The NBA preseason is not where amazing happens. Truthfully, it’s exceedingly stupid. Sure, there is the “Nice, basketball is almost back” factor, but it is generally such a poor indicator of how the upcoming season will transpire that there is very little that can be gleaned from watching the games other than misinformation.

Still, hoops is hoops, so I watch a little.

Last Sunday afternoon, for instance, I caught some of a Knicks vs. Nets encounter, which, in my city, is probably as big as a preseason game not involving LeBron can get. The game featured all the wonderfully misleading hallmarks of the preseason: Jared Jeffries reminded Knicks fans how much they hate him by hitting three first-half treys; Chris Douglas-Roberts looked like a potent NBA scorer, finishing in at the rim and getting to the line like the next coming of Paul Pierce; Danilo Gallinari got his Rooster on; and Toney Douglas convinced me that he will be this year’s winner of the “Mario Chalmers Commemorative Face Palm Award” given in honor of the point guard who every GM will instantly regret not drafting.

Ultimately, however, the game accomplished its objective of getting me excited about the start of the season. So, bored by the only NFL game being broadcast locally — a truly terrible Giants/Chiefs game — and too hungover to go the nearby bar with Sunday Ticket, I fired up an NBA game from last season that I still had on my DVR for some reason. Appropriately, it was the Nets vs. the Sixers. But this wasn’t just any old contest between 1-95 rivals. No, this game featured one of the most unbelievable endings in NBA history. This game featured Devin Harris hitting an absurd, game-winning half court shot at the buzzer.

For those of you who don’t remember the game, here’s the play in question. It was an exceptional finish.

You don’t see many according to Hoyle walk-off shots in an entire NBA season. Nor do you see all that see many court shots. And in your whole life, you don’t see many walk-0ff half-court shots. And never do you see a walk-off half-court shot that looks as strange as Devin’s.

Jerry West made probably the most iconic buzzer-beating half court shot in NBA history — from well behind the line and in the Finals nonetheless — but The Logo’s shot actually only sent the game into overtime because there was no three-point line back then. Chauncey had a similar game-tying one in the 2003 Playoffs, albeit from a few feet in front of the line (at the 1:46 mark). Billups’ teammate Rasheed Wallace hit an even more impressive one with this marvelous game-winner in 2007. And didn’t Starbury hit one in the playoffs with the Suns? Could have sworn that happened, but I can’t find any evidence since Google is becoming less and less useful by the day to find things older than last week.

Those are the only others I can come up with. (I’m sure there are more. Mention some in the comments.)

Regardless of how singularly unique (© PTSA, 2008) the shot was, rewatching it got me to thinking about some of the other “games of the year” from 2008-09, and Vince Carter’s amazing double buzzer-beater game in Toronto last December leaped to mind. For some reason, I didn’t see a ton of praise given to this game on the end-of-season countdown circuit, but I remember watching the annihilation that Vince enacted that evening in the Air Canada Centre [sic] and, goddamn, does that man love to piss off Canadians.

To me, it was the regular season game of the year.

Not only did Vince’s 12 points in the final 40 seconds of regulation nearly equal his cousin TMac’s legendary 13 points in 35 seconds a few seasons ago, and not only did Vince’s catch-and-shoot three to send the game into overtime match the range of Brandon Roy’s dagger against Houston last year, but Vince’s game-winning, alley-oop, reverse dunk possibly even exceeded the splendor of Dwight’s alley-oop dunk that stunned the Spurs a few years ago.

Much like the 2000 Dunk Contest when Vince combined various historic contest-winning dunks together (e.g., his 360/windmill and his bounce-off-the-floor/alley-oop-between-the-legs), Vince combined three of the more memorable game-winning performances of the past five years all into one evening.

Devin Harris didn’t provide the most memorable heroics in that game, but despite getting sick in the locker room during the second half (reportedly due to “his pre-game grilled cheese sandwich not sitting right”), he had a helluva fourth quarter, scoring 17 points in the period to help lead his team back from an 18-point third quarter deficit and set the stage for Carter to give Toronto a giant middle finger—twice.

A strange evening, indeed. Still, the ever-humble Harris knew the night was all about Vince.

Harris called Carter’s performance “incredible.”

“He’s been doing that his whole career, but I’ve never seen it firsthand,” Harris said. “I was out there watching it just like everybody else.”

Prior to that night, Devin was also involved in one of the stranger luxury tax-era trades we have seen when Dallas shipped a young, inexpensive, highly regarded commodity for a much older, much more expensive, much less effective commodity who, oh, by the way, plays the same position. (That would be you, Jason Kidd.) Mark Cuban is one of the few execs in the NBA who is relatively unconcerned about paying the dollar-for-dollar tax, and he also desperately needed to rebrand his team after its epic first-round loss to the eighth-place Warriors in the first round of previous season’s playoffs, but it was still a head-scratching move. Who trades a 24-year-old point guard with Finals experience for a past-his-prime, 35-year-old point guard making $20 million a year?

Speaking of Devin’s Finals experience, that Heat/Mavs Finals, that has to be the strangest title series in some time. Not only was the combination of Flash, Shaq, Glove, Toine, Zo, JWill and Posey one of the strangest lineups to ever win the Larry O’Brien trophy, but the series also featured the rare “reverse sweep,” during which Miami lost the first two games only to win the next four straight.

There were also some issues with the officiating that you might have heard about. If you don’t recall, just start typing “2006 NBA Finals” into Google and check out some of the search-term suggestions that its algorithms think you might be trying to find.

So between the half-court game winner, the “Vince Pimp Slaps Toronto Show,” the Kidd trade, “Dwyane’s Referee Circus” and being the only NBA All-Star to get clowned on the playground by an English bloke in a v-neck, Devin has been at the center of a lot more strange situations than most players his age.

Considering that the reigning MVP, LeBron James, is only 24-years-old and that two future MVPs, Chris Paul and Derrick Rose, are 24 and 20, respectively, we tend to forget that 26 is pretty young — particularly when you might be the quickest player in the league with the ball and you will remain an above average athlete well into your physical decline. Devin’s young, talented and getting better. But he’s also old beyond his years.

All this Devin discussion naturally led me to start thinking about the Nets. I like this team. I know the roster isn’t much on paper. But I just have a good feeling about this team. I can’t identify exactly what that feeling is, but it exists.

It’s not excitement. It’s not hope. It’s not envy or even hungry. And it’s definitely not love — I know what an erection feels like. (© GOBias Industries, 2005)

Ultimately, I just don’t think they will be nearly as bad as many NBA experts are anticipating.

Look, no one, including me, is saying that the 2009-10 Nets are going to be good good. But I think they can at least be “under-the-radar not horrible.” That may be the back-handed compliment of all back-handed compliments, but I think a lot of people expect New Jersey to battle for worst-team-in-the-league status. I think they’ll be pretty far away from that.

And if anyone has some Ewing Theory potential, it has to be Vince Carter — especially if you factor in the cumulative effect of Rod Thorn running all three of his well-known stars out of town for cap space. The last time we saw a triumvirate of talent cast off with such abandon was when Seattle lost Griffey, Jr., Randy Johnson and Alex Rodriguez in quick succession. And didn’t the 2001 Mariners win 116 games out of the blue? In losing JKidd, Vince and Richard Jefferson, the Nets clearly haven’t lost three first-ballot Hall of Famers like Seattle did. And, obviously, there is no actual parallel between a baseball team from a decade ago and the current Nets roster. It’s a huge stretch, I get it. All I’m saying is that the addition-by-subtraction principle has caught many a sports fan off guard many a time.

The Nets are not going to make it to the second round of the playoffs or anything, but I wouldn’t be totally shocked to see them flirt with 40 wins.

Brook Lopez has some similar thoughts:

“I want to say we can be a good playoff team. I definitely think we can make the playoffs. We have enough talent, enough intelligent guys.”

Anyone who has seen this 2008 NBA Draft day video montage knows that we really shouldn’t be taking Brook’s quotes on intelligence seriously. But what we should take seriously is Brook’s game. After Al Jefferson, he might have the best back-to-the-basket game of any big man under 25. And as one of the few legitimate centers remaining in the league, Lopez used that game to put up some gaudy rookie numbers last year. In all, he had 18 double-doubles, including monster games of 24/17, 31/13 and 18/20. Not bad for a rook who didn’t become a focal point of Laurence Frank’s offense until mid-season. Brook may be among the last of a dying breed when it comes to traditional post players, but he sure does look like a must-double weapon on the block.

I realize that there’s not much else in the cupboard after Devin, Brook and, to a lesser extent, Courtney Lee, who gives the backcourt a second young guard with Finals experience. But regardless of what happens in 2009/10, these three could be the start of a good, young nucleus — particularly with the $30 million in cap room likely coming next summer.

The Nets are still at least one or two major pieces away from approaching legit, obviously. But if CDR can start scoring regularly at this level, Yi can provide anything resembling consistent production and rookie Terrance Williams can offer any promise, Jay-Z’s favorite team might have a shot at becoming a decent little squad.

And if Shawn Carter’s “I’m bringing LeBron to Brooklyn” plan turns out to be half as possible as I figure it just might be, I must confess, you have an astonishingly good idea there, Doctor Thorn.

Jared Wade is the author of Both Teams Played Hard and Eight Points, Nine Seconds. He wears a neat hat. He’s also now a contributing writer to Hardwood Paroxysm. His Off the Iron column will appear regularly here at HP. Enjoy. -MM

If we’ve learned anything about team success since the new millennium, it’s that staying on top is hard.

The Shaq/Kobe Lakers looked like one of the most dominant teams of all time for a five-year stretch, but Diesel was soon traded and the franchise that made it to four out of five Finals went right back to living through a Nick Van Exel Era-esque 34-win season. The Nets dominated the Eastern Conference for a two-year stretch that led to two Finals appearances but have been unable to even make it back to the Eastern Conference Finals since. The Mavericks made it to one Finals, suffered a heart-shattering loss and never made it out of the second round again. The team that beat Dallas, the Miami Heat, won the title and then won a grand total of three playoff games during the following three years.

Really, only the Spurs have been able retool and reload their roster well enough to remain a contender for the full decade. Whatever Gregg Popovich and RC Buford have been doing in San Antonio is working. And with the exception of Stephen Jackson, the general plan has seemed to be “Let’s keep everyone who helped us be successful last season as long as they haven’t lost too much due to age and then add a complementary piece or two.”

This philosophy, of course, isn’t the only successful way to operate a team, but the four banners now hanging in the Alamo Dome make a pretty good argument that it’s the best way to do so in the modern NBA. And from this perspective, the offseason decisions made thus far by general managers Mitch Kupchak of the Lakers and Otis Smith of the Magic seem to lie somewhere between curious and self-destructive.

The Lakers chose Ron Artest over Trevor Ariza and, possibly, Lamar Odom. Depending on your outlook, the order is debatable, but most people would agree that Ariza and Odom were the third and fourth most important players on a championship team. Now, it’s possible that neither will be retained and, instead, one of the more volatile, high-risk/high-reward players in the history of the NBA has joined the roster.

Obviously, Artest is a more dynamic player than Ariza – and maybe even more so than Odom too. But he is also obviously more of a gamble. Trevor may not be a consistent scorer in the half-court, but he was a rock for the Lakers last year in the Playoffs. More than anyone except for Kobe and Gasol, he was the guy that you knew would show up every game. His point total might vary depending on how many open threes he got or how many transition points the Lakers could generate, but his defense, his slashing, his threat to knock down jumpers and his heady play did not waver. And whether it was stealing that end-of-game in-bounds pass against Denver in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals or scoring 13 points in the third quarter of the Lakers key overtime victory in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, it seemed that Ariza always came up big when Los Angeles needed a spark.

Now, Ron Artest can do things offensively that Ariza will never be capable of doing. There’s no disputing who the more talented player is. But, conversely, we all know some of the other things Artest is capable of that Ariza would never do – and I’m not just talking about the off-the-court shenanigans, although those things are significant. Even on the court, Ron goes through full games where his shot selection is just horrible. He has stretches where he seemingly gets tired of just being a defensive presence (albeit one that was much, much more daunting back in 2004) and decides that he wants to show everyone that he has a multifaceted offensive game as well. He starts taking step-back jumpers. He starts trying to cross people over. He falls in love with the three-pointer. All these things are outside his wheelhouse and he does them at highly inopportune times.

Moreover, it’s rare to see a franchise willingly replace a younger, more reliable player with an older, more combustible one – particularly on a team that should be trying to win the next two NBA titles. Though the reasons to question to acquisition are different, there may be a parallel here with the Mavericks’ decision to exchange Devin Harris for Jason Kidd. Dallas was admittedly coming from a place of greater desperation and no one is expecting Ariza to break out like Devin did in Jersey – he’s just not that type of player – but the reasoning seems just as counter-intuitive.

In the end, going from Trevor Ariza to Ron Artest feels like a baseball team with a guy on second and no outs trying to steal third. If it works, the manager is a genius and just put his squad in a better position to score/win; but if the guy gets thrown out, the manager just took an unnecessary, foolhardy risk.

The Magic’s decision to trade for Vince Carter is even more puzzling. Why not just re-sign Hedo Turkoglu, keep Courtney Lee and bring back a healthy Jameer Nelson? Clearly, Orlando might not have won that Celtics series if Boston was at full strength and the Magic shot a historically good percentage from three during a few wins over Cleveland, but they did nevertheless make it to the Finals without their All-Star point guard. And although they lost 4-1 against the Lakers, two overtime losses and a missed Courtney Lee alley-oop suggest that they weren’t that far from the promised land.

It’s understandable and commendable that Magic Otis Smith is still trying to improve despite past success, but is turning your back on your second most important player and key offensive facilitator in favor of an oft-maligned scorer – especially if it means giving up an inexpensive, defensive-minded guard who just got Finals experience as a rookie – really the best course?

Vince definitely adds a whole new level to that offense and will make the Magic a more tradition team, but that’s just another reason why this move is odd. You would think a GM who just put together a nontraditional team that played Rashard Lewis at power forward and turned Hedo Turkoglu into a border-line All-Star point-forward would stick to that plan, if for nothing else than to just show everyone else how smart he is.
On the other hand, maybe the best time the retool to roster is when you are on top. Joe Dumars and the Detroit Pistons learned the hard way what can happen if you just “over-stay” the course.

The Pistons went to six straight Eastern Conference Finals, including two consecutive Finals appearances and one NBA title. Throughout this time, the roster remained nearly unchanged after Rasheed Wallace was acquired. The method of success was simple: Let the starting five play most of the minutes and rely on a few steady veterans like Antonio McDyess and Lindsey Hunter to bolster the second string.

Eventually, however, salary cap realities forced Joe Dumars to let Ben Wallace walk for nothing and the Chris Webber experiment proved ineffective, forcing draft picks like Jason Maxiell and Rodney Stuckey to take on larger roles than they were capable of filling. Dee-troit basketball crumbled from within and the once model franchise has now been gutted for an on-the-fly rebuilding effort based on high-risk trades and free agent signings.

If Dumars had intervened back in 2005 by trading for a potentially franchise-changing player like Vince Carter, it’s possible that the Pistons would have (a) been remembered as more than the Atlanta Braves of the NBA, and (b) be better positioned now to continue contending.

Ultimately, none of us know whether or not what the Lakers and Magic have done this offseason will bring them back to the Finals next year. (And if Los Angeles actually does bring back Lamar Odom, it would be hard to argue that simply losing Ariza in favor of Artest even actually constitutes “retooling” the roster.) The old adage, of course, is that if you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.

Looking across the League, it would seem that all the major contenders are certainly trying to get better. Cleveland added Shaq. Boston signed Rasheed. LA brought in Artest. Orlando traded for Vince. For the Cavs and Celtics, however, these changes were all additions to the current team – neither franchise had to give up any of its key cogs.

The real question, then, for Los Angeles and Orlando is whether or not they are actually getting better or just getting different.