A Fan’s View of Basketball

Published Tue, Thu, Sat & Sun

Happy birthday

Former Celtic great Bob Cousy celebrated his 97th birthday this past Saturday. Although Cousy has long been associated with those great Celtic teams I was surprised to discover they were not his first pro team. In the 1950 NBA draft the Tri-City Blackhawks made Cousy the third pick in the first round, the history indicates he refused to report to the team and was then sent to the Celtics however there is no indication of a trade. Based on that story I was curious about the series of events that led to the Blackhawks demise and what area of the nation the team called home.   

They were founded in 1946 as the Buffalo (NY) Bison, but moved to the Tri-Cities midway through the first season. The Blackhawks were an NBL team and played in that league until 1949 when they joined the newly formed NBA. In any event Tri-City represented the cities of Moline and Rock Island Illinois along with Davenport Iowa. Moline and Rock Island are located about 5 miles apart and Davenport is located just across the Mississippi River from Rock Island an even shorter distance. There is no indication in the history if the team played in one city over the other. They struggled at the gate forcing them to move to Milwaukee after the 1950-51 season where they were renamed the Hawks. Much later 1955 to be exact the Hawks would move to St. Louis and finally in 1968 to Atlanta their present home.

When you believe in your own hype

I could use another word but I will keep it PG rated, the headline is slight bit misleading, I believe it’s always necessary to believe in yourself even if you are WRONG! My example is Stephen A. Smith ESPN media member, recently the former first lady Michelle Obama made a statement which quite displeased SAS. I’m going to paraphrase her quote, “Watching some sports talk programs like First Take is just like watching reality television, the Real Housewives of Atlanta.

All they do is yell back and forth at one another.” Naturally, SAS took offense to the statement, in his usual condescending self-responded and ended by saying “I have no argument with Michelle Obama.” As you are aware I’ve mentioned on occasion my co-workers continue to inform me to not become upset. They claim SAS, Jason Whitlock, Skip Bayless and others are for lack of another term are “entertainers.” Most often they fail to provide us vital information however they have no problem providing their opinion of a sports subject be it an athlete, owner or front office move. That becomes the chief problem, most times it’s their which often lacks verification and objectivity. Anytime someone literally says “Trust me” without providing me a basis for that trust they become even more suspect to me.     

Who are they

The top college basketball coaches in the country, what is the criteria for ranking them? For me there are a few important issues, a history of turning out winning basketball teams and adaptability to change. Notice I omitted winning NCAA championships, anyone like Dan Hurley or Bill Self who manage to win more than one should be applauded. Winning at the highest level should certainly be taken into consideration however it’s not at the top of my list.  There are 68 teams thrown into the cauldron of tournament play every season, a coach might be at his peak and some unforeseen thing occurs causing them to lose a championship game.

My thought the 1983 NCAA championship game between Houston and North Carolina State. There is no argument the Phi Slama Jama Houston Cougars were clearly the superior team but lost the game on a Lorenzo Charles dunk. Did Jim Valvano really outcoach Guy Lewis for the win…I don’t think so. The following season with essentially the same team might be knocked out in the Sweet 16 or maybe the field of 32, far too iffy a situation for me to rate a coach. With that said who are my Top 15 coaches. this is not in any order. I am quite sure some of you reading this will question at least one selection. I heard you say, “Unbelievable you placed Shaka Smart on your list and excluded Bruce Pearl!”

Dan Hurley-UConn

Bill Self-Kansas

Tom Izzo-Michigan State

Mark Few-Gonzaga

Rick Barnes-Tennessee

Shaka Smart-Marquette

Matt Painter-Purdue

Todd Golden-Florida

Jon Scheyer-Duke

Mick Cronin-UCLA

Rick Pitino-St. John's

Scott Drew-Baylor

Eric Musselman-USC

John Calipari-Arkansas

Dana Altman-Oregon

I could see this

Russell Westbrook will not return to the Nuggets, I make the statement because he is a free agent. There are few teams willing to sign him except one…the Thunder. This is not me, rather a move Dharya Sharma of the Sporting News claims could possibly occur in the off season. If you’ve read Off the Dribble any length of time you are aware I’ve not been a fan of Westbrook for a time. Who says you can’t return home after all it was the Thunder who drafted him. In 2008 Westbrook was made the 4th pick in the first round that year by the Sonics, by the time he prepared to play the team had moved to OKC. 

Westbrook would develop into a star player, the first for the Thunder franchise. He would become Mr. Triple Double as he led the NBA in that department. In 2019 he was traded to the Rockets, in 2020 Westbrook moved to the Wizards and in 2021 he joined the Lakers. It was there where I believe his career took a left turn, although LeBron wanted him the fit just didn’t work. From their it was the Clippers and in 2024 Westbrook became a Nugget. He’s 36 years old and will be 37 before the 2025-26 season ends, It’s believed a substantial majority of Thunder fans would welcome Westbrook’s return. This written by me, however, I must give Dharya Sharma credit for inspiring me to write this based on his account.