Basketball from a fans perspective

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Bits n Pieces   

On occasion Laker Haters have been noted in this blog, they are real but there are those far worst. These I consider the Real Haters; they claim they no longer watch the NBA. Despite this fact they constantly express their opinions about games or related issues they haven’t seen. There are issues that prevail in the NBA that are just as irritating to you as me. I believe my complaints have involved individual players, coaches or management. Any verbal abuse I may have spewed was aimed at a specific target and not the entire NBA.

Dirty Kurt was his nickname, it was bestowed upon him by Royals fans because he hustled and had no problem with getting his baseball jersey dirty. He registered clutch hits and made sparkling plays during his brief time with the Royals. Despite the accolades Kurt Bevacqua was a reserve player, he never played every day. He registered 27 home runs and 236 runs batted in during his 14-year career. Where am I going with this story…straight to Alex Caruso former Laker.

Undrafted and a G-League project he made it to the Lakers as a valued reserve. He performed all the duties asked of him and then some. one of the recent headlines read, “The Lakers defense will suffer with no Caruso.” I thought for a minute, the guy while good was not a 48-minute player. There may have been times when he was on the floor the Laker defense suffered. Bottom line, I will miss Caruso’s hustle and intangibles I’m happy he got that big payday. The Lakers will miss him but not in the manner the writer leads us to believe.

His name is Ikechukwu Stanley Okoro, but he shortened it to Adem Bona. Bona is a 6-foot 10-inch 225-pound center from Turkey by way of Nigeria. Like most youth in Africa, he grew up playing football (soccer) in Nigeria, but his growth caused him to switch to basketball. At age 13 he left Nigeria for Turkey beginning basketball play as a professional. In 2019 Bona would begin play for Prolific Prep in Napa California north of the San Francisco-Oakland metro. Bona is on the radar of colleges across the nation, the 18-year-old is a 5-star prospect by 247Sports. He will make an official visit to Kentucky and there are other planned future trips. In 2018 Bona became a citizen of his adopted nation Turkey,

We mentioned much earlier long-time coach Larry Brown is joining Penny Hardaway at Memphis University. The 80-year-old Brown will add nearly 50 years of coaching expertise to the Tiger staff. Brown is still the only coach in history to win an NCAA and NBA championship. A second name has been added to the Memphis staff, Rasheed Wallace veteran NBA player will also aid head coach Hardaway. It should also be noted Wallace was a member of the Pistons at a time Brown was head coach. In addition, Wallace has been a high school coach for two seasons and served as a Piston assistant during the 2013-14 NBA season.

The NBA announced its Christmas Day games recently, one we figured would occur. The Nets at Lakers, that was forecast in the minds of most based on off season moves especially the Lakers. The defending champion Bucks will host the Celtics and the Hawks and Trae Young will face the Knicks. Suns coming off their outstanding season will be matched against the Warriors who should have Klay Thompson on the court after he missed two seasons. Luka Doncic and his Mavs will be matched against the Jazz, all in all we see very interesting matches for December 25.

Is Joel Embiid the best?

The Sixers announced center Joel Embiid was signed to a 4-year contract extension north of $200 million. At a time, Larry Laker pronounced him the best center in the NBA, I can no longer make that claim.  Embiid checks all the boxes indicating he’s got all the tools, but something is missing. The Joker, Nikola Jokic’ is short of Embiid in some areas yet is the 2021 MVP in the NBA. Is Embiid impacted by the Sixers inability to advance in the playoffs? This is a view from 30,000 feet in the air, there are areas Embiid likely exceeds Jokic’ so there. Embiid is a valued member of the Sixers however the continuing story, he needs help.