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Friday, December 29
 
Things to watch from here on out

By Scott Howard-Cooper
Special to ESPN.com

'Tis the season to be thinking about the rest of the season, just before the calendar turns and everyone breaks into that most traditional of New Year's Eve songs, Auld Andrew Lang Syne. A time for reflection of mistakes past (how's the vacation going, Glen Taylor?) and resolutions future (no Grizzlies home games will be postponed by bad weather next winter in St. Louis) and lists. There must always be lists around this time.
Allen Iverson
Allen Iverson's relationship with coach Larry Brown will always be in the news.

Because we're not all fortunate enough to get vacations in the middle of the season, the compiling has gone on without fail. Which isn't to say the predictions won't fail, but, hey, at least attendance at our site is up. And if any turnout to be wrong, the difficulty in getting anything productive done is because of the stringent rules of the salary cap. That line always seems to come in handy for GMs.

The stories to watch the rest of the season, in no particular order:

  • Don Nelson and the Mavericks. Might as well address it first since it's first up. Nelson is leaving the team within days to begin treatment in earnest for prostate cancer. It's another blow for a league that has already hurt for Ricky Pierce (the good news: send your sympathies to opposing defenses, not Pierce) and Alonzo Mourning and that is still trying to heal from the losses of shining lights Malik Sealy and Bobby Phills. And remember, rooting for Nellie now does not mean you ever had to say a kind word about his Celtics or that you will vote for Mark Cuban for rush chairman.

    As far as on the court, Del Harris was supposed to take the wheel of what, as promised, has turned into one of the most intriguing teams in the league, but he handed off to Donn Nelson. Just when you thought the story couldn't get any more interesting -- team striding toward the playoffs as the coach battles the Big C and all that. Now, the coach is replaced by his son. That was the way it was once supposed to be on a permanent basis, but Sidney Moncrief has since been anointed the eventual successor and Donn appeared to have lost his place in line. Then, suddenly, another chance to impress, here or somewhere.

    Being low key and loyal, he's not trying to make it an audition. Harris' move didn't shock those who know him best -- selfless, they call it -- just as continued success by the Mavericks in what could be a trying emotional time will not be a surprise here. They'll still have Dirk Nowitzki, Michael Finley and Steve Nash, right?

  • Michael Jordan and the Wizards. Where he got that optimism at the start of the season about this being a playoff team, we'll never know, unless he was thinking about going Mario Lemieux. The surprise would have been if they did have any reasonable success. (Let a guy win a championship with Will Perdue and he thinks he can do anything.)

    Strickland
    Strickland

    These are not his mistakes, but he knew that signing on for the job meant inheriting them and, more pointedly, dealing with them. Maybe in February, when a salary-cap technicality will make it slightly easier to trade Rod Strickland, slightly easier being the operative phrase since, contract aside, he'll still be trying to move a guy who acts like Rod Strickland. This week was a reminder of that.

    That forever night in Salt Lake City with the hellacious flu and defenders running at him and momentum in a championship series in the balance was a walk in the park compared to pulling the Wizards out of this nosedive. It won't happen this season. In other words, now we're talking real gridlock in Washington.

    Webber
    Webber

  • Chris Webber and his future. It's officially a postseason story, but in reality will be decided before, even if Webber chooses not to let the word out until July or August. It's also tougher to predict than the eventual champion because he's dropping a lot of hints and many of them are contradictory. OK, all of them are contradictory. But for the most telling response, his comments to dot.com dot.colleague Frank Hughes a week ago were deafening: He wants to play for a winner, thinks that can happen in Sacramento -- but won't say he would re-sign even if the Kings win the championship because he wants to win more than one. Moving companies should send their bids to C. Webber, One Sports Parkway, Sacramento, Calif., 95834.

  • The Lakers. For that eventual champion thing.

  • Rick Pitino and the Celtics. Will he stay or will he go? All that's for sure is that it was a mistake to throw out the possibility of a resignation, many times. That would have been manageable enough with spin control, but to roll it into the middle of the locker room in a post-game speech like some grenade waiting to go off? C'mon. At least he eventually acknowledged it was not handled well.

    He said nothing will happen until the offseason. Then every time the Celtics spiral downward some more, it can't help but raise speculation that Pitino won't wait that long to reach for the ripcord.

  • Larry Brown and Allen Iverson. The good news is that neither party involved wastes much energy in keeping their feelings a secret, so the world will know if/when they hit the skids again. Or decide to take a sabbatical together. The problem is, they need each other, the great coach and the gifted player.

    Snow
    Snow

    The encouraging thing for the 76ers is they have already lived with so many distractions -- injuries, rap albums, coaching breaks --and did more than survive. The challenge now is to get their rhythm back at home. Getting Eric Snow -- the heart of the team, even if Iverson is the headlines -- back from a fractured ankle, in mid-January at the earliest, is key. Plenty of time for the long playoff run that will follow.

  • Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. Speaking of dysfunctional families. Watch Bryant continue to assert himself and make all those images of deferring the go-to role to O'Neal last season a distant memory. Watch Shaq bristle and speak in code, like "Write what you see." The basic message is that "someone" is shooting is pulling the trigger without sending the ball inside first and that "someone" is the reigning MVP and shouldn't be considered the secondary option. You know how it is with those college graduates.

  • The Trail Blazers. Did you catch those final seconds Thursday at the Delta Center? John Stockton poked the ball away from Damon Stoudamire from behind, it ricocheted off Danny Manning's leg and right back to Stoudamire, in perfect position for a quick shot to beat the clock and the Jazz. Tough after that not to think the karma has changed.

    It's not just luck, of course. Portland has re-asserted itself, or at least reminded everyone else of what could be, after the labored start, beating the Lakers and Jazz on the road in consecutive games. They're baaaaaaack. It was such a good week that we almost don't have the heart to remind them of the upcoming stretch, beginning Jan. 8, in which nine of 12 games are on the road, including two trips east in slightly more than two weeks. If they're still standing at the all-star break, they're trouble for the long term. And if they're not standing, Paul Allen will sell a few shares and buy them all new legs.

  • Penny Hardaway and the leg injury. He says he is coming along. The Suns, still in the second echelon in the West, need him back, while additional injuries hit the backcourt and the great early play of Shawn Marion cools. There's plenty of time left, though. A whole rest of the year.

    Scott Howard-Cooper covers the NBA for the Sacramento Bee and is a new regular contributor to ESPN.com.





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