Basketball from a fans perspective

Plenty of frequent flyer miles

Chris Paul will sign a 1-year contract to play for the San Antonio Spurs. He is the ideal fit for a young team and certainly will help them improve their game. What prompts this account you might ask? I saw a photo of him on social media in the jersey of all the teams he’s played for, I didn’t realize the number. He’s 39-years old now, my guess his wife must be tired of all the moves and his kids probably feel the same about changing schools.

It’s interesting, Paul might be the last of a vanishing breed. He represents the last true point guard, players arriving today in the NBA are more like combo guards. These combo guards are certainly better shooters than point guards of a by gone era. As for Paul despite the number of moves from team to team the one complaint I’ve heard he is injury prone. Chris Paul’s outstanding play at the point over his career has often been overshadowed by his absence due to injury. Despite the one negative when one says “point guard” Paul’s name is at the top of the list, as for the teams:    

2005-2011 New Orleans Hornets

2011-2017 Los Angeles Clippers

2017-2019 Houston Rockets

2019-2020 Oklahoma City Thunder

2020-2023 Phoenix Suns

2023-2024 Golden State Warriors

2024-2025 San Antonio Spurs

2025

There are approximately 5 months and a number of days remaining in this year until the calendar turns to 2025. It’s a little under one full year until the 2025 NBA draft, the date’s not been set however we know it’s likely to be the week of June 22. My guess is June 25 and 26, this is early but I decided to check out several mock draft sites. This information I found quite interesting, four NBA mock draft sites all contained the same name at the top. His name, Cooper Flagg a 6-foot 8 205-pound wunderkind from Duke is the chosen one, as for the mock sites:

bleacherreport.com

tankathon.com

nbadraftroom.com

nbadraft.net

Nothing is ever a guarantee however the four draft sites all place Flagg at the top, the consensus of opinion he is likely to be the first name announced by commissioner Silver next June. Also in contention for the top slot are the following prospects. Ace Bailey a 6 foot-8 forward listed on two sites, also named Nolan Traore a 6-foot 4-point guard from France. 

In contention for the top spot is Dylan Harper a 6-foot 6 combo guard and 7-foot 1 250-pound Khaman Maluach also from Duke by way of South Sudan. Naturally, all of the names with the exception of Traore must provide proof of their ability during the upcoming college season. At the same time there might be other names that come to the front once the season begins. They must convince scouts and the front office of NBA teams they are ready for the stiff competition of play they will face.

Territorial draft pick

We just completed the 2024 draft I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at an earlier time in draft history. From 1949 until 1966 when the draft was revised the NBA operated a program titled Territorial Draft. An NBA team could draft a popular college player in the hope that would draw fans to games. Keep in mind the NBA at that time was certainly a pro league but was trying to gain traction with fans. That’s how Wilt Chamberlain played at the University of Kansas however home for him was Philadelphia. 

Prior to the team moving to the west coast the Warriors were located in Philadelphia and of course drafted Chamberlain, we could make a similar statement regarding former Senator Bill Bradley, he played his college ball at Princeton University. Bradley was from the St. Louis area however Princeton NJ was in the footprint of Madison Square Garden and the Knicks. Check this out from sources “Before the draft, a team could forfeit its first-round draft pick and then select any player from within a 50-mile (80 km) radius of its home arena. As a result of the territorial picks being selected before the draft, these picks were not factored into the overall selection count of the draft; therefore, the first non-territorial pick of the draft was considered the first overall pick.”

Depending on the location Princeton NJ is close to the maximum distance however I’m not sure if this was questioned at the time. That certainly might sound confusing but it worked and successfully I might add. This should certainly be of note, of the 23 territorial picks 12 players have been inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame. Besides Chamberlain and Bradley a few others were Oscar Robertson, Gail Goodrich, Tom Heinsohn and Jerry Lucas.

Much of the old guard is gone

Mostly all of them are gone, this is not in any order but they are no longer prowling the sidelines. The landscape of college basketball has changed in the coaching ranks, many of the longtime coaches have retired. Roy Williams retired at North Carolina, the Duke Blue Devils witnessed Coach K. leave Cameron Indoor Stadium a time ago. Jay Wright won two NCAA championships but he’s left Villanova and the game misses him. Coach Jim Boeheim spent 47 years at the helm at Syracuse.

Despite the passage of time regarding that age thing we still have a number of coaches working who could have retired ages ago. Bill Self might be it, he’s 61-years old and has been at the University of Kansas going into his 21st year. Leonard Hamilton at 75 is still at Florida State, he will begin year 22 at FSU, Mike Woodson (age 66) remains in place at Indiana. Rick Pitino is coaching St. John’s and he will turn 72 by the time the season begins, the University of Miami (FL) has 74-year-old Jim Larranaga still patrolling the sidelines. LaSalle University has 74-year-old Fran Dunphy heading the program. There are names I probably missed but can we say age ain’t nothing but a number.