Basketball from a fans perspective   

Published Monday through Friday

The Terminator Rebounder

Remember in the 6 Terminator movies series the theme? Arnold Schwarzenegger was the “bad” Terminator in the first movie, although a cyborg he became a good cyborg in the subsequent series of movies. In any event what was the Terminators single mission…it was to eliminate John Conner and all offspring he might produce. Arnold plus the others had one goal in mind, we might say the same for Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe. Apparently like the Terminator Tshiebwe has a single mission as well, his is to grab every rebound that’s obtainable.

After transferring from West Virginia, the young man from the Democratic Republic of the Congo snatched down 20 rebounds against Duke in his first game for Kentucky. Later he would set a Rupp Arena record with 28 rebounds against Western Kentucky. In his team’s recent game against Mizzou, he registered another double-double with 13 points and 20 rebounds. After the game Tshiebwe was more upset about his “poor shooting” over the fact he had another 20-rebound game. Through 12 games Tshiebwe is scoring at a 15.8 point per game clip along with 15.8 rebounds a game. We don’t know this for a fact, the 6-foot 9 260-pound Tshiebwe might soon find a home in the NBA if he continues to play at this level. His coach John Calipari has NBA connections so this view would not be too farfetched.

Bits n Pieces

Stanley Johnson has been an NBA journeyman to date, despite this fact he is likely to replace a Laker veteran on the team’s roster. Hit hard by covid the Lakers were scrambling to find players to fit their roster. One of those fits it was hoped would be Johnson, the 6-foot 7 255-pound power/small forward must have impressed. As they say don’t take this to the bank, but it APPEARS the Lakers will keep Johnson over wait for it, wait for it. Veteran center DeAndre Jordan, his numbers are the worst on an incredibly bad Laker team. He’s got another advantage working for him, Johnson although a veteran is only 25-years old making him a baby compared to the grizzly veteran Lakers.

Folks claim Power Memorial High School with Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul Jabbar) played on the greatest high school team in history. We recognize he is in the Naismith and College Basketball Halls of Fame, there are hundreds of other awards he received over the course of his entire basketball career. Akron’s (Ohio) Central High School might not be held in the same esteem as Power Memorial however it too has a rich history. Two high school teammates Nate Thurmond and Gus Johnson are in the Naismith Hall of Fame, they might be the only two in the history of basketball with that distinction.

Tomorrow many of us will have an opportunity to see former Mizzou Tiger Kim English in action for the first time. Of course, English will no longer be on the basketball court in a jersey he will be dressed in the same warmups of most coaches. Last March English was hired as head coach at George Mason and they will play the Kansas Jayhawks at 4:00 p.m. Central time on ESPN+. At 32 years of age English is one of the youngest head coaches in Division I basketball. Good luck coach and those in Mizzou Nation want your team to bash those Jayhawks. 

A return to the Cavs

We can all live in our imagination and so it goes. A website said, “Suppose LeBron James leaves the Lakers and returns to the Cavs.” Sounds implausible maybe however the Cavs are on the edge of becoming a viable team. Currently, they might have the tallest starting front line in the NBA, they go 6 foot 10, 6 foot 11 and 6 foot 11. The names we attach to the reported heights are Jarrett Allen at center, at power forward Evan Mobley and Lauri Markkanen at the small forward. The Lakers it was believed to have the tallest starting lineup, with AD sidelined it would appear the Cavs might trump the Lakers with this lineup. At the point the Cavs have one of the best of the new breed of point guards, Darius Garland was the 5^th pick in Round 1 of the 2019 draft.

The only downside, Garland is only 6 foot 1 which leaves him at a disadvantage defending his position on the court, the other aspects of his game are good. If we mention Vanderbilt the thought is often academics not basketball, but Garland is among the best the school’s produced and he’s only 21 years old. At shooting guard is Isaac Okoro the 5^th pick in Round 1 of the 2020 draft, he’s from Auburn University. The balance of the roster contains a sprinkling of veterans Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio (lost for the season prior to this account) and others, the Cavs might have the youngest team in the NBA. On second thought perhaps we could see maybe a return to Cleveland might not be as far-fetched as first stated. This group is led by head Coach JB Bickerstaff who must receive a portion of the credit for building this competitive team. We almost forgot the Cavs have the tallest player in the NBA today, 7 foot 6 Tacko Fall now plays for them.