| "A Classic Confrontation..." (February 11, 1998)
Did you ever had one of those days when it's so amazingly boring, and you have nothing to do? That's what it's like here. I mean, I have nothing to do until 1:00 pm when I have a meeting. It's 11:00 am right now. So I have 2 hours to kill. What better way to kill it, than writing an article. I used to think no one out there in Internet land ever reads my articles. I still think that, actually. I find it's much better to write for my own home page than On Hoops. Don't get me wrong, I love On Hoops, but I can be much more irreverent on my own home page than for someone else's. I was offered a writing position at Suite101. I thought about writing there. Maybe I will, but they want much shorter articles and I assume they want me to stick to a specific topic. I like to stray and rant. I guess it's a personal thing. Besides, I love screwing around with HTML code on my own. I'd like to give a shout out to Mikey O for the "/BR" code. I know, I know, any idiot should have known that. Not me, I'm a true HTML loser. Before the advent of Hoop-LA, I'd never attempted to write any HTML code. It's not too hard to get your home page on the Internet, just takes a bit of time. Now that I've done it, I'd rather spend my time writing instead of fixing up my home page. I think if I edit the actual home page style, it will be one more huge overhaul or nothing at all. I figure, if you going to make a change, make a big change.
So what should I write about? I don't know. When I was away in Cuba, I was watching Classic NBA games, basically Laker/Celtic and Laker/Piston playoff final games from the 1980s. I think I'll write about the difference between now and then. I may stray, so don't sue me. If anything, WRITE ME! I don't get too much correspondence from you guys out there in Internet land. I'm beginning to think you guys don't like me. That's probably the case. Hey, I'm used to it. Just a growing list of "People who hate Hoop-LA". Maybe I should create a "Hoop-LA Haters" home page. Naw, too much work. I don't want to write more HTML code. I'm happy with this.
Oh, while I'm on a mindless, wild rant, whatdadealio with the whole snowboading/pot thing? So he smoked a joint a month ago. The minute amount in his blood stream should show he smoked up a while back. What they should do is have him smoke a joint and then test him. Go see how much pot is in his blood stream and then test him. This way they can determine if its second hand or not. I also heard the Japanese authorities are going to question him as well. Going to jail for smoking a joint? What's this world coming to. Let me say, I don't smoke up. I know a lot of people who do. I don't think it's wrong. I just don't see the benefits. But that's not my concern. Is pot performance enhancing? No. Unless the boarder had a bad case of the munchies and needed to get down the hill super fast, I don't see how pot could have done good for him. Let's face it, when your friends light up a fatty, what happens. They get mellow. They get stupid. They get lazy. They get hungry. They laugh too much. And you can punch them in the arm and they don't notice it. I see no co-relation between pot and enhanced ability to snow board. This is just my opinion, I might be wrong.
The major difference between the games of the late 80s and the games of the late 90s are the scores. During those games, you saw scores of 110-105 in the playoffs. Now you see scores of 95-90 during the regular season. Remember, playoff games usually had lower scores because the defensive pressure had picked up. I remember the days when pundits said Golden State would never win because they averaged 118 points per game and they gave up too many points. Team with good defense always won. I agree, they do. Now, it's rare to see a game when both teams score more than 100 points each. Wasn't there a time when if a team held their opponent under 100, it was a big deal. Not anymore. We can thank Detroit and their Bad Boy defense. It's funny, because Detroit could score. I don't mean like Denver under Paul Westhead or Golden State under Don Nelson, but they could put up points if they had to. They didn't score 96 and keep their opponents under 90. They had some good scorers. Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Vinnie Johnson, James Edwards and Mark Aguirre were all scorers. Even Bill Laimbeer would pitch in. I think Dennis Rodman actually scored 10 points per game one year, this is before Dennis decided to become the king of rebounds, the king of never actually shooting the ball, the king of hair dye, the king of tattoos, and the king being super flaky.
Ten years ago scores were more than 10 points per team higher. The leading scorer in the NBA averaged over 34 points per game. Oh ya, it was Michael Jordan back then too. Mike once averaged 37 points per game. Now he'll have a hard time breaking 30 points per game, due to the way games are run. Back to the old days. I was having trouble figuring out what went wrong, if you call a 20 point drop in scoring a problem. The shooting percentage wise has dropped. That could be attributed to increased defensive pressure. That might me the case. Most people say it's due to that. Maybe it's due to the lack of shooting talent in the NBA. Remember, there weren't 6 news teams back then. The NBA talent wasn't diluted as much. I can't say it's one thing just a collection of things. Here's my account of why scoring (and the game in general) has changed so much in 10 years.
- The increased "importance" of coaching. Coaches are calling more plays. Want more control. Control usually means calling more plays. That means the point guard has to slow down to look/listen to the coach. This causes slow downs.
- The change in coaching philosophy. With the "win now" mentality, coaches are not given the free reign they were 10 years ago to institute their own system and develop players for it. Coaches like Mike Fratello and Doug Collins (before he was fired) imposed their will on the team, called for increased defensive pressure and slowed the game down to a crawl so the game would resemble a 1986 New York Giants football game. Ball control is the new name of the game. If a team scores with 1 second left on the shot clock, it means that there is 23 second off the game clock. Stupid mentality, because it's boring. Let the horses run. There is not a point guard in the NBA who would rather play in a running style of game than a half court game.
- Terrible free throw shooting. Shooting in general has decreased, but especially at the free throw line. Less made baskets, lower scores. This doesn't account for the slowness of the game, though.
- This has to due directly with free throws. With the advent of the Bad Boys and the Knick defense, teams have increasingly been reluctant to drive the lane, or they'd be killed. Referees have allowed more "incidental" contact. You see more drives to the lane end up as missed shots in incidental contact. Sure Jordan and Malone get to line all the time, but they're stars. I'm talking about the regular player who drives the lane and gets bumped, just enough not to make the shot. The style of refereeing has changed along with the more physical nature of the game.
- Bigger is better. Players are getting bigger. Are they better? I remember when you didn't need a 7 foot center, a 6'10" power forward, a 6'8" small forward, etc. The taller players tend to add to overall team rebounding, but most taller players aren't as skilled as smaller players. You have the mutants, sure, like Kevin Garnett as a 7 foot small forward, but you also have Detlef Schrempf. He would have been a power forward before. Actually, when he was drafted, he was a power forward. Now he's moved to small forward. He can't guard a small forward. He's a great player, but he's too big and slow. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, just a reason.
- Offensive philosophies. Pound it down low to the big guy. Wait for the double team. Pass to the open guy. Shoot. Did I miss anything? Nope. Maybe a two man game? Big guy, little guy. Up top. Down low. That's the game these day. Pretty boring. Besides, this ties into my next reason.
- Defensive philosophies. Hack a Shaq. If a guy gets too close. Hack him. That's not new, is it? Nope. I'm not saying all players can't hit free throws like Shaq, but Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain were poor free throw shooters as well. You see more fouls, at least, more apparent fouls, because the team defensive philosophies have changed. Maybe like of a few years ago football, defense has surpassed offense and it will take a rule change to right it. Back a few years ago, the NFL created the five yard chuck zone and more stringent pass interference rules. Passing is much easier now. In the NHL, you see more defensive traps and lower scores. They have the same problem as the NBA.
So what can we do? I don't know. Do what I do. Watch the old games. Marvel at the ability of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas. Watch true showtime. Be amazed at how the Lakers ran a fast break. Kareem gets the board quick outlet to Magic who would run at every opportunity. He heads up court. Worthy up on the wing, to the right. A.C. Green would run to his left. Byron Scott or Michael Cooper would fall back a bit for the trailing three point attempt. If they were lucky, they would create a 3 on 2 or a 4 on 3. It's not often you see that in the NBA. The Bulls, with Pippen back, are able to do that. Occasionally Seattle can do it through pressure. Phoenix likes to run, but that's because of their relatively small lineup. While I'm here, McDyess is averaging 14 points and 7 boards. Is that worth $100 million over 7 years? If so, I think Buck Williams, Otis Thorpe, Charles Oakley and Sam Perkins should get some retroactive millions. These four were constantly in that category. Aw well. Such is life.
Finally, I want to mention something about these Damon Stoudamire trade talks. He says he doesn't want to go to New Jersey. Last time I checked, they were a damn good team. 27-21 at the All-Star break. Three good players in Williams, Van Horne and Kittles. Damon said he doesn't want to be the "main guy" again, he wants to go to a winner. I think New Jersey is a great place for him. First, he'd fit in and he'd be the number two guy behind Van Horne. Second, New Jersey is an up and coming team. Third, it's New York. New Jersey plays 15 minutes away from Manhattan, in the center of the galaxy. Think of the endorsements for Mighty Mouse. I guess he's got his head stuck so far up his ass he doesn't know a good thing when he sees it. I guess he wants to be traded to a championship team. Last time I checked, a championship caliber team wouldn't need someone like him. Or if they did, they'd have to give up a lot. I hear he didn't to go to Orlando if Penny Hardaway was traded to Toronto. He wants to play with Penny. What a sweet gesture, but face it Damon, you work for Toronto. Suck it up and face facts. You go where they tell you, or don't play and don't collect a pay check. Kendall Gill said he won't go to Toronto in a deal. Gill, over the past two years, has cleared his name as a whiner and malcontent. This just reinstated his former title. Bitch, bitch, bitch. Gill is playing an undersized small forward, that's points for him. But now he says he won't go and forfeit his $14 million dollars. Uh, ya. Sure he will. I guess when the mortgage on his gazillion dollar house comes due, he'll sing another tune. It's not like Toronto is that bad. Nice city. Bigger than most. Baseball players like it. I wonder why basketball players hate it. Until this year, players wanted to come to Toronto. Now it's, the weather is a problem. The taxes, the stadium. Basically, no Zeke, no players. Thanks Mr. Thomas. This is your doing.
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