Where Debuts Happen

Basketball, Major Sports

Posted by SK, February 21, 2008 - 11:59 pm

Last night, two future first-ballot Hall of Famers suited up for their new teams.  Of course, we homers at DeepSlant were all over it.  I followed the Jason Kidd debut as the Mavs traveled to play the Hornets, and I gave R-Dawg-The-Suns-Homer a shot at covering Shaq’s debut against the Lakers.  Stay tuned to see if there was a Fu-Schnickens sighting in Phoenix.  But we start off in New Orleans…

*****

Haha, yeah I WISH I was actually in New Orleans.  No, no, unfortunately I’m watching it snow outside.  Man I am done with this New York winter.  And how good would a po’ boy be right now?  That would totally hit the spot.

Anyway, my brother thought it would eventually happen, even though he didn’t think it was the best idea.  I thought it wouldn’t happen, and that it would just wind up being another in a series of disappointments for Dallas sports.  Well, the glass-half-full view won this time.  All it took was 8 days, 2 iterations, and multiple suicide attempts by your faithful correspondent.  But it finally happened.  Its Jason Kidd!  Its the Dallas Mavericks!  There’s no Toni Braxton this time!  This time, it’s for the title!!

This trade was actually more than three years in the making.  Most people don’t remember this, but the reason that the Mavs initially let Steve Nash go (besides the fact that he was 30 and had a history of back injuries) was because they thought they had a shot at somehow landing Jason Kidd.  So I should have known that the front office would have made it work, in spite of Devean George’s cockblocking and Jerry Stackhouse’s big mouth.  May I never doubt Donnie Nelson and Mark Cuban again.

And so it happened.  After a whirwind practice, the newest Maverick flew to New Orleans with his team to face the Hornets.  But defeating the top team in the West wasn’t going to be a easy task for a point guard learning a new system.  Kidd’s debut with his new old team at times felt a lot like the week-long trade talks that brought him to the Mavs - awkward, confusing, and maddening at times.  Dallas played exactly like what it was - like a team that was thrown together at the last minute and only practiced once together.

There were flashes of brilliance though.  In the second quarter, the Mavs had a 3-on-1 fastbreak with the ball going from Eddie Jones, to Kidd, back to Jones, back to Kidd, and then finally to Dirk for an uncontested dunk.  That was a thing of beauty. 

But those were few and far between.  Athough Nowitzki scored 31 and Kidd provided more assists and rebounds than the Mavs are used to getting from the point guard spot, Chris Paul’s nine steals and the rest of the Hornets proved just too much for the Mavs.  Obviously, it’ll take a while for the Mavericks to get in sync with their new old point guard.

But this trade wasn’t made for games in February.  This trade was made for games in April, May, and hopefully June.  We’ll have to wait until then before being able to evaluate the risk and reward of this trade.

Time to pass the mic to R-Dawg, who’s hoping to ride the Diesel to the NBA Finals…

*****

Four minutes into the game.  That was all it took for a Shaq-attack, ie a heart attack for Shaq.  No points and he huffs and puffs back to the bench.  Hopefully this isn’t a sign of things to come.

But Shaq, even if he were playing the game on crutches and had one arm tied around his back, is still Shaq: an imposing, 300lb-plus behemoth that simply takes up the entire lane. The Suns time and time again have lacked in rebounding and an inside presence, especially when it counts-during playoffs.  Let’s face it, Suns small-ball is a joy to watch, but the playoffs is purely a half-court game.

And that is where Shaq comes in.  He provides a huge body in the paint for 20-25 minutes, opening up Amare Stoudemire to make like a bandit.  Now, for this plan to really work, Grant Hill has to stay healthy and keep doing what he’s doing, while Boris Diaw has to assume Shawn Marion’s old position, something he hasn’t done since you thought your home was worth a lot more than it currently is.

Shaq breathes a new life into a young team used to losing in the playoffs, either fairly (against the Mavs), or unfairly (I’m not even going to get into the Tim Donaghy-refereed game against the Spurs last season; it nearly caused me to leave basketball for good).  Imagine the possibilities for Steve Nash with Shaq in the middle- it’s a playmaker’s feast!

Steve Kerr has been pushing for a defense-oriented approach.  Some say this is causing tension with D’Antoni’s “uh, what’s defense?” philosophy.  I think Kerr is merely tweaking D’Antoni’s 99%/1% offense/defense game into more of a 70/30 game. If 99/1 nearly got them over the hump against the 0.5/99.5 Spurs, 70/30 should do the trick.

The game itself was actually really exciting.  The Suns seemed to run a hybrid version of their run-and-gun: small-ball sans Shaq, then slow it down and play “playoff style” when he was in.  This will be good in that the team will be less fatigued than when constantly running for four periods.  The flip side is that it completely ruins their rhythm throughout those four periods.

Shaq actually showed some incredible energy in the 4th quarter, even diving after a loose ball at one point.  The cynic in me, though, says that Shaq’s motivation is simply to prove critics wrong, versus a true desire to win.  So, whether he’ll be a springboard by the playoffs remains to be seen.  And the true benefit (or loss) of this trade will come playoff time.

The Pacific Division is now Kobe and Gasol versus Shaq and Nash.  My, how things have changed.

*****

The running theme of the night?  Regardless of who was traded where, it’s going to take a little time as players adjust to teams and teams adjust to players.  It’ll take at least a month to figure out what the impacts of this year’s blockbuster trade deadline deals will have this year.  Especially in the Western Conference where 9 teams are separated by 6 games in the loss column.

I predict the most exciting finish to an NBA season in decades, and the most intense playoffs ever.

Can we rock?  Whats up doc?

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