bigleague9
03/07/06, 08:59 AM
IS there anything more im portant in the NBA these days than relocation, relocation, relocation?
How come one player after another after another is a nobody for one team yet becomes a productive citizen of his new organization as soon as he suits up?
How can so many players be unfit for duty in one coach's scheme of things and become overnight successes for the next judge of talent/caretaker of daylight?
How can such a multitude of shapes, sizes and seniority be disregarded, deactivated or deported back home to await marching orders and, next thing we know, they're factors in new surroundings, suddenly upgraded from depreciated to appreciated?
Don't ask me! My role today is to pose questions, not provide answers. Since the circumstances regarding each transfer are uniquely diverse and, in most cases, far too complicated to examine in an abbreviated space, feel free to excuse or indict players or coaches at your own chosen speed.
What were the odds of Tim Thomas resurfacing from a Bulls-imposed, near-four-month exile and scoring 20 points in 20 minutes in his very first outing with Phoenix (no practice evidently makes perfect) against visiting Orlando?
Who would've imagined an equally imposing encore - eight points and seven rebounds (totaled four in three games for Chicago), as well as an assist, a steal and a blocked shot in 27 minutes - to help the Pacific Division leaders earn their 10th straight win and terminate the Mavericks' 16-game home winning streak?
Has any anonymous player excelled more than Boris Diaw? As an unidentified low-flying Hawk, the 6-foot-8 Frenchman averaged 4.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 21.9 minutes in two seasons for the perennial lottery tenants.
As an emerging star with the Suns he's proving almost every bit as good as Joe Johnson, the player he was exchanged for, except Phoenix also got a pair of first-rounders. In 58 games, the leading candidate for most improved is averaging 34.3 minutes, 12.8 points, 6.8 boards and 5.9 assists (on the same team with Steve Nash, tops in that category) while shooting 51 percent and rotating from position to another, including center.
Against Dallas, Diaw recorded his second triple-double (24, 10 and 10), third in the league.
Almost immediately after being traded from the Raptors to the Hornets Aaron Williams, reputed to be extinct as a Net, notched 14 points in a win vs. Portland.
During his entire one-year torment in Toronto he'd scored 61 points in 37 games. The breakdown this season was 25 points in 14 appearances, seven minutes per for bottom feeder. His breakdown for the playoff-contending Hornets (9-5 since Aaron arrived) is 14 games, averaging 4.9 points, 5.6 rebounds.
There are so many examples. Flip Murray got no love from Sonics' interim coach Bob Hill, yet quickly justified his Cleveland acquisition by bailing out the Cavaliers, who'd blown a 25-point spread to the Bulls, with a game-winning trifecta.
Hill also went out of his way before the trade deadline to offer an unfavorable, comprehensive assessment of Reggie Evans, doing his best to devalue dead weight management was trying to move. Ten days later, in Kenyon Martin's ailing absence, he went for 12 points and 10 boards.
That very evening, Derek Anderson ascended from two seasons in obscurity in Portland and Houston to be the difference in Miami's win over Atlanta.
Obtained for next to nothing on trade deadline, the Heat guard registered 14 points, four rebounds and three assists, the last positively pivotal, a touch pass to Alonzo Mourning at the buzzer for the victory.
Want more? How about Marc Jackson coming to life after leaving the Nets for the Hornets? How about Steven Hunter getting a new beginning as a starter for the 76ers after being relocated to his point of origin following a failed Hornets' physical?
Then there's Marcus Banks. Under Celtic coach Doc Rivers' supervision, he averaged just below 15 minutes in 18 games, averaging 5.5 points and 1.8 assists. Under Timberwolves' coach Dwane Casey, Banks is starting (four times now in 16 games), averaging 12.8 points, 4.1 assists and 28.3 minutes, while shooting 52 percent.
Meanwhile, Darko Milicic participated in 96 Piston games in 21/2 seasons. He shot 51.5 from the field and averaged 5.5 minutes, 1.5 points and 1.1 rebounds. In seven games with Orlando, the No. 2 pick of the '03 draft is shooting 57.9 and averaging seven points, 5.3 rebounds and two blocks.
You don't know how disappointed I was last week when Brian Hill and Mike D'Antoni flagrantly failed to furnish fans with the much-anticipated Milicic-Nikoloz Tskitishvili matchup.
"Had I known a change of venue would've resulted in such a positive outcome I would've left New York long ago."
Who said that? Larry Brown? Larry Brown? Or Larry Brown?
How come one player after another after another is a nobody for one team yet becomes a productive citizen of his new organization as soon as he suits up?
How can so many players be unfit for duty in one coach's scheme of things and become overnight successes for the next judge of talent/caretaker of daylight?
How can such a multitude of shapes, sizes and seniority be disregarded, deactivated or deported back home to await marching orders and, next thing we know, they're factors in new surroundings, suddenly upgraded from depreciated to appreciated?
Don't ask me! My role today is to pose questions, not provide answers. Since the circumstances regarding each transfer are uniquely diverse and, in most cases, far too complicated to examine in an abbreviated space, feel free to excuse or indict players or coaches at your own chosen speed.
What were the odds of Tim Thomas resurfacing from a Bulls-imposed, near-four-month exile and scoring 20 points in 20 minutes in his very first outing with Phoenix (no practice evidently makes perfect) against visiting Orlando?
Who would've imagined an equally imposing encore - eight points and seven rebounds (totaled four in three games for Chicago), as well as an assist, a steal and a blocked shot in 27 minutes - to help the Pacific Division leaders earn their 10th straight win and terminate the Mavericks' 16-game home winning streak?
Has any anonymous player excelled more than Boris Diaw? As an unidentified low-flying Hawk, the 6-foot-8 Frenchman averaged 4.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 21.9 minutes in two seasons for the perennial lottery tenants.
As an emerging star with the Suns he's proving almost every bit as good as Joe Johnson, the player he was exchanged for, except Phoenix also got a pair of first-rounders. In 58 games, the leading candidate for most improved is averaging 34.3 minutes, 12.8 points, 6.8 boards and 5.9 assists (on the same team with Steve Nash, tops in that category) while shooting 51 percent and rotating from position to another, including center.
Against Dallas, Diaw recorded his second triple-double (24, 10 and 10), third in the league.
Almost immediately after being traded from the Raptors to the Hornets Aaron Williams, reputed to be extinct as a Net, notched 14 points in a win vs. Portland.
During his entire one-year torment in Toronto he'd scored 61 points in 37 games. The breakdown this season was 25 points in 14 appearances, seven minutes per for bottom feeder. His breakdown for the playoff-contending Hornets (9-5 since Aaron arrived) is 14 games, averaging 4.9 points, 5.6 rebounds.
There are so many examples. Flip Murray got no love from Sonics' interim coach Bob Hill, yet quickly justified his Cleveland acquisition by bailing out the Cavaliers, who'd blown a 25-point spread to the Bulls, with a game-winning trifecta.
Hill also went out of his way before the trade deadline to offer an unfavorable, comprehensive assessment of Reggie Evans, doing his best to devalue dead weight management was trying to move. Ten days later, in Kenyon Martin's ailing absence, he went for 12 points and 10 boards.
That very evening, Derek Anderson ascended from two seasons in obscurity in Portland and Houston to be the difference in Miami's win over Atlanta.
Obtained for next to nothing on trade deadline, the Heat guard registered 14 points, four rebounds and three assists, the last positively pivotal, a touch pass to Alonzo Mourning at the buzzer for the victory.
Want more? How about Marc Jackson coming to life after leaving the Nets for the Hornets? How about Steven Hunter getting a new beginning as a starter for the 76ers after being relocated to his point of origin following a failed Hornets' physical?
Then there's Marcus Banks. Under Celtic coach Doc Rivers' supervision, he averaged just below 15 minutes in 18 games, averaging 5.5 points and 1.8 assists. Under Timberwolves' coach Dwane Casey, Banks is starting (four times now in 16 games), averaging 12.8 points, 4.1 assists and 28.3 minutes, while shooting 52 percent.
Meanwhile, Darko Milicic participated in 96 Piston games in 21/2 seasons. He shot 51.5 from the field and averaged 5.5 minutes, 1.5 points and 1.1 rebounds. In seven games with Orlando, the No. 2 pick of the '03 draft is shooting 57.9 and averaging seven points, 5.3 rebounds and two blocks.
You don't know how disappointed I was last week when Brian Hill and Mike D'Antoni flagrantly failed to furnish fans with the much-anticipated Milicic-Nikoloz Tskitishvili matchup.
"Had I known a change of venue would've resulted in such a positive outcome I would've left New York long ago."
Who said that? Larry Brown? Larry Brown? Or Larry Brown?