Basketball from a fan perspective

Published Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday

I hate it when I agree

Fingernails run across a blackboard, folks who lie to me for no apparent reason are just two of the things that bother me, another is agreeing with Stephen A. Smith.  The guy who I believe is right about half the time provided evidence on Friday for us to consider.  In 2019 we heard all kinds of wild stories on Kawhi Leonard and his decision to join the Clippers.  17 months later a story first reported by TMZ has caused the NBA to sit up and take notice however that’s not all.  As for the investigation into Jerry West and his part in landing Kawhi I intend to wait on the NBA to complete its report. 

This portion of the story is questionable although Smith and his sources are telling the same version.  It was reported after Kawhi joined the Clippers he was insistent on the team acquiring Paul George from the Thunder.  To accomplish the task, they were forced to part ways with budding talented point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and forward Danilo Gallinari plus 5 first round draft picks.  Do you realize the Clippers will not have a first-round pick until 2025?  Keep in mind there’s been no check to determine if the picks are consecutive, that’s quite a crop of potential talent for the Thunder to harvest over the next few years.  If this portion of the story is true it would appear Kawhi owes the Clippers 2-3 championships or more wouldn’t you agree?

It is different  

The NBA season begins in earnest on December 22, but it is different this time, the different is the location of the exhibition games.  We know the regular season concluded with a championship in Orlando in “The Bubble.”  Although we saw NBA players on our television sets the smaller surroundings gave many of us the belief, we witnessed play in a high school gym.  NBA games played in Golden 1, Staples or Madison Square Garden look quite different with no fans in attendance. 

We don’t know this to be a fact, it appears this will become the norm for the NBA season at least through the 2020-21 year.  Games will be played with no fans in the building which we might become accustomed.  This change might cause the conversation to change a bit, this is what many of us heard after the championship concluded in October.  “It was easy for the Lakers to win they were in the Bubble,” an interesting view of several folks however that statement is far from the facts. 

Keep Kuzma

Easily ¾ of Laker Nation want Kyle Kuzma gone, not in this corner.  If you are wanting him gone you can stop reading at this point because I believe he’s a keeper.  When I first tuned into Laker Summer League play it was specifically to check out Lonzo Ball whom the Lakers had made their top pick.  Along for the ride was Kuzma an athlete I’d never seen play and barely knew his name.  Kuzma would continue to impress all summer and was named 2017 Summer League MVP.  

Kuzma scored at a 16 point a game clip as a part time starter his rookie year, the following season as a starter he bumped his scoring to 18.7.  His year three would witness the arrival of LeBron James and Kuz was back on the bench playing a reserve role again.  His game suffered this past season as he was inconsistent, high scorer one game.  The next game he might be 1-10 from the floor and to top it off his defense suffered.  As I indicated this column would defend Kuz, keep in mind I'm not opposed to a trade, but the Lakers better receive adequate compensation in return.   

Did you know?

Prior to the National Basketball League’s merger with the Basketball Association of America it was the larger league.  The NBL once consisted of 39 teams before most teams went out of business prior to the 1949 merger with the NBA.  Original NBL teams still playing today include the Minneapolis Lakers, Rochester Royals (Sacramento Kings), Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (Detroit Pistons), Buffalo Bisons (Atlanta Hawks) and Syracuse Nationals (Philadelphia Sixers).  The NBL had several teams which are lost to history as the reason for their demise.  World War II witnessed countless players in military service, two teams the Toledo Jim White Chevrolets and Chicago Studebakers signed black players. 

Breaking the color barrier in basketball occurred 5 years prior to Jackie Robinson however professional basketball was major league in name only.  The Nuggets or at least the name associated with the present-day team existed previously, in 1948 they began play in the NBL and later came into the NBA with the merger but lasted but one season.  Chicago had 3 NBL teams over the years the league operated but none of these franchises functioned at the same time.  Detroit also had 3 teams and one of them the Gems would later move to Minneapolis.  Once located in Minnesota they were renamed the Minneapolis Lakers.  A brief look back at the history of professional basketball in America.