Basketball from a fans perspective

A brother

Did you realize Larry Bird had a younger brother who played…I didn’t? It was brought to my attention so I decided to conduct a little research on brother Eddie. The elder Bird has 4 brothers and a sister, Eddie is the youngest of the brothers. In any event research indicates he stood 6 foot 6 and 190 pounds, not quite as big as Larry but certainly above average. Eddie attended the same high school Springs Valley High School as Larry, the record indicates his senior year he averaged 21.8 points a game. Evidently following in his older brothers footsteps presented no issue for Eddie as he chose to attend Indiana State.

There was a problem almost immediately, Eddie was declared to be academically ineligible although he would later go on to become MVC Freshman of the Year in 1988. He averaged double figures in scoring while enrolled at Indiana State however the 1991 NBA draft would see him passed over. A league, the USBL in operation at the time drafted Eddie and he played a few games for the Suncoast Sunblasters. Later that summer he attended a Sacramento Kings free agent camp but was never signed. Older brother evidently called it as he saw it with these words, “Eddie didn’t work hard enough.” That statement gives us the impression Eddie had talent but failed to utilize it by going the extra mile. As for the present there is no indication the direction the younger brother pursued. There is a Euro page with Eddie’s name listed but no indication if he ever played in Europe.  

There was a failure to fulfill potential

NBA scouts and front office folks are paid to make projections on college and international talent, I could state with conviction the majority of time they get it right. We are always left with a few questions, is he going to be All Pro or just a valued talent? Then too there is the growth factor to consider, everyone entering the NBA is not always prepared for what it takes to remain a player. While there might be two slots there is a third one, those who for whatever reason plain don’t make it. If you are thinking this is the end of the second-round guys that is not the case.

The players I researched were all number one draft choices, the highest number for this group is the 12th pick in the first round. Now a couple of points, I discounted the injury factor. Sam Bowie (number 2 in the first round, 1984) and Greg Oden (number 1 in the first round, 2007) were highly regarded draft picks. Injuries prevented them from having the career envisioned when they were drafted. The other names, some had long careers however they made negligible impact. There are probably more than the 7 listed however here goes, name draft position and year. You might believe one or more don’t belong on the list and that’s okay. In addition there might be someone I missed you believe should have been included.

Michael Olowokandi-number 1 first round, 1984

Kwame Brown-number 1 first round, 2001

Eddy Curry-pick number 4 first round, 2001

Darko Milicic-pick number 2 first round, 2003

Robert Swift-pick number 12 first round, 2004

Michael Beasley-number 2 first round, 2008

Anthony Bennett-number 1 first round, 2013

In fairness to those above two former players, Kwame Brown and Darko Milicic made after retirement statements regarding their NBA careers. I have no idea what occupation Brown’s involved in but he mentioned his long NBA career (12 years) allowed him to earn a wonderfully comfortable retirement. Milicic returned to Serbia purchased a farm and is leading the life of a landowner. We can conclude the NBA career for these two and others was certainly not what was expected however if they were frugal with their finances all should be in great shape.

The best yet

Over the weekend Bronny James had his best game yet, keep in mind Bronny is still on a minutes restriction based on health concerns from the fall. Bronny emerged from the Southern Cal bench and in 20 minutes of court time managed to score 15 points. Despite the effort Southern Cal lost to Oregon State 86-70, I hope this account doesn’t appear confusing because I had expressed a concern previously. Health issue aside I had expressed concerns earlier in the year if Bronny was a genuine NBA prospect. There were some reports questioning if he was skilled enough to play in the NBA. Then things really got crazy, before his heart issue one mock draft site projected Bronny a mid-first round draft choice in 2024.

I’m going to cover this one more time

One podcaster covered the recent Christmas Day games and how the NFL outshone the NBA. I listened as he spelled out the reasons for the downturn in viewership. Some of the points he made certainly were valid, as for others I might question. As an example he claims, “fans thought there was no defense being played because of the high scoring games.” I thought this quite interesting because years ago it was said fans were tired of defensive basketball. You can check for yourself, back in the days of the Bad Boy Pistons and MJ Bulls there were 3-4 teams giving up less than 100 points a game. Just for you to mull over the Wolves are giving up 107.4 points the fewest in the 2023-24 season thus far. As for the All-Star Game I can agree with the podcaster, last year was an abomination. Evidently the NBA realized its mistake and will return to a regular format again.

There are a couple of areas he mentioned I must say are HR issues, you cannot make someone care about the game if they don’t. The issue of load management has been a contributing factor to this. The last issue I want to raise is fans, I’ve long held the belief the NBA is not competing with the NFL for fans. Those are two separate groups, unless someone has plenty of discretionary income I cannot see someone paying for Laker and Charger season tickets. Individual games…yes but season tickets are a different matter. Despite what the naysayers put forth this was a “perfect storm.” Christmas Eve on Saturday followed by a Monday Christmas, two days the NFL “normally” plays football. In 2024 the holidays fall on a Tuesday evening and Wednesday, will the NFL adjust its schedule to accommodate the change? In 2025 its Wednesday and Thursday. It would be ridiculous for me to suggest the NBA has no problems, I hope the commissioner and the Board of Governors take a look at the television ratings and attempt to address some of the issues. Despite the doom and gloom gang it ain’t as bad as they attempt to portray.