NBA is back! After 149 days of anger, contempt and greed, the NBA lockout is no longer, and you will not find a happier individual than Delonte West me. Between the agents' attempted mutiny against Billy Hunter, Dwyane Wade's verbal assault of David Stern, Micky Arison's $500k fine for spilling the beans on negotiations, and the NBA's threat of a "nuclear winter," it's more than fair to say the road to this point has been a bumpy one.
However, of the countless developments throughout the NBA Lockout saga (The Nuclear Autumn, if you will) the most surprising was Michael Jordan's emergence as the most adamant hardline owner attempting to screw over the players. This was particularly surprising because -- as you may or may not be aware -- Michael Jordan used to play a bit of ball himself.
I'm no lawyer, no economist, hell, I'm not even a motivational speaker, but I am willing to bet that if you let me bring a 6' x 4' blowup of the image below to the negotiating table I solve the lockout in three hours tops. There's honestly no way MJ could cause a scene, demanding a 47/53 split of revenue while he's staring down a bigger than life version of himself silently but continually insisting, "Hey, we should all totally, like, just get along and be friends, man."
Worth noting: the new collective bargaining agreement has a mutual opt-out in 6 years. Holler at me in 2017, players' union; I'll keep this photo on file.
Report cards have never been a favorite of mine. Many of the marks I've received in the past have required me to justify the letter grade to my parents with some contrived and bumbling explanation.
NBA Draft grades, in my opinion, are quite similar. Though I'd be assigning the grades rather than receiving them, doling out scores to teams for their draft day moves would require me to pass immediate judgment on players that may need years to develop and others that I know nothing about (Chukwudiebere Maduabum?!?)
With that said, I marked this event on my calendar months in advance; it's simply against my nature not to fully scrutinize the draft. So I just cut out all the malarkey with the grades, predictions, and irrelevant selections and got down to some good old-fashioned speculating.
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cavaliers had a pretty awful season in year 1 P.D. (Post-Decision) and despite making two of the top four picks, that is not likely to change drastically in 2011-2012 whenever NBA basketball resumes. Kyrie Irving was the safe pick at #1 and should be a solid piece to build around in the future. With the #4 pick the Cavs got their guy, Tristan Thompson, though the pick was widely considered a reach especially considering Thompson plays the same position as Cleveland's best young player, J.J. Hickson.
The Cavs addressed the frontcourt situation by shipping Hickson to Sacramento in return for Omri Casspi and the Rockets' 2012 first round pick. Still, a lineup of Irving, Anthony Parker, Omri Casspi, Antawn Jamison, and Anderson Varejao doesn't exactly strike fear in the heart of opponents. But, you've got to start somewhere I suppose. See you in the lottery next year.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Boneheaded draft night moves have come to define David Kahn's tenure as GM in Minnesota. On draft night, Kahn's kept things interesting by completing a whirlwind of trades but, in his defense, managed not to ruin the entire franchise in the process. The Wolves began with the 2nd and 20th picks, but by the end of the draft they had sent out Jonny Flynn (Kahn's #6 selection and the second of four guards taken merely two years ago) while adding Brad Miller, Derrick Williams, Malcolm Lee, and two future second rounders.
If that sounds too good to be true for the infamous Kahn, it is. His obligatory blunder came as he bought the #57 pick to select Tanguay Ngombo out of Qatar. The only problem: Ngombo falsely stated his age as 21, when in fact he is 26 years old, thus making him too old to be eligible for the draft. A simple look at Qatar's national team roster would have confirmed his true age, but I suppose that would have been too much to ask. Oops!
Utah Jazz
Many experts are calling the Jazz the biggest winners in the draft, and I fully agree. Kanter doesn't necessarily fill a need but his selection provides a cheaper alternative to Millsap and Jefferson, which gives the Jazz the flexibility to trade one or the other for an established veteran. As for their #12 pick, Alec Burks gives Utah an athletic scorer whose skill set will complement CJ Miles and Gordon Hayward. I won't make too many bold predictions for this year's draft, but I do believe that Alec Burks will eventually become one of the elite players in the 2011 class. You heard it here first.
Washington Wizards
We'll hope this #6 overall pick nicknamed the Dunking Ninja turns out better than the last #6 pick and fellow Wizard known as the Dunking Ninja. (In fairness to Yi, I don't know if he's ever been called the Dunking Ninja, but he does bear a stronger resemblance to every ninjamost ninjas than Vesely, so it's only logical.)
Charlotte Bobcats
Michael Jordan doesn't have the best track record when it comes to draft picks, so I'm hesitant to give him the benefit of the doubt on the trade up to get Bismack Biyombo. Biyombo averaged 6 points per game in the second division of the Spanish league, so I feel my skepticism is warranted. Yes, I am aware he recorded a triple-double at the Nike Hoops Summit, but the last African player (Mouhamed Saer Sene four years ago) with no offensive game whatsoever, that recorded double digit blocks in the Hoop Summit, and was selected in the lottery, is now playing for BCM Gravelines Dunkerque in France. Who? My point exactly.
Detroit Pistons
The Piston's were happy to have Brandon Knight fall to them at #8, but it was very apparent from his demeanor that he did not feel the same way about landing in Detroit. On the bright side, maybe he'll use that anger as motivation against opponents. At very least his tenure with the Pistons should be more productive than that of Darko Milicic.
Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings landed the almighty Jimmer with the tenth selection, thus pairing him with Tyreke Evans in the backcourt. Though the two provide a sizable scoring threat, clearly there will not be enough shots available for Fredette and Evans to both hoist their desired amount. For the sake of the Kings, let's hope the new Collective Bargaining Agreement stipulates that the game be played with more than one ball. DeMarcus Cousins has been known to get quite aggravated even when he is getting touches, so I'd hate to see what materializes in Sacramento once their guards neglect to get him the ball.
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors added Klay Thompson at #11, which would seem to signal that Monta Ellis is on the way out, though the team continues to deny they are shopping him. However, this could be an acknowledgment by the Warriors that they are incapable of playing defense and will instead focusing on trying to win games by allowing Ellis, Thompson, Stephen Curry, and Dorrell Wright rip as many three pointers as they can manage in 48 minutes.
Denver Nuggets
As far as my research shows, none of the players the Nuggets added on draft night have any tattoos. It remains to be seen how this may effect their team chemistry.
Miami Heat
You may have heard that the Heat added the best player in Cleveland last summer yet still fell to the Mavericks in the NBA Finals. Pat Riley's move to put them over the top? Add the next best player in Cleveland, Norris Cole. No word in yet on whether Cole will show up to play in the fourth quarter of tight games.
In the first post-draft edition of the Old School Pic of the Week I present to you a vintage image of Kentucky center Sam Bowie, better known as the guy picked before Michael Jordan in the '84 draft. Though this year's draft may not produce another Jordan, it is more likely to have its share of Bowies. So, to the draft class of 2011, if there is one thing to be learned from this photo: no matter how little your NBA production, never compromise your swagger.
For the duration of my stint at the Catholic-affiliated Santa Clara University, the emphasis on faith has been undeniable. Whether I was flipping though the pages of St. Augustine's Confessions, studying up on the Spanish Inquisition, or up to some other shenanigans because we had school off for Good Friday, religion has been a constant. I really have no grounds to complain about my time at Santa Clara, but there is one aspect that has always been frustrating: for me, religion always seems to raise more questions than it answers! I can’t seem to get anything definitive.
As far as my education is concerned, raising more questions is good. Its supposed to build character, develop critical thinking skills, makes me more aware, etc. But sometimes in this life, I need something concrete. And that, of course, is where my beloved sport of basketball comes in.
In a world of such uncertainty, hoops provides answers.
Who led the league in scoring? Kevin Durant with 27.7 PPG. Was Tom Thibodeau a good hire for Chicago? Definitely, he preached defense to the Bulls, led them to 62 victories, and won Coach of the Year. What happened to the Spurs in the post-season? Ginobili wasn't at full strength due to his elbow injury, Zach Randolph went off, and they couldn't match Memphis' athleticism. It's all subjective stuff.
This years finals should have been no different. When the horn sounded to conclude Game 6, the scoreboard read, “Dallas: 105, Miami: 95.” The Mavericks had taken the series four games to two. The obvious choice, Dirk Nowitzki, was awarded the Finals MVP. There is no room for debate about those facts.
But in this rare instance, the facts didn’t cut it. Though the Mavs deserve all the praise they receive -- they were unquestionably the better team in the Finals -- the close of the series didn’t offer any real sense of closure for me. It, too, raised more questions than answers.
I had high hopes of posting an article as soon as I could after last Sunday’s Game 6 so I could pretend like I was actually a reputable writer while my impressions of the contest were still ripe. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn’t have a goddamn clue what I had just witnessed.
Over the past few days I’ve been trying to pick the brains of anyone with the slightest interest in basketball to get their take on what went down in the Finals. I heard plenty of LeBron-related insults (“How’s my Dirk taste, LeBron?” being among the most colorful) but nothing that got me any closer to understanding these Finals.
It wasn’t until the other evening when I was sitting outside grilling up some hearty sausages at my friend Richard’s house that his father sparked my imagination. We had been discussing how LeBron’s game more closely resembled Scottie Pippen’s than Michael Jordan’s. It was then that Richard’s pops, Don (quite the hooper in his day) theorized that LeBron was cursed after Pippen suggested during a radio interview that LeBron may very well be better than Jordan. And then something clicked in my mind and it all made sense.
After so much confusion over the one sport that always provides me with answers, I had to turn to the least likely of sources in order to comprehend LeBron’s implosion. That source: the divine. But in this case, the religion of old had manifested in a modern day saga featuring His Airness. Michael Jordan cursed LeBron James, and spurred his stumbles in the Finals!
Despite the endless the praise that Jordan has received over the years for his heroics as a player, apparently we’ve been selling his abilities short. Sure, he could sky for free-throw line slams, perform trickery, and defy the limits of the human tongue rain threes, but it seems Jordan’s omnipotence (23-point Scrabble word. Coincidence? I think not) was not limited to the basketball court. We knew Jordan could perform miracles already, but never before had we seen him exercise his holy will by putting a curse on another player. Come on though; is this really a surprise to anyone? We’ve been treating Jordan like a God for quite a while now.
(Forgive me for my current 3-article streak of outrageous basketball theories. But honestly, this hypothesis is probably no less valid of an explanation for LeBron’s poor play than the story swirling that LeBron’s girlfriend is cheating with Rashard Lewis.)
Let’s continue with this whole basketball/biblical relationship, shall we?
So Scottie Pippen is something like a modern day version of the New Testament’s Judas. The story goes that Judas was responsible for the betrayal of Jesus because he spoke false words about him, leading to his demise (sound familiar, LeBron?)
It would be easy for me to plug LeBron in here and call him the Jesus of this analogy, but it’s probably too bold of me to another article in which I proclaim a player to be the NBA’s messiah after doing so just a month ago with Basketball Jesus, Pt. 2.
But, who knows. Like Dirk, perhaps he could rebound from a surprising Finals loss and become Basketball Jesus, Pt. 3.
Happy Memorial Day, U.S.A! For the holiday, the least I could do was display my American pride through a photo of five members of the 1992 Dream Team. This photo would have been worthy of a coveted spot as the Court of Appeals Old School Pic of the Week based on Patrick Ewing's flat top alone, but the added patriotism made it a no-brainer.
