The Ghost of Seasons Past
Larry Brown and Don Nelson are old. Nelson played for the Chicago Zephyrs. He played with Bill Russell and Jerry West. Brown has been coaching since players had names like Sleepy Floyd and Foots Walker (1982 New Jersey Nets). He coached in the ABA. Both turned 70 earlier this year and each is now a septuagenarian member of our fine society. In his send-off to sexagerarianism, Don Nelson spent his 69th year living in style. He set his own hours, traveled around the country, had a bit of fun and steadfastly refused to relate to today’s youth. NBA devotees will also note that Don Nelson was the coach of the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors season served as a fascinating case study of how an NBA team would fare without any sort of direction from a head coach. They finished 26-56 and Nelson was fired in the offseason. On the other hand, Larry Brown spent his 69th year tirelessly coaching a mediocre NBA and led them to the playoffs. The Charlotte Bobcat roster had comparable talent to that of the hapless Warriors but finished 44-38. I don’t particularly like Larry Brown (see 2004 Pistons over Lakers) but the man can coach. According to Basketball Prospectus, Brown has the third best composite defensive rating of the thirty current NBA head coaches (behind Scott Skiles and Gregg Popovich). He has accomplished this despite frequently taking control of teams without quality talent (see Bobcats-Charlotte, Knicks-New York and Clippers-Los Angeles). Somehow, he coaxed career years out of Gerald Wallace and Nazr Mohammed while keeping Stephen Jackson (mostly) out of trouble and Boris Diaw (occasionally) out of the nearest Krispy Kreme. The Bobcats were the best defensive team in the league last year. Gerald Wallace is an excellent defender and umm…Raymond Felton won an NCAA championship and umm…Tyrus Thomas was picked 4th in the draft a couple years ago? The credit goes to Brown. In a surprising turn of events, he led Charlotte to their first playoff appearance in franchise history while the UNC basketball team struggled to an NIT berth. Don’t count on a continuation of this topsy-turvy version of North Carolina basketball. More Harrison Barnes, less Eduardo Najera.
October 7, 2010
October 6, 2010
Team Preview: Boston Celtics
The Ghost of Seasons Past (2010 Free Agency Now Included!)
The one that got away. I am, of course, referring to the Celtics and their pursuit of the 2010 NBA championship and not the 1957 WWII film that I was unaware of until some very recent Googling. The Celtics successfully rope-a-doped the Eastern Conference last year and were one quarter away from a second NBA title in three years. But the problems that plagued the Celtics during the regular season crept into Game Seven and denied them a ring. They could not keep their foul rate under control, struggled on the glass against a taller Lakers team and went cold from the outside as the offense stagnated. Faced with a rapidly aging core of players and the expiring contracts of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Coach Doc Rivers, the Celtics seriously considered blowing up the team and rebuilding around Rajon Rondo. Instead, Rivers returned as coach and brought Pierce’s Bubblicious Beard with him (Jesus Shuttlesworth, too). To augment a front court that couldn’t match up with Pau Gasol in the Finals, GM Danny Ainge added 600 pounds of O’Neal. It’s uncertain how many pounds Shaq will contribute to that total but my best guess is 437. Although Shaq’s weight might be one problem for the Celtics, the more important number is 39, as in the years that Shaq will have lived on our fine planet Earth this March 6th. Since Boston’s championship window was already rapidly closing, the Celtics chose to swing for the fences and go bigger, slower and older. Hopefully no one threw out their back in the process. I hear that’s a problem for the geriatric.
The one that got away. I am, of course, referring to the Celtics and their pursuit of the 2010 NBA championship and not the 1957 WWII film that I was unaware of until some very recent Googling. The Celtics successfully rope-a-doped the Eastern Conference last year and were one quarter away from a second NBA title in three years. But the problems that plagued the Celtics during the regular season crept into Game Seven and denied them a ring. They could not keep their foul rate under control, struggled on the glass against a taller Lakers team and went cold from the outside as the offense stagnated. Faced with a rapidly aging core of players and the expiring contracts of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Coach Doc Rivers, the Celtics seriously considered blowing up the team and rebuilding around Rajon Rondo. Instead, Rivers returned as coach and brought Pierce’s Bubblicious Beard with him (Jesus Shuttlesworth, too). To augment a front court that couldn’t match up with Pau Gasol in the Finals, GM Danny Ainge added 600 pounds of O’Neal. It’s uncertain how many pounds Shaq will contribute to that total but my best guess is 437. Although Shaq’s weight might be one problem for the Celtics, the more important number is 39, as in the years that Shaq will have lived on our fine planet Earth this March 6th. Since Boston’s championship window was already rapidly closing, the Celtics chose to swing for the fences and go bigger, slower and older. Hopefully no one threw out their back in the process. I hear that’s a problem for the geriatric.
October 5, 2010
Team Preview: Atlanta Hawks
The Ghost of Seasons Past (2010 Free Agency Now Included!)
The Atlanta Hawks have a relatively young core of players and won 100 games and two playoff series over the past two years. They have improved on their win total in each of the last five regular seasons and have an emerging star who harnessed his immense talents for the first time in 2010. All of these facts make Atlanta seem like the (much-hyped) OKC Thunder of the Eastern Conference and indeed, the Hawks are similarly a single piece away from being a serious contender. Lost amidst the LeBron mania over the summer was a low-key, yet crucial, signing for Atlanta. It was a signing that brought Atlanta two-time championship experience not named Adam Morrison. To be fair, Josh Powell’s ability is more Morrisonian than Bryantesque. But his renowned locker room DJ-ing can only help team chemistry. According to John Hollinger’s latest computations, that should be good at least .17 wins this season. And all for the veteran’s minimum! So, there’s that. Oh, I almost forgot. The Hawks front office also re-signed Joe Johnson to a contract worth $119 million and destined the team to five years of 48 win seasons and early playoff exits at the hands of the Magic, Celtics, Bulls andLeBron’s Knicks Wade’s Knicks Bosh and Johnson’s Knicks the Legion of Doom. So, there’s that, too. Well played, Rick Sund. It takes a special man to live up the incompetence of former GM Billy Knight but you may have succeeded.
The Atlanta Hawks have a relatively young core of players and won 100 games and two playoff series over the past two years. They have improved on their win total in each of the last five regular seasons and have an emerging star who harnessed his immense talents for the first time in 2010. All of these facts make Atlanta seem like the (much-hyped) OKC Thunder of the Eastern Conference and indeed, the Hawks are similarly a single piece away from being a serious contender. Lost amidst the LeBron mania over the summer was a low-key, yet crucial, signing for Atlanta. It was a signing that brought Atlanta two-time championship experience not named Adam Morrison. To be fair, Josh Powell’s ability is more Morrisonian than Bryantesque. But his renowned locker room DJ-ing can only help team chemistry. According to John Hollinger’s latest computations, that should be good at least .17 wins this season. And all for the veteran’s minimum! So, there’s that. Oh, I almost forgot. The Hawks front office also re-signed Joe Johnson to a contract worth $119 million and destined the team to five years of 48 win seasons and early playoff exits at the hands of the Magic, Celtics, Bulls and
September 23, 2010
Summer Wrapup: USA Basketball
A wise man once said “Ain’t no need to watch where I’m going, just need to know where I’ve been.” Okay, maybe it wasn’t Newton or Aristotle or Einstein. Maybe it wasn’t even Paul the Octopus or the inside of a fortune cookie. Maybe it was just Mater (voiced by Larry the Cable Guy), the rusted tow truck from Cars. If I’ve learned one thing in life it’s to never get involved in a land war in Asia. But number two on that list would be that Pixar knows their shit. So, in the spirit of heeding all things Pixar, it might be wise to look back at the (very busy) summer of 2010 before jumping into the NBA season. Lost amidst LeBron’s decision, the return of the National Football League, a fantastic season of Mad Men and my burgeoning love affair with Arian Foster were the 2010 FIBA World Championships. That’s right, summer basketball. Very important summer basketball. Summer basketball at the end of which they gave out these fancy things called gold medals. Fortunately for this fine country, Kevin Durant and Team USA were not so easily distracted by Arian’s excellent vision and powerful, decisive cuts and restored order to the (basketball) universe in Turkey last week. Team USA won the world championships for the first time since 1994 by defeating Turkey in the gold medal game 81-64. The Americans won their elimination games by an average of nearly 25 points per game and played only one close game (against Brazil) in the entire tournament. They did all of this without a true center, prolific outside shooting or a creative force at point guard. It was the exact sort of lineup composition that failed in previous incarnations of Team USA. Why did it work this year? And can anything be learned from a tournament that features Kirk Penney and Hamed Haddadi as 20ppg scorers?
If ESPN commentator Fran Fraschilla told me once then he told me a thousand times, the international game is different than the NBA game. <RANT> Seriously, a thousand times. Not a whole lot of dexterity to Fran’s announcing game. It’s conceivable that he wasn’t even watching the games and ESPN recorded his clichés and “expert” analysis pre-tournament and played them according to the flow of the game Madden video game style. Thank goodness international basketball only comes around once every two years. </RANT> Since FIBA allows zone defenses, good shooters are at a premium in the international game because of the defense’s ability to clog the paint against big men and guards slashing to the basket. Skilled, mobile, versatile big men are similarly valued. Of all the players on the American roster, it seemed like Kevin Love was best suited to the international game and, more specifically, for the 2010 roster of Team USA. He was the best rebounder on an undersized team, an excellent outlet passer on a team that wanted to run in transition and a player who could play the center position but also stretch the floor on offense with his jump-shooting. Despite fitting the FIBA game perfectly and being the second most productive player on the American roster, Kevin Love played the tenth most minutes for Team USA. Coach Mike Krzyzewski would have been roundly criticized for his rotation decisions if the USA did not come home with the gold. But they did. And despite my general hatred for Duke and Krzyzewski, perhaps Love’s limited time did not showcase coaching incompetence but revealed an actual game plan from Team USA. Maybe Krzyzewski and Jerry Colangelo stopped focusing on the differences in the FIBA game and remembered that FIBA basketball is still basketball. Even the American B-Team will have the most talent in any international tournament and should be able to dictate to opponents if properly coached and organized.
“You had to give it to him, he had a plan. And it started to make sense, in a Tyler sort of way. No fear. No distractions. The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide.” Narrator from Fight Club
If ESPN commentator Fran Fraschilla told me once then he told me a thousand times, the international game is different than the NBA game. <RANT> Seriously, a thousand times. Not a whole lot of dexterity to Fran’s announcing game. It’s conceivable that he wasn’t even watching the games and ESPN recorded his clichés and “expert” analysis pre-tournament and played them according to the flow of the game Madden video game style. Thank goodness international basketball only comes around once every two years. </RANT> Since FIBA allows zone defenses, good shooters are at a premium in the international game because of the defense’s ability to clog the paint against big men and guards slashing to the basket. Skilled, mobile, versatile big men are similarly valued. Of all the players on the American roster, it seemed like Kevin Love was best suited to the international game and, more specifically, for the 2010 roster of Team USA. He was the best rebounder on an undersized team, an excellent outlet passer on a team that wanted to run in transition and a player who could play the center position but also stretch the floor on offense with his jump-shooting. Despite fitting the FIBA game perfectly and being the second most productive player on the American roster, Kevin Love played the tenth most minutes for Team USA. Coach Mike Krzyzewski would have been roundly criticized for his rotation decisions if the USA did not come home with the gold. But they did. And despite my general hatred for Duke and Krzyzewski, perhaps Love’s limited time did not showcase coaching incompetence but revealed an actual game plan from Team USA. Maybe Krzyzewski and Jerry Colangelo stopped focusing on the differences in the FIBA game and remembered that FIBA basketball is still basketball. Even the American B-Team will have the most talent in any international tournament and should be able to dictate to opponents if properly coached and organized.
“You had to give it to him, he had a plan. And it started to make sense, in a Tyler sort of way. No fear. No distractions. The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide.” Narrator from Fight Club
September 22, 2010
Jumping Off with Jordan Part One: The Most Interesting Man in the (NBA) World
Hello blogosphere. Welcome to the official launching (as opposed to the soft August opening) of The Dunk Face. I will write somewhat coherently about the NBA and its various goings-on with the hope of an eventual emergence of a more focused view of the league. But that probably won't happen. Focus is not one of my (otherwise numerous) strengths. The Dunk Face is sure to be updated throughout the next couple of weeks and after that…well, I make no promises (add motivation to list of non-strengths). But the intent is to keep this going for the foreseeable future because I have an abundance of free time that should be put to better use. You can only imagine how unproductive I currently am if blogging counts as a good use of time. Fortunately, the time is ripe for NBA blogging. The upcoming season should be the most interesting since Michael Jordan returned from his Birmingham Barons sabbatical fifteen years ago. The league has finally adjusted to the (over)expansion of the 1990s and all 30 teams have talent. Even the hapless New Jersey Nets trot out a starting lineup that includes Devin Harris, Brook Lopez and (maybe) Derrick Favors (or Carmelo Anthony?). In direct contrast to the college game (pre-NCAA tournament), nearly every game on the NBA schedule will be watchable and showcase elite talent. More importantly, a lot of that talent is gathered in a few places around the country and leaves the league with an upper echelon of teams that will draw in the casual fan and make for some excellent playoff basketball next spring. It’s a flashback to the “golden days” of the 1980s when Michael Jordan burst onto a scene that already featured loaded teams in Philadelphia, Boston and Los Angeles. Negative public reaction to “The Decision” aside, the interest in the 2010 free agency period only reinforced the good feeling brought on by this year's improved television ratings. Roger Goodell may not be worried quite yet, but the NBA is back (labor negotiations pending).
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