Basketball from a fans perspective   

Published Monday through Friday

A streak

A local analyst discussing the Chiefs 48-9 win over the Raiders said this. “I’d like to see the team (Chiefs) go on an offensive streak, although they have won 6 games in a row it’s been one good offensive game and one so-so game and then another good one.” This is a discussion of NFL football but what about the Lakers? They have been on a similar “streak” win two or more then lose one and return to a one or two game win streak. Part of the inconsistency for the Lakers is due to the injury bug, however I refuse to dwell on that as it becomes an excuse for poor or inconsistent play.

It should be next man up, if you are behind someone on the depth chart you should always be ready to play. If you are Kent Bazemore as an example, you should be prepared to replace Talen Horton-Tucker, should he be missing for whatever reason. Laker Nation is certainly not pleased now, if the season were to end today, they make the playoffs. None of us envision the Lakers as a playoff team as a 7 or 8 seed. Have they turned the corner so to speak, barring injury have they made the necessary adjustments? We must take into consideration only three players from last year’s team remain; LeBron along with AD and Talen Horton-Tucker.

How tall is he?

I had to check the stats, NBA TV host Matt Winner and analyst Mike Mitchell were discussing the Sunday games. Mitchell in describing Kevin Durant’s 51-point game said, “He’s 7 feet tall etc. etc. etc.” Once again, we hear Durant described in this manner, according to all the info I could find shows Durant is 6 foot 10 inches tall. He is reported to have a 7-foot 5-inch wingspan but for me that has nothing to do with Durant’s height. I’m confused and once again must research this issue further.

We just reload

Mark Mitchell is a 5-star prospect in the Class of 2022, there were offers for his talent from 11 schools including Mizzou. On Friday, the 6-foot 8-inch small forward made his intention known, he would give his verbal commitment to Duke. Ordinarily we’d give Coach K. the applause but that’s not likely the case. Every player recruited from the Class of 2022 and beyond are aware they will not be attending the school to play for a legendary coach.

You might have believed with Coach K. retiring the quality basketball played by the school would just go good-bye. Mitchell is one of five prospects to sign or verbally commit to Duke for the 2022-23 season. Mitchell joins Dereck Lively 6-11 center, Kyle Filipowski 6-11 power forward, Dariq Whitehead 6-8 small forward all 5-star prospects and Jaden Schutt 6-5 4-star shooting guard. As you can see at least through next season the basketball is likely to remain competitive for a while. We are sure this is not what the legion of Duke haters could foresee.

I’ll take him

A story broke on Monday saying the Sixers were trying to trade Ben Simmons. That’s not exactly news however one of the teams reported to be interested is the Lakers. At the time Simmons did not report and details of his problem was made know I said it “I want Simmons on my Lakers.” How badly do I want him, I’m not Rob Pelinka I cannot okay a trade? If I could authorize a trade I would be willing to offer the Sixers Russell Westbrook and others to get Simmons.

The replacement

If you live in Denver or Elmira New York, you might not be aware Mizzou Coach Cuonzo Martin is on the hot seat. This is more than the embarrassing loss to Kansas on Saturday, its losing to UMKC, Wichita State and Liberty. The only exception to this picture might be the game against Florida State on November 22. If Martin is fired who replaces him is a large question which is difficult to answer at this point. Whoever it is must be paid big dollars to come in and manage the Mizzou basketball program. How about a guy with Mizzou connections? The last time this occurred the school turned to Kim Anderson which turned out to be a bad move. Could or would the administration consider another Kim, this one with the last name English?

English is in his first year as head coach at George Mason so we could say he’s got no resume showing he can run a high-profile program successfully. No disrespect intended but George Mason is not Mizzou, Mizzou is in a Power 5 conference. There are names other than Kim English however there is no method to figure out who they are without a degree of effort by the school. I don’t believe as this is written Mizzou is prepared to conduct a search, if word got out that would make a bad situation worst in my view. Hopefully you see the dilemma, the thought is not comforting but this is what I see. Mizzou Nation plus the administration needs to suck it up, allow the coach to manage the team this season. In the fall of 2023, the newcomers will have a season of adjustment and be prepared to play Cuonzo ball.