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A handful of e-mails are flagged each week for group discussion. Be sure to include your first and last names and city of residence if you want your question to be answered. Seriously, friends. Announce yourself to the masses. To the mail ...
Ajay Kosaraju Champaign, Ill. A: It'll be a challenge for coach Isiah Thomas to keep everyone satisfied. But I know the Pacers believe that the five-man nature of their offense creates PT opportunities for everyone (even when Reggie Miller returns) because the new offense de-emphasizes specific positions. Knowing Walsh, though, he has already got a plan to balance out the roster -- on top of the busy summer coming up. After locking up Ron Artest, Jon Bender and Jeff Foster last month, Walsh has to re-sign Reggie, Jermaine and Brad Miller come July. Walsh says he'll retain all three and still avoid the luxury tax, which is probably impossible mathematically. Meaning that he must be cooking up some sort of maneuvering, which will undoubtedly start with the latest attempt to move Austin Croshere. As for your KG idea, let's be real. It'd take a tad more than that to pry Garnett from the Wolves.
Q: Do you think Michael Jordan will play in 2004? Also, do you think the league will mandate every NBA team to retire No. 23 in honor of Michael Jordan, just as baseball and hockey have done for Jackie Robinson (No. 42) and Wayne Gretzky (No. 99)? A: No sense trying to guess what MJ would do a year from now. So I won't even try. On the number question, I don't see the NBA taking that step if they haven't done it for Wilt (No. 13), Magic (No. 32), Bird (No. 33), et al. In hockey, no one would dare wear No. 99 anyway, because that number is SO obviously Gretzky's. But NBA guys don't seem to be bothered by such legacies. ESPN's own Tim Legler used to wear No. 23 -- in Washington, no less -- and there are still four guys who don't mind sporting No. 23 besides MJ: Denver's Marcus Camby, Golden State's Jason Richardson, Indiana's Ron Artest and Phoenix rookie Casey Jacobsen.
Q: I've seen you mention this numerous times these past few months: Rashard Lewis is NOT 6-10. Go stand next to him, watch him on TV, compare him to Brent Barry in a huddle, whatever. But he's 6-8 -- probably smaller. The inches you're gifting him with probably belong to Kevin Garnett. A: That's what he's listed at by the league, and there are probably lots of guys whose heights have been inflated worse than Rashard's. Like, say, Allen Iverson at 6-0? Steve Nash at 6-3? I know the fact that some folks at least "think" Rashard is 6-10 is a big reason why Dallas was praying that it could steal him away over the summer.
Q: I enjoyed your article on "Who's the second-best center?" It's a sad state of affairs when Shawn Bradley is in the running for Most Improved Player and a center from China is being promoted as Shaq's next rival. But I was disappointed that there was no mention of Portland's Arvydas Sabonis. Although he has returned from a one-year hiatus and is a mere shell of the player he once was, Sabonis remains a very productive player. When he is on the floor, the offense runs through him at the high post, with guys cutting to basket for easy layups. In his prime, Sabonis may or may not have been able to bang with Shaq, but he clearly would have been the second-best center in the league. I'm not sure there has ever been a big man that had this guy's natural instincts. Sabonis makes everyone better around him -- something even Shaq has learned over the last few years of his career. When Sabonis played in Europe earlier in his career, I'm sure his response when asked about the play of Divac and Ilgauskas was like Shaq's when asked about Yao Ming. "Who?" A: Put me in the long line of folks who wishes they could have seen Sabonis at his best. Only reason Dikembe Mutombo and Sabas weren't in my column specifically is because neither is close to the No. 2 slot any more. Doesn't take away from how great they were, but they're both slowing down. Which hurts both their teams because Portland is counting on Sabas probably more than it should, given his age and recent inactivity, and New Jersey has built its campaign for re-signing Jason Kidd around the notion of a productive Deke.
Q: Could you please expose Phil Jackson for the fraud that he really is? Funny how when you have Jordan and Pippen, you can win. Take away Jordan for one season and what happens? Then he goes to L.A. Not to the Clippers, but to the Lakers, who happen to have two guys named Shaq and Kobe. Shaq is out and how horrible are the mighty, Zen Master-led champs? The same can be said about Pippen and especially Kobe. Neither of them can carry a team like Jordan, Shaq, and even Iverson. I can't believe, the way the media loves to crucify overhyped players and coaches, that they don't jump all over this fraud. Let's see Jackson go somewhere like Denver or Golden State and make even contenders out of them. I'm sick of hearing what a great coach he is over and over. A: Sorry, Eric. Can't help you. Lots of people feel this way, just like lots of folks lately think Kobe is overrated. But when Shaq says over and over that he couldn't have won three rings without Phil, you have to say there's something to it. Jackson, as a coach, is going on 10 rings. If it were only the talent, a couple of those championships wouldn't have happened. When Jackson went to L.A. and started winning with a group that had previously gagged, he silenced this argument. Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here. |
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