m33p0
12-08-2007, 10:12 AM
for the complete article, click http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/ian_thomsen/12/07/countdown/index.html
4. The pop quiz
4. Name the first thing to happen this season:
(a) Lakers trade Kobe Bryant
(b) Nets trade Jason Kidd
(c) Knicks fire Isiah Thomas
(d) Gilbert Arenas comes back from knee surgery
ANSWER: (d)
The prognosis in Washington is that Arenas may be ready by March 1. The Wizards will be cautious, and they surely won't risk his health to rush him back. But we have a better chance of seeing Arenas on the court again this season than of seeing those other events happening.
3. How long should the average player spend warming up?
(a) Just enough to poke his head out of the locker room and smell the boiled hot dogs
(b) 15 minutes
(c) 30 minutes
(d) One hour
ANSWER: (b)
At least that's what Zach Randolph is saying now.
The 6-9 forward spent his opening years in Portland going all-out for 45 to 60 minutes against his fellow young Blazers. He would return to the pregame locker room sweated through like Karl Malone at halftime of the Western Conference finals.
Randolph is a 26-year-old with the Knicks now, and last week one of their assistants asked him to tone down the regimen. Randolph agrees that his pregame work may have been tiring him for the fourth quarter.
"So I'm probably going to go to seven spots and shoot seven times from each spot," he said. "Go into the post, spin move." No more sweating? "No, I'll still work up a sweat," he said. "A little sweat. Nothing crazy."
2. TRUE OR FALSE: Larry Brown will be back coaching within a year.
ANSWER: True
"When you look at the all-time falls from grace, his has to rank in the top three," said an Eastern Conference executive who doesn't work for Detroit or New York. "The guy went from champion of the league to being run out of town. But if you take away what he did in New York, he should be coaching again."
Now that it looks like his return to Philadelphia has been nullified by the arrival of new 76ers president Ed Stefanski, Brown must make himself attractive. The smart play would be to lower his salary and accept a muted role in personnel decisions. If he plays it humble while swearing to leave his next GM alone, I bet he'll have more than one offer to end his career on a happier note.
1. What do the following have in common:
LeBron James
Dwight Howard
Tim Duncan
Kevin Garnett
Steve Nash
Dwyane Wade
ANSWER: They are among the exceedingly small group of players who are, at this moment, untradable. There may be other exceptions (Kevin Durant? Greg Oden? Carmelo Anthony?), but for all of the rhetoric about franchise stars who are untouchable, there are very few who couldn't be moved for the right price.
4. The pop quiz
4. Name the first thing to happen this season:
(a) Lakers trade Kobe Bryant
(b) Nets trade Jason Kidd
(c) Knicks fire Isiah Thomas
(d) Gilbert Arenas comes back from knee surgery
ANSWER: (d)
The prognosis in Washington is that Arenas may be ready by March 1. The Wizards will be cautious, and they surely won't risk his health to rush him back. But we have a better chance of seeing Arenas on the court again this season than of seeing those other events happening.
3. How long should the average player spend warming up?
(a) Just enough to poke his head out of the locker room and smell the boiled hot dogs
(b) 15 minutes
(c) 30 minutes
(d) One hour
ANSWER: (b)
At least that's what Zach Randolph is saying now.
The 6-9 forward spent his opening years in Portland going all-out for 45 to 60 minutes against his fellow young Blazers. He would return to the pregame locker room sweated through like Karl Malone at halftime of the Western Conference finals.
Randolph is a 26-year-old with the Knicks now, and last week one of their assistants asked him to tone down the regimen. Randolph agrees that his pregame work may have been tiring him for the fourth quarter.
"So I'm probably going to go to seven spots and shoot seven times from each spot," he said. "Go into the post, spin move." No more sweating? "No, I'll still work up a sweat," he said. "A little sweat. Nothing crazy."
2. TRUE OR FALSE: Larry Brown will be back coaching within a year.
ANSWER: True
"When you look at the all-time falls from grace, his has to rank in the top three," said an Eastern Conference executive who doesn't work for Detroit or New York. "The guy went from champion of the league to being run out of town. But if you take away what he did in New York, he should be coaching again."
Now that it looks like his return to Philadelphia has been nullified by the arrival of new 76ers president Ed Stefanski, Brown must make himself attractive. The smart play would be to lower his salary and accept a muted role in personnel decisions. If he plays it humble while swearing to leave his next GM alone, I bet he'll have more than one offer to end his career on a happier note.
1. What do the following have in common:
LeBron James
Dwight Howard
Tim Duncan
Kevin Garnett
Steve Nash
Dwyane Wade
ANSWER: They are among the exceedingly small group of players who are, at this moment, untradable. There may be other exceptions (Kevin Durant? Greg Oden? Carmelo Anthony?), but for all of the rhetoric about franchise stars who are untouchable, there are very few who couldn't be moved for the right price.