Basketball from a fans perspective

Change is coming

For the most part the basketball world other than the NBA begins to slow in April. The slowdown results in a lesser amount to write about the sport, based on this fact the publication dates of Off the Dribble will be reduced. At this point I’m unsure of a number, it could be a minimum of 4 days a week or a maximum of 5. As we arrive closer to the end of April I will provide you the publishing schedule in advance. As always thank you for being a reader, I look forward to continuing this blog to infinity.

A tip in

They were middle of the road, then meteoric hot and then fell into a funk. That is the Laker season in a nutshell, they will earn a playoff berth however the last few weeks injuries have impacted their record. If that sounds like an excuse so be it, they faced an ever improving Pacers team on the road. This game was back and forth between two evenly matched teams. LeBron was off and admitted as such only scoring 13 points, despite his low scoring total his tip-in at the buzzer was the final score in the Lakers 120-119 victory, he added 13 rebounds.

Luka led the way with 34 points and was assisted by Austin Reaves 24, Jaxson Hayes scored 13. The Pacers also had balanced scoring as all 5 Pacers were in double figures, interesting in that Benedict Mathurin led the Pacers in scoring off the bench with 23 points. If we check out the box score the numbers look even except the 14 TO’s the Lakers experienced. The grind continues on Thursday evening as they play the Bulls who conducted a beat down on them recently. Except at the top (Thunder) the Lakers have an opportunity to move up in the ever tight Western Conference race. As this is written they are in 4th place in the playoff picture although they could move up to 2nd.

Most frustrating

I must confess I didn’t originate this, someone wrote I read “10 Most frustrating things in sports.” Because this is a basketball blog I changed mine, it became The Most frustrating things in basketball, the intent was to cover college and NBA basketball. No doubt you have additions to this list, in addition they are not in any order. Despite that fact here they are:

Giving up offensive rebounds

Awarded two free throws and missing both

Fouling a player as he takes a three point shot

Officials failing to whistle traveling on a player (I don’t like the Euro step)

Flopping, its become a fine art in the NBA

The player missing the front end of a 1 and 1 on the free throw line

On the sideline the player steps out of bounds taking the shot

The front office too

I believe NBA fans generally place the blame for continued poor play for their team in this order. At the top of the list is the lack of talent on the roster, second to that is the coach and finally the GM/scouting staff. I am comparing apples to oranges, both are fruit however I wish to use the NFL Chiefs as the example. They were fortunate to draft a generational talent in QB Patrick Mahomes, however it was more to the story. It was Andy Reid the coach along with Brett Reaves GM plus the scouting staff. For the last 10 years the Chiefs have been successful thanks to the Mahomes/Reid/Reaves combo.

To prove the point John Dorsey who’d been GM with the Patriots was generally credited with much of their success, that turned out to not be the case. We could check the Thunder and see they have a successful trio in place. Drafting players with potential plus signing quality free agents are keys to accomplishment. Part of the hindrance I believe for lack of success is often an owner. In a discussion someone said this to me, “Jerry Jones would rather lose making the decisions over giving someone else credit for winning.” There are owners who believe their success in business should be the basis for running an NBA franchise, it just doesn’t work in that manner.

The Porter’s

Mizzou Nation never witnessed Michael Porter Jr. in his full glory. Injured his freshman year he played but 3 games before declaring for the NBA Draft, he was made the 14th pick in the first round of the 2017 draft. Since 2019 there’s been a slow but steady rise in his overall play, he’s become a vital part of the Denver Nuggets team. On Thursday younger brother Jevon Porter who went into the portal decided to head back to Columbia, he graduated from Father Tolton HS in Columbia.

Porter spent last season at Loyola Marymount were his numbers were 12.5 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.9 assist per game for the 6 foot 10 235 pound Porter. This move while on paper appears good I wish to approach it with caution and I will explain why. We’ve witnessed a number of portal players who moved to new teams and proved quite beneficial, John Tonje at Wisconsin is that example. As for the other that would be AJ Storr who never came close to what Kansas and Bill Self were expecting. There is no method to determine if this is a slam dunk or not until next fall…this member of Mizzou Nation is hoping it is a slam dunk.