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Two teammates

CORRECTION: The headline should read two (former) teammates are the leaders. There are a number of NBA rookies who moved into the starting lineups for their respective teams, I’m sure there have been some ‘bumps’ however the move has been smooth for the most part. It’s still early in the season yet if we began to look at candidates for NBA Rookie of the Year there are several viable names to consider. It just so happens that the two leaders in the mind of most were once teammates, this past season home court for Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel was Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham North Carolina. As for this season it’s American Airlines Center for Flagg and the Spectrum Center for Knueppel. As you remember Flagg was made the first pick in the 2025 draft by the Dallas Mavericks while Knueppel was chosen 4th by the Charlotte Hornets.

Check out these numbers, Knueppel is ahead of Flagg in scoring with an 18 ppg average versus the 17.3 registered by Flagg. On the other hand Flagg is slightly ahead of his former teammate in rebounds with 6.3 rpg against the 5.5 of Knueppel. Both average 3.3 assist per game, shooting from the floor both are close 47.5% for Flagg and 45.9% for Knueppel. Two former teammates vying for 2026 NBA Rookie of the Year. As for the history this from AI Overview: “Two college teammates who were high NBA draft picks include UCLA's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (No. 1) and Lucius Allen (No. 3) in 1969, and more recently, Rutgers' Dylan Harper (No. 2) and Ace Bailey (No. 5) in 2025, marking a historic first for Rutgers. Other notable pairs with high picks from the same college are UConn's Emeka Okafor (No. 2) & Ben Gordon (No. 3) in 2004, and Duke's Jay Williams (No. 2) & Mike Dunleavy (No. 3) in 2002.” 

Nike v Adidas

Allow me to introduce to several readers the name Tyran Stokes, he’s a 6-foot 7 230 pound small forward. Stokes is a 5-star prospect and considered by all scouting sites the number one basketball player in the Class of 2026, he attends Ranier High School in Seattle. Although he’s made no commitment to date his list has been reduced to three schools and then he added an additional one. They are Kentucky, Kansas, Oregon and Vanderbilt, should we suppose apparel might be as much of a draw as the coach or school for him? Stokes has signed an NIL contract with Nike, will that impact a future decision regarding his school of choice.

Kentucky is associated with the Nike brand while Kansas is linked to Adidas, as for the other two schools, Oregon and Vanderbilt are also Nike affiliated. I have no intention of leaving you in the dark, according to reports Stokes is leaning toward Kentucky with Kansas in second place followed by Oregon. Vanderbilt is not mentioned although as a late addition to the list of potential schools surely the Commodores must be included somewhere in the number. But wait there is more, at this point we discuss Name, Image and Likeness.

Since the introduction of NIL, it’s likely to have not been uncommon for it to influence, to varying degrees, the decision-making process regarding school selection. Keep in mind I’m not stating there is anything wrong here its just another example of a change in the sports world. On the other hand we could look at Cooper Flagg Dallas Mavericks rookie. The rookie forward signed a shoe deal with New Balance apparel in August of his freshman year, of course Duke is a Nike affiliated school. If we use Flagg as the guideline it provides us proof Stokes might not be affected one way or the other which school he ultimately decides to attend.   

The St. Louis Hawks

Several cities which once had NBA teams were profiled, St. Louis was one of those mentioned. The team was founded in 1946 and was a member of the National Basketball League until that league merged with BAA to become the National Basketball Association. The team began play as the Tri-City Blackhawks in 1946, three cities were the original home, Moline and Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa. In 1951 the team moved to Milwaukee and then became known simply as the Hawks, Milwaukee would remain home until 1955 when another move brought them to St. Louis.

The Gateway City would remain home until 1968 when the franchise was sold and the team moved to Atlanta their present home. Several NBA greats who eventually were enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame played for the St. Louis addition. Prior to the arrival of Wilkens was Bob Pettit who played his college ball at LSU, drafted in 1954 he would spend all 11 years of his NBA career a member of the Hawks. The Hawks won a single championship while in St. Louis however the team’s fate might have change accept for a decision that would haunt them for years. In the 1956 draft Bill Russell was chosen by the Hawks with the second pick. Ed Macauley had been an outstanding player for the Celtics and there was a connection, Macauley had played his college basketball at St. Louis University. If we look at the NBA of the 1950’s unlike today the majority of the leagues players were white.

Although it had been nearly 10 years since Jackie Robinson had broken the color barrier in baseball the racial climate might not have been conducive to a black man in Missouri at the time. The balance of the story is NBA history, Russell would take the lead for a good Celtics team and they won championship after championship. The Hawks won the 1958 NBA championship interrupting a continuous run of championships by the Celtics. The late Lenny Wilkens who recently passed was drafted by the Hawks in 1960 and played for the Hawks through the 1967-68 prior to being traded to the Seattle Sonics. This concludes a brief history of the Hawks while St. Louis was home base.

Is there an answer

The Missouri Tigers have 9 wins and only 2 losses as this is written on December 12. The record in my view is a slight bit tainted and allow for an explanation, I feel as strongly about the Tigers as I do the Lakers. Despite this fact I must call it as I see it, the 2 losses suffered thus far stand out over the 9 wins for this reason. One of the losses was against Big 10 Notre Dame, although the Fighting Irish had a plus record they were not a ranked team. Missouri lost a close game as a visitor 76-71, the second lost stings more than Notre Dame, it was against Kansas in the annual Border (whatever it’s called) match. This time Missouri suffered a beat down to the tune of 80-60.

In the non-con portion of a team’s schedule the debate has been this, “do you play a softer schedule with winning being the ultimate reward or is it a tough schedule more likely to be a conditioner to winning and overcoming adversity?” Perhaps the true answer might be a mix of softer and tougher scheduling is the key, allow me to explain further. Missouri will have played 12 games prior to their annual game with Top 25 Illinois and then SEC play. What if 4 or 5 of the 12 scheduled games were against Big 10, Big East or ACC competition? If we look at last week’s opponent Kansas this is a tiny portion of their non-con schedule. Kansas played Duke, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Tennessee and UConn…of the number Kansas won 3 of the 5 games. It serves no purpose in my estimation for Missouri to schedule games against Cleveland State, Prairie View and South Dakota. Before you begin stating I’m disparaging your program that is not the intent, I am simply stating UConn might provide stiffer competition than VMI.