NBA Insider 9/13-Zo, Celtics, Stackhouse, Olowokandi

Friday, September 13


Can the Heat survive without Zo?

Alonzo Mourning's battle with a debilitating kidney illness, focal glomerulosclerosis, took a sad turn for the worse Thursday when doctors told him that he should not play in the NBA for the foreseeable future.

Coach Pat Riley confirmed Thursday night that Mourning will likely miss the season. "His levels have deteriorated, and because of that, he probably won't be playing," Riley told Bloomberg News. "He has been playing with this for two years, and he has to get it right."

Zo, hands down the toughest player in the NBA, has fallen again. After the last two seasons, in which Zo defied the odds and found the courage and the strength to bounce back from a serious kidney illness, we've come to expect that nothing can hold Mourning down for the count.

After a miraculous recovery and two years of improvement, the latest setback has those close to him whispering retirement for the first time.

"[Mourning] said, 'It doesn't look good,' '' former teammate Tim Hardaway told the Miami Herald. "He wasn't right. He wasn't feeling good. He should not come back to play. This is a sign."

The Heat have called a press conference today to give a more definitive take on Zo's future, but there seems to be no question that once again, just weeks before the start of training camp, the Heat are up the creek.

With Zo, the Heat were seriously thinking about the playoffs again. The additions of Travis Best and rookie Caron Butler addressed two huge needs, and the Heat looked poised to regain their elite status in the East. Without him, the team may be in serious trouble unless something is done quickly.

Vladimir Stepania and Sean Marks are the only other centers under contract right now. Brian Grant, who played well at center two years ago during Zo's first extended absence, is likely to get the call early. But in 2000, Riley had the luxury of putting Anthony Mason in at power forward. This season, LaPhonso Ellis and second-year player Malik Allen are the only other big forwards under contract.

Clearly, the team needs some help. The challenge is finding that help without blowing all of the cap room the Heat have cleared for next summer. Now, more than ever, the Heat need that money to stabilize their future.

That leaves Miami with two choices. They can try to sign several marginal free agents to one-year contracts or they can put Eddie Jones back on the trading block in an effort to get several quality players in return.

The free-agent pickings are slim. Wang Zhizhi is the best free-agent center still out there. However, he's restricted and looking for a significant long-term deal. If the Heat were to sign him, much of the cap room they cleared would disappear.

The team has also been talking with T-Wolves restricted free agent Loren Woods. Woods would come cheaper and would be willing to sign a multi-year contract that included a team option after year one. Several foreign centers, including Argentina's Ruben Wolkowysky and Yugoslavia's Dejan Koturovic, are also available.

The Heat could also decide to sign a veteran power forward if the team is confident that Grant can play center full time. Veteran Charles Oakley has said in the past that he would love to be reunited with Riley. His agent told the Miami Herald that he would be willing to accept the one-year veteran minimum. One league source told Insider that Oakley has spent much of the summer working out with Michael Jordan at Hoops Gym in Chicago. According to the source, he's in fantastic shape.

Other free-agent power forwards who would play for cheap include Popeye Jones, Darvin Ham, Gary Trent and Grant Long. The Heat could also try to lure Chris Gatling back from Russia (how hard can that be?).

On the trade front, Jones would be difficult, but not impossible to move. Jones makes $11.2 million this season and has five years remaining on his contract. Not many teams are in need of a two guard, but a few deals make some sense.

New Grizzlies president Jerry West has been rumored to be interested in Jones. For a deal to work financially under the cap, however, it would have to include several players. A Jones-and-Anthony Carter-for-Michael Dickerson, Stromile Swift, Brevin Knight and Tony Massenburg trade would address several needs for the Heat and it wouldn't adversely affect their cap next summer. Actually, with Massenburg coming off the books at the end of the season, the Heat would clear an additional million in cap room. For the Grizzlies, Jones would give them a veteran defender in the backcourt and it would clear up a logjam at power forward.

The Jazz have also been quietly trolling for a shooting guard. A Jones-for-Greg Ostertag, John Amaechi and DeShawn Stevenson trade also works under the cap and wouldn't hurt the short-term financial health of either team — both teams would still have major cap room next summer. In fact, in two years, the Heat would clear another $10 million in additional cap room. The question is whether the Jazz can afford to part with Ostertag with the health of Curtis Borchardt up in the air.


Wallace says Celtics will survive without a point guard

Rod Strickland is not going to be a Celtic. Neither are any of the other top point guards left out there on the free-agent market.

"We've had no discussions with Rod at all," Celtics GM Chris Wallace told Insider Thursday. Wallace was refuting a published report out of Cleveland that claimed the Celtics and Cavs were both after Strickland. "We have our point guards. After Travis Best decided to sign with Miami, we decided to move on and add one more big man to the roster."

Shammond Williams. Tony Delk. J.R. Bremer. Get used to these names. Together, they'll try to fill the shoes of recently departed Kenny Anderson.

Two years ago, most observers would have said "big deal." But it was Anderson's play, in part, that put the Celtics into the Eastern Conference Finals last year. Yes, Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker were the main catalysts, but Anderson played a huge role down the stretch for the Celtics. His trade to the Sonics, along with Vitaly Potapenko, for Vin Baker and Shammond Williams had many around the league scratching their heads.

Wallace isn't concerned.

"With the way we play, we can get away with it," Wallace said. "Antoine is a quasi-point guard. Much of the offense is run through him anyway. In our system, the key thing for our point guards is perimeter shooting. It's really more important to us than playmaking."

If that's the case, the Celtics should be in business. Both Delk and Williams are excellent outside shooters. They don't, however, have much depth up front. Baker, Walker, Tony Battie and Bruno Sundov will anchor the frontline in Boston. Wallace would like to add one more big man to the mix.

Over the last week he's had serious discussions with two international centers — Argentina's Ruben Wolkowysky and Yugoslavia's Dejan Koturovic — but hasn't decided exactly what he wants to do. He's also talked with Mark Pope and Dean Garrett, but it appears that Wallace, like so many other GM's, is sold on getting an experienced foreign player.

"I think a few years ago the thinking around the league was that taking older international players was a risk," Wallace said. "That's obviously changed. [The Pistons] Zeljko Rebraca had a great year last season. I think for a playoff team like us, what you're looking for is maturity. Both of those guys have that."


Stackhouse part of the Jordan Bunch?

I guess this is how all of us hoops junkies want to go out. Surrounded by your pick-up buddies.

A year after Michael Jordan said he was coming back to "teach our young guys the right way to play the game and how to hold themselves accountable," MJ traded away his most impressive young guy, Richard Hamilton, for an older, less talented version of himself. (Yes, technically it was Wes Unseld, but we all know who's pulling the strings here.)

Jerry Stackhouse, the newest Wizard, is Jordan-lite, an exact replica of the 39-year-old version of Jordan who just so happens to be a pale imitation of the real thing that dominated the NBA for a decade.

Talk about your deja vu.

"I can see myself out there as one of those Batman-and-Robin type things," Stackhouse said at a press conference Thursday. "I don't know who's who now, but I'm going to try to hold down my part."

We don't know either. Robin-and-Robin may be the better analogy. The fact that, in the end, Robin always gets his butt kicked seems to be lost on both of them.

The revelation that Jordan began to covet Stack while working out with him at Hoops gym is interesting. Last year it was Jamal Crawford, another Hoops staple, who Jordan had the jones for. And before that, it was Bobby Simmons, another Hoops phenom who Jordan fell in love with. Need a job with the Wizards?

Come with a North Carolina diploma and and a good run or two at Hoops and the job is yours. Is an Ed Cota signing just around the corner?

The truth is Jordan's rebuilding plan for the Wizards changes by the hour. Maybe MJ learned something for Jerry Krause after all.

First, the Wizards were trying to infuse the team with youth. Kwame Brown may be enough to swear anyone from ever going that route again, but the truth is Jordan's return last season sold a lot of tickets but hindered the rebuilding effort. His presence hasn't lured one top free agent to D.C., the lessons he was supposed to teach to players like Rip Hamilton and Courtney Alexander aren't worth jack squat now, and all his gritty play did last season was push the Wizards to the periphery of the lottery. Jared Jeffries is nice, but had Jordan stayed upstairs, the Wizards would have been looking at Yao Ming, Jay Williams or Mike Dunleavy. That's a big difference.

Need more proof that the Wizards are in trouble? Read the Washington Post's Tony Kornheiser and the Chicago Sun Times' Jay Mariotti today. Different angles. Same conclusion. Stack-and-Jordan isn't the answer for the Wizards.


Clippers clarification

I got several e-mails early this morning from readers asking about an Orange County Register story that reported in today's editions that Clippers free agent Michael Olowokandi was actually trying to get an extension and wouldn't be a restricted free agent until next season.

Here's the quote. "Olowokandi is in the final season of his five-year, $21 million rookie contract. He is eligible for a seven-year extension, with a maximum of approximately $100 million. The NBA deadline for contract extensions is Oct. 31. If Olowokandi does not sign an extension, he would become a restricted free agent at the end of the season. He could field offers from other teams, but the Clippers would have the right to match any offer and retain his services for one season. After that, Olowokandi would become an unrestricted free agent. "

This isn't accurate. Olowokandi is a restricted free agent this season. The Clippers have tendered him the required one-year offer. As Insider first reported Thursday, Olowokandi's agent, Bill Duffy, has given the Clippers until Wednesday, Sept. 18th to work out a long-term contract. If they cannot come to terms, Olowokandi will take the one-year tender and become an unrestricted free agent next summer, according to Duffy. The OC Register report is one year behind.