Basketball from a fan’s perspective

The Logo

For the third time Jerry West will be honored, he will be enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame later this year. West was inducted in the hall for the first time as a player in 1979, in 2010 he was enshrined again as a member of the 1960 USA Olympic team. This time he will be honored as a contributor to the game. West was the architect of the Showtime Lakers and later became general manager of the Grizzlies. He also served as a consultant to the Warriors and Clippers. That only represents a small portion of the honors awarded Jerry West a.k.a. The Logo.

He’s got a new job

I have kept track of the job Ben McCollum has done at Northwest Missouri State for a few years. As an introduction to some of you he’s been quite successful as head coach of this Division II program. He’s led them to four Division II championships, 11 successive MIAA championships and the list goes on. Despite the time he’s spent as a head coach he’s a youthful 42 years of age but is now moving on. Drake basketball had been in the toilet until the arrival of Darian DeVries. DeVries managed to change the losing culture that had long existed at Drake.

DeVries produced winning teams for the Mo Valley Conference School located in Des Moines, Iowa. With success comes reward in the form of a new head coaching position. West Virginia reached out to DeVries and will bring him on board as head coach. Naturally, the exit of DeVries comes the arrival of McCollum to Drake. It’s been a little easier for me to follow Northwest Missouri State since the school is so near Kansas City. To provide you a few more tidbits on McCollum, his teams have won 394 games while losing 91 for an .812 percentage winning 241 wins and losing 63 games (.793) in the MIAA Conference. Both Drake and West Virginia should be pleased with their hires.

2024 NBA Draft

This NBA Draft sure looks unusual in more ways than one. Generally speaking the first 5-6 picks on the mock drafts I utilized reflect one another, not as the calendar turns to April. Now keep in mind, we have some weeks between now the lottery and eventual draft. With that in mind lets delve into what I’m seeing. As you might note for the most parts all three drafts contain the same names. The difference is draft position which could change in the weeks ahead. On the other hand there could be a sleeper who impresses at the NBA Draft Combine or impresses in workouts.

nbadraftnet

1. Cody Williams Colorado

2. Zaccharie Risacher France

3. Dalton Knecht Tennessee

4. Alexandre Sarr France

5. Reed Sheppard Kentucky

nbadraftroom.com

1. Zaccharie Risacher France

2. Alexandre Sarr France

3. Nikola Topic Serbia

4. Matas Buzelis G-League Team Elite

5. Stephon Castle UConn

tankathon.com

1. Alexandre Sarr France

2. Zaccharie Risacher France

3. Nikola Topic Serbia

4. Reed Sheppard Kentucky

5. Rob Dillingham Kentucky

Fordham University

My research indicates this university located in the Bronx has quite an extensive list of celebrity alumni. Among them are two former basketball players, one being Nate ‘Tiny’ Archibald, after a brilliant NBA career he enrolled at Fordham and received a master’s degree in 1990. The “other” basketball player’s name might be even more familiar to the general public than Archibald despite the extensive NBA career of Archibald. This former player was a guard and played for coach PJ Carlesimo while he was enrolled at Fordham.

There is not a great deal of additional detail on his basketball exploits, either he was just average on the basketball court or decided to head in another direction for his career. He played at Fordham in the mid 1970’s if that aids you in deciding who this outstanding alumnus is. One more hint he became famous on the west coast and not Mount Vernon NY where he was born. Do you give up or do you need one more hint? This will definitely give away his name, he’s an actor, director and producer. In addition he’s won two Academy Awards, okay if you haven’t figured out his name by now, it’s Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. I guess that basketball career didn’t turn out very well for him.

Happy Days are Hear Again

I checked the history, the headline is a tune originally recorded in 1929, since then several artists have recorded their version of it. The most recent adaptation I believe was recorded in 1963 by Barbra Streisand. For your information Streisand was born in Brooklyn New York, although the Nets call it home now they are not the team making the most noise. It appears after numerous moves (draft choices, trades & free agents) the Knicks are a legitimate contending team.

I am not claiming these Knicks are rivals of the Patrick Ewing version but they definitely have folks in New York City smiling except those in Brooklyn who gravitated to the Nets. What’s most interesting one of the Knicks’ most well-known celebrity actually hails from the borough of Brooklyn. That person would be movie director Spike Lee who pledges eternal loyalty to the Knicks. As this is written the Knicks have a 43-28 record and are in second place in the Atlantic Division. Point guard Jalen Brunson is one of the driving forces in the resurgence of these Knicks. They have managed to weather the storm of losing Mitchell Robinson and Julius Randle to injuries. It would appear they might be prepared for a deep playoff run.