"I'm back."
When Michael Jordan made his first comeback during the 1994-95 season he put out a press release with those two words announcing his return.
I know I'm not Michael Jordan. I'm not even Lamont Jordan. But I didn't know how else to announce my return.
For those of you that don't know, I got married on April 12, left for my honeymoon soon after that, and then moved to a new place just a few days after I got back.
Since then my life has been consumed with packing and unpacking boxes, numerous trips to Home Depot, and waiting for my Internet, gas and telephone to get turned on.
The good news is that NBA Playoffs didn't wait for me.
This week's NNO is super-sized as my way of saying sorry for the long delay.
Since I no longer have potential playoff match-ups to end each article with, I've decided to use trivia questions until next season.
This weeks trivia question:
Kobe Bryant is tied for the longest tenure of any player with his current team, 12 years. Which player does Bryant share that distinction with?
(Answer at the bottom of the page)
1) D'Antoni to the Knicks?
This seems to be the hot rumor of the day.
Suns' owner Robert Sarver has given Mike D'Antoni permission to talk with other teams about their coaching vacancies. The reason Sarver hasn't fired D'Antoni is because he'd still be on the hook for the remaining two years and $8.5 million left on D'Antoni's contract.
D'Antoni won't quit, because then he'd be forfeiting the money. So Sarver has given him permission in hopes that another team would be willing to basically take the contract off his hands.
D'Antoni is talking to the Knicks because they might be desperate enough to not only take on those last two years, but give Mike D an additional two or three years at $6 million per year.
This move makes so little sense on so many levels that you'd think Isaiah Thomas was still running the show in New York. Don't forget that the Knicks are still paying Thomas $18 million over the next three years.
If the only way that D'Antoni leaves Phoenix is to make greater-than—or equal-to— the remaining two years and $8.5 million he has left on his current contract, then the Knicks will be paying $10 million next year just in coaches salaries.
D'Antoni makes for a much better fit with the Bulls than he does with the Knicks. But it looks as though he couldn't care less. He's obviously going to go to whichever team is willing to give him the most money.
The only guy that seems to like money more than D'Antoni is Sarver.
Sure, D'Antoni should have payed more attention to defense. But ultimately, Robert Sarver is the one to blame for the Suns' inability to win a championship. Had Sarver not given away Kurt Thomas and James Jones in an effort to save money, then the team probably would've hung onto Shawn Marion and given their title hopes the one last shot that group of guys deserved.
16 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Michael Whittenberg about 1 year ago
Good article. D'Antoni is making a mistake signing with the Knicks.
I think Chicago is the prefect place for him, but all he cares about is the money.
P.S.: The trivia question was too easy.
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Andrew Ungvari about 1 year ago
He's definitely making the wrong choice but he obviously cares more about the money. What happens to Mark Jackson now? He already quit his broadcasting job with the Nets. Does he just stick to national telecasts? His family lives in Los Angeles. Maybe the Clippers hire him.
Who coaches the Suns now? I'm sure they'll make a run at Jeff Van Gundy but what if he's not interested? Doug Collins has already said he's not interested. I doubt they go after Avery Johnson.
The trivia was definitely too easy for NBA aficionados such as yourself. I think most people would be surprised to find out that Big Z has been in Cleveland through Dan Majerle, Shawn Kemp, Bobby Phills and Danny Ferry.
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Erick Blasco about 1 year ago
And DaJuan Wagner, Robert Traylor, Ricky Davis, Darius Miles, Smush Parker...no wonder the Cavs sucked so much during the early part of the 00's.
I too wonder about Jackson. Does he fall of the coaching map or does he latch on as an assistant somewhere?
And the Rockets shot is a bit harsh. I was very impressed with the way they competed throughout their entire first round series against the Jazz.
Too bad, after a 28 point first half, the only thing T-Mac can do to start the 2nd half of Game 6 is fire up two 18-foot baseline fallaways. Way to get your squad into attack mode McGrady.
That team is doomed if McGrady is their main scoring option, and he makes so much money that the Rockets can't find too many other scorers to fill out a roster.
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mitch james about 1 year ago
you dont think houston would be better with arguably the best center in the league back? love to here the logic behind that...
also it's easier for me to say this today because the celtics just got routed but i wouldnt write of the cavs just yet...having said that i couldnt be more suprised by the celtics inability to dispose of inferior teams.
sure a little adversity is good but they seem to be having a harder time than they'd like. paul pierce and ray allen need to start playing like the type of players they are.
if these playoffs have taught us anything it's that one guy cant singlehandedly get his team over the line against quality teams (see rockets v jazz game 6), make no mistake this isnt the same east that let lbj coast all the way to the finals.
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Andrew Ungvari about 1 year ago
The best center in the league? According to who? Even after missing his rookie season, I still think that 25 out of 30 GMs would choose Greg Oden over Yao if they were the same age. All 30 would take Dwight Howard. It wasn't like the Rockets lost to the Spurs.
I don't think Houston gets out of the first round with or without Yao. It's not like they've ever done it with him. I'm not surprised a Rockets fan disagrees with me.
I'm not writing off the Cavs. It's funny that everybody mentions the Celtics are 0-5 on the road but nobody mentions they're 6-0 at home. They don't have to win on the road to win the title. They just can't lose at home or they'll have to win on the road. If the Cavs don't win Game 5 they won't win the series. Meanwhile, the Pistons could have a week off between series.
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mitch james about 1 year ago
wow your article from feb had heaps of comments, for the record i dont think you could be more wrong... i'm gunna cite the lakers this year as a team with a strong nucleus (denver: melo, iverson rox: tmac, yao)that were only a trade (even if its still got the grizz shaken their heads) away from success.
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Andrew Ungvari about 1 year ago
The Lakers were a team built from scratch. With the exception of Kobe and Luke Walton (and later Derek Fisher), there isn't one other player that was on this team in 2004 when they lost to the Pistons. That was four years ago.
The problem with the Rockets is that they're not an up-and-coming young team like the Hornets, Jazz, Lakers or Blazers that is at the beginning of a run. And they're not a veteran team like the Spurs, Suns or Mavericks. They're stuck in the middle. They've got $36 million committed next year to a shooting guard who just can't get over the hump and a center who gets injured every year. They've got good role players in Battier, Scola and Alston but compared to the rest of the conference that team is really not that good.
They won't be better than the Spurs, Lakers, Jazz or Hornets next year either. Take off your fan goggles for a second and you'll understand what I'm saying. I'll refuse to believe otherwise until either team proves me wrong.
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Kevin Nolan about 1 year ago
Nice article. Wasn't SVG a long time assistant who took over for Riles? (not that that one ended pretty)
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Andrew Ungvari about 1 year ago
Yes. But he wasn't young like Pfund and Spoelstra.
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mitch james about 1 year ago
actually if it where up to the gms they would take yao over any player in the league. just ask battier and scola who are earning 10 mil from chinese shoe sponsorships. dont froget at the end of the day the gm just wants to make money wether it be by gaining exposure from a championship or having a country of 2 bilion behind your team.
also i can catagorically guaraqntee you that no team will ever win a championship with the inability to win on the road!
oh and for the record i'm not a god damn laker fan, i can see objectively without my fan goggles on.
so lets not argue semantics. falling back on stats alone you have to place yao up there with top centers. as for oden well i'll be surprised if he's all that they've billed him up to be: let me just roll of a few names for you: kwame brown, michael olowakandi, andrew bogut, adrea bargnani....try and guess what they have in common...
and lastly, i dont think you quite understood the point that i was making: the lakers are not where they are because they're young and up and coming, because man they were the same team last season, the only diffrence is they burgled pau from the grizz and added him to kobe and lamar.
there success has nothing to do with the age of their team. let me spell it out for you. if pau had come to houston then theyd be in the lakers boat....
case in point...your team doesnt need a complete overhaul to become serious contenders. just a few new additions. the trajic rox fan in me says that anyway
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Andrew Ungvari about 1 year ago
The GMs job isn't to just make money. His job is to field a competitive team in a fiscally responsible way. The owner might just be concerned with making money but I don't think that's the case with Les Alexander. One need only watch the championship celebrations from 1994 and 1995 to see that.
And you made my point even stronger by touting Yao's ability to bring in money for the team. If that's the team's main objective and they don't care about wins and losses then you should be mortified as a fan.
My point about up and coming teams is that their respective windows are wide open. This Lakers team has a 29-year-old, 28-year-old, 27-year-old, 34-year-old and (when healthy) a 20-year-old in their starting lineup. It's not unrealistic to assume they'll only get better. Teams like the Spurs are at the tail-end of their prime. But the Rockets are neither. If this is their prime then what makes anyone think they'll get any better next year?
The Lakers are not the same team as last year. I'd say that Derek Fisher is a bit of an upgrade over Smush Parker as well. Their current starting lineup only has two players that were starters last year--Kobe and Odom. That's a 60% change. And I'm not even mentioning Trevor Ariza or the maturation of young players like Andrew Bynum, Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic. Ask any Laker fan and he'll tell you that the subtraction of Brian Cook, Kwame Brown and Smush Parker would have made the team better even if they'd only received 2nd-round picks in 2027 for them.
I'm not attributing the Lakers success to the team's age. I'm telling you that destroying and rebuilding is a much more effective way of building a contender than trying to do it on the fly.
Yao and T-Mac are really good players. Neither has the ability to take their team over the hump, alone or in tandem, yet their both being paid the type of money given to those that can.
Do you wanna know what Kwame Brown, Michael Olowakandi, Andrew Bogut and Andrea Bargnani have in common? For starters, I'm going to exclude Bogut from the conversation because he hasn't really been a bust. He's no star but he averages 8 fewer points than Yao and only one fewer rebound. The two are about even in assists and blocks.
But those other three guys didn't dominate the college game like Oden did and he did it as a freshman in a major conference. Brown came straight from high school, Bargnani came over from Italy and Olowakandi beat up on that ultra-soft schedule played by the University of the Pacific. Let's also not forget that Bogut was the only consensus number 1 heading into that draft from that group. The others were all in drafts were there was no clear number one pick.
By the way, take a look at the 2001 NBA Draft where Kwame Brown went number one (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_NBA_Draft). Tell me who you think should have gone number 1. In retrospect, the best player in that draft turned out to be Gilbert Arenas and he was taken in the 2nd round.
Look at the 1998 draft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_NBA_Draft) where Olowokandi went first. The best player in that draft turned out to be Dirk Nowitzki and he went 9th.
So you're comparing apples and oranges with Oden.
If Pau had gone to the Rockets then they wouldn't be where the Lakers are at. Instead of having two career underachievers they'd have three. They might as well change the team name to the Houston Out-In-Round-Ones.
You're right when you say a team doesn't need a complete overhaul to become a contender. What I'm saying is that team better be young and have some financial flexibility because the clock is ticking. When your two best players are aging, both have horrible injury histories, and make up the bulk of your team salary, the addition of a mid-level player like Juwan Howard, Mike James, Bonzi Wells or Steve Francis isn't going to put them over the top. And when you're drafting between 20 and 25 every year it's unlikely you'll be able to add that impact player through the draft either.
And I don't know what made you say that you're "not a god damn laker fan". It's just basketball, mitch. Don't let it get you so angry.
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mitch james about 1 year ago
i'm sorry bogut i was over zealous in placing you in the company of kwame......i laughed my head off at that last line, adding to the humour is that it came from a guy who lives with the angriest nba fans in the world. check that, lets say passionate i reserve the angriest tag for utah fans....excert from 'the salt lake tribune' "where 'who cares that you averaged 30,8,8 for the series your still a joke stacy mclady' happens, D-E-R-O-N for mvp"
....i'm just gunna shake my head at that
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mitch james about 1 year ago
i'm sorry bogut i was over zealous in placing you in the company of kwame......i laughed my head off at that last line, adding to the humour is that it came from a guy who lives with the angriest nba fans in the world. check that, lets say passionate i reserve the angriest tag for utah fans....excert from 'the salt lake tribune' "where 'who cares that you averaged 30,8,8 for the series your still a joke stacy mclady' happens, D-E-R-O-N for mvp"
....i'm just gunna shake my head at that
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mitch james about 1 year ago
i'm sorry bogut i was over zealous in placing you in the company of kwame......i laughed my head off at that last line, adding to the humour is that it came from a guy who lives with the angriest nba fans in the world. check that, lets say passionate i reserve the angriest tag for utah fans....excert from 'the salt lake tribune' "where 'who cares that you averaged 30,8,8 for the series your still a joke stacy mclady' happens, D-E-R-O-N for mvp"
....i'm just gunna shake my head at that
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mitch james about 1 year ago
yeh i cant say it was my intention to emphasise that last comment three times...oops computers fault
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Andrew Ungvari about 1 year ago
I didn't think you did it on purpose. By the way, Laker fans aren't angry. 9 titles in 28 years. What's there to be angry about? It wasn't like their only titles came because MJ decided to take a year-and-a-half off.
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