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Basketball from a fans perspective

Maui tragedy

The early college basketball season contains a number of tournament games. One of the annual tournaments always on the docket is the Maui Invitational held in Lahaina, Hawaii. The tournament was to be held November 20 through the 23, after the devastating tragedy and loss of life occurring in Maui there are questions if it will be held this season. Before this was written I checked media sources discovered this information. Lahaina Civic Center where the tournament is held is reported undamaged. Despite this fact structures surrounding the building have been destroyed by the fire.

As you would surmise this annual basketball tournament is a financial boon to Lahaina and the entire island of Maui. What to do is the question, the first answer is the citizens, take care of those in need first that is the priority. Despite the financial devastation of the fire on the community if the tournament is not played Maui will lose a great deal of additional income from the event. I’ve read the 8-team tournament could be played in Honolulu or maybe a location on the mainland. That might partially address financial issues but let’s not venture too far ahead of any decision. Whatever resolution is made there is no doubt there will be citizens who remain displeased with the verdict.

That’s really too bad

A few reading this might remember the scathing account I wrote about Winning Time. This was the series featured on HBO, it was reported to tell the story of the Showtime Lakers. The only problem is no one associated with the Lakers of that era had anything positive to say about the series. Jerry West even threatened to sue at a point although to my knowledge it never occurred. Abdul Jabbar, James Worthy and others were upset by the manner the characters were portrayed in that era.

Jeanie Buss is the only one with a positive comment, she claims John C. Reilly reminds her of dad Jerry Buss. Jeff Pearlman wrote Winning Time and has gone on record stating there might not be a season three unless viewership increases. Pearlman blames a portion of the drop in viewers on the writers’ strike, which for me sounds strange. The production is already in the can and viewable on HBO so his comment’s got me wondering what he’s talking about. We can take almost any historical era that was made into a movie, Patton, Malcom X, Sully or Apollo 13. Were editorial liberties taken in the movie scripts…of course they were.

I’ve never read criticism of those movies or any others you might think of. My question then and remains for Pearlman, how is it possible to take events and characters and fictionalize the script. I wish to make this clear I don’t wish any ill will toward Pearlman he’s got to earn a salary to feed his family. Despite this fact it might have been better if he’d chosen to write about the era without feeling the need to embellish the storyline. This I saw at the beginning of a movie, “The following dramatization, although fictionalized was inspired by an actual event.” It might have been a good idea for Pearlman to use this at the beginning of each episode. 

You say hype

This is a re-visit or maybe part two of an earlier discussion, it was said “The hype machine is working overtime regarding Victor Wembanyama.” I thought for a brief period, perhaps it wasn’t necessarily the NBA how about high school leading into college and then the NBA. The first name that comes to mind is OJ Mayo, he’s out of the league now but he arrived from Southern Cal with great expectations. There was an enormous deal of hype regarding Mayo which continued in college. His NBA career has been good but certainly nothing close to projections. Drug issues have sidelined him although he’s eligible to return has declined the opportunity thus far. Tyreke Evans is another name, he was raised by his older brothers and was groomed early for an NBA career.

We followed Evans’ path as he left for college at Memphis but stayed there but a single season and then decided on the NBA. Evans had been fairly successful but he too is no longer in the NBA also banned due to drug issues. He’s also eligible to return, he played briefly with a G-League affiliate but has since been released. I am unsure if Zion Williamson should be included here, the hype build up begin in high school continued his one season at Duke. He can play the problem remaining on the court for long periods, it seems he is always injured. In closing the last name to consider is Emoni Bates, now it might be unfair to include him in this analysis. It’s yet to be determined if he can play at the NBA level, he’s included for one reason alone…the hype that’s surrounded him since his sophomore year of high school. Those are but a few that come to mind where the hype machine worked overtime, I am sure there are others to consider.

This is certainly a different age

I believe there are two keys to a successful basketball program, coaching and recruiting. I think Mizzou has at least one of those cornered, we have not seen the real Dennis Gates yet. Despite that fact we gained insight into his coaching and management style this past season. Season two beginning in about three months will provide even more insight into Gates for us. What about the recruiting part of the question? In the short run that might be easier to discern than the coaching issue and I will explain. There is more to the picture than simply attracting talent, a coach must be able to mold those talents into a cohesive unit.

With the number of opportunities in front of high-profile prospects (G-League, Overtime Elite, Australia) successful recruiting of prestigious athletes might be more difficult than ever in this age. The balance of this account is focused on Class of 2024 prospect Peyton Marshall, despite his size (7 ft, 300 pounds) he is no second coming of Shaquille O’Neal. His game, at least at the high school level reminds me of that however he’s quite raw from what I’ve witnessed thus far. This is a different age for Big Man basketball, no longer is it a back to the basket game. At the same time I for one don’t expect this large person to stand on the 3-point line chucking up shots. Scouting reports indicate Marshall is adaptable to coaching and that’s good for him.