Insights: Sports

Mike Lupica
Published in: December 1, 1999

Published November/December 1999

SPORTS NBA Redux Pro basketball will weather the lockout and the loss of jordan by Mike Lupica It turns out that when Michael Jordan went golfing for good, he didn't take the National Basketball Association with him. The TV ratings of last year's finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks may have been small enough for Jordan to use as a ball marker, but that was with good reason. The season began in January because of a labor lockout. It was nearly the Fourth of July before the finals rolled around. Those who did tune in were probably expecting Tim Duncan and David Robinson to be dunking on Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. But those who didn't watch the finals missed a good show, even if it only lasted five games. By then, Duncan had emerged as the best player in the game, a figure of grace on the court and off. And the Knicks--the most dysfunctional family this side of The Sopranos--were finishing one of the most improbable runs in NBA history. At 21-21 with eight games left in the regular season, they still secured a playoff berth and upset the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers before San Antonio's Duncan and Robinson were just too big and too good.   During the season, Allen Iverson, who looked young enough to pass for a ball boy, replaced Jordan as scoring leader. In the playoffs, the young Sacramento Kings, led by guard Jason "White Chocolate" Williams, made the Utah Jazz look older than Bob Dole.   Nobody was Jordan. And yet, people ask who will be the next Jordan. That's like wondering who's going to be the next Elvis. But even without him, the NBA made you excited about a season that almost didn't happen and lasted only 50 games.   "This league survived losing Cousy," says new Magic coach Doc Rivers. "It survived losing Russell and Chamberlain and Bird and Magic. It'll survive losing Michael."   "The best thing that could possibly happen in the aftermath of Michael's retirement has happened," Rivers adds. "There're fans all over this league who think their team has a great chance to win."   Furthermore, Commissioner David Stern got good and cranky watching all those 77-75 games and changed some rules. Players will have only five seconds to dribble with their backs to the basket below the free-throw line. If it works, we'll see more well-rounded offenses and fewer players running into forearm shivers in the lane.   "Basketball is ultimately a team game and despite the coming and going of stars, even the biggest star imaginable, there are a lot of different ways to be successful," Seattle Supersonics coach Paul Westphal says.   That said, I think the Spurs will win again, just because they have the best player and still look like the best team. Here are a dozen teams to watch, while we all wait to hear if Dennis Rodman has found work:   1) Spurs--Even with the uncertain status of Sean Elliott, after an off-season kidney transplant, San Antonio is still loaded. David Robinson isn't what he used to be but doesn't have to be with Duncan playing. Shaquille O'Neal is bigger. Duncan is a bigger talent. He's a little like tennis player Pete Sampras: he has everything except an act. The Spurs also have one of the game's underrated point guards in Avery Johnson, they play defense, they have a bench, and seem to like each other.   2) Knicks--If you follow pro basketball, you know New York's story: they're lurching around the league like guys stumbling out of a Blarney Stone pub. With eight games to go, Madison Square Garden president Dave Checketts fires his general manager, Ernie Grunfeld, and puts his coach, Jeff Van Gundy, on notice. The Knicks win six, get the eighth spot in the conference playoffs, and upset Pat Riley's Heat in the first round. Latrell Sprewell goes from Public Enemy No. 1 to one of the league's best players.   Now Sprewell and Allan Houston have had a season together. Patrick Ewing has had a summer to rest up for what could be his last shot. Marcus Camby, buried by Van Gundy for most of the season, proved himself in the playoffs.   3) Lakers--Phil Jackson gets another chance to win a title--this time with Shaq and Kobe Bryant, who are about as close as Bill and Hillary. The Lakers have plenty of talent and absolutely no playoff résumé since the days of Magic and Kareem and Showtime. Last year they went out to the Spurs in four straight. They said the series was closer than that. Losers usually do.   Shaq likes to say he's won at every level except college and the pros. So have I. When he signed for $100 million-plus, Charles Barkley wondered why pay that much to someone you can't pass to at the end of the game. Barkley meant that Shaq shoots free throws about as well as your grandmother. He's gotten better. Not much.   Jackson, trying to prove he can win without You Know Who, says that Shaq will flourish when the old Bulls offense is installed in Los Angeles. Maybe the greatest trick for Jackson will be convincing Shaq to play Pippen to Kobe's Jordan. That's because the Lakers are going to be Kobe's team longer than Shaq's.   4) Hornets--They came on very big at the end of the season under new coach Paul Silas. They also made a wonderful deal, getting Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell. "Those two guys made the Hornets whole," says Rivers. "If you're looking for a surprise team this season, go with them." Done.   5) Kings --Next to the Knicks, they were the best show in the playoffs. Williams is an electrifying talent. Earl Monroe once said of Westphal during his playing days, "He plays black." The Pearl meant it as a compliment. He could say the same thing about White Chocolate.   Sacramento also has Chris Webber, one of the most valuable players in the league in 1999, Vlade Divac and Corliss Williamson. Plus they recently added Nick Anderson of the Magic.   Yet the Kings feel they won something last season. They didn't. Often young teams take a step back before reaching for the sky. They're conference semifinalists at best.   6) Jazz-- John Stockton and Karl Malone have been together longer than Lemmon and Matthau, but they are coming to the end of the line. Last year was Utah's shot. The Jazz probably has another 50-win season in them, but they've already played the two NBA finals--with this group, anyway-- that they are going to play.   7) Suns--Here is the sleeper in the West. Penny Hardaway shows up in Phoenix with something to prove, mainly that he is still one of the big players in the game. If he is, he and Jason Kidd have a chance to be one of the best backcourts you will ever see. If the Suns' front court does anything, there won't be a team anywhere more fun to watch than this one.   8) Sonics--They still have Gary Paton. They have picked up Horace Grant, one of the true professionals of the game. They have some promising kids. The Sonics can make a lot of noise. Remember something: Vin Baker barely showed up last season and the team still finished 25-25.   9) Trailblazers--"Incredibly scary," is the way Westphal describes Portland. They lose Isiah Rider and Jimmy Jackson, pick up Detlef Schrempf and Steve Smith. It makes them more versatile and much tougher, and they were already one of the deepest and best teams around. Look at it another way: losing Rider will also make them a lot more punctual.   10) Heat--Miami will win 50 games. They will die in the playoffs and be boring as hell. Everything that makes Pat Riley a genius.   11) Rockets--Houston still has Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen. Then they add Maryland guard Steve Francis, possibly the best player in the draft. "You know what the Rockets don't do," Westphal says. "They don't go away." Barkley may be old and a pain in the ass, but he still makes his team more interesting by being around.   12) 76ers--Iverson alone makes Philadelphia worth watching. Larry Brown remains one of the best coaches in the world. He has brought in some nice players around Iverson, particularly Larry Hughes and Theo Ratleff. And he has made all of them unselfish, as much as Iverson likes to still hold onto the ball. The 76ers came on fast last year. If the Knicks stumble, the Eastern Conference finals could be Philadelphia vs. Charlotte.   "I know God sent me here for a reason," Brown would sigh when the 76ers were struggling early last season. Now we may have more faith in a higher power. Somebody break it to Iverson that we don't mean him.   Mike Lupica writes a nationally syndicated sports column for the New York Daily News.