(Kerr) Don't know much about history

[Mad D]

http://www.hoopshype.com/columns/history_hans.htm

[font=Tahoma, Arial, Verdana][size=+2]HoopsHype.com Columns[/size][/font]

[font=Tahoma, Arial, Verdana]Don't know much about history[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]by Dennis Hans / December 10, 2004[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I’ve got one word and a contraction for Steve Kerr: It’s on. [/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]During the December 2 TNT broadcast of Dallas vs. Houston (when Dirk Nowitzki went for 53 against the “twin statues” – Juwan Howard and Maurice Taylor), the self-appointed promoter of the current crop of NBA stars hailed Nowitzki as a hoop revolutionary. Along with some other extra-long power forwards on the scene today, said Kerr, Dirk has turned a position that had previously been limited to semi-skilled bruisers into a glamor position showcasing sleek greyhounds who possess every hoop skill known to man.[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]To quote the late, great Sam Cooke, Kerr “don’t know much about history.” By spouting such errant nonsense, the overpaid whippersnapper has disrespected every great power forward of the past – and all of us fans who rooted for them. The list of the dissed includes Larry Bird, Karl Malone, Bob Pettit, Elvin Hayes, Dolph Schayes, Bobby Jones, Charles Barkley, Bob McAdoo, Ralph Sampson, Maurice and Jerry Lucas, Dave DeBusschere, Rudy Tomjanovich, Billy Cunningham and more. [/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Rest assured, payback won’t be pretty. I wouldn’t be surprised if the proud, sensitive Mailman hasn’t already retaliated – by crossing off his list of possible 2005 destinations Kerr’s former team (the Spurs) and his current team (the Suns, for which Karl is a perfect fit and Kerr is a consultant and part-owner). [/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Kerr laid out his thesis the next day in his column for Yahoo Sports. In this four-paragraph excerpt, we see right away who put the silly thought in his head: a coach with an agenda, engaging in the time-honored pre-game tactic of puffing up the opposing team’s star:[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]“Before Thursday night’s game against Dallas, Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said to me, ‘The power forward position in the NBA has been revolutionized. It's no longer a big bruising players’ spot – guys like Dirk Nowitzki are changing the way the position is played.’”[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Next we get Kerr’s thoughts:[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]“[Dirk] is a unique talent, and I struggle trying to think of anyone in basketball history who can do the things he does. Larry Bird comes to mind, but Nowitzki runs the floor much faster. Kiki Vandeweghe? Maybe. But Dirk is much bigger and a better ball handler. James Worthy? Didn't have the shooting range.[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]“The reality is that Nowitzki and a group of athletic big men are carving out a new position in the NBA, just as Van Gundy noted. Many players manning the four spot today are no longer just rebounders and defenders in the Maurice Lucas/Kurt Rambis mold. They're ball-handling, play-making big men who take over games and run offenses – guys like Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Lamar Odom, Rasheed Wallace and Andrei Kirilenko. [/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]“They are shot blockers and rebounders; scorers and assist men. They're big enough to guard opposing centers and quick enough to extend to the perimeter to cover three men. Some of them you can post up or run a perimeter screen and roll – with them handling the ball. Basically, they're talented guards who are living in centers’ bodies.”[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Starting from the top, Dirk is not faster than Bird. Nor is he as quick. More importantly, it is Dirk who can’t do all the things Larry did, not vice versa. Dirk does indeed have exceptional coordination for a seven-footer But Bird is nearly as tall (6-9) and may be the most coordinated guy to ever set sneaker to court. A year or so ago, Kerr’s TNT colleagues Magic and Barkley laughed themselves silly when someone compared Dirk to Bird – and they like Dirk. Bird, who played both the 3 and the 4, is a slightly better shooter than deadeye Dirk, both inside and beyond the arc. Bird has a greater offensive imagination and the best lefty shots of any righty who’s ever played. Dirk has a good left hand, but he’s not close to Larry. Even the one advantage Dirk has – the ability to elevate from mid-range over most any defender – really isn’t an advantage. Bird achieved the same effect with his step-back shot. Any forward who averages better than 28 in three different seasons – and shoots .496 for his career – knows how to get off a good shot.[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Bird was a respectable individual defender (better than Dirk), an accomplished thief and an excellent help defender who made the All-Defensive team three times. True, Bird lacked the lateral quickness to stay with Dr. J, Dominique Wilkins and some other explosive 3’s he sometimes guarded, but Dirk would have fared far worse in such matchups. Both are strong rebounders, though I’d give Bird a slight edge.[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Need more? Dirk has gradually improved his passing to the point that he’s now average. Bird was the greatest passing forward in history.[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A better stylistic comparison for Dirk is the young Bob McAdoo when he played for Dr. Jack Ramsay in Buffalo, first at the 4, then as the world’s thinnest center. Once again, as good as Dirk is, he doesn’t quite measure up. In a three-year span, ’Doo averaged 32 on 51 percent shooting, along with 14 boards and 2.5 blocks. Dirk, on the other hand, has swatted a meager 1.1 shots per game over his career, 1.5 so far this season. Although Dirk’s career rebound average is 8.4, he’s been playing in an era when rebounds are more scarce than in the 1970s. If Bob has an edge there, it’s far less than the numbers suggest.[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]McAdoo was a matchup headache those seasons when he played the 4; as a 5, he was an absolute nightmare. He was infinitely more frightening than any of Kerr’s modern heroes. Like Dirk, ‘Doo’s length, release point and effortless elevation allowed him to get off his shot whenever and wherever. From the post or the perimeter, or somewhere in between, ’Doo’s distinctive jumper was even more deadly than Dirk’s. Dirk has a long way to go be the long-armed monster young McAdoo was.[/font]

 

[Mad D]

cont.

Kerr is right about one thing: Dirk is a better all-around player than Kiki, who was strictly a 3 and a non-rebounding one at that (3.4 per game in 30 minutes!), so he doesn’t really belong in a power forward discussion. Still, in his prime he was a super-efficient scoring machine, shooting about 56 percent (all deuces) in those years. He could drive and finish exceptionally, which suggests, contrary to Kerr, that he could handle the ball just fine.

Consider Kerr’s examples of the old power-forward mold – players who were “just rebounders and defenders.” Does Kerr know that Maurice Lucas averaged 20 points when he and Bill Walton led Portland to the 1977 NBA crown? Lucas was about as complete a “4” as one could imagine in the pre-Bird era. Rambis was a backup, so he’s a poor choice to represent old-school 4’s. That said, he was certainly quick enough to guard many 3’s and big and strong enough to guard many centers. He was much quicker and at least as fast Dirk.

REVOLUTIONARIES OR PALE IMITATIONS?

Now let’s turn to the other members of Kerr’s supposed new breed.

- Kirilenko is one of my favorite players, but he doesn’t fit Kerr’s own criteria because he can’t guard centers and even has trouble with physical 4’s (though if I were commissioner and had the power to revise and enforce the rules, fab skinny guys like Andrei would be far less susceptible to muscling and bullying than they are today). Andrei mostly plays the 3-spot and can score only in the flow of the offense and on the break. That hardly qualifies him as a “scorer.” If the Jazz needed him to average 22 and create his own shot on occasion, his FG percentage would plummet.



Not only does Andrei not qualify for Kerr’s new breed, he’s not even new. He’s cut from the same cloth as another springy 3/4 tweener: Bobby Jones. In his youthful days in Denver (ABA and NBA), Jones was a great swatter, and he was right there with Dr. J as the fastest end-to-end player in the game. He was a fixture on the All-Defensive team as a Nugget and Sixer, but like Andrei had a limited offensive game, at which he was far more efficient than Andrei. I’d give Andrei a slight edge as a swatter, Bobby a slight edge in most every other aspect of the game.



- There’s nothing new about Duncan, either. He’s Bill Walton with less hops and hair but healthier feet. Even though Duncan calls himself a 4, on offense he’s mostly in the pivot or a couple steps beyond, in range for his patented 15-foot bankshot. On defense, he’s the free safety, half-guarding some 4 or 5 stiff so he can make everyone else’s shot more difficult. Tim gets a slight edge over Bill as a scorer, Bill a slight edge as a swatter and a big one as a passer; he might have been the best passing center of them all. Advantage Walton (when healthy).



- Rasheed is a desperately poor man’s Elvin Hayes, albeit with slightly better range and shot selection. But he falls far short of the Big E in rebounding, swatting, stamina, durability and the judgment required to stay out of foul trouble.



- Lamar Odom is a talented, versatile lefty – a good rebounder who’s big enough to defend 4’s and skilled enough to play a variety of offensive positions. People of a certain age might think of another lefty from that description. In the late ’60s and early ’70s, Billy Cunningham did everything Lamar does today, only much, much better. He was a prolific scorer and rebounder and a great ballhandler and passer. For those of you who narrowly define “athleticism” as “the ability to sky,” the gap is even wider. He wasn’t called the “Kangaroo Kid” for nothing. If Dirk is a very poor man’s Bird, Lamar is a bankrupt man’s Billy C.



- Even KG isn’t new, though he may be the one new-breed cat who’s an improvement on the original. That’s mainly because 7-2 beanpole Ralph Sampson was hit by a string of debilitating injuries before he had reached his potential. Ralph, who played the 4 to Hakeem’s 5 on the Houston team that lost to Bird’s Celtics in the 1986 Finals, was the prototype for the “little man trapped in a big man’s body.” He loved to jack up 20-footers and be the middle-man on the break.



Here’s the rub: Ralph is a bad b-ball role model for KG, who would be a more dominant player and the Wolves a better team if he played his 40 minutes closer to the basket at both ends. The great dominant centers have been great mainly because they dominated on defense – containing their own man while messing with the minds of the other four guys with the constant threat of the swat. So here’s my message to KG:



“Dude! You’re 7 feet. You have long arms. You’re a quick jumper. Yet your career average is a sickly 1.8 blocks. That’s more like Yao than Russell. Play defense like Russ, Dikembe, Walton, Wilt, Hakeem, Duncan and Ben Wallace. And tell Flip Saunders to start an actual basketball player alongside you – maybe Eddie Griffin. If Michael Olowokandi comes off the bench for 16 minutes, you sit for 8 of them and slide over to the 4 for the other 8, but play like Russ regardless. On offense, don’t worry about impressing Steve Kerr with your ability to sink 40 percent of your 20-footers. The Wolves have an abundance of guys who can make a higher percentage of that very shot. Leave the long-range gunning to them and you just might finish the season with a ring.”

Might Kerr himself be a revolutionary, breaking new ground for an NBA commentator with gravity-defying flights of fancy fueled by profound ignorance and disrespect for his elders? Alas, no. TV isn’t called the “boob tube” for nothing.

 

[Mad D]

this article pretty much punked kerr and his thoughts.. i thought some of you might like it :-\