Basketball from a fan perspective

The game from a fan’s perspective

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I’ve had an opportunity to witness Emoni Bates in action twice, in both games his offensive game appeared slightly above average.  In addition, an opposing player or in the instance of his most recent game a teammate surpassed him.  I’m unsure if he is pressing or something else exists, he just doesn’t appear as sites indicate the best in the Class of 2022.  Numerous times in the game against Air Nado he took difficult sometimes impossible shots.

If we check the box score, we’ll see he was able to score significantly however he took an abundance of shots to accumulate his point total.  The first time I saw Bates play he was matched against Team Sizzle and 7-foot Chet Holmgren, over the weekend it was Air Nado.  Ypsi Prep was a loser against Team Sizzle but managed to beat Air Nado in overtime.  In both games Bates was okay he just didn’t appear to be the best player in the nation.  During the second half of the game the chant “overrated” by some in the building came through clearly on our televisions.  

The game

Many claim it’s just basketball, they are telling the truth however there are differences.  It’s been too many years to remember but I was struck by this rookie’s comment in describing the NBA game.  He stated, “I didn’t realize how much faster the NBA game was over college.”  That might be the first or second hint you are certainly no longer playing in college.  Physical, all NBA teams don’t play a physical game however a number do. 

The first few weeks and months in the NBA rookies have a vast number of adjustments in dealing with the physical part of the pro game.  The number of games played; college teams generally play between 35-40 games.  The NBA seasons consist of 82 games (only 72 in 2020-21), teams begin play in November and conclude in April.  The NBA championship is concluded in middle June.  Travel, except for this season a team could be in Los Angeles one night and Phoenix the next. 

NBA expansion      

We are hearing from the NBA commissioner and the mayor of Seattle on NBA expansion.  How does it affect my hometown, not good and mainly due to finance I believe?  The number we hear for an expansion team is between $2 billion and 2.5 billion, whose got that kind of money laying around except Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates.  As reported earlier the FOR-SALE sign has been placed outside the headquarters of the Minnesota Wolves.  Now should an owner decide to move the team to Kansas City that’s a different matter, we guess the money amount mentioned above would be slightly lower.  The sports landscape has changed since the Kings departed Kansas City. 

The Royals and Chiefs remain in place however the soccer team Sporting Kansas City now takes a bite of the local sports dollar.  Kansas and Mizzou sports impact the sports dollar but probably not to the extent some might believe.  Now for the question, is the metro population large enough to support four professional teams.  At the time the Kings departed there were between 1.2 and 1.3 million folks living in the area, let’s compare that to 2.15 million presently.  Now the portion that is pure conjecture on my part, NBA fans are not NFL fans and vice versa.  Baseball fans are not NBA or soccer fans for that matter.  Now I’m not stating fans will not support more than one team, the diehard fans align themselves with a single sport.  We don’t know what the future holds, despite what might be considered negatives in some circles the belief is there is interest in the NBA in Kansas City. 

New Big Three

We discussed James Hardin and his exit stage right from Houston, his landing spot in Brooklyn is somewhat unusual for this fan.  Keep in mind this is not a talent issue Hardin is certainly talented as is Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.  As I see it, we have three incredibly talented players who will mold themselves into a cohesive team.  Can this be accomplished to establish a quality playoff team to compete for an NBA championship?  We can only check the history in previous locations to attempt a conclusion.  Kyrie Irving winning a championship desired to escape Cleveland and the shadow of LeBron James. 

He was accommodated by a trade to the Celtics, but it seemed he only remained there for a hot minute before moving on to Brooklyn.  Out all last season the 2020-21 season would become a breakout year for him until he decided he needed some personal time.  We wrote earlier of Irving appearing on a Zoom conference for a candidate while his teammates were playing the competition.  Next up Kevin Durant, he too missed all last season, although he might be the most talented of the bunch there are questions about him too. 

Durant said recently he’s no longer with the Warriors due to a problem with Draymon Green.  Without going into detail an issue with a teammate caused him to leave a championship team.  Finally, the recently arrived James Harden a.k.a. Mr. Slow the Offense down.  Harden has no difficulty passing the basketball to teammates, but it seems the offense becomes predictable with the ball in his hands.  I am not pronouncing this move dead on arrival let’s just say I am extremely concerned if it will work.  It’s up to you Steve Nash and company… prove me wrong.