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Basketball from a fans perspective

Who is second…or third?

Unless the earth rotates in the opposite direction or the sun rises in the west this will occur tonight. Commissioner Adam Silver will step to the mic and make this announcement. “With the first pick in the 2023 NBA draft the San Antonio Spurs select Victor Wembanyama from Boulogne Metropolitans 92.” Now, that’s out of the way the question becomes who is drafted second or third? Will it be point guard Scoot Henderson of G-League Team Ignite or Brandon Miller wing from the University of Alabama? The balance of the draft at least through the first 15 or so picks might be heavily influenced by which of these players the Hornets choose.

The sites I regularly utilize say this, tankathon.com believes the Hornets will select Henderson. As for nbadraft.net and nbadraftroom.com they indicate the pick will be Miller. As for the second round, all three sites indicate Emoni Bates of Eastern Michigan remaining in the draft and being choice of a team. Of special interest to Mizzou Nation the name Kobe Brown, the three sites are all over the map on Brown, they have him low, middle or near the bottom of the second round. I talked to a friend who follows the NBA, I was surprised when he indicated he’s got no interest in draft. NBA teams acquire talent utilizing other methods but the draft remains exciting for me. Besides my favorite team I remain excited determining where a particular player might land. 

 Part II

And your question might be “Where is Part I,” technically speaking that was game changing athletes published on Tuesday? The basis for the follow up is youth, a 20-something reading my list said, “I’m going to take your word on some of these players because I never heard of them.” Yes that is certainly understandable based on someone’s age. In Part II I will attempt to explain to him and you why each made my list. Beginning with Bill Russell, the NBA always played defense but nobody played it to the skill level of Russell. He was not a great offensive player but he could rebound the ball and play defense. It’s really too bad the NBA didn’t track blocked shots until long after he retired. I’d bet money he must have led the NBA every season of his illustrious career, a game changer. How good must you be when the NBA was forced to widen the lane?

They did that once after Wilt Chamberlain arrived in the league in 1960, Chamberlain once scored 100 points in a game and in another he pulled game he pulled down 55 rebounds. The lane was widen because it was believed Chamberlain had an unfair advantage over the opposition. It was more than simply scoring that made Chamberlain a game changer. A few years later a NYC youngster by the name of Louis Ferdinand Alcindor would emerge from Power Memorial HS and dominate the game. He would journey across the nation to UCLA to play for the legendary John Wooden. Alcindor alone was responsible for the NCAA banning the dunk, it was believed at 7 foot 2 he held an unfair advantage. What made Alcindor who later became Kareem Abdul Jabbar become a game changer? It was referred to as the skyhook, a shot Abdul Jabbar utilized to great results, opposing centers were never able to block the shot. Abdul Jabbar was able to become the NBA’s all-time career leading scorer until this past season when LeBron James broke the record he’d established. Two game changers arrived in the NBA in 1979, one’s team was on the east coast the other on the west coast. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson had dueled one another for the NCAA championship with Magic’s Michigan State team winning. In the NBA they played for two of the NBA’s storied franchises, Bird with the Celtics and Magic with the Lakers. It seemed the NBA championship became a duel between these two teams every year in the early to late ‘90’s.

It was once said, “Who is the only person to hold Michael Jordan below 20 points in a game?” The answer was Dean Smith his coach at North Carolina, once MJ arrived in the NBA it became a whole different ballgame literally. It was said MJ hates to lose at anything golf, cards or basketball. There was team help but MJ was the leader of those 6 championships won by the Bulls, a game changer. LeBron James is the only current active game changer, he’s led the Heat, Cavs and Lakers to NBA championships, just this past season he became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. James is creeping toward retirement but has defied Father Time playing at a high skill level into his late 30’s. So there you have it a very brief description of those athletes I believe caused an evolution in how NBA basketball was played. They were truly the game changers.

I hope

A mock second round pick is never guaranteed to occur, despite that fact this is news. There is tankathon.com which projects Mizzou’s Kobe Brown as pick number 43 by the Blazers. If Brown is drafted by the Blazers what are we looking at might be the question? I would categorize the Blazers as a “tweener”, they are not really terrible but they are not really good either. They have some talent beyond that of Dame Lillard.

We could say Jerami Grant and Jusuf Nurkic add a degree of talent so we shall see if this draft scenario comes into existence. The 6-foot 8 Brown was a key factor in the greater than expect record Mizzou achieved this past season. The bulk of the team had left once Cuonzo Martin was fired, that’s understandable he recruited them. Brown could have walked out the door too but decided to remain, he would become the leader of this revamped Mizzou team. I guess for this reason alone I anticipate he earns a roster spot on an NBA team even if he’s not drafted.