Basketball from a fans perspective

He’s got ESPN or is it ESP?

The latest revelation from Stephen A. Smith, he says without offering us any proof. “James Harden wants the Sixers to lose against Toronto, Doc Rivers would be fired and replaced by Mike D’Antoni.” Just in case this might be a little confusing, Harden played for D’Antoni once upon a time and the team’s offense was tailored to his attributes. This is written ahead of the game; I have no idea of the winner of this series. The question becomes how did Smith come about this revelation? Smith’s always bragging about his inside sources, if he was told something in confidence why is he blabbing about it over the airways. Second to that if that person has this information why are they unwilling (or unable) to reveal themselves?

The timing is right

Mark Emmert announced he will be stepping down next year as president of the NCAA. All we can say the timing is right for him to be replaced. We can always hope his replacement will be able to provide new direction and opportunities for the more than 400 universities and colleges across the nation. Perhaps we on the outside fail to see but it appears the NCAA has moved in so many directions at the same time we are often unclear of its stance. A great deal of day-to-day activities probably don’t lie within Emmert’s daily schedule. Despite this fact he should have advisors in place to point out potential land mines with some of the activities the NCAA could have faced.

As example NIL caught the NCAA completely off guard as individual states passed legislation first, there wasn’t much they could do after this landmark event occurred. You do realize the NCAA (not on Emmert’s watch) was indirectly the culprit in how this change came about, fact. Maybe with all the changes especially those effecting basketball the rules and regulations have become too cumbersome to navigate. In any event those who follow college sports don’t hold much hope for change. Whomever replaces Emmert is likely to continue to plod along offering little modification for this body that governs college sports. The part of this story I find most interesting I’ve yet to read anyone say, “Please stay” with regards to the news. Most comments echo that of Paul Finebaum ESPN college football analyst. Finebaum had but two words on hearing the news of Emmert’s departure “Good Riddance.”

This is different

By now you are likely familiar with Overtime Elite, the new basketball league was set up differently from other comparable leagues. OTE makes no requirement for players to graduate high school you can play in OTE get paid and attend classes to graduate high school. Of course, being paid ensures you are a professional in 99% of the cases. That one percent is represented by Naasir Cunningham the number one rated basketball player in the Class of 2024. Cunningham will play in the OTE however he will not be paid, he is doing this on purpose in order to allow him to later attend college should he desire. Cunningham is a 6-foot 7 175-pound small forward and Rivals rates him a 5-star prospect.

Is this the future?

The sport of basketball continues to evolve over the course of time. When the game first began, we had two officials, now we have three. A field goal only counted as two points and then the 3-point line was added. The basketball was once brought out to center court for a jump ball after each basket. Agree or disagree palming the basketball has been more or less accepted, the Euro step has become in vogue. Over time you can see change has always been implemented.

Your name listed on a mock draft site is certainly no guarantee you’ll be chosen. This is the noteworthy portion, there are 5 prospects from G-League Team Ignite or Overtime Elite. What is most interesting there are only 30 teams in the NBA and to indicate 5 are NBA ready do we need colleges to be our minor leagues. It should be mentioned all of the names mentioned had an opportunity to attend college, they intended to play basketball for pay. The rosters of Team Ignite or Team Elite are chock full of athletes indicating little if any desire to attend college, they decided in favor of playing professional basketball.