Basketball from a fan’s perspective

No stars for one

Recently Khaman Maluach was introduced to many of you. Maluach is a 7-1 250-pound center, he’s played his basketball at the NBA Academy in South Africa. 247Sports indicated as an international player they don’t provide a rating, Rivals fails to list him at all with their 2024 prospects. Essentially both sites are making the same statement. As of Wednesday March 6 we have an idea where Maluach might be headed and it’s not the G-League. He is on his way to Durham North Carolina in the fall to become a Dukee.

I’m unsure who returns and who leaves, a preliminary glance at the Class of 2024 looks real good. You are aware the number one prospect in the nation 6-9 Cooper Flagg arrives on campus in the fall. There are two 5-star small forwards and one 4-star also coming on board but the talent train doesn’t stop end there. Also coming to Durham is 6-11 235 pound-center Patrick Ngongba II from Fairfax VA. Keep in mind all will be taking “baby steps” as they adjust to Division I basketball, on the other hand its better to have them at Duke over someone else’s basketball program. I admit unlike Coach K. his replacement Jon Scheyer is an unknown, despite that fact it sure appears he and staff can recruit talent to the Duke campus.

Okay, so Tuesday was not good for him

It was not a good night for Wemby, in addition to his Spurs losing to the Rockets 114-101 he played a poor game. Before I proceed can you provide me a list of names, the list containing ALL NBA players active today with excellent games night after night. I’m waiting…tick, tick, tick, tick, okay now that’s out of the way allow for a brief explanation. I’m unsure if it was Rockets center Alperun Sengun alone, the box score indicates Wemby played a time at power forward. In any event Sengun had a monster game which certainly was a contributing factor to the win. How monstrous was it, 45 points along with 16 rebounds and 5 steals indicates the game was quite significant.

Sengun in now into his third year in the NBA is adjusting to NBA play and considering he’s only 21 years old…well. Back to Wemby I’m unsure without checking if this was his lowest point total (10) however he contributed 11 rebounds and continued his NBA leading shot block total with 7. 4 for 10 shooting along with 6 TO’s provides you an indication of the type of game Wemby had on Tuesday evening. I hope I’m not the only one who continues to be impressed by the performance Wemby generally exhibits. Social media reports indicate Rocket fans have been posting negative stuff about the game and Wemby’s impact. As I stated earlier Sengun had an outstanding game, I hope Rocket fans don’t believe this trend will continue or always be in place. I don’t have any idea if another game exists between these Texas teams but I sure hope so.

Short people

The music industry has been in serious mode forever it seems, occasionally there might be a comical pop tune but nothing close to what occurred during portions of the ‘50’s, ‘60’s and into the ‘70’s. I contend nothing similar to this would be released today but in 1977 Randy Newman recorded a tune with the above title. The opening lyric was:

Short people got no reason

Short people got no reason

Short people got no reason

To live  

They got little hands

And little eyes

And they walk around

Tellin’ great big lies

They got little noses

And tiny little teeth

The lyrics of the tune go on and on, surely its available on YouTube if you wish to listen to it. In basketball although elements of the game have changed it continues to be the domain of the Big Man. Despite that fact there have been scores of “short people” who managed to play the game well. Some might be familiar with Jamal Crawford who is an analyst for NBA TV. I caught part of a conversation recently and these are his words. “Allen Iverson was the best player under 6 feet tall I ever played,” my first thought wasn’t AI taller? He was listed at that height but maybe he wasn’t according to Crawford. There is at least one NBA great I know for a fact how tall he was, Nate ‘Tiny’ Archibald.

I might have mentioned this previously, I had one of those rare opportunities to meet an NBA player up close. I will say this, Tiny is nowhere close to the 6-1 height reported by NBA sources. These two and others certainly made their contributions to the game. You are aware the shortest in NBA history was 5-3 Muggsy Boggs who played from 1987-2001 for a number of teams. Also included would be 5-5 Earl Boykins also with an extensive NBA career. This little (get it) exercise closes with 5-7 Spud Webb winner of the 1986 Slam Dunk Championship at the All-Star Game. I close with a quote I’ve heard for ages and it certainly seems to apply in this instance, “A little man must prove he can play, a Big Man must prove he can’t.”

Climate Pledge Arena

Recently we held a discussion on the number of planned NBA arenas. Left out of the conversation was Seattle and the return of the Sonics. Although talk has revolved around the Sonics returning to Seattle no arena plans have been listed. There is a reason why the new expansion team would play in the refurbished Key Arena where the previous Sonics team once called home. How did we go from there to here, the shortened version Seattle was awarded an NHL expansion team. The arena formally known as Key was literally gutted.

The iconic roof was to remain in place however that was it, the major inside portion of the arena was rebuilt. In addition to honor the commitment the arena was named Climate Pledge as it committed to the environment in its operation phase. This is what I located on the website, it is “the first net zero carbon certified arena in the world.” The present tenants are the NHL Kraken, NCAA men’s basketball Seahawks, WNBA Storm and a host of other sports teams. As you might note the building is being utilized for basketball at present, the new Sonics would fit right in with the present tenants. As this point it is unclear when the Sonics return however this is proof, an arena is waiting for them in advance of their arrival.