Basketball from a fans perspective

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CORRECTION

This is a correction to our Friday account of ABA veterans being included in a new pension plan. Those past players covered under this new agreement must have played a minimum of three (3) years. If for a number of reasons, a player not picked up by an NBA team would not be covered. This ruling might leave a number of players without a pension although we guess the number would be much smaller than the 100+ now covered thanks to the agreement. 

“He’s still working”?

A while back we discussed the AARP group, those who could have long ago retired. They continue to work in a number of capacities covering the college and NBA game. Naturally on occasion a name or two is missed, in this instance the name is Bill Bertka, and he turns 95-years of age at the end of August. Technically he’s “retired”, according to his bio it indicates he last worked as an assistant coach for the Lakers in 2001 but that’s not totally correct. Bertka covers so many generations of basketball it's impossible to fully evaluate them all. 

The basis for this short account Bertka was interviewed on one of the NBA Summer League games at halftime. Bertka indicated to the play-by-play announcer he’d been in Las Vegas “covering” the tournament since it started a week ago. As for Bertka’s basketball journey it began back in 1951-52 where he served as head basketball coach at Kent Roosevelt High School in Kent, Ohio. From that point there were several coaching stops before Bertka was hired as an assistant coach for the Lakers in 1971. 

Bertka would serve in this role of assistant coach until 1974 (the first time), there was even a brief time as interim head coach. He’s been on the sidelines as a championship coach for 7 of the Laker championships, in 2019 Bertka was honored with the Tex Winter Lifetime Impact Award by the National Basketball Coaches Association. The soon to be 95-year-old is not headed to work 5 days a week however he's still active in the game he's love since his youth. Despite this fact the Lakers continue to utilize the knowledge of a man who coached players from Wilt Chamberlain through Kobe Bryant.

His words (and mine)

Ballslife.com: “Do you think players today are better in your time period as far as total package?”

Scottie Pippen: “I would say Yes…I think this is a tougher era to be successful in.”

No disagreement on my part with the Pippen statement except in one instance which has been mentioned previously. A 30-year-old having never seen Hal Greer play (1958-1973) decides he doesn’t belong on the 75^th Anniversary NBA team due to the era he played. This fan determined Dwight Howard should replace Greer on the team. Why do a portion of fans decide because Player A. didn’t play in my time “he must not have been good?”

The Emoni Bates Condition 

Recently the Nike Tournament of Champions made a stop in Kansas City. Among the teams participating in the three-day tourney was Strive for Greatness AAU team featuring Bronny James. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend any of the games but one of my chief scouts managed to see Strive for Greatness and young James in action. I was curious for a couple of reasons, in the eyes of scouts Bronny’s game has not reached the level some expected. In fact, his rating is lower in July 2022 than July 2021.

Bronny’s numbers through 12 games are certainly not very significant, 10.5 points per game 35.6% from the floor and 29.8% from the three line. Also included in his number are 3.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists. When I asked Ken for an assessment of the game, he was blunt, he informed me “I wasn’t impressed with Bronny James.” He went into further detail, and I said, he might be suffering the “Emoni Bates Condition.” He ask me for an explanation and its simple, a player is overhyped by some who see them in action. That’s what occurred with Emoni Bates, and it just might occur with Bronny James, skillful players but expected to play on a higher level. James is still young and has time to grow his game, we could make the same statement regarding Bates too.

Junior NBA

On Thursday, the NBA announced the formation of a national network of youth boys and girls basketball. Age for the kids is 6-14 and the league has selected 11 cities to serve as host.  The cities selected by the NBA contain a few with teams such as San Antonio, Philadelphia and New Orleans. On the other hand, Louisville, Boise and my home Kansas City are among those selected areas without NBA teams.

Sacramento

Washington D.C.

Boise

Louisville

New Orleans

Kansas City

Omaha

Las Vegas

Philadelphia

San Antonio

Seattle

The league will commence operations on November 11, as additional details are made known more detail will appear in Off the Dribble.