Well…happy holidays…
Unstoppable…Tim Duncan has been absolutely dominant lately having made 52 of his last 68 shots which amounts to 76.5% over his last seven games…for the year he is averaging 21 points, 10.1 boards and 1.7 blocks in just 34 minutes a game…my friend James is now in full froth…
Funny exchange from the Pistons-Nets game: Flip Saunders had a discussion with a heckler during the second quarter. After the fan called for Carlos Delfino to be benched, Saunders replied ''You guys complain when I don't play the bench, and now you don't want me to play them. Make up your minds!'' Saunders also had some wise words during a press conference after the Pistons beat Atlanta on Saturday…when asked about recent chatter on TNT comparing Maxiell to Hall of Famer Charles Barkley: "Size, that's where (the comparison) ends," he said. "Charles was a Hall of Fame player. Charles could shoot the 3-pointer, handle the ball in the open floor, make assists and he was a play-maker. He and Maxey, they look similar size-wise, and Maxey is dynamic around the basket like Charles. But as for how they play, they are not similar. Let's squelch that rumor right now."
This is ridiculously funny: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hruby/061226&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1
Here’s a classic Isaih Thomas-started rumour: Knicks SG Steve Francis will retire due to bad knees…whatever...
Did you see Hawks coach Mike Woodson and PF Marvin Williams yelling at each other the other day? Oh Boy, you have to like Woodson taking the youngster to task, but with a very young team going nowhere, his days appear numbered…
1) Mark Kramm of the Philadelphia Daily News with a terrific article on Kobe’s former high school teammates:
10 years out of Kobe's shadow - Supporting cast of Lower Merion's state champs reflects on a great teammate and a great team
THE BIG STORY 10 years ago in Philadelphia was Kobe Bryant. He had just come out of Lower Merion High School and had signed in the early summer of 1996 with the Los Angeles Lakers. No one could agree then if it was a wise decision on his part to bypass college, but the ensuing years have proved it to be a correct one. He has become one of the top players in the NBA. But with the stature he has secured have come some unseemly episodes, including an ugly feud with former teammate Shaquille O'Neal and a sexual-assault prosecution in Colorado that was subsequently dropped. No one has been more interested in the comings and goings of Kobe than his former teammates at Lower Merion, who 10 years ago won the PIAA Class AAAA basketball championship at HersheyPark Arena. Under coach Gregg Downer, the Aces (32-3) topped Erie Cathedral Prep, 48-43, that March evening in 1996 to capture their first title in 53 years. Bryant averaged 32 points that season. But even if he had yet to announce his intentions to enter the NBA draft that spring, he appeared certain for stardom, if not immediately at the pro level then in college. As Bryant continues to prosper in his 11th NBA season - and prepares to play the Sixers this Sunday in Los Angeles - the Daily News caught up with six of his former teammates at Lower Merion. None became the pro players they once dreamed of, but they have by and large settled into successful careers outside of sports. Each remains intensely interested in basketball, and has followed the unfolding career of Bryant from afar. And they remember that championship year they had with him at Lower Merion with increasing pride.
JERMAINE GRIFFIN Senior forward - The emotion of those days came back to Jermaine Griffin as he walked into the Giant Center in Hershey last March. Lower Merion was playing Pittsburgh Schenley for the state championship and suddenly Griffin found himself overcome with jitters, just as he had been 10 years before when he and Kobe were "the one-two punch" who led Lower Merion to the same title. It was special then but somehow has become even more with each passing year, the way the accomplishments of youth occasionally do under the increasing pressure of adulthood. "Can it be 10 years? asks Griffin, 29. "Wow, time flies. Somehow it seems like it should be no more than 5 years. Being there to see them do it again reminded me that I am part of a legacy." Griffin had what he called "huge basketball aspirations" as a player at Lower Merion. They never panned out. He attended Wagner College in New York for a year but did not play. He transferred to SUNY-Farmingdale on Long Island. He played part of one season but quit in order to keep his 11 p.m.-to-7 a.m. job stacking dairy products in a grocery store. Eventually, he got a job as a salesman for Geico. He worked there for 7 years before leaving to become a mortgage broker in Mastic, N.Y. He is single with three children and says, "I feel blessed." While he has not spoken with Kobe since 2002, when Lower Merion honored Bryant by ceremonially retiring his jersey, Griffin still considers the two of them to be on solid terms. "People go their own way once high school is over," says Griffin, who says he knew even then that Kobe would go far as an NBA player. He says that Bryant had an unparalleled work ethic and that it became clear he had the tools to play at that level when he began outplaying pro and college players in informal workouts. Says Griffin: "He was an amazing player." So Griffin is not surprised how well Kobe has done, even if he is somewhat saddened by the allegations that his former teammate faced in Colorado. "He has had a wonderful career," says Griffin. "But it was unfortunate for him to have that situation, which has tarnished it somewhat. He is in a Terrell Owens-, Barry Bonds-type of spotlight because of what happened there." But the Kobe he remembers is the one he exchanged a vow with at the end of their junior season. Lower Merion had just been beaten in the second round of the state playoffs when they told each other in the locker room: "This is not going to happen again." Says Griffin: "So from that point we just had a refuse-to-lose attitude."
BRENDAN PETTIT Junior center - Brendan Pettit remembers the fun they had that season. Whenever they traveled, you could not find an empty seat in the gym. "People would be going crazy," says Pettit, 28. "But we would go in there, and we just knew we were going to win. We just had an excellent team that year. Even without Kobe. There was one game, Kobe fouled out. And we were down. But we still came back and won." Pettit pauses and adds, "I have such vivid memories of that season." While Pettit had a fine career at Lower Merion, cold reality set in when he graduated a year later: College recruiters are less than enthralled by 6-4 centers. Pettit spent a year at a prep school in Connecticut and then played three seasons at Wesleyan University. He worked as a bartender for a year and then settled down in New York, where he got a job in the bridal industry. Work as a temp later led to his current position as a sample manager for Polo-Ralph Lauren. He is single. And while he has not spoken to Bryant since that ceremony at Lower Merion, he has closely followed the trajectory of his career. "The better and better he gets, the bigger deal it becomes that we once played on a championship team together," says Pettit. "And he was very accomplished as a high school player. He wanted it more than anyone else. Even when I watch on TV I can see that. He does some things with the ball that just leave you shaking your head and just saying, 'Wow.' " Pettit remembers Bryant as a "good guy," someone whom he would like to see again if the occasion arose. But he also thinks Kobe has become someone whom fans "kind of hate," if only because he has been so extraordinarily successful at such a young age. Pettit says that the Colorado affair did not win Bryant any fans, and that it "caused people to have second thoughts about him, I guess." Says Pettit: "But he is definitely one of my favorite players." Pettit chuckles and says, "What does he have now - three NBA championship rings? Time has just flown by. It seems just like yesterday that he was bringing the ball up court and I was setting picks for him."
EMORY DABNEY Sophomore guard - Emory Dabney was a 15-year-old starting point guard that season. "There was a lot of pressure on me," says Dabney. "But it was easier because we were such a close team." And that is what Dabney remembers, even beyond whatever glory endures from winning the state championship. He would play for other teams in the years to come, but none surpassed the experience he had at Lower Merion. "What I have come to realize as I have gotten older is how special that team was," says Dabney, 26. "We were like brothers. If one of us had a problem, we helped each other out. And we never bickered. Very rarely do you ever see teammates behave toward each other the way we did." Dabney played two more seasons at Lower Merion and attended Oxnard Junior College in California, where he played with high school teammate Omar Hatcher. Dabney later played at Pittsburgh and the University of Tampa and has since settled down in Philadelphia, where he operates a mortgage company. He is single. He still plays basketball recreationally, which he says is somewhat less taxing on his body than playing in college or even high school. He came to appreciate the work ethic Bryant observed to get where he is today. Says Dabney: "He is extremely talented, but what separates him from other players is how hard he works. And he exhibited that every day in practice." Dabney remains fond of Bryant. While he has not seen or spoken to him since in 4 years, he remembers how Kobe always "made an effort to show me the ropes." Dabney came to look upon him as an older brother. He concedes Kobe has come off as "kind of confused" publicly, but says he knew Bryant would be cleared of the charges that faced him in Colorado. Says Dabney: "I knew the truth would come out eventually." Dabney has people come up to him and ask, "How was it playing with Kobe?" And he remembers the summer before Bryant played his senior year at Lower Merion, when he watched Kobe work out with the pros at a local college. "I think he was using that summer to gauge where he was as a player," Dabney says. "And he just used [then-Sixer] Jerry Stackhouse as practice dummy. I knew then he was going pro."
DAN PANGRAZIO - Sophomore guard
OMAR HATCHER - Junior guard
CARY WALKER - Sophomore forward/guard
Downer summoned a small group of players before the championship game, among them Omar Hatcher and Cary Walker. Starting guard Dan Pangrazio had sprained an ankle in the Eastern finals at the Palestra and would be replaced in the lineup by Hatcher. But Walker remembers that Downer told them, "You are going to have to step up." Lower Merion had a deep bench. Currently a fourth-grade teacher in Connecuticut, Pangrazio had been a fine shooter. And he remembers that season so vividly now, saying: "I remember every game, every practice and every drill." While he says no one would deny Bryant "took us to the championship that year," he adds that the team as a whole had a unique chemistry and that "coach Downer tied it all together." "Coach Downer was a superb teacher," says Pangrazio, who transferred from Lower Merion at the end of his sophomore year and played for the Connecticut state champion Fairfield Prep the following year. He played one season of college ball at St. Mary's College of California before his career ended because of a back injury. He graduated with honors from there with a double degree in Eng-lish and communications. While he has not been in contact with Bryant either, he continues to hold him in high regard. "Kobe was not just an exceptional individual player, but he was a leader out there on the floor," says Pangrazio, who is 27 and married. "Anyone who would place his body on the line during a rebounding drill on some random Wednesday is someone other players just naturally follow. And we did." And Walker says he is just getting better. "The development of Kobe just never stops," says Walker, 28, who is single, lives in Upper Darby and works in advertising. "He works so hard. He has always been that type of person. As a high school player, we always watched Michael Jordan. I did not realize I was playing with someone of that caliber." Hatcher says Bryant was "very polished for his age." Currently the president of a cleaning company in Philadelphia, Hatcher, 26, became a junior-college star at Oxnard and later played at St. Francis in New York. Single with a daughter, he says he is still occasionally in contact with Bryant, who he says "showed character through a tough time" in Colorado. Hatcher says that as he gets older, the championship just increases in significance. "Because I now understand how hard it is to be successful, it has become more precious to me," he says. "I value it more." What Hatcher hopes is that he and his teammates will come together at some point. He thinks that will happen. "All of us are still young," he says. "But 10 years from now, I am sure we will come together and enjoy the fruits of our labor."
2) Maura Lerner of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that Randy Foye’s heart is in the right place…sort of:
His ticker's a tocker: It beats on the right, not left - Timberwolves rookie Randy Foye has a normal heart. It's just unusually placed.
Randy Foye has been a professional athlete only six months. But he's already made history. The 23-year-old basketball player is almost certainly the first sports figure who can say his heart is truly in the wrong place. Foye, a Minnesota Timberwolves rookie, was hoping nobody would notice. But he was born with a rare condition called "situs inversus" in which his heart and other internal organs are reversed -- a mirror image of the ordinary body. As an athlete, he has never been held back by the condition. But for a while this past summer, the star from Villanova University was worried it might sink his career. "I was trying not to say anything," said Foye, afraid that it might scare off teams before June's National Basketball Association draft. "I was going to let them find it. If they didn't find it for themselves, I wasn't going to say anything." His secret came out at the annual pre-draft camp in Orlando, Fla., where teams check out the top talent. He aced the fitness tests, but when the medical exams began, he saw a puzzled look on the nurse's face. And he 'fessed up. "Everything's reversed," he told her. "My heart is on the other side."Wow," he remembers her saying. Before long, nurses and doctors from every team were swarming around him. "I was in there an extra hour and a half," he said. "They wanted to know everything about my condition." Situs inversus occurs in only about one of every 10,000 people, and is believed to be caused by a recessive gene. When the heart is on the flip side, it's known as dextrocardia. In this case, it's the heart and more: the liver, gallbladder, blood vessels and so on. Typically, experts say, people with the condition live a normal life. But it can cause confusing symptoms, such as appendicitis pain on the lower left, not right, or heart attack pangs on the right, not the left. Foye, who was born in Newark, N.J., didn't know about it himself until age 7, when he was hospitalized for two weeks with pneumonia. His doctors discovered it by accident, and told his grandmother, who was raising him. "They said everything is normal, there's nothing to worry about," Foye said. But he remembers that his grandmother waited until he was home from the hospital to tell him, and that she tried to soften the blow. "She said, 'Your heart is on the other side. You're not the only person in the world like this.' " If she was worried about him playing sports with his unusual condition, she tried to keep that to herself. "I just had so much love and passion for sports, she wouldn't take that from me," he said. Back at school, he tried to keep it quiet.
"I didn't want anybody to say, 'Oh, he's different,' " Foye recalled. But word started to get around. One day his second-grade teacher, Mrs. Goldstein, announced that he had something "really special" to tell the class, and so he did. "Everybody wanted to touch me," he said, and feel his heart beat on the "wrong" side. Eventually, the fascination died down. A plan that wasn't needed Meanwhile, Foye grew into a stellar basketball player and won a scholarship to Villanova, in eastern Pennsylvania. There, he told the team's physician about his condition, and nobody seemed concerned, he said. If anything, they joked that he played so well that "if his heart is on that side, keep it over there." As a senior, he was named 2006 Big East Player of the Year. Then in June, on the verge of turning pro, Foye started getting nervous. How would NBA teams react? Foye and his agent hatched a plan: If any team raised a concern, "we were going to get the best cardiologist, like, in the world, to put out a statement ... to say I'm perfectly fine," said Foye. "I've played with this forever. Why is this going to stop me now?" In fact, it shouldn't be a reason to disqualify an athlete, said Dr. Barry Maron, a cardiologist at the Minneapolis Heart Institute who has advised professional teams on screening athletes for heart conditions. "Having your heart on the wrong side is itself not a problem," Maron said, as long as it's a healthy heart. As it turns out, Foye's worries were unfounded. "Not a single team called me to express concern," said Steve Heumann, his agent. On June 28, Foye was the seventh player picked in the NBA draft. Chosen first by the Boston Celtics, he was traded twice that night and ended up as a member of the Timberwolves.
Jim Stack, the Wolves' general manager, said the team did its own research and "came to the realization that this was a nonissue." Foye, he said, "is one of our best guys in terms of endurance and stamina," adding, "that's one of the things that appealed to us." Since the draft, Foye's medical condition has been mentioned in Sports Illustrated magazine. And now he's a footnote in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Under "Situs inversus," it lists just one "notable person" with the condition: Randy Foye. "It's good to be a part of history, " said Foye with a smile, "and not just basketball."
3) Eric Neel of ESPNJ.com’s Page 2 reports on the continued maturation of the games best young centre:
The kid ate them up. I sat courtside for the Magic-Sonics game in Seattle a couple of weeks back and watched it happen. He took balls a clean foot above the rim. He worked quick reverse-pivot moves for little banks. He ran the break and sent guys scurrying with alley-oop dunks. He blocked four shots and changed another eight. He was a perfect 8-for-8 from the floor. He bounced like Tigger in the Hundred Acre Wood and muscled the post like Shaq did once upon a time in Orlando. It was a spyglass night. A revelation. I was looking at Dwight Howard, but I was seeing the future. "You think he knows how good he is?" I asked a friend sitting next to me. "You think he has any idea how good he can be?" He's just a baby, barely 21, so maybe he doesn't realize it. He's quiet and unassuming, so maybe it hasn't occurred to him. He has all the respect in the world for the esteemed Mr. Grant Hill, so perhaps he defers. But if it's starting to dawn on him … if, at 17.1 points and 12.7 rebounds a night, Dwight Howard is getting an inkling, the league had better look out. Because with all the ink we've been spilling on LeBron, Carmelo and Dwyane Wade, this is the guy who can truly dominate. This is the guy who can shred the scenery. This is the unstoppable force. This is the man. Remember that feeling you had watching the young David Robinson and the young Hakeem Olajuwon – that lithe sense that they were capable of anything? That's how watching Howard feels. He's active on every ball off the rim or the glass (a third of his rebounds every night are on the offensive boards), and it isn't just a spring thing. He's eyeballing it while it's still in the shooter's hands, gauging spin and angle on a possible miss. He doesn't tire or take plays off. It's the same deal on offense: quick feet to the spot, a broad-shouldered call for the entry pass, and an aggressive turn, left or right, toward the hole. He's chockablock explosive. He dunks and boards and blocks with equal pop, and can't nobody slow him down.
Along press row, he's all anyone's watching. Guys are shaking their heads, rolling their eyes and whistling as if they'd just seen a cherry Corvette roll down Main Street. There's work to do. He turns the ball over too often, struggles with the double from time to time and needs a go-to post move or three. He finds his offense in the gaps, off the glass or on a cut. The Magic aren't running the offense through him (he scores his 17 a game on just 10 or 11 shots; Robinson and Olajuwon were averaging 16 and 18 attempts per game in their third seasons in the league, though both were older and had four years of college experience each) and with steady production out of Hill, Orlando probably shouldn't be. It's too early. Howard's too raw. But even without a completely reliable move down low, he's growing. His points per 40 have climbed steadily through 2½ seasons, from 14.7 to 17.1 to 19 so far this season. Beyond the numbers, you can see the development in his look, in the quick confident smile he flashes after busting by somebody on his way to the basket, or after turning away somebody's shot like it's nothing but a thing. There's a lot of talk about Howard's being too timid, or too polite, about his maybe lacking a necessary mean streak. But don't mistake that for a lack of swagger, because the kid I saw the other night is feeling it. He may not trust it every trip yet, and he most definitely needs to test it in some playoff fire walks, but it's in there. He needs to know that. He needs to believe it. Because I want more of it. Right now, on the cusp between his truckload of talent and drive and the prospect of true greatness, he's the most captivating player in the league for me, bar none. Playmakers like James and Wade inspire me, make me want to move, remind me why I love basketball. But Howard's thing is some other thing, some tremble-before-me, shock-and-awe sort of thing. He could own this league if he keeps working it. He looks like he has no ceiling. He's going to get stronger physically, and he's going to get bolder. At some point real soon, he's going to be a straight-out unsolvable problem for every team he faces. I see a 10-year run as the East's All-Star center. I see trophies and rings. I see a plaque in the Hall. Am I getting ahead of myself? Screw it. That's how good he looks to me. He looks like I should get ahead of myself just to keep pace. I look at a player like Howard, someone with work to do but with clear, unmistakably scary potential, and I can't help but want more. I picture the jump hook he doesn't quite have yet and envision the up-and-under fake he doesn't yet use to make grown men cry. Does he see it too? Does he know it's out there for him? I don't know. But I can't take my eyes off him while waiting to find out.
4) Kelly Dwyer of SI.com reports on a reconstituted trade and other notes:
An Artest trade that needs to happen and more notes
The NBA was rocked to its core on Sunday when news of a sensible trade that would seemingly benefit both sides hit the street in the form of the Los Angeles Times' Sunday edition. The scuttle says that Ron Artest, who can't be persuaded to take the court these days in Sacramento purple, could go to the Clippers for scoring swingman Corey Maggette in a swap Los Angeles nearly consummated with Artest's former team in Indiana last winter. The deal needs to go down. It will hardly act as a panacea for either squad, but it will recharge both and serve as a bit of motivation as things start to get serious. Both the Kings (11-14 through Monday) and Clippers (11-15) are underachieving, as both of the burly players in question have fallen into distraction mode. Maggette far less than Artest, of course. Maggette has been dealing with trade rumors for a year and a half and has been pretty professional through the whole thing. His play has been quite good, but this didn't stop him from asking for a trade via his agent. Artest has been throwing lobs through the media at point guard Mike Bibby (struggling, to be sure, but also playing through injuries) and new coach Eric Musselman. He pulled out of a nationally televised loss to Washington just minutes before tip-off last Thursday, and has worn out his welcome after a 10-month test drive. The Kings should send Artest and defensive point guard Jason Hart (Sam Cassell has plantar fasciitis, an injury that just doesn't go away) to the Clippers for Maggette and Yaroslav Korolev, a former lottery pick who has shown nothing in limited minutes.
Nobody gets hurt in a deal like this. Until, of course, the Kings realize that Maggette (despite all his talent and dogged determination) isn't the answer to making them a strong playoff team, and the Clippers realize just how much Ron Ron thinks of his offensive repertoire.
Back in February 2005, the Denver Nuggets took a little heat for sending Rodney White and Nikoloz Tskitishvili to the Golden State Warriors for Eduardo Najera, Luis Flores and Dallas' 2007 first-round pick (which the Warriors owned). The Nuggets weren't lambasted for losing White and Skita, who were hardly great shakes, but for the cap implications behind the deal. Had Denver been able to dump its own first-round pick in 2005, and passed on trading for Najera, the salary-cap space afforded by White's and Tskitishvili's expiring contracts (coupled with the cap increase in the 2005 offseason) could have allowed the Nuggets to chase a free-agent shooting guard like Ray Allen, Michael Redd or Larry Hughes. Who would know, nearly two years later, that a lower-rung first-round pick would be one of the deciding factors in eventually netting the Nuggets Allen Iverson? The lesson, as Orlando's Otis Smith (in acquiring eventual cap space and Trevor Ariza from New York), Toronto's then-GM Wayne Embry (who cleared cap space by sending Jalen Rose to, you guessed it, New York) already know: You can always bank on an overmatched fellow GM -- usually working out of New York, Minnesota or Philadelphia -- to help make up for past missteps.
Undersized Kings forward Kenny Thomas (he's undersized when they put him at center, too) made his rep as a strong scorer on the interior who can rebound. And though he's doing solid work on the glass (7.8 in 26.8 minutes a game), he's killing the team on offense. What happened to his touch? It's still there -- he's shooting 49 percent -- but he can't hold on to the bloody ball. According to Knickerblogger.net, 22.2 percent of the possessions he takes part in end up with a Thomas turnover, a putrid number for someone who is supposed to be a scorer. By comparison, the oft-maligned Eddy Curry turns it over "only" 17 percent of the time.
Watching Houston's Yao Ming crumple in a heap on Saturday night was bad enough, but it was especially painful in light of his sublime play the night before. Yao, who will be out six weeks with a broken bone under his right knee, played about as complete a game as he'd ever delivered against the Spurs on Friday night: 22 points, two blocks and seven rebounds in just 26 minutes. And his long arms forced Tim Duncan into missing nine of 13 shots in the Houston win. Meanwhile, the Rockets will not only field the most offensively challenged roster in the NBA, but they'll also have coach Jeff Van Gundy to steer them through the tough times. Van Gundy could turn the 1984-85 Nuggets into an 85-point per game outfit, so it remains to be seen what he'll do with Dikembe Mutombo, Chuck Hayes, Shane Battier, Luther Head and Rafer Alston. Tracy McGrady is set to return and could go off at any time, but so could his lower back. Should McGrady take to the shelf again, there's a possibility of a 52-point evening for Houston.
Having a hard time trying to figure out just how the Cleveland Cavaliers are "underachieving." The team's hot start masked its offensive limitations, and when LeBron James' internationally drained legs start to go out on him, who is he supposed to rely on? Zydrunas Ilgauskas is starting to fade; he could use more shot attempts, but that's not the answer. Larry Hughes, who turns 28 next month, is who he is (inconsistent, and not a great shooter), and guys like Eric Snow and Daniel Gibson don't belong in a 55-win team's rotation. The Cavs are 15-11, on pace for 47 wins, and that sounds about right.
Boston rookie Rajon Rondo, as expected, is off to a poor start, averaging 3.6 points and 2.2 assists in 15.5 minutes. We'd heard about him dominating one-on-one workouts leading up to the 2006 draft, but those sorts of competitions often hide a player's weakness from the perimeter. In five-on-five matchups, teams can slack off the poor shooter, which stinks for Rondo, because he can't shoot. However, the kid's defense, as promised, is phenomenal. Boston is a much better defensive team with him on the floor.
Midway through the second quarter of Charlotte's "clash" with New York last Wednesday, a fan chosen from the crowd nailed a three-pointer during a timeout that netted him $10,000. The fan, clad in a Stephon Marbury jersey, then tried to pump up the crowd before dashing over to the Knicks' bench, flicking his jersey at the hometown cagers and exhorting them to do better (New York ended the half down 11 to the Bobcats). The exhibition was pretty silly, but quite poignant and telling. Coupled with the standing ovation the MSG crowd gave to Michael Jordan a little later, it's clearer than ever that New York fans know what good basketball is all about, and they deserve much, much better. By the way, the Knicks won. In double overtime. Against the Bobcats. Bully for the bullies.
We're not sure what to think of Washington's new alternate uniforms; we've had an uneasy feeling about alternates (of the non-throwback variety) since the Chicago Bulls debuted their black-and-pinstripe road get-ups during the 1995-96 season. Though the idea of the old-timey two-color scheme seems appealing on paper, Washington probably shouldn't have chosen black and gold. Gilbert Arenas, on the other hand, seems to be fully in favor of Washington's cash grab, er, stylistic departure. In the five games the team has played in the alternates (road contests against Philadelphia, Phoenix, Houston and the Lakers and a home game against Cleveland), Arenas has averaged an astounding 46.4 points on 61 percent shooting. Washington has won four of the five games.
5) Mike Kahn of Foxsports.com with his terrific “10 things” column:
Wade dazzles while Shaq, Jackson trade barbs
Dwyane Wade provided a spectacular Christmas present for the Miami Heat and all the NBA junkies who couldn't resist watching Monday. His 40 points, 11 assists, four steals and two blocks in a 101-85 win over the Los Angeles Lakers showed he has surpassed Kobe Bryant as the pre-eminent guard in the game today. But whenever the Lakers and the Heat are involved, there will always be peripheral drama, and that's the Christmas tradition — NBA style.
1. Item: Lakers coach Phil Jackson took a veiled shot at his former center Shaquille O'Neal, currently rehabilitating another injury (this one his knee) for the Heat, by saying that during the Lakers championship run (three titles and four trips to the finals in five years), it hurt them because Kobe Bryant was the only star on the team who kept himself in good physical condition. O'Neal responded by calling Jackson, "Benedict Arnold."
What this really means: Actually, they both were right. O'Neal consistently became exceedingly heavy and in their disappointing 2003 season when they were blown out by San Antonio in the conference semifinals (and could have lost in the first round to Minnesota), O'Neal waited three months to have surgery on his foot — keeping him out until December. He used getting different opinions as an excuse, but three months? Then again, it was Jackson who resigned after the 2004-05 Finals loss to the Detroit Pistons, then wrote about the tumultuous relationship between O'Neal and Bryant, plus his own problems with Bryant. Ironically, it is Bryant who has suffered the brunt of all the problems that team had, when all three had egos the size of California, including the Baja. And that's what got in the way. Bryant was just out there, and considered a petulant child, while Jackson intellectualized his way out of the blame and O'Neal played the "Big Buddy, woe-is-me" card because owner Jerry Buss would only pay him the sun and the moon and not throw in the rest of the planets. And from the NBA's perspective, from Hollywood to South Beach, this is just the kind of soap opera that removes the Dec. 16 brawl in New York between the Knicks and the Denver Nuggets from the consciousness of the fans. Ho, ho, ho.
2. Item: Gilbert Arenas and the Washington Wizards took their show on the road this week having won eight of 10 while moving to within 1½ games of first place Orlando in the Southeast Division. What this really means: Arenas has lingered on the cusp of superstardom, but the past two weeks may have put him over the top — the crowning accomplishment being a franchise-record 60 points in the stirring 147-141 overtime win over the Lakers in Los Angeles last Sunday night, followed by 54 points to end the Phoenix Suns' 15-game winning streak Friday night. Over the past 10 games, he has averaged 37.7 points a game — moving to 30.1 for the season. Arenas' talent never has been in question. His consistency and defense always has caused people to pause. In fact, the same thing can be said about the Wizards in general. At some point, coach Eddie Jordan has to get them to make stops when it matters most — something that hasn't happened despite the Wizards making the playoffs two years in a row for the first time in almost 20 years. To reach the next level, it will be up to Arenas, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler to not only score a lot of points, but get in opponents' faces down the stretch of games. No doubt, the "new NBA that scores a lot," suits the Wizards just fine — particularly in the East. But if they can't make stops, they'll become a traditional first-round and out team — so if Arenas really wants to be held in the same esteem as the other superstar guards, he'll have to set the tone on both ends.
3. Item: The Phoenix Suns set a franchise record with their 15th consecutive win before giving up that overtime loss to the Wizards on Friday night. What this really means: It is becoming abundantly clear on a daily basis that this team is eminently capable of winning the Western Conference. Point guard Steve Nash continues to play at a magical level, keeping everyone involved with high intensity — which only adds to the confidence the team gained by reaching the conference finals two years in succession. It's particularly noticeable in youngsters Leandro Barbosa and Boris Diaw, while Shawn Marion and Raja Bell are veterans with a track record of success. But the big difference is center Amare Stoudemire is getting stronger every game in his recovery from surgery on both knees last year that virtually kept him out the entire season, and the return of Kurt Thomas from a foot injury that incapacitated him the final third of the season as well. In fact, they are essentially two much-needed additions at the power positions without any subtraction. It required all of two weeks for them to fit in, and now we again see what a magnificent coach and assessor of talent Mike D'Antoni is. After wondering how this would all fit early in the season, in the new NBA where offense is king, this could be the year the Suns win their first NBA title.
4. Item: With All-Star forward Richard Jefferson already contemplating surgery on his right ankle to remove bone spurs, the New Jersey Nets lost rapidly emerging 7-footer Nenad Krstic for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. What this really means: Even in the pathetic Atlantic Division where the Nets' 11-16 record has them just a half-game out of first place and last place Philadelphia (7-19) is just four games out, there are rumblings of sweeping changes with the Nets — also because All-Star Vince Carter can opt out of his contract after this season. But keep in mind that all the rumblings about how much money Orlando is under the cap to coax the Florida native has been overblown. Clearly, he'd be giving up tens of millions of dollars to leave and that's a bit hard to believe. It just depends how important this season is to president Rod Thorn and ownership. Because the division is so bad, the Nets can still win the division built around Carter and Jason Kidd — with Jefferson presumably returning healthy for the second half of the season. Already positive momentum seems to be building again for owner Bruce Ratner to get his wish for the megaplex featuring a new arena to bolster Brooklyn. And that means they just need to remain competitive now, but certainly with an eye to a move that is a good four years away. But, again, do you trade Vince Carter?
5. Item: As if the entire process wasn't stormy enough, the Denver Nuggets and Philadelphia 76ers had to agree to pay for private planes to get Allen Iverson to Denver and Andre Miller to Philly despite Denver International Airport being closed due to a snowstorm. What this really means: When the Sixers dealt their superstar and (since released rookie) Ivan McFarlin to the Nuggets for Andre Miller, Joe Smith and two No. 1 draft picks, they were more in the market for expiring contracts than talent. But soon enough they realized Miller's floor leadership experience could be the best thing that happened to them in years. In Denver, it was an entirely different circumstance. Not only was the DIA closed because two feet of snow dumped on the city, but in the first game after Carmelo Anthony (15 games) and J.R. Smith) (10 games) were suspended for their roles in the brawl in New York on Dec. 16, center Marcus Camby broke a finger and will be out for at least another week. So the team did everything conceivable to get Iverson out on the floor, and despite the loss to Sacramento — the ball is rolling for a new future in Denver. Successful or not — before Anthony returns and when it does — this is guaranteed to be fun for coach George Karl, the Nuggets, their fans and everybody else who gets to watch them play.
6. Item: Life with the Sixers has been strange enough with their 12-game losing streak and the trading of Iverson, and now it appears Larry Brown is going to return to the payroll. What this really means: It has been no secret that Brown has been in close consultation with president Billy King and owner Ed Snider over the handling of the team and the entire Iverson trade in general. It's hard to know whether Brown left the Sixers to coach the Detroit Pistons for two years because he was tired of dealing with Iverson or the organization was just plain tired of Brown after six years. It was more likely the former than the latter, but that's not the point. Brown spent two years with the Pistons and the second one — despite winning a title in the first season and reaching the finals the second year — with rumors of him going anywhere and everywhere right into Game 7 of the finals. That led to the biggest nightmare of all, last season with the New York Knicks. As a tactician, he is without peer and unquestionably worthy of his Hall of Fame credentials, but as a 66-year-old man having coached eight NBA teams in 23 years — it is completely unfair to have him looking over the shoulder of coach Maurice Cheeks, whom he has championed in the past. The one thing we do know about Brown is if he loves you today, he'll hate you tomorrow before he loves you again the day after that. And the rebuilding Sixers, like every other NBA team, need more stability than the 42 different starting lineups Brown used last season with the Knicks.
7. Item: The Los Angeles Clippers continue to fade and now the real excitement seems to be stemming from the loud discussions of dealing discontented swingman Corey Maggette to the Sacramento Kings for the highly flammable Ron Artest. What this really means: Considering the huge extensions given to coach Mike Dunleavy and center Chris Kaman — plus the decision not to include guard Shaun Livingston in the trade discussions for Iverson — last season's trip to the second round may turn out to be a fluke after all. Floor leader Sam Cassell, now 37, will be in street clothes for an unspecified period of time with plantar fasciitis, and that will leave the bulk of the responsibility on the floor to Livingston, still only 21 and with limited experience running the team. Once again, the Clippers are at a crossroads, only this time after renowned scrooge Donald Sterling had opened up his wallet in unprecedented fashion. A lot of the problems have stemmed from selfishness and not running the offense through All-Star Elton Brand as the team did so successfully last season. And for all the obvious talent and potential of Livingston that created arguably far too much preseason hype — he has yet to prove he can successfully lead the team without Cassell to guide him. But to add the capricious Artest to the mix at this uncertain juncture is tantamount to nitroglycerin.
8. Item: As if they haven't had a difficult enough time dealing with the unknown quantity — better known as Tracy McGrady's incessant back problems — All-Star center Yao Ming broke his leg last week and will be out for up to a couple of months. What this really means: The Rockets have gone from a serious contender for that fourth seed in the Western Conference to a team that will be in danger of missing the playoffs for the second year in a row. While so much has been said about the physical instability of McGrady — and rightfully so — Yao very quietly has built an impressive (unimpressive?) litany of battle scars himself along the way. The 7-foot-6 center has solidified himself as the best at his position in the NBA this season (25.9 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.2 blocks), but missing two months this season makes it very likely he will duplicate the 25 games missed during the 2005-06 season with toe and foot injuries. None of that creates a positive situation for coach Jeff Van Gundy. It's not his fault that McGrady and Yao are hurt, but the problem has been the lack of talent around them to keep the team afloat. McGrady is supposed to return this week, and that will help, except that he clearly is a cut below the same T-Mac who was capable of dominating any game at any time. In the grand scheme of things, perhaps this period of time is an aberration with the two stars going down. Nevertheless, once players become injury prone, most have a tough time stabilizing again over the long haul. Consequently, it adds intrigue to how the careers of these two stars and the next few years of the Rockets play out.
9. Item: The Seattle SuperSonics remain riddled with pain and confusion, whether it's the unknown future of the club due to the new ownership group from Oklahoma City or the revolving door of injuries that have crippled their starting lineup. What this really means: On the day after All-Star Ray Allen returned to the practice floor after missing nine games with an ankle injury, high-scoring forward Rashard Lewis tore a tendon in his right hand and will be out approximately eight weeks. To a team that already has the second worst record in the Western Conference entering this week, the immediate future does not bode well. Seattle lost young starting center Robert Swift to major knee surgery during the preseason, and have had three different centers try to replace him — all are virtually ineffective. The only saving grace is even at six games below .500 they are only 2½ games out of the eighth spot in the West. Still, they must deal with reality. Allen going down altered their already fragile chemistry, and now Lewis — who is eligible for a two-year extension and could opt out of his contract this summer — has done likewise. Because he is such a superb shooter and scorer, there has been plenty of buzz around the league about him because the Sonics are in such a state of flux. And that leaves coach Bob Hill and general manager Rick Sund in even more unstable positions with the future so murky. And in the really big picture, the lack of success on the floor almost without fail leads to a lack of support for public funding for a new arena. Majority owner Clay Bennett has to know that as he prepares his proposal to the Washington legislature that will make or break the future of the Sonics in Seattle.
10. Item: Now that the circus has left Chicago, the Bulls are back and apologies are in order for prematurely crushing them over the handling of Ben Wallace's headband, the performance of Wallace and the future of the team with him. What this really means: To be sure, it's hard to fathom that Wallace is worth $60 million over four years with his aging body and offensive limitations, On the other hand, consider that the Bulls have won 13 of 15 and climbed back into the lame Eastern Conference race. Perhaps more importantly, Wallace quit pouting and whining to his former teammates on the Pistons and started to play like the uber-defender/rebounder that earned him all that money in the first place. During the past 10 games, Wallace has averaged 9.2 points, 13.7 rebounds 2.7 blocks and 2.2 steals — including games of 27 and 20 rebounds. The good news for the Bulls is Wallace has proven he can still dominate a game defensively and on the boards, while igniting fast breaks and offense the rest of the time. He is the decider of how far defense will carry this team. Granted, the Bulls still lack the go-to guy in the frontcourt at the end of games, and are counting too heavily on the perimeter shooting of Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich and Andres Nocioni. But if Wallace really is motivated to play at this level the rest of the season and his teammates respond in kind, then they really are contenders in a weak conference. And should they get to even the Eastern finals, even money says the Bulls will reconsider their headband rule and let him wear one next season — as long as he matches team colors.
Unstoppable…Tim Duncan has been absolutely dominant lately having made 52 of his last 68 shots which amounts to 76.5% over his last seven games…for the year he is averaging 21 points, 10.1 boards and 1.7 blocks in just 34 minutes a game…my friend James is now in full froth…
Funny exchange from the Pistons-Nets game: Flip Saunders had a discussion with a heckler during the second quarter. After the fan called for Carlos Delfino to be benched, Saunders replied ''You guys complain when I don't play the bench, and now you don't want me to play them. Make up your minds!'' Saunders also had some wise words during a press conference after the Pistons beat Atlanta on Saturday…when asked about recent chatter on TNT comparing Maxiell to Hall of Famer Charles Barkley: "Size, that's where (the comparison) ends," he said. "Charles was a Hall of Fame player. Charles could shoot the 3-pointer, handle the ball in the open floor, make assists and he was a play-maker. He and Maxey, they look similar size-wise, and Maxey is dynamic around the basket like Charles. But as for how they play, they are not similar. Let's squelch that rumor right now."
This is ridiculously funny: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hruby/061226&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1
Here’s a classic Isaih Thomas-started rumour: Knicks SG Steve Francis will retire due to bad knees…whatever...
Did you see Hawks coach Mike Woodson and PF Marvin Williams yelling at each other the other day? Oh Boy, you have to like Woodson taking the youngster to task, but with a very young team going nowhere, his days appear numbered…
1) Mark Kramm of the Philadelphia Daily News with a terrific article on Kobe’s former high school teammates:
10 years out of Kobe's shadow - Supporting cast of Lower Merion's state champs reflects on a great teammate and a great team
THE BIG STORY 10 years ago in Philadelphia was Kobe Bryant. He had just come out of Lower Merion High School and had signed in the early summer of 1996 with the Los Angeles Lakers. No one could agree then if it was a wise decision on his part to bypass college, but the ensuing years have proved it to be a correct one. He has become one of the top players in the NBA. But with the stature he has secured have come some unseemly episodes, including an ugly feud with former teammate Shaquille O'Neal and a sexual-assault prosecution in Colorado that was subsequently dropped. No one has been more interested in the comings and goings of Kobe than his former teammates at Lower Merion, who 10 years ago won the PIAA Class AAAA basketball championship at HersheyPark Arena. Under coach Gregg Downer, the Aces (32-3) topped Erie Cathedral Prep, 48-43, that March evening in 1996 to capture their first title in 53 years. Bryant averaged 32 points that season. But even if he had yet to announce his intentions to enter the NBA draft that spring, he appeared certain for stardom, if not immediately at the pro level then in college. As Bryant continues to prosper in his 11th NBA season - and prepares to play the Sixers this Sunday in Los Angeles - the Daily News caught up with six of his former teammates at Lower Merion. None became the pro players they once dreamed of, but they have by and large settled into successful careers outside of sports. Each remains intensely interested in basketball, and has followed the unfolding career of Bryant from afar. And they remember that championship year they had with him at Lower Merion with increasing pride.
JERMAINE GRIFFIN Senior forward - The emotion of those days came back to Jermaine Griffin as he walked into the Giant Center in Hershey last March. Lower Merion was playing Pittsburgh Schenley for the state championship and suddenly Griffin found himself overcome with jitters, just as he had been 10 years before when he and Kobe were "the one-two punch" who led Lower Merion to the same title. It was special then but somehow has become even more with each passing year, the way the accomplishments of youth occasionally do under the increasing pressure of adulthood. "Can it be 10 years? asks Griffin, 29. "Wow, time flies. Somehow it seems like it should be no more than 5 years. Being there to see them do it again reminded me that I am part of a legacy." Griffin had what he called "huge basketball aspirations" as a player at Lower Merion. They never panned out. He attended Wagner College in New York for a year but did not play. He transferred to SUNY-Farmingdale on Long Island. He played part of one season but quit in order to keep his 11 p.m.-to-7 a.m. job stacking dairy products in a grocery store. Eventually, he got a job as a salesman for Geico. He worked there for 7 years before leaving to become a mortgage broker in Mastic, N.Y. He is single with three children and says, "I feel blessed." While he has not spoken with Kobe since 2002, when Lower Merion honored Bryant by ceremonially retiring his jersey, Griffin still considers the two of them to be on solid terms. "People go their own way once high school is over," says Griffin, who says he knew even then that Kobe would go far as an NBA player. He says that Bryant had an unparalleled work ethic and that it became clear he had the tools to play at that level when he began outplaying pro and college players in informal workouts. Says Griffin: "He was an amazing player." So Griffin is not surprised how well Kobe has done, even if he is somewhat saddened by the allegations that his former teammate faced in Colorado. "He has had a wonderful career," says Griffin. "But it was unfortunate for him to have that situation, which has tarnished it somewhat. He is in a Terrell Owens-, Barry Bonds-type of spotlight because of what happened there." But the Kobe he remembers is the one he exchanged a vow with at the end of their junior season. Lower Merion had just been beaten in the second round of the state playoffs when they told each other in the locker room: "This is not going to happen again." Says Griffin: "So from that point we just had a refuse-to-lose attitude."
BRENDAN PETTIT Junior center - Brendan Pettit remembers the fun they had that season. Whenever they traveled, you could not find an empty seat in the gym. "People would be going crazy," says Pettit, 28. "But we would go in there, and we just knew we were going to win. We just had an excellent team that year. Even without Kobe. There was one game, Kobe fouled out. And we were down. But we still came back and won." Pettit pauses and adds, "I have such vivid memories of that season." While Pettit had a fine career at Lower Merion, cold reality set in when he graduated a year later: College recruiters are less than enthralled by 6-4 centers. Pettit spent a year at a prep school in Connecticut and then played three seasons at Wesleyan University. He worked as a bartender for a year and then settled down in New York, where he got a job in the bridal industry. Work as a temp later led to his current position as a sample manager for Polo-Ralph Lauren. He is single. And while he has not spoken to Bryant since that ceremony at Lower Merion, he has closely followed the trajectory of his career. "The better and better he gets, the bigger deal it becomes that we once played on a championship team together," says Pettit. "And he was very accomplished as a high school player. He wanted it more than anyone else. Even when I watch on TV I can see that. He does some things with the ball that just leave you shaking your head and just saying, 'Wow.' " Pettit remembers Bryant as a "good guy," someone whom he would like to see again if the occasion arose. But he also thinks Kobe has become someone whom fans "kind of hate," if only because he has been so extraordinarily successful at such a young age. Pettit says that the Colorado affair did not win Bryant any fans, and that it "caused people to have second thoughts about him, I guess." Says Pettit: "But he is definitely one of my favorite players." Pettit chuckles and says, "What does he have now - three NBA championship rings? Time has just flown by. It seems just like yesterday that he was bringing the ball up court and I was setting picks for him."
EMORY DABNEY Sophomore guard - Emory Dabney was a 15-year-old starting point guard that season. "There was a lot of pressure on me," says Dabney. "But it was easier because we were such a close team." And that is what Dabney remembers, even beyond whatever glory endures from winning the state championship. He would play for other teams in the years to come, but none surpassed the experience he had at Lower Merion. "What I have come to realize as I have gotten older is how special that team was," says Dabney, 26. "We were like brothers. If one of us had a problem, we helped each other out. And we never bickered. Very rarely do you ever see teammates behave toward each other the way we did." Dabney played two more seasons at Lower Merion and attended Oxnard Junior College in California, where he played with high school teammate Omar Hatcher. Dabney later played at Pittsburgh and the University of Tampa and has since settled down in Philadelphia, where he operates a mortgage company. He is single. He still plays basketball recreationally, which he says is somewhat less taxing on his body than playing in college or even high school. He came to appreciate the work ethic Bryant observed to get where he is today. Says Dabney: "He is extremely talented, but what separates him from other players is how hard he works. And he exhibited that every day in practice." Dabney remains fond of Bryant. While he has not seen or spoken to him since in 4 years, he remembers how Kobe always "made an effort to show me the ropes." Dabney came to look upon him as an older brother. He concedes Kobe has come off as "kind of confused" publicly, but says he knew Bryant would be cleared of the charges that faced him in Colorado. Says Dabney: "I knew the truth would come out eventually." Dabney has people come up to him and ask, "How was it playing with Kobe?" And he remembers the summer before Bryant played his senior year at Lower Merion, when he watched Kobe work out with the pros at a local college. "I think he was using that summer to gauge where he was as a player," Dabney says. "And he just used [then-Sixer] Jerry Stackhouse as practice dummy. I knew then he was going pro."
DAN PANGRAZIO - Sophomore guard
OMAR HATCHER - Junior guard
CARY WALKER - Sophomore forward/guard
Downer summoned a small group of players before the championship game, among them Omar Hatcher and Cary Walker. Starting guard Dan Pangrazio had sprained an ankle in the Eastern finals at the Palestra and would be replaced in the lineup by Hatcher. But Walker remembers that Downer told them, "You are going to have to step up." Lower Merion had a deep bench. Currently a fourth-grade teacher in Connecuticut, Pangrazio had been a fine shooter. And he remembers that season so vividly now, saying: "I remember every game, every practice and every drill." While he says no one would deny Bryant "took us to the championship that year," he adds that the team as a whole had a unique chemistry and that "coach Downer tied it all together." "Coach Downer was a superb teacher," says Pangrazio, who transferred from Lower Merion at the end of his sophomore year and played for the Connecticut state champion Fairfield Prep the following year. He played one season of college ball at St. Mary's College of California before his career ended because of a back injury. He graduated with honors from there with a double degree in Eng-lish and communications. While he has not been in contact with Bryant either, he continues to hold him in high regard. "Kobe was not just an exceptional individual player, but he was a leader out there on the floor," says Pangrazio, who is 27 and married. "Anyone who would place his body on the line during a rebounding drill on some random Wednesday is someone other players just naturally follow. And we did." And Walker says he is just getting better. "The development of Kobe just never stops," says Walker, 28, who is single, lives in Upper Darby and works in advertising. "He works so hard. He has always been that type of person. As a high school player, we always watched Michael Jordan. I did not realize I was playing with someone of that caliber." Hatcher says Bryant was "very polished for his age." Currently the president of a cleaning company in Philadelphia, Hatcher, 26, became a junior-college star at Oxnard and later played at St. Francis in New York. Single with a daughter, he says he is still occasionally in contact with Bryant, who he says "showed character through a tough time" in Colorado. Hatcher says that as he gets older, the championship just increases in significance. "Because I now understand how hard it is to be successful, it has become more precious to me," he says. "I value it more." What Hatcher hopes is that he and his teammates will come together at some point. He thinks that will happen. "All of us are still young," he says. "But 10 years from now, I am sure we will come together and enjoy the fruits of our labor."
2) Maura Lerner of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that Randy Foye’s heart is in the right place…sort of:
His ticker's a tocker: It beats on the right, not left - Timberwolves rookie Randy Foye has a normal heart. It's just unusually placed.
Randy Foye has been a professional athlete only six months. But he's already made history. The 23-year-old basketball player is almost certainly the first sports figure who can say his heart is truly in the wrong place. Foye, a Minnesota Timberwolves rookie, was hoping nobody would notice. But he was born with a rare condition called "situs inversus" in which his heart and other internal organs are reversed -- a mirror image of the ordinary body. As an athlete, he has never been held back by the condition. But for a while this past summer, the star from Villanova University was worried it might sink his career. "I was trying not to say anything," said Foye, afraid that it might scare off teams before June's National Basketball Association draft. "I was going to let them find it. If they didn't find it for themselves, I wasn't going to say anything." His secret came out at the annual pre-draft camp in Orlando, Fla., where teams check out the top talent. He aced the fitness tests, but when the medical exams began, he saw a puzzled look on the nurse's face. And he 'fessed up. "Everything's reversed," he told her. "My heart is on the other side."Wow," he remembers her saying. Before long, nurses and doctors from every team were swarming around him. "I was in there an extra hour and a half," he said. "They wanted to know everything about my condition." Situs inversus occurs in only about one of every 10,000 people, and is believed to be caused by a recessive gene. When the heart is on the flip side, it's known as dextrocardia. In this case, it's the heart and more: the liver, gallbladder, blood vessels and so on. Typically, experts say, people with the condition live a normal life. But it can cause confusing symptoms, such as appendicitis pain on the lower left, not right, or heart attack pangs on the right, not the left. Foye, who was born in Newark, N.J., didn't know about it himself until age 7, when he was hospitalized for two weeks with pneumonia. His doctors discovered it by accident, and told his grandmother, who was raising him. "They said everything is normal, there's nothing to worry about," Foye said. But he remembers that his grandmother waited until he was home from the hospital to tell him, and that she tried to soften the blow. "She said, 'Your heart is on the other side. You're not the only person in the world like this.' " If she was worried about him playing sports with his unusual condition, she tried to keep that to herself. "I just had so much love and passion for sports, she wouldn't take that from me," he said. Back at school, he tried to keep it quiet.
"I didn't want anybody to say, 'Oh, he's different,' " Foye recalled. But word started to get around. One day his second-grade teacher, Mrs. Goldstein, announced that he had something "really special" to tell the class, and so he did. "Everybody wanted to touch me," he said, and feel his heart beat on the "wrong" side. Eventually, the fascination died down. A plan that wasn't needed Meanwhile, Foye grew into a stellar basketball player and won a scholarship to Villanova, in eastern Pennsylvania. There, he told the team's physician about his condition, and nobody seemed concerned, he said. If anything, they joked that he played so well that "if his heart is on that side, keep it over there." As a senior, he was named 2006 Big East Player of the Year. Then in June, on the verge of turning pro, Foye started getting nervous. How would NBA teams react? Foye and his agent hatched a plan: If any team raised a concern, "we were going to get the best cardiologist, like, in the world, to put out a statement ... to say I'm perfectly fine," said Foye. "I've played with this forever. Why is this going to stop me now?" In fact, it shouldn't be a reason to disqualify an athlete, said Dr. Barry Maron, a cardiologist at the Minneapolis Heart Institute who has advised professional teams on screening athletes for heart conditions. "Having your heart on the wrong side is itself not a problem," Maron said, as long as it's a healthy heart. As it turns out, Foye's worries were unfounded. "Not a single team called me to express concern," said Steve Heumann, his agent. On June 28, Foye was the seventh player picked in the NBA draft. Chosen first by the Boston Celtics, he was traded twice that night and ended up as a member of the Timberwolves.
Jim Stack, the Wolves' general manager, said the team did its own research and "came to the realization that this was a nonissue." Foye, he said, "is one of our best guys in terms of endurance and stamina," adding, "that's one of the things that appealed to us." Since the draft, Foye's medical condition has been mentioned in Sports Illustrated magazine. And now he's a footnote in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Under "Situs inversus," it lists just one "notable person" with the condition: Randy Foye. "It's good to be a part of history, " said Foye with a smile, "and not just basketball."
3) Eric Neel of ESPNJ.com’s Page 2 reports on the continued maturation of the games best young centre:
The kid ate them up. I sat courtside for the Magic-Sonics game in Seattle a couple of weeks back and watched it happen. He took balls a clean foot above the rim. He worked quick reverse-pivot moves for little banks. He ran the break and sent guys scurrying with alley-oop dunks. He blocked four shots and changed another eight. He was a perfect 8-for-8 from the floor. He bounced like Tigger in the Hundred Acre Wood and muscled the post like Shaq did once upon a time in Orlando. It was a spyglass night. A revelation. I was looking at Dwight Howard, but I was seeing the future. "You think he knows how good he is?" I asked a friend sitting next to me. "You think he has any idea how good he can be?" He's just a baby, barely 21, so maybe he doesn't realize it. He's quiet and unassuming, so maybe it hasn't occurred to him. He has all the respect in the world for the esteemed Mr. Grant Hill, so perhaps he defers. But if it's starting to dawn on him … if, at 17.1 points and 12.7 rebounds a night, Dwight Howard is getting an inkling, the league had better look out. Because with all the ink we've been spilling on LeBron, Carmelo and Dwyane Wade, this is the guy who can truly dominate. This is the guy who can shred the scenery. This is the unstoppable force. This is the man. Remember that feeling you had watching the young David Robinson and the young Hakeem Olajuwon – that lithe sense that they were capable of anything? That's how watching Howard feels. He's active on every ball off the rim or the glass (a third of his rebounds every night are on the offensive boards), and it isn't just a spring thing. He's eyeballing it while it's still in the shooter's hands, gauging spin and angle on a possible miss. He doesn't tire or take plays off. It's the same deal on offense: quick feet to the spot, a broad-shouldered call for the entry pass, and an aggressive turn, left or right, toward the hole. He's chockablock explosive. He dunks and boards and blocks with equal pop, and can't nobody slow him down.
Along press row, he's all anyone's watching. Guys are shaking their heads, rolling their eyes and whistling as if they'd just seen a cherry Corvette roll down Main Street. There's work to do. He turns the ball over too often, struggles with the double from time to time and needs a go-to post move or three. He finds his offense in the gaps, off the glass or on a cut. The Magic aren't running the offense through him (he scores his 17 a game on just 10 or 11 shots; Robinson and Olajuwon were averaging 16 and 18 attempts per game in their third seasons in the league, though both were older and had four years of college experience each) and with steady production out of Hill, Orlando probably shouldn't be. It's too early. Howard's too raw. But even without a completely reliable move down low, he's growing. His points per 40 have climbed steadily through 2½ seasons, from 14.7 to 17.1 to 19 so far this season. Beyond the numbers, you can see the development in his look, in the quick confident smile he flashes after busting by somebody on his way to the basket, or after turning away somebody's shot like it's nothing but a thing. There's a lot of talk about Howard's being too timid, or too polite, about his maybe lacking a necessary mean streak. But don't mistake that for a lack of swagger, because the kid I saw the other night is feeling it. He may not trust it every trip yet, and he most definitely needs to test it in some playoff fire walks, but it's in there. He needs to know that. He needs to believe it. Because I want more of it. Right now, on the cusp between his truckload of talent and drive and the prospect of true greatness, he's the most captivating player in the league for me, bar none. Playmakers like James and Wade inspire me, make me want to move, remind me why I love basketball. But Howard's thing is some other thing, some tremble-before-me, shock-and-awe sort of thing. He could own this league if he keeps working it. He looks like he has no ceiling. He's going to get stronger physically, and he's going to get bolder. At some point real soon, he's going to be a straight-out unsolvable problem for every team he faces. I see a 10-year run as the East's All-Star center. I see trophies and rings. I see a plaque in the Hall. Am I getting ahead of myself? Screw it. That's how good he looks to me. He looks like I should get ahead of myself just to keep pace. I look at a player like Howard, someone with work to do but with clear, unmistakably scary potential, and I can't help but want more. I picture the jump hook he doesn't quite have yet and envision the up-and-under fake he doesn't yet use to make grown men cry. Does he see it too? Does he know it's out there for him? I don't know. But I can't take my eyes off him while waiting to find out.
4) Kelly Dwyer of SI.com reports on a reconstituted trade and other notes:
An Artest trade that needs to happen and more notes
The NBA was rocked to its core on Sunday when news of a sensible trade that would seemingly benefit both sides hit the street in the form of the Los Angeles Times' Sunday edition. The scuttle says that Ron Artest, who can't be persuaded to take the court these days in Sacramento purple, could go to the Clippers for scoring swingman Corey Maggette in a swap Los Angeles nearly consummated with Artest's former team in Indiana last winter. The deal needs to go down. It will hardly act as a panacea for either squad, but it will recharge both and serve as a bit of motivation as things start to get serious. Both the Kings (11-14 through Monday) and Clippers (11-15) are underachieving, as both of the burly players in question have fallen into distraction mode. Maggette far less than Artest, of course. Maggette has been dealing with trade rumors for a year and a half and has been pretty professional through the whole thing. His play has been quite good, but this didn't stop him from asking for a trade via his agent. Artest has been throwing lobs through the media at point guard Mike Bibby (struggling, to be sure, but also playing through injuries) and new coach Eric Musselman. He pulled out of a nationally televised loss to Washington just minutes before tip-off last Thursday, and has worn out his welcome after a 10-month test drive. The Kings should send Artest and defensive point guard Jason Hart (Sam Cassell has plantar fasciitis, an injury that just doesn't go away) to the Clippers for Maggette and Yaroslav Korolev, a former lottery pick who has shown nothing in limited minutes.
Nobody gets hurt in a deal like this. Until, of course, the Kings realize that Maggette (despite all his talent and dogged determination) isn't the answer to making them a strong playoff team, and the Clippers realize just how much Ron Ron thinks of his offensive repertoire.
Back in February 2005, the Denver Nuggets took a little heat for sending Rodney White and Nikoloz Tskitishvili to the Golden State Warriors for Eduardo Najera, Luis Flores and Dallas' 2007 first-round pick (which the Warriors owned). The Nuggets weren't lambasted for losing White and Skita, who were hardly great shakes, but for the cap implications behind the deal. Had Denver been able to dump its own first-round pick in 2005, and passed on trading for Najera, the salary-cap space afforded by White's and Tskitishvili's expiring contracts (coupled with the cap increase in the 2005 offseason) could have allowed the Nuggets to chase a free-agent shooting guard like Ray Allen, Michael Redd or Larry Hughes. Who would know, nearly two years later, that a lower-rung first-round pick would be one of the deciding factors in eventually netting the Nuggets Allen Iverson? The lesson, as Orlando's Otis Smith (in acquiring eventual cap space and Trevor Ariza from New York), Toronto's then-GM Wayne Embry (who cleared cap space by sending Jalen Rose to, you guessed it, New York) already know: You can always bank on an overmatched fellow GM -- usually working out of New York, Minnesota or Philadelphia -- to help make up for past missteps.
Undersized Kings forward Kenny Thomas (he's undersized when they put him at center, too) made his rep as a strong scorer on the interior who can rebound. And though he's doing solid work on the glass (7.8 in 26.8 minutes a game), he's killing the team on offense. What happened to his touch? It's still there -- he's shooting 49 percent -- but he can't hold on to the bloody ball. According to Knickerblogger.net, 22.2 percent of the possessions he takes part in end up with a Thomas turnover, a putrid number for someone who is supposed to be a scorer. By comparison, the oft-maligned Eddy Curry turns it over "only" 17 percent of the time.
Watching Houston's Yao Ming crumple in a heap on Saturday night was bad enough, but it was especially painful in light of his sublime play the night before. Yao, who will be out six weeks with a broken bone under his right knee, played about as complete a game as he'd ever delivered against the Spurs on Friday night: 22 points, two blocks and seven rebounds in just 26 minutes. And his long arms forced Tim Duncan into missing nine of 13 shots in the Houston win. Meanwhile, the Rockets will not only field the most offensively challenged roster in the NBA, but they'll also have coach Jeff Van Gundy to steer them through the tough times. Van Gundy could turn the 1984-85 Nuggets into an 85-point per game outfit, so it remains to be seen what he'll do with Dikembe Mutombo, Chuck Hayes, Shane Battier, Luther Head and Rafer Alston. Tracy McGrady is set to return and could go off at any time, but so could his lower back. Should McGrady take to the shelf again, there's a possibility of a 52-point evening for Houston.
Having a hard time trying to figure out just how the Cleveland Cavaliers are "underachieving." The team's hot start masked its offensive limitations, and when LeBron James' internationally drained legs start to go out on him, who is he supposed to rely on? Zydrunas Ilgauskas is starting to fade; he could use more shot attempts, but that's not the answer. Larry Hughes, who turns 28 next month, is who he is (inconsistent, and not a great shooter), and guys like Eric Snow and Daniel Gibson don't belong in a 55-win team's rotation. The Cavs are 15-11, on pace for 47 wins, and that sounds about right.
Boston rookie Rajon Rondo, as expected, is off to a poor start, averaging 3.6 points and 2.2 assists in 15.5 minutes. We'd heard about him dominating one-on-one workouts leading up to the 2006 draft, but those sorts of competitions often hide a player's weakness from the perimeter. In five-on-five matchups, teams can slack off the poor shooter, which stinks for Rondo, because he can't shoot. However, the kid's defense, as promised, is phenomenal. Boston is a much better defensive team with him on the floor.
Midway through the second quarter of Charlotte's "clash" with New York last Wednesday, a fan chosen from the crowd nailed a three-pointer during a timeout that netted him $10,000. The fan, clad in a Stephon Marbury jersey, then tried to pump up the crowd before dashing over to the Knicks' bench, flicking his jersey at the hometown cagers and exhorting them to do better (New York ended the half down 11 to the Bobcats). The exhibition was pretty silly, but quite poignant and telling. Coupled with the standing ovation the MSG crowd gave to Michael Jordan a little later, it's clearer than ever that New York fans know what good basketball is all about, and they deserve much, much better. By the way, the Knicks won. In double overtime. Against the Bobcats. Bully for the bullies.
We're not sure what to think of Washington's new alternate uniforms; we've had an uneasy feeling about alternates (of the non-throwback variety) since the Chicago Bulls debuted their black-and-pinstripe road get-ups during the 1995-96 season. Though the idea of the old-timey two-color scheme seems appealing on paper, Washington probably shouldn't have chosen black and gold. Gilbert Arenas, on the other hand, seems to be fully in favor of Washington's cash grab, er, stylistic departure. In the five games the team has played in the alternates (road contests against Philadelphia, Phoenix, Houston and the Lakers and a home game against Cleveland), Arenas has averaged an astounding 46.4 points on 61 percent shooting. Washington has won four of the five games.
5) Mike Kahn of Foxsports.com with his terrific “10 things” column:
Wade dazzles while Shaq, Jackson trade barbs
Dwyane Wade provided a spectacular Christmas present for the Miami Heat and all the NBA junkies who couldn't resist watching Monday. His 40 points, 11 assists, four steals and two blocks in a 101-85 win over the Los Angeles Lakers showed he has surpassed Kobe Bryant as the pre-eminent guard in the game today. But whenever the Lakers and the Heat are involved, there will always be peripheral drama, and that's the Christmas tradition — NBA style.
1. Item: Lakers coach Phil Jackson took a veiled shot at his former center Shaquille O'Neal, currently rehabilitating another injury (this one his knee) for the Heat, by saying that during the Lakers championship run (three titles and four trips to the finals in five years), it hurt them because Kobe Bryant was the only star on the team who kept himself in good physical condition. O'Neal responded by calling Jackson, "Benedict Arnold."
What this really means: Actually, they both were right. O'Neal consistently became exceedingly heavy and in their disappointing 2003 season when they were blown out by San Antonio in the conference semifinals (and could have lost in the first round to Minnesota), O'Neal waited three months to have surgery on his foot — keeping him out until December. He used getting different opinions as an excuse, but three months? Then again, it was Jackson who resigned after the 2004-05 Finals loss to the Detroit Pistons, then wrote about the tumultuous relationship between O'Neal and Bryant, plus his own problems with Bryant. Ironically, it is Bryant who has suffered the brunt of all the problems that team had, when all three had egos the size of California, including the Baja. And that's what got in the way. Bryant was just out there, and considered a petulant child, while Jackson intellectualized his way out of the blame and O'Neal played the "Big Buddy, woe-is-me" card because owner Jerry Buss would only pay him the sun and the moon and not throw in the rest of the planets. And from the NBA's perspective, from Hollywood to South Beach, this is just the kind of soap opera that removes the Dec. 16 brawl in New York between the Knicks and the Denver Nuggets from the consciousness of the fans. Ho, ho, ho.
2. Item: Gilbert Arenas and the Washington Wizards took their show on the road this week having won eight of 10 while moving to within 1½ games of first place Orlando in the Southeast Division. What this really means: Arenas has lingered on the cusp of superstardom, but the past two weeks may have put him over the top — the crowning accomplishment being a franchise-record 60 points in the stirring 147-141 overtime win over the Lakers in Los Angeles last Sunday night, followed by 54 points to end the Phoenix Suns' 15-game winning streak Friday night. Over the past 10 games, he has averaged 37.7 points a game — moving to 30.1 for the season. Arenas' talent never has been in question. His consistency and defense always has caused people to pause. In fact, the same thing can be said about the Wizards in general. At some point, coach Eddie Jordan has to get them to make stops when it matters most — something that hasn't happened despite the Wizards making the playoffs two years in a row for the first time in almost 20 years. To reach the next level, it will be up to Arenas, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler to not only score a lot of points, but get in opponents' faces down the stretch of games. No doubt, the "new NBA that scores a lot," suits the Wizards just fine — particularly in the East. But if they can't make stops, they'll become a traditional first-round and out team — so if Arenas really wants to be held in the same esteem as the other superstar guards, he'll have to set the tone on both ends.
3. Item: The Phoenix Suns set a franchise record with their 15th consecutive win before giving up that overtime loss to the Wizards on Friday night. What this really means: It is becoming abundantly clear on a daily basis that this team is eminently capable of winning the Western Conference. Point guard Steve Nash continues to play at a magical level, keeping everyone involved with high intensity — which only adds to the confidence the team gained by reaching the conference finals two years in succession. It's particularly noticeable in youngsters Leandro Barbosa and Boris Diaw, while Shawn Marion and Raja Bell are veterans with a track record of success. But the big difference is center Amare Stoudemire is getting stronger every game in his recovery from surgery on both knees last year that virtually kept him out the entire season, and the return of Kurt Thomas from a foot injury that incapacitated him the final third of the season as well. In fact, they are essentially two much-needed additions at the power positions without any subtraction. It required all of two weeks for them to fit in, and now we again see what a magnificent coach and assessor of talent Mike D'Antoni is. After wondering how this would all fit early in the season, in the new NBA where offense is king, this could be the year the Suns win their first NBA title.
4. Item: With All-Star forward Richard Jefferson already contemplating surgery on his right ankle to remove bone spurs, the New Jersey Nets lost rapidly emerging 7-footer Nenad Krstic for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. What this really means: Even in the pathetic Atlantic Division where the Nets' 11-16 record has them just a half-game out of first place and last place Philadelphia (7-19) is just four games out, there are rumblings of sweeping changes with the Nets — also because All-Star Vince Carter can opt out of his contract after this season. But keep in mind that all the rumblings about how much money Orlando is under the cap to coax the Florida native has been overblown. Clearly, he'd be giving up tens of millions of dollars to leave and that's a bit hard to believe. It just depends how important this season is to president Rod Thorn and ownership. Because the division is so bad, the Nets can still win the division built around Carter and Jason Kidd — with Jefferson presumably returning healthy for the second half of the season. Already positive momentum seems to be building again for owner Bruce Ratner to get his wish for the megaplex featuring a new arena to bolster Brooklyn. And that means they just need to remain competitive now, but certainly with an eye to a move that is a good four years away. But, again, do you trade Vince Carter?
5. Item: As if the entire process wasn't stormy enough, the Denver Nuggets and Philadelphia 76ers had to agree to pay for private planes to get Allen Iverson to Denver and Andre Miller to Philly despite Denver International Airport being closed due to a snowstorm. What this really means: When the Sixers dealt their superstar and (since released rookie) Ivan McFarlin to the Nuggets for Andre Miller, Joe Smith and two No. 1 draft picks, they were more in the market for expiring contracts than talent. But soon enough they realized Miller's floor leadership experience could be the best thing that happened to them in years. In Denver, it was an entirely different circumstance. Not only was the DIA closed because two feet of snow dumped on the city, but in the first game after Carmelo Anthony (15 games) and J.R. Smith) (10 games) were suspended for their roles in the brawl in New York on Dec. 16, center Marcus Camby broke a finger and will be out for at least another week. So the team did everything conceivable to get Iverson out on the floor, and despite the loss to Sacramento — the ball is rolling for a new future in Denver. Successful or not — before Anthony returns and when it does — this is guaranteed to be fun for coach George Karl, the Nuggets, their fans and everybody else who gets to watch them play.
6. Item: Life with the Sixers has been strange enough with their 12-game losing streak and the trading of Iverson, and now it appears Larry Brown is going to return to the payroll. What this really means: It has been no secret that Brown has been in close consultation with president Billy King and owner Ed Snider over the handling of the team and the entire Iverson trade in general. It's hard to know whether Brown left the Sixers to coach the Detroit Pistons for two years because he was tired of dealing with Iverson or the organization was just plain tired of Brown after six years. It was more likely the former than the latter, but that's not the point. Brown spent two years with the Pistons and the second one — despite winning a title in the first season and reaching the finals the second year — with rumors of him going anywhere and everywhere right into Game 7 of the finals. That led to the biggest nightmare of all, last season with the New York Knicks. As a tactician, he is without peer and unquestionably worthy of his Hall of Fame credentials, but as a 66-year-old man having coached eight NBA teams in 23 years — it is completely unfair to have him looking over the shoulder of coach Maurice Cheeks, whom he has championed in the past. The one thing we do know about Brown is if he loves you today, he'll hate you tomorrow before he loves you again the day after that. And the rebuilding Sixers, like every other NBA team, need more stability than the 42 different starting lineups Brown used last season with the Knicks.
7. Item: The Los Angeles Clippers continue to fade and now the real excitement seems to be stemming from the loud discussions of dealing discontented swingman Corey Maggette to the Sacramento Kings for the highly flammable Ron Artest. What this really means: Considering the huge extensions given to coach Mike Dunleavy and center Chris Kaman — plus the decision not to include guard Shaun Livingston in the trade discussions for Iverson — last season's trip to the second round may turn out to be a fluke after all. Floor leader Sam Cassell, now 37, will be in street clothes for an unspecified period of time with plantar fasciitis, and that will leave the bulk of the responsibility on the floor to Livingston, still only 21 and with limited experience running the team. Once again, the Clippers are at a crossroads, only this time after renowned scrooge Donald Sterling had opened up his wallet in unprecedented fashion. A lot of the problems have stemmed from selfishness and not running the offense through All-Star Elton Brand as the team did so successfully last season. And for all the obvious talent and potential of Livingston that created arguably far too much preseason hype — he has yet to prove he can successfully lead the team without Cassell to guide him. But to add the capricious Artest to the mix at this uncertain juncture is tantamount to nitroglycerin.
8. Item: As if they haven't had a difficult enough time dealing with the unknown quantity — better known as Tracy McGrady's incessant back problems — All-Star center Yao Ming broke his leg last week and will be out for up to a couple of months. What this really means: The Rockets have gone from a serious contender for that fourth seed in the Western Conference to a team that will be in danger of missing the playoffs for the second year in a row. While so much has been said about the physical instability of McGrady — and rightfully so — Yao very quietly has built an impressive (unimpressive?) litany of battle scars himself along the way. The 7-foot-6 center has solidified himself as the best at his position in the NBA this season (25.9 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.2 blocks), but missing two months this season makes it very likely he will duplicate the 25 games missed during the 2005-06 season with toe and foot injuries. None of that creates a positive situation for coach Jeff Van Gundy. It's not his fault that McGrady and Yao are hurt, but the problem has been the lack of talent around them to keep the team afloat. McGrady is supposed to return this week, and that will help, except that he clearly is a cut below the same T-Mac who was capable of dominating any game at any time. In the grand scheme of things, perhaps this period of time is an aberration with the two stars going down. Nevertheless, once players become injury prone, most have a tough time stabilizing again over the long haul. Consequently, it adds intrigue to how the careers of these two stars and the next few years of the Rockets play out.
9. Item: The Seattle SuperSonics remain riddled with pain and confusion, whether it's the unknown future of the club due to the new ownership group from Oklahoma City or the revolving door of injuries that have crippled their starting lineup. What this really means: On the day after All-Star Ray Allen returned to the practice floor after missing nine games with an ankle injury, high-scoring forward Rashard Lewis tore a tendon in his right hand and will be out approximately eight weeks. To a team that already has the second worst record in the Western Conference entering this week, the immediate future does not bode well. Seattle lost young starting center Robert Swift to major knee surgery during the preseason, and have had three different centers try to replace him — all are virtually ineffective. The only saving grace is even at six games below .500 they are only 2½ games out of the eighth spot in the West. Still, they must deal with reality. Allen going down altered their already fragile chemistry, and now Lewis — who is eligible for a two-year extension and could opt out of his contract this summer — has done likewise. Because he is such a superb shooter and scorer, there has been plenty of buzz around the league about him because the Sonics are in such a state of flux. And that leaves coach Bob Hill and general manager Rick Sund in even more unstable positions with the future so murky. And in the really big picture, the lack of success on the floor almost without fail leads to a lack of support for public funding for a new arena. Majority owner Clay Bennett has to know that as he prepares his proposal to the Washington legislature that will make or break the future of the Sonics in Seattle.
10. Item: Now that the circus has left Chicago, the Bulls are back and apologies are in order for prematurely crushing them over the handling of Ben Wallace's headband, the performance of Wallace and the future of the team with him. What this really means: To be sure, it's hard to fathom that Wallace is worth $60 million over four years with his aging body and offensive limitations, On the other hand, consider that the Bulls have won 13 of 15 and climbed back into the lame Eastern Conference race. Perhaps more importantly, Wallace quit pouting and whining to his former teammates on the Pistons and started to play like the uber-defender/rebounder that earned him all that money in the first place. During the past 10 games, Wallace has averaged 9.2 points, 13.7 rebounds 2.7 blocks and 2.2 steals — including games of 27 and 20 rebounds. The good news for the Bulls is Wallace has proven he can still dominate a game defensively and on the boards, while igniting fast breaks and offense the rest of the time. He is the decider of how far defense will carry this team. Granted, the Bulls still lack the go-to guy in the frontcourt at the end of games, and are counting too heavily on the perimeter shooting of Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich and Andres Nocioni. But if Wallace really is motivated to play at this level the rest of the season and his teammates respond in kind, then they really are contenders in a weak conference. And should they get to even the Eastern finals, even money says the Bulls will reconsider their headband rule and let him wear one next season — as long as he matches team colors.
posted by Cornback at
10:40 a.m.
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