Kleeman's Last Word

Rockets draft preview: why 25 can't stop the Yao-uch

Nothing General Manager Daryl Morey orchestrates during tonight's NBA Draft will fix what ails the Rockets.

That is, unless Morey can trade the team's 25th pick for a magician who can cure Yao Ming's foot injury for good and turn Tracy McGrady into the back-pain free, competitive fire ball the Rockets once traded to get.

As long as the Rockets insist on building around Yao and McGrady, the same old song will sing its way into a locker room that hasn't seen a playoff series win in more than 10 years.

McGrady and Yao have missed more games than I care to count and the Rockets have a sub .500 record when one or both players miss a game. Yao has missed 86 games the last three seasons with various foot ailments.

The Rockets bucked that trend this season, winning seven games in McGrady's absence, and completing the second longest win streak in NBA history, 22 consecutive victories, after Yao announced his season-ending surgery.

The trend returned in the playoffs when the Utah Jazz ousted the resilient Rockets in six games. McGrady is 0-for-what in the first round? Eight? You cannot be serious.

There is little point in the Rockets moving up in tonight's draft. Morey's best bet is selecting the best available talent at 25, whether it is Nicolas Batum, Ryan Anderson, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Courtney Lee or anyone else. With so much draft volatility, moving up to the 16-20 range guarantees nothing.

Let's see if a Morey-led orchestra can pull another draft steal. He nabbed Purdue forward Carl Landry with the 32nd pick and acquired Luis Scola in a trade the San Antonio Spurs may regret for the next five years.


Team needs

+Perimeter shooting
+Depth at the center position
+A third scorer
+James Posey
+Mike Miller


At one point this season, the Rockets were shooting a dismal 28 percent from behind the arc. With Yao commanding double teams, the Rockets need more shooters to spread the floor. Shane Battier, Rafer Alston, Luther Head, Bobby Jackson and Aaron Brooks are not the answers. The best shooter, Steve Novak, struggles to earn minutes because he is a defensive liability.

Dikembe Mutombo is the ageless wonder, drinking from the fountain of youth when most people think he should be drinking from a water fountain at the NBA's old folks' home.

In the Rockets' first game without Yao against the Washington Wizards, Mutombo entered the game and promptly swatted a Caron Butler drive to the basket into the first row. It was an inspiring moment but how many of these does he have left?

The youth fountain does dry up, doesn't it?

If managing Yao's already manageable 37 minutes per game becomes a bigger issue, they need more size at center to compliment the fiery ScoLandry power forward tandem when he sits.

The Rockets still lack a third scorer. McGrady has yet to prove he can consistently perform like the superstar his paycheck says he is. Mike Miller is a terrific shooter and slasher who could provide that needed 20 points per game lift.



Untouchable players if the Rockets propose a trade to get Miller

+Yao Ming
+Tracy McGrady
+Shane Battier
+Luis Scola
+Carl Landry
+Rafer Alston


What did you say, Chris Wallace? That list of untouchables includes every player that interests you? You donated Pau Gasol to the freaking Los Angeles Lakers, so give Mike Miller to us. This is not a request. This is a demand.

Sadly, trades do not work that way. However, that does not mean Morey should not pester Wallace and do whatever he wants, reason pending, to get Miller alongside Yao and McGrady.

Posey would also prove a valuable free agent. Since I am short on time, I will commit a journalistic sin and assume that you watched him during the NBA Finals.

The rest of the roster, even speedy point guard Aaron Brooks, is open for trades in my book.


The conclusion

This article is short because the prognosis for the Rockets is short. If Yao and McGrady cannot stay healthy and productive, the Rockets will continue falling in the first round.

Singing can be fun until your most familiar song becomes irritatingly repetitive.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 1:40 AM 0 Comments

Spurs draft preview: R.C. Buford battles the Euro

A surefire first selection in the NBA draft can pay dividends. More than ten years ago, ping pong balls rolled San Antonio's way and the Spurs found such a player. That guy's dividends include four championships, two MVP trophies, three Finals MVP trophies, a spot in the Hall of Fame and praise from many who call him the greatest to ever play the game at his position.

Spurs' General Manager R.C. Buford hasn't needed another Tim Duncan in the team's championship run and he doesn't need one this year. Still, this scorching summer will test Buford's sweat in many ways. He must take a veteran team that is right there in the championship hunt and remove the right.

What the Spurs do this off-season will dictate how far they go next May. The Spurs run at a repeat ended in an unflattering five game exit. The hardened and battle tested champs bowed to a Lakers team they should have smacked, bullied and trampled. Buford and Gregg Popovich deserve some time to grieve a botched back-to-back opportunity.

The Spurs may have blown the team's best shot at winning a title in consecutive years and need some luck to win another one at all. Tim Duncan nailed a three-pointer in overtime of the game that changed the playoff complexion. Rattled, upset and in mourning, the Phoenix Suns never recovered from that stunning 117-115 defeat and unraveled in five games.

The Spurs had no business winning that game, in which they trailed by as many as 16 points. The Lakers had no business winning game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, in which they, meaning Kobe Bryant, erased a 20-point third quarter deficit. Bad things happen when business goes sour.

Buford knows he cannot roll his eyes this offseason and keep the current roster intact. In years past, he laughed heartily as lottery losers stockpiled young and exciting prospects with no proven NBA ability.

"You keep your young guys and all the press. I'll keep winning championships," he said.

The Boston Celtics won a championship convincingly two weeks ago with seven players over age 30 and that means the Spurs can contend again. However, age reared its ugly head when key rotation vets Michael Finley and Robert Horry forgot how to put the ball in the basket.

Finley hit a string of clutch shots in the first round against Phoenix. His tanking three-point accuracy suffered in the conference semifinals against New Orleans and sputtered to a hault against the Lakers. He can still shoot in waves and defend role players adequately. His once potent driving game and finishing ability at the rim, however, has decayed.

Horry mustered a memorable block and steal in the Phoenix series and drained two threes in a second round game seven win on the road. Horry carries a reputation as a playoff performer who approaches the regular season with lethargy and indifference. His performance in the 2008 playoffs lacked its usual brilliance with no 10 rebound efforts or game-winning treys.

Horry and Finley seem convinced they can still help the Spurs climb the championship mountain. The two once clutch performers lost breathing ability at that mountain's halfway mark.

Buford's last productive draft pick starts at point guard and hoisted an MVP trophy in the 2007 NBA Finals. The Spurs selected Tony Parker in 2001 with the 28th pick and few outside of San Antonio will remember his story.

Popovich initially passed on the lightning fast French guard and had good reason to do so. Buford insisted that his coach give Parker another look. After the Spurs drafted him, Popovich gave Parker many other things, too, and they are in no particular order: verbal lashings, declarations that he would never earn his starting spot, belittlement at practice sessions and lofty expectations.

Since 2001, Parker has transformed from worst lay-up finisher in the pros to the standard for scoring in the paint. TNT's Ernie Johnson asked former Mavs coach Avery Johnson which point guard, Parker or Chris Paul, was harder to keep out of the paint. Johnson answered without hesitation, "Tony Parker."

One stunning conference semifinals moment proved this transformation. Then, Parker threw the ball at a popcorn vendor instead of the slashing Manu Ginobili. Popovich called his point guard over for a brief and civil chat then patted him on the back. "Let's go Tony. It's your game, baby."

It's your game, baby? Are you kidding me? Few who witnessed Popovich's verbal and emotional abuse of Parker saw this one coming.

Even fewer saw Ginobili, the 57th pick in the 1999 draft, becoming so important that his ankle injury would change the Western Conference Finals landscape.

Buford will battle the Euro this summer in several ways. He hopes to unearth another international talent that he can groom behind Duncan, Parker and Ginobili. The most promising draft pick since Parker, Tiago Splitter, decided to ditch the Spurs for two more seasons and stay with Tau Ceramica in Spain where he can triple what he would earn as an NBA player.

The bruising, low-post scoring forward would have juiced the Spurs in several lacking areas. Now, his absence should make Buford question whether his strategy of stashing future talent overseas can continue. The dollar's unsightly decline makes staying in Europe a more attractive proposition for international stars and selecting them an even greater risk.

As the Orlando Magic know with Fran Vasquez, a talented draft pick who avoids the U.S. is a wasted draft pick. An early 20s French forward, projected to be a late first rounder or early second rounder, seems like a great fit for the Spurs system.

He can shore up his lackluster defense, use his long arms to pester taller players and out-run and jump most of the current roster to the Texas-Mexico border. The risk in choosing Nicolas Batum is not his heart. He exhibits a tremendous passion and medical tests seem to conclude that his ticker will hold up just fine.

Every general manager that considers Batum will wonder if they are picking an overseas no-show. Batum would demote his star status in France by joining a team like the Spurs. He would have to accept less money and a limited bench role.

What will hurt Buford most is that his team needs young talent that can contribute immediately in a draft where there does not seem to be much of that.

Mock drafts predict the Spurs will select anyone from Ryan Anderson to Batum to Chris Douglas-Roberts. With no consensus pick, Buford must gamble. The same way he rolled the dice with Parker and Ginobili and won.

He doesn't need another Duncan, as No. 21 still reigns as the best at his position, but his aging roster needs help. Buford must find 'dividends' without the aid of the 'surefire' part.

Team needs:

+Reliable shooting to space the floor.
+Scoring threats to assist Duncan, Parker and Ginobili.
+In perhaps a summation of the above needs, a hybrid two or three who can contribute 10-15 points off the bench.
+A backup point guard for Parker not named Vaughn or Stoudamire

Likely roster returns:

+Tim Duncan, PF
+Tony Parker, PG
+Manu Ginobili, SG
+Bruce Bowen, SF
+Fabricio Oberto, C
+Kurt Thomas, PF/C
+Ime Udoka, SF
+Brent Barry, SG

Comments: Duncan and Parker are under contract until 2012. Ginobili is under contract until next summer when he will likely resign with a shorter deal. The above role players may all be 30-somethings but they can still contribute on a championship level. With Ginobili's health a chief concern, Popovich may sit his Argentine star in back-to-backs and throughout the season. He needs a hybrid scorer who can fill in for Ginobili on the nights he does not play. That same hybrid would be needed on nights when Udoka and Bowen are not contributing offensively.

Scoring droughts stung the Spurs and this current roster core cannot score enough to survive an 82-game season and drill 16 wins in the playoffs.

Decision players

Michael Finley
Robert Horry
Matt Bonner
Damon Stoudamire (probably a goner)
Jacque Vaughn
Vaughn is Popovich's prototype back up point guard. He hustles on every play, runs the offense with a quiet confidence and rarely makes poor decisions. He also didn't play much during the latest playoff run. A better scorer behind Parker would bolster the Spurs' offense.

Concerns:

+Manu Ginobili's health
+Manu Ginobili's health
+Manu Ginobili's health
and
+Manu Ginobili's health

Comments: Popovich has asked Ginobili not to participate with Argentina in Beijing because his ankle condition has not improved after a month of rest. If his star sixth man re-aggravates or worsens his left ankle, the new spelling of the Spurs will be t-r-o-u-b-l-e. That makes finding scoring help for the Spurs a paramount task. With so much pressure on the Big Three to each score 20 plus points in every game this season, the Spurs often found themselves in hideous scoring droughts. The Spurs still managed to knock off the Hornets in game seven on the road after a seven and a half minute, fourth quarter scoring lull. Do not expect that trend to continue.

That many minutes without a field goal against a Western Conference team is a death sentence.

The microcosms:

+A five point quarter against the Atlanta Hawks in San Antonio. The Spurs defense allowed only 16 points in that same quarter and the guys in silver and black won the contest in a 20-point rout.
+Ginobili shot for the lead in a must-win game five and missed. How many championships would the Spurs have won since David Robinson retired with this Ginobili? The same number of points he scored on that possession.

Possibilities to address concerns:

+Free agency
+Lanky and athletic D-League star Ian Mahinmi

Comments:

Can any potential draft pick, one available at 26, immediately step onto an NBA court and make baskets there? Can any of the prospective picks play Spur-level defense. The only way to land a rotation spot with flat defense is to shoot like Barry or Finley. It doesn't look like the Spurs can grab anybody that good in this draft.

Mahinmi dominated D-League competition, averaging almost 18 points and nine rebounds, earning first team All NBDL honors. He also continued the same disturbing foul fest that has concerned Spurs officials. Popovich's best shot at developing Mahinmi is tossing him into the fray, the same way he did with Parker.

Either tough love, a few verbal lashings and high expectations will fix this talented kid or they won't.

Best free agent fits within Spur reach:

+Eduardo Najera
+Carlos Delfino
+J.R. Smith
+Mickael Pietrus
+Andres Nocioni

To quote Buck Harvey from the San Antonio Express-News, "the one who makes the most sense for the Spurs doesn't have any."

One glance at Smith and another at the team's need for a two/three hybrid and it seems the Spurs have their guy. Smith can shoot lights out from behind the arc, dunks and attacks the basket with ferocity. His suck attitude has landed him in the coaching doghouses of George Karl and Byron Scott.

If the NBA player community has only a handful of thugs, he is among them. Off the court and many times on it, Smith is the anti-Spur. Harvey's one-liner sums up the prospect of a Smith/Spur marriage.

Popovich would have to agree to tolerate Smith and Smith would have to agree to settle for the Spurs' way for less money than Denver will likely offer him. Hey, if Popovich did it with Stephen Jackson...

Nocioni is a long shot but his stock has fallen in a disarrayed, disjointed and disoriented Chicago locker room. If the Bulls wanted to dump him, the Spurs would gladly add another Argentine alongside Ginobili.

The Spurs must spend a tight mid-level exception wisely, about $5 million, to lure any of the above free agents.

The conclusion:

An uncertain and unpredictable draft assures Buford of one thing. He will not have the same luck that once landed Duncan in San Antonio. A sad realization since he could use some of that luck now.

E-mail me: robertkleeman@mail.utexas.edu

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 2:36 PM 0 Comments

The NBA: where the trade windfall of an uncertain draft happens

For many lottery teams in tomorrow's NBA Draft the best picks will be the ones they trade away.

ESPN has convinced us that Chicago will snag hometown product Derrick Rose with the first selection. After that, don't be surprised if the Miami Heat choose a panda from a national zoo and sign him to a two-year deal.

USC star OJ Mayo will fall anywhere from pick two to 10 and Michael Beasley might be a more attractive investment if his last name was mustard. Mayo and Mustard - now that's a draft night combination worth sampling!

Laugh at the thought all you want, but the unprecedented volatility of this year's draft is no joke. How else do you explain French forward Nicolas Batum as a lottery pick in an early Fox Sports mock draft and now as the third pick of the second round in ESPN's latest consensus draft?

West Virginia forward Joe Alexander was a low first rounder two weeks ago but became a hot lottery topic this week.

Scouting expert Jonathan Givony is certain the Memphis Grizzlies will select UCLA forward Kevin Love with the fifth pick. Janny Hu, a San Fransisco Chronicle writer, predicts Milwaukee will select him eighth. Several early mock ups on Bleacher Report projected Love would fall in the 11-15 range.

ESPN's draft guru Chad Ford says Miami should not pass on Michael Beasley because he is the "most NBA-ready player in the draft." An article in the Miami Herald published last night said the Heat may pick Mayo instead because they question Beasley's pro preparedness.

The NBA: where "the great debate" becomes a convoluted Gene Hackman crime thriller.

That one workout has changed the apparent fortunes of so many players says all you need to know about the immediate value of this draft class. There isn't much.

If general managers had any idea what the hell to expect from this plethora of immature youngsters aching to wear the NBA's figurative diaper, Arizona point guard Jerryd Bayless might know where he was headed. Love, Brook Lopez, Mayo, Beasley, Brandon Rush and Kosta Koufos might know, too.

One general manager who asked to remain anonymous in an Associated Press article confessed that teams have no idea where to place some of these freshmen and sophomores.

Is Bayless a Chris Paul-esque star or is he a nicer, more polite Smush Parker?

The above comparison sounds blasphemous even to my ears, but believe it or not, some folks once thought Parker would turn his high school stardom into NBA stardom.

Sure, two to five years down the road, some of these early exit kids may earn meaningful minutes on a playoff team but not this year. Probably not next, either. The trade winds are strong and expect many of them to stick around Thursday night.

The Portland Trail Blazers, Seattle Supersonics, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves and Charlotte Bobcats are too young.

Blazers' GM Kevin Pritchard holds an intriguing poker hand. His franchise star Brandon Roy exudes the class, humility and controlled confidence needed to win a championship the right way. He also carries the talent.

Pritchard hopes Greg Oden will anchor his rising franchise and develop into the NBA's next great post presence. Rudy Fernandez, perhaps the best athlete and talent in the ACB Spanish league, announced he will leave his team to join the Blazers next season.

Nate McMillan's roster boasts plenty of young men he can groom. Now the Blazers' need some old guys to teach them how to play.

Last year's draft lacked the schizophrenic nature of this one. Uncertainty happens every year, as most draft pools contain about five surefire picks with teams selecting the rest on availability and need.

When a draft has one certain pick, if you can call Rose that, two things are clear: One--many of these players should think less of themselves and head back to college. Two--teams singing the familiar lottery refrain will do so again next year if most of these players are as unreadable as they look.

Last year's draft yielded a few surprises. Who predicted that Leon Powe would score 21 points in game two of the NBA Finals? Who, other than maybe Rockets GM Daryl Morey and his former Purdue coach, foresaw the athletic, gritty fire pit that is Carl Landry?

Forward Brandon Bass, perhaps the toughest player on a Dallas Mavericks team that lacks the proper testicles, was also a second rounder. Kyle Korver, the sharpshooter whose outside stroke fueled the Utah Jazz to the second best NBA record after January, was an early second round pick.

History says that at least a handful of the 2008 draft class members will make this biting column look moronic.

No one should doubt the value of finding a Powe in a rough draft. The question is, do these surprises appear as often as we think? No.

Anyone watching Boston handle Los Angeles in six games had to notice 38-year-old PJ Brown out-hustling younger and longer Lakers big men for key rebounds. When the Celtics played well, the team's star trio of 30-something championship seekers--Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce--looked like they knew what to do.

The younger Lakers front line of Vlade "Space Cadet" Radmanovic and Lamar "Not Scottie Pippen" Odom looked confused and clueless. Powe is a young guy, for sure, and he enjoyed spectacular spotlight moments in the championship round.

With the last three NBA champions using older than dirt role players to perfection, it is difficult to imagine many from this draft performing key roles on playoff teams next season. Powe is special.

That's why most losing teams should package a few youngsters in a deal tomorrow night and land a veteran who can win on the NBA level. Can short-leashed Timberwolves GM Kevin McHale expect to continue drafting unproven players and hope that one sprouts into a star who can help big Al Jefferson avoid becoming the next wasted big man talent?

In a league where youth seems to promise eternal treasure, the old guys keep stealing the loot.

Bayless will likely anticipate his next lottery partner before he hoists a championship banner. Then maybe, he will shake his head and tell the freshman kid, who exited college after one season, that the figurative NBA diaper he so aches to wear, even if it means instant wealth, holds a lot of poop.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 3:09 PM 0 Comments

Mavs owner's comments highlight NBA's Olympic dilemma

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban impugned the Olympics earlier this week for what he calls 'The Games’ money-driven mission.

He aired his complaints about the upcoming Beijing games just after a report from unidentified sources confirmed that the 35-year-old point guard he will pay $20 million next season had made the U.S. Men’s Basketball Team.

If Dirk Nowitzki can lead Germany to victory in a looming qualifying tournament, he too will compete in August. Cuban told the Dallas Morning News that he questions his two stars risking injury abroad in the name of their Mavericks paycheck.

"It's not that I don't like the idea of them representing their countries," Cuban said by e-mail to the Morning News. "If the Olympics were truly a nationalistic endeavor built on sport and part of the public domain, I would be willing to take risk and support their playing. What I don't like is that we lie to ourselves and pretend that the Olympians represent our country."

"They don't. They have taken relatively low paying jobs working for the Olympics, who in turn sell the broadcast and marketing rights for billions of dollars in profits, all the while creating enormous risk for those of us who pay them for their day jobs that support their families. It's amazing how players who are free agents won't participate, but those with guaranteed contracts will."

"I hate the fact that we lie to ourselves and pretend this is about representing country," Cuban said. "It's not. It's about money."

In another lesser-reported story, Gregg Popovich has asked Manu Ginobili not to participate in The Games because of a nagging ankle injury, the same one that inhibited his performance in the Western Conference Finals, the San Antonio Express-News reported. The head coach cannot force Ginobili to skip Beijing thanks to the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Though Popovich did not admonish the spirit of the games, his comments about Ginobili’s responsibility to the Spurs mirrored Cuban’s thoughts on Nowitzki and Kidd.

The Houston Rockets have been much more understanding publicly about Yao Ming’s desire to play in The Games. Daryl Morey and Rick Adelman know how much this means to Yao, competing as China’s biggest star when it hosts the world competition.

When the Rockets drafted Yao, they promised China that he would partake in his national team’s summer outings. The Chinese Government might exile Yao and sever his citizenship if his health allows him to compete and he chooses not to do so. No way will Yao miss the Olympics. No way.

Cuban called Olympic participation a “risk not worth taking.” Three international NBA stars, perhaps the best three in today’s game, and Kidd to a lesser extent, face tough calls.

China’s team would be smothered if Yao chose not to compete. They are already heavy underdogs with him on the roster.

The Argentina National Team cannot defeat the United States if Ginobili stays in San Antonio. The U.S. would beat up then cremate Argentina if its best player sat out.

The German National Team, much like China’s, has little hope of winning squat even if Nowitzki plays at a high level.

What about the NBA franchises that allow these three players to live comfortably in the U.S. and compete in All-Star games?

All three players missed significant chunks of the regular season’s finale stretch because of serious injuries. With Nowitzki shelved for a few weeks, the Mavs nearly missed the playoffs.

The Rockets trudged on and completed the second longest win streak in NBA history without Yao but a first round exit at the hands of the Utah Jazz showed how much they missed him.

Ginobili’s health wavered throughout the playoffs and his ankle pains caused him to play one of the worst series of his career. As a result, the defending champion Spurs lost to a seemingly inferior Los Angeles Lakers team in five games.

Their national teams cannot win without them nor can their NBA teams. Which loyalty is more important? The patriotism that Cuban alleges is a fake excuse to host The Games or the responsibility to stay healthy for the pro sports squad that pays the bills?

Pat Riley must be thrilled that Dwyane Wade wants to toss himself into world competition, right after having a season-ending surgery. Kobe Bryant avoided surgery on a torn hand ligament so that his Lakers would not relinquish the Western Conference’s top spot. He carried them all the way to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Boston Celtics in six games.

We don’t know how serious his ailments are and playing with the Olympic team could aggravate them.

The current Olympic model aggravates Cuban. His gripes may sound scathing and selfish, but this time, the owner’s rant deserves more than a hush sign.

If Ginobili worsens his left ankle’s condition in Beijing, Popovich won’t be the only one searching for words. Thousands of Spur fans will look for championship No. five in the Tim Duncan era but silence will blind the path.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 4:26 PM 0 Comments

Celtics-Lakers: Celtics use a silver and black foundation to win no. 17

The Boston Celtics clinched the franchise's 17th championship Tuesday night and it was hard not to picture another dynasty from South Texas that served as a fine blueprint.

The Celtics reversed an embarrassing 24-win season with a whirlwind summer. I will admit that I had no idea what Danny Ainge was doing when he traded Jeff Green and other picks to Seattle for Ray Allen.

Why trade a promising, athletic forward for an injury-prone 30-something shooter to join another near-30 franchise player with no championship ring?

Then I browsed the Internet in late July and read: 'Timberwolves send Garnett to Celtics in historic 7-for-1 deal.' When Kevin Garnett headed to Beantown, it all made sense. Then, Ainge lured free agents Eddie House and James Posey, two invaluable role players.

House's knock down shooting spread out the Lakers' defense when he was on the floor. Posey used his championship smarts, defense and three point accuracy to be the Celtics' finest support player.

Then, coach Doc Rivers asked his superstar trio to believe in youngsters Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins and Leon Powe. They did from the season's opening tip.

Then, Garnett and assistant coach Tom Thibodeau made sure the Celtics played defense first and did so as a team.

Maybe that's why the Lakers, who boast great individual defenders in Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher, looked like plastic cones in a parking lot in Game 6. The Lakers as champs? More like chumps.

Many people said at this series' apex that the next five titles belonged to the LA Lakers. Not this one, and if the Spurs and Celtics continue playing championship-level defense, not next year either.

Old guys do it again

P.J. Brown had a better chance of winning a senior citizens' Bingo championship than an NBA championship when Ainge asked him to join the team midseason. In an enduring image of this Finals, the 38-year-old Brown stole a key offensive rebound from two Lakers big men in Game 1.

Sam Cassell may not be a story of great shot selection but his few buckets helped fuel the Celtics' six game series win that was more lopsided than the contest total indicates.

And who can say enough about Posey's enormous contributions? His 18-point game two was a snapshot of what he meant to the team as a commited defender.

Posey and House mounted an 11-0 run in the second quarter that sent the crowd into a roaring frenzy.

After the excessive talk about youth serving age, the NBA's most storied franchise did it the other way around. The Celtics won another championship with "boring" and "old" basketball.

Substance wins over style, or does it?

Another year, another defense-first team grabs the Larry O' Brien trophy. Those who embrace the NBA's false fun-and-gun direction will say that Boston's substance won over LA's style.

I would argue that substance is style. The Celtics commit to playing defense, from the star trio to the end of the bench, but that does not mean they do not run the floor.

The Celtics won it much the same way the Spurs have four times in the last 10 years. They scored on the break after securing stops instead of trying to stop teams with scoring.

"We can't expect to win a championship by focusing on the offensive end," Bryant said in his postgame comments.

Yet, that is the direction in which most analysts said the NBA would head. A Celtics win means that for another season defense trumps offense.

Just as the Spurs did, the Celtics won with an exceptional style and substance - because they are the same thing.

It takes a true trio to make a "Big Three."

Until the Celtics clinched a title in a 39-point rout, the NBA's only Big Three resided in San Antonio—Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker.

This trio won three titles together by playing on both ends of the floor. Any of the three could lead the team in scoring, spark a game-changing run or force a key turnover.

Then in Rome, the Celtics' trio decided to tell the world what it did not know. Paul Pierce as a great defender or outplaying Kobe Bryant? Ray Allen guarding Bryant one-on-one for stretches in the Finals?

Garnett, Pierce and Allen can now call themselves whatever they like. They have not transcended Bird, McHale and Parish with only one trophy but they have joined them.

I knew the three All-Stars would mesh offensively but I questioned the team's ability to score enough points and Allen and Pierce's defense. I will question them no more.

The probable truth is that Pierce has defended like this his entire career, as has Allen. It took a pairing with Kevin Garnett to see what was there all along.

Bynum will improve an inconsistent front line when he returns next year. The Lakers will not win a trophy with Space Cadet, not Scottie Pippen and Gasol taking what Phil Jackson calls "weenie" shots.

The Finals MVP gets the trophy he deserves: underrating Pierce

I did not know Paul Pierce was this good. 25 points on a bad team good? Sure. But, 38points in game five of the NBA Finals good? No way.

Prior to this postseason, when I compiled mental lists of the game's elite players, Pierce was an afterthought. His play ensured he will no longer suffer omissions from such lists.

He shot poorly in the decisive game (He did rack up 10 assists) but he played so well in the previous five contests that it did not matter.

Bryant threw one of the ugliest temper tantrums in sports history last summer, demanding a trade and slamming his under productive teammates. The Phoenix Suns eliminated his team in the first round for a second consecutive season but he already wore three championship rings. He was only a few years removed from his fourth Finals appearance.

Pierce's team did not make the playoffs and sputtered to a miserable 24-58 record. Where was Pierce demanding a trade and publicly calling out Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes and Kendrick Perkins for sucking up the season?

He kept his frustrations private, as Bryant should have, and then Ainge gifted him Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. Pierce did not disappoint his crafty general manager and brought banner no. 17 to the luckiest sports city in America right now.

Rivalries do die: different Celtics, different Lakers

When David Stern knew that this match up would see fruition, one that seemed so improbable a year ago, he likely saw visions of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. The two former rivals even taped a commercial together declaring that "rivalries never die. They live on."

Bird and Magic happened in the 1980s and last time I checked this is 2008. There would be no Kevin McHale clothesline on Kurt Rambis or a baby hook game winner by Johnson in the old Garden.

This series shifted from the new Garden to the celebrity-filled Staples Center. The history of that great former rivalry can live on through memory, NBA TV and ESPN Classic.

That rivalry will not see a rebirth in this decade. Those who guarantee the Lakers will win the next four or five titles cannot take themselves seriously. They will be great, among the best in the rugged West, and certainly contending, but are hardly locks to hoist a trophy.

A blueprint realized: the same will win in 2009

The Celtics winning the 2008 championship means that Tim Duncan will hoist at least a fifth trophy. The Spurs will contend next year and the Western Conference's rising young teams—the Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz and Golden State Warriors—will fall in the first three rounds of the playoffs.

Maybe the Lakers will get here again, the NBA's pinnacle stage, but Andrew Bynum's return guarantees nothing. The New Orleans Hornets are hot on the Spurs trail and may overtake them if they assemble a better bench and continue a defense-first philosophy.

So, the Celtics are the best team in the league and the Spurs are the third. The Lakers finished second but how close were they? Not very, if the series was more lopsided than a six game finish suggests.

Hopefully, the remaining dissenters know now that change is a fallacy. Changed teams can win a championship, as three stars without a ring proved Tuesday night, only if they continue what has won for the last two decades.

No team will win a championship in this NBA by outscoring opponents or with a cadre of 23 year olds. They may come close, but close wins nothing in the record books.

The Celtics won the championship and a South Texas team smiled. That's how to win it. A silver and black squad served as a fine blueprint indeed.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 12:47 PM 0 Comments

UT's Abrams does the right thing--other NBA hopefuls should follow

A.J. Abrams will forgo the NBA Draft and return to the Texas Longhorns, he announced Monday.

The senior guard merely made public what he already decided the day he entered.

Where was teammate D.J. Augustin, and for that matter, the rest of the prospective draft class with no hope of making an immediate NBA-level impact?

Abrams is a three bomb marksman, and his 284 career treys lead all players in the school's history. He also adeptly comes off of screens to nail open jumpers. However, did the 155 pound shooting guard think he could compete with 215 pounder Baron Davis or blindingly fast Tony Parker?

When he did not hire an agent and told reporters he would "test the waters," it was clear his own answer to that question was 'no.' If so, why enter the draft in the first place?

Too many freshmen, sophomores and other not-ready-for-the-NBA college phenoms ignore this question. Scouts say Abrams would need to play more point guard to enjoy any NBA viability and his 1.5 assists last season suggest he has a mountain to climb in that department.

His skills as a two guard do not fit him for the position at the professional level. He may move well off of screens, but Abrams is not Richard Hamilton.

Similarly, Abrams' teammate Augustin is not Chris Paul. With one more year of college seasoning, Augustin could enter such lofty territory, but not this year, not now.

Too many young players get the wrong idea about a possible NBA career. They strive for money and draft position instead of evaluating how they might fare against a player of their likeness or how they might contribute on a team.

Michael Beasely may turn out a sturdy, All-Star big man, but he will not best Tim Duncan, or even Dwight Howard, anytime soon. Let's get real.

In most draft years, finding 15-20 NBA-ready players is generous. That low number, considering that 100 players may be drafted, also includes players like Tony Parker, who endured years of frustration and pain, to become Gregg Popovich's "stallion" point guard.

It also includes Leandro Barbosa, who was drafted 28th in 2003 for a reason. Few scouts and GMs saw a "Brazilian Blur" in his tiny frame. That player emerged when Steve Nash showed up in Phoenix.

The same stellar 2003 draft class that yielded surprise success stories Josh Howard, Barbosa, Chris Kaman, Kyle Korver and David West also offered Zarko Cabarkapa, Reece Gaines, Ndubi Ebi, Troy Bell and Mike Sweetney. It would not surprise me to see the latter five serving burgers at a fast food joint. Sweetney certainly has been to more than a few burger joints in his non-career.

LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony almost instantly became All-Star level producers. Darko Milicic still has a chance to turn his 'draft flop' career around.

Most draft years, including this one, feature no sure-fire stars and a lot of questionable players with too many questions to answer.

Abrams accomplished little in testing the NBA market. He didn't need NBA scouts or workouts to tell him what he already knew. He needs to bulk up, improve his defense and get the point. A return to the Austin campus will allow him to develop those things and others.

He will know in a year or two if he can produce at the NBA level. Had Augustin returned, he would provide the missing piece to a national championship contender.

If a team picks Augustin in the top 20, and many believe he is the second best point guard behind Derrick Rose, he will struggle to earn minutes and will likely taste a D-League stint.

D-League relegation and a questionable draft spot versus a probable national championship. What is he thinking?

International players with NBA aspirations have little to lose in heading to the U.S. early. Unless of course, your name is Tiago Splitter and your salary in Europe triples what you could make here.

College players have a crutch: college. If it were up to me, I would tell any player without a national championship or final four appearance who is not a certain top five pick, to skip the early entry. You cannot learn the soul of most basketball players after one or two years in college.

Most of these youngsters think too highly of themselves and end up languishing on the bench because they didn't stay in college and learn the important defensive principles. These disenchanted players had a better option.

Augustin had a better option, too. His former teammate Kevin Durant, despite being the leading scorer on an atrocious Sonics team headed for further dire straits, should not have to worry about playing in the Summer League or the D-League. His talent and his draft position precedes him.

The NBA teams with championship rings in the last decade (at least) were loaded with experienced players who attended most parts of college. Some of the exceptions, Kobe Bryant and perhaps Kevin Garnett, were just that good.

One player that stands out, perhaps the greatest to ever play the game at his position, can teach some balling youngsters a chief lesson. Tim Duncan remained at Wake Forest for four years, and though he never won a national title or led the Demon Deacons to a Final Four appearance, NBA scouts could see he was ready to produce in the pros.

His full, four year college career allowed those in the NBA looking at his draft prospects to get a full picture. Not the ripped, wet and incomplete painting that is both Augustin and Abrams.

We know little about which selections will stumble and which ones will still be playing on an NBA team next January. Too many players in this year's draft with so many questions.

They could have helped the cause by realizing what they already knew.

And following Abrams' lead.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 2:14 PM 0 Comments

Celtics-Lakers: Celtics' dangerous living may cost them

We can debate for hours what Kobe Bryant is and isn't. We can compare him to Michael Jordan and say that he will always fall short. This columnist would argue that modern day Jordan comparisons are baseless and need to stop immediately.

We, not reason, numbers or statistics, have decided that no one will ever top Jordan's accomplishment and sheer skill. When we compare players to Jordan, we are effectively going to see an opposites attract romantic film and expecting something other than an opposites attract romantic film.

As the Boston Celtics try seizing a second closeout opportunity tonight at TD Banknorth Garden, they need compare Bryant to only one player: Bryant.

It doesn't matter whether the Lakers' closer is better or worse than a player who no longer plays. Kobe Bryant is Kobe Bryant and that is lethal enough. The Lakers don't need Jordan to suit up to overcome a seemingly insurmountable 3-2 lead. The Celtics, likewise, don't need Bryant to become Jordan to choke away the series lead owed to their 66-win regular season record.

Even if he is not Jordan, or Magic Johnson, is Bryant a player you want to give more opportunities to extend a series? In a true test of Doc Rivers' coaching, his Celtics will either hoist banner no. 17 tonight or risk completing the greatest collapse in NBA Finals history.

If the Celtics can hold off the unpredictable Bryant and his squad of misfits and underachievers, the Lakers will still boast that dubious honor for their implosion in the second half of game four.

Make no mistake: The Celtics coughed up a tremendous chance to dry up the Lake Show in game five and blew it. If we are going to call the Lakers loss in game four, after leading by as many as 24 points in the third quarter, a choke job, the Celtics loss in game five deserves the same insult.

Kevin Garnett did not play a fantastic game, sure, but he still managed 13 points and 14 rebounds, one of which on the offensive end led to a Ray Allen three that tied the game for the first time.

The Celtics can listen to Jon Barry quip that Paul Pierce nearly beat the Lakers by themselves, but they know it's a 38-point lie. The Celtics scored 98 points and had a chance to win the game in the final minutes.

Call me a poor mathematician but 98-38=60, right? That means the rest of the team scored 60 points, which may not seem ideal, but was enough to almost clinch the series. Even with Garnett, and the rest of the front line minus the ailing Kendrick Perkins, playing with foul trouble, the Celtics had done just enough to win and blew it.

Garnett clanged two free throws and Pierce let Bryant steal a potential game-tying possession from his hands.

We do not know what Bryant will do or how much he will score in game six. He may explode for 50 on 60 percent shooting or he might fail miserably and score 17 points on 33 shots. Which scenario unfolds tonight is the big question.

The confident Celtics may regret allowing Bryant to give them an answer.

The Celtics' players and Rivers keep saying the team has not played a 48-minute game yet. With five missed opportunities in the books, what makes anyone think they will suddenly do that tonight? Can you just turn on a 48-minute performance whenever you want?

What might Bryant do in a game seven on the road in the new Garden?

The Celtics had better hope this series doesn't get there.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 12:26 PM 0 Comments

Celtics-Lakers: 2-0 ain't what it used to be; an odyssey continues

The Boston Celtics built a 2-0 series lead heading to the sunny beaches of Los Angeles. The Lakers can all but wash that momentum away and sting it like a jellyfish with a game four win.

The Lakers offense continued its ugly sputter Tuesday night and the guys in gold still won 87-81. With a sweep out of the picture, does anybody give the Celtics a chance tonight?

The refs certainly won't: that is, if you believe Tim Donaghy. Conventional wisdom says the Lakers must win tonight but recent history says the pressure is on the Celtics.

If the green men lose and face a pivotal game five, how can they expect to win that game?

It's the blues song no one has written: "2-0 ain't what it used to be."

It will take years of teams blowing "commanding" 2-0 leads for the statistics to suggest such a series margin is anything but.

A look at recent playoff meltdowns suggests that 2-0 might become more irrelevant than disco and hot pants.

2004 Lakers-Spurs series: San Antonio mounts a 2-0 lead, Tony Parker disappears and the Lakers win the next (.)four.

2006 NBA Finals - Mavericks blow a 2-0 lead to the "old as dirt" Heat. The Mavs were blown out in an embarrassing game four performance.

2007 Eastern Conference Finals - Cavaliers overcome 0-2 hole to best the Pistons in six. Cavs should have won the first two games and swept the supposed class of the east.

2008 Spurs-Hornets series - San Antonio recovers from two blowout losses (19 and 18 points, respectively) to force a game seven and win it on the road.

The Celtics should already know the fragility of a 2-0 lead. Not winning in Atlanta or Cleveland forced them to hold serve at home in two winner take all contests.

Do they want such a decisive game against Kobe Bryant? Or do they need to win game four to claim the series margin that recent history says is still commanding (no quotation marks necessary)?

The self-proclaimed 'machine' helps the 'black mamba' beat Celtics in game three.

One man cannot beat a team in the playoffs but two with self-prescribed nicknames did Tuesday night.

Doc Rivers faces a tough task in revamping his Celtics' offensive game three offense. What does he tell his team after it lost an unattractive affair to Kobe Bryant, Sasha Vujacic and a bunch of other guys Phil Jackson cannot fix.

In his postgame remarks, Jackson offered his 'machine' a new nickname: 'rockhead.'

"He believes very sincerely in himself that the next shot is going in," he said of Vujacic.

Not quite a ringing endorsement.

Vujacic dodged questions about his perceived egotism and talked about "the team." His one admission? "I'm stubborn."

Nicknames are a two way street for the Lakers in these NBA Finals. Vujacic nailed three treys, including a giant one to give the Lakers a five point lead, and Bryant recuperated from two sub-par games in Boston to look like a killer bug.

The Boston Celtics struggled to get the pesky Bryant off their windshield.

The other players known by names other than those given to them at birth? Jackson should worry about them.

Pau Gasol, the Spanish power forward who Jackson said took some "weenie" shots in the Western Conference Finals, barely touched the ball. When he did, he looked like a weenie.

Thursday might be a different day than Tuesday, with uncertain gas price hikes and high temperatures adding nasty unpredictability to a rocky summer, but Jackson can count on one consistency tonight.

Lamar Odom did not wake up this morning and suddenly become Scottie Pippen. Jackson should expect his NSP's deer in the headlights, confused play to continue.

Maybe Jackson should phone the real Pippen and ask him to reconsider a comeback. A 41-year-old retired vet who probably can't play versus a dazed forward who doesn't know how. Could an old and slow Pippen prove any worse to the Lakers' cause than the foul prone and clueless Odom?

Jackson's 'favorite martian' is playing on another planet. Maybe Lakers' team doctors can find a way to get Vlade Radmanovic's head where his body is - on the court, in the game instead of bottomless craters on Mars.

He might be the first starting power forward on a championship caliber team who plays like he suffers from space dimentia. The space cadet did show up for the finals: The NASA Finals.

The 'machine' and the 'black mamba' may well have to carry the load tonight and maybe it will be enough. When Jordan Farmar joined them for stretches in game three it was.

The odyssey of NSP, Weenie and Space Cadet continues and Jackson's championship hopes teeter on a trio that gives 'spaced out' in a basketball game new meaning.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 4:20 PM 0 Comments

NBA has an officiating problem, but don't trust Donaghy

Has hell frozen over? Is he serious? The same guy who slammed the NBA for the surly manner in which it responds to conspiracy theories is now sticking up for the refs?

Hardly. This is much less about referees than it is about the game. If the players stunk, the officials decided the oputcomes, and the contests were boring, I would not watch. As Tim Donaghy reiterated pieces of evidence that say games are fixed—whicha government investigation has already debunked—commissioner David Stern faces some tough problems.

A fixed game is not one of them. The agony of the inconsistent whistle is.

On a night when Donaghy sought to further injure professional basketball, the league trotted out two of its most questioned officials to call a pivotal Game Three. Bennett Salvatore and Joey Crawford are probably not the best refs to convince anybody the league's officiating is fine.

The only one missing who would have completed a suspicious triumvirate was supposed road-team supporter Steve Javie. Crawford has a poor reputation as a boiling pot. He ejected Tim Duncan for laughing—and that was only one of his sorry incidents.

Mark Cuban knows about Salvatore's work. The Dallas Mavericks owner went berserk after a seemingly phantom foul allowed Dwayne Wade to ice a pivotal 101-100 Game Five win in the 2006 NBA Finals. Wade earned more trips to the line, 23, than the entire Mavs team (21).

Players appreciate Javie, despite alleged his anti-home team bias, because he doesn't swallow the whistle during key plays. Where some refs would be cowards and bow to the crowd and the home team's fuming coach, Javie answers only to himself.

Every league has its bad rats—but do not believe Donaghy when he says they own the NBA.

Maybe something happened in the Sacramento Kings-LA Lakers series that did not involve the players. I didn't see it. Blown calls in Game Six? There were plenty. The Kings also blew some opportunities.

The worst part of Donaghy's re-allegations is it forces me to revisit a painful Rockets-Mavericks series. Jeff Van Gundy complained that referees were singling out star center Yao Ming. It's hard to disagree that Yao received little respect in the series.

He didn't get any this season, as the officials spent three to four months botching the verticality rule they promised to enforce.

The telltale signs that the refs did not win that series? (And damn Donaghy for forcing me to reprint this again as a Rockets fan!) The Rockets won Game Six by 18 points, and lost Game Seven by 40 points.

I doubt the refs forced a 40-point spread—unless of course, one of them traded places with Jason Terry and nailed more than seven threes. Dirk Nowitzki scored a dismal seven points, and Yao and Tracy McGrady combined for 62. It is hard to win a winner-take-all contest on the road when the rest of team combines for 12-14 points.

Does the NBA sport an official flaw? You can guess my answer from reading my other columns.

Is an official flaw the same as a sure-fire fix? Don't count on Donaghy for a trustworthy answer.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 4:18 PM 0 Comments

Celtics-Lakers: The Zen master smells trouble

Phil Jackson needed the comfort of something familiar. His Lakers fell into an 0-2 hole Sunday night after nearly completing the greatest miracle comeback in NBA Finals history.

He eyed the box score and found all the familiarity he could handle. He intentionally mispronounced the name of the night's surprise star and decried the youngster earning more free throws than his entire squad.

Leon Powe earns more foul shot attempts than a team with MVP Kobe Bryant? "That's ridiculous," he said.

His unconvincing disbelief said what he could not. His veiled shot at the lop-sided officiating was role playing at its best.

Jackson does this when he knows his team is in trouble. His team needs something no referee's whistle can fix and the hall of fame coach is searching for someone who can help his dysfunctional Lake Show.

For most of Sunday night, his prized big men re-enacted Moses parting the Red Sea. The Celtics' players happily stepped in as the persecuted Hebrews seeking safe passage out of Egypt.

There was no sand on the court or magnificent pyramids behind the basket but Jackson would understand the metaphor if you told him. In continuing his starring role as the aggravated coach who works the refs long after the final buzzer, Jackson's non rant was just that.

He said privately a few weeks ago, and yet the statement became public, that the San Antonio Spurs were the only Western Conference team capable of knocking off his Lakers. If he did make such a remark, the Celtics reminded him why with a feast of open looks.

When the Lakers edged the Spurs 93-91 in game four of the conference finals, despite dominating them on the glass, he opened his post game remarks with a complaint about a missed call against Derek Fisher. No, he wasn't talking about the foul that Fisher clearly committed against Brent Barry in the game's closing seconds, but a last second heave that may or may not have hit the rim.

If it did, the refs should have given the Lakers a fresh shot clock and the ball. That would have forced the Spurs to foul with less than five seconds left, effectively ending the game. Replays were inconclusive and this columnist thinks it did not hit the rim.

Jackson wanted to remind reporters of this officiating lapse because he was mystified about something else. The Spurs did shoot 11 more free throws and benefited from many questionable calls but that was not it. He had to wonder how the Spurs lost the game, with 12 chances to tie and open looks they normally knock down to do it.

He didn't need instant replay to notice Bruce Bowen missing consecutive wide open corner treys, his signature shot, and Tim Duncan passing up opportunities to attack a defenseless Pau Gasol.

Perhaps the opening to his Sunday post-game comments was his recognition of the answer: The Spurs could not knock down enough of the open shots to withstand manageable Laker runs. The Celtics have in games one and two and the Zen master knows he can only fool people for so long.

As he comes to terms with a fact some Laker skeptics believed for months, it pains him to admit his team's predicament. Maybe, he wanted to tell reporters, the Lakers are not as good defensively as people thought. Maybe they are not that good. Period.

Jackson sees that a few jabs at the refs cannot erase enduring images of a two-part second half. With the Celtics nursing a 12-point lead and the Lakers requiring stops and ball movement to claw back, there was Sasha Vujacic, the pampered Serbian shooter who is far from "the machine" he calls himself, and Vlade "Space Cadet" Radmanovic heaving contested jumpers. There was Kobe Bryant, the perfect player for these situations, who laughs at manageable deficits, and Pau Gasol, 5-7 from the field at the half, getting zero touches.

In one trip down the floor, he glared at the spotty player he calls "My Favorite Martian" and Radmanovic answered his coach's stare with a turnover that validated an earlier condemnation.

Does Phil Jackson know what to expect from his starting power forward before any game, one San Antonio Express-News reporter wondered?

"Absolutely not," he responded.

He would see Powe finish two monster dunks early in the fourth quarter with his porous interior defense apologizing instead of clogging the lane. The coach would much rather return to Denver, where the Nuggets' defense suffers from lacktitude sickness.

Then, there's NSP (Not Scottie Pippen) and Jackson has no idea what to do there.

"Confused," he said of Lamar Odom's play. "He looked confused out there tonight." The inconsistent Odom, to be kind, shot 5-11, scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

His adequate but hardly stellar production must have Jackson thinking: this front line is the next Bird-McHale-Parish? Maybe Andrew Bynum joins the fold next season and fills the obvious defensive void but the sidelined 21-year-old has nothing to offer a coach who needs plenty right now.

The Lakers can watch their 'almost did it' run in the fourth quarter and count on running their offense anytime the Celtics lose interest in playing the game.

The Lakers played defense without the 'd' and Jackson will be in further disbelief when he sees the Celtics doing the same through many stretches. 108-102?

One stupefied coach had one recourse after his team lost again Sunday. A mispronounced name and a brief, if not insincere officiating gripe, allowed him to do what he does best.

In addressing what went wrong, he said all that he could without spelling it out.

Jackson's problem? There's no 'W' in familiarity.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 2:37 PM 0 Comments

The excessive Jordan comparisons endanger NBA's product

Those who lived in the late 1950s and 60s knew the ultimate winner: Bill Russell. They did not rely on You Tube, NBATV and VHS tapes to see Red Auerbach light his victory cigar.

They saw it live. They saw eight straight, Bob Cousy, John Havlicheck and the Celtics becoming sports' greatest dynasty. Ever.

Myself and the other young adults of this generation saw Michael Jordan. We know him as a six-time champion and his jersey number, 23, as part of his greatness. When I recall every athlete I have watched in my lifetime, no one touches Michael Jordan.

Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Wayne Gretzky, Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio and Nolan Ryan-my sports idols as a kid-came close but seemed unable to penetrate the airspace of his airness. If Jordan was a dictionary entry, we imagine the words 'winner' and 'the greatest ever' would be the first two definitions.

Jordan left basketball in 1997, his failed comeback with the Washington Wizards notwithstanding, and 72 million tuned in to see him say goodbye with a 20-footer and a sixth championship.

When Jordan appears on television or in our minds, it seems like he won a lot more, didn't he? He never lost a game, never scored less than 30 points and was always the best player on the floor, right?

Knowing Jordan's career is understanding that none of the above is true. Even his 72-win Bulls, somehow lost 10 games and he was never immortal. He trash talked most of his marquee opponents and as Steve Kerr will tell you, also knew how to throw a punch.

Maybe that false but satisfying image of the unbeatable Jordan is why we urn to know how every great NBA youngster stacks up against this generation's greatest champion.

Jordan's flaws seem minuscule compared to his world-wide celebrity. He could talk trash to Karl Malone and Charles Barkley because he was every bit as good as people said. There were many other monstrous and tremendous superstars during Jordan's era but none matched his aura. When he left the sport, many viewers also headed for the exits and since, the NBA and sports broadcasters have tried artificially filling the void.

There will never be another Michael but you wouldn't know it from the comparison ABC's broadcast triumvirate -Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson- just had to unleash during game one of this year's NBA Finals.

Kobe Bryant has a shot at a fourth championship. Is he better than Michael Jordan? The career numbers say yes and he could probably beat Jordan in his prime in a one-on-one contest.

And yet, such a scenario is not possible. No player in this NBA decade is better than Michael. Our image of #23 makes besting him impossible. Why then are we searching for the answer to a standard that we have already decided will never be surpassed?

When we try convincing ourselves that today's #23, LeBron James, will become the next generation-defining superstar, he scores 48 points in a pivotal game five against the Detroit Pistons, the class of the conference, and it pails in comparison to Jordan's 63 in the Boston Garden. James' Cavaliers won the game and the series. The Bulls lost to the Celtics in double overtime 135-131 and it would take many more years for Jordan to reach his first NBA Finals.

The never-ending quest to replace Jordan has injured today's game and the fans who watch it. Instead of enjoying Tim Duncan as a first ballot hall of famer, James as a fiery athlete who shows leading an underdog team to the Finals is possible, Bryant for being the killer who can outscore teams by himself and many others, we wonder why they are not Michael Jordan.

Steve Nash does not play in the same point guard stratosphere with John Stockton and Magic Johnson, but he too deserves hall of fame consideration. More than 10 years after Phoenix fans booed him at a draft party, he returned to the desert to help Mike D'Antoni turn a fledgling, no-identity squad into the ferocious "fun-and-gun" outfit that was great, but not better than the Spurs.

There are many athletes to admire in today's NBA and any list of the league's best stories includes Dirk Nowitzki, Carlos Boozer, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Yao Ming, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Baron Davis, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Pau Gasol--and you get the idea.

The NBA's two laughingstocks have Dywane Wade and Stephon Marbury. The latter may destory his talent with his poor conduct on and off the court, but it is worth noting that even the pitiful teams boast All-Star level athletes.

The league's top executives saw ratings skyrocket in this year's playoffs. People who watch more than four seconds of a Celtics or Spurs game can see that great teams win in the NBA. When they see Bryant complete a flawless, thread the needle pass to Gasol for a dunk, they know that this is a team game.

One guy cannot do it by himself. And yet, we spend each year examining the NBA's lot of stars and comparing them to a superstar who did it in our minds. Those who can fight the selective memory will remember Scottie Pippen, Toni Kukoc, Kerr, Dennis Rodman, John Paxson and the other role players who poured in valuable contributions in each of those six title runs.

The rampant comparisons each year seem to say that finding the next guy who can bump Bryon Russell and hit a game-winner that seems like a career-winner will make the NBA what it once was when a certain player ruled it.

There will never be another Michael. The NBA doesn't need one.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 12:31 AM 0 Comments

Celtics win one for the old guys

Somewhere in South Texas, Robert Horry was sitting on his couch watching P.J. Brown help change the complexion of game one between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers and chuckling.

See, he likely said to himself, 38-year-old guys can still play. Thanks to Kobe Bryant and the Lakers he will have to wait until next season to do it, but the Celtics winning game one suggests maybe he can. This season, like every other one in recent memory, gullible sports writers and analysts latched on to the youth movement and promised that a team with an average age below 27 would win the title.

And yet, here the old and slow Celtics are, three wins away from becoming the next veteran, defense first team to make those writers look like idiots. You might not hear much about their age, but make no mistake, they are as ancient as the San Antonio Spurs team most swore was more done after a series loss to the Lakers than hot pants from the 1980s.

Do not let second-year point guard Rajon Rondo or fifth-year center Kendrick Perkins fool you into thinking this team has the young bug. Youngsters Tony Allen, Glen Davis and Leon Powe provided energy off the bench during the regular season. Powe had his moments in his team's first Finals appearance in 21 years, but this night belonged to the old guys.

The ages of the key Celtics players, besides Rondo, who contributed most to the victory?

Kevin Garnett - 31

Paul Pierce - 30

Ray Allen - 32

Sam Cassell - 38

P.J. Brown - 38

James Posey - 30

And just for kicks, a look at the Laker's three most important players (besides Not Scottie Pippen, er, Lamar Odom):

Kobe Bryant - 29, which is relatively young, but he is finishing his 11th season (he entered the league in 1996-1997), has won three championship rings and played in every situation that a superstar can.

Derek Fisher - 33, three championships and a ton of veteran smarts.

Pau Gasol - 27, young and may be his first time out of the first round and in the Finals, but he has competed at every major level overseas in Spain and that counts for a lot.

The Spurs lost to the Dallas Mavericks in 2006 and an Associated Press writer attributed the team's defeat to its old age. "They lost to a team with younger, fresher legs." The Mavs then proceeded to blow a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals against a Miami Heat team with role players older than dirt.

It turned out those guys, including two shot Gary Payton, could still play. It also turned out that the Spurs were not too old to win a championship the next season as they eclipsed the Mavs and Phoenix Suns, darling teams that amassed great regular seasons, to win their fourth in nine years.

When the Spurs failed to defend their title this year and lost to a Laker team with a youthful image, an AP writer wrote the same article but inserted a different team. "They lost to a team with younger, fresher legs."

Any writer who composed such drivel would have a tough time explaining Brown, 38, stealing momentum-changing rebounds from those young Lakers big men in game one. Is Brown "old" or "experienced"?

Ask Gregg Popovich. He loves that question. Maybe these writers secretly hate the Spurs and/or any veteran team and want to see new blood take over? They cannot believe what they are writing if history disagrees with them, can they?

Three years ago, I might have believed that the NBA was going in the direction of run-and-gun basketball and kiddos. A look at the last 10 teams to win an NBA championship, and you could go back 20 if you want, tells you what you need to win a title: a pair or trio of superstars, defense and savvy veterans who know what to do when the ball swings their way.

Nothing suggests piling up a bunch of 23 year olds and having them turn games into track meets will win squat. Unless of course, you prefer winning 50-60 games and losing in the first or second round to a title.

Am I urging every team to load up on 38-year-olds this very moment? Far from it. The Lakers still have a great chance to win this series and will likely steal game two in Boston.

But if these two teams are evenly matched, as most say they are, what do you say when Cassell, a guy who had a free pass to basketball's old folks home two years ago, makes three huge shots in a row. Is he "old" or "experienced?"

Writers who cover the NBA put too much stock in a team's age. Why write that a team is "too old" when they still have the roster to compete for many more championships? Just writing "the Spurs lost to a better team" is boring. Nobody wants to read such a simple analysis, do they?

The New Orleans Hornets will stick around near the top of the Western Conference but age will not be the reason. Smart and driven, the team's star duo of Chris Paul and David West determined the only way to beat the Spurs was to play like them. They fell short this year to a deeper San Antonio team, but fans of South Texas' dynasty should be nervous.

If the Hornets continue to practice the defense first philosophy preached by coach Byron Scott, they will go far. Instead of copying a flavor of the month, they Xeroxed the defending champion. They might play at a faster pace for more of the game, but when they lost in the second round, offense was not the first area Paul or West addressed in the post-game interviews.

"We have to get better defensively," Paul said after his team lost 91-82. He gets it.

Teams and owners that watch the Warriors and Mike D'Antoni's "Fun-and-Gun" Suns grab all the headlines might be tempted to press the "copy" button. They will do so, and if they have talented enough players (a Carmelo Anthony or a Steve Nash), they will earn their moment in the sun.

And when they lose in the second round to a better defensive team with "old" guys, they can head to a beach somewhere and get all the sun they want. No sunscreen required.

Age has always been an overblown subject in the NBA. If a player can contribute, that is all that matters. The better team wins a seven-game series and my loose prediction says Beantown will celebrate banner No. 17 after a game six or seven victory.

If the Celtics win, it will prove that "too old" is a non-issue if enough of the role players can contribute to what the stars do. Then, next season, talk about the NBA becoming a younger and faster league will dominate the pre-All-Star break talk.

Does that mean any team with multiple key role players over 30 has no shot at a championship? Nah. Those writers and analysts who spread false hype need to grow up.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 11:21 PM 0 Comments

As first Celtics-Lakers Finals match-up in 21 years begins, NBA faces its poor creation

David Stern will watch tonight's NBA Finals opener between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers with a wry smirk. The league's two most storied franchises-responsible for 1/3 of its titles-will attempt to renew a rivalry that shot pro basketball from a followed sport to a national phenomenon.

This dream match-up of Stern's cannot hurt rising ratings and there will be stars aplenty--on the court and in the stands. However, as two franchises that a year ago seemed so far from a championship square off tonight at TD Banknorth Garden, it's hard to shake the feeling that something isn't right.

Stern will wonder how the 11th NBA Finals meeting between these two teams happened and he should. No playoff season has exposed the game's flaws more than this one. If the San Antonio Spurs had somehow won the Western Conference Championship, would I be griping? No.

Stern appreciates what the dynastic Spurs mean to his league but they are not the team he wants playing in the championship round. The idea of the San Antonio Sterns is the dumbest one since, well, ever.

Fans of the two huge market teams rejoiced when they knew Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce would face off, Kevin Garnett would play in his first Finals game and Pau Gasol transformed from floundering star in Memphis to second option in glitzy Los Angeles.

Many fans who support any of the other 28 teams cried foul and Stern did nothing about it. His front office has squandered many chances to alleviate rampant conspiracy theories and now he will pay a price.

Why admit that one half of this two-team joust is a sham? For Stern, the status quo this year will do just fine.

STERN IGNORES A CRITICAL RULE
Some delusional Phoenix Suns fans still believe the Amare Stoudemire/Boris Diaw suspensions in game 5 of the conference semifinals robbed them of a championship they were destined to win.

If those two key players were on the court and not at home, there is no doubt the Suns would have won that game and the series against the eventual champion Spurs.

Never mind that the Spurs ousting the Suns in five games this year shredded the last bits of that asinine argument. According to fans of the purple and orange, "damnit, we won 17 games in a row twice that season and have a really good white guy. That means we are champions."

The NBA's head disciplinarian Stu Jackson suspended the two players for leaving the bench area during a scuffle that league officials thought merited the label "altercation." Robert Horry hip-checked Steve Nash into the scorers table and the two-time MVP showed his Oscar-worthy acting.

The Spurs statistical dominance over the Suns in the Tim Duncan era (save Phoenix winning this year's season series 3-1) all but proves the guys in black were the better team. Logic says the Spurs win game 5 with or without Stoudemire and Diaw on the court.

Stern should know that some Suns fans do not respond well to logic. When a clear-as-nails rule became not-so-clear, Stern allowed his league to ignore the gray from the black and white. Stoudemire and Diaw did not throw any punches or join any fights and Jackson knew they were likely not going to do so. Jackson's reasoning behind the unmerited suspensions was "rules are rules."

Take one good look at the NBA and laugh. Since when?

What did Stern or Jackson offer devastated Suns fans who believed their team was duped by the league's alleged bias toward the Spurs? Did the two men revisit the rule and determine that it needed an update?

You know the answers. When the league had an opportunity to merely fine Stoudemire and Diaw and let them play, it opened an unnecessary door and offered a surly response for doing so.

The San Antonio Sterns? Some Suns fans seem to think so.

WHEN A FOUL IS NOT A FOUL
After a controversial play in game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, the NBA knew where it needed not to go and went there anyway.

Yes, Spurs fans, Joey Crawford should have whistled Derek Fisher for a foul on Brent Barry's three point attempt. Scratch that: "it appears" Crawford should have. The two sentence statement released the next day was a bird-brained move on the NBA's part.

Barry and coach Gregg Popovich had already moved on from the no-call and preferred to discuss the many game-changing opportunities the Spurs botched. The Lakers out-hustled the defending champions for most of three quarters and earned a tough win that did not seem headed for a possible game-winner with less than two minutes to go.

Replays appear to show that a questioned goaltending call on Lamar Odom was a goaltend and that Derek Fisher's last second shot DID NOT hit the rim. Three controversial calls, even when they happen in the last two minutes, do not decide a game. The Spurs allowed themselves many chances to grab the game and blew every one of them.

If the NBA knows this, why did they taint the Lakers win by shitting all over it with an empty statement? In admitting the critical missed foul call, the NBA also admitted that a foul is a foul only if subjective officiating says so.

Refs have never whistled the game according to the rulebook and that many analysts and sportswriters said Barry should have sold the call or "that call is not made in that situation" fuels the fire.

Stern's job is to ensure that referees call every minute of every game "exactly by the rule book." If Crawford swallowed his whistle to avoid deciding the game, he did it by not blowing it.

If the NBA would rather not eat this pickle, it can fix the problem by deciding what a foul is and calling it every time it happens.

Does this mean LeBron James should have attempted two free throws in game three of the 2007 Finals after Bruce Bowen intentionally fouled him before a last second trey attempt? You bet.
NBA refs have consistently not called fouls in these end-of-game situations and that's a problem.

Stern further injured the problem his league has created by announcing last week that any player who flops will be punished with a hefty fine next season. Great. Thanks.

We wanted an assurance that such a no-call would never happen again and we get an unenforceable rule that may prevent players from earning legitimate fouls.

The NBA avoided addressing the obscene foul problem by letting Shaquille O' Neal barrel over smaller defenders for most of his career - and he is not the only superstar case. It has done little since then, and Stern expects us to believe his ship sports the best referee crew in the world.

Some ships people want you to believe are great hit icebergs and sink.

NO OFFICIAL ACCOUNTABILITY

Stern has never asked his refs to do media availability after games - why? If fans are chanting "ref you suck" after three apparent missed calls, why not let the old men stick up for themselves in a post game interview.

He asks them to closely monitor a frenetic game and then does not allow them to tell fans of a team or players why they made certain calls.

Joey Crawford has a long and dreary history with Tim Duncan's Spurs. His appearance in game 5 of the New Orleans series and game 4 of the conference finals did not determine the outcome.

The Hornets and Lakers know they did not need help from the refs to win those contests. Some Spurs fans don't believe that.

Why did the NBA go there? Crawford should not be working a Spurs playoff game given his rocky history with the team. Stern has more than enough referees at his disposal to not use Crawford in a San Antonio game.

The "Barry was fouled" statement does little to tame the theory that the NBA and Joey Crawford have it out for the Spurs.

Suns and Spurs fans both thinking the league hates their team? The only two teams with fans not saying that are in the Finals.

WHEN A TRADE IS A FIRE SALE

What Danny Ainge did with a fledgling, 24-win Boston Celtics team is to be admired. He pulled off two legitimate and fair trades to surround unhappy franchise star Paul Pierce with sharpshooter Ray Allen and 11-time All-Star Kevin Garnett.

To get Allen, Ainge sent a promising young Jeff Green plus Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West to Seattle. The Sonics later decided that Szczerbiak and West were not part of their future plans but it appears they may be on to something with the athletic Green. Ainge wanted Garnett to join the fold but had no idea if his scheme would work.

After months of talk show rumors and trade suggestions, Ainge and Minnesota Timberwolves GM Kevin McHale approved a historic 7-for-1 deal to ship Garnett to Boston. Terrific, young power forward Al Jefferson keyed the trade and his monster numbers suggest the Timberwolves got something substantial in return for the franchise star who kept season ticket sales afloat for 10 plus seasons.

Once Boston fitted its two newest stars in Celtics uniforms, Ainge convinced two tremendous role players in James Posey and Eddie House to sign for less money. He managed to keep his favorite project point guard Rajon Rondo and find enough big men to support Garnett.

It is hard to quibble with the Celtics whirlwind off-season turnaround. They won a league best 66 games and played some of the best defense in the last decade.

How the Lakers got here should trouble Stern. If his Lakers-Celtics erection subsides, maybe he will see the deluge of wrong he let happen right under his nose.

Derek Fisher, one of sports' five most honorable athletes and dads, signed with the team on his own accord. He needed to live in a city with a hospital that could treat his infant daughter's eye cancer. The Utah Jazz management graciously terminated his contract. Fisher knew one thing about his new-old team: he won three championships with its crabby star and needed to work some of his locker room magic.

Maybe Fisher is that good a peacemaker, or maybe a fire sale says all to much about the match-up Stern wants to see.

Seven teams completed deadline deals but one of them was fishy from the start.

The Suns, Spurs, Houston Rockets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks all engaged in significant roster upgrades. Mike Bibby helped the Hawks give the Celtics a frightening 7-game series. The Spurs owe the first round victory against the Suns to Kurt Thomas' veteran presence and post defense.

The difference between what these teams did and what the Lakers did? The Mavs sent "half of their roster" to New Jersey for an aging point guard who coach Avery Johnson decided behind closed doors "could no longer play." The Suns sent their best perimeter defender and versatile forward to a miserable Miami team to land a flat-footed, obscene foul shooter who proved more harmful than helpful against the playoff Spurs.

These six teams and their trade partners-New Orleans Hornets, Seattle Supersonics, Sacramento Kings, New Jersey Nets, Miami Heat-exchanged pieces of value. They gave up value to get get value. That is the definition of a fair NBA barter.

I still imagine that Chris Wallace-Mitch Kupchak phone conversation:

Mitch: So, Chris, how about giving me Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown.
Chris: Sure, just send me a few draft picks, who probably won't amount to jack squat, and we'll call it a deal.

The Memphis Grizzlies fans, even if they are few, deserve better than their cost-cutting general manager sending a franchise player and All-Star to Stern's favorite Western Conference team for the worst #1 pick in NBA history. Popovich joked that he would have vetoed such a deal if a trade evaluation committee existed. One should and technically, it already does.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement is supposed to stop this nonsense. Stern let the crooked Gasol trade pass through a loophole because the finances worked.
What would be a fair trade for Gasol? Andrew Bynum, Jordan Farmar and a draft pick or two. That might be a start.

What does this trade and quick Laker resurgence say to NBA fans? That when Kobe Bryant whines like a baby crapping his diaper and slams his teammates, he gets what he wants. We wouldn't dare let Kobe, with his best-player-in-the-league status and ridiculous salary, not play for a champion, would we?

Bryant was right when he said the Lakers reached this unlikely point through hard work. Few players in sports possess Bryant's dangerous competitive fire and his redevelopment has Los Angeles in another Finals.

They got here through hard work. *And a sour deal.

NBA SHOULD LEARN ITS LESSON

The NBA's two best teams are in the Finals. The Lakers tout a great team and the Celtics embody the team's together-as-one motto "Ubuntu."

But what has Stern done for those who smell raw fish every time Gasol plays in a Laker uniform? Spurs fans who look long and hard at Brent Barry and then 2006 and wonder if the NBA had the final word about a San Antonio repeat? Suns fans who seem stuck in a 2007 hip-check aftermath for eternity?
The people who just want refs to call a foul when a player commits one?

You know the answers. And when Stern sits with his arms folded and that wry grin, wondering how we got here, it will be the greatest mockery of them all.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 10:46 AM 0 Comments