Leave it to Phil Jackson to compare Isiah Thomas with President George Bush while defending Thomas before the Lakers beat the Knicks in New York on Sunday.
“He’s kind of in the same position Bush is in,” Jackson said. “No matter what he does, if it’s good, no one’s going to give him a break. Everything he does or the team does that doesn’t look good, he’s going to get blamed for. Isiah’s heart is in the right spot. He’s trying to do the things to manufacture a good team. Things aren’t clicking. It’s easier to fire a coach than 15 players.”
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It is the universal answer in sports.
Generally, coaches tend to believe they might make a five-game difference, though when things go badly they generally are the first to go and are blamed for everything.
For Thomas, being in New York complicates the equation because the media there generally want all coaches fired. But he has been the early leader in the clubhouse to go first.
Yet how about the guy coaching the team whose players haven’t handled success and expectations well, whose rotations have changed regularly and who has so many players performing below previous levels? Scott Skiles? One could make that case.
In Cleveland they’re saying that about Mike Brown and the Cavs, losers of 10 of 13 and losers by at least 18 points six times.
That’s not what the NBA had in mind scheduling the Cavs and the Miami Heat on Christmas. Both teams are well under .500, and the Heat had lost nine of 12 before Saturday’s win over Utah. Pat Riley seems safe only because he’s his own boss.
The Cavaliers also have defended poorly, which suggests a lack of effort. Many of the same questions have been raised about the Bulls with their shifting rotations, underachieving players, contract issues with management and a series of one-sided losses.
And to think many had the Bulls and Cavs fighting it out for the top of the East this season.
Other coaches who might not see the end of the season include Lawrence Frank in New Jersey, under. 500 again despite the three-star formula that’s supposed to lead to championship contention; Maurice Cheeks in Philadelphia, with a new general manager; Eddie Jordan in Washington, even with Gilbert Arenas out; and Mike Woodson in Atlanta if the Hawks crash again, though Woodson is having his best season with the Hawks surprisingly over .500.
Blazing hot
The 2006 draft that has helped fuel the Trail Blazers’ 10-game winning streak certainly worked out better in Portland than it did in Chicago. Brandon Roy, the No. 6 pick, has been brilliant, often at point guard, as has LaMarcus Aldridge, whom the Bulls picked at No. 2 and traded to the Blazers for Tyrus Thomas and Viktor Khryapa.
Toronto had the No. 1 pick that year and selected Andrea Bargnani, who is having a poor season and was barely playing before a surprise start Saturday in a loss in Phoenix. Bargnani had averaged 2.2 points and 1.4 rebounds in the previous five games. It has left general manager Bryan Colangelo to defend his selection.
“Everybody said Andrea Bargnani was going to be a bust. He’s not,” Colangelo said. “Was he the right No. 1 pick for the Toronto Raptors? I’ll still say today yes, he was. I don’t think there is a need to defend the selection. Judgments on players are made over a period of time, not a two-week period. Let’s talk in five years.”
A side issue to this is an amusing Euro-American debate going on in Toronto, with Colangelo remaining high on Europeans. He said he recently advised a player to go over to Europe [to] “work on his skills and come back more in tune with where the game is going.”
Raptors coach Sam Mitchell fired back at his boss: “I feel insulted when I hear that. I don’t see NBA players wanting to get out of their contract to play in Europe. You don’t see college kids leaving school early to play in Europe. Nothing against Europe, but this is our game. You watch European basketball, and all they want to do is play like we play. All they want to do is dunk the ball.”
Hardly magical
You miss the regular rants of former coach Jeff Van Gundy, but brother Stan, the Magic coach, came up with a doozy Friday after the Magic lost its fourth straight home game to Utah thanks to Paul Millsap’s career-high game.
“I would have booed a lot louder than that,” Van Gundy said of fan discontent. “I hope they will boo louder than that [next time]. We had a teamwide effort of guys getting their butts kicked. It’s a soft team. We’re frightened of contact. We don’t play hard enough. We’re not tough enough.
“A lot of guys are OK with that as long as they get their numbers. Every film clip we show them they’ll have an excuse for. If you can’t get a career high on us, you’re not doing much. It’s not like we’re going to compete.”
Wow. Even though he’s no Jeff and has adjusted to the Magic’s offensive players with a more wide-open game, Stan is a defense-first coach as well. Dwight Howard’s development and a fast start obscured the Magic’s principal issue: Undersized point guard Jameer Nelson frequently gets beat, which gets Howard out of position trying to protect the basket. Plus opposing teams use bigger guards to defend Nelson, as they do the Bulls’ Ben Gordon, and he has had problems.
Tough love
Jerry Sloan had a Greg Ostertag moment in a loss to Charlotte last week. Sloan has been having difficulties with Gordon Giricek, and after yanking him from the game told him to leave the team and go home.
And we thought it was Andrei Kirilenko who didn’t like Sloan.
This has been going on for a while. Giricek has been benched and out of the rotation at times for defensive reasons, but Giricek insists he’s a great defender. He has asked to be traded before, though the Jazz most admire his expiring contract, which could save money. The talk is they’ll agree to a buyout.
The Jazz had lost nine of 11, and in a radio interview, owner Larry Miller said the next five to 10 games are “a legitimately critical period in this team’s history.” The Jazz may be ready to deal, which brings up the perennially disgruntled Kirilenko, though he has been quiet of late. Miller was critical of Mehmet Okur.
End of the line for ‘Zo
Tough way for Alonzo Mourning’s career to end with that knee injury last week after he had returned to play following a kidney transplant.
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“I went over to help him up and he just said, ‘It’s over. It’s over,'” teammate Udonis Haslem said.
Mourning developed into a polished, mature locker-room presence after coming into the NBA an angry young man who tried to have women reporters thrown out of the room.
“I’ve been through a whole lot worse than this,” he acknowledged. “There are so many other things that life has to offer to me.”
Perhaps it was a good time to go. Heat players have been openly bickering with one another on the court as the franchise continues to melt down. Mourning was playing just four minutes into the game, with Shaquille O’Neal ineffective and in foul trouble again — he fouled out of his fifth straight game Saturday. Wilt Chamberlain played 1,045 games and never fouled out.
In a symbolic act, Mourning lifted himself off the stretcher as he left the arena so he wouldn’t have to be carried off. Hall of Famer? I’d say probably not, but one can make a case.
Around the league
Michael Jordan sounded like he was taking a page from John Paxson and Skiles when, after working out with the Bobcats last week, he told them they need to play harder. “You have no All-Stars. None! That means everybody has got to rely on each other to be successful,” Jordan told the team. “Until we develop an All-Star who can take over a game, it’s very important for them to understand they have to play as a unit.” Charlotte then went on a nice run and remains ahead of the Bulls. Ever loyal, Jordan did tape over the Adidas logo on the Bobcats’ practice gear when he practiced. …
You wonder what the Suns’ Grant Hill’s career would have been like had he been able to stay healthy. Hill is shooting almost 50 percent from the field with career highs in three-pointers and free throws and averaging a solid 16 points. In a recent win over the Spurs, he blocked a late Tim Duncan shot, hit a go-ahead jumper with 40 seconds left and made two clutch free throws with 10 seconds remaining. “I don’t think you can measure how important he is,” coach Mike D’Antoni said. “He’s playing at an All-Star level.” And earning just $1.8 million after injuries knocked him out for most of the six years when he made about $100 million from Orlando. …
The forgotten player from the 2006 draft is No. 5 pick Shelden Williams, who is now playing behind rookie Al Horford in Atlanta. … Denver coach George Karl didn’t play J.R. Smith as the slumping Nuggets lost twice in a week to streaking Portland: “We’re in a bad defensive game, and you want to play a guy who hasn’t played defense in a week?” Karl said. … With Tony Parker and Duncan hurt, the Spurs have been leaning on Manu Ginobili, who acknowledged “not feeling as good as I did two weeks ago. I feel tired.” Ginobili then left Saturday’s win with a finger injury. … Antoine Walker got his shot in when the slumping Heat played his staggering Timberwolves last week: “The way it’s started off, I wasn’t the problem,” Walker said. “It hasn’t improved. The one reason we won a championship, you had everybody on the same page. I’m not sure everybody’s on the same page now.”
Smart move
As he did with Avery Johnson in Dallas, Warriors coach Don Nelson has had assistant Keith Smart call some timeouts and take charge of the huddle in some recent games. … The Warriors are saying Troy Hudson’s injury-plagued career probably is over because of hip problems. Before signing Hudson, they considered Damon Stoudamire as Baron Davis insurance. The Warriors still have a trade exception from the Jason Richardson deal to make a move, and Chris Mullin has been clever in balancing his roster and payroll. …
The Kings went 3-2 on a recent trip out east even though Mike Bibby and leading scorer Kevin Martin were out. Point guard Beno Udrih has been a good pickup, along with free-agent Mikki Moore, a 7-footer who says he almost signed with the Bulls last summer. Moore said the Bulls offered him three years and $12 million and the Nets three years and $10 million. He took the Kings’ offer of either a two-year, $12 million deal (if they cut him before the third season) or a three-year, $17 million contract. … The Raptors aren’t expecting T.J. Ford to play anytime soon as he’s seeing specialists about his recent neck injury.
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