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Basketball from a fans perspective

Cap

The headline is one of the many nicknames of Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Simply stated Cap stood for Captain which he was for those Laker teams in the ‘70’s. For me Cap will remain at the top for me despite his NBA point total being eclipsed, the reason has nothing to do with points or rebounds. A friend Greg sent me an article Abdul Jabbar wrote, it detailed his past and present relationship with Laker LeBron James. I found the account written by Cap insightful and interesting. He’s come a long way from his humble beginnings since his berth in Harlem New York.

I’m Ol Skool, the volume of work on and off the court by LeBron James certainly is noteworthy as it should be. The next portion I intend to discuss has nothing whatsoever to do with athletic ability. For me Cap was always more than a basketball player, he was an author, activist and more plus he will always remain at the top of my list of NBA greats, if I were to place a percentage only half having to do with basketball. I’m not going to attempt to detail the why, I would fill up the page with achievements. You are aware of most so I will leave it at this point. Born Lew Alcindor in 1947 his Muslim conversion saw a name change to Kareem Abdul Jabbar; I will just refer to him as the Cap.

Knoxville

I continue to be confused by fans at times, Texas fans literally ran Rick Barnes out of town when he coached there. He’s not won an NCAA championship since his arrival in Knoxville however his Tennessee teams have always been quite competitive. That’s my concern this afternoon, my Tigers are in Knoxville to play the number 5 or 6 team in the nation depending on which poll you follow. What do I expect, a competitive game and Mizzou wins by at least 5 points.

Road games have seen Mizzou sidetracked, the shooting and defense have been missing for large portions of the games. Looking back at the road losses hitting a few key shots and forcing a larger number of TO’s and it’s a winner rather than a loss. It’s to be expected, if we look at the conference Alabama leads the way with 7 road wins. A&M and Tennessee are 4-3 on the road, all the others are at .500 or below, someone needs to corner Todd Leabo of 810 WHB and explain to him. SEC teams (Mizzou) don’t always win on the road. Perhaps he failed to check Mississippi State and uncovered the fact they beat a good TCU team in the Big XII/SEC Challenge.

I find this interesting

Many reading this blog are aware I’ve been following the progress of Emoni Bates. If you remember as a high school player, he was chosen Gatorade Player of the Year, quite an honor. He’s been headed to the NBA since his sophomore year of high school. There have been several bumps in the road on the way to a possible NBA career. I guess in a sense we could toss out the less than spectacular freshman year at Memphis. He’d reclassified which meant he was a 17-year-old in college, certainly a maturity factor had to be taken into consideration. In addition an injury sidelined him, the next announcement he was transferring. It would be a return to home and Eastern Michigan University, Bates production at EMU has been successful however his team is not particularly good.

I’ve tried to “read” his game as a sophomore since his numbers certainly have shown dramatic improvement over his freshman season. Now 19 and eligible for the NBA draft does he submit his name, or will he wait an additional year? If Bates continues to see his name pop up on mock draft sites, I cannot imagine the 6-foot 10 170-pound wing remaining in school. Keep in mind I’m taking what others produced however they range as high as pick 50 or as low as 21. An athletes name on a mock draft site is no guarantee of anything however I will close with this bit of information. Last October not a single mock site contained Bates name, several list his name although they fail to assign a number. The sites below provided a number behind their pick, we must assume Bate’s shown enough improvement, or these guys are coping after one another. We end this inquiry by asking the question, is he ready for the rigors of NBA play?  

nbadraftroom.com 44    

nbadraft.net 50   

yahoosports.com 33

bleacherreport.com 21

sbnation.com 26

Bells

While conducting research I came across the name Walt Bellamy. There was a plethora of great centers playing during the 1960’s through the 1974 season, for a number of reasons his name is missing among the greats. Bells as he was nicknamed held his own against Russell, Chamberlain young Kareem Abdul Jabbar and others. Let’s check his bio, at the University of Indiana he was a three time All American and 1962 NBA Rookie of the Year.

The 6 foot 11 Bellamy was the anchor for the Chicago Zephyrs who would move to Baltimore and be re-born as the Bullets. From 1970-1974 Bells occupied the center position for the Hawks and performed admirably. He would become a 20,000-point scorer in the NBA and later he was honored by his induction into the Naismith and College Basketball Hall of Fame. The records indicate Bells pulled down 30+ rebounds four times during his career a feat few have been able to accomplish. Check out the scoring and rebound numbers in the spotlighted games.

35 pts and 30 rebounds vs Celtics 1/10/1962

33 pts 30 rebounds vs Lakers 2/4/1962

37 pts 37 rebounds vs Hawks 12/4/1964

30 pts 30 rebounds vs Lakers 2/6/1965

I’m sure some reading this will claim “He did that against an NBA consisting of a smaller number of teams.” Guess what, I’m going to agree with you, but the numbers are still amazing no matter the era, or the competition Bells might have faced. He retired from the NBA in 1974, his later life consisted of work with the NAACP, the Urban League and the YMCA in the Atlanta area. On November 2, 2013, Bellamy died at the age of 74 and is buried in Atlanta’s South-View Cemetery. This is but a brief account of one of the NBA’s greats who somehow has been overlooked in the annals of the history.