Basketball from a fans perspective   

Published Monday through Friday

A good start

Ex-Mizzou Tiger Kim English has moved from the playing court to the coaching ranks. He was hired after serving as an assistant coach at a couple of college stops, this past summer George Mason hired him. We have no idea how good a coach he might become since this is his first attempt at this level. English has gotten a good start leading George Mason to a 4-0 record as this is written. The number four win was against number 20 Maryland on Wednesday evening.

Is Mizzou paying attention to English and possibly considering a hire at some future date, now don’t get the wrong impression we are not replacing Cuonzo Martin. This just might be an opportunity to hire a coach with Mizzou connections. Mizzou is one for one in that area, Norm Stewart moved from the playing court to the bench and led the program successfully for 32 years. The other former player hired as head coach was Kim Anderson who missed the mark, we can say Mizzou is 1-1 in hiring coaches with Mizzou connections, could English make it two?

Fact versus Opinion

Suns owner Robert Sarver is being investigated by the NBA; I have no intention to detail the case against Sarver. In addition, there is no rush to judgement on my part as I did the last time in an earlier instance. That was the case involving former Clippers owner Donald Sterling. I remember reading letter after letter from fans claiming “They (NBA) cannot force him to sell his team.” The writers were not defending the actions of Sterling they were simply trying to point out the NBA couldn’t force him out of the league. Guess what the NBA did just that, they forced Sterling out and the franchise was sold to Steve Ballmer. Now the purpose of this exercise, there is a vast difference between fact and opinion.

Those defenders of Sterling “claimed” mistakenly the league could not force him out. Those defenders of Sterling did not have access to the NBA Bylaws and Rules of Operation, when the case was presented to the NBA Board of Governors, they voted Sterling out. Although Sterling later sued the NBA it was dismissed by a federal judge. Understand, there is no argument against someone voicing his opinion on any subject matter. In this instance the writers defending Sterling were voicing an incorrect view because it was their opinion and didn’t reflect the facts. Although Sterling was forced to sell the team he was compensated at its present value ($2 billion) which far exceeded the $12.5 million he paid in 1981 when he bought the Clippers.

Hiding in the weeds

In the NBA, our focus has been on the less than spectacular play of the Lakers. In addition to the Lakers, we have also noted the meteoric performance of the Warriors as they lead the Western Conference, lost in this news is the Suns. The Western Conference defending champion Suns have been on the same plane as the Warriors. On Wednesday, the Suns won their 10^th straight game, most pre-season media reports showed they would finish behind the Lakers at the end of the season. We might ask the question how did they manage this feat, i.e., sparkling play?

The key continues to be point guard Chris Paul; he’s turned 36 now but continues at a high skill level but it’s not Paul alone. It wasn’t Paul last season and the same could be said this season, sharpshooter guard Devin Booker continues to produce similar numbers to last season. The key to the Suns success thus far are forwards Mikal Bridges and Jae Crowder. Post man DeAndre Ayton continues to rebound the basketball but once again it’s not just Ayton, reserves have answered the call for the Suns. Lost in all this brilliant play is the quiet steady hand of head coach Monty Williams, as this is written the Suns have 11 wins and 3 losses. They are one full game behind the Warriors, are these two teams to fight it out for Western Conference supremacy, we shall see how this develops?

Names that flow easily    

There are names associated with sports we are accustomed to hearing; the names flow easily from our lips. Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Staples Center, whoa…hold on a minute. In Los Angeles Staples Center is no more, the home of the NBA Lakers, NHL Kings, WNBA Sparks and other events will soon be changing names. Effective December 25 the 20,000-seat arena will no longer use the name Staples Center hung outside the building for the last 20 years. On the date mentioned the arena will become Crypto.com Center in a $700 million naming rights agreement.

As for the name Crypto.com, it’s a cryptocurrency platform and exchange headquartered in Singapore. This is going to be interesting, the media will likely have no problem with the name change, as for fans that might be a slightly different question. Standby, rest assured fans will come up with comical names for the arena you can bet money on that occurring. The new name is not difficult to pronounce it’s just the name itself. One writer voiced his view and said this, “It will always be Staples Center to me.” I can agree with his statement, arenas or stadiums require a name that flows easily, Crupto.com Center ain’t it.