Tag: michael jordan

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I put a curse on Greg Oden

Last week Portland basketball collectively sighed when news broke that Greg Oden would miss his rookie season following knee surgery. Oden was the number one pick in the draft this year and Portland fans had all their hopes riding on him. It didn’t take long for pundits, local and national to begin making comparisons to Sam Bowie, the chronically injured center that the Blazers took ahead of Michael Jordan in the 1984 draft.

Funny thing is, I made that comparison on the day that Oden arrived in Portland, well before he had even injured his knee during summer league play. Was it a prediction or did I put the whammy on him?

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Something else happened in L.A.

Kobe_B_B.jpg

Did Kobe Bryant purposefully tank Game 7 against the Suns to make a point? That’s what Charles Barkley said during Inside The NBA after the game. It’s not a hard argument to make, either. He only took three shots (two were three point attempts) and scored one point on a technical foul free throw. In the waning days of Shaquille O’Neal‘s final season with the Lakers, some of Kobe’s teammates alleged the very same thing. Usually the rap against Kobe is that he takes too many shots so is it really fair to criticize him for taking too few?

Certainly, his “supporting cast” was definitely not up to the challenge. Although Lamar Odom dominated Shawn Marion for most of the series, on Saturday Odom blew layups, fumbled away the ball and was essentially a non-factor in the game. Smush Parker continued his poor showing and Kwame Brown disappeared as most had expected. So it’s their fault, right? Not Kobe’s?

No, it’s entirely Kobe’s fault. Instead of drawing the double-team on post-ups and passing his teammates, he just passed to his teammates, evidently expecting them to make something happen on their own. He could have attacked the basket and created opportunities for his teammates, but he chose to remain passive for the entire second half. His passivity continued into the after-game press conference as he subtely hinted that he had done his best by playing “team basketball” and that his teammates were simply not up to snuff. Essentially, he acted like a 6-year-old who says, “Oh if that’s the way you want it, that’s exactly what I will do.” He obeys the parent’s decree to the letter but not to the spirit.

This is the same argument that Michael Jordan used to give back in the day before he was universally acknowledged as the greatest of all time. When asked why he didn’t make his teammates better like Magic Johnson, Michael said that Magic played with James Worthy, Kareem and Byron Scott. All Michael had was Horace Grant, John Paxson and Scottie Pippen. I’m waiting for the day when Kobe says, “But Michael had greats like Horace Grant and Scottie Pippen on his team.”

Kobe and the Lakers got the two best players that the Miami Heat had when they traded away Shaq. That’s a fact. The Lakers traded away Caron Butler (who, BTW, had 20 rebounds in Washington’s loss to the Cavaliers on Friday) because Kobe couldn’t find a way to play with him. Now I wouldn’t be surprised to see Odom traded away if Kobe demands it this summer. Michael and Magic were great because they really did make their teammates better players. They did so by learning what was already great about them and using it. Kobe hasn’t learned to do that yet and, at this point, I’d be willing to bet that he never will.

Here’s a selection of what other bloggers are saying:

 

And here’s a few relevant news stories:

Update: Out of curiousity and because I still had the game on my Tivo, I watched the second half of Game 7 again tonight, this time focusing only on Kobe. During the third quarter he never touched the ball inside the three point line. He was involved in some pick-and-roll plays out there, but he either hoisted a three pointer (twice – see above), or he passed it back to the screener. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, he posted up about four times, but only one of those resulted in him taking it to the hoop, when it appeared he intentionally threw it off the backboard and fouled Raja Bell trying to get to the rebound. Four minutes into the fourth quarter, Kobe again became passive and spent the rest of the game outside of the three point stripe.

Another factor which I didn’t really notice the first time I watched was Raja Bell. Bell totally worked over Kobe in the second half – torching him for at least twelve points and playing excellent defense on him. Perhaps Bell got into his head, partially explaining the inexplicable.

Update II: Skip Bayless says Kobe is a “spoiled brat” and TJ Simers theorizes that something was said at halftime that pissed Kobe off. I concur with both.

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Miami Heat vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

Thoughts I had during the game:

  • Dwayne Wade is the fastest half-court player in the NBA. Some players have great fast break speed, but Wade has great baseline and in-the-paint speed. He takes tremendously long strides when he wants to blow by someone and seems to just tilt from one side to the other as he weaves his way to the basket. I really love his game.
  • During the Laker’s first championship run, the thing that really surprised me about Shaq was what great, soft hands he has. He gathers in nearly every rebound or pass that is near him and it’s nearly impossible to dislodge the ball once he has two hands on it.
  • I used to really dislike Alonzo Mourning, both as a Hornet and later when Riley traded to get him on the Heat. He always seemed to whine about foul calls more than anybody else. I also never accepted him as a true center – he’s not even a 7-footer. However, since his return to the Heat, the guy has been the definion of a sports “warrior.” He does what he’s asked to do and never complains about his minutes. He even waived off the postgame interview after his fourth quarter heroics.
  • I can’t think of a better center tandem to have on a team than Alonzo Mourning and Shaquille O’Neal. Even at this late stage of their careers, both are able to put in a great 15-25 minutes per game. I expect that if they stay together that they will be able to buoy each other’s careers tremendously over the years.
  • Speaking of great tandems, Jason Williams and Gary Payton both seem to have adjusted to the Heat game. I didn’t see either of them shooting shots that were out of the flow of the offense. You definitely could not say that earlier in the season.
  • I’m especially happy that Payton has worked out. I was really disappointed in his showing for the Lakers two years ago, but perhaps I was expecting too much from the old guy. He’s definitely playing fewer minutes now and is a long way from being the star he was in Seattle. I’m continually surprised at how few players that were great when they were young are able to mold themselves into great role players late in their careers. Ron Harper is an excellent example of that. Magic Johnson is not.
  • I hear Antoine Walker is also getting better as the season progresses, but I have seen no evidence of that yet. He still shoots more three pointers than he should, he still mishandles rebounds and he still blows layups. He needs to sacrifice a little of his alleged finesse game and add a little power. At least Riley hasn’t replaced Haslon with Walker. That would be a travesty.
  • I really doubted that the Heat would be able to mesh given all the changes that they made during the off-season, but it really seems like they are getting there. Posey was very sharp and even Shandon Anderson made a contribution in the game.
  • When I first saw Wade playing in the playoffs 3 years ago, he reminded me very much of Michael Jordan – mostly because he’s a high flyer and clearly imposes his will on the game. Since then I’ve seen a certain grittiness that even MJ never displayed. He may soon replace Allen Iverson as the toughest player in the league. If he can add a credible three point shot to his game, he could be better than Mike.
  • Check that – he would also need a good low-post game, too. No two or three has ever had the game that Michael had on the block. In fact, does anybody that’s not a center or a four have a low-post game these days?

Update: Shaq was not happy about sitting on the bench in the 4th quarter

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NBA Writers vs. NBA Fans

Jack McCallum writes in his column for Sports Illustrated that NBA fans make questionable choices when choosing the starters for the NBA’s All-Star Game. This has long been an argument from sportswriters, the so-called “experts” of the game. I think the first so-called controversy over fan-balloting that I remember was when A.C. Green was chosen over Karl Malone to start for the West in 1990. Malone was outraged and so were the writers. Even though Green was a valuable role player for the Lakers in their trip to the NBA Finals the previous, he was certainly no Karl Malone. “Nobody could argue that,” I thought at the time.

Four years later the fans voted BJ Armstrong to start for the East team in the 1994 All-Star Game and the same rumblings rolled around the NBA. But this time I took notice and offense. This time they were insulting my favorite player. Why didn’t they think BJ deserved to be in the All-Star Game? There are two answers to that question: Mookie Blaylock and Mark Price.

Price played for the Cleveland Cavaliers at the time and was arguably their best player. He was a pass-first point guard who was also an excellent three point shooter. During the Bulls’ domination of the NBA in the early 90s, the Cavaliers were the Bulls’ under-rated rival in the East. While the Pistons-Bulls and Knicks-Bulls rivalries got all the headlines, the Bulls battled the Cavs in nearly every one of their playoff runs.

Blaylock was the gutsy point guard for the Atlanta Hawks who inspired Pearl Jam to name their first album after his jersey number. I remember seeing him play in an important game where he was 0-13 from three point range. With his team down by 2, he drained a three pointer as time ran out on the game. That’s gutsy.

Armstrong, of course, was the starting point guard for the World Champion Chicago Bulls. He took over the starting duties from John Paxon in the 1992-1993 season and excelled. That year, he led the league in three point shooting percentage and helped his team to win a third championship. In the process, he successfully defended some of the best point guards in the NBA including the Suns’ Kevin Johnson in the NBA Finals. Along the way he also faced a couple of point guards named Blaylock and Price, whose teams were both swept by the Bulls. Although Armstrong was certainly not the star of the team, he was instrumental when they came back from a double-digit second half deficit against the Knicks in the third game of the Eastern Conference Finals. Down two games to none, Armstrong’s rally catapulted the Bulls to three more wins and into the NBA Finals, where they defeated the Suns four games to two.

The season after the Bulls’ third championship was their first without Michael Jordan. Despite all the dire predictions, the remaining Bulls all played better than they ever had. They turned in a 50 win season and only lost to the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals on a questionable foul call. Nearly every player’s statistics improved because of the vacuum left by Jordan and BJ Armstrong was no exception. Sure his accomplishments were dwarfed by Scottie Pippen’s, who led his team in nearly every major statistical category that year, but he still looked well on his way to becoming one of the top three contributors on the team.

Still, Blaylock and Price both had superior 1993-1994 statistics to Armstrong. Why would anyone vote to see BJ start instead of the other two? Because he had more television exposure. The fans had seen him play about 20 playoff games the year before and the Bulls were playing network games nearly every weekend. Unlike the writers, who get to see all of the players play in person for free, the poor fan might go to one or two games a year but watches all the TV games he can. Fans also vote for players they like to watch play. Fans do not, by and large, vote for statistics.

So, quite simply and reasonably enough, the fans voted for BJ Armstrong because they liked to watch him play and they wanted to see him play in the All-Star Game. They liked watching him play more than any other Eastern Conference point guard they had seen play that year. And that’s what the writers and the so-called “experts” don’t understand. They live in a different world than the fan and they can’t understand the fan perspective.

So even though Jack McCallum makes a good argument, it’s only valid if you are lucky enough to see all the players play. McCallum reveals alot when he writes, “The criterion is simple: Who, in the 2005-06 season, has played the best.” That’s not the criterion at all. That’s the criterion for the reserves, which are voted in by the coaches. The fan criterion for starters is even simpler than what McCallum suggests: Who do we want to see play in the 2005-06 All-Star Game?

And, even though McCallum and his ilk don’t like it, we want to see Yao Ming play. We don’t want to see any of the Pistons play because they’re just not that exciting to watch individually. We want Dwyane Wade, not Chauncey Billups. We want Shaq, not Chris Bosh (who?). See the pattern? It’s about the excitement and the glamour. There’s nothing at stake here besides rewarding the fans for being fans. That’s something that Jack McCallum will probably never understand.

In fact, if McCallum were “in charge” of the 1992 All-Star Game, Magic Johnson’s fabulous All-Star farewell would have never happened. That was the year that Magic announced that he had HIV and retired from the NBA, but the fans voted him in anyway. The result? One of the most memorable All-Star Games of all-time.