A Fan’s View of Basketball

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Meanwhile…

This is an update on Jason Crowe Jr., the 2026 Mizzou verbal commit played this past summer for the Oakland Soldiers. He’s entered his senior year at Englewood High School in Englewood California. A scouting report reads; “Left handed scorer, he creates his own shot, makes tough shots, navigates high pick and rolls.” Crowe Jr. is a 6-foot-3 170 pound combo guard, as for his ranking. Rivals places him at 9, 247Sports-5, ESPN100-5 and Prep Hoops 7. As I wrote earlier I hope he remains committed to Mizzou…he can sign in November if he chooses.

Alperen Sengun who plays the post position as a valued member of the Rockets, how he arrived in Houston is quite an interesting story since they didn’t draft him. I located this bit of information on the web; “The Oklahoma City Thunder did not keep Alperen Sengun; they drafted him with the 16th overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft but immediately traded his rights to the Houston Rockets for future draft picks. The Rockets then signed Sengun, who has since become an All-Star center, while the Thunder use the acquired picks to eventually select Ousmane Dieng in 2022 to assist their trade that landed them Chet Holmgren in the same draft.” So as you can see this turned out to be a win for the Rockets and Thunder.

Cooper Flagg Mavericks rookie, will begin his NBA career at the age of 18 years of age. He will celebrate his 19th birthday on December 21, his first year in the association will be complete before he turns 21. A number of players moved from high school or their freshman year of college and immediately made an impact in the NBA. The short list is players with the highest scoring average, will Flagg join them in his rookie year?

LeBron James 21.9 PPG

Carmelo Anthony 21.0 PPG

Luka Doncic 20.9 PPG

Kevin Durant 20.3 PPG

Some might remember his father, Sarunas Marciulionis, was one of the early Euro NBA success stories. Marciulionis had a productive career first playing in his native Lithuania and later in the NBA. He and his wife would have three children one of them would be named Augustas, he took up the game of his father. Augustas played at St. Mary’s but went undrafted in the 2025 NBA draft, left with a choice between the Bucks and Lakers he chose the latter team and signed a free agent contract. It’s likely he begins the season with the South Bay Lakers but don’t be surprised to see him on the parent club at some future date, he’s a 6-foot 4 point guard.

He was Steph before Steph

You are thinking to yourself what is that headline about? He’s been profiled previously but perhaps some missed his story the first time around, see he left the NBA at an earlier time. He didn’t leave due to injury rather it was a stance which made him unpopular with some fans and teams in the NBA. Maybe he did slam the NBA for excluding him but I never heard his voice speak it into a mic nor discuss it in print, who am I referring to…his name is Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf.

To my knowledge he’s never expressed anger after leaving the NBA when he clearly had game remaining. Fact is at 56 years of age he is currently playing for the 3 Headed Monsters in the BIG3 basketball league. That became his name after he converted to Islam. Most are familiar with Chris Jackson, which was his birth name, in any event what about him you ask? Jackson began play at LSU in 1988 the same year Steph Curry was born, Abdul-Rauf stood at 6-foot 1 and 162 pounds but boy could he shoot the rock. When questioned Shaquille O’Neal claims he was the best shooter he’d ever seen up to that point, Shaq should have an idea since the two were teammates at LSU. What happened, why is there more known about The Big Aristotle than Abdul-Rauf you might ask, it’s simple? He stood for his beliefs and due to that fact the NBA owners banned him from the league. His was a protest against police brutality as it related to black and brown people in America. They didn’t say it out loud because they could have been a party to a lawsuit, nothing was said. What caused his rift with the Nuggets and the NBA…protest.

The National Anthem was the basis for his ban, he demonstrated no reverence for the anthem at first. When it was noticed throughout the NBA he began remaining in the locker room until the game began. It was at this point the Nuggets and the NBA believed the Abdul-Raul problem must be resolved. I cannot do justice to the story, research and read his words for yourself. You will come to the same conclusion as me, Abdul-Rauf was history in the NBA before his time had expired. Was Abul-Rauf also equivalent to Colin Kaepernick in the NFL. 

Twin Towers

After the Clippers acquired Brook Lopez it was reported rather than a backup he would play alongside Ivica Zubac. The Clippers would have two 7-footers in the lineup together. I decided to conduct a history check, the concept of Twin Towers might be older than most realize. In the 1963 NBA draft the San Francisco Warriors drafted 6-foot 11 inch Nate Thurmond with the 3rd pick in the first round. Thurmond had played the center position throughout high school and college but was forced to make a change. When he arrived occupying the post was veteran Wilt Chamberlain so Thurmond was moved to a “power” forward position. Both Big Men played together until 1965 when a trade was made moving Chamberlain to the Sixers.

There would be an interval of years before another Twin Tower duo emerged, this time it was in the college ranks. In the early 1970’s Jacksonville (FL) University played 7-foot 2 Artis Gilmore and 7-foot Pembrooke Burrows together. Despite having an overwhelming height advantage they would lose the 1970 NCAA Championship to UCLA. The NBA Rockets having previously drafted 7-foot Hakeem Olajuwon would later draft and place in the lineup 7-foot 4 Ralph Sampson. Of these pairings far and away the most successful duo on the basketball court was David Robinson and Tim Duncan of the Spurs. They managed to bring two championships to San Antonio. There are Twin Towers omitted, for my purposes an attempt was made to list those for historical purposes or had the most success. In closing if the Clippers follow through as reported you will discover this will not be the first instance two extremely tall athletes are in a team’s lineup at the same time.