I've decided to award the inaugural edition of what I'll call the "Team of the Moment" award. This is a prize given to the basketball team that in my opinion best captures the spirit of the game of basketball at any given time. I'm not necessarily looking for the best team in the standings or even the hottest team of late. Rather, we're looking for the team that stirs the soul with its style or swagger or changes the way the game is played. Whatever the team of the moment is doing, it's making basketball intriguing and exciting. The rules are simple, a team holds the Team of the Moment award until it's moment has passed, that is another team surpasses it on the ultimate hoops barometer, at which point the prize is transferred to a new team.
For this inaugural edition of the award, we look towards the NBA, where there's no more deserving team than the current edition of the Phoenix Suns, led by MVP point guard Steve Nash. This is a team that for the last two plus seasons has been reinventing the way winning basketball is played by turning pro basketball from what had become a series of yawn inducing, half court pick and rolls (Malone and Stockton) or post up kick out offences (see Houston Rockets with Hakeem Olajuwon) back to the full court bravado that marked the 1980s showtime era.
They're able to do this, of course, because they are one of the most supremely physically gifted teams in the league. Not only do they have Nash, the pre-eminent passer in the game (and a very effective scorer), but they have two of the most explosive offensive finishers in Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire around him as well. Stoudemire, by the time all is said and done, may be a hall of fame big man even. Around this, they've compiled a lineup of multitalented sharpshooters who can all put the ball on the floor and also finish at the hoop. The result is a lineup of thoroughbreds the likes of which the NBA has not seen in years.
The trickle down from this style of play is already visible. We're seeing many teams like the Warriors, the Wizards and the Grizzlies trying to play a similar, up tempo style game, with varying levels of success. The end result is a more exciting brand of basketball for everyone.
Now, the real question facing the Suns is whether they can take this brand of fast break basketball and win consistently in the playoffs. Conventional wisdom says no, that a team needs a clamp down defense and a steady half court offence to win in the meat grinder that is the NBA playoffs. However, the Suns did reach the conference finals last year without Stoudemire and by are playing better now than they did last year. It's not unreasonable to expect them to give the Spurs or Mavericks, their two sternest tests in the west, a serious run at the finals.
Of course, when it comes to being the Team of the Moment, winning the NBA Championship is gravy but also a moot point. Already, they're far more fascinating than last year's champions, the old fogey Miami Heat, who are quickly being forgotten. Can anyone honestly admit they get excited about the Heat anymore, except for ABC which insists on airing every Miami/Lakers game from here to infinite? Shoot me now before I see another clip of Shaq and Kobe shaking hands!
Peace.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Monday, January 15, 2007
"I'm Back"
In the spring of 1995, after nearly two years away from basketball, Michael Jordan stepped off the baseball diamond, and issued that same cryptic statement before he threw on a pair of basketball shorts again.
Today, I'm making the same announcement, though to considerably less fanfare as I declare my return to the world of blogging. It's my hope that I'll be able to get into the habit of blogging regularly and resurrecting this webpage, although one may argue if it is in fact possible to resurrect something that was never truly alive to begin with... but alas, those are mere technicalities.
Let the long bombs fly!
Today, I'm making the same announcement, though to considerably less fanfare as I declare my return to the world of blogging. It's my hope that I'll be able to get into the habit of blogging regularly and resurrecting this webpage, although one may argue if it is in fact possible to resurrect something that was never truly alive to begin with... but alas, those are mere technicalities.
Let the long bombs fly!
Monday, January 02, 2006
NBA Dynasty Bonanza!
In a money spending stupor, I picked up a bunch of NBA DVDs over the holidays on amazon.com. The DVDs in question are the Bulls, Celtics and Lakers Dynasty DVDs which contain amongst other things, hours and hours of highlight shows recounting the glory yeares of each of these franchises. More to the basketball aficionado's liking, however, is that the DVDs are also packed with complete game footage of many of the biggest games of the last two decades. As such, in the next few months, as I slowly make my way through these games, I'll keep you posted on what gems of knowledge I've gleaned.
In the meantime... here are two random thoughts I've picked up so far.
1. The Lost Generation
If you watch any of the clips from the 80s, it becomes readily apparent that the players of that generation were far inferior to today's players in terms of physique. With the advent of regimented weight training, the players today seem much larger and stronger. As such, there's a tendency to imagine that today's teams would decimate their predecessors if they ever met on the court. However, if you use your imagination for a moment and pretend that Magic and Karreem and Kurt Rambis pounded the weight room the same way Kobe does, there still remains a glaring difference between those vintage teams of yesteryear and the teams of today. Experience.
A quick glance at the old tapes reveals this that many of the formidable matchups of yesteryear, ie. the Bulls vs. Jazz in 97-98, the Lakers vs. Celtics in 87... contained a plethora of certain hall of famers in those series. By the time of the 98 Finals, Jordan, Pippen, Malone and Stockton were already SURE FIRE hall of famers (not to mention that Rodman probably should be in the hall now, and that Jerry Sloan and Phil Jackson probably belong as coaches also). Now take a look at the 2 best teams in the NBA at present, last year's finalists, the Pistons and the Spurs. Between these two outstanding teams, there is exactly one sure fire future hall of famer in the mix...Duncan. After that, there are a lot of very good players, but nobody that is as yet, at that level. This may be the difference between the NBA now and what it was then. The NBA now has very good teams, but in those days, there were GREAT teams. The difference is largely one of experience. By the time the Bulls and the Jazz met in those last few finals, Malone and Stockton had already been passing the ball back and forth nearly a decade and a half. Jordan and Pippen had hoisted multiple NBA championship banners. This is the difference between the NBA of now, and the NBA of 10 years ago. Then, there was an entire generation of hall of famers who came into their prime at roughly the same time and from the mid 80s to the mid 90s, they lit up the NBA marquee with the likes of which have not been seen since. The NBA today is younger, flashier, but lacking in that hall of fame calibre star quality. If you look back to the early 90s, when the players who should be filling that bill now were coming up, the Chris Webbers, the Anfernee Hardaways and the Grant Hills, there exists almost an entire generation of talent that failed to reach its potential, for whatever the reason. Fortunately though, the current crop of talent, in a few years, should be able to overcome this, and perhaps 5 years from now, we'll be talking about Kobe Bryant and Lebron James with the same reverence currently reserved for Jordan and Magic.
2. Larry Legend
I threw in a DVD of one of Bird's final shining moments, from the 1992 season, when he led the Celtics to a remarkable regular season victory over Portland at the Garden. It's a game I remember watching in the seventh grade. He scored about 50 points that game but looking back on it now, I'm struck not by how impressive this was, but how impressive it was given that he almost NO physical attributes left at this point in his career. If you watch the footage, Bird can barely run at 1/2 speed. It looks like he has such limited flexibility in his back that it's a wonder he can snag boards and of course, his jumping ability, never formidable, now leaves him firmly stapled to the floor. And yet, there he is, backing a man in and then launching a fadeaway from over his head and draining it. And yet, there he is, exorting his teammates to victory by snatching another rebound from a crowd of larger, more imposing players. I've never seen a player with such an obvious, glaring, hunger for competition and winning. It's as if you can see him forcing his team to win as you watch the game. The only other player that I've ever seen exude this ability is Jordan, but he did it beneath an exterior of silky smooth moves and tremendous physical attributes that if you didn't look closely, you might almost miss his competitive fire. With Bird at this point in his career, there is no way you can miss it. The man is pure competition!
In the meantime... here are two random thoughts I've picked up so far.
1. The Lost Generation
If you watch any of the clips from the 80s, it becomes readily apparent that the players of that generation were far inferior to today's players in terms of physique. With the advent of regimented weight training, the players today seem much larger and stronger. As such, there's a tendency to imagine that today's teams would decimate their predecessors if they ever met on the court. However, if you use your imagination for a moment and pretend that Magic and Karreem and Kurt Rambis pounded the weight room the same way Kobe does, there still remains a glaring difference between those vintage teams of yesteryear and the teams of today. Experience.
A quick glance at the old tapes reveals this that many of the formidable matchups of yesteryear, ie. the Bulls vs. Jazz in 97-98, the Lakers vs. Celtics in 87... contained a plethora of certain hall of famers in those series. By the time of the 98 Finals, Jordan, Pippen, Malone and Stockton were already SURE FIRE hall of famers (not to mention that Rodman probably should be in the hall now, and that Jerry Sloan and Phil Jackson probably belong as coaches also). Now take a look at the 2 best teams in the NBA at present, last year's finalists, the Pistons and the Spurs. Between these two outstanding teams, there is exactly one sure fire future hall of famer in the mix...Duncan. After that, there are a lot of very good players, but nobody that is as yet, at that level. This may be the difference between the NBA now and what it was then. The NBA now has very good teams, but in those days, there were GREAT teams. The difference is largely one of experience. By the time the Bulls and the Jazz met in those last few finals, Malone and Stockton had already been passing the ball back and forth nearly a decade and a half. Jordan and Pippen had hoisted multiple NBA championship banners. This is the difference between the NBA of now, and the NBA of 10 years ago. Then, there was an entire generation of hall of famers who came into their prime at roughly the same time and from the mid 80s to the mid 90s, they lit up the NBA marquee with the likes of which have not been seen since. The NBA today is younger, flashier, but lacking in that hall of fame calibre star quality. If you look back to the early 90s, when the players who should be filling that bill now were coming up, the Chris Webbers, the Anfernee Hardaways and the Grant Hills, there exists almost an entire generation of talent that failed to reach its potential, for whatever the reason. Fortunately though, the current crop of talent, in a few years, should be able to overcome this, and perhaps 5 years from now, we'll be talking about Kobe Bryant and Lebron James with the same reverence currently reserved for Jordan and Magic.
2. Larry Legend
I threw in a DVD of one of Bird's final shining moments, from the 1992 season, when he led the Celtics to a remarkable regular season victory over Portland at the Garden. It's a game I remember watching in the seventh grade. He scored about 50 points that game but looking back on it now, I'm struck not by how impressive this was, but how impressive it was given that he almost NO physical attributes left at this point in his career. If you watch the footage, Bird can barely run at 1/2 speed. It looks like he has such limited flexibility in his back that it's a wonder he can snag boards and of course, his jumping ability, never formidable, now leaves him firmly stapled to the floor. And yet, there he is, backing a man in and then launching a fadeaway from over his head and draining it. And yet, there he is, exorting his teammates to victory by snatching another rebound from a crowd of larger, more imposing players. I've never seen a player with such an obvious, glaring, hunger for competition and winning. It's as if you can see him forcing his team to win as you watch the game. The only other player that I've ever seen exude this ability is Jordan, but he did it beneath an exterior of silky smooth moves and tremendous physical attributes that if you didn't look closely, you might almost miss his competitive fire. With Bird at this point in his career, there is no way you can miss it. The man is pure competition!
Monday, December 26, 2005
TV Time
I watched most of the Suns vs. T-Wolves game tonight on theScore. For those of you who don't know, theScore is a Canadian cable station that runs sports scores and highlights 24 hours a day. They keep a running ticker along the bottom of the screen that continuously updates with live scores from all the major sports. Needless to say, it's an annoying feature. Honestly, who really looks at that when the internet exists? Plus, it reduces the viewing area of the actual show by at least 15%. Maybe that's why televisions are getting bigger and bigger, to make up for all this clutter. Oddly enough, I flipped channels and noticed that rival TSN was showing the World Junior Hockey championship game without any sort of score or clock overlay at all. Instead, the entire screen was filled with hockey. I think sports needs to revisit this and return to the day when they actually filled the screen with the show. I will admit that basketball, more than most sports benefits from having a clock appear periodically, or the score. But really, having this appear after a made basket on occasion or only at commerical breaks is long enough. Most of us aren't stupid. We can keep a running tab of the score in our heads.
Now as for the game itself, I have to say I was very impressed with the Phoenix Suns. Now, don't get me wrong, I do not think they are a great team. Their defence is mediocre, and their halfcourt offence frightfully individualistic at times, but I have to admire their desire to push the ball up the floor and play run and gun basketball. Most people thought that with the loss of Joe Johnson to trade and then Amare Stoudamre to injury, coupled with the addition of certified slow poke Kurt Thomas, that the Suns would be turning things down a notch from last year's high octane attack, but they have kept up the pace. Most likely, their inability to put the defensive clamps down on people and over-reliance on streaky perimeter shooters will be their downfall, but in a league that has become too burdened by over controlling coaches (Larry Brown, I'm talking to you) and a "win at all costs even if it means maiming my opponents" mentality (Pat Riley, I still remember what havoc you wreaked in New York), the Suns rapid fire attack is a pleasure to behold. Here's to hoping that other teams follow their lead and continue to open up the game!
Now as for the game itself, I have to say I was very impressed with the Phoenix Suns. Now, don't get me wrong, I do not think they are a great team. Their defence is mediocre, and their halfcourt offence frightfully individualistic at times, but I have to admire their desire to push the ball up the floor and play run and gun basketball. Most people thought that with the loss of Joe Johnson to trade and then Amare Stoudamre to injury, coupled with the addition of certified slow poke Kurt Thomas, that the Suns would be turning things down a notch from last year's high octane attack, but they have kept up the pace. Most likely, their inability to put the defensive clamps down on people and over-reliance on streaky perimeter shooters will be their downfall, but in a league that has become too burdened by over controlling coaches (Larry Brown, I'm talking to you) and a "win at all costs even if it means maiming my opponents" mentality (Pat Riley, I still remember what havoc you wreaked in New York), the Suns rapid fire attack is a pleasure to behold. Here's to hoping that other teams follow their lead and continue to open up the game!
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Book Review: "The Last Shot" by Darcy Frey
The original edition of this book, published in 1994, documents the story of four basketball players at Lincoln High in Coney Island around the year 1991. The story though, is really about the micro-culture that is big time high school basketball and its relationship to the ghetto that these kids inhabit. For the kids, rightly or wrongly, basketball represents their only chance for escape from a life of poverty and though its never stated explicitly in the book, we all know that the players here are facing nearly insurmountable odds and almost certain failure.
The author followed these kids throughout their senior season at Lincoln. In doing so, we gain a fairly intimate portrait of the three seniors. By following the players so closely, Frey achieves something remarkably powerful. We see just how young and vulnerable these young man-childs are. They may be over six feet tall and able to do things with a basketball most of us only dream about, but they are at their core, young and impressionable young men who've had almost no real education to speak of, and no realistic chance to succeed in anything in life, for whom basketball represents the only real way out of a crime and drug ridden neighborhood. Some are still struggling with dealing with their first serious girlfriend or selling Cokes for spare change in the summertime, but at the same time, they must fend off hordes of seasoned and slick college recruiters who are almost entirely self serving (at least as they are described by Frey).
The fourth player Frey studies is of course, Knicks' star Stephon Marbury, who at the time was a fast talking, brash, 14 year old freshman superstar in the making. Marbury really gives the book its focus. We know that in the end, he manages to break out of this cycle of poverty, something none of his older brothers were able to accomplish. We're left to ponder if its simply a matter of his talent level that allows this to happen, or perhaps, it has something to do with the cocksure attitude he displays even as a youngster in this book, that somehow cocoons him from the insecurities and threats that ultimately cause the downfall of the other characters in this book. Marbury's story calls to mind the story of another ghetto player turned NBA superstar - Isiah Thomas, who was built of similar mental resolve. Looking back on Marbury's career, one remembers that he was heavily derided for the "management" of much of his career, ie. his decision to turn his one year stay at Georgia Tech into essentially a one year prep course for pro basektball (which of course sent so called college hoops "purists" into a tizzy). In retrospect, given the backdrop he grew up against, suddenly his career decisions do not seem so unreasonable.
This is a very important book. I think it is must reading for anyone who sits at home on lazy Saturday afternoons watching their favorite college or pro basketball teams but has never stopped to wonder where on earth many of these players actually come from.
The edition of the book I read is lacking the updated epilogue which shows what happened to the players ten years after the fact. I will post an addendum once I have perused that at the local bookstore. Still, regardless, this is an important book, more so about blacks and poverty than just about basketball. The writing is journalistic and less than beautiful but the subject is powerful enough that it doesn't matter.
Overall rating: **** (out of 5)
The author followed these kids throughout their senior season at Lincoln. In doing so, we gain a fairly intimate portrait of the three seniors. By following the players so closely, Frey achieves something remarkably powerful. We see just how young and vulnerable these young man-childs are. They may be over six feet tall and able to do things with a basketball most of us only dream about, but they are at their core, young and impressionable young men who've had almost no real education to speak of, and no realistic chance to succeed in anything in life, for whom basketball represents the only real way out of a crime and drug ridden neighborhood. Some are still struggling with dealing with their first serious girlfriend or selling Cokes for spare change in the summertime, but at the same time, they must fend off hordes of seasoned and slick college recruiters who are almost entirely self serving (at least as they are described by Frey).
The fourth player Frey studies is of course, Knicks' star Stephon Marbury, who at the time was a fast talking, brash, 14 year old freshman superstar in the making. Marbury really gives the book its focus. We know that in the end, he manages to break out of this cycle of poverty, something none of his older brothers were able to accomplish. We're left to ponder if its simply a matter of his talent level that allows this to happen, or perhaps, it has something to do with the cocksure attitude he displays even as a youngster in this book, that somehow cocoons him from the insecurities and threats that ultimately cause the downfall of the other characters in this book. Marbury's story calls to mind the story of another ghetto player turned NBA superstar - Isiah Thomas, who was built of similar mental resolve. Looking back on Marbury's career, one remembers that he was heavily derided for the "management" of much of his career, ie. his decision to turn his one year stay at Georgia Tech into essentially a one year prep course for pro basektball (which of course sent so called college hoops "purists" into a tizzy). In retrospect, given the backdrop he grew up against, suddenly his career decisions do not seem so unreasonable.
This is a very important book. I think it is must reading for anyone who sits at home on lazy Saturday afternoons watching their favorite college or pro basketball teams but has never stopped to wonder where on earth many of these players actually come from.
The edition of the book I read is lacking the updated epilogue which shows what happened to the players ten years after the fact. I will post an addendum once I have perused that at the local bookstore. Still, regardless, this is an important book, more so about blacks and poverty than just about basketball. The writing is journalistic and less than beautiful but the subject is powerful enough that it doesn't matter.
Overall rating: **** (out of 5)
Welcome to Our Game
Hello everyone. Welcome to the inaugural posting here at 3pointland. I'm not sure how you might have stumbled on to this website, but now that you're here, allow me to introduce myself and my site. My name's Dave and I'm what you might call a highly opinionated hoops diehard.. Now I know there are a ton of basketball websites and blogs out there already. I've listed a few of my favorite ones on the links section of this site. Many of them have great insight and commentary on the games and players that make basketball the greatest game. It's not my goal to compete with these sites. Rather, I'd like to take a step back (out into three point land) and look at the bigger picture from a more cerebral point of view. We'll look at anything and everything that is related to hoops, from the hypocrisy of the NCAA to the latest overpriced sneakers released from Nike, and we'll do it from a dark, irreverant point of view. I'll do my best to keep this site up and interesting in the coming months and I welcome all your comments and ideas! So, hope to see you back here soon!
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