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Ups and downs of NBA
By Steve Hirdt
Special to Page 2

With the NBA's All-Star Weekend at hand, it's time to take stock of the ups and downs in the league since we stood at this same place one year ago.

Remember what it was like at the time of last year's All-Star Weekend? Shaq and Kobe were talking, Costas was announcing, Grant Hill was playing, the Pacers were winning and Isaiah Rider was scoring.

Yes, and the Bulls were losing.

The changes from one year to the next can be as obvious as an elephant or as subtle as a simile, but step one is to recognize them. Here are the teams with the five largest improvements and five largest declines in winning percentage when comparing their records going into the All-Star Game last year and this:

Largest improvements among teams
Team	1999-2000	2000-2001	Change
Dallas	20-28 .417	31-19 .620	+ .203
Philadelphia	27-22 .551	36-14 .720	+ .169
Houston	20-30 .400	25-25 .500	+ .100
Milwaukee	26-24 .520	29-18 .617	+ .097
L.A. Clippers	11-38 .224	16-34 .320	+ .096
Largest declines among teams
Team	1999-2000	2000-2001	Change
Indiana	32-16 .667	21-27 .438	- .229
Detroit	25-23 .521	19-31 .380	- .141
L.A. Lakers	37-11 .771	31-16 .660	- .111
Chicago	10-37 .213	6-42 .125	- .088
Atlanta	19-28 .404	16-33 .327	- .077

And here are the individual players with the five largest improvements and the five largest declines in points per game from this time a year ago (minimum: at least 20 games each season):

Largest improvements among players
Team	1999-2000	2000-2001	Change
Tracy McGrady	Tor. 14.1	Orl. 26.3	+12.2
Jason Terry	Atl. 7.6	Atl. 18.3	+10.7
Steve Nash	Dal. 6.9	Dal. 16.6	+ 9.7
Predrag Stojakovic	Sac. 9.6	Sac. 19.0	+ 9.4
Jermaine O'Neal	Por. 3.9	Ind. 13.0	+ 9.1
Largest declines among players
Team	1999-2000	2000-2001	Change
Isaiah Rider	Atl. 22.0	Lakers 7.9	-14.1
Cedric Ceballos	Dal. 18.3	Det./Mia. 5.1	-13.2
Shawn Kemp	Clev. 18.8	Por. 6.4	-12.4
Toni Kukoc	Chi./Phi. 18.2	Phi. 7.9	-10.3
Tom Gugliotta	Pho. 13.1	Pho. 4.8	- 8.3

Finally, the individual league leaders in the major categories show a lot of the same names as a year ago:

Comparing statistical leaders
Category	1999-2000	2000-01
Points per game	Allen Iverson, 31.3	Kobe Bryant, 29.9
Rebounds per game	Dikembe Mutombo, 14.4	Dikembe Mutombo, 14.1
Assists per game	Jason Kidd, 9.9	Jason Kidd, 9.7
Field goal pct.	Shaquille O'Neal, .574	Shaquille O'Neal, .571
3-Pt. FG pct.	Hubert Davis, .527	John Stockton, .507
Free throw pct.	Jeff Hornacek, .966	Steve Nash, .924

Steve Hirdt is the executive vice president of the Elias Sports Bureau.

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	ALSO SEE: NBA All-Star coverage