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 Inside the NBA
Posted: Tuesday May 11, 1999 03:01 PM Nets Gain | Around The Rim Charlotte's Eddie Jones has schooled doubters By Jackie MacMullan
Charlotte guard Eddie Jones had been in the NBA for four years and had never missed the postseason. When it became apparent in the last week of the season that the Hornets would come up short in their mad dash for the last playoff slot in the East, Jones told the team doctor to schedule surgery on Jones's right middle finger, which he'd injured while trying to block a shot against the Nets on April 19, for the day after the season ended. "I told them I wanted it done right away so I wouldn't have to watch the playoffs," Jones says. "I was too upset to have any interest."
The surgery was a fitting end to the most trying season of Jones's career. After 4 1/2 seasons with the Lakers, he thought he'd established himself as a cornerstone of a championship contender. But he had also been the subject of trade rumors for more than a year, and by the time L.A. pulled the trigger on the deal that sent him and Elden Campbell to Charlotte for Glen Rice, J.R. Reid and B.J. Armstrong on March 10, Jones was relieved, even optimistic about making a new start. He concedes that the distraction of his uncertain future affected his play with the Lakers this season. While he played for Charlotte, his shooting percentage jumped from 42.3 to 44.6, and his average from 13.6 points per game to 17.0. "I needed to be out of that place," Jones says of L.A. "Near the end I didn't enjoy it anymore. Look at my numbers. I went from 23rd in the league in steals with the Lakers to second with Charlotte. That's because I was loving the game again." Jones wants to lock up a long-term extension with the Hornets. (Six years is the most he can sign for this summer.) "If they make me the right offer, I'll sign," he says. "I want to be here." He likes Charlotte's chances if Paul Silas re-signs as the coach, and he can't wait to play alongside Anthony Mason, who sat out the season with a ruptured right biceps tendon. Jones believes that even though Michael Jordan's negotiations with owner George Shinn hit a snag last week, His Airness will end up running the club. "We could be the best team in the East," Jones says. There was a time when he believed the Lakers would be the best team in the West, and he finds no consolation in the fact that the trade he was part of has been a major disappointment for L.A. and a major boost for Charlotte, even though most pundits predicted it would be the other way around. "Lots of people had lots to say," says Jones. "I'm sure some of them are wishing now they'd never said a word."
Really Big Country: NBA scouts and agents burn up big chunks of their T&E budgets beating the bushes worldwide in hopes of unearthing an unpolished gem with the one thing you can't teach: size. That's why the announcement last week that Evergreen Sports, a Cleveland-based sports-management company, had signed 7'5" Chinese center Yao Ming sent several general managers scrambling for their checkbooks. Ming, who is 18 years old, played in a Nike all-star game in Indianapolis last summer and piqued the interest of scouts with his soft hands and touch. How well does Ming move? "That depends on who you compare him to," says Billy Knight, the Pacers' senior vice president of basketball operations. "If you compare him to Gheorghe Muresan, Ming's a ballet dancer." The consensus among the NBA scouts was that with a few more years of experience, Ming could become an impact player. Mavericks assistant Donn Nelson, who has been to China to watch Ming play, is certain he would be a first-round pick in this year's draft. To be chosen, however, Ming has to declare himself eligible for the draft by May 16. As of Monday he hadn't. In fact, last Friday, Ming told the Chinese media, "I am not thinking about playing in the NBA. At least not now." That was bad news for Michael Coyne, the president of Evergreen Sports, who claims he has a signed agreement with Ming to serve as his management consultant. Coyne also says he has documents from Ming's Chinese team, the Shanghai Sharks, releasing him from his contract. League sources told SI that Ming was talked out of entering the draft by both U.S. and Chinese basketball contacts, who feel he needs more heft (he weighs 270 pounds) and more experience. There were also concerns about Ming's deal with Evergreen. Two sources who have read the contract say that it calls for over half of Ming's earnings to go to Evergreen and the Sharks. The agreement was forwarded anonymously to the players' association, and sources there say executive director Billy Hunter proclaimed it invalid because Coyne is not a certified agent. Coyne says Hunter has no jurisdiction over his deal with Ming precisely because he's no longer an agent. Coyne says he will provide comprehensive management services for Ming, such as assisting him in arranging his departure from China, helping him adjust to a new culture and learn a new language, finding international tax consultants for him and placing him with a certified agent. Coyne denies Ming backed out because of his contract with Evergreen. "I think we disturbed the plans of bigger powers here," says Coyne. He declined to say whether those bigger powers were the NBA, the People's Republic of China or an even more formidable force in sports, Nike. Of course it's also possible that Ming just wanted to wait another year before going to work for Coyne. As Nets officials begin their search for a permanent successor to deposed coach John Calipari, the best choice may be right under their noses. When Calipari was fired, assistant coach Don Casey inherited a 3-17 team that was a pale imitation of the group of swaggering young turks who made the playoffs in 1998. Casey had no illusions that he was anything but a stopgap replacement, but that was before he led the Nets to a 13-17 record despite losing center Jayson Williams (fractured right leg), forward Keith Van Horn (surgery on left thumb) and forward Scott Burrell (right knee injury) along the way. The irony is that Casey didn't want to be in New Jersey last season. Calipari no longer trusted him or consulted him, and he forbade Casey and others in the organization, including senior vice president Willis Reed, from socializing with the players. Knowing all this, Casey began negotiating with Detroit during the lockout to become Alvin Gentry's righthand man. He was on the verge of joining the Pistons when new Nets owner Lewis Katz, who had met Casey years ago through friends, asked him to stay on. "I guess sometimes things happen for a reason," Casey says. After his ascension the players gleefully dubbed Casey the King, and many of them, including Williams and guard-forward Kendall Gill, ardently hope he'll be named the permanent coach. Point guard Stephon Marbury says he wouldn't mind having Casey back -- but only after Phil Jackson says nyet to the Nets. Sources close to the former Bulls coach say that while he finds the Nets situation "intriguing," he doesn't know Katz or New Jersey's other owners, and he needs to have a better feel for them before gauging his interest. Those same sources say that if the Lakers were to have an opening, L.A. would be Jackson's first choice. In other words, Casey will be in limbo until Jackson decides where to land. If it's New Jersey, Casey says he'll pack his bags and be thankful for the 30-game tryout he was given. Jackson, after all, has seven championships on his résumé. "Even I," says the King, "can understand that." The Timberwolves' signing of Radoslav Nesterovic , a 7-foot center from Slovenia, the last week of the season was a smart move for both parties. The 22-year-old Nesterovic, who was the 17th pick in '98 but played in Italy this year, gets a taste of the NBA playoffs and a big check -- Nesterovic was paid this season's full rookie-scale salary of $901,800, which, in turn, will earn him credit for a full year of NBA service. It's never too early to start thinking about your pension ... Count Dallas power forward A.C. Green among those free agents who will be looking for a new team. Coach and G.M. Don Nelson told him the Mavericks' other free-agent forwards, Gary Trent and Samaki Walker , are more pressing priorities for the team ... No one was looking forward to the playoffs more than Suns guard Rex Chapman , whose miserable season (12.1 points a game, 35.9% shooting, both career lows) was due in part to a strained right hamstring and was capped off by a fractured right eye socket he suffered on April 28. Chapman keeps pretending to lose the goggles that protect his eye, but coach Danny Ainge told him he won't play unless he wears them. (Reserve forward Danny Manning picked up the goggles one day and said to Ainge, "If I wear them, can I play?") Chapman didn't wear them in last Saturday's 95-85 opening-round loss to the Trail Blazers, but his woes continued. He shot 3 for 12 from the field and finished with nine points. Issue date: May 17, 1999
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