Tag Archives: basketball

Melo Madness

  By Chris Speziale | 02/23/2011 - 2:55 pm | Musings
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It was written in the stars. Well, it's more like DEMANDED in the stars. Yah, that makes a little more sense.

Well, it finally happened—Carmelo Anthony got traded to the Knicks. And even though this thing has dragged on for months, upon months, upon MONTHS…I’m still extremely intrigued by the whole process. There are three aspects of the trade and its surrounding implications that had me scratching my head.

 

The first issue is the trade itself. The Knicks have been so bad for so long, that a near .500 record had Madison Square Garden in a tizzy. But you need to look at it this way: With that same .500 record they would be out of the playoffs in the West. The Knicks have taken advantage of a very weak Eastern Conference, having won 18 of their 28 games against the bottom dwellers in the East.

 

Now with Melo in the fold, the New York fans are expecting the team to win immediately. And the Knicks are sure to improve, but that improvement aside, they still don’t have the talent or depth to take down one of the East powerhouses, let alone the three they’d need to beat, to make the NBA Finals. What Knick diehards are going to need to come to grips with is that this is still a rebuilding team.

 

New York put all its eggs into the Lebron basket and came out of the sweepstakes with very little to show for it. Now they’ve got some cap space, and they’ve got two fantastic pieces, but as the Celtics (and now the Heat) have proved—it takes three. The general notion in the sporting world is that either Deron Williams or Chris Paul will be joining the team when they hit free agency in 2012, which is all well and good, but it doesn’t lead to winning in the 2010-2011 season. It does, however, lead me to my next point.

 

How is it that we have gotten to the point where players can dictate where and how they get to their next destination? I understand the years of service business, and that players have a right to determine where they want to play, but I’m still confused about how the power to put a team together got taken away from the owners, general managers, and coaches.

Look at what happened in Miami. Look at what ALMOST happened with Chris Paul in New Orleans. And now this with Carmelo. More and more we’re seeing players colluding in back rooms and having secret “summits” to put their own super-teams together. Forgive me if I’m speaking out of turn here, but doesn’t that take ALL the fun out of the off-season? If it’s all predetermined, then what’s the point? My hope is that the new CBA being hammered out by the NBA and the Players Association will address this because it’s truly getting out of hand. If the league isn’t careful they’ll end up with six good teams, in the six good markets, and lousy teams throughout the rest of the country

 

In 2008, the Celtics went out and got Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to team up with Paul Pierce in Boston. The three amigos turned the Celtics around so dramatically that every team in the NBA is now trying to duplicate it. Here’s the difference: the Celtics front office went out and GOT Allen and KG. There was no posturing from Garnett. Allen didn’t come out and say that he was going to refuse a contract extension from Seattle. Boston made a plan, and then they went out and made it happen.

 

Here’s the part where I sound kind of like a hypocrite. The third aspect of this whole ordeal that caught my attention was that Melo did this completely right! Yes, it’s ridiculous that players are setting themselves up with other players to create incredible teams. But at the same time, Carmelo Anthony did right by his previous organization by letting them know that he had no interest in re-signing. Loosing a superstar to free agency can be brutal for an organization. All I need do is remind you of “The Decision” this past summer.

 

Lebron James was absolutely skewered by the media, the fans, and even the players in some cases. And for leaving the Cavaliers the way he did, he had every reason to be. Now I’m not trying to compare Cleveland to Denver—the Rocky Mountain sports fan has had a LOT more to cheer about lately—but imagine a world where Carmelo keeps his mouth shut until the end of the year and then bolts from Denver to the Big Apple. The Nuggets are stuck rebuilding for the next seven years if that’s the case. Instead, this savvy player sits down with his GM and says, “Get whatever you can for me. I’ve appreciated my time here, but I need to move on.” And they did—Denver got a great haul for Carmelo from New York.

 

What bugs me is the guy is getting roasted for it, and I think it was a classy move. Would it have been even classier for him to say that he’d go to wherever the Nuggets front office could get the best deal? Oh, yah. You bet. But that’s what we should be riding him for. Not for giving his former team—a team that drafted him top-five in the first round in 2003—a chance to get pieces back, but for restricting their options.

 

Melo will take the floor for the first time in a Knicks uniform tonight against the Bucks, and the Garden will surely be electric as they usher in a new era of Knicks basketball. It will certainly be interesting to see how quickly their two stars gel. But while the players get it together on the court, don’t let your eyes stray too far away from the fans, the owners and the media. They all play a huge role in this as well.

 

Coach Cal is one cool (Wild)cat

  By Chris Speziale | 01/26/2010 - 1:56 pm | Musings
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"Wildcats can totes take Tigers...I'm out!

John Calipari is the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball team.  He’s been a college head coach since 1988, and he has had one losing season—in his first year.  He has won his team’s conference ten times, and seven times he’s taken his team to the Sweet 16 or beyond.  And while he’s never won the big one, he has won an NIT Championship.  Last year Kentucky lost 14 games—Calipari has lost more than 14 games only twice in his career.  At the end of last season, Kentucky fired its head coach, Billy Gillispie, claiming that the coach and management were “incompatible.”  They refused to admit that his firing was linked to performance, but we know better.  The Kentucky basketball program is legendary; the first season tipped-off in 1903, and since then they have a .763 winning percentage.  Losing is simply not an option. Enter Calipari.

I could never be a head coach; you have to go into people’s homes and sell them on the school that you’re working for.  This is such an important decision for these kids; the school you go to could dictate the rest of your life.  Think about it: you’re a top high school prospect.  If you go to the big basketball school, you’re competing with all of the other big-time recruits.  If you go to the smaller school you run the risk of not being scouted as highly by the pros.  It’s a big deal.  And that’s what makes J.C. so damn good.  Calipari is fantastic on the recruiting couch.  He’s always been able to find the right words to lure the top talent to his teams.  And he knows that you can’t turn a program around without bringing in the big names; that is why the emphasis has ALWAYS been on recruiting.  Coming into his first season with Kentucky, he signed 5 of the top 10 basketball prospects in the country, including the top 2.  John Wall (PG, 17 points, 7 assists, 2 steals per game) has been absolutely lights out as a freshman this year.  He will be, without question, a top pick (if not THE top pick) in the NBA draft this summer.  Add to that, DeMarcus Cousins (C, 15 points, 10 rebounds per game, along with 34 blocks), who could also go as a top ten pick in the draft.  But a coach’s job is never done, and that’s what will continue to be tough for Coach Cal.  As long as he keeps bringing in the big-time players, he’ll have to maintain his recruiting record.  They all leave for the NBA!

Once you get the kids to commit, the practices begin, and that’s when the real work starts.  So much emphasis is put on Calipari’s recruiting strengths that people forget—this guy is a great coach!  His philosophy is simple: get every kid on the team to have a career year, and play with/off each other.  Unselfish play is characterized in so many different ways, by so many different people; I look at assists.  To me, the pass is the ultimate sacrifice, especially in the college game. College players have so much to gain by shooting; if a coach can get a team to pass the ball, in my mind, they have created an unselfish team.  In Coach Cal’s two Final Four runs, his teams averaged over 15 assists per game.  This year, his Wildcats are averaging over 16 a game.  Those numbers put Calipari’s teams just outside the top ten in that category (looking at the last ten years, teams leading NCAA Division 1 averaged 18 assists per game).  Along with the assists philosophy, he’s gotten “Player of the Year” type seasons from a number of different players.  Put those things together and you’ve got your Calipari recipe for success.

Now I know what you’re thinking: He’s completely ignoring the fact that Calipari has had two final four appearances vacated!  Yes, we’re all aware that controversy has followed the coach from school to school.  At UMass, Marcus Camby was declared ineligible, and therefore the Minutemen were forced to vacate their 1996 Final Four appearance.  And at Memphis, a test score scandal involving Derrick Rose forced Memphis to vacate their championship run in 2008.  But what’s being lost in all this is that Coach Cal has taken two programs from obscurity to greatness, AND he’s in the midst of reviving one of the most storied basketball franchises in the history of the sport. All the scandal aside, his effectiveness is something that you just can’t deny.

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The Mission Statement

  By Chris Speziale | 11/06/2009 - 12:00 pm | Mission Statement
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If the Red Sox won the World Series but no one was there to see it, did it happen?  Picture this.  Keith Foulke is on the mound for the Red Sox, it’s game 4 of the 2004 World Series in St. Louis.  Edgar Renteria steps into the box with a 1-0 count. He takes the next pitch and hits a knubber back to the mound.  Foulke snares it; he is so stunned and excited that he hesitates to throw on to first.  He takes a couple steps towards the bag and flips underhanded to Doug Mientkiewicz.  That’s it.  The Red Sox have just won their first World Series title in 86 years.  BUT! The stands are empty, there are no camera crews, no flash bulbs, no Joe Buck trying to capture the emotions of hundreds of thousands of Boston fans.  It’s just a bunch of guys pouring champagne all over each other in the middle of a baseball field.  Doesn’t sound right, does it? So what conclusion do we draw from this? We face facts: it’s a fans game.  And I’m not just talking about baseball.  The American sports industry would be absolutely nowhere without its fan base.

That one moment on October 27th, 2004 changed the lives of millions of people and sent a riptide through the sports world.  With an unlikely cast of characters, a sometimes wobbly manager, and a 3-0 hole to the Yankees in the ALCS, no one expected them to win.  But they did, and it was the fans who carried them through those last 8 games.  When Dave Roberts stole that base in game 4, we knew something special was about to happen.  On ANY other Red Sox team, in ANY other year, he gets thrown out and the season is over.  But he didn’t and the Sox pulled off one of the most incredible comebacks in the history of sports. And WE did it.  Am I biased?  You bet your ass I am.  The Red Sox are my team.  They have been since I came out of the womb.  I’ve followed them every season since I could comprehend the game.  We, as fans, want to believe that we are a part of this, that we can somehow affect the outcome and push our team to the next level.  We employ truly crazy superstitions, wear rally caps and scream until our lungs bleed, all in the hope that we get to see them in the playoffs. We pour our hearts and souls into these teams.   So why are we getting such a raw deal?  Professional sports are an industry.  I get it.  There is money to be made, and if you have the opportunity to make a buck, why wouldn’t you do it?  Ticket prices are climbing, the media frenzy is increasing, every Tom, Dick or Harry is writing a blog (ironic, isn’t it?) or doing a Podcast.  We are all trying to cash in.  All it’s costing us is our sports identity.

That’s where I come in.  I took a sports broadcasting class this summer led by the immortal Ed Ingles.  He brought in a cast of characters to impart some wisdom on breaking into the sports business.  And they all basically had the same advice: Don’t quit, practice practice practice, and lastly, write.  It was that last one that knocked me for a loop.  I never considered writing; I didn’t think I had the chops, but sports broadcasting is what I want to do.  It’s something I feel like I can be good at.  So what do you write about?  Who will read it?  I thought about this for a long time and I came to this.  Fans will read it.  And so, I will write about the fans.  How do we get that identity back?  Who will fight for it? I don’t have the answers, but I’m hoping to explore these questions, and with your help maybe we can figure something out, come to some sort of arrangement, either with the sport (whichever it may be) or with ourselves.

So what are we going to do here?  I’m glad you asked.  Of course we’re going to talk sports, because a real fan isn’t a fan without knowledge.  But this can be so much more than that.  Along with all those sports posts, on the first Friday of every month you’ll see a story about the fan experience.  We have lots to discuss; whether it be gambling, fantasy sports, announcers, TV blackouts, the disappearance of the NHL, the lack of soccer in America or just plain old ticket prices — we’re going to cover it all.  And I want your feedback.  Each monthly post will be sent along with all your comments, to someone who can make a difference.  For example, the post set for December is about the disappearance of the NHL.  After the lockout ended in 2005 it seemed like the league vanished from TV and sports news shows, but no one seemed to get angry and it continued to get worse.  Now they cover, maybe 10 games nationally all year.  In the 2008-2009 postseason you couldn’t even see the first three rounds on National TV! So, we send the letter along with all your comments to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman in hopes that he’ll notice the millions of hockey fans aching for more coverage. Will it work? Who knows?  But it’s worth standing up for.  Sports mean so much to us, so why shouldn’t we fight back? The 2004 Boston Red Sox were underdogs just like the fans of today.  Everyone is counting us out, but maybe, just maybe, we can pull off an even bigger comeback.