ONE: Charley Rosen at Fox Sports wrote a piece during the week on young centers in the NBA, titled “Why there’s a shortage of quality big men“. In it he touches on Andrew Bogut and offers the following assessment: “Bogut is perhaps the most savvy of the young bigs and also possesses very good hands. But he makes too many mistakes with the ball, is injury-prone (he’s missed over 21 percent of Milwaukee’s games in the past three seasons) and he lacks the kind of top-of-the-line talent that can boost him to the apex of his position”. I don’t agree that Bogut makes too many mistakes with the ball - he is a great decision maker in my opinion and helps facilitate the Bucks offense. He shoots a high percentage too, so I don’t see where Rosen is coming from. The whole “injury-prone” thing is a bit harsh, but I will admit that if Bogut’s back plagues him throughout this season, then that will be a difficult tag to shake. As for the talent around him, Rosen is spot on - Bogut will never get the recognition he deserves until he starts making a name for himself in big games. That means playoffs, and that means getting more talent in a Bucks uniform. What’s your take? How long will it be before AB is an unquestioned Top 5 center in this league?

TWO: Props to Slam Online for putting together the Slam Dictionary. Some of my favorite entries:
Blogorithm—n.: A mathematical formula whereas an NBA player’s number of games played decrease in direct relation to his blog entries.
Radmanoglitch—n.: Temporary brain disorder that results in incredibly poor decision-making
Zachrifice-v.: A team using a third of their cap space for a baggage laden 20 & 10.

THREE: Celtics fans getting edgy about signing Rajon Rondo? There’s no need for concern, according to Brian Robb over at Celtics Hub. Why the C’s Should Wait on Rondo Extension.

FOUR: Thanks to some recent comments from Allen Iverson’s business manager regarding AI’s time with the Pistons, Detroit Bad Boys has struck back. “Iverson is what he is: entertaining to watch so long as you don’t have a genuine rooting interest in the team he represents. He’s a peculiar enigma: a legitimate NBA superstar but a fraud as a team cornerstone.” Ouch. But as a Detroit fan, I wholeheartedly agree 100% with everything written by DBB. As usual.

FIVE: Here at NBAMate we have a soft spot for Danny Granger after asking the question “What is Danny Granger?” that ultimately lead to the “platypus” winning Slam Online’s nickname competition. He had a phenomenal season, as Indy Cornrows justly points out in their official 2008-2009 player review. I wait with great anticipiation to see what Granger can bring to the court next season. I don’t know if its humanly possible to improve his game by the same measure we’ve seen him advance each of the last three seasons. If he somehow did, it would equate to a 30 point average and probably an MVP candidacy. Sounds crazy right? Nothing the Platypus does would surprise me.

SIX: T-Mac is Back, according to Nick Friedell’s latest blog post. Was great to read about some of the steps McGrady has taken to get stronger and ensure he’s back to his best. It was amazing to hear that he hasn’t been able to dunk off his left leg since 2002. If  T-Mac is back to his best health-wise, as the article would have us believe, then my declaration last season will be made to look very premature indeed. Forget what T-Mac was like at his best? Here’s a couple of clips to get you excited.

ONE: If you haven’t already seen Michael Jordan’s HOF induction speech, it’s worth a look. Was it gracious? Was it shocking? Was it downright arrogant? Make up your own mind, but there’s a few pieces floating around the Interweb to get you thinking. Fanhouse say Michael went from “classy to clown”, Kelly Dwyer takes a moment to say thanks, while Matt Moore at Hardwood Paroxysm says pretty much exactly what I’m thinking. Michael Jordan never was, and never pretended to be, the perfect role model. The fact he can be so flawed as an individual while holding the mantle of the Greatest Ever only adds to the intrigue of Michael Jordan. The fact he can deliver a Hall of Fame induction speech, taking pot shots and making small jabs at his peers, all the while everyone in the room still gazing on with respect and admiration, just goes to prove one thing: he is the GOAT. Not because of his persona or his character. But because on the hardwood when he was wearing that Bulls jersey, he kicked everyone’s butt. And most of the people in that room experienced that first hand.

TWO: For some Aussie news, head over to Brew Hoop for an update on Bogut’s rehab, including a link to a great Bogut interview at HoopsHype. Meanwhile Blazers Edge has a video interview with Patty Mills, which is almost a month old now, but its good to hear some positive news from Patty about the foot injury. In more recent Patty news, OregonLive ran this piece about Patty’s prospects for the upcoming season. Here’s hoping he lands that 15th roster spot. With the kid’s work ethic and natural talent, I’m sure he’ll get his opportunities, as long as he can get his foot in the door (no pun intended).

THREE: In what has quickly been relegated to second (or third) page news, Iverson has signed with the Memphis Grizzlies. I know this move seems like an absolute clusteruf**k, but it will serve its purpose. It will NOT be good for Conley, Gay and Mayo (as Barkley’s Mouth so eloquently states). But it will be good for the Memphis Grizzlies. Not the players, or the coaching staff. But the franchise. The fans, the ticket sales, the Sportscenter highlights. Likewise, it will serve a purpose for Iverson himself. This is the last stop on his career, make no mistake about that. And luckily for AI, its a stop where his actions, no matter how volatile, cannot threaten to make the situation worse. This is not Detroit contending for a title, needing a hungry veteran to take them over the edge. This is not a famed franchise with banners hanging in the ceiling and expectations of playing through May each and every season. This is the Memphis Grizzlies. A young and exciting team on the rise, yes, but nothing more. A franchise without an identity. This season, with one of the most iconic players of the last twenty years now on board, they just might find it.

The more tragic story, is of course the fact the last chapter of Iverson’s career is essentially meaningless. We’re talking about one of the most unique players of all time. A four-time scoring champ, an MVP, probably the greatest player ever under six-feet. Iverson’s career won’t end with a drive for a ring, or the adoration of a franchise who have cheered him on for years. Instead, it will end with Iverson trying to prove a point: that he can fit in. Which has been his story all along, really.

FOUR: A couple of weeks back it was Kobe’s 31st birthday, and the official Lakers site ran this nice retrospective piece on Kobe’s Top 31 career moments. When I saw this piece I was reminded of something Kobe said a couple of years back during a TV interview. I think he was 29 at the time. He was asked what it felt like to be a veteran, and whether he felt “old”. His response was something along the lines of him believing he had plenty of good years left. And then, without remembering the exact quote, he said “I don’t think I’m old… when I’m 32 I’ll be old” and he laughed. That is only one year away, and while Kobe will undoubtedly be one of the league’s seasoned veterans by that time, you’d hardly think of him as “old”.

A lot of people in Lakers circles say that Kobe has a good 4-5 years left in him, that Kobe will change his game subtly to squeeze out the very most from his worn body. People forget that Michael Jordan was 32 when he came back to the Bulls, and went on to win three more rings. Michael was a completely different player during that second run. His two year hiatus from the game conveniently distanced the Old MJ from the New MJ in our minds - one moment he was dropping 50 in the Finals and dunking on every one, the next he was mastering the turnaround jump shot and outwitting his opponents. For Kobe, that transition is going to play out before our eyes in the next year or two. Old Kobe might become New Kobe before you even realise.

FIVE: Ball Don’t Lie decided to name ‘The 10 best dunkers of the last decade‘. I love the fact Maxiell gets a mention (N4S has plenty of good evidence here). For me, there are two dunkers missing here. One is Kobe, which is a horrendous omission - dunks over Yao, Dwight, Duncan, KG, Sprewell and that dude in Denver where he went 360 and behind his back, come to mind. The other is Desmond Mason, who could flat out fly. This is still probably my favorite Slam Dunk comp dunk of all time. Through-the-legs, taking off with TWO feet (most through-the-legs dunkers will jump off one). Not to mention with the left hand. Degree of difficulty off the charts. Vince at #1 is impossible to argue with.

SIX: Chucko the Frustrated Suns Fan could barely contain his excitement when Bruce Bowen announced his retirement, and immediately requested I run a tribute piece on him. He even provided all my material. Thanks for the memories Bruce, you will be sorely missed. You douche.

It’s been a while since my last post, and to be honest, I haven’t had that much to say on an NBA-related front the past few weeks. I was naturally quite shocked then, when I went browsing last night through the NBA blogosphere and realised that most of my favorite NBA blogs had been happily churning out new posts at a healthy rate, despite the off season lull.

I came to the following realisation: either I’m just a lazy and selfish blogger, or I need to start an AFL blog to keep me busy in the off season. Usually the footy is a good distraction in the NBA off season, nothing more. But this year that distraction has ballooned thanks to my team - the Blues - being decent enough to make the Finals for the first time since 2001. I was at our last final against Richmond that year. It seems like a lifetime away. It’s hard to believe that since then, seven Septembers have rolled around without me having the slightest emotional investment in the sport. (That’s not entirely true: I was genuinely pleased to see Essendon and Collingwood lose their Grand Finals, things got pretty emotional in ‘05 sitting amongst a bunch of old Swans fans who all cried after the game, and in ‘08 I was rooting pretty hard for Crawf and the Hawks). But this year it’s different. This year I’m scouring the papers every morning for the tiniest morsel of football news, tracking my team’s injuries, planning my whole weekends around going to the footy, spending hours on the Big Footy forums patting fellow supporters on the back after a win.

And then there’s Fevola. Brendan Fevola has been my favorite Carlton player since Andrew McKay retired in 2003. But it’s been a love-hate relationship. No player has made me jump out of my seat swearing at the TV in frustration more than Brendan Fevola over the past few years, but no player has left me swearing in amazement just as much either. If you pick out Carlton’s best wins from 2002-2007 (and there aren’t many) the chances are those games had Fevola kicking a bag and winning it off his own boot. To put it simply, I haven’t seen a forward carry a team so helplessly dependent on him as Brendan Fevola - ever. A lot of people will bring up Tony Lockett, but if you look at the seasons where he kicked a lot of goals, they all came on sides who played Finals or were close to it. He also had a pretty handy half-forward in Stewart Loewe to help him share the load. Not many players in AFL history have won a Coleman medal while their team collected the Wooden Spoon as Fev did in 2006, and despite our obviously hopeless team, Fevola gave Carlton fans plenty to smile about during those bleak years. Like his game-winning boundary line kick against the Crows in 2004. Or the game against the Bombers in 2007 where he booted 8 goals (6 in the second half) in Carlton’s greatest ever comeback.

It is only this season that I’ve come to realise one thing: Brendan Fevola is probably my favorite AFL player of all time. I go to watch the Blues every week for the Fevola show. When he’s off his game, he can be frustrating to watch (although this is happening less and less now), but when he’s on, you are watching one of the most talented footballers to ever play the game. I honestly believe that. I also love the fact he’s a character, that he wears his heart on his sleeve, that he sometimes seems like a big kid (come to think of it, these are the same reasons Sheed was my favorite player for so many years). Of course, to opposition fans that may translate to “Fevola is a dickhead”. And that’s fine. As I said to a mate a few weeks back, Fev might be on track to be the greatest football “dickhead” of all time - but we both agreed he had to wrestle that title off Dermie at #1. And maybe that’s what I love the most about the Fev. The fact he can be such a larrikin, such a hothead, such a misguided individual at times - yet still be good enough to win Coleman medals, to effortlessly kick six goals in a half, to carry a team to victory, often on the biggest stage in front of the biggest crowds.

He is still an enigma, but as he enters the second phase of his career on a team that will win more than it loses, a whole new chapter in the Brendan Fevola story is going to be written. And I’ve got a feeling that chapter is going to be pretty remarkable.

/waits for Fevola to go goalless and get reported against the Crows tonight

]]> http://www.nbamate.com/2009/08/29/fevolaaaaaa/feed/ http://www.nbamate.com/2009/07/26/paper-pages-with-words-on-them/ http://www.nbamate.com/2009/07/26/paper-pages-with-words-on-them/#comments Sun, 26 Jul 2009 06:49:36 +0000 robd http://www.nbamate.com/?p=2276 I haven’t been writing much here lately, partly due to the off-season quietly simmering away, more time devoted to watching Aussie Rules, and putting in extra hours at work to make up for all the unproductive ones during the NBA playoffs. In fact, my year can pretty much be divided into two parts:

1) November - June: Being completely engrossed in the NBA, constantly distracted at work, late nights spent blogging and catching up on all the latest juice, spending a good chunk of my weekends watching live games and the week’s highlights.

2) July - October: Attention shifts to the AFL (that’s Aussie Rules for the uninitiated), start getting better feedback from my managers at work (no coincidence), nights spent wondering what to do and reading books that had gathered dust on my shelf all year, spending a good chunk of my weekends watching footy and reading the sports sections in every paper.

In short, July-October is my R&R time, so you’ll excuse me if the NBAMate updates aren’t coming as thick and fast as I would like. As such, I thought the least I could do is direct you to some other sources of entertainment to satisfy your NBA cravings. No, not other blogs, but good old fashioned books. Remember those? The things with paper pages with words on them?

The first is the Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac by Free Darko, a must-read for any fans of their blog, and a must-read for any NBA lover in general. The book has all the hallmarks of that inimitable Free Darko style in extended form, focused on the stars and true characters of the league we love. But it’s more than that. It’s statistical analysis so out-of-left-field yet so resonant that you’ll spend just as much time glued to the pages as you do wondering what herbal jazz cigarettes the FD crew are smoking. Ever wondered if the Fibonacci sequence can be used to predict Tim Duncan’s numbers? Or what jersey to wear to a Bar Mitzvah? Or how long it would have taken 50,000 Leandro Barbosas to build the pyramids? Or how Chris Paul’s points average relates to Switzerland’s GDP? These questions are actually answered in this book.

Simply put, I don’t know if I can ever do justice in analyzing the games and minds of Kobe, Duncan, Arenas, McGrady, Artest, Amare, Sheed and Yao, having now read this book. And that’s just a smattering of them. You won’t just find summaries of each player’s career and key attributes - you’ll get thought provoking and trail-blazing poetry on what makes these guys tick, and why we care about them so much.

There are certain NBA fans I know who desperately need this book prescribed by their doctor. These are the fans that think pro basketball is “22 pts, 6 reb, 4 ass” to quote the back cover. The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac is a healthy reality check - well, more like a giant slap in the face - to remind us why the NBA is so damn great. It’s a fantastic read, it looks amazing (you can actually order the home-grown illustrations as posters from the FD website), and it’s also somewhat inspiring to know that a bunch of dudes who write a blog can put together such a polished piece of work. Buy this book. It’s good.

The other book that landed in my magic parcel from Amazon is Men With Balls - The Professional Athlete’s Handbook, written by Drew Magary (cofounder of Kissing Suzy Kolber). The irony of course is that Magary is NOT a professional athlete at all, but that doesn’t stop him dispensing almost 300 pages worth of “utterly useless, 100% fake advice from the pros”, as the tagline goes. Advice includes who to bring to draft night, the art of showboating (including instructions for executing “The Staggering Penis”), unwritten rules for the locker room (rule 5: no wife-swapping until after midseason), the effects of drugs, the art of the comeback, and much much more.

Also included are some notes on what to expect if you’re an international player, including this amusing observation of Australians: “Seriously, milk that accent for all it’s worth… See, Australians are exotic enough to entice American women while also providing the comfort of being just as lazy and obnoxious as American men. Best of all, you live a hemisphere away. If you dump an American woman, the flight to Sydney is too long and expensive for her to stalk you. Bonus points if you live in Perth. That place is farther away than Andromeda”.

This is without doubt the funniest book I’ve ever read, and the only book I’ve ever read that repeatedly made me laugh out loud. This of course is extremely awkward when you’re on the train, and you can’t exactly share with your work colleagues the fact you just learnt a sexual maneuver called the “Phil Mickelson”. Because apart from being the funniest book I’ve ever read, it is also perhaps the most perverted and disturbing… in a funny kind of way. I don’t know how Drew Magary lives with himself, but I damn well salute you sir for writing this book. Tremendous.

Any other good sports books people have read lately? Always keen for good book suggestions. Well, at least between July and October.

No clues as to who made this.

Happy Birthday Ray, hope you have a very smooth day. No doubt you will.

UPDATE 22/7: Curious to know what Ray Allen does on his birthday? I know I am. I asked my former housemate (familiar to regular readers as the obsessive Ray Allen fan) who probably has a better idea than most as to what Ray does in his spare time. Here is what the man said.

A Birthday in the Life of Ray Allen
by Wibo

Ray likes to play it pretty cool on his birthday.

Slides out of his silk sheets (literally) at 9am and goes through his usual morning shave routine (two hours).

At 11am he heads out for brunch with some of his lady friends. Ray shouts everyone a smoothie and impresses everyone with his laid back, smooth personality.

At 1pm he diligently attends to more shaving and smooths up for some Bball.

2pm and Ray is off to practice. Two hours refining that world renowned silky smooth jump shot. Yep, it doesn’t matter if its his brithday or Christmas, he didn’t become the “(Future) Best 3 Point Shooter of All Time” by taking days off willie nillie.

At 5pm it’s time to shave and smooth up for the nights festivities. Ray decides to use his special occasion Super Smooth Cream, giving him a matte finish that makes passers-by stop and stare in awe. “Wow, is that Ray Allen? That guy is SMOOTH!” they say.

Ray dresses up in some sweet threads. As coach Doc Rivers has said “I don’t want to know what Ray’s budget is. It’s a big clothing budget. I would say he’s the style guy.”

7pm. After smoothly getting some dinner Ray heads out to the coolest club in town, sips on a smooth single malt whiskey, and dances to Smooth RnB until late.

From this point on, its Ray time.

————-

I didn’t want to ask what “Ray time” meant. But I have a pretty good idea.

TWO: Yesterday we heard the bad news about Patty Mills. I haven’t been able to find any new information in regards to how long he is expected to be out of action. Safe to say Blazers Edge will be all over it though. If you’re a Blazers fan that blog is compulsory reading, along with Bustabucket.

THREE: So it’s official, Rasheed Wallace has signed with the Celtics. My favorite player of the last three years will be wearing the rival Celtic green, and I’m not really sure how I feel about it. I cannot fully embrace Sheed in a Celtics uniform, the way I could have imagined embracing him with say the Orlando Magic. I’m not even 100% sure it’s a great fit for the Celtics. As a Pistons fan, I’m all too aware how little Wallace has left in the tank - realistically he hasn’t had a great stretch of form for almost two years. Maybe he did do a Vince and mail in the last season, and maybe the fire will return once he takes the court alongside Ray, Paul and Kev? Who knows. But like I said on a forum earlier in the week, Sheed will give you no more rebounding and hustle than PJ Brown did last year for Boston. He will give them slightly better one-on-one defense and better three point shooting of course, but is that really what Boston want when they already have a power forward (KG) who likes to drift 15-20 feet from the basket on offense? I still maintain Orlando would have been perfect, where Sheed fits right in with their game plan of stretching the defense, allowing Lewis to play some three, and taking some defensive pressure of Dwight. But I’m not sold on Sheed in Boston. Good to know Celtics fans are embracing him though, and if anyone is interested, NO… Need4Sheed will NOT be changing their name (lovin the t-shirt Nat).

FOUR: In somewhat of a surprise move, at least for me, Grant Hill has chosen to stay in Phoenix, forgoeing the possibility of joining the Boston Celtics Retirement Village. You kind of have to admire a guy who makes a decision like this, based on loyalty alone, when he clearly knows the Suns will not be contending for a championship and Boston certainly will. My Suns supporting friends tell me that Hill was arguably their best player last season, certainly their most consistent, and having him come off the bench to back up Paul Pierce would have been a supreme luxury for Doc Rivers and his team. As it is, it looks like Grant Hill will finish his career as a Sun.

FIVE: This got lost somewhere in the detail of the complicated Marion/Turkoglu 4-way trade, but it’s important from an Aussie perspective: Nathan Jawai is now a Dallas Maverick! Does this improve his chances of getting any PT? “I am confident that I can do it,” Jawai said. “Just my 10 days at summer league I’ve got to be as good as I can, as sharp as I can so I can get that roster spot.” Jawai has not yet played a game at the summer league.

SIX: Ron Artest Rap Tribute to Michael Jackson WTF? I’m speechless.

Summer league was the big chance Mills had of convincing the Blazers he belongs in their rotation. Now it’s likely he won’t even be back in time for the pre-season comp.

I’ll keep this post updated as more news comes to light. For now, we just wish Patty all the best in his recovery. We want to see you on the court in that Blazers uniform as soon as possible!

UPDATE (16/7): Looks like Patty will be out for 4-6 months. This sucks.

Explain to me the logic in this. Trevor Ariza, a player who was instrumental in the Lakers 2009 Championship but who ultimately has achieved very little else in his career so far, refuses to accept the Lakers mid-level exception offer believing himself to be worth much more. Ron Artest, a veteran who has won defensive awards, played deep into the playoffs several times and has a much more complete game than Ariza, jumps at the opportunity to sign for the MLE which is substantially less than what he was earning with the Rockets. A day later, realizing his former team had defiantly moved on, Ariza swaps positions with Artest in Houston and signs, wait for it… for the mid-level exception!

I’m baffled by this. Ariza was a role player at most, not a guy to take over games, but a James Posey-esque character who seems to make big threes and big defensive stops when you need them. But let me make something painfully clear: it’s not like he’s made a whole career of doing this.  His playoff run with the Lakers represented the best two-month patch of his career - he wasn’t even playing at that level during the  regular season. Yet because of a strong playoff run and Finals showing, Trevor Ariza thought he was worth more to the Lakers than the MLE they offered?

Except NOT, because that’s what he signed for anyway?!?

In earlier reports, following Ariza’s meeting with Mike Kupchak, his agent was quoted as saying it wasn’t about money, but rather “respect”. I’d really like to know what Mitch Kupchak could have said/done to “disrespect” Trevor, when the franchise has widely been reported as making him their #1 priority in the off-season. What could have possibly happened in that meeting that triggered Ariza to look elsewhere and sign for the same amount?

If I’m Trevor Ariza, I cannot think of a better situation to be in than having just won a championship alongside one of the game’s greatest ever players, who shared his shooting program with you that you followed like the bible every day. To play for the game’s greatest ever coach. To have locked up your spot in  the starting line up when a guy like Lamar Odom sits on the bench. To have hordes of LA fans admitting YOU were the difference in getting them over the line in June this year. You have a chance to build a dynasty, to win more rings and go down in the history books. And you’re willing to blow all that way for what? More money? A GM who will get on his knees and beg? Look what happened to James Posey. He jumped ship for an ego-appealing contract and his team got destroyed in the first round. His former team, Boston, could very well have challenged for back-to-back championships if he had stayed. Is James Posey happy now? Who knows. Maybe you should call him Trev?

Lets first get one thing straight. I love Trevor Ariza. I wish he played for the Pistons. He’s what I call a natural defender - he’s never had to be taught to play defense, he knew how to do it since day one of his career. The fact he’s developed a reliable outside shot makes him one of the most versatile small forwards in the league. Is he worth more than $5.6 million a season? Probably. Maybe upwards of $7m or $8m. But doesn’t the fact you just won a championship with a relatively young and improving team count for something? Whatever happened to loyalty?

I guess that’s what bothers me about this whole thing, and I really shouldn’t be surprised because I’ve been following the league long enough to know loyalty counts for very little. “It’s a business” is the cliche phrase a lot of players will throw out when talking about contracts or trades. It may be a cliche, but unfortunately it’s 100% true.

And is it just me, or does a decision like this give you a piercing insight into the true character of a player? I honestly haven’t looked at James Posey the same way since he signed with New Orleans. I now think “greedy” instead of “clutch”. I understand that NBA players need to look after their own interests in some respect, need to secure their future and feel they are being “loved” enough by their franchise. I understand, for example, why Ben Wallace left Detroit to sign a $60 million contract with Chicago. Here was a guy that had given his all to the franchise for years and years, worked harder than almost anyone in the league, all the while being relatively underpaid (he earned $5.5m in Detroit’s championship year) and never whining about it. That Chicago contract was his last chance to be financially rewarded in this league. His last big pay day. Detroit was changing styles, Ben no longer played a part in our future plans.

Ariza on the other hand was supposed to be a BIG part in the Lakers future plans. They nurtured him and helped him fulfill all the potential every Knicks/Magic/Lakers fans saw in him. They are very likely going back to the NBA Finals in the next few years. The Houston Rockets? Not so much.

This whole thing is probably a blessing in disguise anyway for Lakers fans. Ron Artest brings to your team something very few players in today’s league have. That nasty old school presence as an enforcer. He also brings a ticking time bomb waiting to explode, but I’ve seen enough from Artest over the past year to make me think he’s changed his ways. Like I said after watching the Magic-Rockets game in Houston, Artest became the rock of that team. All throughout the playoffs, he was the one guy the Rockets looked to for a calming influence on the court, when they needed to be bailed out. I know what you’re thinking: he got ejected twice in the Lakers series, how can I seriously put “Artest” and “calm” in the same sentence? Firstly, Artest never actually hit or assaulted anyone at any point - he was ejected for remonstrating really hard with Kobe, but there was no malice in it. His second ejection was a flat-out joke. Even the way he talked about those incidents after the game made me feel Artest was supremely aware and conscious of his actions at every second - not blinded by the rage and fury that saw him erupt at the Palace brawl.

Ron Artest has changed, and perhaps the biggest proof of that is his willingness to do exactly what Trevor Ariza couldn’t: take a personal sacrifice for the team, for a chance to win. Or maybe the biggest proof is that exactly one year ago Ron Artest said “I will never accept a mid-level exception”. Let’s not also forget that the only team to push the Lakers to seven games was a Ron Artest-lead team. Throw in a healthy T-Mac (which was an assumption Artest made when he joined), and the Rockets very well could have made good on Artest’s pre-season promise to bring home the championship.

More important than anything Ron Artest can do for the Lakers though, is what the Lakers will do for him. Any player of Artest’s level of craziness is inherently unsuited to being The Man on his team. It just doesn”t work. There is too much pressure in having to stand in the spotlight facing the media attention and criticism as a franchise player, when your manic nature already attracts more media attention and criticism than any normal person. Dennis Rodman fit right into Chicago as arguably the most crazy guy to ever play in the NBA, but playing alongside Michael Jordan shielded him from unwanted attention and unnecessary pressure. Rasheed Wallace’s volatile personality didn’t suit being The Man in Portland - every technical foul or ejection in a Blazers uniform seemed to derail him even more, but when he hit Detroit those meltdowns all of a sudden became motivational. Amazing what happens when you’re sharing the load with three other All-Stars.

The same goes for Artest. In those testy moments on the court when the inner-Artest threatens to surface, the fact he’s not bearing the weight of an entire franchise on his shoulders will do wonders for him. The fact that he won’t have to worry about running down the other end to make a statement bucket - Kobe can do that for him. The fact he can take a breather on the bench and try to cool his nerves without his team suffering - the Lakers depth has him covered. These are extreme luxuries for a guy like Artest. You think he’s changed in the last year? I can guarantee you, now that he’s suited up in the purple and gold,  that transition is far from complete.

Are the Lakers now unbackable favorites to repeat? It’s too early to tell, but it certainly changes their identity. I brought up the Rodman analogy the other day, and I think that’s the best way to explain it. When he joined Chicago they became first and foremost a defensive team. His presence, combined with an aging Michael Jordan, meant those Bulls relied far more on their defense to win games than their high-flying scoring ability. It’s ridiculous to think a team can have three members of the All-NBA Defensive First team, but in 1996 that’s precisely what Jordan, Pippen and Rodman did. The Lakers won’t match them with three, but they could certainly have two. In fact, you could argue the two best perimeter defenders of the last decade are now on the same team. The last time that happened was, well, Chicago in the 90’s. But they never had a forward of Gasol’s calibre. Or a young centre as promising as Andrew Bynum. Or the versatility of a Lamar Odom off the bench.

Unbackable? No. Highly likely? Yes.

Ron Artest is going to be a Laker. The guy that almost came to blows with Kobe Bryant during the Lakers-Rockets series will now be his teammate. Kobe, you want to follow in MJ’s footsteps? You now officially have your Dennis Rodman.

More thoughts on this move (and the Pistons signings) over the weekend, but for now let me just say that I really like this move for LA. My respect for Ron Artest jumped about eight levels while watching him play during my US travels in April and May. I genuinely like the guy now. I would love to have him on my team. You might think that he hates Kobe and vice versa, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. When this news becomes official and Kobe responds, he’ll say all the right things about being disappointed by Ariza’s departure and losing a “younger brother”, but deep down inside you can be sure that Kobe Bryant loves this move.

Check these links for more info:
John Hollinger’s take
Forum Blue and Gold
David Aldrige at NBA.com
Lake Show Life
JA Adande at ESPN
Ball Don’t Lie
Sports Illustrated

As most Detroit fans probably know by now, coach Curry has been given the axe after just one season. I have mixed emotions about this: part of me is wrapped that this horrific little experiment is over, but part of me is sad it couldn’t work out - I can’t help but feel Curry was extremely unfortunate to lose Billups just days into his first tenure. But one thing we know about Joe D is that he’s never been afraid to pull the trigger, and the question now remains, who does he chose to take over the reins?

Doug Collins has been mentioned, as has Avery Johnson, and up until just minutes ago I was in limbo about who I would rather see at the helm. That is, until I read this post. It is now clear to me. Joe, you must hire Bill Laimbeer. The time for Combat Basketball has come.

I know what you’re thinking.  ”Hire Laimbeer?  My whining, flopping ex-teammate whose only coaching experience is with a women’s team?!”

Yes.  And not just because he won two championships as your teammate and three as coach of that women’s team.  Not because he elicits simultaneously hilarious and fearsome nicknames like “Man of War,” “Prince of Darkness,” and “The Shocker.”  Not even because he’s the only guy on earth with the guts to follow up the phrase “Michael Jordan may be a very good, outstanding basketball player” with the word “but”.

You must hire Bill Laimbeer because…

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