Basketball from a fans perspective

A decision

As I indicated earlier the college basketball season will end on Monday April 7. There will be a lesser number of college news stories to report, based on that fact Off the Dribble will began publishing three days a week. I am undecided on which day of the week, however, as we arrive closer to the date the schedule will be published. As always I thank you for being a loyal reader of this blog, I hope you will continue to be a reader of this effort to provide you basketball content from a fan’s perspective. 

They forgot

Luka Doncic blamed himself for the Warriors' 123-116 win over the Lakers, but it was a team effort. The Lakers struggled to catch up throughout the game. Their shooting was consistent except from beyond the three-point line, where the Warriors excelled, leading to the final score disparity. Steph Curry delivered his usual performance with 37 points, and Brandin Podziemski, with his 28 points, also increased the possibility of a Warrior victory.   the decisive I was a tiny bit surprised, Jimmy Butler did not meet expectations I expected on Thursday, scoring only 11 points.

Jonathan Kuminga contributed from the Warriors' bench with 18 points and 9 rebounds. Rui compensated for Luka’s scoring, adding 24 points, and both LeBron (33 points) and Reaves (31 points) contributed to the Lakers' total. The Lakers’ reserves were largely ineffective due to the Warriors' defensive efforts. Despite my personal preference for the home team to win it didn’t occur, the Warriors demonstrated their superiority on Thursday evening. Another area that stood out for me the reserves, the visitors were clearly better. Since I am a “glass half-full guy versus one who sees a half empty glass this would be my response. You can do all you can as an individual, there comes a time there are others who must step up and resume normal.

Poor Kansas 

Wow, how the mighty have fallen! Friday morning news with this notice, there are only 3 scholarship players remaining at Kansas. 6 players announced their intention to enter the transfer portal, now some could return however for the first time Bill Self and Kansas fans must face this reality. The college basketball landscape has changed, as mentioned yesterday they must improvise, adapt and overcome. Some reading this will believe I am hatin’ on Kansas basketball that is not the case.

It’s my belief that several fans of Jayhawk Nation have failed to adapt to what might be the new normal for the program. I continue to write over and over the college basketball landscape has changed but I see little proof most believe that fact. As for who believes this to be the case, Bill Self plus his staff. Who refuses to believe and remains in the past is Jayhawk Nation, the team from Lawrence Kansas can no longer dominate the Big XII as they once did. Not only has NIL and the transfer portal come into existence so have new competitive conference schools. The league is now Houston (winners of the last two conference championships), Arizona and others who are quite noteworthy.

This is a problem…really

Cooper Flagg was lamenting the fact he’s forced to wear Nike because of Duke’s affiliation with the company, he’s got a shoe and apparel contract with New Balance. Well it might be a problem for Flagg but at an earlier time a comparable situation occurred and this involved Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley. Nike was a fledgling company in 1984 nothing close to the monolithic conglomerate they have since become, Converse was Bugatti priced back then.

Sidebar here, Nike purchased Converse in 2003, the two competitors are now one company. As for Michael Jordan while playing at North Carolina wore Converse shoes and apparel. However that was not the main problem that would occur much later in MJ’s career. The 1984 Olympic Dream Team’s supplier for shoes and apparel was Reebok, MJ and Charles Barkley who were Nike sponsored covered their jersey’s in order to not reveal the logo of a competitor, I’m unsure how they handled their shoe issue. This suggestion for Flagg is really a non-issue, he’s got at most two games to wear Nike, just ignore the swoosh on the shoe and apparel he wears, if he decides to head for the heads NBA in the fall that will become a non-issue.

Lakers mock draft

This is written in the belief this outcome could occur, on the other hand the Lakers might trade for a post player or gain one through free agency. Of course we are discussing a veteran, if that doesn’t transpire then we must look toward the draft and who would that be? Before beginning this exercise allow me to state the pick must be a second round because the Lakers have no first round pick. Who are these potential post players:

Dawson Garcia 6 foot 11 234 Minnesota

Maxime Raynaud 7 foot 1 245 Stanford

Tomislav Ivisic 7 foot 1 255 Illinois

Daniel Wolf 7 feet 250 Michigan

Ryan Kalkbrenner 7 foot 1 270 Creighton

Khaman Maluach 7 foot 2 250 Duke

Hansen Yang 7 foot 1 249 China   

The last name on the list Yang is a long shot, he might be considered a work in progress although it’s reported his footwork is good. There are 6 names listed here, now comes the disclaimer. There is a distinct possibility one or more of the names listed might be drafted ahead of the Lakers pick. In addition as usual, none of those named are seniors, they might declare for the draft change their mind and return to school, that is also a possibility. The issue for me I don’t wish to see another Ivica Zubac either passed over in the draft or chosen and later traded.