Basketball from a fans perspective

Published Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday

A beginning

Unlike most in the basketball world I might be overly cautious, I don’t expect Team USA to win routinely. I have stated over and over the field is slowly being leveled. I continue to believe the best basketball is still played in the U.S., despite my belief I can see an ever-increasing number of players from Europe, Africa and Australia. The balance might change one day but not now. With that intricate disclaimer I will now begin. Team USA managed to overcome a stubborn persistent Team Serbia 110 to 84.

Team USA must play at peak level in these games. LeBron James was himself however it was Kevin Durant who was en Fuego. After struggling with an injury he emerged from the bench scoring 23 points, check me on this. I only counted one missed shot by Durant in his time on the court. Next up Team USA will face the team from South Sudan on Wednesday. Some of you might remember what occurred the last time Team USA faced South Sudan. Jackass Gilbert Arenas made a number of crude comments about the team from South Sudan, he later offered a half-hearted apology when called out by several in the media including former NBA players. 

By the way after the Team USA-Serbia game I discovered that same South Sudan team Arenas ridiculed managed to pound Puerto Rico 90-79. South Sudan might be one of the youngest nations in the world only gaining its independence in July 9, 2011. Am I apologizing for poor play from Team USA…certainly not however I’m not going to become stunned as some have become at times. I believe the conditions of basketball around the world have changed, this is no longer 1992. We can no longer win international games at the jump circle. Team USA must play a total game if it intends to continue playing Gold Medal winning basketball.

Why are you surprised…I’m not

Coach Cal’s first Arkansas recruit has made his commitment known, the prospect is Darius Acuff from Detroit. Acuff is a 6-foot 2 175-pound guard who attends IMG Academy in Florida, I located this information on the youngster. He is rated a 5- star prospect by Rivals and number 9 on their list, 247 Sports also awards 5 stars and places him at number 4. On3.com awards Acuff 4-stars and the number 18 position on their list. Although no one has any idea if he is able to make the transition smoothly a number of high-profile schools made offers.

Among the schools with offers were Bill Self at Kansas and his home state University of Michigan and UConn. Imagine this, the defending NCAA champions twice and you choose Arkansas. The headline says it all, you can choose to love him or hate him Coach Cal manages to attract talent no matter his location. Certainly one of the keys is his NBA connection, annually he is always in attendance at the NBA draft. I’m sure there are former players Cal coached at UMass, Memphis and Kentucky that had little if any NBA aspirations. If a prospect has the NBA in his future Cal is certainly one of the coaches a prospect gravitates toward.

What does the future hold

Kansas City and St. Louis have become “fly over country” for the NBA. Whenever there is discussion on NBA expansion both are generally mentioned but that’s about all. Why is that, both Kansas City and St. Louis were once home to the Kings and Hawks franchises. The Kings called Kansas City home from 1972-1985 but the question remains why did they leave? I located one on-line source only partially correct, it claims “poor attendance” which is somewhat correct however a brief look at that. I checked the history from 1972 through 1985 the Kings had four winning seasons. No matter how loyal a fan you are paying dollars to see your hometown team consistently lose is depressing. It was said at a point attendees would seek out games of the Lakers, Knicks and Bucks in the majority of instances.

St. Louis acquired the Hawks franchise when it relocated to the city in 1955. At that time, the sports dollar was divided between Cardinals baseball and Hawks basketball. In the middle 1960’s all that changed, the NFL Cardinals arrived, the NHL Blues and a North American Soccer League team. The Hawks were sold to an Atlanta group and moved in 1968. This is the most amazing part to me, unlike what occurred in Kansas City with the Kings the Hawks were Western Division Champions with a 56-26 record yet they averaged less than 7,000 fans that season. How bad was it, the history says they played 6 games in Miami that year. Of course that was long before the expansion Heat began play. The move to Atlanta came 10 years after the Hawks won the 1958 NBA Championship. So there you have the brief history why Kansas City and St. Louis became “fly over country” for the NBA and maybe why the league never intends to return. It’s probably just as well, each city has an abundance of other professional sports today.  

Top 10 Duke players

I’m unsure of the date however a list of the Top 10 UCLA basketball players was presented for you. There have been a number of colleges and universities that lead the way in producing quality basketball players. UCLA, Kansas and now Duke have been in the front position of talented college teams for years. For these purposes you can agree or disagree with my list, did I leave someone off that should have been included? You make that call, as for the NBA that’s explained at the end of this account. I should also point out they athletes are not placed in any particular order just the all-time Top 10, with that said here goes:

 

 1. Christian Laettner

 2. Grant Hill

 3. Jay Williams

 4. Zion Williamson

 5. JJ Redick

 6. Johnny Dawkins

 7. Danny Ferry

 8. Elton Brand

 9. Shane Battier

10. Bobby Hurley

I’m sure by now you are checking out the list and saying to yourself. “________ didn’t have much of an NBA career” and you might be correct. This is what the athlete accomplished while playing at Duke. With the exception of Zion Williamson all the names played more than two years at Duke. In addition to that some of those named were placed on All American teams. Next up for your review is the Top 10 players for the University of Kentucky.