[Grantland]Sports Guy Q&A (Melo and D12)
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 1:00 am
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/nba-b ... 014-draft/
Q: What would you peg Carmelo’s 2014-15 team odds at? I have Knicks 1/1, Bulls 3/1, Charlotte 7/1, Lakers 10/1, Suns 12/1, Heat 15/1, Field 20/1.
—Andrew, New York
SG: I’d go Knicks 1/2, Rockets 2/1 (Dwight 2.0), Bulls 2/1 (the smartest option), Charlotte 10/1 (Jordan Brand ties), Heat 12/1 (The Decision 2.0), Suns 25/1 (cap space!), Lakers 60/1 (Hollywood!). Jalen Rose has a funny take on this — by using Phil Jackson as a smoke screen, Carmelo can grab that extra $30 million guaranteed without anyone ripping him for caring more about money than winning.
Phil Jackson is a winner — we’ve had some great talks lately. I love everything he’s saying. I think we can win a title together.
Translation: I WANT THE EXTRA $30 MILLION! Meanwhile, as we’ve been discussing on the B.S. Report for six weeks, the Rockets could easily clear Carmelo cap space by trading Omer Asik’s deal (easy) and Jeremy Lin’s deal (they’d have to use a first-round pick and/or Terrence Jones to dump it). You know why you can’t rule out Houston? Because we’ve heard the he-won’t-go-there logic before with them. I don’t care how big of a mess it is, he’s not walking away from that fifth year and that extra money … He wants to stay in a big market … The Texas state tax thing isn’t that big of a deal … I mean, didn’t we watch this movie last summer with Dwight? Along with Chicago, those are the two title-ready destinations for him. And they’re both in play. The Zen Master has some work to do.
Q: So I’m sitting on my couch on Sunday watching Houston/Miami thinking, ‘this is a Finals preview.’ I fall asleep, wake up with six minutes to go in the 4th quarter and panic briefly because I don’t want to see the Heat drop another game. Then I remember: This is Dwight Howard’s team. They have no heart. All Miami has to do is get one marginal call/hurt Dwight feelings/make a sort of run and they’ll pull this out. Tell me I’m wrong Simmons. Tell me Dwight has some heart. I dare you.
—Patrick Olp, Billings
SG: We’ve only really seen it one time — in the ’09 playoffs, when Dwight knocked Cleveland out with a monster Game 6 (and played well in the Finals, too). I said this on TV on Sunday and I’m saying it again now: Dwight’s last week of basketball was pretty telling. The Rockets had just come off three “WE ARE TITLE CONTENDERS!!!!” victories over Miami, Indiana and Portland. They head to OKC for a message game, to play a team with only Steven Adams and Nick Collison to handle Dwight. He should foul both of those guys out in 20 minutes, right?
So what happens? Dwight no-shows. Nine points, 10 rebounds, 25 “Does Dwight know this game is being televised?” moments. Meanwhile, Durant knows no Rocket can guard him — he eviscerates them for 42. That’s the difference between Dwight and Durant: One guy goes into that game thinking, This is a huge game, we gotta send a message, they don’t have anyone who can guard me. The other guy just goes into the game.
Two days later, Houston played in Chicago against Joakim Noah, Dwight’s chief rival for the first-team All-NBA spot. At shootaround that day, Kevin McHale says of Noah, “He should be Defensive Player of the Year. He’s done a great job with these guys. They’ve been winning a lot just on his energy and effort, his kind of determination and toughness. Those are all qualities everybody appreciates.” You know why that was interesting? Um … KEVIN MCHALE COACHES DWIGHT HOWARD! AND THEY WERE PLAYING CHICAGO THAT NIGHT!!!!!! McHale did everything but light a big fire log and try to ram it up Dwight’s ass.
How did Dwight respond? The Rockets lost by 24. Dwight put up 12 and 10 with seven turnovers. Noah tossed up 13 and 10 with nine assists. Please, please, please, remember this game as you’re filling out your All-NBA ballots. By the way, it’s Year 10 for Dwight Howard — as I covered in last spring’s column about him, he is who he is at this point. Can you win the title if he’s your SECOND-best player? Absolutely. Houston’s only chance to seriously contend is if everyone agrees, “This is James Harden’s team.” And they aren’t quite there yet.
Q: What would you peg Carmelo’s 2014-15 team odds at? I have Knicks 1/1, Bulls 3/1, Charlotte 7/1, Lakers 10/1, Suns 12/1, Heat 15/1, Field 20/1.
—Andrew, New York
SG: I’d go Knicks 1/2, Rockets 2/1 (Dwight 2.0), Bulls 2/1 (the smartest option), Charlotte 10/1 (Jordan Brand ties), Heat 12/1 (The Decision 2.0), Suns 25/1 (cap space!), Lakers 60/1 (Hollywood!). Jalen Rose has a funny take on this — by using Phil Jackson as a smoke screen, Carmelo can grab that extra $30 million guaranteed without anyone ripping him for caring more about money than winning.
Phil Jackson is a winner — we’ve had some great talks lately. I love everything he’s saying. I think we can win a title together.
Translation: I WANT THE EXTRA $30 MILLION! Meanwhile, as we’ve been discussing on the B.S. Report for six weeks, the Rockets could easily clear Carmelo cap space by trading Omer Asik’s deal (easy) and Jeremy Lin’s deal (they’d have to use a first-round pick and/or Terrence Jones to dump it). You know why you can’t rule out Houston? Because we’ve heard the he-won’t-go-there logic before with them. I don’t care how big of a mess it is, he’s not walking away from that fifth year and that extra money … He wants to stay in a big market … The Texas state tax thing isn’t that big of a deal … I mean, didn’t we watch this movie last summer with Dwight? Along with Chicago, those are the two title-ready destinations for him. And they’re both in play. The Zen Master has some work to do.
Q: So I’m sitting on my couch on Sunday watching Houston/Miami thinking, ‘this is a Finals preview.’ I fall asleep, wake up with six minutes to go in the 4th quarter and panic briefly because I don’t want to see the Heat drop another game. Then I remember: This is Dwight Howard’s team. They have no heart. All Miami has to do is get one marginal call/hurt Dwight feelings/make a sort of run and they’ll pull this out. Tell me I’m wrong Simmons. Tell me Dwight has some heart. I dare you.
—Patrick Olp, Billings
SG: We’ve only really seen it one time — in the ’09 playoffs, when Dwight knocked Cleveland out with a monster Game 6 (and played well in the Finals, too). I said this on TV on Sunday and I’m saying it again now: Dwight’s last week of basketball was pretty telling. The Rockets had just come off three “WE ARE TITLE CONTENDERS!!!!” victories over Miami, Indiana and Portland. They head to OKC for a message game, to play a team with only Steven Adams and Nick Collison to handle Dwight. He should foul both of those guys out in 20 minutes, right?
So what happens? Dwight no-shows. Nine points, 10 rebounds, 25 “Does Dwight know this game is being televised?” moments. Meanwhile, Durant knows no Rocket can guard him — he eviscerates them for 42. That’s the difference between Dwight and Durant: One guy goes into that game thinking, This is a huge game, we gotta send a message, they don’t have anyone who can guard me. The other guy just goes into the game.
Two days later, Houston played in Chicago against Joakim Noah, Dwight’s chief rival for the first-team All-NBA spot. At shootaround that day, Kevin McHale says of Noah, “He should be Defensive Player of the Year. He’s done a great job with these guys. They’ve been winning a lot just on his energy and effort, his kind of determination and toughness. Those are all qualities everybody appreciates.” You know why that was interesting? Um … KEVIN MCHALE COACHES DWIGHT HOWARD! AND THEY WERE PLAYING CHICAGO THAT NIGHT!!!!!! McHale did everything but light a big fire log and try to ram it up Dwight’s ass.
How did Dwight respond? The Rockets lost by 24. Dwight put up 12 and 10 with seven turnovers. Noah tossed up 13 and 10 with nine assists. Please, please, please, remember this game as you’re filling out your All-NBA ballots. By the way, it’s Year 10 for Dwight Howard — as I covered in last spring’s column about him, he is who he is at this point. Can you win the title if he’s your SECOND-best player? Absolutely. Houston’s only chance to seriously contend is if everyone agrees, “This is James Harden’s team.” And they aren’t quite there yet.