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Thursday, March 29, 2001
Fred's Points: Blazers, Duncan and Jordan
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.
1. Portland lost five straight games and six of seven before winning in Dallas on Tuesday. How worried should Blazer fans be, or was this merely a bump in the road?
The Blazers have certainly run into significantly more than a bump in the road. This is more like a boulder. They have to find a way to get the boulder out of the road because if they try to go around it they're going to get derailed quickly.
They have a great deal of talent on that team. Often coaches are skittish to take minutes away from stars. Mike Dunleavy has to tighten his belt and tell certain players they're no longer going to get the playing time they were accustomed to. He needs to go with eight guys and make a run for the title. If someone gets hurt or into foul trouble he needs to make sure his bench players are ready and not sulking.
Coaches should never apologize for doing the things it takes to win. I think Dunleavy knows what he needs to do but can't quite do it.
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| McKie |
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| Iverson |
2. At the same time, Philly loses Allen Iverson and coach Larry Brown and drops four straight, including a miserable outing vs. the Clippers. Anything to worry about here, or will this team be fine when star player and coach return?
They do have one fairly major thing to worry about. They need to come up with another offensive option. We've talked about the Lakers needing a third offensive player to supplement Kobe and Shaq. Well, the Sixers really only have one and a half offensive players, Iverson being the one and Aaron McKie the other half. You don't really know when McKie is going to have big games. But they certainly need another offensive player.
When you get into the postseason teams will double team Allen to take the ball out of his hands or force him into standstill shots. They have to get someone else that can create a shot off the dribble and make it.
Larry Brown's quest is going to be to develop someone on his bench into that player. With Allen out, this is a good time for Larry to evaluate who that player might be. Hopefully someone steps up for the Sixers before the playoffs and says "I'm your man."
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| Duncan |
3. With the Spurs taking the top spot out West and Tim Duncan playing some of the best ball of his career, do you consider Duncan to be a better candidate for league MVP? Is he in the Iverson-Chris Webber category now?
The way the San Antonio Spurs are playing, they have a very good chance to come out of the regular season with the best record in the West, or the entire league. If that happens, Greg Popovich is a candidate for Coach of the Year and Tim Duncan, who wasn't on anybody's radar screen for league MVP, has suddenly bolted himself into third place and potentially second or first depending on what happens to Philadelphia and Sacramento and, of course, if San Antonio stayed on its stride..
4. In the next few days we should know for sure where the Vancouver Grizzlies are going. Where do you think they should go, and where do you think they will go and why?
There's no question the Grizzlies have to move. They have not been successful in Vancouver and I don't think they will be. It's hard to get free agents to opt for playing in Canada. There are financial concerns with taxes and the simple fact that Vancouver isn't in the NBA limelight.
Fortunately there is no shortage of cities that want them. There are territorial fights to be fought and a difficult recruiting process to go through, but in the end, they need to find a fan base and an arena.
If they keep it in our Disney family and move to Anaheim, there is a great arena already built and one of the biggest population centers in the country.
5. What are your thoughts on the possible Michael Jordan return to the NBA? Do you think MJ would ever risk his reputation by coming back? Should he come back?
Michael Jordan is not coming back. It's a waste of time to discuss it. At his age, Michael would get hurt and he knows it. He cannot top what he's done. He's not a young man anymore and it's a young man's game.
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