Basketball from a fans perspective

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The oldest son of…

LeBron James “Bronny” is beginning his senior at Sierra Canyon HS in Los Angeles. 247Sports awards the 6-foot 3 combo guard 4-stars which makes for a question. Dad LeBron has made it known on more than one occasion he wants to play in the NBA with his sons which includes 15-year-old 6-foot 6-inch Bryce. I certainly have no intent to provide a scouting report on Bronny it is a fact there are so many options now that didn’t exist for his father. LeBron James was able to leave high school for the NBA which is not an option for Bronny currently. Despite that fact Bronny cannot play immediately from high school he can decide to go in more than a few directions not available to his father in 2003.

That might not have been the term used at the time, but One n Done was open to dad as it is with the oldest son. Will Bronny become a one n done athlete, on the other hand he could decide to go with Overtime Elite which by the way requires no high school diploma. Just in case you wondered the league provides its players the opportunity to finish while playing. He can also choose the path of LaMelo Ball and head for Australia and play in the NBL. It’s also possible for Bronny to decide to go with G-League Team Elite. As you can see despite the fact high school players can no longer be drafted the path to the NBA is quite different now. Incidentally with NIL in full effect an athlete today can be financially compensated in whatever direction they should chose. Which direction do we suppose Bronny is headed, with so many opportunities it’s difficult to say?  

Must have been a slow news day

The NBA season is upon us, with that a .com website featured “5 NBA coaches on the hot seat.” On the surface the story might read like others except two of the coaches they identified, Darvin Ham of the Lakers and Nate McMillan Hawks coach hardly seem like targets to me. As an example Ham signed a 4-year contract when hired this past summer, the bar is set high in Los Angeles unless the team is 0-82 the coach retains his job.

Okay that might be an exaggeration, but the Lakers are hardly going to fire him without giving him time to implement his program. For Nate McMillan it might be just a tad bit different. The Hawks lost in the first round however they did earn a playoff berth as they had done McMillan’s first season at the helm. I try and never say never because almost anything might occur and sometimes it does. As for one or both of these coaches being on the hot seat, I seriously doubt it. As I said, must have been a slow news day to write that story.

My Classmate will appreciate this

During his time in the NBA Wilt Chamberlain had an outstanding career as most of us are aware. The 1966-67 season might have been his best all-around. There were seasons he averaged more points; and those he averaged more rebounds but this one was probably the best all-around check out the numbers Chamberlain averaged per game that season:

24.1 points  

24.2 rebounds

7.8 assists

68.3 FG percentage

Not only that, but Chamberlain also played an average of 45.5 minutes a game and registered 22 triple-doubles. Wait for it…wait for it, you might question “what the heck are we waiting for?” The first person to say, “There weren’t that many NBA teams back then” (there were 10). The NBA of the period had more than plumbers and fireman playing on a nightly basis. Hope each of you enjoyed this brief look at Chamberlain especially my classmate Jerome.

All are overpaid in my view

As much as I love NBA basketball, I hate debates on pay to players. ClutchSports.com featured four players and asked the question. “Hot Take: Overpaid or Underpaid” was the title. Featured was Blazer Anfernee Simon, the Heat’s Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole of the Warriors all recent contract signees. Each earns a great salary for playing a game they first begin in their youth. From that point we begin a dialogue on first responders, law enforcement, emergency health, fire fighters. I’m not going to stop there we could include educators responsible for schooling our offspring,

Our children and young adults are in their hands of educators 6-7 hours 5 days a week. Rather than ask the question of these NBA players how about those who labor in a variety of manners protecting and educating us. Reading this you might surmise I have a problem with athletes earning large sums of money. That is far from the case, I hope they can earn as much as possible during a career. What I desire is to not be forced into a corner where I must debate whether an athlete is overpaid or underpaid. They are entertainers pure and simple; they provide us a diversion from our rather ordinary life.