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Basketball from a fans perspective

A new team for him

By now you are aware Nick Nurse late of the Raptors has been hired to replace the fired Doc Rivers. How about that fact a nurse replaces the doctor who was in charge, just a bad joke on my part but let’s explore the hire a little further. Nurse played his college ball at Northern Iowa, from 1989-2013 he served as assistant or head coach at a large number of stops throughout the basketball world. In 2013 Nurse was hired as an assistant coach by the NBA Raptors and in 2018 he became head coach.

In 2019 his Raptors were NBA Champions and from that point on his team traveled a somewhat uneven road. The Raptors finished the 2023 season with a .500 (41-41) record which resulted in Nurse being fired. Nurse certainly is a proven NBA coach but can he succeed were Doc Rivers fell short with these Sixers? That is an unanswered question which will remain until the end of the 2023-24 NBA season. Nurse joins Mike Budenholzer formerly of the Bucks, both men with recent NBA Championships on their resume yet they were terminated.

Not wanted

This evening two NBA teams, Heat and Nuggets will begin the series to determine the 2023 NBA Championship. Despite the fact both defeated higher seeded teams this is not what the ABC Network wanted. Now to someone unfamiliar with my writing the first thought “This guy is nuts.” This is no slam at either of these teams but the network wanted a different matchup. Who did the network want, my guess is a Laker-Celtics series, Warriors-Celtics or Bucks-Warriors.

From a market or viewership standpoint neither team is close to the above-named teams previously mentioned and would command a much smaller television audience. Despite what I just wrote, the 2023 NBA Finals tonight the best team will win it all. In this instance I will attempt once again to provide you with an answer in advance. The winner will be the Nuggets, it will probably be 4 games to 2 or 4 games to 1. The Heat could win after all they have turned out to be a worthy competitor however, I don’t believe that will occur.

Transfer portal

I have a friend who loves the transfer portal, it’s his belief a coach is recruiting a player accustomed to playing the college game. They don’t often make the same mistakes as a fuzzy faced freshman walking onto the floor for the first time. That freshman is often playing before 10-15,000 rabid fans after playing in front of perhaps as many as 1,500 in a high school gym. All that is true but what about the downside, we have a portal guy who knows how to play the game at this level but…you only have him for one maybe two years.

That high school player (unless he is outstanding) is liable to be enrolled for up to 3 years, maybe 4. One other factor to consider is that incoming freshman is pledged to the coach from the beginning. This is unlike a portal player, as an example I read of an athlete who will begin play this fall for his 3^rd coach in 4 years of college play. So you decide which prospect is better for a program, I happen to believe both can be valuable depending on the coach and the basketball. Mizzou’s Dennis Gates and staff are out currently scouting 2024 high school prospects. The best college basketball roster could contain a mixture of transfer portal and high school talent, on the other hand I could be wrong.

Is that the mark of a champion?

The Suns eliminated in the Western Conference playoff cost Monty Williams his job. The Suns roster contains Kevin Durant who’s won an NBA Championship and Chris Paul who’s failed thus far. So once again Paul failed to be measured for a ring? At age 39 (May) the clock has speeded up, 2023 might have be his last opportunity for a ring. A number of All-Time greats have left the game over the years minus a championship. In some instances there are outstanding players who were on bad teams, teams with bad coaches or something else denying Paul and others from a championship.

Is it fair, is a championship the only barometer of measurement to determine a players success or lack thereof? We could run a list of players, some in the Naismith and College Hall of Fame without a championship to their name. Most visible might be TNT analyst Charles Barkley, Barkley was an outstanding player in his time who failed to win it all. The great Elgin Baylor of the Lakers might be at the top of our list along with Allen Iverson, John Stockton, Patrick Ewing and others. So the question is posed once again, is winning an NBA Championship the mark of true success in the NBA?

Looking ahead

I have mentioned a friend who believes in the transfer portal. He claims its better than high school kids because portal players are acquainted with college basketball, they arrive ready to contribute immediately. On the other hand freshman must adjust to college play. My friend is correct, however recruiting high school talent is still a priority. After checking a number of pre-season polls and seeing Mizzou missing, I thought I’d check a few recruiting sites.

Because these sites are not associated with the school, I believed it was paramount to discover what they supposed Mizzou’s 2023 recruiting compared to other programs across the nation. With that, here goes, rivals.com claims Mizzou has the 33^rd best recruiting class in the nation. Another site, 247Sports.com, places them at number 25 while On3.com also has Mizzou at 33. What does this exercise divulge to us, I can say absolutely nothing. For the first time in quite a while it appears Mizzou is actively attempting to recruit talent.

Future NBA prospects?

Matas Buzelis is a 6-foot 9-inch small forward, he’s from New Hampshire but plays at Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas. Buzelis was a highly thought of prospect in the Class of 2024. His name was on the prospective list of several college programs across the nation. For Buzelis it wouldn’t be college rather it would be a pro career, he’s signing with G-Team Elite and will begin play in the fall. He plans on his next stop being an NBA team, here I offer the disclaimer. Buzelis is one of those prospects we become familiar with all due to the hype surrounding them, that is the case here. If that appears negative that is not the intent, I’m just unsure of his possible impact with G-League Team Elite or perhaps an NBA team.

Ron Holland is a 6-foot 8-inch power forward from the elite Duncanville (TX) team. This 5-star Class of 2023 prospect was committed to Texas but changed his mind apparently with the firing of Chris Beard.  Holland de-committed intending to play elsewhere. That elsewhere was reported to be Arkansas, a Duncanville teammate is enrolled at the school. Holland might have thought Arkansas at a point but that’s not where he is headed. On Wednesday came news he intends to play for the NBA G-League Team Elite. There is no assurance this story is the final outcome although that is believed to be the case

I’m going to close this out with an introduction to some, his name is Thierry Serge Darlan. Darlan is a 6-foot 7-inch point guard, not that unusual. He’s also not American, that remains not uncommon. What distinguishes him from others he’s a guard from the Central African Republic? Consider this fact, we’ve witnessed a wealth of NBA talent emerge from the African continent but up to this point its been strictly Big Men. You know the names, Hakeem Olajuwon, Joel Embiid, Dikembe Mutombo and so forth and so on. Darlan hopes to become the first guard from the continent to earn a position in the NBA. Darlan is an alumnus of NBA Africa and he too is headed for NBA G-League Elite.