Off the Glass

Don't wait until next year: Prospects ending the season with a bang

Caron Butler has emerged as a Rookie of the Year candidate. Fernando Medina/NBAE/Getty Images

By Paul Forrester, Special to SI.com

When, oh when, will the season end? Here OTG sits, watching his two fantasy clubs cough and wheeze their way to the finish line. All the more frustrating is the fact that any little injury at this point in the year usually translates into a premature end to a player's regular season.

For the teams playing toward tee times, there is no incentive to risk aggravating a player's malady with nothing more on the line but draft position. And for the teams heading toward the money season, resting a star through any nagging aches and pains is just a sound investment.

So with many a fantasy season up in flames, the forward-thinking fantasy GM should take a look not only at his own club (to figure out what went wrong), but also at some quietly productive players who may slip under the radar this fall when draft time comes 'round again.

Caron Butler: By no means a surprise star at this point of the season, Butler's play over the past few weeks has separated him from most of his fellow rookies and even some veterans. In March, Butler has upped his scoring and started hitting the 3 ball with a bit more consistency. Combined with some sticky fingers (1.65 spg) and solid rebounding (5.3 rpg), Butler is fast becoming a more flexible version of someone like Richard Jefferson. Assuming Miami doesn't import Tim Duncan in the offseason and continues to build largely through the draft, Butler should put up even better numbers next year.

Corey Maggette: In the train wreck that is another Clippers season, Maggette quietly has scored 17 ppg, pulled down 5.2 rpg and hit five free throws a night. He's also hit for almost 45 percent from the floor while stroking a 3 and garnering a steal each game. The production isn't consistent yet, but with the trades and/or free-agent defections sure to come this offseason, Maggette may gain an even bigger role next year.

Troy Hudson: He hasn't made anyone forget Terrell Brandon (a healthy Brandon, that is) but he has produced some very solid numbers from the point: 14.4 ppg, 5.8 apg and three or more a night. Those numbers won't be enough for Minnesota to look for a top-notch upgrade, but with the cap problems the team has, it may not have any choice, which could solve a lot of your problems next year.

Radoslav Nesterovic: While OTG is in a Minnesota state of mind, I would be remiss to not mention the development of Nesterovic. He may be a big step below Shaq, but in the NBA these days, he's a step up compared with most other centers. Double-digit points, about seven rebounds, a block-and-a-half a night and better than 50 percent from the floor are numbers an Erick Dampier could only dream of. And no one wants their season riding on Dampier, do they?

Stromile Swift: He's been scratching the surface of his abilities for a few years, but only in the past month has the former LSU Tiger started capitalizing on them. Swift's 18.2 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 2.9 bpg, 1.1 spg and 58 percent shooting have powered Hubie Brown's crew to a 6-3 record in the month of March. Those numbers are All-Star quality. All Swift owners need is for Jerry West to clear a little space in the frontcourt with a trade or two and those numbers could be as regular as the mail.

Speaking of the Grizzlies, when will more teams figure out what Jerry West has about today's NBA? With so many kids skipping college and the opportunity to hone their fundamentals, players arrive in the league in need of the most rudimentary instruction. That means you need a coach willing to cast aside his playbook for a few months and teach these young talents how to play NBA basketball. The ability to throw a pass into the post in a spot that affords the receiver the optimal position to turn and shoot is not something learned in high school or in a year of college ball. This, of course, also requires a management willing to swallow a rough few months or a even a season, but the payoff is evident in Memphis's late-season performance. By doing nothing but playing sound basketball, the Grizzlies are a step or six up on an undisciplined train wreck like Cleveland. The selection of Hubie Brown raised many an eyebrow -- including mine -- when it was announced earlier this season. I think we all have our eyes open now.

Donyell Marshall: It's been easy to forget Marshall the past few years, as he played third fiddle to Karl Malone and John Stockton last season before taking an understudy role this year among Chicago's kiddy corps. That's a shame because Marshall's 14 points, nine rebounds and one block a night are perfect complements to any fantasy lineup. This is six seasons now (with three different teams) that Marshall has put up these types of numbers, and yet, on draft day, he always falls to the leftover pile. Don't let that happen again next season.

Kwame Brown: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. There is a 20-point, 10-rebound, 1.5 block player here. He's shown brief flashes of it, especially at the start of this season. All that is needed is a trade. Whether it be Michael Jordan upstairs (more on this below) or Brown to another team, Brown has a chance to fulfill that No. 1 pick status if he can get away from Jordan's sharp tongue and Doug Collins' wishy-washy confidence in the kid.

Speaking of Washington, that brings OTG to this week's ...

Mailbag

I don't believe any column has generated more mail than last week's OTG criticizing Michael Jordan's play with the Washington Wizards. If the mail was any indication, only about 15 percent of you thought I might be on to something. The nays were varied but did show a few common themes.

Some were analytical ...

You need a reality check. To blame the season Washington is having on Jordan's lack of being a team player and passing the ball is absurd and downright STUPID. You completely mislead the reader and forget what Michael has brought to the team: a proven 20-point-a-game scorer who teaches on the court. He is surrounded by players who, unfortunately, cannot shoot. The two players you point out, Larry Hughes and Kwame Brown, can't do anything but dunk. When you don't move without the ball, as these two players forget to do, then you don't get dunks. You should also check out the stats of the rest of the players. Jordan passes the ball, but his teammates are not taking advantage of the situations. They either turn it over or shoot-and-miss or pass it back so they can enjoy the show. GIVE ME A BREAK WITH THIS JORDAN IS SELFISH CRAP. You need to write about something like pairs figure skating, because you certainly do not understand the game of basketball.
-- John Jenkins, Chapel Hill, N.C.

It's amazing to read an article in such a respected organization written by someone with such limited basketball knowledge. If I thought you watched the games instead of just reading the stats, I might have finished the article. The Wizards are a fragile team incapable of even holding a lead whenever Jordan sits down. Jordan may have to score 30 or cover on defense to plug the holes necessary in each game. I'm afraid Hughes and Kwame cannot create enough shots on their own successfully to warrant more attempts. As for Stack, he shoots way more 3s and twice as many free throws while shooting a much lower field-goal percentage. His scoring lead over Jordan should ACTUALLY be larger, even with one fewer "attempt." (Did you know that getting fouled doesn't cost you an attempt?) Stack also disappears when he doesn't have the ball. In other words, he sucks. MJ let him score to carry the team in the first 50 to 60 games. Now it's crunch time and they need the wins. If you watch the games, the only player playing to win is you-know-who. Don't let your bias distort the facts. Watch the game and learn.
-- Han Lee, New York

Your points about the Wizards and MJ's selfishness are well taken. However, You forgot one small thing. Without MJ, the Wizards would be 20-46 right now and would not even be dreaming of chance at the playoffs, and the franchise would be in dire straits. Just some minor details.
-- JP, San Diego

Some criticized the audacity I displayed in questioning the play of one of the game's greatest players ...

Are you kidding? Questioning Michael Jordan giving 110 percent is foolish. This team would be much worse off if this man did not come out of retirement and attempt to instill some pride, gusto and professionalism into the team that plays in a league chock full of overpaid, underperforming thugs. Shame on you for even suggesting that.
-- Michael Parrella, Fairfield, Conn.

You should feel like an idiot for writing such an infantile article. Jordan has given so much to the game, and you think you can make some sort of point with your not-so-clever writing?
-- Eric, Los Angeles

And some questioned my ability to distinguish a basketball from a doughnut ...

How did you become a sports analyst? It is clear that you are an absolute numskull.
-- Y.J., Bronx

Jordan is selfish? The Wizards wouldn't have made it anywhere near this far without him. Don't tell me, you played ball in school and could have been in the NBA is only you had had a chance, right? Idiot. -- Smarter than Paul Forrester, Doesn't Matter

In regards to your MJ tirade, we're laughing at you, not with you. Your startling nuggets of wisdom are topped only by the French. Good job!
-- J.D. Bolick Denver, N.C.

OTG appreciates how great Michael Jordan was more than most, as he almost single-handedly took down a very good Cleveland Cavaliers team time and again in the early 1990s (crushing an impressionable young OTG's belief in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny). OTG also spent the bulk of the Bulls' championship runs (both of them) in Chicago, where Jordan would be elected mayor tomorrow if he ran. As much as I'd like to take (for selfish, Cleveland-related reasons) away from Jordan's greatness, I can't. He beat all comers while establishing himself as perhaps the game's best ever.

While he still flashes some of those skills, and it is wonderful to appreciate that, OTG's beef with His Airness stems from his impatience in working toward his stated goal: to teach young players he acquired how to play cohesive and winning basketball. You can do a little of that by merely watching, but, honestly, will Kwame Brown learn much more than any of us would by "watching" Jordan do things that 99 percent of the NBA can't do? Jordan and Oakley and Laettner can demonstrate all they want, but players, and people, learn by doing.

The old-timers MJ has brought in are stealing valuable study time Brown and Juan Dixon and Brendan Haywood could be receiving at the hands of opposing players and Jordan's guidance directing the team on the court. That also means getting the rock to the players around him at all costs. If Brown passes the ball back to MJ because he doesn't want to take the shot, MJ should pass the rock back and force him to get the shot off. To appreciate Jordan's abilities at the age of 40 is fine, but OTG can't give the guy a pass when he so obviously has given up trying to develop the future of the team.

The goal of reaching the playoffs is overrated for a team as old as the Wizards. While there are some young pieces there, all an eighth seed will produce is a lesser draft position when the team needs to be acquiring more young talent.

Fans from the Bullets days should well remember all the times Jeff Ruland and Jeff Malone sneaked D.C. into the playoffs. What was the payoff? A quick exit from the postseason and a draft position that netted people like Kenny Green or John "Hot Plate" Williams. Nothing magical happens in the postseason for a team without any real chance of making it to the Finals and with a core of players who won't be around the following season. For Jordan to cast aside some of the promising personnel moves he had made for one last showdown is great for TV, but terrible for Wizards.

Oh, and in non-Jordan-related news ...

Do you think Gary Payton will stay in Milwaukee?
-- Rachel, Denver

A lot seems to depend on their postseason. If Payton gets a sense that the Bucks aren't that far away, he probably will take the cash and stay in Milwaukee. But it would be hard to believe Payton wouldn't at least sniff out the situation in Miami, although the Heat's playoff future is a bit further off than Milwaukee's.

What do you think will happen to the Knicks this offseason? Will they be able to make any trades, or are they going to stick to the path that is making them an "eight seed if they are lucky" team? And what about free agents? With all the good free agents available, what will they do, being so over the cap? Thanks.
-- Justin Rousseau, Edmonton, Canada

Don Chaney has done a great job of coaching the Knicks into the playoff hunt this season. With a healthy Antonio McDyess, New York might be fighting for a home-court advantage in round one rather than an advantage in the lottery. Nonetheless, New York has some serious holes and can do little to trade its way into plugging them. No team will swallow Allan Houston's outlandish contract, and trading one of the more manageable deals that Latrell Sprewell or Kurt Thomas has will open up even more holes. After those three, there isn't much talent on the team anyone in the league is looking to acquire, especially when some of it comes attached to high salaries. In addition, the team's salary-cap problems prevent any major forays into what looks to be a bountiful free-agent market. The Knicks's plan should be directed toward the draft. Pickup a high first rounder and start building a new -- and cheaper -- talent base.

 

Related information

Stories

Off the Glass: Jordan's selfishness hurts Wizards' development

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video