Basketball from a fan’s perspective

He was more than basketball

Late Sunday afternoon I read a Yahoo news story indicating Bill Walton died. They once called him the redhead but the hair had turned gray he was after all 71-years old. The report indicated Walton had died of cancer, few of us were aware of his condition. We noticed his absence from ESPN’s college coverage this past season. It’s difficult to describe his role as an analyst, let’s just say there was no other like him. It’s a shame a generation or two only remember him as this over-the-top basketball analyst but he was more.

A friend of mine described Walton in this manner, “I’ve always thought of Bill as the NBA’s Renaissance man.” A 3-time All American at UCLA, drafted by the Blazers he managed to lead them to the 1977 NBA Championship their only one to date. They beat an exceptionally talented Sixer team who in my opinion believed they would “mail the championship” ahead of time. It’s unfortunate, injuries would limit and shorten his NBA career. In 1986 he was named Sixth Man of the Year while playing for the Celtics. His inspirational play off the bench was a key factor in a Celtic championship. This short soliloquy does him no true justice, Bill Walton is that special person that is born to distinguish himself in something (basketball) but there was more to the man than the game of basketball.

Scholarship math

I suppose if a ‘Kobe Bryant’ or some other phenom indicated a desire to attend Mizzou he would be added somehow to the existing roster. That statement is made despite the fact the cupboard is full, there are 18 roster members on the basketball team who will arrive on campus in August. The composition of this Mizzou team is 5 graduate seniors, 2 seniors, 2 juniors, 4 sophomores and 5 freshman. This is written in late May, at this point it would appear only freshman Annor Boateng is likely to see time on the court.

On the other hand should the 5 graduate seniors and the bulk of the roster develop in a cohesive manner Mizzou will not suffer a repeat of the horrible last season. My chief concern is the underclassmen, will they be disappointed in the lack of playing time? It’s easy for me to sit here and claim patience your day will come. There are two concerns at this point, the Mizzou won-loss record improves in 2024-25 and the underclassmen have patience. As for the latter, we are in rarified air, according to 247Sports Mizzou is in 5th place nationwide in its recruiting class.

Build the team in this method

My view on building a championship NBA team has changed over time, if you have a ‘LeBron James’ who decides he wants to join your team you sign him. Other than an athlete of his caliber I continue to believe in constructing a team through the draft. As an example the Thunder have been eliminated but check out the composition of the team, other than SGA the roster is draft picks. I could make the same statement regarding the Celtics, Jrue Holiday has been an outstanding addition. Despite this fact Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are the foundation of the team and clearly the leadership.

Although the Pacers are 0-3 in their series against the Celtics the foundation of the team was built through the draft. We could make the same statement about the Wolves, other than Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley they have been built through the NBA draft as well. The Nuggets 2023 NBA Champions have also been built through the draft with the exception of KCP. This exercise offers no proof, of all the teams named the Nuggets are the lone championship. As for an example of how to not build a championship we can look at the example of the Los Angeles Clippers. Kawhi Leonard, Paul George along with Russell Westbrook are free agent signees while James Harden was acquired in a trade. Creating through the draft might be the protracted manner to build a championship team it might still be the best method.

He’s how old?

A few of you may have seen the video circulating of Dabone Mohamed Samsoundine floating around. The headline of the video claims Mohamed is “12-years old”, friends I didn’t fall out of bed and bump my head. After seeing him in action in and around the basket I said to myself “This is no 12-year-old.” I repeated this later to a friend who sent me the video. “There is no way this youngster is that young so I decided to conduct a little research. This is what I discovered on a FIBA website, Mohamed is actually 16-years old he’s from the West African nation of Togo. Just because something is out there doesn’t always make for accuracy or the truth.

Nobody remembers

The 1976-77 Minnesota Gophers team finished the regular season with a 24-3 record. There was no post season for them because they were on probation, the record is listed as 0-27 if you check the NCAA archives. How good were they, they had a junior center Mychal Thompson (father of Klay). Thompson led them in scoring with 22.9 points and 8.9 rebounds a game, he would later be drafted by the NBA Blazers. It was with the Lakers Thompson would distinguish himself aiding the team to win championships during the Showtime era.

Also in the starting lineup for that team was the late Ray Williams, he would be drafted by the Knicks and for a time play for the KC Kings. The team had a freshman forward named Kevin McHale who later played for the Celtics, he’s now in the Naismith and College Basketball Hall of Fame. The starting point guard on that team was the late Flip Saunders, Saunders had no NBA career as a player but was a longtime coach of the NBA Wolves. Here’s the interesting part, Mark Landsberger and Mark Olberding aware Minnesota was going on probation left school early, both players had extensive NBA careers. The team nobody remembers although it certainly contained a number of players who distinguished themselves later in the NBA.