Basketball from a fans perspective 

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His name is lost to many

I’d bet large sums of money you had no prior knowledge of this fact. The first Duke All American played in the NBA but a single season, he’s known for baseball play over basketball. The late Dick Groat while playing basketball was a second team All American in 1951 and first team in 1952. In those days there was no baseball draft, players generally signed with a major league team wanting their services. Despite his outstanding basketball play he was the shortstop for the baseball team while enrolled at Duke. The history is unclear however after his MLB debut (without spending one day in the minors) Groat began play for the Pistons then located in Fort Wayne Indiana.

Halfway through the season he decided to join the Army, he would lead Fort Belvoir to the Army championships in basketball and baseball. In 1955 Groat returned to Pirates baseball where he would be a member of the winning 1960 World Series team. He retired from baseball in 1967 and his name was included in another honor, Groat would be the 13th player who could claim they played in the NBA and MLB. April 23, 2023, Groat died from complications of a stroke he’d suffered a week before. The record says he would have played both sports if permitted, this was certainly possible in the 1950’s however Branch Rickey would not permit it. “I would never have given up basketball, but I would have lost the rest of my (baseball) bonus.” So there ends the story of Duke’s first All American basketball player…one who spent only a year in the NBA after earning honors playing basketball.

Once again we hear his name called

Earlier you read of the Knicks Mitchell Robinson and several teams making inquiries about him. The latest is my Lakers, remember AD being the butt of all jokes because it seemed he was always injured. A media member of Sports Illustrated is claiming the Lakers have contacted the Knicks about Robinson. On the surface one might say Robinson is in the same category although he doesn’t have the offensive game of AD. His defense might be a step or two better than AD in limited minutes but the question arises. NBA training camps have opened and where is Robinson?

He is no place in sight because once again he is in the process of recovering from injury. There is no doubt, the Lakers are shorthanded in the post, AD will start but has complained about playing the position time and time again. What I’ve read and witnessed Robinson is a defensive stalwart but that might be the problem. You cannot block every shot and grab every rebound, don’t you realize those are probably keys to your numerous injuries? Why did I write the last statement there is no possibility Robinson will read it. Friends I am a party of one with no impact regarding Laker decisions by Rob Pelinka. Despite the displayed talent of Robinson the Lakers should stay as far away as possible from any type of trade.

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The Knicks are a storied NBA franchise, they along with the Celtics and the Philadelphia Warriors are the legacy teams that remain from the birth of the league in 1946. The Knicks have fallen onto some trying times in recent years but it’s not always been that way. They won the league championship in 1970 and 1973 however there may have been more if someone in the Knicks front office had more foresight in decision making. It was pointed out to you previously the Knicks were offered the contract of Julius “Dr. J.” Erving at the time of the ABA-NBA expansion but turned the Nets down. Imagine this lineup appearing on the court if you will:

Walt Frazier point guard

Earl Monroe shooting guard

Spencer Haywood power forward

Bob McAdoo center

Dr. J. small forward 

Coming off the bench would be small forward Bill Bradley along with a crop of reserve players. Take into consideration this fact Frazier, Monroe, McAdoo, Haywood, Bradley and Dr. J. are all in the Naismith Hall of Fame. Of course no one could have predicted back then you’d have 6 hall of fame players on the same team. What’s even more interesting despite the talent of the starters minus Dr. J. that Knicks team finished the season with a 40-42 record hardly representative of the talent assembled. Who knows, adding Dr. J. to that group perhaps they fail to win an NBA championship however I don’t believe they would have experienced a losing season, just my revisionist history observation.

Bits n Pieces of information

There is more drama in the NBA regarding jersey numbers, some of you might remember I wrote of the Nuggets after they signed Russell Westbrook. Westbrook has worn 0 all his NBA career however the number belongs to Christian Braun, there was an indication he would give up the number to Westbrook and then he wasn’t. The drama then moved to the Spurs, veteran point guard Chris Paul signed with the Spurs after the season, Paul has worn jersey 3 throughout his NBA career at several stops. In this instance number 3 was held by Keldon Johnson, he’s worn the number during his 5 years in the NBA. Johnson will give up his jersey number to Paul although its understood reluctantly.     

It's interesting whenever a discussion of the GOAT commences there is a missing name. That name is Tim Duncan power forward for the Spurs, I say that because he spent his entire career in a Spurs jersey. Some might say “He was good but benefited by outstanding Spurs play.” Others might claim “Popovich is one of the NBA’s All-Time best coaches, it was beneficial to Duncan.” Let’s check out just a bit of the resume, 5X NBA Champion, 3X NBA Finals MVP, 2X NBA MVP. I could go on but you have a bit of an idea why the question came up. By the way it’s not just me, the good doctor…Julius Erving claims Duncan’s name should be included in any GOAT conversation.  

This is an interesting take in several ways, the NBA TV crew forecast for rookie of the year was a surprise for me. Analyst Greg Anthony picked the Grizzlies Zach Edey, Brendan Haywood echoed his view as NBA Rookie of the Year. This is not to state their forecast will be proven out but it’s the manner we arrive here. Some might remember Edey declared for the draft his junior year, he decided to return to Purdue after receiving few positives. As a senior most mock draft sites projected him a second round draft pick and then a strange thing occurred. The 7 foot 4 300 pound Edey was made the 9th pick in the first round of the 2024 draft. Both analyst claim Edey will be helped immensely having Ja Morant getting him the ball.