Posts tagged Longformshoals at FanHouse

On Sunday, Suns general manager Steve Kerr announced that his team needs to get tougher defensively. They're in "evaluation mode," assessing the Planet Orange and its options as the Suns' championship window slowly drifts down the frame, guillotine-like. As if on cue, the Suns sealed the next night's 100-98 victory over San Antonio with a last-second Boris Diaw steal.

The easy lesson: To get past the Spurs, the Suns need to more reliably get stops like that. But that silver and black they beat was short one All-Star point guard, and a certain All-Everything big man had 20/10 in the first half alone. The Suns might be making progress, but they still have a ways to go before they can leverage defense against elite teams like the Spurs. And this season, there's just not any way they can make that leap.

They don't have the means to acquire a DPOY-like stud, and adding one more hard-nosed role player isn't going to transform the team. This year, the Suns have no choice but to see once again if offense can win a title.

Dear J-How,

What up my man! Hope the Big D is treating you well. This time of year, it's only really cold if neighborhood kids put a bb through your window, which is what happened when I was there for Christmas '06.

I wanted to politic with you for a minute about the season you're having. I thought you'd arrived last year -- first All-Star appearance, increasingly polished on offense, and getting feared as a defender. But you've managed to take things up another notch, even as your Mavs are in a period of uncertainty.

Fans and media are getting restless with the team, and you're the best thing they've got going. In the next few months, you'll start to hear it more and more: This is now Josh Howard's team. And I know you've probably thought about it yourself.

Last week, the Knicks were a laughingstock, and Stephon Marbury their clown prince.

They'd drifted so far beyond the pale that outrage or concern seemed like a waste. All we could do was kick back, enjoy the ride, and mine it for punchlines. FanHouse was certainly a part of this; our Chronicles of Marbury suggested, at various times, that the embattled point guard move to Italy, start a doomsday cult, and become an indie filmmaker.

Now, Marbury's father has died. We've found out that, over the last month, the point guard has lost several other family members. And that zany Knicks team has actually been a model of brotherhood for Steph, just as they were following Eddy Curry's home invasion and Zach Randolph's recent bereavement.

So now the media (me included) offers condolences and write in somber tones. But when tragedy befalls an oft-maligned athlete like Marbury, we might as well keep our mouths shut. If we haven't tried to empathize with him before now, how can we suddenly start now?

Here's what Gilbert Arenas gets out of his knee surgery: at least three months on the shelf, the grueling task of getting his game and body back to normal, a more complicated off-season than he'd hoped for, and a chance for rampant self-improvement.

Injuries are bad news that can sometimes help in a roundabout way: David Robinson's torn-up 1997-98 allowed Tim Duncan to land in San Antonio, while Greg Oden's absence has allowed LaMarcus Aldridge to prove he's the suave offensive ying to Oden's towering defensive yang. There have been a number of variations on the "Ewing Theory," -- which held that Patrick's Knicks played better when he was injured or on the bench -- though few hold up over the long-term.

Detroit News reporter Chris McCosky has a real nose for journalistic controversy. First, he served up a publicity-seeking attack on blogs, and got the attention he so richly desired. Then, he reported on a near-scuffle between Josh Smith and Tyronn Lue which was later refuted by the players themselves. As our own Tom Ziller noted, it's ironic that a man so opposed to blogs' lack of standards would be caught in a lie. But that's the cynical take on the situation.

I've come to a simpler conclusion: Chris McCosky just doesn't understand NBA players. And among the media, he's probably not alone.

It's been a long time since anyone's compared bronze medal-winners Carmelo Anthony to LeBron James.

Anthony can expect to make the All-Star game for the next decade, but LeBron's hoping to insert himself into the All Time discussion. Carmelo's offensive arsenal could spawn its own instructional video; LeBron, on the other hand, can reels off triple-doubles night after night after night. And while Melo's the new face of Brand Jordan, James aspires to succeed Jordan as sports' most humongous brand.

Despite all the pre-season questions about whose team it was, or if there were enough shots to go around, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen fit together just fine in Boston. They're crack experts assembled to get a job done. Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili can cut the pie three ways and win, and it looks like Boston is on its way to doing the same.

The reason this New Big Three clicks so cleanly is that these stars have streamlined their respective games. But whereas as the serene Tim Duncan has remained the philosophical center of the Spurs, the Celts orient themselves around Paul Pierce--perhaps the most flawed of the team's trio of All-Stars.

How can you tell a real NBA fan? He's ready for basketball starting tonight. We do not believe "Things heat up after the break," and we display no Diesel-esque lack of focus until the playoffs. We want this league and we want it now. Because any of these 7 things could happen for the first time during Opening Week:

This is Mike Miller, who should shoot gobs of threes this season for the Memphis Grizzlies in the playoffs. Yes, the team with 22 wins last year will probably make it to the show, though they will have zero chance of harvesting a title. Miller, and dozen other funny-looking role players on second-tier teams, are the bane of Western Conference heavyweights.

What did we learn from the 2006-07 Mavericks? That for the West's heavy hitters (which is to say the NBA's), life is grim. For them, the first eighty-two games do is ramp up expectations, until anything less than a title is a disappointment. Ask the Suns, or the Kings before them. Or the Spurs, whose entire philosophy follows from this joyless premise.

I happen to think this is Phoenix's year, but they need to fear the Western teams who don't have the weight of the world hanging over them.

Fact: Through the years, the Eastern Conference, has stayed almost immutably putrid. Despite young stars like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Gilbert Arenas, Dwight Howard, and Chris Bosh, the East has failed to rise again and again. It's the little brother to the West, and an ever-incomplete breeding ground for disappointment.

Yet there are storylines that will keep me enthralled from October to May. Some are obvious, some unlikely, and some ring false for everyone but me. But what matter is that, in this wasteland of a conference, a plant of hope doth sprout. That plant can be identified with the help of this Eastern Conference Survival Guide. May it nourish the animal within every one of us.