I hate Stephen A. Smith

Damn ... Peter Vecsey just WAILED in to Stephen A. Smith today. It's almost hard to believe that Vecsey was actually supposed to be writing about the Mo Cheeks-Portland situation ... he just goes off on the Stephen A. tangent.

BTW, I can't stand Smith either.... these are just two evils though



http://www.nypost.com/sports/41924.htm

CHEEKS AND BALANCES

March 6, 2005 -- JOHNNY DAVIS is commit ting the same boo-boo as Magic coach that greatly greased Maurice Cheeks' Blazers exit; he's making his boss look bad. If you want to play that way, it's a good idea to own some serious security to offset your strong convictions. Either that or have another job already lined up.

As Notorious might rap, "Even if you've got it goin' on, you're dead wrong."

Even if your assessment of talent is ultimately confirmed, showing up your boss, a guy who didn't hire you in the first place, is generally not the most persuasive technique to earn advancement in the company.

Despite repeated nudges by Portland president Steve Patterson and GM John Nash, Cheeks continued unsuccessfully to try to win with played-out veterans, free agents in waiting, no less.

Despite irrefutable evidence that Damon Stoudemire, Nick Van Exel, Ruben Patterson, maybe even Theo Ratliff, lacked the capacity to take the Blazers anywhere worthwhile, Cheeks resisted changing his focus to the future.

Despite mounting pressure in chambers to judge the promise of Sebastian Telfair, Darius Miles and Joel Przybilla, whom Nash was responsible for drafting at No. 13 (too high, many argued), re-signing at the mid-level maximum (too much, clamored the vocal majority), and recruiting for the bargain price of $1.6M, Cheeks stubbornly declined to switch passwords.

So I guess we shouldn't have been surprised when Telfair, Miles and Przybilla were introduced as starters before Friday night's game against the Jonathan Bender-less Pacers.

Nor should it come as a great shakes, I suppose, that the Blazers established their ability to lose with or without Cheeks despite Indiana also being minus Jermaine O'Neal, Ron Artest and Jamaal Tinsley. But, hey Dale Davis was back in force — well, back, anyway — ironically filling in for O'Neal, the man he and Joe Kleine were traded to Portland for on Aug. 31, 2000.

Just as we should have anticipated Nash's halftime TV interview in which he explained his team's change of direction (emphasis on ratcheting up the offense and digging in on defense) for the final 27 games under temp Kevin Pritchard.

Management decided two days previously not to exercise next season's option on Cheeks, hence his firing.

"We didn't want to make him a lame duck the rest of the year," said Nash, a lame duck himself; don't think that didn't factor into the transformation equation!

Declining to exercise Cheeks' option means he pockets roughly half ($1.5M) his salary should another head job fail to materialize next season.

In the humble assessment of multi-media fraud Stephen A. Smith, Cheeks was a lame duck anyway because the Blazers opted not to exercise the option early on; that's supposedly the reason at least a couple players flagrantly disrespected him and why he lost the attention of several others.

Predictably, Stephan Anal neglects to note Nate McMillan's pending free-agent status. Despite not possessing a contract, a guaranteed option, or a pledge of any kind from management, McMillan has managed to keep the Sonics reasonably afloat.

Mind you, this simple-minded rationale is courtesy of the same hoople who proved incapable of forming a coherent thought in crisis. Along with the rest of his ESPN crew, Stephan Anal advocated the Pacers were justified doing hand-to-hand stands.

That is, until their bosses ordered them the next day to reverse, retract and repent publicly. Naturally, had Stephan Anal so much as a shred of common sense to prop up his pomposity and skimpy sense of appropriate behavior instead of faking it on the fly, maybe, just maybe (I know this is a stretch), he would've had the courage to stick to his opinion.

What I want to know is, where were those know-it-alls in the control room when their boys were making absolute fools out of themselves? Obviously, they concurred with the "talent" until their bosses properly tongue-lashed them.

The same "journalist" infamous for shoplifting reports from other members of the press since breaking and entering into the business and using them, accurate or inaccurate, as his own. Getting caught in the shameless act of stealing the 76ers' release of the Chris Webber trade and promoting it as coming from sources was long overdue and much celebrated within the profession.

People have walked the plank, been suspended or otherwise punished for similar unethical indiscretions. ESPN rewards such conduct, furnishing Stephan Anal with even more hot air to pass out fountains of misinformation. Evidently the Philadelphia Inquirer seconds that policy.

Shortly before the All-Star break, according to his sources, Stephan Anal informed the City of Brotherly Love that Allen Iverson wanted out sooner rather than later if someone of consequence wasn't imported.

The very first breath out of Iverson's mouth the next day at Sixers practice passionately denied anything of the sort. Maintaining a position he's held from day one, A.I. said he wants to finish his career where it began and that you'll never hear him demand a discharge.

Astonishingly, Stephan Anal's disclosure didn't earn him a promotion and a raise from Inquirer editors.

Meanwhile, as the trade-deadline buzzer passed, ESPN's valued property imparted this wisdom on his audience. In analyzing the 76ers-Kings exchange, he concluded, in effect, "money was a big factor. Sacramento saved $15 million to $18 million in salary with this trade."

Of course, back here on Earth, the Kings actually took back $4 million to $5 million more in salary than they gave up; my assessment is based on all salary after this season because the deal has to match within 15 percent plus $100,000.

That's how resolved Sacramento was to move Webber; VP Geoff Petrie obviously felt that breaking his ailing/aging forward's contract into pieces was his one chance of accomplishing that.

Richard Sandomir recently wrote he finds Stephan Anal "loud but interesting." Please, Mr. New York Times media critic, I beg you, please spell it out for the rest of us exactly what you find interesting. Or original. Or enlightening.

Which brings us full cycle to Johnny Davis and how he's apparently intent on self-destructing, a la Maurice Cheeks. This past Wednesday he interred Doug Christie in his rotation, using him an embarrassing six minutes against his ex when the Kings were in town. The previous two outings in Miami the 6-6 guard's cameo was a combined 17 minutes behind Jameer Nelson.

Basically that sums up what Davis thinks about GM John Weisbrod's controversial trade of Cutino Mobley to Sacramento that Steve Francis may never get over. Especially since the admittedly depressed Christie, supposedly acquired to provide desperately desired defense as he were Bill Russell, is on the books next season for $8.2M and already started calling in sick for practices, games (vs. the Knicks on Friday) and last night's trip to New Jersey.

Unlike Stephan Anal, I don't pretend to have any inside info regarding this sinking situation. Nor have I read any in the Florida papers worth plagiarizing. Therefore, I'm only guessing Davis might want to re-evaluate his approach toward getting rehired when his contract expires at the end of this season.

And, finally, I kid you not; Jim Gray bought himself entre this week on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. If you think you're somebody, a star can be yours for a mere $15,000. Yet another example of why that town attracts false boobs.

Calling all canines, calling all canines.