More BK hate from ESPN

gsuteke · November 28, 2006

LOL this is like a broken record. i am neutral on the subject personally.

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Marc Stein: (12:01 PM ET ) Hello, all. We're here a little earlier than expected. Let's dive right in.

Marc Stein: (12:03 PM ET ) OK . . . now we can dive in. Questions disappeared on me for a moment.

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Josh (Detroit by way of Chicago): Very well said about Wallace. You nailed it: he plays very sullenly and unenthusiastically with the Bulls. Whatever the reason, headband or otherwise, he needs to get over it.

Marc Stein: (12:06 PM ET ) That's my feeling, too. Everyone is wrapped up in the headband. The bigger issue is that Ben just hasn't looked happy since arriving in Chicago. It can't just be the rules. You know where I stand. I think he misses his underdog status and I think he's struggling to accept the fact that, because of his contract, he's seen as a Missing Piece now. But he's going to have to get past all that and relocate the high energy that made him special.

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Pamela : How about giving Skiles a harder time - maybe? He's won nothing! Little farm boy with his inconsequential rules. Maybe he should take a page from Phil and Riley and treat men like men!

Marc Stein: (12:08 PM ET ) The rules seem excessive, agreed. But Skiles couldn't implement them without management's support . . . and you're underselling his success as a coach. He hasn't won a championship yet, but he's done VERY well with a star-less Bulls team over the past couple seasons. In terms of pure coaching, he's very highly regarded around the league. The disclaimer has always been how long he and his players can co-exist because of Skiles' intense-at-all-times approach.

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John, Denver: Why isnt there a bigger outcry on "Scoreboardgate"? Is the NBA doing a great PR job on this or does the media not care cause it was Toronto/Atlanta?

Marc Stein: (12:11 PM ET ) Agree to a degree. We should be talking about this more. But the silence is not because of league spin. One problem, I think, is that even the Raptors didn't realize what happened after the fact. But the league office is still investigating what happened, so hopefully their findings will shed a little light on how the Raptors could be jobbed out of two points by a whole stat crew . . . and how the league intends to deal with such incidents in the future.

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David (Seattle): What are the odds Sloan finally wins Coach of the Year this season?

Marc Stein: (12:14 PM ET ) Better than they've ever been. Reason being: People are talking about this so much. Not only is Utah off to an insane start, two straight losses notwithstanding, but I read about Jerry's COY drought every day. His campaign started earlier than anyone else's. Fact is, though, that he deserves one of these before he retires. He's one of my favorites. He's been doing it the same way for two decades and there's nobody else like him.

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Rich ( OC, CA ): Marc. Huge Laker fan but lets be realistic... They've played at home all year!! They have a losing record on the road. Don't you think when they go through weeks at a time on the road that this team isn't going to be more then a 7th seed? Kobe is in his prime!! Why isn't Dr. Buss realizing that he has a 4 year window to put a KG around Kobe to make a run!! It's now or never?!?

Marc Stein: (12:17 PM ET ) A year ago, I'm quite sure the Lakers would have parted with anything except Kobe for KG. But now, if the Wolves do finally give in and offer KG for Odom and Bynum, I can't see the Lakers giving up both. But I lean more toward what you're saying . . . and not just because you're an OC guy. To put KG and Kobe together, you'd like to think the Lakers would consider just about anything.

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Dave (Portland, ME): Vick or Romo this week?

Marc Stein: (12:18 PM ET ) Don't understand the question. All I know is Romo came to the Mavs' game last night and didn't bring Jessica. He's useless.

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Leon D.C.: What's up with the Wizards?

Marc Stein: (12:20 PM ET ) Very unhappy group based on what I've seen. It's not just Gilbert, They're all off, Caron aside.

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Paul (Augusta): Marc How close is Billy Knight to getting out of the proverbial woods with NBA writers? He was roasted for drafting Shelden Williams who obviously fit a need. Shelden is #3 in ROY standings per NBA.com He was roasted for the Joe Johnson trade and now Joe is emerging as a superstar in this league. Will making the playoffs this year be enough?

Marc Stein: (12:22 PM ET ) Not close. Don't think a playoff spot would change much, either. I don't hear a lot of Joe Johnson roasting, because Joe is blossoming so nicely, but Marvin and Shelden Williams will both have to do big things to do what you say. I'm not the only one who brings up the Chris Paul draft.

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Dave (San Antonio): Do you know whats up with Jackie Butler of the Spurs? A couple of ESPN guys said what a steal he was for the Spurs, but he not even getting DNPs in the box scores. Is he injured, not catching on to Pop's systems or what?

Marc Stein: (12:25 PM ET ) He's still a steal. But he's a long-term project. The idea in SA was bringing in Elson and Butler in the hope that one would be rotation-ready this season. That's proving to be Elson, who's more polished, with Oberto's fast start leaving no room for Butler. Give it time. It's a great situation for him. The bigger question: When a team with San Antonio's proven personnel record signed Butler to an offer sheet, why didn't the Knicks say to themselves: "If the Spurs want him, maybe this is one of the guys we should keep."

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Lejoe (Houston, Texas): Do you think a "passive McGrady" will be good enough for the Rockets? Should the Rockets be a team centered more around Yao Ming or Tracy McGrady?

Marc Stein: (12:26 PM ET ) Yes. Because he's not "passive." He's playing smart. Don't know why T-Mac is taking such heat for NOT jacking up 30 shots a game.

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Alex (Cleveland): I would appreciate it if you would stop answering questions from people from Cleveland who indirectly threaten you with physical harm from LeBron James because you made some comments about his poor free-throw shooting. It really embarrasses the whole city and gives us intelligent Clevelanders a bad name. Thank you.

Marc Stein: (12:27 PM ET ) This is a reference to a question I answered in the Weekend Dime. I hear you, Alex. Consider your concerns registered.

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James (ocala fl): Notice that nobody is mentioning anything about Orlando's hot start? They are 2 deep at almost every position and they play tall ball too!

Marc Stein: (12:30 PM ET ) Huh? The Magic are darlings. Everyone raves about Dwight and Darko. Everyone's rooting for Grant Hill to stay healthy all season. You're exaggerating.

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JP, Toronto: How do you like what you've seen from Diaw, Marion and Stoudemire playing together on the court in Phoenix?

Marc Stein: (12:32 PM ET ) Very encouraging. Just seeing Amare move the way he has the last five or six games is very encouraging. He looked worse than I expected at the start of the season and now looks better than I thought possible one month into the season. But I always bet on Phoenix to figure things out. D'Antoni and Nash are too good not to come up with something.

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Mark F (Singapore): Player A is in the first year of a monster contract but he's unhappy with his current team. He is convinced he can find another team that will pay him identical dollars. Player A's current team is unhappy with his performance and would jump any chance to get away from cap-killing contract. Can Player A and his team mutually agree to terminate the contract? If yes, what would be the implications to the team's salary cap?

Marc Stein: (12:34 PM ET ) Not really. The only real option in this case is a buyout. Both sides can agree to a buyout amount and that amount still figures into a team's payroll unless the player was open to taking a ridiculously small buyout. Which never happens.

The sides can agree to a buyout and the buyout figure still

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Mark (Miami): Yo Marc, I am so upset. People always say to me that the Heat were a fluke and "stole" a championship. I would never agree to it until recently. I'm starting to see that they don't act like champions, with or without Shaq. They look lowsy and old. Maybe they are spoiled and enjoyed the championship ring too much. Can they repeat??

Marc Stein: (12:36 PM ET ) If Shaq is available for playoff duty, I'd still pick Miami over anyone in the East in a playoff series. So I'd say there's still a decent your disgust, while understandable, will fade.

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Greg (Portland, ME): Philly starts 3-0, now is 5-10 after getting wiped last night. Boston starts 1-6 and is now 5-9 after a stellar comeback against the Bucks. Pierce is every bit as dominating as AI, yet you have the Celts way behind the 6ers. Is it quality of wins, or do you just not beleive in these Celts?

Marc Stein: (12:37 PM ET ) Bingo. And bingo.

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Dave (Dallas): Right now in his career is Dirk a Hall of Famer? Do you see him being a Hall of Famer at the end of his career? Does he have to win a MVP or Championship to solitify him as a Hall of Famer?

Marc Stein: (12:40 PM ET ) Sorry, Dave, but you can't ask HoF questions. As Hollinger, I and other have said here, until there's an HoF system with consistent guidelines about who is and isn't worthy, it's difficult to assess anybody's chances. Of course Dirk SHOULD BE a first-ballot Hall of Famer. But the Basketball Hall of Fame doesn't use ballots. It uses panels. Don't get me started.

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Okafor: will I win DPOY or MIP?

Marc Stein: (12:41 PM ET ) DPOY is more likely than MIP. Okafor isn't going to be in the MIP discussion so soon after ROY. Besides . . . hasn't Kevin Martin already clinched MIP honors?

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Jason, Castro Valley: Any chance Andris Biedrins of the warriors could make the all-star team?

Marc Stein: (12:42 PM ET ) Actually? I'm starting to think so.

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Mitch (Cincinnati): What's all this talk about Pau being moved?

Marc Stein: (12:47 PM ET ) Makes a lot of sense. The Grizz haven't won a playoff game with him and it's not a bad time to go for a redo -- with a heavy focus on the upcoming draft, of course -- because the West is so ridiculously deep at the minute. The ownership situation has to be resolved first, but if things are sorted by February, Pau will be on the move.

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Bobby (NY): Marc, after a month of basketball, what team seems to be poised to win this year?

Marc Stein: (12:50 PM ET ) One bizarre month honestly doesn't change my thinking. The West champ is still coming from the power trip of Dallas-San Antonio-Phoenix. Miami, provided Riles has a reasonably healthy group in April, is still my East favorite, with Detroit next in line. You can try to convince me otherwise, but you won't.

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Adam (Mackinaw Island): Was the signing of Ben Wallace a mistake? Simmons has been talking about it from the start but they just don't seem to have enough guys who can score on that team.

Marc Stein: (12:53 PM ET ) I know where Simmons stands on this one because he keeps gleefully reminding me how wrong I was on this one. But I still say it's too early to write off Ben in Chicago. I know I keep going back to this, but with the Bulls possessing so many assets to keep tweaking their team -- even after giving Ben all that money -- who's to say their next big move won't bring a guy who brings out the best in Ben. Signing Wallace was NOT Chicago's missing-piece move. They will continue to be very active over the next year.

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matt (Chicago): Are you a little hurt Israel hasn't produced a decent NBA player?

Marc Stein: (12:54 PM ET ) More than a little. I think I might have mentioned this already, but the breaking point for me was Sefalosha's emergence as such a coveted draftee. Nothing against Sefalosha himself. I've heard nothing but good things about him as player. Just a little bitter than Switzerland has produced an NBA player before the blue and white.

November 28, 2006

Quote:

LOL this is like a broken record. i am neutral on the subject personally.

Hell, I am on the hate BK side of things and this is getting ridiculous. There was no mention of Marvin in the whole question, and yet Marc pulls a Chris Paul reference out of his ass. I really hope once we get healthy we start winning a lot more just to prove the jackasses at espn wrong.

gsuteke · November 28, 2006

Quote:

LOL this is like a broken record. i am neutral on the subject personally.

Hell, I am on the hate BK side of things and this is getting ridiculous. There was no mention of Marvin in the whole question, and yet Marc pulls a Chris Paul reference out of his ass. I really hope once we get healthy we start winning a lot more just to prove the jackasses at espn wrong.

i asked him if getting to the playoffs would "vindicate" BK and he basically slammed the door. LOL!

what can BK do in these people's eyes to get them to shut up?

i have an idea...... get lucky in the draft or trade for a PG. that will shut them up.

CBAreject · November 28, 2006

Here's what BK has to do:

Move to NY and GM the Knicks. Stein rated the Knicks' offseason well above the Hawks' because they made great signings like Jared Jeffries and drafted "contributors" like Renaldo Balkman.

Seriously, is there any GM in the last 20 years that has received more criticism over a single draft pick so early (within 1 year of the draft)? And for taking the consensus #2 selection, no less? Why are the Bucks immune to such criticism? Sure, they had T.J. Ford, but Paul is a dynamic talent who could make any team better. The Bucks would've traded for Villanueva just the same...

Imagine:

Simmons

Villanueva

Magloire/Pachulia

Redd

Paul

That team would contend for the conference finals. Now they'll be lucky to make the playoffs.

VarsitySlacker · November 28, 2006

Well, in all honesty he's right.

As of right now, this team is a playoff team. They're 5-6, and the 8th seed in the East. That doesn't mean that Billy Knight did a spectacular job building the team, it means that the East is week. Making the playoffs isn't really a real statement right now (though it is for the Hawks)

Don't get me wrong, I support Billy Knight for the most part. I HATED the Shelden Williams pick, and I'm happy to say that it blew up in my face.

But of the three things that BK was roasted for, Marvin over Paul was the most crucial. Shelden being picked was laughed at (similar to Villanueva was last year) but was not a career defining move. The JJ move was criticized because it was a lot to give up for JJ. A max contract, two high draft picks, and (what now looks like) a borderline all-star player. While it's obvious to us that JJ is worth it, a lot of the rest of the league still wonders what we'd be capable of with Boris, Marcus Williams, and enough money to sign a heavy-duty free agent.

However, if Marvin comes back this year and doesn't perform over 11/5/4 and the Hawks make the playoffs, then BK is going to get criticized. His 11/5/4 will not be needed in lieu of Shelden being efficient and Smoove and Childress more than holding down the fort at the SF spot. Writers will say (and rightfully so) that with Paul or Williams, this team is at the very top of the East rather than holding on to the 8th spot.

So for Billy Knight to be out of the doghouse, Marvin needs to produce this year. Or next year. Or however soon BK wants out of the doghouse. Because even though every expert in america agreed with the pick at the time, it's easy to point and laugh in retrospect and make your money making "expert observations" in hindsight.

Sothron · November 28, 2006

That was a very, very telling answer: from a non-Chad Ford ESPN muppet we now now that anything less than a title will never remove the words "Chris Paul" from talking about Knight.

We all know who I thought we should have drafted but its insane to say that making the playoffs with the roster as it is now shouldn't cut Knight some serious slack. No GM in sports history AFAIK has ever had to work around court injuctions on player movement. I'm not a fan of Knight but this is insane and unfair.

vdunkndunk · November 28, 2006

Even if Knight won the title, everyone would talk about how much better a title it would have been if we would have had Chris Paul.

All I know is...people make mistakes. Joe Dumars gets a pass from almost everyone for drafting Darko as a consensus number 2 pick, even though he passed on Carmello and Dwayne Wade. Now THAT was a huge mistake...Dumars ended up losing Darko AND Big Ben and replaced them with...Nazr Mohammed. Yet the media constantly makes excuses for Dumars...even though missing out on Wade or 'Mello to me is a way worse sin than missing out on Paul.

November 28, 2006

He mentions that Pau Gasol is a trade waiting to happen.

Since BK drafted him (essentially, doing the SAR trade, etc.), would he be interested in getting Pau here?

The guy scores 20+ points, almost 9 rebounds, and is 7 ft. tall. He's a bit soft defensively inside, but not quite the stationary "chair" that some Euros are.

TradeChecker says that a trade of Josh Smith, Shelden Williams, and Speedy Claxton for Pau and Chucky Atkins would work.

Assuming Solomon Jones is a decent PF back-up, and Pau fills our starting PF role, that would work okay. We'd have decent interior defense, though maybe not as great as with Shelden and Smoove. But we'd get more height and wouldn't have to worry about Smoove's likely ongoing inconsistency and wondering if he's a PF or a SF - or neither.

And, assuming (big IF, I know) that Speedy is going to be an ongoing liability with his knees, etc., then Chucky Atkins wouldn't be a bad swap, especially since his contract is up after this year.

I know this trade couldn't happen until Dec. 15 (due to Speedy and Atkins being new signees).

We'd have capspace next year, and at least Indy's draft choice, in all likelihood. We try again for a starting point guard.

Am I missing something? Please don't be rude with your answers!

AHF · November 28, 2006

I was looking to see what Marc Stein had written on Marvin Williams in the ESPN archives and found that basically every columnist had written an article on Marvin for ESPN except for Marc Stein. Thought that was a little interesting.

gsuteke · November 28, 2006