Chicago Bulls Discipline Wade, Butler for Making Derogatory Comments About Teammates
After leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to
Cleveland's first professional sports championship in over 50 years, LeBron James will probably be granted a lifetime pass by that city and that franchise to say/do whatever he wants; he recently made it clear that he believes that
all of his teammates except Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love are scrubs and that Cavaliers' owner Dan Gilbert is a cheapskate despite Gilbert spending over $150 million on salaries/luxury tax. James has received little to no backlash from the team in response to his intemperate remarks.
Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler just found out that they do not enjoy similar privileges with the Chicago Bulls.
Wade--who was a key member of three Miami championship teams before leaving the Heat to join the Bulls last summer--and three-time All-Star Butler--who is one of the top all-around players in the NBA--each blasted their teammates on Wednesday night after the Bulls fell apart down the stretch en route to a 119-114 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. Wade declared, "I'm 35 years old, man. I've got three championships. It shouldn't hurt
me more than it hurts these young guys. They have to want it...It has
to change. It has to hurt inside to lose games like this." Butler fumed, "(Expletive teammates) just got to care if we win or lose. At the end of
the day, do whatever it takes to help the team win. You play your role
to the T. Be a star in your role, man."
The Bulls fined both Wade and Butler and removed both players from the starting lineup in Friday's 100-88 loss to the Miami Heat. Bulls point guard Rajon Rondo--who started alongside Boston's fabled Big Three as the Celtics won the 2008 NBA title--was not disciplined for his public comments that unfavorably compared the leadership of Wade and Butler to the leadership of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, the two best players on Boston's championship team. Rondo posted this on Instagram, accompanied by a picture of Garnett and Pierce: "My vets would never go to the media. They would come
to the team. My vets didn't pick and choose when they wanted to bring
it. They brought it every time they stepped in the gym whether it was
practice or a game. They didn't take days off. My vets didn't care about their numbers. My vets played for the
team. When we lost, they wouldn't blame us. They took responsibility and
got in the gym. They showed the young guys what it meant to work." Rondo emphasized that the only reason he went public with his thoughts is that he felt it was important that someone stick up for the team's young players.
Rondo's message is right on point. TNT's Kenny Smith had a great take on the situation as well, noting that it is cowardly for Wade and Butler to blast their teammates in the media as opposed to approaching them privately one on one.
Wade has a mixed track record as a leader. After winning the 2006 NBA Finals MVP,
Wade presided over one of the worst collapses ever experienced by a defending NBA champion, as
the Bulls trampled the Heat by a record-setting margin during the Heat's championship ring night, serving as a prelude to the Heat's first round playoff loss in 2007 and 15-67 record in 2008. Later, Wade helped Pat Riley recruit LeBron James and Chris Bosh to join him in Miami to
form a power trio that eventually won two titles while advancing to the NBA Finals for four straight years. Wade understood that James was the team's best player by far and Wade
not only willingly ceded center stage to James but he implored James to live up to the responsibilities inherent in being the team's best player.
Perhaps Wade believes that his championship pedigree gives him the right to speak out against his teammates--but Rondo and Smith are right: Wade's words and actions in this case are not the words and actions of a true leader.
Butler has no track record as a leader. He clashed with the since-departed Derrick Rose--the 2011 NBA regular season MVP who once seemed to be a great player and a great leader but recently has not met the standard in either department--last season. Butler's emergence as an individual star during the past few seasons has not correlated with increased team success; this is not to suggest that the Bulls' struggles are Butler's fault but Butler has not yet proven that he has the skill set and temperament necessary to be the best player on a championship team.
The Bulls are paying Wade and Butler a lot of money without receiving much in return, as the team is struggling to just hold on to the eighth playoff spot. The organization has to seriously reconsider how this roster has been constructed.
Labels: Chicago Bulls, Dwayne Wade, Jimmy Butler, LeBron James, Rajon Rondo
posted by David Friedman @ 7:54 PM
Miami Reclaims Home Court Advantage Against Determined but Shorthanded Chicago
Due to injuries, foul trouble and an ejection, four Chicago players played at least 42 minutes in Friday night's game three versus Miami. Despite being so shorthanded, the Bulls led the 66-16 Heat by as many as seven points and they forged a 70-70 tie entering the fourth quarter.
Four-time MVP LeBron James James had a pedestrian game by his lofty standards--25 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, 6-17 field goal shooting--but he took over in the fourth quarter, scoring 12 of Miami's 34 points as the reigning champions pulled away for a 104-94 win. Even before James authored that great final stanza, his performance and demeanor were a lot different than they were when he infamously quit
versus Boston in the 2010 playoffs and
versus Dallas in the 2011 NBA Finals; in the two earlier situations, James did not aggressively seek to score or to create scoring opportunities for his teammates but against Chicago James was actively engaged throughout the game, even at the times when he was not as productive or as efficient as usual. James understands this difference very well and he has even spoken about it publicly, admitting that he previously let the defense off the hook by not attacking in the paint; statistics alone do not indicate a player's effort level, because a player's talent and role can enable him to put up certain numbers even when he is not fully engaged: it is necessary to watch an entire game in order to determine a player's effort level and intensity, traits that cannot be found in the box score. The 2010 and 2011 versions of James might have put up similar numbers in game three but he would not have made the key attacking plays in the fourth quarter and his team likely would have lost because of this; if James had settled for two or three long jumpers instead of attacking the hoop he may have still finished with 20-8-7 instead of 25-8-7 but those few empty possessions would have changed the outcome of the game even if the "stat gurus" would not find much difference between those respective box score totals.
While LeBron James is deservedly the headliner, the Heat would not have won without Chris Bosh's 20 points, playoff career-high 19 rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots. Bosh is very underrated by media members and fans, though the coaches have selected him for the All-Star Game seven times (the fans have picked him as a starter just once). Bosh's versatility is invaluable at both ends of the court: he can post up (though this is not his favorite thing to do), he can score facing up (even beyond the three point line), he sets solid screens, he is a good passer, he rebounds well and his length/mobility enable him to defend multiple positions. The Heat would not be a championship caliber team without his many contributions.
James has been so consistently outstanding and Bosh has been so consistently productive that not much is being said about Dwyane Wade's subpar play; Wade is fourth on the team in scoring versus Chicago (13.0 ppg) and he has almost as many fouls (eight) as rebounds (nine). Earlier this season, Charles Barkley called Wade a declining player. During the regular season, Wade averaged 21.2 ppg while shooting a career-high .521 from the field but he missed 13 games and he has been hobbled by knee problems for the past two years. Those statistics suggest that when healthy Wade's skills may not have declined by much but he is 31 years old and he has been throwing his body into the paint for 10 seasons. All of that pounding has predictably and inevitably taken its toll; Wade never developed a consistent jump shot or post up game (though his inability to drive now has forced him to rely on posting up more than usual), so it has long been obvious that he would not be as effective or durable in his 30s as Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, who was still performing at an MVP level in his 17th season at 34 years of age
before his Achilles ruptured under the weight of the L.A. Lakers' ineptitude.
Speaking of ineptitude, here is a thought experiment for anyone who believes that coaching does not matter: picture the Lakers with Tom Thibodeau at the helm and the Bulls with Mike D'Antoni calling the shots. It is hard to imagine that under those conditions the Lakers would have only been the seventh seed or that the Bulls would have made the playoffs, much less advanced past the first round. Thibodeau's Bulls have an excellent defensive game plan, they maximize their limited offensive potential and they always play hard. In contrast, when Hubie Brown covered the Lakers during the playoffs
he could not even identify what the Lakers' defensive game plan is and the Lakers did not play with much energy at either end of the court. Leadership matters in all walks of life and the NBA is no exception.
Jeff Van Gundy recently told an interesting story about his time as Pat Riley's assistant. Riley asked an injured player who was dressed in street clothes if that player could give the team even one minute and the player said that he could, whereupon Riley then snarled that the player should be in uniform if that is the case. I don't presume to know what is going on in Derrick Rose's mind or body but he has been practicing with the team for months now. If there is any way that he could play 20, 10 or even five minutes for the shorthanded Bulls then how can he watch from the bench as his teammates give their all against the powerhouse Heat? Maybe Rose really just cannot play but if that is the case then he and the team should say so, because what is happening now does not look right--even if Rose's teammates and some media members are defending Rose. I want to believe that Rose is doing everything he can to come back as quickly as possible but at this point it seems like Rose should either suit up or shut it down until next season. What could possibly change in the next day or two to make him ready to play? If he plays in game four then why couldn't he have played in game three? Rookie Marquis Teague did the best that he could in 11 game three minutes but the Bulls were outscored by four points when he was on the court; what if Rose had played those minutes instead? Even if Rose were rusty, his presence would have altered Miami's defense and possibly created scoring opportunities for the offensively challenged Bulls. Even at 50% or 60% effectiveness, Rose could tip the balance of power in this series.
Labels: Chicago Bulls, Chris Bosh, Derrick Rose, Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, Miami Heat, Mike D'Antoni, Tom Thibodeau
posted by David Friedman @ 3:14 PM
Heat Winning Streak Demonstrates the Greatness of LeBron James--and Tracy McGrady
There is not a direct correlation between the length of a team's best regular season winning streak and that team's relative historical greatness; the L.A. Clippers won 17 straight games earlier this season but it is not likely that they will ever be favorably compared with the 1982-83 Philadelphia 76ers team that went 65-17 in the regular season and set a record by going 12-1 in the postseason (a mark later surpassed by the 15-1 L.A. Lakers in 2001) despite never winning more than 14 games in a row. However, the Miami Heat's current 20 game winning streak is historically significant for several reasons: It is not only tied for the third best winning streak in NBA history but it is also the best winning streak posted by a defending champion and it is the best winning streak posted by a team led by the reigning MVP. Opposing teams generally get fired up when they have the opportunity to play against an elite team and/or an elite player but LeBron James and the Miami Heat have responded very well to that challenge.
The Heat's winning streak is impressive--but they need to post
another impressive winning streak (13 games) just to tie the record set
by the Wilt Chamberlain-Jerry West-Gail Goodrich L.A. Lakers in 1971-72! Those Lakers went 69-13, setting a record for regular season wins that lasted until the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls went 72-10. The other teams that won at least 20 consecutive games are the Washington Capitols (last five games of the 1948 Basketball Association of America season followed by the first 15 games of the 1949 season), the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks (20) and the 2007-08 Houston Rockets (22).
The 1971-72 L.A. Lakers will always be on the short list of
the most dominant championship teams in pro basketball history, the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks are on that short list as well and the 1948-49 Washington Capitols lost to the dynastic George Mikan-led Minneapolis Lakers in the BAA Finals during the pre-shot clock era--but the 2007-08 Houston Rockets did not have a championship caliber roster and their second best player (Yao Ming) did not play in the final 10 games of the winning streak. What the Rockets had was Tracy McGrady, perhaps the most underrated great player of the past decade or so. Prior to the 2007-08 season, the Rockets
were just 11-39 in games that McGrady missed but 126-70 when he played; the Rockets played like a championship contender with McGrady in the lineup but they performed like a Lottery team without him. McGrady won two scoring titles early in his career but he was also a splendid passer; Rick Adelman--Houston's coach during the winning streak--
called McGrady "the best passer I've ever seen." Adelman played against Pistol Pete Maravich, coached against Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas and coached Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter, so that statement should not be taken lightly. During the telecast of Houston's 22nd straight win, ABC's Jeff Van Gundy--who coached McGrady for three seasons--declared that McGrady is "the second best pick and roll player in the league behind Steve Nash
and it's not even close...People see the thing in front of them but he
can see to the opposite corner, the opposite wing. His size makes him
special. He can pass over the defense."
So, the list of teams that won at least 20 straight regular season games in the NBA/BAA* includes two dominant championship teams, a defending champion that may very well be headed toward winning a second title, a team that reached the Finals before losing to that era's dominant squad--and a Houston team led by Tracy McGrady, who was playing alongside Shane Battier, streetball legend Rafer Alston, rookie Luis Scola and undersized center Chuck Hayes. All-Star center Yao Ming contributed to the first half of the winning streak before suffering a season-ending injury; that season the Rockets went 36-19 (.655) with Yao and 19-8 (.704) without him, but they went 46-20 (.697) with McGrady and 9-7 (.563) without him. McGrady averaged 22.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg and 6.2 apg in 21 games during Houston's winning streak (he did not play in the first game of the streak), exceeding his overall 2007-08 averages in all three categories.
LeBron James has averaged 26.6 ppg, 7.7 rpg and 7.5 apg during the Heat's winning streak; all of those numbers are around his career norms but what is different about James this season is that
both his shot selection and his shooting ability have improved dramatically: he is shooting 58% from the field during the winning streak, which is slightly better than his career-high 56% field goal percentage overall this season. James is clearly the best player in the NBA and he has been the Heat's best player during the winning streak but he has much more help than McGrady did; Dwyane Wade seems to have completely recovered from the knee injury that limited him last season and he is playing at an All-NBA caliber level, while Chris Bosh is the most underrated perennial All-Star in the league, shooting a career-high 54% from the field this season and averaging more blocked shots per minute than any season since his rookie campaign 10 years ago.
It remains to be seen just how far the Heat can extend their winning streak but placing what they have already accomplished in historical context enables us to see that the 1971-72 Lakers were unbelievably dominant and that anyone who appreciates basketball greatness should respect what Tracy McGrady achieved while playing alongside role players and journeymen.
*
The BAA was one of the forerunner leagues to the NBA and BAA statistics are considered to be NBA statistics, a courtesy that inexplicably has yet to be extended to ABA statistics.Labels: 1972 L.A. Lakers, 2008 Houston Rockets, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, Gail Goodrich, Jerry West, LeBron James, Miami Heat, Tracy McGrady, Wilt Chamberlain
posted by David Friedman @ 6:45 AM
Does Any Sensible Person Still Think That Miami is "Dwyane Wade's Team"?
When LeBron James and Chris Bosh
joined forces with Dwyane Wade to form a power trio in Miami some commentators reflexively said that the Heat were "Dwyane Wade's team" and criticized James for supposedly being so eager to give up alpha dog status to be Robin to Wade's Batman. Some fans heckled James by calling him "LePippen," a jeer that simply makes no sense on any level.
I explained last season that James has yet to match Pippen's most significant accomplishments: "LeBron James is a more explosive scorer than Scottie Pippen but he still has a long way to go to match Pippen as a champion, a leader and a player who will do whatever it takes--including play an NBA Finals game with two ruptured disks in his back--to help his team win an NBA title." Beyond the fact that it is disrespectful to
Hall of Famer Pippen to supposedly denigrate James by using Pippen's name, there is no logical reason to assert that Miami is "Wade's team." It does not matter that Wade was in Miami first or even that he is the only member of Miami's power trio who has won a championship; the reality is that there is no skill set area in which Wade is better than James and
James is significantly bigger and stronger than Wade. Last season, James led the Heat in scoring, assists and steals. James topped Wade in every meaningful statistical category except for blocked shots and turnovers. In the playoffs the Heat eliminated number one seed Chicago--despite a subpar performance from Wade--because James dominated at both ends of the court but the Heat faltered in the NBA Finals precisely when James mysteriously disappeared.
James' level of play is the number one factor determining Miami's success and that has become even more strikingly obvious this season; James is once again leading the Heat in scoring, assists and steals and, if anything, the Heat look even better without Wade than they do with him. I am skeptical of small sample sizes of data that can be skewed for a variety of reasons but the Heat are not just 4-0 this season sans Wade--they are 8-1 in their last nine games without Wade dating back to the early portion of last season (James has missed just four games during that period and the Heat went 2-2 in those contests). This goes beyond the win-loss record, though; both James and Bosh individually perform much better without Wade and not just in terms of raw numbers at the expense of efficiency.
Last season I
criticized what I called Miami's "clown car" offense: their half court offense is so disorganized at times that it is reminiscent of clowns piling out of a car at a circus. A major problem for the Heat is that their two best players--James and Wade--do not have complementary skill sets: neither player is particularly good without the ball in a half court offense, so when one guy "takes his turn" the other guy ends up standing around doing nothing. Meanwhile, regardless of whether James or Wade is at the helm, the "clown car" offense transforms--or, to be precise, demotes--Bosh from one of the top 15 players in the NBA to a glorified Horace Grant (no disrespect intended toward Grant, who was a fine player in his own right, but Bosh is a perennial All-Star who should not be relegated primarily to shooting jumpers on the weak side while James or Wade drain the shot clock with aimless dribbling).
I recently offered a
satirical take regarding what might happen if Henry Abbott ever became as biased against LeBron James as he is against Kobe Bryant but the grain of truth in that satire is that the way the Heat plays negatively impacts Bosh's game. This is particularly evident when both James and Wade are on the court. When one or the other is out of the game, Bosh performs much better.
After Tuesday's NBA TV Fan Night game--Miami beat San Antonio 120-98 with James scoring 33 points and Bosh scoring 30 points while Wade sat out because of an ankle injury--Greg Anthony said that even though this might sound crazy to some people he thinks that Miami would benefit from getting the ball to Bosh more frequently. Anthony is not Henry Abbott; Anthony is not proposing that Bosh is Miami's best player (which would be as silly as Abbott or the "stat gurus" making a similar claim regarding Pau Gasol or Andrew Bynum as long as Kobe Bryant is doing his thing) or that Bosh should get the most shot attempts but Anthony is correct that something is wrong with the way that the Heat run their half court offense.
The Heat are so talented that they may very well win a championship--either this season or within the next few years--in spite of their deficiencies but it is also possible that LeBron James will never surpass in Miami what he accomplished in Cleveland (posting the best record in the NBA in back to back seasons while reaching the Conference Finals twice and the NBA Finals once). The Cavaliers' much-maligned coaching staff and roster were more complementary of James' skill set than this current Miami Heat team is.
My all-time favorite player Julius Erving accomplished far more during his career than what LeBron James has accomplished thus far and, unlike James, Erving raised his level of play when the stakes were highest, consistently
acing the Finals test (scoring at least 20 points in 21 of his 22 ABA and NBA Finals games en route to winning three titles); in the 1976 ABA Finals Erving
authored one of the greatest single series performances in pro basketball history. However, the arc of Erving's career provides some interesting parallels to James' situation vis a vis Wade. When Erving joined the Philadelphia 76ers prior to the 1976-77 season one could have argued that the 76ers were George McGinnis' team; McGinnis was a championship-winning player (albeit with the Indiana Pacers, not the 76ers) and McGinnis clearly had been the 76ers' best player the previous season when they returned to the playoffs for the first time since 1970-71--but Erving (who, like McGinnis, was already a two-time ABA champion) was simply a better player than McGinnis and Erving emerged as the 76ers' leading scorer. Erving and McGinnis--helped by Doug Collins, a third All-Star--carried the 76ers to the 1977 NBA Finals but the 76ers blew a 2-0 lead and lost to Portland in six games. The 76ers were considered to be the most talented team in the NBA but within two seasons the coach had been fired and McGinnis had been traded for Bobby Jones, a very good player who was not as talented or dominant as McGinnis but whose skill set better complemented Erving's. It will be very interesting to see if the Heat ever make it back to the NBA Finals with this nucleus or if they will be as bold as the 76ers were and trade their second best player in the interest of forming a more complementary talent blend.
Erving's 76ers made it back to the Finals in 1980 and 1982 but did not win the championship until 1983. The arrival of Moses Malone put the 76ers over the top. Malone won the 1979 and 1982 MVPs prior to joining the 76ers, while Erving captured the 1981 MVP (becoming the first non-center to receive the NBA MVP since Oscar Robertson in 1964). Publicly, Malone said that the 76ers were Erving's team and that he (Malone) just wanted to help Erving to get an NBA championship ring--but the on court reality proved that Malone was the team's best player. Erving (who finished fifth in the 1983 MVP voting and earned his fourth straight All-NBA First Team selection) was hardly a slouch--and the 76ers clearly could not have won the 1983 championship without his significant contributions--but Malone won the regular season MVP in a landslide and he won the Finals MVP as the 76ers swept the Lakers in the NBA Finals.
What does this history lesson mean? The 76ers were not McGinnis' team just because he had been there first nor were they Erving's team after Malone arrived. Basketball is a team sport, so perhaps it does not even make sense to say that a given team "belongs" to one player but if we are going to employ this common trope then it must be used logically: the 1977-82 76ers were "Julius Erving's team" because he was the best player on the team during that time but the arrival of a younger, more physically dominant Moses Malone changed that dynamic. The Heat were "Dwyane Wade's team" for several years but the arrival of a younger, more physically dominant LeBron James changed that dynamic.
Erving came close to leading the 76ers to a championship--and it cannot be reasonably said that it was his fault that they fell just short several times--but during that era it was essential to have a dominant big man to go all the way and, except for the 1979 San Antonio Spurs, every team that defeated Erving's 76ers in the playoffs from 1977-82 had a Hall of Fame center (Bill Walton, Wes Unseld/Elvin Hayes, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Robert Parish) who was in his prime and/or performing at a very high level. Can LeBron James be the centerpiece of a championship team a la Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan (and Erving and McGinnis in their ABA primes)? Or will James only win a title later in his career after being paired with a dominant big man, as was the case with several Hall of Fame perimeter players, including Erving, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson and Clyde Drexler?
I don't know what will happen but I will make a few predictions:
1) The Heat will not win a championship with a "clown car" half court offense.
2) The Heat as presently constituted will not win a championship if LeBron James fails to be the best player on the court in the Conference Finals and NBA Finals.
3) Even though Wade is one of the five or six best players in the NBA he is not necessarily the best complement to James; James would be better served to be paired with either a dominant big man or an All-Star who can consistently connect from midrange and long distance. James and Wade can use their athletic talent to overwhelm most teams in the regular season but in playoff competition there will likely always be at least one or two teams that are able to seal off the paint and force James and Wade to consistently do the two things that they both are not very good at doing: making jump shots and playing without the ball in a half court set.
I am not saying that the Heat should or even could trade Wade the way that the 76ers swapped George McGinnis for Bobby Jones--the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement likely would make it difficult for the Heat to trade Wade for a player who better complements James--but I am saying that complementary skill sets are more important than raw talent when building a championship roster ("stat gurus" around the world are cringing in unison because they think that productivity--as determined solely by "advanced basketball statistics"--is by far the most important factor in building a roster and that is why the "stat gurus" predicted a Miami Heat dominance that has yet to fully materialize outside of their spreadsheets). The Heat are clearly the most talented team in the league--no other squad has three All-Stars who are each in their primes--and it could be argued that they have more raw talent than several teams that have won championships but it is far from clear that they will actually win a title.
Labels: Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, Julius Erving, LeBron James, Miami Heat
posted by David Friedman @ 3:49 AM
