Improving Pistons is on Van Gundy | LeBron wants no more Jordan comparisons | John Wall wants respect for Wizards
No. 1: Improving the Pistons is on Van Gundy –The Pistons welcomed a refreshing change when Stan Van Gundy assumed the head coach and personnel chairs three years ago, becoming one of only a select handful of folks to hold both jobs. With that power came expectations, though not steep at first; Detroit was reeling from the disastrous end of Joe Dumars’ run and the passing of beloved owner Bill Davidson. But now, how much have the Pistons improved? At best, they’re respectable, but a drastic turnaround hasn’t happened yet. Van Gundy is responsible for every player on the roster except Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Andre Drummond, and the club sits outside of the playoff fence at the moment. Vince Ellis of the Free Press examined the status of Van Gundy’s club:
Stan Van Gundy is taking the blame for this season threatening to sink to even lower depths.
To be frank, it’s hard to see it any other way when you consider how large his presence looms over the organization he was hired to guide in May 2014.
The Detroit Pistons fell to 15-19 and 11th in the Eastern Conference on Wednesday night after the Milwaukee Bucks’ 119-94 thumping on the Palace floor.
They have lost six of seven.
The margin of defeat in seven of their last eight losses have been by double figures; the average margin of defeat in all eight losses is a robust 16 points per game.
And before you point to point guard Reggie Jackson’s return as the reason for the bad times, here’s where you are reminded of the five double-digit beatings they took among their first 10 losses.
That’s 12 double-digit losses out of 19.
So it wasn’t surprising to hear Van Gundy verbalize thoughts of responsibility and taking the onus off the collection of players he has personally selected as team president.
On Thursday, he elaborated for a small group of reporters who spent roughly 20 minutes probing his state of mind.
Van Gundy has time to right the ship; the Pistons are only two games out of the Eastern Conference’s sixth playoff spot.
But with only 48 games remaining, time is running out.
“We’re in jeopardy right now – that’s certainly not out of (the playoff chase) by any means, but every loss puts you in more jeopardy, especially when you’re losing at home like we are,” Van Gundy said. “There’s no question that you have to understand that. You can’t run from the fact that all those losses are putting you in jeopardy.”
Let’s go back to Wednesday night when Van Gundy declined to call out his team for yet another listless performance.
“When a team is having the problems we’ve had this many times, it’s on me,” a somber Van Gundy said. “That’s all I’m thinking about right now, it’s on me. I’m not going to get in here and blister the players or anything else. Our team’s had too many of these. It’s on me, I’m responsible. I got to figure out what needs to be done. Quite honestly, I’m embarrassed. Not by my players, by me, my performance. I’m not getting it done.”
He repeated for emphasis: “I’m NOT getting it done.”
But is he referring to his coaching hat or team president hat?
He still didn’t have any answers Thursday. He is still grasping for answers for a team that also has 14 double-digit victories.
It’s something he’s never seen in his many years of basketball.
“Based on the night, we’re two totally different teams,” Van Gundy said. “Not a little different – total dichotomy. I’ve never been through it. It’s something that we’ve got to figure out. To be on both sides of it is strange. We’ve had nine wins by 15 or more and we’ve had eight losses by 15 or more. Go find that with anybody. It doesn’t happen. It just doesn’t happen.”
So is he talking more lineup changes? A blockbuster trade? A change in coaching habits?
He said all of the above is on the table. He said he had a two-hour staff meeting Thursday morning to try to decipher the puzzle.
“Everything’s an option,” Van Gundy said. “Everything is on the table. I don’t know what the answer is. Yeah, we can change all five guys. I don’t know that that’s going to do anything. You’re out here every day, you watch games every day, you have a pretty good idea who your best players are. That’s why you don’t see even the teams that are 8-22 changing that often. I understand that thinking from the outside, but it’s not how it works.”
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No. 2: LeBron wants no more Jordan comparisons — Maybe it’s because the NBA season has hit a soft spot without much drama, save for the George Karl book. Or perhaps because LeBron James once again is having a brilliant season and making his case for being the best-ever. But social and traditional media is asking questions about LeBron and Michael Jordan — the G.O.A.T. in the minds of many — and wondering if the baton has been passed already. LeBron is still playing and still in his prime even as he hits 32 years old today. Jordan is 6-0 in title series. Anyway, LeBron is getting weary, or so he says, of being compared with the NBA’s Jesus. Here’s Dave McMenamin of ESPN with LeBron:
Ever since LeBron James donned the No. 23 at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School and became a nationally known hoops phenomenon, the comparisons to Michael Jordan followed.
On the eve of his 32nd birthday, James was asked whether he has pondered Jordan at 32. At that age, MJ turned in perhaps his finest season as a pro in 1995-96, leading the Chicago Bulls to a then-all-time best 72-10 record, which the Golden State Warriors beat last season.
No, I haven’t [compared myself to him at this age], because our games are so different,” James said Thursday after the Cleveland Cavaliers held a shootaround in preparation for their game against the Boston Celtics. “As much as he was, he was much more of a scorer, and that point did a lot of, a lot of post work at that time.
“But our games are just different. His body is different. My body is different than his. So, just, you recognize the dominance that someone had at that age … but there’s no similarities in our game at all.”
James wouldn’t even allow for the similarities between his fadeaway jumper and Jordan’s, even though mashup videos have started to surface online comparing the virtually indefensible shot that both players possess.
“Nah, it’s different,” James said. “He has much more lift in his fadeaway than mine. That was definitely a go-to move of his. Our games are completely different.”
Jordan averaged 30.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.2 steals at age 32 while shooting 49.5 percent from the field and a career-best 42.7 percent from 3. James is averaging 25.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, 8.6 assists and 1.4 steals this season while shooting 51.3 percent from the field and 37.9 percent from 3.
The Cavs, while not on a 72-10 pace, have won the past nine games in which James has played.
“He’s a mixture between a few players,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said before Thursday night’s game against the Boston Celtics. “He’s got the explosiveness and power of Dominique Wilkins, the scoring ability of Jordan at times. The court vision and the way he pushes the pace like Magic Johnson and having the height, so he’s a mixture between three guys.
“And as far as a comparison between him and Jordan, the comparisons I have is when you’re on top, the best player in the league for so long and having to carry that each and every year and never get knocked down off that pedestal, that’s a big accomplishment because guys are coming for you and you’re a target — and to always stay on top no matter what, always being that best player in the league, that’s how I
compare him and Jordan.”
If James doesn’t want to compare himself to Jordan, at least he can compare himself to himself, and the numbers show he is enjoying a better season this year than he was last year, when he turned 31 years old. In 2015-16, he averaged 25.3 points, 7.4 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 1.4 steals while shooting 52 percent from the floor and 30.9 percent from 3.
“It must be the wine drinking,” joked James, who has increasingly shared his love for vino on his Instagram account. “Get better with age, I guess. I just feel great. I’ve told you guys, I feel great. I’ve conditioned myself and I’m having one of the best statistical [outputs across all] categories seasons of my career so far, and I just want to try to continue to keep it going.”
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No. 3: John Wall wants respect for the Wizards — Players equate respect in two ways: Money, first and foremost, and then visibility, which is 99 percent confined to television. Cash and tube time equates to status, and John Wall feels the Wizards aren’t getting enough of the latter. Which is true; the major networks aren’t fighting to put Washington in prime time and nobody can tell when’s the last time the Wizards snagged a great seat at the Christmas Day telethon buffet. Here’s Candace Bucker of the Washington Post quizzing Wall on the topic of respect:
In pop culture, your stereotypical conspiracy theorist has crazy eyes and an overgrown beard, lives in the backwoods and tries to convince the Internet on the existence of UFOs.
John Wall doesn’t fit that description. And yet, on Wednesday night, Wall sat isolated in his corner spot of the Washington Wizards locker room, his eyes lighting up and rapid-fire voice picking up as he spoke on a favorite topic: how the Wizards get no love. This time, he has proof.
“It’s a prime example to that conversation we had that day,” Wall told The Post. “We don’t get national exposure.”
After the Wizards finished off the Indiana Pacers, 111-104, a game in which Wall performed like a closer and scored 36 points, he spent time explaining why he publicly retweeted information about his team being bumped from an ESPN showcase game on Jan. 11. Wall didn’t sound crazy, just convinced about how the Wizards (15-16) are treated as a little brother in the league.
On the same night when Pacers star Paul George received a $15,000 fine for essentially suggesting how the league is rigged against him, Wall’s belief that TV-schedule-makers overlook his team didn’t sound so absurd. As far as NBA conspiracy theories go, this one grew legs after Washington got one of its five nationally broadcast games taken away — even though the team currently is surging toward respectability and has climbed to within a half-game of the playoff picture.
“I know you got to be able to win,” Wall said. “We didn’t get off to a great start [like] we wanted to, but we do have an all-star that’s been in the All-Star Game three times: me. And hopefully I can be [an all-star] again, and hopefully we can add Brad [Beal] and somebody else. We had five [national games] at the beginning of the year, and now we have four. And you never know, they might take another one. I feel like it’s back to what I said before: If you don’t have League Pass or NBA TV, you don’t see the Wizards.”
To Wall’s point: He is a prime-time draw, and yet — who is watching?
Last season, the Wizards made four appearances on ESPN and two on TNT but the additional exposure did not attract a greater audience. During those four ESPN broadcasts in 2015-16, Washington’s games averaged 1,397,000 viewers, a decline of 15 percent from the average ‘NBA on ESPN’ programming (1,652,000 viewers). Though ESPN slots games before the start of the season, it will often re-evaluate the schedule to feature a hotter ticket. Much like Jan. 11 — the channel opted to highlight Oklahoma City Thunder and point guard Russell Westbrook who is on a jaw-dropping stretch of triple-doubles. Due to the Wizards’ poor start, their under .500 record simply doesn’t have the same sizzle. ESPN declined comment for this story.
Even so, while Wall plays on a team currently with a losing record, he has shined.
Through 14 games in December, Wall has 10 double-doubles, including one Wednesday night in which he added a season-best 11 rebounds and nine assists (against five turnovers) to his 36 points. When it became evident that Bealwasn’t returning to the game because of a sprained right angle, Wall went from facilitating to scoring and finally carrying his team down the stretch. Wall wasn’t a superstar in the fourth quarter (1-for-3 shooting), but he still was special by putting pressure on the Pacers on the defensive end. He also attacked the basket and earned trips to the free throw line, hitting 9 of 10 in the fourth quarter.
Still, as confident as Wall looked toeing the line for clutch free throws, a scattered serenade of “M-V-P” filling his ear, he admits to a self-conscious trait. Wall spends time searching for slights, on Twitter and from blogs, to find inspiration from what he perceives to be hate.
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SOME RANDOM HEADLINES: Are the Pacers having fun? Paul George doesn’t think so … The Bulls are doing their best to manage Dwyane Wade’s chronic relationship with migraines … Are NBA players, and the Jazz in particular, somewhat fragile? … Thomas Robinson is finding a groove off the bench for the Lakers … A rather glum Isaiah Thomas says there’s work to be done in Boston.
