Basketball Blog

Rodney Stuckey came out of the Vegas Summer League evoking memories of a more senior Pistons guard; Chauncey Billups.

Chauncey and Rodney were tagged as “combo” guards coming in as rookies. I assume the Pistons want to develop him from a combo guard into a full time point. Chauncey made the same adjustment before finding success in the NBA.

I can’t think of a better mentor for a young prospect like Rodney than Mr. Bigshot. He’s cool and collected both on the court and in the locker room. Hopefully that attitude and poise will rub off on Rodney. Good decision-making added to Rodney’s repitoire of offensive skills would leave Detroit’s PG position of the future in very good hands.

I’m not sure how it got to this point. Maybe it was Ali’s powerful self-promotion and important civil rights stance that began the process of moving sports away from organizations into the realm of the individual. Maybe Phil Knight and Michael Jordan finished the job. Whatever the origin, some paradigm shift has taken place in sports that has moved the balance of power into the hands of the individual, and the importance of sport has shifted largely from competition to E Channel-like celebrity obsession. Today’s owners need to put a popular face on their organization to give it a strong recognition factor, bring in endorsements, and sell tickets. They are willing to pay.

None of this is a problem. I’m all for athletes and entertainers getting as much as they can for themselves and their families in the short span that they have to excel in their field. The problem is what arises from this atmosphere of individual aggrandizement and money-powered decision making, and it’s a problem that may have peaked in the NBA where stars are sometimes manufactured too quickly and players lock into long-term salaries that their talent doesn’t merit. Salary cap structures, guaranteed contracts, complex trade rules, luxury tax, expansion to thirty teams, all of it is combining to change the aim of the sport.

Look at Minnesota’s situation. Do they keep the $22 million face of their franchise another year and risk losing him for nothing on the open market when he has the opportunity to opt out of his contract at the end of the 2008 season? Do they trade him for the best talent they can get and attempt to compete in the stacked western conference? Or do they package him with Blount and / or Jaric and make a trade for expiring deals and draft picks to help ease their salary cap situation?

Obviously for the present competitiveness of the team (which we all hope is the chief interest of the fan base), either keeping Garnett or trading him for the best possible players would be in order. But the reality of the salary cap rules is that the only option is to try to get rid of some of the long term contracts that will keep the team from improving with or without Garnett. If he leaves with no return, and the other contracts remain on the cap, the team will be without a face and without an opportunity to get a new one because their salary cap situation will still preclude any major free agent signing.

How can a team be in a situation in which it loses a $22million per year player and still has cap concerns? That goes back to aggrandizement of the individual again. For every major increase that a face of a franchise receives in salary, all the players who are less valuable from a marketing standpoint are still aware and desirous of commensurate compensation from a performance perspective. Surely Latrell Sprewell considered himself worth more than ¼ of Garnett on the court. Why shouldn’t he receive better money than $7million per year? So it goes with all players, and guys like Blount, Jaric, Davis, and Hudson are given contracts commensurate with their perceived talent but not with their value as salesmen for the franchise. Now if you lose Garnett and retain all of those players you have an under-talented, but, even worse, under-marketed organization with no “face”.

So should the Wolves trade away their face and try to dump their veterans with long term deals as well? Should they go into a money conservation mode for as long as it takes to find a new face of the franchise through free agency or good luck in the draft? The Bulls tried that for years and would up with under-achieving teenagers, Jalen Rose, Ron Mercer , and an extended streak of missed post-seasons as their initial payoff for their fans. Lucky teams like Cleveland or Orlando will land a face of the franchise in the draft. Yet even they have trouble finding talent to go with that player and have been forced to overpay for players of questionable fit because all the strongest talent is already attached to other organizations as the faces of those franchises – even players whose talent isn’t necessarily a match for the responsibility.

I don’t know what the long term solution to this money-driven conundrum is. It does seem that trying to put a more reasonable cap on individual salaries would help teams be more flexible. It might be good for the league to get rid of guaranteed deals and use the NFL system of big signing bonuses as lures rather than long, unbreakable contracts. Neither of those is likely possible due to the power of the players’ union and the firm stance of the collective bargaining agreement.

A more feasible approach might be to try to put the emphasis back on the importance of the team, the organization, so that borderline stars like Stephon Marbury, Kenyon Martin and Rashard Lewis are not paid like face of the franchise stars. Lower salaries make them tradable assets. They could be pared with true superstars, and every player lower than them on the talent totem pole would become less apt to believe he deserves an extra $2million per year to feed his family. Flexibility might return to teams with a need for personnel changes, and stability might increase for teams who already have a lot of talent and don’t want to lose it all to overbidding by other teams trying to take their Joe Johnson and Larry Hughes level players away.

But that would require the NBA to be marketed and reported to the fans as a team game rather than having individual players glorified and overexposed by E. I mean ESPN. It’s hard to tell sometimes with LeBron and Beckham showing up as often on one as the other.

III. The Coverage.

The coverage for the team of NBA players is the same every single year (for some reason there is another international tournament every year) and it is as annoying and damaging every year.

It always starts with extreme optimism. The team of NBA superstars is announced. The Press drools over all the big names. Now, since Team USA hasn’t been blowing out competition, we hear about how all the bad things from the prior year will be turned around.

This was from last summer in the USA today:

“The team that will represent the USA in the world championships next month in Japan is an unselfish group comprised of superstars and role players. Except for its youth and lack of a true, dominant center, it is reminiscent of the 1992 Olympic Dream Team”

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/2006-07-25-new-dream-team_x.htm

With expectations set so extraordinarily high, there is nowhere to go but down. The pre-tournament coverage becomes a build to euphoric expectations, that can only be met with disappointment.

As a result, when the inevitable disappointment occurs, and Team USA dares to lose, or even not play in a dominant fashion, we get backlash from the very same group that spent the last few weeks building them up. For example, after the Greek team upset Team USA last year, one of the Greek players guys had the audacity to say:

“I think this is the NBA, one against five,” Papaloukas said. “It’s different rules” in the worlds.

(imagine if a Team USA player said something like “I guess Euro-league just isn’t that good” after any win. He’d be tarred and feathered)

…in any event, Papaloukas won, he gets to rub it in. But, our friends at ESPN have the gaul to agree:

“The U.S. is learning that, one international defeat at time.”

As if, they lost that game against Greece because they chose to just go 1 on 5 on every possession. We all know that didn’t happen. On some occasions, the offense got broken up due to good defense, and as a result, the U.S. players went one on one to create something from nothing.

Moreover, the loss is not simply treated as a loss, instead, its somehow a personality flaw applicable to the entire NBA. NBA players are – selfish, play no defense, have no teamwork, paycheck collecting, and are unintelligent.

For example, look at the comments to my prior posts from a guy named Jason:

“Surely this can be put down to bitterness at seeing Team USA humbled by the Greeks, the Argentinians, etc. who show superior levels of IQ to the ’superstars’ that get trotted out by the Yanks“

Is this for real?

When you try to explain to critics that the rules are different, the team doesn’t play together for a long period of time, so as a result, they struggle against good teams – it is cast aside. Those are viewed as “excuses” because a team as talented as Team USA should be good enough to overcome these adjustments.

Why? Because of the ridiculous pre-tournament coverage. That’s absurd. Its not even like they lose in a 7-game series. Any team can lose one-game, even to an inferior opponent – and the international team aren’t necessarily inferior. They’re just different. They play basketball differently, under a different set of rules, in a different league. Yet a loss under these circumstances shows a perceived of the entire league

A player could spend his entire summer staying at the club until 5 am, sleeping with groupies, and licking vodka out of girls’ belly-buttons, sell a video diary of his summer exploits called “NBA Gone Wild” and get less criticism than those who go to play in FIBA.

Stay tuned for more.

answerman@insidehoops.net

By Gov Daswani

In the midst of its 2006-2007 campaign, the NBA and its millions of fans took a blistering halt as it witnessed one of its most exciting and breathtaking players demand a trade from his once beloved Philadelphia 76ers. After an entire decade with the celebrated franchise, Allen Iverson could no longer handle General Manager Billy King and his pee-sized brain. No one could really blame the answer as he has never been handed the championship caliber squad that many believe he deserves.

However, does any potential championship caliber squad deserve the great A.I.?

The answer is a resounding NO. Allen Iverson is a poison to any team that intends to play as one.

The point guard has indeed revolutionized the way the game has been played over the past few years. They have been able to capitalize as the NBA has enacted rules that have favoured the vertically challenged. And there isn’t a better example than 2-time MVP Steve Nash, two thriving futures in Chris Paul and the feisty Deron Williams, and the all around happy Frenchman Tony “The Housewife” Parker.

Despite the bullish market for point guards, the “Shoot First” little man has just never been able to click. In the case of Allen Iverson, i’ve become utterly lost with regard to the position he actually plays. One day he’s a one and the next he’s pulling a Kobe Bryant shoot-fest. These midget scoring machines just can’t win. Just in case you need proof, allow me to present the following “Scoring Guards”:

Stephon Marbury. Starbury entered the League the same year as AI but until now, he still has not been able to shake off the perception that his teams just can’t win. From Minnesota, to New Jersey, and Phoenix, his former teams improved so much more the season immediately following his departure from them. He openly clashed with Larry Brown a couple of years back as the Knicks suffered its most embarrassing season in its storied history. To make matters worse, he even made the ridiculously absurd claim a couple of years ago that he is “the best point guard in the NBA”. What a joke. But what the hell, he sells cheap shoes!

Steve Francis. How many of you can still remember 1999 Draft night when Francis was drafted number two overall by the then-Vancouver Grizzlies? Breaking out his best prima donna pout, he demanded a trade and thus landed in Houston. Despite obvious offensive talents, his team just couldn’t get into the playoffs until the arrival of Yao Ming helped bring more balance to their offense. His inclination to dominate the ball, favour flashy plays, and pout when things don’t go his way got him traded to Orlando, where just a season and a half later, he wears out his welcome for exactly the same reasons. Soon after his quick stink, oops I meant stint, with the Knicks (in a backcourt that needed 2 basketballs and a frontcourt that needed an eat-all-you-can buffet), his nickname was changed from Stevie Franchise to Stevie Franchise-KILLER.

Convinced?

Now one might defend Allen Iverson and claim that he is one hell of a competitor. Yes, he is an animal. He drives the lane with no regard. Not giving a **** for elbow swingers like Cheap Shot Rob, flop artists like Manu “Baldspot” Ginobli, or even nut-grabbers like Reggie ‘The Fondler’ Evans. He has been referred to as one of the top 30 players in the history of the sport. That’s what makes A.I. the ANSWER. What do I think? Make way for the my initial attempt at a controversial sweeping statement…

Allen Iverson is the among the most overrated players in the history of the sport.

He stands 6’O, weighs 165 lbs, and has averaged a whopping 28 points per game over his stellar career with Philly. How then, does a diehard Laker fan like myself, have the nerve to mock this midget with the heart of Spartacus?

Over decades as sports fans, we’ve witnessed a number of athletes who’ve worn their heart on their sleeve. However, in the next section, you will notice differences in heart that cannot be noticed by the untrained eye of the lay sports fan…

A). Heart of a Lion – King of the Jungle. Michael Jordan. No explanation needed. Lance Armstrong. None needed. Boris Becker. Nothing. Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart. Nada. Michael Corleone? Hell no!

They were all masters of their respective domains. Nothing further.

B). Heart of a cripple – When every sentence concludes with ‘for his size’, you know there’s trouble. Iverson’s incredible! For his size. Tough! Strong! Tenacious! For his size.

The other kind of heart applies to undersized, congenitally and physically challenged athletes. This is where special olympians come in. That rare category where will power rises above all obstacles.

Nate ‘Tiny’ Archibald. Tyrone ‘Mugsy’ Bogues. Rey Mysterio. The grief-stricken women in A League of Their Own. The Mighty Ducks in Mighty Ducks 3. Wheelchair athletes. One-legged sportsmen. And finally, The Answer, Allen Iverson.

They are the underdogs. The men and women that compete no matter what the odds are. And if I may steal a line from the good people at Converse, they are those that fall seven times, get up eight.

For Category B, winning isn’t everything. And for A, it is the only thing.

This is where Iverson comes short. For Over a decade as a premiere player in the NBA, Allen Iverson has been considered among the best of his generation. What do I think? Iverson had one outstanding season. He’s played 11. He can’t win. But he’s great for his size.

If you’ve read Gilbert’s latest blog post on NBA.com, you’ll know that he is in the middle of a 100,000 shots in 73 days training.

Right now I’m in the middle of making 100,000 shots over 73 days. It’s a little mini-series I do. Right now I’m shooting 69.7 percent from the three-point line and I’m shooting 79.3 percent, I think, from the college three.

Gilbertology takes it one level deeper by actually doing the math. According to the number’s Gilbert gives, he can actually finish his challenge in less than 30 days. If he is consistant for the full 73 days, he’ll end up with more than 270,000 shots made. At a rate of 5 seconds a shot, it would take him 4 hours a day to complete.

While no one doubts Gilbert’s work ethic, some have questioned the need to “flaunt” it by making it so public in his blog. Some have even suggested he should be spending the 73 days working on his defense. But how many players, NBA or not, would even consider such a crazy workout? Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Kobe Bryant have been known to have amazing work ethic in the summer and legendary workouts. Gilbert will soon join them on that list. Gilbert has been known to spend the night at the gym, calling up trainers at 3 in the morning to get in some shots, and hiring someone from the military to get him in shape for training camp with a week of boot camp.

At least when Gilbert is on the injured list with a sore arm or is scoring 40 points per game in the beginning of the season, we’ll all know why – because Gilbert Arenas is crazy… crazy good.

InsideHoops.com NewsWire: Philadelphia 76ers President Billy King announced today that the Sixers have hired Eric Blankenship as the Vice President of Marketing and Dennis Nelson as the Director of New Media. The Sixers have promoted Larry Meli to Vice President of Customer Service and Box Office Operations, Brad McCleary to Director of Sales, Derek Goldfarb to Senior Corporate Sales Manager, Kevin Fischer to Public Relations Manager, Derrick Hayes to Game Operations Manager, and Shana Booker to Marketing Manager.

Blankenship, originally from Tampa, FL, spent five years working for Global Spectrum, the public assembly facility management subsidiary of Sixers parent company Comcast-Spectacor, where he oversaw all marketing and sales efforts, including brand development, marketing plans, and operating budgets for the Rose Quarter-Rose Garden and Memorial Coliseum, a $262 million sports and entertainment complex in Portland, OR.

The city of Orlando is getting a new events center which will include a new arenas for the Orlando Magic. Full details are on InsideHoops.com.

With several teams, including the Sacramento Kings and Seattle SuperSonics, having arena issues, it’s always good when something like this gets resolved. The Kings are probably sticking around in Sacramento thanks to massive fan support, though the lure of Las Vegas or another city could interest the Maloof Family.

The Sonics are owned by people who are trying to work things out with the city of Seattle but may want that to fail so they can take the team to their home of Oklahoma City. It is widely expected that this will happen, even if it means the team breaking a lease agreement that runs years longer, probably resulting in a legal battle between Seattle and the team.

By Kendrick Co

First and foremost, let me start by saying that although the jury is still out on whether Rockets new GM Darryl Morey knows what he’s doing, I want to be one of the first to give him credit for being able to at least do something with the roster within a short amount of time. However, how good are the moves that he’s made for the team so far?

COACHING CHANGE

Replacing JVG with Adelman in my opinion is a good move, if only because it shows guts in changing the team’s philosophy. As Rockets fans know, the “if-it-ain’t-broke” thing does not really fit the Rockets after 4 years under JVG. I love Van Gundy as a coach but I think the time was right to take a step in another direction and getting Adelman to man the ship was a good start.

DRAFT

As for the draft, I would like to focus on Aaron Brooks given the increased expectations of people of him being able to contribute this season. At first, I had doubts about the Rockets getting another PG who’s offensive-minded, especially since the team already traded for Mike James at that point. Now, I’m not entirely sold based on his performance in summer league, seeing that Lucas Jr. also tore it up there at about the same time last year. But, what gives me hope is the maturity and poise that I saw in him during the games. I think it will serve him well during the season even if he doesn’t get off the bench much, because at least you know he’ll soak the experience up and come back better the following season.

TRADES

More than anything Morey has done so far, the trades are the most significant. Personally, I don’t like Mike James for the Rockets. I think his confidence in himself overshadows the team concept that he as a PG should support. Unless Adelman can make him accept and thrive in an off-the-bench Bobby Jackson-type role, I don’t know how this trade makes the team better. I didn’t like Mike James for the Rockets back in 2005, and I have a bad feeling I won’t enjoy it again this time around.

Now, trading away V-Span for Luis Scola and Jackie Butler was something I was cheering like crazy for when I first heard about it! This is the kind of trade the GM of the Year award can be won on! Ok, before I get carried away, let’s analyze it objectively. Luis Scola is considered to be more talented than Oberto by most scouts, and the Spurs giving him away essentially for the right to send V-Span home leaves me a bit uneasy. After all, this is the Spurs we’re talking about not the Knicks! But based on the upside, the Rockets get a starting 4 who can play the role that Oberto plays for the Spurs. The downside? The Rockets still have 2 big bodies who are taller than Chuck Hayes so how bad can it be? Add having a back-up big man in Jackie Butler to support Deke and I can’t help but give this trade 2 thumbs up.

FREE AGENT

Steve Francis. Steve Francis. Steve Francis.

I was never a huge fan of his game. And I was actually hoping the Rockets don’t get him only because we already have Mike James. I mean why don’t we go ahead and get Stephon Marbury too. And Earl Boykins. Can’t a team have enough shot-happy guards?! But I digress. From a short-term standpoint, $6M at 2 years is not that bad, kinda like signing Bonzi Wells last year. Oops, that didn’t turn out good did it?

Well, if the words from Stevie Franchise’s mouth are to be taken seriously, he apparently has changed a lot since his last game for the Knicks which from how I remembered it wasn’t that different from the way he usually plays. Ok, I admit I’m being too skeptical, but how can anyone blame me? Aside from boosting the overall talent level of the team, I still don’t buy that getting Francis is going to get the Rockets over the hump. Maybe he’ll prove us wrong during the season, but for now, I rest my case: this was not such a good move.

OVERALL

I like the direction the team is going on so far, but I think some other moves definitely still have to be made. With 2 shoot-first PG’s sure to get significant minutes (counting out Brooks), the Rockets need a distributing PG to balance it out. With the plans of trading away Rafer and Lucas, I think it will serve the Rockets well to at least look into getting somebody like Brevin Knight (who I think would be a great fit for the team) or even a Jannero Pargo to play off the bench. I also think the Rockets need to think about Luther Head and the role that he can play for the team. Given that Mike James and/or Francis can end up playing some SG as well along with Bonzi, I don’t know how Head fits into the rotation. I think the Rockets should try to get a versatile do-it-all SF to back up Battier too, preferably someone with good shooting range to complement Bonzi in the second unit. Ime Udoka anyone?

Lastly, the trade rumors with the Heat can be a good way for the team to further upgrade its rotation. Please tell me the Rockets don’t plan on just getting Doleac for Alston. Say what you want about Alston but I do believe he’s worth more than a back-up big man who probably won’t be getting off the bench much if at all.

While, basketball fans of today are marveling over the next 14 year old phenoms, they forget about a forgotten star from the past. Bob Pettit had humble beginnings after being cut from the varsity basketball team at Baton Rouge High School during both his Freshman and Sophomore year. However, during his senior year he led his team to its first state championship in more than 20 years. This would be the start of a Hall of Fame basketball career.

Bob Pettit took his basketball game to Louisiana State University after high school. In his Sophomore year (Freshmen were not allowed to play on the varsity team in those years), Pettit led the SEC in scoring at 25.5 points per game. He also pulled down 13.1 rebounds per game and was named to the All-SEC team. The following season he averaged 24.9 points per game and 13.9 rebounds. Most importantly however, Pettit led LSU to their first Final Four. For his heroics, he was named to the All-SEC and All-American teams.

In his last year at LSU, he averaged 31.4 points and 17.3 rebounds per game and led LSU to an SEC Championship and took home honors of being selected to the All-SEC and All-American team again. In 1954, Pettit’s number 50 was retired by LSU. He became the first athlete from the school to receive this distinction.

The Milwaukee Hawks selected Bob Pettit in the first round of the 1954 NBA draft. Pettit would start his NBA career just as he finished his college career by winning Rookie of the Year honors after putting up 20.4 points and grabbing 13.8 rebounds per game. In his second season, he led the league in both scoring at 25.7 points per game and rebounding at 16.2 rebounds per game. He was also named the MVP of the All-Star game and MVP of the regular NBA season.

During the 1957-58, Pettit and the Hawks stopped the Celtics championship streak and took home the title. In Game 6 of the series he scored a then-playoff record of 50 points in the game. The 1958-59 season would win Pettit another regular season MVP award and another scoring crown with a 29.2 points per game average (which was a NBA record at the time). Pettit pulled down 20.3 rebounds per game the following season and became one of only five players to ever average over 20 rebounds per game. Outdoing himself the next season he put up a career high of 31.1 points per game.

When Pettit retired in 1965, he became the first NBA player to score over 20,000 points and his 12,849 rebounds were second most ever at the time. Pettit was an All-Star in every year he played (11 times) and was honored on the All-NBA First Team 10 times. He also averaged at least 20 points per game and at least 12 rebounds per game in each of his 11 NBA seasons.

In 1971, Pettit was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame and in 1996 was named one of the 50 Greatest Players ever in the NBA.

While today’s fans rave about great power forwards like Tim Duncan and Karl Malone, they fail to even mention arguably the greatest, Bob Pettit.

II. The Rules.

FIBA rules are different than NBA rules. Its the trapezoidal lane, goaltending rules, foul rules, traveling rules, 3 point distance (and for the purposes of this entry we’ll pretend that FIBA refs don’t have it out for NBA players).

The adjustment to these rules, though minor and intellectually simple, have an adverse effect on the NBA and its players. For example, Tyson Chandler is a great NBA rebounder. He was probably able to get rim by the time he was 12. Ever since that time, he has been timing his jumps so as NOT to take the ball of the rim, because that is illegal at all levels of American play. It has become so part of his muscle memory, that it is now an instinct. You CANNOT give him a rule book that says he CAN take balls off the rim and expect him to easily adjust. Michael Redd is a tremendous shooter. He practices shooting from specific distances (NBA 3 point range) as part of the offense. Giving him another distance requires him to readjust arm angles and stroke and practice a different shot.

To demonstrate the difficulty in making these intellectually simple, but physically complex adjustments, try walking left foot-left foot-right foot/left-left-right/left-left-right. You can do it, seems easy enough, you are just bad at it. Same can be said for the “minor” adjustments NBA players have to make in FIBA.

The impact of this adjustment to the NBA is 2-fold.

1. To adjust to the rule changes, U.S. team officials have now made FIBA participation into a multi-year commitment, requiring more practices, scrimmages and, of course, exhibitions (no money there, right) to get used to these rules. Since its a multi-year commitment, the guys who had no break last summer, will have no break this summer and will have no break next summer. To see a discussion of NBA players playing more, see Part I.

2. It confuses the players. Lets say I’m the Detroit Pistons. I have an offensive approach that I want my team to master and I want it mastered using NBA rules. Now, you are taking two of my starters, including my point guard, getting them used to different rules and forcing them to execute different plays to compensate. How is that good for Pistons fans who want to see clean execution by their team? NBA fans who want to se ethe NBA game played well?

The NBA does not want Billups working on breaking a zone during the summer, since we all know he won’t face a real zones in the NBA. The NBA wants him focused on beating the defenses the NBA presents, focused on Detroit Basketball. The NBA does not want his head filled with Mike K’s college and Mike D’An’s international approaches.

The NBA talks about team work and continuity, yet they send players to work in other systems under different rules, serving to break any semblance of team work and continuity.

To stretch my analogy, lets say you spent all summer training for a race where you are required to run left-left-right against guys who have walked like that their entire lives? You do your level best to be the best left-left-right runner in the business…and eventually you develop strategies and muscle memory to do it at an elite level. Will you be ready to run left-right-left-right effectively in the fall? As effectively as you could before all the intelligent left-left-right training?

I’d rather my players spend their summers like the “Super-Size Me” guy than participating in FIBA. The weight will come off during the season, the damage to their psyche from learning another system, being bad at it, and then readjusting to the NBA, is far more difficult to overcome.

Part III coming soon.

answerman@insidehoops.net