Basketball from a fan’s perspective

He’s headed for the Big XII

A number of you might remember the name Jayden Quaintance. He’s a 6-foot 9 230-pound 5-star prospect in the Class of 2024, at one time it was believed he was headed to Mizzou. That would not be the case, he would commit to Kentucky and John Calipari. But wait there is more to the story, soon after Quaintance made his intent known the coach decided to go in another direction. He resigned from Kentucky and decided to take over at another SEC school the University of Arkansas.

A number of the Kentucky commits followed the coach to Fayetteville. Quaintance opened his recruitment again apparently there was no intention on his part to head for Arkansas. Quaintance made his decision known, he’s committed to Arizona State and coach Bobby Hurley. Arizona State heads into its first season in the Big XII finishing 14-18, its hoped Quaintance will help the Sun Devils improve their won-loss record in their first year in the Big XII conference. They must improve their level of play, the Big XII is one of the strongest basketball conferences in the nation.

I am backing up

This is a retreat from an earlier position I took, some of you might remember this. I stated no more would be written about Bronny James until after the NBA draft, I felt at the time and continue to believe he’s not ready. I make this statement despite the fact he’s been given the green light by the NBA and has looked good in the NBA Draft Combine. The change comes from Bronny himself, most of you are aware at least the last three years all we’ve heard from LeBron is how he wants to play in the NBA with his son.

I cannot fault him for that statement but we never heard from the son. If you’ve not read this previously you are now hearing from the son, Bronny says “It’s more important for him to be drafted and play in the NBA over playing alongside his father.” To me that certainly makes a great deal of sense, in addition I don’t believe he’d turned down an opportunity to play on the same team as his dad but what if it doesn’t occur? I’m not upset with LeBron or Bronny, it is interesting we read and hear his thoughts rather than filtered through his father.

He agrees with me

Stephen Jackson had an NBA career playing for a number of teams, I’ve had an NBA career as a fan, now that you see the difference I will proceed. Shortly after the Clippers were playoff eliminated I questioned if they would be able to compete successfully in the future. Reading the comments of Jackson he is more vocal than me indicating the Clippers should be broken apart immediately. He pointed to the fact this is essential due to the move, the team begins play in the Intuit Dome in the fall. I pointed out the core of this team is 32+ age which is a positive in one sense. That age factor accounts for a veteran presence on the floor for the most part.

On the other hand it also says a veteran team is “prone to injury, also load management” must be taken into consideration. He’s not the only problem but James Harden played much as he’s done in the past. His game is satisfactory during the season but almost completely disappears in the playoffs. Russell Westbrook cannot shoot from distance, his grit says to me his game might add more than Harden. I profiled Paul George earlier so the final assessment is that of Kawhi Leonard. The Claw has been a talented player for the Spurs and Raptors, but not so much for the Clippers. The Clippers have not received the best version due to injury and age. It’s unlikely they trade him so his fit with the team I question. Does Kawhi have enough left to continue as the team leader, that is a gigantic question mark for me?

Who says you need experience

It’s interesting, if you check Wikipedia it describes Doug Gottlieb as “an American basketball analyst and sports talk radio host.” We can now add head basketball coach to the sentence we just read, Gottlieb’s been a media personality for several years, he’s worked for ESPN and more recently Fox Sports. His prior background was that of a basketball player, first at Notre Dame and later Oklahoma State. After college he managed a pro career in Europe for a number of years.

The University of Wisconsin Green Bay announced the hiring of Gottlieb as the 10th head coach in the school’s history. Despite his apparent lack of coaching experience he’s actually served as an assistant coach from time to time in between his media work. It’s evident Gottlieb wanted this opportunity for a time, he interviewed for the head coaching position at the time the school chose Mike Boynton at Oklahoma State. In addition we discover Gottlieb was a finalist last season, Green Bay hired Sundance Wicks who’s since left for the head coaching job at Wyoming.