Basketball from a fans perspective

Published Tuesday, Thursday plus Saturday & Sunday

The last one

Sunday begins the change I wrote of awhile back, basketball like most professional sports is present year round. Despite that fact news related to the sport moves at a slower pace. Based on that I decided to reduce the number of publications dates of Off the Dribble to Tuesday and Thursday followed by a Saturday and Sunday edition. This schedule might be tweaked a bit based on events such as the NBA Draft Lottery, the June draft plus college recruitment and other stories. Relax, enjoy and it’s hoped on my part you will continue to be a loyal reader. 

This was unexpected

I expected (or at least hoped) the Lakers would beat the Rockets on Friday evening. What captured me at the beginning of the game was the lineup Ime Udoka sent out on the floor. The only regular season starter for the Rockets was Jalen Green and he only played 15 minutes, the final score of the victory (140-109) is misleading because the starting lineup for the Lakers contained all the regulars. The Lakers were seeking to secure the third seed which could have occurred on Friday or their final regular season game on Sunday against the Blazers. Since the Lakers were victorious I expect to see a Laker lineup similar to that of the Rockets on Sunday night. Luka scored 39 points on 68.4% and 55.6% from the three line shooting.

A pause here, I’ve taken advantage of the trade to observe his game more closely than the past. This might have been evident all along but I’m just now seeing it, this is not a criticism by the way. Luka’s offensive game details a slow motion effort in taking the shot, I’m sure opposing teams attempt to “speed him up” but it appears to not work in their favor. As for his defense, it’s exists although in truth he will never be an accomplished defender. As I mentioned in an earlier post the hope is Luka will adapt and be able to play good team defense. As for the others, LeBron had an “average” game scoring but 14 points. He appeared to suffer a groin injury in the third quarter, it didn’t appear serious although his evening was cut short. Austin Reaves continued his career season scoring 23 points on excellent shooting while dishing out 6 assists and 7 rebounds. All this on 60% and 50% from the floor and three line.

Meanwhile…

There are times I must overlook stuff done by the NBA and this is one of them, don’t misunderstand it frustrates me however there’s nothing I can do. Here’s an example, last week’s Laker game against the Thunder Luka was ejected based on what the official believed Luka said. Despite protests by Luka and a host of teammates he left the game. Although the Thunder are tough competition the game was tied in the 4th quarter when the ejection occurred. The Lakers went on to lose what some believe was a winnable game. A day or so later the NBA offices announced one of the technical fouls would be rescinded however my question is simple. Is that portion of the game going to be replayed, that turns out to not be the case? So instead of the left side (win) the game remains on the right side (loss) of the ledger. It sure would be great if the NBA genuinely fixed these errors rather than simply announce them.  

The transfer portal closes April 22, it was shortened to 30 days in 2025. The question now becomes is it more important to acquire “McDonald All-Americans” or portal transfers? In my opinion both could make or break a college team and I will provide you two examples. I’m not picking on the guy but Kansas expected more from Wisconsin transfer AJ Storrs than what they received, he’s decided to transfer once again. On the other hand adding high school talent doesn’t guarantee success either, example Rutgers. They had freshman NBA lottery picks in their lineup for the 2024-25 season in Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, although both probably raised their draft stock Rutgers finished the season with 15 wins and 17 losses. I guess in both instances prospects “can be like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.”

I hope the other day when I first mentioned this story there was no confusion on your part. I reported the visa issue for Duke's Khaman Maluach, in my view this story involves more than just basketball. I don’t know this to be the case however my belief is there are probably college students from South Sudan who are not athletes also caught up in the visa fiasco. My question for Secretary of State Rubio, why is it necessary to punish Maluach and others for decisions made by the Government of South Sudan? Now if this appears as though the blog has become politicized that is not the case. I wanted to place before you an issue which is facing one basketball player and students who probably have no athletic pursuits.

John Brisker

Prior to you reading this account I must bring this to your attention. Much as I desire this blog to be about the current state of basketball players and stories of the past are always popping up in my feed, that is the case here. John Brisker could only be described as a character, one who was serious to the point of dangerous behavior. See the ABA-NBA of the 1970’s was nothing close to what you see today. On court fights would often occur and generally if it were a (ABA) Pittsburgh Pipers/Condors game or one featuring the Sonics Brisker could often be found in the middle. He played his college ball at Toledo and later his teammate with the ABA Condors said, “He developed a reputation as one of the most volatile players in basketball.

This from Wikipedia; “He was an excellent player, but say something wrong to the guy and you had this feeling he would reach into his bag, take out a gun and shoot you. He was ejected so often for fighting that he was nicknamed "the heavyweight champion of the ABA." Once he was ejected from a game in the first two minutes for throwing an elbow at an opposing player.” Where Brisker is today, he’s been declared dead although the State Department doubts this occurred. Brisker traveled to Uganda where he became a “friend” of the dictator Idi Amin. Once the revolution took place and Amin was forced to flee communications with Brisker were cut off, this would be 1978. He was declared dead by King County Washington to settle his estate in 1985. The State Department claims they are unable to verify Brisker had traveled to Uganda. Some of his Sonic teammates believe he was killed fighting as a mercenary or with Ugandan government officials. If Brisker is alive he would be 78 years of age.