Script changes and page turners
I don’t know what will be carried forward from the bubble, but I like the NBA Finals logo at centre court. Do you think this could become a standard practice? — Paul M. I don’t know that this is the first time a Finals logo has been on the court, but a couple of things on this version: It is too overwhelming, and I hate the block lettering. I would prefer they go back to the cursive script of years gone by. Well, I got half my wish for the NBA Finals. I’m thoroughly impressed by Miami ... As I was watching the Heat, something about Bam Adebayo set off my déjà-vu meter. It kept bugging me, and for the longest time I couldn’t put my finger on it. Until it finally hit me. He could totally pass for DeMar DeRozan’s younger brother, or at least cousin, no? — Santino I had a buddy say the same thing about Adebayo and DeRozan. Can’t say I’ve seen it, but also I haven’t been looking that closely. I just finished Mike Bossy’s autobiography “Boss.” I know he wrote it in 1989, but I only recently found it in a thrift shop ... He scored more than 50 goals as a rookie. He was also the first player since the Rocket to score 50 in 50 games. He is in the Hall of Fame, but where do you think he would rank among the all-time greats had a bad back not limited his career to 10 seasons? And secondly, why has it been so long since we’ve seen a rookie score as proficiently as Bossy did in his first season with the Islanders? All the recent ones besides Connor McDavid have struggled in their rookie campaigns. — Ken I love a good pucks question, as you all know. I can’t say where Bossy would rank all time, but he’d probably be in the top-20 conversation. I think it’s kind of easy to figure out why few have matched his rookie production from, what, 1977? The game’s changed so drastically, Players are better, bigger, scoring is harder. It’s apple and oranges to compare those eras. Congrats on the upcoming book! I pre-ordered mine a few weeks ago. Was the process of writing the book what you thought it would be? It was tough to hear about all the Heat injuries from Game 1. I would love to see a Heat win over the Lakers, but it seems like they’ve already drawn the injury short
straw. — Andrew I’m sure we’ll get deeper into this over the next few weeks, when people start actually reading the book and seeing how we did it (that’s the stress of my life right now), but it was far harder than I had ever anticipated. Took longer, took more prying from colleagues to get stories out of me, took a lot more of everything. But I think it was worth it. Hope others do, too. After Hyun-Jin Ryu’s meltdown in the playoffs, my buddies and I debated whether he is a true ace. It got pretty heated, as you can imagine. In your opinion, is
he an ace — and why? — Eric B. If your definition of a pitching staff ace is someone you would pick to give you the absolute best chance of anyone on your staff to win one game, then sure he is. If your definition of a pitching staff ace is someone who’s a dead lock to win every game, you’re out of touch with the times and the sport. Read more on Doug Smith’s Sports Blog at thestar.com and send your questions to askdoug@thestar.ca. We reserve the right to edit for length, clarity and punctuation.