This link has some great video of SI writer Jack McCallum spending a few days as an assistant coach with the Suns:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/video/si_video/2005/10/25/coach.jack.SportsIllustrated.html
Oops…Magic SF Grant Hill is expected to miss three to six weeks after he has surgery for a sports hernia….must have been playing too much hockey…
Uh oh…Apparently Atlanta Hawks soph SF Josh Smith, who was last season's dunk/hype champion, has been observed yelling at coaches during practices and pre-season games and cursing at assistant coach Herb Brown at a practice last week…might be time for a veteran to take some of the air out of the 19 year old’s swelled head…
I’ve had some time to think about the Magloire-Mason Trade…here’s what I think:
The Bucks were soft…they needed Jamaal Magliore's defence, toughness, and shot blocking badly…Bogut is good, but it will take a year or two for him to become the rebounder and shot-blocker the Bucks need…and with Simmons on boards as a free agent, Desmond Mason became expendable…
The Hornets were going to suck anyway and Bostjan Nachbar was not the answer at small forward…now, Chris Paul will have Alley-oops galore with Mason and J.R. Smith running the wings on the break… not to mention C Chris Anderson, embarrassing dunk contest notwithstanding…although, I still think trading big for small is a no-no…
Finally…Tayshaun Prince and the Detroit Pistons agreed in principle on a five-year contract worth $47 million…Prince is expected to sign the deal Monday, before a deadline that would have made him a restricted free agent next summer…Prince has been a starter the last two seasons and had career highs in points (14.7), rebounds (5.3) and assists (3.0) last season and is averaging 10.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists in his career…however, defense is where he’s made his name, shutting down Kobe Bryant in the 2004 Finals and getting that crazy block on Reggie Miller’s weak layup…
Stephon Marbury is the Knicks' new tailor…Marbury has committed to outfitting each of his Knicks teammates in a Joseph Abboud custom-designed suit at his expense.
Trade rumour: Nuggets send C Nene and PG Andre Miller to Boston for SG Paul Pierce…or to Orlando for PG Steve Francis…Heat send C Michael Doleac to Atlanta for a 2nd rounder next year…
This Picture of Artis Gilmore blocking a shot in college is the craziest thing I've ever seen:
1) Marc J. Spears of the Denver Post with a terrific article about an NBA pioneer:
A footnote in history - 55 years ago, Earl Francis Lloyd stepped over the color line and into the NBA
Crossville, Tenn. - Earl Lloyd asked for plain pancakes with regular butter, not melted. Cold syrup, not warm. Skim milk in a frosty mug would be nice, too, he told the waitress. A woman with "Melanie" on her name tag enthusiastically took the order from the local celebrity at the Cracker Barrel. The waitress was white, as was almost everyone else in the restaurant in this predominantly white town of 8,981 in rural Tennessee. "Fifty years ago, I couldn't have stopped in Crossville to eat," Lloyd said. Back then it would have been unheard of for an African- American to sit among white diners here. Today, it's a different world from the one in which Earl Francis Lloyd helped break down barriers. The locals know his place in history, even if most of today's NBA players do not. Lloyd, of the Washington Capitols, was the first African-American to play in the NBA, 55 years ago on Oct. 31, 1950. He joined Chuck Cooper of the Boston Celtics and Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton of the New York Knicks as the first African-Americans on NBA rosters that season. Because the Capitols were scheduled to play before the Celtics and Knicks, he was officially the first to break the color line. "It's amazing how a scheduling quirk can change your whole life. And then, too, to be the last guy standing," said Lloyd, 77, referring to Cooper and Clifton, who are deceased. The Hall of Famer will be forever recognized as the NBA's first black player, but his name has been largely forgotten in sports history. Unlike Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball's color barrier, Lloyd became a footnote in large part because the NBA was a league in search of an identity when he broke in. "I take polite homage when people compare me to Jackie Robinson," he said. "You're doing the man an injustice. I played in a league where just about all the people were college (educated). There weren't a lot of players who were college (educated) guys during Jackie Robinson's time. "Here was a guy where the fans vilified him, his teammates didn't want to play with him, the guys that played against him, they tried to maim him. He was on an island." Not that Lloyd had it easy. But after growing up in segregated Alexandria, Va., he was ready. "Where I was born prepared me for what would be hardship in the NBA," he said. "I appreciated Earl's sacrifice because what he did wasn't easy," NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said. "He had to deal with a whole lot of unpleasant circumstances. He suffered through it and made it easier for the others." Though it was 55 years ago, Lloyd vividly recalls his first practice with the Capitols. He was a 6-foot-6, 220-pound ninth- round draft pick from all-black West Virginia State College who signed a contract for $4,500. At 22, he was thrust into an environment where he interacted with whites for the first time. "You don't know if you're supposed to say, 'Hello, how are you guys doing?"' Lloyd said. "There was a lot of apprehension. First of all, you are very leery of white people. Your basic concern is not how you're going to view them, but how are they going to view you? I can't have any effect on them, but they could have some effect on me. "Nobody told me what I could and could not do. But I was smart enough to know that if I didn't comport myself as a basketball player or decent human being off the court, I wasn't going to make it." Lloyd remembers being the only player on the team without a car. Teammate Bill Sharman went to a black neighborhood in Washington, D.C., each morning to pick him up and save Lloyd an hour ride on the bus. "Bill was a decent guy when it wasn't fashionable," said Lloyd, who not only made the roster but started some games. "It's a defining moment that changes the whole course of your life for a young black kid born and raised in the cradle of segregation in Virginia, to find out at that level of competition that you belong," Lloyd said. His NBA debut came on Halloween night in Rochester, N.Y. He scored six points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds in the Capitols' 78-70 loss to Rochester. The next day, The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle didn't mention Lloyd. The Rochester Times-Union had one notice. "Bones McKinney, the Caps' new coach, injected big Earl Lloyd, Negro Star of West Virginia State, into the lineup (after halftime) and he took most of the rebounds." Recalling the game, Lloyd said, "Uneventful. It's really funny, if you had to pick a place to play your first game with a black guy playing and you don't want a lot of controversy, Rochester, N.Y., was it. The high schools were integrated. The University of Rochester was integrated. "During basketball season, the weather was very harsh up there. In the wintertime, nobody hated anybody. It's too cold to be hating people. I guess the one thing I remember, I can read my stats right across from my name. I took three shots, made two, made two out of three free throws and led the team in rebounding and assists, which is not a bad first game. The Klan wasn't there with ropes." There was no controversy, in part, Lloyd said, because "the NBA was ho-hum then." Crowds were small, media coverage scarce. Baseball was America's most popular sport in 1950. Lloyd likened pro basketball then to the Arena Football League today, a sport trying to build a fan base. "Basketball was an afterthought in filling up buildings that were owned, in the NBA's case, by hockey owners," NBA commissioner David Stern said. "(Integration) was not viewed as having anywhere near the same significance. Baseball had a much more storied tradition and was more a part of the national consciousness." And while Lloyd was regarded as the first black player in the NBA, there were other African- Americans who had played with whites in earlier professional leagues. The first black professional basketball player is thought to be Bucky Lew, who earned $5 to play for Lowell in the New England Basketball League in 1902. But because the NBA evolved into a major American sports league, Lloyd's groundbreaking moment is regarded as the most storied. While there was no racial backlash in Rochester, that wasn't the case in other NBA cities during Lloyd's career. He said fans in St. Louis, Baltimore, Fort Wayne, Ind., and Indianapolis were particularly hard on him. He was spit on. Some fans asked to see his tail. Others asked him to go back to Africa. Lloyd said he rarely was able to go into restaurants or hotels with his teammates. "I developed what I called in-spite-of attitude," Lloyd said. "You're a professional. My folks taught me years ago, 'Don't dignify ignorance. If it's getting to you, don't give them the satisfaction of knowing."' Lloyd's Washington teammates never gave him any problems. He recalled a Fort Wayne hotel that allowed him to have a room, but banned him from joining his teammates for dinner in the hotel restaurant. McKinney went to Lloyd's room. "He knocked on the door and said, 'You don't have to eat by yourself tonight,"' Lloyd said. "I said, 'Bones, you can't fix this, and I can't fix it. But I'll tell you what, I'm going to be all right. You got nine people downstairs. But do know this, the gesture was a tremendous gesture."' Later in his career, he had some teammates who were less understanding. Lloyd played just seven games as a rookie, then was drafted into the Army. When he came out, he joined the Syracuse Nationals midway through training camp for the 1952-53 season. The Nationals' final preseason game was at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C. Lloyd had worked his way into the starting lineup, but wasn't allowed to play in the game or go to the arena because of the color of his skin. The Nationals still played the game. To this day, it bothers Lloyd that none of his teammates said anything about it. "They have to play (the game), and if they didn't play they get rid of them," Lloyd said. "I give them a pass on that. But what I don't give them a pass on was that not one of my teammates - not one - said to me, 'Hey, we got to go but it ain't right.' "Teammates don't do that to teammates. You expect something different from guys you played with." Lloyd averaged 8.4 points and 6.4 rebounds in nine seasons for Washington, Syracuse and Detroit. During Syracuse's 1955 championship season, he and teammate Jim Tucker became the first African-Americans to win an NBA title. In 1968, Lloyd became the NBA's first black assistant coach with Detroit. In 1971, he became the second African-American head coach. After his coaching career, he became a scout. The veteran's committee named Lloyd to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003. To this day, he said he doesn't believe he would have gotten a shot if Cooper was not drafted ahead of him. Boston took the Duquesne star in the second round in 1950. After being reminded Cooper was black, then- Celtics owner Walter Brown reportedly said: "I don't care if he's striped, plaid or polka dot!" "We never thought of him being black, red, pink, white," Celtics legend Bob Cousy said. "Because if they were basketball players, they were going to help us grasp the brass ring." Lloyd heard the news that he had been drafted from a female classmate who heard it on the radio. He hadn't thought about pro ball and was planning to become a high school teacher and coach. "You didn't hear rumors about black guys going to play," Lloyd said. "If Chuck Cooper had not been drafted in the second round, given the racial climate in D.C. at that time, I'd be hard-pressed to believe that the Washington Capitols would have made me the first black player drafted." Lloyd was born into a segregated world in Alexandria on April 3, 1928. He's living out his retirement years in Crossville, which the 2000 census lists as 0.1 percent black. Alexandria had white- and colored-only bathrooms, buses and drinking fountains. He attended Parker-Gray High School, an all-black school. Asked about growing up in Alexandria, he said, "It was tough. You had very little to look forward to. Segregation served us well for one reason: The little enclaves we lived in, you had to really pull together. It just gives you some drive." Lloyd and his wife, Charlie, chose to retire in Crossville because they had enjoyed vacationing near there over the years. They live in a 13,000-acre retirement community called Fairfield Glaze just outside town. When he made the Hall of Fame, the town gave him a limousine ride back to Crossville from the airport in Nashville and had him serve as grand marshal at a parade in his honor. "We've been blessed with a lot of different folks we considered celebrities," Crossville Mayor J.H. Graham III said, "but no one like him. We want everyone to know that Earl Lloyd picked Crossville, Tenn., to retire." Lloyd has two sons from a previous marriage and one with his current wife. He calls himself in "pretty good shape." "You're way ahead of the game with no booze in your brain and smoke in your lungs," Lloyd said. "But I've got to talk to my legs every day and tell them we have a few more miles to go before I go to sleep." Few NBA players knew of Lloyd or his place in history until recently, when Stern asked him to speak to the incoming class of rookies during rookie transition forum. "Sports, which is always a reflection of the country, owes it to Earl Lloyd, Chuck Cooper and Sweetwater Clifton and what they went through to remind our players about the struggles," Stern said. "And it's not just about African-American players, it's about all players. That's the part that is so important." Lloyd said the only player who has sought him out for counsel is Indiana's Stephen Jackson. "It was a pleasure to talk to him because of the groundwork he's done," Jackson said. "He's a legend; he opened doors. It meant a lot for me to talk to him." Asked if he's bitter about or jealous of the enormous contracts NBA players get today, or the fact few players know who he is, Lloyd laughs. About the only thing he asks is they represent themselves well. "I don't care if they never know who I am, man," he said. "But for whatever reason, the scheduling quirk, whatever, I was able to do some things that made it a lot easier for other folks. "It just made me feel good that we left it a better place. If Chuck, Sweets and myself had been bad people, the next wave wouldn't have been immediately forthcoming." Lloyd's legacy* First African-American to play in NBA game, Oct. 31, 1950 * First African-American to win NBA title, Syracuse, 1955 * First African-American NBA bench coach, Detroit, 1970-71 * Enshrined in Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, 2003
2) Brad Weinstein of SI.com thinks the Warrriors might be ready:
Fresh air - Young players, healthy Davis have Warriors dreaming
The Golden State Warriors' biggest offseason acquisition didn't make the list of NBA transactions. It didn't prompt a giddy news conference at team headquarters. It didn't even bring the club closer to solving its weaknesses. It is just ... around. "There's an elephant in the room,'' Adonal Foyle said. "It's expectations." Forgive Foyle if he doesn't recognize the mammoth addition. He joined the Warriors in 1997 when the franchise was in the early stages of a playoff drought that has stretched to 11 seasons, the second-longest streak in NBA history. It's the Warriors' version of bankers' hours: work October to mid-April and rest about five months. Layoff fever: Catch it. Among active players only Shareef Abdur-Rahim has appeared in more regular-season games without a playoff appearance than Foyle. The starting center reported to training camp in good shape this year, perhaps because he didn't have to waste energy in the offseason sticking up for his employer. "For years I've been trying to convince everyone that we're going to have a good team,'' Foyle said in a telephone interview. "Now, everyone is convincing me that we have a good team. I feel like I can shut my mouth. I don't have to sell it anymore." Here's why: The Warriors went 18-10 last season after obtaining point guard Baron Davis from New Orleans on Feb. 24, including a season-ending 14-4 surge highlighted by their first six-game road winning streak since '69, two victories against the 62-win Suns and a crowd-pleasing offense that averaged 110.7 points a game. While the best 18-game closing run in team history did little to lift the Warriors in the standings -- they tied the Lakers for last in the Pacific Division at 34-48 --it did plenty to raise their standing locally. A team official said Golden State has reeled in a league-high 4,000 new season-ticket holders, a spike that hit home when an announced crowd of 17,323 attended the first preseason game at the 19,596-seat Arena in Oakland. Not since the days of Run TMC have the Warriors received so much TLC. "In the past, when we've played teams like Sacramento and the Lakers at our arena, we've had more of their fans than our fans,'' shooting guard Jason Richardson said. "It felt like we were playing a road game. Now that's changed. The fans, they're ready to explode." The question is, Are the Warriors? It's one thing to flourish when April tee times already are booked and the only pressure facing the organization is deciding which good-luck charms to take to the NBA Draft lottery. But how will a young team (the average age of the players in the projected rotation is 25.2) with a paucity of big-game experience (seven of the top nine players haven't reached the playoffs) and a second-year coach in Mike Montgomery deal with heightened expectations? The answer should come quickly. Having 12 of its first 20 games at home gives Golden State an opportunity to generate early-season momentum. "Every year it seems like we put ourselves in a bad situation because of how we open the year," said Richardson, who saw the Warriors do exactly that last season with a 1-7 start in Montgomery's NBA debut after 18 seasons as Stanford's head coach. "It's like you're fighting an uphill battle right off the bat, and people start talking about the 'same-old-Warriors' thing. Every team talks about getting off to a good start, but I think it's really important for us." So is keeping Davis healthy. Davis put some spring in the Warriors' step with his flashy game and a take-charge attitude that had team members calling him "The Boss". Problem is, The Boss has used a lot of sick days recently, missing an average of 28 games each of the last three seasons with injuries ranging from back and knee trouble to shoulder and Achilles tendon pain. Without Davis, the Warriors are essentially the same team that went 16-38 before last season's trade deadline. Consequently, the slightest hint of a physical ailment creates anxiety, the most recent being Davis' decision to wear a sleeve over his right shoulder to keep it loose during exhibition games. "Baron is a max (contract) man and there's a reason for that," assistant coach Mario Elie said of the two-time All-Star, who averaged 19.8 points (on 40.1 percent shooting from the field) and 8.3 assists as a Warrior last season. "He can dominate a game, he's the leader of this team and guys look to him to set the tone. Getting traded from New Orleans, he feels like he has something to prove and this is the time to do it. He puts a lot of mustard on the hot dog sometimes, but we just like the way he plays and approaches game. We need him out there.'' Not that a full season from Davis would guarantee a playoff berth in the West, where the Warriors finished 11 games behind Memphis for the eighth and final postseason spot in 2004-05. Outside of drafting three players, including Pac-10 Player of the Year Ike Diogu with the ninth pick, the Warriors let the offseason pass quietly. The inactivity leaves Golden State with the same nucleus that last season defended poorly (starting forwards Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy took the most heat) and lacked a steady post-up option to supplement its perimeter scorers. Diogu, a 6-foot-8 power forward who averaged 21.4 points a game in three seasons at Arizona State, could help improve the latter flaw when he returns from a broken left hand as soon as early November. But Diogu is just a rookie and fellow backup big man Andris Biedrins is only 19, making depth a concern behind Foyle and Murphy. Montgomery could compensate by moving Murphy to center and sliding Dunleavy to power forward in a small-ball lineup that could mean more minutes for promising but erratic Mickael Pietrus, a third-year swingman and former lottery pick who is growing restless backing up Dunleavy and Richardson. Though the Warriors could use one more experienced big man to beef up the front line, they view their roster stability as a strength. After all, this same group developed a winning chemistry late last season. "I still feel like we're riding a high note," Richardson said. "We're looking for big things this year. It's definitely time for us to take that next step. We know that. For us, with how we've been down for so long, this year is huge." Elephantine, even.
2) Chris Sheridan of ESPN.com is critical of Coach K’s plan for the US Olympic team:
Coach K, Colangelo plan could keep U.S. in bronze ageBy Chris Sheridan
NEW YORK -- Given the sad state of where the U.S. national program currently stands, you'd expect a little less hubris and a little better plan from the man in charge of trying to restore the Old World Order. But Jerry Colangelo came up lacking in both categories Wednesday when USA Basketball emerged from its post-Athens shell to announce that Duke's Mike Krzyzewski will coach Team USA through the Beijing Olympics in 2008. It wasn't quite conceit or arrogance, but there was a disconcerting tone of misplaced haughtiness as Colangelo detailed plans for putting together the next U.S. national team. In addition, Krzyzewski made a sizeable gaffe by incorrectly noting that one of the ways the international game differed from the NBA game was the 30-second shot clock. Actually, they've been using a 24-second clock in international tournaments since 2001, and Coach K would have noticed if he was paying closer attention to America's fall from grace -- a sixth-place finish at the 2002 World Championship and a bronze medal in 2004 at the Athens Olympics. Maybe Krzyzewski is simply in denial, too, one more member of a U.S. public that has turned a blind eye to the intricacies and explanations for the demise of American dominance in a sport invented and perfected here. It's hard to explain why, but U.S. basketball fans seem to not quite have grasped the significance of what's taken place in the basketball universe over the past 3½ years. T he downfall for U.S. teams actually began one decade after the Dream Team ruled the Ramblas in Barcelona. After narrowly avoiding a semifinal defeat in the Sydney Olympics, the United States lost on its home soil to Argentina, Yugoslavia and Spain at the 2002 World Championship in Indianapolis with a roster that included Paul Pierce, Baron Davis, Ben Wallace, Jermaine O'Neal, Elton Brand and Shawn Marion. In 2004, the Yanks got stomped by Italy on a pre-Olympic tour that foreshadowed the struggles they'd have in Greece, where they lost badly to Puerto Rico, Lithuania and Argentina despite having Allen Iverson, LeBron James, Marion, Stephon Marbury, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Amare Stoudemire and Tim Duncan. The fall has been fast for the United States, and fixing it won't be easy. Much of it begins with a mindset that might never change. American players grow up dreaming of winning NBA titles; not Olympic gold medals. But for foreign players, it's the exact opposite. When next summer rolls around, most American players will be eagerly looking forward to enjoy the downtime they've earned over the course of a nine-month season. But what about Manu Ginobili, Andres Nocioni and Fabricio Oberto? They're national heroes in their homeland, and they're the ones chomping at the bit to have another chance to represent Argentina -- this time in a tournament that's viewed overseas as basketball's equivalent of soccer's World Cup. "You can draw a parallel to what happened to the American auto industry. When Japan started importing cars to the U.S., the big automakers in Detroit were so arrogant that they didn't realize the Japanese were making a better product until it was much too late. Look how long it took them to undo that damage," said one USA Basketball insider who was privy to the inner workings of the Athens team. "The American program will recover, but things will probably get worse first. It'll be question of when we realize how bad things have gotten." In Athens, the American players were disbelieving of the warnings they kept hearing from coach Larry Brown and assistant coach Gregg Popovich. They looked at an Argentina roster that included just one NBA player, Ginobili, and simply assumed they were better. But they failed to realize just how comfortable Argentina's players were with each other and how crisply they played the team game, a byproduct of their development together since the time they were teenagers playing for their junior national team. In the Olympic semifinals, Argentina ran two plays, "flex" and "cuatro," to such perfection that it turned the game into a layup drill. Back picks, spacing and ball movement suddenly became important, and the Americans simply weren't as good at it as Argentina was. Fractured relationships between the U.S. players and coaches also were a factor, and the choice of Krzyzewski showed USA Basketball's concern over avoiding the same type of generational disconnect that was so palpable between George Karl, Brown and their players in 2002 and 2004. With the U.S. team's roster expected to continue skewing younger, the federation seems to want someone with a track record of getting results out of youngsters. But what about the other mistakes of 2002 and 2004? Didn't the American federation learn? After the Athens debacle, Brown preached that the American team needed a longer training camp. Throwing a dozen All-Stars together for a couple weeks of preparation might have worked in 1996 and 2000, but it didn't in 2002 and 2004, and there was no excuse for sitting back and relaxing while the rest of the world was getting a six-week head start. Even NBA commissioner David Stern called it a "flawed" preparation system. "The bottom line is that we have to put in the time," said Knicks center Antonio Davis, a member of the 2002 U.S. team. "These other teams are too good, and we can't think we can practice for two weeks and then go out and beat teams that have been practicing together for years. We don't have that luxury anymore, and the only way the results are going to change is if we change the way we do things." But did the U.S. federation listen? Apparently not. Colangelo sat alongside Krzyzewski at the podium Wednesday and said the 2006 team will open camp in late July -- just as the fatally flawed 2004 team did. What about early July? Or how about late June? That would at least cut everyone else's head start in half. Colangelo also said he wants to secure three-year commitments from players so he'll have a national team roster of 20-25 names to choose from, building in some wiggle room just in case the best players bail out en masse as they did in 2004. But that plan raises the following question: If the U.S. federation couldn't get 10 of the best American players to make a six-week commitment in 2004, what makes them think they'll get two dozen guys to pledge their next three summers without being guaranteed a spot on a tournament roster? "I'm not touching that one," Marbury said. The U.S. will compete in the World Championships next summer in Japan, and anything short of a first-place finish will force the U.S. team to qualify for the Beijing Olympics in the summer of 2007. But Colangelo left that little detail out Wednesday at Krzyzewski's introductory press conference, stating from the podium -- in front of foreign reporters and an international TV audience, no less -- that the U.S. will only need to put together teams in 2006 and 2008. When pressed on it later, Colangelo said he was only trying to think positively. But what he didn't realize was how arrogant it had sounded. When you're coming off a sixth-place finish and a third-place finish, and when you're 6-6 in your last 12 games at the Worlds and the Olympics, you have to do two things: Show humility, and make a promise to work just as hard as the competition. Colangelo came up short on both fronts
3) Chris Mannix of SI.com thinks that Jeff Van Grumpy’s time has come:
Feeling the heat - It's time for Van Gundy to fire up the Rockets
Spotlights tend to find stars, don't they? They shine the brightest in Los Angeles, where Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant will unwittingly be battling for theirs. They shine in New York, where Larry Brown has taken on a Pat Rileyesque stature without having coached a regular-season game yet. Of course, the XXL spotlight tends to follow Shaquille O'Neal, no matter what coast he is playing on. But the biggest spotlight of them all, at least this season, will be square on the league's shortest coach, Jeff Van Gundy. Van Gundy was the hottest commodity on the coaching market in 2003, but so far he has had mixed results in Houston. In his first two seasons with the Rockets, Van Gundy has altered Houston's style, turning a once potent fast break team into a stingy defensive unit. In both seasons, the Rockets have ranked among the top five teams in defensive field goal percentage and points allowed. Wins have gone up too -- last year Houston topped 50 victories (51) for the first time since 1997, a major step for an organization that has struggled since winning back-to-back titles in the mid-1990's. Sound good? Maybe to fans in Milwaukee or Golden State, but in Houston people have grown accustomed to the success under popular coach Rudy Tomjanovich and stars such as Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. Winning games in January isn't enough. The Rockets need to be successful in May, and under Van Gundy Houston is 4-8 in two trips to the postseason. Should we assume, based on those numbers, that Van Gundy is a mediocre coach? Absolutely not. I'm just not sure he's an adaptable one in Houston. Van Gundy had his kind of team in New York. He had Patrick Ewing, Latrell Sprewell and Charles Oakley. He had guys willing to slug it out for 48 minutes and let the team still standing be declared the winner. These were his guys, playing his style. To borrow a phrase, they fit like peas and carrots. This is not the case in Houston. For all his many skills, Yao Ming will never be Ewing. Tracy McGrady will never be Sprewell. Van Gundy's stars now are prima donnas, not bullies. But you know what else they are? They're a whole lot better. This is the year Van Gundy must prove himself. In the offseason, Houston acquired two up tempo players in point guard Rafer Alston and power forward Stromile Swift. Van Gundy has publicly said he will take advantage of his new talent by pushing the ball on offense. But will the Rockets actually do it?Old dogs rarely learn new tricks and Van Gundy is a disciple of Riley's punch-you-in-the-mouth defense and grind-it-out offense. You can't argue with its success; Van Gundy has the third-most wins in Knicks history and advanced past the first round in five of his six trips to the playoffs with New York. His style works. It just won't work in Houston. What happens when Alston bounces the ball off his foot one too many times? Or when McGrady takes a few too many ill-advised jumpers early in the shot clock? Does Van Gundy revert to a hockey style dump-and-chase that revolves around Yao? The bet here is that he does, and if that's the case Van Gundy's third season in Houston could be his last. General manager Carroll Dawson has put together a talented lineup capable of putting up 100-plus points on a regular basis. He has given Van Gundy a deep bench with Juwan Howard, Derek Anderson, Ryan Bowen and the ageless Dikembe Mutombo. There are no more next years with this team. The time is now. Take a look at the Western Conference. San Antonio is the favorite, but after that it's a crapshoot. Phoenix has reigning MVP Steve Nash, but with Amare Stoudemire likely sidelined until February (or perhaps longer), the Suns should struggle. Denver is talented but very young and has a gaping hole at shooting guard. Dallas? Minnesota? Memphis? Do any of those teams scare you? This is the year Houston must take the next step. Yao is 25 and one of the best centers in the league. McGrady is 26 and an MVP candidate. The onus is on Van Gundy. This is a contending team. Let's see what he can do with it. ***BLEEDING GREEN: There is a bad moon rising in Boston. A few years, ago the Celtics were a veteran laden team. Now, their roster looks like the manifest of a teen dance cruise. Struggles are inevitable and mounting losses can lead to rash decisions, one of which may turn out to be trading guard Paul Pierce. Bad idea. Pierce is a franchise player and you don't trade that kind of talent unless you are getting equal value in return. Build around youth if you must, but at the end of the day without a player like Pierce a franchise isn't going anywhere. A side note, Pierce will be honored at the Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday with a locker dedication in recognition of his accomplishments on and off the court. ***SO LONG RUSS:A fond farewell to deputy commissioner Russ Granik, who on Tuesday announced the he will step down after the season and become a senior advisor to David Stern. Granik never got the plum assignments -- a trip to the draft lottery and the MC of the second round of the draft are just a couple of the grunt assignments bestowed on him. But for 30 years (the last 15 as Stern's deputy) Granik has played an integral role in the league's success, operating as chief negotiator during the last four collective bargaining negotiations and helping form the first Dream Team to participate in the 1992 Olympics. A brilliant mind and a classy individual, Granik will be missed.
4) Mike Kahn of FOXSports.com thinks defence is still in:
High scoring alone won't win any titles
The divergent styles of the Eastern Conference's power game vs. the running game of the West have been the source of mild banter to serious arguing through the years. Oh, it changed for a while, with the styles virtually flipping conferences. But as always in the cycle, trades and free agency altered the landscape again. Now we've got some teams running, some teams walking and regardless of conference, scoring was up in the NBA last season. Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson has won nine titles, going to the Finals 10 times during a 13-year stretch of coaching that spanned from 1991-2004 — including a year off between the Bulls and Lakers. Having accomplished so much in both conferences, Jackson has more than a little perspective. "I think that in the turn of the century in the early years following the demise of the Chicago Bulls, we saw a number of the top post players in the East end up obviously in the Western Conference," Jackson said. "It changed the style of ball that was being played in the East. You had more screen, more open roll, more open games. Less post-up activity. "Then in the last three years or so, (with) the advent of Jermaine O'Neal coming from Portland to Indiana and the emergence of some young players in the East — and also the return to the East of Shaquille O'Neal, now the balance is starting to shift a little bit." There is more to it than that, however. You can look out West and see the Phoenix Suns coming out of nowhere to win 62 games running full blast, and the Seattle SuperSonics surprising a lot of people with their high-scoring team. But there also were the Washington Wizards and Boston Celtics scoring at a rapid clip. And in actuality, there were six teams that averaged at least 100 points for the first time in five years — and half of them were in the East (Miami, Washington and Boston) and half in the West (Phoenix, Sacramento and Dallas). Of the 20 teams that averaged at least 95.0 points a game, 11 were from the West and nine from the East, so it was nearly even. Essentially, it was just the trend of scoring, up to 97.2 from 93.4 during the 2003-04 season. Most interesting to watch this season will be the two-time defending Eastern Conference champion Detroit Pistons, who were generally deliberate, averaging 93.3 and 90.1 the past two seasons, respectively, with Larry Brown. But Brown left to coach the New York Knicks, and Flip Saunders is their new coach — following his sudden demise at Minnesota; and much to the delight of the players, he has removed the shackles on offense. "We want to score more, but we want to give up the same amount (89.5)," Saunders said. "What's happening, part of the reason scoring has gone up, is because defense has gotten better. I think a lot of teams, when you look, you say you don't want to go against a half-court defense every possession. When you have to go against a half-court defense and you don't get easy buckets, your offense and efficiency really goes down. I think a lot of coaches are trying to be more aggressive offensively; they are trying to attack teams before they can get their defensive scheme set up. "Part of that started with the institution of the rule changes, and you could pretty much play zone and pretty much do everything. People started attacking a little bit more. That's probably the main thing. Do I think scoring will probably go up? I think some teams will score more and some teams won't. They will play to their personality." Brown has his own philosophy about why scoring went up, contending officials tended to get whistle-happy, and the result was more free throws. He has a point, although it is limited — 97 more fouls per team were called in 2004-05 than the previous season, which is only slightly more than one per game; and about 1.5 more free throws per team were made. Teams averaged about .5 shots more per game. What was apparent was the inability to obstruct a player running through the lane, which opened the basket up and allowed for more aggressive play from slashing players like Manu Ginobili and Dwyane Wade. It also increased field goal percentage from .439 to .447 — the highest since the 1999-00 season. "With so many more fouls called, I'm not sure if that helps the flow of the game or not," Brown said. "We've got to find ways to get more shots. I think that would really help the game a lot. I think anybody on the rules committee or any people that really want to improve our sport should figure out ways that give us more opportunities to shoot the ball more. I think there are probably things that would help our game in that regard. "Defenses are always going to get better and better. The more athletic guys become, the better defenders I think they become. We have so many young people in the league. I think you've got to realize that young people aren't as fundamentally sound as you may expect them to be. If that's the case, I think the offenses are going to suffer a lot." The advent of the Development League lining up with specific teams this season for the first time may help some of the younger players with their fundamentals and be better prepared for the NBA. But that won't pay dividends for a few years. The age limit going back to 19 helps a little. But not significantly, particularly since it won't start until next year. Consequently, there are still too many unpolished players competing too many minutes.
That's part of why a running offense works. It's basketball at it's most elementary level. When the Golden State Warriors acquired Baron Davis from the New Orleans Hornets at the end of February last season, they were caught in their typically backward roll toward the bottom of the Western Conference. But once Davis got his feet on the ground after the first week, first-year coach Mike Montgomery decided to give Davis the keys to the car, and they raced to an 18-8 finish. "We probably simplified things a bit, having Baron, so we didn't do as much," Montgomery said. "We let him have the ball a lot, the ball was moved much quicker. At times, we played with a smaller lineup because we like what that was giving us; and as a result of that, we were shooting more threes; the ball was being distributed; a lot of guys were getting on rhythm, and of course, at the end of the season, we didn't have much to lose. There was no pressure. Maybe that was a result, too." Sure, that played a role. But ask any player and he'd prefer to play fast. The Mavericks set the tone for this new generation of extremeball, but Steve Nash having left for Phoenix prior to last season and the more erratic play from their young point guards last season has young coach Avery Johnson pulling back the reins a little bit. Oh, they'll still push it and you'll still see the amazing Dirk Nowitzki grabbing rebounds and pulling up for treys, but overall, they're going to be a little more choosey about their shots this season. "We don't want to play as fast and out of control like we have here in the past," Johnson said. "We don't think that is the way we can have a chance to ever compete to win a championship. We still want to play fast but maybe not in fifth gear, maybe in the third gear or in fourth gear. Maybe every now and then go to fifth gear. We still want to score the ball; we still want to push the ball, but we just try to value our possessions a lot more; and that is something we've tried to emphasize." Every team will emphasize valuing the possessions. Some teams and players just define value differently than others. It's hard to figure this trend of scoring, if only because, realistically, 2003-04 was more of an aberration than just a stepping stone. All the offensive statistics were actually higher than last season during the 1999-00 season when there were seven teams averaging triple-digits; twenty-two of the then 29 teams averaged at least 95 points and the 97.5 scoring average was augmented by .449 shooting percentage. None of those numbers have been reached since then, and those were significantly lower than in the mid-90s; in fact, you have to go back to the pre-shot clock era to see the numbers that we see now. So there are a number of reasons. Blame the youngsters if you must. Toss in the defensive focus, valuing possessions and all the rest of that good "coach speak." But sometimes it's just bad offense. Or, as Yogi used to say, good defense always beats good offense and vice versa. That's why the San Antonio Spurs have won titles two of the last three seasons and three of the last seven. They play fast and slow on offense, while always playing tough defense. Essentially, they play playoff-style basketball starting with the first game of the regular season. Now every other team is trying to emulate them. "At the end of the day, defense is always going to be a staple as far as the way you want to play," Timberwolves coach Dwane Casey said. "Because, come playoff time, the game slows down. You get more into half-court sets, and it's so difficult to force your will of running, the way we ran in Seattle and the way they ran in Phoenix last season at playoff time; and that's where the focus of the season is. "The goal is to build your style of play where you can run, but you also have to be adjustable and flexible enough to be able to run a half-court set and execute in the half-court game because, in the end, at playoff time, that's what it's going to look like; and you want to be able to get stuff done in the half-court game." After all, a 108-107 win doesn't count any more in the standings than 78-77 victory, it just happens to be a lot easier on the eyes.
5) Kahn continues with his list of breakout performers:
These players should have breakout seasons
The most interesting and lingering NBA story through the free agency summer of 25 was the sign-and-trade of Joe Johnson from the Phoenix Suns to the Atlanta Hawks for Boris Diaw and two No. 1 draft choices. The $70 million offer sheet didn't just raise eyebrows around the league. It also caused an irrevocable split in ownership of the Hawks and their governor, Steve Belkin, sold out his share of the team because he was so incensed. And now that the regular season is nearly upon us, the Hawks will find out if all of this was worth it by handing Johnson the ball and asking the 6-foot-7, 240-pounder to take the ball and run the team when he's never been a full-time point guard. "I think he was one of the top free agents on the market this past summer," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. "I think what he has done in Phoenix — his numbers have been pretty consistent ever since his rookie year in terms of his style of play. The fact is that he can play three positions. He can play the one, two and three; so that's a major plus on any ball club. This will be a learning year for him because he's playing a position, in terms of starting him at the one, that he's never had a chance to do over a period of time." The move was not only a delicious gamble, but it also sets up Johnson as a prime candidate for stardom and thus the league's top breakout player. It isn't as if he were chopped liver in Phoenix, averaging 17.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists the past two seasons, and clearly the team's best defensive starter. The problem was they didn't want to give him the big money as the fourth option, and now he's the first option. This will be interesting. Don't think Johnson is the only exceptional candidate for the jump to stardom. It's been very easy to be impressed with Indiana Pacers guard Jamaal Tinsley. He grew immensely last season, but for yet another year, injuries precluded him from finishing strong. Nonetheless, his importance on a team dominated by the dynamic forward combination of Jermaine O'Neal and Ron Artest is irreplaceable if the Pacers are to reach the conference finals. "Number one, if you look at our record over the past few years when Jamal has been available, we are a different team when he is healthy and able to play pain free," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "Our record is significantly better (with him) than without him. He brings a dimension of creativity to our team that nobody else really does, and so that's one reason he's really important to us. We're making a concerted effort to run more this year. We feel like we can be a better fast-breaking team, and certainly he has a great influence on that." Beyond Johnson and Tinsley, there are plenty of other young talents on the verge of making a significant jump. Is Darius Miles finally ready with a different style of coaching? And how will Tyson Chandler handle now being the top man in the middle for the Chicago Bulls? There are others — The Howards — Dwight and Josh. Maybe Kwame Brown will finally grow up and find his way out west with the Los Angeles Lakers. And there are the big youngsters Al Jefferson and Nene — capable of clearing the decks inside this season if they figure out how to stay on the floor. But the most interesting may just be what happens to diminutive young point guard T.J. Ford, making his way back from spinal surgery in 2004 to run the Milwaukee Bucks this season. "Physically, he is terrific; I don't think anybody would be able to tell that he has been off for a year and a half," Bucks coach Terry Stotts said. "He worked really hard in the off-season once he was cleared for workouts, not only getting his body back in shape, but improving his game, and I think he's done that. The adjustment for him and the rest of the team is he's basically a new player, because he hasn't played with the team for a year and half and it's like adding a new player; so there is the adjustment of him playing with the guys and the guys playing with him." That's all part of the deal when you're looking at players about to take the next developmental step. Coaches can only hope it is concurrent with the growth of the rest of the team. With that in mind, let's take a closer look at these potential breakout players for the 2005-06 season.
Joe Johnson, Atlanta Hawks, 6-7, 240 - This is a classic example of finding out just how ready mentally, as well as physically, Johnson is for this big jump. His talent is without question, but his leadership ability and consistent decision-making as a primary ball hander is a concern. His size, quickness, consistent focus on defense and shooting ability are all superb. But now, instead of being the fourth guy on a 62-win team, he becomes the No. 1 guy on a lottery team with a maximum contract.
Jamaal Tinsley, Indiana Pacers, 6-3, 195 - Although he's already respected throughout the league, Tinsley hasn't really been recognized; but he should be for being coach Rick Carlisle's eyes on the court. He carried this team when the suspensions after the brawl hit, and they've always been a championship contender with him. But injuries have really held him back. Now that he's healthy, the Pacers are once again contenders, and the expectations this season are he makes the jump to an All-Star selection in the Eastern Conference.
Darius Miles, Portland Trail Blazers 6-9, 210 - His size and natural gifs are without question, but he's close to being out the door with his third team,;and he's still only 24. The issues have always been about his work habits and general attitude, and he now has the perfect coach to push him in Nate McMillan. But he can handle the ball, defend and shoot better than people think when he's into the game. And considering the incredibly young roster and the uneasiness about Zach Randolph's sluggish response from micro-fracture knee surgery, this is Miles' perfect opportunity to silence his critics.
Tyson Chandler, Chicago Bulls, 7-0, 250 - Now that Eddy Curry and Antonio Davis have been shipped to New York, the job is Chandler's to man the middle. His work habits, desire, defensively and on the boards, perfectly fit the approach coach Scott Skiles has taken of building this team to playoff material. The big question is how Chandler develops offensively, which has been very slow at best. In some ways, it's like the way Marcus Camby became effective in the league, but Chandler is bigger, stronger and very young; so he will develop.
Josh Howard, Dallas Mavericks, 6-7, 215 - He became a most improved player candidate late last year, and chances are he'll keep on making an impact until coach Avery Johnson discovers he can't keep him off the floor. Essentially, he's the perfect match up front with Dirk Nowitzki and has a real impact on the energy of the team on defense, off the boards and on the break. He needs to get stronger, but he'll mature physically. And when his range starts to grow consistently, he'll have All-Star potential.
Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic, 6-11, 250 - Maybe deposed general manager John Weisbrod wasn't so crazy after all for taking Howard instead of Emeka Okafor, even though Okafor did win NBA Rookie of the Year. Howard is likely to move inside for good, and his great hands, quickness and desire for the ball make him an exceptional shot-blocker and rebounder. He wants so badly to get better, and with coach Brian Hill able to use Grant Hill as a role model, Howard's growth to stardom should be a fairly quick lock.
Kwame Brown, Los Angeles Lakers, 6-11, 260 - Maybe this is a bigger long shot than the optimists believe, but it was worth the gamble for the Lakers to take a shot at the first pick overall in the 2001 draft. He's still got all the requisite tools for stardom; the right buttons just weren't pushed. Of course, we don't know if those buttons actually exist — but we're guessing coach Phil Jackson will find out where they are. If he does, Brown and Lamar Odom sure do look like beautiful bookends at forward for now and the future.
Al Jefferson, Boston Celtics, 6-10, 265 - Everyone that was around this guy for any length of time knows how scary Jefferson's tools inside are, and he's only 20. He's not as athletic as Amare Stoudemire, but he's broader and has a lot more nasty physicality about him. His offensive skills have to develop, but he could become one of those offensive rebounds like Moses Malone and Paul Silas, just relentlessly crashing inside until he wears down everyone else. An ankle problem is slowing his start this season. Nonetheless, keep an eye on this guy.
Nene, Denver Nuggets, 6-11, 260 - Isn't it about time we saw some progress from this guy? Everyone raved about him in his workouts before the draft, and found him so impressive and potentially intimidating as a rookie. Since then, his progress has been marginal at best. He was billed as the next Karl Malone, and it's easy to forget he's only 23. It isn't likely the Nuggets will extend him unless they intend to trade him. They don't have to do anything, and he'll be a restricted free agent next summer; they can then load him up if he's worthy.
T.J. Ford, Milwaukee Bucks, 5-10, 165 - This could be the feel good story of the year, with Ford not having played since February of 2004 and now back to full blast from spinal surgery. Still only 22, the former Texas star has always been a superior floor general, with quickness, vision and great passing skills with both hands. Coach Terry Stotts is thrilled to have him back, and with this revamped roster, Ford could be the igniter of one of the surprise teams of the 2005-06 season.
Also given consideration were:
Luke Ridnour, Seattle SuperSonics
Samuel Dalembert, Philadelphia 76ers
Kendrick Perkins, Boston Celtics
Andre Iguodala, Philadelphia 76ers
Nick Collison, Seattle SuperSonics
6) Tom Enlund of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that the Big Cat is happy to be in beer town:
Magloire's OK with Milwaukee - Center figures he will fit in well
After the Milwaukee Bucks obtained center Jamaal Magloire last week in a trade with the New Orleans / Oklahoma City Hornets, the initial word was that Magloire was hesitant about joining the Bucks.He knew the Bucks had several other big men and wondered where he would fit in with the team, the argument went. Yes, it went on, he had wanted to be traded but not necessarily to Milwaukee.
But now that he is here and has met the team and has spoken to general manager Larry Harris and coach Terry Stotts, Magloire seems comfortable in his new surroundings. "At first, it was a bit of a surprise," Magloire said when asked about the trade. "But once I talked to Coach and Larry, I became comfortable with their game plan and what they had in mind and I was anxious to get out here." Magloire downplayed the pre-trade talk. "I wouldn't say I wanted to be traded," Magloire said. "But I know I'm happy to be here and I'm going to have an opportunity to start where I left off in Milwaukee. When I actually, physically, got here and spoke to Sen. (Herb) Kohl and Coach and Larry, I think it was two thumbs up and I'm ready to get on the hardwood now." Harris said he thought that Magloire, who will start at center in the regular-season opener Tuesday in Philadelphia, was taken aback by the trade simply because the Bucks had not been among the teams that were supposedly in the running for him. "He was rumored quite extensively about him going here or there with a lot of people," Harris said. "So I don't think it was a shock to him about being traded, but Milwaukee was not on the radar screen. We kind of flew under the radar. It came very quickly, so I think it was more of a shock that Milwaukee came into play at the last minute." Said Stotts: "I've never been traded but it's an emotional thing. Obviously, you can see it from both sides. How different players handle it, that's a personal thing, but he'll be here and he'll fit in well and I'm confident of that." Magloire admitted that over the summer he had thoughts of possibly playing in Toronto. "At the time, being from Toronto, you always dream of one day playing for your home team," he said. "It really didn't matter to me at what point of my career, but I wouldn't say I was disappointed because in this business you never know what tomorrow brings. The fact that I have a new start and have an opportunity to have to prove myself all over again, it's very exciting to me. It's a challenge I take very personally and I think you will see that in my game. Hand shake: Harris said he noticed one thing right away about Magloire. I'll tell you what," Harris said. "He's got the biggest hands I've ever shaken. I thought Mel Daniels had big hands. This guy has got huge hands." First impressions: Magloire admitted that he didn't know a whole lot about Milwaukee and the Bucks. "The only thing I knew about Milwaukee was basically coming in as a visitor," Magloire said. "I knew they had great facilities from when I left college and I worked out with this team in the year 2000. So basically besides the facilities and knowing coach a little bit . . . but over the years I didn't know much about the Milwaukee Bucks." Cleaning the glass: Magloire has averaged 7.4 rebounds per game over the course of his five-year NBA career and he says if the game ends and the box score shows him with nine, 10, or 11 rebounds, that he will be satisfied. "And we will be, too," Harris said. "Terry and I both concur with that. And if it gets to 12 or 15 or 20, that's good, too." Harris pointed out that two seasons ago, when Magloire was an all-star, he had 24 double-doubles and the Hornets won 20 of those games. "So he does bring an impact to the game when he does rebound and score the basketball," Harris said.
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