[SI.com] McGradyJeff Van Gundy - potentially volatile relationships?????

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/jack_mccallum/11/11/relationships/index.html

As long as we both shall win
Fate of season rests_on strength of potentially shaky NBA marriages
Posted: Thursday November 11, 2004 2:09PM; Updated: Thursday November 11, 2004 2:09PM


The beginning of the NBA season is the perfect time to bring up America's divorce rate, which is at approximately 50 percent and rising. Since so many men and women break up after taking the plunge, it is no surprise that many of the relationships formed in the NBA -- between egomaniacal millionaires and played out nightly in public -- often fall apart. Generally, the team that emerges as NBA champion in June will be the one that best figures out how to get along. I say "generally" in recognition of the fact that the Los Angeles Lakers won three straight championships while Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant verbally b****-slapped each other.

With little more than a week of the season in the books, then, I'd like to identify five potentially volatile relationships, the denouement of which could determine a particular team's fate. Understand that I wish only the best for these couples and this is merely to point to the potential of an explosion. I hope that, like Tony and Carmela Soprano, they try to work it out.

In no particular order:

Gary Payton, guard/Doc Rivers, coach, Boston Celtics.

Payton
Rivers is one of the truly great guys in the NBA -- intelligent, funny and personable. Most of the time. But he is a serious, serious man between the lines. He made it as an NBA player primarily on the strength of his defensive intensity and he expects the same from his players. Even when things were going relatively well in Orlando, Rivers would always find (with good reason) something caustic to say about Tracy McGrady's defense, or lack thereof.


Rivers
At one time in his career, Payton was a Rivers-like player (though much better offensively) whose perimeter defense was nonpareil. Now it's pretty pareil. Payton's inability to stick with quick guards, if you recall, was a major reason_why things didn't turn out well for him during his one-year stint with the Lakers.

Rivers won't ask Payton to do anything he can't do. But if the Celtics aren't a plus-.500 team in contention for the playoffs, I see problems arising between these two fiery veterans, neither of whom is afraid to speak his mind.

Tracy McGrady, guard/Jeff Van Gundy, coach, Houston Rockets.

Man, this seems like a meeting of mismatched souls, though I like both of them a lot. JVG is the kind of coach who seems to work best with gritty, old-school guards such as ex-Knick Charlie Ward. And whatta you know! -- Ward is starting at point guard next to T-Mac. McGrady is, in my opinion, the second most talented player in the league behind Bryant. He can get off any shot he wants to any time he wants to and he has the tools to be an in-your-face defensive stalwart.

But the game comes so easily to McGrady that he doesn't always work at it the way he should, particularly on defense. Add in Van Gundy's penchant for controlling the ball instead of letting his team run, as well as McGrady's responsibility to feed Yao Ming (which may take a while to learn after not having a dominant center in Orlando), and these two Rockets could generate a lot of heat.

Latrell Sprewell-Sam Cassell, guards/Kevin Garnett, forward, Minnesota Timberwolves.

Sprewell
It is simplistic to lump together Spree and Sam, disparate personalities with disparate games. But it has to be done to make a point here. The way these two volatile veterans came together last season, falling into lockstep with the intense Garnett, deferring to his leadership, toeing the line in both practices and games, was pure magic for coach Flip Saunders and the franchise in general, which reached the Western finals before losing to the Lakers.


Cassell
That was then. This is now.


Garnett
Sprewell and Cassell are notoriously impatient men with egos that must be fed. That hardly makes them unique in the NBA, of course, but bad signs have already emerged. Cassell reported late to training camp in a half-baked protest against being underpaid, and Sprewell recently made noise about wanting to be traded because a contract extension has not been forthcoming. Meanwhile, Garnett, who waited seven seasons just to get into the playoffs, goes after it every night.

Sam, Spree, repeat after me: K.G. is still the man. K.G. is still the man. K.G. is ...

Chauncey Billups, guard/Larry Brown, coach, Detroit Pistons.

Billups
By the time the Pistons rose to the top last season, creating that rare feel-good NBA story, the long hard road traveled by Brown and his quarterback had been all but forgotten. But they had clashed frequently during the season -- general manager Joe Dumars propped up Billups a lot -- over point-guard philosophy, which, given Brown's demanding nature, was not a surprise.


Brown
We all know that Brown is a brilliant coach, but we also know that, historically, he does his best work with overachieving teams that respond to his teaching. Do the Pistons, in particular their floor leader, still consider themselves that kind of team? Or will they tune out Brown the way some of his Olympians did in August? The fate of a repeat lies in the balance.

Kobe Bryant, guard/everybody else, Los Angeles Lakers.
Hey, you know we couldn't get through this without mentioning one of the Tempestuous Twosome, right? Unless coach Stan Van Gundy completely loses it over Shaq's inability to defend a high pick-and-roll, the big man's relationships in Miami (with either Van Gundy or backcourt star Dwyane Wade) shouldn't be much of an issue this season. There will be honeymoon period there, even if the Heat fail to live up to expectations.


Bryant
But Los Angeles isn't a honeymoon kind of place. Bryant cleared out the franchise to create a Kobe-centric world, and everyone will be looking to see how it goes. With the possible exception of Lamar Odom, (and even he lifts nonchalance to an art form), none of the other Lakers_has a strong or secure enough personality on his own to get in Bryant's face if he consistently ignores them and starts taking 50 shots a game. But collectively they could ask for a divorce if Kobe gets on their nerves. And Rudy Tomjanovich, though brought aboard partly for his diplomatic skills honed over four decades of NBA experience, will not allow the Lakers to become a one-man show.

And how bad will it look for the franchise if Kobe has to file for another divorce?


Sports Illustrated senior writer Jack McCallum covers the NBA for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com.