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In the Lane with Licht: Tyson Chandler
March 2, 2007
He may not be the most improved player in the NBA this season (Sacramento’s Kevin Martin likely gets that honor) but is there any doubt he’s the most improved player on the Hornets? Did anyone in basketball circles predict he would become an automatic Double Double this season? Do you think anyone in Chicago is laughing about the “lopsided” deal that landed the Bulls 37-year-old PJ Brown and soon-to-be-traded-to-Denver J.R. Smith in exchange for the former second overall Bulls’ pick? These questions are merely the tip of the Tyson iceberg in 2006-2007. His improvement is one of the most stunning developments in the entire league. Consider the difficulty in finding a big man in the first place, and one begins to wonder how Chicago could have soured on such a talent to the extent that they traded him for an aging, part time player.
Then again, in the past two seasons the Bulls have parted with Eddy Curry and Jamal Crawford, both of whom have flourished this season in the Big Apple. And of course, this is the same Chicago franchise that jettisoned all-star-to-be Elton Brand to the Clippers for Chandler in the first place. So, Chicago has PJ Brown to show for two high lottery picks in the post-Jordan rebuilding process. But I digress. This is not so much a story about the windy city team’s front office ineptitude as it is the Hornets keen eye for talent that netted them perhaps one of the top five centers in the league this off season. Ask GM Jeff Bower about Chandler and his eyes light up. Discuss Chandler’s improvement to head coach Byron Scott and you don’t get a sentence, you get a paragraph. Chicago saw Chandler’s yin. The Hornets are getting Chandler’s yang. Chandler, drafted second overall in 2001, is now in his 5th pro season after declaring for the NBA directly out of Dominguez high school in Los Angeles. Still just 24 years old the 7-1 pivot man had mostly been a shot blocker and rebounder through his first four seasons in Chicago. But after being shipped to the Hornets last summer he declared two things: (1) He was changing his number from 3 to 6 to put Chicago in the past, and (2) He was going to lead the league in rebounding. He should have added a third declaration: dramatically improved offensive play.
While the number change was academic (the reigning rookie of the year already happened to don the digit that made Babe Ruth famous), and the rebounding boast was clearly attainable based on career achievements, his offensive skills had basically been on the inactive list in Chi-town. In stepped Scott to make his own demand on his center. In Chicago Tyson was expected to grab offensive rebounds and toss them back out to teammates, without ever contemplating the possibility of a stick back or post move that may result in points. Scott told Tyson early in the season, “…if you take an offensive rebound and throw it out to a teammate here…I’m taking you out of the game…” Thus was born the yang of Chandler’s game. His emergence as an offensive option, heck some might say occasional offensive FORCE, is one of the most amazing in-season developments in Hornets history. Consider his overall season numbers heading into the month of March:
But, his overall numbers hardly tell the Tyson Chandler story. In the month of February the 7-1 center averaged a double double: 16.1 ppg/13.2 rpg/.613 fg% He also entered the month of March with 10 consecutive double doubles. He only had nine all of last season with the Bulls! He set a Hornets franchise record with 15-consecutive games of at least 12 rebounds. That was more than double Anthony Mason’s previous mark (7). His on-going streak of 17-consecutive games with at least 10 rebounds is the longest of any NBA player this season. He grabbed n offensive rebound in 28-consecutive games. He recorded a blocked shot in 20-consecutive games. He also grabbed 20+ rebounds three times over a five game stretch in Feb., including a franchise record-tying 23 against Memphis. Is he better than Shaq? Yao? Howard? Stoudamire? Camby? No. It’s entirely possible, however, that Tyson Chandler, in his fifth season at the age of 24, is on the verge of joining that quintet as an elite rebounding, shot blocking, and scoring center in the NBA. When he joined the Hornets last summer we all knew he had changed teams, attitude, and jersey number. What we weren’t certain of was how much his game would change. Now we know.
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Bob Licht
