http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=bucher_ric&id=2140182 By Ric Bucher ESPN The Magazine How nice of Pat Riley not to throw Stan Van Gundy overboard earlier this summer and officially assume the Miami Heat coaching helm. After all, what fun would that have been? That's akin to tipping someone out of his hammock into the briny deep in the middle of the night. No war of words battling for the crew's allegiance. No scuffle as the ship heaves wildly to and fro. No parting scream, punctuated by a final thunderous splash. Trust me, for entertainment value, this is going to work out much better. The Heat aren't vying for a title no matter what happens, but at least they'll provide plenty of drama. The personalities are too fractious, the points of friction are too numerous and the expectations are ridiculously too high for anything more. Or less. For now, Stan is still on board but hanging from the railing, his pockets loaded with rocks old and new, engulfed by Captain Vere -- er, Riles' -- shadow, his survival dependent on steering a ship with a half-dozen new parts smoothly into a championship port. (I just couldn't pass up the chance to finally use that 10th-grade summer reading assignment of "Billy Budd.") Example of an Old Rock: Not getting Shaq enough touches in the final 12 minutes of the conference finals against Detroit. Example of a New Rock: Antoine Walker with a six-year deal (four years guaranteed) and a penchant for massaging the pebbles off the ball. Example of a Revamped Team Immediately Winning a Title: None. There is, in short, no way this doesn't end badly for Billy -- er, Stan. There's also no way Riley doesn't know this. Although Miami certainly has more talent after his 13-player, five-team deal last month that transformed half of the Miami roster and two-thirds of the playing rotation, it is predominantly offensive talent. Riley has built a strip-mall version of Showtime, the Lakers' highwire act of the '80s he choreographed to four titles. Van Gundy's forte is defense. By the end of last season, he had trouble keeping two shooting stars satisfied. Now he has four, with the addition of Jason Williams and Walker. Word is James Posey, the lone defensive addition, can get awfully grumpy when he's not getting enough touches, either. Why, this squad just seems to be begging for a commanding presence with a flair for offense to produce its winner within, don't you think? The explanation I've heard from those who dismiss the potential chemistry concerns for Van Gundy is that Shaq will keep everyone in line. Nobody messes with the Big Po-Po. Only they did that final year in Los Angeles, if memory serves, and again last spring in Miami, if Shaq's complaints that he didn't get the ball enough are correct. The sad truth is that no matter what a player's credentials might be, once he can't single-handedly carry teammates where they otherwise couldn't go, the bark loses its bite. Michael Jordan knows that from his experience in D.C. Magic tasted it in his comeback in L.A. It happens in every walk of life. When the star or the boss loses his magic touch, the rolling eyes and behind-the-back jokes around the copier begin. In any case, it's hard to see Shaq working on Van Gundy's behalf. Although the Diesel labeled whispers he was pushing Riley to oust the coach as unfair, he stopped well short of saying, "He's a great coach and I don't want to play for anybody else." Unless I missed something -- a possibility since I've spent part of the summer in some remote locations -- his lone endorsement was of Riley. I'm not saying Riley is purposely sabotaging Van Gundy's chance at survival, although I have to wonder what the basis of their mutual devotion really is. After all, Pat abruptly handed Van Gundy his first coaching job less than a week before the season began. For the following season, he reworked the team to land Shaq and did nothing to tamp down expectations until after the fact (recently claiming he believed all along that last year's team wasn't a championship-worthy unit). The season-warming gift this year was to leave Van Gundy's status in limbo for several weeks before announcing Stan would keep his job but would be under closer supervision. Surely J-Will and 'Toine won't see that as an opening to discuss their roles directly with management should they have issues. Granted, the Heat have every reason to roll the dice now. Miami's window for a title remains open about as long as Shaq can hold it open. No one knows how long that will be, but the decline clearly has begun. Motivated to prove he could get in shape and win without Kobe, he played 28 more regular-season minutes, blocked five more shots and once more came limping down the stretch. My biggest problem with believing this has even a remote chance of working -- that Stan will keep his job past Christmas, the Heat will be one happy family and South Beach will host a championship parade in June -- is that it never does. Title-caliber chemistry requires collective playoff trials and tribulations. It might sound quaint, but teams have to grow together through hard times. I've never seen one that didn't. Adding Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell to the Minnesota Timberwolves made them better, but it didn't make them champions (and then it made them much worse). This very same Shaq-centric experiment actually failed two years ago with a better surrounding cast. Are the same people who have anointed the Heat the best in the East the same ones who had the Lakers with Karl Malone and Gary Payton waltzing to a title? I guarantee you this: More teams were intimidated by the '03-04 Lakers than will be by the '05-06 Heat. One reason: No one can picture this Heat team playing anything remotely close to championship-caliber defense. Stan is the man, of course, who might be able to fix that. If only he had a different boat. Or didn't have his hands full trying to stay aboard the one he has.
I hope the rockets managment takes a good, hard look at this paragraph. I would rather pick up a young player who can grow with the team than another grey beard.
Example of a Revamped Team Immediately Winning a Title: None. Sheesh, what an aweful article. Bucher's lame attempt at throwing imagery into this article has failed miserably. Half the time, I can't figure out what he's trying to say. WTF?!?! They have more talent, by far, than ANY Eastern team (and most Western teams)! This is nuts! What about the Pistons from two years ago? First year with Larry Brown, they brought in Sheed, revamped and won the championship. How quickly this is forgotten.
Maybe you should re-read that paragraph. He wasn't talking about adding a young guy, just about not adding a cancer with talent.
Adding one starter in an area of weakness is not revamping. Adding three potential starters is. Especially when one of them is a shot-happy four who will either be behind or split time with a player you just re-signed over the summer, another player is a shot-happy point guard who thinks he is a starter but couldn't make it past Earl Watson and will now have to share the ball with his new team's best player (Wade), and the third is a complainer who is coming off of a bad injury year. Bringing them in also sent two of last year's starters out...making it a five player swing. That is revamping and that is playing with fire.
agreed. thinking back to the 94 Rox...they won a title that year in large measure because they were the only team that had been allowed to play together for any considerable period of time...over a course of seasons. they knew each other so well. they added cassell in the draft...but the starting lineup was the same from year to year for a while. they hit on all cylinders. this isn't nintendo. you can't just throw talent together and make a team. doesn't work that way. having said that, i think the heat will be very good. i don't think they'll win the title. but i think they'll be very good.
This is actually one of my frustrations with the Rockets over the last 7 or 8 years - we seem very reactionary. Every year, we seem to change the starting lineup by 2 or 3 players. We've gone through a wide array of "this is our future" players. I am amazed we were as good as we were by the end of last year with a whole new array of talent. I'm happy with our offseason so far, but hope we don't dump players like Barry, Wesley and Sura in a never-ending quest for "more talent" at the expense of actually letting the team play together for a while.
i completely agree. the temptation is to constantly make moves. championship chemistry takes time. let the guys take their knocks together. this particular group seems to feed off that, anyway.
I agree to an extent, with the only caveat being that players such as Wesley, Barry, and somewhat Sura are not ideal because they do not havemuch longer to grow with the teamover the next few years. I do, however, like what they bring now and the kind of atmoshpere they seem to foster. I would be perfectly happy with the roster as is (well, maybe cutting ward and signing Baxter to even things out a bit). I think they should keep their eyes open for moves, but no need to force anything this year. With the right chemestry, timing, and a little luck this team can go to the WCF as is. Max, I agree with regards to the Heat. They will make noise in the regular season but Detroit or Indiana will get past them in the playoffs.
Yet another strong piece from Bucher. I still think Miami is enough of a juggernaught to roll over the entire league, but his points are exemplified in the Spurs, multiple-time champs that thrive mostly on chemistry and focus. Evan
I think I understood the paragraph. I was the one who wanted someone young that may not be immediate help, but would really pay-off in the future. One gripe I have against Rocket mgt is not doing a good job of planning for the future . Look at what happened when Hakeem finally failed, there were no young players in the pipeline so the team panicked and signed everyone in sight. It has taken 10 years to get back to contender.
uh..wait. there WERE young players in the pipeline. mobley and francis were the very face of the franchise. they traded for a young cato. they acquired a young mo taylor. there was young talent there. it just wasn't much of a team. but i've yet to see a franchise transition well from being a champ with their superstar to having their superstar retire. LA fell off until they signed Shaq...Boston hit rock bottom...Detroit fell flat...the Bulls became a joke...and the Rockets missed the playoffs for 4 years.
That wasn't a revamped roster. They added Rasheed to a core that had already gone to the Eastern Conference Finals.
I liked the article, though I don't agree with everything it said. One scenario I could see playing out is SVG can't corral all the loose cats to play as a team. Some team members like Shaq, JWill & AW may tune out SVG and speak directly to Riley. If the Heat aren't playing at a high enough level, Riley glides in to rescue the season before it's too late. When he takes over, every player will fear him because they know he has the last word. In addition, the mentality to "save the season" could kick in and cause the complainers to put their personal agendas on the backburner and do whatever Riley wants.
Your memory is good, those were the signings I referred to. The famous foaming at the mouth Cato signed to a big contract, Mo Taylor signed to a big contract, Mobley we drafted (he was the only one that wasn't a panic move), Francis came somewhat later, I think trade and cost alot, and then Griffin (cost 3 #1's , I think), Yao miraculously dropped into our lap, and now two good years. BTW none of the people you named were in the pipeline they were all panic acquisitions, IMO.
francis and mobley weren't panic acquisitions. cato wasn't...he was a product of getting rid of pippen, more than anything else. mo taylor was signed and i didn't hear anyone complain....he was highly coveted.
The '95 Rockets were revamped, and at mid-season no less. Swapping out role players is not revamping. The Heat will not be revamped as long as they still have Wade and Shaq.
