More from RealGM
 General Basketball WiretapNBA Teams Prefer Former Players to CoachGeorge Karl inflamed emotions when he called Doc Rivers ‘anointed’ in an Esquire Magazine interview. His accusation speaks to friction between assistant coaches who have put in their time and former players who skip paying dues and go directly to head coaching jobs. Michael Murphy of the Houston Chronicle writes that there are benefits to both paths. And, the league – which had formerly relied much more heavily on training assistants – is looking increasingly to find experience in both realms for head coaches. Of the 29 NBA head coaches, only five have no NBA or ABA playing experience. Ten years ago, 11 of the league's 27 teams began the season with head coaches who had no playing experience, and 20 years ago, it was 12 of 23. Teams have relied increasingly on former players because they value the experience they can bring to bear. Former players can relate to current players’ problems both on and off the court. And, the players can respect that their coach has already been through what they experience. With so much of a team’s performance determined by locker-room chemistry, teams find this experience invaluable. At the same time, teams need the strength in Xs and Os that training as an assistant can bring. Detroit’s Joe Dumars says he won’t consider a head coach who hasn’t put in a few years as an assistant first, though he also values the experience a former player brings. And, with the recent freedom zone defenses have won from the league, Murphy says, the demand for good strategy will increase. Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Instant replays again a league issue“It is NBA policy that officials are prevented from seeing the television replay monitors that everyone else analyse, but what if these two moments occured deep in the NBA finals with a championship on the line?” – RealGM Heads Up. March 24th, 2002. The above quote was in the main article on RealGM Wiretap back in March of this year after guard Lamond Murray of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ shot counted after the clock did not start in a timely manner to defeat the New Jersey Nets. Only weeks before this there was controversy again, this time the Chicago Bulls’ Jalen Rose still had the ball in his hands when the clock clearly read 0.0 on replays in double overtime down in Houston. It counted giving the Bulls the win. Saturday night in the first round playoff series between the Orlando Magic and the Charlotte Hornets controversy struck once again. With the scores tied at 92 and only 0.7 seconds remaining on the clock the Hornets game plan was to lob the ball towards the rim and hope for a tip in. But as the players returned to the court guard Baron Davis decided to change the play, opting for a three point shot which he made. Television replays showed that the clock still had 0.2 seconds remaining on it when the ball left Davis’ hands, yet official Bernie Fryer waved it off ruling the ball left Davis' hands too late. Tough call, but what if the Magic ended up defeating the Hornets in overtime after the Hornets had really won the game in regulation? The Hornets would be down 2-1 in the series and facing elimination. According to the Charlotte Observer after the mistake everyone from Charlotte coach Paul Silas to NBA Commissioner David Stern was calling for closer consideration of instant replay. "In that (Hornets-Magic) situation, with replay, it would have been reversed," Stern told a CBS.Sportsline.com reporter while attending Sunday's San Antonio-Seattle game. "If you're going to go with the clock, you have to go with it." "It was discussed during the Board of Governors (owners) meeting in April and is going to be raised in accordance with the Board of Governors discussion with the competition committee," he said. "I think they have to really look at that because on the last-second shot of a quarter or anything of that nature, you have to determine whether it was a legitimate shot or not. And the instant replay is going to show it,” added Silas. "So at this point it's time to move into the 21st century." A bizarre twist to the issue came when Fryer explained his decision after the game, stating that he decided before the game that he was not going to allow a shot. He believed that seven tenths of a second was not long enough for a player to "catch, cock for a three-pointer and let go”. The NBA rulebook does not specify how much time a player needs to successfully attempt such a shot. However, in what league officials refer to as their "case book" -- a manual of interpretations of various rules -- there is a standard that officials go by. It allows a shot with at least four-tenths of a second left, but only a lob, requiring just a tap into the basket, with less four-tenths left. And had the Magic defeated the Hornets in overtime what would have happened? "That's why we're discussing (instant replay)," Stern said. "Tenths of a second are very difficult for humans to deal with. So we have to come up with an answer." General Basketball, Charlotte Bobcats, Orlando Magic Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback NBA game too slow?The NBA has worked hard over the past few years to try to put excitement back into basketball. They strive for a free flowing game, high scores, and breathtaking moves. They want fans in seats, watching in awe, their eyes peeled to the court, engaged in the breathtaking display dispersing in front of them. But how excited or focused can one be when the final 3:58 of a close and exciting playoff game takes 20 minutes to complete? This happened in Saturday’s Game 1 between the Pacers and the Nets. The final 41 seconds took 12 minutes to complete itself! The game is being over-coached. As Phil Mushnick of the New York Post so delicately puts it there are timeouts, back-to-back timeouts before the ball is even in-bounded, clock-stopping fouls, TV commercials followed by five seconds of game-clock time, followed by commercials. It is enough to drive the average man insane! But luckily Mushnick has a solution, and it certainly would make for interesting viewing. Lets install a new, simple rule; One declared time out per team in the last three or four minutes of regulation. Teams could work on which plays they’d execute in this type of execution, and the best coached team would win. The smarter, more alert players would have an advantage, not to mention the fans of all types, thinking or with short attention spans, would see basketball as it should be played – on the court rather than in the huddle. Mushnick adds that close games would still see the clock stopped at the end of close games when strategic fouls are committed, and substitutions would enter immediately after the whistle. An interesting twist to Mushnick’s idea is players injured in the final minutes, whether real or strategically enhanced, would not be allowed to enter in regulation. It would be a move in the right direction for everyone except the broadcasters, who obviously would lose some advertising airtime. After all, 12 minutes to play 41 seconds of regulation time is bound to turn people off regardless of the teams, the players or the score. Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Apr 2002 Archive
|