Basketball from a fans perspective

He remains close to home

Jamarion Sharp decided in favor of returning to Western Kentucky University rather than Columbia Missouri. Many in Mizzou Nation thought the 7 foot 5 shot blocker might be headed to Mizzou at least for one reason. His coach at John A. Logan Community College was added to the Dennis Gates staff but alas it was not to be. I hope Sharp has an outstanding season at WKU and all I can say is boy, it would have been great to see you in Black and Gold…oh well that’s the way it turns out at times. So in the end the Hopkinsville Kentucky decides to remain close to home. 

Winning

I thought I’d written the last piece on “Winning time: The rise of the Lakers dynasty.” It’s a slow day so a revisit was in order. First of all, I don’t have HBO/Max, so I had to visit relatives to see a morsel of the series. I hope it was clear there are no issues with the actors, for the most part there are veteran actors most of us are familiar with. John C. Reilly as Dr. Buss, Sally Field as Jessie Buss and Adrien Brody playing Pat Riley are well-known faces to us. This might have been mentioned previously, any production of this type must be fictional to a degree. Rest assured Patton, MacArthur, Lincoln and Malcolm X probably skirted portions as they attempted to tell the story.

The key difference these movies were filmed long after the individuals died, we have Laker participates along with some management stating loudly “It didn’t occur that way” or similar words. This book and screenplay was made for entertainment purposes alone even the folks at HBO admit that. The question for me and others I wonder about the viewership through all the reported controversy. Has viewership increased or has it lessen since the beginning of this series? We hear less and less about the firestorm Winning time created. Perhaps in the end it will simply go away, I certainly claim no expertise in this area. I have serious doubts if it is nominated for an Emmy or Golden Globe despite the experienced cast members.

John C. Reilly has certainly demonstrated his acting chops in a number of projects over the years. Added to his list of accomplishments are the four episodes of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. He performed admirably in the role of Laker owner Dr. Jerry Buss however the complements end there. The controversy voiced by some Lakers caused Reilly to issue his own statement defending the project. It’s okay if he wishes to stand up for the series, that would be expected by me, did it change my mind…not one bit I will listen to Kareem, Jerry and Magic. Accurate or not they lived the Showtime era, Reilly only witnessed it in the same manner as most of us. Reilly has a prepared script in which a performance was required.

Bits n Pieces

As I sat down to begin writing today this announcement came across my television. “For the second year in a row Nuggets center Nikola Jokic is the NBA’s MVP.” Not exactly shocking news however I have a different outcome. If I’d had a vote Joel Embiid would have beaten The Joker by the slimmest of margins, rest assured Embiid is certainly disappointed without hearing the words drop from his lips. Perhaps if the Sixers continue to play as they have recently Embiid can win the finals MVP and then he will have bested Jokic in that area.

NBA mock draft sites perform an effective task, they allow us to project the players chosen in somewhat of an order. Over the years I’ve noticed up through perhaps pick 7 or 8 most are close to being accurate. What they cannot do is project which player goes where, there is a reason for this, the draft lottery is yet to be held. Most have either the Rockets or Wolves being awarded the top pick, on May 18 we’ll have an idea who picks where, the lottery will be held that evening and order will be established.

Why do they continue to occur, another ugly incident? A Dallas fan had to be escorted out of the arena after an incident with Chris Paul’s family. They were harassed and physically contacted according to reports. Most of us boo and hiss opposing players and maybe even their families but there is a line. We cannot point it out for you let’s just say some of us have one too many adult beverages or a few are genuine %$&**+, We separate them by doing exactly what Mavs security did, eject them.

This is quite interesting, sometimes maybe it might not be such a rush to head for the NBA Ochai Abajai is our example. The Kansas guard is going to earn a great deal more money in 2022 than he would have last year. Similar to a number of prospects Abajai announced he was headed to the NBA but decided later to return to school. We know what occurred he was one of the keys to the school’s NCAA championship. According to ESPN.com if he’d remain declared last year, he likely would have been a second-round choice and pick 59. It’s conceivable Abaji could have been bypassed in the draft all together. By returning to Kansas and playing another year he’s improved his draft stock significantly, he is now projected as a first-round lottery pick anywhere from 9 through 14.