Basketball from a fans perspective

Published Monday through Friday

“Quit making excuses”

After the Lakers loss to the Nuggets number 6 in a row those were the words of Magic Johnson, “Quit making excuses.” Afterwards, the Magic man made the blistering headline statement above. Laker Nation can certainly agree with this declaration. Then the fork in the road, Magic heads left, and I go right. Magic wants the entire crew returned intact, i.e., LeBron, AD and Westbrook. As for me, LeBron is an okay, AD is questionable, and Westbrook is gone. My view doesn’t entail the Laker front office following suit.

30 seconds

Those of you knew to the ramblings of Skip Bayless of Fox Sports might believe his misstatements only travel to recent times. He’s got a history in this area, allow me to sit the stage. Celtic great Larry Bird was draft eligible in 1978, he’d played his freshman year at the University of Indiana and then transferred to Indiana State. Bird was made the 6^th pick in the 1978 draft, needless to say none of the five players in front of him came close to him career wise.

Now this is where the story becomes quite interesting. Enter Mr. Bayless, he claims (along with others) couldn’t see the ability of Bird and voiced that opinion. Years later after Bird became the super star, we know Bayless wanted to apologize to Bird and sought him out. Bayless claims Bird listened to his expression of regret for about 30 seconds and left without saying a word to Bayless. I guess we can applaud Bayless for admitting the story however I find it funny. Mister “I know it all” sometimes can confess he was wrong about something or someone.

Imagine this for a moment

You have a 21-year-old son or daughter who grew up in the Sacramento metro. Your offspring started playing the game of basketball and has continued through life. At the age of 5 they became fans of the Kings, while maturing from child to youth and young adult one event has been constant in their life. The Kings have missed the playoffs for 16-years, that might be the longest interval in NBA history. We are not picking on you Sacramento just point out a fact, this must be the most poorly run franchise in history. They might overshadow the record of James Dolan and his Knicks.

2 for 2

As his first signee Mizzou coach Dennis Gates managed to secure the services of 6 foot 10 Mohammed Diarra from Garden City Community College in Garden City Kansas. Diarra was listed as the top JUCO player in the nation by jucorecruiting.com and who is the number two player? That would be 6-foot 3 guard Sean East who played at John A. Logan College in Carterville Illinois. East has a decision in front of him, will he chose Mizzou or 5 other schools attempting to recruit him.

There is no guarantee East chooses Mizzou, the Tigers just made the list, but it would prove interesting if coach Gates could go 2 for 2. Technically speaking East would become the third player recruited by the coach. 6-foot 5 guard DeAndre Gholston Wisconsin-Milwaukee committed the week Gates was hired by Mizzou. While we are speculating how about Christian Jones a 6-foot 5 shooting guard recruited by Cuonzo Martin, he remains committed as this is written. We could make a similar statement about Aiden Shaw 6-foot 7 small forward from the Kansas City metro who de-committed but indicated the door is not closed on Mizzou. 

He was the first

It was June 1993, Drazen Petrovic perished in a tragic automobile accident at the age of 28. He most likely was the first Euro player to taste success in the NBA. Even with that said it would only be for a brief period. Up to that time few players from Europe had been successful in the NBA, in fact several Americans held a belief basketball play was substandard in Europe. In truth that might have been the case at that time however play certainly has improved over the years. As for the background of Petrovic, he was born in Yugoslavia (now present day-Croatia). His bio indicates he began playing basketball as a teen and it grew from there.

As Petrovic continued to grow in age so did his game, Petrovic became so outstanding he began play professionally in a number of European leagues. After playing for Real Madrid, he probably believed it was NBA time. In 1986 the Blazers made him the 60^th pick in the third round, at that time the NBA Draft contained more than today’s two rounds. Whether it was an adjustment or just lack of playing time, Petrovic didn’t begin to blossom until the trade. In January 1991 Petrovic was acquired by the Nets then based in New Jersey. After hardly playing in Portland his time with the Nets detailed for all his ability as his game began to grow exponentially. The 6-foot 5 shooting guard proved to all he belonged in the NBA. The late Drazen Petrovic was a pioneer laying ground for future Euro players in the association.