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SWISH Letter from the Editor MAGAZINE PUBLISHER & EDITOR IN CHIEF Steve Kyler skyler@swishmagazine.com EXECUTIVE EDITORS Bill Ingram bingram@swishmagazine.com Darren Andrade dandrade@swishmagazine.com EDITORIAL STAFF Jason Fleming, Darren Andrade, Bill Ingram, Steve Kyler CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Bill Ingram, Darren Andrade, Steve Kyler, Nathan Bishop, Jason Fleming, Greg White, Eric Pincus and Patrick Heusinger.

DESIGN & LAYOUT Impact Graphic Design production@swishmagazine.com PHOTOS Donnie Arnick www.donniesport.com Amanda Mohammed Jason Fleming Select NBA Photos provided by The LA Clippers & The Portland Trailblazers PROMOTION AND MARKETING Phil Maymin pmaymin@swishmagazine.com 866.430.3640 ADVERTISING & SALES adsales@swishmagazine.com 866.430.3640 CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONS Subscriber Relations subscribers@swishmagazine.com SWISH Magazine c\o Basketball News Services 12157 W. Linebaugh Ave; Suite 329 Tampa FL 33626

SWISH MAGZINE is a quarterly basketball news publication, produced by Basketball News Services. With more than 50 basketball writers and contributors in almost every major basketball city, Basketball News Services offers year round coverage of basketball and the NBA. For more information please visit http://www.swishmagazine.com

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WOW… That’s really all I can say about how well received SWISH #1 was. Thank you to all of the people that helped get SWISH into the hands of the fans and media across the league. It certainly made the decisions for this issue a lot easier.

Going forward, I want to reaffirm our commitment to bringing you the best in high quality basketball news, interviews and insight from around the league. That’s our core and we plan to stick to it. You told us you liked it, and while we were flattered by all the compliments, we now plan to exceed the lofty expectations that the success of our first issue inspired.

We encourage you to toss us some feedback (feedback@swishmagazine.com).

It’s your input, thoughts, ideas and suggestions that will shape the stories we pursue and the topics we discuss.

For SWISH #3, we will be looking to bring you more of the insight you’ll find inside SWISH#2, and a lot of focus on the offseason, including the draft and summer league.

In the coming months we will re-launch swishmagazine.com to feature more news, insight and back issues in PDF form for those that may have missed a story or a feature.

SWISH #3 will be out in the first week in October of 2005, and will remain 32 pages.

SWISH #4 which we are projecting to be out in January of 2006 will see us grow to 48pages and an additional feature as well as some exciting new departments.

We thank you for your support, and encourage you to share SWISH with friends and family by sending them to http://www.swishmagazine.com/subscription to get their very own copy.

Steve Kyler Editor & Publisher Swish Magazine steve@swishmagazine.com

04.05

May 2005 Volume 1 Issue 2

Table of Contents

Features

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FANNED!

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Raiders of the Last Draft

Has the line between NBA players and fans been crossed forever?... Money and Media leave athletes wide open.

Building continuity in the NBA. With the draft, free agency and the pressure to win now, how can a team build a real team?

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The “Paper” Clips Good at business. Still working on basketball... No one ever asked the Clippers who they wanted to be. Now they want to be winners.

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departments

6 Still Standing 12 The Lifestyle 14 The Man Behind The Name 16 Inside the Arena 17 Visions of Winning 21 The Slide Rule 22 Underestimated &Underrated 26 Son-of-a-Gun 27 Heart & Soul 28 Collectors Corner 30 A Dog With a Bone 31 The Last Word

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STILL STANDING Three Warriors Get A Second Shot at Greatness Bill Ingram

Impatience has become a chronic disease in the National Basketball Association. Teams no longer want to take the time to draft a young player, give him time to mature, put a quality core group around him, and see where that lineup can take them over a period of years. Teams don’t want to commit to a long-term vision. Instead they approach the building process with a quick-fix mentality, which causes them to miss out on situations that could have been extremely positive for their organizations. This is certainly the case for the Golden State Warriors, who put together a strong core of players four seasons ago and then gave up on them before they really had a chance to get to know each other. The Warriors can look at the Washington Wizards and get an idea of what might have been.

Larry Hughes has finally arrived as a player.

After being subjected to six different coaches in six seasons he has found a home, and the Wizards couldn’t be happier with what the 6’5” guard is bringing to the court. “His leadership and his quarterbacking of defense really helps us,” explains Wizards head coach Eddie Jordan. “That’s really the key in terms 6

Larry Hughes

of us being where we are. He sets the defense for us, calls out defensive schemes, whether it’s a zone or a trap or denying and positioning everybody else, and obviously his steals are a factor. At the same time, it’s a real comfort zone with Gilbert (Arenas). Gilbert and Larry are like twins in a sense. They play off of each other as well as any other guard combo in the league.”

This really shouldn’t be a surprise, should it? After all, the Warriors had this same back court duo on their roster once upon a time.

“A lot of people don’t realize that we didn’t actually play together,” explains Arenas.

“Larry and Antawn (Jamison) started the season; Antawn and I finished the season.

By then Larry was only playing about eight minutes per game, so we didn’t actually get to play with each other.”

“The Warriors didn’t give us time to play,” Hughes said. “We didn’t play together. I didn’t play with GA. He came in when I got hurt, and then I didn’t play anymore during the season. They didn’t give us enough time to figure out how we wanted to play, the style of basketball we wanted to play. It’s really a losing attitude out there.”

A losing attitude may have been part of the problem, but the Warriors’ own shortsightedness was probably as important a factor. They put three young stars together and failed to see the long-term potential, as Arenas details. “We were young and everybody was fighting for minutes, playing time, money - now here we’re all grown up and we know what we want. We want to win.”

It also helps that the trio of former Warriors are now playing for an organization that wants to give them time to develop into something special.

“The organization believes in us,” explains Jamison. “We’re maturing a lot. We understand the game a lot better than we did at first. It’s all about winning. The three major differences are our relationship, our capabilities at this stage of our careers, and we’re a lot more focused and realize what the big picture is. If they continue to keep us together we can do great things in the future.”

“We’re ready to win,” says Hughes. “We had the opportunity to somewhat play with each other, but we didn’t have the time. I know we are better players now, and that SWISH MAGAZINE

definitely helps. We are at a point in our careers where we want to win. We’ve scored a lot of points and done different things, but we haven’t made names for ourselves as far as winning. That’s what it’s about in this league, being remembered as a winner.”

For the Wizards the future starts and ends with Hughes, who has finally found his comfort zone. From his coach to the teammates he has been re-united with, everyone sees the change in Hughes. “He has gotten better at defending without gambling,” says Jordan. “Instead of over-committing, reaching and cheating his defensive routs as he did a lot last year, he’s so much more disciplined. He has stolen the ball more and developed into a better one-on-one and help defender.”

“He’s grown up a lot,” notes Arenas.

“He’s being a leader, and he’s calling us out when we don’t play well.”

Jamison sees it, too. “I think Larry is now one of the smartest guys in the league on both the offensive and the defensive end.

He’s one of those guys who is such a leader and puts so much pressure on opponents when you have a guy who can make that kind of difference on both sides of the court it says a lot about the type of leader he is.”

Jordan sees a change in all three of his star players. “They felt that they had the experience of playing together, getting their numbers, and getting their contracts, and losing – it made life miserable. Winning was the key issue. They understand that they have to do things like sacrifice, share the ball, play better defense, and they’re a lot more mature. In this league talent wins, experience wins, and toughness wins. Those three guys are providing those things for us.”

The Washington Wizards are now benefiting from the Warriors’ lack of vision. Hughes has evolved into an All-Star caliber player, and the Wizards have just begun to reap the benefits of the faith they have placed in their young star. “I’m 26 and I am right where I want to be,” says Hughes. “I’m in a situation where we’re winning games. I feel comfortable. I think that’s why things are working out. I’ve had a chance to get comfortable with the situation.” The Washington Wizards are on the rise, and Larry Hughes is Still Standing.

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Safe and Sound: Has the line between NBA players and fans been crossed forever?

Darren Andrade THE BUZZER SOUNDS. An undersized 11year old clutches a black marker in his right hand, the writing pad that came with it in his left. A stream of basketball players files past his outstretched arms. Some stop to sign but not his hero, who manages to ignore the kid’s plea for a scribble and quickly disappears under the arch of the tunnel. The boy is dejected, but hopeful that the next time will bear fruit. Then again, the fruit it took to get that close with those seats doesn’t bear often. As he gets older he inhales the sports section and – beside the box scores - learns that Charles Barkley is “not a role model” and that Latrell Sprewell will struggle to feed his family on $7M a year.

Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady talk openly about giving up on their $12M a-year jobs he paid ninety-five dollars to see them perform. He can’t relate, except to the game.

But what happens when all the off-court confusion begins to cloud the game that the fans pay hard-earned money to see?

“Anytime a fan touches you, you have the right to beat the hell out of him.” Charles Barkley, retired NBA player What if when that 11-year old kid grew up his detachment from the modern athlete was complete. What if his name was John Green? That’s the fan accused of throwing his beer at Indiana Pacers forward Ron Artest, setting off last November’s brawl that saw Pacers players and Detroit Pistons fans duking it out in the stands at the Palace of Auburn Hills. However slight you might think that link could be, the point is that this isn’t really about Indiana vs. Detroit. If you think that’s the problem you haven’t been watching. It doesn’t make Green’s alleged actions any less idiotic but 8

Toronto Raptor Jalen Rose doesn’t think there is any problem at all. the shocking events of our times are always the surface wounds, the real pain is much deeper. In this case it’s the growing disconnect between NBA players and their fans.

“I think the thing that’s misleading is the relationship of the media and players,” says Toronto Raptors forward and 11-year NBA veteran Jalen Rose. “A lot of times people that think just because something negative was written in the paper or said on TV that that’s actually what the normal fan thinks or believes and that’s so far from the truth. There are a lot more fans than the 20,000 that are at the game that root for a team or that root for a player. So those are the people [media] that I think give the misconception that it’s a bad relationship.

“I feel like the relationship is great beSWISH MAGAZINE

tween players and fans.”

The spotlight that shines on NBA athletes in 2005 is all encompassing. Their league is perhaps the greatest in the world when it comes to creating stars and it has saddled that formula to great success. Larger than life stars attract larger than life attention and the media is only too anxious to dispatch its soldiers to compete for a top story. The proliferation of the internet and the launch of countless 24-hour sports channels in North America have left professional athletes wide open. With hundreds of media outlets vying for the scoop, the line between fact and opinion can become ultra-thin and the pressure to pinch out a worthy exclusive is high.

“I think media exposure is big-time now,” says point guard Rod Strickland who has played 17 NBA seasons with the microphones in his face. “It wasn’t like that when I was coming out. That makes people more familiar with you and makes them a lot more comfortable asking you for things.”

The more you see the more you want, but the NBA basketball players shaped into cookiecut commodities for you to swallow may not go down as easily as they’ve been sold to you.

“I’ve had some stories, for sure,” says Strickland. “I’ve been stalked. I had that experience early in my career. Somebody was following me from city to city. “(The NBA) can’t do anything about that.

People can find out wherever you’re at.

Once I found out about this person and I let the NBA know, they were right on it. It didn’t take long. To their credit, the league was on the ball and took care of that person.”

When talking about the NBA the line between fans and athletes has been thin compared to most sports. By nature of basketball’s small surface and harmless projectile, fans are allowed to be physically May22005

FEATURE closer to the action. The players do not have helmets obscuring their face and an overkill of gear to adjust, remove and replace and it is part of what creates the closeness between fan and player. Visibility. These are some of the reasons why soccer is so popular worldwide and basketball has fast become a similar phenomenon of sport.

In Europe and South America soccer is the people’s game and is notorious for its passionate followers. Players have been shot at for not performing well in losses.

Stand clearing brawls and swarming attacks on players and officials are not relatively uncommon. Recently, well-known Swedish referee Anders Frisk was forced to retire after a series of death threats (believed to be sent by irate Chelsea soccer fans) following an officiating controversy – his latest. While soccer does provide a wide separation between the first row and the huge playing field, with visible security on hand, the holes remain large enough for fan violence to remain a serious concern for FIFA league officials. Given the similarities in the set-up of the two sports it’s a wonder there haven’t been more escalated incidents in NBA arenas. A testament to league security? A cultural difference? Or is the sport of soccer giving us a glimpse of where the NBA could be headed?

“Fans in China would never attack an athlete – I just can’t imagine that happening.”

– Yao Ming, Houston Rockets Center Consider that European soccer players have been making “superstar” incomes under the spotlight for much longer than the professional basketball player. If the separation between fans and players has been influenced by the increase of salaries and media coverage, then diehard soccer fans have had much more time than their basketball counterparts in America to witness the divide and more frustration to unleash. Just as in basketball the athletes are right at their fingertips. They can jump into the stands

Mayw2005

and be on you in a…

“The reality is that our society and our arenas exist based upon a social contract,” NBA Commissioner David Stern told a news conference shortly after the dirty in Detroit. “Everyone knows that if 20,000 fans decided to go on a rampage, we’d have a serious problem on our hands, no matter what we did.”

“Yeah, it was a bad incident in Detroit, a horrible incident,” says Rose. “But I also think it was an isolated incident. As a player I don’t mind fans cheering for their team and booing Jalen Rose on the road or, if the team’s not playing well, booing us to get us going, or whatever. That really comes with the sport. I do the same thing when I’m playing Playstation – if a guy’s not getting it going I be talking about him the same way. As a player you shouldn’t take it personal.”

tor of public information for the Indiana Pacers. “We met almost every criteria or suggestion that they put out with their new security policy prior to it being released.”

Bob Hunter, a senior vice-president with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and

“World class security is just a part of world class service. Not just for the customers but also for the athletes.”

Mark Stornes, CEO Cleveland Cavaliers and Gund Arena

SECURE IN THE FACT… A new Fan Code of Conduct to be posted throughout all NBA arenas was released as well as some mandated and suggested security changes that came into effect this year. The goal was to try and prevent things from ever getting that personal again.

“For us the changes were pretty minimal,” says Mark Stornes, CEO of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Gund arena. The venue has staffed five more security officers at Cavaliers games since November. “We have typically been one of the buildings with a higher staffing level with security than others. There are other areas that we have moved staffing to or security personnel into that had an impact. Beyond that it was very subtle for us because we had just about all of the mandatory things in place.”

“In our discussions with the league we have been told by them that we serve as a model,” says Jeff McCoy, associate direc-

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general manager of Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, also believes that most of the recommended changes were already in effect.

“The league issued a memorandum of mandatory changes of what they want to see as well as recommended changes,” says Hunter. “The good thing is that we were probably already practicing about ninety percent of them. What they are trying to do is create some consistency between the different arenas to ensure that this stuff was taking place.”

In fact, almost every NBA team contacted that cared to comment said that they were already at or above the NBA’s suggested measures for security. So while the muchpublicized announcement of change might look swift on the surface, it is somewhat misleading. If the suggested changes are already being practiced in most NBA arenas then all the new guidelines amount to is a public appeasement that encourages little change. The flip side...

“It’s very valuable to be able to hear what other buildings are doing,” says Stornes.

“Really, as much as anything, it forces you to go back and walk yourself through all your plans and make sure they still make sense.”

“The biggest piece of it was just the reallocation of people on the floor,” says Hunter.

“The security people around the benches were relocated and repositioned.”

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FEATURE The beer cup thrown around the world that landed on Artest’s chest will also result in penalties for those who like beer with their basketball. By NBA mandate arenas will cut off selling the suds in the fourth quarter, have vowed to be more diligent with the tanked and tipsy and there’ll be smaller cups too (new maximum of 24 ounces).

Smaller cups and no beer sales in the fourth quarter smell like a revenue hit but nobody seems concerned.

“We really don’t think it’s going to impact our per caps at all,” says Stornes. “For us, our policy was very close to what the NBA came up with. We cut off sales two minutes into the fourth quarter whereas with the changes we do it at the beginning of the fourth quarter. We don’t feel there’s going to be a great impact on our per caps or a financial hit.”

“I can’t suggest that there would be any significant impact with the difference in the size of the cup,” says Hunter. The ACC will be able to continue selling 28-ounce servings until inventory of that cup size depletes.

“People will drink what they want to drink.

We really don’t see that as being a big issue. The other thing as well is that we don’t sell a lot of beer at basketball. We play so many Sunday games and we don’t sell a lot of beer on Sunday afternoon, which draws a larger family crowd overall.”

The family presence is what the NBA is trying to preserve; included with the ninetynine percent of fans who watch the game without provoking an incident. With security a major concern since 2001 there is a delicate balance in providing a safe environment without being in your face with it.

“I would say that those changes that came down after 9/11 were probably re-emphasized in these changes,” says Hunter. “These changes are crowd-control oriented whereas the 9/11 changes were all about securing the building. A lot of those changes already in place and still being practiced didn’t mean that there weren’t significant changes coming out of the November in Detroit issue.”

“I don’t think our review of security and any changes we’ve made have a lasting impact in terms of service,” says Stornes. “I think there were certainly some changes post-9/11 that had more impact on guests with some of the changes that were made then. I can’t imagine that the changes were so phenomenal that buildings won’t be able to quickly accommodate and make sure 10

they provide the service that we have to provide to our guests.

“World class security is just a part of world class service. Not just for the customers but also for the athletes.”

each with an eyebrow cocked. A decision is made to either sign the 11-year old’s card, or disappear into the tunnel…

AND THEN SOME…

“I have never been in awe of the man, just of the way he plays the game.” – Alex MacIntosh, 31 – NBA fan

This is by no means a one-sided affair or a simple case of million dollar athletes pricing themselves out of our lives. There are other factors that go into defining the fan/ athlete relationship. Jalen Rose never lied.

“At the end of the day if you look at the evolution of the game the majority of players in the NBA are black players or international players and the minority is the white American player,” says Rose. “But the majority of the fans are the white American fan so there’s going to be a grey area there in itself because sometimes when people aren’t just like you, you don’t necessarily know where they’re coming from all of the time. For the most part I think the NBA is doing a good job and I think the players do a good job also.”

Big business has hit the other side of the coin too and player autographs and sports memorabilia fetch a pretty penny from collectors. It has caused a lot of players to question the motive of fans so intent on getting these items. With endorsement deals in hand, many players refuse to sign products that might be considered competition. In some cases it is a violation of their contract to do so.

They look at each other, the fan and the player,

In the now, nobody moves units like the NBA. The more money you make in our society the higher the standard to which you are held. This higher standard comes with more responsibility and expectations to live up to. When pro athletes can accept that as part of the price that comes with fame and fortune, it will be easier for them to take on their role. They are entertainers who are responsible for pleasing a fan base that spend enormously to see their show.

Fans must also understand that players, regardless of the paycheck or shine, are human in spite of the larger than life persona created for them.

The league could decide to build a physical barrier between the court and onlookers (something Stern is against, but some European arenas have employed), or even sacrifice some prime courtside seating for more separation between the crowd and the action. For now both are unlikely, leaving NBA players and their fans to brush shoulders with one another in a way that few other sports allow. Time will tell if that is a good thing, or even a safe thing. Ultimately, it will be the players and the fans that decide.

NBA Fan Code of Conduct The National Basketball Association, (team name), and (arena name) are committed to creating a safe, comfortable, and enjoyable sports & entertainment experience. NBA fans have a right to expect an environment where: * Players will respect and appreciate each and every fan. * Guests will be treated in a consistent, professional and courteous manner by all arena and team personnel. * Guests will enjoy the basketball experience free from disruptive behavior, including foul or abusive language or obscene gestures. * Guests will consume alcoholic beverages in a responsible manner. Intervention with an impaired, intoxicated or underage guest will be handled in a prompt and safe manner. * Guests will sit only in their ticketed seats and show their tickets when requested. * Guests will not engage in fighting, throwing objects or attempting to enter the court, and those who engage in any of these actions will immediately be ejected from the game. * Guests will smoke in designated smoking areas only. * There will not be any obscene or indecent messages on signs or clothing. * Guests will comply with requests from arena staff regarding arena operations and emergency response procedures.

The arena staff has been trained to intervene where necessary to help ensure that the above expectations are met, and guests are encouraged to report any inappropriate behavior to the nearest usher, security guard or guest services staff member. Guests who choose not to adhere to these provisions will be subject to ejection without refund and revocation of season tickets and may also be in violation of city ordinances resulting in possible arrest and prosecution.

The NBA, (team name,) and (arena name) thank you for adhering to the provisions of the NBA Fan Code of Conduct.

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11

THE LIFESTYLE The Future?

Steve Kyler When the Orlando Magic nabbed the top overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft there was some debate. Two big men rose to the top of the class: a proven collegiate star in Emeka Okafor from a storied college program and an unproven high schooler from an obscure high school in Atlanta named Dwight Howard.

Dwight Howard

When did you think you were going to be the top pick?

The whole year I was hoping I would be the top pick. I just knew if I had an awesome high school season, and I got my team back to the state championship, we’d be able to win and I would have a really good chance of being the number one pick.

How was it when your name was called?

It was an awesome experience... I didn’t know till my agent - just before David Stern came out - he gave me a little wink and told me when they my name to give my Mom a hug and a kiss and all that... I was in shock. I was real excited. I was able to do something for my family that nobody had ever done before.

What was the first thing you bought for yourself?

I didn’t buy anything for myself first.

I bought my mom and dad a house. I bought myself a new cell phone...

In Orlando Dwight Howard (left) is the future of the franchise.

It wasn’t an easy choice for a franchise coming off the worst season in its history, and it wasn’t an easy message to send to the fans of Central Florida. Magic fans already wondered aloud if Tracy McGrady would be part of a team that didn’t trade away the pick.

Could a first-year general manager with very little NBA experience make the right choice? Throw in a coaching staff that lost a massive amount of games the prior season and one could wonder if anyone had clue what was needed to right the ship. A lot of questions had to be answered with this choice.

In June the Magic made their choice: Dwight Howard; a choice that Dwight himself did not know about until his name was called. With that selection the Magic embraced a bold new direction and took a gamble on the unknown.

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What was the thing you didn’t expect coming into the NBA? Everything that’s happened in the NBA I expected... the long season. The physical play. I knew it was gonna be real mental. I knew that everybody was gonna get on me as a rookie. The NBA was really everything I expected.

When the Magic got the number one pick Tracy McGrady was very negative about the idea of drafting a high school player or even Emeka Okafor.

He suggested/demanded that they trade the pick. Instead the Magic traded Tracy and drafted you. Did that signal to you that you were going to be the star in Orlando?

I think Tracy needed a new home, even though he loved playing at “home” in front of family and his friends. I think both Houston and the Magic made good decisions in what they did. I would have loved to play with T-Mac, but he chose to go another way and he’s having a great season.

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Are you having fun in the NBA? I am having a lot of fun. I wouldn’t be any other place... People say look at the March Madness, but in the NBA the “madness” is all year long, not just one month. I am just glad I made the decision.

Are you going to stay in Orlando in the offseason or are you going back to Atlanta?

I am traveling... going around the world....

Hawaii, then trying to go to Turkey (with Hedo Turkoglu)... I wanna learn some of the stuff he learned overseas, and bring it back to my game.

I heard a rumor that you were interested in doing “voices” - Should we expect the Dwight Howard animated series?

Yeah... I like to do different voices... You might see me in a couple of movies... I always wanted to do that.

Coming into the NBA you signed the big deal with adidas, your future is pretty much set... what are some of the things you want to do personally in your time in the NBA? I want to be the best player in the league when I leave, to be known as one of the best. That’s my goal. Hopefully I’ll win some championships, help my team get to the playoffs.

Is it strange being recognized everywhere you go?

Not really... I am kinda used to it... in Atlanta I got some of the same treatment I get here. I am a people person, so it doesn’t bother me that people recognize me. I just like being around people.

Many in the media speculated on draft day that the Magic had to go with the proven guy in Okafor. Emeka did end up as a high draft pick and a great foundation for the Charlotte Bobcats, who took him with the second pick in 2004, but the Magic have no regrets. Dwight Howard has proven so far that he is not only the real deal, but a pretty intimidating player, as well. If his growth from Summer League to post-season is any indication, look for Dwight Howard to be an All-Star for many seasons to come.

May22005

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THE MAN BEHIND THE NAME

Living Down a Legacy Nathan Bishop Selfish, egotistical, immature... Just a few adjectives you might hear when someone is describing Portland Trail Blazer Zach Randolph. Ask anyone who knows Randolph personally and a different picture emerges. In truth, Zach is one of the more loyal and grounded players in the NBA today.

Last season’s “Most Improved Player,” Randolph has been at the center of the Trail Blazers’ controversial losing season from the very beginning. It’s hard to blend in when he just signed a max-contract that will keep him around for the better part of his career. Still, the man known around Portland as “Z-BO” has been able to weather the storm.

“I don’t care about stats, I want to win,” said Randolph. “I love playing basketball. That’s what I do. I score and get rebounds. I can’t worry about (anything else). That’s what the coach wants me to do, that’s what the Trail Blazers pay me to do.”

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Zach Randolph

You don’t have to spend much time around professional athletes to realize how quickly the money and fame can go to their heads. Once most of these guys hit the big time they feel they have paid their dues. Not Randolph. The game hasn’t changed him. “I met him before he was drafted,” said All-Star forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim. “He’s pretty much the same kid he was.”

Abdur-Rahim isn’t the only one who has noticed Randolph’s humble approach to life in the league. “I’ve been watching Z-BO the last couple years do his thing. I’ve seen him develop into a superstar,” said rookie point guard Sebastian Telfair. “I wasn’t really expecting him to be as cool as he is as a person. You wouldn’t even know he’s in the NBA. That’s how down to earth and humble he is.”

Not only is Zach a humble individual, but he’s a good teammate and friend as well. “I’ve known Zach since eighth grade,” said Darius Miles. “He’s a good person. A good people person. He’s trying to be himself all the time, not trying to front for anyone, just him being him. He’s going to continue to be my friend for a long, long time to come.”

Abdur-Rahim agreed, “I think a lot of the young guys get a façade about themselves that they don’t care as much as they do, but I think he really cares about his fans and his teammates.”

Humble, unselfish, and helpful... These are hardly the qualities you’d expect to hear when talking about a player of Randolph’s caliber. In fact, you’d probably hear the exact opposite when discussing the upper echelon athletes in the NBA. AbdurRahim attributes that to Randolph’s willingness to listen to the veterans. “A lot of times you see young guys who aren’t willing to listen, but that’s not Zach,” said Abdur-Rahim. “He’s more willing to listen than people think he is. He wants to get better a lot more than people may think.”

For Zach it all comes back to his upbringing. When asked who was the most influential in his life Randolph’s response was immediate, “My mom.

What we came up through and her being supportive of me, raising me by herself the way she did - me and my two sisters and one brother. She just did a good job and I really respect her for that.”

It isn’t just about basketball for Randolph. He loves the game, but he has other goals in life as well. “I want to be a strong family man. Try to be more spiritual, with the Lord Jesus’ looking down on me. It’s my goal to just be the best person I can on the court and off the court, and help other guys get better around me.”

Trail Blazers color commentator Mike Rice has seen some great players come and go through the city of Portland. “In my 15 years with the Trail Blazers I’ve only seen Clyde Drexler mean as much to his team as Zach will mean to the Trail Blazers next year,” said Rice. “If he shows the determination to win as Clyde did, the Trail Blazers will be back in the playoffs.”

It’s pretty obvious we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg from this young power forward, but his future is entirely in his hands. “I think it’s up to him.

He can be as good as he wants to be. The sky’s the limit for him. As hard as he wants to work, or as much as he wants to dedicate himself to the game, it’s up to him,” said Abdur-Rahim.

At age 23 Randolph has already set the bar pretty high and Randolph is getting better, but Z-BO is by no means satisfied with what he’s accomplished thus far in his career. It’s that hunger to get better that drives him to be the best in the game.

“It just feels like I’m on the rise. Building on something,” said Randolph. “I haven’t even reached my potential yet. I just need to continue to work on my game and get better.”

Hard work, loyalty, a humble approach to life and the game of basketball... This is the real Zach Randolph.

SWISH MAGAZINE

May22005

INSIDE THE ARENA

The Rose Garden

A Place For the Whole Family Jason Fleming It’s hard to miss the Rose Garden if you drive through Portland. Going north to south on Interstate 5 or east to west on Interstate 84 the home of the Portland Trail Blazers is right there where these two highways meet, in the heart of the city.

For almost ten years now the Garden has stood against the Portland skyline, blending in with its surroundings while at the same time making sure everyone sees it.

Just looking at the arena a passerby wouldn’t necessarily recognize it as unique when compared to its brethren across the NBA, but that is a definite truth. This is the only arena that has been voluntarily given to its creditors – as Trail Blazers’ owner Paul Allen and Oregon Arena Corporation did the first of this year because of exorbitant interest payments on the debt – and now the Blazers have no control over it. The team still has a very long lease with the Garden

there and watching the Blazers right now can be a little rough.”

In Portland when you talk about the team and the arena it’s hard to keep them separate, but now that’s the way it has to be. There are many things that both the team and the fans would like to see improved upon – such as an updated scoreboard to hang over midcourt – but as of yet Global Spectrum, the company who took over management from Oregon Arena Corporation, is still getting situated with all the Rose Quarter (including old Memorial Coliseum and some exhibition halls) entails.

The team knows the key to putting on a good event is getting people in the door, so they have created a family environment, intended to make parents feel like a Trail Blazers’ game is a good place to bring the entire family. They can’t focus on changing the stadium, so instead they have focused on families and creating a fun atmosphere.

“We hold several ‘Family Fun Nights’ throughout the year,” says Michele Daterman, the Trail Blazers’ Director of Marketing. “This is a ticket package that includes a ticket, hot dog and soda for only $18.50. We also hold theme nights during games throughout the season that appeal to kids and families such as ‘Mascot Night’ and look to include kids in many of our time-out contests. In addition, we also have a Jr. BlazerDancers team that performs periodically throughout the season. This year, we started a new online fan program called Trail Blazers Fast Break Kids Club where prizes are awarded throughout the year.”

“We spend a lot of time trying to make it an environment where someone can bring the whole family,” says Trail Blazers President Steve Patterson. “We do

“We spend a lot of time trying to make it an environment where someone can bring the whole family.” - Trail Blazers President Steve Patterson. so they aren’t going anywhere, but the winds of change are definitely rustling.

At the end of March it was announced that Cucina! Cucina! – a popular pregame Italian restaurant in the Rose Quarter just 20 feet from the Garden’s front door - would be closing at the end of the season and a replacement is yet to be named. That has fans talking.

“As more and more of the surroundings disappear from the Rose Quarter it starts to lose its overall appeal,” says Larry Mathis, a Trail Blazers fan for as long as he can remember – and he remembers the championship in 1977.

“With the last restuarant (Cucina!

Cucina!) closing down, there is little outside of the Blazer game for people to do 16

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a lot to try and feature the connection with the Portland landscape and the local community.”

It seems to be working. These are lean times for the Portland Trail Blazers but they still can put ten to fifteen thousand fans in the seats for a game. Why is that?

Because the message has gotten through to families and people have a good time.

“I feel comfortable going to the Rose Garden with the family. It’s got good security and I have never seen (anything crazy happen),” says Michael Jackman.

He has been a fan since moving to Portland from California in 1991.

The future for the Rose Garden is still a bit cloudy. There has been talk of naming rights being sold, but nothing has come of that as of yet. Regardless of what happens with it though, fans are still going to keep coming to see their favorite team.

KEY STATISTICS Cost - $262 million Opened Doors – 10/13/1995 Capacity – 19,980 Luxury Suites - 70 Food Options – 26 Bathrooms – 8 men’s, 8 women’s Smoke Shops – 2 Merchandise Kiosks - 4 Fan’s Tip: If you want a good place to hang out before the game or at halftime with some buddies, head over to the section on the concourse sponsored by Coors Light across from Tony Roma’s. There are TVs to watch the pre-game action and plenty of comfy black leather couches to relax on and talk hoops .

May22005

VISIONS OF WINNING Playing The Cards Right Greg White

”Each player must accept the cards life deals him. But once they are in hand, he must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.” -Voltaire Steve Nash sat dejectedly in the Mavs’ locker room after returning home from another frustrating playoff elimination.

He told the few gathered media that if Mark Cuban walked in right then and made him a fair offer he would sign up for the rest of his career. A couple of months later the Phoenix Suns stole away the heart and soul of the Mavericks, in effect putting the last piece in place in their quest to start over. Sometimes starting over requires taking risks, taking chances that others might not be willing to take.

When you look at the Phoenix Suns and what made them this year’s surprise team, you have to look at Bryan Colangelo. He is the man with the vision, the man who took a team that won 28 games last season and built them into one of the top teams in the league in less than a year. How does someone take a team from the bottom to a division champion in such a short period of time? By knowing how to play the cards right.

It doesn’t hurt to have grown up in the NBA, as Bryan Colangelo did. Bryan credits much of his success to his father Jerry’s tutelage. “I always felt I had an advantage over a lot of people. Growing up in the business, watching someone who was very good at their job and having that person serve as my mentor. To have Jerry Colangelo there in the home and going to games all my life, I developed a lot of relationships that were helpful for me and it got me a head start.”

Certainly a head start was needed.

Less than a year removed from nearly upsetting the Spurs in the playoffs, the Suns found themselves scraping the bottom of the barrel. Coming off a year Mayw2005

Bryan Colangelo

in which they had a Stephon Marbury who looked like a changed, more mature player, and a Rookie of the Year winner in Amare Stoudemire, the Suns were mired in turmoil. There were rumblings of Marbury not getting along with other players, there was the fact that he and Tom Gugliotta had large contracts that restricted personnel moves, there was the losing, and then the firing of the head coach.

Colangelo’s plan was to “get the ship righted financially. This organization was struggling from a financial perspective, and we needed to improve the club. We had some injuries and large contracts,

Chemistry is something you can never overstate. but we got an opportunity to unload a lot of that and relieve ourselves of a lot of that financial burden, not to mention giving ourselves a fresh start at rebuilding the franchise.” That fresh start including sending out Stephon Marbury, Penny Hardaway, and Cezary Trybanski for Howard Eisley, Charlie Ward, Antonio McDyess, Maciej Lampe, the rights to Milos Vujanic, and a couple of draft picks.

Colangelo then set about laying the foundation for a potential championship contender. Plan A in that foundation was to get Steve Nash. “As soon as we made the deal in trading away Steph, we got to work analyzing what options we had.

We looked at a lot of tape and studied a lot of things. We came to the conclusion SWISH MAGAZINE

that although there were some talented players out there, some had off court issues they were facing, and some were subject to trades. In that case we felt that Nash was the right guy to target.

Fortunately, Plan A worked out,” said Colangelo.

Nash was the right fit for the right price. “Chemistry is something you can never overstate,” says Colangelo.

“Chemistry is huge and sometimes a lesser talented team can perform better than a more talented team when the chemistry is great. Good things can happen if guys want to compete for each other, support each other, and share the ball.”

With the addition of Steve Nash, Quentin Richardson, and Stephen Hunter, the goal going into the season was to “make the playoffs and maybe win 50 games.” Those expectations were exceeded, but when you have a vision as Colangelo did you aren’t surprised by the success.

“I am surprised at the degree of success we are experiencing at such a quick stage. It speaks a lot about our young core of players and how primed and ready they were to take it on and also a lot about Nash and what an absolute leader and floor general he can be. Obviously Q has added a tremendous offensive punch to it as well, but I am not surprised at the success we are having,” said Colangelo.

That vision doesn’t stop with just this season. You have to continue to play the hand you are dealt. The Suns will be dealt the decision of signing Joe Johnson to a contract or matching any offers he may get as a restricted free agent. Being the card shark that he is when it comes to playing his deck, Colangelo understands the situation at hand. “It is very important to keep the core together. A lot of things have to happen in order for that to take place. But our priorities this summer are obviously to re-sign Joe Johnson, and signing Amare to a longterm extension.”

Can it be done?

With the way he turned around the Suns in less than a year, don’t bet against Bryan Colangelo.

17

Can an Age Limit Save the NBA?

By Bill Ingram The NBA Draft used to be the salvation of the lottery team. Losing is always hard to stomach, but there was a time when a losing team could at least take comfort in knowing that help was on the way. Well, times have changed. Losing teams have a hard time getting out of the rut, lottery pick or not. The impact of allowing high school players in the NBA draft field makes anything below the second or third pick a gamble, and as often as not it’s a gamble that won’t pay off . . . at least not for the team risking the draft pick. In the world of Hollywood, Indiana Jones was always the one who braved snakes, rats, and even evil gods to unearth priceless treasures, but someone else usually stole his booty before he could get that coveted fortune and glory. Losing teams in the NBA are not unlike that daring adventurer, suffering through countless losses, doing the work to develop young players who came out of college too early (or skipped it altogether), only to see those players slip away as soon as they start to show promise. Not only is this trend taking a toll on the family environment that used to typify NBA locker rooms, it is also causing fans to lose touch with their local teams.

Denver Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe talks about the mentality that has taken over the league in the wake of so many high school players and college underclassmen getting into the lottery.

“Teams are built in many different ways. I think you try and build it opportunistically where if there happens to be a star or a superstar available and you can get him to 18

come or if you have him, that’s the type of guy who can be a difference maker for you.

This has always been a league where talent wins games. That has never changed, so you’ve got to have the talent to win and obviously there’s a lot of pressure to win.”

Ironically, it is that very pressure that has changed the nature of the top ten picks in the draft.

“Traditionally one through five have been good players and five through ten is a real gamble,” continues Vandeweghe. “It’s kind of an interesting phenomenon if you go back through the history of the NBA. In that six through ten area you don’t have a high percentage of guys who do well. The draft has changed dramatically from ten years ago. The players are so young. That’s one thing you have to look at. If you’re going to get a superstar he is probably going to be very young and you’re going to have to wait for him to develop and sometimes he doesn’t develop the way you think he will.”

Take a trip back in time to 1984, for instance, when a top ten draft pick meant a team would land a franchise player. The Houston Rockets took Hakeem Olajuwon with the top pick and the Chicago Bulls took Michael Jordan with the third. The Kings would land Otis Thorpe, the Sixers chose Charles Barkley, the Hawks grabbed Kevin Willis with the 11th pick and even as far down as the 16th pick the Utah Jazz were able to pick up a little guy by the name of John Stockton. Fast forward 10 years and you still have an incredibly deep draft situation. The first round featured names like JaSWISH MAGAZINE

son Kidd, Grant Hill, Juwan Howard, Brian Grant, and Eddie Jones. These were polished players who brought something to their respective teams right away. Hakeem was a fantastic low post presence from day one. Michael could fill up the nets right out of the gate. Barkley was a 14-point, ninerebound guy for the Sixers during his rookie campaign. Grant Hill could do it all. These guys all had room to improve and did so, but they were far from being projects, as most draftees are in today’s NBA. Milwaukee Bucks GM Larry Harris has seen this trend, and acknowledges that age is a growing concern for teams who are trying to draft their way out of obscurity.

“The draft has certainly changed and I think the age factor has caused that,” says Harris. “We have more high school players, more college freshmen and sophomores and more young international players, and I think their age group has really changed the dynamic of the draft. Usually, when you draft in the top ten or twelve you expect those players to start if they’re good enough to do that. The way I look at it, if you’re in the lottery you want to get a guy who in the next three years is either starting or he’s in your top eight rotation. You build around those pieces. High school players like Tracy McGrady and Kobe Bryant - they weren’t drafted number one and they weren’t starters, but they came around. LeBron is the exception to that rule. Some of the young guys like LeBron and Amare Stoudemire come into the league and hit the ground running and have success early, but that’s certainly not the norm. That’s going to be a big concern with the new collective bargaining agreement. We have to curb that.”

Drafting underdeveloped players is one thing, but when you have a hard time holding onto them when they do start to deMay22005

FEATURE velop it causes even more problems. A player who comes out after high school or as an underclassman is likely to start to hit his stride somewhere around the end of his rookie contract, which is when he would otherwise have been coming out of college and entering the draft. Unfortunately, the team that gambled on a young player often loses out when that player finally starts to contribute. Why is that? For the answer we go to Milwaukee Bucks head coach Terry Porter.

“Free agency. Free agency and the dollar sign,” reveals Porter. “All of the teams in the 80’s, like Boston and the Lakers, they might have brought in one or two new guys, but an average team will see four or five turnovers now. A lot of it has to do with free agency. You have teams that are good and have a lot of success and teams that are trying to build their rosters. If you have a good back-up and he’s approached by a team that’s trying to work its way up with more cap space and offers you more money, more playing time, players will take more money and more playing time. Sometimes loyalty will factor in, but more often than not guys who get offered more money or more playing time are going to go to another team.” How is this different from the way things were in Porter’s playing days?

“We had a very different mentality. In Portland we had our stars and we had our support guys. We had guys who had a lot of success and tried to play the right way and who were trying to team up to be a winning system. Winning was really more important than anything else. All of the successful teams were successful because that’s what they sold. If they didn’t have cap space, they would flash success in front of prospective players. Players would stay to be a part of a successful system, even if it meant making less money. You don’t see that today.” Former Dallas Mavericks AllStar Rolando Blackman concurs, and offers

Mayw2005

an explanation of how things came to be the way they are today.

“The attitude of today’s player is much different from the attitude that existed when I was playing. We have so much more media coverage now. I don’t think more media coverage is necessarily bad, but I

Michael Finley, “Teams want to win right now,” think the media gets ahead of the players.

It’s always ‘he’s the future this or the future that’ and we start putting that kind of pressure on players who haven’t even been NBA players for a full season. There is a lot of baggage that comes along with putting a label like ‘The Next Michael Jordan’ on a player who has never accomplished anything. You take the fire and the edge off of that accomplishment phase because you have given them a label before they have to put forth any effort. Those players no longer have to meet adversity with the basic urge to just do better. You have to get to the edge in order to experience that growth.

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That’s an important factor that’s missing in many of our young players today. That comfort level has to come from the individual player; they have to burn to improve and to make their team great. Without that fire, all of a sudden it has been three or four years and some other team is coming looking for you offering more money and the money becomes what you need in order to grow.”

In the mean time, teams have had to completely go away from the traditional way of building a team. No longer is a high draft pick the way to go. Now it’s all about checking out other teams and seeing who you might be able to steal from another program. “In this day and age you have to build through free agency because guys in the draft are so young,” explains Mavericks AllStar Michael Finley. “If you want to wait on them to develop it’s going to be maybe three to four years, or if you rush that, two years. But a lot of teams try to build through free agency. I think the whole thing about free agency is that teams want to win right now. They’re not willing to wait for guys to develop and that’s when a lot of the trades and free agency come about.”

“It’s a situation where everything is now, now, now,” concurs Wizards forward Antawn Jamison. “In the past you had a few years to develop a team and put a team together, but now everything is expected to happen so quickly. Teams are trying to get that team together quickly or put a group of guys together instead of getting some young players to build on and putting a supporting cast around them. Everything has to happen a lot more quickly than what it did in the past.”

The end result of all of these changes is that NBA teams have drastically changed the way they go about their business in the offseason. Their scouting procedures have changed, their drafting procedures have changed, and the business of free agency has become big business indeed. A team

19

FEATURE can make or break their season simply by how they handle their own free agents. A team that is a championship contender one season can find themselves rebuilding just a few short months later, while a lottery team can suddenly become a contender based on signing one or two key free agents. The role that the NBA draft used to play has been supplanted by the free agent market. The draft just doesn’t have the impact that it once did.

“Most of the kids coming out aren’t ready in their first two or three years to become franchise-type impact players,” explains Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle. “This year Okafor’s the only rookie who was really playing at a high level from the get-go, and that’s because he’s a threeyear player from a championship program.

Three years of college is a significant amount now. That prepared him to be more durable, to be stronger, and his Olympic experience certainly helped him. We haven’t had that type of player getting drafted in the top two or three of four, as a general rule, over the past five or six years.

With the way free agency is and the salary cap rules a lot of times now you’re looking to build with experienced veteran guys who might be in a situation to come into their own after three of four years. It’s a smart way to build a team.”

It may be a smart way to build a team, but this method of free agent piracy has forever altered the mentality of the NBA. Teams used to take on a personality of their own, such as Magic Johnson’s Lakers or Larry Bird’s Celtics. Teams were like families, and their closeness was reflected in the way they competed year in and year out. Families have a level of pride and identity that random collections of players simply don’t have. Now that players are almost always available to the highest bidder, it has become more difficult for players to connect with their teammates. Rolando Blackman explains.

“I think the advent of free agency and the rule changes making it easier for players to jump from one team to another,” says Blackman. “It has created a break in what you would call the family atmosphere or the way a team grows together. The rules make it easier, not only for other teams to come in and cannibalize the teams that are in their own league, but also for players to always 20

be looking in search of a better situation.

You see the benefit of staying together when you look at a team like San Antonio, where the players know each other and play together year after year after year. It’s a big difference because teams with a lot of turnover are constantly going into years of adjustment and years of trials and tribulations

Antawn Jamison, “It’s a situation where everything is now, Now, Now.” trying to compete and be consistent when you have new players all of the time.”

“The good teams stick with their lineups,” agrees former Houston Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich. “Successful teams are the teams that have a good rotation and people know their roles. Other teams are trying to find themselves, trying to find the right eight- or nine-man rotation. Having a lot of turnover, no matter how good the guys are on your team, it’s a human characteristic for them to take a while to develop any chemistry. If you didn’t have to worry about chemistry I think you would see even more shuffling of lineups than you see now.”

Make no mistake, there is a price to pay for the increasing turnover and the ongoing drop off in talent available in the NBA draft. Free agent piracy is not just a threat to the highly coveted chemistry that struggling NBA teams aspire to achieve. It also threatens to disconnect NBA teams from their fans. Fans get discouraged when their teams fail to win championships, but they love the players, and come back SWISH MAGAZINE

to see their heroes even when they lose. What happens when you take those heroes away? What happens when NBA players become so selfabsorbed that they put themselves above the game and above the fans?

Don’t think too hard about that. Don’t think that such a state of affairs is out of the question. The truth is that we’re already there. For a case in point we turn to Tracy McGrady.

When asked about his most recent trade, McGrady said: “I was never in a situation where I was traded. I forced the trade each time. I wanted out of each situation that I was in. Houston is a great place for me to be right now. Playing with a great young big guy like Yao, I think we’re the future of this franchise. There are exciting years to come in Houston.”

Perhaps. But what happens if McGrady decides that it is no longer in his best interest to be in Houston? What if he suddenly decides he wants to play with a great power forward like Dirk Nowitzki? A great point guard like LeBron James? A premier small forward like Rashard Lewis? McGrady has already forced his way out of Toronto and Orlando, would it be that much of a stretch to think he could do it again?

We, the fans, media, and members of the NBA world, have created a situation where players are no longer allowed to develop before being asked to compete at the highest level. We have set an expectation that young players have to be impact players, but we’re not allowing them the time to develop into those impact players. We draft them, label them “The Next Michael Jordan,” and then discard them in favor of raiding some other team’s “franchise” player when they fail to fill those Nikes within the allotted time. This new mentality is hard on players, it destroys team chemistry, and it prevents fans from being able to identify with their favorite team. In some cases they can’t even keep up with who is on their favorite team. What’s worse, we have convinced players that they are above the fans and above the game. If this mentality is allowed to continue to grow, the NBA’s future is as uncertain as the teenagers it is allowing to take over its ranks.

May22005

THE SLIDE RULE Efficiency Formula and Salaries

By Eric Pincus One of the most difficult questions a franchise faces is determining how much to pay for a free agent.

There is no simple answer. Often, competing offers among a limited pool of available talent can lead to a bidding war. Salaries are dictated by the market, within the guidelines set forward by the collective bargaining agreement. One method to estimate a player’s fair salary is to find the average salary across the league for players with similar statistical production.

Although the stats may not account for the full impact a player like Shaquille O’Neal or Steve Nash has on their team, numbers can provide a hint as to a relative worth.

In practice, salaries are often based on perceived value and market pressures, but looking at concrete statistics can give an appropriate baseline.

The following table lists a number of potential free agents and their statistical output through the All-Star Break. The NBA’s “Efficiency Formula” is used (Points + Rebounds + Assists + Steals + Blocks) - (Missed Field Goals + Missed Free Throws + Turnovers) along with the value of each player’s 2004-5 contract. The average salary for players at the same efficiency level is listed as a suggested value each player is worth.

The Results Based on statistics, and not the extraneous factors that affect the market, there are just three free agents worthy of a seven-figure payday. Larry Hughes, who put up the stellar numbers through the All-Star Break, is joined by Ray Allen and Zydrunas Ilgauskas as those worthy of a near-max deal. For Allen and Ilgauskas, $10.39 million would actually be a pay-cut.

The five additional players in the next range (Antoine Walker, Bobby Simmons, Michael Redd, Udonis Haslem and Joe Johnson) project to get a nice payday, either from teams below the cap or by re-signing with their current squad.

Players in both the 10-13 and 13-16 ranges are mid-level exception candidates, which was $4.9 million in 2004-5.

Although the numbers suggest what a player is worth, the reality is that with limited cap flexibility, relatively few available players, and competing bids . . . many will be overpaid. In some cases, the investment will be worth it as the player develops and flourishes under contract. Unfortunately there will be a number of deals that will come back to haunt quite a few clubs, but that’s part of the NBA. Mayw2005

How Much?

Player

Current Team Efficiency Average Salary >19.00

$10,393,000

Larry Hughes

Washington

22.15

unrestricted free agent

Ray Allen

Seattle

19.40

unrestricted free agent

Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Cleveland

19.08

unrestricted free agent

16.00-19.00

$6,571,000

17.94

unrestricted free agent

Antoine Walker

Boston

Bobby Simmons

Clippers

17.72

unrestricted free agent

Michael Redd

Milwaukee

17.09

player option

Udonis Haslem

Miami

17.00

restricted free agent

Joe Johnson

Phoenix

16.02

restricted free agent

13.00-16.00

$4,945,000

Damon Stoudamire

Portland

15.76

unrestricted free agent

Speedy Claxton

New Orleans

15.33

team option

Tyson Chandler

Chicago

14.92

restricted free agent

Marko Jaric

Clippers

14.76

restricted free agent

Gary Payton

Boston

14.25

unrestricted free agent

Jeff McInnis

Cleveland

13.98

team option

Eddy Curry

Chicago

13.78

restricted free agent

Brevin Knight

Charlotte

13.76

unrestricted free agent

Cuttino Mobley

Sacramento

13.70

player option

Lee Nailon

New Orleans

13.62

unrestricted free agent

Donyell Marshall

Toronto

13.39

unrestricted free agent

Antonio Daniels

Seattle

13.08

player option

10.00-13.00

$4,028,000

Damon Jones

Miami

12.94

player option

Kyler Korver

Philadelphia

12.80

restricted free agent

Dan Dickau

New Orleans

12.49

unrestricted free agent

Vladimir Radmanovic

Seattle

12.38

restricted free agent

Dan Gadzuric

Milwaukee

12.29

restricted free agent

Gerald Wallace

Charlotte

12.20

restricted free agent

Stromile Swift

Memphis

11.73

unrestricted free agent

Samuel Dalembert

Philadelphia

11.58

restricted free agent

Reggie Evans

Seattle

11.51

unrestricted free agent

Eddie Griffin

Minnesota

11.12

unrestricted free agent

Chris Anderson

New Orleans

11.10

player option

Bobby Jackson

Sacramento

10.58

team option

Nick Van Exel

Portland

10.48

unrestricted free agent

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21

UNDERESTIMATED & UNDERRATED

Bruce Bowen

Muddy Waters The Defenseman’s Blues Patrick Heusinger “He’s a Dirty Player.” Those were the plaintiff’s words echoed around the league for some time last year in reference to the defendant, the San Antonio Spurs’ Bruce Bowen. The idea that the soft-spoken, hard working, likeable Bowen could at all be convicted of dirty play was perplexing to most Spurs fans.

This was a case where all the evidence needed to be reviewed. This evidence did not consist of nationally televised film of Bruce dashing into the stands to “discuss” beer distribution. It wasn’t even corroborated stories of #12 taking swings at unsuspecting players. The evidence was itself in the trail of plaintiff’s tears. Each proclamation of Bruce’s “dirty” status seemed to come right on the heels of a player’s poor offensive performance in the face of Bowen’s defense. This kind of emotional

Sure, this is a statement from someone who plays shoulder to shoulder with Bruce every night, but it does shine some light on the case. “I think the key word you have to look at is restraint,” offers Brent Barry. “There are things that go on within the boundaries of the court that you try to get away with. Look at John Stockton. There were rumors and myths, and it was whispered through the trees that he was a dirty player. But he played basketball hard, he played it the right way. Bruce is a player who knows what he can get away with on a nightly basis and exercises a fair amount of restraint as well.” And what one or two things help define Bruce as a great defender? “The first thing is hard work, and the second thing is…hard work.”

“You have to take it into your mind that you are going to shut (people) down . . . completely shut them down.” – Devin Brown evidence can kick up the riverbed silt, muddy the waters, and leave the jury groping through the murk for the real difference between a dirty player and a great defender.

First on the witness stand is Tony Parker. Tony’s eyes lit up at the suggestion that Bruce is dirty. “Not true, not true. Bruce works very hard. He plays hard defense, and when you need to stop someone, he does it. I don’t think it’s dirty…he gets his hands out and is doing a good job.”

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With hard work and restraint as outward evidence of a great defender, what is in the mind of a great defensive player bent on stopping the top scorers of the league? “The guys Bruce defends are very offensive minded, and they play hard every night,” offers Devin Brown.

“You have to take it into your mind that you are going to shut them down. Not just limiting their touches or making them take bad shots, completely shut them down. That’s what Bruce does.”

Dallas guard Jason Terry had this to ofSWISH MAGAZINE

fer about his division rival: “Once you get a rep in this league as a good defender, the game is different for you. You can play a little more aggressive and you can be more physical. You definitely get more leeway in terms of getting away with contact. If you’re known as a defender, you’ll get fewer calls made against you. Defense is what Bruce does well. That’s his strong point.”

We’ve heard from the witness stand a broad range of opinions, including Flip Saunders’ “dirty,” Ray Allen’s “sissy basketball,” and Mark Cuban’s bounty on Bruce’s face. All that’s left is to bring the defendant to the stand to shed some light on why defense is so important to him.

“First off, I just wanted to get on the floor in Miami with Dan Majerle, Tim Hardaway, Jamaal Mashburn.” Said Bowen “It wasn’t like I was just going to come out and they would start running plays through me. I had to focus on something that they weren’t doing. You’re not guaranteed to make your shots every night, but if you focus on defense the coaches will call on you. Michael Cooper influenced me when I was growing up.

During that time it was the Lakers. Coop used to defend everybody. That inspired me, being that he was a thin guy, I thought, hey I can do that too.”

And on being labeled as “dirty,” Bruce offers: “Not everyone’s going to like you in this league. My job is not something that everybody else wants to do. At first it caught me off guard, because I pride myself in what I do. Then I realized that this was just something for players to say when frustration has set in.”

A great defender can leave scorers and coaches singing the blues and looking for an indictment. Players will use terms like “dirty player” to try to influence the judges…ahem, refs. Bruce Bowen, in light of his sterling off the court record, attention to detail, hard work and, as Brent Barry suggested, restraint, can only be convicted of one thing: doing a great job on defense. In the NBA, that’s not a crime.

May22005

Ron Harper likened leaving the Los Angeles Clippers to getting out of jail.

By Bill Ingram Charles Barkley derisively labeled the team the “Paper Clips . . . a nickname that would stick with the franchise so often blamed for prioritizing business well before basketball.

Potshots aside, the team’s losing record makes it difficult to deny that the Clippers are deserving of criticism . . . but it has been their recent basketball-driven decisions that reveal a Clipper franchise walking a new path.

A path that both ownership and management seem firmly committed to following. A path that will change everything you know about the Clippers.

Secaucus, NJ – Site of the annual NBA Draft Lottery. Each participating member bears that sheepish look, embarrassed their franchise didn’t earn a postseason berth. Underneath the discomfort, the faces reveal a slight hope that this time around, they’ll draft that special player who puts the team back into contention . . . and prevents them from making a return trip any time soon.

One NBA executive facing the lottery vows that he won’t be back next year and throws down a challenge to those that doubt him.

“Tell them to put their money where their mouth is. Go to Vegas and bet against us, but be prepared to lose your money.”

Is it Mitch Kupchak of the Los Angeles Lakers? Kevin McHale of the Minnesota Timberwolves?

It’s Andy Roeser, Executive Vice President of the Los Angeles Clippers . . . a team in the lottery so often, they may as well be renamed “The Secaucus Clippers.”

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“I believe in my heart, had it not been for injuries, we would have made the playoffs this season” Roeser professes confidently.

Despite a decimated roster all season, the Clippers managed to compete, especially at home. Add in cap space, an aggressive summer in free agency, and a lottery pick to an improving core . . . Roeser may very well win his bet against the skeptics.

“We’ve done a good job of getting ourselves in position to take advantage of the marketplace,” says Vice President of Basketball Operations, Elgin Baylor, “and we’ll be very active this summer.”

If the Clippers are to prove the cynics wrong, they’ll have to shake an inglorious past that includes just three playoff appearances in the 24 years Donald Sterling has owned the club.

A New Beginning Trapped by two defenders, his back to the basket, nearly falling out of bounds, rookie point guard Shaun Livingston whips a pass over his shoulder to a cutting Quinton Ross for the flush. It was one of those mind-bending moments that require four or five looks at the replay to understand how Ross even got the ball.

That was back in March. It was just Livingston’s fifteenth game in the NBA after missing most of the year with a dislocated kneecap and strained shoulder.

Two days later he gets his first NBA start and dishes 11 assists. The Clippers beat the Milwaukee Bucks 116-108. His knack for finding open players is simply outstanding.

Despite only scoring two points, Livingston had a dramatic impact on the game.

Much of the Clippers’ fate relies on Livingston’s successful development. A SWISH MAGAZINE

6’7” point guard with amazing basketball instincts on both sides of the ball, he has the potential to be a very special player.

Livingston talks about being drafted by that “other team” in Los Angeles. “At first thought I was like, ‘oh the Clippers,’ but it’s nothing like that. Once I got drafted, I was excited to be a part of a young exciting team. I like the way we compete. The old stereotypes don’t mean anything any more. I think it’s starting to mean nothing to the fans too.

They’re seeing that were starting to make a positive influence on this league.

We just need to get over the hump.”

Most Clipper rookies come in thinking this is the group that will finally turn the franchise around. It takes at least one losing season for the team’s legacy to creep into their heads. The Clippers have had just one winning season in 24 years.

One player admits he “thinks” that ownership is supportive of the team but isn’t sure. “They did make some big offers like to Kobe, but until they actually land that big name free agent . . . there will always be some doubt.”

It’s hard to fault the players. The franchise legacy includes a long list of unretained draft picks, minimal free agent spending and two losses every three games.

But something changed along the way . . . a change that has yet to significantly impact the won/loss record . . . a change that cannot be denied.

Over the summer of 2003, the Clippers made a move that stunned the basketball world, re-signing both Elton Brand and Corey Maggette to long term contracts totaling a combined $127 million. That was the very same summer they offered point guard Gilbert Arenas a $60 million deal. He allegedly made the decision to join the Washington Wizards over the Clippers by flipping a coin, though later Arenas admitted to making that up for benefit of the media. He just didn’t want to be a Clipper.

23

FEATURE The team also hired Mike Dunleavy to coach the squad. A seasoned veteran who had coached the Trail Blazers, Bucks and Lakers, Dunleavy looked forward to the challenge of the Clippers.

But why would he come to a team with such a dismal track record?

“The history on the court had nothing to do with my decision to coach here.

The decision I made was based on talking to management about where the team was now, where they wanted it to go, and what they were willing to do to get it there” said Dunleavy. “Those answers satisfied my needs to take the job.”

The next summer, the team was second in the Kobe Bryant sweepstakes, offering a $100+ million contract to the All-Star.

The Clippers have yet to land that special free agent to silence the doubters and propel the team into the playoffs. But since when were they even a player in the market?

What changed? Why were the perpetually frugal Clippers suddenly re-signing players to big contracts (not all of them, they still let Lamar Odom, Quentin Richardson and Andre Miller walk), hiring a legitimate coach and offering huge sums of money to free agents?

Back when the Clippers played out of the Sports Arena they averaged 10,546 fans a game. The limited income at the gate meant a corresponding lower budget for players.

The move in 1999 to the Staples Center has had a major impact on the Clippers’ financial picture. Immediately the team’s attendance jumped an average of nearly 5400 seats a game. Conservatively estimating an average sold ticket price of $40 per game, that’s an additional $8.9 million per season in income on ticket sales alone.

With the luxury suites, the built-in advertising partners, the prime location . . .

Staples has made a major impact on the club. Recently, the Clippers signed a tenyear lease with the facility, securing this

24

now vital cog for the long term.

The current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) has also changed the financial picture. From revenue-sharing to the salary cap, maximum player contracts and longer rookie deals, the Clippers found themselves on a level playing field with teams carrying deeper pockets.

same approach that Cuban has brought to the Mavericks? Perhaps a billionaire’s bankroll picking up the slack provides quite a nice safety net.

Spending money alone doesn’t guarantee success, as the recent travails of the New York Knicks and Portland Trail Blazers can attest. Before the re-signings in 2003, the Clippers hadn’t taken the risk, but they’ve also never tasted the glory. Now, the team affirms, it’s all about to change.

The Skeptic Chimes In

The Clippers’ operating budget has skyrocketed from the days they toiled at the Sports Arena. With the national television deal agreed to by the NBA, the Clippers receive roughly $25 million a year.

With local television bringing in near $12 million, and approximately $30 million at the gate, the Clippers’ willingness to spend money starts to make more sense.

Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, declares “You spend to win.

That’s it. Period. End of story.”

Cuban acknowledges his team’s overhead is among tops in the league, but says “We can get away with a lot of payroll because we work hard on selling tickets.”

So why don’t the Clippers use the

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“Come on now, this is the Clippers we’re talking about. The team cares only about profits and will never spend what it takes to produce a winner.” – Angry Anonymous Fan. It’s hard to blame the cynics who have nothing but doubt and contempt for the Clippers. The team hasn’t won. They haven’t even come close to being competitive but for a handful of seasons.

Andy Roeser acknowledges the past and admits that the team “just didn’t work hard enough” to provide a winner.

Lawyer and entrepreneur Donald Sterling purchased the franchise back in 1981 for roughly $12.5 million. In 1984 he moved the team from San Diego to Los Angeles.

The Clippers note that they are the only NBA franchise to be fully owned by a single individual with no minority partner. Competing with organizations that have the financial backing of large corporations or individual billionaires, the team’s insistence on spending within its means was based more on necessity than frugality.

An ex-season ticket-holder who gave up his seats after the disastrous 2002-3 season responds “I don’t want to hear any of it. If Sterling bought the team for so little, it’s worth at least $300 million now. If he won’t put that equity back into the team, he should he sell it.”

Roeser describes a misconception that the Clippers are one of the most profitable

May22005

FEATURE teams in the league. LA is somewhere in the lower-middle of the pack. The team spends carefully and any money that’s left over goes right back to the players.

“Hogwash,” says a local radio personality.

“The Clippers don’t have the revenue because they never win. They certainly don’t give any money to the players. Put a winner on the floor and the fans will come in droves.”

One doubtful insider who has been around the team for decades says “Every March we sit around and talk about what the Clippers need to do to make the playoffs . . . and next March we’ll be having the same conversation.”

“The team has made a lot of mistakes and has been bad for a very long time,” admits long time Clipper broadcaster Ralph Lawler. “They’re an easy target but I think this team has taken it as a challenge. Just think how rewarding it will be when they’re a regular playoff contender.”

The Clippers have a well-balanced, young core in place. Elton Brand is a reliable low post scorer. Maggette is relentless driving the lane. Chris Kaman is developing with his legit size and agility.

Should they keep Bobby Simmons and Marko Jaric, they’ll have talent, depth and continuity. They also have a lottery pick in the upcoming draft to add to the mix.

“My time will come,” vows Brand, the 1999-2000 Rookie of the Year who has never seen the post-season.

“I think this year we had the right guys to do it, we just couldn’t stay healthy,” says Maggette. “We had a big opportunity this year to be that team, but we lost too many tough games on the road that we should have won.”

Despite missing the playoffs, Baylor is optimistic, “I’m very happy with the nucleus we have assembled, and I have a very positive feeling about the direction we’re headed.”

Depending on the terms of the next CBA, the Clippers could have over $11 million to spend in free agency. Targets could include big names like Ray Allen, Michael Redd, Larry Hughes, Joe Johnson or Cuttino Mobley. Signing an impact free agent while keeping both Simmons and Jaric will be difficult, but the team has some cap flexibility.

Should the Clippers offer Simmons a fair financial package along with signing a top flight shooting guard, would he be Mayw2005

willing to move to the bench after a stellar year as a starter?

“As long as we’re winning?” Bobby replies. “That’s no problem with me.”

An NBA analyst preferring anonymity laughs at the notion that Sterling would sign off on a $50+ million payroll. “That’ll never happen. Bobby will be on the Wizards next year. Marko on the Lakers.

Ray Allen. . . forget it.”

Season ticket holder and star of Fox’s Malcolm in the Middle, Frankie Muniz, buys

but we’re competing in every single game.

Even with a pile of injuries all at the guard position, we’re not that far away.”

But will they spend the money to improve?

“This is Los Angeles. If you’re successful there’s tremendous upside,” Roeser replies. “If we put a better team on the court there’s a tremendous upside over the long haul in many of our revenue sources.

There’s an incentive for us to succeed.

There’s a payoff for us to invest more into our payroll, if we make the right decisions.

It’s not all about the money; it’s about making the right basketball decisions.”

The Next Overnight Sensation?

into the hype. He looks forward to the Clippers overtaking their hometown rivals.

“They’re exciting unlike the boring Lakers.” Muniz says, embracing the team’s optimism. “When the Clippers are on top and the Lakers aren’t any good, all of their fans will be here.” “[This team] plays for the love of the game,” says Darrell Bailey, known as the Clipper Super-Fan. “They never give up.

They try and try and try. One day we’re going to succeed.”

Roeser addresses the skeptics directly, “You need to go out and watch our team and see how they perform every night. The cynics didn’t think we’d win any games this year. You look at the team and you see that we’re well-coached and well-prepared. We make some mistakes, sure, SWISH MAGAZINE

Coach Mike Dunleavy is honest in his analysis of the team. “I can’t say that we have anybody on our team that you can just tag and say I’m going to give you the ball against everyone at your position and we’re going to dominate you.”

Can they land that player in the free agent market? There are a number of quality shooting guards available, but will the Clippers’ reputation continue to scare away the best prospects?

Will that pursuit cost the team Bobby Simmons, a candidate for Most Improved Player of the Year and unrestricted free agent? His eye-opening campaign will garner a number of offers.

With the move to Staples Center and the NBA’s healthy economic environment (provided there’s no player lockout), the Clippers have the resources to change history. With the right basketball decisions, they could very well be the next “overnight sensation,” competing deep into next year’s post-season.

The skeptic says no way, but it’s all in the hands of Clippers. If they aren’t fond of the negative perceptions, they alone have the power to turn them around.

Ralph Lawler believes the Clippers are ready for the future. “The team has a blueprint that has never been so clearly defined on how to make the step where they’re not just trying to get into the playoffs – but teams are chasing them.”

They say they’ll do whatever it takes.

It’s time to put up or shut up.

That’s when Roeser offers his challenge, “Tell them to put their money where their mouth is. Go to Vegas and bet against us, but be prepared to lose your money.”

Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets.

25

SONOFAGUN

The Society of Sports

Time Dispels Myths for Canadian Franchise Darren Andrade With a decade gone since the NBA marched into Canada, time has erased many of the myths and misconceptions that surrounded the Vancouver Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors organizations. Now you know Toronto’s winters aren’t any different than January in New York and the weather isn’t quite as nice in Seattle as it is in Vancouver. It took a couple more seasons to figure out that it was possible to make financial sense out of earning millions of American dollars in Canada. Combine those concerns with the losing that comes with an expansion franchise and league chatter didn’t paint a pretty picture of playing basketball up north early on.

“Everyone I talk to in the NBA says they miss Vancouver… except for the players.” – Bruce Arthur, NBA writer Only the Raptors remain in 2005 after the Grizzlies relocated to Memphis, Tennessee in 2001. Owner Michael Heisley bragged about $40M in losses that season and, while it’s true the club received little corporate support (along with a rotten arena deal), they also struggled to build a worthy product. It got worse when Orlando Magic point guard Steve Francis refused to play for the Grizzlies after Vancouver drafted him second overall in 1999. He was quickly traded, the beginning of the end for the Grizz.

“Francis was the death knell,” says The National Post’s NBA columnist Bruce Arthur. “They got nothing back for him Michael Dickerson (and fodder) - even when Lamar Odom was saying he’d like to play in Vancouver. It was really the problem of ignorance, but Vancouver’s demise also came because of a lack of corporate support in a small market, combined with competitive failure.”

Instead of building around a future AllStar in Francis, at a time when star-power was desperately needed to market the team and attract the media spotlight, the 26

Francis was the beginning of the end for Vacouver Grizz were forced to sell lesser-known players to a new basketball audience. That struggle was made more difficult with the lack of free agent interest in Vancouver.

“Players were bothered by seemingly innocuous things like groceries! Not seeing their favorite cereal on the shelves at the store or their favorite candy bar, or soda,” remembers Norma Wick, sideline reporter for Raptors’ broadcasts and television host for NBA TV’s Full Court Press in Canada.

Wick held a similar role in Vancouver but relocated to Toronto after the move to Memphis. “I thought it was pretty narrow minded, until I began to understand how young these players were and that many of them had no real worldly experience.”

Players weren’t just avoiding the expansion life; they were avoiding a culture shock as well. If they were going to lose, it might as well be in America.

“Vancouver and Toronto never formed part of the NBA landscape that they grew up wanting to be a part of,” says Wick.

“None of these guys ever dreamed about wearing a Grizzlies uniform and playing at SWISH MAGAZINE

GM Place. They were also worried about a loss of exposure in ‘The Great White North,’ playing out of the eye of SportsCenter, USA Today and even their friends and family. They also, to some degree, didn’t think the fans could fully appreciate them, or the game because of their lack of exposure to it.”

Before he was traded to the New Jersey Nets last December guard Vince Carter was active in the free agent recruiting process and knows how players approach playing in Toronto. He questioned the organization’s efforts to recruit free agents, noting that as a Canadian franchise the Raptors should do more to attract marquee players.

“That’s not an issue at all,” says team president Richard Peddie. “Ultimately players want to play where they can win, where they can get significant minutes and where they get paid a lot of money.

“We really haven’t had the money to go out and go after the real big free agents.

Everything that I see is that it’s not an issue (selling Toronto). It’s the fifth largest city in North America. Is it a foreign country with a different currency? Yes, but I can tell you that the currency goes further because the (Canadian) dollar is worth (under 80) cents. It’s really not an issue now.”

Nobody was bothered by the re-signings of Antonio Davis, Alvin Williams and Jerome Williams in 2001, just with the $150M spent to do it. Years earlier the Grizzlies spent $60M on Bryant Reeves, a bust of a center who retired not long after signing his deal. So do players charge more money to play in Canada?

“I personally believe that there was a propensity by both organizations - at various junctures - to try to overcompensate for being Canadian,” explains Wick. “Anytime you in effect start apologizing for who you are or what you are, you put yourself at a disadvantage. You give people permission to hold you for ransom, ‘Okay, I’ll play for you - but only if...’ I think that was particularly true in Carter’s case. Once you pay someone ‘franchise’ money, the worst thing you can do is act like you still owe them something.”

Then perhaps the most important evolution over the past ten years in Toronto is that winning, and the pressure to do it, has become the bottom line.

After all, winning sells itself.

May22005

HEART & SOUL

Dan Dickau

Dan Dickau Finds an Ally in Perseverance

By Bill Ingram New Orleans Hornets point guard Dan Dickau is one of those rare stories. After being passed on by the Sacramento Kings, Atlanta Hawks, Portland Trailblazers, Golden State Warriors, and Dallas Mavericks, Dan is finally getting a shot to show the NBA what he can do. His play for the Hornets has been inspirational, but his story is even more so.

Keeping The Drive Alive…

“In my sophomore at the University of Washington I was having some injury problems. I broke my foot for the second time in five months and I wasn’t feeling like that was where I needed to be. I felt like a needed a change, and I kept praying about it and asking for guidance and the whole time Gonzaga kept coming into my mind. I would pray about it and then I’d get a call from one of my friends at Gonzaga and they would tell me I should come over. I started putting those things together and realized that maybe I needed to really think about transferring. I wound up transferring to Gonzaga and I don’t think I’d be here today if I hadn’t made that choice. I didn’t really listen to what God was telling me to do until I got to Gonzaga. Coach Mark Few at Gonzaga is a strong Christian and that’s a fine line for a college coach to be able to share their faith without being overbearing, not only in their recruiting process, but also as a coach. He definitely lets his guys know that he’s a believer, and he definitely had a huge part in my success in college.”

church every single week and we didn’t necessarily make it a central part of our lives. It wasn’t until my eighth grade year that I really started to get involved. I failed the eighth grade the first time and went to a Christian school the second time and that’s when I really began to realize that I needed to have a personal relationship with Christ. When I took that step I started to learn what it truly means to be a Christian rather than just say it. Growing up you have your ups and downs, of course, but in college was when my faith took a huge step forward.”

What the Future Holds “To tell you the truth I really haven’t thought about it. The offense Coach Scott runs fits me really well and I’ve adapted well to it and I’m playing fairly well. Those are all good things, and I

“On the one hand I did have it in my mind that nobody wanted me, but I didn’t lose my confidence or my faith in my own abilities.”

I Married a BlazerDancer

Inner Strength

“Heather and I went to high school together, so I’ve known her since we were 16. She actually played a year of college basketball at a community college, but she grew up doing everything: dancing, softball, basketball, and she missed dancing so she decided to try out for the (Blazer Dancers). It was something she missed, and she did that for three years. We didn’t actually meet in Portland, it was just a coincidence that we were both affiliated with the team.”

“I grew up in a Christian household, so to speak,” explains Dan. “We believed, but we didn’t necessarily go to

“I look at it from two different angles.

Mayw2005

On the one hand I did have it in my mind that nobody wanted me, but I didn’t lose my confidence or my faith in my own abilities. I just felt that God was putting me through some things, testing my work ethic and my perseverance to see if I was going to keep plugging away at it. I knew that as hard as I was working I was going to get a chance. He doesn’t put the ball in the basket for you, but He does present you with opportunities. I knew that I just needed to stay ready for when my opportunity came.”

Putting Faith to the Test SWISH MAGAZINE

feel very blessed to be where I am right now.”

The future certainly look bright for Dan Dickau, whose faith and perseverance have paid off in a big way. The New Orleans Hornets showed enormous confidence in their young point guard when they traded superstar veteran Baron Davis at mid-season to the Golden State Warriors and Dan has certainly shown that their confidence was well placed. Dan is an inspiration to his fans and is a role model that any team would be lucky to have. We wish him the best as he continues to let his faith guide him through the trials and tribulations of being a professional athlete.

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COLLECTORS CORNER

Exclusive Spokesman Deals Have Tradeoffs

There Are Benefits to Both Manufacturer and Collector Jason Fleming Exclusive – adjective – limiting or limited to possession, control, or use by a single individual or group.

Back in 1997 Upper Deck did something that took the basketball collecting world by storm: They signed Michael Jordan – arguably the greatest player in NBA history and the hottest collectible around – to a contract making him an official spokesman for their product. In return for doing the deal Upper Deck received exclusive rights to Jordan’s autographs and other memorabilia.

That signing sent both collectors and the competition scrambling. Collectors realized that Upper Deck was now putting itself in a position to be the most collectible of all the trading card companies. If Michael Jordan was the hottest collectible on the market, then collectors surely weren’t going to miss out. Competing companies immediately began trying to make similar arrangements, seeing that Upper Deck was raising the stakes in the marketplace. Upper Deck redefined the way the trading card business would be run, and Michael Jordan was a big part of that.

“At the time, Jordan was a very strategic signing for Upper Deck; he was the number one collected guy in our sport,” explains Keith Hower, Beckett Basketball Price Guide Editor. “Upper Deck followed that up with the exclusive signing of guys like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. What this has essentially done is force the other manufacturers to go after guys who are currently tabbed as second tier collectible players. It’s almost an unfair advantage.

I’m astounded by how competitive Topps and Fleer have remained the past few years…that’s a testament to both their companies and employees.”

“We definitely were raising the standard of basketball trading cards,” said 28

Karvin Cheung of Upper Deck’s Basketball Product Development Team. “Upper Deck had realized that Michael Jordan is the number one most marketable athlete in the world. By having MJ on Upper Deck packaging and on memorabilia is a huge plus for the collector because we go the extra mile to ensure authenticity of our products.”

In the intervening years other players have signed exclusive deals, but Jordan and Upper Deck remain on the top. Fleer has Vince Carter, which led to great interest in Fleer during Carter’s best seasons, but Carter’s injuries and inability to maintain a high level of play have taken a toll on his marketability. Fleer hopes that the recent signing of Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat will bring back some of the collectors. Topps had Shaquille O’Neal at one time, but despite his obvious talent collectors didn’t flock to him like they do to Upper Deck. Like Hower said, however, the other companies aren’t giving up. Topps signed Emeka Okafor before the season and they are quite pleased. “It’s all positive,” says Clay Luraschi of Topps. “To be the only company that has autograph and relic cards of Emeka Okafor is an advantage for us.”

The deals don’t always have to be for an exclusive spokesman. Some companies will sign players just to feature them in packaging without trying to take it to the next level. (avoids repetitive wording) SA-GE Collectibles is one trading card company that doesn’t do exclusive deals.

“We generate a list every year by sport,” says Tom Geideman of SA-GE Collectibles. SA-GE produces two sets every spring based on the draft, so it’s full of rookies. “We rank the top ‘A’ players (generally top 3 players), ‘B’ players (rest of the lottery), ‘C’ players (rest of the 1st round), and ‘D’ players (rest of SWISH MAGAZINE

drafted players). This list pre-determines which players are going to be driving the product and we feature those players.”

So is there a downside to these contracts? For collectors it could help explain some of the rising costs to packs and boxes, but when that cost is weighed with the possibility of getting a card dualautographed with Michael Jordan and LeBron James most collectors don’t spend a lot of time worrying about it.

How do the companies pick their players? Is there a downside?

“There is always risk involved in all aspects of our business,” explains Cheung.

“A player might not perform up to their career numbers, injuries, the over production of their collectibles, etc. But, Upper Deck goes to great pains to ensure that we protect the integrity of the consumer and the athlete by regulating how many items that we produce bearing their images and names. We also do extensive research to guarantee that we sign the athletes that consumers want to collect. I think our track record of signing exclusive relationships with these top athletes speaks volumes to our commitment to protect the industry for future generations of collectors.”

Upper Deck has made by far the most headway with these exclusive deals.

They are newer to the marketplace than Topps or Fleer but have made no bones about the fact they are driven to add the best players to their team.

Does it work? Yes, it absolutely does.

Think about this: In the trading card arena what do you think of when you think of Michael Jordan? Upper Deck.

What do you think about when you think of Vince Carter? Fleer. What do you think of when you think of Emeka Okafor? Topps. For that reason alone it proves exclusive spokesman deals are well worth the investment for the manufacturer because they do their job and bring in the consumers.

And for the collectors? Depending on what a collector is looking for all they need to do is pick one of the companies and buy their product to find what they want.

May22005

A DOG WITH A BONE Plasticman Won’t Bend Eric Pincus LOS ANGELES - It’s March and Stacey Augmon returns to his hometown after serving a one-game suspension for hurling a bottle of lotion at a reporter. Apparently he had taken exception to questions being asked of Orlando Magic teammate Steve Francis. When the journalist stood his ground, Augmon exploded.

I find him in the locker room before the Clipper game, filling out ticket requests for friends and family. I’m hoping he’ll share his side of the story.

I start soft, going back to his heyday as the heart and soul of the 1990 UNLV team that throttled Duke by 30 points to win it all.

“With so many young players going pro these days, how would your Runnin’ Rebel team fare in the tournament?”

Without looking up, he responds “No, no, no.”

I try again, “Do you and Grant Hill ever talk about the old . . .”

He interrupts, looking at me fully. His eyes widen and his face fills with intense rage, the like I have yet to see on the NBA beat. ”I don’t think you understood what I said.”

Well, Sir, I do now.

Augmon doesn’t play. Orlando loses, but Coach Johnny Davis expresses optimism after rookies Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson have career nights.

“That was a bright spot for us. We do have two young players in the lineup, one right out of high school and the other fresh out of college. We’re counting on them to perform like veteran players and for the most part they’ve done that.”

Incidentally, Davis was fired by the Magic the very next morning.

I notice Stacey leaving the locker room.

I follow, hoping to ask point blank why he shuns the media so. His pace quickens. As he turns the corner, he brushes into a crewman, carrying a mess of cable.

“Watch where the hell you’re going!”

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Stacy Augmon

the tech screams out.

To be fair, it wasn’t intentional. Stacey doesn’t notice the mild bump and is gone.

Not one to give up, I put in a call to his agent. His agent calls his lawyer. His lawyer calls me.

Stacey doesn’t want to talk. He’s the only one who can answer the question as to “why” and he’s not willing to do so at this time.

“This is the end of the road on this one,” I was assured.

Perhaps, but I am still able to dig.

I find that the UNLV championship

His eyes widen and his face fills with intense rage, the like I have yet to see on the NBA beat.

“I don’t think you understood what I said.” wasn’t the end of the story. The next year, the Duke Blue Devils (now with Grant Hill) got revenge in the semi-finals against an undefeated, seemingly unstoppable Rebels’ squad. The game was close but Anderson Hunt of UNLV missed the game winner at the buzzer and the Blue Devils went on to win the 1991 NCAA Title.

Augmon was left crying in the locker room. Soon after, he was called out by the press for not giving it his all.

Months later, pictures would come out that showed Hunt, along with two other Rebels, enjoying a hot tub with “Richie the Fixer” Perry, previously convicted in a point-shaving scandal. Though SWISH MAGAZINE

Augmon wasn’t implicated, the media backlash was fierce. Now everything Stacey and his teammates had achieved were in question. Their legacy was no longer the 1990 title . . . but the scandal that would lead to the departure of UNLV’s legendary coach, Jerry Tarkanian.

With his college career behind him, Augmon began his NBA journey in relative silence. He had a number of solid years in Atlanta, moved on to Detroit and then Portland. A hard worker, known for his defensive prowess, Augmon became a role player on a team seemingly destined for greatness.

It was that fateful game seven in 2000, against the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals that drove Augmon even further into his shell. A double-digit lead vanished in the final twelve minutes and the Blazers were declared the biggest chokers in NBA history.

His last interview on record was in 1999 with the Las Vegas Review Journal, reminiscing about his marred glory days.

Writer Steve Carp notes, “There’s nothing Augmon can do about the past.

As [Stacey] says, you learn from it, and you move on . . . it’s a part of life.”

Now, local reporters are calling Augmon a caveman for allegedly making lewd remarks to a female reporter and tossing that bottle of lotion.

I still don’t have an answer from him as to why, but seeing the pain in his face when I tried to ask, it was clear as day.

He wants his privacy. He doesn’t want to be judged. He wants to play basketball, collect his paycheck and win. Whoever questioned his heart on the court in Vegas didn’t know basketball and certainly didn’t know Augmon.

I knew going in that he didn’t like the media. I targeted him for dissection and he’s powerless to stop me.

Following him through the underbelly of Staples Center like paparazzi stalking their prey, I found myself answering my own question.

Why doesn’t Stacey talk to the media?

Because of me.

May22005

THE LAST WORD Hired To Fail…

It’s funny to recall the days when coaches made less than a million dollars and their jobs were simply to win basketball games. In that era, coaches had authority and players respected them.

In the modern era of coaching, coaches make millions more than in times past and with that has come the untenable situation that comes with mega money deals—mega money expectations.

Gone are the days of respect for coaches. In every locker room in the NBA there is at least one situation where a player is either publicly mad at his coach or demeans his decisions to the press.

Coaches have the impossible job in the NBA – win now, with a less than perfect roster which you have absolutely no control over.

They say that the NBA is a player’s league, and that to be successful you must be a “player’s coach”. In English that means you have you step back and let the players control a game, let players dictate the tempo and hope and pray that the directions called from the sidelines can affect a game in a positive way, because if you bench a superstar you’ll be fired. If you reprimand a player on the bench for a bad decision, there will be a Sportscenter clip and controversy in the press.

More than fourteen NBA coaches have been replaced in the last 20 months. In a 30-team league, that’s almost half the league changing coaches. In professional hockey this is commonplace, but in an NBA game that requires continuity for success, it’s amazing to watch how quickly teams will cut loose a coach, who in many cases was a bad fit to begin with.

Teams hire names. It’s the truth. They hire the name that will garner the most respect publicly, and oftentimes those names have personalities that may conflict and contradict the players who teams have locked into long term contracts. This puts the coach and team in a relationship that can parallel a bad marriage.

As long as NBA teams continue to hire “names” and lock players into massive Mayw2005

Steve Kyler

unmovable contracts, NBA coaching will continue to be the pressure cooker that claims the jobs and futures of great coaches and great men.

A popular saying goes: “Coaches are hired to be fired.” In the guaranteed world of the NBA it’s easier to fire a coach than replace a team. When the players didn’t know this little quip, coaches had respect and had authority.

Now that the cat is out of the bag it is not “Can this new coach help us win?” it’s how long before we’re talking about his replacement.

The NBA wonders why its game is going sideways and the entertainment value is down. The solution is simple: give the power back to the coaches.

Make the coaching position more important than the player position and stop contractually guaranteeing things like playing time, starting, and shots.

Until that change occurs, coaches are hired to fail. It’s a select few who figure out how to beat the system before the system beats them.

Make Money…

It’s funny to hear fans and talk show hosts talk about team owners’ desire to make money running sports teams as a bad thing. Most people do not get involved in owning sports teams for the bottom line. Profits are generally not the reason people buy sports teams. While billionaires buy teams for the vanity value, at the end of the day these teams are businesses whether fans and sports fanatics believe it or not, and every business has to at least break even to be of any real value.

Value in sports is established by escalating desire for the products or services.

As long as people will pay for skyboxes, season tickets, mega money advertising inside the arena, TV networks will pony the billions for TV rights, and local stations are willing to shell out the millions for rebroadcast rights for TV and radio – there is ever-increasing value to owning a “successful” team.

NBA teams individually are appreciatSWISH MAGAZINE

ing in value at about $10 million per season on average. Yet more and more teams are losing money because of the “keeping up with Joneses” mentality, which dictates that they have to keep spending because the other guy is spending.

So here is the challenge: Would you put twenty dollars on the table, knowing in 20 minutes, you’d have to put twenty more, just to stay at the table? No, we’re not talking about a casino, but we are talking about casino logic. Owning a team is the big gamble.

It takes money to make money. Owners shell out the hundreds of millions it takes to own a team with the hope that they can be part of the winning, and with that winning comes value, and ultimately a cash out for 100% more than you paid for. It’s only a matter of time before Abe Pollin, for example, turns his $1 million investment in the Washington Bullets into a $400 million payday as he cashes out the Washington Wizards.

Owners don’t buy teams to lose $20 million a season. Owners don’t buy teams to watch them lose games and value. They buy them to have fun, to add to their lives and to make money.

At the end of the day every owner wants to make money, which they have to do in order to grow the business. In the NBA, growing the business has come to mean having the revenue to overpay an under qualified coach, to overpay a mediocre player, and to buy out a bad contract they traded for to create cap room. These things cost money, and it’s insane to believe that owners will come out of their pockets simply because it makes sense to do it in fantasy basketball.

Smart businessmen know when it’s time to make a change to their portfolios, and it won’t be long now before NBA owners start to think about such changes. Simply stated, the inmates are running the asylum. If the guards don’t regain control soon the asylum will cease to exist. . . . and that’s the Last Word.

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