Basketball from a fans perspective

Sunday, Monday, Wednesday & Friday

The future

I had to check the date because I had forgotten, it was Monday April 4, 2011. Words eye view (now Off the Dribble) first began publishing. The story of its founding is quite interesting because I must give a former co-worker the credit for the inspiration. At work whenever there was a break, I would gather my thoughts compose and send an email to Sean and four others. The email would have news and events in the NBA, college and prep basketball world. One day it was suggested by Sean “Why don’t you write a blog and publish it over the internet?”

I quickly informed him “I don’t know anything about internet publishing (probably still don’t). Here we are in 2021 with well over 1,000 editions of what has become a critical part of my life. It is time consuming as a staff of one to publish, taking into consideration research and whatever else is part of Off the Dribble. This is certainly not intended as an epilogue for this blog will continue to be published now and into the future. In the off season we began publishing Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday the plan will soon change. The thought currently is once the NBA season begins publishing will be conducted on a Monday through Friday basis, no Saturday and Sunday edition…at least for now.

They are both wrong…and him too!

In lieu of the 75^th Anniversary of the NBA and perhaps for other reasons I don’t know. A list of NBA players was selected by ranking, Dumb and Dumber (Skip Bayless & Bill Simmons) decided to supply us their take. Both stated (and I paraphrase) “LeBron James doesn’t rank wah, wah, wah, wah”.  Prior to applying words to this post, I thought a moment. The player they are discussing is 36-years old, he will have another birthday before the NBA season is complete.

LeBron’s played 18 seasons in the NBA, won 4 NBA Championships, 4 Finals MVP’s, 4 NBA MVP’s, earned 17 All Star appearances and more. First stop after retirement, the Naismith Hall of Fame. Do we suppose these two don’t believe he belongs there either? The Man has clearly been the Man for years, it matters more that he is productive despite his age. Sometimes we have media members who always stir up controversy. Bayless and Simmons are two of them although Smith is included in this number as well (see below).

And your point…

There is no way to get around it, I cannot escape ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. I avoid his television program and an account by him pops up in my news feed. This time I almost agree with him, see what you think. The subject was Allen Iverson and his time in Philly. No argument from this corner, Iverson was one of the most talented (and feared) ever to play the game. I’m convinced he wasn’t 6 foot 1 as rosters indicated, he might have been closer to 5 foot 11 but that’s another story. Stephen A. Smith has concluded AI was underpaid while a member of the Sixers.

Smith points out (correctly by the way) the Sixers have not sniffed a championship since AI played for them. Smith had an opportunity to see AI up close because he was working in Philly during the time Iverson was there. Smith might be correct (for once) AI might have been underpaid and maybe underappreciated for what he was able to accomplish, my question for Smith is why now? This is 2021, the calendar is about to turn to 2022, Iverson left Philly in 2006 although he briefly returned to close out his NBA career in 2010. About 15 years have elapsed since AI last played major minutes for the Sixers, is Smith proposing the Sixers back pay Iverson? AI has gone on record saying he’d like to work for the Sixers in some sort of role, at this stage it’s up to management for that call not Stephen A. Smith.

Have I shortchanged the Clippers?

The ESPN NBA page had a series of accounts on the upcoming season. One of those reports hinted the Clippers might have been under-rated, this is intended as a response. At the top, we are unsure if Kawhi Leonard returns this season. The Claw is key to the on-court success of the Clippers despite the team having talented Paul George available. PG came to the forefront once The Claw went down, and he played inspired playoff basketball but the question. He didn’t last season, but he knows now there will be no Claw for a large or maybe the entire season. Can PG supply the leadership and scoring this team requires to be successful?

At the point Reggie Jackson came on strong in the playoffs so there is talent at that position too, can playoff Reggie become regular season Reggie? Eric Bledsoe is listed as the shooting guard on the depth chart and brings capability to the position. The key issue the Clippers will be “small” in the back court with both guards standing 6 feet tall, opposing teams will certainly try to exploit their backcourt. Dependable Ivica Zubac is at the center position along with Marcus Morris at the power forward. This is written prior to the season so the positions and players might change, we don’t know. It appears the Clippers had a good draft but adopting a wait and see attitude is best for newcomers. Clipper reserves are good so that should aid their effort to compete in the upcoming season, thus ends the pre-season review of the Clippers.

Past glory

In the 60’s and 70’s UCLA ruled college basketball like no other team before or since. With the likes of future pros Abdul Jabbar, Bill Walton, Keith Wilkes and other talented players it might be easy to understand. The late John Wooden left gigantic footprints behind when he retired in 1975. Is UCLA basketball living on its past glory, the days when it dominated collegiate basketball? Back then a smaller number of teams competed for the championship but consider this fact. They won it all in 1964 and 1965, Texas Western (Texas El-Paso) won in 1966. From 1967 through 1973 UCLA won every season and then in 1974 they lost in the semifinal. UCLA would again win all in Wooden’s last year at the helm.

That was then what about now is the question? Under a succession of coaches particularly good only once in 1995 did UCLA win the NCAA Championship coached by Jim Harrick. The successors to Wooden have often led the team into contention but they have never come remotely close to past success. This is a statement made by my son, “I think UCLA (basketball) is living on its past glory.” Is my son correct, you become the judge, the tournament has expanded since the domination days of UCLA? The entire basketball landscape has changed on college basketball. Those factors and others must be taken into consideration if we try to judge UCLA basketball today versus UCLA basketball of the past?