sribb43
04-29-2009, 02:26 PM
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090429&sportCat=nba
Q: Does Dallas' thorough shellacking of the Spurs mean that the Jason Kidd-Devin Harris trade wasn't one of the five worst trades of the decade?
A: You know what? I have to say yes. To be clear: The Mavs still gave up waaaaaaaaay too much and should have fired their coach before shaking things up; there's an 81 percent chance they'd be just as unstoppable with Devin Harris in Kidd's place. But you can't deny Kidd's effect on Jason Terry, Josh Howard and Dirk -- he lives to make them better and they are better. Beyond that, the Mavs have excellent chemistry for the first time I can ever remember. Part of that might be Nowitzki emerging as a leader, but again, maybe that doesn't happen without Kidd.
The most interesting wrinkle to me: Of any "former great" with the possible exception of Karl Malone, Kidd did the best job of accepting his own weaknesses and accentuating his own strengths. He can't defend good point guards anymore, and he always shot a poor percentage. Fine. But he can run a team. He can make 3-pointers as long as he's wide open. He can advise and lead. He can run fast breaks as well as anyone. He can still jump passing lanes and swipe a dumb pass. He has recreated himself as a still-effective complementary player; it's something that Gary Payton couldn't do, or Chris Webber, or Allen Iverson, or Charles Barkley, or Larry Johnson, or Mitch Richmond, or Glen Rice, or Penny Hardaway, or Jermaine O'Neal ... I mean, it's hard to say, "I can no longer do A-through-M, but I can still do A, D, F, J, K and M, so that's what I will do."
In a stroke of luck, Kidd might make it the rest of the playoffs -- a postseason that featured a remarkable slew of penetrating point guards -- without facing anyone else who will chew him up like Tony Parker did. In Round 2, Chauncey Billups is a perfect matchup for him, a herky-jerky, physical jump-shooter who Kidd can bump and grind. In Round 3, he'd go against Derek Fisher, Shannon Brown and the Artist Formerly Known As Jordan Farmar, or as I like to call them, the Poop Club Sandwich. In the Finals, he'd get Mo Williams and Boobie Gibson. That's why I see Kidd gaining steam as the playoffs keep going, this rejuvenated Dallas team making the Western Conference finals, and even the Lakers sweating out that Finals berth more than people anticipate.
You know what else? A reader (can't remember his name) pointed out something to me that I passed along in a podcast and now I will mention here: Kidd is the only guy who can defend LeBron and Kobe. Why? They respect him too much. They don't want to kick his butt. It doesn't make them feel good. They settle for jumpers over just destroying him off the dribble in a goofy display of guilt and respect. Back in the '60s, Wilt rarely unleashed against Russell because he liked him so much ... in fact, that was Russell's ploy, to make Wilt like him so he wouldn't annihilate him. I don't think Kidd thinks that way; the situation is what it is. Those guys love him from their Redeem Team days and have no interest in eviscerating him now.
But as strange as this sounds, Jason Kidd's advanced age and declining defensive skills might be Dallas' best chance against the Lakers and Cavs. Call it the Pity Theory. Just wait
: Who is the most underrated player in the playoffs?
Dahntay Jones. Totally underrated. Premier defender, agitator and chemistry guy. Takes nothing off the table. Even came up with a new spelling for "Dante." I like everything I'm seeing. I'd pick Perkins second, Aaron Brooks third, and Tyson Chandler last. Three other guys worth mentioning while we're here:
Kirk Hinrich: Played so well on both ends that I'm now moving him into that Jason Terry/Mo Williams "We got overpaid and teams were afraid to trade for us, and maybe we let it affect us a little, but we remained talented, and as soon as our situations turned a little and our teams improved, we made a comeback; now everyone feels absolutely stupid for not trading for us when they could have had us for 40 cents on the dollar" group. Hinrich makes $10 million this season and $26.5 million total for the next three. That's not a fair price? How could the Blazers not make a run at him when they're trotting out that hideous combo of Steve Blake and Sergio Rodriguez? This bugs me
Lamar Odom: The player we always wanted him to become. Can't say enough about him. The remaining 71 Clipper fans will now light themselves on fire.
Kenyon Martin: Like Kidd, he reinvented himself as a complementary player (in this case, an energy guy and defensive stopper) and absolutely wiped out David West in Round 1. The K-Mart versus Nowitzki matchup might be the single best matchup of Round 2 -- a sneering stopper trying to shut down a sneering shooter for seven games. And if you look at Dirk's history against physical, trash-talking, in-your-face guys with tattoos (see: Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes in 2007), it's not great. Stay tuned
Q: As we near the two-year anniversary of the Tim Donaghy Scandal, is the putrid situation with NBA officiating getting any better?
A: Nah, it's as bad as ever. It's really, really bad. It's "I feel dumb loving this league so much" bad. It's "you lied to us when you said you'd fix this after Donaghy" bad. Let's forget about the consistent incompetence for a second -- it's not like we didn't know the playoffs wouldn't make us want to not punch a wall twice a night, and yes, that was a quadruple negative.
Here's what bothers me: The league promised us Donaghy was a rogue official, promised to clean things up, hired a new leader (the Sarge, Robert Johnson) and promised to get better. The media accepted the league's "investigation" at face value and moved on. (I blame myself as well.) So how can the following two things happen in Round 1?
No. 1: Joey Crawford reffed Game 3 of the Spurs-Mavs series in San Antonio. This guy was suspended for flipping out on Tim Duncan last year. The Spurs are convinced he hates them. Their 2008 season ended because of Crawford's non-call on Brent Barry's 3-pointer against the Lakers. There are seven other playoff matchups. How does this guy end up getting assigned to Game 3 in San Antonio? Why even risk it?
Q: I love the NBA's new playoff commercials, so what would be the funniest slow-motion, black-and-white commercial to see with that piano music playing?
A: I thought of this idea myself and then a few readers sent in similar thoughts. The funniest ever would be Bennett Salvatore's bogus call from 40 feet away of Dirk's slight shove on Wade in Game 5 of the 2006 Finals, followed by the crazed reaction of Dallas' bench. This would be the funniest one ever. It just can't be topped. I would laugh and laugh. A close runner-up would be any shady Tim Donaghy call from any playoff game, or even better, Donaghy watching a playoff game from jail and getting jumped by three other inmates.
Q: I love the NBA's new playoff commercials, so what would be the funniest slow-motion, black-and-white commercial to see with that piano music playing?
A: I thought of this idea myself and then a few readers sent in similar thoughts. The funniest ever would be Bennett Salvatore's bogus call from 40 feet away of Dirk's slight shove on Wade in Game 5 of the 2006 Finals, followed by the crazed reaction of Dallas' bench. This would be the funniest one ever. It just can't be topped. I would laugh and laugh. A close runner-up would be any shady Tim Donaghy call from any playoff game, or even better, Donaghy watching a playoff game from jail and getting jumped by three other inmates.
Q: Does Dallas' thorough shellacking of the Spurs mean that the Jason Kidd-Devin Harris trade wasn't one of the five worst trades of the decade?
A: You know what? I have to say yes. To be clear: The Mavs still gave up waaaaaaaaay too much and should have fired their coach before shaking things up; there's an 81 percent chance they'd be just as unstoppable with Devin Harris in Kidd's place. But you can't deny Kidd's effect on Jason Terry, Josh Howard and Dirk -- he lives to make them better and they are better. Beyond that, the Mavs have excellent chemistry for the first time I can ever remember. Part of that might be Nowitzki emerging as a leader, but again, maybe that doesn't happen without Kidd.
The most interesting wrinkle to me: Of any "former great" with the possible exception of Karl Malone, Kidd did the best job of accepting his own weaknesses and accentuating his own strengths. He can't defend good point guards anymore, and he always shot a poor percentage. Fine. But he can run a team. He can make 3-pointers as long as he's wide open. He can advise and lead. He can run fast breaks as well as anyone. He can still jump passing lanes and swipe a dumb pass. He has recreated himself as a still-effective complementary player; it's something that Gary Payton couldn't do, or Chris Webber, or Allen Iverson, or Charles Barkley, or Larry Johnson, or Mitch Richmond, or Glen Rice, or Penny Hardaway, or Jermaine O'Neal ... I mean, it's hard to say, "I can no longer do A-through-M, but I can still do A, D, F, J, K and M, so that's what I will do."
In a stroke of luck, Kidd might make it the rest of the playoffs -- a postseason that featured a remarkable slew of penetrating point guards -- without facing anyone else who will chew him up like Tony Parker did. In Round 2, Chauncey Billups is a perfect matchup for him, a herky-jerky, physical jump-shooter who Kidd can bump and grind. In Round 3, he'd go against Derek Fisher, Shannon Brown and the Artist Formerly Known As Jordan Farmar, or as I like to call them, the Poop Club Sandwich. In the Finals, he'd get Mo Williams and Boobie Gibson. That's why I see Kidd gaining steam as the playoffs keep going, this rejuvenated Dallas team making the Western Conference finals, and even the Lakers sweating out that Finals berth more than people anticipate.
You know what else? A reader (can't remember his name) pointed out something to me that I passed along in a podcast and now I will mention here: Kidd is the only guy who can defend LeBron and Kobe. Why? They respect him too much. They don't want to kick his butt. It doesn't make them feel good. They settle for jumpers over just destroying him off the dribble in a goofy display of guilt and respect. Back in the '60s, Wilt rarely unleashed against Russell because he liked him so much ... in fact, that was Russell's ploy, to make Wilt like him so he wouldn't annihilate him. I don't think Kidd thinks that way; the situation is what it is. Those guys love him from their Redeem Team days and have no interest in eviscerating him now.
But as strange as this sounds, Jason Kidd's advanced age and declining defensive skills might be Dallas' best chance against the Lakers and Cavs. Call it the Pity Theory. Just wait
: Who is the most underrated player in the playoffs?
Dahntay Jones. Totally underrated. Premier defender, agitator and chemistry guy. Takes nothing off the table. Even came up with a new spelling for "Dante." I like everything I'm seeing. I'd pick Perkins second, Aaron Brooks third, and Tyson Chandler last. Three other guys worth mentioning while we're here:
Kirk Hinrich: Played so well on both ends that I'm now moving him into that Jason Terry/Mo Williams "We got overpaid and teams were afraid to trade for us, and maybe we let it affect us a little, but we remained talented, and as soon as our situations turned a little and our teams improved, we made a comeback; now everyone feels absolutely stupid for not trading for us when they could have had us for 40 cents on the dollar" group. Hinrich makes $10 million this season and $26.5 million total for the next three. That's not a fair price? How could the Blazers not make a run at him when they're trotting out that hideous combo of Steve Blake and Sergio Rodriguez? This bugs me
Lamar Odom: The player we always wanted him to become. Can't say enough about him. The remaining 71 Clipper fans will now light themselves on fire.
Kenyon Martin: Like Kidd, he reinvented himself as a complementary player (in this case, an energy guy and defensive stopper) and absolutely wiped out David West in Round 1. The K-Mart versus Nowitzki matchup might be the single best matchup of Round 2 -- a sneering stopper trying to shut down a sneering shooter for seven games. And if you look at Dirk's history against physical, trash-talking, in-your-face guys with tattoos (see: Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes in 2007), it's not great. Stay tuned
Q: As we near the two-year anniversary of the Tim Donaghy Scandal, is the putrid situation with NBA officiating getting any better?
A: Nah, it's as bad as ever. It's really, really bad. It's "I feel dumb loving this league so much" bad. It's "you lied to us when you said you'd fix this after Donaghy" bad. Let's forget about the consistent incompetence for a second -- it's not like we didn't know the playoffs wouldn't make us want to not punch a wall twice a night, and yes, that was a quadruple negative.
Here's what bothers me: The league promised us Donaghy was a rogue official, promised to clean things up, hired a new leader (the Sarge, Robert Johnson) and promised to get better. The media accepted the league's "investigation" at face value and moved on. (I blame myself as well.) So how can the following two things happen in Round 1?
No. 1: Joey Crawford reffed Game 3 of the Spurs-Mavs series in San Antonio. This guy was suspended for flipping out on Tim Duncan last year. The Spurs are convinced he hates them. Their 2008 season ended because of Crawford's non-call on Brent Barry's 3-pointer against the Lakers. There are seven other playoff matchups. How does this guy end up getting assigned to Game 3 in San Antonio? Why even risk it?
Q: I love the NBA's new playoff commercials, so what would be the funniest slow-motion, black-and-white commercial to see with that piano music playing?
A: I thought of this idea myself and then a few readers sent in similar thoughts. The funniest ever would be Bennett Salvatore's bogus call from 40 feet away of Dirk's slight shove on Wade in Game 5 of the 2006 Finals, followed by the crazed reaction of Dallas' bench. This would be the funniest one ever. It just can't be topped. I would laugh and laugh. A close runner-up would be any shady Tim Donaghy call from any playoff game, or even better, Donaghy watching a playoff game from jail and getting jumped by three other inmates.
Q: I love the NBA's new playoff commercials, so what would be the funniest slow-motion, black-and-white commercial to see with that piano music playing?
A: I thought of this idea myself and then a few readers sent in similar thoughts. The funniest ever would be Bennett Salvatore's bogus call from 40 feet away of Dirk's slight shove on Wade in Game 5 of the 2006 Finals, followed by the crazed reaction of Dallas' bench. This would be the funniest one ever. It just can't be topped. I would laugh and laugh. A close runner-up would be any shady Tim Donaghy call from any playoff game, or even better, Donaghy watching a playoff game from jail and getting jumped by three other inmates.