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Basketball from a fans perspective

The real Street Clothes…it ain’t who you might think

The Lakers Anthony Davis can bestow the title of Street Clothes to Kawhi Leonard of the Clippers. Have you stopped and considered Leonard’s NBA career might be over, I cannot be 100% sure of my statement although I just stated that. Let’s check a few things that have occurred in his past history. As stated previously no matter the sport injuries remain part of the game. Athletes do the best they can to avoid them however they occur, that’s been the history for Leonard for the past few years. I can say supremely talented but limited by his ability to remain on the court for extended periods. This is written the evening of December 1^st; the Clippers have played 25 games; Leonard has seen action in 6 of those games.

In the games played thus far Leonard was on a minutes restriction in addition he was a starter in only 1 of the 6 games. In other competitive sports athletes have returned from injury and the “spark” is no longer there, I’m not referring to the ability or desire. The no longer there refers to the fact the athlete loses some of his or her physical ability to play at the pre-injury level. To compound the issue even further Leonard is now age 31, that’s certainly not elderly however it is an issue. Even non-athletes slow as they age, the stamina plus a degree of ability leaves us it’s a natural part of the aging process. So what occurs for Leonard going forward? He must adjust to the fact he must become accustomed to playing at 80 or 90% rather than the 97 or 98% he once was able to maintain.

Will that be enough to maintain him at the pre-injury level, we cannot make that assessment? Keep in mind this is all speculation on my part, I have no insight into the mind of Kawhi Leonard just some thoughts. I’ve mentioned this previously but decided to close the subject with this. For unknown reasons Anthony Davis has been mentioned as injury prone yet practically nothing is made of Leonard. How about this tidbit of information, although Leonard was drafted one year before AD the Lakers Big Man has played the greater number of games. In closing this opinion, the Clippers cannot advance past the Western Conference finals with Paul George and crew alone. They need a healthy Kawhi Leonard, this the hope of Clipper management.

Does it matter

Do you consider it important what city is able to draft the top pick? I posed the question based on what I’m reading and what is being reported by the broadcast media. “Victor Wembanyama must be drafted by the right team” is the word we continue to hear. Once upon a time it was my belief it didn’t matter where you played just as long as you were drafted. Lew Alcindor was drafted by the Bucks, later at his request he was traded to the Lakers.

I suppose it would have been better if the Knicks had been able to draft him, after all he was a New York City kid. Patrick Ewing although not from New York was a good choice for the Knicks as was Bill Bradley, we could make the same statement for LeBron James in Cleveland. Those picks stand out as good choices for the NBA teams that drafted them. We have read there are concerns regarding Wembanyama if he is chosen by the Kings, Spurs or Jazz. I say it shouldn’t make any difference; television media will sprint there in order to cover him no matter which team manages to draft Wembanyama.

Oh Canada

The headline of course is a reference to the national anthem of our northern neighbor. Recently we discussed the possibility of NBA expansion south across the border to Mexico City. Chances are probably just as good the NBA will return to Canada although it might not be the location most believe, it could be Montreal rather than returning to Vancouver. For you in British Columbia (you didn’t think I knew that did you) is no knock on your city?

There are other factors working that appear to provide Montreal with an advantage. First and foremost…population, the metro population is reported to be close to 4 million souls which greatly exceeds that of Vancouver. Second my study indicates there is a grass roots effort to bring the NBA to a second Canadian city, I’m unsure if a similar situation exists in Vancouver. I realize that’s only two reasons for the league to consider a Canadian venture however that plus capital investors might be enough.

Youth must be served

I cannot date the first time I heard the headline; at the same time the definition might not be the same for all. Based on this fact I searched for a textbook definition, the problem the description only partially fits our discussion. Check this out, the early portion of mock draft sites contain few players over the age of 25. What caused the shift, a bunch of events, the first was the one n done athlete, those players who only enrolled in college because they had NBA aspirations and were prevented from heading directly to the league.

The NBA rule states you must be 19 years of age plus one year from your high school graduation. That’s changed now, the rule preventing entry is still in place other elements have changed. Players can now decide on a pro career and leave college out of the equation. How is this done, we have Overtime Elite, the NBA G-League Elite Team and the National Basketball League in Australia as examples. These additional sources might be a contributing factor to the youth movement. I have no method to back up this supposition but believe this to be true. The number desiring a pro career might not have increased substantially however there are more opportunities that didn’t exist just a few short years ago.