Basketball from a fans perspective

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He was missing

On Monday evening Steph Curry shot 7 for 22 from the floor, Warriors lose the game. No that wasn’t the outcome as they managed to win 104-94. How did they accomplish the task you might ask? It was “The Others”, the law firm of Wiggins, Thompson, Poole & Payton who helped the Warriors win Game Five. Wiggins led the way with 26 points and 13 rebounds, Thompson would add 21. Of course, the law firm thing is a joke but it does sound as if it could be a real thing. 

This collection of very talented players just wanted the win maybe worse than the Celtics. As for Curry his 32% shooting and 0 three-point baskets is not intended to trash his game, he contributed 8 assists which certainly helped in the victory. The Celtics managed numerous defenders to slow Curry’s game. As for Game Six, it’s scheduled for tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. Central and the teams move to Boston. This NBA Final has been more evenly matched than might have been first believed. The Warriors are in the drivers seat so to speak but that certainly is no intent to portray them as possible victors.

That was then, this is now

An NBA theme website had photos of the Celtics, Lakers and Bulls. Displayed were Larry Bird, Robert Parrish and Kevin McHale, Magic Johnson and James Worthy plus Michael Jordan and Scotty Pippen were featured. Underneath the photo of each team was the word LOYALTY. We guess this was aimed at those who would form so-called Super Teams. In the recent past the Celtics team of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, we could also include the Heat team of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosch.

More recently the Lakers of LeBron, Anthony Davis and later Russell Westbrook could be added although they were not featured. We get it, fans of these teams desire all the talent remain in one spot but it’s not going to occur. That old saying, “You can’t close the barn door after the cow has escaped” certainly applies. We might not agree with forming Super Teams, we might not be pleased with free agency and other stuff in place allowing for player movement. You don’t like it we get it…guess what? There is not a single thing you can do about it, accept it or find another sport to follow. Sorry to be so blunt however it’s the truth.

The tiger’s been de-clawed plus there are no teeth

You remember the NCAA don’t you, it was once the governing body of collegiate sports? Notice the word used was, this organization has not only has been de-clawed but it has no teeth either. It's become a paper tiger it has no credibility in most circles. You might ask the question why, the following is but one example.   

“The FBI’s investigation led the NCAA to allege five level I violations which represent a severe breach of conduct against the Kansas men’s basketball program in in September 2019, including head coach Bill Self and assistant Kurtis Townson. The NCAA announced in July 2020 that the case would be processed through the independent accountability process (IARP). * 

We are now in the middle of June; Kansas basketball was crowned NCAA champion this past April. Do we have a resolution to the five level 1 violations yet? With Mark Emmert’s announced resignation perhaps the NCAA hopes we have forgotten about these serious charges leveled against Kansas basketball. What ever the outcome of this particular account we know the NCAA is no longer in charge of anything, 

*www.npr.org April 6, 2022

“It’s a little more than rocket science”

We sometimes believe drafting players might be easy, it certainly is more difficult than we might suppose. Let’s take a look at two past drafts, the 1998 and 2017. Now consider this, there might be other instances we are about to profile however these are but two we came across. In 1998 the Mavs drafted the late Robert “Tractor” Traylor from the University of Michigan with the 6^th pick in that year’s draft. He was humongous in size standing 6-foot 9 and close to 300 pounds and had potential NBA All Star written on his forehead. Later with the 9^th pick the Bucks chose Dirk Nowitzki a 7-foot player from Germany. Before the evening was complete the teams came together and swap picks, Traylor would never wear a Mavs jersey nor Nowitzki in a Bucks jersey. Traylor died in 2011 at the age of 34, prior to his death Traylor move from team to team in the NBA.

Traylor would spend the balance of his life playing all over the world, but he would never reached the level first believed in 1998. As for Nowitzki we are familiar with his career, no requirement to detail it for this future Hall of Famer. In 2017 the Celtics had the number one pick in the draft, the Sixers looking ahead wanted that pick. In a history repeat a trade was consummated, the Sixers chose Markelle Fultz from the University of Washington. When it was the Celtics turn with the third pick, they chose Jayson Tatum from Duke. In this instance we have two active players, so what occurred? Fultz after suffering two injury plagued seasons was traded to the Magic in 2019. He continues to play but certainly not at the level expected of a number one pick. Tatum has clearly demonstrated he is a viable talent and key to Celtic success. As you can see the stories profiled only account for two its likely you might have one, two or maybe more similar. Next time someone makes a statement how easy it is to add talent to an NBA team remind them of Nowitzki and Tatum.