Quality of NBA play comes under fire
The quality of play in the lockout-shortened NBA season is coming under fire, even from those in the industry.
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Wolves’ future looks bright under Adelman
HOUSTON Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman was careful with the plaudits.
His youthful team had tantalized before, pushing the NBA’s best to varying limits of distress only to fold under the weight of their own inexperience and unforced errors. On Monday night at Toyota Center, the Timberwolves tapped their glass ceiling and threatened to shatter any limitations of a curiously talented roster under the tutelage of a venerable coach with a long history of devising offenses that flourish.
From an external perspective the amazement came with ease, as did the flashbacks to nights when the Rockets were equally astounding under Adelman. The Timberwolves dissected the Rockets’ defense during their 120-108 win, putting all they have and all they could become on display.
“We think that we have some really nice pieces, but our problem is we’ve been so up and down,” Adelman said. “We’ve played a lot of good teams and played them close, and we’ve always had periods that have just killed us. The last time we played (the Rockets) we were five up and within two minutes we were five down, and that’s what we’ve done.”
Adelman was quick to laud the contributions of Michael Beasley (34 points on 10-of-14 shooting) and Martell Webster (seven points, three rebounds, two blocked shots and a plus-12 rating), both of whom had missed significant time this season due to injury and both of whom were instrumental in this evisceration of the Rockets (12-9).
Beasley, who returned Jan. 27 against the Spurs following an 11-game hiatus due to a sprained right foot, tortured whomever Rockets coach Kevin McHale sent his way. He scored 15 points in 15 first-half minutes and once he got rolling, the Rockets’ defensive assignment didn’t matter.
Martell (back surgery) made just his third appearance of the season and provided a little bit of everything. In concert with rookie point guard Ricky Rubio (18 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds) and All-Star forward Kevin Love (29 points on 10-of-15 shooting), the Timberwolves (10-11) were fully loaded. And with Adelman as the strategist, the basketball aesthetics were beautiful for those with objective interests.
The Timberwolves simply made shots in the first half, recording only six assists while shooting 56.8 percent prior to the intermission. Their ball movement improved dramatically in the third quarter, with Rubio recording five assists and the Timberwolves eight. They shot an outrageous 62.5 percent and scored a franchise-best 42 points.
Between Rubio’s wizardry, Love’s determination and Beasley’s offensive versatility, the Rockets were hapless. Combined with Adelman’s ability to massage the maximum out of his available talent, it was no wonder that trio scored 32 points in the third. The Rockets had executed this act before, up close and personal for four seasons under Adelman’s watch.
“They’re a talented group right now and they have a great coach,” said Rockets guard Kevin Martin, who averaged 22.9 points over 104 games with Adelman. “He let’s you play your game so I’m sure they’ll be all right.”
After the Rockets unceremoniously dismissed Adelman following last season, his second consecutive season leading a futile postseason charge with a flawed, depleted roster, he seemed destined for a franchise seeking a championship and a coach. When he landed in Minnesota heads turned because the Timberwolves have largely floundered since trading franchise icon Kevin Garnett to the Celtics on July 31, 2007.
Then Rubio arrived after remaining in Spain for two seasons following his first-round selection in the 2009 draft. With Love ascending and Beasley in need of a coach adept at inspiring players to reach their apex, Adelman’s decision came into view. The Timberwolves won’t be title contenders in the immediate future, but their stock assuredly is rising.
This flash of Timberwolves potential was brilliant. It might have blinded the Rockets, but given their familiarity with the opposing coach, they weren’t the least bit stunned.
“Great coach,” Rockets guard Kyle Lowry said. “That guy gives his players the ultimate confidence to go out there and just play freely.”
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5 Best NBA Players under 25
As much as some NBA fans love watching the Kobe Bryants and the Dirk Nowitzkis of the league, both of those players are over 30, and like it or not, they’ll be out of the game sooner rather than later.
Fortunately, the NBA has some phenomenal younger players whose accomplishments may one day match or exceed those of their elder contemporaries.
For example, what fan hasn’t gone bonkers whenever Kevin Durant hits a game-winning shot? How many of us here were secretly hoping for him and Derrick Rose to meet in the NBA Finals, one that would have featured two of the best young players at just 23 years each?
Bleacher Report’s own Josh Benjamin has taken the time to put together a list of the best players under 25 in the NBA. Here are the top five.
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Bulls vs. Hawks Preview: Tom Thibodeau Under Fire for Overworking Derrick Rose
The Chicago Bulls look to extend their winning streak to six games against a frustrated Atlanta team that has played an additional 20 minutes of overtime in the last two games.
At 7-1, and Derrick Rose playing like an MVP, the Hawks know they will have their work cut out for them. Rose is averaging 20 points and seven assists so far in only eight games. He’s maturing every game, relaxed, deferring to his teammates, but still confident that he can take over any game at any time.
When the two teams first met on January 3rd, Rose had half of his 30 points in the fourth quarter and sealed the victory with a clutch layup with nine seconds left in the game. They won 76-74.
With the schedule packed in like sardines, coach Tom Thibodeau is taking heat for leaving Derrick Rose and other starters in the game during non-critical situations.
Blog-A-Bull offered some words about the coach’s minute management of Rose and Luol Deng in their blowout over the Detroit Pistons on January 9th.
“Derrick Rose played all but the final 1:13 of the second half. Luol Deng played the entire third quarter, as well as the first 5:28 of the fourth and another 4:11 after resting 1:28 for 21:39 of playing time in the second half of a game where the Bulls were up by as much as 20 and were never up by less than 11.”
There’s no question Thibodeau is an intense coach. I can hear him shouting over thousands of people every game. Winning is a compulsion with this man, and this may have consequences due to the exhausting schedule.
Still, the Bulls are a deep team, and Derrick Rose, who is 23 years old and not even in his prime, never seems to get tired.
I don’t expect Thibodeau to change his tactics tonight against a scrappy Atlanta team that just came off an impressive overtime win against Charlotte last night. Should be an exciting game.
Game Notes:
Richard “Rip” Hamilton doubtful (groin)
Tip-off is at Phillips Arena at 7:00 p.m. ET
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Portland Trail Blazers Are Flying Under the Radar in the Western Conference
Lob City. Reining championship Dallas Mavericks. Aging Los Angeles Lakers. The new favorite team to win the West: Oklahoma City Thunder.
With the beginning of the NBA season on Christmas Day came a lot of hype in the Western Conference surrounded only these topics. These were the big stories that captivated headlines everywhere.
After five games, however, the 4-1 Trail Blazers are the new team making noise. But don’t tell anyone—it’s seems as if they thrive flying under the radar. The preseason buzz around the Blazers had most analysts picking Portland to finish near the back end of the West playoff teams.
And with the news of Brandon Roy retiring two weeks before the season, Greg Oden still suffering from injuries and a surprising heart surgery on star forward LaMarcus Aldridge, it had seemed as if the Trail Blazers were on the decline.
But now after their latest 103-93 win in Oklahoma City, it’s obvious the Blazers have arrived as a top-tier team, looking to contend for the West crown when playoffs come around in April.
Yes, it is early in the season with many games still to come, but with the West being so wide open, it looks like the Trail Blazers may be a new team to keep an eye on going forward.
The Blazers have a very strong lineup, including a new acquisition in Jamal Crawford, in what seems to be the biggest steal of all free agents signings this past offseason. A nice addition coming off the bench supporting the already solid nucleus of the starting five.
Against the Thunder on Tuesday, the Trail Blazers performed brilliantly getting key contributions from Aldridge and Wesley Matthews (combined for 46 points). But the real story was defense down the stretch getting key stops when it mattered most. The play of Gerald Wallace specifically against MVP favorite Kevin Durant was huge, holding the superstar to 8-for-26 shooting from the field.
Nicolas Batum also showed up huge without producing huge numbers, but providing a strong defensive performance getting key blocks, rebounds and offensively, hitting threes consistently throughout the game.
This win against Oklahoma City has been their best performance this season playing what seems like the strongest team in the West in the Thunder.
While Portland may not be a contender in the eyes of the media, the Blazers have several play makers that can beat you in so many ways, and are continuing to prove this from the outcome of their early games.
As this shortened 66-game season wears on, it looks as if the all-important team chemistry will only grow for the Trail Blazers, a key factor that should propel the Blazers into the elite teams in the West, and further on into the playoffs.
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Time under Karl helped shape Brooks
Like every other current head coach in the NBA, Scott Brooks has definitely paid his dues. The Oklahoma City head coach had stints as an assistant coach with the Nuggets, Kings and Sonics before first being named Seattle’s interim and eventually full-time head coach in 2008. Since then, all the former Cal-Irvine Anteater standout has done is helped build the Thunder into a true contender not just in the Western Conference, but in the Association.
But if there was one experience that really helped shape him as an NBA head coach, it was the two years he spent in Denver as an assistant under current Nuggets coach George Karl.
“I think George is one of the best coaches in the league. One of the things I learned with George is you make no excuses,” Brooks said. “If you have guys hurt, it doesn’t matter. You go out and do your best to try to win the game. If you have eight guys in practice, it doesn’t matter. You try to figure out a way to have the best eight men practice.”
And his former boss epitomized such a no excuses approach in how he handled several off-court issues during his time in the Mile High City.
“He’s a no-nonsense, no-excuse kind of guy and on top of all that, he had to fight through his son having health issues and himself having health issues and he fought through it. Not a lot of people can do what he did,” Brooks said. “He had to deal with those two issues plus manage an NBA team. That gave me a lot of respect for that man.”
So, on those occasions when OKC does face Denver, he admits it’s pretty cool to see his former boss and also how much pride he takes in how he has evolved since becoming a head coach into a perennial NBA Coach of the Year candidate, an award he won in 2009.
“George is a competitor,” Brooks said. “I learned a lot from him. He’s taught me a lot about this league and how to be a coach in this league. I’m proud to work for him for those two years.”
One reason why the Thunder head coach has built OKC into such a force in the Western Conference is the fact that for the most part, he’s been able to keep his young core intact. Having such stability in terms of personnel has also allowed the 46-year-old California native to develop a family-like atmosphere in the Oklahoma state capital.
“We’re all like family from the top of the organization to the bottom. We’re all close and he’s the leader,” Thunder guard James Harden said. “He’s directing us. He’s over us telling us what we can do. He’s a major part of it.”
Kevin Durant even went so far as to say that Brooks has helped create an atmosphere similar to the one he experienced during his two years of college ball at Texas.
“Words can’t explain how lucky I am to come to an organization like this where it felt like more of a family than anything. It goes from the coaches all the way to the GMs to the equipment managers, everybody,” Durant said. “It feels like I’m at Texas.”
Brooks is definitely a player’s coach, so much in fact that his top player even compares him to another pretty successful coach from the collegiate ranks, current University of Texas head coach Rick Barnes.
“Both of those guys are similar,” Durant said. “Coach Barnes is a guy that allows his players to grow and progress but he’s still a no nonsense type of guy and that’s the type of coach I love to play for. That’s why I chose Texas. Coach Brooks is the same way. Once I got here, having P.J. Carlesimo for that year was a big change for me because that was a coach I wasn’t really used to. But it helped me out. Then having Scott Brooks here, it was like I never left college. It was an easy transition for me. I was just blessed that we had such great guys here.”
However, Brooks’ credibility runs even deeper as most if not all members of the Thunder roster feels his message has even more meaning considering it wasn’t all that long ago that he was in their position as an NBA player himself.
“He can relate to us because he’s been through it, training camps, the trials, tribulations, he knows what it takes. He relates to us very well,” Harden said. “Kind of laid back, if he feels like we’re slacking, he’ll get on us. These three years, we’ve grown up with each other. We became closer and he’s a great coach.”
Veteran big man Nick Collison offers his own take on why Brooks has been so successful thus far with the young Thunder.
“I think the best thing that he’s done and always done is he’s got a really good feel for really what’s going on with the team. He’s really got a good feel on what we need and kind of what’s really going on,” Collison said. “That’s not always the case with other coaches. And another thing that’s really nice about him is his ego’s really not an issue at all. A lot of coaches make it about them and will be quick to kind of point fingers at players or throw guys under the bus if things don’t go well because they don’t want that heat on themselves but he’s not like that at all. With him, it’s just what can we do to get better today? There’s nothing extra with him, which is really nice as a player.”
For standout point guard Russell Westbrook, when asked to name Brooks’ biggest strength, he didn’t hesitate to cite a quality crucial to the success of any coach no matter the sport. “I’d probably say communication,” he said. “He communicates to us about what we have to do and what we’ve done. I think that’s a big thing.”
Like his players, every day since he first became an NBA head coach over three seasons ago in Seattle, Brooks views every single day no matter whether it’s in a meeting, a practice or a game as an opportunity to learn, not just so that he becomes a better coach but also so that his team can become even more successful.
It’s a progression Durant has seen firsthand.
“He’s matured. His basketball knowledge has gotten better. He knows how to be a head coach in this league and he knows what to do,” he said. “He’s growing every day with us and you can tell since his first day up until now that he’s grown so much. I’m happy. I’m blessed that he’s our coach.”
Collison was also there for the beginning of the Brooks era during the Thunder’s final season in Seattle and he too has noticed many changes in his head coach.
“I thought he was pretty solid from day one. He had a good idea of how he wanted the team to play, what he wanted to focus on. He took over a team that I think was 1-12, so obviously had a lot of work to do,” he said. “The biggest thing he wanted to change not necessarily the culture but the mindset of how we played. We needed to concentrate on how to move the ball, get our spacing better and offensively, kind of teach us how to play a little better than what we had. Defensively, we had to get a lot better too.”
But the ultimate testament to what a rock-solid head coach Brooks has become just might come from not only the top player on his roster, but also someone regarded as one of the top young superstars in the entire NBA.
“He brings the best out of me every single day. He doesn’t put me on a pedestal or think I’m better than any of my other teammates,” Durant said. “He holds me accountable just like he holds everybody else accountable and that’s what I need for me to grow as a player. I’m excited I’m here, man. Like I said, all this is a dream come true.”
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Los Angeles Lakers could struggle mightily under new coach Mike Brown
The Los Angeles Lakers lost out on Chris Paul, an irritable Lamar Odom migrated to Dallas, Shannon Brown is gone as well, they stand miles above the salary cap, there are countless questions that surround “everything Kobe Bryant,” and they have a glaring lack of overall depth. It’s easy to see why people believe the Lakers are no better than the fifth best team in the West. My question is this: Where would we have the Lakers if Phil Jackson were still at the helm? Higher than about fifth? With everything mentioned above, my guess is probably not–Odom is tough to overcome, as well as the emotional roller coaster of Chris Paul’s false pretense. So that begs this question: are we really that confident in Mike Brown to say they’ll be that good in the West? Heck, are we even cogitating Mike Brown into the big picture equation when we’re putting a number on the Lakers win total and championship prospects? If not, we should be.
For better or worse, entering an NBA seaso…
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The All-NBA Choke Team: The 5 Players Who Falter the Most Under Pressure
The NBA is where amazing happens. The fourth quarter and overtime are where stars are born and legends are made—or in some cases, where choke artists thrive.
I’ll be taking making a team of the biggest choke artists in the NBA, as I like to call it, the All-NBA Choke team consisting of current players, and one recent retiree.
In the words of the infamous Demetry James, “Let’s get into mayne!”
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Illinois and Top 10 Teams Flying Under the Radar so Far
In college basketball as in college football, sometimes a team can do everything right and it’s still not enough. A number of outstanding squads haven’t gotten nearly the attention they deserve this season from fans or pollsters.
Unbeaten Illinois is a prime example of the phenomenon. The Illini are 10-0 with wins over Richmond, Maryland and Gonzaga, yet they can’t even climb as high as 8-2 conference rival Michigan in the national polls.
Herein, a closer look at Illinois and the rest of the best teams that haven’t gotten enough hype in 2011-12.
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Houston Rockets: 5 Players Under the Microscope This Season
Just 12 days after David Stern declared the NBA had entered a nuclear winter due to a snag in the negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement, the NBA and its Players Association announced there would be a season after all.
With games set to tip off on Christmas Day, time is not a friend of the 30 teams. The Houston Rockets may have an early edge over most because if Chuck Hayes is re-signed, as most believe he will be, every player from last year’s roster will be back other than the now-retired Yao Ming.
Houston boasts one of the league’s youngest teams, with Luis Scola being the only player over the age of 30. That can be a gift and a curse, but there were more of the former following the February trade deadline. The Rockets finished 15-8 in their final 23 games, just missing the playoffs at 43-39.
In a media session Wednesday afternoon, general manager Daryl Morey and new head coach Kevin McHale stated the goal for this team is to make the playoffs. It’s likely the roster will experience some turnover, but assume for now that it stays the same. McHale knows what he’s getting in Scola and Kevin Martin, but he’ll need more from the Rockets’ stable of youth in order to reach their goal.
Here’s a list of five players who will be under the microscope in Houston this season.
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