Basketball from a fans perspective

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Embarrassing

The game was so bad, I decided to change channels, I can’t provide details because the move by me occurred in the middle of the second quarter. It appeared to me that the game was not trending in a positive direction for the Lakers. That’s what I believed Wednesday evening as the Lakers faced the Heat on the road. The Lakers have become the medicine to cure bad play for the opposition. A 29 point loss to the Wolves was followed by an even larger margin loss to the Heat (41).

The loss to both teams allowed the Wolves and Heat to return to a .500 record…see what I’m suggesting. I’ve long maintained the Lakers generally have little issue scoring points the problem is giving them up. I’m really unsure if this team could defend against Montverde or Link Academy prep schools. Some might remember I speculated at the beginning of the season that the Lakers could contend for a playoff spot, this is highly unlikely to occur if they continue playing basketball in a manner similar to what’s been exhibited the last two games. Despite my negative tone I will continue to root for them to win because I’m a fan.

Deep, deep pockets

Do you have plenty of disposable income…enough to afford you the means to buy you an NBA team? Perhaps you might have partners willing to go in with you, that’s what A-Rod and Marc Lore are attempting to do purchasing the Wolves. What about the present group of owners, the Laker ownership of the Buss family had real estate holdings which allowed Dr. Buss to purchase the team. To my knowledge they are strictly basketball now, which fails to place them on as high a plane as it once did. With that said let’s begin this look.

Who are the NBA owners at the top of the food chain, the name at the top shouldn’t surprise. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer’s net worth is $125 billion, it’s no wonder he can afford to build a “palace” like the Intuit Dome without any type of tax assistance. How did Ballmer earn his humongous wealth…he worked for it. Ballmer was hired by Bill Gates at Microsoft in 1980, he became president in 1988 and CEO in 2000. It’s reported under his leadership sales doubled and profits were tripled that’s Ballmer’s bio. In second place with a net worth of $33.1 billion is Dan Gilbert Cavs owner. Gilbert earned his money in the mortgage field and owns Quicken Loans in addition to his NBA team. In third place is a newcomer Miram Adelson worth a reported $29.8 billion, Adelson arrives via the wealth of the family’s casino empire.

Friends and family in St. Louis the next name you are familiar with, in fourth place is Stanley Kroenke owner of the Nuggets and NFL Rams. Kroenke’s net worth is reported to be $16.9 billion, his wealth was accumulated in real estate although now that’s only a portion of his financial holdings. Mat Ishbia is owner of the Suns, his net worth is reported to be $13.1 billion, his wealth comes from the mortgage industry. There you have it the top five wealthiest owners of NBA franchises and a brief look how they were able to accumulate their wealth.

The outcome might have been different

For unknown reasons, this story popped up on my feed although it’s not the January anniversary. It was January 17, 1960, the NBA world might have been turned upside down. The league back then only contained 8 teams, what might have occurred in the event of tragedy. We don’t know because thanks to skillful flying it was avoided that night. The events unfolded in this manner, although there existed jet travel the Minneapolis Lakers charter was an old DC-3 aircraft. The Lakers had played the St. Louis Hawks and were returning home, shortly after takeoff disaster almost struck. After taking off the aircraft lost its electrical power and that vintage aircraft contained no radar.

For this to be a real first class emergency they flew into a massive snowstorm. Several Laker players feared the aircraft was going to crash somewhere in Iowa. Thanks to the skill of the pilots who were looking out the window for a location to land it turned out to be a cornfield in the town of Carroll, Iowa. The geography indicates the town is located about 100 miles north and west of Des Moines the capital of the state. After buzzing the town a couple of times they were able to land the aircraft successfully. There were no casualties, however, a bunch of scared and with no heat cold basketball players and their coach plus the pilots. In 2010 the 50th anniversary the town and the Lakers had a basketball court built in the corn field a location tragedy almost struck the Lakers and the NBA. In case you are unfamiliar with a DC-3 it first flew in 1935 so that provides you an idea of how old an aircraft this was. In addition by this time jet travel had begun and this aircraft was propeller driven.  

Maybe he wasn’t that good

The headline is not intended to be mean spirited, it’s just a statement I believe of fact. LiAngelo Ball is not talented enough to play in the NBA even in a reserve role, I know this because he’s 26 years old now. The middle of the three brothers is at an age NBA players either have or about to sign their second contract. Ball’s signed neither but let’s return to the past briefly, the finger of blame can be partially aimed at his father LaVar. After his legal issue and suspension young Ball was facing LaVar decided to withdraw his son from UCLA rather than face a year’s interruption of play.

NBA scouting reports indicated he was not as talented as older brother Lonzo and baby brother Melo were. Although sidelined with a history of injury Lonzo is a Bonafide NBA talent, Melo was NBA Rookie of the Year in 2021 and has clearly demonstrated his talent. As for Angelo currently he’s playing in Mexico for the Astros de Jalisco in Guadalajara. Rest assured this is not the future he might have envisioned at a point in his life, it was NBA or nothing for him. We close this chapter with a peak at the braggadocious LaVar Ball, he often spoke of all three son’s playing in the NBA one day, at this time I believe he must satisfy himself with two of the three.