He signed a three year extension last December, and the Rockets looked ready for take off (ha). This year, the team has struggled to do anything well: Harden is shooting more, and less efficiently, the team is figuring out how to use Ty Lawson, and they are getting blown out by the likes of the Nuggets (twice) and the Nets (8 points isn't a blowout, but they were the first team the Net's had beaten through 8 games). What's next for Houston? Probably ride it out with interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff, or make a splashy hire such as Tibs??? I'm curious of what's next for McHale. In Houston he went 193-130 overall. I am sure he will get a few calls. Top three most likely destinations for McHale (Don't rule out a return to TV): 3. Charlotte Hornets. Yeah they have Steve Clifford right now, and he did well in his first year with the team, leading them to the playoffs, but they struggled mightily last year. I am not a fan of giving up on coaches so soon, but the NBA seems to be pretty quick to let coaches go. One of the main reasons this could work: Al Jefferson. McHale is the big man guru. As a player, McHale had a lethal combination of low post moves. It is only natural he passes on his knowledge to the next generation. Big Al already has a nice low post game, and he is past the learning stage of his career. But Al loved playing with McHale in Minnesota. Reuniting them makes a lot of sense. McHale and Al worked well together when Al was just 24, so it would be very interesting to see how they work now. Whether or not McHale would implement Morey's analytic style somewhere else remains to be seen. Kemba Walker could benefit from the style change. Charlotte has been so bad on offense these past few years that they could use a change. Despite what was happening with this year's Rockets, McHale's teams play good defense. The reason this might not happen is if the Hornets want consistency at coach, but I could see this becoming a possibility if the Hornets start struggling.
2. Sacramento Kings.
Everyone has heard about the drama in Sac-town. There seems to have been "Karl on the hot seat" talks ever since he was hired. DeMarcus Cousins has gone off on Karl multiple times. There were rumors that management talked to players about whether they should fire Karl. I think we would all be shocked if Karl is still coaching this team by February. The Kings want to do two things: Make big splashes, and keep Cousins. Sadly, the former has sometimes seemed more important than the latter. Hiring McHale would accomplish both of these "goals". He is a big name with a pretty solid track record. What other coach would you want mentoring Boogie? This makes sense on so many levels. It would even benefit Willie Cauley Stein as well. I am sure Boogie wouldn't have too many qualms with it. The problem: Would McHale want to coach the Kings? He just finished coaching one of the most "high-character" guys in the league in Dwight Howard. He just finished coaching a bunch of me-first players. And what coach wants to take on the task of coaching Rondo? It's not just Rondo, but Cousins has yet to latch on to any coaches, except for Mike Malone, whom they inexplicably fired early last season. They arguably have three me first guys in Rondo, Cousins, and Rudy Gay. The chemistry has looked disastrous at times. They are a few years away from actually contending in the West. While I think it is very possible the Kings would love to get McHale, I am not sure if McHale would love to get the Kings. 1. Minnesota Timberwolves.
As I said earlier, McHale never really got a fair chance to coach Minnesota. He was a part of the organization for years in the front office, but he only coached them for 94 games in two separate stints. (The second stint came after they fired Randy Wittman who had replaced the fired Dwayne Casey, not exactly tough acts to follow) This time around, McHale could be just what these young wolves need. The Wolves have one of the most exciting young big men in recent years in Karl-Anthony Towns. Having him being molded by McHale would be super exciting to watch. Imagine KAT's freakish athleticism with McHale's fine tuning. The Wolves have been surprisingly competitive this season, so adding a seasoned coach with ties to the organization might be just what they need.
Everyone is paying attention to the Kevin Durant free agency question. No matter what he says, he is thinking about it too. Everyone is also writing, talking, tweeting, skyping, periscoping (?) about where he will end up. The prevailing theory is that he will decide between the Thunder and his hometown Wizards. Both make sense in both basketball and in "PR status". We have all learned from the Lebron saga that PR for these stars means everything. It would be hard to mess up this scenario as bad as Lebron did, but you never know. Maybe Durant will host a live announcement at Chesapeake Arena, get it full of Thunder fans, come out in Thunder gear and then say "I am taking my talents to the nation's capitol." What if the choice wasn't 50-50? What if every team had a chance? I came up with a scoring scale, (similar to Zach Lowe's League Pass Ranking scale) three categories (1-10 points): Basketball (does it make sense in terms of winning titles), PR/narrative (will his decision lead to jersey burning) and Brand (will the location be marketable for the KD brand). These are all assuming cap space isn't relevant, which is partially true with the expanding cap.
Sorry Sonics, not in the running. Out of his league: 30. Sixers (4) I would love to see with Noel and Okafor, but no one else outside of Philly would. 29. Nuggets (8) A bit of a leap forward, mostly because Denver can market stars a little better than Philly. Mudiay and KD? 28. Pacers (11) Basketball wise it could be fun to team up KD and PG-13, but the market is not good and the narrative would be full of ??? 27. Magic (12) Also fun, but makes no sense legacy wise. Stars leave Orlando much more frequently than they go there (Shaq, Dwight). 26. Bucks (12) Their young core with KD (KD plus Giannis!) would be very exciting, but the market and PR wouldn't be good enough. 25. Pistons (13) The league's most surprising team plus Durant would be great, but their would be that awkward Reggie Jackson reunion. 24. Jazz(13) Basketball "purists" would love this, but who has ever left anywhere for Utah? 23. Nets (14) The Nets are higher than seven teams? Think market, close your eyes, ignore the basketball aspect of this basketball team, and picture KD in Brooklyn...now wake up and see Joe Johnson's contract. 22. Timberwolves (14) Opposite of the Nets. 21. Kings (15) Kings were the only team with 5's across the board, proving mediocrity and this team are synonymous. OK, Maybe: 20. Grizzlies(15) They get here because any offense would push Grizzlies forward, and his offense would push them possibly to Finals. But there is a lot of animosity between the two sides, mostly from playoffs of years past, and Tony Allen. 19. Portland (16) I gave them major points imagining the story lines: The team that picked Oden over him, finally gets it right. 18. Mavericks (16) Going anywhere in the same region isn't a great idea. Bonus points for homecoming narrative (college that is, even though that argument could me made for any Texas team really). 17. Suns (17) Phoenix is much more capable of attracting bitter retired people than they are superstars. 16. Cavaliers (18) Surprised? Imagine the narrative: Durant can't win on his own (which is unfair to Westbrook and Ibaka) so he teams up with Lebron. People would freak out. Chance in hell: 15. Lakers: Obviously the brand got 10 points here, but the basketball would have a lot of work to do to make it happen. No matter how bad this current team is, the Lakers have always found ways to make things work. 14. Rockets (19) Title contenders right away, but the Durant needs Harden thing would be too strong. 13. Hawks (19) Another all basketball, no image scenario. 12. Knicks (20) See Lakers, minus the "have always found a way to make things work" part. Melo and KD? Would that really work? 11. Hornets (21) MJ would surely help him brand, but besides Kemba and a declining Big Al, what else do they have to offer? 10. Heat (21) It would look so bad to do exactly what Lebron did, but don't rule this out! Pat Riley is a Magi who uses spells to attract any free agent. 9. Celtics (22) Who would really complain? A star going to join a bunch of young talent? In the East, although the East is improving, this team would be hard to compete with. 8. Pelicans (22) KD and AD. 7. Raptors (23) Team would be pretty good, no one would really complain, and Drake would certainly help his brand. Pretty solid all around. The Contenders 6. Spurs (24) Great team, great PR, but not much at all for brand. That hurts them. 5. Warriors (25) Unstoppable team, but some might view it as a cop out. If you can't beat em, join em, sort of thing. 4. Clippers (25) They edge out Warriors because of the LA market. Also helping out the lesser respected LA team. I like this idea. 3. Wizards (26) Hometown team. The skill level will be great, but as great as they are, Wall and Beal don't make up for not playing with Westrbook and Ibaka. Thunder have a little more than Wizards, though the PR would be great. 2. Bulls (26) Jimmy Butler, maybe D-Rose, maybe Noah, with Durant? Plus the whole rejuvenating the Bulls thing? I think this is
an underrated option. 1. Thunder (27) Kind of a cop out, but it's not for basketball. While the Thunder are stacked, they do have to worry about Westbrook's upcoming free agency. Branding in OKC isn't great, but the whole loyalty thing would help. Take these rankings for what you will, but you could really make the case for any of these top six.
It is now about a week into the NBA season. There have been great games and moments already. However, I had started a tall task before the season started that had nothing to do with real basketball. I have decided to finsih it: Hypothetical situations are great. They come up in sports all the time. Would Wilt have been as dominant had he played today? Would Jordan beat Lebron one on one in his prime? Would the Lakers have been as good with Marc Gasol rather than Pau? We will never know for sure.
However, someone ingeniously came up with a website specifically for hypothetical needs. This site is whatifsports.com. It uses statistics from basketball-reference.com to match up any team from any era against any other team. It covers the four major sports plus college. Really cool site to kill one hour (OK two hours).....(OK three).....OK half a day. Being the basketball weirdo that I am, I decided to do a fake oral history of a fake series (I will probably start talking about actual basketball once the season gets going a bit more). ESPN and Grantland(RIP) do/did some good oral histories of games, but never for fake series'. What match up would I do?
96 Bulls vs 85 Celtics? Bad Boys Pistons vs Lebron's Heat teams? Nah, those would be too obvious. Instead I decided to put one of the crazier modern teams against a team from the 60's.
The team representing the 21st century: 2006-2007 Denver Nuggets. (45-37) Why? Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, they had Carmelo, Marcus Camby, Allen Iverson, Andre Miller (he was traded mid season for Iverson but the websites includes him so I will too), Earl Boykins, and wait for it..... JR Smith. How many ball stoppers can you fit on one team? They also represent what was wrong about mid 2000's basketball, the me over the team mentality. Here's one of this teams biggest moments:
The opponent: The 1968-1969 New Orleans Buccaneers from the ABA . They represent the 60's with names like Jimmy Jones, Steve Jones, Marlbert Pradd (who declined to comment for this story) and Ron Franz. Sounds more like an oldies band than a team. They also have another great name that I will get to later.
What happens when these two styles clash? Find out.
The following is a fake oral history. None of this actually happened, and everything said is false.
New Orleans Coach Babe McCarthy (I am not making his name up): Going into that series, I told my men to buckle down and play their hardest. They have fight. They have courage. They have each other. And at the end of the day, that's all that matters.
Denver Coach George Karl: I told my guys, well actually I didn't tell them anything. The only players who showed up on time to the mandatory meeting was Earl Boykins. The rest of team was either an hour late or didn't show up at all.
Denver Point Guard Allen Iverson: I just arrived in Denver, and they tell me we are playing a team from the 60's in a best of five series?
Denver Forward Carmelo Anthony: I walk into the arena and coach is like "we are gonna play this team of older guys, who are somehow still in their primes. That's the first time I thought to myself: I gotta get the hell out of Denver.
New Orleans Forward Ron Franz: I was focused. These kids now days are ruining the game. We had to teach them a lesson, so to speak. New Orleans Center Red Robbins (real name): I look at this series like I look at a burger, you have to put everything you have into it.
Fake TV Network play by play commentary Al Michaels: They called me up and said: Al, the Nuggets from ten years ago are playing the Buccaneers. And at this point I was only doing football, so I thought they were doing some cross sports game. But no, I was later told (after I agreed) that it was the 1968 New Orleans Buccaneers.
Fake TV Network color commentary Reggie Miller: I said yes right away, I knew these dudes couldn't shoot like me.
Game one and two were in the Pepsi Center.
McCarthy: This arena was huge. But I measured the hoops and said men, these hoops are ten feet, just like back at home. (The producers of Hoosiers would later sue McCarthy for using that strategy without permission) We walked into the arena, and two players vomited, that's how different it was than what my men were used to.
Robbins: I'll admit it, I vomited as if I ate a bad burger.
New Orleans point guard Jimmy Jones: Yeah, Red threw up and so did someone else. This arena was about ten times bigger than ours. But we were humble and happy to be there, see.
Karl: Before the game I sat down the team and said you have to play 48 minutes. These guys don't know the modern day rules, we have that to our advantage.
Michaels: There was speculation they might remove the 3 point line to accommodate the Buccaneers, but JR Smith said he refused to play if they did so.
Game one begins.
First possession of the Game, Iverson hits a fade away two.
McCarthy: My men had never seen that type of shot or that type of speed before.
Jimmy Jones: I was used to guarding the likes of Mack Calvin and Darel Carrier, see.
Iverson: These dudes were slower than kids at my basketball camp.
With the game tied at 23, Buccaneer Lee Davis dunked it at the buzzer.
McCarthy: You better believe I chewed him a new one! He dunked it?! FUNDAMENTALS!
Nugget guard Steve Blake: And I thought my dunks looked dorky.
Michaels: So you had this team that had no business being there, up after one. You could tell they were in it to win it, while Denver looked like they could not care less.
Carmelo: We couldn't care less.
With about 8 minutes to go in the second, Mike Butler swats a Carmelo jumper. The next Denver possession Jack Moreland stole the ball from Carmelo.
Miller: Melo just didn't respect these guys. After those two plays, he looked angry.
Moreland: It's all about what coach taught us, I was just honored to have the chance to steal the ball.
McCarthy: Fundamentals!
At halftime the score was New Orleans 56-Denver 51.
Michaels: You could hear a pin drop in the Pepsi Center. Marcus Camby tossed a chair onto the floor. Emotions were running high.
Miller: JR Smith didn't play a single minute in the first half, and he was not happy about it.
Karl: JR comes into the locker room and is fuming. I thought he was mad about the score, no. He was mad about not playing. He said put me in coach, I got this.
JR: Did he put me in? No.
Michaels: The 3rd quarter defined the game.
McCarthy: In the locker room you better believe I ripped them a new one for being so bombastic and cocky in the first half. They needed to be FUNDAMENTALLY sound.
Jimmy Jones: Coach really let us have it, see. We couldn't let him down.
Karl: When the 3rd quarter was over, JR walked into the locker room. That's how upset he was.
At the end of 3, the score was 83-69.
Andre Miller: They just outplayed us that quarter. To be honest, we just didn't respect them.
Michaels: In the fourth quarter, with under two minutes to go, Red Robbins made two of the most spectacular plays I have ever seen. The Nuggets had cut it down to 105-100 and had the ball. But then Robbins picked off an Andre Miller pass, drove down the court and got fouled by Carmelo, it was his sixth foul!
Carmelo: These refs were awful. Half of them were modern refs, and half were ABA. When I fouled out all I was thinking was I need to get the hell out of Denver.
Iverson: For him to foul out at such a crucial point, that was devastating
Michaels: So Robbins hits both free throws and then comes up with another steal!
Robbins: It's like a well priced burger, it was a great steal.
Miller: So the Buc's were up six with about ten seconds to play, and for whatever reason, Ron Franz dunks the ball as time expired. The Nuggets were not too happy about that.
Karl: Camby threw a chair at Franz and chased him down. The weird thing is, the rest of their team ran to the locker room, poor Franz was left by himself.
Camby: I was just upset. When I saw his team leave him I felt kind of bad for the guy, so I apologized and he shook my hand.
McCarthy: I immediately tried to kick him off my team. There is no room for that kind of nonsense. Unfortunately we were not allowed to make any roster changes between games.
Karl: After the game we looked at the numbers...Iverson was 14 of 30 from the field.
Miller: AI was off and Melo was 0-4 from three? Something wasn't right.
Iverson: You miss every shot you don't take.
JR: At least I didn't miss any shots.
Miller: The amazing thing was, New Orleans won the game after only making two 3's, out of 4 attempts. You know what their coach says...
McCarthy: Fundamentals!
Red Robbins was named Player of the Game with 19 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 4 steals.
Game TWO ( I have decided to cut this best of five short by summarizing the non elimination games)
New Orleans came out and outscored Denver 35-25 in the first quarter, but Denver was not having it this time.
Denver outscored New Orleans each of the next three quarters to win 113-104.
Karl: Melo carried us.
Carmelo: One game closer to getting out of here.
Game THREE-First game in New Orleans at Loyola University Fieldhouse
Iverson: We walked into this arena and we all started laughing.
Karl: This place looked like a high school auditorium.
McCarthy: We sold out. All 6,500 seats were full. It was a beautiful sight.
Carmelo: I had more people at my middle school games.
McCarthy: None of my men could stop that Anthony kid, they were all too slow. They also got away from the FUNDAMENTALS!
Karl: Carmelo went off with a 38-8-8, I still don't like his game.
Melo: One game from booking my flight outta here.
Game FOUR
McCarthy: I told my guys before the game, this what there last chance to make their fans proud. I told them when they go home tonight, and have to look their wives and kids in the eyes, they need to be proud! Proud of what they have done tonight! That is all they can ask for! Most of these guys have other jobs, their basketball salaries aren't enough to support their families. So, when they go back to those jobs, I want them to tell their co-workers about what they did here today, about what it meant to be a New Orleans Buccaneer!
Karl: I told my guys to finish this thing.
Moreland: I was nervous. This could be the last game for us, we knew we had enough to force one more game.
Steve Jones: I needed this game. My law firm Jones and Jones with Jimmy was tanking. I didn't have no where else to go.
Jimmy Jones: Jones and Jones had hit the rails running, see. We needed to keep this boat a float, see.
Carmelo: I came in with one mindset: Drop 30 on em, and get the hell outta here.
Iverson: As much fun as it was running circles around these slow dudes, I was ready to end this series.
First Quarter:
McCarthy: We started the game on an 8-2 run. Ron Franz hit a nice fundamental 5 footer to get us to 8.
Franz: I just practiced what coach preached, so to speak.
Denver rallied back to tie the game at 8.
Michaels: You see, we only had the broadcasting rights to game one and four. The middle two games were on NBA TV.
Miller: I had forgotten this series was still going, and they called me and said hey Reg, game four is tomorrow.
Jack Moreland hit a shot to put the Bucs up two, and then Franz tipped in a Jimmy Jones miss to put the Bucs up 4.
Franz: Coach taught us to never give up on a possession, so to speak.
Jimmy Jones scored 6 unanswered points for the Buccaneers to close out the quarter ahead 32-22.
Melo: I look up at the scoreboard and thought, oh man, there's going to be a game five if we keep playing like this. I also remembered all the negative attention we got after losing game one. Skip Bayless called me the worst player the NBA has ever seen. I didn't want that attention again.
McCarthy:: Two of my players high-fived after the quarter, and I benched them. They lost their focus.
Jimmy Jones: I felt good going into the second. The ball was being put in the basket, see.
Franz: We were riding a momentum wave, so to speak.
Michaels: You could see the Nuggets wanted no part of a game five. They came out on fire. In hindsight, it was probably best for the series, since game five was also on NBA TV.
The Nuggets tied the game at 36 after a Carmelo jumper.
McCarthy: I called timeout and told my men, this is it. If we don't turn it around here, we may never being able to look our wives in the eyes ever again.
The rest of quarter was back and forth. Jimmy Jones hit a jumper with 15 seconds left to tie it, but Iverson hit a runner with a second left.
At the half Denver was up 55-53.
Here are the respective halftime speeches, according to sources close to the situation:
McCarthy: Men, this is it. If we come out there flat, we are done. Great moments are born from great opportunity. And that's what you have here tonight, men (McCarthy was later sued by the producers of Miracle. He lost both suits and worked two jobs to pay off the fees).
Karl: 24 minutes, then we can all celebrate.
JR Smith: Coach knew what we wanted to hear.
Michaels: The third quarter turned out to be a wash. So at the end of three the score was 86-84 Denver.
McCarthy: I told my men, we have them right where we want them.
Michaels: With three minutes left, Iverson hits a shot to put Denver up 110-101.
Franz: Coach called a timeout, and what coach told us in that huddle inspires me to this day. I can't say what he said as he is afraid of more legal ramifications, so to speak.
Michaels: New Orleans goes on a run, and all of a sudden the score is 114-111 with under a minute left. With about 40 seconds left, Iverson inexplicably throws the ball out of bounds.
Iverson: Just wanted to see if they were clutch.
Micahaels: So, the Buccaneers have a chance, and they went with their man, Jimmy Jones. But he missed.
Jimmy Jones: I have made that shot thousands of times in practice. It just didn't go in, see.
Carmelo: And then Jones or whoever fouls me and I drain em both. There was so much relief after those shots went in. It was finally over.
Michaels: There just wasn't enough time for New Orleans.
Final Score: Denver: 119, New Orleans 113. Denver wins the series 3-1.
Final thoughts: Denver:
Carmelo: I got my 30. Goodbye Denver.
Carmelo was eventually traded to the Knicks, which turned out to be just as ridiculous as this series was.
Iverson: Game.
Iverson went on to play over-seas but never captured the success he had in Philly and in this series.
JR Smith: I only played in one game. One game!
JR Smith also ended up on the Knicks (see above)
Coach Karl: I was kind of relieved, there were a lot of me first guys on that team.
Karl went on to become the coach of the Kings, built around me first guys.
New Orleans:
Robbins: It was devastating. It was like getting a cold burger.
Red Robbins went on to start a successful burger chain.
Franz: We got outplayed, so to speak.
Ron Franz went on to open up a frozen yogurt stand in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Moreland: This was the end of basketball for me. I didn't know what to do next.
To this day, Jack Moreland is still contemplating what to do next.
Steve Jones: No one remembers my series, they all talk about Jimmy. And that's fine with me. I have a lot of respect for him.
Jimmy Jones: I played really well, but it didn't matter in the end, see.
Jimmy Jones rode his wave of "fame" and started his own law firm called Jones. Steve Jones was not involved, much to Steve's disgruntlement.
McCarthy: My men played their hearts out. But I guess now days heart means nothing when facing superior talent.
Babe McCarthy continued to fight the movie producers lawsuits, eventually settling in court for an undisclosed sum. He keeps busy by coach the local middle school team.
Al Michaels: I have called many snoozers in my day, but that series....well, yeah, it was a snoozer.
