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Thursday, January 4, 2001
Fred's Points: Suns good, Warriors bad
ESPN.com
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What's the first thing you notice when you see ESPN's Fred Carter on NBA 2Night or SportsCenter? Of course, he points at you. It's his way of saying hello. So we've asked NBA expert Fred to greet us and make some points for ESPN.com each week. Enjoy.
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| Hardaway |
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| Gugliotta |
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| Marion |
1. How surprised are you at the great start by the Suns? Also, what will this team do with emerging star Shawn Marion when Tom Gugliotta comes back?
It is a tremendous start by the Suns and I'm very surprised at it. Especially in light of the fact that they are playing so well without Tom Gugliotta and Anfernee Hardaway. Marion is having an outstanding All-Star year. He's averaging 19 points and almost 10 rebounds a game. Clifford Robinson and Rodney Rogers are playing very well also.
The most important player, of course, is everybody's favorite point guard Jason Kidd. He is the unquestioned leader of this team and he's carrying them while they wait for their other injured stars to return.
When Gugliotta comes back Scott Skiles will have a happy dilemma on his hands. Marion's minutes are not going to be tampered with. He's simply playing too well and needs to stay on the floor. Believe me, I like Tommy G. He can score, rebound, box out and steal the basketball. He's a great all-around player. But when he comes back to this team he's going to have to come off the bench for a time. Remember, he's been out since the middle of last season. When he comes back, his condition won't be at the level it needs to for a while. That will postpone a true decision for a while while he finds his stride.
The Suns don't really have a center so they can play Gugliotta, Marion and Robinson at the same time. But Marion has played his way into the starting lineup probably for good.
2. Golden State hasn't won since opening day, and part of the problem is poor shooting by pretty much everyone, especially Larry Hughes? Any end in sight for the Warriors' slump?
The Warriors problems boil down to shot selection and leadership. And if leadership is a concern, it's going to magnify the shot selection problem even more. Danny Fortson has been a lone bright spot. He's been playing well and rebounding the basketball, a pure result of hustle. But his example hasn't been taken to heart by too many of his teammates.
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| Hughes |
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| Fortson |
Team discipline offensively is the main factor behind their slump. If coach Dave Cowens could instill some of the discipline and work ethic he showed as a player into some of the current Warriors, they would begin to play better. More discipline would result in better, higher percentage shots, which would fall at a greater rate.
It's difficult to say if there is a player on that team that could step up to fill the leadership role they need. They are a young team and sometime the humble and meek are too humble and meek to take a stand. Antawn Jamison is the player who probably should take the reins of this team but he hasn't convinced himself that he's a star in this league yet. Last year Hughes was the star of the second half after he was acquired by the Warriors, but he's been playing poorly so far this season.
This team needs a leader who can whip them into shape along with Cowens. Leadership leads to discipline. Discipline leads to better shots. Better shots leads to more points and more wins.
3. In looking back at the Heat-Hornets trade this summer, in which Eddie Jones, Jamal Mashburn and five others were dealt, who's happier today?
Both teams have truly profited from this deal. Charlotte benefited from the addition of Jamal Mashburn. A one-on-one scorer who could shoot the three was a role that needed to be filled. He does a lot of good things for them. We all knew what P.J. Brown was. He is a stellar defensive player who can spot up and make the reasonable 15- to 17-foot jumper and can rebound. So Charlotte added two pretty good players who can start for them.
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| Mashburn |
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| Jones |
The Miami Heat got Anthony Mason out of this deal. He's been a starter and can play power forward, point forward and small forward. He's also an excellent defensive player. The gem in the deal for Miami was Eddie Jones. Jones is an All-Star who can shoot the three and led the league in steals as well. He's a classy player who waste a lot of effort and he takes good shots.
The results of the deal for Miami are tough to gauge given the loss of Alonzo Mourning with his kidney ailment. How they might have taken that lineup and progressed through the year and the playoffs is cloudy now. Their ranks have thinned and they don't have the bench they thought they would. Duane Causwell should be coming off the bench for this team instead of starting. That's why they were involved in the scramble for Joe Smith. This was probably a good deal for Miami when they made it, but their circumstances have changed dramatically so it can't be properly evaluated.
Charlotte is a full team but whether this deal leads to them going deep into the playoffs is uncertain. They have enough big bodies to get them through but Elden Campbell plays inconsistently and Derrick Coleman has just been benched because he's out of shape. Paul Silas did the right thing by benching him, but the Hornets need a fit DC to make this team go. As it is, his second jump isn't very good, his defensive reactions aren't very good and he's putting pressure on the rest of his team to cover for him.
So, deciding which team got the better of this deal may have to wait until they sort out their various problems and see who, if either of them, ends up playing into June.
4. Is Lon Kruger starting to wonder why he left a good job at Illinois to deal with the horrible Hawks?
Lon Kruger definitely has his hands full with a team that's in transition. If the Hawks should follow through with trading Dikembe Mutombo, as has been rumored, they're a team that could probably challenge the 9-73 record as the worst in NBA history.
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| Mutombo |
They got an early Christmas present when they beat Portland. The Blazers came out with a completely lackluster effort and the Hawks were fortunate to get a win. There's simply not enough talent and leadership out there to carry that team. Mutombo can shoulder a lot of the burden defensively, but he can't block shots all game, every game. They need scoring and they just don't have it.
They're in a troublesome situation. It could be quite a while before they get even enough talent to compete at an average level.
When college coaches jump to the NBA the transition is much more difficult than most people think. The NBA is a difficult game. They think the ball is still round and the court is the same size ... this is gonna be easy. Not so. These guys are men now and the personnel issues are completely different from what they faced in college.
The nuances and physicality of the game are different at the professional level. And, of course, the game moves at a much quicker pace in the NBA. Players aren't the only ones who have to get used to these differences. Coaches, who often spent far more time in the college game than the players ever did, have to learn a new game. They know the game, but they're not ready for it. Many of them never are.
5. The Grizzlies are 4-3 and really believe they can be a playoff team. Do you believe it?
I like what the Grizzlies are doing. They've really come a long way from the worst five-year winning percentage in the history of the NBA. They just have not won basketball games.
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| Abdur-Rahim |
But now, led by Shareef Abdur-Rahim and featuring Michael Dickerson, Mike Bibby and Bryant Reeves they have a nucleus who are playing good basketball. They are 4-3 with a chance to beat Dallas Friday night. They look much better defensively and Sidney Lowe deserves a lot of the credit for that.
This is a young talented team who has been looking for leadership in the past. What their current success is about, more than anything else, is that they were simply tired of losing. This team isn't like guys in Clipperland who end up accepting losing and going along with it. They've gotten the feeling of winning and they like it. They believe they can sustain it. And so do I.
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ALSO SEE
Fred's Weekly Points, Nov. 9
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