Pick any NBA franchise, expect plenty of intrigue
The new-look Heat. Jackson-Kobe saga. Larry's latest stop. There's plenty of buzz as the season kicks off.
By STEPHEN F. HOLDER
Published November 1, 2005
A bruised thigh and a rib cage so sore even a cortisone shot couldn't help might be the only things that separated the Miami Heat from history last season.
If not for that double dose of injuries to center Shaquille O'Neal and guard Dwyane Wade, Miami might well have prevailed against Detroit in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final and advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time.
So, naturally, team president Pat Riley decided the best way to fortify a team on the verge was to ... overhaul the roster?
The remaking of the Heat is one of several interesting plot twists heading into this season, which tips off tonight.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson has been reunited with his nemesis, this after Jackson painted guard Kobe Bryant as a franchise-killing brat in his widely read memoirs.
The mercurial but undeniably successful Larry Brown has taken his show to Broadway, giving the Knicks a leader who has been to the Finals in his past two coaching stops.
In Indiana, already intimidating forward Ron Artest has bulked up to 260 pounds and promises to play with the same unrelenting intensity he displayed before he was suspended 73 games because of the Motor City brawl.
And in San Antonio, all the defending champs did was add a player with a 19 points per game career average in Michael Finley, prompting talk among some pundits of 70 wins.
Intrigue is everywhere, so let the games begin.
We start in Miami. In its first season of the Shaq Era, the Heat rose to new heights in 2004-05, pushing defending champion Detroit to the brink. When Miami lost a heartbreaker in the decisive game on its home floor, the prevailing opinion was the team needed only to fine-tune to give O'Neal a chance to make good on his promise of a championship.
But Riley made a shocking move by orchestrating a record-setting five-team trade that brought Jason Williams, Antoine Walker and James Posey to the Heat and sent the team's most consistent defender, Eddie Jones, to Memphis. Riley then passed on re-signing Damon Jones and augmented the roster with veteran point guard Gary Payton, hardly considered a galvanizing presence in locker rooms.
Somehow, the Heat intends to make it work. Its biggest problem might be having so many scorers but so few shots. As Miami wades into the season, don't expect this contender to immediately look like a champion. Miami was 4-4 in the preseason, suffering disconcerting double-digit losses to New Orleans and Charlotte.
"I think you underestimate the adjustments guys have had to make," coach Stan Van Gundy said. "You're asking guys like Antoine Walker, Gary Payton and Jason Williams to play off of Shaq and Dwyane. I think they knew that's what it was going to be and they were willing to do it, but it's different. They're used to as soon as the ball comes to them to put it on the floor, create and make a play. We're sort of running into each other right now."
To that, O'Neal - the 33-year-old superstar who never sweats - would say, give it time.
"We've got the team with all the pieces," O'Neal told the Associated Press. "Pat Riley gave me all the pieces I asked for. So now we're going to tighten it up and get it together. It's not going to happen in a day. A lot of people expect it to. But it's not going to. It's my job to make sure it happens when it counts."
Time will tell.
In Los Angeles, Jackson doesn't have a ton of time, nor does he have O'Neal. Impatient Lakers fans were horrified by their team's ineptitude last season, when it missed the playoffs and finished 34-48. But owner Jerry Buss signed Jackson to a deal worth $10-million annually to rescue his foundering team.
Jackson and Bryant are saying all the right things, but this is uncharted territory for Jackson, winner of a record nine NBA titles. His expertise always has been molding good teams into great ones. This assignment will require that he fix a team that is broken. The Lakers are inexperienced and lack a dominant inside presence. But they have Bryant, who remains arguably the world's best perimeter player.
Just a year ago, Jackson revealed in his book he implored the front office to trade Bryant during Jackson's first tenure as coach, telling general manager Mitch Kupchak, "I've had it with this kid."
Now Jackson said he believes in this Lakers team. More important, he believes in Bryant's ability to make it better, thwarting the idea he came back merely because of his relationship with the boss's daughter, Jeanie Buss. Bryant "has matured," Jackson said. "He is trying to use his energy for the optimum benefit of the ballclub. He's leading the team and putting pressure on them."
In New York, Brown is charged with turning around a franchise burdened by salary-cap woes (the Knicks have the league's highest payroll at nearly $115-million).
But Brown brings excitement to a team that hasn't had much since coach Jeff Van Gundy's tenure ended in 2001. If Brown could get Allen Iverson's attention long enough to take the 76ers to the Finals, certainly he can corral talented guard Stephon Marbury and a team loaded with potential with new acquisitions such as Quentin Richardson and Eddy Curry.
Indiana couldn't overcome its problems last season, some stemming from injury, others from the brawl-related suspensions that sidelined three starters. But with a motivated Artest back in the fold and Jermaine O'Neal seemingly healthy, the East race figures to be a lot more interesting. Remember, this essentially is the same group that won 61 games the previous season, and one that can boast being one of the league's better defensive teams.
In San Antonio, the story line isn't sexy, but that's exactly how the even-keeled Spurs like it. They stress defense and fundamentals and lack an edgy superstar, but they have possibly the deepest team in the land.
Can you say "repeat"?