Bleacher Report - Articles by Adam Miller

NBA Southeast Division: Meet the Cellar of the Eastern Conference

Adam Miller — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:34:28 -0400

Atlanta Hawks

Projected Depth Chart:

PG Mike Bibby/Speedy Claxton

SG Joe Johnson/Ronald Murray/Thomas Gardner

SF Josh Smith/Maurice Evans

PF Al Horford/Marvin Williams

C Zaza Pachulia/Randolph Morris/Olumide Oyedeji

After losing Josh Childress to Europe, the Hawks’ near-upset over Boston looks more like a mirage than a step in the right direction. This team has the capability of making a run for the playoffs like last year, but even then, Atlanta’s record was still well below .500.

The Hawks are still a young team capable of surprising people, and they should consider it a great season if they finish above the Washington Wizards. However, they are going to have a hard time making the playoffs if Josh Smith and Al Horford don’t step up and become the great players that their potential suggests they will become.

The only leadership on this team comes from Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby—two players who are probably more comfortable fitting a role than becoming a go-to player. The challenge for Bibby is going to be utilizing Smith and Horford’s talent to be the same team that almost knocked the Celtics out of the first round last year.

Charlotte Bobcats

Projected Depth Chart:

PG Raymond Felton/Shanon Brown

SG Jason Richardson/Matt Carroll/Donell Taylor

SF Gerald Wallace/Adam Morrison

PF Emeka Okafor/Sean May/Jared Dudley

C Nazr Mohammed/Ryan Hollins

Instead of adding more draft picks, Michael Jordan finally realized it was time to put some veteran leadership on the Bobcats and traded for Jason Richardson. That isn’t necessarily going to make Charlotte a playoff team anytime soon, but it at least gives the team a positive outlook for the near future.

Richardson is going to provide a nice offensive spark to a team that is all about defense, but really wasn’t much of a scoring team. Then again, considering the Bobcats were only five games out of a playoff spot despite winning just 32, it’s not unfathomable for Charlotte to at least inch closer to getting out of the lottery.

The only downside is that the rest of the teams are becoming more competitive, and the addition of Richardson might not provide the dividends that Bobcats’ management would hope for. If there’s one thing that Charlotte does have in its favor, it’s the sizable cap room that the Bobcats will have to make a trade or big free-agent acquisition next year.

If the Bobcats get another scorer like Richardson or a veteran point guard, this team is well on its way to making the playoffs for the first time in its history.

Miami Heat

Projected Depth Chart:

PG Marcus Banks/Shaun Livingston

SG Dwayne Wade/Daequan Cook/Yakhouba Diawara

SF Shawn Marion/James Jones/Dorell Wright

PF Michael Beasley/Udonis Haslem

C Mark Blount/Jamaal Magloire

The Heat have fallen quite a bit since their glory days as a championship team. Granted, there is still quite a bit of talent with Shawn Marion and a healed Dwayne Wade along with rookie Michael Beasley.

The problem is that Beasley will probably make an impact right away, but he won’t make enough of an impact for the Heat to dominate the Eastern Conference—and Marion is unhappy in Miami. The real question for the Heat will be how effective Wade can be without having Shaq around as the team leader.

Given his performance this summer at the Olympics, the answer should be very effective, but the Heat won only 15 games last year. If Wade can at least help Miami double that number, he should be considered for MVP—although it’s doubtful that anyone missing the playoffs could make a strong case for winning that award.

Orlando Magic

Projected Depth Chart:

PG Jameer Nelson/Anthony Johnson

SG Mickael Pietrus/J.J. Redick

SF Hedo Turkoglu/Keith Bogans

PF Rashard Lewis/Tony Battie/Brian Cook

C Dwight Howard/Adonal Foyle/Marcin Gortat

The way it works in the Southeast is that there is the Orlando Magic, and then there’s everyone else. What last year’s playoffs indicated was that this division really has no relevance to a relatively weak Eastern Conference.

The Magic rolled through the young and inexperienced Toronto Raptors, who were probably just happy to be there, before the more experienced Detroit Pistons bounced Orlando in the very next round.

Orlando has proven that they can be a very good team in the regular season, but is nowhere near being a good team in the playoffs. Eventually, Dwight Howard is going to lead the Magic into that next step—but for now, I would expect similar results from them in 2009.

Washington Wizards

Projected Depth Chart:

PG Antonio Daniels/Juan Dixon/Dee Brown

SG DeShawn Stevenson/Nick Young

SF Caron Butler/Dominic McGuire

PF Antawn Jamison/Darius Songalia

C Etan Thomas/Andray Blatche

The Washington Wizards’ roster looks severely depleted with Gilbert Arenas out for at least the first month of the season. If Arenas can make a comeback at full strength, their prospects for making the playoffs are significantly more substantial than without him.

Much of the Wizards team is the same from their past few playoff runs—but that is also a problem, since they have struggled in trying to get to the Conference Finals. Barring any disastrous news regarding the Arenas injury, they should at least make the playoffs, but at some point Washington will have to do more than that.

Washington is currently dealing with an interesting position—not quite good enough to be on top of the Eastern Conference, yet knowing they can make the playoffs when healthy. Yet there are only so many years that you can hold a team together before needing to make a change.

This is the year where the roster needs to be shaken up in some way.

NBA Central Division Preview: Are the Detroit Pistons Still for Real?

Adam Miller — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:11:53 -0400

Chicago Bulls

Projected Depth Chart:

PG Kirk Hinrich/Derrick Rose
SG Ben Gordon/Larry Hughes/Thabo Sefolosha
SF Luol Deng/Andres Nocioni
PF Tyrus Thomas/Joakim Noah/Demetris Nichols
C Drew Gooden/Aaron Gray

If there’s any team that least deserved the No. 1 pick, it was the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls have a team capable of winning a round in the playoffs, but some bizarre circumstances led to their failure to make the playoffs.

The season started with rumors of Kobe Bryant coming to Chicago in exchange for much of the Bulls’ frontline. Luol Deng admitted that the rumors eventually became a distraction, and they never seemed to move on from that episode.

Then the iron fist of Scott Skiles became irrelevant as he lost control of the team, leading to his firing on Christmas. The Bulls went the rest of the season with an unproven and incompetent Jim Boylan.

Ben Wallace also caused problems with his attitude, which GM John Paxson decided not to tolerate anymore. Paxson traded Wallace midseason for Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden.

Chicago will go into this year with a potential superstar in Derrick Rose, who will probably back up Kirk Hinrich, and a first-year coach in Vinny Del Negro, who at the very least has become a media darling with his articulate speaking ability.

Yet the Bulls realize that anything short of making the playoffs will be considered a failure for Del Negro and Paxson.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Projected Depth Chart:

PG Mo Williams/Daniel Gibson/Eric Snow
SG Wally Szczerbiak/Delonte West
SF LeBron James/Aleksandar Pavlovic
PF Anderson Varejao/Darnell Jackson
C Zydrunas Ilgauskas/Ben Wallace/Lorenzen Wright

The Cleveland Cavaliers are in the fight of their life to give LeBron James the supporting cast necessary to win a championship, while having the cap space to give the maximum contract without paying the luxury tax in 2010.

The biggest acquisition they made was acquiring Mo Williams from the Milwaukee Bucks, who is a considerable upgrade from Eric Snow and Daniel Gibson. The Cavs will probably finish in the top half of the Eastern Conference once again, but they are still a step behind Detroit, Boston, and perhaps Orlando.

Although Mo Williams will be a great boost to the offense, Cleveland is most likely one big-time scorer away from having the weapons necessary to compete with the Celtics. The biggest weak spot for Cleveland is its front court.

Aside from Zydrunas Ilgauskas—who is high-risk for an injury anyway—there are no big men capable of scoring. First-round draft pick Darnell Jackson might be that guy later on in his career—but if the Cavs expect to return to the NBA Championship, they need someone who can score now.

Detroit Pistons

Projected Depth Chart:

PG Chauncey Billups/Aaron Afflalo/Will Bynum
SG Richard Hamilton/Rodney Stuckey
SF Tayshaun Prince/Walter Herrmann
PF Amir Johnson/Antonio McDeyess/Jason Maxiell
C Rasheed Wallace/Kwame Brown

The Pistons are the one team you can never count out, even though they seem to get worse every year. Much of the core is still together, but age is starting to get to them.

Detroit is no longer the best team in the Eastern Conference, but they are good enough that they will probably get the second seed again unless there is a major collapse. One of the keys to doing well this season is finding someone who can take some defensive pressure off of Tayshaun Prince.

Jason Maxiell is turning into a good defender, although he will never have the speed to keep up with the top perimeter player as Prince does.

One notable weakness for Detroit is the center position. So far, Rasheed Wallace has taken the responsibility as the starting center, although he isn’t anywhere close to being a typical 5. The Pistons are fortunate that the East doesn’t have many quality centers, so this strategy works for the most part.

However, it is still a weak area that needs to be improved if they want to get back to the NBA Finals.

Indiana Pacers

Projected Depth Chart:

PG Jamaal Tinsley/T.J. Ford/Jarrett Jack
SG Marquis Daniels/Eddie Jones/Brandon Rush
SF Danny Granger/Mike Dunleavy
PF Troy Murphy/Austin Croshere
C Rasho Nesterovic/Roy Hibbert

Not too much looks promising for the Indiana Pacers. They don’t have any reliable go-to players and are bound to be back in the lottery.

Unfortunately for the Pacers, this isn’t exactly the best time to be a bad team, as the well of great talent in college basketball appears to have run out. The only way this season works out for the Pacers is if they get the No. 1 pick and Ricky Rubio decides to enter the draft.

But this team needs any position besides a point guard. Jamaal Tinsley and T.J. Ford are good enough, although Rubio would be better than either of them in the prime of his career.

Indiana is the only team that didn’t improve over the offseason, and will likely pay for it with a last-place finish in the Central Division.

Milwaukee Bucks

Projected Depth Chart:

PG Luke Ridnour/Damon Jones/Tyronn Lue
SG Michael Redd/Charlie Bell
SF Richard Jefferson/Adrian Griffin
PF Charlie Villanueva/Joe Alexander/Malik Allen
C Andrew Bogut/Dan Gadzuric

Nobody would blame Michael Redd if he called his teammates, “hey you” during the first days of practice. After all, he was in China winning a gold medal when Milwaukee Bucks GM John Hammond brought in five new players over the summer.

The players the Bucks acquired this offseason are Richard Jefferson, Joe Alexander, Malik Allen, Damon Jones, and Tyronn Lue. Redd will also have a new coach in Scott Skiles.

Most of these changes are for the better. Jefferson, the biggest name acquired this offseason, will be on a team that wants to win now. This is not a championship-caliber team by any sense of the word, but it will at least be good enough to make a run for the playoffs.

Redd now has another solid scoring option, so he won’t have to shoulder as much of a load as he has had in previous seasons. Even if Milwaukee doesn’t make the playoffs, they will have a successful season if they at least come close, given the dismal year in 2008.

Atlantic Division Preview: Boston Celtics Should Take the Crown

Adam Miller — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 08:04:31 -0400

Boston Celtics

Projected Depth Chart:

PG Rajon Rondo/Sam Cassell/Eddie House

SG Ray Allen/Tony Allen

SF Paul Pierce/Darius Miles

PF Kevin Garnett/Leon Powe/Glen Davis

C Kendrick Perkins/Patrick O’Bryant

The Boston Celtics should be the favorites to win the Atlantic Division, considering the New Jersey Nets are only marginally better, and the Philadelphia 76ers, while improved, aren’t going to compete with the Celtics.

The only way that Boston doesn’t come out as the No. 1 team in this division—and perhaps the entire Eastern Conference—is if age begins to show, or if one of the "Big Three" gets injured. Assuming neither problem occurs, the Celtics should make it back to the Finals with a group that hasn’t changed much.

The Celtics should rely on their depth a little more. Rajon Rondo has some playoff experience and is much better, while Kendrick Perkins has become a rebounding beast.

Boston’s only real addition is Darius Miles, who, under Celtics’ coach Doc Rivers’ system, should finally come close to reaching his potential.

New Jersey Nets

Projected Depth Chart:

PG Devin Harris/Keyon Dooling

SG Vince Carter/Trenton Hassell/Maurice Ager

SF Jarvis Hayes/Bobby Simmons

PF Yi Jianlian/Eduardo Najera

C Stromile Swift/Sean Williams/Brook Lopez

The Nets are in a rebuilding phase after trading point guard Jason Kidd last season and forward Richard Jefferson in the offseason. They have a rising point guard in Devin Harris and a falling star in Vince Carter.

This team is bound to make the lottery again as they are bound to struggle against the Raptors, Celtics, and 76ers. For the Eastern Conference, this should be the most competitive division, which means it’s going to be a frustrating season, as New Jersey is still one of the conference’s weaker teams.

New Jersey realizes that this team is not built for this season. It’s built for the 2010 season, when LeBron James will be a free agent and the Nets will be in prime position to offer him the maximum contract.

They are also going to relocate to Brooklyn, which will appeal to James’ sponsors. This team is waiting for James to propel them into an Eastern Conference heavyweight.

New York Knicks

Projected Depth Chart:

PG Stephon Marbury/Nate Robinson/Chris Duhon

SG Jamal Crawford/Mardy Collins

SF Quentin Richardson/Wilson Chandler

PF Zach Randolph/Jared Jeffries/Danilo Gallinari

C Eddy Curry/Jerome James

This is another team that is trying to get in on the LeBron James sweepstakes. The Knicks have a lot of depth, but no cap room. They’ve wised up a little bit and will also have contract room to sign James in 2010.

You can assume that the current frontline will be all but gone by the time that happens. That means it’s going to be the Knicks’ bench that is going to be leading the way going into the 2009-2010 season.

The younger core of Wilson Chandler, Nate Robinson, and now Danilo Gallinari are the Knicks’ future. They are talented enough to be solid role players if James joins them. But until the 2010 offseason, New York will have to deal with what it has.

If the Nets aren’t the worst team in this division, it’s certainly the Knicks. The one thing they have going for them is the fresh face of Mike D’Antoni, who will bring his up-tempo offense to New York. In other words, this team should at least do a lot of scoring.

Philadelphia 76ers

Projected Depth Chart:

PG Andre Miller/Louis Williams

SG Kareem Rush/Willie Green/Royal Ivey

SF Andre Iguodala/Reggie Evans/Thaddeus Young

PF Elton Brand/Donyell Marshall

C Samuel Dalembert/Theo Ratliff/Marreese Speights

The Philadelphia 76ers are considerably better after adding Elton Brand to the team. In fact, this is probably the best team the 76ers have had since the 2001 squad that made it to the NBA Finals.

You could even make an argument that this team will be even better with more all-around talent instead of just Allen Iverson and everyone else. They aren't a better team than Boston, but they are a lot closer than many people would believe.

Philly is one of the only teams in the Eastern Conference with a true center—and he’s no stiff either. Samuel Dalembert is probably the best defensive center in the NBA, considering his rebounding and shot-blocking prowess.

The big question mark with this team is how the Sixers’ best player, Andre Iguodala, will perform this season. Last year he scored nearly 20 points per game, which is good but not great when you are trying to establish yourself as a top-flight NBA player.

With the scoring help that Brand will provide, he probably doesn’t need to score 30 points per game. But if he can boost his average a couple points or so, he will make a serious case for becoming an All-Star this season.

Toronto Raptors

Projected Depth Chart:

PG Jose Calderon/Roko Ukic

SG Anthony Parker/Hassan Adams

SF Andrea Bargnani/Jason Kapono/Joey Graham

PF Chris Bosh/Kris Humphries/Jamario Moon

C Jermaine O’Neal/Jamal Sampson

Toronto is very interesting because they have a very strong backcourt and are good at every position, but don't have any strong players who can really take over a game.

Anthony Parker had a very nice rookie season last year and should do even better, although he likely won’t get as many touches with such a strong presence in the post.

I would be shocked if the Raptors actually start Andrea Bargnani at small forward, but they have too much invested to make him sit behind Chris Bosh or Jermaine O’Neal.

But the most important piece of this front court is going to be Jermaine O’Neal. Toronto is going to be a much different team if it has him the entire season. It’s safe to say that he’s not the same player that he once was, but he is good enough to make the Raptors a significantly better team.

They still don’t have the talent to beat Philly or Boston, but they should make the playoffs pretty easily, and perhaps get out of the first round.

This article is also published on Hoops 4 Life. You can find it published here.

Chicago Bulls' Ben Gordon Loses Contract Battle

Adam Miller — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:49:47 -0400

Chicago Bulls guard Ben Gordon has officially accepted their qualifying offer, allowing him to be a free agent next year.

So much for not seeing Gordon in a Bulls’ uniform this year. I knew that at the end of the day, there was no reason for Chicago to bend from its position. The 6-3 guard couldn’t go anywhere because he’s a restricted free agent and no other team thinks he’s worth the money that he’s trying to get.

If Gordon can have a stellar season, the Bulls will probably try harder to get over their $58 million offer. If he is the same streaky shooter that he has been in previous years, where a 30-point game comes just as often as scoring two, Chicago will come out looking smart.

No. 7 needs to have a drastically better year if he expects to get a higher offer than what the Bulls are willing to pay him. Believe it or not, Gordon actually rejected a higher offer that would’ve made him look like a genius if he took it back then.

But now Gordon’s value is decreasing fast. If he didn’t figure it out now, he’ll figure it out on the free agent market. There’s a reason why none of his threats were successful in getting the Bulls to budge.

It’s the same reason why the Miami Heat backed out of trading disgruntled star Shawn Marion and why the New York Knicks refused to let the Bulls dupe them once again into receiving another overpaid contract.

The Bulls are trying to get rid of Gordon just as quickly as he wants out of Chicago. He’s mentioned in nearly every trade talk, whether it was the infamous Kobe Bryant or Pau Gasol offers or just the opportunity to dump his contract. Bulls General Manager John Paxson made it very clear he wants Gordon out.

Can Gordon come back to a team that pretty much wants nothing to do with him? We’ll see how this season goes. Despite losing Chris Duhon to the Knicks, the guard spot isn’t any less clogged up. It’s pretty safe to assume that Gordon is going to start, although he better watch his back if Thabo Sefolosha can play some defense this year.

The ideal situation would be the Bulls opting to trade Gordon in the middle of the season so when he flocks for free agency, they will at least get something in return.

Chicago deserves a lot of credit for how they treated the situation. When Kirk Hinrich’s payday came, he got a fair offer. So did Andres Nocioni. And Luol Deng.

The Bulls gave Gordon a pretty reasonable offer considering his performance and salary cap situation, but he kept resisting. Perhaps the Bulls are realizing that they don’t have to hold on to every player they draft, although it’s probably too soon to tell.

“I don't want to be sitting here a year from now without Kirk or Ben. That was the reason we held pat in the back court,” Paxson told the Tribune.

Chicago would’ve been fine without Gordon, despite Paxson’s belief that he needs both of them to return to the playoffs. Derrick Rose is going to be the point guard of the future and Sefolosha makes a great role player when he defends.

Gordon’s agent knows how much he means to the team and engaged Paxson in a standoff but lost. Next season it is Paxson who will have the leverage, if he didn’t have it already.

Sure, Gordon can go to whatever team he wants, but the Bulls are going to set the market value. Another team will only outbid the Bulls if they feel Gordon isn’t worth the money.

However, it’s likely that Gordon is going to run into roadblocks that he saw this past offseason, where teams admire his scoring ability until they realize that he isn’t a point guard at all and can’t play defense.

In other words, expect another frustrating summer next year for the Gordon camp.

Losing Seasons Shouldn't Reflect Crean's Coaching Ability

Adam Miller — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:08:50 -0400

It’s a good thing that new Indiana coach Tom Crean was given a contract extension before coaching his first game because this season is not going to be a year that resembles anything close to this one.

The Hoosiers’ best player, Jeremiah Rivers, is going to redshirt this season and won’t do much to help out IU (25-8, 14-4 Big 10 2007). That makes Kyle Taber, a senior who averaged 1.3 points per game and 2.5 rebounds the leader of the team.

I’m sure Taber is a very talented basketball player, and is on a team in the Big 10 for a reason, but he’s not going to replace the dominance of Eric Gordon or the experience of DJ White. This should be an interesting year for Taber because he’s going to start for the first time in his career.

The only problem is that he’s going to lead a team with almost no veterans and eight freshmen. Some of them, such as guard Nick Williams, will most likely start and have a great impact. The newcomers filling out a roster are the ones who are likely going to keep the Hoosiers in the Big 10 cellar.

They should actually have a decent non-conference record, although their strength of schedule isn’t that great besides teams competing in the Maui Invitational, Wake Forest, Gonzaga, and Kentucky.

It’s going to be the conference schedule that is going to test the patience of the Hoosier fans. IU is slated for late games against two of the Big 10’s best teams in Michigan State and Wisconsin.

If you flip around last year’s conference record, that’s most likely what you are going to see from Indiana. It’s fair to say this season, or even the next was not the reason why Crean has such a big contract.

It’s because it’s Indiana and once Crean gets his own recruits, the school will go back to being a powerhouse. The head coach has an established reputation as a top-notch recruiter who people trust.

That is something Indiana hasn’t had in a long time.

The Athletic Director can expect that Crean isn’t going to dirty IU’s name even more with the sub-par coaching that the Hoosiers have had to deal with since Bobby Knight’s departure. He made a final four appearance with perhaps one of the best Midwest recruits of all time.

And he did it all at a school that isn’t used to having the prestige of being Indiana basketball. Marquette was a team that just couldn’t make the NCAA tournament in the 80’s and was more of a fringe team in the 90’s.

The Golden Eagles did make some noise in 1994 when they made the Sweet 16, but it was Crean who put them over the top. With a brand name in college basketball such as Indiana, Crean should have no problem making this team an NCAA Championship contender in a matter of years.

But it won’t happen overnight.

Indiana will have to swallow these next few years with players who would normally sit on the end of the bench suddenly becoming a main scoring option for the team. There will certainly be a slew of unproven freshmen and it will be painful to watch.

None of these problems are going to be Crean’s fault and he should not take the heat for having to battle just to make the NIT. This is the result of sleazy and ineffective recruiting that was eventually going to hurt the Hoosiers.

It doesn’t mean they’re going to fade into oblivion. It just means they’re going be dealing with a few hiccups.

Howard Should Be Given Platform To Speak Mind

Adam Miller — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 09:29:25 -0400

Whether you think Josh Howard is unpatriotic or a knucklehead, there is one thing that most basketball fans can agree with.

He speaks his mind.

It’s very easy for us to get on a high horse and criticize Howard for his actions, but shouldn’t we be more bothered that there might be some truth to this? Until this year’s Olympics, playing for the national team was something many players avoided.

Is there a chance that other African American players feel as disenfranchised about the U.S. as Howard? I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.

There’s no reason to go into the history and give an explanation to events that might make Howard uneasy of being an Uncle Sam. What does matter is how many players feel the same way as him.

My guess is that there are probably a decent amount of players who could care less about the National Anthem or winning a gold medal. It would be nice if the NBA did something to provide education to players who aren’t feeling patriotic.

It doesn’t mean everyone has to be like Yao Ming, who plays through an injury that he hasn’t recovered from just to play for the national team and wears his country’s pride on his sleeves.

At the very least, it could create a place for players like Howard to explain why they don’t feel connected to America around other players who wouldn’t bash him as quickly as the public. The NBA doesn’t need to hold group therapy for its players, but it does need to find a way for them to feel like they can speak their opinions without being ostracized.

If Howard kept his comments private and told other players his feelings about the National Anthem, it wouldn’t be a big issue.

We hold players to a double-standard when we encourage them to be more opinionated, but if they are too controversial, we call them out on it. Howard may have offended people when he made his comments, but our soldiers are fighting and have fought in the past for people like the Dallas Mavericks guard so that he can speak freely without being persecuted.

Unfortunately, he is now feeling a public persecution from the media and fans.

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has the right idea when he said that he had no intentions of trading Howard and dealing with the incident internally. Cuban is even taking a step further and helping Howard learn how to avoid another public relations disaster.

“We will be going through some advanced communication-skill sessions together this training camp,” Cuban said to the Dallas Morning News.

An owner who doesn’t understand the founding principles our country was built on could easily call out Howard and talk about what a disgrace it is. Instead, he said what he had to say and I doubt this becomes a lingering issue when this week is over.

Yes, Howard could use an education on conducting himself in public so that he doesn’t need to have another private talk with Cuban, but what he needs more is a place where he can feel safe saying how he feels without repressing his thoughts.

I believe Cuban when he says that Howard has a good heart. He might use marijuana in the offseason, do some reckless driving occasionally, and be unpatriotic. Does that make him a bad person?

Not a chance. There are countless NBA players who have serious character flaws that I would never want on my team. He’s not one of them.

Adam also writes for Hoops 4 Life. You can find this article here.

Gordon, Bulls In No-Win Situation

Adam Miller — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 10:13:14 -0400

Whatever their feelings on each other are like at this point, the Chicago Bulls and Ben Gordon aren’t separating any time soon.

At this point, both sides have run out of leverage, which should cause a very interesting few months considering that NBA training camp is under a month away.

All reports suggest that the Bulls have aggressively shopped Gordon, with the latest citing a potential trade to the Miami Heat in return for Shawn Marion. The Heat showed interest in his 18 points per game and willingness to take over a game when he has to until they had the same issue with Gordon’s demands as the Bulls have.

In the mean time, Chicago continues to call his bluff by refusing to go over the luxury tax and sign him for more money than Luol Deng as Gordon insists he deserves.

Gordon, on the other hand, is trying to find any possible incentive for the Bulls to give him the money he wants. He tells the media that he is finished in Chicago and has gone so far as to make up a rumor that he is considering an offer from CSKA Moscow, except that the team denied even having interest in him.

It’s likely that this issue isn’t going to get solved anytime soon. The Bulls have no reason to negotiate with him considering that they are set at the guard position. It would be a huge disappointment if the Bulls can’t at least trade him so that they get something out of the deal, but it won’t hurt Chicago if he doesn’t play next season.

What’s going to be interesting to watch is what Gordon’s next move is going to be. His two options are either hold out or sign on for the 2008-09 season and become a free agent next year.

Gordon needs to realize sometime between now and NBA training camp that he is in a no-win situation, and must put his hurt feelings behind him as it’s very unlikely that anyone will pay more than the Bulls are offering him.

That’s why when all is said and done, Gordon will likely play the upcoming season with Chicago, although it will create a very awkward situation for either side. If the Bulls really decide to think outside the box and end this feud from their point of view, they would buy out the last year of his contract and allow him to sign somewhere else.

This would be a terrible move for Chicago, and he’s too skilled to just be released. But the move could free up plenty of cap room and create a bad situation for Gordon because he will have no negotiating power for teams interested in his services.

Until the Bulls or Gordon decide to cave in, this situation will be a stalemate and not benefit anyone. If Gordon really wants to get a fat paycheck next year, he will have to accept losing this negotiation and hope that he does well enough to deserve Deng money with some other team.

Adam also writes for Hoops 4 Life. You can find that article here.

Memphis Grizzlies Building a Team for the Future

Adam Miller — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:44:05 -0400

When the Memphis Grizzlies traded Pau Gasol before last year’s trading deadline, it appeared that they were going to be a lottery team for a while.

That still might happen, but they aren’t going to be a complete bore this season.

The Grizzlies are at least making an attempt at becoming a serious team this season with some of their activity this year. First they pretty much traded Mike Miller and Kevin Love for OJ Mayo.

I realize that many believe this was a bad deal, but I’m convinced that Mayo is going to be a lot better than people think he is. Miller was a good shooter, but was never going to be a great player while it seems like Love carries many more risks than Mayo.

The former USC standout is actually closer to 21 than he is 19 and has always been more mature than players his age. I’m also not convinced that he had a real chance of displaying all his skills under USC coach Tim Floyd’s system because he was getting the ball very late in the shot clock.

There is a reason Mayo’s draft stock shot up during the NBA pre-draft workouts. For the first time, Mayo is going to give the Grizzlies someone to build a team around.

I know Grizzlies fans thought Gasol would be that guy, but, as we are seeing now, he is a much better player when he is the second or third option instead of the first. Mayo has been the first option his whole life and will become the Grizzlies’ first option in the NBA.

Memphis also did a solid job of giving Mayo enough weapons to turn the Grizzlies into a playoff team at some point. Marc Gasol gives the Grizzlies a true center, is very aggressive, and might have as successful of a season as Michael Beasley or Greg Oden for their respective teams.

In Pau’s absence, Rudy Gay has stepped up and become the team’s best player on offense. That should be the case again this year, and with a more mature Mike Conley, Gay will have plenty of good scoring opportunities.

Memphis lost one of its most effective guards in Juan Carlos Navarro, yet it’s remained one of the team’s strengths as far as depth is concerned.

Now, the Grizzlies are looking at possibly trading Marko Jaric and Darko Milicic for Zach Randolph. It’s a deal that would make quite a statement that the Grizzlies are serious about winning.

He is by no means the answer to all of the Grizzlies problems, but he is going to make Memphis a much better team if this trade goes through.

It will be getting rid of an unnecessary guard and a forward who can’t seem to live up to his potential. In return, they are getting a guy who averaged nearly 18 points and 10 rebounds.

More importantly, he takes up space, giving the Grizzlies a big frontcourt to go alongside Marc Gasol and Gay.

The move would also solidify the bench with Hakim Warrick and Antoine Walker coming off the bench, while a rookie with great potential, Darrell Arthur, can watch from the bench.

This team will no doubt have struggles in the Western Conference and might be three or four seasons from even making the playoffs. But if you’re looking for a team to surprise people, take a look at the Grizzlies, who are slowly and quietly becoming a young-but-promising team in the league.

This article is also at Hoops 4 Life. You can find it here.

Thunder Will Create Excitement, But Fans Must Have Patience With Young Team

Adam Miller — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:18:36 -0400

The Oklahoma City franchise has officially been named the Thunder and finally the three-year quest of the NBA to get a team to Oklahoma is complete.

Getting a team in Oklahoma City was the No. 1 priority on Commissioner David Stern’s agenda after the New Orleans Hornets moved there because of Hurricane Katrina.

The fans were much more supportive for the Hornets than anyone could have imagined and Stern’s light-bulb started clicking. If the fans can support some NBA team that isn’t even theirs better than the city that it currently belongs to, then Oklahoma City should sell out with its own team.

This team should definitely test that theory.

Eleven of the team’s 15 players have three years of NBA experience or less. However, this team is stocked for the future with high draft picks.

Joe Smith will likely lead the Thunder as their team captain, but the one who is going to lead the team in scoring is second year player Kevin Durant. Needless to say, Oklahoma City should not be expecting a playoff team for a long time, but GM Sam Presti knows what he is doing.

Presti is well known for his terrific scouting job—getting some great international players—although this team is not going to be doing as much international stockpiling as the Spurs.

Instead, he is going to invest in young talent that should give the Thunder a great team five years down the road.

When the former Seattle Sonics traded Ray Allen to the Celtics for Jeff Green, Presti was unofficially beginning the rebuilding project. That’s probably the last thing Oklahoma City fans want to hear, considering how much taxpayer money is going into the team, but when this team becomes more experienced, the Thunder will compete with some of the best teams in the Western Conference.

The team has many similarities to the Hornets, who were one of the worst teams in the league until Chris Paul became one of the NBA’s best point guards. There is little doubt that Kevin Durant will also become a superstar and make the players around him better.

Many fans will see players like Mouhamed Sene and Johan Petro on the bench and wonder why the Thunder would invest so many draft picks on so many unproven big men. There is a strong possibility that neither pan out, but it’s a risk the Thunder can take as Joe Smith, Jeff Green, and Nick Collison are likely going to get the most playing time of Oklahoma City’s big men.

In fact, the Thunder might be one of the tallest teams in the league with six players who are at least 6’10.” While the Thunder stockpiled big men, the guard play looked like it was going nowhere until they drafted Russell Westbrook—the point guard of the future—to pair with Durant to lead the team in scoring.

As a Chicago Bulls fan, I sympathize with the Oklahoma City fans because we once went down some painful years on our way to becoming a playoff team, and it looks like we’ll be going down that road again.

Yet, as frustrating as it is to watch a young team make mistakes, it’s just as exciting to watch your team battling to make a run down 18 in the fourth quarter, trying to at least make the game close.

This has allowed some surprising upsets. For instance, a few years ago, the eighth-seeded Bulls played the No. 1 seed, Miami Heat, who were expected to sweep. The Bulls hung in, taking the series to six games. Miami pulled away, but it at least gave the fans some momentum going into the following season.

I’m sure Oklahoma fans can’t wait for this season to start, but they are going to need to have patience with a team this young. It should be a fun team to watch, but they are going to be in the lottery for a long time.

This article is also at Hoops 4 Life. You can find it here.

Top 10 Free Agents Not In The NBA

Adam Miller — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:51:18 -0400

Many NBA teams often look for other options outside of available free agents when the summer winds down. Here is a list of players currently not in the NBA who could be signed at the end of this year or a few years down the road.

This list only includes players who aren’t draft-eligible and are likely to be pursued by NBA teams.

1. Josh Childress

He’s the best out of all the NBA players going to Europe. Childress isn’t technically a free agent because the Atlanta Hawks still own his rights, but he is a restricted free agent and would leave Greece if the Hawks choose not to match another team’s offer.

Childress has proven himself as a very solid NBA player off the bench, averaging double-digits in points his entire career with the Hawks. Atlanta will probably be doing everything it can to bring Childress back, as he was a major factor in its run to the playoffs.

2. Nenad Krstic

Any seven-footer that displays some sort of ability to play in the NBA is going to be desired by most teams. Krstic has gone through two seasons filled with injuries so if he can stay healthy, he’ll be the most pursued non-NBA player.

Krstic might not ever come back to the NBA if he succeeds in Europe, but there will be plenty of teams calling him if he decides to come back. Krstic is only 24 years old and has plenty of time to improve.

At some point, the former Nets’ center will gain more confidence down low and average 18 points, seven rebounds. Krstic’s touch around the basket is something almost any team could use because quality seven-footers have become a premium.

3. Ramunas Siskauskas

Siskauskas the best player in Euroleague and showed plenty of flashes in the Olympics to prove what makes him the best. He has the game of a prototypical shooting guard and is currently in his prime.

The Lithuanian probably won’t make an NBA roster because he’s in his prime and could contribute no more than three years of service before he will lose too much of his skills to play in the league.

Siskauskas is a little older than NBA teams would like if they are going to invest in an international player. At this point, the move doesn’t make much sense for Siskauskas either because he is the team leader for CSKA Moscow, a very good team in Europe that has made the Euroleague Final Four for seven of the last eight years.

Many NBA General Managers would sign Siskauskas in a second if he wanted to play this year, but it seems like he is more content playing in Europe.

4. Juan Carlos Navarro

Navarro had a good rookie season for the Grizzlies and has a bright future ahead of him. He showed some great skills in the Olympics when he hit some big shots for Spain against Team USA and has a great finger-roll.

He could become a pretty good point guard if he ever decides to come back to the NBA, but for now he will be one of the best players in Europe. However, he is probably done with the NBA because he signed a five-year contract with F.C. Barcelona, making it very difficult to head back to the league.

5. Jannero Pargo

Pargo is a very serviceable combo-guard who most teams would probably sign as a back-up. He only has a one-year contract with Dynamo Moscow so he could easily be back in the NBA a year later.

If he can have a good season in Russia, Pargo’s salary could go up at least $1 million, which is more than an NBA team would probably pay. Don’t completely rule him out of returning to the league as he still has plenty of good years ahead of him.

6. Carlos Delfino

He has the talent to play in the NBA, but he needs to prove that he can play at the top of his game all the time and not just when he wants.

If Delfino plays every game with as much heart as he did during the Olympics and when the Detroit Pistons first signed him, he would be some team’s starting shooting guard. Instead, he is going to be the best player on a Russian team that doesn’t even play in Euroleague.

Delfino is young enough that he could pack his bags from Russia any day he wants, head back to the NBA, and receive an offer from most teams.

7. Julius Hodge

The former North Carolina State guard already had some experience in the NBA and should seriously get another look with a team looking for a wiry guard.

He had a great season last year with the Albuquerque Thunderbirds for the D-League, averaging 23.7 points, 8.2 rebounds, and six assists. Hodge finally looks like he’s going to live up to his potential as a versatile player, probably best suited as a shooting guard but can play small forward and even some point guard.

The NBA website gives him the highest efficiency rating (27.9) because of his overall ability. If he goes to the NBA, he will probably be yet another D-League success story as a solid contributor off the bench, possibly even working his way into the starting line-up.

8. Dimitis Diamantidis

The top defender in Europe has made it perfectly clear that he has no intention to play in the NBA, but that should not stop teams from calling Diamantidis.

He could easily help a team in need of a good perimeter defender with his size and knack for going after the ball. Diamantidis isn’t going to be the best player on NBA team, which is why he is so reluctant to leaving Europe, but he is a great team player.

At 6-5, he shows great basketball IQ with solid decision making and consistent shooting.

9. Marcus Hasilip

There is a reason why the Milwaukee Bucks selected Hasilip in the lottery and he is finally starting to show that upside with great athleticism and speed. While he is quite limited in his post moves, he has developed a style that turned him into a good European player.

He has great moves towards the post does a good job of using his size. He isn’t going to be on top of any NBA lists, but he should earn a few training camp invites and earn his way on a team’s bench.

10. Aaron Miles

You might remember him for his days in Kansas for his great passing ability. In Europe, he held on to being a pass-first point guard, but also plays some great defense.

He won’t get more than the NBA minimum and might have problems staying on a team, but he would work well with teams looking to slow the tempo late in the game when they already have the lead.

This article is also on Hoops 4 Life. You can find it here.

The All-Time NBA Team: Bench and Alternates

Adam Miller — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 09:57:11 -0400

Whenever you ask someone who the best players of all-time are in any sport you are bound to get a variety of answers, as many older fans tend to favor the players from their era, while younger fans favor today’s stars.

So I decided to challenge that thinking by creating an all-NBA roster using players from every decade. Here are the rules for my roster:

Fill out a roster with two players from every decade, starting with the 1950s.
Make sure all the starters have someone to back them up.
No two players from the same decade are allowed in the starting line-up.
Arrange the bench in the order they would come off the court.
List two alternates who should be the best in the game from 2010-2019.
Each should be adequate replacements on the roster.

Here is the bench for my all-time roster. You can find the starters here.

6. Oscar Robertson (1960-1969)

Robertson could legitimately call himself the best player ever. Averaging a triple-double is no easy task, and he had the versatility that nobody else in that era ever had.

If you think LeBron James at 6'8" and 250 pounds can play any position, consider what Robertson could do at 6'5" and 220. In many aspects, he was the first combo guard in NBA history. He could probably play small forward in the 1960s as well.

The fact that Robertson was in his prime playing for the Cincinnati Royals is a major reason why he doesn’t get as much credit as he deserves. The only teams that really had that many televised games back then were the Lakers, Knicks, and 76ers.

Another thing many people don’t realize is that Robertson shot a better field-goal percentage than Jerry West, who many would consider one of the best shooters in the game. Robertson had a 49-percent field-goal percentage, as opposed to West, who shot 47 percent.

7. Kobe Bryant (2000-2009)

He’s hands down the best player in this era, and could be in the argument for top five players of all time. Bryant is nearly impossible to guard and has lately learned how to use his teammates.

The 81-point effort from Bryant shows that he can record 40 and 50-point games if he wants to on a regular basis. He now trusts the rest of the team—especially with Pau Gasol, the newest Laker, making it unnecessary to for Bryanttake over games like he used to. Now he needs to win a championship without O’Neal to put him into the highest echelon of NBA players.

Bryant has been largely overshadowed by Duncan, who has four NBA Championships and two MVPs. It’s a little early to establish what his legacy is, but he has two or three more years to go before he’ll be considered over the hill.

In these next few years, Bryant will have to take advantage of being the best player on a competitive team. Now that Duncan is past his prime, Bryant should win another MVP with the Lakers, and become more of a defensive stopper in the NBA with his Olympic experience.

8. Magic Johnson (1980-1989)

If Johnson had played a few more years, his accomplishments might have eclipsed Jordan entirely. In only 12 seasons, he won four NBA Championships and three MVPs, while making the finals nine times.

He won his first Championship when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was nearing towards the end of his career—so while it looked like he was part of a dynasty, Johnson simply avoided playing for a team in rebuilding mode.

Johnson was the second coming of Robertson, as he was also versatile and big for his position. Magic was one of a few players who could play any of the five positions if he wanted to—but most of his damage came as a point guard.

Magic's presence on the floor singlehandedly made the Lakers a better team than they would be without him. And he did it averaging around just 20 points per game. Many of today’s dominant players must average at least 25 points—and usually closer to 30—in order to make their teams competitive.

9. Dolph Schayes (1950-1959)

Schayes is a very difficult player to rank on an all-time list. There is no question that he was the best player of the 1950s, but he played in a league with few competent big men—besides Bob Pettit and George Mikan—and undoubtedly scored a lot of his points at the free-throw line.

Schayes played in a time before the shot-clock was invented and during a close game, fouling became almost a necessity to stay competitive. Schayes ended his career with more points than Pettit or Mikan.

The other thing that makes Schayes' accomplishments superior to Mikan's, who dominated exclusively with his size, was the outside shooting touch and passing ability. He was the first big man not to rely exclusively on his post game.

But again, the only thing that knocks him down is that it’s impossible to say if he would be as great of a player against defenders his size or even bigger than him.

10. Julius Erving (1970-1979)

It’s very hard to assess how good Erving really was, because he played in two separate leagues. His ABA numbers are nearly impossible to track—but luckily I got some help from Kalb’s research.

He averaged 24.9 points and 15 rebounds in his rookie season with the 1972 Virginia Squires, although it’s hard to figure out if he would have had those numbers in the NBA.

But there are a few other indicators that show why he belongs on this list.

First of all, he glorified the art of dunking, and was really the first player to dominate the game with his athleticism. Erving simply did things that nobody in the game has ever seen before.

In the NBA, Erving averaged 22 points per game in 11 seasons, which is nothing eye-popping—but Erving wasn’t the clear No. 1 option on his team. The best players from the 70s were owned by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bob McAdoo, and Pete Maravich.

McAdoo made my team, but I felt there were other centers more deserving than Kareem, and Maravich had a short career, so I chose other guards that I thought were more qualified than him. I don’t have anything against Erving—I just can’t qualify his dominance in the ABA because he was never substantially better in the NBA.

The fact that his best days were in the ABA and his skills dwindled when he went to the 76ers makes it hard to give him as much credit as he probably deserves.

11. Hakeem Olajuwon (1990-1999)

You have to give credit to one of the few great players not named Michael Jordan or Scottie Pippen that won a championship in the 90s. Make that two championships—and that was without any other stars on the Rockets.

He played at a time where there were plenty of true centers who could give him a run for his money, such as Dikembe Mutombo, David Robinson, and Patrick Ewing. This is the main reason why I couldn’t give this spot to Shaq. Olajuwon isn’t as dominant, but is more skilled and is better-rounded than O’Neal.

Shaq was a very good player, but dominated mostly against very quick PFs forced to play center, or guys who were undersized, but strong. The only players you could make an argument for as competition are Yao Ming and Amare Stoudemire, and neither of them are as great as the best centers in the 90s.

I’m not taking anything away from O’Neal—he might be a better player than Olajuwon. I just don’t know if he would stand out as much in an era with several great centers. Either way, the difference isn’t that great, which is why I am giving Olajuwon the nod here.

If Olajuwon and Wade or Olajuwon and Bryant ever got to play together, they might have taken away a championship or two from the Bulls.

12. Bob McAdoo (1970-1979)

McAdoo is one of the most underrated players of all-time. He was dominant pretty much the first day he walked onto an NBA court. While his stats peaked very early, he still belongs on this list because he refined Dolph Schayes’ game, and was an even better outside shooter.

McAdoo is a career 50-percent shooter, and would’ve been an outside shooter if the three-point lane existed during his time. However, he still had exceptional range and was great at putting the ball on the floor.

The main reason why McAdoo loses a lot of credit on all-time lists is because he played on teams that weren’t that good, so he was the go-to option by default.

But it’s hard to take away his rebounding ability and perimeter skills—and he was still one of the better players of the '70s.

Alternates (2010-2019):

13. LeBron James

Believe it or not, we have not seen the best of James.

He is only 25 years old and is already one of the best players in the game. There is no question that he’s going to be better than Bryant at some point. It’s just a matter of when.

James is already a more proven leader than Bryant, who didn’t prove he could be an effective leader until last year. James has gone to the NBA Finals—and would have been in the Finals again this year, had Boston Celtics GM Danny Ainge not decided to play fantasy basketball and bring in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.

The Cavs’ leader has made his squad one of the more competitive teams in the Eastern Conference—without having anyone around him.

James is still a long way from being one of the best. He needs to do a better job of being the go-to player during crunch time, and has to stop passing up his shots at the end of the game.

However, I have no doubts that all of this will come with time. James becomes a free agent in 2010, where he will have any number of teams with free cap room to choose from. My guess is that once he leaves the Cavs, he’ll surpass Bryant as a better player.

14. Dwight Howard

It’s hard to believe that Howard is dominating the Eastern Conference at the center position and hasn’t even turned 23. Yet he’s averaged a double-double since his rookie season. He’s incredibly athletic, and does a terrific job at rebounding and scoring.

After a decade that was pretty much Shaq and everyone else in the paint, it looks like Howard will lead a crop of some very good centers over the next decade, including Amare Stoudemire, LaMarcus Aldridge, and any number of big men from this year’s draft who might pan out.

As great of a scorer as Howard is, his rebounding might become the story of his career. He is the youngest player in league history to average a double-double, grab 4,000 rebounds, and lead the league in rebounding.

Shaq never averaged as many rebounds in one season as Howard did in 2008 (14.2). When you look at where Howard’s rebounding ability is compared to Dennis Rodman, the best rebounder in recent history, you’ll notice that it took Rodman six years before he had more than 13 rebounds per game.

If Howard becomes a 30-20 player, or even a 20-20 player, he will be the best center of this era, and might belong in the same sentence as the greatest centers. He’s not going to come close to beating Chamberlain’s nearly 24,000 rebounds, but if he averages 1,000 rebounds over the next 12 seasons, he will reach 16,000.

That would put him at No. 6, ahead of Robert Parish, Nate Thurmond, and Walt Bellamy. If he plays well into his late 30s and can avoid injuries, he’ll move past Elvin Hayes and Moses Malone, and would be making a run towards Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 17,440 rebounds.

Sources: basketball-reference.com and Who’s Better, Who’s Best in Basketball by Elliot Kalb

This article is also posted on Hoops 4 Life. You can find it here.

The All-Time NBA Roster (Starters)

Adam Miller — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 09:22:33 -0400

Before I start, I’d like to thank Patrick S J for piquing my interest in looking at the history in sports, and Erick Blasco for influencing the topic. Both did a terrific job with their pieces (“Erick Blasco’s All-Time NBA Team” and “The All-Time New York Yankees Line-Up, Coaching, Pitching, Bench and Media”) and I hope this works out as well.

Whenever you ask someone who the best players of all time are in any sport, you are bound to get a variety of answers, as many older fans tend to favor the players from their era, while younger fans favor today’s stars.

So I decided to challenge that thinking by creating an all-NBA roster using players from every decade. Here are the rules for my roster:

Fill out a roster with two players from every decade starting with the 1950’s.
Make sure all the starters have someone to back them up.

No two players from the same decade are allowed in the starting line-up.

Arrange the bench in the order they would come off the court.
List two alternates who should be the best in the game from 2010-2019.
Each should be adequate replacements on the roster.

Here are the starting five:

PG Bob Cousy (1950-1959)

The only way to really understand the impact Bob Cousy had on the game is to read what his former teammate Tommy Heinsohn says in Elliot Kalb’s book, Who’s Better, Who’s Best in Basketball, “If you think Magic Johnson could pass, if you think John Stockton could pass, multiply it by 10 and you have Bob Cousy.”

The big knock against him is that his stats aren’t that impressive (18.4 points per game, 7.5 assists), but there are several factors that explain Cousy’s numbers.

Cousy played in a time when assists were only awarded on a catch-and-shoot situation—so if the receiving player dribbled before shooting, it was not an assist.

Another important factor is that the shot-clock wasn’t around in Cousy’s time so the game was much slower, and he had no incentives to get assists.

In the 1950s and 1960s, both guards brought up the ball, as the point guard position wasn’t nearly as specialized as it is now. This explains why Cousy was responsible for fewer than 40 percent of the team’s, assists compared to Chris Paul, this year’s assist leader, and John Stockton in his prime. Both had over 50 percent of the assists for their team.

Assists didn’t carry near as much weight as they do now, because nobody kept track of the all-time assists leader, and it wasn’t a contract incentive. Cousy still won six championships with the Celtics as the top assist leader in the league for eight years, and was the No. 2 scorer on his team.

With the way the league is now, I have little doubt that Cousy would probably average 15 assists per game, which is why he has to be the best point guard ever to play the game—or at least No. 2 behind Magic Johnson.

SG Michael Jordan (1990-1999)

There shouldn’t really be much discussion. here but before you make an argument in favor of Kobe Bryant, check out some YouTube videos here and here. Jordan was nearly unstoppable against some very physical defenses—notably the Bad Boy Pistons.

He’s perhaps the only player without a weakness and was unstoppable in his prime. Jordan has to be included on any all-time list because of how competitive he was as an individual, and how he won championships.

Jordan was the first player who could take over a game singlehandedly, and was easily the most effective at it. His game got better even when his scoring average went down, because he made his teammates better just by attracting double-teams.

Teammates such as Steve Kerr, John Paxson, and Charles Oakley wouldn’t have been nearly as effective without Jordan causing the defense to focus much of their attention on him.

SF Larry Bird (1980-1989)

The best forward of all-time has to be in the starting line-up mainly for his shooting—but also his passing and rebounding.

Bird is the most competitive player in the starting five besides Jordan. There really isn’t anyone who I would consider close to his ferocity.

He dominated at a time when there were many great players in the league, and managed to stay at the top in MVP voting for most of his career. He is arguably the great forward of all time. If you look at his scoring lines against Julius Erving, you’ll notice that Bird easily outscored him while shutting Erving down on the other end.

It’s a little unfair to make that comparison, as Erving was near the end of his career—but that’s the best example to explain how good Bird was during the 1980s.

PF Tim Duncan (2000-2009)

This was probably the toughest decision for my team, because I looked at the pair of Duncan and Hakeem Olajuwon versus Shaquille O’Neal and Karl Malone. If Shaq wasn’t injured so much, I would feel a lot more comfortable taking the latter pair.

The gap doesn’t seem nearly as large between Olajuwon and O’Neal (I’ll argue this later) as it is between Malone and Duncan. Duncan is the only player in the post-Jordan era to win four championships with the same team, despite being part of several major changes each time.

Unlike many of the other superstars, he doesn’t stand out, but he was an MVP favorite every year because of his overall post ability. Duncan is the best defender of his era, and the player who made mid-range jumpers a popular weapon for post players.

C Wilt Chamberlain (1960-1969)

Chamberlain is the most dominant center of all-time. He changed the league's rules forever and was the gold standard for any dominating center for years to come.

If he was more of a team player, you could certainly make the argument that he was a better player than Jordan, but the competition was different. You have to take some of Chamberlain’s greatness away, because he only won two championships in a small league where he was the best player.

Still, it’s hard to take away the fact that nobody could stop him besides Bill Russell. He has way more 50-point games in NBA history than any other player, and played through some excruciating injuries.

It’s not just that he over-powered people, but he was actually a good scorer. He led the league in field-goal percentage for nine years.

If he had to sit out, reports say that he would quickly try to get back on the court and still performed well. No center will ever dominate the post as much as Chamberlain did.

You can find the bench players here.

Sources: basketball-reference.com and Who's Better, Who's Best in Basketball by Elliot Kalb.

This article is also published on Hoops 4 Life. You can find it here.

Team USA Must Remember What It Took To Win Gold In Future Competitions

Adam Miller — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:51:06 -0400

The United States men’s basketball team reached its goal of winning the gold medal against Spain. Team USA will not have to compete in any international competitions until the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Turkey.

Now the U.S. will have to worry about keeping itself on top of the world and not losing what it’s worked so hard to regain.

Team USA director Jerry Colangelo probably won’t do anything drastic for at least the next year, and he will most likely start his work on the 2012 Olympic team in the summer of 2009.

The first order of business will be picking a new head coach after several media sources are reporting that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski will not return to Team USA.

The short list of possible replacements likely includes NBA coaches Gregg Popovich, Nate McMillan, P.J. Carlisemo, and Mike D’Antoni, along with Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim. It also wouldn’t be surprising to see Doug Collins’ name surface as his role on the 1972 team has turned him into someone that Team USA deeply respects.

Collins is probably a long shot because he seems to enjoy the relatively stress-free job as a color commentator for the NBA, although I imagine he would have a hard time saying no to Colangelo.

Another long shot but interesting candidate is Jason Kidd. He is the only one in the league with two gold medals at the moment and is the one guy every player, even Kobe Bryant, looks up to for leadership.

LeBron James has already lobbied for Kidd to be a player-coach and there’s no question that any Team USA member will embrace any role that he wants to have in 2012. It might be unrealistic for Colangelo to give Kidd the reigns as the head coach, but it wouldn’t be the least bit surprising if he decides to be an assistant coach for the U.S. after he retires.

Colangelo’s next order of business is building the new roster. It’s likely going to start with around 20 or so players before narrowing to 12. Unlike 2000 and 2004, there will be plenty of good players who will do whatever they can to get on the 2012 roster.

The 2012 roster should have five or six of the same players on the 2008 roster. It seems pretty safe to say that James, Dwayne Wade, and Carmelo Anthony will be among the first additions to the team.

The U.S. will have plenty of talent to choose from, but the real test is going to be how the Americans play two and four years from now. Team USA achieved the goal of winning the gold medal but now that it is back on top, the question is if the NBA players are still going to have that desire.

Many of Team USA’s current rivals aren’t going to be competitive in 2012. Argentina could lose as many as five of the top six in its rotation.

Almost the entire Lithuanian team will have to be scrapped as its best players will be well past their prime, and possibly even retired. Spain has a young core that might make it competitive, but there will be some big losses.

Spain could lose as many as eight players, including Pau Gasol from its roster. However, it will retain Rudy Fernandez, Ricky Rubio, Jose Calderon, and Marc Gasol. Spain seems to have little problem finding talent in its system so it should be a medal contender, especially if Pau comes back.

The point is that this is not the end of the international threat. In fact, there will be even more competitive teams and better talent.

The U.S. blew out every team besides Spain in the gold medal game during the Olympics, but the wins weren’t as easy as they looked. Aside from weeks of preparation, the coaching staff scouted every team four hours at a time.

Kobe Bryant respected the opposition so much that he often went to games with Coach K so he could see the strengths and weaknesses of the guy he was going to defend. There is no way that Michael Jordan would agree to give up his gambling nights to watch Toni Kukoc or Allen Iverson with Sarunas Jasikevicius.

In fact, Larry Brown probably wouldn’t watch any of the international teams either.

Not too long ago, there was an idea of possibly bringing back college players to the Olympics because of the unselfishness they would bring to the games. That idea is absurd mainly because it would insult the rest of the world and a team full of college players would have no chance at winning a medal.

More importantly, this team has shown that a bunch of all-stars who make millions of dollars a year can play together and put aside their egos.

Team USA may have been redeemed by winning the gold medal, but it needs to win the FIBA World Championships and 2012 Olympics before it can truly say that U.S. basketball is on top of the world.

Winning the World Championships isn’t going to be as glamorous as winning the gold medal, but the U.S. should be equally as hungry to win in 2010. The last time the Americans have won the World Championships was 1994.

Team USA lost two of the last three tournaments because they didn’t respect the opponent, but would’ve won in 1998 if the lockout didn’t prevent NBA players from participating.

Besides, the U.S. is too good to have to play in the Tournament of the Americas where a team of college players could finish in the top two competing against teams like Venezuela and Uruguay.

Some sports columnists have been so naïve as to say that Colangelo reached his goal by winning the gold medal and should resign as the Managing Director. But he understands that the world is constantly catching up to the U.S. and it will have to expect three-year commitments from every roster as long as the Olympics carry basketball as a sport.

It’s because he understands that this year was not the finish line, but the beginning of an era where the world’s best players have to prove that they are the best every two years.

Redeemed: Team USA Holds Off Spain to Win Gold Medal at Olympics

Adam Miller — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:24:53 -0400

In the previous three international competitions, the world witnessed anyone other than the United States men’s basketball team on top of the global stage.

The US has now earned that title back.

Team USA had to play four competitive quarters of basketball before beating Spain, 118-107. Spain was without its leader, Jose Calderon, but stayed within striking distance for much of the game.

Dwyane Wade (27 points) was the high-scorer, but Kobe Bryant emerged as the team-leader and scored 20 points. Thirteen of those points came in the fourth quarter, after Spain closed the gap to two.

The US struggled throughout all 40 minutes of the game. It started with Spain taking a five-point lead with 4:18 left in the first quarter.

Team USA responded with a 9-0 run, taking a 26-22 lead. The referees called fouls on instances that were incidental contact earlier in the Olympic showdown, putting players from both teams in foul trouble.

Bryant and LeBron James were forced to sit out much of the first half after picking up two fouls each in the first quarter. Foul troubles also affected Spain early on.

Ricky Rubio had little time to rest after the 17-year-old injured his wrist on a play late in the first quarter with backup point guard Raul Lopez picking up three fouls in under two minutes.

Both teams came out with hot shooting in the first half. The US made seven of its first 10 shots from beyond the arc, but Spain stayed in the game by playing tight man-to-man defense.

Carmelo Anthony opened up the lead to 13 on a three-point shot with 8:02 left in the half. Rudy Fernandez responded with a three-point shot of his own to bring the lead back down to 10.

Fernandez’s 14 points in the second quarter allowed Spain to hang around for the remaining part of the half, holding the US lead to six with under a minute left before the intermission. However, Spanish guard Berni Rodriguez fouled Chris Paul at the end of the half, allowing Team USA to end the second quarter with a 69-61 lead.

Spain took the momentum early in the second half, immediately showing zone defense and forcing two turnovers in the first minute. The first shot of the half came from Felipe Lopez after Carlos Jimenez stole the ball, leading to an easy basket at the other end.

Howard responded with a layup on the other end, extending the US lead to 71-63 with 8:24 left in the third quarter. Spain responded with two baskets of its own, bringing the deficit to four.

Juan Carlos Navarro kept the US on its heels with six of his 18 points in the third quarter.

Fernandez returned to the game in the fourth and hit a clutch three-point shot to bring the game within two points, forcing Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski to call time-out with 8:16 left in the game.

Bryant came out of the huddle and torched Spain in the final eight minutes. His biggest shot was a three-pointer with 3:12 left in the game while absorbing Fernandez's fifth foul, sending the Los Angeles Lakers star to the line for a four-point play.

Spain went on one final push, going on a 5-0 run with a three-pointer from Jimenez following a finger-roll from Navarro, making it a 108-104 game with 2:29 left in the fourth quarter.

Wade finished Spain off with a jumper from behind the arc, taking the game out of reach as Bryant showered Krzyzewski with his water bottle.

This article is also published at Hoops 4 Life. You can find Adam's article on that site here.

USA-Argentina Men's Basketball: Team USA Shows It Can Handle Adversity

Adam Miller — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 05:34:10 -0400

It seemed like everyone in the media responded to the early blowouts from the United States men’s basketball team by wondering when the challenge was going to come.

This challenge was supposed to come against Argentina, who were beaten by Team USA 101-81, in one of the weirdest Olympic games you could ever watch.

Things looked ugly early on, as the Americans went on a 21-4 run to start the game while Manu Ginobili got hurt in the first quarter. It looked like the Argentineans would lose just as bad to the U.S. as Australia did in the quarterfinals.

That was until five minutes into the second quarter, when Kobe Bryant tied to dunk the ball against Andres Nocioni on one leg.

There was only one problem—Nocioni blocked the dunk.

Argentina responded with a three-point shot by Paolo Quinteros. Then the U.S. got into foul trouble, giving up six points on three fouls in a minute and a half.

The U.S. went with a small lineup and put Carmelo Anthony at center, while shooting an uncharacteristic 20 shots from three-point range. It was as close as this version of Team USA has ever been to panicking with Argentina narrowing the deficit to six.

But unlike previous international competitions, the Americans came out of the locker room and didn’t allow Argentina to take the lead. Argentina stayed competitive for half of the third quarter, until Fabricio Oberto picked up his fourth foul and Nocioni picked up a technical.

Carmelo Anthony brought the lead to 67-49, making all four free throws. Argentina flirted with some moments where it looked like they might come back, but the Americans managed to keep their composure while moving on to the gold medal game.

The final score is not the least bit indicative of how poorly the U.S. played, turning the ball over nearly as much as Argentina (15 turnovers to 16).

The important thing for the Americans to take away from the game is not how many poor shots they took or how much they turned the ball over, but that they managed to beat the reigning Olympic Champions.

The victory certainly didn’t look as pretty as it did in previous games, but it’s better than a loss. If this is going to be how Team USA deals with challenges that will most likely arise in the gold medal game or even future international competitions, then I have no complaints.

Yesterday, it was free-throw shooting that kept Team USA ahead. The Americans shot 75 percent from the line, thanks in large part to Anthony’s 13-for-13 foul shooting.

This was a game where shots weren’t falling, the ball-handling was sloppy, and Luis Scola had his way against Chris Bosh and Anthony, scoring an unacceptable 28 points. It was almost exactly what the doctor ordered for Argentina, as Scola said before the game, “We’ve got to play the perfect game and they’ve got to miss more than usual.”

Argentina played about as perfect of a game as you could ask for, especially considering that the team was without Ginobili for almost the entire match. If this is how the U.S. responds to adversity, Coach K should feel very good about the tireless work he has put in to bringing the gold back to America.

At 2:30 A.M. EST, Spain is going to bring the final wave of challenges to Team USA. Jose Calderon will likely sit out the gold-medal game, allowing the future of the Spanish national team, Ricky Rubio to start at point guard in the biggest game of his life.

The U.S. should face a bigger challenge than it did in pool play, when it dominated Spain by 37 points. Don’t be the least bit surprised if the U.S. lead is lower than 15 points in the third quarter.

If Team USA plays in the wee hours of the morning in America the same way it did against Argentina, I’d be very confident in the U.S. fighting through the adversity and winning the ultimate prize of a gold medal.

This article is also posted at Hoops 4 Life. You can find the article here.

Manu Ginobili, Argentina May Pose Threat to US in Olympic Basketball Semifinals

Adam Miller — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:08:11 -0400

This morning will feature two good matchups in the Olympic men’s basketball semifinals. Three of these four teams will medal, but only one can take home the gold.

The United States looks like the favorite out of this bunch after blowing out every team in Group B, including Greece and Spain. Tomorrow, the US will face Argentina, who won the previous Olympic match between the two teams during the semifinals in 2004.

Despite losing a close game to Lithuania, Argentina remains the biggest threat from Group A to Team USA. Andres Nocioni is dealing with a lingering knee injury, but Manu Ginobili said in an interview after the game that Nocioni will likely play.

The rest of this article is published at Hoops 4 Life. You can find the article here.

Team USA's Second Half 3-Point Shooting Keeps Game out of Australia's Reach

Adam Miller — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:15:32 -0400

The United States men's basketball team followed Australia's Brad Newley's 3-pointer with 1:51 left in the first half with a 19-0 run to blow the door open in its 116-85 victory.

The U.S. nearly doubled Australia's scoring in the third quarter after Team USA found its touch from 3-point range and scored 14 unanswered points. After Deron Williams hit a buzzer-beater shot in the second quarter from beyond the arc, Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony opened up the third with back-to-back three-pointers.

Bryant found his shot in the second half, allowing him to score a team-high 25 points throughout the Olympics. Bryant made 10 field goals on 16 attempts while shooting 4-for-7 from beyond the arc.

This article is also published on Hoops 4 Life. You can find the link to the rest of the article here.

U.S. Should Allow Iranian to Fulfill NBA Dreams

Adam Miller — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:16:47 -0400

Iranian center Hamed Ehadadi would like to play for the Memphis Grizzlies—or any other team willing to offer him a contract. However, the political tensions between the U.S. and Iran could stand in the way of the 7-foot-2 basketball player ever slipping on an NBA uniform.

The league office told every team that they are prohibited from discussing a possible contract with Ehadadi, unless the American government gives the NBA a license that will allow teams to contact Iran’s best player.

The reason the U.S. enforces this rule is because the government doesn’t want to play any role in possibly funding Iran’s nuclear program through trade. Aside from possible taxes Ehadadi might pay Iran, he will not do anything to hurt the U.S.

WRITER'S NOTE: 8/21/08 - 12:41 PM EST: The NBA has just received a license from the U.S. Foreign Assets Control that Hamed Ehadadi can play in the league according to Yahoo! Sports. It appears that the Memphis Grizzlies will sign the Iranian center by Saturday.

The NBA and U.S. government should be commended for working together to make this happen. No matter how much he will probably sit on the bench, he is a great story and a terrific example in how sports is something everyone can come together on regardless of political views.

The rest of this article is published at Hoops 4 Life. You can find it here.

U.S. Bench Makes Case For Playing Time During Rout Against Germany

Adam Miller — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 04:19:35 -0400

U.S. men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski knew he wasn’t going to need his big three of LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade to beat Germany this morning in the 106-57 win, so he gave them a rest for most of the game.

Instead, Carmelo Anthony, Tayshaun Prince and Carlos Boozer were the story for most of the game in receiving rare playing time opportunities. Coach K looked for a number of things out of his bench in trying to figure out their roles for the medal round.

The biggest task went to Carmelo Anthony who had to guard Dirk Nowitzki one-on-one to show that he can defend the opposing team’s power forwards. Anthony made his case, giving Nowitzki a hard time offensively with 14 points on 4-fo-10 shooting and 1-for-4 from 3-point range.

Anthony added a game-high two steals while grabbing six rebounds to the effort.

Nowitzki sat at the end of the third quarter as the U.S. continued pounding Germany (1-4) in every aspect of the game. Prince had an impressive showing of his own for Team USA (5-0) on the glass after playing more minutes than he had in previous pool play games. Prince finished with six rebounds and a block in 21 minutes.

Prince likely won’t get much playing time in the medal round unless the U.S. takes a commanding lead into the fourth quarter but should still be valuable as a role player with his defense.

Dwayne Wade played under 20 minutes for the first time in pool play but still showed some great shooting with 10 points on 67 percent shooting.

However the player who made the most of his time was Carlos Boozer. He played only 10 minutes but was very efficient in the post with 3-for-4 shooting, resulting in six points and six rebounds.

Boozer was a major force offensively, allowing Team USA to get several scoring opportunities with his offensive rebounding. Germany struggled with defensive rebounding allowing the U.S. to outrebound the team by 15.

One of the few downsides is U.S. specialized shooter Michael Redd. He missed all four shots from behind the arc and shot only 1-for-9 in 13 minutes. Team USA will need better shooting from Redd as the Americans face tough competition in the medal round.

It appears that not much will change from Coach K’s nine-man rotation but the performance from Boozer and Prince this morning gave him some other options going into Wednesday’s game against Australia.

Anthony will also provide a viable option against deeper front courts, probably backing up Chris Bosh when Coach K wants to go with a smaller lineup.

Team USA's Gold-Medal Chances Hinge on Defense

Adam Miller — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 07:38:38 -0400

The USA's 119-82 thumping of Spain represented more than another win. It was a message, as Chris Paul said in a postgame interview.

“We took [the Spanish guards] as a personal challenge,” Paul said.

If you told Allen Iverson in 2004 that a point guard who doesn’t play defense and a 17-year-old kid could possibly beat Team USA, he would shrug it off and laugh.

But when Paul, Jason Kidd and Deron Williams heard about how Spain had three deadly point guards of their own—Ricky Rubio, Jose Calderon and Juan Carlos Navarro—they made sure to strip whatever confidence the Spanish guards had in their hopes of beating the U.S.

The U.S. (4-0) had its set-backs throughout the game, with Deron Williams fouling out and earning four fouls each from Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard. LeBron James couldn’t stop jawing at the wildly inconsistent refereeing, and the U.S. allowed Spain to go on a 6-0 run late in the first quarter.

Team USA didn’t seem to care, as they were on a mission to show the world that they are the only team deserving of the undefeated title. Their latest casualty on the road to redemption was Spain (3-1), as they succeeded in making the FIBA World Champions look like Angola, with 39 percent shooting and 21 percent from three-point range.

The Americans ruled with their defense (16 steals) by taking Spain’s big men right out of the game. Even Pau Gasol, the top non-U.S. big man, had no luck offensively against the Americans, with five turnovers and 13 points.

When the U.S. chose its team, much of the focus was on how Team USA improved its offense with three true point guards and a go-to player in Bryant.

U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski had other plans for him, as Bryant told Coach K he wanted to guard the best perimeter player on the opposing team.

He has shown no difficulties living up to that task, forcing the opponents he guards to 40 percent shooting and 13.5 points per game. Keep in mind those stats are a little inflated because of Angola’s Armando Costa’s 24 points against an American team that relaxed for most of the game and waited for the opposition to miss.

Today’s casualty was Rudy Fernandez, who scored an Olympic low of eight points. Bryant’s defensive contributions usually don’t show up on the box score—like James does with blocks that continue to awe the Chinese. But that doesn’t seem to bother him.

When he gets back to the NBA, Bryant will be the man on the Los Angeles Lakers and will be putting up impressive stats. But during the Olympics, Bryant isn’t the top scorer, although he is certainly the most talented player.

Bryant will never match Michael Jordan’s defense at the Olympic games in 1992, where keeping his man scoreless was too easy, and instead he tried to keep his man from taking a shot.

The international competition is still too good for that sort of dominance, and Bryant is not a better defender than Jordan, but Bryant will assert his version of dominance against whomever Team USA faces.

All Coach K wants is for Bryant to stop potential threats such as Manu Ginobili and Sarunas Jasikevicius from torching the U.S. beyond the arc, so that Team USA can get more wins like it did today against Spain.

Bryant’s defense-first mentality has rubbed off on the players like Williams and Paul, who are so committed to winning that they will defend Rubio as if he’s Steve Nash. This attitude allowed the U.S. to shut down Spain’s point guards, holding them to 17 percent shooting.

While today’s rout over Spain was convincing that the Americans have what it takes to win the gold medal, they know that every team will bring it up a notch during the medal round. Unless Lithuania decides to take the day off against Australia on Monday, the U.S. should get another shot against Patrick Mills and the Aussies.

The Americans look a step-and-a-half ahead of the rest of the field, but they don’t plan on relaxing until the "Star Spangled Banner" is playing as a gold medal is wrapped around every player’s neck on Aug. 24.

One of the best NBA coaches, Larry Brown, couldn’t get his egotistic superstars to play defense, but an NCAA coaching legend with no NBA experience convinced the league’s top player to dedicate himself to stopping the opposition’s best player, instead of leading the team in scoring. That is what being a gold medalist is all about.

Poor Shooting Dampens US 21-Point Blowout Over Angola

Adam Miller — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:11:48 -0400

It was far from the spectacle that the 1992 Dream Team put on against Angola the first time these two teams faced each other but the U.S. men's basketball team still overpowered the top team in Africa with a 97-76 victory.

Despite being down 28, Angola (0-2) exploited some weaknesses in Team USA (2-0) by scoring 23 points while holding the Americans to 16.

Poor shooting bothered Team USA the entire game shooting a 55 percent field goal percentage and 24 percent from 3-point range. Although the problems offensively did not disrupt the Americans from imposing their will against Angola, this morning did not do anything to boost their confidence for the next two games against Greece on Thursday and Spain on Saturday.

Angola guard Armando Costa scored a game-high 24 points, a consequence of minimal defensive pressure from the Americans. Angola made the game a back-and-forth affair until Team USA went on a 7-2 run starting with 5:43 left in the first quarter.

A rebound from LeBron James led to an easy dunk by Carmelo Anthony to extend the lead to three.

Kobe Bryant struggled to find his shot the entire game scoring eight points on 4-for-13 shooting and missed all eight of his 3-pointers.

The American big men also had foul trouble for the entire game. Carlos Boozer and Dwight Howard each had three fouls despite playing for less than half the game.

Team USA did not gain a 20-point lead until the final minute of the first half when James got an open look from point guard Chris Paul and made a lay-up.

Angola fought back early in the second half cutting the lead to 14 until Bryant sparked another 8-0 run by Team USA, scoring six of the points himself in a little over a minute.

Even with all the problems, the Americans had several highlights as they were simply too much for Angola. Dwayne Wade led the way with 19 points as the sixth man.

Anthony scored 12 points in 21 minutes on 4-for-6 shooting while grabbing a team-high of six rebounds.

Tayshaun Prince came off the bench for 14 minutes with seven points while Deron Williams was a spark for most of the game on defense. Williams had four assists and two steals playing mostly as a second point guard on the floor with Paul.

The defense relied mostly on poor ball-handling by Angola (25 turnovers), which led to easy steals. James showed some great athleticism with three steals and a block to go along with 12 points.

With 1:39 left in the second, James turned a potential reverse lay-up into a left-handed dunk.

Howard added 14 points and didn’t miss a shot on six attempts while also creating havoc on the defensive end for Angola’s starting center, Eduardo Mingas. Howard had two blocks while holding Mingas to eight points on 4-for-13 shooting.

Team USA will have a day to practice before facing off against their latest rival, Greece. The last time the two teams played each other, Greece pulled away with a 101-95 victory in the semi-finals of the 2006 World Championships.

USA-China: Americans Win in 101-70 Rout

Adam Miller — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 08:13:29 -0400

Yao Ming hit a three-pointer in the opening minute, giving China enough momentum to keep the game close in the first half. But in the end, they could not keep up, as the U.S. men's basketball team downed China, 101-70.

The Chinese fed off the home crowd’s energy, with great shooting in the first half. Guard San Yue (eight points, two assists) hit the second three-pointer with eight minutes, nine seconds to go in the first quarter to bring China to a 6-2 lead. San finished two-for-five from three-point range.

Team USA took its first lead of the game when forward LeBron James drove on Yao (13 points, 10 rebounds) and picked up a foul, giving the Americans a one-point lead with seven minutes left in the first quarter.

The Americans lost the lead for the next three minutes, but gained it back with an 11-0 run. However, the Chinese kept the game close and ended the first quarter down four.

China gave played a 3-2 zone against the Americans, giving them open shots. But the US struggled to shoot three-pointers (29 percent), allowing China to stay in the game throughout the second quarter.

The Chinese guards looked a lot better in the first half compared to their performance in previous Olympics. 19-year-old Chen Jianghua made some impressive passes at times, but was careless in committing a team-high three turnovers. He’s still very young, and will need to do a lot of maturing if he wants to have a larger role for the Chinese national team.

James led Team USA in defense with three blocks and six rebounds to go along with his 18 points. With 8:16 left in the quarter, Liu Wei went in for a lay-up but James snatched the ball on the way up and threw a deep pass to guard Dwayne Wade for an easy dunk.

Wade led the team in scoring with 19 points. He had a perfect shooting night on seven shots and five free throws, while the US did a great job defensively, holding China to 11 points.

Team USA picked up momentum with six minutes left in the second quarter, when Kobe Bryant and Chris Bosh scored six points in 45 seconds. The US went on a 16-3 run before China responded in the final two minutes to keep the game within 12 going into the half.

Point guard Jason Kidd led Team USA on its run late in the second quarter. Although he is not quick or a good scorer by any means, he made some great passes and did a great job running the offense this morning. Kidd didn’t pick up any points or assists, but he created some great scoring opportunities in that stretch.

The second half was all Team USA.

The US went on another run late in the third quarter, outscoring China 16-5 in the final four minutes. China could not keep up with Team USA’s fast break and played sloppy defense in general.

China committed four fouls within the final two and a half minutes of the quarter, giving the Americans a 74-48 lead going into the fourth.

China kept the game interesting with some offensive spurts in the fourth quarter led by Chinese forward Yi Jianlian. Yi scored seven of his nine points late in the game, but the American onslaught continued.

Yao picked up his fourth foul with 4:45 left in the game, and had to cheer from the bench for the remainder of the game. The Chinese fans showed great appreciation for their team and the show Team USA put on, despite witnessing a blowout.

The Americans have their next match Tuesday against Angola.

Kobe Bryant Could Leave Los Angeles Lakers For Greece or Russia, Not Italy

Adam Miller — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 13:06:32 -0400

I’m not sure if Los Angeles Lakers guard and Team USA member Kobe Bryant’s intentions to talk about playing in Europe were selfish because he’s using the press conference as leverage, or he was giving another indication that Americans playing in Europe is not such a crazy idea.

Whatever Bryant’s reason was, he certainly created a buzz for the international press to ponder over the next year, as he has the right to opt out of his contract that goes until 2011 after the 2008-'09 season. Bryant told Yahoo Sports earlier today that he is not going to sign an extension with the Lakers until he tests the global market.

“I’d go. I’d probably go,” Bryant told the Boston Globe. “Like Milan or something like that, where I grew up or something like that… Peace out. Do you know any reasonable person that would turn down 50 [million dollars]?”

It's hard to imagine Bryant giving up a chance for another championship in his prime for a season overseas but it's not out of the question.

$50 million is not out of the question for Bryant from a team in Europe, but he probably won’t get it from Italy because the owners there can’t afford to pay that amount of money.

Virtus Bologna gave Earl Boykins the highest paid contract in the Italian League at $3.5 million per year, an offer that Bryant would chuckle about. The only way he plays in Italy is if he receives an ownership/player/marketing deal with Armani Jeans Milano, owned by Georgio Armani.

Bryant currently has an ownership stake in the team, although his father, Joe, is the one who has a say for A.J. Milano.

Even if Bryant became an owner/player for A.J. Milano, he couldn’t make more than $6 million. That’s not to say the idea of going to Italy is out of the question, but his $50 million will not come directly from signing a contract.

Bryant would have to agree to a marketing deal with Armani Jeans to make this happen, something that certainly is going to be on the negotiating table after A.J. Milano finished the previous season with a 3-11 record in Euroleague. Next year, the team will be without its best player, Dalino Gallinari, the No. 6 pick in this year’s draft.

Then again, Bryant would make any Euroleague team a final four contender just with his presence, but until more details are released on the chances of Bryant signing, assume this isn’t going to happen.

That leaves us with three teams: CSKA Moscow, Olympiacos, and Pananthinaikos.

I’m not sure how much money Olympiacos has available, but the Josh Childress signing had to have made a significant dent in the team’s budget, so they’re probably the least likely of the group to sign Bryant.

Pananthinaikos and CSKA Moscow could easily afford to pay Bryant $50 million for one year. Keep in mind that figure would be after taxes, with most of his expenses paid for.

If Bryant received that offer, he could kick back half of his salary to bring some other Lakers over and still make more than he would in Los Angeles, or any other team for that matter.

No. 24 would thrive under both systems, starting at small forward since both teams have a log jam at the guard positions. Then again, no European coach is going to tell Bryant he can’t play shooting guard if he doesn’t want to, but it makes more sense for him to play as a forward since he has enough strength for the position.

Inserting Bryant into CSKA Moscow’s starting lineup would feature J.R. Holden and Trajan Langdon at guards, Bryant and Ramunas Siskauskas at forward, while David Andersen starts at center.

That lineup doesn’t even include the loaded bench CSKA will have next year. A lineup with Bryant would ensure a seventh all-time championship, and they wouldn’t miss a beat after Bryant leaves because of their depth.

Bryant signing with Pananthinaikos would also put him in an already competitive lineup with Dimitrios Diamantidis, Michael Batiste, Vassilis Spanoulis, and an awkward set up with Sarunas Jasikevicius.

After becoming the arch-nemesis for Team USA, Bryant made sure he did everything possible to shut down Jasikevicius in the exhibition game against Lithuania. Since then, the two apparently aren't fond of each other, so it would be interesting to watch them on the same team.

The next offseason will provide plenty of drama for NBA fans when Bryant could leave the league for a year, but don’t pay too much attention to talk of him going to Italy unless it’s when he retires.

Buyer's Remorse: Bears Already Regretting Draft Day Decisions

Adam Miller — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 06:50:38 -0400

It was pretty obvious that the Chicago Bears needed to upgrade their offensive line that looked more like contenders for an AARP card than a Super Bowl.

The Bears did just that by selecting left tackle Chris Williams with the 14th pick in the 2008 NFL Draft, despite Jerry Angelo finding some “wear and tear” during his days at Vanderbilt. Today, Williams is looking more like damaged goods after the Bears announced that he is having surgery to repair a herniated disk in his back.

Bears coach Lovie Smith is saying that this is a new injury although Williams has had back problems since freshman year. It’s likely that he will miss the entire season to heal from this injury.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone as three NFL scouts in attendance at last night’s exhibition game against the Kansas City Chiefs told Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mike Mulligan that Williams was completely off their draft board because of injury concerns.

Why didn’t Angelo follow suit?

If the Bears felt they needed a tackle that badly, they should’ve selected Jeff Otah from Pittsburgh who Scouts inc. feels is not as talented as Williams, but has a much better injury history and would’ve played in last night’s game.

Or better yet, why were the Bears in denial that Cedric Benson was done in Chicago and wait until the second round to grab Matt Forte when Rashard Mendenhall was available? Why is it that Angelo is brilliant when he goes after a defensive player, but selects bust after bust on offense?

At some point, Mendenhall is going to replace Steelers’ running back Willie Parker while the Bears will regret not taking him and giving him an environment to thrive in his home town similar to Derrick Rose will playing with the Bulls.

No matter how much spin the Bears’ public relation department gives the media on how great Matt Forte is, he will not be the every down back that Mendenhall is going to be for Pittsburgh. Instead, we are looking at a bleak situation for Chicago with four running backs and no hope for the near future.

Chicago’s best hope is Kevin Jones, who could be very productive if he stays off the inactive list and gets himself back into shape.

Besides the major mea culpa the Bears are feeling after losing their first round pick for the year, they also missed out on an opportunity to fix their quarterback situation.

The Bears could’ve selected Louisville’s Brian Brohm in the second round if they didn’t use their first round pick on a walking hospital case. I’m not suggesting that Brohm is the answer to the Bears’ problems at quarterback, but he would at least work as a third-string quarterback for a few years until Lovie Smith gets fed up of the quarterback competition between Kyle Orton and Rex Grossman.

Only the Bears could have a quarterback competition where the criteria for starting is taking successful snaps and throwing the least amount of interceptions. That’s like asking if I’d rather watch rowing or archery.

Neither quarterback deserves the starting spot. Why not give Caleb Hanie a shot or see if Chad Pennington can do anything? The Bears insist that either Orton or Grossman are good enough for the starting job, but if that’s really what they think, they must’ve not watched any games between 2005 and now.

The Bears gambled away their future in this draft by selecting a tackle who’s too injury prone and no long-term solution for when Smith, at some point, is fed up with Grossman and Orton.

Chicago signed Devin Hester to an extension not too long ago in hopes that he will someday be a No. 1 receiver. Because of Angelo’s foolish decisions, he will never find out as long as he’s in a Bear’s uniform.

Aug. 9 edit- According to the Chicago Tribune, Williams might be available to return Nov. 2 but that's not official yet. Either way, his back could hurt him throughout his career.