The Great Point Guard Myth

These players ARE NOT important!

The greatest lie the devil ever told wasn’t convincing the world that he didn’t exist. No, no, no, Lucifer’s best fib was convincing anyone with a higher basketball knowledge in today’s world that guards, in particular point guards, are important to winning a NBA title. You can’t turn on ESPN, TV or radio without hearing talking heads say the same thing over and over again about the NBA. “It’s a point guard driven league.” “Point guard play is so key this time of year.” “You gotta get point great guard play or it’s over.” Every time I hear this I want to punch my laptop.

The NBA is the easiest league to figure out. That’s why it’s not as popular as the NFL. The flexibility and unpredictably of the NFL is what makes it great. Those things, flexibility and unpredictably, make it a better sport to bet on. Anything can happen. The Houston Texans and Atlanta Falcons are the ultimate case study. In 2012, both were a combined 24-7, won their divisions AND a playoff game. One year later, 8-26 and now at the top of the NFL Draft!

Teams like Philly and Kansas City are the same in reverse. Loser in 2012, but winners in 2013. The players contracts aren’t guaranteed in the NFL so players can come and go almost exclusively on their production level. Look at someone like Albert Haysworth in the NFL and Amar’e Stoudemire in the NBA. Both 32 years old. (Haysworth now Stoudemire in November) Both have been shot years ago athletically but because Haysworth was in the NFL he was cut and hasn’t even sniffed a field since 2011, while Stoudemire is still sucking the life out of the New York Knicks. (Cut to Knicks fans punching their laptops and Stoudemire putting on a ski mask to pick up his check while Gilbert Arenas drives the getaway car.) If the NFL was like the NBA, Haysworth would STILL HAVE TWO MORE SEASONS OF CHECKS COMING TO HIM. (RE-READ THAT SENTENCE!)

You can rebuild and retool on the fly in the NFL. Every year you can start over and do it again. Every team has a REAL SHOT! You don’t even have to have a first round pick to find a star in the NFL. Look at the Seattle Seahawks. Russell Wilson was a third round pick. You rarely, and I mean RARELY, get a great player outside of the top ten in the NBA Draft, much least the second round. That’s the NFL’s greatest advantage over the NBA. Philly football fans can honestly believe in their team’s chances to win a Super Bowl this season. If you’re a Philly basketball fan and you think the Sixers are going to win the NBA, you need to run outside and check the date on a newspaper because you’ve traveled back in time to 1982.

Going into this NBA season we could identify roughly five teams with a REAL chance at the title (Miami, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Chicago, and Indiana) and ten teams with the same chances as my six-year old son’s youth summer camp team. (LA Lakers, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Boston, Sacramento, Utah, Orlando, New Orleans, Cleveland and Minnesota.) There are only five guys on the court for each team at one time so naturally the eye test works so much easier in the NBA than the NFL.

Is this man on your team? If not, chances are your team WON'T win it all.

I can’t tell you who the best lineman is in the NFL. I just look at whoever gets voted All-Pro and say “Seems right to me.” I don’t need a NBA expert to tell me LeBron James is the best player. You could bring Martians to Earth with no knowledge of the game of basketball, show them the first half of a Miami game, tell them what numbers are, then ask which player was the best and they’d say the tall one in the number six jersey.

Because the number of players is so small, you could swap LeBron in for the following teams and they have a legit chance to winning the title this season; Clippers, Thunder, Bulls, Portland, Houston, Memphis, Washington, Spurs, and Pacers.You could put James on ANY team they’d all win at least 50 games and make the playoffs. Put Peyton Manning on the Jags and the Jags are STILL gonna suck. Look at how the same roster fell apart after he left Cleveland that first season. This isn’t a best point guard wins league, it’s a best PLAYER wins league. The only time the best point guard wins the title is if the best player just HAPPENS to be a point guard. Lets look at the past champions, their starting point guard and see when best point guard wins the title.

2013-12 Heat: The Immortal Mario Chalmers.

2011 Mavs: Jason “I Became A Coach Two Years Later” Kidd.

2009-10 Lakers: Derek “Never Made an All-Star, All-Anything, NBA Team” Fisher

2008 Celtics: Rajon “At The Time I was the weak link” Rondo

2007 Spurs: Tony “Only One All-Star, not as good as I am now” Parker

2006 Heat: Jason “White Chocolate/Flash In Pan” Williams

2005 Spurs: Tony “Not Good Yet” Parker

2004 Pistons: Chauncey “You Didn’t Know I Was An All-Star Yet” Billups

2003 Spurs: Tony “Even Worst” Parker

2002-00 Lakers: Derek “As Good As I’ll Get And STILL Never Be An All-Star” Fisher

1999 Spurs: Avery “The only individual award I’ll win is Coach Of the Year” Johnson

1998-96 Bulls: Ron “Guess What? I never made an All-Star Either” Harper

1995-94 Rockets: Kenny “More famous for being Barkley’s second banana” Smith

1993-91 Bulls: John “Never made an All-Star” Paxton

1990-89 Pistons: Isiah "FINALLY" Thomas

Magic and Isiah. Last of the great point guards to win NBA Championship

I had to go ALLLL the way back to 1990 for the last “best point guard in the league” NBA title. (And Isiah being the best is debatable cause Magic was still Magic so the best point guard may have not even WON the title those seasons.) And the last best player being a point guard title was the 1988 Lakers with Magic. Having a great point guard is about as important as having a “great” pinky toe. You technically need one, but you’ll live without it.

There is one way to win a title. Have one of the five best players in the league at the time, PLUS at least one active “I can make or made” an All-Star teammate. Jordan was the best but had Pippen. Shaq was the best but had Kobe. Kobe was the best but had Pau. LeBron is the best, but has Wade & Bosh.

 

Serious how the hell did the Mavs win the 2011 title?

Only the 1994 Houston Rockets had the best player do it solo. The 2004 Detroit Pistons were aliens. (Hindsight shows us that Detroit had four All-Stars in Billups, Hamilton, Wallace Ben and Rasheed both that is. But they still should not have been able to win.) And the 2011 Dallas Mavericks themselves still can’t believe they won. 

They didn’t have the best player or an active All-Star sidekick. Dirk was an All-Star but wasn’t even a top five in the league guy at the time. I still have NO clue how they won that title over Miami. You can’t say 2008 Celtics didn't have a top five guy because KG finished second in the MVP so he was clearly one of the five best players.

This isn’t rocket science. This is as easy as it gets. We don’t need to waste time talking about point guard play. All you need from your point guard is a guy who can just keep it together. Someone who doesn’t make a huge mistake in the huge moment. You don’t need the best point guard. You just need the best guy, regardless of position. That “best point guard” moniker has gotten Chris Paul NO TITLES. Derrick Rose, NO TITLE. Steve Nash, NO TITLES. Jason Kidd, NO TITLE in his prime. Gary Payton NO TITLE in his prime.

Want to know if your team is going to win the title? Ask yourself two simple questions. “Does my team have the best player?” “Does my team have one of the five best players?” If the answer to either or both was no, then no. If the answer to one or both was yes, then maybe. And maybe is a hell of a lot better than no.

The Storm Is Coming...

It was all good just a week ago... Dwight Howard with Jim Buss when he joined the team last summer

How long has it been? Really think about it. How long has it been since the Los Angeles Lakers have truly looked lost? As in, there is no real, clear vision of what the future holds for the team. Now, I'm always a "glass half-full" guy when it comes to my Lakers because I was so in denial last season that I wrote this. And this. Being only 26 years old, I’ve only really known the Lakers one way: winners. I "kinda" remember the early 90’s Lakers teams middling their way through seasons right before and after Magic Johnson retired. (LA even managed to get to the NBA Finals in 1991 acting as a "sacrificial lamb" for Michael Jordan as he started his road to becoming the greatest player of all time. It's the reason why my first memories of Mike aren’t too fond.)

At least back then the team had nice young and exciting pieces like Nick Van Exel, Cedric Ceballos and Eddie Jones. (Right now, the team is a basic who's who of old overpaid All-Stars and second rounders that should be on the bench... in the D-League!) Even with the young talent those teams had, it was the trust in the front office that truly comforted Lakers fans. We had the best front office. We had the Lakers front office and the trust in them to make all the right basketball decisions. Dr. Jerry Buss and Jerry West had proven over the years that they could make all the right moves to make the team championship contenders again and again. It wasn’t long after those middle of the road seasons that LA acquired Shaquille O’Neal in free agency and made a draft day trade for a high schooler named Kobe Bryant. They were smart enough not to waste their (Kobe and Shaq’s that is) talents with the wrong coach, so they quickly hired Phil Jackson and the rest is history. Hell, they were even smart enough to hire Phil again after his second retirement, but if you’re wondering what happened the third time around I can tell you that it’s all about the new ownership.

Glory days of Shaq and Kobe.

Once Dr. Buss stepped away from the day-to-day operation of the Lakers, things seem to have gotten worse and worse each season. Lately, the basketball decisions in LA are about as smart as they would be if you were having Stevie Wonder fix a Japanese car from the future. It’s just a job you need sight for and Jim Buss doesn’t have the sight to run a basketball team. If he did, the following three things would have never happened.

 

I still don't know why Phil isn't back yet.

One, he would have rehired the greatest coach in the history of the sport when he was asking to come back. That’s like being a movie producer and having Martin Scorsese interested in taking over your picture, but you decide to hire M. Night Shyamalan instead. The two best players on the team (One that had one you five titles (Kobe) and one (Dwight) that was an impending free agent no less.) wanted you to hire Phil Jackson. The fans wanted you to hire Phil Jackson. Phil Jackson wanted you to hire Phil Jackson! It seemed like the Lakers were headed for a breakaway slam-dunk to "win the game" when they quickly fired Mike Brown but they instead pulled up for a half-court Hail Mary three pointer… at the opposite basket… when they hired Mike D’Antoni over Jackson. Buss let his ego get in the way of making the correct basketball decision.  (But hey, if the one dude I was “suppose” to hire was treated like a son by my father and I'm talking treated like a “the son I wish I had” son and if same said dude was boning my sister, I’d be little anxious about hiring dude too. Talk about awkward Thanksgivings.)

Two, “Lil” Buss should have traded Dwight Howard on the trade deadline. This is the new NBA, so if a superstar player doesn’t want to sign an extension and wants to hit the market then trade them ASAP. (Cut to: Cleveland fans kicking the screen.) The money you can get paid is set in stone. The days of "playing the field" so you can "drive up" the price are over. (At least for the “max level” guys. The lower and middle of the road guys can still get teams to bid and overpay them. Cut to: Gerald Wallace laughing and counting money.) The team that you’re heading into free agency with always has an edge nowadays because they can pay you more than any team you’d look to go to. So, with that in mind, why EVER let Dwight hit free agency?

Three, he should have never let this happen:

Yeah, I saw that yesterday morning on my way to breakfast. (Needless to say it ruined my whole morning.) LA didn’t put up “Stay KB8” banners when Kobe Bryant was a free agent. And if they did, he had at least won titles in LA for God’s sake. They didn’t do it with Shaq and he was coming off one of his best seasons and NOT back surgery. Dwight Howard had one “okay” season and he gets a billboard all over the building and all throughout the city?! Dwight Howard?! The Lakers don’t beg players to come here. Players want to be Lakers. Players want to play in LA. But with the flux in front office leadership, players aren’t so hot on LA anymore. And that’s the problem.

Unlike most Lakers fans, I’m not mad at Dwight Howard. Shocking, I know. You see, I think he actually made the right basketball decision and I’m a total supporter of players making the best decision for themselves. I’m mad at the Lakers for not doing with Dwight what Orlando had the good sense to do; trade him. Grant it, you were never going to get equal value back, because much like the one-eyed man is king in the land of the blind, Howard is the “king” of the big men in the new small ball NBA. I’m also not one of those fans that’s going to say, “dude can’t ball". Howard did comeback way sooner from surgery than he was suppose to and even with a bad back and nagging shoulder issue he still managed to lead the league in rebounds. I lived in Orlando for 3 years and I know firsthand what he can do when he's focused, happy and healthy. (Before you get upset and say "I would've rather had Andrew Bynum", google what Philly got out of him this season…. I’ll wait… oh yeah that’s right, HE NEVER PLAYED!)

Look, even with Howard LA barely made the playoffs and much of the heavy lifting was done by Kobe before he was ran into the ground by D’Antoni, injured. Without Kobe, and with Dwight still being misused under D’Antoni, who’s to say LA wouldn’t have been even worse off. To play devil's advocate farther, you could make a real argument that, A) Howard peaked 3 or 4 seasons ago, B) he would never be able to handle the pressure of playing for a team with yearly title or bust expectations and C) he could possibly never recover that athleticism that made him such a dominant force. (Although that is the only reason I wanted him back. To see how he performs with a full off season’s rest and recovery from his surgery.)  So if you’re a fan of the team, relax but get ready. Must you forget the Lakers won titles BEFORE Howard, they won a title OVER Howard and they WILL win again. LA has a long list of problems and trust me, I get pretty far down that list before I get to “Dwight Howard”. The question isn't if LA will win again it's “when” but that could be a long time from now. With that said, Laker Nation I leave you with these immortal words from Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman.

The Unspoken Greatness of Tim Duncan

Tim Duncan...Greatness has never been so quite.

Once upon a time, someone asked me who I thought the best basketball player of this generation was. Who was the one player I’ll remember the most? Who was the player that I’ll proudly look back to and gloat that I was able to see? The easy answers would be players like Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. All of these guys great. All of these guys NBA Champions and NBA MVPs and NBA All-Stars and blah, blah, blah, but none can ever really be called the “best” player of their generation. Shaq was the most "dominant". On the nights when Shaq gave a f**k, no one, and I mean no one in the history of basketball, was stopping him. Part of it was skill, but a good chunk of it was Shaq hitting the physical lottery. No one is stopping 7’ 2” and 325 pounds when it’s engaged and motivated. Garnett was the most "intense." KG always gave a crap. Even on those hopeless T-Wolves teams in the early 00s he always gave 110% and played each game like it was Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Bryant was the most gifted and most fun to watch. He's the closest thing we will EVER see to Michael Jordan and enough can't be said for that. He runned-and-gunned his way to over 30,000 career points and has played at a 1^st Team All-NBA level for over 16 years. I can’t even begin to explain how hard that is to do.

Celtics fans really hate this picture for some strange reason

But again, none of these guys were the “best”. All except, Kobe where traded at least once. (Before LA hijacked Pau Gasol from Memphis, Kobe did everything but wear a “for sale” sign on the court.) Shaq was too busy rapping or being funny to truly care about basketball the way he should have. (Shaq is the GREATEST WASTE OF TALENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE NBA. Again, dude hit the physical lotto, but didn't do everything he could have done to be the best player ever. And that pisses me off. Shaq only made 3 All-NBA Defensive Teams and each was only 2nd team. He only won one MVP and had he gave a crap about making at least 70% of his free throws, he could have scored at least 2,500 more points. Shaq, you owe my Lakers at least 2 more titles and I say they should have waited at least 10 years to retire your jersey. AM I THE ONLY ONE THAT KNOWS YOU WERE A F***ING CELTIC!!! Ugh!!! Let me move on before I get madder.) Garnett wasn’t good enough to build around and had to go to Boston to win a ring and he may even be traded again after this season.

 

The Debate can go on for years. Kobe or Duncan?

I’m the world’s biggest Kobe fan, but I have to admit that there were a lot of years Kobe wasn’t the best teammate and/or, by all accounts anyway, the best person to be around. Trade talk not withstanding, Kobe had his troubles off the court (Lakers fans seem to forget about Colorado.) and was so un-coachable at one point in his career that Phil Jackson said "Screw it! I'm out!" (Do you think Phil Jackson ever thought about NOT coaching Michael Jordan during his prime?! How bad of a person was Kobe to have a coach give up on him during his prime?!) Only one player was good enough to truly build around. (As in, other players would have killed to play with him. And if they couldn't kill to play with him, they'd take less money to play with him.) Only one player NEVER, EVER, EVER had his team think, even for a millisecond, of trading him. Only one player has won 70% of his games. Only one player has won at least 50 games  every year. (Strike shorten season of 1999 not withstanding.) That player is Tim Duncan.  Even his nickname is boring. The Big Fundamental?

We, basketball and sports fans in general really, have romanced over the “flashy” athlete. Over the ESPN SportsCenter highlight warriors like T-Mac (Who looks like he’s going to ride Duncan’s coattail to his first title. Feel free to run outside and scream at the thought of that like I just did.) and Vince Carter. But we get mad when a guy complains about not making enough money. We think it’s the end of the world when a guy beats his wife or girlfriend. We can’t stop “killing” a guy when he has a “me” first attitude or when a superstar throws his teammates under the bus. We "say" we just want our athletes to play hard, always give a crap, make their teammates better, get better when it counts and not be a complete tool off the court. 

For years now Tim Duncan has done all that and MORE but what does he get? He gets called “boring”. Funny huh? Duncan does it right all the time and yet we don’t give him the props. We can "say" we like all that "good guy" stuff but we secretly like watching the car wreck. We love when a guy is a d-bag. We can't get enough of it when a guy gets the talking heads on sports radio or First Take and PTI going. Tim Duncan is like a mini van doing the speed limit, where as Kobe’s like a Ferrari doing 95 in a 55 zone. It’s just more fun watching the Ferrari, even if it’s gone off the road a time or two and could possibly kill us. In a week or so, Duncan has a chance to win his 5^th NBA title (Tied with Kobe and Derek Fisher for the most by an active player.) and his 4^th Finals MVP, some 13 years apart from this first Finals MVP. A feat only Kareem can lay claim to. 

Duncan and Shaq in one of their epic battles.

Sure, Duncan did have some good luck on his side. He’s had the same coach, a steady organization and a string of good teammates throughout the years. But that’s like early man beating his chest about all the great things they accomplished. It all starts with the sun homie. Tim Duncan gives life to the Spurs the same way the sun gives life to the planet and everything else falls in line. You can’t have ANYTHING WITHOUT THE SUN. (Extreme example I know, but I couldn’t think of anything else damnit so sue me.)

This very well could happen again.

As a Laker fan, I know all too well of the heartbreak Tim Duncan and the Spurs can bring. Duncan has at least two LA championships and the Spurs were the “harbingers of doom” again this season for the Lakers. (A four game sweep in round one of the playoffs.) So I’m sure when I post this, only a few people will read it because after all, it is Tim Duncan I’m talking about. I mean, who wants to read about Tim Duncan?  But when I look back on these last 15 years of basketball and I’m really honest with myself, there’s one player I’d start a team with. God love him,and he’s my favorite player ever, but it ain’t Kobe Bryant.