Daily Basketball
NBA and NCAA blogging on an occasionally daily basis
Archive for August, 2008
August 25, 2008 at 12:52 pm · Filed under NBA
by Michael Spadaccino
Okay, so we watched Team USA hang on for a thrilling win the other night over Spain to bring the gold back to the US. I think it is safe to say, once again, that America has the best basketball players in the world. I think it is also safe to say that the gap between American basketball and the rest of the world will remain close for the foreseeable future. If we remember back to 1992 it wasnt always that way. If anyone is old enough to actually remember those contests between USA vs Angola or USA vs Brazil we realize just how far international basketball has come. BUT what if the 1992 version of Team USA came to Bejing for these summer games? A gold medal matchup between The Dream Team vs. The Redeem team would breakdown something like this:
Guards: Magic, Michael, Drexler & Stockon vs. Kobe, J Kidd, D Wade & C Paul. You would have to think that Kobe & Michael would offset each other on both ends of the court…that would be a hell of a battle to watch. Magic would back down any of the point guards for the redeem team, but he would also have a tough time staying in front of them. D Wade (who btw is the most underated superstar in the NBA) & C Paul come off the bench and almost mirror Dream Team benchmates C Drexler (the most underated superstar of his era) & J Stockton. If there was ever a category that was dead even it would be this one. Edge: EVEN
Forwards: C Barkley, L Bird, K Malone. & S Pippen vs L James, C Anthony & C Boozer. All do respect to 08 cast of forwards but here is where the separation of teams starts to expose itself. When you consider that you have arguably the two starting forwards for an all time all NBA team in Bird & Malone they should not be ashamed. I do realize that Bird was on the downside of his career but he is still Larry Bird. Even without Bird ,with the possible exception of C Boozer, there would be nobody would could bang with Malone. Also, Pippen would shadow L James and make it tough for him to penetrate. Barkley would have a tough time with Melo but, at is the theme, he would have trouble banging with Barkley. Edge: Dream Team
Centers: D. Robinson & P Ewing vs C Bosh & D Howard. D. Howard is widely considered one of the two most athletic & best big men in basketball (A. Stoudamire the other). You could make the case that neither him or Bosh would make the Dream Team roster. I know Howard is a young player and will most likely be a 10 year All Star before his career is finished. But both Ewing & D Robinson are top 10 all time centers who were voted in the top 50 greatest players in NBA history. As we have stated with all the positions the overall size and strength of The Dream Team would eventually wear down not only Bosh, Howard, Boozer & C Anthony but the entire roster.
Coaching: I respect Coach K for staying at Duke and not making the jump to the NBA. But I have seen too many years where he has had the best team at Duke and not won the whole thing (1999 vs Uconn). That being said I would give a huge edge to Chuck Daly in the coaching matchup. I am certainly not saying he had to do a lot of coaching back in 1992. In fact, he didnt call a timeout the whole Olympics…and they did win by 43.8 ppgs. But in on gold medal game give me Chuck Daly. Edge: Chuck Daly
Prediction: After watching these games I am convinced that the three best players in the league right now are Kobe, Lebron & D Wade. I know I am not going out on a limb on that one. Their heart and ability will make this close….for a half. The overall size,strength & bench of The Dream Team would eventually wear The Redeem down. Pippen & Jordan would lock down Kobe & Lebron in crunch time and D Robinson & Barkley would control the paint. The Dream Team 108 The Redeem Team 95.
August 19, 2008 at 6:45 am · Filed under NBA
By Anton Miller
The free agency sweepstakes isn’t completely over quite yet, but it’s pretty clear how some of the league’s most active teams have done so far.
Winners:
Philadelphia 76ers: The Sixers are the biggest winners of this offseason, re-signing Andre Iguodala to a market value contract, and getting the biggest coup of the year by stealing Elton Brand. Brand fills a huge low post scoring weakness, and his defense and rebounding will make life easier for everyone else. He makes the Sixers a likely successor to the Boston Celtics Eastern conference crown, whenever injury or age cuts down the Big Three. The Sixers also filled a major need by grabbing Kareem Rush (three-point shooting was a major weakness for them last year), and got more guard depth in Royal Ivey.
Golden State Warriors: Yes, the Warriors lost their best player in Baron Davis, but Davis’ play slowed considerably down the stretch of last year. Also, at 29, don’t expect him to give the Clippers more than 2 great years. Signing young studs Andris Biedrins and Monta Ellis was the priority, and they were retained long-term at a solid price. To replace Baron’s scoring, Corey Maggette was signed at an expensive rate, but the Warriors needed to make a splash to replaced Baron. They also pried Ronny Turiaf away from the luxury-taxed Los Angeles Lakers and he should fill a need on the bench. The trade for Marcus Williams was a low cost gamble and losing Matt Barnes and Michael Pietrus should free up time for promising rookie Anthony Randolph.
Cleveland Cavaliers: The Cavs pulled off a deal that is sure to please Lebron as he competes in the Olympics. They dealt away Joe Smith and Damon Jones in a three-team deal that netted them Mo Williams. Williams averaged 17 points and 6 assists last year, and is the best point guard the Cavs have had for awhile. He immediately takes some of the scoring load from Lebron and can pass well enough. Jones did not contribute anything to the team except a constantly running mouth, and while Smith was a solid role player, he is not a huge impact player. The Cavs also retained their dead-eye shooter, Daniel Gibson, at a reasonable rate.
Losers:
Washington Wizards: This might be a surprising pick to some, but the Wizards are treading water at best with their offseason. They gave the injury-prone Gilbert Arenas a 6 year 111-million dollar deal, and re-upped Antawn Jamison as well. Their cap space is tied up for the foreseeable future for a core that has not taken them anywhere. They should have gone another direction in free agency and shake up a team that will be a perennial playoff team, but not a championship threat.
Atlanta Hawks: The Hawks entered this offseason on a high note. They had taken the Champions of the NBA to 7 games in the playoff, and they had a great group of young players. However, the Hawks management (as is their custom) bungled the offseason. They messed around in the negotiations with Josh Smith, angering him and provoking him to sign an offer sheet with the Memphis Grizzlies. The Hawks easily matched of course, but are now faced with a potential chemistry killer situation. In addition, Smith was reported to be at odds with Coach Mike Woodson. The brass in Atlanta also butchered the negotiations with sixth man Josh Childress. Childress was one of the better six men in the league, and at a young age was only going to get better. Childress left for Europe and the Hawks signing of Maurice Evans, Randolph Morris and Flip Murray will not exactly set the world on fire.
The results may be a little premature, with the regular season still two months away. However, for the Atlanta Hawks, it’s pretty safe to call them offseason losers, as they’re the first team to lose a quality player and get nothing in return.
August 16, 2008 at 2:09 pm · Filed under International, NBA
By la287 (or Aaron)
Team USA’s dissection of the Spanish team kind of puts this out of proportion, but consider it official: Thirty is going to be the new 50 for USA Basketball.
Long gone are the days where the original Dream Team demolished teams by 50 point. The game was over after the first quarter. The opposing teams barely scored what the Dream Team scored in the first half, humiliated from start to end.
But over the past four years, Team USA has lost multiple games, settled for a Bronze medal in Athens, and is winning games by only a dozen points. Even the Los Angeles Clippers beat another pro team by 26 points once last season. Why can’t the best-of-the-best NBA All-Stars beat Angola by more than 21 points? Has something gone wrong?
The Dream Team days are over, until the next revolution in American basketball. Team USA may always be the favorites, but they aren’t gargantuan favorites any more. International play has drastically improved over the past few years. The national teams spend far more time practicing and competing together, instead of taking a two-week vacation and photo shoot in Las Vegas.
Though Kobe Bryant was joking around with teammate Pau Gasol, I believe that the American team is going through the tournament treating themselves like the underdogs in every game. It’s a cliche, but they have to take it one game at a time, especially as preliminaries are coming to a close.
Of course, this whole argument is awfully nitpicky, but the Redeem Team needs to keep an eye out behind them. They’ve played overall solid basketball, although Dwyane Wade has mostly been the only exceptional one so far. Their two best x-factors are speed and depth. Spain held the lead for a decent part of the first quarter, but ended the game as the Redeem Team’s biggest victim so far.
Don’t be surprised to see USA Basketball to pull out some nailbiter wins, this year and throughout the future of international play. Foreign countries are finally seeing their dedication pay off. Thirty points is still an impressive blowout, considering the extent of practice time and roster turnover.
Team USA is playing hard, no doubt about it. Their lack of experience playing with each other makes the American’s domination even more impressive, but the easy medals are a thing of the past, and forever will be.
August 4, 2008 at 8:33 am · Filed under NBA
Ron Artest is out to prove to everyone that he is serious about winning.
In an interview he did with ESPN, Artest talked about how he’s changed since the brawl and how much he wants to win.
While this is all talk and the Houston Rockets are only good on paper, I like what I’m hearing from him. He doesn’t care that he lost seven million, embarrassed the league and sent a chill through the sports world. It’s about winning and being the best. That’s what any sport is about.
Artest needs to get the entire team thinking the way he is. We know Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady are all about winning, but this needs to be contagious (like Kevin Garnett’s intensity that set the Boston Celtics up for title).
When training camp rolls around, we’ll hear how serious TMac and company are and we’ll start expecting big things from this club. They won 22 in a row last season, what’s there to live up to? They won 55 games last season, I would set the bar at 60.
They’re also becoming a deep squad. At the small forward, they have Artest, Shane Battier, Chuck Hayes, and Brent Barry (he’s listed as a guard, but at 6-7, he could slide over to the three). Those are just the guys likely to get minutes (also, Steve Novak, Mike Harris, and some free agents that probably aren’t coming back). It’s great that they have a lot of guys there, but they should move one of them. I would like to see a deal for a pure point guard, or a nice third option at the center position (behind Yao and Dikembe Mutombo).
Anyway, they’re not better than the Los Angeles Lakers and would be in a fight for second with the New Orleans Hornets. And don’t forget the Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks. The West is even better now than it was last year.
