Basketball from a fans perspective

I’ve read complaints, the question is why? 

This subject has been mentioned in the past, an addendum was required thanks to the sports news. I don’t follow other professional sports in the same manner of basketball. Despite this fact on Sunday evening I heard the announcement of All Star baseball players by the local news. Salvador Perez catcher for the Royals was named an American League All Star. In addition Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers has also been named to the National League All-Star team. What do those two have in common, they are international players Perez is from Venezuela and Ohtani hails from Japan?

I thought for a moment baseball has contained international players from Latin America since the days of my youth, at one time MLB contained a large total of Cuban athletes. An increasing number of today’s baseball players are from the Dominican Republic. In more recent times we’ve witnessed soccer (football worldwide) make tremendous inroads in America. Although these teams contain American players a segment of each team’s roster is comprised of international players. These international players are from all over the world, after all it’s the world’s sport. By now you are wondering, “Where the heck is he going with this?” I’m headed to basketball and reflecting on those of you complaining about the increased number of international players especially in the NBA draft. I’ve attempted to point out in the past there is a basis for the increase.

Maybe those complaining about international athletes in basketball don’t follow baseball or soccer. NFL football remains the only professional team sports that contains mostly American athletes and that is not totally correct. Historically one of the Chiefs all-time great running backs was Christian Okoye, although he played football at Azuza Pacific University in Azuza California he arrived there from Nigeria. Think about that a moment the next time you decide to complain about internationals in the NBA draft. It seems some of us are awful possessive about basketball despite the fact it’s not “American.” Dr. James A. Naismith invented the game in Springfield Massachusetts, his country of birth…Canada.

He's got no clue

If you have the connections you claim it might behoove you to do a little homework. There is a photo of this individual turning up his nose with the Knicks selection at 25 of Pacome Dadiet. Dadiet is from France, he’d been playing for Paris Basketball this past season. I am placing a hold at this point to provide you a bit more detail on Dadiet, I mentioned a sentence ago his home country, in addition he is a 6-foot 8 217 pound forward. I can state with conviction that I have no idea if the NBA exists in his future whether it’s with the Knicks or some other NBA team. We don’t have ability of scouts to see the player in action, besides the fact there are intangibles the average person would overlook anyway.

Although there were large numbers of naysayers regarding Victor Wembanyama at this point several had a positive view of Wemby prior to beginning rookie NBA season, i.e., there was a point of reference. A percentage of Americans had witnessed his team’s play against G-League Team Elite. As for Dadiet and other international players we truly don’t know, he could be a Michael Olowokandi (look him up) or a Dirk Nowitzki we just don’t know. Kristaps Porzingis has not set the world on fire yet has proven to be a solid NBA player, you do remember what occurred don’t you? Offering the viewers nothing to convince them he decided Porzingis couldn’t play at the NBA level. Boy did Porzingis prove this member of the media was off base in his initial talent assessment.

Hiawatha Kansas

This town today contains 3,225 persons according to the 2022 census, it’s certainly small town because the population was not much larger than it was at the time John McClendon was born. The town is located approximately 100-miles northeast of Kansas City Kansas and 70 miles north of Topeka the capital of the state. April 5, 1915, John McClendon was born in Hiawatha, he was African American and Delaware native American on his mother’s side. His mother died when he was but three years old which caused a temporary breakup of the family.

In the early 1920’s the family would settle in Kansas City Kansas where McClendon continued his education. It was Sumner HS in the city where his love affair with basketball began. After attending KCK Junior College McClendon enrolled at Kansas. Although segregation prohibited him from playing he learned the game from Dr. James A. Naismith who invented basketball. McClendon would coach at several high schools and colleges during his career. Coaching at the college level was at HBCU schools. His Tennessee A&I teams (now Tennessee State) won three consecutive NAIA championships, 1957, 1958 and 1959. This is a portion of history most are unaware, Bill Russell is considered the first professional black coach when he took over the Boston Celtics as player coach in 1966. The American Basketball League, not to be confused with the ABA which came a few years later. The Cleveland Pipers hired McClendon as head coach in 1961, the league ceased operation after one and a half seasons. From 1966 to 1969 he would make history again being hired as head coach of Cleveland State the first black head basketball coach at an NCAA Division I program.

In 1979 McClendon was enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame as a contributor to the game, his influence, the fast-break, full-court press and 4 corners offense. He introduced all of them to college basketball. In 2006 he was enshrined in the College Basketball Hall of Fame in Kansas City (MO), in September 2016 McClendon was honored once again this time as a coach. On October 8, 1999, McClendon sadly passed away at the age of 84, John McClendon a name from basketball’s rich past you should recognize. 

Why don’t you write about other sports?

The question was asked and answered however I thought it should be discussed again. A reader posed this to me, “Why don’t you write about other sports while basketball is not in season?” The question was certainly valid and it required an answer. Growing up my sport of choice was baseball although I was aware of the others I just didn’t follow them with the same interest I did baseball. In high school my interest began to change, we had one of the best basketball teams in Kansas City.

At the time I attended high school that’s when the love affair with basketball began to bloom. Later the NFL and the Chiefs came into the picture however of all the sports basketball took over becoming my favorite sport to follow. As this occurred I paid less and less attention to the other professional sports teams. Sure I can name you players in baseball and football but nothing like the ability to recall that of NBA teams. The shorten version, I gravitate to the sport I love the most, basketball. That entails writing about it year-round because in the same manner of other sports it’s become a year-round pursuit for me.