All things considered, I humbly think I might be one of the more impartial observers of the Kobe Bryant phenomenon you'll find. In the pre-title days, I was a huge fan of the kid's enthusiasm for the game. Like KG, you could see he was one of the guys who was really happy to play pro basketball. I particularly loved his performance in the '98 all-star game, when he tried to take MJ on mano-a-mano. At a time when everyone else crapped the bed when facing No. 23, that was just really impressive. On the court, Kobe was a live wire, prone to bad decisions, but awesome to watch with his crazy creativity, hops, and agility.
When the Lakers started winning championships, however, Bryant's demeanor changed. He became noticeably more arrogant, and was always taking too much credit for the Lakes' success, even though he was clearly Shaq's sidekick. I could not stand dude in those days. The change in Kobe translated over to the court, where he was not nearly as enthusiastic as he was in his younger days. Instead, he tried to be like Mike, all business, and his selfishness stood out on an otherwise unselfish team. He always seemed to want to take over the game at the wrong times, and it was in this period that he started to become the jumper-happy bomber that he sometimes lapses into today.
Post-Shaq, however, the pendulum has started to swing the other way. The losing has humbled Kobe a bit, making his off-court persona a bit more bearable. As a fan of the game, I enjoy watching Kobe, as he is the most skilled and creative scorer in the game by a country mile. What cracks me up though is watching every year the media crowing about how Kobe has finally changed his ways and learned to trust his teammates, only to watch Kobe revert to selfishness when it really counts.
This merry-go-round has been spinning each of the past three seasons, and this year has been no different, this time resulting in his getting the MVP. Kobe changed? Take that garbage elsewhere. Ain't nothing changed about Kobe. The only thing that changed this year was that Kobe got better teammates. Kobe the pragmatist realized that he can win some regular season games by moving the ball and letting Pau Gasol make plays every once and a while. Kobe even stuck with this MO in the playoffs, which worked well against the defenseless Denver and Utah squads. It even took care of_a_game (thanks, Fox censors!), but worn out Spurs squad, where Kobe played more aggressively and took over in the big games. But when push came to shove this season in the finals, when plan A stopped working altogether, where was teammate Kobe? The guy who "put his DNA into the team?" (Note: for a guy accused of rape, could he have had a worse choice of words?) Screaming at teammates on national TV and trying to win the finals by himself. I didn't know it was possible for a star player to lose his team (isn't that the coach's job?), but the eye-rolling and body language of the Lakers in the Finals told me otherwise.
It's still hard for me to digest, strategically, Kobe's performance in the finals. Boston used the same strategy in six games, and LA/Kobe never made the adjustment. The plan was simple: swarm Kobe on the catch and take away his driving lanes, thereby forcing him to shoot with a hand in his face or making him pass the ball. Now, as I see it, LA could have dealt with this in two ways. Because all five defenders were reacting to Kobe, quick ball reversals would lead to open jumpers and layups. This required Kobe to make a quick decision and pass the ball quickly after the catch. Yet he refused to do it except on rare occasions. The few times he did move the ball quickly seemed to always result in a good shot for Odom or Gasol. Why Kobe did not make the obvious adjustment and move the damn ball blows my mind. The only explanation I can see: Kobe wanted to win the game and be the hero by himself. AKA same old Kobe.
The other option for LA to combat Boston's D, which I NEVER saw them utilize, was to take Kobe off the ball. To free him up, the Lakers could have run Kobe off of screens off the ball, or even better, post him up (which woulda worked especially well against Ray Allen). Using Kobe in this way would have given him a fighting chance to beat the Boston D and get good looks. If Boston countered by doubling Kobe off of the ball, LA had the playmakers, with Gasol, Odom, and Vujacic, to capitalize against a 4-on-3 defense. The failure to make this adjustment may fall more on Phil Jackson's shoulders than Kobe, but that its so obvious to an internet blogger like myself really makes me wonder why the experts out on the court didn't at least give it a try. Hell, it couldn't have been any worse than putting freaking Chris Mihm in the game, right? But again, I can definitely see Kobe refusing to play a style which puts him in a more passive position, and doesn't let him be the hero, decision-maker, MJ-alike he wants so desperately to be, even if he doesn't admit it in interviews.
As fun as skewering No. 24 has been, the last sentence gets into the real reason I'm writing this post. The universal message I've been hearing post-finals is that "see, Kobe really ain't no MJ." First of all, is this really a news flash? Did you actually believe the crazed proclamations of the pro-LA fanatics and press, who foam at the mouth uncontrollably when Kobe is brought up? Some writers also like to trot out the "if MJ played now, he'd average 70 billion points a game under these sissy rules." And this is where I have to really draw the line. That's right, it's time to defend the Black Mamba.
I'm not saying MJ wouldn't have handled Boston's D in a better, more unselfish way (gotta love the double negative, but it makes sense here). But what nobody seems to realize is that the rules of the 80's and 90's outlawed the type of defense Boston was playing in the finals this season! Boston was effectively playing a zone on Kobe Bryant, and zones were illegal in the NBA until earlier this decade. Nobody could force the ball out of MJ's hands like the Celtics did to Kobe, because it would have violated the arcane illegal defense rules of that time. And so instead you got MJ shredding single and occasional double coverage, because team D couldn't give any more help. Of course, MJ still could be deterred from going all the way to the basket for fear of getting gang-tackled, but he could still create space in the midrange without worry from being smothered by help defenders. Kobe didn't have that luxury. Not to mention that MJ never had to worry about anybody like KG roaming all over the court with those go-go-gadget arms.
Fact is, the MJ playbook doesn't have anything to deal with Boston's one man zone defense, so Kobe was left to his own devices, and we saw the result. Here's hoping that LA's main man learns from his mistakes of this season, and either changes his mindset or develops the off-the-ball skills necessary to overcome. Maybe then he'll become the team player that everyone is so anxious to anoint him every season.
Because I wanted to drop my 2 cents on the state of the NBA, I present to you the latest IM chat with my fellow NBA-savant Vic. This is lightly edited and a bit thin on the analysis side, but should provide you readers with some food for thought, provided you can understand our shorthand. As context, Vic and I have been going back and forth about Lamar Odom (he thinks Phil Jackson should be meowing a la Kwame Brown when LO walks by, I say he's just another guy a la Derrick Coleman, who doesn't like basketball as much as we'd like him to) and Kobe, as you will see. And by the way, J.A. Andade, I don't really think you're an ####. You just make me really, really angry when you say stuff like Manu Ginobili is more valuable than Tim Duncan in 2008 on the basis of one playoff game. Here's the transcript:
Guru: hey man, got your messages from earlier, odom should be killing the spurs V: i saw a stat too Guru: not playing with enough intensity V: he's shooting like low 60s or high 50s from FT for Playoffs. Guru: he's got to play harder for LA to win at least on the road V: yeah man 2-11? and 63% FT shooting in playoffs so far 2-11 you can have a really really horrible night being guarded by a euro and all and blowing layups but the FT shooting? at first i thought it was a poor sample size but he's shot 80+ in FTs the playoffs so far its all mental with that guy Guru: if you watch, he's driving right into traffic every time, flipping up a shot and trying to get a call, ironically V: what's wierd to me is how streaky is statline looks one night 8-12 next night 2-11 Guru: he was the man in game 2, it is odd I think he's more important to the Lakers than Gasol in this series Gasol has his hands full with Duncan Odom needs to play well for them to win they really shoulda lost game 1 also V: yeah gasol tried to play TD 1v1 didn't work though Gasol has length Guru: for spurs, TD needs to dominate like games 1 and 3 V: TD and one other player has to have big games it was manu the other night Guru: I did like how gasol attacked duncan though, he's got good touch on that jump hook I was surprised to see that gasol had 18 shots, he blew a bunch of layups too as for another big game, I dunno about that they probably don't need 30 from any one player if the role players hit outside shots they just need to make some threes to keep LA from collapsing on dribble penetration by the Spur guards V: lakers have home court advantage so if they hold par and just win their home games as they have been they'll be fine but i think its more likely than not that this series goes to game 7 and it ends up being whether SA has enough gas to gut out yet another tough road game Guru: perhaps I like the spurs chances better in this series though V: as compared to the NO series? Guru: yeah, kobe aside, I think the hornets were a mentally tougher team then LA V: as I’ve been saying, spurs are most capable of winning it all question is do they have enough gas? spurs can take it to a higher level lakers, aside from kobe, can’t Guru: yeah, I guess the playoff this season have shown, you can't count out the old guys in SA the play of Finley, Thomas, Horry has been the most suprising to me I thought those guys were done yet it seems that in every series, there's been a game where Finley has made some huge baskets at crunch time to turn the tide game 1 phoenix, game 7 NO but we'll see V: yeah, they somehow muster up the energy but i can totally see them running out of gas these long series they probably have the toughest road Suns, NOs, lakers, east talk about murderer's row Guru: I was gonna say though, if Kobe's the Jordan-calibur player you think he is, LA could very well pull this series out V: i don’t think he's jordan at all i think he's the closest thing to jordan for all of the "next jordans" small, but significant difference Guru: that's a fairly non-controversial statement V: well yeah Guru: though the LeBron camp may take issue with it, but LeBron is too different I think V: Lebron has more god-given talent than kobe but it's comparing apples to oranges with lebron vs. jordan, or lebron vs. kobe Guru: I agree lebron is a forward/supersize guard more akin to magic and bird than jordan V: yep Guru: there was an interesting article today about the cavs, questioning whether the cavs #### offense is lebron's fault or Mike Brown's fault I never thought of it that way, but perhaps Lebron is more to blame? V: i dunno man lebron desperately needs a playmaker baron would actually be insane for him a playmaker PG would be optimal i dont know if the offense is either one's fault Z? big ben? wally world? joe smith? cavs aint exactly stocked with much more than role players and lebron Guru: hey man, some of those guys are better than you'd think V: lol Guru: z and joe smith can both shoot and post wally can hit open jumpers and move off of screens I'm not saying that they're main options but you could run some plays for them from time to time V: wally and Z in particular need the ball someone like jamison for example a scorer w/o needing to touch or dominate the ball Guru: well, minnesota used to use wally like a quasi-reggie miller/rip hamilton, running him off of screens off the ball, that's how he was a 20ppg guy V: yeah but reggie wasnt playing with a fool like lebron man i guess what i'm saying is that lebron needs opportunistic "junk" scorers hey dude put him on the hawks man Guru: guys who don't need plays run for them V: that'd be an awwwwesome team lebron, Joe Johnson and a bunch of athletes? i'd be scared scared scared of that team Guru: yeah, I think Lebron is better suited for an uptempo style too the transition game is where he's truly unstoppable but back to reality, I don't think that lets him off the hook, if indeed he is the reason, instead of the coaching staff, that the Cavs offense is so 1-dimensional V: he's probably better off in a free wheeling motion offense, with room to improvise i don't think its him or the staff i think its the GM Guru: personnel is a problem, but you think it's ok for him to play that way, even with the squad he has? V: i dont know for one he's not a PG he's a marvelously gifted passer but he's probably much better off being a guy who dumps the ball off of a double team rather than being the guy who tries to set things in motion to set up another Guru: yeah, but what the article points out is that maybe he takes on primary playmaking duties because he wants to make all the decisions because it's his team, etc V: he's still the best PG they got right? and really west, Z, wally, wallace none of then are playmakers west can dribble penetrate a bit, but i haven't seem him be a PG Guru: maybe it is academic, because it's true, none of the cavs "pgs" are true playmakers, but isn't all you need out of those guys is to bring the ball up and get the team into it's offense? that would allow lebron to work off of the ball a bit, set up and then kick out of double teams V: Lebron is ultimately the Cavs PG man. Guru: ok, so you're saying lebron has to have a true pg to win? V: not at all for one Guru: lots of teams have won without that kind of true pg V: they got the the championship round last year with a bad team second, they took a good celtics team to 7 games i'm saying that Lebron is limited by not having a true PG beside him. and he's being thrust into being the PG now is that his fault? or is that because they dont have a true PG? i say its more of the latter than the former Guru: yeah, but being the main playmaker of your team doesn't mean that you have to go 1 on 5 every time down the floor that's not what all of these teams that won without a conventional point guard has done well, if you watch, what was happening was that invariably lebron would bring the ball up in the middle of the floor, the other guys would clear out and stand around, while lebron tried to take on the Celtics D by himself V: well that's certainly not right Guru: the C's forced him into a bad shot almost every time V: that article just sounds like puffing up something small and trying to create something out of nothing fact 1 -cavs have a crappy lineup. Guru: well, Mike brown gets criticized to hell for the cavs' predictable offense V: fact 2 - i dont think anyone expected this current cav team to get anywhere very far fact 3 - just taking celts to 7 games and beating pistons last year would be, my most accounts, overachieving Guru: and if that is Lebron's fault, not the coaching staffs', well then that's interesting V: i mean damn man its like ignoring the big fat elephant in the room get bron some HELP YOU FOOLS i'd leave for jersey too or NYC #### cleveland has a cash cow and can't get their #### together? if so, they don't deserve him Guru: but I don't think lack of talent excuses playing the game the wrong way I mean yeah, cavs are ultimately not as talented as the top teams in the L V: i see it as just criticizing to criticize. Guru: its valid, if that is what's going on V: for all the cavs faults, that'd be the least of my worries they have a host of problems Guru: well, coaching may be one of them V: poor defensive team, poor offensive team, short on talent, coaching i'd address the talent one first you fix that i guaranfreakingtee you the others will be improved too wasn’t doc a much maligned coach until this years celts? Guru: he still is maligned in circles, and rightfully so V: probably would not have been if the celts swept through the east Guru: that cavs-celts series was one of the worst coached series I've seen in a while V: he was getting many kudos prior to the playoffs Guru: they might have swept through, if he wasn't such a ####kup with his lineups V: exactly so now he's getting exposed but it just goes to show how much talent can hide Guru: to the casual eye, yes V: for one i think the casual eye overrates this celtic team the 66 wins was an aberration Guru: they overachieved, because of Garnett's manic intensity, perhaps also because of the weakness of the east too more because of intensity V: they played playoff-type bball all year Guru: on defense especially V: but i remember when i first started watching them more seriously towards the end of the season and remarking dude they're a jumpshooting team who's going to take over in crunch? they're going to rely on Js? thats a huge flaw IMO Guru: one thing with the celtics, their offense is rather disorganized V: it's screen and pop for the most part Guru: if their guys are playing unselfishly, then they move the ball well and can get open looks from the perimeter but in cavs series, a lot of guys started playing 1 on 1 and the whole thing bogged down that's why ray allen has struggled so much he got no touches in the cleveland series because pierce, rondo and KG were all getting their points essentially playing 1 on 1 or 2 on 2 Guru: #### detroit though...what the #### no excuse for starting the game asleep in game 3 they were down 11-0 to start the game V: I was very suprised to see that they had lost at home i thought they were trying to make a statement by winning a game in boston WHUPS Guru: honestly, sheed and chauncey are the main problems rip has played hard every game tayshaun, I love him but on offense he has lamar odom syndrome I think he even shot 2-11 for good measure V: i am always surprised every time he backs his man down and posts him up. wtf? is he like incredibly dense or something and actually weighs 330 and doesn’t look him? wtf? Guru: hey man it works that lefty hook is lethal V: i'm surprised sometimes that he doesnt snap in half Guru: prince is surprising, they always said he needed to put on weight that was part of the reason he slipped in the draft V: so far it doesn’t look like he has he also wasn't your typical run jump athlete i recall him being a good shooter at KY Guru: he might have put on a little bit of weight since uk days, I think he looks more toned now yeah, he did post at UK V: he's probably up to a what Guru: he was a 4 in college V: bulky 209 now? Guru: something like that, 210-215 V: clearly a freight train in the post eh? Guru: hahah right I guess maybe he's too agile to dislodge down there? it's hard to say V: i dunno perhaps yeah so maybe he's too much of a threat to do a spin and go around you so guys are hesitant to lean on him too much? i dunno Guru: yeah, it's just frustrating to be a fan of this team sometimes they really needed some change after last season's debacle hopefully Flip has the balls to bench chauncey if he's playing like #### again in game 4 V: i heard he was injured Guru: with stuckey around and playing so well, it's inexcusable to leave billups in and have him hurt the team V: ah how has billups been hurting the team Guru: just being lackluster really he has no explosion going to the basket, so he's reduced to being a jumpshooter he allowed rondo to get into the lane on defense 1-6 shooting, 4 assists to 2 TOs V: ouch that hurts Guru: just did not get it done he still played 27 mins though btw, tay did shoot 2-11 V: ouch Guru: the odom comparison is pretty good actually, I always read stories about how flip is begging him to shoot more V: i'm wondering if flip is too lackadaisacal and not lighting a fire under their #### Guru: he is, for this group V: how about the challenge of beating a hyped up celtics team? if you cant get up for that then i dunno Guru: it sticks out, especially compared to larry brown brown didn't give a ####, he would bench guys if they weren't playing well it would #### off billups all the time, but they were more successful for it V: yeah brown does have a rep though 3 yrs then teams tune him out V: so i dunno if even having him would help this current team Guru: tru dat V: and to be honest, i'm confused as to why the pistons are so laissez faire about it. they won one champsionship Guru: but I wonder if they had more of a leader as a coach, it wouldn't make a difference V: they are more like the buffalo bills than the dallas cowboys if i was the latter, i'd be cocky, but not really the former Guru: the running analogy is that they're the atlanta braves of the nba V: ah yeah close, but not always on top Guru: yeah, it's stupid like I said, it's coming from their "leaders" sheed and billups Guru: even when they lose they're cocky like right after they lost to the cavs, you have quotes like "we still feel we're the better team" true perhaps, but wtf? V: yeah after getting booted in the playoffs you'd think they'd be more humble... if they had won like 2-3 in a row then lost i could see it but it's been a while since they won Guru: it's just sad really, those guys were in their mid-late 20's when they won their ring they really coulda made a dynasty of this team but they ####ked themselves with their arrogance V: starting to look a bit old man Guru: if you look, their playoff losses in each of the last 3 years can be traced to their attitude yeah, they don't have much time left V: after 3 yrs they have gotta say ok maybe its US Guru: exactly you would think Guru: actually, I wanted to go back to what we were discussing a while earlier so you don't think Kobe's as good as jordan, but you still think he's one of those #1 guys who can carry a team to a championship, right? is he in the same tier? (as you imagine, I say no, based on his record up until now) V: hehehe i'm not surprised it remains to be seen with kobe. he certainly has a good shot this year Guru: his stage is set I don't think they beat the spurs without him having at least one of those crazy games Guru: OMG, why do I even read espn anymore, I should really know better Andade is a freaking #### to say ginobili is more important to the spurs than duncan absolutely an #### of course we knew that already, but damn V: LOL yeah man i read that and i was like WHHHHAAA? that's like saying kobe was more important than shaq but are essential but one is clearly more valuable than the other. V: i'm gonna head out of the office ttyl
Here's the latest of my transcribed BB posts for your reading pleasure. I know it's a half-assed way to run a blog, but it kills 2 birds with one stone and hey, it's better than the big fat nothing I'd be posting here otherwise.
The context here is a discussion of Dallas trading for Jason Kidd by parting with Devin Harris and other spare parts (sorry Stackhouse, that's what they call you these days).
"Is it still cool to bring this up? What with the grand larceny the Lakers pulled, all Kidd talk has been pushed to a background, but I wanted to bring it back. Like Magic and Chuck on TNT, I got something to say. Warning: major rant ahead, mixed with a really long post. [I cannot wait to see what the censor does with this post!]
Jason Kidd, what a complex case. On one hand, you have, for most of his career, the quintessential unselfish point guard. By my count, the second best point in the modern era, behind only Magic, ahead of Isaiah and Stockton. Great combination of size at 6'5'' and blazing speed, especially with the basketball. Not a great shooter, but great killer instinct and a knack for hitting the big shots.
Kidd doesn't get nearly enough credit for his early work in Jersey, where his turnaround of that team was and always will be more impressive than what Nash did in Phoenix (don't even get me started on this, I could write a book). People forget that he took a truly second rate supporting cast to the finals back to back. Even in a watered down east, that's an amazing feat for a non-center.
While Kidd's slipped some since those days, especially on the defensive end, he's still got enough in the tank to average a triple double in last year's playoffs through two rounds. No other player I've seen has come close to doing such a thing. To put it bluntly, I've been a huge fan of dude's game for years.
On the other hand, you have the BS that's been going on this season. Despite what some would have you believe, NJ has the talent this season to be a 50-win team. Even without Krstic, in the sorry eastern conference it was possible with a healthy RJ, Vince, and the young talent on board. Instead, the Nets are horrible, and it is BECAUSE of Jason Kidd. From watching the Nets a handful of times recently, I've come to the conclusion that Kidd has just given up. On his teammates, on this season. In the past, he's dictated the pace o####ame, and made all of the plays for the team at crunch time. This year he's been invisible down the stretch of games, and his team looks headless, leading to a ton of losses in close games. He simply doesn't give a ####, and it's shocking. His apathetic and passionless play is very disturbing to see, especially from a player going to the hall of fame because of his leadership and being the ultimate team player.
...[Y]ou really have to watch the Nets to understand how off Kidd's play is. It really speaks poorly of his character, and I'm supremely disappointed in the guy. Stars tanking on bad teams is not a new concept. Kidd's own teammate admits to doing it in Toronto. KG was doing it the past few seasons in Minny. But the difference is that Vince Carter's Raps and KG's Wolves were truly hopeless situations. If those guys played there #### off, their teams might have made the playoffs. In Jersey, if Kidd plays his #### off, the Nets are looking at maybe a 5 seed, with an outside shot at getting home court advantage in the first round. With a healthy Krstic, they could be in position to make a run deep into the playoffs. The Nets aren't as good as Detroit or Boston, but talentwise they could hang with every other team. And who knows, with a move or two maybe they coulda challenged the East's elite. [hmm, a certain 7-footer who was on the trading block would have looked nice on their front line...]
What's more, I'm amazed that that media has not really picked up on this tank job. Nets fans should boo Kidd's #### every home game for his half-hearted play and if Thorn is going to cave to his trade request, they should suspend him just like the Sixers did Iverson. F#%@% trade value, his apathy is completely destroying the Nets season and the team would be better off figuring things out without him instead of relying upon their former leader and watching him lifelessly throw the season away.
Speaking of AI, there's an example o####uy in a truly hopeless situation (no RJ, VC or vets at all around him in Philly) who kept busting his butt and handled the situation much better. Why? AI has the class to realize that if you're going to suit up, you should feel some obligation to your teammates, your fans, and yourself to play the game like you care instead of going through the motions. That Kidd's individual stats are so good speaks more of his natural ability than anything else. I have no idea how he's averaging 10 assists a game the way he's playing. Overall, what Kidd's doing is disgusting and a disgrace. I no longer know what to think about the guy.
Despite all of this, I believe that Kidd's play would pick up dramatically if he got his wish and were traded to Dallas. Based on this past summer, he's got plenty in the tank when his head is screwed on straight, and the bottom line is that he's still a hall-of-fame caliber point guard. You may be mortgaging the future by trading away Harris, but Harris probably won't ever reach that level, and getting Kidd would give the Mavs a better chance of getting a ring overall.
A better chance of winning 1+ rings in the next few years > being in the hunt, but not good enough to win a ring for 5-6 years. If you're in it to win rings, you make the Harris-Kidd swap, unless you strongly believe the team will be good enough to win a ring with Harris. Don't get me wrong, Dallas COULD win the chip with Harris. But I wouldn't bet on it this year - I have at least Phoenix ahead of them. San Antonio and the Lakers ain't far behind either. And does Harris make the Mavs future brighter than, say, the Lakers with Bynum, especially now with Gasol in tow?"
So to recap, for those not into words: Jason Kidd is playing really badly, but Dallas should still trade for him. Any questions kids?
Now playing: my wrapup of prediction for the Eastern conference bracket.
I wanted to first respond to the ravenous Bulls fans, who like to think that their manhandling the defending champs will translate into guaranteed victory: 2007 Heat =/= 2006 Heat. The 2006 Heat had a healthy DWade, and Antoine Walker was finally rolling as the third scorer/playmaker on the team. On the real though, Chicago should have beaten Miami last year. Deng didn't show up for that series and was completely outplayed by Walker, which made his breakout peformance this year all the more shocking.
I'm kinda surprised all those Bulls fans didn't bring up what Detroit should really be worried about: Nocioni's outside shooting. Noce still doesn't quite look like himself after coming back from his injuries, and we'll find out just how well he's doing come Saturday. But if he's hot, he either pulls one of Detroit's bigs away from the basket, opening up the paint for the other guys, or forces the Pistons to go small. I'm not saying he can win the series, but it would make things more interesting. I still say Pistons in six.
Cavs-Nets
Contrary to popular belief, I think this'll be a good series. On paper, the Cavs have way more talent than the Nets, who play Vince, RJ, Kidd, and Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella crew. But between the experience of those Jersey guys and the screwiness of the Cavs roster, this will be a close series. I pick the Cavs in seven.
The trouble with the Cavs roster is that it's like they assembled two different teams, and Ferry & Co. can't decide which way to go. On one side, you have your halfcourt guys - Ziggy Ilgauskas, Drew Gooden, Eric Snow, and Donyell Marshall. On the other you have your uptempo crew - Larry Hughes, Sideshow Bob Varejao, and Pavlovic. Unfortunately, the halfcourt guys can't play fast and the uptempo guys can't really play slow. In between, you have King James, who is good enough to play both styles, but in an uptempo scheme would be the scariest thing the league's seen this side of Dr. J. Who else can you say with 100% certainty that some crazy #@% is going down whenever they get the ball in the open court?
(Here's where I'm going to talk about why LeBron is the MVP of the NBA. This deserves its own column, but I don't have the time or interest to do that right now. So I'll sum it up: look at the team he's working with. If you took out LeBron and put in a decent player, like say a Luke Walton, the guys I mentioned above would struggle to win 30 games. You're looking at Memphis east, folks. Take Nash from the Suns, replace him with a Ray Felton. You still have Barbosa, Stoudemire, Marion, Diaw, Bell and Kurt Thomas. By my count, that's two unstoppable offensive players, another top-25 player in the league, a 6'-9'' playmaking forward, a defensive specialist who can stroke the long ball, and a solid backup big man. Are you telling me that team wouldn't win 40-45 games? As for Dirk? Short answer, see the Mavs-Warriors playoff series. Kobe's the only other guy who has a legit case against Lebron. I pick LeBron because:
a) Kobe's got more help. Lamar Odom is waaaay better than any other player the Cavs have, and if you take him from the Lakers and Larry Hughes from the Cavs, the remaining guys are close, with only a slight edge in the Cavs favor.
and
b) The Lakes may have had more injuries, but they won about ten less games than the Cavs, so I call that a wash.)
All that said, the Cavs have bigs and the Nets really don't, unless you count too-young Josh Boone, too-old Cliff Robinson, and Freeway, who just isn't tall enough. Mikki Moore has a great story, and is actually pretty solid, but the Cavs are one of the best rebounding teams in the league and should feast on the boards at both ends. Defensively, the Nets are the better team though, and JKidd and Vince should be able to get into the paint and cause problems for Cleveland. (On that point, can someone tell my why coach Mike Brown has tried to make the Cavs a defensive, walk-it-up team, when NONE of his starters plays any defense and half of his guys can't score in the halfcourt? Anybody?) As tough defensively as the Nets can be, I don't see them being able to contain LeBron in a Pistons-like fashion.
Also, watch for at least one game turning on the edge in experience and poise held by the Nets. It may come in the form of missed FTs by LeBron, it may come in a key rebound or defensive play made by Jason Kidd, but know that it's coming. The problem is, I don't see there being enough tight games, especially in Cleveland, for the Nets to pull out the series.
This brings us to a Pistons-Cavs, this time in the conference finals. If you've been following the blog, then you know where this is heading. It's just a question of how many games.
Wow. Three posts in and I've already caused a mini-firestorm up in here. Or I hit a raw nerve with Bulls and Suns fans. Either way, very cool stuff.
Raps-Nets
Another series I haven't been able to follow closely. I blame the following factors, in no particular order: a) the Pacific time zone b) the schedule programmers for the playoffs, for putting all the games on NBATV and having them at the same time as other, better series' games. Seriously, didn't they do this to the Nets in the first year last year too? Is it so wrong to want to see the best PG of this generation without missing other games?
Anyway, I thought the Nets would come out on top in this series, mainly because the Raps don't play a lick of defense and aren't a good enough rebounding team to capitalize on the Nets' donut roster (nothing in the middle). I did catch game 4. in time to see the Nets blow Toronto out of the water. Kidd and Carter were getting in the lane pretty much at will, and Chris Bosh was settling for too many jumpers. I really like Bosh's game, and he already shows more leadership than the guy he's most often compared to, KG. But in this series, and in general, he needs to get inside and mix things up more. He's got a great hook, shows flashes of great post up moves on the regular, and it would be a shame for him to fall in the tradition of big guys who jump-shot themselves straight into a "soft" label a la CWebb.
With all that said, I think Toronto's going to win tonight. New Jersey's playing well, but which Vince Carter is going to show up? The deer-in-the-headlights version of games 1 and 2? Or the dominator that owned his former team in the Meadowlands? I'm betting probably somewhere in between, leaning towards the former. I've always admired his dunks (he's the best I've ever seen), but Vince seems to lack the killer instinct of his elite wing peers (namely Kobe, TMac, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen). Thats why I thought the deal bringing him to Jersey would work so well, because JKidd's leadership could overshadow Vince's shortcomings and let him just play loose.
But things haven't really taken off for the Nets like I thought they would. Before the season, I thought this was the year we'd see New Jersey bounce back to its title-contending ways in the East, even picking them to represent in the finals. Instead, we got an ugly, out of sync mess. And that was before KRS(tic)-One was out for the season. Granted, RJ was dealing with some injury issues, but that's no excuse for them to open the season 11-18. We'll see if they can pull it together in the playoffs, but I'm not optimistic.
The Nets will pull it together enough to win this series though, and I see them clinching it in game 6. That means Cleveland-New Jersey in the second round, which is just a bad matchup for the Nets. More on that next time.
And I haven't forgotten about my MVP manifesto. Suns fans, who didn't seem to enjoy my "pretty-boy" crack yesterday, are going to love it.
