Basketball from a fans perspective

Published Tuesday, Thursday plus Saturday & Sunday 

Another view

Hornets center Mark Williams made mention of the Lakers being eliminated by the Wolves, that’s rich coming from a guy who’s team failed to even qualify for a playoff berth but it’s understandable. Williams is still upset about the trade to the Lakers that was rescinded. Longtime writer Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times has a different view of the trade and I certainly cannot state he’s wrong. He claims the Lakers might have developed “buyer’s remorse” based on what they were giving up to acquire Williams. Check this out, the Lakers would have sent Cam Reddish, Dalton Knecht, a 2030 first-round pick swap, and an unprotected 2031 first-round pick to acquire Williams.

Hindsight says to me there were several moving parts to the potential trade. Number one of course was the health of Williams, he appears to have difficulty remaining healthy for an extended period, number two is related to number one. Forget the draft picks they are an unknown at least for now…it’s the warm bodies being exchanged. Knecht might have some defensive liabilities but in limited play for the Lakers in a rookie season proved he could shoot the rock. Reddish was a first round pick by the Hawks in 2019, despite this fact he’s never played at the level some might have expected. He didn’t play much as a Laker but traded to another team, Reddish it’s possible he could still blossom, he’s only 25 years old. Question, could the trade be resurrected over the summer, I’d say that’s a possibility however it’s unlikely to be as extensive as the original one.   

Next up for the NBA, two events

The annual NBA Draft Combine will take place from May 11-18 at the Wintrust Arena and Marriott Marquis in Chicago. A total of 75 players, including college seniors and international players, have been invited to attend. Among those invited, 14 are international players, with Australia having the highest representation with four players. France, Spain, and Germany each have two representatives. Participants will undergo a series of drills designed to assess their speed, leaping ability, and other skills.

Notably, the combine provides accurate measurements of player heights, which often differ from those listed on school rosters. For example, a player originally listed at 6 feet 6 inches may actually be 6 feet 4.5 inches, and a post player said to be 7 feet tall may be revealed to be 6 feet 10.5 inches. While the combine is being held the NBA has another event on the menu, the draft lottery will occur on May 12. NBA teams which finished at the bottom of the standings will learn their draft position. Once a team’s draft place is determined they begin finalizing a decision on player selections. Of course who might be drafted is dependent on the player selected before their pick.

“All the world is mad but me and thee, sometimes I have doubts about thee”

The headline statement above was often used by my high school English Composition professor at times. I intend to use it based on past and recent events. In the first instance Tee Morant father of Jae verbally attacked game officials during a Grizzlies game in FedEx Forum, this incident occurred in a February game. Tee was ejected from the arena and to my knowledge has never apologized for his behavior. On Tuesday evening after Tyrese Haliburton made the game winning shot in the Pacers win over the Bucks it occurred. John Haliburton father of Tyrese in a floor seat rushed onto the court and confronted Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Fortunately Antetokounmpo was able to restrain himself, later this statement was issued. “I sincerely apologize to Giannis, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Pacers organization for my actions following tonight’s game,” John Haliburton posted on social media. “This was not a good reflection on our sport or my son and I will not make that mistake again.” My statement is simple, why are adults unable to act as adults, if this were a child acting in this manner it would be somewhat understandable. In the case of John Haliburton he’s been banned from attending Pacer games for an undetermined period. As for Tee Morant as far as I can determine nothing close to that has come about from the Grizzlies. The NBA or teams needs to take the lead in this matter and provide clear guidelines of behavior for all fans no matter what their relationship.

A league you are unfamiliar with 

The Basketball Association of America began play in 1946, the Knicks and Celtics trace their franchises to that year. In 1949 teams from the BAA and National Basketball League merged to become the NBA we recognize today. That must have been an unusual time period in the history of sports, especially basketball. In 1947 the Professional Basketball League of America began play, there were 16 teams at the birth of this league. The history indicates this league was underfunded, it folded on November 13, 1947, after playing only 54 games.

The league consisted of 8 teams in its Northern Division and 8 in the Southern Division. Although the league folded the following would later have NBA franchises, they are St. Paul (Minnesota), Chicago, Kansas City, Houston, Atlanta, New Orleans and Oklahoma City. The other cities smaller in population with the exception of Omaha (Kansas City-Omaha Kings) never saw the return of NBA basketball. George Mikan is the NBA however that was not always the case, he’d originally signed with the Chicago Gears and after the league went out of business they joined the National Basketball League which of course merged with the BAA.

His name is:

Mitch Johnson, he’s been named as head coach of the Spurs after serving as interim this past season. What do you want to know, how about this bit of information? He played four years at Stanford, he’s 38 years old, which makes him one of the youngest head coaches in the NBA. He was an assistant with the Austin Spurs when they won the 2018 G-League championship. Johnson had been on the staff of Gregg Popovich for 6 years before he became interim coach last November. Despite the upheaval created by the departure of Pop he was able to take over and actually lead the Spurs to a slightly better record. Johnson did this despite the fact Wemby was missing in action for a substantial portion of the second half of the season. I’m sure he will seek input from Pop but the ship of state that is the Spurs is his alone, he is now the captain of this ship. The hope by management and fans Johnson is able to steer a steady course leading to improved play by the Spurs.