Basketball from a fans perspective   

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An ugly incident    

We had an unpleasant skirmish occur in the game on Sunday between Michigan and Wisconsin. At the close of a blowout game in favor of Wisconsin the disturbance began. In the line to shake hands after the game Michigan’s head coach Juwan Howard was seen to slap Wisconsin assistant coach Greg Gard aside his head. Howard has said he was upset with the fact Wisconsin had taken a time out with a double-digit lead, words were exchanged and then the head slap by Howard.

This aggressive move created a great deal of pushing and shoving between Howard his team and several Wisconsin players. The altercation between Howard and Gard appeared to be the only physical hit. We’ve since read several letters from fans indicating Howard should be fired, other letters say the coach should be suspended. Before you come to a final conclusion for the future of Juwan Howard check out video of the incident. NOTE: The Big 10 Conference moved much faster than we might have believed, Howard’s been suspended for 5 games and Wisconsin assistant Greg Gard received a one game suspension. The question is revised, was the suspension lengthy enough or should Howard have been fired?

LeBron  

This is not news to me, perhaps it might be to others in Laker Nation. LeBron James will be enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame just as soon as he’s eligible. The NBA career of number 6 has been outstanding, what do I consider non-news…LeBron’s future. It’s great that he wants to play in the NBA with son Bronny, in addition if LeBron returns to Cleveland that’s okay too. There are times the media makes a story where there is none, this is one of those cases in my view.

The world is aware of LeBron James and his connection to the City of Akron Ohio. He’s long been identified with the city but there is another NBA players almost as famous as LeBron. December 30, 1987, and March 14, 1988, are linked by birth’s in Akron in the same hospital. The December date was the birth of LeBron while the March date is that of Warriors guard Steph Curry. How did it occur you ask; Dell Curry was playing for the Cavs in 1987 when wife Sonya gave birth to son Steph?

Black hole

“Black holes are what’s left after large stars die and their cores collapse. They are incredibly dense, with gravity so strong that nothing can move fast enough to escape them, including light. Astronomers are keen to study black holes because they can tell us a lot about the ways that stars die.” Despite what you just read this is not an astronomy report rather it’s a critique of former Celtic great Kevin McHale. From the University of Minnesota McHale was made the third pick in the first round in 1980 by the Celtics. McHale would spend his entire career playing alongside Larry Bird, Dennis Johnson and Robert Parrish.

McHale was a 3X NBA Champion and 7X NBA All Star and 3X All Defensive First Team and 3X All Defensive Second Team. Those are just a few of the accolades McHale registered while a member of the Celtics. After retirement McHale would coach the Wolves and Rockets, you can see him on occasion as he works as an analyst for NBA TV. The Black hole title of this account, teammates claim if they passed the ball to McHale, they never saw it again. Just like in astronomy, scientist contend light never escapes from a black hole. The same applied for McHale, you pass the ball to him you would never see it again he was taking the shot.

When is a story not a story?

A journalist authored a book detailing a difference of opinion regarding the future direction of Duke basketball. All of us are aware Coach K. is in his last season as head coach after 42 years and 5 NCAA Championships. Coach K. has named assistant coach Jon Scheyer to succeed him, that was not the original plan. This correspondent claims the university wanted former Duke player Tommy Amaker now head coach at Harvard to become the successor to Coach K. Amaker’s bio provides us detail he can coach but consider this fact. It is extremely difficult to replace a legend, imagine the coach who replaced John Wooden at UCLA or Bobby Knight at Indiana. In the instance of Wooden it was Gene Bartow who only lasted two years, as for Knight it was Mike Davis from 2000-2006. I hope no one considers this a negative aimed at Scheyer, we hope he’s successful if not could Amaker be waiting in the wings?

The Future

On February 7 you read an article I wrote a contradictory account after a writer for basketballnetwork.com wrote the Clippers are a better team than the Lakers. I said something like I laughed aloud but now the confession I admit the headline was all I read and not the complete account. After reading the narrative I must agree with the writer the Clippers are better (shocking isn’t it)? LeBron is 45 years old, although he’s played well, he just received his AARP card, his partner Anthony Davis is talented and only 28 years old. The issue for AD he appears brittle and is in and out of the lineup.

As for the Clippers Kawhi Leonard will be 31 in June and Paul George 32 in May so we can say advantage Clippers but there is a question. As this is written ancient LeBron is on the floor along with AD, where are the fearsome twosome of the Clippers? Kawhi is injured and likely out for the season, the same for Paul George we just don’t know when he returns. We can see a clear advantage for the Clippers when their Big Two are on the floor however in both instances they appear (especially Kawhi) appear somewhat delicate and injury prone too. We cannot say a great deal about the future until we arrive there.