The Fundamentals

Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress:  “The Childress experiment has been fascinating to say the least so far. Can an important NBA player adjust himself to European basketball and justify a ridiculous salary, and will additional NBA players follow him over in the future? So far, it seems way too early to judge still. Olimpiacos’ head coach Giannakis was not kidding he said ‘we did not bring Josh here to score 40, 30 or 50 points,’ as he told ESPN after he landed. In fact, Childress is not even scoring 20, or even 10 points per game in the Euroleague—he’s at 9.8 points in 27 minutes per game, which is the lowest scoring output he’s produced since his freshman year at Stanford. His field goal percentage is also at a career low thus far (since college at least), and he’s shooting an incredibly poor percentage from the free throw line (53%) and 3-point range (14%) as well. Needless to say, high-level European basketball requires quite a bit of adjusting to, even for an incredibly smart and versatile talent like Childress.” [Via Ball In Europe]

Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic:  “It was not a scrapbooking party but the Suns did break out the scissors and paste when they gathered for a meeting Saturday. It was more bonding exercise than power meeting with staff and management. It lasted 30 minutes, with the product being collage posters they made about togetherness that were put on the locker room wall. Did it help? ‘It’s yet to be determined,’ coach Terry Porter said. ‘Whenever you run an exercise like that, it’s long term more than short term. I don’t know if you can necessarily see short-term results.’ Porter called it a ‘reality check.’ Porter said he was part of some players-only meetings in his career. ‘They did a little soul-searching,’ Porter said of his experiences. ‘A couple ‘f-bombs’ are thrown in there. For the most part, you may get good results for the next couple games and there’s a positive vibe from it. Then, you fall into the old traps and to the old scenarios that obviously made you have the first players-only meeting.’”

Ross Siler of The Salt Lake Tribune:  “It was the last thing they wanted to think about after their season came to an end in the Western Conference semifinals in May, but the Jazz had to acknowledge how devastating December proved to be in the big picture. The Jazz went 5-11 in the month, including a six-game losing streak and a 1-3 mark on their annual pre-Christmas trip. By the time they bottomed out with a loss to Boston on Dec. 29, the Jazz’s record stood at 16-16. As they looked back on the season, the Jazz could blame December for costing them home-court advantage for at least one playoff round as well as a chance at finishing with the conference’s best record. What is traditionally the toughest month on the Jazz’s schedule might be even more important this season.”

Chris Tomasson of the Rocky Mountain News:  “Talking after the Rockets game with the Rocky Mountain News, Smith pretty much said he has no relationship with his coach. He would like to sit down and talk with Karl, but isn’t optimistic about that happening. ‘We never talk,’ Smith said. ‘I wish (the two could). You never want to not even talk to your coach.’ After Karl benched Smith against the Clippers, Karl said he ‘didn’t tell him” the reason why, saying Smith ‘might have known” why. Before Thursday’s game against New Orleans, Karl reiterated he didn’t have plans to talk to Smith about it. Smith lit up the Hornets on national television. So what happened in his next game? Smith played the final four minutes of the first quarter. Then he didn’t return until the final three minutes of garbage time. Asked before Sunday’s game why Smith didn’t play against Minnesota, all Karl would say was, ‘I’ll let you interpret that one.’”

The Wages of Wins Journal:  “The Spurs early struggles, though, have led me to wonder about the perception of Tim Duncan.  Since Jordan left the Bulls in 1998, people have debated the identity of the best player in the game.  One player that has to be part of this discussion is Tim Duncan.  Across the past ten seasons, the Big Fundamental has consistently been the leading scorer on a team that has won four championships. Duncan, though, didn’t win these titles by himself.  Yes Duncan is very productive, but his teammates matter.  The initial 20% of this the 2008-09 season tells us that if Duncan was forced to play with the cast of players employed by the Spurs this year, Duncan would not have hoisted those championship trophies.  And if Duncan was not on four championship teams, would he still be considered an all-time great? For an answer, consider the career of Kevin Garnett before he arrived in Boston.  As I have noted in the past, Garnett has offered just a bit more than Duncan.  But KG was consistently playing with less talented players in Minnesota.  Consequently, many people believe Duncan has consistently been the better player.”

Blazer’s Edge:  “Moving beyond the game, as we finish the month of November, having passed through one of the most evil single-month schedules in league history, it’s time to stop and reflect about what an amazing ride this has been so far. We are 12-6, people. There have been some hard losses in there but the brutal, embarrassing, ‘you’re not ready’ losses have been limited to one.  The wins, meanwhile, have ranged from the solid to the spectacular. Against this quality of opponent with this kind of schedule, 12-6 easily counts as our best month since the days when Rasheed wore our uniform.  All things considered it may be the best month since the Clyde days.  We’ve had months with far fewer losses but not with a team this young and not against these kinds of opponents.”

Fast Break:  “When Baron Davis opted out in late June, Don Nelson, Chris Mullin, Robert Rowell and Chris Cohan were confronted with an uprising of youth.  As in most periods of upheaval, some saw boundless promise while others saw chaos.  Chris Cohan and Robert Rowell just had visions of empty seats.  Swinging into action, the old guard decided to prop up the status quo, impose a now-brittle order by force, and hold a few press conferences just for good measure.  For the last six months we’ve witnessed the youth movement repeatedly suppressed, from the Maggette signing, to Nelson’s frustratingly stubborn rotations, to Jackson’s premature extension, to veteran finger pointing in the locker room.  The better the youngsters have looked, the harder the tired old system seems to have clamped down.  Now, in the midst of the Warriors’ ugliest losing streak of the second Nelson era, it looks as if a smooth transition is out of the question.  To fix this machine, we may have to smash it.”

Keith Langlois of Pistons.com:  “Coming on the heels of Iverson’s Thanksgiving practice no-show, the Curry-Prince interchange through the media made it easily the most traumatic week of Curry’s coaching career in its infancy. Prince is a good soldier who’s made a career of doing what was necessary for his team to win on a given night. When the Pistons swapped out a pure point guard, Chauncey Billups, in the Iverson deal, Prince willingly sublimated his game to help facilitate the offense. It’s understandable if he feels that no matter what happens in a game’s first three quarters, he’s earned the right to finish. Curry, for his part, wants to be true to the word he gave his players, especially the young ones who sacrificed their summers to him – that performance would be rewarded. Twice his starters dug holes for his bench on Sunday, twice his bench dug them back out. If one early-season loss was the cost of doing business that could pay off big for the Pistons down the road, Curry was willing to pay up front.”

Michael Lee of the Washington Post:  “Iverson is definitely headed for the Hall of Fame, after winning the MVP and leading Philadelphia to the NBA Finals in 2001. He has had, by far, the greater career of the two. But he and Marbury are both lacking championship rings, and neither has been willing to make the necessary sacrifices to reach that goal — which makes these latest incidents more disconcerting. And with these latest situations, I have to say that Iverson was more out of line than Marbury.”

Docksquad Sports:  Derrick Rose Will Break Your Ankles [Video]

The Hoop Doctors:  Allen Iverson Talks About His Struggles With the Pistons [Video]

Kevin Eastman Basketball:  Two Pains

Tom Moore of The Dallas Morning News:  “Maybe you’ve noticed coach Rick Carlisle bark out plays from the bench in recent weeks. Perhaps you’ve detected a team that broke training camp with no half-court sets seems to be running quite a few lately. If these developments have flown under your radar, I’m sure this has captured your attention. The Mavericks have won more games than they did to start the season. Motion plays a bigger role in this offense than it did the last two seasons. The players do have more freedom. But it does not rise to the level of creative madness that guard Jason Terry once predicted would be unleashed. The Princeton offense has come and gone. The idea that the Mavericks would generate the majority of their shots out of movement instead of sets has been scrapped.”

Tom Moore of PhillyBurbs.com:  “Last season, Andre Iguodala averaged a team- and career-high 19.9 points for the Sixers. He hasn’t scored 19 points once in their first 17 games of 2008-09, with a high of 18 at Toronto on Nov. 12. In Sunday’s 103-92 home loss to the Chicago Bulls, Iguodala managed eight points on 5-of-12 shooting in 34 minutes. That’s coming off a nine-point night in Friday’s 24-point drubbing by Boston. The two weekend games dropped Iguodala’s scoring average to 13.0 points, good enough for fourth on the 7-10 Sixers. His field goal percentage (39.8), 3-point percentage (25.6), free throw percentage (69.2) and steals (1.5) are all down considerably from a year ago. Iguodala, who signed a six-year, $80 million contract in August, has failed to reach double figures in scoring four times in 17 games this season after it only happened three times while playing all 82 last year.”

John Reid of The Times Picayune:  “When the New Orleans Hornets spent two days in Los Angeles following their victory last Monday against the Clippers, Coach Byron Scott said he spoke to former Laker Jerry West. The Hall of Famer had a little observation about Scott’s team. ‘Jerry said one difference about this year’s team as opposed to last year is that Tyson Chandler is not playing with the energy he played last year,’ Scott said. Chandler averaged 11.8 points and 11. 7 rebounds last season. After 12 games, he is averaging 8.2 points and 7.9 rebounds. ‘We are 29th in the league in rebounding and I really pointed to two guys. Tyson’s rebounds is down about four a game and David’s is down about three a game,’ Scott said. ‘If they average just what they did last year at this time, we’ll be seventh in the league.’”

Dave D’Alessandro of The Star-Ledger:  “Put it this way: What did the Lakers do keep him in check in Game 1 of this remarkable road trip, which concluded Sunday night against the Suns? Harris was ordinary last Tuesday night at Staples (21 points, 5-for-16, six assists), he played only one good quarter (the second), and the Nets were held to nine field goals in the entire second half. ‘Well, actually, they did a lot of this,’ said Harris, taking the wrist of his inquisitor and slapping it — hard. ‘But what they also did was, they were giving me an open lane, and (funneling) me into a big. Some teams can do that, but it depends on the big.’ The Spurs used to do that, with success — partly when they had a few 7-footers (Tim Duncan, Rasho Nesterovic) back there. ‘Yeah, but they weren’t really good at it,’ Harris explained. ‘The Lakers are (better). And if you’re not getting the calls, that just makes it harder. And the Lakers have a big, big guy back there — two big guys, really — and that makes it a little bit different.’ The other feather in Phil Jackson’s cap: He routinely keeps a wing floating high on the perimeter of his offense, to act as a free safety against the opponent’s fast break.”

Mark Heisler of the Los Angeles Times:  “He may be right about the records, milestones and landmarks but some of his shootouts with rival stars are still the stuff of legend, like the night in Oakland when he and the Warriors’ Antawn Jamison both went for 50 and Kobe’s teammates on the bench yelled for him to pass the ball. ‘Can you feel the love?’ then-teammate Rick Fox said later. ‘You couldn’t feel the love that night.’ However, there’s a difference between the 2008 Kobe and the ones that preceded it. This one really does play smarter, is more under control, makes teammates better and only takes over when he thinks the team needs it. That’s why his averages has dropped from 35 to 32 to 28 to 24.5 the last four seasons. If LeBron James beats him out for MVP this season, it will be because the Cavaliers need LeBron to be all he can be, and the Lakers need Bryant to be less than he can be.”