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 Inside the NBA
Posted: Tuesday April 27, 1999 02:40 PM The Hornets' Best | Big D in Portland Around The Rim Is Mark Jackson's grumbling about minutes sinking the Pacers? By Jackie MacMullan
Remember when all the pundits -- including the ones at this magazine -- were ready to give Indiana the 1999 NBA championship by acclamation? The Pacers, coming off an exhilarating seven-game series with the Bulls in the 1998 Eastern Conference finals, were deep, hungry, committed and so unselfish that they were the NBA poster boys for team harmony. "Well, that was last year," says Indiana executive vice president and coach Larry Bird. "The honeymoon is over." The Pacers could still finish with the best record in the East, but Bird says their biggest strength last season -- team chemistry -- is rapidly developing into their most troubling weakness. "Playing time is a problem now," the coach explains. "Guys are bitching about their minutes, and if we don't get it straightened out, we can forget about winning anything." As he did last season, Bird uses 10 players a night. Veterans Chris Mullin and Mark Jackson start, but it's rare for either to be on the floor in the fourth quarter. Mullin's minutes at small forward have been gobbled up by Jalen Rose. Jackson shares the point with Travis Best, who, in Bird's platoon system, gets the call in the second and fourth quarters. Jackson often sat during the fourth quarter in the conference finals against Chicago while Best broke down Bulls defenders with his speed and played the kind of defense that makes coaches get all warm and fuzzy. After that series Bird praised Jackson for the sacrifices he had made, calling him "one of the best leaders I've ever been around." Both Mullin and Jackson concede that it's tough to sit during crunch time, but, according to team sources, Mullin has accepted his role, while Jackson has not. Jackson admits that he hates to sit, but he insists it has not affected his attitude. "I doubt our coach wants someone to be happy about sitting," says Jackson. "I want to play, but I have too much respect for Coach, too much respect for myself and this team, to say something or blow up. I'm not going to do anything that will cost us a championship." That's the right thing to say, but Jackson's unhappiness has irked some teammates, although star shooting guard Reggie Miller, his closest friend on the club, sides with Jackson. "I think my not playing bugs Reggie because he wants to win," Jackson says, "and he likes our chances when I'm out there." At week's end Miller's scoring was at a 10-year low (18.3 points a game), and he was shooting a career low from the field (44.3%). When told that some league observers wonder what's amiss with the Pacers, Miller retorted, "Let them wonder. The [other teams in the playoffs] still have to come through us." That has hardly been a daunting task this year. Indiana is one of the worst rebounding teams in the league, and it has struggled to contain top small forwards such as Detroit's Grant Hill and Boston's Antoine Walker. Derrick McKey handled those defensive chores last season, but he missed the first 37 games of this season with tendinitis in his right knee. His return paid dividends quickly. In McKey's sixth game back, on April 21, Milwaukee small forward Glenn Robinson torched the Pacers for 17 points in the first 14 minutes before Bird beckoned McKey from the bench; Robinson scored just 10 points the rest of the way (only four of them against McKey), while McKey had 15 points, five rebounds and two steals. McKey's return exacerbates tension over minutes, however, and as the playoffs approach, the subplots abound. Will Miller find his stroke? Can Rik Smits withstand the constant pain in his feet? Is Jackson a leader or a complainer? "You can say last year was too good to be true," Bird says. "I don't believe that. If we concentrate on winning and forget the rest of this crap, we'll be right there again."
The Ax Falls in New York: Former Knicks president and general manager Ernie Grunfeld insists he never saw it coming. He knew his boss and friend, Madison Square Garden president and CEO Dave Checketts, was unhappy with New York's mediocre showing on the floor. Grunfeld knew that friction between himself and coach Jeff Van Gundy was an issue. Anyone with two eyes and a New York Post could see that the media were clamoring for heads to roll. But Grunfeld thought he was safe. So why was he demoted 42 games into a 50-game season? Checketts saw the Knicks were slipping out of playoff contention and needed to shake up the players, so he picked the fall guy whose exit would cause the least turmoil on the floor. With the Grunfeld-Van Gundy conflict rendered moot, the players could concentrate on making the playoffs, which might be what's required for Checketts to save his job. You can criticize Grunfeld for overpaying Chris Childs, whom he signed as a free agent in July 1996, but at the time the Knicks desperately needed a point guard. Overpaying Charlie Ward this past winter to play that position, however, is another matter. You can also debate the merits of trading for Larry Johnson or the deal that sent John Starks, Chris Mills and Terry Cummings to Golden State for Latrell Sprewell, but Grunfeld's downfall really began the day he swapped veteran Charles Oakley for underachiever Marcus Camby. Before you tab that trade as Grunfeld's biggest blunder, wait a couple of years, because it was made with the future in mind. Grunfeld had two goals last off-season: make his teams 1) younger and 2) more athletic. He reasoned that with some young legs to run with Johnson and Allan Houston, the Knicks could begin shifting to an up-tempo style. Camby and Sprewell were born to run. Ewing wasn't, and Grunfeld's plan was to begin to de-emphasize Ewing's role. A great plan except for one hitch: Van Gundy was violently opposed to giving up Oakley. He argued that Ewing would only be around for a few more seasons, so why not ride him to the max? When Grunfeld made the deal anyway, Van Gundy welcomed the physically and emotionally fragile Camby by criticizing his effort from the first week of camp and buried him on the bench. So New York did not go up-tempo, Camby has made only a marginal contribution, and the Knicks have lived -- and too often died -- with Ewing's fallaway jumper. Oakley would be a better fit for the way Van Gundy wants to play, but does even the most ardent Knicks fan really believe Oakley could turn this ragtag bunch into contenders? He's good, but he's not that good. "I felt that getting Camby made sense," Grunfeld says. "It didn't work out, but if I had to do it over, I'd make that trade again." Checketts isn't sure he would. "It's pretty clear it didn't work out," he says. Checketts will travel with the team over the season's final weeks to spend time with Van Gundy and study the chemistry in the locker room. His biggest challenge will be to define a new role for Ewing, who must be told it's time to relinquish his mantle as the leader of the offense. "That has to happen," Checketts concedes but isn't sure that now is the right time. "I don't think Patrick has been Patrick this season. He hasn't been healthy. It's still too early to suddenly change our entire game plan." Might have been nice if somebody had passed that news along to Grunfeld before he got fired.
The Hornets' Best: After enduring 16 years as an NBA player, three seasons as coach of the Clippers (1980 to '83) and more than 800 games as an assistant, Paul Silas knew the league like Huck Finn knew the Mississippi. But time and again the voice at the other end of the line sounded the same note: "Thanks for interviewing with us, Paul, but we've decided to go in another direction." By Silas's count, there were seven such conversations over the past seven years -- two with Seattle and one each with Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New Jersey and Sacramento. Discouraged but not defeated, he waited patiently for another chance to guide a team in the league he understands inside and out. When the moment finally came, it was under less than optimal circumstances. On March 7, Dave Cowens, Silas's former Celtics teammate and his longtime friend, quit as coach of the Hornets. The team was 4-11, Anthony Mason was on the shelf with a torn biceps, and All-Star Glen Rice was about to be dealt to the Lakers for Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell. Silas, the top Charlotte assistant, was offered the job on an interim basis at a salary of $525,000, which made him the lowest-paid coach in the league (just as Cowens had been before him). He jumped at the offer. "No doubt it was a tough situation," says Silas, "but I wasn't going to wait another 16 years to prove what I could do." Even the self-assured Silas couldn't have predicted the dramatic turnaround that followed. Faster than you can say Alexander Julian, the Hornets became the league's hottest team. Through Monday they had won 10 of their last 12 games and trailed the Knicks by a game and a half for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. Playing tighter on defense and looser on offense, the Hornets have gone 18-11 since the 55-year-old Silas took over. The number of plays they run had gone from eight under Cowens to, in essence, 1.5: Dribble-drive and either shoot or dish. "It's a fun run right now, and it all starts with Paul," says forward Chuck Person. "He's all business when we're playing, and he's a great friend when we're not." It's not just the wins that have generated local buzz. An antsy retiree who grew up in Wilmington, N.C., is inching ever closer to buying a 50% stake in the team. Michael Jordan's presence would be a colossal shot in Charlotte's arm, especially given the fans' loathing of tightfisted owner George Shinn. How many free agents would jump at the chance to sign with the Hornets if the man cutting their checks was the greatest basketball player in history? While Jordan and Shinn dicker over the price of Jordan's share (Shinn says $80 million, Jordan says much less), they have already agreed to expunge the scarlet I from Silas's title and offer him a long-term contract. Given Silas's success, however, the question remains: Why did it take so long for him to get a second chance? Charles Barkley, who played under Silas in Phoenix, puts it bluntly, if perhaps a bit simplistically: "Paul should have gotten a job a long time ago, but he didn't because he is black." True, the coaches who spin most readily through the revolving door don't look much like Silas. What's more, when those precious few opportunities for minorities have been passed out, they have often been Band-Aid jobs. Three of the league's four black coaches -- Silas, the Raptors' Butch Carter and the Pistons' Alvin Gentry -- started on an interim basis in the midst of disastrous seasons. They survived, but as Butch Beard, Gar Heard and Eddie Jordan can attest, when you're a black coach and fail to work miracles, it's a long time before you're back on anyone's speed dial. "You would think that [race] wouldn't be an issue," says Atlanta's Lenny Wilkens, the NBA's winningest coach, "but it is, particularly with certain owners."
Silas was also dogged by a charge -- always leveled
anonymously -- that he didn't work hard as an assistant coach.
Someone should have checked with Nets center Jayson Williams,
who credits Silas's incessant drilling with making him an
All-Star. Or with Kings center Vlade Divac, who perspired in a
lonely gym for countless hours under Silas's tutelage. "I'm
still so offended by that [rumor]," says Silas, his sheepish
grin gone, his usually slitlike eyes wide open. "I tried to
erase that stigma for a lot of years by just plugging away. Now
that I'm here I want to stay in the loop." The Blazing Rebels If defense wins championships, it's no wonder that Western Conference contenders pale at the thought of tangling with Portland, particularly when former UNLV teammates Greg Anthony and Stacey Augmon are on the floor. Both have dramatically improved their play this season and have become two of the toughest defenders in the NBA. Through Sunday, Portland had held opponents to 41.3% shooting. Coach Mike Dunleavy says that's because Anthony and Augmon wear down opponents with their end-to-end pressure. Anthony signed with Portland after seeing little action last year backing up Gary Payton in Seattle. Much like Orlando point Darrell Armstrong, Anthony turns to java and sugar for his pregame jolt and even keeps coffee behind the bench so he can slurp some instant caffeine during the action. Augmon has been with the Blazers 2 1/2 seasons. He was rescued from the Pistons in January 1997, after he fell out of then coach Doug Collins's rotation. Augmon came to Portland and was a solid reserve last season, but no one was expecting him to have the kind of impact he's had this year. Both Augmon and Anthony give credit for their success to Portland assistant Tim Grgurich, who was the top assistant to former UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian when the two Blazers played there. Grgurich is one of the most respected assistant coaches in the league because of his enthusiasm and patience while working with players -- which explains why a bidding war among half a dozen teams erupted over Grgurich's services last summer. Portland won out by offering him $800,000 a season. For that Augmon is grateful. Under Grgurich's watchful eye he has regained the intensity and defensive prowess that made him the ninth pick in the 1991 draft. "He's become invaluable," Dunleavy says. "Before the season, if Augmon was mentioned in a trade, I had no problem with it. Now? I wouldn't give him up for anything." Ask Atlanta vice president and G.M. Pete Babcock what separates his Hawks from the elite teams, and he'll give the answer his players don't want to hear: "We're not tough enough." This too-nice rap is particularly vexing to center Dikembe Mutombo , who has been portrayed as an elbow-swinging assassin since he broke the noses of Nets big man Jayson Williams and Cleveland center Vitaly Potapenko early in the season, then knocked out a tooth of New York guard Chris Childs on April 9. He was fined $7,500 for that incident. "I have never tried to hurt anyone," Mutombo says. "My team asks me to play tougher, and when I do I get penalized." ... Tim Thomas , who came to Milwaukee on March 11 from Philadelphia, may have been averaging only 6.6 points and 2.3 rebounds a game at week's end, but Bucks coach George Karl says he's expecting much greater production next season, when Thomas will have had a full training camp to learn Karl's system. "I keep waiting [to hear] what's supposedly wrong with this kid," says Karl. "All I see is a 6'9", 6'10" guy who can play every position. I love him." ... This summer will be put-up-or-shut-up time for Toronto's Charles Oakley , who has repeatedly said he'll play for less money to join a contender. The Lakers have his name near the top of their wish list, but it's extremely unlikely they'll have anything more than the veteran exception ($2 million) to offer him. L.A. has started five players at power forward this season. Issue date: May 5, 1999
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