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Basketball from a fans perspective

Chicago NBA history

I held a conversation with a former resident of Chicago, despite being born in the city he was not aware of the city’s NBA history. Richard said he grew up watching the Bulls play even mentioned several names from his childhood. Imagine his surprise when I said, “Chicago’s had more than one NBA team.” He gave me a strange look as if to say are you telling me the truth? Since I was at work during our break period, I located the info on the web however earlier I said, “Don’t just take my word…look it up for yourself.” For your NBA history please note the following, in addition feel free to check me. In 1946 the Chicago Stags came into existence as a member of the Basketball Association of America, the BAA was a predecessor of today’s NBA.

The Stags were in existence from 1946 to 1950, as mentioned previously the NBA of that period was financially unstable. The Stags along with 6 other NBA teams ceased operations in 1950. The NBA would bypass Chicago until 1961. The NBA expanded adding the Chicago Packers to the league, after playing but one year they underwent a name change and became the Zephyrs. By year three the Zephyrs were on the road to a new destination. They would become the Baltimore Bullets who eventually morphed into today’s Washington Wizards. The Bulls also came into the NBA by way of  expansion, the year was 1966. No requirement to detail the history of this last Chicago team its readily available. As you can see Chicago has a rich connection to the NBA beyond that of the Bulls. This could become your trivia question since a resident of the city didn’t know. “How many NBA teams has Chicago had”, I’d bet money if I were a betting person few could name all three.

An Emoni Bates sighting

Securing ESPN+ I’ve made a commitment to see as many Eastern Michigan games as possible. I’m doing this in order to follow Emoni Bates…you remember him don’t you? On Wednesday evening his Eagles faced the Florida International Panthers, an early conclusion for me. EMU is not very good, they had a 1-6 record prior to the game, and it was easy to see why. Numerous turnovers, poor shot selection and the like clearly provided me the proof I needed. As for Bates the first half of the game I saw a number of missed and forced shots. Perhaps with EMU falling behind early maybe he felt the pressure to score.

The second half of the game would be far different, both he and teammates began to play better. Somewhere in the middle of the second half EMU took over the lead and never looked back. It was not only Bates, but guard Noah Farrakhan also a key contributor with 25 points. Bates led the way for EMU in the 80-68 victory, scoring 26 points along with 8 rebounds on 47% shooting. His 3-point shot wasn’t there in this particular game. Despite the shooting I was interested in the “other” things, how did Bates mesh with his teammates, was he a willing passer? Did Bates defer his game at times to teammates? One game fails to make a season or even the possibility of an NBA career. I can say at this point I can see growth in his game.

Wow and double wow

I cannot defend Anthony Davis, or any athlete stuck on the sidelines suffering injury. As I’ve said time and again injuries much as we hate them are part of the game. As for Davis his missing games has caused some to nickname him “Street Clothes.” But wait there is another player with more missed games than Davis, for unknown reasons no one decided to give Kawhi Leonard a nickname. 

This information according to veteran ESPN reporter Brian Windhorst says volumes about Leonard’s lack of availability. “This past Sunday (November 27) Leonard was inactive for the 106^th time in the Clippers last 111^th games.” Normally I refrain from discussions of player salaries, but this case is quite different. Leonard signed a 4-year $176,265,152 contract with an annual payment of $44,066,288. Based on these figures and the limited amount of time Leonard’s spent on the basketball court we could conclude he is vastly overpaid. 

NBA Skyscrapers

We are at a point of debate; we cannot figure out his height. Whose height, that would be Victor Wenbanyama. One report claims the French youngster is 7 foot 3 while another asserts he is 7 foot 4 and a third maintains it’s 7 foot 5. Whatever the case he’s pretty darn tall if he’s just 7 foot 3 but what about the history. There are actually basketball players taller than 7 foot 7 inches, but they must have played in the NBA. In this instance we have two who could lay claim they are the tallest ever (7 foot 7) to play.  George Muresan played for two NBA teams the Bullets/Wizards and the Nets. Muresan from Romania last played in the NBA in 2000, 7 foot 7 and 303 pounds. The late Manute Bol stood 7 foot 7 but a razor thin 200 pounds, he last played in the NBA in 1995. You might not be familiar with the names previously mentioned but Yao Ming should be one you’ve heard.

Yao stood 7 foot 6 weighing 310 pounds, he spent his brief NBA career as a member of the Rockets retiring in 2011. Also with the same 7-foot 6 inch height we have Shawn Bradley drafted by the Sixers but played for several teams before retiring in 2005. Chuck Nevitt was 7 foot 5 and drafted by the Rockets in 1983, Nevitt had a 9-year career retiring in 1994. Next up Ralph Sampson a 7-foot 4 center who was a do it all power forward, Sampson from the University of Virginia had a stellar career until injuries curtailed what might have been an even more brilliant NBA career, Sampson retired in 1992. Kristaps Porzingis is the only active player profiled, he stands 7 foot 3 and is on the roster of the Wizards. Porzingis was drafted by the Knicks in 2015. What you might find interesting other than Yao those profiled had rather modest NBA careers. At the time Wemby arrives in the fall we can place him alongside the other NBA skyscrapers.