Basketball from a fans perspective

Published Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday

Legacy

Every now and then you come across information, and it causes you to go whoa. The Spurs Gregg Popovich is liable to not coach much longer, despite that fact his legacy is set in stone already. 28% of the current NBA coaches have either played for Pop or served as an assistant coach on his staff. Quin Snyder an assistant under Pop is replaced by another assistant for the Jazz in Will Hardy.

Mike Brown-Kings

Steve Kerr-Warriors

Doc Rivers-Sixers

Ime Udoka-Celtics

Mike Budenholzer-Bucks

Monty Williams-Suns

Will Hardy-Jazz

Taylor Jenkins-Grizzlies*

This count only reflects current coaches, there are others no longer working as head coaches in the NBA. We could also include Brett Brown, Jacque Vaughn and several others of note who interned under Pop in some manner.

*Assistant & head coach Austin Toros G-League affiliate of the Spurs

Kansas 

We’ve mentioned on more than one occasion Bill Self and Kansas basketball are 2022 NCAA champions. This is the second tournament NCAA win for the coach but its more, let’s return to the past. Did you realize with the exception of James A. Naismith Kansas has never had a coach with a losing record? If the name sounds familiar it’s the same individual who invented the game. Naismith arrived in Lawrence Kansas in 1898 six years after he drafted the original rules. From 1898-1907 the Kansas Jayhawks won a grand total of 55 games losing 60 under Dr. Naismith. Phog Allen would replace Naismith and serve two different terms as head coach.

Allen’s tenure as head coach totaled 39 years during which time his teams won 519 games while losing 219. He might have been the foundation or at least a building block on what became one of the most successful basketball programs in the nation. In 124 years of basketball competition the school has only seen 8 coaches occupy leadership. With Naismith the only coach with a losing record it’s easy to see how Kansas won 2,357 games headed into the 2022-23 collegiate season. Ted Owens won 348 games from 1964 through 1983 yet remains the only basketball coach fired by the administration. Larry Brown was only at the helm for 5 seasons, yet his team won the 1988 NCAA championship. If we looked around the nation only two other basketball programs can be compared in wins, that would be Kentucky and UCLA.

What year…that year 

A discussion of start dates for several franchises might be a surprise to some. For these purposes we are skipping the NBL-NBA and ABA-NBA mergers. The teams and dates that follow are when they began play in the NBA. You might note several are not in the city they first began play; in addition, the founding NBA teams (1946) are not listed in this count as well:

Chicago Packers (Wizards) 1961

Chicago Bulls 1966

San Diego (Houston) Rockets 1967

Seattle Sonics (Thunder) 1967

Milwaukee Bucks 1968

Phoenix Suns 1968

Cleveland Cavs 1970

Portland Blazers 1970

Buffalo Braves (Clippers) 1970

Utah Jazz (New Orleans) 1974

Dallas Mavs 1980

Miami Heat 1988

Minnesota Wolves 1989

Orlando Magic 1989

Toronto Raptors 1995

Camden “twins”

This is an exaggeration the two players are not really twins it just turns out they are teammates on the same high school team. In addition, it is noteworthy both athletes are highly touted, in fact they are 5-star prospects in the Class of 2023. We’d covered Dajuan Wagner Jr. in an earlier account, Junior’s grandfather and father both played in the NBA, which is unique, could Junior become number three? We could almost state basketball is in his genes and that might be the case.

As for Junior he’s a 6-foot 2 152-pound point guard and is rated the number 3 prospect in the nation by Rivals.com. His teammate Aaron Bradshaw is a 7-foot 215-pound center and he’s ranked number 11, Bradshaw is moving up in ranks as we look toward fall enrollment at Camden High School. Junior is not leaning toward a particular team although the indication he might be leaning toward his grandfather’s school Louisville. Bradshaw has not declared a choice however rumors indicate he might be headed to play for John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats.