Basketball from a fans perspective

Published Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday

Number 6 to be retired

Yesterday the NBA announced the late Bill Russell’s number 6 will be retired by the league. This move is similar to that of Major League Baseball at the time Jackie Robinson’s 42 was retired. Number 42 is no longer issued in baseball to any incoming player. Players wearing number 42 were allowed to continue to wear the number until they retired, I'm unsure if any baseball players changed their number after the rule came into being. Besides LeBron James wearing number 6 for the Lakers there are other players spread throughout the NBA wearing jersey number 6. NBA players will be allowed to continue wearing number 6, should they move to another team either trade or free agency the privilege goes away. We could foresee a few players decide to change numbers on their own.  

Sooner or later…

You hear or read a strange or unusual story, that’s what we have for you now. Abiodun Adegoke is reported to stand 7 feet 11 inches in height, that would make him the tallest current active basketball player. Adegoke hails from Nigeria and is reported to be in his teens or get this…in his early 20’s. Adegoke wears a 53 Euro which converts to 17.5 in a U.S. shoe. The guy can dunk the ball without jumping which is certainly not that farfetched based on his reported height. Video of him is provided below, my opinion is this, he appears animated in his movements on the court, check for yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezoiBB_WD2w

Anniversary

The upcoming season will be the 75^th Anniversary of the National Basketball Association. In June 1946 a collection of basketball teams came together to form the Basketball Association of America. In August 1949 the BAA would merge with the National Basketball League and the league’s name was changed to the National Basketball Association. Technically the league has two birthdays however it’s 1946 the association considers its beginning and anniversary.

NBA teams will sport throwback jerseys in honor of the 1946 date (75 years). I’ve only seen two jerseys so far, the Warriors and my Lakers. It’s interesting the Warriors jersey reflects their first season in California 1961-62, the franchise in Philly dates back to that 1946 date. As for my Lakers their jerseys have the look of the George Mikan Minneapolis Lakers which played from 1947-1960 in the city. As this is written the two jerseys mentioned are the only ones I’ve seen thus far. Be on the lookout for other 75th Anniversary jerseys in the days and weeks ahead.  

Change   

News arrived indicating George Washington University would soon change the name of its team mascot in the next few years. The school administration believes “Colonials” is an inappropriate name today. Over time we’ve seen a number of college and pro teams adopt new names. The Washington NFL team is now the Commanders while Cleveland’s baseball team has become the Guardians. Most of the name changes have come about to discontinue applying indigenous names to sports teams. 

How the use of indigenous names came into being in the first place is unclear. Although we have a substantial number of Tigers, Bears, Ducks, Eagles, Gators, Badgers, Cougars and Beavers in existence across the landscape there remain a sizable number who continue to use names of native American tribes for their sports teams. I have an acquaintance who informed me she was not pleased with this effort to be politically correct regarding sports teams. She questioned these changes for change sake that have come about in the sports world. What are your thoughts, do you agree with this shared change?

You must be vaccinated

The NFL has no issue with covid, not the fact football players haven’t been directly affected. For now, there are no Canadian NFL teams, baseball (especially the Royals) have been forced to leave players at home. This of course is due to the covid requirements of Canada, the NBA looking ahead sent out an announcement all players must either be vaccinated or given medical clearance to enter the nation of our northern neighbor. I’m sure someone reading this might say more intrusion by Big Brother. That might not be true in this case, these are the requirements to enter Canada they have nothing to do with policy or mandates in place in this nation. In addition, an NBA player not vaccinated or given medical clearance will be docked their pay for that missed game in Toronto.

Are we starved for news?

It seems almost every other day we read this account. A basketball player active or recently retired will compare their game to an All Pro of the 1950’s or 1960’s. The story is always the same, “I could hold my own” or “I could beat him.” Is it a slow news day or we just starved for basketball news? Why do news sources waste time reporting the story, why am I wasting your time reporting it? There is no effective method for Shaquille O’Neal to face Wilt Chamberlain and claim one player is better than the other.

Despite this fact The Big Aristotle is reported to have stated he could beat Chamberlain. Chamberlain passed in 1999, he would be 86 years old if he were alive today. In another sport several years ago, data was collected and placed in a computer, this was an attempt to determine a winner, even this method was still not concise. This would be much easier, why not compare Dame Lillard (when healthy) to Steph Curry or Luka Doncic against LeBron James? Often an account will be written, and the plan is to never cover it again, this is that promise we hope…LOL.