I don’t know how your Monday was, but this was Karl’s: He’d coached the Nuggets to a 12-point win over Portland the night before. Didn’t hit the sack until 1. Got up at 5. Was at the hospital by 6. Had surgery at 6:30 to put in the stomach tube that, coming soon, will be the only way he’ll eat. Out of surgery at 7. Radiation at 8. Home by 10. Nap. Then started working on preparing for the Minnesota game.
His doctors have called his cancer “treatable,” but as a prostate cancer survivor from 2005, he knows there’s no guaranteed contract with the dragon. Still, he refuses to play the victim card. “Nothing I do is painful,” he tells the press.
I actually talked with George Karl for about thirty seconds. It was at All-Star Weekend and I wanted to ask him about his son, Coby, and his continued pursuit of an NBA job in the D-League. It was a thirty second encounter, so I promise I’m not going to make too much of it, only to say that seeing a 25-year NBA head coach’s eyes light up when asked about his son was something remarkable and memorable for me. He also could have given me a two word answer and moved on, but he was gracious, considerate, and polite.
The article above is about Karl, but it’s also about something else. It’s about cancer. You probably know someone who’s had it. My mom has had it. She was diagnosed almost a year ago with breast cancer. The day I found out I felt like I was walking around after a bomb had fallen. I was in shock. I went to the grocery store and stared at a cereal box for about five minutes before a lady asked me if I was okay. Trying to understand that fear is something I’ll never forget. It’s so big, so enormous. Death can take a lot of forms: quick and threshing, soft and painless, sudden and cruel. But to me, cancer just seemed like this massive thing against which I could not begin to understand its enormity, only the extreme likelihood of it crushing me. And I wasn’t even the one that had it.
Luckily, my mom is quite the scrapper, my father the vigilant husband obsessed with doctor’s appointments, and my family not one of the millions that face each day without health insurance. She was supported, educated, and determined. More than anything she was brave in a way I could not understand or expect. It was, if you only look at the basic facts, not a big deal. Got cancer,got treatment, beat it, and a year later, went to the beach.
But the shadow the diagnosis left remains with me, and it left a mark on my mother as well, long after the scars have faded. For her, survival is a badge of pride that comes with a responsibility: to share with others so they will understand that the fight isn’t over before they ring the bell. For me, it was a window into the fragility of our health as beings, and a reminder to hold on to those moments that matter. Writing that does in fact cause the gag reflex it’s likely causing in you, but some cliches seem to gain more relevance as you get older. (Note: “Hand down, man down” does not.)
You’ve likely had your own experience, your own brush with this thing that takes, shapes, and ruins so many lives. But no matter what your experiences are, please read Reilly’s segment with George Karl. Karl could have hid away during his treatment. God knows I would have. But he’s stronger than that. Not only is he trying to work in one of the most difficult jobs possible before you start to consider the drain on his health, but he’s allowing people access, so they can see, so they can be inspired, so that maybe changes will come as a result of understanding what he’s going through.
It’s difficult to not get emotional when you see TNT or ESPN footage of players coming to hug Karl, to shake his hand, to give him encouragement. It’s difficult for me not to remember the cards and letters sent to my mom, and the phone calls from friends to me when word got around. It’s a uniquely human experience that can work to bind us, and if you want basketball relevance, it could be a wild card that binds the Nuggets together in a way no other team has. Ubuntu’s got nothing on a cancer survivor.
And at the end of the day, when Karl beats this thing, and we’re back to writing snarky lines about his inability to effectively draw up a double-team on Kobe, we may forget about this ordeal. But if sharing his story makes an impact the way it should, that’s a bigger win than anything that can happen on the floor.
Please read the article and share it.
P.S. If you’re wondering if I totally used my mom’s cancer to con Paroxi-Wife into doing chores for me, I very much did so. And then paid the price.
I will tell you a tale that may or may not be a prediction of what is about to happen to the Celtics. You decide……
The Celtics are one of the oldest teams playing in the NBA. One of their bigs is considered by many to be out of shape, overweight, and well past his prime. Many believe he’s tanking games, and accuse him of never trying, not defending, not doing his job, etc. Their cherished star forward is also aging, ailing and playing far below his own standard.
As the regular season winds down, the Cs are looking dangerously unready. They lose to bad teams. They look disinterested and dispirited. And they keep losing. They will no doubt end the season with an unhappy record of less than 50 games won, good for just 4th seed in the East. Most people, including their own fans, believe they'll be one and done in the playoffs, or at best, eliminated in the second round.
But the Celtics will wake up the day the playoffs begin. They will start playing with urgency and focus. They will start looking like the Celtics of old. They will FLIP THEIR SWITCH!
**********************************
Your decision? Will this, or will this not happen?
Are you done?
Good. Here is the answer:
It happened. To the 1968-69 Celtics, who, after finishing the regular season with a dismal record of 48-34, beat Jerry West and the heavily-favored Lakers in the 7th game of the 1969 Finals.
Note: The 2010 Celtics’ record will be better than 48-34.
If the Celtics get rolled by the Bucks, or Bobcats in round one, then we’ll say we saw it the whole way through, and Celtics’ fans will be crushed.
If the Celtics make it out of round one, then get pillaged by Orlando or Cleveland, we’ll say we saw it the whole way through, and the Celtics’ fans will likely target a system of excuses, as is a fan’s right.
If the Celtics somehow figure out Orlando or Cleveland and make it to the ECF, then lose, we’ll say they showed more than what they did in the regular season, but the flaws were still evident early on, and Celtics fans will, again, target a system of excuses, as is a fan’s right.
If they make the Finals and lose, we’ll say they were as good as we thought they could be, better than how they looked, just not as good as LA. Celtics fans will take solace in losing to a “worthy” rival.
If they win the title, it will be the biggest “flipjob” in the history of the sport.
In a stark contrast to my usual eagerness to put the tombstone up before a conventional contender’s body is cold, I’m really second-guessing myself in regards to the Celtics. This sounds insane after they got “toyed with” as Russillo said on the B.S. Report by the Cavs, after looking human-to-bad for months, but a voice in the back of my head keeps bugging me. It keeps saying the same thing over and over again.
“This is too easy.”
If you remember last year, at this time, people weren’t talking about the Lakers. They were talking about the Cavs. Top seed, most wins, unstoppable, MVP-led Cleveland. So while to me it was obvious the Lakers were winning the title (which wasn’t exactly decoding pi), it wasn’t unanimous. But the Celtics are trickier. Most everyone outside of Boston and Tim Legler (who was talking about the Celtics’ late season additions of Robinson and Finley as the best in the league on ESPN radio last weekend, causing me to nearly swerve off the road) think the Celtics have blood in the water, and they ain’t the sharks.
But that’s just too easy, isn’t it? The constant losses to contenders, and the worst teams in the league, the talk of boredom which leads almost to reinforce their confidence and obliviousness to genuine problems, all of it is just too obvious.
Or am I overthinking it?
Wouldn’t dismissing a team with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo, and Kendrick Perkins be borderline disastrous? Wouldn’t ignoring their experience and knowledge of themselves be reprehensible? Wouldn’t constantly talking in rhetorical questions get really obnoxious (bit late for that, Matthew)?
I go back every thirty seconds, simply because the Celtics haven’t just been “kind of bad.” They were point blank outclassed against Cleveland. They never really threatened. When they pulled within 10, the Cavs just gave the ball to LeBron, he calmly drew free throws, and that was all. This in a game where the Celtics caught a break and the Cavs missed free throws like their jibblets were frozen solid.
Celtics fans have been reduced to turning to the ’69 team for comfort (which is appropriate, since that was when RayAllen and KG graduated high school -BA-DUM-DUM-DUM). We’re all writing them off. Someone is kidding themselves. And it drives me nuts that we’ve got to wait thirty days to find out who.
With such a face-filled night of basketball, there’s really no need for me to attempt to come up with a clever intro that somehow gets me to seamlessly incorporate the Matt Damon-Ben Affleck clip we always run here.
So let’s get down to business right away.
How bout it, gents?
Lion Face: Do What Toney Douglas Do What is it that Toney Douglas do, you ask? Whatever the hell he wants, apparently. Toney Douglas was one of those late first round sleepers that I loved before the draft. It all started when I was able to attend his pre-draft workout with the Sacramento Kings. He was matched up against guys like Stephen Curry and Tyreke Evans. Did he dominate? No. But did he get dominated? Not from what I saw. He held his own defensively. He wasn’t afraid offensively. It was just an impressive display of confidence for a guy that should be overmatched. Ever since then, I’ve been a fan and dedicated to the love that Posting and Toasting loves to give him. Against the Sixers, he got the start and made the most of it. He seemingly did more in one game than Chris Duhon has done all year. He picked Willie Greene at halfcourt for a layup and the foul. He finished the night with 20 points, seven assists and three steals. He should be starting for the Knicks the rest of the year. That is unless they want to tank.
Lemon Face: Andre Iguodala’s Shooting Andre Iguodala was letting it fly against the Knicks. Maybe Tracy McGrady going 4/5 from three-point range inspired him. I’m not quite sure. Or maybe he thought that he should validate Rodney Carney’s comments about it being impossible for players to tank. But one thing is certain of this night: Andre Iguodala couldn’t get his shot to fall. He was 0/7 from three and he was 1/11 from outside of the key overall. I’m no mathematician but that’s a very low percentage of shots made. He was only 4/11 inside the paint and finished 5/22 for 14 points. Valiant effort but he should have realized David Lee was the big man inside and attacked him more.
Lion Face: Andre Iguodala’s Effort But you can’t completely kill Iggy for the poor shooting. He did make an effort and crash the glass when his shot wasn’t falling. He finished with 17 rebounds overall and grabbed five offensive rebounds. Also, his defense was pretty decent in the game. It wasn’t otherworldly like we expect from him but other than some T-Mac threes he defended well. Just wasn’t enough to overcome his poor shooting.
Lemon Face: Deeeeeetroit Basketbaaaaaaaall? I don’t even know what to say about the Pistons now. They’re just bad and headed nowhere. You like to hope that Rodney Stuckey is headed somewhere for them but if they get the number one pick, wouldn’t they just take John Wall and punt Rodney Stuckey for another piece to the puzzle? They have Ben Gordon signed to all that money but failed to realize that he won’t make them better unless they’re already in the playoffs. Hoping you get something from their big men is the basketball equivalent of playing Russian roulette. Someone is going to get hurt and everyone is going to feel horrible about it. Two years ago, the Boston-Detroit matchup meant something special. Now it just meant a cure-all for what was ailing Boston. My condolences, Mo-town.
Lion Face: Samuel Dalembert Was it against the Knicks and the defensive saloon door, David Lee? Absolutely. But Sammy still came up big and did a fine job of controlling the interior. He had 11 points, 18 rebounds and three blocks. He had a nice drop step dunk against David Lee that resulted in a three-point opportunity. He had nine offensive rebounds in the game. It’s not exactly reinventing the wheel or anything like that but it was still a very solid game from a consistently inconsistent interior player.
Lemon Face: Rajon Rondo I know that Will Bynum is a stick of dynamite on the court but Rajon Rondo didn’t play a good game at all. He should dominate Bynum because he’s just as quick and yet a lot longer and better. Instead, he scored just three points on 1/5 shooting. Yes he had six assists and four steals in 29 minutes of action but he shouldn’t be putting up such mediocre stats against such a mediocre team. A win is a win is a win but Rajon is better than that.
Lion Face: Celtics Bench 61 points on 25/37 shooting for the Boston bench. Everybody scored in the game. Three guys off the bench finished in double figures and two other guys finished with at least eight points. I think the Celtics would take half of that production for the playoffs this year. It would be nice to see the Celtics bench step up like this when it matters because we’ll all benefit from the elevated play in the second season.
Lemon Face: Defense In the Houston-Denver shootout, there were 94 made baskets, 16 threes, 44 made free throws and only 18 turnovers (with just 12 points off of turnovers) for the two squads. It resulted in 248 points. The Rockets had a 38-point first quarter. The Nuggets had a 38-point third quarter. And I had a lot of fun watching these two teams exchange haymakers like Balboa-Creed. In fact, it was JUST LIKE Apollo Creed and Rocky going at it. There were a lot of shots to the face without either boxer putting their hands up to block.
Lion Face: Carmelo Anthony Carmelo Anthony is a very good basketball player. And he’s a transcendent scorer in pretty much every way. He never overwhelms you with his scoring and yet it’s still suffocating at the same time. It’s very sneaky the way the barrage hits you. You realize he’s scoring a lot and yet you’re not overly impressed until you realize a couple minutes later, “Holy crap! Melo is scoring A LOT!” Against the Rockets, he took the theme of the no defense game and ran with it. He peppered the Rockets with jumpers from all over the floor. He also scored inside with 20 seconds left to tie the game. He also got a good look at the end of the game from three that would have won it but he misfired on the shot. Carmelo’s offense seems to be waiting for you to fall asleep. Once you do, it’s standing there over you with a pillow, hoping to take the life from you.
Lemon Face: Jerry Sloan I don’t know if I should blame Deron Williams for this too but ultimately, it falls on Jerry Sloan to protect his players. At the end of the third quarter, the Jazz were up 30 and they still had Deron Williams in the game. Well, he hurt his leg near the end of the period when he shouldn’t have even been on the court. With two other point guards on the roster and a shooting guard who is capable of handling the dribbling, there’s no excuse for Deron to be out there for no reason. The Jazz are lucky the injury wasn’t serious and he’ll be able to continue fighting off the Thunder for homecourt advantage in the first round.
Lion Face: Brooks and Martin Yes, it sounds like either a country music duo or some type of bourbon but Brooks and Martin is becoming one of the most fun backcourts in the league. Against the Rockets, they combined for 60 points on just 33 shots. Kevin Martin moved perfectly without the ball and his cutting through the lane seemed to open things up for everybody. And Brooks was just electric all night. Brooks also had nine assists to go with his 31 points and eventual game-winning jumper with 2.9 seconds left. And don’t forget that these guys did this against a damn good defensive backcourt of Billups and Afflalo.
Lemon Face Lion Face: Johan Petro I’m so confused right now. Johan Petro caught passes. He made jumpers. He made free throws. Rebounds didn’t bounce off of his hands. This is not a world I’m prepared to live in. Let’s just move on.
Lion Face: Darren Collison Obviously, Collison hasn’t had enough opportunities to challenge for the Rookie of the Year consideration. He just hasn’t been doing more than Evans and Curry and he hasn’t been playing at this high level for nearly as long (not his fault; he had a pretty good player in front of him). In the month of February, he won Rookie of the Month in the West because of his 21-8-3.9 averages. The problem was he also averaged 4.8 turnovers per game. Well this month, I think he’s been even better. He’s averaging 16.1 points, 11.4 assists and he’s cut the turnovers to 3.7 per game. Against the Clippers, he threw up an 18-point, 14-assist performance. Yes he still had four turnovers but he played the entire game and stood toe-to-toe with a motivated Baron Davis. Most importantly, Hornets got the win on the road. Kid is legit and deserves to be on the All-Rookie 1st team (I’m not sure if they go by position but the All-Rookie 1st team should definitely be all guards this year).
Lemon Face: Al Thornton Somebody had to represent this Wizards team for their horrendous performance Monday night and he went 1/9 for four points and four rebounds in 25 minutes of play. Seems justifiable if you ask me.
Lion Face: Baron Davis Baron Davis had 18 points on 14 shots, which is really nice for a guy who has shot so horribly all season long. But even more impressive is the 17:1 assist to turnover performance he put out there against the Hornets. Darren Collison is not a bad defensive point guard. But he couldn’t slow down the strength and creativity of Baron. Fear the Beard when he’s giving a damn.
Lemon Face: Chris Kaman Emeka Okafor is a really good defensive big man but 3/15 from the field and just three rebounds is inexcusable.
Lion Face: Pau Gasol Is there anyone in this league that can guard him when he’s making that left-handed half-hook over his right shoulder? Chuck Hayes couldn’t stop it and neither could Dwight Howard. When he has that going, he’s pretty much unguardable so when he’s doing that against the Warriors, you know the Dubs are in trouble. His 26 points on 13 shots were a steadying force against the rag-tag Warriors. The Warriors tried to trick the Lakers into playing their game. They made them run and for the most part, it worked. But every once in a while when the Lakers were losing their way, they’d get wise and dump it into Pau. He’d calmly score and set things right in the basketball universe. In fact, the Lakers were completely stupid for not getting this man 20 shots.
Lemon Face: Andrew Bynum… hear me out on this This is going to seem like I’m picking on Andrew Bynum because I always find a way to pick on Andrew Bynum. And yes, ultimately a 19-point, 14-rebound performance is pretty good. But he was kind of terrible against the Warriors. He should be destroying people inside against the Warriors like that creature in Cloverfield. Instead, he turned the ball over eight times (!) and managed to transplant his hands with one from Kwame Brown and the other from Johan Petro of three years ago. You can never truly rely on him catching a quick pass. Although, I do like that he went 7/8 from the line.
Lion Face: Chris Hunter Not sure who Chris Hunter is? Don’t worry about it; you’ll have plenty of time to learn his name. In a day in age in which guys like the Collins brothers, Jerome James and Steve Hunter get paid to be tall, Chris Hunter has worked his tail off to get from the D-League to a regular spot on an NBA team. Is he taking advantage of the various Warriors’ injuries in the frontcourt in order to get this hard work to pay off? Absolutely. But he’s still putting in the work and getting results. Against the Lakers big front line, he managed to put in 22 points and seven of the Warriors’ 25 rebounds. He made all six of his free throws and kept his bigger opposition honest with scoring inside and outside. I love when guys like this get rewarded for working hard, rather than just being tall.
Lemon Face: Monta Ellis WOW, this guy killed his team tonight. You might remember me trying to open up the dark side of his impressive stats earlier in the season. Well, against the Lakers Monta just continued to jack up shot after shot despite the fact that Steph Curry, Corey Maggette and basically anyone not named Monta Ellis was having a relatively easy time scoring against the Lakers. Yes, Monta had 11 assists and five steals. But he went to the free throw line just two times and made just five of his 23 shots. It’s not that he was missing shots. It’s that he was MISSING shots! And the final play of the game kind of summed up his night perfectly. After Curry missed the wide-open, game-tying three Monta grabbed the rebound. He looked for Curry to kick it out to but Curry was standing out of bounds. Kobe was retreating to guard CJ Watson in the right corner so Monta high-tailed it out to the top of the three-point arc. He turned, fired and had his desperation attempt bounce around a few times before falling off the side of the rim. It was a valiant effort but considering he had Anthony Morrow all by himself (Celine Dion style), he once again made a horrible decision.
One last thing, too many people are going to make a big deal over Ellis “smiling” after missing the three. It was sort of a smile-grimace in which he knew he had a chance to tie the game and instead he missed the shot. He wasn’t happy with missing the three. He was upset. But with the shot he took and the bounces it had before it fell outside of the cylinder, that face really isn’t the end of competition as some will make it out to be.
Lion Face: Kobe Bryant The nine turnovers were bad. He was so careless with the ball and just didn’t take care of it. That’s not something you expect from Mamba. Maybe this guy but not Mamba:
However, Kobe did still score an efficient 29 points – 9/18 shooting, 2/4 from three (one of them was a BIG three) and 9/11 from the free throw line (one big miss that nearly cost them the win). Kobe always seems to be in control, even when he’s dribbling and passing the ball all over the place. He got caught up a little too much in the pissing match with Monta and Steph but overall, he always had this game in hand. The Lakers took his confidence and calm and made the plays when they had to. Did they have to rely on a fortunate bounce against a team they should destroy? Yes. But that’s the Lakers team we need to get used. They play to their competition. Lucky for them, their competition will be good in the playoffs.
Lemon Face: Shannon Brown Remember months ago when Lakers fans were lauding Shannon Brown as one of the top reserve guards in the league? He was a guy that “changed the game” and “played good defense” against better guards. He deserved to be in the dunk contest too. Well, he’s actually not very good. He certainly can’t shoot. And his defense is pretty bad. He’s the exact body type and level of athleticism you’d want guarding Curry or Monta or Watson. And yet they all scored quite easily against him.
Lion Face: Stephen Curry There’s no denying this kid’s talent. I still don’t think he can be the Rookie of the Year because he’s been good since the beginning of January and Tyreke Evans has been doing it consistently since the fifth game of the year. But there’s no shame in being the runner-up to only the fourth rookie in NBA history to put up 20-5-5. Curry plays perfectly into the style of the Warriors. Get up the court, get to the basket and when given daylight you should throw up a shot from beyond that little arc on the court. Curry’s not just a shooter, either. He can get to the rim, get crafty around the basket and also find his teammates in the position most advantageous for them to score. Can Curry steal the Rookie of the Year award? I’ve been saying no for months but at this point, he’s getting a lot more national exposure than Tyreke can get. He’s playing big on national TV, which is an opportunity Tyreke isn’t afforded. Maybe with a strong final month, he can trick enough voters to remember his name come ballot time.
With games like 29 points and nine assists against the best team in the league coming through the ESPN broadcast truck, it’s not so far-fetched anymore to think he can rob Evans of the award.
It’s almost playoff time, which means I need to get my random thoughts bullet writing ass back in gear. And since I’m handling weekend duties over at ProBasketballTalk.com, I watched quite a bit of ball this weekend.
Let’s start with Tyreke Evans. I saw his line last night, and checked STR for the Reke-O-Meter. Evans has been on a rebounding tear, and now needs to average less than his current average in order to clear the mythical 20-5-5. I’m a little shocked why this race has not gotten more attention. It’s a set of requirements that puts Evans in a group with Robertson, Jordan, and LeBron James, along with Charlie Scott. And Evans is not just within sight of it. He’s got a comfortable lead in assists (but no, really, he’s not a real point guard, yank-yank). Scoring is unlikely to be the issue. And he’s picked up his rebounding. This is something truly phenomenal, and he’s way ahead of his competitors for rookie of the year. I expected Evans to be good. I did not expect him to be this good.
In other stat-related news, guess who’s within range of another 50-40-90 season? Steve Nash, and it’s pretty comfortable. So is Nicolas Batum, but the kid missed too many games for it to be relevant. Nash, though, has been ridiculous . He’ll also be the oldest player to accomplish it since… himself, last year. An absolutely outstanding achievement.
Speaking of the Suns, anyone caught Amar’e lately? This is the close I’ve seen him look to his “proper self” pre-Shaq since Shaq arrived. If the playoffs started today the Suns would play Dallas, which would be basketball cocaine. Also, I don’t think the Suns are a good matchup for Utah at all. They Jazz are 2-0 versus the Suns, but the Suns’ unstable style of play could cause them fits. However, it should be noted that Utah has a ridiculously easy stretch coming up, with six of their next ten against lottery teams, and the Hornets (probably lottery) and Toronto (possible lottery) thrown in. Their “tough game” from now till April is Boston. Insert joke here.
Speaking of Boston, loved Freek’s work on the Boston-Cleveland game yesterday:
Paroxi-wife asked me what I thought about Jamison fitting in, and I said I think it’s actually working great, despite his shooting percentages. He’s doing what he needs to do, which is spread the floor and then crash inside. The number of at-rim shots he had lip out yesterday was I think four. If Boston wants to keep leaving him open on the perimeter, that’s not a good idea either.
On the C’s, when did this team stop closing out on the perimeter? We’re not talking a half-ass effort, we’re talking them being a step behind to where they’re not even trying because they know they can’t get there. It’s a significant problem. The Magic have taught teams that if they make the extra pass, they’re going to get an open three. And that’s a high percentage look for a lot of teams in the playoffs.
What’s worse for the Celtics is they were barraged for 40 minutes by the other Cavs, and when they finally started to clamp down, James took over and just drove relentlessly, picking up foul after foul. There was nothing they could do. At one point Perkins was trying to check James. PERKINS. AT MID-RANGE. TRYING TO CHECK. LE.BRON. And every time the Celtics would hit a three to pull the lead to ten, there’d go LeBron, right to the rim, feasting on old legs with his fresh ones. He didn’t have to carry that team for 40 minutes, which meant he could for the final eight. Terrifying.
The Thunder keep blowing my mind with their defense. The offense I expect. Russell Westbrook is capable of 30 and 11. He’s just that good. Durant is a known quantity and the rest of the team is solid-to-good. But the defense? For guys that young to be playing with that kind of dedication? They swarm to the ball on penetration, and recover as fast as any team, because of those fresh legs. They’re rarely caught in mismatches, and they surge so strong, it’s like waves coming over the bow. The inexperience makes them a favorable first-round matchup, but the talent and execution make you think twice.
I’ve watched four Nets games this week. That’s a lot for one of the “worst” teams in history. I’ve been saying it, and I will continue to say it. They are just not that bad. Incomplete? Definitely. Young? Definitely? Terrible bench? Absolutely. But there is a lot of legit talent on that team, including Courtney Lee, who’s going to be a serviceable starting small guard for years, at a position that’s tough to find talent you can reasonably pay. And Terrence Williams is playing in a relevant, meaningful way for an irrelevant, meaningless team.
I can’t watch the Raptors anymore. I just can’t do it. Can’t watch that defense any longer. They and the Warriors have gotten me to the point it makes me physically sick to watch them play basketball, which is sad, because I like a lot of their talent.
It’s really early after a fairly impressive win streak, but I just want to say, I can already see the same late-season cracks in the Utah pavement that I saw last year. They’ve been better this year than they were last year, but I still wanted to get this in writing that I’m seeing some fault lines developing.
Believe it or not, Tyreke Evans doesn’t clamor for this kind of attention.
In fact, all the attention of the rally for Evans to be Rookie of the Year tonight had Evans feeling a bit embarrassed.
That’s right: Embarrassed.
“A little bit,” Evans conceded. “They had the NBA All Stars up there (on the jumbotron) talking about my game. I was trying not to let it get to me.”
Evans, of course, turned in a 19 point, 10 rebound, 10 assist effort on a night in which so much attention was devoted to him. He kept the game ball, too.
It would seem easy for one to be a bit conceited with 5,000 cutouts of his face throughout the stands.
But that’s not Evans’ personality. And he was ready for the ribbing he took from his teammates.
“It looked pretty ugly,” said forward Carl Landry with a laugh.
Evans’ triple-double is going to get overturned most likely within the next 24 hours, which is both fair once I saw the replay, and sad, because as Ziller pointed out in a FanHouse thread, he would have snagged it most likely anyway. I mean, it is the Raps we’re talking about.
I’m still having a hard time finding any way you can argue that any other player is rookie of the year. Curry’s a nice player. He’ll be having hot offensive nights while Golden State wins 30 games a year for the next half-decade. But Evans has a unique ability to not only generate ridiculous numbers, but to have those numbers be critical to the team. That, however, is probably a subjective assessment that would shift depending on if you’re on Team Reke or Team ThinnySkins.
I can’t help but feel the Kings are on the right path, even with as few wins as they have. There are teams whose rosters are so disparagingly flawed that even wins feel like losses. The Indiana Pacers and Philadelphia Sixers come to mind. And there are teams that can legitimately look at their roster and say they’re getting better, and that they have the pieces together to improve each year. The Kings are like that. Evans’ rookie season matters, because he’s going to matter in the NBA context over the next five years. Curry? Curry’s going to continue to barrage from the arc, and make passes in an offense-happy system, and play hard and impressively and probably not learn anything he needs to about defense. That’s not his fault, that’s just who drafted him.
But Evans’ season feels like the chapter of something important, with gravitas, while Curry’s is like a well-formed poem in a student literary magazine. There’s talent there, but it’s still going to end up in the attic.
(Now Curry will drop 50 on the Blazers tonight or something. Book it.)
If anybody should be complemented, though, it’s Hasheem Thabeet. In his second game after returning from the D-League (he DNP-CD’d in the first), Thabeet was practically the Grizzlies 6th man. He saw 26 minutes of court time and, even though his counting stats weren’t impressive, had a +25 for the game for a reason. ‘Our Favorite Mistake” was playing solid defense and offense, using his length to change shots and tip boards.
I don’t know what happened in Dakota, but it sure as hell worked.
Hasheem Thabeet, who I have (un)lovingly referred to on a consistent basis as “The Pogostick” was an infinitely better player last night than I’ve seen him be the entire season. And it has nothing to do with the 3-5 shooting for seven points and 6 boards.
Thabeet, for the first time I’ve seen this season, looked like he knew where he should be. His spacing was right. His hands were ready. Marc Gasol murdered the Celtics with the extra pass to Thabeet on several possessions. He was in position for rebounds.
HE CUT OFF THE BASELINE.
It’s these little things that make me jump out of my chair, now. And seeing Thabeet smartly slide to the edge and deter the Celtics’ penetration, forcing a reset was a big moment. Because before, Thabeet was waiting to make sure he didn’t lose his man, and arriving too late ,then picking up a foul.
His weakside defense, his man-post defense, the whole shebang. The only thing he didn’t do was follow Sheed out to the arc. And I don’t care about that because Sheed’s more than welcome to bomb it away as long as the Grizzlies have a better than 1.5:1 rebound ratio advantage.
I didn’t think there was anything Thabeet could pick up in a week and a half in the D-League. But whatever it was he did while it was down there, it resulted in the best game I’ve seen from him as a professional. Unworthy of a second overall pick? Surely. But a phenomenally solid effort for a defensive cog.
I’m a big believer in striking while the iron’s hot. With Zach Harper’s breakdown of Darren Collison’s assists lighting a fire under the Hardwood audience, I thought I would take a deeper look at the assist variety.
I’ll begin with the assertion that not all assists are created equal, no matter what the box score tries to tell you. The traditional box score specifies the number of shots coming from beyond the three-point line for each player but the assists column offers no such detail. This shields the basketball world from a more complete understanding of ball distribution for each contest. Let’s pull the veil on that part of the game.
In Tuesday night’s Utah Jazz massacre over the Chicago Bulls, Deron Williams dropped 17 dimes which is a season-high for the former Illini. But did you know that seven of those led to treyballs? Probably not, unless you picked up your daily advanced box score at Hoopdata. On the same night, Raymond Felton dished out 11 assists, with 8 of them setting up for gimmes (layups and dunks). These two point guards aided their teammates to score from high efficiency areas on the floor but this valuable information hadn’t been unlocked in the public domain. Until now, of course.
Depending on a combination of skill set, fellow personnel, and X-and-O’s, every point guard varies on how they compile their assists. Some earn their dimes through dribble penetration and dishing to a cutter to the basket after the defense collapses. This type of distributor tends to yield a high percentage of at rim buckets for his team. Others make a living instead by patiently waiting for the perfect moment to hit their sharpshooting teammates on the perimeter rather than exploiting the porous help defense on dribble drives. These types tend to tally a slew of assists leading to long twos and three-pointers.
So, who are these guys? Let’s compare two of the best assistants out there, LeBron James and Jason Kidd. One is a 6-8 dominant scorer and the other is a 36-year old Hall of Fame distributor. Both average over 8 assists per game. The pie charts display the shot location share of their assists in terms of the five zones: at rim, short (<10 feet), mid (10-15 feet), long (16-23 feet), and threes.
As you can see, these two ball-handlers get their high assist totals in much different ways. Over 75 percent of LeBron James’ assists yield a three pointer or a bucket at the rim, highlighting just how devastating LeBron James can be as a ball-hander. If he’s not scoring himself, he commands the help defense and double-teams, opening up the high efficiency areas for his teammates. Actually, 3.9 at rim assists per game understates how many buckets he yields at the rim. In his last ten games, the Chosen One has dished out 5.7 assists per game at the basket, nevermind every other area on the floor. Consider for a moment that Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, and Dirk Nowitzki each average fewer than 5.7 total assists per game. And LeBron leads the League in scoring.
Conversely, fellow All-Star Jason Kidd splits his assists between the mid-range and the high efficiency areas, which says as much about him as a distributor as who receives the delivery. Dirk Nowitzki, the most frequent shooter on the Mavs, lives in the mid-range and chucks up a league leading 8.5 attempts per game from 16-23 feet.
Moving along, when we look at assist numbers, it might be worth it to break down each assist according to their expected point value. The numbers tell us that at rim shots and 3-point shots have a higher expected value than mid-range jumpers which only go down 39.5 percent of the time and only have a 2-point payoff but each assist is treated as equal to one. To account for this value distribution, I created a simple metric that assigns a weight to each assist zone, giving point guards who distribute the ball to high efficiency areas a boost in the bottom line.
The weighting doesn’t arbitrarily assign point values that I plucked out of thin air. Rather, I found it appropriate to weight the assists according to the expected pay off of the shot location. The average non-fouled shot at the rim converts at a 60.8% percent rate so the expected payoff, fouls aside, is the product of probability and point value or .608 * 2 = 1.216. Shots taken from 10-15 feet have the lowest conversion rate (.396 field goal percentage) and thus, the expected value from this area amounts to just .792. Threes have a higher expected value than the mid-range because of the added point bonus.
Taking LeBron James as an example, his weighted assists per game (wAPG) would be calculated as:
wAPGLeBron = (At rim APG * 1.216) + (Short APG * 0.880) +
Without accounting for the types of assists, LeBron has a 8.5 assists per game so the net difference is only 0.6 assists per game. As is, at rim shots have about a 50% premium on the mid-range shots inside the three-point line. Admittedly, the model would be improved if we accounted for shots that led to free throws but my powers are limited at this point in time. If that were the case, distributors like LeBron would see even more of a boost since most fouls occur around the basket.
This adjustment derives its theoretical foundation from Dean Oliver’s “Basketball on Paper”, where he argues that assists to the perimeter should be discounted relative to shots at the basket because the outside shooter holds the most responsibility for nailing the shot. The passer only changes that likelihood slightly. However, since defenses rarely opt to allow big men to get open around the basket, the point guard receives more credit for creating that opportunity. Put another way, do you think Chris Paul should receive the same credit for his patented alley-oop floater pass as he does for a routine pass to Peja Stojakovic who hits a fallaway mid-range jumper? This model doesn’t think so either.
Who isn’t excited about this adjustment? As you might of guessed, Jason Kidd loses some of his point guard moxie with the tweak. While most point guards see a higher wAPG, Jason Kidd, Derrick Rose, and Jerryd Bayless each have a lower wAPG than raw APG. Here are the leaders and trailers as measured by percentage difference, among those who average 4 ast per 40 minutes.
If you’d like to see the full spreadsheet, I’ve uploaded here on Google Docs.
There are old faces leaving, old faces doing what they do and a new era of basketball in a place where you’ve needed a new era just about every season.
We’ve got huge dunks and game-winners from the eight-game schedule. There are plenty of faces to go around for everybody, whether they’re good lion-type of faces or squinty, little bitter putrid faces because of horrible, horrible failure.
Either way, I’d like you to see the PSA from Ben Affleck and Matt Damon right now:
In case you didn’t catch what that PSA was about, it basically gave the message that NBA fans, especially those sitting courtside, should never feel compelled to interfere with a live ball. Joe Calderon was clearly going to save the ball late in the fourth quarter when a fan jumped up and knocked it away. I don’t really know what the motivation was behind it. Maybe he was just being like David Puddy and “supporting the team.” I don’t know.
Maybe he thought it was a bumble bee that painted itself to look like Snooki. I’m not quite sure there either. All I know is he knocked the ball away from Joe and the result was Lakers ball. There has to be some sort of rule or violation there that the league hasn’t made available to us. There just has to be.
Lion Face: The Los Angeles Clippers Did they get their teeth kicked in by the Magic? Absolutely. Did they fight and show some pride in themselves as men or professionals? Not at all. So how do they get a lion face for last night? They’re no longer under the control, guidance or construction of Mike Dunleavy. Mike D will no longer be in the front office a month after deciding to step down from his post as the head coach of the team. So next season, with a good amount of cap room, the odds-on favorite for the Rookie of the Year in Blake Griffin and plenty of roster flexibility, they’ll be able to have their pick of available GMs and coaches to help shape and lead this team to challenge the Lakers for the King of Los Angeles. Will they be able to pull it off? History says they won’t – not with Donald Sterling still owning the team. But the dark cloud of Dunleavy is no longer hanging over this franchise. That’s a start.
Lemon Face: Andre Iguodala Iggy must have needed a night off. It’s the only way to explain how Brandon Rush completely outplays him for an entire game. Iguodala should be able to at worst shut down his man even if his offense is way off. When Andre plays 30 minutes, five points and eight shots should be more of a one-quarter output. It shouldn’t be an entire game. And if that does happen, five rebounds and four assists should be much higher because then at least you’ll know he was going all out. Instead, Kareem Rush’s next of kin has a field day at the expense of the Philly defense on the perimeter. Then again if Andre Iguodala is the best player on your team, there’s probably a reason you’re 23-40.
Lion Face: Dwight Howard I don’t care about the scoring or the blocked shots or the rebounding tonight. We know he’s pretty much always going to be well above average in those aspects of the game on any given night. Did you see Dwight Howard on the break? Check that. Did you see Dwight Howard LEADING the break? After a Brandon Bass blocked shot, Dwight got the ball, motored up the floor past the defense, sucked the defender in at the basket and casually whipped a left-handed pass across his body, past the defender and into Brandon Bass’ hands for a dunk. Take a look:
You know what it reminded me of? No, not Rony Seikaly. The Diesel. Young Diesel. I don’t like comparing the two because they’re completely different players. Shaq was a power figure when he was finding his way in the league. Dwight Howard is all about soaring above the opposition. But regardless, it reminded me of plays like this early on in the Orlando days when Shaq was running the whole show.
By the way, where did that fadeaway jumper go? That was promising. Would have loved to see more of that in his career. Imagine his career with that weapon in the full-time arsenal? We’re talking 35,000 points. Easy.
Lemon Face: Miami Heat bench Do you know how many points the Miami Heat bench scored in 82 minutes of play? 12. That’s it. It was a dozen points in 82 minutes of bench play for the Heat. That’s freaking anemic. Udonis Haslem had eight points and 11 rebounds and Mario Chalmers found a way to drop a couple of baskets. That’s it. Maybe when Spoelstra is watching film with his team and trying to figure out how they scored just 78 points, he can look to the bench and tell them to facepalm themselves for the next three hours.
Lion Face: Raymond Felton Raymond Felton occasionally shows up out of nowhere and simply leads his team to a victory. It happened Tuesday against the Heat. He finished with 15 points and 11 assists. He made a couple of threes. But most of all, he showed a complete control to the pace and structure of the game. He helped ugly it up a little bit because against a team like the Heat, that’s what you should do. They don’t have bangers. They don’t have guys that really deal with sloppy play. Felton on the other hand probably prefers that type of game. It suits him well. He can pick and choose when to drive and when to pull up. The result is usually a good scoring opportunity. He made smart decisions down the stretch and scored some big points.
Lemon Face: Miami Heat ball movement By the way, Raymond Felton had 11 assists, in case you missed it a couple of sentences ago. What’s significant about that in relation to the Heat’s ball movement? Felton nearly matched the Heat’s ENTIRE team assist total just by himself. The Heat had 12 team assists. 12! That’s it! Derrick Rose and Deron Williams both had more than that on their own. How about setting up your teammates and not trying to suck so much at sharing the ball?
Lion Face: Gerald Wallace When you’re offense is in the toilet and you can’t get any kind of flow or momentum going, what are you going to do to respond? If you are Gerald Wallace, you’re going to bust your knots trying to grab every single loose ball there is. Struggling with eight points on 3/11 shooting? Not a big deal. He went out and grabbed 17 rebounds to make sure he was contributing to this team as much as humanly possible. It’s like Vince Vaughn’s character says in The Break Up when he’s explaining how his Madden team was so much better than the other guy’s: work ethic. It’s all about work ethic.
Lemon Face: 60% of the Wizards Starting Lineup Lion Face: The Utah Jazz Al Thornton and Andray Blatche weren’t great but they were definitely active and tried to do whatever they could to keep this game within striking distance. The other three guys in the Wizards’ starting lineup? Ya, not so much. In a game the Wiz lost by eight, Randy Foye (two points), Mike Miller (seven points) and JaVale McGee (four points) combined for 13 points on 6/20 shooting. Foye was bad once again. Mike Miller tried to be an all-around player but forgot about putting the ball in the actual basket. And JaVale McGee? Well, nobody really knows what he does from a game-to-game basis. They’re just glad he hasn’t figured out a way to not be so tall.
Lemon Face: The Bulls Defense You just can’t give up 40 points in the fourth quarter and expect to be respected. You can’t give up 132 points on your home floor and be respected. I really want this Chicago Bulls team to make the playoffs because what we saw from Derrick Rose in the first round last year was so special, I would like to arrange for that to happen again this year. I think it would be a great treat for us. When Derrick Rose is a saloon door at the top of the defense and Brad Miller is your last line of defense, I guess you can’t expect much. The Jazz had an offensive rating of 134.7. That’s a lot of hooch.
Lion Face: Andrew Bogut Forget about the fact that his team beat a healthy Boston team at home and legitimized themselves as real a playoff team as Pinocchio is a boy. Andrew Bogut took one of the best defensive centers in the league and destroyed him. He’s the perfect counter offensively to what Perkins likes to do. Perkins capitalizes on his opponents trying to do too much. He gets the uncomfortable and causes them to miss shots. But with Bogut he’s far too patient to fall into that trap. Instead, he takes his time, absorbs the contact and uses his wide array of skills to convert. Should he be on the second All-Defensive team? Definitely. Should he be All-NBA Second Team this year? He’s in the conversation for sure. And when he leads his team to the playoffs, I can’t imagine that the current second best center in the NBA won’t be recognized for it.
By the way, I love the fact that Big Baby just rolled away in shame after Bogut lowered the Boomshakalaka.
Lemon Face: Celtics Offensive Execution Kendrick Perkins was one of the featured offense weapons for the Celtics in the first half. Here’s the problem with that: he’s not very good offensively. Oh sure, he can occasionally pull a half-hook out of an orifice but overall, he shouldn’t be attempting much more than dunk attempts. He certainly shouldn’t be attempting nine shots in a game against one of the best defensive centers in the league when Ray Allen attempts only three shots TOTAL for the game and finishes three points. It seems like you’re doing the whole coaching thing wrong if that ends up being your way to beat a very good defensive squad.
Lion Face: Rajon Rondo Tip-Dunk In a night of failure for the Celtics nearly all the way around, they did have this nice athletic follow by Rajon Rondo:
Lemon Face: Glen Davis-Brandon Jennings Do I think Glen Davis made a play on the ball when he was whistled for a flagrant foul? Not really. I think he started to and then when he realized he couldn’t do it, he decided to attempt to absorb Brandon Jennings. Do I think Jennings acted like a moron and tried to instigate the moment even more by standing over him like he was trying to provide some shade under the bright lights? Completely. Did it make any sense for Big Baby to then attempt to put his head through Jennings’ belly button before everyone realized this was turning into one of the most awkward altercations in NBA history? I don’t think so. Perhaps, they should both take a cold shower.
Lion Face: Marcus Camby/Nicolas Batum They’re long. They’re athletic. They’re a great defensive duo. Batum did a great job of slowing down the perimeter scoring of the Kings. He bottled up Tyreke Evans as much as you can bottle up Tyreke Evans without being Shane Battier. He helped turn Evans into a jump shooter for stretches, which eliminates 98% of the threat ‘Reke poses for the basketball world. He was able to do that because Marcus Camby always had his back. Camby was turning away shots like a hot girl at a bar not trying to go home with anybody. He totaled five blocks in the game and probably changed half a dozen more shots in the process. If the Blazers can do anything in the playoffs, it’s because these two are the defensive Sonny and Cher. You decide which one is which.
Lemon Face: Kings Frontcourt (Carl Landry Excluded) This following paragraph does not include Carl Landry in its criticism of the Kings frontcourt. Spencer, Donté and JT, I love the effort you guys have put forth in the last couple of weeks. You clearly get that the Kings need defense, rebounding and a constant stream of effort flooding the interior of this defense. Here’s the problem: you’ve got to figure out how to score. Don’t just dump that responsibility on the new guy. Portland has a good frontcourt but it’s not so good that you should be getting dominated like that. At some point, effort won’t be enough and you’ve got to produce some tangible results with that effort. Please take this under advisement and act on it so I don’t have to make a funny video at your expense. Am I right, Spenny?
Lion Face: Tyreke Evans Tyreke had a nice night of 18 points, six rebounds and six assists. It wasn’t overly special and he actually needed 19 shots against the defensive duo of Martell Webster and Nicolas Batum to produce that scoring. But that’s not really important. The numbers are just adding to a total that Sactown Royalty is keeping track of with their “’Reke-o-Meter.” What is the Reke-o-Meter? It’s a running countdown of the amount of points, rebounds and assists Evans needs the rest of the season in order to average the hallowed 20-5-5 for his rookie season. After tonight’s game, the Reke-o-Meter shows Tyreke needs 342 points, 98 rebounds and 64 assists the rest of the season. Not bad for the third youngest player in the NBA.
Lion Face: Hakim Warrick Ronnie Price, I can appreciate the fact that you are in the upper one-percent of athletic ability in the world. But don’t jump with Hakim Warrick. It just gets you in the highlight as Hak activates his go-go gadget arms.
Lemon Face: Toronto’s Late Game Shot Selection In a close game, you probably want to maximize your scoring opportunities by being aggressive and trying to get as close to the basket as you can in order to get a good shot off. But not if you’re the Raptors. No, the Raptors decided to try to homerun after homerun as seven of their final 12 possessions ended in a three-point attempt. They could have easily run a pick-and-roll or pick-and-pop with Chris Bosh. Instead, they set their feet 23 steps away from the basket and let it rain.
That’s probably how you end up scoring just nine points on those final 12 possessions of the game and get your heart ripped out by Kobe Bryant. At least this won’t affect your playoff seeding… never mind.
Lion Face: Deron Williams Dear Mr. Rose, Deron Williams cordially invites you to come get some.
Please accept this invitation on behalf of ALL of the Utah Jazz team members. Thank you.
Okay, I know Williams probably got away with an offensive foul but it’s still fun to see plays like this.
Lemon Face: Hedo Turkoglu Hedo, welcome back to the lineup after recovering from your injury. You had a terrible night and had a very key turnover late in the game. Maybe you should sit out a couple more games until you’re ready to contribute to this team like someone who can play.
Ball.
Lemon Face: Pau Gasol It’s not that Pau Gasol played poorly by any means. 17 points and nine rebounds can make a lovely evening for any power forward. It’s just that latelty, he’s been showing up soft in big moments. Perhaps he was supposed to shed that soft label during the NBA Finals when he put up nice numbers, gave great tough effort and won an NBA title. But I can’t shake that feeling that he’s still not comfortable doing the little things in crunch time that you need him to do. Be confident with the ball. Secure the rebound. Box the F out. Challenge the shot in a way that doesn’t allow a sea of opponents to wash in behind you and flood the offensive boards. Pau has shown to be much better. Maybe we can just chalk this up to him being in the same funk the Lakers were in.
Lion Face: Kobe Bryant or Something
He did what he does.
What are you doing on that play, Andrea Bargnani? You need to go set a trap in an area that… well… you know… TRAPS Kobe from going anywhere. Instead, you meander over from Pau Gasol with a hesitant gait like you’re still trying to get acclimated to your surroundings. Kobe claimed that he was expecting the double team early and if it came when he thought it was going to come, he would have had cutters to pass to. He wasn’t passing that damn ball. Not even close. You should have sprinted from Pau Gasol at the top of the key to Kobe, cut off his move back to the middle and allowed Antoine Wright to cut off his move baseline. Instead, you left Antoine Wright on an island like the pilot of Lost and Kobe made you pay. Even if he passes to Pau Gasol there, SO WHAT?!?
A little over a month ago, we all sang, and drank, and were merry in celebrating that Mike Dunleavy had stepped down as coach of the Clippers. I’ve got nothing against the man himself, other than the fact that he’s a bit more than partially responsible for how bad the Clippers have been for the better part of this decade. It’s not all on his shoulders — after all, who’s to say what would have become of the Clips had they not blown a 3-1 lead against the Suns in the 2006 playoffs, or had lottery pick Shaun Livingston not had the injury nightmare of a lifetime, or of the one successful core not inexplicably regressed, or if Elton Brand hadn’t bolted in free agency — but he’s had more than a hand in the horrible management of the worst franchise in basketball.
It’s honestly a bit impressive that the Clippers have been so bad for so long; you’d figure that eventually, Dunleavy and Sterling were bound to stumble into success. Maybe their brush with hope was back in ’06, but it left as quickly as it came. Dunleavy has had chance after chance to not only justify his position as head coach, but rectify the mistakes he’s made as a general manager. He’s had no right to complain about his roster, or his coach’s use of the roster, because Dun is one of those guys in a rare position to both build the team to his liking and manage everything from the contracts to the minutes. He’s blessed with considerable power but cursed with accountability for everything…or at least he should have been cursed with accountability. Few GMs or coaches could have gotten away with losing so consistently, but give Dunleavy credit: he managed to stay alive, even if it’s only because the man signing the checks was a cheapskate who inked him to a foolish deal and refused to cut him loose.
But that’s enough dancing on MDSr’s grave; there will be plenty of that going on today, and I feel like I’ve already done plenty of it before. Enough is probably enough, if only because this move should have come long ago. I come to praise Caesar, not to bury him. This particular man and this particular franchise are so easy to hyperbolize that he’ll get his share of criticism and he probably deserves it. But not everything turned to dust under Dunleavy’s watch, and while his roster moves on the whole can’t be called a success given that Dunleavy coached the Clips to a winning record just once in seven stints, L.A.’s selections in the draft during his time as GM have actually been pretty successful.
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2003:
Chris Kaman, 6th overall pick – Kaman is still the starting center of the Clips today, and though he’s battled injury and some pretty wicked consistency issues, he’s had a solid season. Kaman has found success despite playing a very different style than Baron Davis, which isn’t easy. But post-heavy sets have been a staple of the Dunleavy era, and as the Clips shift directions next season (assuming that Kim Hughes doesn’t return as head coach), it should be interesting to see how Kaman is utilized in the future.
Sofoklis Schortsanitis, 34th overall pick - Schortsanitis never made it to the U.S., but is still playing professionally for Olympiacos.
2004: Shaun Livingston, 4th overall pick – There’s no telling whether or not Livingston would have put it all together and actualized the star potential that pushed him to the top of his draft class straight out of high school. The Dislocated Knee Cap Heard ‘Round the World not only closed Livingston’s season, but significantly lowered the ceiling on his career.
Lionel Chalmers, 33rd pick – After a short stint in the NBA (two years of salary but only one year with minutes played), Chalmers went across the pond and across another, smaller pond to play in Italy. He’s now a fixture in Russian basketball, where he led his league in scoring last season with 21.4 points per game. He did have some value to the Clips, though: Chalmers was part of the trade (along with Marko Jaric) that brought Sam Cassell to L.A. for the ’06 playoff run.
2005: Yaroslav Korolev, 12th overall pick – Swingandamiss. The big draft blunder of Dunleavy’s tenure, Korolev was a lottery pick that did anything but pan out. That said, it’s not like MDSr overlooked any obvious stars; the best players still on the board at 12 in the ’05 draft were all hidden gems (Danny Granger, David Lee, Monta Ellis), and while it would have been nice for the Clips to pick up a talent of that caliber, you could say the same for almost every GM in the league.
Daniel Ewing, 32nd overall pick – Two seasons, about a million in salary, and over 120 games in the league. Ewing never made his mark, and now he’s trying to make a buck and a name for himself playing professionally in Poland.
2006: Paul Davis, 34th overall pick – The Clips didn’t have a first rounder in ’06, which was actually okay considering they finished 47-35 and the pick that would have been theirs fell to number 22 overall. There’s still value at that point in the draft, but it’s not like they surrendered a lottery pick.
Guillermo Diaz, 52nd overall pick - You know the drill. Decided to play overseas, still playing professionally in Italy, and the Clips hold his draft rights. Not that it matters all that much.
2007: Al Thornton, 12th overall pick – Thornton may not look like a terrific pick now, but he started his career the way you’d expect an older rookie to start it: he made an impact with his NBA-ready body and his experience. The problem has been Thornton’s refusal to make a single significant stride since his rookie season, and though Al occasionally shows flashes of something more, he looks like he’ll end up as a role player. Not a great pick, but not exactly a horrible one, either.
Jared Jordan, 45th overall pick – The Clips eventually traded Jordan to the Knicks for cash, but he’s never made an NBA roster. Jordan bounced around a few summer league teams, but he’s currently playing professionally in Germany.
2008: Eric Gordon, 7th overall pick – I was way down on Gordon when the 2008 Draft was approaching, but he’s been fantastic. It’s unclear whether or not Gordon will ever be capable of being a team’s top scoring option (I’m leaning no), but he’ll be a stellar supplementary scorer. He’s much more efficient than you think (especially if you’re Matt Moore): he gets to the line with incredible regularity, doesn’t turn the ball over, and combines nice touch from mid and long range with a solid handle and driving ability. Not the best finisher, but so proficient at creating contact that it almost doesn’t matter. He’s not the most versatile cat in the world and the defense is definitely a work in progress, but Gordon can score and he can do it efficiently.
DeAndre Jordan, 35th overall pick – There was a time where Jordan was lauded as a potential lottery pick, but he failed to get off the bench for consistent minutes, much less make a consistent impact during his stint at Texas A&M. He’s come a long way since then. Jordan’s development is a crucial part of what the Clippers will do from this point forward. With Kaman, Jordan, and Blake Griffin, the Clips could actually be pretty stacked at power forward and center. Jordan has shown he’s capable of being a pretty dominant NBA player, but I’m sure those in L.A.’s front office would settle for him simply becoming more consistent. Jordan has nothing but time; he definitely has NBA-level talent and athleticism, and he’s just 21 years old. Great, great value for a second rounder.
2009: Blake Griffin, 1st overall pick – Bust. And by “bust” I mean “he’s awesome.” And by “awesome” I mean “should be playing right now, if not for some horrible, horrible luck.” I know everyone’s waiting to watch the fireworks in free agency and anxious to see who wins the John Wall sweepstakes, but Griffin is a legitimate reason to want to fast-forward to October.
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That’s essentially one blown first rounder in seven years, and even that pick was a late lottery selection in a weak draft class. Mitch Kupchack selected Sasha Vujacic and Brian Cook, albeit with late first round selections. Sam Presti gave away Carl Landry, Rodrigue Beaubois, and Glen Davis. Buford handed over Leandro Barbosa and Goran Dragic. Pritchard picked Greg Oden over Kevin Durant, WHICH IS OBVIOUSLY THE BUSTIEST BUST OF ALL BUST TIME, AM I RIGHT?!?!?!?!
Everyone makes mistakes, and Korolev was Dunleavy’s. MDSr made quite a few more in free agency, in signing or refusing to sign his own players, and in poorly assessing the value of personnel on the Clippers and across the league. But even though he fell well short of deserving the position of power he had been inhabiting, the dark days the Clippers have faced since 2003 weren’t nearly as dark as they could have been. That’s the most solace I can offer a franchise that has seen the playoffs once over that same span, has seen its franchise player walk out the door, and now will try for something completely different beginning with this off-season. With Dunleavy gone, the Clips are on the verge of something. That’s all we can say. Whether that’s some roster turnover with a new coach and renewed hope is up to Donald Sterling.
“Darren Collison. 16 points. They have him with 20 assists tonight… And this is a Hornet’s rookie record of 20 assists. I’m going to say this politely. They need to watch the video of this game because Darren Collison has about 13 assists in the game, not 20. The person keeping assists tonight is a little unclear on the rule. You’ve had balls thrown in and then guys making moves then scoring and still an assist will be credited. That’s up for the league to look at, eventually.”
This was a quote by Bob Fitzgerald towards the end of the Hornets victory over the Warriors Monday night. Bob Fitzgerald is the Warriors play-by-play man. When I was watching the game and saw the stat, it didn’t really seem correct to me either. I guessed that Collison might have around 15 assists. To hear 20 was sort of alarming.
We’ve heard about issues in the past with Nick Van Exel in Denver or what’s been assumed with Chris Paul in New Orleans in terms of his stats being inflated for the hopes of ending up on SportsCenter because of pretty round numbers. Well, 20 assists for someone that the Hornets are desperately hoping takes away some Rookie of the Year recognition from Tyreke Evans with his half of a season’s worth of brilliance is quite the round number to make people notice.
Since Fitz wanted someone to check out the video tape and see if 20 was a legit number for Collison tonight, I decided to cue up the old League Pass Broadband and go over each registered assist for Collison.
For clarification, we’re going by the generally accepted definition of an assist:
“In basketball, an assist is attributed to a player who passes the ball to a teammate in a way that leads to a score by field goal, meaning that he or she was “assisting” in the basket.”
Here is a break down of each assist credited to Darren Collison with my description of the play and the verdict of whether or not it should be an assist.
Assist 1: Fast-break pass to Morris Peterson on the wing for three The first score of the game by the Hornets happened off a turnover in which Collison intercepted a horrible pass, took it the other way and threw a pass to Mo Pete on the wing that was offline too. Mo controlled the pass with a bounce, gathered himself and shot the three. Verdict: Valid Assist
Assist 2: Transition three by Morris Peterson Collison quickly jogs the ball up the floor and finds Morris Peterson running with him all alone. He throws a quick pass to Mo Pete on the left wing again and Peterson rises up for his second three in as many attempts. Verdict: Valid Assist
Assist 3: Pass to Peja Stojakovic in the mid-post for a jumper
This is the first questionable one of the night for Collison. He dribbles up the right side where Peja has his defender in the post around 16 feet from the basket. Collison passes to Peja who isn’t even looking at the basket. He’s not really facing it so much as he’s facing the scorer’s table. He turns and takes a big jab step towards the baseline. When the defender recovers because he realizes he isn’t going anywhere, Peja makes one more small jab step and then fires up the jumper. I find it hard to believe that this pass led to the score in the spirit of the definition of an assist. Verdict: Invalid Assist
Assist 4: Alley-oop to Emeka Okafor
Completely legit here. It’s a lob into the center of the key, which Okafor catches and dunks in one motion. I like to call it the ‘ole alley-oop. It’s catchy (pun intended). Verdict: Valid Assist
Assist 5: Morris Peterson three in the right corner
Collison gets the ball into the post on the left side of the floor. After the pass to West down low, he cuts into the middle of the lane. He catches the pass from West and the defense collapses to the middle. He kicks out to the right corner where Peterson catches and fires the three. Verdict: Valid Assist
Assist 6: Pass to West inside for a basket Collison and Okafor run a pick-and-roll on the right side of the floor. Collison drives towards the middle, jumps in the air and then passes to a cutting David West on the baseline. West catches the ball and puts it up in one motion for an easy score. Verdict: Valid Assist
Assist 7: Pass inside to Okafor for a turnaround basket
In a pseudo-transition opportunity, Collison dribbles down the middle of the court and finds Okafor with good position in the paint around 10 feet from the basket. He dumps it into Okafor who takes a dribble while he fakes back to the middle of the lane with his right foot and then turns and gets fouled on a turnaround jumper that goes in. This one is kind of sketchy because by the rule he doesn’t really make a move toward the basket at first. But in the spirit of the rule, I think it’s a good assist call. Verdict: Valid Assist
Assist 8: Pass inside to Okafor for the dunk
Collison runs a pick play with Songaila on the left side of the floor. As he dribbles towards the middle, he finds Okafor in the center of the key, right in front of the basket. He quickly drops the ball into Okafor, who makes a strong drop-step to the basket and dunks it home immediately. Verdict: Valid Assist
Assist 9: Pass to Thornton off the screen for a jumper
Collison dribbles the ball on the right wing above the three-point line as Marcus Thornton comes off a screen on the baseline to the same side of the floor. Thornton pump fakes then dribbles the ball to his right before pulling up for a jumper. There’s no way this should count as an assist. The score was completely created off of Thornton’s fake and then dribble to free himself up for the shot. Verdict: Invalid Assist
Assist 10: Pass to Julian Wright in the Post who scores a layup
I will admit that so far, the majority of the assists are completely legit. However, this one is pretty egregious. Collison dribbles up the right side of the floor and finds Julian Wright in the post about 12 feet away from the basket. Wright catches the ball, faces up to his defender and then dribbles towards the baseline. He spins back into the lane before laying it up. This is in NO WAY an assist. This shouldn’t even be close. He took two dribbles and about five steps total after catching the ball with his back to the basket to begin with. I’m starting to think the league should have a team of guys to verify stats after the game. Verdict: Invalid Assist
Assist 11: Transition pass to Thornton on the right wing for a three
This is an easy one to call. Collison gets the pass in the backcourt from David West off the rebound and pushes it up the floor. He finds Thornton on the right wing, who catches the pass with one foot inside the three-point line. Without a dribble or hesitation, he slowly gathers himself behind the line and drains the three. Verdict: Valid Assist
Assist 12: Dribble handoff for the Peja three-pointer
Collison dribbled this one on the left side of the court just inside the three-point line as Peja curled behind him from the baseline. Collison dropped it off to Peja for the quick three. Verdict: Valid Assist
Assist 13: Pass into the mid-post for a Peja layup
Collison pushes the ball up the court after a Curry missed floater. He finds Peja in the post on the left side. Peja catches the ball and squares up. He jabs towards the baseline and back to the middle twice before taking it into the middle and making the layup. Five seconds and two dribbles after Peja catches the pass, he scores a layup and somehow Darren Collison gets an assist. This is inexplicable. Verdict: Invalid Assist
Assist 14: Pass to the right side for a Peterson three
Off a broken and wild play in which Collison saves the ball on the opposite end of the court, he brings the ball back up the middle of the floor, draws a double team as Morris Peterson sneaks to the right perimeter. Collison finds Mo Pete for a three on the right side. Verdict: Valid Assist
Assist 15: Alley-oop pass to Emeka Okafor for the dunk
Pick-and-roll play at the top of the key for Collison and Okafor that results in Collison drawing both defenders and Emeka rolling unabated to the basket. Collison throws a perfect lob and Emeka dunks it home. Verdict: Valid Assist
Assist 16: Transition pass to Peja for the layup
Collison pushes the tempo once again and catches the Warriors defense slow to set up or even react. He dribbles up the middle of the floor and find Peja right under the basket. Peja catches the ball and goes right up for the little reverse layup. Verdict: Valid Assist
Assist 17: Pass to Okafor in the middle of the key for the short runner
With the shot clock running down, Collison dribbles down the right side of the lane and kicks it back to a cutting Okafor in the middle of the paint. He catches and puts up a quick little runner. Verdict: Valid Assist
Assist 18: Pass to David West on the baseline for the step-back jumper
Collison dribbles from the right wing over the top of the three-point line towards the middle of the floor. As he drives into the foul line area, he passes off to David West who is fading towards the baseline from where Collison just was. West doesn’t catch the ball cleanly and by the time he corrals it, he shoots the jumper from the baseline. Even though the catch wasn’t clean, the pass clearly led him into that shot. Verdict: Valid Assist
Assist 19: Handoff pass to James Posey for the three
After a steal by Thornton, Collison catches the ball in the frontcourt on the right side of the floor. He has James Posey trailing right behind him and circling back to the three-point line. Collison takes the pass and dumps it off to Posey for the immediate three. Verdict: Valid Assist
Assist 20: Pass on the fast-break to Thornton for the layup
After the Curry turnover, Collison pushes the ball up the right side of the floor in a two-on-one fast-break with Marcus Thornton. Once he gets the defender to commit to his side, Collison shoots a pass across the lane to a streaking Thornton who lays it up on the right side of the hoop. Verdict: Valid Assist
Overall, it’s not quite as bad as Bob Fitzgerald made it out to be. There was one questionable assist, four assists that shouldn’t have counted and ultimately, 16 assists that I’m fine with Collison having. Did he ACTUALLY set the rookie record for the Hornets with 20 assists? Technically, he did. In reality, he didn’t.
Either way, it brings up the question of whether or not the league does need to monitor this. They go back and look at the tape for flagrant and technical fouls. For anything close that wasn’t called and actually should have been a flagrant or technical, they can reverse it.
So why not have a dedicated team of video watchers for each night to verify the game scorer’s findings? It doesn’t take much. If we’re going to base awards and All-Star appearances off of numbers, shouldn’t we be absolutely sure that those numbers are legit?
