Basketballitics

White Boy Profile #4: Jeff Foster

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 14:37:00 +0000

Origin: January 16, 1977 in San Antonio, Tx.

Upbringing: Played his college ball at Southwest Texas State University (Bobby Bouche, anyone?)

Keys to his Game: How on Earth is this guy an 11 year NBA veteran? He has never averaged more than 7 points or 9 rebounds. He is perfectly mediocre. Keys to his game? He sets great screens. Seriously. He is a marginal rebounder for his height. He covers the baseline. Bless his heart, he has earned over $40 million in the NBA.

Best White Boy Feature: It is a tie between his pre-balding poof and his appeared cluelessnesss

youtube:

Interesting observations: Again, how has this guy pulled in $40 million? The most points he ever scored in a game was 19... twice. 11 year pro and he never even broke the 20 point barrier. I got to give the guy credit. White boys have a unique ability of just remaining mediocre.

NBA Career: Only in Indiana can Jeff Foster remain relevant for a decade. How is it that this guy is an NBA vet when this guy never even sniffed the court

Amazing. Watching this video is sad to think this kid never had a legitimate shot.

Nickname(s): N/A
Proposed New Nickname: Survivor Man

Closest Comparison (Current or Historic):

ALL THE WAY!!!

White Boy Level: 5 out 10. Pedestrian white boy who never broke double digits in rebounds or points

Skill Level: 3 out of 10. Jeff Foster, you will never cease to amaze me.

White Boy Profile #3: Brad Miller

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 16:32:00 +0000

I have to say I am impressed Brad Miller is even still in the league. Going back to his Purdue days, who knew we would still be watching his big white behind 13 years later.

Origin: April 12, 1976 in Kendallville, Ind. If you are keeping score, that is 2 white boys from Indiana.

Upbringing: Played 3 years high school ball in Kendallville before transferring to a prep school in Maine his senior year. Went to Purdue where he was an instrumental member on some very physical Gene Keady teams. He was consistently average scoring 1,400 pts, grabbing 800 boards and dishing 250 assists. He will be remembered as a tough guy for busting his chin open in his final game but refusing to stay off the floor. And bonus white boy points for playing on the same collegiate team as Brian Cardinal, another proto-type NBA white boy.

Keys to his Game: Strong physical player with a large frame and farmers build. Brad Miller looks mean but he has a sweet mid range jumper which has kept him relevant in the NBA. He is not the typical rebound/shot block center you would expect. He is a sweet shooter. After all, he is an Indiana boy, less we forget.

Best White Boy Feature: The B.A. go-tee

youtube:

(5 great things: Oakley GANG tackles everyone, Marcus Fizer haha remember that guy?, Brad Miller shirtless, Kobe has no sympathy for Shaq, Ron Artest is the calming influence in this fight.) Wow.

Interesting observations: He wore corn rows back in Sactown. What on Earth was he thinking?

NBA Career: Undrafted and went to play in Italy during the lockout before being picked up by the Hornets in 98. He is well known for his years with the Kings and Bulls. He also had a stint with the Pacers and will be suiting up for the Rockets this year.

Nickname(s):Boss (not validated)
Proposed New Nickname: The Big Mean Shooting Machine

Closest Comparison (Current or Historic): Mehmet Okur

White Boy Level: 8 out of 10. Brad has flourished in the league despite being undrafted and rather pedestrian through his college years. He has found success because of his ability to shoot and play a physically demanding position.

Skill Level: 6 out of 10. Not an incredible rebounder or shot blocker hurts his overall skill level. His consistency and shooting ability keep him above average.

Chase Budinger rises above

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:26:00 +0000

Volleyball aficionado, Chase Budinger has the athletics.

White Boy Profile #2: Gordon Hayward

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:59:00 +0000

Gordon Hayward

We will look at Gordon early on because I want to create some buzz about the rookie fresh off a stellar National Championship game run.

Origin: March 23, 1990 in Brownsville, Ind

Upbringing: Born to an undersized father, it was assumed Gordon Jr. was destined to be a guard. His father pushed him to develop his guard skills. As a 5’11 freshman he almost abandoned basketball to pursue tennis but by his junior year, he had shot up to 6’7 and 6’8 in his senior year. He received 3 Indiana-area scholarships and ultimately settled on Butler because 6:30 am practices would not interfere with his computer programming major and Butler enabled his twin sister to join him on campus and play tennis.

As a college athlete, everyone by now knows about his shining moment in the NCAA tourney. When he started on the U-19 US Men’s team, that is when the NBA dream became real to him and he decided to abandon his junior and senior seasons.

Keys to his Game: Guard skills in a 6’9 frame. He is a great shooter, passser, and dribbler, plays surprisingly good defense as long as it is within a scheme, and is a deceptive rebounder. He will struggle at the NBA level beneath and around the rim but can find a long career as a spot shooter and mid-range attacker.

Best White Boy Feature: Indiana farm boy ears.

youtube:

Interesting observations: He came from an incredible system that was predicated upon two things: run the offense through Gordon and play a cohesive team defense. Both of those things won’t happen in the NBA. Can Hayward flourish in the NBA style of game? I think he can if he is willing to adapt. As a cerebral guy, I think he has potential.

NBA Career: Drafted by Utah with the 9th pick

Nickname(s): Flash Gordon Hayward (lame)
Proposed New Nickname: Corn (you know, because of Indiana and the big ears and all).

Closest Comparison (Current or Historic): Mike Miller

White Boy Level: This is purely based on potential. I will give him a 6.5 out of 10. I see that as his ceiling. A quality back up who can score in bunches, make funny Internet cameos and even hold his own on the defensive end.

Skill Level: Potentially 5.5 out of 10. I don’t see Hayward representing his conference in an all star game, and I don’t even seeing him in the starting line up of a quality playoff team. But that doesn’t mean, he can’t have an above-average career has a bench scorer on a good team or a starting forward on a 30 win team that is fun to watch.

White Boy Profile #1: Introduction and Troy Murphy

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 14:18:00 +0000

Basketballitics is back. Over the course of this season, I am going to do my best to document the white boys of the NBA. The under-rated and under-estimated NBA white boy deserves a place where He can be recognized (or at least documented). Besides, the unintentional comedy is just too priceless to pass up:

White Boy Profile #1: Troy Murphy

I am happy to start with a New Jersey native.

Origin: May 4, 1980 in Morristown, NJ but grew up in Sparta, NJ.

Upbringing: Played his high school ball at uptight prep school, Delbarton (tuition averages around $25k per year). 3 standout years at Delbarton prepared him for Notre Dame where he led his team in scoring and rebounding for each of his three seasons, earned two All America selections and shared player of the year honors for the Big East with Troy Bell in 2001.

Keys to his Game: He is a gifted rebounder and a great shooter for a guy of his size. Murphy has wonderful touch. He has increased his strength which has assured his lengthy NBA career.

Best White Boy Feature: Floppy hair

youtube:

Interesting observations: Murphy seemed to level off around 2005 but resurrected his career over the past two seasons after assimilating to the Pacers. Now, as the home town boy in New Jersey, he will split time in the paint with Brook Lopez and Derrick Favors, two of the three earning the starting spots. My guess is Murphy will contribute a solid 14-10 as Favors will struggle to adapt to the NBA size and strength.

NBA Career: 9 years- 5.5 with Golden State and 3.5 with Indiana.

Nickname(s): Horse (honestly, that is pretty good)
Proposed New Nickname: The Big Tan

Closest Comparison (Current or Historic): Cross between Andrew Bogut and Matt Bonner with a little Cliff Robinson on the side.

White Boy Level: 9 of out 10. He is one of the better white boys you will find in the league both from a consistency and skill standpoint. What he lacks in athleticism, he makes up in size and skill.

Skill Level: 7 out of 10. Better than average NBA talent who is best suited to be the number 3 option on a winning team. I bumped him from 6 to 7 because he is regularly a top 10 rebounder.

A Feat Never to be Repeated

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 20:57:00 +0000

Ok, I have never deviated from basketball on this blog, but things change. There is a great big world out there and I think it would be small-minded of me to deny it!

There has been some talk about Jorge Cantu running his hitting streak to 20 games. However, his Marlins team has only played 16 games this season. We have seen this before where hitting streaks extend over two seasons. The debate this brings up is whether or not a hitting streak should count when its spans over two seasons.

At first glance, I think it is a clear yes. Despite the gastric reflex it seems to cause when I think of it, theoretically, it is valid. Why should a guy be penalized if there was several months between games? I mean the Cal Ripken Jr streak is over several seasons and everyone loves him for that (sort of).

But I think it is a dull point to the much more fascinating point: that we are talking about this streak at all when a player is only 35% of the way there. Doesn't that say something about the streak itself?

While DiMaggio was pursuing this feat, he had to deal with some extraordinary circumstances. He had this favorite bat stolen mid-streak. His team mates didn't know how to interact with him. The media was in a frenzy. All of that adds to the aura of the record. What if a team pitched around him for a night? Streak over. What is his teammates were cold and he only got to the plate three times? On the night the streak died, he hit two screamers that were caught for outs. Baseball is funny that way. So many things in baseball just seem to predicated on luck.

But here is why I bring this up. A Nobel laureate physicist named Ed Purcell applied gaming theory and coin-flip theory to analyze all baseball streak and slump records. What he found was very interesting. Every single record in baseball history except one falls within the boundaries of what would statistically expect to happen. In other words, nothing ever happened above and beyond the frequency predicted by coin-toss models. So win streaks, losing streaks, hot and cold streaks, etc.- they all are scientifically expected. There is only one exception and only one as this excerpt from the book Joe DiMaggio and the Summer of 41 by Michael Siedel so eloquently states,

There is one major exception, and absolutely only one—one sequence so many standard deviations above the expected distribution that it should not have occurred at all. Joe DiMaggio’s fifty-six–game hitting streak in 1941. The intuition of baseball aficionados has been vindicated. Purcell calculated that to make it likely (probability greater than 50 percent) that a run of even fifty games will occur once in the history of baseball up to now (and fifty-six is a lot more than fifty in this kind of league), baseball’s rosters would have to include either four lifetime .400 batters or fifty-two lifetime .350 batters over careers of one thousand games. In actuality, only three men have lifetime batting averages in excess of .350, and no one is anywhere near .400 (Ty Cobb at .367, Rogers Hornsby at .358, and Shoeless Joe Jackson at .356). DiMaggio’s streak is the most extraordinary thing that ever happened in American sports. He sits on the shoulders of two bearers—mythology and science. For Joe DiMaggio accomplished what no other ballplayer has done. He beat the hardest taskmaster of all, a woman who makes Nolan Ryan’s fastball look like a cantaloupe in slow motion—Lady Luck.

That is just incredible. Will we ever see what Joe DiMaggio did that summer recreated in any sport? Science says no.

That is truly amazing.

NCAA Tourney Held to 68 Teams!

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 20:35:00 +0000

Great, great news but I can't talk about it now. Will have to get back this next week. Just wanted to mention that the 96-Team Travesty has been avoided at least for the foreseeable future. Ah, I can sleep at night.

NBA Draft

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:12:00 +0000

As we approach the May 8th Withdrawal date for players considering the NBA, there are currently around 60-65 underclassman declared for the NBA which is a pretty absurd number. I am hoping many follow in the footsteps of Duke junior, Kyle Singler who will return for his senior year. Said his coach,

It was his dream to come to Duke and he is finishing one dream before he starts another and he wants to maximize the dream. He's an amazing guy to coach, he's got great heart and is a warrior. Through leadership, I think he can bring that out in others on the team.

I would have to think he will be front-runner for POY next year. Some think he is making a mistake. Please, please, let me know what the mistake is that he is making? Is he guaranteed lottery money? No. Does he have suspect health issues that could rear their ugly heads next year? No. Does Duke have the risk of falling from contention as UNC did last year? Not even close.

So what am I missing? He is having the time of his life in college, he is learning and growing, spending precious time with friends that he will never have again, and he is playing basketball at the highest possible amateur level under a Half of Fame coach surrounded by future pros. Call me crazy but Kyle will improve his strength and focus on spearheading the defense this year. As a senior, he will be a leader on and off the floor and will help transition the freshman into collegiate life. He will be honored by his fans and possibly hang his jersey in the rafters when it is all said-and-done. How is this hurting this kid?

If I were an NBA GM, Kyle's name would be near the top of my list for next summer. Use Shane Battier as an example. Sure, the guy is no All Star but he is an instrumental and much-needed piece to the winning puzzle. And he is a great guy. That is no fluke... that's four years at Duke.

College Basketball: Top Achieving Teams

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 20:07:00 +0000

Here is a list of the top achieving teams of the year in college basketball.

10. Xavier Musketeers (26-9; 14-2)- Xavier played extremely well in an improved Atlantic 10 Conference. They were joined by Richmond and Temple in the Big Dance while Dayton won the NIT and Rhode Island advanced far. Saint Louis and Charlotte also had strong seasons. What really made this Xavier season impressive, though, was the turmoil we expected. Their star guard was viewed as selfish and uncoachable and Sean Miller, the young coach signed to a long term deal left for the Pac 10.

However, new head coach and former assistant, Chris Mack convinced this team to buy into his concept. Crawford played within the system and the result was a repeat run to the Sweet 16. Certainly, post season success is nothing new but considering the expectations going into this year, I see it as a great success. I even gave them the slight edge to Kansas State despite losing in double-OT to the Wildcats in one of the best tournament games in recent memory. K-State got the bump due to their Final Four aspirations.

9. Ohio State Buckeyes (29-8; 14-4)- A quality team became a great team after a late-January loss to West Virginia. They went on a rampage, winning 14 of their next 15, including a sweep of the Big 10 tournament with their lone loss coming in a tight game against top-10 Purdue. They carried that success into the tournament, winning another 2 games en route to a hard-fought 3 point loss to Tennessee in the Sweet 16. 16 of 18 in the toughest stretch of the year? That's a quality season.

Throw in the fact the Evan Turner collected nearly every single piece of hardware despite breaking two bones in his back and Ohio State was clearly a Top 10 Achiever.

8. New Mexico Lobos (30-5; 14-2)- Unfortunately, they will most be remembered for beat down in the second round of the tourney at the hands of Washington (a team that peaked at exactly the right time) but this season was so much more for the Lobos. The Pit was restored to its true status as they won their first conference championship since '94 and there first 30 win season ever. Steve Alford has reestablished the program and is signed on to a new contract. It was a great year for New Mexico.

7. Pitt Panthers (25-9; 13-5)- The only team on my Top 10 that didn't make the Sweet 16 but I give this team tons of credit considering what they lost coming into the year. They lost Sam Young and DeJuan Blair to the NBA, their heart-and-soul leader LeVance Fields, and seniors Tyrell Biggs and Sean Brown. They were projected to finish 9th in the Big East and yet they battled the entire year among the top of the league and finished 13-5. They were the only team to beat all of the top 6 Big East teams. Jaime Dixon is just an incredible coach and he will be making life hard for Big East foes for years to come.

I can give almost equal amounts of credit to Buzz Williams and his Marquette team that played its way into the NCAAs as a 6 seed despite graduating their top 3. They did get knocked out by a peaking Washington team in the first round, however.

6. Cornell Big Red (29-5; 13-1)- This was the year for the Big Red to put it all together. With a senior dominated line up, one of the best perimeter attacks in the nation and a coach in Steve Donahue who was ripe to be plucked up to the next level, they won the Ivy league and advanced to the school's first Sweet 16. Seniors Ryan Wittman, Jeff Foote, Alex Tyler, Jon Jaques and Geoff Reeves comprised a stellar senior class led by Wittman, Ivy League Player of the Year and big gun in the nation's best three-point offense. With crushing wins over Temple and Wisconsin, Cornell would have been the Bell of the Ball if not for our number 2 team.

5. Tennessee Volunteers (28-9; 11-5)- In early January, this program suffered what easily could have been a season-ending trauma when four of Bruce Pearl's top 8, including senior stand out Tyler Smith were arrested. The undermanned roster responded by suiting up the same week and knocking out Charlotte and slaying then-number-1 Kansas by 8. As the dust settled, the program rallied around adversity, and strung together the first Elite 8 run in school history. Besides Kansas, they beat number one seed Kentucky and knocked off Big Ten champ, Ohio State in the Sweet 16.

After all of the drama, they fell one point shy of the Final Four. It was a quite a year in Knoxville.

4. West Virginia Mountaineers (31-7; 13-5)- The Mountaineers continued to come together as a team as the season progressed. After a hard-fought regular season as usual in the Big East, they came out victorious in the Big East Tournament and earned a 2 seed in the Big Dance.

This was the first year in school history they won 30+ as well as their first Final Four since 1959 when Jerry West was in Morgantown. This team played a rather unorthodox style highlighted by gritty defense, extreme length, streaky shooting and strong offensive rebounding. This method reached its apex in the Regional Final against number 1 seeded Kentucky, where the Mountaineers pressured UK into poor shooting and unforced errors.

It was also the year to see Bob Huggins, local hero, make it to his first Final Four after 3 years as a player and 25 seasons as a coach. West Virginia played inspirational basketball and left us with enduring images through the year, culminating in the sorrowful end to De'Sean Butler's wonderful collegiate career.

3. Michigan State Spartans (28-9; 14-4)- What more can you say about Izzo's teams? Another year, another Final Four. This one may be the most improbable as this team struggled to find an identity all season long. Nevertheless, they found a way to navigate their way through a 5 seed to their sixth final four in 12 seasons. That translates to 55 student-athletes and every single four-year player Tom Izzo has recruited. That is staggering! Also, they did it by a margin of 3.25 points per game in the tournament, the tightest margin since the field expanded in '85.

For such a wacky season, it just seemed right that Michigan State again found a way to make it to the Final Four.

2. Butler Bulldogs (33-5; 18-0)- Not much more to say than what has already been said. It is important to note, however, that this team didn't fit the typical Mid-Major mode. Usually, these teams have many upperclassmen and a few 5th/6th year seniors making their experience their greatest facet. This Bulldog team was way more predicated on team defense and individual offensive skill, making this 2010 conglomerate all the more impressive. Without worrying too much about the future, it is quite amazing to note that this team was one shot away from being one of, if the most recognizable college basketball teams in history. That's something.

1. Duke Blue Devils (35-5; 13-3)- They split the regular season and won the ACC tournament and that would have been impressive enough but this Duke team was just getting started. Unheralded versus many of its predecessors, this team used one of the most basic winning formulas in college basketball history. Keep the ball in the hands of three dominant perimeter scorers, and shuffle two sets of big men for defense and rebounding. That's it. Basically, the Blue Devils played 7 guys, relied on 3 for consistent scoring and let Zoubek/Thomas/Plumlee twins do the dirty work. And it worked... brilliantly!

Honorable Mention:

Kansas State- Martin's squad may have been hurt slightly by the high hopes coming into the season but an Elite 8 finish is nothing to be ashamed of.

Northern Iowa- Gave us one of the most thrilling games of the tournament and played quality ball all year.

Maryland- Beat expectations by tying Duke for the ACC Regular Season title and gave Michigan State a run for their money in the second round.

Syracuse- Expectations were low coming in as the Orange lost a lot of talent but they retooled for a very impressive season culminating in a number one seed. However, the what-if looms large after Onuaku went down at the end of the season.

St. Marys- They graduated their best player to the NBA but returned to beat Gonzaga in the WCC Tourney and make a run to the Sweet 16. Great season!

Baylor- What fun it was to watch this team come together for a deep run in the tourney. Hopefully Udoh returns and they can make another run next year. Oh don't go Udoh!! But can I really blame you? You are ready.

Stevens Commits... Breaking Down the Coaching Carousel

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 19:11:00 +0000

The first good news of what should be a very wild off season came out yesterday as Brad Stevens has committed to the Butler program. First, lets get the details out of the way. Stevens is 33 years old and this is a 12 year deal. According to this deal, Stevens will be on the Butler sideline until he is 45.
I am not sure what the annual salary is but I am sure it is not on par with what the likes of Oregon, Clemson, Wake Forest would have offered.
Some people are saying Stevens is missing his one window of opportunity to cash in and make it to the next level. This is why I am here to level some sense into the debate.
To start, Brad Stevens is very, very young. After 12 years he will be 45 years old which is still very young in college basketball coaching years. To put this in perspective, he was the youngest coach in the Sweet Sixteen, the College Basketball Promised Land. He was six years younger than the next youngest. The average age for a coach in this year's Sweet Sixteen was 47.3. If you take out mid-majors (which are jobs that would not have lured Stevens from Butler), the average age is 50. When you slim the list down to the Final Four, you have Izzo (50), Huggings (56), Coach K (63), and Stevens (33). Translation: the guy is a baby.
That being said, there is no rush for Stevens to throw himself into a bigger program with way more demands, competition and expectations. Even if he never recreated his success from this year, he can still have a very successful 12 seasons in the Horizon League and earn a shot at the big schools.
Would it be crazy for Stevens to win 10 Horizon League titles in the next 12 years? Let's even go conservative and give him only 6. In the new world of 96 team gluttony, he is still playing in 10 or 12 tournaments (excuse me while I throw up).
Bottom line for the window-of-opportunity-closing debate- Stevens' window has just opened and he has plenty of time to prove his worth in the Horizon League before exposing himself to the next level of pressure and expectations.
On the other hand, you have someone like Steve Donahue who is leaving Cornell for the ACC to coach Boston College. Much different scenario. Donahue, at 48, is in his coaching prime. He has brought the Cornell program to its peak and he is graduating lots of seniors. Next year will be a down year for Cornell and Princeton is getting better. He left at just the right time.

That is not to say Donahue will have it easy in BC. They have a talent gap that needs to be filled quick. Donahue will have his hands full hitting the recruiting circuit hard and heavy to have BC in the mix. Despite three years of success at Cornell, recruiting for the Ivy League is nothing compared to the ACC.
Going back to Stevens, what does he have to gain from a move like that? More money perhaps. But think about what he has to lose? He has a solid program with tons of returning talent (pending Gordon Hayward's decision). He has the Gonzaga-factor which is a recruiters gem (see what the Gonzaga program has been able to do thanks to early success on the backs of Frahm and Santangelo). He is coaching in Indiana, a fertile flat-bed of basketball talent, in an era where Indiana University is way down, meaning Butler is the number one choice for in-state ball. The buy is beloved in Indy. He has job security. What more could a young, aspiring coach ask for?
Now, let me play devil's advocate for a moment. What if Stevens isn't so wide-eyed and honest as we take him for? Consider Sean Miller, who inked a 13 year extension with Xavier but soon thereafter bolted for Arizona. That was pure dollars. Miller left behind a very solid contender for a team in a power-six in rebuilding mold. Good for him. Arizona is a challenge with lucrative payouts.
Look around the college landscape now. The best jobs available are Oregon (yawn), Clemson (yawn), Wake Forest (potential but certainly not Arizona-caliber potential). After that, the drop off is huge. Rutgers, Charlotte, and thats about it. Stevens has given himself a wonderful hedge. He has 12 years of guaranteed money with a school and state that loves him. He can build a name for himself at a quality, nationally recognized program where a huge portion of the success will be given to him. And whenever a lucrative spot opens, he can bolt for greener grass.
The way I see it, Stevens didn't commit to Butler as much as he committed to guaranteed money in a down market. If Kentucky or Indiana were calling at his door, I don't think Stevens would still be with Butler.
I love Stevens and I love that he will be with Butler for the foreseeable future. But I have a feeling we won't be seeing him live out those 12 years.

In other coaching news, Corliss "Big Nasty" Williamson is the new head coach at Central Arkansas which is a huge PR-win for CA. Corliss is most remembered for leading the '94 Arkansas team to a National Championship.
Two other coaching hires I am really looking forward to are Steve Lavin at St. Johns and Fran McCaffery at Iowa. Lavin has worked for ESPN for the past few years and will have to work really hard to secure a chunk of NYC Metro area talent. This is one of the greatest areas for talent and as of late, local schools have really struggled to keep kids close. Just look at this years final four. De'Saun Butler, Wellington Smith, Devin Ebanks, Kevin Jones, Darryl Bryant, Danny Jennings, Brian Zoubek, and Lance Thomas are from the NYC Metro area. That is some serious talent!
Fran McCaffery is leaving the Northeast where he has had tremendous success to battle Iowa out of the Big 10 basement. He will probably convince some Northeast talent to travel out to the Midwest so that, too, should be interesting.

As They Make A City Out of My Town: The Coming Crisis in College Basketball

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 21:00:00 +0000

How much more can we possibly heave onto Gordon Hayward’s awkwardly gangly but deceivingly powerful shoulders? As the Lucas Oil Field clocks went to 0:00 Monday night, this kid was just trying to make a shot, albeit a game winning shot…from half court… for a National Championship… in front of a hometown crowd… against America’s love-hate team… representing mid-majors everywhere. I have wanted to say something about this game for two days now. I don’t have the words yet. In so many ways, it was perfect basketball. An offensive albatross caught in a defensive vice. It was a forty minute battle that was played within the confines of one possession for 31 of those minutes. And then it ended. An inch off of a miracle. Hollywood hung her head. America stood stunned. Hayward walked silently passed the broken body of Matt Howard. And Duke, alone, cheered their fourth national title.

Then something weird began to happen. You can call it a phenomenon but not one unique to the sport of college basketball. The pain of the loss, the agonizing what-ifs, they all just melted away. Faces were held high. Approval seemed granted. I don’t know what else to call it than the bountiful bittersweet. In a matter of moments, perspective filled the air. People were trading stories, everyone was sharing reactions, and you had to tell people what you were thinking as that ball sailed towards the rim. Duke wasn’t the enemy anymore. They were just the team that Butler almost beat, the lesser half (oddly enough) but essential none-the-less piece of the near perfect moment. We didn’t mind Duke accepting the trophy. Somehow, this story felt like it had its bookends, even with Butler huddled beneath the party in their visitor’s locker room.

And what more could you ask from a game? But, yes, unfortunately, Monday night was more than just a game.

The tides are changing in college basketball. Influxes of forces are merging to cyclone status and I can not tell you for sure what the end product will look like except that it will look different.

This is what was present in my mind as Hayward tried to finish the dream.

We were treated to the best of college basketball this March. So many enduring images are going to last through the years whether its Huggins cradling a hysterical De’Sean Butler, Korie Lucious being carried off the floor as Coach Izzo gave ways to tears after beating Maryland, the Farokhmanesh dagger against Kansas, the Prince salute, or the 40 foot Crawford bomb (complete with Gus Johnson backing vocals) to force double-OT, these images have entered our collective psyche as exhibits of the March Madness experience. And call me nostalgic but everything about this experience matters to me from the charming piano interludes of the Masters to the final images in One Shining Moment, I feel as if I am spending time with old friends again and again.

When I was a kid, the Final Four was the ultimate, and I mean the ultimate fan experience. Kids walking on clouds, getting their one shot. The build up was so epic and the moment so surreal. It all came to a crescendo at that jump ball on Monday night. And I thought those moments were all mine. In fact, I would watch the Monday game all alone in my room. I would build a fort with blankets and chairs encasing only me, my TV, and my dog for the next few hours.

That is why no one will ever understand how much Miles Simon or Anthony Epps or Scotty Thurman or Toby Bailey or Donald Williams mean to me. I have seen the Chris Webber game well over 20 times. I cried when Camby’s Minutemen ran into the Kentucky Train in East Rutherford. I still wish Edgar Padigla and Donta Bright got one more chance. I remember not believing my eyes when Vince Carter pulled his jersey out of his shorts and bent down to kiss the Alamo-inspired Final Four emblem in his last college game or the time the “Comeback Cats” ended Wojo’s career in a sea of tears. The NCAA tournament has always just meant that much to me.

And here we are in 2010, and it will all change. But change is essential? Not always. Not here. Sometimes you find the perfect balance. And Monday night, April 5, 2010 was the climax of this shining moment in time.

The chaotic expansion of the most beloved tournament in sports is all but a formality at this point. We will see 96 teams battle it out next year. The entire landscape of the game will change. And that is just the beginning of the problem.

I will be honest. I am a dreamer. I don’t always have my feet on the ground. But I need to be a realist here. College basketball is far from perfect. Where do we start? The Calipari chop-shops? The Tim Floyd/OJ Mayor scandal? The one-and-doners? It is all there for us to see, but it has always been digestible due to the fact that this perfect tournament brought it all back home. No matter what the “business” of college basketball did to leave us shaking our heads, the tear-soaked jerseys and true team work that March laid on the basketball altar was due penance.

This time it feels different because it is different. A 96 team tournament completely alters the college basketball landscape. For starters, I was vocal about the bubble snubs this year. I thought deserving teams were left out at the expense of undeserving teams. While this is a fun debate, it never made me believe that the tournament should be bigger. Snubs happen. That is the reality of life. It is the reason all of us aren’t in the NFL or Rhodes Scholars or NASA astronauts.

So what makes 64 (read: 65) so special? Why not go back to 32 or 48? 64 is special because of the way the game is played. You have 32 conferences. That is 32 Automatic bids. Then there are 33 At-Large Bids. These At-Large teams deserve a chance because they earned it through the season. Michigan State and Purdue lost in the Big Ten tournament but dominated the regular season. They deserve to play in the tournament. I think we can all agree on that. And where 64 beats 48 is in symmetry. 64 teams need to win 6 games to win a national title. No byes. High seed vs. lower seed. Survive-and-advance. It works.

Expansion hurts the game in profound ways. Take this years NIT tournament. North Carolina played in the NIT Final. At the selection of the field, Carolina was 16-16 with a 5-11 record in the ACC. Ah hem. That is not a year to be celebrated with a title shot. Not close. But you know what it means? Next year's North Carolina will be playing for a national title. I’m sorry, they do not deserve it. Could you make arguments that Dayton or Mississippi State deserved it? Yes, absolutely and I would say both teams could have made dents in the brackets. But you can also argue for their exclusion and that is why they weren’t there. North Carolina is a no-brainer. They didn’t deserve to be in.

What will happen in a 96 team tournament is more mediocrity will be introduced. Ok, so we lose the NIT. All that does is give me basketball-free evenings in between the first two weekends. I guess I can live with that. But am I supposed to be excited about Ohio University playing Seton Hall? That is better for the game than a healthy Ohio squad coming off the MAC Championship with a full head of steam to play Big East powerhouse Georgetown (a deserved at-large team)? See the difference? Seton Hall was laughed out of their home arena in the NIT by a Texas A&M team that was far from impressive. Please, please, please, leave that in the NIT where it belongs. No offense, but it is not National Championship basketball.

And while we are on topic with Ohio, let’s think about this further. Ohio earned that 14 seed by winning their conference tournament. In the new world, where we have to sift through 64 at-large teams, Ohio will be pushed further down the totem pole in seeding. The lowest seeded at-large bid this year was a 12. If you add an additional 31 at-large teams, you won’t be stuffing them at the bottom of the bracket, you will be fitting them in the mix. So 14^th seed Ohio looks to be more like a 21 (at best) seed in the new world, meaning we will have to watch them play a 12 seed (probably the Mississippi State or Rhode Island who just missed) in order to earn the right to play a 5 seed later in the same week. This is no improvement. Once the great thrill of the mid majors was the chance to play Duke. Now it will be the chance to play an awkwardly scheduled Tuesday morning game against NC State or Oregon or Arkansas.

Now we are getting into the meat of the discussion. What this does for the game is it cheapens the regular season. You can argue the regular season has already been cheapened by conference tournaments but at least we have seen a rise in strength-of-schedule and out-of-conference play. Yes, not perfect. Bubble teams from the ACC and Big 12 won’t touch a road game in the Missouri Valley and they certainly will never step foot in Hinkle. Too much to lose. But this is not cause for overhaul. By-and-large, teams have to be strategically risky in order to be recognized. I am sorry, am I crazy or is this capitalism? For a business to succeed, it needs to operate within its means but at some point will need to take some risks in order to make it to the next level. Again, life! This is how it works.

In a gluttonous 96 team world, Clemson is playing to win 7 ACC games, rack up 13 cupcakes out of conference and hope for a game or two in the ACC tourney to improve seeding. At the end of the day, they have won between 18 and 20 games, they are in the NCAA tournament, and their coach has kept his job. Meanwhile, they didn’t challenge themselves, the student-athletes were cheated out of a life-altering experience, and Mr. Coach gets paid for doing something pretty much any of us could have done. Cheering mediocrity makes my stomach churn.

But you will argue more mid-majors get their chance. Ok I will approach this idiotic line of reasoning from 2 angles. First, no. Mid-majors make the tournament for being exceptional. As much as I love them, another 16 mid-majors in the tournament won’t increase the Cinderella-magic, it will cheapen it. Second, we know for sure, without a doubt, 100%, no questions asked, this decision is completely about money. When Butler and Duke met Monday, it wasn’t the difference in school size that made it such a David and Goliath event. It was the difference in budgets. Duke resides in the ACC which is one of the most fertile money-producers in all of college sports. The ACC had an athletics budget this year of over $58 million. For basketball alone, their budget was just under $6 million. Compare that with the Horizon League where Butler plays and the entire budget for all Horizon League athletics was $9.7 million with just over $1.5 million going to basketball. This is how David vs. Goliath is born. That is what makes Butler such an underdog. Money equals recruiting breadth, state-of-the-art facilities, sponsors, quality coaching staffs and trainers, large on-campus arenas, etc, etc. The reason I bring this up here is because it is documented that the NCAA earns the majority of its money from the men’s tournament. So with expansion looming large and budgets being cut everywhere you look, what makes you believe that open slots will go to small schools? No. Sorry, what you will see is 13 of the 16 Big East teams in the tournament (total number who participated in the Dance and NIT this year). Money speaks.

Really, where does it end? We all let out a collective “aw” when we learned Gordon Hayward was in class Monday morning before the National Championship game but the term Student has all-but been severed from the title ‘student-athlete’. There is a nationally-followed lawsuit pending against the NCAA right now regarding the way they profit off these students. As far as the record books are concerned, some of my favorite college basketball memories didn’t even happen due to misuse of money and falsified grades. And now you can throw this in there. Another week of games for the tournament means another week of missed classes for these kids, further straining that delicate line. And less we forget the women. Gino Auriemma has blasted his colleagues for not running successful women’s programs. So the men go to 96 and you know the women are next. What a shame that will be. The sport would be better suited at 32 at this point, not 96.

So this is where we are. As we speak, the fate of this sports future is being decided and its happening no where near a basketball court. Besides the NCAA Tournament changes, we have a pending lockout in the NBA in 2011. What does that mean? Chances are we will see a huge surge of underclassman going to the pros this year because there may not even be a draft next year. As much as I hate to see it, I am sure this will include Kyle Singler. Greedily, I want to see him defend the title but I can swallow him leaving because he has the talent and body to make the move. What will make me livid will be when Lance Stephenson, Kenny Boynton, Daniel Orton, and Kemba Walker leave. The first step forward was taken when Stern instituted the one-year rule will. It is quickly becoming two steps back and this is a whole new, ugly can of worms. Name three guys from Memphis’s last four years. You probably can’t. You can tell me Derrick Rose and some guy named Dozier. In fact, wait a few more years and tell me three names from this Kentucky team. These one-and-doners aren’t improving the college landscape, they are exploiting it. And if you open the flood gates this year due to the fear of uncertainty in the NBA, it will be hard to close them again. All you will need is one or two of these guys to earn guaranteed lottery money and there is no going back.

And this is what we will be left with. Big School A will hire Mr. Hot-Shot-Young-Coach for their basketball program. He will go out and recruit top-tier talent (at whatever means necessary) and bring them on campus for one year. They will get him his 20+ wins and a weekend or two in the Big Dance. Off they will go to the NBA and the next crop will show up. This is the revolving door we are heading towards. A pit stop to pro ball. A glorified D-League. To be honest, I would rather these kids just bypass college all-together for the D League. I will take 1,000 tear-soaked De’Sean Butlers and fist-pumping Brian Zoubek’s before another Derrick Rose. No offense to Rose. It is not the kids, it is the system.

Money rules the day. As we speak, the CEO of Nike is instrumental in negations to lure Butler coach, Brad Stevens away to coach the Oregon Ducks. Nike is in bed with Oregon University athletics so much its hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. Is it crazy to envision a world where Nike signs a 6 year old LeBron James Jr. to a Nike contract, travels him around the world on their “Amateur team”, while Oregon lies ready and waiting for him once his tour of service is complete? Oregon sells James Jr. jerseys all over the world and even gives him a Gatorade commercial where he shoots half court free throws (because this is essentially what could come from the Ed O’Bannon trials), and then after a year, he goes off to NBA greatness. Oh I forgot to mention that Nike home-schooled him through their special outreach program designed by Ivy League-educated scholars who write it off as “giving underprivileged-inner-city-youth a chance to make it.” This way, James Jr’s educational requirements can be fully complete by age 16, leaving all this time to focus on basketball, earn that one year out of high school status and be wearing a Lakers jersey by his 18^th birthday. And you think this is far-fetched…

See, I am not trying to be a dreamer. I am trying to be a realist. College basketball will survive in some shape or form and we will still cheer. There will be another De’Sean Butler to fall in love with, another Ronald Nored to shake our heads at when we wonder how the “big schools” let him go, and surely another Duke team to love or hate, however you feel. Gone will be the peripheral fan who get excited every March, the old school fans who despise change, Laurie from accounts payable who fills out her bracket based on places she’d like to visit. I guess we can consider them collateral damage.

As worried as I am, there is no doubt in my mind I will still be there, perhaps still hiding in my blanket-fort, twenty years from now. But I really wonder who will be there with me? Will my son be there? And if he isn’t, how can I ever show him how good this one shining moment once was.

Basketballitics is Back!

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 13:47:00 +0000

After a brief hiatus, it is time to get back into the swing. After a memorable NCAA tournament and with a fading fading fading NBA season, there is lots to talk about.

I will be back soon to give my thoughts on the National Championship, the NCAA tournament, and the season as a whole. I will also begin a series in preparation for the 2010 NBA Draft which will take place on June 24 at MSG. Also, I guess I will talk about this fading fading fading NBA season and I will do my best to avoid playing the NBA free agent Russian Roulette game (can you even call Russian Roulette a "game"?)

So stay tuned... and until then-

Major Gripe with the NCAA

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:41:00 +0000

While I understand the NCAA Tourney Selection Committee has a very difficult job and schools will always be left out, there was one oversight by the Committee this year I can not reconcile... Mississippi State.

Purely from a numbers standpoint, they were prime bubble material at 23-11, finishing 9-7 in the conference and no major bubble-busting wins or losses to set them apart. i think the only instances you can point to in their season to say they weren't worthy was the extremely strange season-opening loss to Rider and back-to-back losses in the last week of SEC Regular Season play. However, they put together a run to the SEC Championship game in the SEC tournament which included wins against Florida (made the tournament) and Vanderbilt (made the tournament). They lost in the SEC Final to Kentucky who is a number seed and needed overtime for the second time this year to fight off the Bulldogs.

The argument the Committee can come back with is Florida and Vanderbilt beat Miss St. in the regular season. However, in both those losses Mississippi State was on the road and they bounced back to win on a neutral site. So, I would say advantage Miss State. I know Vandy was deserving of the tourney but Florida?

Florida finished the year 21-12 (worse record than Miss State), 9-7 in the conference (same as Miss State), and 1-1 against Miss State.

Now here is where I have the biggest issue: Florida opened the year 8-0 with lots of cupcakes and an impressive win against Michigan State. Ok, great. Since then, they have been 13-12 with only ONE win against a team in the tournament. Really? .500 ball and one decent win.

Dickey V may be annoying at times but this is one point I whole-heartedly agree with him on. The body of work is important but what is equally, if not more important, is how the team enters the tournament. If I have worked through my issues all year and put together a very formidable tournament team (ie Notre Dame, Mississippi State), I should be awarded with a bid. If my team was doing well but fell off towards the end (ie Purdue dropping to a 4 seed, Cincy and UConn playing in the NIT), I should be penalized.

This is part of the logic missing in the selection process. It NEEDS to get smarter. You spend all of this time with "Bracketology" and Joe Linardi... its all an utter joke. Just media-drunk garbage to please Sports Center viewers. How about investing time and money into better analytics, which can capture the value of a win based on current conditions, can capture momentum swings in a team's season, and debunk some of the number anomalies (like in College Football where if I beat a team 70-7, I must be better than the team that won 35-0???).

I get it. This was probably political. Florida has two Nat'l Championships and its fun to see them finally back. You got freshman standouts like Kenny Boynton who can become "recurring themes" in the tournament for years to come. You have Billy Donovan, the young and sexy Pitino disciple. What you don't have is double-double machine Javaris Varnado who is a senior and will never have a chance to where the NCAA patch. And that is a shame.

Parity is great and teams get left out all the time but this one was hard to stomach.

I am a Big East homer and even though the Big East is well represented in the NIT, I know who I will be pulling for... Mississippi State.

Posterized Contest

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:06:00 +0000

Who do you think is the best? You can log on to NBA.com to vote.

My vote is split between the Carter dunk and the Price dunk. I give Carter a slight nod because Zo actually jumped. Boozer didn't jump but the elevation of Price was super impressive.

Price had the look back, though. For that, I had to give him the final edge.

Starbury Goes International

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:26:00 +0000

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4836023

Hit the Snooze on the Slam Dunk Contest

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:56:00 +0000

The list of participants for the Slam Dunk Contest in Dallas in 3 weeks and it was a pretty big let down.

Shannon Brown- Los Angeles Lakers

Gerald Wallace- Charlotte Bobcats

Nate Robinson- New York Knicks

DeMar DeRozan (NY Knicks)/ Eric Gordon (LA Clips)- Dunk off at half time of the Rookie Game. Winner will make the contest.

No LeBron. No Dwight. This contest has really lost its luster.

I would love to see one of the stars of this league step up and join the contest to give it credibility again. LeBron would have been perfect because 1. he is an incredible dunker 2. he promised he would do it last year!

But, King James did the cost-benefit and I guess the fear of not winning is greater than the extremely marginal gain in popularity he can get in winning.

Dominique should smack you!

LEast Among the League

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:10:00 +0000

Have you noticed recently? The East is THIN. Currently, there are only 5 teams above .500, one of them being a Miami team that is just 1 game over. There are 11 teams above .500 in the West right now.

Orlando pretty much sealed it for me last night. I don't like putting too much stock in just one game but they put up an utter stink bomb against Denver. Dwight Howard again was a non-factor as he shot 1-7 from the field, good for 8 points, 13 boards, 1 assist, 3 blocks and 5 turnovers. Rashard Lewis continues to be a shell of his former self, scoring 6 points on 3-9 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists.

Orlando is not going anywhere this year. Here are the top 3 reasons why:

3. There is no defined leader. It is easy to blame Vince Carter for this. He upsets the balance of this team. But at least he is willing to step up. Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard have laxed into more subdued roles this year and role players have just proved too streaky. This team does not have a true identity which always gets exposed in a big 7 game series.

2. The Magic are not sharing the ball- They are in the bottom 5 in the league in assists. There is no question there is a drop off from last year. The reasons seem pretty simple. Alston was by default the starting PG for the second half of the year and the playoffs and his role was clear; set guys up and distribute. Hedo Trukoglu became the point forward as the year progressed and he was able to get a lot accomplished driving and either pulling up or dishing. This opened up a lot of ball-swinging opportunities leading to open threes. This year, the offense is built around Vince Carter which is never a good thing. He clogs the flow and does most of his work with his back to the basket. This plays counter to the strengths of Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard. Also Jameer is not the traditional past-first PG.

1. Dwight Howard is exposed. Teams are bodying him up, forcing him away from the basket, and making him work for points. George Karl intimated that much in the post game interviews, stating that being physical and throwing bodies at Howard was a priority and pivotal in the win. They aren't the first to realize this and they won't be the last and this is the number one reason why Orlando is not going anywhere this year. Facts are that Dwight is very durable (only missing 3 games in his career), and extremely physically gifted (which is why he can out-rebound everyone) but he is also shy to contact and limited on the offensive end. I am all for giving him time, considering he is 24, did not play college ball and has never in his life had to rely on actual basketball moves to dominate. But, as of right now, he is no Shaq, he is no Hakeem, and he is not capable to carrying this Magic team.

I am really pushing for Atlanta. I would like to see them knock off one of the big three (Boston, Cleveland, Orlando) and make it to the finals. Boston has great chemistry but has injury issues that will probably linger the rest of the season. In Atlanta, you see a team that has clearly defined roles and big producers. Josh Smith has been pivotal in my opinion, learning to accept a role as the second, and sometimes fourth scoring option (forget about points, be pulled down 11 board and had 8 assists in a win last night). He is rebounding, playing tremendous defense, only taking shots he can make, and providing the intangible intimidator-factor that is so important. Joe Johnson has been lighting it up and Jamal Crawford gives them the bench fire that is so important in playoff runs. As I have said before, though, I would love to see them grab one more big to fill out the paint. Hmm... Maybe this guy? It doesn't hurt to dream.

Premiere Night of Big Monday Doesn't Disappoint

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:58:00 +0000

Big Monday premiered last night on ESPN. For those of you who are not aware, this is a college basketball presentation that runs from January to early March and contains a 7pm game (Big East), a 9pm game (Big 12) and a 10pm game on ESPN2 (Mountain West or WAC).

Last night didn't disappoint. The first game was a 90 foot battle between Louisville and Villanova which contained 67 (34 for Nova and 33 for L'ville) fouls and 42 (split 21 apiece) turnovers. Louisville jumped all over Villanova early pressuring them into several turnovers in the backcourt. Villanova showed incredible poise, however, hanging in, keeping it close, and then turning up their pressure to boiling levels as Louisville began to tire out.

It was classic Big East basketball. 67 fouls is more than a foul-and-half per minute. There was pressure, banging, jawing, fired up coaches, important bench players and superstar stat lines. Last year, Villanova took Louisivile to the wire in the Wachovia Center, losing by 1 point after missing a foul shot and then several put back attempts as time expired. One of the game notes going into this game was Scottie Reynolds inability to play well against the Cardinals. In three years, he was averaging 6 points which is well under average. Then last night happened.

The reason 'Nova was able to keep it close and claw back in to take over this game is Scottie Reynolds. He was able to get to the line 17 times but was by no means reckless. In a game fought with turnovers, sloppy play, and intensity, Reynolds coolly shot perfect from the floor for the first 37 minutes before missing is one and only shot with under 3 to play. He finished 9-10 from the floor, including 5-5 from three, highlighted by some daggers right in defenders faces. It was classic Scottie Reynolds and one of those games that reminds me this kid has a great shot to be a solid NBA guard. Surfer dude Taylor King was also huge off the bench with 12 points and some spirited defense. It was no small feat 'Nova turned this game around.

At one point late in the first half, they were down by 17. That is the fourth time a lead of +15 has been evaporated in the Big East already showing the intensity teams must bring every single night. It won't get any easier as Louisville needs to travel to #20 Pitt who are currently looking like one of the hottest teams in the country, while Villanova will go home to face #12 Georgetown, a strong and athletic team.

The Big East is currently boasting 3 top 10 teams in the nation and 6 teams in the top 20 and quality teams like Louisville, Notre Dame, Cincinnati, and (ahem) Seton Hall are not part of them. More of the same, more of the same....

The second game of the night was an overtime affair between Oklahoma State and Oklahoma, adding another chapter to the storied Bedlam rivalry. Oklahoma edged out State to take their series lead to 125-88.

Great start for Big Monday....

New York Delivers

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:36:00 +0000

Let me start by a little back-pat.... My prediction of Knicks-98, Bobcats-96 was close. Actual score Knicks- 97, Bobcats-93.

I am not going to lie, the National Championship stole my attention so I didn't get to watch the game but from what I saw in highlights and box scores, it was good basketball as expected. The Knicks had to battle back from down 10 late in the 3rd quarter. They took the lead early in the 4th and controlled the end game.

Nate Robinson is getting a lot of air time after throwing down a ridiculous slam but the question I have to ask is how good is he for the Knicks? On one hand he is a high energy guy that gives the players and fans a healthy shot of life. But he also coughed up the ball 6 times in 19 minutes, including 4 in the final period. Thats some dangerous ball control if you ask me. Nate has a place on any team but its only a few notches above mascot. Basically, be positive, throw down sick dunks in warm ups, do elaborate hand shakes and chest bumps during introductions, wave a towel on the bench, do silly little dances behind the coach during time outs, and log about 10 minutes of tough defense, diving on the floor and taking it to the hole. That's it! If he can't accept that role, he is not good for any team he plays on.

That being said, Wilson Chandler is a beast. Not only did he have to split his time guarding the 'Cats two best players who have very, very different offensive skills (StephJackson and GWallace) but he also poured in 27 points, 6 assists, and 7 rebounds while shooting 11-17 from the floor. I was able to sneak an interview with Chandler after the game and this is what he had to say on his performance.

Seriously, though, he held Wallace to 13 points on 12 shots and while Jackson scored 26, he had to chuck up 26 shots to get there. Translation: Wilson Chandler was the man for the Knicks once again.

Meanwhile, Galli shot 11 threes. This guy is a black hole.

The Knicks are currently a half game behind Charlotte and Milwaukee who hold the 7 and 8 spots in the East, respectively. So... if the Knicks can keep up .500 basketball, they are in a good place to take the 7 spot which at this point will afford them a first round match up against the Cavs and their future starting forward, LeBron James :)

This guy is only a memory....

Pac 10 on Life Support

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:35:00 +0000

Remember 1995? If you lived on the West Coast of the US it was a wonderful time. San Francisco won their league-best 5th Super Bowl against Cali opponent, San Diego. Yahoo was founded in Santa Clara, California. The OJ trial was sweeping America. Steve Nash was lighting it up at Santa Clara University. Also in 1995, the heralded UCLA men's basketball program was winning its most recent National Championship. On that roster was an unheralded sophomore guard by the name of Cameron Dollar most famous for inbounding the ball to Tyus Edny for the full court scramble and last second lay up in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament against Missouri.

That is my lame attempt at a relevant introduction for Cameron Dollar. After his career at UCLA, Dollar went right into coaching at the collegiate level. To his credit, he has worked his way into his first head coaching position at the Division 1 level this season. And this barely happened. Seattle University, his current team, entered Division 1 as an Independent school this season. For the last 30 years, they had been playing at the Division II level. So there you go... Seattle University is now a Division I basketball team and their coach is Cameron Dollar.

That being said, the Pac 10 is garbage this year. I am not being mean, they are bad. UCLA is a paltry 7-8 and that includes losses to Cal State Fullerton, Portland, and Long Beach State. Stanford is .500 with losses to San Diego and Oral Roberts. USC has a self-imposed post season ban which means no post season tourneys whatsoever. Most "Bracketoligists" have the Pac 10 earning 2 bids this year to the big dance. TWO. Translation: the west is off. Things that should be up are down. Its craziness.

And that brings us to last night. Cameron Dollar took his newbie Division I squad into Corvallis, Oregon to face Pac 10 heavyweight, Oregon State. Seattle didn't just beat them.... the crushed them, humiliated them, left them naked shivering on the floor. How bad? Tied for the worst lost loss in school history and now stands as the worst home loss in school history. The final score was 99-48. A 51 point massacre. And this was with Seattle's leading scorer and 9th in the nation, Charles Garcia, only scoring 2 points in the first 35 minutes before scoring 8 in the final 5 minutes. I just can't make sense of it. A total beat down. The Pac 10 is just a mess.

One Game Tonight... Better Than You Think

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:59:00 +0000

Tonight is really about the BCS National Championship (Can we even call it that? Do I even want to get into this? All I am saying is a 8-team BCS tournament beats National Championship contenders sitting around and waiting for over a month). But if you are looking for an NBA fix, there is one game you will find... Knicks-Bobcats.

And I know what you are thinking. You would rather rearrange your sock drawer, but listen up. Here is my case.

Charlotte has put together a road winning streak against good competition including the Cavs where it once was impossible to win.
Gerald Wallace has legitimately put himself in a position to make a run at Defensive Player of the Year with nearly 11 boards, a block and 2 steals a night and he will be matching up with the very-difficult-to-contain David Lee. Both guys have good size and athleticism.
Stephen Jackson has been doing his job problem free in Charlotte and his numbers are up. He deserves a watch.
This game actually has playoff implications as the Bobcats are currently sitting 7th and the Knicks have been on a good role as of late. In the East, being around .500 should guarantee the playoffs and these are the important games.
Bobcats 2, Knicks 1 in the series. Knicks need to defend the home turf as they barely did last time the two met in a seesaw game that saw Acie Law's potential game tying layup blocked with under 5 seconds left.
Both teams have cap space to clear and expiring contracts to get rid of. They have swirled in recent trade talks so some guys may be "on display". Unfortunately this may include break-out performer, Danillo Gallinari.
Nate Robinson has been getting more time, Larry Hughes has not. Say what you want about Nate but this is a good thing for fans of the game.

So I hope I have sold you. Give the game a chance. You might be surprised to find out that a lot of teams in the League are playing good basketball right now.

Bold prediction- Knicks 98- Bobcats 96

Not Again....

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:33:00 +0000

Not that I want to be right about this or that it is even fair to relate the two events but all I am saying is that on November 18 right after the University of Tennessee men's basketball team poured in 124 points in a smack down on UNC Asheville, I warned them here on this blog to beware of the Karma Train (obviously Bruce Pearl is not a reader and that is a shame).

Then this happened. Four of the top 8 players in Bruce Pearl's rotation, including stand-out senior "leader", Tyler Smith, were arrested after a speeding stop. In the car police found an open alcohol container, bag of marijuana, and a hand gun with an altered serial number. WHAT? Really? You couldn't have left the drugs, open alcohol and hand gun at home? Where could you possibly be heading on a winter's night in Knoxville, Tn where these things are in need? I obviously have a lot of questions but the real losers, once again, will be the fans of Tennessee basketball. The four players are suspended indefinitely and I can't see this ending well. Chances are Tyler Smith will end up in the D League and get a shot at the NBA, and the two junior players and one sophomore player will transfer to another school and get a second chance. Tennessee basketball will suffer and I hope Mike Hamilton, the Athletic Director steps up and sends a message.

In a big picture realization, NFL players are constantly ending up on the wrong side of the law, Gilbert Arenas and a team mate just turned their locker room into the Wild Wild West, and former NBA star Jayson Williams (infamous for shooting, killing, covering up and getting away with murdering a man) was found drunk and injured in his car wrecked on the side of FDR early yesterday morning.

Obviously, pro sports should be carrying the torch in cleaning up these glaring problems and has failed to do much. Between Mike Hamilton/Bruce Pearl and David Stern, it should be interesting to see what steps are taken in the coming days.

Look out for Tennessee, suiting up under-manned tonight for the first time against UNC Charlotte. Looks like another long season for the Vols...

Michael Jordan, LeBron James Is Not

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 19:48:00 +0000

Call me a hater. That's ok. LeBron is a physical FREAK of unrelatable proportions. I can't fathom how gifted an athlete he is. He has an unselfish flare that makes him a likable team mate. Certain things in basketball are a birthright; size, agility, court awareness (I think that last one stems from a self awareness that is cemented at early ages when a child recognizes he is, in fact, gifted and capable of doing the things he wants to do very well). There are other qualities more of the Wes Welker mold that are earned through either being told you are not good enough or being held back by some seemingly insurmountable force. From my point of view, LeBron has never felt the need to harness these qualities. Has success been to his disadvantage?

Success may be the wrong word here. I mean, if you really think about it, LeBron "succeeded" as a 14 year old when his face was being slapped all over magazines, message boards, and recruiting sites. I first heard about LeBron in an article when he was a sophomore in high school. I wish I could find it now. From what I remember, we were being told you are about to witness a basketball phenomenon unlike any ever seen. A hybrid Magic Johnson/Karl Malone with Jordan skills. I couldn't really believe what I was reading. It wasn't until one year later at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton when I saw a Junior LeBron James vs. Senior Carmelo Anthony that it started to take form.

Walking away from that game, I tried to rationalize the pure skill. A 6'8 guard with a man's frame (not yet filled out but you could see from the shoulders to the legs it was only a matter of time), who surveyed the court like a Pro Bowl free safety, saw angles before they developed and had the athleticism to exploit them, embraced the palpable energy surrounding him, and (gulp) played within himself. It was all too much. Celebrities were showing up at high school games, Kobe Bryant was sending him text messages, the media was gushing. In Post-Jordan basketball, LeBron is the second-coming. The first true litmus test of the Jordan legacy. And that is not a knock at Kobe. LeBron is just in a rarefied air and everyone knew it from the very beginning.

But that was just it. The crown before the throne. The decadence was inevitable. Granted, LeBron has handled it all pretty well. Where many guys would have (or did) implode, he has kept it all together and thrived. He used the blue prints of the Michael Jordan's and Jay Z's to craft an image. But that image was of a singular icon, a persona larger than any arena, let alone locker room could ever hold in. And that is at the core of why LeBron will never be on the same level as Michael Jordan... on the basketball court.

Now let's go back to last spring when the Cavs, obvious front-runners in the East, were bounced from the playoffs by a versatile Magic team. LeBron has consistently owned the spotlight in big moments and big wins but was visibly absent in this big loss. He walked off the court without offering a single handshake, not even to his friend and Olympic team mate, Dwight Howard. Let's stop here for a moment. This is unsportsmanlike and shows a bad example to kids, but he is competing on the highest level. Of course we don't want to see him laughing and sharing hugs with Magic guys but at least face the music. At least acknowledge the loss and lead your team off the court instead of walking off alone, bare-chested, cementing your masculinity. What was worse and even more indefensible was the no-show at the post-game interview. Mo Williams was left to take the fire from the media alone.

I have a really hard time swallowing the second part. For a guy who is (in)famous for the pre-game look-at-me rituals with the baby powder and the elaborate dance moves in the introductions, a guy who has his own branded shoe line, a series of successful commercials, his face plastered all over the world, and a slogan "We Are All Witnesses", he failed at the most crucial role of a superstar... to take the heat when its hottest.

The problem here was that LeBron's ego was bruised and that is not something he is willing to stand up to. After all, he has been crowned already. He has been branded 'Chosen 1". This guy doesn't lose. But the Cavs do which means their front man does too.

Later that summer, LeBron's image would take another hit when he was engaging in a pick up game at his own camp. Xavier sophomore, Jordan Crawford ripped down a two-handed jam over LeBron. It was a humanizing moment, something that can draw fans even closer to the stars they love. But LeBron would have none of it, demanding all tapes be seized to "lock" the incident, which was pure foolishness in a digital age where the incident could have been tweeted as it occurred. A moment which could have cemented LeBron's lovable side in millions of viewers turned into an ugly insult to a kid trying to play Bron Bron's game, a lost lucrative opportunity for the struggling freelance cameramen present, another tarnish on the Nike face, and all the world got was this t shirt.

Contrastingly, at one of his own camps, Micheal Jordan was once beat in a one-on-one contest by the CEO of Ariel Investments. Rather than stink about being beat on his own turf, MJ made light of the situation admitting 'everyone gets beat, dunked on, and crossed over, it happens' and spun a little marketing gold out of it.

What's the point in all of this? The point is LeBron misses the point. There is a time to be a cold-hearted, ruthless assassin (which is when you are competing on the court) and there is a time to be the laid back common guy who everyone likes. Very few athletes understood that like Jordan. No one out-competed Jordan on the court when it mattered. But when the game was over, he knew his role and he lived up to it.

A few weeks ago, LeBron was playing a game in Oklahoma City and after barreling into the stands, proceeded to take some fries from the fan he landed on. He then mock cleared his throat and proceeded to brick the free throw. Later in the game he gave congratulations to James Harden of the Thunder when he made a nice play. Point? He doesn't get it. When its time for playing and laughing, he is afraid his ego will get hurt. When the cameras are on and everyone is watching, he will crack the jokes because it is good for the image. MJ may have the well-documented closed-eyes foul shot with Mutombo but that is hardly the same. Rather than a ploy to garner a following, it was a cold-hearted attempt to break the young Mutombo's psyche, mid game.

Don't be fooled. LeBron is a near-meticulously crafted specimen on two fronts- athletics and marketing. LeBron and his marketing team are going to great lengths to make you believe he is something. It makes for great commercials but that is not how a champion is made.

Michael Jordan refused to lose. He didn't take that lightly. And, even more important, he knew what carrying the load meant. He was fierce about it such as when a low-key intra-squad scrimmage between the '92 Dream Team became physical and players egos got involved. Jordan took over every facet of the game driving hard and often, stepping into passing lanes, screaming and hounding his defenders and d'ing the ball hard. When a call went his way, Magic barked "What is this, Chicago Stadium?" to which MJ fired back, "No, I'll tell you what it is. It's the 90s, not the 80s."

Jordan owned that turf. He never let up. Till this day, Bobcats coach Larry Brown still reminds his team not to incite the aging Jordan for fear he has one more comeback in him.

Now its a new decade, LeBron's decade. He will make the most money, wow the most crowds, sell the most sneakers, score the most points, and fill the stat sheets like no one else in the modern era but something tells me he will not have the most championships. And why should he? He has his crown. He is a made man. He is a global icon. And we are all witnesses.

The Rock of Dallasyphus

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:13:00 +0000

In Greek Mythology, Sisyphus was the founder and king of Corinth. During his life, he came to be known for his deceit and cunning nature. His greatest triumphs would come at the end of his life when he was able to deceive the gods and postpone his death but only for a short while. When his indiscretions caught up to him, Sisyphus was given the eternal punishment of rolling a giant boulder up a steep hill only to have it roll back down when at the very top. As the myth goes, this has been repeated for eternity.

For many franchises, navigating the mountain that is any given NBA season may seem to be a Sisyphus-like task, but even more so when that eternal goal is constantly at the fingertips. Think about the Pistons of the late 80s who shed every layer of self-importance and from the ashes of defeat forged a new identity to make it all the way to the summit. Another example would be the Bulls of the nineties who sniffed and sniffed and then broke through and, like jealous misers, never let that grip go until it was on their own terms.

However, there are many cases where the task has become so elusive, such a constant heart-shattering let down that the question remaining is “what did we do to deserve this fate?” No franchise in the National Basketball Association better epitomizes this than the Dallas Mavericks.

The Mavericks were long known as a kicking post, a mere lay-over on the NBA landscape, an Old Wild Wild West shootout with the bumbling, stumbling town-drunk. In 1998, while Jordan was holding the release of his signature moment in Utah, the Dallas Maverick organization was starring at a .396 lifetime winning percentage and only one season with more than 30 wins the entire decade. They certainly had not helped their chances in the NBA lottery with misses on draft picks in each of the last three years (Cherokee Parks, Samalki Walker, Kelvin Cato). Don Nelson had taken the coaching reigns mid-year but no turn around was in sight as they finished the year 16-50 under his command. One minor glimmer was bringing in his son, Donnie Nelson, as Assistant Coach. Donnie had a quality track record, especially his work overseas in places like Lithuania, the Far East and with USA Basketball.

What happened next, no one could have predicted.

The Oddest of Foundations

Adept at assessing foreign talent, the Nelson brain trust made two key discoveries that would forever alter the franchise. In one fell-swoop, they drafted Robert “Tractor” Traylor and then immediately traded his rights to Milwaukee for the rights to Notre Dame Alum Pat Garrity and an unheralded lanky German named Dirk Nowitzki. Moments later, a deal was in the works to ship the rights to Pat Garrity along with two no names and a future draft pick to Phoenix for third string point guard, Steve Nash.

Let that last paragraph soak in for a second. The Nelsons turned Robert “Tractor” Traylor into Dirk Nowitski and Steve Nash in a matter of hours. That’s some world class hokus pokus if you ask me. Will Milwaukee ever live this down? Ever?

Dirk grew up in Germany the son of a women’s national basketball team member and a competitive-level handball player. It wasn’t until family friend and basketball player Holger Geschwindner recognized Dirk’s potential as a teenager that he took basketball seriously. Holger laid out an ultimatum- you can play basketball, have fun and be one of the best players in Germany or you can work out with me, do everything I say and you can be one of the best players in the world. The buzz word potential is thrown around often but in this case, the boy was dripping with it.

The interesting thing about the program Holger put Dirk through is that the focus was not purely on basketball. Holger had Dirk learn an instrument and read literatures to hone his mind and disposition.

Dirk would thrive and excel against the best US talent (50 points on Scottie Pippen and 33 in a game featuring Al Harrington, Rashard Lewis). Still, Don and Donnie were not even sure if Dirk would be coming to Dallas any time soon. In fact, Don and Donnie flew to Germany the day after drafting him. They brought him back to Dallas, threw a BBQ at the Nelson house and basically told him, show up and play, have fun and learn, we won’t be making the playoffs anyway. The transition was made easier when the NBA went into a lockout and Dirk was afforded a few more weeks to stay in

Germany

. Not yet under contract, he played with his club team to stay fresh and when news of the lockout ending reached him, he was ready to go.

Meanwhile, by way of South Africa, Canada, Santa Clara and Phoenix, a bleached out back up point guard, a self-professed gym rat was settling in Dallas. Nash was another enigma, playing high school ball in Canada and not being recruited by a single school. His high school coach sent videos to many colleges and the only one that came to show interest was Santa Clara who immediately recognized his talent and slapped a scholarship on him before big schools could find what they were missing.

He provided the perfect running mate for Dirk, helping him assimilate with American and NBA culture. They lived on the same street, went out to the same restaurants, Dirk was given the garage code to Nash’s place, and on the road a timid Dirk was drawn out of his hotel room by Steve Nash who knew places and people. Dirk began to feel at home but his game was still struggling.

Breaking Through

Dallas did not warm up to Dirk immediately, spending the majority of his rookie year lamenting the “one that got away”, Paul Pierce, who was standing out as a rookie in Boston. It didn’t help that Don Nelson went on record claiming Dirk would be the Rookie of the Year. There was a big target on his back and NBA guys feast on that. Dirk was singled out. Don and Donnie were not rattled by his lack of production. Don had put that target on his back for a reason making Dirk go through two extra work outs every single day, even on game days. Teammate Cedric Ceballos said Dirk would be so tired by the time games came around he would pick up two fouls early just to get a rest. Don was instilling a work ethic. He was showing Dirk what it meant to be elite, to play with expectations, something every single NBA player will have to face at some point if he wants to succeed.

The abbreviated season ended with another losing record and playoff miss but not all was sour. Point guard Steve Nash, who had missed half the season with an ankle injury showed a sign of things to come with 6 double-doubles in the last month.

Things changed for Dirk in year two soaring from 8.5 ppg to 17.5 and literally improved in every single statistical category including a big jump in 3 point percentage.   He was a 7 footer shooting the ball like nothing anyone had ever seen, unloading catapults from way above the defenders reach, galloping down the court like a gazelle and finishing awkward deliveries with a smoothness resembling a 7series. All of this with the mop head, flailing arms, smirks and grimaces we have grown to love. They finished 40-42, again missing the playoffs but there were very clear silver linings. Dirk would earn Most Improved Player and the big three (Nash, Finley, Dirk) were rounding into form. After starting the year 11-24, they finished 29-19. This split occurred January 15, 2000 when Mark Cuban, a young billionaire bought the Dallas Mavericks.

Cuban's Mavericks

Mark Cuban grew up an overweight kid with coke-bottle glasses and a passion for stamp collecting. As a young boy, he laid out one clear goal- to be rich. Those dreams were realized when he was able to cash in on the dotcom boom and sell his Internet company for billions. Armed with loads of cash and loads of time, he invested into basketball in Dallas.   Cuban set a tone from the start, bringing in Dennis Rodman (a move lasting only 12 games) as more of a publicity stunt than anything else.

Unlike the luxury box owners, Cuban, already an avid season ticket holder, opted to sit courtside with the fans donning team jerseys and engrossing himself in the action. For better or worse, Cuban was rewriting the rules.

In Dirk’s third year, Cuban’s first full year as owner, the Mavericks had their greatest success in over 20 years, winning 50 plus games and making the playoffs with the fourth ranked offense. Life was surely injected into Dallas basketball. A buzz surrounded all things Mavericks. In a first round meeting with the aging Utah Jazz, the young hipster Mavericks fell down 0-2 before rattling off three straight including a come-from-behind defining win in game 5 on Utah’s home court.

The next season welcomed the opening of the American Airlines Center, a world class, ground-breaking sports arena that put Dallas on the map. Dallas would again improve on the court but the Cuban distractions began to mount. One specific incident that year involved Cuban criticizing the refereeing and saying Officiating Manager, Ed Rush “wouldn’t be able to manager a Dairy Queen” leading to Cuban apologizing a working for a day as a manager of a Dairy Queen in Texas.

First Signs of Trouble

Dallas cruised into the playoffs with 57 win team (franchise record) and the number one offense in basketball. The playoffs kicked off with a dramatic Portland series that saw Dallas go up 3-0 before dropping 3 straight and pulling out the win in game 7. Next, Dallas met with the pesky Kings who had been one-bounce short for the past few years. Webber suffered a career-threatening knee injury in game two but the Kings fought with everything they had until the Mavs prevailed in 7. This series will always be remembered for the game 3 double-overtime thriller where 1) Nick Van Exel carried Dallas on his back 2) Dirk and Vlade Divac showcased the greatest Euro rivalry to date in NBA history, jawing at eachother and doing everything short of breaking out into a boxing match. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AVoxMmpLL4

What Dallas faced next was a San Antonio team built to win with veterans David Robinson, Steve Kerr, Danny Ferry, Steve Smith and Kevin Willis, Tim Duncan in the prime of his career, and great young talent in Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Stephen Jackson. After splitting the first two games, Dallas fell in game 3 but the big blow they suffered was on a freak knee-collision between Dirk and Ginobili. Dirk would miss the rest of the series and after being pushed to the wall in the first two rounds, Dallas did not have enough to match blows with San Antonio. They ran out of steam in game 6, losing 90-78 and San Antonio went on to win the title.

This week forever altered the landscape of Dallas basketball.

Coach Don Nelson had a long playing career in the NBA but suffered a similar injury and never fully recovered from it. Seeing Dirk struggle to even put pressure on the knee, he advised Dirk to sit out and not risk long term damage. Cuban felt otherwise. Claiming to have reassurances from team doctors, Cuban felt Dirk had the ability to play and should have been out there.   To this day, Dirk still stands by Nelson’s decision feeling he could not have played.

Sans Dirk, the Mavericks put in a valiant effort. In fact, in the decisive game 6, Dallas matched San Antonio shot-for-shot from the floor but could not hit from beyond the arc nor get to the stripe. Strangely, it was Nash and Finely who didn’t show up. Nash played 40 minutes and shot 3-10 for only 6 points and Finely only managed 13 points.

It appears that Cuban panicked greatly after this tough loss. Losing without Dirk on the floor raised a sense of urgency to fever pitch. Who compliments Dirk? We need more fire power. Don Nelson was phased out of personnel decisions from then on and what happened next would fracture the core of this team.

The Lost Season

The normally fiscally responsible Mark Cuban snapped after sniffing the NBA Finals. He led the complete overhaul of a once-balanced roster, bringing in Antoine Walker, Tony Delk, Travis Best, Danny Fortson, Antawn Jamison and rookies Josh Howard and Marquis Daniels.

This new roster was built more like a Fantasy team than a basketball team. The wrong guys were featured, the first quality draft picks in over five years were not properly utilized and everyone suffered declines. No where was this more apparent then the decision to pursue and award minutes to Antoine Walker. Walker averaged 20 ppg with Boston but did so with an inefficient 38%. He worked with the ball in his hands, more methodic and erratic which completely played out of the strengths of point guard extraordinaire, Steve Nash. He lumbered, shot erratic and took quality minutes away from Antawn Jamison who was coming off four straight years of 20ppg and 7-8 rpg, Antawn had started all 82 games for three straight years in Golden State but was down-graded to 2 starts in Dallas.

In fact, Jamison suffered through the season with his lowest production since his rookie year, only logging 29 minutes a night despite shooting a career best 54% from the floor. So while a quality player with rebounding ability, mobility and scoring efficiency road the bench, the Antoine version was out there chucking bricks and slowing down Nash’s attack. The Antoine/Antawn project cost Dallas $26 million but so much more in chemistry and cohesiveness.

Danny Fortson was a bust, Travis Best barely got used, and Tony Delk who had defined himself as a microwave man saw his minutes slashed in half and a 4 point drop in his nightly production.

This team never had an identity. The “wow this could be something special” bubble was popped on night one when the Lakers exposed every weakness. After playoff success for three straight years, the “Fantasy All Stars” couldn’t get out of the first round. The big problems? While the ’03 Mavs had shown huge strides on the defensive end, the ’04 version was 26^th in the league in team defense, noticeably unconcerned with what was happening on that side of the floor. Further, their lack of identity made them very fragile in tough situations which was highlighted in illuminating fashion by a woeful 16-25 record on the road.

The line up gyrations of ’04 made the summer more difficult than it had to be. Dallas was not willing to put up the money to keep Nash in town. Phoenix out-bid them to get their third stringer back where he would go on to win multiple MVP awards. Just as Dirk and Nash were hitting their peaks, they were forced apart.

Dallas was unwilling to pay the 31 year old Nash $60 million but they turned around and dumped $73 million of Eric Dampier who had not even amounted to a double-double guy in his career. Huh???

The logic here was a need for low post defense to protect Dirk. Was Dampier the answer, especially at the expense of Nash?

Dallas then packaged Walker and Delk to Atlanta for Nash replacement, Jason Terry and Alan Henderson.   This had to happen and Terry was a great fit regardless of Nash. He could have been dynamic alongside Nash and given the 31 year old some valuable rest. Plus, you still would have gotten Antoine out of town.

Then Jamison was traded for rookie Devin Harris and Jerry Stackhouse which really never had to happen as Jamison could have been a great compliment to Dirk all along. Think about it… Jamison was extremely efficient, he rebounded on both ends well and could take the larger defensive assignments. Alan Henderson would have aided in the post greatly and you still had Shawn Bradley and the money thrown at Dampier. To say Dampier/Terry/Stackhouse/Harris/Henderson was better than Nash/Terry/Bradley/Henderson/Jamison/left over money from Dampier was such a miscalculation it cost Dallas its edge.

But the pot had already been stirred to a boil. The knee-jerk reaction (pun intended) to Dirk’s injury and the subsequent playoff loss disrupted the core of this team from a personnel as well as a philosophical standpoint. Cuban and company (and this includes the Nelson duo) coughed it up badly when it mattered most. Rather than making the wise moves to get over the proverbial hump, to master the Sisyphus-task (ie Jamison and smart drafting), they vomited all over the roster, thinking big names equaled a winning product and then played it safe letting Nash walk before giving a pile of money to Dampier. Dirk’s best friend was gone, one year stints with Walker, Jamison, Delk, and Fortson left the roster shaky and directionless, Finely was a year older, a score-first point guard took the reigns and trouble was brewing among management and coaching. The still waters of Dirk’s prime were ruffled to a swell and in the NBA, it goes by that fast.

The Terry Years

It would be naïve to say that product that remained post-2004 was inadequate. Jason Terry was able to gel after a shaky start and Stackhouse was serviceable. After stinking up the draft for years, Josh Howard and draft-day acquisition Devin Harris gave a vital shot of youth to this team. Even Nelson walking away and leaving the team in Avery Johnson’s hands seemed to give a new sense of balance to a shaky roster. But this was not the team that should have been built around Dirk. It was the team they could build around Dirk. Nash was prospering for the Suns (benefiting greatly from rule changes jettisoning a Nash-renaissance no one fully expected save Dirk and Nash). He even bounced his former team from the playoffs that year which left Dallas again watching the boulder roll back down the hill.

Strapped by the luxury tax, Dallas had to waive Mike Finely after ’05 leaving him to join Duncan’s Spurs and go on to win a championship in two years.

But Mark Cuban did start a booing campaign against Finely in ’06 when the Mavs took out the Spurs in the playoffs so what up now, Finely????

That same year, the Mavs were in the driver’s seat of their first ever NBA finals with a 2-0 lead. They were coming off of Dirk’s signature moment in a Mavs uniform, the last second 3-point-play to force overtime and an eventual win in game 7 of the Western Conference Semis against nemesis, San Antonio. Things looked brighter then ever and yet something wasn’t right.

I still remember clearly watching this team with Dampier on the block, an aging Stackhouse on the wing and Josh Howard a little too green for the moment and thinking if this ever gets close, these guys are in trouble.

Sure enough, Wade took over. Agreed, he got some help from the officiating (25 free throws in game 5 vs. 25 free throws for the entire Dallas team) and a phantom call against Dirk in the deciding moments leaving Dirk to do nothing but stand there and stare.

What made that Finals loss to Miami even tougher to swallow was watching a rejuvenated Antoine Walker become oddly efficient in the series deferring to Wade and Shaq while knocking down open shots and attacking the boards like he was a Wildcat again.

So Dallas was back at square one again. The hill looked more daunting than ever but the ’07 Mavs came out scorching. Always known for their offense, they kicked up a defensive intensity never seen before finishing 5^th in the league in team defense and winning a league-best 67 games.   This team was different, playing at a pace unlike its predecessors, seemingly built for a sustained playoff run, even acquiring wily veterans to fill out the roster. But one thing they could have never accounted for was an inside man who knew the tricks, the exploitable spots, every vulnerability and insecurity the organization had, and a raging case of palpable revenge to boot. That man was Don Nelson.

As fast as Dallas rose in ’07 it came crashing down even faster and even harder in a stunning first round loss to Nellie’s Golden State Warriors. Dirk couldn’t even smile when he was awarded his first career MVP trophy the next week. The bad taste so common was again in everyone’s mouth. And Nelson was galloping away a happy man.

In 2008, Dallas was forced to respond to the Gasol maneuver. They dumped promising young point guard Devin Harris for the mid-thirties Jason Kidd. Kidd gave Dirk his first Nash-like running mate in four years but Kidd had long peaked, and left Dallas stranded against a young slew of point guards. This could not have been personified more than in the first round playoff loss to New Orleans and Chris Paul where Kidd could barely read the back of Paul’s jersey as he blew past him again and again.

What Does It All Mean?

So now here we are. It is 2009 and Dirk is still pouring in MVP-caliber numbers. This year’s product is older yet younger at the same time with Barea, Beaubois, and Ross pitching in. Gooden and Marion are flanking Dirk much like a B or C rate version of what Jamison/Howard could have been in 2005 and they are still on the hook $25mil to Dampier. Meanwhile, Nash is leading another Phoenix Renaissance and the Knicks are terrible (I just wanted to throw that in). Dirk’s NBA tombstone is beginning to be chiseled with the words “Never won the big one”.

Stop for a minute and appreciate what makes Dirk, Dirk. He is a deadeye assassin. He sees scoring angles more like a Peyton Manning sees angles on the football field. Through all of the drama, on the court and off the court, nothing has really changed. In a free agent era, he has been more loyal to a franchise than that franchise could ever be back to him. In the long list of NBA stars over this current generation, one of the thinnest slices is guys who remained on one team. In my mind the list reads like this- Kobe Bryant, Paul Pierce, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki. Kobe needed Shaq and then he needed Gasol to bring home the ring. Pierce needed Garnett, Ray Allen and a break out effort from Rondo. Duncan had a whole cast of supporters from David Robinson to Robery Horry, to Tony Parker to Manu Ginobili. What’s left? Alone Dirk remains, a loyal soldier who could pick off the enemy from miles away but never saw the second cavalry appear on the hill tops. Will Dirk be buried in these colors? Will he make that last ditch effort to attain his final goal a la Karl Malone? It just wouldn’t seem right but can you blame him?

The question that remains for me is what makes Dirk so different from a Tim Duncan who achieved monumental success as a pro? Both will be remembered forever as players redefining their positions in different ways. Yet, one will be remembered as a truly great winner, the other simply as a great player and a great guy. The difference is wholly dependent upon the organizations they play for.

The way I see it, salary aside, an organization can affect their superstar in three main ways- the draft, complimentary players, and stability.

The Draft

I mentioned the draft misses before Dirk. Dirk became the greatest foreign player in NBA history and a year later, the Spurs got Ginobili who arguably is second. This opened the flood gates for international speculating. Post-Dirk Dallas went after 8 foreign players and Gordon Giricek was the best by a long shot which really doesn’t say much. Meanwhile the Spurs over that same period drafted Tony Parker, Luis Scola, Goran Dragic, Beno Udrih, Leandro Barbosa and seven others who either didn’t pan out or are making strides in the D League. Over that same time period the top Maverick draftees were Josh Howard, Etan Thomas and Maurice Ager. No one else of consequence can even be mentioned.   The Spurs, constantly drafting in late rounds managed to bring in John Salmons, Marcus Williams, George Hill, DeJuan Blair and all of those foreign players mentioned before.

San Antonio also has proved adept at utilizing the D-League and are one of the first organizations along with the Lakers, Rockets and Thunder (any surprise these teams are succeeding and loaded for the future?) to own their own D League team and use it as a true minor league system, cashing in on hot guys such as Devin Brown in their ’07 title run. Dallas has not made that commitment yet but is starting to understand the importance of this asset, cashing in on D League call up Jose Barea this season.

Complimentary Players

It is clear that Dallas allowed the '03 playoff collapse to alter their foundation. Meanwhile Duncan played with one of the most stable rosters year-after-year. The Spurs dedicated themselves to surrounding him with proven veterans (Danny Ferry, Robert Horry, Kevin Willis, Mike Finely). The key to those rosters is that everyone fit into the system.

In Dallas, Dirk flourished in a style of basketball affectionately referred to as “Nellie Ball” which is predicated upon fast-paced offense, athleticism, and out running opponents and has the dubious distinction of never producing a champion. The combos Nellie through out were insane. In their best window from 02 to 04, Nellie changed starting line ups 58 times in 02, 53 times in 03 and 46 times in 04. Think about that... a starting roster on average didn't last 2 straight games! By contrast, the teams who knocked them out had starting line up changes of 24, 19 and 9. Lack of consistency, an utter lack of concern for defense and a coach who holds the record for most games coached while never coaching an NBA Finals game, let alone win a tile.   These were not Dirk problems.

Organizational Stability

The Dirk era has been marred by public squalls among Dallas brass. Cuban and Nelson are still battling in court over $7 million in refused salary, an amount that an arbitrator ruled was due to Nellie but Cuban refuses to pay. Cuban put his teams in the lap of luxury with state of the art facilities perhaps instilling a sense of complacency seldom attached to champions. Further, his public outbursts and fines totally close to $2million have taken attention from winning and given referees (yes, they are human) as well as Stern ample reason to give the close calls to the other side.

Final Words

Like the myth of Sisyphus, Dallas seems destined to carry their burdens for eternity.  But as it goes in sports, the franchise will move on and the players carry the scars.  Dirk will be remembered by some as “soft in the big moments” despite averaging a playoff double-double every year since ’01, shooting 40% from beyond the arc, 88% from the stripe, 45% from the field and getting more efficient (23.9 PER regular season vs. 24.4 post season) in the playoffs.  The prime of his career was shared by a mish mosh of egos, agendas and dollar-chasing opportunists. The delicate balance between champion and contender proved too faulty to cross.

I just can’t help but wonder what-if Dirk’s prime hadn’t been marred by poor management decisions, or what if that knee injury never happened?  Are we painting Dirk in a different light?  In the end, what does it really matter?  Dirk has achieved something unprecedented.  Further, he single handedly built a basketball temple in the wasteland that was Dallas.  His worth to that city is immeasurable, not to mention his worth to Germany and  foreign basketball players alike.  Dirk redefined a position, took his game to the highest levels possible, forever altered the greatest basketball league in the world, and to top it all off, he did it with a smile.  Can we really ask for anything more?

Rest well Dirk.  I relieve you of your burdens.

Bull Trip

noreply@blogger.com (MRP) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:29:00 +0000

According to TrueHoop affiliate bullsbythehorns.com, the Chicago Bulls recently began their annual "Circus Road Trip". Every year around this time, the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailly circus takes over the United Center in Chicago for a few weeks. So the Bulls hit the road and this has not been good news for them. Going into this season, the Bulls have been 9-56 since 1999 which included an 0-32 streak from 99-03.

This year was more of the same for a Bulls team that actually started out this year in good shape at 5-4 through some injuries and a pretty tough early schedule. Then the circus happened.

Here is how the Circus Road Trip went down:

Win at Sacramento- Good start. 10-56.... 6-4 things are looking up
Loss at LA Lakers by 15- Ok, everyone saw that one coming. Still over .500
Loss at Denver by 19- Tough break. Stay positive. Still. 500
Loss at Utah by 19. Ew. What on Earth? Ok, can still finish the road trip at .500 for the year.
Loss at Milwaukee by 2.

If you had never heard about the Circus Road Trip before, don't feel bad. Apparently Chicago Bull, Joakim Noah had not either...

Joakim Noah, currently the league’s leading rebounder by the way (12.2 RPG), until recently had no idea what the circus trip was all about. Said Noah: “Why do they always call it the circus trip? What’s so circus about it anyway?”
That’s okay, Jo. You just keep concentrating on crashing the boards.

Do you think they just sit him on the team bus, give him an ice cream cone and say "Sit still until the big bus stops and then you can play allll the basketball you want!"

I love this game.