Dear Commissioner Stern,

Let me start this letter by saying thank you!  You may be asking why I chose to send this letter now?  It’s because of your new technical foul policy.  For too many years, NBA athletes have been allowed to express themselves on the basketball floor, and it’s about time you put an end to that.

Too often, players show emotion on a call by the officials, and that makes the fans either jump on their side or against them, either way, they get loud.  How am I supposed to hear the music being played at the game when they are constantly making noise?  I want to be able to hear the latest pop song, especially if there is lots of auto-tuner.  I just can’t do that when the people in the stands are making so much noise.

And why are athletes emotional about the games they play?  They’re already millionaires and it’s just a game, so come on guys, tone it down a bit.  When I’m in the office at work, and I some computer program is buggy for me, you don’t see me getting all hot and bothered about it.  Computers don’t show emotions, so I don’t either.  I expect you to show the same courtesy.  I may not have to take an elbow or get hit on the arms by said computer as I’m typing, but excuses are for the weak.  Kevin Garnett was thrown out of a game for smiling at the referee, and I say to you sir official, good job.  Smiling is for children, and this is a man’s game.  It’s about time these exuberant displays of emotion were reigned in.

Thank you for allowing me to see the real NBA on TV now.  When I pay my 100.00 for a ticket to a game, I don’t pay to see Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant or anyone of the stars.  If I want to see them, I can just watch the NBA on TNT.  Those guys get too much face time, how are we supposed to keep up with the other stars in the NBA such as DJ Mbenga, Brian Scalabrini or Jawad Williams with all of these supposed “stars” playing?  No, I pay that money so I can keep an eye on the bench to see what they are doing.  Television coverage does not focus enough on those guys on the bench who don’t get into games, and that’s just wrong.  With this new policy, I will now get a chance to see DJ, Scalabrini and Jawad on TV.

As alluded to above, you have catered to the true NBA fan: the guy who roots for the 12^th man, not the 1^st man.  The players who will feel the pain of this new policy the most will be those stars.  Now, with them out of the way, we’ll see those unsung heroes from the bench in the game more often.  It used to be that I would of had to hope for the other hallmark of the NBA, the blow out game, in order to see those players.  These bench players are known for their fundamentally sound basketball because of a lack of athletic prowess.  It will make for a much more exciting game, more WNBA like.

I understand the NBAPA is planning to file legal action over this new policy.  For the betterment of the NBA, fight them with all of the resources you have!  You and you alone know what’s best for the NBA.  Do not listen to the screaming fans out there complaining about the new policy, I’m sure they are in the minority.  Know that you have my steadfast support, and a month ago I started a petition of support for this new policy.  So far, including myself, I only have one signature, but I’m sure those numbers will soon increase.

Sincerely,

Bob

The Committee for a Less Exciting NBA

It seems like every few months there’s another “tragic” story of a celebrity athlete that’s now down and out and for all purposes, broke. Two of the latest former NBA athletes that we’ve heard about have been Antoine Walker and Ray Williams. Since Ray Williams played in the NBA in the 80s, back before the gigantic salaries of the 90s, he only earned approximately $2 million during his playing days. But Walker, on the other hand, earned over $100 million dollars in NBA contracts, which doesn’t even take into account his numerous endorsement deals. ‘Toine simply has no excuse.

According to a study done by the NBA Players Association back in 2008, roughly 60% of NBA players are broke within 5 years of retirement. This is absolutely mind-boggling. Consider this. When on the road, NBA players have everything paid for. Transportation, five-star hotel rooms, and even meals are all covered either by the team or their large per diem. Under the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, each player receives $106 per day on the road. Technically, they don’t have to spend a dime on food. Imagine that, giving an athlete with a multi-million dollar contract a per diem.

There’s simply no excuse for when NBA players go broke. A large part of the problem is that there’s no financial guidance for them. Having an agent who takes 5 percent of your earnings is entirely necessary and acceptable, since it is the agent who usually brokers the deals that lead to large pay days, both in terms of NBA salary as well as various endorsements. But having your best buddy from back home, with no financial experience per say, be your money manager, is absolutely ludicrous. Jared Dudley, who earned $1,307,640 last season, once stated that he tries to save as much money as possible, especially avoiding unnecessary expenses on the road, because he doesn’t know how long his NBA career will last. He’s the exception, rather than the norm.

A lot of these athletes are given buckets of money when they’re barely out of puberty. It’s only natural that some of them succumb to the manipulative people around them who bleed them dry until there’s nothing left. How hard would it be that, rather than investing in condominiums or a restaurant (and truth be told, most celebrity restaurants go out of business about as fast as they start up), to put a portion of their money into a CD or even a money market account. Yes, that’s less flashy and would be a hard sell, but think about this: putting $4 million dollars into a money market account earning 3% compounded interest will pay you over $120,000 a year. A player savings plan that allots a certain amount into such an account or a CD every month is not only the logical thing to do, but it should become mandatory. Yes, these are adults who are responsible for whether they succeed or fail on their own, but it’s been happening over and over again where these athletes simply are not able to be trusted to be responsible.

Former players like Michael Jordan, who are a brand onto their own, are able to maintain their lifestyle long after their playing days are over. But most NBA players simply fade away after their playing days with limited options to continue earning the money that they’ve been used to earning. If the NBA wants to continue trying to maintain their corporate politically correct image, they need to not only focus on the off-court disciplinary issues that many of their players face, but also their financial planning. Having multi-million dollar athletes like Antoine Walker end up broke only makes the NBA players come across as uneducated, pompous prima donnas.

Hola, I’m Rudy Fernandez,

I’m from Spain and am ridiculously good looking.  I like to call myself Rudy.  Rudy is amazing and has done nothing to diminish his trade value or reputation in the NBA.

Rudy pulled a fast one over on the Blazers and the people of Portland.  The organization flew to Spain and charmed me and my family with their yachts.  Those idiot fans greeted me at the airport when I arrived and wore I heart Rudy shirts during my rookie season.

Here’s how Rudy repaid them:

Rudy is a second rate pine rider that dribbles in circles, ignores the open teammate and chucks up bricks with 1 second left on the shot clock.

Rudy is a fantastic flopper.

Rudy can’t ball worth a lick since Trevor Ariza broke his back and left him in a heap of pretty Spaniard, weeping under the basket.

Sergio Rodriguez left Rudy, and he is completely lost, a shell of a baller, a player without an identity.

Rudy set the rookie season record for 3’s at the ripe age of 23, after balling professionally in Europe for years.  Yes, that’s still a rookie.  It is.

Rudy choked when he was voted in to the All-Star Slam Dunk Contest.  But hey, Rudy asked his Spanish buddy and rival NBA Laker Pau Gasol to help him out, tossing lobs.  Rudy knows what a genius move that was.

Rudy bitched and moaned about playing time, and about how Coach Nate is a moron that doesn’t know how to utilize him.  Rudy is a big time player, with big game experience in Europe and on the world stage.  You know you saw Rudy light it up during the Olympics.  But when given the chance to show everyone in the NBA what he’s made of, in the playoffs when our All-Star went down with another knee injury, Rudy choked.  He didn’t show up to play.  He avoided shooting the ball.

Rudy loves him some Rudy.

And Rudy is good enough to impose all kinds of ridiculous stipulations on the team that paid $3 million dollars for the rights to my contract.  It’s funny.   First he gave them a list of 11 teams that he would go to.  Then, he cut it down to three.  Rudy can make those demands.

When teams other than those 3 made offers, Rudy publicly let it be known that he was unhappy and not interested playing for them.

When those 3 teams didn’t offer more than 2^nd round picks, Rudy laughed, and made his agent tell the world that he’s not coming back to Portland, or the NBA for that matter.

Why can’t those minions trade Rudy?  Who doesn’t want a piece of Rudy?

Rudy is telling everyone that Pritchard and Coach Nate didn’t live up to the numerous promises they made him, even though doing something like that is completely against their character, and there is no precedent of them ever having done so with any other player.  Of course they really made those promises.  Rudy is that good.  Who?  Andre Miller?  Yeah, publicly they didn’t promise him a starting position, and he rode the pine behind Steve Blake at first… but I’m Rudy!

Threatening the Blazers is the best career move Rudy has have ever made.  They need to know that he will go out of his way to bash them to other European players, letting them know how horrible it is to play for Portland, and how much they don’t appreciate the contributions of Euros.  What’s that?  Nic Batum?  Yeah, but he’s French.  And he actually plays hard.

Screw this team.  Screw this league.  They don’t appreciate Rudy.  Rudy deserves the world without backing anything up.

I’m not showing to training camp.  I’m sitting out the final 2 years of my contract.  Rudy’s word means nada.

Viva la Rudy!

I may reside in Korea for the time being, but that doesn’t keep me from staying in touch with everything going on in Rip City, USA.  And what’s got my attention today, as well as the morning sports radio program that I stream on a daily basis, is the appearance of Trail Blazer Brandon Roy in a Cali and Cavalli hip hop video.

Check it out for yourself.  Don’t blink or you might miss him.  1:29.  3:07.  3:35

Is this really that big a deal?

OK, I will admit this is not the image that most of us have  of Brandon Roy.  Lyrics like “Big Trees over there” and “Blowing on his purple”, accompanied by images of thugs rolling and smoking blunts doesn’t jive with the squeaky clean, family man image he has gone out of his way to uphold.

So I don’t know why this doesn’t bother me.

Maybe it’s because I stuck with this team through the Jail Blazer era, where we as Blazermaniacs had legitimate reasons for getting frustrated with the actions of the team.  Dog fighting.  Wife beating.  Real dope inhalation in yellow hummers on I-5.  Drag racing down Broadway.  Airport arrests.   The list goes on and on.

Maybe it’s because I always thought there was a little street underneath Roy’s squeaky clean exterior, and I might be glad to finally get a glimpse of it.

Even though I’m one of them, maybe I get tired of the microscope inspection that most Blazer fans use to criticize every real life action of the members of their favorite team.

Seems to me, he’s showing some support for the guys he grew up with in East Seattle, and I’m OK with that.  Perhaps he wants to shake up that goody goody image he’s got.  Perhaps he didn’t even know what the overall video concept would be, although I highly doubt that.  Maybe he’s just loyal, and that’s not a bad characteristic to hold on to.

Whatever the deal, this does nothing to tarnish my image of Brandon Roy.  To the contrary, it is having the opposite effect on me.  Never heard of the group.  Not a fan of the song.  But I kind of like the cameo.

Heat shmeat. Enough about this years favorite bandwagon team, the Miami Heat, it’s time to go homer on all of you and talk about your Los Angeles Lakers (and by the way, Miami, thanks for taking the d-bag bandwagon fans from us, they’ve been an embarrassment to true Laker fans for a long time!). In case you have been living under an NBA free rock for the last three months, the Lakers are the defending 2010 NBA World Champions. In locking up their 16th all time NBA championship, they moved within one NBA title of matching the dreaded, evil, despised Boston Celtics.

But, with the landscape of the NBA changing so much this free agent season, how do the Lakers keep pace with the rest of the NBA this off season? First, it should be noted, by default since they were the NBA champions, they have the fewest moves necessary to maintain their status as the NBA’s elite. That being said, it’s a much finer line to be drawn. It can be very easy to disregard chemistry and fit over talent and stats, thereby ruining what would have been an extremely good team.

So, how did the Lakers do this offseason? First, they didn’t bring in any new core pieces. With the resigning of Derrick Fisher, they maintain the same six man rotation of Fisher, Kobe, Artest, Pau, Bynum and Odom. Going into free agency, if there was one weakness that could be called out on last years Lakers team, it was the consistency of the bench. Often times, the starters would get a good lead, but the bench would lose those leads, putting more pressure on the starters. With a star with a lot of miles on his legs in Kobe, it’s important to shore up that bench so that they won’t be quite as dependant on the starting rotation during the regular season. The top six guys, sans Artest, have effectively played a whole extra season in the last three years, with having been to the final three times (67 total playoff games in those three years). Being able to reduce the minutes of the starters will be all the more important going into this season so that their legs will be fresh going into the playoffs.

So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the new additions player by player and breakdown the new look Lakers.

The Free Agents

Theo Ratliff – Eight years ago, this would have been a very impactful signing. But, Theo isn’t quite the player he once was. After 15 seasons in the Association, those legs aren’t what they once were. This becomes a better signing, though, because Theo won’t be asked to do too much for this team. He can still have an impact in the limited minutes he will be playing having proved that last year by averaging 1.2 blocks and 3.2 rebounds in only 16 minutes of action per game. Ratliff will be about the 10th or 11th man off the bench for the Lakers, a solid play at that spot in the rotation, and fits the defensive minded mold that the Lakers have become over the last two seasons.

Matt Barnes – This was the coupe of the Lakers signings. Matt Barnes is a tough nosed small forward that any team would like to have. He’s one of those Kurt Rambis/Bill Laimbeer players that everyone hates…unless he’s on your team. Laker fans hated Barnes last year because of his run ins with Kobe, but all that did was earn a recruiting call from the Black Mamba. Barnes will be excellent relief for Artest or Kobe, and should get around 25 minutes per game in the regular season. There will be no let up on the defensive end in terms of energy when Barnes comes in to spell one of those players. While not a great offensive player, he’s at least a decent outside shot, shooting a career 32.9% from beyond the arc. But, the Lakers have had offensive minded bench players in the past, and they’ve proven to be generally inconsistent. Defensive oriented players tend not to have the ups and downs that an offensive minded bench player has. Most important of all, he will be able to provide enough consistency to allow Kobe to reduce his minutes during the regular season.

Steve Blake – What Matt Barnes does for Kobe in allowing him to reduce his minutes, Steve Blake does for Derrick Fisher. While both Kobe and Fisher both have lots of minutes on their legs, Fisher also has four calendar years on Kobe as well. Watching a lot of Lakers games last year, the biggest hole in the second unit was the point guard position. Jordan Farmar was decent, you could count on his hustle and he came up with some key plays in the playoffs, but he was generally inconsistent off the bench, often times disappearing from the rotation. You could tell that Phil Jackson never really fully trusted his second unit in his hands. Steve Blake, on the other hand, is the definition of a backup point guard. Having seen him a lot in Portland as a starter, I never liked him in that particular role. I always thought his skills were best suited for a backup role. He’s not afraid to take a shot, and can hit consistently, having shot a career 39% from three-point range. While not a lock down defensive player, he at least hustles, is pesky and is a good, solid defensive player who keeps people in front of him. This is the best pickup the Lakers made, shoring up their weakest position of the second unit, and getting a player that will generally make the smart play.

The Rookies

Devin Ebanks – Ebanks is a 6’8” forward taken with the 43rd overall pick out of West Virginia. He’s a good defensive player, with a seven-foot wingspan, and in college defended four positions. He’s most likely to contribute through his versatility on the defensive end, and if he works at it, could be a regular contributor. Offensively, there’s a lot of work to be done. He’s got a decent midrange shot, but isn’t going to create, instead getting his points off of motion. That fits in well with the Lakers triangle offense, and on top of that, he won’t be called upon for his offensive prowess anyways. Ebanks surprised a lot of people in Summer League play, routinely showing up on many a top performers list. There are some character questions off the floor due to some academic issues, and breaking his hand in college after a fight with a teammate, but the Lakers have strong leadership and won’t put up with shenanigans.

Derrick Caracter – The other pick in the Lakers 2010 draft was Derrick Caracter, the 58th pick out of UTEP. Caracter is a 6’9” post player, clocking in at a big 265. He has some good hands and good footwork, so he has a leg up on your average second round pick. Those are both skills that are difficult hurdles to overcome if you don’t have them (see Kwame Brown for what bad hands can do to a career). He is a comfortable player in the post on the offensive end, and is a particularly strong offensive rebounder. Like Ebanks, he surprised a lot of people in Summer League play as well, showing that he could possible contribute.

Overview

Those are just the new faces in the purple and gold this season. They still retained Derrick Fisher and Shannon Brown from last years team. Fisher is the anchor to the team, and almost plays an ambassador between Kobe and the rest of the roster. Brown is the spark plug off the bench that energizes a sometimes lackadaisical second unit. With these new faces, the rotations should look something like this:

First unit:
PG Derrick Fisher
SG Kobe Bryant
SF Ron Artest
PF Pau Gasol
C Andrew Bynum

Second Unit:
PG/SG Steve Blake
PG/SG Shannon Brown
SG/SF Matt Barnes
SF/PF Lamar Odom
PF/C Theo Ratliff

Those are two very strong units. The second unit alone would be a 25 win team in full rotation. Their deficiencies are on the offensive end, but they will be one of the better defensive second units in the NBA. They also have one of the larger second units, particularly with how the Zen-Master handles the rotations of Gasol and Bynum. The second unit will rarely be on the floor without one of those two giants in the middle.

Overall, Mitch Kupchak should be applauded. What he’s managed to do is take the roster that won the NBA Championship, retain those pieces that provided a strong, consistent presence, and add in areas they were deficient in. By getting the pieces he has, the Lakers are a true team, with a group of players after one thing and compliment each other nicely. He also maintained the mantra that has won the last two championships: size and defense. Each player he brought in has a defensive edge to them, and they still maintain the dominant size advantage over the rest of the NBA. If there is one thing that has been proven in the Association over the past 30 years it’s that defense and size win championships. This may be the best team in the truest sense of the term to have hit the LA hardwood in years (not just a collection of talent). It should be more sunny days in LA for the 2010-11 NBA season!

We’ve postponed our review of the Heat’s championship chances going into next season. The Heat have been extremely active, so it’s a bit premature to forecast their chances. This will be a future Banter piece, so keep an eye out for it in the coming weeks.

So, with that we move on to actual on the floor action. The Summer League! The NBA Summer League is an interesting animal. It’s really a series of organized scrimmages for incoming rookies, second and third year players, and guys hoping to catch a break. There are two things you can expect, fast paced play and little defense. It plays like NBA Freshman/Sophomore game during All-Star weekend, except in snazzy practice jerseys.

All eyes on the summer league get directly pointed at the incoming rookies. With that, we’ll look at two of the rookies participating in the 2010 Las Vegas Summer League. The number one pick everyone has their eyes on, and the player who I was most impressed with during the short Summer League.

John Wall put up some solid numbers in the Summer League this year. He led the league in scoring and assists with 23.4 points and 7.8 assists. Those stats are a little misleading, though, as he only shot 37% from the field and went 0-5 from three point range, very poor. He showed the overall speed that made him the first pick of the draft, blowing by defender left and right to get to the rim. He also showed a knack for getting to the free throw line, and proved very competent going 31-34 from the charity stripe. But, aside from the poor shooting, he also showed poor ball handling, twice turning the ball over 8 times in a game. In games with no defense, those turnover numbers are magnified further.

What does all that mean? That he is very, very raw, much more so than the other recent point guard picked number one, Derrick Rose. The free throw numbers are a bright spot, as that will cover up for a lot of bad shooting performances. He also showed he knows how to get to the rim and finish, but the competition in the Summer League is not as fast as the competition he’ll be facing in the Association, and as I’ve stated, there isn’t much defense played. Needless to say, he will have to improve his shooting considerably in order to live up to his number one draft pick status. Otherwise, teams will do to him what the Lakers did to Rajon Rondo in the Finals. Sit back and let him shoot, but take away that path to the basket. The turnover numbers are perhaps more concerning, as he’s going to be expected to have the ball in his hands a lot for the Wiz. How much leeway will the Wiz give him if he averages 5 or 6 turnovers a game when he faces real defense? I’m still not sold on John Wall. He has a lot of fundamental areas to improve on, but he at least has all of the tools to be the big time player the Wiz are expecting.

That leads me to who the most impressive player of the Summer League, fellow Kentucky Wildcat DeMarcus Cousins. Cousins averaged 14.5 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.2 blocks, posting the highest rebound numbers of the Summer League and showing some defense. His points don’t jump off the score sheet like Wall’s do, but the first two games were 6 and 10 respectively. What was more impressive were three straight 12 rebound games. The rebound stats have a little bit of an asterisk next to them though, as their isn’t a lot of height in the Summer League. His shooting percentage and turnovers were the big blemish on his inaugural Summer League campaign, shooting 33% and averaging 4.8 turnovers a game.

So why do I have Cousins rated higher than wall after the Summer League play? First his size, he’s huge. At 6’11” 270, he’s already one of the biggest players in the league. I would like to see him in a little better shape, maybe around 250-260, but he can bring that around in the pre-season. He also looked NBA ready. I saw a variety of skills on display by Cousins. He was able to post up and get to the hoop, he faced up and hit some nice midrange shots with good form for a big man, and he showed the ability to pass out of the double team. He certainly looked more polished than his one year of college would lead you to believe. There are a lot good point guards out there, but the NBA right now is nearly void of really good centers. When the best center in the NBA is the fundamentally poor Dwight Howard (keep the ball high!!), there is room for someone to climb to the top of the mountain. I expect those shooting percentages to improve as he gets more time and coaching. He also has soft hands, so those turnovers should decrease as well. On top of that, he routinely saw double teams, which he will eventually learn how to deal with, but won’t see during the regular season. That should help both of those stat areas. The sky’s the limit for this kid.

Both players have the potential to have extremely bright futures. They both have all of the tools, it’s now just a matter of learning how to properly use them. Cousins has a lot less to work on than Wall, but at the same time, it’s a tougher position to play. For the first time in his career, he won’t be the biggest guy every time he steps on the floor. That is typically a huge adjustment for a big man. Wall is just down right fast, whether it’s summer league or regular season. I look forward to the start of the NBA season and keeping an eye on these two!

LeBron James, the prized free agent of this offseason, has announced his decision, and will be going to the Miami Heat. What does that mean to the rest of the teams that bought tickets to the LeBron lottery and is it the right move?

Before we get to the teams, what about that hour long special on ESPN, “The Decision”? I give some props to James for insisting the proceeds go to charity, but that’s as far as my warm and fuzzy feelings go. It came across very, very egotistical. First, there was the hour length. Going in, I asked myself, “How the hell are they going to fill an hour?” Well, it certainly wasn’t with hard hitting questions. Jim Grey was the on site interviewer, and didn’t even ask anything related to how he felt his legacy would be impacted or what his thoughts on leaving Cleveland were. It was later revealed that Jim Grey had been brought in and paid for by LeBron’s people. I’ve seen more honest reporting on an infomercial.

Speaking of LeBron’s legacy, how will that be impacted? It hurts it dramatically, that’s how. He will never be considered a top five player in NBA history because he had to go to someone else’s team (Wade’s) to win, assuming he does. Charles Barkley said it best when he basically said that no great player has a can’t beat them, join them mentality, especially when they are just entering their physical prime. He will always be one ring behind Wade now, and probably wasn’t going to catch Kobe anyways. Despite Jordan playing with the second best player in the NBA at the time in Pippen (a horribly underrated player who led the Bulls to 55 wins the full season Jordan sat out), he did it on his team and built them up from the dregs of the NBA to the top of the mountain. The only way I can see him recovering his legacy is if he wins four championships, and in one of those years averages a triple double. I won’t put it past a player as gifted as he is, but the odds are against him. This is a much different time than when Oscar Robertson played and averaged a triple double.

Now, lets take a look at the losing teams involved in the sweepstakes:

Cleveland: This will forever be known in Cleveland not as “The Decision”, but as “The Incision,” because he ripped open the chest of every Cav’s fan and ripped their hearts out. It was also a horribly classless move to not contact your team of the past seven years until 10 minutes before you announce your decision. And not only not contact them yourself, but have one of your minions do it. Supposedly, LeBron wouldn’t talk to anyone in the Cav’s organization over the past couple of weeks, except for the scheduled meeting. Not a good move LeBron. I think LeBron did want to stay in Cleveland, though. The Cav’s reportedly had a sign and trade with Toronto lined up to bring Bosh in and provide some much needed help to the self anointed “King.” Bosh said he wanted to play with LeBron, but that apparently meant if he didn’t have to go to Cleveland to do it as he refused to be a part of the deal. When LeBron hears that, what’s he to think? He was probably thinking, “Here is a good friend who really wants to play with me, but won’t come to Cleveland to do it. How am I supposed to get people to come to Cleveland if Bosh won’t?” I think that was the straw that broke the camel’s back and sent him packing. Dan Gilbert didn’t help himself with his press release either. The NBA players are a tight fraternity, and ripping one of them like that won’t help attract people to come play there. That may end up being felt more than LeBron leaving. Cleveland will be lucky to win 25 games next year.

Chicago: The only team outside of Cleveland that LeBron could have gone to and perhaps enhanced his legacy. First, he could have kept with the “Winning is the only thing that matters” mantra, as going in, they had the perfect ready built lineup to plug him into, and had previously added Boozer. It’s also the third biggest market in the NBA. The only downside is he would have always been the second best player in the history of the franchise behind Jordan.

New York: Quit whining New York! I’ve heard talk that LeBron led Knicks fans on for the past two years. LeBron didn’t lead them on, the franchise did. His quote made in 2008 about Knicks fans sleeping for the next two years until 2010 that has been played so much recently was taken out of context. If you listen to the whole interview, he’s basically saying that the franchise has decided to mortgage 2008 and 2009 for the 2010 free agency market, so the team’s almost asking its fans to close their eyes and forget about 2008 and 2009. The Knicks had nothing outside of Madison Square Garden, Mike D’Antoni and being in New York that is attractive to a player. As far as the talk about the marketing dollars that would be opened up in LeBron’s quest to be a billion dollar athlete, he doesn’t need to play in New York for that. He transcends markets.

New Jersey: Probably not really a player in the hunt, in reality, but had some intriguing non-basketball related pieces with LeBron’s friendship with part owner Jay-Z and new majority owner Mikhail Prokhorov. They also had the advantage of a forever pending move to Brooklyn, which LeBron has claimed is one of his favorite cities. They came out ahead, though, as it brought some much needed good publicity to the Nets franchise. They had a place at the table and that was about all they could ask for.

L.A. Clippers: Lets face it, did anyone think they really had a chance? They have a really nice, young roster with Blake Griffin, Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman and the veteran Baron Davis, but did anyone really think a team owned by Donald Sterling would have a chance? Not too mention, there is already a “King” in L.A. He plays in the purple and gold, wears number 24 and has five rings. Five guesses who that is, one for each of his rings.

So, did LeBron make the right decision? I don’t think so. I think he took the third best option. Cleveland being number one and Chicago being number two. The impact to his image, even in just the one week since his announcement, has been unprecedented. It was a series of gaffs that has made him fall from the top of the mountain as a guy who could do no wrong to someone who was having his jersey burned in his hometown and the owner of his former team lowering a $99.99 FatHead to $17.41 to match the 1741 birth year of Benedict Arnold. It will be interesting to see if he can even return to Cleveland, he may have just moved ahead of Art Modell as the most hated man in that city. Ultimately, LeBron will have to live with his decision and we’ll be their to watch it play out over the next six years.

Stay tuned, in the next couple of days on Buzzer Beater Banter, I will have an article reviewing what this means for the Miami Heat and their chances of winning an NBA championship.

Kevin raises the questions
I’m sure you heard about the BS handling of Pritchard? I’m curious to hear your thoughts. Obviously, based on my inclusion of BS in the opening sentence, I don’t care for the move. I think it’s continuing to show that Paul Allen isn’t running the team well. Firing Pritchard to begin with was a bad idea, then to do it an hour before the draft and ask him to still sit in on the draft and make the picks is pretty despicable. It’s obviously a ploy to give the new regime a freebie in the draft. If things go wrong, they can blame Pritchard. The Vulcans are going to destroy the Blazers. This isn’t baseball where you can go strictly off of numbers and build a team. It takes players who are willing to play within the team concept, and that can’t be measured in stats (see Zach Randolph, the perfect example).

Allen has money, but at this point, I think that’s his only redeeming quality as an owner. He seems to like to throw his number crunchers and business men at sports, which doesn’t work (see Bob Whitsitt). Pritchard’s brilliantly built a quality squad with a ton of upside, and maintained a lot of leverage going forward. Not to mention, he cleaned up the image of a team in total disarray and lacking of character into the complete opposite. And, that was a team of Allen’s guys he had to clean up, remember the love affair Allen had with Miles and he gave him that $48 mil contract? On top of that, Allen raped the city of Portland over the Rose Garden by having his original holding company file bankruptcy, and his other holding company come in and buy it for pennies on the dollar leaving the city of Portland with a nice little loss (douche bag maneuver).

Now, you know that I’m a Laker fan first and foremost, and everyone is light years behind them on my favorites list, but the Blazers are up on my list of favorite teams in the NBA not named the LA Lakers, so I want to see them do well. As I stated in the past, I think they are the only franchise outside of Boston, who can be a true rival to the Lakers due to the history of the teams and the way that Portland plays LA. But, this is baffling, and if situations were reversed and Jerry Buss was pulling the strings like this (or having his puppets do it as in the case of Allen), I’d be pissed as all hell and lose a lot of faith in the franchise. I wouldn’t jump ship, don’t get me wrong…thick and thin. Just when they start to get some stability, it’s instantly destroyed. Plus, it has to be of some concern for Nate because generally a new regime wants to get their own guy in on the sidelines, and getting rid of Nate would probably be a bigger mistake than Pritchard.

As the biggest Blazer fan I know, again, like I stated above, I’m curious to hear your thoughts. I’m pretty disgusted by what happened, to say the least, and I think that it’s time Allen gets the bad rap he deserves. I think it may be time for him to sell the team to an owner who is willing to put his faith in basketball people. He gets by because he tries to put a good team out there and has money, but he does it as if he has dementia.

On another note, Happy Sweet 16 to the Lakers!!!! It’s making my future Laker tattoo that much more difficult to design, but it’s a challenge worth having

Dustin’s thoughts

Well said, I share some of your opinions. And… I was rooting for L.A. in the finals. Kobe was unreal, and has answered even more questions regarding his dominant place in history. I bet you never thought I’d say that.

Regarding the Blazers, I don’t like what’s happening. I have been a huge Kevin Pritchard fan, and I think he’s gonna do somebody a lot of good. And he has room for improvement.

He’s been amazing at master minding draft day dominance, even though he has been criticized for some of the Euro picks that are still marinating (Claver, Kopponen, Freeland). But his performance outside of the draft hasn’t been as great. I wouldn’t say it’s been horrible though. But if he can nail down the rest of the job, such as free agency and mid-season acquisitions… look out.

Some say that Steve Patterson got things in motion as far as the turnaround of the culture in Portland. I’ve got to give Pritchard a lot of credit for that, even if Patterson did set it in motion. It’s no doubt he put his all in to getting out of the “jail blazer” era. “Culture” and “accountability” were the only words that came out of his mouth for a few years.

I have mixed thoughts on Paul Allen. The Vulcan Inc. thing is a trip and I’m not sure if anybody really understands the power struggles and ins and outs of this organization. They’ve done weird things with the Seahawks as well, running Holmgren out for example. It’s a super secretive group, and their business portfolio doesn’t show a lot of success, sports related and not, to back up their degrees.

Letting Pritchard go just before the draft seems like a bogus move on the surface. However, the draft is a job that he was paid to do. You get paid for something, you should complete it to the best of your abilities, and I’m sure Allen knew that KP would do just that.

And, it’s being reported now that Blazer management wanted to wait until Friday to give him the boot. That Friday meeting was set. But apparently Pritchard forced the issue an hour before the draft on Thursday. And when he was let go, it was his camp that put the word out to the world. If this is all true, no doubt he’s doing his best to slam the organization and make himself look like an angel.

Back to Patterson, he said on the radio this week ( I still stream and podcast a lot of Portland sports radio from my bunker in Korea) that he heard things about Pritchard and Tom Penn master minding a take over of power in Portland, knocking Larry Miller out of the picture. You can believe what you want, but certainly that would give Allen a reason to resent Pritchard, and cause some serious trust issues.

And who resurrected Patterson? When’s the last time you heard anything out of him? Like Canzano said… axe to grind?

Let’s not forget that Allen has sunk what many estimate is over a billion dollars, with a B, in to this franchise. He’s getting old, he’s had cancer on a few occasions, and he’s got the right to do what he wants to take the team to the next level, including making a case for firing Pritchard.

Everything I have seen shows that they are now targeting GM’s with extensive knowledge and skills in trades and the free agent market, and most would agree those are not necessarily Pritchard’s strong points. Again, I’m not saying he was horrible at this stuff, but simply not his strengths.

All in all, I would like Pritchard to be the man running the show. However, I wonder if he deserved the praise he received from Portland fans. He was definitely the face of what has been going on. But was it really him? Oh to be a fly on the wall in the war room of One Center Court, witnessing the odd dynamic of Portland Trail Blazer management the last few years.

And if the new GM makes things happen, and Portland takes that next step to being able to contend with the Lakers for Western Conference Championships, this will all quickly be overlooked. It’s still an attractive job, even though Allen is running the show, in my opinion.

For the craziness that Allen’s team brings to the table, he also brings a lot of first class to the operation. A majority of players that I have heard speak about their time in Portland vs. other places have complimented the way they are treated. From training to operations, service and catering… everything, is first class.

Would I prefer a less secretive, more stable owner that doesn’t feel the pressure of what could be a terminal illness. Yes. But that isn’t gonna happen right now. And I’m not sure Allen is the monster he is sometimes made out to be. Not ideal, but I think he brings a lot of positives as well. I’ve got faith that this could very well end up in a Championship.

Kevin’s response

I agree with most of what you said. I think the knocks against Pritchard and trades/free agency are somewhat over done. He’s had a team that hasn’t really warranted making those types of trades. It was a young team on a sharp incline. You’re generally not going to be able to trade for the veteran leadership and quality that is what the team needs. He pulled off the Camby trade, which I thought was a very, very good trade. I definitely question the Miller acquisition, but I think they did their best with a bad free agent market last year. It was kind of a spend money to spend money type of thing, though. The prizes of the free agent market were Hedu and Millsap. Both of which, I think, are overrated. Hedu I think was just capitalizing on a great post season, which his season in Toronto certainly supports. Millsap I like a lot more than Hedu, he actually brings his game every night, but when it boils down to it, he’s an undersized 4 with a really big contract, tough to win with.

Another way you can tell the affect of KP is the performance of other teams. If you look at the draft since his first year running the show, it’s completely changed. Now teams stockpile picks and package them together to move up in select moments. KP really took that to the next level, and look at what teams did in this years draft. It seemed like 4 or 5 teams were drafting. Who knows, maybe KP turns out to be one of those front office/coach types who has a great knack for building a championship foundation, but isn’t good at putting on the capstone that will complete a team. I don’t think he was given the opportunity to prove that one way or another, though.

As far as Allen, yeah, I agree with what you said below. He certainly can do what he wants, he made the billions, we didn’t. Also, it could be much worse, he could be Donald Sterling. I do like the way he treats the players, he recognizes the people who truly butter his bread. And, when you have an owner who has billions and has shown he’s willing to spend to get results, then yeah, it’s an attractive position for a GM. What I’ll be interested to see is if the way that Pritchard was handled hurts the GM hunt or future GM hunts. I know they pretty much have their yes man in line, so it will be interesting to see how this play works.

I do have to hand it to Pritchard, though. Despite being fired, he willingly finished the draft and put all he had into it. That’s pretty classy, and something that I don’t know I could have done. As far as the stashing Euro thing, I think that’s a great idea. They had a roster full of young talent that is still developing. Stashing players allows you to potentially get a lot of value for the pick and not impact your cap space or your roster. Personally, I think it was a brilliant move, and again, something that a lot of the NBA is doing now. The Spurs really brought it back after the Blazers inadvertently started it with Zabonis, and Pritchard was a Spurs product.

Words by Dustin

Tom Penn, the Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Portland Trail Blazers was fired last week. And according to newspaper, web reports and sports radio, apparently General Manager Kevin Pritchard could be next.

At first glance, the Penn news is surprising. He is considered by many in the Association as a salary cap genius. He was instrumental in drafting the 2005 NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement. He did an excellent job at structuring and negotiating contracts with the Trail Blazers. But it has been said that he wasn’t always the most pleasant guy to work with. Kenny Vance on 95.5 The Game reported that there were issues of a Human Resources nature with Penn. A former HR guy myself, it’s fair to say that the wrong offense in this day and age will quickly land you the pink slip.

If the Penn firing is a wind storm, the possibility of Kevin Pritchard getting tossed is a hurricane to most casual observers. KP is a fan favorite, held in such high regard that the term “In KP we Trust” has become a common slogan during draft and trade deadlines.

Why is KP considered God-like in the eyes of many Portland fans? He is seen as the master mind behind resurrecting the Portland Trail Blazers from the Jail Blazer era by creating a healthy culture of accountability, teamwork and community service. He performed the deals that landed Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge out of the same draft. He took chances on Nicolas Batum, Jerryd Bayless, Rudy Fernandez and Dante Cunningham. And I think trading Outlaw and Blake for Camby was the right thing to do this season, bringing the interior defense and toughness they so badly needed. As evidence, the Blazers are 9-1 so far with Camby and Batum in the starting line up.

Knowing all of this, how could his job be in jeopardy? Plenty of reasons have been mentioned in the past few days. And the number one reason that continues to present itself was the decision to select Greg Oden over Kevin Durant with the number one pick in the 2007 NBA draft. Durant is making an MVP push this season and Greg Oden is far from it.

On the surface, this particular reason seems absurd. I’ve heard countless times that 29 out of 30 NBA GM’s at one point confirmed they would have made the same selection. It’s widely acknowledged that a quality big man is the corner stone to a championship run, and given the opportunity to snag one in the draft, you do so.

In my opinion, who’s to say that Durant would have blossomed in to the player he is now if he was drafted by Portland? At the time, the roster at Oklahoma City wasn’t stacked like that of Portland. And it’s a stretch to say he’d be getting that many shot attempts in Rip City. But all the justification for making that selection goes out the window if Allen and his management team had their stamp on Durant, and KP and crew went with Oden. What I would give to have been a fly on the wall during those decision making draft meetings.

And below the surface are questions surrounding why the Trail Blazers did not know more about the condition of Oden’s body, specifically his knees, prior to drafting him. It has been suggested after the fact that Portland passed his health with flying colors while other teams did not. It has also been reported that recently, owner Paul Allen again questioned KP on the lack of medical knowledge pre-draft.

To go along with Allen questioning KP, Canzano reported that the Vulcans have had an increased presence at One Center Court as of late. Based in Seattle, Vulcan Inc. is made up of a team of Ivy League executives that manage many of Allen’s businesses. From their website, “Vulcan creates and advances a variety of world-class endeavors and high impact initiatives that change and improve the way we live, learn, do business, and experience the world.” It makes many Blazer insiders nervous that they ultimately pull the punches when it comes to advising Allen on the direction of the organization. They may be brilliant business minds, but they are not sports people. The worry is that they are not making decisions with the goal of winning championships, suggesting that decisions are made with $ signs in mind instead. And I don’t think too many NBA teams actually operate at profit.

Recently I have heard the ranking of leadership in the organization described as a triangle, with Allen at the top, and KP and Larry Miller on the sides. Apparently the Vulcans are huge fans of Larry Miller, Trail Blazer President. And while Miller is gaining acceptance and authority from the head honchos in Seattle, KP is under a microscope of scrutiny. They don’t appreciate the fact that KP’s former right hand man, Tom Penn, may have misrepresented an offer by Minnesota to become their GM last year. They blame the Oden pick on KP and Penn. It sounds like they are embarrassed by the free agent dealings in the off season, in which Portland struck out on their first choice of Hedo Turkoglu, their second choice of Paul Milsap, and ultimately ended up with Andre Miller.

What else could be keeping KP on the hot seat? Apparently some GM’s think he’s arrogant and don’t want to deal with him. They are probably just jealous of his access to Allen’s wealth and his ability to “Pritch Slap” the competition. Also, KP let the Raef LaFrentz contract expire last year, which many saw as a mistake. It has been reported that Allen was willing and ready to make something happen at that point in time. But it’s also been reported that the only deals available were for washed up talent like Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter, and would have had to include Blazer talent like Rudy Fernandez or Nic Batum. To that I say thanks for not making that deal KP.

Peter Vecsey’s article in the New York Post reveals a ton of insight in to the influence of super sports agent Warren LeGarie. His clients are decision makers in many NBA franchises, his finger prints are all over various front office power plays… and he represents both KP and Penn. Vecsey says that after LeGarie grossly exaggerated the Minnesota GM offer to the Vulcans, landing Penn a new title and a raise with Portland, he then attempted to get Pritchard a new contract. This left the Vulcans feeling manipulated and they balked. Now, LeGarie is working to find Pritchard a new home. Vecsey also suggests that Allen was unhappy with the apparent trade demand of Rudy Fernandez, which Fernandez denied, and the handling of Brandon Roy’s contract negotiations in the off season. It’s a very interesting read, give it a look.

The timing of all of this drama is puzzling as well, with less than 20 games left until the playoffs. The pieces seem to be in place to make a championship run in the coming years. They have one of the most amazing owners in all of sports. Key players are dominantly growing on the court. They have shown the ability to lure veteran leadership through acquisition. Nate McMillan is a coach of the year candidate, making something out of what could have been a disastrous season plagued by injuries. What kind of message are the Vulcans trying to send, and why are they sending it right now?

I am of the belief that KP needs to stay right where he is. The team’s success on the court has to count for something. They are about to reach the playoffs for the second consecutive season following a long drought. He’s got the fan base on his side. They are selling out games. The renewal for season tickets is extremely high. And people are feeling Rip City excitement the same they were when I was a kid.

It should go without saying that many questions remained unanswered. Will Juwan Howard and Marcus Camby stick around? Will they go after another big man? How are Oden and Przybilla doing? What is Fernandez thinking? What will happen with KP? I think we can all agree that it will be anything but a boring off season for the Portland Trail Blazers.

Words by Dustin

I don’t know how there could be, but if there was any doubt that the Portland Trail Blazers have some crazy bad luck curse, after the latest news, that doubt should be all but gone. The only logical explanation has got to be the actions of a black magic voodoo witch doctor performing ceremonies of the occult while poking pins in a doll sporting a Blazer jersey.

In the latest reports, Trail Blazer center Joel Przybilla slipped in his shower and reinjured his recently surgically repaired knee. He originally tore his patella tendon on December 22nd, 2009 in a road game against the Dallas Mavericks. The Oregonian reports that he had just started to walk without brace.

In early December 2009, before it was even close to being over, in an article linked on Blaze of Love, I wrote about the injuries the team has experienced this season.  Now I’m going to focus on the bad luck that surrounds the center position for the Blazers over the years, injuries and otherwise.

After a legendary collegiate career under John Wooden at UCLA, the Blazers drafted Bill Walton with the number one overall pick in the 1974 NBA draft. His 5 years in Portland were plagued with injuries, including a broken foot, nose, leg and wrist. Despite the injuries, Walton racked up the accolades. He was part of the Championship team in 1977, the Finals MVP that same year and the NBA MVP in 1978. However, his belief that the Trail Blazers organization was not properly treating the injuries of their players led him to sit out the 1978/1979 season when his demand to be traded was not facilitated. Walton suited up the following year for the Los Angeles Clippers.

I think it’s too early to form a firm decision on the long term implications of the Oden vs. Durant draft selection. But there is no doubt when it comes to the Sam Bowie selection, who will be forever the subject of “what if” conversations among Blazer fans. Bowie was selected as the second overall pick in the 1984 NBA draft, directly behind Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon of the Houston Rockets. The number three pick in the draft that year… Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls. We all know how the careers of Olajuwon and Jordan ended up. Bowie had a good rookie season, earning All-Rookie Team honors and playing in 76 games. However, injuries held him out of all but 5 games in the 1986/87 season, as well as the entire 1987/1988 season. He was later traded to the New Jersey Nets for Buck Williams and a draft pick. ESPN considers the Bowie selection the worst in NBA history and Sports Illustrated named Bowie as the biggest draft bust in NBA history.

The name Kevin Duckworth typically brings a smile to the face of most Blazer fans. Big Duck was a hero of mine as a kid. My wonderful grandmother sent me to Duckworth’s Basketball Camp in either 1987 or 1988. Playing 2 on 1 against Big Duck is one of my fondest memories as a kid, and I’ll never forget taking instruction from Jerome Kersey, Kiki Vandeweghe and Terry Porter.

Kevin Duckworth played for the Trail Blazers from 1987 – 1993. After fighting weight issues for most of his career, he retired from the NBA in 1997 and moved back to Portland, where he would spend the rest of his life. At the age of 44, he died of heart failure on August 25, 2008 on the Oregon coast. He was traveling with a Trail Blazers group, playing the role of ambassador, hosting free basketball clinics around the state.

It may seem strange to include Duckworth alongside the other centers mentioned here, but I think it’s relevant. For a while it felt like I was witnessing the downfall of a legend. I remember the “have you seen Big Duck lately?” remarks around Portland in the early 2000’s. He had gained a tremendous amount of weight and looked extremely unhealthy. In my wilder and crazier times, I encountered him on a few occasions at Exotica, hanging out in the corner by himself. That’s typically not the actions of a happy man. So I was pleased when I heard he had reconnected with Blazers, and was taking part in an increased amount of community activities. At this time, I learned from various Blazer broadcasters that he was in hiding for a while because he was ashamed of his weight. At the time of his passing he was getting over that and enjoying his involvement in the Blazer family once again. For all of these reasons, watching the tribute on TV just about brought me to tears.

Obviously the Greg Oden selection has been widely criticized. I’ve heard on TV and the radio that most GM’s in the NBA back up Portland’s decision to take him over Kevin Durant as the number one overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft. But the what ifs are unavoidable. In his third season, Durant is smack in the middle of the MVP race. Oden on the other hand is missing the majority of his third season with a knee injury, after missing his entire first season with a knee injury, and having somewhat of a disappointing second season. What hurts most is watching him go down once again after seeing the progress he made in the first 32 games of this season. I haven’t given up on him yet, but man, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was skeptical of what the future holds.

And the event that set me off on this topic… Joel Przybilla slipping in the shower and reinjuring the ruptured patella tendon. Seriously, what else can happen?

And because Blazermaniacs all over are asking that same question, you better watch your back Marcus Camby. You’re injury prone as it is. Two different ankle injuries have kept you out of two of the nine games you have been available to wear a Blazer jersey. I hope you’re crossing your fingers, picking pennies up, knocking on wood, searching for 4 leaf clovers, and avoiding black cats and cracks in the sidewalk, because what we all can infer from this ridiculous history of bad joojoo for Blazer centers is that someone is out to get you.

Don’t let them get you Marcus Camby, we need you to fight the evil and help the team get to the playoffs.