The 2002-2003 NBA season is in the home stretch, and there is a slightly
dramatic playoff chase for the eighth seed in both conferences. Phoenix,
Seattle and Golden State are fighting for the right to be eliminated in the
first round by either Sacramento or Dallas in the West. Over in the East,
Milwaukee is trying to put Michael Jordan into retirement before he could
ever lead the Wizards into the playoffs. Both of these playoff races reflect
the surprises and disappointments of the league this year. Washington
expected to send Jordan off into the sunset with a deep run into the
playoffs by utilizing his senior leadership over the young talent. Instead
the team played inconsistently all year, and Jordan placed the blame on the
youngsters. On the flip side Golden
State was not even expected to make it out of the Pacific Division cellar,
but with a bright young coach lighting a fire under the team, they have a
possibility of making the playoffs. Let's examine this year's bright spots
and under-performers.
EAST New York - The Knicks did not make the Playoffs last year for the
first time in years, but they decided to make some drastic changes. They
traded perennial disappointment Marcus Camby for the rugged yet overrated
Antonio McDyess and expected to be a threat in the East. The problem with
that is he got injured before the season even started. Allan Houston and
Latrell Sprewell had their usual solid seasons, which included two 50-point
games from Houston. However, their biggest problem was that they had no serious
inside presence. Kurt Thomas is only 6'9" and has played out of position at
the center spot. McDyess would have been expected to do the same thing on a
lot of nights had he not been injured. Sprewell was a distraction earlier in
the season, but he came back and put up good numbers, even though it was
not nearly what Knick fans had hoped for. The Knicks battled back strong in
the second half of the season to get almost within fighting distance of the
last playoff spot, but their slow start has been too much to overcome.
Management has to get rid of a lot of the dead weight on this team and build
the team around Allan Houston in the next few years. Hopefully they can land
some youth to make the team competitive again in the near future.
Washington - It hurts me to say this, but the Michael Jordan
experiment may have failed. Attendance is up, and the value of the franchise
has no doubt increased. However, this won't mean much next year when Jordan
isn't on the floor. It has been thrilling and nostalgic this season to pay
homage to the greatest player to ever step on a basketball court, but the team
failed to develop any sort of identity in his comeback. Kwame Brown is a
certified first round bust and looks completely shell-shocked on the floor.
Doug Collins is virtually ineffective as a coach, because everyone knows who
his boss is. This year there were many opportunities for the Wizards to make
a serious impact in the East, but they never turned the corner. I've looked
at the Wizards through rose-colored glasses, but now as the season winds
down it's kind of sad to watch Jordan spend his last days in mediocrity.
WEST Golden State - When you look at this team's roster, it looks like a
college All-American team from the mid to late 1990s. They remind me of the
Mavericks a few years ago, before they started making the playoffs.
They're young and they run. Also Eric Musselman is a great, passionate
coach. They probably won't make the playoffs this year, but no one even
expected them to be in the hunt for a berth. Gilbert Arenas is the most
important player on this team, and it's easy to see that he has stepped up
his game since he is in the final year of his contract. If they can re-sign
him and keep everyone playing together, this team could be the Mavericks in
a couple of years.
Dallas - Sure, they have already clinched a high playoff spot, but
who expected the Mavericks to have the best record in the league? Owner Mark
Cuban doesn't count. The Mavericks are still one of the softest teams in the
league, and their defense is still improved but not championship-caliber. They
are still one of only three teams capable of winning it all. Cuban has
taken the corporate structure and attitude from his old business days and
applied it to a basketball team with amazing results. He has two great
assistant coaches on his staff who could be head coaches anywhere and one
future hall-of-famer as the man in charge. If more owners took his no-nonsense,
money-is-no-object approach, the league would be a lot more exciting. This
is THE team to watch this postseason.
Those are the shocks and low spots in the league this year. I never thought
I'd see the day where "disappointment" and "Michael Jordan" were used in the
same sentence, but this year it fits. The playoffs are just about ready to
begin, and only one of the teams mentioned will be there. I'm kind of
disappointed that the league expanded the first round to best of seven,
because it ruins the chances of there being a Cinderella sneaking into the
second round like eighth seed Denver did in 1994. However, this rewards the
better teams who may be susceptible to a few quick losses. The most
important day of the playoffs is May 22 when we all find out who wins the
Lebron James Sweepstakes or, as the league likes to call it, the Draft
Lottery.
