Wuthering, Not Height: The D'Antoni Revolution

Genius in a simple observation - that NBA big men are now more effective facing the basket than posting up - has revolutionized the formula for success in the modern NBA. Since fewer and fewer fours and fives have the skillset to play in the post anyway, why not play quicker, more skilled players at the traditionally "power" positions so they can take advantage of the new No Perimeter Contact Rule too? This very thought ran through the collective D'Antoni-Colangelo head in the summer of 2004, and the league hasn't looked back since.


Exibit A: Carlos Boozer Succeeds as C in West

No one in their right mind would draft Canadian Carlos Boozer as an NBA Center. Yet he (6-9), along with fellow success stories Boris Diaw (6-8) and Ben Wallace (6-9), has excelled playing against the biggest players on the court. He's notched 23 and 10 for the past five games, including match ups with KG, Duncan, and Yao. How, you ask? More speed, and comparable rebounding. D'Antoni's formula for the new frontcourt, derived by the chain reaction of moving Shawn Marion to the four spot last year. Mike's Theory of Relativity: Since Post-Up Skills have been Neutralized, If A Player Can Grab Defensive Rebounds at a Good Rate for His Position, Play the Best Player Regardless of Height. Amare, previously thought of as the protypical Power Forward, secures a regular spot on SportCenter by becoming a Speed Center. Diaw becomes a Speed Point Center, causing opposing coaches to stash kegs of Ibuprofen behind their bench. And as the NPCR dictates, the officials (and the fans, by the way) value Speed over Power. Coaches around the league must start to think accordingly -- Charlie Villenueva, PJ Brown, Antoine Walker, Ike Diogu, and Mike Sweetney have already seen some time at C. Why not 6-10 Lamar Odom? 6-9 Marvin Williams? If the Nets could find another PG, how about 6-4 Jason Kidd in the middle?

It is no longer a crisis that the skilled bigman is a dying breed -- replace him with a skilled slightly-less-big man! Despite being "soft", oft-critized Eurobigs like Pau and Mehmet are enjoying fabulous seasons because of their mobility. Rasheed succeeds with the threeball because he knows the block is where even talented post players like himself pick up offensive fouls. Choosing to forgo size for speed is no longer a necesary evil brought on by injuries or poor GMing; it's the right decision.


Why more coaches don't let all five positions take advantage of the NPCR is anybody's guess. Perhaps it just hasn't Okurred to them?



Exibit B: Tony Parker effectively guards Nowitzki

Well, not really. Despite being really fun to Google image, little TP allows the uber-forward to shoot about .500 at last count. But remember last year's playoffs? When T-Mac made Dirk look like a helpless kitten? Nowitzki's MVP candidacy relies on the failure of most NBA teams to realize what the San Antonio Spurs have certainly figured out -- that you can guard an amazing perimeter PF with a lanky SF if he doesn't have the post-up skills to use his height advantage. Heck, even the 6-2 Frenchman gave the Autobomber trouble with fleet-footed close-outs in their showdown this past Friday. Dallas won the game, but mainly because of a stuggling Tim Duncan. And this exemplifies the antithesis of the NPCR--more contact is allowed under the basket.
With his mobility-impairing foot injury, Timmy has had even more trouble this season because defenders are allowed to lean on his arms and bump him as he slowly saunters into the lane. Shaq faces the same obstacles, and career lows result. Don't pay Big Z $10 mil per -- his dinosaur game isn't worth it in the post-Mesozoic basketball era.

Thus, Diggler is right to keep his 7-foot frame moving from the arc to the stripe, but other teams should take note and play him with the Shane Battiers of the world instead of the Pau Gasols.



Phoenix's front line can average 6'7" in height and still have the visitors locker room trembling with fear. All 230 pounds of Marcus Camby can defend the league's big men as well as anybody. On offense, the paint no longer needs to be occupied, held like a fortress. It is only the goal, and only a constant flow in and out of it will achieve new basketball Nirvana. If you have a KG or a Yao, don't force them to become low-post bangers; let them control the paint without controlling it. Zen and the Art of Movement are not chic fads; they are The Way. Give us your inspired, your short, your unused passers yearning to breath free. Attack and defend like the wind, not like a brick wall. We don't need big lugs, Danny Fortson thugs, any more.

You can't coach height. And now, you don't have to.

A Very Wrong Engagement

As in basketball and life, timing is everything. The Knicks picked the exact wrong year to suck eggs. I picked the wrong year to return to New York.


Not that it was really a choice for either of us. NYU has the best film scoring program in the nation located in a city with remotely adequate public transportation to haul my blind ass from A to B. And the Knicks have been bottom dwellers for so many years now that this season's failure should be looked at more as a certainty rather than an option. Still, if you could pick any year to have the worst record in the league, next year would have been infinitely better. Bud Lightyears better.

Two words for you Isiah: Greg Oden.



The draft class of 2007 is vastly superior to the class of 2006. I would trade an 06 for an 07 any day -- Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah, and LaMarcus Alrdidge are role players next to Greg Oden, Kevin Durant, and Brandon Wright. Unspeakable joy will reverberate off the five points if NYK could suck as bad next year as this year.

This should be the goal. Not Kevin Garnett. Not Paul Pierce. You are running out of overpaid disgruntled superstars to keep your Good Ship Lollipop afloat. And by "afloat" I mean worse than the Bobcats and $70 million over the cap. There aren'y even any other dumb teams out there you can pawn your unsuperstars off on--Toronto just got smarter, the Clippers are set in the backcourt (and wouldn't overpay anyway)--I'd even be suprised if the Hawks would take Fracharbury. Maybe you could get Al Harrington Josh Childres, if you're lucky.

But the window of opportunity may close as the Larry Brown All-Dollars scrape themselves together to miss both the playoffs and the top five picks next season. It's been nice living in Providence this year and watching the young Celtics develop--I would love to see 82 Oden games on MSG while writing my master's thesis, but I guess I'll have to buy league pass or something. Because the talent ain't on Broadway, baby.

Dr. Naismith, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love LeBron

I hope someone in the Committee (is at least friends with someone who) reads FreeDarko, because in said column Senor Brickowski has tooted the conch of reason in regard to the singularly egregious error it would be to dub Steve Nash the MVP for the second consecutive season. Here’s the Dwayne Johnson-solid case to exclude Nashty, along with two-bits worth of analogy/projection:

Historical (Brick’s point): The only back-to-back (and, coincidentally, back-to-the-basket) Mo-Pod People are Russell, Chamberlain, Kareem, Moses, Larry, Magic, Michael and Duncan -- 1rst ballot Hall-of-Famers who have won an average of 5 championships apiece. The Mailman is the only two-timer who remains ringless, and he didn’t win consecutively. And he’s been to the finals thrice; St. Steven has yet to be. Last year’s crowning signaled the anti-Artest era and the dawning of the No-Perimeter-Contact rule change appropriately, but a repeat would be over the top. The one-MVP echelon (inhabited by Sir Charles, the Dream, the Admiral, the Answer, and the Big Ticket) is plenty high-esteem for the Canadian.



Philosophical: Best Team vs Best Performer – ideally you have a Venn Diagram that limits your choices for the league’s top honor. This year, Little Stevie is subsetless. Neither are the Suns the best team nor is Steve the most impressive player. The pundits have two standard counters to this—A) Nash is having a better year than last when he won the award, and B) Nash has done it again with a weaker/totally different supporting cast. Allow me to illuminate the obvious—last year’s choice was political (see below), and this year’s Suns are deeper and better. Attribute this to excellent coaching/GMing. Stevo is performing better, and he should be. That still doesn’t change the fact that he’s not the best performer in the league, that he’s not on the best team, and (as some contest) that he’s not even the best player on his team. According to the general thinking, these are strikes against the former striker (he played soccer in highschool, eh).



Political: The “Denzel wins Best Actor for Training Day” theory may have worked for Malone in the 90’s, but the NBA doesn’t buy the “body of work gone unrecognized for too long” argument any more. Instead, D-Stern’s cronies thought it best to reward the opposite of hip-hopified, Pacers-Pistons Palace Prostration, me-first play. This not only effectively snubbed Shaquille “MDE” O’Neal, but Jason Kidd and John Stockton as well. Their careers include dozens of seasons better than Nash’s past two, yet THEY WERE NOT THE BEST PLAYER IN THE LEAGUE AND THUS COULD NOT WIN MVP despite great team success. If the league wants to be political again and reward the concept of the team, give it to Billups and his 19-3-8 year. If you have to.



Pragmatic: You have to give the MVP to somebody. Unfortunately, there are no clear-cut choices—your ideal MVP is the following:

1. Undebatably All NBA First Team
2. By Far the Best Player on His Team
3. On the Best Team of the Regular Season
4. Leading/Elevating His Team to a Championship Run
5. Not a 3rd Year Player
6. Not an International Player
7. Not a Sociopath

Kobe “La Mamba” Bryant beats Nash on 2 and 6 (though Nash talks pretty good ‘merican, and KB did grow up in Italy), but loses on 3 and probably 4—plus some people still spite him with a touch of 7 (usually reserved for TruWarrier). Billups and Parker are having career years on the two top teams, but clearly aren’t more integral than their teammates (2) and unlikely to pass Nash for All NBA honors (1). Keep the Elton Brand talk to yourself, Tom Tolbert. D-Wade and Dirk Diggler have played at traditional MVP levels for championship contention caliber teams—odds are one of them comes away with the hardware if the voters can get over Flash’s youth and Nowitzki’s work visa. But my horse is a darker color…



With nine games left, LeBron James has the Cleveland Cavalliers at 44 wins. They could easily see 50. Every vote for Brand (ie. Leading a Long-Lost Lottery Team to the Promised Land) goes to Bron. He puts more points on the board than all but two players, he’s more efficient than La Mamba and has a better record than AI. He’s singlehandedly put the smack down on both Miami and Dallas and their leading candidates. He plays 43 minutes per because he has to. He has the best parts of Kobe’s, Dwyane’s, and Steve’s games combined. Nash has Diaw to create and everyone else to finish. Nowitzki has defenders and sparkplugs a plenty. Wade has this big guy I heard about.

And here’s the thing: LB23 has a team of tweeners. There is not one player on his team that would start for Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio, Detroit, or Miami. I like Danny Ferry and all, but they assembled the wrong team – a center that can’t run. Shooters that can’t shoot. Guards that can’t penetrate. Star sidekicks who are ALWAYS INJURED, even in their contract year. More than any team – even the Lakers, and especially the Suns – the success of this team depends on one 21-year-old man. The Man.



Don't look back, Sire. The only possible concern is that your team isn’t good enough or you're too young. But Nash’s squad is third in his conference and nobody faults him. He has no Stoudemire, yes; but you have no Marion, no Diaw, no Bell, etc. Switch the King and the Weasel and see if the Cavs can get 50. And can we just take a moment to imagine LeBron working under the offensive brilliance of Magic Mike?

Dear NBA: Learn to stop worrying that if you give LeBron the MVP now, he’ll take the next ten trophies home. He should. And we would love it.


Consolation prizes include Coach of the Year for D’Antoni, Executive for Colangelo, MIP for Boris, championship for Dwyane, and more to gripe about for Chauncey. Everybody’s happy.