A SIGN OF THE TIMES
Melo losers doing just fine without him
SOMETIMES The best deals you make are the max players you don’t sign. James Harden is playing like an MVP and has carried the Houston Rockets during Dwight Howard’s 11-game absence. Monta Ellis is having his best season and Tyson Chandler is giving the Dallas Mavericks exactly what they’ve needed. Heck, even the talent deprived Los Angeles Lakers have more wins than the Knicks.
Those three teams all pursued Carmelo Anthony last summer and lost out. Depending on how you define lost out, of course. But Anthony’s free agency really came down to two teams, the Knicks and the Chicago Bulls. And in his free agent documentary, which sounded more like a Bulls infomercial, Anthony clearly was impressed with the Bulls’ roster, head coach Tom Thibodeau and culture.
Chicago couldn’t convince Anthony to take less now with the promise of a big deal two years down the road. So instead, the Bulls signed Pau Gasol and have given Jimmy Butler the opportunity to blossom. The Bulls, even without Anthony, are starting to look like the best team in the Eastern Conference, especially with Derrick Rose scoring a seasonhigh 31 points in Friday night’s impressive win over Portland. Two nights earlier, Rose scored 23 in a win over Brooklyn.
“Y’all are the ones that’s going to be surprised by the way that I’m playing,” Rose said. “Just give me a little minute. I know where I’m going to be. I know how good I am, and I’m very confident with my craft and how good I am, period. So y’all are the ones that’s going to be surprised with how I’m playing in a little while.”
The Eastern Conference looks like a four-team race; Chicago, Cleveland, Toronto and Washington. The Raptors are a dangerous team but this current group has never won a playoff series. The Wizards, like Toronto, have a terrific backcourt and Paul Pierce gives them a late-game closer but it’s still hard to see Washington winning three playoff rounds.
The Cavs have LeBron James and by April he, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love will learn how to play together. But the Cavs bench is thin and old. Chicago could be the last team standing. Meanwhile, Carmelo should have trusted his instincts.
SHIRT SALUTE
Rose became the first NBA player to wear an “I Can’t Breathe” shirt and within days LeBron, Kobe Bryant and several players with the Nets wore the shirt during warm-ups.
Yet, none of the Knicks have been seen wearing the shirt that draws awareness to Eric Garner, a Staten Island man who died last July after a New York City police officer placed Garner in a banned chokehold. Last week, there were protests around the country after a grand jury ruled that the officer would not face criminal charges.
“I would’ve loved to do that, but we were never approached to do that,” A mar ’e Stoudemire told the Daily News. “I never knew about t he t-shir ts until after the fact. I think it’s great. It’s needed. Just to raise awareness on the topic, I think now it should be a call to action until we cure the situation. That’s the next step.”
Two yea r s ago, Stoudemire wore a hoodie during warmups to draw awareness to Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Florida teenager who was fatally shot by George Zimmerman, a neig hborhood watch volunteer. Martin’s family later met with several K nick s players. Stoudemire denied that management advised the players not to wear the shirts, saying: “No, no, nothing like that.”
When asked if they might wear the shirts on Sunday prior to their game against Toronto, Stoudemire added: “I think it might be a little late to do something now.”
OFF DAY
At the height of their rivalry could you i magine Magic Johnson or Larry Bird sitting out a game against the other due to “general soreness”? That was the explanation given for LeBron skipping Thursday’s nationally televised game against Kevin Durant and Oklahoma City.
You would think that LeBron would be eager to face last year’s MVP, especially since they only meet twice a year. Instead, he took the night off and then returned on Friday against New Orleans.
Golden State, owners of the NBA’s best record, has reached out to Ray Allen, who has not ruled out playing this season. A better option would be Allen’s old Celtics teammate Kevin Garnett. Assuming the Nets start trading off players, Garnett could be a candidate for a deal or perhaps a buyout after the trade deadline.
Golden State, Chicago, San Antonio and Cleveland could all use Garnett’s leadership and experience, as could his former coach Doc Rivers with the Clippers.
It’s hard to see the Warriors winning three playoff rounds in the Western Conference without a healthy Andrew Bogut. The talented, but perennially injured, center is currently sidelined with a sore right knee.
And you think the Knicks are in trouble? Lakers president Jim Buss claims (why, I have no idea) that the franchise decided to build around Steve Nash and not Dwight Howard.
“When you have a big man and a guard, you have to decide whom you’re going to build your team around,” Buss told ESPN. “The choice was to build it around Steve Nash and what suited Steve Nash instead of what suited Dwight Howard.”
Of course that doesn’t explain why the Lakers put up billboards essentially begging Howard, who is 11 years younger than Nash, to re-sign with the club.
Bulls rookie Doug McDermott will have an arthroscopic procedure on his right knee and is out indefinitely.
Jeff Van Gundy on the struggles his brother Stan is going through with the Detroit Pistons: “And they’re trying to win.”
Kobe Bryant on Michael Jordan: “I think we’re both cursed with the obsession of trying to be the best we can. It’s a blessing and a curse at the same time.”