Basketball from a fans perspective

He was in the huddle

I’m sure you’ve seen video of an opposing player in the huddle during a timeout. From time to time this scenario has played out repeatedly but I bet you’ve never seen a celebrity do it. Back in the Showtime Laker days movie star Jack Nicholson made an appearance. In the ‘70’s and ‘80’s Nicholson was much more visible than in recent years. 

During a timeout Nicholson rose from his awfully expensive courtside seat at the Forum and strolled over to the opposition teams huddle. After apparently listening to the upcoming play prior to a return to his seat Nicholson approached Pat Riley then Laker coach. He described to Riley the play the opposition intended to run, there are two issues here. Number one the story cannot be authenticated and second to that, I have a couple of co-workers who voice this opinion. These two have informed me over and over if the occurrence is not on video it likely never happened.   

We are approaching the end

The NBA playoffs will soon end with a champion being crowned; the NBA draft will occur July 29. In addition, free agency is on the horizon. There is not much college and high school basketball activity during the months of August and September. At a point in early August Off the Dribble will become a Monday, Wednesday, Friday publication again. We must determine if this will be effective during this timeframe. 

What do you think?

There is no precise answer to this question however we ask it anyway. With no NBA within 400 miles of Kansas City this is what I heard recently on local sports talk radio. “The NBA has surpassed Major League Baseball in popularity” which caught me off guard. To hear this conversation on a Kansas City Sports Talk radio station was shocking. If you tune to either one of sports talk stations the conversation is a discussion of these teams. Chiefs football, Royals baseball Sporting Kansas City soccer or Kansas basketball, that’s about it.

As for as this discussion we first heard this conversation during the run of MJ and his Bulls however in recent years the conversation became a whisper. There are certainly contributing factors to this conversation the chief being the age gap. Youngsters continue to play baseball the game of their grandfathers, in addition some play it at a high skill level, but this is the question. The number of participants are going down as more and more American youth play other sports. Football or soccer in this nation has made vast inroads in the culture over the past 10-15 years with many young adults having played the game for a significant period of their life. The slower pace of baseball has been an issue as the gaming generation has matured.

There remains one

The Wizards are the last remaining NBA team with the HELP WANTED sign in the window. News reports indicate there are three assistants in the running to become head coach. One of the names has a connection to the team from the past. Wes Unseld Jr. is the son of a former Bullets (Wizards) coach, Wes Unseld. The son served as an assistant for the Wizards from 2005-11 currently he’s with the Nuggets. Darvin Ham and Charles Lee both serve on the staff of Mike Budenholzer Bucks. Unlike several other NBA job openings at this point none of the three appear to have a lead. 

High school teammates

Over the eons there have been several high-profile basketball teammates. Trey Burke and Jared Sullinger who played at Northland High School in Columbus Ohio, then we have Jerami Grant and Victor Oladipo who were teammates at DeMatha High School in Hyattsville, Maryland. We also have the Ball brothers, Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo at Chino Hills in California. Kevin Durant and Ty Lawson were teammates at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia.

There have been others who are omitted but we believe none have been more prolific than the duo of Gus Johnson and Nate Thurmond. The two were teammates at Akron’s Central High School in Ohio prior to college and stellar NBA careers. In 1985 Thurmond was enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame, Johnson was inducted in 2010 posthumously. By their induction into the hall, we recognize both players had outstanding college and NBA careers. Perhaps one day the high school teammates mentioned or not mentioned will duplicate the honor received by Gus Johnson and Nate Thurmond.