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Basketball from a fans perspective

How can your value be calculated

I’m tired and he can’t help it, he in this instance is the Lakers Anthony Davis. I witnessed the play against the Nuggets, it was a smooth move up and around Nikola Jokic’ but that was it. When AD came down, his limp down to the other end of the court on defense was obvious. He was removed from the lineup for the second half of the game, fortunately for the Lakers teammates stepped up and the Lakers registered the win. Sunday evening we received the news, AD would be missing for the next month. It will be at least January 18 before he’s back on the court again and I’ve had it.

The guy cannot seem to remain on the court any length of time. I was a defender when he was given the tag “street clothes”, a reference to his continuous pattern of injuries. My question has become how can his valued be calculated when he is always injured and out of the lineup? Notice nowhere did you read where I stated he wasn’t talented. AD has tremendous Big Man talent but his inability to remain on the court for an extended time is disappointing and mind boggling to this member of Laker Nation. At this point I would have no issue if the Lakers attempted to trade him, the only problem could they locate a trading partner with AD’s injury history?

The record

After the nail biting 68-66 win over UCF I wondered, when was the last time a Mizzou team had a similar record or one exceeding 10-1. My research indicates the 1972-73 Mizzou team playing for the legendary Norm Stewart began the season 10-1 matching this team. The All-Time record is held by the 2011-12 squad which played for former coach Frank Haith. That team comprised of Marcus Denmon, Kim English, Michael Dixon Jr. and several other outstanding players. They would begin the season with 13 consecutive wins, the first loss would occur in January as they lost to K-State.

Mizzou would go on to win four additional games before suffering a second loss against Oklahoma State. That Mizzou team won 30 games (another record) before losing in the NCAA tourney and being upset by Norfolk State. The 2022-23 Mizzou team is built much different from that 2012 team, I don’t believe anyone in Mizzou Nation is expecting a repeat of that 30-win season however we shall see what develops in the competitive SEC and the NCAA tourney should that be in the future. I’ve mentioned previously this new team consist of a bunch of guys who played elsewhere. On the surface this team appears to embrace the role the coach has placed on them, kudos to coach Gates.

Always pleasing to me

Suns guard Chris Paul helped the cause in defeating the Clippers on Thursday evening. Immediately after the game he and family boarded a private plane for an east coast flight to North Carolina. Back in his youth Paul attended and played at Wake Forest, similar to a number of athletes he left school prior to completing his studies. Cross town HBCU Winston-Salem State would become the school to complete his work.

Paul graduated with a degree in Mass Communications some 19 years after beginning his NBA career. These types of stories are always gratifying to me for one simple reason. Paul, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, Vince Carter and others have returned to school to complete their studies for an undergraduate degree. Despite the fact these athletes pursued a successful NBA career they felt the need to complete their education believing in the importance of it. We read and hear so many negative stories regarding athletes and education, it’s always a good thing for us to see there are a number completing the journey.

The NFL interfered

I didn’t realize Eastern Michigan was scheduled to play, besides the fact Chiefs football would have prevented me from seeing the game. The Eastern Michigan Eagles won a tight game 79-77 over Detroit Mercy, Emoni Bates was tied for team high in points with Tyson Acuff they scored 19 points apiece. The balance of numbers registered by Bates were good, he shot 42% from the floor and 50% from the 3pt line, also in the number was 6 rebounds along with 2 steals. I’m unsure if this was mentioned the last time, Bates is now listed as 6 foot 10 and is recorded as a guard/forward on the EMU roster.

Facts

The hire of Jacque Vaughn by the Nets was a significant event, more than half of the 30 head coaches in the NBA are black, Erick Spoelstra of the Heat is Filipino-American. It’s not just the NBA we can look at coaches in Division I college basketball. The figures represent the 2021-22 season, and I discovered this information. The number was 358 total and of that number 110 were black and they hold coaching positions from coast to coast. In addition I discovered black head coaches at the University of Maine and the University of Montana two states with small black populations.

How about the nations favorite sport the NFL? The number of black head coaches in the NFL stands at 3, you remember the story, don’t you? The league set up the Rooney Rule to ensure a coaching search was fair and concise. You might ask about college football, there are 13 black coaches in NCAA FBS programs out of 131 college teams. This shouldn’t be considered an attack on the NFL, college football or Major League Baseball however these sports could do a better job in their hiring practices especially since black athletes make up the majority of most rosters with maybe baseball being the exception.