They get no respect

Saunders, Scott in the hunt for All-Star status

The coaches for the All-Star Game will be named Jan. 27, and two very underrated guys could finally get their day in the sun -- Minnesota's Flip Saunders and New Jersey's Byron Scott.

While a lot of folks had Phil Jackson penciled in for the West, the Lakers' 28-9 record is being challenged by the 29-10 Timberwolves. Minnesota has four games to play before the announcement, all against Eastern teams (at home vs. Washington and Atlanta and on the road against Detroit and Toronto), and the T'wolves are 13-3 against the East. The Lakers, meanwhile, have three games to play -- road contests against the Nuggets and Spurs and a home matchup with the upstart Clippers. So with Sacramento's Rick Adelman out of the picture (by virtue of his All-Star turn last year), Saunders has a shot at being on the West's bench on Feb. 10.

Toiling away in low-wattage Minnesota, Saunders has stayed out of the NBA spotlight, despite having one of the top five players in the game on his roster. But Kevin Garnett can't do it all by himself, so the seventh-year head coach has created a group of solid overachievers.

In addition to having to coach around key injuries to Terrell Brandon and Joe Smith, one particularly smart move Saunders made this season was shifting Wally Szczerbiak from small forward to the two-guard spot. It's made them a bigger, better rebounding team. They run the floor better, because they rebound better, and they don't turn the ball over.

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In New Jersey, second-year head coach Scott is overshadowed, too, but in his case it's by the team across the Hudson River and his own player.

The Knicks will always be the big team in that area, even if the Nets have the better record. New York sells out every night and gets all the media attention. That will never change.

The presence of Jason Kidd also takes the focus away from Scott. Kidd came in, and his will to win just took over. He has leadership qualities that are rare in NBA players today, and he's turned around the attitude of the whole organization. He has to be the league MVP right now.

But all of that doesn't mean Scott hasn't been doing a great job at New Jersey's helm. If his 27-12 Nets can hold off George Karl's 25-13 Bucks over the next two weeks, he'll get noticed.

Hornets try to stay focused on the season

Paul Silas has his work cut out for him in Charlotte. It's really hard to keep your players focused on the game at hand when there are daily reports about the team moving.

The most obvious effect is on the fans. Only true basketball fans will go to the games now that the owners have filed relocation papers with the league, and small crowds can make it difficult to maintain any sort of home-court advantage.

The not-so-obvious effect is on the players' home lives. The families know they're going to have to change homes and kids will have to change schools, and that can be very disruptive during a season.

It's going to be a tough situation in Charlotte for the rest of the year.

Kevin Loughery is a former NBA player and head coach. He appears each Sunday on CNN/SI's This Week in the NBA.

 

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