Jack’s Blog

So LeBron James is going to be the MVP of the NBA.  A probability nearly as certain is that he will lead the Miami Heat to their second consecutive championship.  A year of debilitating injuries to guys who could influence games’ outcomes, e.g. Rose, Rondo, Westbrook, Nash, Bryant, Griffin, Gallinari and Lee seemed to align the stars perfectly for a Miami repeat.  Not that they weren’t poised for a repeat anyway, but if ever was there a year they could get by without Dwyane Wade at 100%, this one’s it.

Tomorrow’s MVP award will be his fourth, as many as Wilt, one shy of MJ and Bill Russell, two fewer than Kareem.  It will also be his fourth in five years, the string split by Derrick Rose, who, after taking the entire year off in order to be 100% when he returns, could pose a threat to both accomplishments (MVP and NBA champion) in the future.

Michael and Russ accomplished the duel feat a record 4 times, Larry and Kareem twice, and eight others once.  So, assuming the Heat live up to expectations, the championship would be theirs and LBJ would move into the company of Bird and Jabbar.  Certainly elite company but, as anyone who knows LeBron, or has talked to him, or has read about him, or has heard about him, . . . understands is that elite company is not his goal.  Unique is the level to which he aspires.

He turned 28 a little more than four months ago.  He’s in better shape than 98% of the guys he plays against and has enough resources to keep up with any new advances in science and technology, be they in nutrition, strength training, flexibility, cardiovascular or psychological.  How much longer can he play barring serious injury, at a championship/ MVP level?  Eight more years puts him at 36.  That’s a lot of hardware he could haul.

The obvious question then is: Is he the best player of all-time?  Maybe it’s my age or when I was involved with basketball at a level just below the NBA but my answer could lie in an old joke:

“George Washington was first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen.  First president of the United States.  But he married a widow - which just goes to show, that no matter how hard you try, you can’t be first in everything.”

Fan is short for fanatic.  It’s just that a fanatic gets fanatical about his or her team when the team is down as well as when it’s winning.  And that fanaticism can take on the form of sarcasm, negativity and disgust if losing persists - even if injuries turn a slim chance into a nonexistent one.  In the case of the Los Angeles Lakers, their fans should have their “fan licenses” revoked after the way they acted toward their team - or what was left of it - the past few games.

If any Lakers fan is asked to name the greatest player in the NBA, every last one of them will (still) yell, “Kobe!“  So, when your team loses its best player - who happens to be the best player in the NBA (according to you) - wouldn’t you think it would be normal (even for fanatics) - to tone down their expectations?  At least a little?  One of them was heard (on the air in Fresno) answering that question by exclaiming, “Maybe, but this is the Lakers.“  Meaning what?  That there’s a proclamation issued that your team is bequeathed wins?

First of all, before they lost Bryant, the Lakers were a seven seed matched up against the two seed.  The two seed that just happened to be the San Antonio Spurs, a team that’s used to post season pressure, having won its share of championships in the past, and a team that has a coach in Gregg Popovich who many think is the best in the business.  In addition to having the great Kobe MIA for the remainder of the year, Los Angeles had Steve Nash as its point guard.  He would have been the perfect lead guard had he not gotten hurt.  Some fans felt that it was a mistake to obtain Nash because it was inevitable he was going to get hurt - with his age and history of injuries.  Nevertheless, these fans still expected Nash to lead the team to a World Championship.  But, alas, Nash got hurt and wasn’t available last night.

Steve Blake is, ideally, the back up to Nash, so with Nash out, Lakers fans felt he was certainly capable to lead the team.  Then, he pulled his hamstring - and now he’s out indefinitely.  Jodie Meeks, a nice complementary player was next, but he sprained his ankle and is headed for an MRI.  Is there someone out there with a Los Angeles Lakers voodoo doll?  I guarantee if there was such a thing, they’d sell out in a hurry.

Still and all, Laker fans went into Game 3 with hope that, maybe the home crowd could pull them through.  Of course, if that were to happen, it would have to wait until at least midway through the second quarter because that’s when it’s fashionable to show up in LA.  You know, like, with the traffic and all.

When the game began, the Lakers got a few points from their big guys - Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard.  The fans, which include their announcers, actually thought, even though the game is 48 minutes, that they’d have a shot.  “Get it inside!” they yelled, because it is somewhat unrealistic to depend on a second year player and a guy just called up from the D-League to knock down enough shots to win.  And, because that’s what Kobe tweeted.  As if the Spurs didn’t consider it would be a good idea for the Lakers to try to score that way and had not game planned for it.

That’s when the cynicism begins.  All because the fan’s team is losing.  And they don’t want to be a loser.  A number of them are losers in what they do.  The Lakers give them meaning - and they think - respect.  Hey, they don’t need any more help being a loser.  While fanatic has the word “fan” in it, so does infantile.  Winston Churchill said a long time ago:

“A fanatic is someone who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.”

Heading to Monterey for the Cal State Monterey Bay men’s basketball awards banquet.  Will most likely spend a couple days on the coast.  This blog will return on Wednesday.

The Knicks beat the Celtics.  The Celts are going to have a tough go of it.  Don’t even try to say, as some have, Boston is better without Rajon Rondo.  In every game he plays, he’s extremely likely to have a triple-double and unless that productivity can be replaced by a player or players in some other area(s), it’s just too much offense to give up.  And he disrupts the opponent’s offense because of his quickness, anticipation and long arms.

In the Denver-Golden State game, Andre Miller showed old guys can still play - that an incredibly high basketball IQ can make up for what Father Time has taken away.  As the father of a son whose game is highly dependent on basketball intelligence, it’s refreshing to see winning is not all about the “wow factor.”

Bill Simmons showed why he is on the studio show.  He represents “Joe Fan” which he proved during the halftime segment of the Nets-Bulls game.  With the score 60-35 in favor of Brooklyn, Simmons incredibly said “Well, it looks like a sweep?”  Sweep?  He sounds just like a guy sitting at the end of a bar who is pissed off because he has $20 on the Bulls plus the points.  Knowledgeable sports people understand that a 25-point halftime lead in Game One only guarantees you one game in the series.  Maybe.  Sure the Nets might sweep, but it’s a tad premature to give up on Chicago at least winning a game just yet.

Simmons again displayed his less-than-brilliant insight when he claimed at halftime that, while Chauncey Billups was having a great game (10 points), it wasn’t wise for LA to play him because in the next round they’ll need the quickness of Eric Bledsoe.  It was subsequently mentioned by one of his colleagues - and probably 90% of the viewing audience - that playing Billups this series would be fine because Bledsoe could replace him in the next series.  Duh.

As extra added bonus analysis, Simmons oh-so-cleverly brought to the viewers’ attention that, “Kobe Bryant’s twitter feed is going to be a very interesting subplot,” inferring Mike D’Antoni ought to be worried about what his injured star tweets.  As if trying to beat the Spurs, without Kobe and possibly, Steve Nash, isn’t enough to keep him up at night.  Simmons has a huge following because there are so many fans out there like him, i.e. guys who never played and who love to criticize guys who do.  Or idolize them.  His sport has always dealt with a pen and paper.  He’s taken his game to the next level by mastering the computer and social media.

For ESPN’s halftime studio show, he serves as comic relief.  He has had run-ins with the station (according to his Wikipedia page) over censorship matters, among other issues.  Maybe the best advice he could receive is:

“Don’t take yourself so seriously; no one else does.”

Sorry, readers, but no new blogs until Tuesday.  Watching younger son, Alex, play a couple games in the Bay area.  

Kobe Bryant has such passion for the game of basketball in the way he plays (30,000 points is only one aspect of his greatness), speaks (to his teammates) and acts (he’s absolutely obsessed), it’s transparent that he wants to be known as the greatest of all-time (G.O.A.T.) but that moniker belongs to one Michael Jeffery Jordan.  He’d probably be thrilled to be referred to as the best of all-time but, alas, Pat Riley, the master of copyright (remember “Three-peat”?) has taken B.O.A.T. off the market, donning his superstar, LeBron James with that acronym.

So what’s left for Kobe?  First, getting Steve Nash on the floor has got to be his Christmas wishes #1 through 10.  Short of that, he needs to change his motivational speech to Pao Gasol.  Pau has been a part of a championship team so it’s not like he doesn’t know, or can’t handle, the feeling of winning it all.  Kobe’s verbal assaults, “You’ve got to put on your big boy pants,” being the latest, might have a reverse effect on the apparently ultra-sensitive Gasol.  How to reach Gasol in time to turn the season around is something beyond anyone not close to the Lakers and if anyone were to think otherwise, they would be foolish.  It’s just that Kobe wants desperately to win, Pau’s not getting it done and Kobe blitzing Pau with sharp words hasn’t been a solution.  Suggestion?  Try something else.

Next, downplay Dwight Howard’s poor foul shooting.  BUT, get him to make up for it at the defensive end.  Dwight was right when he said their loss to Orlando wasn’t due to his poor foul shooting.  It was the fact they continued to allow the Magic to score following his misses.

Finally, Kobe and Mike D’Antoni need to stay together during the tough times, e.g. until Nash comes back.  The coach can handle hostile fans and media considering where he’s been (and I’m not talking about Phoenix).

If Kobe can do all that, keep on scoring and doing whatever else it takes to win, someone will come up with an anagram for him.

What might work for Kobe is Goethe’s line:

“Treat people as they are and they’ll remain as they are.  Treat them as they can, and should, be and they’ll become that.”

Early reports left no doubt the Zen Master was returning to ring up another.  Mike D’Antoni might have been mentioned but less than Harry S was in ‘48.  Sure enough, the headline writers got it wrong again.  How and why are left to insiders.  Some say Phil overplayed his hand, requesting (demanding) a piece of the organization, others say his exit last time (plus other lack of human connection occurrences) got under Jim Buss’ skin so much, the younger Buss reveled in saying no.  Of course, being a protected, some may say, spoiled child, he had Mitch Kupchak deliver the news.

Whatever the case, all the players seemed to be excited in getting Phil back and held nothing back with their praise of the apparent move.  Naturally, Steve Nash was ecstatic.  Kobe was even smiling.  Now that the newest news is out, everybody seems to feel the same way.  Kobe’s answer to the switch was the slickest.

He claimed when ownership asked him (following the Brown dismissal), his choice was actually D’Antoni.  He had no idea Jackson would be available.  Then, when it was announced that Phil wanted the job, Kobe said of course that was the guy he wanted.  Incredibly political, probably 95% true (the other 5% was in case Coach K was in the mix).  He said he got to know D’Antoni from the Olympic experience and he’s unbelievably competitive - which is right up Kobe’s alley.

So who is the biggest loser?  The fans?  Forget them.  If the team wins, they’ll all say they were in the “We Like Mike Club” all along.  If they lose, they’ll be as angry as . . . if Jackson coached and the team lost.

Listen to Todd Musberger, Phil’s agent, who is slamming the club for offering his client the job and awakening him from relaxing night’s sleep to say they were going in a different direction.  Phil has been known to have slept with management, so to speak, but there were no indications anyone else was awoken when Kupchak called.  Musberger is saying there were no outrageous demands made by his client, just that they had a handshake deal Phil had until Monday, i.e. about 12 hours later to decide.  Now, Phil. the master media manipulator (remember how he’d communicate his displeasure with his players through the media?), is saying he really wanted the job.

Really, does anyone in their right mind think the Lakers would say, “OK, go ahead, you’re our coach.  We’ll hammer out the details at a later time”?  Give him that much of an upper hand?  C’mon, Todd, even you can’t buy that one.  The real loser here is the agent because:

“0% of nuthin’s nuthin.”

Prior to hiring Mike Brown, the Lakers should have taken a page out of UPS’ playbook: “What can Brown do for you (us)?”  Apparently, his reputation was in tightening up the defense.  The Lakers had a super-talented, albeit young and immature center who could erase mistakes and a proven big-time scorer, maybe the best player in the game who, also, relished taking the challenge of shutting down the opponent’s best perimeter player.  Good start for the D.  Brown’s main problem, though, seemed to be the lack of a blueprint for immediate success.  He didn’t quite get it - that with the Lakers, they only want one championship - per year.  In LA there’s no laboratory, no “Let’s try this, see if it works.  If not, let’s give this a shot.”  Uh uh.  Not in LA.  Maybe the Lakers’ front office wasn’t clear enough with their new coach.

The question is did the front office know, when putting together this year’s team, that Mike Brown was a bad fit?  If so, why would they allow him to bring in Eddie Jordan to install the Princeton offense?  Mitch Kupchak, as opposed to other GMs in the league, has a really good basketball background (heck, he played for Dean Smith).  Why, then, did he not realize the guys he was acquiring were 1) really talented and 2) a poor match for the Princeton O?  Steve Nash needs to be the predominant ballhandler & decision maker (that’s why everybody is so enamored with him), not be part of a five-man offense.  Surely, Kupchak (or whoever) realized Dwight Howard wasn’t the prototypical Princeton center.  Believe it or not, the Tigers don’t usually play with a guy in the post who is the size of King Kong.

After relieving Brown of his head coaching duties, Kupchak said, “This team was built to contend this year.”  If that was the organization’s thinking, it seemed as though they were trying to fit square pegs in round holes with the change in offensive philosophy.  Once the job opened, it was apparent which way the Lakers would be going although their meal ticket said later in the day: “I’m not sure what direction we’re heading in next.”  Kobe, to quote Seth Meyers, “Really?”

One of the reasons Phil Jackson called it a career was because of how much his body hurt after long trips.  After flying on a charter with captain’s chairs, trainers and doctors (and all the things they have in their little black bags).  Those trips are still on the schedule.  But now Steve Nash and Dwight Howard are on the plane.  That usually makes for a smoother flight.  All Laker fans hope Phil gets well soon.  Well enough to coach weeks into the summer.

As far as Mike Brown’s situation goes, Ron Livingston might want to rephrase what he once said:

“It can be liberating to get fired because you realize the world doesn’t end.  There’s other ways to make money, better jobs.

Maybe yes to the first part, but the second?  C’mon now.

What a coincidence!  I just read an article this morning in this week’s Sports Illustrated on Portland’s point guard, Damian Lillard and damn, if he doesn’t go out in his first game - against the Los Angeles Lakers (who, if they don’t get it straightened out soon, will not be deserving of italics) - and puts up 23 points and 11 assists.  Nice debut.

In the article it began with Lillard proclaiming in the fall of his frosh year at Weber State that he was going to the league.  He wasn’t referring to the Big Sky.  Phil Beckner, an assistant coach told him that it wouldn’t happen because he didn’t understand pick & rolls (P&R).  Then, as a good assistant would do (and there are more out there than most people realize), he got him a DVD of Steve Nash, Tony Parker and Deron Williams running 10 P&Rs each.  Beckner proceeded to work with Lillard for four years (yeah, some kids still go to college that long).  All that pre-practice P&R work paid off as Lillard was taken with the sixth pick by the Blazers.

The young fella has got to be excited about playing with LaMarcus Aldridge who certainly is head and shoulders (gee, that was too easy) better than his opponents and WSU partners from last year.  During training camp Portland’s GM asked him how he was doing and he said, “I can’t believe it’s so easy.”  One can only imagine how he feels after last night’s double-double.  Somehow, when the Blazers get to the three-quarter mark of the season, i.e. after he’s played 65 or so NBA games, and the same GM comes by and says, “Hey, get ready for the last twenty games.; we gotta start our playoff run push,” don’t be surprised if Lillard’s answer might be:

“I can’t believe it’s so long.”

It’s always amusing to me when fans hit the panic button after the first game of the season.  Well, for supporters like that, the Lakers just forced a major run on panic buttons.  The only thing about that is this time, it might just be the proper move to make.

It’s widely known the Lakers went 0-8 in the preseason.  LA coach Mike Brown even said his team might go winless in the preseason.  The staff was trying to put in the Princeton offense.  Ding!  Ding!  Ding!  There is the problem.  Pete Carril, the inventor of the Princeton offense when he was head coach at - duh - did so for a couple of reasons.  One was, being at Princeton, he had guys who were extraordinarily bright.  This isn’t always a formula for success in athletics as book smart doesn’t necessarily equate to ball smart.  But Pete’s guys were both.  Secondly, Pete knew that when his teams played the “big boys,” the only chance he had was to slow the game down and frustrate better players.

Certainly, running the Princeton offense wasn’t going to be done because the Lakers were smarter than their opponents (even though their starting five might just be).  The Lakers have better players than their opponents (maybe not all of them) and need to be doing exactly what Pete Carril was doing at Princeton, i.e. taking advantage of his players’ abilities.  Like pushing the ball first and foremost, then running pick and rolls with Steve Nash, pounding the ball inside to Dwight Howard, isolating Kobe Bryant - putting all their guys in positions to do what they do best - exactly what Carril’s offense did.

Defensively, one issue they have is that they have to doubleteam every pick and roll because of Nash.  They obviously can’t switch.  He also has a tough time staying in front of quicker guards and as he gets older, there are A LOT of quicker guards (while attacking him wears him down, so has Father Time).

One question lingers: did Brown really not care if they went 0-8 in the preseason because, as Vince Lombardi said, “Winning is a habit; so is losing” and we all know basketball (as are most sports) is a game of habits.  Sure, all the guys weren’t playing in preseason games so it’s tough to get in sync.  But this was a home loss, to a Mavs team without Chris Kaman.  And, oh yeah, Dirk Nowitzki.  Charles Barkley wasn’t even commenting on the Lakers’ loss when he said post game, “You can’t judge the Mavs without their two best players - Dirk and Kaman.”  Ouch.

So is it time to panic?  Hey, it’s only 1 game out of 82 (at least they get in a whole season this year).  Can they come back?  Sure.  Although I am truly an admirer of the Princeton offense, Los Angeles is not the time nor the place to run it.  Except for maybe Cal Tech.

Mike Brown comes off as a pretty cool customer and is certainly an intelligent man but he ought to consider this one stat.  Last night was the only game in Steve Nash’s career in which he scored less than ten points and had fewer than five assists when playing at least 20 minutes.  There are many learned people who will tell you that stubbornness is an admirable quality.  Mike Brown seems to come off that way.   He would be wise to keep in mind Alexander Herzen’s thought on being stubborn, considering how many coaches’ careers have ended because of it:

“There is nothing in the world more stubborn than a corpse: you can hit it, you can knock it to pieces, but you cannot convince it.”

When the Lakers got Steve Nash, they got older but much wiser - and better.  Fans of the Lakeshow were hopeful the Magic would think Andrew Bynum would be better than nothing for Dwight Howard, giving LA a starting unit of Nash, Howard, Kobe, Pau and, naturally, World Peace.

Sure, the Heat are the defending champs and the Thunder are the current runners-up.  And there are 27 other teams that are going to at least try.  But Nash, with his experience and savvy, gives the Lakers a way to get easy baskets.  No more having to give it to Kobe with a short shot clock.  Defense would be somewhat of a problem but Superman, or in this case, Superman II, would be erasing at least as many mistakes as Bynum and, believe it or not, would raise the maturity level of the team’s center position.  And scoring at such a prolific pace (which Nash would mean to LA’s offense) would compensate for lesser D - although having played that many years in the league makes him crafty enough to be an adequate defender.

All that talk became moot when the Heat inked Ray Allen.  If Nash once said it would be tough putting on a Lakers’ jersey, imagine the emotions playing for Miami ought to evoke in Allen.  Maybe that’s what a perfect fit does for an aging player.  The one area, until the Finals, that the Heat had was they didn’t have a reliable three point shooter.  No need to worry now.  Talk about “spreading the floor.”

With LeBron, DWade - and even Mario Chalmers - being able to get to the basket as effectively as any trio in the NBA, Allen will just have to spot up beyond the arc.  Imagine the pressure on the opponent’s defensive coordinator when he realizes helping off the NBA’s best-ever three point shooter means stopping two only to give up three.

Coaches and players of the other 29 teams must have been sick when they heard about the move.  But NBA assistant coaches make upwards of a quarter of a mil.  The league’s coaches and players are millionaires, except for those who are multi-millionaires.  Which can only mean that even though the Heat just signed Ray Allen:

“Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.”

Dwyane Wade reached out to a couple of his friends and the three talked about hooking up and creating a dynasty.  The first year, they went to the NBA Finals and lost.  This year, well, you know what happened.  The Celtics pulled off the same move, getting Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to join forces with Paul Pierce.  That move turned out OK too.

With the new CBA being what it is, teams will be using this philosophy to build an instant winner.  Which, after all, is what the fans want.  I find it amusing that when a team is getting older, one question that’s always thrown out is, “Should the team be blown up and built back up again.”  There are a variety of opinions.  I have never doubted the sincerity of those who say the team should be blown up.  Yet I wonder how many of them will stick by their team through the rebuilding process.

Often, which decision is made is based on the location of the team.  Small market teams usually have a more devoted fan base and can withstand growing pains better.  Not that losing doesn’t hurt.  Whatever the case is with those clubs, the teams found in large markets have a loyal group of fans as long as the team wins.  If there’s a prolonged (a short?) period of losing, many will say, “Good luck.  Get back to me when you start winning again.”

Contending isn’t enough for these clubs.  There’s “blow up” talk regarding the Knicks (at least they’re finally good enough to talk about blowing them up), Celtics, Spurs, Mavs and the Lakers.  It’s hard to believe that anyone who has anything to d0 with the Los Angeles Lakers would ever considering anything for their team but challenging for the championship.  I just turned 64 and can’t remember a season in which LA wasn’t a serious contender.

The latest move the Laker brass pulled off will either give the team a chance to add another title to the rafters or . . . call for the bomb squad.  For years the pundits listed “point guard” as a negative for the Lakers.  Adding Steve Nash to their current group will eliminate that problem - unless the talk turns to defense.  Now, if a deal can be made to trade Andrew Bynum for Dwight Howard (don’t ask for the details or why Pau Gasol isn’t the big guy traded), the Lakers become deeply involved in title talk.

After this past season, people became believers in LeBron’s multi-championships boast.  The Oklahoma City Thunder is, for many - especially for small market teams - the prototype organization.  Young and built through the draft, the Thunder made it to the finals this year.  If not favored to win it next year, they’ll certainly be one of the favorites.  The problem is the draft’s so fickle, it might be too hard a road to take.

When the Knicks traded for Amare Stoudamire, Tyson Chandler and Carmelo Anthony after the Celts and Heat made theirs, the boundary lines were set.  After Phoenix acquired so many draft picks for Nash, small market teams were given their game plan.  The problem for the NBA is there are so many more small market franchises that, while ratings for the Finals will be great, the league office might consider condensing the regular season again.

These arguments will be further bolstered if the Lakers get Dwight Howard.  And if that happens, everybody will have to deal with it because at that level, the best advice could be a line from Zig Ziglar:

“Don’t be distracted by criticism.  Remember, the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you.”