Terry Porter was fired by the Suns and replaced by Alvin Gentry.

GM Steve Kerr has no clue. He took the very successful running offense that could not get it done in the playoffs and fired its architect in Mike D’Antoni.

Then Steve hired Terry Porter to bring in the Detroit Pistons defensive style of play. Huh? Same players completely opposite styles? Won’t work and it didn’t.

Porter was in the first year of a three-year, $6 million deal to replace Mike D’Antoni, who left after four highly successful seasons to coach the New York Knicks.

D’Antoni is a coach who lets his players run and shoot, and maybe play defense once in a while. It was Kerr’s insistence on emphasizing defense that led, in large part, to D’Antoni’s departure. Porter wanted a defense-oriented team in the tough mold of the Pistons.

It was a bad fit.

source

Now Steve brings in Alvin Gentry, always the coach to replace the fired coach, because the players like him. Gentry says he will bring back the racehorse style, only D’Antoni won’t be there, and Steve Nash is 2 years older, and All Star MVP Shaq is 37 and can’t run.

Good Luck with that.

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Pau Gasol scoring again

So what, they lined up all the internationally born NBA players and raced and Pau Gasol was the eighth fastest?

No, more like he is the 8th fastest European to get to 10,000 points in the NBA.

Pau Gasol shows more of his offensive creativity, and against Utah he reached the 10,000-point plateau for his career. Dirk Nowitzki, Peja Stojakovic and Vlade Divac are the only other Europeans to get there after having come to the NBA directly from overseas.

Only 286 players overall in league history have scored 10,000 points, and Gasol is the eighth-fastest (in terms of games played) internationally born player to get there.

And obviously Gasol isn’t done.

source

Laker coach Phil Jackson says Pau has a great chance of joining him and Kobe Bryant on the All Star team.

Photo source Newscom

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The Pistons were able to play defense on one guy.

Uhh, one guy?

Yeah, they held Dwight “Superman” Howard to eight points on 2 for 9 shooting with 5 turnovers.

Nice, what happened?

The Pistons lost to the Magic 103 – 85.

How could they lose?

They forgot to play defense on the other 4 guys.

“I am disappointed, (the players) are disappointed and the fans are disappointed,” coach Flip Saunders said after the Orlando Magic came into The Palace on Wednesday night and laid a 103-85 whipping on the Pistons. “We didn’t need to come out and lay an egg like that.”

The Magic shot holes in the Pistons’ 10-game winning streak with a barrage of 3-point shots. They knocked down 13-of-20 on the night, nine of the first 12. source

Apparently the Pistons have the magic powers of a chicken and can lay eggs.

The NBA just gets weirder all the time.

Anyway, the Magic just kept pouring in the 3’s.

Bogans, Rashard Lewis (20 points) and former Piston Maurice Evans (16 points) combined to make 11 of 13 triples and the Magic won at The Palace for the first time in eight tries.

“They were hot, man, hot, hot, hot,” Pistons guard Chauncey Billups said. “Give them credit, they came in here and took it to us. No excuses.”

Was Chauncey singing when he said this?

Oh, my. What could happen next?

Leave it to the All-Star break to break momentum.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Do strange losses upset you?

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Check out these all time worst dunks in the dunk contest narrated by Kenny Smith.

What a far cry from Dwight Howard and the Superman Dunk.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Can you imagine any worse dunks?

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LeBron James All Star MVP – Time to get out of Dodge err Cleveland!

With David Stern happy to have NBA Marketing Icon LeBron James as the MVP of the 2008 All Star game, the world can move on.

If you had to lay odds, it had to be James as MVP.

The NBA is a marketing organization, not a sports organization. Right now the future of the NBA seems secure, with possible expansion out of the USA and many stars in the league, but it can change fast and David Stern knows that.

Don’t get me wrong, LeBron is so good he probably would win the MVP of the All Star game anyway, almost every year.

It wouldn’t be long until these pulsating final minutes of this fabulous All-Star Game ultimately belonged to the genius of its Most Valuable Player with 27 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. It wouldn’t be long until commissioner David Stern passed him his second trophy at 23 years old, and the world would see who the star of stars was again at New Orleans Arena.

“LeBron is a freight train when he goes to that basket,” West coach Byron Scott sighed. “He’s so big, and so strong – so quick and so powerful. It’s hard to stop him when he gets the momentum going like that.” source

Now it is time to plan for LeBron to leave Cleveland.

The Cavaliers will have a hard time putting together consistent teams in Cleveland.

Over the summer, LeBron, Bryant and Jason Kidd were grumbling teammates with Team USA. Bryant wanted out of Los Angeles. Kidd wanted a trade to Cleveland. And James just wanted someone to share the burden with him. Well, the two point guards whom Cleveland GM Danny Ferry had tried to obtain for two years – Kidd and Mike Bibby – are on the way to Dallas and Atlanta.

The NBA needs to keep LeBron on the highest stage possible. That stage would be the NBA Playoffs and probably at least the Conference Finals. Hopefully the Championship series itself.

You can’t market Tim Duncan.

As much as it hurts your intrepid author (a huge Pistons fan), the League does not want anymore San Antonio Spurs vs. Detroit Pistons series. To fans outside of those teams, it is boring. They play defense.

Think of Kevin Garnett’s Boston Celtics vs. Kobe’s Lakers.

Think of Steve Nash and the Shaq bringing the Suns in to play LeBron James when he is on the Knicks (without Isiah).

Oh my, you have to watch this. Dwight Howard is unreal!

Dwight Howard Superman 2008 Dunk

Two things.

1. The Superman Dunk is thrown in, not dunked. It is unreal.

2. The dunk after the Superman dunk by Dwight Howard is even more creative and amazing!

NBA Basketball Fan Question Is Dwight Howard truly the Superman of Dunks?

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Mike Bibby will bring shooting and poise to the Hawks

On the surface, most fans are saying, “So what.”

Mike Bibby gets traded from one under .500 team to another under .500 team.

But there is more here than meets the eye.

In the Western Conference, to be under .500 is to be out of the playoff race. In the Eastern Conference, only 5 teams are above .500. That is right, only 5 teams.

Atlanta is still in it.

The Hawks played my Pistons the other night in a nothing pre-All-Star-time game and took Detroit down to the wire.

Now admittedly the Pistons were having a tough time staying interested in that game and needed a Rasheed Wallace referee blowup to get excited, but Atlanta was busy showing off young talent at the same time.

You have a team with Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, Josh Childress, Al Horford, Marvin Williams and, lo and behold, no point guard. That is until now.

Hawks coach Mike Woodson said Bibby, acquired from the Sacramento Kings for four players on Saturday, will provide scoring help for Joe Johnson. Atlanta’s All-Star shooting guard often faces gimmick defenses because he’s the team’s only outside shooting threat.

“There’s another option now,” Woodson said. “It’ll be like a one-two punch in the backcourt.” source

And Sacramento?

Don’t kid yourself about these deals. Sacramento picked up a bunch of expiring or almost expiring contracts and probably nothing more. They just want cash space in the off season to pursue players.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Can Mike Bibby ignite the Hawks?

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Sometimes they do not get into your house.

Who?

The robbers.

What are you talking about?

Sometimes they steal something inside of you.

Like what?

Your pride, confidence, or self worth can be stolen. That leaves you with only two things to do.

What two things? How do you steal someone’s pride, confidence, or self worth?

Deron Williams was left off the All Star team. It hurt. The All Star game will be held in New Orleans and Chris Paul made the team. That hurt even more.

Deron made sure that Utah would beat New Orleans last night.

Utah Jazz 110 New Orleans Hornets 88

Deron was left off, mostly because he plays for Utah.

Most of us in the Midwest or East know about the Suns, Mavericks, Lakers, even the Nuggets, but Utah? Hey, doesn’t that former Piston, Ochre, Ogre, …Okur, that is his name. Doesn’t he play for Utah?

And that one guy named for an alcohol, Boozer. Yeah, he is built like a fullback, only 6 foot nine.

Meanwhile one of the hottest teams in the NBA, New Orleans, has Chris Paul at point guard. That would be Deron’s position.

Utah just happened to be playing New Orleans.

The two things

Basic caveman, limbic system, type things. Fight or Flight.

The game was at home, so Deron did not have to take a flight, so he went with the fight.

Williams, who went with the No. 3 pick to Utah in that draft, scored 29 points and had 11 assists in Utah’s 110-88 victory over New Orleans on Monday night that extended the Jazz’s winning streak to nine games.

“People are going to compare them as long as they’re in the league,” Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. “There’s nothing you can do about that. But we’re looking for him to be Deron Williams.”

Paul went to the Hornets with fourth pick and the two have been compared ever since. source

Revenge

Think there was any revenge going on here?

“He came out tonight to send a message and I think that message got sent across,” said Carlos Boozer, who had 19 points and 17 rebounds for the Jazz and is going to the All-Star game in New Orleans.

Williams had his eighth straight double-double and hit three 3-pointers as the Jazz set a team record by making 14 from beyond the arc. He finished 11-for-13 from the floor, but his defense was just as big as the Jazz turned the meeting of division leaders into a route. source

This was no personal vendetta for Deron Williams. He is not that kind of guy, but some of that sting of that All Star vote had to be let out and Chris just happened to be there.

Williams got Hornets guard Chris Paul — selected for the All-Star game last week while Williams was not — into early foul trouble and held him to just six points and six assists.

Williams said it was nothing personal against Paul.

Your intrepid author has heaped praise on Deron Williams before.

Deron Williams is underdog

Kenny Smith listed Deron above Chris by only one position in rating the point guards. Both of them highly regarded as rookies.

Top 10 NBA point guards

So Deron will be at home for this All Star game, but don’t expect him to miss very many.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Did you vote for Chris Paul or Deron Williams?

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What do you mean ‘No Love’?

Jefferson, that is Richard, not Thomas, and that is hoops, not Congress.

And that is 4 commas in one short sentence.

Which fits, because Jefferson is only 6′ 7″ and 225 pounds. Not exactly Shaq sized, but in today’s NBA and the emphasis on speed and gliding to the hoop, Richard Jefferson is doing just fine.

The whole key is his health. Now that Jefferson has it and Vince Carter on one side and Jason Kidd in the middle, there is no stopping him. The problems lie in the fact that you can stop the Nets. They are 3 – 7 in their last three games and 10 – 14 on the season, all while Richard is second in the conference in scoring and heading for and All Star season.

ABC analyst Mark Jackson, who does Nets games for the YES Network, says Jefferson had been the most consistent Net in New Jersey’s first 21 games.

“You look at the impact he is having on ball games — win, lose or draw — he hasn’t disappointed,” says Jackson. “He is playing his best basketball and it is really fun to watch night in and night out.”

Though the 6-7, 225-pound Jefferson is having an All-Star caliber start, that wasn’t his goal.

“I didn’t want to average 20 points,” Jefferson says. “I didn’t want to make the All-Star Game. I didn’t want to do this or do that. I came in saying, ‘Hey, I just want to be healthy.’ And I’m glad I’m healthy.” source

Back at Arizona

You could tell Richard would be great when he met up with my Michigan State Spartans in his last year in college at Arizona back in 2001. My Spartans were led by Jason “Jrich” Richardson and the two met head to head. It was no contest. At that time Richard Jefferson was bigger, stronger, and just plain better. It was a shock to Spartan fans.

Get Rid of Richard Jefferson

Richard is healthy and teamed with Carter and Kidd and playing at a very high level. But the Nets are not winning and that is a problem. The talk is about breaking up the big 3 players.

Breaking this trio apart has been suggested before. It just seems appropriate now because if the floundering Nets are going to address the next phase of this franchise – contending for a title, filling that new arena in Brooklyn, etc… – they should be thinking trade right now, well in advance of the February deadline.

And they should trade Jefferson, who at 24.9 points per game, still has lots of value. The big hurdle is Jefferson, who will earn $12.2 million this year, still has another three years and $52 million left on his contract. But he should be moved to rebuild. source

Leave it to Rod Thorn and the Nets to always be moving the pieces. Gotta feeling that there are plenty of teams out there drooling at the prospect of picking up a player of Richard Jefferson’s caliber.

Will he stay or will he go? Nobody knows.

Break up the Big 3? Hey, thought the Big 3 was officially up in Boston now?

Rod ought to wake up and realize the Nets have historically stunk on Defense and have lacked a true presence in the middle for years.

Richard Jefferson is not the problem and besides, Richard is healthy!

NBA Basketball Fan Question Would your team trade for Jefferson?

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