Basketball from a fans perspective

A world view

This is based on a tweet (X) sent out by former NBA player and current analyst Richard Jefferson. It’s his contention that the NBA eclipses the NFL in popularity world-wide. Allow me to site an example without offering proof if you walked up to a person in Paris or Berlin and asked the question. “Which person’s name do you recognize, is it LeBron James or Patrick Mahomes?” Mahomes is certainly a name 99% of American fans are familiar with, in Europe the number is likely a much smaller percentage. NBA games are available throughout the world, NFL games are broadcast around the world but nowhere near the number of the NBA. Check out this content I located on the web.

“The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the second biggest sports competition by media rights value in its domestic market, where it currently earns US$2.7 billion per season from its national broadcast partners, ESPN and Warner Bros Discovery.

While the US is where the vast majority of the NBA’s broadcast revenue is generated, the basketball competition performs far better internationally than the National Football League (NFL) and Major League Baseball (MLB), earning US$715 million annually from its non-US media rights agreements, equal to 21 per cent of its total media rights value (excluding revenue generated from NBA League Pass and RSN rights fees).

This is owed in large part to the global popularity of basketball: excluding the US, the sport ranks fourth most popular globally, behind only soccer, the Olympics and tennis, and far ahead of American football, which ranks 12th.”

http://www.sportspromedia.com/insights/analysis/nba-tv-rights-revenue-global-popularity-data-ampere-analysis/

On no…not another one

This is your warning in advance, if you are tired of Victor Wembanyama updates you can stop reading at this point. I’ll refer to it as another in what might become a series about the teen sensation. I’d bet money you didn’t realize Wemby is the NBA leader in blocked shots, his 87 blocks through 28 games (as this is written) makes him the league leader at 3.1 per game. Blocked shots as for some other records haven’t always been maintained by the NBA. It’s difficult to go too far in the past.

If we look at a more recent period we discover the late Manute Bol playing for the Washington Bullets in the 1985-86 season led the NBA in blocked shots, it could easily become Wemby tied with Bol for the rookie record. On the other hand I’m sure some of you reading this are probably thinking to yourself “It’s easy to block shots if you are 7 foot 4.” I’ve long believed blocked shots are similar to rebounds it’s more than a height issue, it’s desire along with effort something that cannot be taught. If the draft is held today it says the Spurs draft fellow Frenchman 7 foot 1 Alexandre Sarr, that ain’t happening in my view. I believe the Spurs will draft a combo or pure point guard to aid in the development of Wemby.

Those identified as point guards in the 2014 NBA draft are Carlton Carrington who plays at Pitt or Isaiah Collier at Southern Cal. Both are tall, 6 foot 6 and 6 foot 5 so their height could certainly be considered an enhancement. Although there are other combo or point guards who are likely in the 2024 draft I cannot imagine the Spurs going any deeper than the top 2-3. The lottery is yet to be held but it’s likely the Spurs draft no higher than three which should allow them a quality point guard. Drafting that quality point guard will accelerate Wemby’s game and help in his continued development.

No excuse zone

You have entered a different world, it’s the “No Excuse Zone” whatever occurred or might take place there are no excuses accepted. In this zone the dog couldn’t have eaten your homework…because you have no dog. The speeding ticket you received was earned legitimately. The lunar/solar eclipse excuse will not be excepted for your actions either, in addition the rain/snow/sleet/hurricane scenario is also non-void. That’s no excuse because deliveries of vital items manage to be supplied despite the weather conditions.

There are probably 10,000 more excuses that could be offered but I have no intention of detailing them all, just consider the fact you have entered the no excuse zone. As for My Lakers what can I say, I can make this statement in truth they are not the Pistons who just experienced a 28-game losing streak, the key difference the Motown crew is young and inexperienced playing in the NBA. The Pistons might be the polar opposite of the Lakers. The Laker roster contains at least one future Hall of Fame inductee maybe two. The balance of the roster could be categorized as veteran but certainly not the oldest in the NBA. What’s the problem, let’s see if we can figure this out, counting the Wednesday night loss the Lakers are now losers in 9 of the last 13 games the team has played. Whenever an impasse is reached similar to this we can only point the finger at the coach, in this instance its Darvin Ham.

I found this next portion I’m sharing interesting, this certainly should not be considered official however it’s from a Laker fan website. The story revolved around coaches the Lakers could have hired but didn’t. My chief concern there was no explanation for the hire of Ham over these 3-5 coaches they could have hired. This is what I believe without providing you any proof, I think most of the roster have “turned off” Ham. Much as I hate to see change the only fix as I see it is to replace the coach. Are the Lakers the best in the west…no but they certainly are not as bad as we’ve witnessed.

Class of 2025

Cameron Boozer is one of the top prospects in the Class of 2025. Boozer is a 6-foot 9 235-pound power forward and if the last name sound familiar it should. Cameron’s father is Carlos who played at Duke and had a 13-year NBA team playing for several NBA teams. The son’s measurement come close to dad, both are the same height however dad has a few pounds on Cameron. It’s interesting among the school’s offering a scholarship is Duke University, the son is rated a 5-star prospect by 247sports.com.