Bleacher Report - Articles by Robert Kleeman

Spurs-Celtics: The Big Three That Changed the Game

Robert Kleeman — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:46:09 -0500

So much for younger and fresher legs, athleticism, better rebounding, and more points in the paint.

The San Antonio Spurs turned the ball over 19 times, missed 10 free throws, and clanged two of 16 three-point attempts. It cost them in a 90-83 home loss to the Boston Celtics.

The Utah Jazz won in similar fashion at the AT&T Center a few weeks ago.

That, as Tim Duncan would say, will not get it done.

The numbers that matter most don't lie.

The Spurs outscored the Celtics in the paint 52-36, outrebounded them 55-32, managed the same number of steals, lost the assist battle by only two, and blocked five shots to Boston's eight.

Paul Pierce missed seven of nine shots, Ray Allen missed nine of 15, and Rasheed Wallace was four of nine from the field.

A "big three" changed the complexion of this big contest, and it wasn't either of the star trios many still think could meet in the NBA Finals.

Sometimes, a team seen as too old to compete for a title needs to take care of the ball, not lead the league in alley-oops. Athleticism was never the problem in this caustic defeat.

The "big three," then, was the one no player in Spurs white could hit. Roger Mason missed a wide open triple off a perfect play out of a timeout from Gregg Popovich. Matt Bonner and Richard Jefferson missed all of their seven combined tries.

It was the miscue the guards and Duncan could not avoid. Two giveaways late in the fourth quarter—a Rajon Rondo strip of Tony Parker on the fast break and Michael Finley stepping out of bounds before hitting a three that would have cut the Celtics lead to one—sealed the Spurs' fate.

It was the freebie that appeared to cost more than any Spur was willing to play. Duncan missed both of his foul shots, Jefferson missed his lone try, and Parker rimmed on three-of-four. Even Manu Ginobili, reliable as they come from the stripe, missed one.

In such a slugfest, free points can make the difference. The Spurs sat in a proverbial electric chair at home and managed to pull the lever themselves.

This is what you call suicide. With perhaps 70 questions awaiting a wanna-be champion on the other end, this cause was not worth such a painful death.

All contenders rely on the the three-ball to change games. It just makes sense. It's easier to comeback from a deficit or to expand a lead with shots that count for three instead of two.

When the Spurs needed Bonner, Mason, Finley and the other shooters to deliver, none could.

Dejuan Blair scored a career-high 18 points to go along with 11 rebounds and two blocks.

Bonner snagged nine boards.

Duncan hauled down 15 rebounds.

Jefferson's 3-for-13 offensive struggle was offset by his rendering the Celtics' best player, Pierce, ineffective.

Boston hoisted two more treys than San Antonio, a sign of how important the jumpshot was for both teams.

Translation: The Spurs should have won.

The Celtics missed 14 of 18 trey bombs, but one of the few makes was timely. At the end of the third quarter, with the Spurs in reach, Rasheed Wallace nailed an uncontested trey.

The Celtics also drilled more contest jumpers when it counted.

Remember that big advantage on the boards and in the paint? Boston wasn't the more physical team or the one more equipped to win.

This matchup is a wash on paper, and the Spurs should be ready to return the favor in Boston when the teams meet again this spring.

They won, after all, in the Celtics' house last season.

The difference then was the same one that changed Thursday's game. The Celtics had outrebounded the Spurs, scored 20 more points in the paint, and looked poised to defend home court.

San Antonio needed a "big three."

Mason obliged with a dagger trey, Ginobili stole a critical inbounds pass from Allen, and the team made its free throws in crunch time.

The Spurs could have used that trio on a chilly Thursday night in December. They better find it before February.

Dennis "The Worm" Rodman Would Get My Hall of Fame Vote

Robert Kleeman — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:15:03 -0500

Forget the wedding dress.

His wacky hairdos.

The above photograph with Carrot Top.

The latter years of his career in which he put himself above the game.

That he sometimes passed up good shots to pad his rebounding stats.

His half-embarrassing, half-scary stints on reality shows "The Apprentice" and "The Mole."

That dreadful movie with Jean-Claude Van Damme.

"The Rodman World Tour," as pompous and unnecessary a TV show as there ever was.

The aborted suicide attempt in 1993.

His strange affair with Madonna.

His botched wrestling career.

The experiment with the Brighton Bears, a UK basketball team.

Bubba Wells and the Hack-a-Rodman.

His 7.3 career PPG average.

Forget all of that, difficult as it may be to do so. You can't talk me out of this one.

When Karl Malone and Scottie Pippen head to Springfield, Ill. next fall to give Hall of Fame induction speeches, Dennis Rodman should join them on stage.

He might even wear woman's clothing. His choice of apparel might be more memorable than whatever comes out of his mouth, and whatever comes out of his mouth may cause ESPN censors to faint from exhaustion.

He might say some not-so-nice things about NBA Commissioner David Stern. The two were not best buds, and although Rodman says he has worked things out with the longest-tenured leader in professional sports, you cannot trust his word anymore than you can rely on a housefly to build a patio.

Off the court, Rodman was a circus freak, an alcoholic, an unintentional stand-up comedian, and an entertainer all rolled into one mortifying being.

I'm still not sure he's human or that he was born on planet Earth.

The admission price to his carnival was always free, so long as attendees agreed not to complain about his absurd shenanigans.

Stern complained a lot, and rightfully so.

Rodman could tell Mark Cuban a thing or two about a lighter wallet.

On the court, however, Rodman was the best rebounder and most versatile defender of his generation, bar none.

Listed at 6'8", but closer to 6'7", he crashed the boards like a seven-footer. He changed big games defensively, like Bill Russell without the height advantage.

Most importantly, he played an integral role on five champions. He put the "bad" in the "Bad Boy" Detroit Pistons before helping Michael Jordan win three consecutive titles from 1996 to 1998 with the Chicago Bulls.

If the Hall has honored numerous players who only competed on offense, why shouldn't it celebrate a player who excelled on the end of the floor where teams win championships?

He was the kind of winner with the Pistons and Bulls that Ron Artest hopes to be with the Los Angeles Lakers.

He may have been unreliable and careless off the court, but he was fiercely competitive on it.

Unlike Robert Horry, who boasts a similar career scoring average, Rodman showed up for regular season games.

I recently watched a replay of Game Six of the 1996 NBA Finals. Rodman's 19 rebounds and brutish interior defense changed the complexion of that championship clincher.

His impact was undeniable in so many playoff contests.

I have never subscribed to the idea that the Bulls' title teams would have struggled to defeat the 1980s elite.

The playoff squads in the 1990s played far superior defense and their offenses were usually just as precise.

No one should compare the 1980s Jordan to the dominant champion who hoisted six Larry O'Brien trophies.

He was a much better player with a much better supporting cast in 1996 than in 1987.

Why are Lakers fans and 1980s maniacs the only ones to dismiss 1990s basketball as "overrated?"

The point here is that Rodman competed against bigs as tough as what the elite rebounders and defenders faced in the 1970s and 1980s.

He frustrated opponents to no end. He took the phrase "getting under a player's skin" to a new level.

He was a vampire long before "Twilight" and "True Blood" became pop culture sensations. Instead of blood, he sucked on a player's preferences.

Rodman took away whatever a foe wanted to do and made him do the opposite.

I expect some nasty comments below, perhaps some personal attacks. Call me stupid, brainless, anything you want.

This is my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

If Pippen and Malone are shoo-in selections, Rodman will be as divisive as any candidate in the Hall's history.

His candidacy should be debated.

In my book, though, Springfield enshrinement is about on-court performance not a player's personal life.

From the opening tip of his pro and college careers to the final buzzer of Chicago's second three-peat, he was a relentless winner and a one-of-a-kind specimen.

I don't serve on the Hall's selection panel, but if I did, Rodman would get my vote.

I want to see that induction speech, too.

Not Like Mike: Clyde Drexler and David Robinson Retired On Their Own Terms

Robert Kleeman — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:47:33 -0500

Writer's note : Thanks to an NBA, Best Buy, HP and Windows partnership, I interviewed Hall of Fame guard Clyde Drexler Sunday afternoon. I will post the full transcript of our 16-minute conversation later this week.

Sequestered in a back room of the Galleria-area Best Buy, Clyde Drexler autographed Houston Rockets items as he spoke in his unmistakable timbre.

He signed each poster with one robotic motion as I fired off questions about the college-to-pros transition, his career, Rick Adelman, and an assortment of other topics.

When I stammered through the dreaded retirement inquiry, he scoffed, as if mere mention of hanging up the sneakers insulted his intelligence.

The inquiry seemed appropriate. Allen Iverson announced his NBA departure Wednesday afternoon after 14 seasons, but multiple reports suggested he could re-sign with the Philadelphia Sixers by next week.

Iverson, like so many other Hall of Fame-caliber players, is struggling with when to call it quits.

The mercurial guard still considers himself a top five player. He takes the idea of anything other than a starting, go-to role with great offense.

Anyone who says he has "a lot left in the tank" in a post retirement interview has not played his last game.

Did Drexler struggle with this same decision?

He laughed and then answered without pause.

"No," he said. "I wanted to retire on my own terms. I wanted to leave before they kicked me out."

Drexler retired after a first round exit in 1998, one year after a John Stockton three sank the Rockets in Game Seven of the Western Conference Finals. His peers, even teammate Hakeem Olajuwon, left the game years later after less than polite shoves out the door.

His career, at least, ended after a short playoff series.

Patrick Ewing tried to hack it with the Orlando Magic in 2001 before averages of six points and four rebounds humbled him enough to quit.

The Rockets traded Olajuwon to the Raptors in August 2001. His career-low seven-point, six-rebound average in Toronto signaled the bitter end of a brilliant career.

Charles Barkley said "I'm done" so many times that he made "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" look like "Honest Abe."

How many times has he said he could score on a certain current player during a TNT broadcast? How many times has he cried that today's players often face "stiffs" while he faced Michael Jordan?

Now, a Springfield-bound guard often praised for his courage in attacking the rim, sits with a silent cell phone in hand.

Few can accept Iverson under his terms, and teams with a title shot will wait until key December and January deadlines pass to give him a look.

Drexler's quick response to my query provided a perfect parallel to a recent Hall of Fame inductee the San Antonio Spurs honored Sunday night.

David Robinson was enshrined alongside Jordan, Stockton, C. Vivian Stringer and Jerry Sloan in September.

No. 50 and No. 22 never beat No. 23 in a playoff series, but the grace with which they handled life after ruling the court puts "His Airness" to shame.

Robinson, like Drexler, had a Plan B. He could have survived without a basketball in hands, contrary to what Jordan told reporters about the 2009 class on the eve of his cruel speech.

The Spurs celebrated Robinson's induction after Sunday night's win over the Philadelphia 76ers. The ceremony offered fans the chance to canonize the center who saved the franchise from relocation and helped deliver two of San Antonio's four titles.

In his career finale at the AT&T Center, "The Admiral" scored 13 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in a championship clincher.

Yet, a night meant to celebrate his basketball accomplishments became a spotlight for the Carver Academy, the school for underachieving children Robinson and wife Valerie founded.

To date, Robinson has contributed more than $11 million to the San Antonio campus. Sunday night, he asked Spurs fans to memorialize him with a donation to the academy.

No wonder, then, that the NBA named its Community Assist Award after Robinson.

Jordan's post-second retirement life has involved marriage infidelity and part management of a loser expansion franchise in Charlotte.

He used the humongous platform provided him at Symphony Hall in September to bludgeon everyone who slighted him. Even legendary coach Dean Smith and a high school teammate.

"I wouldn't want to be you guys," he said to his kids.

Father of the year material, huh?

During his speech, the camera briefly captured Robinson shaking his head in disbelief.

Drexler might have done the same.

Players at peace with decampment can let go of on-court battles to fight new ones. Such as the quickstep on Dancing With the Stars or expansion of a 5,158-acre school.

Drexler serves as a TV analyst for Rockets home games, while Robinson owns a stake in the Spurs.

Neither player gets involved in team practices or meetings. Jordan once tried to hype up the Bobcats players by invading a shootaround.

Maybe if they competed with "His Greatness" they might absorb his talent through osmosis.

For Jordan, there is nothing but basketball. He stays in relative game shape and said at the end of his induction speech that he might return to the NBA at 50.

"Don't laugh," he said.

Drexler and Robinson joke about it sometimes.

"You make me feel like I want to play again," Robinson said to the 17,161 who had come to commemorate him more than watch the Spurs and Sixers.

During a telecast a few years ago, Drexler wondered if he could help the Rockets climb out of a 20-point deficit.

Play-by-play man Bill Worrell told Drexler he should consider suiting up to assist the ice-cold team.

"Maybe I should," Drexler said with a tone that flexed both the intended sincerity and humor of the remark.

Robinson and Drexler love to discuss their careers, but they're not still trying to hit game-winners, posterize foes, or win roster spots when they do it.

Drexler said Sunday he once wanted a basketball scholarship so he could study to be an investment banker.

If not hoops, Wall Street?

"I would have been in academia," he said. "I would have tried to get an academic scholarship."

Instead, he helped form the Phi Slama Jama fraternity at the University of Houston. He played basketball because he "loved the game," he said.

Like Robinson, Drexler's distinguished career—which included three NBA Finals appearances, a championship and numerous All-NBA and All-Star selections—made him worthy of inclusion on a list of the league's 50 all-time best.

Not wanting to be like a bar patron thrown to the street by the bouncer after closing time, Drexler announced his retirement during a season in which he was scoring 15 points per contest.

On his own terms.

The Fastbreak Houston Rockets Have Run Into a Wall

Robert Kleeman — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:53:20 -0500

Before Friday's tilt with the San Antonio Spurs, the Houston Rockets had not lost two games in a row.

In the first three quarters of Sunday's 100-91 win over Oklahoma City, the Thunder threatened to extend the streak to three.

The Rockets, for their part, seemed to ask for a finishing punch, as if such a blow would end the misery of an embarrassing week.

First, the Dallas Mavericks destroyed the Rockets 130-99, using everything from hot shooting from behind the arc, to Dirk Nowitzki's untouchable fade-away jumper, and Jason Kidd post-ups, to sharpen the attack.

Jason Terry jump started the merciless blitzkrieg Wednesday night with demoralizing shot after demoralizing shot.

The Spurs strolled into town with a three game winning streak and a mission. In the third quarter of that slug-fest, the Rockets clanged 17 consecutive shots; shooting 20 fewer free throws might have hurt as well.

San Antonio escaped Houston with a 92-84 victory and the resilient Rockets seemed to have changed.

Except they didn't and never have.

I disagree with Houston Chronicle columnist Jerome Solomon that it's too early to define the squad.

The Rockets should know by now who they are and what they must do to win.

They must hope to keep the points in the paint, rebound, and win the turnover battle to stay competitive.

Sunday, an extra-shorthanded, red-clad unit, did just that.

The Thunder grabbed 11 less rebounds, coughed up the rock four more times, and lost the war in the paint by 10.

When Carl Landry nets 21 points and 10 rebounds, David Anderson contributes 12 points, and Aaron Brooks goes for 21 points with five steals, the Rockets have a chance to beat any team at any level.

Unfortunately, such blistering performances cannot always happen, and playing hard has little to do with it.

Rick Adelman makes sure the Rockets always give a complete effort. Even when they are getting their butts kicked back to the stone age, they are still trying.

Many observers wanted to blame a lack of intensity for the home losses to the Mavericks and Spurs, but both squads boasted far superior and more experienced talent and hotter circumstantial fuel.

On Tuesday night, the Mavericks were beaten by a Golden State Warriors squad that only dressed six players and was without pneumonia-stricken head coach Don Nelson.

When Houston opened an 11-2 lead, did anyone not expect Rick Carlisle's bunch to respond?

The Spurs headed to Houston with zero road victories in four tries. A defeat would have marked the first time in Tim Duncan's career that the Spurs finished November without a win away from home.

Both the Mavericks and the Spurs have their eyes on the Western Conference title and an NBA championship. The banged-up Rockets just hope to be someone's first-round snack.

The Rockets won't always have more motivation than the opponent, but they will play hard. Some teams don't.

To suggest the Rockets gave up last week is to misunderstand the gravity of the situation.

Yao Ming's absence in the middle necessitates a run-first, run-always approach. The players have said, though, that they want to regain the stingy defensive form Jeff Van Gundy once installed.

The lesson from this week might be the impossible nature of that goal. The Thunder shot 48 percent in a loss, while the Mavericks drilled 65 percent of their shots at Toyota Center.

Running teams rarely play consistent defense, and the Rockets won't be any different.

They will try, with Chuck Hayes, Trevor Ariza, and Shane Battier, and they can succeed on some nights.

To get stops, teams must often slow down the pace, and they need an inside presence to do it. That might be what the Rockets miss most about Yao.

Hall of Fame guard Clyde Drexler, with whom I conversed on Sunday afternoon, agreed.

"The more you run, the more points you give up," he said. "Running teams need a shot blocker."

A quick scan of the roster reveals the 6'6" Hayes as the the primary defensive center. Uh-oh.

The Rockets have fallen at home to two squads with Springfield-bound point guards who make a living on the break.

Kidd led the Nets to consecutive NBA Finals with his devil-may-care passes in the open court, while Steve Nash helped lead Mike D'Antoni's seven-seconds-or-less Suns' offense.

The Rockets must run to get easy buckets, but opponents with more talent, who also run, will annihilate them most of the time.

Defense and this up tempo style of play, do not go hand in hand.

With continued effort, the team could still finish in the top 10 or 15 in field goal percentage defense, a laudable mark given the personnel.

They are doomed, however, to allow more points per contest this season than they have this entire decade.

Get used to nights where the other guys topple the century mark.

One woolly week does not change my preseason prediction. At 9-8, the team can still win more than 30 games and less than 50.

A victory total in that range should allow the Rockets to compete for one of the final playoff spots in the Western Conference.

The Rockets don't have it in them to be consistent every game. There will be nights when they cannot overcome their flaws.

There will be evenings like Sunday, when a double-digit deficit means little. Houston, after all, had won 11 straight against Oklahoma City/Seattle.

This is how life on the run works.

The fastbreak Rockets have hit a wall and unlike the one in Berlin, this one's not coming down anytime soon.

Firing Lawrence Frank May Cost Parsimonious New Jersey Nets Ownership in 2010

Robert Kleeman — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 03:02:43 -0500

Boyish looking basketball coach Lawrence Frank lasted through all of his New Jersey Nets' agonizing 16 consecutive defeats.

Why did ownership pick the eve of what would be a dubious record-tying 17th loss in L.A. to fire him?

Why now, after most players and Thorn rushed to his defense?

Lost in the talk of how Frank was not responsible for the squad's winless mark is what his ill-timed dismissal could mean for the franchise next summer.

Many had speculated that his job security might be in jeopardy if the futility continued.

When a team loses this much, someone must pay the price. The coach could not escape liability for the epic struggles.

Since hoops execs cannot lay off players and ownership rarely slaps itself on the wrist, the coach usually takes the brunt of the blame.

New Orleans Hornets Owner George Shinn made Byron Scott the fall guy after the team's paltry 3-6 start. The Chris Paul-less squad responded in the first week or two of GM Jeff Bower's coaching tenure.

Sunday night, the Sacramento Kings drubbed the Hornets 112-96 at Arco Arena.

For Bower, the honeymoon is over.

Scott was not without his flaws. His playbook had become as predictable as Roland Emmerich's disaster films and players openly complained that he spent more time on the green with his drivers and putters than he did in the green room studying game tape.

His control-freak demeanor alienated most of the roster, and fans griped about his low tolerance for the mistakes of youngsters, especially Julian Wright. When management decided to pull the plug two seasons after a Southwest Division title, Paul was Scott's lone ally in the organization.

News flash to Shinn: The opinion of the franchise player kind of matters. How many tickets would the owner sell without Paul?

In any discussion of franchises that get it, the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs should surface.

The two West powers have secured a combined eight championships since 1999, and both rosters feature first-ballot Hall of Famers and devoted fanbases.

Phil Jackson is already enshrined in Springfield. Gregg Popovich will someday join him.

The Nets' knee-jerk, owner-driven verdict on Frank puts the franchise in the opposite category of incompetence.

Frank's unlikely coaching career began with 13 straight victories.

The Nets made the playoffs in each of his first four seasons and advanced to the second round in three of them.

His tenure ends with 16 miserable losses.

He won over Jason Kidd the way Scott could not, even after back-to-back NBA Finals appearances.

The current squad, among the association's least talented and most depleted, responded to his demands to play hard.

The players seemed to work as hard as Frank did.

He often manned the sidelines in the season's first month with the league-minimum eight players.

Guard Chris Douglas-Roberts has spent as much time battling the swine flu as he has NBA talent.

Devin Harris missed 10 contests.

Who could have won with this caustic cast?

Not Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, who lamented Frank's disposal when asked about it by the Associated Press. Not Jackson. Not Popovich.

If not those top-flight coaches, then who?

This is not a Scott and Frank pity party.

Both coaches will resurface with other teams soon enough. They should each have plenty of dough to last them until their next gig, if they should choose to accept one.

Instead, consider this a warning to Nets ownership.

"Lawrence always approached every day with a passion for his craft that was infectious, and his dedication to the game as well as his work ethic are to be both admired and appreciated," Nets president Rod Thorn said in a statement released by the team.

Thorn, like Frank, could be gone before next summer. The man who transformed a loser franchise into a title contender with his hoops know-how will be gone if the penny-pinching bosses say so.

The Nets president did not want to ship out Kidd, Richard Jefferson, or Vince Carter any more than he wanted Frank to go.

In this economy, a general manager will do anything to keep a job, even if it means donating talent to slash payroll.

After the blockbuster trade to acquire Harris from the Dallas Mavericks, things went downhill for the Nets.

Now, the financial flexibility Thorn reluctantly touts with Kidd, Jefferson, and Carter elsewhere is a euphemism for a fire sale.

Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov hopes owners will approve his bid to buy the Nets next month.

Then, the team might move from its financially challenged dump in the Meadowlands to a posh palace in Brooklyn. Until any of this happens, it's a pipe dream.

What superstar would sacrifice the prime years of his career to wallow in an asbestos-infested swampland? Sorry if I am skeptical about the Nets' pending move, but how many years has this Jersey exit been discussed?

The arena's preliminary design has undergone so many facelifts that the facility might as well be named after Kenny Rogers. There's stadium plastic surgery, and then there's idiocy. Call this the latter.

Most of the people who occupy the land where this supposed basketball Mecca would stand don't want to move.

Put yourself in LeBron James or Dwyane Wade's shoes.

Do you want to become the sole savior for an organization that has no idea what the hell it's doing or do you want to win championships? Wade won a title with the Miami Heat. Owner Mickey Arison spent big to deliver Shaquille O'Neal to South Beach, and as the "Big Diesel" promised, he helped the explosive guard conquer four playoff rounds in 2006.

Since James' rookie year in 2003, the Cleveland Cavaliers have reached the Finals once and the Eastern Conference Finals twice. Owner Dan Gilbert has shown a similar commitment to spending big when necessary.

What could the Nets offer James or Wade today that the Heat and Cavs could not?

Today matters because it looks like New Jersey will be stuck here for the rest of the season, mired in a losing funk, with no slam-dunk coaches to replace Frank.

The Nets and Hornets should have waited to fire Frank and Scott until they had interested replacements with superior credentials. To those who consider me nuts, name any coach on the open market better than those two.

Jeff Van Gundy enjoys more job security as a TV analyst than he ever would in either locale. Avery Johnson could make sense in New Orleans, if Shinn wants a hometown stalwart on the sidelines. In a recent article about the possibility of such a marriage, I said the Hornets had to give him a call.

I also dubbed Johnson a risky hire, given his penchant for big-game coaching failures. He has a lot to learn if he wants to stick with another franchise.

The Nets, however, matter more in this discussion since they will have as much money to spend as anyone in 2010.

They want James, maybe Chris Bosh, too.

If the crown jewels of next summer's free agent class want to win as much as they say, gimmicks will not sway them.

James does not need his own cable channel in New York. He already has one that reaches most TV-viewing households in the U.S. It's called ESPN .

He can be best buds with Jay-Z wherever he plays, even in Cleveland.

With the Internet as popular as ever, James does not need to live in a larger market to be a global icon. It's called Nike and YouTube, folks. Sometimes, we misread what superstars want. James has not asked for more 24-hour coverage or a massive mural in another city or an arena that looks like a cross between a spaceship and a futuristic prison.

Like Wade, with his prime years ahead, he wants more cracks at the Larry O' Brien trophy. Why would either star leave proven playoff winners for an empty Brooklyn promise stalled in Jersey?

Stars want stability, respect, and the opportunity to finish with more Ws than Ls. Lots more Ws.

Frank's pink slip leaves the Nets in an unstable state. Interim coach Tom Barrise could not stop the slide Sunday night at Staples Center. Now, a decision no one in the organization outside of ownership supported, makes the product less attractive to fans and potential free agents.

If the threat of bolting across the Hudson River was not enough, ownership has taken to boneheaded tactics to sell tickets.

A winning club never offers replica jerseys from players on opposing players in multi-game packs.

Tim Duncan offers the best example of why stability matters. In the sweltering summer of 2000, Magic execs courted him like crazed fanatics. They flew him to Florida in a lavish private jet, wined and dined him, and promised years of title contention alongside Grant Hill. Thankfully for San Antonio, Duncan opted for the sure thing. He knew he would get his best shot at more rings if he stayed a Spur.

Another tipping point: he detested the "no family members allowed" policy on the Magic's charter. A no-no for a dedicated family man for sure. Duncan never wanted royal treatment or expensive steaks or Pinot and Cabernet.

He sought the situation best for his family and one in which he could compete for championships.

Gregg Popovich and R.C. Buford won over Duncan with pie charts, graphs, and sincerity. Sometimes, candor trumps grandiose.

The Spurs model works because the basketball operations staff runs the operation, and the coach never worries about his job.

Constancy mattered to Duncan, and it should matter to James and Wade.

With Frank out the door, no end to the losing in sight, and a vacillating future, the Nets look like an increasingly dangerous destination for an otherworldly baller in search of perennial contention.

The Answer Is On The Runway? A.I. Could Learn From Jet Terry

Robert Kleeman — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:03:50 -0500

To the surprise of few, Allen Iverson announced his retirement Wednesday weeks after the Memphis Grizzlies agreed to release him from his one-year contract.

For fans of the courageous slashing combo guard, the decision marked the bitter end of a media-driven smear campaign. His ardent supporters would not allow themselves to blame Iverson for his petulant behavior.

Instead, they chastised anyone who dared to question his loyalty, will to win or ego.

A player with such talent has the right to behave in any manner he wants. Damn you if you disagree.

To those not blinded by the unfulfilled potential of his awesome basketball faculties, a retirement after 14 years represents a legacy destroyed.

Iverson could play several more productive years, but no one wanted to sign him under his rigid conditions.

The desperate Memphis Grizzlies signed him in September as a last resort sales ploy. The acquisition did boost ticket sales for a few days, but the boneheaded decision to sic him on O.J. Mayo and Rudy Gay could ruin the rest of the year for the franchise.

The prospect of decline and a reserve role prompted one of the NBA's leading men to bow out before the final act of the play.

The immovable force, well, moved in the wrong direction.

He should still be playing, but instead he decided ego preservation was more important than winning.

Michael Curry and Lionel Hollins never asked Iverson to come off the bench because they thought Rodney Stuckey, O.J. Mayo and Mike Conley Jr. were superior players.

The best player at a given position on a team doesn't always start. Future Hall of Famer Manu Ginobili and explosive scorer—J.R. Smith can attest to that.

Ginobili won a championship as the ultimate super sub in 2007. Lamar Odom produced off the pine for much of the L.A. Lakers latest championship run.

Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Terry, however, provides the best parallel.

Perceptions about Terry have changed since his embrace of a second-unit starring role.

He scored 35 points in a pivotal NBA Finals game as a starter. Then, observers wondered if he was just accumulating stats for a fat contract extension.

His deal conveniently expired after that Finals run.

The next year, after winning the sixth most regular season games in league history, the Mavericks flamed out in the first round to the eighth seeded Warriors.

Terry's play in the parts of the series could be compared to vomit.

Then, Avery Johnson decided that his team's second unit needed more firepower. He made Terry a full-time reserve, and the results were smashing.

Rick Carlisle concurred with Johnson about Terry's reserve value.

After dealing with Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard in the starting five, opponents would have to handle a lethal scorer with limitless range and veins with freezer burn.

His impact did not lessen because the PA announcer no longer called his name during the starting introductions.

His role, in fact, augmented.

Terry can establish his presence as much after six minutes as he can from the opening tip.

If Iverson followed Terry's lead, he would still be playing. And winning.

His 18 ppg average looks similar to his numbers as a starter.

What Terry realized that Iverson should have: a reserve role means free reign in the offense.

It means more shots and sometimes more points. Ginobili's highest season average came in a reserve role.

Ditto for Smith.

I get the differences between the two players, dear Iverson fanatics.

Terry has never carried a team on his back for a full season.

He was not a number one pick.

Terry is not headed to Springfield.

His career scoring totals cannot measure up to Iverson's.

Still, Terry has been to the same number of championship series, and he boasts one more Finals win than Iverson.

You can collate that.

It was difficult to watch the Jet demolish the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on Wednesday and not think of how Iverson could wreak similar havoc.

Terry was the best player on the floor, and he single handedlyerased a 12-point deficit with his dead-eye shooting.

If you squinted for a moment, you might have seen Kobe Bryant. He was that deadly.

After allowing an 11-2 lead, the Mavericks thumped the Rockets 130-99.

Would Dallas have won so handily with Terry on the floor in the opening minutes?

Imagine Iverson as a Celtics reserve. A limited role behind Rajon Rondo would mask his dangerous gambles on defense and his aversion to practice.

He could dominate the ball, and thus, dominate other second units. With Eddie House and Rasheed Wallace at his side, would anybody stop the Boston bench?

Instead of retirement, Iverson would be running toward the championship that would complete his career.

Perceptions would change. If they did for Terry, why wouldn't they for Iverson?

Oklahoma City's Thunderous Road Win Serves Notice to NBA Foes

Robert Kleeman — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:01:17 -0500

The name might still sound dinkier than a wedding at a roller rink and cheaper than box wine, but the team is as excitable as a litter of Dobermans.

With a resolute performance in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, the Oklahoma City Thunder inched farther from the NBA's cellar and closer to its rooftop.

Though the Thunder still needs a few years to join the ranks of the league's elite, it notified the Utah Jazz and other conference adversaries that no contest will be won easily.

The team's 104-94 victory at Energy Solutions Arena oozed gameness and maturity.

Anyone not able to appreciate this squad's competitive spirit needs a pulse check.

Even if championship contention is reserved for the Boston Celtics, L.A. Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, Orlando Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers, and maybe a few others, things are looking up in Oklahoma City.

It might be too early for the NBA's newest die-hards to start talking playoffs, but with the West muddled more than ever, the lower seeds could lock up the final slots with less than 45 wins.

The Thunder needed to show some life after a dreadful performance against the champs at Staples Center.

How did Oklahoma City eke out a win in a building where the home squad lost eight times last year and four times in 2007-08?

How did a former 23-win franchise complete the kind of confidence-building conquest that was off-limits mere months ago?

The Jazz had more rebounds and points in the paint and still lost by double figures.

Here's how the Thunder stole this one, and the seven others, that have the franchise one game above .500 for the first time ever.

Rumbling and Rolling

Kevin Durant delivered a star performance, posting 28 points on 11-of-22 shooting. His defense was active, and he scored several breathtaking buckets in transition.
His two treys and career-high assists also helped the cause.
The ball moved from side to side, rarely sticking in one player's hand for an extended period. This unselfishness forced Utah defenders to react, causing open jumpers galore. Most of Oklahoma City's 18 three-point tries were uncontested. The Thunder drilled eight of them, good for 44 percent.
For a team in the throes of puberty, 25 assists to 16 turnovers in a hostile environment is a groovy ratio.
Players put their athleticism to good use on the defensive end and swiped the ball 18 times.
The Thunder caused 24 turnovers, a season high for an opponent and the Jazz.
Surviving after making only 4-of-12 baskets in the final frame, with Utah charging back to within eight, is commendable.
Russell Westbrook deserves props for sinking all four of his freebies in the fourth quarter. Those free throws helped the Thunder keep the Jazz at arm's length.
The reserves drained of 11-of-15 attempts. Rookie James Harden sizzled with 10 points, and Kyle Weaver swooshed a timely triple in the fourth period.
The team also swatted six shots, three more than the Jazz.
Thabo Sefolosha's clingy defense frustrated Deron Williams into a 5-for-14 night. Williams recorded nine assists, but also turned the rock over nine times.
Memo Okur missed eight of his 13 looks, a testament to the Thunder's interior labor.
Closing out quarters is the underappreciated key to scoring road triumphs. The Thunder finished strong in the second, third, and fourth periods with mini-runs.
The 53-52 halftime lead alone put the Thunder in position to snatch the game.

Presti's Plan Procures Praise

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich once called now Thunder GM Sam Presti a "resident genius."

His work in Oklahoma City has done nothing to tarnish the tremendous reputation he built in San Antonio.

Had he kept Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis two summers ago, the Seattle Sonics-turned Thunder might have been a playoff team.

Instead, Presti let Lewis walk, where he promptly signed a $100 million deal with the Orlando Magic he would never have earned in Seattle. He then traded Allen to the Boston Celtics on draft night for the rights to Jeff Green.

This determination to avoid stopgap players and borderline All-Stars will give the Thunder's budding star core of Westbrook, Green, and Durant ample time to grow together.

The Memphis Grizzlies could learn from this wise philosophy. How bad would Oklahoma City be had it signed Zach Randolph or Allen Iverson?

Underrated Signing and Overlooked Trade Pay Dividends

When Presti traded a first round pick to the Chicago Bulls for two-guard Sefolosha, it did not garner mass SportsCenter attention.

The move, however, has allowed the Thunder to make massive improvements on the defensive end. He can hound ones, twos, and threes, as evidenced by his recent pesky turns on Caron Butler, Kobe Bryant, and Williams.

He won't shut many stars down, but he can make any of them work. His long arms force opponents into wild shots, and his resourcefulness often causes bad passes and poor clock management.

Twice in the fourth quarter of Tuesday's win, Sefolosha filched the ball from Williams.

Coach Scott Brooks calls Sefolosha his hardest working, best defender.

Also under the radar was Presti's signing of Serbian center Nenad Krstic. His eight-point, four-rebound average would dazzle few observers at first glance.

He fouled out late in the fourth quarter in Utah and scored a listless two points in L.A. on Sunday.

His mid-range shooting and spirited defensive stands have juiced the Thunder's attack.

The team owes much of its win in San Antonio to a third quarter stretch in which Krstic nailed three straight 20-footers.

Tuesday, he drew two fourth quarter offensive fouls and blocked a would-be layup.

Coach's Demeanor Triggers Competitive Streak

When former NBA journeyman Brooks took over for P.J. Carlesimo, the team was 3-29. Since, the squad has improved to a .500 record.

How many thought this interim hire would seize the job?

Brooks has cultivated his own style on the sidelines, molding a streetwise product, where players up and down the roster contribute.

The players, Durant in particular, have responded to his tactics.

Undrafted in the CBA and now one of the game's youngest coaches at 44, Brooks has guided his team into the top 10 in field goal percentage defense after a dolorous 26th place finish last year.

His squads own victories at Miami, Detroit, San Antonio, and Utah. The Thunder smacked around the Magic at the Ford Center.

After the beat down, Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said with a straight face, "The Thunder is a better team than we are now."

A lot of coaches could emerge from matches with Oklahoma City grumbling similar blunt assessments.

Dinky name. Excitable product.

In September 2008, Oklahomans felt the Thunder's impact for the first time. Now, everyone else in the NBA is feeling it, too.

George Hill, Gregg Popovich's New Favorite Player, Gets the Point

Robert Kleeman — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:12:48 -0500

After a five-game flameout against the L.A. Lakers that was much closer than the finish indicated, the San Antonio Spurs headed into one of the most important offseasons in franchise history.

Manu Ginobili, injured after the first round and a shell of himself in the conference finals, managed a career scoring year. His 19.9 average led the team, as did his five regular season game winners.

Tim Duncan scored at least 20 points and grabbed at least 15 rebounds in all five jousts with the Lakers, a signal that he was not ready to hand over his status as the league's best power forward.

Tony Parker regressed after a defining, blistering 2007 playoff run and disappeared at times when the San Antonio needed to counter L.A. most.

Still, the Spurs had been closer to the Lakers than Gregg Popovich or Phil Jackson wanted to admit.

Popovich, ever the military man, refused to allow excuses.

Defense, the trademark of the Duncan era, was not the problem.

The Spurs held the Lakers to more than 15 points below their averages after two playoff rounds.

If you held the Lake Show to an average of 91 points and Kobe Bryant to an average of six free throws per game—a far cry from the 16 he attempted per contest versus Utah—wouldn't you expect to win?

Scoring droughts, sometimes five to seven minutes in length, doomed the defending champions.

The Spurs blew a 20-point lead in Game One and an 18-point lead in Game Five.

Jackson wasn't playing rope-a-dope with his silver and black opponents.

They just couldn't score enough.

With their leading point maker and clutch postseason performer playing at 60 percent, the Spurs looked overmatched.

Brent Barry joked after the exit, "we had the 'Ma,' but not the 'nu.'"

After five outings of offensive offense, with a breezy Game Three victory the exception, it was clear Popovich needed more than a healthy Ginobili to compete for a championship.

The Lakers winced and groaned as they watched the Spurs mutilate the New Orleans Hornets on the road in Game Seven. They had every reason to be worried about a tilt with the champs, and for their part, the reigning best team in the league was good enough on one side of the ball to win the series in five.

With limited options to upgrade the roster, draft night success became imperative. Not since Tony Parker in 2001 had the Spurs struck gold on a late-round pick.

Beno Udrih, Ian Mahinmi, and a host of others fizzled. Popovich destroyed Udrih's confidence, and Mahinmi has yet to make a meaningful impact in the NBA.

With a draft projected as deeper than Warren Buffett's pockets, fans expected the front office to snag a contributor.

So, with the 26th pick, Pop and R.C. Buford selected a little-known kid from a little-known university.

An off guard from where? IUPUI? How the heck do you say that, and what does it stand for?

Who is George Hill?

Indeed, the slashing scorer failed to make most pre-draft selection boards. Only the Boston Celtics later admitted interest in Hill. They would have picked him early in the second round.

After the surprise choice, most expected Ashton Kutcher to emerge on TV to tell them they had been Punk'd.

No Nikon, no film crews, no Ashton. The Spurs' brass was serious.

They thought this "Summit League Player of the Year," would-be college senior could bequest his athleticism to the team's cause right away.

Popovich said he expected Hill to crack the rotation and become an impact player.

The decision passed in San Antonio only because of Parker and Ginobili. Finding two Hall of Fame-caliber players late in the first and second rounds allows you a long grace period.

The Hill culling seemed silly, given that Chris Douglas-Roberts and Mario Chalmers remained on the board.

Chalmers sent the national championship game into overtime with a miracle three. How could the Spurs ignore a player with such proven guts?

Ditto for Douglas-Roberts.

Fans who wanted more athleticism next to Duncan thought Texas A&M's DeAndre Jordan was an obvious fit.

Popovich presumed otherwise, and now he looks like certifiable genius.

Hill's rookie campaign was like a Katy Perry song.

Hot, cold. Yes, no. NBA-level contributor, lost 2 guard trying to be a point guard.

He littered his debut season with moments of basketball effulgence—outplaying Derrick Rose in Parker's absence, three straight 20-point games with Parker shelved, and inspired late-game defensive stints on Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash.

Now? A month into the season, Popovich still calls Hill his "favorite player" and one of the NBA's most improved.

He made the rare declaration during training camp, a stark contrast to how he handled another young point guard.

Then, Popovich treated Parker like a pinata, smacking him around until the goodies spilled onto the floor.

Hill has done enough in little more than a year to convince the coach to put down the bat, a remarkable feat.

Monday night, he showcased his well-rounded game—helping Parker hold heralded Milwaukee Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings to 6-of-21 shooting and adding 14 of the Spur bench's 59 points.

His highlight plays included a chase down of Jennings and a buzzer-beating three at the end of the third quarter with two Bucks defenders draped all over him.

Hill has guts, too.

He has played comfortably at both guard slots, with an improved jumpshot that allows Popovich to sometimes use a Parker-Hill backcourt.

In a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder two weekends ago, Hill harassed Kevin Durant with effective fronts and his long arms.

He doesn't need to dunk over three defenders like Shannon Brown to prove he has enough athleticism to match his Lakers counterpart.

Any basketball executive would be crazy now to want Brown, Jordan Farmar or even Chalmers more than Hill.

Chalmers has carved a promising niche in Miami, demonstrating a fearlessness from behind the arc that should continue for years.

Unlike so many other backups, Hill isn't reckless. He runs the show the way Popovich wants, with enough improvisational skills to force a defense's hand.

The pick who once resembled a joker now plays like an ace.

As a starter, he kept the team afloat until Parker could resume his havoc. As a reserve Monday night, his play was as steady as the wind—with Ginobili again in street clothes.

A risky bet has become a sure winner.

The Spurs wanted French forward Nicolas Batum in the 2008 draft (taken one pick earlier by the Houston Rockets), but they never settled on Hill.

They wanted him as much, and now the selection's detractors can see why.

Count me among the stunned.

Once a relative secret at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Hill has endeared himself to a future Hall of Fame coach in the pros.

No one in San Antonio wonders about 2008 anymore.

Spurs 1, us dummies, 0.

If Udrih fizzled, Hill has sizzled.

And he's just warming up.

Bucks-Spurs: Will the Perplexing Mismatch Continue?

Robert Kleeman — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:37:54 -0500

If you were asked to name the team Tim Duncan least likes to play, the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks might come to mind.

Both teams have ended his quest for a repeat championship. Both teams have given the Spurs some matchup nightmares of late.

You would be wrong, though.

The Milwaukee Bucks? If you didn’t know before that Wisconsin’s lone pro basketball franchise has become San Antonio’s unsolvable riddle, you know now.

Duncan’s usual response when reminded the Bucks are on tap? “Yuck.”

If you know this odd mismatch, you understand his pain and fear.

In the 2007 championship season, the Bucks grilled the Spurs twice, scoring 114 points in San Antonio and topping 100 in Milwaukee to end a 13-game winning streak.

If the Bucks had not won a game this year, a la the New Jersey Nets, they would still present a tough roadblock for Duncan’s squad. Instead, Scott Skiles arrives in the Alamo City with a defensive squad and a rookie who have exceeded all expectations.

Potential malcontent and bust Brandon Jennings has been the early star of the 2009 draft class. This writer wondered if preachy and uptight Skiles could co-exist with Jennings. The pair has proven a perfect fit.

A few GMs’ seats could start to feel toastier if the high school prodigy-turned Europe contributor keeps up his spectacular play.

Jennings already owns a 55-point game and a better scoring average to start his career than a former Milwaukee rookie. Lew Alcindor, who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul Jabbar, was a decent player.

Decent enough to become the league’s all-time leading scorer and a five-time champion with the L.A. Lakers. Decent enough to be regarded by many as one of the greatest winners in the sport’s history, alongside Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan.

While Jennings will not join that company anytime soon, his rookie scoring binge makes tonight even scarier for Duncan and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

Oh, and the Bucks also have an established Spurs killer.

Roko Ukic. I’m serious.

In a February game against the Raptors, Ukic sealed an unlikely Toronto win with a triple and a floater over a Tony Parker and Duncan double-team. Ukic entered that contest shooting a paltry 29 percent from behind the arc. His shooting percentage on layups, even uncontested ones, wasn’t great.

Parker managed to contest both shots, and Ukic still scored twice to cap off a career-high, 32-point night. Then, the Spurs wasted 33 points from Manu Ginobili, who was darting through the lane and scoring at will. The next night, team doctors would shelve the Argentine slasher, and he would not be the same again.

Such inexplicable performances have defined the Spurs-Bucks series. Anything can happen, even when most of it shouldn’t.

If Luke Ridnour catches and dunks a lob pass from Ersan Ilasyova tonight, it would fit the Bucks 12-8 record over the Spurs in the Duncan era. Which is to say nothing fits.

Most mismatches can be reasoned. The Spurs have struggled to contain versatile Mavs forward Josh Howard because defensive attention has focused Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry. Even in his prime years as a pest, Bruce Bowen couldn’t stop three guys at once.

Pau Gasol’s addition has made the rest of the Lakers tougher to defend for everyone in silver and black.

Should we chalk Milwaukee’s success up to dumb luck? Probably not, but the Bucks do accomplish rare things against the Spurs.

Jennings will start opposite another point guard with a 55-point game on his resume. Popovich hopes a seasoned Tony Parker can tilt that matchup in the Spurs’ favor.

Spurs assassin Michael Redd and center Andrew Bogut will not play due to injury, but Charlie Bell and Carlos Delfino provide troublesome firepower on the wings.

One Spurs advantage: They grabbed a valuable two-way performer from Bucks GM John Hammond this summer. Maybe after years of torture, Hammond decided to show some mercy in the form of a gift. Instead of a fruit basket, he sent Richard Jefferson to San Antonio.

Jefferson’s athleticism will help a lot in tonight’s matchup. He leads the team in dunks, field goal attempts, and free throw attempts.

Two disadvantages: One of the players included in that June deal, Kurt Thomas, will want to show his former club what it traded away. As will Spurs castoff Fransisco Elson.

You would be stupid not to credit Thomas for helping this young Bucks team start strong. His presence has always synchronized locker rooms.

He played for the Sonics in their last year in Seattle. Look what Oklahoma City is doing now.

Bogut, who is out at least two weeks with a leg injury, usually shows up for contests against Duncan with rage and an apparent vendetta. His absence will unclog the paint a bit on both ends, as less effective Dan Gadzuric will be forced into the starting lineup.

The NBA thought so little of the scrapped Bucks that its schedulers buried them in the first-week of action. No team played its firs game later than Milwaukee.

How could a squad with injury-plagued Redd and no other stars compete in any conference? Could a team that let Charlie Villanueva and Ramon Sessions walk even compete in Conference USA?

To the shock of many, the Bucks have emerged as the kind of team many thought the Washington Wizards would be.

Revived with a more consistent commitment to defense, Milwaukee could reach the postseason.

You can put one person in the "not surprised" category when it comes to the Bucks' winning ways.

Oh, Duncan knows. Yuck.

After Rough Start, Spurs Need Offense and Defense To Come Together

Robert Kleeman — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:08:38 -0500

"Come together, right now"

—The Beatles

So, San Antonio defended at a championship level in Dallas and still failed to capture its first road victory?

Jefferson was awful in the clutch again, and the offense looked at times like it belonged in New Jersey or Minnesota, not in the Alamo City.

Manu Ginobili re-joined Tony Parker on the injured list late in the first quarter. With Shawn Marion, Josh Howard and Erick Dampier out for Dallas, call it a fair fight.

The Mavericks edged the Spurs 99-94 in overtime in another classic that felt like a dud for San Antonio after a painful finish. After a clutch basket and block on Jason Terry, Tim Duncan missed two gimme layups in the extra minutes.

Oh yeah. The Spurs are the only team in the playoff hunt without a victory away from home.

Terry bricked 15 of 19 shots. Many of Dirk Nowitzki's 15 of 29 makes were as contested as possible. The Mavs shot 40 percent and drilled only three of 19 treys.

None of that matters after a tough-to-swallow loss.

Should I keep piling on the gloom?

Coach Gregg Popovich would prefer to not allow 46 points in the paint, but he can live with the stellar defensive effort.

The problem Wednesday night was the offense, which sputtered to a halt for more than seven minutes in the second quarter.

Traditionally a low turnover team, the Spurs coughed it up 18 times. Those miscues allowed the Mavs to win the fastbreak points battle 18-7.

Parker will fix some of that. Ginobili also provides proven insurance at the point.

The problem the pending All-Star returns cannot solve is Jefferson's tentativeness alongside Duncan.

Without No. 21, he averaged more than 22 points, including a 29-point outburst last week against the Mavs. With Duncan, Jefferson's averaging 13 points with few big fourth-quarter deliveries to add to his resume.

He looked better in stretches of Wednesday's slog, including back-to-back plays in which he drove for a reverse layup and bagged a wide open triple.

The Spurs have won four of five at the AT&T Center and lost all four on the road.

They are winning at home by double figures and losing on the road by a similar margin.

A few more buckets from someone in a black uniform in the second half would have sealed an important victory.

Instead, another agonizing defeat raised more questions about Owner Peter Holt's $80 million investment.

What's wrong with the Spurs?

After several weeks of sampling, it's clear the team boasts the parts to be as good as the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers.

Getting those various parts to fit has been a fruitless chore.

To debug themselves, the Spurs need to play, play, and play some more. Popovich should thank the schedulers for giving him a game tonight to wash out the bad taste from the depressing defeat in Big D.

Jefferson will never learn to attack with consistent ferocity in practice. Scoring on a teammate in a gym with no paid spectators cannot compare to doing it on the road in a sold out arena against a division foe.

With no idea who to start at off guard and the other big slot, or what rotations to use, Popovich must tinker with his talent until he finds the right combinations. He needs real games to do that.

When and for how many minutes should Dejuan Blair, leading all rookies in rebounding, play?

When should the coach dust off 36-year-old Theo Ratliff?

What is Roger Mason Jr.'s role? Starting might allow him to get in an early groove.

Or maybe Keith Bogans, already proving his value as a dedicated wing defender, should get more starts.

Will athletic big Marcus Haislip see any court time? He projects as an effective situational defender, rebounder and scorer. Haislip has played zero regular season minutes.

Malik Hairston was active in his single digit minutes on the court. He played only because of Ginobili's left groin strain.

Early in the fourth quarter, he finished an athletic cut to the rim with a layup. Two plays later, a traveling call on Hairston should have been ruled a three-point play. Maybe Pop needs to dig up a few minutes for Hairston and de-activate someone else.

Should Matt Bonner start over Antonio McDyess and Blair? Which of those players should finish games?

Blair swatted a Nowitzki drive at the end of the first half. Bonner scored in double figures again. McDyess came up big with a pair of fourth-quarter jumpers.

No team changed its roster makeup this summer more than the Spurs, and it shows now.

After another distressing end, the Spurs are running out of time to make this work. If the playoffs started today, they would not qualify.

The next and only recourse for the 4-5 Spurs is to whack the road-challenged Utah Jazz tonight.

Jerry Sloan's losing streak in San Antonio dates back to 1999, and the Jazz also played a tough game Wednesday.

If the Spurs cannot keep that stranglehold, maybe this expensive venture won't work.

In years past, the Spurs offense sunk when the talent surrounding Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili could not produce.

Now, Popovich has too much talent to know what to do with a lot of it. The added talent, especially Jefferson, doesn't know what to do, either.

The Spurs threw up 131 points in regulation on the Toronto Raptors without Parker and Duncan.

They can score.

The Spurs limited Dallas to 35-percent shooting and 40-percent shooting in two outings one week apart.

They can defend.

Can they do both in the same game?

After a bumpy start that can no longer be dismissed as minor turbulence, the Spurs must do two things.

With no several-day breaks between games for the foreseeable future, and some back-to-backs on the horizon, the league office took care of the first item.

Play a lot.

The Spurs will have to use these upcoming contests to learn how to do the second.

Come together. Win.

NBA Top 10: If Players, Coaches, Execs, and Fans Had Theme Songs...

Robert Kleeman — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:36:32 -0500

Wrestlers, baseball players, and boxers strut and saunter out to handpicked theme songs, sometimes to roaring ovations. Would the first Major League movie be as good without “Wild Thing” blaring as Charlie Sheen’s character Rick Vaughn takes the field?

The music a WWE-er selects can be as important in defining his image as headlocks and kicks to the face. You don’t see any tough guys storming the cage to Celine Dion, do you?

If the Undertaker ever waltzed out to Bryan Adams “Everything I Do,” could you or the other fighter take him seriously?

Pro basketball is a different animal. The closest things most ballers get to their own songs are name chants and the starting introductions. In one of several exceptions, a Houston group wrote a tribute to Houston Rockets Chinese star Yao Ming. If you can say his name, you know all of the composition’s repetitive lyrics.

If we could pick intro songs for other players, coaches, basketball executives, owners and fans, what tunes and polarizing figures would make the list?

Read my answers below.

1. Stephen Jackson—New Radicals “You Get What You Give”

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich isn’t the only guy who still lists Jackson as a favorite son. I love the guy and would stick up for him in most tiffs. Even I cannot excuse his misbehavior in Oakland.

First, Jackson crybabied his way into an undeserved three-year extension, going straight to the owner to bypass expected front office hurdles. He begged the Warriors to make him a franchise star and then bristled when management lived up to its worthless track record.

What, the Warriors fell to the lottery? That’s never happened before! They picked the wrong players in the draft? That’s never happened before!

Hapless, uninspired coach Don Nelson erred in handing Jackson the esteemed title of team captain, but the guard took the bait.

Then, he summoned the gall to demand that Larry Riley trade him to one of three Texas teams or the Cleveland Cavaliers, arrogantly assuming all of those franchises wanted him.

News flash: Only the Cavs expressed interest, and GM Danny Ferry was not about to offer any key pieces from his title contender to Riley for the disgruntled guard.

Jackson’s comeuppance—an exile to the playoff-less Charlotte Bobcats—could go two ways. If he focuses, he will become one of Larry Brown’s favorite players. Jackson gives Charlotte enough talent on the perimeter to qualify for one of the final postseason slots in the East.

Or he could quickly become the disease that renders the ‘Cats clawless again.

Either way, he will get what he deserves. Even NBA players must sleep in the beds they make.

2. LeBron James—Jay-Z (with Rihanna and Kanye West) “Run This Town”

An appropriate choice, since Bron-Bron runs Cleveland and counts Jay-Z as a close friend. Stop building him castles in New York, Brooklyn/New Jersey and everywhere else. Cavaliers Owner Dan Gilbert has already given James a throne. No one dares step on the toes of Ohio’s self-proclaimed King, easily the best and most talented player in his franchise’s miserable history—and that’s without him winning any championship rings.

No one has the gumption to tell him “no” or the bravery to question his loyalty. James is free to wear a New York Yankees hat anytime he pleases without comment, free not to shake hands with the Orlando Magic after a playoff loss, and free to make the Cavaliers brass suffer through every minute that leads up to July 1, 2010.

Even if he tried to convince the world he’s done talking about his pending free agency next summer, James should fool no one. He loves it that several franchises have already not-so-privately enlisted him as their savior. He knows that a handful of teams that fail to land him will be screwed for years, and he loves that, too.

Cleveland is chief among them.

A spectacular talent who puts on otherworldly shows 82 times a year, even opposing fans must obey his commands. James gets what he wants, when he wants it. He runs this town and then some.

3. Don Nelson—Carly Simon “You’re So Vain”

What beloved thing has Don Nelson given away? His passion for coaching left the building several years ago, and his penchant for producing Picasso-like offenses has become a farce.

His paintings look more like stick figures than works of art. In his world, everything should be about him. He’s so vain, he looks at passing Lenny Wilkens’ regular-season wins mark as a worthy goal.

4. NBA Fans and the New No-standing Rule—Bob Marley “Get Up, Stand Up”

Houstonians, this one goes out to those of you determined to make Toyota Center a library.

Why would anyone spend the money to attend a sporting event and not watch it? Didn’t you spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on those season tickets so you could cheer on a hometown team?

The new league-wide rule that forbids players from standing in front of the bench is a joke.

If you want to chat it up with a business client or a long lost friend, go to a bar or a restaurant. You go to a sporting event to watch sports. Your job as an NBA fan is to stand up and yell, not to sit and dissect tomorrow’s weather forecast.

If someone in front of you is up making a lot of noise, maybe your keester shouldn’t be parked in a seat. This does not apply, of course, in a fourth quarter when your team has a 20-point lead on the Memphis Grizzlies.

I dedicate this classic Marley ditty to any die-hard fan a “jewelry rattler” has ever told to sit down. The people in the latter group arrive late, leave early, spend most of the contest up at the arena bar and then complain when someone alters those stupefying plans.

The league re-enforced this rule—and owners gladly accepted it—because those wealthy folks give the association the bulk of its non-advertising income. The NBA makes a boatload of money off courtside seats, suites and prime lower-level locations. How many dedicated fans can afford to sit in any of those spots, even for a preseason tilt?

When a game matters, jewelry rattlers act worse than a grocery store where grocery shopping is not allowed.

I understand the rule’s intention, but that will not quell this rebellion. Get up, stand up—for your right to cheer at a basketball game.

5. Shelden Williams and Sasha Vujacic—Joe Jackson “Is She Really Going Out With Him?”

This one’s self-explanatory and also mean-spirited. Admit it. The first time you heard Shelden had landed Candace Parker, this song popped in your head. I may be uglier than the baller in question, but that doesn’t mean I cannot have some fun at his expense.

I would bet you my life savings Kobe Bryant wants to sing this to Vujacic. If shooting 26 percent in the 2009 playoffs and being a listless scrub on the bench gets him Maria Sharapova, what am I doing wrong?

6. Memphis Grizzlies Owner, Michael Heisley—Britney Spears “Oops! I did it Again”

To Michael Heisley, the owner with an affinity for cost cutting, black holes, and stupidity, this dreadful pop garbage should blare every time you mosey down Beale Street. First it was Zach Randolph. Then, you chased Allen Iverson to sell a few tickets at the expense of building a future winner.

I’m surprised the marriage lasted longer than Britney and K-Fed’s crony union. Now you’ve forced GM Chris Wallace to sign malcontent extraordinaire Jamaal Tinsley?

What is it about a player banned by his previous team that tantalizes you so? Tinsley represents another risky proposition—the last thing youngsters O.J. Mayo and Rudy Gay need. Instead of hoping this boneheaded signing works, why not relocate, step down, or at least feign honesty?

Tinsley can fill it up, but so can Iverson and Randolph. There must be one team in the league where each of these three could fit and produce. Memphis ain’t it.

Spears can’t sing. You can’t run a franchise. Perfect match.

7. Bennett Salvatore, Joey Crawford, Dick Bavetta, Jack Nies—Ray Charles “Hit the Road, Jack”

Conveniently, one of the NBA’s tenured refs who should take a hike is named Jack. The others might be Joey, Bennett, and a Dick, but the song’s sentiment applies to all of them.

Ref-turned-convict Tim Donaghy lacks the credibility to bring down the league’s officiating system. For the most part, officials do a terrific job of deciphering tough call after tough call. Notice how I spared Mark Wunderlich and Bernie Fryer from humiliation.

Still, these offenders put the "bad" in bad officiating.

What have the above fellas done to deserve the axe from David Stern? Um, everything.

Bavetta was a sterling ref when Michael Jackson released “Thriller.” Welcome to 2009.

Like the team formerly known as the Seattle Supersonics, his work went south. Way south.

Crawford has too many vendettas against players to do a credible job. His rage can still get the best of him, and he routinely gives road teams suspicious and undeserved free throw trips.

Steve Javie does the same, but he makes tough calls that are often correct after thorough review. Crawford’s are just bogus.

How Salvatore still works so many series-turning games remains a mystery. Yes, you could argue that someone fouled Dwyane Wade at the end of that controversial Game Five Heat win, but if you’re not going to give free throws to Brent Barry after Derek Fisher’s bump or freebies to LeBron James after Bruce Bowen’s intentional hack, there’s no way in hell you can whistle such minimal contact.

So, hit the road gentlemen, and make it fast.

8. The Boston Celtics Defense—Metallica “Seek and Destroy”

The Celtics of late look more like a crowd at an usher’s convention. Come April, though, I expect the league’s stingiest defense from a season ago (when Kevin Garnett played) to return to form. And the Celtics’ form is bloody murder.

With Garnett serving as lead assassin, Boston seeks out high-powered offenses and destroys them. In the team’s 2008 championship year, the Celtics surrendered a league-low 89 points in the regular season.

9. The Jump Hook—MC Hammer “Can’t Touch This”

How many times have you seen a defender reject a jump hook? Hook shots do not wear Hammer pants, but they cannot be touched.

Dear interior defender: you might as well turn up this jam when Pau Gasol or Tim Duncan spins in the post and fires up one of these. You might alter it enough to force a miss, but you won’t block it.

10. Minnesota Timberwolves GM, David Kahn—Aretha Franklin “I Say a Little Prayer”

When he gets up in the morning, he says a little prayer for the franchise because he doesn’t have one. He drafted two point guards back-to-back in June, still a questionable move, and he missed on the best of the lot—Brandon Jennings.

Kahn could not have known Jennings would explode the way he has, so he gets credit for that blind spot. However, his team stinks, and it can’t get drastically better when Kevin Love returns.

No defense, at times scary bad offense, and little hope this year.

How-To Guide: Understanding the Undermanned, Jekyll and Hyde Houston Rockets

Robert Kleeman — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:24:41 -0500

The Houston Rockets roared past the Los Angeles Lakers 101-91 Sunday night at Staples Center.

In light of this stupendous upset, you have a few questions.

Such as:

How did the Rockets lose in Sacramento to the team that finished with last season’s worst record before out-classing the defending champions on the road?

How did the Rockets win the rebounding battle 60-38 against the Lakers but lose it 57-36 against the Kings?

Why did center David Andersen play six listless minutes at Arco Arena with two points, then explode for 19 at Staples to key a victory?

How did the bench manage 48 points on 48 percent shooting in L.A. after a dismal 12-point, 16-percent shooting effort in Sac Town?

Did Aaron Brooks score a measly 10 points versus a defensive laughingstock and then pile up a career-high 33 on a unit that hoisted the Larry O' Brien trophy in June?

Carl Landry made just one of six shots at Arco. He drilled five of 10 at Staples.

Chase Budinger improved from 1-of-8 to 5-of-13 from the field.

Explain those discrepancies.

The Lakers jumped out to a 16-0 lead. How did the Rockets come back from that deficit to win by 10 points?

There is one answer to all of these questions. Knowing and embracing it will make it easier to understand the team’s inconsistency.

Expect to see many more weekends like this one. The Rockets are a competitive team without Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, not a championship-level one.

Consistency is for title contenders—Boston, San Antonio, Los Angeles, Orlando and Cleveland. The starless Rockets can only hope to stay in every game long enough to have a chance to steal it.

If they can beat anyone—the champs and the Utah Jazz on the road—they can also lose to anyone.

The guys in red who dismantled the Lakers were the same guys who struggled to hang with the Kings and the same guys the Mavericks smashed by 18 points in Dallas.

When the Mavs amassed a 26-3 run in Tuesday’s loss, the Rockets were playing hard. When the Kobe Bryant missed 15-of-20 field goal attempts, the Rockets were playing hard.

The squad will always give fans a consistent effort, but the results will vary.

Talent matters, as does interior muscle. On nights when the basket looks like a peephole to the Rockets' shooters, they can lose by 20 points to any team. When it looks bigger than the Permian Basin, as it did much of Sunday night, they can beat anyone by double figures.

A cadre of streaky long-distance shooters and a commitment to running ensure the team can climb out of many holes. It also means the team’s fate rests on how those shots fall or bounce.

No one can drain 15 of 30 trey attempts 82 times in a season, not even if all 2,460 of those shots are wide open.

Imagine how tough it will be this spring against a defensive-minded title contender.

The Lakers might give up wide-open jumper after wide-open jumper, but the Celtics and Spurs won’t. The Lakers will compensate for their screen-and-roll defensive deficiencies with a lineup as hard to stop as a Formula One car with no brakes.

Sometimes, it won’t matter how hard or high Chuck Hayes, Luis Scola and Landry jump for a loose ball. The Kings used a size advantage to pound the Rockets on the glass.

Sometimes, they will fast-break to perfection and lose to an opponent who did it better.

Tuesday’s foe, Phoenix, comes to mind.

If Charles Barkley said this team lives and dies by jumpers, he would be right. Give the Chuckster some charity.

It must feel awful to be so wrong so much of the time.

Hayes’ and Battier’s competitive streaks make a last-place finish impossible. Can you think of better team captains than these two?

The rookies respect their tenure. The other Rockets youngsters and veterans see everyday how they sap so much from limited abilities.

Hayes' hustle would inspire anyone to compete at the highest level. A 6-6 center is not supposed to frustrate seven-foot future Hall of Famers Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett.

Yet, Duncan shot 6-of-14 in a game at Toyota Center. Garnett has twice posted 5-of-14 nights against Hayes.

The Rockets could have an All-Star or two by season’s end, and that does not include Yao or McGrady. They don’t have one now.

Brooks has shown the special abilities that accompany the prized February tag. His 18-point, six-assist average might look attractive to reserve voters—the coaches—if those numbers hold.

Guess what, confused Houston fan: They might not.

Kyle Lowry and Brooks are crafty enough to create easy buckets for themselves and teammates. Crafty enough means neither should be confused for Chris Paul or Steve Nash.

At second place in the Southwest Division and sixth in the West, with an early 6-4 record, the Rockets have announced themselves as a playoff contender and nothing more.

The Friday and Sunday performances looked as different as "Die Hard" and "Cats."

You might call them Jekyll and Hyde.

The results will vary. The efforts never will.

This isn’t the same loaded team that alternated victories over playoff squads with inexcusable defeats to lottery ones. Those Rockets sometimes begged you to call them Edward Hyde.

Count on these Rockets to scrap, push, run, attack the rim, dive for every loose ball and fight for every rebound.

Friday, none of that mattered.

Sunday, it did.

Now, you know why.

Additional Rockets notes on Mensah-Bonsu:

Daryl Morey waived forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu over the weekend, and the move should surprise no one.

He's Gerald Green in a heavier, taller frame, a supreme athlete with inadequate knowledge of how to play the game.

For those who wanted to see Morey cut Andersen instead, maybe you needed the wake up call.

Andersen cannot defend a lick in the post, struggles to rebound and clanged his go-to shot early. He's still a better NBA player than Mensah-Bonsu.

Why did the Rockets cut him so early in the year?

Andersen has a lot more upside. Mensah-Bonsu can jump out of the gym, but he's already had five chances too many to prove he belongs on a pro roster.

If he could not cut it with the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs or Toronto Raptors, why would anyone think he would fare differently as a Rocket?

In his inconsistent court time, Andersen has been, well, inconsistent. Still, he has shown enough improvement to warrant a full-season look.

In this tough economy, it makes little sense to pay 15 players when one of them barely plays in garbage time.

Against the Lakers, Andersen battled for position in the pivot, finished a pair of easy layups off smart cuts to the rim and showcased the sweet stroke that captured the front office's attention.

His defense is still atrocious, but the Rockets want to see over 82 contests if he can convalesce that area of his game.

Mensah-Bonsu had his chances. This is just Andersen's first.

Will the New Orleans Hornets Give Avery Johnson a Call?

Robert Kleeman — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:19:32 -0500

After management handed Byron Scott a pink slip last week, the New Orleans Hornets need a head coach.

Does anyone think General Manager-turned interim coach Jeff Bower will last more than a few months?

Avery Johnson, fired by the Dallas Mavericks in 2008, wants to return to the sidelines.

He's cajun, he played point guard for 11-plus seasons, and his short track record shows he can get underachievers over some tough hurdles.

The Hornets' star attraction is a point guard who needs someone to help his team advance in the postseason.

How's that for convenience?

Do not consider this a "little general" endorsement, but a coaching vacancy in Johnson's home state begs the question: Would George Shinn put this defensive-minded, control freak in charge of his struggling squad?

Johnson likes to control everything, and some would say that makes him no better for the job than Scott.

Both men won championship rings as complimentary players. They understand the game's nuances, what wins, and how to deal with big egos.

When the Mavericks parted ways with Don Nelson, Johnson was taking the reigns of a former Western Conference Finalist.

He made them a Finalist for the first time in franchise history.

In his first full season at the helm, Dallas won 60 games and reached the championship round.

The next, the Mavs won 67 games, sixth most in league history.

Like Scott's Nets in New Jersey, Johnson's squad failed to finish the job.

An embarrassing first round exit to the eighth-place Golden State Warriors put a damper on that 67-win campaign.

As quickly as the Mavs became overachievers, they reverted back to their underachieving selves.

Johnson offered his stamp of approval on a risky trade that sent promising youngster Devin Harris to New Jersey for veteran point guard Jason Kidd.

Then, he appeared to damn it, sitting Kidd on the final play of a critical loss to the Spurs in San Antonio.

Since Johnson's firing, his replacement in Dallas Rick Carlisle has handed over most of the play calling to Kidd with often spectacular results.

Mark Cuban axed Johnson because the players threatened a mutiny if he was still there the next fall.

These are not resume blemishes. These are alarming indiscretions—reasons to dismiss a phone call to Johnson as a possibility.

Still, the guy can coach. He has it in his blood.

One Mavs-supporting friend—whose basketball opinion I value—thinks he could become one of the greatest to ever yell in a suit with his arms folded.

The potential is there.

Johnson's Mavs played more defense than Nelson's version ever did.

Another selling point: Johnson did what his predecessor could not: beat the Spurs in the playoffs.

Funny thing, Scott couldn't beat them either.

Now on ESPN as a studio analyst, no one but Johnson knows if he's ready to return to coaching.

He turned down an offer from the Grizzlies (a wise move given the catastrophe that has unfolded in Memphis) and could not come to terms with the Detroit Pistons on a contract.

The Hornets can be better now than either of those squads—with the proper tutelage.

His paint-by-numbers offense crumbled in Big D, but maybe with Chris Paul leading the attack, Johnson would embrace a philosophical change.

The Hornets brain trust has to give him a call, doesn't it?

Byron Scott: The Latest Victim of the NBA's Haywire Coaching Carousel

Robert Kleeman — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:16:53 -0500

Byron Scott is no less a victim than Sam Mitchell in Toronto or Eddie Jordan in Washington.

He is a victim of the most disturbing, anger-inducing trend in sports.

The quick fix. The scapegoat game. The easy way out. The predictable public relations response.

Mark my words—Scott's dismissal as coach of the Hornets will not make New Orleans a better franchise now or next year.

Raise your hand if you think GM Jeff Bower has any chance of winning over this fatally flawed roster.

If you raised even a pinkie, is your middle name "gullible"?

Of all the NBA teams who canned coaches last year, how many of them have improved besides the Oklahoma City Thunder?

Of all the squads that expect a successful turnaround this year, is the head coach the figure responsible for the optimism?

In Flip Saunders' and the Washington Wizards case, yes—though new additions will also help. Up north, in snowy Toronto, Jay Triano owes any increase in win percentage to the arrival of Jarrett Jack and Hedo Turkoglu.

Hornets owner George Shinn made this questionable decision, not Bower.

He gets my sympathy for his bout with prostate cancer but he does not get my understanding in the firing of Scott.

After a miserable 3-6 start, in which the team allowed an embarrassing number of easy buckets to the lowly Sacramento Kings and New York Knicks, Shinn made Scott the fall-guy.

It was as convenient as it was pusillanimous.

Here's a thought no one expresses enough—if you force cost cuts that lessen the depth of a roster and don't like the results, you should coach the team.

Shinn should be the one on the sidelines, not Bower.

Shinn would not ever do such an accountable thing because he's devolved into a typical coward, one who hides behind a crunched pocketbook.

Sure, the Hornets owner has lost millions over the years trying to keep his franchise above financial sea level in a ravaged town where pro football rules.

But haven't we all lost something in the recession?

First, the Hornets organization lost the passion and determination that delivered the best season in the franchise's short history.

Then, when dispassion became law, Shinn blamed it all on Scott.

The venerable coach was culpable, but he was never the chief problem.

Hornets executives and many players began to lose respect for Scott when according to Yahoo! Sports , his job became more about hitting the green than studying playbooks or scouting reports.

Much like other jobless coaches, Scott comes with more warning labels than a plastic toy made in China.

You should not blame Shinn or the players for wanting the head coach to focus on basketball more than golf.

You should blame them for everything else.

Where did your mean streak go David West? You've been walked over this season like a kid's playground.

Why did no one stick up for Chris Paul when Rajon Rondo punked and bullied him in Boston?

Why does no one feel the need to pick up the slack that is choking the team's star point guard?

Is it an unwritten law that everyone on the Hornets bench must play with the imbecility of Plaxico Burress and Britney Spears?

Scott had to go because Shinn could not discipline Peja Stojakovic for being useless or James Posey for loafing around.

Scott had to go because Shinn could not admit that he caused this mess.

In the moment of truth, when Paul needed help only an open wallet could provide, Shinn closed it and tried to cover up his pettiness with a confusing swap that has yet to pay dividends for either squad involved.

Emeka Okafor has not improved the Hornets, nor has Tyson Chandler brought the Charlotte Bobcats closer to the franchise's first playoff berth.

Shinn ordered Bower to donate Rasual Butler to the Los Angeles Clippers for a draft pick that won't mean squat as well as luxury tax savings.

The Chandler-Okafor exchange, coupled with Butler's departure, could get the team's payroll under the luxury tax threshold.

That achievement was more important to Shinn than winning.

In shipping out Chandler and giving Scott the heave-ho, the owner has committed the ultimate transgression.

Never piss off your best player to serve your own interests. Never. Ever.

Paul won't express his frustrations in the way Kobe Bryant would in this situation, but anyone listening can hear the cries for help.

CP3 might be ready to reprise Michael Douglas' role in Falling Down , and I don't blame him.

He won't kill anybody or even start a verbal rampage, but the violent distaste that burns in his stomach is obvious.

Few outside of the Hornets organization think Shinn wanted to move the team back to New Orleans. Most view his decisions as half-hearted acts of self-promotion.

In trying to frame himself as a hero, he has become the ultimate villain.

Scott had to go because the oldest commandment in sports says the easiest one to attack should always be the first to leave.

Shinn fixed nothing Thursday afternoon. Team president Hugh Weber delivered the news in his health-related absence.

Scott won three championship rings as a player, and no available coach could do a better job. That will still ring true in July 2011.

That is, unless Phil Jackson, Gregg Popovich, or Jerry Sloan decides to leave their secure posts.

The Hornets GM owns no hardware, and Lawrence Frank, who replaced Scott in New Jersey, has never reached the NBA Finals.

Bower has no chance of winning over Paul. In reluctantly accepting the job, he has already failed.

Soon, Bower will be gone too.

Shinn will stay through it all.

Two expensive contracts tendered to Stojakovic and Posey pushed him over the edge.

This summer, when the San Antonio Spurs spent like Donald Trump to keep up with the Los Angeles Lakers, Shinn played the part of a homeless stooge.

Ike Diogu and Darius Songaila are nice additions, but this team needs a creative wing scorer and a reliable bench to take the next step.

Imagine how much happier Paul might be if he knew the front office had pursued Hedo Turkoglu or Ben Gordon.

Both flawed players signed exorbitant contracts and were out of the Hornets reach. Still, Paul would have appreciated the gesture.

His best friend is now in Charlotte, and the only professional coach for which he's played for will now have more time than ever for golf.

Scott barked at his players to defend and play hard, but most of his players tuned him out as the losses mounted.

When the coach began to ask for things his players could not give him, he became the Big Easy's easiest target.

The quick fix. The scapegoat game. The easy way out. The predictable public relations response.

Fans have heard it all before, and yet Shinn wants them to call it innovative problem solving.

In firing Scott, he made it clear he's unwilling to do the one thing that makes sense.

Spend money and upgrade the roster Mr. Shinn, or coach the mess you created.

Dallas Mavericks Will Give New Spur Richard Jefferson His First Test

Robert Kleeman — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:17:09 -0500

When the San Antonio Spurs completed a deal with the Milwaukee Bucks in June to acquire swingman Richard Jefferson for Kurt Thomas, Fabricio Oberto and Bruce Bowen, three words came to mind.

Los Angeles Lakers.

With the move, the Spurs announced their intention to compete punch-for-punch with the mega-talented defending champions.

Tim Duncan wanted to carry that status at least once more, and the front office and ownership group needed to spend big to give him that chance.

The result of trade talks that began near the February trade deadline, Jefferson's arrival instantly infused the roster with the kind of athletic performer that had torched San Antonio's title hopes in 2006, 2008 and 2009.

The best leaper on the squad since David Robinson, the former Finalist also brought defensive chops—and most have forgotten how good a defender Jefferson was in his first years with New Jersey—and a thirst for a title.

Adding a fourth 20-point scorer to a proven winner, the team's brass thought, would give them a healthier shot at matching the Lakers high-powered offense.

However, coach Gregg Popovich and GM R.C. Buford had more than purple and gold in mind when they pursued the former Arizona Wildcat.

Jefferson will matter tonight, too, when the Spurs bump, grind and claw with their pesky I-35 rivals.

The squad's previous two playoff battles with North Texas' blue and green franchise ended in painful, emphatic fashion.

The Mavericks won game seven at the AT&T Center in overtime in 2006 to eliminate the Spurs from a title defense.

Dallas' five-game thrashing played a large role in the front office's decision to spend more money this offseason than ever.

The Mavericks' not-so-secret, deadly ingredient: Josh Howard, the dexterous Wake Forest forward the Spurs discarded in the 2003 draft to save money for a full-on Jason Kidd pursuit in free agency.

Tim Duncan has usually cancelled out Dirk Nowitzki's production with his interior play.

Tony Parker has rarely lost a point-guard battle with anyone on the Mavs, not even Devin Harris. Even if the two played to a draw and if Harris frustrated Parker like few could then, the duels were close.

Manu Ginobili more than made up for Jerry Stackhouse and Jason Terry's hot-as-lava production in 2006.

Howard? He has killed the Spurs and mutilated their remains in many meetings.

Enter Jefferson, the player Popovich will count on to stop the bleeding in this always-fiery duel.

The Mavericks do things against the Spurs they have not done consistently against anyone else.

They manage to conjure a rare anger anytime they see silver and black on the schedule.

Games against San Antonio seem to mean even more to Dallas than rumbles with the Lakers or Boston Celtics.

With Duncan's window as a superstar, franchise-level talent predicted to close in three years, maybe sooner, these Texas two-steps are equally important for the Spurs.

Contrary to opinions based on box scores and two paltry shooting performances, Jefferson has fit seamlessly in his third NBA home.

The Spurs' played some of the worst defense in franchise history in the last week, but Jefferson was not the guilty party.

Though Popovich praised his players' effort after a hard-fought 131-124 victory over the Toronto Raptors Monday night, giving up that many points in regulation displeased him, to say the least.

The pitiful-defense transgressors have included everyone except Jefferson and Duncan.

No one should have expected a roster with so many new parts to click in the first month of the season. If you did, welcome to reality.

Jefferson will haul a heavier load tonight if Tony Parker and Tim Duncan sit out with ankle ailments. The San Antonio Express-News reported both as "doubtful" for the tilt with the Mavs.

In Monday's win, Jefferson dunked three times, one more than three players did in all of last year.

He has made defense a priority again, often executing faultless rotations. As his teammates learn more of the schemes, his efforts will look better.

Popovich will expect him to perform numerous tasks in several hours—everything from neutralizing Howard to becoming another weapon Rick Carlisle must gameplan for.

The Mavs decided not to double-team Duncan or Parker in that first-round series, and it rendered Roger Mason Jr. and Matt Bonner useless.

How many open shots will they get against Dallas when they show up with a full compliment? Will anyone exhibit the patience to count past that first quarter?

The Mavericks also upgraded, and that fact is not lost here.

Shawn Marion will cause new headaches for Popovich, and no one should forget that he's one of the few, including Harris, who have given Parker consistent trouble.

With their patented Mavs-killer likely unavailable tonight, sophomore guard George Hill must do another reasonable impersonation of his French superior.

Popovich will ask Antonio McDyess to compensate for the help-defense and size lost with Duncan on the sidelines. McDyess will look for his shot more as will Mason, Bonner and Finley.

Manu Ginobili and Jefferson, however, are the keys to a victory.

This time last year, on Election Night no less, the Mavs spanked the Spurs in San Antonio, taking full advantage of Ginobili's absence.

Now, Manu returns with a vengeance and a new lethal weapon.

Jefferson knows this stint with the Spurs might be his final opportunity to win a ring.

He appreciates the effort required to reach the NBA Finals, and like McDyess, he says he has never recovered from losing in the championship round.

With apologies to the Raptors and Kings, the Mavs represent Jefferson's toughest challenge yet.

Mark Cuban didn't thrust his franchise deeper into luxury-tax territory for another second-round exit.

It will become much more difficult if Popovich again starts Jefferson at the four, as he did versus Toronto.

Even if he does not guard Howard one-on-one, the two will fill similar roles.

With Duncan and Parker benched, the victor of this matchup could determine who wins the game.

The Spurs hope Jefferson will emerge the hero.

Tonight and in May.

No Reason To Sweat San Antonio Spurs' Slow Start

Robert Kleeman — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:41:16 -0500

The Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic have taken flight. The defending champion Los Angeles Lakers are still humming.

Someone will have to beat the Lake Show to retake the NBA throne, and Kobe Bryant's 41-point night in Houston, which he managed while battling the flu, reminded everyone how tough that task will be.

While the Celtics stole the Cleveland Cavaliers’ home opener and the Lakers won back-to-back overtime games in Oklahoma City and Houston without Pau Gasol, it would appear the San Antonio Spurs have yet to leave the city’s international airport.

The real ones, at least.

The team is 2-0 at home, winning by an average of 18 points. On the road, the squad is winless, with an 11-point average margin of defeat.

It might be tempting for silver and black fans to start the annual freak out a few months early. The panic button looks attractive, huh?

Step back. Gather yourself, Spurs fan. It’s OK.

A road loss to the banal Utah Jazz Thursday night—who then let one slip at Energy Solutions Arena to the lowly Sacramento Kings over the weekend—is as disconcerting as the 12-point smack down in Portland Friday night.

In the first half of the second-night surrender to the Chicago Bulls, no one in a Spur uniform could snare a rebound, despite playing excellent initial shot defense. In that second half, no one in a Spurs uniform could score, despite a better effort on the boards.

How did the Blazers and Bulls shoot below 43 percent and still win handily?

With Tony Parker again sidelined in November with an ankle sprain and the squad’s inability to put together complete games, this might feel like déjà vu.

This isn’t last year, and the signs are as encouraging as they are plentiful.

A thorough roster overhaul costs more than money. It requires time and patience, both of which you should afford the Spurs before giving up on them.

You want to entomb this team after five games? What kind of fan or basketball viewer are you?

This early in the year, it is silly, unadvisable, and dangerous to worry about other contenders’ fast starts. The Spurs cannot win or lose a fifth Larry O’ Brien trophy in November, not with that domineering 113-96 opening night win over the New Orleans Hornets, a playoff nemesis just a year ago.

San Antonio fared differently at the end of October in 2008. Then, the dysfunction-tplagued, square-peg-in-a-round-hole Phoenix Suns beat the Spurs on opening night, the first time any opponent had done that in the Tim Duncan era.

A string of double-digit defeats and single-digit wins ensued. The Spurs point differential was the lowest since Duncan's rookie campaign.

This team can be good, really good—if you can wait long enough for the expected results.

Adding Rasheed Wallace and Ron Artest, hot-tempered and flammable as they are, is an easier task than meshing six new rotation cogs with an established championship core.

Coach Gregg Popovich has his most athletic frontcourt flyer since David Robinson—a talented rookie rebounder, a tenacious 29-year-old defender, an aging shot blocker, a rugged frontcourt mate for Duncan, and a few youngsters with spot-duty potential—and he has no idea how to use any of them.

Trust me. This is a wonderful problem.

Richard Jefferson tomahawked an emphatic jam over Greg Oden late in Friday’s loss. When was the last time a Spur other than Manu Ginobili did that?

He scored 21 points on seven-of-eight shooting in a home rout of the Sacramento Kings.

He won't just compile those numbers against lottery squads.

His 28 free throw attempts, tied for the team lead, demonstrate his aggressiveness going to the rack.

Dejuan Blair corralled 14 rebounds in his professional regular season debut.

Theo Ratliff blocked four shots against the Kings.

Antonio McDyess nearly recorded a double-double against the Hornets. His elbow jumper has been automatic and he moves as well without the ball as any post-Robinson big.

Keith Bogans gave the squad a few effective minutes of defense in the Portland game.

Popovich will sort out the particulars of the most talented roster in franchise history soon enough.

McDyess won’t often be a primary reason for an opponent’s facile layup drill as he was in Salt Lake City.

Jefferson will learn to balance his forays to the rim with his treys and mid-range jumpers.

He will punctuate more than a few important possessions with thunderous jams.

Blair’s size will hurt him against Gasol, David West, and other primo bigs in the Western Conference, but Pop will find the right compliment of players who can help mask his defensive deficiencies and height disadvantage when working in the post.

The 6’7” glass cleaner with a freakish wingspan won’t play at the end of most close contests. Tim Duncan, the greatest power forward ever, will do that.

When Parker returns, his backup-turned starter fill-in George Hill will be that much better.

The San Antonio Express-News quoted Pop as saying during training camp that Hill was his “favorite player.” His mucilaginous defense allows him to cover ones and twos, and his improved three-point stroke will pay dividends.

We might not be saying “Bruce who” in a few months, but the defense will be a lot more consistent.

Expect the team to finish in the top three or four in opponent field goal percentage, top five in points allowed, top six in point differential, top five in fewest turnovers, and top 10 in scoring.

That, my friend, is a recipe for a title shot.

Popovich told the Express-News that the summer spending spree would put the Spurs “back in the ballgame.”

They are not better than the Lakers until they prove it in the playoffs. The coach knows it, the players know it, and you should, too.

In baseball terms, this is the first inning with many more opportunities to avoid strikeouts.

If you can’t trust this team to figure it out, whom can you trust?

If the team fails to take advantage of this home friendly stretch—in which it plays 12 of the next 15 at the AT&T Center starting with tonight’s contest against the Toronto Raptors—your finger should inch closer to the panic button.

Until then, relax and enjoy the ride.

Iverson Misadventure Highlights Moribund Memphis Grizzlies' Ineptitude

Robert Kleeman — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:20:13 -0500

The Memphis Grizzlies dropped a 113-100 decision to the Los Angeles Clippers Saturday night at Staples Center. They blew a halftime lead the night before in the same building against the defending champion Lakers.

Another season means another chance for mortally ill Memphis to lose 50 to 60 games.

It’s hard to know what’s worse, that the Grizzlies brass considered adding Allen Iverson to this chaos, or that GM Chris Wallace and owner Michael Heisley’s facial expressions during the mercurial guard’s introductory press conference seemed to suggest they had convinced themselves this partnership could work.

If Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon constituted the odd couple, this marriage qualifies as the relationship from hell.

Stuck in pro basketball’s perennial inferno, thanks to a cheapskate owner and non-existent fan support, the Grizzlies are headed for one of the ugliest, darkest seasons in NBA history.

Heisley decided he would rather sell a few more tickets than concentrate on building a winner.

The construction process had just begun.

The bird-brained decision to chase Iverson when no one else wanted him will cause whatever foundation existed to collapse under the weight of his demands and management’s penchant for failure.

There is no way this team can win with Iverson’s distractions, nor can he help Rudy Gay or OJ Mayo—promising talents for sure—make the playoffs.

Iverson was a petulant punk, now he’s just a cheap, fool hearted sales ploy.

In his Philadelphia heyday, he represented the ultimate flawed genius—a tough-as-nails competitor who could get by on his marvelous talents without proper practice.

We learn a lot about players when their abilities begin to decline. How players perform in their 30s is as crucial as how they perform in their early 20s.

What did Kobe Bryant, 31, do this summer? The best player on the planet, already unguardable, worked with Hakeem Olajuwon on his postgame. Bryant’s sole focus: helping the L.A. Lakers defend their 15th NBA crown.

Tim Duncan at 33? He shed 15 pounds without anyone in the Spurs organization asking him to do so. Duncan’s reason: he hopes a lighter frame will keep him healthier and fresher for the playoffs, when he hopes to deliver a fifth title to small-market San Antonio.

These men are winners, driven by the desire to be the best at their positions, consumed by the thrill of finishing on top. Is Iverson?

He led a flawed Philadelphia roster to the NBA Finals, where the Sixers became the only team to defeat the 2000 Lakers in a playoff game that season.

In a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately-league, that doesn’t matter now.

Upon his arrival in Denver, sent there via trade when the Sixers could take no more, he promised to show Carmelo Anthony a thing or two about leadership.

Anthony’s defining moment alongside Iverson. He accused his teammates of quitting in a first-round loss to the Lakers.

Just as it happened with the Sixers after 2001, the Nuggets turned into an organization of excuses. Iverson and Anthony became the league’s highest scoring duo, electrifying defenses every night.

Three prominent ESPN analysts picked the Nuggets to win a title after the blockbuster trade.

Should we call that failed experiment, a box office flop, or a disasterpiece?

No one can debate the victor of the Iverson-Chauncey Billups swap. Detroit could regain its conference finalist form in a few years, but only because Iverson and his contract are gone.

GM Joe Dumars admired Iverson’s best quality as so many others have. He plays hard and rarely avoids contact.

The former Pistons guard recalled the 2001 Iverson, now a figment of the NBA’s imagination, and hoped he could recreate the nostalgia with a franchise becoming an East also-ran.

Instead, Iverson refused to accept a bench role, created lethal internal strife, alienated his teammates and made rookie coach Michael Curry’s mistakes look even worse.

Curry was in over his head just as Lionel Hollins is now in Memphis.

The greatest players in the history of the game would have sacrificed for the good of the team if asked. Larry Bird did not come off the bench for the Boston Celtics because it never made sense. The Bulls needed Michael Jordan in the starting lineup to set the tone.

Iverson, on the other hand, would best serve a team as a reserve. His reckless defense and ball domination set the wrong tone for the Pistons. His short stint off the pine in Motown failed because he decided the role could never work. He did not try.

There are several contending benches in need of a creative ballhandler who can fill it up in a hurry.

“I’m not a bench player. I’m not a sixth man,” Iverson told the Memphis Commercial Appeal . “Look at my resume and that’ll show I’m not a sixth man. I don’t think it has anything to do with me being selfish. It’s just who I am. I don’t want to change what gave me all the success that I’ve had since I’ve been in this league. I’m not a sixth man. And that’s that.”

Tell that to Manu Ginobili or Jason Terry, two willing reserves who boast superior winning percentages. Ginobili is headed for Springfield and could have been a several-time All-Star had he started. He agrees to come off the bench because it makes the Spurs a better, more dangerous team.

It doesn’t matter what Iverson’s been or what he thinks he deserves. He believes his career scoring average and his awesome talents make his jejune behavior acceptable.

Wrong answer.

Great players adapt. They accept reality.

The reality for Iverson: no one begged or even asked him to come aboard, as the Celtics did with Rasheed Wallace, the Lakers did with Ron Artest and the Spurs did with Antonio McDyess.

The players teams really wanted, save Lamar Odom, signed within the first three weeks of free agency.

Iverson should get a clue. No one inked him until September, and Memphis only did so out of desperation.

No one can compare this selfishness to Bryant’s temper tantrum in which he demanded a trade and interrupted the 2007 Western Conference Finals. We know now that Bryant unloaded because the thought of another first-round exit in L.A. sickened him.

He is one of the all-time greatest winners.

Duncan and Paul Pierce privately asked their front offices or roster upgrades so they could chase championship rings.

Has Iverson convinced you that a title is the only thing on his mind?

At 31, with his athleticism sure to decline, a max contract should be the last thing on his mind. Money and stardom, instead, seem to stay at the forefront.

No championship contender wants him because they wonder if he’s willing to sacrifice for the good of the team.

Iverson thinks he needs to score 30 points per game to remain a valuable player, when playing nice and accepting a lesser role will get his phone ringing again.

Teams want to see Iverson the winner, not A.I. the combustible showman.

Everyone with an NBA-related job knows what he can do with the ball in his hands. You know it. I know it.

What he will not do is what’s killing his career.

Do not dismiss this as some holier-than-thou diatribe. Not even his staunchest supporters can excuse this behavior.

This does not mean anyone should place all of the blame on the embattled combo guard.

Heisley is as complicit in this 15-car pileup as Iverson.

He propagated this abomination just as he demanded that his general manager donate Pau Gasol to the first available suitor.

He then whined like a crybaby when the Lakers reached the NBA Finals and his franchise seemed as far from the playoffs as Pee Wee Herman or Daffy Duck.

Unfortunately for the few Grizzlies fans left, Heisley has no trouble sleeping in the bed he’s made.

This debacle is what happens when an owner—not the basketball operations staff—runs the show.

Jerry Buss and Peter Holt might make stern suggestions to Mitch Kupchak and R.C. Buford, but they would never condone this.

Rudy Gay and OJ Mayo need stability to realize their potential. They need veteran teammates who will show them that defense wins big games. Talk is cheap.

The Grizzlies have yet to play in a meaningful game since the Gasol heist.

Heisley has set Iverson up to fail, and he deserves as much if not more condemnation for this monumental idiocy.

Why would anyone with a brain and the ability to check Wikipedia want Iverson on a team that will be lucky to win 30 games?

One stat-stuffing black hole—power forward Zach Randolph—was not enough.

Memphis fans want to see an intelligent winner, not Jupiter metaphorically represented on the hardwood.

At the end of that cockamamie press conference, a city councilman handed Iverson a Gibson guitar and invited him to play on Beale Street anytime he desired.

Now, that civic leader probably wants the instrument back so he can smash his head in with it.

There is more to basketball than playing hard. Basketball IQ matters. Teamwork matters.

Yes, even practice matters.

We are talkin’ bout practice. We are talkin’ bout leadership. We are talkin’ bout winning.

The Grizzlies need all three of those things pronto.

With Iverson in the fold, those franchise essentials are as out of reach as cures for AIDS and cancer.

Two deadly diseases in Iverson and Heisley, one spotlight to share.

The only roars coming from these Grizzlies will be cries for mercy, pleas that will go unanswered as long as the man in charge of the operation allows delusions of grandeur to become his own sick realities.

No extension for Gay

The deadline for teams to negotiate contract extensions with 2006 draftees passed last week, and Rudy Gay was not amongst the few who signed for more years, making him a restricted free agent next summer.

The two sides could not agree on the length of the contract or its annual payout. He wanted a five-year, $50 million deal.

Instead of joining Rajon Rondo, Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Andrea Bargnani, he will learn his fate in 2010 along with Thaddeus Young, Tyrus Thomas and Ronnie Brewer.

Gay is still favored to resign with the Grizz, just as Brewer and Young are not likely to change zip codes.

Remember the ballyhoo this offseason about the potential for a record number of restricted free agents to change teams?

Of the prominent names available—even with Paul Millsap signing the Portland Trail Blazers frontloaded offer sheet—only Ramon Sessions began the year on another roster.

The idea of restricted free agency, per the collective bargaining agreement, is to make it easier for teams to bring players back.

With most teams eyeing LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in 2010, or salary flexibility—most teams’ euphemism for cost cutting—it will be hard for anyone to pry Gay from the vicinity of Graceland.

He has flashed superstar-level talent but has yet to harness those abilities in a winning way. His defense still needs drastic improvement, and his shot selection would send any coach to a nuthouse.

It is possible, however, that a playoff team might be willing to dangle enough dough to make Memphis reconsider another contract offer. Possible but not likely.

Does Mike Conley get the point?

In Iverson’s case, starting is a vanity. In Conley’s case, it might be a necessity.

Iverson boasts way more talent than Conley, but the Grizzlies need to know this year if their project point man can deliver the goods.

Wallace shipped Kyle Lowry to Houston, giving Conley the team’s full confidence and its reigns.

The fourth pick in the 2007 NBA draft behind Greg Oden, Kevin Durant, and Al Horford, Conley must average than 10 points and four assists to live up to his billing.

The same shortcomings that left scouts uneasy in 2007—a spotty jumper and lackluster quickness off the dribble—still exist.

His strengths—a few marginally effective post and face up moves—still need NBA-level revisions.

Kleeman's Jump Hook: Chris Paul and Deron Williams Could Use an Assist

Robert Kleeman — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:13:13 -0500

Writer's note: Every Monday and Friday, I will publish an edition of "Kleeman's Jump Hook ." Since my work concentrates on the teams in the Texas triangle, this column affords me the opportunity to examine the happenings in the rest of the NBA.

In this space, expect these regular features: an opinion piece on a topic of league-wide interest, 'performance of the week,' 'give this a thumbs up,' 'malcontent of the week,' 'hardwood hyperlinks,' and a 'surprise players' showcase. Due to time constraints, prepare for a shorter piece than usual.

The regular features referenced above will appear in the Monday edition.

_________________________________________________________________________

The league's top point guards deliver spectacular dish after spectacular dish, using hard double teams and heavy defensive pressure to create easy buckets for teammates.

Now, the men who live off of the assist could use one themselves.

Anybody on the Utah Jazz or New Orleans Hornets interested in helping their All-Star teammates should feel free to start work now.

The Hornets posted a 2-3 record to start the year and the Jazz were 1-3 before Thursday night's duel with the San Antonio Spurs at Energy Solutions Arena.

The worst offenses included the Hornets' opening night 113-96 beatdown suffered at the hands of the Spurs and a Jazz fourth-quarter meltdown in Dallas earlier this week.

It seemed unfathomable in late September that the squads employing the league's premier floor generals could miss the playoffs. Now it seems like an absolution.

With all the talk about the Western Conference's final two playoff spots centered on the L.A. Clippers, Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, and Oklahoma City Thunder, the Jazz and Hornets have shoved their way into the dubious discussion.

After one week, a small sample size for sure, the Rockets have tapped into the defensive-minded, always compete, always run identity that will make them dangerous, regardless of the names on the injured list.

Houston lost by a point to the defending champion Lakers in overtime without the services of Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady, or impressive rookie reserve scorer, Chase Budinger.

For just the fourth time in the previous five years or so, the Rockets won a game in Salt Lake City. Monday night's drubbing was as thorough a bloodbath as any team missing its All-Star cornerstones could have delivered in the league's toughest home environment.

After two promising, close losses, the Clippers began to look like the Clippers again. Still, if top pick Blake Griffin returns after his knee injury and plays to expectations, you never know what could happen.

The Suns, defenseless and diaper soft as they are, can still outgun the association's mightiest of the mediocre. At times, Steve Nash looks like the same offensive machine who garnered back-to-back MVPs.

He is one of the worst defenders at his position in league history, but his lethal passing and scoring forays will keep the Suns in the hunt for the seventh or eighth spot.

The Thunder won its first two games—at home against the lowly Sacramento Kings and in Motown against the in-transition Pistons—and the young, energetic star trio of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and Jeff Green looks poised to shower the NBA's newest avid fan base with at least 10 more victories.

The Jazz and Hornets? Both rosters are a mess, overstocked with lethargic or inconsistent players who either cannot perform the way Paul and Williams require or don't want to be there.

Was the Jazz's 113-99 win over the Spurs an indication of a pending turnaround, or was the contest more about San Antonio's early season deficiencies—missed defensive rotations, indecisiveness on offense, and turnovers galore?

With six new rotation players expected to fill major roles, the Spurs will need at least a month to mesh the summer arrivals with an established core.

Wake me up when the Jazz end that losing streak in the Alamo City that dates back to 1999.

The Hornets have tasted as hot and cold as prison food. Paul is the team's only ingredient with any flavor. The pieces around him fit as smoothly as garlic salt and raw onions on diet vanilla ice cream.

Emeka Okafor, the team's prime-time acquisition, has been anything but. He gives the squad more scoring in the post, but his defense has been flat-footed and passive. In the despicable loss to the New York Knicks, David Lee got wherever he desired against Okafor—from the hoop to the baggage claims at JFK and La Guardia airports.

Peja Stojakovic, a useless and gutless defender in his prime, gets abused now more than ever. He did bag a clutch triple in a overtime win over the Dallas Mavericks, but save that rare play, he remains one of the game's grandest choke artists.

He should be required by law to have his hands around his neck at all times.

David West has feasted on isolations and 20-footers, but his defense lacks the appropriate inspiration, and his post-ups are as ify as the cell phone reception in the middle of the Atlantic.

Paul jawed with Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo in a Sunday loss, with some speculating he ran to the Boston locker room to enact some physical revenge for Rondo's merciless, stolid trash talk.

"You're never gonna win a championship ring," Yahoo! Sports quoted Rondo as saying to Paul.

An Olympic gold medalist and 20-point, 11-assist, three-steal performer deserves better than this, but his franchise's owner is amateurish, lacking the will or the financial power to compete with the league's big dogs.

In the first week of play, the Hornets bench again registered as the lowest scoring among the 30 teams.

Byron Scott is still hoping someone off the pine will do more than just take up space. Heck, given the ease with which the Knicks and Spurs reserves destroyed their New Orleans counterparts, just taking up space would be a step in the right direction.

What happened to James Posey's sage and brutish defense? Down what French Quarter drain did his clutch shooting go?

Road-challenged Utah—the worst away team of the West playoff pack last season—has more issues than the Manson family.

Carlos Boozer, even after a tremendous 27-point, 14-rebound effort against the Spurs, still looks like he would rather be in Yemen than Salt Lake City.

The Jazz would still welcome a trade, but only if the interested front office surrenders a building-block star in return. GM Kevin O' Connor and the ownership group would rather absorb his bloated but expiring contract—which would count heavily against the luxury tax at the end of the season if kept—than trade for someone else's garbage stiff.

Mehmet Okur has averaged productive double-figure rebound and point totals thus far, slaughtering his recent matchups in the post and from the perimeter.

Still, he possesses all the athleticism of an office cabinet and is not physically able to offer resistance to penetration by elite guards.

When Tony Parker decides to attack the rim in every quarter, as he did in Thursday's second period, Okur's toast.

As is Boozer.

Without Matt Hapring's relentless energy and hard-nosed defense, Kyle Korver's long-distance bombs and other injuries, the reserve corps looks thinner than a throng of supermodels at a weight-loss convention.

Only Paul Millsap has succeeded consistently in making an impact off the bench. Even with his rugged rebounding and interior toughness, he still hacks opponents as if he wants a starring role in the next Freddy vs. Jason flick.

Andrei Kirilenko can still give Jerry Sloan 16, seven, and five, but his tendency to pout after rough starts can make him a liability against the elites.

Paul and Williams hate to lose, but the mismatched rosters they must captain will ensure that many more nights end in disenchantment.

You can see the burden each carries when you look into their eyes.

Paul, all six feet of him, has to keep the Hornets from sinking below sea level every night.

The Hornets offense has become a predictable screen-and-roll party everyone from Memphis to Boston has crashed. Instead of streamers and balloons, Paul carries a defibrillator, since every games hangs on how many assists he compiles and how many jump shots he can nail.

New Orleans' hopes live and die with Paul. Given that, the Hornets could stop breathing well before April, and Scott, the 2007-08 coach of the year, could lose his tenuous gig. Paul also has to fend for himself when childish punks like Rondo disrespect his prodigious talents.

The Hornets need another enforcer to stick up for Paul, a mean machine to let opponents know the point guard isn't the only player in the Big Easy with an unyielding will to win. West was that guy two years ago. Now, he seems determined to join his teammates in standing behind Paul in hopes the foe that night will fail to land its punches.

With no one to back up Paul on the court or off it, the Hornets have become Muhammed Ali without boxing gloves, a Tropical Isle Hand Grenade without the liquor. These Hornets have no sting, and the one paying for it more than anyone else is Paul.

For Williams, the outlook looks almost as hopeless.

After the collapse against the Mavericks, in which a 72-56 fourth quarter lead became an 11-point loss, agony hijacked Williams' supreme smile.

He moped off the flour—infuriated and disheartened—as if someone had just murdered his family and thrown his dog into a meat grinder and made him watch it all.

The best Williams can hope for is an end to his career-long All-Star drought. It would be one of the travesties of the decade if Williams again misses the cut—especially since the game is in his hometown.

Big-mouthed Rondo and the speedy Parker play alongside Hall of Famers. Paul and Williams get the small-market leftovers, dysfunctional rosters devoid of competitors who go all-in as often or want to win as much as they do. Every loss opens another wound and creates a bigger gulf between the two stars and their championship aspirations.

Like the first-responders who sometimes end up in their own accidents, these assist maestros need assistance—passes that won't arrive anytime soon

Coaching Equals: Gregg Popovich No Longer Looks Up At Jerry Sloan

Robert Kleeman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:49:57 -0500

My favorite Gregg Popovich story—told repeatedly to me by a friend—unfolded at San Antonio-based Trinity University several years ago.

The Spurs coach wanted to watch Trinity square off against Pomona-Pitzer, the small liberal arts college where he served as head coach for seven years.

Just after tipoff, Bob Hill—the nomadic head coach whose children played basketball at Trinity—entered the William H. Bell Athletic Center and scowled when he saw the man who had fired him sitting in a prime viewership spot.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Hill asked. "How the f**k am I supposed to sit in the same gym with him ?"

He has never forgiven Popovich for giving him the axe in 1996. All these years later, the resentment he harbors is understandable.

"How the hell do I get canned after two of the greatest seasons in franchise history?" Hill said to my friend, a Houston sportswriter who shall remain anonymous. "I didn't have David Robinson or Sean Elliott (Vinny Del Negro and others were injured, too)."

The dismissal of the Spurs coach who won 122 games in his first two seasons angered the team's fans and relegated a town temporarily boosted by Hill's celebrity back into a confidence-challenged state of misery.

Most saw Popovich, then the basketball operations vice president, as a bush-league coach making a bird-brained, fatal mistake.

Naturally, Hill wonders what might have been. He could be the one with four championships and Tim Duncan at his side.

He could have watched Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker evolve from raw Argentina and France imports to future Hall of Famers.

Maybe not.

Popovich decided he should take the team's reigns and finished his first year as interim coach with a 17-47 mark. The franchise then landed the first pick in a draft with a no-brainer first selection.

Anyone who dares praise Popovich in his presence is reminded of this—that it's all Duncan's fault—ad nauseum.

Then, with another 20-win struggle and a rough start in the shortened lockout season, Pop almost met the same fate as Hill.

Owner Red McCombs had previously fired him, along with R.C. Buford and the other assistants under Larry Brown before the 1992 campaign.

This time, Majority Owner Peter Holt seemed ready to do the honors.

Still miffed about Hill's release, fans wanted Popovich to hit the road.

How he could fire a popular San Antonio figure after a 3-15 start when injuries sabotaged any chance at a winning record remained a mystery.

Now?

No one questions the defense-first methods that have delivered four NBA titles to the country's 31st largest radio market and 38th largest media market.

He entered his 13th season at the helm last week with the kind of job security that would make anyone at Goldman Sachs envious.

Tonight, his well-oiled, perennial-contending Spurs hit the road for a tough test against a physical squad with the longest-tenured coach in the sport.

Jerry Sloan was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September alongside John Stockton, his point guard of 19 seasons, Michael Jordan, David Robinson, and C. Vivian Stringer.

His Pomona career a distant memory, Popovich will soon also be nominated for Springfield induction.

Convincing him to accept the honor might be tougher than getting a raccoon to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Much like Sloan, he detests showers of congratulations and often comes across as surly, sarcastic, and anguished beyond repair.

A recent example of his humility: Popovich did not complain when Robinson left him out of his induction speech.

The Admiral thanked former Spurs owners, Duncan and other teammates but forgot to recognize the man who was there from his first practice to his final game, a second championship clincher.

Sideline reporters dread interviews with him, and rookie writers quickly learn that cuteness is as illegal as murder and extortion.

With the Spurs down 20 to the Cleveland Cavaliers at home in February, ESPN runners at the AT&T Center informed Nancy Lieberman she would not have to conduct the usual pre-fourth quarter Q&A.

They knew he would not be a happy camper, watching his Duncan and Manu Ginobili-less squad get whacked by LeBron James.

When the camera panned over to Lieberman late in the third period, her face sported a relieved, "thank God" look.

Popovich's typical answer when asked how he helped build a dynasty: "We didn't screw it up," a reference to the luck that landed Duncan in San Antonio.

His visits to Salt Lake City have become increasingly meaningful over the years.

If Brown acted as his mentor and inspiration—Popovich was the best man at his wedding—Sloan was an idol.

When the Brown understudy first assumed head coaching duties, he sought to create the kind of no-nonsense environment Sloan had installed in Utah.

The Jazz played a gritty, brutish brand of basketball that bordered on dangerous and dirty. The team slapped, clawed and shoved its way to victories, using defense and precision execution to deliver knockout punches.

After losses, the players blamed themselves, not the officials or circumstances.

The former Air Force captain—even if few in San Antonio saw it in 1996—was the perfect man to make the Spurs a Jazz-like squad.

Popovich has copied Sloan's formula and used it to do what the Utah legend could not, win championships.

Again, Pop would tell you he never had to gameplan against Michael Jordan. That Duncan guy might get mentioned again.

The man who refuses to accept any credit for transforming a small market into an NBA power deserves a lion's share of it. Since Duncan arrived, the Spurs boast the best win percentage of any pro sports franchise and have become a model of consistency.

From sports talk rant victim to near Central Texas saint, Popovich has become the coach everyone respects, the hardwood genius who can do no wrong.

Charles Barkley routinely calls him the best in the business on TNT broadcasts.

Phil Jackson is the winningest coach in NBA history, and Pop would be the first to remind you of that.

Even with a six-ring difference between the two, it would not be absurd to call them equals should they meet in a playoff duel.

Kobe Bryant once said he would love to play for Popovich if the opportunity presented itself.

It was a cordial response to a question, but the sentiment was sincere.

Popovich doesn't have to be better than Jackson, Red Auerbach, Pat Riley or any other coach.

The fastest to ever reach 500 wins as a sideline superintendent, his tutelage has created front office, lead scout, and head and assistant conductor careers for Hank Egan, Lance Blanks, Mike Brown, Danny Ferry, Steve Kerr, Avery Johnson, Vinny Del Negro, Doc Rivers , P.J. Carlesimo, and Sam Presti.

All of those men list him as a primary influence, just as Popovich credits Brown and Sloan for his basketball arousal.

The Spurs edged Brown's Detroit Pistons in the 2005 NBA Finals and Sloan's Jazz in the 2007 Western Conference Finals.

Locked and loaded after an expensive summer renovation, this bunch still has a few bullets left to fire in its annual drive for championships.

Though he did voice displeasure, Popovich has promised that his team will not use the odd scheduling of a road back-to-back against Utah and Portland after a four-day rest as an excuse.

Armed with Richard Jefferson, George Hill, Antonio McDyess, and DeJuan "the beast" Blair, in addition to Ginobili, Parker and Duncan, the Spurs could pull off consecutive wins.

Holt—the same man who once contemplated sacking Popovich—listened this summer when the coach said a frugal franchise would need to spend money like the Lakers do to give Duncan a shot at the additional rings he craves.

With Ginobili sidelined this spring, the Dallas Mavericks kicked some Spur fanny, sending a proud franchise home after the first round, earlier than anyone in the Alamo City wanted or expected.

Holt responded, too—sanctioning a payroll that will top $80 million.

That winning relationship is a contrast to the calamitous Memphis Grizzlies organization, where owner Michael Heisley orders his puppet general manager around and cries foul when his decisions prove half-baked.

Popovich has outlasted the firestorms that followed his supposed chief indiscretions, swapping Dennis Rodman for Will Perdue and firing Hill. Those controversial verdicts now seem irrelevant.

When he faces off tonight against the man who could be credited as the Spurs real architect, the idol worship will be mutual.

Pop's typical line about Sloan-coached squads—that you know what you're going to get—could be said of his, too.

That day at Trinity, Hill was reminded of the surprise layoff he contends ruined his coaching career.

He still sees the decision as a gaffe, a farce for the ages.

When he saw Popovich, the vitriol flared and bile crowded his throat.

Though often portrayed as a non-stop screamer, Pop loves a good laugh.

He smiled at Hill and offered a thumbs up, just as he had done opening night in 2008 after ordering an immediate Hack-a-Shaq.

A long way from Pomona. Now, a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame.

Not bad for a Xerox.

Chuck Hayes Leads Houston Rockets in Colossal Utah Romp? Believe It

Robert Kleeman — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:44:11 -0500

When it came to the Houston Rockets winning prospects in Salt Lake City Monday night, I was not amongst the massive crowd of non-believers.

I was at the gravesite shoveling the dirt over Aaron Brooks, Chuck Hayes, Luis Scola, and Rick Adelman.

When several friends asked if the Rockets had any chance at Energy Solutions Arena, I said "no" as emphatically as Charles Barkley says "yes" to Krispy Kremes.

Barkley, in case you missed it, thinks these Rockets will finish with the worst record in the West.

Fellow Bleacher Report NBA writer Andrew Ungvari opined they "would be lucky to finish 12th" in the conference.

Sports Illustrated's Ian Thomsen predicted the same fourth-to-last finish.

For one night, I was ready to bury them, too.

I guaranteed my inquisitive friends the team would lose by double figures. They had dropped 11 of the previous 13 contests there, many of those defeats by 10 or more points, and Energy Solutions Arena had always served as the franchise's House of 1,000 Corpses.

Like Rob Zombie films, Rockets games in Utah usually end in gruesome fashion.

If they could not steal one in the Jazz's haunts with a healthy Yao Ming and Ron Artest, how were they going to do it with a cast of role players and such low expectations?

Hayes. That's how. Scola's relentless work on the boards and in the paint. That's how.

Precision long-distance shooting from Aaron Brooks and Trevor Ariza. That's how.

The throng of Rockets shooters dropped smart bombs in the NBA's toughest environment and fist-pumped and snickered as Jazz fans tried to escape the rubble.

There is no such thing as a Utah Jazz team not tough to beat at home.

The squad could lose 11 road games in a row by 30 points, with Kermit the Frog at point guard and Beavis and Butthead at center and power forward, and most opponents would still be in for the asskicking of their lives.

Winning in Utah is like beating Bobby Fischer at chess or scoring higher on a linguistics test than Noam Chomsky.

The Los Angeles Lakers ousted the Jazz from the playoffs two years in a row and reached consecutive NBA Finals, finishing the job this spring.

The San Antonio Spurs bested the Jazz en route to a 2007 title.

Only the strong survive at ESA, with the above championship runs serving as proof.

Rockets fans should celebrate this improbable and momentous win, even if the Jazz at times look more defenseless than the French in World War II and more dysfunctional than the Partridge Family.

Yes, the lowly Golden State Warriors won in Utah last year, but that was an anomaly.

This victory was no accident or coincidence. The Rockets are going to do this to a lot of teams with superior talent.

Yes, Houston Chronicle columnist Jerome Solomon, sometimes contenders do take the night off when they assume the foe will be easier to kill than Kenny on South Park .

Before I could half-fill the grave, before the tombstone had arrived, there was the stoic Hayes, whacking me over the head with the shovel.

Sorry fellas. It won't happen again.

Hayes did not the lead the Rockets in scoring, though he poured in an effortless 12 points, nor was he the best rebounder. Scola hauled down 15 boards to Hayes's nine.

In 28 minutes, however, he led the team in effort and in steals, with three.

No one needs to crash the euphoria with the obvious caveats.

The Rockets won't shoot 10-of-19 from behind the arc often enough to win more of these tough road contests.

Yep.

Got it.

Thanks.

Brooks cannot be expected to maintain his averages of 21 points and eight assists, higher than those of the player to which he is most often compared in Tony Parker.

Roger that.

Kyle Lowry and Brooks will not win every point guard duel with Deron Williams.

Uh-huh.

A 3-1 start in the first week guarantees nothing, not even a finish higher than 12th.

Super.

To those skeptical of the team's ability to challenge for a playoff spot, this win should change your mind.

If it doesn't, you might want to get that head checked.

You might have dementia. You might be insane.

The road to the playoffs has just begun for sure.

Oklahoma City started 2-0 and the LA Clippers appear more competitive than last season, even with top pick Blake Griffin on the shelf.

Phoenix out-gunned teams three times last week.

The Rockets will have to fend off all three squads to grab that seventh or eighth spot in the West.

Don't let such minor details spoil your deserved enjoyment of Monday night's shocker, Rockets fans.

For one night, the team conquered its hell and clubbed those Jazz ghosts and monsters until they begged for mercy.

Normally victims of torture in Salt Lake City, the Rockets found a ruthless second and third gear.

Houston prevailed 113-96, with Hayes acting as the team's chief hellraiser.

Believe it.

What the Rockets did right :

The Jazz attempted 16 of their 34 free throws in the first quarter. The Rockets attempted zero foul shots in the opening period.

They limited Utah's charity-stripe trips in the second half and attacked the basket to earn 26 of their own.

The Rockets trailed by two after 12 minutes and by only three at the end of the first half. They carried a two-point lead into the final frame. Keeping the score close at each buzzer was a gigantic confidence builder.
The Jazz poured in 56 points in the first 24 minutes but just 39 in the second half, a testament to the Rockets defensive improvements throughout the game.
The Houston bench outscored the Utah reserves 39 to 11. Chase Budinger contributed 17 huge points, including a long three over the outstretched arms of Ronnie Brewer and nifty up-and-under drive. Lowry and Carl Landry each added 10.
Only one Rockets player who saw more than 120 seconds of action failed to score in double figures. David Andersen made only one of his seven attempts in 13 minutes.
For the first time this season, the Rockets won the rebounding battle, 46 to 38. This against a team that has routinely used its interior bangers to frustrate Houston on the glass.
Brooks dished eight assists in addition to his 19 points. He executed several tricky dribble drives, finding Hayes and Landry for easy layups. He swooshed all five freebies.
Together, Lowry and Brooks made life tougher than usual for Williams, who finished 6-of-20 from the field.
The Rockets shot 50 percent from the field, even with a string of nine misses in 11 tries in the third quarter.
Hayes and the rest of the undersized big man cavalry rendered Carlos Boozer a non-factor. The grumpy forward managed just seven points on one-of-six shooting.
Hayes drew at least two charges, and they were easy calls.
The Rockets assisted on 29 field goals.
The team converted many of Utah's 19 turnovers into fast break opportunities. The Rockets bested the Jazz in that category, too, 29 to 28.
With no dominant low-post presence and an offense still in progress, the Rockets can live with 14 turnovers in a hostile environment.

What must improve :

The Rockets did surrender 28 points to the Jazz on the run. That number needs to come down by a few buckets.
The six free throw misses should concern Adelman. The only player with a reasonable excuse to miss, Hayes, attempted one foul shot. Scola, Andersen, Lowry and Budinger have no alibies.

Houston ranks 18th in the league in free throw percentage. Unacceptable for a team that cannot afford to give away free points. These guys call themselves shooters, right?

Ariza clanged 9-of-15 attempts, a sign that he's still forcing shots in his new, expanded role.
Williams found numerous Jazz players on easy backdoor cuts. I counted five in the second quarter alone. Every Rocket must rotate so that opposing players don't find themselves wide open underneath the basket.
Several double teams were late or unnecessary, resulting in easy layins for Jazz guards.
The Rockets allowed Andrei Kirilenko to nail an uncontested three at the third quarter buzzer to cut the Jazz deficit to two. Those shots can swing the momentum back i
The defensive effort in the first half needs to be as complete as the one in the second.

The Rockets head back to Houston for a Wednesday reprisal of their spring playoff joust with the defending champion Lakers.

Will Pau Gasol play? The answer to that could be huge in determining the Rockets chances.

Oops. There goes that premature shovel again.

Dallas Mavericks Must Add to Recent Collection Of Hollywood Hits

Robert Kleeman — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:37:58 -0500

The Dallas Mavericks waxed the Los Angeles Lakers Friday night 94-80 and then encored the next evening with a gritty 93-84 victory over the LA Clippers.

Their back-to-back Staples Center romps were as out of character as they were important.

Those Mavs, the ones who blew a 2-0 Finals lead and then lost in consecutive first rounds, aren’t supposed to win these kinds of games.

History suggested—no, it promised—the team would return home 0-3.

In a small but paramount step in the right direction, Dallas defeated inner demons and imaginary curses en route to sending a message that roared from the Ft. Worth Stock Yards to the Cotton Bowl.

Maybe these Mavs aren’t those Mavs anymore.

They headed to Hollywood with six straight losses to the Lakers, most of them by less than 10 points, and a 2-12 record on the second night of back-to-backs in the City of Angels.

Kobe Bryant usually lights up the Mavs as if they represent his own Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, relishing the chance to single-handedly erase fourth quarter deficits, dashing the brave hopes of MFFLs across the Metroplex.

Something changed Friday night.

When it counted, Bryant and the Lakers looked more like a miniature cardboard tree in some Wyoming neighborhood’s nativity display.

The Mavs—still playing without versatile, fringe All-Star Josh Howard—delivered the blinding exhibit.

If the team is serious about returning to championship-level form, it must build on its impressive weekend showing.

This is it? I’ll take the Mavs domination of the defending champions in their house, not the Michael Jackson flick.

There are still countless questions to be answered, numerous concerns that linger like obnoxious in-laws.

Can we stay three more weeks?

Oh, dear. Um, sure.

The Lakers played without Pau Gasol, an All-Star and potential Hall of Famer who glues the offense together like he owns the Elmer’s corporation. Athletic, pogo-like specimen Blake Griffin, the top pick in this year’s draft, will miss the first six weeks of the season after busting his kneecap.

Coach Rick Carlisle should wonder how his squad would have responded had either of those difference makers seen any action.

In the team’s best end-of-game lineup, Howard would play at small forward, his natural position.

However, no one knows how he will handle a projected move to shooting guard as a starter.

Can he continue being one of the league’s best first-quarter performers in a new role?

Dirk Nowitzki missed nine-of-14 shots in Friday’s win, keeping his lifetime shooting percentage against the Lakers in the 30s.

The Dirkster must be more efficient from the field and impactful as a franchise-level star if the Mavericks want to win a more meaningful match.

Carlisle still needs to see how Nowitzki might perform at center in a close fourth quarter against a playoff opponent. If he wants to play Erick Dampier or Drew Gooden there, whom can he tell among Howard, Shawn Marion, Jason Kidd and Jason Terry to sit down?

Would he bench the German forward around whom his team is built?

Knowing that this lineup could be exposed defensively given the wrong matchups, any intelligent coach with said mismatches at his disposal will try to force Carlisle to use most of his timeouts in the third quarter, so he cannot swap players for defensive purposes in the final minutes.

Gregg Popovich and Phil Jackson will make it a point to run plays that force Nowitzki to guard Tim Duncan and Gasol in the post as much as possible.

Even with these nagging questions, it would not be facetious for fans to celebrate what this weekend’s unexpected results could mean.

Dallasites should remember what the Mavs did in a February tilt in San Antonio when both Duncan and Manu Ginobili sat in street clothes.

With the Spurs reduced to Tony Parker as their primary athletic weapon, the Mavs allowed the French point guard to explode for 37 points and conceded an easy 93-76 defeat.

Those vapid Mavs also coughed up a game in Oklahoma City, with the Thunder missing both Kevin Durant and Jeff Green.

How many reading this column thought they could take advantage of the Gasol-less Lakers last week?

Maybe things started to turn when the Mavs thoroughly outclassed the injured Spurs in a five-game, first-round set.

Then again, there was the Denver series and the opening night loss to the Washington Wizards.

If fans can forget that this team is harder to understand than a McDonald’s at a heart hospital, they can appreciate consecutive victories over the champs and a squad that looks like it could compete for the playoffs at full strength.

The Mavericks are a long way from besting three Western Conference foes in April and May, much less toppling Boston, Orlando, or Cleveland in June.

Still, there’s a lot to like about this first step.

Lakers' Tex Winter Belonged In Basketball Hall Of Fame Long Ago

Robert Kleeman — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:42:13 -0400

His absence during the Los Angeles Lakers ring ceremony Tuesday night was conspicuous to the few who recognize his extraordinary hand in Phil Jackson’s peerless success.

Most TNT viewers would not have cared had long-time Lakers PA announcer Lawrence Tanter called his name with the rest of the assistant coaches.

Casual fans rarely appreciate reclusive or terminally ill consultants.

They want Kobe Bryant and a glimpse of the legendary Jackson.

They want to see how the volatile Ron Artest will mesh with an established core.

Even if they will not admit it, they wouldn’t mind him going off the deep end just once, for the sheer entertainment value of his shenanigans.

The sports world loves a train wreck and the mere thought of controversy. It’s far easier to get listeners talking about former ESPN analyst Steve Phillips and his psycho mistress, or a declaration that LeBron James has surpassed Bryant as the league’s greatest player than the triangle offense and its intricacies.

It would not surprise me if hundreds of thousands of viewers saw Jerry West—Mr. Clutch and The Logo—introduced during the ceremony and said, “That’s the guy who said LeBron is better than Kobe.”

If you told the average NBA supporter that Jackson had coached the Chicago Bulls and Lakers to 10 championships without significant assistance, or that the coaches only prevailed because they had Bryant, Shaquille O’ Neal, Michael Jordan, and Scottie Pippen they might believe you.

Assistant coaches go unnoticed and unheralded, making far less money than the players they help make dominant or the lead sideline men who must accept the brunt of the credit for the team’s successes and failures.

Compare the volume of cheers from the Staples Center crowd for Jim Cleamons or Craig Hodges to Jackson or Bryant.

It was not close. It never is.

The purple and gold crowd attendees did not yell for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar because he has tutored starting center Andrew Bynum as a special assistant.

He won five championships as a starting center in L.A. and became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. Any discussion of the best to ever lace 'em up should include his name.

Hall-of-Fame voters can often appear like casual fans. They seem to know less about the game than the fans or beat writers know about them. Quick can anyone name one voter on the panel that selects finalists each year for Springfield enshrinement?

The Hall is a glorification of grandiose, not a celebration of nuance.

The ring-less Allen Iverson will be a first-ballot selection because he ranks third all-time in points per game, even though another small guy, Isiah Thomas, already blazed the trail for puny point guards.

Iverson has never been a leader or an intelligent player. Yet, he will likely get in before Dennis Rodman, a vital contributor on five championship squads who established himself as a relentless winner on the court.

I purposely waited until the article was half completed to mention its subject, Tex Winter, because his name often appears as an afterthought in congratulatory remarks or discussions of how Jackson won with the Bulls and Lakers.

Credit Bryant for a heartfelt sound bite on what Winter has meant to him.

TNT aired a brief video of the long-time assistant accepting his ring after the third quarter of the Lakers win over the Clippers.

He deserved, for once, to stand alone.

Naismith Hall voters have yet to reward him after six appearances on the final ballot and the player who benefited most from Winter’s adaptation of the triple-post offense has never given him a proper thank you.

During his pompous, angry, and cruel induction speech in September, Michael Jordan had to beat everyone who insulted, questioned or “wronged” him again—even Winter—to re-assert his dominance to anyone who had forgotten it.

Symphony Hall, hosting the largest crowd ever at an induction ceremony, became Jordan’s makeshift, post-retirement basketball court, where he bullied and posterized everyone from Bryon Russell, to a high school teammate and his own kids.

He recalled Winter once tsk-tsking him for ball-hogging the Bulls to a comeback win in Toronto.

“There’s no ‘I’ in team, but there’s an ‘I’ in win,” Jordan remembered saying.

He has never said, “thanks for caring so much about me,” or “thanks for installing an offense that made me and my teammates unstoppable.”

Players win championships, not organizations right?

If he cannot say a nice thing about Jerry Krause, the general manager who constructed the greatest dynasty since Bill Russell’s Boston Celtics, don’t expect Jordan to deliver the eulogy at Winter’s funeral or even apologize.

Krause contends he skipped Jordan’s induction as a protest against Winter’s exclusion from the Hall, not because His Airness made him feel unwelcome.

Come to think of it, as fellow Bleacher Report writer Bob Warja would say, Krause belongs in the Hall too.

Winter never hit a game-winner in the playoffs, never stood or sat behind a podium and accepted an NBA Coach of the Year award, but his impact on the game, as a mastermind of offense and 454 win college coach—has been as profound as anything Iverson, George Gervin, or Doug Collins ever did.

He pioneered the use of an offensive philosophy in the pros so complex that only a handful of teams since the 1940s have dared to learn it.

Hall-of-Fame coach Sam Barry taught the offense to Winter sure, but his pupil had the best application for it; Winter wrote the book, published it, and promoted it.

The triangle requires a full commitment from every player and coach, one reason so few have attempted to teach its principles.

The system creates a sideline triangle between the low-post center, a forward on the wing, a guard in the corner, a guard at the top of the key, and a forward on the weak-side high post.

In filling all five spaces, each player can pass to four other weapons or find cutters and flashers. The offense is designed so that any combination of players on the floor can react and improvise to any defensive scheme.

The genius of the offense can be seen in the list of point men who started for Jackson’s title teams from Ron Harper to Derek Fisher—both smart and tough, but never as talented or as gifted as, say, Deron Williams or John Stockton.

Lakers players and Jackson have affectionately dubbed Winter the “insultant” because he never hesitates to air his grievances with the team’s performances and shortcomings.

If Jordan aborted the offense, Winter let him know about it without pause.

When Bryant does it now, Winter gives the future Hall-of-Famer a constructive, but stern earful.

Through all the criticisms, from his days on the sidelines at Marquette and Kansas State to his often hospital bed-based role with the defending champion Lakers, the targets of his complaints have always listened.

Even Jordan.

Winter suffered a stroke in the spring and his health will worsen with time.

It is possible that when he dies, so too will the triangle?

They say that many of the 7,000 languages spoken around the world will die in the coming years.

This basketball speak is as rare as any of those endangered species.

There is a way to make sure its brilliance will always live in memory.

Hall voters should know and Krause did long ago.

Induct Winter into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Please.

The Showtime Rockets? No, but Rick Adelman Will Make It Work

Robert Kleeman — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:13:15 -0400

The Houston Rockets' preseason slate was a seven-game reminder of why the preseason exists.

The team marched into San Antonio for the exhibition season opener two weeks ago and racked up 17 first-half fast break points en route to a 99-85 victory.

The next night in McCallen, the Rockets treated the ball like a department store promotional giveaway.

That comeback win over the Boston Celtics was as ugly and foul-filled as they come.

Anyone not paid to watch that contest should not admit to suffering through it.

No, GM Daryl Morey did not slip me some money under the table.

The squad flew to Indiana where the Pacers handed the Rockets a thorough butt kicking. The defense was as putrid as the shot selection.

Mixed in that preseason mixed bag—a denied comeback against the Bucks, a failure to close against the Mavericks, and a 124-112 triumph, an offensive clinic, in Toronto.

On one Rockets' possession in the home loss to the Bucks, free agent signee Trevor Ariza darted into the packed lane and threw a blind pass well over the outstretched arms of Shane Battier and into the front row.

Ariza could not have known to whom or where he was passing the ball. He flung it as if to abdicate responsibility for the fate of the stale, stagnant halfcourt offense.

He convinced himself the ball was a bomb and chucked it toward the perimeter in hopes someone else would be willing to disarm it.

Next, Bucks point man Luke Ridnour ran the ball up the court and fed Andrew Bogut for an easy lay-in against center David Andersen. Houston’s Aussie import offered no resistance on the play.

These moments of offensive misdirection and missed defensive assignments by newbies inspire an understandable reaction.

THIS team…in the playoffs? You must be joking.

The Rockets face compelling questions, such as, how will a roster with no All-Star performers outduel the Phoenix Suns or anyone else for one of the final slots in the West?

One man will provide the comfort and reassurance fans seek after a gruesome offseason of loss and lowered expectations.

A glance over to the bench explains why so many writers, including this one, think the Rockets can compete for a postseason berth with Yao Ming out until 2010 training camp and Tracy McGrady out for at least a few months.

The same Rick Adelman who has turned messes into works of art is staring at one of the biggest scrap heaps of his career.

Defensive stalwart Chuck Hayes will start at center, but he’s 6’6” with no appreciable offensive skills. Reserve center Andersen possesses a nice perimeter touch, but he cannot defend a lampshade.

If there was a way to fuse the best attributes from both bigs, the Rockets could start one heck of a center in Yao’s place.

Instead, Adelman must experiment with lineups until he finds combinations in which Hayes and Andersen can contribute without sinking the offense or defense, respectively.

The body of evidence suggests the former San Diego Rocket is one of the few who could tackle the job.

For 20 years, Adelman has been an adaptive and creative pro basketball painter.

He has taken shards of broken glass, colors that usually clash, and crooked or misshapen easels and created breathtaking images.

Not all works of art are aesthetically pleasing, and few masterworks are alike.

In Portland, Adelman won with a combination of interior defensive snarl and the complete brilliance of Hall of Fame guard Clyde Drexler.

In Sacramento, he chaperoned a free-flowing, Princeton-based offense that had everyone from Vlade Divac to Chris Webber to Jason Williams to Doug Christie passing as if a winning lotto ticket accompanied each assist.

The Blazers reached the NBA Finals in 1990 and 1992 and the Conference Finals in 1991.

He transformed the Sacramento Kings from relocated never-rans to an offensive juggernaut and regular 50-win club member.

The Kings qualified for the playoffs in every one of Adelman’s seasons on the bench.

The imbecilic decision to can him after an understandable first-round flameout against the defending champion San Antonio Spurs in 2006 continues to haunt the Maloofs.

The Golden State Warriors—the only franchise he coached that failed to reach the playoffs—remained a win-challenged embarrassment after management dismissed him.

The Blazers and Kings worsened after Adelman’s departure. That testimony is indisputable.

At every stop, he has tweaked lineups and acclimated to his rosters’ strengths.

His work with the Rockets has highlighted those rare qualities.

Mike D’Antoni refuses to do anything other than run, run, run—even when his new reclamation project, the Knicks, was devoid of enough players who fit the seven-seconds-or-less system.

Don Nelson has never developed a Plan B for his shoot-first, ask-later squads.

Mike Dunleavy is more immovable than a 50-foot steel column and grumpier than a mid-40s Oscar the Grouch at a prostate exam.

Adelman does not wear any championship rings, but neither does Jerry Sloan—the only superior title-less coaching contemporary.

Can you blame the coach for the Kings' 2002 Conference Finals loss to the Lakers?

Bogus call after bogus call and clanged jumpers—many from Peja Stojakovic—allowed the champs to stay close in L.A.’s backbreaking Game Six comeback.

Did Phil Jackson’s coaching genius set up the improbable three Robert Horry drained to force a Game Seven?

Divac, not Jackson, unintentionally tapped the ball back to Big Shot Rob.

Had Horry missed, the Kings would have advanced to the Finals.

Losing a Game Seven at home may serve as a blemish on Adelman’s resume, but does coming out on the wrong end of an overtime struggle make a coach incompetent?

Once compared to Adolf Hitler by Jackson in private, Adelman has always been the opposite.

Jackson is the winningest coach in NBA history. Gregg Popovich is one of the best small market coaches to ever roam the sidelines.

Entrenched in their current situations, neither was available or interested when the Rockets said “see ya” to Jeff Van Gundy.

I questioned the quick selection of Adelman then, but I would never do it again.

After an abysmal start, the 2007-'08 Rockets reeled off 22 wins in a row, second-most in league history, 10 of those coming without Yao.

They succumbed to their own limitations against the roughneck Utah Jazz in the first round.

Grit and determination could only get them so far when the chief talent had rarely exhibited either attribute, and when the streaky Rafer Alston missed the first two games of the series.

Then, for a second act, the undermanned squad—you guessed it, without McGrady and eventually Yao—won a playoff series sans home court advantage and took the Lakers to the limit.

By the time you read this, the Rockets will be 0-1, 1-0, 0-2, or 2-0.

It would be shocking if the team—adjusting to a new up-tempo style and role players with the largest job descriptions of their careers—records more assists than turnovers.

Even the staunchest supporters know this fast-break hopeful will not be suiting up Magic, Kareem, or Worthy clones.

Showtime throwbacks they are not.

There will be moments similar to Ariza’s blind, botched pass in the home loss to the Bucks.

Opponents will ride hot streaks to 15- and 20-point leads.

Many fans will wonder as I have how these discombobulated Rockets can win enough to make the playoffs.

Then, they will look over to the bench and remember why they believe.

Adelman, the man with the flexible paintbrush, is ready for his most defiant piece yet.

New Additions Must Help CP3's New Orleans Hornets Get Stingers Back

Robert Kleeman — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:22:29 -0400

Chris Paul gripped his groin area, wincing in pain as an assistant coach helped him to the bench.

With a 17-point third quarter lead against the wannabe-.500 Chicago Bulls and David West still on the floor as an interior terror, the New Orleans Hornets appeared ready to survive the temporary loss of their star point guard.

Then, history reared its ugly head, and the offense—sans Paul—imploded like the Stardust in Vegas.

From a 17-point lead at home to a 14-point loss, the collapse was as spectacular as it was telling.

This is what the Hornets usually do when Paul cannot play or when he rests. When the team wins with him in street clothes, it feels more like luck than something on which to bet the house.

No playoff team relies on one player to do so much like the the Hornets do Paul.

No discussion necessary or allowed.

The Cleveland Cavaliers stayed close with opponents throughout a 66-win campaign when LeBron James sat for his customary moments of rest.

The Utah Jazz can still pile up points against many foes when Deron Williams sits.

The Los Angeles Lakers have enough depth to erase deficits against playoff-caliber squads with Kobe Bryant in his warm-ups.

Remember that Sunday afternoon in Cleveland when Bryant spent halftime vomiting like a mental patient with swine flu?

Lamar Odom corralled 20 rebounds and Pau Gasol ate space in the middle like it was seasoned chorizo to help the Lakers claim the only legitimate victory at Quicken Loans Arena in the 2008-09 season.

The expectations—at an all-time high after a breezy first-round win and a seven-game set with the champion Spurs—sunk the Hornets’ chances as much as the injury bug.

The group many predicted would seize the West crown became the conference’s biggest disappointment.

Just don’t blame the team’s step back on Paul. Charley Rosen chided the Wake Forest product for his inconsistent jumper and his gambling tendencies on defense. The Fox Sports columnist included Paul in a column about overrated players who should not be considered superstars.

His averages from last year—22 PTS, 11 AST, 3 STL, 5.5 REB—would make Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson proud.

Tyson Chandler missed at least 31 games, Peja Stojakovic was close with various back ailments and several others found themselves on the injured list.

What else can Paul do, Mr. Rosen?

Shaquille O’ Neal won four championships with no offensive game outside of 10 feet and one of the worst free throw percentages in league history.

Allen Iverson willed a mediocre Philadelphia Sixers squad to the NBA Finals without a commitment to practice or proper leadership skills.

Can anyone cite Paul’s streaky shot as the sole reason for the Hornets shortfalls?

If his starting small forward was someone other than overpaid, choke artist extraordinaire Stojakovic, if West exhibited the same competitive fire and passion that made him a first-time All-Star in 2008, if the bench was not reduced to out-of-place James Posey and youngsters in the Byron Scott doghouse, maybe so.

Paul needed a better supporting cast, and a confusing but productive offseason should afford him one.

If the new transplants produce and West and Paul stay healthy, opponents could be the ones wincing come April.

Collison is most valuable rookie on playoff hopeful

Chase Budinger could provide a scoring spark off the bench in Houston while Tracy McGrady rehabs from microfracture knee surgery.

Ty Lawson will lead a depleted second unit in Denver.

Dejuan Blair’s beastly rebounding and tenacity could give San Antonio’s reserve corps extra juice.

The Bulls may give two rookies some minutes early on to see what they can do.

No first-year player on a playoff contender will be as important to his team’s fortunes as 21st pick Darren Collison.

He sped down the court and bothered his point guard opponents with stingy defense at UCLA.

Now, the Hornets need him to make sure the offense does not collapse every time Paul leaves the court.

Jannero Pargo could fill it up in a hurry, but he struggled to manage a cohesive offense.

Antonio Daniels and Mike James were each eagerly shipped out of town for their floor general failures.

The former Pac 10 Player of the Year backed up Jordan Farmar for a year at UCLA before taking the program’s point guard reigns.

Often seen as a player prone to big-game disappointments in college, Collison now assumes a complimentary role where that will matter less.

All he has to do is make sure Byron Scott doesn’t have to play Paul 42 minutes a night, wearing out his All-NBA star before the All-Star break.

He must do the simple thing three others could not.

Is Okafor an upgrade over Chandler?

The Hornets began the summer seemingly determined to spend little. Rumors flew like a flock of geese that GM Jeff Bower considered trading Chandler to Phoenix for Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic’s expiring deals just to get the club under the luxury tax threshold.

In a summer where several rich teams acquired additional wealth at the expense of those relegated to slashing payroll, the scenario was believable.

Instead, the Hornets opted to spend a lot. Sure, the Chandler for Emeka Okafor swap will save ownership an additional million and will nudge the payroll under the tax, but the former Bobcat will cost George Shinn the remainder of a gargantuan $72 million extension signed in Charlotte over the next few years.

In a confusing and perhaps desperate move, Bower traded the soul of the Hornets for a non-franchise talent Larry Brown no longer trusted.

In Chandler’s best season, he posted 11 points and 11 rebounds. The numbers do not begin to explain his impact. He defended elite post players as well as anyone else in the league could have, he soared to throw down Paul’s perfectly telegraphed lob passes, and his career resurrection seemed to mirror that of post-Katrina New Orleans.

In the Hornets’ Game Seven loss to the Spurs, Duncan made only five of 17 shots against Chandler.

Then, toe and ankle injuries rendered him useless for most of last season.

A reappearance of surf toe caused the Thunder to quickly rescind a trade that would have sent Chandler to Oklahoma City.

Okafor brings to the Big Easy career averages of 14 points and 10 rebounds.

He’s more creative in the post, with more meat on his bones to defend stronger bigs.

He will not, however, catch lob passes from Paul as Chandler did, nor will he be as mobile in pick-and-roll coverage.

The trade that seems like the ultimate wash—the quintessential doing-something-just-to-do-something move—will take months to understand.

Both players can help their respective squads in areas of deficiency, but how much they can assist remains to be seen.

Ike Diogu and Darius Songaila—late, great acquisitions

The Spurs headed to Indianapolis one April afternoon for a showdown with the banged up, lottery-bound Pacers.

At first glance, with Jermaine O’ Neal sidelined, the game seemed like a cakewalk for been there, done that San Antonio.

The Spurs did not prepare for Diogu, who unleashed on the Alamo City frontcourt a torturous combination of dunks, drives and jumpers.

His colossal night helped the Pacers defeat the eventual champs 100-99.

Yes, this was 2007, when Tim Duncan secured his fourth ring.

Earlier this spring, Diogu hung 30 points on Denver, when every game still counted for the Nuggets.

At age 26 with a 7’4” wingspan, Diogu uses his brute strength to overcome his undersized 6’9” stature. Never close to an NBA-level star, the Arizona State product has settled for spot reserve duty.

He does not figure to play much behind his Hornets superiors, particularly West, but should injuries strike, he will offer helpful insurance.

You know, the kind that puts you in good hands when you need it.

The addition of heady and athletic forward Songaila should boost the bench production, too.

Ian Mahinmi Gives San Antonio Spurs Big Dilemma

Robert Kleeman — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:52:52 -0400

The San Antonio Spurs' brass spent a longer-than-usual summer spending the ownership group's money like an alcoholic with a gambling addiction, thrusting a provident franchise deep into luxury tax territory.

The objective: give Tim Duncan a roster capable of winning a playoff series with the Lakers and a fifth championship.

Popovich and R.C. Buford met most of the objectives.

Athletic wingman to counter Lamar Odom, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, and other scorers at the three spot?

Richard Jefferson. Check.

Hard-working, stingy defenders?

Yep. Jefferson, Keith Bogans, and Malik Hairston.

Rugged rebounding?

That's not a draft. It's the wind being knocked out of someone trying to grab a loose ball from second-rounder Dejuan Blair.

Interior defense and a reliable scorer alongside Duncan?

Enter Antonio Miggedy-Miggedy McDyess.

There is one hole left open, and the French draftee who could fill it remains as much a mystery as the popularity of Jon and Kate.

When Popovich looks at advantages the Lakers might enjoy in a regular season or playoff match, beyond the obvious terror and remonstrance Kobe Bryant promises in a fourth quarter, the words "long and athletic" come to mind.

"Long and athletic" refer to the spectacular inconsistency of the versatile Odom, the disruptive arms and post production of Pau Gasol, and the potential of former Kareem Abdul-Jabbar student Andrew Bynum.

Most favor the Lakers to repeat because they can trot out three seven-footers with NBA-level talent. Gasol is an All-Star and future Hall of Famer, Odom is a championship-level difference maker, and Bynum could someday become both.

Even after an astounding shopping spree, Ian Mahinmi—the Spurs' first round selection in 2005—is the only player who can match the size and athleticism of the aforementioned LA trio.

After one D-League season, a stint with the French national team, two summer leagues and a preseason, Popovich still has no idea what to make of his talent-rich, 22-year-old work in progress.

In Sean Elliott terms, the Spurs coach doesn't know if Mahinmi has junk in his game or if his game is just junk.

The team must decide by Oct. 31 whether to pick up the fourth year on his contract, and his moments of NBA-level production have not made the decision any easier than his frequent stretches of foul trouble, poor decision-making and injury.

A comparison to the heralded Bynum makes sense, even if the latter has already proven he belongs in the NBA and will soon wear a championship ring.

Mahinmi has often taken Bynum's worst qualities to the max. Various lower leg injuries ended Mahinmi's 2008-2009 season before it began.

He struggles to stay out of foul trouble and often exhibits lapses in concentration.

When the Spurs watched brief highlight films of the French forward/center before the 2005 draft, they saw a mobile big man who could dunk with the ferocity of Dwight Howard and Shawn Marion.

They knew he would be a project, but they were hoping for Lowe's "let's build something together," not do-it-yourself Home Depot.

In his breakout season with the Austin Toros, I saw him block a shot with such force that it flew to the other end of the hardwood and grazed the rim. It would have been the first rejection-turned-full court three pointer in basketball history.

As many times as he wows with his athleticism, he commits stupid fouls, takes bad shots or turns it over in ways that would leave even a casual fan perplexed and dumbfounded.

The Spurs' decision is about a lot more than a few million bucks and another year on a contract.

Mahinmi possesses physical gifts that could help the Spurs now. He flashes a package as rare as it is lethal.

Robinson built a Hall of Fame career around his ability to jump higher than many and run faster than most from end to end.

Mahinmi runs the court with determination and enviable agility, but no one would ever confuse him with No. 50 at his worst.

The Spurs' retooled roster boasts quality big-men aplenty. Duncan, Blair, McDyess, Theo Ratliff, Matt Bonner, and situational forward Marcus Haislip could comprise one of the deepest frontcourts in the league.

Still, aside from Duncan, each sports a dangerous flaw.

Bonner has physical limitations that cannot be overcome against elite opponents on either end, but particularly on defense. If only his production could match his effort.

McDyess is undersized at 6'9", and knee setbacks robbed him of his once ferocious athleticism. Not exactly Dikembe Mutombo from the strong or weak side.

Blair has responded to every challenge posed from high school to college to the pros, but there are valid reasons to be skeptical. Can a rookie who looks shorter than his listed 6'7" height defend opponents with two to five inches on him in games that count?

Can he manufacture points against taller defenders the way he did in the summer league and preseason? He may be a draft-night steal, but he's not even Charles Barkley at Auburn when it comes to hops.

Ratliff can still erase shots from the weak side, but how much can Popovich expect a 36-year-old on his last legs to do against high-flyers 10 years younger?

Haislip brings size and a newfound defensive acumen, but his limitations make him attractive only in certain matchups.

That leaves Mahinmi—the big man chased by giant questions.

He can catch alley-oops. He can block attempts from the strong and weak sides. He rarely gives up significant inches to opponents. He's just 22.

Such promise points to the Spurs bringing him back for another year.

However, does it speak well of his prospects in San Antonio that the two most common questions associated with his name are, is he injured yet, and how many fouls has he committed?

If the NBA allowed 15 fouls in a contest, no one would be shocked to see Mahinmi use every one of them before the final buzzer.

Even Bynum could not manage that dubious feat.

As the Spurs ponder his future with the club and Mahinmi wonders what to do next, both sides will point to last year as the culprit in this difficult decision.

Leg ailments caused Mahinmi to miss all of training camp in 2008—when the Spurs knew the first few months without Manu Ginobili would be rougher than sandpaper and more murderous than Michael Meyers with a meat cleaver and an AK47.

Duncan started opening night against the Phoenix Suns with Bonner and rookie Anthony Tolliver as his best available frontcourt sidekicks. Kurt Thomas, nursing a hamstring injury, and Fabricio Oberto, resting after his heart fluttered for the second time that year, watched the loss in street clothes.

The same depleted stable of big men suited up in Portland two evenings later.

Mahinmi could have played then, when the team hungered for healthy bodies, and the coaching staff might have a fair, thorough evaluation now to guide their decision this week.

The front office might know if the 17 points and eight rebound averages in Austin that made him a D-League All-Star two years ago could ever translate to the next level.

Instead, Popovich, his assistants, Buford and his accomplices are left with more questions than a Jeopardy contestant.

Such promise. Such inconsistency.

Mahinmi needs something the Spurs cannot offer. He needs it like a swimming fish needs water.

Time.

Will the Spurs scrounge up a few million more and give Mahinmi another chance or has the clock run out on a defective dream?

Will Revamped Dallas Mavericks Find a Good Surf or Drown in a Tidal Wave?

Robert Kleeman — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:42:09 -0400

Dirk Nowitzki showed up to Dallas Mavericks training camp several weeks ago in full surfer-dude mode.

Sporting a beard straight out of the Geico caveman commercials, the longest hair of his career, and a lighter frame, the German seven-footer looked ready to catch a wave.

More important to head coach Rick Carlisle, owner Mark Cuban and the fans, Nowitzki appeared to have shed some emotional weight, too.

He found out this summer the woman he once planned to marry, the partner with whom he wanted to father children, was a fraud.

While it would not be advisable for the music director at American Airlines Center to play “Billie Jean” at Mavs home games, Nowitzki seems to have put the Cristal Taylor nightmare behind him.

Carlisle can only hope his star forward has done the same with those memories of playoff futility.

Blowing a 2-0 NBA Finals lead, then losing in the first round in consecutive seasons is a real psyche killer.

If Nowitzki’s goofy, carefree look is an indicator of his mental health, the rest of the Western Conference should not dismiss the explosive Mavericks as average road kill.

Nothing will dictate the Mavericks’ fate better than the demeanor of the franchise’s foundation.

News that someone you thought you knew and loved has been arrested on 2006 theft of services charges and a 12-year-old probation violation (and imprisoned) is never easy to take.

Cuban told the Dallas Morning News that word of Taylor’s indiscretions broke near the tail end of the first-round win over the Spurs.

That means Nowitzki averaged nearly 30 points against the Nuggets whilst dealing with instability and shock in his personal life.

Maybe he isn’t the Euro softie so many believe him to be.

To shoot that well against a Denver defense designed to frustrate opponents via physicality and hard fouls takes toughness, and the Mavericks will need a lot of more of it if they hope to survive an improved Western Conference, not to mention any of their meetings with the defending champion Lakers.

The 2006 choke job has shaped Nowitzki’s disappear-in-big-moments reputation. Undeserved and fallible as that characterization is, it has influenced how most view the Mavericks’ prospects, too.

Had Nowitzki drained a few more baskets in Game Three or the infamous Game Five in Miami, we might be talking about the Mavericks as former champions.

Joke of a referee Bennett Salvatore also played an unfortunate and downright cruel role in the Heat’s series-turning victory.

Championship pedigree means a lot, and it’s why most expect the Spurs to go a lot farther in the playoffs, even though the Mavs beat them convincingly in a five-game, opening round set mere months ago.

Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili have closed out opponents in the NBA Finals three times together, with Duncan also hoisting the trophy in 1999. With Parker entering his prime, the other two stars still in theirs, and the summer delivery of serious firepower, finding San Antonio stock buyers is facile.

The Mavericks? Not so much.

If NBA writers see the Lakers as JP Morgan, mighty in a time of financial crisis, they opine the Mavericks as Bear Sterns, the once powerful institution handicapped by its own gruesome collapse.

We’ll know in a few months if Shawn Marion, Drew Gooden, and the other additions can inspire more investor confidence in the former Finalists.

Even with the new arrivals, the quest for good fortune begins and ends with the surfer dude.

For now, at least, it looks like the surf’s up.

Genius deal for Marion should cancel out failure to land Gortat

The consensus from Mavericks fans is this: They’d like the offseason more if Marcin Gortat was starting at center instead of Erick Dampier.

Indeed, some MFFLs have a newfound vitriol for Orlando GM Otis Smith and the Magic organization.

If the offseason lost some of its luster when Smith opted to match Dallas’ full mid-level offer for the Polish pivot, a confusing but brilliant deal to land two-way talent

Marion should quell the anguish and disappointment.

Gortat was a dream, an approximation based on mathematical calculations. Rockets GM Daryl Morey and Mavs’ GM Donnie Nelson multiplied Gortat’s efficient averages as a backup times the number of minutes they anticipated he would play, and appraised his value from there.

There is no guarantee that Gortat will ever produce as a full-time starter the way he did as a fill-in starter and reserve in the 2009 playoffs.

Mavericks fans don’t have to wonder about what Marion might bring. Once a do-it-all-forward in the high-octane, Mike D’Antoni offense alongside Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire, Marion has since played on two squads unequipped to benefit from his strengths.

His flexible game requires that he be surrounded with All-Star performers, and in Dallas, he won’t have to overcompensate as he did for the Heat’s inadequacies
(Shaq was right, if rude, when he called out Chris Quinn and other D-Leaguers as lackluster talents) or Toronto’s defenselessness.

No player should benefit more from Marion’s presence than the embattled Howard. While plans to start J-Ho at off guard may sound ludicrous, expect the Wake Forest product to drop points wherever Carlisle plays him.

Marion will lessen the pressure Howard faces on both ends of the floor. Howard no longer has to be the team’s primo defender or its clear-cut second option.

No one stops Kobe Bryant, but at least Marion can play tough, disciplined defense on the Lakers star.

Who would you rather have defending Bryant in a close game with two minutes to go in the fourth quarter? Antoine Wright and Jason Kidd or Marion?

The former duo took turns on No. 24 last year and failed miserably, to say the least.

The Heat owes a victory over the Lakers last year to Marion’s resilient, smart defense on Bryant.

Maybe the Mavericks can say the same in a few months.

Can Gooden stick this time?

The adroit former Kansas standout can create crafty, high-percentage shots in the post, rebound, defend in earnest and block an occasional shot. He also has a reputation as a good guy on and off the court.

So, what’s wrong with Gooden?

I still wonder as other sports writers do why this guy keeps getting the boot.

Most would look at a 16-point, seven-rebound night, even in a preseason tilt, as the sign of a solid acquisition. He posted those totals this week, and yet, his production seems as hollow as ever.

The number that cannot lie: He has bounced between six teams in seven seasons.

Gooden is damaged goods; a flawed prospect Carlisle has to hope can find the electrical switch.

Forgive my lack of excitement about the 6’10” forward’s arrival in Big D or the possibility of him playing heavy minutes at center.

The Cleveland Cavaliers willingly traded him the year after he started for them in the NBA Finals.

The San Antonio Spurs made no effort to re-sign him amidst the costliest roster overhaul in team history.

He did not leave enough of an impression for the four-time champs to even consider a contract offer.

Everywhere he lands, he hopes his newest destination will become his last in the NBA. Everywhere he plays, his employer ends the partnership without pause.

Several reports in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer suggested Gooden struggled to remember plays and even the names of his assistant coaches—in his third year with the team.

Focus has always been a chief issue, and it will be spotlighted more so now that his teammates have been asked since 2006 if they know what that word means.

Can Gooden finally unpack his bags and stay a while or will his expiring deal become the ticket to his next final stop?

Has Cuban done enough to shake up a damaged core?

Devin Harris now starts for the New Jersey Nets, Keith Van Horn retired, Jerry Stackhouse has yet to sign with a team, and DeSagana Diop now protects the interior for the Charlotte Bobcats.

The question remains relevant.

Have Nelson and Cuban done enough to shake up a core accustomed to big-moment failures?

Erick Dampier is still the starting center, Nowitzki is still the franchise’s best player, Jason Terry still drops treys like Kanye West does F-bombs, and Howard still stares the same questions in the face.

The team’s blemished core needed a kick in the pants, and if Marion still has the legs I think he does, the opponents will be the ones yelling, “ouch.”

Mavs hopes rest on consistency and defense

The Mavericks allowed 99.8 points per contest, with opponents hitting shots at a 45 percent clip.

Check out these final scores from a road jaunt in January.

Dallas 99, Milwaukee 133.

Dallas 112, Detroit 91.

Dallas 100, Boston 124.

If the Mavericks want to do more than win once in the second round, the above problem areas must improve.

Um, duh.

A look at the new arrivals

With Shawn Marion and Drew Gooden detailed above, here are the other new players.

KRIS HUMPHRIES – The 6’9” forward brings all-out hustle and strength.

However, his offensive game is as unreliable as his porous post defense.

Bigger players can render him useless and offense and bigger or more athletic scorers can find the basket and bottom of the net against him with ease.

He has shown limited offensive skill and penchant for attacking the glass.

He will be useful as a backup’s backup, but don’t expect him to alter Dallas’ win-loss record.

QUINTON ROSS – Perhaps the least heralded acquisition of the summer, expect Ross to make an impact off the bench. Thought at times overly concerned with his offensive output, he brings stunning athleticism and stout defense.

At 6’6”, some bigger guards can shoot over his outstretched hands. Still, scoring against Ross will be a chore, and guarding him in the loaded Mavs offense will prove no cakewalk.

TIM THOMAS – The clown who once taunted Nowitzki before a playoff game (and then proceeded to give up 50 points to the German) says he wants to get serious as a Mav.

Ha. Very funny (Can I force TBS to pay me for that?).

His overrated post defense can easily be overpowered, and his offensive repertoire is often limited to hoisting knucklehead three-pointers.

By all accounts, he’s a big loser with a small game.

An injury will keep him on the sidelines for the foreseeable future.

RODRIGUE BEAUBOIS – Before you anoint him as the next Tony Parker, do realize that he’s still 21 with only the Vegas Summer League and preseason minutes to count as NBA-level experience.

He has shown in those exhibitions, though, that picking him in the mid-20s was no stretch.

If he learns to harness his blinding speed along with his ceaseless wingspan, he could become a solid position defender and a pace-changer on offense. The instinct and hustle he shows in grabbing up loose balls offers a glimpse of his potential.

For now, the elite athlete will have to take a seat behind Kidd and Jose Juan Barea.

Houston Astros Plans Should Not Include Former Manager Phil Garner

Robert Kleeman — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:06:37 -0400

Houston Astros Owner Drayton McLane, GM Ed Wade, and others on a selection committee interviewed the last of 10 managerial candidates Monday afternoon.

One name from the lineup—full of prospects familiar and as mixed bag as they come—caught my attention.

Was anyone surprised by the list Jose de Jesus Ortiz unveiled on chron.com last week?

Former Milwaukee Brewers manager Ned Yost, San Diego Padres hitting coach Randy Ready, former Arizona Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin, former Washington Nationals manager Manny Acta, former Astros manager Phil Garner, interim Astros manager Dave Clark, Astros third base coach Al Pedrique, current Philadelphia Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin, and Boston Red Sox coaches Brad Mills and Tim Bogar will all compete to become the newest harbinger of Houston’s disastrous pro baseball squad.

With no grand slam managers (a Joe Torre or Terry Francona) to recruit in a critical offseason, McLane and Wade have picked the best available crop.

However, to hire any of these defective dugout captains is to settle, even if each can bring something tangible and positive to an organization in sore need of the right leadership.

They were previously canned for a reason, and Astros fans should remember that before getting excited about any of them.

Every candidate, with the exception of Clark, Pedrique, and Ready, boasts substantive experience.

Garner, the standout applicant of the bunch, might have the upper hand in knowledge of clubhouse operations.

Wait—isn’t this the guy McLane sent packing two years ago along with Tim Purpura?

McLane could have avoided all of this contention, of course, by keeping Gerry Hunsicker around. Few believe that Hunsicker resigned on his own terms. I certainly don’t.

I do not want to paraphrase or copy what Richard Justice wrote in the Houston Chronicle the day after the club released its candidates list, so I will be brief.

The Astros brass should tell Garner, “thanks, but no thanks.”

If any committee member—especially Baseball Operations President Tal Smith—has to think it over longer than five seconds, something might be amiss upstairs.

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, why would McLane want to revisit one of his biggest failures?

Garner’s firing was undeserved, and his departure solved none of the Astros’ pressing problems.

He was too soft on some players, and he did not respond to loss after loss with the snarl expected of a sharp manager.

Still, he managed the Astros to a National League Championship Series and a World Series. No other Houston skipper has done that.

Garner's win-loss record plummeted because Jeff Bagwell retired, Craig Biggo’s abilities continued a steady decline, Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite bolted—er, returned—to New York and Brandon Backe lost his stuff after a series of injuries.

The talent in the clubhouse stunk a lot more than his managing ever did.

Garner worked wonderfully with veterans, and that’s why giving him another shot would prove a fatal mistake.

McLane could only justify selecting Garner if he thinks the team still has enough juice for another playoff run.

I know I’m the millionth person to tell you this, Drayton, but this team is closer to the retirement home than a second championship series appearance.

I would bet the house on an area rec league squad getting there before the Astros.

Wade needs to reload the team’s destitute farm system, but he cannot do that until McLane gives him the "all clear" to dump the number of quality veterans it will take to land enough prospects to make a difference.

If the youth movement begins now, with Hunter Pence, Michael Bourn, Tommy Manzella, Jason Castro, and Bud Norris serving as centerpieces, the Astros can be great again in a few years.

More of the same emphasis on veteran gap-fillers will produce more of the same.

Mediocrity does not sell tickets.

Hunsicker oversaw a minor league operation that produced Lance Berkman, Bobby Abreu, and Brad Lidge, among others.

The next manager must work well with infant pro players, because the only path to respectability necessitates the infestation of early-20s contributors.

The same inadequacies that made Garner a convenient scapegoat in August 2007 will surface again, perhaps before you can re-read this sentence.

The former manager’s inclusion in the interview process could be for show. Maybe McLane just wanted Houstonians to talk about his team again, even if for a few minutes.

For his and the Astros sakes, I hope so.

Malik Hairston's Deserved NBA Promotion Might Not Make Sense for Spurs

Robert Kleeman — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:51:52 -0400

Malik Hairston does everything Gregg Popovich could ask a second-year, second-round pick to do.

He runs the floor as if his career depends on the outcome of each possession. He takes smart shots and swooshes 52 percent of his looks. His game emphasizes the simple pass instead of the fancy SportsCenter highlight reel scoop shot in traffic, and most of all, he plays tenacious defense.

The Spurs coach must decide by next week between three players for a final roster spot—with Hairston competing against Arizona point maker Marcus Williams and Baylor floor leader Curtis Jerrells for the job.

With 14 guaranteed contracts and the highest payroll in team history, GM R.C. Buford and Pop could opt to leave the 15th spot open.

Former lottery pick Marcus Haislip and Frenchman Ian Mahinmi are far from roster locks.

Given the economy’s continued downward spiral, the usually frugal Spurs could justify eating the salary of one guaranteed contract to trim the inventory to 13 players.

Hairston and the Spurs find themselves in the ultimate quagmire. Williams and Mahinmi cannot be sent to Austin again, having played a league-allowed maximum of two seasons with the Toros.

Even after missing the summer league with a left wrist injury and laboring through a scraggy preseason campaign, the Spurs brass still loves Williams potential as an impact reserve scorer.

He has done everything possible to talk the Spurs out of keeping him, from missing basic defensive assignments to forcing poor shots, but he could develop with more pro-level experience.

With Michael Finley, Manu Ginobili, and Roger Mason Jr. competing for minutes at his position, expect Popovich to reluctantly cut Williams and let someone else fawn over his potential.

Jerrells is a sure-fire goner, but the Spurs could send him down I-35 to work with Quinn Snyder and Dell Demps.

Blair, though a Toros candidate, has already earned rotation minutes in San Antonio.

An undersized tough guy with a vendetta against the 23 teams who said “no thanks,” who also brings 20-year-old legs and a fierce rebounding prowess, Blair should play at least 10 minutes a night.

Haislip cannot be relegated to the D-League, and the team did not sign 29-year-old defensive specialist Keith Bogans a week before training camp to cut him in the final week of the preseason.

Hairston is the obvious choice for the final slot, if the front office elects to fill it, but Bogans’ arrival complicates the situation.

Popovich entrusts veterans while keeping his youngsters on short leashes. If Hairston tries to lunge at anyone, he’ll find himself tied to a pole, with the key hidden in another universe.

Remember Beno Udrih?

Hairston’s a player the Spurs must keep in the system, but unlike his roster spot competitors, he can play one more season in Austin, per league rules.

If Bogans, Jefferson, and Finley gobble up most of the minutes at small forward, would it make sense to guarantee Hairston a spot and pay additional luxury tax money for a benchwarmer?

Who will replace retired defensive stalwart Bruce Bowen? This kid could do it and be a lot better on the other side of the ball than No. 12 ever was.

Hairston’s range extends from around the basket to the three-point line, he’s smart and deft with the ball in his hands; he’s unselfish and knows how to fill defensive gaps and rotate inside and to the perimeter.

He flashed the potential of his energetic game in 15 contests last season.

His most impressive pro outing came against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center, when Popovich decided—much to the basketball-viewing public’s chagrin—to sit Duncan, Parker, Ginobili, and Finley.

Hairston scored 12 points, hauled down five boards, and recorded a steal.

Every time he’s given a shot to prove he belongs in the pros, he runs with it like ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons being chased by a hair stylist.

Herein lies the paradox.

If the Spurs elect to keep him, his game will only improve if he gets meaningful minutes.

If he is to become the Spurs’ next great defensive pest, or even a consistent support defender, he needs to play minutes that count in games that count.

That means defending Kobe Bryant or LeBron James late in the third quarter with the outcome in the balance, not Adam Morrison or Danny Green in garbage time.

Newcomers Jefferson, Antonio McDyess, Blair, Theo Ratliff, and Bogans are learning one of pro basketball’s toughest systems.

The complexities of the offensive and defensive schemes can at times read like a foreign language.

Can Popovich tolerate another rotation regular who will require constant tutelage, even if he has run similar plays as a Toro?

If Hairston heads back to Austin, his NBA dream will remain unfulfilled, and he will make the D-League All-Star team as a 20-point scorer, with no promise that such production will afford him the NBA-level improvement he craves.

A player can only do so much in the minor leagues, but he cannot do anything in the pros if there are no minutes for him.

When Popovich informs Hairston of his decision late this week or next, there is one certainty.

It won’t make sense.

Astros Road Back to Relevancy May Include Trading Oswalt and Berkman

Robert Kleeman — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:37:27 -0400

The Houston Astros season ended with a fitting thud Oct. 4 in a 4-0 loss to the New York Mets.

Drayton McLane should not rush to select his franchise’s newest manager—and this decade, he has gone through skippers as Donald Trump has his Apprentice candidates.

He needs to face the following. He must believe it and embrace it.

His roster stinks, and the quality of the person managing it now means nothing.

To borrow from my last rant, penned after McLane and General Manager Ed Wade put Cecil Cooper out of his misery, Tony LaRussa, Joe Torre, and Connie Mack could not win with this bunch.

As baseball’s playoffs rage, McLane should remember how fun it was when the ‘Stros season ended in late October instead of the first week of the month. The season really ended in July, when a team one game out of first place in the NL Central folded and lost its guts.

What ensued—frequent blowout losses to disastrous and despicably-run clubs like the Washington Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates—was gut wrenching.

Lance Berkman’s strained calf became an excuse as the Hurricane Ike-forced move to Milwaukee had in 2008.

Inexcusable.

The Astros stubborn owner has two options to consider between now and Kissimmee.

If he’s determined to tack on pieces to what he considers a World Series contender, Ben Sheets might be a nice addition, provided he can recover from a season surrendered to a torn flexor tendon and the ensuing elbow surgery.

The squad needs at least two more starters in the rotation, a quality catcher and someone, anyone better than Kaz Matsui at second base. The roster needs upgrades at many positions, meaning a serious increase in payroll.

I’m talking New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox territory, here.

Is Mclane willing to fork up a minimum of $150 million in payroll for an all-in run to baseball’s championship series?

The bet here is no, and that’s why he must acknowledge option two, painful as it may be.

The St. Louis Cardinals steamrolled into the playoffs with 91 wins, many of them thanks to the acquisition of slugger Matt Holliday. The Los Angeles Dodgers won 95 games. The Colorado Rockies secured a wild card berth with 92 wins.

If Wade keeps the roster as is, can the Astros expect to jump from 74 victories to any of those totals?

I can understand McLane’s reluctance to blow his team’s core to pieces, since several of its key players were part of the franchise’s lone foray into late October.

The 2004 and 2005 playoff pushes and runs to the NLCS and series, previously fantasies 43 years in the making, reinvigorated the fanbase and the atmosphere at the Juicebox.

That first pitch from Roy Oswalt at Minute Maid Park on Oct. 25, a slider to the left of home plate, was a dream realized.

Cameras flashed, the national anthem sounded better than it ever had, and the crowd stood for every pitch of a five hour, 41 minute, 14-inning contest.

With Roger Clemons and Andy Pettitte long gone and Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio retired, the present looks and sounds a lot different.

Bottom five in runs scored. Second to last in the weak Central Division. Among the leaders in stranded base runners. Close to last in pulling out tight games. If there was a readily available statistic, last in clutch hitting.

The stadium rarely buzzes, and the only yelling heard is from the folks telling the few die-hards to sit down or Chicago fans if the Cubs are in town.

This is what McLane has allowed to materialize—a $107 million ship that feels more like a capsized Carnival cruise liner than the Queen Mary.

A team on the cusp of a series berth should compare to the Plaza Hotel, even if not as immaculate. Champions sport flaws, sure, but this is a Holiday Inn with backed up toilets, a Motel 6 that forgot to leave the light on.

I love Berkman and Roy Oswalt in home white and road red, but a lousy product calls for evasive maneuvers.

It may be time for Wade to trade the Houston icons, so he can load up on prospects and give the first baseman and right-handed ace the title shots they have earned.

At 33 and 32, respectively, Oswalt and Berkman have a few years left of high-level production.

Each should fetch at least two prime-time prospects and a high draft pick.

They would instantaneously transform a wild card team into a contender. The more this uninspired Astros squad fizzles, the emptier Minute Maid gets each season, the more they will gripe

Neither former All-Star played with any gusto or spark in an 88-loss campaign, but a change of scenery could light the proverbial fire.

This isn’t giving up; It’s being realistic. How many clubs chock full of veterans on the wrong side of 30 with a last-place farm system ever reach playoff respectability?

Wade’s mission in Houston is to unearth the next Tim Linecum or Felix Hernandez or Cole Hamels and sign more Hunter Pences and Michael Bournes.

I cannot believe I’m going to quote a Miley Cyrus song in a sports column, but, Mr. McLane, it’s the climb. He best start up that mountain now instead of delaying the inevitable.

Winning consistently in the majors begins with a restocked Round Rock Express, Corpus Christi Hooks, Lexington Legends, and the rest of the minor league affiliates.

A batting order that features Miguel Tejada, Matsui, Berkman, and Carlos Lee—all nearing the end of their primes or in their twilights—cannot win now.

A pitching rotation reduced to an unhappy and shaky Oswalt, Brian Moehler, a streaky Wandy Rodriguez, Felipe Paulino, a fried and doom-armed Mike Hampton and Chris “you’re called Sampsonite because you just got bagged” Sampson is good for batting practice, not Ws.

What if the Astros snagged David Price or Travis Snider, two of the top 50 minor league prospects listed on mlb.com?

Gathering a lot of players with upside of that quality, eschewing win-now mode for player and farm system development, would point the team in the right direction.

It will be tough to find a taker for the remaining years and money on Carlos Lee’s $100 million deal, but if Wade can find an interested team with something to offer, he should jump on it.

Wade has said he would like to re-sign free agents LaTroy Hawkins, Jose Valverde and Miguel Tejada. With $54 million already tied up in four players and McLane’s commitment to slashing payroll, retaining all three is a dicey proposition.

Yorman Bazardo could improve, but his 7.8 ERA in four starts and 32 innings suggests he would better serve the club as a backup option.

Bud Norris deserves a starting spot, but someone with his inexperience, figures as a fifth starter on a squad with a .500 record.

Bourn, Pence and Rodriguez are due hefty raises in arbitration.

In short, there’s what the front office would like to do, and there’s reality.

Whatever Wade can do to shed years from the league’s oldest roster, he should do without pause. That includes trading his beloved stars, even if Houstonians, this writer and both players will be sick about it for months.

McLane has a reputation as an owner who wants to field crowd-pleasing teams.

He’ll have to lose a few thousand more fans before he can win the city over again. It’s called rebuilding, and the Astros need to do it now.

Guaranteeing Wade two years of job security is a start. Finding the right skipper to manage and develop a new-look squad is important, too.

McLane’s outlook and attitude, though, will prove as critical as anything.

Febreze has yet to manufacture a spray can for baseball teams that stink.

Expensive Summer Affords Sage San Antonio Spurs Another Title Shot

Robert Kleeman — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:36:20 -0400

Tony Parker crashed to the ground, his ankle wrecked after a missed floater in traffic caused an awkward landing. The San Antonio Spurs young star left the game in agony, and any chance of a winning season seemed to crumple with him.

With the Miami Heat's fast start in the eventual home loss forcing Tim Duncan to the bench, ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy said the five Spurs on the floor might comprise the least talented group in the league. Instead of veteran playoff performer Robert Horry or even banger Kurt Thomas, Gregg Popovich was left with rookie Anthony Tolliver.

George Hill had not developed, Roger Mason Jr. was still learning the basics of the system, and Michael Finley and Matt Bonner had no All-Stars to give them open looks.

During a timeout in the 98-83 loss, Popovich had to ask the assortment of new Spurs, "Who are you guys?"

Duncan, ever the jokester, introduced himself to the coach. The five players struggling to keep up with Dwyane Wade's bunch, though scrappy, looked like lottery fodder, not a championship squad, and the coach needed to laugh to ease the pain.

Through the struggles, and a several-week period without Parker and Ginobili, the Spurs improbably won 54 games and secured the Southwest Division title in an overtime thriller.

The humiliation that came next was necessary, too. The Dallas Mavericks dispatched the former champions--reduced to rubble with a hobbled Duncan and the absence of Ginobili--in five games.

As many as eight new faces will greet Popovich when he begins training camp this week, the bolstered artillery coming thanks to the costliest summer overhaul in franchise history.

This time, however, Popovich won't have to question the talent of the newbies or ask why they're in San Antonio.

Those who worship the idea that things happen for a reason should delight in dissecting an offseason borne from desperation, a multi-million dollar hand forced by a ruthless dealer.

Some call it karma.

A small-market franchise known for its frugal tweaks decided to go all-in, mindful that future Hall of Famer Duncan cannot man the middle for eternity.

Duncan will someday hang up his basketball shoes as former teammate David Robinson did and join peers Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O' Neal, Kevin Garnett and Jason Kidd in a pantheon of all-time greats.

GM R.C. Buford, Popovich and Owner Peter Holt needed to realize that the Spurs of last season were too old and perimeter oriented to contend for a fifth title.

If the conference finals loss to the Lakers suggested it, the first-round flameout against the Mavericks made it the truth.

Supplied with the most talented roster in franchise history, the Spurs have the right stuff to challenge the vaunted Lakers.

Some of the George Gervin-led teams of the 80s—which featured Mike Mitchell, Artis Gilmore and Johnny Moore among others—come close in talent. None of those squads, however, pack the defensive and offensive versatility this one promises.

The Spurs of the 80s didn’t win when it counted in the playoffs, either.

The 2003 championship team merits mention if only because David Robinson and Tim Duncan still patrolled the paint together.

Manu Ginobili was an NBA rookie, and Tony Parker was maddeningly inconsistent.

Richard Jefferson will more than fill Stephen Jackson’s role without, as Popovich put it, “all the heavy drama.”

Here’s a look at the revamped roster, reloaded with care to give Duncan the title-worthy roster he craves.

Younger, faster and more athletic

The Spurs shed two years in average age this summer, no small feat for any team.

Antonio McDyess and Theo Ratliff become the team’s oldest players, at 35 and 37, respectively.

Duncan will turn 34 during the 2010 playoffs, and Ginobili inches closer to 33.

However, the team’s top scorer, Tony Parker, is just 27 and entering the prime of his career. Richard Jefferson is 29 and still in his prime.

French seven-footer Ian Mahinmi, 22, Roger Mason, 29, and George Hill, 23, will play critical roles.

Rookie Dejuan Blair, 20, is expected to contribute. Draft picks Marcus Williams and Malik Hairston, both 22, will compete for the final roster spot. Former lottery pick and Euro import Marcus Haislip, 28, provides low-risk insurance at the four spot.

Calling the Spurs “old” should be as off limits as jokes about paraplegics. That label is so 2008.

Firepower found

Popovich conceded after the team’s first round loss to Dallas that firepower had been the difference in the series.

The Mavericks had it, the Spurs didn’t.

Frustrating as it was to watch a perennial contender bow in the opening round for the first time since 2000, the humiliation of the exit prompted Popovich and Buford to make a necessary concession.

The Spurs returned from a 2008 summer ended early by the Lakers touting Mason Jr. and Hill as game changers. Though both proved to be gems, with Mason arguably the best bargain find in that offseason, the front office signaled with a quiet summer that it believed a healthy Manu Ginobili would make the difference.

The Argentine slasher hobbled through the second round and conference finals that year, likely playing at 60 percent in the games against the Lakers.

His lone 30-point outburst in the conference finals was a display of grit and determination, not his ability level. He wasn’t healthy, and the absence of his explosiveness made Sasha Vujacic look like an all-world defender.

The Spurs were right to think that the series would have extended longer than five games with a Ginobili capable of executing his clever, quick first step. Popovich could say the same of the joust with Dallas, too.

However, there was no way, after such a thorough first-round defeat, Spurs execs could pin every failure on Ginobili’s absence.

The Spurs somehow managed to win a game seven in New Orleans despite going seven and a half minutes without a field goal in the fourth quarter. They weren’t so lucky in the next round or against Dallas.

The team needed an infusion of athleticism and scoring and found it in Jefferson.

The mere prospect of having four 20-point scoring threats on the court at the end of a game is delicious. Tony Parker and Tim Duncan are former NBA Finals MVPs, Ginobili could have been one in 2005, and Jefferson has played in two Finals.

No team in the NBA will roll out better talent or more experience at positions one through four than the Spurs.

The acquisition of Antonio McDyess gives Popovich enviable options in the endgame. He could play Duncan at center and go small with Jefferson, Ginobili, Mason and Parker, or he could sit Mason and play with a second big in McDyess.

Defenses that once focused on suffocating the big three will now have to deal with a fourth All-Star caliber talent and a bevy of dangerous role players.

The offseason additions should mean easier shots for Matt Bonner and Mason, both deadly from long range. Michael Finley will also garner his share of open looks, and Derek Fisher reminded observers in the NBA Finals what mid-30s veterans can do when poise and guts define their games, not leaping ability.

More weapons should give Duncan, Parker, Ginobili more rest

No team has relied on three players more than the Spurs in the last few seasons. Previously expected to combine for at least 75 in a given playoff game, the star trio should face considerably less pressure to carry the offense over the 82 game span. That should leave them fresher when it matters most in the postseason.

Popovich's regime of accountability can make this work

It is reasonable to question whether the summer's roster alterations will mesh with an established core.

The Spurs will also have to answer injury questions the Lakers won't have to, by virtue of playing in San Antonio.

The best reason to believe the offseason renovation will translate into hardwood success is Popovich.

The no-nonsense military man won't let his squad believe it is superior to the defending champion Lakers until it has finished the job.

He will remind his players that the Lakers are the team to beat, and prying the Larry O’ Brien trophy from Kobe Bryant’s cold, calculated hands will prove a nasty task.

Pau Gasol has not failed to reach the NBA Finals since landing in Los Angeles.

Lakers fans will rightfully buy the hype. Some of them are already planning trips to the repeat parade.

Popovich will stymie arrogance at its first appearance, and he will engrain into his new recruits that excuses are unacceptable.

Players will not gripe about playing time, and discussions about the team will involve basketball, not superfluous distractions.

A closer look at the newest Spurs

ANTONIO McDYESS

Tough and defensive-minded, McDyess should prove to be Duncan's best frontcourt mate since Robinson. He's Kurt Thomas with a more appreciable offensive game.

His turnarounds in the post are automatic, and his basketball IQ and unassuming personality make him the quintessential Spur.

At 6'9", his size might be a concern against taller opponents. Popovich will need to monitor his minutes, too, so he's not worn out when the playoffs arrive.

Still, McDyess is fiercly loyal, choosing to re-sign with the Detroit Pistons after they had traded him, even when it was clear the team was headed for a downward spiral.

He'll be a wonderful influence in the San Antonio community, and no one will question his competitiveness.

DEJUAN BLAIR

The bonafide best rebounder in college basketball should have no problem translating his brilliant board work to the pros. He showed his nose for the ball in Summer League play and had Hornets coach Byron Scott shaking his head.

He'll need to learn the nuances of NBA defense. He will also have to adjust to a league of players faster and stronger than what he played against in college.

At 6'7" with a freakish wingspan, he has the potential to be an impact player. Until Spurs coaches see him perform in a real NBA game, speculation about Blair's potential is just that.

KEITH BOGANS

Primarily a defensive specialist, Bogans will be asked to spot Jefferson in guarding the opponent's best perimeter players.

His offensive repertoire is limited to catching-and-shooting, and he isn't much of a threat around the hoop.

Expect Bogans to play a limited role with gusto. If he defends earnestly and drops in a bucket or two in each game, the coaches will be thrilled.

MARCUS HAISLIP

After showing himself not worthy of lottery selection in a forgettable tenure with the Milwaukee Bucks, Haislip was forced to bolt for Europe, where he refined his approach and his work ethic.

He signed a guaranteed contract, and he will compete with Hairston and Williams--both favorites of the Spurs brass--for a rotation spot.

His addition provides the greatest intrigue, given his low price tag. If he has indeed become a worthy pro, Popovich will have another athletic big with shooting range to use in designated situations.

If Haislip has not progressed enough, the Spurs can let him walk next year no worse for the experiment.

RICHARD JEFFERSON

The prize of the offseason, Jefferson will inject a sagging roster with athleticism and an offensive arsenal that should expand the team's scoring prospects in the open court.

Popovich hopes the former Arizona standout can return to his days as a belligerent man-to-man defender, taking nightly turns on the opponent's top scorer.

In select matchups, he can log minutes at power forward, and he can back most threes down in the post and score with reliability.

He's overpaid for a fourth best player, but if he changes the Spurs the way Gasol changed the Lakers, Holt shouldn't think twice about paying him $29 million over the next two years.

THEO RATLIFF

Ratliff is 36, and you can insert your fossil joke of choice here.

He will serve as a shot-blocking specialist and a tall body to eat up space against squads with imposing length.

How much Ratliff has left to give is debatable. The Spurs will not ask him to do much, and any rebounds he snares or shots he alters will help the cause.