Blogrolling: Hello, Larry

Nick Underhill goes in-depth on the AL West. I'll steal mercilessly from this later when I convince you all that I know something about the division.

The World of Isaac looks over the Lions Town Hall Meeting. Yes, this is for real. I recommend that you come naked with drive-through food, or perhaps as a drowned tranny hooker. Lions Town will accommodate.



Look, we're going to have several weeks to work out our Steeler Fan Hate, because, well, the Steelers have fans. But the Cardinals also have unspeakable tools in their "fanbase" as well. As my old polysci teacher once said, Hear The Other Side. Or, in this case, Hate. More to hate here, with lyrics.

Oh, and on the off chance that you are jonesin' for some action after all of those sure-fire NFL game picks that I gave you... the good folks at Doc Sports are offering up
Sports Betting Rules, College Basketball Handicapping and the NBA spread. NBA games can be surprisingly useful, especially if you watch those 4-games-in-5-nights opportunities. Go with a smile.

The Purging Begins

Rumors out of Charlotte have new Bobcats' coach Larry Brown up to his old "Nobody buy a house" ways.

We'll start with the obvious: blowing up the roster is not exactly along the lines of torching the Sistine Chapel. The 'Cats have never won more than 33 games in a season, and with Michael Jordan as the GM, they've done nothing to counter the argument that the surest way to suck in the NBA is to hire an ex-star player in a personnel advisory role.

HOWEVAH -- and yes, one does miss Steven A. Smith from such conversations, if only in theory -- the problem is that Larry's not exactly a genius when it comes to these moves himself. He inherited a team with a tolerable point guard in Raymond Felton and no reasonable power forward on the roster, unless you count Emeka Okafor, who serves as their center. Sean May shows flashes, but can't stay healthy and when on rehab, can't stay thin. So in the draft, Brown pushes for... DJ Augustin, another point guard, while quality bigs were on the board. Oh well, you're going to be in the lottery next year anyway, so why not?

Once this domino falls, it's time to start pointing fingers at the players who actually produce. The latest to generate Brown's ire is swingman Gerald Wallace, who fantasy owners love for multi-category numbers, but real basketball fans are more or less indifferent to. He doesn't have enough of a jump shot to play in the back court, and isn't strong enough inside to play three, but he can do some things, especially in the open court. On a good team, he's an outstanding sixth man. On the Bobcats, he's trade bait for not enough return, because that's what happens when Larry comes to town.

The trouble here is that bad moves have a domino effect, and overwhelm the good. The team traded for Jason Richardson from Golden State a year ago; despite some flaws, he might be the best player in the history of the franchise, and if he isn't, it's only because bad men matter more in hoop, and Okafor was a #1 overall pick. But since they also pulled the trigger on the Adam Morrison Experience (another Jordan Special), that's a more or less complete hole, where they should have the starting small forward that makes Wallace a good bench player.

Since they also took on the breathtakingly bad Nazr Mohammed contract (big money for a bad player, woo hoo!), they don't have the flexibility they need to get a useful power player in the event that May turns out to be, well, useless. And since they decided to cut Felton off at the knees, they can distract themselves with the idea that they can't be good until Augustin learns the position and becomes NBA-ready. Which, well, is somewhat problematic, considering that he's (very) undersized and likely to be a defensive sieve even if he does make it in the league.

Adding to this vacuum effect is the fact that the owner (BET president Bob Johnson, one of the few minority owners in all of sports) has been hemorrhaging money and looking to sell. So you've got an owner whose heart isn't in it, a GM who hasn't shown any ability in the role (Kwame Brown, anyone?), and a coach that's approaching ancient, gives a new meaning to the word nomadic, and seriously may have lost the fastball for good after that nine-mile train wreck in New York. The other night in the garden, he was going up and down the bench screaming for a player, Jared Dudley, to get in the game... when he was already in. We may be in the stage where Larry can only have soft foods here.

What will happen is that Brown will eventually find a core of athletic hustle players who buy into what he's selling. He might even develop a tolerable scoring situation if Augustin and Richardson can survive the hazing. The Bobcats will trend up in 1-2 years towards a .500 team. Brown and Jordan will receive the media mouth jobs for turning around the franchise; heck, they might even become an 8 seed in the East. But the ceiling will be limited to no more than a few games over break even, because Brown will have ran off more talented players and driven his management team to distraction.

Then, it's time to go pitch the monorail to some other franchise. Oh, and what I've just laid out here is the best case scenario.



Shocking that they have attendance problems, isn't it?

That sound you just heard was George Karl checking his locks

So Larry Brown has resigned in his barely-there VP role with the Sixers, because he wants another crack at coaching.

And the Nuggets will soon find themselves swept out of the playoffs due to their utter lack of defense, with a veteran team that did win 50 games in the hyper-competitive West, with a still frisky Allen Iverson, and a freshly chastened Carmelo Anthony...

Well, if you are the Nuggets, what other options do you have, other than to toss the Asking To Be Killed Karl, and bring in a proven winner / defense guy? Sure, Brown and Anthony didn't get along at all in the USA Basketball team, and Iverson, even while older and wiser, is a soap opera waiting to happen. Brown, even with all of the faculties that he brings to the table, can't disguise the fact that his top scorers are defensive sieves even when motivated. AI's always been small, and Melo's always saved it for offense and had bad technique. He got away with it thanks to the Syracuse zone and Hakim Warrick being a great college shot blocker. In the pros, he scores 25 to 30 a game, and gives up 18 to 22. You live with it, but only just.

At least with Larry, you get the chance in hell that JR Smith learns some defense, Nene getting run off for some Theo Ratliff-esque retread, Anthony Carter getting told to play more like Eric Snow, and a disastrous personnel move or three. Heck, Dikembe Mutumbo's got roots in the area, along with actual roots coming out of his shoes... and Camby needs a backup, right?

So no, this won't work, but short of finding a GM that's willing to give up Pau Gasol for turds and tears, what else are you going to do? It'll sell tickets...

Can this really happen?

If you had told me the Sixers were going to steal Game 1 in Detroit, I could have given you a half-dozen ways how it would have happened.

None of them would have involved huge performances from Reggie Evans and Willie Green.

A big night from the Andres? Sure. Iggy had 16 points, 9 boards and 8 assists. Miller went for 20, 3 and 6. That gave them 9 more points, 5 more boards and 6 more assists than Hamilton and Billups. (To be fair, in 17 more minutes.)

Sam Dalembert coming up huge? Well, only sporadically. Dalembert had 10 boards and 4 blocks, but he was also 2 of 10 from the floor, and limited to 33 minutes from foul trouble.

Louie Williams doing a light 'em up job? Not so much. 9 points on 4 of 12 in 22 minutes. No, he's not shy.

Maybe a huge playoff debut for hot stuff rookie Thaddeus Young? Nope, though 10 in 22 minutes for a guy with zero playoff experience isn't bad.

Uncharacteristic proficiency from behind the arc or the free throw line? Nope. They were 1 of 5 from the former, and 19 of 27 (70.4%) from the later.

OK, well... maybe Detroit just couldn't keep their hands on the ball, and the Sixers were able to get out and run. Nope, turnovers were even at 12.

So, um... how the hell did they do it, and can they do it 3 more times in the next 6 games?

Any reasonable judge of the NBA says no; there is a reason why Detroit is a dark horse champion pick, and they've got an ungodly amount of playoff experience without being too dreadfully old. We are talking about a 2 seed playing a below .500 team here, after all.

And yet... the Sixers have been above a .500 team for a while now, at least if you just consider the last 3 months of the season. Experience is great, but wins are better. No one believes in the Sixers -- seriously, I haven't received a single email or mention about the team being in the playoffs from my local friends, let alone any interest in going to see a playoff game. You can go buy tickets to Game 3 or 4 right now... and we're not talking bad seats, either. (Heck, I just might.)

Detroit never loses a Game 1. They're great at establishing order and tempo early. And yet, here are the 7 seed Sixers, coming from 15 down in the third quarter, getting huge buckets from the extremely offensively-challenged Reggie Evans...

Well, I still don't really believe. But if they can somehow steal Game 2 as well? Well... I'm sure those tickets won't still be available.

Predictable

I received a lot of calls today from friends asking if I got nervous watching the KU-UNC game last night when the Heels pulled within 6. To be honest, I didn't. I spent 15 years of my life watching the exact game where KU was down by 4-10 points and our coach didn't know what to do. He usually would go to a trap instead of full court press that would lead to 6-8 quick points for the other team. He would always keeps subbing to keep his "kids fresh" even though it's the NCAA tourney and one loss and your out. He would never call a timeout even when the other team was on some ridiculous run.

The reason I wasn't nervous last night was because that coach who tortured me for 15 years was sitting on the opponent's bench. No timeouts, same poor subbing decisions and the exact trap defense all led to KU putting this game away last night. Roy Williams is a good coach, just not a great coach and the fans at Carolina are realizing this. Check out their message boards if you don't believe me. But from what I've read from Carolina fans for the past 5 years they deserve each other. Incredible arrogance coupled with incredible incompetence in big games. Enjoy each other - you definitely deserve each other.

I also wanted to point out that my favorite coach, on any level, Larry Brown was in attendance last night. I got a kick out of Billy Packer pointing out that Coach Brown was rooting for Carolina to get back on D at one point. Now Packer gets a lot of things wrong - but this was just ridiculous. Coach Brown was rooting for KU to keep attacking. How do I know? He was sitting in the KU section all night. Nice work Packer.

And why would a UNC alum be sitting in the KU section rooting against his alma mater? Was it because he won a NC as coach at KU? Nope. Was it because Bill Self got his coaching start under him? Nope. Was it because in 2003 when Roy Williams said he "had" to take the UNC job because Dean Smith told him he was the only one great enough for the job -- even though Larry Brown was interested? And the fact that Roy really wanted the job even though he said he didn't and blocked Larry from even interviewing. You got it. I'm pretty sure Coach Brown was enjoying Roy eat that shit sandwhich from the KU stands.

Roy - thanks for leaving. We finally have a coach that can both effectively manage and win big games.