Basketball from a fan perspective
No excuse corner
What…. you were expecting an excuse for the
Lakers poor game against the Raptors Saturday night? You read the byline correctly, this is the no
excuse corner. I am not going to critique
every Laker game from now throughout the playoffs. Let us just say I was extremely disappointed
in the loss and hopefully they will play better in the future. It should be of note the Raptors have no
Kawhi Leonard, yet their won-loss record is better than last season. You might remember the Raptors are defending NBA Champions, okay, there is the excuse you were waiting for.
Could it be?
There is a story circulating which is just a
rumor at this point but might be worth reporting, it relates to Michigan State
recruiting. 5-star prospect Max Christie
arrives on campus in the fall of 2021, the story has All-Everything Emoni Bates
and Big Man Enoch Boake reclassifying and arriving at the same time of Christie. This is rumor at best, and we must await the
decision. In this day of prospects
graduating a year early it is not beyond the realm of possibility.
The three all arriving at the same time on
campus could effectively change the basketball landscape for Michigan State in
a positive manner. The University of
Michigan fielded a lineup of five freshman starters, Chris Webber, Jalen Rose,
Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson.
This group of freshmen was talented enough to contend for the 1992 NCAA
Championship, this incoming Michigan State crew could send a similar group of talented
athletes on the court. I hope it is not placing undue pressure on the trio if they should all arrive at the same time.
Free Throws
The emphasis is on “free” and nobody
receives a pass on shooting them. Hall of Fame athlete Rick Barry once
said; “Nobody is guarding you; it should be the easiest shot in
basketball.” I think we might conclude Barry knew the subject
matter well. He shot .893 over the course of his 14-year career; separately it
was .880 in the ABA and .900 in the NBA. Consider this, court length the
3-point line and other variables exist depending on the level of
competition. Did you realize standing at the free throw line the distance
to the basket is 15 feet. It does not matter if we are discussing junior high
basketball, high school, college, or the NBA.
The only difference is FIBA which measures at
15.9 feet. It is my belief a portion of the difficulty shooting free throws
kids do not practice it enough. A long-time metro Kansas City basketball coach
affirmed the view of most youngsters with this account. He claimed once he ran all the drills and
allowed the players to free-lance, he discovered most headed for the 3-point
line. The coach did not indicate whether
any of his players ever practice shooting free-throws. We could make the following claim, it is not
exciting for the shooter; they grow up with the mind set of scoring a 3-point
basket in the waning seconds of a game. Shooting free-throws is just not
cool, sexy whatever adjective you wish to use.
The hardest working man
in broadcasting
Kevin Harlan might be the hardest working man
in sports broadcasting. He is one of the
lead play by play announcers for the NBA on TNT broadcasts. Perhaps April to September might be the only
time we might find him at home. The
reason is clear, in addition to the NBA he also broadcast NFL Football. As an example, several years ago, Harlan
provided play by play for a Saturday afternoon telecast of the Mizzou-UCLA
basketball.
The Mizzou-UCLA game was played in Columbia, so
Harlan boarded a flight at the regional airport and flew to Washington
D.C. A little under 24-hours later he
was the voice behind the NFL telecast of the Chiefs game against
Washington. Harlan must lead all
broadcasters of all sports in airline miles traveled. We have no idea if Harlan owns a dog however
if he does there might be a problem.
With so little time at home we should not be surprised if his dog might
attack him believing he was an intruder.
I love it
History has always been a subject that fascinates
me, I cannot speak for the world, but I have an American opinion. According to studies many Americans are not
fond of the subject no matter if it is a discussion on politics or history of
the nation. The chronicle of basketball
has always been interesting in this fact, “You don’t know where you are going
until you realize where you have been.” Hopefully,
the look back in Words eye view proves interesting to you as it is me. Researching the history has been a learning
experience for me as I am able to gain additional knowledge on basketball. On the other hand, if history is not your
thing feel comfortable skipping it and check out the next story.
