FanHouse The Rotation

The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Tom Ziller.

An annual tradition regular as daybreak, as the season ends a pack of coaches are mercilessly hacked to pieces by fans, media and often their own bosses. A parade of potential replacements jumps aboard the carousel. They dance, they preen ... one of them wins. A year or two or (fingers crossed) three later, said doll gets torn apart. The cycle continues.

There was a switch this season, though: the bloodletting happened during the season, as a record eight coaches met the iron maiden between opening night and Valentine's Day. Is there anyone left to execute at season's end?

Well ... yes. Of course there is. After the jump, we tell you whom and guess their replacements.

The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Tom Ziller.

NBA owners continue to scream bloody apocalypse. The year 2011 marks the doomsday date, with the L-word -- "lock-out" -- graduating from whisper to constant ink. Non-basketball losses and flagging attendance (see update, end of post) make every cent count, and apparently the stars of the show make too many of the dollars. "Two pounds of flesh or stay home," the owners warn.

But David Stern assures you the NBA is fine. Thriving, even. Ratings boom nightly and the league's (to date) soft slip amid global economic Armageddon should reassure those who fret, Stern argues. A $175 $200 million expansion of the league's credit store for franchises -- not a "bail-out," but further proof of the league's health!

Should we believe a commissioner preaching relaxation, or are the owners seizing with (some combination of) fear and blood-lust? Is the NBA really screwed?

The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Matt Watson.

From the moment the All-Star reserves were announced last week, the spotlight seemed to shine brightest on those who felt they were snubbed rather than those who were actually selected. It happens every year, and it's getting old.

The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Brett Edwards.

The playoff series between the Hornets and the Spurs has been consistently one-sided so far -- the home side. The local team has won each of the six games by at least 11 points, the first time such a statistical anomaly has occurred in NBA history. I think that's likely to change tonight though, because for all of the Hornets talent, the Spurs' collective experience is likely to be the deciding factor.

It's been argued that experience is overrated in the NBA playoffs, and Chris Paul was used as the poster boy and case study to prove the argument to be true. But playing well individually and winning home games is one thing.

The Hornets have really been the better team this entire series. They've largely stuck to what has worked for them all season, while the Spurs have had to make some substantial adjustments from game to game. But now the Hornets will have to prove they can evolve: For an upstart team to eliminate a team with a ring in a Game 7 -- even in your own building -- is something else entirely.

The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Brett Edwards.

I don't know about you, but to me, this thing seemed to get out of hand really quickly. By "this," I mean the Suns once again failing to contend for an NBA championship. How did we go from potentially the greatest first round series of all time to a (likely) five-game domination by the Spurs?

I think the answer is that this team is done, we just didn't know it yet. (To be fair, neither did they.) Nash and company aren't just finished for this season, they're done competing for titles, period.

The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Matt Watson.

What's experience worth in the NBA playoffs? If you believe the pundits, it's what separates serious contenders from "happy to be here" upstarts. When talking about the Hornets-Mavericks series on Friday night, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith predicted Dallas to win in six. Why? Because they've been there before. "I think they have the experience and savvy to close it out, plus the sense of urgency," said Smith, "because if they don't get it done and they lose in the first round, there's going to be some changes in the Big D."

Forget that Chris Paul turned in an MVP-caliber season or that the Hornets won the No. 2 seed in the most competitive Western Conference of recent memory. Never mind the fact that the Mavericks barely made the playoffs, or that they lost in the opening round as a No. 1 seed the year before (now that was a good experience). Instead, Dallas should be favored because they're "experienced," "savvy," and my favorite, "urgent." Yes, folks, closing windows of opportunity are now reasons for hope.

Well, we saw what that was worth Saturday afternoon, as poor, inexperienced, wet behind the ears Chris Paul took a steaming dump on conventional wisdom.

The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Matt Watson.

For 11 months of the year, I have no use for college basketball. I'll take the NBA over the amateurs every day of those 48 weeks. But come tournament time, I join millions of other casual fans in rooting for underdogs I couldn't place on a map. The NCAA tournament has transcended the sport and become ingrained in our culture, so much so that even non-fans and NBA elitists (*raises hand*) get swept up in the fun. Why can't people get this excited about my beloved NBA?

There's no comparison between the levels of play. (For a fan of the pros, the fact that most student athletes "turn pro in something other than sports" ought to be a dirty little secret, not a selling point -- I want the world's best athletes, not one or two guys with NBA potential surrounded by future accountants.)

But there are two ways I think the NBA could learn from the way March Madness draws in general fans.

The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Brett Edwards.

Kobe Bryant is likely to win the MVP, even though LeBron James is having the better season. I think the reason for this is because the award itself has less to do with which player in the Association is having the best season, and more to do with the kind of bogus narratives that we're force fed on reality television.

Take that show Rock of Love, for example. In this one, a bunch of young, surgically altered, arguably attractive, attention-seeking women vie to win the affections of a 45-year-old dude with a bandana strategically placed atop his head to hold that hairpiece in place. The odds of the winner staying with the aging rocker in a long-term, loving relationship are about the same as Poison's chances of returning to the top of the charts.

But despite the premise that's being pitched, the show's goal is not to find a soulmate for Bret Michaels. The goal is to supply an engaging storyline for the VH1 demographic. The MVP voters do the same thing, they're just creating their story with a little less sex and with main characters who are a lot more athletic.

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.