Basketball from a fan’s perspective

 “When a team shoots 72%, you’re not playing much defensively” Tubby Smith

 LaMelo Ball, 2021 NBA Rookie of the Year

There are times you receive news you wish to not hear, that’s where the old sayin’ “Don’t shoot the messenger” comes from.  This is particularly intended for Wolves fans everywhere. Wolves forward Anthony Edwards has experienced a particularly good rookie year, but the ROY award clearly belongs to LaMelo Ball. He went out with an injury on March 20 with a fractured wrist and returned in a little over a month later.

Ball picked up where he left off. We can look at his scoring average (15.9) and consider that somewhat average but there is more. Ball is nearly 6 rebounds and 6 assists a game, his 6-foot 6-inch frame although thin at 180 pounds aids in his rebounding ability. In addition, he shoots the 3 quite well at nearly 37% for the season. The NBA future looks bright for the youngest (and most talented) of the Ball brothers.

Have any extra money lying about?  

I should add to the headline you might be willing to purchase a sports team. We published this a while back, according to Forbes below is the net worth of the worlds professional sports teams. It is interesting the NBA has three teams in the Top 10. 

  1. Dallas Cowboys $5.7 billion

  2. New York Yankees $5.25 billion

  3. New York Knicks $5 billion

  4. Barcelona FCB (Soccer) $4.76 billion

  5. Real Madrid (Soccer) $4.75 billion

  6. Golden State Warriors $4.7 billion

  7. Los Angeles Lakers $4.6 billion

  8. New England Patriots $4.4 billion

  9. New York Giants $4.3 billion

10. Bayern Munich (Soccer) $4.21 billion  

Linked in more than one way      

Wilt Chamberlain and Russell Westbrook are linked despite the fact they played in different eras.  Bear with me for a few minutes while I lay this scenario before you, it’s my contention at least to this period the two players are connected in NBA history. The 7-foot 1-inch 290-pound Chamberlain would change the college and NBA game, he set all types of scoring and rebounding records during his career. Center Nikola Jokic might be the best passing Big Man, despite this fact he’s never led the NBA in assists, Chamberlain has. Most are aware of the 100-point game, but did you realize in a 1960 game he snatched down 55 rebounds while scoring 34 points. 

The NBA record book is full of Chamberlain’s scoring and rebound totals. Despite the accolades given him it was said at the time about Chamberlain “He’s not a winner, he’s just padding his stats”. Does that statement sound familiar, we’ve often heard that applied to his linked partner Russell Westbrook? The NBA in Chamberlain’s day and in 2021 requires talented teammates plus good coaching. When asked about the comparison between he and Bill Russell the statement by Chamberlain was simple, “Maybe he (Russell) had better teammates than me.”

Only the great Oscar Robertson had ever registered a triple-double season…that is until Westbrook came along. It was written if Westbrook fails to score a point, registers an assist or rebounds the basketball the remainder of the way he will have another triple-double season. The 2020-21 triple double season will be his third.  Westbrook is 32-years old now with several NBA seasons under his belt, the lack of a championship (at least to this point) fails to define his role as a great player. It doesn’t require Stephen A. Smith or me for that matter to grade his game or effort. The 55 rebound 34-point game Chamberlain registered was against the Celtics, despite his effort the (Philadelphia) Warriors lost the game…sound familiar?  

We can’t see the future always

For several years I’ve maintained no matter the sport, scouting a prospect is extremely difficult.  There is no A-B-C steps to use when evaluating the ability of a potential athlete.  The 1996 draft might be the best in NBA history, it contained Ray Allen, Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury to name just a few. In the 1996 draft was 17-year-old Kobe Bryant, high school athletes could be selected at that time. Kobe would be the 13^th pick by the Lakers and the balance of the story is NBA history. We don’t know the complete details why Kobe lasted until the Laker pick but recently a report was uncovered. 

The Warriors with the 11^th pick also passed on Kobe, the GM at the time said; “He (Kobe) should go to college, he’s not ready. He kept complaining to the referees the ball was slippery. It was a new ball, and league rules prevented officials from replacing it. Deal with it.” The Warriors turn witnessed them drafting Todd Fuller a 6-foot 11-inch center from North Carolina State who they believed was the best player available at the time.  Fuller would have a pedestrian NBA career, as for Kobe we know the story. Are the complaints regarding the Warriors valid, what about the other 11 teams who passed on Kobe Bean Bryant?

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