The Damage left in Lebron’s wake




This has been the most publicized off season in the storied history of the NBA. Lebron James is the most high profile free agent in the history of sports (just ask him). Six different NBA franchises executed organizational plans that were designed around bringing James to their franchise. Only one was successful. As this process played out, James inflicted plenty of damage. And to the same extent, five of the six of these organizations did damage to themselves. As you’ll see in this column, some hurt themselves more than others.

I’m going to divide this column into two parts, the damage that James and his tentacles (advisors, business interests, etc. ) inflicted and the damage that others inflicted upon themselves by hitching their wagon to Lebron Inc. The second part will be how these teams allowed the allure of Lebron Inc to damage their own organizations. Before I proceed, I would like to acknowledge that I had been telling anyone and everyone who would listen (even some that wouldn’t), that James was going back to Cleveland. I was dead wrong. Although, I still believe the smartest move would have been for him to remain in Cleveland for a variety of reasons that are not relevant for the purposes of this column, but I digress. Any criticism that I level at James in this column is not sour grapes. As a Knick fan, I never believed he was coming to New York, even when told that by reliable sources. And I actually am in the minority in believing that Miami’s assemblage of egomaniacs is good for the league. As a society, we like to love, but we love to hate. This version of the Miami Heat have given us a team that’s very easy to hate. That level of hatred will make for compelling theater, which I always favor.


Lebron’s Share


There’s a scene in the movie “A League of their Own” when Geena Davis’ character Dottie Henson is going to leave her baseball team to go home with her husband from Illinois to Oregon right before their World Series is to be played. Tom Hanks’ character, her manager Jimmy Dugan, tells her in his plea to get her to stay, “ I am in no position to tell someone how to live but….” That kind of sums up my feelings about James.

The NBA players association works very hard on the players behalf when they collectively bargain. Free agency is some thing that the players association fights hard for and is successful in accomplishing. If a player, ANY player, becomes a free agent, said player has a collectively bargained right to play wherever said player chooses. I just can’t jump on this bandwagon of criticism directed at James for choosing to play for Miami. As a member of the players association, leaving for Miami was well within his rights. The players association could take issue with the Three AmEGOS, taking less money right before another CBA negotiation, but that’s a discussion for another day. For anyone, especially the Cleveland Cavalier organization, to accuse him of an act of betrayal is patently absurd and unfair. I heard Eric Snow on NBA TV recently make a point that Cavs owner Dan Gilbert ought to look in the mirror when he publicly accosts James for treason considering that he just punted a head coach who led his team to consecutive 60 win seasons with a finals appearance and a conference final appearance in the last 4 years in the name of making James happy. Gilbert threw Mike Brown to the wolves. Karma is a tough broad. Eric Snow has it on target.

I have no issue with Lebron leaving Cleveland. The actual decision to sign with the Miami Heat and join his two friends in and of itself is really beyond reproach. However, there are times in our lives when what we do matters a lot less than how we do it. To say the very least, the methodology that James chose to employ to execute this decision left a lot to be desired.

Throughout this free agency process, the basketball watching world learned a lot more about James than we ever did…or maybe ever cared to. We found out that James was an enormous fan of Family Guy, The Sopranos, and passing wind. Since I don’t watch the Family Guy and I don’t really have any wisdom associated with passing wind, I’m going to use a Sopranos quote to illustrate that Lebron may have been watching, but he definitely wasn’t listening.

In the 12th episode of Season Two of the Sopranos, Tony Soprano is hosting a meeting under a few umbrellas about a particular township garbage contract. As he delivers the news that this contract will not be going to his future brother in law Richie Aprile, he lets Richie know in no uncertain terms, “Those that want respect, give respect.” Keep in mind that later in this same episode, Richie took a bullet from the chest courtesy of Tony’s crazy sister Janice, but I digress. James wants the world to respect his decision. It is very hard to respect a decision made by a person who showed no respect in delivering that decision.

There was no excuse for a one hour TV special. Paying a TV interviewer to lob softballs to you while you announce a decision that begs several difficult questions is disingenuous at best and downright insulting at worst. It’s a transparent tactic. James endorses several products that the basketball watching public purchase regularly. James treated his customer base like ignorant sheep. And ESPN ought to be ashamed of themselves for completely ignoring the line between entertainment and journalism by indulging this conceited child and his empire. On the Mike and Mike show on ESPN Radio Friday, Stuart Scott spun a tale that Lebron staged this one hour special exclusively for philanthropic reasons. Pull this leg and it plays jingle bells. The worst part about it for ESPN is that if they are asked to participate again in assisting a superstar athlete in contriving a reality show and trying to pass it off as reality, they will say yes again.

The existence of a one hour special to announce something that could have been addressed in a 20 minute press conference on its own is indulgent and nervy. But when you combine that with the role it played in James treating his old team like a dog treats a fire hydrant, you have narcissism at its absolute finest. For the exception of the meeting that the Cavaliers had with James, same as five other teams, Lebron did not have contact with the Cavs organization since the season ended. Dan Gilbert claims to have called and texted several times. Tom Izzo, a bystander in all of this, called because he was a candidate to coach the Cavs. James called no one back. The Cavaliers were informed of James’ decision at 9:01PM the hour the decision was being announced publicly. And Lebron didn’t make the phone call. He was primping for Jim Gray to be his ego’s prostitute. The member of Lebron Inc., who drew the short straw got stuck making the call. And as inappropriate that Gilbert’s open letter to Cavs fans was, I completely understand his anger at the extreme disrespect. This story was leaked first thing Thursday morning. People like Chris Broussard, Stephen A. Smith, Alan Hahn, Michael Wilbon…even Mike Francesa of WFAN in New York knew that James picked Miami before Dan Gilbert knew.

James reserved his worst disrespect for the loyal fans of Cleveland. He’s a hometown boy. He’s supposed to identify with the people of that region. They did not deserve to be collateral damage in a reality show gone bad. They deserved more of an explanation from him than the horse manure he shoveled onto Robin Roberts on Friday’s Good Morning America. James made an analogy to “ending a relationship with a lady” in explaining his decision to Roberts. Now I’ve seen some hit and run artists in my time, but I’ve never seen a guy bail on a 7 year relationship, by not calling anymore and waiting to tell the girl they broke up until 27 minutes before he was about to get engaged to someone else. But Lebron made it all about him. When asked by Rachel Nichols of ESPN if he spoke to anyone with the Cavs personally, is answer was, “I didn’t speak to anyone personally. I wanted it to be all about me. “ If that was the goal, then it was a smashing success.

The saddest part of all is that maybe if Lebron had somebody advising him besides his high school buddies (i.e. yes men) , there was a simple, polite, respectful, and compassionate series of actions James could have taken that could have preserved his image as a likable guy. Firstly, and quite obviously, bag the one hour special. Next, before you even tell your Mom, tell Dan Gilbert face to face. It’s a business decision. Gilbert understands business, even if he doesn’t agree with it. Shake his hand and look him in the eye. Be contrite. Thank him for the last 7 years. He wouldn’t have been happy, but he would have respected the approach. Next, leak it to Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He earned it. Next, announce it in a traditional press conference. Answer the reporters’ questions. Use this forum to celebrate your future. Next, write an open letter to Cleveland fans and put it in a full page ad in the Plain Dealer. Thank them. Reinforce to them that they were great and were not the reason you left. They still might hate you, but deep down they would still respect you. Then, lastly, sell a one hour no holds barred interview to the highest bidder. Answer everything thrown at you with no restrictions on what can be asked. Use an interviewer who’s not on your pay roll. And donate the proceeds to the charity of your choice.

Instead we get the silliest hour in the history of television. We get Dwyane Wade telling an arena full of people that they are the best trio in the history of basketball, even though there is one championship between the three of them and one of them wouldn’t know what the playoffs were if they bit him on his backside. And most of all, we get Lebron on stage wearing that silly headband with diamond earrings. Frankly, he looked like Luke Wilson’s character from the Royal Tennenbaums, Richie Tennenbaum. Richie was the character who tanked the finals of the U.S. Open because he had a crush on his adoptive sister. Insert Delonte West joke here……..


The Price of Chasing Lebron


In reading the abusive and scathing open letter that Dan Gilbert wrote to Cavs fans, there is an anger that comes off the page that seems a little misdirected. No doubt he deservedly felt abused by James. But there is a part of that anger that Gilbert is directing at James that he should be directing at himself. His general manager Danny Ferry did a very poor job of surrounding James with the type of complimentary players From Larry Hughes to Ben Wallace to Mo Williams to Shaquille O’Neal to Antawn Jamison, they could never get him enough help. And in all fairness to James, he’s been saying for at least 2 years that he will explore free agency. They stubbornly held onto J.J. Hickson all of last year when he was clearly a piece who could have brought in help for James.

The acquisition of Shaquille O’Neal was misguided and was a feeble attempt to match up with Dwight Howard. Although James embraced Shaq, you never got the feeling he was all that thrilled with having to play with him. And Shaq’s brick sneakers were a major liability in defending the pick and roll out top. When Ferry did fulfill James’ request and traded for Antawn Jamison, the Cavs identity as a tough half court defensive team was fading. Jamison’s weak defense was a major liability which got exposed even worse once Shaq came back from injury to play next to him. The Cavs did not have Jamison and Shaq together until the start of the playoffs. By the time they realized that these two guarded the rim like those two soldiers guarded the Czechoslovakian border in the movie “Stripes”, the season was slipping away and Lebron was pouting.

They also handled Lebron terribly. They allowed him to break team rules at will. They traded for players he wanted. They allowed his friends to travel with the team. They pressured the coach to give playing to the players Lebron wanted out there. And before you ask the question….yes, my sources are very good. They allowed him to tune out the coach, even to the point of having an assistant coach play go between because Lebron didn’t like the head coach. Yet, they made him accountable for nothing. The Cavs became like an overly permissive parent of a teenager who gets walked all over. As an organization, they didn’t command enough respect from Lebron. It doesn’t absolve Lebron’s actions. But the Cavs are extremely naïve if they don’t examine their own culpability in this organizational disaster.

So, where to from here? Cleveland now has $12 million in cap space. Rumors are abound that Cleveland is talking to Minnesota about Al Jefferson. That would be a hasty foolish move for Cleveland. They have four expiring contracts in Delonte West, Jamario Moon, Anthony Parker, and Sebastian Telfair which, combined with their current $12 million, will give them two open max slots for next year. If they suck it up for a year or two and land in the lottery, the draft picks and cap space will allow them to get it turned around quick, just like Portland did under Kevin Pritchard. To the Cavs credit, they swallowed their pride and did and sign and trade with Miami to grab a max trade exception and two first round draft picks. Cleveland is closer to getting this thing turned around then it appears.

The New York Knicks have undertaken a personnel strategy that was completely focused on getting under the salary cap. Knick GM Donnie Walsh did an extremely efficient job of bringing in players with expiring contracts. And thanks to Donnie’s maneuvers, the Knicks had enough cap space to sign Amare Stoudemire. But make no mistake, the entire strategy was employed to sign James.

This tunnel vision philosophy certainly had its advantages that I will get into shortly. But there was a big price to pay. Now, I am going to spare you the repetitive soliloquy about how misguided a draft pick Jordan Hill was. But, considering that New York was not successful in landing James, it is relevant to revisit the twisted logic behind the disastrous trade deadline deal that moved Jared Jeffries, Hill, and two first rounders for the expiring contract of Tracy McGrady and a much later first rounder. The whole philosophy behind this deal was to create enough cap room to allow James to “bring a friend” as if the Knicks rebuilding process was akin to parents taking their teenager on vacation.

So now that its time to enact Plan B, where has this left the Knicks? Stoudemire was a good signing and one that they needed desperately. And the sign and trade deal that sent David Lee to Golden State was a stroke of genius. Anthony Randolph replaces one of the first rounders that was dealt and has the potential to be a big time player. As far as the trade market is concerned, he qualifies as an asset. Ronny Turiaf will start at center and is a good compliment to Stoudemire. I also really like the signing of point guard Raymond Felton. Although his annual salary is high, the fact that the contract is only a 2 year guarantee allows the Knicks added flexibility. Felton also has a lot of skill. He’s a good defensive player, is adept at getting into the paint in the half court, and shoots very selectively. If they could not get a maximum salary quality player to play point guard, Felton is a great choice.

Acquiring Felton would have been harder without the Jeffries trade, although far from impossible. Jeffries contract expires at the end of this season, just like Eddy Curry’s. In the NBA’s crazy convoluted system (where a retired Rasheed Wallace is an asset because of his contract), Jeffries and Curry qualify as assets. They get a team out from under a longer contract that they no longer care to pay. To sacrifice 2 potentially high first round picks (the Randolph signing cancels out Hill’s inclusion), to dump a contract expiring at the end of next season is a great way to run an organization into the ground. First round picks are insurance against underachieving. The Knicks would be much better off if they didn’t decide that Lebron would be happier here if he got to bring a friend. And this will be the main reason that the best the Knicks can hope for in the next 3 years is to occupy space in NBA no man’s land.

The Chicago Bulls were a team that gave us an all time first round series last season in their 7 game loss to the Boston Celtics. They looked like a team on the rise, but they certainly took a step back this season, even though they lost in the first round again. They made a great decision in last year’s off season in deciding not to re-sign Guard Ben Gordon, who ended up getting absurdly overpaid by Joe Dumars’ Detroit Pistons. Even though they did not have a great year, they still understand that they have a very bright future ahead because of point guard Derrick Rose and center Joakim Noah.

The Bulls decision to clear cap space to make a run at James was the best option for their organization. Rose and Noah provided for a very enticing core. So, midseason, the Bulls shipped out John Salmons for expiring contracts. It hurt them on the court, but it made sense. James alone would have made the Bulls a title contender. And if they didn’t get James, there were other premium players available to them. That end worked out nicely for the Bulls. They didn’t get Lebron, but they were able to sign Carlos Boozer, who is an excellent fit and also makes them a title contender. I also want to give the Bulls a lot of credit for not caving into James’ need for special accommodations. According to Brian Windhorst, the Bulls refused to allow James’ friends to travel with the team. They refused to employ any of James’ friends as the Cavs did. And they made it clear that James was not going to have input on how the franchise was run.

Where the Bulls hurt themselves in their pursuit of James was not as severe as what the Knicks did, but damaging nonetheless. They too fell for the “let Lebron bring a friend” trap. Getting two premium players is a great thing if you can pull it off. Ask Pat Riley, who managed to sign three. However, when that is not a guarantee, a franchise needs to carefully examine what they are going to lose just for the ability to chase a star. In the Bulls case, it was versatile guard Kirk Hinrich. On draft day, the Bulls shipped Hinrich and the # 17 pick in the draft to Washington for essentially nothing (a future 2nd rounder). This created enough cap space that was close to a maximum slot. In the end, the Bulls still only got Boozer. They signed Kyle Korver as well, but they could have done that without trading Hinrich. And even though Washington used their pick on Kevin Seraphin, the Bulls could have easily drafted James Anderson, who was a better fit for them and been much further along in their quest to win a title. The Bulls have signed J.J. Redick to an offer sheet, but all signs point to Orlando matching it, and the Bulls having that cap space tied up for the better part of a week. The Bulls will still be a contender for the Eastern Conference title this year, but they could have been in a much more advantageous position if they did not swing for the fences. No matter who else they bring in, it is going to be a tall order for the player to be an upgrade from Hinrich.

Less than two short months ago, everything was looking up for the New Jersey Nets. It was Tuesday May 18th, 2010 and the Nets were had the best mathematical chance to win the lottery and the right to select the consensus best player in the draft in Kentucky guard John Wall. The Nets had ample cap space to add a premium free agent and Jersey was starting to be considered an attractive free agent destination largely because of their new owner, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov. The ping pong balls didn’t fall the Nets way as they ended up with the third pick in a draft when they coveted two players.

In the days leading up to the draft, Jersey GM Rod Thorn feverishly tried to trade the third pick, but in the end selected Georgia Tech forward Derrick Favors. Then, less than a week after the draft, the most stable factor within the Nets organization, Rod Thorn, decided to step down as of July 15th. Not only were the Nets going to be making recruiting visits with a lame duck GM, but they needed to embark on a search for a brand new GM. Essentially, after planning for two years to be players in the 2010 free agent market, they were completely neutralized less than a week before the process began. When the Nets should have been talking to Amare Stoudemire and Carlos Boozer, they were talking to Jeff Bower and Joe Dumars. Now, don’t get me wrong. The Nets had conversations with Stoudemire with Boozer. They even made Boozer an offer. But they inexplicably came up short on the money and lost him to Chicago.

Instead the Nets have chosen to spend this cap space on a potpourri of role players who have never really done anything in the league. They gave Travis Outlaw $7 million a year. Outlaw has had his moments. He can shoot and defend a little, but he hasn’t been healthy and he hasn’t been consistent. They acquired in a sign and trade a one dimensional player in Anthony Morrow for $4 million a year. Morrow can shoot, but he’s an off guard who can’t defend. They signed center Johan Petro, who got eaten alive in the playoffs by Utah’s second AND third string centers for $3 million a year. And they signed former Laker point guard Jordan Farmar for $4 million a year. As much as I’d like to criticize this signing, I really do like Farmar. My problem with the whole thing is that the Lakers are paying the pu-pu platter of Outlaw, Morrow, Petro, and Farmar almost the equivalent of one max contract. These are four players who should be the 7th,8th,9th, and 10th players on their team. They waited for Lebron with all of this salary cap space and they appear to have squandered a great deal of it. Its great to build a bench, but generally the starting lineup is a little more important. This does not appear to be an auspicious start for Comrade Prokhorov.

Speaking of Prokhorov, I kind of figure that he had to do something pretty bad to Thorn for Thorn to leave him in the lurch the way he did. My guess is that it had something to do with not trading the Favors pick because all I hear out of Net land is that the Nets need to sign a power forward. I hate to be the master of the obvious, but they didn’t they just use the third pick in the draft on a power forward. I’m trying to reserve judgment until their roster is complete, but it is not easy. The signing of Farmar could signal that a Devin Harris trade is coming. Avery Johnson tells the media that Harris is like a son to him, then as soon as the microphones are turned off and the pens are put away, he tells whoever will listen that he wants Harris dealt.

The Los Angeles Clippers probably emerged from their failed pursuit of Lebron with the least amount of damage as anybody and there is a very simple reason why. They never really had a chance in the first place and they knew it. Sure, they cleared a max slot and they had a meeting with Lebron, but they knew he wasn’t coming. Unfortunately for the Clippers, they used some of that cap space to sign Minnesota rejects Randy Foye and Ryan Gomes. Foye is an off guard in a point guard’s body and Gomes can score but has not shown much of an inclination to pass or defend. With the pending return of Blake Griffin, the Clippers may have been better off doing nothing and rolling over the cap space to next year. It would have been smarter to give Griffin a year to prove himself and maybe they would be in a position next year to bring in more of a premium player through free agency or in a trade.

And now to the victor, go the spoils. The one team that hit the lottery in this whole bonanza was the Miami Heat. Their President and GM Pat Riley pulled off a coup for the ages. For that he deserves a mountain of credit. It also begs the question, will the Heat be able to win next June like they just won this July.

My short answer is no. I certainly would like to see what kind of group Riley is able to bring in to surround Batman, Captain America and Aqua Man. I refer to Bosh as Aqua Man because he’s the super hero who’s never saved anyone, but I digress. Eventually this group may win a title, but I don’t believe its going to happen next year. I think the Celtics and maybe even the Bulls can match up with them well. And if they do reach the finals, I believe that they cannot play defense well enough to beat the Lakers.

One last thought on the combination of James, Wade, and Bosh. In the interviews they have done since they made a decision to play together, they have frequently referenced their experience together on the 2008 USA Olympic basketball team that won the gold medal. The one prevailing thought that I can’t shake about that reference, is that would these three guys still think that they had such a great experience winning together if Kobe Bryant didn’t bail them out and take over in the last 3 minutes of the gold medal game against Spain?

I’ll be back next week with my own unique perspective on who signed good contracts and who signed bad ones. Giddyap. Y’all be cool.

Organized Random Thoughts


Normally when I do my random thoughts columns, I’m generally engaging in a stream of consciousness rant jumping from one topic to another as each finger hits the keyboard. But at this particular time of year, with the draft done, most coaching changes already locked in, and the great free agency frenzy of 2010, I’m going to deliver you my random thoughts in a more organized fashion. I know that organized random thoughts wreaks of an oxymoron, but its really just a cheap excuse to make you read the whole column to find out where I think LeBron is going.


The Draft


There were very few surprises at the top of this draft. History has taught us that when there are less surprises, normally there are more mistakes.

The Sacramento Kings did the best job of anybody just by waiting. They got the 2nd best player in the draft with the 5th pick in DeMarcus Cousins. And they cleaned up by getting projected first rounder center Hassan Whiteside early in the second round. They got bigger and better. And with last year’s rookie of the year, Tyreke Evans, in tow, things are looking up for the Kings. They traded for a big expiring contract the week before the draft in Samuel Dalembert. This will be a very attractive free agent destination for someone who wants to win quick. The Kings are on the rise.

I like Ekpe Udoh, but Golden State will deeply regret passing on Greg Monroe.

Speaking of Greg Monroe, I wonder where he would be happier, in Detroit or in a prison in Guantonomo Bay. Joe Dumars wants to revolutionize the NBA as we know it by playing with a team entirely composed of off guards and power forwards.

The San Antonio Spurs continued their pattern of taking advantage of others’ mistakes by grabbing James Anderson of Oklahoma St at the 20th pick. Anderson will be a valuable addition as they work on getting younger…and he will be Gregg Popovich’s excuse to keep Richard Jefferson chained to the bench. I think even the Spurs realize that getting someone to trade for Jefferson’s contract will require a global act of terrorism.

The Nets tried very hard to move the #3 pick , but to no avail. And I don’t think they picked a bad player…they just picked a bad player for them. Derrick Favors will be a good player in this league at some point. But the Nets have made it clear that they want to win soon. Big man projects do not coincide with a young, ridiculously wealthy impatient Russian owner who has declared this team ready to win now. It would not surprise if Favors gets traded before he even plays a game. The good news is that the Nets 2nd 1st rounder, forward Damion James is ready to contribute immediately.

I have similar mixed emotions on the Clippers’ draft. Their first pick (#8) was a big miss. Al Farouq Aminu would be fine for a track meet, but the guy is not much of a basketball player. He is a tremendous athlete that needs a ton of work. The Clippers are a graveyard for guys like him. But with their second pick, I think they scored with point guard Eric Bledsoe. Bledsoe has a ton of potential and a lot of skills that could make him an immediate contributor. And he’s insurance against the eventual Baron Davis injury or even worse, Davis pulling another one of his tank jobs. Count on Davis showing up for training camp looking like Oprah.

I love Houston picking Patrick Patterson.

I don’t like Boston picking Avery Bradley

If I were the Sixers, I would have gone big at #2.

There is no questioning how much better the Wizards got on draft night when John Wall officially became their’s.

And the Sixers, Nets, and Timberwolves will regret the day they decided to pass on DeMarcus Cousins. That to me will be what defines the 2010 NBA draft.


Coaching/Executive Moves


Regardless of who the Bulls get in free agency, Tom Thibodeau will give them a defensive identity that will make them better. Is he the guy to get them over the hump? If he resembles his coaching mentor Jeff Van Gundy he will be.

I’m not totally sure about New Orleans hire of Monty Williams. He is going to employ an up tempo system and he’s got the horses to do it. But there is a tremendous amount of pressure to keep backsides in the seats, which is the biggest reason that the Hornets do not want to trade Chris Paul. And if the Williams tenure doesn’t keep attendance up, Paul will be shipped out of there faster than you can say salary dump.

I know that Paul Allen made billions of dollars with Microsoft, but who exactly fires their general manager an hour before the draft. Kevin Pritchard took a team with a reputation as deviant misfits and molded them into a respectable contender. I have no idea what took place in within Portland’s front office, but there can be no logical reason to ask a fired executive to oversee your organization’s most important personnel event of the year. Pritchard deserved much better. And whoever hires him will be getting an excellent GM with a keen eye for talent. And Portland better get it together. Kicking accomplished personnel guys to the curb over garbage office politics is never a recipe for success…except at Microsoft.

The Nets hiring of Avery Johnson was a very good one. Their defense last year was absolutely abysmal and Johnson will not tolerate a repeat performance. The big issue facing the Newark Nets is the pending resignation of GM/President Rod Thorn. Thorn abruptly resigned last week, effective July 15. Thorn did a relatively candid interview with the Newark Star Ledger’s Dave D’Alessandro this week (http://www.nj.com/nets/index.ssf/2010/06/weary_after_10_seasons_on_the.html) where he stated that “it was time to leave.” This could not come at a worse time for the Nets. At the most important time to show organizational stability, the Nets have to replace their head personnel executive.

My theory on Thorn’s departure is pure speculation. None of my sources have given me any of this as factual, but it makes sense to me, so I’ll write it. Its no secret that thorn aggressively shopped the Nets first rounder right up until the moment they selected Derrick Favors. If Favors was who the Nets really wanted, Thorn would not have shopped the pick so aggressively. Then, when you combine the free agency back drop, which is loaded with big forwards the Nets have a chance to get, you could see where a brand new owner who is expecting to win immediately may not be thrilled with drafting a project, especially one who plays the same position as a wealth of guys the Nets may end up committing maximum money to for the next 5 years. Rod was in a tough spot and my bet is that Comrade Prokhorov was not all that sympathetic. I could see where Rod had very little patience to be second guessed by Prokhorov’s minions.

For the record, if I was Thorn, I would have approached this situation entirely differently. I would have picked Cousins at #3. I understand that the Nets already have Brook Lopez at center, but Lopez is a very marketable asset. Lopez could get New Orleans to possibly listen on Chris Paul. Even if it wouldn’t be Paul, Lopez would open up a whole new market for the Nets. And lets be honest about Lopez. He’s a superb inside scorer, but he has slow feet defensively and is an average rebounder at best. He is also extremely respected around the league as being a great young big, This would be a bold, unpopular move, but the type that Comrade Prokhorov just may be looking for.

Now….onto the good stuff….


Free Agency


Before I begin, I would like to clear up a few things about all of this rampant speculation. Do not trust anything that you read. For some reason, journalistic integrity has gone completely out the window this year. Every NBA writer is quoting their “sources”. However, these “sources” are as flimsy as the day is long. I share a source with a prominent NBA writer who will remain nameless. But, rest assured he’s a guy who will report something and it will crawl across the bottom of your TV screen. He took a 15 month old piece of information last week(that I had already used in this space) and ran it as breaking news. The other thing that makes me crazy is the pathological mind reading being described as journalism. The biggest offender of this is ESPN’s Chris (the Basketball Player Whisperer) Broussard. Broussard is constantly quoting sources close to LeBron. I don’t doubt that Broussard has contacts close to James. But to say things like he did two weeks ago, when he stated that “Chicago is in the lead for LeBron” is downright absurd. What lead? He’s monitoring the race in LeBron’s head? There’s nothing wrong with speculation, but when its disguised as news, it thoroughly erases the line between fact and fiction.

The other thing is that this notion that any of these premium free agents will take less money to play with one another or another star player is purely nonsense. Lest us not get so excited that we forget the one main theme of sports in the 21st century. Its always about the money. And before you say its not only about the money this time, let me interrupt you. Its always about the money. And this other idea that LeBron or anyone else is going to take a 3 year deal, then evaluate their options again is even more garbage. The CBA expires at the end of this season. In the new CBA, these 6 year deals are most likely going to go away. Any agent that allows their client to sign a 3 year deal is acting irresponsibly. There will be no 3 year deals for any of these premium free agents,,,and David Lee doesn’t count as a premium free agent.

Also, the sign and trade market will be the most active part of the free agent market early. If you refer back to the prior paragraph, you will see that I believe that’s its all about the money. Teams can offer an extra year and up to $30 million more to sign their own free agent. None of these premium free agents want to leave that kind of money on the table…not even LeBron Buffet. ESPN’s Ric Bucher has been on top of this inevitable fact for a long time now. This will make it difficult early on for the teams with bare rosters…i.e the Knicks and the Heat. The Knicks are actually in better shape than in the sign and trade market because of David Lee. And since the Raptors have gone on the record as willing to be cooperative with a sign and trade, look for Chris Bosh to be the first domino to drop.

Before I hit you with my predictions for where these players will end up, let me make one more thing perfectly clear. Miami cannot bring in two max players to play with Dwyane Wade no matter how many people report that its possible. NBA.com’s David Aldridge explains this in a very concise fashion in this column. (http://www.nba.com/news/features/aldridge.2010.freeagency/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt1) A second max player to go with Wade and lets say LeBron, would not be possible. Someone would have to take over $5 million a year less, and refer to two paragraphs above in remembering, its always about the money. So these “breaking news” reports that Bosh, LeBron, and Wade have decided to “join forces” like a couple of goddamned power rangers is nothing but pure fiction.

Please realize that I don’t have any more inside information than the next guy. I’m just one of the few willing to admit it. I am basing these predictions on what I’ve seen over time. I try to apply logic. I am not a mind reader. But please understand that at best, these are educated guesses. Anyone who claims to know any more is blowing smoke.

I’ll start with Chris Bosh….I believe that Bosh ends up going to Chicago in a sign and trade. The Raptors get Luol Deng who will help them and Bosh gets his money and a chance to compete for a title…and maybe an endorsement or two in a big city like Chicago.

I believe Dwyane Wade will remain in Miami. He’s made it clear that that’s his preference and the Heat appeared to be committed to upgrading the roster, which is all Wade has really asked for….besides max money.

I believe Carlos Boozer will join Wade in Miami. As I stated earlier, Miami will need to be patient and some other dominoes will fall first which will leave Miami with limited options. Boozer will not be able to get that 6th year because Utah will most likely not cooperate with a sign and trade.

I believe that Paul Pierce, who no one talks about, but just opted out two weeks after leading his team to game 7 of the NBA finals, will finish his career in Boston.

I believe that Joe Johnson will stay in Atlanta. They claim that they’re prepared to offer him a max deal and for once I am going to take the notoriously cheap Hawks at their word. Their promotion of assistant Larry Drew to head coach is a Johnson endorsed move. I just don’t believe that Joe Johnson would leave $30 million on the table for any reason.

I believe that Amare Stoudemire will be moved to Houston in a sign and trade. The Rockets almost closed a deal for Amare at the trade deadline. The Suns probably don’t want to completely break things down with Steve Nash’s extension kicked in. A package of a re-signed Luis Scola and Shane Battier and his expiring contract should be enough for the Rockets to reel him in…and Stoudemire gets all of his money.

I believe that Dirk Nowitzki will leave the Dallas Mavericks for….the New Jersey Nets. Dallas seems to have this notion that they can bring Dirk back for less than the max. And with Dirk’s service time, another team could offer him only $1 million less a year than what Dallas can offer him. If Dallas is planning on coming up short (like they did with Steve Nash), they leave a gaping opening for someone to exploit. Who better than a team with former Dallas coach Avery Johnson, former Dallas point guard Devin Harris, and an owner that ESPN’s Bill Simmons likes to refer to as the Mutant Russian Mark Cuban.

Ok…all done…oh yeah, I forgot someone. Here’s what I have to say about LeBron James.

There’s a scene late in the movie Smokey and the Bandit where the main character played by Burt Reynolds, named Bandit is coming close to reaching his destination while police cars and helicopters are bearing down on him. Sally Field is in the car with him and she turns to him and says, “did you count on this? I mean…All of this??” And the Bandit answers only like Bandit can in saying, “No I didn’t honey. “

LeBron is like the Bandit here. I do not believe he counted on this massive paparazzi type of coverage of his pending free agency. James is very P.R. conscious. Ith this type of coverage, it will be very difficult for him to come out of this looking good to the sneaker buying public. And in the end no one will be making this decision but him. If you look at his past, there has been one consistent virtue…loyalty. He employs his best friends from high school. He’s lived his entire life in Ohio. And as much romancing and promising that these other teams can do, no other team knows whats important to him like the Cleveland Cavaliers do. It may not be what everyone wants to hear, but my call is that LeBron will stay in Cleveland.

So, if I’m right, and if you read my mock draft you know how infrequent that is, the Knicks get shut out. And I hate to say this as a Knick fan, but its exactly what the Knicks deserve with how poorly they’ve handled this rebuilding project, but we’ll leave that conversation for another day.

Giddyap. Y’all be cool.

Thoughts on the Finals and Mock Draft


Before I engage in what has become my favorite column of the year, my mock draft, I would be remiss if I didn’t discuss some thoughts about this year’s finals, which was an epic battle among the league’s two most storied franchises.

Back in November, I had predicted that the Lakers would repeat as world champions. And although I ended up being correct in this prediction, I’m not getting all those warm fuzzy feelings on the few occasions that I’m actually right. There is a clear reason for this. No one in L.A. would be celebrating right now if Kendrick Perkins did not get injured.

Perkins is not a high profile player for Boston. He’s not one of Boston’s highly regarded “Big Three” and he is not as dynamic as star point guard Rajon Rondo. As far as attention and basketball ability is concerned, Perkins is clearly the fifth of the Lakers 5 starters. With all that said, Perkins is the heart and soul of the identity of this version of the Celtics. This Boston team prides itself on defense, rebounding, and toughness. As I’ve stated many times before, I’ve never seen a better team at playing help defense. They do a great job at protecting the rim and are generally very good at not giving up second shots. Perkins is their best post defender. He is excellent at blocking out. And he is outstanding at help defense. Granted he is not much of an offensive threat, but the Celtics really don’t need him to be.

In game 7 of the finals, the Celtics lost a game on the road where they held the Lakers to a putrid 32% from the field. In the first half alone, the Lakers shot only 26% from the field. After 6 games, they seemed to have figured out how to frustrate Kobe Bryant into taking mostly bad shots. Yet somehow, when the first ended, Boston only had a 6 point lead. The reason was very simple. The Lakers had 15 offensive rebounds in the first half. There is absolutely no way that the Lakers get 15 offensive rebounds in a half with Perkins on the floor. Furthermore, as the game was starting to slip away from Boston in the last minute, Kobe Bryant missed a three pointer with 27 seconds left in the game. But Pau Gasol saved the Lakers’ bacon by getting the offensive rebound. These are issues that Boston does not have with Perkins on the floor. And these issues are the biggest reason that there will be no championship parade in Beantown this year.

Celtic coach Doc Rivers deserves a tremendous amount of credit for taking this team as far as he took them. He had a fractured team for the second half of the season. But he got his big three to accept what a force Rondo could be and they displayed a collective toughness and a willingness to play together that allowed them to achieve more as a group than what their aging core could have accomplished individually. Despite the fact that Boston fell just short, this year represents an achievement for Rivers as a coach that no one could ever pour cold water on.

As far as the Lakers are concerned, when looking back at this finals historically, people will remember the virtuoso performances of Pau Gasol and Ron Artest picking up for Kobe Bryant on one of Bryant’s worst games in his storied playoff career. And these recollections will be accurate. Personally, I’m especially happy for Artest. I met Ron as a 16 year old high school player while scouting him as a favor for a friend. I found him to be genuine, engaging, and good hearted. He certainly has made plenty of mistakes over the course of his basketball career, but he played his best game on a night when his best was needed for his team to secure a championship. So, I’ll say this once for Ronnie…Queensbridge, but I digress.

The real heroes for the Lakers in this series were not Gasol, Bryant, or Artest. The two heroes for the Lakers were Andrew Bynum and head coach Phil Jackson. Bynum missed the last dozen games of the regular season with a knee injury. He came back early from the injury to start the playoffs. As the playoffs wore on, the knee got progressively worse. It didn’t help that he must have tweaked it about 5 times through the course of the playoffs. He had fluid drained from the knee twice during the playoffs. He dragged that knee around on the court just to give the Lakers 15-20 minutes a game or more depending on what his team needed. Without Bynum’s rebounding, defense, and physical presence, the Lakers do not beat Boston. He played in pain. He showed a ton of courage, especially for a 22 year old player and he deserves a mountain of credit. Now if only the Lakers could get him to shed a few pounds to lower his incidence of injury going forward…..but that’s a conversation for another day.

In the last column I wrote, I discussed in detail the difficulty of coaching superstars. And I went into excruciating detail on why Phil Jackson is the best coach ever at coaching a superstar. And he proved that and then some in game 7. Kobe Bryant was in the process of putting up one of the all time worst stink bombs of a game in a big spot that we have ever seen from such an accomplished player. He was 5-20 from the field after the third quarter and very frankly, if he threw a bag of garbage of a pier, it wasn’t hitting the water. Yet somehow, thanks to Artest and Gasol, the Lakers were only down 4 points.

With the help of Kobe’s good friend and long time teammate Derek Fisher, Phil got Kobe to understand that the only way to win was for Kobe to be a trusting, unselfish teammate. Kobe needed to pass out of double teams, take the ball to the rim when the opportunity was there, and continue to focus on defense and rebounding. Bryant was not a great offensive player in any facet of game 7. But in the fourth quarter, he was a great teammate and a great leader. He went 8-9 from the free throw line. He pulled down 8 of his 15 rebounds in the 4th quarter and he kept the ball in the hands of Gasol and Artest.
In one of the biggest and most pressurized moments of Bryant and Jackson’s legendary careers, Jackson was able to coach his superstar to alter his game and play in a way that got their team over the hump. An amazing coaching job by one of the best coaches the game has ever seen. Sometimes basketball is simple. Bill Murray’s character in Meatballs, Tripper, stated it simply during the C.I.T basketball game, “Feed Fink, he’s hot man.”



Mock Draft Time

I like to believe that I put together my mock draft a little differently than most others that you will see. I try to match players to teams that I think they SHOULD take, not necessarily who I think they WILL take. This approach will frequently make me more wrong than right, but of you’ve been reading this space long enough, you realize that really doesn’t phase me. There are certain situations that I will match a player to a team that is notorious for making draft mistakes, desperate, or both. But nonetheless, this is one of my favorite exercises. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.
Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t credit the work of Jonathan Givony of the website Draft Express for the footage, interviews, and workout reports that he posts. In formulating my opinions on players, I find Jonathan’s content invaluable.


1) Washington Wizards- John Wall (G) Kentucky- Wall has been the consensus #1 pick since he signed his letter of intent to attend Kentucky. He will enter the NBA as one of the fastest players in the league. He can score in bunches, but is also a very good passer with a knack for letting the game come to him. What impressed me the most from watching Wall through his only college season, was how his off the ball game improved. He got much better at moving without the ball, and he started to grasp the concept of help defense. Also, as the season wore on, his rebounding improved. He’s a can’t miss talent. It won’t be long where he will join Deron Williams, Chris Paul, and Derrick Rose as one of the best point guards in the game. And no, I do not have the stomach to put Rondo in that group quite yet.

2) Philadelphia 76ers- DeMarcus Cousins (C) Kentucky- Here is where I go off the reservation according to all of the so called draft experts out there. The two players who you will see more often than not in other mock drafts in this spot are Evan Turner and Derrick Favors. And they very well could select either of them. However, I am very very partial to Cousins. I think Turner will be a very good NBA player. But I don’t think he’s a perfect fit playing next to Andre Igoudala. Plus, with the presence of Igoudala, its very difficult for Philadelphia to pass on a big man with a high ceiling. Favors is a unique physical specimen, but to me, he is no where near the basketball player that Cousins is. Cousins is the next great big man in basketball. He has great athleticism for a man his size. He has great hands and even better feet. He understands help defense principles very well. And he plays the game with an angry edge that you can’t teach. Its obvious that Cousins hates to lose. That’s a guy I want to go to battle with. I love this player.

3) New Jersey Nets- Evan Turner (G) Ohio State- If Turner falls to Jersey here, Net president and GM Rod Thorn will be absolutely ecstatic. Turner has the potential to be a very good NBA player and has a lot of developed skills to allow him to have an immediate impact. But more importantly for New Jersey is that Turner is an outstanding fit as a back court mate to current Nets point guard Devin Harris. Harris is clearly a point guard who is more comfortable scoring, whether its off the dribble or as a spot up shooter. Very frankly, he treats involving other players in the offense as somewhat of a burden. Turner is very comfortable being a distributor and using his scoring ability with discretion. The two of them together will be difficult to defend and with Harris’ defense somewhat evolved at this stage of his career, this will not be a back court that will be easy to exploit. If the Sixers end up taking Turner before the Nets pick, I am completely sold on Thorn’s fascination with Cousins and I would expect Rod to select him and leave it to head coach Avery Johnson on how to use Cousins and Brook Lopez together.

4) Minnesota Timberwolves- Wesley Johnson (G) Syracuse- Before I analyze exactly how Minny GM David Kahn is handling this pick, let me go on the record by saying that I like Johnson’s game very much. He’s athletic, strong, and is an accomplished scorer. There are questions about his ability to handle man to man defense on the NBA level, primarily because he played match up zone his entire college career at Syracuse. But he’s a solid player who will be a good fit in Minnesota. With that said, Kahn is handling this all wrong. I was a big supporter of how Kahn handled last year’s draft. He made a great trade with Washington to secure the #5 pick and had the luxury of two consecutive lottery picks (5 and 6). Considering that his 5 pick Ricky Rubio was a long shot to come to the U.S. for last season and he had a team not ready to compete, I thought it was gutsy and visionary to select Rubio and Syracuse point guard Jonny Flynn back to back. However, going into this year’s draft he has told anyone that will listen that Johnson is his pick no matter who falls to him. Now I understand that he already has two young big forwards in Al Jefferson and Kevin Love, but these two play as well together as Michael Buble and Ozzy Osbourne. If Favors or Cousins would fall to him, wouldn’t he have to seriously consider selecting one of them then looking to trade either Jefferson or Love? Both Love and Jefferson couldn’t guard a crosswalk and one of the intriguing things about both Cousins and Favors is that they both have the tools to be above average NBA defenders. If he would select Cousins or Favors, he would have a great market for a young big like Jefferson or Love and solve his wing problems. Instead, he’s so locked in on Johnson, that Cousins declined to work out for Minnesota because it appears to be a gross waste of time. For a GM who showed some big time cajones in last year’s draft, he’s spending this year’s draft hiding under his desk like a wimp, his last minute protests notwithstanding.

5) Sacramento Kings- Derrick Favors (F/C) Georgia Tech- If I’m Sacramento GM Geoff Petrie, I’m sending David Kahn an expensive gift after this draft. Very frankly, Kahn’s tunnel vision on Johnson has made Petrie’s life very easy. Because Petrie can be relatively confident that Kahn is going to select Johnson at #4, all Petrie really has to do is sit back and wait to see which big guy (Favors or Cousins). I like Cousins better than Favors, so I’m figuring for Favors to fall to Sacramento here. And if he does, he’s a great fit. The Kings already have two productive young bigs in Jason Thompson and Carl Landry. In all of my gushing about Cousins, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that I think Favors has a chance to be a very good pro. He started to show flashes at the end of the season. A lot of Favors supporters/apologists have made excuses for his average production at times during his year at Georgia Tech. These excuses range from the ball hogging of frontcourt mate Gani Lawal to the passing deficiencies of the guards he played with. And although there is a kernel of truth to these excuses, if Favors was more assertive and aggressive, these issues would have been non-factors. With all that said, by all accounts Favors is a hard working kid whose body resembles Dwight Howard’s. He has a chance to be a very good player with the proper patience and guidance.

6) Golden State Warriors- Al Farouq Aminu (F) Wake Forest- This is my first forecasted mistake. The Warriors are a mess. The franchise is in limbo as owner Chris Cohan awaits the deal he’s looking for to sell the team. Their head coach Don Nelson has clearly lost his fastball at this stage of his long coaching career. They have a lot of talent, but have no clue what to do with it and no semblance of a plan. And as well as they did in last year’s draft by drafting Stephen Curry, his addition did not translate to progress in the win column. Curry and Monta Ellis take my Buble/Osbourne analogy to new heights. They played what I like to call parallel basketball. One possession, one dominates the ball, the next possession the other does. Two talented guys with no ability or willingness to work together. And until one of them is moved (Ellis), this situation will not get better. Aminu is a gifted athlete without a lot of basketball skill. Scouts love him for what he could be. He’s a guy that I would stay away from, because he just doesn’t have a great understanding of the game. But since the Warriors love to run up and down the floor, Aminu is a guy they will clearly swing for the fences with (and miss).

7) Detroit Pistons- Ed Davis (F) North Carolina- I wanted so badly to put Georgetown’s Greg Monroe in this spot for Detroit. But then I went back and looked at Piston GM Joe Dumars recent track record on choosing personnel and I realized that expecting Dumars to do the smart thing is like asking Joran Van Der Sloot to take your daughter to the prom. Davis has a lot of athletic ability, but he’s raw and really has not accomplished much in college basketball wise. Could he be a good player at one point in the future? Maybe. But the Pistons need immediate contributors and Davis is not it. But Dumars has littered Detroit’s roster in recent years with players like this, so if Davis is there, which he will be, I think this is a pretty good bet.

8) Los Angeles Clippers- Xavier Henry (G/F) Kansas- What a topsy turvy NBA world we’ve entered when we can count on the Pistons to make the dumb pick and the Clippers to make the smart one. I love Henry. He has two very important NBA ready skills as a 19 year old. He can shoot and he can defend. He subjugated a little bit of his game this past season at Kansas to fit into a talented Kansas squad. But he has a ton of ability and a ton of potential. If the Clippers take him, he will be a great fit and a great building block with Blake Griffin for L.A.’s future.

9) Utah Jazz- Greg Monroe (F/C) Georgetown- If this draft plays out like I’m predicting, Utah GM Kevin O’Connor will be like a kid in a candy store. The Jazz have already made the decision to not offer Carlos Boozer a contract in the great free agency frenzy of 2010. And frankly, it’s a good decision. The Jazz committed to Paul Milsap in last year’s offseason at a cheaper price than they would have to pay Boozer and the two of them play a very similar game and are similar in size. Monroe is a big man who has the ideal skill set to play this era’s version of a ower forward known as a “stretch 4”. Chris Bosh is the prototype for this position, but Rashard Lewis and Lamar Odom are the other players who make it prominent. Monroe is the ideal stretch 4. He has very good perimeter abilities offensively as a 6 foot 11 big guy, but is big and tough enough to defend and rebound well inside. I think Monroe is going to be an extremely productive NBA player. And if he ends up in Utah, he immediately makes them a contender to win the west. They were beaten easily by the Lakers in the second round this year because with Mehmet Okur’s injury they were not long enough to handle Odom and Pau Gasol. Monroe solves those problems. The only buzzkill here for Utah is that if Dumars wises up quickly, Monroe won’t be available. But if he is, the Jazz become a force to reckon with for years to come. And considering that this was the Knicks pick that they gave up in that clever Stephon Marbury trade, I am now going to stick my head in the toilet and flush.

10) Indiana Pacers- Ekpe Udoh (F/C) Baylor- This is probably the hardest pick to forecast in this entire draft. The Pacers are in desperate need of a point guard, but there isn’t one they like this early. It would not be a huge mistake to select Kentucky’s Eric Bledsoe here, but I think that Indiana is going to focus on value and select Udoh. Udoh is a 6 foot 10 shot blocker/rebounder with some post skills on offense. A lot of the scouts downgrade him based upon the fact that he’s 23 years old, but I actually find that to be a plus because he’s mature and developed enough to contribute immediately. He is a very nice fit in a big man rotation with Roy Hibbert and Tyler Hansbrough and frees up Indiana President Larry Bird to trade forward Troy Murphy in the last year of his contract to fill that point guard void. Of course, if Monroe is not on the board for Utah, Udoh may get snatched up by the Jazz, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

11) New Orleans Hornets- Paul George (G/F) Fresno St- George is a great fit in New Orleans. He’s a developed shooter and a very athletic long wing. He’s still a little raw and definitely defensively challenged, but he’d be a big help in the new up tempo system that new Hornet coach Monty Williams is going to install. George and last year’s second rounder Marcus Thornton will make very nice wing weapons for point guards Chris Paul and Darren Collison.

12) Memphis Grizzlies- Luke Babbitt (F) Nevada- Memphis will be disappointed that Henry and George are gone as they look for a replacement for Rudy Gay who owner Michael Heisley will not pay big money to regardless of the rhetoric he spews. Babbitt is a very good shooter who couldn’t guard a chair. If Memphis looks to replace Gay with the pu-pu platter of Babbitt and last year’s second rounder Sam Young, they won’t be as bad off as some would think. Young is a tough defender and Babbitt can bury it from deep. They have nice complementary skills to one another and will fit nicely as wings with emerging star O.J. Mayo.

13) Toronto Raptors- Cole Aldrich (C) Kansas- All of the pre-draft buzz has Toronto selecting Texas guard Avery Bradley, but the more I read it, the more I think it’s a smoke screen. They’re committed to Jarrett Jack for another 3 years at reasonable money, and in reality as young as Bradley is, in the end its extremely questionable if he ends up being an upgrade over Jack. Aldrich serves a great purpose in that he helps the Raptors prepare for L.A.B (life after Bosh). Aldrich is a legit big man defensively and is a decent rebounder. He’s evolved enough offensively to not be a liability. And most importantly, he accomplishes a very important objective for the Raptors, which is enabling Toronto to move Andrea Bargnani to big forward. And if by some chance they keep Bosh, Aldrich provides invaluable power depth. At best, I think Aldrich will be an average NBA player, but he’d be a good fit with Toronto

14) Houston Rockets- Eric Bledsoe (G) Kentucky- Houston generally functions without a pure point guard. Aaron Brooks has been a very productive starter since being installed there after last year’s trade deadline. But with Houston trading for Kevin Martin from Sacramento at this past year’s trade deadline, they do need a distributor to get him the ball. Their current backup Kyle Lowry is more of a change of pace guy. Bledsoe should be too good to pass up here. He can defend, distribute, and learned how to shoot playing a wing next to John Wall. The one caveat with Bledsoe that could keep him chained to someone’s bench is his penchant for turnovers. That should dissipate as more maturity sets in.

15) Milwaukee Bucks- Patrick Patterson (F) Kentucky- When Buck center Andrew Bogut went down before the playoffs, the Bucks were left with a big time shortage of bigs and still almost took down Atlanta. If Patterson is available, the Bucks will be thrilled. Patterson is not great at anything, but he’s good at most things. And he shoots well enough from the perimeter to play stretch 4, although his perimeter defense is not great. With that said, I think Patterson will make a good pro.

16) Minnesota Timberwolves- James Anderson (G) Oklahoma St.- Considering David Kahn’s tunnel vision in his handling of the number 4 pick pre-draft, he seems pretty committed to upgrading at the wing positions. If Anderson is available for him, he’ll be a no-brainer. I like Anderson a lot. He’s a strong athletic wing who is tough off the dribble and is more of a scorer than a pure shooter. He’s got an NBA body and should not have a tough time adapting to playing NBA defense.

17) Chicago Bulls- Gordon Hayward (G/F) Butler- If Hayward falls to this spot, the Bulls should be ecstatic. Although Hayward needs to evolve defensively, he has as complete an offensive game as any wing player in this draft. He can handle, shoot,pass, and is creative in the half court off the dribble. His handling and passing will be very complementary to Derrick Rose’s talents for the Bulls.

18) Oklahoma City Thunder- Daniel Orton (C) Kentucky- Up until this week, it appeared that Orton was the apple of the Thunder’s eye. Supposedly, some rumors have floated of Orton having a bad knee and a bad attitude. Considering that the Thunder just traded for this pick, the day before the draft, it wreaks of a smoke screen. Orton is a big athletic center who appears to not need the ball to be effective. I say appears because he only averaged around 6 minutes a game in his only year of college. Not exactly a large sample size for a first round pick. This is a pick with big bust potential on a player who received bad advice and never should have left college.

19) Boston Celtics- Dominique Jones (G) South Florida- This is a player I really like a lot. He’s a natural scorer, a very tough rebounder for 6’4”, and plays with a nasty streak. His perimeter shooting needs some work, but he has proven to be a hard worker and a winner. His physicality will translate well to the NBA and with Ray Allen entering free agency, he would make a valuable insurance policy for Boston.

20) San Antonio Spurs- Damion James (F) Texas- James was a four year college player who is ready to contribute immediately. He played as an inside player in college, but will be more of a perimeter player in the pros. His only real weakness is that he does not shoot the ball well from deep. But he will be able to cut it on the defensive end form day 1, and will be a productive contributor for the Spurs if they go this way.

21) Oklahoma City Thunder- Larry Sanders (F/C) Virginia Commonwealth- Sanders is a good fit in Oklahoma City. Jeff Green is going to be a free agent after next year and although Green is a good unselfish player who does a lot of little things, playing forward next to Kevin Durant makes the Thunder a little smaller than they’d like to be if they want to be big enough to supplant the Lakers in the West. Sanders is a good inside scorer and rebounded well in college. He needs to put on some weight, but has the potential to be a Larry Nance type of forward in the NBA.

22) Portland Trailblazers- Avery Bradley (G)- Texas- I’m not a Bradley fan. Clearly an example of a guy who should have stayed in school. Scouts seem to like him because he is a tenacious defender. But I’m not a fan of guys who are built like point guards and don’t distribute the ball effectively. Furthermore, he’s only an average shooter. At this stage, I’m not even sure he’s a rotation player for someone, but Portland could take him because his ball handling deficiencies could be covered up playing next to Brandon Roy or Andre Miller and he can play defense.

23) Minnesota Timberwolves- Kevin Seraphin (C) France- Seraphin is a project. Scouts liken him to Kendrick Perkins. If that’s true, he actually could be a nice complement to Love or Jefferson. But he makes a nice pick for Minnesota because they may be able to talk him into staying in France for a year or two to develop further.

24) Atlanta Hawks- Devin Ebanks (F/G) West Virginia - Here’s another perfect fit for the perfect team. Atlanta’s major weakness was perimeter defense. Ebnaks is a long athletic tenacious perimeter defender. His offense is a little limited, but he plays fearless in the half court off the dribble. He needs desperately to work on his perimeter shooting. But considering the fact that Atlanta will most likely lose Joe Johnson to free agency, Ebanks can bring a completely different element to replacing Johnson at the same position.

25) Memphis Grizzlies- Quincy Pondexter (G/F) Washington- Pondexter is a very accomplished college player. Not a great shooter, but an athletic scorer with lots of basketball sense. Wherever he ends up, he is an immediate contributor to a rotation with potential into developing into more. He’s a wonderful value at this stage of the draft.

26) Oklahoma City Thunder- Hassan Whiteside (C) Marshall- Whiteside hurt himself in the pre draft camps and in interviews by displaying a cockiness that bordered on delusional. He’s very young and could have definitely used more than one year of college, but he’s in that Marcus Camby/Tyson Chandler mode in that he’s a big leaper with a nice knack for shot blocking and rebounding. Even if the Thunder land Orton, Whiteside provides decent competition and insurance.

27) New Jersey Nets- Jordan Crawford (G) Xavier- This is another player I am very fond of. Crawford is a big time scorer with big time range. Some scouts question his athleticism, but he’s one of these guys who is a much better athlete on the court than in workouts. The Nets struggled to score from the perimeter last year. Getting Crawford at this stage of the draft would qualify as a steal.

28) Memphis Grizzlies- Gani Lawal (F/C) Georgia Tech- I like Lawal. He’s physically tough and should be able to rebound and defend effectively on the next level. One of the big, justified criticisms of him is his inflated impression of his offensive skills which caused him to be a black hole at Georgia Tech. when the ball went in, it never came out. Yet he certainly has enough ability to be a contributor in someone’s rotation this year and considering Memphis’ bench issues this past season, this is as good a place for him as any.

29) Orlando Magic- Lazar Heyward (G/F) Marquette- Orlando has a chance to lose both Matt Barnes and J.J. Redick to free agency, so an athletic wing certainly is a need. Heyward is certainly athletic, but suffered a little at Marquette from questionable shot selection. At this point in the draft, he’s well worth a shot because he certainly has the ability to be an effective rotation player.

30) Washington Wizards- Solomon Alabi (C) Florida State- Alabi was a good shot blocker and rebounder at Florida State and is athletic enough to have the potential to be improve significantly. However, he is a major project offensively. But at this stage of the draft, he is more than a worthwhile risk because of his size and upside.


As you’ve probably surmised by now, I really like this draft. Its both deep and top heavy. I think that Wall and Cousins are going to be superstars and I think that Tunrer and Monroe will be excellent for years to come. There are also players that I think can be contributors in the league who I did not put into my first round. Here’s a list of second rounders who I think will make the league as significant contributors.


Lance Stephenson (G) Cincinnati- Made a terrible decision coming out, but still has a chance to be good.

Willie Warren (G) Oklahoma- Gave himself no choice but to come out by burning a bridge with his college coach, Jeff Capel. With an attitude adjustment, he’s got a chance because he has ability.

Jarvis Varnado (F/C) Mississippi St. - Good athlete and an excellent defender and shot blocker. Needs to develop an offensive game and put on some weight.

Derrick Caracter (C) UTEP- He has the offensive ability to play in the NBA, but he needs to keep off weight and keep himself out of trouble. Although he played great last year and behaved himself, discipline and citizenship remain question marks for him.

Jon Scheyer (G) Duke- Whoever gets him in the second round will be getting a steal. He’s more athletic than the scouts are giving him credit for and is an accomplished shooter. He also is a very good ball handler and is a flat out winner. He’s a first round talent who is coming out in a deep draft.

Dexter Pittman (C) Texas- Pittman has a lot of ability, he just struggles with weight issues. He had to leave the Chicago pre-draft camp because of the death of his brother. He handled it with grace that showed great character. Someone will take a shot with this kid. He’s worth a risk for any team willing to invest in a full time personal trainer for him.

Sherron Collins (G) Kansas- Collins will benefit fron being a point guard in a weak point guard draft. He’s a leader and was a tough defender in college. He’s not a great shooter and has a propensity to put on weight. Teams will be much more patient with a big guy with a weight issue than a point guard. But if Collins get himself together, he has a chance to be an effective backup.

Omar Samhan (C) St. Mary’s- Samhan has great hands and feet and plays like a winner. He’s a smart guy, but for a phys ed major, doesn’t value conditioning like he should. Similar to Pittman, if you draft him, hire him Jillian Michaels and you may just have yourself a big time center.

Da’Sean Butler (G) West Virginia- He was one of the best players in the Big East before he blew out his knee in the final four versus Duke. He’s a great kid, who defends well, takes the ball to the basketball effectively and defends like an animal. Choosing him in the second round is a worthwhile investment in a good character kid who is committed to rehabbing his knee.


I’ll be back next week with a draft review, my thoughts on the new coaching hires, and of course my own little preview of the Great Free Agency Frenzy of 2010. Giddyap. Y’all be cool.

Coaches Critique



Hollywood lost one of the great ones this past week with the passing of Dennis Hopper. Hopper played a bunch of legendary roles over the years. However, one role struck a chord with me more than any other. He played Gene Hackman's brilliant and troubled assistant coach, Shooter, in the movie Hoosiers. According to Shooter, he knew everything there ever was to know about the greatest game ever invented. If Shooter was actually a real person and not a fictional character, I'm sure he'd have his own blog and would thouroughly enjoy fully critiquing the overall coaching performance of the four head coaches who brought their teams to the NBA conference finals. So in honor of Shooter and Dennis Hopper, here's my breakdown of the performance of Stan Van Gundy, Alvin Gentry, Doc Rivers, and Phil Jackson followed by a few short points about the Boston/L.A. final, which is Christmas in June for a hardcore basketball fan.

Before I get into the particulars of the job that Stan Van Gundy did in the playoffs, I want to clearly state that I like Stan. i like the fact that he looks exactly like porn star Ron Jeremy. I like the fact that he dresses like he's going out with the Soprano crew for goomah night. I like the fact that he shares DNA with my favorite basketball announcer in the world and most of all, I generally like the job Stan does coaching the Magic. With all that said, this past Eastern Conference final was not Stan's finest moment.

The Celtics determined right from the start of this series that they were content to let Dwight Howard beat them inside. The Celtics were determined to smother Orlando's perimeter shooters and they were prepared to live with their center Kendrick Perkins playing Howard straight up. The Celtics play tenacious half court defense and were successful in keeping Orlando's shooters from hurting them. For Orlando, there was a possible solution to this problem that was relatively simple, yet the Magic did not take advantage enough.

In last year's Eastern Conference finals, the Magic faced a Cleveland Cavalier team that for the exception of one player, was nowhere close to as athletic as the Magic. The Magic spent the entire series pushing the ball up the floor creating easy baskets, open transition threes, and forcing Cleveland to play at a pace where they were overmatched. Cleveland had a difficult time slowing the pace down because they play without a pure point guard. Mo Williams may look like a point guard, but he's nowhere good enough to play one on TV. And because Cleveland could not slow down the tempo, Orlando disposed of them in 6 games.

For the exception of one player, the Celtics core players are old, slow, or a combination of both. They play a very aggressive brand of half court basketball. Boston's kryptonite is having to spend extended periods of time playing in an up tempo game. They were forced to play up tempo far too little by the Magic. In the games where Orlando chose to push the tempo, they won. The Magic outscored the Celtics in every fourth quarter of this series. Granted we can throw game three out because it was a blow out, but to me that fourth quarter advantage is a clear sign that the Celtics are susceptible to being worn down late in games and the Magic did not take advantage of it at all.

Don't get me wrong here. In no way am I implying that it was as easy to play fast against this year's Celtics as it was against last year's Cavs. The Celtics have a point guard in Rajon Rondo who controls tempo as good as any guard in the league. Rondo is a superb athlete with a clear knowledge of the fact that his team plays better slow, even though he plays better fast. Cleveland didn't have a point guard. They had a chucker who's best trait was his willingness to defer to LeBron James much of the time. But the Magic made it easy for Rondo. Magic point guard Jameer Nelson is a decent up tempo point guard who Orlando did not have for most of last year's playoffs. When Nelson pushed the ball in this series, opportunities opened up for Orlando. There was one point during game 4, when Stan's brother Jeff was screaming to the viewers that Orlando needs to run, run, run. Instead they allowed Rondo and Boston to impose their tempo and now the Magic are playing golf while the Celtics plan for the Lakers.

The other spot where I thought Stan goofed was how little he played backup center Marcin Gortat together with Dwight Howard. If the Magic were content allowing the Celtics to slow down the game, then Stan had business going big to match up with the Celtics' size. Stan played Gortat and Howard together for only one long stretch in game 5, and that was in response to the Celtics being short on bigs due to Perkins' ejection and Glen Davis' concussion. The argument against playing Gortat and Howard together for long stretches is that it would bog down the offense, but with the Celtics guarding the three point arc aggressively, wasn't their offense bogged down already? Having Gortat in the game with Howard as a second shot blocker/inside help defender certainly would have assisted in keeping Paul Pierce and Rondo away from the rim.

And that leads to my final issue with Stan before I leave him alone. Pushing the tempo for a three point shooting team like the Magic is not rocket science. In the way Stan spoke after and during the games, and frankly, with the way his brother harped on playing fast during the telecasts, it was apparent that Stan wanted Orlando the up the tempo. But there seems to be an issue with Stan having the ability to get his message through to this group. Now before we all go blaming Vince Carter for this, which is convenient, but unfair and not accurate , it is important to note that at two separate times during last year's playoffs the Magic were close to a player mutiny against Stan. Stan yells an awful lot, and habitual yellers almost always end up delivering a stale message after a certain amount of time, regardless of the sport. Coaches who ride players like Stan does, have a shelf life. Food for thought.

Alvin Gentry took over the Phoenix Suns’ job in the middle of the 2008-09 season under tough circumstances. Suns GM Steve Kerr was attempting a makeover of the Suns style of play at the beginning of the 08-09 season. He had traded for Shaquille O’Neal at the prior trade deadline and fired head coach Mike D’Antoni at season’s end, all with an eye on creating more of a defensive identity for the Suns. He hired Terry Porter as head coach to execute this vision.
Well, Kerr’s vision was slightly impaired from the outset to say the least. The Suns were disappointing on both ends of the floor. Porter was fired midseason, albeit unfairly, because the Suns were not where Kerr thought they should be. In retrospect, trading for an aging, overweight center who can’t defend the pick and roll as a lynchpin move to establish a new defensive identity was like planning to stay dry in a monsoon with only a newspaper overhead. When Porter was fired, Gentry was given the job on an interim basis. Gentry immediately reinstalled the Suns up tempo style and although the Suns fell short of the playoffs in a stacked Western Conference, he managed to make basketball in Phoenix fun again.
In the offseason preceding this season, Kerr did Gentry an enormous favor (no pun intended) in offloading Shaq onto Cleveland for a few expiring contracts and a used gymbag. This was like a 400 pound weight being removed from the Suns. Strike that, it WAS a 400 pound weight being removed from the Suns. Gentry had the Suns playing a up tempo game, but still emphasized half court defense. Gentry also used an old Hubie Brown staple of rotation management by using an entire second team for stretches of the 2nd and 4th quarter of games. This became extremely beneficial when his bench guys had confidence in big spots and he was able to get plenty of rest for his two oldest starters in Steve Nash and Grant Hill, but I digress. The ultimate result was a 54-28 record and the third seed in the West.
Gentry did his best work in the playoffs. He kept the Suns focused against an undermanned Portland team. It became easier for Gentry to get his guys’ attention after they lost game 1 at home to Portland and they took care of Portland in 6. The Spurs were next for Phoenix. Gentry did an outstanding job in this series getting his guys to continually push the tempo and take advantage of George Hill’s inexperience as a point guard by getting him to play at Phoenix’s pace. Gentry also ran a ton of pick and roll with Tim Duncan guarding the screener. This was unstoppable for Phoenix in this series because Duncan’s deteriorating foot speed made it impossible for San Antonio to defend. You do not see many playoff series where Gregg Popovich gets outcoached, but Gentry did it here in a Phoenix sweep.
Interestingly enough, Gentry probably distinguished himself the most in the series in which the Suns lost. After getting soundly beaten in the first two games of the Western Conference finals by the Lakers, Gentry made some crucial adjustments to get the Suns back in the series. Offensively, he moved Amare Stoudemire a little further from the basket, giving him more room to use his quickness to beat Pau Gasol and/or a hobbled Andrew Bynum. And in the last 4 games of this series, Stoudemire shredded the Lakers. The other big move that Gentry made was to incorporate a 2-1-2 zone defense. The zone was a great wrinkle allowing Phoenix to hide their biggest defensive liability in Channing Frye so they could keep him on the court for his perimeter shooting. Furthermore, in the words of my man Shooter, the Suns made the Lakers “chuck it from the cheap seats. “ For the sole exception of Kobe Bryant, it took the Lakers awhile to adjust to the zone, and they didn’t have anyone who could guard Kobe anyway. So, when the Lakers started running their offense through the high post in gane 5 and had the 2-1-2 figured out, Gentry switched to a 1-3-1 zone which helped the Suns make up an 18 point deficit from late in the third quarter to tie the game with 3.5 seconds left. And if it were not for a missed box out by Jason Richardson and the sheer determination of my man Ron Artest (have the Ariza fans converted yet?), the Suns may have had a different result in that game.
The roughest part of this series for Gentry is that he almost coached a perfect series. Once the Lakers figured out the 1-3-1, Gentry went back to man to man to keep them off balance. He made one crucial mistake down the stretch of game 6, and that probably cost the Suns that game. In game 3 of the San Antonio series, Phoenix backup point guard Goran Dragic went on a scoring binge that would have made Drazen Petrovic proud. Dragic scored 26 points in 17 minutes, leading Phoenix’s second team to a road victory and a 3-0 lead in that series. Gentry never put his first team back on the floor. He brought Nash in to play with Dragic and shoot free throws in the last two minutes, but he let his second team finish what they started.
In game 6 of the Laker series, Dragic was elbowed in the head by fellow countryman and sworn enemy Sasha Vujacic. Dragic proceeded to go on another scoring binge and before long, the Laker lead was down to 5. With 4 minutes left in the game, Gentry inexplicably pulled his entire second team including Dragic to let his starters finish. Gentry’s best move was to keep Jason Richardson on the bench next to him and leave Dragic in the game. The Lakers could not stop him after he took the elbow to the head. And he finished the loss on the bench next to Gentry. The only defense for Gentry is the old adage, dance with the one that brought you. Still, an outstanding job by a great coach who really really surprised me. He matched wits in two straight series’ with the best of the best, Popovich and Phil Jackson.

I have never been a fan of Doc Rivers, the coach. I thought he underachieved in Orlando. And I flat out thought he was a bad hire for the Celtics. All Doc has done in his 4 years on the job is shut me up and he's on the verge of doing it again. Everytime I hear Doc talk to his team or about his team, I get this feeling that he was separated from Herm Edwards at birth.
Doc is not the best tactitician. Very frankly, its hard to discern the difference where his influence ends and ace assistant coach Tom Thibodeau's begins. But the one thing that is undeniable is that the Celtics play a team oriented style of basketball. If there were being judged on American Idol, Kara Dioguardi would tell them that they know who they are and they stay true to themselves.
You can't deny that this is one of the best help defense teams I have ever seen. As individual defenders, they're not bad. As a unit, they are outstanding. When it comes to playing defense off the ball, there is no weak link. That is a clear reflection of a team who plays with discipline and selflessness. These are traits that should always be credited to the head coach. Granted, his roster is long on veterans with championship experience, but Doc is still the one that keeps these guys playing the game in a way which accentuates the Celtics' strenghts. They keep the tempo slow. The funnel penetrators to towards the middle of the floor where they have help. They share the ball. They set good screens and they physically back down from no one. But none of this qualifies as Doc's greatest accomplishment this season.
Doc spent the second half of the season with a fractured locker room. There was a clear divide between his young guys and his old guys. Plus, he was saddled with an overweight Rasheed Wallace, who's indifference towards the game and his own personal conditioning was disrespectful to the Celtics and to the game itself. Boston's big three (Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce) were butting heads with Rajon Rondo. Rondo has developed a reputaion for being difficult to coach, surly, and nasty to deal with. But when Rondo emerged at the start of the playoffs as an elite point guard capable of leading any team deep into the playoffs, Doc got everyone to fall into line behind Rondo and Boston hasn't looked back. Doc has been able to get his guys to buy into the concept that we don't have to like each other to stand up for one another. The Celtics function as an on court family. They don't always like each other, but the act to the outside world like they love each other. A classic example of what Boon tells Otter in Animal House. "They can't do that to our pledges...only we can do that to our pledges." Doc has fostered an environment where the whole is truly greater than the sum of the parts. I tip my hat to a guy I considered a bad hire. He has been the right coach for this team. Now we get to see if his magic has run out.......

Discussing Phil Jackson has always been somewhat of a conundrum for me. His results speak for themselves. He is the most successful coach in NBA history. And his 10 championship rings are symbolic of the greatness he has achieved in doing his job. Yet, more times than not, I have consistently disagreed with a lot of the methodology employed in his achieving such extreme and historical success.
Ultimately, Phil was created a unique and legendary legacy through his success in coaching superstars. One of the biggest fallacies about NBA coaches is that its easy to coach the best players. Its actually extremely difficult. Firstly, the superstar always has more power with ownership than the head coach, so its never your typical coach/player relationship. Its more of a partnership, except your partner has all the leverage. Just ask Mike Brown. He did everything he could to try and please LeBron, even at times giving guys playing time against his better judgment to be politically correct in his own locker room and got fired anyway. Jackson built his reputation through his relationship with Michael Jordan. He sharpened that reputation through his relationship with Shaq and Kobe. Then he lit a match to his relationship with Kobe by penning a tell all book about what a petulant immature child Kobe was, and then managed to rebuild that relationship a year later. Then, he goes on to win a title with Kobe and is now about to play for another one. He has cemented himself as the coach every star wants to play for. This is a legendary accomplishment that may not be replicated in our lifetime.
This skill that Jackson has to coach superstars has become the ultimate coaching band aid. The perpetual presence of a superstar on his roster has bailed Jackson out of many matchup and tactical mistakes. On this particular team, Phil’s band aid is the great Kobe Bryant. Phil has the luxury of doing things like keeping Derek Fisher in a mismatch (i.e Russell Westbrook in this year’s first round) because Kobe will bail him out. He can be slow to make adjustments to Phoenix’s zone defense because Kobe will bail him out. Phil has mastered the luxury of margin of error strategy wise because he is the pre-eminent coach to the superstars in the history of the league.
One of the other more interesting aspects of the way Jackson coaches are through his motivational techniques. Where many coaches choose the direct route in communicating with players, Jackson does things like handing them books to read to make them think. He uses quotations and historical references. He gives quotes to the media designed to send messages to players, but never his superstars. But probably the best thing he does is the public messages he sends referees through the media to try and park an idea in an official’s head for a future game. He almost always absorbs a fine in doing it. But it’s a very smart motivational ploy in the fact that by writing a check for a fine in the name of attempting to influence officiating makes his players feel like he’s in the trenches with them. He does things in a very unorthodox fashion, but frankly, that’s the thing that makes him the most successful coach of all time.

Now onto the finals….


This year’s finals reminds of an old advertising slogan from Old Milwaukee Beer. A bunch of guys sitting around a campfire toast with their cans of Old Milwaukee while exclaiming the slogan, “it doesn’t get any better than this.” Of course those guys were sleeping outside with mosquitos drinking watered down swill from a can, but I digress. As basketball fans, we’re drinking Cristal and eating caviar while relaxing on a gorgeous yacht. We have been blessed with the best matchup we could ever want with great players, great teams, and most importantly, historical significance.
Lets be logical about this and throw the 2008 matchup out the window. Even though there are very few new players from 2008, too many guys are just different players than they were that year. I’ll break this down from both sides.
If I’m Boston, the first thing I understand defensively is that odds are, I will not stop Kobe. However, if I shut down the guys around him and turn him into a high volume shooter while eroding his shot selection, I’m a step ahead. So, ultimately, the Celtics have to make sure to defend the post well and watch Fisher on the perimeter. Essentially, double Gasol in the post off of Artest and Odom, but don’t lose Fish. And whatever you do, guard Kobe the best you can, but don’t double him. Kobe can’t beat you alone, but he’ll bury you with help. Rondo cannot wander off Fish to help. Pierce should be Boston’s main double teamer assuming Allen guards Kobe.
Offensively, if I’m the Celtics, I’m a little concerned. Paul Pierce has been Boston’s best scorer in the playoffs and he’s about to be smothered in a way he’s not used to. Ron Artest put Kevin Durant in his hip pocket in the first round and he’s about to do the same thing to Pierce. Boston would be smart not to force it and let Pierce’s offense come passively. Odds are, the Lakers will guard Ray Allen with Fisher. The Celtics need to set plenty of low screens for Allen to make Fisher fight through traffic. Getting Allen going should be of paramount importance to Boston. Also, I bet Boston goes to school on the fact that Pau Gasol didn’t look great guarding Stoudemire in the last 4 games of the West final. The Celtics must re-commit to getting Garnett the ball in the post. Garnett was a great weapon in the second round against Cleveland. And getting Garnett the ball on the low block is a key to Boston creating foul trouble and exploiting L.A’s lack of quality depth with their bigs. If two of Gasol, Bynum, and Odom have foul trouble consistently, the Lakers will struggle.
If I’m L.A., understanding that Pierce should be taken care of, my main focus is to keep Rondo out of the paint. That primary responsibility will fall to kobe. I actually think Kobe will do a great job of this. Because of the inconsistency in Rondo’s perimeter shooting, he needs to be funneled to the outside areas of the court more than actually be guarded. Reducing Rondo’s penetration can make Boston’s offense stagnant. Also, whenever Bynum is on the floor, I’d have him cover Garnett. It will make Garnett’s life tougher on the low block, and if Garnett pulls him out to the perimeter, even better. The idea is to turn all of the Celtics into jump shooters, because with Ron Artest on the floor, Ray Allen is the only one who can consistently hurt you from there.
Offensively, if I’m L.A., I’m going to start Kobe in the post and invite Boston to double him. If they don’t, Kobe eats them for dinner. If they do, the Lakers end up with cutters and shooters galore. I would also post up Artest a lot, just to wear Pierce down a little. The other thing that will help the Lakers is to spend some time pushing the tempo. Remember, the Celtics lost every fourth quarter to Orlando. If they’re forced to run early, their advanced age will cause them to run out of gas late. I wouldn’t worry so much about getting Gasol too involved early. His stengths play into the teeth of Boston’s defense and he’s going to be a very important factor for the Lakers defensively and on the glass. Of course, if Garnett, Perkins, or Wallace start with the stupid fouls, Gasol in the post is just what the Lakers could use to land any of them on the bench for an extended period of time, which will allow the Lakers to dominate the rim. Glen Davis is not a solution for Boston in this series. Gasol and Odom are brutal matchups for him.
I have been underestimating the Celtics since before the playoffs. Remember, I’m the guy who declared that their championship window closed on Rivers’ and Danny Ainge’s fingers, so my prediction should come with a grain of salt. I see the Lakers finishing this in 6. Keep in mind that four times in the last two seasons, the Lakers have been tough enough to keep quality opponents from taking them to a game 7. They finished Denver and Orlando in 6 last year and Oklahoma City and Phoenix in 6 this year. The only team to take them to a game 7 in the last two years was last year’s Rockets. So, the Lakers did the most prudent thing. They went and signed Houston’s best player. Lakers in 6.
Giddyap. Y’all be cool.

You can follow my lunatic rantings on twitter at www.twitter.com/bgeltz

Rebounding from the lost entries



Since the playoffs have began, I've sat down to write two separate columns. The first one (which was damn good by the way), vanished into the Cyber Bermuda Triangle. The second one took me so long to finish that by the time I got 3 quarters through it, most of it was wholly irrelevant. So, in a recovery attempt, I'm going to tell you what surprised me and what did not.


First Round

I was surprised that Chicago played Cleveland as tough as they did. I know it ended in 5, but Chicago was at a severe talent disadvantage and made every game but one interesting. If I'm Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade or LeBron James, I'd give careful consideration to joining Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, and Luol Deng in Chicago during the great free agent frenzy of 2010. Then again, LeBron, Wade, and Bosh don't need me to tell them that....

I'm not surprised that Orlando disposed of Charlotte in such short order. Charlotte head coach Traveling Larry Brown did his David Blaine imitation getting this blend of mediocre talent into the playoffs.

I was completely surprised that Milwaukee pushed Atlanta to 7 games. Atlanta's perimeter defense was so bad that Mike Bibby and Jamal Crawford could have been mistaken for turnstiles. They made Brandon Jennings and John Salmons look like Tiny Archibald and Michael Jordan. And can Joe Johnson show up? He's gone from a player in Phoenix who was versatile enough to fill in whatever his team needed on a given night who has now become a high volume perimeter shooter with a horrific shot selection. Furthermore, he's done a subpar job fitting in with Atlanta's good young bigs in Josh Smith and Al Horford.

I was completely surprised that Boston disposed of Miami in 5 games. In my playoff preview, I boldly declared that the Celtics championship window had closed on Doc Rivers and Danny Ainge's fingers....oops. Boston has pulled off a shocking turnaround to say the least. And while I'm on the Celtics and I'm doing mea culpas, I feel the need to discuss Boston point guard Rajon Rondo. Up until these playoffs I had felt that Rondo's value reflected more on the stat sheet and less in overall contribution to wins and losses. After what I've seen in these playoffs,my view of Rondo is much different. My big criticisms of him were his weak perimeter shooting, weak free throw shooting, which is killer for a point guard, his propensity to gamble on defense, some poor offensive decision making, and a habit of chasing rebounds and getting caught out of position. Well, Rondo has improved both his free throw and perimeter shooting. His decision making has become impeccable on both ends of the floor. And his rebounding instincts have become a tremendous asset. He is clearly the Celtics best player. He's the straw that stirs the Garnett/Allen/Pierce drink. And if they make the NBA finals, he will be the biggest reason they got there. I was wrong about Rondo. He has become the fourth best point guard in the NBA, right behind Deron Williams, Chris Paul, and Derrick Rose, and right in front of the defensively challenged Steve Nash.

I was not surprised that the Oklahoma City Thunder pushed the Lakers to 6 games. I knew Russell Westbrook would be too much for Derek Fisher to handle and I was correct about Ron Artest's ability to put Kevin Durant in his hip pocket. Laker coach Phil Jackson's loyalty to Derek Fisher is admirable and somewhat foolish all at the same time. I have joked frequently in the past about Fisher being washed up and frankly its not all that much of a joke. Fisher has hit many big shots for the Lakers in the past and Phil has a unique comfort level with him. Up until this point, it has served the Lakers very well, which is why Phil Jackson has 10 championship rings and I'm a hack with a website.

I was also not surprised that San Antonio finished off Dallas in 6 games. What did surprise me was how bad a series Dallas coach Rick Carlisle coached. In all fairness he was saddled with integrating Caron Butler into a team where Butler just did not fit. When you're a player on the Mavericks, its Dirk Nowitzki's world and everyone else is living in it. Butler played like he was still competing for shots on the Wizards with Antawn Jamison and Gilbert Arenas. Butler was a factor in Dallas' game 5 win with 36 points, but he was a liability otherwise. San Antonio shut down Jason Kidd using Manu Ginobili and Richard Jefferson to guard him. And I was certainly not surprised that Spur guard George Hill was the difference in the series for San Antonio. What did surprise me was that Carlisle used his fastest guard, rookie Rodrique Beaubois so little. Hill killed Dallas because he was the fastest player on the floor and guarded Jason Terry admirably. When Carlisle finally decided to use Beaubois, he single handedly got Dallas back into game 6. And once they were back in the game, he buried Beaubois on the bench right next to Shawn Marion, who got buried on the bench down the stretch of every game. Ranger Rick is lucky that Dallas owner Mark Cuban is a reasonable man, or he could have easily found himself back in the ESPN studio.

I was not surprised that Phoenix took care of Portland in 6. What did surprise me was that an organization with the rotten luck of Portland would risk their franchise player in Brandon Roy by putting him in a playoff game less than two weeks after he had knee surgery for a torn meniscus. With a healthy Roy, Portland was not a threat to win a championship this year. And I don't buy the idea that he wasn't risking hurting it further. That Portland front office has become every man for himself and if they're not careful they are going to squander a stacked hand.

I know I shouldn't have been surprised by this, but I was sort of surprised that Denver rolled over to Utah without their head coach George Karl. Utah's mental toughness was certainly not a surprise, because thats the only way head coach Jerry Sloan will have it. But I thought Denver would play with some purpose considering that Karl dangled his return to the team if they made the second round. But with Kenyon Martin playing on one leg and Chris "Birdman" Anderson having no lift because of a knee injury, Denver was severely compromised inside. And when you combine that with J.R. Smith's reckless shot selection and Chauncey Billups channeling his inner Iverson all over again, Carmelo Anthony had no help.


Second round


I was so surprised that Boston was able to send LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers home in 6 games. They are so many things I saw in this series that had me shaking my head, I don't even know where to start. I was surprised the Celtics played as efficiently as they did, although that was more of a product of the fact that you could could have given the Cavs red uniforms, british accents, and swords and they could not have guarded Buckingham Palace. Antawn Jamison guarded Kevin Garnett like Garnett was carrying an infectious disease and Jamison didn't want to catch it. Mo Williams treated Rondo like he was a dragon. Williams acted as if he stood in front of Rondo, Rondo would breathe fire on him. And Cleveland coach Mike Brown showed an absurd amount of misplaced loyalty in guys who never earned it. Brown's best 5 in this series was Varejao, James, Moon, Parker, and West. Those were his 5 best defensive matchups. Instead he lived with Jamison and Williams who were defensive liabilities from moment one. Jamison was so bad in particular, that in game 5, Brown actually thought that the 350 lb. Shaq had a better chance to contain Garnett than Jamison. Thats like having someone send in Kevin James to pinch run for you.

And while I'm on the Cavs, indulge me a moment while I put in my two cents on LeBron James. All of this speculation that engulfs LeBron reminds me of an old expression that my grandfather on my mother's side used to use. Papa Nelson would say, "Everyone's on the bullsh-t." There is very very little I hear that I actually believe on where Lebron is playing, why he didn't play well, and what he is thinking. LeBron is a 25 year old kid who has the world in the palm of his hand. Anyone who pretends to know what he is thinking is so full of it, that they're eyes are brown, especially those closest to him. LeBron's pending free agency is the ultimate wait and see game. Our media driven, information seeking society is not good with that. Anyone can speculate until they're blue in the face. Its meaningless hot air. And as far as this notion that he quit on Cleveland in game 5 of the Boston series. I saw a young player who defended Boston's hottest player in Rondo very effectively in the first half holding Rondo to zero points and zero assists. He clearly didn't have it offensively, like a great pitcher without his good stuff. He needed his guys to pick up for him a little bit. And for the exception of Shaq, who is still plays a tough brand of basketball for a fat old guy, the rest of his guys played dead from the neck up. No fire. No urgency. LeBron James, the 25 year old basketball star looked frustrated. I know we're all suppossed to be witnesses and all, but its not really fair to the guy to act shocked when he turns up human. See, I'm on the bullsh-t with everyone else.....

I was not all that surprised that the Magic swept Atlanta. Atlanta ends up to be the polar opposite of the concept that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. And the worst part about it is that the Hawks quit. Their head coach Mike Woodson got fired after they were eliminated and I can't say it wasn't justified. His inability to get Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford to choose shots more selectively was fatal to the Hawks. In the upcoming great free agent frenzy of 2010, Joe Johnson should display a buyer beware sticker as he shops for a max deal.

I was definitely a little surprised that the Lakers swept the Utah Jazz. I certainly expected the Lakers to win, but I thought they would lose one or two games. Once again, I get caught underestimating how washed up Derek Fisher truly is. Deron Williams certainly scored and created at will against Fish. But Fish brought it right back at him, having a good offensive series. And while I'm here, I was extremely disappointed with the weak defense Utah played in this series, specifically their 3 best players. Willimas, Carlos Boozer, and Paul Milsap were destroyed by the Lakers. Frankly, for guys considered to be premium players, their defensive effort was insufficient.

I was completely and entirely floored that Phoenix was able to sweep San Antonio. Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire pick and rolled San Antonio to death. Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN wrote a column about Tim Duncan's inability to defend the pick and roll (linked right here
http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/15752/has-tim-duncan-become-a-defensive-liability) and he's right on. Duncan's eroded foot speed really hurt the Spurs in this series. Also, the Spurs had expected Richard Jefferson to bring them athleticism on both ends of the floor and in transition. Jefferson was completely schooled by the Geritol taking Grant Hill. Jefferson never appeared comfortable in his role with the Spurs. And if recent history is relevant, the head coach with 3 championship rings gets the benefit of the doubt, not the aging chucker who hurt his career by thinking he was better than he was. Greg Popovich was not wrong in believing that Jefferson could compete athletically with Hill and Jason Richardson. But Jefferson didn't seem like he wanted to be up to the task.

Conference Finals

I am completely flabbergasted that Orlando has fallen behind Boston 2-0 at home nonetheless. It shocks me that the Magic have not played an uptempo game as they did in last year Eastern Conference final against Cleveland. I'm not looking to minimize how well the Celtics are playing, but Orlando has played this exactly how Boston would like them to. Boston has suffoctaed Orlando's perimeter players in the halfcourt. The Magic are in desperate need of easy baskets. And some wide open transition 3 point attempts wouldn't hurt either. But as long as they keep walking it up and use Dwight Howard in the post as their primary offensive option, they're on the express route to going home for the season. Their offensive philosophy needs to be simple. Run pick and roll with Howard in the half court and get out and run off turnovers and missed baskets. The Celtics can be hard to run against because they have become the smartest team in basketball, which is a counter intuitive statement considering that they have Rasheed Wallace on their team. But if the Magic make them run back od defense, they have a chance to wear down a team thats more than a little long in the tooth.

I am not surprised at all that the Lakers are handling the Suns with such ease. The most frustrating part about this for Phoenix is that the Lakers are burying them at their own game. The Suns love to run and the Lakers are running them out of the gym. Amare Stoudemire is taking a lot of heat for getting eaten alive by Pau Gasol, which is not a crime. Gasol doesn't discriminate. He does it to just about everybody. The Suns best bet to get back into this series is to go big and play slow. Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry has got caught playing too small for too long which has permitted Gasol and my man Lamar Odom to dominate both rims. Phoenix probably doesn't win the series slowing down, but anything's got to work better than what they just did in these two games.

I'll be back with more during the finals. And I'll get started on the draft and the great free agnet frenzy of 2010. If you wannt to follow my lunatic rantings on twitter, you can find me at www.twitter.com/bgeltz Giddyap. Y'all be cool.