Author: whodeanny

Tim Doyle

Since I live in the Midwest I always watch some Big Ten basketball every year but not a ton. I MUCH prefer the NBA and I don’t have many Saturdays where I have so much free time that I can watch an entire game. That being said, today is one those rare days. I have watched almost the whole Purdue at Northwestern game today. The Boilers have the two best players and need the game for NCAA consideration. That being said, Northwestern has played really hard and pretty well. Especially this guy named Tim Doyle. Yes, he sounds like an NYC cop and maybe he’s Tim Doyle Jr. and his dad IS an NYC cop. I dunno. I, in fact, didn’t know anything about him at all before today. He’s a starting senior in the Big Ten but I didn’t even know his name. But this guy’s my new favorite player in college basketball.

He’s not a typical D 1 star player even though he’s scored 20+ points today. He’s like the Ultimate Y Pickup Player. He moves at two speeds; high and low and there’ll totally distinct. But he shifts between them perfectly and at the appropriate time. He dribbles well with both hands and always changes at the right moment but isn’t a great ball handler technically but he works really hard to keep his body between his defender and the ball. He shoots pretty well but is mostly successful because he does exactly what the situation suggests.

Purdue’s Greg Landry is the dominant post player in the game but has had foul trouble (including a personal assessed for a hanging on the rim tech that was, uh, dubious at best) and when Doyle has him isolated on the wing he simply pushes the ball as hard as he can manage. One of two things will happen, Doyle thinks. Either 1) he will force Landry to back away and allow an easy layup or 2) Doyle will draw contact and pick up an important foul then shoot free throws. #3 happens: Landry moves backwards and keeps his hands up so as to avoid contact but appear to at least acknowledge that he doesn’t want Doyle to score the basket. Foul called. Doyle simply forced a good thing to happen.

That is Doyle’s MO. Forcing a good thing to happen. He backs in as he needs, pushes or hips appropriately, turns left or right, uses the glass and even the does the classic pass while simultaneously turning your body to set a pick. Seriously, this guy is the Ultimate Y Pickup Player.

TP

whoa Nelly!


Am I somehow becoming younger or is youth oriented music just a lot better than it was ten years ago? Nelly Furtado’s Say It Right is just the latest in a surprisingly long line of fun, interesting music that features clever lyrics, inventive sounds and a sense of optimism. Comparing it to the loud, hard, dark music of the 90s is really intriguing to me. I’m curious as to why the shift has been so substantial. If nothing else, I’m happy about it!

TP

Exit Tom Vilsack

The first official casualty of the 2008 Presidential campaign came yesterday in the form of Tom Vilsack. Though he’s probably a good man and certainly has many of the qualities we’d like to see in a President he had no real chance to compete. He claims that it’s all about money but I’d like to suggest that realistically, money follows celebrity. Tom Vilsack is not, nor was he likely to become, a celebrity. No chance to get the money. Now to see who will be next to exit.

The following is from Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics.

Sheila Krumholz

I think it’s a truism at this point that you can have lots of great qualities, you can have name recognition, you can have a good organization, you can have great ideas, if you don’t have the money you don’t have the campaign… Vilsack epitomizes what we’ll be seeing a lot more of in this cycle and that is that here was a good candidate, good ideas, [but] didn’t have the money. He saw the writing on the wall and it said ‘You’re not going to be president,’…

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/02/23/vilsack.money/index.html

TP

Dennis Johnson

Why Not Dennis?

Dennis Johnson died this week and I was saddened almost immediately by his post-retirement career, particularly when compared to his last 80s Celtics teammates. His lack of opportunity encouraged me to consider the difficult question:
Why was DJ screwed?

The NBA circuit talks about his intellect and kindness. His work ethic, humor and thorough understanding of the game are also commonly referenced. That sounds like a great combination for a head coach in the NBA yet DJ worked for years as an assistant and scout but had only one short interim stint in an awful situation with the Clippers. It seemed odd that someone with his combination of basketball pedigree and personal characteristics couldn’t get a real shot at a coaching job so I thought I’d take a look at some of his peers just for the sake of comparison.

Danny Ainge

Ainge and Johnson were a great backcourt combination. They also reversed the standard assumptions about skill set. Ainge was one of the best athletes in the league for the bulk of his career. His baseball exploits were impressive (he was no Michael Jordan) but his speed and jumping ability are still the source of story telling. DJ had more stereotypically White playing characteristics (high basketball IQ, good leadership…) and the blend of the two was tremendous.

When Ainge quit his job as the coach of the Phoenix Suns mid-season, many of us assumed that he would have to work his way up the ladder if he wanted another opportunity to be a significant figure in the NBA. His leaving the Suns was not a Hubie Brown situation (an older man with health concerns) or a departure connected to an intense family problem. It was roughly the equivalent of taking your ball and going home.

Not only did Ainge land on his feet, he landed up. Despite quitting on his team and frequent substantial disputes with the players he had coached, Ainge now has the dream job of most former Celtics. He’s sitting in Red’s chair. He runs the Celtics. DJ died while coaching a D League team.

Larry Bird

What about Larry Legend? He was able to come home to Indiana and coach a veteran laden, talented team who’d simply grown weary of working under a domineering personality. Bird got the Pacers to the Finals then quit as he’d promised. Bird never seemed particularly engaged in coaching and talked openly about his role as a manager and how little of the actual coaching he did, relying instead on Dick Harter and Rick Carlisle.

After quitting and spending a few years fishing, Bird also fell up. He became Donnie Walsh’s heir and immediately fired Isiah Thomas (despite Walsh’s discomfort) for his buddy Carlisle. Bird returned to Indiana hailed as a conquering hero despite being more interested in scouting than management. Since then, the Pacers have moved from being a model franchise to being Blazers East. And without much playoff success. This month was the first time that there has been any public criticism of Bird’s continuing poor job with the Pacers. And that criticism came from a single columnist and was immediately dismissed by most of the good Hoosier faithful.

Kevin McHale

McHale’s GM career started because 1) Minnesota owner Glen Taylor didn’t know much about basketball and 2) Kevin McHale is an icon in Minnesota. That’s pretty much it. Despite having one of the twenty best players in NBA history for the duration of his time as GM, McHale has managed to turn the Timberwolves into a team that should earnestly hope they luck into a high draft pick this summer instead of sneaking into the playoffs because they’d be lucky to win even one playoff game against one of top teams in the West.

McHale’s tenure in Minny is filled with a litany of poor decisions, stupid trades, missed opportunities, ridiculous contracts and unnecessary conflicts. It is only due to Billy King, Isiah Thomas and Danny Ainge that McHale is not universally considered the worst GM in the game. If nearly anything were different with the Wolves (an engaged, savvy owner with more money; a larger market; a star with any less loyalty than Kevin Garnett; a retired Timberwolf who was a star; a GM who wasn’t a state hero; really, almost anything) McHale would have been fired at least a year ago.

So, a quick recap. Ainge quit on his team during the season then landed his dream job and has been atrocious at it. Bird landed a great gig, did well at it then quit and as an exec has been a disengaged, uncomfortable disaster. (Not coincidentally, Donnie Walsh is being asked to put off his intended retirement by both Bird and ownership. Yes, this is a sign.) McHale’s career with the Timberwolves had a single high point (the Garnett-Cassell-Sprewell run), followed by an almost comic fall. He is now so widely viewed as incompetent that Fred Hoiberg is replacing him next year and EVERY Wolves fan is happy about this. (I honestly think McHale is happy about it too, he didn’t really want the job when it was offered.)

With this, mixed at best, track record, how is it that DJ, a diligent scout and assistant after playing and a legendarily smart, nice, devoted basketball lifer could only get a sniff with the Clippers and died in the D League?

Well, maybe it’s just because it’s Black History Month but there clearly seems to be an element of racism at work. What other explanation is there? The differences between his opportunities and those of McHale, Ainge and Bird are too vast to be dismissed.

This is an uncomfortable thing to write about but I think it’s important to consider. Is it race? Or am I missing something entirely different and very important? Please let me know.

I sincerely hope I’m mistaken. But I don’t think I am.

RIP, DJ. You deserve it.

TP

NBA in Vegas


I was pleasantly surprised to hear that none of the NBA players (or associates) were involved in the real troubles over the weekend. All the possible players in the positioning of the NBA to move to Vegas permanently will be buzzzing about that long term possibility. For once, a weekend that was a) thoroughly Black, b) heavily scrutinized and c) deliberate went quite well.

TP

Flying Heroes

When Nathan Petrelli first flew on Heroes, it seemed incredibly sudden, powerful and intense. Watching this week and seeing Peter fly in an extended sequence, carrying someone else and virtually floating over NYC, I was reminded of my instant reaction of wonder at seeing ‘realistic’ looking flying. It’s awesome!!! Heroes is the first show I’ve seen wherein the action sequences typically match up with how I have imagined the physical experience of that power. I’m not an action fan per se and have never felt the need for HDTV or big screens or any of the technophile fanboy gadgets. But, wow. It looks so damn good. And real.

TP

No news

This NBA trade deadline passed with no significant deals. It’s a bit embarassing realistically. There are no more than five teams that have a legitimate chance at winning the title this year and a dozen others who may have a realistic shot at making the conference finals. (Mainly because the Eastern Conference is a bad joke.) Why are these guys (and yes, they’re all men still) so passive? They continue paying lots of money to these twenty year olds but refuse to actually make strong moves even if there might be great reward at the end of the rainbow. Ah, poor passive people.

TP

NBA in Vegas

I can’t even comment yet on this from Scoop—

Scoop Jackson

The over/under is one player arrested, one might get shot, at least three wives will file for divorce on Monday, and (we failed to put a number on this, so fill in the blank) _____ number of kids whose mommies didn’t know their NBA daddies before Feb. 15 born 40 weeks from now. Enough to make Shawn Kemp proud.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=jackson/070216

TP

Tommy!

I’m watching Tommy, actually just the last 45 minutes or so. I don’t know Tommy other than a couple songs. In fact, it’s only been in the last nine months or so that I’ve listened to my first Who album in its entirety. I’ve heard many of their singles on the radio but none of my music listener friends were ever into the Who while we shared music. Rachel has some of their albums but it’s not part of our shared musical vocab at all. So far, Tommy seems like about five music videos thrown all together. Since I didn’t see the start of the film I don’t know any of the connections. Other than this messiah stuff (which must have maddened the conservative element, right?) anyway.

Okay, so why is Roger Daltrey even in this band? It certainly isn’t as though Pete Townshend needed him to get any of the music out, yes? Is it because Daltrey is the kind of frontman who garnered attention? He’s very handsome, has the long hair and skinny legs which combined which manic energy probably made the concert experience much more 70s typical. hmmm. The whole thing is very curious to me.

Hmmm. Hopefully I’ll make a concerted effort to hear more Who.

TP