These are interesting times for coach Nate McMillan and the Portland Trail Blazers.
Really, who would have believed they'd be better than .500 when April 1 rolled around? Particularly after 7-foot, No. 1 overall draft choice Greg Oden had microfracture knee surgery before training camp that wiped out his rookie season.
Perhaps only McMillan and general manager Kevin Pritchard, who began overhauling this team together in the summer of 2005.
McMillan thinks they should be even better. "Why not five or 10 games over .500; why only three or four?" he chuckled half-seriously. "You look at this year and we've done some good things. We could have done even better. Right now we have a winning record and that is the goal, to finish with a winning record. It's going to be difficult to do it, but we've got to show improvement. We've got to keep getting better because the goal is one day soon to win the championship."
But this past week (eight days, really) is a perfect microcosm of his erratic young team's season. They entered the final stretch with a 36-33 mark and then ...
* They went 2-3, shooting just 40 percent for the week and dropping to 38-36. But they played ferociously on the boards, with center Joel Przybilla grabbing a franchise record-tying 26 rebounds in one of those games.
* Both of his second-year stars -- Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge -- missed games with injuries.
* Oden got cleared from microfracture knee surgery to practice lightly with the team, only to be caught playing pickup ball at a local gym late one night. Nothing happened, but everyone went haywire at Blazerland over what could have gone wrong.
* And although still in a state of disbelief, McMillan may have just coached his last game in Seattle, where his jersey hangs in the rafters after 20 years as a player and coach.
McMillan is focused right now on the team playing out the season hard. They're doing that, but they are also tired. He was pressed by a reporter about resting Roy on Monday, the night Aldridge sprained his ankle and essentially missed a game-and-a-half. Three nights later, Roy strained a groin muscle and now is out indefinitely.
"For us, this year is still about conditioning (mentally and physically) for us," McMillan said. "Condition our guys to play (it out). We've challenged them in a sense. We're playing teams this week with below .500 records. But then in April, we're playing some teams ... we've got Dallas, we've got Houston, we've got Phoenix, we have the Lakers; I want to see where we are against these teams in April. We're not talking about shutting it down. If anything, the focus is how you mentally and physically get stronger and keep yourself ready to go. You're battling a situation where teams are out of the playoffs, people do start to think about the summer. We're trying to definitely not go that way."
They had to do it because Roy and Aldridge aren't used to this. Last year they finished at 21-61 -- second worst in franchise history -- with the youngest team in the NBA. Then in the off-season they got rid of troublesome but gifted Zach Randolph, then lost Oden, and started the season 5-11.
That wasn't a surprise. What followed was -- 13 wins in a row and 17 in 18 games -- allowing them to leapfrog right into an erratic Northwest Division race. They stayed there until early February, and then went into a slump, Roy was named to the West All-Star team -- he actually played in both the freshman/sophomore game and the All-Star game -- and came out the other end, excited, humbled and exhausted. Here was a 6-6 guard who just overwhelmed everybody with his maturity during his Rookie of the Year campaign ... and then somehow managed to build on that.
"Nobody was surprised we started slow," Roy said. "There were a lot of other guys getting acclimated to their new roles because Zach did a lot to make this team go. So we took out his 20 and 10, and we had to make that up. Eventually we learned. We got better. LaMarcus has grown into that role. I improved. I just think we just did a better job of coming together as a team. Losing Greg definitely was tough. A lot of guys did their part of stepping up and we gained confidence.
"But then we got tired after the All-Star break (lost 9 of 11) and it started to hit us that the season may be over when it came to making the playoffs. But Nate came in and said we're going to condition ourselves to prepare for 82 games. We're doing a good job of that so far. We're staying focused and we're coming out to win every game. We want to finish over .500."
Meanwhile, Aldridge was getting accustomed to being the guy in the post. He had raised his numbers to almost 18.0 points and 7.4 rebounds on the strength of nine consecutive games of 20 or more points before the ankle injury. The former Texas star was blocking some shots in the process, but more importantly figuring out what it means to have the team run the ball through him in the post on every key possession.
"Trying to be a go-to player every night is tough," Aldridge said. "You might go off one or two nights in a row, and then a team will double-team you in different ways. You have to learn how to read what's coming and how to pass out of it. That's a big part of what I'm going through right now.
It was tough at the start of the year when Greg went down. But coach told us that it wasn't an excuse to have a bad season. There was no reason for us to stay down because the players that we have in the room are good enough to win games, so we should go out and play with confidence. And that's what we did. A lot of guys stepped up this year and we have a good record. We've done better than anybody thought we would, but we also have to finish strong."
It won't be easy, but it will set a tone for next season when Oden immediately becomes the top rookie-of-the-year candidate. Plus they're hoping to coax the best shooter in Europe, 6-6 Rudy Fernandez, acquired in a 2007 draft day trade from Phoenix, to the roster next season. That's not to mention whatever lottery pick they have as well. The search is on to find the point guard to run this young team filled with talent as they've dickered with Roy (a natural shooting guard), Steve Blake, Jarrett Jack and Fernandez's buddy -- supremely talented but inconsistent Sergio Rodriguez.
There also is the matter of small forward, currently manned by Martell Webster, another Seattleite anda high lottery pick from the old regime out of high school. He still has to develop into more than just a streak shooter at small forward, but he isn't even 22 yet. On the other hand, Travis Outlaw, only 23, has become one of the best sixth men in the league. They're hoping to keep hot-shooting free agent James Jones, while Przybilla's gained experience and stature will only benefit Oden in the long run.
These days it's about the gut check. In a conference where a team will win 48-50 games this season and not make the playoffs, it doesn't figure to get any easier very soon. His objective is to get his guys to play through the tough times, so if they are in that 50-win vicinity next season - they'll better be able to handle it. The learning curve is still there, but it has shrunk rapidly. For a storied organization that had sellouts every night for generations before falling off the map five years ago, the Rose Garden is filled with fans and energy again. It seems to be only a matter of time until they're competing to win the West again.
"If somebody had told me before the season we'd have this record right now, I'd think we'd be in great position to make the playoffs," Roy said. "But hey, the West is tough this year. We can't point any fingers at anyone but ourselves. It's all about winning more games next year. We have to continue to build. There are a lot of guys getting more experience. LaMarcus is continuing to blossom as the scorer, we'll have Greg. These games are just as important as any of them so next year when we come in, we'll be even stronger as a team."
It isn't as if we didn't see this coming considering the past month or so, especially after Sunday's knee and high ankle sprain to All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki. But the way they came apart Thursday night at Denver to the Nuggets, coupled with the Golden State Warriors coming from behind to handle the Portland Trail Blazers, the fight for the final two spots of the Western Conference is tighter than the Mavericks at the free throw line these days.
The Mavs (45-27) now lead the Warriors (44-27) by a half game and the Nuggets (44-28) by one game as we head into the final 2
Figuring out the most improved player in the NBA is a lot like picking the most valuable player. The criterion is always the problem.
Is it the guy who comes out of nowhere with good stats?
Is it a good player who becomes a better player, or a good player who becomes great to help his team win?
Is it a disappointing player who finally puts it together?
You can make a case for all of the above as we give you the five most improved players and settle on one. Our top candidates are Orlando's Hedo Turkoglu and Dwight Howard, Rajon Rondo from the Celtics, Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge and Jose Calderon in Toronto.
Right out of the blocks, we eliminated a top candidate - the Lakers' Andrew Bynum because he played in only 35 games due to a knee injury and has been out since Jan. 13. It's a shame because Bynum went from averaging 7.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks as an iffy center a year ago to 18 double-doubles this season - averaging 13.2 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.1 blocks with a major impact on the Lakers.
Another decent contender who would be tough to vote for would be last year's winner, Monta Ellis, even though he has improved. He went from being an immature guard with skills right out of high school two years ago to an impact player last season while averaging 16.2 points, 4.1 assists and 1.7 steals, allowing the Warriors to trade Jason Richardson for the draft rights to North Carolina's talented 6-10 Brendan Wright. Ellis has responded with flashes of stardom, at 19.8 points, shooting 53.3 percent from the field, and became one of just nine players in history to shoot better than 60 percent from the field in a month (February). But we know about him now and he hasn't improved so much from last year that he can become the first ever to win the award in consecutive years.
So is including Howard but not Ellis a double-standard? No, because Howard has gone from being star quality to a superstar - leading the Magic to the third-best record in the East. He's the key figure in nearly every game, leading the NBA with 63 double-doubles and in rebounding at 14.5, and has increased his scoring average from 17.6 to 21.2 while also leading the league in free-throw attempts. He has become the most dominant big man in the game. But because he was an All-Star, he's fifth in the countdown.
Aldridge had nine consecutive 20-plus games for the Blazers until spraining his ankle Monday night at Seattle. At 6-11, 240, he was the second overall pick of the 2006 draft, and to some that eliminates him right there because of expectations. I don't buy that one. Part of a draft day deal from Chicago, he blew hot and cold as a rookie, averaging just 9.0 points and 5.0 rebounds in Zach Randolph's shadow. But when Randolph was unloaded and 2007 top pick Greg Oden went down with a knee injury, Aldridge began to blossom and has averaged 17.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks as a power forward. He'll be even better next year with Oden and along with Brandon Roy has everything to do with why the Blazers have been one of the surprise teams in the league.
Third is Calderon, a point guard who very quietly kept the Raptors flowing in the wake of another serious spinal injury to starting playmaker T.J. Ford, and the knee problems that have had All-Star Chris Bosh in and out of the lineup. He's raised his average from 8.7 points to 12.2, and improved his field-goal (53.2 percent), 3-point (45.2) and free-throw shooting (91.9). He's also up to 8.0 assists a game while leading the league in assist-to-turnover ratio. He would have been higher, but his effectiveness has dropped off since Ford and Bosh returned. The team is struggling with its chemistry. but it certainly has nothing to do with Calderon, who has kept the chemistry intact for the bulk of the season. He'll be a free agent at the end of the season and will create a lot of action because he'll make somebody better.
Second in the countdown is Rondo, the feisty 22-year-old point guard that Danny Ainge refused to part with in his offseason reconstruction. It has paid off remarkably with Rondo setting the tone for the defensive orientation of coach Doc Rivers with relentless pressure on the ball. He's also raised all of his numbers to 10.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.7 steals and improved his shooting from 41.8 to 47.8 percent. The only reason he didn't win is because it helps him immeasurably to have veterans Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce around him. Nonetheless, the 6-1 Rondo has responded superbly in just his second season and has a lot to do with Boston's record-breaking success.
So that hands this year's award to Turkoglu, the versatile 6-10, 225-pound native of Istanbul. With great expectations as a rookie in Sacramento in 2000, there were thoughts he would play point guard like Magic Johnson, or score at will, and things never really panned out in his three seasons there. He was part of a three-way deal between the Kings, Spurs and Pacers, sending him to San Antonio for one mediocre season and he signed as with Orlando as a free agent in 2004. That's when things gradually began to change. His numbers and impact went up, but nothing like this season. Turkoglu, Howard and Rashard Lewis consistently put up the best numbers in the game.
However, Turkoglu has been the X-factor all season and should have been an All-Star. He tied a franchise record with two triple-doubles and has had eight double-doubles; beat the Celtics with a 3-pointer at the buzzer in a huge win, and raised his numbers to career-highs with 19.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 83.4 percent on free throws, 40.7 from 3-point range and 45.3 overall. He has become a star for the Magic, the man with the ball in the clutch, and has responded.
And that's why he is our most improved player for 2008.
Chris Webber will finally hobble off into the NBA sunset today, and fittingly it leaves us with mixed feelings about a superstar talent with a star-crossed career before his 15th season ever really began.
He leaves the NBA having averaged 20.7 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists - joining Elgin Baylor, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, Kevin Garnett and Billy Cunningham as the only players in history to average at least 20, 9.0 and 4.0 for a career.
He was the most famous member of the illustrious Fab Five at Michigan, leading the group that made it to the NCAA championship game in both of his seasons. But the Detroit native won't be remembered for that as much as for the timeout he called in the final minute that virtually cost them the title to North Carolina in 1993.
He was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1993 NBA draft but was dealt by Orlando to Golden State for Penny Hardaway and three No. 1 draft choices. He soon found it impossible to get along with Warriors coach Don Nelson, and was dealt to Washington the first month of his second season.
That Nellie was the guy who wanted him back for this season - only to watch him struggle miserably with that bum left knee limiting him to just 3.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 9 games - was a fittingly ironic end to Webber's career. Undoubtedly at his retirement press conference you will see Webber impeccably dressed with that million-dollar smile glowing from baseline to baseline. Maybe even a tear will roll down his cheek during his well-articulated diatribe. But this bizarre exit also will be filled with the same double-talk Webber has always provided - the last boast being how much he would help either the Pistons, Lakers or Warriors win a championship this season.
The only thing we've ever known for sure about Webber is that he is an assorted bag of tricks. Indeed, his commitment at Michigan helped gain the Wolverines Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson as the most publicized group to ever join one college team. Years later, Webber ended up being the heart of the NCAA investigation regarding illegal money-laundering scandal involving booster Ed Martin. Webber lied to the grand jury and nearly went to prison for perjury - apology accepted.
After being dealt to Washington by Golden State, he played with Howard to form an amazingly talented frontcourt, although it ended with just one 3-game trip to the playoffs in his four years. Predictably, when he was sent to Sacramento in 1998 for washed up Mitch Richmond and Otis Thorpe, he whined and stomped his feet as if he were sentenced to Siberia.
But it was there that he resurrected his standing among superstar talents, and led the renaissance of a nomadic franchise that had been a bottom-feeder since moving there from Kansas City in 1985. They made it to the playoffs all six of his seasons there, including a heartbreaking Game 7 defeat to the Lakers in the 2002 conference finals in a mass of missed free throws by the Kings in Arco Arena. It was crushing physically and mentally.
Predictably, Webber and the Kings began to erode from there, with Webber beginning to call out his teammates. Meanwhile, his left knee was getting worse and he had microfracture surgery the next season. And when Webber returned he could no longer run or jump. He still had those great hands and timing to rebound. His soft touch from around the key, the elbow and hooks in the lane still worked from experience. Arguably the best passing power forward in the history of the game, he could still find his teammates at will.
But he no longer could perform at the level that his psyche or mouth believed, and Kings president Geoff Petrie finally shipped Webber and his monstrous contract to Philadelphia. That he went with Michael Bradley and Matt Barnes for Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson and Brian Skinner in a 2005 deal better characterized Webber's fall from grace than anything else.
Sure, it was fun for about 15 minutes to hypothesize how Webber and Allen Iverson would get along and drive the Sixers to great heights. But it was destined to fail. They reached the playoffs the first season and lasted five games, and didn't even get out of the lottery in 2006. At that point, Webber had the look of somebody playing on eggshells the way he often staggered around the court.
Before the next season even hit the All-Star break, Iverson was dealt to Denver and Webber's contract was bought out by the Sixers. Four days after his release, his hometown Pistons signed him. Sure, he added a passing dimension from the post, some rebounds and was a perimeter threat. But his limitations reflected theirs as the playoffs unfolded in their upset loss to Cleveland in the conference finals ... and Webber's minutes fell accordingly.
That brings us to this marvelously competitive NBA season, with him making noise about how he wanted to help somebody win a championship. There's no telling why Nellie bought his bill of goods and actually thought he could fit in with a lightning-fast team when he could barely jog. Even while cobbling out 61 games last season, he was limited at best. After not playing until signed on Jan. 29, the Warriors squeezed 9 games out of him - starting 8 in a failed attempt to jump-start what was left in five weeks.
And he was finished.
Somehow it figured to end this way for Webber - nothing but empty promises, just at varying levels. Even so, he played in four All-Star games and his career numbers are special. But he was never destined to win the biggest prize, not on the collegiate level, nor in the NBA.
It's never appropriate to pin the failings of a team on an individual as so many have done with Webber, whether it was his mouth, passing up big shots or missing big shots. He was a superstar, one of the best power forwards the game has ever seen. But what you saw or heard from him wasn't always what you got. Insteadin a "C-Webb" of empty assurances - it always caused issues.
In the end, that may very well prove to be his legacy, and that is sad for such a talented athlete to be remembered that way.
This is going to get interesting once the dust settles -- from Indianapolis to New York City -- as Donnie Walsh moves from the city where he developed an elite reputation with the Pacers to his hometown where the Knicks are in ruins.
But he met with Knicks owner Jim Dolan last week, and the rumors have been rampant ever since based on the obvious situation in Indy -- either the 67-year-old CEO or Larry Bird, the 51-year-old president, had to go.
The latest thought was that Walsh turned down the Knicks and Bird was on his way out.
That's why Pacers owner Herb Simon cleared the air Monday.
"I think everyone was getting confused," Simon said. "There were a lot of rumors and we just thought if this was something that was really going to happen and once I was convinced Donnie was really leaving, I thought it would just be best to let everyone else know."
Although they all said he would finish the season or stay "until they throw me out," as Walsh cracked wise. Most of it is contingent on the Knicks, despite Walsh's refusal to comment on the reports that have him already coming to an agreement on a contract.
"I'm not commenting on anything that I'm going to do in the future because I'm unclear about it," Walsh said. "And I'm just not going to comment on it until the time is right."
That could be right around the corner, but we'll get back to that later. Right now, we're trying to figure out what went wrong here. We just don't know whether it was Bird making the bad personnel decisions or Walsh. Or maybe it was simply the problem of having two people making the decisions instead of one.
Actually, everyone has been confused about the Pacers for quite some time, with the timing of their precipitous fall from grace in the East coinciding with their notorious brawl in the Palace of Auburn Hills with Pistons fans in November of 2004.
Since then, they have gone straight downhill. From being a model of NBA success in the glorious basketball heartland of Indiana in their perpetually sold out state-of-the-art Conseco Fieldhouse on their way to six conference finals under Walsh to the unequivocal decline the past four years. They failed to make the playoffs last season for the first time in a decade, have the worst attendance in the NBA and are on the brink of missing the postseason for the second year in a row - something that hasn't happened here in nearly 20 years.
Maybe it's just a coincidence that Bird took his present post five years ago, maybe not. Nonetheless, the perception of the Pacers as bad guys - from Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson to Jamaal Tinsley, Marquis Daniels and Shawne Williams - hasn't gone away, and that combined with failure on the court has fractured the fan base. Walsh had said all along this would be his final season, but nobody believed him until now.
At least now we'll know who is making all the calls. And to this point, it would be fair to say nobody has been impressed with anything Bird has done in the front office.
"I think that's maybe one of the side benefits of clarifying the situation, having Larry's voice being the only voice," Simon insisted. "Some people got confused. I liked having both of them but I think we're going to do very well with Larry."
We'll see. Walsh set up Bird with this job five years ago with the intention of him taking over completely one day, but nobody expected it to be under these circumstances. The Pacers had been too stable. Now they're not.
"It's sad to see him go," Bird said. " I know there's a lot of speculation out there about whether he's going to stay or go but from day one he told me exactly what he was going to do and today, you always know it's coming but when it does happen you have different emotions and different feelings about it.
"We've talked about this before and I've always said that one voice is what you have, no matter if it's business or basketball. Learning this position through Donnie, there was a lot of confusion out there but now that he's stepping down I have no doubts in my ability to lead and do the things necessary to get this team back to the elite level."
That has yet to be proven. On the court, Bird controlled his team's performance. He hasn't shown the ability to build a successful team yet, and until then it's ludicrous to compare Bird the player to Bird the president.
We already know what his predecessor has done, and now, unless a lot of people are sadly mistaken, it's on to New York for Walsh. And it is home. Walsh grew up in the Bronx, played ball for Frank McGuire at South Carolina and cut his teeth coaching with Dean Smith and Larry Brown under McGuire. He earned his law degree, and once he moved from assistant coach to president of the Pacers in 1986, things quickly changed. The only thing that didn't work was a meek attempt at changing his name from "Donnie" to "Don" as president of the organization. Included on his resume is an Eastern Conference title in 2000 before losing to the Lakers. There's also six trips to the conference finals and four division championships.
Everything else flowed until 2004.
But he's a natural hire for New York. He's proven to be a master of the salary cap, capable of rebuilding a team while still competing in the playoffs. One of those periods came with present Knicks president and coach Isiah Thomas as the Pacers coach, which is why this appears to be inevitable. Whether Thomas would stay on as coach or not depends on Dolan since Thomas is still owed so much money in the wake of an extension given last season. On the other hand, he has eaten the huge contracts of Lenny Wilkens and Larry Brown, so that may not be a factor in Dolan's decision.
Regardless, it will be up to Walsh to clean up this mess of a franchise that is presently 19-51 and hasn't won a playoff series since 2005. They are light years over the salary cap and into luxury tax as the highest salaried team in the NBA. So Walsh will have his work cut out for him - perhaps to hire a new coach in the process - maybe even former Pacer and Knick and present broadcast analyst Mark Jackson.
Reports of Walsh accepting a three-year, $15 million deal from the Knicks are creating a positive buzz in New York. Consider these words of wisdom as we watch what happens.
"The league is its own life form in a way," Walsh said in part on Monday. "It kind of evolves the way it evolves."
Or devolves, as both the Knicks and Pacers have done in recent years ... and as a byproduct, nobody is better prepared for New York than Donnie Walsh.
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