Luke Walton: poor shooter, good defender

If you combine the strengths of these two players, you have a pretty good small forward. If you combine their weaknesses, you have the worst player in the NBA.

Walton had a couple of bad plays at the end of Game 3 that cost his team a chance at a comeback win. With the Lakers down seven and under five minutes to play, Walton failed to box out Boozer, who was shooting the second of two free throws. Boozer got his own rebound and made a strong move to the hole to complete the four-point play. Then, on a jump ball with the Lakers down four with 0:14 to play, Gasol tipped the ball to Walton who proceeded to fumble the ball away. It was interesting to see Kobe’s reaction after the play. (He screamed at Walton, who probably deserved it.)

These are two pretty simple plays for a supposedly high-IQ guy like Walton. I’ve never been much of a fan of his game and I don’t think he’d be in the NBA if he weren’t Bill Walton’s kid. It’s almost like Bill made a contract with the devil like that kid on “Reaper.” Send my kid to the NBA and you can have his eternal soul. I simply can’t understand how the fairly non-athletic poor-shooting Walton is getting crunch-time minutes on a good team in the playoffs. It’s just mind-boggling. (He did make a three with 1:07 to play to cut the Jazz lead to four, so there is that.)

I saw first-hand how Radmanovic can shoot. He hit five or six straight threes in a playoff game when he was with the Clippers. But he is just lost defensively, and he doesn’t seem to be getting any better on that end of the court.

The Lakers owe Radmanovic $19.5 million over the next three years. They owe Walton $26.3 million over the next five years. Walton’s contract is especially awful when you consider that the Lakers were pretty much bidding against themselves for his services. Who else was going to give him that kind of money? (That leads me back to my contract-with-the-devil theory.)

All things considered, Mitch Kupchak has done a pretty nice job getting the Lakers back to the top of the West, but he spent way too much money on these two guys, who are, at best, bench players.

If I were Phil Jackson, I might run Kobe at small forward in crunch time, and play Farmar at point guard and Derek Fisher at the two. Of course, Farmar played pretty miserably in Game 3, so maybe Jackson should go with Ronny Turiaf at power forward and put Lamar Odom at the three. Bryant and Odom can both play multiple positions, so the Lakers have options. They just need to use them.

1. Ken Griffey, Jr., Cincinnati Reds (597)—Have you noticed yet that while players linked to performance enhancers like Bonds, Sosa, and Mark McGwire keep fighting off asterisks, Griffey just keeps hitting home runs? This guy had home runs in his blood, but unlike Bonds, didn’t put anything else in his. And if he’d stayed healthy all these years, he’d surely have 800 by now.

2. Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees (522)—Okay, so this guy is probably a lock to overtake Bonds some day, but you can’t convince me that Rodriguez has done it legally all along either. I mean, look at his 2007 numbers compared to everyone else’s. He’s also never going to win a ring, because all he does in the playoffs is view the opposing pitcher as a big, hairy monster.

3. Frank Thomas, Oakland Athletics (516)—Thomas was released by the Blue Jays last month after being benched, and then re-signed with Oakland, where he played in 2006. When the Mitchell Report was on its way, Thomas wanted everyone to know that he was and always had been clean. So what you’re saying then, Frank, is that you’ve always looked like a bloated cartoon character?

4. Jim Thome, Chicago White Sox (514)—Look, I know that people gain weight in their twenties and thirties, but Thome’s rookie photos to where he was a few years later parallels Barry Bonds’, um, growth. Still, the guy is still mashing at the age of 37, with 7 homers already in 2008.

5. Manny Ramirez, Boston Red Sox (497)—It’s almost mind-boggling to think Thome and Ramirez used to hit 3-4 in the Indians’ lineup. Will someone remind me how that team never won a World Series in the ‘90’s?

6. Gary Sheffield, Detroit Tigers (482)—The most mystifying thing to me about Gary Sheffield is that he’s Dwight Gooden’s nephew. Sheffield is 39 and Gooden just turned 44. Somebody get me a calculator.

7. Carlos Delgado, New York Mets (435)—He’s slowing down with creaky knees, but if I was a pitcher this guy would still scare the crap out of me every time he came to bat.

8. Chipper Jones, Atlanta Braves (396)—If Jones has this many home runs, as a Mets fan I’m convinced that 200 of those have come against my team. I’m not sure anyone has ever owned a team like Jones owns the Mets. This year he has come out of the gate like Ted Williams, batting .413 through 32 games with 10 homers.

9. Jason Giambi, New York Yankees (371)—Well this guy all but admitted to cheating, so if you take away even 20% of these bombs, he becomes fairly insignificant in the big picture.

10. Andruw Jones, Los Angeles Dodgers (369)—Was Andruw Jones on the Mitchell Report? Because how do you go from 51 home runs to 41 to 26, and then this year be on pace for FIVE? That’s a steep slope, Mr. Jones.

What’s interesting?
At the start of the DVD is Jeter’s interview on Up Close with Chris Meyers, done right after the shortstop won the Rookie of the Year Award and the Yankees won the World Series in 1996. As you proceed through the DVD, there’s another section of Jeter being interviewed by various people from 1998 to 2007. Watching Jeter’s maturation over the years was pretty cool, but the most impressive thing to note is that his demeanor never changes. In every interview he remains humble, grounded and appreciative of the opportunity he’s gotten to play shortstop for the Yankees. He’s unique in that he never shares too much information in any interview, yet always manages to give more than the standard, cookie-cutter responses that you get from most athletes.

Best feature
By far the best feature on the disc is the SportsCentury piece. Once you get past a review of Jeter’s upbringing for the umpteenth time, the feature shares a couple of inside stories that are rather interesting. (Such as the time Jeter privately blasted teammate Bernie Williams for being late to the clubhouse before a World Series game, as well as how former Yankee Chad Curtis essentially vanished from baseball after trying to publicly embarrass Jeter following a brawl with the Mariners in 1999.) The feature also discussed the incident in 2003 when Yankee owner George Steinbrenner suggested his shortstop was spending too much time in New York clubs and perhaps had “lost his focus”.

Could do without
There was only one small feature the DVD could have left off and that was, “World’s Sexiest Athlete.” Other than a funny comment or two from fans, do we really need to know how good looking people think he is? The guy used to date Miss Universe Lara Dutta and actresses Jessica Alba and Jordana Brewster – we know the guy does well in the female department.

Overall
On a whole, the DVD is rather enjoyable. The SportsCentury piece is worth a watch on its own, but it’s also interesting to see how well Jeter handles himself in interviews and how generally well liked he is by not only fans, but former manager Joe Torre and teammates Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez and a slew of others. You also get the impression that even though he appears to be a great guy, he’s rather private and even not to be crossed with in certain situations (just ask Chad Curtis). The “Make a Wish” feature was touching and the snippet of Jeter dressed in drag for a SNL skit was also funny. All in all, even if you hate the Yankees, it’s hard not to root for a guy that works hard to stay out of trouble, has never gotten a big head and outright loves playing the game.

The Cavs are getting worse offensively.

The table below shows the Cavs’ year-by-year offensive and defensive ratings, which are defined as points scored (or points allowed) per 100 possessions.

All in all, the defensive numbers look pretty good. It’s a little worrisome that the Cavs regressed from 4th last season to 11th this season, but the mid-season trade that brought Wally Szczerbiak, Ben Wallace and Delonte West probably had something to do with it (though adding a former Defensive Player of the Year shouldn’t have an adverse effect).

But Brown has never been criticized for his team’s defense. Take a look at the offensive numbers. Since posting the 9th most efficient offense in his first year, the Cavs dropped to 18th last season and 19th this season. To put this in perspective, Cleveland is sandwiched between Indiana and Philadelphia. Ouch.

A mediocre finish for most teams isn’t too alarming, but the Cavs have LeBron, who is one of the top offensive players in the league. He can drive to the hole as well as anyone, has a developing pull up jumper and is arguably the best-passing small forward in the league. And while it’s true that James doesn’t have a whole lot of help, one could argue that the help he has is offensive-minded. West, Szczerbiak, and Daniel Gibson are all known for their shooting and Zydrunas Ilgauskas is one of the best face-up centers in the league. The Cavs shouldn’t have this much trouble scoring.

I’ve been complaining for the past few seasons that Brown’s offense is uninspired. The Cavs will pass the ball around a little and eventually LeBron will get it on the perimeter and try to drive to the basket or pull up for a jumper. Obviously, it makes sense to get your best player the ball, but Brown doesn’t seem to change up where LeBron gets it or use any measurable amount of picks and screens to free him up.

But this part is mind-boggling: LeBron is the most physically imposing small forward in the league yet Brown never posts him up? Why is this? Michael Jordan was stronger and more athletic than most wings, and he made a living on the block.

LeBron is partly to blame for having failed to develop a post game. If he came back from the summer with a killer turnaround jumper and a sweet up-and-under, Brown would get him the ball on the block more. After all, it seems like a natural fit given LeBron’s ability to hit the open man if he gets doubled. But it’s not LeBron’s job to coach himself. It’s Brown’s responsibility to tell the young man how he can improve his game and, in turn, help his team win. Developing a post game would go a long way.

While he’s at it, I have some other homework for LeBron. As I watched a close up of him shooting a free throw, I noticed (in super slow mo) that the ball wasn’t even out of his hand before his eyes already looked up to watch the flight of the ball. I’ve always learned that a shooter should lock his eyes on the back of the rim (not the front) and keep those eyes there until the ball goes through the hoop. Don’t worry about where the ball is – it’s going to pass right through your field of vision if you did your job. If you start looking up to watch the path of the ball, you’re not as focused on the rim as you should be and your shooting will suffer. Given LeBron’s mediocre 73% career free throw shooting and inconsistent jumper, this is something that could really help his game if he worked at it.

Unfortunately, Brown has been coaching LeBron for three years now and he still has this bad habit. And people wonder why he’s shooting 19% against the Celtics…

1. Najeh Davenport
In July of 2002, the Pittsburgh Steeler rookie fullback was arrested for burglary and criminal mischief; charges stemming from an incident that took place in April of that year. Late one night, Davenport, a former standout at the University of Miami (rated the No. 2 fullback in the draft) snuck into a dorm room at nearby Barry University. A woman sleeping in the room awoke around 6:00am to find Davenport leaving an extra load in her laundry hamper. “Dookie” was sentenced to roughly 100 hours of community service for defecating in the woman’s closet, but continued to maintain his innocence, arguing “Where’s the evidence? Where’s the manure?” After the trial, his lawyer said, with a straight face, “Najeh wants to put this behind him.”

8. Joe Cullen
Yet another case of a coach under fire for a “uniform violation.” On August 24, 2006, the Detroit Lions defensive line coach was arrested for obscene and indecent conduct after he took a little late-night drive in the buff. Wearing not a stitch of clothing, Cullen rolled up to a Wendy’s drive-thru window and calmly ordered a burger, fries and a drink. (No word on whether the cashier asked him if he wanted to “supersize it.”) Cullen was asked to pull over and wait for his meal, at which point the manager on duty called the police. Less than a week later, the nudie foodie was arrested again. This time he was clothed, but driving under the influence. A year later, Lions QB Jon Kitna caused a stir when he showed up at a teammate’s Halloween party dressed as Cullen, with his wife dressed as the red-braided “Wendy.”

I couldn’t imagine what that drive thru attendant thought when he/she saw Cullen drive up in his birthday suit. I picture Cullen being calm – like nothing was wrong. If that’s not a Will Ferrell Saturday Night Live skit, I don’t know what is.