Losing with a Star Isn't Easy but Can Pay off Later for Those Caught in Middle
Every now and then a team, despite having a superstar, struggles. Mightily struggles. Either the star is past his prime, ancillary pieces are missing or the two simply don't fit.
There's an awkwardness about it all, as if some unwritten basketball code is being violated before our very eyes, the kind that makes you avert your gaze or stare in morbid fascination. It also seems like a total waste—of both the superstar's talent and the years of those around him, be they final or formative.
But there can be redeeming value in a season like the one Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers, or Carmelo Anthony and the New York Knicks, are experiencing. Former power forward and current Thunder TV broadcaster Michael Cage is proof of that. So is Atlanta Hawks sharpshooter Kyle Korver. Indiana Pacers assistant coach Popeye Jones insists he is as well.
All of them played a season with a superstar in decline on a team that finished well below .500 and out of the playoffs.
For Cage, it was as a rookie with the 1984-85 Los Angeles Clippers and Bill Walton, eight years removed from leading the Portland Trail Blazers to a championship. Korver was a rookie with the 2003-04 Philadelphia 76ers and Allen Iverson, three years removed from his lone appearance in the Finals. Jones was at the other end of the spectrum, playing his ninth of 11 seasons with the '01-02 Washington Wizards and Michael Jordan, who was ending a three-year hiatus after his last of six championship runs with the Chicago Bulls.
Cage played for a 31-win team that owner Donald Sterling had just uprooted and moved from San Diego to Los Angeles without league approval. The team had no dedicated practice site and played its games in the dingy and dangerously located Los Angeles Sports Arena.
The crosstown Lakers were in their dynasty days. Walton had myriad foot problems. As miserable and chaotic as all that sounds, Cage looks back now and believes the building blocks for everything from his 15-year playing career to his rebounding title to his lasting marriage to his current broadcasting career were laid that first season.
"It set the tone for my entire life," he says now. "There was a lot going on, and my head was spinning. Even though we didn't win, I learned things that were valuable later. Perseverance is a master teacher. I just kept my mouth closed, and I watched and listened."
Cage credits veterans such as Marques Johnson, Norm Nixon, Franklin Edwards and Harvey Catchings for shaping him on and off the court.
"Bill talked a lot, but at that time he talked a lot about himself," Cage said. "The biggest input came from Marques. He was as high character as they come. He would tell stories in the back of the bus. Campfire stories. It wasn't always basketball.
"They all talked about how one day I'd have to get married and the women to look out for until that day came. They told me about the joints where you could get in trouble. They talked about the drug culture in the business and that you were going to pay a price if you entertained it. If you mess this up, they said, this is going to haunt you. The back of the bus was like a barbershop."
Korver's mentors were point guard Eric Snow and shooting guard Aaron McKie, although in a different way.
"Aaron was a pro's pro," Korver said. "He took every day serious. You couldn't sub in for him on a drill, and he wouldn't let you show him up in practice. He didn't want to come out of games. But he also helped me get some clothes that first year, and he gave me a really nice watch."
Korver sees Bryant, in his way, imposing the same standard Iverson did on him. "Allen still played so hard every night," Korver said, "and he wasn't going to pass you the ball unless he thought you were going to make it. His thinking was, 'If you're not going to make it, I'm just going to get my points.' You wanted to prove to him every chance you could that he could trust you."
As a veteran, Jones wasn't looking for mentors, but he did learn some valuable lessons watching Jordan that serve him now as an assistant coach with the Indiana Pacers.
"At his age, after all he'd accomplished, to see him go about his business the same way despite not having success told me a lot," Jones said. "It's all about the routine. My biggest thing was his commitment to the weight room. Every day before practice he'd lift, home or on the road. No matter where we were, he'd find a place he could get it in. That's what I thought was really special."
Seeing Jordan continue to fight Father Time made Jones want to do everything he could to honor that effort. "You see the love and passion for the game and when it's not happening the way it has in the past, you feel bad, as if you're letting them down," he said. "Even at that point in my career, he motivated me to try to be better."
For all the tales of how demanding Jordan was of his teammates in Chicago and the videotape of Bryant haranguing his fellow Lakers earlier this season, Jones saw a different Jordan in Washington and a different Bryant on the court in a recent Lakers-Pacers game.
"You'd heard how Michael was back then, but he never did anything like we heard Kobe did in practice," Jones said. "Michael always talked in scrimmages, but you could tell he was trying to be patient. I saw the same with Kobe on the court when we played them. There were times when their guys just couldn't make a play [Pau] Gasol and [Lamar] Odom made, plays he was used to having made."
There's no telling yet if Ryan Kelly or Wesley Johnson or Jeremy Lin will be able to look back at this season and trace their future success to lessons learned from Bryant or one of the team's other veterans, Carlos Boozer, Ronnie Price or Nick Young. Not if their experience is similar to Cage's.
"I didn't understand a lot of what they were teaching me at the time," he says. "Things like, 'teams that can put their differences aside have a chance,' and 'everybody goes through losing stretches' and 'you have to put your ego aside and be fully committed to winning.' I had all this stuff in my head, but it wasn't working."
But there's plenty to be gained through the grind now that will pay off somewhere down the line.
"Sometimes it's not about winning and losing," Cage said. "It's, 'What are you going to get out of this situation that is going to make you stronger?' If they taught me anything, it's that if you want something, you have to stick with it."
Ric Bucher covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @RicBucher.
