What does Phil Jackson think of the Ariza / Artest situation?

"I wasn't given the either or [the choice between Ariza and Artest]. I know Ron has been on our wish list for what, 3 years now? We needed a defender besides -- I mean somebody that was a lock down defender besides Kobe Bryant that could take on the chores, and, you know, Trevor turned out to be that guy this year.

"And so I was quite surprised, as was most of our fans I think, that, you know, negotiations did not go well with Trevor and his people. "

"And uh, you know, we think we have a player [in Ron Artest] that has probably a little more dimensions than Trevor, but still Trevor has that youth and that speed that we'll miss."

-- Phil Jackson to FSR's Myers and Hartman

Far more interesting, however...

Prior to the Lakers acquiring Artest, Phil Jackson told KLAC/570 that after the Lakers eliminated the Rockets from the playoffs in game six of the Westen Conference Semi-Finals, Ron Artest "eagerly" sought out Phil Jackson for an awkward meeting...in the Lakers' locker room shower!

"Ron said, 'Coach, I can help your team. I can help you get that championship,'" Jackson said.

"He’s an unknown," Jackson said. "He’s a player that even I think his own teams don’t know exactly what he’s going to do that particular night."

But what does seem to be a known, is that Ron Artest wants to win an NBA championship ... enough to approach an opposing coach in a locker room shower to make a pitch for it.

Very interesting indeed.

--> NOTE: I've been posting for years as "Tom7" on this site, and as "Basketballogy" on other sites, including my own website (Basketballogy.com).

When Foxsports revamped their site, there appeared to be an option to change your user name. Thinking I'd start posting under the same name everywhere now, I changed my user name on this site, but instead of getting a name change on this site, I got a split personality.

Sometimes when I come to this site it recognizes me as Tom7, and other times as Basketballogy, and so far I have not found away to control this, since I didn't actually create another account and the same email address is used for both identities.

That means my "friends" and blogs for one identity aren't available on the other, so until I can get this straightened out, I've got to do both -- especially since I could potentially come on and never get back to one or the other of these identities again. :-(

My apologies for the confusion.

---

During the 2009 NBA Playoffs...

Trevor Ariza shot 50% from the floor. Ron Artest shot 39%.

Trevor Ariza shot 48% from the arc. Ron Artest shot 28%.

Trevor Ariza was 2nd in the playoffs in steals (behind Kobe Bryant), 3rd in 3 point field goals, and 5th in effective field goal shooting. Ron Artest doesn't appear on the playoff leader board at all.

Trevor Ariza made clutch defensive stops again and again for the Lakers. Ron Artest, a supposed lock down defender, made boneheaded decisions that resulted in technical fouls and ejections.

Trevor Ariza knows the intricacies of the triangle offense and is productive in it. Ron Artest doesn't, and frankly doesn't have a reputation for being the brightest bulb in the ceiling.

Trevor Ariza is young and getting better. Ron Artest is declining.

Ron Artest is a stronger BRAND name than Trevor Ariza, but Trevor is the better player -- especially for the Lakers.

What is Artest going to give the Lakers that Ariza couldn't? Defense? No, Ariza is perhaps the Lakers best defender. Shooting? Uh, no. Toughness? Sorry, Ariza has that too.

Some people are accusing Ariza of "getting greedy." Interestingly, Trevor Ariza turned down more money to play with the Toronto Raptors. Was Ariza greedy, or were the Lakers cheap?

Perhaps Trevor opted for Houston instead of Toronto in order to get more games against the Lakers so he can make them pay for not paying to keep him.

The Lakers may still win a championship with Artest instead of Ariza, but they didn't make themselves better with this move.

Think about it: when the Lakers lost to the Celtics, the chorus sang, "Wait until Andrew Bynum gets better!"

But this year, Bynum was a complete non-factor for the Lakers. The Lakers biggest improvement came at the 3 spot (small forward) when Trevor Ariza healed and began playing well on both ends of the court.

The Rockets should improve with Trevor Ariza. Remember, the Rockets, without Tracy McGrady and then without Yao Ming gave the Lakers the hardest time in the 2009 playoffs. With Ariza, they get a better shooter than Artest, and a very good defender still.

The Lakers lost a selfless team player who won't pout if he doesn't get shots, who is a great defender (especially in the clutch), for the person who ruined Houston's offense in the playoffs more than any other Rocket. Artest over dribbled the ball constantly, especially late in the game, then hucked up poor shots against the shot clock and Lakers defense (often Trevor Ariza).

It is possible that acquiring Artest will take shots from Gasol.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Artest is necessarily a BAD acquisition, I'm saying it wasn't as good as if they could have found a way to keep Ariza.

And the evidence points to the possibilty that the Lakers could have easily kept Ariza. Ariza turned down more money from the Toronto Raptors and signed with Houston for about the same money he was offered by the Lakers.

Why was the Lakers' offer unattractive and the Rockets' acceptable?

"It was never about the money," said Ariza, "It was about respect."

By all appearances, the Lakers weren't lowballing Ariza, but playing hardball: "Take our offer, or we'll just go get Artest."

Maybe beating Orlando was the easy part. The hard part might be bringing the band back together next year.

Because the Lakers are young, people talk as if all they have to do is find a way to keep Ariza and Lamar Odom around, and they've got a shot at more titles in the coming 3 or 4 years.

If only it were that easy.

On July 1, 2009, Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher, Luke Walton, etc., and a good number of Laker fans will be at the edge of their seats waiting for news on the return of key players.

Lamar Odom ($14.1 million), Trevor Ariza ($3.1 million) and Shannon Brown ($1 million) are free agents, and Kobe Bryant can terminate the last 2 years of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent. Likewise, the Lakers have options to keep Josh Powell ($959,000), DJ Mbenga ($959,000) and Sun Yue ($736,000).

And coming up soon are 3 more expiring contracts at the end of this coming season: Adam Morrison ($5.2 million), Derek Fisher ($5 million) and Jordan Farmar ($1.9 million).

A year after that, contracts expire for Pau Gasol ($34.2 million) and Sasha Vujacic ($10.5).

But wait, there's more! Phil Jackson can likewise opt out of his contract this summer, or return for a cool $12 million.

Being a student of basketball history, Kobe knows full well that Michael Jordan said he would not be back in Chicago unless Phil was back. Then when the Lakers and Phil parted ways in 2004, another dominate superstar followed suit: Shaquille O'Neal demanded a trade.

Will Kobe's return likewise be contingent on Phil's?

Has Phil had his fill of coaching now that he has a championship ring for each finger? Was passing Red to be the undisputed champion of champions enough for Phil? Does he have anything else to prove? Does he still have the hunger (and health) to endure another long season and post season?

Remember, at a crucial time in the race with Cleveland for home court advantage, Phil Jackson didn't make the trip from Los Angeles to Portland on the Lakers private team jet due to health difficulties. Phil is great, but like the rest of us, he isn't getting any younger either.

June 25, 2009 will be an interesting day as we all watch what the Lakers do with their 3 picks in the draft (29th, 42nd and 59th picks). Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio couldn't fall that far, could he? Probably not. But how the Lakers use those draft picks may signal where they feel they could need help in the near future.

It is interesting to me that Mitch Kupcheck had his eyes on Trevor Ariza since college. As Mitch watched Ariza bounce around, he thought he saw a bargain to be acquired and was right. It makes you wonder who else he has his eyes on.

"I think we could be in position to advance to the Finals for the next three, four years," General Manager Mitch Kupchak said as the Lakers celebrated Phil Jackson's 10th championship

Can the Lakers afford to do it though?

Last season the Lakers had the 2nd highest payroll in the NBA, and that doesn't even count the mad money they are playing their coach.

The Lakers forfeit about $3 million profit sharing due to being over the salary cap, and paid about $12 million in luxury tax this year... and now key players will need more money to stay around?

It's worse than this though. There's a recession and revenues are down around the League.

Television ratings for the 2009 NBA Finals were down 10 percent from the previous year.

The NBA is considering lowering the threshold for salary caps, which will sharply increase the Lakers' luxury tax as well.

These pay increases won't be easy for Dr. Buss to afford.

It doesn't help that recent contracts to Sasha Vujacic, Luke Walton and Andrew Bynum are tying up critical dollars and not getting much bang for the buck.

Take Andrew Bynum for example. Here is a partial list of NBA Players making LESS than Andrew Bynum next season:

*Tony Parker
Tyson Chaldler
*Chauncy Billups
Greg Oden
Kevin Durant
Derrick Rose
*Brandon Roy
*Tayshaun Prince
*David West
Shane Battier
*Jameer Nelson
*Baron Davis
*Antwan Jamison
*Josh Howard
Andre Iguodala
Leandro Barbosa
*Caron Butler

The * signifies a player who has been an all-star.

And even if the group stays together, it is no given that the Lakers will continue to bring home trophies. Let's not lose sight of the up and coming teams, particularly the Portland Trail Blazers, with whom the Lakers struggle mightily, and the Houston Rockets who gave the Lakers fits even without Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. Likewise, there are many Eastern Conference teams who are up and coming.

The good news is that the economic factors which affect the Lakers also affect the other teams in the NBA. In fact, being a huge market, the Lakers are perhaps best positioned for attracting and retaining talent.

Also, the Lakers aren't the only team who has overpaid for their players. As unproductive as Bynum was for the money though, Rashard Lewis (2 of 10 for 6 points in game 3) was the 9th highest paid player in the NBA last season, and he stunk much worse.

Here is a partial list of NBA players making LESS than Rashard Lewis this season:

LeBron James
Yao Ming
Dwight Howard
Kevin Garnett
Carmelo Anthony
Dwayne Wade
Pau Gasol
Vince Carter
Chris Paul
Derron Williams
Steve Nash

And of course no * are necessary as most of these players are perennial all stars.

The Lakers may be able to retain and attract players simply because they are the Lakers, and winning is attractive to a lot of players, especially to the kinds of players the Lakers want.

Just today Trevor Ariza said, "I'd love to come back. Money is important, this is our job here, but I built a bond with my coaches and my teammates. We have a really good team and I think we'll be good for a long time."

One final note.

People keep talking about how many minutes Kobe Bryant has logged, inferring that he may not have several more grueling seasons left in him.

They could be right, however, Kobe Bryant has missed less games these last 4 years than has youngster LeBron James. In fact, LeBron has yet to go a season without missing games.

The basketball world watched in disbelief when the Chicago Bulls refused to keep Phil Jackson, and Michael Jordan retired as a result and the Bulls imploded.

We were even more stunned as the Los Angeles Lakers unraveled an even younger dynasty and went into rebuilding mode.

It just feels like if there is a way to prevent repeating these mistakes, the Lakers are all over that way and come October Lakers fans will be singing the Thin Lizzy song: The Boys Are Back In Town.

Have you guys been reading what has recently been reported by the Toronto Star?

The Toronto Star is reporting on Rafer Alston because Alston used to play for Sam Mitchell in Toronto ... where he earned himself a reputation as being very difficult to coach and prone to wild temper tantrums.

According to the Toronto Star, Alston once threw a fit for being pulled from a game while playing for Sam Mitchell in Toronto, and stormed off the court to the team bus... crying.

This is supposedly a grown man, a "professional" who has made at least $18,751,489 in 9 years playing a game most of us are happy to play for free.

Alston is now in the press for saying that his "friends" were "ready to fly in and wring (Van Gundy's) neck."

Not only is that incredibly stupid judgment to say such things to the press, but it could be considered by law enforcement to be a veiled threat on Van Gundy's life, particularly if Van Gundy were to fall victim to any kind of an attack. 

Why would a TEAM PLAYER air anything remotely like that out in public? 

This is just inconceivable to me; it's off my radar!

Alston also said that he would not show up to a meeting with coach Van Gundy if asked to.

"I'm not good at having a one-on-one meeting, because then I might blow up. He might tell me something that might not make any sense to me, and I may not like that," Alston said.

This guy is SERIOUSLY messed up.

Ah, poor Rafie might hear something that doesn't make sense to him... like teamwork maybe?

It is no wonder Stan Van Gundy is reluctant to put his team in the hands of such a mentally unstable person at such a critical time! I would be begging Magic ownership to trade Alston for someone more useful... like Smush Parker or Paris Hilton!

Time to bring Anthony Johnson into the rotation, Stan. Seriously.

QUESTION: what does the McDonald's fast food chain and NBA Officiating having in common?

ANSWER: They are both run by a clown named Ronald.

Retiring U.S. Army General, Ronald L. Johnson, was hired to be the NBA's "senior vice president of referee operations," a newly created position, In the aftermath of the Tim Donaghy scandal.

Four things about this raised my eyebrows.

(1) During tough economic times, when the NBA has just laid off 9 percent of its workforce (80 jobs), it created a new position.

(2) The move totally ignored the kinds of remedies the fans and media have been clamoring for, including NBA heavyweights such as Phil Jackson and Mark Cuban: an organization for officiating separate from the NBA, and transparency in the process.

(3) Whatever the good general's virtues might be, basketball was not one of them.

Upon being hired, General Johnson made the following statement, "As I leave the military and return to civilian life, I can't imagine a more interesting and challenging position. Although I don't have a basketball background, other than as a lifelong fan, I am confident that my experience as an Army commander and engineer has equipped me to bring leadership and innovation to the NBA's exceptional officiating program.''

The new position was to take the responsibility of officiating oversight away from Stu Jackson in order to "formalize the separation of the NBA's officiating and basketball activities."

(4) Ronald Johnson actually referred to NBA refereeing as an "exceptional officiating program."

General Johnson, it has now been a year since you've been on the job. Specifically what evidence is there of "leadership" or "innovation?"

In fact, does anyone even know if Johnson is on the job still? I've looked for news articles stating that he has resigned, because the only two people you ever hear from with respect to officiating are Stu Jackson and David Stern.

There are three kinds of bad officiating in basketball: incompetent, belligerent and corrupt.

Likewise then, there are at least three different remedies, but David Stern acts like sending Donaghy to jail cures all three.

Now more than ever coaches, players, press and fans are all wondering: what IS a flagrant foul?

What is more, former NBA officials are publicly critical of General Johnson's troops as well.

In a New York Post article, former head of NBA Officiating, Mike Mathis, made some startlingly frank comments. So startling, they make you wonder what other officials would say if their jobs or FINES weren't on the line.

"Refereeing has gone downhill," said Mathis. "(We) accept unbelievable, mediocre and bad officiating, The commentator says, 'He must have seen something we didn't.' No, he didn't. It's either he's guessing, he's incompetent or there's some funny stuff going on."

There is definitely some funny stuff going on in the 2009 NBA Finals.

Could there be a more jump shooting team than the Orlando Magic?

For example, in game 1 of the 2009 NBA Finals, 71% of the Magic's shots were jump shots while 58% of the Lakers' shot attempts were jumpers.

Why do I bring that up?

Because in game 1, the jump shooting Orlando Magic had a 29 to 18 free throw advantage over the home team, the Los Angeles Lakers.

And that isn't a fluke.

Over the course of the 2009 NBA Finals, the Magic have benefited from a free throw advantage EVERY GAME, and over the course of the first 4 games of the Finals have a 133 to 84 advantage in free throw attempts.

It would be one thing if the Magic was an inside force, but they are a jump shooting team. It would be another thing if the Lakers were thugs and hackers, but they are a finesse basketball team that has often been criticized for being too soft.

This disparity is even more curious when you look at it in context. During the course of the long regular season (2008-2009), over 82 games the Magic shot a total of 1,611 free throws. The Lakers shot a total of 1,607 free throws!

Digest that!

Over 82 games, there was only a 4 free throw difference between the two teams, yet over the 4 games (so far) of the NBA Finals, there is already a 49 free throw disparity!

And you don't have to go to the statistical records to see this; ALL GAME LONG the most objective of fans witness jersey and shorts pulling, holding, arm pinning, hand checking, arm barring beyond the free throw line, shoving on rebounds, hacking on shots, etc. Both teams do this to a degree, for the most part, only one team is being called for it.

For the most part the NBA announcers try to stay out of the refereeing controversy, in part because both Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy would like to be head coaches in the NBA, but when a slow motion replay shows how blatant the infractions are, they are kind of forced into making comments about what all the world is witnessing: the refs suck.

The worst thing about how NBA Officiating is run, though, is how they are NOT innovating.

The only two things the NBA has done over this last year about officiating is expand the use of video replay, and fine people.

Why?

The NBA should WANT people leaving games and turning off their televisions at the end of games talking about the performance of the PLAYERS, not the officials.

The NBA should NOT want the spotlight refocused on officiating again and again as players and coaches criticize it, then the media covers it again when the fine comes.

On September 5, 2008 I posted 20 suggestions for improving the NBA that were very well received. Some of these ideas included:

o Having corner line judges (like soccer, tennis and volleyball have) to watch out of bounds and defensive and offensive 3 in the key, and players feet on the no charge circle under the basket so that the referees can focus on contact.

o Allowing coaches 2 plays a game where they can challenge a call on the floor and have it resolved with video replay.

o Adding a "video replay" ref who compiles clips of botched calls and no-calls and reviews them with the floor officials at half time so they can make adjustments.

I can easily add to that list as well with ideas such as:

o Use the SAME reffing crew an entire series so that calls can be more consistant and players can adjust instantly to how things are going to be called each series.

o Stop already with fining coaches and players for TACTFULLY discussing officiating publicly. All that does is put the story in front of us again when the fines come down. Besides, this draconian practice seems very out of place in a land where free speech is a constitutionally guaranteed right.

o Get consistent. If it is a foul or a travel in the first 10 seconds of the game, it is still a foul or a travel in the last 10 seconds of the game, even if some highly partisan fans don't want that called in the critical closing seconds. If LeBron can crab dribble, then everyone else should. If Turkoglu and Ginobli are allowed to take 4 steps after the dribble almost every time they drive in traffic, then let the non foreign players do it too.

Suggestions made by others that are VERY good include:

o Phil Jackson wants NBA officiating taken over by an organization other than the NBA. What a great idea. Let a 3rd party competitively BID to provide officiating services each year, and if they don't meet a standard, fire them and let another contractor try.

o Phil and others such as Mark Cuban have asked for more transparency in decisions. This alone would mop up much of the mess, and all but crush conspiracy theories that the league is rigged, or at least tilted towards the likes of LeBron James.

Consider the most recent officiating controversy. In game 4 of the NBA Finals, Orlando's Mickael Pietrus gave the Lakers' Pau Gasol a dirty, cheap shot in the closing seconds of overtime. It is hard to conceive of a worse flagrant foul...

o Gasol was not expecting it
o Gasol was in the air
o Gasol was struck from behind
o The contact was very hard
o The contact was clearly deliberate
o There was no chance a play was being made on the ball
o The play was over, the ball was in the hoop, Peitrus wasn't going to stop a basket from being made
o The game was pretty much over (7 point lead with 3.2 seconds remaining)
o Instead of apologizing and seeing if Gasol was okay, Peitrus trash talked Gasol (imagine trash talk in English with French and Spanish accents)
o What is the call when a player hits another player with a FIST? Gasol was hit with TWO!

In EVERYONE'S book, that is a flagrant two, but the officials on the floor, and Stu Jackson in the head office didn't want the Orlando Magic to play an elimination game without their hired thug, so Stu Jackson made up a bunch of laughable excuses and let it stand as a flagrant 1.

With apologies to Pau Gasol and the Lakers, I am glad the NBA did not call it a flagrant two, because you could not ask for a more cut and dry, unimpeachable "Exhibit A" as evidence that the NBA has an agenda for its officiating that extends beyond calling whatever happens on the floor.

Clearly, the NBA has no interest in reforming its officiating, because doing so would lose them the opportunity to control circumstances, whether they be making a superstar more marketable, or extending a playoff series. Do you have any idea how much money is involved in extending a playoff series even by one game?

Follow the money.

One final and VERY IMPORTANT note: all over the world there are GOOD PEOPLE caught in BAD SYSTEMS.

I TOTALLY believe, and believe you should believe it too, that there are a good number of NBA officials who honestly want to do a great job.

Hopefully someday fan uproar, joined by the NBA franchise owners and the NBA Players' association, will force changes to NBA officiating that will allow these good people to do their job for a better system.

Until then, none of us should be pretending that General Johnson's organization, which appears to be in reality David Stern and Stu Jackson's organization with a figurehead propped up at the front of it, is doing a good job.

The more we allow this kind of officiating to occur without calling it out, the longer we enable it to go on.

If I were General Ronald Johnson, I wouldn't just live with this kind of world wide embarrassment. I would either aggressively and transparently enact reforms, or if I couldn't because of the resistance of my bosses, I would resign and tell the world WHY.

Why wouldn't the NBA be more aggressive about improving its officiating?

The only answer that makes any sense is that NBA must have an agenda for its officiating that extends beyond the objective calling of whatever happens on the floor.

The blogging world once had a "Kobe Bryant Day" where everyone blogged on Kobe Bryant. The last day of June, the month the NBA Finals happens each year, is 'BLOG ABOUT NBA OFFICIATING DAY."

On June 30 the blogging world should buzz about how they feel about NBA officiating, good or bad, and perhaps the mainstream press will cover it and get the NBA's attention.

Maybe nothing will happen, but if we all continue to do nothing, you can guarantee nothing will happen.