We're about halfway through two of the most entertaining conference finals. Time to break it all down. But first a quick blanket statement about the way these teams play......



Too many 3 point shot attempts. Everyone. Stop the madness.



We see threes of the dribble, threes off the break, threes when a guy is guarded and threes when a guy is not. Only the ladder is okay. Three pointers are best when attempted open off the pass. And one other thing while I'm on the topic of threes...



Not everyone shoots them well. For chrissake, Kenyon Martin attempts the occasional three. I really like Kenyon's game, but Kenyon ought to keep his rage contained to the dribble. And although LeBron James is the king and I'm a witness and all, he isn't exactly Steve Kerr from behind the arc, his dramatic game 2 winner not withstanding. It doesn't really matter for Derek Fisher. He misses it whether its a two or a three. He can only hit the ones and he doesn't get many if those because he's too washed up too dribble the ball towards the basket.



If more attention was paid by teams to get better two point attempts, everyone's offense would function more efficiently. If you subtract all of the 3 pointers out of each team's shooting percentage, you'll find that each team is shooting close to 50%. When you compare that to the fact that each team struggles to shoot 30% from 3, it doesn't take an MIT grad to figure out that more two point attempts will lead to more efficient offense. Please keep this delectable nugget in the back of your mind next time you watch Sasha Vujacic toss up a 25 footer off the dribble with a hand in his face.



Breakdown time.....



Each of the four remaining teams will be addressed in reference to what they're doing well and what they need to improve on. Stan Van, Mikey Brown, George the Animal, and Philosophical Phil: Get your reading glasses on.



Before I go into detail about what I like about the Orlando Magic up until now, I first must mea culpa all previous criticism of my 2nd favorite Van Gundy brother, Stan. He has had an outstanding series. He has found every right matchup. He changed his offense by employing Hedo Turkoglu as a point forward much more often. This has made Turkoglu so much more valuable than just a wing shooter, which is what he normally is. He has been an outstanding playmaker who is tough to guard becausde you've got to respect the jump shot. Van Gundy has employed Dwight Howard much more frequently as a post presence, a common complaint of your truly. But most importantly, Stan has understood amd embraced the theory from the great philosopher Dan Patrick when defending LeBron James. You can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him. And although LeBron's numbers are off the charts in this series, the Magic have been a pain in his rump in the half court. The Magic have focused on shutting down everyone around LeBron and its working. A good indicator in playing the Cavaliers well is that if LeBron needs to score 40 to keep the Cavs close, you're doing things right defensively.



If I'm Van Gundy going forward, my big focus is continuity. The Magic need to keep feeding Dwight Howard inside. Cleveland's strategy to foul Howard to exploit Howard's spotty free throw shooting has not worked. Howard has been efficient from the line and at times fouling isn't enough to keep him from dunking. It is also important to keep Rashard Lewis active on the perimeter. Cleveland's big defensive adjustment on Lewis has been to switch LeBron onto him. If the ball is in Lewis' hands, LeBron's got to work. Avoiding James on the defensive end is never an answer. He's too good off the ball. Taking the ball at him can wear him down. And if we were in some sort of alternate universe where fouls were called evenly, you may even be able to get hin in foul trouble.



The two things the Magic need to improve upon are something I addressed in detail up top. They need to cut down on the three point attempts. In the two games they won, they attempted 20 and 17 threes respectively. In the game they lost, they attempted 23 and hit 43% of them. The Magic are a very athletic team and need to continue to play offense off the dribble. Lots of good things happen when you get the ball close to the basket. And speaking of athleticism, we need to see more of Mickael Pietrus guarding LeBron James. No one shuts down LeBron, but Pietrus has him breathing heavy. And that works to Orlando's advantage.



In discussing what has worked so far for the Cavaliers is summed up in two words....LeBron James. Thats it. Everyone else, including head coach Mike Brown looks overwhelmed in the moment and overmatched by the Magic. But the one person who can help get Cleveland back in the right direction is none other than the coach himself, Mike Brown.



The first problem the Cavs has had is the game is being played too fast. The Magic are athletic and love to get up and down the court quickly. The Cavs have been more than happy to oblige, which becomes a major problem with Zydrunas Ilgauskas on the court. Ilgauskas has a few post moves and can block a few shots, but he looks like he's playing in concrete shoes. If the Cavs get in a running game with Ilgauskas on the court, they're literally playing 4 on 5 on one end of the floor. Furthermore, and I know its sacreligious to criticize the king, but LeBron's got to slow things down. Despite the easy baskets and free throw attempts he garners by pushing the ball off the floor, he speeds up the tempo of the game which plays right into Orlando's hands. This is something that needs to be explained to LeBron by his coach. In spite of LeBron's abundant talent and relentless determination and work ethic, he is not unlike any other 24 year old NBA player. He needs to be coached.

The other important change that Downtown Brown needs to make his to play a smaller lineup. The Magic have a wealth of wing players with decent size and athleticism. The Cavs have very few. But they do have a player sitting on their bench who was instrumental in their 2007 trip to the NBA finals, Sasha Pavlovic. Pavlovic has just enough size and athleticism to be a decent defender on Turkoglu or Pietrus and he can drain an open three, the RIGHT kind of three, which has been a big problem for the Cavs in this series. A unit of Anderson Varejao, James, Pavlovic, Delonte West, and Mo Williams presents some matchup issues for the Magic. Put LeBron in the post, feed him the rock, spot up your shooters and send Sideshow Bob (Varejao) to the weak side to clear the glass. If Mikey B is reading, I may have just solved all the Cavs problems and threw in a Simpsons reference for good measure. Bart, not OJ......

Speaking of O.J. Simpson, its time to break down Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. I must say that my first thought for Denver to shut down the Lakers was to make sure the Lakers were booked in an Eagle County, Colorado hotel and to hire the Spitzer call girl as the concierge and send her to Kobe's room with an urgent telegram. But once I realized that someone tried that already (albeit with a different girl) and it worked, I decided to get down to business.

Before I get all over Kobe, I must say he is having a very good series. With that said, old habits die hard. Kobe's inclination to do it all himself is wearing him down and making it very difficult for the Lakers. In the four games thus far in this series, Laker center Pau Gasol has attempted 40 shots. Kobe Bryant has attempted 99 shots. This stat becomes much more alarming when you add to the fact that Gasol is shooting 62% for the series. Its no wonder that Gasol was complaining publicly about not getting the ball today. Even though Denver is very deep and very athletic inside, Gasol has to be the a big part of what the Lakers do in the half court. He has the ability to create foul trouble in Nene, the aforementioned Kenyon Martin and my new favorite bench player, Chris "Birdman" Andersen. And the thing about Gasol is that he's about as unselfish a big man that you'll find. If Gasol sees the ball alot, everyone will. Kobe needs to think about shooting less, but scoring more. And it might help make Pau happy if Kobe bought him an "L". It may not shine like his wife's "sorry I cheated" diamond, but Pau needs it a lot more.

The other big problem for the Lakers in this series is the way Philosophical Phil is operating the personnel on his front line. Please allow me to explain. My man crush, Lamar Odom is absolutely overmatched as a power player against the Denver front line. This is clearly a series where Phil needs to get Andrew Bynum more minutes. Bynum's size is tougher for Denver to handle than Odom's s athleticism. However, Phil does not need to bury Odom on the bench. Quite the contrary. Odom actually can provide a tough matchup for Carmelo Anthony if Phil would play him at small forward. A great way for the Lakers to try and negate the Nuggets size advantage would be to play Bynum, Gasol, and Odom together on the front line. Odom is a more than adequate wing player and that lineup for short stretches would dominate the glass and give Denver fits. Instead, Phil keeps giving 15 minutes a game to Luke Walton. I happen to like Luke Walton, but he is no match athletically for everyone on Denver's roster. And I am certainly not suggesting that Phil takes minutes away from Trevor Ariza at small forward. He has had a very effective series and appears to be growing up as a player right before our eyes. This comes down to an old coaching saying that my favorite Van Gundy brother (Jeff) utters often. A coach's most important responsibility is to find a way to get his best players on the floor at the time the game is being decided. Philosophical Phil has 96 minutes to split between three front court players. If he gives Odom 10-15 minutes a game at small forward, he gets his best players on the floor more.

Before I break down the Denver Nuggets, I wonder if anyone has had a donut intervention with George Karl. He looks like Jerry Krause on steroids. Lets get George the Animal onto "The Biggest Loser" before Denver ownership has to get him fitted for a special sideline chair.

The Nuggets have done a lot of things right in this series. Their big men have been active and unselfish. Carmelo Anthony has emerged as an unselfish star that will do whatever it takes to win including but not exclusive to defending, rebounding, passing and even sitting down if need be. Their bench has been very effective. They've gotten extremely valuable and productive minutes out of "Who shot" J.R. Smith and the aforementioned Birdman. Their three problems have been inbound plays, discipline, and Chauncey Billups.

Chauncey Billups has had an amazing effect on the Nuggets since he was traded early in the season by the Detroit Pistons. He has given them the point guard they desperately needed and been a great leader that has helped make Denver's young players more accountable and less selfish. Everytime Denver steps on the court, Chauncey's influence is apparent. So whats the problem??? The threes!! Thats the problem. Billups takes far too many threes before he gets Denver into their offense. Some of them go in, but as Jeff Van Gundy remided us the other night, that doesn't make them good shots. Billups can score a lot of points, but is not a big statistical guy. He doesn't record a lot of assists, yet is a very good passer. Billups' effectiveness is measured in good decisions made and ultimately wins and losses. If Billups would eliminate the pull up three, his decision making would be impeccable. And for a team that has a discipline issue, Billups increased discipline in terms of shot selection would have an influence on other players.

Which segues nicely into the next issue. The Lakers are going to have a tough time beating the Nuggets. The Nuggets on the other hand can do a terrific job of beating themselves. The taunting has to stop. The technical fouls for taunting are going to cost them a game. J. R. Smith already cost them Game 2 with his chest pounding nonsense. He needs to save his technicals for when he needs them, like to knock Kobe down. As opposed to the rest of this column, I'm not trying to be funny now. Denver needs to stay physical and sometimes drawing technicals are a great way to do it. Kenyon Martin has become a master at using the technical to keep it rough. J.R. Smith has been the Nuggets best Kobe defender. If he's drawing tees because he has to scream in someone's face, he's risking being ejected for getting rough with Kobe. And with the way Smith has defended Kobe, the Nuggets can't afford that. He hasn't shut Kobe down. But, just like Mikael Pietrus on LeBron James, he's made Kobe work. And Kobe is starting to look physically worn. If the Nuggets can keep their heads, they can have Kobe breathing real heavy when the Lakers need him the most.

The other part of Denver's discipline problem is foul trouble. Foul trouble is how they lost game 3. Too many stupid touch fouls and too much reaching in. They did a much better job of playing disciplined defense in Game 4. They will need to carry that discipline back to Los Angeles for Game 5. With offensive players like Gasol and Bryant, its easy to find foul trouble. It seems oversimplisitic and George the Animal certainly doesn't want to take the energy or spirit out of these guys, but they've got to strike that delicate balance. For the Nuggets, the difference is looking like the best team in the NBA or self destructing at the Lakers feet. At this point, nothing would surprise me.

Back soon with more playoff thoughts and a few mock drafts. Giddyap. Y'all be cool.

With two Game 7s on the horizon in the conference semi-finals, its a great time to fire out some observations.


The Lakers have certainly placed themselves in a precarious predicament. There are several reasons that they will be playing for their playoff lives, the least of all not being the fact that they've played against a well coached cohesive hardworking unselfish basketball team that knows no quit. That not withstanding, a big reason that the Lakers have to play game 7 against the Rockets is head coach Phil Jackson's blind faith in a washed up Derek Fisher.

Derek Fisher has been a defensive liability in this entire series. On the three Kobe-Shaq Laker championship teams, Fisher was the perfect point guard. He played decent defense and hit plenty of threes created by Kobe's penetration. It doesn't seem like Philiosophical Phil is aware that its 2009. Fisher has been destroyed defensively by Rocket point guard Aaron Brooks. And Fisher has not exactly compensated on offense by shooting 28% in the series. The worst part about this for the Lakers is that Jackson has two other options had point guard far superior to Fisher, yet he stubbornly continually rolls Fisher out there.

The Lakers have been a clearly better team with Jordan Farmar at the point. Farmar has experience guarding Aaron Brooks from their days playing against each other in the Pac-10. He is also a superior athlete to Fisher which much better ability to penetrate off the dribble, which became a much bigger factor when Yao Ming went out for the series. Shannon Brown is also a better option than Fisher. He is currently shooting the ball better and is also a much better defender.

This has become an enormous factor in this series. The Rockets have one achilles heel. Both of their point guards, Brooks and Kyle Lowry, are relatively poor passers. If Philiosophical Phil makes getting the ball out of a point guard's hands a defensive priority while the Rockets do nothing but run the pick and roll with Brooks and Lowry, this should not be that hard for the Lakers. But with Fisher in the game, its far too easy getting Brooks and Lowry free. Not the proudest moment for a championship and all of fame coach. It may sound like heresy, but has the game passed him by? That is why we'll be watching Game 7 tomorrow. That, and.....

Rick Adelman

Back in the early 90s when Adelman coached the Clyde Drexler Trailblazers to a NBA final only to get annihilated by Michael Jordan's Bulls, I didn't think there was anything special about Adelman's coaching. When he coached the early 2000s Sacramento Kings, I thought they underachieved by never reaching the finals, even though the officials stole a Western Conference final from them. But the job he has done here with the Rockets is one of the better coaching jobs I've seen in 30 years of watching NBA basketball.

Unlike many other writers, I don't count what Adelman did when Tracy McGrady went out as any stroke of brilliance. As I had written then, this is a significantly better basketball team with without McGrady. Mcgrady's absence was incredibly liberating for every guy on that team except for Rafer Alston, and Rocket GM Daryl Morey shipped him to Orlando before McGrady' s surgery was scheduled. Adelman's greatest achivement has been the two games the Rockets have dominated the Lakers after he lost Yao Ming for the series. He lost his best help defender and his big inside post presence. So what did Adelman do? He simplified the offense to play mostly pick and roll, exploiting a great matchup advantage and committed to 6'6" Chuck Hayes at center, who gives Laker center Pau Gasol fits. Hayes has also been a huge asset on offense for the simple reason that he sets a great screen, like most every other Rocket player. Hayes does not need the ball to contribute. He epitiomizes exactly what the Lakers are missing. The Lakers are missing unselfish players who give everything they have to sacrifice for the good of the team. The Lakers still don't play together. Up until now, they've been largely successful as a group of individuals. But now Adelman gets one last chance to knock them off and possibly change the direction of the Lakers organization for years to come. The Rockets just might do it. They deserve to win this series more than the Lakers and karma can play a role as long as the referees have not been given a ratings mandate by the league. We'll know something's up if they dust off Tim Donaghy for this Game 7.......

The Boston-Orlando series has not been as high quality basketball as Rockets- Lakers, yet just as compelling. Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy has taken a lot of heat for his coaching in this series from media and his players alike. And although they all have a point, especially in terms of their under utilization of Dwight Howard on offense, everyone has seem to forget that the Magic are playing extremely short handed without point guard Jameer Nelson. Nelson is just as important to the Magic as Kevin Garnett is for the Celtics. Nelson always keep defenses honest by constantly penetrating and finding shooters. He also feeds Howard in the post early and often. His replacements have offered relatively low value. Jameer Nelson is an essential element in Orlando's efficient executuon of the offense. The only reason that Orlando is in a game 7 tomorrow is because of their giant hole at point guard. Stan has quickly found out what Adelman learned. Its very hard to win with Rafer Alston at point guard. The Rockets upgraded the position merely through subtraction. The Celtics on the other hand have gotten very good production form Glen "Big Baby " Davis replacing Kevin Garnett at power forward. Although he couldn't guard a Big Mac from an anorexic (he'd eat it), he has learned to hit that 15-18 footer that Garnett always hits which has become an important part of the Celtic offense.

The other interesting subplot I see in this series is the exposure of two of the most overrrated players in the NBA. I know this is not a popular notion, but Rajon Rondo is a little overrated. There are a lot of players who make contributions that don't show up on a stat sheet. Rondo is the opposite. Everything he does shows up on the stat sheet. Rondo is still not a good shooter, with very little confidence and he has long stretches where he turns the ball over a lot. His penchant for rebounding is very productive for a guard. But his preoccupation with rebounding causes the Celtics to miss transition basket opportunuites. Rondo is athletic enough to be an open court force, but he always seems to be playing in traffic. The stats and the wins are there for him, but I contend that he's not as good as he appears.

I hate to say it, but Dwight Howard is an overrated player. He is a superb rebounder and a decent help defender. But he's a black hole on offense. Once you pass him the ball, it is inevitably going up. His on the ball defense is actually pretty weak. Celtics center Kendrick Perkins is the most improved player I've seen on this playoff. He has also helped tremendously in filling the hole Garnett left. But there is no way a player like Perkins should play a talent like Howard to a draw in a 7 game series. And even though I believe that Howard needs to see the ball more, I also realize that part of what Van Gundy does with Howard is predicated on protecting him. Howard very well maybe a player who is an example of the law of diminshing returns. The more you ask of him, the less he gives you. This could also be a reason that Howard exhibits overt resentment towards Van Gundy. Either way, Van Gundy's only choice tomorrow night is to win it or lose it in Howard's hands. The Celtics have been too well coached to lose a game 7 because Hedo Turkoglu beat them. The same Hedo Turkoglu who tempts me to discontinue my high definition service on every close up of him.

One last note. I've been habitually critical of Doc Rivers as Celtics' coach even after he won a ring last year. However, Doc has squeezed every last bit possible from this Celtics team. At times when they have been overrun with fatigue. He's pressed just the right buttons to keep them afloat. Whether its Brian "Veal" Scalabrine, Eddie House or Stephon Marbury, Doc has found the right guy for the right spot and because of it the Celtics are one win away from reaching the Easter Conference finals. Its too bad that all of this work will culminate in an old fashioned ass whipping by Cleveland if Boston can survive yet another Game 7. No matter how it turns out, Doc Rivers should be commended for a proud title defense.

Enjoy the Game 7s. More next week as the conference finals start up. Giddyap. Y'all be cool.

Some random thoughts as I mirror Charles Barkley's bewilderment as to why most guys who go bald decide to grow beards......



I have to confess, I'm not really feeling all of this Ben Gordon love. He signed a one year tender with the Bulls before the season began and prevailing wisdom is that his performance in the playoffs has put him in line for a big multi year contract. This is a classic case of buyer beware. No doubt, Gordon can score, but thats all he can do. He certainly can't defend. Ray Allen has exposed him in a big way in this series. And Gordon never met a shot he didn't like. As soon as a teammate passes the ball to Gordon, its rebounding time. He's sort of like the NBA's version of the Bermuda Triangle. And someone is going to give him 50 million for 5 years. And I'm going to laugh.......



While we're on that series, I need to comment on the two point guards. Rajon Rondo has been statistically dominant in this series. The most impressive thing about his game is his ability to give the Celtics exactly what they need, when they need it. He has developed his shooting enough to be an all around threat. Doc Rivers and the Celtics coaching staff deserve a tremendous amount of credit for his development. With that said, these comparisons to Derrick Rose have to stop. Derrick Rose is as unique a guard as you'll ever see in this league. And the matchup between the two has been compelling to watch. But can I remind everyone that if Rose stayed in college, he would just be completing his SOPHOMORE year. Point guards never learn the NBA game as fast as Rose has learned it. He is a very good NBA point guard right now at the age of 20. And the sky is the limit. The Rondo/Rose comparison may seem relevant now, but in three years it won 't be. Rose will blow him out of the water.



And while I'm on point guards, does anyone agree with me that Stephon Marbury probably would have been better off sitting the year than going to the Celtics if his goal was to get a contract for next year. The big worry was Marbury's ability to play within a team concept. Someone might have taken a chance on that. What no one actually considered is Marbury's skills have eroded and he actually kind of stinks. He went from being a bad teammate and a good player to being a good teammate and a bad player. In game 4 of this series, which went to double overtime, Rajon Rondo played 55 of a possible 58 minutes in the game. Rondo's backup, Marbury, played 5 minutes. In Game 6 of this series, a triple overtime game, Rondo played 58 out of a possible 63 minutes in the game. Marbury played 8 minutes. One of my column contributors enlightened me to the inevitable truth. The Celtics signed Marbury in case Rondo got hurt, not to be a capable backup. This has been a staggering fall from grace for Marbury, the once renowned coach killer. Somewhere out there, Larry Brown is laughing......so is Lenny Wilkens, Don Chaney, Isiah Thomas, John Calipari, Keith Van Horn, Kurt Thomas, etc....



As you could probably surmise, I'm very impressed with Phil Jackson's decision to move Lamar Odom back to the starting lineup. Andrew Bynum may have a very bright future, but he's not leading the Lakers to a title. Odom is the only player the Lakers have that creates a matchup problem for the Houston Rockets, including Kobe Bryant. Shane Battier's going to guard Kobe most of the series and when he doesn't, Ron Artest will take him. And life will be rough for Kobe in this series. The Rockets beat up Brandon Roy like Clubber Lang pounded Rocky Balboa in the first fight of Rocky 3. Kobe will have to take a lot more perimeter jump shots in the name of self preservation, which is why Odom will be so important. The Rockets best defender on Odom is probably Artest. If Rocket coach Rick Adelman decides to play Artest on Odom, he'll be forced to play a smaller lineup which would force either Yao Ming or Luis Scola to the bench, which does not play to the Rockets' strength. With that said, I've been on the Rockets all season long and I'm not stopping now. Rockets will win this gutter war in 7 games. Think of it as the Rocky Balboa/Apollo Creed fight in Rocky 2.

While we're on the Houston Rockets, there are two individual redemption stories in process on that team right now and very few are noticing. After Ron Artest ran into the stands on one fateful night in Detroit on November 19, 2004, his NBA career was left for dead. The Indiana Pacers tried to make it work with him, but Ron wasn't ready to be contrite enough for his actions and the Pacers were rightfully short on patience. Finally, on January 24, 2006, the Pacers traded Artest to virtual basketball purgatory in the name of a declining Sacramento Kings team. Almost instantanouesly after the Kings acquired Artest, they went on on a run and qualified as the #8 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. They were defeated by the defending champion San Antonio Spurs in 6 games in the first round, but Artest proved himself to Kings coach Rick Adelman. Artest and Adelman forged such a good relationship, that Artest offerred up his salary for King ownership to retain Adelman. It didn't work and Adelman was fired. This past offseason when the Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey had the opportunity to acquire Artest at cents on the dollar because of Ron's bad reputation, he jumped at the opportunity. And it has paid off big time. You see, Ron Artest was always that player who had the big "What if?" attahced to his NBA career. What if he didn't run into the stands that night? What if he didn't leave the Pacers midseason to make a rap album? What if he grew up and actually realized his potential? This season, this Rockets team, and this role for Ron Artest has separated him from the big, "What if?". He is their offensive, defensive, and spiritual leader. He truly brings something different every night. If either takes the toughest perimeter player on the other team or plays passing lanes like demons. The entire offense runs through him and he plays extremely unselfish basketball. He feeds the post effectively and often which keeps the big men happy. During last night's postgame press conference, the affection between Artest and Yao Ming was evident. And he has kept his emotions in check. The best thing that happened to the Rockets was trading for Ron in the offseason. And the 2nd best thing that happened was losing Tracy McGrady for the season. It made the Rockets Ron Artest's team. And that had made all the difference. You may not like Ron Artest, but you wish he was on your team.

The second redemption story on the Rockets this year revolves around their center, 7'6" Yao Ming. Yao Ming was the first pick in the 2002 NBA draft, a relatively unknown commodity from China. He was a giant of a man who supposedly could shoot. When Yao got to Houston, the Rockets soon saw they had so much more. In Yao's rookie year, he finished 2nd in the Rookie of the Year voting to Amare Stoudemire. Before Yao's 2nd season began, the Rockets hired Jeff Van Gundy as their coach. Yao improved significantly in his 2nd and 3rd seasons under Van Gundy and the expert tutelage of Rockets assistant coach Patrick Ewing. In both of those seasons, Yao was the starting center for the Western Conference all star team. Although we could point out the obvious ballot box stuffing by a rapidly expanding Chinese contingent of NBA fans, Yao's play was worthy of the honor. Then, it started to unwind for Yao rather steadily. He missed chunks of two seasons with injuries. There were rumblings that Yao's commitment to international play for his native China was making him more injury prone for the Rockets. So, when he missed the 2nd half of last season and the Rockets finished the 2nd half of a 22 game win streak without him, he was starting to become a punch line to an NBA draft joke. Then, this season happened. Yao stayed healthy. Yao averaged 19 points a game and 10 rebounds a game. But, most importantly, Yao became a defensive force. Physically, he's an animal. He absorbs a tremendous amount of abuse. He plays excellent post defense. He plays excellent help defense. He doesn't always look pretty doing it, but he is as complete a big man that currently plays in the league. And whether you choose to view this as a coincidence or not, he has become a more selfless agressive player once Tracy McGrady got hurt.

In a nutshell, the way Artest and Yao play the game, make them both very easy to root for. Right now, its a good story. But can it become a great one??

Its a good thing for the Rockets that they beat the Portland Trailblazers in this year's playoffs, because it may be difficult for anyone to do it again anytime in the near future. The Blazers were as impressive as a team can be when its defeated in a series in 6 games. First off, Brandon Roy is a star right now. He's Dwyane Wade without the championship ring and those silly, forced, uncomfortable T-Mobile commercials. And LaMarcus Aldridge is a big time power forward who needs to improve his defense. The rest of their core is young. Rudy Fernandez reminds me of former Blazer and New Jersey Net star Drazen Petrovic and Blazer coach Nate McMillan has got to find more minutes for him. For the record, McMillam realized that and started Fernandez in Game 6. The only issue for the Blazers revolves around the oldest 21 year old in the world, Greg Oden. If Oden can be a productive, healthy role player, the Blazers have something very special. Unfortunately for them, Oden has specialized in getting injured and commmitting fouls. Just last week, he pulled a groin and got benched with three fouls while he was making a pass at his girlfriend, but I digress. If Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard can upgrade from Steve Blake at point guard, and Oden can be more Forrest Gump than Benjamin Button, they might just be dominating June for years to come.

Please don't be mad at me for using the Greg Oden/Benjamin Button again. I really think its funny....

It would be quite interesting to kidnap Dwyane Wade, inject him with truth serum, and interrogate him about the feeble group of amateurs that Pat Riley has surrounded him with. Before you call the authorities, remember there's no such thing as truth serum and I don't have a history of kidnapping professional athletes. Regardless of the outcome of this Atlanta series, the Heat will have a very interesting summer ahead of them. Wade is a free agent in 2010. And as much as Wade loves South Beach, I get the impression he likes winning more. If the Heat are unable to surround him with better talent this offseason, Wade could bolt next offseason. With interesting destinations like New York and Detroit in the market for high paid superstars in the summer of 2010, Miami's window to build a good team around Wade is closing fast. Wade's career will not last as long as it could with the physical abuse he takes in Miami. And he is a sharp enough guy to realize it. Last year's big move to upgrade looks like a big dud. The #2 pick in last year's draft Michael Beasley doesn't appear to be the answer. If Beasley doesn't develop soon, it may be bad news in South Florida.

While we're in Florida, I owe an apology to Stan Van Gundy. He got his Orlando Magic to blow out the Philadelphia 76ers and the Magic were playing without Dwight Howard, who was lost for a justified suspension. The two big discoveries in Game 6 of that series were the fact that Sixers' coach Tony DiLeo is not so good with adjustments and Magic backup center, Marcin Gortat can really play. Gortat's 11 point 15 rebound performance made Howard's absence virtually irrelevant. My bet is that Stan is smart enough to realize that his team can match up much better with EVERYONE left in the playoffs playing Howard and Gortat together. The Magic's big weakness is their love affair with the three point shot and the lack of inside support for Dwight Howard. Playing Gortat next to Howard helps address both of those problems. It will be interesting to see if Van Gundy sees it that way.

I am not anticipating a competitive series between Denver and Dallas. I don't drink the Jason Kidd kool-aid. Additionally, Kenyon Martin will guard Dirk Nowitski well and Josh Howard is going to develop whiplash watching Carmelo Anthony repeatedly blow by him. My prediction is that Mark Cuban will be using barf bags behind the Maverick bench by the time we reach the 2nd quarter of Game 4.

As we've seen two very proud and accomplished franchises of the last decade, the San Antonio Spurs and the Detriot Pistons, it begs the question, is this the end of an era for both franchises. In one case its simple. Stick a fork in the Pistons, they're done. Time to break it down and start over. Let Rasheed Wallace sign somewhere else as a free agent. Trade Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, and Antonio McDyess. It would be very different right now in Detroit if general manager Joe Dumars didn't pass on Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh in the 2003 draft in favor of foreign unknown Darko Milicic. Dumars doesn't take close to as much heat as he should for that blunder. It will also be interesting to see how far that 2004 championship trophy carries Dumars after his chief ally in Pistons owner Bill Davidson has passed away.

The Spurs are a little bit of a different story. Tim Duncan could probably give them another high level season if his minutes are regulated, which is coach Greg Popovich's specialty. Tony Parker is in his prime. And if Manu Ginobili's ankle is okay and his minutes are regulated (which they always are), the Spurs have their core in tact. However, they need more help than that. Their ultimate problem is that wing players Bruce Bowen and Michael Finley are playing the 18th hole of their respective careers. The two of them look so slow and old on the court, I'm not sure I'd want either of them on my over 40 synangogue team. At this past season's trade deadline, the Spurs kicked the tires on the Nets' Vince Carter. They would be smart to revisit this. Carter has become a very unselfish efficient player. He would fit in very well with this Spurs group. He could make them elite as Duncan and Ginobili reach the twilight of their repsective careers. And he can help keep the Spurs competitive with Parker as they move past the Duncan/Ginobili era. The only issue is Carter's bloated contract. The Spurs need to decide how much they want to pay to make one more run. Logic would dictate they take the shot. Tim Duncan is a once in a lifetime player for an organization. And you never know when you will get another shot to be a contender. Food for thought.

Enjoy the Game 7s. Giddyap. Y'all be cool.

One week into the NBA playoffs, a bunch of things I've seen surprise me. Others, not so much.

I am surprised that the Miami Heat responded so well to their Game 1 beating at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks. Their coach Eric Spoelstra does an outstanding job. He's got Dwyane Wade and a bunch of CBA quality players and he keeps them more than competitive. Don't look now but Pat Riley is getting that franchise turned around quick. Spoelstra better watch his back. He may only stay around long enough for Riley to pull the plug on him to return to the sideline himself in time to win another ring. Just ask Stan Van Gundy....

Speaking of Stan Van Gundy, I am surprised that it appears that he's losing his team. The Orlando Magic have had a great year. But in watching them in the playoffs, it has become painfully obvious that his players are not responding the all of the hollering and histrionics. The Sixers are a spirited enough opponent to take advantage of the kinks in the Orlando armor. It seems like the Magic are playing these games very tight. They take way too many three point shot. And they're perimeter defense is weak, which can be a killer against the athletic Sixers. This is not an easy matchup for the Magic under the best of circumstances, but my man Stan is setting him up to be the fall guy because of his bellicose sideline demeanor.

I am not surprised that the New Orleans Hornets are quitting on Byron Scott. Scott is generally a finger pointer when it comes to his players. He can get by for a year or two, selling his finger pointing under the guise of accountability. But his act becomes transparent quickly. This is a young, talented team, but they lack effort at times and play with a collective body language normally reserved for solitary confinement at a prison ward. The only reason Scott will survive this offseason as coach is because owner George Shinn would rather keep a bad coach than pay two.

I am not surprised that the Lakers are in a dog fight with the Utah Jazz. I don't think the Jazz can beat them, but the Lakers have some serious issues on the defensive end of the floor. And I think if you force fed Phil Jackson some truth serum, he'd admit to you the same thing.

And while I'm still on the theme of coaches, I'm very surprised about the 180 that Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro has done this season. Not only has he grown nicely into the job, but their young players are improving under him. Joakim Noah has improved immensely. He has become an outstanding defensive player and a very good screen and roll big man. Between that and his hair, he looks a little like Rebecca Lobo out there, but I digress. Del Negro has taken a lot of heat for not having time outs available in the closing seconds of the first two games of this series. But if you don't use them, you lose them. He called the timeouts he needed to call to gvet them to the end. And they managed to win one late on the road. Also, keep in mind he's without his 2nd best player in Luol Deng. No matter how this Celtics series turns out, the Bulls have turned the corner.

I am completely surprised that Yao Ming only had 6 shots in Game 2 of the Rockets-Blazers series. I will be even more surprised if we see Yao take so few shots again in another game in these playoffs.

I am not surprised that the Cavs are dominating the Pistons. There is no team in the league that is as imposing defensively as the Cavaliers. And the faster they can finish off the Pistons, the more rest they can get. Whcih would make them that much tougher to beat come mid June.

I am totally suprised that Jeff Van Gundy stole my Benjamin Button/Greg Oden joke. Either great minds think alike or my favorite coach/announcer is secretly reading my blog and I don't know it. And if you're a little uncomfortable with my man crush on the Van Gundys, I understand.

And finally, I'm surprised to the great Tim Duncan playing like a shadow of his former self. Either we're wathcing an all time great get old before our eyes, or he's more injured that the Spurs are letting on. With that sais, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich made a very smart move pulling his starters in the 3rd quarter of a blowout, especially Duncan. Either way, I would not count the Spurs out until they're out. Duncan may not be able to move like he used to, but he knows how to get it on on guts and brains. And if all else fails, he'll blame the refs......Y'all be cool. Giddyap.

With the NBA playoffs on our doorstep, if we believe everything we read, there's no reason to play anything before the finals. Lets just throw LeBron James and Kobe Bryant in a steel cage and its on. And although that appears as the likely scenario as these playoffs are about to commence, I'm going to tell you why I think that will NOT happen come the start of June.



I must confess that in the East, its virtually impossible to make a case for anyone but the Cleveland Cavaliers. The defending champion Celtics will have too large a mountain to climb in beating the Cavs on the road in the absence of Kevin Garnett. They might not even make it to Cleveland without Garnett. If this were the NCAA tournament, the selection committee would lower their seeding. And the Orlando Magic are not quite ready to take the Cavs. I sit here giggling like a mental patient thinking about Courtney Lee trying to guard LeBron in a playoff games in Cleveland. So before I turn this column into a LeBron love fest, let me get to the point.



The Lakers will not win the West. I think I'm going to say it again for effect.....



The Lakers will not win the West. As a matter of fact, there are four other teams in the West that are more than capable of going to the finals besides for the Lakers. This year's version of the Western Conference is too strong and too talented for it to be anything but wide open.



The Denver Nuggets are starting the playoffs as the #2 team in the West. They went 1-3 against the Lakers this season. One of the losses was before the Billups/Iverson trade. They can be a tough matchup for the Lakers. The Lakers do not have a point guard to match up with Billups. Kobe would actually have to play defense in this series because no on else on the Lakers can guard Carmelo Anthony. Denver's athletic big men, Kenyon Martin and Nene, match up well with the Lakers' bigs. And Nuggets coach George Karl is a good enough coach to neutralize some of the bench advantage that Phil Jackson brings. The one player who can tip this series towards the Lakers is Lamar Odom. He's too big for Anthony to guard and too quick for Martin. But Phil just loooooves Andrew Bynum, so if Odom's hightops gather dust on the bench, the Nuggets are right there.



The Houston Rockets are starting the playoffs as the # 5 team in the West. They lost all four times they played the Lakers this year. I will not let that statistical anomaly deter my analysis. The Rockets have the best Kobe Bryant defender in basketball in Shane Battier. They also match up well with the Laker bigs. Sure they can't guard the Laker bigs, but the Laker bigs can't guard them either. Their lack of a very strong point guard does not hurt them against the Lakers because the Lakers don't have one. And because of their size and great perimeter defense, they can wear the Lakers down in a long series. If this series occurs, it will come down to Bryant's willingness to play team basketball because we know the Rockets will. Kobe will need to spend time guarding Ron Artest, because no one else on the Lakers can. And Kobe will have to share the basketball, because there will be times that Battier keep him from even seeing the basket. This is also a potential series where Phil Jackson's bench advantage will be somewhat neutralized. Rick Adelman is a good coach in his own right and has been going head to head against Phil for years, first in the 91 Bulls-Blazers finals and then in those epic Laker-Sacramento King battles of the early 2000s. This Rocket team is bulit for the playoffs. As you can see, I'm not paying mych attention to their winless regualr season versus the Lakers.

The San Antonio Spurs are the # 3 team in the West. They lost 2 of 3 games against the Lakers in the regular season. The whole world has dismissed them because they will not have Manu Ginobili for the playoffs. In years passed, this would have been devastating for them, but this year they are in a position to replace his clutch production. In typical Spurs fashion, they acquired Roger Mason Jr under the radar in the offseason. He has hit some clutch shots for the Spurs this year and has particularly elevated his game since Ginobili went down for the season. That, in addition to the maturation of Tony Parker could make the Spurs a ton of trouble for the Lakers. And even though the Spurs have no one who can guard Kobe, the Lakers have no one who can guard Parker. The Spurs are deeper than they've been in the past. And Tim Duncan gives the Laker bigs fits. Also, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is probably the one coach who can outcoach Phil Jackson. If Phil is thinking right, he'll play Odom a ton of minutes at small forward and force Michael Finley to guard him or Kobe. If Phil insists on giving Trevor Ariza and Luke Walton the lion's share of the minutes at small forward, we may be looking at another Finals appearance for this very proud, very accomplished Spurs group.

Thje New Orleans Hornets are the #7 seed in the West. They lost 3 of 4 games versus the Lakers in the regular season. They had alot of injuries all season, but look like they're starting the playoffs healthy. Their point guard, Chris Paul is for the Lakers, which is lucky for the Hornets because they don't have a player on their roster who can even distract Kobe. They have good size across the front line and one of the Laker bigs is going to be pulled to the perimeter to guard Hornet power forward David West. The best guy on the Lakers to handle this job.....(lets say it all together).... Lamar Odom. If Phil buries Odom on the bench in a potential New Orleans series, the Lakers could have more than they can handle. What could save the Lakers in a series like this is the fact that Hornet coach Byron Scott generally coaches in tight spots with two hands wrapped around his own neck. And even though he made two finals trips as the head man (hey now) for the Nets, he's in over his head against Phil Jackson tactically. You could probably say that about Scott going against any other coach in the West, which is the primary reason I list this potential upset as the least likely scenario. That, and I don't think New Orleans can survive Denver in the first round.

So there you have it. Four different scenarios that send NBA commissioner David Stern rushing to his cardiologist. He probably goes into cardiac arrest if he gets a Rockets-Cavs finals and Ron Artest injures LeBron for the series in a game 1 with a flagrant foul.

Now don't get me wrong. I would enjoy a Kobe-LeBron steel cage match. But lets let them do what needs to be done before we crown anyone. In the words of a balding, aging, overweight, broadcaster, who is in dire need of a new catch phrase..... Thats why they play the games.

Giddyap. Y'all be cool

There's plenty of things that I' ve seen that surprise me and plenty that don't. Here's what I mean.



I'm surprised the Celtics would sign Stephon Marbury. But not because of his attitude or locker room influence. So much of what the Celtics do revolves around smothering halfcourt defense. Marbury is, at worst an unwilling defender and at best, a defender who takes too many chances.



I'm surpirsed that with all of the coaching firings thus far this season, that Byron Scott has kept his job with the New Orleans Hornets. The Hornets are trending well below where they were at this point last season with a little more talent and a young strong core. They play with the body language of a team that doesn't like each other and Scott doesn't appear to want to be bothered with it. In a different financial climate, Hornets owner George Shinn might have no issue paying two coaches at the same time, then again, maybe not.....



I'm not surprised that the Chicago Bulls have started to playing better basketball. As bad a coach as Vinny Del Negro is, they've got a ton of young athletic talent. It took Vinny 50 games to figure out that if you want your young guys to help you, you actually need to put them out on the floor.

I'm surprised that the Knicks would trade for Chris Wilcox, when every spare minute they would have for him should be going to Danilo Galinari

I'm not surprised that the Dallas Mavericks unsuccessfully tried to move Jason Kidd at the trade deadline. Kidd is no longer a capable defender and he isn't exactly a coaches' dream. Mark Cuban may have undermined his own ability to win a championship in the next 5 years by NOT keeping Devin Harris.

I'm surprised that the Philadelphia 76ers are a much better team without Elton Brand. He was the wrong signing and with his accumulated injury history and bloated contract, he will be impossible to move in the offseason. At least he has his stellar reputation in tact.......

Speaking of Brand's stellar reputation, I'm still surprised how he blatantly screwed Baron Davis in the off-season. His "you sign first, then I'll sign after" act wreaks of two brothers going for crew cuts and the one who goes 2nd decides he only wants a trim.

I'm not surprised that Carlos Boozer would make it so obvious that he wanted to leave Utah after the season. After violating his verbal agreement with Cavalier owner Gordon Gund five years ago, there was no reason for the Jazz to believe that Boozer would be any more loyal to them, even though they paid him all that money. The Jazz' late owner Larry miller deserved better.

I'm not surprised that both of the two players I just referenced are disciples of that "great molder of men" Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. Keep churning them out, Coach.

I'm surprised that the Washington Wizards are so bad. They have much better than 14 win talent. This is a direct indictment on Coach Ed Tapscott.

I'm surprised the Spurs beat Dallas and Portland on back to back nights this week without Duncan and Ginobili. Their head coach Greg Popovich never ceases to amaze me.

I am not surprised that Mike Dunleavy still has his head coaching job with the LA Clippers. Despite an epic squandering of talent and endless nights of effortless basketball, Clipper owner Donald Sterling will not hold him accountable because Sterling needs to keep paying him regardless.

I am not surprised that Greg Oden has made a limited impact on the Portalnd Trailblazers. He plays like the oldest 21 year old in the world. He's like a modern day NBA version of Benjamin Button.

I am surprised that Michael Beasley has not had a better rookie season for the Miami Heat. When he came out last year, I thought his game was tailor made for today's NBA. But he has definitely gotten a wake up call for what kind of work ethic it takes to make it in the league. Very nice job by Heat rookie coach Eric Spoelstra. He gave Beasley no entitlements as last year's #2 pick in the entire draft. It will serve Beasley better in the future and continue Pat Riley's culture of accountability in Miami.

I am not surprised that Larry Brown has helped improve the Charlotte Bobcats. He could have done it with the Knicks if Isiah Thomas and Stephon Marbury were not working to undermine him at every turn. Larry's problem has never been turning around a bad team. His problem lies in staying around with good ones.

I am not surprised that the Atlanta Hawks have carried their momentum from last year's 7 game 1st round playoff loss to the Boston Celtics into this season. They have good young players who are growing together and they will once again be a pain in someone's rump in the Eastern Conference again in this year's playoffs.

I am still surprised how much the Toronto Raptors stink. There is no doubt that if their GM Bryan Colangelo could do it all over again, he would not have fired Sam Mitchell 17 games into the season.

I will be very surprised if the Houston Rockets don't give San Antonio and Denver everything they can handle in the race for the #2 seed in the Western Conference.

I will be surprised if the Ben Wallace injury derails the Cleveland Cavaliers. Increased minutes for Anderson Varejao and JJ Hickson may not be a bad thing for the Cavs. Playing with LeBron James makes everyone better.

I will be very surprised if Don Nelson is still coaching the Golden State Warriors next year. Chris Mullin has created a personnel mess by giving Nellie everything he's wanted. And before you envoke an injury excuse, this team had no chance of making the playoffs in the West without Baron Davis, no matter who stayed healthy. They are in NBA no mans' land. Not enough good young players to rebuild around and not enough good veterans to be competitive. If owner Chris Cohan is reading, time to clean house my man.

And finally, I will be very surprised if we do not see a few significant playoff upsets this year. Too many key injuries on too many teams at the top. It should be real interesting. Catch up with you later in the week.

Y'all be cool. Giddyap.

Back from vacation, ready to blog.......

Its been a busy few weeks. There's been a bunch of trades and a load of injuries. There's been some addition by subtraction and some subtraction by subtraction. We'll start with the addition by subtraction.

Those of you who read this space regularly probably got quite the chuckle earlier this week whne you saw across your ESPN scroll that Tracy McGrady went out for the year and Rafer Alston was traded. You probably figured that my Rockets are going deep in the playoffs prediction got thrown out the window before the calendar turned to March. Well, if thats what you figured, you're wrong. Let me be the first to tell you that the Rockets are significantly better without McGrady and Alston and are now more primed than ever to make a run . After you get done calling me ridiculous, I'll be glad to explain.

Tracy McGrady is an extremely talented player. However his shot selection has gone from bad to awful. That combined with his hesitancy to share the basketball has adversely affected the chemistry of the Rockets. One common element to the rest of the Rockets core players is their willingness to play unselfishly. As crazy as Ron Artest is, he will pass the basketball to an open teammate in crunch time to get a better shot. The Rockets will shoot less threes without McGrady and they will have a higher shooting percentage. It will aslo mean more minutes for Artest and Shane Battier, which will mean more defense. With Yao Ming, Luis Scola, and Artest, the Rockets have plenty of scoring. They will stop more people without McGrady and take higher percentage shots. This will lead to more wins.

And although I think the Orlando Magic made a very good trade in acquring Rafer Alston, primarily because he plays a similar style of point guard to the injured Jameer Nelson (although not as effective), this trade makes the Rockets stronger as well. It allows the Rockets to get more minutes for their second year point guard Aaron Brooks. Brooks is a much better pick and roll point guard than Alston. Don't get me wrong, I like Alston's game. But when you have big men like Yao and Scola who can not only handle the ball on the perimeter, but shoot it well also, it becomes a bit of a waste to have a point guard who is more effective penetrating. Brooks' skills complement the two big guys much more than Alston's. That will make the Rockets better.

The next reason to call me an idiot..... the Lakers are better without Andrew Bynum. i know it sounds silly. Bynum appears to be the next great big man in the NBA who has proven that his only real weakness as a player is his ability to stay on the court. Yet somehow the Lakers are a more cohesive unit when Bynum is not in the lineup.

The first reason is obviously the increased minutes for Lamar Odom. I have never been shy about my affection for Odom's game. It borders somewhere between infatuation and love. And as much as I respect Phil Jackson, I have always wondered why he hasn't gotten more out of Odom. So, it was disconcerting to see Odom come off the bench for the first half of the year. But watching the way Odom has dominated since Bynum got injured, I'm seeing the method to Phil's madness. The Lakers lost the finals last year because Kobe Bryant played selfishly and Odom sulked. Only one of those things is curable and it looks like Phil Jackson cured it, because Kobe will always play selfishly, his greatness not withstanding. When Odom is playing his best, his well rounded skill set is much more complementary to Bryant and Pau Gasol. As good as Bynum is, he neutralizes Gasol a little bit. Gasol spends a lot of time trying to stay out of Bynum's way. As long as Odom understands that part of playing well with Bryant is to stay out of his way, he's a better fit playing next to Gasol up front. And the added bonus is that for one reason or another, Luke Walton is a much more effective small forward playing next to Odom. Odom makes other guys better. Whats not to love!!! I'm smitten

The second reason is the selfishness of Kobe Bryant. This is not a bash of Kobe, but quite the opposite. A player like Kobe should have the ball a lot because he can score from anywhere on the court no matter who's playing defense. A big guy like Bynum needs the ball fed to him to be effective, which keeps Kobe feeding the post. Kobe is at his best when he's putting the ball on the floor or posting up himself. If Bynum needs post touches, those are less post touches for Bryant. And Bryant can carry this team back to the finals if his focus is to score closer to the basket. And the more he scores close to the basket, the tougher he will be to guard on the perimeter. And the tougher the Lakers will be in June.

Next reason to tell me I'm nuts. The Suns will be better without Amare Stoudemire. Now I'm cheating on this one a little bit because I don't think its going to to matter for the Suns. They're at best a first round playoff loser regardless and they had to fire their coach to get there, but I still think they will be improved.

This whole Stoudemire-Shaquille O'Neal experiment has been a miserable failure. They occupy the same space on the floor. At this stage, neither of them is a great rebounder. O'Neal is unable to rebound well and Stoudemire is unwilling to . And whats worse than that is that the rest of the team's core plays much more effectively in an up tempo system. Before the Shaq trade, the Suns had an identity. Having two post players with a bunch of greyhounds has put the Suns in no man's land. Not good enough in the halfcourt to get defensive stops and not fast enough to run and out score anyone. Without Stoudemire, new coach Alvin Gentry can play four perimeter players around Shaq and the track meet can begin again. The Suns will definitely win a couple more games playing this way, but it won't make a difference in May. And while I'm on the topic, its been a long time since I've seen a coach treated worse than Terry Porter was in Phoenix. Steve Kerr gave him a group of players who excelled much more at the offensive end of the floor than on defense. Then Kerr told him he wanted the team to play a half court walk the ball up system predicated on defense. Then when Porter had the team on the playoff bubble in the deep Western Conference, Kerr pink slips him and tells Gentry to pick up the tempo. Think Phoenix fans miss the Colangelos? But I digress.......

Onto the subtraction by subtraction situations, a few that look almost irretrievable......

Its also been an intersting week for the San Antonio Spurs. They begin the week rumored to be extremely close to adding Vince Carter, who would have been the perfect player to put them over the hump . His ability to score combined with unselfishness would have been a tremendous complement to the Duncan-Ginobili-Parker trio. They end the week losing one of that trio to injury for a few weeks with more devastating ramifications.

Last sason the Spurs lost the Western Conference finals to the Lakers. Although the Lakers had an excellent team that would have been difficult any season, the reality is that the Spurs didn't have a chance. The reason is simple. Tim Duncan makes the Spurs great, but Manu Ginobili makes them champions. And during that Lakers series Ginobili was physically compromised because of a bad ankle. The way Ginobili plays does not lend itself to playing with a bad wheel. So, when the trade deadline rolls around Wednesday and the Spurs don't get Carter and find out they lost Ginobili to a "stress reaction" in that same ankle, my optimism for their championship aspirations seriously wanes.

My last subtraction by subtraction example is a little more obvious, so I'm not really out on a limb when I say that without a healthy Kevin Garnett, there is no way the Celtics go back to the finals, let alone repeat. And I will take it one step further in saying that this 2-4 week period in which the Celtics will be without Garnett, will be enough to keep the Celtics from winning the East.

The reason for this is pretty simple. Without Garnett, the Celtics are barely average. And barely average will not hold up when your neck and neck with LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers for home court advantage in the Eastern Conference, even if its just for two weeks.

The Cavs have it all going on. They've got a tight group who are in lock step with the coach. They've had some injuries and their depth has been tested, yet their entire bench has responded admirably. They stand up for one another. And most of all, they have the best player on the planet. With the year LeBron James is having, I cannot believe anyone will come into Cleveland and beat him in a game 7 come playoff time. From every indication, including this Garnett injury, its the Cavs year up and down the line.

Y'all be cool. Giddyap.

Some more NBA ideas right below......





I received a little flak from some readers about my endorsement of the Houston Rockets. Questions have been raised about team chemistry and Tracy McGrady's willingness to play within the framework of a team concept. Normally, I would heed these concerns, bu head coach Rick Adelman has a hostory of dealing with these types of things quite well. Thats a prediction I'm not backing off.





However, I'll give you a prediction I'm starting to back away from. I'm not sure Michael Curry has a clue what to do in Detroit. It appears as though the only right move he's making is bringing Richard Hamilton off the bench. The Pistons play good, agressive team defense. But for a team with this much offensive talent, it shouldn't be such a struggle to score, yet somehow it is. The problem tends to be when Rodney Stuckey is not on the court. When Stuckey is on the court, he's the point guard and no oen has to play out of position. When Stuckey is on the bench, Curry plays with a different point guard each possession. This is fine on every third possession when Allen Iverson is handling the ball. But to have Hamilton and 6'10" Tayshaun Prince on the peimeter handling the ball is assinine. It appears that Curry is trying not to ask Iverson to be too much of a distributor. Yet when Stcukey isn't in the game, thats exaxtly what Iverson should be. Taking Prince away from the baseline offensively really takes away from his game. Him and Rasheed Wallace do a great job occupying space together. This has been a very successful organization most of the decade with this core group. Iverson should be asked to fit in around the other guys, not vice versa. If Pistons general manager Joe Dumars is not committed to Curry long term, it would be a great idea to break Chuck Daly out of mothballs and let him try to make one run with this team. He'd get them right. Then start over next year with someone new. they're only going to be loading uo for the 2010 free agent class anyway next year.





Over the last few years, I've been pretty critical of Cleveland Cavaliers' coach Mike Brown. But as far as this season is concerned, no one has done more to this point to earn Coach of the Year than he has. He has the Cavs competing with the Celtics for the top spot in the West and he's done it with injuries to two key guys, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Delonte West. Now, you can call the Cavs Team LeBron if you'd like and I couldn't argue with you, because without him they are a 25 win team. However, Brown does an outstanding job of using LeBron's wide range of abilites to put the Cavs in the Best possible matchups. Brown is not afraid to play LeBron at any of the 5 positions on the floor, if the matchup or the opponent calls for it. He will go deep into his bench and without Ilgauskas and West, he's had to. It looks like every player has a well defined role and there's never a question of how any player fits in to a particular situation. This and Lebron's maturity and commitment to defense have been the chief reasons that the Cavs are part of the league elite. S they get healthier, they'll only get tougher nad they may end up being too deep for the Celtics in a 7 game series.





Most times that a coach is fired and a general manager is asked to move down to the sidelines to coach the mess they've made, its normally the last step out the door for said general manager. Last year's dictionary definition was the New York Knick swan song of Isiah "they can't do that to our interns, only we can do that to our interns" Thomas. However, there's a version of this scenario playing out this year in Minnesota that is starting to appear as quite the opposite. Kevin McHale appears to be getting the Timberwolves onto the right track. He has a very young team with a few talented pieces and a few pieces that don't fit. The Wolves are 12-14 since Mchale took over and were 4-15 under Randy Wittman. But the record doesn't matter as much as the fact that plyaers are improving under McHale's watch. The centerpiece of the Kevin Garnett deal, Al Jefferson, is playing at an all star level night in and night out. Rookie big man Kevin Love has had a very productive rookie year coming off of McHale's bench. And potential disappointments Randy Foye and Sebastian Telfair have shown progress under McHale. Now will all of this be enough to get McHale a stay of execution at the end of the season? That remains to be seen, but its nice to see him give it a run. He's been portrayed as a clueless personnel guy and some of that could be true. But he's taking advantage of the opportunity to prove his critics wrong.





One of the more amazing implosions of a franchise is going on right in front of our eyes and yet no one seems no take much note of it because its being done by an organization with whom we have always directly associated futility. Considering the talent level and interesting mix of young and veteran players on the Los Angeles Clippers, their pitiful season is inexcusable and a direct indictment on head coach Mike Dunleavy. It is amazing that just 2 1/2 years ago, the Clippers made a run into the 2nd round of the playoffs. If owner Donald Sterling does not unload Dunleavy at the end of the season, then he gets what he deserves, whcih would hopefully be loads of season ticket holders not renewing. As in most situations like this one, the guy that made the mess should not be the one to clean it.

Y'all be cool. giddyap

More NBA thoughts going coming out of the weekend.



Statement win for the Celtics Friday night, soundly beating Orlando by 10 in Orlando. The Magic have a very nice, young roster and an excellent coach, but they are one solid rebounding big man away from being able to beat teams like the Cavaliers and the Celtics in a 7 game series. It gets very difficult on the defensive end to compete when you start two small forwards and no power forward. As good as Dwight Howard is, he needs help inside against the bigger front lines. Orlando will win at least 60 games by beating up on lesser teams. But they will not advance far in the playoffs against the bigger tougher teams.



The coaching massacre continued on Friday with the Grizzlies firing Marc Iavaroni. Out of all the firings we've seen this year, this one made the most sense. With very young talent like Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo, the Grizzlies needed a better teacher. And although Iavaroni had a stretch this year where he seemed to be almost getting something out of these guys, ultimately it all collapsed. The Grizzlies actually followed through well also, reportedly offerring the job to former Dallas coach Avery Johnson. Johnson turned them down, but its nice to see an organization make a run at a guy with a proven track record as oppossed to a team like the Wizards who fires a true pro like Eddie Jordan for a life long pencil pusher like Ed Tapscott, whose claim to fame was passing on Ron Artest for Frederic Weis, but I digress. The Grizzlies ended up hiring Lionel Hollins who has been an interim coach for them 2 separate times. He may not be the long term answer, but at least they're out there looking for one.



So I see where the Detroit Pistons have decided to bring Richard Hamilton off the bench in favor of starting Allen Iverson and Rodney Stuckey in the back court. Gutsy move by rookie head coach Michael Curry. And from this angle, I believe it to be the right decision. Firstly, Hamilton will most definitely still average in excess of 30 minutes a game. He will provide to the Pistons what San Antonio Spur fans have come to mknow as the "Ginobili effect." Manu Ginobili is a big time player in the NBA and a prolific winner. Spurs coach Greg popovich brings him off the bench and derives a big advantage in late first quarter/early second quarter action of games. Philosophically, its simple. Ginobili is better than anyone else's 1st or 2nd guy off the bench and inevitably ends up with a matchup that can be exploited. A coach can only get away with this with decent starters. This year's version of the Spurs has Tony Parker and Roger Mason. And the Pistons have Iverson and Stuckey. Hamilton is going to thrive in this arrangement and this will make the Pistons a much tougher out come May for Cleveland or Boston than Orlando could ever be.



Don't look now, but Larry "Next Town" Brown is starting to weave his magic in Charlotte. Six weeks ago it looked like they were throwing in the towel on their season by trading their best individual player in Jason Richardson. The two players they brought in, Raja Bell and Boris Diaw, are generally perceived as role players whose productivity was tied to Mike D'Antoni's system and Steve Nash's generosity. But they have come into Charlotte and fit in very well with a group of raw young players. This combined wuth the improved play of point guard Raymond Felton and the emergence of Emeka Okafor as a real solid inside player, and Next Town Brown has the Bobcats playing over .500 basketball since the Richardson trade. If Brown can turn this team into a winner, this will be a very nice notch on the belt of Larry's coaching career. I give the wandering one a lot of credit for not allowing his coaching career to end on the blemish that was his ill fated tenure as coach of the New York Knicks. The lesson is, everyone who gets attached to Isiah Thomas comes out of it dirtier than they came in. Just ask his daughter....

A few weeks ago, I predicted in this space an epic Western conference final with the Spurs and the Lakers. If there is one team out West that can definitely blow that up, it is certainly the Houston Rockets. They are the most well rounded team in the NBA. They are also the only team in the entire league with two perimeter defensive stoppers, in Shane Battier and Ron Artest. They play well in the half court and catch match up with big teams. They are athletic and deep enough to run with the fast teams. Their coach, Rick Adelman, has a lot of experience bringing teams deep in the playoffs. He was always blocked from a title by Jordan's Bulls and Shaq and Kobe's Lakers. If he can get this Rockets team to think more like an ensemble cast (more shots for everyone, and less for Tracy McGrady), he has the team that no one wants to play including the big bad Lakers.

Back with more later in the week.

Y'all be cool giddyap.

With a yawner of a Super Bowl on tap, its time for more random thoughts, NBA style.........

Is it me or does Greg Oden have bust written all over him. I've seen enough franchise centers over the years to know one when I see one, and he's not it. But he's definitely the type of guy who ends up collecting a ring or two as a role player right as everyone has written him off.

The biggest disappointment through the first half of the season has to be the Toronto Raptors. I have a question for their general manager Bryan Colangelo. If he thought that he might want to fire Sam Mitchell 17 games into the season, why didn't he try to get Mike D'Antoni in the offseason. If the answer is money, then its the wrong answer. Too many teams skimp on coaches, but when you look at the dollars committed to payroll, a healthy investment in the right coach can yield enormous dividends, but I digress. Their new coach Jay Triano clearly has not been an upgrade in comparing Mitchell's 8-9 record to Triano's 8-18 record. And he's just finding out what Larry Bird has known for 3 years. You can't win with Jermaine O'Neal. He's too selfish, too injury prone, and can't jump anymore. 2009-10 better be one great season if the Raptors are interested in keeping Chris Bosh around come 2010 offseason.

As far as disappointments go, the Chicago Bulls have to be a close second. There is too much talent there to be 18-24 at the halfway pole. Their impressive victory against Cleveland last Thursday notwithstanding, they're clearly underachieving. It was the wrong team for a rookie coach. The roster is an interesting talented mix of rookies and veterans. And they have very good personnel for an uptempo style. But their coach Vinny Del Negro has a disjointed rotation and can't seem to keep his young players focused. Think Jerry Reinsdorf would like that meeting with Mike D'Antoni back. D'Antoni would have won 55 games this year with that roster.

Speaking of wanting D'Antoni back, how's that whole defensive focus thing working out in Phoenix? Despite being 24-17, they're only 7th in the West and with Amare Stoudemire eligible for free agency after next season and their reliance on basketball senior citizens, Shaquille O'Neal, Steve Nash, and Grant Hill, I'd say the future isn't so bright. Terry Porter not doing a bad job. he's just playing the hand he's dealt.

D'Antoni IS doing a great job. He has the Knicks competitive night in and night out, despite their 16-24 record, with a team full of bench players. If Donnie Walsh can bring him some better talent, the future at Madison Square Garden is very bright.

You don't have to look further than across the Hudson River to find another coach doing a great job. New Jersey Nets coach Lawrence Frank has a young, raw roster. He overhauled the offensive system in the offseason to better fit his personnel, which is so obvious, yet so many coaches in the league don't do it. (Don Nelson, are you reading this?) Devin Harris is the perfect penetrate and kick point guard for that system. If a few of their young big players get better, they may be a very attractive option for one of the free agent superstars hitting the market in 2010.

And speaking of the Nets, Vince Carter has done a tremendous job this year leading a young group in a positive way. Carter has an awful reputation for quitting on the Toronto Raptors his last season there. But the job he is doing with this young Nets team proves he has grown up. At one point, the Nets will probably trade Vince, to get younger and clear more salary cap space. And because of Carter's unselfish play and positive influence on their young players, he should be a very attractive option for a veteran team who needs a shooting guard to put them over the top. Vince learned something Jason Kidd has never learned. When you do the right thing by the organization that pays you, kharma will reward you.

Kharma certainly is not rewarding Jason Kidd at this point. He dogged his way out of New Jersey to get a chance to win a title. The one problem is that the player the Mavericks traded to get him is younger and better than him, yet putting him that much further away from his elusive ring. They're further away from winning a title than the Suns. Kidd's jump shot is so bad, we can take the J out of his name and call him Ason. Now his defense is so bad, I'm not even sure he deserves the two d's at the end of his name. So let me say this. The Dallas Mavericks will not make the playoffs this year because of the skill deterioration of Ason Ki.

I know. It wasn't that funny. Sometimes I type things just to amuse myself.

I would not be surprised to see a Lamar Odom for Shawn Marion swap completed between now and the trade deadline. Odom and Kobe Bryant are like oil and water in LA. And as much as Odom is being a good soldier coming off the bench, one of their on court tiffs is likely to bite the Lakers at the wrong time. And Marion is a much better fit for the Lakers as a small forward playing next to Kobe and Pau Gasol. He's in a contract year, so the motivation is there. And for the Heat, bringing Odom in could give Dwayne Wade the sidekick he needs to make a decent playoff run. last time those two were side by side in Miami, the Heat made an improbable run to the 2nd round of the playoffs giving them invaluable playoff experience the year before they traded Odom for Shaq. If the Heat picked up Odom, that could be that team that gives the Cavaliers or Celtics fits.

Staying in the east for a minute, isn't it so very interesting how Elton Brand gets hurt and the Philadelphia 76ers heat up. Obviously this is a roster that is built much more for an uptempo style of play for the sole exception of Brand. By the time Brand comes back this year, it will be too late to move him, but don't be surprised if general manager Ed Stefanski finds a home for him in the offseason. Despite Brand's enormous contract and extensive injury history, he is still highly regarded by most NBA executives.

Catch you later in the week with more. Y'all be cool. Giddyap.

More random thoughts on the NFL and some other stuff.....

The NFL playoffs have officially become like the NCAA tournament. Starting with the 6 seed Pittsburgh Steelers in 2005 to the #3 seed Indianapolis Colts in 2006 to the Giants magical run in 2007 to what we have right now. The Arizona Cardinals are the NFL's version of George Mason. Lets see how long Cinderella's slipper stays on.

Speaking of the Cardinals, this little run they're mucks up the Kurt Warner contract situation that much more. If Warner takes them to the Super Bowl, how do they not re-sign him? But how do you pay him when you've got big money committed to Matt Leinart and Warner's 37? Because Cardinals' ownership is not big on spending money, its probably less of an issue than I'm making it, but lets see how far they get.

And by the way, who woke Edgerrin James?? Probably his agent, considering he's positive he's getting cut and he needs a new contract. The way he's running now, he'd look nice on some team's running back committee. But Edge better be prepared to take a pay cut.

Speaking of pay cuts, Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo isn't having the best 2009 so far. He originally wouldn't interview for the St. Louis Rams head coaching position because he was " out of their price range." Now, his vaunted Giants defense was shredded by the Eagles and most of the open jobs seem to be filling up quickly. The Broncos hired Josh McDaniels today, who by the way looks so much like Ashton Kutcher that I thought he was going to get Punked during the press conference, but I digress. It looks like the Lions are sweet on Jim Schwartz and the Jets are waiting for Rex Ryan. That leaves the Rams and the Raiders. The Rams really like Jason Garrett and the Raiders haven't come calling. And before someone says that Spags is a highly paid coordinator, remember so is Garrett. Opportunuties for the big chair are fleeting, thats why you've got to grab them when they're there.

WHile I'm on the Giants, maybe I spoke a little soon abiut wanting Eli in Green Bay in January. Or maybe I just needed to be more specific. I'll take Eli in Green Bay in January with Plaxico Burress and only with Plaxico Burress.

Can Andy Reid shave already? I expected the side judge to drop a quarter in his pocket as he walked by on the sideline yesterday. And doesn't he look like Chris Farley dressed up in his "DA Bears" costume??

The Carolina Panthers very rapidly reached an organizational crossroads this past Saturday night. They've got very good personnel on both sides of the ball for the exception of two areas, defensive back and quarterback. They can certainly address the secondary in free agency because they don't have a first round pick. But what do you do at quarterback? Its clear that Jake Delhomme is not the same quarterback after Tommy John surgery. Its not like he's a relief pitcher who can just throw more curveballs. He doesn't have it and he was horrifically exposed on Saturday night. Their best bet is a one year solution to see if they can make one more run before they decide to draft a qb. Think Kurt Warner might be available? Or what about bringing Kerry Collins back?

Speaking of Collins, I don't think the Titans bring him back. He had a very good year. But they're paying Vince Young a lot of money. Young is only going to sit for so long at that pricetag. And its the right move. Collins took them as far as he's capable of taking them. They're going to have to Young the keys at some point to see if he's got it. If he isn't any good, their 3rd stringer, Chris Simms, can do the same thing for them that Collins can do and he'll be much cheaper. I'm not a Young fan, but the Titans are smart. They manage their cap very well and stay competitive year after year, even with shaky first round picks like Young and Pacman Jones.

Whats the over/under on how long it takes Tony Dungy to take a lucrative long term contract to turn around a 3-13 franchise? I say 3 years and I'll take the under. A man's faith may help him sleep at night, but it doesn't pay the bills.

A few NBA thoughts before I leave you this evening........

The Celtics are not as good as their 27-2 start and they're not as bad as they've looked losing their last 7 out of 10. But the fact that their 3 best players are all advancing well into their thirties and that they do not have enough depth may very well undermine their chances to repeat. As regular readers of this space know, I'm not the biggest fan of the Danny Ainge/Doc Rivers team in Boston. And they've done nothing but shut me up. But if they think that Stephon Marbury is the answer to what ails them, they get what they deserve. They'd be better off adding another big man, because to get through Cleveland they're going to have to match up with Wallace, Ilgauskas, and Varejao and that might not even be enough.

I understand that the free agent class of 2010 is rich with talent. But with all these teams making trades designed to be big players that year, isn't it inevitable that one or two organizations get caught holding the bag. If its the Knicks, watch how fast Donnie Walsh jets out of town.

I know that the Pistons made the Billups/Iverson trade to create cap room for 2010, but they've created an athletic, experienced group that can be a brutal matchup for the Celtics or the Cavaliers in the playoffs. The whole key is to keep Rasheed Wallace and Iverson from killing each other before the playoffs. I'm not sure if Michael Curry is the guy to handle that but he's got them moving in the right direction.

I'm not sure what round of the playoffs this is going to happen but something tells me we are in for a Spurs-Lakers epic this spring.

Lots of coaches fired early in the season, which is a surprising but makes sense especially when general managers sell ownership on the quality of the talent. But the replacements that have been hired is downright shocking. Guys with no head coaching experience get hired while Jay Triano, Tony DiLeo, and Ed Tapscott are roaming the NBA sidelines while established winners like Mike Fratello and Jeff Van Gundy remain behind microphones. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Back later in the week. Y'all be cool. Giddyap.

Things I'm thinking about getting all fired up for today's divisional round of the NFL playoffs

Great job by Norv Turner these past few weeks keeping all the attention on Tomlinson's injury with no clear intention to play him a lot, healthy or not. Takes pressure off of other potential distractions, i.e Vincent Jackson's DUI and Phillip Rivers' need for a new hair stylist.

Andy Reid gets a very bad rap as a coach. They've been to 4 NFC title games, one Super Bowl, and they're competitive every year. And lets face it.... McNabb's not that good. Yet, all you ever hear about Reid is that he doesn't run enough and he's bad with replay challenges. That may be true, but the results are there. The only problem I would ever have with Andy Reid is if I got caught behind him on a buffet line.

If you're a Kurt Warner fan, enjoy tonight's swan song. His contract is up at the end of the year and with the money they've committed to Matt Leinart, it would be foolish to re-sign a 37 year old former MVP who will expect to get paid after a great year. The Cardinals have proved their point to Leinart. No one cares what you did in college. In the NFL, you've got to work for everything.

And speaking of college, I believe I'm in the minority in being of the opinion that Tim Tebow is going to be a very good pro quarterback. He throws well on the run, is hard to sack, and has a strong enough arm. Plus from everything I read and hear, he's smart as a whip and no one can doubt that he's a winner. If you don't think there's a place for him in this league, keep in mind that Tarvaris Jackson started a playoff game last week.

How's that Jet coaching search coming along? Did Woody Johnson find any qualified candidates last week in Europe? The best thing you can say is that at least they've abandoned any hopes of being a "win now" team. Favre doesn't want to be there next year and it appears as though the Jets don't want him back. Someone finally explained to Woody that people aren't going to pay $25,000 per PSL to watch a has been lead the league in interceptions. The Packers knew exactly what they were doing last year. And the good news for them is that once the Jets release Favre, the Vikings will repeat the Jets mistake. I can see it now. CHarles Woodson returning an interception 90 yards to a booing Metrodome crowd while Zygi Wilf sits in the press box throwing up in his mouth.

Speaking of the Jets, Eric Mangini didn't stay unemployed long. He's just what the doctor ordered for the Browns. My guess is that he's learned plenty from his experience with the Jets. They'll get a good defensive player with their early draft pick and they've got lots of offensive talent including a monster offensive line. The big question is can they win with the quarterback. I say yes and think the Browns are a serious threat to challenge Pittsburgh for AFC North supremacy for a long time. We will all learn to appreciate Mangini/Tomlin chess games for years to come. And throw John Harbaugh's Ravens in the mix and that is soing to be a tough division for a long time.

There's been a lot of debate this week over the NFL's overtime rules. There's probably some sort of change coming and its probably the right thing. But can we please eliminate the notion that the overtime rules cost the Colts a game they should have had. The Colts had several opportunuites to win that game last Saturday night. But poor play calling, poor pass protection, and a lack of discipline cost them that game, not a coin flip. Their coach's playoff record is spotty at best, even with a Super Bowl ring on his resume. And as amazing a regular season player as Peyton Manning is, his playoff record isn't something to write home about either. His one Super Bowl ring removes the "choker " tag from his career resume, but there's no doubt he's proven to be a regular season phenom and an ordinary guy in the playoffs. Need to win one in New England in November, I'll take Peyton. Need to win one in Green Bay in January, I'm taking Eli.

This Pacman Jones story out of Dallas this week is kind of puzzling. Try to follow me here. The Cowboys sign him with a history of felonies that would make Tony Soprano cringe. He beats up his team hired bodyguard midseason, gets suspended, and goes to alcohol rehab. The Cowboys take him back to help for the stretch run and he really doesn't help that much. From a football standpoint, kind of a tough season for Pacman. But Pacman and the Cowboys declare him a changed man ready to move on with his career. Then an ESPN report leaks that he tried to arrange for a murder at a Strip club in 2007 before he was ever on the Cowboys, which by the way was the same thing he got arrested in Vegas for when he got suspended for the 2007 season. Was Jerry Jones naive enough to believe that the only time he ever did something this egregious was when he got caught? Did any of this come as a surprise? And if alcohol rehab changed him, then why cut him for something that occurred way before he was a Cowboy? ANd all this assumes the report is somewhat credible. The Cowboys, nor any other organization shouldn't have gotten involved with him in the first place. And I'm not in the business of defending convicted felons. But once they brought him on board, don't they owe him a tad more loyalty than to cut bait before these allegations are further investigated. This is a strange organization that has a knack for making every move they make wreak of awkwardness.

And while we're on the topic of the Cowboys, they need to get the coaching staff straightened out because they've got the ingredients to win now. They've got the quarterback, they've got an emarassment of riches with skill position players, they've got the the top defensive player in football, but somehow they remain a mess. If they can use this year's draft to straighten out the offensive line, they're a good coach away from being a Super Bowl contender. And waiting a year for Mike Shanahan to be ready to coach is a recipe for disaster.

Too much football stuff to get to hoops or hot stove this week, but I'll shoot for it next week. Enjoy the games. Y'all be cool. giddyap.

Its been over 18 months since I've last done this, but I figured that there was no better time to get this going again than on the eve of the NFL playoffs. So here are some random thoughts in no particular sequence.

If Chad Pennington had given the Jets the same year that Brett Favre just gave them, I'm kinda thinking Eric Mangini would still be employed.

Think the Niners aren't a little bummed they didn't wait a few days to give Mike Singletary a 4 year deal. If they had waited, Mike Shanahan could have come home to a hero's welcome.

Speaking of Shanahan, someone is going to hire a very good football coach in him. But they better make sure that someone else is shopping for the groceries.

If Jerry Jones doesn't get serious about running an organization, as opposed to a fantasy football team, the Cowboys are well on their way to becoming a very expensive laughing stock. But these are things that happen when owners make football decisions designed to sell PSLs instead of winning football games.

Do you think Woody Johnson read that last line? Not likely.

How did Jack Del Rio survive Shack Harris in Jacksonville? Wasn't Garrard Del Rio's guy? Seems to me that if Jacksonville doesn't make the playoffs next year, both Garrard and Del Rio will be looking for work. Del Rio's in trouble. You can't win with Garrard.

The Raiders are much closer to being good than their record would indicate. They can run the football and they play good pass defense. One more big defensive tackle and just a bit of improvement from the quarterback and they're a playoff team next year. But Al Davis definitely isn't reading this, so he'll probably take a player they clearly don't need.

Is it just me, or do the Giants kind of look like every other playoff team now that they don't have Plaxico Burress?? Earlier in the year, they looked good to repeat. Burress may have shot more than himself in the foot.

Sorry. I couldn't resist.

Excluding the league MVP, Philip Rivers was the best quarterback in football for the month of December. And a great job by Norv Turner in changing the identity of that offense to adjust for the fact that LeDainian Tomlinson is shot.

I really like Herm Edwards. He is very well respected and very well liked in the football community. But he's 6-28 in the last two seasons. Just the mere fact that Chiefs owner Clark Hunt is considering keeping him employed is enough to make Chiefs fans believe that the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train.

It hasn't exactly been a stellar end of the season for the Belichick coaching tree. Romeo Crennel and Eric Mangini get the axe and Charlie Weis is stuck at Notre Dame if he wants to collect his money.

The big buzz with the NFL playoffs is the three first year coaches, Tony(The Dyxlexic Don) Sparano, Mike Smith, and John Harbaugh. So with so many jobs open, teams are going looking more at assistants who've never coached before as oppossed to "recycled" coaches. Yet. when you look back at the last two seasons, the Super Bowl winning coach each year (Tony Dungy and Tom Coughlin), were on their 2nd job. Now please explain to me while teams aren't lining up to interview Brian Billick and Mike Shanahan.

And while I'm on it, is someone going to be smart enough to hire Marty Schottenheimer. Last regular season he coached, he went 14-2. He has been the victim of some incredibly bad luck in the playoffs. With the right team at the right time, Marty definitely could be the right guy.

You'd think I was endorsing him for office......

There's a significant chance, Terrell Owens will not be in the league next year. Would you take him? And I will organize a national boycott of the network that chooses to hire him as an analyst.

And if its ESPN, shouldn't they make him apologize to Ed Werder?

And speaking of ESPN, isn't it hysterical when John Clayton reports a scoop and Chris Mortensen's scoop refutes Clayton's scoop 10 minutes later. ESPN treats these guys like the Menendez brothers got treated by their parents.

But I digress....

Also, I think I'm in the minority in not being 100% convinced that Bill Cowher will be as good a coach outside that Pitttsburgh cocoon. With all due respect to the tremendous job that Mike Tomlin does, that orgainizational system plays an enormous role in their consistent success.

Chad Johnson better pray that the Bengals don't decide to cut bait this off season. Between the butcher job that TO did in Dallas, and the constant whining of Jeremy Shockey in New Orleans, the market for divas who catch the football is starting to run thin.

Speaking of Shockey, can we now say that its no coincidence that Eli Manning grew up as a quarterback as soon as he didn't have Shockey screaming in his ear for the ball.

I'll be back early in the week with some more NFL stuff and a little hoops and hot stove baseball. Enjoy the weekend.. Y'all be cool.

Tim Duncan, NBA Draft Notes and some baseball thoughts


The NBA Finals seemed to come and go faster than John Goodman works at the Sizzler buffet. Othe surface it appeared to be the most boring playoff series of our generation. Oh heck, it was the bost boring playoff series of our generation!!!! But buried beneath all of that dreary boredom is a player who has placed himself among the greatest to ever play the game and that player is Tim Duncan.

Tim Duncan IS the Spurs. He is the best player on 4 different championship teams. Yet, because he has the personality of a paper plate, it seems as though the media wants to give everyone around him more credit. Tony Parker is my first example. He is a good NBA player, not a great NBA player. He gets extra credit for the Spurs success because of two factors. Firstly, his status as Mr. Eva Longoria. Secondly, he exists in Duncan's wake. Replace Tony Parker with Leandro Barbosa and the Spurs still win the same amount.

Two much lesser examples are Manu Ginobili and Greg Popovich. Its tough to be critical of these two because they are both very good at what they do. Popovich is smart enough to know that his star shines as long as Duncan's does and he rides it. And the only real criticism you can make of Ginobili is his hygeine. But these two still would never have ascended to the pinnacle of the sport if they were not saddling up Tim Duncan.

At this stage of history the only NBA legends I would rank ahead of Duncan are Russell, Wilt, Jordan, Kareem, Bird, and Magic. Thats it. And you can't give me Shaq. Shaq is certainly a top 10 player in history, but he always had much more help than Duncan. Shaq won 3 titles with Kobe, and one with Dwyane Wade. The best player Duncan had next to him was an over the hill David Robinson. As much as I love Ginobili, he can't win a series single handedly like Kobe or Wade. Shaq could rest on offense for long stretches and Kobe and Wade made it very hard to double him. Duncan is the focal point of everything all the time and he's always double teamed. But he rarely makes a bad decision. The guy is a legend, even if it seems like no one really cares!!!

One of my favorite events of the year is the NBA Draft. Mostly because I generally believe that the majority of NBA general managers are woefully inept at their craft. With that said, here are some random thoughts about the draft.

Can't say i'm surprised about the Celtics moronic acquisition of Ray Allen for the first round pick and Delonte West. if Ainge's goal is to be the 6 seed in the East for two years before he drops back in the lottery, he's right on track.

I have dental floss with more bulk than Kevin Durant.

What are the Milwaukee Bucks doing? Yi Jianlian, the dude from China, declared he didn't want to go to Milwaukee because there are 6 Asians in the whole state. Then when you keep in mind that no one has ever seen him play against anybody, is he the right pick at #6 in one of the deepest drafts ever????

And while I'm at it, Sacramento butchered their first rounder as well. I guess because Brad Miller was out for much of the year that the fans missed having a big white stiff to boo. So the Kings leave two players on the board who go top 5 any other year (Julian Wright and Al Thornton) to fill their big white stiff quota with Spencer Hawes.

The Atlanta Hawks did very well. They got a developed high quality big player in Al Horford and a savvy NBA ready point guard in Acie Law. All they need is a decent head coach and this team could actually be interesting. Rick Carlisle would turn that program around.

The Charlotte Bobcats made a great trade. They didn't need another rookie, unless it was Oden, Durant, or maybe Horford. Jason Richardson is one of the more underrated players in the league. And you can't love Brandan Wright when he had effort issues as a freshman. You always trade a maybe for a sure thing. They also made a great pick at #22 in Jared Dudley.

The Knicks made a good trade. Channing Frye is a dog. He can't defend and he's a physically weak player. Zach Randolph may be nuts, but he can score and he really can rebound. The Knicks would be smart to install metal detectors at Randolph's home, their practice facility, and the Garden, you know, just in case.

And maybe just maybe, this trade is the pre-cursor to Isiah having a fleeting fit of sense and deciding to package Eddy "Shrek" Curry and get in the mix for Kevin Garnett, Kobe, or Jermaine O'Neal. Please read that last line again and note how stupid it sounds.

My favorite picks of the first round, besides Oden and Durant of course, are Jeff Green at 5 to Seattle via Boston, Joakim Noah at 9 to Chicago, Al Thornton at 14 to the Clippers, Jared Dudley to Charlotte @ 22, and the steal of the draft, University of Wisconsin's Alando Tucker to Phoenix @29. Reminds me of a late first rounder the Suns selected, also from Wisconsin, named Michael Finley.

My favorite picks of the 2nd round are Glen Davis to Boston via Seattle, Chris Richard to Minnesota, Derrick Byars to Philly via Portland, Taurean Green to Portland, and Demetrious Nichols to the Knicks via Portland.

And to close this evening, a few random baseball thoughts:

The Yankees are no where close to being done yet, with that said, Joe Torre looks like he's aged 8 years before the All-star break.

The Tigers are a better team this year than last. They loom as the scariest team to face in the playoffs.

When does Ozzie Guillen get blamed for the disaster the White Sox have become.? Lots of squandered talent normally translates into the need for a new voice in the dugout. But Guillen may skate because he's got himself a World Series ring.

The Seattle Mariners are the best team no one pays attention to. Imagine how yough they'd be if Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre played up to their contracts.

As a New York Met fan, I'm much more worried about having to face the Phillies in the playoffs than I am having them take over the division.

As bad as the NL Central looks, the Cardinals are still shot. The emotional hangover of the unlikely World Series victory combined with the death of Josh Hancock have given them the look of a team thats praying for the season to end and we're not even at the All-Star break.

No one is beating Milwaukee in the NL Central. They do the best job of beating up on their division weaklings, and that will be what enables them to hold off the Cubs.

The Dodgers have underachieved in the West. They clearly have the most talent, but the volume of older players could crush them in the end. They've already lost Jason Schmidt and they're counting on grey beards Jeff Kent, Luis Gonzalez, and Nomar Garciaparra to stay healthy. That and Juan Pierre looks like the worst free agent signing of the decade.

The team that has the best chance to win the NL West is the Arizona Diamondbacks. They have a young lineup thats getting better each day, a veteran pitching staff anchored by reigning Cy Young award winner Brandan Webb and a very good closer in Jose Valverde. Where the veteran squads of the Padres and Dodgers will try to hang on and stay healthy to finish the season, the Diamondbacks will only get stronger.

Giddyap.