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Basketball from a fans perspective

Where does he go?

There was a great deal of talk at the beginning of the season about teams tanking. Losing games on purpose in order to improve their lottery position, this would ensure an opportunity to draft Victor Wembanyama. I read a few weeks ago and posted it, the French youngster indicated there was no preference. He said whoever drafted him it would be okay, that sounds nice but it’s not quite how I see it. There are good NBA destinations, there are some average and some poor. In this instance with the amount of wealth a rookie earns you can certainly be comfortable anywhere.

It’s how the team is positioned currently and into the future rather than the locale is the most important feature as I see it. With that said here goes, the three best destinations for Wembanyama are with the Spurs, Pistons or Blazers. Wherever Wembanyama lands he will be expected to lead but I believe his NBA growth will work best in one of those three cities. If for some reason Wembanyama winds up in a destination other than mentioned he will still be okay. Gregg Popovich, Dwane Casey and Chauncey Billups have the basketball moxie to aid Wembanyama’s NBA adjustment. In addition I believe they have the ability to continue building a competitive team around him. My intended hope was to not offend fans in the cities I failed to name, it appears to me those NBA teams are not yet ready.

Ice water

It’s possible SDSU’s Lamont Butler has ice water in his veins, on the other hand it could be confidence. He took what turned out to be the winning shot over FAU when the clock read 1.7 seconds remaining. Not only that he could have called a timeout to set up the shot. The winning shot required no review, the horn sounded and the backboard light came on while the ball was in the air. Butler only scored 9 points but the last two proved crucial in the win, SDSU 72 FAU 71. SDSU and fans can celebrate while they wait to compete against UConn for the NCAA Championship on Monday night, as for this game it had everything you might want. Lead changes, dynamic shooting and what a dramatic ending.

The nightcap

Miami attempted a run at UConn but that’s about it, I believe at one point they may have whittled the lead down to 9 points. From that stage on it seemed every time Miami was to make a run UConn had an answer. Miami sinks a three-point basket and UConn would score two, often the scoring would be the other way around. Although I’m emphasis is on the scoring it was more than that aspect alone, UConn played exceptional defense. They managed to hold Miami to 32.2% shooting from the floor while they shot almost 50% themselves. UConn was led in scoring by 6 foot 9 Adama Sanogo with 21 points and 10 rebounds, also guard Jordan Hawkins contributed 13 points. The one area Miami managed to beat UConn was on the free throw line, they were 100% versus 53.3%. The final score read UConn 72 Miami 59.

NBA Draft

I've always maintained with the exception of a few there are far too many NBA draft declarations to mention them all. Besides the fact, the folks who get paid can update you sooner than I can with my blog. Despite that fact there are always a few potential noteworthy NBA players to cover, Markquis Nowell from K-State was profiled recently. Gradey Dick 6-foot 8 205-pound shooting guard from Kansas announced he would be entering the NBA Draft. When discussing Nowell I stated there is no guarantee he is drafted, as for Dick that's a different story. This former McDonald's All American played his high school basketball at Sunrise Christian Academy in Wichita and then Kansas for his freshman year

In September of 2022 his name was known but not a single NBA Mock Draft site (I read) projected him any higher than a second-round draft choice. Once the season began for Kansas, we discovered Dick was a lights-out shooter especially from deep. Similar to most freshman players his game slowed a bit after the middle of January. Despite the downward trend in his game there was an upward one in the mock draft sites. Gradey Dick will be a lottery pick, which team will draft the Wichita native remains an unknown for now. June 22 count on Commissioner Adam Silver to announce, "With the _______pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, the _____________select Gradey Dick from the University of Kansas."