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Basketball from a fans perspective

Boy, he certainly would help

I’ve stated this in the past, I hate to discuss players who are yet to commit to Mizzou. I’m going to violate my own rule because I’d love to see this guy in Black and Gold. His name again is Jamarion Sharp and he played at Western Kentucky, Sharp recently entered the transfer portal but there’s more. At 7 foot 5 he was the tallest NCAA player this past season eclipsing Purdue’s Zach Edey by an inch. At the free-throw line Sharp suffers from the Chamberlain/Shaq ailment shooting .500. Sharp’s .628 from the field is a little misleading because he doesn’t have much of an offensive game, he only averaged 7.5 points a game.

You might ask the question why are you pining for this guy based on what you’ve reported thus far? It’s the other things Sharp does, his 131 block shots a game led the nation in that category. In addition he can rebound the ball, averaging nearly 8 rebounds a game. Although he didn’t win the honor Sharp’s name was placed on the list of NCAA Defensive Player of the Year for 2023. Finally this might be of interest to a few of you. Sharp’s father stands 6 foot 9 inches and his mom 6 foot 5, his response, “I didn’t have no choice but to be 7’5.” One last note, Sharp’s coach at John C. Logan college is now a member of Dennis Gates staff. Kyle Smithpeters was hired by the university at Gates recommendation last spring, my hope Sharp re-joins his first college coach.

Free-throw

Rick Barry was one of the all-time best free-throw shooters in the NBA. He would say there is no excuse for being a poor free throw shooter, no one is guarding you while you take the shot. Rick shot his free-throws underhanded a method most probably find objectionable. One of the all-time greats, Wilt Chamberlain scored over 31,000 points during his illustrious NBA career. A lesser number of points were registered at the free throw line as he was a career .511 from the line. Shaquille O’Neal when questioned about his poor shooting would say, “I make it when they count” which was more talk than fact. O’Neal was a little better than Chamberlain at .527 from the line. Throughout the history of the association there have been a number of notoriously poor free throw shooters.

This I believe, there is no excuse for any basketball player shooting less than 75% from the line. Over the years there seems to be a common theme, generally a larger proportion of Big Men tend to be worst from the line than most wing or guards. I have a couple of examples to place before you that might counter the Big Man argument. Jack Sikma, the 6-foot 11-inch Sikma was nearly 85% from the line during his 14-year NBA career. The Mavs Dirk Nowitzki might be an even better example, the 7-foot 245-pound Nowitzki managed a .879 for his time in the NBA. Below are several all-time greats in that area, it should be of note that two of the five best free throw shooters in NBA history are currently active players. You can see in years pass up to the present day there are a number of players you just didn’t foul. They were going to the line and rarely do they miss.   

Steph Curry 90.87%

Steve Nash 90.47%

Mark Price 90.39%

Dame Lillard 89.52%

Rick Barry 89.3%

The Kyrie Irving effect

If you thought this would be a trash Kyrie Irving rant you’ve got to find it elsewhere. I suppose you are looking at the Mavs as a playoff contender to possibly miss the playoffs as this is written. From my view the negatives I’ve attributed to him in the past have nothing to do with his on the court persona. You can check out the numbers since he’s been a member of the Mavs…they have been good. The won-loss record of the Mavs instead of remaining in Drive is now in Reverse but it’s not totally Irving’s fault. We can point a finger in a single direction, that would be owner Mark Cuban. He alone signed off on a trade which sent the Mavs best defenders to the Nets, that alone provides us a portion of the reason why.

This is actually the second key mistake made by Cuban over the last year. I have no method to see the $$$ offered but Cuban allowed Jalen Brunson to leave rather than pay him. Knicks fans love Cuban for this move, they acquired a talented player without giving up a roster member. Mavs fans probably hate it based on the direction the Mavs have traveled thus far. There is one more culprit in this picture, his name is Luka Doncic. I know what you are saying, “He dares to criticize The Don?” Yes, I am, as talented as number 77 is there are aspects of his game that could be or rather should be blended much better. What will occur in the future, do the Mavs sign pending free-agent Irving to a 5-year contract or do they allow him to walk? There are unconfirmed reports indicating Cuban is ready to sign Irving so we shall see what prevails.   

Facts

There is no reason for me to defend John Calipari, rest assured Kentucky is not going to fire him. If anything were to occur its likely to be of his choosing, where am I headed with this? Local radio talking head made several statements which I say, “What are the facts?” Radio guy claims Kentucky is not winning “because John Calipari only recruits NBA players.” There is no doubt a great number of NBA players have come through Lexington but were they recruited as claimed by this talking head strictly for their NBA prowess? His favorite coach Bill Self won the NCAA Championship in 2022, prior to that it was 2008. I refuse to look at Big XII Championships as the mark in this instance, let’s check out his program at Kansas. Just recently Gradey Dick announced he was leaving for the NBA after one season.

Apparently, Dick believes he’s ready for the NBA and there is no argument from me. Jaylen Wilson is also exiting for the NBA although technically he’s played three seasons. Let’s check out just a few others, Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid left in 2014 for the NBA after a single season at Kansas but so did Kelly Oubre Jr. the following year. Earlier we could make the same statement regarding Ben McLemore who also decided in favor of the NBA in 2013. The Morris twins Markieff and Marcus played for three years in a Kansas jersey but also absconded for the NBA in 2011, at this point I’m going to stop. Finally if NBA talent was all Calipari was recruiting, I would think they would be better than their contemporaries. I could challenge the radio guy with these facts just cited, in my view he’s way off base. It would appear Self’s had a collection of talent that’s left early for the NBA too, is Self just recruiting NBA talent radio guy? What's the topic of discussion, winning championships, it was 14 years between championships for Self.