Wanderlust

Larry Brown is apparently not going to coach the Pistons this season. I'm interested to see what happens next. It seems unreal to me that Larry would want to coach anywhere else right now. Where does he have a better chance to win another championship? A lot of questions will need resolving this week and it should be interesting to see how things end up.

Oh. My. God.

There may be a one time chance to dump Raef LaFrentz or Mark Blount
this off season. I'm not sure why I ignored the possibility, but the
new collective bargaining agreement is going to allow teams to waive a
player and then not have that players remaining salary count against
the cap. The team would still be responsible for the waived players
salary, but they wouldn't have to pay luxury tax and could sign other
free agents or their own players. I think the Celtics have a great
chance to dump some excess baggage. Mark Blount, I'm looking at
you.....

Next Free Agent Move

It's reported now that Larry Hughes will sign with the Cavs for 65-70 million over 5 years. Supposedly the Wizards offered him 6 years at $70 million. The Wizards offer was probably the right one. Hughes had his best season ever in a contract year. He has never played in a winning situation and just cut his teeth in the playoffs for the first time last year. It's possible the Wizards will reup because nobody can offically sign for a few more weeks, but I think they would be unwise to do so. Hughes is not entirely unreplaceable and they could get a better or cheaper model in Bobby Simmons if they should wish to do so. Hughes is a bit versatile which NBA guys love, but we'll have to see how he meshes with Lebron. From the Cavs point of view, they had to do something this offseason in terms of signing some guys. Lebron has two years left on his deal and if anybody thinks he's staying in Cleveland if they don't make the playoffs in those years is crazy. I'm not sure how this effects the Cavs ability to resign big Z either. He's looking for a lot of money and now Hughes is getting it. More dominoes soon to fall.

Max Money

Players that deserve max money (talent and turnstile effects are important with talent being the most important factor):

1. Shaq
2. Duncan
3. KG
4. Dirk
5. Amare
6. Wade
7. Lebron
8. Pierce
9. Kobe
10. Iverson
11. AK47
12. Kidd
13. Ray Allen
14. Elton Brand

On the Cusp (but will probably never be fully worth it):

1. Yao
2. McGrady
3. Melo
4. Odom
5. Ben/Rasheed Wallace
6. Billups
7. Arenas
8. Hughes
9. Bobby Simmons
10. Corey Maggette
11. Jason Richardson

Youngins on the Rise:

1. Dwight Howard
1a. Andre Iguodala
2. Kirk Hinrich
3. Luol Deng
4. Chris Bosh (he may have reached his ceiling)
5. Shaun Livingston
6. Trevor Arizia

Free Agency

1. Ray Allen. Seattle felt like they needed to reup to keep their number one player with them for a while. They maxed Allen out giving him something like $85 million over the next 5 years to keep playing with the Sonics. I think Seattle overpaid for him, but he proved his worth in ticket sales and success this year. The Sonics just have to hope he doesn't dog it over the next few years now that he's inked for a long time.

2. Nate McMillan. Apparently Portland is going to be paying Nate $6 million per annum over the next five years. Really? $30 million dollars for a coach who had one 50+ winning season and won a single playoff series? Nate was a great player, is a favorite in the Pacific Northwest, and is definitely a young up and coming coach, but $30 million seems like the kind of coin the games premier coaches get (Larry, Phil, Popps), not unproven youngins'. Seems like Paul Allen is on another crazy spending spree. We'll see what it gets him. He better be ready to suspend idiots like Miles if they start acting up though, that's for sure.

3. Michael Redd. Supposedly Milwaukee is going to max-out Michael Redd for a seven year contract. That's good. This reminds me of when the Knicks signed a young lights out shooter who couldn't do anything else on the court. What was his name? Oh right, Allen Houston. Redd better hope Bogut is the real deal, or people in Milwaukee are going to be pissed about this deal. I personally think Milwaukee would have been better off throwing that kind of money or less at a guy like Bobby Simmons or Larry Hughes. Both are more versatile.

More indicators that talent is a rare commodity in the NBA so it will be overpaid for and that NBA GMs are idiots. Seriously, how are the Sonics going to keep their team together with Ray's contract? What are the Bucks going to do with Redd now that they can never trade him? If he's such a great player, how did he let Milwaukee slide out of the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. Paul Pierce doesn't let that happen, and now he and Redd are making the same money? That's interesting. And as for the Blazers, McMillan is a stand up guy but they had better be committed to him. The Blazers are not ready to win today. It's going to take a little while. I just find it surprising that they over reached for him so much. Christ, they probably could have stolen Larry Brown for that kind of money.

Kobe, me myself and I revisted

I bashed Kobe pretty hard at the end of this season for his poor
leadership and his inability to play like a superstar this past year
when that's all he seemed to want for a long time. I think he
deserved it. But lost in the recent hoopla surrounding the hiring of
Phil Jackson is what Phil's return says about Kobe's mentality and
attitude. I don't expect any open mea culpas, however I think the
return of Jackson signals that Kobe was humbled a bit by last years
experience. I think Kobe realized the way he was going wasn't the
right way and he's reaching out for help from the only true mentor
he's had in the league. After the book Phil wrote Kobe couldn't be
blamed for trying to keep Phil out of L.A., but instead I think Kobe
is intending to take the criticisms he gets from his coach and other
knowledgeable basketball types and work on his weaknesses instead of
just deflecting the criticism. If that's the case the Lakers are going
to be a much improved team and I think Kobe may be ready to try and
change his errant ways. I may be reading too much into this, but
that's the feeling I get. I know it's been denied that Kobe had any
decision in the hiring, but Jackson said that he and Kobe discussed
this before it happened and seeing as Kobe is signed for a long time
one would have to be very naive to think that superstar players have
no input on coaching and personnel decisions. I may have to revise my
opinon on Kobe in the near future.

Circle the wagons

Peter May wrote a column yesterday that I really agree with. Too many
young players, the C's should have got an established college player
with the pick and that the C's will try to trade Pierce and that it's
probably the right move. I'm very in tune with him. The Celtics are
starting to remind me a little bit of the Baby Bulls years. It's no
secret that a hard nosed coach, and rookies or young players from blue
collar winning programs turned around their fortunes very quickly.
When you start looking to Pierce and Ricky for leadership, your team
is in some serious trouble. I think Jefferson has a good head on his
shoulders, but May is right in that he didn't even play 15mins a game
last year (not his fault with 'Toine coming back in) and Green is
largely an unknowable commodity at this point (who was also passed
over by several teams in spite of widespread acclaim).

I just want to say that I really enjoy watching Pierce play. He's a
very talented player and a shooting guard who has never shied away
from contact and has been remarkably durable. The other Celtics fan I
talk with think that Pierces meglomania has consumed him and I think
he's right. He has some preconceived notion of being "the man"
because he's the best player on the team. He had one of his better
statistical seasons last year and yet he's unhappy, and acting like a
bitch when the chips are on the table. I used to contend that Pierce
was in the top ten of players, but he officially gets the mercurial
lable now. I'd like to see him out of Boston. I'm just not sure who
will want him right now. Should be an interesting month.

Post Draft Reactions

The Celtics had a potential lottery pick land in their laps at the #18 pick and they pounced on him. Unfortunately that pouncing action didn't result in Hakim Warrick landing on the team, my personal favorite long shot choice. However, the Celtics are being widely lauded as smart and lucky at the same time. Of all the players in this draft Green probably had the second biggets "upsdie" warranting rave reviews to Tracy McGrady and others. I really hope he realizes that potential, and if he can hold down the three spot (depending on where one looks he projects as either a two or a three, 6'7" or 6'8") the Celtics would be in great shape. They haven't had an athletic wing man in a while, no offense to Ricky Davis. Personally I'm dissapointed, but it seems like the Celtics made a great pick.

In the second round the C's grabbed Ryan Gomes out of Providence. I'm a little partial to Gomes as I saw him play live several times during his PC career and he was a well liked and talented player. But I could also see that he's not very athletic, not the greatest shooter, and not instilled with a will to win. Several times I felt like Gomes should have lead P.C. to big upsets over ranked teams and he seemed to shrink in the waning minutes of ball games. But, it's not like the Celtics really need him and in the second round your hoping to get a project or a more polished player.

The other player the Celtics drafted Orien Greene is somebody I know very little about. The early projections is that he's a Bruce Bowen type of defensive player. A tall guard who is raw offensively, but his length and athleticism will allow him to play some spot D. We'll see. I can't complain too much about the second round though because the Celtics picked pretty low, but it seems like Jawad Williams or Jakie Manuel would have been good picks over Orien. Time will tell.

Overall I give it a B.

Ghost of Jordan Past

Send it in Jerome! (Er, I mean Robert). That's a dunk that might have given Digger a stroke. I can't believe Horry made his 34 year old frame move like that. What is missed in the photo is the meek attempt by Rip to draw a charge that actually resulted in a foul. You could see he was frightened by Horry's move in the replay.

Big Shot Bob

Hey Rasheed? Who did you leave open on the double team? Good decision, Roscoe.

Time to circle the wagons

Another very, very good game for Miami and a surprisingly lackadaisical performance by Detroit. With Shaq and Wade having foul trouble early and with Wade basically out of the game for the last quarter and a half the Heat took game 5 and look poised to move onto the NBA finals. I think Detroit will bounce back, but the consistency from game to game just isn't very good. Rasheed Wallace in particular is a problem here. All the Detroit players are letting the refs get to them too much. They need to drop the bitching and complaining and just play their game. The other thing that I feel is hurting Detroit is their desire to try and foul guys out. They went to Shaq's or Wade's man too often when they were picking up fouls trying to knock them out of the game. Detroit doesn't have the type of players that can get fouls on themselves when they want to and when making a guy pick up a foul becomes your offensive strategy then your offense is going to suffer and play more into the defenses hands. Larry Brown said it himself last night when he said they needed more ball movement. Detroit just nees to play the right way.

In other news, it's not clear if Wade will be ready for game 6 at the Palace. This has to be a very big concern for Miami as they need the 1-2 punch of Shaq and Wade to get over the hill to the finals. If Wade doesn't play Eddie Jones is going to have to have a superlative game (he has played exceptionally well already). I think Miami can do it, but it will be tough on the road without Wade and with a still very immobile Shaq. I noticed after Wade drew that late charge from Rasheed just before he went out how armored up he is. Thigh pads, knee pads, elbow pads, and then a flack jacket after the charge. He must take some severe beatings to be wearing all that stuff.

Artest soon to be seen wearing a wedding dress on a motorcycle

From a Detroit Paper:

Weird scene
The Pistons were still shaking their heads at what happened Thursday
night as they were on their bus inside the loading-dock area of
Conseco Fieldhouse.
It was between 11:30 and midnight and the Pistons' bus was about to
leave the arena for the airport.
Suddenly, a dark Escalade roared into the loading dock, nearly hitting
several people.
Out jumped Ron Artest, the Pacers forward who got a seasonlong
suspension for his part in the Nov. 19 brawl.
According to Pistons players on the bus, Artest was wearing an old
(and short) pair of shorts. He had no shoes on and, upon getting out
of the vehicle, he tore off his T-shirt.
Given the history between Artest and the Pistons, the team's security
officials were on high alert. But Artest made no motion toward the
bus. He simply walked, bare-chested and bare-footed, into the
building, presumably for a midnight workout.
"There's something going on there," Ben Wallace said, not wanting to
comment further.

That's insane isn't it? How is it possible that I did not hear about
this incident on Inside the NBA, The Smack, or ESPN.com? What a wack
job. Larry Bird better start firing up the trade machine.

Done and done. And I mean done.

The Spurs just absolutely showed the Suns the way out of the playoffs
last night. No question about it. They played fastbreak basketball
better than Phoenix and came out wiht a killer mentality against the
Suns. In both games they pushed towards 20 point leads that had
Phoenix scrapping and scrambling to get back into the game, perhaps
wasting too much energy for a team that isn't that deep. Game two was
close down the stretch and the difference between the two teams was
glaring. The Spurs can man up, rotate, and do whatever it takes to
get a stop. The suns are completely incapable of getting a stop,
especially when the game is on the line. Game one San Antonio shot 20
of 26 from the floor (with four of those misses resulting in offensive
rebounds!) and last night they shot 12 of 17 from the floor. Phoenix
consistently could not get defensive rebounds, and there's really no
excuse with leapers and youngin's like Amare, Hunter, and Marion.
This is going to be the curse of Phoenix. My suggestion for Phoenix
in the off season? Hire a coach who can get some defense out of his
crew. Jim O'Brien just got his walking papers in Philly. He likes a
free wheeling offense as evidenced by his allowing his superstars to
run the show, but he demands defensive play. I think he might be the
shot in the arm that Phoenix needs. The offense definitely is not
broke, but the defense is. Oddly enough I thought this unmasking was
going to happen at the hands of Dallas, but obviously Dallas has their
own problems especially with Dirk's historonics and lack of
production.

Pacers vs. Celtics

I have no idea what's going on in this series. Ultimately I would have to say it's two teams butting heads that aren't very good. So up and down. I watch the action and realize that it is likely that both of these teams would be swept by either Miami or Detroit.

2005 Playoff predictions

Round 1:

Eastern Conference:

Miami vs. New Jersey - Shaq-fu is a little hurt and there is talk of the fact that he may not play the first couple of games this series. If that's the case then New Jersey has a chance to stay competitive in this thing. Vince Carter's decision to earn his money again this season has been nice. There's not a lot of options to stop him on the heat. But here's why I see Miami handling this thing easily. 1. Jason Kidd cannot shoot, and hasn't been able to pull his clutch shooting routine much anymore. 2. There is no defensive answer on NJ for Dwyane and Shaq. 3. New Jersey has only one scoring option and that's Vince. He's going to pussy out the first time Hasslem or Shaq flattens his ass. And that's that.

Miami 4-2

Chicago vs. Washington - The Bulls have been decimated by injury late in the season with Deng breaking his wrist and Curry suffering from an irregular heart beat. That's not good. But frankly the Bulls have lost key players during the season and still found ways to win. They play such a good team game. They'll miss Curry's low post scoring, but not in this game. Washington doesn't have any interior scoring or defense. And while Washington has a three-headed monster in Arenas-Jamison-Hughes, I just don't see them lighting up Chicago and their league leading defense (well, they have the lowest opponents FG% at 0.422. Not bad).

Chicago 4-2

Boston vs. Indy - We meet again. Third first round tussle with Indiana has some problems. O'Neal is hurting, the Abuser is out, Artest isn't making a playoff cameo, and Reggie is tired from carrying this team into the playoffs. The Celtics real weak spot is center and if O'Neal was healthy the C's would be in trouble, but that's not the case. I see the Celtics handling buisness in this series, though it won't be easy because they are predictable in close game situations and they don't defend the post well. Still, I see it going Boston's way here.

Boston 4-3

Detroit vs. Philly - Iverson put the Sixers on his back yet again and brought them to the playoffs. A marvelous performance by AI, and really astonishing considering the beating he takes every year. He plays with the most heart and toughness of anyone in the NBA and is fun to watch. But the problem is that he is not a great team player, and his team isn't that good. Detroit on the other hand is a solid, cohesive team loaded with defensive stoppers and just enough offensive to knock people around. It's going to be fun watching Webbs cry and then bitch and moan after the fans boo him out of town.

Detroit 4-0 sweeper special.

Round 2:

Miami vs. Chicago - Chicago is young and precocious. Shaq will now have the taste of blood in his mouth. Too much inexperience and no one to make Shaq work defenisively will hurt Chi-town in this round. This will be very easy for Miami and allow Shaq to rest up for his grudge match with a certain eastern conference team.

Miami 4-1

Detroit vs. Boston - I've watched enough Celtics basketball to know that Boston doesn't have the consistency, fundamentals, or mental toughness to hang with Detroit. Tayshaun can cause Pierce all kinds of problems, and the Wallace brothers are going to give us the ugly reminder of why Danny Ainge traded Walker away in the first place. Hopefully the Celtics can save face here, or maybe Larry Brown gets weirder and bolts from the Pistons mid-playoffs. That's the only way I see them having a chance.

Detroit 4-0

Round 3:

Detroit vs. Miami - This is the clash of the Titans now. The clear front runners in the Eastern Conference once the Brawl removed Indy from this weight group. The last time Shaq tangoed with Detroit in a series he had on the purple and gold, and he looked very, very effective. That Lakers team had funk problems. Not so this Miami team. Miami comes in with two all-world players in Wade and Shaq who cannot be stopped offensively. Haslem has shown that he can scrap and hold his own against Ben Wallace (rasheed will be too much for Udonis offensively) which is good. And Zoe is showing signs of being able to give Miami effective minutes. I think that's enough to beat Detroit, who I don't think are talented enough to beat a team with beaming superstars that are playing together. It will be interesting to see how Brown defends Shaq and how effective Rip will be (will Wade guard him? Can Eddie Jones even hope to stay with him?). But in the end, Shaq is too much for everybody. And he's happy. And he's motivated.

Miami 4-2.

Western Conference:

Round 1:

Phoenix vs. Memphis - Everyone is rightly noting that Memphis backed into the playoffs after initially responding to the Czar. Memphis hopes to be physical and slow the pace of the game down to give themselves a chance to win this series. Fratello clearly is one of the coaches who conspired to ruin basketball by overcoaching and playing a slow down game. I don't see how he can be successful here. This Phoenix team has too many horses and a great floor general in Nash. Every opportunity is a fast break and Stoudemire runs the floor better than any big man I've ever seen. Memphis will succeed sometimes in slowing the pace, but this will also hurt them as they have no real go to scorer in the half court sets, but rather unsteady and unproven shooters and wingmen.

Phoenix 4-1

Dallas vs. Houston - This could be a really entertaining playoff series. Dallas has actually improved in several areas since Nash and Nellie departed. Avery Johnson has emphasized defense, defense, defense and Dallas has one of its deeper teams in a while with a legitimate enforcer in the paint. Dirk has clearly risen to top five status this year emerging as a full-fledged superstar. Houston started out slowly, but it seems that McGrady and Yao are starting to click a little better. Houston's front office was also wise to bring in some extra help in the likes of David Wesley and Jon Barry to stabilize their rotation. Yao's numbers have been good this year considering that he's averaging 30 minutes a game (he needs an offseason to really develop) and Mutumbo continues to show some signs of life. In the end I think Houston is limited by a lack of a PF, a key position on the floor, and Dirk is going to exploit that to no end. Still could be a fun series to watch though.

Dallas 4-2

Seattle vs. Sacramento - I really don't know. According to my Seattle source people are getting ready for the next big let down, but honestly Seattle has had some key injuries coming down the stretch. Sacto has had the same problem losing the likes of Peja and Brad Miller for significant stretches. Both are expected to play in this series. I'm only thinking Seattle is going to win because I don't like Sacto. Really, I have no clue what happens here.

Seattle 4-2

San Antonio vs. Denver - No team is playing better in the second half of the season than Denver under Carl. They have a lot of front court size and some fairly reliable scorers. Anthony remains a question mark. He's shown signs of being a really good player, but also showed a lot of inconsitency in his first playoff appearance. Granted he was a rookie. The buzz out of San Antonio is all about Duncan's ankle. If it's healthy they expect a run for the title. If not, well it's hard to predict. Still San Antonio had great games even with Duncan out with players like Ginobli really raising their game a notch. I like the Spurs here because they have big game experience and Denver does not and Karl has a history of having talented teams flame out. Denver just isn't ready yet.

Spurs 4-2

Round 2:

Dallas vs. Phoenix - Can't miss entertainment. Dallas plays a little more defense this year than in previous ones but they can still run and score with the best of them. I really think Dirk is going to be the difference in this series with too much scoring and too much clutch scoring. Plus I think Dallas can guard Nash with some bigger players like Daniels and stifle him a bit. This is still going to be so much fun to watch.

Dallas 4-2

Seattle vs. Spurs - Tim Duncan. Tim Duncan. Tim Duncan. That's all that matters here, and let's face it both Seattle and Sacto are soft as hell so the Spurs are going to mash whichever team gets here.

Spurs 4-1

Round 3:

Dallas vs. Spurs - Nobody can stop Dirk. But nobody can stop Duncan defensively either and San Antonio has more options and just better all around experience. We saw last year that San Antonio certainly has weaknesses (e.g. knock Parker on his ass a couple of times and he becomes less aggressive) but I think Dallas has more of them. I think without a Shaq sized obstacle in his way, Duncan shreds through the lesser opposition of this years playoffs.

Finals:

San Antonio vs. Miami - Shaq vs. Duncan round two. I think Miami takes it because this might be the most motivated Shaq has been in years. I see him giving it his all, putting up 30-20 games to go along with Wade's all around excellence and the help of a few role players. Shaq can force Duncan into playing more defense than he normally does and get him into foul trouble. Wade causes headaches for the Spurs and is quick enough to handle Ginobli or Parker on Defense. The only issue will be Eddie and Damon hitting shots and Haslem getting garbage points and working the glass. Plus I think 'Zo gives them just enough to get by.

Miami 4-2

Kobe Bryant superstar, year one

Now that the Lakers have utterly collapsed as a dissapointing team (perhaps even finishing below the lowly Clippers) it's time to consider how year one of Kobe Bryant me, myself, and I went.

The good. Kobe is a supremely talented player and his personal statistics show this as he is second in the league in scoring and is shooting a decent 0.431 from the floor. He is bascially averaging 27, 6, and 6 with 4 turnovers per game. Not bad numbers at all. Kobe also showed more willingness to play harder defense this year and hasn't suffered any shoulder problems. He did have an ankle sprain recently but he is back and has played in 63 of the Lakers 78 games. Last year he played in 68 and had the shoulder problem.

The bad. If you watch the Lakers, they stand around much too much and wait for Bryant to initiate something. Bryant's penchant for dribbling the ball without really doing anything has increased which is partially to blame for the standstill in the offense. Kobe also appears to not have the support of his teammates with Chucky Atkins most recently calling Kobe out and with Kobe awkwardly declaring afterwards that Chucky was his "road dawg", whatever that means. Worse yet, the Lakers have only won 34 games to 44 losses.

The historical context. The last two times Kobe played in the equivalent number of games the Lakers won 56 ('03-04, 65 games played due to rape trial/injury) and 56 ('00-'01, injury). In the former the Lakers finished second place and in the latter they were NBA champions. Both happened with Bryant on the floor in the playoffs. The key to both runs though was Shaquille O'Neal, and this shows especially this year with Shaq being older and slower than during the three titles, but still leading the Heat very close to 60 wins in his first year with that team and a new lieutenant, D'wyane Wade.

Some would argue that Kobe's team and coach changed so dramatically that he would have been hard pressed to win in the competitive western conference. This is partially true. But one only need look back to Michael Jordan's first retirement to see how Scottie Pippen and crew were able to keep the Bulls aloft even without his Airness, arguably the games greatest all-time player. In 1994 the Bulls won 55 games and finished second to Atlanta in the Central division behind only two games. They made a deep run in the playoffs and were a serious finals contender. The next year '94-95, the Bulls won 47 games with a rusty Jordan playing in only 17 of those games with mixed results as he reincorporated himself into the flow before a dissapointing playoff run in which Jordan looked uncormfortable on the court during key moments of the game. In neither year did the Bulls plummet to the level that Bryant's Lakers have this year. In fact, the Bulls were serious title contenders in Jordan's first sabatical. Competitiveness of a conference can be debated, but a superstar doesn't let his team miss the playoffs. It just doesn't happen. Pippen lifted his game and with his help, his teammates responded in kind.

I know it's only year one, but I think this will show a trend over the rest of Bryant's career. A great player, prolific and efficient scorer, great defender (when he puts his mind to it), but lacking the qualities of leadership needed to make his teammates better and perform at a higher level than they could on their own. I think Kobe makes a great second banana, but a permier leader he is not.

Season Awards

Here's how I see the Awards settling in:

MVP - Should go to the self-described MDP. Shaq has brought the Heat the number one overall seed in the East and in the NBA. And outside of D'wayne Wade, there isn't a lot of other talent on this team. Shaq made everyone better.

Coach of the Year - Scott Skiles. The Bulls surprising and impressive turnaround this season gets Skiles the nod. He's no nonsense and tough on his young players. Just what they needed. An 0-9 start to challenging for your division isn't bad.

Rookie of the Year - Ben Gordon. Mr. 4th quarter himself (he leads the NBA in double-digit scoring in the 4th quarter), Ben has shown an ability for hitting tough shots and to score in droves when his team needs it. Has really adopted to his role as a sixth man too.

Sixth Man Award - Ricky Davis. I can't believe I just wrote that. Davis seems to be very content playing with and leading the second unit. He's been very efficient and prolific with his scoring and he has shown some great defensive presence out on the court. I don't see how he can't get this award. Of course, it will probably swell his head even more if he gets it.

Defensive Player of the Year - Maybe he's not getting the normal press that he does because of the rumble at the Palace, but this award goes to Ben Wallace. He's so Tenacious and without Artest around I can't think of anybody who can even challenge Big Ben for the award.

Most Improved Player - Brevin Knight. He's almost averaging double digit assists (9.0) playing just under 30 minutes a night, doesn't turn the ball over, shoots the ball well from the floor and the stripe, and is helping a team without many players win some games. I thought Knight had largely been written off in the league but I feel like he came back in a big way this season and deserves the award.

Who let the Dawg in?

I fail to see how San Antonio signing Glenn Robinson does them any good. They signed him in an effort to get the top seed in the Western conference playoffs hoping he can provide them with a scoring punch now that Timmy is down. He's not eligible for the playoffs because he signed after March 1st so really he's on a glorified 10 day contract. Weird. Just weird.

Polish sausage. Ditka. Da Bulls

There they go again. A young team playing tough, hard nosed basketball. The Bulls are on a six game winning streak and have overtaken the Cavs in their division. They remain 4.5 games back of Detroit and a potential 2 seed. This most recent win streak has been manufactured with Kirk Hinrich missing all the games and Luol Deng popping in and out of them with injuries. Stepping up big time have been Pargo, Duhon, and Noccioni. Tyson Chandler continues to excel in his defensive stopper/rebounding role and Eddie Curry is still providing the low post punch in the offensive sets. This team plays so well together and plays such nice offensive sets that losing Hinrich hasn't killed them. It can only make them stronger for the playoffs. Damn their winning though, I was really hoping to go see them match up with the Celtics in person for the first round of the playoffs. It's hard to imagine this young group going far in the playoffs, but with the state of things in the Eastern conference I don't think getting by the first round is out of the question.

Number 17?

The interest in the Celtics in and around New England has returned to a fever pitch. The return of Antoine and their subsequent winning streak put the Celtics back on the talk radio landscape which in turn has resulted in casual fans tuning their tubes to the Celtics. It's also a good time in local sports for the Celtics to get hot with the Pats being a long way off from training camp and the Sox just diddling around in Florida. Into the void the Celtics have stepped. So the trade for Antoine has been hugely successful from the standpoint of fan interest and in terms of winning. There is no question about this. The Celtics now hold the number three seed for the playoffs and perhaps could even dream of catching Detroit for the two seed. Thus we're going to see at least one home playoff series.

The more important question is have these moves brought the Celtics any closer to title number 17? I think the answer is no. Back when Ainge traded Antoine away it had to be done because he and Pierce needed some help on the floor and Antoine clearly was not a guy who was going to get the Celtics over the hump against bigger more agile power forwards such as Kenyon Martin. Additionally, it looked like nobody in the East had a shot at capturing a title against the Western behemoths who awaited their Eastern prey in the finals.

Under that set of circumstances Danny Ainge began rebuilding his team in the vision of 80s basketball. Fast breaking, uptempo, and good defense (not great defense). The kind of basketball that is enjoyable to watch and can be successful, just witness the rebirth of Phoenix this year. Along the way Ainge cemented Detroit as an Eastern power for years to come by helping them acquire Rasheed Wallace. No worries, our title hopes were at least three years away. Ainge bungled a few things, but got this years crop of rookies who show a lot of promise, most especially Al Jefferson. He also took the risk on Ricky Davis (a move I was not a big advocate of) and that has payed huge dividends. Ricky seems to love his sixth man role and I would be shocked if he did not win it this year. So the future was looking brighter. And of course this year Miami got Shaq teamed up with Dywane Wade creating another Eastern power. All the more reason for the Celtics to stay the course and lay low. So what if they didn't make the playoffs this year or struggled to do it? That might mean a higher draft pick or even a lotto pick. Trades or drafts could only improve the Celtics stock. Clearly the new owners were a bit impatient and Danny took the one year no risk flier on bringing Antoine back thus setting back his title plans.

What can Antoine do? He plays hard every game and brings an infectious enthusiasm to a team that was sorely lacking it. Even Mark Blount has responded and is now playing the type of ball that brought him his riches this offseason. Pierce is encouraged and playing better and the young rookies have a positive voice to respect instead of the gruff and self-interested barking of Gary Payton. The Celtics again have a great leader on the floor. And one who has reshaped his game a little bit since we last saw him in Boston. Better yet, he's a guy who really and truly wants to be in Boston and that's saying a lot in the post-Pitino years.

What can't Antoine do? Anything against Rasheed or Ben Wallace. There is no question about this. If the C's draw the Bulls in the first round, Tyson Chandler will eat him alive on the defensive end forcing Antoine to drift out to his old mistress, the three point line. I'm not so sure Antoine can do much against the unheralded but defensively sound Udonis Haslem of Miami. He'll still get his minutes and his shots, but what will happen to his confidence when matched up against a superior opponent? I thought Kenyon's beat down of Antoine a few years ago really taught him something which is why he lost the weight before being traded. So Antoine's not getting us to the finals, probably not even the Eastern conference finals.

He's also not letting some of the young guns off the bench. Perkins is hurting the most for minutes and he showed a nasty streak that every NBA team needs. Just look at Seattle's improvement with Fortson and Evans patrolling the paint and tangling with opponents. Perkins is still raw but was showing improvement. Most importantly, Al Jefferson is not getting the minutes he should. This kid is the future and needs to play. If he keeps improving he and Pierce could be a great one-two punch, especially when teamed with a dynamo like Ricky and a scoring point guard like Delonte. The Celtics still don't have a low post threat and Jefferson will be it if he continues his dramatic improvement.

So at the end of the day the short term payoff of the move has been great, no question. But will that payoff bleed into next year when Antoine is gone because he won't take a HUGE pay cut and the young guns are still a little bit off because they need to learn on the job? I think no. The casual fan will wonder why there was such a drop off in wins and quality of play and may just turn away again. And Boston still won't be any better than Miami or Detroit. It's a done deal now, so we'll just have to enjoy this years run while it lasts and keep hoping for the day when banner number 17 is raised to the rafters.