NBA Notes Feb. 25, 2008

MIAMI HEAT
There was a story today that the Miami Heat were interested in making some deals for Mike Miller and/or Wally Szczerbiak. Nice that this information would come out after the fact, but it doesn’t change the fact that Miami is a bad team right now. How long until the Miami fans go before they start looking at Riley as a potential problem. Nothing should be made of the words today that said Miami is still a team that’s adjusting to playing a new tempo. Sure they are, but they they weren’t winning in the old style either. The Smush Parker situation does hurt them because they’re paying money to this guy and thought he would be a big contributor to the team this year and they’re getting as much out of him as they’re getting out of me.

DALLAS MAVERICKS
Jason Kidd had a big fourth quarter in leading the Mavs to a victory over the Timberwolves last night. The knock on kid is that as good as he is in every facet of the game, the thing that gets scrutinized most is his outside shooting. Kidd may not be the type of player to run a play for that gets him an open spot-up shot, but if the shot clock is running down or it’s a tight game in the fourth quarter, Kidd will make shots. He’s a clutch shooter. He makes them when there’s a compelling reason too, otherwise he’s more focused on getting other people the ball. He was like that in New Jersey. You can leave Kidd open for three quarters of the game, but if its tight in the fourth quarter, put a hand in his face.

DETROIT PISTONS
The win in Phoenix was impressive because of the margin and that Boston couldn’t do the same just a few day earlier. But what showed up in that game is how much it can mean to a team to have been playing together for as long as the Pistons starters have. Also, the youth off the bench provided a spark that Phoenix had trouble matching. Watching that game, Phoenix looked a little old. They have Shaq now and added Grant Hill last summer. Both have been around the block. Steve Nash isn’t exactly a youngster either, but he’s not the problem yet. Hill and Shaq together…That might be a bit too old. Detroit is starting to look like they have a nice mix there between old and young, although Wallace and McDyess will continue to need a lot of rest until the playoff. Amir Johnson is starting to make a believer out of me. He was a priority for Detroit to resign in the offseason and I really didn’t know the reason why other than he dominated a few D-League games. Now he’s starting to make the progress that Maxiell did last year. It was kind of sad to see the Pistons didn’t mind sticking the rail-thin Johnson on O’Neal.

NEW ORLEANS HORNETS
John Reid wrote in a little more detail what most are thinking about the Hornets at this point. They’ve done well at the beginning of the season, taking the best record in the NBA into the all-star break. Last season the Raptors had a breakout season, getting the third seed and winning the Atlantic Division, but couldn’t get past a more seasoned New Jersey team in the first round of the playoffs. That’s the way people are expecting the Hornets to finish the season. There aren’t many teams out west that don’t already have the experience of going deep into the playoffs. How does the game change? That’s what Reid was trying to explain. It gets a lot more physical and teams are going to see if the Hornets can stand up to that physical pounding. Chris Paul is a smaller guard and Tyson Chandler is skinny. David West looks to be built to last, but Peja, although he has size, likes to hang out at the 3-point line...and who is going to play shooting guard anyway?

NEW YORK KNICKS
In the Daily News the big men are getting the brunt of the punishment today, especially center Eddie Curry, who signed a $56 million contract when he came over from the Chicago Bulls. He’s 25 years old and been in the league seven years already. He can’t get on the floor in the fourth quarter. The Knicks brought him there to be a dominating big man although he never was that at Chicago. Curry looks like a monumental bust. But if you had a bad heart and grew up hearing stories about players dropping dead on the court, how strong would that be hanging in you're mind? Maybe Curry's not lazy insomuch as he wants to see days past basketball. That unfortunate fact of human nature is the crowbar that has pried the door open for Zach Randolph. But the malcontent is tripping over his own feet. I would like to be on the inside there with the Knicks this season. That could be one of the best non-championship season book ever written.

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS
Golden State will play against Seattle on Tuesday and the last game the Warriors saw a glimpse of promise in rookie forward Brendan Wright. The big thing here is that coach Don Nelson hates to play rookies. The thing to watch against Seattle is how much he intends to play Wright. Will he play the rookie or will he devise some crazy lineup of guards and go with that? The Warriors should be able to get past Seattle even banged up and Seattle is a young team whose two main players are rookies in Jeff Green and Kevin Durant. Seattle might be a good team for Nelson to test Wright against since he’d be going against players with barely more experience than he has.

CHICAGO BULLS
Chicago lost to Dallas in a battle of teams that made some drastic changes before the trade deadline. The only difference is the Mavericks made moves to make noise this year. Chicago is setting up whoever they decide to hire as the permanent coach. The Bulls, once thought of as Eastern Conference favorites, are now just playing out the string. Maybe this shows some naiveté , but I was surprised to see the great Chicago Tribune rely on the associated press to cover the game tonight. Where is the beat writer? I was hoping to get a reaction pertaining to the Bulls and I ended up with a balanced game story.....Boooorinnngg!!

LOS ANGELES LAKERS
The story today in the LA Times by Mike Bresnahan looked at the Lakers’ road record as a big part of their turnaround. While that is certainly true the real reason is the addition of the personnel. It was an interesting way to look at the same old subject -- the Lakers are much better than they were. People used to talk about a Shaq-court advantage when the big fella played for the Lakers. The thinking was it didn’t matter where the game was because Shaq was such a dominating force that his team invariably had the advantage. It was like that with Jordan and it’s like that this year with Kobe. He’s the best player in the league right now and when he’s on the floor, no matter where the game is being played, his team has the advantage. The Kobe court advantage. That’s the reason the Lakers win two out of every three road games.

PHOENIX SUNS
The Suns desperately covet, Brent Barry, a 36-year-old swingman that can shoot, but has been suffering from a strained calf since Jan. 26. The Spurs knew what they were doing when they offered Barry for a serviceable big man in Kurt Thomas. Barry is an old man and if he could still play to the level the Spurs wanted, why was he expendable? Even with Barry the Suns aren’t going to be able to cure their spacing issues anytime soon. Whoever was providing the color for the televised game against the Pistons last Sunday made a great point about the Suns now having Shaq and Stoudamire on the floor at the same time. Stoudamire has developed a better outside shot, but unless he hangs around the 3-point line in the corners, he’s not going to spread the floor like Marion did. Both Shaq and Amare still primarily play in the paint on offense and that does, like the analyst said, clog up the paint for Steve Nash a lot more than it did. Another thing the Suns will still have to deal with is Shaq can be a liability as a perimeter defender and so can Nash. Detroit had some success involving those two on the pick and roll, especially Nash, who was lazy fighting through picks.