Basketball from a fans perspective

July 15, 2024

The date above is the target date, Off the Dribble will return to its summer schedule becoming a 4-day a week publication. This schedule will remain in place until approximately Tuesday October 15, after that date the daily routine will resume once again.

The French Connection

This one has nothing to do with the 1971 movie classic by the same name. In the movie the good guys were chasing bad guys, in this instance apparently we have all good guys. The reference is to the NBA draft held last night and again tonight. International players have long been part of the NBA draft, players such as Yao Ming and Andrea Bargnani have even been chosen number one. Despite this fact there is one more issue to cover.

I’m going to research this, I don’t believe two internationals have ever been chosen one and two in the draft as they were on Wednesday evening. If you are reading this on Thursday I will be proven correct or you have the opportunity to laugh at me. It’s likely we hear the names Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr announced by commissioner Silver. These two French youngsters (and others) will follow fellow countryman Victor Wembanyama into the NBA. That’s where the connection ends, I certainly am not projecting either player to match the Rookie of the Year game of Wemby, that would place far too much pressure on both athletes. As for history technically we could say this occurred in 2013, Anthony Bennett (Canada) was chosen with the top pick.

Chosen number two in that same draft was Victor Oladipo, I am aware Oladipo was born in Maryland however his parents are immigrants from Nigeria. but his parents immigrated to the U.S. from Nigeria. That’s as close as the NBA history draw near two international players chosen 1-2 in the draft. We share a border with Canada so it’s difficult to think of our northern neighbor as a European nation, the Oladipo connection is clear, he was born here.

Maybe it did…maybe it didn’t

The date was March 2, 1962, instead of the Warriors game being played in Philadelphia it was Hershey Pennsylvania. A small crowd of 4,000 fans were in attendance to watch the game although over 10,000 later claimed to be there. Your first question why was the game not played in Philadelphia? The answer is simple, the NBA had been in operation since 1947 but in the eyes of most it was still ‘minor league’ compared to other professional sports, it was baseball which was king followed by college football and the NFL.

The history indicates college basketball was more popular than the NBA of the 1950’s and 1960’s. As for this game itself the Warriors won 169-147 over the New York Knicks, Wilt Chamberlain would score an NBA record 100 points in the game. As for his Warrior teammates 8 of them in the game totaled 69 points, point guard Guy Rogers had 11 points and 20 assists. As for Chamberlain he was 36 for 63 from the floor (.571), the notorious poor free throw shooter Chamberlain was 28 for 32 from the line (.875). The Big Dipper as he was nicknamed pulled down 25 rebounds in the game. Apparently the Knicks did the best they could attempting to guard Chamberlain. Knicks center Darrall Imhoff fouled out attempting to contest the prolific scoring Warriors center. The numbers were not bad for the Knicks they just faced a player determined to score that evening every time he touched the basketball. At this point, the story becomes questionable in some minds, is it the stuff of fiction or did it actually occur? If you listen to the comments of two of my co-workers the scoring total by Chamberlain is questionable to them.

Their objection there is no visual proof of the game, a photo of Chamberlain holding a placard with the number 100 written on it is the only visual offering. In 1988 the original WCAU radio broadcast of the game was discovered and is now in the possession of the Library of Congress. There is no explanation as to the why but only the 4th quarter of the game survived. We are in 2024 and the scoring record remains a question in some minds, did it occur or was it the result of a prehistoric NBA attempt to become viable in the eyes of America at the time?

Underwhelmed

The headline would be me after the Lakers made their pick in round one of the 2024 NBA draft. I was familiar with Dalton Knecht having seen him in action for Tennessee against my Mizzou Tigers. Drafting at 17 I hoped Zach Edey would be available, nope picked at 9 by the Grizzlies, darn. I kept my fingers crossed as the draft progressed, I thought Kel’el Ware would be there. That would not be the case, the Heat picked the Indiana Big Man at 15 double-darn.

The commissioner stepped to the podium, “With the 17th pick the Los Angeles Lakers choose Dalton Knecht from the University of Tennessee.” My draft hopes went right down the toilet, my team failed to draft any of the players I wanted, both Big Men. No disagreement the 6 foot 6 Knecht can shoot the rock, can he transfer that to the NBA, second, does he play defense? I am going to wait until the season starts before progressing past this point. Let’s just say Laker management was thinking one thing and I was thinking another.

When’s the last time

I’m sure there have been instances in the past but probably few. The Yankees trading with the Mets, the Cubs swapping players with the White Sox. The Los Angeles Clippers acquired a player in trade who was a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. These teams have a common theme, all have the same city name emblazed on the front of their jersey. As I mentioned free agency could see an athlete playing for both teams but a trade, not likely except it did occur.

It was 1983 the last year the Nets and Knicks consummated a trade, that was 41 years ago. I’m not going to research the name of the players involved let’s just say the drought is over between the Nets and Knicks. The Nets traded Mikal Bridges to the Knicks for Bojan Bogdanovic and five 1st round draft choices. Another NBA team besides the Lakers has a win now attitude. Any time you trade that much of your future it definitely says the Knicks are in a win now mode.