NBA News, Notes, and Observations: March 17, 2009

Time for my latest round of News, Notes, and Observations. As always, these are items that I think are interesting from the world of basketball. Some are items that I feel didn't get the shine they deserved, others are just things  I want to voice my opinion about and hopefully open up for debate and discussion.

So on with the show...

But first, this week's trivia question.

Question: Who holds the NBA Finals record for most three-point field goals made in one quarter?

(Answer at the end of the article)

The Toronto Celtics?

What's up with the NBA trying to capitalize on St. Patrick's Day by introducing a line of St. Patty's-inspired jerseys and t-shirts for all 30 NBA teams?

Does the NBA honestly believe that any Lakers fan would wear this t-shirt?

It used to be that only MLB teams would bust out the green gear during spring training. It was a cool idea to help brighten up the exhibition schedules at first, sure. But things have gone a little too far when the Toronto Raptors are wearing green jerseys and shamrocks on their warm-ups.

It's bad enough that the Cleveland Cavaliers have worn five different jerseys this season. Now the NBA wants to bleed more money out of us by introducing more commemorative gear.

I'm cool with the "Los Lakers" or "Los Spurs" jerseys. Those aren't so much about trying to sell jerseys as they are about recognizing a loyal fan base. I seriously doubt the Raptors wore green jerseys to honor their Irish fans.

Tails Never Fails

Jerry Crowe of the Los Angeles Times wrote a cool little story about the coin flip that cost the Phoenix Suns the right to draft Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor) 40 years ago this week.

Jerry Colangelo, the Suns general manager at the time, had called heads because that was what the majority of Phoenicians voted for in a newspaper poll.

It's one thing to lose a coin flip when the other person calls correctly. It has to sting a little bit more when you make the wrong call.

The Suns ended up drafting someone named Neal Walk with the second overall pick. Walk played five seasons for the Suns, including the 1972-73 season when he averaged a career-best 20.2 points and 12.4 rebounds per game.

Suit Yourself

Anybody who has read my NN&O columns over the last year knows that I love stories about things like rookie hazing and travel associated with the NBA. Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Cleveland Plain Dealer had a neat little story last week about what packing is like for players and beat writers on road trips.

Did you know Lorenzen Wright takes 14 pairs of sunglasses with him on road trips? I'm guessing he takes one pair in honor of every person who knew that he was still in the NBA.

And his wardrobe?

"Each suit is on a wooden hanger, with the dress shirt underneath the jacket and a tie (or two) slipped around the neck of the hanger. With assistance from his brother, Louis, and friends Marcus Miller and Elger Fox, Wright pairs up belts and shoes with each outfit. He'll use some of the belts more than once, but each outfit gets its own pair of size 16 shoes. In fact, one suitcase is dedicated to shoes alone."

It actually makes sense when you realize Wright's only played in 16 out of a possible 66 games this season. Suits are essentially his uniform. He should try to look good. I wonder if the equipment manager even packs his uniform on road trips.

I'd love to be in the room when Wright, his brother, and two buddies debate over whether or not he should wear brown or black shoes with a blue suit.

Trivia Question Clue No. 1: He attended the University of North Carolina

Now This I Like

The NBDL has announced a new twist on its playoff format. The three division winners will be allowed to choose their first-round opponents from the bottom seeds.

The team with the top seed will have the first choice of who they play, followed by the next two teams. The final pairing will be decided by the two remaining teams.

I think this is a great idea since it will provided extra motivation for their first-round opponent.

The NBA would never allow this to happen in the parent league, but I think it would be awesome. The Lakers would much rather play the Mavericks than, say, Portland or Utah. It wouldn't make as much of a difference in the Eastern Conference, where any of the top three teams fighting for the one seed would destroy any of the candidates for the last two playoff spots.

But imagine if Detroit was the last team to sneak in. Does anybody really believe that the Cavs, Celtics, or Magic would prefer to play Detroit over Philadelphia, Milwaukee, New York, or Charlotte?

The Luckiest Men in Sports

If you've never heard the story of Ozzie and Daniel Silna, then you should definitely check this story out.

The Silnas were the owners of the Spirits of St. Louis of the ABA. In 1976, the NBA decided to accept only four of the six ABA teams—Denver, Indiana, San Antonio, and New Jersey.

The NBA left it up to the ABA owners to determine how they would settle with the two remaining franchises, the Kentucky Colonels and the Spirits of St. Louis. John Y. Brown, the owner of the Colonels, was willing to accept $3 million from the remaining teams.

But the Silna couldn't be bought out. They knew of the NBA's future earnings potential.

Ozzie came up with an idea where his family would receive four-sevenths of a share of the NBA's annual TV revenue for as many years as the NBA existed.

Back in the 1970s the deal was worth about $300,000. Nowadays, it's worth around $16 million per year. So far, the Silnas have collected more than $168 million.

Those four teams that were involved in the merger have all tried to get out of the deal, but all attempts have proven unsuccessful.

Trivia Question Clue No. 2: He participated in the 1990 Slam Dunk Contest where he lost to Dominique Wilkins in the Finals.

Once Were Warriors

Monte Pool has a nice little piece in today's San Jose Mercury News about the turmoil, in-fighting, and power struggle going on in Golden State between Chris Cohan, Robert Rowell, Don Nelson, and Chris Mullin.

I know there are a lot of loyal Warriors fans on B/R, but I find it hilarious that the Warriors feel that they were ever anything more than an eighth seed who beat a weak-minded Mavericks team and were lucky they got the fourth-seeded Jazz in the second round instead of the second-seeded Suns or third-seeded Spurs.

In other words, we're not witnessing the end of anything. You can't have an end to something that never had a beginning. They were a very entertaining team with no commitment to defense that was never going to be better than the eighth seed in a conference with nine better teams.

They were a team of veterans. It isn't like they resembled anything like the current Portland team with a bunch of youngsters who we knew were going to develop over time.

Steven Resnick has been bashing Chris Cohan all season long on B/R. I actually came to Cohan's defense since he was at least spending money. It turns out that Resnick was right the whole time (happy now, Resnick?).

The Warriors are a franchise stuck in mediocrity and trying to win on the fly instead of destroying and rebuilding. Instead of using the Knicks as an example of what they should be doing, they aided the Knicks by taking Jamal Crawford for Al Harrington.

Warriors fans deserve better. Unfortunately, they look more like Rihanna right now, running back to Chris Brown instead of turning their backs like they should be doing.

More Like Utah Blues

Last week I wrote about Utah's ridiculous luck when it came to scheduling. From Jan. 7 until last week, the Jazz had played 12 games where their opponent was playing on the second night of a back-to-back, with 11 of those 12 at home.

Since then, the Jazz have lost three games in a row (all on the road) and they have dropped from the fourth seed to the seventh seed. Of their remaining 15 games, eight are road games and seven are at home.

Those eight road games are against Oklahoma City (winners over San Antonio at home on Monday night), Portland, Phoenix, Denver, New Orleans, Dallas, San Antonio, and the Lakers.

The Jazz are currently one game ahead of the eighth-seeded Mavericks. They are still five games ahead of Phoenix for the last playoff spot, but the Suns have to be thinking they have a much better chance of catching the Jazz than they do of catching Dallas.

By comparison, the Mavs play nine of their final 15 games at home, where they are currently 24-8.

The Suns play eight of their final 15 at home, with road games remaining against Portland, Utah, Sacramento, Dallas, New Orleans, Memphis, and Minnesota.

The two games next week between the Jazz and Suns on March 25 and March 28 will probably determine if the Suns still have a shot. Even a split might seal the Suns' fate as a non-playoff team.

Trivia Question Clue No. 3: He played for six teams during his career. He retired in 1997.

If the Playoffs Started Today...

The Western Conference Playoffs would look like this:

1) Los Angeles Lakers* vs. 8) Dallas Mavericks

2) San Antonio Spurs* vs. 7) Utah Jazz

3) Houston Rockets vs.6) New Orleans Hornets

4) Denver Nuggets* vs. 5) Portland Trailblazers

The Eastern Conference Playoffs would look like this:

1) Cleveland Cavaliers* vs. 8) Milwaukee Bucks

2) Boston Celtics* vs. 7) Detroit Pistons

3) Orlando Magic* vs. 6) Philadelphia 76ers

4) Atlanta Hawks vs. 5) Miami Heat

*-Division Leaders

Trivia Answer: Kenny Smith (Five vs. Orlando in 1995)