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Basketball from a fans perspective

Who is he 

He’s not scored a single basket nor pulled down any rebounds. He’s been the key force in the turnaround of this team. I’m speaking of Jacque Vaughn who move quickly from interim to head coach of the Nets. You might remember the team moved from Steve Nash to Vaughn this past November. Since Vaughn’s taken over the Nets are 23-8, despite this I cannot give all the credit to the new coach. The mercurial Kyrie Irving and the drama surrounding him finally quelled and it has shown on the basketball court.

In addition Kevin Durant continued to play as he had all season at a high skill level. Although his numbers remain on the low side even Ben Simmons has provided contributions to the improved play of the Nets. I remain unsure if they advance out of the east with the Celtics, Sixers, Bucks plus the Cavs to out perform. Keep in mind the Nets won’t be forced to play all four in the playoffs but it’s likely they could face at least two. I hope Nets Nation doesn’t believe this playoff hesitation indicates a surrender on my part, far from it. This Nets team just might surprise me and a bunch of other folks.

There are names 

Texas is soon to move from the Big XII to the SEC, as written on Thursday they need a basketball coach. Chris Beard, who is a talented coach, was fired due to a domestic issue involving his fiancé. Interim Rodney Terry is highly unlikely to be announced as head coach unless lightning strikes. If Terry is able to accomplish the goal of a Chris Beard, then he’s hired permanently. Let’s peer into the future and check out who’s out there. Kentucky’s John Calipari was the first name mentioned as a possible replacement. I have serious doubts if that would occur, elements in the Big Blue Nation are upset with Kentucky basketball but I don’t believe the university would fire him.

On the other hand I would have no idea if Calipari would decide to leave on his own. At the age of 77 would Mike Jarvis want to return as a head coach. His 439-win record speaks volumes on his ability as a coach. Darrin Horn might be the least known of the names, presently he’s serving as head coach at Northern Kentucky. His present stop is number three as a head coach. Seth Greenberg is sitting comfortably in the studio at ESPN as an analyst. Would he leave this cushy job for the cauldron of coaching again? This is concluded with the name of Ben Howland, his extensive resume details 533 wins and only 306 losses for a sparkling .635%. I realize this effort might appear premature however Texas administrators should begin considering a list of potential hires. Who knows, it could be someone I haven’t taken into consideration.

The Big O

Most of this generation might only be familiar with Oscar Robertson due to Russell Westbrook. The connection of course is the triple-double the Big O was the first to have initiated. As you are aware the very talented Westbrook duplicated the record established earlier by Robertson, he managed to extend the triple-double record into a new realm. Westbrook aside let’s check out the bio of Oscar Robertson. Robertson was born in Tennessee but grew up in Indianapolis where his basketball prowess began.  In his sophomore year of high school, Crispus Attucks lost the state championship to Milan High School the school featured in the movie Hoosiers. As a junior Attucks would finish the season 31-1 winning the state championship in 1955.

We skip ahead and discover Robertson is enrolled at the University of Cincinnati. He was three-time UPI College Player of the Year, that and numerous other awards he would earn while playing at the university. In 1960 Robertson was made a territorial pick by the Cincinnati Royals (Kings). Sidebar, the NBA up till 1966 allowed a team to choose a player to aid in growing a team’s fan base. From Wikipedia, “Before the draft, a team could forfeit its first-round draft pick and then select any player from within a 50-mile (80 km) radius of its home arena. As a result of the territorial picks being selected before the draft, these picks were not factored into the overall selection count of the draft; therefore, the first non-territorial pick of the draft was considered the first overall pick.” In the end we’d see Robertson enshrined in three Halls of Fame, the Naismith, FIBA and College Basketball. Oscar Robertson, the Big O…he was the first architect of the triple double not Russell Westbrook.

Emoni Bates in the NBA

This is written from a fans perspective with a portion provided by a single scout. Emoni Bates is headed for the NBA in June 2023, the question becomes where? Most mock drafts project him as a late first round or second round selection. Bates has grown an inch and now measures 6 foot 10 inches in height, he’s a slim 190 pounds. His sleight frame also screams loudly he must play at the shooting guard position, and I make that statement for one reason. The 250-pound LeBron James who plays power forward, can you imagine Bates attempting to guard LeBron? Shooting, Bates is not a great shooter but a good one…he’s got a 3pt game as well. The desire might be there, but his body says he will have difficulty contesting for loose balls off the backboard or the floor for that matter. Defense, this is the area that might make for the most concern.

Check out this November assessment by a scout, “Struggles with defense mainly because of his either neutral or negative wingspan and his slight frame.” Whenever I read or hear something along those lines, I remember the statement regarding Laker great Magic Johnson. It was said he was not a great defender however he played good team defense. The main part of playing defense is attitude of course, Bates has got to “want it.” Free throw shooting, this is an area requiring continued improvement, last season it was 65% and so far at EMU he’s 72%. Bates at a minimum should be 75% from the line. Attitude, the one area I cannot crunch numbers, to say it and do it are too different things. Is Bates willing to sacrifice portions of his game for the sake of the team…that remains an unknown at this point? Perhaps a portion of this has to do with the early hype Bates received back in high school. He’s got to place the Gatorade Player of the Year and all that other stuff behind him if he desires to make it in the NBA.