Showing posts with label basketball. Show all posts

What The Heck Happened...





Youth Is Wasted On The Young


I haven't watched much college basketball this year, but I did manage to see parts of the UCONN-Butler game, which has already entered the pantheon of "worst title game ever." While Butler clearly endured a Shark-like choke job, the level of play was poor on both sides of the ball. People love Cinderellas, but it sure seems like there are more Cinderellas now because the top teams are not as good as they used to be. One stat over at the Painted Area sums up the problem: there are play-off level NBA teams that are college-aged
Ages of Butler's starters in Monday night's game:
    - Matt Howard: 22
    - Shawn Vanzant: 22
    - Chase Stigall: 21
    - Shelvin Mack: 20
    - Andrew Smith: 20
Ages of Oklahoma City's starters, if James Harden were subbed in for Thabo Sefolosha:
    - Kendrick Perkins: 26
    - Kevin Durant: 22
    - Russell Westbrook: 22
    - Serge Ibaka: 21
    - James Harden: 21
Additionally, in OKC's game in L.A. on Saturday night, the Clippers started three 22-year-olds in Blake Griffin, Eric Gordon and DeAndre Jordan, with Eric Bledsoe (21) and Al-Farouq Aminu (20) getting rotation minutes, as well.
That's pretty amazing. It seems like Kevin Durant and Eric Gordon were in college years ago, which of course they were. At this point, they are three-year veterans! But they're nearly half my age! Gah!

I'm not against the idea of kids making the leap to the NBA after one year in college, or even straight out of high school. That's certainly better than three or four years of indentured servitude under the auspices of the NCAA and its hypocritical rules that punish a kid for accepting a freakin' cell phone from a third party while his college makes millions off of his labors. But, the college game certainly suffers in quality as the guys with real talent leave after their "one & done" year.

It seems incredible to think about it, but Michael Jordan spent three years at UNC, which was not unusual for the time, and which is likely never going to happen again.


Don't Call The Doctor: Warriors Get Rid of Killer Trainer


Free Will gets results! Last summer when the Golden State Warriors sale was finalized, I made this suggestion as to where that organization should begin its housecleaning:
There's a lot of talk about making wholesale changes in the organization, from coaching staff to the GM's office, to the food vendors. You know what would make a real difference right away? Get rid of the current medical staff (assuming there is one. for all we know they just get by with smelling salts and Ben-Gay). Every year, the Warriors' slim hopes are dashed by seemingly endless injuries that leave their roster hopelessly depleted for months on end. The team has a depressing tendency to endure season-ending injuries, even to guys in their early twenties. Then, the ones who survive get run ragged as they play dozens of "seven-man roster" games...which they lose. I tell you, it's depressing to think of how Stephen Curry might be getting mistreated as we speak.
Well, guess who's heading out the door: Abdenour Out As Warriors' Athletic Trainer

A day before the Warriors are expected to have all 15 players healthy and availaable for the first time this season, head athletic trainer Tom Abdenour announced Tuesday that he is leaving to take the same position at San Diego State.

Abdenour, 56, is in his 24th season with the Warriors and said he will stay with the team until it finds a replacement. He was hired before the 1987-88 season and was inducted into the National Athletic Trainer's Association Hall of Fame in 1990.

Recently, Abdenour has come under criticism from fans because of the Warriors' cyclical injury problems.

Apparently, the Warriors received more emails demanding Abdenour's ouster as those agitating against Don Nelson, and no wonder. The numbers crunchers at the Chronicle have figured that in the last two seasons the Warriors used 96 unique starting line-ups over 164 games. This year was shaping up to be no better. Andris Biedrins was on the cusp of his annual season ending injury, while expensive free agent David Lee endured a bizarre arm infection that nearly killed him. Stuff like that just doesn't happen to other NBA teams, or at least it doesn't seem like it. They would have been better off with smelling salts and Ben-Gay.

Abdenour's departure - to take the same job at San Diego State, watch out kids! - isn't a panacea, but it's a definite step in the right direction. The few times the Warriors have been at full strength, they've been competitive, but the repeated cascading injuries quickly dashed those hopes. And, don't forget that their miracle 2007 playoff run happened during a rare window when Baron Davis was healthy and Stephen Jackson had just joined the team (and had thus not been screwed up, yet). A good medical staff won't literally send the Warriors to the playoffs, but at least the team won't be screwing up the bodies (and careers) of guys whose professional windows are narrow enough as it is.



2010: the Year In Bay Area Sports


A big year in Bay Area sports keeps getting better with the New Year's Eve announcement that the 2013 America's Cup race will be held in the San Francisco Bay.

San Francisco Giants - how was your team's year? Oh, our's was OK. We only won the World Series, bay-be! There's nothing quite like life in a Championship City. There's a certain buzz in the air, the bars are a little livelier; men's voices boom a little louder; young kids stop goofing around and try to strut around like their dads; even the sleazy guys selling bootleg T-shirts out of a briefcase looked good. Good times. 2010 also saw the emergence of Giants catcher Buster Posey, who quickly emerged as a fan favorite (you saw Posey jersies as early as August, just weeks after he won the starting job), and won the Rookie of the Year.

San Francisco 49'ers - another disappointing year as a team that was expected to contend for a play-off berth failed on every possible level. QB Alex Smith definitively established that, for all of his complaints that he has been held back by injury and bad coaching, there is also a problem in that he suxxx. Even if he could be redeemed, the fans just don't want to see him again. The team's been rebuilding for 8 years now, and it looks like they will have to rebuild again.

Baseball vs. Football - this may go down in the history books as the year San Francisco moved firmly from being a football town to being a baseball town. Putting aside the vast gulf between winning and losing, the Giants simply feel like a better fit for the City than the Niners right now. The team plays in a beautiful downtown stadium that the team built itself (the City mostly helped by getting out of the way of the permitting process). After the highs and lows of the Bonds years, the team patiently built a contender based around young phenoms like Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain (only the Barry Zito signing has been glaring in its disastrousness, and even he's had a good year). Like a SOMA tech start-up, there is a point and a plan, and the young guys who need a haircut have a ton of money, and plenty of good cheer.

The 49'ers, meanwhile, are still trolling for public funds to pay for "their" stadium, while threatening to take the team to Santa Clara. The City Fathers' response has been, shall we say, muted. All the while, it's been one bad personnel decision after another, whether at coach, GM, QB, or even owner. In retrospect, the decision to break up the Mariucci-Garcia-Owens team was the beginning of the end. The 2002 edition of that team went 10-6, won its division and went to the play-offs, the last 49'er team to do so. But, back then the Dynasty Fumes were still in the tank and everyone thought "they" could do better. Turns out the floor was really a ceiling and now the bottom has fallen out.

17 years ago, the Giants were an afterthought, playing out frozen games at Candlestick and nearly moving to Tampa Bay (it was this threat that finally brought in new ownership and the new stadium). The 49'ers, meanwhile, held semi-annual Superbowl parades down Market Street, and were a mortal lock on at least a play-off berth. But, the melancholy reality in sports, as in life, is that the only thing permanent is change.

Oakland A's - a team that is in a bad rut. The third-best team in the American League West is playing in a terrible stadium that they can't even fill to a quarter of its capacity. Billy Beane may be admired around the league for his pioneering use of sabremetrics to build his team, but the Beane-era A's have never won a championship, unlike the sabremetric minded Boston Red Sox. Worse, Beane's incessant trade have slowly, but surely depressed his East Bay fan base. The A's have a fielded a ton of great players over the last 10 years, but they never seem to be anything more than pieces in a never ending game of "trade chess." A visit to McAfee Stadium tells the tale: along with complaints about the latest trade-for-prospects, you'll see more jerseys for former A's players, than you will for current ones. The A's "experience" is still a good one: the players are always classy, competent and low-key (they'll happily sign autographs before games); you can always get good seats at a low price (unless the Yankees or Sox are in town); the stadium staff is always friendly; even the hot dogs taste better. But, this is a team that probably needs a change in scenery.

Oakland Raiders - began the post-JaMarcus Era well, with their many top-draft prospects from the last few years finally living up to their promise. Darren McFadden, for one, had a great year. Coach Cable does not look like much, but the guy has a good football mind, and is a great motivator. The Raiders, even during last year's doldrums, always play hard for him. The malaise of uncertainty at QB remains this team's cross to bear.

Golden State Warriors - a good year off the court, as owner Chris Cohan - the symbol of the franchise's 17 years of mediocrity - finally sold the team, this time to a basketball savvy group with neck-high, if not deep, pockets. Steph Curry emerged as one of the top rookies in the league, while Monta Ellis emerged as the team's alpha dog. The team also acquired free agent David Lee, who finally gave the team a credible rebounding threat. This being the Warriors, Lee was promptly sidelined by a bizarre infection in his arm that nearly killed him, and definitely killed the team's momentum. Center Andris Biedrins annual season-ending injury also appears to be on schedule. The team may look like it's flailing, but there's hope in the flail.

St. Mary's Gaels - the Men's Basketball team made an honest-to-god Cinderella run in the NCAA tournament, reaching the Sweet 16 and beating Villanova along the way.

Stanford Cardinal - the football team had one of its best years ever, led by future first-round pick Andrew Luck and future Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh.

San Jose Sharks - another play-off run that ended in the second round. These guys do a lot of things right (they win their home games, and are always a contender, which is all a fan base should legitimately ask), but they're getting close to the point of diminishing returns: not good enough to win a championship, but too good to get the sort of draft prospects that can let them build for the future.

Stockton Ports - the A's farm team went to the California League playoffs, but couldn't get out of the first round.

San Jose Giants - you-know-who's farm team matched their northern brothers by winning the California League championship.

Larry Ellison - lost out on the Warriors ownership prize, but managed to win the America's Cup, of all things, resulting in an unexpected boon: a San Francisco-based America's Cup race.


Pistol


Apropos of nothing, here's Pete Maravich going through some odd drills with Red Auerbach.


Amazing stuff. Also amazing is the glimpse into the not-too-distant pre-Sportscenter past when the greatest coach of the era was a cigar-chomping wise guy (as opposed to our current era's smug "zen priest"); and the team from New Orleans was called the "Jazz," which made a helluva lot more sense.


We're Gonna Make It: The Warriors Get Sold


Can't miss mentioning the imminent sale of the Golden State Warriors to a local venture capitalist whose $$ and savvy helped lead the Boston Celtics from the bottom of the East to 2008 champs. Call it Hoops & Change: Warriors Sold for $450 Million

The name "Larry Ellison" was the subject of every rumor throughout the four-month sales process. But the new owner isn't the Oracle CEO. It's Joe Lacob, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist whose name was rarely mentioned.

Lacob's investment group, which also features entertainment executive Peter Guber, signed a purchase agreement to buy the Oakland NBA team from Chris Cohan for a league record $450 million.

....

"We've got to address the on-court situation and try to improve it," said Lacob, a Warriors season-ticket holder who owns a partial stake in the Boston Celtics, which he will have to sell. "Our job is to turn this team into winners. We've talked about a lot of other things, but that is the bottom line."

Lacob hopes to see the Warriors make the same rebound that the Celtics did after he bought into them in 2006. The Celtics were 57-107 in the two seasons before winning the 2008 championship.

"I feel like I understand basketball. It's a tremendous passion of mine," Lacob said. "I tried to bring that to the Celtics. I was in the draft war room each year, and I'd like to think I had something to do with some of the big, bold moves that we made at the right time to get that thing turned around."

Lacob said he wouldn't talk about potential roster or front office moves with the Warriors until the sale is approved by the league - a process that sources believe will move swiftly. Until then, Lacob said, he expects that Cohan will listen to his suggestions.

Lacob "has incredible financial acumen, he lives there and he's a lifelong Warriors fan," said Guber, chairman of Mandalay Entertainment. "He has great familiarity with basketball, he's extremely clever and he understands partnerships."

There's a lot of talk about making wholesale changes in the organization, from coaching staff to the GM's office, to the food vendors. You know what would make a real difference right away? Get rid of the current medical staff (assuming there is one. for all we know they just get by with smelling salts and Ben-Gay). Every year, the Warriors' slim hopes are dashed by seemingly endless injuries that leave their roster hopelessly depleted for months on end. The team has a depressing tendency to endure season-ending injuries, even to guys in their early twenties. Then, the ones who survive get run ragged as they play dozens of "seven-man roster" games...which they lose. I tell you, it's depressing to think of how Stephen Curry might be getting mistreated as we speak.

The Warriors' new owners are already talking about building a championship contender, which means they must be planning to assassinate Kobe (or planning to send one of the Bay Area's many flaky blonds up to his hotel room for a "visit"). Let's work on keeping the team healthy for once. Do that and you can at least win your home games and make the playoffs every couple years, which is all I really would ask for now.



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