| Sunday, January 9
By David Aldridge
Special to ESPN.com |
|
Has it been a year since the lockout ended?
Twelve months since the suits were put away?
|  | | The Wizards' Mitch Richmond didn't fare well from the lockout. |
Fifty-two weeks since the Commish shaved that horrifying beard?
Three hundred and sixty-five days since Kenny Anderson's lament that he
might have to sell one of his eight cars to make ends meet? And since we
heard Patrick Ewing say that NBA players make a lot of money, but they spend
a lot of money, too?
525,600 minutes since you heard about escrow accounts and luxury taxes?
Yup, yup, yup, yup and yup. And since this is a sports column of sorts,
we have to keep score. I won't bore you again with the minutae of labor
negotiations. But some people did well by stopping the game for six months. Others, not so well.
To the judge's scorecards we go.
THE WINNERS:
1) Owners.
There is no pressure on the Raptors to sign Vince Carter to
a long-term extension this summer -- and destroy their chance of keeping Tracy
McGrady. The Clippers don't have to bet $80 million next July on whether
Michael Olowokandi will ever develop into anything special. The Spurs won't
have to put $150 million into Tim Duncan's bank account to ensure he'll
stay. Once the league coerced the union to accept caps on what the top
players can make, and extended rookie contracts to, in essence, five years
from their current three, the NBA became a viable property for businessmen
again. There is no shortage of rich, white guys who want in. From coast to
coast, owners made out like bandits because of the lockout -- which was, of
course, the whole point of the lockout.
2) Stern.
Commissioner for Life after keeping his side on message and
dropping a few billion or so in his bosses' pockets.
3) Fans.
You did benefit. Let's go back to the Raptors. Under the old
system, they would have had to break the bank next summer to keep Carter.
And in all likelihood, they would have had to deal McGrady. Now, they have a
reasonably good chance to keep Carter and McGrady together for at least
three more years, and they'll have the cap room to add another significant
player via free agency next summer. That's good for Toronto and that's good
for the league.
4) Billy Hunter.
The union head got a fat contract extension from the
rank and file and managed to keep the agents who wanted to decertify at bay.
THE LOSERS:
1) Veteran stars.
The gravy train is over. Only a handful of players
have cashed in for the maximum for veterans of their vintage -- Karl Malone,
Scottie Pippen, Penny Hardaway -- while the likes of Rod Strickland, Mitch
Richmond, Jerry Stackhouse, Charles Oakley and John Stockton got far below
what a truly free market might have netted them. No one is going to pay Glen
Rice an average of $14 million per year next summer. Or Reggie Miller. Or
Mark Jackson. Or Tim Hardaway. They'll have to take what their teams offer or play for less elsewhere.
2) Agents.
They complain about the deal every chance they get. And
while Ray Allen has, so far, turned out to be the exception in negotiating
his own deal, the ability of the flesh peddlers to play franchise roulette
with their star clients has waned.
3) Fans.
Yes, you lost, too. Who do you think is paying the freight for
all those missed games? You pay every time the extra commercials that are
slammed into every telecast now slow down the game. You pay every time you
walk up to the ticket window and see there's nothing there you and your
family can afford. And the league pays because you're still ticked off about
the whole deal. Ratings are down and arenas are showing alarming numbers of empty seats.
Hey, Ray's got game
I've heard otherwise intelligent people say the following about the last
Olympic spot going to Ray Allen: a) it should have gone to Antonio McDyess,
but it didn't, because Allen starred in Spike Lee's "He Got Game," and
therefore has more star power; b) it should have gone to Kobe Bryant, but
the league felt compelled to put an Eastern Conference player on the team to "balance" the squad; c) it would have gone to Allen Iverson, but Iverson's
bad-boy reputation was too much for the selection committee.
What are you people smoking out there?
Here's the truth. With Steve Smith's knees an ever-constant concern, the selection committee wanted one more perimeter shooter on the team to go with Allan Houston. Allen's a better jump shooter right now than either Bryant or Vince Carter. With Kevin Garnett, Tom Gugliotta, Vin Baker and Grant Hill playing forward, there was no need for McDyess. (And don't you
think Chris Webber has a better argument, anyway?)
Iverson? Not only is he highly regarded by committee members, he'll
likely be the first replacement if Tim Hardaway can't go.
"I'd put him on the team," a committee member said of Iverson. "The world hasn't seen anyone like him."
As far as east versus west, I am being completely honest here: I have
never, in the dozens of conversations I've had with selection committee
members over the years, heard anyone mention geographic considerations when determining Olympic spots. I doubt that most members even know which player is in which conference. If there's a bias against the Western Conference, why was Portland's Clyde Drexler the last addition to the Dream Team in 1992, instead of Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars or Mark Price from the east?
Why can't Ray Allen, who's averaging 22 points a game, whose all-around game is improving every day, who is from a small market, who is a solid citizen, who does numerous charity events in his home state in the
offseason, get some love from people who always gripe about the lack of good role models in the league?
Around The League
The Pistons and Warriors are talking about a potential Donyell Marshall-Bison
Dele swap. Golden Staters would then waive the retired Dele and clear his
$5.67 million from next year's cap.
Unhappy Ike Austin, benched in Washington in favor of second-year center Jahidi White, is looking to get
out. There are some teams interested, including the Lakers, who see Austin as a solid backup four and five. But forget rumors about the Bucks being willing include Tim Thomas in a deal for Austin.
Penny Hardaway will get his cast taken off on Monday and is hoping to get back on the floor soon afterward. He's missed almost a month after tearing his plantar fascia on his right foot. With special orthotics, and a new shoe from Nike (his heel problems began when Nike couldn't get him a size 14+ shoe and he had to wear a size 15 instead), Hardaway thinks the problem is licked. But he knows he has to convince Scott Skiles he's ready to go.
"They think I'll need two weeks to get in shape," Hardaway said. "I won't. But Scott knows all about this. He's got the same thing. He runs five miles a day and it calmed down for a while, and then it flared up on him again."
Add Suns: Phoenix is pushing Clifford Robinson for the All-Star team, and why not? He's averaged more than 23 points a game as a starter while Tom
Gugliotta and Shawn Marion were out. Should the Artist Formerly Known as
Uncle Cliffy get the nod? "No doubt," Robinson said. "If you look at the
year that I've had, from coming off the bench shooting like 25 percent from the three-point line and 35 percent from the field to where I am now (.411 and .481, respectively), I definitely think so."
The Magic will definitely deal Chris Gatling before the trading deadline, even if it costs them a shot at the postseason. The feeling in the Land of the Mouse is that there has to be enough cap room next summer to be able to sign two young free agents (averaging $9 million each) if Orlando can't convince Tim Duncan or Grant Hill to play there.
Quote of the Week
"Yeah, I'm pretty bad. And I never hear that."
-- Hornets forward Brad Miller, sarcastically responding to a taunting
fan yelling "Miller, you suck!" during the Charlotte-Phoenix game on
Tuesday. |  |
Aldridge: Best of the Millennium
