Welcome back. I’m Phillip Ciprotti and this is your stop for NBA news on InsidePulse.
We’re about 25 games into the NBA season and it’s time to look at some surprising teams, some things the media is wrong about, and really anything else I damn well want to spout out about. If you’re as primed for the NBA season as I was then you’ve probably already heard the talking heads in the mainstream bloviating on most of this….my hope is that you get something new from this column that you can take with you. If that doesn’t work I’m gonna try blowing smoke up your ass and hope I sound semi-intelligent in the process.
Media Darlings: The Clippers:
No matter where you go it seems somebody is pumping up the Clippers as a dark horse pick to make some major noise in the West as we wind on down the schedule. I have a few problems with that if one views the team as it was built these first 25 games.
First, the team is 7th in the West in point differential. While this would still make them a playoff team, they have 2 teams (the Warriors and Nuggets) that are very close behind. Currently the Clippers outscore their opposition by only +1.1 points per game. Both the Warriors and Nuggets are only a half-point behind them at around +.5. When you consider that the Nuggets are just getting healthy, and that the Warriors are still getting their legs under them after the Baron Davis trade, it’s easy to see how the Clippers’ record could be a slight mirage and that they could come back down the earth.
Second, the team’s stars are playing a ton of minutes. Because of it some players, namely Elton Brand, are having the years of their career. One wonders about the kind of wearing down that will happen to the guys like Kaman and Brand. If the team moves Chris Wilcox, as is rumored, then it will mean even more pressure on the bigs. One strength of them right now is the big men’s FG%. If that got hurt significantly because of the extended minutes, then the team gets much weaker. Because they are still young I’m sure the team thinks this will not be a problem, I’m not so sure it isn’t.
The key for this team (besides the above) is how well it incorporates some of its larger pieces who have been out for extended periods of time. Shaun Livingston is already on the mend, and it’s believed the plan is for him to share minutes with Sammy Cassell to keep Cassell fresh for the end of the season. Livingston is a talent, no question there, however his one disadvantage to this point is that young players tend to be less careful with the ball. This could take away some of the advantage they have right now on the turnover front. The team is currently 2nd in the league in turnover margin per game (+2.91). For a team on the bubble any drop in this would seriously hurt the team. If Livingston takes over more of the playmaking burden, he is going to have to do it without giving the ball up.
Another player/situation that needs to be dealt with is the Corey Maggette situation. Like Livingston, Maggette was seen as an important cog in the machine when the season began. However, it’s possible that the team likes having a player like Quinton Ross in the lineup, a guy who doesn’t need the ball to contribute to the team. With Maggette there may not be enough shots for all of players the Clips have.
My view is that the recent record of 1-5 is a sign that the team isn’t quite as good as it showed early on. While I don’t know what Livingston and Maggette will provide, it’s safe to say they won’t help the turnover issue and thus might not provide AS much of a lift as the team expects. In a tough division I see them hovering around the 8th/9th seed and probably losing out to a team like Denver who has hung around and is now getting all their ducks in a row.
Paging Larry Brown…..supposedly a superstar coach
If you’re a Knick fan this season has to have been a kick in the nuts. With a roster almost totally turned over from the nightmare that it was just 3 years ago, and with a coach like Larry Brown, it was expected the team would at least COMPETE for a playoff run. At this point the team is competing for the Adam Morrison sweepstakes. To have 6 wins, in what I could generously call a “mediocre” division, is an embarrassment to Brown and to his players.
The offense, always a problem with a Larry Brown team, is in shambles as he continues to try to mold a team to his will instead of building an offense to fit the talent he has. It’s as if he buys all his own hype and decided that he is bigger than the team. What’s so ironic about this is what a disdain he has for individual greatness because it so often leads a player to stray from the team concept. His substitution patters run anywhere from puzzling to horrid as he tries in vain to mix and match talent before the talent even has time to gel together into any kind of cohesive game plan.
Another issue for the team is that there seems to be little to no growth in the young players that are on the team. This probably doesn’t surprise anyone who has followed Darko Milicic’s “career”, but I think most people believe that Brown is a good teacher who gets the most out of his players. If that’s the case one has to wonder what he’s doing with Channing Frye, David Lee, and Nate Robinson. All three had solid-to-outstanding summer and preseasons. While Frye has shown the most, the other players watch their time come and go with seemingly no rhyme or reason. Lee has become nonexistent and Robinson is never allowed to play the style that fits him best because it doesn’t always conform to whatever Brown seems to be preaching that day. I have to believe Isaiah Thomas can’t be thrilled about the growth-rate of players he has much invested in.
Brown has pledged he will find a group he likes and stick with them, and this can only help the club in the long run. One would expect the team to start to play better as we move toward the All-Star Break and into the back half of the season. The problem is going to be how Brown and Thomas meld philosophically. Brown wants to justify the insane salary Thomas gave him, Thomas is going to want to develop the young players he has worked hard to obtain.
The final piece in this mess is what to do with Stephon Marbury. Thomas has seemingly sworn a blood pact with Marbury, as he quickly sought to acquire him just a few years ago. The problem with keeping him is that by the time the team is good enough to contend he will be at an age, and have a contract that will make him unmovable. It’s safe to believe that he won’t be as effective at that time as he is today. The problem with moving him is that there is no way to get fair value for him AND most teams don’t want to touch his contract with a 90ft pole. Will Thomas hold onto his pet project? Will Brown be able to convince Thomas to deal him out? Will anyone take him?
As for this season it appears to be a wash. The upside of that is that Thomas has proven that he is a capable drafter of talent. Considering this team could use an influx of young talent that isn’t such a bad thing. But is Larry Brown the right guy to mold that kind of team? Probably not.
Pat Riley does the right thing
Anyone who has followed the NBA season knows about the drama in Miami. Rumors swirled the moment the Heat lost to the Pistons last year that Stan Van Gundy was on thin ice. He totally mismanaged game 7 of that series and looked totally lost in the final quarter. He was never known as a calm coach, but game 7 really exposed that. The team lacked the strategy or the tactical acumen to get the job done in what was the biggest game in that franchises history. No doubt Riles had to be upset at Van Gundy’s inability to get the ball into the hands of the man that Riley had given so much up to acquire for JUST that situation: Shaquille O’Neal.
As this year began the death watch was on. Injury played a part, but so did the grumblings of the veterans about Stan’s methods. Not being a great game manager, to wearing too much of his emotion on his sleeve, the veteran players realized that Riley was the teams best chance to change it’s fortune. Clearly Riley knew this too and acted as soon as it was smart to do it: the moment Shaq came back from his ankle injury. An for those of you who think Riley was immoral or slimy just remember that Greg Popovich did the exact same thing the year after David Robinson got hurt and the team was able to pair him with Tim Duncan.
After a solid string of games and a renewed commitment to Shaq, the Heat are on top of what shouldn’t be too competitive of a division. Riley can coach in a laid back manner for a few reasons: 1) He’s his own boss and so he isn’t on the hot seat. 2) He has the swagger and confidence of a guy with 4 rings in his back pocket. That is to say nothing he does or doesn’t do with the Heat is going to change his spot in the league’s history.
My guess is that the team will start to gel under Riley. I think there will be some issues when Jason Williams comes back and the team is fully operational, however I don’t see Riley moving away from an inside-out game like Van Gundy did last year and because of that this team will breeze into the playoffs under the cool leadership of a coach who has his ticket to the HOF already punched.
Random rantings about things I’m currently thinking about the NBA
Besides Tim Duncan has there ever been a bigger lock for ROY this early than there is for Chris Paul right now?
If Phil Jackson is really happy with the Lakers offense as it’s currently run, then I’m the king of Siam.
Who said the Suns will have problems making the playoffs without Amare? Me? Oh. Guess they’ll be ok.
If someone can explain what Scott Skiles is doing with the Bulls, please email me immediately? His sub patterns make Larry Brown look like Einstein.
Is Gilbert Arenas having fun chucking his way to team mediocrity?
At what point do the good people of Toronto just give up on basketball altogether? I mean when the big move of the season is showcasing Jalen Rose so you can deal him…..you’re in deep deep dino-crap.
Hey maybe that Flip Saunders guy can coach after all. The scapegoating of him by the horror-show of a GM Kevin McHale was one of the best things to happen to him. Now he can know what it’s like coaching for a real General Manager.
Speaking of McHale: Hey buddy your star player is 29 and you’ve surrounded him with almost nothing. Ever think it might be a good idea to think hard for just long enough to get some PLAYERS around this guy? The fact that you start Olowokandi and Hassell should keep you up at night.
That’s all folks
If you don’t know my favorites you need to:
I want to explain how this works. You will read Patrick Nguyen. You will laugh your ass off. You will thank me when we meet in hell.
Nick Pomazak calls Trent Green some horrible mean things. Find out what and why.
Oil Porter has his Monkey of the Week. I don’t want to ruin it but it’s some guy named Jacques…which I think goes without saying, but who am I.
