Basketball from a fans perspective

Published Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday

Publishing change

The NBA season began last night, the college basketball season will begin in the next four to five weeks. Based on this my blog will begin publishing Monday through Friday, for now there will be no Saturday or Sunday edition. This change will become effective Monday October 24^th, thank you for being a faithful reader of Off the Dribble.

The Perfect Storm

This is no reference to the 2000 movie drama starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg. This perfect storm will see the Lakers finish the 2022-23 season with a winning record, they will finish with a 43-39 record. How do they accomplish this when most of the experts believe they Lakers face adversity this season. By the way this is written about 3-4 hours ahead of the Warriors-Lakers tip off game. How do they accomplish a winning record?

Russell Westbrook-The mercurial point guard will lead the second unit, or he’s traded.

Games-AD must stay healthy and appear in at least 60 productive games.

LeBron-Continue to be LeBron.

Quality 3-point shooting-Kendrick Nunn, Matt Ryan and ?

Belly button defense-Patrick Beverely, Dennis Schroeder & Wenyen Gabriel

Avoid serious injuries-LeBron and AD

This is the final season for Westbrook, he’s got to prove he’s a team player, AD must avoid the injury bug that effects his play. LeBron James has stressed the importance of AD taking more of a leadership role with the Lakers. LeBron, easy continue to play at a high skill level despite now in his 20^th NBA season. The Lakers were pathetic from the 3-point line, that’s the reason Ryan earned a roster spot. He and Nunn or expected to contribute off the bench with timely accurate shooting. A former coach used the term belly button defense to denote his team played hard-nosed defense. The trio of Beverly, Schroeder and Gabriel are mentioned however defense involves the entire roster. Finally the last piece is an issue the team has little control, avoid major injuries. The Lakers probably wouldn’t have won it all last season, its my contention without the players missing time they might have finished above .500.

Just when you think you know it all 

You discover one more thing you didn’t know. That was the case recently, I read Julius Erving a.k.a. Dr. J. complained because his name wasn’t included in the NBA’s All-Time list of scorers. Naturally I sat for a minute I’m sure if you saw me, you’d see the puzzled expression on my face. After a little research I discovered why the good Dr. was complaining. The history indicates Dr. J. scored 30,026 points during his pro career; if he was included among the Top 25 scorers, he would displace Shaquille O’Neal currently in 8^th place. I learned Dr. J. scored 18,364 points while playing for the Sixers, he’d scored 11,662 points earlier while playing for the Virginia Squires and New York Nets.

This oversight not only affects Dr. J. without checking I’m sure there are others. Artis Gilmore, George Gervin, Moses Malone and several others might have played more games in the NBA than they did in the ABA. How should the NBA address this issue, they should consider following what Major League Baseball did recently, they added the records of Negro League teams which had been excluded during the time blacks were not allowed to play. This sort of the same discussion, players were ignored because of the league they played. The NBA should follow the process of baseball and add the records. I think I’m going to write the commissioner and see what he’s got to say. I think this oversight should be corrected by the NBA for Dr. J. and others.  

Fulfill your dream

The change in the basketball landscape often causes us to miss developing collegiate talent. A budding talent is here one minute and gone the next, that might be the case for freshman Nick Smith. If you check most NBA mock drafts for 2023 the third name so often seen is that of Smith. Smith’s at the University of Arkansas and some mock drafts place him right behind Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson. Let’s take a glimpse of the youngster, he was two-time Player of the Year in Arkansas 2021 and 2022. This 6-foot 5-inch combo guard is a McDonalds All American and the MVP of the Jordan Brand Classic and Nike Hoop Summit. Smith had basketball offers from all over the nation but chose to remain close to home.

After all Little Rock is about a three-hour drive from Fayetteville. If Smith is a good as advertised, he will not remain at Arkansas long, he will declare for the 2023 NBA draft, and we can say in truth…we barely saw him play. On the other hand can we really blame him, Smith is like a thousand other youngsters who dream of playing in the NBA? I can make the statement fulfill your dream young man, you can always return to college and attain the degree if it’s important to you. We can rest assured Eric Musselman and staff have scouted Smith extensively since Little Rock is not a great distance from Fayetteville to travel. He will be in action against my Mizzou Tigers so I will have plenty of opportunities to see him this fall and winter.

Don’t burn your bridges

I read an article on the net maybe you did too, it read Allen Iverson wants a job with the Sixer organization. AI points out despite the fact he’s been retired 11 years now he claims, “I’m always a Sixer.” I believe we can understand his statement to a point. The diminutive shooting guard (notice I didn’t say point) electrified Philly fans during the 10 years he played for the Sixers. If we look at his bio there are a wealth of awards and honors accumulated during his career. He was NBA scoring champion four seasons and one of those years saw him awarded MVP for the league.

With the passage of time there is no explanation why Iverson was traded, he played for several NBA teams prior to returning to Philly where he retired. Based on his desire for a job I wonder why the Sixers have not contacted him, where is the disconnect? Iverson is now 47 years old and certainly not the same personality who left the team in a 2006 trade to the Nuggets. Despite the fact he is not the same person your past can and, in some instances, comes back to haunt you, it’s my belief that is the case for AI. Someone reading this might believe there is a hate AI going on here, that is far from the case. Perhaps another NBA team might be willing to take a chance on hiring him it doesn’t appear to be the Sixers for some reason.