Off the Glass

Garnett a slam-dunk choice for MVP

Kevin Garnett is among the league leaders in nearly all of the major fantasy scoring categories. David Sherman/NBAE/Getty Images

By Paul Forrester, Special to SI.com

Should there really be any debate about the MVP? Attacked in almost every corner after another first-round playoff loss last season, all Kevin Garnett has done is produce the most statistically complete season of anyone in the game. The 6-11 Farragut Academy grad averaged career highs in ppg (23.0), rpg (13.3), field-goal percentage (50.1) and apg (6.0, tops on the T-Wolves and 13th-best league-wide).

He's logged 40 minutes a night for a team that was without its second-best player (Wally Szczerbiak) for half of the year and whose regular point guard (Terrell Brandon) spent the entire season contemplating retirement. With a supporting cast that relies on significant time from Kendall Gill and Joe Smith, Garnett has Minnesota on pace to close out a second straight 50-win season.

Tim Duncan's team may be better and Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady may score more points but no one has put together a better across-the-board campaign than Da Kid.

LeBron or Carmelo

We'll lay all 53 cents lining OTG's pockets that Carmelo Anthony has played his last game for Syracuse. He's a guaranteed top-three pick and he's already won college basketball's brass ring. And despite that bitter old man in Washington singing Anthony's praises while predicting James could be "a good pro," the No. 1 still should be James. The quality that separates James from the pack is his willingness to give up the rock. With the McDonald's All-American Game scoring record well within reach, James pulled back and found his teammates to the tune of seven assists and a win.

Given a year of college experience, Anthony may be the better producer immediately. But the upside (and that's what the draft is all about these days) on James is unlimited.

Goodbye, Crumbs

Paranoid he may have been. Arrogant he was. But most of all, Jerry Krause was a pretty good judge of talent. From the time he finagled Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant to offering a home to Dennis Rodman when no one else would to drafting two promising big men who may catapult the Bulls back into the Finals one day, Krause's ability to uncover NBA talent is not to be questioned. He provided the supporting cast for the Bulls' six titles and has stocked the current Bulls with some potential studs for the future.

His fault came in his maniacal desire to prove he deserved more credit that he publicly received for building championship basketball teams once MJ and company left.

The pieces seemingly are all there; Krause just appears frozen to move those pieces into a checkmate on the league.

Frozen by what?

Fear.

Fear that one of his carefully selected pieces will have a productive career for another team. The problem is that by hoarding the talent the Bulls have, Krause wasn't even allowing his players to be productive on his own team. Chicago is overloaded at power forward and at point guard, yet Krause didn't deal for the off-guard the team truly could have used.

The good thing for Bulls fans is that, minus a six-title résumé, the new GM will be judged on how well the team does now. The bad news is that the new GM may not have the skills to etch a similar track record.

OTG answers your questions

I'm in a keeper league (points, assists, steals, blocks, rebounds), and soon I'll have the option of taking either Michael Olowokandi or Eddy Curry at the center position. Whom should I take? Thanks!
--Drew, Toronto

That all depends. If you are talking about an auction league, I'd assume Curry carries a significantly lower price tag than the Kandi man. It's probably low enough to make Curry worth keeping, especially in light of his inspired play of late and the potential to develop even further over the summer and another training camp.

If you are dealing in a league without fantasy salaries -- or if their prices happen to be about the same -- I'd lean toward Olowokandi. Despite his latest pleas that he wouldn't mind returning to the Clippers, I'd be shocked if the Kandi man didn't bolt. He's reportedly purchased a home in the Miami area and, wonder of wonders, Pat Riley and the Heat have a desperate need for a center. Riley may be one of the few coaches to keep Olowokandi from slipping back to the dog-status he occupied prior to his year-and-a-half salary drive. If Kandi ends up back in Clipperland, I'd look to make a trade. As long as Donald Sterling owns the team, the Clips will NEVER win.

With the incredible list of proven NBA talent sticking their heads out in the free-agent market this year, and the lack of payroll room, due to luxury taxes, do you foresee a players union revolt against the current scheme? Do you foresee an owners revolt based on the fact that they cannot afford the talent it takes to win a title over such a dominating player like Shaq? Finally, saying the players just came out of a nasty strike over money, what do you think the upcoming collective bargaining agreement will look like?
--Elton Levingston, Los Angeles

No, no and who knows? Many a player has gotten rich in the league and as long as the top talents are still getting $12 million a year, you won't see too much dissension. As it is the stars who drive the league's popularity, it is the stars who determine how much the collective bargaining agreement will or will not change. As none of us have heard Allen Iverson or Ray Allen or Kobe Bryant complaining that they are underpaid, it'll be a cold day in hell before they take a stand for the Jon Barrys and Tony Delks. (Not that a $350,000 minimum salary is anything to sneeze at in the first place, but we all know it's relative.)

As for the owners, why would they change a system that gives them some measure of cost certainty? Revenues are such that the players are now kicking back a portion of their total salaries. And there seem to be few owners willing to put wins and losses over the bottom line. For every Mark Cuban, there are five Gordon Gunds, pawning off his team as if his rent payments depended on such transactions. Winning is nice but winning in the wallet is nicer.

Finally, with few, if any, players or owners complaining about the current CBA, I don't think we're looking at a standoff. The league has bigger problems than salaries, like attendance, which has dropped around the league. The league needs to draw fans with lower prices and more competitive teams, not drive them away with work stoppages.

I'll tell you why Duke players don't fare so well in the NBA. At Duke Coach K preaches teamwork, winning with defense, fundamentals like moving without the ball and creating your own shot, and being responsible for your own actions. Five players coming together as one team playing for the name on the front of the jersey not the back. The NBA is all about selfish players chasing the money and playing for stats (see: Davis, Ricky). Who cares if the team loses so long as you get your shots, right? The NBA is the total antithesis of the Duke University program. No wonder Duke players struggle.
--Bradley Smith, Atlanta

A wise woman once told me that if the student has not learned, then the teacher has not taught. (Hey, it helped a young OTG through the first of many substandard math grades.) The same goes for the NBA. If George Karl is going to roll out the ball and tell Sam Cassell to run the show, then he's going to run the show as he sees fit. But if Hubie Brown can drill fundamental basketball into Jason Williams's head, he's going to post 8.2 assists a game in leading the Grizzlies to their best season ever. While some of the problems Duke grads have experienced in the NBA can be attributed to the poor coaches (on the poor teams) they are often drafted to, the clear-out style of play prevalent in many quarters now hasn't always been the case. The '80s and early '90s were filled with fundamentally sound teams and Dukies still didn't excel for the most part. OTG's finger is still pointed squarely at Durham.

 

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