Basketball from a fan’s perspective

“Failure does not come from losing, but from not trying.”     Larry Brown 

Bully Ball

Rather than provide my definition I will offer the book version.  “Bully ball is a term used in basketball to describe a style of physical play.  When you “bully” another player, you are aggressive with your play.” We remember the “Bad Boy Pistons” 1981-1991, their physical play most often caused opposing team’s bruises.  We remember the “Bruise Brothers,” Jeff Ruland and Rick Mahorn of the Washington Bullets. 

Ruland checked in at 6 foot 11 and 245 pounds, Mahorn stood 6 foot 10 and 240 pounds need I go any further?  This was rare another group of NBA players had the same nickname “Bruise Brothers.”  In the 1980-81 season this group of six players with the Spurs led the NBA in rebounds, blocked shots and were 3^rd in fouls committed.  During his NBA career Shaquille O’Neal would often bully and bruise opposing centers.  Few players dared to get in his path when the 7 foot 1 360+ pound center powered the ball for a driving layup or dunk.  Recently a writer indicated Laker center Andre Drummond bullied and bruised the Nets in last Saturday’s   match. 

Drummond would score 20 points and pull down 11 rebounds bulling his way in scoring many of the points and rebounds.  We cannot be sure, perhaps AD-2 always played in this manner, we saw little of him in action on national telecast since most of his early career was spent as a member of the Pistons.  Prior to his arrival with the Lakers his game might be compared to that of a dinosaur, good but a thing of the past.  Call me ol skool if you like but I enjoy bully ball to a degree. 

Transfer what?

If you are a fan of Mac McClurg, you can cease reading at this point, I fail to understand what the young man is attempting to accomplish.  McClurg announced he was entering the transfer portal on the same date he declared for the NBA draft.  The mock draft sites I’ve seen list him as a possible second round pick to not getting drafted at all. 

What occurs in the fall, McClung lands at his third school in three years?  He began college at Georgetown then transferred last season to Texas Tech and now he’s transferring again or headed for the draft. At Georgetown he earned all-Big East Conference Freshman honors, in the Big 12 playing for Tech the honors continued.  Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and Big 12 Second Team, in both conferences he's proven he can play but why all the transfers?   

You are an agent of the company  

I must admit I was never a fan of Paul Pierce; I must concede part of it revolves around the fact he played most of his career with the Celtics.  The wheelchair game stands out in my memory, Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals Pierce went down with an apparent injury just before half time.  Apparently, he was hurt so badly a wheelchair was brought on to the court and he was wheeled into the locker room. 

Meanwhile through the miracle of modern medicine (or at least we thought at the time) he ran onto the court in the second half of the game or was that the case?  In 2019 Pierce finally confessed, an emergency run to the bathroom was required and the wheelchair was the only method he was able to preserve his dignity.  After retirement in 2017 Pierce went to work for ESPN as an analyst that is until last week, he was fired by the network.  On his day off he sent out a racy Instagram video of him playing poker surrounded by several women. 

Pierce was seen smoking something although we are unsure exactly what it was.  After the termination fans and maybe others came rushing to his defense, how could they (ESPN) fire him when he wasn’t at work?  Rest assured, Pierce signed a contract with the network, it is highly likely this contract detailed what he could do versus what he couldn’t.  Fans mentioned other individuals had been suspended rather than terminated by ESPN.  The only answer we can conclude each case is unique and different, you cannot use one instance to detail what should occur in another.    

Did you ever wonder

Those of you might remember the late Andy Rooney on the CBS news program 60 Minutes.  He made that tag line famous; did you ever wonder and then detail his story.  Like Rooney I’m going to use the phrase he popularized.  Did you ever wonder why the guy who works an 8 to 5 job knows more than the basketball coach?  Depending on the age John Smith’s likely seen numerous games in person and on television, he believes he knows all there is to know about the game.

It doesn’t matter if we are discussing an NBA or college coach, generally we critique the outcome of games, particularly the role of the athletes.  On several occasions there is a belief we have greater insight on the game than the coach which is WRONG!  We cannot question the player on his injury status, we are unable to determine timeouts from our Man Cave.  The point is clear, we cannot see the game from the view of the head coach or even the coaching staff.  It’s okay for fans (including me) to have an opinion of a coach but we really don't have all the facts in front of us.