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Friday, December 29, 2000
Fred's Points: Bucks, Mavs and coaching
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. You were a coach in the NBA not too long ago. Larry Brown looks like he wants to get out. Rick Pitino wants to go back to college. Last year Danny Ainge said goodbye. They've all referred to the same problem: coaching NBA prima donnas is a pain. How did you deal with this?
That actually wasn't a problem for me -- I didn't have a superstar. If I did, I might still be coaching. All the coaches mentioned above are from the old school -- with the exception of Danny Ainge, who played like he was from that era. There was a time when the coach was the very last word. He could berate, he could say whatever he wanted to say and the players had to take it or leave it. Today's game is different and their approach to players has to be different. Coaches can't humiliate or malign a guy in front of his teammates. They can pull a guy into the office and say whatever they want. But if they do that in front of a crowd there will be a problem.
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| K.Anderson |
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| Iverson |
The Larry Brown situation is curious because he may have created his own problem. Allen Iverson seemed to have turned a corner this year, lyrics notwithstanding. And Brown and Iverson seemed to be relating better. But Larry may have chosen the wrong time to get on his team. They had a bad loss against Dallas but they were still 17-6. I was at that game and the Sixers ran into a buzzsaw. Brown took the opportunity to berate his team. I'm told that Iverson stood up in practice and told Brown that he was treating them as if they were 6-17 instead of the other way around. And the rest of the team, who had never backed Iverson because he was usually wrong, were on his side. Larry took umbrage with that and maybe it shocked him a little.
These coaches have lasted a long time so it's not like they've stopped evolving, and the player of today didn't happen overnight. This has been a slow transition and these coaches have been able to adjust. But you run into emotional times in the season and you have to be able to respond to them.
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| Robinson |
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| Allen |
2. Everyone buried the Milwaukee Bucks when they started out 3-9, but now this team has reached the .500 mark and isn't too far out of first place. What changed with this team?
I read an interesting comment from George Karl. He said simply, "you do what you do best." He'd been trying to make the Milwaukee Bucks into a defensive team -- something they're not. So Karl thought if they're an offensive team, so be it. They'd been getting caught in the middle trying to be something they weren't.
What they're doing now is really putting pressure on teams to try to stop them. They know they don't have the ability to stop teams every time down the floor. They've decided to make teams stop them and then, possibly, become a defensive team in the last five minutes of the ballgame. If they can do that, and dedicate their efforts at the end while keeping the offensive pressure up for the entire game they have a good chance to win.
3. What has surprised you more in the past week: The brutal shooting slump Shawn Marion has gone through, or the shocking emergence of Golden State center Marc Jackson?
Shawn Marion isn't a huge surprise to me. He really doesn't have an offensive go-to game. He's an opportunity player who runs the floor, gets offensive rebounds and is the recipient of Jason Kidd's feeds on the fastbreak. Keep in mind that Kidd has been hurt a lot of the time Marion hasn't been scoring.
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| Kidd |
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| Marion |
Most of Marion's points come as the result of effort. Sometimes you go through a stretch where the ball just doesn't bounce your way and that effects the effort guys more.
Marc Jackson is a bit more surprising. There's a rule of thumb in the league that it takes big guys more time to develop. The style of play at Temple was to always kick the ball out to the little guys who shot and the big guys just got in there and rebounded. So his skills weren't able to fully develop.
Going overseas and letting the maturation process take place over three or four years may have helped him tremendously. He's on a six- or seven-game run of playing very well. If he keeps it up he could end up being the outstanding rookie in the league this year, which would be mind-boggling. A lot of organizations are shuffling their papers asking how they missed this guy.
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| Ratliff |
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| Mourning |
4. Alonzo Mourning is currently the leading All-Star vote-getter at center for the Eastern Conference. First, who should be the leading vote-getter at center for the East, and should the league do something special to get Zo involved in All-Star weekend, since he cannot play but would be there otherwise?
The league should, and probably will, get Zo involved in the All-Star festivities this year. Obviously he can't play, but it's a tribute that the fans are recognizing him with their votes and the league should acknowledge that.
Theo Ratliff has been doing an outstanding job for Philadelphia. He anchors their defense and is a great weak-side shot-blocker. He is amassing a number of double-doubles and scoring a very high field-goal percentage.
The Eastern Conference is almost empty of big men but Ratliff is giving the effort and deserves to be picked as an All-Star. I apologize to Theo for not bringing up his name in the past, but perhaps it will become a household name this year and in the years to come.
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| Nowitzki |
5. The Mavericks certainly look like they are for real. Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, you name it, they have talent and are no fluke. But do the Mavs have any shot down the line to unseat the powers that be in Los Angeles, Portland or San Antonio?
The Mavs are definitely no fluke. Winding down the season last year they won 13 of 18 games. They have guys who can score. Dirk Nowitzki is the closest thing I've seen to Larry Bird in years. I watched the Dallas game in Philadelphia and this kid can flat out shoot. I also saw him in last year's 3-point contest. He had a chance to win and seemed to suddenly realize where he was and get a little nervous. I don't think he believed that he could or should win that competition. But his confidence is growing this year and he'll get another chance. Nowitzki can also dribble, pass and finish.
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| Finley |
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| Nash |
Steve Nash is a player who has really come a long way. In Phoenix he didn't get it done but he's finally found a niche. He grew up. And we all know how valuable a player like Michael Finley is.
But then you have guys like Hubert Davis who can make the 3-pointer or Howard Eisley, who was a very important role player in Utah. This is a veteran team. In the first round of the playoffs every team in the Western Conference should be afraid of Dallas. In a five-game series they can shoot a team right out.
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ALSO SEE
Fred's Points: Dec. 15
Fred's Points: Dec. 7
Fred's Points: Nov. 30
Fred's Weekly Points, Nov. 22
Fred's Weekly Points, Nov. 17
Fred's Weekly Points, Nov. 9
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