Looking for Explosions

Written by Ted Bauer


Every time you see Dwayne Wade slicerepparttar lane and elevate for an all-too-easy two points, or witness LeBron’s skywalking feats of fancy --- or, heck, even watch Luke Ridnour whiprepparttar 132888 ball aroundrepparttar 132889 perimeter ofrepparttar 132890 Key Arena, looking for an open three for one of his teammates --- you should be reminded ofrepparttar 132891 2003 NBA Draft.

The top picks of that board have arrived, in many cases far sooner than expected. LeBron is a perennial magazine cover boy, andrepparttar 132892 most oft-asked question inrepparttar 132893 week beforerepparttar 132894 All-Star break was “Is herepparttar 132895 next Jordan?” Carmelo’s game dropped a bit after Athens, but under George Karl, he has begun to diversify his overall package a bit, andrepparttar 132896 Nuggets are improving behind him. Wade is one-half of arguablyrepparttar 132897 most dynamic 1-2 punch inrepparttar 132898 league right now, and later selections from ’03 --- Ridnour and Collison inrepparttar 132899 Pacific Northwest, Josh Howard down in Dallas, and David West inrepparttar 132900 imploding New Orleans organization --- are making significant gains in their games.

Withrepparttar 132901 apparent acceleration ofrepparttar 132902 NBA’s learning curve, a question naturally arises: which players fromrepparttar 132903 2004 NBA Draft --- current rooks --- could become league-wide sensations byrepparttar 132904 midpoint of next season? Never fret. Hoops Avenue has your hook-up:

Emeka Okfaor, F/C, Bobcats: Okafor could swipe ROY honors this year. Ironically, his biggest threat is probably former teammate Ben Gordon, now a true “Baby Bull.” More on Gordon in a second, but Okafor has putrepparttar 132905 surprising Bobcats on his back. In a game againstrepparttar 132906 Bulls this past weekend, he scored 26 to complement 12 rebounds, and is, statistically speaking,repparttar 132907 10th-best center inrepparttar 132908 NBA already. Okafor has had nagging back injuries since his days in Storrs, though, and he’s been sidelined for portions of his rookie campaign. If he can play through, andrepparttar 132909 lottery-bound Bobcats can nab one ofrepparttar 132910 point guards likely to come out this year, Okafor’s stock could rise substantially in his sophomore campaign. He’s a smart baller, and with a true point guard --- no offense, Jason Hart --- he could berepparttar 132911 man in Charlotte for years to come.

Dwight Howard, F/C, Magic: Howard should be getting more props fromrepparttar 132912 media in general for his excellence onrepparttar 132913 boards --- he’s a hair under 10 boards a game forrepparttar 132914 season, and his offense and defense improves consistently from week to week. Howard might getrepparttar 132915 media backhand because as high schoolers inrepparttar 132916 NBA go, he’s far short of Bron Bron, but far north of Kwame Brown at this point in their careers. Howard is still very young, andrepparttar 132917 cast in Orlando is eclectic. He probably won’t be a perennial All-Star, 20 and 10 guy until 2008, but watch his constant upward progress, whether for fantasy purposes or sheer enjoyment.

Ben Gordon, G, Bulls: I’ll saverepparttar 132918 comparisons to Vinnie Johnson --- everyone who followsrepparttar 132919 league has read that more times than Gordon has liftedrepparttar 132920 Bulls inrepparttar 132921 fourth quarter. The true question with Gordon long-term isrepparttar 132922 same as all others in his mold: what happens when he becomes one ofrepparttar 132923 five? When Gordon eventually entersrepparttar 132924 starting line-up, be it in Chicago or his next stop (wherever that may be), will his game change at all? Will he be more dominant, or slink torepparttar 132925 background? Regardless, these are not questions you need to deal with next year ---repparttar 132926 Bulls are young, they’re learning how to win, andrepparttar 132927 East doesn’t figure to get significantly better this off season. Look for Gordon to be a catalyst forrepparttar 132928 next several years, and producerepparttar 132929 gaudiest overall statistics ofrepparttar 132930 2004 class forrepparttar 132931 first four years of a career.

Can McHale Defrost the Wolves?

Written by Ted Bauer


Everyone who has visited or lived inrepparttar Twin Cities during this time of year knows how ridiculously cold it can get. What almost no one can figure out in Minnesota and aroundrepparttar 132887 NBA isrepparttar 132888 deep freezerepparttar 132889 Timberwolves have plunged into.

Kevin McHale, Minnesota’s VP of Basketball Operations, finally took his team’s temperature on Saturday and decided to call 911. Actually, he called long time Timberwolves coach and longer time friend Flip Saunders to inform him he was being relieved of his coaching duties. Then McHale announced that he had a replacement for Saunders waiting inrepparttar 132890 wings - himself.

Nearly every preseason forecast hadrepparttar 132891 Wolves and San Antonio meeting inrepparttar 132892 Western Conference finals, and many felt this would be Minnesota‘s year to win it all. Yet ifrepparttar 132893 playoffs started today, Minnesota would be onrepparttar 132894 outside looking in, with Los Angeles - yesrepparttar 132895 Clippers, and Denver only one game back inrepparttar 132896 loss column forrepparttar 132897 9th seed. How does a team that wasrepparttar 132898 #1 seed inrepparttar 132899 West last year, two wins fromrepparttar 132900 NBA Finals, and returning all their key players, go so far south so quickly? For starters, their home record is dismal for any team that has playoff hopes. Through Saturday, only five teams inrepparttar 132901 league have lost more games at home thanrepparttar 132902 12repparttar 132903 Wolves have dropped, and those five teams (Utah, Golden State, Charlotte, Atlanta, and New Orleans) arerepparttar 132904 five worst teams inrepparttar 132905 league. Their record againstrepparttar 132906 Eastern Conference is an equally disturbing 7-13, one of only four teams inrepparttar 132907 West that don’t have a winning record againstrepparttar 132908 East (again, see Utah, Golden State, New Orleans). If you can’t dominate at home, and againstrepparttar 132909 East, you aren’t going far inrepparttar 132910 West.

At least give McHale credit for trying to clean uprepparttar 132911 mess he largely created. The blame forrepparttar 132912 NBA’s biggest bust this season sits squarely on his shoulders. Saunders is a quality guy and a good coach who truly paid his coaching dues onrepparttar 132913 way torepparttar 132914 NBA. But he wasn’trepparttar 132915 right guy forrepparttar 132916 Wolves, and McHale let his friendship with Saunders cloud that reality. If Saunders had coached anywhere else, in any pro sport, he would have been gone long before havingrepparttar 132917 chance to lose inrepparttar 132918 first round ofrepparttar 132919 playoffs his first seven tries. Regular season wins are nice, playoff series wins are mandatory. McHale was apparently satisfied with that nice regular season record, until a shortage of those wins jeopardized another trip torepparttar 132920 playoffs.

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