Basketball from a fan perspective

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I’m not psychic

If you read the Sunday edition of Words eye view you know the story.  I painted myself on the side of Kyle Kuzma, I wanted him to remain a Laker (at least for the foreseeable future).  Well, that’s what occurred on Sunday with the announcement, Kuzma will sign a 3-year extension and will remain a Laker.  

Don’t get too excited

Awhile back you read an optimistic article regarding Laker guard Talen Horton-Tucker, the second-year guard’s breakout in the exhibition season has made for a pleasant surprise.  Keep in mind although the report sounded awesome please don’t become too excited.  Once the regular season commences THT will face a varied number of opposition players and defenses as well.  He is not coming off the bench and scoring 33 or even 19 points every time out in this upcoming season. 

The hope by Frank Vogel is THT will be an upgrade to the reserve rotation, it’s documented once LeBron sat down last season for a rest scoring dropped.  If memory serves me, I believe the reduced scoring ranged from 5-10 points with no LeBron on the floor.  As this is written it’s unclear if Dennis Schroder will start or continue in a reserve role however let’s assume, he’s a reserve at the point.  It appears in position less basketball THT might become “Rajon Rondo” for the 2020-21 Lakers, as for the balance of the roster and the season in general I’m cautiously optimistic. 

Whatever the decision is made on paper Laker reserves might be starters on other teams.  As this is written Kyle Kuzma, THT, KCP, Caruso, Cook and several others return, we add newcomers Dennis Schroder, Montrezl Harrell, and Wesley Matthews to this mix.  Can these holdovers and newcomers barring injury defend the championship?  The Lakers finished the exhibition season undefeated but that could be misleading playing the Clippers and Suns twice a peace.  We must wait until June 2021 for that answer NBA Championships are decided on the court and not on paper. 

Mizzou basketball

Don’t worry if you haven’t seen Mizzou basketball in the early season.  For your information update they are in the Top 25 in several polls, they are led in scoring by their 3-guard offense.  The balanced scoring would indicate opposing defenses cannot focus on a single member, Mark Smith (14.8), Dru Smith (14.6) and Xavier Pinson (14.2) all within percentage points in scoring.  Apart from Pinson they shoot the 3 effectively, Mark at 48.3% and Dru 35.3%.  Mizzou as a team is shooting an effective 31% clip from the 3-point line. 

Jeremiah Tilmon on the injury list and foul trouble often last season appears to have figured it out now.  Although Tilmon fouled out against Illinois he’s remained in action in other games and is the team leader with 7.4 rebounds a game.  Unlike many of today’s team’s Mizzou at the free throw line is an effective 76.1% as a team with Mark the team leader at 93.3%.  Cuonzo Martin teams at all stops play tough belly button to belly button defense and this one is no different from the others.  As mentioned earlier the SEC race is going to be tough however barring injuries, Mizzou should be competitive in 2020-21. 

Tell us

Do you want James Hardin on your favorite team, allow me to rephrase that statement?  If he is traded it will likely be to a team of his choice not yours?  If your team is the Celtics, Hornets or Blazers or some other team he ain’t headed your direction.  If it’s the Heat, Sixers, or Knicks maybe so, as for the Knicks it might be difficult to determine what they might give up in a trade.  At one time we might have believed with Russell Westbrook gone things might settle down in H-Town. 

That appears to not be the case, Hardin’s made it clear John Wall or not he wants out.  No argument on Hardin’s talent as a shooter there are other issues which might cause a team to hesitate.  Can you say, “locker room cancer,” will teams be willing to take on not only the personality but the ball stopper.  It often seems the basketball ceases to move once in the hands of Hardin.  He’s not selfish his assist numbers are always good, but he does slow the team’s offense.  There is no clear answer, we must wait to see how this plays out.  Keep in mind talent is not the issue, it’s the other things. 

What transpired

The constant moaning by yours truly might not have occurred if history had taken a slightly different course.  We read at the time the American Basketball Association was formed in 1967 Kansas City was awarded a franchise.  Unable to secure play dates the franchise was moved to Denver without playing one game in Kansas City.  1967 was long before T-Mobile Center was built and before Kemper in 1974, Kemper would become home to the Kings from that point until 1985 when they departed for Sacramento. 

Municipal Auditorium was available back in 1967, what transpired with the pending franchise that caused them to leave?  That is the question that will remain unanswered, no one associated with the City of Kansas City nor Municipal is in place to answer the question. In any event the franchise moved to Denver becoming the Rockets who morphed into the Nuggets.  Much later the Nuggets would become one of four ABA franchises moving into the NBA once the merger occurred in 1976.