khandor’s sports blog

If LeBron James truly cares most about [i] his legacy … as an all-time great NBA player … and [ii] the ability of the team for which he plays to win the league championship … which is precisely what will eventually cement his legacy, one way or the other … then the writing is now on the wall for him:

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Cavaliers hire Byron Scott

The Cavaliers hired the former New Orleans coach on Thursday, finalizing a reported four-year contract on the same day superstar officially became a free agent and heard offers from other teams hoping to lure him away from Cleveland. Scott, who twice led New Jersey to the NBA finals and won three titles as a player, will be introduced by the Cavs at a news conference on Friday at Clinic Courts.

“This is a great job and an impressive organization and I am very happy to be a part of it,” Scott said in a statement released by the Cavs. “Everything about it just felt like a really good fit for both me and the team. I am anxious to get going and to build on the success the Cavaliers have experienced in recent years.”

Scott’s hiring came after a strange series of events. At one point, it appeared the Cavaliers were nearing a deal with Los Angeles Lakers assistant Brian Shaw before the team returned to negotiations with Scott on Wedneday. The sides then negotiated through the night before the 49-year-old accepted the job, an agreement his agent Brian McInerney confirmed to the AP early Thursday.

“Byron’s combination of high-level success and depth of experience, both as a head coach and as a player, is a tremendous asset for our organization,” Cavs general manager Chris Grant said. “He is a strong leader with a proven track record of winning in both the regular season and the playoffs. We’re excited for coach Scott to get started.”

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Since being prematurely eliminated from the playoffs this spring, the Cavaliers have now done 3 things:

1. Dismissed Mike Brown;

2. Changed their General Manager;

and,

3. Secured the services of a highly experienced and successful Head Coach;

all of which indicates that owner Daniel Gilbert has finally learned some very tough lessons about how to operate a first-class franchise in the NBA:

* The most important person in the chain of command for a legitimate NBA title contender is …

the owner, who must be fully committed to winning the championship;

* The second most important person is …

the General Manager, who must share a similar vision with the owner - and, if a team does not have the right one, then, it is simply wasting its organizational resources;

* The third most important person is …

the right Head Coach, who must know precisely what it takes to get the job done - and, unless a team has an elite practicioner at the helm the on-court product will repeatedly under-perform, as a rudderless ship, regardless who the superstar and supporting star players might be;

and,

* The fourth most important person is …

the superstar player, who - operating in the heart of the line-up - must perform on the court, as if winning-it-all is the most important thing to him in the entire world.

Despite their upset loss to the Celtics, in the 2nd Round of this year’s Playoffs …

A re-constituted version of the Cavaliers looks something like this:

could actually present LeBron James with his best chance to win the NBA Championship next season … short of teaming up with Dr. Jerry Buss, Mitch Kupchak, Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol for the Lakers, of course … provided Cleveland can adequately fill their 3 “open” spots with suitable replacements for Shaquille O’Neal, Delonte West and Sebastian Telfair, via free agency.

If you consider the primary options on the table, right now, for The Global Icon:

how bad do the Cavaliers … with a head coach like Byron Scott on board … really look, if James can then go out and help them to recruit the best 3 players possible, to play with him in Cleveland? 

Related:

Cavs introduce Byron Scott as Clips talk to James

Prior to last night’s proceedings, these 15 individuals were identified by this corner as players who could have given the Toronto Raptors what they need, at this moment in time, heading towards a long term future [A] with or [B] without Chris Bosh:

Perception vs Reality - Who SHOULD Raptors Draft?

Al-Farouq Aminu [6-9, 215, SF/PF, Wake Forest, now unavailable]
Tyreke Evans [6-6, 219, PG/OG, Memphis]
DeMar DeRozan [6-7, 220, OG/SF, USC]
Earl Clark [6-10, 226, PF, Louisville]
Derrick Brown [6-8, 225, SF, Xavier]
Terrence Williams [6-6, 213, OG, Louisville]
Wayne Ellington [6-5, 202, OG, UNC]
Danny Green [6-6, 208, OG/SF, UNC]
Sam Young [6-6, 223, SF, Pittsburgh]
Marcus Thorton [6-4, 194, OG, LSU]
Tyler Hansbrough [6-9, 234, PF, UNC]
Taj Gibson [6-10, 214, PF, USC]
Dante Cunningham [6-8, 227, PF/SF, Villanova]
Tyler Smith [6-6, 212, OG, Tennessee, now unavailable]
Nando De Colo [6-5, 190, OG, France]

This is what happened last night with each of those 15 players::

Al-Farouq Aminu. Withdrew from consideration; back to Wake Forest.
Tyler Smith. Withdrew from consideration; back to Tennessee.

Tyreke Evans. SACRAMENTO/No. 4, selected by Geoff Petrie.

DeMar DeRozan. Player the Raptors/No. 9 wanted all along.

Earl Clark. PHOENIX/No. 14, selected by Steve Kerr.
Derrick Brown. CHARLOTTE/No. 40, selected by M-Jordan/L-Brown.
Terrence Williams. NEW JERSEY/No. 11., selected by R-Thorn/K-Vandeweghe.
Wayne Ellington. MINNESOTA/No. 28, selected by David Kahn
Sam Young. MEMPHIS/No. 36, selected by Chris Wallace. 
Danny Green. CLEVELAND/No. 46, selected by Danny Ferry.
Marcus Thorton. MIAMI/No. 43, selected by Pat Riley [traded to New Orleans-Jeff Bower/Byron Scott].
Tyler Hansbrough. INDIANA/No. 13, selected by Larry Bird.
Taj Gibson. CHICAGO/No. 26, selected by J-Paxson/G-Forman.
Dante Cunningham. PORTLAND/No. 33, selected by Kevin Pritchard.
Nando De Colo. SAN ANTONIO/N. 53, selected by RC Buford/G-Popovich.

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1. Over the next few seasons, it is going to be most interesting to watch the development of these 15 players.

2. The Charlotte Bobcats [37-45] are gradually building a very solid team:

* Adding Gerald Henderson [OG] and Derrick Brown [SF] last night
* Trading for Boris Diaw [PF-SF], Raja Bell [OG], Vladimir Radmanovic [SF-PF] and DeSagana Diop [C} last season
* Drafting DJ Augustin [PG] & Alex Ajinca [C} last year
* Re-signing Gerald Wallace [SF-PF] last year
* Re-signing Emeka Okafor [C-PF] 2 years ago

3. There’s a very good reason the same names keep popping up when the Larry O’Brien Trophy is awarded, in June, to the NBA Champions.

Update:

* Marcus Thorton has subsequently been traded to the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for two future 2nd Round Draft Picks [i.e. 2010 & 2012].
  

Despite the respect yours truly has for [i] Adrian Wojnarowski, as a talented writer, who chooses to ply his trade for Yahoo! Sports, and [ii] Kelly Dwyer, another talented writer, who does likewise … the cold, harsh fact-of-the-matter is that neither of these two wordsmiths hit the target today: 

Hornets’ horrow show wasn’t just on the court

Why … the Hornets have fallen so hard

in their analysis of what actually happened during last night’s demolition of the New Orleans Hornets by the Denver Nuggets.

Dis-crediting Byron Scott, at a time like this … is wrong.
Dis-crediting Jeff Bower, at a time like this … is wrong.

PART I

What needs to happen today … in the aftermath of last night’s superlative, historic, victory by the Nuggets … is the giving of CREDIT to these men & women, instead.

When you consider precisely how Denver’s current roster of 12 players and 1 head coach has been assembled over the last 12 months, since the team failed to advance past the 1st Round of the Western Conference playoffs last year, yet again, despite winning 50 regular season games: 

you should begin to understand the fantastic job which has been done with this team by Mark Warkentien [VP, Basketball Operations], Rex Chapman [VP, Player Personnel], and the other members of the Nuggets’ staff.

* Which head coach a team decides to keep & not simply throw away
* Which players a team decides to keep & not simply throw away
* Which players a team decides to use in NEW roles
* Which players a team decides to ACQUIRE from another team
* What specific Style of Play a team decides to make its own

are all key components to the success or failure it achieves, from one season to the next, relative to the other 29 franchises in the league.

What was on display last night, in New Orleans, two days after Denver gave up Game 3, in a disappointing 2-point loss to the home team, was not an horrific failure by an under-manned and under-motivated squad of 12 Hornets, but the culmination of a tonne of first-class work by the Nuggets’ entire organization, since April 2008.

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PART II

Nuggets dismantle Hornets, 121-63

Quote #1: “Every coach talks about playing a playoff game, every possession having value, every possession having intensity to it,” [George] Karl began. “I thought my team, probably in my career, I’ve never seen a team probably do that on every possession - do what they were supposed to do and play the game the right way - as much as they did tonight.”

Quote #2: “I don’t think I’ve ever had a team play defense like that,” [George] Karl said. “Defensively, when you play this well, offense just happens.”

Quote #3: “Every time we tried something, they countered,” [Chris] Paul said. “We didn’t play well and they executed their game plan to perfection. … Understand that while it was embarrassing and they beat us pretty bad, it still was only one game.”

D*mn Straight!

Nothing more, and Nothing less than THAT.

This is what was written, last Tuesday, in this space, re: the Spurs vs Hornets, Western Conference Semi-finals match-up, after New Orleans went up 2-0 in their series.

The answer for the Spurs
Unless Gregg Popovich & Co. finally figures out that the Bruce Bowen vs Chris Paul match-up is NOT the way San Antonio SHOULD be playing this series … and creates the Tony Parker vs Chris Paul match-up, instead … the Spurs are going to be in serious of jeopardy of not getting past the Hornets in the 2nd round of the playoffs.

6 days later, the series is now tied at 2 games apiece, after Gregg Popovich came to his senses and elected to go head-to-head with the Tony Parker vs Chris Paul match-up, from a defensive perspective.

(I) As was mentioned last week, straight-up, Parker is not going to be able to prevent CP3 from putting up big numbers, individually, on the offensive end of the floor, but … whether or not this happens … this alone is not what will decide the eventual winner of this series.

Tim Duncan has recovered nicely from his bout with a fever … which (made him look old & tired and) dramatically effected his performance during Games 1 & 2, head-to-head vs Tyson Chandler … and the other 3 individual player match-ups … i.e. at the 2, 3 & 4 positions, regardless who is in the starting line-up for the Spurs … are now tilted toward the reigning champions.

(II) As was also mentioned last week, contrary to popular belief, as this series lengthens, it will increasingly favour the more veteran team, in this specific playoff match-up, as the Hornets will be swimming in uncharted waters for the first time, as a group, in the latter stages of an advanced playoff series against a very tough team.

It takes 4 W’s to win a Conference Semi-finals series and this specific collection of Spurs is particularly well-suited to wearing down (i.e. physically & emotionally) an inexperienced crew, like these Hornets … who are so heavily dependent on a young (and under-sized) Point Guard (CP3, who does not include among his many outstanding attributes the ability to single-handedly change the ‘Rebounding Differential Numbers’ for each team in this series, which is now beginning to exact a heavy toll on New Orleans … i.e. Game 3 - San Antonio/Rebs, +9) and his under-sized running mate (David West).

The Spurs were able to separate for good from the Hornets, in Game 3, when Byron Scott made the decision to go with a ’small line-up’ at the 9:39 mark of the 2nd Quarter, San Antonio 30, New Orleans 24.

Replacing Tyson Chandler (C) with Peja Stojakovic (F) and leaving David West (PF) as the biggest Hornet on the floor - alongside Julian Wright (F), Bonzi Wells (G/F) and Jannero Pargo (PG) - resulted in New Orleans only scoring on 1 of their next 5 possessions; while San Antonio - with a line-up of Parker, Ginobili, Udoka, Finley & Oberto - converted on 4 of their next 5 possessions, to bump up their lead to 13 points … after which they were never headed again by the Hornets.

As the series shifts back to New Orleans, for Game 5, the Hornets will need to find answers to (i) the Parker vs Paul match-up and (ii) the ineffectiveness of their ’small line-up’ … or this series will indeed be ending in 6 games, in favour of the Spurs.

The next move … if it’s coming at all … will be up to Byron Scott.

When the Raptors are leading by 7 pts with 5:10 left in the 4th Quarter and then replace their Point Guard, for offensive purposes, but make only 1 Field Goal (scored by the incoming PG, on a Pull-up Jump Shot) through the end of regulation play, while surrendering 3 Field Goals on defense (including a 3-pt shot that tied the game on the final possession, over that same PG), plus a trip to the Free Throw Line, during this time span … then Toronto deserves to lose this game.

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“(in the NBA) You win games with ’stops’ more than you make shots … I think our defense won the game for us.”
- George Karl (Head Coach, Denver Nuggets), Mar 23/08 

In the NBA … it does not matter how well a certain player performs for the remainder of a specific game … if that same player either (i) makes a crucial error(s) in judgment or is taken advantage of, on the defensive end of the floor, by the opposition during a (critical) game-deciding possession(s).

The fact is … officials do not Win or Lose games in the sport of basketball.

Players Win or Lose games … and, in the NBA, the margin for error in a significant percentage of these is so small that … one single play, at the right or wrong time, is frequently the difference between Winning & Losing, on any given night in this League.

“What Byron (Scott) understands is players win games. Coaches? We hold them accountable, we try to put them in the right system and we put them in a certain structure to be successful. but at the end of the day, not one coach makes one shot.”
- Sam Mitchell (Head Coach, Toronto Raptors), Mar 29/08

Such was the case, yet again, last night in Atlanta.

* Doug Smith, Top coach has to do it all
The main work is done away from the prying eyes and cameras of the media, in practices and the locker room, in meetings with players and general managers and assistant coaches. Sometimes it involves discipline, sometimes it involves changing tactics in mid-season, they are often decisions no one ever sees made.

“It would be nice, and it’ll never happen, where you could have sportswriters and all the people that kind of look at us and say we’re not doing a good job to kind of sit in and be with us for a week or two to kind of see what we do and what we put into it,” Scott said in a weekend interview.“Outside people that aren’t in our world every day have no clue of what we’re going through, so I really don’t care,” said Scott.

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If you’ve ever walked a mile in the shoes of an NBA head coach … you know exactly what men like Byron Scott and Sam Mitchell are talking about when they say something along these lines.

The average basketball fan(atic) … or, someone who works in a field which s/he ‘thinks’ is related to ‘what it must be like to coach an NBA team’ … is totally clueless when it comes to understanding how things function in this League and what it’s like to work (and, either, succeed or fail) everyday in this unique environment.

The men who succeed big-time in this world are terrific Transformational Leaders with a clearly defined Vision of what their team will look like when it reaches its apex … and the ability to consistently coax peak performances from younger men, with varied backgrounds, almost all of whom (i) make substantially more annual salary, (ii) have increased job security, (iii) have a highly specialized skill set which is exceptionally difficult to duplicate within this specific professional sphere, and (iv) have a lesser daily workload, than their esteemed Leader.

Unless you have walked in their shoes … NBA coaches (like Byron Scott and Sam Mitchell) are absolutely correct to “not care” what others think about them.

[P.S. Now, if you've ever been a coach, yourself ... at a high level of competition ... then, that's a different story altogether.]