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Basketball from a fans perspective

Is Lonzo Ball’s career over?

Once NBA players begin suffering injuries lasting season long their basketball career sometimes becomes in jeopardy. A number of players have been sidelined for a season and have been able to return, they appear to not lose any effectiveness, the question might be is this truly the case? I could cite Derrick Rose and Kawhi Leonard as examples that first come to mind. Without offering you any proof it’s my belief they are never able to play at the level they did prior to injury. We now have load management in place throughout the NBA, we can debate whether it actually benefited Kawhi Leonard. The latest player for us to check is the Bulls Lonzo Ball.

The Bulls announced recently that Ball will miss the 2023-24 season and we are in June. An announcement this early on Ball in my non-medical mind indicates this is very serious and just might be career ending. I’ve read that some are pointing to the Big Baller brand shoes Lonzo wore early in his NBA career. The shoes could be the problem however there is no method to substantiate this as fact. In addition we saw Zion Williamson while at Duke “blow out” a Nike brand shoe. Rest assured there are probably those out there who believe the continuing injury problems for Williamson are related to his choice of shoes. This is really too bad for Ball we believe he wants to be on the basketball court and that just might never occur again.

How tall       

It doesn’t matter if Victor Wembanyama stands 7 foot 4 or 7 foot 5 he will not become the tallest player in NBA history. There are two former players who exceed him, Gheorghe Muresan and the late Manute Bol. Both of them were measured at 7 foot 7 inches, Shawn Bradley and Yao Ming stood 7 foot 6 while Chuck Nevitt was listed at 7 foot 5. NBA records indicate the late Mark Eaton, Rik Smits and Ralph Sampson all were 7 foot 4. Also in the group is current NBA player Boban Marjanovic, you might have noticed he’s got several other pursuits besides basketball. Have you seen the 7 foot 4 Marjanovic in his villain role in John Wick 3?

How about the Marjanovic television commercials for State Farm Insurance and Goldfish Crackers. Before closing this I’m going to point to a YouTube video I located. An individual claiming to be a medical professional made a claim I found unbelievable. This doctor asserted Wemby will be injured this upcoming season, with diagrams and the sort he details leg and foot problems suffered by taller athletes. Without any medical or professional training I believe each of us realizes the risk of playing professional basketball. Doesn’t matter if you are 7 foot 4 or 6 foot 4 the injury factor is always present. To me it certainly appears to be a reach to decide in advance if someone will suffer an injury prior to sitting foot on an NBA court.

Why did it take so long?

The Tennessee A&I (now Tennessee State) Tigers won 3 consecutive NAIA championships; this series of landmark events changed college basketball history. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletic tournament was won by Tennessee A&I in 1957, 1958 and 1959. I’d written previously that the dominance of UCLA basketball had most fans thinking John Wooden’s Bruin teams accomplished the task first. The Tiger team is now enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame thanks largely to the efforts of a single former player. Dick Barnett played on those teams and had a prominent NBA career, he would become the driving force as he campaigned tirelessly for the team to be honored.

We might ask the question why did it take so long? Several circumstances could have been contributing factors, the first snootiness. The NAIA comprised of mostly smaller enrollment schools never had the prestige of the much larger NCAA institutions, that might be at the top of the list. The second reason might be racism, some might find that difficult to believe based on the inclusiveness of basketball but 57 years elapsed between 1959 and 2019. Tennessee A&I beating a bunch of white schools in basketball might have been difficult to deal with during the height of the civil rights movement of the ‘50’s and ‘60’s. The College Basketball Hall of Fame should be the next institution to enshrine Tennessee A&I after all the three championships were won just a few blocks from the Hall at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City. In addition Dick Barnett is now 86-years old, it’s time for millennials or Gen Z to assume this cause.

Free agents

Our view was obscured by the NBA playoffs and eventual championship round. From there it was the NBA draft, we had an inkling free agency was approaching however it wasn’t in the forefront. I can’t speak for you but free agency was in the back of my mind. Suddenly we are here, Friday June 30 free agency begins for a host of players. A significant number of these players are unrestricted free agent while others are restricted.

The number is far too extensive to detail all of them but I do have a question. Should we suppose all the number might be moving on to new teams? There are a few who might have overpriced themselves despite their desire. Dennis Schroeder left the Lakers the first time due to this issue. Schroeder didn’t receive the offer he felt was due him and later discovered his value was not that high. He would later sign with the Celtics for nearly the same amount of money the Lakers were paying him. Below are just a few of the unrestricted free agents including one Dennis Schroeder.

Russell Westbrook

Kyrie Irving

Draymond Green

Derrick Rose

Brook Lopez

Robin Lopez

Dennis Schroeder