Basketball from a fans perspective

Published daily except Tuesdays & Thursday

Be yourself

The headline is reported to be the words of LeBron James to Luka Doncic prior to the Monday night game against the Jazz. It was easy to see Luka was rusty after the injury sidelined him for nearly 8 weeks. There was an early assist plus a 3-point basket and a court length pass to LeBron. As you are aware Mavs fans are quite upset with the ownership in trading Luka. This was an easy 132-113 victory over the Jazz, the game wasn’t as close as the score might indicate. Luka was on a minutes restriction and after scoring 14 points and 4 assists in 24 minutes he was seated from the middle of the 3rd quarter on.

This game certainly fails to provide championship aspirations but it is clear the Lakers are improved with Luka in the lineup. The chief concern remains post play, Jaxson Hayes moves smoothly around the basket but is he and Trey Jemison III enough to allow playoff advancement? In time we should have an answer for that question. As for the Hornets they are appealing the voided trade with the Lakers for Mark Williams. NOTE: Late Tuesday afternoon the Lakers announced the signing of 31-year old center Alex Len. The 7 foot 1 250 pound Len was headed to the Pacers and then he wasn’t, the veteran center provides the Lakers depth in the post.

Nonagenarian   

The headline above is the term used for someone who is between ages 90 to 99. Usually our thoughts are someone that old moves slowly and their mind might not function in the same manner as a much younger person. Forget that stereotype if the discussion is regarding Hubie Brown, the former coach and broadcaster closed out a distinguish career on Sunday at the age of 91. I saw a figure which claimed, “Brown had seen or coached 80% of NBA players in the leagues history.” Working backwards Brown ended his broadcast career working for ESPN. He first began analyzing NBA games for the USA Network at the time that network held NBA rights. This should not be considered in any order however Brown’s worked for CBS, ABC, along with TNT.

After beginning his coaching career as an assistant he’s also served as head coach of the Kentucky Colonels (ABA) the NBA Hawks and Knicks. At the age of 69 Brown returned to the coaching ranks leading the Grizzlies, in 2004 he was named Coach of the Year the second time he’d won the award. Brown’s been honored by his selection to the Naismith and College Basketball Hall of Fame. Those who are unfamiliar with him might believe elements of the game may have passed him, that is a statement of misrepresentation. This basketball giant coached Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Paul Gasol, the names of those he coached or broadcast their games is endless, we’ll miss his broadcast “coaching.” Hubie Brown’s spent over 50 years of his life as a coach, teacher and broadcaster of the game he loves since his youth.

Sell the team

Jalen Rose gave us his view of the trade that sent Luka Doncic to the Lakers. But first in Dallas allow me to remind you…Mark Cuban is still an owner of the Mavs but has sold his majority share in the team. The new ownership group is now the voice of the team. Patrick Dumont tossed Luka “under the bus,” questioning his work ethic and claimed “He (Luka) was out of shape.”  Rose on NBA TV went off on the Mavs owner stating, “They didn’t want to pay him.”

As most of us are aware Luka was due a balloon payment if he’d remained with the Mavs, that’s gone away since the trade, the Lakers are not required to pay it. Back to Rose a moment, he addressed Dumont and certainly went into more detail than is provided here, he stated, “Sell the team, it’s worth $4.7 Billion,” he also disagreed with the comment about Luka being out of shape. There is more to the Rose account but I will allow just what I shared to marinate with you. You’ve heard from Rose now it’s my turn, I read accounts of the so-called weight gain. It is totally impossible unless you are really good to judge the weight of someone at a glance. Despite my statement video of Luka on the Laker bench and in shoot around didn’t appear to be close to the weight mentioned. The roster list him at 230 pounds, he’s been inactive since December 25. Could there be a weight gain, of course, but 30-40 pounds certainly sounds darn near impossible.

I am no conspiracy theorist however I am beginning to wonder if the story might have been planted by the Mavs organization to the media. In closing if Mark Cuban were still the majority owner of the team this trade would have never occurred. A team cannot or should not trade a player of Luka’s stature and then claim it was because of his work tendency. Character assassination of that type might work in Las Vegas with your casino’s but this is the NBA, you’ve got to fabricate a better story than that.

The beauty contest    

The beauty contest or what I refer as the Top 25 poll was just released. What are the odds the number one and number two college team would both lose on the same day? I certainly cannot provide a mathematical calculation of the probability of it occurring but it did…that’s what took place this past Saturday. The first game saw number one Auburn upset by number 6 Florida 90-81 in a mid-afternoon contest. A late afternoon or early evening game saw number two Duke upset by Clemson halting a 16-game win streak by the Blue Devils 77-71. So what occurs this week, despite Auburn’s loss they remain at the top, as for Duke not so much. The loss to Clemson dropped them from two to three in a tie with Florida. As I’ve said time after time these polls are really meaningless why am I preoccupied with them? Until March Madness starts, it’s our only measure.