The Give and Go

Editor’s Note: The following article also appears on RotoWire.

—–Original Message—–
From: Chris Liss [mailto:liss@rotowire.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 7:08 PM
To: Dalton Del Don
Subject: Give and Go

Dalton, first off, thanks for filling in for Mr. Zegers, who I believe is taking his kids to Disney World, or something like that this week. Probably he doesn’t even have kids and is just drugging himself into oblivion for a week in his basement…

In any event, we’d be remiss not to talk about the big Golden State/Indiana trade – Seems like the Pacers are saying, “Take Al Harrington and one of our thugs, and we’ll take some scrubs you gave way too much money to, and whose contracts are on the books for a while.” Is there more to it than this? Does Donnie Walsh think Mike Dunleavy or Troy Murphy still has some upside? Do you? And who’s going to get the bulk of the shooting guard minutes in Indianapolis – do they suddenly trust Marquis Daniels. Surely they’re not asking Dunleavy to guard twos. And what about Ike Diogu? Don Nelson soured on his defense, and now Indiana has a guy who can give them a little offense at center alongside Jermaine O’Neal. As for Golden State, Al Harrington should slot into the four, but is Stephen Jackson going to cut into Monta Ellis’ or Mickael Pietrus’ minutes at the swing spots? Or was taking him just the price they paid for getting the guy they wanted this summer in Harrington? What happens when Jason Richardson comes back? You gotta think they’ll be looking to make another move at the deadline, don’t you?

The other topic I wanted to hit on was the MVP race. I know Gilbert Arenas is having a great year, and the Wizards are doing well, but it seems to me you have to give it to someone in the West. I’d vote for Steve Nash – what point guard shoots 53 percent from the floor and 88 from the line? And this is a guy taking more than five threes a game – not Tony Parker driving for layups. Combine that kind of offensive efficiency shooting the ball with more than 11 assists a game, and his team having a great season, and I give it to Nash. Of course, only two players in NBA history have won three straight MVPs, Larry Bird and Bill Russell, but to claim that Nash shouldn’t get it because he’s not THAT good is a poor argument. He’s also not a Celtic, but so what? Three in a row isn’t better than Jordan’s five or Kareem’s six. Kenny Smith made a good point on TNT last week, saying that some people don’t believe Nash is for real because it took him a while to get going in his career. He was always good, but it’s very odd for a player to emerge as one of the league’s greats this far into his career. Most of the greats like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant were great a lot sooner than that.

Of course, Dirk Nowitzki is the other big candidate – his team has the best record, and he’s having another big year. He’s also better defensively than Nash and commands more individual defensive attention, of course. Where do you stand on this, Dalton, and is there anyone else I’m leaving out who deserves serious consideration? Here’s the rock. I’ll cut to the basket, and await the return pass.

—–Original Message—–
From: Dalton Del Don [mailto:seven3d@aol.com]
Sent: Friday, January 19, 9:41 AM
To: Chris Liss
Subject: Give and Go

Glad to be here, and I’ll try my best to fill the shoes of Mr. Zegers. Regarding the big eight-player swap, your assessment just about sums it up. Each team is ridding themselves of pieces that didn’t fit into their system, but on talent alone, Golden State is the clear winner here, and when you factor in bad contracts, I see this trade as fairly one-sided. It’s hard to see much upside with Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy. Murphy will probably go back to being a double-digit rebounder, but he’s never been a great shooter (43.2% for his career). Dunleavy’s size made him enticing coming out of college, but it’s obvious now that he’s nothing more than a role player and a disaster on defense.

My vote would be to keep Danny Granger at the three and make Marquis Daniels the starting SG. Watching Daniels play as a rookie in Dallas, I was sure he was a future star. If you asked me to choose between fellow rookie teammate Josh Howard or him, I would have absolutely gone Daniels. Since then, he’s always been battling a nagging injury or underperforming in general. While I was clearly wrong (Howard’s future is no doubt much brighter), Daniels has career per-35 minute averages of 13.4 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.7 steals, so he’s at least been solid when on the court.

Another disappointing young guy I had high hopes for is Ike Diogu. Granted, it’s tough to get excited about a player missing both size and athleticism, but I still say Diogu develops into a nice interior scorer. The fact Donnie Walsh made sure he was included makes this deal at least somewhat palatable for Indiana. Of course, Golden State wasn’t able to unload those contracts without taking on a problem as well, namely Stephen Jackson. Monta Ellis and Mickael Pietrus look like the Warriors’ future, and it’d be surprising to see Jackson take away anything more than 20-25 minutes a night – Matt Barnes’ PT could also get cut into. The most egregious mistake would be to take any of Ellis’ minutes away, as this kid looks special. He’s the most untouchable player on Golden State, including Baron Davis.

Incorporating Jason Richardson back into the mix will be even trickier, but having the problem of “too many good players” is a welcome dilemma to Warrior fans, as this franchise has suffered long enough. A lineup of Davis, Ellis, Richardson, Harrington and Biedrins looks pretty exciting, but will it be enough for the team’s first trip to the postseason in 13 years? If they could somehow move Pietrus and Jackson for Corey Maggette, then they’d really be onto something. Either way, one more deal looks to be in the cards.

As for the MVP race, I hate to do it, but I have to agree with you. Gilbert Arenas really is having an outstanding season, but it would be difficult not to hand out the hardware to someone in the Western Conference. Speaking of which, how far do we have to go before this terrible imbalance in talent gets fixed? Screw geography, I’m calling for realignment.

I argued pretty vehemently against Steve Nash’s last two MVP awards, but you know what, I’d vote for him this year. I don’t think he’ll actually win again; after all, Karl Malone beat Michael Jordan, who never won three in a row, simply because voters get tired of picking the same guy. Still, Nash is having his best season yet – you highlighted his numbers – but how about the way he’s captaining that ship? The Suns are 33-3 after an 0-5 start. They’ve won 29 of 31 games, while nearly winning the two losses. They might even be the favorites to win it all as of now. I know, I know, defense wins championships. The thing is, Phoenix’ D really isn’t all that bad; the statistics look worse because of all those extra possessions they are forced to defend.

Their main competition is Dallas, which brings us to Dirk Nowitzki, the other big challenger to Nash for MVP honors. He’s having a great year, and an argument could be made for Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, who are all worthy of consideration. My darkhorse, who I have yet to hear as anyone’s candidate, is Kevin Garnett. Is it because he puts up gaudy numbers year in and year out? He’s been more aggressive this year and is playing some of the best defense of his career. Also, Minnesota is the current No. 8 seed in the difficult West. You do realize his teammates are Mike James, Ricky Davis, Mark Blount and Trenton Hassell, right? Are you kidding me? He’s doing the most with the least and deserves to be in the middle of the conversation at minimum.

Speed round: I’m all for the college atmosphere in New Orleans, where Hornets fans remain standing until the home team makes a basket, but it can backfire. They had to wait nearly eight minutes in actual time last Tuesday night, including during a Hornets timeout after Orlando took a 7-0 lead.

I see three teams as clear frontrunners to win the championship this year. I’ll take Phoenix, San Antonio and Dallas, and you can have the field. Do we have a bet? You just got free on a crushing blindside pick I set, now knock down the open jumper Liss.

From: Christopher Liss
Date: January 19, 2007 10:41:49 AM PST
To: SEVEN3D@aol.com
Subject: Re: Barometer/GnG

I don’t like Maggette anymore. I used to at one time, maybe three years ago, but I’ve been to a couple Clipps games this year, and he plays with no instincts. He can score and get to the line, and when he does, he knocks down his free throws, but defensively he’s inconsistent, and he turns the ball over more than he should at the worst times. I like Pietrus as a role player – he can play defense and knock down the three. With guys like Harrington, Baron Davis and Ellis/Richardson, I think Pietrus’ defense is more important than adding more scoring. But I agree that Warriors’ fans have a little to be excited about. Still, it’s a little like the Knicks, only better, with lots of talent, but no real superstar. (Davis has the skills, but poor shot selection and the fact that he’s rarely healthy for extended stretches limits him).

I’d like to see Daniels and Granger get more minutes. Dunleavy and Murphy have their uses off the bench, but I think it would be a mistake to give either too much run. No one’s talking about Stephen Jackson in Golden State because the team already has so many decent swing spot options, and so it’s just assumed that the Warriors had to take him on just to make the deal go through. But it wouldn’t surprise me if he saw big minutes at the three until Richardson returned.

Pretty amazing what Phoenix (and Dallas) have done after slow starts. I hear your argument for KG, and if the MVP can be translated into: “Where would this team be without Player X,” he, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James all get a boost. But I don’t think having good teammates can be held against a player, and as you’ve pointed out, after a slow start, the Suns could not possibly have played any better. Last year, Nash did it without Stoudemire on a team that would have been terrible without him, and now that Stoudemire’s back, we can’t just say, “Even though Nash is playing BETTER than last year, that another good guy was added to the Suns detracts from what Nash is doing.” In fact, I’d say just the opposite – Stoudemire’s been integrated back in seamlessly, and despite having many mouths to feed in that offense, Nash ensures there’s plenty to go around for everyone, including himself. I think Nowitzki’s got a good case because the Mavs are even better than the Suns so far, and he’s their only superstar (though Josh Howard isn’t too far off). But I’ve still got to go Nash because what he’s doing is so rare – shooting such high percentages from everywhere while being the best passer in the game.

As for your bet, thanks, but no thanks. If this were the NFL, no problem – I’d give anyone three teams of their choice midseason and take the field. But in the NBA, with the larger sample size, the long playoff series, I’d take the big three as well. It might be a little different if Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady were healthy all year, and the Lakers would be in better shape with a healthy Lamar Odom. But still, Dallas, San Antonio and Phoenix are not only the most talented teams, they’re also among the best coached and most playoff tested. One of them will almost certainly win, barring catastrophic injury.

You heard me call “glass” right?