- I don’t care what your friends tell you, I love Rick Barry. Barry is one of the 50 greatest players of all-time and never shies away from controversy. Barry on what makes the difference between good and great players: “I can teach you to pass, I can’t teach you to see…. I can go watch a player play for one half of a college basketball game and I can tell you whether he’ll be a great player… you look for that little natural feel for the game… the great players have it… and it can’t be taught.”
- I’m subscribed to 29 NBA teams’ RSS feed. The only team I’m missing is the Oklahoma City Thunder. I’ve contacted NBA.com’s technical support several times in an attempt to get them to fix the Thunder’s feed, but it’s still broken (compare the URL to the feed’s title). You can sign up for your favorite NBA team’s feed here.
- Mike Moreau of HOOPSWORLD: The Five Prototypes (I’ll take Duncan at the 5 spot)
- Dana Gauruder of The Oakland Press: “The Pistons’ slide could take on avalanche proportions during their five-game road trip. They head out of town with a five-game losing streak and now have to play Cleveland, Miami, New Orleans, Orlando and Boston. See any wins on that list? Not to mention that the first home game after that stretch is Chauncey Billups’ return to The Palace with his division-leading Denver Nuggets. Right now, the Pistons have one player who brings it every night and can be counted on for production – Antonio McDyess.”
- Amare Stoudemire is out for the season. TrueHoop with Three Anecdotes About Retina Injuries.
- Ryan Jones with some humorous advice for stat geeks: “Nerds, get your nerdy hands off our game and go back to Nerdland. You nerds.”
- Charley Rosen with an unorthodox solution to the NBA’s financial troubles: “Contraction. Back in 1943, the struggling NFL combined two franchises — the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers — into one team, the Steagles. The NBA should follow suit and make the following combinations permanent: The Washington franchise should be shut down and joined with Philadelphia to become the Philadelphia Sixzards. Adding Caron Butler, a rehabilitated Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison to the Sixers would make this team a legitimate contender. Sacramento should be folded and its players combined with Portland to form the Portland Trail-Kings. Adding Kevin Martin and Spencer Hawes just might get this squad over the top. Assign the Clippers to oblivion. The Lakers should then add Marcus Camby to their roster and trade all of the remaining Clippers for future draft choices.” Rosen doesn’t stop there. The Raptors, Hornets, and Grizzlies are mentioned too.
- Baron Davis knocks down 18 three-pointers in one minute. from ClipperBlog points out Baron’s not so impressive three-point percentage this season.
- SLAM is back with another podcast. David Aldridge, Josh Childress, and Nick Collison are this week’s guests.
- Aldridge for NBA.com: “The league’s edict during All-Star Weekend that no one should expect the tax or cap to rise much, if not fall, added to the chill in the air. And while Blazers owner Paul Allen and Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert may have lost a few million during the current recession, by most accounts they’re still further ahead than most of their fellow NBA owners. Why else would the Lakers give Vladmir Radmonovic away to Charlotte for Adam Morrison and Shannon Brown, or donate a serviceable backup center like Chris Mihm to Memphis, unless they were under orders from Jerry Buss to shave the bottom line? And that’s the Lakers, for James Worthy’s sake! And I heard Thursday that the storied Celtics, they of the 17 championships and top-five in attendance, may nonetheless be one of the teams that partakes from the league’s new $175 million line of credit, which SportsBusiness Journal reported this week would be used by half of the league’s 30 teams to help pay existing and future bills.” [Via CelticsBlog] The Celtics are averaging 18,624 fans at home this season.
- Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times: “The Lakers are serious about paying as little luxury tax as possible. Their payroll currently stands at about $78 million, making them among the top five or six teams in the NBA in salaries, but they want to pare it down if they’re not effectively using particular players. Trading Vladimir Radmanovic saved them about $17 million in salary and luxury taxes over the next two seasons, and Mihm’s departure (for a second-round pick the Lakers will never, ever see) saved them another $2.5 million in luxury taxes this season. What’s going on here? Lakers owner Jerry Buss is obviously not afraid to possess high-salaried players. (See: Gasol trade, Bynum extension and Kobe Bryant 2004 extension). Buss was on pace to pay more than $10 million in luxury taxes this season, a figure that is now under $7 million, but he is also on pace to dole out some gigantic checks in July. Bryant will probably opt out of a contract that had two more years on it in favor of a five-year contract worth about $135 million.” Last summer, I wrote a blog on superstars signing less than max deals to help their franchise build winning teams. I felt then — and feel now — that Kobe Bryant should opt out and sign for less so the Lakers can re-sign the likes of Lamar Odom. Odom has already expressed a willingness to accept a paycut. Bryant should follow his lead. Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register recently reported that “without a contract for either Ariza or Odom, the Lakers are already facing a payroll next season of about $77 million.” The economy is effecting every team in the league. Without some financial relief from their superstar shooting guard, the Lakers may be forced to choose between Odom and Ariza. Here’s an excerpt from my blog:
Nearly every NBA player says they want to win a championship. But how many of those guys are willing to put their money where their mouth is? How many guys realize that there’s no shortcut to building a team capable of winning an NBA championship? It’s dollars and cents. If you really want to win a ring, then sacrifice monetarily for the greater good of your organization and help your franchise build a winner.
Tim Duncan — winner of three of the past six NBA championships — gets it. Duncan opted out of his contract before the start of the 2007-2008 season and signed a less than maximum contract extension ($11 million less) so that the Spurs could have salary cap flexibility following the 2010 season. It’s been widely reported that 2010 is the summer of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. But Manu Ginobili will be a free agent too. Tony Parker will be a free agent the following season.
Asked to comment on the extension and Duncan taking millions less than he could have received, coach Gregg Popovich said Duncan is “definitely special and that’s just a very good example of how his brain works and what his priorities are.”
That’s how the greatest power forward of all-time’s “brain works.” That’s where a four-time NBA champion’s “priorities are.”
Before being traded to the Celtics, Kevin Garnett agreed on an extension that will keep him in Boston through the 2011-12 season. Garnett was eligible for a four-year extension from the Celtics worth an estimated $116 million — but agreed to a three-year $56,600,802 deal.
Kobe Bryant has an early termination option on his contract next season that will allow him to opt out and become a free agent. Bryant demanded a trade before last season due to the lack of talent surrounding him. Jerry Buss responded by trading Kwame Brown for Pau Gasol and straying further into luxury-tax territory to appease his superstar. The Lakers front office rewarded Bryant with a championship caliber team.
If Bryant is serious in his desire to cement his legacy with multiple championships (sans Shaq), he’ll opt out and follow KG and Duncan’s lead by signing for less.
