Basketball from a fans perspective

Published Tuesday, Thursday plus Saturday & Sunday 

We are down to four teams

In the west we have the Wolves facing the Thunder, in the east it’s Pacers versus Knicks. Two of these teams will advance and play for the NBA Championship…I’m getting ahead of myself. The Thunder would be the only team expected to be at this point, they were the number one team in the west and might emerge to play for the championship. As for their competition the Wolves were the number 6 seed in the west, they beat the number 3 Lakers 4 games to 1. The Wolves then thumped the number 7 Warriors 4 games to 1. It played out this way in the east, the number 4 Pacers beat the number 1 Cavs 4 games to 1.

The Knicks the number 3 team managed to vanquish their longtime rival and number 2 seed Celtics 4 games to 2. In 2025 the NBA Champion will be new in more aspects than another if we look at the history. The Thunder, Wolves and Pacers have never won an NBA championship. As for the Knicks it was 52 years ago, 1973 the last time the Knicks won it all. I don’t bother looking at won-loss records during the season, that fails to provide a photo of the now. With that said in both sets of games one of the teams will be favored over the other even by the slimmest of margins. My Lakers are not competing so I have no favorite…my hope is we are able to witness great championship basketball from this point until the end.

IMO it remains important

We’ve discussed recent changes in the basketball landscape of today. It’s been said several veteran coaches have retired rather than attempt to coach in the day of NIL and the transfer portal. It might appear the transfer portal has become more important than recruiting high school talent. That’s easy to understand the why, generally individuals in the portal have played at the college level. They must adjust to a change but it might be far easier for them over a fuzzy faced freshman player. A portal athlete says ‘experience’ to college coaches, that fails to take into account they might not adjust as has been the case in a few instances. It’s more likely they will manage to alter their game over a freshman who must adapt to a monumental leap from high school to college. Below are scouting sites and the school’s they consider the Top 5 on their list, check out who they consider which school has the best recruiting class in the nation:

 

On3.com                                                             Rivals.com                                            247Sports.com    

Houston                                                                 Arizona                                                      Houston

Duke                                                        Houston                                            Arizona

Arizona                                                                  Duke                                                           Duke

Arkansas                                                               BYU                                                             UConn

North Carolina                                                      Arkansas                                                      Notre Dame

If you have any questions regarding my Missouri Tigers, I can provide you with the significant information. According to 247Sports, the Tigers are ranked at number 55 by their site, Rivals.com places them at 42, and On3 ranks them at 39. Missouri has only 2 incoming freshman although both are considered talented.  Coach Gates and his staff devoted significant efforts during the spring to evaluate and recruit talent from the transfer portal rather than seek additional high school talent. With one of the best teams in the nation perhaps coach believed it was more important to focus on the portal. Whether this strategy will continue to be successful for Missouri remains uncertain, but it is hoped that it will benefit Mizzou Nation as a whole.

Meanwhile….

The name Khaman Maluach has appeared in this blog on more than one occasion. The Big Man from South Sudan was the starter in the post for the Duke Blue Devils. If we checked mock drafts last October I’d bet money Maluach’s name was no place to be found yet hear we find ourselves. The 7 foot 2, 250 pound Maluach has moved from not in the draft to as much as a lottery pick in a few weeks. What occurred from the start of Duke’s season through the NCAA Tournament was the growth of the youngsters game. Although some portions of his game could be considered needing work others have NBA scouts excited. I hate to compare NBA players however sometimes that’s the only method we can use. He’s not, I repeat he’s not Dikembe Mutombo but Maluach’s game could be compared.

The Blazers have a For Sale sign outside the team’s headquarters, owner Paul Allen died in October 2018 however the team was not sold at the time. In the last will and testament of Allen he placed stipulations which prevented his estate from selling the Blazers. In the 6 plus years since his death one of his sisters has taken on the role of administrator of the franchise. It’s now being reported the team is on the market but surprisingly Nike’s Phil Knight has expressed no interest in purchasing the team. This past October the financial publication Forbes placed the value of the Blazers at $3.5 billion, it will be interesting to see who steps up and announces they intend to purchase the team.

I cannot be sure of anything however consider this belief, the 2025 NBA Draft appears to be stocked with potential talent. If memory serves me correctly there wasn’t a great deal of excitement regarding 2024. I could make the same statement about 2023 although Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson made the lower portion exciting. This is the “Cooper Flagg” draft but the Duke freshman has plenty of likely talent which will follow him into the NBA. We have Dylan Harper, Ace Bailey and Khaman Maluach mentioned in a previous account. Those are but a few names, consider this fact. In order to sustain a successful NBA career it requires more than talent, sometimes right place and right time are just as critical in attaining accomplishment in the association.

You remember the history, after securing Luka Doncic in a trade with the Mavs they made a second move, this one for the Hornets Big Man Mark Williams. As you are aware the Williams trade was later voided, I’m not going to detail the why however this is where Austin Reaves enters the picture. The Lakers made it known recently Reaves will not be included in any trade unless it brings a quality Big Man to the team. How we arrive at this point is interesting, after first signed as a free agent Reaves played a reserve role and occasional starter in his first three seasons. With the coaching change JJ Redick moved Reaves into the starting lineup at shooting guard. Reaves produced career numbers this past season, apparently that is a portion of the reasoning why he will remain with the team.

Duke All American

The second All American basketball player had just a brief career in the NBA. It wasn’t because he couldn’t play its more the fact he chose another sport. Truth is in baseball as member of the Pittsburgh Pirates he was a two-time World Series champion and the league’s MVP in 1960. Most interesting fact, although baseball would be Groat’s life pursuit he actually attended Duke on a basketball scholarship. He played both sports while at Duke and was talented enough to play professionally in both sports. It appears the choice to play baseball exclusively was not his alone.

After a two year stint in the U.S. Army Groat had a desire to return and play for the Fort Wayne Pistons and Pirates. That idea was his but not Pirate general manager Branch Rickey who told Groat; “You have played your last game in the NBA.” Groat said, “I would never have given up basketball, but I would have lost the rest of my (baseball) bonus.” Groat’s only season with the Pistons saw him the second leading scorer (11.9) and third in assists (2.7). Could the 5-foot-11 Groat been as successful in the NBA as was in baseball? In the same manner of many others we cannot answer this question. It should also be of note that Groat might be the only baseball player who is enshrined in the College Basketball Hall of Fame, in 2023 he died at the age of 92.