Lottery Leftovers and thoughts on Kobe Bryant and Baseball's commish





The Boston Celtics finished last season with the 2nd worst record in the NBA. They rightfully earned that status from management to coaching and straight down to the players. General Manager Danny Ainge traded a lottery pick that could have drafted impressive rookies Randy Foye or Rudy Gay. For his trouble, he acquired Sebastian Telfair. The best thing you could say about Telfair's only season as a Celtic was that he was an expert marksman. The worst thing you can say is that he was an alleged felon two times over.


Celtic head coach Doc Rivers disinguished himself by executing one the ugliest tanking jobs the league has ever seen, ranking right up there with Bill Fitch's 83-84 Rockets who mailed it in for the right to select the great Hakeem Olajuwon. And the players at time acted like they did not want to be in the gym, let alone on the floor playing the game. So, when the 38% chance they had "earned" to get one of the first two picks in this year's draft (i.e Oden or Durant) blew up in smoke at last year's draft lottery, logic would dictate that the organization got exactly what they deserved. Yet since last week, Celtic fans are acting like they got screwed out of their birthright.


One would think that 7 NBA championships spanning a 19 year period from 1967 to 1986 would be something that would satisfy a fan base for a lifetime. Yet, when you read the nation's foremost Celtic apologist, ESPN.com columnist Bill Simmons, he is referring to this year's lottery as "the tragic events of 5/22. " The prevailing thought is that the Celtics got shafted 10 years ago when the Spurs won the right to select Tim Duncan. And that line of thinking is simply misguided idiotic naive nonsense.


The Celtics fortunes were scarred for generations with the hiring of suppossed franchise savior at the time, Rick Pitino. A lot of Celtic fans would disagree wuth this, pointing to the tragic deaths of Len Bias and Reggie Lewis. But the reality is that the franchise was well positioned to return to prominence until Slick Rick came in and took over. His first order of business was to insist on the title of President of the team. But there was one problem. That title was already
taken by basketball icon Red Auerbach. Whether Auerbach was active in the personnel department was immaterial. He had earned that title for life with his championship resume. But Pitino's ego was so out of control before he ever won a game as Celtics' coach, he insisted on the title of President, his autonomous power and enormous contract not withstanding. This started the Celtics' luck of the irish on a downhill path.


Pitino's first year as Celtic Basketball Czar was 1997. In the 97 draft, the Celtics had the #3 and #6 picks. Despite the fact that the Tim Duncan ping pong ball eluded them, this still represented an enormous opportunity to upgrade the roster. With the #3 pick, Pitino selected Chauncey Billups, a point guard from the University Colorado. This turned out to be a great draft pick as Billups is the floor leader for a team that is currently making its 5th straight appearance in the Eastern Conference finals with one NBA title to their credit. For the Celtics, there is one major problem. Slick Rick traded Billups half way through his rookie year. He used the #6 pick on Ron Mercer. Mercer was a career journeyman who never actually stuck anywhere. His career highlights came while he was at the University of Kentucky came when his coach was none other than Rick Pitino. And the #9 pick in that same draft was Tracy McGrady. At that time, the rumors leading up to the draft had Pitino selecting McGrady. After the draft Pitino admitted that McGrady was a strong consideration, but he was looking for players who could make more of an immediate impact. Patience did not prove to be Slick Rick's strong suit.

In 1978, Red Auerbach used the #6 pick in the draft on a junior named Larry Bird, even though Bird was not going to play for the Celtics until the following season. Auerbach knew that when your goal is to build a champion, patience is an essential element. The Celtics fortunes haven't turned unlucky. Their fortunes changed when they sold out the greatest basketball executive in history for a good college coach who conned ownership out of millions.

And the current regime appears just as bad. So the good news for the Celtic fans on missing out on Oden and Durant is that they are virtually guaranteed to have plenty of ping pong balls in next year's lottery.

Kobe Bryant had a pretty busy week. In the last 7 days, Bryant has demanded the Lakers to "surround him with a better team.", demanded that Mitch Kupchak relinquish his job as general manager to Jerry West, (Kupchak and West are close friends), publicly blamed Laker owner Jerry Buss for the Shaquille O'Neal trade, demanded to be traded himself, and recanted said trade demand. He actually had a good idea sprinkled in there. Its time for the Lakers to cut bait and get out from under the nightmare that Bryant has morphed into.

Before I even address the on court problems Bryant has created, I feel the need to address what a disgusting ingrate Kobe is as a human being. This organization that he has publicly embarrassed on every management level is the same organization that stood by him while he went on trial for rape. They flew him back and forth from the trial in Colorado for practices and games. They did not require him to participate in all team meetings, practices, and activities, even when he wasn't in court. At no time did they hold him accountable for the irresponsible actions that put him in that tenuous legal position in the first place. When his contract expired they offerred him the maximum amount of money league regulations would allow. When he wanted Phil Jackson back as coach, they went and got him. And Kobe respects their loyalty by going on a public verbal assault. If you owned an NBA team, would you want this kind of guy as the face of your organization? I know I wouldn't.

The next issue he created here is how do you now go back into a locker room with your teammates. What he pretty much said here in not so many words is that the rest of these guys stink. And although the shoe fits in more than a few instances, there are also more than a few players that have a right to be mighty ticked off. In my humble opinion, Lamar Odom is one of the top 20 players in the NBA. He does everything well on the floor and he's 6'10". Odom's best attribute is his ability to pass. He is especially effective offensively when he plays with players that share the basketball. The reality is that the Lakers have their 2nd star. Kobe Bryant is too much of a selfish pig to play with him.

So now Kobe has placed himself and the Lakers in the unique position of Kobe actually having more value to the Lakers off their team as oppossed to on their team. It doesn't matter how much talent an individual player has. If that talent cannot be applied within the framework of a team concept, there is a ceiling on how much that talent translates to winning games. Combine Kobe's genral difficulty of working within a team concept and the significant fact that he just alienated every teammate he currently has, and you get an impossible environment for the Lakers to succeed.

Keeping in mind that the Lakers best stretch of the 2005-2006 season was the 20 game period Kobe was on the injured list, there are a few tremendous options for the Lakers to build around Odom. Kobe to the Houston Rockets for a Tracy McGrady package is one viable option. McGrady has become a much more mature player and in turn a much less selfish one. His skills translate very well into Phil Jackson's triangle offense. if the Lakers could grab a pick and/or more cap space as well in a deal like this, all the better. Kobe to the Chicago Bulls is another option. If the Lakers could get Luol Deng and Ben Gordon, it would completely reinvigorate their youth movement and make them great again much faster. Because if the Lakers keep going this way, greatness is not imminent anytime soon. Its starting to appear that any sentence that includes Kobe Bryant and the word greatness should include the name Shaquille O'Neal as well.

As baseball season swings toward summer, Barry Bonds inches closer and closer to baseball's most hallowed record, most career home runs. A record held by the great Hank Aaron. Under different circumstances, baseball would be celebrating this record with unprecedented fanfare. Instead, when broached on the issue, baseball's commissioner treats the issue like Tony Soprano treats a RICO investigation.

Selig has gone to lengths in the last few years to try to bring accountablility for the steroids epidemic. He's hired George Mitchell to head up a federal investigation and rumors are abound that Mitchell has gathered enough information to start naming names. So now that major league baseball is holding the offenders accountable, what about the people who condoned rampant steroid use. People like Bud Selig.

Selig has not yet announced that he will be in attendance the day that Barry Bonds is about to break the record. Yet, when McGwire and Sosa were breaking records in 98, Bud was everywhere. The point that appears to escape Commissioner Selig is that the steroids era happened on his watch. That makes him accountable. And since the players who are proven to be steroid users will presumably be subject to some sort of league discipline, shouldn't Selig be disciplined as well. He sold out the integrity of the record book in exchange for revenue growth. Maybe a worthwhile tradeoff in the end, maybe not. But if he starts doling out punishment, start in the mirror. And what better way for Bud to punish himself than to have to publicly congratulate Barry Bonds and his oversized head in person on the day he breaks the record. Thats what Selig gets for looking the other way.

One last note: I will refrain from commenting on LeBron James' tour de force Game 5 in the Eastern Conference finals until we see who actually wins the series.

Giddyap.