Moderators: Doctor MJ, trex_8063, penbeast0, PaulieWal, Clyde Frazier
Everything Rasho Nesterovic does is quiet. He tends to disappear against the better players, and he's almost an afterthought when you're making a game plan against the T-Wolves....
Quotatious wrote: Bastillon is Hakeem. Combines style and substance.
Big Talk: While C Shaquille O'Neal's fitness to start the season is in doubt, SG Kobe Bryant's fitness never has been better. O'Neal had surgery September 11 to remove bone spurs from his arthritic right big toe, and the three-time NBA Finals MVP could miss the first week or two. Meanwhile, Bryant spent the summer working out and reported to camp sporting 15 pounds of new muscle. All of which means that in their now-friendly battle for center stage, Shaq again has conceded November to Kobe. As for the months ahead, a pain-free O'Neal and a stronger Bryant offer opponents little hope for a Lakers downturn.
Supporting arguments: An essentially unchanged cast features PG Derek Fisher and PF Samaki Walker in improved health and SF Devean George continuing to improve off the bench. For Fisher, this should be his first 80-game season since 1997-98 after missing the first 62 and 12 games of the past two years because of foot injuries. With the Lindsey Hunter experiment over, Fisher is secure again in the guard spot alongside Bryant. Walker is feeling good after knee and elbow problems limited him to 12.6 minutes per game and reduced his effectiveness in the playoffs. George survived a year of uncertainty after the Lakers declined to pick up his option in 2001, but now he faces the pressure of living up to a new four-year, $ 18.45 million contract.
THE DISSING INGREDIENT: The Lakers are thin in the backcourt behind Bryant and Fisher, so PG Brian Shaw, 36, will be asked to play the 20 or so minutes a night the first-guard-off-the-bench slot could demand. Shaw is touting improved fitness, but he's coming off career-low averages in minutes (10.9), points (2.9) and assists (1.5). SG Kareem Rush is the team's most promising rookie in years, but coach Phil Jackson never is in a hurry to lean on kids. --Kevin Modesti
Deveney's take
The status of Shaquille O'Neal's health always is a concern, but he should be fit in time for a late May redux against the Kings.
Big Talk: Statistically, SF Kevin Garnett is almost a lock for another 20-10-5 (points, rebounds, assists) season, but his impact goes beyond the numbers--in both positive and negative ways. With the retirement of SF Sam Mitchell, Garnett will assume the role of team leader, on the floor and in the locker room. He's a great teammate who plays with desire and has a terrific work ethic--which leads to the downside. Garnett has had trouble maintaining his energy at late-season and postseason crunch time, and he has yet to carry this team when the clock is winding down and the Timberwolves need points in a crucial game. Will he make those big fourth-quarter shots this season?
Supporting arguments: Wally Szczerbiak's move from small forward to shooting guard last year helped showcase his perimeter skills and took some of the pressure off him as a defensive player. He has improved his footwork on defense and spent much of the offseason working on his ballhandling. The most important player on the team, however, might be PG Terrell Brandon. He sat out the end of last season with a knee injury, and preseason reports on the knee aren't overly optimistic. If he can't play, the offense will be in big trouble. Chauncey Billups, who filled in nicely for Brandon last year, signed with the Pistons as a free agent. Newcomer Troy Hudson probably is the No. 2 choice at point guard, and European import Igor Rakocevic is getting a look in camp.
THE DISSING INGREDIENT: SG Anthony Peeler quickly is wearing out his welcome in Minnesota. A streaky shooter, Peeler's defensive lapses and poor shot selection were major concerns last season for a team that could use his potential firepower off the bench. The uncertainty in the backcourt would be lessened if the veteran could be counted on to take pressure off the young point guards, but no one expects that to happen. --John Millea
Deveney's take
Unless Terrell Brandon's knee is healthy by January, this team could be due for a swift decline without a playmaking point guard.
Big Talk: PF Tim Duncan is coming off an MVP season with career-best averages in points (25.5), rebounds (12.7), assists (3.7) and free-throw shooting (79.9). Already the league's second-most dominant player--behind Lakers C Shaquille O'Neal--Duncan should be more aggressive than ever. He has confidence in his left knee, something he lacked at the start of last season. With C David Robinson retiring after this season, Duncan understands the team is his to lead. If the supporting cast makes shots within the team's motion offense, Duncan should have his best year yet.
SUPPORTING ARGUMENTS: Though PG Tony Parker was a clutch performer as a rookie, his overall shooting--41.9 percent from the field, 32.3 percent on 3-point attempts and 67.5 percent at the foul line--obviously needed work. During the offseason, he worked on finishing his follow-through motion and on developing a teardrop runner he can release in the lane. Now more confident in his game and more comfortable with his teammates, Parker should be a better all-around point guard. No Spur has added more to his game over the past few seasons than PF Malik Rose. Already noted for his limitless energy, rebounding and versatile defense, Rose developed a consistent midrange jumper last year. This summer, he worked on his ballhandling. With Robinson's durability in doubt, Rose may get more playing time than last year.
the dissing ingredient: The Spurs can survive without Robinson for stretches, but they won't be able to get past Shaq and the Lakers if Robinson is not healthy. The good news for the team is Robinson's back didn't need surgery. The bad news is a disk particle still is floating loose in his back and could cause problems again. In an effort to stay healthy, Robinson spent the summer strengthening his abdominal muscles and improving his running and jumping technique. --Johnny Ludden
Deveney's take
Don't expect David Robinson to spend the season collecting farewell gifts. He will contribute as long as he's suiting up for the Spurs.
There's a sense of relief by the time you pull up to the winged "1" that sits square in the middle of the gate outside Tracy McGrady's deluxe Orlando home, complete with a basketball court in the front yard and jet skis emblazoned with Orlando Magic logos in the lake out back. McGrady has been bobbing and weaving through traffic in his plush white Bentley--his "cruising car," he says--and you can't help but worry that you will lose him among the cars on Florida's Route 4. But then you remember that there probably aren't that many Bentleys mixed into central Florida traffic. And when you watch McGrady pull the Bentley into his garage, where a slumbering silver Ferarri sits, well, you realize things could have been worse. "You kept up," McGrady says in mock surprise. He smiles. "I thought I might lose you out there."
Hmm. If you're not mistaken, McGrady is talking a little smack to you and your rental car. Of course, it's a Chevy Malibu, so there is no effective rebuttal. When McGrady sees you're wearing jeans on a 90-degree September day in Orlando, he can't help but say, "You must be enjoying this weather. I would not even call this hot. It could be a lot hotter." Wait, did he just trash talk the sun?
This is Tracy McGrady, NBA superstar and proud talker of trash. McGrady simply likes talking. He would just as readily trash talk your lame set of wheels while standing in his driveway as he would trash talk some lame effort to guard him on the court. McGrady trash talks during games, in the locker room and in the media. You get the feeling that on garbage collection day, he waits by the curb to trash talk the trash collectors. "Hey, I don't mind mixing it up with anyone who wants to," McGrady says. "As long as they take it the right way. I'm not out to hurt anyone's feelings."
There's the rub for McGrady: Folks don't take it the right way, and he winds up portrayed as a self-centered blowhard. As McGrady sees it, there has been a decline in the rivalry-building ragging that fueled NBA showdowns during his childhood. There still is plenty of junk being jawed in the NBA, but many players are restrained by the threat of technicals, fines and public opinion. McGrady finds this lamentable and aims to change it.
"I don't know when people got so sensitive," McGrady says. "Muhammad Ali would never be able to talk the way he did today. If I say I am one of the top five players in the league, people say, 'Why did he say that? Why is he talking about himself?' It does not matter if it's true."
Just 512 months ago, as the Magic's season was ending thanks to a first-round playoffs loss to the Hornets, McGrady took a public flogging for stating that he was the best player in the series. He said that if Hornets star Baron Davis put up better numbers, it was because he had better players around him. McGrady's point about truth in trash talk seems valid--among the floggings, few stopped to ask whether what McGrady said was true. Few considered that there isn't a general manager in his right mind who would swap McGrady for Davis. Few asked whether the well-stocked Hornets really were better off than the Magic, who have not been able to surround McGrady with much talent, thanks to Grant Hill's recurring foot injury.
McGrady just shrugs. "Clearly, he had a lot more depth than we did," he says. "That's what I was dealt. I was not putting down my teammates. I love my teammates. It was just reality. Look at what Baron Davis has on his team. He's got guys who can rebound, who can score and who play defense like (crazy). People said I was disrespecting my team. That's not it."
That sort of criticism, McGrady says, does not bother him. He is not going to clip his lips simply because some people don't like what he has to say. He thinks he could average a triple-double someday. Ask him who he'd pick first if he were building a team from scratch, and he won't hesitate: "Me." Who does the best job of guarding him? "Ain't no one," he says. "No one who can do it every night."
McGrady is 23, still two years away from his prime by his reckoning, and probably the NBA's most gifted player. Certainly, no player will be called upon to carry a bigger load for his team, and if you're forecasting the MVP race, that makes McGrady the top candidate. He followed a breakthrough year in 2000-01 (26.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists), with a big '01-02 (24.8 points, 7.9 rebounds and 5.3 assists). He can score from the perimeter and the post, frequently defends the opponent's top player, passes like a point guard and rebounds like a power forward. Shouldn't he be given some trash-talking latitude?
"With his skills," says Bucks guard Sam Cassell, "Tracy has the right to talk all he wants. He can back it up."
Cassell would know, because it was against the Bucks in the opening round of the 2001 postseason that McGrady first began carving out his identity. He still smiles when recalling that series, in which he averaged 33.8 points, 8.3 assists and 6.5 rebounds in a four-game defeat. What stood out even more than McGrady's play was the force of his personality. He talked trash like Oscar the Grouch, barking in the ear of Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson--"You're gonna be locked down all night" was among the few lines he used that are suitable for print. Indeed, McGrady held Robinson to 14.6 points per game, 7.4 below his average. He labeled Robinson "the Big Puppy" and said the Bucks "ain't crap."
"That," McGrady says, "was fun as hell. Brings a smile to my face just thinking about it."
That's all McGrady says he wants to do--bring a little fun to the game, especially in the playoffs. The Bucks and the Magic had a simmering rivalry, with an ongoing feud between coaches George Karl and Doc Rivers adding intrigue. Why not give the rivalry a little boost by adding a McGrady-Robinson subplot?
"There should be more of that," McGrady says. "In the playoffs, it's a different game. I am going to be in your ear. You want to talk s-- to people and see if they bring their A-game. You want to do some talking because it forces you to bring out your own A-game.
"Look back to when Michael Jordan played Magic (Johnson) or Jordan faced the Pistons, or Celtics-Lakers. You think Magic was just quiet out there? Larry Bird would be out there telling people what he was going to do, then he'd do it. You think the Pistons weren't talking ... to Jordan? They hated each other. That was fun to watch. Those were the series that people could not miss.
"You are sitting there watching, wondering what is going to happen next--a fight, maybe, or somebody making a big shot to shut somebody else up. You read quotes in the paper and say, 'Can you believe he said that about this guy?' People are a lot more willing to watch those kinds of games. Then they want to watch the next game to see what happens next, what the next chapter in the story is.
"That's what I try to bring back. Talking s--, having two teams that hate each other, having a rivalry. What's wrong with two teams hating each other? I just wanted to start something up. I just wish other teams and players did more of that."
McGrady says it is not really decorum and civility that keeps many players from getting into free-flowing talking battles. Rather, it is the fear of embarrassment, the fear of landing on television in an unfavorable light.
"There is really not that much trash talking in the league," McGrady says. "I think a lot of guys are scared to talk noise because you're putting yourself on the line when you do. A lot of guys don't want to get into it, because they know you will bust their asses, and there is nothing they can do about it. Then you're gonna hear it from the fans, from the press, but worst of all, you're gonna hear it from me." McGrady is sitting, resting his elbows against the gray marble of his kitchen table, contemplating used-up defenders from his past in the way that Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias recall all the girls they've loved before. For a 6-8 player with McGrady's level of skill, versatility and swagger, what often gets lost is how smart a player he is. A defender might give him trouble on a particular night, but a bit of film study and a consultation with coaches usually provides a remedy. Last season, McGrady struggled in a game against the Raptors because of the way hefty 6-9 forward Jerome Williams was guarding him--Williams was tight on him, putting his arm in McGrady's back as soon as McGrady got the ball, and setting his feet soon thereafter. Usually against someone Williams' size, McGrady penetrates and blows by him, but Williams was getting position too quickly and too solidly.
"Next time, I did not let him get his feet set," McGrady says. "As soon as I got the ball, I acted, I moved. That's the kind of thing you have to do."
In the playoffs, against the Hornets, McGrady was having a tough time with 6-1 guard David Wesley. McGrady had a serious size advantage, so he was trying to post up Wesley and shoot over him. But in the first game of the series, Wesley was giving McGrady slight bumps as he went up for shots, and it caused McGrady to misfire--he was 8-for-21 from the field in that game.
"Second game, after I watched the film, I faced him up," McGrady says. "It was over from there."
As McGrady has sharpened his tongue, he also has sharpened his mental approach to the game. He can rattle off the way defenders play him with ease and knows the best way to attack.
"You never want to do the same thing twice with him," says Bulls forward Jalen Rose. "He will figure you out pretty quickly, and he has the tools to expose you if he does."
Still, the one tool McGrady says he must work on is leadership. McGrady accepts responsibility for the two early postseason exits in his two years in Orlando. The series two seasons ago against the Bucks was fun, but the first-round loss to the Hornets last spring stung. "Depressing," he says. "I failed." McGrady moped for much of the summer, doing rehab to help his back, which he admits is not 100 percent. He traveled, mostly to get out of Orlando--zipping off to Los Angeles, Hawaii and Cancun, keeping his mind off basketball.
"You can tell he is a guy who plays with hunger," says new Hornets guard Courtney Alexander. "He is not a good loser. This guy works his tail off, and he does not care about his stats. He's been around long enough now to know that does not matter. He's hungry to win, and I think if he keeps that, it could be scary in a couple of years."
After spending one postseason as a trash-talking, first-round novelty with impressive numbers, McGrady believed he should have carried the Magic further in the playoffs last year. Indeed, the Magic had a lead in the fourth quarter in three of the games against the Hornets, including Game 1, when the Hornets closed out the game thanks to a steal in the waning seconds by Davis, who slapped the ball from McGrady's hands.
"That's the next step for him," says one Eastern Conference scout. "He has got to carry the team into the second round and forget about them not having a frontcourt, forget about whether Grant Hill is healthy. This is a huge year for Tracy McGrady. He can win games by himself. The Magic should get to the second round, no matter what, because of him."
If he does, you better believe he is going to get there with his tongue wagging.
"We're going further this year," McGrady says. "And when we do, I am going to have a whole new set of talk ready to go."
And, just to get in one last bit of ribbing, McGrady smiles and adds, "Bring your tape recorder." TSN
Big Talk: Jason Kidd is the Nets' best player, and he easily is the best all-around point guard in the league. His arrival last summer, says coach Byron Scott, changed the entire outlook of the organization. Kidd does so many things well--passing, rebounding, defending and, most important, leading--that few take much notice of his inability to hit consistently from the outside, a skill he would like to improve. His 39.1 percent shooting from the floor and and 32.1 percent from 3-point range were the only smudges on a season in which he finished second in MVP balloting.
SUPPORTING ARGUMENTS: Kenyon Martin led the Nets' balanced offensive attack last season with a 14.9-point average from the small forward position. Now that he's being asked to take over for the departed Keith Van Horn at power forward, Martin must concentrate more on rebounding and playing tougher defense. His strength and quickness always have allowed the Nets to match him up against opponents' top scorers. Now Martin, who spent the offseason adding muscle to his 6-9, 234-pound frame, also will be asked to bang inside with the big men. After four knee surgeries in five years, SG Kerry Kittles appeared in all 110 games last year--preseason, regular season and postseason--and thrived running the wing for Kidd. No Net gets downcourt faster than Kittles--not even Kidd--and that speed should continue to play a big role in the offense.
THE DISSING INGREDIENT: At 36 and with diminishing offensive skills, is C Dikembe Mutombo in the wrong place at the wrong time? He's a defensive and rebounding force, but there are questions whether he will help or hinder the Nets' free-flowing offense. The team needs its center to be the fulcrum of the halfcourt offense, and Mutombo must prove capable of handling the ball and making the necessary decisions. --Don Burke
Deveney's take
Dikembe Mutombo makes this a better defensive team, but he's no sprinter and will be a drag on the Nets' running offense.
THE DISSING INGREDIENT: SG Anthony Peeler quickly is wearing out his welcome in Minnesota. A streaky shooter, Peeler's defensive lapses and poor shot selection were major concerns last season for a team that could use his potential firepower off the bench.
Quotatious wrote: Bastillon is Hakeem. Combines style and substance.
NO-KG-AI wrote:It's also a 6 game sample(of which he was never able to come close to replicating again), that was more the fault of the opposing team anyway.
Garnett/Hudson should never be able to go 6 games with Shaq and Kobe.
Doctor MJ wrote:I don't understand why people jump in a thread and say basically, "This thing you're all talking about. I'm too ignorant to know anything about it. Lollerskates!"
NO-KG-AI wrote:You always remember teams a lot better when you don't like the player.
I saw those Wolves a whole lot more back then, and since.
Sedale Threatt wrote:1. Duncan -- I'd pick him first just for the near quadruple double in the Finals, let alone the fact he had a great season. Absolutely epic in the playoffs.
2. KG -- Don't really like him quite this high, but I have to respect the all-around game. He was awesome on both ends, and that puts him over everybody but Duncan.
3. Kobe -- Going with the homer edge to put him over McGrady. He was probably getting a bit overrated on D at this point, but he's still WAY better than McGrady.
4. Shaq -- His last uber-elite season. The slacking really started to take its toll, though. Great when healthy, but the whole "company time" pissed me off so he's fourth.
5. McGrady -- Outstanding season. This probably shouldn't play a factor, but I view this as something of a fluke season, which mars the luster in my mind.
DragicTime85 wrote:[Ric Bucher] has a tiny wiener and I can prove it.
ElGee wrote:Gongxi - Duncan's greater defensive contribution doesn't get him the nod over McGrady?
