Basketball from a fans perspective

Published daily except Tuesdays & Thursdays

Celtic Green 

Rivals week was advertisement for the weeks forthcoming slate of NBA games. I cannot speak for the balance of the NBA I can for Celtics-Lakers. How far back does their rivalry go, certainly a very lengthy period of history in the NBA. It was Russell, Cousy, Sam and KC Jones against Baylor, West and Chamberlain. Later the opposition would become Bird and McHale versus Magic, Kareem plus Worthy. In later years it became Bryant and Gasol facing Pierce and Garnett, as you can see this rivalry is epic dating back to the 1960’s. Although we have a different generation the Purple and Gold saw those Green Celtic colors and it was on, final score Lakers 117 Celtics 96.

This was beyond a doubt the best Laker game of the season as they held the prolific 3-point shooting Celtics to 34.1% while they managed a sizzling 42.9%. 6 foot 5 Max Christie didn’t score much but that wasn’t his assignment on Thursday evening it was to harass 7 foot 3 Kristaps Porzingis. Porzingis scored 22 points but only took 5 shots from three so the bizarre strategy utilized by the Lakers appeared to work. The Lakers held the Celtics in check allowing them but 38.5% shooting from the floor. Has this team turned the corner, I really don’t have a clue…I can repeat what I said earlier. This is the best version of the Lakers I’ve seen thus far this season. I’m going to give the defending NBA Champion a pardon, they played an OT game previously and this was a back-to-back effort, the Celtics had “tired legs.”  

I don’t agree

This is one of those rare occasions I disagree with Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com. He’s looking at potential College Coach of the Year, of the three candidates he named I only agree with one of the names. Duke basketball was presumed to be good coming into the season, although just a freshman they have Cooper Flagg almost certainly to be the top pick in the June NBA Draft. There are other freshman added to the Duke roster, Coach John Scheyer has put together an outstanding record to date but wasn’t that what he was supposed to do?  Next up, Auburn basketball under Bruce Pearl is 17-1 and 8-0 in the SEC, Auburn was 27-7 last season which says to me without checking most of the starters must have returned.

Auburn was also like Duke supposed to be good this season. The one name on his list I will agree with is Mark Pope at Kentucky. John Calipari departed for Arkansas he left the “cupboard” bare, Pope arrived had to put his system and players in place. We find Kentucky with a 14-4 record as this is written, but wait there is one more just as worthy for consideration. Dennis Gates at Mizzou has turned the program around, truth is they sit above Kentucky in the current SEC standings. Mizzou was not expected to compete after the horrendous record of last year. Mizzou was 8-24 overall plus 0-18 in the conference, this season they are 15-4 largely 4-2. The college basketball season is nowhere close to completion however Gates has done an outstanding job to date. This award should go to a coach whose team exceeds expectations, that would be only Kentucky and Mizzou.

Bits n Pieces of information

The NBA in Europe, that was the dream at one time for former NBA Commissioner David Stern. It just might come into existence however not in the manner some might have guessed. Nothing is set in stone, not a nation or city has been identified however preliminary plans have been laid out. It is clear the Lakers will not be jetting to Berlin or Paris for a game. It would appear if NBA Europe comes into existence it would likely appear similar to NFL Europe. If you remember the NFL exported its game to Europe, the football league existed from 1991-2007. As plans are further identified regarding NBA Europe I will update you with as much detail as is available. 

I guess my thought process might not be quite precise in attracting talent to a school, in the day of Name, Image & Likeness plus the portal transfer might a school be a destination for an unexpected reason? How about that 5-star prospect and the lure of the coach/school over the other above. Caleb Wilson’s decided to attend North Carolina over Kentucky, he’s a 6 foot 9 forward and is number 5 on Rivals, 6 with On3 and 9 rating on 247Sports. His words to ESPN, “I picked North Carolina because of their culture and the history of the program.” At 17 or 18 years of age how much could Wilson know about the words highlighted in his comment?

This is the bother for me

He was there and then he wasn’t…the HE I speak of is Andre Drummond. AD mentioned the year they won the championship they had JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard two 7-footers. For the most part AD played power forward. After the exit of the duo a few years later the Lakers signed Drummond during the trade deadline, I thought the 6-11 270 pound Drummond would be the answer however he was allowed to walk after the season.

Later I read AD had issues with how Drummond clogged the lane, not allowing AD to operate as he was accustom. Once again it’s been mentioned that the Lakers need another Big and its AD making the declaration. I’d held the belief it might be Jaxson Hayes but it’s clear he’s not it, the Lakers undoubtedly need a center. The Lakers had a center but decided to trade him, in 2016 they made Ivica Zubac the 32nd pick in the second round. The 7 foot 240 pound Zubac from Croatia had some difficulty adjusting to rugged play in the NBA. In February 2019, a decision was made to trade the Big Man to the Clippers. After playing mostly a reserve role for the Lakers Zubac became a starter for his new team.

He can score when called upon but that’s not his forte, clogging the lane and rebounds has been his primary role. I have maintained for years it seems, the Lakers must have an excellent scouting staff, they have drafted quality talent over the years. The problem is not developing that talent…case in point Zubac. Doug Christie provides evidence, although not a center he occupied plenty of space on the bench until JJ Redick became coach.