Honor Roll: Pro Basketball's Most Decorated Players
A slightly different version of this article was originally published in the April 2003 issue of Basketball Digest.
Barry Bonds, who won his record fifth NL MVP last season, is a member of the elite fraternity of athletes who have earned at least three MVPs. Unfortunately, most reports of Bonds' accomplishment neglected to mention that Julius Erving also belongs to this group. Erving won three ABA MVPs and one NBA MVP. The NFL recognizes AFL statistics and the NBA should do likewise with ABA statistics, including MVP winners and members of the All-League Team.
These statistics and awards are important for accurately assessing a player's place in basketball history, including worthiness for induction in the Hall of Fame. While Erving spent 11 of his 16 seasons in the NBA and easily did enough during that time alone to earn induction, many great players spent most or all of their careers in the ABA and deserve to have their achievements accorded full and proper recognition. The 11 players who won multiple regular season MVPs and the 12 players who earned at least nine All-League First Team selections represent the crème de la crème of pro basketball history.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar leads the pack with six MVPs and trails Karl Malone by one with 10 All-League First Team selections. Abdul-Jabbar has the most total All-League selections, edging out Malone 15-14. Only the "magnificent seven" of Abdul-Jabbar, Malone, Bob Cousy, Erving, Hakeem Olajuwon, Dolph Schayes and Jerry West made the All-League Team at least 12 times. It should be noted that Malone and Olajuwon's totals are augmented by one and three Third Team selections respectively; the NBA added a Third Team to the All-League roster after the 1988-89 season, by which time four of the five other players had retired and Abdul-Jabbar had just completed his final season.
Elgin Baylor, Cousy, Michael Jordan, Bob Pettit and West matched Abdul-Jabbar with 10 All-League First Team selections. This is a truly remarkable accomplishment, because it means being recognized as one of the two best players (or the best player in the case of the lone center selected each season) at guard or forward for an entire decade worth of seasons. Nobody gets 10 First Team nods by a fluke or accident.
Bill Russell and Jordan are tied for second place on the MVP list with five each. Russell's rival Wilt Chamberlain and Jordan's predecessor in flight Julius Erving are next with four apiece. Chamberlain and Russell enjoyed a stranglehold on MVP honors for over a decade, claiming nine of eleven between 1957-58 and 1967-68. Two-time honoree Pettit and the versatile Oscar Robertson each took one MVP during this period.
The 1961-62 season featured perhaps the greatest quartet of performances to ever vie for the award in one year. Robertson finished second despite becoming the only player to average a triple-double for a season (30.8 ppg, 12.5 rpg, 11.4 apg). Chamberlain scored a record 100 points in a game, set another mark by averaging 50.4 ppg and paced the league in rebounds (2052; 25.7 rpg) but came out third in the voting. Elgin Baylor's 38.3 ppg and 18.6 rpg (albeit in only 48 games due to military service) were only good enough for fourth place. The MVP went to Russell, who finished second in rebounds and was the driving force behind the Boston Celtics' league best 60-20 record and fourth straight championship (a string that would not be broken until it reached a remarkable eight in a row).
Interestingly, the writers and broadcasters who selected the All-League Teams frequently had a different perspective than the players who voted for MVP (writers and broadcasters later took over MVP voting duties as well, starting in 1980-81). Chamberlain made All-NBA First Team in 1961-62 and generally placed ahead of Russell for this honor. Chamberlain finished his career with seven First Team selections and three Second Team nods, while Russell's numbers were almost exactly opposite: three times on the First Team and eight times on the Second Team. They are the only two members of the ten man Associated Press All-20th Century pro basketball team to not have at least nine All-League First Team selections.
Robertson earned his only MVP in 1963-64, when he averaged a near-triple double (31.4 ppg, 11.0 apg, 9.9 rpg). Robertson's selection that year is important because a non-center would not claim the NBA MVP again until Erving won the 1980-81 award.
Erving is significant historically not only as a four time MVP--an elite distinction in its own right--but also because he won his MVPs in an era dominated by centers and he claimed more MVPs than any non-center in history until Jordan came along. While other non-centers did win MVPs in the ABA, which featured a more wide open style of play than the more established league, Erving was the only non-center to win multiple ABA MVPs and he was the only non-center to "validate" his ABA trophies with an NBA MVP. In fact, his trailblazing win in 1980-81 not only "validated" his earlier MVPs but also foreshadowed the emergence of Bird, Magic and Jordan as non-center MVPs over the next two decades.
It is impossible to say how many MVPs Erving would have won if only one pro league had existed at that time but the evidence suggests that in his case it depended more on the style and coaching philosophy of his team than the level of play of the league. When New York Nets' coach Kevin Loughery made Erving the focal point of the team the Nets won two ABA championships in three years and Erving was the MVP three years running. After Erving joined the Philadelphia 76ers he deliberately sublimated his game to blend in with his teammates (including forward George McGinnis, who shared the 1974-75 ABA MVP with Erving) and did not win the MVP immediately, although he was still an All-League player.
Billy Cunningham replaced Gene Shue as 76ers' coach early in 1977-78, Erving's second season with the team. Injuries and personnel turnover hampered the team for the next couple seasons but by 1979-80 the Sixers were clearly built around Erving. He carried the team to the Finals and finished second to Abdul-Jabbar in MVP balloting. The next season Erving won his fourth MVP in eight years.
After Cunningham restructured the team around Erving, the Sixers made three Finals appearances in four years, finally winning the title after adding Moses Malone (another multiple MVP winner) to the mix in 1982-83 to counter the Lakers' combination of past (Abdul-Jabbar, Bob McAdoo) and future (Magic) MVPs.
Erving bridged the gap between Robertson and Bird-Magic-Jordan. His MVP caliber play helped keep the ABA viable and sparked interest in the NBA for a merger to enable the established league to showcase his unique talents. If his MVPs are not counted and listed alongside those of the other greats of the game it is a disservice not only to Erving but to basketball history itself.
The same reasoning applies to All-League Teams. When Erving and Rick Barry's ABA totals are included, each earned nine All-League First Team selections, tying with Robertson, Bird and Magic on the all-time list. This is an accurate reflection of their status in the game, as each of these five players was the preeminent individual at his position for an extended period of time. Barry is the only one of this group to not win an MVP, although some feel that his unpopularity among his peers cost him the 1974-75 trophy. He won Playoff MVP that year after leading Golden State to a shocking 4-0 sweep of the powerful Washington Bullets in the Finals.
One should not assume that players who made the All-ABA First Team would not have attained that honor if only one league had existed at the time. Several players earned All-League First Team recognition in both leagues, including Erving, Barry, Cunningham, Connie Hawkins, Spencer Haywood and McGinnis. Barry began his career in the NBA, sat out his option year to jump to the ABA and then returned to the NBA. In his first 10 seasons (six NBA, four ABA) he made All-League First Team nine teams and was a Second Team selection once.
At least Erving and Barry are both in the Hall of Fame and have secure places in basketball history. Mel Daniels, a two-time ABA MVP and three-time champion with the Indiana Pacers, was a perennial rebounding leader and tough scorer whose best days were past by the time the leagues merged. He is one of the top playoff rebounders in pro basketball history and earned as many MVPs as the more celebrated Pettit and Karl Malone, but he is a largely forgotten figure.
MVP and All-League Team selections are significant not only as recognition for great play during a given season but also as career defining achievements. A great player's legacy is measured in no small part by how many MVPs and All-League Team selections he garnered. Ignoring ABA award winners not only short changes many elite players but also distorts basketball history.
| Pro Basketball's Honor Roll |
| Most Reg. Season MVPs |
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| Player | MVPs |
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| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 6 |
| Bill Russell | 5 |
| Michael Jordan | 5 |
| Wilt Chamberlain | 4 |
| Julius Erving | 4 |
| Moses Malone | 3 |
| Larry Bird | 3 |
| Magic Johnson | 3 |
| Bob Pettit | 2 |
| Mel Daniels | 2 |
| Karl Malone | 2 |
| Most All-League Selections |
|
|
|
|
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|
|
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| Player | Total | 1st Team | 2nd Team | 3rd Team |
|
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| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 15 | 10 | 5 | 0 |
| Karl Malone | 14 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
| Bob Cousy | 12 | 10 | 2 | 0 |
| Julius Erving | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 |
| Hakeem Olajuwon | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| Dolph Schayes | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| Jerry West | 12 | 10 | 2 | 0 |
| Most All-League 1st Team Selections |
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| Player | 1st Team |
|
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| Karl Malone | 11 |
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| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 10 |
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| Elgin Baylor | 10 |
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| Bob Cousy | 10 |
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| Michael Jordan | 10 |
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| Bob Pettit | 10 |
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| Jerry West | 10 |
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| Rick Barry | 9 |
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| Larry Bird | 9 |
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| Julius Erving | 9 |
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| Magic Johnson | 9 |
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| Oscar Robertson | 9 |
|
Notes: The NBA MVP was first awarded after the 1955-56 season; the All-NBA Third Team was first selected after the 1988-89 season.
Labels: Bill Russell, Bob Pettit, Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Mel Daniels, Michael Jordan, Moses Malone, Wilt Chamberlain
NBA Truths
The foundation of wisdom is to ask intelligent questions and earnestly seek honest answers to those questions, even if those answers go against what you are inclined to believe. Most of what you read and hear about the NBA is devoid of wisdom because most writers/talking heads are too ignorant, biased and/or indifferent to pursue wisdom.
Here are some NBA questions and answers worth pondering:
1a) What criteria are properly used to evaluate the so-called "supporting casts" of great players? Some people still insist that Michael Jordan single-handedly carried the Chicago Bulls to six championships, despite the fact that Jordan had one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players by his side during each of those title runs--and despite the fact that Jordan's career playoff record sans Scottie Pippen is 1-9. That is not a misprint--the player who is often called the greatest of all time won exactly one playoff game without having Pippen as a teammate. Pippen's brilliance offensively as a point forward and defensively as both a lock down defender and a devastating help defender enabled Jordan to sprint down court and obtain good post position offensively while also relieving him of some defensive burdens (to a lesser degree, Cleveland's acquisition of Mo Williams last season similarly freed up LeBron James to work off of the ball offensively, a luxury that James does not enjoy at the moment now that his playmaking load has been increased due to injuries suffered by Williams and Delonte West).
During his first three title runs, Jordan had a former All-Star at center (Bill Cartwright) and one of the best defensive power forwards in the league (Horace Grant), a mobile big man who could jump out to trap guards and then race back into the paint to defend his own man--think Anderson Varejao with a deadly 15 foot jump shot. The 1991-93 Bulls had three sharpshooting guards (John Paxson, B.J. Armstrong, Craig Hodges), one of whom emerged as an All-Star (Armstrong) when he got more playing time after Jordan's first retirement as the Bulls shocked many observers by winning 55 games in 1993-94 without his Airness. The 1996-98 Bulls championship teams essentially swapped Grant for a player who was the best pound for pound rebounder in history and who also was a two-time Defensive Player of the Year (Dennis Rodman). Those Bulls replaced Cartwright with a three headed monster of solid if unspectacular centers but they had a lot of talent on the perimeter alongside Jordan and Pippen: versatile Sixth Man of the Year Toni Kukoc, wily Ron Harper--a former 20 ppg scorer who reinvented himself as an excellent defensive player--and Steve Kerr, the NBA's career leader in three point field goal percentage.
There is no doubt that Michael Jordan belongs on the short list of players who could legitimately be given the somewhat mythical title of "greatest basketball player of all-time" (I say "somewhat mythical" because there is no realistic, objective way to compare a shooting guard who played under 1990s rules and conditions with, say, a center who played under 1960s rules and conditions--such comparisons can be fun and occasionally even enlightening but they can never be conclusive). Is it really necessary to try to artificially enhance Jordan's "case" for all-time greatness by falsely demeaning the skill sets, talents and contributions of his teammates?
1b) LeBron James is the Most Valuable Player in the NBA right now; I said as much in my April 17, 2009 post titled
An Objective Analysis of this Season's MVP Race, though contrary to last season's MVP voters who selected James in a landslide decision I felt that in the 2009 regular season James only slightly outperformed Kobe Bryant. During last year's playoffs, James
had a magnificent playoff run for the ages but I
noted that in leading the Lakers to the championship Bryant made a case that he is still the game's best player:
James certainly had a tremendous postseason but watching Bryant lead the Lakers to the title you could see the significance of some of the skill set advantages Bryant has over James--particularly the ability to consistently make the midrange jump shot: teams simply cannot ever concede that shot to Bryant and thus Bryant is very difficult to single cover in the 15-18 foot area, which opens scoring opportunities for all of his teammates. It is no accident or coincidence that Pau Gasol has played the most efficient ball of his career since joining the Lakers (see below for more on that subject) or that career journeymen like Trevor Ariza and Shannon Brown suddenly become much more productive playing alongside Bryant: Bryant's teammates know that they are going to be wide open and, just as importantly, they know exactly when and where they will be open and they know that Bryant is a willing passer, so all they have to focus on is knocking down wide open shots.During the opening stages of this season, Bryant picked up where he left off in the playoffs and then elevated his game further,
adding some Hakeem Olajuwon post moves to his repertoire and leading the NBA in points in the paint as the Lakers stayed atop the standings even without the services of the injured Pau Gasol. Circa mid to late December Bryant was on course to win this season's MVP--but then a broken finger followed by back spasms sent his field goal percentage plummeting and his Lakers not only lost two games to James' Cavs but fell behind the Cavs in the race for the NBA's best record. Meanwhile, James' numbers continued to improve while Bryant's declined, so James has to be considered this season's MVP so far. A healthy Bryant still has a more complete skill set than James but that fact is being rendered irrelevant for two reasons: James is rapidly eliminating his few remaining weaknesses (thereby making his physical advantages over Bryant that much more significant) and Bryant's age/health are making it increasingly difficult for him to maintain peak level performance over the course of an 82 game season. Bryant may yet outperform James during the 2010 playoffs--buoyed by the off days between playoff games--but the spring/summer of 2010 could very well be Bryant's last opportunity to enjoy individual superiority over James; when James posted up on the right block versus Miami on Thursday night and then hit a one handed jumper in the paint TNT's Mike Fratello exclaimed that he had never seen James take such a shot and that this move is essentially unguardable--but I
have seen this move before; James practiced this exact shot prior to the Cavs' second victory over the Lakers, as I mentioned in the second paragraph of
my Courtside Notes from that game: I called that shot (and the other new moves that James worked on during that practice session) "the scariest sight for the rest of the NBA." I truly believe that I saw the future in those pregame moments: James working on honing his ability to dominate not purely on the basis of power/athleticism but because of positioning, footwork and shooting touch. James is learning how to master those elements at the same time that Bryant's physical skills and durability are waning, so James' edge over Bryant will only grow with time (something that Bryant would have staved off for another couple of years if James had not worked so diligently on defense, free throw shooting, three point shooting and--now--his post up game).
Note that it is possible to make an objective, skill set based comparison of Bryant and James without saying much--positive or negative--regarding their teammates. So why do some people insist on making asinine statements to the effect that if James were a Laker the Lakers would win more than 70 games or that if Bryant were a Cav the Cavs would not be as good as they are now? It is fascinating to observe how so many commentators rush to denigrate James' "supporting cast" in much the same fashion that Jordan's "supporting cast" has been belittled over the years.
If we must compare "supporting casts" let's at least do so objectively based on skill set evaluations and an understanding of each team's offensive and defensive philosophies. The Cavs under Coach Mike Brown are a defensive-minded team focused on holding the opposition to a low field goal percentage while also dominating the boards. That is why it is so silly to hear fans--and even "experts" who should know better--lament that the Cavs are weak offensively. Not only is that a stupid criticism to make of a team that owns the best record in the league precisely because of its focus on defense but statistics do not even support the contention that the Cavs are deficient offensively: the Cavs score over 101 points per game, lead the league in point differential (+7.3) and rank fourth in field goal percentage (.485), numbers that prove that the Cavs not only have no trouble scoring points but that they do so quite efficiently. There is nothing wrong with Cleveland's offense and there is no reason for the Cavs to make any offensive adjustments that could adversely affect the floor balance that enables them to be so effective defensively (they rank first in defensive field goal percentage and are tied for first in fewest points allowed).
LeBron James has vastly improved defensively since he entered the league and he appears to be on track to deservedly become a fixture on the All Defensive First Team--but one defender, no matter how great, cannot single-handedly make a team a defensive powerhouse: the Cavs have other players who are excellent individual defenders (most notably Anderson Varejao and Delonte West), plus the entire roster has bought into Coach Brown's system and found ways to maximize their defensive strengths while limiting their defensive liabilities.
The reality is that the Cavs' roster is both talented and deep (I explained the difference between "talent" and "depth"
here): just consider for a moment that at full strength the Cavs are currently bringing off of the bench three players (Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Anderson Varejao and Delonte West) who started for the team that had the best record in the NBA in 2008-09! Those players have been replaced in the starting lineup by Shaquille O'Neal (a former MVP who made the All-NBA Third Team last season), Anthony Parker (a starter for two playoff teams in Toronto who is one of the top three point shooters in the league) and young forward J.J. Hickson (an athletic dynamo who nicely complements James and O'Neal offensively and who is rapidly improving as a defender/rebounder). The Cavs can play a huge lineup with O'Neal, Ilgauskas, James, Jamario Moon and Anthony Parker--two seven footers plus three perimeter players who are each at least 6-6--or they can go "small" with Varejao at center, James at power forward and numerous different combinations manning the other three positions. Coach Brown has done an outstanding job of developing an effective rotation, rationing out minutes while dealing with a host of issues/concerns: O'Neal's age, West's off court problems, various injuries, the need to test out different five man units to see which players function together best in various kinds of matchups. Casual fans and so-called experts alike have so far displayed little if any appreciation for just how good of a coaching job Brown has done this year.
The Cavs may not have many "name" players other than James and O'Neal but don't let that fool you: their roster is legitimately 10 players deep, a claim that few if any other NBA teams can honestly make.
That statement segues perfectly into an examination of the Lakers' roster. You have no doubt heard countless people declare that the Lakers are the most talented and deepest team in the league. The Lakers receive a lot of media coverage and as a result some of their players who are completely ineffective due to injury or other reasons (including Luke Walton and Sasha Vujacic) are better known names to casual fans than the starters for some of the league's non-marquee teams--but that should not deceive anyone into believing that the Lakers are a deep team. The Lakers' depth is more mythical than the Loch Ness Monster or Sasquatch: the Lakers have an eight man rotation, with their seventh man (in minutes played) being Shannon Brown, who was the Cavs' 12th man in 2007 when the Cavs made it to the NBA Finals. Where do you suppose Brown would fit into the Cavs' rotation this year? Brown was expendable three years ago when the Cavs were not nearly as deep as they are now; on this year's Cleveland team he would not beat out Mo Williams, Delonte West or Anthony Parker and I doubt that he would get much run ahead of Daniel Gibson--who has been starting in the injured Williams' place recently with the Cavs hardly missing a beat--so it is safe to assume that Brown would be the 12th man on the Cavs this year. Yet Brown is an important rotation player for this year's Lakers. Has Brown dramatically improved since he left Cleveland? He certainly has become more famous while playing for the Lakers (as seen by the popular "let Shannon dunk" movement that helped him earn a berth in the upcoming Slam Dunk Contest) but his per minute averages are essentially the same that they have always been; the difference is that the Lakers, unlike the Cavs, do not have better players that would move Brown out of the rotation.
The Lakers' starting point guard Derek Fisher certainly supplies many intangibles--such as leadership, toughness and the demonstrated ability to make clutch shots--but purely in terms of skill set and production he has to be considered the worst starting point guard for any of the teams currently slated to make the Western Conference playoffs. Here are the other seven point guards for your consideration: Chauncey Billups, Jason Kidd, Deron Williams, Steve Nash, Tony Parker, Andre Miller, Russell Westbrook.
Pau Gasol is certainly a top flight big man but he is not better than Tim Duncan or Dirk Nowitzki, which is why Gasol annually ranks behind them in All-Star and All-NBA voting (see below for a more detailed discussion about Gasol).
Andrew Bynum is a five year veteran who has been healthy for a complete season just once, has never been selected as an All-Star, has never made an All-NBA Team and is frequently blasted by his own coach for his tendency to sprint toward the offensive end of the court but jog back on defense when the team needs him to have precisely the opposite attitude. Bynum has shown flashes of great potential but he has yet to prove that he has the durability or mindset to be a top level center; he was a 17.4 mpg afterthought during the Lakers' playoff run last year. Do those people who praise the Lakers' depth believe that Bynum is a better player than Amare Stoudemire or even Nene, to name just two other starting centers for Western Conference playoff teams?
Last summer, the Lakers essentially swapped journeyman Trevor Ariza for former All-Star Ron Artest. In Houston, Ariza--who some people wrongly dubbed a star in the making after the 2009 playoffs when he feasted on the open shots resulting from Bryant being double-teamed--has been a horribly inefficient swingman who is shooting well below .400 from the field, while Artest has battled through injuries (concussion, foot problems) to post marginally better numbers than Ariza did for last year's champions. It is debatable whether Artest's defense this year is better than Ariza's defense last year: Artest is more physically capable of guarding "big" small forwards like LeBron James and Paul Pierce but Artest now appears to be a bit less mobile and quick handed than Ariza and thus less able to get steals/deflections.
Lamar Odom has been so frequently referred to as "underrated" that I submit that he is now overrated. Odom has never been selected to an All-NBA Team or an All-Star team, meaning that fans, coaches and the media apparently have "conspired" to "underrate" him for more than a decade. This year, Odom is averaging a career-low 9.7 ppg while shooting .444 from the field, a very subpar figure for a power forward. Odom is often praised for his versatility but he is shooting just .299 from three point range and .683 from the free throw line so his "versatility" seems to consist of the ability to shoot a below average percentage from anywhere on the court. Odom's best asset by far is his ability to rebound (9.7 rpg) but if you evaluate his overall game objectively from a skill set standpoint as a scorer/defender/rebounder then you realize that he is hardly the All-Star level performer he is often touted to be. Anderson Varejao is more productive and more efficient, though many fans would likely laugh out loud at such a contention.
The Lakers' starting lineup of Gasol, Bynum, Artest, Bryant and Fisher is a veteran quintet that possesses size (other than Fisher, though he makes up in stoutness what he lacks in height) and plays well together but if you take Bryant out of the equation that group lacks the firepower (and tenacity) of the starting lineups in Cleveland, Boston, Denver, Orlando, Dallas and Utah, to name just a few (each of those teams has multiple players who are either current All-Stars or have made the All-Star team recently); without Bryant, opposing teams would double-team Gasol, bang him around and take the chance that none of the other guys could either score enough on his own or create enough scoring opportunities for others. Former Lakers General Manager Jerry West just said that if he were coaching against the Lakers with the game on the line he would send every defender at Bryant and dare anyone else to beat him, which is high praise for Bryant but hardly a ringing endorsement of what is supposedly the league's deepest and most talented team. Someone recently asked Bynum about how much more he might score if he were not playing with Bryant but Bynum candidly noted that the way that Bryant draws double teams actually makes it easier for Bynum to score, because all Bynum has to do is run the floor, seal his man in the paint and go to work one on one (an observation that I have made in several posts in the past few years).
Regardless of name recognition or hype, James has a deeper and more effective "supporting cast" than Bryant: the Cavs not only have 10 legitimate players but they have depth at each position and their various roster combinations are productive both offensively and defensively; in contrast, the Lakers are only eight players deep and their reserves have frequently squandered leads. The Cavs play tough, physical, defensive-minded basketball on a nightly basis, whereas the Lakers are much more erratic; that is a big reason why Bryant is so reluctant to miss any games even when his various physical ailments have limited him to the extent that his efficiency has been greatly compromised: Bryant trusts his ability to somehow will his team to victory more than he trusts his team's ability to consistently play tough, focused basketball in his absence (Bryant may be overly optimistic about what he can do in a physically compromised state but his doubts about his team's toughness are certainly well founded).
I rank James ahead of Bryant now not because of some spurious comparison of their "supporting casts" or wild speculation about what might happen if they magically switched teams but rather because James has attacked his skill set weaknesses while age/injuries have limited Bryant's ability to be a dynamic and efficient performer as consistently as he used to be. I'd still slightly prefer a healthy Bryant to a healthy James but that is a purely hypothetical statement: the reality is that James is just entering his prime, while Bryant is fighting a furious (and ultimately futile) battle against Father Time. The bottom line is that James was slightly better than Bryant last season, Bryant enjoyed a revival during the playoffs/first two months or so of this season and now James has moved ahead of Bryant by a larger margin than he enjoyed last season.
It is not necessary to falsely evaluate the "supporting casts" in order to correctly make a skill set comparison between Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, just like it is not necessary to denigrate Michael Jordan's teammates in order to appreciate Jordan's greatness.
2) In Pau Gasol's first six full NBA seasons, coaches, fans and media members did not consider him to be an "elite" player. How can that statement be proven to be true? Gasol made the All-Star team once and he never made the All-NBA First, Second or Third Teams, honors that are bestowed by fans (All-Star starters), coaches (All-Star reserves) and media members (All-NBA Teams). Since joining the Lakers in the middle of the 2007-08 season, Gasol has posted career-highs in field goal percentage (.567 in 2008-09) and rebounding (10.7 rpg in 2009-10), earned an All-NBA Third Team selection (2009) and was voted by the coaches to the 2009 and 2010 All-Star Games.
Gasol is clearly a skilled big man but he is not any more skilled now than he was two years ago. What changed is that Gasol no longer carries the burden of being his team's best player; Kobe Bryant has that responsibility for the Lakers, meaning that Gasol can post up without being double-teamed as frequently and Gasol can get an open face up or slashing opportunity almost any time he wants simply by setting a screen for Bryant and waiting for his man to trap Bryant. That is why Gasol's shooting percentage has soared and that is why Gasol's offensive rebounding is at career-high levels: Bryant attracts so much defensive attention that Gasol (and other Laker bigs) often have a free run to the offensive boards. Here is a challenge for all of you "stat gurus" out there: find out how many NBA bigs increased their offensive rebounding productivity in their ninth and tenth NBA seasons. Gasol did not suddenly learn new rebounding tricks; he simply has an easier path to the offensive boards now.
3) Do the same people who insisted that Kobe Bryant had to "validate" his greatness by leading a team to a championship without Shaquille O'Neal plan at any time to say the same thing about Dwyane Wade? If Shaquille O'Neal is an important inside force for the Cavs in the 2010 playoffs--as he has been in Cleveland's regular season victories over the Lakers and Magic, last year's NBA Finalists--and LeBron James wins his first NBA title will those critics say that James must win a championship without a dominant big man in order to "validate" any comparisons with Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and other great perimeter players?
Labels: Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Pau Gasol, Shaquille O'Neal
LeBron James' Impressive All-Star Game Resume
After just five appearances, LeBron James has already made his mark in the All-Star Game record book, averaging 23.4 ppg (first all-time, 2.9 ppg ahead of former leader Oscar Robertson), 6.6 rpg and 5.2 apg while shooting .516 from the field. James needs just 68 points--three more "average" games at his current pace--to crack the top ten on the All-Star all-time career scoring list, a group whose members have played in at least 11 All-Star games each. James is not a noted long range marksman but he ranks ninth in All-Star history in three point field goal percentage (.382; former Cavalier Mark Price is fifth at .474, while Glen Rice ranks first with a blistering .600) and is tied for third-fourth in All-Star history with 13 three point field goals made, trailing Kobe Bryant by four and Ray Allen by seven (you won't see any old school players on that list because the NBA first used the three point shot during the 1979-80 season and it did not become an integral part of most players' games until several years later).
NBA All-Star statistics are not as important or meaningful as numbers posted in regular season and postseason play but--as I first noted in a March 2002
Basketball Digest article titled
Midseason Maestros and then discussed again in an NBCSports.com piece called
NBA Allows Their Stars to Shine--even though All-Star games are by definition exhibitions the NBA All-Star Game more closely approximates a "real" game than the All-Star games sponsored by the NFL, MLB or NHL, each of which are governed by special rules or considerations that either limit players' playing time or curtail their opportunities to play the kind of all out, full speed game that earned them their All-Star selections in the first place.
James has already won two All-Star MVPs (2006, 2008), so he certainly has a chance to tie or break Bob Pettit's record (four; 1956, 1958, 1959--shared with Elgin Baylor--and 1962); Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant each won three All-Star MVPs (including the 2009 honor that O'Neal and Bryant shared).
Although James started young and will likely be an All-Star for at least 10 more years, he still has a lot of work to do to match Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time records of 19 All-Star selections and 18 All-Star game appearances. James' new teammate Shaquille O'Neal ranks second with 15 All-Star selections, though injuries limited O'Neal to 12 appearances. Julius Erving played in the All-Star game in each of his 16 seasons (five in the ABA followed by 11 in the NBA) and he holds the record for most All-Star points (321), while Michael Jordan (14 selections, 13 appearances) is the all-time NBA leader with 262 All-Star points, ahead of Abdul-Jabbar (251) and Oscar Robertson (246). Assuming that James plays in the All-Star game every year, at his current pace he will break Jordan's record in 2016 and then pass Erving's mark in 2018.
James' All-Star single game highs are 29 points (2006), eight rebounds (2005, 2008) and nine assists (2008) but he has yet to be the single game leader in any of those categories, so James has a long way to go to equal Bob Pettit (six-time All-Star scoring leader), Tim Duncan (six-time All-Star rebounding leader) and Magic Johnson (seven-time All-Star assists leader); it seems likely that James will be the scoring leader multiple times before his career ends and he probably will also be the leader at least once in assists--perhaps as soon as this year since Chris Paul, the 2008 and 2009 leader with 14 assists in each of those games, will not play due to a knee injury. Only four players--Pettit, Abdul-Jabbar, Erving and Elvin Hayes--have led an All-Star Game at least once in scoring, rebounding and assists. Pettit is the only player to lead in all three categories in the same All-Star Game--and he did it twice, 1956 and 1959; James certainly possesses the necessary all-around skills to not only duplicate that feat but also to become just the second player in All-Star history to post a triple double (Michael Jordan had 14 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in 1997, though he shot just 5-14 from the field).
Labels: Bob Pettit, Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson
Sporting News Strikes Again
First, the
Sporting News predicted that the Washington Wizards would be the third best team in the NBA in 2009-10 and that the Utah Jazz would miss the playoffs entirely (the Jazz currently rank fourth in the West, while the Wizards' plight is well documented). Now,
SN has progressed from ludicrous predictions to rewriting history: the February 4, 2010 issue of
Sporting News Today includes a chart that purports to list the ABA's nine championship teams and Playoff MVPs. The problems begin right at the top with a photo of Julius Erving bearing a caption that describes him as a "two-time MVP in the ABA"; Erving actually won three ABA MVPs (1974-76, sharing the 1975 honor with George McGinnis). For some reason, the fiction that Erving only won two ABA MVPs is widely repeated, reminiscent of
the myth that Erving's famous "rock the cradle dunk" over Michael Cooper took place in the 1983 NBA Finals (that dunk is actually from a January 5, 1983 regular season game).
It is not clear why a piece about championships and Playoff MVPs would have a photo/caption pertaining to regular season MVPs but this actually turns out to be a fitting introduction to the list of "ABA Playoff MVPs": the list is an absolute mess--at first you might think that
SN Today simply confused "Playoff MVP" with "Regular Season MVP" but in fact
SN Today's list is wrong on both counts. Here are the correct lists, followed by
SN Today's fictional account:
ABA Regular Season MVPs
1968: Connie Hawkins, Pittsburgh Pipers
1969: Mel Daniels, Indiana Pacers
1970: Spencer Haywood, Denver Rockets
1971: Mel Daniels, Indiana Pacers
1972: Artis Gilmore, Kentucky Colonels
1973: Billy Cunningham, Carolina Cougars
1974: Julius Erving, New York Nets
1975: Julius Erving, New York Nets; George McGinnis, Indiana Pacers
1976: Julius Erving, New York Nets
ABA Playoff MVPs
1968: Connie Hawkins, Pittsburgh Pipers
1969: Warren Jabali, Oakland Oaks
1970: Roger Brown, Indiana Pacers
1971: Zelmo Beaty, Utah Stars
1972: Freddie Lewis, Indiana Pacers
1973: George McGinnis, Indiana Pacers
1974: Julius Erving, New York Nets
1975: Artis Gilmore, Kentucky Colonels
1976: Julius Erving, New York Nets
ABA Playoff MVPs according to February 4, 2010
Sporting News Today1968: Connie Hawkins, Pittsburgh
1969: Mel Daniels, Indiana
1970: Spencer Haywood, Denver
1971: Mel Daniels, Indiana
1972: Artis Gilmore, Kentucky
1973: Billy Cunningham, Carolina
1974: Julius Erving, New York
1975: Artis Gilmore, Kentucky
1976: Julius Erving, New York
SN Today lists the AP and Insidehoops.com as the sources for the above erroneous information. I have no idea why anyone would consider Insidehoops.com to be an authority on basketball history and it is shameful if the AP's archives are truly that messed up. An even more important issue is the fact that
SN Today's editors not only are ignorant about ABA history but lack the common sense to figure out that it would be odd that--according to this chart--there were five different years that the Playoff MVP came from a team that did not win the ABA title (1969-1973). The NBA has awarded 41 Playoff MVPs (now called the Finals MVP), the ABA awarded nine Playoff MVPs and only one of those 50 honors went to a player whose team did not win the championship that year: Jerry West received the 1969 NBA Playoff MVP after posting 42 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists as his L.A. Lakers suffered a game seven loss to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.
Labels: ABA, Artis Gilmore, Connie Hawkins, Freddie Lewis, George McGinnis, Julius Erving, Roger Brown, Sporting News, Warren Jabali, Zelmo Beaty
Lakers Pound Pacers in Paint, Roll to 118-96 Win
Andrew Bynum had a strong double double (27 points on 12-14 field goal shooting plus 12 rebounds) and Kobe Bryant authored one of his best all-around performances of this season (29 points on 10-15 field goal shooting, nine rebounds, a game-high tying seven assists and just one turnover) as the visiting L.A. Lakers routed the Indiana Pacers, 118-96. Two other Lakers also had double doubles--Pau Gasol contributed 21 points and 13 rebounds, while Lamar Odom added 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds off of the bench--as the Lakers clobbered the Pacers 62-42 on the boards and outscored them 54-32 in the paint. Second string center Roy Hibbert led the outmatched Pacers with 21 points, while starting center Troy Murphy had a solid 18 points and five rebounds, but the Lakers overwhelmed the Pacers not with a 1-2 punch but with a 1-2-3-4 punch: their three bigs landed crushing body blows, while Bryant's all-purpose, inside-outside excellence delivered the knockout.
The Pacers had some success recently with a small lineup and Coach Jim O'Brien apparently felt that it would be futile to try to match up man for man with the Lakers so O'Brien opened the game with four perimeter players flanking center Troy Murphy; Danny Granger--normally a small forward--guarded power forward/center Pau Gasol, while Murphy tangled with Bynum. Granger, a first-time All-Star in 2009, recently returned to action after being injured, and he finished with just 14 points, five assists and three rebounds. After the game, Lakers' Coach Phil Jackson said that Granger seemed to be "limited physically," a quite apt description. Jackson seemed genuinely puzzled by O'Brien's starting five, noting that Murphy is several inches shorter and at least 30 pounds lighter than Bynum; Jackson said--without a hint of the sarcasm that sometimes flavors his comments--"I don't know if Jim was baiting us by starting Murphy at center."
The Lakers raced to an 18-8 lead less than five minutes into the game, with Bynum scoring 10 of those points from close range and Bryant adding six points on one drive and two jump shots. Murphy countered with three straight field goals--including a three pointer--and the Pacers valiantly battled back to pull within 31-29 by the end of the opening stanza. Bryant and Bynum each shot 5-5 from the field in the first quarter but Gasol shot just 2-8.
The Lakers' bench has not been a strength this season and, true to form, the L.A. reserves allowed the Pacers to briefly build a four point lead early in the second quarter, though the Lakers rallied to tie the game at 46 before Bryant returned to the fray at the 5:06 mark; overall, that is not a bad stint for the second stringers, because the game did not get out of hand while Bryant rested for nearly half of the quarter--that is still not as good as extending the lead, which one would hope that the reserves could do against a sub-.500 team, but just keeping things manageable is at least worth something, particularly in the second game of a back to back in the midst of an eight game road trip. After entering the game, Bryant promptly fed Gasol for an easy shot and the Lakers never trailed again, though the Pacers did tie the score a few more times. Odom broke the last tie with a buzzer-beating three pointer at the end of the half, giving the Lakers a 59-56 intermission edge. Bynum already had 22 points on 10-12 shooting, while Bryant's halftime line read 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.
After Bynum softened up the Pacers in the first half, Bryant hit them with combinations in the third quarter, leading both teams in scoring (13 points), rebounds (five) and assists (three). That one man assault forged a 92-78 lead for the Lakers but for good measure Jackson left Bryant in the game to start the fourth quarter. The Pacers chipped away a bit and Jackson decided to give Bryant a quick mid-quarter rest to keep him fresh for the stretch run. After Bryant came back in he drew a foul on Dahntay Jones--who guarded Bryant in last year's Western Conference Finals as a member of the Denver Nuggets--and when Bryant went to the free throw line the Indiana crowd serenaded him with "MVP" chants, which had to be a grating sound to Pacers President Larry Bird as he sat in his usual baseline perch. Apparently embarrassed by such overt displays of love for a visiting player, some Indiana fans responded by booing Bryant but, at best, the boos and "MVP" chants turned out to be roughly equal in volume during Bryant's second free throw attempt. Bryant split the pair to put the Lakers up 105-89 and he quickly removed any remaining doubts about the game's outcome by draining a three pointer and then lobbing an outlet pass to Gasol for a layup that turned into a three point play after a foul by Luther Head. Bryant concluded his night with a resounding left handed block of a Hibbert layup attempt; Bryant left the game during the ensuing stoppage of play and received a resounding standing ovation from the Indiana fans. Officially, the attendance for this game was listed as a sellout crowd of 18,165, but if all of the tickets were sold they certainly were not all used because there were plenty of empty seats.
Hibbert was pretty much the lone bright spot for Indiana in this game. Hibbert is averaging 11.1 ppg and 5.8 rpg this season, though he has shown occasional flashes of brilliance, including an Indiana victory over the Orlando Magic in which Hibbert completely outplayed Dwight Howard, scoring 26 points, grabbing eight rebounds and blocking four shots while Howard managed just 11 points on 2-6 field goal shooting, though Howard did snare 15 rebounds. After the game, I asked Jackson, "What were your impressions of Roy Hibbert?" Jackson answered, "He played hard. I thought that he played real hard in the post and he did a good job in the first half. Things didn't work out as well in the second but he had a good first half." I followed up by asking Jackson what adjustments the Lakers made regarding Hibbert in the second half and Jackson said, "We came back on him off of cutters a little bit to try to destroy his timing and not give him as much room." Hibbert actually shot 5-9 from the field in each half, so I am not sure if the Lakers' adjustments really affected Hibbert all that much, though Jackson can be forgiven for thinking otherwise just moments after such a blowout, especially because the freshest memory of Hibbert at that point was of Bryant swatting his shot out of bounds. Hibbert's game is eccentric: he has a big body and a soft shooting touch near the hoop but his moves are so mechanical and stilted that his lumbering gait reminds me of Anakin Skywalker taking his first halting steps after being entombed in the Darth Vader suit.
Overall, Jackson sees some chinks in his team's defensive armor. "Our middle is really soft. We're giving up a lot of penetration and whenever you give up that amount of penetration you are going to be hurt inside, outside and at the foul line." I asked him, "Does the problem in the middle of your defense have more to do with your guards giving up too much penetration by perimeter players or with how your big players are reacting?" Jackson replied, "It's a combination of both our guards keeping guys in front of them and our bigs reacting to help."
After
Cleveland beat L.A. last Thursday, Bryant expressed concerns about the Lakers' hunger and their toughness. I asked Bryant if this kind of win could in any way address such questions but I barely got the words out of my mouth before he said, "No," and then nodded his head in agreement when I added that the real tests would come versus "higher level teams." Bryant concluded, "It's a step in the right direction. We have to continue to make strides, continue to improve, continue to get better, so that when the playoffs come around we're ready to go."
*****************************
Notes From Courtside:
During Coach Jackson's pregame standup, I asked him, "After the New York game
Kobe made a comment that Pau is so intelligent that sometimes it almost becomes a detriment--he is kind of thinking too much instead of just reacting. When you played you were considered a cerebral player. How did you balance that out when you played and how do you advise Pau in that regard about how to be an intelligent player but not to the point that he is thinking so much that he is not just reacting to the flow of the game?"
Jackson answered, "Well, there is a point to that, and I'll go back to (longtime assistant coach/Jackson confidant) Tex Winter again; he said that a lot of people comment about the Triangle Offense being a difficult offense to learn but that the players who probably had the most difficult time learning the offense when he coached in college were the guys who were studying chemical engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering--the science guys who were really the brainiacs who had to think things through instead of reacting, because basketball is really a reacting sport. So, there is something to that. I'm not going to throw that on top of (Kobe's) comment (about Pau) but he's an intelligent ball player and a lot of times reacting is probably the most important thing in basketball."
The "triangle" that is most fascinating to me about the Lakers--even more so than Winter's innovative offense, a framework that has helped Jackson to win 10 NBA championships and should have long since resulted in Winter being enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame--is the one consisting of Jackson-Bryant-Gasol. Jackson is a minister's son who has embraced Eastern Asian and Native American philosophies and combined those world views with the teachings he learned as an NBA player under the tutelage of Hall of Fame Coach Red Holzman. Jackson was a star player in college but a role player in the pros, so he understands both sides of that equation. Bryant is the son of an NBA journeyman and he learned the game overseas from his dad and other pros, only to be (re)introduced to the sport from an American perspective after his family returned to the United States. Bryant honed his skill set to near perfection due to his relentless work ethic. Like Bryant, Gasol learned basketball in Europe and he has a finely tuned skill set but he has a different psychological makeup; one gets the inescapable impression that if Bryant misses 10 shots he thinks that means his next 10 shots are sure to go in, whereas even if Gasol makes eight of his first 10 shots he still might hesitate to shoot the 11th if he is not positive that it would be the "correct" play to do so. I think that Jackson and Bryant respect Gasol's skill set so much that they are able to look past Gasol's occasional moments of hesitation/indecisiveness in certain situations, because they perceive such reticence as a product of Gasol's intelligence as opposed to signs of what the general public or the media might term "softness." Gasol is not "soft" so much as he is deliberate; he is willing to rebound, he is willing to fight for post position, he is willing to play defense but sometimes he has to be goaded into doing those things or reminded that not only is he capable of doing so but that the Lakers need him to contribute in those areas. Jackson and Bryant understand that even though Gasol may not have the "killer" mentality of a Bryant or a Michael Jordan he is still valuable because of his versatile skill set and because Gasol truly wants to maximize his potential. While it is true that it has been a blessing for Bryant to be paired with a skilled big man like Gasol it is just as true that it has been a blessing for Gasol to have a coach like Jackson and a teammate like Bryant to push Gasol to his limits without stifling or demeaning his intelligence.
***
The 1992 U.S. Olympic Basketball Team--forever known as "The Dream Team"--won the gold medal in Gasol's hometown, Barcelona. After the game, I spoke with Gasol about that team and its impact on him.
Friedman: "Since there is talk about the Dream Team being inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame this year, I am interested to know what kind of effect the Dream Team had on your development as a basketball player?"
Gasol: "I was 12 years old at the time. The Dream Team caused a huge impact not only in Barcelona where the Olympics were played but I think all over the world. It was probably the greatest team ever put together, with great, great players. It was inspiring. It was inspiring for me as a kid because it was so much fun to watch. They dominated every single game against the best teams in Europe at the time--Lithuania and Croatia were very, very powerful but still they got beaten pretty badly."
Friedman: "Did that team give you the inspiration to become a professional basketball player? Did the thought come into your mind around that time or because of that?"
Gasol: "It didn't go that far but it just made me want to play more basketball. I had already played for a few years by that time, so it made me really want to play more and kind of imitate them because they were kind of like basketball gods for me and for lots of kids. It was inspiring--definitely inspiring."
I had planned to follow up that line of questioning by asking for Gasol's take about Bryant's comment regarding Gasol's intelligence but Lakers' Director of Public Relations John Black indicated that Gasol could not answer any more questions because Gasol needed to finish changing so that the Lakers could board their bus (Gasol was still wearing his uniform shorts, with his knees wrapped in ice and both ankles soaking in cold water); Gasol sheepishly shrugged regarding how long it takes him to do his postgame routine and said to me with a smile, "I'm getting old now."
***
In the early portion of this season, Bryant played some of the most efficient basketball of his entire career. With Gasol out of action due to a hamstring injury, Bryant camped out on the low block and for a while he led the league in points in the paint, showing off the array of post moves that he
learned from Hakeem Olajuwon last summer. Bryant averaged 29.9 ppg on .506 field goal shooting in November and scored 31.3 ppg on .479 field goal shooting in December.
Bryant suffered an avulsion fracture (a specific kind of broken bone when a ligament or tendon is torn so violently that it rips a piece of bone away from the bone's surface, as opposed to a more conventional break that happens when a bone is cracked without ligament damage) to his right index finger during the Lakers' 104-92 win over Minnesota on December 11. Bryant scored just 16 points on 7-24 shooting (.292) in a 102-94 road loss versus Utah the day after injuring the finger but then he seemed to make some kind of adjustment and he shot .492 from the field in the remaining nine games in December.
Bryant has banged the injured finger several times and he has experimented with various types of wraps/protective devices, trying to find the right balance between bracing the mangled digit while also allowing for maximum functionality. While Bryant tried to figure out how to deal with that problem he faced an additional challenge in the form of back spasms. Bryant's efficiency has plummeted recently. Bryant averaged 23.6 ppg on .398 field goal shooting in the first 14 games in January (i.e., not including the game versus the Pacers). His rebounding and steals numbers have also declined dramatically--though he did snare a career-high 16 boards on January 24 versus Toronto--and his free throw shooting has dropped from over .850 in November/December to just .774 in January's first 14 games.
How significant are those numbers? The last time Bryant shot below .400 from the field in a month during which he played at least eight games is December 2004 (.391 in 12 games). The last time Bryant shot below .800 from the free throw line in a month during which he played at least eight games is December 2005 (.794 in 16 games). After the game, I asked Bryant about this:
Friedman: "During the past couple games you have shot well but this month you are shooting the worst percentage that you have shot in several years. Have you recently made some kind of adjustment with your finger or your grip on the ball? What are you doing differently the past couple games?"
Bryant: "I just got healthier. That's all."
Friedman: "Has the swelling gone down so that you have more mobility in the finger?"
Bryant: "My back feels great. I haven't gotten hit on the finger (recently), haven't had any major setbacks, so I just feel healthier."
Friedman: "Was the back affecting your shot even more than the finger?"
Bryant: "Oh, sure. When you have back spasms it's tough to walk. I feel better."
After the rest of the media horde drifted away from Kobe Bryant as his postgame standup ended, Bryant greeted me by goodnaturedly clapping me on my left shoulder with his right hand and I then had the opportunity to speak with him one on one. I asked him again if he really felt that the biggest problem for him recently had been the back spasms and not the finger and Bryant unhesitatingly insisted that the back had been the main hindrance. He emphasized something that he had told another writer moments earlier, namely that as the back spasms healed Bryant's "bounce" had returned and his legs felt lively again. I told Bryant that I got a good look at his finger after
the Cleveland game and that I thought it looked terrible--swollen from the base to nearly the tip with a nasty discoloration streaking through the middle--and he agreed with me but said that it has healed a lot in the past few days. Bryant told me that he ices the finger daily after practicing.
I asked Bryant if he is surprised that no one has really taken an intentional shot at his finger and I mentioned that during a recent NBA TV broadcast Chris Webber had expressed surprise about this. Bryant immediately laughed heartily, declared that when Webber played he had never done anything like that and Bryant added with a big smile, "C. Webb is just talking (crap)--and you can tell him I said that!" I clarified that Webber had not said this to me personally but rather had stated it on the air but Bryant found the idea of Webber making such a statement in any context to be very humorous. Bryant clearly is not concerned that anyone is going to target his finger for "special treatment."
I said to Bryant that I don't believe that he can bend that finger due to how swollen it is and Bryant conceded that this is true. He had removed the big, black protective wrap that he dons during games but the finger was still covered with some white gauze (even with that covering I noticed that the finger looks less swollen now than it did after the Cavs game). Bryant showed me how much flexibility the finger currently has: he can barely bend it enough to form the letter "C." One credible skill that I possess as a basketball player is shooting ability and I can't imagine shooting a basketball accurately if my index finger were in that condition, so I looked Bryant dead in the eye and asked, "How are you able to shoot the ball now? Are you just resting it against the other four fingers and basically flinging it?" Bryant nodded in agreement and then demonstrated, raising his hand as if he were about to shoot an imaginary ball and indicating that he has altered his grip so that most of the weight of the ball is borne by the other fingers; he then flicks his fingers toward the hoop and gets by with the limited range of motion his index finger will permit.
It will be interesting to watch what happens during the rest of the Lakers' road trip--particularly the stop in Boston--but if Bryant is correct that his back spasms caused his January slump then we are about to see his efficiency return to its normal levels now that his back is OK and assuming that he does not suffer a setback with his finger. It would be great for the league to see a reasonably healthy Bryant and his Lakers battle LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers for the best record in the NBA--the two teams are essentially in a dead heat now, so the next three months could provide some great drama.
Labels: Andrew Bynum, Danny Granger, Indiana Pacers, Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers, Pau Gasol, Phil Jackson, Roy Hibbert
Shorthanded Cavs Own NBA's Best Record
Confounding the predictions and analysis of many "experts," the Cleveland Cavaliers now own the best record in the NBA even though they are currently without the services of two of the main cogs in their rotation, All-Star guard Mo Williams and versatile guard Delonte West (who led the Cavs in minutes played during last year's playoffs).
TNT's Charles Barkley constantly lambastes Cleveland's offense and it seems like every beat writer around the league has some trade proposal that will supposedly bolster Cleveland's roster but meanwhile Coach Mike Brown has successfully integrated offseason acquisitions Shaquille O'Neal, Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon into the fold and the Cavs are poised to make a serious run at the 2010 championship.
My newest CavsNews article takes a closer look at Cleveland's recent success:
Shorthanded Cavs Own NBA's Best RecordLabels: Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James
Kobe Bryant Wants Pau Gasol to be Tougher, More Decisive
After the L.A. Lakers defeated the New York Knicks 115-105 on Friday night, Kobe Bryant made a very interesting comment regarding Pau Gasol:
"Pau's too nice. He's too nice of a guy. And he's so intelligent I think he thinks too much...I told him that, 'You're very intelligent, highly intelligent, and I think that's working against you right now because you're thinking about things too much. Just go out there and just let it hang out.' "
Bryant's observations should sound very familiar to 20 Second Timeout readers, because I made exactly the same points in my
recap of Cleveland's Thursday night win versus the Lakers. Regarding Gasol's late-game failures--bungled layups, two missed free throws that could have tied the game--and Gasol's candid admission that his previous miscues weighed heavily on his mind when he shot the fateful free throws, I wrote:
No one should jump to conclusions about two missed free throws or about a few quotes delivered within 30 minutes of those free throws being taken--Michael Jordan famously said that he failed thousands of times and that is why he succeeded--but this whole situation provides some insight into Gasol's strengths and weaknesses as a player. Gasol is very cerebral--in his pregame remarks Jackson noted that he regularly gives Gasol lengthy, complex books that Gasol enjoys reading--and he possesses a wonderful basketball skill set but NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young likes to say that in football if you think too deeply you can end up all alone; similarly, one of the characteristics that Jordan, Bryant and James share is the ability to forget about previous failures/obstacles and then singlemindedly focus on the next play or the next shot. That is not to suggest that Jordan, Bryant and James are not cerebral--they all obviously possess high basketball IQs--but rather that they know when to turn off the critical parts of their minds in order to remain confident enough in their skills to make clutch plays. Gasol is cerebral enough to think about his failures and honest enough to admit to this in front of the media. Gasol should not be blasted for his intelligence or his candor but he also needs to develop a method to get out of his own way in such situations and rely on his skill set to carry him through instead of dwelling on what happened during previous plays.Labels: Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers, Pau Gasol
Hungry, Tough Cavaliers Outwork Lakers, 93-87
In case anyone thought that it was a fluke when the Cleveland Cavaliers
pushed around the defending champion L.A. Lakers on Christmas Day, on Thursday night the Cavs proved that not only can they manhandle the Lakers but they can do so shorthanded. The Cavs beat the Lakers 93-87 despite being without the services of 2009 All-Star guard Mo Williams and offseason acquisition Jamario Moon, two players who combined for 41 points on 14-20 field goal shooting versus the Lakers last time around. Without Williams' three point sharpshooting and Moon's opportunistic cuts to the hoop the Cavs did not score as much or shoot as well as they did on Christmas Day but they relied on the three pillars that have been their constant sources of strength under Coach Mike Brown: defense (the Lakers shot just .386 from the field, including .333 in the second half), rebounding (48-43 advantage, including a 40-27 landslide in the final three quarters) and the brilliance of LeBron James (37 points, nine assists, five rebounds, two steals, one blocked shot, 13-25 field goal shooting). James started slowly (six points on 2-5 shooting in the first quarter) and he connected on just one of his nine three point shots but he delivered 12 points on 5-7 shooting in the fourth quarter. James certainly authored an MVP level performance but this game should put to rest any questions about Cleveland's depth or Cleveland's supposed offensive deficiencies--the depleted Cavs beat a well rested Lakers team that owns the best record in the NBA and is at full strength.
Shaquille O'Neal played the
"Big Bill Cartwright" role to perfection with 13 points on 5-9 field goal shooting plus six rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes. O'Neal's season highs this year (21 points, 11 rebounds) are below what he
averaged during his prime but that just shows how misleading numbers can be without context: the Cavs won a league-best 66 games last year and would likely have at least come close to matching that total this season even without acquiring O'Neal--but O'Neal has provided an important physical presence in both wins over the Lakers plus a victory versus the Orlando Magic, two teams that had their way versus Cleveland last season. It is hard to imagine a less pleasant task for a low post defender than trying to keep O'Neal out of the paint while also dodging O'Neal's sledgehammer elbows (although Cartwright was not nearly as physically imposing as O'Neal, his "educated elbows" connected with many players and made them think twice about entering the paint); young Lakers' center Andrew Bynum--who is averaging 15.4 ppg and 8.5 rpg this season--was rendered ineffective by O'Neal in both games, managing just four points (on 2-5 shooting) and six rebounds in the first meeting and seven points (on 3-5 shooting) plus eight rebounds on Thursday. O'Neal has also had an obvious effect on Pau Gasol, who scored just 11 points on 4-10 shooting on Christmas Day and was even less efficient yesterday (13 points on 5-14 shooting).
The Lakers jumped out to a 9-0 lead and had a 27-18 advantage at the end of the first quarter but that was just fool's gold; Kobe Bryant scored 12 points on 5-8 field goal shooting in the opening stanza but that type of production and efficiency is not sustainable for 48 minutes against an outstanding defensive team, particularly when none of his teammates came to play with any energy, heart or toughness. Bryant finished with 31 points on 12-31 shooting, adding four assists and two rebounds. This was game one of an eight game road trip for the Lakers, which partially explains why Coach Phil Jackson sat Bryant out for the first half of the fourth quarter; the other reason, as Bryant himself mentioned after the game, is that Jackson wanted to see what kind of production the second unit could deliver. Although the Lakers' bench hardly excelled, they did manage to keep the score close and Cleveland only led 83-80 when Bryant returned at the 5:23 mark of the final period. However, several of the Lakers' next possessions came straight out of their playbook from 2006 and 2007, with Bryant being forced into what I call "hand grenade" shots after his teammates were unable or unwilling to create open shots: a "hand grenade" is when a player receives the ball with little time left on the shot clock (in other words, the ball is about to "explode" in his hands if he does not fire off a quick shot). First, Bryant had to launch a tough fadeaway after the Lakers exhausted almost all of the shot clock. After a James jumper put the Cavs up 85-80, Bryant was forced to chuck a "hand grenade" three pointer at the end of another futile Lakers' possession. This is one example of why some of those statistics about "clutch play" are misleading, if not outright bogus; an individual player's field goal percentage reflects not just his shooting ability or his "clutchness" but also the overall hierarchy on a team: when everything breaks down, the ball is going to find its way to Bryant, not to a lesser player. "Hand grenade" shots, desperation heaves from long distance with fractions of a second remaining on the game and/or shot clock and other similarly low percentage tries do not really tell us much about how "clutch" a particular player is or even how capable he is of creating a shot for himself in a "normal" situation.
Eventually, the Lakers went back to an action that has been very effective for them the past two years: the Bryant-Gasol screen/roll play. Successfully running that play led to two Bryant free throws plus a Bryant jumper that tied the score at 87. A tough lefty layup by James put the Cavs up 89-87 but then the Lakers again ran the Bryant-Gasol screen/roll; this time, Bryant came off of the screen, froze O'Neal with a deft hesitation move and then blew by O'Neal into the paint. Several Cavs converged on Bryant, whose layup attempt rolled off of the rim, but Gasol had a free run to the hoop thanks to the attention drawn by Bryant. Gasol snared the rebound and Daniel Gibson fouled Gasol, who did not go up strong enough to finish the play against the 6-2 point guard. Gasol then compounded this shortcoming by missing both free throws. Since only 24 seconds remained, the Lakers were forced to foul. James split a pair of free throws--leaving the door open for the Lakers--but Ron Artest was called for a loose ball foul and Anderson Varejao drained two free throws to essentially seal the win.
In addition to James' great performance and O'Neal's stout presence in the paint the Cavs also benefited from fine play by starting power forward J.J. Hickson, key reserve big man Varejao and Delonte West, who started in place of Williams (the Cavs announced before the game that a left shoulder injury will sideline Williams for four to six weeks). Hickson had 11 points on 4-6 field goal shooting plus a career-high 14 rebounds as he notched his first career double double, while Varejao not only made the clutch free throws but also contributed 11 points and eight rebounds. West's boxscore numbers don't look like much (three points, four rebounds, three assists) but there is a reason that he played a game-high 42:50--and it is the same reason that he led the Cavs in minutes played during last year's playoffs: as Coach Brown said after the game, "Delonte's stat line wasn't pretty but I thought his toughness and the way he ran the team was terrific." West is a gritty competitor whose value goes beyond what the numbers say and he had the primary defensive assignment versus Bryant down the stretch in the fourth quarter.
While media members waited for Coach Jackson to deliver his postgame standup, NBA.com's Steve Aschburner--a nice guy who I first met several years ago when he served as the President of the Pro Basketball Writers Association--sidled up to me and asked what I thought about the game. I responded, "The national media has vastly underrated the Cavs. This type of game is why before the season started I picked the Cavs to be the best team in the East." I noticed that on his copy of the box score Aschburner had astutely circled the Lakers' anemic field goal percentage and I added, "The Cavs just suffocated the Lakers after the first quarter--and they play like this almost every night."
Jackson did not mince any words in his postgame remarks, mentioning with a chuckle that the backboard blocked one of Gasol's field goal attempts late in the game. Then Jackson made an even more pointed remark. After noting that Gasol is normally a "very good foul shooter" Jackson declared, "I'm sure that he was still thinking about the missed shot that he had on the play before and he didn't get himself clear mentally." Jackson likely could not be "sure" of such a thing so soon after the game unless this kind of weakness has either manifested itself on previous occasions or was very evident to Jackson based on Gasol's demeanor/words. Perhaps even more disturbing for Laker fans than Jackson's bold statement is that Gasol later admitted that Jackson was right: "I let a couple actions carry over in my mind and I wasn't able to be effective in the last four minutes. When I went to the (free throw) line I was still thinking about a couple other times that I could have delivered or finished plays. I let that enter into my head and it obviously had a negative effect." No one should jump to conclusions about two missed free throws or about a few quotes delivered within 30 minutes of those free throws being taken--Michael Jordan famously said that he failed thousands of times and that is why he succeeded--but this whole situation provides some insight into Gasol's strengths and weaknesses as a player. Gasol is very cerebral--in his pregame remarks Jackson noted that he regularly gives Gasol lengthy, complex books that Gasol enjoys reading--and he possesses a wonderful basketball skill set but NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young likes to say that in football if you think too deeply you can end up all alone; similarly, one of the characteristics that Jordan, Bryant and James share is the ability to forget about previous failures/obstacles and then singlemindedly focus on the next play or the next shot. That is not to suggest that Jordan, Bryant and James are not cerebral--they all obviously possess high basketball IQs--but rather that they know when to turn off the critical parts of their minds in order to remain confident enough in their skills to make clutch plays. Gasol is cerebral enough to think about his failures and honest enough to admit to this in front of the media. Gasol should not be blasted for his intelligence or his candor but he also needs to develop a method to get out of his own way in such situations and rely on his skill set to carry him through instead of dwelling on what happened during previous plays.
"It was a test for us," Bryant said after the game. "We've got another test later on this trip and we'll see how we respond to a physical team against Boston...The mentality has to change a little bit playing against these teams. These teams are physical, tough-minded and hard-nosed type of teams and we have to make some decisions...That's not part of our DNA. We have to step up and match that and still play skillful basketball."
I asked Bryant, "Last year you beat Cleveland twice. This year they beat you twice. What do you think is the difference? Is it something that you are not doing as well as you did last year or something that Cleveland is doing better?"
Bryant answered, "Last year we were probably a little hungrier and played a little harder. This year the two times we played them they were the hungrier team and I think they sensed that they want to win a championship and they want to go after it, so they are playing with a sense of urgency that we played with last year."
Although Bryant smiled and even laughed a few times during his postgame remarks, you did not have to be a psychologist to detect the anger simmering just beneath the surface; it hung in the air around Bryant like dirt clings to the Peanuts character Pigpen, though Bryant seemed to try to soften the rough edges for public consumption. When someone followed up my queries by asking Bryant how the Lakers can get back that hunger, Bryant replied, "I'm going to go to practice and strangle every single one of them." Bryant said that with a big smile and everyone got a good chuckle out of that--including Bryant, who then elaborated, "You just have to go to work every day hard, play hard and practice hard. Have physical practices, things like that. This is the type of game that we are going to face and we have to prepare for that and it starts in practice."
Bryant added that this is why it is so tough to repeat as champion, noting with a wry smile, "We're not the only team in NBA history that has dealt with this. It's something that we have to try to figure out as other teams in the past that repeated figured out. You go through those situations where you play Cleveland, you play Denver, you play teams that have that natural hunger. As you go through the season you just have to try to develop it and nourish it and grow it so that when the playoffs come you are ready to go." I then asked Bryant, "During your first threepeat (2000-02) did this kind of issue come up?" Bryant said, "Yeah, it came up. Absolutely. Absolutely."
Someone mentioned that it seemed like Bryant would have a lot of words to say to his teammates as their long road trip proceeded but Bryant indicated that for now he did not plan to say anything because the most important thing is to get ready for Friday's game versus New York, as opposed to dwelling on the loss to Cleveland. Anyway, Bryant added, he did not need to say anything because his teammates already "know that I'm (ticked) off." Asked how he knew that his teammates realize how he feels, Bryant laughed and shook his head at the absurdity of the question.
Both teams tried to deny that this game had any special meaning but I don't think that anyone is naive enough to believe that. James was very animated throughout this game, often exhorting his teammates and the crowd to get them pumped up. After the game, James at first said "You don't want to look to far into beating one team twice" before conceding "It's a huge win and I can't sit here and say it's just a normal game because it's not." Think about the potential implications not only in terms of homecourt advantage for both teams in their respective conference playoffs but also the fact that if they finish with the same record and reach the Finals then the Cavs would own the tiebreaker for homecourt advantage in the championship series.
It is obvious that Thursday's game helps James in what rightly should be a two man race with Bryant for regular season MVP but it also sends a loud and clear message that--contrary to what many "experts" have been saying--the Cavaliers are very legitimate championship contenders with their current roster.
*****************************
Notes From Courtside:
The scariest sight for the rest of the NBA happened about two hours before tipoff: James came to the court to work on perhaps his only remaining weakness--outside shooting. James has been doing this for quite some time, as I have noted in previous posts (including my
recap of Cleveland's 2008-09 home opener), and his extra practice is clearly paying off: this season he is posting a career-high field goal percentage (.510) and a career-high free throw percentage (.781) while nearly establishing a career-high three point field goal percentage (.349).
James does his shooting under the watchful eye of assistant coach Chris Jent but Jent is not very vocal during these pregame shooting sessions (Jent has mentioned in various interviews that James is quite responsive to his suggestions between games or during timeouts). James began this session with a barrage of jumpers launched from just inside the three point line on the right wing, making 18 of 38 by my count. James' form has noticeably improved in several ways: he employs the shooter's "gooseneck" followthrough now, he generally lands at or near his takeoff point, his balance is much better and his technique is usually the same from shot to shot (except when James occasionally goofs off and purposely shoots a high arcing or off balance shot). Considering how good his shot looks now I was actually surprised that he did not shoot a better percentage but perhaps he was just getting loose. James then shot a few shots from the top of the key just inside the three point line before making three out of nine top of the key three pointers. James audibly expressed disgust with several of his three point misses before slowing down, concentrating and starting to hit. James completed his perimeter routine with some shots from the left wing (long two pointers, then three pointers) and then he did something that I have yet to see him do in his pregame routine: he went to the left block, took one dribble to the middle and shot a jump hook. He repeated that action several times before trying a few one dribble, fadeaway jumpers to the baseline. James' percentage on the jump hooks left much to be desired (well below 50%), which is probably why we have yet to see him unveil this shot very often in game situations, but when he gets more comfortable with that move he will add yet another weapon to his already formidable arsenal. James also practiced some postup moves from the right block, turning toward the middle to either shoot a short jumper in the paint or else a left handed finger roll.
Twice during James' routine he went to the free throw line; it is good to break a sweat and then try to knock down some free throws, as opposed to shooting them cold (which never occurs in a game unless a player is fouled on a very early possession). James shot 5-6 on his first set of free throws and then returned later to drain five in a row.
After about 20 minutes his serious work was done and James then tried to make some halfcourt shots; I stopped keeping track after he missed his first 11, so when you see footage on TV of him making such shots keep in mind that he probably missed a bunch before finally connecting. One impressive thing that I noticed is that James can shoot from halfcourt--or at least very close to it--by using his regular form; that is a lot more impressive than his underhand or overhand flings from that distance. I remember Michael Jordan making a regular form, halfcourt shot in a game (I think that it was versus Seattle) but very few players have the necessary combination of strength and touch to pull off that feat.
I respect James' work ethic and I am impressed by his dedication; the only thing that I question is his shot selection, both in practice and in games: long two pointers just inside the three point line are the worst shot to take, so I don't understand why James practices them so much or why he shoots them in games. Most coaches will tell you that they want their players to either take that step behind the three point line to get the extra point or else dribble in to get a closer shot, though some coaches prefer that their players simply catch and shoot in rhythm regardless of where they catch the ball. I realize that shot clock considerations and defensive alignments may force James to sometimes shoot long two pointers but I still think that he would be better off either shooting three pointers or 15-17 foot jumpers, because there is limited benefit to becoming a great 22-23 foot jump shooter when the 23 foot, nine inch shot is worth a full point more.
***
Prior to the game I spoke briefly with Mychal Thompson, a 20-10 player for Portland (20.8 ppg, 11.7 rpg in 1981-82) who became a key reserve on Laker championship teams in 1987 and 1988. Thompson is currently a Laker broadcaster. I greeted Thompson by reminding him of a line from
David Halberstam's classic "The Breaks of the Game"; Halberstam noted that Thompson is a "Mychal of greater distinction" thanks to the unique spelling of his first name. Thompson smiled and said that he vividly remembers Halberstam traveling with the Blazers while researching the book. Thompson added that "Breaks" still "reverberates" decades after it was originally published. Thompson's old coach Dr. Jack Ramsay was at the game and Thompson told me that he and Ramsay had just had a conversation lamenting what could have been if the Blazers had drafted Michael Jordan instead of the star-crossed Sam Bowie.
I mentioned to Thompson that it is remarkable that he played in such a talent-rich era that legit 20-10 players ended up as reserves on championship-contending teams while in the current era there are few legit 20-10 players, period. Thompson chuckled and said that the NBA is "watered down" now compared to the 1980s, noting that back then he had to "guard All-Stars or future Hall of Famers almost every night."
***
During Coach Jackson's pregame standup I asked, "How would you evaluate your team defensively this year compared to last year and how would you compare the way Ron Artest has played defense to the impact that (Trevor) Ariza had last year?"
Jackson replied, "In watching the tape of the game last year--just to kind of compare teams--we started Luke Walton, Andrew Bynum had just gone down with an injury that cost him eight weeks and Ariza was coming off the bench for us at that particular time, which was February. There were a lot of adjustments we made during the season through the endgame--injuries and a variety of things happened to our team, as all teams do (go through such things). Defensively, we are about the same. Ron gives us an individual defender who gives us an opportunity not to have to do as many things defensively to help but he has yet to really flesh out all of the things that he can do for our team. He is still in a learning mode."
I then asked, "What would you like to see him do more? What isn't as 'fleshed out' as you would like it to be?"
Jackson answered, "Offensively, to be comfortable knowing what is a high percentage thing for us and for him. Defensively, I think that he has proven his point."
Ron Artest played solid defense and had a good floor game (seven rebounds, four assists) versus Cleveland but he scored just eight points on 3-10 shooting, including 2-8 from three point range; he is averaging a career-low 11.6 ppg on .420 field goal shooting, slightly below his career .422 norm, though he is shooting .384 from three point range, the third best mark of his career and well above his .345 career average.
***
Bryant became the youngest player in NBA/ABA history to score 25,000 points and just the 19th player to reach that milestone (the wire reports that you may have seen that rank Bryant 15th on the all-time scoring list are neglecting to include the ABA point totals registered by Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Dan Issel and Rick Barry). Bryant's record is likely merely a placeholder for James, who already has over 14,000 points and will likely corner the market on "youngest ever" records before he retires, but what I find fascinating is that Bryant's impressive career total is still a good career
behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time record of 38,387 points: Hall of Famers Dave Cowens and David Thompson each scored fewer career points than the
difference between Abdul-Jabbar and Bryant's career totals! Bryant will have to remain a 25-plus ppg scorer well into his late 30s in order to have a shot at the all-time mark (unless Bryant decides to extend his career past the point when he is no longer an All-Star caliber player, something that does not seem likely considering his temperament).
Interestingly, not one postgame question referred to Bryant scoring his 25,000th point, perhaps because the writers already knew that Bryant would not want to focus on an individual goal after his team had lost.
***
During Bryant's postgame standup I had my first couple close up glimpses of his right index finger, which I had previously only seen on TV and bandaged up. It was bad enough when Bryant suffered an avulsion fracture to his pinkie on that same hand a while back but it is amazing that he is playing with that kind of injury to such an important finger on his shooting hand.
Bryant kept his hand out of view most of the time but I saw enough to notice that there is significant swelling from the base knuckle nearly up to the tip, with the most pronounced swelling around the middle knuckle, where there is noticeable discoloration. I doubt that Bryant can bend any joint on that finger (TNT's Kenny Smith noted earlier in the week that Bryant's finger is so damaged he could not even use to try to tie the drawstring on his shorts).
***
This is the fifth Cavs-Lakers game that I have covered (remember that because they are in opposite conferences, the Cavs and Lakers only play each other twice--home and home--in the regular season). Here are links to my previous Cavs-Lakers recaps:
Energetic Odom Upstages Ill Bryant, Subpar James (Lakers 101, Cavs 91, February 8, 2009)
Fourth Quarter Rally Propels Cavaliers to Victory Over the Lakers (Cavs 94, Lakers 90, December 20, 2007)
Kobe Sizzles, Lakers Fizzle in 99-90 Loss at Cleveland (Cavs 99, Lakers 90, February 11, 2007)
Murray "Flips" the Script in a Big Win for the Cavs (Cavs 96, Lakers 95, March 19, 2006)
Labels: Anderson Varejao, Andrew Bynum, Cleveland Cavaliers, Delonte West, J.J. Hickson, Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers, LeBron James, Mo Williams, Pau Gasol, Ron Artest, Shaquille O'Neal
All contents Copyright (c) 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 David Friedman. All rights reserved.
