I feel sorry for these NBA players

Going through my old Slam Magazines just to see how far off their predictions are (any article they ever write are about how great a player is going to be and how they are always working to improve their game etc. They went as far to call Qyntel Woods the 2003 rookie of the year before the 2002 draft, I know... WHO?!) and came across a couple players whom I just can't help but feel sorry for (salaries aside) now that I know how their careers have ended up/are playing out right now. I once heard Ray Lewis say in a radio interview, "If hindsight were truly 20/20, we'd all be millionaires." Doesn't make 100% sense but you get what he's trying to say.

So I bring to you these four players who I just can't help but feel sorry for from the era of 2000 to the present.

Mike Miller

(Photo from prodigy.net)
Drafted 5th overall by the Orlando Magic in 2000. The year before, the Magic were 41-41 and didn't make the playoffs. This is the year the Magic brought TMac and Grant Hill in to redefine the franchise. But you already know that Grant Hill gets hurt and is never the same. But that doesn't stop Mike Miller from playing all 82 games his first year and winning rookie of the year averaging 12/4/2 shooting almost two 3 pointers a game at 40%. Here's a sweet vid of Miller hitting his three's.

And that's what he's best known for; his 3 point shooting. Career average of 1.8 3's a game at 40.4%, was a candidate for the redeem team in the 2008 Olympics to help spread the floor (they went with Michael Redd), made 202 three pointers in the 2006-07 season (rank 3rd)... But he's so much more than a 3 point shooter. He can run point guard, he can run the floor, he can start, he can come off the bench (2006 sixth man of the year). But the teams he was on, simply put, sucked. In Orlando for his first three years and they made the playoffs all three years but didn't get out of the first round. Just couldn't get over the loss of Grant Hill.

In the middle of the 02-03 season, he was traded to Memphis. Another up and coming team with a young Pau Gasol, Shane Battier, Lorenzen Wright, and Jason Williams. Don't give Miller ALL the credit, but after he came, they made the playoffs the next three years... only they never got out of the first round. In FACT, they got swept all three years. To this day the Grizzlies have never won a playoff game since their inception in 1995.

After a dismal 2007-08 season with the Grizz (the year Pau went to the Lakers), he was traded to another bad team, the Minnesota Timberwolves. This team had Al Jefferson in his 2nd year as a Wolf and a rookie Kevin Love along with Rashad McCants, Randy Foye, and Craig Smith. This team won 24 games.

During the summer of 2009 (last summer), he was traded with Randy Foye to the Washington Wizards who were finally going to get Gilbert Arenas for a whole season, along with Antawn Jamison, and Caron Butler. Everyone thought this was the dark horse team in the East. You know the rest: they still sucked, Gilbert brought the guns out, the Wizards decided to tank and Caron got traded for Josh Howard (now injured), Jamison got traded for nothing, and again, Mike Miller is left alone on a team of scrubs.

Where is the justice?! Well, there is some beauty in this breakdown. He's a Free Agent this summer. Hopefully a team picks him up and utilizes his abilities to better the team because this guy can PLAY.

Shaun Livingston

(Photo from ESPN)

Drafted 4th overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in 2004, straight outta high school. One of the few to briefly hold the title of Clippers Savior. This guy is one of the tallest point guards out there at 6'7" (to put that in perspective, Kobe Bryant, the SG is 6'6"). But he is pretty darn skinny too at 185 lbs (again, in perspective, Kobe is 205 lbs and 2 inches shorter, and I'm 5'11" and 175 lbs, all muscle I swear!).

He didn't play much his rookie year. He had Marco Jaric playing in front of him. To make a short Clipper career short, he started 15 games out of 30 played his rookie year, 14 of 61 his second year, and 31 of 54 his third. Livingston was a good point guard who had a chance to be something special. He always looked to pass first, saw the court well (at 6'7" he could see over any other PG guarding him) and delivered crisp passes. But that third year was the year of the horrific knee injury (warning: horrific content). Right when he was being given the reigns to the Clipper offense, his career was possibly over as his ACL tore clear off and was out for the rest of the season after surgery. And he didn't quite recover fully and lost his explosiveness.
He missed the rest of the 06-07 season and all of the 07-08 season after the Clippers waived him. Miami gave him a chance but traded him after 4 games to the Thunder, where he got 8 games in 08/09 and 10 games this year. He was waived and signed later on by the Wizards where he's started the last 2 games. His best game since the injury was 3 games ago, a loss vs. Orlando where he scored 18 points and dished 8 assists in 30 minutes.

He's got a chance, but if it weren't for that knee injury, he'd probably be starting for a team that was going somewhere (not necessarily the Clippers) having a nice stat line on a nightly basis. Instead, I'm watching his box scores, hoping he's getting playing time and puts up decent numbers. He's on a 2nd 10 day contract so if things don't work out, he'll just have to try again for another team.

Tim Duncan

(Photo from YouGotDunkedOn)
I know, how can you feel sorry for a 4 time champion, 3 time finals MVP (and stats aside, he was MVP of the 2007 Finals, not Tony Parker), 2 times regular season MVP, and perennial all star? Because even with those accomplishments, people outside of San Antonio just don't care. Those accomplishments are better than Shaq's and Kobe's. But the gripe against Duncan is that he's boring. Mr. Fundamental is too fundamental and doesn't have the personality that hits headlines outside of the Sports Page. I'll admit, I was snoozing during the Detroit-Spurs finals in 2005.

Going back to my Slam Magazines, Adidas had an ad on the back cover of each magazine for about a year featuring their Adidas team of TMac, Kevin Garnett, and Tim Duncan. The website was 21121.com (21 for KG, 1 for TMac, 21 for Duncan). And of course no one ever bought the Duncans. But TMac was always selling shoes despite never making it out of the first round of the playoffs, no MVPs, but hey, he did flashy dunks and could cross people over, and that's what sells.

So in short, Tim Duncan, one of the greatest players of all time and best power forward of all time doesn't quite get the recognition that a "of all time" player should.

Kevin Garnett

(Photo from Derok)
Again, how can I feel sorry for one of the highest paid players ever, who won a championship two years ago? Well I don't really, mainly because Kevin Garnett is one of the players I hate the most, even before he helped beat the crap out of the Lakers two years ago, but I do feel sorry for him. Why? Because it could have been so much more for Garnett, except his years in Minnesota had gone to waste. His management screwed him over.

Most recently? Trading Brandon Roy for Randy Foye, but before that, around the year 2000, they were involved in a salary cap scandal, promising Joe Smith a multi million dollar deal in the future if he signed for less at that moment. Well the league found out and punished the Wolves by taking away their next FIVE FIRST ROUND DRAFT PICKS (2001, 2002, 2004) (2 picks were later returned). Granted, they made the playoffs before each of those drafts so they wouldn't have been lottery picks, but you build your team with a draft and can trade for players with draft picks, and yet KG still played his heart out and even won MVP in 2004. But it could have been more.

But hey, he still won a championship with the Celtics as a main ingredient in their big three, but it's something more special when you turn a whole franchise around to a championship, something that could have happened had management not tried to be so sketch.

Coming soon: My "I don't feel sorry for these NBA players" post.

Analyzing the off season moves by the San Antonio Spurs

(Photo from everyjoe)
The San Antonio Spurs did not win the Championship last year, breaking the cycle of winning one every other year (2003, 05, and 07) and the 33-year-old "Big Fundamental," who hasn't missed significant amounts of games since 2005, by the way, but needs one last thrust to win another ring before age, economy, and free agency kicks in to break apart a very good team. Therefore, the Spurs traded Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas, and Fabricio Oberto for Richard Jefferson and signed big men Theo Ratliff and Antonio McDyess. Spurs' motto this year is "Go big or go home" (and of course the mainstay, "Go Spurs! Go!").

Facts:

• Richard Jefferson is a 29-year-old SF and averaged 19.6/4.6/2.4, shooting 43.9% and hitting 1.4 3pters for the Milwaukee Bucks last year. He is owed $14.2 million due in 09/10 and $15 mil due in 10/11. Free Agent summer of 2011.
  
• Antonio McDyess is a 35-year-old PF and averaged 9.6/9.8/1.3, shooting 51.1% last year for the Detroit Pistons. He is owed $5.8 million due in 09/10, $6.3 mil in 10/11 and $6.7 mil in 11/12. Free agent summer of 2012.
  
• Theo Ratliff is a 36-year-old C and averaged 1.9/2.8/.2 shooting 53.1% and blocking 1 shot per game last year in 12 minutes per game for 46 games for the Philadelphia 76ers. He was signed to the veteran minimum, owed $1.3 million in 09/10. Free agent summer of 2010.

Read between the baselines:

There's really not much to read between the baselines for the reasons the Bucks made this trade. They have a hefty payroll as of right now with Michael Redd's contract of $17 mil and Andrew Bogut's $10 mil (along with 4 years after that, increasing to $14 mil in 2014). They also have a bad contractin Dan Gadzuric ($14 mil next 2 years). Overall, right now after the trade, there is $67.5 million on the payroll, a lot for a small market team. With Kurt Thomas and Bruce Bowen's expiring contracts combined with the expiring contracts they already have, that number drops to $50 million in 2010/11. (Edit: The Bucks have waived Bruce Bowen) and may also waive Kurt Thomas. They have already traded Oberto to Detroit for Amir Johnson, and then traded Amir Johnson for Roko Ukic and Carlos Delfino but ANYWAY.

There's really not much to read between the baselines for the reasons the Spurs made this trade either. With the strong teams getting stronger (Cavs-Shaq, Magic-Carter, Lakers-Artest, Celtics-Sheed), the Spurs had to keep up and added an athletic scorer who can play above average defense.

What did the Spurs gain by getting Jefferson?

Richard Jefferson is 29 years old going into his 9th NBA season after spending his first 7 season in New Jersey with Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin. He helped them reach the finals twice, losing to the Lakers and Spurs in 2002 (his rookie year) and 2003 respectively. His best years were in the middle of his Nets years where he averaged around 20 points a game, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 steal. Richard Jefferson can score, although he probably can't spread the floor that much given his 35% career 3pt shooting. However, last year on the Bucks, he averaged 1.4 3 pters made on 39% 3pt shooting...

What did the Spurs give up to get Jefferson?

• One of their veterans and better defenders in 38-year-old Bruce Bowen, who had a significant drop in playing time last year (from 30 minutes in 08 to 18 minutes in 09), perhaps indicative that he had lost a step in his defensive step, although he's been solid throughout his whole career. After likely being waived by the Bucks, it would be more than likely that he'd re-sign with the Spurs.
• Back up center Fabricio Oberto who only averaged 12 minutes a game in 54 games last year. Played good post defense and was an adequate center off of the bench for the Spurs.
  
• Back up PF Kurt Thomas, who was traded for to help post defense against then-newly accquired Sun Shaq and then-newly accquired Laker Pau. (It worked, by the way, as the Spurs got past the Suns last year in the playoffs, but couldn't get past the Lakers who went on to the Finals). Thomas averaged 4.3/5.1/.8 and shot 50.3%. A good post defender with a nice jump shot from about the free throw line.
  

So these two back ups and sometimes starter defense specialist for Richard Jefferson. They then replaced their two lost bigs with, what else... TWO BIGS.

Antonio McDyess

(Photo from allposters)

Antonio McDyess is an upgrade from Thomas and has the capabilities to get a double double (he sure was close last year). He is the probable starter at PF. Although age may be catching up with him, he won't be asked to do more than provide defense while the stars, Manu, Parker, Jefferson and TD make up the bigger part of the team's contributions.

Theo Ratliff

Theo Ratliff is a shotblocker, plain and simple. He won't score a lot, but he can score on putbacks and block shots if players reach the paint. He will serve well for the price they are paying him. Matt Bonner, who started at center last year, will also be coming off the bench with Ratliff. (Although they could start Bonner at C again this year, and have McDyess be the main backup for Duncan).

2009 Draft Pick: Dejuan Blair

I am, by no means, an expert on the NCAA or their players, besides the big stars, but based on some internet research, Dejuan Blair was unjustly passed by many teams and fell to the Spurs in the second round. The Spurs have a history of drafting very well, even in the second round (where Manu Ginobili was drafted in 1999), and late first round picks (such was Tony Parker in 2001).

Scouts have this to say about 2nd rounder Dejuan Blair:

Consensus: DeJuan Blair was proven to be one of the most dominant players in college this year. However, his lack of athleticism and height are big time negatives in terms of the NBA. Still, undersized power forwards are making a bit of a comeback in the NBA nowadays, so he probably will stick around the League.

We see this a lot in the NBA where good big men in college don't quite do so well in the NBA (Sean May, Roy Hibbert, Greg Oden?) let alone someone who is deemed undersized as is DeJuan Blair. Perhaps the Antonio McDyess and Theo Ratliff signings are insurance signings/give time signings to give Blair some time to work on his game and work around his size. I don't see him making a big impact this year for the Spurs, at least as much as Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess.

Plain and simple, the Spurs boosted their scoring and interior depth. Last year, the Spurs ranked 12th in Off Eff, scoring 106.2 points per 100 possessions and 6th in Def Eff, allowing 102 points per 100 possessions. Richard Jefferson's offense (and for their sake) hopefully a healthy Manu Ginobili (44 games last year) should boost their Off Eff. Antonio McDyess' one on one defense should at least keep the Def Eff around the same number of 100-104 (along with the Spurs' defensive mentality and team identity).

Probable Starting Lineup:

PG: Tony Parker/George Hill
SG: Manu Ginobili/Roger Mason
SF: Richard Jefferson/Michael Finely
PF: Antonio McDyess/Bonner/Ratliff
C: Tim Duncan/Ratliff/McDyess/Bonner

Can this lineup compete with the recharged NBA elite like the Lakers, Cleveland, or the Celtics? Health permitting, yes, but it may not put them over the top. McDyess and Duncan are a somewhat twin tower action that can defend the post with very nicely. But can KG, Pau Gasol, Shaq, and Dwight score on them? Probably, yes.

But this team will compete and have a deep playoff run and could challenge for the western conference championship. In a weakened division with the Rockets without Yao and McGrady, and the Grizzlies who are not a good basketball team, this team should get a lot of wins and have a high seed in the West. Don't sleep on McDyess, he's not only a good defender, but can hit a midrange jumpshot (better than Kurt Thomas could) if teams collapse on Duncan. And along with Richard Jefferson, this team's offense should only improve (and be a little more exciting).

Those are the facts, and that's one way to read between the [base]lines.

Here's Richard Jefferson dunking on his new teammates.