The Big Tease

Portland has Rip City , Houston has Clutch City , I think it’s time that Dallas rightfully gets a new nickname for the repetitious theme they seem to follow. I was going to go with “ Choke City ”, but the Mav’s aren’t quite there just yet. I think a better suitor would have to be “The Big Tease”. I mean think of how Dallas fans have entered the off-season for the past several years...just completely let down after yet another great regular season which routinely follows a disappointing post season. I'm sure the fans realize that they are the first #2 seeded team to be ousted in the first round since the playoff series expanded to 7 games. And I'm sure this didn't remind everyone of their collapse as the first team since the expanded playoffs to be ousted as a #1 seed in the first round a few years ago...oh wait. The Mav’s always have huge potential at the beginning of every year and they are always “supposed” to go deep into the playoffs. And it’s not necessarily the Mav’s fault that they have all this high expectation for success. Other people like so called experts, the fans or even Mark Cuban decides that “this is our year”. I thought so too, especially after the trade deadline when they finally got a big man in Brendan Haywood who can really defend in the paint against the likes of Tim Duncan, or so we thought. And then they got Caron Butler, a guy who can score the ball well and defend guys like Kobe , but I guess the guy who can’t even breathe out of his broken nose proved too much for Mr. Butler. If that’s not enough, how about this for motivation…Dirk can opt out of his contract if he doesn’t want 21.5 mil next year. I wouldn’t blame him if he tested the FA market, and neither can the fans or Cuban. Haywood is now a FA and Kidd will be 38 by next year’s playoffs and Marion will be 32 next month. It seems the only bright spot for the Mav’s future is the semi break out of Rodrigue Beaubois. Dirk will be 32 next year and he will have to decide if he can give it one more go as the franchise player on a more than likely worse team than this year. It seems inevitable that a rebuilding phase will be knocking on Mark Cuban’s door sooner than later. But who knows, because next year will be “The Year” right?

Million Dollar Question

Remember the movie What Women Want? Well here is a new movie for ya, What LeBron Wants. I know this question has been asked a million different times and it's getting old, but here is a different take on it...I think. Apart from winning a title obviously, apparently everyone thinks they know the answer, or so it seems, and only because he hasn’t given an answer is obviously why we speculate. Does he want money? Does he want fame? Does he want to be the best ever? Does he want a ring? How about multiple rings? Everyone is trying to figure out these questions and trying very hard and fast. My guess, again only a guess, is a combination of everything; the best with most while staying modest. Now the bigger question is how does one create the right equation with said variables? July 1st 2010 will be the start of arguably the most important free agent class in NBA history and perhaps in all of sports. None the less, the events that will transpire this summer will be more dramatic than final episode of Jersey Shore. LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson, Carlos Boozer and Amare Stoudemire are the biggest commodities this summer and everyone is trying to get a slice in order to make their teams better, with James, of course being at the top of everyone’s wish list. After many hypothetical formulas, I believe the most logical team that LeBron might think about joining and where he can get all he wants, and then some is right down the turnpike. The Chicago Bulls. Anyone agree? No? Well here is my argument…They have enough money since trading away John Salmons and Tyrus Thomas & will have even more if they can move Kurt Hinrich. Rose and Noah are future all-stars and Deng would be a great 6th man to come in for LeBron with his scoring and defense. Rose will be among the top PG’s for years; can you imagine Rose and LeBron running a fast break together? LeBron will need a team with a good defensive big man and Noah is the perfect fit for how LeBron plays. He’s an amazing shot blocker/rebounder and can run the floor. He can also hit the long jumper, horrendous looking yes, but it still goes in, and he can hit his FT’s better than most bigs. Not to mention he is quick enough to get out of LeBron’s way, which is something of an issue for older Shaq. And with Taj Gibson next to Noah, that is a brick wall when it comes to defense and it will only get better. All the Bulls need now is a couple average SG’s who can hit the open 3 and will take a pay cut for a ring…cough..Ray Allen..cough cough. Matt Barnes & Kyle Korver are also deadly from the arc who are on the FA list this summer & won’t demand much cash. All of this can logically happen, and if the NBA and LeBron want to take a stab at re-creating the 72 win Bulls team, then this will be the only formula and perfect timing for that sort of success that we will see in a very long time. I know what you are thinking, “What if LeBron joins Wade or Bosh in NY or Miami ?” Yes one of them with LeBron would be a great tandem on a team, but that’s it, just an exciting tandem. Unless LeBron and player X take less money than the max contract, then whatever team that picks up both players will have to spend all of their money on those 2 guys and will have nothing left over for some solid role players, which the bulls already have. The max contract tandem team will make the playoffs every year and probably go deep but will not be a good enough all around team to win multiple rings; and isn’t that the goal, to become a dynasty? This is the formula for a dynasty: Good Defense, good role players, talented youth with big upside, good leadership, a supporting city/fans and 1 transcendent, with-out-a-doubt future hall of famer. I would say that a dynasty needs a Center on the level of Shaq/Hakeem/Kareem/Russell, but like Jordan , LeBron is great enough to carry his team to a different echelon with his competitive nature and his shear will to do absolutely whatever he wants on a basketball court. And that is even rarer, meaning that your big man isn’t the best player on the dynasty team. Now just add a simple minded coach who has the common sense to mold this together; it’s not hard with this type of team, right Phil Jackson? Just look at history and you will see that all of the great dynasties possess these things and that type of opportunity only comes around once in every 10-20 years. Now that’s some anticipation.