Basketball from a fans perspective

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Drama versus Docudrama

You might remember late spring or early summer I trashed “Winning Time: the rise of the Lakers dynasty.” Not only was it me but several former players and members of the Lakers staff took issue with the HBO program. Jerry West went so far as to sue the producers of the creation. Magic Johnson one of those we heard complain about Winning Time announced there would be a forthcoming television production giving us “his side” of the Showtime era. It’s here, the anti-Winning Time drama would be titled “Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers,” it would be available on the streaming service Hulu. In early August Hulu presented Legacy, so far, I haven’t seen the firestorm the earlier production created.

I don’t subscribe to Hulu so I was forced to delay my viewing until I could see it at a friend’s home. I was able to see the first two episodes and found it so much more refreshing the Winning Time. Former Laker players were interviewed, members of the Buss family, Laker staff and even Paul Westhead who was fired as Laker coach. My thought after seeing the first two episodes how interesting listening to them describe Dr. Buss and hear Magic discuss his relationship to the late Dr. Buss. My conclusion, Legacy is much superior to Winning Time. The Legacy docudrama is in a different realm from the Winning Time drama and the reason is obvious. In one instance we have a writer taking liberty with the history versus the history discussed by the participant(s).

Bits n Pieces 

The league will kick off its 75^th Anniversary season on October 18. In action that evening will be the Sixers visiting the Celtics, game time is 6:30 p.m. Central. The nightcap has the defending champion Warriors serving as host for the Lakers, start time for the late game is 9:00 p.m. Central. 

You read or heard the story on television or in print, since his death Bill Russell’s number has been retired. In my account I noted several players currently wear the number. A story on ESPN’s NBA page features a photo of the Bulls Alex Caruso (6) guarding Laker LeBron James (6), you are aware players currently wearing that number will be “grandfathered.” As for the future this is what occurs, once a player retires, or should he change teams the number can no longer be issued. The only reason this is being written is prompted by the headline story on the sites NBA page, it’s titled “Who will be the last player to wear number 6?” My question to you is this really that important in the big picture of NBA events?

Udonis Haslem of the Heat will soon join some pretty exclusive company. The 42-year-old power forward signed a one-year contract and will complete 20 years as a member of the Heat. There have been only two other players with 20 years with the same franchise, they are Kobe Bryant Lakers and Dirk Nowitzki Mavs. Just in case you might have wondered I did some quick research; Vince Carter likely holds the record. He played in the NBA 22 years, of course all of years were not spent with the same team. Carter played for 8 NBA in his time. Robert Parrish, Kevin Willis, and Kevin Garnett all played 21 years but like Carter they appeared in more than one teams jersey.

Our focus has been on son Bronny James for a number of reasons. First off Bronny is the oldest offspring of LeBron and Savannah James and two he’s headed off to college graduating in the Class of 2023. We should also pay attention to “little” brother Bryce, he’s only little in age not size. He is reported to stand 6 foot 6 in height a full 3 inches taller than Bronny. In any event the 15-year-old Bryce received his first scholarship offer and it’s from Duquesne University.   

You can’t do that!

LeBron James is wrong, so too is Shaquille O’Neal and we can include the late Kobe Bryant. In all three instances the players named gave themselves nicknames. The unwritten rule for nicknames claims you cannot give yourself one, it must be given to you by someone. LeBron became The King, Shaq anointed himself Superman and Kobe became The Black Mamba. To my knowledge in all three instances the players provided us the name and we just followed suit. Nothing like some of the names of the past, there was Big Shot Rob. That was a reference to Robert Horry who always seemed to hit crucial and winning shots. Earlier there was Big Game James Worthy, the speedy Worthy almost always rose to the occasion when the game was on the line or in doubt. Vinnie Johnson’s role was like that of Horry, he would come off the Pistons bench providing instant offense hence Microwave became his call sign. 

His birth name was Ervin, when a Lansing writer saw his skill on the court with a basketball hung Magic on him, from that point on his name simply became Magic. If I were a wagering person, I suppose many might believe Magic is actually the name on his birth certificate. Wilt Chamberlain was The Dipper or Wilt the Stilt, Julius Erving became The Doctor because it was said, “Watch how he operates” on the basketball court. Gary Payton’s propensity for defense cause him to be nicknamed The Glove, we suppose Hakeem Olajuwon became The Dream because it rhymed with his first name. We had Pete Maravich who was tagged Pistol Pete due to his prolific shooting from the floor. There were others, Allen Iverson given the nickname The Answer and George “Ice Man” Gervin because shooting the basketball Gervin was cold as ice shooting the ball under pressure. It appears as we move further into the 21^st Century nicknames like dinosaurs have become a thing of the past, it seems fewer and fewer players and the media have concluded an athlete needs a nickname.