Basketball from a fans perspective

Published Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday

Speculation

The sale of the Suns will not be accomplished quickly. Based on the $1.5 billion-$2.5 billion reported sale price who affords the team, better yet who wants to become an owner? Let’s return to the past for a couple of story’s. This is baseball but at the time former owner David Glass announced his intention to sell the Royals puzzled looks abounded, who wants to purchase the team? Turns out most of us in the Kansas City Metro had no idea who John Sherman was let alone the fact he lived in the metro. We could also look at Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, because of his association with Microsoft Ballmer had a well-known name unlike that of Sherman. Still in all both men stepped out from behind the curtain indicating a desire to become owner of a sports franchise. Back to the Suns a moment, there is no requirement for ownership to be local although it might be a good thing.

Look at the example we cited earlier Ballmer most likely still lives in the Seattle metro where his former business Microsoft was located. There are billionaires with enough capital to own a sports franchise by themselves but sometimes that is unnecessary. Often, we see many franchises throughout the sports world with minority shareholders. Entertainer Jay-Z once owned a share of the Nets, another performer Usher might still own a piece of the Cavs. This ownership issue applies to former players too, Penny Hardaway owns a portion of the Grizzlies. Chances are likely the purchaser of the Suns will be an unknown name to most of us, in closing allow me to toss out the name Oprah Winfrey. She and a partner attempted to purchase the Clippers when the team was placed on the market. After the dollar figure reached a certain level she and the partner dropped out. Could the Suns be of interest to this media mogul?

Is his career over?

Lonzo Ball is in trouble, my comment is based on the recent statement he issued to the media. Check this out, “I really can’t run. I can’t run or jump. There’s like a range from like 30 to 60 degrees when my knee is bent that I have like no force, and I can’t catch myself.” That sounds possible career ending to me what about you? The injury suffered was a meniscus tear on his left knee, he underwent surgery in January 2022 and was expected to be out 6-8 weeks.

In April Ball was ruled out for the balance of the season after experiencing pain during rehab. We are in October and not only is he not ready to play based on his comment it’s highly unlikely he will soon appear. Considering this is a second surgery on Lonzo is a cause for concern although Bulls management indicates they are optimistic. I’m always bothered when an athlete loses his career due to injury and that might be the case for Lonzo Ball. On the other hand, never say never, hopefully he can return to the court even if it’s in the middle of the season.

ESPN

Other than watching the sporting event (basketball, football or baseball) I no longer watch ESPN programming. That might sound confusing allow me to explain I almost never watch SportsCenter any longer or programs focused on the sport. I’ve discovered I can gain the information I need from other sources. I’ve read some of your letters and a number of you claim the Worldwide Leader has become too political but that’s not what caused me to become an occasional viewer. It’s the other things and the latest includes former employee Rachel Nichols. She’s now working for the Showtime Network, prior to that she hosted a number of ESPN programs on the NBA and was a sideline reporter for a spell.

Nichols was fired by the network in an unsavory manner in my view. Nichols claims she was “miked up” in her hotel room with a feed to the Bristol Connecticut headquarters. She made comments which were derogatory toward a former employee. The engineer realizing Nichols wasn’t aware she had a hot mike continued, when she reached a point the person(s) begin recording her comments. Yes, we might not agree with what she said but according to Nichols ESPN held onto the tape for one year. She claims they released it to the media and from there the firestorm began. Nichols was fired or her contract was not renewed based on the conversation recorded on the tape. Employers have the right to terminate any employee at any time however it’s the method done in this instance. If they wanted Nichols gone why hold on this tape for nearly a year, they could have fired her at any point?

She’s worn several hats

When reading the bio of Stephanie Ready it says coach, sports analyst and television personality. We can check each of the “hats” one by one…coach. She played basketball and volleyball at Coppin State in Baltimore and graduated cum laude with a degree in psychology. She immediately was hired as volleyball coach after graduation and from there it was an assistant coach for the men’s team at Coppin State. Ready then moved to the G-League becoming an assistant coach for several years.

After the G-League Ready moved into the television side of her career. First as a sideline reporter for the Bobcats (Hornets) and during the WNBA playoffs. Ready was named analyst for Fox Sports Carolina thus becoming the first full time female analyst. In 2018 Ready moved to Turner Sports where she can be found on the NBA on TNT. Ready also serves as one of the studio hosts on NBA TV. A brief look at Stephanie Ready who certainly has continued to move upward in the world of sports television broadcasting. 

The judicial court over the basketball court

By now most are wondering what occurred to Emoni Bates. This once time projected generational player will await a favorable outcome in a court of law before he can return to a more familiar court. Even if the court outcome favors him what about school? Could a code of conduct violation ground him at Eastern Michigan. You read or heard a routine traffic stop by the police revealed a gun and one with altered markings. Bates claimed the vehicle was not his, it was borrowed from a friend. Despite this fact Bates was arrested, later he posted bond and exited jail but there is a further story here which we’ll attempt to uncover. Did we betray Bates; I don’t mean individually but collectively? We read the projections of writers, scouts and others as they promoted the youngster. The hype was nationwide, Gatorade Player of the Year and other accolades awarded him.

It wasn’t just us it was his dad as well who would become a contributing factor. There was no practical reason for the father to remove his son from the public high school and begin Yspi Academy. Bates decided to re-classify and graduate high school early, Bates said it was Michigan State and then changed his mind it would be Memphis. His initial beginning at Memphis was good although it would crater later. It was reported poor work ethic and then an injury sidelined him for portions of his freshman season. When the season was over, he announced his intention to leave Memphis. Bates would return home to Michigan and decide to cast his fate with Eastern Michigan University. That brings us up to date prior to the traffic stop and arrest. This is not intended to be a gloom and doom report, all is not lost and there is no intent on my part to paint that type of picture. Bates is young and has time to make changes in his attitude and life choices.