Are you smarter than Chris Paul?
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Collectivism didn't really work out for the USSR, but for the third time in three months, basket-blogs are cluster-posting the heck out of a topic. Back in March, Hardwood Paroxysm tipped off a 45+ post celebration for the Black Mamba; in April, 20 bloggers sang the praises of Underappreciated Famous NBA Athletes.
The latest con-blog-aration yesterday honored Chris Paul, who at 22...
...rolled up legendary point-guard numbers
...led the Hornets to their best season in franchise history
...has his team up 2-0 over the defending champs in the Western Conference semi-finals
(Truly, a phenomenal year; if Juan Dixon and Maceo Baston are worth a day, Paul deserves an entire week).
Still, it wasn't all gravy for CP3 on his own holiday--he finished just second in the NBA's MVP voting, despite convincingly winning basket-bloggers' own award last month.
Of course, there's one honor that Chris Paul can hold over Kobe--and every other NBA player: A win on "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me," a National Public Radio show that Paul appeared on back in September.
(ht: this guy).
We Rite Goode readers may prefer The Basketball Jones to NPR, so here's a primer on "Wait Wait": It's an hour-long news quiz that usually features a 10-minute segment with a celebrity guest, who's forced to answer extremely off-beat questions, usually with mixed success. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer whiffed on all three “Rock N’Roll Lifestyles” questions; meanwhile, muppet Elmo went 2-for-3 on a quiz called "Shut up! Shut up! I'm going to cut your mic!"
Chris Paul's own quiz was called “You want me to eat what?," which focused on the “least palatable” food products from the 1970s. Want to try your own luck? Here are the three questions that NPR asked Paul; feel free to play or listen along at home. Keep in mind, two of the products in each question are fake--only one is real and the right answer.
Question 1. Kids are a huge target for the processed food crowd, but you’ve got to appeal to the parents too. That was the idea behind one of these failed food products--which is the real product?
A) Liver Pops
Frozen liver treats for your kids
B) Vita-Yums
Chocolate-covered vitamins
C) I Hate Peas
Peas and other unpalatable foods are processed into fake french fries
Answer.
2. While most products are aimed at families, marketers tried to woo single shoppers with which product?
A) Baby Burger Bites
Packets of frozen hamburgers the size of marshmellows
B) Gerber’s singles
Baby food for adults
C) Peanut capsules
Little paper-wrapped packets, with the shells inside
Answer.
3. One smart marketing strategy: Play to customers' natural laziness. But ease-of-preparation couldn’t save which real product?
A) Seat-warmer Dinners
Wrapped dinners you put under your seat cushions and cook with your own body heat
B) Reddi-bacon
From the makers of Reddi-Whip, foil-wrapped bacon you pop in the toaster
C) Fish Jerky
Pre-cooked, freeze-dried perfect for picnics and eating on the go
Answer.
Perhaps the nickname stands for Completely Perfect in 3, as Paul aced the quiz. How did you do? Compare your score to noted luminaries below.
3 correct = Chris Paul, NBA All-Star
2 = Joey Harrington, NFL quarterback (link)
1 = Ken Jennings, “Jeopardy” champion (link)
0 =
Around the Web
Like seat-warmer dinners, a few things we've been sitting on for far too long...
* Bright Side of the Sun puts Mike D'Antoni's return to the acid test.
* The second issue of Sports Northwest Magazine, edited by Seth Kolloen of Enjoy the Enjoyment, is now out; Nathaniel Friedman--a.k.a. Bethlehem Shoals--has an interesting piece on David Stern's middle-America politics.
* One of the most active participants in the basket-blog rankings, the Dream Shake weighs in with their Defensive Player and Executive of the Year. Be warned: The Dream Shake likes the Rockets. A lot.
* Fellow basket-blog voter 20 Second Timeout explains his voting for MVP and other awards. TruthAboutIt.net and Hoops State of Mind also cast their MVP ballots.
* MC Bias sees nothing good emerging from last week's Bissinger/Leith/Costas dust-up.
* He was turning 30 and playing for a middling franchise, so he mocked the GM and demanded a trade all off-season. He was booed by fans and called "selfish" by teammates behind his back. But he sucked it up and carried his team to title contention and raised his game to an MVP-level. Yes, Hakeem Olajuwon went from malcontent to two-time champion--and back in November, we wondered if Kobe could pull off a similar transformation.
Labels: Chris Paul, Deadspin, Joey Harrington, Kobe Bryant, MVP, NPR
posted by Crucifictorious @ 01:32,
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Rankings: The 7th Man of the year (oh, and MVP, too)
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Let's face it: Part I of the final basket-blogger awards played to script, with Durant (ROY), Scott (COY), and Hedo (MIP). However, today's rankings of 7th Man and MVP promise to be more surprising and--dare we say--interesting.
Still, prepare yourself for lots of charts and numbers; bloggers provided six months of data, after all. How could we not analyze it?
7th Man of the Year
We elected to skip 6th Man--not just because Manu Ginobili was near-unanimous, but since typical candidates are de facto starters--and instead wanted to recognize a true impact reserve. A player who doesn't get starter's minutes (so, no one who played more than 24 mpg) and came off the bench all season (so, no one who started more than 25% of the games he played in).
Here's how basket-bloggers voted:
Honorable mention: Jordan Farmar, Leon Powe, Jannero Pargo.
3. Louis Williams
11.5 ppg, 3.2 apg, 1.0 spg, 16.7 PER
Per 36 minutes: 17.8 ppg, 4.9 apg, 1.6 spg
Adjusted plus-minus: -7.68
12 points, named on 15% of ballots
Perfect third guard, although we'll probably end up overpaying him--and starting him.--Phunctional Phalcoholic, We Rite Goode
2. JR Smith
12.3 ppg, 1.7 apg, 40% 3FG, 18.1 PER
Per 36 minutes: 23.0 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 3.2 apg
Adjusted plus-minus: -1.99
22 points, 35% of ballots
The Nuggets are in the lottery without his scoring, and yes, passing, off the bench.--Jeremy, Pickaxe and Roll.
INAUGURAL 7TH MAN - Jason Maxiell
7.9 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 54% FG, 21.6 mpg, 16.7 PER
Per 36 minutes: 13.3 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 1.9 bpg
Adjusted plus-minus: 4.34
29 points, 46% of ballot
He anchors a very good bench for a team that is, in my view, the 2nd best team in the NBA.--John, Red's Army
He eats babies.--Pradamaster, Bullets Forever
Editorializing for a second, our friend PhDribble wants bloggers to better recognize bench players; he'd be happy to know that 23 different 7th men were nominated, with 11 receiving at least one first-place vote. Not surprisingly, the polling strongly favored reserves on playoff teams, which tend to be deeper and bring more talent off the pine.
Another aside: Had this award been based solely on adjusted plus-minus--basically, how much better was a team with X player on the court--Eduardo Najera (plus 9.25) would have won 7th man in a landslide, as he was among the league leaders. Second and third among 7th men were Tony Allen (plus 5.08) and Kyle Korver (plus 4.80), respectively.
Most Valuable Player
Whether it was wins, points, or lifetime achievement, most basket-bloggers based their MVP choice on established criteria. Then there were the voters who felt that charisma in street clothes (one 9th place vote for Greg Oden) or simply leaving the team (one 10th place vote for Jeff McInnes) were enough to warrant consideration.
You'll see the results below, but one trend we've identified, which is sure to help some runner-up's candidacy next year: Keep your bad haircut. After shaving their heads, Andrew Bogut and Chris Kaman finished tied for just 23rd.
Honorable mention: Steve Nash, Chauncey Billups, Paul Pierce, Tracy McGrady
10. Manu Ginobili
19.5 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 4.5 apg, 61.2% TS, PER 24.3
32 win shares, 10.65 adjusted plus-minus
62 points, 50% of ballots
As he goes, so go the Spurs. No disrespect to Timmy, but it's the truth.--Ben Q. Rock, Third Quarter Collapse
9. Deron Williams
18.8 ppg, 10.5 apg, 59.5% FG, 20.8 PER
31 win shares, 2.06 adjusted plus-minus
66 points, 50% of ballots
Even though as a Nugget fan I hate the Jazz, Deron is just too good to put any lower.--Jeremy, Pickaxe and Roll
8. Dirk Nowitzki
23.6 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 3.5 apg, 58.5% TS, 24.6 PER
34 win shares, 8.16 adjusted plus-minus
67 points, 57% of ballots
In many ways Dirk has been much more of an MVP candidate to me this year than last. He's shown unexpected toughness and resiliency and was the reason Dallas topped the 50 win mark once again.--Franchise, RaptorsHQ
7. Amare Stoudemire
25.2 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 2.1 bpg, 65.6% TS, 27.6 PER
43 win shares, -1.47 adjusted plus-minus
99 points, 67% of ballots
Some questioned his passion and work-ethic in the beginning of the season...Those people have been very quiet.--Ryne, Odenized
6. Tim Duncan
19.3 ppg, 11.3 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.9 bpg, 24.3 PER
32 win shares, 7.52 adjusted plus-minus
104 points, 72% of ballots
Didn't everyone think he was washed up like 3 years ago?--College Wolf, Twolves Blog
Top five in MVP voting
Let's pause for a second. Not for dramatic emphasis, but to consider how these final five players separated themselves across the season; none dropped below fifth in our rankings, and four--LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant, and Chris Paul--held the top spot at some point.
However, every player who once held first also ranked as low as fourth or fifth at some point, illustrating this year's ultra-competitive MVP race. One week, Dwight Howard was #1 and LeBron James was #3; in the next poll, they'd swapped places. In fact, the most consistent candidate was Kevin Garnett--the only player in this quintet yet to hold #1--as KG never fell below fourth nor rose above second.
We know that, over the course of a season, voters change their ballots based on fluctuations in player and team performance, not to mention factors like dramatic wins or SportsCenter highlights. For example, Caron Butler appeared in just one ranking--10th overall, on Dec. 17th--and we'd bet that was tied to the Wizards' nationally televised victory over Shaq and Wade a few nights before, as much as Butler's play and team record.
So, in offering up these final five MVP candidates, we examine one factor--if recent team performance correlated with voter behavior. In addition to select stats and witty comments, the following players also get a big, distracting chart (The red line represents where the players ranked in MVP voting each round; the blue line represents their team's winning percentage in the two weeks between votes.) Judge for yourself; our back-of-the-envelope analysis is that there's a link, in addition to a bit of a lag.
5. Dwight Howard
20.7 ppg, 14.2 rpg, 59.9% FG, 2.1 bpg
36 win shares, 13.71 adjusted plus-minus
165 points, 94% of ballots
The league's leader in adjusted plus-minus, and by a wide margin. He also hasn't missed a game in his career.--Ben Q. Rock, Third Quarter Collapse
A good supporting cast, but it is Howard who has got Orlando to this point. And Howard who will take the Magic further...--Don, With Malice...
Became a much better player this year, but fizzled down the stretch.--Jeramey, The Bratwurst
4. LeBron James
30.0 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 7.2 apg, 1.8 spg, 29.1 PER
43 win shares, 9.29 adjusted plus-minus
272 points, 100% of ballots
If Chris Paul is the glue making the pieces of his team fit, LeBron is the team itself; sans LBJ the Cavs are probably the worst offensive team in the league.--Franchise, RaptorsHQ
Long story short is that they didn't win enough games. That's bogus because they would have won less games than the TWolves without LeBron.--College Wolf, TWolves Blog
As far as MVP voting went, he would have been better off slacking the first half of the season like he did last year.--Brett, Queen City Hoops
He's an unbelievable player, but if you can't get more than 4 games over .500 in the Leastern Conference you can't win the award - that's actually engraved on the trophy. --Tom and Steve W., CelticsBlog
Hard to overlook his stats. Easy to overlook his team. Not quite the MVP.--David, The Dream Shake
3. Kevin Garnett
18.8 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 3.4 apg, 54% FG, 25.2 PER
36 win shares, 9.68 adjusted plus-minus
291 points, 100% of ballots (nine first place votes)
He's not getting enough love, methinks. Defense is a major, major part of the game, and you can't deny how much he has impacted that end of the floor. I mean, Boston has the third-best defensive efficicency of ALL TIME! How ridiculous is that.--Pradamaster, Bullets Forever
Never before has one man done so much... with so much. Wait, what?--Matt and Corn, Hardwood Paroxysm
HEY BOSTON IS DA GRATEST!!! HATAZ DON NO BOUT DEM CELTICS!!! via Ball Don't Lie--Goathair, The Blowtorch
2. Kobe Bryant
28.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 5.4 apg, 1.8 spg, 24.2 PER39 win shares, 10.56 adjusted plus-minus
317 points, 100% of ballots (12 first place votes)
As Tim Legler put it, he is the only player in the NBA who has no weaknesses. He is the only player since MJ who you would want to take the last shot and defend a player who is taking the last shot.--Dave, 20 Second Timeout
His leadership and poise are what set him apart. There are a lot of great leaders, but none would I have over Kobe.--Ryne, Odenized
The man can win games singlehandedly whenever he wants to, AND leap over speeding Aston Martins in a single bound.--Jeff, Courtside at the Score
He's still the best player in the NBA. Just not the most valuable this year. There are worse things in life than #2 in MVP voting...--David, The Dream Shake
(Kobe's kind of our horse in the race, despite voting for Paul; amidst last fall's trading frenzy, we were hoping that he could still pull a Hakeem Olajuwon in L.A.).
1. Chris Paul
21.1 ppg, 11.6 apg, 2.7 spg, 57.6% TS, 28.3 PER
50 win shares, -.06 adjusted plus-minus
334 points, 100% of ballots (15 first place votes)
He's having the best traditional point-guard season of all-time, and he saved basketball in New Orleans. "Value" applies to the community, too.--Ben Q. Rock, Third Quarter Collapse
Try to win 56 games in the West with Mo Peterson as your STARTING teammate in the back court and tell me how it works...--Ricky, Sixers 4 Guidos
By PER, the man just had THE single greatest season in the history of the point guard position. Better than Magic, Oscar, or Stockton in their prime. I just don't see how that can go unrewarded.--Rohan, At the Hive
How do we compare?
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Here's one final, crowded chart: A compilation of every poll from across the season. Note how the same players remained in the top five all season, while 13 different players rotated through the bottom five slots.
You can see a full-size version of this graphic here.
If the chart's abbreviations throw you off, check out this spreadsheet, which contains the year-long MVP results, in addition to full voting for today's awards. In tracking players' "full body of work," the spreadsheet also illustrates how cumulative voting (i.e., Dwight Howard gets 9 points for finishing second in the inaugural poll, 10 points for finishing first in the second poll, etc.) would have significantly altered the MVP results: LeBron would be the hands-down winner, while Kobe would've finished fourth and Steve Nash--who wasn't even in the final poll--would've ranked sixth.
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A Texas-sized hat-tip to Brew Hoop's Alex--who dreamed up these rankings nearly six months ago--for letting us close out this fantastic regular season. Not to mention, many thanks to the kind voters (listed out below) and to you, the reader...who now knows far more about bloggers' MVP preferences than he ever wished.
Esteemed voters
David (Dream Shake); Ryne (Odenized); Franchise (RaptorsHQ); Spartacus (3 Shades of Blue); College Wolf (TWolves Blog); Matt and Corndogg (Hardwood Paroxysm); David (20 Second Timeout); Brian (Empty the Bench); Ben Q. Rock (Third Quarter Collapse); Don (With Malice); Ryan (HoopsAddict); Green 17 & Steve W. (Celtics Blog); Alex (BrewHoop); Basketbawful (Basketbawful); ticktock6 and mW (Hornets Hype); Dannie (Hoops State of Mind); Carter Blanchard (Free Darko); Rohan (At the Hive); Matt Watson (DetroitBadBoys.com); Tom (Indy Cornrows) Pradamaster (Bullets Forever); Josh (Dinosty); Jeramey (The Bratwurst); Jeff (Courtside at The Score); Wes Cox (Mavs Moneyball); Goathair (The Blowtorch); TruthAboutIt (TruthAboutIt.net); Ricky (Sixers 4 Guidos); Phoenix Stan (Bright Side of the Sun); Matt (BlogABull.com); Brett (Queen City Hoops); John (Red's Army); Andre (Nuggets 1); M. Haubs (The Painted Area); Jeremy (Pickaxe and Roll)
Previous rounds
- Brew Hoop
- ClipsNation
- 3 Shades of Blue
- Sixers4Guidos
- Pickaxe & Roll
- Hardwood Paroxysm
- CelticsBlog
- TwolvesBlog
- Hornets247
- Queen City Hoops
Labels: 7th Man of the Year, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, J.R. Smith, Jason Maxiell, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Louis Williams, MVP, NBA
posted by Crucifictorious @ 21:30,
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Why no one minds Kobe's sting
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
From the archives:
Kobe Bryant absolutely, must be traded. Staying with the team is an "impossibility," says his agent.
Last fall, before the Lakers morphed into contenders?
Hardly.
(And shouldn't you be ready for our fake-outs by now?)
Try 1996 on for size.
As occasionally referenced during today's National Celebration of Beans, Kobe was originally a Charlotte Hornet; the team snatched him at no. 13, the final pick of the 1996 lottery, before swapping him for the Lakers' Vlade Divac. Of course, this is one of those footnotes in NBA history that many fans do know, and imagining a league without the trade--one of the "most lopsided" in history--can be fun. Minus his All-Star wingman, would Shaq have won any rings in L.A.? Might he have wanted to come partner with Kobe, instead of Dwyane?
But forget "What If."
Instead, let's ask "Why"--as in Why has Kobe always gotten a free pass over demanding out of Charlotte? Why does no one question that he forced a trade from a franchise that crumbled a few years later?
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Think about that for a second. We'd bet you've never really considered it a black mark on Kobe's career. And you wouldn't be alone.
Take Kobe's detractors, who are quick to seize on any anti-Mamba ammunition; unfairly or not, here's their common criticism from across the 'net:
1. Kobe's selfish.
2. And phony.
3. He'll cheat during the game.
4. And on his wife.
5. Bah--who needs a reason to hate Kobe? It's just fun.
Of course, Kobe doesn't have a stranglehold on labels like "selfish", "phony," and "philandering" among professional athletes; however, while many fans hate draft-dodgers--especially those who mess up a franchise's fortunes--even Kobe's worst enemies won't bring up the Charlotte trade demand. Note that other star athletes, like the following three, still take considerably more criticism for asking out on draft day; just look at any blog post about Steve Francis's flagging career--at least one commenter always connects karma to Canada.
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Naturally, each draft-day trade demand plays out differently, leading to varying degrees of acrimony and fan grumbling, although players can mend fences with time and actions. Consider Yi Jianlian; once he recanted his desire to escape Milwaukee and started the year strong, he became a fan favorite. Meanwhile, Danny Ferry--a top prospect himself, so many years ago--stuck to his guns when drafted by the Clippers and postponed the NBA; while Ferry burned many bridges, he eventually became a respected player in his late career and was hired as Cleveland's GM.
In Kobe's case, he's never needed to apologize to the Hornets, and the intervening years aren't the reason why--he wasn't grilled much to begin with. Instead, here are the five key reasons why Bryant's rejection of Charlotte didn't draw much eyre then or now.
1. Because Charlotte didn't want him, anyway.
It seems ludicrous in retrospect, but the Hornets felt they were set on the perimeter, with swingmen Glen Rice, Larry Johnson, and Kendall Gill, and guards Kenny Anderson and Dell Curry. Instead, the team was desperately looking for size, and hoping that...drum roll, please...Todd Fuller or Vitaly Potapenko would fall to them in the draft.
According to then-Hornets Coach Dave Cowens, if the team couldn't select either of these franchise-changing players, "I don't know what we'll do...[probably] take some Maalox."
Action shot of Fuller. Or Potapenko. Or maybe both. Now that we think about it, they were never seen shuffling down the same basketball court at the same time...
The Hornets also worried about projecting a high school player's development on the NBA level, given that only three preps-to-pros were selected between 1975 and 1995; with few comparisons, it was difficult to predict if an 18-year-old was the next Bill Willoughby or Kevin Garnett, and it was even harder to project the transition for a high school guard. Moreover, the Hornets feared that they'd spend several years teaching and cultivating an under-prepared teenager...just in time for another team to swoop in, when the player's rookie contract expired.
As a result--and with Fuller and Potapenko sadly off the board at nos. 11 and 12--Charlotte was merely picking for Lakers GM Jerry West, who'd eyed Bryant as a piece for a new-look in L.A.
2. Because the trade demand only mattered for a few days.
Kobe's Hollywood dreams didn't go public until after the draft, when Divac said he'd rather retire than leave L.A.--forcing Charlotte to explore other trade possibilities. (Whoops). Arn Tellem, Bryant's agent, immediately insisted that Kobe "is going to be a Laker, and that's the only team he's playing for"; this kept with Tellem's secret pre-draft strategy, when he'd warned other lottery teams not to pick Kobe, since he would only play for the Lakers. Scared away, the New Jersey Nets used their no. 8 draft pick on shooting guard Kerry Kittles instead. In retrospect, maybe they lost that game of chicken?
However, Kobe's demand only stood for a few days before Divac relented and agreed to be dealt; unlike Francis visibly sulking through the 1999 NBA Draft, Elway calling his own press conference to demand out, or even the messy circus last year, Kobe's "get me to L.A." demand was handled reasonably quickly and by proxy. Plus, when pressed by reporters, Kobe successfully deployed the "I'm just 17 years-old--what could I possibly know about where to play?" defense--in retrospect, the best defense that he played all rookie season.
3. Because the Hornets were immediately successful.
Unlike the similarly scorned Colts or Grizzlies, which languished for years after being rejected by potential franchise-changers, the Hornets promptly improved after dealing their wayward draft pick. While no superstar, Divac was a nice upgrade over incumbent center Matt Geiger, as he and fellow acquisition Anthony Mason gave the Hornets one of the great-passing frontcourts of recent years.
In fact, the Hornets were much better at exceeding short-term expectations than the Lakers, who had championship aspirations after adding Shaq to replace Divac. Despite preseason predictions that the Hornets were lottery-bound again, the 1996-1997 squad rolled to 54-28, the best record* in the franchise's 20-year history, and won another 51 games the next season.
* Until next month.
4. Because Kobe quickly had success elsewhere.
Unlike Francis, whose career appears to be winding down and will never escape the shadow of Vancouver, Kobe obviously bloomed in Los Angeles. Sure, the first few years had some rough moments--several playoff airballs against the Jazz stand out--but Kobe got so good, so fast, and won three titles before he turned 24.
Just as Eli no longer has to answer questions regarding his forced deal to the NY Giants, Kobe proved he was worthy of special accommodations long ago.
5. Because the Hornets didn't fail in Charlotte because of him.
It would take an incredibly evil and conniving athlete to force a trade simply to destroy a franchise--and even Mamba's biggest detractors wouldn't say he's that Machiavellian. Instead, most of the blame rests with owner George Shinn, whose personal scandals ruined the Hive's sweet thing; by 2001, local hatred of Shinn had helped drop average Hornet attendance to under 12,000, with some games dipping into the four digits.
Of course, having a draw like Bryant in his prime could have boosted the Hornets at the gate. But when Kobe asked out in 1996, the team was selling out at home--even during a .500 season--and how could he foresee Shinn's coming troubles? Bryant can do many things, but as the Bynum and Kupchak brouhaha proved, predicting the future isn't among his skills.
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See--you didn't have to worry, Kobe Bryant fans; for today's national Wagyu Cattle Holiday, even potentially critical blog posts of Mamba are gently explained away.
Of course, this whole post broaches on an even-deeper question: Should professional athletes be able to demand their way out of a league's entry draft?
...
You know what? We'll save that one for Leon Wood Day.
Labels: Charlotte Hornets, Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Hornets
posted by Crucifictorious @ 02:55,
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Sometimes, the best trades are the ones you don't make: The Dream Shake
Sunday, November 25, 2007
We're a month into the season, and the We Rite Goode crew want to
First up: Why isn't Kobe out of L.A. yet?
A star must be traded.
That was the mandate facing one GM. His future Hall-of-Famer was feuding with the owner and calling the GM incompetent to the press. The guy's teammates were muttering off-the-record about greed and ego. The team seemed locked in the middle of the West, far behind the real contenders.Sound familiar?
Clearly, we're describing Kobe Bryant...except we're not.
No--we're flashing back 15 years to a star from the '90s. A player who had yet to win an MVP; a guy who was seen as unable to make his teammates better.
Rack your brain. It's not Karl Malone. Nor Patrick Ewing. Not Charles Barkley, although that guess would be a good one, since trade talk for both swirled that summer of 1992.
Instead, it's...Hakeem Olajuwon. What, the legendary Dream, you say? We'll let journalist Eddie Sefko take it away:
Dateline: May 31 1992
"Everytime you turn around, there is another piece of conjecture about what the Rockets will do with Hakeem Olajuwon.
Last week, Mike Fratello was quoted as saying one of the reasons he did not want the Rockets' coaching job was because the club was 99-percent certain Olajuwon would be traded.
The guess here is that it's more like 100 percent.
The Rockets have been calling around the league offering Olajuwon. Their first question to prospective takers is if there are any untouchables on their squad.
If there are, the Rockets move on."
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Now, with the benefit of hindsight, we all know that Olajuwon remained in Houston for another nine years before swan-songing in Toronto (about the time Sefko moved from the Houston Chronicle to the Dallas Morning News, where he would become part of press conference infamy.)
But to Sefko's credit, he was just parroting the conventional wisdom: Things did look pretty grim between Olajuwon and Rockets management. Hakeem had worn down after carrying the load alone for years; Ralph Sampson's career flamed out early, leaving lunchpail power forward Otis Thorpe as Olajuwon's best sidekick.
Existing tension escalated during that spring of 1992; although a team doctor reported he was OK to play, Hakeem said that a hamstring injury had yet to heal and sat out for two games, prompting Rockets management to issue a three-game suspension. Upon his return, Olajuwon called the owner a coward and the GM a fool, demanding a trade. For their part, the Rockets encouraged reports that Hakeem was greedy and not a team player. A divorce seemed imminent, if not necessary.
And while teams lined up for an Hakeem deal--among them, the Sonics, the Clippers, and the Heat--keep in mind, Hakeem wasn't universally viewed as a savior. One Seattle columnist argued that pairing Olajuwon with Shawn Kemp would be a mistake, as Hakeem never made other players better and had terrible practice habits. Behind a healthy Olajuwon, the Rockets had been just .500 in two of the three previous years; not to mention, it was also the era of the forward-guard (Jordan, Bird, Magic), and dominant big men weren't seen as necessary for a championship any more.
So what happened? Well, the Rockets never ended up making a deal, considering they were getting just pennies on the dollar. Perhaps the best proposal was from the Heat, who offered Rony Seikaly, Willie Burton, and Brian Shaw--or in today's terms, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Gerald Green, and Marko Jaric for a Tim Duncan-level talent.
At first, the shadow of a trade (or failure to make one), hung over the Rockets; by the end of December, the team sat at 14-16, in the midst of a seven-game losing streak. But whether it was the criticism, the challenge--something in Olajuwon caught fire, and soon, the Rockets did too. The team ended up with 55 wins and the first division title since prototype Twin Towers Sampson and Olajuwon led the Rockets to the 1986 Finals. And even though Michael Jordan's Bulls won the 1993 NBA title in a threepeat, it was Olajuwon who finished second to Charles Barkley for that year's MVP.
It was agreed: Rather than get dealt out of Houston, Olajuwon put the trouble behind him and had his finest season to-date, pushing his performance to the next level.
It was enough to get Hakeem his first Defensive Player of the Year nod, and he built on the performance to win MVP (and carry his team to a championship) in 1994.
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It's kind of surprising. We think of Hakeem Olajuwon now as a fully formed superstar--cool and calm, using his Dream Shake to outplay Patrick Ewing in 1994, David Robinson and Shaq in 1995. But not long before...he was a hot-headed center who had all the talent, but hadn't quite put everything together.As fans, playing with counterfactual history can be way too tempting--and sometimes the answers are far too easy. Would Chris Webber have emerged as an All-NBA performer had the Wizards not jettisoned him to Sacramento, revitalizing his career? At the very least, keeping Webber hardly could have gone worse for D.C. than trading him for a fossilized Mitch Richmond and sinking into the 20-win range. In the case of the Rockets and Olajuwon, the odds that the team and the player could have enjoyed better mutual (two championships) or individual success, had they parted ways, seems slim.
All this to say that, burned bridges or not, occasionally playing on auto-pilot, maybe Kobe Bryant can still write a whole new chapter in L.A. Unlike the young Hakeem, no one doubts that Kobe has championship mettle. And he clearly has another gear; after last year's all-star break, Kobe was on fire, averaging nearly 37 ppg. Watching a few early games this year, Kobe's clearly not in attack mode yet, possibly because he doesn't really want to be.
Of course, this whole post assumes that a Kobe trade, if not highly probable, is at least still possible. And where you stand on that likely depends on where you get your NBA news. Tom Ziller at the Fanhouse said over the summer that it wasn't going to happen; just one month ago, ESPN conveyed that a Kobe trade was still all-but-certain.
For our part, we cop to reading Simmons and Hollinger, so think (as they do) that Kobe trade talk isn't finished, despite the Lakers' early success. The team will hit a skid--maybe the current two-game losing streak, as of this writing, turns into six--and the buzz that the team isn't going anywhere will grow. Or, as beat writers feed the beast, reporters following the team will keep pecking away until someone hits on something juicy and reignites the story all over again.
But at the end of the day...
- Can anyone give the Lakers equal value for Kobe? (No.)
- Can Kobe go to a situation that will give him better odds for a title? (Probably not.)
- And have superstars ever mended fences before and helped elevate a middling team to the Finals? (...Do we really need to answer that again?)
Labels: Hakeem Olajuwon, Kobe Bryant, NBA, Questions
posted by Crucifictorious @ 01:00,
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A Greivis oversight
Monday, August 27, 2007
Basketball fans all over the country got an eyeful of Maryland guard Greivis Vasquez, when he started for Team Venezuela against Team USA in the FIBA championships last week.And all things considered, Greivis acquitted himself well. 12 points to lead squad Hugo Chavez. A decent compliment from Phoenix Suns GM Steve Kerr on the "B.S. Report." But totally overmatched (3/11 FGs, 4 TOs)...obviously when facing a team of NBA all-stars, but especially given who was across from him.
Courtesy of FoxSports, a fun backstory.
You’ve seen the way Kobe has been getting after it on D in the Olympic qualifying tournament, right? You don’t even know the half. Word is that before Team USA’s opener against Venezuela, Mamba was actually studying game film of opposing point guard Greivis Vasquez, who played at Maryland last year. Just what a college sophomore needs — the best player on the planet not only on his butt like cowboy jeans, but treating the assignment like it was the NBA Finals. Greivis told the L.A. Times, “I don’t know how to explain it. That was amazing.” He added, “All of a sudden, he was guarding me like it was the last game of his life. I’m 20 years old…It was tough…But tomorrow’s another day. It’s all good. I’m glad it happened.”
Kid's got spunk. A better night was Sunday, when he led Venezuela to the second round with a near-triple double.
Greivis is the #1 reason I'm excited for Terps basketball this season...although Rivals.com doesn't share my enthusiasm. According to their esteemed staff, Maryland's #48 in the preseason rankings, smack between George Mason and West Virginia. I just can't see it. The Terps bring back James Gist (a member of the U.S. Pan-Am team), Eric Hayes (a poor man's Steve Blake), and Boom Osby (a destitute man's Ben Wallace)...yeah, not exactly UNC '05, but certainly a talented core that should be top 20 in the country.
Well, whatever. Who's Rivals.com anyway? I don't know those kids. From happy days as a Terps fan...
Labels: Greivis Vasquez, Kobe Bryant, Maryland
posted by Doctor Dribbles @ 12:24,
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Around the Web...
Thursday, June 28, 2007
From the Soul of Baseball: One man's take on the AL All-Star starters. No Corey Patterson?From Slate.com: Kobe and Kevin. Paul Shirley lionizes one, bathes the other in oil. Can you guess which?
From The Wizards of Odds: It's all about the kids...making the old men oodles of money.
From Deadspin: Does anyone feel a draft?
Labels: AL All-Star game, Deadspin, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, NBA Draft
posted by Crucifictorious @ 18:56,
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