BRYAN Colangelo’s Executive of the Year award (adding Andrea Bargnani, T.J. Ford, Jorge Garbajosa, Anthony Parker and Juan Dixon to the Atlantic Division-winning Raptors mix) presented by The Sporting News prompts Hoop du Jour to bestow senior VP Kevin O’Connor with a comparable retroactive honor for his numerous dubious decisions in re-supplying the Jazz – Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, Deron Williams, Derek Fisher, Matt Harpring, Paul Millsap, Gordan Giricek and Dee Brown.
Should Sam Mitchell not re-sign with the Raptors, I’m hearing he’s not nearly the guarantee to get the Pacers job, as believed. At Donnie Walsh’s request, I’m told, Larry Bird has agreed to keep an open mind that originally had been closed to that idea.
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Why won’t I be the least surprised if Lenny Wilkens assumes the Sonics coaching duties for a season while owner Clay Bennett settles on a site nearby Seattle or in another state?
Those in the know disclose the Kings and Nuggets have had serious dialogue regarding Ron Artest. Clearly, Kenyon Martin would have to be included in any such exchange package. … Ben Wallace gets absolutely no credit for being able to make plays off beautiful interior passes. … If Steve Nash and Jason Kidd weren’t generating their genius would there be a more under-control, more utterly efficient point guard than Chauncey Billups?
Contrary to widespread reports, it’s highly doubtful Mavericks assistant Del Harris will join the Bucks staff next season. While I’m sure he’d love to help out his GM son Larry (on the last year of his contract), Del has a younger 6-foot-4 son, Nik, a rising high-school senior who has legit Division I aspirations. Relocating now is bad timing, especially since Del’s revered services are in demand in Dallas, where he draws the league’s fattest (roughly $1M per year) pay. Considering how highly regarded Harris is, you’d think he’d be a natural for at least one of the many openings.
You know the NBA’s threat of a lengthy suspension for brutal behavior must be working on players’ minds when Monta Ellis can drive for an unmolested layup on the very next sequence after Jason Richardson unashamedly (not to be seen again until next season, it were my call) clotheslined Okur. Every time you want to root for the Warriors they trade their invincibility for incivility. Golden State’s only hope for Game 5 is if Don Nelson sports his infamous fish tie.
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I’m starting to become a smidgen negative toward Stu Jackson as I patiently wait for the VP of Violence to revoke the license the league gifted Bruce Bowen years ago to get away with playing dirty.
Amazing how often referees guess incorrectly. See tape of Game 3 Suns-Spurs; for a long stretch Ed Rush and his partners didn’t get wrong right. Or how often they don’t see what’s happening right in front of them. See the flagrant no-call when Shawn Marion raked Manu Ginobili’s left eye on his third-quarter drive.
I can’t help but wonder how Jerry Sloan does it without at least eight or nine assistant coaches. … LeBron James says everyone in the Cavaliers locker room is humble. Damon Jones must’ve been released when I wasn’t looking. … How many times do you think the throng of retired players/TV analysts who harrumph, “You never foul a jump shooter” fouled a jump shooter during their careers?
Notice how positively cooperative Tim Duncan is with the media, even to the point of expounding on inane/convoluted questions by ABC sideline stiff Michele Tafoya since his confrontation with Joey Crawford. … Imagine how descriptively lost players and coaches would be at the post-game podium if the word “aggressive” didn’t exist.
Interesting how teams who zone hate to be zoned and how teams who press hated to be pressed. Al McGuire may have be first to make that observation.
Most teams faced with 0-3 series deficits are unwilling to prolong their agony past a fourth game, particularly when it means hitting the road. So, you gotta respect the way the Bulls produced a Posturepedic (notice how they left the United Center on Sunday with their heads held a little higher), Deny-the-Schneid resistance movement against the pillaging Pistons.
Still, it’s a hollow victory – nothing more, I submit, than an extra payday for Bill Gates, er, Bill Davidson, who’ll earn $1M in gate receipts. That is, unless the Babyback Bulls are able to force a Game 6 in Chicago. Or, at the very least, sweat Bob Seger and the rest of The Palace populace by making the Pistons think they were in a battle for survival.
From now on, I suggest we compare Dirk Nowitzki to just Rory Sparrow and Ian Eagle … never Larry Bird.