THE END OF CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT: Self-appointed basketball aficionado and Toronto Raptors human
mascot Drake called NBA commissioner Adam Silver “Sterling” during an in-game interview Wednesday night.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Oklahoma City Thunder coach Scott Brooks, who has been without injured sidekick superstars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook for most of the season, after beating the Sacramento Kings without DeMarcus Cousins:
“This is an I-don’t-feel-sorry-for-you league. When we had guys hurt, I didn’t get a lot of text messages, ‘Hey, hang in there,’ from the other 29 coaches in the league.”
TANKS A LOT!: Here’s what NBA commissioner Adam Silver said when ESPN asked about tanking: “I absolutely don’t think any team is trying to lose. No player is going out there to lose. In terms of management, I think there’s an absolute legitimate rebuilding process that goes on. It’s so hard to win in this league, and it’s so complex. I think what’s happened in the case of Philadelphia – their strategy has been reduced into a tweet. This notion, ‘be bad to be good.’ … When it gets reduced into a headline, I understand the reaction.” In other words, have at it, boys.
LINE OF THE WEEK: Damian Lillard, Portland at San Antonio, Dec. 19: 53 minutes, 16-29 FGs, 4-9 3-pointers, 7-8 FTs, three rebounds, six assists, two steals, one block, four turnovers, 43 points in a 129-119 triple-overtime win. In establishing a career high, Lillard scored 26 points on 11-of-18 shooting in the fourth quarter and overtimes. He had a driving layup with 1.4 seconds left to force the first OT and a 3-pointer with 13 seconds remaining to push it to double overtime before scoring nine points in triple OT to seal it. “Damian was unbelievable,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “He was unguardable. He just took it upon himself and single-handedly did us in. He was amazing.”
LINE OF THE WEAK: Roy Hibbert, Indiana at Denver, Dec. 20: 24 minutes, 0-4 FGs, 0-0 3-pointers, 0-0 FTs, five rebounds, zero assists, zero blocks, zero steals, five fouls, four turnovers, zero points in a 76-73 loss. In being outplayed by the immortal Timofey Mozgov and Jusuf Nurkic, Hibbert took his first donut of the season, a boxscore line he popularized during last season’s playoffs.
TRILLION WATCH: Not much of a week for the heroes of zeros, although it should be pointed out that Friend of the Program Perry Jones III attempted two shots Friday that spoiled a 12 trillion. Garbage time in Saturday’s Jazz-Hornets matchup produced 3 trillions for Charlotte teammates Jeffery Taylor and Jason Maxiell. That tied for top weekly honors with Timberwolves rookie Glenn Robinson III, who had a 3 trillion Tuesday at Washington, and Magic guard Ben Gordon, who had a 3 trillion Sunday vs. Philadelphia. The season leader remains Lakers guard Xavier Henry with a 9 trillion at Golden State on Nov. 1.
GAME OF THE WEEK: Toronto at Chicago, Dec. 22. The league’s PR machine will be pumping the five Christmas matchups – and the new player uniforms with first names on them. But the truth is that Monday’s seven-game slate is a better board, with Portland-Houston, Atlanta-Dallas, San Antonio-LA Clippers and standings leaders Golden State and Memphis also in action. The Raptors (22-6) lead the East, but one of their losses was a 100-93 home setback on Nov. 13 to the Bulls (17-9), who somehow are just 5-5 at home.
GAME OF THE WEAK: Indiana at Detroit, Dec. 26. Until Indiana’s win at Minnesota on Sunday, neither the Pacers nor the Pistons had shot 50 percent or better in a game this season. The Pacers have lost 10 of 12 overall and eight of nine on the road. The Pistons have lost 17 of 19 overall and 12 straight at home. An ideal time to return unwanted Christmas gifts.
TWO MINUTES: Bulls guard Jimmy Butler was the Eastern Conference Player of the Month in November, and there’s 
been no dropoff to his much-improved game in December. After scoring a career-high 35 points in Thursday’s win over the Knicks, Butler said, “I don’t want to be a star. I just want to be a decent role player on a really good team.” That’s a nice sentiment, but it’s also false modesty. If it were true, Butler would have accepted the reported $11 million annually the Bulls offered during the extension window in October. For a “role player,” that would be really good money. “The guy is having an All-Star season,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. So much for being a “role player.” More on Butler here from colleague Jacob Eisenberg. … The last four games aired by TNT have been Cleveland-Oklahoma City, with no LeBron James and Kyrie Irving getting hurt; Houston-Sacramento, with no Dwight Howard or DeMarcus Cousins; New York-Chicago, with no Carmelo Anthony or Derrick Rose; and Oklahoma City-Golden State, with Kevin Durant getting hurt. … If you’re wondering, Greg Smith is now the backup center in Dallas until Jermaine O’Neal can be convinced to suit up again. That’s a serious step backward from Brandan Wright, who was shooting nearly 75 percent from the field with a PER of 26.21. … According to Elias, when Thunder forward Kevin Durant went for 30 points in 19 minutes in the first half Friday at Golden State, he became the first player since the merger in 1976 to score at least 30 points while playing fewer than 20 minutes. Durant didn’t play in the second half due to a sprained ankle, prompting Warriors coach Steve Kerr to crack, “I thought we did a tremendous job on him in the second half. I didn’t even notice him in the second half. We completely stopped him.” … Two of the league’s longest current 3-
point streaks ended this week. Clippers guard J.J. Redick missed his only deep ball Monday, stopping his streak at 29 games. Magic guard Evan Fournier was 0-of-3 on Wednesday, ending his run at 32 games. The longest current streak belongs to Lakers guard Nick Young, who is at 33 games. Just 94 more to catch Kyle Korver. … Speaking of Young, he was bounced from Friday’s home loss to Oklahoma City after throwing a forearm to the head of Thunder center Steven Adams, whom he called “a sneaky, dirty player.” Young isn’t the first player to become frustrated with Adams’ style of play; current Grizzlies Zach Randolph and Vince Carter both have complained after being baited into physical retaliation following dust-ups with Adams. “He was doing his job,” Young said. “He got me kicked out of the game. That’s what they put him in the game to do.” … San Antonio is the first team in the shot clock era to play consecutive triple-overtime games. The only previous times it happened came in 1951, when both the Baltimore Bullets and Minneapolis Lakers played consecutive 63-minute affairs.
Trivia Answer: Theo Ratliff led in blocks per game with Atlanta and Portland in 2003-04. … Happy 65th Birthday, Dave Robisch. … A safe and happy holiday season to all.
Chris Bernucca is the managing editor of SheridanHoops.com. His columns appear Monday during the season. You can follow him on Twitter.
Don’t waste your breath, fellas – SH.com has been in bed with the NY Post and the Daily News since they started. The “better basketball site for intelligent readers” tagline is simply a ruse.
I do not consider myself a Phil Jackson apologist, but a reasonable Knicks fan representative of the vast majority of Knick fans.
With that said, I am getting tired of so called intelligent basketball journalists writing these “all too easy” articles about the state of the Knicks. The writer of this article seems to imply that Phil Jackson was not doing his job because he made a few comments on Twitter, while other teams happened to make trades. This uses the same nonsensical logic that people use when they criticize the President for golfing or taking a vacation.
The writer, while insinuating Jackson has not been active in discussing trades (you know, because he was spending so much time writing three posts on Twitter) does not even lay out any trade ideas of his own for this season that could improve the team in the short and long term. That would actually require some serious thought and might be something that basketball fans would appreciate reading rather than this story, that’s main point seems to be that Jackson is not working hard enough to improve the Knicks because he took 10 minutes to post his thoughts on Twitter.
There seems to be a real disconnect between the media’s perception of this season vs. that of the fans. The fact that the Knicks have put themselves in the position to get a top 3 pick in this year’s draft, whether intentional or not, should be viewed as good fortune and a major catalyst to the rebuilding process. The vast majority of Knicks fans are fine with the current state of the Knicks, understanding the Knicks rebuilding process takes a big step next summer and the summer after that (even if they do not sign Gasol, Durant, Love, etc.).
I do not think the media has grasped this and are still trying to convince Knick fans that we should have some indignation towards Knicks management right now. Stop it already and try writing some intelligent articles for once. New York Knicks fans happen to be very loyal and patient with their team and are giving Jackson the time necessary to clean up the team he inherited. It is the media that can’t seem to wait for next summer and is filling the space between now and then with mediocre articles like this one.
Well said. Couldn’t agree more.
So, only the pundits are allowed to voice their opinion right now?
The Knicks are clearly tanking the season, that was obvious from the way Jackson gave a scouting report on the Knicks prior to the season beginning, it was obvious from the way Melo threw the roster under the bus prior to the season.
So I have no beef with you telling Jackson the product is shameful, the product has been shameful since the Ewing trade basically, or more directly since Dolan became the owner, but to get your little panties in a bunch because he engages you on twitter? Grow a pair.
The Knicks were fleeced in the Tyson trade, or the Knicks wanted to upgrade their center via the draft and decided to tank?
Jackson is not going to admit in public that they are tanking, but the reality is the only team they’re competing with right now is Philly.
You’re right up there with Stephen A right now talking about getting the last word with a player on the court. News flash: we don’t respect you pundits. SMH.
Knicks tanking this early in the season? Only the Sixers can make that claim and even THEY recently won 3 games.
Certainly Derek Fisher isn’t tanking.
Phil Jackson probably didn’t expect more than a #5-#8 seed going into season. Jackson and Fisher look s_it-faced right now. They want wins. Maybe later in season they tank, but not right now. And losing hurts the chances of Knicks getting a quality player to come in free agency.
Regardless of whether or not the intent to tank was made before the season, Knick fans never expected a championship team this year. Better they be awful and take advantage of one of the few first round picks they have had in the past few years, than be mediocre and unable to improve significantly thru the draft.
Also, last I checked free agents usually made decisions based on the money vs. quality of the team they were joining. The impact of this year’s record on this summer’s free agents is overstated. The majority of this year’s team will not be on the roster come summer, whether it be via free agency, trade or waivers.
When you think about it, a max/quality player can really only leave for a “bad” situation because good teams have good players that eat up a lot of the cap and the only teams that usually have space are either extremely young bad or have just gutted their roster bad. This is why Chicago lost out to New York this summer on Melo. If Gasol is leaving Memphis, it will have to be for a worse situation that is offering the max vs. Memphis offering him less than max.
If Knicks want to give a Max contract to Greg Monroe, be my guest. However, with Pistons “stretching” the contract of Josh Smith and waiving him, look for Detroit to try to keep Monroe, as they can offer him 5 years to 4 years from Knicks.
I don’t see top free agents like Marc Gasol choosing Knicks for money. He too can get more by staying in Memphis. And if Gasol does leave Memphis, I see Lakers getting his services over Knicks.
Rondo appears to be staying in Dallas. Who’s left, who Knicks would like to overpay for? Not Love.
The Knicks roster is much better than their record. The coaching staff and PJax are not going to be embarrassed by having their team win less than 15 more games down the stretch. Maybe they get a #3 to #5 pick, but I can’t see them getting #1 or #2.
Never said the Knicks need to use their money on max players or offer second tier stars max money. The money can be used to sign quality veterans with high basketball IQ (i.e. Afflalo) to fill some of their many needs. The media (besides Howard Beck) believe the only options out there for improvement are signing Marc Gasol this summer and Kevin Durant next summer, but I am sure there are plans B, C, D and E for how to spend that cap money.
Nobody on this team is improving enough to the point that the Knicks do not have one of the worst records in the NBA. Fisher and Jackson cannot turn on some switch to stop the losing (nor at this point, should they want to). If this team was as talented as you think they are, they would be winning more games. Melo is hurting, Stoudemire is past his prime, JR Smith continues to infuriate and nobody else can score.
Their odds for a top three pick if they have the fourth worst record are 40% and only 30% with the fifth worst record (vs. 56% odds they currently have with the second worst record). At this point, they have nothing to gain by winning and a potential franchise player for the next decade (which they have not had since Ewing) if they keep losing.
Not sure why you prefer short term mediocrity over the chance to build a long term contender.
Jackson should have known what he was getting into, when he took the job (The Money) as did Melo when he re-signed (for the Money). And I suspect a good reason for Phil not wanting to coach the Knicks, is that by being President, it doesn’t tarnish his coaching record.
It soon will be time to take bets on how long Jackson remains as President of the Knicks (quit or be fired)?
He doesn’t want to coach because he’s had two hip replacements, multiple back surgeries and knee surgeries. In his last couple of years in LA he used a Segway to get up and down the court in practice, and had to use a high chair because he literally couldn’t sit down because of his hip injuries.
Dolan won’t fire him. Dolan doesn’t fire anyone who isn’t a woman of colour.