Thoughts on Opening Night

Obviously the highlight game, the one everyone was looking forward to (my wife watched it…she’s a Celtics fan, though is torn because she despises Shaq), was the Heat vs. the Celtics. And, while it got off to a rocky start for the Heat, all it took was for Lebron to grab control of the game and almost single-handedly pull the Heat to within one triple of tying the game with a minute to go in the fourth quarter.

The fact the Celtics have been playing together for a couple of seasons was enough to push them ahead. While I think the Heat will eventually be a formidable team (as long as the big three stay healthy) I can’t help but point out that the Cs were integrating new, large pieces into their style of play as well. Love Rajon Rondo's 17 assists and 3 turnovers, but he still can't shoot 2-9, which has got to be somewhat disappointing for Celtics' fans hoping to see Rondo take his game to superstar levels. If he continues with that busted jumper, his ceiling is all-star occasional game-changer. If he could hit threes? Top three point guard easily.

On a side note, watch out for Jermaine O’Neal who is really in an ideal situation to have a helluva year—efficiency-wise at the very least. He’ll get to split time with Shaq, Glen Davis and Kevin Garnett, so he won’t be exposed to 30-plus minutes of banging down low every night. The dude is only 32 and had an underrated season last year with Miami (though all anybody remembers is his horrific playoffs). While he can’t dominate with size like Shaq, and he’s not the beast of a defender that Kendrick Perkins is, overall, JO is definitely the Cs best all-around center.

As for the Heat, they’ll be fine, though 72 wins never seemed so far away. And they are going to struggle mightily against teams with big centers.

Tuesday, the Heat tallied 17 turnovers to only 15 assists. Bosh had 8 points and 8 boards on 3-11 shooting, while Wade shot 4-16 with 6 assists and 6 turnovers. Lebron had 31 points and 3 assists, but turned the ball over 8 times. Cleaning up the turnovers will come with familiarity.

Another side note: while it's been said that the Heat will struggle to guard big centers, most notably Shaq and Dwight Howard, is it completely insane of me to think that Lebron should get some time covering Howard? Just a thought. Both are freak athletes, and while Bron gives up a couple of inches, he might actually weigh more than Howard. Of course, you don't want your best player getting in foul trouble, but he's never had that problem before. Besides, it wouldn't be for the whole game, but, I'm thinking they might have to go with that...unless Jamaal Magloire, Big Z and Joel Anthony are going to unload all 18 of their fouls on Howard.

That Houston tandem of Kevin Martin and Aaron Brooks is going to be a nightmare matchup. Both have slight frames, and therefore struggle defensively. But with Yao an intimidating presence in the key, one that can foul with abandon thanks to his strict 24-minute time limit, Martin and Brooks’ defensive liabilities will be masked to a great extent. That is the Yao effect.

For the Lakers, Pau Gasol has suddenly become the man on the team with Kobe working back from injury though, it’s hard to say ‘working back’, then read Kobe’s 27, 5, and 7 statline. Matter of fact, it’s hard to say Pau is the man when it was obvious he struggled a bit taking so many shots. Yao’s size had a lot to do with that, but Pau also settled for 8 jumpers outside the key. He hit one. It’s the first game and the first time Pau has been the go-to option on the Lakers, so he’ll improve. In fact, the broken play where he picked up Kobe’s fumbled drive and scored was the second biggest play of the game.

If Shannon Brown can continue to shoot like that? Sasha Vujacic won’t see the floor, which means his stock will continue to plummet, meaning when he becomes a free agent at the end of next June, the offers will be minimal. All that to say that the soon-to-be Mr. Sharapova might need to borrow from his wife-to-be in order to pay for that $250,000 rock he bought her. By the way, Shannon is leading the league in PER at this moment in time.

Bryant played extremely well on the offensive end, especially in light of the fact he’s in the latter stages of his rehab on his surgically repaired knee. But, his defense was atrocious. Martin and Lee both blew right by him like he was a traffic cone on several plays. One wonders if his lateral quickness will come back this season.

If it doesn’t, Kobe’ll be better at covering small forwards. And if Brown continues his stellar play and becomes the designated 2-stopper, than we might begin seeing that Brown, Blake, Kobe wing combo that finished Tuesday’s game a lot more often. Which means that Ron Artest is going to lose minutes. Wonder how that’s going to sit with him?

One last point and why I love Kobe so much. Coming out of a Lakers timeout at the 2:48 mark, the Lakers are up 103-97. Kobe has a chat with Steve Blake, moving his arm in a circle like he's diagramming a play. He’s teaching, or at least relaying to Blake the holes in the Houston defense that he sees.

Fast-forward to the end of the game, Lakers down by one point with 20 seconds left on the game clock, Kobe drives to the hoop, stutters, sucks the defense in, and then kicks it out. While it almost looks like a pass to Gasol, who pulls his hands away at the last second, the ball sails perfectly into Blake's hands as he is circling back up to the top of the key, finding him in rhythm.

The newbie, who along with Theo Ratliff and Matt Barnes had to watch the rest of his teammates collect some gaudy jewelry before the game, knocks down the game-winning 3 pointer.

Now, tell me how that’s not making your teammates better…

The Greatest Season Ever: Post 1

Been a long time since I last posted something. No time like the present to start it up again. I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about an NBA season before. So many changes, so many exciting storylines: the Superfriends, the Lakers 3peat aspirations, the maturation of young teams like the Bucks and Thunder, the refusal to concede of veteran championship squads like the Celtics and Spurs, vindication mixed with a pinch of revenge for the Cavs, and of course Blake Griffin.

Here’s an interesting thought. If Andrew Bynum really will be out until December, a Lakers squad sans the soon-to-be 23-year-old is not nearly “faraway best in the west.” In fact, without Bynum, Dallas has a much deeper, bigger team and suddenly Portland has the size advantage and the Thunder no longer is too small.

On a quick side note, I honestly think expectations are too high for OKC. First of all, while the team has extremely talented bigs, all of them are really power-forwards, except for Cole Aldrich who’s big, but also a rookie. In addition, the Thunder have never won a playoff series and they’re a young team (average age was 24 last season). The last Finals team whose best players had never won a playoff series before that season was the Shaq/Penny Magic in 94-95. And as good as Durant is going to be this year, not sure he’s at 94-95 Shaq level. Shaq, because of his sheer size, caused massive adjustments on both ends of the floor. Durant’s awesome, but he still lacks defensively, and in three seasons he’s never averaged three assists. Even Melo averages more than three assists. Hell, a third-year Shaq only had 16 less assists (in three less games) than a third-year Durant. So, yeah, Durant’s got a ways to go before he impacts entire games like young Shaq. End, somewhat long “quick side note.”

All that to say, if Bynum is out? Yeah, definitely I can see the Thunder beating the Lakers.

And, I really, really like a healthy San Antonio team. Especially if Richard Jefferson learned anything at all from Greg Popovich over the past month in their one-on-one time. A Jefferson closer to his 08 self, a healthy Tony Parker (who, for whatever odd reason a lot of people seem to be overlooking), and 2010 MVP of the Spanish League Tiago Splitter, along with Duncan, Ginobili and Pop—that team is Lakers-with-Bynum good.

So, I’m not convinced that the Lakers are far and away favorites in the West. On a similar line of thinking, I don’t understand how people believe the Heat are going to automatically roll to the finals. Could they win 70 plus games? Absolutely. In fact, if they don’t, it’s going to be somewhat disappointing. I mean, come on. They’ve got arguably the Association’s top two talents and arguably the league’s best power-forward. I know Pau Gasol is widely considered the best power forward. And I think he’s a wonderful player. Top-15 for sure. But he’s playing with Kobe Bryant! Who’s Nowitzki played with? (Okay, Nash, but he’s no Bryant). How about Chris Bosh?

Forget Bynum, Artest, Odom, and Phil’s HOF coaching, Bosh has never even played with one other great player. I mean, Vince Carter…Sure, VC had MJ talent, but without the MJ drive to go with it, the former Tar Heel high water marked at all-star/best dunker of all time—which is sadly poetic considering VC stopped doing the dunk contest because he didn’t want to be known as a dunker.

But, I again digress. Back to Bosh. While he never has played with much talent, he’s also never been coached by the best. No offense to Kevin O’Neil, Sam Mitchell, and Jay Triano. O’Neil has an NBA record of 33-49 to go along with his 187-194 career college record. Mitchell won coach of the year, but in four full seasons, his teams only had one season over .500, a 41-41 season, a 33-win club and a 27-win club. Triano’s 65-82 for his career.

I know Spoelestra (career 90-74 record) is no veteran coach, but he did a phenomenal job with last season’s team that finished second in opponent FG%, second in opponent points per game, and seventh in defensive rating according to basketball-reference.com while ESPN’s John Hollinger had them rated as the fourth best defense. That’s all the physical evidence I need to accept that he truly is Pat Riley’s disciple. Whatever you may think of Pat Riley, there’s no denying his ability to win. And in terms of quality of NBA coaches, Riles walks closest to Red Aurbach.

So, it will be interesting to see how the storyline concerning Bosh’s status in the NBA goes and how people’s view of Gasol as the best power forward will change now that Bosh is playing with Kobe-Bryant-level talent, under the direction of a Hall of Famer.

Remember, Bosh shot 77 percent during the 2008 Olympics. He also led the team in rebounding and as a roleplayer, he was free to play tenacious defense. With Lebron and Wade this season, I could easily see a healthy Bosh shooting over 60 percent from the field and averaging 11 plus rebounds while leading the team in scoring and being a beast on defense.

K-O-B-E

Kobe Bryant won that game last night. (You can check out his miracle three here.)

Look, I don’t mean to belittle Pau Gasol’s tip back that tied the game with a minute to go or his pair of clutch freethrows to bring the game within two with nine seconds to go. I especially don’t want to overlook Derek Fisher’s step back three that put the Lakers within a point with four seconds left in the game. All of those plays were critical, vital even.

I’m also not going to argue that Dwyane Wade missed a freethrow after Fisher’s triple that would have ensured the Heat at least overtime. Hell, the guy went 12-18 from the stripe last night (a side note, Wade’s freethrow total nearly matched that of Bryant, Gasol, and Andrew Bynum combined (21), who, as noted in ESPN’s Weekend Dime make up three of the top five players in the NBA in scoring in the paint).

But I will say it again. Kobe won that game. He put the team on his back going into the fourth quarter and turned a 76-76 tie into a six-point Laker advantage a minute and ten seconds into it. The boxscore indicates he only had three assists, but he fed several wide-open looks to Ron Artest, Fisher and Shannon Brown (a combined 9-32) that they just didn’t hit. He was moving the ball around in the first half and only took six shots.

And because of his last second game winner, nobody is even talking about him slicing between three defenders and fading away to a hit running-bank to end the first half.

Kobe also helped to limit Wade to 2-9 from the field in the first half.

In fact, Bryant seemed to make it his mission to harass Wade and outside of about six times a high pick came and Wade made something happen via scoring himself or assisting on a bucket or getting to the line, Bryant accomplished his mission. Wade did a lot of his damage when matched up against Brown and Artest. Brown, while energetic and athletic, doesn’t possess the savvy necessary and Artest, who is a brute and can hang with bigger small forwards, doesn’t have the speed to hang with Wade.

The Black Mamba put full body pressure on Flash and forced him into tough shots or giving up the ball (though I’m still not sure why Bryant picked him up at half court and beyond).

Offensively, Kobe put on a show as well. He hit a now standard fake left, turnaround fadeway jumper, a running, left-handed baby sky hook, as well as a couple of different and ones, including a scoop shot off a drive into JO (which could have been a charge…)

And of course, he hit this shot. Watch it again. Staples Center…Where Kobe happens.

Oh, it’s also where Sasha Vujacic can put up a statline of zeros across the board and yet still manage to have a +6 in the +/- department. (Hint, he was in during the last few seconds of the game when Fish and Kobe both hit their improbable threes.)

Shrewd Customer?

Color me curious, but I think Bryant not opting out of his contract is a shrewd business move. Sure, there's talks of a three to four year extension, but that's not supposed to happen until later in July. While a lot of media are focusing more closely on Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza (as they most certainly should be) I can't help but think that Kobe is using his position to leverage the Lakers. He wants the whole team back, and if he had opted out he would have distracted Lakers brass from pursuing Odom and Ariza (I mean, he would then become the number one priority for the Lakers). Also, if he worked out a new contract, he would be guaranteeing himself as a part of this franchise before knowing for sure if Ariza and Odom would be back. He seems to be back in love with the Lakers, but he remembers what happened last time he signed on the dotted line with promises of building a contender. Two straight years of Smush Parker and Kwame Brown. Kobe's learned from his past mistakes. With him only signed for one more season right now, the onus is on the Lakers to fork over the money for both Odom and Ariza, which would make Kobe happy, and would help solidify in his mind to sign that extension.

Men from the Boys

Loved this comment by Byron Scott,

"This is still pitty-pat basketball to me. This is not physical and aggressive basketball the way it was in the '80s and '90s. This is so watered down compared to then that it's unbelievable. I think Kobe (Bryant) said it best: some of the things that (Utah Coach) Jerry Sloan used to do and some of the things we did in the '90s, they wouldn't allow you to do now. From that standpoint, it's not really a physical game. I wish they would go back to some of those rules from the '90s. It would separate the men from the boys."

I think this comment is hilarious considering that if the game was played the way it was back in his day, Scott's best player, the supposed best point guard on the planet, Chris Paul, would not be nearly as good as he is.

I honestly believe that Paul is struggling so much in this year's playoffs because he's not getting the calls he was getting during the regular season. Outside of Dywane Wade's miracle finals where I'm pretty sure he got a foul called against the Mavs for the wind generated from one of the ref's whistles, the playoffs are a tougher, meaner, more physical beast. That's why Nash's Suns could never make it. That's why Nowitzki couldn't win. That's why the Lakers didn't win last year.

Tough, gritty teams, like the Spurs, like the 3peat Lakers, and like the Celtics, have been the champs.

Look, I'm not trying to take anything away from Paul's toughness. Pound for pound, he's probably the toughest guy in the league (would've said AI, but he quit, and quitters aren't tough). What I'm saying is that if you could grab and hold, hand check, clothesline guys without getting suspended for half a year, then Chris Paul, at 6 feet, 180, would get creamed.

Paul is great, maybe the best, at creating contact. Nine times out of 10 he's the one who initiates the contact to draw a whistle. He's a master at changing pace, then stopping on a dime to get guys to run into him, or driving hard to the basket and putting his shoulder (and elbows) into bigger defenders to get a whistle.

But, he's not getting those calls in the playoffs.

-Speaking of not getting calls, Mr. Kobe Bean Bryant needs to shut up. He bitches after every single non-call. In fact, I'm kind of tired of all the Lakers whining about non-calls. Play the game. Pau and Bynum scream after every play like they've been raped. Kobe often doesn't get back on defense because he's glaring at the ref. STOP moaning, get back on defense, and get the ball back.

-Back to the toughness aspect of the playoffs. With a healthy Kenyon Martin, a healthy Nene, a drug-free Birdman and a swapping of the Answer for Mr. Big Shot, the Nuggets have become a nasty defensive team. Can't say enough about the defensive swagger of Dahntay Jones either. Even Melo, and to a lesser extent J.R. Smith have bought into the defensive mindset, and this post season, it shows. It's shining even.

-Rajon Rondo, I apologize for saying you were only good because of Pierce, Ray Ray and K.G. Clearly, you are the Celtics best player right now. Rondo's averaging 24 points, 11.5 assists, 10.5 rebounds (yup, a trip dub) and 3.5 steals on 48.7 percent shooting while only turning it over 1.5 times. If the C's could've pulled out that first game (I'm looking at you and your bricked free throw Paul Pierce) then Rondo would be the unquestioned MVP of this postseason so far. And for those people who think the Celtics need to win this year or their window is closed, Rondo's name should be and will soon be up there with Deron Williams, Chris Paul and Tony Parker. Add him to KG, Jesus and the Truth? That's still the best team in the East, maybe in the League.

Beides, there's no gaurantee the Cavs will be just as good or even make it to the Conference Finals in the East next year. Big Z and Big Ben will be older, and there's a possibility Varejao won't come back. And if Blake Griffin is added to the Washington Wizards, look out for that team too. Yeah, you heard me right. The Wiz could be damn scary next year with a healthy roster and Blake Griffin.

-So much for the Hawks sweeping the Heat. Yeah, Wade had a great game last night. He hit 6-10 from beyond the arc (one of which was that crazy bank shot over two guys fading to his right about three feet beyond the line), but let's see if he or his team can repeat that performance three more times. I highly doubt the Heat are going to shoot 66 percent again. I say Hawks in 6.

-This story about Tracy McGrady and then this one from ESPN's Truehoop got me thinking about why Dywane Wade can't be put ahead of Kobe Bryant or Lebron James as far as best player goes. Health is definitely a skill and Bryant and James have proven they can stay healthy. Guys like Manu Ginobili and Tracy McGrady have or had the skill/talent to be considered the best in the game, but neither player had the genes or the sheer will power to stay off the injured reserve. I remember a time when it was a legitimate argument of whether T-Mac was better than Kobe. Now, that argument seems stupid and inane, but during that 02-03 season, it was close, especially seeing as how Kobe had Shaq and Mizzy had, er, Andrew DeClercq.

For all the advanced statistics that will tell me that so and so player has per 40-minute averages of this and a rebound rate of that, if he doesn't actually play 40 minutes a game for a full season, then I can't rank that player ahead of another player who does, just because that player is not as efficient.

So, right now, Bron Bron is the best player, Kobe the most well rounded and skilled.

Wade, he's like a slightly lesser version of each mixed together.

And while we're on the topic of best player, the MVP award will be handed out soon. All those Denver fans shouting for Chauncey Billups are looking pretty smart right now, especially considering how he's handled Paul in their matchup thus far. But, as much as people want to give credit solely to Chauncey, the remergence of Anderson along with a fully healthy Nene are equally responsible for the Nugs turnaround this year.

For those people who were touting Dwight Howard as an MVP candidate, no most valuable player fouls out of a must win home game in the playoffs and then watches from the bench as his team wins anyways--winning behind the shooting stroke of a rookie no less. Orlando's in more trouble than I think they're willing to admit.

No More Revisionist History

Yo Mike, don't forget about us...

There’s been a lot of talk about who is MVP this year. Lebron James' Cavs has the best record in the league and the best stats. In my opinion, as many others assess as well, he’s the clear cut choice. However, the arguments that make the case that he has a worse team than Kobe Bryant, I’m just not buying. I broke down the idea of skill versus talent in a previous post to begin to exemplify my point.

Call me a Kobe apologist, but the dude has always been knocked for playing with Shaq to earn his rings and not being able to lift mediocre talent deep into the playoffs. While Kobe currently is playing with a very talented squad, his mediocre teams were “mediocre” at the very best, and only because Kobe was on them. With starting centers, Kwame Brown and Chris Mihm, and starting point guards Chucky Atkins and Smush Parker, and starting small forward Luke Walton, it’s fair to say that Kobe’s talent was sub-mediocre to downright awful. His most talented sidekick has been Lamar Odom, and everyone knows Lamar is the epitome of inconsistency.

The idea that Michael Jordan won six championships all by his lonesome is one that infuriates me to no end. ESPN’s Chris Broussard does this all the time. So, what I have done is compiled a team of current players that could somewhat matchup with the 95-96 Bulls team that won 72 games in terms of style of play, production and talent-level. It’s a difficult thing to do, trust me, because that Bulls team had several players with whom there are no real comparisons in today’s game.

Anyway, here’s what I came up with.

Michael Jordan (29.4 PER): Dwyane Wade (30.2)
Thought I would go with Kobe? Well, this season, Wade’s numbers are more reflective of MJ. Kobe’s game will always be a prettier version of MJ’s, but as far as raw numbers, Wade’s season is right there with Jordan’s 95-96 campaign.

Scottie Pippen (21.0 PER): Paul Pierce (17.1)
Actually, last year’s Pierce is a better comparison. Even still, Pierce isn’t the defensive sieve that Pippen was, though he’s a better offensive player. Less steals, but a better clutch scorer.

Luc Longley (11.9 PER): Marc Gasol (16.5)
Gasol is more polished than Longley, even at this early in his career, but they both have similar skill sets and put up similar numbers. Neither was a great rebounder, both can pass fairly well, and both have a certain amount of finesse to their games.

Ron Harper (14.4 PER): Marquis Daniels (12.9)
This comparison isn’t perfect either. Both are big two guards who,
due to pretty good handles, can play the point guard position. Both
could average 18 plus on a bad team. Both are poor outside shooters. Harper was better, because he was a much better defensive player, but this comparison holds up pretty well, especially considering that Daniels has improved somewhat in that area this season.

Dennis Rodman (13.6): ?
There really isn’t anyone like Rodman in today’s NBA. David Lee gets a bunch of rebounds, but not nearly as many as Rodman, plus the Worm’s in a different universe defensively. Dwight Howard is close with the rebounds, but of course, his offensive game, though raw, is the same distance from Rodman’s O as Rodman’s D is to Lee. To appreciate how truly unique Rodman was, you have to consider that the league’s leading rebounder right now, Howard—who is a good 3 inches taller and 40 plus pounds heavier and light years more athletic—would only be having Rodman’s 10th best rebounding season. And even at that, Howard’s year (his best I might add) isn’t quite as good. Rodman’s tenth best season came when he was 37. Howard is 23. My immediate comparison jumps to 2000-03 Ben Wallace, but even though Wallace finished first, second, first in rebounding those three years, he collected only 181 more rebounds in 31 more games than Rodman did as a Bull and averaged 4 less rebounds per game over that same span. Of course, Big Ben (a four time defensive player of the year recipient) also brought the blocks and steals. The Worm, a former two-time defensive player of the year himself, did so by never once averaging one steal or one block in any of his 14 seasons. Rodman was a better man-on-man defender, while Big Ben was the best help defender of at least the first half-decade of the 21st century. Rodman was equal parts Ron Artest (mentality), Bruce Bowen (defensive-style) and Ben Wallace (rebounding). So, there really is no comparison for Rodman, but Wallace circa the turn of the century, is the closest I was able to find.

The BENCH:

Toni Kukoc (20.4 PER): Hedo Turkoglu (14.55)
The best comparison in terms of skill set is probably Hedo Turkoglu. But Turk’s nowhere near as efficient. Maybe last season’s Turk matches up better (17.66 PER).

Steve Kerr (15.2 PER): Steve Blake (14.8)
Blake averages more assists because he has to, and nobody in the league today (and only Tim Legler back in 95-96) can compare with Kerr’s 51.5 percent from deep. Blakes 43 percent, while good, is nowhere near that lofty mark. Even still, the two Steves have a lot of similarities. Both are super efficient point guards who take care of the rock and are deadly from beyond the arc.

Bill Wennington (11.0 PER): Kurt Thomas (14.2 PER)
Not super great at anything, but hardnosed defenders who liked to bang and had a decent 15-foot jumper.

Jud Buechler (14.1 PER): Sasha Vujacic (12.3)
Though one was clean cut and the other is greasy, both are non-athletic white boys who have sloppy handles, but excel at shooting and playing gritty, mosquito-annoying defense.

Randy Brown: Brevin Knight
Nothing special, but feisty and efficient.

Jason Caffey: Chris Douglas-Roberts
Rooks who did the little things.

Dickey Simpkins: Jamal Magloire
Simply the numbers matched up.

Jack Haley: Mark Madsen
Complimentary, annoyingly dorky white boy at the end of the bench.

So, this "new" Bulls team is pretty awesome right?

PG: Marquis Daniels
SG: Dwyane Wade
SF: Paul Pierce (circa 2008)
PF: Ben Wallace (circa 2002)
C: Marc Gasol

With a bench consisting of Hedo Turkoglu (circa 2008), Kurt Thomas, Steve Blake, Brevin Knight, Sasha Vujacic, Jamal Magloire, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Mark Madsen.

Now, you telling me that if this team was constructed like this today and they won the championship, that we would all say, hell, Dwyane Wade carried this team all by himself?

Come on…

Kobe Str8 Smushed!

Smush Parker must be suffering from the same sort of memory issues that Shaq suffers from. In this interview now circulating the internet, Smush says playing with the Lakers was overrated, that he had NO beef with Phil Jackson, that Kobe is the reason for all the Lakers problems, and that Shaq is one of the best teammates.

First off, this is coming from a third string point guard, who, playing alongside Kobe, had the only two seasons of his NBA career that will be remembered. Coincidentally, with Kobe pulling double and triple teams every night, Smush was able to score 11 points a night on 44 percent shooting. Outside of that, in his other 126 NBA games, Smush averaged 5.6 points on 39 percent shooting on in three seasons on 5 different teams. Hell of a career Smush.

As for his supposed beef against Kobe, perhaps Smush forgot about this little interview where he said Kobe's a great teammate and that he's really helped him with the Triangle Offense.

As for his non-beef with Phil Jackson...

Sunday, March 4, 2007

Smush was taken out of the game with 5:40 left and he walked over to the bench and swore at Jackson. Jackson shook his head in acknowledgment and went about his business of coaching the team. After the game, Jackson made it a point to talk to Parker about his reaction."I usually don't iron things out like that after the game," Jackson said. Parker, who missed 4 of 5 shots and finished with three points, "just kind of got flaccid," Jackson said.

April 7

Lakers guard Smush Parker lashed out at Coach Phil Jackson on Thursday after being benched for the entire fourth quarter of Wednesday night's 90-82 loss to the Clippers. Jackson said he thought Parker looked fatigued and was not applying sufficient defensive pressure. Asked whether he would be ready to play in tonight's game against the SuperSonics in Seattle, Parker said, "I was ready to play [Wednesday] night. I wanted to play [Wednesday] night. I didn't appreciate being benched." Facing reporters at the team's El Segundo training facility after practice and before heading to the airport for the team's flight to Seattle, Parker was asked what he thought he had to do to get back on the court. "I feel fine. I felt I did everything I need to do to be out there. I gave up trying to read that man a long time ago," he said, referring to Jackson. Jackson said he and Parker had spoken earlier Thursday. "He talked, I listened," Parker said. "That's usually how it goes. He just asked me if I got my energy back. I was like, 'Energy? I never lost it.' " With the Lakers trailing 75-69 after three quarters Wednesday, was Parker surprised he wasn't put back in? "I'm always surprised when I don't play," he said.

Check out the Smush Pot!

As for Kobe playing with Smush, here's my favorite blogger David Friedman's take on the matter.

Hopefully Smush is having a great time in China. I guess he thought he deserved to go this past summer so decided to play out there waiting for the next Olympics (shhh...don't tell him that they'll be in England in 2012).

Skill Versus Talent

Charles Barkley on last night’s TNT telecast when discussing this year’s MVP said that if you substituted Lebron for Kobe on the Lakers, that the Lakers would win 70 games because the Lakers have far superior talent.

Chuck speaks from his heart, which can be funny at times, bold at others. In this instance, it’s just ill-informed. Kobe and Lebron have different games. Kobe’s really changed his game this year with Gasol, Odom and Bynum clogging the middle. He’s become primarily a jumpshooter which accounts for nearly 80 percent of his shots.

The Lakers really only have three players who can hit from beyond the arc outside of Kobe, Sasha Vujacic, Jordan Farmar and Derek Fisher. That’s why the subtraction of Vladimir Radmanovic has hurt their offense whether people want to admit it or not. Luke Walton is horrible from outside of five feet, as I’ll show in a second, and Ariza is a streak shooter at the absolute very best.

82Games.com sheds some stats on the matter showing the percentage of jump shots taken by each player and their subsequent effective field goal percentage from that area.

Fisher: 86 percent jump shots, 55.6 percent EFG
Odom: 41 percent jump shots, 37.8 percent EFG
Gasol: 42 percent jump shots, 47.6 percent EFG
Bynum: 35 percent jump shots, 41.5 percent EFG
Ariza: 57 percent jump shots, 42.5 percent EFG
Walton: 69 percent jump shots, 37.4 percent EFG
Vujacic: 90 percent jump shots, 48.6 percent EFG
Farmar: 65 percent jump shots, 44 percent EFG
Powell: 60 percent jump shots, 41 percent EFG

Only three of the Lakers regular rotation players shoot better than 45 percent as jump shooters: Fisher, Vujacic and Gasol. Everyone else, especially Odom and Walton (starters), shoot a pretty bad percentage as jump shooters. Walton is especially horrible considering that 70 percent of his shots are jumpers. Vlad Rad was at a blistering 57 percent EFG. The Lakers dip in offensive efficiency of late and their lack of bench production can directly be tied to Luke moving into the starting spot and Vlad Rad moving to Charlotte.

At the very least twice a game, Kobe will drive and kick out to a wide open Walton who will clank the three or the 15-17 footer. That’s two dimes a game, without exaggeration. In fact, if you look at the games or even the quarters the Lakers do well, it’s when Walton is a factor on offensive and hits those shots.

Bottom line, especially with Bynum, the Lakers score the majority of their points in the paint. As the team’s best perimeter player, Kobe’s job is to hit jump shots. And considering he’s the number one option who takes the most difficult shots, his 46 percent EFG is pretty amazing.

On the flipside, Lebron’s 42 percent EFG from jump shooting is rather pedestrian. His bread and butter is taking it to the hole where he takes nearly 40 percent of his shots and is shooting 70 percent. That’s better than most centers, and is equally amazing.

His team is designed to shoot jumpers. Here are their stats.

Williams: 87 percent jump shots, 54.5 percent EFG
West: 79 percent jump shots, 53 percent EFG
Szczerbiak: 88 percent jump shots, 52 percent EFG
Ilgauskus: 65 percent jump shots, 46 percent EFG
Gibson: 89 percent jump shots, 48 percent EFG
Pavlovic: 70 percent jump shots, 56 percent EFG
Varejao: 41 percent jump shots, 34.6 percent EFG
Hickson: 40 percent jump shots, 31 percent EFG
Wallace: 25 percent jump shots, 18 percent EFG

Outside of the power forward spot, this team is a deadly jump shooting team with four players well over 50 percent EFG and one who is close at 48 percent. And while Ilgauskus is not quite as effective as Pau Gasol (46 to 48), he takes nearly 20 percent more jumpers than Pau and for the most part is just as deadly.

My point in all of this is that replacing Kobe with Lebron would most likely make the Lakers worse. Even if Lebron is a better talent than Kobe (not saying he is) or can do more for a team (he does), his presence on the Lakers would probably do more harm than good.

First and foremost, with Bynum and Gasol clogging the lanes, he’d have a much harder time driving to the hoop and getting his bread and butter shots. His outside shooting runs hot and cold, whereas Kobe is far more consistent, and would lead to a lot more 5-25 games like the one he threw up against the Lakers who forced him to take midrange shots and threes and effectively kept him away from the basket.

He’d also make Odom completely irrelevant. Odom’s best weapons are his abilities to drive, finish and pass, and Lebron’s a stronger, better and vastly more consistent version of the long, ball handling savy wing player.

Without Odom, the statement that the Lakers have more talent than the Cavs is completely untrue.

Also, instead of kicking it out to West, Williams, Gibson, Szczerbiak or Pavlovic, Lebron would be dishing to Walton, Ariza, Vujacic, Farmar and Fisher.

In fact, the opposite of what Barkley said might be more true.

On the flipside, if Kobe were on the Cavs, he’d be forced to take it to the hole, where he’s shooting inside shots at a 66 percent clip. Not Lebron-esque, but not shabby to say the least. It should go without saying, but just to make it crystal clear, it’s far easier to make closer shots than to make farther shots…

Kobe is also a much better freethrow shooter than James, so while he might not finish as many drives, he’d make up for it with his proficiency behind the line. He’d also get more assists kicking it out to actual shooters that can actually shoot.

Of course, because Bron Bron and Kobe play different positions, he’d also eliminate one of the perimeter players, either Szczerbiak or Pavlovic, but that just means the team would be better on defense.

As for Barkley’s comment, this isn’t fantasy basketball. If you added Lebron and subtracted Kobe from a Lakers fantasy basketball squad, then sure, you’d be the hands down favorite to win your league. In real basketball, floor spacing, coaching, style of play and maximizing the talents on your squad are vital for success.

Kobe’s ability to create space for his bigs, while remaining highly efficient for someone who is asked to shoot 80 percent of his shots from the perimeter, is why GMs, coaches and players around the league still believe him to be the best player in the league. Lebron is the best at what he can do, but he can’t do everything.

So while Kobe is not quite as good at being Lebron, he’s vastly better than Lebron is at being Kobe.

Finally, the Lakers are said to have a lot of talent although this reputation is based on the performances of four kids under 25 who had breakout seasons last year. So far, Bynum has failed to stay healthy and only started to play like he did last year for less than ten games. Farmar and Vujacic have grossly regressed. Only Ariza has started living up to his potential.

Of course, the prime example of talent not yet realized is Mr. Lamar Odom. Mr. Unfulfilled Potential. And even Lebron James can’t make Lamar consistent.

On the other side, the Cavs have a very specialized, skillful team. So while the talent might not be better, the skill level most certainly is. Wallace and Varejao are defensive bigs who grab boards and are good on the screen and roll. Both have very limited offensive talent, but their presence makes the Cavs a great defensive team.

As pointed out above, the Cavs also have a bevy of shooters. Shooting is a skill that takes years of practice. So while Wally world isn’t more talented than Odom, he’s definitely more skillful. The Lakers have a bunch of talented athletes, Ariza, Farmar, and Bynum, but no one can say that they are skillful. And, the one skillful rotation player outside of Fish and Gasol is Walton. And Walton is skillful at everything but shooting.

So, sure, maybe Kobe has more talent on the Lakers, but the Cavs have more skill.

Which is better?

The standings say they’re about even…

The Big Mastermind

I’m sure you’ve heard that the Phoenix Suns are in dire straights.

The Suns have fallen to ninth in the playoff race. They’ve gone 5-5 in their last 10 including two in a row before the all-star break. They lost to a group of mediocre teams: Charlotte, New York, Golden State, Chicago, Minny, and even Philly should be thrown in there. Those are teams that a squad who fancies itself championship material just can’t be losing to on a consistent basis.

Coach Terry Porter was just given the axe after a mere 50 games this season.

Owner Robert Sarver wants to cut costs at any expense, despite swallowing the remaining $4 million on Porter’s contract, including trading away his most valuable asset in Amare Stoudemire.

Steve Kerr, who ruined the team by demanding a defensive-minded approach on a roster with nothing but offensive-minded players and then trading his best defensive players away (Marion, Bell, Diaw) for offense-only type players (Shaq, Jason Richardson), has put everyone and their mother on the trading block…well, all except for the one player who can’t physically play any defense at all (Nash).

At the center of the storm, is a man who is trying to weasel his way into another situation that will add rings to his fingers. It’s surprising that more people haven’t seen this obvious ploy, especially considering he’s the biggest man in the NBA.

Shaq is trying to become a Laker again. All year the signs have been there. He’s been downplaying the feud between him and Phil and him and Kobe since September. His exact words were "marketing ploy." When the all-star game shaped up to feature him, Phil and Kobe once again, he started rehashing about how the three of them created the drama, created the interest, but that there were no hard feelings. He’s been repeatedly saying how he and Kobe were the best duo the league had ever seen. Talking about how much he respects Phil. Two weeks ago, he out of the blue declared Kobe as the best player in the NBA, making it a point to rate #24 over Lebron.

During the all-star game introductions, he donned a mask and danced with the JabbaWockees instantly becoming one of the most talked about highlights of the weekend. Having created enough of a buzz with the media about the “dynamic duo” in the weeks leading up to the game, despite only playing 11 minutes during the game, he was named co-MVP with Bryant. He even laughed, heartily I might add, at Kobe’s joke about “Steel Magnolias.”

This after a summer in which he mocked Kobe in a freestyle with the chorus, “Kobe, tell me how my ass taste.”

See, Shaq, despite the jovial appearance and goofy personality, is truly a mastermind. His whole performance, this whole “I love Kobe and Phil” rhetoric is all part of his greater plan.

He’s trying to remind L.A. how fun and cool and Hollywood he is. He’s trying to get himself out of the sinking boat that is the Phoenix Suns and put himself into a position that maximizes his showmanship as well as gives him the best chance to get ring number 5 and possibly even 6 over the life of the rest of his contract. And what a way to exit.

Come back to Los Angeles. Reunite with Kobe. Repair old wounds. Swoop in and ride Kobe’s superior talent and hard work, but receive all the credit and fame, knowing that the naysayers will discount Kobe (who hasn't won without Shaq) and give all the credit to him. If they win rings, it'll just be like old times. Exactly like old times in fact.

See, in order to be considered the best, he has to get more rings. Nobody’s touching Russell’s 11. Besides, Russell played during a different era. An era where one team dominated and it just so happened that Russell was on that team. I’m not discounting his greatness at all, but to hold any NBA player up to that standard is unrealistic.

Therefore, the modern day bar is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s six. And Shaq knows this.

He also knows that the Lakers have plenty of bigs. Andrew Bynum will be coming back, perhaps this season, so taking back-to-backs off won’t hurt the team at all. He knows that Pau Gasol is the perfect complimentary player for his skills, unlike Amare.

He also knows that a big segment of Los Angeles still loves him and that an equally big segment of L.A. (perhaps the same segment) loves the idea of trading Lamar Odom.

Hopefully, Mitch plays this one as smartly and patiently as he's played it the last couple of years.

Seeing as how the Suns are now going to revert back to team basketball under Alvin Gentry and fastbreak a lot more, Shaq’s all-star numbers are going to take a severe hit.

His welcome in Phoenix has outworn itself quicker than any of his last few stops.

So he wants to revisit his best and most memorable stop.

From the inside looking out, it sure seems like Shaq needs L.A. Badly.

Too bad for him, the feelings aren’t mutual.

Somewhere, there’s a message about not burning bridges, something about karma…

Lakers Fall, D-Will Rises

Well, I'm pretty sure Kobe Bryant misses Vladimir Radmanovic. Luke Walton can be good. Emphasis on "can." And he certainly understands and executes the triangle more effectively than Vlad Rad. But damn, there's no doubt in my mind that Kobe misses Vladi. Luke can't shoot to save his life. Vlad, as shown by his 8-16 from beyond the arc in two games with the Bobcats, most certainly can.

The Lakeshow shot a stinky 5-19 from three last night (mostly behind Kobe's 1-7) but boy hooie could they have used a streaky 3-point shooter.

Luke Walton is frustrating. In the third quarter, Pau Gasol steals the ball and Luke streaks down the court for an open layup. Mehmut Okur (yeah, the super fast guy on the Jazz) closes in on Luke and tries to swipe at the ball and hits Luke's left arm. Luke misses the gimme and one opportunity. He then steps up to the stripe and bricks both freethrows basically turning a for sure and-one into a turnover. On the defensive end, Lakers get the stop with Paul Milsap airballing straight to Kobe. Kobe brings the ball up and chucks up a semi-contested 20 footer (more on his poor shot selection in a second). Luke hustles down and almost has an offensive rebound that is knocked out of his hands by Ronnie Brewer. Luke takes the ball out, gives it to Gasol, gets it back and curls around and then tries to lob a pass to Pau. The ball is stolen. The Jazz fastbreak. Fisher makes a great play to stop C.J. Miles dribble. Miles passes back to Brewer but Luke makes the hustle play of recovering back on defensive and then knocking the ball out of bounds.

Three consecutive series that end with Luke almost making a 3-point play but coming up with nothing, almost getting an offensive rebound, and then almost making a steal.

As for Kobe, I don't know what happened or what's been said to him since Bynum went down, but he's not looking to pass much at all. He's not moving the ball as much anymore and is instead taking a bunch of contested shots. Little ball movement. A lot of one on one. When he's on, it's brilliant. But when he's taking tough shots and they ain't falling? He needs to start working the ball around.

The Lakers played crap defense last night (the Jazz shot 59 percent from the field and scored 113 points) but it was Kobe's poor shot selection that cost the team the game. He took 33 shots, and add to that 4 other attempts that ended in fouls...that's 37 attempts...three times as many as the next closest Laker (Pau and Odom who shot a combined 15-26).

Mr. Bryant...pass the damn ball. What happened?

Mr. Odom, three straight games and three career rebounding nights. If he can keep this production up, he'll grab 50 boards the next time the Lakers play the Jazz during the last regular season game. Ha.

Speaking of the Jazz, Mr. Deron Williams is blazing hot as stated in the last post. He dropped 31 and 11 on the Lakeshow. Amazing how people still think Chris Paul is so much better.

Wade vs Kobe

There was some hype going into last night’s Heat versus Lakers game that featured the two premiere shooting guards facing off in Los Angeles. There was added intrigue for Lakers fans, due to the Heat being one of only 6 other teams who have beaten the reigning Western Conference champs.

The game featured the league’s top (Wade) and third leading scorer (Bryant) butting heads. Literally. Wade finished the game with an ice pack on his head and Bryant had to have 4 stitches above his right eye. It was a gritty matchup, unlike their high-scoring affair three Christmas' ago.

The Heat stayed in the game thanks to the hot shooting of rookie Michael Beasley who drilled 10-16 shots for 23 points and the three point accuracy of Daequan Cook who shot 5-9 from downtown. Looked like he got his wrist slapped at the end of the game, but I see that happen to Kobe all the time, so, no harm no foul I guess. The Lakers stayed in the game thanks to Andrew Bynum's 24 points and Fish's 11 assists and Pau's 18 rebounds.

As far as the main event matchup is concerned, if you were to simply check the box score, you would read that Kobe got badly outplayed by Wade. Flash finished with 27 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks, shooting 10-22 from the field.

On the other side of things, the reigning MVP made only 5-14 shots, finishing with 19 points, 7 assists, and 2 rebounds with no steals or blocks.

What the boxscore does not tell, is that Kobe, despite the poor shooting night, had the better night of the two. While Wade was pretty much asked to do everything, it was obvious that Kobe’s main responsibility was to stop Wade. #24 was up in #3’s jersey from the moment the ball was inbounded on every single Heat possession. Wade’s going to be smelling Bryant’s sweat at least until Miami plays Minny on Tuesday.

Both star guards played the entire first quarter. During that quarter, Wade shot 3-6, with a turnover and 2 assists. Kobe, amassed 6 assists and but only 3 points on one attempt.

Kobe and Wade both sat out at the beginning of the second quarter. Lakers had a 26-21 lead, and carried that until Wade entered at 8:08. At about the 7 minute mark, with Kobe still on the bench, Wade goes on a tear and proceeds to hit a 3 pointer, 2 freethrows and a 21-foot jumper to tie the game at 34-34. Overall, he’s 2-3 from the field.

At 5:33 of the second quarter, Kobe checks back in. With Kobe hounding him again, Wade finishes the quarter with a made bucket, 2 assists and 2 turnovers.

In the first half, while going up against Bryant, Wade shot 4-7, with 3 turnovers and 4 assists. When Kobe was out, Wade shot 2-3, with a pair of made freethrows.

The third quarter began with both playing the entire 12 minutes. With Kobe hounding him again, Wade misses all four of his attempts and the Heat’s 1 point lead vanishes into a 60-73 lead for the Lakers. At the 2:30 mark, Wade puts the team on his back and scores a layup and draws a foul on Gasol for the and-one. He gets to the line again for two more freethrows. Then misses another shot. For the quarter, Kobe went 4-7 from the field and 1-1 from the line with 1 assist. Wade shot 1-6 and 3-3 from the line with no assists. The Lakers carry a 71-77 lead into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth, Wade and Kobe both sit. Wade enters first at the 9:33 mark. In the span of a minute, from 8:25 to 7:24, Wade scores 7 points, all while Bryant is still riding pine. His flurry turns a 77-85 lead for the Lakers into a 3-point game 82-85.

Kobe Bryant enters at 7:11 and Wade doesn’t score the rest of the way shooting 0-4. He does, however, amass 4 assists in the final 7 minutes of play, with 3 in a row that helped knot the game at 102. But he doesn’t score, nor does he get to the line.

With Kobe manning Wade up, Flash shot 5-17 from the field, hit 3-3 freethrows for 13 points and had 8 dimes to 3 turnovers. When Trevor Ariza or Sasha Vujacic was covering Wade, Flash was 5-5 from the field, 3-4 from the line for 14 points and had one assist and no turnovers.

Basically, Kobe forced Wade, pretty much all by his lonesome (I mean, he did get help defense) to become a distributor while he was guarding him. On the flipside, Kobe was constantly seeing double teams, and while Flash did guard Kobe throughout the game, Kobe saw Marion down the stretch.

So, while the final box score heavily favors Flash, it was Mamba who was the silent killer and the main reason the Lakers were able to pull this game out. He played some mean, mean defense tonight, and was a huge reason why his team won despite his putrid 35 percent from the field.

More and more evidence that box scores barely tell half the story.

Above all, this game was a unique testament to the greatness of two players, displayed in completely different ways. Wade showed his brilliance by scoring half of his 27 points in the tiny window of 5 minutes when Kobe was not guarding him. Even more impressive is how Kobe was able to slow down the league's leading scorer to a 5-17 shooting performance in the other 35 plus minutes the two played together.