Coach and Executive of the Year for Bower?

Jeff Bower's dual campaign for coach and executive of the year has gained major steam in the last week. (Fine, that's way over the top after just one week doing both jobs. But if we can't have a little fun around here, what's the point?)

Just days removed from firing Byron Scott and taking over as head coach of the team he assembled, the Hornets' head honcho was an easy target for those of us (yes that includes Hang Time) looking for a villain in the affair.

But after back-to-back wins over teams (Phoenix on Thursday and Atlanta on Saturday) atop the standings in both conferences, the Hornets are riding the wave of a three-game win streak fueled by the resurgence of Peja Stojakovic and the emergence of rookie point guard Darren Collison.

Collison is filling in for All-Star point guard Chris Paul, who went down with an ankle injury in Bower's first game at the helm. Collison has filled the void by playing with a veteran's panache, joining a splendid group of rookie point guards like Brandon Jennings, Tyreke Evans and Ty Lawson in storming the league's ranks just weeks into their professional careers.

Bower deserves much of the credit for managing this mini-crisis without flinching. Thrown into the uneasy position of making a move that he had to know wouldn't be popular with his franchise player, Bower moved into the hot seat and promptly cooled it off with steady leadership.

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Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni insists that Nate Robinson's playing time was not affected by his decision to shoot at the wrong basket after the horn sounded. Uh, sure it wasn't.

That didn't stop D'Antoni from delivering this post game edict, relayed by Arthur Staple of Newsday: "Just don't mess with the game, don't play around with the game," D'Antoni said after the Knicks' 98-91 win, in which the Nets cut a 15-point deficit to one. "It's nothing [major], he just shouldn't do that. Nate's great, we don't have any problems. We've just got to take that one step forward, not messing with the game. He'll be fine."

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Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle is a man of many talents, including his ability to fuse words and images that inspire head scratching and laughter.

Carlisle's description of Kris Humphries to Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News should be added to the coach-speak Hall of Fame: "He's sort of like a construction worker with Sunday School clothes on," Carlisle said. "He's a dirty-work guy. But he's got some very good skill aspects to his game, too."

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It didn't take long for the All-Star chatter to heat up for Bulls center Joakim Noah.

And it's coming from long distance.

Nuggets coach George Karl is a fan, a big one, according to the Daily Herald's Mike McGraw: "The way Noah has been playing, it was only a matter of time before someone broached the subject. The third-year center started Saturday's action averaging a league-best 12.6 rebounds, along with 12.1 points. 'I tip my hat off to the kid,' Karl said. 'The kid plays at an all-star level with just rebounding and hustle and he has a belief in himself in the paint that very few young kids have. He's put some big numbers up, and I'm very impressed by him.'"

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Clippers forward Craig "Rhino" Smith is glad to be back in a warm weather climate.

After years of toiling in cold weather locales, Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune details Smith's voyage home: "Smith is back in the city where he was raised after going to school at Boston College and playing three NBA seasons in Minnesota. "I was real excited, but it was unfortunate to see me and Bassy [Telfair] leave Minnesota," he said. "I have a lot of good memories there: teammates, the whole organization. But this is the next thing. It would have been one thing if I went to Memphis or something, but I ended coming home, so that's really good."

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Joe Johnson as a "modern day Barry Bremen?" And some healthy man-love from a fellow All-Star. Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post takes us there with his praise of the Hawks' All-Star: "Well, now, Johnson has been to three consecutive All-Star Games (as an actual participant!), and unless he tanks for the next three months, he'll be back for a fourth. But the best player on (arguably) basketball's best team is often overlooked and underrated. 'I don't think people look at him like a Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant or those guys -- but I do,' Nuggets all-star Chauncey Billups said. 'I see him like that. He's on all those guys' level. He's one of the most complete players. For his size, his skill set is incredible. Incredible. He's one of my favorite players in basketball. I love Joe Johnson.'"

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Mark Heisler of the Los Angeles Times is waging a one-man campaign in Hollywood for a mid-season replacement on the reality show docket.

He's yet to come up with a catchy title, but he's already found his stars ... the Golden State Warriors: "If those Krazy Kardashians can get a show doing what they'd do anyway -- going out and breaking up with guys and saying OH MY GOD! a lot -- we're talking mega-blockbuster. The Warriors are like 'Hamlet, the Reality Show,' with the stage littered with the bodies of the principal characters. Of course, coach Don Nelson is the Prince of Denmark, and the body count is climbing."

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The Spurs are back on track after what seemed to the fine folks of San Antonio like an eternity.

Jeff McDonald of the Express News delivers the goods: "In simple calendar time, it had only been 10 days since the Spurs last ended a game with more points than the opposing team. In terms of an NBA season, that is the blink of an eye. It is a hiccup. In Spurs years, however, the winless drought seemed much longer than that. 'It felt like a year and a half,' Tim Duncan said. A year and a half, a week and a half, it's all moot now. The Spurs squashed their three-game losing streak in resounding fashion Saturday night, thrashing the hapless Washington Wizards 106-84 at the AT&T Center."

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Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel raises the age old question in regard to the Heat; does the system make the player? I've always believed that it's the other way around. But in the Heat's case, Winderman makes a convincing argument otherwise: "Can a team that starts Michael Beasley and Mario Chalmers, and is undersized at small forward, rely on stops for a jumpstart? The composition of the roster has changed since the prime Riley years. The Heat no longer rolls out defensive stoppers. In fact, is there a true perimeter stopper in this rotation, someone like James Posey, who arrives Sunday with the Hornets?"

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Rashard Lewis paid the price for his mistake. Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe writes about the Magic All-Star's stumble and the search for redemption that's followed: "The reputation Lewis established as a sparkling player and model citizen was tarnished in July when the NBA suspended him for testing positive for an elevated testosterone level caused by the supplement DHEA, which Lewis admits he took to combat fatigue. 'I thought what the outside world would think of me, because I am obviously not that type of player or person that would cheat the game and it was a total mistake,' he said. 'When it did happen, I got more support than anything. People gave me the benefit of the doubt because they knew I have been in the league for 12 years and I've never done anything to tarnish my career.'''

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Jeff Pearlman of SI.com tells the amazing story of Larry Luftig, a hoops trailblazer ahead of his time. And a most unsuspecting pioneer of the global basketball movement: "A 40-year-old bond trader for the Royal Bank of Canada, Mascaro's top player does his best not to draw attention. He shows up every Thursday at 9 p.m., smiles as he walks onto the court, then -- for the ensuing two hours -- lights everyone up. No mess, no fuss, no trash talk, no biggie. What few people here know, however, is that Luftig is far from an ordinary player. In the modern era of global hoops, where the details of the Polish Basketball League clash between Anwil and Polonia can be had by a kid in Hattiesburg, Miss., mere seconds after the final whistle, the world is an incredibly small place. Just look at the NBA, where rosters are filled with players from all around the globe. Yet 17 years ago, when the Internet was an infant and scouts still thought inside the box, Luftig took a monumental international step, becoming the first American to play professionally in Lithuania. And he'd never logged a single minute of college ball. Not a one."

-- Posted Nov. 22, 2009, 11:15 a.m. Question or comment? E-mail Sekou

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