Basketball from a fans perspective

There is a similarity

“Don’t give up, don’t ever give up”, those were the words of a speech we shortened but made famous by the late Jim Valvano. For those unfamiliar with the name, Valvano once served as head basketball coach at North Carolina State University. His 1983 team was not given much of a chance against the University of Houston’s Phi Slama Jama team in the NCAA Championship game. That NC State team finished the season with a 28-10 record but with a championship as they upset the Houston Cougars 54-52.

In 1993 Valvano would succumb to cancer and in his name the V Fund was begun, Victory over Cancer is the theme and the foundations goal. Valvano fought for his life refusing to pass away due to the dreaded disease, that’s where the speech above originated and became renowned. Actor Ray Romano is the producer and is scheduled to play the coach in an upcoming production. Filming has yet to begin so it might be a while before the movie is ready for theatre/television release. Romano claims Valvano has always been an inspiration to him and what is even neater. From where I sit it’s my belief there will be little makeup required, Romano bears a striking resemblance to Valvano. As this undertaking moves forward, I will attempt to keep you posted on updates.

Are they related?

Yet another Bol arrives on the basketball scene, this one is John, and he’s a sophomore in high school he is an amazing 7 feet 2 inches in height. He plays for Christian Brothers College High in St. Louis and Rivals.com awards Bol 4-stars, he is rated the 34^th prospect in the Class of 2024. Because of his youth colleges are unable to make a great deal of contact with Bol at this time however he’s on their radar. Despite his youth it’s believed within rules Bol can begin receiving letters that state “We see you” and that’s what’s occurred.

As this is account is being reported the letters totaling 7 have been received by Bol. Among the schools making contact are Butler, Clemson, Illinois, Kansas State and of course Mizzou. Although he plays in St. Louis Bol travels to this side of the state to play for Mo-Kan Elite a Kansas City area AAU team. Hopefully at some point this summer I can managed to see Bol in action around the metro. There you have it, John Bol a name to keep in your memory bank for the future. In addition, hopefully we can locate information on his relationship to the other basketball playing Bol’s.

Yes, we know…Luka & defense does not compute

The headline of this story is wrong, wrong and wrong. We know what Luka Doncic can do, shoot the rock effectively and pass the ball efficiently. What about his defense you might ask, well it ain’t as bad as you might believe if you just based your opinion on some of the television analyst? A website, statmuse.com compiles defensive ratings for NBA teams and individuals. Guess what, Doncic is listed as one of the Top 10 players in the NBA, according to this site he is 8th in the NBA with a 106.5 defensive rating.   

That places Doncic ahead of some guys that might surprise you, Chris Paul, Marcus Smart (2022 Defensive Player of the Year) and Steph Curry. For fans and even media people it is far easier to witness a player scoring the ball then defending. The block shot and the steal are mostly easy to see but how about the slide over to pick up another player or a block from an off-ball defender, we often miss those plays. Let’s just say Doncic might not be a great individual defender but a good team defender. A statement once made about Magic Johnson and we can agree, it’s not necessary for a player to be great at defense but willingness to adapt to the team’s defensive schemes.

Bits n Pieces---college ball 

At Mizzou Dennis Gates and staff continue making offers for talent across the nation. Proposals have been extended to 10 prospects in the Class of 2023. There will be a roster makeover however unlike this upcoming season that number of offers is quite large. If every one of the 10 signed with Mizzou, there would not be enough space on the roster. 4-5 (we guess) would be an acceptable number. A couple of names that stand out for me, JP Estrella 6-foot 11 post and he plays at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire, the youngsters home is South Portland Maine.

Where is the NCAA and its Independent Accountability Resolution Process? In this instance we are discussing the penalty facing Kansas basketball. Just in case you’ve been on the International Space Station or somewhere else allow us to clue you in. Three years ago, Kansas basketball and coach Self were slapped with Five Level 1 violations. Level 1 being the most severe, “lack of institutional control” is one of the charges. We read many are of the opinion this will be a mild reprimand for the Kansas program. That might well be the case however this anvil hanging over the program is unbelievably long.

Is it that bad you ask, former Illinois center Kofi Cockburn “plays like a 1990’s center?” That statement was made we believe by an NBA scout and might appear to be a criticism however that’s not the case I see. Let’s check and see who was playing center in the NBA during that period. Patrick Ewing was playing for the Knicks; Shaquille O’Neal was dominating center play and so was Alonzo Mourning. The players mentioned and others including   Cockburn are back to the basket centers. These players and others rarely moved out to the three-point line taking shots if I’m a general manager I draft Kofi Cockburn. We stated this previously there will be no return to post play of the past however if a team has the opportunity to draft a prospect the question becomes why not at least for me?

What is old becomes new again

Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle is home of the NHL Kraken, there is also basketball being played there. No, it’s not the NBA yet, the WNBA Storm also call this arena home and the University of Seattle men’s team as well. At some point in the near future the league will expand, and the NBA will return again to Seattle. How did we arrive here, for some unfamiliar with the past Climate Pledge opened back in 1962? Over time the arena has operated under a number of different names, at the time the Sonics departed for Oklahoma City the building was the Key Arena. There were two reasons the Sonics left the city, the owner who’d purchased the team made sounds as if he intended to remain in the city but that was not the case.

The second reason, the NBA considered Key Arena inadequate for NBA play so why is everything okay now? The iconic part of the outside portion was maintained by Kansas City architects Populous. Naturally, an undertaking of this type required a massive amount of dollars to rebuild the arena. The indication was over $1 billion was spent for the project. As for seating in the “new” arena in hockey its 17,000 plus while basketball is 18,100 and change. The new arena is the most environmentally sound in the nation, as example rainwater collected on the roof is utilized to create ice for hockey. The Climate Pledge website provides environmental details not listed here. The NBA will return to the Emerald City the only question now is when.