Bleacher Report - Articles by Jason Crawford

NBA's Pre-Christmas Coaching Vacancies: Coincidence or Biased?

Jason Crawford — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:37:24 -0500

Once I had managed to crawl back into my skin after watching my Hawks get bumped once again by a more experienced, more consistent Celtics team, my mind turned to the recent head-coaching vacancies around the NBA.

Let’s take a look at the list real quick:

P.J. Carlesimo- Oklahoma City

Randy Wittman- Minnesota Timberwolves

Sam Mitchell- Toronto Raptors

Maurice Cheeks- Philadelphia 76ers

Eddie Jordan- Washington Wizards

Reggie Theus- Sacremento Kings

Now, I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t help but notice that four out of those six head coaches are black. This led me to a few questions: What roll, if any, did race play in these firings? And are black head coaches under more pressure to succeed than their mostly white counterparts? Or is this just a coincidence?

It would be a pretty daunting task to prove that any one of these firings was purely ethnic in nature. As of this morning, these six teams have a combined records of 38-112, or a win percentage of 34 percent. Horrible.

And of these six teams, only the Raptors and the 76ers have managed double digits in wins. So it’s completely understandable that each of these men found themselves in the proverbial hot seat early on.

Mitchell’s firing proves that the Coach of the Year Award is utterly meaningless. After taking that trophy home for the 2006-2007 season, he’s rewarded this year with a pink slip.

But Mitchell’s days were numbered as soon as Bryan Colangelo was hired away from Phoenix to be the Raptors GM. Mitchell’s coaching philosophies don’t really fit into the Euro-style that Colangelo is trying to implement.

And besides that, most GM’s prefer to bring in their own head coach. Mitchell appears to be more of a victim of circumstance than anything.

Eddie Jordan had the daunting task to trying to take the Wizards to the next level with a gimpy Gilbert Arenas. Agent Zero’s injuries aside, Washington was still able to consistently get into the playoffs but couldn’t seem to get past the first round or LeBron James.

And with Arenas once again on injured reserve, along with the amalgam of other health problems on the team, the load seems too much for Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler to bear. Someone had to be held accountable for the extremely poor start, and Jordan became the scapegoat. I’d say anther season or two, and the Wizards will be in rebuilding mode unless they can pull off a free agency upset in 2010.

Of all the coaches on the list, Cheeks seemingly had the easiest job. With the stellar play of Andre Miller, and the continued development of Andre Iguodala and Thaddeus Young, the addition of Elton Brand seemed to be the piece of the puzzle that would’ve sent Philly to the Eastern Conference Finals.

The team’s play this season has been mostly lackluster and downright lethargic at worst. Also, Brand has been subpar with averages of 15.9 points and 9.8 rebounds; his career averages are 20.1 points and 10.2 rebounds.

Despite this, Cheeks was expected to pilot this team to a winning season and to a favorable playoff seed. At 9-14, the 76ers still had time to get it together, but team president Ed Stefanski felt that the team needed a jolt. Stefanski wanted to see more of the up-tempo/running style that Philly used to get into the last years playoffs and when Cheeks didn’t consistently deliver, it was Cheeks who was run out of town.

That leaves us with Reggie Theus. This was a disaster waiting to happen. Theus had no NBA coaching experience whatsoever; however, he did lead the Kings to a 38-44 record last season, which in many ways was considered to be a success.

But after a 6-18 start to this season, and rumors of Theus being late to practice and to the team bus, the lineups full of power forwards, the personality conflicts with players, and all the empty seats at the usually sold out Arco Arena, the Maloof brothers were ready to show Theus the door.

Of course, we all know that this franchise will be playing out of Las Vegas by 2015-2018 or at the first opportunity. Any takers?

Each of the circumstances surrounding these coaches were different. And while I don’t believe that race played an active role in any of these situations, it almost always plays a passive one.

Black head coaches, especially at the higher levels of sports, have lower margins of error and are usually given less time to succeed if they are given an opportunity at all.

Just this week, the University of Auburn hires (white) Gene Chizik (whose only head coaching job was for the Iowa State Cyclones, whom he led to a 5-19 record over the course of two years) instead of (black) Turner Gill, who turned the Buffalo Bulls from a team with a 2-10 record into winners with a record of 7-5 this season and culminated that effort by upsetting the highly favored then-No. 12 Ball State Cardinals in the MAC championship game.

I digress. I’m not saying that these coaches were fired because they were black. But I’m not going to say that they would’ve been fired had they been white. I don’t believe that this kind of equality exists yet. Four out of the first six head coaches to be fired this year are black. Is this a coincidence? Is this bias? I think its a little of both.

So what do you think?

Stephon Marbury: It's Not a Mess; It's a Message

Jason Crawford — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:53:18 -0500

The sports media machine has painted the Knicks’ management as the scapegoat for the Stephon Marbury mess.

They want you to believe that Donnie Walsh has made a bad situation worse. They want you to believe that Mike D’Antoni is picking fights with this troubled point guard. They want you to believe that the Knicks have totally mismanaged the whole situation. Yeah, they want you to believe that.

The truth is that we should applaud Walsh; we should be singing the praises of D’Antoni. These two have set a new precedent in New York: thug-like behavior, bad attitudes, and “me first” mentalities are no longer welcome.

These two men were pretty upfront with Marbury concerning his current roll and his future with the team. They envision not only a winning team, but title contention also. Marbury insisted that he would reap “every penny he was owed,” instead of negotiate for a buy-out; all of this while the DNP-CD’s were piling up.

So the situation finally comes about where the Knicks needed Marbury to not only suit up, but possibly even get some playing time. The end result: another DNP-CD. But the bottom line is this: It doesn’t matter whether Marbury was asked to play or told to play; He didn’t do it.

He made a conscious decision to screw his franchise and to screw his team mates when they needed him the most. He had a golden opportunity to salvage some of his image, actually EARN some of the $21.9 million he’s expected to make this year, and maybe, just maybe, do something hero-esque.

Had he chose to play, he could’ve given his team another chance to win. And maybe, he could have been their savior if only for a night or two.

What we got instead was typical Marbury: decisions made only with himself in mind.

It would be different if this was the first time that he had not been there for his team. But this wasn’t the first time and it almost certainly won’t be the last. He’s been fined, he’s been suspended, and how anyone could think that issuing thousands of dollars in fines to a man who make tens of millions in a year will rectify the problem is beyond me.

How many chances does a man need? He abandoned his team last season and then opted for an unnecessary surgery that shelved him for the remainder. He’s a cancer in the locker room. So again I ask, how many chances does he need? How many times does this need to play out? Apparently this last time IS the last time.

Marbury is in a contract year. Two things can really hurt a player in a contract year: injuries and/or lack of playing time. Marbury hasn’t been injured, he’s been benched and a year’s worth of DNP-CD’s can really kill a stat line. With each game that he doesn’t play, his free agent value plummets.

The idea is that reality will finally set in and eventually, he’ll agree to a contract buy out. It’s a brilliant plan; it’s a ballsy plan, and the ploy seems to be working, as I’m hearing of rumors of Marbury landing in Miami and that Shawn Marion is on the trade block.

It’s not often, indeed, it’s quite rare to see a team willing to go this far. This is a new Knicks team and possibly a new era as well. This is a team with new leadership and new aspirations. The message being sent is that behavior like this will not go unchallenged and that it will not be tolerated.

And if it means that a man that has been referred to as your franchise player doesn’t get on the court for even a minute, then so be it. And as weird as it is for me to be able to say this, it would do well for management and coaching throughout the league to pay attention and take notes.

Neither Walsh nor D’Antoni were around when Marbury was given the abomination that is his current contract nor were they around when previous management handed out millions in contracts to overpaid underachievers. But they are dealing with it and taking the steps to rectify it.

Moves have already been made; moves that keep them competitive now and moves that will clear cap space for the free agent class of 2010. Can you imagine a Knicks team coached by D’Antoni and piloted by LeBron James or Chris Bosh, or, God willing, both?

Mark my words: it is a new era in New York. And it’ll be great to see the Big Apple relevant in the NBA again. But in a few years, it will be even better to see the Knicks relevant in the playoffs again. Believe it; their time is coming.

Defending the Offensive: Why Up-Tempo Teams Can Succeed in the NBA

Jason Crawford — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:50:08 -0500

"Defense wins championships."

I hear this muck around the NBA (and other sports as well) all the time.

Depending on how certain folks spin it, you would think that recent championship teams like the Celtics, Spurs, and Pistons defended their way to those titles.

If there is one person out there that is as sick of hearing this as I am, it’s probably Mike D’Antoni. His Phoenix Suns “run n’ gunned” their way to into the playoffs each of the last three seasons with 50-plus wins (with 61 wins in 2006-07) but just couldn’t seem to get past the Spurs in the postseason. And of course, the critics and defensive proponents raved after each playoff elimination.

You don’t put up successive 50- and 60-win seasons in the NBA by chance or luck. D’Antoni’s system is and will be successful as long as the right kind of players are executing it. But if you look at the pieces that D’Antoni had to work with in Phoenix, you’ll understand why they couldn’t get to the next level.

Despite all of his MVPs, Steve Nash is a liability on defense—especially when defending bigger point men like Chauncey Billups or Jason Kidd. Amare Stoudemire’s defense was and still is like flipping a coin—you’ve got a 50-50 chance of him showing up to defend.

Shawn Marion, at power forward, often found himself physically overmatched when having to face up some of the bigger guys like Tim Duncan. Leandro Barbosa is known for his speed and shooting. Only Raja Bell is considered to be a true defender.

As a unit, these Phoenix teams were defensively par at best, and a travesty at worst. The mentality is that if these guys were able to defend as well as they were able to score, then they most certainly could’ve won a championship or two. But had they won a championship or two, we would all be talking about how they fun ‘n’ gunned their way to glory—not how well they defended.

Consider last season’s Boston squad. Most recall how downright brutal their defense could be at times. But if you take away the prolific scoring of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett, and replace them with guys like Bruce Bowen or Raja Bell, that Celtics team finishes below .500 and doesn’t even make the playoffs.

And likewise for the last few Spurs championship teams as well. Yes, they play outstanding defense. I won’t take that away from them. But they have three prolific scorers as well—Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Tim Duncan. And when these guys are knocking down jumpers, all three are virtually impossible to guard.

Of this same breed were the ’04 Pistons. They punished their opponents with defense and rebounding, but also had the scorers to put up points with Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, and Rasheed Wallace.

Think about all of these teams—the ’04 Pistons, the ’05 and ’07 Spurs, and the ’08 Celtics. All basically play the same style: a grind it out, half-court game. And they all played this style to accommodate and fully utilize the skill sets of their multi-talented big men. Can you imagine Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, or Rasheed Wallace sprinting up the court with Steve Nash or Chris Paul in transition? Please, try to stop laughing.

The ’07 Cavaliers played some of the best defense in the league that year. But they were offensively outmatched by Tim Duncan and company on their way to being swept in the Finals.

Again, the Spurs did play outstanding defense—but ultimately, the team with the most points wins. The only true offensive weapon in Cleveland’s arsenal was LeBron James—and with the way he was smothered with double and sometimes triple teams, the Cavs lacked the offensive firepower to compensate and stay competitive.

In fact, the ’07 Cavaliers are proof positive that defense does not win championships. Balance and efficiency on both sides of the ball does.

Teams with solid all-around games win. That is why the Spurs are great, that is why the ‘08 Celtics were able to waste the Lakers, that’s why there is a championship banner in Auburn Hills, and that is why those recent Suns teams have come up short. Not because defense wins championships and not because an up-tempo style can’t work.

And who knows? If D’Antoni is able to acquire the right combination of players, we may eventually see a banner in New York. Well, maybe at least a playoff banner.