Basketball from a fan’s perspective

“The best competition I have is against myself to become better.”  John Wooden

This is no free speech issue

The Hawks Trae Young has just finished his third year in the NBA. We cannot always be correct in our view of a subject, but I try and refrain from bold pronouncements. Sure, I do it all the time in a joking manner but never with serious intent. Five years ago, I occasionally listened to local sports talk radio, now I don’t listen at all. If they announced a zombie apocalypse, I would miss it. It’s likely I would be devoured by zombies, but I digress.

This local guy who no longer works here decided Trae Young couldn’t play. He said as much on his show one afternoon. This is no contention on my part about free speech and all that the problem there is no accountability with this guy or anyone else in media. If I make a dumb statement (which occurs on occasion) the circle reading my asinine view is much smaller than his. Does he influence others with his thoughts…probably, is it the same for me maybe?

The wrong side of history

As the playoffs kick off the Lakers find themselves on the wrong side of history. The archives of the NBA list the Houston Rockets as repeat NBA champions in 1995, that team went into the playoffs as a 6 seed. No seed has ever won a championship any lower than that, the Lakers will be a 6 or 7 seed based on their playoff run. The Laker position appears bleak for defending their 2020 championship. Health issues aside it is possible they could repeat based on several factors; they are listed as you continue to read. Rest-LeBron and AD sidelined for a great portion of the regular season should be prepared for a deep run.

Hopefully, the balance of the roster is prepared for the long haul. Post-It’s my belief the position might be even stronger than last season. The trifecta of Drummond/Gasol/Harrell might be the equal of    JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard combo of last season. Reserves-Wiley veteran Rajon Rondo is gone however the Lakers can send out Alex Caruso, Talen Horton-Tucker and Ben McLemore. Kyle Kuzma and Markieff Morris saw plenty of action in last season’s championship run. All this could go down the drain and the Lakers could lose; I hope that is not the case.   

There’s another brother?

We had the Barry brothers Scooter, Jon, Brent, Drew and Canyon, sons of Hall of Fame player Rick. It would appear the Porter brothers are also blazing a basketball history. We are familiar with the oldest brother, Michael Porter Jr. played at Mizzou and now is with the Denver Nuggets, he is on the road to NBA stardom. His younger brother Jontay also played at Mizzou, although he went undrafted, he now plays for the Memphis Grizzlies.

We recently discovered there is a younger brother Coban Porter. He’s signed a letter of intent to play for the University of Denver, we might guess the younger brother might not live in a dorm. Now we made aware there is a fourth brother 6-foot 9-inch Jevon Porter, the youngest sibling attends Father Tolton High School in Columbia Missouri and enters his senior year in the fall. We might guess there are probably few willing to play a pickup game against the Porter brothers.     

Anal retentive

If you are unfamiliar with the title allow me to provide you the definition. “A person who is excessively orderly and fussy.” Well, that is me sometimes…well almost, my latest rant is bears. What do bears have to do with basketball or the NBA? Well here goes, the NBA Grizzlies came into existence in 1995 as an NBA expansion team, Grizzlies was chosen as the team name. The Pacific Northwest is Grizzly Bear territory however that doesn’t apply to the State of Tennessee. In 2001 the franchise moved from Vancouver British Columbia Canada to Memphis but retained the name.

According to research information most of the United States (including Tennessee) is home to black bears and not grizzlies. At this point I am sure you are asking yourself “What is wrong with this guy?” I warned you early on I am anal retentive at times. It would be okay with me for Memphis to consider a name change for its NBA team. They could just become the Bears although the NFL team in Chicago might have a problem. Owners could also follow the lead of New Orleans, we mentioned owner Tom Benson wanted a name more closely identified with the city. The team was rebranded as the Pelicans and the same could occur in Memphis. My suggestion for a new name is the Memphis Blues, the music has long been associated with the city and could apply. The NHL Blues might have an issue with this change along with the Bears.