Published Monday thru Friday    

Basketball from a fans perspective

14

After the NBA draft and free agency the Lakers now have a roster containing 13 players. The indication at this stage the coaching staff and management are probably going to acquire an additional roster member, more than likely he will be a Big Man. If that is the case, who might that name be is surely your next question. I’m going to toss out a few names all of which most NBA fans are familiar. The first is 6-foot 11 230-pound Mo Bamba who the Lakers just released, why is he named?

There are reports circulating that Bamba might be willing to return on a contract that is more friendly to the Lakers. Veteran Tristan Thompson (6-9 254 pounds) spent the last two months of the season and playoffs on the Laker roster, he received a few minutes of action. Also available is 6-foot 8 255-pound Bismack Biyombo late of the Suns. With Darvin Ham’s wanting to play a veteran is it possible a rookie might earn the final spot. Colin Castleton from Florida (6-11 250 pounds) earns the number 14 roster spot? There are other Big Men available and the Lakers might choose someone other than those I’ve named.

This story is circulating again

Sometimes we hear or read a story, often it’s not concluded but resurfaces again later. That is the case with this account, here goes. Paul Allen the co-founder of Microsoft and owner of the Blazers died in October 2018. Since that time the team has been operating through his estate with his sister in charge. I would guess the big budget items are her which includes sale of the franchise. It was made known Phil Knight co-founder of Nike had placed a bid to purchase the team but was turned down.

News is circulating once again that Knight wants to acquire the Blazers. We have no idea what might occur this time however there must be an issue. Can we say it certainly cannot be of a financial nature, I checked Knight’s net worth and its reported to be $42.9 billion. The Nike corporation has contracts with a number of NBA players. Is it possible that might be an obstacle to ownership, is that the issue derailing ownership or a subject unknown to the public?

Mizzou schedule

Although it is not yet complete a portion of Mizzou’s schedule has been released. Mizzou will participate in the first SEC-ACC Challenge, Mizzou will play the Pitt Panthers November 28 in Pittsburgh. The game will be available on one of the ESPN family of channels at 6:00 p.m. CST. December 3 Mizzou will play Wichita State and December 9 finds them matched against Kansas, this will be a home game for the Jayhawks.

Also on the schedule without finalized dates include the annual Braggin’ Rights game against Illinois and a game against the Memphis Tigers. Last season under first year coach Dennis Gates the schedule was heavily weighted in favor of Mizzou. This limited schedule release appears tougher than last season but that should be anticipated. Any team presumed to move to the upper echelon of conference or national play must be prepared to face much better competition than in the coach’s first season at the helm. The SEC schedule has also been released but not included in this account.

The Kansas City connection

I’d bet you didn’t realize indirectly Kansas City is responsible for the Nuggets NBA championship. Are you unsure how this might have occurred? That’s okay I’m here to explain the history, this goes back to the American Basketball Association. On February 27, 1967, the ABA was created with 11 franchises with one located in Kansas City. There was difficulty finding adequate dates so in April the franchise moved to Denver where they became the Denver Larks.

That’s where the history begins, the Larks morphed into the Rockets who later turned into the Nuggets as the team changed owners. At the time of the merger most of the failing ABA franchises were folded and the NBA added four teams. What’s interesting is the Nets and Nuggets applied in 1975 to enter the NBA but a court order prohibited them. The Nets, Pacers, Spurs and Nuggets moved into the NBA in 1976 once the merger occurred. So there you have the brief history of the Denver franchise, the Larks, Rockets and finally the NBA champion Nuggets.  

Lighting striking twice

By now you are familiar with the Austin Reaves story but I will repeat it again. Reaves had his agent decline any attempt to draft him instead preferring to “find” his own NBA team, that team would turn out to be the Lakers. In his rookie year Reaves played a reserve role and occasional spot starter, in his second year this trend continued. Late in the 2022-23 season he moved into the starting lineup where he remained throughout the Lakers playoff run.  

The Lakers announced the signing of Colin Castleton to a 2-way contract after the 2023 NBA draft, the 6-foot 11-inch 230-pound Big Man exhibited decent numbers at Florida. The Lakers probably desire to move AD back to his normal power forward position. As a free agent there is no guarantee as you know of Castleton earning a place on the roster. Despite this fact I discovered Castleton has the same agent as Reaves, in addition its reported Castleton also said he didn’t wish to be drafted. Could lighting strike twice for the Lakers, realizing the teams need for a Big Man in the lineup?