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Basketball from a fans perspective

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Yes, another reference to the 1966 Western Classic starring Clint Eastwood. Of course this version is set in the west, but it involves Lakers rather than cowboys as it’s subject. The Good, this new lineup including LeBron played the Pelicans on Wednesday evening. I realize the Pelicans are a good team but let’s be real, they are not an elite NBA team. Truth is with the exception of LeBron and AD this was not the Laker team of last October. They shot the ball with precision and played tough hard-nosed defense on the Pelican leading to a 120-102 victory. The Bad, reports are circulating there is trouble brewing between LeBron and AD…not a good sign if this is true.

The Ugly, you should have figured that out without my help although there might be an A. and B. We begin with A., picking up Patrick Beverley to a team featuring Russell Westbrook is a “oil and water” mixture. There are reports the two were responsible for some of the discourse that existed with the team. The portion of this story most confusing to me, why management decided to trade for a player (Beverley) with an adversarial relationship to another is a head scratcher. B. is AD, last year if you asked me about trading him, I would have screamed loudly NO…NO! I am now taking a different approach to a possible trade, AD despite his talent has been so fragile the last two seasons I’m unsure how valued a player he might be. If the Lakers decide to trade him in the off season, I’d have no issue depending on what the Lakers receive in return.

There are no super teams

Generally by February we are accustomed to seeing a “Super Team” in college basketball. In the past it’s been Kentucky, Kansas, Gonzaga, North Carolina or Duke. The 2022-23 season has seen several teams occupy the top spot at least in the polls. They are number one for a week or so and a rival knocks them off their perch. Who’s spent time at the top, you can lose count if you were to begin. The pre-season polls placed the Tarheels of North Carolina in the number one slot. We are in week 15 and Carolina is not in the Top 25, can you believe that?

By week 7 the Purdue Boilermakers had risen to number one, but they wouldn’t remain either. Week 15 placed Alabama in the top slot however we have an issue there. The Crimson Tide was beaten on Wednesday night by Tennessee. In all likelihood come Monday there will be a new number one team. The point I’m trying to make is simple for the first time in several years we have no super teams. The NCAA Champion in April will probably be decided by the last team standing, at this point that team remains an unknown. It would be foolish on my part to even project a winner even once the NCAA tourney begins, stay tuned for further developments.

Depends on your perspective

As professional sports have added teams over the years the seasons been extended. In this instance the local radio guy is entitled to his opinion but allow me to share it with you. He’s talking to a college basketball media member, this host says “It might be better if the college (or NBA) started after the first of the year. I have been so focused on the Chiefs and their continuing deep playoff runs that I hardly have time for basketball” or similar words. Let’s check some facts regarding his statement, once upon a time the NFL regular season ended around the Christmas date December 25.

The Super Bowl was played in the middle of January, that was then this is now. NFL expansion and added games to the schedule now sees the Super Bowl played in the middle of February. This is what I see wrong with his view, it’s my belief (I could be wrong) college basketball (or NBA) fans are paying attention to their sport. They are only partially affected by the stretched NFL schedule. If we are talking infringement how about the NFL, once upon a time December 25 was exclusively the NBA’s, the NFL now schedules games on that date as well. As I begin this rant, this is a non-issue in some circles. I would like to remind this radio guy from a basketball guy there are no issues however it depends on your perspective.

Is this possible…yes, it is

With LeBron James breaking the NBA’s point total it produced an interesting bit of trivia. Of course LeBron at 38 years of age continues to play, Kareem Abdul Jabbar retired in 1989. LeBron was drafted in 2003, that’s 14 years difference between 1989 and 2003 yet there are former players who have a connection. 7 players competed against Kareem Abdul Jabbar and LeBron James, behind their names are the NBA years:

Reggie Miller 1987-2005

Kevin Willis 1984-2007

Olden Polynice 1986-2006

Horace Grant 1987-2004

Mark Jackson 1987-2004

Avery Johnson 1988-2004

Rod Strickland 1988-2005

The number of games played against Abdul Jabbar or James is unknown without a greater amount of research. As you can see most were in the early stages of their NBA careers and retired one to 7 years after James begin play in the NBA. No need of remembering all the names but I bet you can beat many of your friends with this trivia.

The changed landscape 

College recruiting has totally changed, in this instance I’m going to discuss a few subjects. The first is the transfer portal, players desiring to transfer are no longer required to sit out a semester. A player leaving a program in the spring semester can play for his new team in the fall, that’s a good thing. To detail for you before this rule was changed this represents an actual incident. Two players were transferring to Mizzou one was okay to play in the fall the other was required to sit out the semester.

Despite an appeal the NCAA remained firm in their ruling. Why a transfer was okay in one instance and not in the other was never fully explained. Next, we have Name, Image and Likeness or NIL is now in place across the nation, there are several players earning large sums of money while students, that’s a good thing. The part I find most interesting the naysayers. You heard them didn’t you, “It will ruin the game” is their cry. I say you must arrive there first before deciding it won’t work.