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Basketball from a fans perspective

Bits n Pieces 

Veteran and future Hall of Fame athlete Chris Paul is now a member of the Golden State Warriors. Both are a surprise, the fact at 38 years of age he will be playing for a new team. The most amazing fact, Paul might become a starter for the Warriors, if that is the case who sits? That would likely be 6-foot 9-inch Kevin Looney but that could present a further problem. There is no argument regarding Warriors shooting but rebounding the basketball might be another matter. We could see the Warriors with the shortest backcourt in the NBA with the 6-foot Paul and Steph Curry at 6 feet 2. I never say never however despite the fact of two future Hall of Fame guards there might be a problem. Will this duo be able to not only rebound but defend with such a “tiny” backcourt? It will be interesting to see how this match works out over the course of the season.

I came across an account which I thought quite interesting, 247Sports.com presented its Top 10 high school basketball players regardless of their class and guess who’s at the top?  In a manner of speaking its really no surprise, they selected 6 foot 8 forward/wing Cooper Flagg. Even more interesting is Flagg’s age, although now a senior at Montverde Academy he will not turn 17 until December 21. This is the part that stood out for me, 1.” In short, it’s the defensive dominance (he’s the best non-7-foot rim protector I’ve ever seen at this age), combined with the offensive progression, killer instinct, intelligence and competitiveness.” I hope this is not a “Emoni Bates” repeat and Flagg is for real, the comparison to Larry Bird is scary for me. There are several in the media sitting the bar a bit too high in my view. 

1. 247Sports.com

A special Happy Birthday greeting to one of my favorite coaches Larry Brown. Although now retired (temporarily) he turned 83 years old yesterday. 3X ABA Coach of the Year, 2001 NBA Coach of the Year, 2004 NBA Champion along with induction into the Naismith and College Basketball Hall of Fame. You question why I state the retirement is temporary for Brown. He was working the 2021-22 college basketball season in an advisory role to head coach Penny Hardaway at Memphis. Health concerns caused him to resign in the middle of the season, if his physical condition issues are resolved expect to see him at some basketball stop soon. I say that because basketball is his life, Google his name and note the number of stops he’s made over his career.

How to….

Be informative in describing the game but don’t talk too much. I don’t have the answer however the shorten version of this account is the role of a basketball television analyst.  They are hired due to their expertise and ability to communicate the game to the viewer.  It’s always been my belief a radio analyst requires far more verbal skills than video, it’s obvious the picture.  You might not see the nuances of the game however an untrained eye can see the shot or the pass, blocked shot or TO.  It was said the late Chick Hearn simulcasting Laker games on radio and television was much more descriptive than required for television. 

It was done on purpose the action on the court had to be communicated to those in his audience listening on radio.  We have reached a stage now especially with television, the picture quality is so clear and concise we now see plays our grandfathers and fathers never witnessed.  I believe it’s important for that analyst to highlight areas which they believe are critical for the viewer.  At the same time, its unimportant to talk incessantly as Jeff Van Gundy often does during games.  Don’t get me wrong, I have no doubt of Van Gundy’s basketball knowledge and now I will probably miss him. For me it appears he often go’s on tangents which often have nothing to do with the game in front of us.  Now you ask, could I perform the role of an analyst?  Currently not without a great deal of training and coaching, after that I think I could manage the job.

Who’s record

The scoring of LSU’s "Pistol" Pete Maravich and his scoring prowess is well established. We even detailed for you he is the all-time leading scorer in college basketball history. That statement is only partially correct but not fully, Maravich scored 3,667 points in NCAA Division I basketball. An athlete few remember Travis Grant scored even more, playing for Kentucky State University he scored 4,045 points. Grant was nicknamed "Machine Gun" due to the rapid point totals he registered during the games he played. Perhaps one of the reasons the record is not known by most Kentucky State played at the NAIA level although now the school has moved up to the Division II level.

During Grant’s time at Kentucky State the school won three consecutive NAIA Championships and his scoring was a contributing factor. Grant would be drafted by the Lakers in the 1972 NBA Draft, unfortunately he was unable to transfer the success he achieved at the college level to that of a professional. Grant exited the NBA by 1976 having spent time with three other NBA/ABA teams. There is this to consider, NAIA schools unlike Division I always allowed freshman to play on the varsity. The Maravich scoring represent his point total from his sophomore through senior years. I took this investigation one step further and uncovered this fact. Maravich averaged 39 points a game his freshman year scoring 741 points, which makes for a grand total of 4,408 points he scored at LSU.

What occurs

Anthony Davis has gone on record indicating he is reluctantly playing center, his preference for a position is power forward. As this is written there are reports AD will be the starter but the question might be for how long, I say this since it appears there is now depth at the five? We are 6-8 weeks or so from the start of training camp, even then the question might remain unanswered for a time. Let’s do a quick assessment here, the Lakers now have two veteran post players and one rookie.

There is youth too, the recently acquired Christian Wood (27-years old), 7-foot Jaxson Hayes (23-years old) picked up during the free agent period and 23-year-old 6-11 Colin Castleton. We have been led to believe coach Ham prefers a veteran presence in the post, a rookie is likely to spend the bulk of his season with the South Bay Lakers. Castleton will probably not be involved in play short of injury to one of those mentioned earlier. AD turned 30 years of age in March so he should still have several quality seasons ahead barring injury. We must wait to see how this post position fight turns out.