Here We Go Again

Once again baseball season is here and once again I feel like it's over before it's really started. I'm really more of a basketball fan but there is still something special about opening day in Major League Baseball.

Unless you're a Ranger fan.

If you are a Ranger fan, one of the most unfortunate creatures found in the sports jungle, Opening Day tends to feel less like a hopeful beginning to a new season and more like an exercise in futility, a continuation of decades of terrible baseball. You know your team is mired in mediocrity when you actually hope for a 3rd place finish in the division. Very sad. And so as not to disappoint us, the Rangers went out and started the season off 0-1 with a 5-2 loss in Seattle. Another great start to what will surely be another great season.

On a side note, before the game it was announced that lead off hitter Ian Kinsler, (he of the new 5 year, 25 million dollar contract) would be missing the game because of a fever. A FEVER. He ended up starting but still, the damage was done in my mind. I don't know how bad Little Ian's fever was but come on man! It's Opening Day! This is what baseball players LIVE for and you almost miss it because of a FEVER?! I'm sorry but if I'm going to miss Opening Day it's going to be because of something incredible, like a tiger eating my arm or a flesh eating bacteria. But not a fever.

Early Exit For Duke

My beloved Duke Blue Devils took an early exit the NCAA tourament yesterday, making it two years in a row the team has failed to reach the Sweet Sixteen and four years since it has made a Final Four. I found myself torn while watching. On the one hand, I expect great things from the Blue Devils every single year. Losing in the second round is not what Duke does. At the same time, however, I have to admit that what this team accomplished through the season was far more than what I expected at the beginning. Despite having only one senior and not a single player standing over 6-8, the Devils stayed in the A.P. Top 5 most of the season and finished with only 6 loses, a season most schools would dream of. When the year started, I made it quite clear that I knew this team was built for 2009, not 2008. Still, as the year progressed I began to get cauitiously more and more excited about what this team could do in the Tournament. There are four keys to NCAA tournament success and the Devils had three of them:

1. Great Guard Play - Guards trump big men in college ball and a solid core of guards can make up for a multitude of sins once Tourney time rolls around. Duke had as strong, though not as flashy, a group of guards as just about anyone in the nation. Greg Paulus shows flashes of Bobby Hurley and can absolutely rain from deep. Jon Scheyer is a smart player who seems to make every little play that needs to be made. Demarcus Nelson has great athleticism and a knack for picking up his play in the clutch. And frosh Nolan Smith brought some excitement and athleticism to the point guard spot that Duke has lacked since Chris Duhon graduated.

2. Free Throw Shooting - Close games come down to free throws and no one in NCAA history shoots free throws better than Duke, year in and year out. If you can get to the line and make your shots, you can stay in any game. Likewise, if you can't make your free throws, eventually you'll find yourself at home watching the championship game instead of playing in it (just watch Memphis choke it away next weekend).

3. Defense - Defense is a staple of Duke basketball and this year was no exception. Their perimeter defense was some of the best in the country and despite not having anyone with any size inside, the Devils managed to protect the rim pretty successfully. Paulus, Gerald Henderson, Nelson, Scheyer, and Kyle Singer can get after any team in the country defensively.

And so I had started to allow myself to think that my low expectations at the beginning of the season were unfounded and Duke had a pretty good shot at making a run at this thing. Only I forgot about "Key to Success" #4:

4. A Go To Player - No matter how good your defense is, no matter how strong your guards are, no matter how well you execute at the free throw line, at some point you have to have a guy that WILL score a bucket when you need it most and the Blue Devils lack that player. Perhaps if Josh McRoberts hadn't foolishly jumped to the NBA last year he would have been it. Perhaps Gerald Henderson will be that next year. But as for right now, the Devils didn't have "That Guy." "That Guy" can be shooting 1-20 from the floor but when your team absolutely MUST have a bucket, he gets it. UNC has it in Tyler Hansborough. Memphis has Derrick Rose. Texas has DJ Augustin. Tennessee has Chris Lofton. One great player can carry a college team to a title if the surrounding cast just gives him a little support. Duke lacked that player and ultimately, as they continued to hoist long three pointer after long three pointer, that missing piece turned out to be the difference between a potential Final Four run and a second round loss.

Duke has a fantastic foundation. Only one player is graduating and none of Duke's underclassmen seem capable of moving on to the NBA just yet. Henderson showed flashes of brilliance during the Tourney and another year of maturity could turn him into the player he is capable of being. They have another very strong recruiting class coming in, including a dynamic scoring shooting guard that should give the offense a boost. So while I continue to bleed black and blue, and early losses stick in my craw, I hold up the 2009 team as the one that is likely to get to put Duke back on top where they belong.

Sports Quick Hits 03/19

1. Mavs Lose, Again
In proved to be yet another excruciatingly frustrating loss in a long line of excruciatingly frustrating loses, The Mavs battled back from 25 points down...only to fall short at the finish. This team as constructed, with supporting players who think they are stars, a lack of basketball IQ, and a coach who doesn't seem to know what he's doing anymore, is just good enough to do what they've done for the last month: keep the game really close against really good teams, but not good enough to win. The whole team needs a major overhaul, starting with the head coach.

2. Allen Iverson Returns to Philly
Perhaps I should hold off on this until after the game, but long time Sixer great Allen Iverson is returning to Philly with the Nuggets tonight for the first time since he was traded. A headline on ESPN.com today quoted Iverson as being unsure whether he would recieve cheers or jeers when he is announced. Let me chime in here and say, despite Philly fans being the most retarded group America has to offer, there had better not be a SINGLE boo tonight when Iverson takes the floor. This guy gave that city everything he had EVERY SINGLE NIGHT for 12 years, carrying them when there was literally nothing else of value on the team, and even took the high road when the team blamed him for the trade last year. Iverson has had his problems in the past but he meant everything to the 76er franchise while he was there and booing tonight would be in dispicable taste even for citizens of Philly.

3. Timberwolves Owner Slams KG
In the same vein as the Iverson story, Wolves owner Glenn Taylor was quoted today as saying Kevin Garnett quit on the team last season in the last 5 games. First off, why did those 5 games matter? They didn't. The Wolves were going nowhere even if they did win all 5 games. Second, what did Taylor hope to gain by making a comment like this? There was absolutely no point to laying the blame at Garnett's feet 11 months after the fact. Third, and most important, anyone who has EVER watched an NBA game knows that the absolute last thing anyone would associate with KG is a quitter's mentality. Just like Iverson in Philly, Garnett gave the team everything he had every night without one word of complaint about the D League players that usually surrounded him on the roster. He single handedly kept that team in playoff position for years. I don't believe for a second that Garnett prematurely shut it down last year, but even if he did, hasn't 12 years of striving and carrying a team of spares on your back earned him the right to rest his over-used knees for the first time in a decade? Glenn Taylor should be absolutely ashamed of himself for putting this sack of crap out in the media and I only wish the Celts were playing the Wolves again this year so KG could tear them apart.

4. Terrelle Pryor Makes His Decision, Finally
Today it was announced that after months of waiting and speculating, top high school football quarterback Terrelle Pryor has chosen to go to The Ohio State University next fall. Pryor, the number one prospect in the country in just about everyone's book, chose OSU over Michigan, a move that could hurt the Wolverines new offense as they transition to Rich Rodriguez's Spread Option.

As a Buckeye fan, I'm both excited and terrified. There is no questioning Pryor's talent and anytime you can take a player of his magnitude away from your rival, it's a good thing. But the way Pryor has handled his signing, by refusing to commit when everyone else did and keeping the attention on himself for as long as possible, reminds me too much of former PSU great Maurice Clarett. Just like Pryor, Clarett was a fantastic talent who helped the Buckeyes win their championship in 2002. But he also had such an ego, such an overinflated sense of self worth, and such a desire to make his name known, just like Pryor seems to have. In the end, Clarett spent only one year with the team before being suspended and ultimately cut for his off the field issues. He got the Buckeyes in a heap of trouble and wound up in jail serving a long prison sentence. I'm not saying Pryor is a bad guy, but he worries me. He seems like a guy that you don't want to see playing against you but at the same time, you're not really sure if you can trust him on your team. I hope he turns out to be the player he is capable of being and stays away from the trouble he is capable of causing as he leads the Buckeyes over the next three years.

5. Larry Harris Fired
A quick note in one of my recent posts provided a link to an article Bill Simmons wrote to announce his "candidacy" for GM of the Milwaukee Bucks. Today that campaign took on new steam as the Bucks fired Larry Harris, their current GM, who has done about as bad a job as anyone in the NBA. As bad as the Bucks have been and as much heat as they have taken, I'm not so sure it wouldn't be a smart idea, at least from a PR standpoint, to offer the job to Simmons. The franchise is going nowhere right now so even if Simmons was terrible, he could be fired in 2 years and the team will be right where they were before the hiring. So remember to vote "Simmons" on Prop 109 when you head out to your casting center.

Reviewing the Draft: 1990

The 1990 NBA Draft was one fairly mediocre, producing 6 All Stars and some long term contributing players, but only one perinnial All Star and Hall of Famer. The number one player taken, Derrick Coleman, put up some good years but was a monumental disappointment compared to the expectations he came into the league with. If the Draft was redone, knowing what we know now, the order of the Lottery would look something like this:

1. New Jersey - Gary Payton, G Oregon State (Drafted #2 by Seattle)
A future Hall of Famer who appeared in numerous All Star games, took up a permanent residence on the All Defense Team, and won a championship with Miami.
2. Seattle - Antonio Davis, F UTEP (#45 Indiana)
After spending a couple of years in Europe, Davis became an excellent and reliable post presence for many years, including an All Star appearance.
3. Denver - Derrick Coleman, F Syracuse (#1 New Jersey)
Coleman could have been one of the all time greats if not for his SORRY attitude and reluctance to stay in shape. He remained a contributor for several years but not nearly at the All Star level he reached early on.
4. Orlando - Toni Kukoc, F Yugoslavia (#29 Chicago)
Toni debuted in 1993, the first season of the first post-Jordan era. He won 3 championships with the Bulls, contributing heavily in all 3 runs, and remained a 15 point per game scorer for several seasons, contributing quality play into his late 30s.
5. Charlotte - Kendall Gill, G/F Illinois (#5 Charlotte)
Gill was never an All Star and perhaps never quite reached the potential he had, but he was a dynamic scorer on some very bad teams and had a long run in the NBA.
6. Minnesota - Elden Campbell, C Clemson (#27 LA Lakers)
While Campbell never made an All Star team like the two players that follow, he was a more consistent contributor for a longer period of time. Campbell was a quality starting caliber center for 10 years.
7. Sacramento - Tyrone Hill, F Xavier (#11 Golden State)
Hill never really payed dividends for Golden State but he made an All Star team playing in Cleveland and was a major part of a Sixers Finals run.
8. LA Clippers - Jayson Williams, F St. Johns (#21 Phoenix)
An amazing rebounder, Williams made one All Star team and had a nice run as a top flight defensive power forward in Jersey before succumbing to injuries.
9. Miami - Dee Brown, G Jacksonville (#19 Boston)
Dee Brown's biggest claim to fame was winning the Slam Dunk contest in 1991 but he had an excellent career during which he was a significant contributor on some fairly mediocre teams.
10. Atlanta - Cedric Ceballos, F Cal Fullerton (#48 Phoenix)
Ceballos was the "energy guy" for the Suns for several years, then reached his pinnacle with the Lakers, making an All Star team and putting up ridiculous scoring numbers. A borderline bi-polar personality kept him from being even better than he was.
11. Golden State - Chris Jackson (Mahmoud Abdul Rauf), G LSU (#3 Denver)
Jackson/Rauf was a fantastic scorer his first few years in Denver but faded pretty quickly, though he did become a solid shooter off the bench with Sacramento. He is also the only player in league history to have Tourette's Syndrome.

This Week's "Are You Freaking Serious" Moment

Some buddies and I went to see the new Will Ferrell basketball comedy "Semi Pro" tonight. A decidedly "ho-hum" response will be covered in my review before too long. That is, however, beside the point. One of my favorite things about going to the theater is the previews. I don't really know why exactly but I've always been a big fan of these and I get legitmately excited about what trailers will be shown. Usually, the previews will fall into one of two categories: movies that are similar in style and taste to the one you've paid the price of admission for, or a major film from the studio releasing the film you're about to see. Tonight, however, was different.

After a couple of generic, funny movie previews, I was confronted with what may be the most mismatched trailer I have ever seen. Sandwiched between the preview of "Harold and Kumar 2" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," (two movies that fit the demo of "Semi Pro") was none other than the trailer for the upcoming "Sex and the City" movie. I am not joking. "Sex and the City."

First of all, the movie looks to be about as bad as any movie of the last 10 years. While the TV show demonstrated some calculated wit during its run, the movie seemed mindless and inane, if the 3 minute clips are any judge (and they probably are). But more to the point. This has got to be just about the biggest waste of money EVER in the history of film marketing. The targeted demographic for "Sex and the City" is 17 to 45 year old females and the audience for your average "Sex and the City" theater is going to be 98% women. The audience for "Semi Pro" has got to be made up of at least 80% males between the ages of 17 and 28. When this preview played, there was a collective groan from the audience. No straight guy in his late teens to early 30s wants to see the freaking trailer for "Sex and the City," let alone the whole dang movie. Following this preview made "Harold and Kumar" seem almost watchable, a genius move by the studio in charge of that piece of crap. What's amazing about this is that someone somewhere sitting behind a desk actually approved this move. The idea of showing the "Sex and the City" trailer during a screening of "Semi Pro" was brought up and some suit thought, "Ya know, that DOES sound like a good idea! Run it!" Just another example of why I should be running a Hollywood studio instead of the knuckleheads in charge right now.

Make It Stop

For the length of my sports watching life, I have been a diehard Oakland Raider fan. While I’m from Dallas, the contrarian in me never allowed me to root for any popular team, including the Cowboys. Much to the chagrin of my family, I turned to the Raiders at an early age. I might as well have contracted leprosy. Back then family members would shake their heads in disgust and classmates refused to talk to me. Even now, coworkers and random people on the street speak to me as if I were retarded, unable to understand how a seemingly sane man could ever choose NOT to be a Cowboy fan.

Still, it was always fun to be a Raider fan, even during the terrible mid 90s. The Raiders represented a rebellious, outlaw spirit that was attractive to a kid like me that never wanted to do anything that everyone else was doing. The Raiders threw the ball a lot, something that has always been appealing to me. (Running game be damned.) Tim Brown was my favorite player and a local product. Even the colors were cool! There’s nothing more intimidating than the black and silver. Maybe even more importantly, being a Raider fan made me feel tough. When I attended a Raiders-Boys game in Dallas in my youth, I felt safe in a way that no fan of any other team feels in an opponent’s stadium. Every Raider fan was a scary dude. When heckled by a drunken Cowboy fan, a giant of a man, dressed head to toe in black with a look about him that suggested “this guy might kill someone today,” immediately came to my rescue. Being a Raider fan was like being a member of an incredibly exclusive (okay, maybe not so exclusive) club. Every guy has that one friend that makes everyone else in the group feel a little bit stronger and a little bit tougher when he’s around. That’s what it was like to be a Raider fan. Great power comes from being around a bunch of convicts dressed like Darth Vader on steroids, especially for a scrawny white kid who was unlikely to beat anyone in a fight.

Then the Raiders got good again. The Jon Gruden years brought incredible excitement. The team was not only slinging the ball around with reckless abandon, they were winning, too. Tim Brown, Jerry Rice, Rich Gannon, and their teammates were about as much fun to watch as I’ve seen in the NFL. They brought a certain finesse to a franchise that had always been lacking in that department. But the team still maintained its brigand-like mentality, an attitude that said, “Ya, we’ve got some nice guys on this team and sure, we look a little softer than we used to, but we’ll still pull your throats out to get a win.” It was a taste of the glory years that an entire generation of Raider fans had never experienced. This culminated in a trip to the 2003 Super Bowl, where Gannon and the boys were summarily dismissed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and former coach Jon Gruden.

And then things went to pot.

The embarrassing ending to the 02 season pales in comparison to the debacle that has followed. The franchise has gone through four coaches and will soon find a fifth, since Al Davis apparently does not like Lane Kiffin, whom he hired less than one year ago. They’ve managed a combined record of 19-61. The team has made a series of terrible free agency signings, surpassed only by an even worse draft record. The Raiders are virtually non-competitive these days and it the future doesn’t look much brighter.

Since the beginning of free agency one week ago, the Raiders have made three major moves. First, they gave defensive tackle Tommy Kelly a 7 year contract. Who is Tommy Kelly, you ask? Well I’m a lifelong Raider fan and even I barely know who Kelly is. He’s a backup, at best, who will now be pulling in a Pro Bowler’s salary. Next the team signed Giant’s safety Gibril Wilson to a 6 year, 39 million dollar contract. Wilson is a nice player, a guy you can win with. But he’s worth about half of the more than 6 million bucks a year he’ll be collecting from the Raiders. And early this week, the Raiders took their collective stupidity to another level by signing wide out Javon Walker to a 6 year, 55 million dollar deal. Walker is a Pro Bowl player, a guy who, when healthy is a top 10 receiver in this league. The key word, though, is “healthy.” Walker missed the majority of last season with a new injury which came only two years after missing the entire year with a torn ACL. The chances of him returning to Pro Bowl form are slim to none. A lot of teams were interested in Walker but almost all of them were offering short term deals based on incentives. Walker had to be wondering if he was going to get his pay day. And then the Raiders swooped in with an ASININE offer that had to make Walker and his representatives burst into giddy, school girl-like laughter. I’m sure the moves will only continue to get worse as the draft approaches. In the last five seasons, it has become a near absolute that the Raiders will draft only the best athletes available with no regard to ability, character, position, or any of the other factors a well run organization will take into consideration before drafting a guy.

The root of the problem is owner Al Davis. I have a great deal of respect for Al and even his most vehement detractors have to acknowledge Davis’ contribution to the game. He has done a lot for the NFL as a whole and the way he built the organization was nothing short of brilliant. Unfortunately, the good days of Al’s life based him by a long, long time ago. The decisions he has made since Gruden left have to be considered the worst ever by an owner or GM not named Elgin Baylor. He has completely lost touch with reality and he obviously has no idea what today’s NFL is like. Heck, he may not know what year it is.

There are two reasonable explanations for Davis’ constant and embarrassing mistakes. The first is the idea that Davis is certifiably insane. The man may have seriously lost his mind over the last few years. It is quite possible that he is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Regardless, I think it’s highly likely that Davis’ mind is far from as sharp as it once was and he’s too egotistical to admit it. The other possibility is that Davis is, in fact, dead and no one has reported it yet. Maybe his brain has been transfused into a robot. Perhaps his head is frozen somewhere along with Ted Williams and a clone takes his place in the box. My favorite theory is that Davis has been dead for years but his children and staff were unsure of how to proceed. In the spirit of “Weekend at Bernie’s” they reanimated his body, turning him into a life size marionette doll, and now they take turns making decisions each day. This would explain why a coach is hired one year as a savior and fired the next after a mildly successful season. It would also explain why Norv Turner was ever given a job in the first place; apparently Al’s 8 year old granddaughter got to make that decision.

Whatever the case may be, the point is the franchise is in absolute ruin right now and there is only one thing Al can do about it: give it up. Unfortunately, that is probably the one thing Al is incapable of doing. His ego will never allow him to admit weakness, to acknowledge the fact that someone else is more qualified to make decisions than he. And so the Raider Nation continues to wallow in anguish, to subject themselves to the torturous pain that is every single Raider game. At one time the pride of the league, the franchise is in shambles, a disgrace to its once proud history in a way that only the New York Knicks can top. This has pushed me to the brink of, *gulp*, changing teams. Never before have I abandoned one of my teams and yet with each passing season, I find myself less and less interested in the disgrace of a team the Raiders throw out on the field each week. My only hope is that in George Steinbrenner fashion, Davis will see the light or be committed to a luxurious mental institution and turn the team over to someone else. Anyone else. At this point a trained bear would have a better chance of turning this thing around. Just someone, please, make it stop.

Sports Quick Hits 03/03/08

1. Coach K Gets 800th Win
On Saturday, Duke University played terribly against NC State but managed to come from behind to squeeze out an 87-86 victory. What would have otherwise been just another tight ACC win was so very much more on this day because the win gave coach Mike Krzyzewski his 800th career victory. Krzyzewski is only the fifth coach in NCAA history to top the 800 win plateau and puts him only 106 games behind his mentor, Bobby Knight, for the most wins all time. I am an unabashed Duke fan and a Coach K disciple and I will not pretend to hide that. What Coach K has accomplished is remarkable and historical, second, in my opinion, only to Coach John Wooden’s string of championships with UCLA in the 60’s and 70’s. To be able to keep a program as competitive and relevant as Coach K has over the last 22 years during in an age that lends itself to parity is incredible, a feat that even the great Coach Wooden would struggle to accomplish.

Since his first Final Four at Duke in the 1985-86 season, Coach K has guided Duke to 3 titles, 7 championship game appearances, 10 Final Fours, and 17 Sweet Sixteen appearances. In that time, Duke has failed to advance past the first round of the NCAA tournament only three times, and missed the Tournament only once, a season that saw Coach K miss the majority of the season because of back surgery. He has created a program that gets the best recruits every single year, that almost always competes for the top spot in the best basketball conference in the nation, and that expects to win a championship every single season. Compare his longevity and success to that of the coaches at the other legendary programs in the country over the same time period:

UCLA: three Final Fours, one championship, and four head coaches
North Carolina: six Final Fours, two championships, and four head coaches
Kentucky: four Final Fours, two championships, and four head coaches
Kansas: six Final Fours, one championship, and three head coaches.

Coach K’s run is something even the cream of the crop cannot emulate. In all that time and through all that success, Coach K has represented the game with the utmost class and respectability and without a hint of impropriety. It has been a fantastic reign and here’s hoping for another 200 or 300 wins!

2. Randy Moss Resigns with New England
Well it was a dicey situation for a while there but today it was reported that record setting wide out Randy Moss has agreed to a new deal with the New England Patriots. The contract is for 3 years and 27 million dollars. This is a great move by both parties, though it did not come immediately. Moss had the best season of his illustrious career playing with Tom Brady but the Patriots are notorious for short changing their free agents and pressuring them to accept a home town discount. I think it was evident from the get go that Moss wanted to remain with the Pats but that he also wasn’t going to play for free. You have to understand where Moss was coming from: he’s 32 years old and this is very likely his last contract. In the NFL’s world of non-guaranteed contracts, he is one big hit from being thrown into the gutter. He had to get big money one last time. And no matter what their philosophy is, it would have been foolish, nay, INSANE for the Pats to try to short change Moss and let him run to another of the NFL’s elite teams. Put aside the fact that Moss set the NFL record for most touchdowns in a season last year (23) and reasserted himself as perhaps the best receiver in football. For the first time in his career, Tom Brady found out what it was like to play with top-notch receivers in ’07, and he would have been incredibly upset to see his best teammate walk away. Brady has very rarely complained about the Pats way of doing business in the past but I have a hard time believing he would have towed the company line after a move like this. The bottom line is the deal has apparently been finalized and the NFL will be treated to another year of the Brady to Moss hookup.

3. John Wooden Hospitalized
Late last week, legendary coach John Wooden was admitted to the hospital with injuries sustained during a fall in his home. Coach Wooden broke both his wrist and his collarbone and has had to undergo blood transfusions over the last five days. According to his daughter, he is in stable condition and will be released from the hospital before long.

Coach Wooden took UCLA to 10 NCAA championships in the 60s and 70s, setting a record that will never be broken. He has been the face of college basketball at times and as respected a man as has ever stepped onto the court. Wooden is a class act of the highest order, a man who exudes integrity and compassion. His health has been deteriorating over the last few years and at age 97, he doesn’t have many more years on this earth. But for right now, it appears Coach Wooden will be around for a while longer and the world is a little better place for having him in it.

4. Michael Beasley is a BEAST! But…
Michael Beasley, a freshman phenom who plays for the Kansas State Wildcats, has captured the attention of the nation by putting up absolutely absurd statistics all season long. He is third in the nation in scoring, first and rebounds, and first in double doubles. He is essentially a one man team, at times outscoring the rest of his team. He has scored over 30 points in a game 12 times this year, a feat that has been accomplished only three times TOTAL by every other player in the Big 12. He is a beast of a man, a guy who has every measurable an NBA team would look for in a franchise player and there is little doubt that he will be the first player taken in the NBA draft this summer. I’ve been able to watch Beasley play a few times this year, including Saturday night’s blowout loss to Kansas in which Beasley scored 39 points. There is no questioning his freakish athleticism or ability; he has the complete package.

But…

If I was an NBA GM, I’d be very wary of anchoring by franchise to the guy. I get a bad feeling about him. Though I am not the first to say this, Beasley reminds me far too much of former number one pick, Derrick Coleman, whom the Nets tagged as their franchise player in 1990. On the surface, there’s nothing wrong with being compared to Coleman. Coleman was an amazing athlete for his size, a guy who could run the floor, pound you on the block, step out for a long jumper, and pound you on the glass. During his first five years in the league, Coleman averaged 20 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, and a block and a half per game. He was an All Star twice in that span and a member of Dream Team 2.

And then his career crashed.

The decline started with an injury but Coleman never seemed to make an attempt to truly recover. He went from a freakish athletic body to out of shape to downright fat. He was unmotivated and quite content to collect a FAT paycheck for doing next to nothing for the majority of his career. His attitude was always an obstacle and Coleman feuded with just about every coach and teammate he had during his career. A malcontent who never came close to living up to his potential, Coleman ranks 17th on Sports Illustrated’s “Biggest Draft Busts.”

When the comparison between Beasley and Coleman was pointed out to me, I laughed it off. And yet every time I watch him play, I am reminded of Coleman and how frustrating he was to watch. Beasley’s body is cut and strong right now, but he is so young and his metabolism has yet to slow down. He has the look of a guy who could potentially gain a LOT of weight if he isn’t careful. Right now he is far and away the most athletic player in the nation and you have to wonder how he will respond when there are so many more talented and athletic players at the next level? In addition, I have to question Beasley’s attitude. In each of the K State games I have watched, at some point Beasley has come close to blows with an opponent or picked up a technical foul. I don’t think he is the malcontented jerk that Coleman always was; rather, I think he has trouble controlling his emotions. There are plenty of young athletes who have trouble staying in control under intense conditions. Some of them mature and grow out of these problems, but many do not. I question how well he will be able to handle a much more physically and mentally abusive game in the NBA. How will he respond to the likes of Rasheed Wallace physically beating on him and saying things about his mother for 82 games a year? He seems to be a player who is fragile mentally and who depends too much on his athleticism rather than his skill.

I think Beasley could be a very good, if not great NBA player. If he is able to mature and develop a strong work ethic, there is no question that he will make a strong impression on the league. But for me, there are a lot of question marks surrounding him that would make me wary of naming him a franchise player.

5. Bill Simmons Runs For GM
Bill Simmons, also known as “The Sports Guy,” is my favorite national sports writer. This is probably true because he doesn’t really write SPORTS, at least not in the way that most media types do. He’s a funny guy and a witty writer but most importantly, he is a fan. Simmons is that lucky son of a gun who grew up watching sports with fanatical attention and just happened to become a writer.

Recently he launched a campaign (only half jokingly) to become the next general manager of the Milwaukee Bucks. Current GM Larry Harris has done a miserable job putting the team together over the last few years and Bucks fans have become increasingly disinterested with the franchise. Apparently Simmons has received a lot of support in his mock-campaign and has put together a great column on the subject.

Vote Simmons '08

Ideas for Improving the NBA

David Stern recently announced his intentions to start another division of the NBA in Europe. This really comes as no surprise considering Stern has long been obsessed with the idea of European NBA franchises for quite some time. Stern, who at one time was the best American sports commissioner, has become increasingly more and more concerned with his own legacy rather than the actual good of the game. Some of his recent moves, such as instituting an unnecessary dress code and wussifying the league by instituting more stringent rules upon physical play (not to mention his absolute refusal to do anything about the pitiful state of the league’s officiating), have been downright stupid. But this idea trumps them all. Flying overseas for a road trip is just one of the many problems with this concept, another being that no one is going to want to play in Europe.

In response to Stern’s idiotic ideas and the losing of his mind, I’ve have five ideas that would improve the league in feasible ways and do not involve moving teams to Europe, Asia, Australia, Antarctica, Mars, or any other continental/celestial body.

1. Improve the Officiating
The referees in this league are an embarrassment, pure and simple. Their suspect and subjective calls have created a completely inconsistent environment that even the smartest of players has trouble adjusting to. In addition, this has hurt our players in international play because they are so used to bail out, weak foul calls and the “Superstar Officiating System.” Stern had a golden opportunity to fix the problems with the officials once and for all this summer after the Tim Donaghy scandal was exposed. Instead, he did everything he could to sweep the story under the mat as quickly as possible and did nothing to institute changes. This could start with three steps.

a.) Fire a few select refs
Some of these guys are either too old or too stubborn to ever change their ways and pick up on the new concepts of the game and the abilities of the players. Refs who have a track record of pitiful performances, such as Dick Bavetta, Bennett Salvatore, and Tom Washington, should be kicked to the curb immediately.

b.) Change the Evaluation Process
A part of me thinks the NBA should purge itself of about half (or more) of the refs in the league and try to replace them with D League and college refs. While I think there are a few who need to be let go immediately, as stated above, bringing in a fresh class of officials will not be effective if the way the officials are evaluated isn’t changed. The NFL is the model organization in terms of evaluation. If a game is played on Sunday, each official will have a DVD of the game in their mailbox on Monday, highlighting every single call the given official made (and missed) during the game. Their performance is examined inside and out and if there are more than a few screw ups, the official is subject to being fired.

The NBA has refused to institute new policies that would allow for better and more extensive evaluation of their refs. Any advances that have been offered up (several by Mark Cuban) have been met with significant resistance. The officials need to be held accountable for their calls just like players are held accountable for their actions.

c.) Fire Ronnie Nunn
Ronnie Nunn was one of the more respected referees in NBA history before taking a position as the head of the officials. Since he took over, there have been multiple complaints from the refs he controls concerning the methods and positioning on the court that he insists on. The last issue in particular has been a major problem with the refs and I tend to agree. Positioning the baseline ref to the far side of the action may keep him out of harm’s way but it does not allow for proper vision of the area directly in front of and under the basket, the most action packed part of the floor. If the refs really feel Nunn is an issue, he should be fire immediately, effectively taking away the crutch the refs tend to use in response to their pathetic performances.

2. Change the Rules of the D League
I think the D League is one of the better ideas Stern has instituted over the past 10 years. The D League is much more visible than any of the other minor league organizations of the past and it does give players a legitimate shot at being noticed and getting contracts in the NBA. The only thing I would change would be to allow any players a team has in the D League to not count against the 15 man roster. Meaning, a given team could send two players to play in the D League and still have 15 men at their disposal. This would both allow the team to develop their players while staying at full strength and give 30 more players a job each year.

3. Add a Third Round to the Draft
This is probably the least significant of my moves but still worth doing. With more and more foreign players being taken in the draft, there are a lot of excellent American players going undrafted each year. A third round, combined with the roster change above, would increase the chances of some of our players being drafted and being given a legitimate shot to make a roster. The third round could be used more for project European players, allowing teams to take more college players in the second round. In addition, a third round would give teams a few more trade chips.

4. Restructure the Playoff System
The too 16 teams in the league should be playing for the title. Period. In the past decade the separation between the West and East, from top to bottom, has been well documented. This season has done even more to further that rift. As I write, there are currently 4 teams in the East with sub-.500 records that would be in the playoffs if they started today. That includes Philadelphia, a team that is 9 games under .500. Conversely, should the playoffs start today, three Western Conference teams with winning records would be out. There is just too big of a difference between the conferences and the situation needs to be rectified.

I would do this by throwing all 30 teams together and breaking them up into 6 divisions. The conferences could still stay intact for All Star game purposes but they would no longer be necessary for the playoffs. Each team would play the teams within their division four times, the teams in four of the other divisions three times, and the teams in the final conference two times. The division played only twice would rotate each year. In the end the best 16 teams would advance to the playoffs, with the team with the best record would play the team with the 16th best record, etc. This could be set up similar to the way the NCAA does their annual tournament.

5. Make Some Changes to the Salary Cap Rules
There are a lot of people who do not fully grasp the genius of the NBA’s salary cap. I can understand that because there are so many intricacies and complexities to it that are hard to comprehend. Let me just say that the salary cap is David Stern’s greatest contribution to NBA. It takes some serious time and effort to break it down and understand it but it is by far the most well put together cap in any of the sports. That said, I believe there are two small changes that could be made.

a.) Allow for the Restructuring of Contracts
The NFL allows players to restructure their contracts to allow the team to stay under the salary cap. This isn’t an issue in the NBA because the league has a “soft” cap. However, the reconstructing of contracts would serve other purposes in the NBA. Namely, when a player asks for/demands a trade, the team could make it happen with more ease if the player would take less money. NBA trading policies require teams to match outgoing salary for incoming salary within a certain percentage. Meaning, if a given team trades a player making 10 million dollars a year, they have to bring in another player or group of players that make(s) close to 10 million dollars. This becomes an issue when superstars (or players paid like superstars) ask to be traded from bad teams. Because they make so much, it is often very difficult for the team to find similar incoming value for the player asking to be traded. The results are usually bad for everyone involved. Either the team trades the player for 50 cents on the dollar or they cannot find a trade partner and the player is stuck.

This could be changed by giving players the option of restructuring their contracts and lowering their price tag. If a given player making 14 million dollars a year asks for a trade, the team could try to find an acceptable trade, then come back to the player and ask him to take a pay cut in order to facilitate the trade to a better team. A percentage limit of, say, 25% of their contract could be given up in exchange for a ticket out of town into a better situation. This would put the onus on the player who has demanded a trade and also would probably help some teams take back more in trade.

b.) Add a Salary Cap Exception
Currently, the NBA offers teams three exceptions with which to sign free agents, regardless of their salary cap space.
1. The minimum contract – a team that is over the salary cap can sign as many players as they can take onto the roster to minimum contracts, which is the lowest amount of money a player can sign for based on their years of experience.
2. The “Bi Annual Exception” – this gives each team the opportunity to sign one free agent to a contract that is slightly above the league minimum once every other year.
3. The “Mid Level Exception” – this is the most valuable exception. Its value changes each year and is based on the average salary of every player in the league. This exception can be given out each year either altogether for one player or broken up for multiple players, and can also be given as a multi year contract.

What these exceptions do is allow good teams who are over the salary cap to sign players each year, thereby keeping them in contention and bringing in fresh blood. I believe this could be taken one step further.

A fourth exception could be added that would, in my opinion, would give good teams another chance to stay in contention. Once every five seasons, which is the maximum number of years a contract can be extended, each team would be allowed to sign any one player to a deal up to and including the league maximum. This exception would give good, contending teams that want to spend the money an opportunity to put themselves over the top. For example, last off season the Mavericks badly needed a point guard to lead them. Chauncey Billups was a free agent and would have been a perfect fit for the Mavs. However, because they were over the cap, the most the team could offer was the Mid Level Exception which wasn’t nearly enough to bring Billups in. If this exception was available, the Mavs could have potentially added a player they badly needed, had they been willing to pay a great deal of money to do so. This exception would also separate the great owners from the cheap ones, something I am always in favor of.