khandor’s sports blog

Ten months ago …

This is how things started for the team that Pat Riley built:

PART 1: Winner Within understands DNA of a Champion [July 9 2010]

PART 2: Chief reason Bosh fits well, as an authentic Leader, with James, Wade and Riley [July 10 2010]

PART 3: The DNA of a NBA champion [July 11 2010]

PART 4: Los conquistadores en la playa al sur están casi terminados [July 21 2010]

Now, on the day the 2010-2011 NBA Finals are set to tip-off …

This is how things stand for the Miami Heat:

PART 5: Championships change everything [May 31 2011]

Enjoy the read.

Chris Webber … as well as scores of other “media commenters”: 

… should be the last ones to profer their professional “judgments” on the ability of Erik Spoelstra to coach the Miami Heat to the 2010-2011 NBA Championship.

4 more W’s will be good enough to get the job done right.

When Coach Erik Spoelstra goes to the following 5-man unit:

Point Guard/Small Forward – LeBron James
Off Guard/Point Guard - Dwyane Wade
Small Forward/Off Guard - Mike Miller
Power Forward – Udonis Haslem [or Joel Anthony]
Center – Chris Bosh

The team which Pat Riley has created:

actually resembles ‘the look’, and ‘the feel’, and the ‘in-game production’ of the 1985 Chicago Bears?

Last week, in this space, the following question was asked:

“What is Andrea Bargnani [C] really worth, on the open market?”

Well …

One week later, according to the TrueHoop Network:

[and, unfortunately, for Raptors fans]

SUMMARY:

The TrueHoop Network does not perceive Mr. Bargnani to be a very valuable asset.

As the summer of 2011 continues to unfold, it will be very interesting, indeed, to see if this same opinion is shared by the other 29 GMs in the NBA … or, if, at least, 1 of them will think that acquiring Bargnani could help their team going forward.

Sources: Pistons, John Kuester to split

Detroit Pistons head coach John Kuester will not be returning for the 2011-12 season, according to sources. Although there has been no official word from the Pistons, sources say it is expected that president Joe Dumars and his staff will be returning.

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The Good News

After 2 very disappointing seasons at the helm in Detroit, it now seems likely that John Kuester will not be the Pistons’ head coach going forward.

The Bad News

Mike Woodson is not the type of elite level basketball coach who the Pistons need to find, in order to [eventually] reclaim their former spot in the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference.

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PS. Hopefully, Joe Dumars [GM] will show better judgment than this and choose to go in a different direction when he fills the Pistons’ head coach position.

Colangelo seeking to bolster Raptors’ front office

Calling all NBA experts: Dust off those resumes. The Raptors are in the market for a new executive.

The only catch, and it’s a doozy, is that experience is required — serious experience. While Bryan Colangelo, the Toronto president and general manager, said the title and role of his new hire is yet to be determined, he acknowledged the ongoing reorganization of his front office could even involve bestowing his GM title on someone else.

“I’m thinking about bringing in a high-level basketball person to strengthen our management team,” Colangelo said. “If I brought someone in and a GM title was part of it, it would be a fairly high-calibre person, probably someone with GM credentials already to their name. It’s all in development right now … I could bring in one, I could bring in several new people.”

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This could get very interesting, very quickly …

if Bryan Colangelo is truly serious about making a sound hire for a new GM who, in fact, would be responsible for making the player personnel decisions related to the day-to-day operation of the franchise.

As yours truly has said here plenty of times before …

There has always been a very real opportunity to grow the Raptors franchise into one of the very best in the NBA, if the available resources are marshalled properly, and the right basketball person is selected to steer the ship.

Pay close attention Lakers fans:

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The Lakers lose perspective

The mistake we made with the Lakers all season long was granting them allowances based on what they’ve done in the past. We ignored warning signs and excused slumps because we had seen them turn it around when it mattered before. We all saw how that turned out in the playoffs.

It’s time to apply that lesson to the franchise.

It’s clear now that we can no longer give the organization the benefit of the doubt going forward, even though they have been the most successful team in pro sports in the three decades-plus that Jerry Buss has owned the team. If the Lakers don’t want to assign any value to their past, why should anyone else?

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The gigantic flashing sign says,

“Unpaved road ahead. At present, littered with Hubris. Travel at your own peril.”

What you see right here:

is one of the all-time great sports quotations, from Kenny ‘The Jet’ Smith.

Amen, on all accounts.

If you value, “The Pursuit of Authentic Excellence,” then, you are someone who has tremendous R.E.S.P.E.C.T. for the work of The ZenMaster.

PART I

PART II

In all likelihood, someone of his particular ‘ilk’ will not pass this way again.

Kudos galore! … and, many thanks for the countless Lessons in Leadership which you bestowed to your faithful followers.