Empty the Bench

Copyright 2007 NBAE (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE/Getty Images)

“Get your hands off me, you don’t know who I am, I’m a power player, I’m a power player.” – Clutch, “Power Player”

- He’s still best known as “The Human Victory Cigar,” as the Milwaukee Bucks broadcasting team dutifully noted during Wednesday’s Bucks/Grizzlies thriller (that “thriller” descriptor comes without a trace of sarcasm). But we have to give it up to Darko Milicic for his surprising performance in the early stages of this NBA season. Gone is the wiry teenager with bleached-blond hair and an air of entitlement; meet the new Darko, who’s clearly been in the weight room and for the first time in his still-young career is actually earning his minutes, not having them gifted upon him for being an ex-second overall pick.

He more than held his own against Yao in Tuesday’s upset of the Rockets (20 points, 6 boards, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 63% FG), and on the season is averaging 11.1 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 49% from the field. It’s not all good, though: someone please tell him that mustache makes him look like a sleazy Yugoslavian gangsta. Actually, we wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what he’s going for…

- With Ben Wallace sadly declining into mediocrity in just the second season of his lucrative four-year, $60 million deal, and the Bulls searching for any kind of consistency from someone, anyone in the post (much less the entire team), we can’t help but wonder if GM Jim Paxson isn’t second-guessing himself on the draft day deal he swung last year with the surging Portland Trail Blazers. As casual NBA fans undoubtedly recall, Paxson swapped LaMarcus Aldridge for Tyrus Thomas, and while both have improved in their sophomore campaigns, right now Aldridge is clearly the better player, especially on the offensive end.

Against the Detroit Pistons Tuesday night at the Rose Garden, with old Blazer Rasheed Wallace checking him for most of the night, Aldridge put his hard hat on and turned in yet another impressive performance. He showed a bevy of slick moves on the blocks, nailed jumpers from the top of the key, rebounded, hustled, and at least on this night, outperformed Wallace (who’s having a fine season himself). On the night he finished with 22 points and 10 boards, and was obviously a key performer in his team’s upset, their second straight over a NBA powerhouse (the Mavs being the other). He’s dangerously close to averaging 20 and 10 and capable of busting out for 30 on any given night.

- Speaking of the Detroit Pistons, how about that improbable comeback win Wednesday night in Golden State? The deck certainly seemed stacked against them: the second game of a back-to-back, on the road, missing two starters (Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess), and facing a well-rested, uptempo team desperate for their first win of the season. It certainly didn’t look good for Detroit early, as Baron Davis was absolutely on fire and the Warriors staked an early 22-point lead. Displaying an unflappable veteran resolve, the Pistons never panicked, slowly whittled down the lead, and in the end walked away with a seven-point victory. The key was Flip Saunder’s switch to a zone defense in the third quarter that left Golden State settling for outside jumpers the rest of the game. Big ups to ETB favorite Jason Maxiell, who got the start in place of McDyess, stayed out of foul trouble, and put up 14 points, 14 boards, 3 blocks, and 5 assists.

Though they’ve posted a solid 6-2 record despite a brutal early schedule (8 of their first 10 games on the road) and various minor injuries to key players, the Pistons are flying well under the radar and are getting very little love on most NBA sites and blogs we frequent. This year’s team could be their deepest in years, especially considering we still haven’t seen first-round pick Rodney Stuckey in action yet (broken non-shooting hand). Hell, even Nazr Mohammed is contributing. The Celtics look fantastic, but you’d be foolish to sleep on Detroit.

- Kudos are due for both the Sonics and Minnesota Timberwolves for each earning their first victories of the season Wednesday night. The Sonics did it on the road against the just-awful Miami Heat, winning 104-95 behind strong efforts from Chis Wilcox (20 points, 10 boards, 3 steals) and Durant (18 points, 5 boards, 3 three-pointers), amongst others. At 1-7, the Heat are desperately searching for something to feel positive about. The return of Dwayne Wade will most definitely help, but he can’t rescue this team all by himself, especially since it’s probably going to take him some time to work himself back into game shape. Poor planning in free agency and in the draft over the past few years is finally catching up to the aging Heat. They sold their future for Shaq and got a title out of it, and that’s what it’s all about, but they’re paying the price for it now.

As for the Timberwolves, who beat the sorry Sacto Kings 108-103, they were led by Rashad McCants, who dropped in a career-high 33 points, including 4 treys, and new franchise cornerstone Al Jefferson, who went 11-16 from the field in racking up 23 points, 7 boards, and 3 blocks. McCants, the 14th overall pick in the ’05 draft, only played in 37 games last season due to injury but has proven that he can score in this league, as he’s now averaging just under 19 points/per through five games. We’re looking forward to seeing Randy Foye back in the starting lineup at PG (knee), though there’s still no timetable for his return.

- So, apparently there’s some kind of conflict going on with the New York Knicks, in case you hadn’t heard. Somebody named Stephon Marbury (never heard of him) briefly left the team earlier this week for reasons still unconfirmed before returning in time for the Knicks’ loss to the Clippers. Surely, his about-face had nothing to do with an alleged $180k+ fine and everything to do with putting the best interest of the team first.

The prevailing theory behind the born-again Christian’s exit is that he was none too pleased with the idea of coming off Isiah Thomas’ bench, which we acknowledge would totally be the end of the world as we know it. This 24-hour soap opera could only get juicier if Marbury came through with his alleged blackmail threat that he has “so much s–t” on Isiah. Do tell, Steph–inquiring minds (really, really) want to know. No matter who’s fault this latest laugher is, the circus has no chance of ever leaving town as long as both Marbury and Thomas are well-paid, full-time employees of MSG. These two massive egos cannot co-exist, and this franchise cannot move on and attempt a true return to respectability until these bad eggs have been cracked and fried. This has gone on long enough–it’s time to can both these clowns.

- Field-goal percentage aside, we’re impressed with Seattle SuperSonics’ rookie Kevin Durant, but it’s the Bucks’ Yi Jianlian who’s really got our attention. Very few could have predicted the ??-year-old would make the kind of consistent contributions he has so early on in his NBA career. He’s showing some toughness, is a smart player, has range on his jump shot, rebounds well, blocks shots, and runs the floor. In just his third professional game State-side, Jianlian helped Milwaukee to 78-72 victory over the Bulls by going 6-15 and finishing with 16 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. We wouldn’t be surprised if he averages a double-double by season’s end, and at this point he’s the ROY (it’s a long season though).

- After reading LA Lakers’ coach Phil Jackson lament about his team’s loss to the Spurs on Tuesday night, we’re feeling a little bit left out: what exactly is the double entendre of “kickout,” and is this something we need to study up on?

“We call this a ‘Brokeback Mountain’ game, because there’s so much penetration and kickouts,” Jackson said. “It was one of those games.”

Now, we all know that homophobia is wrong, but this stupid little joke has been blown way out of proportion, and we can’t help but feel there are much bigger fish to fry when it comes to helping out the gay community. And hey, who wouldn’t be satisfied by the sincere apology Jackson offered up on Thursday?

“If I’ve offended any horses, Texans, cowboys or gays, I apologize,” Jackson said.

There you have it–he didn’t mean to offend “gays.”

- Holy moly! Check out the respective boxscores for Lebron James and Dwight Howard from the Magic’s nail-biting 117-116 overtime win in Cleveland Wednesday night. It’s safe to say anyone who enlists either of them on their fantasy squad were quite pleased (and, ahem, some of us own both of them, so…):
Howard: 11-17 FG, 35 points, 16 rebounds, 4 blocks, 2 assists
James: 15-27 FG, 39 points, 13 assists, 14 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 three-pointers

- Some of you already know this, but one of ETB’s biggest supporters and the mastermind behind HoopsAddict.com, Ryan McNeill, has a new gig that most certainly deserves mention. Ryan is now writing for HoopsWorld as their Toronto Raptors correspondant (yes, that comes with press credentials, you envious bloggers you), and unsurprisingly he’s doing a bang-up job already. Click here to check out his exhaustive coverage of the Raps’ four-point loss the Utah Jazz Wednesday night. Congrats again, Ryan, and keep up the good work. Of course, I won’t mention how he fared against my fantasy b-ball juggernaut last week in the HoopsAddict league… that would just be cruel.

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