글
*sport 2009. 4. 3. 21:45요즘 디트로이트
LLLWLLLWWLL
동부지구 7th
쉬드는 테크니컬 파울로 서스펜션이나 당하고 ㅋㅋㅋㅋ.....................웃을 일이 아닌데-_-
어제 간만에 느바랑 므르브 오피셜 사이트 가서 경기결과도 좀 보고 그랬는데 앤써 관련해서 '내년시즌, 벤치나 데우느니 은퇴를 하겠어' 뭐 이런 기사가 있길래 참......벤치워머나 하고 있는건 자존심이 상하는게 팬심이지만 그의 플레이를 더이상 볼 수 없다는 건 너무 가슴 아프니까/ 결론은 디트로이트가 올시즌 우승반지를<-
아이버슨은 등 부상으로 16경기를 쉬고 나서 지난 주말 돌아왔고, 마이클 커리 감독은 지난 세게임 동안 그를 벤치에서 쉬게 했다.
아이버슨은 18분 남짓 뛰었던 화요일 클리블랜드와의 경기 후에 그의 출전시간에 대해 불만을 털어놓았다. 수요일에 있었던 네츠와의 경기에서도 그는 17분을 뛰었고 팀은 111-98로 배패했다. 그는 자신의 새로운 역할이 마음에 들지 않는다는 것을 인정했다.
"나는 예전에 한번도 해본 적 없는 포지션에 놓여있다," 아이버슨이 말했다. "그것은 내가 생각했던 것보다 훨씬 어렵다. 등 부상 이후, 나는 경기초반 벤치에 앉아 있어야만 했고, 중간에 들어갔다가도, 다시 나와야만 했다. 이런식으로 플레이 하는 것은 매우 힘들다. 벤치에 앉아 있다가 나와서도 유능한 플레이를 하는 선수들에게 경의를 표한다. 나에게는 힘든 일이며, 그것 때문에 어려움을 겪고 있다."
시즌 초에 천시 빌럽스와 트레이드 된 아이버슨은 다음 시즌에 벤치 멤버로 남는 것을 받아들일 수 없다고 말했다.
"또다시 이런 일이 벌어지기 전에 난 은퇴할 거다," 아이버슨은 말했다. "이런 식으로는 훌륭한 경기를 해낼 수 없다. 나는 이런것에 익숙치 않다. 심적으로나 육체적으로 힘든 일이다. 경기를 뛰면 역할을 해내야 하는데 지금으로선 그게 안 된다. 그건 내 잘못이다. 나는 변화를 극복할 수 있어야만 하고 내 역할을 수행해야 한다. 난 방법을 찾아야만 한다. 최상의 컨디션이 아닌 것이 더욱 일을 어렵게 만든다. 당신이 봐도 내가 최상이 아니란 걸 알 수 있을 것이다."
(...)
"내 건강상 문제를 변명거리로 삼는 일은 없을 것이다. 나는 그런식으로 변명하지 않는다. 내 몸이 완전히 정상으로 보이진 않겠지만, 경기에 나갈 수 있다면 나에겐 그걸로 충분하다."
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP)
Apr 1 2009 11:50PM--------------
댓글중에 f**k that curry 뭐 이런것도 봤고 LB랑 재결합하러 샬럿으로 가라는 것도 봤지만- 우리 코치 어딨냐며 찾던 때가 그립긴 하지- 지금으로서 딱히 해결책이 없는게 앤써가 정상적인 플레이를 하기엔 충분히 정상이 아니라는 게 사실이니까. 코트에 설 수 있으면 충분하다고 말하는 앤써는 너무 그 다워서 또 할 말이 없고. 아무튼 은퇴 얘기가 앤써 입에서 나온 건 전혀 놀랍지 않지만 사태를 이렇게까지 만든 커리가 더 놀라울 뿐이다.
좀 전에 앤써를 까는 글을 하나 읽었더니 또 심기가 불편하고 ㅋㅋㅋ 안 그래도 경기 할 때마다 매번 동료한테 패스를 잘 해주는지 자기가 공을 계속 지배하려고 하진 않는지 슛을 막 쏴대진 않는지 체크하고 또 체크하는 나라니까. 자기만 생각한다는 건 모르는 사람들이 하는 말이지. 그의 속마음은 그런게 아니라구.
"How many minutes did I play? It seemed way, way, way less than that. Eighteen minutes? Come on, man. I can play 18 minutes with my eyes closed and with a 100-pound truck on my back. It's a bad feeling, man. I'm wondering what they rushed me back for? For that?"
사실 디트로 갈 때부터 좀 불안하긴 했다. 빅샷이랑 트레이드 됐다고 빅샷의 역할을 맡게 될거란 생각은 애초에 없었고. 이미 디트로이트도 그때의 모습과는 많이 달라졌으니까 우승은 좀 힘들지 않을까 하는게 제일 컸을지도.
지금 나에게 앤써의 운명은 처음부터 정해져 있던 것처럼 보인다. 무관의 제왕, 이제 머지 않았다.
Iverson: "I'll retire before I do this again."
Apr 2, 2009
Posted by Rob Peterson
Does Allen Iverson have seven games left in his NBA career?
Layne Murdoch/Getty Images/NBAE
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- General Douglas MacArthur said "old soldiers never die; they just fade away."
MacArthur also said, "I shall return."
On Wednesday, after a dispiriting 111-98 loss to the Nets in which he played only 17 minutes and 20 seconds and scored four points, Allen Iverson said won't do the latter if he feels his skills, his health and his playing time are doing the former.
Iverson, a free agent after this season and one of the NBA's grittier warriors now in his 13th season, said he'd be willing to hang 'em up if he couldn't find the right situation for 2009-10.
"I won't do this again, in my career," Iverson said of his role as a role player with the Pistons. "I'll retire before I do this again. I would leave the game before I do this. I can't be effective like I know I can playing this way.
"It's just that I'm not used to it. Just not something I've had to do. Like I said, it's hard for me mentally and physically."
Iverson, who came to the Pistons in a Nov. 3 trade for Chauncey Billups, missed 16 games because of a back injury, has also been limited by a injury to his right shin, which he injured in his first scrimmage after returning from his back injury. The physical maladies are weighing on Iverson.
"I'm a competitor. I love to play," Iverson said. "There's nothing more that I like to do than play basketball. I love to play. I don't think I'm any good at playing basketball if I'm not happy. I don't think too many people would be.
"I'd rather be playing basketball and be happy at the same time. Basketball has always made me happy, it's always been a safe haven for me. It's always made me happy."
He did say he would be satisfied with his career -- as is -- if he did choose to retire.
"I'm with happy with my career and the things I've done in my career," Iverson said. "I'm blessed, I feel blessed to accomplish the things I have accomplished in my career and do the things I've done. I would feel fine if I had to [retire]."
But he wouldn't like it if he felt he had to make that choice.
"It's not something I want to do," Iverson said, "because I love playing the game so much and I want to be out there on the basketball court, if that's something I need to do, then so be it.
"At this point in my career, I just want to be somewhere where I can be happy. That's the most important thing to me. I don’t want to not want to go to work. When you're doing what you love to do, you're supposed to love doing it.
"And once I get to that point when I don't love it anymore, I won't do it."
On Wednesday, it sounded as if he were close.
"No, I'm not happy at all. I would be lying if I said I was," Iverson said. "But I'm trying to do everything I can to be happy other than basketball. This is just one phase of my life not my whole life.
"Basketball is not my whole life. I have other part of my life, other people in my life that I'm surrounded with that make me happy. This is just a stepping stone in my life."
About halfway through the fourth quarter of the game, a friend IMed me about Iverson.
"Have you even noticed AI playing tonight?"
Noticed, yes ... especially when a former NBA MVP and nine-time All-Star gets a little more than a quarter-hour of playing time, his lowest total of the season.
But, what he meant was "impact." A.I. once was a guy teams planned for, schemed for, accounted for at all times. He could change the course of a game as quickly as he could crossover helpless defenders.
But at 33-years-old and with 33,000 falls, bumps and bruises on his slight frame since he entered the NBA in 1996, A.I. is not that guy any longer, especially if he's not on the floor.
And with his contract expiring at the end of this season, Iverson's value to his current team and any potential future team has never been lower.
Maybe that's why after the game, Iverson sat on his chair in the visiting locker room at Izod Center with a faraway look in his eyes, looking at nothing in particular.
Or maybe he was just seeing his basketball life flash before his eyes.
MORE A.I.
After the game, Iverson answered questions in two parts. Most the Iverson quotes from the post above came before a smaller group of reporters in the second half of questioning. Iverson answered the questions below in the first, larger media scrum.
Reporter: Can you see a way to get this thing going?
Iverson: Do I see a way? My way probably don't matter.
Reporter: Do you get the sense that time's running out. There are only seven games left and the other teams are playing well?
Iverson: I definitely think that way. It seems as if we're not getting any better. And teams are elevating their games at the right time.
Reporter: How surprised are you that this team after you came here is .500 and is fighting for a playoff berth?
Iverson: Definitely surprised.
Reporter: What do you think has caused this to happen?
Iverson: I'm not getting into that. I can't win that battle.
Reporter: Have all the changes in this team made it difficult to establish the continuity you need to be a really good team...
Iverson: No, we've had a lot of time to bring things together. We had a lot of time, that's nowhere near any kind of excuse we can use."
Reporter: How much is the calf limiting you and how much you can do out on the court?
Iverson: It's my shin. I don't make excuses like that. If I'm out on the basketball court and playing, then that's enough for me. It's just tough. I'm in a predicament, a position that I've never been in in my entire life, especially in the NBA. It's hard. It's been harder for me, physically and mentally. When you have a back injury like I had, and sit out the whole first quarter and play a little bit in the second. You sit out for the last three to five minutes of the second quarter and then the whole halftime and another quarter after that. It's just tough to get going. I said the other day, I take my hat off to guys who come off the bench to get it done the way they do. It's just tough for me. I'm struggling with physically and mentally.
Reporter: You made a comment the other day about how this is a temporary situation. What did you mean by that?
Iverson: I won't do this again, in my career. I'll retire before I do this again. I would leave the game before I do this. I can't be effective like I know I can playing this way. It's just that I'm not used to it. Just not something I've had to do. Like I said, it's hard for me mentally and physically.
Reporter: So, on a positive note, what can you say about guys coming off the bench?
Iverson: Like I said. I take my hat off to the guys that can do it. And some guys get used to it. They've done it before. Like I said, I've been playing basketball since I was eight-years-old, and I never had to do it. At 33-years-old, to have to adjust to something like that it's kind of tough. That's something I'm dealing with as far as my rhythm, my timing and like I said, the mental part of that.
Reporter: Would it be 100 percent physically? You don't want to make any excuses, but that's limiting you?
Iverson: I'm not going to make any excuse as far as my health. If I can go out there and get on a basketball court, I should be able to get it done. And I'm not, that's nobody's fault but mine. I point the responsibility at me. The situation I'm put in and I have to overcome the adversity of doing what I have to do. I'm a professional. And I have to find a way to get it done, somehow, someway. Whatever it takes. Anybody that knows me, my teammates, my fans, the people that watch me play, know that I'm not 100 percent. It makes it a little bit harder to do it.
Reporter: Your shin, when did you hurt it?
Iverson: The first day I came back, the first day I scrimmaged. Arnie [Kander, the Pistons strength and conditioning coach] was saying it was because not playing that long and putting that much pressure on it. The next day, it seemed as if everything was hurting except my back. It's just not playing for a while."
Apr 2, 2009 12:33 AM EDT
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Chris McCosky
Commentary: Allen Iverson's only concern is himself
NEWARK, N.J. -- It was a bizarre scene in the Pistons' locker room Tuesday night following another fourth-quarter meltdown and the subsequent 79-73 loss in Cleveland.
Rasheed Wallace, who picked up his 16th technical foul and will be suspended for Wednesday's game against the Nets, sat silent in front of his locker, though a combustible mixture of frustration, anger and resentment was roiling inside of him.
Wallace said referee Bennie Adams gave LeBron James the benefit of what Wallace calls a "stupid-star call," but he also knows that in picking up the technical foul, he put his team in a bad position for Wednesday's game.
"That's what you get for speaking the truth," he said, a PG-13 version of his actual quote.
At least his frustration was somewhat team-related. That wasn't the case on the other side of the room, where Allen Iverson, without being prompted, launched into another self-centered rant about his limited playing time.
Here's what Iverson said:
"How many minutes did I play? It seemed way, way, way less than that. Eighteen minutes? Come on, man. I can play 18 minutes with my eyes closed and with a 100-pound truck on my back. It's a bad feeling, man. I'm wondering what they rushed me back for? For that?"
"It's a bad time for me mentally."
There are so many things wrong about what he said, the least of them being the 100-pound truck. What is that, a Tonka toy?
Rushed him back? He left the team Feb. 26. Hardly anybody saw him again until last week. He didn't do one single basketball-related exercise for a month. So he comes back, clearly rusty, clearly not in game shape, and he complains about playing 18 minutes on the front end of a back-to-back.
Unbelievable. Then he has the audacity to follow-up his rant by saying he doesn't want to vent, that he's trying to stay positive and focus on the big picture. The statement loses credibility when it comes after he's already vented.
Iverson keeps saying things like, "because of who I am," and, "a person with my resume and all the things I've done." The issue isn't what he's done in the past, it's what he's done as a Piston, and that has been not much.
The sooner he realizes that he's not the same guy, that he's 33 and out of shape, the better off he will be. He didn't play horribly Tuesday, but he did what he's done pretty much all year -- make critical mistakes at critical times.
He triggered an 11-2 run in the fourth, hitting three shots and setting up another score. But that was the extent of his positive play.
The possession after he scored to put the Pistons up 69-67, he made a mistake that contributed to James' pivotal three-point play. Will Bynum was running the offense and the play was designed for Iverson to get the ball off what they call a zipper cut, where he cuts from the baseline up the middle of the lane toward the top of the key.
Iverson didn't cut hard enough to get separation from the defender and Bynum couldn't make the pass. Instead of working to get open, Iverson just stopped. Wallace was the second option for Bynum and he was being a statue, as well.
They hung Bynum out to dry and James poked the ball away from him and raced in for the bucket and foul. The Pistons never recovered from that.
How many times is Iverson going to dribble into a crowd and either fall down or pass the ball wildly out of bounds? How many free throws is he going to miss? How many different ways can the Pistons junk up their defense to protect him?
For him to complain about his minutes afterward was truly a window into his character.
And here's another troubling part: His minutes aren't ever going to be what he wants. He's not going to play 35-plus minutes for this team. He doesn't deserve them and the Pistons sure don't need to put him out there to campaign for his next contract.
So what do they do? Let him go home and rest up for next season or deal with what could be a daily distraction for the next eight games? I vote the former.
"I can play 18 minutes with my eyes closed and a 100-pound truck on my back. I'm wondering what the rush was to get me back. It's a bad time for me mentally. I'm just trying to get through it without starting a whole bunch of nonsense. I'm looking at the big picture, if I vent my frustrations, then it's on. Being who I am, fingers are going to be pointed at me. People are going to make a big deal out of it. I'm just trying to laugh as much as I can and stop from crying." -- Allen Iverson, frustrated with his playing time while coming off the bench in two games since returning from a back injury to rejoin Detroit.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=nba&id=4032470
Best move for unhappy AI may be reunion with old adversary
By David Aldridge, TNT analyst
Posted Apr 2 2009 1:38PM
There's only one place for Allen Iverson to go when this nightmare of a season ends for both he and the Detroit Pistons.
No one with the slightest bit of knowledge about Iverson and his pride can be surprised that he's chafing at coming off the bench, that he can't accept any notion that he's no longer worthy of starter's minutes -- that he is so repulsed by the idea that he'd retire before agreeing to do it again, as NBA.com's Rob Peterson disclosed after seeing AI in New Jersey Wednesday.
It doesn't matter that the Pistons are a veteran team that's won the championship Iverson says he craves, and might still be able to conjure up another run next season with a couple roster tweaks. It doesn't matter that Rip Hamilton is proud, too, and has carried water for the franchise a lot longer than Iverson. Nor does it matter that the Pistons' commitment to second-year guard Rodney Stuckey is unbending, or that backup point Will Bynum has played more effectively of late.
Iverson doesn't care about that. He couldn't have played 13 NBA seasons otherwise.
The problems with the Pistons
You think a shrinking violet could throw his alleged 5-foot-10, 160-pound frame around for this long, in this league, without a supreme arrogance? Without the mental certainty that, come hell or high water, he could score on any player, any defense, any time, anywhere? You take that away from Iverson and he's finished.
Still, Hamilton's earned a lot of stripes in the Pistons' locker room, and when Pistons coach Michael Curry chose to keep Hamilton coming off the bench following a groin injury, he nearly lost his entire team. It didn't matter that Hamilton actually played well with the second unit.
Curry tried playing Iverson, Hamilton and Stuckey together, with Tayshaun Prince moving to power forward. That only resulted in Prince getting banged up and the Pistons getting bludgeoned on the glass. Amir Johnson and Kwame Brown didn't step up, and Antonio McDyess, shipped to Denver in the Chauncey Billups trade, was gone for a month before he could re-sign with Detroit.
"I thought Stuckey at the one, with him and Rip in the backcourt, could work well," Curry said last week. "Maybe if we had Dice during that stretch things could have worked better. But Stuckey was probably playing the best basketball of the three at the time. The thing is not letting it be personal. I have to make the best basketball decision."
But it is impossible for it not to be personal with Iverson, as Curry learned when he told AI he would be the one coming off the bench.
"That discussion was hard for him," Curry said. "It was just as hard to have that discussion with Rip. They've both been successful in this league."
Detroit's veterans are as tight a group as I've ever been around. Their belief in one another is ironclad. That's why trading Billups, the leader of the pack, had such a shattering effect. And when Hamilton was benched, the feeling among them was clear: That ain't right.
Iverson is still not budging in his beliefs.
"I would leave the game before I do this," Iverson said after playing just 17 minutes in New Jersey. "I can't be effective like I know I can, playing this way."
A place for The Answer
And so the gamble that Joe Dumars took, that a hungry Iverson could mesh with his aging vets and jerry-rig their way to contention in the East has failed. But the Pistons will move on. Come July 1, Iverson's $20.8 million will come off Detroit's books, and Dumars can promptly drop an offer sheet on Utah's Paul Millsap or New York's David Lee. Either way, Dumars wins. If Utah matches a sheet on Milsap, it would be far less likely to re-sign Carlos Boozer, another potential Detroit target. If New York matches a sheet on Lee, its plans to be a 2010 player will be severely compromised, eliminating a potential Detroit rival should Dumars decide to roll over his cap room until then.
And Iverson? He can go to the one place that would welcome his 20-25 points a night with open arms, a defensive-heavy team that needs some pop, and could make a starting spot available, with a coach that knows him better than anyone.
And that's ... Charlotte.
AI and LB, together again.
David, are you nuts? Larry Brown and Iverson feuded like a sack of wet cats in Philly. Brown said, 'He goes or I go.' Iverson said, 'I can't play for this man.' They also had other words about each other, most of which can't be printed here.
All true. And irrelevant.
Both Iverson and Brown are at different points in their lives than they were seven years ago, when Brown left the 76ers to take the Pistons' job. Brown is 68. If Charlotte isn't his last coaching stop, he can see it from there. There have been no long-term projects with Brown, and there certainly isn't one now. It's about winning as much as possible as soon as possible. He's got the Bobcats at the edge of the Eastern Conference playoff race, but Charlotte may come up a little short. With a healthy, committed Iverson next season, Charlotte becomes a factor. The more you roll it around in your noggin, the more you realize that Charlotte may be the only place AI can land next year.
At 33, Iverson's days as an eight-figure earner are over. The teams that will have that kind of cap room (Memphis, Sacramento, Oklahoma City) have no intention of spending it on him, if they spend it at all. The real contenders -- Cleveland, Boston, and the Lakers -- don't need to take the gamble of bringing AI aboard. San Antonio, Utah and New Orleans have lethal primary ballhandlers that don't need to share the rock. Iverson wouldn't go the mediocre route in Golden State, Phoenix or Dallas. He'd be a bad fit in Houston with Yao Ming, and he's too small to pair with Dwyane Wade in Miami.
Orlando? The Magic has the right mix surrounding Dwight Howard, and is grooming Courtney Lee at the two. Besides, general manager Otis Smith is a no-drama kind of executive. Portland's looking for a pure point guard, not a gunner.
Philly, Detroit and Denver are obviously out. So is Indiana; there's mutual dislike between Iverson and Pacers fans, dating to a couple of ugly incidents involving epithets tossed Iverson's way when he was in Philly. Larry Bird did tell me many years ago he'd love to have a competitor like AI on his team, but it won't happen.
Milwaukee? Minnesota? No.
Atlanta and Washington both have budget issues (the Hawks have to re-sign Marvin Williams and Mike Bibby; the Wizards are already knee-deep into the luxury tax) that would preclude signing Iverson, even if they wanted to.
New York? Chicago? The Clippers? You could make a case that Iverson could help each team, for different reasons, but the Knicks and Bulls are hoping to be major players in 2010, and it's doubtful Iverson would agree to be a one-year rental. The Clippers may be a train wreck, but they have a promising two in Eric Gordon, and until they move Baron Davis, there's no room in the backcourt.
You can make an argument for New Jersey -- if the Nets have a deal for Vince Carter in their back pocket. Devin Harris is big enough to guard twos, Iverson would be close enough to the New York market and Lord knows the Nets desperately need a draw at the gate. Toronto may have an opening if the Raptors don't get Anthony Parker and Joey Graham re-signed, and the Raptors need to add as much talent around Chris Bosh as possible. But I think both are longshots even if there was real interest.
Trust me. Charlotte makes the most sense.
Why this might just work
The Bobcats have gotten rid of most of their underachieving youngsters, and they're closer to being good than you may believe. They've swept the Lakers this season and should have taken the Celtics on Wednesday in Boston. They now have a veteran core, with Raja Bell, Boris Diaw, Vlad Radmanovic, DeSagana Diop and Juwan Howard all joining Emeka Okafor and Gerald Wallace this season. But other than Radmanovic and Wallace, none of these guys is a scorer. Diaw could be, but he's proven he's more comfortable facilitating others. D.J. Augustin is the future at the point, but have you known Brown to be the patient type at that position?
Bell is precisely the kind of two guard -- one who can make open shots, but whose forte is defense, and who is big enough to guard the other team's best backcourt scorer -- that plays best with Iverson.
Charlotte -- five hours down the road from Iverson's hometown, Newport News, Va. - -is 29th in the league in scoring and 19th in free-throw attempts. Iverson is still averaging 17.7 points this season and more than six free throws per game, which would put him just behind Wallace for the team lead. And only a recent uptick in attendance has Charlotte ranking 26th in average gate. Bob Johnson still needs someone to sell tickets in his beautiful new building.
More than the statistics, Iverson makes sense in Charlotte for the very reason so many others would say he doesn't -- his history with Brown. Iverson knows how Brown pushes his buttons, but he also knows Brown is the best coach he's ever played for. Brown knows that dealing with Iverson is a handful for a coach, but he's already done it. And he also knows no one wants to win more; changing the culture of losing in Charlotte has been one of Brown's toughest problems.
For all the times they were at each other's throats, the one memory that has always stood out to me came right after the 2001 All-Star game, in D.C., when Brown was coaching the East squad. Iverson and Stephon Marbury led a furious comeback in the fourth quarter, the East won in the final seconds and Iverson got the MVP award. And afterward, Iverson would only do interviews if Brown was at his side.
"Where my coach at?," Iverson said, over and over, until Brown came by.
Brown is Iverson's coach. Iverson is Brown's best chance to go out a winner. One of the few people with the gravitas to handle both of their immense egos and pride just happens to be the managing member of basketball operations for the Bobcats, Michael Jordan.
In Philly, Pat Croce was the boss, just tough and crazy enough to keep Iverson and Brown together for six years. But Croce didn't have the ultimate hammer. "You see this hand?" Croce asked me in 1996. "It's naked, David. And I want a ring on it."
Guess who has six of those?
Mailing it in
Letters, we get letters. Well, actually, e-mails:
How come the Kings ended up in this mess? I know once Vlade left that was the end for Peja [Stojakovic] and Hedo [Turkoglu], but I just can't see what they're doing. For me personally I feel like KMart is overrated, on a quality team he'd be a role player, kinda like a Rip Hamilton. The team (is) struggling, I really like Spencer [Hawes] and JT (Jason Thompson), but losing guys like [John} Salmons just seems like a step backwards. If they're freeing up cash I have no idea who for. It's not like LeBron loves the cowbells.
-- Danny Williamson, Brighton, England
I'm not sure Danny said anything wrong here, other than calling Kevin Martin overrated; it's more that he's overpaid. What's happened in Sacramento is sad. The owners, the Maloof Brothers, haven't been immune to the economic downturn, and they're cutting costs at all costs; hence the trade-deadline fire sale. The Kings desperately need an injection of young, talented, cheap and exciting. Tyreke Evans would be perfect here.
I'm an avid Jazz fan since 1992 when I was just 6 years old, but lately I've taken quite a liking to Danny Granger's play and his demeanor on the court. I've read a few articles, but I would love to read an interview or a story from your perspective.
-- Rob Hennefer
I had the pleasure of sitting on the set of The Beat during All-Star Weekend in Phoenix with Danny Granger Sr., Danny's father. John Thompson had done a piece on the Granger family for TNT and we all watched it together. Danny Sr. raised his three children in a tough section of Metairie, La., and kept the drug dealers and gang bangers away from his family by sheer will and determination. Danny Jr. had the grades to go to Yale, but chose to seek a pro career in basketball. His brother is a musician and backup singer for Alicia Keys and his sister is an engineer. What a bunch of slackers those Grangers are.
While your article on Gilbert Arenas's control over the Wizards' future is correct in just about every way, it seems to me that you think that the franchise is going to spiral downward with Arenas at the point.
-- William Caverly
To the contrary; I think the Wizards will be back in the playoffs with a healthy Arenas next season. But they won't be a contender until Arenas makes the same commitment to defense that he does to offense.
Send your best wishes, comments and snark to daldridgetnt@gmail.com. Please include full name and city. E-mailers whose notes are chosen will win a brand new car! (Actually, they won't. No car. But they might be published.)
The Official Pistons.com Blog "True Blue Pistons"
by Keith Langlois
Posted Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Curry will handle Iverson with equanimity
Michael Curry broke into the consciousness of Pistons fans on the day he was introduced as their head coach last June, famously saying that the way to get a motivated team was to sit the players who weren't motivated. It was a great line and it spoke to the weight Curry puts on all the things that enabled his NBA career - hard work, selflessness, focus, teamwork.
But Curry is a realist, not a martinet. He understands the egos and the psyches of the modern athlete. So don't expect Curry to enter into a war of words with Allen Iverson after Iverson vented his frustrations - immediately upon saying he wasn't going to vent his frustrations - with coming off the bench and playing 18 minutes in Tuesday night's loss at Cleveland.
Here's what Iverson told reporters: "Eighteen minutes - c'mon, man. I can play 18 minutes with my eyes closed, with a 100-pound truck on my back. That's a bad feeling. I'm wondering what the rush was to get me back. I mean, for that?"
To which I say, "A 100-pound truck? Wow, those congressional demands for higher fuel standards have taken quick hold."
But I digress. The media watch today will be on Iverson and Curry. And I can spare them half of their burden. Because Curry isn't going to bite. When I asked Curry last summer how he'd respond when he had to yank a veteran because he didn't see the type of effort or execution he was demanding and the veteran snapped at him on his way to the bench, he said, in effect, he wouldn't.
Not then, at least. Not in the heat of the moment. Not with all eyes trained on the interplay and the potential great for a catastrophic escalation of an incident that otherwise would be likely to dry up and blow away. If it demanded attention, better to do it after an hour, or a night, of reflection and perspective.
Curry understands Iverson. He understands his enormous pride in his equally enormous achievement of building a remarkable NBA career on the spindly legs of a 165-pound frame. He understands that despite all the travails of the season, many of them springing from the attempt to bring out the best in Iverson without suffocating the best of his teammates, the Pistons' best shot at being a viable playoff contender includes Iverson being Iverson - and that the only way that happens is if Iverson finds his comfort zone, and fast, with a new role.
And that nothing he says for public consumption that essentially tells Iverson to like it or lump it is going to facilitate that transition. Eventually, by the way, it might come to that. If Iverson continues to resist the reality of being the sixth man, Curry will have to make a tough call, whatever that might entail, and move on for the best of the team.
But the prudent course for now is to cut Iverson a wide swath. Beyond the enormous pride driving him, Iverson is practically incapable of hiding his emotions. The only difference between Iverson and any other 13-year veteran suddenly moved to the bench for the first time is the absence of a filter on his emotions. Others would be better at swallowing and selling a story they don't believe. Iverson can't help himself; he's going to tell you what he thinks.
And Curry understands that about him, too. He knew Rip Hamilton was every bit as resistant to coming off the bench but better equipped diplomatically to handle it - which, in an objective final analysis, might have been a contributing factor to the decision to bring Hamilton off the bench first.
In the end, it's now on Curry's plate to make chicken salad out of chicken feathers. Iverson's angst can be turned in the Pistons' favor. On a cosmic level, Iverson's frustration is an opportunity for Curry to channel the energy from that level of caring - because if Iverson didn't care, or had thrown up his hands in resignation, that would be worse - into a positive force.
The challenge for any coach, a rookie coach especially, is to stay focused on the big picture and not let the complications - daily, unexpected and never-ending - distract that focus. The horizon for Curry has to be April18, when the playoffs open, and doing whatever he must between now and then to get the Pistons - his Pistons - to that point ready to play their best basketball of the season.
An hour, or a night, of reflection will give him the perspective he needs to move forward in the best manner possible, not for one player, but for the Detroit Pistons.