ShoogarBear
12-28-2004, 07:45 PM
Not much new here, except for my nominee as the WTF? Sentence Of the Week.
Link (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=hughes_frank&id=1954382)
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
By Frank Hughes
Special to ESPN.com
What the Shaq-Kobe hypefest proved to some degree is that not too much emphasis should be placed on one regular-season game in December.
But with that disclaimer thus ordained, there should be more than scant attention paid to the contest that will be played Tuesday between the Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs -- and not just because they currently have two of the three best records in the league, though that should be reason enough.
But this game, as well as the three between the teams over the remainder of the season, is something of a referendum on what styles of play could or could not develop over the next several seasons.
Because, if nothing else, all sports are guilty of a copycat mentality, where success begets imitation until it is proven a faulty paradigm.
In other words, this game is a matchup of the standards of conventional basketball -- everything starts with the big man and spreads itself around from there (i.e. San Antonio) -- vs. the a new version of the old school (a k a Phoenix), or at least the '70s school, in which players race up and down the court until one greyhound's legs give out, leaving the other to proudly nibble on the rabbit's ears. (:wtf Somebody get this man an editor!)
The Suns offer more intrigue than any other team this season, if only because they have come out of the lottery to secure the league's best record, and they are doing it in an exciting manner.
With a starting lineup that features three guards, a small forward and a more powerful small forward, they are first in the league in scoring. First in the league in field goal percentage. First in the league in differential, beating teams by an average of 11.4 points a game.
They have the only duo to boast of double-double averages: Steve Nash averages 15.7 points and a league-leading 11 assists, while Shawn Marion averages 20.0 points and 11.4 rebounds. No Suns team has finished the season with two players averaging a double-double since Connie Hawkins and Paul Silas did it back in 1969-70, the Suns' second season.
Granted, the acquisitions of both Nash and Quentin Richardson via the bronzed vehicle of free agency certainly helped their cause. But playing this small-ball style, and doing it with such success, is at the very least raising eyebrows around the league, particularly among those unfortunates trying to decide the direction of their franchises and how they want to get there.
This reversion to the days of Doug Moe and, dare I say, Paul Westhead started because Suns coach Mike D'Antoni, a basketball demigod in Italy, learned uptempo basketball from his father, who also liked to exhibit a fast-paced game as a high school coach.
Plus, the Suns are right there with the other ill-fated wretches in terms of getting their hands on a quality big man -- and, no, Jake Tsakalidis should not be considered quality, though he is big.
"We play this way because it's best for the Phoenix Suns," D'Antoni told the San Antonio Express-News. "Most general managers like to have traditional 'bigs,' and there are only three or four great bigs, and they're on the teams that win all the time."
Which is exactly why this Suns team is such an intriguing experiment. With a dearth of real big men in the league, and few if any on the forseeable horizon, Phoenix's success against the Spurs in this game and future matchups could go a long way toward convincing other general managers that its style is a worthy undertaking.
"I think so-called conventional wisdom is one of the things that keep people from playing basketball the way it ought to be played, with movement and passing and cutting," D'Antoni said in the Express-News. "John Wooden said, 'Give me quickness at every position.' He knew a little bit about basketball."
For what it's worth, D'Antoni still thinks the Spurs are the best team in the league, and with good reason. For one, they have Tim Duncan. But Gregg Popovich has done a masterful job building around Duncan, and doing it with low draft picks.
Popovich's heritage is Eastern European, and his contacts there and worldwide have drudged up the likes of Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Beno Udrih.
What's so fascinating about the way these two teams are built is the paradox of their foundations. While the Spurs are the conventional basketball team, they have constructed their roster in a non-traditional way, going after players with more consonants and syllables than a Ukrainian election board. The Spurs have more foreign-born players than any other NBA team, and yet they have found a way to make the personalities and differences mesh.
The Suns, meanwhile, are playing unconventional basketball -- at least by modern NBA standards -- and yet they are doing it with homegrown and homebred athletes.
And while the Suns are so explosive offensively, the Spurs are traditionally the league's best defensive team, primarily because Duncan anchors their defense and allows their perimeter players to gamble more. The Spurs give up the fewest points in the league and allow the second-lowest field-goal percentage.
So this is it: Small vs. big. Highest scoring team vs. best defense.
Unconventional vs. conventional. Or, as D'Antoni said, "Wouldn't you rather see David beat Goliath?"
And if the Suns have even a modicum of success against the team that many picked as the clear favorite to win the NBA title, it could be the start of an ever-so-subtle shift toward the higher-scoring affairs the league has been seeking for years.
Frank Hughes, who covers the NBA for the Tacoma (Wash.) News-Tribune, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.
Link (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=hughes_frank&id=1954382)
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
By Frank Hughes
Special to ESPN.com
What the Shaq-Kobe hypefest proved to some degree is that not too much emphasis should be placed on one regular-season game in December.
But with that disclaimer thus ordained, there should be more than scant attention paid to the contest that will be played Tuesday between the Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs -- and not just because they currently have two of the three best records in the league, though that should be reason enough.
But this game, as well as the three between the teams over the remainder of the season, is something of a referendum on what styles of play could or could not develop over the next several seasons.
Because, if nothing else, all sports are guilty of a copycat mentality, where success begets imitation until it is proven a faulty paradigm.
In other words, this game is a matchup of the standards of conventional basketball -- everything starts with the big man and spreads itself around from there (i.e. San Antonio) -- vs. the a new version of the old school (a k a Phoenix), or at least the '70s school, in which players race up and down the court until one greyhound's legs give out, leaving the other to proudly nibble on the rabbit's ears. (:wtf Somebody get this man an editor!)
The Suns offer more intrigue than any other team this season, if only because they have come out of the lottery to secure the league's best record, and they are doing it in an exciting manner.
With a starting lineup that features three guards, a small forward and a more powerful small forward, they are first in the league in scoring. First in the league in field goal percentage. First in the league in differential, beating teams by an average of 11.4 points a game.
They have the only duo to boast of double-double averages: Steve Nash averages 15.7 points and a league-leading 11 assists, while Shawn Marion averages 20.0 points and 11.4 rebounds. No Suns team has finished the season with two players averaging a double-double since Connie Hawkins and Paul Silas did it back in 1969-70, the Suns' second season.
Granted, the acquisitions of both Nash and Quentin Richardson via the bronzed vehicle of free agency certainly helped their cause. But playing this small-ball style, and doing it with such success, is at the very least raising eyebrows around the league, particularly among those unfortunates trying to decide the direction of their franchises and how they want to get there.
This reversion to the days of Doug Moe and, dare I say, Paul Westhead started because Suns coach Mike D'Antoni, a basketball demigod in Italy, learned uptempo basketball from his father, who also liked to exhibit a fast-paced game as a high school coach.
Plus, the Suns are right there with the other ill-fated wretches in terms of getting their hands on a quality big man -- and, no, Jake Tsakalidis should not be considered quality, though he is big.
"We play this way because it's best for the Phoenix Suns," D'Antoni told the San Antonio Express-News. "Most general managers like to have traditional 'bigs,' and there are only three or four great bigs, and they're on the teams that win all the time."
Which is exactly why this Suns team is such an intriguing experiment. With a dearth of real big men in the league, and few if any on the forseeable horizon, Phoenix's success against the Spurs in this game and future matchups could go a long way toward convincing other general managers that its style is a worthy undertaking.
"I think so-called conventional wisdom is one of the things that keep people from playing basketball the way it ought to be played, with movement and passing and cutting," D'Antoni said in the Express-News. "John Wooden said, 'Give me quickness at every position.' He knew a little bit about basketball."
For what it's worth, D'Antoni still thinks the Spurs are the best team in the league, and with good reason. For one, they have Tim Duncan. But Gregg Popovich has done a masterful job building around Duncan, and doing it with low draft picks.
Popovich's heritage is Eastern European, and his contacts there and worldwide have drudged up the likes of Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Beno Udrih.
What's so fascinating about the way these two teams are built is the paradox of their foundations. While the Spurs are the conventional basketball team, they have constructed their roster in a non-traditional way, going after players with more consonants and syllables than a Ukrainian election board. The Spurs have more foreign-born players than any other NBA team, and yet they have found a way to make the personalities and differences mesh.
The Suns, meanwhile, are playing unconventional basketball -- at least by modern NBA standards -- and yet they are doing it with homegrown and homebred athletes.
And while the Suns are so explosive offensively, the Spurs are traditionally the league's best defensive team, primarily because Duncan anchors their defense and allows their perimeter players to gamble more. The Spurs give up the fewest points in the league and allow the second-lowest field-goal percentage.
So this is it: Small vs. big. Highest scoring team vs. best defense.
Unconventional vs. conventional. Or, as D'Antoni said, "Wouldn't you rather see David beat Goliath?"
And if the Suns have even a modicum of success against the team that many picked as the clear favorite to win the NBA title, it could be the start of an ever-so-subtle shift toward the higher-scoring affairs the league has been seeking for years.
Frank Hughes, who covers the NBA for the Tacoma (Wash.) News-Tribune, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.