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Basketball from a fans perspective

Suppose the NBA might be better

After writing such a glowing report on Emoni Bates yesterday I decided to clarify aspects of my account. I hope no one reading my justification for his performance might believe I was making a claim Bates was on the road to an NBA All Pro career. This is the fact as I see it, there have been several players over the years who turned out to be better NBA players than college. I’ve read and heard NBA scouts and front office folks say this, “__________ will be a better NBA player than college, he won’t have to contend with the junk defenses intended to slow him down.” In addition Bates must have impressed someone besides this writer, the NBA Summer League second team contains his name.

How to build an NBA Championship team

I have absolutely no idea how to build an NBA champion however I can share with you what I believe is required. There are two schools of thought on this process, the first, we build our team by trading for talent or free agent signing. The second group says our championship team will be constructed through the draft. The OKC Thunder belong to the second group, I have not checked the figure but trust the information. According to bleacherreport.com the Thunder have 35 draft picks over the next 7 years. Consider this a moment, there are only 30 draft picks in each round. The Thunder might be able to choose every player in the first round and into the second round concluding with number 35.

The question for now, how exactly are they going to manage this plethora of draft choices. One of my complaints about my Lakers in the past is that they have done an excellent job drafting talent however it’s not been infused into their lineup. Most of those drafted have been traded to acquire veteran talent. I believe this to be correct, the Thunder as this is written are the youngest average age team in the NBA. They have been quite shrewd in drafting talent however the process must end at some point. I believe the 2023-24 season they must begin to show progress, they must earn a playoff berth and move into the power ranks of the NBA. The primary reason there is no one answer is simple. We’ve seen failures for teams utilizing both methods to build a championship contender.

He was caught in the scandal too   

You might remember the Connie Hawkins story I covered recently, he was banned from playing in the NBA due to a 1960 college betting scandal. There were other players impacted by this stain on college basketball, one of these was Roger Brown. Brown, unlike Hawkins, was exceptionally good but apparently didn’t have the creed of Hawkins coming out of high school. He was another New York City basketball talent and also from the Brooklyn borough. Just like Hawkins there was nothing pointing to Brown shaving any points, similar to Hawkins he was acquainted with the gambling ringleader. The University of Dayton banned Brown from play and the NBA would later follow suit. The 6-foot 5 Brown would continue to play basketball around the Dayton area until 1967.

That season would see him become the first player the Indiana Pacers would sign. Over the course of his ABA career playing for several teams he was an ABA champion three times, Brown was 1970 ABA Playoffs MVP. The date is unclear however unlike Hawkins he never played in the NBA although the league relinquished its ban. Brown retired in 1975 and several years later served as an assistant coach for the Pacers. He would later serve on the Indianapolis City-County Council for four years, in 1996 he was diagnosed with colon cancer and died the following year. In February 2013 the Naismith Hall of Fame’s ABA committee recommended him for induction, September witnessed him being enshrined posthumously. As for the lifetime ban by the NBA for Hawkins, Brown and others I’m unsure if such a miscarriage of justice would occur now. Surely there must have been proof of involvement rather than simply being an acquaintance of someone, the 1960 scandal will be covered later.

How many, that many?

You might remember our discussion on the number of Division I basketball programs across the nation. Well that level of basketball receives the most coverage however the sport is played at other levels too. There is NCAA Division II and III plus NAIA schools, have you ever wondered about the number, maybe you haven’t but I certainly have? If you remember we discovered there are 351 Division I schools, in Division II the total is 312 and Division III is 418. For the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletic or NAIA schools their members total 230.

Together the number of colleges and universities with basketball programs total 1,311. One school stands out for its uniqueness, Simon Fraser University in Burnaby B.C. Canada holds an NAIA affiliation, Burnaby sits next door to Vancouver. There are other Canadian colleges and universities fielding competitive basketball teams but Simon Fraser is the only non-U.S. school. Allow a bit of clarification at this point, colleges and universities in Hawaii plus the University of the Virgin Islands and San Juan University in Puerto Rico also are included in the U.S. count although they are not connected to the geographical United States.

The Wemby factor

Will Victor Wembanyama become a superstar in the NBA, I haven’t a clue? Can we guarantee Wemby will have a modicum of basketball success at this level, I haven’t a clue? This is my intent in the middle of summer, I’m going to wait until the season begins to even attempt a half-hearted assessment of Wemby’s skill level. This is a cautionary tale for one reason alone, we just don’t know. The Pistons made Darko Milicic the second pick in the first round of the 2003 NBA draft, he stood 7 feet and 250 pounds. NBA star written all over him except that wasn’t the case. In 2013 we thought Anthony Bennett was going to be the face of the year for the Cavs, but we discovered that would not be the case.

In 2019 the Pelicans made Zion Williamson top pick in the draft we thought “he’d be a superstar.” Unlike Bennett who just couldn’t play at the NBA level, a series of injuries have managed to keep Williamson off the court for an extended period of his NBA career. The jury is still out on Williamson he’s only 23 years old, he still has time however its believed Pelicans management has become concerned. Back to Wemby, the hype machine has been running overtime since his Metropolitans 92 team played G-League Elite in the fall of 2022. He clearly demonstrated he was talented however that was not the best of the best NBA players Wemby faced despite his domination. I’ve read some of your letters and a few of you desire a guarantee of future stardom for Wemby and there is no way that can occur. Truth is I could be 2-3 years before we are able to fully determine his ability.