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Basketball from a fans perspective

Topsy turvy

Early NBA returns are certainly nothing like we expected. The Celtics and the Bucks appear to be the only consistent teams on December 14^th. Both teams have 20 or more victories at this point in the season. As for the others, it’s strictly topsy turvy. I’d bet large sums of money on this if I were a betting person. I could probably find NO ONE at the start of the season willing to state the Pelicans and Grizzlies would be leading the Western Conference on this date.

Both the Pelicans and Grizzlies have 18 wins and their play to date has been outstanding. The road has been bumpy for the defending champion Warriors, we had no idea they would be sitting at .500. The Jazz and Cavs after beginning the season en fuego have settled and probably at the level most expected. With Kawhi Leonard basically absent the Clippers have underwhelmed thus far, we could make the same statement about the Suns, as for my Lakers that remains a work in process. I have no idea what the playoff picture will be in April, this has been a strange unusual 1/3 of the season for me.   

It’s baseball, not basketball

The Royals owner John Sherman held a public forum discussing the planned downtown stadium. I didn’t attend however I heard nothing reported by the media to cause me excitement. It appeared (notice the wording) there was more concern voiced about downtown locations over who pays. If you’ve read this blog any length of time you are aware of the concern on my part. I checked November 22 video on Intuit Dome in Los Angeles prior to writing this. Construction is progressing unfortunately I don’t own the video so I cannot share with you what I saw. I checked all recent NBA additions and discovered this information. These arenas were built with a mix of private and public funding, they include Barclays (2012) in Brooklyn, Little Caesars (2017) in Detroit and Fiserv in Milwaukee (2018).

Chase Center in San Francisco opened in 2019, it was constructed with private funding alone. The planned new home of the Clippers the Intuit Dome in Inglewood scheduled for completion in 2024 is also privately financed. As for Kansas City, I might have missed it however nowhere in the conference was there any mention of who pays. Before someone comes to the wrong conclusion allow me to state I’m not opposed to a new baseball stadium my objection is how its funded. Being a realist I understand construction of a basketball arena is certainly more economical than a baseball or football stadium. In the instance locally it appears we are more concerned about the where or the who. Who pays is certainly a more important consideration for me over where a stadium might be built. Just the thoughts of a guy who might have to pay. There are social issues which have not been discussed here, that’s for another time and for more detail.

My thoughts

The other day I held a conversation with a friend, I informed him I don't hold grudges. On second thought there are exceptions, remember the "55"? I stated that was the number of reasons I never wanted to play KU in basketball ever. The figure was exaggerated on my part, but I do have a reason. Rutgers University in NJ had a longtime rival change conferences. The two schools immediately began to schedule a home and home series in order to continue their rivalry. In 2012 I made the mistake of suggesting a similar scenario to a card-carrying member of Jayhawk Nation.

His response, "If Missouri got into the NCAA Tournament more often, they might have a chance to play KU” as he smiled at me. Yes, I do hold grudges, not against those who play for the school, it's the others. The “others” include the KU coach as well, Bill Self appears to hold a grudge too. For years he flat out refused to schedule Mizzou, his success on the basketball court allows him to wield a great deal of power within the KU Athletic Department. I don’t know if it was a time heal for Self or a change in the administration at KU and Mizzou the Border Showdown was renewed again. The other problem for me is KC media performing a great service. They have often forced me to look toward St. Louis first or Columbia (MO) for coverage of Mizzou athletics.

New names

Despite the passage of time we continue to marvel at the play of Wilton Felton Chamberlain. The NBA is changing the names on its trophy’s that honor those individuals of the past and that includes this giant. The first trophy name change we discuss is for Rookie of the Year, it will become the Wilt Chamberlain Rookie of the Year award. Why is Wilt’s name attached to this trophy, well it might have something to do with his impact on the game his first year in the league.

In the 1959-60 NBA it consisted of only 8-teams, despite this fact the numbers produced by Chamberlain have never been approached by any NBA rookie. Check these, 37.6 points, 27 rebounds 46.1% field goals, 46.4 mpg each and every game. The field goal percentage is not special however the other stats certainly are. Did you notice there are no block shot totals, there is a starting point. The NBA did not begin tracking blocked shots until the 1973-74 season, Chamberlain retired the year previously. At the end of the 2022-23 NBA season the league will announce the first Wilt Chamberlain Rookie of the Year winner.