Basketball Blog

If you think the West is tough, it just got a little tougher. With the signing of Darko Milicic, the Memphis Grizzlies now have a legit center to play with Pau Gasol and got the youngest and most talented free agent big man left. Sure, Darko only averaged 8.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.75 blocks in 24 minutes per game last season with the Magic but it is not out of the question that when given starter minutes he could easily average 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks per game.

Then add a healthy Pau Gasol, an up and coming player in Rudy Gay, Mike Miller, whose coming off his best season and two highly regarded point guard prospects in Mike Conley Jr. and Kyle Lowry and you’ve got a pretty good lineup. Not to mention Hakim Warrick, Stromile Swift, and Damon Stoudamire coming off the bench. Let’s not forget the Grizzlies also hired Phoenix assistant Marc Iavaroni who is widely recognized as a defensive specialist.

While the team looks good on paper, the West is stacked. One things for sure, the Grizzlies will definitely be able to compete night in and night out as long as the team stays healthy.

I find it difficult not to chuckle upon hearing the word “fluke” regarding the Dallas/Golden State series. Likewise with the notion that the Mavericks ran into a hot ball club. We hear it from members of the organization, players, and fans. It truly is an amusing notion.

The Warriors have thrashed Dallas the last two seasons, winning nine of the last twelve – six by double-digit margins. The Mavs were fortunate to push the playoff series to six games. A three-minute barrage by Dirk Nowitzki prevented them from dropping the series on their home floor.

Dallas has lost eight of its last ten playoff contests. Four of those defeats were also by ten points or more.

Nightmare matchup? Go ahead if that works for you, but from where I stand, it’s obvious this team has some cracks.

Sixty-seven regular season wins. That’s obviously nothing to sneeze at. Though, it’s more product of Avery Johnson’s pedal-to-the-metal approach. We should definitely credit the Mavs for that much. They do not take nights off.

What exactly does that do for the Mavericks in May? There are no back-to back games (Dallas went 12-1 on the tail-end of BTBs last season). The post season rolls around and opposing coaches have the luxury of an off day. They are allowed to recoup and focus.

Five years ago, it was exciting to hear how this club would work its tail off to improve within. Now when Avery or General Manager Donnie Nelson rattles it off in a soundbite, I can only chalk it up to noble sentiment.

Work hard. Improve within. Stay the course. This has been the mantra.

Can the Mavs return the current roster and honestly contend for its first title? I don’t believe so. This team lacks in specific areas. Maverick fans are quite familiar with the shortcomings. These are very real issues that won’t be remedied by simply asking Dirk to work harder on his post-up game.

Dallas is still in dire need of a reliable second gun – a Robin to Dirk’s Batman, if you will. Or perhaps Nowitzki could slide into the Boy Wonder role, provided Mark Cuban & Company land such a big fish. Point being, when teams decide to take Dirk away – as Golden State and Miami have in Dallas’ two previous playoff series – no other Mav has answered the bell.

Team brass remains adamant that the hard work will eventually pay off. I am not sure it’s that simple.

The Mavericks has also insisted there will be no major changes. There will be no shakeup, or so they say. Ask Donnie Nelson about various parts and he is quick to label Josh Howard and Devin Harris as “untouchable.”

That is either one of the grossest cases of overvaluing one’s own or a true poker face at work. When a name like Kevin Garnett is floating about in trade discussions, as a Maverick fan, I seriously hope it’s the latter.

Yesterday I labeled the Philadelphia 76ers as one of my losers from last week’s draft. I wish to elaborate on that as I promised.

Here’s the issue, this is the first draft since the Sixers jettisoned Allen Iverson to Denver for two first round picks, an expiring contract and the services of point guard Andre Miller. Andre Miller and the rest of the leftovers for Philadelphia made great strides at the end of the season to keep playoff dreams alive but ultimately kill any luck in the NBA draft lottery.

There’s a good and bad side to that story. The good is that you help develop a young team against NBA talent and give them confidence for the following season. Young players like incumbent A.I. (Andre Iguodala), Louis “Baby Louie” Williams and Rodney Carney were put in a more prominent role to show that they deserve to stick around for the franchise. Meanwhile, the Sixers won meaningless games and their hopes of nabbing college stars like Greg Oden or Kevin Durant were erased.

I admit, I was one of the people hoping they would tank games and eventually cussing in disgust when I caught a glimpse of the boxscore after a Sixer victory. The two picks they netted from Denver were going to be in the later part of the draft and their league worst record was later the #12 pick instead of top 6. Some fans would have preferred to see Andre Miller rerouted to a contender for a first round pick and, as we seen in the playoffs, plenty of teams could’ve used a reliable point guard.

Enough of my ranting, its all in the past. My column on the draft hoped that the Sixers would pick up either Al Thornton or Julian Wright, both solid forwards with their own identity. You see what you get from both of them althought Wright had a high ceiling for his potential. I also hoped for the Sixers to dive into the international waters and pluck one of the foreign prospects in the later stages of the draft. The last time the Sixers had an International guy in their locker room was when they had a Greek sharp shooter (who wasn’t so sharp at shooting) named Efthimios Rentzias who was later nicknamed “Effin’ Stiff” by 610 AM’s Al Morganti. I already ranted, raved and drooled all about Marco Belinelli, Rudy Fernandez and Tiago Splitter, all of whom will begin their NBA careers in a city not named Philadelphia.

So on draft night, the Sixers went with (drumroll please) Georgia Tech freshman forward Thaddeus Young.

“Who ?”

My thoughts exactly. Thad Young is labeled as another pet project for the Sixers. It will take some time before he develops into the supposed star the Philly front office foresees him becoming. According to NBA scouts, the 19-year old Young needs work on everything! Ballhandling, shooting, strength, assertiveness, aggressiveness, algebra, parallel parking, you name it.

Why were the Sixers impressed? The “Mike Mamula” syndrome. For those who don’t know what this is, its when a player has a great individual workout and impresses teams enough to spend high draft choices and big dollar figures on unproven talent (like former-Philadelphia Eagle and scouting combine stud Mike Mamula). When asked what he liked about Young, the first thing Sixers GM said was “I liked his age, …” believing that Young is mature at this point in his life.

Ok, Thaddy is in the league now and he might grow into a nice player. But I believe the other two available forwards fit the Sixers better now and for the future. Thornton could come in and score the ball now and would be more poised to dominate for the Sixers as soon as the 2008 season after he gets some notches on his belt now that he’s in the NBA. Julian Wright needed to develop a better long range jumpshot, but can come in and defend as soon as tomorrow. Young’s main issue is that he has to grow into the player the Sixers want him to be. Literally.

The Sixers are envisioning Young as their future power forward and hope he can pack a few pounds and inches on his 6’8 frame. The southpaw has already been thrown into the fire, so to speak, to defend post players in the summer leagues. So far, he’s been abused pretty good by no names and your next door neighbor’s cousin.

With their second pick, the Sixers flip-flopped with Miami to get seven-footer Jason Smith from Colorado State. Smith has gained some acclaim in recent weeks with his workouts. But Smith reminds me of that tall kid playing pick-up games who tries to be a jump shooter throughout the entire game and never abuses the smaller kids with his size. Smith is a guard in a center’s body as he possesses some quickness, finesse and a nice touch on his jump shot. Hopefully the young Smith familiarizes himself with the painted area of the basketball court. The Sixers also picked up Derrick Byars (who looks like a steal in the second round) and Herbert Hill out of Providence.The plan we all heard about pre-draft was that the Sixers would not rely on need and draft the best player available, yet chose Young over better prospects. They also wished to finagle with their picks, trying to move around and were adamant on not bringing in four rookies to training camp. They moved up, down and around and still came up with four players. The Sixers were also keen on finally getting into the international market for foreign talent and hopefully keeping someone overseas to continue developing and not wasting a roster spot. They did draft two international players but were only doing so for other teams as they gave up the rights to Finland PG Petteri Koponen and Ukrainian center Kyrylo Fesenko, who really looks like a great high-energy player.

The Sixers also had a three-year plan in place after Allen Iverson’s trade, with several phases involved. The first was removing Iverson and Chris Webber, the second was the draft. But with some of their selections, the Sixers won’t be ready to compete by year three if Young doesn’t grow three inches or these youngsters simply don’t grow up into the players the Sixers need them to be.

As Philly fans have grown to say after disappointments:

“There’s always next year . . . “

For more of my work, check out The Weekly Word

As posted on InsideHoops.com the Toronto Raptors have signed restricted free agent Maceo Baston to an offer sheet. Baston is an American, but almost counts as an international player since he made a real name for himself playing overseas in Israel for Maccabi Tel Aviv, a famous team that has dominated Israeli basketball for years and done extremely well in Euroleague competition.

Baston teamed with Anthony Parker overseas and enjoyed great success.

The Indiana Pacers have 7 days to match the offer or decline. If they decline, Baston officially becomes a Raptor.

Only in the NBA world do you have a combination of flips, flops, floppers and flip-floppers.

The Flip. The NBA only has one Flip and that is Ronald “Flip” Murray of the Detroit Pistons.

The Flop. No, this is not the first three community cards in a game of Texas Hold’em. These are the complete failures we see each year in the NBA. The guy that had so much potential and hope but ended up being a complete bust. Look it up in a basketball dictionary and you will probably see former #1 overall draft picks Michael Olowokandi and Kwame Brown right on top of the list.

The Flopper. Vlade Divac was the quintessential flopper of past years. Manu Ginobli, Anderson Varejao, Raja Bell and many more have all proudly followed in his footsteps. They are the players you love to have but hate to play against. I’m sure you witnessed the incredible Oscar worthy acting job Steve Nash performed on Bruce Bowen during the playoffs. You know, the one where he performed a ridiculous “I got kicked in the testicles” flop, followed by an extended rolling, arms flailing in the air, on the floor in the fetal position with a painful expression of agony. Only to instantly rise up looking fine and dandy once the whistle was called. You may call that flopping, I call it brilliant.

The Flip-Flopper. This has been an emerging trend this summer. We all know how Kobe seemingly changed his mind every minute in the span of 2 days during the playoffs. Billy Donovan caused a public relations nightmare for the Magic by signing a 5 year/27.5 million dollar contract, only to wake up the next morning wanting to go back to Florida. Heck, even the NBA did a flip flop on the new synthetic basketballs last season after so many complaints. And now comes word that Ron Artest wants to retire a Sacramento King, after publicly stating his desire to be Knick this past season. These guys flip flop more than Oprah’s weight.

How do they all relate? NBA free agents can now official sign. Flip Murray would have been a free agent but he picked up his player option to remain with the Detroit Pistons 2 weeks ago. If you can’t get a Flip in free agency, the free agent pool has many Flops and Floppers to choose from, led by Michael Olowokandi and Anderson Varejao. The silly one week moratorium rule before players can “officially” sign causes many free agents to “verbally” agree on a deal. Surely, Orlando fans were hoping Rashard Lewis didn’t flip-flop and “pull another Billy Donovan”. Yes, this is the life we live in. One in which flips, flops, floppers, and flip-flopper can coexist. Only in the NBA.

Day three was supposed to be the day that old college rivals J.J. Redick and Adam Morrison rekindled their battle, but instead Morrison wasn’t in uniform as the first game tipped off a little under 10 minutes ago. I’m not sure if it’s injury related or perhaps Morrison, who has looked anything but excited to be here the last few days, just decided to pack it in for the rest of the week. In the meantime Redick will have to settle for a battle with former ACC foe Jared Dudley.

Early game one notes:

Kevin Kruger, a point guard from UNLV is probably best known in Florida for being the son of former Gators coach Lon Kruger, might have a chance to go to training camp with the Magic if the they didn’t already have Travis Diener, a former second round pick that plays a similar style to Kruger.

I’m beginning to wonder if Blackberry has a deal with the NBA, because every player, coach and media member (other than myself) seems to be constantly checking their mobile device for updates.

It’s now the end of the first quater and the Bobcats are leading the Magic 29-15. I’ll have more updates later as news breaks.

InsideHoops.com has full salary cap info for next season: The National Basketball Association today announced that the Salary Cap for the 2007-08 season will be $55.630 million. The new Cap goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on Wednesday, July 11, when the league’s “moratorium period” ends and teams can begin signing free agents and making trades.
More at http://www.insidehoops.com/nba-salary-cap.shtml

Greg Oden’s play in summer league has ended. The complete details are on InsideHoops.com’s front page but basically he needs his tonsils out, and will miss the rest of the action in Vegas.

Oden struggled in the games he played, but no one takes that too seriously. Now, sure, it isn’t exactly a good thing to be lousy when playing against lots of guys that aren’t even in the league. But it’s all about adjusting to the way the game is played and the calls that get made.

At this point people aren’t expecting Oden to come into the NBA and dominate immediately. He may have to grow into it. But the thing with him is, he’s one of the rare centers that people believe actually does have a legit chance at eventually dominating the position. Initially he may just be a really good defensive and rebounding center who can finish everything around the rim with a nasty dunk. And then develop from there.

As the Heat and the Nets played in the first game of the afternoon at the Pepsi Pro Summer League in Orlando, it was behind the scenes action that had reporters talking.

First, Otis Smith told reporters that Darko Milicic most likely won’t be back with the team next season.

Second, the Magic are expected to announce a big free agent signing tomorrow, but it could just be the official annoucment and introduction of Rashard Lewis.

Third, Lewis’ deal could be worth more than the $75 million that was originally reported, and is expected to be worth $97 million over 5 years.

Stay tuned for more news…

Just like his hair, Pat Riley’s business persona is slick too. Don’t view him as a hip replacement kind of guy who sits back and calls players into his office. No, at 62 years old, he’s hip and still goes after the gems.

The other night, Riles wined and dined free agent Milwaukee Bucks point guard Maurice “Mo” Williams on South Beach. In fact, the Miami Herald reported that the legendary coach was hoping the temptation of SoBe would magnetize Williams to the sexy strip, in addition to playing alongside Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal. But interestingly, now that it seems Yi Jianlian will sign with the Bucks, should Mo really entertain a Heat offer?

With Jianlian, the Bucks can be a top-five seed in the Eastern Conference next season along with Williams, Michael Redd, Bobby Simmons, Charlie Villanueva, Earl Boykins and Andrew Bogut. And the biggest plus for Williams is that he would be suiting up for a young team instead of an older Heat squad. Shaq and Alonzo Mourning will both be out of the league several years before Jianlian and Bogut reach their full potential as big men.

So, perhaps Riley is feeling a sense of desperation to lock in a point guard that is a triple-double threat every night. His recent memory points out that Wade had a triple-double against his alma mater Kentucky in the 2003 NCAA Tournament. Further back in time, there’s a reminder that he once had the triple-double wizardry and coaching luxury of Magic Johnson.

Heat fans are just beginning to get to know Williams, and what they’re reading is that Riley really wants him. It probably has more to do with him itching for a replacement for the current Williams, Jason the Jacker. Quite simply, the White Chocolate coating has melted away in sunny Miami. His dazzling range and passing aside, Jason Williams was too much of a spaz attack on the court which led to an increasingly high number of poor decisions, forcing Riley to stretch his neck out and loosen his tie one too many times. Toward the end of last season, J-Will’s role had been diminished to simply bringing the ball upcourt, dishing it off to Wade and then cutting away to the wing or baseline to wait for an open shot.

At the American Airlines Arena last year, there were too many heart-breaking moments for Heat fans; too many times the ball was carelessly thrown away or shot at the basket at the wrong time. Not to mention, the fans were frustrated by a depleting roster from a team that a year ago had just won the NBA championship. Unfortunately, Mo Williams doesn’t have the healthiest resume, but his youth, 100% current physical status and all-around game will benefit an aging team that needs a consistent sidekick for Wade in the backcourt. Make that a potential win-win for Riley too.