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Basketball from a fans perspective

See him at a high skill level

You can agree or not with my take, a local sports guy said, “The Lakers have two HOF players on the roster, AD and LeBron.” I mentioned this to a co-worker and this was his response. “I can see LeBron definitely but I would question AD.” There was no requirement on my part to disagree, the statement was not made by me. Second to that I have a huge threshold in my mind that qualifies one for the Naismith Hall of Fame. As for AD the talent and ability are certainly much in evidence, his game on Sunday was outstanding. I’ve seen games where he scored more points, the same could be said for rebounding the ball. The combination of stuff is what impresses me the most, especially the 7 blocked shots…the 3 steals could be added to his defensive effort.

Shooting .588 from the floor on a wide variety of shots the Grizzlies were forced to double-team him at times during the game. Everyone has an Achilles Heel and for AD it’s quite obvious it’s injuries. When healthy he’s offered us proof why he is among the best in the NBA, however the legion of fans remain unconvinced of his talent. Jokes have been made about his durability; AD picked up the nickname “Street Clothes” because he’s spent so much time on the injury list. What I find most interesting across the hall at Crypto.com Arena no one is making jokes about Kawhi Leonard. In closing is AD HOF worthy, you become the judge? I checked out on this one because of my past, another co-worker once asked me, “Is Dennis Rodman going in the HOF?” My response was a swift NO which proved me incorrect a few years later.

Emoni Bates sighting

I must admit I’ve become obsessed with Emoni Bates; I’ve followed this youngsters progress since he was a high school sophomore at Lincoln High School in Ypsilanti Michigan. I believed the hype got to me early due to him being named High School Gatorade Player of the Year as a sophomore. The next few years would witness a number of questionable moves made by his father. Just in case you may have forgotten, the father pulled his son from public school to a charter school he founded.

That was the first questionable move, the second declassifying allowing Emoni to enroll in college as a 17-year-old. He committed to Michigan State and later decided it would be Memphis and Penny Hardaway. I’m unsure what to consider Bates commitment to Memphis, it began on solid footing he was in the starting lineup. At some point in his freshman year Bates was moved to the bench, the explanation is unclear at this point. For the first time in his life Bates became a reserve player and by the middle portion of his freshman year an injury would sideline him for the balance of the season. We can certainly state his start at the college level was underwhelming, it was no surprise when Bates decided to transfer. He would return home and enroll at Eastern Michigan for his sophomore year and that became another miss. It was a miss because the basketball program was not good.

Bates had a good sophomore year but it was difficult to determine if he raised his level of play due to Eastern Michigan being such a poor team. We are now at mock draft time, most list Bates as a mid to late second round choice. One mock site projected Bates as pick number 28 in the first round, as this is written there’s been no declaration of his intention. Based on his youth (and the team) I believe he really needs another season of play to enhance his game that much further, hopefully both occur. He remains and helps Eastern Michigan improve the program and his game as well.

This actually occurred in an NBA game

Just when you think you might have heard it all you hear (or read of) one more thing. While researching for my blog I came across this bit of NBA trivia. Eric Money (1974-1980) played for both teams in the same NBA game…you say that’s impossible. You are correct however this is how it occurred; we must travel back in time to November 8, 1978. Richie Powers game official had given three technical to a Nets player and three to the coach. The rules were no different at that time and the two resulted in expulsion.

The techs might have allowed the Sixers to shoot extra free-throws, final score Sixers 123 Nets 117, or was it? The Nets filed a protest with the league office and they were in agreement, an officiating error had occurred. Money was in the lineup for the Nets in that November game but in between time had been traded to the Sixers. The commissioner ruled the 3^rd and 4^th quarter would be replayed and this occurred March 23, 1979. If you check box scores for both games you will note as a starter Money scored 23 points for the Nets, in the protest game as a reserve for the Sixers it was Money with 15 points. The NBA is Fantastic.

Part II

This account is partially based on a radio interview I heard with Gary Parrish CBS Sports and one of the local radio guys. Parrish made a statement which I found quite interesting; he is enthusiastic about the Transfer Portal. He said, “Instead of 3 freshman and a transfer coaches want one freshman and 4 transfers.” That represents the opinion of Parrish and certainly doesn’t reflect all college coaches, he also mentioned the NIL now plays a part in an athletes decision making, he used Duke’s Kyle Filipowski as an example. Many thought the stretch 4 Filipowski might be headed for the NBA. Parrish says guys like him “Might have returned based on the money he will earn due to NIL.

In his Way too early Top 25 plus 1 he places heavy emphasis on the growth of SEC basketball and the downward trend of the Big XII. In fact this is a direct quote, “We could see the SEC number one in football and basketball.” He went on to mention his belief the quality coaches at work at the conference have been the contributing factor. This part I found interesting and funny at the same time; Parrish added John Calipari’s name to the list of quality coaches, you might remember this is the same radio guy who claimed, “Calipari only recruits NBA talent.” You can check out Parrish’s Top 25 plus one if you care, I’ve mentioned this previously Parrish is one of those in the media who talks and I listen.