|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Fickle Jazz must change philosophy
Posted: Tuesday May 16, 2000 12:31 PM
Random thoughts while wondering whatever happened to the three-second violation: The key issue for the Utah Jazz isn't whether they can remain contenders for another year and cheat Father Time, it's whether they'll have to change their philosophy. The Jazz have always been very choosy, priding themselves on placing as much emphasis on character as talent. That's admirable, but it's also easier to do when you have two future Hall of Famers and you're winning more than 50 games every year. With Jeff Hornacek heading for retirement and John Stockton slowing down, Utah is going to be faced with a choice: be less picky, or get used to mediocrity. Their philosophy is about to be put to the test. ... The Sixers' Matt Geiger has justifiably been taking heat for his thuggish smackdown of Indiana's Reggie Miller on Saturday, but Miller deserves some criticism, too, for his lack of self-control. As a 13-year veteran who was playing in his 87th career playoff game, Miller should know better than to let himself get suckered into an ejection and a suspension. I don't want to hear how Reggie had to stand up for himself. The way to do that was to knock down a few more threes and put Geiger and the Sixers in his rear-view mirror. Instead, he got himself suspended, which was the main reason Philadelphia was able to get back into the series. I thought Reggie was smarter than that. ... What was Lenny Wilkens thinking? Did he expect Michael Jordan to just play along when he declared publicly that Jordan wanted him to be the Wizards' new head coach? Jordan, of course, had told Wilkens no such thing, as Wilkens later admitted. Combine this bizarre incident with Wilkens' rather undignified attempts to distance himself from the Isaiah Rider trade that led to his departure from the Hawks, and it's clear that he's giving prospective employers reason to have second thoughts. ... Allen Iverson has so many tattoos that he's starting to look like he's got a bad rash. But when his cornrows are freshly done, as they were for Game 5 of the Indiana series Monday night, they're a work of art. ... The Sleuth may have the last laugh. Word is that the Bulls have the inside track on both Tracy McGrady and Eddie Jones, which would fit right in with the master plan of GM Jerry Krause, a.k.a. The Sleuth. I'm told that Jones doesn't necessarily want to be considered some team's savior. He'd be just as happy to have someone else be The Man while he concentrates on being second option and a defensive stopper. McGrady, on the other hand, is looking to be someone's Main Man, so they seem like a perfect fit. If the Bulls get Jones and McGrady to go along with Elton Brand and three first-round picks next month, Krause's rebuilding project will have taken a huge leap forward. Somewhere you just know that The Sleuth is rubbing his hands and dreaming having a competitive team while his nemesis, Jordan, struggles to get rid of dead wood in Washington. ... Can't help but think the Hawks are lucky Michigan State's Tom Izzo turned down their head-coaching offer. Izzo seems far too nice and well-adjusted to swim with the NBA sharks. If Atlanta is dead-set on hiring a college coach, somebody like Cincinnati's hard-edged Bob Huggins seems to fit the profile much better. ... Most underrated duo in the league? Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson of Turner Sports' Inside the NBA studio show. In the interest of full disclosure, Turner and CNN/SI are corporate cousins, but that's not why I think they're clearly superior to the Hannah Storm-Isiah Thomas-Peter Vecsey studio show. The NBC show is so obviously scripted that it's more stale than week-old bread, while Smith and E.J. have an easy chemistry that seems far more natural. Smith, in particular, manages to be both funny and candid, the two most important qualities for an analyst. ... Lame performance by the Lakers on Sunday, in every way. First, they just went through the motions in their 117-98 loss to Phoenix. After being praised all year in victory, the least Phil Jackson could have done was face the music in defeat. Very good coach, but very weak move. Sports Illustrated senior writer Phil Taylor covers the NBA and appears regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN's This Week in the NBA. Look for his column every Tuesday on CNNSI.com.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
