Basketball from a fan’s perspective

Turn in my card

I guess it must be time to turn in my card as a member of Laker Nation. I just cannot figure out what this current incarnation is doing, it seems all season long they have been on a roller-coaster as they go up for a number of games and then down for another. Over the last 10 games the Lakers have won 6 of them, which provides proof of my statement. It appears the Lakers have no problem scoring the ball it’s the lack of defense I’ve witnessed in a number of the games I’ve seen. Injuries-as with this writing fail to appear the chief problem,

LeBron and AD have missed time but the Lakers appear to play through when these two have been absent. Reserve Gabe Vincent and starter Jarred Vanderbilt have missed major time but not enough in my view to affect the record. Reserve Christian Wood has also been missing due to injury and there are issues regarding the effort of Jaxson Hayes. Finally we arrive at Darvin Ham, I’m not sold on him as a head coach. The constant lineup changes may have been a contributing factor to the up and down play of the team. I cannot change anything except my opinion so I will leave you with this, I might turn in my Laker Nation card. 

The hot seat

SMU fired coach Rob Lanier after two seasons, he was 10-22 in his first year. The second year SMU won 20 games while losing 12 and received an NIT invite, despite the turnaround Lanier was fired. There were loud howls by many in Mizzou Nation to fire Dennis Gates with the same amount of time as Lanier. Fortunately for Gates there is no AD in place currently to fire him although I guess the assistant AD could perform the task if asked. I am reminding you once again of what was written last week about Bryce Drew the current coach at Grand Canyon. He’d been hired to lead the Vanderbilt basketball program.

Without checking I have no idea of Vanderbilt’s record however after three years on the job Drew was fired. Later hired by Grand Canyon his teams have won nearly 100 games in the three years since his hire. In addition the last two seasons the school has been invited to the NCAA Tournament. Older brother Scott Drew was hired by Baylor at a very dark time in the basketball history of the school. The first four years saw Baylor teams win 8, 9 and 4 games, he is now regarded as one of the best basketball coaches in the nation. What might have occurred if Baylor had decided to fire Drew after year four? Look folks each coaching situation is different and unique, all cannot be placed in the same pot. It appears schools perhaps under pressure seem to terminate contracts of coaching staffs much quicker than they once did.  

Bits n Pieces 

22-year-old Anthony Edwards of the Wolves could easily handle 61-year-old Michael Jordan on the basketball court. We could make the same statement regarding a healthy 28-year-old Karl-Anthony Towns, he would be light years ahead of 76-year-old Kareem Abdul Jabbar. I hope you comprehend how silly those two projections might be, at the same time they continue to be generated by some in the basketball world. It wasn’t claimed he was better however Edwards “was on the same level of MJ.” Why do these suppose matches continue to be generated, we have no way back machine to place either player.

Is this the Celtics year, I am sure my co-worker hopes that is the case. Rory is one of the few people in this part of the country that’s an acknowledge fan of the Celtics. I must admit they certainly look good, Jaylen Brown, Jason Tatum and Jrue Holiday plus Kristaps Porzingis certainly appear to be the best NBA team in the east. As this is written the Celtics are 56-14 and 11 games ahead of the Bucks, the question can they prevail this season? Do they break the tie with the Lakers for most NBA Championships, I’m sure Rory and others hope that is the case?

There is limited history 

Recently I wrote that the NBA intends to shut down their G-League Team Elite at the conclusion of the season. NBA talent was produced however it was the other thing that impacted the team and caused its demise. We’ve discussed Name, Image & Likeness for a time now, it would become the driving force behind shutting down operations. As a reminder the intent of the team was to provide pro training for those young men with no college aspirations.

Instead of heading off to college and taking up classroom space they would be trained while earning an above average salary, that was 2020. The landscape has changed as we’ve noted, college freshman are now earning salaries far above what they might earn playing for Team Elite. You might ask is the training better for them in college or with Team Elite? I don’t know if this is a fact my best guess, training with NBA coaches might be more beneficial if that is one’s future destination. With so little operation time it might be difficult to determine the impact of Team Elite, below you will see a number of present-day NBA talent who began in the G-League with Team Elite:

Jalen Green – Rockets

Jonathan Kuminga – Warriors

Isaiah Todd – Wizards*

Dyson Daniels – Pelicans

MarJon Beauchamp – Bucks**

Jaden Hardy – Mavs

Scoot Henderson – Blazers

Leonard Miller – Wolves***

Sidy Cissoko – Spurs****

*Team Elite

**Wisconsin Herd G-League

***Iowa Wolves G-League

****Austin Spurs G-League

We are only four years down the road when Team Elite first began play. At this point I’m unsure if anyone can claim success of the program, it is noteworthy the number of players on NBA rosters that have begun play with G-League Team Elite.