MVP Predictions

The NBA season is just five days away. This time last year everyone seemed to think that Shaq and the Heat, Duncan and the Spurs and Big Ben and the Pistons were going to be the teams vying for the championship trophy at the end of the season. Nobody counted the Suns into the equation and certainly nobody thought Steve Nash would be the season's MVP. Had somebody made a prediction like Nash, they would have been laughed at. Now Steve Nash is the one doing the laughing, but not too hard since he doesn't have Amare Stoudamire to play with for four months. Who's going to be doing the laughing at the end of this season? Page4Hoop is asking for reader predictions on MVP voting. Just leave us a comment or drop us an email.

Those Lucky Bucks.

Something big just happened. No, not the White Sox ending an 88 year period of time between World Series Championships. That wasn’t big. That was huge. This, well this is just big. But it’s so big that it has drastically changed the face of one of the best divisions in the Eastern Conference. Center Jamal Magloire was traded from the Hornets to the Bucks for swingman Desmond Mason. This helps the Bucks a lot. It makes them a lot stronger than a lot of teams even in their own division. It also seems to make sense for the Hornets, who were desperately seeking a scorer to pair with Chris Paul. This is one of those trades that just make sense, the kind that when teams make you say, “Why didn’t the league just impose this on the two teams because it make so much sense.” This was really, just a big smart trade.

Jamal Magloire is a big burly guy who is a throwback to a time when centers played down low and boxed out. He’s a perfect compliment to Andrew Bogut, a guy who doesn’t have the size to compete with guys like Magloire down low, but is more than big enough to compete with any of the leagues power-forwards. At 245lbs Bogut still has some growing to do before he can bang down low with guys like Shaq and Eddy Curry. Adding Magloire gives Bogut the time he needs to develop. It also allows the Bucks to keep Dan Gadzuric coming off the bench where he has been extremely effective. Magloire also means that the Bucks bring Joe Smith off the bench. Smith is obviously a disappointment as a first overall pick, but he’s had a solid career with the Bucks and in 20-25 minutes a game, paired with Gadzuric, should make for a highly effective second unit frontcourt. Jamal Magloire gives the Bucks a lot of depth in the front. Magloire should keep defense’s honest down low and make it a lot more difficult for teams to isolate Michael Redd on the perimeter thereby ending his preseason shooting slump. Magloire really helps the Bucks.

He also hurts the teams the Bucks will be playing. He’s a former all-star who could return to all-star form on a team that plays basketball and not “Hornet-Ball.” This move makes the Bucks more dangerous up front than say, anyone but the Pistons, the Heat and maybe, and this is a big maybe, the Pacers and the Sixers, in the East that is. With TJ Ford returning and looking like arguably the best point-guard in the Eastern Conference for the preseason, this Bucks team suddenly looks obscenely dangerous. Lebron or no, is there anyone who really thinks the Bucks aren’t a better team right now? With the Bulls complete lack of scoring options, sorry Ben you can’t be counted until you can be counted on, the Bucks look like the better team too. And as good as Indy is, they’re really only one injury away, and they’re an injury prone team, from being a team simply on the cusp of greatness. It’s a tough sell to say the Bucks are as good as Detroit because they’re not, but they could be lucky. A lot of times in sports the luckiest team wins. If the Bucks are lucky at the right times, they could find themselves at the top of the Central Division.

The trade helps the Hornets too. It gives them their first legit scorer since the Baron Davis era, which isn’t too long ago, but when you’re a team that only wins only 18 games, any one of those other games can seem like an eternity. Although Mason certainly isn’t a proven scorer, he has all the skills to put up 18-20 a game for the Hornets. Loosing Magloire should help the Hornets develop Chris Anderson further as well. Mason could show Anderson how to throw down the right way and both of those guys are going to make Chris Paul look very, very good.

While it’s not fair to say that the balance of power has shifted in the direction of Milwaukee, it is fair to say that with Jamal Magloire on board, that shift could be happening in the not too distant future. The Bucks are definitely a better team, but time will tell how much better. The Hornets are still as big a mess as there is in the NBA, but they’ve taken a step to clean themselves. Adding Desmond Mason is like buying the soap. Now the Hornets are ready to clean up their act while the Bucks are ready to get down and dirty.





We at Page4hoop.com would also like to officially congratulate the city of Chicago as well as the Chicago White Sox for winning the World Series. That, my friends, was huge.

Dress Code Doesn't "Suit" Players

What’s wrong with a suit? That’s all I want to know. What’s wrong with a suit? The NBA’s new dress code doesn’t even make it mandatory for players to wear one all the time, or even wear anything like one, as you can get away with wearing designer jeans, a collared shirt and a jacket. How hard is that? The guys in the league seem to already have the designer jeans, and I’m betting them most of them already own the jacket and shirt. The outfit isn’t even the real issue here; it’s just something to complain about. The issue is whether or not the league should have the power to implement a dress code and what precedent was previously set that would cause such an implementation.

The outfit is simple enough. Just put on a shirt with a collar and a sports coat. There’s nothing to it. It’s like practicing free throws, you might not want to do it, but it’s not going to hurt you. Lots of players have expressed disinterest with wearing suits, saying it’s racist for the league to require suits to be worn. It’s not. The NBA is full of millionaires and people that are, whether they want to be or not, role models to millions of fans. Wearing a suit doesn’t take away your street credit, if that’s what they’re worried about. Jay-Z and Diddy wear suits all the time, they even have clothing lines that produce their own lines of suits. A suit doesn’t make you historically insignificant. Michael Jordan is one of the best-dressed men of all time. And it doesn’t make you a slave to a racist corporate machine; Martin Luther King Jr. even wore suits. So did Miles Davis and John Coltrane. But so did Stan Getz and Bill Evans. The suit is not about race; it’s about looking like a professional. This is not about dispelling the hip-hop culture that is present in the NBA. It’s about getting guys to stop wearing t-shirts and start looking like they care that the fans are shelling out premium prices to see them play, or in many cases, sit on the bench in a t-shirt. There’s no reason not to do it. When people, even rappers, want to look their best, they put on a suit. Jalen Rose as much a part of hip-hop culture as he is a part of the NBA and he is currently one of the best-dressed players in the league.

The issue isn’t that David Stern is trying to put black players in their place. It’s that he’s trying to keep players, regardless of ethnicity, from wearing t-shirts to the games. This never used to be an issue. If you look at the historical precedent set by players like Jordan, Patrick Ewing and even Chris Webber, one of the forefathers of the hip-hop crowd, they all wear suits. Clothing was a point of pride for many of these players as they frequently tried to out-dress their teammates. Wear a t-shirt when you’re having fun, like at a championship celebration or a charity event, but when you show up for work, dress like a consummate professional. Stern is simply trying to perpetuate the idea that the NBA is a “professional” basketball league filled with “professionals” doing their best at their craft. Not that you can’t do your best in a Dr. J throwback, but it certainly doesn’t hold the same weight as a three-piece suit does. Throwbacks are great and a lot of fun to wear, but they have their place. Larry Brown wears them, but certainly not when he’s walking the sidelines during a game. I bet Mo Cheeks does too. These coaches, just like most of the players, know when to dress up, and when to dress down.

But then you have to ask, “Is it really the leagues business to tell a player what he can and can’t wear?” Maybe not, but when an owner who’s paying Jason Williams almost $7 million a year looks and sees his investment sitting on a bench in a t-shirt looking thoroughly disinterested in the game that’s going on while he’s out with an ingrown toenail, it might be time for somebody to step in. I’ve never heard a fan say, “Man, look at Kobe. He looks like crap sitting there in his fine suit.” But I have heard them say, “Why is Allen Iverson wearing jeans? I don’t make $14 million a year but I still have to dress up for work, why shouldn’t he?” Because fans are beginning to feel a certain amount of discontent with the state of the players dress, and the league feels it’s important to please the fans, the league has decided that it must step in. There are many
institutions that require their employees to dress a certain way. Many schools do the same thing. But at the same time, many places of work don’t have to set these kinds of codes because people have an intrinsic feeling for what they should wear while on the job. When that non-verbal standard of fashion is met, there is no need for a code to be set, but when the standard of fashion in a given work environment consistently falls below that of the par level, a code must be set. That is just what is happening in the NBA recently. To keep the league looking as stylish and classy as it did in the 80’s and 90’s it seems that the dress code is merited. And because the league feels it is merited, and the owners pay the salary of the players, it seems to be within their right to require a dress code. This is no different than if a law firm requires its partners to dress in suits, or if Starbucks requires its employees to wear green aprons and white shirts. Dress codes are set all over the country to provide uniformity throughout the work place and so that fashion simply, isn’t an issue.

And that’s what this has come down to; fashion simply, isn’t an issue. Kobe Bryant expressed those sentiments, as did Lebron James. Because this generation of NBA players sense of formality seems to be relaxed in comparison to the previous generations, and Stern wants the NBA to follow up on it’s success over the last 25 years, the league must set a minimum standard of dress for the players. There’s nothing racist about it, the league just wants the players to look fly. After all, what’s wrong with a suit?

The New NBA

This season means more to everyone in the NBA than anyone on the inside is letting on. It’s more than Kobe on his own. It’s more than Lebron getting help. It’s more than Iverson and Webber pairing up to take one last shot at a championship. It’s all of those things together, and it’s more. This season is a gateway, a bridge, between the old generation of players and the new generation and a generation lost somewhere in the middle. For the first time in years, the league is wide open. The Spurs and the Pistons are on top right now, but they’re just barely ahead of a few other teams. Anyone can win a championship this year; anyone can become a star this year. And what happens this year may define the NBA for years to come.

Between the years 1993 and 1997 more than twenty players came into the league that would become the future of the league. They were to be the stars of the future. Names like Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, Antonio McDyess, Chris Webber and Kevin Garnett all came in to redefine what it meant to be an NBA Superstar. Duncan became the consummate superstar. Bryant, the defiant sidekick who only wants to show how good he can be. McDyess went from one of the leagues elite to a role-player. And Garnett, like Kidd, Iverson, Stephon Marbury, Chris Webber, Ray Allen and Jermaine O’Neal have all been elite players who just haven’t been able to take their teams over the top. Nearly all the guys from these classes are still in their prime, but that window of opportunity to achieve greatness on their own terms, leading a team to a championship, is about to close for most of them. Many of their bodies, like Kidd and Iverson’s, have broken down and they’re limited to 60-70 games a season. Many of them, like Garnett and Webber, have contracts that are so big that they’re teams are unable to surround them with quality players. And a few of them, like Duncan, O’Neal and Tracy McGrady, are still in the mix to win championships. The bottom line is only five of the “stars” from these classes, Duncan, Bryant, Rasheed Wallace, Sam Cassell and Glenn Robinson have championship rings, and Cassell and Robinson earned them playing minimal roles for their respective teams. For guys like Webber and Iverson the door may be shut by the end of the season. For Marbury, Allen and Bryant, the door is open for a few years longer, but not if the young guys coming up have too much to say about it. And for Damon Stoudamire, Jalen Rose and Eddie Jones, the door has already, unless a miraculous trade happens, slammed shut and left bruises on their faces as it did. Though a few of these, once deemed “instant stars,” have enjoyed success, largely they’ve served to be nothing more than foils for guys named Duncan, Jordan and Shaq. As soon as this season, the torch could be passed from this generation of NBA star to the next.

And just who’s ready to carry the flame for the newest generation of NBA stars? Look down south to Miami. Dwayne Wade has as good a chance as anyone, in part because he has quite a team to play with including a guy named Shaq, which always helps. Carmelo Anthony is another guy that, if not this year, two or three years down the road, could step up and lead his team to a championship. This years Nuggets squad is as strong as anyone else in the league and they’re deep. And nobody can forget Lebron James. If he’s the next Jordan, then he should be able to win like the man did. Lebron probably won’t be able to do it this year, but stranger things have happened. Also, you can’t for a minute count out Ben Gordon, Andrei Kirilenko, Gilbert Arenas or Pau Gasol from putting one of yesteryear’s big guns out of the first round of the playoffs. The new generation of stars is ready to step up, and this could be the year that they exert their dominance over the league.

This could also be the year that the NBA’s lost generation, the draft class of 2000, is either found, or lost forever. Although at lot of the best players that could have come from this class were selected a few years earlier, directly out of high school, this class still held some promise. When he’s healthy, Kenyon Martin is almost a superstar. The same can be said for Michael Redd. But beyond that, this class is one that was largely a huge disappointment. That is, unless Jamal Crawford, Quentin Richardson, Darius Miles, Jamal Maglore, Stromile Swift and Mike Miller can live up to all that potential that people talked about them having in 2000. Not that all these guys are going to step up and become stars, but if one or two can make that transition this year, the class won’t have been a complete bust. If they can’t, then that is the fate of this draft class. They will wither into role players on benches all over the NBA. A few will be lucky enough to play with people from later draft classes and will win rings, but largely, the draft class will be forgotten. That’s why it’s so imperative that Craw and Q listen to Larry Brown; that Darius Miles learns how hit a jump shot. They are the guys from this class that were expected to make a difference, and thus far, they haven’t. Now the time has come for them to play ball or be forgotten.

With the new bargaining agreement ushering in a new era of peace between the owners and the players, the winds of change may be blowing and may blow out some dead leaves. The NBA’s future may become the NBA’s right now while the past slowly fades into obscurity. Whatever happens, this season is a chance for the young and the old to define themselves and their roles in the future of what can be called, the new NBA.

NBA Preseason Rankings (2nd Edition)

1) Spurs-This team is cooking stew and it’s going to taste really good. Mike Finley and Nick the Quick make all the difference in the world. Suddenly Tony Parker has a backup. Suddenly the Spurs are really deep on the wings. Suddenly Tim Duncan is poised to repeat.

2) Heat- One Preseason game down and it looks like Walker’s coming off the bench. It can’t hurt and it might help. If he thrives as the sixth man, he might be that firepower the Heat needs to get past anybody.
3) Pistons- Nothing big from the camp yet. No injuries, no trades. Maybe Prince gets an extension soon. For a team as consistent as the Pistons, no news is good news.
4) Pacers- Rumor has it that Ronnie might be coming off the bench. Maybe the Lakers should bring Kobe off the bench. See? It just doesn’t sound like a good plan. Still, this team is deep enough that you could conceivably do it.
5) Rockets- It hurts that Bob Sura’s status is still up in the air. It hurts a lot less when you bring in one of the best handles in the game, in Rafer Alston.
6) Mavericks- The Mavs team will be good. Devin Harris should be able to shoulder a lot more of the point-guard duties, which should mean Jason Terry is able to focus more on scoring. Finley being gone isn’t going to hurt as much as you’d think the Mavs were deep on the wings. Now you’ll see some new faces shining.
7) Nuggets- Word on the street is that Nene’ is in the best shape of his life. This should make a strong frontcourt even stronger. The three-guard rotation in the backcourt is going to help too. And don’t ever forget about Melo.

8) Suns- Amare’s out for the next four months. This makes the Suns a lot less deep. Brian Grant could see Stoudemire’s minutes at the 4. While they’re still a good team, they’re going to have to overcome a lot to be anywhere near as good as they were last year.
9) Cavs- Reports out of camp is that Lebron and Larry are gellin’. If that happens, watch out. Other reports say defense is being played. That hasn’t happened in Cleveland since the mid Nineties so it would be a welcome change. It might even be enough to change the fortunes of the Cavs.
10) Nets- The Nets shouldn’t move to Brooklyn. They should move to JFK. It’s going to be like an airport with all the people flying around the swamp. A healthy Jason Kidd is going to the play air-traffic-controller for the Carter and Jefferson Airlines.
11) Bulls- Well, Eddy Curry isn’t a factor anymore. It looks like Sweetney is big enough of to fill the hole Curry left. But, is he quick enough to stay on the floor? If he is, the Bulls won’t loose too much of a step. They’ll be really deep in the front if the Knicks release AD and he is able to resign with the Bulls.

12) Sonics- The Sonics have brought back Reggie Evans. They might not belong this high, but they made it to the second round last year. The bottom line is, things are looking up for any team with Ray Allen. Last I checked, the Sonics still had Ray-Ray.
13) Wizards- The Wiz won’t miss Larry, but they will miss Kwame. They’re extremely thin in the front. This will hurt them as soon as they get into the half-court sets.
14) Clippers- Things are looking up if you’re a Clippers fan too. Bill Crystal may finally get to see a playoff game. They’re deep at the 1, passable at the 2 and 3 and they’ve got enough firepower up front to handle anyone in the West.

15) Grizzlies- Pau and his boys are going to be good this year as long as they can get solid minutes from Mighty Mouse and Bobby Jackson. If either of them goes down in the preseason, it’s going to be a rough climb up until they come back.
16) Kings- Great offense. Offensive defense. The Kings need some help on D. Maybe Rick Adleman just isn’t the answer in Sacramento anymore. But if not him, who is?
17) Knicks- Adding Eddy Curry, if he can play, makes the Knicks better than this. If they can play together they will be better than this. Larry Brown hasn’t killed anyone yet for forgetting to play defense so things aren’t looking so bad.
18) 76rs- Chris Webber says he loves AI. AI Says he loves Mo Cheeks. Mo Cheeks loves everybody. We all love the potential this team has, but the window of opportunity is going to close really soon. Maybe Webber can pry it open with his leg.
19) Timberwolves- If you have the best player in the game of basketball on your team and the best lineup you can put around him is what the Wolves are trotting out, maybe its time to trade that player. KG can’t be happy playing center, and it looks like he’s going to have to spend some time in the middle this season. If I’m McHale I see what kind of youth package I can get from a team.
20) Bucks- The Bucks are going to be better than this. But I say let them win a few games and prove me right.
21) Warriors- You can’t help but love the Warriors at the 1, 2 and 3. It’s when you get up front that things start to get a little shady. They’re at best 3 deep in the front, and this if you count Andris Biedrins ready to play. If trading one player from a crowded backcourt can bringing in somebody up front, the Warriors should go for it.
22) Magic- The Magic could be magical, but they’re a few player moves away from finding that special something. Still, they’ve got someone solid sitting on the bench. Brian Hill could make something like this team into a playoff roster. The key is that I’m talking about “something like this team.”

23) Lakers- Phil, Kobe and Lamar. Phil, Kobe and Lamar. Phil, Kobe and Lamar. It just doesn’t ring the same as Phil, Michael and Scottie. If the Lakers can tune this team up maybe they can get the song right.
24) Celtics- As long as you have Paul Pierce you’ve got something to smile about. Danny says he’s not going to trade Pierce so Celtics fans should be smiling. But with the youth movement in full swing wouldn’t a trade make more sense?
25) Jazz- The Jazz are the last of the teams that could be in serious contention for a playoff spot. Everyone here and above could, if the pieces fall into place be a playoff team. Derron Williams is the key to the puzzle that is the Utah Jazz.
26) Blazers- Portland could be a playoff team a few years down the road. It’s easy to love the upside the Blazers have. If the management can love it through the hard times, this team could really be something special in a few years.
27) Bobcats- Here’s a question. Can Emeka Okafur play serious minutes at center? If he can, the Bobcats can play the beast that is Sean May at the power forward spot and really improve their frontcourt offense. If not, they may have wasted a draft pick.

28) Hawks- In 6’8’’ wonderland everyone has upside and the team has a plan. I must not be tall enough to see what the plan is because as far as I can tell, there is no plan. Unless the Hawks are cagey and they’re going to make a trade during the season… Does anyone else wish Spud Webb were still on this team?
29) Hornets- From Katrina to actually having to start PJ Brown to countless trade demands from players, the Hornets are having a rough go of it all around. Maybe basketball will be a nice distraction from the usual drama this team is facing.
30) Raptors- Dude Where’s My Center? Actually dude, where’s the center, the bench, the small forward, the point guard and the shooting guard? Chris Bosh is a lonely man.

Trading Camp Frenzy

It is now only the first week of NBA training camp and already the landscape of the league looks completely different. First the Bulls and Knicks and later the Raptors and Rockets, executed trades that have effected the futures of at least three of those teams. It is those trades that will be definitive in the up and coming weeks in the NBA.

The Bulls shipped Eddy Curry and Antonio Davis to the Knicks for Tim Thomas, Michael Sweetney, Jermaine Jackson and future conditional draft picks. This trade enables one of the Knicks greatest shortcomings to become an asset. Adding Curry and Davis is essentially adding a starting frontcourt. The prospect of bringing Jerome James off the bench is a lot less daunting for the Knicks fan than having to watch him play the whole game. This move also gives Channing Frye a little bit of space to develop at the power-forward spot. For the Bulls, they loose two starters, but gain some piece of mind in knowing that they’re not responsible for putting an at-risk player on the court. They also add Mike Sweetney, a probable starter, to the lineup. This is really the key to the trade for the Bulls. If Sweetney is able to start in the frontcourt with Chandler at center, then the Bulls shouldn’t loose too much frontcourt power. Sweetney’s biggest problem in the past has been his inability to defend without fouling. Playing with Chandler will make this less of an issue for Sweetney because Chandler has a way of freeing up the post with his imposing defense. If Sweetney can stay in the game, he should put up numbers that at least match Curry’s. Tim Thomas will fit nicely into this team coming off the bench and will be able to play backup minutes at both forward positions. This trade also gives the Bulls a guy named Jermaine Jackson. This is never really a bad thing.

Neither is adding a point guard to a team that desperately needs one. That’s just what the Rockets have done by adding Rafer Alston. Alston is a starter and should enable Bob Sura to spend more time at the shooting guard spot, the position he came into the league playing. Sura was not bad as a point guard last season, when he wasn’t injured, but that certainly doesn’t look like his primary position. Alston is a spectacular passer and a great ball handler. Playing within Jeff Van Gundy’s offense should cut down on the turnovers that he was prone to last season. This trade makes the Rockets even more dangerous than they already were. While Mike James is a good add for the Raptors, nothing they can do short of acquiring a franchise player, and Mike James isn’t a franchise player, is going to making them a factor in the league this season. This trade doesn’t really mean much for the Raptors except that Sam Mitchell, the Raptors coach, no longer has to deal with Alston.

So how will these trades affect the rest of the league? Well for starters the Knicks could be a favorite to win the Atlantic division. The Nets are a very good team, but not nearly as deep in the frontcourt as the Knicks will be. Curry adds a whole new dimension to this team. The Rockets are, without a doubt, one of the top 5 teams in the NBA by adding Alston. He gives them legitimacy at a position that was formerly one of their weakest. Alston should be able to run a very smooth offense and should see his assist numbers skyrocket. This will be the first time in his career he’s played with anyone as good as Tracy McGrady or Yao Ming. The Bulls performance will be the question out of these trades. Their season will depend very much on how Sweetney fares. If he can average an effective 30mpg, the Bulls should be poised to return to the playoffs and not loose much footing from last season. If he can’t the Bulls could fall, maybe even out of the playoffs. Bulls coach Scott Skiles seems to have a way with troubled big men, ala Curry and Chandler, so things should be looking up for the Bulls. Look for them to be somewhere near where they were last season. Plus they have a guy named Jermaine Jackson.

These trades are arguably the most exciting ones of the summer, as they may actually make the biggest differences for the teams trading. The Rockets and Knicks become instant contenders, the Bulls have the potential to stay strong and the Raptors should have at least a little more unity in their clubhouse. Training camp is here and its time for the teams to pass out the new uniforms for their players. It should be fun to see a few new faces in those uniforms this season.