HoopsHype.com Columns

Changing your team's destiny
by Jon Finkel / September 12, 2002

Mr. Seinfeld and Woody. Two characters added to two stellar TV show casts that increased the overall humor of two classic comedies, Seinfeld and Cheers. Larry Hughes and Antonio McDyess. Two characters added to two cellar-dweller NBA rosters that increase the overall humor of two teams’ efforts to win, the Wizards and Knicks. But the NBA isn’t about comedy... on purpose anyway. It’s about putting together a competitive team with a legitimate shot at winning the Finals.

Each team is like a semi-malleable puzzle. Sometimes, regardless of talent, all of the pieces together just don’t fit, like, I don’t know... Portland. Sometimes, all it takes is one great piece and the rest successfully mold themselves around that one piece, like, say... the Nets. But most of the time, it takes the efforts of a few individuals to step down, step up or step out as pieces in order to create a winning puzzle. Think about it. How many players have been brought in by your favorite teams with the tag, ‘the last piece to the championship puzzle.’ Happens all the time. So this year, let’s take a look at a few new guys on a few new teams that will either bend and change their positions to fit their team’s puzzle or jam themselves in at their old position and break the whole thing like a golf club through a window.

We can start with the Celtics. Big loss not re-signing Rodney Rogers. The big replacement? Vin Baker. Vin Baker has to fit for this team to go as far as it did last year. Pierce and Walker will do their thing, but if Vinnie doesn’t join the act, I don’t see them getting a ring. Baker may share time at center with Tony Battie, but he has to accept the role of third option in this offense. This is something he didn’t do well in Milwaukee. Actually, he didn’t too well in Seattle as the second option, but that’s done with. He hasn’t played center before either.

I don’t want to hear any of this. Positions are as blurry as they ever have been in today’s NBA and lots of players take on the responsibility of two, even three positions over the course of a game. Baker could do this. He simply has to mold his game to whatever the Celtics need at a particular time. If they need boards, he’s got to grab them, if they need a few shots, he’s got to hit them, but most importantly, he’s got to be consistent at doing these things. He needs to show up and follow the lead of Pierce and Walker. He needs to share their intensity and their drive. Hopefully, Pierce and Walker can be like the girls from Destiny’s Child and succeed regardless of who the third member of their trio is. Or if you throw in Eric Williams as the other legitimate threat, they could be like En Vogue and just rotate in a fourth to make sure things go well. Actually, Baker is kind of like that fourth, overweight girl in En Vogue who kind of just stood there and said “If you’re lyin’... your losin’” in the “Never Gonna Get It” video. Why can’t all of these female pop groups just use the core of hot, talented girls? Why is there always a specific number they’re after? Is there a rule that they have to have a starting 3 or 4 girls like the NBA has a rule about starting 5? Speaking of the NBA...

While the Celtics will have a major new player changing positions in their starting 5, a less successful team, the Warriors, has their star, Antawn Jamison, switching from the 3 to the 4. In this case, the switch should be a positive one, if it weren’t for Danny Fortson, the current 4, whining that Jamison is out to take his position. Fortson is acting like the kid who has a toy that he doesn’t care about or put any effort into using until someone else tries to play with it. In this case, the other kid is a possible All-Star and he can play their if the coach wants him to, which he does.

With the newly drafted Mike Dunleavy Jr. taking over Jamison’s old spot and underrated Jason Richardson and Gilbert Arenas at the guards, the Warriors actually have some good young talent. It would be great to see Jamison’s transition go smoothly. He’s always been aggressive under the basket and although some of the other power forwards in the West are quicker and shoot better from the outside, Jamison has the low post moves to make up for it and a fast supporting cast to keep his opponents from running away from him. Also, one of his back-ups, Troy Murphy, is a tremendous outside shooter and in the minutes that he gets from spelling Jamison and Dunleavy, he’ll make up for the three point shooting productivity at the position. Not to say that Golden State has a golden fate for this season, more like a copper or nickel fate or whatever metal is designated for 9th and 10th place medals.

A team that hopes to be fighting for 10th, 9th or, with a great deal of help from a guy named Mike, 8th place on a different coast, the Wizards, have several guys that are going to have to alter their positions and play to fit the teams needs. The first position switch concerning Larry Hughes isn’t really a switch at all, rather a reawakening, or Renaissance at the same position. So far, nobody has been able to teach Hughes how to play his given position, point guard. So, it’s not like he’s playing there for the first time, but the Wizards hope that he’ll open his eyes while playing there for them. He’s like a carpenter with a set of top-of-the-line pristine tools that he can’t even build a doghouse with. The thing is, you don’t hire a carpenter for how great his tools look, you hire him for what he can build, and Hughes couldn’t build a paper airplane with the Warriors and Sixers.

If he’s a total bust, then 1st round draft pick, Juan Dixon is going to have to share the point duties with Tyronn Lue. The bottom line on Dixon is that he is a winner with a strong work ethic. He’ll do whatever he can to help the team. One of the few guys who says it and actually means it.

The Wiz’s other draft pick, Jared Jeffries is going to have to learn how to play small forward. Last year’s pick, Kwame Brown has the 4 locked up for the long-range future, so if Jeffries wants to play, he’ll have to adapt. The Wizards have too much invested in Brown, so this is more a matter of survival than fitting in, especially since they just signed veteran Bryon Russell, who plays the same spot.

Jeffries was drafted for his versatility and his fundamentals, which he will have to build on to have an impact. He’ll also have to bulk up. He’s been on a vigorous weight-training program since his college season ended and is said to have put on between 10 and 30 pounds, depending on whom you ask. I suggest that the Wizards make a trade with the Magic and pick up about 20 of Shawn Kemp’s pounds. This deal works out for both teams. Kemp loses the weight, which he doesn’t need, and Jeffries gets the weight, which he sorely needs. Actually, if the Magic play their cards right, they could trade a whole bunch of Kemp’s weight to different teams like the Rockets (for Yao) and the Mavs (for Bradley). If they charge like a grand a pound, which is reasonable, considering the cost of trainers and nutritionists, they could actually come out with a few hundred grand in their pockets and a ‘turn back the clock’ Kemp. GM’s really need to start working on deals like this.

Here are a few other guys that are changing positions or are going to be expected to stick with a position in this upcoming season.

With the arrival of Jay Williams, Jalen Rose will be strictly relegated to the shooting guard position; a position, that with the arrival of Williams, a passer, should raise his level of play. Rose doesn’t have to worry about playing the 1 and the 2 anymore. He can now finally let the game come to him... if he’s ready.

Jermaine O’Neal of the Pacers is finally going to get a full season at power forward, his strongest position, this year. The arrival of Brad Miller at the end of last season gives O’Neal the chance to work through training camp and the preseason at a more natural position. People say this every year, but this could be his huge breakout season.

When the Celtics traded away Joe Johnson, they never thought they traded a point guard. The Phoenix Suns, however, have been working with him all summer seeing if he can handle the duties if Marbury gets hurt or even to try them both in at the same time. They’re going to be doing a lot of experimenting with their line-up this year, but they have a lot of talent to work with. If Johnson could handle the point, which he seemed comfortable doing at the Summer League, in Long Beach, they could have him, Marbury, Penny and Shawn Marion on the floor with either Bo Outlaw or rookie Amare Stoudemire. This would be a ridiculously athletic team on the floor and if they can build some chemistry, they’d be tough to handle. Still, they have numerous other combinations with Jake Tsakalidis, Tom Gugliotta and draft pick Casey Jacobsen.

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