Basketball from a fans perspective

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And what medical school did you attend?

The reported signing of Christian Koloko by the Lakers caused quite a stir. Letter after letter questioned his medical status, it wasn’t just 4 or 5 from one website…I stopped counting at 10. My statement is simple, Koloko might not be able to help the Lakers. There might be aspects of his game the coaching staff might uncover which leave him lacking. Despite my statement it appears the vast majority of you are ready to medically disqualify him, considering the fact a blood issue caused him to miss the last 1 and ½ seasons that’s understandable. The question for many of you is simple, what medical school did you attend?

A number of you are ready to write Koloko off despite the fact you are providing an opinion without little if any medical knowledge. If I were you it might be an innovative idea to wait for a trained medical staff to fully evaluate him. In addition some of you attempted to tie his condition in with former Heat forward Chris Bosh. For those who don’t remember a similar medical issue did end his NBA career, however, you fail to consider medical advancements. Surgery is reported to have fully addressed the issue, in addition reports indicate Koloko's been working out in 5 on 5 drills. There is only one conclusion we can draw from this situation. these prospects. Take a crack at not squeezing Koloko’s condition into your limited knowledge of medicine, his case might be totally unlike Bosh.

Team USA-2028

This is a re-visit because of a later read, if you remember I gave you my list of Olympic Team USA for 2028. Evidently one NBA player doesn’t agree with me, he claims the team will lack the grit and leadership of LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. I can understand that might be true, the trio certainly were key to Team USA winning the Gold Medal. There is an area where I lack the ability, the capability to accurately project the future.

Of course I can agree with this player Team USA will be lacking the leadership of those mentioned, is he claiming this will be the basis for the failure to win Gold? He could be correct however I’m not brave enough to make that statement in 2024, I’d like to revisit this issue four years from now. In closing a website I located contained listed several names omitted from my list. Along with the names I listed earlier this added to the Team USA roster was Jalen Brunson, Jalen Suggs, Cooper Flagg, Chet Holmgren. Do you think the team can be competitive with the world? 

It’s likely he’s the only one

I came across his name while conducting research, his was Jo Jo White. It is likely White is the only basketball player from Missouri fans of Kansas basketball love. Allow for an explanation, White was born in St. Louis and attended McKinley HS. In 1965 White decided to journey across Missouri and attend Kansas University. The bio indicates White began play a semester early, in addition to an outstanding collegiate career he played a significant role in the history book of basketball.

The NCAA tournament saw Kansas facing Texas Western (now the University of Texas-El Paso) in 1966. In the first OT White hit a 35-foot shot which would have been the game winner. The game official ruled White was out of bounds when he took the shot thus a second OT. Kansas would lose to Texas Western in the second OT and the El Paso school would go on to a historic event. Texas Western with an all-black starting lineup would face all-white Kentucky, although this was 1966 the majority of major schools in the south had no black players on their rosters. White would go on to earn NCAA Second Team All American twice, he made the all-Big 8 (now Big XII) team three years. In 1969 the Celtics chose him as the 9th player in the first round of that year’s draft. White would become a key to the 1974 and 1976 NBA Championships won by the Celtics.

White played until 1979 for the Celtics but finished his last two years with the Warriors and Kansas City Kings. In addition to his NBA Championships he also won Gold in the 1967 Pan American Games and in the 1968 Olympics. In 2015 White was enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame. White died as a result of dementia brought on by pneumonia in 2018, he was two months past his 71st birthday. Jo Jo White a name from the past and surely the only Missouri guy Kansas fans love the memory.

It's an urban game

The title refers to the game of basketball and the fact many consider it a city game. I’m quite sure several will disagree with that hypothesis, we could look back in history and Larry Bird (French Lick, Indiana). In addition to Bird we could today point toward Cooper Flagg (Newport, Maine). Flagg’s college game is yet to be evaluated, most likely he’s the most talented high school player in the nation. Bird and Flagg and others over time acquired their basketball skills in small towns and rural portions of America. It might be a population thing, my belief it’s a space issue. Consider the fact the space required to play basketball is quite insignificant compared to other team sports.

Football, baseball and soccer require a great deal of space that is not required for basketball. In urban portions of the nation you might see a milk carton or a basketball goal attached to a utility pole in an inner city neighborhood. Lacking a park or gym enterprising youngsters can be seen holding up their game to allow vehicle traffic to pass. Next we turn to basketball courts in parks and the playground of schools, these can sometimes be filled with scores of participants. These games are often not full court so a different team could be playing directly opposite of the other. No argument the game is played in rural areas and small town America but its blossomed in urban portions of this nation. Keep in mind this is just an opinion and certainly cannot be taken as fact more an observation.