So You're Trying to Make the Heat Sympathetic?

Not going to work. When I shred an article, I prefer it to be a normal villain like Rick Reilly, and not an NBA blogger like Tom Ziller. And while I admit I don't follow the Sacramento Kings blogs regularly during the season, I've read his stuff before and liked it. But he is way off base in this article that tries to vilify the Mavericks for creatively outspending other teams.

I know my level of Heat-hate is at an all-time high right now, and I'm a fan of big-market teams that don't have the same financial problems of a team like the Kings, who frequently hover around the salary cap minimum. But as Reinsdorf is stingy as it comes to the Bulls, despite frequently being at the top of the league in revenue behind the Knicks and Celtics, I feel like I can relate a little to watching a team that doesn't spend as much as possible to win games. And it bothers me that he could, but chooses not to. That being said, I don't know what it's like to root for team that doesn't pay players because it can't.

However, taking that anger out on teams that choose to do everything in their power to improve their product strikes me as sour grapes.

Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban Are The REAL Villains Entering The NBA Finals

By Tom Ziller - NBA Contributor

May 31, 2011 - Without question, the Miami Heat are the villains of the 2011 NBA Finals, just as they have been the villains of the entire season. Since LeBron James uttered the words "South Beach" on ESPN back in July, and since he, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh took the stage at the AmericanAirlines Arena to celebrate their very existence, and since King James -- already hated by many for, well, being King James -- said the goal was to win "not one, not two ... not seven" championships -- since all of that, the NBA Most Wanted Moral Criminal List has been the Miami Heat roster, replicated in full and sorted by minutes played.

First off, I don't feel like LeBron was that hated before he pulled his decision crap. Compared to Kobe, the Celtics, and the Spurs (for the crime of being boring), I feel like most people rooted for the Cavs when their team was out. I know I did, and ridiculed those that chose the Lakers. And I'm not going to reiterate all the arguments, I feel like your entirely justified for hating LeBron for the way he handled everything about last summer.

That isn't changing now, and should the Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks, as they are heavily favored to do, it won't end there. There will be a dozen columns bemoaning the new NBA, written by the self-important and self-appointed nobility of the pundit class. They'll bemoan that James, Wade and Bosh took team-building into their own hands when their teams -- Wade excepted -- couldn't handle it themselves. They'll rail that the ring is cheapened by the dark way in which the superpowers joined. They'll lament that the Mavericks, a team built the right way was beaten by a fraudulent champion, a victor with an asterisk.

As anyone who has ever played in a pick-up game knows, it's pretty annoying when the best players refuse to split themselves up in order to make the games competitive (coughmarkmillerandb-lowecough)*. While they certainly have the right to choose to do that, we have the right to not respect them for it.

*non-UIC people, insert your own two p

Let me tell you something about the Dallas Mavericks.

Only one team has spent more money in the last decade than the Dallas Mavericks. Not the Lakers, not the Heat: only the New York Knicks, for a time led by an Isiah Thomas with a credit card and no conscience. The Mavericks have spent $851 million on payroll in the past decade, some $130 million more than the Lakers and $240 million more than the Heat.

But doesn't the NBA have a salary cap?

So what, right? Well, the NBA has a little thing called "the salary cap." It's used to cap salary that teams are allowed to pay out in order to keep player payroll down and create an even playing field.

I knew it!

But it's a soft cap, with exceptions and routes in which teams that are so inclined can exceed the cap. Some would call some of these methods "loopholes." Like signing a retired Keith Van Horn to a contract solely to trade him for Jason Kidd, a deal that cost the Mavericks $10 million, and was legal under Bird rights rules despite Dallas being tens of millions of dollars beyond the cap. (Bird rights aim to allow teams to re-sign their own players in excess of the cap. Teams like the Mavericks instead use it to make high-dollar deals over the cap.)

Look, I know it'd be nice if we lived in a world where Communism worked and every team spent the exact same amount of money on payroll every year. But this isn't MLB, either. The Mavericks are not the Yankees, who are spending 5 times what the Rays are this year. The Mavs simply do what they can to put the best team on the floor, which should be commended in any sport. As a fan, I want the money I spend on tickets, concessions, etc. spent on making the team better, not on buying the owner another yacht.

The Mavericks work around the system by including draft picks in deals to get trades done ... then buying back into the first round almost every single year, to the tune of $3 million a pop, cash that doesn't count against the salary cap. Dallas works deals like the Peja Stojakovic buy-out/Alexis Ajinca trade this season. (What happened there? Oh, the Toronto Raptors decided to buy out Peja, taking a financial hit well in advance of the trade deadline. The Mavericks quickly signed him to a minimum contract. In a total and complete coincidence, the Mavs quickly traded prospect Alexis Ajinca to the Raptors with cash to cover his salary and a future second-round draft pick for the rights to a Greek dude who will probably never play in the NBA. The Mavs couldn't legally trade for Peja without giving up a key player -- a Stojakovic for Ajinca trade would have been illegal -- so they borked the system set in place to limit salary, and did it through the back channels, claiming all the way that the deals were totally separate. Riiiight.)

It is not Mark Cuban's fault that Robert Sarver is a cheap bitch that wouldn't spend the extra money it took to win a championship, thus destroying Steve Nash's prime. You can't just buy a draft pick, you have to find a team willing to trade it, and sadly there are a lot of those teams right now.

Also, while the Raptors also fall into the category of "Teams I don't follow very well during the regular season", I feel like Peja was a disaster for them and they were set to get rid of him anyway. The way they got him might seem shady, the reason this wasn't made a bigger deal when it happened is that no one wanted Peja. It's not like the Raptors cut Bosh so the Heat could sign him here.

After that shenanigan went down, Mavericks bankroller Mark Cuban had the audacity to take the league-owned New Orleans Hornets to task for accepting more salary in the Marcus Thornton-Carl Landry swap. Cuban has to pay 1/29th of the Hornets' payroll, you see, and that $10,000 or whatever was just a bit too steep ... for a guy paying his roster $90 million.

And this is where we get really dumb. Mark Cuban has absolutely no responsibility to make the Hornets, who are good and in his division, a better team. As a Bulls fan, I would be just as mad if the Bulls had to pay part of the Pacers' salary. I'm not against revenue sharing per se, but every team supporting one is a little different.

Mark Cuban and the Mavericks have been abusing the NBA salary cap and trade rules for years, completely ignoring the standards by which teams are supposed to abide for the good of the league, for the good of the fans. The NBA is careening toward a lockout. You know why? Because teams who cry and plead about how much cash they're dropping every season have to overspend on everything to keep up with The Benefactor and his ilk (James Dolan, Jerry Buss and Paul Allen). The NBA is headed to a lockout because Mark Cuban and friends flog the salary cap until it bleeds, pushing and pushing and pushing for the smallest advantage on the court.

Mark Cuban did not put a gun to Abe Pollion's head and tell him to give Gilbert Arenas a nine-figure deal. Yes, some teams can whether an Erick Dampier signing, but that doesn't make him a villain.

And you're mad because Miami clears the decks, signs three of the best players in the NBA, and marches to the NBA Finals? Give me a break. LeBron and Dwyane and Ch Bo and Pat Riley ain't the villains here. The Heat played by the rules (more or less) to assemble this team. The Mavericks stretched salary rules to the last thread, and have done so for a decade, and have done more than every team but the Knicks to send payroll on its upward trajectory over the past 10 years.

Root for the Mavericks if you choose, but don't root against the Heat because they're the bad guys. If you do, you're indicting the wrong suspect.

So let me get this straight. You want me to cast the Mavs as the bad guys because they have a high salary? Or do they have a high salary because they consist of a bunch of aging veterans who haven't won a ring yet? What did anyone besides theoretically Mark Cuban do wrong here? And are we just going to ignore The Decision and the stupid championship rally they had before they ever won a championship?

Yeah, I think I'm still rooting for Dallas.

NBA/NHL Pick Challenge Updates

I hope no one minds if I combine the two contests into one post. I'll start with the NBA:

Julia 85
Ball is Life 74
Andy 72
Sam 70
BJ 64
Tristan 63
Will 57
Katz 56
Conall 56
Neal 54
Rick Reilly 44

The order is set, Julia can blow us all out by even more if the Heat win the series.

NHL-

Tristan 41
Katz 38
Conall 25
Will 11

So it seems like it's close, but I have at least 10 points coming my way for having the conference finals right at the beginning of the playoffs, so I've basically got this one wrapped up. For posterity, though, I'm sticking with my original pick of Vancouver over Boston in 6 (although I will not be rooting for that).

The Morning After: Thoughts on the Bulls' Season

I didn't get to see all of last night's game yet due to my ridiculously hectic schedule as of late, so I'm not going to do a Blame Game. I did see from halfway through the 3rd quarter on, though, so I'm just going to put out some random thoughts for now. I might write a more formal season recap later.

1. There are many frustrating things about last night's loss, but one of the highest up there for me is the fact that TT did almost everything I wanted to see him do rotation-wise at the end of the game. Taj and Kurt were playing well, so he left them in. Ronnie played over Korver. He didn't shy away from playing Deng for most of the 4th with 5 fouls. TT put his 5 players who were playing the best on the floor out there to win it, which is all you can ask him to do there. (That being said, on the last play when you know you need a 3, maybe put Bogans or Butler in for Taj or Kurt?)

2. Speaking of Kurt Thomas, I wonder if this series would have gone differently if he had played a little more. I know that's strange coming from me, but his defense on Bosh and ability to hit that 17 footer consistently is almost exactly what we needed at the end of the game there. And the Heat didn't really make him pay for his slow help defense either, being content to shoot jumpers most of the time.

3. Unfortunately, those jumpers went in, because LeBron and Wade played like superstars down the stretch. LeBron is a flopping, preening bitch, but those were some cold-blooded 3s he hit with Ronnie's hand in his face. They both did everything veteran superstars are supposed to do in the 4th quarter.

4. Boozer is a dumbass for needling Bosh before the series started. He had his best playoff series ever, by far, and that's the main reason this ended so quickly. Let other people talk, you just go out and play.

5. It doesn't make sense that the fix was in. The NBA would want this series to go on to bring ratings up. A Bulls-Heat game 7 would have been one of the most watched NBA games of all time. So I don't think the reffing was fixed. But just because it wasn't corrupt, doesn't mean it can't be incompetent...

6. Don't outline an offseason plan that includes trading Boozer. It's not going to happen. He's due to get about $60 million over the next 4 years. There's not a GM in the league dumb enough to do that. We're stuck with Boozer for the next 3 years at least (until he becomes valuable as an expiring contract), so plan on him being there.

7. I don't know the answer to the 2-guard situation. This series has softened my stance that everything is fine and they should keep splitting the minutes between Bogans, Brewer, and Korver. A 2-guard that can create their own shot is obviously a need. That being said, it can't be someone too expensive, lest we can't sign Derrick to a max deal next year. And I don't want it to be someone that disrupts the team chemistry in any way, or shoots us out of games consistently. I'm not sure who that is right now, I'll have to look into it.

8. While I gave credit for TT for his personnel decisions at the end of the game last night, we need to find an assistant coach with a deeper offensive playbook. The Heat had seen everything by game 5 and knew exactly what was coming down the stretch of that game. You can't be afraid to have a little creativity. That should be a priority for next year.

9. Derrick will get better at protecting the ball and making good decisions. Derrick takes losses hard, puts the blame on himself, and works hard to fix the problems in the offseason. I'm sure that's priority number 1 this year.

That's all I got for now. Worst part of the loss? I have to just pay attention to baseball right now.

(*Depressed Sigh*)

I don't even feel like writing a blame game right now. Fuck Scott Foster, Greg Willard, and Marc Davis, they were God-awful.

Blame Game- Bulls/Heat Game 4

There's something we all need to remember while we watch the end of this series. The Bulls weren't supposed to be here. Before the season started, an Eastern Conference Finals appearance was the best case scenario. They almost did themselves a disservice by raising our expectations so much during the season, and playing so fundamentally sound that we didn't think of them like a young team that hadn't been past the first round before. But in the last three games (well, two games that I've seen, although I feel like this applies to game 2 as well) they've looked like a young team, and the Heat have looked like the guys that have been there before. And they have. So while this loss is as painful as a loss has been since Game 7 of the Celtics series from a few years ago, we should do our best to keep things in perspective. That being said, we should have won Game 4.

TT- 40%
I never finished writing a blame game for Game 3, but rest assured, TT would have received a good amount for his unwavering faith in Fredo down the stretch, despite the fact that he isn't hitting shots and even having trouble guarding Mario Chalmers. I just gave him credit in the Hawks series for his newfound flexibility. But for some reason he wasn't trusting himself, Sunday night with Fredo, and tonight with Big Sexy. Yes, I know I wrote this post back in January where I blasted TT for having too much faith in Kurt. But tonight he needed to have a little more faith in him. With Asik out, Boozer and Noah weren't able to handle the minutes they played (49 and 45, respectively), and were clearly gassed down the stretch. A little Kurt Thomas action in the middle there might have helped, and maybe he even stretches the defense out a little by setting good screens and hitting the open 17 footer. It's not like he's a rookie that would be shaken by the moment, or rusty from not having played in awhile. Kurt Thomas is going to be Kurt Thomas on November 1st or June 15th. There is a time and place for Big Sexy, and it was tonight.

The other beef I have with TT right now is the play calls. Standing around and letting Derrick work 1-on-1 is the type of thing VDN would have called, and you don't want to be compared to him when it comes to play calling. After the first try, I think it should have been clear that Derrick wasn't going to get the shot he wanted against LeBron. How about some creativity? Will suggested Korver sets the screen for Derrick, daring the Heat to leave him open again. I would have liked Deng with the ball up top, and Derrick trying to get free off an off-ball screen, with Deng maybe taking it to the hole against the smaller Wade if nothing opened up. But the number of forced shots and 24 second violations in the last 5 minutes of the 4th quarter and overtime were a testament to not only the Heat's strong defense, but a lack of imagination in the Bulls offense as well.

Derrick- 40%
I love you, Derrick, but if you hit both your free throws with 1:09 left, we win the game. The 1-9 from beyond the arc, 8-27 from the field, and 7 turnovers (which could have easily been 10 if not for a few lucky bounces) did not help either.

But to reiterate the theme from the opening paragraph, Derrick is 22 years old. It's OK that he can't single-handedly win every game against the Heat just yet, even if we've seen him do it before. The Bulls will learn from this experience, and I bet Derrick never looks this...shaken?... in a playoff series again.

Korver- 10%
Make your open 3s, Fredo. What the hell do you want me to say? I'm on record as saying that 2 out of the 3 between Ronnie, Bogans, and Deng should always be on the floor when LeBron and Wade are, or there's a huge mismatch. While Korver never had to guard either of them this game, the fact that he's having trouble with Chalmers and Mike Miller suggests he should maybe start picking up DNP-CDs in the near future. Maybe see what Rasual Butler can do instead.

Mike Miller/Udonis Haslem (and the underestimation thereof)- 10%
Sometimes +/- is a stupid stat, and tells lies. But when the +/- looks like this, there must be something to it:
LeBron -1
Wade -10
Bibby -11
Anthony -14
Miller +36
Haslem +25

Look at that. +36 in a game you won by 8. I know Miller hasn't shot well, but that doesn't mean he can't shoot well. And you need to be prepared for that. The Bulls weren't.

Absolved:
Boozer- While I'm still mad about the rotational defense, I feel like some of it can be credited to playing 49 minutes as much as just being naturally bad at it, and the last two games he's been good on offense and is finally grabbing boards that aren't just over his teammates.
Big Shot Bogans/TBN- Terrible decision on a 3-on-1 aside, TBN pretty much shut down Wade, and Bogans did as well when he was in (Bogans led the Bulls with a +10). Not much else they can do.
Bennett Salvatore-We ripped him a new one when he made that ridiculous call in Game 4 of the Hawks series, so we should give him credit right now. It takes huge stones to call an offensive foul on the last play of the game against a superstar like James, even if it's the correct call. No one outside of Chicago would have complained that loudly if he had swallowed the whistle there. Good job, Salvatore (Crawford, on the other hand...)

Bulls X-Men Assignment

In honor of TNT's ridiculous X-Men:First Class cross-promotion, we spent halftime assigning players on the Bulls different X-Men characters. There was some debate, but this is the final call:

Joakim- Beast
A pretty easy choice, Joakim plays beast-like all the time, but can be deep and articulate off the court all the time.

TBN- Nightcrawler
Another easy one, TBN loves to disappear and reappear on the baseline, hence the TBN nickname.

Derrick- Wolverine
While Derrick's team-oriented, humble personality is the opposite of the classic Wolverine mentality, I think we can all agree if Wolverine was going to cut his way to the hole, it would look much like Derrick.

Turkish D- Colossus
I at first wanted to give Taj Colossus, but I have to give it to Turkish for his screening ability alone.

Fredo- Cyclops
Fredo is kind of an insecure pretty boy sometimes, and is very one-dimensional, like Cyclops.

Taj- Iceman
I might be stretching a little here, but when I think of Taj, I think "smooth".

CJ Watson- Longshot
I feel like CJ sometimes makes weird plays that work through dumb luck.

Boozer- Gambit
Another stretch, maybe, but I feel like Boozer sometimes goes off script and does his own thing sometimes, but I'm not giving him Wolverine, so he gets the second most non-team member.

Deng- Storm
Sorry, couldn't stick to just the men, but I think this works because Deng does all the little things and flies under the radar at times, a little like Storm.

Bogans- Rogue
Maybe Deng could have a claim here, too, but Bogans does a great job of taking away people's powers, too.

Rasual Butler- Archangel
You forget about both of them sometimes.

TT- Professor X
Duh.

Credit Where Credit is Due- Bulls/Heats Game 1

I'll combine the credit post with my thoughts I had before the series started. This was the blueprint. Play solid D, pound the offensive glass, make your open shots if they collapse on Derrick. After some first quarter jitters, the Bulls did everything right. Starting with this:



Taj Gibson- 25%

There's once again so much to go around, but I'm starting with Taj, and not just for 2 very memorable playoff dunks. Taj was around the basket on both ends, altering shots and attacking the offensive glass. A hard earned +17 for Taj, 9 points, 7 boards. More of that, please, although hopefully not out of necessity.

Derrick- 25%

Taking smart shots, and playing pretty decent defense on Wade at times. As long as he keeps his turnovers down and keeps knocking down his jumpers, it's going to be hard for the Heat to stop the Bulls offensively.

Deng/TBN/Joakim's defense- 25%

The most important thing about winning this series for the Bulls is shutting down the Wade and LeBron. As we saw tonight, you can let Bosh get his, but if you can keep frustrating 3 and 6, you can keep the Heat from getting off. And it's a very nice luxury that the Bulls frontcourt can switch on almost every pick and be OK, and Joakim did an excellent job whenever he had to pick LeBron or Wade up on the perimeter.

Boozer- 10%

I'm fine if this is how you want to use Boozer, TT. 26 minutes, and he gave them good ones offensively, if not always on defense. But as the Heat like to play Joel Anthony and Jamal Magloire for some reason, Boozer's defensive weakness will only be a problem in rotation. So keep staying hot offensively, Boozer, and we're cool.

TT- 10%

TT outcoached Spoelestra, and it's going to be important that we recognize this mismatch and exploit it all series. The Heat couldn't adjust to what the Bulls were doing to them defensively or find a way to get open looks for his best players. If Riley doesn't give him some tips soon, they can keep taking advantage of this the whole time, and the Heat athleticism won't be able to bail them out.

UC Fans- 5%

I haven't been happy with the UC crowd so far in the playoffs. The one game I went to, there were several great plays and bad calls that Sam and I seemed to be the only people in our section who noticed. A home team's crowd has 2 jobs: Provide energy and momentum after a big play, and let the officials know when they made a mistake so it's in their heads on the next call. They did both tonight. Good work.

I think the Heat will respond and make this a series. But I also think the Bulls are capable of playing 4 games like that, and if it's a chess match between TT and Spolestra, TT will win. Go Bulls.