted at the conclusion of this trial.   

It is me

It seems almost every day we receive news an NBA player has left Orlando for a wide variety of reasons.  Why not just stop a minute and consider a single fact, these players are all in a bubble? If they were in their home cities issues of a similar nature might still exist, they only become highlighted due to the pandemic and the conditions NBA players are enduring at this point. As for the returning players, they are tested then quarantined before they can return so there should be little issue with transferring COVID-19 to other players.  

The Logo  

Stephen A. Smith was one of the culprits, he was among several folks who believed the NBA logo required a change.  He and others were suggesting the Jerry West logo be replaced by LeBron James.  No argument from anyone LeBron James is the most recognized name in the NBA today.  Too much time has elapsed for me to provide detail on why Smith and others were promoting the change. 

The NBA in popularity ranks only behind on the NFL, West carried the weight of the NBA at the time this change was instituted.  At that time, the NBA ranked behind baseball and the NFL in popularity; it was slightly above a minor league at the time.  There is no issue with change however please provide a logical requirement other than “we want it.”  It should be of note the NBA had the logo designed and implemented without contacting West.  Nothing similar to that could occur in this age. 

Technology 

It should be apparent by now technology has outpaced the speed of today’s game.  An example might be a game between the Bucks and Thunder prior to shut-down.  Bucks forward Giannis Antetounmpo stepped out of bounds in his last drive toward the basket before he scored what became the winner 97-95.  In the NFL and MLB, the officials call a timeout turn to instant replay and make the call good or bad depending on your perspective.  Basketball certainly has replay capability but not on a similar type play.  NBA basketball has become too speedy a game to make the correct call all the time. 

If you checked out the replay the official is within 5 feet of Antetounmpo at the time the player is driving toward the basket.  The officials focus is on Antetounmpo’s upper body he is not looking at the location of the players foot.  Was the official in error, likely not he was in the position he should have been in.  Thunder broadcasters were not pleased with the outcome of the game however there is really nothing that could have been done to prevent the result in my view.  The NBA Competition Committee will explore viable solutions to late game out of bound plays, all I can say to that is good luck.