Basketball from a fans perspective

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“Tell me what you want”

My wife plays this game with me, I’m headed out the door to purchase dinner. I asked her, “What do you want to eat?” That’s when the drama begins, everything I suggest she informs me she doesn’t want. Exasperated I finally say, “You’ve told me everything you DON’T want, tell me what you do want.” With that statement here goes, media member and podcaster Bill Simmons has a suggestion on how to fix the Lakers problem at center, Simmons long-time Laker Hater and he admits this fact proposes the Lakers make a trade with the Sixers to acquire Joel Embiid.

There was a time I would say do it but not now, Embiid will be 32 years old next season and his injury history is certainly less than stellar at the present. When healthy he clearly is one of the best centers in the NBA but his health issues scare me. Now that’s out of the way what do I want, two things. I’d like to trade for a healthy center who is able to clog the middle block shots and rebound the basketball. The second thing, draft a youngster who can be groomed to play the position effectively. The problem for the vast majority of centers it takes them a time to become effective post players. All the Lakers need to do is look at Ivica Zubac of the Clippers whom they drafted. Zubac had a breakout year scoring and rebounding the basketball but it took (5 years) for him to become an adequate defender.

Where are they

You might remember an account written regarding “the best current college coaches.” The list contained a number of coaches with impressive resumes however there was one issue to discuss. The list contained not a single black coach in the 300 or so NCAA schools so what happened? Where are the John Thompson’s who led Georgetown to an NCAA Championship while compiling an excellent won lost record. What about Nolan Richardson and his 40 minutes of hell offense, he too was a championship coach. We arrive at Tubby Smith who won it all while coaching the Kentucky Wildcats.

There are a number of black head coaches spread throughout basketball, there are 16 black head coaches in Division I football, there are 1,003 black head basketball coaches in the 2023-24 season. Now you are asking the question, what’s the problem? Of Missouri’s last four head coaching hires three of them including the current Dennis Gates are black. The chief culprit has not been lack of opportunity but the overwhelming desire to produce winning basketball in a short space of time. Many Athletic Departments being pressured by alumni and fans are likely responsible for “firing” a number of coaches. I’ve mentioned this previously the 0-18 record of Missouri last season had fans howling for Gates to be fired. I don’t believe it was racially motivated it was the failure of Missouri to win games. After winning 25 games the previous season a losing record was plain unacceptable.

Fortunately calm prevailed with the Athletic Director and the team was able to rebound this recently completed season. There is no quick fix here except to say I’d like to see Dennis Gates and others be allowed to follow the path laid out by John Thompson, Tubby Smith and others. The path that leads to a 12-14 year tenure at a major university as some of the Hall of Fame names above were able to accomplish. Allow that coach to coach and recruit talent until he clearly demonstrates he can’t.

What’s next

The NBA is well-positioned for expansion, more so than any other professional league, although it is almost certain this will happen within the next two years. Seattle and Las Vegas will be added making 32 teams, naturally some movement will occur for the present number of teams. In order to provide balance two existing teams must move into the Eastern Conference of the NBA in my opinion, however, that will be dealt with at the end. Prior to this upcoming expansion the last time expansion occurred was in 2004 when the Charlotte Bobcats began play, several years later rebranded as the Hornets.

Prior to that it was 1995 when the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies were born. If you believed this was the first time the NBA added teams from outside the U.S. that would not be correct. The Toronto Huskies began play in 1946 in the BAA which later merged with the NBL becoming the NBA. The Huskies only lasted that first year. The Raptors have thrived as an NBA franchise while the Grizzlies were in Vancouver until the 2000-2001 season before they moved to Memphis. What happened, one Canadian franchise a success and the other a failure. Expansion teams never win right away however looking back the team never gained any traction having 5 head coaches in 6 years. Bryant ‘Big Country’ Reeves signed a record contract and almost immediately was shelved due to an assortment of injuries. Reeves returned to Gans Oklahoma and has all but disappeared from NBA conversation. Reeves was not solely responsible for the downfall and eventual move of the team to Memphis. The chief culprit might have been the monetary exchange rate. It was pointed out the Canadian Dollar had fallen some years after the purchase of the team.

Income for the Grizzlies was in Canadian Dollars versus a payout in U.S. Dollars. The potential for the NBA to return to Vancouver remains uncertain, consider this fact, there has been no significant consideration given for coming back to Kansas City by the NBA. As for the teams to move, its Memphis and Minnesota, this is not set in stone just my view based on geography. The Mississippi River would be the basis, the Grizzlies are on the east side of the river and in the north it flows right through Minneapolis and St. Paul. I’m sure fans of both teams might be displeased with my effort to relocate their teams to the Eastern Conference but its fact based on geography.