Once Upon A Dribble

The ultimate Eastern Conference ballot is officially locked in. In this episode, we go team-by-team through all 15 Eastern Conference franchises to carve their 4 ultimate icons into stone. From the historic dynasties of Boston and Chicago to the modern identity crises of Charlotte and Orlando, we reveal our final choices and build the ultimate monument to Eastern Conference basketball history. Int...

The NBA has changed dramatically over the last 15 years. Not just on the court, but in the way fans consume the league, how media covers it, and how players shape their own careers. Joining us is Guardian writer and All-NBA voter Claire de Lune to discuss the evolution of the modern NBA through the LeBron era! We dive into player empowerment, ring culture, media discourse, social media, roster-bui...

Every NBA fan has an MVP definition in their head and what usually ends up happening is they're all different. Is the MVP about team success? Raw production? Efficiency? Narrative? In this micro episode, I break down why modern MVP debates feel so messy and why we may not even be arguing the same thing anymore. Of course here on Once Upon A Dribble we dive into the historical side of things so...

Who was the best player in the world each year in the NBA? In this episode of Once Upon a Dribble, Josh is joined by CBS Sports writer Sam Quinn to explore a fun historical thought experiment: the unofficial “Best Player in the World Championship Belt.” Instead of ranking players all-time, we track the league’s true crown year-by-year asking when the belt clearly belonged to one superstar and when...

Once Upon a Dribble — 2011 NBA MVP Revisited (Notebook episodes are short 15-30 minute solo entries where I give quick hitter context, insight and narrative to various NBA topics) Was Derrick Rose the right MVP in 2011? In this episode, we revisit one of the most debated MVP races of the modern era, looking at the full top 10 and the context that shaped the vote. From Chicago’s resurgence to the b...

Once Upon a Dribble — What does “heliocentric” actually mean? (Notebook episodes are short 15-30 minute solo entries where I give quick hitter context, insight and narrative to various NBA topics) It’s not just ball dominance. It’s not just usage. And it’s definitely not new. In this Once Upon a Dribble: Notebook episode, Josh traces how heliocentrism evolved. From Wilt and Kareem, to Magic and Jo...

Today we finish with part 10 of a 10-part series at Once Upon a Dribble! During the 2022 playoffs the NBA began awarding MVP awards to the best performing player of each conference finals: the Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals Most Valuable Player Award and the Magic Johnson Western Conference Finals Most Valuable Player Award, named for the two players credited for building the league up to gr...

When you really break it down, the whole history of the NBA is still a relatively short amount of time. At 79 years old, there are still many people around who have a living memory of the first NBA season. The league celebrated 50 years in 1996, with a special reveal of the top 50 players of all-time up to that point, as voted on by media, former player, general managers, and other notable figures...

On April 19, 2020, ESPN and Netflix released a landmark documentary series that was over two decades in the making, chronicling a behind the scenes look at the supremacy of Michael Jordan’s last years in Chicago. As Americans and people all across the globe were settling into an entirely new life of pandemic quarantine madness, The Last Dance was a much needed escape, and a fascinating glimpse int...

Today we continue in part 9 of a 10-part series at Once Upon a Dribble! During the 2022 playoffs the NBA began awarding MVP awards to the best performing player of each conference finals: the Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals Most Valuable Player Award and the Magic Johnson Western Conference Finals Most Valuable Player Award, named for the two players credited for building the league up to gre...

(04:48) What led to the Decision? The Breaking Point in Cleveland (26:00) The Villain Season - 2010-11 (53:48) Redemption, "It's About Damn Time" - 2011-12(01:10:54) Supernova, Back-To-Back - 2012-13 (01:32:00) The Burnout - 2013-14 July 8th, 2010. A 25-year-old phenom sat across from Jim Gray… and set the basketball world on fire. "'I’m going to take my talents to South Bea...

(04:50) Background on basketball in Philadelphia and on Wilt (23:18) Let's meet the 1966-67 Sixers and look at their regular season (46:05) The Sixers finally overcome Boston (55:05) The 1967 Finals When it comes to the NBA’s all-time greatest players, few can match the raw statistical dominance of Wilt Chamberlain. From the iconic 100-point game, to the 50 points per game season, to 12 straight s...

Today we continue in part 8 of a 10-part series at Once Upon a Dribble! During the 2022 playoffs the NBA began awarding MVP awards to the best performing player of each conference finals: the Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals Most Valuable Player Award and the Magic Johnson Western Conference Finals Most Valuable Player Award, named for the two players credited for building the league up to gre...

In a lot of ways, an NBA locker room is like a family. With all the good times, and the bad times, the brotherhood, and the infighting, family is the perfect metaphor. But the family dynamic  in the NBA often extends to actual family, over 10% of the 4500 players to have ever played in the NBA are directly related either as brothers, as father and son, as cousins, as grandfather and grandson, or a...

In a lot of ways, an NBA locker room is like a family. With all the good times, and the bad times, the brotherhood, and the infighting, family is the perfect metaphor. But the family dynamic  in the NBA often extends to actual family, over 10% of the 4500 players to have ever played in the NBA are directly related either as brothers, as father and son, as cousins, as grandfather and grandson, or a...

Remember that time, like, that 10-season span when the Charlotte Bobcats were an NBA basketball team? Us too, but barely. Josh and Calvan did a DEEP dive into the interesting, awkward, yet always entertaining history of the Charlotte Bobcats. Join them in the NBA time machine as they talk about the success of the original Hornets, their move to New Orleans, the establishment of the Bobcats, MJ, La...

Today we continue in part 7 of a 10-part series at Once Upon a Dribble! During the 2022 playoffs the NBA began awarding MVP awards to the best performing player of each conference finals: the Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals Most Valuable Player Award and the Magic Johnson Western Conference Finals Most Valuable Player Award, named for the two players credited for building the league up to gre...

Every NBA team at some point in their history has hit a drought so to say. A drought from success that keeps them out of the postseason picture. It can be injuries, poor coaching, bad management, whiffed draft picks or a combination of it all. In this segment Josh and Calvan look at EVERY NBA franchise and dissect their longest absence from NBA playoff basketball and ask the question, "what went w...

Every NBA team at some point in their history has hit a drought so to say. A drought from success that keeps them out of the postseason picture. It can be injuries, poor coaching, bad management, whiffed draft picks or a combination of it all. In this segment Josh and Calvan look at EVERY NBA franchise and dissect their longest absence from NBA playoff basketball and ask the question, "what went w...

If there is a Mount Rushmore for NBA teams that feel like symbolic soulmates for their city, then the 2004 Detroit Pistons are on it. This team represented the Motor City in every sense of the word. Everyone played a part, constantly being calibrated and re-calibrated toward something greater. They embodied the qualities of a tough team that the fans living in a tough city needed: Nerves as hard a...

After back-to-back championships, the Rockets were suddenly trending in the wrong direction after a turbulent 1996 season. Charles Barkley, over in Phoenix, had grown impatient in the Valley of the Sun. The stars aligned for both parties in the summer of 1996 when the Rockets made a blockbuster trade to form one of the "Big 3s" of yesteryear by acquiring Barkley to pair with Hakeem Olaju...

Today we continue in part 6 of a 10-part series at Once Upon a Dribble! During the 2022 playoffs the NBA began awarding MVP awards to the best performing player of each conference finals: the Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals Most Valuable Player Award and the Magic Johnson Western Conference Finals Most Valuable Player Award, named for the two players credited for building the league up to gre...

Jerry West, who was selected to the Basketball Hall of Fame multiple times in a storied career as a player and executive and whose silhouette is considered to be the basis of the NBA logo, passed away earlier this month. Few people have ever seen the game as clearly — from so many angles and across so many different eras — as West did. His the influence he had on his profession is profound and wil...

Phil Jackson is the most successful coach in NBA history, the owner of 11 rings, and the architect of some of the most iconic basketball moments of all time. From his roots in small town North Dakota, to Chicago, Los Angeles, and even the Big Apple, his career in basketball has taken him all over the country. His style of coaching and his unorthodox approach to life earned him one of the most reco...

The first ever NBA All-Star game was played on March 2, 1951. Since that time, 454 players have played in that game. Thousands of other NBA players have never played in the game. In today's episode of Once Upon A Dribble, Josh and Calvan go over four of the most baffling All-Star game snubs. Players who had great careers, but for one reason or another, never received the Star call. We dive dee...