Basketball from a fan’s perspective

A change of heart

Surprise, surprise the Lakers actually won a game Sunday night. Probably even more of a surprise for me and others the Lakers have been as cold as Batman & Robin’s Mr. Freeze while the Clippers have been hotter than the planet Mercury so who could have figured this outcome? The Lakers were winners 106-103, the game was only available on NBA League Pass, so I had no opportunity to view it. Checking the box score the Lakers managed to shoot an outstanding (51.2%) from the field while the Clippers were 39.6%.

Despite the win I haven’t mellowed on my view a change is required at the first chair. From viewing video highlights LeBron played as if he was 29 rather than 39 and that continues to be the issue for me. At his age LeBron demonstrates his above average play for an athlete his age, why on why someone can’t step up to provide effective leadership? Does that issue lie at the foot of the coach or LeBron, despite the win on Sunday evening I remain unsatisfied with what I see. If the Lakers are able to play the next 10-15 games in a similar manner then I can say no problem, I remain unconvinced that is possible.

He's back

Draymond Green is back, the volatile forward has returned from his league mandated suspension.  You remember what occurred don’t you? Green was suspended for hitting Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in the face. What I find interesting are his words, Green indicates he was contemplating retirement and Adam Silver talked him out of it. Good for the commissioner in this instance as for Green…what is the problem? According to the report in the 14 games Green missed he underwent counseling and I hope it helps.

There is no argument from me, he is a very talented player. It’s not evident just checking his stats rather it’s the other things he does to aid the cause of the Warriors. I’ve mentioned this before, Green was chosen in the second round. As the 35th pick he was almost a miss, to go from that point to a player earning $25.81 million annually is amazing. Green’s always been the lunch bucket guy, he does whatever is necessary to aid the cause of the Warriors. The “whatever is necessary” does not include slugging an opposition player. He proves no value to his team if he’s sitting on the sidelines unable to play. Returning to action will this be the “new and improved version” of Draymond Green, we must wait to see?

NBA expansion

I’ve mentioned this previously, unlike former commissioner David Stern his successor Adam Silver is looking at expansion differently. Stern appeared to desire to place franchises in Europe with no mention of the travel issues. Adam Silver is approaching expansion in a much different manner, franchises outside our boundary would be placed in Canada and Mexico. Although travel is always an issue it is certainly a great deal easier time wise at least a flight to a Canadian city or Mexico City.

NBA teams fly charter flights so the times might be slightly lesser, these are commercial flight times. Los Angeles to Vancouver is a 3 hour and 4-minute flight, the flight to Montreal would be 5 hours and 20 minutes. A flight to Mexico City from Los Angeles is 3 hours and 40 minutes. Vancouver is on Pacific Standard Time, Montreal is an Eastern Time Zone city while Mexico City is on Central Time. As you can see if two or three cities are added the NBA will have expanded internationally, expansion to Europe would create a nightmare travel schedule.

Not a Big Boy Conference

The footprints of the Big 10, Big 12, SEC plus ACC are so huge they tend to overshadow everything. The Missouri Valley Conference is one of the oldest in the nation begun in 1907. Once upon a time the Valley provided the NBA with a significant amount of basketball talent. Today a smaller number play in the NBA, they include Dru Smith with the Heat, he played at Evansville and then Mizzou. Fred VanVleet with the Rockets played at Wichita State, also playing at Wichita State Landry Shamet with the Wizards. If we read the bio of Laker guard Austin Reaves it says Oklahoma however the Sooners were his second school, the first was Wichita State. Veteran Doug McDermott with the Spurs arrived in the NBA from Creighton.

Those are but a few present-day players in the NBA, in an earlier period we saw a guy by the name of Larry Bird who played at Indiana State, wonder what happened to him. There was Walt Frazier of the Knicks but Southern Illinois University earlier. In an earlier time there was an all-everything forward Chet Walker who spent 13 years in the NBA, he played at Bradley. The late Paul Silas most remember as a coach, he was a player first for a number of teams in the NBA but he came to our attention while he was enrolled at Creighton. This list certainly should not be considered complete as a number of standout NBA players from Valley schools have been omitted. In recent years NBA talent provided by Valley schools has slowed to a trickle however we should recognize the rich connection the Valley.

Basketball Association of America

The league which eventually became the NBA began play in the 1946-47 season and the Basketball Association of America or BAA began play that season with 11 teams. Some of the names like the Providence Steamrollers, Chicago Stags or Toronto Huskies are lost forever in the annals or basketball history. These teams ceased operations prior to the merger in 1949. That’s when the American Basketball League and BAA merged becoming the NBA we recognize today. 

As for others they became known throughout the world, the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks are two of those 11 that first began play in 1946. Why did many of these early franchises go out of business? There were numerous reasons but maybe the chief one basketball was not a mainstream sport. In those early years. Research indicates a number of investors wanted a team and they were allowed to purchase a team without a great deal of capital.