Basketball from a fans perspective

Published Tuesday, Thursday plus Saturday & Sunday 

Breaking News

As I was finishing the preparation for the Saturday edition of Off the Dribble, an alert appeared on my iPhone from a sports website. Gregg Popovich, the longtime Spurs head coach, will not be returning to the bench this fall. He will instead begin working in the capacity of President of Basketball Operations for the Spurs. Managing the front office for the Spurs is not exactly new for Popovich, as he once served as GM prior to his role as coach. His health had been a concern after experiencing what was described as a mini stroke last November.

While there were hopes he would return to coaching, that would not be the case. It has been noted that beneath his often stern appearance, he was known for his positive relationships with players and many in the media. In all his years of coaching, I’ve only read of one player express a negative opinion of him. This new position will allow Pop to continue to contribute to the game of basketball. Succeeding Pop will be Mitch Johnson who coached the team from November until the end of the season. I wrote my belief Becky Hammon would make history becoming the first woman NBA head coach but it’s not likely to occur now as soon as I believed.

Is Wemby still growing?

As mentioned earlier Spurs combo guard Stephon Castle was named 2024-25 NBA Rookie of the Year. Spurs management invited the team’s past three award winners to the award ceremony. They were left to right Tim Duncan (1997-98), David Robinson (1989-90) Castle (2024-25) and Victor Wembanyama last season’s winner. The four gathered for a photo and it contained an interesting question, has Wemby grown a couple of inches. Duncan stands 6 foot 11, Robinson is 7 foot 1 and Castle is 6 foot 6, Wemby was reported to be 7 foot 3 but there is a question. It appears Wemby is almost a “head” taller than Robinson, on the other hand it could be the angle of the photo. It’s been medically proven folks shrink in height as they age, have Duncan and Robinson began shrinking? Wemby is on the way to 8 feet in height!

An introduction for some 

If we look strictly at the numbers they appear ordinary, 8.6 points along with 6.6 rebounds a game. Not too impressive for a guy who is listed at 7 foot 2 and 250 pounds but that would be Khaman Maluach who just completed his freshman season for Duke basketball. There will be no sophomore season for the 18 year old, in a manner similar to teammates Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel Maluach has also declared for the NBA draft. The most exciting part for me I could foresee tremendous basketball growth for him provided he lands with the right team.

Maluach is originally from South Sudan, he began his basketball journey playing at the NBA Academy Africa in Senegal, after that he begin a journey to America to play for Duke. He was deemed by most a “project” at the beginning of the college season however all that’s changed now. Maluach is now a Bonafide first round draft pick who falls just outside of the lottery on several mock draft sites. One mock draft site projects Maluach as a lottery pick, with that said don’t be surprised to hear his name announced by the NBA commissioner in June. This is unfair of me, often we must compare a prospect to an existing or former player. In this instance he reminds me of the late Dikembe Mutombo who was more a defender over anything else.

This popped up on my feed

Consider the case of an athlete who was ostracized by the NBA in a manner similar to the NFL's treatment of Colin Kaepernick. This occurred years prior to Kaepernick becoming a household name. The athlete in question is Chris Jackson, who later converted to Islam while at LSU and changed his name to Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. A few years earlier, Lew Alcindor had undergone a similar transformation, adopting the name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  Reflecting on the historical context, Jackson was an exceptional basketball player during his high school years and later at LSU.

Known for his remarkable shooting accuracy from the floor and three-point line, his proficiency can be attributed to his rigorous practice regimen. Shaquille O'Neal, also attending LSU but a year behind Jackson, recounted how he followed Jackson one night at 11:30 p.m. and discovered he was heading to the gym to take 1,000 practice shots. In the 1990 NBA Draft, the Denver Nuggets selected Jackson in the first round as the third overall pick. During his first three years as Abdul-Rauf, his performance was satisfactory, but his third year marked a significant breakthrough as he entered the starting lineup. Subsequently, Abdul-Rauf's refusal to stand for the National Anthem due to his perception of racial divides in America led to controversy. Initially he was permitted to remain in the dressing room during the anthem, this arrangement ultimately did not resolve the issue satisfactorily.

Abdul-Rauf was subsequently traded to the Sacramento Kings in 1996 where he played for two seasons in a reserve role. His career then took him to Turkey and later to the Vancouver Grizzlies for a single season. After the Grizzlies, he continued to play for various international teams but never received another offer to play from an NBA team. It remains uncertain whether his lack of employment was due to his political views. At the age of 56, Abdul-Rauf appears to have found peace with the course of his NBA career.