Basketball from a fans perspective

Best athlete or draft by position

As a reminder the draft is coming on Wednesday and Thursday this upcoming week. I pose the question again regarding the NBA draft, do you draft the best athlete or do you plan on drafting by position? I have an issue with two mock sites I regularly utilized, one has the Lakers drafting Johnny Furphy Kansas while the other list Jared McCain Duke. The problem for me is not a talent rather the fact both athletes are guards, I have no idea if there might be a trade pending. Currently it’s my belief the Lakers are top heavy with guards be they of the shooting or point guard variety.

On the Laker roster at present is D’Angelo Russell, Spencer Dinwiddie, Gabe Vincent, Austin Reaves, Jalen Hood-Schifino and Max Christie. That’s a grand total of 6 guards that closed out the 2023-24 season for the Lakers. The key problem as I see it there are limits on court minutes with numbers similar to this, Hood-Schifino and Christie rarely played and Vincent was injured most of the season. I surely hope both these mock draft sites are not correct because the moves if one of them occurs fail to make sense to me. The question on who to draft is now in the hands of head coach JJ Redick and president & GM Rod Pelinka. As a former guard does Redick follow the mock recommendation or someone else, we shall see on Wednesday and Thursday.

College basketball news & notes

It’s a good day when you learn a thing you didn’t know the day before. That’s the case for me, the Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune obtained a portion of Mizzou’s schedule through an open records request. This type of request has been used by the media for years to obtain information from government be it state or federal, this is my first knowledge of its use in this manner. In any event, Mizzou will open the season against Memphis their on November 4. November 11 Mizzou will host Eastern Washington and on November 14 they will face Mississippi Valley State. In state Lindenwood College will be the opponent on November 27. This represents just a portion of Mizzou’s non-con schedule, other opponents and dates will be finalized as they become available.

This account actually began with local sports talk radio. I listened to the co-host discuss what occurs with the Big XII on several issues including its headquarters. A little history here, for years the old Big 8 conference headquarters was located in Kansas City (MO). Once the old Southwest Conference went kerplunk several Texas schools including the largest the University became part of the expanded conference hence the Big XII.

At some point with the financial clout of a University of Texas a decision was made to move the headquarters to Dallas. Fast forward to the present, as most of you are aware Texas along with Oklahoma have departed for the SEC. Will the conference remain in the Dallas metro after the departure? Baylor, Texas Tech and TCU remain and this is certainly not meant as a slap in the face for the three schools. Do they have the financial clout of a Texas? Keep in mind this is all speculation on my part the moving vans have not backed up to the Big XII headquarters…just food for thought.

Has the countdown begun, is the NCAA on its deathbed? Well that statement might be premature however the landscape, especially regarding basketball, has changed I believe. We can only speculate at this point what the NCAA might appear in 2034 or even sooner. The chief question, will there be a requirement for the body to perform a portion of its present role? If I use my imagination this is what I foresee in 10 years. Impact decisions being made at the conference level and the NCAA acting as conduit. Remember the old days when schools and sometimes conferences took the NCAA to court for a ruling or judgement? There will be no need for it to occur, changes will be made and they must be accepted by the 2034 NCAA.

It could happen 

We are days ahead of the 2024 NBA draft, unless something cataclysmic occurs this draft will be a repeat. A repeat in this regard, last year we saw ‘The Ailen’ as LeBron refers to him…Victor Wembanyama drafted number one. As you are aware Wemby is from France, the repeat is another French youngster being drafted as the top pick. His name, Zaccharie Risacher and he is 6 foot 9 ½ inches tall and 209 pounds. Risacher is likely projected at the small forward position, this is written Saturday afternoon before the Wednesday night draft.

What I find most interesting if not Risacher at the top spot it’s still likely to be a French youngster. Lining up behind Risacher is Alexandre Sarr, he stands 7 foot 1 and weighs 224 pounds, Sarr is projected as a center in the NBA. There are other French athletes in the 2024 draft however the two mentioned are at the top. There have been international players at the top of the draft previously but never two in succession. Akeem (Hakeem) Olajuwon from Nigeria was chosen number one in 1984, in 1998 Michael Olowokandi also from Nigeria was the number one pick, 2002 witnessed Yao Ming from China and in 2005 Andrew Bogut from Australia was the top pick.

NBA future

The NBA Blazers were in rebuilding mode, because of that fact we didn’t see them on any of the NBA outlets. Based on that fact we lost track of Sterling ‘Scoot’ Henderson. He was a 5-star prospect at the time he graduated high school, after mulling over several offers he decided to turn pro. Henderson went to work for NBA G-League Team Elite. Due to his age Henderson was ineligible for the NBA draft, based on this fact he was forced to spend two seasons with Elite. He’s got size as a point guard standing 6 foot 3 and 202 pounds.

Those who might have not known his name did after his team was matched against Victor Wembanyama and Metropolitans 92 in Las Vegas. Point guard Henderson was made the number three pick in the 2023 NBA draft. His rookie season was a learning process for him, if we look at his numbers they were fair as he adjusted to NBA play. Positives were his 3-point shooting, assists and his free-throw shooting. Henderson’s 39% shooting from the floor should improve if we check out his G-League effort. Progress can be slow for a rookie attempting to learn how to play in the NBA on a poor team. Despite the statement expect to see improvement in his play in the 2024-25 season.

He remembers his roots

The Kansas City metro is not Chicago, Los Angeles or New York. The number of basketball players to have played in the NBA is quite minor compared to the cities above and maybe a few others. Despite that fact area players never fail to acknowledge their roots. The basketball court at Grandview HS has been named in honor of Alec Burks of the Knicks. Burks began his journey on the court that would lead him to the University of Colorado and being a first-round draft choice in 2011 by the Jazz. Burks has played for a number of teams over his 13-year NBA career.

Burks made financial contributions to his former high school in a number of areas, the school is now acknowledging this by naming the basketball court in his honor. The metro area almost always contains a player who honed his basketball skills here. Landry Shamet a reserve guard for the Wizards is a product of Oak Park HS. Ish Wainwright is a member of the Suns, he played his high school basketball at Raytown South in the metro and Montrose Christian School in Maryland. Jacob Gilyard’s time has been divided between the Nets and their G-League affiliate, he attended Barstow HS in the city. I hope I’ve not missed anyone, there are other former area players who spent time in the NBA but are now retired.