Basketball from a fan’s perspective

Bits n Pieces

You Can’t Go Home Again was a 1940 novel written by Thomas Wolfe, Cuonzo Martin counters that by saying maybe you can. The last time we heard any news about Martin was his termination at Mizzou, he was replaced by Dennis Gates in 2022. Martin was head coach at Mizzou from 2017-2022 however Missouri State was his first head coaching job, he was in Springfield from 2008-2011. Good luck on your return to your first head coaching job.

Gambling on sports have been part of the culture since maybe the beginning. With legalized sports betting becoming popular I had concerns eventually an issue would surface. The first instance was in baseball with the Dodgers interpreter for Shohei Ohtani. I’m unsure whether it was Ohtani or Bickerstaff making news first. J.B. Bickerstaff Cavs coach revealed he’d received threats from gamblers last season. He turned the information over to the NBA. On Monday Raptors forward Jontay Porter was sidelined while the NBA began conducting an investigation involving him.

I believe all acknowledge the NFL rules the television airways. Why this move by the NFL is necessary I certainly cannot offer the why. The league announced two Christmas Day games are scheduled for December 25, 2024. This year December 25 falls on a Wednesday so the NFL will have played games every day and night of the week except Tuesday and Friday.

He’s referred to as a rising star, that is applied to Michael Grady. He was the play-by-play voice for the Mavs-Kings game last night. He made his debut with the TNT crew obligated to provide coverage for the NCAA Tourney. Although new to TNT Grady is no newcomer to broadcasting, he’s the voice for Wolves basketball and has an extensive background covering the NBA game.

Let’s discuss the why

I was talking basketball, which occurs quite often with me, among the things said by my friend. “People look at basketball and it’s ‘how many points did _______score?” I thought a further explanation was required, 99% of fans are not going to look at analytics you can forget that. What they see are points scored, rebounds, assists and shooting percentage that’s it. Most true basketball fans realize some form of defense is played whether we are discussing AAU, high school, college or the NBA. The problem without a great deal of effort most of us cannot see true aspects of the game. In a 12-year career for the Showtime Lakers Michael Cooper’s career comprised 8.9 points, 4 assist and 1.2 steals over that time span.

Ask Celtic great Larry Bird, he once claimed Cooper played the toughest defense on him in the NBA. That was his job to play tight defense against the opposing teams best player. Much later there was eccentric Dennis Rodman, often we focus on his rebounding and it was outstanding for a 6-7 athlete but there was the other thing. Rodman was a great defender, in his case ask Jazz power forward Karl Malone. If we look at the present time Marcus Smart is the name we often produce. Smart now plays for the Grizzlies, drafted by the Celtics his lockdown defense is what he’s best known for. There you have three outstanding defenders. They were supremely valuable to their teams however the numbers don’t provide you any idea of their significance. Sometimes it’s difficult but we must learn to see basketball is so much more than scoring baskets.

We now acknowledge the change

The NCAA Tourney is not over as this is written however the change is evident. We haven’t done a particularly decent job of acknowledging the change, no longer do super teams exist in the college game. At tournament time an eventual winner might have three or four losses. In the past we even had undefeated championship teams…so what happened? A bunch of things but I can point to at least two, they are Name, Image and Likeness plus the Transfer Portal. I claim no expertise in either area however they have impacted the game significantly. Teams can become competitive in a short space of time just picking up transfers aiding the assembled roster.

Want an example of effective use of the transfer portal, last season’s Mizzou team. After Cuonzo Martin was fired newly hired coach Dennis Gates was left with two or three holdovers, thanks to the transfer portal Gates quickly assembled a roster. The end result was a 25-win season far more than any so-called expert supposed might occur. There might be other teams however I’m closer to the Mizzou program so that’s why it comes to mind immediately. As for NIL we see the results there more recently. The NBA will shut down Team Elite after the season because they cannot compete due to NIL. There are college players earning more income than several NBA players. NIL is an inducement to steer prospects to one team over another. That ends my short soliloquy on the changes in college basketball I see, I’m quite sure there are others I might have missed.