Dave G's Dugout

BRB

I will be business tripping on the left coast for the next while and will be unable to post during that time. But don't worry - the playoffs are just getting hot and as soon as I come back, we'll have plenty to talk about.

An Incomplete List of Things I Don't Understand

1. Autoracing

The Game of the Century

Game Seven between the Celtics and the Cavs may have been the greatest game of the Post-Jordan era. You have the great Boston Celtics, the best team in the league, facing off in a deciding game against The Next Great One. LeBron stepped up like he did against Detroit last year and had a career game, scoring 45 including two three pointers that kept the game within reach. LeBron definitely has that champion quality where he can just decide to win and take over a game. I can't wait to see him do this when he has a better supporting cast - if he did, the Cavs would have won this game. But he didn't, they didn't, and Paul Pierce knocked the defending Eastern Conference Champs out of the playoffs. Pierce played Larry Bird to LeBron's Dominique Wilkins in this epic and in the end, Pierce got the job done and led his team - that's right, HIS team - to the Eastern Conference Finals. For all the talk of the Big Three, Pierce has been the only guy to play with a fire in his belly in the playoffs. With Ray Allen shooting like poo and Kevin Garnett playing most of the playoffs like it's November instead of May, Pierce and Rajon Rondo have had to lead this team. And they have. Another point: The Celtics won this game because Pierce played Russellball and because Doc Rivers finally coached the right way. He benched Allen in the fourth when he got cold and played Eddie House over Sam Cassell. He made sure Pierce touched the ball on every possession and he returned to everything he did right throughout the regular season. Hopefully he'll treat the conference finals the same way.

Lottery post coming soon

Knicks Hire the Monopoly Man as Head Coach

     Goodbye Isiah. Hello Mike. The Knicks snatched Mike D'Antoni off the market this week, hiring him to replace Thomas as the maligned team's head coach. While there are a few question marks surrounding whether D'Antoni is the right fit, I think this is a great move by Donnie Walsh and is a clear statement from Walsh that the Knicks are climbing back on the winning track.

     Here's where I dispute some arguments against D'Antoni:

     1. He is a win-now coach. True, but I think everyone realizes that the Knicks aren't going to be the Suns for at least a few years. I'm okay with him trying to win games. I think that's probably a good thing for an NBA franchise to try to do. With Mikey D at the helm, I expect the Knicks to win more games than they did last season and improve in all aspects of play - but I'm not expecting to be the Suns, or even the Nets. If the Knicks win 30 games next year, that's a big step. If they win 35, they're almost a playoff team in the East. The East will be a tougher conference next year, undoubtedly. Boston, Detroit, Orlando, Toronto, Cleveland, and Washington will be playoff locks. Chicago drastically underperformed this year and they will have to regroup with a new coach. Philly and Atlanta are two young franchises perfectly capable of making another run (actually, I think Atlanta is going to turn a lot of heads next year). And New Jersey should benefit from consistency in the first full season of the Post-Kidd era. The Knicks are not going to make the playoffs next year or probably the year after that. But they will be better than this past year and a contender to win 30 games. It's sad when that's your goal, but we just bottomed out this year. We won't be great, but D'Antoni's influence and the imminent culture change should help immediately.

     2. He can't run his offense with this roster. This is true. D'Antoni cannot execute the seven-seconds-or-less speed game that he ran with Nash in Phoenix. Eddy Curry and Zach Randolf can eat a doughnut in seven seconds, but they can't make it down the floor that fast. I'm hoping that this encourages the Knicks to make as many deals as possible to basically rid their roster of everyone but David Lee. D'Antoni will undoubtedly have to change his gameplan for this team, but a half-functional D'Antoni offense is better than Isiah's offense, which is to say no gameplan at all.

     3. He may not be able to handle New York. Let's face it: New York is the toughest place in the world to play or coach and the media will be breathing down Mike's neck the entire time he's here. He had a country-club organization in Phoenix compared to what he will face here. But this guy has two enormous things working in his favor here. First, he's used to the big stage. He has led one of the NBA's most successful teams for the past four years. He has played in conference finals. He has coached the MVP. He has dealt with rivalry (Spurs) and has been at the center of the biggest scandal in league history (Tim Donaughy). Mike D'Antoni is not an amateur and while he is used to a more relaxed atmosphere, he appears to have no illusions about the hardships of working in New York. The second big thing he has going for him is that he was preceded by perhaps the worst coach in the history of the NBA. Our beloved team has reached rock bottom. There is nowhere to go but up. The players, organization, and city all feel this way. No one is expecting to win right away. He won't have the pressure that Joe Girardi faces. Knicks fans just want to climb steadily up the ladder until we reach the top. He's as good a guy to get us there as any.

Three other quick points: First, D'Antoni is a coach who players want to play for - if the Knicks get their stuff together, people will want to come play for him (this includes LeBron, Wade, Bosh, and Michael Jordan, all of whom will be available to sign in 2010). Second, he is an assistant coach for the olympic team, which means that he will be spending a lot of time around LeBron and might be able to guide him toward the Knicks. Third, he has a good relationship with Stephon Marbury. He coached Marbury in Phoenix and although he shipped him to NJ, Marbury knows it was purely a business deal and is apparently looking forward to working with D'Antoni again. I hope Marbury is on the next train out of NY, but if no one wants his absurd contract and he is stuck here, D'Antoni may be the only guy to get through to him. Fourth, D'Antoni looks exactly like the monopoly man.

Farewell Annika

     In a story that isn't getting nearly enough print, Annika Sorenstam announced her retirement from golf this week. The 37-year old Sorenstam is trading her career for family life, but leaves behind a legacy that rivals if not demolishes that left by any other female golfer in the history of the sport. In fact, Tiger Woods crowned her today as "the greatest female golfer of all time." Sorenstam's accomplishments include 72 LPGA tournament victories, 10 major titles, competing against the men in the 2003 Colonial, and being the only woman in LPGA tournament history to shoot a round of 59. But these are only numbers. Annika's impact on golf is truly immeasurable. In addition to dominating on the course, she has become the game's ambassador to women around the world and has helped the sport become a true international phenomenon. Annika Sorenstam will certainly be missed, but she leaves her sport an unparalleled legacy.

Hold the Mayo

     "Why is a sandwich so expensive at the University of Southern California? The Mayo costs $30,000" - a joke told on ESPN radio this morning.

     OJ Mayo received over $30,000 in gifts before and during his time at USC, or so says ESPN's Kelly Naqi. Naqi's Outside the Lines report details Mayo's involvement in a complicated operation that saw a major sports agency bankroll the life of Mayo's mentor, Rodney Guillory, who transferred some of the funds to the basketball star himself. This is probably as close a look as we will see at the shady system of amateur and collegiate basketball and the lives of one-and-done b-ball stars who live within that  system. Read the ESPN article and watch the video. It's worth it.

     So who is to blame for this? Mayo? Guillory? The agency, BDA Sports? How about the University of Southern California? The answer, I think, is everyone - but Mayo least of all. While Mayo obviously should have shown better judgment, is it really fair to blame a guy who grew up in this system? Mayo was blessed with a talent that most of us will never know and he grew up with millions of people offering him the world. He fell in with Guillory and his crowd at a very young age (high school), had a major sports agency offering to back him when he was 16, and moved over 2,000 miles from his family to attend school. The system was his only influence and he grew up under its control. I'm usually not that understanding regarding the poor judgment of athletes, but I cannot hold this kid fully responsible for being a pawn in a powerful, imposing, negative system. As Naqi's interview subject and former Mayo confidant Louis Johnson said, Guillory pimped Mayo. I can't think of a better way to put it. Mayo performed, got a small share, and now has to face the music.

     I blame the system, these shady characters within it, and yes, I blame USC. It's simply unbelievable that these coaches didn't know what was going on with Mayo. He was their STAR player, just as Reggie Bush had been the star player in football. He was one of the premier recruits in the country, every school in the country was gunning for him, and USC was thrilled to get him. Do you really think they wouldn't keep a hawk's eye on him once he was there? USC's national reputation and success all hinged on this kid. If they were going to keep a close eye on anyone, it was their star. It was their job to know exactly what their premier player was doing, who he was with, and everything else about him. This wasn't just money in an envelope. This was a major, ongoing transaction that included a a change in lifestyle and an ever-present posse. There is no way in hell that USC did not know. I'm not saying this is USC's fault, but it is their responsibility.

     Everything aside, Mayo was a bust for USC. Let me explain. He failed to lead them past the first round of the NCAA tournament and he brought about this major scandal that, in the wake of the Reggie Bush fiasco, could cripple one of the NCAA's premier athletic departments. All that for a first-round tournament exit.

Sports, Real Life, and Death

This is a very touching story that I heard/read while listening to Scott Van Pelt's radio show today. With all the Pacman Jones-esque b.s. we read in sports, this kind of thing reminds you how sports brings real life forward and can add meaning and light to even the darkest stories.

Celtic Pride