Basketball from a fans perspective

Published daily except Tuesdays & Thursday

You haven’t seen him

He’s 7 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 235 pounds, it’s likely your first thought was Victor Wembanyama. That is not the case, this athlete is Trent Burns and he plays…rather he will play for the University of Missouri. You’ve not seen this freshman in action all season long due to an injury. He’s now been cleared to play but I’m sure this late in the season that probably will not occur. The question pending currently will Burns be given a red shirt, this is reported to be an area coach Gates is unaccustomed to utilizing.

He’s done

The Sixers Joel Embiid has missed more games in the 2024-25 season than he’s played, on Friday came news he was through for the year. The announcement from the Sixers office indicated Embiid along with the team’s medical staff are looking for a method to resolve his troublesome left knee. At this point allow me to insert this comment, the matter of retirement belongs to Embiid and not anyone else. Stephen A. Smith has decided for Embiid that he should possibly consider retiring.

What I find most interesting all the time missed by Kawhi Leonard I don’t ever remember Smith making a similar type of statement. Leonard missed the 2021-22 season and has been absent from major portions of other seasons since becoming a Clipper. The Clippers have played 410 games since Kawhi came on board, he’s played in 229 of them excluding this season. The 229 games played is a little more than half of the total games the Clippers had scheduled. I certainly am in no position to suggest Kawhi retire and believe Smith is in no position to decide Embiid should do the same. In both instances it’s up to the player to decide they can no longer compete at their previous level.

Remember

This from Twitter or X: “The father of the young fan who swapped jerseys with Victor Wembanyama has taken legal action to stop Goldin Auctions from completing the sale of the game-used Victor Wembanyama jersey that sold for $73,000 this past weekend. He states that his son didn’t want to sell the jersey.” Do you remember the December news of this event, the father had taken his son who maybe was 7-8 years old to a Spurs-Nets game in Brooklyn.

The youngster had a child size Wemby jersey which the player spotted after the game, Wemby traded his game jersey with the youngster. Fast forward to the latest news, I cannot presume to understand the why, I am questioning the fact the father evidently sold the jersey to the auction house his son certainly couldn’t have done this. I believe without offering you any proof this is what occurred, although the father was paid a sum of money for the jersey he later discovered the Goldin Auctions sale price, based on this fact he decided to revisit his earlier arrangement with the business.

They are contending

The Pacific Division standings show the Warriors in third place less than 2 games behind the Clippers. After the team acquired Jimmy Butler I questioned the Draymond Green guarantee “They would contend for an NBA championship.” I continue to believe their lineup lacking height will not win a championship. The part I didn’t figure was the arrival of Jimmy Butler, he’s managed to infuse the team with a great degree of competitiveness. Don’t misunderstand my statement any team coached by Steve Kerr and containing Steph Curry will compete,

The roster of the Warriors required an upgrade in height in my view. The Butler factor appears to have impacted Curry as well based on his Thursday evening game against the Magic. The Warriors after falling significantly behind the Magic came roaring back thanks in large part to Steph. He scored 56 points in the game, video indicated many of the shots Steph took came from the “parking lot” of the arena. Okay that’s an exaggeration however one shot was measured at 54 feet I believe, the official measurement for the length of an NBA court is 94 feet. I continue to doubt Draymond’s words…but certainly not Steph’s shooting.