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Basketball from a fans perspective

He definitely fell and bumped his head

We live in a different age, an age that says, “Let’s tear down the accomplishments of those who came before us.” The guilty party this time is former NBA player Gilbert Arenas, for this reason alone he’s come to a conclusion. “But outside of his skyhook, what did he actually do”, those are the words of Arenas. Further reading in Basketball Network we discover, “Gilbert Arenas has Shaquille O’Neal over Kareem Abdul Jabbar as the greatest center ever.” I’m not going to cover this jaded view in its entirety only point out a couple of facts. The most critical Arenas was 7 years old the year Abdul Jabbar retired from NBA play.

What I am stating is exactly what’s in front of you, Arenas never had the opportunity to see Abdul Jabbar in action except for YouTube and a few specialized programs on NBA TV and other sources. Another point just this past season LeBron James broke the NBA all-time scoring record, the record was set in 1984 by who else…Abdul Jabbar. Think about this a record that stood for almost 40 years and no one but James came close to setting a new mark. I certainly place myself in the category of loving the play of Shaquille O’Neal, he comes in second for me behind Abdul Jabbar for the Lakers. As for center play period Shaq is further down on my list, this conclusion no matter what Arenas thinks and places in front of me. As the headline reads Arenas definitely bumped his head and suffered a concussion on this one.

There is nothing I can do

The Christian Wood drama continues with my Lakers and I’m tired of it. It seems half of Laker Nation want Wood signed and the other half say an emphatic NO. I place yours truly in the latter category, no argument from this corner Wood is clearly talented however the negatives in my view outweigh the positives. Although his time has been limited with each team should the Lakers sign him it will be team 8. There are NBA players with an equal number or more on their resume but there is a difference.

The difference as I see it, those players were/or age 30+, they had/had been in the league for a while, Wood is 27 and will have birthday number 28 next month. Should the Lakers sign Wood it won’t be the first time I was not please with a player they acquired. I could look toward last season and Patrick Beverly and two years ago with Russell Westbrook. I’d have to say I’ve been more concerned with players the Lakers have drafted and traded over those acquired in trade. As examples most recently I could point to Lonzo Ball, Jordan Clarkson or Kyle Kuzma…I hope that makes sense.

Re-write 

I once worked for a marketing manager who often made this statement. “We are moving so fast the wheels are falling off the wagon,” that statement could certainly apply for the Big XII Conference. By the way this is the second re-write, the first one was written Friday afternoon. By Friday evening around 8:00 p.m. Central Time the breaking news required a re-write. Arizona State along with Utah had been voted in to become members of the Big XII, Thursday evening Arizona had accepted an invitation. With Southern Cal, UCLA, Oregon and Washington moving to the Big 10 this will be the last season for the Pac-12. Back to the Big XII, this will now become a 16-team conference. I cannot speak about the football but the basketball is certainly going to be exciting and certainly competitive.

What is to occur in the future with the remnants of the once proud Pac-12 Conference? Oregon State, Washington State, Stanford and Cal hang around but how long do they endure with no conference affiliation? I cannot imagine the Pac-12 will survive at this point and be able to reach out to any school. My best guess is that the remaining schools will likely depart for the Big 10 and Big XII at an early date. There is one less power conference in existence now with the expected demise of the Pac-12. It will disappear like the Southwest Conference did, this conference with schools mostly in Texas was a premier conference from its founding in 1914 until its demise in 1996. Nowadays few remember the SWC except old-timers and sports historians. All I can say is pay attention to the news it certainly moves at a swift pace than I am able to publish at times. Finally with a 16-team conference we could foresee an east-west conference of 8 teams each.  

Growing the NBA game

I didn’t realize this until it was pointed out, did you realize outside of the U.S. the nation with the most NBA players is our northern neighbor Canada. This past season there were a record 22 Canadians spread throughout the 30-team league. I realize that number might appear trivial however not by me. The NBA is always looking to expand the product, it probably hopes two pre-season games in the fall will accomplish just that. 

The Raptors will play the Kings in Vancouver on Sunday October 8, that will be followed by a match between the Thunder and Pistons in Montreal on Thursday October 12. The NBA has games scheduled in the second (Montreal) and third (Vancouver) most populated cities in Canada. Once the Grizzlies left Vancouver the only Canadian city with an NBA franchise was Toronto, we can speculate of the future as usual. Will the NBA return one day, I believe that will be the case although its likely years from now.