Basketball from a fans perspective

Published Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday

Hotter than fish grease

As this is written Cleveland is meteor hot, the 9-0 record is even better than the defending champion Celtics. This is the now, let’s travel back in time even before LeBron. It was the 1981-82 season, that Cavs team was so horrible fans replaced Cavaliers with Cadavers. The blame can be laid at the feet of then owner Ted Stepien, even all these years later he is counted as the worst NBA owner ever. A few younger readers might believe the honor belonged to Donald Sterling at the time he owned the Clippers.

Stepien was light years ahead of Sterling based on his actions while owner of the team. That Cadavers Cavs team had 4 head coaches in one season and all were fired by owner Stepien, one of those coaches fired was Chuck Daley who much later was made a Naismith Hall of Fame honoree. Daley would be hired by the Pistons and eventually lead them to an NBA championship. Just in case you have a question about the won-loss record it was 15 wins and 67 losses. Stepien created so much turmoil the NBA placed a rule in effect due to the owner.

“At one point, the Cavs had traded away five consecutive first-round picks, covering 1982 until 1985. The NBA thereafter instituted the “Stepien Rule,” which states that a team (usually) cannot trade its first-round pick in consecutive years.” I can offer you NO PROOF but in a manner that would later befall Sterling the NBA asked Stepien to sell the team. This is but a brief history of the worst NBA team in the leagues history thanks to its owner the late Ted Stepien.

“Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you”

My early assessment of the Dubs have proven me wrong, I swung and missed big time thus far. Dubs missed the playoffs last season, beaten by the Kings in the Play-in. The Lakers DID earn a playoff berth but were eliminated by the Nuggets. Understand this, at the beginning of the 2024-25 season I placed the Warriors and Lakers at the same place, middle of the pack teams. After the hot start by the Warriors and the fact they managed to beat the hot defending champion Celtics at home (118-112) I wonder how I could have been so off in my early prediction.

As for the final score the game was no blow out win for the Warriors but certainly not as close as the final score reads. The NBA season has barely begun however the Warriors certainly appear to be a much better team thus far than my Lakers. The issue might be coaching as much as the assembled teams. JJ Redick is new and if he’s the right fit its going to take time. On the other hand the Dubs have steady Steve Kerr at the helm and 36-year old Steph Curry. In the early portion of the game Curry’s shooting was a bit off yet he was able to effectively distribute the rock. At the end he was 27 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists and 4 steals on 47.1% shooting from the floor. The Western Conference standings have the Warriors tied for first with a 7-1 mark.

A strange tale indeed

Headed into Wednesday night’s action the Sixers have totaled 1 win versus 5 losses. Joel Embiid has been sidelined for the 6 games played but wait there is more to this tale indeed. The Sixers have been fined $100,000 after president of basketball operations Daryl Morey announced Paul George and Joel Embiid would be held out of back to back games. The basis for the fine is the Sixers would be in violation of the NBA’s Player Participation Policy.

This rule is aimed at keeping big name players on the court. Later Embiid would have an altercation with a Philly writer in the team’s locker room. The fight was over a story the reporter had written about Embiid’s late brother. For the scuffle Embiid had with the reporter the NBA suspended him for 3 games. You cannot make this stuff up, imagine this scenario. Player Embiid suspended from playing in a game despite the fact he’s been unable to play anyway due to being injured and in recovery.      

Fact plus opinion

Off the Dribble is full of facts and sometimes opinions, on those occasions when opinion is provided I attempt to back it up with fact. That approach works for me not so much for sports radio guy, I’ll provide you an example. As this is written on Wednesday for Friday publication this is the fact. Mizzou played and was defeated by Memphis at FedEx Arena in Memphis, opinions are one thing, facts is facts. This is the speech one local radio host; “Mizzou lost to Memphis last night. This is going to be a repeat of last season (8-24) as they begin 0-2. It’s possible UMKC (Kansas City) makes the NCAA tourney before Mizzou.”

There is so much wrong with radio guys statement, I’m going to take it apart bit by bit. First off the Memphis game was the first game, they will have not played their second game until November 8. The problem for me is him disparaging the program without offering one shred of evidence other than his opinion. If I were a betting person I’d place large sums to money this guy has no clue about anything related to college basketball. Whenever I point these things out the younger members of my place of employment have a simple answer for me. It’s all about click’s i.e., how many subscribers or listeners can you retain. This one is near the top in stuff that’s simply an opinion and not fact.