Basketball from a fan’s perspective

This is troubling

Ohio State upset Purdue over the weekend 73-69 but that wasn’t my focus, my attention was on Purdue’s Zach Edey all 7 foot 4 and 300 pounds of him. His game was decent, 22 points 13 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. I’ve mentioned over and over despite his Player of the Year accolades last season the NBA has taken a hum hold view of his NBA potential. I didn’t see the game only a photo taken at a point, Ohio State’s Evan Mahaffey is shown blocking an Edey shot at the basket. Players have shots blocked all the time except in this instance I checked Mahaffey’s bio and this is troubling.

Mahaffey stands 6 foot 6 inches in height but is, reported to have a 6-foot 11-inch wingspan. Because I didn’t see the game nor the block I must guess the series of events. Opposing Edey for most of the game must have been Flex Okpara 6-foot 11-inch center, according to the box Okpara was limited offensively. As for Mahaffey did Edey make the same mistake a number of Big Men tend to do at times. Raising the ball from waist level to take the shot, sometimes especially a guy with long arms you are providing them an opportunity to block you. Personally I’d like to see Edey in the NBA however having his shot blocked by a player of Mahaffey’s stature is a little concerning.

Where in the world are we?

That’s an interesting question based on the worldwide growth of basketball. We could be in Canada and not following the NBA Raptors. We could be attending a game between the Windsor Express and the London Lightning two teams in the National Basketball League of Canada. On the other hand we might find ourselves in Montreal watching the Alliance and Calgary Surge teams who play in the Canadian Elite Basketball League which began play in 2019.

On the other hand we could journey across the Atlantic Ocean to the UK, there in action we might see the Bristol Flyers and their opposition in the London Lions. Heading onto the European continent we'd find a number of teams from several nations all part of Euroleague basketball, Wemby's former team Metropolitans 94 is a member. Despite turmoil in the Middle East we find teams in the Israeli Basketball Premier League competing against one another. Our flight stops next in Australia and we take in action from the National Basketball League or NBL, several players began honing their skill in the NBL prior to heading for a U.S. college or the NBA.  

Flying in a northerly direction we land in South Korea and take in a game from the Korean Basketball League, this between two teams representing the capital city. The Seoul Samsung Thunders are facing the Seoul SK Knights, not that unusual, the NBA has the Lakers and Clippers in Los Angeles and the Knicks and Nets in New York City. This is but a small number of professional basketball leagues around the world, their numbers far exceed the total of football and baseball teams around the world. The game at least the NBA version might not be growing however worldwide is a different story.   

This is interesting 

Until 1947 major league baseball was segregated, black players were not permitted to play. Jackie Robinson would go on to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers that year, he began play in Negro Leagues baseball. This was the “major leagues” for black baseball players until Robinson broke the color barrier. By now you are wondering where I’m headed, how about Dr. J., Julius Erving? On are about 2020 this occurred, MLB baseball recognized “Seven Negro Leagues as major leagues and adopted the statistics of more than 3,400 players in those leagues from 1920 to 1948 into the official record.”

Exactly how these records are listed in Cooperstown is unknown however they are no longer excluded as they had once been. Back to Dr. J. who started this research project, if we looked up the point totals for Dr. J. NBA.com indicate he scored 18,364 points in his 11-year NBA career but he actually totaled more points than that. According to figures I was able to discover Dr. J. scored a total of 30,026 points if his ABA numbers are included in the point total. I used the doctor as the example however there are other former athletes who played in the ABA and NBA. The NBA needs to do the same as Major League baseball include ALL the records.

*The Athletic

Who placed him in charge?

If you go to ESPN’s NBA page you will note Stephen A. Smith’s face all over it. There are several subjects and players he provides us his view. My question, who appointed him in charge of EVERYTHING? The latest example is the dunk contest held at NBA All Star Weekend. The competition has become a ho-hum event and needs a boost, according to Smith we are aware of the why. Mr. Smith has determined the problem with the dunk contest can be laid at the feet of LeBron James.

Smith claims because LeBron refuses to compete it’s gone downhill. There is no argument at 55 years of age (just kidding) he remains the face of the NBA but why is the problem LeBron’s alone? There are other high profile players who are non-participants in the dunk contest. There is no requirement for me to go over the rosters of NBA teams and begin naming names. The point I’m attempting to make the fact the dunk contest is so lack luster is more than LeBron James alone, its bunches of other players who refuse to participate. Maybe somebody should take time and explain that to Smith.