Some flash back previews and stories going into the 00-01 season
NY Times Alonzo MourningThe day felt strangely empty to the Miami Heat players, the game, in the end, a little more meaningless than a typical preseason game.
When the Heat went to work against the Nets tonight in Continental Arena, it was without their All-Star center, Alonzo Mourning.
He was back in Miami seeing doctors about his kidney ailment, which was discovered during a team physical a week ago, trying to determine whether he would need a kidney transplant, dialysis or other treatment. The Heat has released little information about his condition.
Mourning's absence tonight was a sobering reminder of vulnerability, even as the Nets celebrated their first preseason victory, 88-82. It came in the coaching debut of Byron Scott, a former Lakers player, who beat his onetime coach, Pat Riley, now coach of the Heat.
Both teams were missing marquee players -- the Nets were without forward Keith Van Horn (strained left knee) -- and players wearing new uniforms excelled instead.
Miami forward Brian Grant, a free-agent acquisition, had 29 points and 11 rebounds in 36 minutes.
The top overall draft pick, Kenyon Martin of the Nets, started at power forward, and after Grant blocked his first shot, he struggled early with three first-half fouls. But Martin surged in the end, getting all of his 11 points and his three rebounds in the second half, playing 24 minutes. Point guard Stephon Marbury led the Nets in scoring with 18 points, and Kendall Gill shot 7 of 10 for 14 points.
The training-camp hopeful Stephen Jackson made a strong bid to earn one of two available roster spots. Jackson, 22, who did not attend college but played in the Continental Basketball Association and Venezuela before joining the Nets, scored 12 first-half points and finished with 14. Miami center Todd Fuller, backing up Duane Causwell, who started for Mourning, had 12 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Without Mourning, it seemed as if the gaping hole in the middle of the paint extended to the hearts of the Heat coaches and players, who spoke before the game about being burdened by the uncertainty of Mourning's condition.
"That's the hard thing," the 7-foot Causwell said. "We don't know what we're getting ready for; we're getting ready for a whole year without Alonzo, or a whole preseason, or just a few games. It makes you reflect. There's more to this game. Hopefully, it's not serious."
Point guard Tim Hardaway said he would miss Mourning's on-court chatter for as long as he was out. But tonight he and his teammates were missing something more intangible than Mourning's points and blocks. "His being," Hardaway said softly.
On Tuesday, Mourning made a surprise visit to the Heat practice in Miami and infused the team with his signature cheeriness, refusing to take sympathy, instead riding an exercise bike, breaking a sweat as he did only 10 days ago with the United States Olympic team.
"Alonzo is the type of guy who does not try to show his weakness," Causwell said. "He was upbeat, but at the same time, you could tell it was really bothering him."
Riley did not want to elaborate on his ailing center, disturbed about the different reports speculating on his condition. "He wants to make a statement himself, and when he looks at the camera, that's when he will be sure," Riley said.
As for the impact of his absence, Riley was also guarded. "I'm not thinking about that," he said. "I'm trying to be optimistic just like Alonzo is. But he's more optimistic than all of us."
Miami's players were shocked by the suddenness of the news. "I was with him the whole Olympics, and I didn't even dream of this happening," Hardaway said.
The United States Olympic Committee conducts physicals for its athletes, but does not take blood tests. Mourning's blood was tested as part of the Heat's physical.
"I haven't thought about anything basketball wise," forward Dan Majerle said. "We're just more worried about Zo getting healthy. We don't know a lot about it. Once we get that settled and find out exactly what's going on, then we'll start thinking about the team."
USA TODAY LAKERSEL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Shaquille O'Neal's generosity is becoming as legendary as his dominance on the basketball floor. He gave the city of Los Angeles more than $ 43,000 to replace a police cruiser that was destroyed during the victory celebration after June's NBA championship win.
Then, last month, after signing a three-year, $ 88.4 million contract extension, O'Neal bought 22 Rolex watches, at a cost of $ 150,000, and gave them to his teammates and staff members. That's one side of O'Neal. The other side is the one opponents see night after night -- that mammoth, unstoppable force who drives the Los Angeles Lakers.
Generosity isn't what's on O'Neal's mind right now. He wants another title. "Winning championship trophies is like having one car," he says. "It's not enough for me." The quest starts tonight against the team that has become the Lakers' new archrival -- the Portland Trail Blazers, who, at least
on paper, are given the best chance to halt the Lakers' title run at one. Portland added imposing inside players Shawn Kemp and Dale Davis to an already potent team that pushed the Lakers
to seven games and a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit in Game 7 of last season's Western Conference final.
"All teams are looking to get as big as they can," Portland coach Mike Dunleavy says. "The Lakers are the champions, so you target your needs for them."
The Lakers didn't remain idle, though. They have two new starting forwards and improved depth. At small forward, Rick Fox has moved from the bench to replace Glen Rice, who was traded. At power
forward, Horace Grant was acquired in a trade to replace A.C. Green, who was waived. In addition, the Lakers signed sharpshooter Isaiah "J.R." Rider as a free agent and acquired backup center
Greg Foster in the same deal that brought them Grant.
"Portland gave us some trouble at power forward and shooting guard last year," O'Neal says. "Now we're covered. I like the team we have here. We have a pretty good team. A team with two
dominant superstars really doesn't need any more superstars. We just need a lot of great role players, and we have that now. We have the best team on paper."
That "on paper" thing often can be a bugaboo. "It's nice to sit here and look on paper and see we got a power forward and a nice backup center, but this team has always been evaluated in June, and that's the way it's going to be this year, too," says Mitch Kupchak, who replaced Jerry West this summer as the man calling the shots in the Lakers' front office. "We're the reigning champs and the question is, are the Lakers going to repeat or not?"
The big triumvirate Regardless of Kupchak's offseason moves, the Lakers remain driven by three forces -- Jackson, O'Neal and all-around star Kobe Bryant. Everyone else has a specific role that greases the wheels of the Jax, Shaq & Kobe train. "We have the Big 2 in Kobe and Shaq, but everybody else has to do their part," Foster says. "Everybody is going to be headhunting for us."
O'Neal is coming off his best season. He was the regular-season and NBA Finals MVP, led the league in scoring and was first in field goal percentage, second in rebounding and third in blocked shots. "Everything fell into place last year," O'Neal says. "I think it was meant to be for me, because I failed so many times at it. It was just my time."
It's still his time, Miami Heat coach Pat Riley says. "At one time there were 10 great centers in the league 7 feet or better," Riley says. "But right now, Shaq is the only guy who is absolutely dominant, based on sheer force and talent." O'Neal's free-throw shooting still is a problem, however. He shot
52.4% during the 1999-2000 regular season and 45.6% during the playoffs. This preseason, he shot 30.4% (17 of 56). "Everyone has a weakness in his game," O'Neal says. "My life isn't based on percentages. When I concentrate, I hit them. I'm never going to shoot 80%, but when I need to hit them, I'll hit them. Nobody's perfect. I don't want to be the best player in the league, I just want to be the most dominant."
Bryant has become the perfect complement to O'Neal with his ballhandling, shooting, defense and marvelous ability to get his own shot against any opponent. He's the high-wire act and O'Neal the safety net in the Lakers' show.
Bryant spent much of the offseason working on his jump shot. It wasn't bad last season but not good enough for Bryant's standards. He shot 46.8% from the field, his career best, but only 31.9%
(46 of 144), from three-point range. Bryant says he made 2,000 jump shots a day during the offseason,
a feat many of his peers find hard to believe. "I worked extremely hard this summer," he says. "It seems now like I can get my shot any time."
Jackson, however, is a bit concerned Bryant could take too much upon himself and disrupt the offense's flow. "He feels that he might have to take up the slack that Glen left as a three-point shooter, so he really worked on his outside shot," Jackson says. "But that's his impetuousness."
A more versatile team The Lakers have much more versatility than they did last season. Grant also can play center, Rider could be the most explosive scorer the Lakers have had as a reserve in years, and Foster is more than just an adequate backup.
"We can play J.R. (Rider) at the guard and move Kobe to a small forward position, where he probably wants to play anyway," Kupchak says. "That's the back side of the triangle, where you end up
looking at the basket." Grant played for Jackson in Chicago for five seasons, including 1991, '92 and '93, when the Bulls won their first three NBA titles. So he knows the triangle offense, he knows the intricacies of Jackson's defense and he's used to playing on a team with two superstars.
"He knows Phil, and Phil knows him," Kupchak says. "He'll get 8, 10 points and hopefully eight or nine rebounds, and he can defend against the guys we need help against."
The Lakers were victimized in last season's playoffs by the Sacramento Kings' Chris Webber and Portland's Rasheed Wallace. The San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan and the Utah Jazz's Karl Malone also have caused considerable trouble. Grant eases many of those concerns. Foster could be a key acquisition, too. John Salley was O'Neal's backup last season, but his value was more in the locker room than on the floor.
"All we need from Greg is about 10 minutes a game," Kupchak says. "He'll make an open shot, grab a couple of rebounds and block a shot. He's not afraid to bang. You have to guard him. He'll help us."
Foster, an 11-year veteran playing for his eighth NBA team, says he already feels more comfortable than he has in a long time. "This is the only time in my career where I really knew my role," he says. "I don't have to worry about competing for the starting job. I just have to come in and spell the big fella."
Fox has been a starter, both with the Boston Celtics and with the Lakers. "I haven't started on a championship team, though," he says. "I'd like to step up and be a bigger factor." His shooting ability is not comparable to Rice's, but he is a better defender and more of a physical, get-his-hands-dirty type. "I've never been a superstar at one skill, but I've always been good at a variety of things," Fox says.
Subtle motivation
Jackson, who likes to drop little hints for certain players to ponder, has said he hasn't been totally pleased with the leadership Bryant and O'Neal have shown so far. Each is so dominant that
they often go their own ways on offense. Jackson says he has been trying to give them "gentle nudges" toward being more inclusive. "The season is like a campaign," he says. "You have to gear
up for a long grind, and that's what you do. You try to physically and mentally get prepared for a 250-day season, hopefully."
SI
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htmKG and Darius Miles on the cover looking very young.
Trail Blazers (NBA Champions)Shawn Kemp reads a scale differently from most people. He stepped on one recently and insists that the machine revealed not a number but a prediction. "It said I was going to have a great season and that we were going to go out and kick a lot of butt," he says. Over the past two years Kemp has steadfastly maintained that he had not gained an appreciable amount of weight despite ample evidence to the contrary, so it can be argued that he's not exactly adept at interpreting a scale. But the latter part of his message is on target—the Trail Blazers should be the biggest butt-kickers in the league this year.
The Blazers are so talented and so deep they could win the championship even if Kemp, the six-time All-Star power forward acquired from Cleveland in a three-way deal in August, doesn't have a big season. But if he sheds enough excess pounds to remind people of the explosive, lane-filling, power-dunking form he showed for eight years in Seattle, Portland will be absolutely frightening.
More to the point, the Blazers will be uniquely qualified to create problems for the Lakers. Until its late collapse in Game 7 of last year's conference finals, Portland guarded Shaquille O'Neal more successfully than any pro team ever has. If Shaq thought Portland was sending wave after wave of long-armed harassers at him in that game, he won't believe the number of big Blazers coming his way this year, now that the 6'10" Kemp and 6'11" Dale Davis, acquired in a trade with Indiana, have joined 7'3" Arvydas Sabonis and 6'11" Rasheed Wallace. Portland coach Mike Dunleavy can comfortably put any three of those quality big men on the floor at the same time.
Portland is just as well-stocked elsewhere, with Scottie Pippen at small forward; Steve Smith and Bonzi Wells, a playoff revelation last year, at shooting guard; and Damon Stoudamire and Greg Anthony at the point. With five players who have been All-Stars ( Davis, Kemp, Pippen, Smith and Wallace) and a sixth (Stoudamire) who has led his team in scoring, the battle for playing time will be even more intense than it was last year. "It's not going to be unusual, somewhere along the line, for everybody to be bemoaning their situation a little bit," Dunleavy says. "The good news is that those types of situations didn't last very long for us last season."
Still, the Blazers might find that there's such a thing as being too deep. Stoudamire, for instance, has declared his willingness to continue dialing his game back for the good of the team but admits to feeling unfulfilled. "I would like to be on the court more," he says. "I understand that our team is loaded with talent. But it's frustrating going home at night knowing you can do more."
Should Portland hit a rough patch, Stoudamire won't be the only one voicing his frustrations. Kemp, though, has promised to be a good soldier. "I'm 30 years old, so I can take fewer minutes a game," he says. "Every guy on this team knows what I can do, so I don't feel like I have to prove anything." It would be more encouraging for the Blazers if Kemp sounded a little hungrier—figuratively speaking of course. He is listed at 280 pounds in Portland's media guide, less than the 300-plus pounds he reportedly weighed at the start of training camp with Cleveland last season, but significantly more than the 256 he was listed at during his Seattle days.
With the inspiration of having his best shot at a title since he went to the Finals with Seattle in 1996, Kemp could well be a more svelte, effective player by playoff time. If so, he and the Blazers won't be worrying about the fit of his uniform but about the fit of their championship rings.
76ersAfter completing a preseason conditioning session in State College, Pa., forward Toni Kukoc crumpled into a plastic chair and swung his size-16 feet onto a folding table, the better to rest his aching knees. As he talked about the upcoming season, his first full one in Philadelphia after 6� years and three titles with the Bulls, it was impossible not to notice the pedigree stamped on his formidable dogs.
"Yes, they're Mike's," he said, nodding toward his black Air Jordans. "I like them because they're softer." Would Jordan be proud if he knew Kukoc was wearing his shoes? "Oh, I think he does know, I think he does," Kukoc answered with a little smile. "And"—he paused—"I hope he would be proud."
Hope is also what the 76ers hold on to when it comes to Kukoc, because they know he's the key to their success. If Kukoc plays like the ring-winning Toni of old—as opposed to the 38.7% shooter he was in last year's playoffs—prospects are greatly enhanced for a Finals appearance for this veteran squad that took the Pacers to six games in the 1999-2000 conference semis.
Not that general manager Billy King didn't try to tinker in the off-season. By invoking a clause in his contract, center Matt Geiger thwarted a trade to the Pistons, and shooting guard Allen Iverson was nearly shipped to Detroit as well. In the end, King's only major move was re-signing Kukoc to a four-year, $29 million contract. Now all coach Larry Brown has to do is get the guy in the Jordans to complement the guy in the eponymous Iversons. He's confident he can. "Toni has to be a big contributor and take pressure off Allen," says Brown, who admits that the chemistry between Kukoc and the Sixers' All-Star guard was nonexistent last season. "Remember, Toni only got here at the trading deadline, and that's not enough time to fit in. The more he's with us, the better he'll be."
King had also hoped to change the team's look by using the 20th pick in the June draft on 5'11" Craig (Speedy) Claxton out of Hofstra. Claxton quickly made friends and influenced people in training camp—"I don't think I've seen a faster guy," Kukoc says—and Brown planned to pair him with the 6-foot Iverson in an all-blur backcourt. But Claxton tore his left ACL in a preseason game on Sunday, and he'll miss the season.
The injury leaves the Sixers with but one blink-and-you'll-miss-him guard. Renowned for being fashionably late to practice (more than 50 times last season), Iverson kept a low profile most of the summer. When he did emerge, he declared he wanted to be team captain, a title Brown awarded him. A week later Iverson released his first rap single, a gay-bashing, misogynistic piece of bombast recorded under the nom de fume of Jewelz. 40 Bars may have earned him street cred, but it did little to prove he is serious about becoming a team leader.
Another often-beleaguered Sixer—Geiger—showed up at camp in excellent shape after spending the summer in Florida working with Ivan Lendl's trainer. Unfortunately, the 7'1" Geiger, who missed the first 17 games last year with a left-knee injury, reinjured the knee 30 minutes into the first practice and will be out until December. In his stead will be a trio of T's: Tyrone Hill, Theo Ratliff and Todd MacCulloch, the lanky 7-footer who impressed Brown by averaging 13.0 points and 5.1 rebounds for Team Canada at the Sydney Games.
If the Sixers are to achieve King's stated goal of a title, Brown must provide help for Iverson, who last year hoisted 25.6% of the team's shots, a league high. To fill that hole, Brown doesn't need another Jordan, but he does need an inspired performance from the guy wearing his shoes.
