Basketball from a Fan’s Perspective

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His audience is huge

My primary concern with Stephen A. Smith is his tendency to present himself as intellectually superior to athletes at times. Whenever there is pushback by the athlete or community he always manages to fall back on the same excuse, “I’m a journalist. That response might be true, however, does that give him permission to sometimes assassinate the character or intent of an individual? I have mentioned on several occasions in the past Smith attacking athletes and owners in the NBA and other sports. This time its slightly different as Mavs guard Kyrie Irving switched roles with Smith, he’s the one questioning the intent of the television host and journalist.  

How did Smith accomplish his task, he posed this question, “Is he worthy of the huge contract signed with ESPN.” If there is a response by Smith millions more people will read or hear about if from his television or podcast arena’s. Even more by scores of print media sites likely to pick up the story over Irving’s social media comment. Friends allow me to explain why I’m pleased with this development. For years Smith’s had the ability to dominate the airways and print media by appearing larger than life. The Irving effort will not make for a quieter more subdued Smith the truth of the matter is he just might become even worst. The key, there are a legion of folks who appear to believe whatever Smith say’s is correct. My stance is this, just because Smith says something fails to make it correct or how a particular situation should be dealt with

What is wrong with some people

Cooper Flagg is 18 years old, this past May he should have graduated high school. Of course he reclassified and entered Duke last year as a freshman. If his life had unfolded in the same manner as most Flagg would arrive in his freshman year of college in August. Instead Flagg is playing Summer League basketball as he prepares for the NBA this fall and winter. I am providing you background information based on a number of letters I read on Saturday. As I’ve tried to indicate each of us must wait to fully evaluate Flagg’s adjustment to NBA play. After reading the account of Friday’s game the letters came pouring in, letter after letter took on a negative tone. After reading portions of the first 10 letters or so, my thought, what is wrong with some people?

Are we guilty of being overburdened by media hype therefore causing NBA fans to believe they would tune in and witness the second coming of Larry Bird, Michael Jordan or LeBron James in action? My effort is not going to curtail the negativity however I certainly hope to not mislead anyone by writing glowing reports regarding Flagg. You might remember the most recent hyped athlete was Victor Wembanyama, two years ago you might remember there were plenty of critical comments voiced about Wemby, some of them from NBA veterans. I have long believed we must reach February in the NBA season before we can begin to fully evaluate a prospect. According to all scouting reports I reviewed Flagg’s abilities are evident in areas that fans may occasionally overlook or not fully appreciate. A late note, the Mavs are reported to be shutting Flagg down after two games played, this certainly makes sense to me.

The promise

A number of you might remember the name Emoni Bates, he’s still trying to gain a roster position. It seems it was eons ago Bates was the high school Gatorade Player of the Year for the State of Michigan, that is quite an honor in a State like Michigan. He was accorded the award as a sophomore, after exhibiting his budding talent at Lincoln HS in Ypsilanti Michigan his father did a strange thing. He established a prep school in Ypsilanti where his son’s talent could be further enhanced, in any event Bates reclassified and after committing to Michigan State changed his mind and chose Memphis. At the beginning of his freshman season he was in the starting lineup, by the end Bates was playing reserve minutes before an injury sidelined him.

Bates decided to transfer so he returned home to play for Eastern Michigan. At Eastern Michigan he was the focus of the defense although the team wasn’t very good, at season’s end he declared for the NBA draft. The loud NO you might have heard April 23, 2023, was me believing he needed another year maybe even playing for a bad Eastern Michigan squad. I was surprised to see him become the 49th pick in the 2023 draft by the Cavs, Bates would sign a two-way contract and registered minutes for the parent club. He would spend the majority of his 2 years’ time in the NBA for the most part in the G-League. Fast forward to July 1, 2025, the Cavs announced they declined to extend him thus he becomes a free agent. As this is written he’s not been signed by any NBA team, will it be Euro basketball in his future?

A fix is needed

At the time, the transfer portal first took affect I was one of the one’s loudly cheering. I had been a vocal critic of the NCAA how they administered transfers. There was an example at Missouri two basketball players transfer at the same time, one could play immediately while the other had to sit out a semester. It never made sense as long as the grades met the standard. I still believe it is good but requires some tweaking based on events. This is not picking on Kansas basketball but just the latest example. Noah Shelby announced he was transferring from Kansas, he made this pronouncement without ever appearing in a Jayhawk jersey in Allen Fieldhouse.

This is the explanation, Shelby spent his freshman year playing for Vanderbilt University. He would transfer to Rice University and play for the school in his sophomore year. For unknown reasons that didn’t work either so he left and enrolled at the University of Kansas. Shelby has decided Kansas will not work either so he is transferring once again. Shelby will have transferred to 4 schools in 4 seasons, far too many in my view. Since the NCAA was responsible for this mess in the first place they should provide a fix however I intend to provide them help. There should be a limitation established regarding the number of times a student-athlete can transfer. I’m unsure the date of the next NCAA meeting but this issue needs to be placed near the top of the agenda.