http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1097994670186650.xml
D'Alessandro: Here's how the West just might be won
Sunday, October 17, 2004BY DAVE D'ALESSANRDO
Star-Ledger Staff
There are no fewer than 11 playoff contenders in the Western Conference, which only proves that parity makes you nervous: Not one of them can feel as though they can jump out quickly. Perhaps the Spurs and Timberwolves are the exceptions, but as the season approaches, even the most talent-laden rosters have some holes.
Here's a team-by-team to-do list for the teams out West midway through the preseason:
San Antonio: They're the favorite right now, but there's no frontcourt depth to speak of. Malik Rose is a yo-yo, and Robert Horry looked done to us last year.
Minnesota: What do you do with a pat hand? You wait for Michael Olowokandi to become a contributor. Surprise: He has ankle problems. If he doesn't get it together, their best unit might require that Kevin Garnett play center.
Dallas: Implement the defensive system that Don Nelson swears will be their calling card this year. Then keep trying to sell it with a straight face. The other issue is whether Nellie will really be satisfied with a scorer, Jason Terry, playing the point.
Denver: It's a team with enough talent to reach the Final Four, but they have a glaring need for another shooter or two.
Houston: The starting lineup is terrific (Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady, Juwan Howard, Jimmy Jackson and either Charlie Ward or Tyronn Lue), but with Bobby Sura out after back surgery, there's nothing on the bench other than Maurice Taylor.
Sacramento: Once they get past their health issues -- notably with Chris Webber (his knee is swollen again) and Doug Christie (foot) -- they have to rebuild the trust, because you get the sense they didn't like each other last season.
Memphis: Stromile Swift is their best option at center. Jake Tsakalidis is much bigger, and Lorenzen Wright has more experience. But Swift gives them a dimension they truly need to take another step.
Phoenix: Find somebody dumb enough to take Howard Eisley (two years, $13.3 million left). They already have Steve Nash, Leandro Barbosa, and they want to keep Yuta Tabuse.
Utah: Get Raul Lopez (knee) healthy and sort out the rotation. They have three starting-quality forwards (Carlos Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko and Matt Harpring), plus another (Raja Bell) who is a Jerry Sloan fave.
Lakers: The power rotation needs reinforcement, (Brian Grant, Vlade Divac and Chris Mihm), or Lamar Odom may have to get used to playing the four-spot again.
Portland: Get Ruben Patterson out of town, if only to create playing time for Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Darius Miles.
New Orleans: Reel in Baron Davis. Their first move was to throw his personal trainer out of practice last week. Once they move Davis, watch the focus shift as they sell Jersey guy J.R. Smith to their apathetic fan base.
Golden State: The Warriors have until Oct. 31 to extend the contracts of two starters, Jersey guy Troy Murphy and Jason Richardson. Executive VP Chris Mullin is in a tough spot, because he already angered their agent, Dan Fegan, by not sending Erick Dampier to the Knicks.
Seattle: Find a point guard. It's a three-horse race, between Luke Ridnour, Antonio Daniels and Flip Murray. Ridnour has the lead.
Clippers: Getting healthy would be a good start, as four rotation players (Marko Jaric, Kerry Kittles, Corey Maggette and Zeljko Rebraca) are either out or still being held out of contact drills.
REPRISE AND REPRISAL
Phil Jackson doesn't need help selling anything, particularly his soul, but we'll share this excerpt from his forthcoming book on the off chance you're still trying to form an opinion on Kobe Bryant:
January 31: I went upstairs to see Mitch (Kupchak) in his office. Wasting no time, I went off on a tirade about the need to deal Kobe before the trading deadline in mid-February. "I won't coach this team next year if he is still here," I said emphatically. "He won't listen to anyone. I've had it with this kid."
It's stuff like this that makes you feel very, very sorry for the poor guy.
We're referring, of course, to Kupchak.
This Jackson diary of 2003-04, entitled "The Last Season: A Team in Search of Its Soul," goes on like that, day by stupid day. To our great surprise, all those tales of dysfunction that Jackson spent hours a day trying to discredit turned out to be true.
RAY ALLEN watched a small army of stars whine their way out of town this off-season, and he thinks it stinks. "I don't respect it," the Seattle All-Star said. "You sign a contract, regardless of what the rest of the league is making, you have to honor your contract. Guys are making a great deal of money, they owe it to their organization, they owe it to their teammates to stick it out. You can't just say, 'Trade me now because you guys didn't do anything over the summer.'" Actually, that probably means Allen is including JASON KIDD in this screed. He noted that "certain guys said, 'This isn't a championship-caliber team. I can't go to war with this team.' Well, what do the other guys in the locker room feel about that? When we watch other guys talking about that on 'SportsCenter,' we all just say, 'What's he whining about? What are you complaining about?'"
The notion of abolishing the 3-point shot for the first 43 minutes of the game was a one-day story, until the league came to its senses. This is the kind of reaction is was going to get: "Being a 3-point shooter, I think that kind of (stinks)," said the most prolific gunner in history, REGGIE MILLER . "I don't know how they thought of this. STU JACKSON must be bored up there on Park Avenue or wherever the NBA offices are."
JERRY STACKHOUSE says he'll accept his sixth-man role in Dallas this year, and he is in no position to quibble: MARQUIS DANIELS is more versatile, and JOSH HOWARD has been the Mavs' best player in the first two weeks of camp.
Everyone thought STEVE SMITH , age 35, was brought in by Charlotte just to tutor the younger players. One catch: He's been the Bobcats' best player in the first week of camp.Odd moment after Hornets practice Wednesday, when DARRELL ARMSTRONG called teammates into a huddle and cursed out a few unnamed rookies for directing some disrespectful remarks toward assistant coach DARRELL WALKER . "We're old school," BYRON SCOTT said later. "We're not going to take any (lip) from anybody on this team, especially rookies. They should shut their mouth and just play basketball if they want a chance to make this team. There are a lot of ways to get cut, and that's definitely one of them." Of course, the coach can take this old-school stuff a little too far: He's fining guys for not tucking their shirts in during practice.
BEN WALLACE , who had an appendectomy eight weeks ago, will get clearance to start running again on Wednesday, when he has the stitches removed. Contact comes later.
This isn't your headache anymore, but: Do you remember KEITH VAN HORN shooting 33 percent in the Bucks' five-game series against Detroit last spring? He claims he had a hand injury. "Every time I touched the ball, it hurt," Van Horn said. He says it's fully healed.
JIM O'BRIEN'S first impressions of rookie ANDRE IGUODALA : "He does so many little things well," the Sixers coach said. "He might not, if you're sitting in the stands, ever be spectacular in one phase of the game, other than his hands -- he gets his hands on an enormous number of balls. But I think he's got the gift. I think you can win with guys like Andre, with his defense. He's big, he puts it on the ground well with both hands; sometimes he tries to make great passes when a simple pass is there." And yes, Obie predicts, he'll probably crack the rotation.
D'Alessandro: Here's how the West just might be won
Sunday, October 17, 2004BY DAVE D'ALESSANRDO
Star-Ledger Staff
There are no fewer than 11 playoff contenders in the Western Conference, which only proves that parity makes you nervous: Not one of them can feel as though they can jump out quickly. Perhaps the Spurs and Timberwolves are the exceptions, but as the season approaches, even the most talent-laden rosters have some holes.
Here's a team-by-team to-do list for the teams out West midway through the preseason:
San Antonio: They're the favorite right now, but there's no frontcourt depth to speak of. Malik Rose is a yo-yo, and Robert Horry looked done to us last year.
Minnesota: What do you do with a pat hand? You wait for Michael Olowokandi to become a contributor. Surprise: He has ankle problems. If he doesn't get it together, their best unit might require that Kevin Garnett play center.
Dallas: Implement the defensive system that Don Nelson swears will be their calling card this year. Then keep trying to sell it with a straight face. The other issue is whether Nellie will really be satisfied with a scorer, Jason Terry, playing the point.
Denver: It's a team with enough talent to reach the Final Four, but they have a glaring need for another shooter or two.
Houston: The starting lineup is terrific (Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady, Juwan Howard, Jimmy Jackson and either Charlie Ward or Tyronn Lue), but with Bobby Sura out after back surgery, there's nothing on the bench other than Maurice Taylor.
Sacramento: Once they get past their health issues -- notably with Chris Webber (his knee is swollen again) and Doug Christie (foot) -- they have to rebuild the trust, because you get the sense they didn't like each other last season.
Memphis: Stromile Swift is their best option at center. Jake Tsakalidis is much bigger, and Lorenzen Wright has more experience. But Swift gives them a dimension they truly need to take another step.
Phoenix: Find somebody dumb enough to take Howard Eisley (two years, $13.3 million left). They already have Steve Nash, Leandro Barbosa, and they want to keep Yuta Tabuse.
Utah: Get Raul Lopez (knee) healthy and sort out the rotation. They have three starting-quality forwards (Carlos Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko and Matt Harpring), plus another (Raja Bell) who is a Jerry Sloan fave.
Lakers: The power rotation needs reinforcement, (Brian Grant, Vlade Divac and Chris Mihm), or Lamar Odom may have to get used to playing the four-spot again.
Portland: Get Ruben Patterson out of town, if only to create playing time for Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Darius Miles.
New Orleans: Reel in Baron Davis. Their first move was to throw his personal trainer out of practice last week. Once they move Davis, watch the focus shift as they sell Jersey guy J.R. Smith to their apathetic fan base.
Golden State: The Warriors have until Oct. 31 to extend the contracts of two starters, Jersey guy Troy Murphy and Jason Richardson. Executive VP Chris Mullin is in a tough spot, because he already angered their agent, Dan Fegan, by not sending Erick Dampier to the Knicks.
Seattle: Find a point guard. It's a three-horse race, between Luke Ridnour, Antonio Daniels and Flip Murray. Ridnour has the lead.
Clippers: Getting healthy would be a good start, as four rotation players (Marko Jaric, Kerry Kittles, Corey Maggette and Zeljko Rebraca) are either out or still being held out of contact drills.
REPRISE AND REPRISAL
Phil Jackson doesn't need help selling anything, particularly his soul, but we'll share this excerpt from his forthcoming book on the off chance you're still trying to form an opinion on Kobe Bryant:
January 31: I went upstairs to see Mitch (Kupchak) in his office. Wasting no time, I went off on a tirade about the need to deal Kobe before the trading deadline in mid-February. "I won't coach this team next year if he is still here," I said emphatically. "He won't listen to anyone. I've had it with this kid."
It's stuff like this that makes you feel very, very sorry for the poor guy.
We're referring, of course, to Kupchak.
This Jackson diary of 2003-04, entitled "The Last Season: A Team in Search of Its Soul," goes on like that, day by stupid day. To our great surprise, all those tales of dysfunction that Jackson spent hours a day trying to discredit turned out to be true.
RAY ALLEN watched a small army of stars whine their way out of town this off-season, and he thinks it stinks. "I don't respect it," the Seattle All-Star said. "You sign a contract, regardless of what the rest of the league is making, you have to honor your contract. Guys are making a great deal of money, they owe it to their organization, they owe it to their teammates to stick it out. You can't just say, 'Trade me now because you guys didn't do anything over the summer.'" Actually, that probably means Allen is including JASON KIDD in this screed. He noted that "certain guys said, 'This isn't a championship-caliber team. I can't go to war with this team.' Well, what do the other guys in the locker room feel about that? When we watch other guys talking about that on 'SportsCenter,' we all just say, 'What's he whining about? What are you complaining about?'"
The notion of abolishing the 3-point shot for the first 43 minutes of the game was a one-day story, until the league came to its senses. This is the kind of reaction is was going to get: "Being a 3-point shooter, I think that kind of (stinks)," said the most prolific gunner in history, REGGIE MILLER . "I don't know how they thought of this. STU JACKSON must be bored up there on Park Avenue or wherever the NBA offices are."
JERRY STACKHOUSE says he'll accept his sixth-man role in Dallas this year, and he is in no position to quibble: MARQUIS DANIELS is more versatile, and JOSH HOWARD has been the Mavs' best player in the first two weeks of camp.
Everyone thought STEVE SMITH , age 35, was brought in by Charlotte just to tutor the younger players. One catch: He's been the Bobcats' best player in the first week of camp.Odd moment after Hornets practice Wednesday, when DARRELL ARMSTRONG called teammates into a huddle and cursed out a few unnamed rookies for directing some disrespectful remarks toward assistant coach DARRELL WALKER . "We're old school," BYRON SCOTT said later. "We're not going to take any (lip) from anybody on this team, especially rookies. They should shut their mouth and just play basketball if they want a chance to make this team. There are a lot of ways to get cut, and that's definitely one of them." Of course, the coach can take this old-school stuff a little too far: He's fining guys for not tucking their shirts in during practice.
BEN WALLACE , who had an appendectomy eight weeks ago, will get clearance to start running again on Wednesday, when he has the stitches removed. Contact comes later.
This isn't your headache anymore, but: Do you remember KEITH VAN HORN shooting 33 percent in the Bucks' five-game series against Detroit last spring? He claims he had a hand injury. "Every time I touched the ball, it hurt," Van Horn said. He says it's fully healed.
JIM O'BRIEN'S first impressions of rookie ANDRE IGUODALA : "He does so many little things well," the Sixers coach said. "He might not, if you're sitting in the stands, ever be spectacular in one phase of the game, other than his hands -- he gets his hands on an enormous number of balls. But I think he's got the gift. I think you can win with guys like Andre, with his defense. He's big, he puts it on the ground well with both hands; sometimes he tries to make great passes when a simple pass is there." And yes, Obie predicts, he'll probably crack the rotation.