Basketball from a fan’s perspective

I’m convinced

Despite a college reputation there are guys who just don’t become stars in the NBA, that guy might be Ben McLemore who played collegiately at Kansas.  He left Kansas after his freshman season and was drafted 7^th in the first round of the 2013 NBA draft by the Kings.  Since then, he’s played for Houston and Memphis in that time his role has been that of a sniper i.e., 3-point specialist.

If we reference “good shooting percentage” from 3 in the NBA it says, “33% is considered good.”  McLemore shot 32% 2013-14 his rookie year, since then his high has been 42% and his low other than his rookie year is 33% for the Rockets this season.  We cannot speak to the lowered number this season, it might be attributed to his former team, the Rockets have been extremely poor.  All that changes now with the Lakers signing him to a contract, this latest roster move is not going to guarantee a championship repeat but hopefully it helps the effort. 

Skilled in dishing the rock 

Point guards are expected to have the highest assist totals for teams.  How about Big Men, usually their forte is scoring and rebounds although several in the past and present are skillful passers.  Nikola Jokic as this is written is at 8.6 assists a game, outstanding numbers for a guy standing nearly 7 feet tall and 284 pounds.  Let us journey back in time for a look at several of the NBA greats.  Over the course of his extensive NBA career the late Wilt Chamberlain averaged 4.4 assists a game good numbers for someone whose scoring overshadowed other portions of his game. 

Another giant of the pass marked by the Sky Hook, Kareem Abdul Jabbar.  The NBA witnessed Cap averaging 3.6 assists per game.  Is it fair to include Dave Cowans in the mix, Cowans who spent most of his career with the Celtics only stood 6 foot 9 inches?  Cowan averaged 3.8 career assists.  How about a surprising name, the late Sam Lacey?  He averaged 3.7 assists for his career, in three seasons while a member of the Kansas City Kings Lacey averaged 5+ assists per game.  Hakeem and Shaq were 2.5 assists per game, other than Jokic one additional skilled passer is Joel Embiid of the Sixers.  Embiid has averaged 3.1 career assists per game.  There are others who were omitted none intentionally, but the desire was to profile several talented Big Men in an area most are not particularly good.

Gonzaga is good    

Baylor was the better team Monday evening, despite the statement there is no reason to not believe the same of Gonzaga.  Teams don’t win 30 plus games as Gonzaga did this past season.  Baylor beat Gonzaga at every aspect of the game however I refuse to believe they are an inferior team.  I hope that’s not your view Gonzaga is good; Mark Few will reload, and the Zags will be competitive again next season.

Staples Center      

The middle of April should witness fannies returning to the seats for Laker and Clipper games.  The State of California has reached the orange tier which allows for fans of both teams to return to Staples.  Both teams indicate they will work with the Los Angeles County Health Commission, as this is written there are no capacity attendance figures. It’s good to see fans socially distance and with mask on permitted in arenas again.  The NFL and several colleges permitted fans to attend games this past season in limited numbers in the same manner.  The chief difference outdoor sporting events versus indoor NBA arenas.  With the opening of baseball season fans can attend as well.  

Help, let me out        

Okay I exaggerate a bit; this is not official.  A report is circulating Marc Gasol wants to leave the Lakers, we mentioned previously he is not pleased playing behind Andre Drummond.  The Mavs are reported to be the suitors for Gasol’s services.  On closer examination this would appear to be just that rumor, if we check the roster the picture becomes confusing based on the present roster.  If we check ESPN.com’s NBA page Kristaps Porzingis is listed at the starter at the 5, Willie-Cauley Stein is the backup and Dwight Powell is 3^rd.  This concludes with the giant 7-foot 4-inch Boban Marjanovic, NBA teams confuse us in player movement but this one is impossible to figure out.