Basketball from a fan’s perspective

There is no FOR SALE sign in the window

The NCAA is not going out of business, there is far too much money to be made. Beginning now the sports landscape continues to shift, in this instance it moves away from the antiquated hand of the NCAA. This landmark event says college and universities can begin paying athletes as employees, that is the underlying theme. What I read indicates athletes could earn a minimum of $20,000 year. That sum might not seem like a great deal of money but to an 18–22-year-old athlete it is far different.

Most athletes are not beneficiaries of NIL, with little income, that’s a great deal of money. Making that statement I’m sure there are others earning 10 times or more of that amount from NIL deals. The key difference is this latest change will benefit all athletes not just basketball and football players. This breaking news is just that, its breaking…I don’t have all the details but neither does everyone else including the athletes themselves. This is a continuing developing story as additional detail is provided, I will attempt to cover it as best possible.

Prove it

I can only speak for myself, I read a story recently and this is it’s basis, “UCLA’s John Wooden and other coaches of that era cheated.” If the writer were seated in front of me I’d ask them “how do you know this existed, are you prepared to offer me and others proof of your claim? Opinions are one thing actual proof is a far different matter. You don’t know my co-worker Keenan, he’s only 23-years old but this is generally his response to this account. “If no video exists it didn’t occur.”

In some instances, there is film/video in existence however I continue to question the WHY. Arguments about Jordan v Kobe could be discussed for days, those bother me but not nearly as much. There is a reason, are these cynics ready to provide us proof or is this just loose talk? Someone might claim I’m attempting to inhibit free speech, that is far from the case. Once again, I don’t like arguments like Kareem and Shaq, but they are easier for me to comprehend. How do you determine if someone cheated or conducted themselves in a nefarious manner without offering the reader or listener any proof?

Sorry I missed it

On Friday, a story was published regarding the NBA and its upcoming television package. I’m not a fan but a sizable portion of the viewing audience of TNT is upset. Inside the NBA with host Ernie Johnson has been on the air since 1990, he’s been joined by analyst Kenny ‘The Jet’ Smith (1998), Charles Barkley (2000) and Shaquille O’Neal (2011) discussing the NBA game to be viewed before and after. From time-to-time other former NBA and WNBA players have sat on the podium with Ernie however the three former players make up the cast the majority of time. Based on time you can see Inside the NBA has been a long running staple of TNT broadcasts.

The chief description which probably fits most fans is for Inside the NBA to become independent, i.e., not affiliated with any planned future network. In a manner similar to the past the crew would appear before and after the game. That would seem to be a solution but is it workable? I would imagine should the deal transpire NBC and ESPN might desire their own group to operate this type of program. On the other hand realizing the tremendous following generated of Inside the NBA might create an appeal to continue the program in its present manner. In any event the television deal might be announced soon however none of this will take place before the end of the 2024-25 NBA season. I will attempt to provide updates on this and other stories as they occur.

He’s been cleared

Last January I failed to write on Josh Giddey OKC guard, you might remember he’d been accused of an improper relationship with an underage female. The incident occurred in California and after an investigation the Long Beach Police Department declined to pursue the charge. This week the NBA cleared Giddey so all is well I would suppose. That is not quite the case on the court, Giddey’s game regressed this past season. Every one of his numbers registered below the previous year but there is a question in my mind.

Was the prospect of litigation hanging over his head impacting his game or was it something else? It was said by more than one media member this occurred, SGA’s game was on an upward trend and with less playing time caused the decline of Giddey’s on court time. It was the fact Giddey apparently couldn’t play SGA’s game that brought more to the table and the coach decided to go with SGA. This can be partially traced to the improved record the Thunder experienced. With that said what does the future hold for Giddey? Plenty in my view the Australian guard remains a valuable commodity at the age of 21 with three NBA years under his belt. The Thunder could possibly explore a trade and they would be looking toward addressing a need they came up short. I know the Thunder would refuse a trade to my Lakers, but I would take Giddey in a heartbeat.

Let’s fix the Spurs

Here we are a few weeks prior to the draft I have no idea if there are any proposed trades or free agents headed to San Antonio. Let’s fix the Spurs the best way we can with the 2024 NBA Draft, that works for me and I’m sure you as well. As you might be aware the Spurs have the 4th and 8th pick in this draft, with that in mind one of the players on this list might have been selected prior to the Spurs. Based on that fact these are the names who could be available when it’s time to make their selection:

Stephon Castle 6-foot 6-inch 215-pound combo guard UConn

Rob Dillingham 6-foot 3-inch 175-pound point guard UConn

Ron Holland 6-foot 8-inch 205-pound small forward G-League

Nikola Topic 6-foot 6-inch 200-pound point guard Serbia

Cody Williams 6-foot 8-inch 190-pound small forward Colorado