Loading ...On May 16th, 1980, rookie point guard Magic Johnson filled in for the injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at center, and led the Lakers to a 123-107 Game 6 victory. Magic tallied 42 points, 15 rebounds, and dished out 7 assists to lead the Lakers to their first of five NBA titles in the 80’s.
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Jason Friedman of Rockets.com sat down with Dikembe Mutombo today. Friedman and Mutombo discussed the “importance of leadership and the current state of the team.”
Here is a snippet from Rockets.com:
JCF: Do you find it kind of interesting that a team would look to you to help bring that spirit back? Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t that often have to come from the guys who are the superstars?
DM: No, no, no. I don’t agree with that. It has to come from someone who has accomplished a lot. And if you look at our team, the guy who has accomplished the most – it’s me. I’ve been in the Finals, I’ve won so many playoff games, I’ve won so many defensive awards – you name it. So I think that’s what places me in this leadership role. Young men can sit down and say, ‘What has Deke ever accomplished in this league for him to have the guts to talk to me like that?’ Well, all they have to do is just look at my resume. And I think that’s why you see guys saying, ‘Deke, we’ve been waiting for you. You’re the only one who can speak.’ So when you hear that from guys in the league, it’s such a sign of respect – that means a lot. They know who you are.
JCF: What about Tracy McGrady? Obviously, he’s going through a difficult stretch right now and I know how frustrated he is. Have you had a chance to really sit down and talk to him yet?
DM: I haven’t had a good chance to talk to him yet. I talked to Artest, trying to get him to find a way to let us know when and how he’s going to be playing with all of this pain he has, because we need him out there.
I haven’t had a chance to talk to Tracy yet because my wife and kids live here, so I’ve been spending more time at home with my kids. But I’m going to get a chance to talk to him and try to find out what is going in. I know it’s very hard for him right now with his injury and surgery. But I’m not rushing to make judgments on anyone. It’s going to take me maybe a week or two to get more familiar with what is happening here. I need to be around these guys some more. But I liked what I saw today at practice. Guys were playing very, very hard.
Friedman’s interview with Mutombo provides good insight into Houston’s psyche. The interview is even more impressive when one considers the amount of time required to transcribe a Q&A session with Mount Mutombo.
Last week, Fran Blinebury of the Houston Chronicle questioned whether Mutombo was capable of leading from the bench.
Mutombo is as classy a person and as fierce a competitor as you’ll ever want to meet. His off-the-court work in the name of charity is selfless and genuine. His on-the-court work is often inspiring. But Mutombo is 42 years old and over the past two seasons has played less than 17 minutes a game. That includes increased playing time over the final 26 games of last season when Yao was out with a broken bone in his foot. To say that what has been lacking is the part-time contribution of a 17-year NBA veteran who pretty much plays at just one end of the court, is simply missing the forest for the trees. It is McGrady and Yao, Yao and McGrady, anyway you want to stack them, around whom this team has been built. In any league, on any planet, they are played and paid to be the team leaders.
Deke can attempt to sugarcoat his return all he’d like, but it’s all about Tracy McGrady’s injury. T-Mac’s injury has frustrated front office officials and teammates alike. The Dream Shake has created a poll asking readers what the Rockets should do with McGrady. I think McGrady’s problems are mental. I don’t pretend to know how McGrady is feeling, but I do know that there is nothing structurally wrong with his knee.
McGrady sought multiple opinions on his knee after being diagnosed with “general soreness” by team doctor Tom Clanton, and each one of the physicians he visited confirmed Clanton’s initial diagnosis. McGrady underwent arthroscopic surgery on May 6th and was given a 6-8 month timetable for recovery. McGrady returned at the 6 month mark. So what’s causing the soreness? From what I’ve read, McGrady knee isn’t as strong as it once was. I’m not an orthopedist, but I’m going to assume that the only way to strengthen one’s knee is to continue one’s rehabilitation. Doctors have assured McGrady that he can’t make the knee worse by playing.
Maybe McGrady has a low pain tolerance. Maybe he’s having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that he can’t jump as high or cut as quick as he used to. Whatever the case, he needs to decide whether he’s going to play through the soreness. His decision to skip games as he sees fit puts his teammates at a physical and mental disadvantage. Blinebury is right. It’s difficult to lead from the bench, but if Mutombo can help put an end to McGrady’s injury situation, he will earn every penny of his $800,000 salary this season.
I wrote my first Scoop Du Jour today. The scoop is RealGM’s daily rundown of Wiretap Headlines from the day prior. It’s a great opportunity. The format will allow me to sound off on some of the NBA’s best storylines.
Check out my first scoop here.
Hawks Hacks: “Smith has dazzled teammates and opponents alike with his supreme athletic ability, and it’s always been something he could fall back on. One seriously bad play has usually been followed up shortly thereafter with an equally brilliant play, often times a display of sheer athleticism and effort. Unfortunately, games are both won and lost on such plays, and while turnovers-per-game is a statistic, unbelievable plays-per-game is not. And when Smith returned to action from that high ankle sprain that held him out for 12 games, he was not the same explosive player we’ve come to know. At first, this was a serious struggle for Smith, not being able to block shots from seemingly impossible angles, unable to take that long first step to get past his defender, and unable to outhustle opponents in general. But it seems that he has learned some lessons on how to score without those physical advantages. He’s been getting to the free throw line more in some games. He’s looking to score more inside than he is outside (though he still goes for a couple of threes every game, it seems). And this has produced nice results for the span of the last 6 games, in which Josh has averaged 21 points, hitting 20 points or better in 4 of those games, all while shooting 57% from the field.”
Bill Ingram of HOOPSWORLD: “Howard has already committed to defend his dunk championship at the All-Star game in Phoenix next month, but he’s going to find himself a hard act to follow. ‘Hmmm. Stay tuned. . .’ said Howard. ‘I might come like Bam Bam Bigalow with flames flying out and everything (laughing).’ Last year Dwight told us before the competition that he was going to come out like Clark Kent, then rip off his warm-ups to reveal an ‘S’ and fly around the arena. We laughed at the idea, assuming he was joking, only to see him do exactly that. All I can say is someone better have an extinguisher handy just in case. One of his teammates suggested he come out and dunk the ball so hard it breaks the backboard. ‘It’s too hard to break the backboard . . .I’ve tried,’ responded Dwight, grinning broadly.’ The playoffs didn’t go as well as the Magic would have liked, of course, but the summer found Howard in China winning a Gold Medal with Team USA. That experience, more than anything else may be the reason Howard’s Magic are having such a good season. ‘I think the biggest thing I got from the whole experience was the team concept. I really appreciate my teammates more this year than I ever have before, and that’s because of my Olympic experience.’”
Third Quarter Collapse: Dwight Howard Misses A Lot of Free Throws, Which Does Not Bother Dwight Howard Very Much
Johnny Ludden of Yahoo! Sports: “That’s the thing with young big men these days: Nine times out of 10 you’re paying for potential. The best prescription for Oden is the same as it was for Bynum in his first season: patience. ‘It’s tough,’ Oden said. ‘You want to come in and dominate right away.’ Oden isn’t close to dominating. He still looks mechanical and he’s slow to the ball. But he’s also a little more than two weeks shy of his 21st birthday and his NBA career has spanned all of 28 games. He spent one year in college then sat out all of his first season with the Blazers after undergoing microfracture surgery on his right knee. Even healthy, few big men have dominated with so little experience. The same Dwight Howard who now terrorizes the league is the same Dwight Howard who averaged 12 points, 10 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in nearly 33 minutes per game as a rookie. Oden’s averages this season: 8.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 23 minutes per game.”
Blog-a-Bull: “I always figured there’d be some early strains, then a midseason trade to clear out the obvious roster imbalance, and that, coupled by a fairly soft end-of-season schedule, would provide plenty of wins and a playoff spot. But that theory started with a trade…I almost figured it as entropy. It’s going to happen because it has to. Hughes, Gooden, and Thabo would be the first to go, Nocioni and Kirk if possible, and Tyrus and Noah if necessary. But injuries to some of those players haven’t helped, and this Vinny Del Negro thing…quickly bordering on disaster. He was supposed to ‘rebuild the Bulls spirit’ (or something similar Pax said), not play the role of Skiles without the coaching talent. I underestimated the importance of coaching experience, not in X/Os (figured that’d be rough), but in handling an NBA locker room. It’s tough, especially with guys playing for contracts, or playing for themselves (or both).”
Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post: “As the Nuggets close in on the halfway point of the regular season, they have started to get the reputation of a team that is susceptible to giving up leads and doesn’t close out its opponents. ‘I told (the players) at halftime that this team (Denver) will let you back in,’ said Hornets coach Byron Scott, whose team trailed 58-40. Asked what the Nuggets need to improve on, guard J.R. Smith didn’t hesitate. ‘Close out games,’ Smith said. ‘We were up 26 (on Saturday), and they came back and were even up one. No matter who we’re playing, Oklahoma or New Orleans, we’ve just got to close out games.’ The Nuggets’ second-half collapse at Atlanta on Dec. 29 prompted a team-only meeting to hammer home the details of winning basketball games and to make sure the players were on the same page.”
Jason Quick of The Oregonian: “Sunday was the 36th game Roy has missed in two-plus seasons. The Blazers are 11-25 in those games (.306 winning percentage). When Roy plays, the Blazers are 82-80 (.506). So what’s happening here, right before the Blazers’ wide-eyed faces, is the separation of playoff contenders and playoff pretenders. San Antonio is rising. Denver is marching. Even Dallas, which was surprised Sunday in Memphis, is looking like the Mavericks of old. The Blazers? ‘We are sliding,’ Aldridge said. I mentioned that separation process to McMillan, who smiled widely. ‘I think YOU guys are finding that out,’ McMillan said. ‘The thing is, experience counts. It definitely counts. But our guys are working hard, I think they are really working hard. They just quite possibly are overwhelmed by things right now.’ Nobody looks more overwhelmed than Bayless, the determined and hard-working rookie.”
Ross Siler of The Salt Lake Tribune: “The Jazz already have lost 100 games to injuries and absences this season. Boozer and Williams have played together only twice, with Williams spraining his ankle in the preseason and Boozer injuring his left knee six weeks ago. By comparison, Boston has suffered no injury more significant than Tony Allen’s sprained ankle, which cost him two games. Backup point guard Jordan Farmar is recovering from knee surgery, but the L.A. Lakers largely have been spared a serious injury as well. Not surprisingly, both teams are leading their respective conferences. O’Connor, meanwhile, was encouraged by the prospect of Boozer being on ‘somewhat of a timeline’ to return in a month after he undergoes surgery to remove a loose particle Friday. ‘Everybody else appears to be getting healthier,’ O’Connor said. The Jazz currently are 1 game out of playoff position, but also only three games out of having the West’s second-best record.”
Phil Miller of the Pioneer Press: “Their 8-25 record is nothing to be proud of. But Minnesota has discovered a few necessary ingredients toward winning these past few games. Ryan Gomes’ aggressiveness on offense, and his discretion about not taking low-percentage shots, for instance, has helped. The starting forward has made 20 of 41 shots in the Wolves’ past three victories, averaged 16.3 points in those games, and calmly nailed a critical three-pointer Saturday with two minutes to play. Rookie Kevin Love has made similar improvement lately, averaging 18 points and 8.7 rebounds in Minnesota’s past three wins. ‘Kevin was tremendous,’ McHale said. ‘He’s such a phenomenal rebounder.’ And Al Jefferson continues to carry the biggest load offensively, stepping up with 88 points and 40 rebounds in that trio of victories. ‘There’s a different feeling now,’ point guard Kevin Ollie said. ‘Coach Mac has been doing some teaching. He knows what it takes to win, and hearing him the past few weeks is definitely having an effect.’”
Britt Robson of Secrets of the City: “There are subtle but crucial differences between being a freelance playmaker (which fits Foye’s m.o.) and a point guard. To command the point guard slot, you need expansive, strategic court vision and an utterly reliable handle; otherwise, you aren’t going to be able to effectively execute your half-court sets against opponents who have scouted the plays and worked up defensive wrinkles to stop them. The point guard’s anticipatory vision and second-nature dribbling according to the split-second dictates of his brain and his instincts are key tools in his ability to counter the defensive gambits while keeping the set play reasonably in sync. Foye has never done this well and never will. He’s got relatively generous impulses but lacks the specific skills to fully exploit them until opponents are fixated on stopping his scoring. Flipping him over to the off-guard spot has literally freed him scamper and hurl up jumpers, his body language unfettered from the rigid brace the point duties had imposed on his thoughts and actions.”
Hardwood Paroxysm: What Doesn’t Kill You Only Makes You Less Likely To Rebound: Seven Seconds Or Less And The Dark Knight
Nikola Olic of HOOPSWORLD: “‘The Russian league in general has good players and good teams, but the league as a whole is not as competitive as the NBA. My team was supposed to be one of the favorites but it didn’t work out that way. That escalated my unhappiness with the situation there and I started thinking more and more about coming back to the NBA. I thought I would fit better in the NBA and I wanted to come back as soon as I could.’ The process of getting Krstic to fit in properly is of course one of Thunder’s main priorities. He was assigned a special Thunder assistant whose sole job is to make sure that anything Krstic needs is taken care of. His work papers are already almost done, and once he signs them some time this week, Krstic will once again be an NBA player. ‘Last summer, I left with the idea that I will get back to the NBA one day. I am glad I am back and I am really glad I can be with a new organization from the very start. I missed the quality of the game. I spent four years in the NBA and I got used to the NBA system and to the NBA lifestyle. Just playing against the best players in the world was something I missed.’”
Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: “For the second straight season, the Bobcats’ slate was heavily front-loaded with home games. It’s not quite as dramatic as last season, when what is now Time Warner Cable Arena hosted the ACC and NCAA men’s basketball tournaments. But to some degree, this is how it will always be. That’s inevitable when the CIAA tournament, plus the circus and the horse-jumping event, take up key dates on the arena schedule between late January and April. CIAA and circus dates can’t be moved, and if the Bobcats weren’t booking those events, they wouldn’t be doing their part in the public-private partnership that built the arena. In fact, if the Bobcats weren’t pursuing additional events – more NCAA regionals, more concerts – they’d be dropping the ball as the manager of the building. The Bobcats aren’t unique among NBA teams with scheduling issues. The Chicago Bulls annually take a 10-day trip when the circus comes to Chicago and the Spurs know before the schedule comes out that they’ll have a long trip to vacate San Antonio to make way for the rodeo. Still, there’s a real issue there for the Bobcats to try to finesse. If the Bobcats have a bad start, it all but dooms their season, considering how tough it is to win consistently on the road in March and April.”
Chris Perkins of the Palm Beach Post: “After 32 games the Heat (18-14) pretty much knows what it has on its roster. And as the Feb. 19 trade deadline approaches it has to decide what it needs. I say let things ride as they as stand now. The thing to remember is you’ve got to give up something to get something. And considering the Heat doesn’t seem interested in a quick fix or extending new contracts beyond 2010, the parameters are extremely tight. At the start of the season I thought this team would surely need a move by the trade deadline to make the playoffs. I was wrong. This roster should stay in playoff contention. Now the move would likely be to avoid Boston, Cleveland or Orlando in the first round. That doesn’t seem much of a reason to make a move.”
Sam Smith for Bulls.com: “The Bulls seem better positioned now that it appears they do have a future star in No. 1 overall draft pick Derrick Rose. But having someone like Rose, do you build with him now with some well placed trades and not risk waiting until 2010 and maybe being shut out? Or give up one season with the chance to get a true star like Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire, and suddenly be a serious championship contender with enough decent pieces that will have been cultivated by then? Of course, you could do all the right things and it still may not work. It’s why the sports business is easier to second guess than manage.”
Jeff Caplan of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “Josh Howard’s production is bouncing from one end to the other. After two sizzling outings in which Howard scored 52 points on 20-of-42 shooting in wins against the Los Angeles Clippers and Minnesota, he’s managed just 22 points on 8-of-24 shooting in the last two games. Howard followed up Friday’s 10-point game with 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting, two rebounds and one assist Sunday in the Mavericks’ 102-82 loss to Memphis. The Mavs (20-13) are 4-4 this season when Howard scores fewer than 15 points.”
Janny Hu of the San Francisco Chronicle: “Maggette said Sunday that Nelson hadn’t broached the topic of becoming a reserve with him yet, but accepted the possibility. ‘As a player, I don’t consider myself that,’ Maggette said. ‘But I want to win. Whenever the coach tells me he wants me to do that, that it’s better for the team, I’m with it.’ ‘He had one of his best years when he was a sixth man,’ Nelson said. ‘He’ll do whatever we need him to do, so it’s no problem with him personally.’ Maggette’s possible move to the bench could ease his transition into the Warriors’ drive-and-kick offense, which was installed after their Dec. 6 loss to the Spurs.”
Fred Kerber of the New York Post: “Brook Lopez looked like his puppy had just run away. He looked like someone had smashed his prized collection of Disney memorabilia. He had twice been blocked by Miami’s Dwyane Wade in the endgame and seemed to be beating himself up over it. Coach Lawrence Frank really liked that. Not the blocked shots. The melancholy stuff. ‘I walked back in there and said, ‘Hey, pick your head up,’ ‘ Frank said of the aftermath of the Nets ‘ 101-96 overtime loss (their first overtime defeat in five tries) Saturday in Miami, where Wade continued his season of torturing the Nets. The Nets play host to the Kings tonight. ‘To me, it’s all positive. It shows how much he cares,’ said Frank, whose Nets try for back-to-back home wins for the first time this season against Sacramento tonight. ‘Some guys just move on. He takes it personal. That’s why I think he has such a great future. He really cares a great deal and he’ll learn.’”
Jay Greenburg of the New York Post: “‘Always one of the last guys to leave the gym,’ said Al Harrington. ‘Anybody who works that hard with that kind of talent is scary. ‘Time will tell how good he is going to be.’ Time won’t forgive Isiah Thomas too easily, but he got something right taking Chandler out of DePaul with the 23rd overall pick in 2007. And D’Antoni knew it quickly from his first extended look in summer league. ‘His upside is huge,’ said the coach, who of course, could use a little upside during a 13-19 start. With Gallinari still in street clothes, with the Knicks having to show LeBron James or Dwyane Wade or whoever might eventually want to take their money that there are more reasons to come here than greater fame and increased fortune, a kid with these tools and willingness to polish them is an even a more glorious sight at a sore-eyed Garden than a bashing of the Celtics.”
Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: “In 21 games since making his injury-belated season debut, Ginobili is averaging 14.6 points. Most teams would love to get that kind of production out of a sixth man, but that number represents a drop of more than five points from Ginobili’s career high average of 19.9 last season. He has been tentative at times, hurried at others, and has lacked his trademark explosion to the rim. His conditioning still isn’t quite there, as evidenced by the burn in his legs in the fourth quarter. His timing is a bit off, a fact of which he is reminded each time he rifles a pass into the third row. ‘I’m not playing like last year,’ Ginobili said. ‘I’m not shooting as well. I’m not going to the rim as hard. I don’t know if it is mental or physical or what, but there are some things in my game I am just not feeling yet.’”
Dana Gauruder of the Oakland Press: “Richard Hamilton isn’t close to returning from the groin strain that has forced him to miss five consecutive games. He has yet to sprint or make a hard cut since he was sidelined. When he’s ready to return, Rip needs to make a sacrifice. For the better of the team, he needs to be the first guard off the bench. That’s a lot to ask of a player who has been an All-Star the last three years. But with the current state of the roster, Hamilton would be doing Michael Curry and his teammates a big favor and bring some cohesion to the rotation. After winning seven straight, the Pistons obviously are better when they play a conventional lineup. Rodney Stuckey needs to remain the starting point and Amir Johnson has to stay in the starting frontcourt to solidify the team’s interior defense and rebounding. The Pistons have zoomed up the NBA’s defensive charts since they virtually scrapped their small ball tactics.”
Janis Carr of the Orange County Register: “Andrew Bynum didn’t need Phil Jackson nor the media to tell him his game has been off lately. He could feel it. He sensed it. He is not the same explosive player he was last season before an knee injury ended his season. And if he needed any more reminding, he could watch game film. Yet, that’s exactly what Bynum did. He gathered a compilation of 8-10 games from last season — before he suffered his knee injury — and noticed he hasn’t been playing with the same energy and effort that he produced last season. ‘There is a difference,’ Bynum said. ‘You can see it pretty good.’ In 35 games last season, he averaged 13.1 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.06 blocked shots in 28.8 minutes a game. This season, Bynum is struggling to post up, outmuscle opponents and get the ball deep inside. His numbers reflect his hesitation as well, dipping to 12.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.87 blocks from last season.”
Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register: “It’s interesting what has happened since Christmas. The Lakers spent most of this season beating nearly all comers with one eye on Boston, to some extent believing the Celtics were the only other tribe on the island. The pain from losing the NBA Finals ran that deep. Then the Lakers beat Boston, and the subsequent body language has been nodding with satisfaction instead of relaxing their shoulders with relief. The Lakers have validated their own belief that they have the best team, and they have flowed in a natural way with the basketball ever since Christmas, even without important orchestrator Jordan Farmar. The Celtics look shaken, their only victories since Christmas coming against Sacramento and Washington, who are a combined 15-51. There is certainly legitimate reason for concern in Boston – the primary one being that the Celtics last season became the first title team with its top three scorers all age 30-something.”
Mitch Lawrence of the Daily News: “After getting totally outplayed in the second half Sunday night by a Knicks team that successfully copied a blueprint for how to beat the Celtics, the defending champs have no chance to reach that lofty plateau. ‘They had a game plan and they stuck with it,’ Ray Allen said after the Knicks held Boston to 35 points after halftime in a 100-88 victory. ‘There’s a blueprint for how to beat us and we’ve got to counter that.’ In case you might have forgotten, there was never a blueprint for how to beat the ‘95-96 Bulls. That season, when the Bulls set the NBA record by winning 72, Donnie Walsh’s Pacers were the only team to beat the Bulls twice. ‘I remember how Jordan looked after the games we beat them,’ said the Knicks’ president. ‘He was frothing at the mouth.’ Any frothing by the Celtics came afterward in a meeting when the players tried to hash out what’s gone wrong after their Bulls-like 27-2 start. Four losses in six games - something Jordan never experienced in his greatest season - have exposed the Celtics’ primary weaknesses, Rajon Rondo’s inability to knock down open shots.”
Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune: “The Hornets’ Sean Marks was drawn in by 1980s superstars such as Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, which caused him to eschew the scrums of his country’s national sport for one with more grace and less grit. ‘Basketball is not a huge sport there,’ said the 6-foot-10 forward. ‘Kids are definitely excited about it, but it’s a small country where rugby is definitely the main sport, and you’ve only got 4 million people in the country, and they really get behind rugby. It’s the national pastime, so to speak. But we’ve had great followings for basketball, too. When we were in the Olympics and world championships, we had great support for that. ‘I fell in love with it because of the athleticism and showmanship. We used to have highlights of the NBA on TV back in New Zealand when I was growing up. It was only about half an hour once a week, so it was just the highlights. I just fell in love with the game that way. My parents put up a hoop in the backyard, and that was all she wrote.’”
Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times: “Agents often have the ear of their clients, giving the player advice on when to push through an injury and when to shut it down. With the rash of injuries the Clippers have, Coach Mike Dunleavy wondered what role, if any, the agents for the team’s injured players have had in the players returning later rather than sooner. ‘When guys get injured, typically you have agents that are going to tell them, ‘There’s no reason to hurry back. Make sure you’re 110% healthy before you come back,’ ‘ said Dunleavy, also the team’s general manager. ‘I think that’s one of the things you have to try and guard against. We don’t ever want anybody coming back that has a chance of injuring themselves.’”
Steve Kelley of the Seattle Times: “Clay Bennett, owner of the Oklahoma City team once known as the Sonics, still owes $30 million, but where is the arena plan that will force him to write that check? It’s wake-up time in Seattle. It’s time to save KeyArena. The clock is ticking. It’s crunch time for KeyArena. Crunch time for NBA basketball in Seattle. Crunch time for Seattle Center and surrounding businesses. But why isn’t the business community rallying to save the site? Why aren’t the business leaders openly lobbying legislators? Where’s the buzz? Where’s the energy? Where is the sense of desperation? Why does everybody seem to be sitting this one out? Seattle is developing a national reputation for what it can’t do. It can’t keep a basketball team, can’t fix its arena, can’t build a light rail system, can’t remove its snow. Sometimes, it seems the only thing the city has going for it is its geography. And these days, KeyArena looks more like a billboard advertising the city’s failures.”
Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post: “Each season, a new name or two will pop up on the NBA’s top-10 scoring list, an unexpected party crasher, like Mickey Rourke at this month’s Golden Globes or Charles Barkley in a holding cell. Last season, it was Sacramento’s Kevin Martin, who has a career 15.6 scoring average, but finished last season with 23.7 points per game, sixth-best in the league. The year before, it was Atlanta’s Joe Johnson. This season, listed after one-name stars D-Wade, Bron, Kobe and Dirk is a gentleman whose two names you might not know — Danny Granger. He’s the budding Pacers forward, fifth in the league with 24.9 points. Sixth is Olympian Chris Bosh, but after him is yet another surprise, New Jersey’s Devin Harris, who had never averaged more than 15 points per game, but this year puts up 23.6.”
David Moore of The Dallas Morning News: “The star potential of this group isn’t as great as some previous classes. But with more than a third of the season in the books, the most impressive aspect of the class of 2008 is the number of players who have made an immediate contribution. The star potential of this group isn’t as great as some previous classes. But with more than a third of the season in the books, the most impressive aspect of the class of 2008 is the number of players who have made an immediate contribution. Ten rookies were averaging double figures in scoring entering this weekend. That’s four more than last season. That’s as many as the classes of ‘05 and ‘06 combined. A total of 23 rookies have appeared in starting lineups this season.”
Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Saturday that the price of victory is what is costing Michael Beasley his minutes. Unlike with other top picks drafted into losing situations, Spoelstra said Beasley, the No. 2 selection last June, is being asked to earn his playing time. ‘Mike’s in a different situation than a lot of the top picks,’ Spoelstra said. ‘If you look at the top picks, three, four, five, they’re playing on teams where it’s a totally different situation, and they’re getting minutes and allowed to play through ups and downs.’ Beasley went into Saturday’s game having played only 27 minutes in the previous two games combined and fewer than 20 minutes in five of his previous seven appearances.”
X’s & O’s of Basketball: 76ers Matchup Zone Defense Analyzed
Janny Hu of the San Francisco Chronicle: “He said that he was relying on family and prayers to get through his rough patches, and that it helped a little knowing that Brandan Wright and Marco Belinelli - who also saw extensive bench time as rookies last season - get more of a chance this season. He just hopes to earn his own, despite the perception that a poor attitude toward not playing helped land him in Nelson’s doghouse. ‘Can’t do anything about what somebody thinks, I can’t control somebody’s thoughts,’ Randolph said. ‘I just go out there and do what I’m doing. If I get my minutes, I play hard, like I do every game.’ While it remains unclear what exactly prompted Nelson’s latest comments, they only fueled questions about Randolph’s future with the Warriors, especially given Nelson’s infamous feud with Chris Webber.”
Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle: “You probably think McGrady should be ordered off the floor for a while, that he’s helping no one, particularly the Rockets. You’re right about this. It’s not just that McGrady is playing the worst basketball of his career. He is. He’s shooting 28 percent and averaging 8.2 points over his last five games. His 15 points per game and 39.5 percent shooting for the season are career lows. Here’s the tough part. The Rockets have enough talent to make the playoffs without him. They’re 5-4 when he doesn’t play and 16-10 when he does. In previous years, they couldn’t be successful without him. Thanks to Morey, the Rockets have depth: Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, Luis Scola, etc. Luther Head plays with more confidence when McGrady isn’t around. In fact, they all do.”
The Dream Shake: “The Rockets are a mediocre basketball team. That’s the truth. And the truth hurts. Yes, I know we played hard tonight… without Artest or Battier and with Von Wafer having cramping issues. Plus Tracy McGrady was a spectator for this game (then again, even when Tracy’s been on the court this year he’s been mostly a spectator.) Speaking of Tracy, I always thought centers were the position most likely to all of a sudden just “lose it” - but McGrady is done. We should have done the Kobe trade a year ago. And if that wasn’t an option, we should have taken whatever the Chicago Bulls would have offered. In fact, maybe they’ll still give us Kirk Hinrich and some spare parts for McGrady (?). Pretty please?”
Jan Hubbard of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “‘I was joking with Donyell Marshall [of the Sixers], and he said, ‘How long do you think you can go?’ Kidd said. ‘I said maybe five more years if I’m playing the way that I am now and this is my role. I’m fine with that.’ Chris Tomasson of the Rocky Mountain News did research on players who have played 20 seasons. Only four have — Robert Parish, Kevin Willis and Moses Malone, who played 21 seasons (Malone had two in the ABA), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who played 20. ‘All big guys,’ Kidd pointed out. Which is true. So Kidd could be the first guard. And if he did play and there was not a big dropoff in his production, he eventually could be No. 2 on the all-time assists list. He currently is fifth with 9,772 and could pass Mark Jackson, who is second with 10,334 (Magic Johnson is third and Oscar Robertson is fourth). John Stockton had 15,806, however, and that’s out of reach.”
Ross Siler of The Salt Lake Tribune: “The urgency has become unmistakable as the Jazz search for some kind of turnaround after opening this season 19-15 and muddling through six weeks of life as a .500 team since Carlos Boozer went down with a knee injury Nov. 19. ‘You’ve got to be concerned about it,’ Paul Millsap said. ‘If the playoffs started right now, we wouldn’t be in it. We had a few nicks and knacks to stop us, but we’ve got to push forward and try to win games now.’ The schedule, however, just might be turning favorable at the right time for the Jazz. They will open a four-game homestand Monday against Golden State desperate to start a winning streak of any kind. The Jazz propelled themselves into the division lead last season thanks to a 10-game winning streak that started in mid-January. They have yet to win more than two consecutive games this season since opening 5-0.”
Charley Rosen of FOXSports.com: NBA players need to show more resolve
Ryne Nelson of SLAM: Tony Parker Sinks Incredible Game-Winner [Video]
Mark Glover of the Sacramento Bee: “Gavin Maloof was aware of the challenges when he spoke just prior to this season’s opening game: ‘We understand that these are tough times. Because we don’t have a large corporate base, ticket sales account for one-third of our revenue, so we have to get folks in the building. It’s critical. I told our salespeople, ‘I don’t care how you do it, selling large packets or three- or four-game plans. Just get people in the house.’ Elmets said putting the Kings brand out there beyond Arco Arena and California is important, and he cited historical precedent to support that. ‘In our heyday, the Kings were internationally recognizable,’ Elmets said. ‘It was because of the international flavor of our team, with Peja (Stojakovic) and Vlade (Divac). They were international ambassadors for the Kings, and that is something that we are lacking now.’”
Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “The top four teams in 3-pointer percentage — the Spurs, Suns, Hornets and Trail Blazers — also are four of the top teams in the league. For the Heat, currently 19th in the league in 3-point percentage, that could make the impending return of James Jones that much more significant. Has the 3-pointer become the NBA’s ultimate weapon? Can you win without it? Of the Lakers, Celtics, Magic and Cavaliers, the league’s current dominant teams, only Cleveland ranks in the bottom half of the league in 3-point percentage.”
David Friedman for CavsNews.com: “Unlike Varejao and Wallace, Ilgauskas is also a deadly outside shooter who can spread the court after running a screen/roll action with LeBron James or Mo Williams. Ilgauskas’ absence during the next month or so could have critical playoff implications because the Cavs are not only battling the Boston Celtics for the best record in the Eastern Conference but they also only have a slim lead over the Orlando Magic for the third seed. Last season, the Celtics demonstrated the value of home court advantage during their title run; the L.A. Lakers have openly spoken about wanting to have the best record in the league this season and that is also a goal that the Cavs should have in mind. Nine of Cleveland’s next 14 games are on the road—including visits to the Magic and the West-leading Lakers—so this promised to be a tough stretch for the Cavs even if they had been at full strength.”
Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal: “As long as Miles plays in 10 regular-season games, his $9 million salary will be reinstated to the Portland Trail Blazers’ payroll. That development would make the Blazers a taxpayer this season. Miles resuming his career for at least 10 games would also lower Portland’s room under the salary cap by $9 million for the 2010 free-agent period. Griz general manager Chris Wallace continues to deny that the motivation for acquiring Miles was to adversely affect Portland’s salary cap. ‘He came to us not in game shape,’ Wallace said. ‘He’s in the process of building himself up after suffering the injuries. But he’s shown an ability to help as a weak-side shot blocker and someone who will make the extra pass.’ Miles is making a favorable impression despite his physical limitations. ‘He’s been grounded a little bit,’ Gay said, ‘but he can still play.’”
Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times: “‘I asked him the other day how he felt and he said he wasn’t totally happy with the way things have been going for him lately,’ Jackson said. ‘He thought he had fallen in a rut a little bit. I thought he played well enough against Boston, spirited against Boston. [Friday] night, I thought he . . . had a couple opportunities there that he didn’t convert, and then he missed two free throws, and that’s like a turnover.’ Bynum struggled with his shot to start the season, making only 45.5% of his attempts through eight games. Then, after a 13-game string in which he averaged 15.4 points and 8.9 rebounds, he hit a stretch where early-game foul trouble threw him out of sync. Jackson wants him to get better position in the post. ‘We talked a little bit about getting the ball deeper and getting a better start,’ Jackson said. ‘He’s getting the ball a little bit higher than I’d like him to.’”
Marc J. Spears of The Boston Globe: “Despite their recent losses, the sky hasn’t fallen. The Celtics won’t make a kneejerk move to add a veteran big man or a veteran guard with scoring skills off the bench. As they did with Brown and Sam Cassell late last season, expect them to take their time to make sure they get the right piece to their puzzle. The Celtics will keep an eye on what big men are waived by Saturday, when contracts become guaranteed for the rest of the season. Potential candidates include Memphis’s Darius Miles, Chicago’s Michael Ruffin, the Lakers’ Josh Powell, Miami’s Jamal Magliore, Milwaukee’s Austin Croshere, New Orleans’s Sean Marks, and Toronto’s Jake Voskuhl. One NBA source said the Celtics seem interested only in players that are free agents or are bought out. But stay tuned. Don’t be surprised if Celtics president Danny Ainge has something up his sleeve. As Mutombo said, the Celtics are still trying to find out exactly what they want to do. Championship teams with elite records can take their time.”
Mitch Lawrence of the Daily News: “Garnett is still talking trash, still picking on opponents a foot shorter and still doing his best to draw the ire of opposing players, coaches and executives. Evidently, one ring didn’t ruin his appetite for winning. Judging from the complaints registered with the league about Garnett’s antics, he has done nothing to hurt his reputation as the NBA’s reigning Public Enemy No. 1. And that’s good, for the Celtics. Seven months after winning the title, Garnett hasn’t lost a bit of his legendary intensity or competitive fire. Oh, that can happen, as past champions have found out. The last time an Eastern Conference team won the title, Miami’s Dwyane Wade decided that he could start coasting and shift his energies to his endorsement portfolio, to the dismay of Pat Riley. Three seasons later, Wade appears to have finally gotten his priorities straightened out. The beauty of Garnett is that after finally winning a title after so many playoff failures in Minnesota, he didn’t lose his edge.”
Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: “‘When I took this job, 90 percent of the people in the NBA thought I was crazy,’ he said. Roth resigned from the Milwaukee Bucks’ front office about this time last year and left the NBA after a decade as a scout, assistant coach and advisor to take over a D League team that was 3-18. His reasoning might seem logical only for a fellow who briefly played in the NBA after first leaving the University of Wisconsin to play in Europe and the Continental Basketball Association and then returned to Europe to play six more seasons when his NBA career was through. ‘For me, it’s always been about the journey, not the destination,’ said Roth, who now is close to his home in Phoenix where his daughter is a high school senior. ‘This is a humbling game and a humbling league. This is the toughest league in the world. I think the journey is well worth it. I’m basically a product of the old CBA. I know what it takes to get out of here. I’ve been through the rigors. I feel I can pass those experiences on to these players.’”
Welcome to the Weekly Wrap-Up, your source for all the happenings and tidbits from the previous week in the NBA, all in rambling bullet-point form.
- After a short break for the holidays, the Weekly Wrap-Up is back. I hope everybody had a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and didn’t do anything too stupid.
- I heard a mind-boggling stat the other night, and I had to double-check it to make sure. The impressively dysfunctional LA Clippers have not had a single game all year where they have shot over 50% from the field. Through 32 games, not a single game where they’ve hit half of their shots. I suppose that’s what happens when Baron Davis takes 517 shots and only hits 36% of them. How does Mike Dunleavy still have a job again?
- This week in “Coaches Doing Stupid Things,” can anyone tell me why Kris Humphries gets no playing time in Toronto? Call me crazy, but if my team was hanging around the bottom of the league in rebounding, I think I’d want to play the best rebounder on my team some more. Is there any reason he shouldn’t get Joey Graham’s minutes? This is a team that should be much better than they are, and a lack of toughness has been a huge issue for them. Humphries may not be the most skilled guy out there, but he brings toughness in spades.
- I hate to keep harping on them, but this Portland team keeps doing impressive things. A win the other night over Boston without Brandon Roy was huge. They’ve played one of the league’s hardest schedules, and have played over half their games on the road. For a team as young as the Blazers, to have 20 wins right now is nothing short of amazing. Frankly, I’d be pretty shocked if they don’t win 50 games this year.
- I hope you’ve been paying attention to Kevin Durant lately, because he’s showing off all the tools that made him one of the best prospects of the last decade. Just check out his December averages. 25.1 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 2.9 APG, 1.5 SPG, 1.3 BPG, 47.2% FG, 41.9% 3FG, 81.6% FT. Most important to note are the rebound, steal and block numbers. That versatility is what makes Durant such an intriguing player, he’s not just an elite scorer. We’re finally seeing him make use of the length and height advantage that he has over almost every player he’s matched up against. After an abysmal start to the year, he’s pulled his offensive rating up to right around the league average, and his usage rate is 11th in the league. If he continues to shoot this well from the perimeter (which he should) and continues to show this kind of dedication to rebounding and defense (which I’m a little less sold on), Durant will be a top 20 player by year’s end, maybe even top 15. He’s got such diverse talents and he’s such a skilled athlete that his ceiling is off the charts. When the Thunder start getting a team around him, watch out.
- There are a lot of coaches doing a great job right now, but if the Coach of the Year award were given out right now, it should go to Scott Skiles, and he’s not even being mentioned in the discussion by most people. There are things I don’t think he’s done a great job with, and I think he’s not giving Ramon Sessions the playing time he should, but he should win it if only for the drastic defensive turnaround this team has made. Last year, the Bucks were the worst defensive team in the league, by a pretty large margin too. This year, they’re 6th in the league, and allowing 9.5 points less per 100 possessions. That’s an enormous swing, and one I didn’t think was remotely possible with the roster they have. The Bucks are a team that a lot of people are sleeping on, but they’re better than their record shows. They played 14 games without their best player (Redd) and have played the second most road games (21) in the league. To be at 16-19 is nothing short of a miracle. He doesn’t have the fanfare of most guys, but Skiles has done a fantastic job with this team so far.
- Just want to throw this out there as a challenge to anyone who considers themselves a true NBA geek. Without looking anything up, see if you can come up with 10 guys on the current roster for all 30 NBA teams. Once you think you’ve got it, pull up the rosters and check to see how close you were. I started doing this just as a mental exercise when I was driving somewhere and had nothing else to do, and it’s a good deal tougher than I thought it would be. I missed one player on one team (darn you Clippers for being so irrelevant), so to beat me you’ll have to be perfect.
- The team that really intrigues me right now is Orlando. Dwight Howard is a two-way monster. Jameer Nelson is playing out of his mind. They’re playing great defense and the offense is coming together. Here’s the question though: Can they beat the Cavs or Celtics in a 7-game series? In the end, that’s what matters, and even with the level they’re playing at, I don’t think they can do it. Nobody on that team is equipped to stop LeBron, or even force him to work hard for his points. They’re not equipped to handle the KG/Pierce forward combo. If the Magic were playing the Lakers, I think they might have a shot, but they just don’t match up well with either of the East’s power teams. They strike me as very much like the Pistons of the last few years. They spread the floor and execute, so they massacre poorly disciplined teams, and they funnel guys to Dwight, so they kill teams that don’t move the ball well, but they struggle against good teams. Maybe I’m wrong, but I just can’t see it, not yet. If Howard continues to grow and harnesses his outrageous physical gifts, then the discussion changes.
The Maestro Award is my recognition of the best performance from the previous week
And the award goes to…Pau Gasol, for this awesome between-the-legs, no-look pass to Trevor Ariza on the break, evoking memories of Magic Johnson…you know, if Magic had been a 7-foot white guy with curly hair.
In honor of Gasol’s ridiculous pass, I’m going to throw out just a few more Pau links for you, showcasing one of the NBA’s best passing big men.
Honorable Mention - The Blazers, for having six men on the court at once and getting away with it. Nice job getting the quick score before they could hit you with a tech.
xphoenix87 is a contributing writer for BallerBlogger.com. x is a college student who dreams of one day writing about sports for a living. Since that’s not gonna happen, he’ll do this instead.
Dave McMenamin of NBA.com: “While attendance figures for much of the rest of the league dwindle, in large part because of a shaky economy, in Portland, everything is rosy. Simply put: Blazermania is back. The phenomenon that swept the city back in the late 1970s and sprung up again in the early ’90s is enveloping the city like Greg Oden’s massive paws around a rebound. Portland fans, who set a professional sports record by selling out 814 consecutive Blazers games (April 5, 1977 to Nov. 20, 1995) are returning in droves. The Trail Blazers have the third-highest average attendance in the league (a tad over 20,500 a game). The only teams that fill their buildings more than Portland (at 95.9 percent of capacity) are last year’s Finals participants, the Lakers and Celtics.”
KnickerBlogger.net: “D’Antoni’s system increased his stats to the point where a PG in a traditional system might not be able to reach. However Nash still had to perform at a high level to attain those stats. Saying the system turned a regular starter into an MVP is a stretch whether you’re applying that to Steve Nash or Tom Brady. Arguing D’Antoni’s system was ideal for Nash to win games and put up eye popping numbers seems reasonable. Arguing that Nash’s numbers were inflated by the offense that the team ran is also logical, and that he might not have been the best player in those two seasons is rational. Simmons could have written an article that showed that Nash and D’Antoni were fortunate enough to cross paths having a synergistic effect on each other. Instead he uses old cliches and false analogies in attempt to assert his opinion.”
Sean Deveney of the Sporting News: “I made what I thought was a fairly obvious comment about the Cavs in my previous power poll, pointing out that the bench is a concern for the Cavs. That, apparently, was taken as an insult to the good people of Cleveland, because I got a flood of emails, some of the nasty variety. It’s very surprising to me that anyone who watches the Cavs regularly (as I do, John) can think the team should not be worried about its bench. It’s a terrible bench, and the only reason it might not come back to haunt the Cavs is that Boston is also struggling with depth issues. Daniel Gibson is shooting 39.1 percent from the field. Sasha Pavlovic is shooting 39.2 percent. Wally Szczerbiak is a defensive liability, but he, at least, can sink 3-pointers. Oh, wait, no he can’t: He is shooting 30.6 percent from the arc. Varejao has limited skill, but he is the only Cavs reserve from whom you know what you’re getting every night. These are not my opinions. They’re facts.”
Jeff Caplan of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “Since their 2-7 start, the Dallas Mavericks have done an exceptional job of racking up wins against teams with losing records. Friday’s 96-86 win over Philadelphia moved the Mavs to 18-5 overall since those first forgettable nine games and an impressive 14-1 against teams below .500. The only loss came on Dec. 19 when Devin Harris lit them up in New Jersey. At the other end of the won-loss spectrum, the Mavs are 4-4 since the first nine games against teams in the top eight of both conferences, plus Utah. ‘Whomever we’re playing on a particular night is the team we need to beat,’ Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. ‘I don’t like talking about sub-.500, over .500. I think it’s disrespectful to the teams that are below.’ Still, if the Mavs (20-12) continue to take care of business against teams lower in the standings, they’ll crack the double-digit barrier for games above .500 for the first time this season early next week.”
Bullets Forever: Defense is causing the good vibes
Charley Rosen of FOXSports.com: Who are the NBA’s most underrated players?
Ryne Nelson of SLAM: Vince, Melo Sink Game-Winners [Video]
Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register: “Lakers assistant coach Frank Hamblen has a lofty goal for a team to achieve his definition of a dominant defensive game: combined steals and blocked shots reaching 15. The Lakers had five steals and four blocks by halftime (and wound up reaching Hamblen’s plateau with 10 steals and six blocks). For the season, they are right on the cusp of the ideal defensive activity, averaging 14.8 combined steals and blocks, and there’s no doubt who their leaders are there. Ariza’s five steals Friday night got him to 1.9 per game this season – even though he plays barely more than half the game – and Bynum’s three blocks got him to 1.9 per game this season, too.”
Jan Hubbard of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “James Singleton has been like several Dallas Mavericks role players this year. Playing time comes and goes and the reserves are never quite sure what to expect. But compared to this time a year ago, Singleton is in basketball heaven. He played for TAU Cerámica of the Spanish ACB league and said he was miserable. ‘I have never seen a team so controlling in my life,’ Singleton said. ‘Every facet, they controlled. What time you went to sleep. What you have to do on the road. What you eat. Everything.’ Throw in a major knee injury in September 2007 and life was difficult.”
Marc Berman of the New York Post: “The New York Knicks begin a four-game southwestern swing, visiting the Thunder for the first time Tuesday. Oklahoma City has six sellouts; they average 18,544 fans and approximately 96 percent capacity. It is in incredible figure for the nation’s 34th-largest television market, ahead of just New Orleans and Memphis in the NBA. The Knicks play next to Broadway and average just 624 more fans - at 19,168. Though Oklahoma City’s claim to fame is a stretch of bars and restaurants called Bricktown, the Thunder have a better, younger core to build around, possibly even back-to-back Rookie of the Year winners. Kevin Durant won the award last season and now rookie point guard Russell Westbrook is entering the picture, rated third in the NBA.com rookie rankings.”
Kate Fagan of the Philadelphia Inquirer: “The 76ers are the NBA’s worst long-range-shooting team at 29.1 percent. Yes, they are the only NBA team below 30 percent. Yes, they were worst in the NBA last season, too. No, it’s not unusual to see a 1-for-9 three-point shooting line in the postgame statistics. And still, they shoot. Before last night’s game against the Dallas Mavericks, the fourth of six straight on the road, Kareem Rush, who sees the court rarely, if ever, took his around-the-world set of three-pointers. Following Rush for pregame shots were guard Lou Williams and swingman Andre Iguodala. Rush will tell you that he may not play, but when he does, he wants to be ready. All this three-point shooting before games - and all those misses during them - lead one to believe that perhaps no amount of practice can morph these Sixers into potent outside threats.”
Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star: “Rafer Alston, a member of the soap-opera cast otherwise known as the 33-win 2004-05 Raptors, was getting a little whimsical last night thinking back to those days. ‘There was a lot of friction in that locker room. We had pretty much me-first guys,’ Alston, now the Rockets’ starting point guard, was saying. ‘We had guys in contract years. We had Donyell (Marshall) in his contract year, MoPete in his contract year … So instead of going out and getting the wins, you’ve got guys who were like, `Hey, I’ve got to get my numbers.’ … You have to think team first, and you have to think you second, sometimes you third.’ It was revisionist history, and it wasn’t exactly fact-checked (Morris Peterson actually wasn’t in his contract year in 2004-05, although with Peterson that never seemed to matter). And yes, the recollections were coming from the unique circuitry of Alston’s one-of-a-kind brain, whose mercurial output during his Toronto tenure was often selfish and childish and sad to watch.”
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “The Heat, for one, are slightly over the luxury-tax threshold and are trying to avoid paying tax this season. So if they signed Marbury to the $1.2 million veteran’s minium, they’d have to shed a player to satisfy that goal. As for Boston, president Danny Ainge, of course, has been doing his due diligence on Marbury. Boston’s recent stumbles only underscored concern about lack of depth with the departure of James Posey for New Orleans and retirement of P.J. Brown. According to a person familiar with the situation, Ainge feels strongly that Marbury was not at fault for the way his Knicks career has ended. He doesn’t blame Marbury for balking at a chance to play after being told he wasn’t in the team’s plans. But Ainge also has concerns about where Marbury is physically after sitting out the entire regular season and the last two months of 2007-08 following foot surgery. Ainge confided recently that he doesn’t fully understand what transpired between the Knicks and Marbury over the last couple of years; it’s been a complicated relationship, with plenty of blame to go around. Basically, Ainge has an open mind about Marbury, with a healthy dose of skepticism.”
Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: “I actually thought in the past two games since the Saturday night off against the Jazz, McGrady moved more and better than he had been. He was aggressive. He played with energy, even defensively. He missed shots, but that can be excused if they are good shots. It happens. On Friday, however, he started with another poor shooting game and quit. That is inexcusable. He moped around the floor most of the night. In the third quarter, he stood at the top of the 3-point arc (when he got that far) and just moved the ball, abdicating any responsibility in the Rockets’ offense. He said later that he grew frustrated that he did not get enough shots to get in a rhythm. He said the spacing was bad. He said there was poor execution. Perhaps that was his way of taking responsibility for his poor play - he let others’ mistakes frustrate him. That is sort of like the celebrity apology, ‘If someone was offended, I apologize.’ Even if we accept that explanation, as excuses go, it’s pathetic.”
Alex Raskin of HOOPSWORLD: “Beasley is struggling with his secondary status. At Kansas State, he outshined his blue-chip teammate, Bill Walker, by averaging 26.2 ppg and 12.4 rpg. However, this year, when Beasley scores at least 20, the HEAT are only 1-3. ‘I’ve been around,’ added Haslem. ‘I’ve seen a lot and I’ve learned a lot. With him coming in, being such a talented player, he’s going to be challenged a little more than he’s ever been challenged before. My job is to make it as easy as possible, but at the same time, make it kind of hard because it’s not going to be easy.’ And it has not been easy. Beasley has gone from the biggest fish in Manhattan (Kansas) to being ridiculed in Miami. ‘It’s not fun all the time,’ explained Beasley. ‘I have to do rookie stuff… They make you do stuff when you’re tired. After practice, after shoot-around, when we’re in another city, they’ll make you do something like walk to Popeye’s and get everybody food. Sometimes they won’t eat the food, but they’ll make you pay for it.’ When asked if the process was humbling, Beasley said, ‘Yeah. A lot.’”
Adam Lauridsen for the San Jose Mercury News: “Back to accountability: as we’ve all rehashed now for the last few months, the leading candidates for having their wings clipped in an accountability moment — Rowell, Nelson, Jackson — have been handed the franchise, extended, and given free rein. Meanwhile, we punish one rookie (Randolph), cut another (Hendrix), refuse to find any way to adjust our system to make use of the one player resembling a natural point guard on our roster (Williams), get solid performances from other youngsters only to reward them with repeated DNP-CDs (Morrow, Kurz), repeatedly return to an offense based on isolation jump shots no matter how many times the team gives lip service to a new approach, and apparently shut out our GM from current basketball decisions but don’t actually fire him, so we’ll be left with someone to dump at the end of the season. That’s not to mention our defense, which to my eyes is based first and foremost on hoping that your teammates will cover you when you blow your assignment. The way the team is playing right now, I have a hard time recommending that anyone dedicate two and a half hours to watching the still evolving mess on the court.”
Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News: “The Warriors, as currently constructed, probably have enough talent to win 30 to 33 games, and that’s not even counting in a possible Ellis return (as I’ve said, I think there’s a good chance Ellis will never play for the Warriors again), and a Corey Maggette return (as I’ve said before, I think Maggette is a non-significant player). There’s enough talent to beat the dregs of the league, which is how you get to 30 or so victories. There are a lot of dregs. So why are the GSWs headed to 24 wins or lower? Because the leadership of this team is all wrong–not just SJax, who is frustrated and not playing defense, and not just Nelson, who obviously isn’t coaching very thoroughly. When things start to go badly for a team, they look to the team leadership–and to the front office–for direction. If the direction is there (for instance, San Antonio always starts slow but knows not to panic, and always steadies the ship), things don’t fall apart. If there’s a void at the top, things ALWAYS fall apart.”
Harvey Araton of The New York Times: “When did Barkley, an I-man in his own right, become a broadcasting shock ex-jock whose opinions are accepted as serious commentary when he is so lacking in personal credibility? What makes Barkley — who recently attacked Auburn, his alma mater, for not hiring an African-American football coach — any more of a voice of reason on race than Don Imus? When was Barkley anointed such an authority on professionalism that his criticism of LeBron James was aired and legitimized as if it had come from the almighty — and not a player whose career greatest hits include spitting on a fan and throwing a bar patron through a plate-glass window? Earlier this season, Barkley accused James of being “disrespectful to the game and disrespectful to the Cavaliers” by acknowledging in interviews the possibility of a free-agent free-for-all for his services in 2010. Compared with Barkley, James has been an N.B.A. altar boy.”
Eric Williams of the News Tribune reports on Seattle’s plan to update KeyArena:
A report providing a gauge on the City of Seattle’s chances of receiving state-authorized funding for a KeyArena upgrade was planned for completion by the end of December.
However, 2009 is here and the legislative task force charged with putting that report together, outlining how to spend King County taxes, has yet to meet, said Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, co-chair of the group.
Hunter said it’s unlikely that the group will meet before the Legislature convenes Jan. 12, and that the task force will have to put together a report during the first few weeks of the session.
How much attention that report receives is unknown because lawmakers will be spending most of their time trying to figure out how to balance the state budget, with a projected deficit of more than $5 billion.
“The reality is, we are going to issue a report that will have some weight in the Legislature,” Hunter said. “But this is obviously a very contentious issue, and it’s going to be dwarfed by the whole budget disaster.”
…
Competition for the funding is fierce, and includes a $150 million request from the University of Washington to complete a $300 million proposal to revamp Husky Stadium and a $766 million expansion project put forth by the Washington State Convention and Trade Center to double the size of its current downtown Seattle facility. King County arts groups, youth athletic programs and low-income housing programs also want a piece of the pie.
From Randy Hill of FOXSports.com:
If playing exemplary defense worked for Boston — as it has for the San Antonio Spurs, Detroit Pistons and last decade’s Chicago Bulls — why in the NBA world do so few teams make that commitment?
Well, playing defense can be physically demanding.
But is laziness the main reason? Laziness and the sense of entitlement that accompanies big loot always can be credited with making serious defense hard to come by in professional basketball.
Now before you attempt to drag some statistical paradigm into this rant and insist that — by the numbers — NBA teams really do dig in and play D, just find your remote and sit down. After that deep breath, locate an NBA game on one station and a high-level college game occurring at the same time on another channel.
Watch the NBA game for about five minutes, then jump over to the college game for five. Go back and watch the professionals again, then switch back to the student-athletes.
If you didn’t notice the disparate intensity in the defense, you probably found a women’s college game. But if you were watching the men’s team from the University of Texas, Purdue, or Michigan State, for example, get a load of those defensive stances. Hey, the knees are bent, defenders don’t turn their backs to the ball and cutters are bumped and forced out of harm’s way.
On the NBA game (unless it’s Boston or Cleveland), perimeter on-ball defenders are i
