A basketball fans outlook

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Prestige

I approached the 2026 NBA draft from a unique angle, focusing on salaries, which are often overlooked. I found some information interesting and thought you might too. The salary gap between the top two picks isn’t significant when discussing millions—the first overall pick will make $13.8 million in their rookie season, while the second pick earns $12.37 million. Both players sign four-year contracts: two years are guaranteed, and the other two are team options.

This next portion is AI; “A team option in the NBA is a contract clause allowing a team to extend a player's contract for an additional season, the decision rests entirely with the franchise to either "exercise" the option (retaining the player) or "decline" it (making the player a free agent). Again according to AI, by the according to AI, by the fourth year, the top pick will have received substantially more compensation. So, do you think there’s a real monetary difference between the first and second picks before year four? Or does the distinction mostly come down to prestige?

It’s me…I will take the heat

I saw a list of Top 10 NBA point guards, the usual suspects were included however I questioned one name on the list. That name….Steph Curry, the Warriors “point guard” is the most excellent shooter I’ve seen past and present. Well Larry Laker why did you decide he didn’t belong on a Top 10 list, the answer is easy, I saw him as a shooter until I began researching his career stats. I also conducted an office survey and out of 5 NBA fans all stated emphatically that Steph Curry belongs on a list of Top 10 point guards, not a single one excluded him.

Conducting my research I discovered over the course of his brilliant Warrior career he’s actually been more adept from three than midrange some seasons. I also found out .380 was the lowest number from three he’s managed to shoot during his career, he’s been as high as .450+ twice. For his career, its .422 but wait there is more, the point guard portion of his game. He’s been as high as 8.5 assists a game registered in the 2013-14 season, over the course of his career the assist total has never been lower than 5.1. If we add the assists to the scoring total that makes Curry a one man offensive juggernaut. So there you have it, an overlook on my part and an apology to fans of Curry.

Louisville basketball

If you say college basketball in the State of Kentucky 99% of the citizens will first say the Kentucky Wildcats, others will say Louisville. Of course if you are associated with Louisville basketball some of you are aware of the following. Excluding this recently completed season in 112 seasons the Cardinals have registered 1,958 wins. Through a succession of coaches for the most part the program has been highly successful. They cannot match their cross state rivals the Kentucky Wildcats in the number of NCAA championships, Louisville’s’ won in 1980,1986 and 2013 would witness the school winning it all. The Cardinals also hold one record likely to never be duplicated.

They have won the 1948 NAIA, 1956 NIT plus the NCAA championships mentioned in the past. There was one more issue which caused the state to be somewhat divided. It was this, for years because the University of Kentucky had a more prestigious program they refused to play their cross state rival Louisville. Finally the legislature of the state had to become involved in the issue between the two schools. Legislation was introduced which would deprive Kentucky of state funds should the administration continue its policy of refusing to schedule Louisville. The threat of losing state aid finally convinced Kentucky they should plan on playing Louisville, since that time its my understanding they play a home and home schedule. It should be noted the 2013 NCAA championship was later voided.

Prove it 

I have no background in media of any sort, I contend sports talk radio might be very difficult for me to handle. I can imagine the responsibility of filling the airways with four hours of talk. You’ve got to error to some degree, for me there is a difference between an error and a dumb statement. Now I have no method to determine if this statement was a throw in or what. After discussing the recent NCAA tournament championship this host said; “Shaq couldn’t play today” and ended the statement without any backup. For me the other issue, his radio partner offered no response. My statement is simple, you claim Shaquille O’Neal couldn’t play in today’s game….prove it! I say Shaq would be a product of the now, he would play the game as it is at present.

There would be no requirement for him to play with the brute force he did on the other hand maybe he might. I have pondered this issue over and over again, radio and television sports host receive very little pushback whenever they make statements that cannot be proven. That goes for Gilbert Arenas and other podcasters as well. Those who played in the NBA receive no free pass just because they were in the league at a point. I have stated over and over that the athletes of today are better conditioned, they have the opportunity of living in the now. They have an advantage over their fathers and grandfathers, with that I proclaim if we had a method of teleporting 1960 Oscar Robertson to 2026 he could play. I could make the same statement for many of the athletes of that period, I continue to question why radio guy and others make these proclamations with no method to prove it.