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Basketball from a fans perspective

A theory

You’ve read my rantings about inadequate media coverage of Mizzou sports in the Kansas City region, some might believe it’s untrue but it is, the key issue is geography. First a little background, in 1928 Mizzou became a member of the Big Six Conference. Later as schools were added it would become the Big 8 and finally the Big XII, in 2011 Mizzou left for the SEC. All schools in the conference were in the Central Time Zone except for the departed Colorado Buffs.

In addition geography had all Big XII schools connected in one form or another. As long as Mizzou was part of the conference there was a tie in once they departed the connection left with them. This is the example to consider, Kansas shares a border with Missouri, Oklahoma and a smaller portion with Iowa (Iowa State). Oklahoma shares a portion of its border with Texas and it’s Big XII members in the state. In some eyes Missouri has no connection with Auburn in Alabama or Kentucky, the media probably figures their viewers are unconcerned with the happenings with those programs. Of course Kansas and Bill Self don’t escape completely.

The KC market contains a number of journalist who graduated from Kansas University, they continue to place their school in the forefront of media coverage in this market. Finally with the most recent expansion by the Big XII there will now be a presence in the Eastern and Rocky Mountain Time Zones (UCF & Brigham Young). This move is unlikely to change the media coverage in Kansas City. In closing keep in mind this is pure speculation on my part, just a theory which cannot be validated. NOTE: After this account was written the administration for the University of Colorado decided in favor of a return to the Big XII. In addition reports exist UConn and Arizona are reported to be exploring a move to the Big XII. 

“The land down under”

I’m sure some of you are familiar with the term, “The land down under.” It’s applied to the Australian continent because it lies in the southern hemisphere which is interesting. Without checking a world globe I believe most of the African continent also lies in the southern hemisphere too. Back to the story at hand, there are reports up to 17 Australian players will begin arriving in the NBA over the next four years. The disclaimer of course is a percentage of that number might choose to remain in Australia in the NBL. It’s likely when discussing Australia the first names that come to mind are Hornets point guard LaMelo Ball combo guard Josh Giddy with the Thunder. 

Perhaps it might be Ben Simmons with the Nets or Joe Ingles Magic and Patty Mills of the Hawks and others to consider. Despite the fact we are familiar with Ball and Giddy neither was close to being the first NBL players in the NBA. We must return to 1991 to discover the first player from Australia to play here, that would be Luc Longley drafted by the Wolves. Although he played for other NBA teams his play with the MJ Bulls certainly was one of the keys to their NBA championship success. Others would follow Longley such as Andrew Bogut, Aaron Baynes, and Matthew Dellavedova. Several have played outstanding while others had only average NBA careers.

As for our account here it should be noted that a number of the reported 17 are not all native born in the manner of Giddy and others. A percentage of talent arrived in Australia from other nations to compete professionally. The names below should not be considered the only NBA prospects, those listed play in the NBL. There are another number of Australians who play basketball at American colleges and universities, after an internet search I was unable to locate a number for you. Can we just state the number of Australians is probably greater than we maybe realize.  

Ariel Hukporti 7-foot 250-pound center – Melbourne United (Germany)

AJ Johnson 6-foot 5 160 guard – Illawarra Hawks (USA)

Bobi Klintman 6 foot 10 225 forward – Cairns Taipans (Sweden)

Mantas Rubstavicius 6-foot 7 185 guard – New Zealand Breakers (Lithuania)

Alexandre Sarr 7-foot 1 205 center – Perth Wildcats

Taran Armstrong 6-foot 6 190 guard – Cairns Taipans

David Okwera 7-foot 251 forward – Perth Wildcats  

I unsure it this was covered previously

My research department is limited to one individual (me), I’m unsure if this was covered previously. If it’s already been reported skip reading it. We’ve discussed NBA expansion in this blog and the fact Seattle and Las Vegas appear to be the most viable candidates. Seattle has the “new” Climate Pledge Arena for the new Sonics to begin play when expansion comes about, what about Las Vegas? For this purpose the long-range plan is up for discussion.

Here’s what we read, Tim Leiweke whose Oak View Group was principally responsible for Climate Pledge Arena is moving from that project onto Las Vegas. I mentioned this on one of my social media sites and was questioned on it. There is no guarantee this project moves from the talking stage to the first shovel full of dirt is turned over. This is the surface proposal, a 20,000-seat arena exclusively for the NBA team. In addition a casino and resort will be adjacent and all this is projected at $10 billion. Leiweke claims, “On this arena, I’m not asking you for any money,” Leiweke explained during a Q&A session. We’re not going before the state, We’re not going before the county. We will go build it on our own privately.”

Mike Allen

Fox 5

KVVU-TV

I didn’t have the answer

My wife and I were driving home one evening when a tune came on the radio. I don’t remember the song title however a portion of the lyrics sung by the artist contained the words “24 seconds” and it caused me to think, “I told my wife, as much as I know about basketball and especially the NBA, I have no idea how the league arrived at a 24-second clock?”  Well, I had to discover the answer, for many of you too young to realize the league did not always operated with a shot clock. In a 1950 game against the Minneapolis Lakers with George Mikan the Fort Wayne Pistons gained the lead in the game and began passing the ball rather than taking a shot.

The game simply became one in which teammates passed the ball back and forth and guess what, it worked. The Pistons were able to beat the Lakers 19 to 18, NBA owners decided the game needed a fix. “The NBA introduced the 24-second shot clock during the 1954-55 season to speed up the game. The number 24 was devised by Syracuse Nationals owner Danny Biasone, who divided the game’s 48 minutes into 120, the average of 60 shots per team in games played from the previous three seasons.”   Like anything else over time, the average number of shots has probably varied up or down however the NBA continued to use the 24 second shot clock as it’s barometer. The shot clock demanded a team shot the ball within the 24-second time limit, no longer would teams be able to hold the ball.

ESPN.com