Mens Basketball Wire

Rumors from Phoenix are that Shawn “The Matrix” Marion is unhappy with the Suns not wanting to talk about a contract extension with him, and that the possibility that he wants out of Phoenix is becoming greater. Marion is a four time all-star, and is one of the most explosive players in the league. . .and also the highest paid on the Phoenix roster. The high-flying superstar is set to make just over $16 million this year, and just under $18 the next, but he’s still angling for a $60 million 3-year deal from the club. Sure, an NBA forward that averages almost 20 points per game with 10 rebounds, and who can just as easily drain a three as slice the lane and throw down a power jam is an extremely valuable asset for any team, and Marion is a unique player, but $20 million per year? Steve Nash is a two-time league MVP, and narrowly missed a third last year. Nash is thought by most experts to be one of the top ten point guards to ever play the game. Nash is playing on a 6 year, $66 million salary.

Some other, probably far-fetched, rumors have Phoenix looking to trade Marion to the division rival, Lakers for Lamar Odom and Brian Cook.  No doubt, the Lakers would not hesitate to pull the trigger on that trade, having missed out on the Kevin Garnett sweepstakes earlier in the summer, and with Kobe Bryant unhappy about the roster.  It would be hard to see the Suns trading an athletic forward, who has only missed a handful of games over the past few seasons, for an injury-prone one.

Phoenix will be a contender again this year, and has made a few additions in the offseason.  The team signed veteran Grant Hill, and drafted two interesting rookies, Alando Tucker and D.J. Strawberry.  At this point in the offseason, many players are making noise about contract extensions, and use the media for leverage against the front office, so perhaps Marion is just tweaking management a bit.  Phoenix fans should hope so, because the athletic forward is an important piece to Phoenix’s high-octane scoring philosophy, and a key player in the team’s chances.

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Baron Davis, Golden State’s star point guard, is looking for a big contract extension, and claims that if he doesn’t get it, he’s ready to declare free agency after this year.  His contract is through the 2010 season, but he can opt out after this season, and he wants a decision from the team before the start of training camp in two weeks.

Davis is coming off perhaps his best season in his eight year career.  He averaged just over 20 points a game and almost 9 assists during the regular season, and 25 points during the playoffs, where his Warriors offed the #1 seeded Dallas Mavericks.  But while Davis is certainly an explosive scorer as well as an energetic and vocal leader, Davis’ career history has also been full of injuries and missed games.  Last year, Davis played in 63 games.  The year before, 54, and during the 2004-5 season, Davis played in just 46 games.  In fact, one has to go back to the 2001-2 season for the last time the guard played a full season.  Certainly when he’s healthy, Davis is one of the top guards in the NBA, but his health problems are a real concern at age 28.

Davis is from Los Angeles and went to UCLA, and staying in California is something that Davis has said he would like to do, but getting a final big-money extension would certainly take precedent.  One thing that is for certain, Davis is looking for a decision within a few weeks, or this may be his farewell season in the Bay Area.

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Isiah Thomas, Knick coach and GM, has spent the last few years embattled on the basketball court, as well as in the front office, for the Knicks lousy play, overpaid and underachieving players, and for making questionable picks in the draft.  These days, though, the Knicks head coach finds himself battling in a different court–the legal variety.

Isiah and the Knick office is battling against a $10 million sexual harassment lawsuit brought against them by a former female marketing executive, who was terminated by the club.  Among the dirty laundry being aired in the courtroom, is testimony by Thomas that there’s nothing really wrong with a black man calling a woman a b!t<h or a h*, and smearing the woman who, by most accounts, was a first-class executive, and a strong personality.

Defense witness, Jeff Nix, a long-time scout for the team has testified to seeing Thomas embracing the woman in a Madison Square Garden hallway, and her pushing him away.  Nix, who has been with the Knicks through a variety of GMs, coaches, and even owners, was fired by the team for his testimony.

Regardless of what happens in the trial, the Knicks have the look of a team doomed to remain in the cellar for the forseeable future, and the front office, as well as the roster, is in shambles.  By all accounts, the owner, James Dolan, plays favorites, and is well-disliked in the organization, as well throughout the league.  The Knicks’ roster doesn’t seem to have any formidable players going for it, and is totally capped-out, leaving little room for improvement.

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Sure enough, the Trailblazer’s bad luck run continues.  The AP reports that Portland’s new face of the franchise, Greg Oden, has undergone microfracture surgery to repair cartilage damage in his right knee.  Now, Portland must seriously be wondering if they were so lucky in the draft after all, and if Oden is too fragile to handle the rigors of the NBA.  Oden missed the start of his only year of college ball with ligament damage in one wrist, and then missed some summer league games when he had his tonsils removed.

There’s no doubt that, when healthy, Oden is a beast on the court.  Against Florida in the championship game, Oden was good for 25 points, and 12 boards.  Of course, talent-wise Florida was probably not far behind some NBA teams, so Oden certainly can hold his own from a basketball perspective.  Oden is expected to be on crutches for up to eight weeks, and a full recovery could take anywhere from six months to a year.

The next time the Blazers have a top pick, they may very well be better off trading it.  If past history is any indication, the next poor guy chosen by Portland might do well to look for a job elsewhere.  In 1974, the Blazers drafted Bill Walton with the first pick of the draft, only to see him miss most of the first two seasons with a broken foot, nose, leg, and wrist.  Portland again had a high pick in 1984 and, what many call the worst pick in history, used it to take Sam Bowie in front of Michael Jordan.

The Blazers were certainly counting on having Oden and being able to build team chemistry between their young players, but without the big man, their building plans will have to be postponed.  All of this just begs the question, if the Blazers stink this year, and end up with a lottery pick in next year’s draft, would they use the pick and try to overcome their streak of bad luck, or trade it for a healthy veteran?

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Darko Milicic and Greg Oden may not have much in common, other than roughly the same number of points scored in their NBA careers, but last week was unkind to both bigs. Oden will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery sometime this week to clear up some pain and to see if there are any more serious cartilage problems. Milicic, playing for Serbia’s national team, lashed out at the officials in extremely, um, colorful language after losing to Greece by a point. The Grizzlies’ 7-footer was fined about $14K by FIBA, and was chastised by his teams’ front office.

Darko’s wallet might be a bit lighter, but his situation isn’t too serious. Oden, on the other hand, has had nothing but problems in the past few years. Oden played his only year at Ohio State with a wrist injury, and had a tonsillectomy just a couple months ago. The Blazers certainly hope that the luck they had in being able to land Oden, does not revert back to the bad luck days of yesteryear.

The Blazers are doubtlessly nervous about the status of their new franchise player, and judging from his past medical history, for good reason. Oden hasn’t played healthy in two years (although he’s been scary enough at 80%), but could the man-child’s body not be up to the rigors of the NBA? With training camp set to open at the end of Sept., and the regular season a month later, having an injured rookie center has got to be reason for concern in the Pacific Northwest.

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Phil Jackson’s induction to the Basketball Hall of Fame was a chance for him to reflect on a lifetime of championships, success, and records set. It was also a time for him to reflect of the woes that plague his current Lakers team, and to make some statements to back up Kobe Bryant’s complaints about lack of help on the team. Just after the NBA season ended, Kobe asked for a trade, saying that the Lakers’ front office had misled him about their dedication to bringing in better players.

Kobe (and many others) couldn’t believe it when the Lakers’ brass balked at putting together a package with young Andrew Bynum as the key, to try to lure Kevin Garnett or Jason Kidd to Lakerland. In fact, the Lakers had an almost static off-season–their only moves being to re-sign Chris Mihm and Luke Walton, and to bring Derek Fisher back into the fold. Rumors still persist that Jermaine O’Neal is still looking for an out from Indiana, but the likelihood of LA’s front office pulling off a trade for him seem minuscule.

Jackson’s statements were pretty strong, even going so far as to say that the front office had made promises regarding personnel that were still unfulfilled. His statements basically echoed what Kobe has been saying all summer. Of course, what else would you expect Phil to say? Without Kobe on the team, the Lakers likely couldn’t beat LA’s other team, the lowly Clippers, three out of ten times. Take Kobe away and you and four friends could hang with the Lakers.

Phil may be lots of things, Hall of Fame coach, Zen Master, triangle guru, but he’s certainly no fool.

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Team USA looks to be in fine shape for the upcoming Olympics after blowing away the Argentines for the second time in a week, and taking home the gold in the FIBA tournament.  The Americans beat the Argentines by 15 on Thursday, but Sunday’s game for the gold was a 118-81 laugher.  The game was only close for the first 6 minutes, then an 18-0 run by Team USA out it out of reach.  Argentina’s team played the tournament short-handed, as four of their star NBA players: Manu Ginobili, Fabricio Oberto, Walter Hermann, and Andres Nocioni sat out the tournament.  Still, even with those stars, the Argentines would have had a tough time with an American team firing on all cylinders and looking to make a statement about its place in the world of basketball.

The U.S. played with focus and intensity, but most importantly, the players played as a team and without the squabbles and in-fighting that plagued the previous version.  During the last Olympics, players fought among each other and with then-coach Larry Brown regarding playing time, touches, and other things.  From all accounts, this team–especially stars Jason Kidd and Kobe Bryant–seemed to relish their time together.  Bryant especially seemed to blossom (likely due to the fact that in a few weeks he’ll return to his star-challenged Laker squad), and he and Kidd cultivated a relationship that grew from the two trying to bring Kidd to the Lakers.  LeBron James, fresh off seeing his Cavs team dismantled by the Pistons in the NBA Finals, apparently has channeled the defeat into his play and only gotten stronger.  For the tournament, James shot an unbelievable 76% from the field and a scorching 62% from 3-point range.

But the final game was almost over before it really began.  Dwight Howard was perfect, going 7-7 from the field for 20 points.  James scored 31, and Bryant accounted for 8 assists.   In the gold medal game, the team shot 57.5% from the field, and just under 50% from behind the arc.

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It could have been a throwback to an NCAA tournament game in the early 90s judging from the coaches on the sidelines. Coach K and his cerebral, fundamentalist coaching style, versus Nolan Richardson’s uptempo, frenetic “40 minutes of hell.” Only this was an alternative version. Coach K’s roster was full of the greatest stars the NBA has to offer, while Coach Richardson’s? Not so much. After unceremoniously being fired from Arkansas in 2002 for making racial allegations against the school’s administration, Richardson has turned up south of the border coaching the Mexican national team, and likely still wears his trademark cowboy boots.

Team USA dominated the Mexicans mostly in the same manner in which they’ve dispatched all comers in the FIBA Americas Tournament, with the final score of 127-100. The Mexicans were playing this tournament without their star player, Eduardo Najera of the NBA, but still managed to keep the score reasonable, and played the uptempo style that one would expect from Richardson’s team. Still, the USA was too much, as they have been for everyone in this tournament, with balanced scoring ( 19 points from LeBron James, 21 from Kobe Bryant, 19 from Dwight Howard, and 28 from Carmelo Anthony), strong defense (19 forced turnovers and 7 blocks), and no player logging more than 24 minutes. Still the competition should get tougher later in the week as the Americans go against the undefeated Argentine team (and gold medal winners at the last Olympics) and their NBA duo of Carlos Delfino and Luis Scola.

Playing the Argentines should be a chance for the USA to exact revenge against the country that denied the Americans the gold medal in the last Olympics. Some of Argentina’s top players are sitting out this tournament. Manu Ginobili, Andres Nocioni, and Fabricio Oberto will not be playing, but the Argentines still have an impressive roster with all of their players on pro teams in some part of the world. The Argentines will not roll over for Team USA, knowing that they can beat them, but this US team seems to have more focus than the last, and will be looking to even the score against the Argentines.

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The Milwaukee Bucks finally signed their #6 pick in the draft, China’s Yi Jianlian to a standard, multi-year rookie contract.  Details and money were not released, but the signing is a coup for the Bucks, as the 6′11′ forward had stated that he would only play for a team located in a bigger market with a large Chinese population.  Milwaukee has less than 30,000 Chinese living in it, and is certainly not considered a large market.

What kind of impact Yi will have on the Bucks and the league still remains to be seen.  Playing for his Chinese team, the Guangdong Tigers, Yi averaged just under 25 points, 11.5 rebounds, and almost two blocks per game.  But as Yao Ming’s, the other big name Chinese player in the NBA,  first couple of years proved, the move is not a seamless one.  Yi is tall and lanky, and his past few months playing in the NBA’s summer league has shown that he can be pushed around, even by second rate NBA players.  Going against other, more powerful power forwards that are thicker, more experienced, and stronger will be the experience that the Chinese are looking forward to from one of their premier players, and one of the keys to their hopes in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

All in all, the Bucks had a good offseason in the market.  They re-signed starting point guard Mo Williams to a long-term contract, re-acquired small forward Desmond Mason, and made it through the offseason without any injuries, while getting some hurt players, such as Andrew Bogut, Charlie Villanueva, and Micheal Redd back into shape and injury-free.

The team is still young, and likely won’t contend with the Bulls and Pistons for the division, but the mix of experienced guard play, with the youth of their big players, should be a core group that could make the playoffs and be a division contender in a few years.

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With the United States’ latest beat down in the FIBA qualifying tournament of a short-handed Canadian team, the U.S. moved to a record of 3-0, and are averaging 116 points per game in the tournament.  So far, the victories over Canada, Venezuela, and the Virgin Islands have come with the team of U.S. superstars barely breaking a sweat.  The competition should get a bit tougher for the next game though.

Beating Canada without all-everything guard, Steve Nash, is one thing, beating an undefeated Brazilian team sprinkled with NBA talent is another.  While the U.S. will no doubt be a heavy favorite against the Brazilians, the South American squad is a quality team.  On the Brazilian’s roster is Leandro Barbosa of the Phoenix Suns, Nene Hilario from the Denver Nuggets, and Marcus de Souza of the New Orleans Hornets.  Also on the team is Tiago Splitter, a recent draft pick of the San Antonio Spurs, who is playing for Tau Ceramica in Spain.

The Brazilians are 2-0 so far, with a close 75-67 victory over the Canadians, and a blowout 101-75 win over Venezuela.   When the two square off Sunday night, the winner will likely gain the top seed in the second round, which will begin the next day.

The top two teams from the tournament will automatically qualify for the Olympic games in Beijing, and the teams that finish 3-5 will be able to qualify at the pre-Olympic trials which take place a month before the Olympics begin.

For all the scores and schedules of the current tournament, the FIBA website contains info on all the teams, players, plus rankings and results.

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