HoopsHype.com NBA Blogs - Eddie Johnson

OK, so I would hope that all the Chicago fans that blasted me a few years ago when I wrote about the Bulls making a mistake by signing Ben Wallace would please apologize. Everything has virtually come true about that article. Wallace did not fit in and Ben Gordon and Luol Deng overpriced themselves and passed up good deals because they were looking at the Wallace contract. Now the Bulls are back to rebuilding and Wallace moves on to a contender. Guess what? Now you will see Wallace play like the Wallace of old with a legitimate center in Zydrunas Ilgauskas and a great player in LeBron James.

Joe Smith will help also in the interior. He is smart and steady and will be a good influence in the locker room. But the real find is Wally Szczerbiak. LeBron now has a consistent shooter that is not afraid to take the big shot and will be extremely physical, which automatically makes the Cavaliers the most physical team in the league.

Does that translate into another trip to the Finals? I don’t think so and mainly because they still don’t match up defensively with Boston and Detroit. Larry Hughes, whom I also wrote about as a desperate signing by the Cavaliers a few years ago, was their best perimeter defender and now they will be hard pressed to guard a Paul Pierce and Ray Allen combo and a Chauncey Billups-Rip Hamilton duo as well.

The Bulls have now backpedaled to where they were when Michael Jordan retired. Patience should have been preached, but the Bulls seem to be back to square one after giving up on Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler a few years ago.

OTHER TRADES

The Sonics are moving out of Seattle and creating a new identity around Kevin Durant. I really like the way PJ Carlesimo helped out his former employer by shipping Kurt Thomas to the Spurs. Thomas will provide the Spurs with everything Robert Horry used to in terms of defense and a solid threat offensively.

The Hornets are fighting all naysayers who do not believe they can continue to hold up against teams in the Western Conference and if Bonzi Wells plays up to potential, their last trade could turn out to be a steal.

Mike D’Antoni is extremely close to a crossroads concerning how to deal with Tim Duncan and who will play the pivotal role in doing it. The answer has to be Kurt Thomas. Although he might slow down the Suns fast-paced attitude, Kurt Thomas gives them the antidote to solving the Spurs ability to slow down the game.

The Suns must face facts and realize the only way they will speed up the game is to get a lead playing at the Spurs pace first. And the only way that will happen is on the defensive end, because the Spurs will run their offense through Duncan every time when he is on the floor.

The reason why the Suns play James Jones and Boris Diaw is that they want to play fast. Well, if those players only produce 7 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists in 34 minutes combined in Game 1 the argument could be made that Kurt Thomas should have gotten a bulk of those 34 minutes, instead of only 13. Maybe he could have held Tim Duncan to 25 points and helped negate the 14 offensive rebounds the Spurs had in that game. But most importantly, he could have defended him one-on-one, thus taking away key three-point shots made by Robert Horry and Michael Finley – who by the way cannot and will not put the ball on the floor to create anything. So those two players only contribute if the Suns do help out on Duncan and give them open standstill shots. Also, it will allow Amare Stoudamire, who had 18 rebounds, to dominate the weak-side glass and stay out of foul trouble.

Key for the Suns if they are too win this series… Make Duncan score 50 and don’t allow Finley, Horry and Brent Barry to have an impact on the game. The Suns have too many offensive weapons to allow Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili to beat them alone. Phoenix will win this series in six games if Thomas is allowed to be a factor.