Erick Blasco

The Spurs will be lucky to go six games against the Lakers and Dallas has always been a tough matchup, but the Spurs aren't bad matchups against anyone else. Their struggles against Utah this season all came early. They have history on their side and can easily win a grind-it-out series vs. the the Jazz. Denver loses focus too easily (as they're doing right now without Karl) and is ripe for an upset against a disciplined defense. Those are each potential first round matchups. The other lower-seeded teams also have holes that could be exploited (Oklahoma City's youth and lack of execution, Portland being completely perimeter oriented, Phoenix being Phoenix) should San Antonio meet them further on down the road. It's not out of the real of possibility that the Spurs can make it to a Western Conference Finals. Remember, Ginobili hasn't played this well in two years and he's the Straw that stirs the Spurs drink. Miami, Charlotte, and Milwaukee will all be obnoxious to face, but Boston should persevere simply because they have more talent than each of those teams, especially with home court. But they don't look like they have a prayer against Orlando, or Cleveland, and they've struggled against Atlanta too. Thanks for the read!

Throughout the middle portions of the decade, the San Antonio Spurs were a powerhouse, capturing three titles during the middle of the 2000’s to add to the one they captured in 1999. And it’s hard to forget the Boston Celtics’ championship captured the season before last. But as the Lakers, Cavs, and Magic have ascended to the NBA’s forefront, Boston and San Antonio have played like eidolons of their former selves—phantoms of those past championship teams that lack the talent to ultimately wear this season’s championship crown. San Antonio’s 96-73 victory over Boston was filled with petrified performances by some of the most dominant players of the 2000’s. Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Rasheed Wallace, Ray Allen, Antonio McDyess, and Michael Finley all played like shells of themselves Sunday night, the main reason why few expect either team to come close to the NBA Finals this season. However, one player was able to reach back into time and recapture the magic. And it’s precisely Manu Ginobili’s rediscovered ability to electrify on a consistent basis as to why the Spurs are as much a threat as anyone to reach the Conference Finals, while the Celtics look like second round fodder for the Cavs, Magic, or Hawks. What The Spurs Did Right Manu Ginobili was spectacular. Richard Jefferson had taken a seat on the bench after two fouls in 32 seconds. Tim Duncan’s ventures into the low post were fruitless against Rasheed Wallace (starting for an injured Kendrick Perkins). However, Ginobili turned in a vintage performance that allowed the Spurs to hang tough for a half before running away in the third quarter. The Spurs loved to give Ginobili brush screens in early offense and let him go to work, where he was much too quick for Boston’s sluggish rotations. Wallace and Garnett actually did a halfway decent job of walling off Ginobili’s penetration attempts, but Ginobili carved up Boston’s second unit early in the second quarter, particularly Sheldon Williams who isn’t fluid enough to wall off quick penetrations. If Ginobili’s speed was always on display against Allen’s fleeting attempts to stay in front of him, Ginobili flashed his strength by finishing through Wallace for a plus-one layup; his creativity with a number of no-look assists and near-assists; his smarts by executing two classic screen/rolls with Tim Duncan, one going each way, and his creativity by hitting a running three to beat the third quarter buzzer. His defense was just as explosive as his defense. The Spurs assigned Ginobili to Rajon Rondo and used Manu as their primary helper. As such, Manu was free to flash into driving lanes and prevent quick penetrations, dug in on screens to prevent curls, and recorded innumerable deflections based on his quick hands. Ginobili’s two best defensive plays were a pair of immaculate baseline rotations, the first when he met Garnett before the rim, skied, and swatted the ball from KG’s hands—knocking the Ticket Stub to the ground in the process—without making any body contact. The second came when Ginobili anticipated a pass into the strong side post, rotated, and intercepted the pass. If Ginobili’s three-point shooting was a little off—2-8 3FG, he’s proven to be one of the game’s fearless big moment shooters. His other numbers were pristine—9-19 FG, 8-8 FT, 3 REB, 7 AST, 0 TO, 1 STL, 28 PTS. He’d have a block, but for some reason, the scorekeeper doesn’t recognize Garnett having the ball stuffed out of his hands on the dunk attempt as a shot. Regardless, Ginobili gives the Spurs the prime time inside-outside playmaker that all the great West teams have, from Kobe Bryant, to Caron Butler, to Kevin Durant, to Brandon Roy, to Carmelo Anthony. And it’s only Ginobili—not Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, or Richard Jefferson—as the reason why the Spurs are as safe a bet as any to reach the Conference Finals. San Antonio’s defensive gameplan was flawless. Aside from Ginobili being a pest as a helper without being burned—Rondo shot 2-4 on jumpers, 1-3 before fourth quarter garbage time—San Antonio was exceptional in other areas. George Hill stayed attached to Ray Allen’s hips, preventing him from freeing up for curls around down screens. Under distress when shooting, or asked to create off the bounce, Allen was neutralized—2-9 FG, 7 PTS. The Spurs are known for never crashing the offensive boards and always protecting their transition defense first. Against the Celtics, the Spurs were always waiting for Pierce and Allen at the wing above the three point line, preventing the bevy of transition threes the Celtics feast on. The tactic of always protecting the basket first worked wonders in the fourth quarter when individual rebounders—Dejuan Blair, Matt Bonner, Ginobili—were able to grab offensive boards while the rest of the Spurs scurried back. In the second half, San Antonio converged hard on Boston in the paint, forcing them to finish through heavy traffic. San Antonio’s perimeter defense and closeouts were textbook throughout. While Paul Pierce tortured Keith Bogans, he found the going much tougher against Richard Jefferson’s size and length. Duncan, Bonner, and McDyess did credible jobs on Garnett, while San Antonio’s transition defense prevented Rajon Rondo from probing and finding points in early offense. Frustrated, Rondo played sloppy and careless as a result. Jefferson, Duncan, and Blair owned the glass. McDyess—3-8 FG—and Bonner—2-5FG—made enough of their jumpers to be threats. Bonner was even able to have success taking Garnett off the dribble. When the Celtics overplayed San Antonio’s baseline and backdoor cutting action, Hill was open in the corners—2-4 3FG. If Duncan isn’t as effective as he once was at creating his own shot, he’s still a tremendous passer and help defender. Still, the Spurs showed several serious holes. Duncan isn’t the dominant post presence he used to be, and was swallowed up by Garnett and Wallace. Jefferson was opportunistic for his 16 points, but isn’t as consistent a threat as he’s asked to be. Hill struggled against Rondo’s Gumby-like defense—5-15 FG, 3 AST, 3 TO, 15 PTS. McDyess and Bonner need to make at least 50% of their jump shots for the Spurs to function harmoniously on offense. Roger Mason has been a season-long dud. Blair’s defense isn’t up to snuff. Tony Parker needs to be healthy to provide more firepower to an often stagnant offense. San Antonio has almost no length or shot blocking up front. Still, with Ginobili playing the way he’s been playing, the phrase, “Will go as far as he takes them” looks to be pretty far. What The Celtics Did Wrong Finish. The Celtics missed 16 layups that doomed them against San Antonio. Kevin Garnett was the main culprit with five, while Davis (3), Tony Allen (2), Ray Allen (2), and Marquise Daniels (2) all missed multiple layups. Garnett’s inability to finish through contact has always been a detraction against him. With his knees shot, he can’t explode and beat contact like he used to. He also doesn’t elevate well, and was late on numerous interior rotations. Indeed, Garnett has gone from The Big Ticket to The Used Ticket Stub. Wallace’s defense ranges from average to slightly above average, but he gives Boston nothing in the post, and even less from the outside—1-4 3FG. It was assumed by me and others that Boston’s fiery personalities would convince Wallace to bumping and battling more around the basket. My mistake for ignoring the historical tendencies of a loser of a player. Ray Allen looked old and slow, while Rondo played with no focus or vigor. Boston got nothing out of its bench. Sheldon Williams made himself a nice target under the basket, but his inept defense gave back everything his offense took. Nate Robinson missed two threes, one of them a force job, and is clueless as to what to do in any kind of structured offense. In other words, he’s providing a similar lack of production to last year’s hopeful mid-season Knick acquisition Nate Robinson. Finley showed the Spurs they’re missing nothing without him, while Tony Allen and Marquise Daniels couldn’t finish at the rim. Once San Antonio jumped out to a big lead, Boston quit in the fourth, and wound up with only 30 points in the second half. Only Pierce played with any kind of enthusiasm and forcefulness, but even that waned after the opening minutes of the game. It’s clear that Boston isn’t as good as its previous versions, and there’s a strong hint that Boston assumes they can quit on tough games in the regular season because it can flip the switch when it needs to in the playoffs. Neither bodes well for Boston with a possible date with the surging Milwaukee Bucks on the horizon. Unless Allen and KG find what Juan Ponce de Leon couldn‘t, and unless Boston starts to get meaningful minutes from its bench, its chances of winning a title will be ancient history.

I think Kobe's numbers over the last minute of a game would be really high. It's funny too. Kobe's generally had poor numbers over the last 30 seconds of games until this season, but he's always had good "clutch stats" defined as within 5 points and under 5 minutes. This season looks to be the opposite.

He's athletic, he can shoot a little bit, and he's a playmaker. I don't see him running an offense though. He looks like an energetic sixth man type, at least right now. I didn't pay too much attention to him though.

1) Monta Ellis or Steph Curry? 2) What do you want on your tombstone? 3) Don Nelson or Isaiah Thomas 4) What's your opinion on defense? 5) Name a player who cuts harder to the rim off the ball than Corey Maggette 6) Do you watch D-League games to scout future Warriors players (has EVERYONE on that team come from the D-League) 7) Would you watch a movie about Jurrasic Park in Space! 8) Least favorite song that starts with the letter A. 9) Two least favorite school subjects 10) Rank these TV shows: NCCI, Lost, Dancing With the Stars, The Big Bang Theory, Cops, House

One thing I have seen about the Sixers though, I now understand that Jordan's rotations are done completely at a whim, his offense is generic (though with better shooters could work), and he doesn't pay enough attention on the defensive end. Philly needs a can't-miss player in the draft though. Their contracts are too messy for them to be players in trades or free agency, and they need a star. Brand may be able to work, but he'll need more dynamic shooters than Iggy and Willie Green/Rodney Carney. Even Kapono isn't a factor since he can only shoot.

Even though he's retired, my choice is the Kobe stopper---Ruben Patterson.

?!?!?!!?!?!?!?

List looks solid to me. You can throw Delonte West in there over Jackson.

lol. Should I take the bait and say Ruben Patterson?

LeBron. Maybe Mbah A Moute. Artest is still solid when he isn't being run through mazes of screens.

In his heyday, Elton Brand was a dominant scorer from the high and low post, a voracious rebounder, and as his career progressed, a solid defender both on the ball and from the weakside. However, injuries and age have left Brand a shell of his former self, leaving the Philadelphia 76ers on the hook for Brand's gargantuan contract he signed during the 2008 offseason. Let’s use Philadelphia’s latest game against the Knicks, a 92-88 loss, to see if Elton is still the right brand, or if the Sixers will need to go with another product at power forward. Offense Elton’s main task was to set up at either high post—usually the left—and set high screens for Philadelphia’s high screen/rolls or Princeton action before making a target of himself at the elbow. At times, if the resulting action led to Brand’s side of the court clearing out, he’d drop into the mid-post and post up, and he usually fanned to the baseline on wing screens. Surprisingly, Brand’s screens were rather flimsy, even against the pint-sized Knicks, but he’s being paid to do more than just set screens. From the elbow, Brand was lethal against the smaller Knicks defending him, usually Al Harrington or Bill Walker. Brand had no troubles either shooting over the Knicks on high post jumpers—4-7 FG—but he was always able to back his defender down, take his right hand into the middle of the paint, and hit short jumpers to his heart’s content. Brand even displayed his veteran’s guile when, after lazily dribbling right to left across the free throw line and lulling Harrington to street, he pivoted, and sprinted as hard as he could to the bucket for a layup and foul with Harrington caught completely by surprise. Indeed, Brand always went to his right hand from the high post, and was never overplayed to his left. Not surprisingly then with him being featured in Philadelphia’s offense, he scored a cool 17 points in the first half. However, when Brand worked in the low post, his habit of unilaterally going to his right hand resulted in a travel and a badly missed layup with the Knicks overplaying that side. Brand grabbed an offensive rebound but had no lift on his putback follow, finding his shot blocked below the rim. He also displayed no agility whatsoever, often lumbering his way down the court well after his other four teammates had taken their spots in Philly’s offense. Even his aforementioned drive and layup was more a matter of the Knicks being completely astonished than of Brand making an elite basketball move. Still, Brand drew double teams in the high post, and made appropriate out passes to shooters who rarely knocked down their shots—2 AST. For some reason, Eddie Jordan only played Brand roughly 12 minutes in the second half and Brand was hardly involved despite a stellar first half. Instead, underwhelming youngster Jason Smith picked up 12 minutes of mostly ineffective playing time. Defense Brand labored enough on the defensive end to at least be adequate but he doesn’t move well enough to be an impact defensive player. Mostly matched up against Harrington, Brand maintained enough distance to New York’s shooters to not get burned from deep, though he did give too much room to Bill Walker, allowing a first half corner three. Brand lurched his body enough to not let Harrington get more than a half step past him, and used his long arms to contest his shots, even blocking one first-half drive. Brand was also much to long, strong, and wide to allow Harrington any damage from the post. In this regard, Brand can still hold his own as a straight up defender. Brand tried to show on high screens with some success, and was able to get back to his assigned man in time to prevent radical defensive rotations. His help defense was smart. He closed out hard on Walker outside the three-point line with the shot clock running down, forcing Walker to take an extra dribble before failing to beat the clock, and was almost always in the right place at the right time. Also, Brand finished off playing defense by ALWAYS boxing out when a shot went up in the air. However, if Brand were defending the perimeter, he’d make little effort to chase down a rebound from the outside. This led to a number of Knicks offensive rebounds. Brand was also slow to react in transition, and dragged himself getting up and down the court. On numerous Knicks attacks on the basket, Brand wasn’t around to provide weak side help. Indeed, Brand has gone from being one of the most explosive frontcourt players in basketball to dragging himself like a paperweight. His strength, guile, and soft touch still allow him to produce, but he’ll never come close to putting up the production to justify his contract. At first glance, the Sixers have what they need to mitigate Brand’s weaknesses. They have an athletic frontline to challenge attacks on the rim, and an abundance of team speed. However, the Sixers don’t have the shooters to compliment Brand’s ability to draw doubles, and don’t have coordinated halfcourt offensive players. Philadelphia’s best bet is to run opponents out in transition, yet having Brand on the court just mucks the Sixers up. There’s no easy solution to what to do with Brand, but as long as he, Samuel Dalembert, and Andre Iguodala are making the most money on the team, the Sixers will never have enough firepower to be relevant at the end of seasons.

It's a brutal end. @ Cleveland and Charlotte, two with the Suns, two with the Celtics, and a game with Atlanta---that's rough. If they do catch Boston, they'd have earned it, that's for sure.

Graduate School and work suck up most of my free time.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/bucks-finally-have-a-bright-future

James has almost identical foul metrics and block percentages as Luol Deng. Are the refs "protecting" Luol Deng too?

http://basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=988

I'm a big fan of how Milwaukee plays and gets the most out of itself. One concern though, they haven't really beaten anybody of note on their winning streak, aside from the stuck-in-the-mud Celtics. They face Utah tonight. Win that game and it will justify their win streak as a product of really good basketball. One interesting note, Milwaukee's been considered the fourth most fundamental team in the NBA according to a junk stat by Basketballprospectus. http://basketballpro...p?articleid=987

While Tracy McGrady carries around a prime-time name, and glimpses of a prime-time game, there’s no doubting the fact that New York’s acquisition of McGrady was strictly for salary cap purposes. Still, after nearly a season and a half on the pine, there’s the question of what McGrady can bring to the table, both this year with the Knicks, but more importantly, next year with his future employer. Plus, should McGrady be able to demonstrate a full return to his pre-microfracture form, the Knicks will have the first crack and negotiating to potentially resign McGrady this offseason. Let’s use McGrady’s performance against the Wizards to see exactly where McGrady is right now. Tracy McGrady: 25 Min, 8-17 FG, 0-1 3FG, 7-9 FT, 3 REB, 3 AST, 0 TO, 0 STL, 1 BLK, 23 PTS. Offense McGrady generally operated with high screen/rolls or on wing isolations. These comprised 12 of his total shot attempts. An iso drive along the right baseline earned him a layup plus a free throw. McGrady had to contort his body to protect himself in the air. Some tougher players don’t alter their body position and force defenders to adjust to them. Still, McGrady completed the three-point play and should be lauded for it.A forced pull up 18-footer was missed and was a bad shot.McGrady was offered a screen, used a crossover away from the screen to gain seperation, but had a 10-foot floater swatted away by Javale McGee. A more forceful player would’ve taken the ball all the way to the rim, while the old T-Mac would’ve elevated over McGee.A screen/roll led to a switch, some shimmies and shakes at the top of the key, a calmly-sunk 18 foot jumper.A forced drive to his left against two defenders led to a missed layup.Along the left baseline, McGrady pumped, drew Al Thornton up in the air, then jumped into Thornton to earn a trip to the line. McGrady made both free throws.Another McGrady pump drew Thornton into the air. This time, T-Mac made his jumper before getting fouled and completed a three point play. McGrady still has a convincing ball fake and the wisdom to school young, impatient defenders.A third force job was an elbow jumper that was swatted back by Thornton. Aside from the poor shot selection, the play is indicative of McGrady’s lack of lift.An iso and quick burst to his left allowed McGrady to hit a tricky lefty layup.McGrady again iso’d on the left side, got fouled on a drive, and hit one of two free throws.A lefty drive resulted in a botched layup.T-Mac ended his shooting with a step-back jumper that he failed to elevate. 13 Points on 12 possessions for the two most conventional ways for a player to create for himself is right around the league average. McGrady also went 1-3 in the post. He dominated Quinton Ross in the left box for a powerful left hook, then ushered two fadeaways from the right box that missed badly (one resulted in an airball). McGrady has the strength to be effective, but he too often settles for fallaway jumpers, a marker of his timidity near the basket. Give him two points on three post possessions, a losing number. With two transition opportunities, McGrady was able to attack the Wizards on a two-on-two leading to a floater plus, foul and made free throw on the first attempt, while drawing another foul and hitting one of two free throws on his second attempt. Five points on two transition opportunities is effective. Twice McGrady was involved in two catch-and-shoot situations, once calmly sinking a 20-footer, and another time forcing a contested three which rimmed out—two points on two possessions. McGrady also alertly cut without the ball early in the third quarter into a backdoor cut and layup, showing off his understanding of how to move without the ball into scoring opportunities—two points, one possession. McGrady was credited with three assists but only one of these assists is legitimate—a hustle offensive rebound and quick lob to Wilson Chandler for a layup. McGrady’s other two assists came on a routine inbounds pass to David Lee where Lee made an uncontested 18-footer after McGee tried to cheat a screen, and a screen/roll pass to Danilo Gallinari where Gallinari had time to pause, take one dribble to his left and pull up for a jumper, before the official score keeper liberally doled an assist to McGrady. Not that McGrady didn’t make good passes. Several slick passes led to blown layups or missed jumpers. Overall, McGrady displayed a decent first step and straight-line speed, with the mitigating factor that Washington’s late defensive rotations make any offensive player appear to be faster. McGrady is still timid near the basket against big men, as evidenced by the multiple missed layups, the post fadeaways, and the aversion to contact. McGrady still has a convincing ball fake and good shot mechanics. McGrady doesn’t nearly have the lift as he once did, a product of age, microfracture surgery, numerous lower body injuries, and fatigue. McGrady still knows how to move into scoring opportunities, but he’s much more comfortable catching the ball at the top, pausing a beat—one Mississippi, two Mississippi—then having surveyed the defense, making a move. This inevitably gives defenses time to hone in on McGrady’s potential scoring and passing options. McGrady still will force multiple drives and jumpers over the course of a game. McGrady is still a talented and willing passer. All this adds up to a player who can still be a valuable scorer and creator but can’t be a team’s primary or even secondary scoring option. Defense All told, McGrady’s 23 points and two legit assists—I’ll cede the inbounds to Lee—led directly to 27 Knicks points. On defense though, McGrady was responsible for allowing, by my unofficial estimates, 22 Wizards points. McGrady was repeatedly posted for profit by Al Thornton. If Thornton wasn’t plowing his way to the basket, he was making kick-out passes after double teams leading to made three pointers. McGrady also jogged in transition defense, was blown up on a rebound by Thornton, made zero effort to close out on a Thornton three (only sagging back and pointing at Thornton as he swished a three), turned his head on a McGee backdoor cut, and suffered the ignominy of having Ross beat him off the dribble for a layup. In other words, par for the course for T-Mac. On closeouts and rotations, McGrady executed three good ones, and four bad ones, not a good number, but not an awful one. In other words, McGrady isn’t the worst on ball defender, but he can be outmuscled, and is prone to bouts of laziness, both harbingers of losing basketball, even if he does have a relatively high basketball IQ. It should be noted that McGrady sat the final 19 minutes of a down-to-the-wire overtime affair. This is the smart thing to do. Because McGrady hasn’t played more than eight minute cameos in roughly 12 months, there’s no way he’s in game shape to be strong at ends of games. Indeed, his only endgame minutes for the Knicks have been inbound situations to take advantage of his deft passing. Also, as the prospects of a Knicks playoff berth are slim-to-none, McGrady’s job in New York is to sell tickets and to showcase himself to his 2010-2011 team. The Knicks will have the first option to negotiate with McGrady and its in their best interest to have McGrady healthy for next season in the case they resign him. Having McGrady injure himself while he gets into game shape does nothing for the Knicks’ long term plans. As for MCGrady himself, his label as a franchise-carrier is definitely over (and he was never worthy of the tag to begin with). He’s not tough enough or a good enough defender to be a team’s primary, or secondary scoring option, but he still brings a lot to the table. His ability to shoot and see the court would make him a better fit, for example, than Vince Carter in Orlando, where McGrady would still be potent as a scorer around high screens, but his superior passing would open up Rashard Lewis and Orlando’s other host of three-point shooters. In a way, T-Mac would be a version of Hedo Turkoglu, his lazy defense would be compensated—to a degree—by Dwight Howard, and his basketball IQ would improve the lot of his teammates. Most teams, however, would pass on McGrady’s inconsistent energy levels, brittleness on and off the court, and need to take precious time before making accurate decisions—unless he were in some diminished role, such as coming off the bench as a sixth man where he’d be a boon to any title-caliber team. But all that is in the future. This season, McGrady should only be known for the financial flexibility generated by his salary coming off New York’s books this summer. Until the end of the season, there is no T-MAC. Only T-CAP.

I think it's cause she doesn't announce games. She just makes a fool of herself on NBA TV and on TNT sideline reports.

No, you're making sense. At this time and age, no commercial will outright call one particular group inferior though. It kills advertising, and there are enough minority groups that will backlash against anything that's even remotely overt racism. But subtlety is a much more effective way to promote meaning because it flies by undetected unless you're trained to look for it, or notice something peculiar. If the codes of stereotyping change, then the stereotypes themselves will change, for example the early 20th century associations of blacks with monkeys, which were accepted by the national consciousness. Nowadays, nobody will show that association in a film or show, and if they do, it would be either the absurdest of comedies, or would be immediately attacked by any group. If Nike keeps showing images from the video, and people keep accepting them, it will be absorbed by the national consciousness and won't change.

http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=948

You're focusing too much on things that aren't shown instead of what IS shown. There are no elves or Mrs. Claus shown. Nothing implies that there is a Mrs. Claus. The images shown are of Santa Claus without Ms. Claus. It's not the most important image used---there are time restraints in a 60 second commercial spot---but its a conscious effort by Nike to show Santa Claus without a Mrs. Claus. Whether you want to hear it or not, there are still cultural assumptions about blacks not being able to maintain healthy relationships. Nothing in the commercial combats that assumption, but it does reinforce it. The problem with Santa's portrayal isn't that he's "bling-bling." It's that he clearly has material wealth (the bling), but his house is a shanty. It reinforces the idea that blacks look for material possessions and external methods of indicating status at the expense of having a solid foundation. People don't question the commercial because in capitalist society, the dominant ideological structure promotes material wealth. It's been absorbed into our culture. If your mom was watching a Country Music special with a Cowboy Santa and there was a scene with Cowboy Santa in his cowboy boots in a house with cockroaches scurrying about, it would say something about the nature of country music culture. The fact that Santa is black in the commercial means nothing other than as a representation for other things in the commercial. He enjoys rap (with a simplistic mainstream beat), which ties him to a young, urban, mostly black demographic. It's the house scene that is the most damaging, selling the message that you too can become an icon with material wealth, self-promotion, base insults, and dumbed down modes of speech, as opposed to taking care of what's inside first (a home, an index of character). You have to come to the conclusion that Nike thinks that blacks will see the commercial and accept the signs, buying their products at the expense of building their character. And that is the only conclusion.

Matt Harpring is still in the league and nobody plays tougher than he does.

In one of the seasons bridging Stockton/Malone and Deron Williams, Andrei Kirilenko was injured. That year, Utah finished 26-56. You can't coach garbage to an NBA championship. It's a players-driven league. All you can do is get the most out of your players. Rivers maxxed out a stacked roster to a championship. He maxed out a ton of bad teams to playoff berths. Last season he maxed out a team with its arguably best player injured to taking the Eastern Conference champions to seven games in the second round. Find me any credible source ANYWHERE who considered Davis a good defender. The year he averaged 20 points, he shot 41% and had a true shooting% of under 50%. That's awful, plus his team went nowhere. Davis never played hard, was selfish, and can't even be called overrated because everyone actually knows that he's terrible. That's why good teams never take him on, or become worse with him. It's like blaming Eddie Jordan because Allen Iverson and Elton Brand are on the Sixers and they're struggling, without looking at the fact that Brand has been sapped by injuries, and Iverson has been sapped by age. Old Hall of Famers are old players. Michael Finley used to be a perennial All-Star. If Popovich can't win a title, will people look at Popovich and say, how could he not win with Michael Finley? Shawn Kemp was a mistake player his entire career who was done before he came to Orlando. Patrick Ewing was done before he came to Orlando. They were has beens. Stacked? Show me stacked. Here's T-MAC's healthy teammates. 00-01 Darrell Armstrong Mike Miller John Amaechi Pat Garrity Bo Outlaw Michael Doleac Monty Williams Troy Hudson Andrew Declercq Don Reid A solid spark-plug point guard who was always better as a backup, the streaky Miller, the ordinary Garrity, and some generic bangers, pick-and-pop players, and ball movers. 01-02 Armstrong Miller Hudson Garrity Horace Grant (who was ancient by that time) Williams Patrick Ewing (who was washed up) Reid Declercq Jud Bucheler (veteran roster filler) Where's the supporting cast? 02-03 Garrity Armstrong Miller Jacque Vaughn (a good defender who could never shoot) Shawn Kemp (who was washed up) Declercq Jeryl Sasser (who?) Gordan Giricek (an average shooter with limited athleticism and a ball sticker) Pat Burke (a terrible player) Drew Gooden (for a small portion of the season) Where's this great supporting cast? In 03-04, the Magic started off 1-10, Rivers was fired and that was that. You want to coach T-MAC and crap, be my guest. Name one player there that you trust in a playoff series. For all the criticism of T-MAC, most of it deserved, he didn't have too much offensive help in his career in Orlando. Doc has proven time and time again that his system (what actually matters as a coach) is a poor one. the one year he had a healthy, talented roster, he won a championship.