O for a Muse of Fire ... Adam Hoff at Section F Sports declares that it is time to honor whatever it is, exactly, that Stephen Jackson is bringing to the table: "The Crazy One himself isn't exactly dominating statistically. He's had an eight turnover game. He went 2-for-10 from deep in another. He's shooting under 40% for the season. But he's making this team go. He's hitting the big shots and he's locking up the top opponent and he's snarling and throwing headbands and berating refs and chest bumping teammates and doing all the things that this Warriors team apparently can't live without. Stephen Jackson is the straw that stirs the drink in Oakland. It's official."
ESPN's Chad Ford talks to Anderson Varejao, who is mired in a negotiation impasse with Danny Ferry and the Cavaliers. Ford points out some irony: "One of the handful of similar cases happened when Ferry himself refused to sign with the team that drafted him, the Los Angeles Clippers, decided instead to play in Europe and eventually forced the Clippers to trade him to, yes, Cleveland." There's also this money quote from Varejao: "I'm willing to go and play in Europe if that's what it takes. I know it's a risk and I'll be a restricted free agent next year, but at least I'd be happy. I don't think I'll be happy in Cleveland knowing that I was [almost] the lowest-paid player there for three years and am still paid much less than players on the team that I outperform. Life's too short to be unhappy."
Brian Windhorst of the Akron Beacon-Journal reacts: "You don't think Fegan has been working on sign-and-trades since July? Of course he has and there is no deal to make. There one coming now just like there wasn't then. See, so much of this is common NBA sense, which is why so much of this is nonsense. By the way, Varejao trying to indict the Cleveland media saying he never asked for a contract averaging $10-$11 million a year is rich. One of the worst kept secrets in the NBA is that Fegan asked for six years and more than $60 million a few days before training camp. Executives all over the league have been taking to each other and to media members about that figure. It's not even inside information anymore, everybody knows it. Maybe that is not what they are asking for now, but they asked for it then. From the Cavs side, their failure is to not have a backup plan in place. While Varejao was refusing to talk all summer, Danny Ferry should've been making a deal to secure another big man. Now they are paying for the lack of a plan B on the court."
The headline of this article is "Bulls' Solution: Go to Movies" and I thought to myself -- that's a good idea. Break the mental torment for a second. Stop analyzing, searching, and probing. Stop the tiresome asking of the question: what are we doing wrong? They have players who can play. They don't need to invent some kind of new trick. They just need to get in the mental frame of mind to do what they do best. And a team trip to the movies, or bungee jumping, or something crazy, strikes me as good a way as any to get a good team out of a rut. But then I read the article, and realized it was an article about more game film study, more probing, more talk about what's going wrong. Going to the movies sure sounds like a lot more fun.
Remember Dwight Howard's sticker dunk? To me it was the best dunk of last year's competition -- rare creativity. And he got a measly 42, and was eliminated in the first round. The whole thing chapped his hide, and he'd like a chance to make things right in New Orleans. His agent says he has been working on some crazy stuff. (He had more crazy stuff ready last year, too.) During last night's Orlando vs. Portland broadcast, they said he has been practicing touching a spot near the top of the backboard. As the sideline reporter explained, that's as high as two Travis Outlaws, one stacked on top of the other. UPDATE: Fascinating conversation about whether or not it is possible for anyone to actually touch the top of an NBA backboard, complete with, ironically, a photo of that very same Travis Outlaw coming pretty close.
Scottie Pippen's career enters the "pickled herring" phase as he suits up for one game in Sweden. At least, I'm told that's what this says, but I can't read Swedish.
A blogger has created downloadable icons, past and present, for every NBA team. The Pistons win the dubious distinction of having had the most different icons (six) through the years.
Fun game. Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic blogs: "The weirdest part was when Mike D'Antoni went big and had Brian Skinner, who didn't play in the first half, and either Boris Diaw or Amare Stoudemire on the court for the final 15 minutes. 'The Suns actually brought out their big lineup,' Warriors Coach Don Nelson said. 'I don't know if I've ever seen that before.'"
Tim Povtak of the Orlando Sentinel with some insight into Pat Riley, Stan Van Gundy, and Stan Van Gundy's wife, Kim: "Riley, before the game Saturday, said too much was made of his insistence that the Heat be compensated by the Magic for hiring Van Gundy, who was still on the Heat's payroll at the time. Riley originally asked for a first-round pick and $1 million, but he settled for considerably less, a second-round pick and an option to trade first-round picks next summer. Although the Magic will debate his memory now, he said Saturday that he would have caved completely, and that he merely was bluffing. 'At the very end, he [Van Gundy] could have come here for nothing,' Riley said. 'If Orlando would have said, 'No, we won't give you anything,' he still would have ended up coaching here.' Riley joked this summer that the reason he lowered his demands was not because he liked Van Gundy, but because the relationship he had with his wife, Kim. 'Kim is great,' Riley said Saturday. 'In the old days, when Stan was coaching [in Miami], she and I used to meet in my office, and we'd go outside, out back when we were both smokers. We'd share a cigarette. She was like me, used to walk the hallways nervous. We had a hard time watching the games because they were so close.'"
Jorge Garbajosa played for his national team while recovering from injury, and now appears to be seriously injured again. Everyone is mad at everyone else, and an insurance policy covering Garbajosa is set to expire this week. These are the kinds of things that pit national teams against professional teams.
I have heard from several Knick fans who are convinced this lineup, this coach, and this franchise have all been vindicated by a few wins. You want to tell the world how wrong we were to ever doubt you. I hear you. I hear you. Here's my question: want to bet? I'm still convinced that the team with the highest payroll in the NBA won't be winning a playoff series until there have been some major changes. If you think I'm wrong, I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who'd happily take the other end of that bet.
Portland, last night, had Orlando on the ropes. They had a double digit lead and Dwight Howard in foul trouble. But the Blazers only have two players who can really play center, Joel Przybilla and LaMarcus Aldridge (you hear stories about Raef LaFrentz, but I haven't seen that guy get things done in ages). Last night, Przybilla was feisty and it worked -- Dwight Howard was the only Magic player to have a negative plus/minus. Dave from BlazersEdge explains: "No matter what any stat line says, this game belonged to Joel Przybilla. He returned to the starting lineup and played the first quarter with such vengeance that I thought he might win the game all by himself. He did an amazing job on Dwight Howard, probably playing him as well as anybody has all year. He also set tons of great picks on offense to free up all kinds of shooters and drivers. He deserves a standing ovation. Both the announcers and the fans have been wondering aloud why Joel didn't play more in the middle stages of the second half." Essentially, the Blazers were notably bad during a chunk of the second half when Przybilla was on the bench, saving his fouls for Dwight Howard down the stretch. Nate McMillan even played Channing Frye at center to protect Przybilla and Aldridge. But here's the punch line: Przybilla finished with a measly three fouls. Aldridge, who also sat more than anyone would have liked, finished with five fouls. You could sure argue that Portland lost the game for lack of good center play, yet finished with only eight fouls on those two good centers who were entitled to twelve.
Ryan Jones of SLAM: "Anyway, you might be wondering: Did I come away enriched - as a basketball fan, as a father and husband, as an American - by my brief stay at the Steve Alford All-American Inn? I don't think I did. Here's what I came away with: About five hours of sleep, and a shower, and part of a donut, all of which allowed me to complete the eight hours of driving I needed to get home. So that was good. Also, I stole some stationary, and one of those tiny pencils like you get when you play mini-golf, both of which bear the logo of the Steve Alford All-American Inn. I did so thinking they'd be great souvenirs, but I'll most likely lose them or throw them away before long. Also, Steve Alford himself was not seen at the Steve Alford All-American Inn. I chalk that up to it being basketball season. I assume that, between April and October, he's there all the time. Somebody's got to change the sheets."
A suggestion of an explanation why Dr. James Naismith's book on basketball omits mention of black people playing the game.
Deep thought: remember when the Suns and the Spurs met in the second round, and everyone declared that it was a crisis of seeding? It occurs to me that could also be seen as a crisis of a season that's too long. Hear me out: the Spurs don't sweat the regular season. (Witness: last night's revenge of Beno Udrih.) They just don't. It's too long. You can't peak for 100 games straight. So they play hard enough. If they played hard all the time, however, they would have been the top seed, and they would have met the strongest oppostion in the conference finals, which is not the Finals as you'd wish, but at least it's not the freaking second round. If the season were 60 games, every regular season game meant that much more, and the wear and tear on the bodies was less, maybe then there would be no reason for the Spurs not to get themselves a top seed.
Trainer and coach Brian McCormick is trying to figure out what the Bulls can do, long-term, to improve: "Hinrich and Gordon are pretty savvy players already. I just don't see how they are going to get markedly better. Deng could improve a great deal if he diversified his game, but will he? Thomas and Noah have yet to hit their peak, but will they add elements to their game to elevate their level of performance enough to offset additions like KG and Allen to the Celtics or Rashard Lewis to the Magic? That's the question. Is Hinrich improving his 3-pt shooting percentage by 2% enough to offset the Celtics acquiring Ray Allen? No. That's my point. The big three are basically at their peak. They may improve slightly and they will likely play at this level for five or more years, but what are they going to do to greatly improve their game?"
Wasn't Ryan Gomes supposed to blossom in Minnesota? Britt Robson of the Rake: "... the biggest goat of the game for the Wolves was Gomes, whose sour play has gone from temporary mystery to odd dilemma to legitimate concern. He started well with a solid couple of games, resurrected himself a bit in the Cleveland loss and has returned to the tank. He remains a shrewd player in many facets of the game. He knows how to move without the ball and get open, for example, but there isn't a player on this team who has missed more wide open looks thus far this season. After shooting 48.7% and 46.7% his first two years, he is currently at 38.9%. It's not because he's shooting more treys either--his long range percentage is over 40 and comprising an increasing slice of his total shots--not a good sign for someone 6-8, 250. But the real bugaboo tonight was turnovers: He had 5, versus one assist, in just 17:37, which is why he registered a whopping minus -11, meaning the squad was plus +20 in the 30 minutes he sat."
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