Today the NBA looks better than it ever did in the post-Jordan era. The talent level is great and looks to get even better. And unlike many of the stars of the previous generation (stars for which Vince Carter is a poster-child), these generation’s stars have the heart and leadership abilities of a champion and they are proving it already. Dwyane Wade led the Heat to a title, Lebron James carried the carcases of his horrible teammates to the finals, Chris Paul took the Hornets from the lottery to the Western Conference Semifinals and was this close to taking them to the Western Conference Finals.

But there is one thing that taints the game: the flop. The never ending theatrics of some otherwise great players (Manu, I’m looking at you) make most fans sick, sometimes too sick to watch the game. And because the refs keep rewarding their acting skills by whistling offensive fouls on the opponents, players are doing it more and more. These days above the rim defense was replaced by laying on your back defense. There are few defenders left who go for the block. Most prefer to go for the flop, and it’s disgusting.

Fans have been asking the league to take measures and stop the insanity and David Stern seems to have finally gotten the message. According to ESPN, fines will be imposed on “clear cases of flopping”.

This will have the benefit of allowing those who are judging to use replays (which wouldn’t be possible during a game). On the down side, “clear cases of flopping” might mean that only a few of the flops will be punished. Furthermore, with the calls not coming during the games, it will take a little more time for the effects of the rule to be noticed. It would be better if refs would have to pay attention and do their job and whistle flops during games. I’d assign a personal foul on a flop, as it is basically trying to illegally stop the offensive player from scoring. Faced with the choice of a sure foul on a flop or a possible foul on a real defensive play, the players will either go for the ball or get the fuck out of the way. But at least this is a start.

I really don’t why suddenly everyone is surprised that the owners of the Sonics want to move the team to Oklahoma City. Is it so hard to put 2 and 2 together ? Was it so hard to see a few years ago what the goal of the (Oklahoma City based) new ownership group was ? Here are the facts:

• Hurricane Katrina forces the Hornets to play a bunch of games in Oklahoma City
• despite not actually being a local team, just a “rental”, the Hornets bring people to the arena
• David Stern makes it clear that the Hornets will return in New Orleans
• the Sonics are losing money and local authorities don’t want to finance a new arena for them
• people in Seattle overwhelmingly voted against public funding for a new arena for the Sonics

So we have a city that is able to support an NBA team, and a team who’s no longer supported by its current city and looks to be on its way out. The team is bought by a group of business man from the first city. What did you expect it would happen ? Anyone claiming he/she didn’t see this move coming is either retarded or full of shit.

If the NBA didn’t want the team to move, it wouldn’t have allowed it to be sold to Clay Bennett and his gang. But I think David Stern wanted to punish the city of Seattle and send a message to other cities that might think of playing hardball.

And if (former Sonics owner) Howard Schultz was concerned about the team living the city, he wouldn’t have sold it, or, at least, he would have sold it to a local group. Dude is a billionaire and could have afforded to wait a couple of seasons till the lease of Key Arena was over (2010), but my guess is he tried to have his cake and eat it at the same time: he probably hopes that by stirring controversy and playing innocent he can get his the team back AND force the local authorities to fund a new arena.

Once the dust settles, I expect the Grizzlies to be sold and moved to Las Vegas. And by having Darko, Kwame and Jason Collins on their roster, the Grizzlies may well be on their way to the dwindling attendances that would justify such a move.

Lost on Garnett

Lost on Gasol

Lost on Kobe

Lost on D’Antoni

Making it worse, the last 2 named the Bulls as their prefered destination.

Nuff said.

The Pistons caught a HUGE break in game 2 when the shot-clock malfunctioned and the refs, unable to use existing technology in order to make the right call (thank you, David Stern), thought Billups got off the shot in time. This screwed the Magic pretty bad, most likely costing them a game.

The reason the refs could not check the clock is that under current rules officials are allowed to use replay only if a shot went in and the clock expires. But here are my questions:

1. since the clock stopped, the refs could have considered that it should have reached 0 and bent the rule a little bit in order to review the play. Wouldn’t a little bit of rule-bending be more desirable than costing a team a game in the playoffs ?
2. if the refs couldn’t use the replay, why not ask TNT’s courtside reporter ? You expect TNT to have already synchronized a stopwatch with the replay in their studios, so they should have the right answer. Just call Craig Sager or whoever it was and tell him to ask the studio how much time was left on the clock. The refs are supposed to make a call, but I doubt there’s anywhere in the rule book a rule saying “You’re not allowed to ask TNT’s studio”. If there’s technology that’s available, why not use it ?
3. if none of the above scenarios were deemed feasible by the refs, why not make the teams replay the sequence ? Give them 30 seconds or so to draw a play and just replay the whole thing. Let them win or lose the game on the court.

Just like I predicted here and here, Kobe won the MVP award. Now, until he gets another title and has a MONSTER regular season, he’s not gonna win another. Book it.

Starting with next season, the voters will finally be able to focus on the new generation of players when voting the MVP. Lebron, Chris Paul, Wade (if he comes back at 100% and the Heat rebuild quickly), Amare and Dwight Howard will fight for it. Kobe will probably get 3rd place at best, just like Garnett got now.

As the New Orleans Hornets are a couple of minutes away from eliminating the Mavs from the 2008 playoffs it looks like this group of players has run its course. They had a shot at becoming a one shot wonder in 2006, but their window of opportunity was slammed shut by Wade, who, in the process, seemed to have shuttered their collective self-confidence as well. And they never recovered.

Now there’s talk about Avery being fired and perhaps Josh Howard being traded. Which sounds OK with me, as long it is just the beginning of a  rebuilding process that must include trading Dirk. He is the Mavs leader, but he hasn’t been too good at it, especially in the playoffs. Like some other really talented players, he’s built for the regular season, where he will lead his team to a good record. But once the playoffs start, his softness and lack of defense get badly exposed. Here’s a list of players that the Mavs should explore trading and the reasons why:

* Josh Howard: he sucked during this series and his admission of smoking pot makes him look kinda dumb. But this is not the real reason why he should be traded. As I explained before, his offensive game is based way too much on 1-on-1 plays and he disrupts the offense.

I think Kidd has a couple more years when he can contribute, and if the Mavs move quick, they might benefit from them. At times, Howard also seemed lost or unfocused on defense. Right now he’s in his prime so the Mavs should be able to get some value back.

* Dirk Nowitzki: he’s a great offensive weapon, but he’s also very very soft. He doesn’t go inside nowhere as much as he needs to. Sometimes he doesn’t realize he has a mismatch and thus he doesn’t try to take advantage of it by requesting the ball. He seems unable to set a proper pick, too often he sets the pick standing sideways, and since he doesn’t have a big frame (or big belly), defenders get around him easily. And if the pick works, he pops for a jumper instead of rolling to the basket, even if the paint is open.

On defense he doesn’t put his hands up all the time, he doesn’t rotate to help when opponents are penetrating to the basket. His rebounding numbers are inflated too, as many times the others just box out for him to take the rebound. Defensive rebounds are more a result of team-work, while good rebounders also have good offensive rebounding numbers. Well, out of the top rebounders in the NBA, Dirk has the fewest offensive rebounds at 1.2 per game. The only other player on that list with as few offensive rebounds is Jason Kidd who happens to be a G and 6 inches shorter than Dirk. Most of the other players have 3 or more offensive rebounds per game.

For a team with Dirk to really be a contender, they need a real defensive presence, a shot blocker to play with him, cause Dampier’s lame washed-up overpaid ass is not enough. A Tyson Chandler or Marcus Camby type of player, someone who is not really a scorer and doesn’t need the ball much. Someone who can focus on playing D while being available for open dunks or alley oops when Dirk is doubled. Emeka Okafor or Jermaine O’Neal would also fit well with Dirk, and Jermaine might be available and cheap this summer.

By the way, I am surprised to see how many people fail to see the holes in Dirk’s game and claim he doesn’t have enough help from his teammates. While it’s true that his teammates didn’t handle their  business, Dirk was just as much a part of the problem. Including in game 5 where he shot 8-21 from the field, and took most of those shots while fading away from the basket instead of going strong. When you’re a superstar and you know calls are gonna go your way (like not even getting a foul after clearly shoving MoPete), you have to be aggressive and take it to the rim. Flopping on fade away jump shots is not the right way to get to the free throw line.

* Erick Dampier: yeah, like anyone’s gonna want his bloated contract. Too bad for the Mavs, cause he’d have no place on the roster if the Mavs got the defending/rebounding C to play with Dirk.  Guess signing players who only perform in their contract years is not a good idea (see: James, Jerome). But maybe the Mavs can pack him with Josh Howard or Dirk.

* Jerry Stackhouse: Biggest bonehead on the team. With the Mavs closing in on the Hornets at the end of  the 4th quarter of a “win or go home” game 5, he picks up his second technical and is ejected. That 1 extra point could have been the difference between Dallas losing or going to overtime. And that comes after his moronic comments about returning to play for the Mavs after a trade to the Nets cost Cuban a cool 11 million in salaries and luxury tax.

* Jason Terry: His play during the series was in fact decent, but with his contract, if the Mavs decide to try a quick rebuild, it might be a good idea to trade him while he has some value.

Hedo Turkoglu was named the Most Improved Player of the year, as I expected. According to ESPN, Byron Scott will be named Coach of the Year. My choices for COY and MVP were Phil Jackson and Chris Paul, but,  because the voters gave the MVP to Kobe (as expected), they gave the COY to Byron Scott (the Hornets had to reveice an award for their amazing season) and the DPOY to Garnett. So I guess there are no more doubts about who’s gonna get the MVP now.

Celtics @ Hawks

• The Hawks finaly used their best weapon to their advantage: their athleticism constantly frustrated the Celtics, as the Hawks were the agressor in this one
• Josh Smith rarely touched the ground, hovering above the rim on defense and finishing with 7 blocks, most of them coming in spectacular fashion.
• After their little shouting match in game 3, Pierce and Horford both underperformed. Since I already talked about Pierce, I’ll discuss Horford a little bit. He finished with just 4 points on 1-6 FG and 4 TO. But his demeanor on the court was great, as were his 13 rebounds.
• After a dunk (his only basket of the game) that capped a 10 points Hawks run, Horford flexed Zo style. I already like the kid, so if he turns out to be the next Zo, I’ll like him a whole lot more.
• Zaza Pachulia got in Garnett’s grill after getting an elbow. Yeah, I couldn’t believe it either. I mean … is Zaza Pachulia even allowed to talk to Garnett ? But his actions personified the Hawks in this game: they were not afraid of anything. They acted like they belonged instead of rolling down in front of the mighty Celtics.
• After the altercation, Horford tried to calm Zaza down and took him towards the bench while waving his hands to encourage the public to rally behind his team. He might be just a rookie, but he’s showing some leadership skills and he’s not afraid of anyone.
• Garnett didn’t help the Celtics’ cause much, missing 12 of his 21 shots. This was the biggest knock on Garnett during his career - taking too many jump shots. And it hurt his team this time, as he only made 7 of the 17 jumpers he took. He also missed a couple of layups.
• The Celtics defense was MIA. It looked like the Celtics took a page from the Pistons’ manual and expected lesser opponents to just hang their heads and wait for their merciful finishing blow. But the Hawks, just like the 76ers, gave them a big FUCK YOU. Who’d have thought ?! Best teams in the league (record wise) are the only ones to be tied after 4 games, while playing the worst (record wise) teams in the playoffs. The Eastern Conference playoffs suddenly got a lot more interesting.

I have predicted that as a result of being taunted by Al Horford at the end of game 3, Paul Pierce will try to have a monster game in game 4, and fail miserably. And, lo and behold, Pierce didn’t disappoint. He finished with 5-14 FG, 3 TO and 5 PF, and his Celtics lost. He also shot 50%  (4-8) from the FT line.

Truth be told, he started out very well, shooting efficiently (he finished 4-7 from the 3p line) and at the end he had 7 reb and 5 ast. But in a playoff game he shouldn’t let his frustration boil over and commit silly fouls that put him in foul trouble and keep him out of the game. And where was his vaunted perimeter defense ? Atlanta’s perimeter players had their way with the Celtics’ D: Joe Johnson was 14-24, Bibby 5-8, Josh Smith 8-16.

I used to like him. But watching him during this series against the Hornets, I got the feeling he’s the piece that doesn’t fit. Usually offenses orchestrated by Kidd are very fluid, with a lot of ball (and player) movement and very few 1 on 1 plays. Yet every time the ball got to Josh Howard, the offense just stopped in its tracks. Basically every single time he got the ball he stopped, took a long look at the court, then started dribbling followed by an attempt to take his opponent 1 on 1.

Not only is he disrupting the Mavs team-offense. That would be sorta OK if at least he managed to score on a large part of all those 1 on 1 actions. But his “best” shooting of the series came in game 2: 5 of 16 from the field. Overall his shooting percentage for the series is an atrocious 25.86%, and he only made 1 of the 8 three pointers he took. At least he’s been pulling down some boards (6.5 per game) and going to the line (6.25 FTA per game) and made most of them (80% FT). But his defense has been questionable as well. In retrospect, Dirk’s comments after game 4: “You have to make shots to win in this league”, might have been, at least partially, directed at Howard. Not that Dirk deserves no blame of his own, as this is his team, and he’s supposed to carry them offensively as well as defensively, at least in terms of effort if not defensive prowess.

And just when you thought things couldn’t go any worse for Howard, he managed to find a foot big enough to fit his mouth, so he openly acknowledged he smokes pot. But only during the offseason. Or at least so he says. Now, I don’t have anything against pot. I happen to think that if pot is banned, so should alcohol and tobacco. And probably a few other things, as well. I also happen to believe in free speech and in speaking out. But when you’re in the spotlight especially when you’ve been under performing, it’s usually better not to say things that could be used against you.

So after the Hornets put them out of their misery in game 5, the Mavs will have to regroup. Avery will probably be the first to go. But Cuban should not stop here. Howard should be dangled as trade bait in front of every GM in the league that has something nice to offer. Which kinda means everyone but the Knicks’ GM.  Howard put up nice stats, and he’s just in his prime. He won’t get much (if any) better than this, and this would be the best time to trade him. And the pot smoking admission shouldn’t have hurt his stock much, if any, cause most GMs come from the ranks of the NBA, so they know most of the players do in fact smoke weed.

And once you start changing the roster, why stop in the middle of the road  ? I think it might just be time to trade Dirk too. With Howard and Dirk you might get a couple of players like Jermaine O’Neal and Jason Richardson or Gerald Wallace plus a couple of extra pieces. With Kidd running the show, these 2 might fit better than Josh Howard and Dirk. At least while they stay healthy. Jermaine would provide the defense Dirk can’t provide while Kidd will help him get easy baskets on offense. And the SG/SF they might get could be the 3rd piece in a team that could follow the blueprint of the Celtics: 3 stars that fit together, surrounded by cheap, but able role players.