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Basketball from a fans perspective

It matters not where you start, it’s more important where you end 

Dennis Gates at Mizzou and Jerome Tang at K-State share a common trait. Both were hired in the same year and they certainly tasted success in their first season. I’ve covered Gates how about a bit of coverage on Tang. Similar to 98% of you I’d never heard of Jerome Tang until K-State hired him last spring. Let’s check out some stuff about him, stuff I believe you’d find interesting. He was born in the Caribbean Island nation of Trinidad and Tobago 56 years ago.

His parents moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands when he was 10 and from there to Texas. From all indications Tang never played the sport but after graduating college became head coach at Heritage Christian Academy in Cleveland Texas. He went from high school coach at Heritage to Baylor when Scott Drew hired him in 2003 as an assistant, Tang would become associate head coach of the Baylor program in 2017. March 1, 2022, he was named head coach of K-State replacing Bruce Weber. Now we all know where Jerome Tang’s been in the past, where he’s headed…the sky is the limit.

The top NBA teams 

In this instance we are not discussing standings or even playoff position of the teams. We are examining their net worth, how about a Top 10 list of NBA franchises. The list is compiled based on data provided by Sportico’s total valuations. As for the team in the number one position it’s a surprise to me and you, this team replaces the Knicks. Keep in mind there is a B representing billions in net worth after each of the franchises listed.

Golden State Warriors $7.56  

New York Knicks $6.58

Los Angeles Lakers $6.44

Chicago Bulls $4.09

Boston Celtics $3.92

Brooklyn Nets $3.86

Los Angeles Clippers $3.73

Toronto Raptors $3.34

Houston Rockets $3.3

Dallas Mavs $3.26

It was reported earlier Michael Jordan intends to sell his majority portion of the Hornets. MJ would retain shares in the team but would reduce his partnership role. Although the amount he owns and its value is unclear let’s check out a few things. MJ purchased his share for $245 million and according to Sportico the Hornets net worth is $1.77 billion. Exactly how much he’d clear on any sale is unknown however we could state MJ will remain a rich man. We can easily conclude this is an age when only those with deep pockets can afford to own an NBA team. Back in 1983 the Kansas City Kings franchise was purchased by Sacramento interests and moved. The reported sell price for the team back then was $10.5 million, even more interesting there are always deep pocketed individuals ready to purchase NBA teams.  

A bunch of moving parts

That’s what I’ve got to title this story because of all the suspects. We have the Pete Maravich scoring record, we also have Antoine Davis Detroit Mercy guard. The other moving parts are the 14-19 record Detroit Mercy registered in 2022-23 and Jaeson Maravich eldest son of Pete. The last moving part is the College Basketball Invitational which is a “pay to play” post-season tournament. Now for the balance of the story, Davis is upset because he didn’t have the opportunity to break the Maravich record coming up 4 points short. In addition he’s annoyed for another reason, he claims the tournament received letters persuading them to not invite Detroit Mercy.

Detroit Mercy with a losing record the question should be why they would be invited anyway, just to see Davis break a record which would be tainted in my view. Jaeson Maravich stated there was no argument against Davis he is upset the tournament would even consider inviting Detroit Mercy. Just for the record let’s check the numbers again. The late Pete Maravich scored 3,667 points in three seasons while enrolled at LSU, freshmen were ineligible at that time he played. As for Davis he scored 3,664 points in five seasons at Detroit Mercy, he like others was granted an extra year due to covid. Maravich had no three-point line since it wasn’t added until 1986, Maravich concluded play in 1970 at LSU. Davis was the beneficiary of scoring additional points due to this rule change. I said it at the time and will say it again IF the record had been broken it would have been blemished anyway.

Can he play

Once upon a time the only consideration for the NBA “Can he play the game.” The NBA grew because of this, quality players from HBCU schools arrived by the dozens in the ‘50’s, 60’s and into the ‘70’s. Who were they, Sam Jones of the Celtics who played at North Carolina College (now University). Then we had Earl “The Pearl” Monroe of the Bullets and Knicks, he came into the NBA from Winston-Salem State. We add Willis Reed from Grambling to the list, those names are just three of the tidal wave from HBCU institutions. There would be others, the schools themselves might not be small in student enrollment however they generally were not considered prime territory for finding NBA talent.

We could begin with Larry Bird Indiana State, Steve Nash Santa Clara, Scottie Pippen Central Arkansas or George Gervin Eastern Michigan. Steph Curry might be the best pure shooter in a generation, he played at Davidson. We had “The Chief”, Robert Parrish at Centenary College (now University), he was a key contributor to the success of the Celtics during the Bird era. How about Jack Sikma who played at NAIA Illinois Wesleyan or Rik Smits from Marist College in upstate New York. We could include the late Bill Russell in our account since he attended the University of San Francisco. Some might consider Elgin Baylor (6 foot 5) the most prolific rebounder for his size in NBA history, Baylor played at Seattle University. This is only a thumbnail look at a number of outstanding talent that played at smaller schools and in some instances schools that were not considered prime territory for producing NBA talent.