Ben Wallace on Trial; Duke Isn’t Good (and Maryland Is), and; The Baby Lakers Are Nice
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I watch so much basketball each night that I sometimes end up numb by evening’s end. It’s one a.m. and the final West Coast NBA game is over. My brain just took in six hours of hoops. My hand reaches for the remote and I’m hoping the Portland game has another two minutes left, or the Phoenix game, or the Seattle. But there’s nothing but post-game shows. I have to make myself get up and walk outside. The process is more like: peel - my-self - from - the - televisions…. and go outside. There was so much to process in those e six hours that it takes two days to process all the information. But last night I concentrated on a few games and flipped intermittently through the rest. Here’s what I noticed:
- Ben Wallace, the Bulls, and the headband, the ankles, the music, etc. Contrary to mainstream reports the “no headband” rule was not in Ben Wallace’s contract. Scott Skiles verbally told Wallace about the rule just before Wallace’s introductory press conference to the Chicago media. Yet, all Chicago’s pub efforts involving Wallace include Ben with - a headband. Verdict: Bulls’ management needs to relax and let the guy wear his trademark headband.
The taped ankles thing is just the Bulls protecting their investments, the players. Here’s the scenario: Wallace doesn’t tape his ankles, then goes out and rolls his ankle slightly and misses two games; the bulls lose both. In management thinking, the missed games could have been avoided if Ben had taped his ankles. Verdict: Wallace hasn’t taped his ankles in years, so he’ll ultimately win this one.
The music? Wallace wants to play his music loud in the locker room. The Bulls say, if you listen to music, use headphones, not everybody wants to hear it. Wallace’s response? Play his tunes through his headphones so loud that the entire room can hear every word. Verdict: Wallace is guilty of childish, self-centered behavior and should, from here on out, be fined at least $5000 each time he breaks this team rule.
- The Duke Blue Devils aren’t that good. In fact, they’re just a mediocre NCAA hoops team. Sure, they’re young, but they’re not talented. Coach K has, for the first time in 20 years, felt it necessary to slow the tempo of games to compensate for the lack of athletic ability of his teams’ core players.
Point guard Greg Paulus, a national all-American QB in high school, should have played quarterback somewhere, because he’s not an elite-level NCAA point. Now, if the Blue Devils really are going to play games in the 50s and 60s, Paulus will be fine. He won’t have to score and, through tempo, he can control the more athletic guards he’ll face throughout the season. But in fast-paced game Paulus tens to lose control of the team in his efforts to keep up with the competition. Defensively, though he’s a dogged defender in the half court and is savvy in his ability to play the passing lanes, in an up-and-down game he’s a step slow.
Duke’s most athletic starter is Josh McRoberts. The dude is straight gifted. But. He’s soft as left-out butter, missing layup after layup rather than monster slamming and demoralizing opponents. Freshman shooting guard Jon Scheyer can shoot, but that’s it. The Devils’ swingman is the ever- out-of-control Demarcus Nelson. His line from last night’s game against Indiana says it all: 19 points, 6 boards, one dime, and four turnovers. Forward David McClure is - what can I say - a liability. Rarely have I seen a college player get 24 minutes of burn at a position where he’s supposed to score and be so invisible. Duke’s best player, highly-touted freshman Gerald Henderson, is inexplicably under-used by coach K. Unless K lets Henderson go, the Devils will have no one to match the athletic guards Duke will face throughout the season.
All-in-all, it might be a long season for Dookie V’s favorite team.
- On the flipside of the Duke coin is ACC rival Maryland. The Terps are experienced, athletic, long, and attack opponents with equal vigor on both ends of the floor. I’m not going to go into a long review of them like I did Duke. However, I will make a prediction: Barring injuries to key players, Maryland will sweep the season series with Duke, come close to doing the same to North Carolina, and will end up as the ACC team that goes the farthest in the Big Dance.
- Damn the baby Lakes are nice. Though they failed to consistently solve the Milwaukee Bucks’ Jerry Tarkanian-like amoeba zone defense and lost last night, the Lakers are going to be really good (and they won’t face many NBA teams that play zone like it’s in the middle of Big East conference play). The young players aren’t as in awe of Kobe’s insane talent as they were last season. Lamar Odom is much more comfortable in Phil Jackson’s-Tex Winter’s triangle offense. Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujavic often enter games off the bench as a tandem and cause mass havoc with their energy and chin-up in-your-grill defense.
I commented when the season began that Andrew Bynum reminded me of a 21st century Moses Malone. In his minutes, he does nothing to tell me I’m wrong. Phil just couldn’t use him last night against Bucks big men bent on pulling him out to the perimeter; it’ll be a couple years before Bynum’s agility catches up to his size, but when it does, followers of The Association are in for a treat.
As far as other Lakers go, Maurice Evans uses quickness and his 6′5″ 220 lbs. to muscle his way to boards against bigger players, yet defends shooting guards and small forwards alike with a demonically gleeful eye on making them miserable. Luke Walton is the perfect triangle forward: excellent passer, excellent 3-ball shooter (he leads the league in 3-point FG percentage), is a proficient rebounder, and is treacherous in the defensive passing lanes.
Phil likes to play a pressure defense and is still finding ways to adapt this defense to the new, “don’t touch any offensive player who’s more than 10 feet from the basket,” NBA offensive way of being. It looks like he’s adjusting by filling his roster with tall player with long arms to shrink the court and passing angles. The smallest player to get burn is the 6′2″ Farmar. Jackson can play a team for long stretches with no player shorter than 6″5″ and with four agile players 6″7″ and taller.
Now, if starting point Smush Parker can become even a little more consistent on both ends of the floor this season, the Baby Lakes will be the surprise of the Western Conference.
That’s what I saw in Hoop Land last night - and I’m stickin’ to it.
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