Despot
03-19-2006, 01:15 PM
Actual article is longer, I decided to only post his contenders section. After reading it, this article could be picked apart for stupidity all month long.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060317
THE CONTENDERS
6. L.A. Clippers
What's to like: An exceptionally deep rotation featuring an MVP candidate (Brand); a real center (Kaman); outside shooters (Radmanovic and Mobley); a slasher (Maggette); a stopper (Ross); a cagey veteran who makes big shots (Cassell); and a young creator off the bench (Livingston). Not a weak link in the bunch.
What's not to like: Kaman, Cassell and Radmanovic are all below-average defensive players. I'm being kind. Of course, this could easily be rectified with the right coach -- like someone who wouldn't have Kaman guarding Dirk Nowitzki or Brad Miller, or someone who would say, "You know what? Sam Cassell doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of staying with Steve Nash, maybe I should try someone else." Sometimes during Clippers home games, I keep expecting him to pull a Scooby Doo and rip off his Dunleavy mask ... revealing that he's really Doc Rivers.
Mitigating factor: For some crazy reason, they match up exceptionally well against the Spurs. Conceivably, they could topple the Spurs, outlast Dallas, then hope that Denver or Sacramento beats Phoenix. And yes, these are the scenarios you envision as you mail in a non-refundable $2,000 check for the first installment of your 2006 Clippers playoff tickets.
5. Phoenix
What's to like: Great chemistry, undeniably fun to watch, impeccably coached. It's great to see an NBA team say, "Hey, we're going to play a certain way and proactively find players who can fit that style" ... and then they actually pull it off. Basically, it's the complete opposite of what Isiah Thomas did.
(Damn! I knew I couldn't make it!)
What's not to like: At this point, they're better off preparing for a Stoudamire-less playoffs than worrying about how to integrate a somewhat-tentative-and-afraid-to-reinjure-his-knee Stoudamire into the lineup -- I can't see how he can possibly come back at a high level this season. So what's left? A terrific offensive team that gives up almost as many points on the other end. Sounds like last year.
Mitigating factor: Normally the whole "terrific offensive team that plays no defense whatsoever" is a recipe for disaster in the playoffs, but this Suns team might be able to score better than anyone else does anything. On the other hand, people have used this same logic to explain why Manning and the Colts would win the Super Bowl the past four seasons. And you know how that turned out.
(As for the Steve Nash thing: I don't think he's the MVP this season -- more on this in a second --- but the cumulative effect of the past two seasons has insured that he's going down as one of the 10 best point guards of the first 60 years, along with Magic, Isiah, Cousy, Oscar, Stockton, Tiny, KJ, Kidd and Frazier. So that's pretty cool. Plus, he found time to record that "Beautiful" song. Fantastic season all around.)
4. Dallas
What's to like: Good defensive team with two reliable crunch-time guys: Nowitzki and Jason Terry (who's surprisingly effective at the end of games). And Avery Johnson deserves "Coach of the Year" just for coaxing 13 rebounds and three blocks a night from the Diop-Dampier combination. From a talent standpoint, the pieces fit for the Mavs -- nobody fights over shots, they always get a lift from someone off the bench, and the right guys get the ball when it matters. I like watching them.
What's not to like: This Mavs team could have a little Tony LaRussa in them, where they're built for a great regular season, only they can't find an extra gear in the playoffs because they were already giving everything they had. For instance, they played two must-win games on national TV since the All-Star Break, one against San Antonio, the other against Phoenix ... and lost them both. (Not a good sign.)
Mitigating factor: For the most part, Nowitzki has solved the whole "Let's guard him with a smaller guy!" idea, which started with T-Mac and the Rockets last spring. He's been routinely killing anyone who tried this gimmick, with one exception: Bruce Bowen dismantled him two weeks ago, leading to Barkley saying, "You have to take a little man to the low post!" 530 times over the course of 10 minutes in TNT's postgame show. But overall? He's a worthy MVP candidate. I have him ranked third right now, one behind Nash, one ahead of Elton Brand and 700 spots ahead of Jerome James.
3. San Antonio
What's to like: The Spurs are the champs. And they OWN Phoenix.
What's not to like: In order ...
A) I watched Duncan heroically limping around against the Clips two weeks ago -- it's much more damaging to see in person, when you can pick up the little grimaces and self-conscious glances toward his bum foot. He's just not the same guy. The incredible thing is that Duncan can still control the game on one leg, and when they truly need him and his adrenaline starts going, he can have little spurts when it seems like he's fine. But the injury kills him defensively (he doesn't have the same lateral movement) and robs him of his lift for putbacks. I would guess that he's playing at around 70 percent. And considering that they barely won the title last season, that's not cutting it.
B) Stick a fork in Nick Van Exel. He's done. Same for Michael Finley. Brent Barry was never good for them in the first place. Neither was Rasho Nesterovic. Beno Udrih stinks. And Big Shot Rob is on cruise control until May, as always ... one of these years, he's not going to have anything left in the tank. By the way, I just listed six of their 10 best guys.
C) At halftime of the Clips game, I wandered down to the court to talk to my friend Strik, and we ended up watching the Spurs warming up for the second half ... the players were just going about their business in silence, like 12 businessmen quietly filing through an airport on their way to baggage claim or something. Watching them interact (or not interact), I said to Strik, "Look at that, they're like an old married couple." Strik joked, "You can't blame 'em, these guys speak like nine different languages."
But their whole season has been like that: They seem tired of each other, tired of their coach, tired of playing these 110-game seasons. Poor Duncan looks like he just wants to climb into a jacuzzi and disappear for about 10 months. Even when they rally to the occasion, like with the Dallas game a couple of weeks ago, you never get the sense that they're having that much fun. It's just a grim team. You can win one playoff series like that, and maybe even two, but not four. At some point, somebody else will have too much energy for you. I bet this is Popovich's last season. Just a gut feeling.
Mitigating factor: Did I mention that Tim Duncan is on this team?
2. Miami
What's to like: The Heat are getting better as the season goes along ... no NBA team has anything even remotely approaching the Shaq-Mourning combo at center ... Riley knows what he's doing ... for the most part, Jason Williams has been surprisingly effective for them ... from a team chemistry standpoint, they're an A-plus ... they've shown a knack for battling back from big deficits (like last night against the Celts) ... and they have the best player in the league (more on this in a second).
What's not to like: I've seen them play too many games already that came down to Shaq shooting free throws, and/or either GP, Walker, Haslem or Posey trying to make a wide-open 3. (It's scary to think that their entire season could come down to one of those aforementioned four guys being forced to make a 25-foot shot.) And their home crowd is awful. Just abysmal. They're better off playing a Game 7 on the road.
Mitigating factor: John Hollinger stole my thunder here. Originally I wrote a longer section in this spot about how Dwyane Wade was the 2006 MVP -- how it wasn't even really that close, how he's the best two-way player in the league; how he's been scoring 33 a game and shooting 56 percent from the field for the past two months; how he's the one star in the league who can completely turn a game around in about 90 seconds; how he got over an early season funk of taking bad shots and makes the right decisions nearly all the time; how he's probably the toughest two-guard since the late-'90s MJ; how he's the most efficient superstar since the early-'90s MJ; how he's been on a mission since he didn't win the MVP at the All-Star Game; how he has a knack for raising his game when it matters -- and then Hollinger blew this same premise into an entire column. Beat me by one day. If it happens again, I'm going to have him killed.
Here's the point: Miami is 20-4 over its past 24 games, mainly because of Dwyane Wade. I see them continuing to get better and better. Why? Because he keeps getting better and better. After MJ retired, did you ever think you would see another guard average 30-35 points a night, rack up another six rebounds and six assists per game, play world-class defense and shoot 55 percent from the field? Well, it's happening.
1. Detroit
What's to like: Best starting five alive ... playoff experience ... built for the spring ... great fans ... two of the best crunch-time guys in the business (Billups and Hamilton) ... swagger galore in big games ... a healthy amount of luck that ranges from "the best player on the other team gets hurt with their team leading 3-2 in the conference finals" to "the best player on one of our biggest rivals gets suspended for an entire season and the ensuing fallout destroys our heated rival."
What's not to like: First, their bench is even worse than last year's bench (and that's saying something). Second, they have had a remarkable run of luck in the injury department -- three seasons and counting without anything as much as a badly sprained ankle. How long can that continue? Third, I miss Darko and his brooding, Macaulay Culkin-like presence during timeouts.
Mitigating factor: When the worst thing you can say about them is, "They're overdue for some bad luck," that's pretty good. As far as I'm concerned, they're still the favorites, bad bench and all.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060317
THE CONTENDERS
6. L.A. Clippers
What's to like: An exceptionally deep rotation featuring an MVP candidate (Brand); a real center (Kaman); outside shooters (Radmanovic and Mobley); a slasher (Maggette); a stopper (Ross); a cagey veteran who makes big shots (Cassell); and a young creator off the bench (Livingston). Not a weak link in the bunch.
What's not to like: Kaman, Cassell and Radmanovic are all below-average defensive players. I'm being kind. Of course, this could easily be rectified with the right coach -- like someone who wouldn't have Kaman guarding Dirk Nowitzki or Brad Miller, or someone who would say, "You know what? Sam Cassell doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of staying with Steve Nash, maybe I should try someone else." Sometimes during Clippers home games, I keep expecting him to pull a Scooby Doo and rip off his Dunleavy mask ... revealing that he's really Doc Rivers.
Mitigating factor: For some crazy reason, they match up exceptionally well against the Spurs. Conceivably, they could topple the Spurs, outlast Dallas, then hope that Denver or Sacramento beats Phoenix. And yes, these are the scenarios you envision as you mail in a non-refundable $2,000 check for the first installment of your 2006 Clippers playoff tickets.
5. Phoenix
What's to like: Great chemistry, undeniably fun to watch, impeccably coached. It's great to see an NBA team say, "Hey, we're going to play a certain way and proactively find players who can fit that style" ... and then they actually pull it off. Basically, it's the complete opposite of what Isiah Thomas did.
(Damn! I knew I couldn't make it!)
What's not to like: At this point, they're better off preparing for a Stoudamire-less playoffs than worrying about how to integrate a somewhat-tentative-and-afraid-to-reinjure-his-knee Stoudamire into the lineup -- I can't see how he can possibly come back at a high level this season. So what's left? A terrific offensive team that gives up almost as many points on the other end. Sounds like last year.
Mitigating factor: Normally the whole "terrific offensive team that plays no defense whatsoever" is a recipe for disaster in the playoffs, but this Suns team might be able to score better than anyone else does anything. On the other hand, people have used this same logic to explain why Manning and the Colts would win the Super Bowl the past four seasons. And you know how that turned out.
(As for the Steve Nash thing: I don't think he's the MVP this season -- more on this in a second --- but the cumulative effect of the past two seasons has insured that he's going down as one of the 10 best point guards of the first 60 years, along with Magic, Isiah, Cousy, Oscar, Stockton, Tiny, KJ, Kidd and Frazier. So that's pretty cool. Plus, he found time to record that "Beautiful" song. Fantastic season all around.)
4. Dallas
What's to like: Good defensive team with two reliable crunch-time guys: Nowitzki and Jason Terry (who's surprisingly effective at the end of games). And Avery Johnson deserves "Coach of the Year" just for coaxing 13 rebounds and three blocks a night from the Diop-Dampier combination. From a talent standpoint, the pieces fit for the Mavs -- nobody fights over shots, they always get a lift from someone off the bench, and the right guys get the ball when it matters. I like watching them.
What's not to like: This Mavs team could have a little Tony LaRussa in them, where they're built for a great regular season, only they can't find an extra gear in the playoffs because they were already giving everything they had. For instance, they played two must-win games on national TV since the All-Star Break, one against San Antonio, the other against Phoenix ... and lost them both. (Not a good sign.)
Mitigating factor: For the most part, Nowitzki has solved the whole "Let's guard him with a smaller guy!" idea, which started with T-Mac and the Rockets last spring. He's been routinely killing anyone who tried this gimmick, with one exception: Bruce Bowen dismantled him two weeks ago, leading to Barkley saying, "You have to take a little man to the low post!" 530 times over the course of 10 minutes in TNT's postgame show. But overall? He's a worthy MVP candidate. I have him ranked third right now, one behind Nash, one ahead of Elton Brand and 700 spots ahead of Jerome James.
3. San Antonio
What's to like: The Spurs are the champs. And they OWN Phoenix.
What's not to like: In order ...
A) I watched Duncan heroically limping around against the Clips two weeks ago -- it's much more damaging to see in person, when you can pick up the little grimaces and self-conscious glances toward his bum foot. He's just not the same guy. The incredible thing is that Duncan can still control the game on one leg, and when they truly need him and his adrenaline starts going, he can have little spurts when it seems like he's fine. But the injury kills him defensively (he doesn't have the same lateral movement) and robs him of his lift for putbacks. I would guess that he's playing at around 70 percent. And considering that they barely won the title last season, that's not cutting it.
B) Stick a fork in Nick Van Exel. He's done. Same for Michael Finley. Brent Barry was never good for them in the first place. Neither was Rasho Nesterovic. Beno Udrih stinks. And Big Shot Rob is on cruise control until May, as always ... one of these years, he's not going to have anything left in the tank. By the way, I just listed six of their 10 best guys.
C) At halftime of the Clips game, I wandered down to the court to talk to my friend Strik, and we ended up watching the Spurs warming up for the second half ... the players were just going about their business in silence, like 12 businessmen quietly filing through an airport on their way to baggage claim or something. Watching them interact (or not interact), I said to Strik, "Look at that, they're like an old married couple." Strik joked, "You can't blame 'em, these guys speak like nine different languages."
But their whole season has been like that: They seem tired of each other, tired of their coach, tired of playing these 110-game seasons. Poor Duncan looks like he just wants to climb into a jacuzzi and disappear for about 10 months. Even when they rally to the occasion, like with the Dallas game a couple of weeks ago, you never get the sense that they're having that much fun. It's just a grim team. You can win one playoff series like that, and maybe even two, but not four. At some point, somebody else will have too much energy for you. I bet this is Popovich's last season. Just a gut feeling.
Mitigating factor: Did I mention that Tim Duncan is on this team?
2. Miami
What's to like: The Heat are getting better as the season goes along ... no NBA team has anything even remotely approaching the Shaq-Mourning combo at center ... Riley knows what he's doing ... for the most part, Jason Williams has been surprisingly effective for them ... from a team chemistry standpoint, they're an A-plus ... they've shown a knack for battling back from big deficits (like last night against the Celts) ... and they have the best player in the league (more on this in a second).
What's not to like: I've seen them play too many games already that came down to Shaq shooting free throws, and/or either GP, Walker, Haslem or Posey trying to make a wide-open 3. (It's scary to think that their entire season could come down to one of those aforementioned four guys being forced to make a 25-foot shot.) And their home crowd is awful. Just abysmal. They're better off playing a Game 7 on the road.
Mitigating factor: John Hollinger stole my thunder here. Originally I wrote a longer section in this spot about how Dwyane Wade was the 2006 MVP -- how it wasn't even really that close, how he's the best two-way player in the league; how he's been scoring 33 a game and shooting 56 percent from the field for the past two months; how he's the one star in the league who can completely turn a game around in about 90 seconds; how he got over an early season funk of taking bad shots and makes the right decisions nearly all the time; how he's probably the toughest two-guard since the late-'90s MJ; how he's the most efficient superstar since the early-'90s MJ; how he's been on a mission since he didn't win the MVP at the All-Star Game; how he has a knack for raising his game when it matters -- and then Hollinger blew this same premise into an entire column. Beat me by one day. If it happens again, I'm going to have him killed.
Here's the point: Miami is 20-4 over its past 24 games, mainly because of Dwyane Wade. I see them continuing to get better and better. Why? Because he keeps getting better and better. After MJ retired, did you ever think you would see another guard average 30-35 points a night, rack up another six rebounds and six assists per game, play world-class defense and shoot 55 percent from the field? Well, it's happening.
1. Detroit
What's to like: Best starting five alive ... playoff experience ... built for the spring ... great fans ... two of the best crunch-time guys in the business (Billups and Hamilton) ... swagger galore in big games ... a healthy amount of luck that ranges from "the best player on the other team gets hurt with their team leading 3-2 in the conference finals" to "the best player on one of our biggest rivals gets suspended for an entire season and the ensuing fallout destroys our heated rival."
What's not to like: First, their bench is even worse than last year's bench (and that's saying something). Second, they have had a remarkable run of luck in the injury department -- three seasons and counting without anything as much as a badly sprained ankle. How long can that continue? Third, I miss Darko and his brooding, Macaulay Culkin-like presence during timeouts.
Mitigating factor: When the worst thing you can say about them is, "They're overdue for some bad luck," that's pretty good. As far as I'm concerned, they're still the favorites, bad bench and all.