What it takes …

by Ben Austin

(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images North America)

In case you haven’t noticed, there are times that we here at ‘Overtime on ETIN’ take our sports discussions very seriously, and – on rare occasions – personally. This is one of those times. For those of you who didn’t tune in to our Jan. 30 show (shame on you), you missed a very good comeback victory by Ryan Pfleiderer during the Coin Toss. However, while Ryan deserved the victory, I will say that I believe Ryan stole a very valuable point from me, and I want it back!

In discussing whether or not Blake Griffin should have been named a starter in this year’s All-Star game (he should have), I referenced Chauncey Billups – not Carmelo Anthony – as the leader of the Denver Nuggets. Both Ben Barker, who was dishing out the oh-so-valuable points, and Ryan Pfleiderer adamantly opposed this idea. So, in order to defend myself (and out of curiosity, boredom, and pride), I decided to look into what characteristics are fundamental in the making of a great leader.

Above all, a leader in any sport needs to be consistent. Even a player with all the talent in the world can be limited by inconsistencies in their game. They need to be dependable at all points throughout a quarter, game, or season, and if they aren’t stable their team could fall apart around them. A leader also needs to lead by example. They need to know how to win, and be able to take over the game when necessary. A leader is also someone who makes the players around them better. Even the best player in the world may end up hurting their team with selfish play ( Hello, Kobe). And finally, a true leader must be dedicated to their team and the team’s goals. They need to be on par with the coaching staff and fellow players, and be able to do what is best for the team as a whole.

After analyzing these traits, I re-assert my initial statement that, in the case of the Denver Nuggets, Chauncey Billups is not only the captain, but the emotional leader. Anthony, while being a dominant scorer, lacks the fundamental characteristics that make up a leader. He has never been seriously considered as an MVP candidate, has never won a title (or Western Conference title for that matter), and has shown that he is neither consistent nor on the same page as the rest of his team.

With that said, let’s take a look at some players who are considered to be leaders on their teams, and why these guys stand out.

Chauncey Billups – Just because he was the focus of the discussion, we’ll throw him in here first. Billups has been a veteran leader in the NBA for some time now. As a former finals MVP, he’s shown that he can step up when his team needs him to. He is also not only the captain of his current team, but was the captain of Team USA that brought home the gold in last summer’s FIBA world championship. As a 34-year-old point guard, he has remained statistically consistent, continuing to put up career highs even in the twilight of his career.

Tim Duncan – Probably one of the most underrated players of the last decade, Tim Duncan is the NBA’s definition of a leader. He has quietly averaged 20-and-10 throughout his career, with four championship rings weighing down his non-shooting hand. This guy leads by example, and knows what it takes to win. Even today, in his 13^th NBA season, he is the un-questioned leader and most important player on the NBA’s top ranked squad.

Paul Pierce/Kevin Garnett – Yes, I’m picking two veteran leaders on the same team, and no, you can’t stop me. I would question the sanity of anyone who said the Celtics are not Paul Pierce’s team, but on the other hand, you have to recognize that Kevin Garnett sets the tone for Boston’s defense. Both of these guys can flawlessly control the pace of a game, can shut down the best player on an opposing team, and have stood out in the past as consistent leaders on sub-par teams. Since joining forces, these guys have only missed the NBA Finals once. Enough said.

Dwyane Wade – Sure, go ahead and argue that LeBron is the leader of this Miami Heat team. I’m sticking with Dwyane Wade. Everyone in Miami knows that this is Wade’s team: including LeBron. Wade has been extremely consistent throughout his career, scoring at least 24 points per game in all but his rookie season, as well as adding 5 rebounds and 6.5 assists a game. Even when Shaq was in Miami, D-Wade asserted himself as a young leader and ended up taking home a finals MVP trophy along with his ring. Not to mention the fact that the only season the Miami Heat didn’t make the playoffs since they drafted him was ’07, when he was injured. All in all, this guy is an unselfish impact player who sets the pace for the other all-stars on his team.

Steve Nash – You can’t talk about efficiency or consistency in the NBA without talking about Steve Nash. The guy has averaged a double-double and over 50% from the field every year since moved back to Phoenix. He doesn’t only control the pace of his own team, but forces other teams to change their usual game plan just to keep up. Although he’s never won a title, his teams have made quite a bit of noise in a decade where the Western Conference has been dominated by Tim Duncan’s Spurs and Kobe Bryant’s Lakers. 

NOW CAN I HAVE MY POINT BACK , PLEASE?! 

 

Chills in South Beach

By Ben Austin

So, it turns out that there is indeed a basketball God. And thankfully, he doesn’t appear to be a Miami fan. What was supposed to be one of the best rosters of all time has, so far, compiled an astonishingly average 6-4 record. How is it, you may ask, that a team with a two-time MVP, a former champion, and one of the “best big men in the league” could be sitting tight as the 5th seed in the East 10 games in?

Well, even though it is still early, there are some obvious flaws with this team. And while I do think they will end up being a top 3 team in the East, I find it hard to believe the Heat will bring home any hardware in 2011. Below are the top 5 reasons the Heat have struggled thus far, and the reasons that David Stern won’t be bringing his Larry O’Brien trophy to South Beach come June.

5. The RuPaul of big men
So far, Chris Bosh has not brought his A, B, or C-game to the table in Miami. Since moving south of the boarder, Bosh has only scored 20 pts. in one game, and has pulled down 10 rebounds just as many times. The guy who has averaged 20 and 10 throughout his career, and was expected to maintain that presence in the paint in South Beach, is now pulling down as many rebounds (6) as his team’s shooting guard. His lackluster performances leave the Heat near the bottom of the list as far as post-up offense goes. It seems as though playing in Toronto for 7 years made Bosh soft and complacent with losing. Given time, he should catch Wade and LeBron’s contagious win-or-die attitudes, but until he toughens up, Miami will be consistently overmatched in the paint.

4. Where are those hands?
Although the Heat have done pretty well defending so far, they don’t force their opponents to turn the ball over. True championship contenders LA, Boston, New Orleans, and San Antonio are all in the top 10 in this stat. Miami? 21st. If you want to win close games in the playoffs, you’ve got to force your opponent to cough up the ball.

3. Spoelstra Shmosltra, where’s Riley?
Does anyone actually think that Erik Spoelstra will be the coach of this team come playoff time? No? Well neither do the Heat players. It’s obvious that this young guy can’t handle the personalities on the court. I mean really, the guy initially came to Miami as the team’s video coordinator. This team can yap on and on about how Spoelstra is the coach of the present and future, but everyone knows Pat Riley is just waiting for the right time (All-star break) to take the reigns. Riley was the architect of this team. He is the one who brought LeBron and Bosh to South Beach. Until Riley steps up, the Heat will not reach their potential.

2. No point
You can NOT win a title without a point guard who is willing to control the pace of the game and distribute the ball; especially with a roster that has this many all-stars. Look back at the PGs of championship winning teams over the last decade: Fisher, Rondo, Parker, Billups. All of those guys controlled their offense and distributed the ball. You have to look back to the 1998 champions, the Chicago Bulls, to find the last team that was lacking a true point guard (and they had Michael-friggin-Jordan!). Who is this team’s point man? Carlos Arroyo? A point guard doesn’t spend half of the game on the bench, and shouldn’t be limited to a single assist or less for the majority of your games. The only one consistantly distributing the ball on this team is LeBron James, and you can’t rely on your small forward an best player (who you’re trying to get the ball to) to distribute the ball to the rest of his teammates. Riley either needs to bring in a true-point, or move Wade permanently to PG and let House act as the starting shooting-guard, because this is the biggest on-court issue this team will face all year.

1. Fan-up!
Miami’s fans have never been great; even to the point where the NBA asked them to change the color of their seats so it wasn’t so blindingly obvious that there were empty seats court side. But now, with this line up, the fans must be going crazy, right? NO! And with the Heat taking over the role of the NBA’s team-you-love-to-hate, they need to at least have a home base that will stand strong for them. Without their fan’s pumping them up in their own arena, the Heat have lost more games at home than the Celtics and Lakers combined. This issue has gotten so bad that the Heat have devoted a page on their Web site trying to get their fans to “fan-up”. Now that is just down right sad.

Top 5 Questions Coming Into the NBA Season

By Ben Austin

Can John Wall and Gilbert Arenas play together? Can Kobe 3-peat? Did Ryan Pfleiderer sign a contract with the Golden State Warriors? None of these questions made our top 5 list for the upcoming NBA season (and yes, he will start at small forward).

Following one of the most exciting off-seasons in the history of the league, and with the pre-season just around the corner, things are starting to… Heat up… (sorry) in the NBA. A lot of things have changed (apparently Amare really doesn’t want to win ever) and some things have stayed the same (LeBron is still full of himself), and only time will tell what players and teams actually made good choices. But, if you’re impatient and don’t feel like waiting 8 months for answers, here are our opinions on how the ’10-’11 season may turn out.

How hot will Miami be?
Oh, they’ll be hot alright. But can three all-stars in the prime of their careers really pull through, be unselfish, and win a championship? Of course they can. This team is so uncannily similar to the Boston Celtics of 2008 it makes me sick. While they are all younger than the Celtics Big-3 were when they shipped up to Boston, it’s the exact same scenario. You even have the same positions involved (shooting guard, small forward, and power forward).
The only legitimate issue I see is the team’s attitude thus far. Yeah, they’ve all said they’re willing to share the ball and all that, but let’s be real; these guys are already acting like their championship rings are in a box being shipped to South Beach. Between LeBron’s “decision” and the rock concert that they held for their three new studs when they arrived in Miami, the Heat may be getting ahead of themselves.
You never saw any of that in Boston. The Big-3 came in, kept their mouths shut, worked harder than any other team, put the reigns in the hands of their captain, and rode off into victory lane. Is LeBron, a two-time MVP, ready to give up the reigns and take a back seat to Wade, who is the only member of the trio that has won a championship? Will Bosh ever reveal his true identity at Buckwheat from the Little Rascals? At least one of those will likely happen, but let’s wait and see how the Heat are doing at the All-Star break.
(Final answer- They’ll be hot: 65-72 wins.)

Who will take home the MVP?
With LeBron and D-Wade sharing the rock, I’m not sure either of them really contend for the MVP award. Yes they’ll still have great numbers, but it’s up to the voters, and I don’t see either of these guys in the top 3 for votes received.
Kobe’s age is creeping up on him a little, as we saw last year with his nagging injuries. At age 32, and with 14 NBA seasons under his belt, Kobe is right on par with the “aging” Big-3 of Boston. Not to say Bryant won’t continue to play at an all-star caliber, but his stats have been sloping since 2006, and those aches and pains that he dealt with last season aren’t going to just disappear.
That leaves just one (pretty obvious) choice. Welcome, Kevin Durant, to the MVP club. Durant put up MVP numbers last year, having more points and rebounds than LeBron James (not to mention he’s a better shooter from deep). If he continues his progress that he’s made each year since being in the league, this kid will put up 35 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 3 assists a game, and will steal the record for youngest-ever MVP from (who else) LeBron James.
(Final answer- Durant, who realistically will put up 32 pts, 8 rebounds, 2.5 assists per game)

What free agent made the biggest mistake?
For the last two years, every basketball analyst in the country was anticipating the 2010 off-season. Well, now it’s over, and the Nets are still stuck with billions of dollars and no one to spend it on. While everyone is looking at what teams did well and what teams busted, I started looking at what players made good/awful choices in the big off-season.
Nate Robinson most likely could have shopped a little harder (or at all) for a new team. At 26-years-old, Robinson only has one or two more chances to prove he’s worth a big contract. It’s hard to prove that when you’re sitting on the bench in Boston. In actuality, Robinson should have looked for a mediocre team (not the Nets or Knicks, please) that would dish out some cash and give him the ball. However, he did make a very unselfish move, and showed that he wants to win. Because he is staying for the right reasons (and on the Celtics), I’ll give him a mulligan on this one.
Another player that had the chance to bolt, but decided to stay put, was Joe Johnson. In Johnson you have a player that could go to a middle-of-the-road team and turn them into a top tier contender. The Dallas Mavericks even made a push for him (imagine Joe Johnson playing alongside Dirk, Jason Kidd, and Shawn Marion). Instead, Johnson opted take a huge max contract with Atlanta, a perennially young, athletic team that doesn’t have what it takes when playoff time hits. That said, I suppose you can’t blame the guy for taking the big money… and Atlanta is always a playoff team… I’m just saying.
And now, for the free agent you have all been waiting for me to trash on (drum roll please), Amare Stoudemire. Really Amare? Okay, okay, I understand that, like Johnson, he wanted to bring in a big check. But why, why did he choose to accept that check from the New York Knicks? Stoudemire just traded in Steve Nash and Jason Richardson for the likes of Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari. He took the bait that LeBron wouldn’t. He inked a deal with promises of the NYC spotlight and that the Knicks would sign another big time free agent to help him out. Well, turns out that free agent was Raymond Felton and now that NYC spotlight may be a little too bright for Amare to handle. Have fun stringing together those 25 wins this season buddy. And hey, there’s always next season.
(Final answer: Amare, you better enjoy the next few weeks while you can. It’ll be a long season.)

Which team (besides the Heat) has improved the most?
So we have teams like the Knicks, Nets, and Clippers, who were all hoping to snatch up LeBron and cruise to a winning season. Huge fail. The Knicks are basically exactly where they were last year (with Amare as the new David Lee), and the Nets… right. Then we have teams like the Golden State Warriors, who kept their core group of young guns, and made a good pick up with David Lee. I have no doubt that this team will surprise a lot of people this year. The combination of Lee, Ellis, and Curry could (if they stay together) be a lethal one in a year or two. Not to mention two very good draft choices with Ekpe Udoh and Harvard genius Jeremy Lin. These guys will be better this year, but still need time to age (like a fine wine) before they’ll be a real playoff contender.
Look back east for a second (but not too far east). Right on the boarder between the eastern conference and western conference sits Chicago. A city that has watched the Cubs struggle since before the Great Depression. A city that has watched the Bulls flop around since they lost Jordan, Pippen, and that other Ron Artest-esque guy. But hold on cowboy, this year is looking different (for the Bulls I mean. The Cubs are still horrendous). By signing three former Jazz teammates (Carlos Boozer, Kyle Korver, and Ronnie Brewer) the Bulls were able to find some solid players, who won’t bring along big egos, and already have chemistry. With Derrick Rose running the point, and Joakim Noah looking like an idiot (while also holding down a solid center position), the Bulls finally have the players to make a splash in the playoffs. Even with all of that, their biggest pick-up of the off-season may end up being on the bench all season. Tom Thibodeau is a veteran coach who knows how to win. He’s seen the habits that lead to NBA finals appearances and will bring them with him to Chicago. Look out for this team to be in the top half of the eastern conference come spring ’11.
(Final answer: The Bulls finally put together a solid roster with a good coach, bring on the “Beat Miami” chants.)

How much should the Celtics expect out of Shaq?
So far everyone in Boston is happy with what Shaq is doing. He has already visited the classic tourist destinations. He already has a plethora of Irish themed nicknames. And he is still big. Really big. And that, come the regular season, is basically all Shaq needs to do to help out the Celtics this year. In game 7 of the finals last year, the Celts got out rebounded 8 to 23 on the offensive side of the ball. They lost by 4 points. You do the math. With the addition of Shaq, who in his old age has averaged 15 points and 7.5 rebounds a game over the last two seasons. That totally eclipses Kendrick Perkins’ 9 points and 7.7 rebounds.
While he is no more than a mere shadow of what he used to be, Shaq still does have the ability to make a big impact on the court. And he doesn’t have to be the first, second, third, or even fourth option for the Celtics. Shaq just needs to go out, play 20 minutes a game, rack up some rebounds, a dozen points, and a blocked shot or two, and he will be more than worth the $3 million of chump change that the Celtics are giving him over the next two years. At the very least, the Celtics will now by far have the most entertaining post-game interviews in the league.
(Final answer- He’s huge. He can score. And maybe competition with Big Baby as Shrek. That’s all the Celtics need.)