HoopsHype.com NBA Blogs - Chris Tomasson

Robin Hood, who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, would have no place in today’s NBA.

These days, it’s the NBA rich who pilfer from the poor.

San Antonio was only too glad to take off Milwaukee’s hands the big contract of forward Richard Jefferson while giving up little. Cleveland gladly found room for center Shaquille O’Neal while helping Phoenix cut costs. One presumes New Jersey will spend money during the big free agency summer of 2010, but the Nets for now had a clearance sale, and sent forward Vince Carter to Orlando.

“I think teams are in different situations,’’ said Suns general manager Steve Kerr. “There are situations when you want to go for it because you’re close. Other times, you’re far away so you’ve got to position yourself in the future.’’

With the economy faltering, the future could mean a luxury tax for 2010-11 more than $5 million below 2009-10’s $69.92 million figure. With the salary cap going down, it also means teams really will have to crimp and save for money to use on a star-studded free-agency class, which could include the likes of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

But heck with the distant future. Spurs star Tim Duncan is 33 and, if he is going to get a ring for his thumb, he better be fitted in a hurry. Team officials are trying to comply.

In addition to Jefferson, in which San Antonio paid the small price in a three-team trade of dispatching Kurt Thomas, Fabricio Oberto and Bruce Bowen, the Spurs also signed free-agent forward Antonio McDyess and had burly forward DeJuan Blair fall into their laps in the second round of the draft.

Even usually gruff San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich can’t keep the smile off his face these days.

“I’m pleased with what’s happened this summer,’’ Popovich said.

The general consensus at the recently concluded NBA Summer League in Las Vegas was San Antonio is the big winner so far the offseason. And this is coming after the Spurs, who have won four of the past 11 NBA titles, were beginning to look old and hobbled, with their other thirtysomething star, Manu Ginobili, missing much of last season due to leg and ankle problems.

“I think San Antonio helped themselves in my mind more than anybody,’’ said Sacramento director of player personnel Jerry Reynolds.

“I think San Antonio is really good,’’ said Denver George Karl. “And it seems like they made decisions to be a (luxury-) tax team, which they never have before.’’

Well, if the Bucks wanted to give away a 29-year-old forward in his prime, the Spurs weren’t going to complain.

As for some of the other big moves involving the top teams, there is more debate. O’Neal looked resurrected last season with the Suns, but, at 37, it remains to be seen if he will mesh well with James or slow down the Cavaliers.

“A lot of the top teams have gotten better,’’ said Cleveland coach Mike Brown, whose team had the NBA’s best record at 66-16 before being upset by Orlando in the Eastern Conference finals. “Every time you look, the elite teams are beginning to get better… So it’s going to be tough… I think we’re better on paper, but I think we’ll have to wait and see.’’

Other veterans going to top East teams are Carter, 32, heading to NBA runner-up Orlando, although the Magic lost forward Hedo Turkoglu, and couldn’t sign forward Rasheed Wallace, 35 in September.

“There’s an arms race in the East,’’ Kerr said.

While heavyweights Orlando, Cleveland and Boston are leading the way, at least a few other teams in the East are desperately trying to gain admittance to their country club. Toronto acquired Turkoglu, Detroit signed Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva and Washington picked up Randy Foye and Mike Miller from Minnesota.

“One of the things that Joe (Dumars, the Detroit executive) has talked about is putting ourselves in a position to win right now,’’ said Pistons first-year coach John Kuester.

As far as who reloaded the best in the East, Washington forward Antawn Jamison, while he likes his team’s moves, calls it the Celtics. They won the 2008 NBA title, but fell in the second round of the playoffs last spring after star forward Kevin Garnett had been lost for the season with a leg injury.

But now the Celtics have a security blanket up front in Wallace. And nobody in town will complain if both are healthy.

“I like what Boston did,’’ Jamison said. “They didn’t have a healthy K.G. during the playoffs and they still were able to make some noise. Now, you add a guy like Rasheed Wallace to a team that already has matchup problems for anybody.’’

Of course, there’s always the problem that Wallace, who did keep it in check long enough for Detroit to win the 2004 NBA title, could implode again. That’s also a risk out West in Los Angeles, where the defending champion Lakers signed free-agent forward Ron Artest while free-agent forward Trevor Ariza bolted to Houston, Artest’s former team.

“They could be (better) or there’s a chance the chemistry doesn’t work,’’ Karl said. “I love Ariza. Ariza was a very hard worker, but there’s no question that Artest is as good or better.’’

Of course, the next big question for the Lakers is whether forward Lamar Odom will re-sign as a free agent. Odom played an instrumental role for the Lakers as they beat Denver 4-2 in the Western Conference finals and in their 4-1 Finals win over Orlando.

The Nuggets are the only conference finalist from last spring who haven’t brought in a big-name player. Other top West teams that haven’t made huge moves are Utah, which is trying not to see its payroll explode, and Portland.

But the Trail Blazers, with about $9 million of cap room, sure have been trying. They lost Turkoglu at the 11th hour to Toronto, and had the Jazz match an offer sheet extended to Paul Millsap.

Also trying hard has been Dallas. The Mavericks acquired Shawn Marion in a sign-and-trade from the Raptors, and but had an offer sheet extended to Marcin Gortat matched by the Magic.

The word from Denver’s Mark Warkentien, the reigning NBA Executive of the Year, is that a lack of head-turning activity by his team doesn’t necessarily mean anything at this time of the year. Warkentien made the move of the year in the NBA last November by acquiring point guard Chauncey Billups from Detroit.

“Our marquee moves have never been in July,’’ Warkentien said. “It doesn’t mean that there isn’t a marquee move out there.’’

Warkentien is right. Not all big NBA moves come in July.

The Lakers got all this rich stealing from the poor in full gear when they pilfered big man Pau Gasol from Memphis in February 2008, shortly before the trade deadline. All Gasol has done is help lead the Lakers to the past two NBA Finals.

Interestingly, after that deal, in which the Lakers sent Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, the rights to Marc Gasol and a pair of first-round draft picks to Memphis, an incensed Popovich blasted the Grizzlies, saying there needs to be a trade committee to oversee NBA deals.

One wonders if such a trade committee would have approved the Jefferson heist.

Share:

Out West, Denver Nuggets fans can thank Southern rock.

Or, more specifically, a bunch of long-haired guys from Jacksonville, Fla.

It was January 2006, and then Hornets center Chris Andersen had just had been suspended from the NBA for drug use, unable to apply for reinstatement for two years. Two days after the verdict, not much had changed for Andersen.

Andersen was in his living room doing the same stuff he had to warrant his suspension. Then, blaring out of the loudspeakers, came the song “Gimme Back My Bullets,’’ by Lynyrd Skynrd.

“Been up and down since I turned 17,’’ sounded one verse from the 1976 song. “Well, I’ve been on top, and it seems I lost my dream.’’

That lyric caught Andersen’s attention. Then 28 and having seen voided the five-year, $14 million contract he had signed the previous summer, Andersen’s dream indeed looked gone.

“It hit home,’’ Andersen said. “It was like I was (ticked) off at myself and everything that led up to the suspension. But then I realized I was digging the hole even deeper. Basically, the switch turned on. That was two days after the suspension.’’

It was the day Andersen said he made the decision to get clean and get back to the NBA, which happened when he was reinstated in March 2008.

Nuggets fans are grateful. The “Birdman,’’ whose body is a billboard of tattoos and whose wild hairstyles sometimes look straight out of an exotic bird park, has soared higher this season than anybody could have envisioned.

Signed off the scrap heap by the Nuggets last summer, Andersen during the regular season averaged 6.4 points and 6.2 rebounds and was second in the NBA in blocked shots with a 2.46 average despite logging a modest 20.5 minutes a night. During the first-round of the playoffs, Andersen showed his old teammates what they were missing when he averaged 7.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.80 blocks as the Nuggets walloped New Orleans in five games.

So what are the words that follow the Lynyrd Skynrd verse that caught Andersen’s attention?

“But I got it back. I’m feeling better everyday. Tell all those pencil pushers, better get out of my way.’’

Indeed, the “Birdman’’ is back.

“He’s a basketball gift from the gods,’’ said Nuggets coach George Karl, who seems to only be half joking when he suggests an “offering’’ of thanks to those gods is in order.

Andersen, who after being reinstated last season was confined to a deep-bench role by the Hornets and scored just six points in five games, is being touted by many as the leading candidate for Comeback Player of the Year.

There’s just one problem. The NBA doesn’t have such an award.

It once did. Interestingly, it was done away with before the 1986-87 season and replaced with the Most Improved Player Award because too many players coming back from drug problems were being handed trophies. Of the six who won the award during its 1981-86 run, Bernard King (1981), Micheal Ray Richardson (1985) and Marques Johnson (1986) had battled substance abuse.

However, if a special Comeback Player of the Year were handed out this season, it seems Andersen would do very well in the voting.

“For Birdman to be kicked out of the league for a couple of seasons and get himself back together and get his life back together and be a big-time contributor on a team like (the Nuggets), that says a lot about his character,’’ Hornets coach Byron Scott said after Andersen and mates made the Hornets look as extinct as dodo birds. “I was very proud that he got himself back into the league. He is truly one of my favorite people. He has an infectious personality. I thought he played extremely well in all five games (of the series).’’

Scott had to be wondering if he really was watching the same player who couldn’t get on the court for New Orleans a year earlier. Then again, it’s not as if such an opinion would be in the minority.

The Nuggets worked Andersen out last July while desperately seeking a big man after Marcus Camby had been sent to the Los Angeles Clippers in a salary dump. Karl admits Andersen didn’t initially blow the Nuggets away, but he did enough to get a one-year minimum contract worth $998,398.

“Nobody believed he was going to come back and do what he’s done,’’ said forward Carmelo Anthony, whose Nuggets are coming off their first playoff series win since 1994 and face Dallas in a West semifinal beginning Sunday.

That is, nobody but Andersen.

“I knew I was going to play like this,’’ he said.

That’s because Andersen, after having more rust than the Titanic, tirelessly has worked to be even better than the high-flying fan favorite he was during his initial Nuggets stint of 2001-04.

Andersen has had plenty of inspiration. He only needs to look back at that night 3 ½ years ago when Lynyrd Skynrd helped him realize he was throwing it all away.

“I broke the rules,’’ said Andersen, who won’t name the drug he used and spent one month in a California rehabilitation clinic after being suspended. “But I took it like a man. I did was I supposed to do… I showed the NBA (he had changed), and they accepted me back.’’

And the Nuggets, who unexpectedly overcame their frontcourt concerns after the dumping of Camby, are thankful.

Andersen’s statistics aren’t a full gauge of his value. He alters even more shots than he  blocks, and the energy he brings off the bench regularly ignites the team and the fans.

“He’s been so awesome,’’ said Denver guard Chauncey Billups. “I’m so happy for him. He has to be the player in the league that gets the Comeback Player of the Year… He’s been phenomenal all reason is his role.’’

Anthony has joked Andersen might be replacing him as the team’s most popular player. After all, signs and shirts touting the “Birdman’’ are all over the place at Nuggets games.

Andersen’s hair adds to the image. It’s greased up, and protruding out of his headband.

It’s as simple as it sounds. Andersen said he buys a product called Spiker from a Denver beauty supply store, and it takes five minutes to apply before a game.

“It’s a glue,’’ Andersen said.

Make sure of one thing, though. Andersen has matured since he got into a hairy situation with then Nuggets coach Jeff Bzdelik during the 2004 playoffs.

Andersen showed up for a game against Minnesota with his hair formed into giant spikes shooting skyward. Bzdelik immediately sent him back to the locker room.

“He said I wouldn’t play if I wore my hair like that,’’ Andersen said. “He barely played me anyway. I don’t think Karl really cares. But I’m not going to roll out that one (in this postseason).’’

After all, Andersen still might have a wild side. But he’s a lot different than the “Birdman’’ whose NBA career once flew south.

“Ain’t fooling around, cause I done had my fun,’’ goes the Lynyrd Skynrd song as it winds down. “Ain’t gonna see no more damage done. Gimme back, gimme back my bullets.’’

To use another Lynyrd Skynrd song, Andersen has become a “Free Bird.’’

Share:

Wherever the Nuggets play on the road in the postseason, Carmelo Anthony can count on not hearing one thing.

“DUI. DUI. DUI.’’

That was the chant at the Staples Center during a first-round playoff series last spring. The Nuggets star forward had been arrested on suspicion of drunk driving April 14, 2008, and Lakers fans were not kind to him during a four-game sweep that got underway six days later.

But what a difference a year has made for Anthony and his Nuggets. Last year, they entered the playoffs a distracted team, thanks to the Anthony arrest that came shortly before the final regular-season game. Now, though, it’s a carefree bunch of Nuggets that will show up for the postseason.

Denver (54-27) clinched the Northwest Division with a 118-98 win Monday over Sacramento. The win assured that a team that has lost five straight years in the first round of the playoffs will open the postseason at home for the first time since 1988.

Anthony, who has been a part of all those first-round defeats, said he’s “starving’’ to finally break through. He certainly will begin the playoffs in a much better frame of mind than last year, when he was involved in an incident that led him to be suspended for the first two games of this season.

“I look back on it now, I don’t want to say it’s funny, but it’s behind me now,’’ said Anthony, who eventually plea-bargained to a lesser charge of driving while ability impaired. “It’s old and it seems so long ago that I happened, although it was a year. And so it goes to show how much I came around from that.’’

Indeed Anthony has.

It’s true his career has been marred by a lot of other negative headlines (a 2004 New York nightclub altercation, a 2004 cameo in the controversial Stop Snitchin’ DVD, a 2004 charge for having marijuana in a backpack that was dropped when the marijuana was determined to have belonged to a friend and a 2006 15-game suspension for throwing a punch in a brawl at New York). But many believe that, in is sixth season, Anthony is finally starting to get it.

Yes, this season featured a March 2 one-game team suspension for Anthony failing to come of a game when Nuggets coach George Karl sought a substitute. But both agree that wasn’t a major issue, and it was nothing compared to the distraction Anthony caused his team on the eve of last season’s playoffs.

“That probably falls into a big mistake,’’ Karl said. “It could have been worse. Hopefully, now, at a very young age, he understands you should never do that.’’

But Karl has seen Anthony continue to mature since then, both on and off the court. He’s talked about Anthony, 24, having grown into a leader after before being just a talented player.

“He’s had a consistent growth spurt,’’ said Karl, “I think every month it’s kind of like, his eyes are open, his mind is open.’’

Over the past year, Anthony has learned even more about the responsibility of being a public figure. He’s been lauded for the dignity he displayed in representing Team USA during last summer’s Olympics, when the “Redeem Team’’ mined gold in Beijing.

It was far different than what had transpired four years earlier in Athens, when the “Green Team,’’ a collection of players too young for the international stage, settled for bronze. Anthony squabbled with coach Larry Brown and barely played.

While in China, Anthony was an ambassador, engaging the Chinese with his personality and showing up at a variety of events. He spent some time with swimming stud Michael Phelps, who also is from Baltimore.

Six months after the Olympics, Phelps got to stand in Anthony’s shoes when it came to a superstar athlete having a negative brush with the law. Then again, after a photo surfaced of Phelps taking a marijuana hit from a bong, maybe it wasn’t that similar.

“In his situation, it’s kind of different than mine,’’ Anthony said. “We grew up (in Baltimore) in two different walks of life. He was the guy who was clean cut. Nobody ever expected anything from him. And finally then, when it hit, that’s why everybody has come down so hard on him. Like what did Michael Phelps do? I can’t believe he did this. I felt bad for him. But he owned up to his mistake.’’

It must be said Phelps also was arrested on a DUI charge in 2004, shortly after the Athens Olympics. He eventually got 18 months probation for pleading guilty.

Phelps’ sentence required him to give speeches to schools. That’s what Anthony soon must do as part of his penalty.

“I’m going to speak at a couple of assemblies,’’ Anthony said of telling students about the perils of drinking and driving. “Whatever I can do to help them out.’’

The way the Nuggets are playing lately, though, chances are Anthony might end up fielding a lot more questions about that.

Share: