Basketball from a fans perspective

Published daily except Tuesdays & Thursdays

Bits n Pieces of information   

I covered NBA Europe previously however there some who continue to believe this will work. Let’s explore two of the stumbling blocks to this effort. At some date in the distant future the Lakers fly from Los Angeles to Paris France to play Paris’s NBA team. According to information uncovered on the web that is a 10 hour and 45 minute flight, the next day the Lakers board their charter for an 11 hour and 45 minute to Los Angeles. I hope you seen the intent here, NBA players complain about travel in the continental US and Toronto. Imagine if there is an NBA team in London, Paris, Berlin and other European cities face with flight times similar to those listed here. Recently I had an opportunity to view a YouTube video on continental and European expansion. I’m unsure how former commissioner David Stern envisioned Euro-NBA teams being part of those on this continent. The other issue other than travel is infringement, would the NBA take on Euro basketball and compete with them, a league begun with FIBA in 1957 and Euroleague Basketball beginning in 2000.

At one time HBCU schools produced a considerable number of basketball players who found their way into the NBA. For those who might be unfamiliar with the term it stands for Historically Black College (or) University, these schools in the south sent Willis Reed, Earl Monroe, Sam Jones plus Bob Love and a host of others. In all over 350 athletes were drafted by NBA teams from HBCU institutions. Baseball’s Jackie Robinson attended UCLA in 1939 but that was California and not the deep south which prohibited black and white students from attending the same schools. 

Two early NBA pioneers Earl Lloyd and Chuck Cooper at West Virginia State and Xavier of Louisiana broke the color barrier in the NBA in 1950, both attended HBCU schools. If the question were asked why are there no HBCU players currently when 70% of the players in the league are black? The passage of civil rights legislation changed the landscape for America, black athletes from the south began slowly bypassing HBCU’s. These athletes might have said, “Why play for an HBCU or northern school, I can remain home and attend Auburn or Georgia.” Don’t misunderstand the intent, there remains good basketball play however the overwhelming majority of black players have chosen other paths. 

I wondered why the date of February 9 was selected, I read on and discovered that date would be the last telecast for longtime ESPN television analyst and former coach Hubie Brown. The game is from Milwaukee and the location where his coaching career began in 1972. The 91-year is still sharp as ever in his role as an analyst. The Hall of Fame Brown will leave the NBA after 50 years of association and more than 35 years providing his insight of the game for radio and television. It should also be noted that Brown was named NBA Coach of the Year twice.

To quote Suns forward Kevin Durant “I hate it”! He was referring to the announced change in the format for the NBA All Star Game. Read it for yourself and formulate your own opinion, after reading details of the change let’s just say I intend to echo Durant’s opinion, I will affirm what he said, I too hate the format. Also agreeing with his teammate was guard Devin Booker. Former guard Jeff Teague with a 15-year NBA career also expressed his opposition to the change, we also heard from LeBron James on this revision. He is the only player as this is written to come out in favor of the change. We shall see what occurs over the next few weeks and determine if this change is intended to become permanent.

An update

As an outside observer I thought it was time to indicate the progress (or lack thereof) of planned arenas in Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Philadelphia. In simple terms Oklahoma City could be described as making progress, a Kansas City sports architectural firm has been hired to design the replacement for Paycom Center. The planned opening for the arena is the summer of 2028, which is feasible at this point. As for San Antonio its quite different from Oklahoma City and Philadelphia, a little over a month ago Project Marvel was unveiled to citizens.

The project is given that name because there is more than the “Wemby” arena that’s to be part of the project. The entire development less the arena is detailed as a 15-year building plan, developing for the future with that large a window could create huge cost overruns. From what I read the arena will not be funded by taxpayers although it is unclear where the funds will come from for the balance of the project, as more information is available I will attempt to update you. Although it’s difficult to determine from where I sit but it appears 76 Place in Philadelphia might face the greatest hurdle of all the three cities. The mayor and the city council have approved this arena be built and no taxpayer funds will be utilized in this effort, that’s the good portion of this story. The bad, is this a done deal because there appears large scale community opposition to the project.

The chief opponents are businesses that lie in the Chinatown section, this is near a location where the arena would be built. Representatives of the owners have lodged complaints about the impact of traffic flow affecting revenue. In conclusion I can state with certainty that the project that’s a go is Oklahoma City. In San Antonio it appears to be a yes however there seems a degree of hesitation with exception of the arena. Maybe the solution might be separating the arena from the other portion. I believe 76 Place will eventually be resolved however not smoothly or rapidly. As news continues to develop I will keep you advised.  

A new guy

Coach Gates is playing his entire roster, only those injured have not had the opportunity. The opportunity I speak of is being Mizzou’s top scorer in a game, on Tuesday evening it was Jacob Crews a 6 foot 8 senior guard. Crews emerged from the bench and led in scoring with 19 points, it was 66.7% shooting from the 3pt line. He was assisted by Mark Mitchell with 18 points and Trent Pierce with 12 leading to the 83-72 victory over Jacksonville State. This win became number 10 for Mizzou which exceeds last year’s victory total. Mizzou has one more tough game (Illinois) before beginning SEC play January 4 against Auburn on the road.

The only downside to the win over Jacksonville was the rebound total, Mizzou was outrebounded by 10. As for the other portions of the game Mizzou registered good numbers, it was 50% shooting from the floor, 48% from 3 and that came with only 3 TO’s for the game. As I indicated yesterday one of our local sports talk radio guys remains unimpressed with Mizzou. He hints their schedule is somewhat light however there is an explanation. There was no reason to stock the schedule with Top 25 opponents based on last season. This statement is made because the SEC with the addition of Oklahoma and Texas is probably the strongest in the nation. I am sure several who follow the Big XII might believe it to be the strongest however I continue to believe the honor belongs to the SEC.

25

We continue to hear the question, “Why was Dalton Knecht picked at 17 rather than the lottery?" The Laker sharpshooter is 23-years old, birthday number 24 will occur prior to the end of this season. As far as we can determine Knecht’s age was the basis that caused him to slide downward in the draft. The NBA has become a “youth dominated” league seeing an increasing number of 19-year olds and Euro players. Keep in mind the NBA game continues to develop however all the youngsters covered in this account are under the age of 25 and certainly could be termed budding talents. We begin our list with 22-year old Paolo Banchero, he’s injured currently however he should return to the Magic lineup soon.

At this point LaMelo Ball is clearly the best of the three brothers, he’s played some outstanding basketball for the Hornets…he’s 23-years old. In San Antonio we have the Spurs Victor Wembanyama, he will turn 21-years in January. Zion Williamson has an injury history however I would be remiss in not including the 24 year old in this list of talents. Wemby’s French teammate Bilal Coulibaly a member of the Wizards is also a rising start at 20. We close with the names of Tari Eason and Alperen Sengun of the Rockets, Dyson Daniels Hawks, they are 23 and 21 and 22 years of age. You’ve read the complaints of Charles Barkley and others, they say these youngsters don’t have the reverence for the game they did. The NBA has changed its course over time but that fails to take into consideration overall we might have the most talented basketball athletes in the leagues history. I’m sure that last statement will upset some but it’s my belief it’s true.