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Flip Saunders led the Detroit Pistons the the Eastern Conference finals three straight years. That’s why they fired him.
 Flip Saunders was fired as the Pistons’ coach Tuesday, four days after Detroit was eliminated from the playoffs by the Boston Celtics. And more changes could be on the way for a team bounced from three straight conference finals.
“Make no mistake, everybody is in play right now,” said Joe Dumars, the Pistons’ president of basketball operations. “There are no sacred cows here. You lose that sacred cow status when you lose three straight years.”
Saunders had a year left on a four-year deal he signed in 2005. His ouster comes three years after he took over for Larry Brown, who led the Pistons to two straight NBA finals.
“I think this team became way too content and did not show up with a sense of urgency to get it done,” Dumars said at a news conference. “I can’t sugarcoat it. It is what it is.”
Dumars stopped short of saying he would dismantle the Pistons. “The idea you can make yourself bad and make yourself good again, that’s a farce,” he said. “I have no interest in completely ripping the team down. Will I look to making significant changes? Yeah, you’re damn right I will.”
Bizarre. I don’t have the knowledge of the game to judge whether Saunders get the most out of the talent at hand. But, certainly, the Boston Celtics, to whom the Pistons lost in the finals, were widely considered the most talented team in the NBA. This strikes me as a knee-jerk move.
The Professional Football and Baseball Halls of Fame are dominated, as one might expect, by the National Football League and Major League Baseball, respectively. After all, they represent the elite level of their sports. Basketball, on the other hand, has invented a system where high school players, women, and stars of overseas minor leagues are more likely to get in than the National Basketball Association elite. ESPN’s Mark Stein:
The NBA’s dwindling representation in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the growing frustration in response have prompted increasing calls for the league to break away and start its own Hall of Fame. But that’s not David Stern’s answer.
Stern himself voiced pointed displeasure earlier this year with the downward trend but has shown no interest in an NBA-only Hall. The league’s commissioner prefers to push for a revamped and more “transparent” selection process with the 48-year-old Basketball Hall of Fame based in Springfield, Mass., which will induct a 2007 class this weekend that features no NBA players and only two honorees with NBA ties: Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson and legendary referee Mendy Rudolph. “We have always been supportive of the Hall of Fame,” Stern told ESPN.com. “Among the constituent groups, we are its largest financial backer. We were persuaded early on that an all-encompassing Hall of Fame was good for our sport — men, women, high school, college, pro, international and media.”
Questions about a selection process that has historically favored college coaches have grown louder over the past three years, starting in 2005 when neither Joe Dumars (a former NBA Finals MVP who has won championships as a player and executive with the Detroit Pistons) nor Dominique Wilkins (the NBA’s ninth all-time leading scorer) was selected as a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Longtime coach and television analyst Hubie Brown was the only NBA representative in a 2005 class that featured college coaching titans Jim Boeheim and Jim Calhoun, former LSU women’s coach Sue Gunter and Hortencia Marcari, who is considered Brazil’s best-ever female player.
Dumars and Wilkins joined first-ballot inductee Charles Barkley in 2006, but the 2007 class continued a 10-year pattern of NBA slights, with Adrian Dantley and Chris Mullin among the players nominated but not selected. Joining Jackson and Randolph in Friday night’s ceremony are North Carolina coach Roy Williams, four-time WNBA championship coach Van Chancellor, two international coaches (Spain’s Pedro Ferrandiz and Mirko Novosel from the former Yugoslavia) and the 1966 Texas Western team that beat Kentucky to become the first school to win the NCAA title by starting five African-American players.
In the past decade, 25 coaches and nine contributors have been inducted into the Hall of Fame compared to only 20 players … and only four of those 25 coaches were from the NBA. In the same span that Jackson, Larry Brown, Alex Hannum and Bill Sharman were selected, Springfield has inducted eight NCAA women’s coaches, four international coaches and one high school coach. Of the 20 players chosen in that span, only 14 were NBA alumni.
Frustrated by the repeated snubbing of Golden State Warriors coach Don Nelson, who won five rings as a player with the Boston Celtics and ranks third all-time in coaching victories with 1,232, Stern told the New York Daily News in May: “It’s absolutely unacceptable, the [selection] process. It’s troublesome. It doesn’t even bring the NBA in in a rational way.”
Perhaps the biggest source of contention in that process is the fact that Springfield inductees are chosen by committee as opposed to, say, a vote of tenured media members as seen in baseball.
In basketball, there are four separate committees that screen and nominate candidates, one each for North American candidates, females, veterans who have been retired for at least 35 years before being nominated and internationals. NBA players and coaches can thus qualify in only the first of those four categories, giving women and international candidates an advantage because their pools are much smaller on the first step to enshrinement.
It’s simply idiotic to have women and high schoolers in the same Hall of Fame as Michael Jordan and Larry Bird. I’m sorry, championships in the WNBA or women’s college hoops or high school or Venezuela. It ain’t the same ballpark, ain’t the same league, ain’t even the same sport. It’s like comparing the Special Olympics to the Olympics.
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Celtics 24/7 linked with Today’s Links 9/9
The Boston Celtics are trying to lure Reggie Miller out of retirement.
Reggie Miller says he is contemplating a return to the NBA, this time with the Boston Celtics.
Miller, who turns 42 on Aug. 24, played his entire 18-year career with the Indiana Pacers before retiring in 2005. Since his playing days ended he has worked as a television analyst for TNT.
“I’m always flattered when my name is mentioned as someone who can still help an NBA team win a championship,” Miller said Wednesday in a statement relayed to The Associated Press by the TNT network. “I’ve had limited discussions with Celtics management about their roster and a potential role for me. At this time, I’m enjoying my role as an analyst with TNT.”
Miller was all set to continue that job when Celtics general manager Danny Ainge and coach Doc Rivers asked him to think about joining their revamped team in a reserve role, playing about 15 minutes per game.
Miller said he is calling friends and peers, seeking their advice and listening to their feedback before he makes his decision. He still plays recreationally, but must determine if he wants to go through the physical and mental grind of an 82-game season. He also wonders how his body would respond to the intensive training it would take to get him back to NBA shape.
The lure of playing in Boston is simple: with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen added to Paul Pierce, the Celtics feel they have a shot at an NBA championship. Like those three players, the only thing missing from Miller’s list of accomplishments is a championship ring.
The idea makes perfect sense, really. While 42 is pretty old, he might well be able to log 15 minutes a game or, indeed, even less than that if the Celtics are winning.
The Boston Celtics transformed themselves from a lottery team to a playoff threat by trading Al Jefferson and a sack of magic beans to the Minnesota Timberwolves for superstar Kevin Garnett.
Kevin Garnett gives Boston a new Big Three that brings the Celtics much closer to what their old Big Three delivered — an NBA title.
The Celtics, who have 16 championships but have gone without one for more than two decades, obtained the former MVP and 10-time All-Star on Tuesday in a 7-for-1 deal — the NBA’s biggest trade for one player. Boston sent the Minnesota Timberwolves forwards Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes and Gerald Green, guard Sebastian Telfair and center Theo Ratliff, two first-round draft picks and cash considerations. Besides Ratliff, 34, the other four are 24 or younger.
With Paul Pierce and Ray Allen already on the roster, the Celtics have been transformed from a promising collection of youngsters who had the NBA’s second-worst record last season into an instant contender in the mediocre Eastern Conference.
“This is probably my best opportunity at winning a ring,” Garnett said. “It was a no-brainer.”
The Celtics won their last championship, the third with the original Big Three of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, in 1986. Two members of that club orchestrated Tuesday’s blockbuster trade — Celtics executive director of basketball operations Danny Ainge and Timberwolves vice president of basketball operations Kevin McHale.
But Ainge cautioned that it’s much too early to equate the two trios. “These guys will never be the Big Three until they win” a championship, he said.
Garnett signed a multi-year extension — Ainge wouldn’t say how long. He had one year plus an option year remaining on his contract.
The Timberwolves get the Celtics’ first-round pick in 2009, unless it is among the top three, and a return of Minnesota’s conditional first-round draft pick obtained in January 2006 when they sent Ricky Davis to the Timberwolves for Wally Szczerbiak.
The Celtics traded their future for a chance to win now. Given that all of their new Big Three are over 30, they’d better do it quick.
ESPN’s Chad Ford offers the Sports Leader’s take on the impending NBA Draft.
It’s almost draft day, and the picture is getting clearer and fuzzier simultaneously.
We’ve been able to narrow down the list of prospects that each team is considering, but two things stand in the way of getting a complete picture.
One, this is a time when many GMs are notorious for dropping smoke screens. A source in Memphis swears the team is taking Joakim Noah. Another says to bank on the Grizzlies’ taking Mike Conley. Someone is misinformed or bluffing.
Two, there is a flurry of trade conversation, starting with Memphis, Boston, Charlotte and Chicago all talking about trading away their lottery picks. Meanwhile teams such as Golden State, Phoenix and the Lakers are trying hard to move up. Others — like Portland, Indiana and Toronto — are trying to get in or grab another pick.
The talk in Phoenix about trading up in the draft has gotten so hot that the Suns have gotten Noah, Jeff Green and Corey Brewer to agree to a workout on Tuesday. They’ll try to add Brandan Wright as a fourth. That shows you how much players want to play in Phoenix — they’ll drop everything just for the chance. It could be the most competitive workout of the draft.
Their consensus draft board:
1. Portland Trailblazers - Greg Oden - C
2. Portland Trailblazers - Kevin Durant - SF - Texas
3. Atlanta Hawks - Al Horford - PF - Florida
4. Memphis Grizzlies - Mike Conley - PG- Ohio State
5. Boston Celtics - Yi Jianlian - PF - China
6. Milwaukee Bucks - Jeff Green - SF - Georgetown
7. Minnesota Timberwolves - Joakim Noah - PF - Florida
8. Charlotte Bobcats - Corey Brewer - SG - Florida
9. Chicago Bulls (via New York Knicks) - Spencer Hawes - C- Washington
10. Sacramento Kings- Brandan Wright - PF - North Carolina
11. Atlanta Hawks (via Indiana Pacers) - Acie Law - PG - Texas A&M
12. Philadelphia 76ers - Al Thornton - SF - Florida State
13. New Orleans Hornets - Nick Young - SG- USC
14. L.A. Clippers - Julian Wright - SF - Kansas
15. Detroit Pistons (via Orlando Magic) - Rodney Stuckey SG - Eastern Wash.
Click the link for more in-depth analysis and for the second half of the draft.
Bill Simmons has an interesting piece in ESPN The Magazine this week asking, “Does greatness have a shelf life?”
He grew up a Celtics fan watching John Havlicek but realized during a recent television replay that he’d forgotten just how good Hondo was. He thinks this is a common phenomenon.
One of my favorite books is Wait Till Next Year, in which a sports columnist (Mike Lupica) and a Hollywood screenwriter (William Goldman) trade chapters about a particularly crazy year in New York sports. Writing as a fan, Goldman submits an impassioned defense of Wilt Chamberlain’s legacy, called “To the Death,” which is one of my favorite pieces. He argues that great athletes fade from memory not because they’re surpassed by better ones but because either we forget about them or our memories are tainted by things that have nothing to do with their career (like Bill Russell’s being a lousy announcer, or OJ’s being an, um, lousy ex-husband). Goldman writes, “the greatest struggle an athlete undergoes is the battle for our memories. It’s gradual. It begins before you’re aware that it’s begun, and it ends with a terrible fall from grace. It really is a battle to the death.”
This piece was published in 1988, when Bird and Magic were at the height of their powers and Jordan was nearing the same tipping point LeBron reached in Detroit. Already saddened that we’d be poking holes in them some day, Goldman predicted, “Bird and Magic’s time is coming. It’s easy being fans of theirs now. Just wait. Give it a decade.” Then he wrote an entire mock paragraph of fans picking apart their games in the year 2000, complaining that Magic couldn’t guard anyone and Bird was too slow. He ended with this mock quote: “Sure (Bird) was good, and so was Magic — but they couldn’t play today.” I remember reading that piece in college and thinking, Come on, that’s ludicrous. Nobody will ever forget Bird and Magic! Those guys saved the NBA!
Well, you know what? It’s 2007, and no one gives a crap about Bird and Magic anymore. Goldman was right. The phenomenon was in full swing after 48 Special — again, a magnificent event, but one that paled in comparison with a 20-year-old Magic jumping center in Philly, slapping up a 42/15/7, playing five positions and leading the Lakers to the 1980 title. Imagine if something like that happened today? There would be pieces of Skip Bayless’ head scattered across the entire city of Bristol.
So why do we pump up the present at the expense of the past? Goldman believed that every era is “so arrogant (and) so dismissive,” and again he was right, although that arrogance/dismissiveness isn’t entirely intentional. We’d like to believe that our current stars are better than the guys we once watched.
Why? Because the single best thing about sports is the unknown. It’s much more fun to think about what could happen than about what already has. We don’t want LeBron to be as good as MJ; we need him to be better than MJ. We already did the MJ thing. Who wants to rent the same movie twice? We want LeBron to take us to a place we’ve never been. It’s the same reason we convince ourselves that Shaq is better than Wilt and Steve Nash is better than Bob Cousy. We don’t know these things for sure. We just want them to be true.
There’s a much simpler reason that we’re incapable of fully appreciating the past. As the Havlicek broadcast proved to me, it’s easy to forget anything if you stop thinking about it long enough, even something as ingrained as “My favorite basketball team employed one of the best 20 players ever when I was a little kid.” Once upon a time, the Boston Garden fans cheered Hondo for 510 seconds. And I was there, in the building.
But that’s the funny thing about noise: Eventually, it stops.
I think that’s right. Aside from Jim Brown, who has a legendary status because he retired at his peak, it’s hard to think of a great athlete from the distant past who we consider the best of the best.
Most of us now think of Babe Ruth as a fat guy who couldn’t play with today’s athletes.
The list of great quarterbacks seldom includes anyone who played before Joe Montana. Terry Bradshaw? Roger Staubach? Who were they? And goodness knows we seldom hear mention of anyone who excelled before there were Super Bowls.
Who’s the greatest basketball player ever? Michael Jordan seems to be the consensus pick. Still, there’s hardly anyone from the distant past even in the discussion other than maybe Wilt Chamberlain.
Sports glory is fleeting.
Editorial Boards of college newspapers, even ones with good J-schools, are not often the place to begin a discussion of the merits and failings of the current revenue centric world of college sports. The University of North Carolina’s Daily Tar Heel took a stab at that topic in today’s edition. And they took issues with a son of Carolina without cause.
Former UNC baseball player Adam Greenberg was beaned in the head by an errant pitch in his first major league at-bat.
Suffering from vertigo and diminished hitting skills, he was sent to the minors in 2005. Greenberg chose UNC for baseball, switched to an easier major to accommodate practices, then turned pro before graduating.
That same year, Georgetown basketball head coach John Thompson III recruited Marc Egerson despite his 1.33 grade point average and an SAT score in the 600s.
Both of these indicate a problem in college athletics: allowing players to drop the “student” from student-athlete.
One problem is that when athletes coast through college, they risk losing it all if they become injured, as Greenberg was.
Adam Greenberg will become a very popular topic of discussion, thanks to the wonderful profile of him in the New York Times Magazine from March 25th. Alas, that profile has been walled off from the world of commentary but not before a few folks commented on it. Most marveled at Greenberg’s determination. Not a single comment on the piece that I found mentioned anything about him “losing it all” as the editorial board of the DTH implies.
In the interest of full disclosure, graduated from UNC-CH in 1997. I found the DTH unbearable then and it seems that even a decade removed, the ability to editorialize has not yet been discovered in the paper’s offices. I posted the point on their website, this morning, that Greenberg is more than just an athlete who sped through his time at Chapel Hill in pursuit of his career of choice - baseball.
There is much that is wrong with college athletics. The fundamentals of games are not taught in the major revenue sports, especially in basketball. And the graduation rates at many major programs have become more humorous than the editorials that attempt to decry them.
If the Editorial Board of the Daily Tar Heel wanted a real example of a player at UNC who gamed the college athletics system, they would have done a little digging to find Joe Forte.
Enters his sophomore season looking to improve on an outstanding freshman campaign • Is a preseason candidate for the Wooden Award and the Naismith Award, which are given to the National Player of the Year • Preseason first-team All-America, as named by Dick Vitale/ESPN • Joins Troy Murphy (Notre Dame), Terrence Morris (Maryland), Jamaal Tinsley (Iowa State) and Shane Battier (Duke) on the first team • Set a number of UNC freshman scoring records and was selected the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA South Regional • Scored 28 points in the regional championship against Tulsa to lead the Tar Heels to the Final Four • Showed remarkable poise and savvy as a young player, leading his team in scoring the entire season • The 2000 Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year
This Joe Forte
After a 2-year college career at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (highlights which included winning the 2000 ACC Rookie of the Year as well as 2001 ACC Men’s Basketball Player of the Year) that was marked by flashes of both brilliance and temper, he was selected by the Boston Celtics with the 21st pick in the 2001 NBA Draft. His most memorable moment with the Celtics came when he wore a Scooby-Doo shirt on the sidelines during the playoffs. In two seasons with the Celtics and the Seattle SuperSonics, Forte averaged 1.2 points and 0.7 assists per game, struggling to convert from his natural shooting guard position, to point guard. He was eventually waived by the Sonics due mostly to attitude and legal problems. While with the Sonics, he was arrested on gun and drug charges in Maryland, as well as an assault charge in which he allegedly punched a man in the face during a pickup game. After being released by the Sonics, Forte could not find a roster spot in the NBA.
Forte played two seasons in Chapel Hill. His failure in the NBA is hardly a surprise. Flashes of brilliance and temper are not the way to garner success in major professional leagues - even the notably dysfunctional NBA. When fusing vast sums of money with raw, immature young men, who have trouble with self-control, chaos is a natural fellow traveler.
A so-called success story is found in the more recent short term Tar Heel, Marvin Williams. His one season in the Southern part of Heaven ended with an NCAA title and a ticket to Atlanta when he declared for the NBA Draft after just one year in college. Marvin Williams, averaging 12.6 points per game in his second professional season. He turns 21 after this season ends in June.
Though his career is more of a success, Marvin Williams exudes the get out of school quick attitude that the Daily Tar Heel decries. Notice they overlook Williams in their list.
It’s problematic when athletes clearly aren’t enrolling in college to get an education. Increasingly the Kevin Durants and Carmello Anthonys of the world are looking to college basketball as a place to show off for NBA scouts instead of a place of learning. Athletes like these are sure to only increase in number with the new NBA rule requiring players to be at least 19 and a year out of high school before entering the draft.
But the problem doesn’t lie only with the athletes. The culture existing in college athletics denotes athletes as sources of entertainment, not as students at a university.
We aren’t suggesting that athletes be required to graduate from college. Clearly that isn’t an option for everyone. The allure of the NBA, NFL and MLB and their million dollar signing bonuses is hard for a poor college kid to turn down. The problem arises when college teams become farm teams.
The reality is that NCAA basketball is an enormous revenue generator. If the Daily Tar Heel wants NCAA basketball to cease to be a developmental farm league, it will require colleges to forego the cash from the heavily marketed and wildly successful tournament. Good luck getting that changed.
Athletics are a means to an end for many college attendees. The players use the universities for exposure. The universities use the players for their talent. Both use each other for the money that their union generates. Fans get the benefit of entertaining rivalries and another entertainment option on a winter’s night or a Saturday afternoon. As such, the fundamental purpose of college basketball and football has become a cog in the world of sports marketing, instead of a part of a university community. The athletes, due to their fame, are isolated from their fellow students, accorded special privileges, and held to a lower standard. Once athletes were students. Many still are.
But for all the failure, there are many successes. In spite of the disparaging comments about Adam Greenberg’s academic achievement, Greenberg has been very smart with his investments and business options outside of baseball. Even if he never gets back to the show, he has much to look forward to going forward with his life, post-baseball. Similarly, Brian Barton, a graduate of the University of Miami and minor leaguer in the Indians farm system, stayed for his entire college career with the University of Miami, earned a degree in Aerospace Engineering and interned at Boeing for good measure. His contract, as an undrafted free agent called for $100,000 in salary and $100,000 for his education.
The success or failure of a team often comes down to abilities of the players and the skill of the coach. So is it with the sports we watch. If teams and leagues and Athletic Associations are eager for short term payout without serious development of their sports, they will suffer in the long run. The NBA has been diminished by an emphasis on talent over character in the game, leading to the dysfunction I alluded to before. One hopes college athletics chooses not to follow that path, but it is their game, their moneymaking venture and their choice. We the fans as always will vote with our wallets and our time.
For Shaq’s 35th Birthday ESPN saw fit to rank the top 10 centers of all time and I can’t disagree with #1 at all.
As for his achievements: 1967-68 USBWA College Player of the Year; 1969 Naismith Award; Six-time NBA MVP; Six-time NBA Champion; Two-time Finals MVP; NBA Rookie of the Year (1970); and NBA Hall of Fame (1995).
Like no other player, Abdul-Jabbar embodied the maestro team brilliance of Bill Russell and the individual excellence of Wilt Chamberlain. His NBA cup runneth over: six championships, a record six MVPs and a Finals MVP award … at 38 years old!
Possessed the single most unstoppable shot in NBA history — the sky hook — but more than that, he was clutch, consistent and underrated in the toughness department.
He was the starting center on six championship teams and had the presence of mind to cohabitate with stars like Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson and James Worthy.
He’s the all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points; was named to the All-NBA Defensive team 11 times; and is the only modern era player to lead the league at least once in scoring, rebounding, blocked shots, minutes played, field-goal percentage and PER.
However, in their explanation of choosing Kareem as #1 I believe they left out on of the most amazing things about Kareem’s career. His expected arrival in the college ranks led to directly to a preemptive rule change by NCAA when they banned the dunk after the 1967 season and reinstated it shortly after his departure from UCLA. No other player that I can think of recieved the same treatment. While the rule was made mostly to limit his size advantage, it didn’t slow Kareem down as UCLA went 88-2 while he was a player.
The other thing to ponder about this list would is where Bill Walton would be if he hadn’t the chronic injury problems.
As for the complete list:
1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
2. Wilt Chamberlain
3. Bill Russell
4. Shaquille O’Neal
5. Hakeem Olajuwon
6. Moses Malone
7. Bill Walton
8. David Robinson
9. George Mikan
10. Patrick Ewing
He was a part of three NBA Championship teams. I remember Johnson when he played for the Celtics. The mid-eighties being about the only time I followed basketball. RIP Dennis.
AP- AUSTIN, Texas - Dennis Johnson, the star NBA guard who was part of three championship teams, died Thursday at 52. “He is deceased and is in our building. He will be autopsied,” said Mayra Freeman, a spokeswoman for the Travis County medical examiner’s office.
Johnson, a five-time All-Star and one of the great defensive guards, played on title teams with the Boston Celtics and Seattle SuperSonics. He had been coaching the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League.
Johnson played 14 seasons, retiring after the 1989-90 season. He was the NBA Finals MVP in 1979 with Seattle, with his other titles coming with Boston in 1984 and 1986.
He averaged 14.1 points and 5.0 assists. When he retired, he was the 11th player in NBA history to total 15,000 points and 5,000 assists. Johnson made one all-NBA first team and one second team. Six times he made the all-defensive first team, including five consecutive seasons from 1979-83.
Johnson was born Sept. 18, 1954, in Compton, Calif. He played in college at Pepperdine and was drafted by Seattle in 1976. Johnson was traded to Phoenix in 1980 and Boston in 1983.
 Larry Bird turns 50 today.
Happy birthday, Larry. Although I really don’t need yet another reminder that I’m getting old.
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