SH Blog: James says Spurs don’t like the Heat, Bird says Stephenson’s game is unlimited once he matures

A rematch between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals seemed questionable before the playoffs began with the West looking so unpredictable and the Miami Heat not looking quite like the consistent championship team they’re supposed to be with Dwyane Wade’s health in question once again.

When the Spurs struggled mightily against the Dallas Mavericks in the first round, it made it that much harder to figure out who might come out of the West. Once they got past the feisty Mavericks, however, everything started to click and they looked every bit like the team to beat this season – much like the way they were last season. With the inexplicable loss to the Heat in the Finals still fresh in their memory, Tim Duncan and company have publicly stated that they are more than ready to face Miami once again.

Of course, LeBron James and the Heat will be just as ready, from Ira Winderman of Sun Sentinel:

If you didn’t know better, you would have thought Tim Duncan had blown the words directly into LeBron James’ ear.

Instead, they merely were offered at the end of a televised interview about this impending rematch of the 2013 NBA Finals: “We’ll do it this time.”

Doesn’t matter… Not after Duncan’s Saturday podium interview session included, “We’re happy to have another opportunity at it. We’re happy it’s the Heat again.”

[…]

 “They don’t like us. They don’t,” James said after the Heat returned to the court following two days off in the wake of finishing off the Indiana Pacers in Friday’s Game 6 the Eastern Conference finals. “I can sense it from Timmy’s comments over the last couple of days.

“They wanted this. They wanted us. And we’ll be ready for the challenge.”

For Chris Bosh, what Duncan said on Saturday will be used as motivation:

Even rarer has been soft-spoken Duncan as the voice of bravado.

 “It’s a little different,” Bosh said. “But we love it, for extra motivation. We’re coming into this thing without home court this year. We know nobody’s going to hand anything to us and it’s never easy.

  “So, with that said, we’re glad to get a little bit of extra added motivation for ourselves and our team. And any time that we’re not focusing, we could just think back to that quote and it will lock us back in.”

Lets get this thing started already.

Oh, and speaking of the Heat, here’s another annual rant by Dan Le Batard after a big series victory. The focus, of course, is on Lance Stephenson and the Indiana Pacers:

Some notable stuff from the clip:

“David is the closest you’re gonna get to meeting the West!” (Stugotz: “That guy blocked me on twitter”)

“Rashard Lews is the black Mike Miller!”

“You have Hoosiers, we have Hooters!”

“You have Larry Bird, we have Larry O’Brien!”

THE LAKERS AND KNICKS ON THE HUNT FOR DEREK FISHER, AMONG OTHERS:

Derek Fisher’s name has come up at various times during the postseason as a potential candidate to be a head coach next season, but of course, that wasn’t something Fisher was interested in thinking about while locked in an intense series against the San Antonio Spurs.

With that series now over, Fisher will start exploring his options, including one as a coach for the New York Knicks, from Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN:

Phil Jackson’s first substantive chat with Derek Fisher about the New York Knicks’ coaching job is scheduled to take place this week, according to sources close to the situation.

Sources told ESPN.com Monday that Jackson is planning to connect with Fisher by week’s end, giving the Oklahoma City Thunder guard some time to decompress after his team was eliminated by San Antonio Saturday night in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals.

One source cautioned that the discussion shouldn’t be classified as a formal interview, given the long and close working relationship between Jackson and Fisher during their two stints together as coach and player with the Los Angeles Lakers. But another source close to the process told ESPN.com that he thinks Fisher will ultimately find the allure of coaching in New York under Jackson too difficult to pass up.

Fisher will also draw interest from the Los Angeles Lakers, but unlike the Knicks, they have plenty of candidates lined up for the vacant coaching position:

Sources say that the Lakers, meanwhile, remain interested in discussing their vacancy with Fisher but also continue to proceed with a more deliberate coaching search than the Knicks. The Lakers — who have interviewed coaching veterans Byron Scott, Alvin Gentry, Lionel Hollins and Mike Dunleavy, in addition to discussions with former Lakers player and coach Kurt Rambis and ESPN analyst George Karl — are not yet locked into one candidate. The Lakers, sources add, have also internally discussed reaching out to Scott Skiles and former NBA championship-winning coach Larry Brown, who has spent the past two seasons in the college game at SMU.

Scott Skiles and Larry Brown? Talk about a radical change from Mike D’Antoni.

NBA ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAMS ANNOUNCED:

If you want a roundup of the All-Defensive teams, click here.

I had a major issue with some of the names voted in for this prestigious and under-appreciated award.

Now, everyone is entitled to an opinion when it comes to voting for All-Defensive teams. I can even accept certain biases, like Ralph Lawler – announcer of Los Angeles Clippers games – giving Darren Collison a vote for the Second Team. At least Collison is capable of hounding other point guards on the defensive end, although – and lets be real here – he’s not a true candidate for the award at all.

What isn’t acceptable is flat-out silly votes, like one going to David Lee, two going to James Harden (!) and one going to Luol Deng for First Team (!). To be fair, Lee isn’t actually the worst defender you’ll find at his position – he’s done a respectable job (believe it or not) at times this season in one-on-one situations (particularly against the East) and like it or not, was a part of a Top 5 defensive team.

That said, considering him on the All-Defensive Team is making a mockery of the award. There are arguable opinions to be made for certain players out there. Lee isn’t one of them. At all.

Members of the media given the privilege to make these votes should and have to know better, because illegitimate names being on the list undermines the process and that’s a shame because there are plenty of fantastic minds putting in a lot of thought before making their votes count.

As for Harden receiving two votes, I will let this amazing clip do the talking for me:

Oh, and props to Mike Tirico of ESPN for being the only one to give Draymond Green a vote. Green had the fifth-best defensive rating in the league this season – better than Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James, Andre Iguodala and just about any other name you could think of not named Paul George. I watched Green play every single game this season, and he was an anchor for the Warriors on the defensive end for much of the season. He could literally switch from guarding a power forward to shutting down a speedy point guard in the same possession – a versatility not many in the league has at his size. Getting just one vote – tied with Lee – was bad enough, but receiving none would have been an absolute travesty.

OTHER NEWS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE:

• Rajon Rondo had the opportunity to speak with Kevin Love over the weekend, but he had no interest in recruiting him personally, from Gary Washburn of Boston Globe: “I talked to Kevin for about 39 seconds,” Rondo said. “It was all over the web? Well, we do work together. We played against each other. We compete, so when I saw Kevin, I spoke, wished him good luck on his time here in Boston. “He spent a couple of days here in Boston and I told him I spent a couple of months here in Boston.”… “I didn’t pitch anything,” Rondo said. “I just told him to enjoy his time here. When I was at the game, some people came up to me and told me Kevin was sitting in some really nice seats. I didn’t know I would see him. I saw him as I was exiting the game.”… “I believe in [team president] Danny [Ainge], it’s his job [to improve the team] and he’s working on it now,” Rondo said. “I don’t need to say how good [Love] is. The world sees it every night or they see his stats every night. “We have to find a way to beat the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs the way both teams are continuing to dominate the last couple of seasons.”

• Something truly horrifying happened to Taj Gibson’s little cousin.

• Phil Jackson was fined by the league for tampering with Fisher, from Stein of ESPN: “New York Knicks president Phil Jackson has been fined $25,000 by the NBA for tampering with Oklahoma City Thunder guard Derek Fisher. Sources said Jackson was fined specifically for statements he made at a news conference last week about possibly hiring Fisher as Knicks coach. The league’s 30 teams were notified of the fine by league memo Monday afternoon, the sources said. Among the reasons the league took this step, sources said, was to reinforce its annual reminders to teams of the league’s anti-tampering rules, which prohibit teams from direct or indirect expressions of interest in other teams’ impending free agents.”

• As for the Knicks, no one is off limits, from Ian Begley of ESPN NY: ““I don’t think it’s any secret that everybody that we have on our roster is up for discussion, if we have other teams call us up,” the Knicks president said on Friday. “I mean, we have players that are free agents in Amar’e [Stoudemire],Andrea [Bargnani], Carmelo [Anthony], Tyson [Chandler], guys that are in situations that are not to be discussed. But the roster that we have beyond that is open for discussion. And if people call up, want to talk about it, we’ll discuss it with them.” Jackson mentioned Stoudemire, Bargnani and Chandler because those players are entering the final year of their contracts. The Knicks would like to let those contracts expire in order clear cap space for the summer of 2015. The market for those players may be stronger closer to the trade deadline because any team acquiring Chandler, Bargnani or Stoudemire would be responsible for only the remainder of their salaries, not the full salary.

• Larry Bird hopes to bring back Lance Stephenson for the right price and never considered the idea of firing Frank Vogel, from The A.P.: “I think his ceiling is what he wants it to be,” said Bird, the Pacers’ president of basketball operations. “I always want him back. You just don’t let talent like that walk away if you can help it.”… “Clearly, he’s a free agent, and I’m certainly hoping that he’s back,” Vogel said, later acknowledging he played the role of team psychologist more this year than any previous year… All of which leads to one question: What are the Pacers willing to pay to keep Stephenson? “We’ve talked about it briefly, but I haven’t sat down with the owner [Herb Simon] yet,” Bird said. “There’s going to be a price and we’re not going to go over that.”… “His job was never in jeopardy,” Bird said, fidgeting in his chair as he addressed the rumors about Vogel’s job security. “The day it [the report] happened, I went down to Frank and all of his assistants and said, ‘I want you back next year,’ and that was the end of it for us.” The bigger concern is trying to figure out how to deal with Stephenson — on and off the court. “When it comes down to it, it’s up to him,” Bird said about Stephenson’s decision. “[Once he matures] his game is unlimited.”

• Mike Monroe of Express-News explains why we should expect to see Tony Parker suit up for Game 1: “If Parker’s past foretells his future, count on seeing him in the starting lineup at the AT&T Center for the series’ first tipoff against the Miami Heat. His career suggests he is a fast healer and is willing to endure a fair amount of pain. A little more than three years ago, Parker suffered another injury to his lower left leg, and the team announced he would be out for three to four weeks. Less than a week later, however, he returned to action after missing only two games, prompting Popovich to suggest the Frenchman had rubbed the injury with a secret potion of foies gras and truffles. The Spurs’ opponent when Parker made his early return in 2011? The Miami Heat. He scored 15 points and had eight assists in 23 minutes of a 125-95 Spurs win.”

James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.