Basketball from a fans perspective

Maybe yes…maybe no

Mizzou center Josh Gray has entered the transfer portal, the only question can he? Sounds like a ridiculous question, however, allow an explanation. Gray played his freshman year at LSU, he then transferred to South Carolina playing another three years. This past season his second as a senior would have been granted due to athletes receiving an extra year of Covid eligibility. In all likelihood Gray has no eligibility remaining or does he? I have written it seems for the past two days regarding the complex nature of the transfer portal.

Someone and I have no idea who that might be is desperately required to step in and administer the transfer portal. Each season we’ve seen an ever increasing number of players in the portal and this year is just the beginning. Unless there are strict guidelines in place the numbers will continue to grow and grow. Not only the numbers but I believe if there are rules and regulations in place we’ll have no future Josh Gray’s. Some of you reading this might be surprised this portal issue is being raised by yours truly since it’s a Mizzou guy. I had no issues with Gray last season and even now but 6 years of eligibility is far too much unless an injury is involved.

The coach

I didn’t want JJ Redick as head coach, shall I list why? Okay, he had no past coaching experience and he had no past coaching experience, that’s not a typo just the fact that was my chief issue with him. When word came the Lakers had reached out to UConn’s Dan Hurley I said, “Go get him.” Hurley turned the Lakers down much to my disappointment, reluctantly I was forced to accept Redick as head coach. The season began and the Lakers won the first three games of the season, from that point on the Lakers were a plus .500 team. Their play was not particularly exciting however they continued to win more games than they lost. A series of trades brought wing defensive specialist Dorian Finney-Smith and defender Jerrad Vanderbilt another wing returned off the injured list.

Anthony Davis went down with an injury and then the explosion. AD was traded to the Mavs in exchanged for number 77 Luka Doncic. Players must play however there is another factor to consider, roster members must buy into the program of the coach. The Lakers will earn a playoff berth the only question as this is written in what position. Despite injuries they are light years better than at the beginning of the season, subtraction and addition to the roster are the chief reason there is one more. They have brought into the plan JJ Redick’s presented to them. I said this once before, Redick is not Pat Riley but the similarities cannot be overlooked. Riley then Laker radio analyst moved from that role to an assistant coach to head coach, the rest of that story is Laker history.

Euro players in the 2025 NBA

First, the disclaimer, this list is compiled in March, the draft is not held until June 25 as most of you are aware. There are issues to cover, in the past a player might be drafted and decide to remain at home. They might head for the NBA at a later date or in some instances not at all. There are several Euro players are on the roster of American colleges, their names are not included in this list of top talent. With that out of the way let’s check a few of the names, our research source will be nbadraft.net:

Nolan Traore 6-4 185 pound point guard-Saint Quentin France

Noa Essengue 6-10 200 pound small forward-Ratiopharm Ulm France

Noah Penda 6-6 shooting guard-LeMans-France

Ben Saraf 6-6 200 pound point guard-Hapol Hemek Hefer-Israel

Michael Ruzic 6-10 225 pound shooting guard- Joventut Badalona-Croatia

Did you notice the trend, of the top five prospects three are from France home of Victor Wembanyama. Pardon me for not being fully informed, it appears basketball is trending in the nation. 

Think about this  

Several of the NBA’s all-time greats have emerged from colleges and universities that produce relatively few basketball talents. For this analysis, I have excluded players who entered the league from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), as their numbers have significantly decreased in recent years. At the top of the list would be the University of Massachusetts (UMass), which produced Dr. J, the only NBA player from this institution to be inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame. Similarly, Seattle University boasts Elgin Baylor, another Hall of Famer. Artis Gilmore, known for his prowess in the paint for several ABA/NBA teams, attended Jacksonville University in Florida. A glue to many of the Celtic teams of the Bird era was Robert Parrish.

Chief as Parrish was nicknamed attended Centenary College in Shreveport Louisiana, he’s enshrined in the Naismith and College Basketball Hall of Fame. Scotty Pippen, known for his crucial role in the Chicago Bulls' success in the 1990’s, hails from Central Arkansas in Conway, and he too is a Naismith inductee. Rik Smits, who played for the Indiana Pacers until his retirement in 2000, began his career at Marist College in upstate New York. To address the matter of more recent players, Damian Lillard, currently with the Bucks attended Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. CJ McCollum, now with the Pelicans, entered the league from Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Notably, Stephen Curry, widely regarded as the NBA’s best distance shooter, played his college basketball at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina. This serves as a brief overview, not because I have exhausted the list of names, but due to space limitations.

Tanking

Several years ago I don’t remember the year without checking. There was talk of NBA teams losing games sort of on purpose. The idea behind it teams would sit their star or best players for a number games increasing the possibility of losing. Naturally, the NBA wasn’t overjoyed with the idea it’s teams were losing games with the intent of positioning themselves for the draft lottery. At that point, the investigative arm of the NBA began a closer look at a number of teams. Needless to say tanking or losing on purpose continues to this day. How about this for evidence, the Jazz were fined $100,000 after Lauri Markkanen sat out several games the league believes he could have played. As for the record as this is written the Jazz are clearly in a rebuild mode with a 15 win season which ties them with the Wizards. Both are hoping to have the opportunity to draft Cooper Flagg however there is a further issue here. Having the worst record is not guarantee a team will receive the number one pick, the lottery is weighted in the following manner.

The team with the worst regular-season record has the highest chance of winning the lottery and getting the top pick.

The lottery uses a system of ping pong balls and a machine to randomly determine the order of the first four picks.

After the first four picks are determined, the remaining lottery teams (picks 5-14) are assigned in reverse order of their regular-season records.

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