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Basketball from a fans perspective

The record or a record

It was stated ages ago, “Records are made to be broken” which often occurs. They are set and then someone comes along and breaks it. In baseball last summer and early fall we waited in anticipation to see Yankee Aaron Judge break the American League home run record. Years ago when Wilt Chamberlain set the NBA’s all-time scoring record of 31,419 points few believed anyone would come close to that total. A number of years later Kareem Abdul Jabbar would break the Chamberlain record.

Abdul Jabbar’s record total would make it virtually impossible for anyone to approach it. What I find most interesting since the Chamberlain total, we’ve had five players exceed the 31,419-point total including LeBron James. Sometime in the not-too-distant future a new record will come into fruition. The unbreakable figure of 38,387 set by Kareem Abdul Jabbar will be surpassed by LeBron James. There will be no time limit placed on the contemporary number someone, maybe yet to be born will exceed the record established by LeBron James. As mentioned at the beginning of this account records are made to be broken.

One of these is not like the other  

The Thomas Bryant-Anthony Davis comparison goes like this. Both are 6 foot 10 inches; AD has a few pounds more 254 to Bryant’s 248. AD arrived in the NBA as a lottery draft pick, Bryant almost missed having been drafted in the second round. This is where the comparison ends, think about this a moment. One guy (AD) prefers a position other than center, the other (TB) desires to be on the floor period. Don’t get the wrong impression Davis has played center this season although that’s not his favorite. The injury to Davis has been a blessing in disguise.

The injury has allowed coach Ham to move TB into the starting lineup and boy has it been beneficial to the Lakers. We have seen the stepped-up play of LeBron, Westbrook plus other teammates…somewhat hidden is the effort of TB. As I indicated earlier no one is going to confuse him with Laker centers of the past i.e. Wilt, Kareem and Shaq. He’s good at pick and roll basketball and TB is scoring nearly 13 points a game. There are three portions of his game that bode well for him field goal percentage (.685), 3pt shooting (.467) and free-throw shooting (.721). He’s managed to convince LeBron what the future lineup of the Lakers should be once AD returns.

Bryant at center, AD at power forward and LeBron at small forward. It’s clear by now much of Laker Nation is not pleased with AD at this time. Of course this has nothing to do with his talent it’s the injury bug which hovers over him. My hope is each player is pleased with their role on the team, in this age an NBA coach cannot be a dictator. Based on the last statement it’s my belief TB belongs in the role of a starter regardless of AD’s spacing issues. The two should work out together to iron out any issues, this lineup I believe is a winning one.

“You play to win the game…Hello? You play to win the game”

I borrowed the quote of former Jets head coach Herm Edwards. I did this because I believe it so applies to this account. Mizzou and Kansas State replaced their head basketball coaches, the season would see Dennis Gates and Jerome Tang hired to righten the ship. Allow me to briefly discuss the media’s outlook on these two programs in October prior to the start. The SEC is a 14-member conference, it was the belief by many Mizzou would finish the season in the 11 slot. Mizzou would only finish ahead of Vanderbilt, Georgia and South Carolina. These media folks picked Kentucky to be the top team in the SEC. Circle back a moment, Mizzou won a hard-fought match against Vanderbilt but that was supposed to occur. Were they expected to beat Kentucky convincingly, I think not? Across the state line in Manhattan Kansas the fate of Kansas State basketball was projected even worse.

The media picked them to finish 12 or last in the conference race, Baylor was projected number one. K-State managed to beat Baylor on their home court this past Saturday. This is written January 8, there is a great deal more basketball to be played. Despite the fact both Mizzou and K-State are near the top of their respective conferences we might not find them there at the end of the season. The point of this exercise is simple, Dennis Gates and Jerome Tang have injected enthusiasm into basketball programs that were stuck in the mud. Both coaches must prove over the long haul they have IT, the ability to recruit and coach winning basketball. Based on what I’ve seen to date I’d have a great deal of difficulty believing they can’t complete the task at hand. If Mizzou and K-State continue at their present pace I could foresee Dennis Gates and Jerome Tang sharing Coach of the Year honors.

I can’t believe I’m writing this, on the other hand

This is for Americans and those in the International community. The game was invented by a Canadian who made his way to the U.S., it was perfected here and raised to an even higher scale. The game moved across the ocean and around the world. Other than football (soccer here) it’s the second most popular sport in the world. I read a tweet which boggles my mind, “It’s ridiculous how much disrespect international players get in the NBA.” I thought for a moment who is writing this, and have they taken time to check out the NBA in the last few years? What did he mean disrespect, not getting a foul called or is it something else? It certainly can’t be league MVP; The Joker has won it two years in a row.

Giannis Antetokounmpo won the NBA MVP the two years previous to that and how could we omit Luka The Don, Luka Doncic. Now back up…way back to an earlier period. There was a time international players were not close to the skill level of most American players, NBA teams found them lacking an ingredient different for each athlete. There might be someone else but I’m going to give credit to the late Drazen Petrovic from Croatia who “cracked” open the door. Euro players had arrived on these shores before him, but he might have been the first to play at a high skill level. It’s no telling what heights the 6-foot 6-inch guard might have reached if he hadn’t died tragically at the age of 28 in a 1993 automobile accident in Germany. We could also include Hakeem Olajuwon, Dirk Nowitzki and Pau Gasol, the first two are in the Naismith Hall of Fame while Gasol’s been nominated for the Class of 2023.