Basketball from a fans perspective

The last one

Friday afternoon came word the Wizards intend to announce Wes Unseld Jr. as head coach. As mentioned previously Wes Unseld Sr. once served as head coach of the franchise when it was known as the Bullets. With this hire all head coaches are now in place, only the Pacers re-cycled a coach hiring Rick Carlisle and the Mavs did the same with Jason Kidd. Kidd has not served as head coach since 2018 when he was with the Bucks, below is the name of the new coach and their teams:

Celtics-Ime Udoka

Pacers-Rick Carlisle

Mavs-Jason Kidd

Blazers-Chauncey Billups

Pelicans-Willie Green

Wizards-Wes Unseld Jr.

Hawks-Nate McMillian-interim to head coach

Will each of these coaches be given ample time to implement their program? That is certainly no guarantee, Stan Van Gundy with the Pelicans and Nate Bjorkgren with the Pacers were fired after but one season at the helm. In any event congratulations to all the new coaches who will now enter the cauldron of fire as a coach in the NBA. 

Bet you didn’t know

Neither did I, just this week it was announced Dennis Murphy died at the age of 94. Over his lifetime Murphy was involved in several projects one he was one of the co-founders of the American Basketball Association. My curiosity was peaked, why in 1967 when the ABL had collapsed four years prior would someone attempt to start another league. My research uncovered interesting information. *“According to one of the owners of the Indiana Pacers, it’s goal was to force a merger with the more established league. Potential investors were told that they could get an ABA team for half of what it cost to get an NBA expansion team at the time. When the merger occurred, ABA officials said their investment would more than double.” This information is interesting if that was the desire back then to immediately force a merger.

These early owners might have watched the upstart American Football League battle the NFL for players and sports dominance. We know what occurred, a merger and all the AFL became part of the NFL. Perhaps the same mindset might have existed in basketball, in 1961 it was said Abe Saperstein then Globetrotters owner was upset with the NBA. He believed promises were made that did not come to fruition. His American Basketball League unlike the later ABA was severely under financed. The ABA was not exactly rolling in capital, with no national television contract after several years they too were in trouble. As most of you are aware the NBA did not include all the ABA teams, several franchises were dissolved. The Nets, Pacers, Nuggets and Spurs were absorbed into the NBA so technically it wasn’t a merger. Most, not all the remaining basketball talent was placed in a draft pool to be chosen by NBA teams. 1976 witnessed two drafts, the one most of us are accustomed in June and an August draft of former ABA players. 

*Wikipedia

Lightning rod of controversy

This is not a defense of Stephen A. Smith only an explanation. I don’t believe Smith is racist however he is incredibly tone death. The $$$ ESPN is paying him is a consideration for his tone however that’s not it totally. Smith is guilty of what I have often accused of Jeff Van Gundy, what comes out comes out. Is there thought process with his words..of course there is however it’s my belief he’s not going to change. He will continue his outrageous style of journalism. With that guys like me will continue to critique his words.

Expansion…. northward?

Anytime we discuss NBA expansion it centers around Seattle, Las Vegas and perhaps Kansas City. How about our northern neighbor Canada as a possibility? Toronto has proven to have become a basketball hotbed; the metro area has sent several youngsters south to American colleges and some into the NBA. Let’s explore these cities one at a time, the second largest in population is Montreal. The NHL Canadians and CFL Alouettes provide us proof of the cities interest in sports in the Quebec Province. How about basketball especially the NBA variety? The Canadian Elite Basketball League is expanding, and a franchise will be placed in Montreal in 2022.

How this Montreal basketball team manages to operate with multiple competing sports will be a true barometer for the NBA to contemplate. Calgary in the Province of Alberta is also a location to explore, the city has NHL and CFL teams like other cities in Canada. Basketball would likely take a backseat to other sports if the NBA were to locate here but that is all speculation on my part. We close this account with a peek at Vancouver, didn’t we do this once before? Yes, the Grizzlies now in Memphis were born in the Canadian city in 1995 but would move across the border in 2001 to the Tennessee city. Would the NBA look at Vancouver seriously for a second time? That is a question that will remain unanswered for now, the NBA is likely to only choose one of the three cities named if expansion into Canada is considered. 

I don’t like it

The rumor mill is moving overtime with possible acquisitions by the Lakers, one move has Lonzo Ball returning to the Lakers. This becomes a package deal because they would receive Lonzo and LaVar however that’s not the chief issue. Lonzo is a restricted free agent so the parties must agree to a trade, Yahoo Sports recently published one I don’t like. They have the Lakers picking up Ball in exchange for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma, Talen Horton-Tucker and the 2021 pick.

This trade must be revised for several reasons. If Horton-Tucker is the talent the Lakers claim, it seems difficult to imagine they would consider trading this 20-year-old budding talent for Ball? Now this sentence is based on information provided us. Trading the first-round pick at 22 is ludicrous, the Lakers must look ahead to the future and begin developing talent for the post-LeBron Lakers rather than instant gratification. From this member of Laker Nation, we hope if Ball is acquired again, he is now the vital piece needed to gain another championship. As for the other parts of this proposed trade I contend are okay.