Basketball from a fans perspective

Cooper (American) Flagg  

As for the headline above, I stole that from Jay Williams ESPN basketball analyst. Bama guard Mark Sears had an outstanding game in his team’s 113-88 victory over BYU. The 6-1 guard put on a scoring binge for the ages with 34 points and of that number 10 were three point baskets. In the Duke-Arizona game Caleb Love also presented the audience with a dazzling shooting display scoring 35 points for the Wildcats. Unlike Sears there would be no victory for Love as his team lost to Duke 100-93.

As for Flagg he succeeded in scoring a smaller number of points than either Sears or Love (30 points). Despite this fact his game in all aspects was quite cerebral in my view. We saw an 18-year old who should be a high school senior prove why he is the best freshman college player in the nation. In addition to his scoring Flagg contributed 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 blocked shots, he also shot 90% from the free-throw line to help seal Duke’s victory. Although there were other winners (Texas Tech & Florida) the players and games profiled are the only ones I saw. Duke will now face Alabama on Saturday evening, I’m unsure if we can expect another shootout similar to the one on Thursday. By now some of you reading this are saying to yourself “He’s gone over the top again, this time it’s Flagg,”

I don’t mind in the least bit if you believe that to be the case. Some of you might be reflecting back to my early observation of Victor Wembanyama, this time it’s a slight bit different. I believed (and still do) Wemby is a generational talent, Flagg is not that however he appears to have all the tools for a successful NBA career. I’ll repeat another statement I made, he’s not going to WOW anyone with his skill set he will just do the things that will lead to success for his team on the basketball court.

Meanwhile

Hopefully this is a Good-win for the Lakers, Jordan Goodwin reserve guard had his contract converted. He’s been operating on a two-way contract however he wouldn’t have been eligible for playoff basketball. It’s clear JJ Redick feels comfortable enough to have Cam Reddish waved in order to sign Goodwin to a regular season contract. Goodwin came on board in the middle of February and in that time has impressed the coach and his staff. In fact during the rash of injuries suffered by the Lakers it was Goodwin who was inserted into the lineup over rookie Dalton Knecht. Although Knecht is surly a better shooter it was the defensive effort which got the notice by the coaching staff.

We talk all the time about the fact HBCU schools no longer produce NBA talent as they once did. We can add junior colleges to the list as well, they have also suffered. They continue to produce quality basketball talent but with the portal transfer fewer and fewer are finding their way to major schools across the nation. The de-emphasis on junior college talent will only continue over the next few years. There are no more Bob McAdoo’s, Tiny Archibald, Jimmy Butler or Dennis Rodman’s exhibiting their talent on junior colleges campuses.     

The lottery pick nobody knows…that’s not quite correct. If you cruise mock draft sites like I do you are familiar with the name Egor Demin. He’s a freshman at BYU but is likely to hear his name announced by the NBA commissioner in June, he’s that good. One mock site indicates he will be a lottery pick while another places him at 15 just outside. The third indicates Demin will be a top 20 pick so as you can see its likely there will be no requirement to stay up late in order to hear the announcement. Demin is 19-years of age and is from Moscow Russia, he’s a 6 foot 9 200 pound shooting guard.

Trivia

I’ve mentioned this previously, I sometimes come across interesting tidbits of information accidently. This is one of those cases, it involves the 1946 Rochester Royals. Later the Royals moved to Cincinnati retaining the name and from there it was Kansas City and a name change to the Kings. Now this is the trivia portion, that edition of the Royals was an NBL team and later moved into the NBA. One of the roster members was Red Holtzman who later as a coach would lead the Knicks to championship glory in 1970 and 1973.

Also on the roster was his teammate Otto Graham, he only played that one year with the Royals. Graham would later become quarterback of the Browns, in 1965 he was enshrined in the National Football League Hall of Fame in Canton Ohio. The player credited with the first recorded instance of breaking a backboard also played for the baseball Dodgers and Cubs but it wasn’t baseball, football or basketball where he became better known. Chuck Conners headed for Hollywood and honed his acting skills in movies and television, his most famous role was the lead in the television series set in the Old West, The Rifleman. So there you have the brief history of the more famous members of the 1946 Royals.

I can’t see that far ahead

Victor Wembanyama is a 7 foot 4 wing who happens to play center, I had to get that statement out front before delving into the body of this discussion. We have continued to hear former NBA players critique Wemby’s game, most of the comments revolve around where he plays over his ability. These grizzly veterans have said over and over “He needs to develop an inside game.” I am not going to argue he shouldn’t however with his height and the fact he shoots nearly 36% from three he’s adapting his game to today’s NBA. If for example Wemby was shooting any lower I’d say he should develop an inside game.

Here’s what I can’t do…see into the future, last season according to figures he was 210-212 pounds. This season the Spurs roster indicates Wemby is 235 pounds, he could continue to gain pounds which will allow him to battle some of the larger post players in the future. Former NBA player Kevin Garnett went on record with this statement, “The NBA is protecting Victor Wembanyama because they see him as the next face of the league: They’re not going to let him get beat up.” I take Garnett’s words as an opinion and not fact unless he can prove it. I have confidence that his medical issue will be cleared up and by next season he’ll be ready to play. In the meantime the NBA community of Garnett and Barkley should become comfortable with seeing a 7 foot 4 wing player on the floor next season.