Empty the Bench

“You got to build and you got to start from nothing. But I feel in a couple of years, we’re going to be there. We’re going to be one of the top teams in the West, too. We coming — most definitely.” – Al Jefferson

The most unexpected NBA success story of 2009 has been the Minnesota Timberwolves. After celebrating the Martin Luther King holiday with a 94-86 win over the Clippers in Staples Center they’ve now gone 7-1 since the New Year. Their lone loss was a tight 96-99 affair against playoff-bound Miami in a game when Al Jefferson, dealing with a cut on his hand, shot an uncharacteristic 4-14 from the field. Dating back to Christmas Minnesota is now 9-3 and one of the hottest teams in the NBA. What’s going on here?

One significant change in 2009 has been going from Rashad McCants to Rodney Carney as their sixth man. McCants has been benched since the calendar flipped for partying in Las Vegas the night before a New Year’s day practice and presumably showing up looking like, well, like a guy who had partied in Las Vegas the night before. He’s only played a total of 13 minutes in two games since and the removal of McCants from the lineup has proven to be addition by subtraction.

In his three-plus seasons in the league the 14th overall pick from 2005 has proven to be little more than a selfish cancer who happens to get hot every third or fourth game. All he does is score, but this season Rashad is shooting a career-worst 36% from the field. The decision to select him over Danny Granger in 2005 is looming larger and larger. Meanwhile, Carney has stepped up to the plate, providing a spark of offense and energy off the bench.

But as much fun as it is to dump on McCants, credit must also be given where credit is due. There are three young Kevin McHale draft picks stepping up in a major way over the last few weeks.

Why the Timberwolves are streaking, after the jump…

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Good guess, but it wasn’t Stephon Marbury who whispered those words to Isiah Thomas as Zeke trudged to the basement dungeon the New York Knicks have sequestered him in as part of his “reassignment.” After all, that wouldn’t even be possible since Thomas has been banned from having any contact whatsoever with Knicks players; President of Basketball Operations Donnie Walsh fears Thomas would undermine his regime.

No, it was a down-and-out kid who nobody would give a chance to show his hoops talents because they thought he was too small (which Thomas can certainly relate to nowadays). Check out this vintage spot of Isiah Thomas helping a young protege work some magic on the court, then riding off into the sunset in his Toyota sports car, top down. (The parallel between this clip and the tearjerker closing scene in The Homer They Fall, in which Moe is shown helping people around the world via his trusty paramotor, is hard to miss.)

I’ve seen enough.

The time for chalking up the Detroit Pistons’ lack of consistent success against teams good, decent, and bad to growing pains has passed. It’s not about the question of starting a “small ball” or a “big ball” lineup, or of deciding who between Allen Iverson and Rip Hamilton should come off the bench, or of whether or not head coach Michael Curry is actually holding players accountable as promised ad nauseum in the preseason (which he isn’t).

It’s about a mismatched roster with absolutely no chemistry, nothing to hang their hat on at either end of the court, and no on-court leadership. These team-wide character flaws become more and more apparent with each listless effort and ensuing loss, and now seem increasingly likely to sink the Pistons’ chances of making any sort of noise in the postseason for the first time in over 6 years.

The team hit rock bottom on Friday night in Oklahoma City, putting in an embarassingly meek effort against the NBA’s worst team record-wise in dropping their fourth game in a row, 89-79 to the Thunder. Led by an inspired Kevin Durant (32 points on 66% FG, 6 boards, 2 assists, and 2 steals), the Thunder outhustled, outrebounded (52-35)… out-everythinged the Pistons, staking a 17-point lead midway through the fourth quarter and doing it with moxy, confidence, and boundless energy. All attributes the Pistons have become known for over the better part of the last decade, all of them now lost in a sea of confusion. (Don’t forget it was this same Thunder team [now 8-33] who only 3 weeks ago waltzed into the Palace of Auburn Hills and gave the Pistons all they could handle before falling short by two points.)

After rattling off seven straight wins a few weeks ago as Hamilton sat out with a sore groin, the Pistons have lost five in a row and six of their last seven. Now a mediocre 22-17, they’ve been beaten by the four worst teams in the Eastern Conference (Washington, Charlotte, New York, and Indiana) and two of the worst in the West (Oklahoma City and Minnesota), needing a last-second Iverson jumper to avoid what would have been an embarassing loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. Young teams looking to build on rare wins now see the Pistons on their schedule and lick their lips with hunger knowing a win could be there for the taking, instead of marking it down in pen as a sure loss.

Despite enlisting dynamic scorers like Iverson, Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, Rodney Stuckey, and Tayshaun Prince, the Pistons are averaging an atrocious 93.6 points per, better than only the Grizzlies, Clippers, and Bobcats (barely). They’re one of the NBA’s worst free-throwing shooting teams (74%, 27th overall) and near the bottom of the league in three-point shooting, assists, and steals per game. They can’t finish games or hold onto big leads, they’re undisciplined, and they’re running out of time.

More on the slumping Detroit Pistons after the break…

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- The Sporting Blog – Since when does using guile and savvy make somebody a bad GM?
- NY Times – Kevin Pittsnogle, now a middle school teacher, hasn’t forgotten about hoops.
- Tom Socca – If 33-10-11-7 is almost a quadruple-double Tom is almost 8’6″.
- AOL FanHouse – Mark Cuban to Mr. Mariotti: “Get your (bleep) together, Jay.”
- Rocky Mountain News – Chris Tomasson has some of the best NBA pranks of all time.
- Hugging Harold Reynolds – Could a team of writers beat LeBron in a game of five-on-one?
- Akron Beacon-Journal – That Delonte West is one tough SOB. Crazy, but tough.
- Toronto Star – Jermaine O’Neal sounding very much like a man on the outside looking in.
- The Hoop Doctors – Kobe Bryant measuring up to Sam Cassell’s clutch shooting.
- Ball Don’t Lie – Rafer “Skip To My Lou” Alston has nothing on Tim “The Wizard” Duncan.
- Root Zoo – Not everybody thinks King James will be holding court in New York come 2010.
- Sports Rubbish – Now you can live out that Mike Breen fantasy in your own home.
- The Sports Hernia – Checking in with Scott Layden and his Utah Jazz khaki trousers.
- Hardwood Paroxysm – How about putting some D-League talent in the dunk contest?
- The Globe and Mail – Could hoops eclipse hockey as Canada’s national sport?

And last, we leave you with the high-flying heroics of young Jerryd Bayless, throwing it down in the collective faces of the New Jersey Nets. I had the pleasure of being about 30 feet away from Bayless as he executed the maneuver and it looked even more impressive in person, bringing the relatively small crowd to their feet in an otherwise humdrum game:

The 2008 NBA Las Vegas Summer League MVP has game. He can play at this level, no question. Maybe all it took was a Steve Blake injury to get his foot in the door of the starting lineup – he already has Brandon Roy’s vote of confidence. Portland is unlikely to challenge Los Angeles with Blake at the one this season, it’s time to give some more run to a kid who can do that.

I have two confessions to make. First, I was a bigger Kevin Garnett fan before he was clapping his hands in point guard’s faces, sitting down for painfully forced conversations with Bill Russell and spouting canned “anything is possible” clichés at the top of his lungs. He may have been miserable during his last years in Minnesota, but we were in it together. Now he’s on his own ego island, a curious and disappointing development for a man that had been one of the most pathos worthy athletes in sports history.

Second, I was a bigger fan of the Boston Celtics two years ago before they were arrogantly strutting their championship stuff in arenas across the country. I had adopted the team of relatively unknown youngsters as my favorite to watch in the NBA. I felt like I was on the bandwagon, blog and all, before the rest of the basketball world had embraced a squad that was years away from serious title contention, but one that would absolutely get there. The Celts had youth, athleticism, personality and explosiveness at every position. Of all the teams in the NBA, Boston had the most sheer potential – it was coming out their ears, so much that Doc Rivers and Danny Ainge didn’t know what to do with it. The group was a hell of a lot of fun to watch and speculate about. They were fun to be a fan of.

And then Danny Ainge blew it up. After falling in love with that deep, promising lineup and seeing some of those major pieces thriving, both in Boston and elsewhere, I can’t help but wonder what could have been.

I also have two disclaimers. First, acquiring Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett was absolutely the right thing to do. In the NBA a bird in the hand is worth five in the bush. If Ainge had kept the core intact I don’t think the young kids had a snowball’s chance in hell of winning a title in the next two or three years. It would have been a long-term project along the lines of the current Portland Trailblazers with no guarantees of success. When you have a legit shot at a title you take it, no questions asked. Rings are what this game is all about. Second, there’s an undeniable butterfly effect to take into account here. I acknowledge that we have no way of knowing what other moves would have been made, what contracts would have been signed and how drafts would have shaken down in the alternate universe where Ray Allen is still struggling futilely in Oklahoma and Kevin Garnett is still toiling away in the Twin Cities.

With all of that said, it’s not hard to see the Celtics sans KG and Jesus Shuttleworth being the most exciting young team in the East.

Breaking down the Celtics Bizarro World roster after the jump…

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- Maybe… Gilbert Arenas really, truly doesn’t get it–still. Nobody should be surprised by his lack of maturity anymore, but his recent comments in The Washington Times about the status of his lingering knee injury have to come off as at least a little bit insulting to Wizard fans, the franchise, and his teammates. Though he’s only 6 months removed from mucking up his team’s salary-cap situation for years to come after being gifted an astonishing 6-year, $111 million contract extension, Arenas insinuated that there might be no reason for him to play at all this season, even if he’s given a full bill of health. “I don’t know. I mean, seven wins? Would you?” Yes, Gilbert–if I my employer was paying me $14.6 million this year to play in 25 or 30 basketball games, and if I was healthy, you’re damn right I would.

- Maybe… the Detroit Pistons need to figure out who the better fit at shooting guard for this season and next is–Richard Hamilton or Allen Iverson–then quietly (if that’s possible) start shopping the odd man out. Having two All-Stars at one position is, essentially, a good problem to have, and it’s not that I don’t think the relevant parties can’t all put their heads together to figure out how to make it work. But considering how strapped this team is for a consistent presence on the starting front line, it does feel like somewhat of an excessive luxury; second-year SG Arron Afflalo is developing into a fine reserve off the bench and proving increasingly capable of playing solid man-defense and of knocking down big shots.

Rodney Stuckey is in the starting lineup to stay, and though his prolonged shooting slump is troubling, Iverson’s ability to create his own shot–not to mention his hunger for a championship–is much too valuable come playoff time to sacrifice. Though they’d be facing a reversal of this problem next season if Iverson walked and Hamilton was traded, I wonder how amendable the Jazz would be to a straight-up swap of Carlos Boozer for Rip. Makes sense for both teams, assuming Boozer agrees to an extension with the Pistons. If he was relatively healthy and back on the court by, say, the end of the February, would that be enough time for him to get indoctrinated into Detroit’s system before the playoffs roll around?

Three more random NBA maybes after the break…

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- With Malice… – This week’s results of the NBA Blogger Power Rankings are in.
- New York Post – Eddy Curry: “Look at me, Dave, look. Come and touch it, Dave.”
- Court Surfing – Here’s how it feels to be sandwiched between Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.
- Forum Blue and Gold – The Lakers are still stuck with that bonehead Slalom Vlade.
- Star Tribune – Kevin McHale thinks Mario Chalmers would have been cut in Minnesota.
- Hardcore Detroit Fan – Choosing between Rip and A.I. is a good problem to have.
- Ball Don’t Lie – Oh, to party with Mark Cuban in the ’80s…
- Rumor Press – The Jermaine O’Neal Experiment in Toronto might be over with…
- Raptor Blog – … and freeing up 35+ minutes per for Andrea Bargnani is one reason why.
- HoopsHype – One writer thinks there’s no downside to Boston signing Marbury.
- Full Court Press – There was never any threat of Antonio McDyess jumping Detroit’s ship.
- The Sports Hernia – An inadvertent homage to the inadvertently funny Valkyrie.
- TrueHoop – The Darius Miles nightmare ends Friday in Memphis.
- Liberty Ballers – Are the 76ers better without Brand? He’s back soon, so we’ll find out.

Around the same time that the Partnership for a Drug-Free America fueled a nationwide taste for fried eggs, and long before Mr. Mackey coined the now-famous catch phrase of this post’s title, a gaggle of old-school NBA superstars embarked on their own anti-drugs crusade. An All-Star cast including Magic Johnson, Julius Erving, Isiah Thomas, and a frighteningly young Mike Fratello star in this series from the late-80s entitled “Don’t Foul Out.” The earnestness of Buck Williams in the first clip, and of Thomas in the first and third, truly resonates.

Two more “Don’t Foul Out” PSAs after the break…

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Browsing around on Streetball.com the other day I came across this gem of a young Vince Carter in his Mainland High School duds. In terms of pure electricity and hops few in basketball history can top a young VC, and it’s all on full display in this mix tape from his Daytona Beach days. Can you imagine being a 17-year-old and asked to guard this guy? To take a charge from him? To try and take it strong to the hoop? I wouldn’t want to be one of the opposing players’ mothers; some of these vicious dunks and rejections would have me fearing for their physical safety.