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Wilt, me, and then Kobe  

The headline above was “borrowed” from ESPN.com and refers to an explosion in scoring on Tuesday evening, that’s what occurred in Miami. His name is Edrice Femi Adebayo but NBA fans recognize him as Bam, the nickname is a throwback to his childhood. He was watching The Flintstones cartoon and flipped over a table like Ambam Rubble had done. From that act his mother gave him the nickname Bam, as for his birth name that’s a different story. He was born in Newark, New Jersey from the union of his Nigerian father and African-American mother. As for the events of March 10, Bam Adebayo shocked the NBA world with a sizzling 83 point scoring performance against the Wizards.

The final score read Heat 150 Wizards 129, it was the Heat power forward/center who moved past Kobe Bryant’s scoring total late in the waning moments of the game. As you are aware headed into the game it was Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game against the Knicks in 1962, Kobe Bryant 81 in 2006 versus the Raptors. What is most interesting to me, Adebayo has been an outstanding player for the Heat over several seasons. Despite this fact he’s not been a “scorer” in a manner similar to the other two. I hope that my last sentence won't be seen as criticism of Adebayo; rather, it clearly demonstrates his status as an experienced and talented NBA player.

Field of Dreams

The headline is a baseball movie reference however the premise of what I am about to present fits. I’ve read complaints regarding international players “taking over basketball.” Well that is not quite the case, however, what’s occurred over time? We have witnessed an ever increasing number of international players arrive on these shores to play in high school, college or perhaps the NBA. I’ve mentioned in the past the long held dream of David Stern was to export the game of basketball to as many nations as possible.

As I have stated over and over kids in China, France, Nigeria and Serbia have taken up the game and they learn over time to love it. This is a profile of two prospects, whether they become good enough to rise to the NBA level is not a subject for discussion at the present time. The first name of note, Roman Doman wears number 77 the same as Luka Doncic. Doman is a 6-foot 9 225 pound guard/forward enrolled at Murray State the same school of Ja Morant, he is a freshman at Murray State. Although his scoring is a modest 13 points along with 5 rebounds a game he is a sizzling 41% from the three line. Doman hails from Dreuil Les Amiens, France. As for the NBA he’s getting some talk for 2026 but don’t be surprised if he returns for his sophomore year at Murray State. The other prospect is in high school, he’s a 6-foot 8 wing, his name is Boyuan Zhang.

Zhang is enrolled at Veritas Academy located in Garden Grove California a city in the Los Angeles Metro. He left his home country of China to enroll at an American high school. Zhang is ranked no. 76 in the 2026 Class of 247Sports and a 4-star prospect. Illinois, Cal and Minnesota are a few of the schools with offers for him. This report concludes with a look at two international prospects one in college and the other in high school.

It’s more than me

I don’t wish to place all sports talk radio into one bag but in Kansas City I find 90% of it uninteresting. As mentioned about a year ago I quit listening due to a number of reasons. On Tuesday leaving work I  tuned into one of the stations, the host was in the middle of a discussion on Bill Self. After that was concluded he and the co-host went into a discussion on the NCAA tournament. He said to his co-host and listening audience, “I could see Kansas being a Final Four team.”

Allow his statement to sink in a moment, there was no research conducted. In addition Kansas would not be forced to play all 12-13 teams in front of them at present. They beat Tennessee in the preseason along with Iowa State and Houston in conference play. They gonna beat Duke, Michigan, Florida or UConn in the tournament, I don’t think so. I didn’t bother with his view on how this season for Kansas will play out, I happen to believe he is wrong as two left shoes. Despite that fact I will allow this to marinate until tournament time, hopefully I will remember to revisit this once the tournament reaches the Final Four.

Everything must change

The headline is the title of a song originally recorded by jazz guitarist/singer George Benson. The young become the old is a key line at the beginning of the tune. With that allow me to begin, I have held this belief for a time but only hinted at it, it’s time for LeBron James to retire. Many reading this will be shocked by my writing, rest assured for him it’s not a talent issue it’s the other stuff. Games I’ve seen he appears to be a great deal slower on defense which all of us realize is a key to NBA success. In addition, in a subtle manner I believe he might be inhibiting the growth of several of the teams younger members.

As this is written the Lakers have played two playoff caliber teams in a row. Although the games were at home they managed to beat the Knicks and Wolves and….without LeBron in the lineup. In games missed by LeBron due to injury or load management they have 10 wins versus 2 losses. Here we go again Larry Laker, prove to us the team would be better with LeBron in Cleveland or simply retired. That’s easy, there is no method without performing all that analytics stuff to prove the team is better without LeBron on the floor. In the two prior games I believe the Lakers have been winners because they played much better defense with LeBron absent.