| | So, your NBA now looks like everybody else's game doesn't it, with a dumping ground like the NFL's and baseball's where they waive and trade and downsize to save a few bucks. That is, unless if you are a computer zillionaire and you couldn't care less about the price of a power forward.
|  | | If Rasheed wants to do more of this, he'll have to fight Shawn Kemp and Dale Davis. |
Here we go marching bravely into training camp, and suddenly nobody knows anybody. The team you said goodbye to last spring is definitely not the team you say hello to today. In some cases, not even close.
Get this: the four conference finalists from last June will average better than a 40 percent change in their starting lineups.
And as we try to figure it all out, here are the 10 things to watch in the early days of camp, 10 little items that could alter the face of the league for the long grind ahead.
1. Miami Heat. Can Miami even start out healthy? Pat Riley invested $93 million in fragile Brian Grant and $12 million to bring back gimpy Tim Hardaway. Grant must play the heavy minutes Riley expects, but he's got to hold up through two-a-days first. Hardaway did not look good in Sydney, but the playoffs are six months away. Here's a hint of strange days in Miami: Riley delayed camp one day until Hardaway and Alonzo Mourning could rejoin the team.
2. Portland Trail Blazers. Can Shawn Kemp turn his career around? We'll know if Kemp can get through the early days of camp without oxygen. Remember, the big fellow waddled through the last three years in Cleveland. And how will Kemp, Dale Davis and Rasheed Wallace shake out and can Kemp put Arvydas Sabonis on the bench?
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| Longley |
3. New York Knicks. What, Luc Longley is out at least two months and Patrick is healthy enough to be running drills in Seattle? How long will it take the New York tabloids to miss the big lug? Will the Knicks make the call to '99 first-rounder Frederic Weis, who scored one point in 12 minutes in the gold medal game. What will they do with all these shooters and no one to rebound the ball? Yeah, it's a lot of questions. But this is New Yawk.
4. Indiana Pacers. Can Isiah Thomas really coach? We're going to find out in a hurry at Pacer Academy, where three of the top eight players never played a minute of college ball. The retirement of Rik Smits guarantees three new starters and four position changes. How 'bout that CBA, Zeke?
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| Kukoc |
5. Philadelphia 76ers. Can Allen Iverson really get to work on time and save Larry Brown from a camp of despair? If Iverson can focus on the job at hand, the Sixers have a chance to make a run in the East now that Toni Kukoc is fully integrated in their system. If not, get ready for a lot of whining as the soap opera continues.
6. Orlando Magic. Is Orlando really smarter than everyone else? We'll get a hit early on when we find out if Grant Hill's fractured foot allows him to do the same things every other Magic player is doing in camp. Later, we'll wonder about the wisdom of Hill and Tracy McGrady together with a soft middle. Gee, sort of reminds you of the same Pistons Hill abandoned, doesn't it?
7. L.A. Lakers. Will Shaquille O'Neal be so happy to be united with Horace Grant that he forgives Phil Jackson for Isaiah Rider? The three-time loser is less than even money to make it through training camp without disciplinary action. And keep this in mind. Horace was running away from Phil when he fled to Orlando. Even after three championships he couldn't stand being the coach's whipping boy.
8. Seattle Sonics. Here's Pat, plodding, backing, dribbling down the shot clock, and here's Gary Payton, fidgeting, scowling, wondering what's up with this? Payton says he's going to love playing with a real center for the first time in his career. How long will that last?
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| Laettner |
9. Dallas Mavericks. How 'bout that Dallas board of coaches? How 'bout 16 players on guaranteed contracts? How 'bout all that individual instruction? How 'bout when senior assistant Del Harris starts lecturing on the second night of two-a-days? Will the Mavs look to guidance from heir apparent Sidney Moncrief, who learned to sleep on his feet when he played for Del in Milwaukee? How long will it take teammates to learn to hate Christian Laettner?
10. Phoenix Suns. While the Suns escape $28 million owed to Luc Longley, they still may be destined to crash and burn even before the season starts. This is a M*A*S*H unit. Penny Hardaway is recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery; Rex Chapman is done with a repaired thumb; Tom Gugliotta has his rehabilitation from reconstructive knee surgery; and Corie Blount had a knee scoped last week. And Chris Dudley, when was the last time he was healthy?
Around The League
Charlotte co-owner Ray Wooldridge was able to calm a few of the city's fears over an arena deal late last week. Now comes the hard part. Can they actually agree on how to pay for it? Wooldridge says they can make a deal by the Dec. 31 deadline, but then again, talk's cheap.
On their way to Charleston, S.C., for training camp it might have been instructive for the Knicks to have taken a ride by the front door of the state capitol in Columbia. Right there on Gervais Street, flying from a pole a few yards from George Washington's statue, is that infamous Confederate flag, more prominent than when if flew from the state house dome. Some compromise. Remember when the Knicks were going to boycott the state in protest?
Uh, a small request to Easy Dave Stern.
Commish, enough of this Dream Team fiasco, okay? You know and we know there was one Dream Team and nothing like it since Barcelona in '92. With all the post-dunk posturing and the nighttime partying in Sydney, the new wave can't touch the old guard.
And wasn't it telling that not one of the dozen has ever played on a championship team?
This is not a dream, Dave. It's insomnia.
Jeffrey Denberg, who covers the NBA for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. | |
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