Category: Sports

The King’s Crowning Achievement

 

My NBA watching has taken a sad nose dive in 2015 but I'm excited that I'll be able to watch more consistently as the Eastern Conference Finals begin tonight. Part of it is sheer love for the game but I'm also very intrigued by some of the historical dynamics at play.

 

The next 3 or 4 weeks may prove to be the stretch in which LeBron James cements his place as the greatest forward to ever play basketball. I’d argue that he’s already there and that whenever he retires, there is likely to be a gulf separating James from Barkley, Bird, Baylor, Erving, Garnett, Havlicek, Malone and the rest of the all-time great forwards. The next few weeks might convince some of the last remaining skeptics.

 

Consider that with victories over the top seeded Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals and the Rockets-Warriors* victor in the NBA Finals, James would lead his teams to 5 straight Finals appearances and titles in 3 of those seasons.# That specific level of sustained brilliance has been rarely achieved in the NBA.  Russell’s Celtics are the only team to do it and James (along with teammate James Jones) would be the first individual to do it since.

 

As impressive as that feat would be historically, considering the context of this Cleveland Cavalier team, another championship might well be King James’ crowning achievement. At the beginning of the season there were high hopes for this team because of their formidable trio of All-Stars. Their Big 3 enters the conference finals as a Big 1 ½.

 

The Cavs mortgaged their future to acquire Kevin Love from the Timberwolves, hoping he could replicate Chris Bosh’s success with James in Miami. Love is out for the season after suffering a Minnesota Wrecking Crew style shoulder separation. Kyrie Irving, the Cavs incumbent star, was presumed to fill the Dwyane Wade role this year but Irving is suffering from multiple injuries and limped awkwardly through the end of the Bulls series.

 

The current third member of the Cavs Big 3 is Timofey Mozgov. It’s true. Folks, we are not talking about Robert Parish and Kevin McHale here. Apologies for referencing Moses Malone and Andrew Toney in this context. Yes, the mere comparison is embarrassing.  

 

And it gets worse! The rest of the Cavs team is a “clinking, clanking, clattering collection of caliginous junk”, to quote the Wizard of Oz. Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert are their fourth, fifth and sixth best players. Please read that sentence again.

 

If James can lead this team to a title he’ll have demonstrated that his two year MVP drought has no bearing on his continuing status as the best player in the game. He will also be able to make the case that none of the other contenders for BEST FORWARD EVER ever won a title with such a motley crew.

 

The amazing thing is, LeBron James is good enough to pull it off. Would you bet against him?

 

 

 FDO

 

 

*- Especially the Warriors. With a championship, they would cement themselves as one of the greatest seasons ever.  They 67 wins, MVP, and runners-up for Coach of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Beating this team will be an historical feather in the cap.

 

#- It would actually be 3 rings in 4 years.

 

 

Reflecting on John Lewis

 

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic Selma march I want to take a moment to reflect on the life and career of John Lewis, one of my personal heroes.

 

“Registering to vote is an act of commitment to the American ideal. It is patriotic. The Federal Government must decide whether it wants to let Southern Negroes register. It must make that choice this summer, or make us all witnesses to the lynching of democracy.”

 

-John Lewis

 

 

John Lewis was a young college student when he got his start as an activist in the Nashville Student Movement. Lewis was often viewed as the prodigy of the movement as he was the youngest of the “Big Six” leaders of the Civil Rights Movement by a full decade.

 

 

As a co-founder and an early chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Lewis first became a national figure during the Freedom Rides of 1961. It was during this endeavor to desegregate public facilities in the South that Lewis was beaten so badly many feared his death was imminent.

 

Continuing his leadership of SNCC, Lewis was one of the speakers at the legendary 1963 March on Washington. SNCC worked throughout the South to develop Freedom Schools that trained nonviolent activists and 1964’s Freedom Summer efforts at registering potential Black voters.

 

Lewis was also one of the leaders of the Selma, Alabama march now referred to as “Bloody Sunday” because of the brutal beating Lewis and many other nonviolent protestors received at the hands (and clubs) of the Alabama State Police. It is this march we celebrated last weekend.  

 

As the sixties came to an end, Lewis became deeply involved in electoral politics. Initially, he became a prominent advisor for Robert F. Kennedy’s Presidential campaign in 1968. For the last quarter century, Lewis has served his country as a member of Congress from Georgia.

 

In some respects, Lewis is considered the conscience of the national Democratic party. It was Lewis' decision to switch his support from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic primary that opened the floodgates of superdelegates declaring Obama their preferred candidate.

 

Lewis continues to fight for human rights to this day. His efforts to pursue justice have extended well beyond his original pursuit of racial equality to include a whole host of social concerns. Still, he is widely perceived as the most important living link to the Civil Rights Movement.

  

I continue to be grateful for John Lewis. You should be too.

 

 

FDO

 

 

Happy Ending (flashback)

 

Today is the day I needed to brush off the car windows, take a long drink of coffee, turn the radio off and remind myself that I can remember how beautiful Indiana will be in just a few months. It almost helped. 

 

So here's a flashback to the beautiful days of August.

 

FDO

 

 

I had a happy ending to my summer.

 

Since I teach high school I have a wonderfully extended summer break. During the doldrums of February thinking about summer break is sometimes the only thing that gets me out of bed. (Do I hear an amen, teachers?) Even though today is August 6, it’s the end of my summer break. In Indiana that means I’m at a late start school. Nearly everyone else has been back for a week already. I wanted to squeeze the last bit of fun out of my last summer day.

 

Okay, on to the reason I’m writing this. This summer I’ve spent lots of time playing basketball. I’m a basketball junkie to the nth degree and nothing is quite as fun as being on the court myself. I had one of those catastrophic Bernard King[1] knee injuries a few summers ago and was convinced for quite some time that if I ever played basketball again it would be super casual, probably just some shooting games. HA! My family doctor insisted that I should play as quickly, as much and aggressively as I could. I’ve done my best but it’s been a very long process. I could say that I’ve taken lots of Baby Steps[2] in that effort.

 

For a while I only played indoors on wood courts. That was a hassle and got expensive quickly. It was also infrequent enough not to be very helpful. I moved on to concrete with great trepidation meaning (deep sigh) almost exclusively to the court <5 minutes from my house where I suffered the initial injury. Month after month, I played sporadic halfcourt games with my giant knee brace on. Every time I got jostled or tried to jump or sprint dig in for a loose ball, my heart jumped into my throat.

 

Slowly I gained a bit more confidence and became to willing to run fullcourt games. Always with the giant brace, usually avoiding a full sprint and often mentioning my injury out loud just so everyone would know.

 

Now this summer I’ve moved dramatically from fear to fun. My 16 year old son and I went to the local park to play this afternoon and were joined by some other high school kids and a couple 20 somethings. I usually wear my brace if there’s a chance a real game will happen but today guys seemed to appear out of nowhere so I wasn’t prepped like usual.  No brace.

 

I was guarded by a very physical guy who knocked me down multiple times. Once, he hit me so hard that I went sprawling to the ground, play stopped, my defender apologized and everyone came to check on me. It was so nice to realize that they were more worried about me than I was worried about myself. As soon as I got up, I teasingly declared that I was an obvious target because I wasn’t wearing my knee brace today. Everyone understood I was joking and started laughing. Even six months ago I couldn’t have imagined this kind of tumble serving as a tension breaker but it was. And it worked. The game resumed normally.

 

And the happy ending? After playing several games I announced that I only had one more left in my legs so half a dozen of us played 21. I was astonishing! I made lots of difficult shots, rebounded really well and dominated the game. I think the next highest score was 8. Playground 21 isn’t exactly known for Tom Thibodeau[3] defense but nobody likes being dominated. It was definitely the best I’ve played in years and happened at exactly the end point of the summer. Nice.

 

Then I drove home while Jake hung out and played for an extra hour. And there’s the difference between 40 and 16…  

 

 

[1] Okay, Derrick Rose. I can do 21st century references…

[2] ™Leo Marvin

[3] He’s the best defensive coach in the NBA.

 

 

© Gayle Force Press 2015

 

 

Hump Day Hoops: Indiana Pacers- Think Tank

 

Okay. I give up.

 

I won’t try anymore.

 

The relentless optimism and best case scenarios; the hypothetical matchups and ‘well, what if’s. It's all over now, Blue and Gold. No more pretending.

 

It’s time to tank, Pacers.

 

Maybe there’s still some universe in which the Pacers can win a playoff series but I don’t think it’s this one. Not anymore.

 

After the debacle of Mo Williams (MO FREAKIN’ WILLIAMS) scoring 50 points on the Pacers, there’s no reason to encourage the Pacers to continue making an effort to win every game this season.

 

It’s really a shame too. The East this season is likely the worst conference in modern NBA history. The most important statistic is this: Only 5 teams in the East have a positive point differential; only 5 teams in the West have a negative point differential. The Pacers of the last two years would be the favorites to win the whole conference this year.

 

Except the Pacers aren’t anything like they have been for the last two seasons. Mo Williams wouldn’t have sniffed a 50 point game against those Pacers. The reality is that this group is bad enough that I’m convinced they should begin planning now for next year.

 

Since the Pacers still have the core of a contending team, they don’t even have to pursue some radical renewal plan. They can back to the top of the conference next year with good health and a couple straightforward moves. Next year, they have a first round pick they should use to get another lottery talent on the roster, preferably an offensive minded wing. Right now Paul George is the only Pacer who can drive to score.  They also have three second round draft choices and some easily offloaded contracts that can be parlayed into a useful player. Heck, who knows, Dallas might be willing to do Devin Harris for CJ Miles straight up.

 

The problem is that the Pacers seem scared to do a short term rebuild. They appear stuck in the old fashioned mentality that every win is beneficial. That’s just not the case in today’s NBA. If you’re interested in winning championships in a place like Indiana you simply must acquire maximum talent through the draft. (Signing premier free agents simply won’t happen.) It’s much harder to get that kind of talent drafting at 15 than it is at 5. (And yes, the Pacers are bad enough that they might reasonably have the fifth worst record in the league this year. They don’t need to rely on lottery luck.) This much is clear.

 

It is, at best, unclear if the Pacers have the organizational discipline to play for the long term instead of the short term. I don’t think they do judging by Larry Bird’s public statements. The talk of Paul George playing 1 on 1 is frightening. The very worse thing that could happen to the Pacers is another injury to Young Trece. The second worse is his return lifting them to the 7th or 8th seed this Spring.

 

The Pacers don’t need to be a .500 team this year. They need to be bold enough to be bad for a year. And Pacer fans need to let them know it’s ok.

 

It’s time to tank, Pacers.

 

I probably need to thank Mo Williams for proving it to me.

 

 

 -Franklin Oliver

 

 

Hump Day Hoops: Indiana Pacers- Think Tank

 

Okay. I give up.

 

I won’t try anymore.

 

The relentless optimism and best case scenarios; the hypothetical matchups and ‘well, what if’s. It's all over now, Blue and Gold. No more pretending.

 

It’s time to tank, Pacers.

 

Maybe there’s still some universe in which the Pacers can win a playoff series but I don’t think it’s this one. Not anymore.

 

After the debacle of Mo Williams (MO FREAKIN’ WILLIAMS) scoring 50 points on the Pacers, there’s no reason to encourage the Pacers to continue making an effort to win every game this season.

 

It’s really a shame too. The East this season is likely the worst conference in modern NBA history. The most important statistic is this: Only 5 teams in the East have a positive point differential; only 5 teams in the West have a negative point differential. The Pacers of the last two years would be the favorites to win the whole conference this year.

 

Except the Pacers aren’t anything like they have been for the last two seasons. Mo Williams wouldn’t have sniffed a 50 point game against those Pacers. The reality is that this group is bad enough that I’m convinced they should begin planning now for next year.

 

Since the Pacers still have the core of a contending team, they don’t even have to pursue some radical renewal plan. They can back to the top of the conference next year with good health and a couple straightforward moves. Next year, they have a first round pick they should use to get another lottery talent on the roster, preferably an offensive minded wing. Right now Paul George is the only Pacer who can drive to score.  They also have three second round draft choices and some easily offloaded contracts that can be parlayed into a useful player. Heck, who knows, Dallas might be willing to do Devin Harris for CJ Miles straight up.

 

The problem is that the Pacers seem scared to do a short term rebuild. They appear stuck in the old fashioned mentality that every win is beneficial. That’s just not the case in today’s NBA. If you’re interested in winning championships in a place like Indiana you simply must acquire maximum talent through the draft. (Signing premier free agents simply won’t happen.) It’s much harder to get that kind of talent drafting at 15 than it is at 5. (And yes, the Pacers are bad enough that they might reasonably have the fifth worst record in the league this year. They don’t need to rely on lottery luck.) This much is clear.

 

It is, at best, unclear if the Pacers have the organizational discipline to play for the long term instead of the short term. I don’t think they do judging by Larry Bird’s public statements. The talk of Paul George playing 1 on 1 is frightening. The very worse thing that could happen to the Pacers is another injury to Young Trece. The second worse is his return lifting them to the 7th or 8th seed this Spring.

 

The Pacers don’t need to be a .500 team this year. They need to be bold enough to be bad for a year. And Pacer fans need to let them know it’s ok.

 

It’s time to tank, Pacers.

 

I probably need to thank Mo Williams for proving it to me.

 

 

 -Franklin Oliver

 

 

World B. Free

 

Twenty years ago

I went with my dad

To an old stadium

Gone and dearly departed

If not regretfully

To see my Indiana Pacers who

I loved stridently

At home

In the new Curtis Mathes set that

How were we to know

Lasted far too long

 

But there in person

For the first time

Was a different kind of feeling

Since they were bad

And most of my focus

Started and stopped on a man named

World B. Free

Although I’m not sure how much of

This poem

Is true

I have no doubt

About World B. Free

 

It started with his hair

Though it was not exceptional

Except in its lack of exception

Stuck in a time

I may never understand

But all the rest fit too

How much he loved the game

Even when it was an awful game

And tried without ever looking

As if he were trying

Mostly though

The shooting

Like little orange only rainbows

Up and down

With no gold at the end

Only more orange

And then at its beginning

The look that might have been a smile

If he’d known no one could watch

 

At the end of the game

It seems that no one did

Because watching him play

Might have kept someone from skipping school

Or me from stealing gum

Off the too short racks

Meant to taunt me

At the store

But lots of kids did that

And their parents drank too much

Cheated with a stewardess

Then left

Not because of the children

Even though they’d seen World B. Free

On the court downtown

 

When I asked later on

My dad said he used to be called Lloyd

That may well be

But he was always World B. to me

 

 

 © Gayle Force Press 2002

 

 

Happy Ending

I had a happy ending to my summer.

 

Since I teach high school I have a wonderfully extended summer break. During the doldrums of February thinking about summer break is sometimes the only thing that gets me out of bed. (Do I hear an amen, teachers?) Even though today is August 6, it’s the end of my summer break. In Indiana that means I’m at a late start school. Nearly everyone else has been back for a week already. I wanted to squeeze the last bit of fun out of my last summer day.

 

Okay, on to the reason I’m writing this. This summer I’ve spent lots of time playing basketball. I’m a basketball junkie to the nth degree and nothing is quite as fun as being on the court myself. I had one of those catastrophic Bernard King[1] knee injuries a few summers ago and was convinced for quite some time that if I ever played basketball again it would be super casual, probably just some shooting games. HA! My family doctor insisted that I should play as quickly, as much and aggressively as I could. I’ve done my best but it’s been a very long process. I could say that I’ve taken lots of Baby Steps[2] in that effort.

 

For a while I only played indoors on wood courts. That was a hassle and got expensive quickly. It was also infrequent enough not to be very helpful. I moved on to concrete with great trepidation meaning (deep sigh) almost exclusively to the court <5 minutes from my house where I suffered the initial injury. Month after month, I played sporadic halfcourt games with my giant knee brace on. Every time I got jostled or tried to jump or sprint dig in for a loose ball, my heart jumped into my throat.

 

Slowly I gained a bit more confidence and became to willing to run fullcourt games. Always with the giant brace, usually avoiding a full sprint and often mentioning my injury out loud just so everyone would know.

 

Now this summer I’ve moved dramatically from fear to fun. My 16 year old son and I went to the local park to play this afternoon and were joined by some other high school kids and a couple 20 somethings. I usually wear my brace if there’s a chance a real game will happen but today guys seemed to appear out of nowhere so I wasn’t prepped like usual.  No brace.

 

I was guarded by a very physical guy who knocked me down multiple times. Once, he hit me so hard that I went sprawling to the ground, play stopped, my defender apologized and everyone came to check on me. It was so nice to realize that they were more worried about me than I was worried about myself. As soon as I got up, I teasingly declared that I was an obvious target because I wasn’t wearing my knee brace today. Everyone understood I was joking and started laughing. Even six months ago I couldn’t have imagined this kind of tumble serving as a tension breaker but it was. And it worked. The game resumed normally.

 

And the happy ending? After playing several games I announced that I only had one more left in my legs so half a dozen of us played 21. I was astonishing! I made lots of difficult shots, rebounded really well and dominated the game. I think the next highest score was 8. Playground 21 isn’t exactly known for Tom Thibodeau[3] defense but nobody likes being dominated. It was definitely the best I’ve played in years and happened at exactly the end point of the summer. Nice.

 

Then I drove home while Jake hung out and played for an extra hour. And there’s the difference between 40 and 16…  

 

FDO

[1] Okay, Derrick Rose. I can do 21st century references…

[2] ™Leo Marvin

[3] He’s the best defensive coach in the NBA.

Hump Day Hoops- First Round Predictions

 

Okay, not enough time this morning to write out a full fledged analysis. I like off days too much.

 

Here's the bottom line: First Round Predictions

 

Rockets in 5

Clippers in 7

Mavericks in 6

Grizzlies in 6

 

Wizards in 6

Nets in 7

Heat in 5

Pacers in 5

 

© Gayle Force Press 2014

 

 

Hump Day Hoops- Regular Season Wrap

 

Everyone’s been talking about the Eastern ‘race’ for the #1 seed and homecourt advantage through the conference playoffs so I’ll get off the soapbox I was on last week. Since the playoff slots won’t be finalized until tomorrow, I won’t make specific playoff predictions until Friday so check the homepage then!

 

Today, I want to talk about regular season accolades. In a couple weeks, I’ll detail my plan for transforming NBA awards but for now let’s just look at the ones soon to be added to mantles across the country.

 

 

MVP

Kevin Durant

Yes, LeBron James is the best player in the world. Yes, Kevin Durant had a better season. Even Bron said as much.

 

Sixth Man

Taj Gibson

Taj has been the second best player on a very impressive team. Sixth Man is his role and he’s played it masterfully this year.

 

Coach of the Year

Jeff Hornacek

I thought the Suns would win fewer than twenty games this year. Instead, they’re the best ever team to miss the playoffs. Hornacek is Polish for ‘Miracle Worker’.

 

Rookie of the Year

Victor Oladipo

Nearly by default, Oladipo’s energy, drive and consistency helped make him one of Orlando’s real bright spots in a dismal year.

 

Defenisve Player of the Year

Roy Hibbert

Lots of folks have assumed that because Hibbert’s scoring and rebounding have fallen off his defense has too. Not the case. He’s the best rim protector in the league, the best lane protector and the anchor for the league’s best defensive unit.

 

All-NBA First Team

LeBron James

Kevin Durant

Dwight Howard

Stephen Curry

James Harden

 

It’s hard to imagine much dispute with this team. Triple doubles have become Joakim Noah’s specialty but Dwight Howard’s again the premier interior force in the league. I’d argue that he’s become 1991 era Hakeem Olajuwon in that their domination is so consistent we’ve become a bit bored by it. Howard deserves this spot.

 

 

Second Team

Blake Griffin

Kevin Love

Joakim Noah

Chris Paul

Goran Dragic

 

Love has become underrated. I don’t know how his stat lines get ignored so regularly but they do. When you shoot like Dirk Nowitzki and rebound like Moses Malone, you’re a special dude.

I also recognize that lots of folks have Chris Paul on first team because he’s the best point guard in the world. That makes sense except that he missed lots of games.

If I were distinguishing, I might have Dragic ahead of Paul on the scorecards. That’s how impressive his season was.

 

Third Team

Paul George

LaMarcus Aldridge

Al Jefferson

Kyle Lowry

Mike Conley

 

Paul George had half a year of being one of the 5 best players in the world and half a year of being one of the top 15. His all-court game is astonishing. There’s a decent chance that next year he’ll be the third best player in the world.

Al Jefferson has always been underrated. All I know is that without him, Charlotte would have been battling Milwaukee and Philadelphia, not Washington and Brooklyn.

North of the border means you get ignored. An argument could be made for putting Lowry above Paul. I won’t make it but I’d consider it.

Mike Conley is the little engine that could. I expected more than a dozen point guards to have better seasons than Conley. What I didn’t expect was him to become an offensive catalyst and defensive stopper. Astonishing.

 

 

Astonishing is a great word to describe this season. From climbers like the Trail Blazers, Pacers and Bobcats to meteors like the Suns and Raptors to disasters like the Lakers and Knicks, this regular season has been filled with surprises, storylines and excitement galore. And on Friday…  We get to talk about the playoffs!!

 

 

 

Franklin Oliver

 

 

 

© Gayle Force Press 2014

 

 

Hump Day Hoops- Homecourt Hype

 

Astonishingly, the Pacers still have a chance to ‘salvage’ this regular season by going on a roll over the last week of the season. (It’s not an accident that Frank Vogel is resting his starters against the Bucks, not the Heat.) Miami has played so inconsistently that they may well follow up last night’s Nets loss with another tonight against the Grizzlies then a third against the Pacers. At the moment, none of those three losses would constitute a shock. The Grizz and Pacers are big enough to have permanent matchup advantages in the paint and, with no Dwyane Wade, in most of the backcourts the Heat trot out. The Pacers might still capture the number one seed in the East.

 

That possibility misses the bigger point the Pacers (and their fans) have misunderstood all year long. Regular season primacy is not critical! The Pacers didn’t lose the Eastern Conference Finals on a last second shot or because of a controversial call. This wasn’t Hue Hollins giving Scottie Pippen the business back in the day. The Pacers got smoked!! I mean, David West left the court in a huff not just because he was mad but also because he was embarrassed.

 

The Heat were clearly better. Their epic second quarter would have overwhelmed the Pacers if the game were in Hinkle with Norman Dale patrolling the sidelines. Nothing about that Game 7 should indicate that the building was a critical factor.

 

During last year’s playoff run the Pacers did very well on the road and missed critical opportunities there. In the ECF, the Heat and Pacers alternated wins throughout. Game 1 was the infamous ‘Where’s Roy?’ game. That was the golden moment the Pacers missed; at the start of the series, not the end.

 

The Pacers didn’t have homecourt against the Knicks but they stole it by winning Game 1. Taking that edge against a veteran laden team brushed away the taste of the too long Atlanta series and gave the Pacers a real belief they could be special last year. That’s the key thing! The Pacers knew they could beat the Knicks. Then they went out and proved it.

 

Proving it is always the tough part. I’m convinced that the Pacers season long obsession with homecourt advantage was an act of collective denial. They wanted to be the best team in the East and wanted to make the Finals and wanted to prove that folks like me screaming ‘too soon, too soon’ were wrong. The Pacers wanted those things to be true but I’m not sure they ever believed them.

 

Being desperate to ensure a 7th game against Miami would be played in the Fieldhouse has sounded to many of us like a problem. At best, it’s a need based opportunity. The Pacers feel they need homecourt to have an opportunity against the Heat. Homecourt is an advantage not a determinant and the Pacers own shared experience means they understand that fact. Arguing that homecourt is critical only until March has come in like a lion and gone out like a Godzilla doesn’t fool anyone. It simply reminds us how odd this particular obsession has been.

 

All that being said, if this wacky season ends with the Pacers and Heat in a frantic race for the top spot, I will feel better about the playoffs. Not because of homecourt but because it would indicate the Pacers were actually playing well. Playing great basketball is the reason teams win titles, not their arenas and fans. Now is the perfect time to remember that.

 

 

Franklin Oliver

 

 

© Gayle Force Press 2014