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Thursday, January 25, 2001
Fred's Points: Camby, Karl and Shaq-Kobe
ESPN.com
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What's the first thing you notice when you see ESPN's Fred Carter on NBA 2Night or SportsCenter? Of course, he points at you. It's his way of saying hello. So we've asked NBA expert Fred to greet us and make some points for ESPN.com each week. Enjoy.
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| Shaq |
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| Kobe |
1. If the Lakers do not win the championship this season, do you think they will seriously consider trade offers for either Shaq or Kobe? Don't they have to?
Whether they win it all or not is irrelevant. They shouldn't consider trading either one of these guys. I've maintained all along that their problems aren't Kobe getting more shots than he did last year. Defensively, the Lakers ranked in the top five last year. This year they're 17th. Their problems are mostly on the defensive end.
But even at the offensive end of the floor personnel changes from last year to this year have more to do with the Lakers' dip in the standings than any rift between Shaq and Kobe. Last year Glen Rice was a third option for Los Angeles who was willing and able to take shots. There's a big difference when the offensive pie is sliced in three as opposed to two.
I don't think the Lakers need to trade either player. If they know they're stuck with each other, some kind of accommodation will have to be reached. They're both smart enough to see that.
2. Are you impressed with how George Karl has turned the Bucks into a first-place team so quickly? This team started out horribly.
The Milwaukee Bucks are finally playing the way they were supposed to from the start. They got off to a sluggish start. Perhaps they weren't in the best condition or egos were jockeying for position on the club.
Finally, after all of George's barking and preaching, the lights went on. These guys finally realized that winning is a lot of fun. It's also contagious. When they won a few in a row, all of a sudden it was more fun to come to the gym, fun to go to the arena, even fun to go to practice.
For a while it looked very much like the players on this team didn't like each other or their coach. But winning has a cleansing power. It cleans away all the bad feelings. They are playing up to their capabilities. George Karl is finally able to stop pounding his head against the wall. His team has bought in and is enjoying where he is taking them.
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| Ferry |
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| Camby |
3. Had Marcus Camby connected with Danny Ferry's head, what kind of suspension do you think he would have gotten? Might it have been worse than the Kermit Washington-Rudy Tomjanovich situation in the 70s?
When I learned how to fight on the playground we used to make fun of guys that swung like that. That big looping swing from way over his head looked a little girlish to me. I think if he connected the most he could have hoped for would have been breaking his hand on Danny's shoulder. Punches are jabs.
As far as the suspension goes, this is a pretty harsh penalty in its own right. Players have landed punches before and gotten two or three games. I don't think connecting with Ferry would have increased this suspension all that much. Jeff Van Gundy got 15 stitches in the deal and I think the NBA is taking that into account even though Van Gundy is Camby's own coach.
The Washington-Tomjanovich situation was so bad because it essentially ended Rudy's career. I don't think that swing that Marcus threw would have even come close to doing that much damage.
4. Tim Duncan was regarded by some as the best player in the NBA heading into the season. But Duncan's numbers are down and his free throw shooting has been especially horrid? What's up with Duncan?
I think the problem is less with Tim than the style of play the Spurs are now using. You play this game inside out, but the Spurs are playing so much of an inside game that Duncan isn't getting the easy shots that he used to and should get.
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| Duncan |
If you have a guard penetrating and drawing the defense and someone goes to block the shot he can dump it off to Duncan for the easy dunk or he can get offensive rebounds and easy put-backs. But if they continually pound the ball inside, no one is compressing the defense allowing him to pick up trash around the basket for easy points.
He's getting a lot of his chances in one-one one situations or double teams. He's forcing jumpshots and a lot of things aren't happening for him . Nothing's there that was there in the past.
They have to play the game inside out again. The outside guys have to take some initiative to be able to take the ball, create shots, get in the lane, break the defense down and make the defense react to them to give Duncan a break. If their big guys have to react to the Spurs' outside players, Duncan will get more easy baskets and regain confidence in his game.
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| Willis |
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| Clark |
5. What's your take on the trade that involved Kevin Willis going to Denver and Keon Clark heading to Toronto? Will it impact these teams now or in the future?
That was a very interesting trade. Keep in mind that Lenny Wilkens has now traded Willis twice, once from Atlanta and now from Toronto. I would like to have been a fly on the wall to get at some of the underlying issues. Toronto was obviously looking to the future with this trade.
But Toronto was clearly trying to get younger with Clark. Denver, which is looking to make the playoffs, could use a physical player who can rebound. Clark wasn't going to help the Nuggets in their playoff run. They needed an experience veteran like Willis who can rebound, block a shot, post up, make a jumpshot or a jump hook in the lane. Willis can get Denver a double-double in a playoff game. Denver made a pretty good deal for themselves that will help them right away.
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ALSO SEE
Fred's Points: Jan. 4
Fred's Points: Dec. 29
Fred's Points: Dec. 22
Fred's Points: Dec. 15
Fred's Points: Dec. 7
Fred's Points: Nov. 30
Fred's Points, Nov. 22
Fred's Points, Nov. 17
Fred's Points, Nov. 9
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