Thank goodness for Georgia Tech basketball coach Paul Hewitt, a historically gifted recruiter who has been allergic to scandal. He represents a segment of his profession that could squeeze inside a foul lane.
Duplicity and college basketball are now one. I mean, if you name a program that has acquired a bigger-than-life player in recent years (Memphis and Southern Cal come to mind), it's like this: The odds are greater than Dick Vitale screaming into a microphone that such a program is destined for the NCAA slammer.
Hewitt disagrees. For one, he is high profile as president of the Black Coaches and Administrators and as a veteran of the Atlantic Coast Conference. So if he decided to shove a few of his peers under the bus, others would roll the wheels back and forth across his tongue.
The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Brett Edwards.
The NBA has seen an unprecedented amount of player movement this season, including three deals which can only be described as flat out blockbusters. But as the choke-time Mavericks and suddenly atrocious Suns are learning, bringing in new, big name talent doesn't necessarily make your team better. It just makes it different, and different isn't likely to get you to the Finals. Now that the hype has blown over, it's clear that the Lakers have built themselves for a title, while the Suns and Mavericks are worse off than before they started. But why?
The trading-for-a-superstar craze began of course with the Celtics. Boston's off-season acquisitions of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett -- along with the team running out to a fast start and the league's best record -- "proved" a couple of things to general managers everywhere. One, teams that aren't going anywhere are willing to move their superstars, for the price of young unproven talent and/or some players with expiring contracts. This creates immediate flexibility for future moves under the salary cap, and/or buys the GM years of job security while waiting for the young players to come into their own. And two, guess what? When you have a team stocked with All-Stars, there's a good chance that you can compete for a title.
It would be very easy to assume that Jerry West had his grubby little old man hands all over trade that sent Pau Gasol to the Lakers for what some important NBA people, like Gregg Popovich, are calling "beyond comprehension." He is, after all, the strongest possible link that you could find between the Lakers and Grizzlies. But in reality, West's hands are probably as far from grubby as they get and he had absolutely nothing to do with the deal, if you're willing to believe him.
Mitch Kupchak's acquisition of 7-footer Pau Gasol from the Grizzlies for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton and two first-round draft picks -- a trade West said he was not involved in, contradicting the rumors and conspiracy theories that have buzzed around the Internet -- was a good one, he believes.
West also added that it was a "... terrific deal for the Lakers ..." and a "... steal for the present ..." Well, I think everyone has heard more staunch denials (at least act like it was good for both sides, Jerry), but West, in my book, has enough cred to trust his word. On the other hand, it's pretty freaking ludicrous to try and ignore the fact that West has worked with and molded two organizations, Los Angeles and Memphis, over the recent years, and those two teams just happened to be involved in a blockbuster deal that got them both exactly what they wanted. Then again, when has force feeding Chris Wallace a fifth of Grey Goose over the course of eighteen holes and having him sign "your scorecard" at the end of the round* actually count as being "involved" in anything? Seriously though, even if West called Wallace up and told him to take the Lakers' deal ... who cares? Since when has being in the business world not been about who you know?
Initial reactions to Friday's Lakers/Grizzlies trade have cast the deal as a net-positive for both teams. In Pau Gasol, the Lakers have acquired a big man that makes them a legitimate championship contender without giving up any of their most important rotation players. On the other side, the Grizzlies picked up serious cap relief next offseason, a promising guard in Javaris Crittenton, and two first-round picks.
The unfortunate thing, though, is that Memphis's haul only looks impressive because of the NBA's trade restrictions. Essentially, the league's insistence on having trade contracts match has forced the Grizzlies to trade their best bargaining chip for an uncertain future almost entirely dependent on luck.
The majority of articles on the Grizzlies' end of the deal have focused on the $15 million they'll have to work with on the open market this summer. That money would presumably be used to sign a top flight free agent such as Luol Deng, Shawn Marion, or Gilbert Arenas. The problem with that line of thinking is that players of that quality rarely jump ship. When they do, they usually go for well-above their actual worth. Deng, for instance, is a fine player, but the Grizzlies would probably have to pay him near-max money to pry him away from Chicago.
The best the Grizzlies can realistically hope for is someone of the Josh Smith/Ben Gordon class -- excellent players, sure, but not exactly the kinds of guys that turn doormats into legitimate playoff teams. Cap space is often talked about as if it represented future production, but the fact of the matter is that the best free agents rarely change teams -- if they even go on the open market at all.
We were all pretty surprised to see how quickly the Pau Gasol-to-the-Lakers thing came together. Usually there are days of rumors leading up to something like this (see: Kidd, Jason), but this came down almost out of nowhere. That being said, the general consensus around here was "Wow," but here are some more in-depth reactions to the big trade.
Tom Ziller: This is way, way better than getting Kidd. And it sort of makes all that Chris Webber talk look silly. Everyone knows the Laker hole was up front until Bynum returns, and there's not a player on the market better to fill it right now than Gasol. Even the inside defense should be fine by the time Bynum returns for the postseason, and this could now be a top-3 offense.
Will Brinson: Okay, initially, I thought this was maybe a little too much. Then I realized I'm an idiot. The Lakers don't need the draft picks and if they keep this team together those picks will be late anyway. I still like the deal from the Grizzlies side of things though, because they get a very good young player (at least one I think will be good) in Crittenton, Kwame clears a ton of cap space and they have ample picks to begin maneuvering for draft position. I will admit as a Bynum fan/fantasy owner I'm a little nervous just because, well, because I'm paranoid. If he's healthy though, it won't matter and the Lakers suddenly might be favorites to win the West.
History has shown that Phil Jackson has always been reluctant to give rookies any sort of significant playing time on his teams. One might have speculated that this was due to the complex Triangle offense, or maybe Phil's insistence that his players play at a certain level on the defensive end of the floor before they are awarded any serious minutes.
It turns out that neither of those things are the real reason. The fact of the matter is, Phil just sees rookies as some sort of lower life form, which he happily told us about in discussing whether he would be sending Coby Karl and/or Javaris Crittenton to play in some D-League games this season:
"I tell kids when they come into the team that rookies are lower than plankton, and they have to understand that. That's the lowest point in the world. There's an entitlement about this game. There's a learning process. We've talked about that."
I guess it's kind of cool that Phil still goes with that old school mentality that players have to earn their playing time as opposed to getting it just handed to them. But it's much easier for him to stick to this philosophy when we're talking about players like Crittenton and Karl. I mean, if Kevin Durant were on the roster, I have a feeling that Phil would have no problem changing his way of thinking.
The Clippers selected Al Thornton with the fourteenth overall pick, and it's hard to criticize the selection. Thornton seems to be a complete package at his position: athleticism, scoring, defense, and rebounding are all things that he does very well. And with his four years of experience at the college level, he should be able to contribute immediately. The thought of a starting front court of Elton Brand, Chris Kaman, and Thornton is enough to make even the most pessimistic of Clipper fans giddy.
Now the bad news. Al Thornton's main criticism has been that he doesn't have the highest of basketball IQ's. Remind you of anyone else on the Clippers' roster? Oh yeah, there's that Corey Maggette guy. The reason that Maggette has had to deal with trade rumors for the last two seasons is that Mike Dunleavy doesn't think he plays intelligently, and feels that he makes questionable decisions on the court. It will be interesting to see if Dunleavy has the patience to deal with Thornton's weakness in this area.
Georgia Tech point guard Javaris Crittenton has decided to stay in the 2007 NBA Draft and is currently interviewing agents. Crittenton wants to be the next in a long like of NBA calibar point guards from Tech ... following Mark Price, Kenny Anderson, Travis Best, Stephon Marbury and Jarrett Jack.
Crittenton is a 6-5 point guard who is very athletic and shows that he's willing to helm a team. However, there were times where he seemed too passive and uninvolved ... especially against really quick guards. In this draft he is either the 2nd or 3rd best PG prospect [trailing Mike Conley and maybe Acie Law] which is a good spot to be ... especially since next draft could see a ton of point guards flowing in.
This is big news for the Atlanta Hawks, who may decide to pass on Conley with the #3 pick in the draft and opt for Brandan Wright, Julian Wright or Yi Jianlian ... then take Crittenton with their #11 pick. Also, the Clippers [at #14] could be looking at Crittenton since Sam Cassell is 90 years old and who knows what shape Shaun Livingston's knee is in. The Pistons [at #15] may need to find a replacement for Chauncey Billups; the Lakers [#19] need anyone there; Miami [#20] will need to replace the aging Jason Williams and Gary Payton.
13. GeorgiaTech: This is where my colleague Chas Rich thought I was crazy, so let me explain: I love the Yellow Jackets' freshmen, forward Thaddeus Young and point guard Javaris Crittenton. I realize a team that lost to Miami and Vanderbilt doesn't seem like it belongs this highly ranked. But this team also beat Memphis and Duke. Ken Pomeroy's ratings have Tech No. 11 and Jeff Sagarin has Tech No. 14. The Jackets will keep improving and be awfully tough to beat in March.
Thank goodness for Georgia Tech basketball coach Paul Hewitt, a historically gifted recruiter who has been allergic to scandal. He represents a segment of his profession that could squeeze inside a foul lane. 
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We were all pretty surprised to see how quickly the 
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Georgia Tech point guard Javaris Crittenton has decided to 
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