Challengers for Spurs abound
PHILADELPHIA – Uneasy lie the heads that wear the crown.
“I told them, Shaq wants to win the championship. He wants to prove he can do it without Kobe,” Gregg Popovich, the San Antonio Spurs’ coach, said he told his defending NBA champions the other day.
“Detroit wants to get it back again,” he continued. “It’s not like we kicked their (butts) last year. Indiana was just as good as anybody, but they blew it up. And there are three or four teams out West just like those teams in the East.”
True. But for the first time in a long time – probably since Chicago’s dominance in the 1990s – the balance of power in the NBA may have shifted east of the Mississippi.
More of the real threats to San Antonio’s title reside in the Eastern Conference. Miami, Detroit and Indiana have championship potential, and each is uniquely motivated.
The Heat know they were 3 minutes away from reaching the NBA Finals last season.
“Two minutes and 18 seconds,” corrects Damon Jones, the former Miami guard now with Cleveland, a rising Eastern power.
Team president Pat Riley didn’t stand pat with his 59-win team, trading for forward Antoine Walker, point guard Jason Williams and forward James Posey. Chemistry may ultimately be an issue, but talent is not, with that group filling in around Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal.
The Pistons desperately would like to return to the NBA Finals for a third straight season to show the world that their success was not solely the work of former coach Larry Brown, who left them while under siege after flirting with the Cavaliers during the playoffs.
“Ron Harper (a Pistons assistant) has been with five championship teams,” said Flip Saunders, the Pistons’ new coach. “Ron said this team was close to the Chicago teams just in their approach. They’re just focused on what they have to do.”
The Pacers may have more talent than anybody else. Ron Artest is back from a season-ending suspension stemming from last November’s brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills. All-star Jermaine O’Neal looks healthy again. Rookie forward Danny Granger is a true sleeper. And Indiana signed Sarunas Jasikevicius, arguably the best guard in Europe.
The Pacers, the Heat and the Pistons will have company.
New Jersey’s big three – Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson – might be the most dynamic offensive trio in the league, and if the Nets get solid play from Nenad Krstic and Jason Collins up front, they should win the Atlantic Division, leaving the 76ers, New York and Boston to fight for the last one or two playoff spots in the East.
The Cavaliers added Jones from Miami, guard Larry Hughes and forward Donyell Marshall as free agents, and LeBron James’ crew should make the postseason for the first time in James’ nascent career.
Washington lost Hughes but acquired Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins from the Los Angeles Lakers and signed free agent Antonio Daniels away from Seattle to go with all-stars Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison.
The Bulls are a little light in the middle after trading Eddy Curry and Antonio Davis to the Knicks, but Ben Gordon might be even more explosive this season than he was in becoming last season’s rookie of the year. And Chicago boasts a fully formed team at both ends of the court, with Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, Andres Nocioni and Tyson Chandler all coming into their own.
Milwaukee made a huge move last week with the acquisition of forward/center Jamaal Magloire, a former all-star who’ll solidify an already potent offense featuring guards Michael Redd and T.J. Ford and forward Bobby Simmons, picked up as a free agent from the Los Angeles Clippers. Magloire’s presence will take some of the pressure off first overall pick Andrew Bogut, who might now come off the bench.
All this isn’t to say the West is barren.
The Spurs are still the class of the league. They got even stronger in the off-season, adding free agents Michael Finley and Nick Van Exel, along with Argentine forward Fabricio Oberto, to bolster their bench.
But San Antonio still deals from the humility side of the ledger.
When Van Exel brought up the possibility of a 70-win season to Robert Horry – he of the six championship rings – Horry cut him off in midsentence.
“He’s not even worried about that,” Van Exel said. “These guys are pretty quiet around here. Nobody talks about how they’ve won three titles.”
Houston, Denver and Dallas can each lay claim to being the Spurs’ chief opposition in the conference.
Denver is a potential powerhouse. Carmelo Anthony looks poised for a breakout season, having dropped 15 pounds over the summer. Coach George Karl wants the Nuggets to run opponents into the ground, and they might be able to do it with free agent Earl Watson teaming with 5-foot-5 guard Earl Boykins to trigger the Nuggets’ fastbreak and passing to such finishers as Anthony and Kenyon Martin.
Under second-year coach Avery Johnson, defense is no longer a four-letter word in Big D and, heaven knows, the Mavericks can still fill it up at the other end with Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry, Marquis Daniels and Josh Howard.
Houston addressed what it perceived as a weakness at point guard by acquiring Rafer Alston from Toronto, and the Rockets signed free agent Stromile Swift to play power forward next to Yao Ming. If Swift rebounds and defends, Yao and Tracy McGrady should have field days at the other end of the court.
Phoenix is a question mark until Amare Stoudemire returns from knee surgery, but if he returns, as expected, by the all-star break, the Suns will immediately rise again in the West.
Seattle still has Ray Allen and the core of its 50-win team from last season, and many scouts around the league believe that Sacramento might not be as bad as advertised.
The Lakers still have Kobe Bryant, and Minnesota still has Kevin Garnett, so those teams will be playoff contenders, if not championship material.
The Spurs, though, still have that fabric. Despite all their new offensive toys, they butter their bread by strangling the offense out of the opposition.
They’re not interested in the Bulls’ all-time regular-season record of 72 wins. They’re very interested, however, in Chicago’s six rings.
“They know exactly who they are,” Popovich said. “They know we didn’t kick anybody’s butt in the playoffs (last season). There are still five, six, seven teams that can win the championship, and we’re one of them. But we don’t have any illusions about who we are.”