Basketball from a fans perspective

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This is shocking

The University of Virginia begins a search for a new head basketball coach. This search will be conducted in earnest at the conclusion of the 2024-25 season. For reasons unclear longtime coach Tony Bennett tendered his resignation. Bennett is not the first coach nor will he be the last to leave his job, he is one of few who leaves with a question mark for the why. This is written three weeks prior to the start of the basketball season.

Consider this fact, there are freshmen at Virginia who committed on the basis of the head coach and now Bennett’s gone. He certainly didn’t have a job in jeopardy issue, Bennett is a winning coach, his Cavalier teams have won over 300 games since his arrival including the 2019 NCAA championship. If the coach resigned due to illness that certainly would be understandable however that doesn’t appear to be the case. We must await further information to determine the why, we are not privy to this information at the time of this writing.

Nobody was paying attention

Now that I’ve got your attention the headline above is only partially correct…allow a further explanation. Chet Holmgren of the Thunder was overshadowed by the play of Wemby. Despite the fact ALL the attention was placed on the French youngster Holmgren quietly had a good rookie season. He scored nearly 17 points a game while pulling down 8 rebounds, he shot 53% from the floor and was 37% from the three line. The numbers he established while good were overshadowed by Wemby who sucked all the oxygen out of the room when discussing NBA rookies. The Thunder were a particularly good team in fact they earned playoff success, led by Shai-Gilgeous Alexander they provided us proof they are an ascending NBA team.

Holmgren arriving on the stage was vital but his role was somewhat diminished by the Thunder being a solid team when he arrived. That was not the case in San Antonio, the Spurs were bad at the time Wemby arrived and aided them into an improved record. That would not be the case for Holmgren, he simply became a player the Thunder simply “plugged” into the power forward position. His stature reminds us of Wemby in a manner of speaking, Holmgren is 7 foot 1 and a wafer thin 207 pounds. There was no way for Holmgren to win NBA Rookie of the Year with the leagues focus on Wemby. Despite my last statement it’s my belief the Thunder have a solid player for now and into the future barring major injury with Chet Holmgren in the lineup.

How long do you recruit

I read a story recently which surprised me, it turns out 7 foot Peyton Marshall had committed to Auburn. According to what I read he became the first prospect Mizzou’s Dennis Gates looked at although the newly hired Gates was aware of Auburn but continued to recruit Marshall. Fast forward in this story and we discover Marshall would decommit and later but verbally commit to Mizzou August 2023. As for this freshman he is a legitimate 7 footer and he is reported to weigh nearly 300 pounds,

I certainly make no claims of expertise here but him losing 20-30 pounds he could still dominate the paint. I’d mentioned this previously I am really curious to see how much he plays and his adjustment to the collegiate game. I’ve got to believe 7 foot 260 pound Josh Gray a grad transfer from South Carolina will play most of the time in the post for the Tigers. As for Marshall his learning curve will be the decider. As a Mizzou fan I’m pumped, one of the key problems last season was ineffective rebounding and between Gray and Marshall that should be corrected. The end result could see Marshall occupying the post position in his sophomore season provided he is not discouraged playing behind Gray this season.

I wonder

My research history of the NBA caused me to stumble on to this bit of information. I didn’t realize the Nets history is somewhat aligned with that of the Knicks, in addition there was a beneficiary between the two that proved extraordinarily successful for their competition…the Sixers. We must travel back to the time the NBA expanded and took in those ABA teams the NBA desired. Among those teams were the New York Nets and their MVP Julius Erving, Roy Boe owner of the Nets also owned the NHL Islanders. In 1976 Boe was forced to pay the NBA a $3.2 million entry fee ($16 million in today’s dollars) and another $4.8 million to the Knicks ($22 million today) in the form of an “indemnification fee” i.e., compensation for harm or loss.

As you can see paying out that amount of money in addition to running the Islanders there was no way Boe could afford to pay Julius Erving an MVP salary. The history indicates Boe attempted to trade Irving to the Knicks but they refused, waiting anxiously were the Sixers in Philly. They were well pleased absorbing the Erving contract and as they say the balance of the story is NBA history. A curiosity on my part that the Nets at the time were playing in New York (Long Island) that was the basis for indemnification. The Nets moved to New Jersey (New York Metro) where they spent 35 years before relocating to Brooklyn in 2012, should we guess the original indemnification remained viable from 1976. Rest assured the Knicks have been given plenty of grief passing on Dr. J., 35th, 50th and 75th NBA Anniversary Team member.