swish 2

4 May22005SWISH MAGAZINE

Letter from the Editor

Table of Contents04.05

Features

FANNED!Has the line between NBA players andfans been crossed forever?... Moneyand Media leave athletes wide open.

8

18

23 The “Paper” ClipsGood at business. Still working onbasketball... No one ever asked theClippers who they wanted to be. Nowthey want to be winners.

Raiders of the

Last DraftBuilding continuity in the NBA. Withthe draft, free agency and the pres-sure to win now, how can a teambuild a real team?

Still Standing

The Lifestyle

The Man Behind

The Name

Inside the Arena

Visions of Winning

The Slide Rule

Underestimated

&Underrated

Son-of-a-Gun

Heart & Soul

Collectors Corner

A Dog With a Bone

The Last Word

departments

6

12

14

16

17

21

22

26

27

28

30

31

Steve Kyler

Editor & Publisher Swish [email protected]

SWISHMAGAZINE

PUBLISHER & EDITOR IN CHIEF

Steve [email protected]

EXECUTIVE EDITORS

Bill [email protected]

Darren [email protected]

EDITORIAL STAFF

Jason Fleming, Darren Andrade,Bill Ingram, Steve Kyler

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Bill Ingram, Darren Andrade,Steve Kyler, Nathan Bishop, JasonFleming, Greg White, Eric Pincus

and Patrick Heusinger.

DESIGN & LAYOUT

Impact Graphic [email protected]

PHOTOS

Donnie Arnickwww.donniesport.comAmanda Mohammed

Jason FlemingSelect NBA Photos provided by

The LA Clippers &The Portland Trailblazers

PROMOTION AND MARKETING

Phil [email protected]

866.430.3640

ADVERTISING & SALES

[email protected]

CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONS

Subscriber [email protected]

SWISH Magazine

c\o Basketball News Services12157 W. Linebaugh Ave; Suite 329

Tampa FL 33626

May 2005 Volume 1 Issue 2

SWISH MAGZINE is a quarterlybasketball news publication, pro-duced by Basketball News Ser-vices. With more than 50 basket-ball writers and contributors inalmost every major basketballcity, Basketball News Servicesoffers year round coverage ofbasketball and the NBA. Formore information please visithttp://www.swishmagazine.com

WOW… That’s really all I can say about how well received SWISH#1 was. Thank you to all of the people that helped get SWISHinto the hands of the fans and media across the league. It cer-tainly made the decisions for this issue a lot easier.

Going forward, I want to reaffirm our commitment to bringingyou the best in high quality basketball news, interviews and insightfrom around the league. That’s our core and we plan to stick to it. Youtold us you liked it, and while we were flattered by all the compliments,we now plan to exceed the lofty expectations that the success of ourfirst issue inspired.

We encourage you to toss us some feedback ([email protected]).It’s your input, thoughts, ideas and suggestions that will shape the stories we pursueand the topics we discuss.

For SWISH #3, we will be looking to bring you more of the insight you’ll find insideSWISH#2, and a lot of focus on the offseason, including the draft and summer league.

In the coming months we will re-launch swishmagazine.com to feature more news,insight and back issues in PDF form for those that may have missed a story or a feature.

SWISH #3 will be out in the first week in October of 2005, and will remain 32 pages.SWISH #4 which we are projecting to be out in January of 2006 will see us grow to 48-pages and an additional feature as well as some exciting new departments.

We thank you for your support, and encourage you to share SWISH with friendsand family by sending them to http://www.swishmagazine.com/subscription to gettheir very own copy.


STILL STANDING Larry Hughes

Three WarriorsGet A SecondShot at GreatnessBill Ingram

Impatience has become a chronic diseasein the National Basketball Association. Teamsno longer want to take the time to draft ayoung player, give him time to mature, put aquality core group around him, and seewhere that lineup can take them over a pe-riod of years. Teams don’t want to committo a long-term vision. Instead they approachthe building process with a quick-fix mental-ity, which causes them to miss out on situa-tions that could have been extremely posi-tive for their organizations. This is certainlythe case for the Golden State Warriors, whoput together a strong core of players fourseasons ago and then gave up on them be-fore they really had a chance to get to knoweach other. The Warriors can look at theWashington Wizards and get an idea of whatmight have been.

Larry Hughes has finally arrived as a player.After being subjected to six different coachesin six seasons he has found a home, and theWizards couldn’t be happier with what the6’5” guard is bringing to the court. “His lead-ership and his quarterbacking of defensereally helps us,” explains Wizards head coachEddie Jordan. “That’s really the key in terms

of us being where we are. He sets the de-fense for us, calls out defensive schemes,whether it’s a zone or a trap or denying andpositioning everybody else, and obviously hissteals are a factor. At the same time, it’s areal comfort zone with Gilbert (Arenas). Gil-bert and Larry are like twins in a sense. Theyplay off of each other as well as any otherguard combo in the league.”

This really shouldn’t be a surprise, shouldit? After all, the Warriors had this same backcourt duo on their roster once upon a time.“A lot of people don’t realize that we didn’tactually play together,” explains Arenas.“Larry and Antawn (Jamison) started theseason; Antawn and I finished the season.By then Larry was only playing about eightminutes per game, so we didn’t actually getto play with each other.”

“The Warriors didn’t give us time to play,”Hughes said. “We didn’t play together. Ididn’t play with GA. He came in when I gothurt, and then I didn’t play anymore duringthe season. They didn’t give us enough timeto figure out how we wanted to play, thestyle of basketball we wanted to play. It’sreally a losing attitude out there.”

A losing attitude may have been part ofthe problem, but the Warriors’ own short-sightedness was probably as important afactor. They put three young stars togetherand failed to see the long-term potential, asArenas details. “We were young and every-body was fighting for minutes, playing time,money - now here we’re all grown up andwe know what we want. We want to win.”It also helps that the trio of former Warriorsare now playing for an organization thatwants to give them time to develop intosomething special.

“The organization believes in us,” explainsJamison. “We’re maturing a lot. We under-stand the game a lot better than we did atfirst. It’s all about winning. The three majordifferences are our relationship, our capabili-ties at this stage of our careers, and we’re alot more focused and realize what the bigpicture is. If they continue to keep us to-gether we can do great things in the future.”

“We’re ready to win,” says Hughes. “Wehad the opportunity to somewhat play witheach other, but we didn’t have the time. Iknow we are better players now, and that

definitely helps. We are at a point in our ca-reers where we want to win. We’ve scoreda lot of points and done different things, butwe haven’t made names for ourselves asfar as winning. That’s what it’s about in thisleague, being remembered as a winner.”

For the Wizards the future starts and endswith Hughes, who has finally found his com-fort zone. From his coach to the teammateshe has been re-united with, everyone seesthe change in Hughes. “He has gotten bet-ter at defending without gambling,” saysJordan. “Instead of over-committing, reach-ing and cheating his defensive routs as hedid a lot last year, he’s so much more disci-plined. He has stolen the ball more and de-veloped into a better one-on-one and helpdefender.”

“He’s grown up a lot,” notes Arenas.“He’s being a leader, and he’s calling us outwhen we don’t play well.”

Jamison sees it, too. “I think Larry is nowone of the smartest guys in the league onboth the offensive and the defensive end.He’s one of those guys who is such a leaderand puts so much pressure on opponents -when you have a guy who can make thatkind of difference on both sides of the courtit says a lot about the type of leader he is.”

Jordan sees a change in all three of hisstar players. “They felt that they had theexperience of playing together, getting theirnumbers, and getting their contracts, andlosing – it made life miserable. Winning wasthe key issue. They understand that theyhave to do things like sacrifice, share the ball,play better defense, and they’re a lot moremature. In this league talent wins, experi-ence wins, and toughness wins. Those threeguys are providing those things for us.”

The Washington Wizards are now benefit-ing from the Warriors’ lack of vision. Hugheshas evolved into an All-Star caliber player, andthe Wizards have just begun to reap the ben-efits of the faith they have placed in theiryoung star. “I’m 26 and I am right where Iwant to be,” says Hughes. “I’m in a situa-tion where we’re winning games. I feel com-fortable. I think that’s why things are work-ing out. I’ve had a chance to get comfort-able with the situation.” The WashingtonWizards are on the rise, and Larry Hughes isStill Standing.


Safe and Sound: Has the line between NBA playersand fans been crossed forever?Darren Andrade

THE BUZZER SOUNDS. An undersized 11-year old clutches a black marker in his righthand, the writing pad that came with it inhis left. A stream of basketball players filespast his outstretched arms. Some stop tosign but not his hero, who manages to ig-nore the kid’s plea for a scribble and quicklydisappears under the arch of the tunnel. Theboy is dejected, but hopeful that the nexttime will bear fruit. Then again, the fruit ittook to get that close with those seatsdoesn’t bear often. As he gets older he in-hales the sports section and – beside thebox scores - learns that Charles Barkley is“not a role model” and that Latrell Sprewellwill struggle to feed his family on $7M a year.Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady talk openlyabout giving up on their $12M a-year jobshe paid ninety-five dollars to see them per-form. He can’t relate, except to the game.But what happens when all the off-court con-fusion begins to cloud the game that the fanspay hard-earned money to see?

“Anytime a fan touches you, you have

the right to beat the hell out of him.” -

Charles Barkley, retired NBA player

What if when that 11-year old kid grew uphis detachment from the modern athletewas complete. What if his name was JohnGreen? That’s the fan accused of throwinghis beer at Indiana Pacers forward RonArtest, setting off last November’s brawlthat saw Pacers players and Detroit Pistonsfans duking it out in the stands at the Pal-ace of Auburn Hills. However slight youmight think that link could be, the point isthat this isn’t really about Indiana vs. De-troit. If you think that’s the problem youhaven’t been watching. It doesn’t makeGreen’s alleged actions any less idiotic but

the shocking events of our times are alwaysthe surface wounds, the real pain is muchdeeper. In this case it’s the growing discon-nect between NBA players and their fans.

“I think the thing that’s misleading is therelationship of the media and players,”says Toronto Raptors forward and 11-yearNBA veteran Jalen Rose. “A lot of timespeople that think just because somethingnegative was written in the paper or saidon TV that that’s actually what the normalfan thinks or believes and that’s so far fromthe truth. There are a lot more fans thanthe 20,000 that are at the game that rootfor a team or that root for a player. So thoseare the people [media] that I think give themisconception that it’s a bad relationship.

“I feel like the relationship is great be-

tween players and fans.”The spotlight that shines on NBA athletes

in 2005 is all encompassing. Their league isperhaps the greatest in the world when itcomes to creating stars and it has saddledthat formula to great success. Larger thanlife stars attract larger than life attention andthe media is only too anxious to dispatch itssoldiers to compete for a top story. The pro-liferation of the internet and the launch ofcountless 24-hour sports channels in NorthAmerica have left professional athletes wideopen. With hundreds of media outlets vyingfor the scoop, the line between fact and opin-ion can become ultra-thin and the pressureto pinch out a worthy exclusive is high.

“I think media exposure is big-time now,”says point guard Rod Strickland who hasplayed 17 NBA seasons with the micro-phones in his face. “It wasn’t like that whenI was coming out. That makes people morefamiliar with you and makes them a lot morecomfortable asking you for things.”

The more you see the more you want, butthe NBA basketball players shaped into cookie-cut commodities for you to swallow may notgo down as easily as they’ve been sold to you.

“I’ve had some stories, for sure,” saysStrickland. “I’ve been stalked. I had thatexperience early in my career. Somebodywas following me from city to city.

“(The NBA) can’t do anything about that.People can find out wherever you’re at.Once I found out about this person and I letthe NBA know, they were right on it. It didn’ttake long. To their credit, the league wason the ball and took care of that person.”

When talking about the NBA the line be-tween fans and athletes has been thin com-pared to most sports. By nature ofbasketball’s small surface and harmless pro-jectile, fans are allowed to be physically

Toronto Raptor Jalen Rose doesn’tthink there is any problem at all.

Mayw2005 9SWISH MAGAZINE

FEATUREcloser to the action. The players do not havehelmets obscuring their face and an over-kill of gear to adjust, remove and replaceand it is part of what creates the closenessbetween fan and player. Visibility. These aresome of the reasons why soccer is so popu-lar worldwide and basketball has fast be-come a similar phenomenon of sport.

In Europe and South America soccer isthe people’s game and is notorious for itspassionate followers. Players have beenshot at for not performing well in losses.Stand clearing brawls and swarming attackson players and officials are not relatively un-common. Recently, well-known Swedishreferee Anders Frisk was forced to retireafter a series of death threats (believed tobe sent by irate Chelsea soccer fans) fol-lowing an officiating controversy – his lat-est. While soccer does provide a wide sepa-ration between the first row and the hugeplaying field, with visible security on hand,the holes remain large enough for fan vio-lence to remain a serious concern for FIFAleague officials. Given the similarities in theset-up of the two sports it’s a wonder therehaven’t been more escalated incidents inNBA arenas. A testament to league secu-rity? A cultural difference? Or is the sportof soccer giving us a glimpse of where theNBA could be headed?

“Fans in China would never attack an ath-lete – I just can’t imagine that happening.”– Yao Ming, Houston Rockets Center

Consider that European soccer players havebeen making “superstar” incomes underthe spotlight for much longer than the pro-fessional basketball player. If the separationbetween fans and players has been influ-enced by the increase of salaries and me-dia coverage, then diehard soccer fans havehad much more time than their basketballcounterparts in America to witness the di-vide and more frustration to unleash. Justas in basketball the athletes are right at theirfingertips. They can jump into the stands

and be on you in a…“The reality is that our society and our

arenas exist based upon a social con-tract,” NBA Commissioner David Sterntold a news conference shortly after thedirty in Detroit. “Everyone knows that if20,000 fans decided togo on a rampage, we’dhave a serious problemon our hands, no matterwhat we did.”

“Yeah, it was a bad inci-dent in Detroit, a horribleincident,” says Rose. “ButI also think it was an iso-lated incident. As a player Idon’t mind fans cheering for their team andbooing Jalen Rose on the road or, if the team’snot playing well, booing us to get us going, orwhatever. That really comes with the sport. Ido the same thing when I’m playingPlaystation – if a guy’s not getting it going I betalking about him the same way. As a playeryou shouldn’t take it personal.”

SECURE IN THE FACT…A new Fan Code of Conduct to be postedthroughout all NBA arenas was released aswell as some mandated and suggestedsecurity changes that came into effect thisyear. The goal was to try and prevent thingsfrom ever getting that personal again.“For us the changes were pretty minimal,”says Mark Stornes, CEO of the ClevelandCavaliers and Gund arena. The venue hasstaffed five more security officers at Cava-liers games since November. “We havetypically been one of the buildings with ahigher staffing level with security than oth-ers. There are other areas that we havemoved staffing to or security personnel intothat had an impact. Beyond that it was verysubtle for us because we had just about allof the mandatory things in place.”

“In our discussions with the league wehave been told by them that we serve as amodel,” says Jeff McCoy, associate direc-

tor of public information for the Indiana Pac-ers. “We met almost every criteria or sug-gestion that they put out with their newsecurity policy prior to it being released.”

Bob Hunter, a senior vice-president withMaple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and

general manager of Toronto’s Air CanadaCentre, also believes that most of the rec-ommended changes were already in effect.“The league issued a memorandum ofmandatory changes of what they want tosee as well as recommended changes,”says Hunter. “The good thing is that wewere probably already practicing aboutninety percent of them. What they are try-ing to do is create some consistency be-tween the different arenas to ensure thatthis stuff was taking place.”

In fact, almost every NBA team contactedthat cared to comment said that they werealready at or above the NBA’s suggestedmeasures for security. So while the much-publicized announcement of change mightlook swift on the surface, it is somewhatmisleading. If the suggested changes arealready being practiced in most NBA are-nas then all the new guidelines amount tois a public appeasement that encourageslittle change. The flip side...

“It’s very valuable to be able to hear whatother buildings are doing,” says Stornes.“Really, as much as anything, it forces youto go back and walk yourself through all yourplans and make sure they still make sense.”“The biggest piece of it was just the reallo-cation of people on the floor,” says Hunter.“The security people around the bencheswere relocated and repositioned.”

“World class security is just a part ofworld class service. Not just for thecustomers but also for the athletes.”

Mark Stornes, CEO ClevelandCavaliers and Gund Arena


FEATURE

NBA Fan Code of ConductThe National Basketball Association, (team name), and (arena name) are committed to creatinga safe, comfortable, and enjoyable sports & entertainment experience. NBA fans have a right toexpect an environment where:

* Players will respect and appreciate each and every fan. * Guests will be treated in a consistent, professional and courteous manner by all arena and team personnel. * Guests will enjoy the basketball experience free from disruptive behavior, including foul orabusive language or obscene gestures. * Guests will consume alcoholic beverages in a responsible manner. Intervention with animpaired, intoxicated or underage guest will be handled in a prompt and safe manner. * Guests will sit only in their ticketed seats and show their tickets when requested. * Guests will not engage in fighting, throwing objects or attempting to enter the court, andthose who engage in any of these actions will immediately be ejected from the game. * Guests will smoke in designated smoking areas only. * There will not be any obscene or indecent messages on signs or clothing. * Guests will comply with requests from arena staff regarding arena operations and emer-gency response procedures.

The arena staff has been trained to intervene where necessary to help ensure that the aboveexpectations are met, and guests are encouraged to report any inappropriate behavior to thenearest usher, security guard or guest services staff member. Guests who choose not to adhereto these provisions will be subject to ejection without refund and revocation of season ticketsand may also be in violation of city ordinances resulting in possible arrest and prosecution.

The NBA, (team name,) and (arena name) thank you for adhering to the provisions of the NBAFan Code of Conduct.

The beer cup thrown around the worldthat landed on Artest’s chest will also re-sult in penalties for those who like beer withtheir basketball. By NBA mandate arenaswill cut off selling the suds in the fourth quar-ter, have vowed to be more diligent withthe tanked and tipsy and there’ll be smallercups too (new maximum of 24 ounces).Smaller cups and no beer sales in the fourthquarter smell like a revenue hit but nobodyseems concerned.

“We really don’t think it’s going to im-pact our per caps at all,” says Stornes. “Forus, our policy was very close to what theNBA came up with. We cut off sales twominutes into the fourth quarter whereaswith the changes we do it at the beginningof the fourth quarter. We don’t feel there’sgoing to be a great impact on our per capsor a financial hit.”

“I can’t suggest that there would be anysignificant impact with the difference in thesize of the cup,” says Hunter. The ACC willbe able to continue selling 28-ounce serv-ings until inventory of that cup size depletes.“People will drink what they want to drink.We really don’t see that as being a big is-sue. The other thing as well is that we don’tsell a lot of beer at basketball. We play somany Sunday games and we don’t sell alot of beer on Sunday afternoon, whichdraws a larger family crowd overall.”

The family presence is what the NBA istrying to preserve; included with the ninety-nine percent of fans who watch the gamewithout provoking an incident. With secu-rity a major concern since 2001 there is adelicate balance in providing a safe environ-ment without being in your face with it.

“I would say that those changes that camedown after 9/11 were probably re-emphasizedin these changes,” says Hunter. “Thesechanges are crowd-control oriented whereasthe 9/11 changes were all about securing thebuilding. A lot of those changes already inplace and still being practiced didn’t mean thatthere weren’t significant changes coming outof the November in Detroit issue.”

“I don’t think our review of security andany changes we’ve made have a lasting im-pact in terms of service,” says Stornes. “Ithink there were certainly some changespost-9/11 that had more impact on guestswith some of the changes that were madethen. I can’t imagine that the changes wereso phenomenal that buildings won’t be ableto quickly accommodate and make sure

they provide the service that we have toprovide to our guests.

“World class security is just a part ofworld class service. Not just for the cus-tomers but also for the athletes.”

AND THEN SOME…This is by no means a one-sided affair or asimple case of million dollar athletes pric-ing themselves out of our lives. There areother factors that go into defining the fan/athlete relationship. Jalen Rose never lied.“At the end of the day if you look at theevolution of the game the majority of play-ers in the NBA are black players or interna-tional players and the minority is the whiteAmerican player,” says Rose. “But themajority of the fans are the white Ameri-can fan so there’s going to be a grey areathere in itself because sometimes whenpeople aren’t just like you, you don’t nec-essarily know where they’re coming fromall of the time. For the most part I think theNBA is doing a good job and I think the play-ers do a good job also.”

Big business has hit the other side of thecoin too and player autographs and sportsmemorabilia fetch a pretty penny from col-lectors. It has caused a lot of players to ques-tion the motive of fans so intent on gettingthese items. With endorsement deals in hand,many players refuse to sign products thatmight be considered competition. In somecases it is a violation of their contract to do so.They look at each other, the fan and the player,

each with an eyebrow cocked. A decision ismade to either sign the 11-year old’s card, ordisappear into the tunnel…

“I have never been in awe of the man,

just of the way he plays the game.” –Alex MacIntosh, 31 – NBA fan

In the now, nobody moves units like theNBA. The more money you make in oursociety the higher the standard to whichyou are held. This higher standard comeswith more responsibility and expectationsto live up to. When pro athletes can acceptthat as part of the price that comes withfame and fortune, it will be easier for themto take on their role. They are entertainerswho are responsible for pleasing a fan basethat spend enormously to see their show.Fans must also understand that players,regardless of the paycheck or shine, are hu-man in spite of the larger than life personacreated for them.

The league could decide to build a physi-cal barrier between the court and onlookers(something Stern is against, but some Euro-pean arenas have employed), or even sacri-fice some prime courtside seating for moreseparation between the crowd and the ac-tion. For now both are unlikely, leaving NBAplayers and their fans to brush shoulders withone another in a way that few other sportsallow. Time will tell if that is a good thing, oreven a safe thing. Ultimately, it will be theplayers and the fans that decide.


THE LIFESTYLE Dwight Howard

The Future?Steve Kyler

When the Orlando Magic nabbed thetop overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draftthere was some debate. Two big menrose to the top of the class: a provencollegiate star in Emeka Okafor from astoried college program and an unprovenhigh schooler from an obscure highschool in Atlanta named Dwight Howard.

It wasn’t an easy choice for a fran-chise coming off the worst season inits history, and it wasn’t an easy mes-sage to send to the fans of CentralFlorida. Magic fans already wonderedaloud if Tracy McGrady would be partof a team that didn’t trade away the pick.Could a first-year general manager withvery little NBA experience make theright choice? Throw in a coaching staffthat lost a massive amount of gamesthe prior season and one could wonderif anyone had clue what was needed toright the ship. A lot of questions had tobe answered with this choice.

In June the Magic made their choice:Dwight Howard; a choice that Dwighthimself did not know about until hisname was called. With that selectionthe Magic embraced a bold new direc-tion and took a gamble on the unknown.

When did you think you were going

to be the top pick?

The whole year I was hoping I would bethe top pick. I just knew if I had an awe-some high school season, and I got myteam back to the state championship, we’dbe able to win and I would have a reallygood chance of being the number one pick.

How was it when your name was called?

It was an awesome experience... Ididn’t know till my agent - just beforeDavid Stern came out - he gave me alittle wink and told me when they myname to give my Mom a hug and a kissand all that... I was in shock. I was realexcited. I was able to do somethingfor my family that nobody had everdone before.

What was the first thing you bought

for yourself?

I didn’t buy anything for myself first.I bought my mom and dad a house. Ibought myself a new cell phone...

What was the thing you didn’t expect

coming into the NBA?

Everything that’s happened in the NBA Iexpected... the long season. The physi-cal play. I knew it was gonna be realmental. I knew that everybody wasgonna get on me as a rookie. The NBAwas really everything I expected.

When the Magic got the number one

pick Tracy McGrady was very nega-

tive about the idea of drafting a high

school player or even Emeka Okafor.

He suggested/demanded that they

trade the pick. Instead the Magic

traded Tracy and drafted you. Did that

signal to you that you were going to

be the star in Orlando?

I think Tracy needed a new home, eventhough he loved playing at “home” infront of family and his friends. I thinkboth Houston and the Magic madegood decisions in what they did. Iwould have loved to play with T-Mac,but he chose to go another way andhe’s having a great season.

In Orlando Dwight Howard (left) isthe future of the franchise.

Are you having fun in the NBA?

I am having a lot of fun. I wouldn’t be anyother place... People say look at the MarchMadness, but in the NBA the “madness”is all year long, not just one month. I amjust glad I made the decision.

Are you going to stay in Orlando in the

offseason or are you going back to Atlanta?

I am traveling... going around the world....Hawaii, then trying to go to Turkey (withHedo Turkoglu)... I wanna learn some ofthe stuff he learned overseas, and bringit back to my game.

I heard a rumor that you were interested

in doing “voices” - Should we expect the

Dwight Howard animated series?

Yeah... I like to do different voices... Youmight see me in a couple of movies... Ialways wanted to do that.

Coming into the NBA you signed the

big deal with adidas, your future is

pretty much set... what are some of

the things you want to do personally

in your time in the NBA?

I want to be the best player in the league whenI leave, to be known as one of the best. That’smy goal. Hopefully I’ll win some champion-ships, help my team get to the playoffs.

Is it strange being recognized every-

where you go?

Not really... I am kinda used to it... in At-lanta I got some of the same treatment Iget here. I am a people person, so itdoesn’t bother me that people recognizeme. I just like being around people.

Many in the media speculated on draftday that the Magic had to go with theproven guy in Okafor. Emeka did end upas a high draft pick and a great founda-tion for the Charlotte Bobcats, who tookhim with the second pick in 2004, but theMagic have no regrets. Dwight Howardhas proven so far that he is not only thereal deal, but a pretty intimidating player,as well. If his growth from SummerLeague to post-season is any indication,look for Dwight Howard to be an All-Starfor many seasons to come.

POWERING NBA NEWSBasketball News Services is a full service basketball specific news resource. From firsthand interviews and game reviews to back-end content and content services, Basketball News Services provides a full range of professional, collegiate and amateur news products to print, radio, interactive and television media outlets.

Basketball News Services offers its clients access they generally cannot provide in areasonable manner. With more than 56 contributing writers and editors on staff, Basketball News Services powers notable websites like HOOPSWORLD.com, provides content and feature materials to print outlets like Swish Magazine, and articles and audio content to sports radio stations, like WNTS in Baltimore and ESPN Florida in Tampa, Orlando and Melbourne, as well as website content management services as provided to Drewgooden.net and other major NBA athletes.Basketball News Services personalities have been featured guests on NBATV’s The Insiders, as well as on radio stations throughout the US and Canada.

HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?content - interviews - insiders - consultants

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Us at (866) 439-3640


THE MAN BEHIND THE NAME Zach Randolph

Living Down a LegacyNathan Bishop

Selfish, egotistical, immature... Just a few adjec-tives you might hear when someone is describingPortland Trail Blazer Zach Randolph. Ask anyonewho knows Randolph personally and a differentpicture emerges. In truth, Zach is one of the moreloyal and grounded players in the NBA today.

Last season’s “Most Improved Player,” Randolphhas been at the center of the Trail Blazers’ contro-versial losing season from the very beginning. It’shard to blend in when he just signed a max-con-tract that will keep him around for the better partof his career. Still, the man known around Portlandas “Z-BO” has been able to weather the storm.

“I don’t care about stats, I want to win,” saidRandolph. “I love playing basketball. That’s what Ido. I score and get rebounds. I can’t worry about(anything else). That’s what the coach wants meto do, that’s what the Trail Blazers pay me to do.”

You don’t have to spend much time around professional athletes to realizehow quickly the money and fame can go to their heads. Once most of theseguys hit the big time they feel they have paid their dues. Not Randolph. Thegame hasn’t changed him. “I met him before he was drafted,” said All-Starforward Shareef Abdur-Rahim. “He’s pretty much the same kid he was.”

Abdur-Rahim isn’t the only one who has noticed Randolph’s humble approachto life in the league. “I’ve been watching Z-BO the last couple years do histhing. I’ve seen him develop into a superstar,” said rookie point guard SebastianTelfair. “I wasn’t really expecting him to be as cool as he is as a person. Youwouldn’t even know he’s in the NBA. That’s how down to earth and humble he is.”

Not only is Zach a humble individual, but he’s a good teammate and friendas well. “I’ve known Zach since eighth grade,” said Darius Miles. “He’s agood person. A good people person. He’s trying to be himself all the time,not trying to front for anyone, just him being him. He’s going to continue tobe my friend for a long, long time to come.”

Abdur-Rahim agreed, “I think a lot of the young guys get a façade aboutthemselves that they don’t care as much as they do, but I think he reallycares about his fans and his teammates.”

Humble, unselfish, and helpful... These are hardly the qualities you’d expect tohear when talking about a player of Randolph’s caliber. In fact, you’d probably hearthe exact opposite when discussing the upper echelon athletes in the NBA. Abdur-Rahim attributes that to Randolph’s willingness to listen to the veterans. “A lot oftimes you see young guys who aren’t willing to listen, but that’s not Zach,” saidAbdur-Rahim. “He’s more willing to listen than people think he is. He wants to getbetter a lot more than people may think.”

For Zach it all comes back to his upbringing. When asked who was themost influential in his life Randolph’s response was immediate, “My mom.What we came up through and her being supportive of me, raising me byherself the way she did - me and my two sisters and one brother. She just dida good job and I really respect her for that.”

It isn’t just about basketball for Randolph. He loves the game, but he has othergoals in life as well. “I want to be a strong family man. Try to be more spiritual,with the Lord Jesus’ looking down on me. It’s my goal to just be the best personI can on the court and off the court, and help other guys get better around me.”

Trail Blazers color commentator Mike Rice has seen some great playerscome and go through the city of Portland. “In my 15 years with the TrailBlazers I’ve only seen Clyde Drexler mean as much to his team as Zach willmean to the Trail Blazers next year,” said Rice. “If he shows the determina-tion to win as Clyde did, the Trail Blazers will be back in the playoffs.”

It’s pretty obvious we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg from this youngpower forward, but his future is entirely in his hands. “I think it’s up to him.He can be as good as he wants to be. The sky’s the limit for him. As hard ashe wants to work, or as much as he wants to dedicate himself to the game,it’s up to him,” said Abdur-Rahim.

At age 23 Randolph has already set the bar pretty high and Randolph isgetting better, but Z-BO is by no means satisfied with what he’s accom-plished thus far in his career. It’s that hunger to get better that drives him tobe the best in the game.

“It just feels like I’m on the rise. Building on something,” said Randolph. “Ihaven’t even reached my potential yet. I just need to continue to work on mygame and get better.”

Hard work, loyalty, a humble approach to life and the game of basketball... This isthe real Zach Randolph.


The Rose GardenINSIDE THE ARENA

It’s hard to miss the Rose Garden if youdrive through Portland. Going north tosouth on Interstate 5 or east to west onInterstate 84 the home of the Portland TrailBlazers is right there where these twohighways meet, in the heart of the city.For almost ten years now the Garden hasstood against the Portland skyline, blend-ing in with its surroundings while at thesame time making sure everyone sees it.

Just looking at the arena a passerbywouldn’t necessarily recognize it asunique when compared to its brethrenacross the NBA, but that is a definitetruth. This is the only arena that has beenvoluntarily given to its creditors – as TrailBlazers’ owner Paul Allen and OregonArena Corporation did the first of thisyear because of exorbitant interest pay-ments on the debt – and now the Blaz-ers have no control over it. The team stillhas a very long lease with the Garden

so they aren’t going anywhere, but thewinds of change are definitely rustling.

At the end of March it was announcedthat Cucina! Cucina! – a popular pre-game Italian restaurant in the Rose Quar-ter just 20 feet from the Garden’s frontdoor - would be closing at the end of theseason and a replacement is yet to benamed. That has fans talking.

“As more and more of the surround-ings disappear from the Rose Quarter itstarts to lose its overall appeal,” saysLarry Mathis, a Trail Blazers fan for aslong as he can remember – and he re-members the championship in 1977.“With the last restuarant (Cucina!Cucina!) closing down, there is little out-side of the Blazer game for people to do

there and watching the Blazersright now can be a little rough.”

In Portland when you talkabout the team and the arenait’s hard to keep them sepa-rate, but now that’s the way ithas to be. There are manythings that both the team andthe fans would like to see improved upon– such as an updated scoreboard to hangover midcourt – but as of yet Global Spec-trum, the company who took over man-agement from Oregon Arena Corpora-tion, is still getting situated with all theRose Quarter (including old MemorialColiseum and some exhibition halls) en-tails.

The team knows the key to putting on agood event is getting people in the door, sothey have created a family environment, in-tended to make parents feel like a Trail Blaz-ers’ game is a good place to bring the entire

family. They can’t fo-cus on changing thestadium, so insteadthey have focused onfamilies and creatinga fun atmosphere.

“We hold sev-eral ‘Family FunNights’ throughout

the year,” says Michele Daterman, the TrailBlazers’ Director of Marketing. “This is aticket package that includes a ticket, hotdog and soda for only $18.50. We also holdtheme nights during games throughout theseason that appeal to kids and familiessuch as ‘Mascot Night’ and look to includekids in many of our time-out contests. Inaddition, we also have a Jr. BlazerDancersteam that performs periodically through-out the season. This year, we started a newonline fan program called Trail Blazers FastBreak Kids Club where prizes are awardedthroughout the year.”

“We spend a lot of time trying to makeit an environment where someone canbring the whole family,” says Trail Blaz-ers President Steve Patterson. “We do

a lot to try and feature the connectionwith the Portland landscape and the lo-cal community.”

It seems to be working. These are leantimes for the Portland Trail Blazers butthey still can put ten to fifteen thousandfans in the seats for a game. Why is that?Because the message has gotten throughto families and people have a good time.

“I feel comfortable going to the RoseGarden with the family. It’s got good se-curity and I have never seen (anythingcrazy happen),” says Michael Jackman.He has been a fan since moving to Port-land from California in 1991.

The future for the Rose Garden is still abit cloudy. There has been talk of namingrights being sold, but nothing has comeof that as of yet. Regardless of what hap-pens with it though, fans are still going tokeep coming to see their favorite team.

Fan’s Tip: If you want a good placeto hang out before the game or athalftime with some buddies, headover to the section on the concoursesponsored by Coors Light across fromTony Roma’s. There are TVs to watchthe pre-game action and plenty ofcomfy black leather couches to relaxon and talk hoops.

“We spend a lot of time trying to makeit an environment where someone canbring the whole family.” - Trail Blazers

President Steve Patterson.

A Place For the Whole FamilyJason Fleming

KEY STATISTICS

Cost - $262 millionOpened Doors – 10/13/1995Capacity – 19,980Luxury Suites - 70Food Options – 26Bathrooms – 8 men’s, 8women’sSmoke Shops – 2Merchandise Kiosks - 4


VISIONS OF WINNING Bryan Colangelo

Playing TheCards RightGreg White

”Each player must accept the cards lifedeals him. But once they are in hand, hemust decide how to play the cards inorder to win the game.” -Voltaire

Steve Nash sat dejectedly in the Mavs’locker room after returning home fromanother frustrating playoff elimination.He told the few gathered media that ifMark Cuban walked in right then andmade him a fair offer he would sign upfor the rest of his career. A couple ofmonths later the Phoenix Suns stoleaway the heart and soul of the Maver-icks, in effect putting the last piece inplace in their quest to start over. Some-times starting over requires taking risks,taking chances that others might not bewilling to take.

When you look at the Phoenix Sunsand what made them this year’s surpriseteam, you have to look at BryanColangelo. He is the man with the vision,the man who took a team that won 28games last season and built them intoone of the top teams in the league in lessthan a year. How does someone take ateam from the bottom to a division cham-pion in such a short period of time? Byknowing how to play the cards right.It doesn’t hurt to have grown up in theNBA, as Bryan Colangelo did. Bryan cred-its much of his success to his fatherJerry’s tutelage. “I always felt I had anadvantage over a lot of people. Growingup in the business, watching someonewho was very good at their job and hav-ing that person serve as my mentor. Tohave Jerry Colangelo there in the homeand going to games all my life, I devel-oped a lot of relationships that were help-ful for me and it got me a head start.”

Certainly a head start was needed.Less than a year removed from nearlyupsetting the Spurs in the playoffs, theSuns found themselves scraping thebottom of the barrel. Coming off a year

in which they had a Stephon Marburywho looked like a changed, more matureplayer, and a Rookie of the Year winnerin Amare Stoudemire, the Suns weremired in turmoil. There were rumblingsof Marbury not getting along with otherplayers, there was the fact that he andTom Gugliotta had large contracts thatrestricted personnel moves, there wasthe losing, and then the firing of thehead coach.

Colangelo’s plan was to “get the shiprighted financially. This organization wasstruggling from a financial perspective,and we needed to improve the club. Wehad some injuries and large contracts,

but we got an opportunity to unload alot of that and relieve ourselves of a lotof that financial burden, not to mentiongiving ourselves a fresh start at rebuild-ing the franchise.” That fresh start includ-ing sending out Stephon Marbury, PennyHardaway, and Cezary Trybanski forHoward Eisley, Charlie Ward, AntonioMcDyess, Maciej Lampe, the rights toMilos Vujanic, and a couple of draft picks.Colangelo then set about laying the foun-dation for a potential championship con-tender. Plan A in that foundation was toget Steve Nash. “As soon as we madethe deal in trading away Steph, we gotto work analyzing what options we had.We looked at a lot of tape and studied alot of things. We came to the conclusion

that although there were some talentedplayers out there, some had off courtissues they were facing, and some weresubject to trades. In that case we feltthat Nash was the right guy to target.Fortunately, Plan A worked out,” saidColangelo.

Nash was the right fit for the rightprice. “Chemistry is something you cannever overstate,” says Colangelo.“Chemistry is huge and sometimes alesser talented team can perform betterthan a more talented team when the chem-istry is great. Good things can happen if guyswant to compete for each other, supporteach other, and share the ball.”

With the addition of Steve Nash,Quentin Richardson, and StephenHunter, the goal going into the seasonwas to “make the playoffs and maybewin 50 games.” Those expectationswere exceeded, but when you have avision as Colangelo did you aren’t sur-prised by the success.

“I am surprised at the degree of suc-cess we are experiencing at such a quickstage. It speaks a lot about our young coreof players and how primed and ready theywere to take it on and also a lot aboutNash and what an absolute leader andfloor general he can be. Obviously Q hasadded a tremendous offensive punch toit as well, but I am not surprised at thesuccess we are having,” said Colangelo.

That vision doesn’t stop with just thisseason. You have to continue to play thehand you are dealt. The Suns will be dealtthe decision of signing Joe Johnson to acontract or matching any offers he mayget as a restricted free agent. Being thecard shark that he is when it comes toplaying his deck, Colangelo understandsthe situation at hand. “It is very impor-tant to keep the core together. A lot ofthings have to happen in order for thatto take place. But our priorities this sum-mer are obviously to re-sign JoeJohnson, and signing Amare to a long-term extension.”

Can it be done?With the way he turned around the

Suns in less than a year, don’t bet againstBryan Colangelo.

Chemistry is somethingyou can never overstate.


The NBA Draft used to be the salvation ofthe lottery team. Losing is always hard tostomach, but there was a time when a los-ing team could at least take comfort inknowing that help was on the way. Well,times have changed. Losing teams have ahard time getting out of the rut, lottery pickor not. The impact of allowing high schoolplayers in the NBA draft field makes any-thing below the second or third pick agamble, and as often as not it’s a gamblethat won’t pay off . . . at least not for theteam risking the draft pick. In the world ofHollywood, Indiana Jones was always theone who braved snakes, rats, and even evilgods to unearth priceless treasures, butsomeone else usually stole his booty be-fore he could get that coveted fortune andglory. Losing teams in the NBA are not un-like that daring adventurer, suffering throughcountless losses, doing the work to developyoung players who came out of collegetoo early (or skipped it altogether), only tosee those players slip away as soon as theystart to show promise. Not only is thistrend taking a toll on the family environ-ment that used to typify NBA locker rooms,it is also causing fans to lose touch withtheir local teams.

Denver Nuggets general manager KikiVandeweghe talks about the mentality thathas taken over the league in the wake ofso many high school players and collegeunderclassmen getting into the lottery.“Teams are built in many different ways. Ithink you try and build it opportunisticallywhere if there happens to be a star or asuperstar available and you can get him to

come or if you have him, that’s the type ofguy who can be a difference maker for you.This has always been a league where tal-ent wins games. That has never changed,so you’ve got to have the talent to win andobviously there’s a lot of pressure to win.”Ironically, it is that very pressure that haschanged the nature of the top ten picks inthe draft.

“Traditionally one through five havebeen good players and five throughten is a real gamble,” continuesVandeweghe. “It’s kind of an interestingphenomenon if you go back through thehistory of the NBA. In that six through tenarea you don’t have a high percentage ofguys who do well. The draft has changeddramatically from ten years ago. The play-ers are so young. That’s one thing you haveto look at. If you’re going to get a superstarhe is probably going to be very young andyou’re going to have to wait for him to de-velop and sometimes he doesn’t developthe way you think he will.”

Take a trip back in time to 1984, for in-stance, when a top ten draft pick meant ateam would land a franchise player. TheHouston Rockets took Hakeem Olajuwonwith the top pick and the Chicago Bulls tookMichael Jordan with the third. The Kingswould land Otis Thorpe, the Sixers choseCharles Barkley, the Hawks grabbed KevinWillis with the 11th pick and even as fardown as the 16th pick the Utah Jazz wereable to pick up a little guy by the name ofJohn Stockton. Fast forward 10 years andyou still have an incredibly deep draft situa-tion. The first round featured names like Ja-

son Kidd, Grant Hill, Juwan Howard, BrianGrant, and Eddie Jones. These were pol-ished players who brought something totheir respective teams right away. Hakeemwas a fantastic low post presence from dayone. Michael could fill up the nets right outof the gate. Barkley was a 14-point, nine-rebound guy for the Sixers during his rookiecampaign. Grant Hill could do it all. Theseguys all had room to improve and did so,but they were far from being projects, asmost draftees are in today’s NBA.

Milwaukee Bucks GM Larry Harris hasseen this trend, and acknowledges that ageis a growing concern for teams who aretrying to draft their way out of obscurity.“The draft has certainly changed and I thinkthe age factor has caused that,” says Har-ris. “We have more high school players,more college freshmen and sophomoresand more young international players, and Ithink their age group has really changed thedynamic of the draft. Usually, when youdraft in the top ten or twelve you expectthose players to start if they’re good enoughto do that. The way I look at it, if you’re inthe lottery you want to get a guy who inthe next three years is either starting or he’sin your top eight rotation. You build aroundthose pieces. High school players like TracyMcGrady and Kobe Bryant - they weren’tdrafted number one and they weren’t start-ers, but they came around. LeBron is theexception to that rule. Some of the youngguys like LeBron and Amare Stoudemirecome into the league and hit the groundrunning and have success early, but that’scertainly not the norm. That’s going to be abig concern with the new collective bargain-ing agreement. We have to curb that.”

Drafting underdeveloped players is onething, but when you have a hard time hold-ing onto them when they do start to de-

Can an Age Limit Save the NBA?By Bill Ingram


velop it causes even more problems. Aplayer who comes out after high school oras an underclassman is likely to start tohit his stride somewhere around the endof his rookie contract, which is when hewould otherwise have been coming outof college and entering the draft. Unfor-tunately, the team that gambled on ayoung player often loses out when thatplayer finally starts to contribute. Why isthat? For the answer we go to Milwau-kee Bucks head coach Terry Porter.

“Free agency. Free agency and the dol-lar sign,” reveals Porter. “All of the teamsin the 80’s, like Boston and the Lakers, theymight have brought in one or two new guys,but an average team will see four or fiveturnovers now. A lot of it has to do withfree agency. You have teams that are goodand have a lot of success and teams thatare trying to build their rosters. If you havea good back-up and he’s approached by ateam that’s trying to work its way up withmore cap space and offers you moremoney, more playing time, players will takemore money and more playing time. Some-times loyalty will factor in, but more oftenthan not guys who get offered more moneyor more playing time are going to go to an-other team.” How is this different from theway things were in Porter’s playing days?

“We had a very different mentality. InPortland we had our stars and we had oursupport guys. We had guys who had a lotof success and tried to play the right wayand who were trying to team up to be awinning system. Winning was really moreimportant than anything else. All of the suc-cessful teams were successful becausethat’s what they sold. If they didn’t havecap space, they would flash success in frontof prospective players. Players would stayto be a part of a successful system, even ifit meant making less money. You don’t seethat today.” Former Dallas Mavericks All-Star Rolando Blackman concurs, and offers

That’s an important factor that’s missing inmany of our young players today. That com-fort level has to come from the individualplayer; they have to burn to improve and tomake their team great. Without that fire, allof a sudden it has been three or four yearsand some other team is coming looking foryou offering more money and the moneybecomes what you need in order to grow.”In the mean time, teams have had to com-pletely go away from the traditional way ofbuilding a team. No longer is a high draftpick the way to go. Now it’s all about check-ing out other teams and seeing who youmight be able to steal from another pro-gram. “In this day and age you have to buildthrough free agency because guys in thedraft are so young,” explains Mavericks All-Star Michael Finley. “If you want to wait onthem to develop it’s going to be maybethree to four years, or if you rush that, twoyears. But a lot of teams try to build throughfree agency. I think the whole thing aboutfree agency is that teams want to win rightnow. They’re not willing to wait for guys todevelop and that’s when a lot of the tradesand free agency come about.”

“It’s a situation where everything is now,now, now,” concurs Wizards forwardAntawn Jamison. “In the past you had afew years to develop a team and put a teamtogether, but now everything is expectedto happen so quickly. Teams are trying toget that team together quickly or put a groupof guys together instead of getting someyoung players to build on and putting a sup-porting cast around them. Everything hasto happen a lot more quickly than what itdid in the past.”

The end result of all of these changes isthat NBA teams have drastically changedthe way they go about their business in theoffseason. Their scouting procedures havechanged, their drafting procedures havechanged, and the business of free agencyhas become big business indeed. A team

an explanation of how things came to bethe way they are today.

“The attitude of today’s player is muchdifferent from the attitude that existed whenI was playing. We have so much moremedia coverage now. I don’t think moremedia coverage is necessarily bad, but I

think the media gets ahead of the players.It’s always ‘he’s the future this or the fu-ture that’ and we start putting that kind ofpressure on players who haven’t even beenNBA players for a full season. There is a lotof baggage that comes along with puttinga label like ‘The Next Michael Jordan’ on aplayer who has never accomplished any-thing. You take the fire and the edge off ofthat accomplishment phase because youhave given them a label before they haveto put forth any effort. Those players nolonger have to meet adversity with the ba-sic urge to just do better. You have to get tothe edge in order to experience that growth.

FEATURE

Michael Finley, “Teams wantto win right now,”


be looking in search of a better situation.You see the benefit of staying togetherwhen you look at a team like San Antonio,where the players know each other and playtogether year after year after year. It’s a bigdifference because teams with a lot of turn-over are constantly going into years of ad-justment and years of trials and tribulations

trying to compete and be consistent whenyou have new players all of the time.”

“The good teams stick with their line-ups,” agrees former Houston Rocketscoach Rudy Tomjanovich. “Successfulteams are the teams that have a good ro-tation and people know their roles. Otherteams are trying to find themselves, try-ing to find the right eight- or nine-man ro-tation. Having a lot of turnover, no matterhow good the guys are on your team, it’sa human characteristic for them to take awhile to develop any chemistry. If youdidn’t have to worry about chemistry I thinkyou would see even more shuffling of line-ups than you see now.”

Make no mistake, there is a price topay for the increasing turnover and theongoing drop off in talent available inthe NBA draft. Free agent piracy is notjust a threat to the highly covetedchemistry that struggling NBA teamsaspire to achieve. It also threatens todisconnect NBA teams from theirfans. Fans get discouraged when theirteams fail to win championships, butthey love the players, and come back

can make or break their season simply byhow they handle their own free agents. Ateam that is a championship contender oneseason can find themselves rebuilding justa few short months later, while a lotteryteam can suddenly become a contenderbased on signing one or two key freeagents. The role that the NBA draft used toplay has been supplanted by the free agentmarket. The draft just doesn’t have the im-pact that it once did.

“Most of the kids coming out aren’tready in their first two or three years tobecome franchise-type impact players,”explains Indiana Pacers head coach RickCarlisle. “This year Okafor’s the only rookiewho was really playing at a high level fromthe get-go, and that’s because he’s a three-year player from a championship program.Three years of college is a significantamount now. That prepared him to bemore durable, to be stronger, and his Olym-pic experience certainly helped him. Wehaven’t had that type of player gettingdrafted in the top two or three of four, as ageneral rule, over the past five or six years.With the way free agency is and the sal-ary cap rules a lot of times now you’re look-ing to build with experienced veteran guyswho might be in a situation to come intotheir own after three of four years. It’s asmart way to build a team.”

It may be a smart way to build a team,but this method of free agent piracy hasforever altered the mentality of the NBA.Teams used to take on a personality of theirown, such as Magic Johnson’s Lakers orLarry Bird’s Celtics. Teams were like fami-lies, and their closeness was reflected inthe way they competed year in and yearout. Families have a level of pride and iden-tity that random collections of players sim-ply don’t have. Now that players are almostalways available to the highest bidder, it hasbecome more difficult for players to con-nect with their teammates. RolandoBlackman explains.

“I think the advent of free agency andthe rule changes making it easier for play-ers to jump from one team to another,” saysBlackman. “It has created a break in whatyou would call the family atmosphere or theway a team grows together. The rules makeit easier, not only for other teams to comein and cannibalize the teams that are in theirown league, but also for players to always

to see their heroes even when theylose. What happens when you takethose heroes away? What happenswhen NBA players become so self-absorbed that they put themselvesabove the game and above the fans?Don’t think too hard about that. Don’tthink that such a state of affairs is outof the question. The truth is that we’realready there. For a case in point weturn to Tracy McGrady.

When asked about his most recent trade,McGrady said: “I was never in a situationwhere I was traded. I forced the trade eachtime. I wanted out of each situation that Iwas in. Houston is a great place for me tobe right now. Playing with a great youngbig guy like Yao, I think we’re the future ofthis franchise. There are exciting years tocome in Houston.”

Perhaps. But what happens ifMcGrady decides that it is no longer inhis best interest to be in Houston? Whatif he suddenly decides he wants to playwith a great power forward like DirkNowitzki? A great point guard like LeBronJames? A premier small forward likeRashard Lewis? McGrady has alreadyforced his way out of Toronto and Or-lando, would it be that much of a stretchto think he could do it again?

We, the fans, media, and members ofthe NBA world, have created a situationwhere players are no longer allowed todevelop before being asked to competeat the highest level. We have set an ex-pectation that young players have to beimpact players, but we’re not allowingthem the time to develop into those im-pact players. We draft them, label them“The Next Michael Jordan,” and thendiscard them in favor of raiding someother team’s “franchise” player whenthey fail to fill those Nikes within the al-lotted time. This new mentality is hardon players, it destroys team chemistry,and it prevents fans from being able toidentify with their favorite team. In somecases they can’t even keep up with whois on their favorite team. What’s worse,we have convinced players that they areabove the fans and above the game. Ifthis mentality is allowed to continue togrow, the NBA’s future is as uncertainas the teenagers it is allowing to takeover its ranks.

FEATURE

Antawn Jamison, “It’s a situationwhere everything is now, Now, Now.”


THE SLIDE RULE How Much?

Efficiency Formulaand SalariesBy Eric Pincus

One of the most difficult questions a franchise faces isdetermining how much to pay for a free agent.

There is no simple answer. Often, competing offersamong a limited pool of available talent can lead to abidding war. Salaries are dictated by the market, withinthe guidelines set forward by the collective bargainingagreement. One method to estimate a player’s fair sal-ary is to find the average salary across the league forplayers with similar statistical production.

Although the stats may not account for the full impacta player like Shaquille O’Neal or Steve Nash has on theirteam, numbers can provide a hint as to a relative worth.In practice, salaries are often based on perceived valueand market pressures, but looking at concrete statisticscan give an appropriate baseline.

The following table lists a number of potential freeagents and their statistical output through the All-StarBreak. The NBA’s “Efficiency Formula” is used (Points+ Rebounds + Assists + Steals + Blocks) - (Missed FieldGoals + Missed Free Throws + Turnovers) along withthe value of each player’s 2004-5 contract. The averagesalary for players at the same efficiency level is listed asa suggested value each player is worth.

The ResultsBased on statistics, and not the extraneous factors thataffect the market, there are just three free agents worthyof a seven-figure payday. Larry Hughes, who put up thestellar numbers through the All-Star Break, is joined byRay Allen and Zydrunas Ilgauskas as those worthy of anear-max deal. For Allen and Ilgauskas, $10.39 millionwould actually be a pay-cut.

The five additional players in the next range (AntoineWalker, Bobby Simmons, Michael Redd, Udonis Haslemand Joe Johnson) project to get a nice payday, eitherfrom teams below the cap or by re-signing with theircurrent squad.

Players in both the 10-13 and 13-16 ranges are mid-levelexception candidates, which was $4.9 million in 2004-5.

Although the numbers suggest what a player is worth,the reality is that with limited cap flexibility, relatively fewavailable players, and competing bids . . . many will beoverpaid. In some cases, the investment will be worth itas the player develops and flourishes under contract. Un-fortunately there will be a number of deals that will comeback to haunt quite a few clubs, but that’s part of the NBA.

Player Current Team Efficiency Average Salary

>19.00 $10,393,000

Larry Hughes Washington 22.15 unrestricted free agent

Ray Allen Seattle 19.40 unrestricted free agent

Zydrunas Ilgauskas Cleveland 19.08 unrestricted free agent

16.00-19.00 $6,571,000

Antoine Walker Boston 17.94 unrestricted free agent

Bobby Simmons Clippers 17.72 unrestricted free agent

Michael Redd Milwaukee 17.09 player option

Udonis Haslem Miami 17.00 restricted free agent

Joe Johnson Phoenix 16.02 restricted free agent

13.00-16.00 $4,945,000

Damon Stoudamire Portland 15.76 unrestricted free agent

Speedy Claxton New Orleans 15.33 team option

Tyson Chandler Chicago 14.92 restricted free agent

Marko Jaric Clippers 14.76 restricted free agent

Gary Payton Boston 14.25 unrestricted free agent

Jeff McInnis Cleveland 13.98 team option

Eddy Curry Chicago 13.78 restricted free agent

Brevin Knight Charlotte 13.76 unrestricted free agent

Cuttino Mobley Sacramento 13.70 player option

Lee Nailon New Orleans 13.62 unrestricted free agent

Donyell Marshall Toronto 13.39 unrestricted free agent

Antonio Daniels Seattle 13.08 player option

10.00-13.00 $4,028,000

Damon Jones Miami 12.94 player option

Kyler Korver Philadelphia 12.80 restricted free agent

Dan Dickau New Orleans 12.49 unrestricted free agent

Vladimir Radmanovic Seattle 12.38 restricted free agent

Dan Gadzuric Milwaukee 12.29 restricted free agent

Gerald Wallace Charlotte 12.20 restricted free agent

Stromile Swift Memphis 11.73 unrestricted free agent

Samuel Dalembert Philadelphia 11.58 restricted free agent

Reggie Evans Seattle 11.51 unrestricted free agent

Eddie Griffin Minnesota 11.12 unrestricted free agent

Chris Anderson New Orleans 11.10 player option

Bobby Jackson Sacramento 10.58 team option

Nick Van Exel Portland 10.48 unrestricted free agent


UNDERESTIMATED & UNDERRATED Bruce Bowen

Muddy WatersThe Defenseman’s BluesPatrick Heusinger

“He’s a Dirty Player.” Those were theplaintiff’s words echoed around theleague for some time last year in refer-ence to the defendant, the San AntonioSpurs’ Bruce Bowen. The idea that thesoft-spoken, hard working, likeableBowen could at all be convicted of dirtyplay was perplexing to most Spurs fans.This was a case where all the evidenceneeded to be reviewed. This evidencedid not consist of nationally televised filmof Bruce dashing into the stands to “dis-cuss” beer distribution. It wasn’t evencorroborated stories of #12 takingswings at unsuspecting players. Theevidence was itself in the trail ofplaintiff’s tears. Each proclamation ofBruce’s “dirty” status seemed to comeright on the heels of a player’s poor of-fensive performance in the face ofBowen’s defense. This kind of emotional

evidence can kick up the riverbed silt,muddy the waters, and leave the jurygroping through the murk for the realdifference between a dirty player and agreat defender.

First on the witness stand is TonyParker. Tony’s eyes lit up at the sug-gestion that Bruce is dirty. “Not true,not true. Bruce works very hard. Heplays hard defense, and when youneed to stop someone, he does it. Idon’t think it’s dirty…he gets hishands out and is doing a good job.”

Sure, this is a statement from some-one who plays shoulder to shoulderwith Bruce every night, but it doesshine some light on the case. “I thinkthe key word you have to look at isrestraint,” offers Brent Barry. “Thereare things that go on within theboundaries of the court that you tryto get away with. Look at John Stock-ton. There were rumors and myths,and it was whispered through thetrees that he was a dirty player. Buthe played basketball hard, he playedit the right way. Bruce is a player whoknows what he can get away with ona nightly basis and exercises a fairamount of restraint as well.” Andwhat one or two things help defineBruce as a great defender? “The firstthing is hard work, and the secondthing is…hard work.”

With hard work and restraint as out-ward evidence of a great defender, whatis in the mind of a great defensive playerbent on stopping the top scorers of theleague? “The guys Bruce defends arevery offensive minded, and they playhard every night,” offers Devin Brown.“You have to take it into your mind thatyou are going to shut them down. Notjust limiting their touches or makingthem take bad shots, completely shutthem down. That’s what Bruce does.”

Dallas guard Jason Terry had this to of-

fer about his division rival: “Once you geta rep in this league as a good defender,the game is different for you. You canplay a little more aggressive and you canbe more physical. You definitely getmore leeway in terms of getting awaywith contact. If you’re known as a de-fender, you’ll get fewer calls madeagainst you. Defense is what Bruce doeswell. That’s his strong point.”

We’ve heard from the witness standa broad range of opinions, includingFlip Saunders’ “dirty,” Ray Allen’s“sissy basketball,” and Mark Cuban’sbounty on Bruce’s face. All that’s leftis to bring the defendant to the standto shed some light on why defense isso important to him.

“First off, I just wanted to get on thefloor in Miami with Dan Majerle, TimHardaway, Jamaal Mashburn.” SaidBowen “It wasn’t like I was just going tocome out and they would start runningplays through me. I had to focus on some-thing that they weren’t doing. You’re notguaranteed to make your shots everynight, but if you focus on defense thecoaches will call on you. Michael Cooperinfluenced me when I was growing up.During that time it was the Lakers. Coopused to defend everybody. That inspiredme, being that he was a thin guy, Ithought, hey I can do that too.”

And on being labeled as “dirty,” Bruceoffers: “Not everyone’s going to like youin this league. My job is not somethingthat everybody else wants to do. At firstit caught me off guard, because I pridemyself in what I do. Then I realized thatthis was just something for players tosay when frustration has set in.”

A great defender can leave scorersand coaches singing the blues andlooking for an indictment. Playerswill use terms like “dirty player” totry to influence the judges…ahem,refs. Bruce Bowen, in light of hissterling off the court record, atten-t ion to detai l , hard work and, asBrent Barry suggested, restraint, canonly be convicted of one thing: do-ing a great job on defense. In theNBA, that’s not a crime.

“You have to take it into yourmind that you are going to shut(people) down . . . completely

shut them down.” – Devin Brown


Ron Harper likened leaving the LosAngeles Clippers to getting out of jail.By Bill Ingram

Secaucus, NJ – Site of the annual NBADraft Lottery. Each participating mem-ber bears that sheepish look, embar-rassed their franchise didn’t earn a post-season berth. Underneath the discom-fort, the faces reveal a slight hope thatthis time around, they’ll draft that spe-cial player who puts the team back intocontention . . . and prevents them frommaking a return trip any time soon.

One NBA executive facing the lotteryvows that he won’t be back next yearand throws down a challenge to thosethat doubt him.

“Tell them to put their money wheretheir mouth is. Go to Vegas and bet againstus, but be prepared to lose your money.”

Is it Mitch Kupchak of the Los Ange-les Lakers? Kevin McHale of the Min-nesota Timberwolves?

It’s Andy Roeser, Executive Vice Presi-dent of the Los Angeles Clippers . . . a teamin the lottery so often, they may as wellbe renamed “The Secaucus Clippers.”

Charles Barkley derisively labeled theteam the “Paper Clips . . . a nicknamethat would stick with the franchise sooften blamed for prioritizing businesswell before basketball.

Potshots aside, the team’s losingrecord makes it difficult to deny thatthe Clippers are deserving of criticism. . . but it has been their recent bas-ketball-driven decisions that reveal aClipper franchise walking a new path.A path that both ownership and man-agement seem firmly committed tofollowing. A path that will change ev-erything you know about the Clippers.

“I believe in my heart, had it not been forinjuries, we would have made the playoffsthis season” Roeser professes confidently.

Despite a decimated roster all season, theClippers managed to compete, especially athome. Add in cap space, an aggressive sum-mer in free agency, and a lottery pick to animproving core . . . Roeser may very wellwin his bet against the skeptics.

“We’ve done a good job of getting our-selves in position to take advantage ofthe marketplace,” says Vice President ofBasketball Operations, Elgin Baylor, “andwe’ll be very active this summer.”

If the Clippers are to prove the cynicswrong, they’ll have to shake an inglori-ous past that includes just three playoffappearances in the 24 years Donald Ster-ling has owned the club.

A New BeginningTrapped by two defenders, his back to thebasket, nearly falling out of bounds, rookiepoint guard Shaun Livingston whips apass over his shoulder to a cuttingQuinton Ross for the flush. It was one ofthose mind-bending moments that re-quire four or five looks at the replay tounderstand how Ross even got the ball.

That was back in March. It was justLivingston’s fifteenth game in the NBAafter missing most of the year with a dis-located kneecap and strained shoulder.

Two days later he gets his first NBA startand dishes 11 assists. The Clippers beat theMilwaukee Bucks 116-108. His knack forfinding open players is simply outstanding.Despite only scoring two points, Livingstonhad a dramatic impact on the game.

Much of the Clippers’ fate relies onLivingston’s successful development. A

6’7” point guard with amazing basketballinstincts on both sides of the ball, he hasthe potential to be a very special player.

Livingston talks about being drafted bythat “other team” in Los Angeles. “Atfirst thought I was like, ‘oh the Clippers,’but it’s nothing like that. Once I gotdrafted, I was excited to be a part of ayoung exciting team. I like the way wecompete. The old stereotypes don’tmean anything any more. I think it’sstarting to mean nothing to the fans too.They’re seeing that were starting tomake a positive influence on this league.We just need to get over the hump.”

Most Clipper rookies come in thinkingthis is the group that will finally turn thefranchise around. It takes at least onelosing season for the team’s legacy tocreep into their heads. The Clippers havehad just one winning season in 24 years.

One player admits he “thinks” thatownership is supportive of the team butisn’t sure. “They did make some bigoffers like to Kobe, but until they actu-ally land that big name free agent . . .there will always be some doubt.”

It’s hard to fault the players. The franchiselegacy includes a long list of unretained draftpicks, minimal free agent spending and twolosses every three games.

But something changed along the way. . . a change that has yet to significantlyimpact the won/loss record . . . a changethat cannot be denied.

Over the summer of 2003, the Clippersmade a move that stunned the basketballworld, re-signing both Elton Brand andCorey Maggette to long term contractstotaling a combined $127 million. That wasthe very same summer they offered pointguard Gilbert Arenas a $60 million deal. Heallegedly made the decision to join theWashington Wizards over the Clippers byflipping a coin, though later Arenas admit-ted to making that up for benefit of themedia. He just didn’t want to be a Clipper.


FEATURE

The team also hired Mike Dunleavy tocoach the squad. A seasoned veteranwho had coached the Trail Blazers, Bucksand Lakers, Dunleavy looked forward tothe challenge of the Clippers.

But why would he come to a team withsuch a dismal track record?

“The history on the court had nothingto do with my decision to coach here.The decision I made was based on talk-ing to management about where theteam was now, where they wanted it togo, and what they were willing to do toget it there” said Dunleavy. “Those an-swers satisfied my needs to take the job.”

The next summer, the team was secondin the Kobe Bryant sweepstakes, offeringa $100+ million contract to the All-Star.

The Clippers have yet to land that specialfree agent to silence the doubters and propelthe team into the playoffs. But since whenwere they even a player in the market?

What changed? Why were the per-petually frugal Clippers suddenly re-sign-ing players to big contracts (not all ofthem, they still let Lamar Odom, QuentinRichardson and Andre Miller walk), hir-ing a legitimate coach and offering hugesums of money to free agents?

Back when the Clippers played out of theSports Arena they averaged 10,546 fans agame. The limited income at the gate meanta corresponding lower budget for players.

The move in 1999 to the Staples Centerhas had a major impact on the Clippers’financial picture. Immediately the team’sattendance jumped an average of nearly5400 seats a game. Conservatively esti-mating an average sold ticket price of $40per game, that’s an additional $8.9 millionper season in income on ticket sales alone.

With the luxury suites, the built-in ad-vertising partners, the prime location . . .Staples has made a major impact on theclub. Recently, the Clippers signed a ten-year lease with the facility, securing this

now vital cog for the long term.The current collective bargaining agree-

ment (CBA) has also changed the finan-cial picture. From revenue-sharing to thesalary cap, maximum player contracts andlonger rookie deals, the Clippers foundthemselves on a level playing field withteams carrying deeper pockets.

The Clippers’ operating budget has sky-rocketed from the days they toiled at theSports Arena. With the national televi-sion deal agreed to by the NBA, the Clip-pers receive roughly $25 million a year.With local television bringing in near $12million, and approximately $30 million atthe gate, the Clippers’ willingness tospend money starts to make more sense.

Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mav-ericks, declares “You spend to win.That’s it. Period. End of story.”

Cuban acknowledges his team’s over-head is among tops in the league, but says“We can get away with a lot of payrollbecause we work hard on selling tickets.”

So why don’t the Clippers use the

same approach that Cuban has broughtto the Mavericks? Perhaps a billionaire’sbankroll picking up the slack providesquite a nice safety net.

Spending money alone doesn’t guaran-tee success, as the recent travails of theNew York Knicks and Portland Trail Blazerscan attest. Before the re-signings in 2003,the Clippers hadn’t taken the risk, butthey’ve also never tasted the glory. Now,the team affirms, it’s all about to change.

The Skeptic Chimes In“Come on now, this is the Clippers we’retalking about. The team cares only aboutprofits and will never spend what it takes toproduce a winner.” – Angry Anonymous Fan.

It’s hard to blame the cynics who havenothing but doubt and contempt for theClippers. The team hasn’t won. Theyhaven’t even come close to being com-petitive but for a handful of seasons.

Andy Roeser acknowledges the pastand admits that the team “just didn’twork hard enough” to provide a winner.

Lawyer and entrepreneur Donald Sterlingpurchased the franchise back in 1981 forroughly $12.5 million. In 1984 he movedthe team from San Diego to Los Angeles.The Clippers note that they are the onlyNBA franchise to be fully owned by a singleindividual with no minority partner. Com-peting with organizations that have the fi-nancial backing of large corporations orindividual billionaires, the team’s insistenceon spending within its means was basedmore on necessity than frugality.

An ex-season ticket-holder who gaveup his seats after the disastrous 2002-3season responds “I don’t want to hearany of it. If Sterling bought the team forso little, it’s worth at least $300 millionnow. If he won’t put that equity backinto the team, he should he sell it.”

Roeser describes a misconception thatthe Clippers are one of the most profitable


FEATURE

teams in the league. LA is somewhere inthe lower-middle of the pack. The teamspends carefully and any money that’s leftover goes right back to the players.

“Hogwash,” says a local radio personality.“The Clippers don’t have the revenue be-cause they never win. They certainly don’tgive any money to the players. Put a winneron the floor and the fans will come in droves.”

One doubtful insider who has beenaround the team for decades says “Ev-ery March we sit around and talk aboutwhat the Clippers need to do to makethe playoffs . . . and next March we’ll behaving the same conversation.”

“The team has made a lot of mistakesand has been bad for a very long time,”admits long time Clipper broadcaster RalphLawler. “They’re an easy target but I thinkthis team has taken it as a challenge. Justthink how rewarding it will be when they’rea regular playoff contender.”

The Clippers have a well-balanced,young core in place. Elton Brand is a reli-able low post scorer. Maggette is relent-less driving the lane. Chris Kaman is de-veloping with his legit size and agility.Should they keep Bobby Simmons andMarko Jaric, they’ll have talent, depth andcontinuity. They also have a lottery pickin the upcoming draft to add to the mix.

“My time will come,” vows Brand, the1999-2000 Rookie of the Year who hasnever seen the post-season.

“I think this year we had the right guysto do it, we just couldn’t stay healthy,”says Maggette. “We had a big opportu-nity this year to be that team, but welost too many tough games on the roadthat we should have won.”

Despite missing the playoffs, Baylor isoptimistic, “I’m very happy with thenucleus we have assembled, and I havea very positive feeling about the direc-tion we’re headed.”

Depending on the terms of the nextCBA, the Clippers could have over $11million to spend in free agency. Targetscould include big names like Ray Allen,Michael Redd, Larry Hughes, JoeJohnson or Cuttino Mobley. Signing animpact free agent while keeping bothSimmons and Jaric will be difficult, butthe team has some cap flexibility.

Should the Clippers offer Simmons afair financial package along with signinga top flight shooting guard, would he be

willing to move to the bench after a stel-lar year as a starter?

“As long as we’re winning?” Bobbyreplies. “That’s no problem with me.”

An NBA analyst preferring anonymitylaughs at the notion that Sterling wouldsign off on a $50+ million payroll. “That’llnever happen. Bobby will be on the Wiz-ards next year. Marko on the Lakers.Ray Allen. . . forget it.”

Season ticket holder and star of Fox’sMalcolm in the Middle, Frankie Muniz, buys

into the hype. He looks forward to the Clip-pers overtaking their hometown rivals.

“They’re exciting unlike the boring Lak-ers.” Muniz says, embracing the team’soptimism. “When the Clippers are ontop and the Lakers aren’t any good, allof their fans will be here.”

“[This team] plays for the love of thegame,” says Darrell Bailey, known as theClipper Super-Fan. “They never give up.They try and try and try. One day we’regoing to succeed.”

Roeser addresses the skeptics directly,“You need to go out and watch our teamand see how they perform every night. Thecynics didn’t think we’d win any gamesthis year. You look at the team and yousee that we’re well-coached and well-pre-pared. We make some mistakes, sure,

but we’re competing in every single game.Even with a pile of injuries all at the guardposition, we’re not that far away.”

But will they spend the money to improve?“This is Los Angeles. If you’re success-

ful there’s tremendous upside,” Roeserreplies. “If we put a better team on thecourt there’s a tremendous upside over thelong haul in many of our revenue sources.There’s an incentive for us to succeed.There’s a payoff for us to invest more intoour payroll, if we make the right decisions.It’s not all about the money; it’s aboutmaking the right basketball decisions.”

The Next Overnight Sensation?Coach Mike Dunleavy is honest in hisanalysis of the team. “I can’t say that wehave anybody on our team that you canjust tag and say I’m going to give you theball against everyone at your position andwe’re going to dominate you.”

Can they land that player in the freeagent market? There are a number ofquality shooting guards available, but willthe Clippers’ reputation continue to scareaway the best prospects?

Will that pursuit cost the team BobbySimmons, a candidate for Most Im-proved Player of the Year and unre-stricted free agent? His eye-openingcampaign will garner a number of offers.

With the move to Staples Center and theNBA’s healthy economic environment (pro-vided there’s no player lockout), the Clippershave the resources to change history. Withthe right basketball decisions, they could verywell be the next “overnight sensation,” com-peting deep into next year’s post-season.

The skeptic says no way, but it’s all inthe hands of Clippers. If they aren’t fondof the negative perceptions, they alonehave the power to turn them around.

Ralph Lawler believes the Clippers areready for the future. “The team has ablueprint that has never been so clearlydefined on how to make the step wherethey’re not just trying to get into the play-offs – but teams are chasing them.”

They say they’ll do whatever it takes.It’s time to put up or shut up.

That’s when Roeser offers his challenge,“Tell them to put their money where theirmouth is. Go to Vegas and bet against us,but be prepared to lose your money.”

Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets.


SONOFAGUN The Society of Sports

With a decade gone since the NBAmarched into Canada, time has erasedmany of the myths and misconceptionsthat surrounded the Vancouver Grizzliesand Toronto Raptors organizations. Nowyou know Toronto’s winters aren’t anydifferent than January in New York andthe weather isn’t quite as nice in Seattleas it is in Vancouver. It took a couple moreseasons to figure out that it was possibleto make financial sense out of earning mil-lions of American dollars in Canada. Com-bine those concerns with the losing thatcomes with an expansion franchise andleague chatter didn’t paint a pretty pictureof playing basketball up north early on.

“Everyone I talk to in the NBA says

they miss Vancouver… except for the

players.” – Bruce Arthur, NBA writer

Only the Raptors remain in 2005 after theGrizzlies relocated to Memphis, Tennesseein 2001. Owner Michael Heisley braggedabout $40M in losses that season and,while it’s true the club received little corpo-rate support (along with a rotten arena deal),they also struggled to build a worthy prod-uct. It got worse when Orlando Magic pointguard Steve Francis refused to play for theGrizzlies after Vancouver drafted him sec-ond overall in 1999. He was quickly traded,the beginning of the end for the Grizz.

“Francis was the death knell,” saysThe National Post’s NBA columnist BruceArthur. “They got nothing back for him -Michael Dickerson (and fodder) - evenwhen Lamar Odom was saying he’d liketo play in Vancouver. It was really theproblem of ignorance, but Vancouver’sdemise also came because of a lack ofcorporate support in a small market,combined with competitive failure.”

Instead of building around a future All-Star in Francis, at a time when star-powerwas desperately needed to market theteam and attract the media spotlight, the

Grizz were forced to sell lesser-knownplayers to a new basketball audience. Thatstruggle was made more difficult with thelack of free agent interest in Vancouver.

“Players were bothered by seemingly in-nocuous things like groceries! Not seeingtheir favorite cereal on the shelves at thestore or their favorite candy bar, or soda,”remembers Norma Wick, sideline reporterfor Raptors’ broadcasts and television hostfor NBA TV’s Full Court Press in Canada.Wick held a similar role in Vancouver butrelocated to Toronto after the move toMemphis. “I thought it was pretty narrowminded, until I began to understand howyoung these players were and that manyof them had no real worldly experience.”

Players weren’t just avoiding the ex-pansion life; they were avoiding a cul-ture shock as well. If they were going tolose, it might as well be in America.

“Vancouver and Toronto never formedpart of the NBA landscape that they grewup wanting to be a part of,” says Wick.

“None of these guys ever dreamed aboutwearing a Grizzlies uniform and playing at

GM Place. They were also worried about aloss of exposure in ‘The Great White North,’playing out of the eye of SportsCenter, USAToday and even their friends and family. Theyalso, to some degree, didn’t think the fanscould fully appreciate them, or the gamebecause of their lack of exposure to it.”

Before he was traded to the New JerseyNets last December guard Vince Carter wasactive in the free agent recruiting processand knows how players approach playingin Toronto. He questioned the organization’sefforts to recruit free agents, noting that asa Canadian franchise the Raptors should domore to attract marquee players.

“That’s not an issue at all,” says teampresident Richard Peddie. “Ultimatelyplayers want to play where they can win,where they can get significant minutesand where they get paid a lot of money.

“We really haven’t had the money to goout and go after the real big free agents.Everything that I see is that it’s not an is-sue (selling Toronto). It’s the fifth largestcity in North America. Is it a foreign coun-try with a different currency? Yes, but I cantell you that the currency goes further be-cause the (Canadian) dollar is worth (un-der 80) cents. It’s really not an issue now.”

Nobody was bothered by the re-signingsof Antonio Davis, Alvin Williams andJerome Williams in 2001, just with the$150M spent to do it. Years earlier theGrizzlies spent $60M on Bryant Reeves, abust of a center who retired not long aftersigning his deal. So do players charge moremoney to play in Canada?

“I personally believe that there was a pro-pensity by both organizations - at various junc-tures - to try to overcompensate for beingCanadian,” explains Wick. “Anytime you ineffect start apologizing for who you are orwhat you are, you put yourself at a disad-vantage. You give people permission to holdyou for ransom, ‘Okay, I’ll play for you - butonly if...’ I think that was particularly true inCarter’s case. Once you pay someone ‘fran-chise’ money, the worst thing you can do isact like you still owe them something.”

Then perhaps the most important evo-lution over the past ten years in Torontois that winning, and the pressure to doit, has become the bottom line.

After all, winning sells itself.

Time Dispels Mythsfor Canadian FranchiseDarren Andrade

Francis was the beginningof the end for Vacouver


HEART & SOUL Dan Dickau

New Orleans Hornets point guard DanDickau is one of those rare stories. Af-ter being passed on by the Sacra-mento Kings, Atlanta Hawks, PortlandTrailblazers, Golden State Warriors,and Dallas Mavericks, Dan is finallygetting a shot to show the NBA whathe can do. His play for the Hornets hasbeen inspirational, but his story is evenmore so.

Keeping The Drive Alive…“In my sophomore at the Universityof Washington I was having some in-jury problems. I broke my foot for thesecond time in five months and Iwasn’t feeling like that was where Ineeded to be. I felt like a needed achange, and I kept praying about it andasking for guidance and the wholetime Gonzaga kept coming into mymind. I would pray about it and thenI’d get a call from one of my friends atGonzaga and they would tell me Ishould come over. I started puttingthose things together and realized thatmaybe I needed to really think abouttransferring. I wound up transferringto Gonzaga and I don’t think I’d behere today if I hadn’t made thatchoice. I didn’t really listen to whatGod was telling me to do until I got toGonzaga. Coach Mark Few at Gonzagais a strong Christian and that’s a fineline for a college coach to be able toshare their faith without being over-bearing, not only in their recruiting pro-cess, but also as a coach. He definitelylets his guys know that he’s a believer,and he definitely had a huge part inmy success in college.”

Inner Strength“I grew up in a Christian household,

so to speak,” explains Dan. “We be-lieved, but we didn’t necessarily go to

church every single week and wedidn’t necessarily make it a centralpart of our lives. It wasn’t until myeighth grade year that I really startedto get involved. I failed the eighthgrade the first time and went to aChristian school the second time andthat’s when I really began to realizethat I needed to have a personal rela-tionship with Christ. When I took thatstep I started to learn what it trulymeans to be a Christian rather thanjust say it. Growing up you have yourups and downs, of course, but in col-lege was when my faith took a hugestep forward.”

I Married a BlazerDancer“Heather and I went to high school to-gether, so I’ve known her since wewere 16. She actually played a year ofcollege basketball at a community col-lege, but she grew up doing every-thing: dancing, softball, basketball,and she missed dancing so she de-cided to try out for the (Blazer Danc-ers). It was something she missed,and she did that for three years. Wedidn’t actually meet in Portland, it wasjust a coincidence that we were bothaffiliated with the team.”

Putting Faith to the Test“I look at it from two different angles.

On the one hand I did have it in mymind that nobody wanted me, but Ididn’t lose my confidence or my faithin my own abilities. I just felt that Godwas putting me through some things,testing my work ethic and my perse-verance to see if I was going to keepplugging away at it. I knew that as hardas I was working I was going to get achance. He doesn’t put the ball in thebasket for you, but He does presentyou with opportunities. I knew that Ijust needed to stay ready for when myopportunity came.”

What the Future Holds“To tell you the truth I really haven’tthought about it. The offense CoachScott runs fits me really well and I’veadapted well to it and I’m playing fairlywell. Those are all good things, and I

feel very blessed to be where I amright now.”

The future certainly look bright forDan Dickau, whose faith and persever-ance have paid off in a big way. TheNew Orleans Hornets showed enor-mous confidence in their young pointguard when they traded superstar vet-eran Baron Davis at mid-season tothe Golden State Warriors and Danhas certainly shown that their confi-dence was well placed. Dan is an in-spiration to his fans and is a rolemodel that any team would be luckyto have. We wish him the best as hecontinues to let his faith guide himthrough the trials and tribulations ofbeing a professional athlete.

Dan Dickau Finds an Allyin PerseveranceBy Bill Ingram

“On the one hand I did have it inmy mind that nobody wanted me,but I didn’t lose my confidence or

my faith in my own abilities.”


COLLECTORS CORNER Exclusive Spokesman

Deals Have Tradeoffs

Exclusive – adjective – limiting or lim-ited to possession, control, or use by asingle individual or group.

Back in 1997 Upper Deck did somethingthat took the basketball collecting worldby storm: They signed Michael Jordan –arguably the greatest player in NBA his-tory and the hottest collectible around –to a contract making him an officialspokesman for their product. In returnfor doing the deal Upper Deck receivedexclusive rights to Jordan’s autographsand other memorabilia.

That signing sent both collectors andthe competition scrambling. Collectorsrealized that Upper Deck was now put-ting itself in a position to be the mostcollectible of all the trading card compa-nies. If Michael Jordan was the hottestcollectible on the market, then collectorssurely weren’t going to miss out. Com-peting companies immediately begantrying to make similar arrangements,seeing that Upper Deck was raising thestakes in the marketplace. Upper Deckredefined the way the trading card busi-ness would be run, and Michael Jordanwas a big part of that.

“At the time, Jordan was a very strate-gic signing for Upper Deck; he was thenumber one collected guy in our sport,”explains Keith Hower, Beckett BasketballPrice Guide Editor. “Upper Deck followedthat up with the exclusive signing of guyslike Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. Whatthis has essentially done is force the othermanufacturers to go after guys who arecurrently tabbed as second tier collectibleplayers. It’s almost an unfair advantage.I’m astounded by how competitive Toppsand Fleer have remained the past fewyears…that’s a testament to both theircompanies and employees.”

“We definitely were raising the stan-dard of basketball trading cards,” said

There Are Benefits to BothManufacturer and CollectorJason Fleming

Karvin Cheung of Upper Deck’s Basket-ball Product Development Team. “UpperDeck had realized that Michael Jordan isthe number one most marketable ath-lete in the world. By having MJ on Up-per Deck packaging and on memorabiliais a huge plus for the collector becausewe go the extra mile to ensure authen-ticity of our products.”

In the intervening years other playershave signed exclusive deals, but Jordanand Upper Deck remain on the top. Fleerhas Vince Carter, which led to great in-terest in Fleer during Carter’s best sea-sons, but Carter’s injuries and inability tomaintain a high level of play have takena toll on his marketability. Fleer hopesthat the recent signing of Dwyane Wadeof the Miami Heat will bring back someof the collectors. Topps had ShaquilleO’Neal at one time, but despite his ob-vious talent collectors didn’t flock tohim like they do to Upper Deck. LikeHower said, however, the other com-panies aren’t giving up. Topps signedEmeka Okafor before the season andthey are quite pleased. “It’s all posi-tive,” says Clay Luraschi of Topps. “Tobe the only company that has auto-graph and relic cards of Emeka Okaforis an advantage for us.”

The deals don’t always have to be foran exclusive spokesman. Some compa-nies will sign players just to feature themin packaging without trying to take it tothe next level. (avoids repetitive wording)SA-GE Collectibles is one trading cardcompany that doesn’t do exclusive deals.

“We generate a list every year bysport,” says Tom Geideman of SA-GECollectibles. SA-GE produces two setsevery spring based on the draft, so it’sfull of rookies. “We rank the top ‘A’ play-ers (generally top 3 players), ‘B’ players(rest of the lottery), ‘C’ players (rest ofthe 1st round), and ‘D’ players (rest of

drafted players). This list pre-determineswhich players are going to be driving theproduct and we feature those players.”

So is there a downside to these con-tracts? For collectors it could help explainsome of the rising costs to packs andboxes, but when that cost is weighedwith the possibility of getting a card dual-autographed with Michael Jordan andLeBron James most collectors don’tspend a lot of time worrying about it.

How do the companies pick their play-ers? Is there a downside?

“There is always risk involved in all as-pects of our business,” explains Cheung.“A player might not perform up to theircareer numbers, injuries, the over pro-duction of their collectibles, etc. But,Upper Deck goes to great pains to en-sure that we protect the integrity of theconsumer and the athlete by regulatinghow many items that we produce bear-ing their images and names. We alsodo extensive research to guarantee thatwe sign the athletes that consumerswant to collect. I think our track recordof signing exclusive relationships withthese top athletes speaks volumes to ourcommitment to protect the industry forfuture generations of collectors.”

Upper Deck has made by far the mostheadway with these exclusive deals.They are newer to the marketplace thanTopps or Fleer but have made no bonesabout the fact they are driven to add thebest players to their team.

Does it work? Yes, it absolutely does.Think about this: In the trading cardarena what do you think of when youthink of Michael Jordan? Upper Deck.What do you think about when you thinkof Vince Carter? Fleer. What do youthink of when you think of EmekaOkafor? Topps. For that reason alone itproves exclusive spokesman deals arewell worth the investment for the manu-facturer because they do their job andbring in the consumers.

And for the collectors? Depending onwhat a collector is looking for all theyneed to do is pick one of the compa-nies and buy their product to find whatthey want.


A DOG WITH A BONE Stacy Augmon

PlasticmanWon’t BendEric Pincus

LOS ANGELES - It’s March and StaceyAugmon returns to his hometown afterserving a one-game suspension for hurl-ing a bottle of lotion at a reporter. Appar-ently he had taken exception to questionsbeing asked of Orlando Magic teammateSteve Francis. When the journalist stoodhis ground, Augmon exploded.

I find him in the locker room beforethe Clipper game, filling out ticket re-quests for friends and family. I’m hopinghe’ll share his side of the story.

I start soft, going back to his heydayas the heart and soul of the 1990 UNLVteam that throttled Duke by 30 points towin it all.

“With so many young players goingpro these days, how would your Runnin’Rebel team fare in the tournament?”Without looking up, he responds “No,no, no.”

I try again, “Do you and Grant Hill evertalk about the old . . .”

He interrupts, looking at me fully. Hiseyes widen and his face fills with intenserage, the like I have yet to see on theNBA beat.

”I don’t think you understood what I said.”Well, Sir, I do now.Augmon doesn’t play. Orlando loses,

but Coach Johnny Davis expresses opti-mism after rookies Dwight Howard andJameer Nelson have career nights.

“That was a bright spot for us. We dohave two young players in the lineup, oneright out of high school and the otherfresh out of college. We’re counting onthem to perform like veteran players andfor the most part they’ve done that.”Incidentally, Davis was fired by the Magicthe very next morning.

I notice Stacey leaving the locker room.I follow, hoping to ask point blank why

he shuns the media so. His pace quick-ens. As he turns the corner, he brushesinto a crewman, carrying a mess of cable.“Watch where the hell you’re going!”

the tech screams out.To be fair, it wasn’t intentional. Stacey

doesn’t notice the mild bump and is gone.Not one to give up, I put in a call to his

agent. His agent calls his lawyer. Hislawyer calls me.

Stacey doesn’t want to talk. He’s theonly one who can answer the questionas to “why” and he’s not willing to doso at this time.

“This is the end of the road on thisone,” I was assured.

Perhaps, but I am still able to dig.I find that the UNLV championship

wasn’t the end of the story. The nextyear, the Duke Blue Devils (now withGrant Hill) got revenge in the semi-finalsagainst an undefeated, seemingly un-stoppable Rebels’ squad. The game wasclose but Anderson Hunt of UNLVmissed the game winner at the buzzerand the Blue Devils went on to win the1991 NCAA Title.

Augmon was left crying in the lockerroom. Soon after, he was called out bythe press for not giving it his all.

Months later, pictures would come outthat showed Hunt, along with two otherRebels, enjoying a hot tub with “Richiethe Fixer” Perry, previously convicted ina point-shaving scandal. Though

Augmon wasn’t implicated, the mediabacklash was fierce. Now everythingStacey and his teammates had achievedwere in question. Their legacy was nolonger the 1990 title . . . but the scandalthat would lead to the departure ofUNLV’s legendary coach, Jerry Tarkanian.With his college career behind him,Augmon began his NBA journey in rela-tive silence. He had a number of solidyears in Atlanta, moved on to Detroit andthen Portland. A hard worker, known forhis defensive prowess, Augmon becamea role player on a team seemingly des-tined for greatness.

It was that fateful game seven in2000, against the Los Angeles Lakersin the Western Conference Finals thatdrove Augmon even further into hisshell. A double-digit lead vanished inthe final twelve minutes and the Blaz-ers were declared the biggest chokersin NBA history.

His last interview on record was in 1999with the Las Vegas Review Journal, remi-niscing about his marred glory days.

Writer Steve Carp notes, “There’snothing Augmon can do about the past.As [Stacey] says, you learn from it, andyou move on . . . it’s a part of life.”

Now, local reporters are callingAugmon a caveman for allegedly mak-ing lewd remarks to a female reporterand tossing that bottle of lotion.

I still don’t have an answer from himas to why, but seeing the pain in his facewhen I tried to ask, it was clear as day.

He wants his privacy. He doesn’twant to be judged. He wants top lay basketba l l , co l lect h is pay-check and w in . Whoever ques -tioned his heart on the court in Ve-gas didn’t know basketball and cer-tainly didn’t know Augmon.

I knew going in that he didn’t like themedia. I targeted him for dissection andhe’s powerless to stop me.

Following him through the underbellyof Staples Center like paparazzi stalkingtheir prey, I found myself answering myown question.

Why doesn’t Stacey talk to the media?Because of me.

His eyes widenand his face fills

with intenserage, the like Ihave yet to see

on the NBA beat.“I don’t think

you understoodwhat I said.”


THE LAST WORD Steve Kyler

Hired To Fail…It’s funny to recall the days whencoaches made less than a million dollarsand their jobs were simply to win bas-ketball games. In that era, coaches hadauthority and players respected them.

In the modern era of coaching,coaches make millions more than intimes past and with that has come theuntenable situation that comes withmega money deals—mega money ex-pectations.

Gone are the days of respect forcoaches. In every locker room in the NBAthere is at least one situation where aplayer is either publicly mad at his coachor demeans his decisions to the press.

Coaches have the impossible job in theNBA – win now, with a less than perfect ros-ter which you have absolutely no control over.

They say that the NBA is a player’sleague, and that to be successful you mustbe a “player’s coach”. In English thatmeans you have you step back and let theplayers control a game, let players dictatethe tempo and hope and pray that the di-rections called from the sidelines can af-fect a game in a positive way, because ifyou bench a superstar you’ll be fired. If youreprimand a player on the bench for a baddecision, there will be a Sportscenter clipand controversy in the press.

More than fourteen NBA coaches havebeen replaced in the last 20 months. Ina 30-team league, that’s almost half theleague changing coaches. In professionalhockey this is commonplace, but in anNBA game that requires continuity forsuccess, it’s amazing to watch howquickly teams will cut loose a coach, whoin many cases was a bad fit to begin with.

Teams hire names. It’s the truth. Theyhire the name that will garner the mostrespect publicly, and oftentimes thosenames have personalities that may con-flict and contradict the players who teamshave locked into long term contracts. Thisputs the coach and team in a relationshipthat can parallel a bad marriage.

As long as NBA teams continue to hire“names” and lock players into massive

unmovable contracts, NBA coaching willcontinue to be the pressure cooker thatclaims the jobs and futures of greatcoaches and great men.

A popular saying goes: “Coaches arehired to be fired.” In the guaranteedworld of the NBA it’s easier to fire acoach than replace a team. When theplayers didn’t know this little quip,coaches had respect and had authority.Now that the cat is out of the bag it isnot “Can this new coach help us win?” -it’s how long before we’re talking abouthis replacement.

The NBA wonders why its game is go-ing sideways and the entertainmentvalue is down. The solution is simple:give the power back to the coaches.Make the coaching position more impor-tant than the player position and stopcontractually guaranteeing things likeplaying time, starting, and shots.

Until that change occurs, coaches arehired to fail. It’s a select few who figureout how to beat the system before thesystem beats them.

Make Money…It’s funny to hear fans and talk showhosts talk about team owners’ desire tomake money running sports teams as abad thing. Most people do not get in-volved in owning sports teams for thebottom line. Profits are generally not thereason people buy sports teams. Whilebillionaires buy teams for the vanityvalue, at the end of the day these teamsare businesses whether fans and sportsfanatics believe it or not, and every busi-ness has to at least break even to be ofany real value.

Value in sports is established by esca-lating desire for the products or services.As long as people will pay for skyboxes,season tickets, mega money advertisinginside the arena, TV networks will ponythe billions for TV rights, and local sta-tions are willing to shell out the millionsfor rebroadcast rights for TV and radio –there is ever-increasing value to owninga “successful” team.

NBA teams individually are appreciat-

ing in value at about $10 million per sea-son on average. Yet more and moreteams are losing money because of the“keeping up with Joneses” mentality,which dictates that they have to keepspending because the other guy isspending.

So here is the challenge: Would youput twenty dollars on the table, knowingin 20 minutes, you’d have to put twentymore, just to stay at the table? No, we’renot talking about a casino, but we aretalking about casino logic. Owning ateam is the big gamble.

It takes money to make money. Own-ers shell out the hundreds of millions ittakes to own a team with the hope thatthey can be part of the winning, and withthat winning comes value, and ultimatelya cash out for 100% more than you paidfor. It’s only a matter of time before AbePollin, for example, turns his $1 millioninvestment in the Washington Bulletsinto a $400 million payday as he cashesout the Washington Wizards.

Owners don’t buy teams to lose $20million a season. Owners don’t buyteams to watch them lose games andvalue. They buy them to have fun, toadd to their lives and to make money.At the end of the day every ownerwants to make money, which they haveto do in order to grow the business. Inthe NBA, growing the business hascome to mean having the revenue tooverpay an under qualified coach, tooverpay a mediocre player, and to buyout a bad contract they traded for tocreate cap room. These things costmoney, and it’s insane to believe thatowners will come out of their pocketssimply because it makes sense to doit in fantasy basketball.

Smart businessmen know when it’stime to make a change to their portfo-lios, and it won’t be long now beforeNBA owners start to think about suchchanges. Simply stated, the inmates arerunning the asylum. If the guards don’tregain control soon the asylum willcease to exist.

. . . and that’s the Last Word.

swish 2

Documents

swish magzine

high quality basketball

basketball news services

darren andrade

nba players andfans

summer league

moneyand media

withthe draft