-So, Tom Izzo. This is the part where I again have to admit that I don’t really watch college basketball. My friends who do are almost unanimously huge fans, though. And lord knows the Cavs could have used one of his infamous rebounding drills during the playoffs this year. (Yes, I just learned about those drills from Wikipedia.)
I will say that I’m a little disturbed that the only common denominator among the potential candidates seems to be name recognition. I realize that a big-name coach gives the Cavs the best chance of keeping LeBron, and that keeping LeBron is priority 1-2,684 this off-season, but I’d really like to see that the Cavs are looking for a coach who will fulfill their basketball-related needs first and foremost.
-On another note, the head coaching candidate who has actually been coaching NBA players, and well, in the recent future just signed with the Bulls. Did anyone see the defensive schemes the Celtics broke out tonight to keep Kobe contained? 11 of his last 12 games he’s scored 30 or more, and all of a sudden he can’t cough without three Celtic defenders getting germs on them. Thibodeau’s going to build one heck of a defense around Noah.
-NBA Finals notes: I seriously, seriously doubt that Ray Allen is going to be available for the mid-level exception this off-season. My Allen-to-the-Cavs pipe dream is holding on by the thinnest possible thread.
-Kobe’s the most complete offensive player in the league, but Ray Allen is in the yearbook picture. Sometimes games like this actually underrate him, because people think he’s just a shooter. He’s the best three-point shooter of all time, but he’s also so much more. When he comes off that screen, he can make the pocket pass so well, he can get to the rim, he can pull up, and he’s confident in his shot from anywhere on the floor, something a lot of great spot-up shooters aren’t. I love watching Ray Allen when he’s on. And not playing the Cavs.
-Kobe subpar game against the Celtics double standard something something. I’ve stopped caring. Plus, he’s probably going to go off and win at least one of those games in Boston by himself.
-As I’m writing about Allen, the incomparable Kevin Arnovitz has just put up his video breakdown of Ray Allen’s night. So there you go.
-Rasheed Wallace was a +15 in 18 minutes tonight. I’m too confused and fascinated to remember that I really don’t like Rasheed Wallace. At some point, the science takes precedence over emotion. We must learn how Rasheed Wallace can conserve energy like he did this regular season without atrophying his game. It could be the key to a manned Mars voyage.
Alright, that’s all for tonight. Until later.
Kobe…a more complete offensive player than Durant or Lebron? :/ Sorry, I need more evidence than this one hot streak.
Idle thought: if the Pistons had hired Thibodeau instead of Kuester last summer, would the Cavs have won the title this year?
As a Cavs fan who also has connections to Mich St, the courting of Izzo is only suprising in that it has been found out by a reporter. I’m sure it was very back-channel, thru Gilbert’s MSU network. Izzo has been mentioned for pro jobs before and tries his best to keep it quiet, as he has a LONG contract at MSU where he is an icon.
The thing about Coach Izzo is that the cliche’s about him are true – small-town guy, very emotional. No, he’s not a classic NBA-guy. He’s a rah-rah college guy. And that’s probably why he’s been interested in NBA jobs at least slightly – I think he might see it as a great challenge to go outside of his comfort zone. He’s only ever lived outside Michigan for a few months (a short stint at Tulsa) in his 55 years! Surely he’s curious if the grass is greener and if his hard-core system might work in the pros.
It hard to envision this happening, though. Harder to envision this super-intense guy succeeding in the marathon of the NBA. But if it did happen, Izzo is just so tough that it’s hard to bet against him.
@ Nathan — I can even be a “Kobe is the most complete offensive player of all time” guy when the mood strikes me. He is very, very good at more things than any offensive player ever. My double-edged superlative of Kobe is that if basketball was scored by judges, Kobe would be the greatest player of all time. Take that for what it is.
The Izzo thing is a lovely pipe dream. The man is a fantastic coach. Consistently goes in year in and year out with marginal top tier talent and somehow wins, and wins, and wins when it matters the most.
Seriously, who is the best player to come out of Mich St. in the last say 10 years? Zach Randolph? Jason Richardson? Those guys were on the same team too and left the same year..since then, you probably couldn’t name a player on the team if you don’t watch college basketball. He’d turn LeBron into a rebounding force. But, he is a god in East Lansing, and it would take god-like money to make him think about leaving, and then it would probably take even more than that.
And I agree Krolik. People seem to think because one player hits tougher shots that that makes them a better player. No, the idea of basketball is to get yourself the easiest shot possible. Just because LeBron is better at that and doesn’t need to hit super tough jumpers all the time to be effective, doesn’t make him less of a player. It actually makes him a better one. It’s the same arguement with Shaq. So many people penalize his greatness because of how easy it was for him to overpower people. So? Does bowling someone over and dunking the ball count for less than a Pau Gasol fake, twisting, fade away on the baseline? And anyway, when LeBron gets into heat check mode, he takes tougher shots than anyone, so I dunno what people see that I don’t in Kobe.
Something I’ve always respected about Kobe is how he trusts his shot. He may not make it at a high frequency, but the dude is just so confident that I always think it’s going in when he shoots. He’s also incredibly light on his feet for someone that is 6-6 and built like a brick shit house. I know we stare LeBron’s physique all the time, but Kobe is a massive human being. I would love to see that dude backhand Farmar on the court.
Thibodeau signing should help the Cavs. Mike Brown put together some great defenses with worse pieces in SA. Wouldn’t Thibodeau be redux?
http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nba/news/story?id=5260139
Favorite article in a while. Jay-Z being totally honest about the Nets. “I don’t wanna recruit someone, and then say, uhh…sorry we’re 4-30.” Ahh made my day.
We had Rick Pitino in Boston. Not sure Izzo’s a good pick for Cavs.
Anyway. MLE doesn’t get you Ray Allen away from Boston. He has personal reasons to stay, he said he wants to stay, and the Celtics can and will pay him more than the MLE too.
No, not a chance Allen signs for the MLE. But I’m not so sure he stays in Boston. If Pierce doesn’t opt out and takes that 21 million, Ray Allen will have to take way less money than he is worth. Will he do it, who knows? But if he actually wants to get paid for his value, it won’t be with the celtics.
Oh, not to mention I’m not sure Boston wants to keep him around. I know it’s hard to break up a championshpi caliber team, but do you give him 60 million over the next 4 years? I dunno. It’s hard to know when you need to cut players loose. Sometimes you are afraid of doing it to soon, and other times you are afraid of holding on to long.
The Celtics are over the cap w/o Allen on the books next year. This is pretty much it. Yes, they can use the bird rights to re-sign him, but will they match what another team might offer?? I dunno if they are gonna be willing to do that when you look at their salary situation. Not to mention they have a ton of open roster spots coming up while already over the cap.
Let’s say a team like Sacramento or whoever comes strolling along and offers Ray Allen 3 years at 50 million? The Celtics can’t possibly match that and keep face can they? So it all comes down to Ray taking a serious pay cut in order to keep playing for the Celtics imo. Sure, he can do it and he might do it. But who knows if he will do it.
I may be overreacting, but hearing Thibodeau signed with the Bulls was very frustrating. There are only a few good coaches available (especially ones that have actually coached in any capacity in the NBA), and with Tibs gone, that leaves even fewer. If LeBron cares about defense (which I’m not so sure about) and winning (which I do think he cares about), then this coach going to the Bulls seems like a point in their favor. However, I do feel that LeBron wants to run more than he wants to play defense, so would it behoove the Cavs to pick up a more offensive-minded coach to both separate themselves from Mike Brown and the Bulls?
LeBron can play pretty damn good defense when it matters. They don’t just hand out all defensive honors because he’s one of the biggest stars.
If someone comes in and makes a ridiculous offer for Ray Allen like the ones mentioned above, then maybe he’s gone. But that’s a huge if.
Otherwise, he’s on a contender, his son needs top-notch special medical care which Boston has in spades and most markets don’t, and he says he wants to stay. He’s a HOF lock playing for rings at this point and they’re are not many places that are seriously in the running for rings in the next few years that also have oodles of money to throw around and need a SG who will be 35 starting the 2010-11 season.
If someone comes in and makes a ridiculous offer for Ray Allen like the ones mentioned above, then maybe he’s gone. But that’s a huge if.
Otherwise, he’s on a contender, his son needs top-notch special medical care which Boston has in spades and most markets don’t, and he says he wants to stay. He’s a HOF lock playing for rings at this point and there are not many places that are seriously in the running for rings in the next few years that also have oodles of money to throw around and need a SG who will be 35 starting the 2010-11 season.
@Kevin
I understand that he was all-NBA defensive team this year and last, and he can be a great defender. I just think he cares less about team defense than he lets on. He knows that people love the mantra “Defense wins championships” so he plays along. However, if given the chance, I believe he’d rather run and gun.
Not to mention that it seems once you legitimately make first team all defense, you’re pretty much a lock for the rest of your career. A broad generalization indeed, but one that has held true quite often in the case of superstars.
Oh, and to piggyback on colincb re: Ray Allen, I agree and the medical care will play a big role. The pipe dream passes this test because the Cleveland Clinic is actually fantastic.
@Kevin – yes he is. So is JR Smith.
@John – Yes, if Kobe’s reputation was based on judges, which it is, he’d be the best in the world, and approaching the GOAT.
He is a great player, that relies on very inefficient shots to score. What fascinates me most about kobe is how he is perceived by the masses.
when he does something great, (which happens often), it is just so obvious, and just further proof that he his hard work, dedication, fundamentals, and killer instinct are all tempered with steel.
When he takes a horrible shot, gets out of position on defense, gets down on his teammates, or shoots his team out of games (which happens often) people pretend like it didn’t happen. 2008 finals have been erased from most people’s minds. he’s a great player, and he’s proof that perception trumps reality.
@2008 finals erased from peoples mind? how bout the THREE FREAKIN YEARS between shaq leaving to getting gasol where he quit on his team, made stupid demands and had two first round exits something LBJ has NEVER had?? please, krolik – hell, ANYONE – tell me how *that* guy can get in ANY ‘greatest’ anything conversation?? boggles the mind!
also, anyone please point out the shit kobe took for those years and compare/contrast it with what LBJ has taken for ONE GAME.
oops, meant @ tom!
The thing I don’t get is how people have seemingly put out of their minds the championship years. It seems as we have this picture that Shaq was option 1 and Kobe was 1a. No, no, and no. Go look at those stats again. Especially go look at those playoff stats again. Shaq was 1. Kobe was a very distant and distinct 2. So, for three of his 4 titles, he was CLEARLY the 2nd best player on his team. Yet we are acting as if thsoe first three rings are a sign of Kobe’s greatness. Really? Give LeBron the best big man in the league, and let’s see how it works out (remember, shaq was the best big man in the league, and at the very least 2nd only behind Tim Duncan…give LeBron Dwight HOward and how many rings does LeBron have??)
Windy is saying the Izzo offer has been out there for a few days. He thinks it’s a bad sign that there hasn’t been an acceptance. If nothing else, I think it’s an ok sign that the 2nd best college coach and a future HOFer is taking this long to mull it over. Tell me this a few days ago, and I’d say Izzo would turn it down in about 25 minutes. Now, I think the longer he thinks on it the more he is starting to maybe wonder if it is time for a change. I’m guessing we get the answer tonight or tommorow morning.
@ Rich – as someone who watched most of those games the Lakers played between 1999 and 2004, trust me, Kobe was only a clear second to Shaq on the first championship team. The second year it was 1 and 1A, the third year it was even, and the year they lost to Detroit, Kobe was definitely the better player. His numbers don’t tell the story. Shaq was great as well, but if they gave out playoff mvps rather than finals mvps, Kobe would have had at least one of the three Shaq won with the Lakers, and possibly two of them.
Umm, those first two titles saw shaq put up almost identical numbers in the playoffs. 30+ ppg, and 15+ RPG. There is no 1 and 1a there. Kobe, while putting up 28 a game, also was shooting only 46% while shaq, of course was above 55%. So, in both of the first two playoffs, Shaq was scoring more, shooting 10% points higher, and getting 15 boards a game? Kobe was good, but not that good.
Throw in his first finals performance, in which he scored 38 PPG and got 16 RPG while shooting SIXTY ONE percent, then his 2002 Finals performance which he scored 36 a game and got 12 RPG while shooting 59.5 percent….I mean, he totally dominated the finals, and was ismply the better player throughout the majority of the playoffs w/o even adding the Finals in. Dunno how you can claim Kobe was anywhere near that level.
Basically, I’m saying if you remove Kobe from those three teams, the Lakers are still contenders so long as Kobe is replaced with a compitent player. THey might not win it, but they are a threat. Take Shaq off those teams and replace him with someone compitent, and those teams aren’t even challenging the Blazers/Kings/Spurs.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2008/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=FinalsPerformances-11-20
Here is a HOllinger list of the best Finals performances he made in 2008. All three shaq finals make the list. No Kobe to be seen.
Do honestly “realize a big name coach gives the cavs the best chance of keeping lebron” or have you simply fallen into a insultingly simplified line of reasoning has been repeated over and over the web and tv.
If there’s one thing that we know about lebron, it’s that he’s down with everybody who’s anybody in “the game of basketball.” He holds court with everybody from stud HS juniors at shooting star camps to david stern. He’s plenty plugged in to “the game of basketball” to know coaches from chumps.
The fact that the cavs coaching candidate list is all “big names” likely has more to do with the fact that the guy running the search is a mortgage / gigantic sticker salesman with a go-big-or-go-home mentality.
I’ll bet Lebron is probably more concerned with who he’s playing with than who he’s playing for.
You, on the other hand, seem more concerned with trying to judiciously humor the people out there with who are victims of their own deductive fallacy.
Call it like you see it krolik, I think you’re spot on in calling out the cavs for forming a list of what most people think are pipe dreams. Izzo surely may address some of the cavs basketball needs, but I worry about the transition from the college to the pro game. Nevertheless, I admire Gilbert’s bravado and can’t wait to see how this all plays out.
and still no one will defend kobe for his three years in the wilderness and yet again, i remind you, LBJ gets killed for having a nightmare game. wow. just wow…
Gasol is much closer to Kobe than Kobe was to Shaq. In fact this year Gasol is quite clearly better and the Lakers would have been out in the first round after Kobes 24-4-4 with 40% shooting performance against OKC.
So Kobe has never won anything when he was clearly the best player on his team.
My pet theory is that the Lakers could and should easily win the finals but what will fuck them over is Kobe trying to get the finals MVP over Gasol.
Kj, this is just me playing amateur shrink, but I think alot of the vitriol directed at Lebron is rooted in the way he came into the league. Alot of people have been waiting albeit for seven years to kick him, and now they really have their chance. They have tried before by using handshakes,speeding tickets,t-shirts and other foolishness. But those things were never the problem. Lebron’s first mistake and one he’ll never be forgiven for was the shoe deal and not failing to be very good. Kobe does get a pass,but that wasn’t always so. Kobe gets a pass now because his presence isn’t as offensive as Lebron’s. One of best things that happened to Kobe in terms of the way he is viewed especially after his rape charges is having Lebron with his supersized presence in the league.
He doesn’t need to try…Gasol can score 40 a game and Kobe will still get Finals MVP for getting 7 assists a game from passing to him and scoring 20 ppg.
Ray Allen isn’t the best three point shooter of all time. He’s practically tied with Reggie Miller, and only has him by a hundredth of percentage point. However, they’re both eclipsed by Nash, who’s top 15 in makes with a .432 percentage. Dale Ellis with a career .401 and 4000+ makes is in the discussion too. As for next year’s MLE, it should go to Anthony Morrow (GS will probably match) who is the next Reggie Miller.
I’ll be surprised if someone doesn’t splurge with all the FA money that won’t have been spent and offer more than the MLE to Morrow.
Eric,
Maybe LeBron truly is the Chosen One…to take the criticism away from Kobe.
@kevin
LOL! you may be on to something…
Live press conference @ 2:30 6/8 FYI
Dan Gilbert and Chris Grant are speaking… hopefully they have something worthwile to say about the status of the Izzo offer.
I’m sure it’s just a meet and greet. Most likely they’ll just say “no comment” on the Izzo offer.
Imo, this seems to be the longest time it has taken Izzo to come out and turn a job offer down. He usually doesn’t let it sit and bubble like this for this long.
i, for one, liked what i heard from gilbert today. loved his refuting of the woj yahoo article. i dunno, the guy fills me with confidence…
Another greatest ever performacne from Kobe tonight. The difference between the Lakers and Cavs is A. Someone manages to step up and hit big shots besides Kobe (Fisher tnoight) and B. Ray Allen couldn’t hit the ocean tonight even when open. He wasn’t missing open shots against Cleveland.
At the end of the day it’ll be Kobe with five rings. It’s the way of the world. No sense in pushing against the flow.
I doubt it. Celtics will win this series.
More differences btw Cavs and Lakers:
- Lakers are powerful and athletic inside. Cavs, while better than most, have been fairly un-athletic inside.
- Brown and Farmar, not real good players, but really quick and can cope defensively. A bit like Jamario, except that Farmar can play major minutes at point guard.
- Gasol is a bona-fide all-star to pair with Kobe. He’s not perfect, but it’s entirely possible that Pau is one of the 20 best players in the world.
- Lakers win many games behind Kobe’s greatness alone. But every once in awhile, maybe 10% of the time, he’ll go on a head-trip and lose a game for them. Oh, wait, I guess that’s exactly like the Cavs and Lebron.