News has leaked that the Magic have already begun to look for a new general manager and that Smith will be fired in a few days, presumably along with head coach Stan Van Gundy. As for Howard, the star is apparently very upset with the Magic and wants out. At this point the Magic’s approach is to clean house and begin all over again. Former New York Knicks general manager Donnie Walsh, and Indiana Pacers general manager David Morway  are two names to keep an eye on for the new Magic position.

As for Van Gundy, and who his replacement will be, it is unclear now who the Magic are targeting. Van Gundy is a very good coach and I’m not too certain that there are a lot of great upgrades out there. One name who will be floatedaround quite heavily after the presumed firing of Van Gundy, is former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Phil Jackson. Members close to Howard’s camp have made it known that Howard would love Jackson in Orlando, and it just may be the sort of thing that will keep him from jumping ship.

Jackson wants back into the NBA and bringing him in could be the only logical option for the Magic to keep Howard, and keep him happy. Whoever is brought in to take over this seemingly sinking ship will more than likely do everything in their power to lure Jackson to Orlando, that is if he’s even interested in Orlando. It seems as though Howard’s heart is not in Orlando, and I think, regardless of coach, he simply wants out to start fresh somewhere else.

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But now Jackson, as everyone had initially predicted, has the itch to come back and coach in the NBA, but not necessarily with the New York Knicks. Jackson and the Knicks have had a complicated relationship these past few weeks, but have not had any contact directly with each other. Jackson assuredly knows that the Knicksare interested in his services, but no NBA team has contacted Jackson so far. As I stated before Jackson is not too interested with the Knicks roster, and Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak has hinted before at a Jackson return.

It is unsure if the Lakers and Jackson have mutual interest in each other, what with the Lakers having a coach in Mike Brown and all, but it is widely known that Lakers owner Jerry Buss, and the Buss family, have long been about putting the best possible product on the floor, and paying whatever it takes to do so. It is also widely known in the Lakers offices that Buss is willing to do anything to sell tickets, not that he has any problems with that already, and putting Jackson back at the helm could help bolster that significantly.

On top of the financial aspect that would come with signing Jackson once again, the basketball side of thingsmust be taken into account. When Jackson was with the Lakers for their two NBA championships, and sweep by the Mavericks, he did not have the best of rosters, but he still made it work. If Jackson were to come back next season he would then have a roster with a immensely talented center inAndrew Bynum, a rejuvenated star in Kobe Bryant, and a young but raw point guard in Ramon Sessions.

With what Jackson did for a young, and immature Shaquille O’Neal, helping him to realize, and maximize his potential, there is no telling how good he could become. There has already been a plethora of debate about Bynum possibly being better than Dwight Howard, and assuredly being the second best center in the NBA if not the best. Under the tutelage, and guidance of Jackson, Bynum could mature and become the dominant force the Lakers need him to be.

Now for all those wondering about the Lakers current head coach, Mike Brown, and his future with the team, then that is a good question. The Lakers released a statement on Sunday, following comments by Laker great Magic Johnson that Brown would be fired if the Lakers did not win Game 7 vs. the Denver Nuggets, stating that they were fully committed to Brown as head coach. But then again what were they supposed to say? It’s not like they would come out and declare that Brown would be a one-and-done coach, similar to RudyTomjanovich’s  tenure with the Lakers, in hopes that Jackson would once again come out of retirement, and once again save the Lakers. Through everything that has happened this season, with the trades and such, it does not seem out of the question that Brown could be put into a similar situation as Tomjanovich, if Jackson does become available.

It is not certain, as of now, where, or if, Jackson will be coaching next season. What is certain though is that Jackson does want to return to the game he loves, and the team that he loves so much, the Los Angeles Lakers, will be keeping an open to see if a reunion could be put into the works. Because with the way things are looking right now, for the Lakers, under the guidance of Brown they are not really showing any promise of a bright future. A dose of Phil Jackson may be just what this team needs.

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When D’Antoni was fired assistant coach Mike Woodson stepped in and the Knicks, sans Amar’e Stoudemire for a short period of time, were doing well. The defense had stepped it up, and Carmelo Anthony was on a tear. But regardless of how hot Carmelo Anthony was heading into the playoffs a match-up with the Miami Heat seemed like a tough one to pull off for the Knicks, and judging by the Heat’s current 3-0 series lead the task was too much for the Knicks. Now that the Knicks season will, more than likely, be coming to an end shortly the search for a permanent full-time head coach will begin.

Regardless of how good of a job Mike Woodson has done in his short time as head coach, it has been rumoredthat the Knicks are prepared to offer Phil Jackson upwards of $50 million to become the new head coach of theKnicks. Jackson played for the Knicks and has stated before that he will always have an affinity for his old team, but that does not necessarily mean that he is a lock to become the Knicks new head coach, if in fact they decide to part ways with Woodson.

According to a Yahoo! Sports report Jackson is not too “enthralled” by the Knicks roster. Here is a small excerpt from the article by Adrian Wojnarowski, “Jackson isn’t enthralled with the Knicks’ roster, a source who talks to him said, but that doesn’t mean he’d completely rule out the job. New York matters to him, and, so does money, the kind of money only the desperation of Dolan could dole out.” To me the most surprising thing about this post was the fact that Jackson, according to Wojnarowski who is very good, has placed a high demand on the amount of money he would need to return to coaching.

The fact that Jackson isn’t too “enthralled” with the Knicks roster is not at all surprising, (I don’t even think Knicks players, staff, or fans like their own roster), but is money really the key factor for a return to coaching? I’m not saying that Jackson should come in and coach for very cheap but I would assume, from the outside looking in, that Jacksons’ true motivation to once again be a head coach in the NBA would be his health, and the possibility of winning an NBA championship in 2-3 years max. I mean it’s not like Jackson is going to coach for the next 10-15 years right? Whatever path Jackson does decide to take I am sure that in the end it will be a winning one, because after all that’s really what Jackson is all about.

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According to ESPNNewYork.com Stoudemire was severely injured and even cut off half of his hand. Here is a small excerpt, ”He didn’t haul off and punch the glass; he hit it out of frustration… He kind of slapped it, but with a closed fist. He said he thought it was plastic instead of glass. Half of his hand was just hanging off. It was really bad. Blood was just squirting out. That’s why they had the paramedics come in, because they thought he might have punctured an artery because of how much blood was coming out.”

If Stoudemire’s injury is truly as bad as it sounds, and it does sound bad, then it is very likely that we will notbeseeing Stoudemire for the rest of the Knicks series against the Miami Heat. Stoudemire has already been ruled out of game 3 against the Heat, but it is unsure if he will be available for the rest of the first-round series. If you are a Knicks fan though, is it really that bad if Stoudemire does indeed miss the rest of the series? It’s been well documented, ever since Carmelo Anthony joined the Knicks last season, that Melo and Amar’e would have a difficult time co-existing on the same team and, at the same time, producing the way the Knicks would need them too. Many people dismissed this idea and simply claimed that either Amar’e or Melo would be happy to defer the ball to each other for the better of the team, which, for the most part has been true.

Ever since Carmelo joined the Knicks, Stoudemire’s production has gone down, and so had the Knick wins. It wasn’t until former Knick head coach Mike D’Antoni resigned, and now Knicks head coach Mike Woodson took over, along with the absence of Stoudemire, that Melo had gone on an unbelievable tear heading into the playoffs. Then, suddenly, when Stoudemire re-entered the Knicks starting line-up Melo’s production began to decline and it has carried over into the playoffs ultimately resulting in a bottle-up of frustration culminating in the now infamous fire extuingisher incident. Coincidence? I think not.

At this point the Knicks really have nothing to lose and it seems that that is the way Melo, and the Knicks, will play tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden. It will be extremely hard for the Knicks to come back from a 2-0 deficit on the Heat but, a desperate, hungry team, who possesses a streaky shooter like Melo, can be deadly if they catch fire. Who knows, Stoudemire punching a fire extinguisher out of frustration may turn out to be the best thing that has happened to the Knicks this post-season.

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If the Knicks somehow lose to the Bobcats tonight, and the only way I see that happening is if the Knickssomehow get trapped in their hotel rooms, and the 76ers win in Detroit against the Pistons, then the 76erswould move up to the seventh seed and face the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs. But, according to a report, Evan Turner does not want to play the Heat because they are a tougher team, and the 76ers, according to Turner, match-up better with the Chicago Bulls.

Here’s a small piece from the report, “Sixers’ guard Evan Turner thinks the Sixers would rather play the Bulls because, “It means we’re dodging the tougher team. That’s what I think.” The better team, of course, being the Heat? “We will be able to compete well against Chicago and have an opportunity to win the series, he said.” Those are surely some big words and it will be interesting to see if he can back them up. Another thing that will be interesting to see is how the MVP Derrick Rose responds to these comments.

Rose has not played like his MVP self, due to the number of injuries that he has had this season, but come playoff time I’m sure that Rose will be ready to play, and bringing his A game. In my opinion this year the Chicago Bulls are a little reminiscent to last year’s Dallas Mavericks. Last year nearly every expert around the nation was talking about how the Mavericks would have trouble, or get beat, n the first round against the Portland Trail Blazers. As anyone who watches the NBA knows the Mavericks wound up winning the NBA championship last season, completing an epic playoff run that no one saw coming.

The Bulls current situation is comparable to the 2011-2012 Mavericks playoff run. Although I haven’t seen anyone pick the 76ers to upset the Bulls, I have seen many people state that the Bulls are not jelling correctly, and that Derrick Rose will not be able lead the Bulls past the Heat. At this point the Bulls really have nothing to lose, they are the top seed in the Eastern Conference, although they are not being treated as one, and still have a roster capable of winning an NBA championship. Now it’s time for the Bulls to put it all together and finish off what they didn’t last year.

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On SportsCenter on Saturday Stephen A. Smith came on and laid out the future, according to his sources, of Dwight Howard. Here is the quote from Stephen A., “The minute this season is over, according to what I am hearing from his camp, you can expect Dwight Howard to  tell Orlando.  ‘Get me out of here. I don’t want to be here any longer… When he had his back surgery, they were talking about giving him a flight on AirTran or something like that.  This is the kind of stuff that I’ve been told in the last 24 hours in terms of how they’ve treated him.  He feels as a superstar, he’s been treated as a scrub.”

If Stephen A.’s sources are correct, pertaining to the type of flight that the Magic wanted to give Howard, then it would not be a surprise at all to me if Howard did in fact request a trade this off-season. Heading into the NBA trade deadline it seemed as though Howard was not committed to the Magic at all, but rather his own desires. Howard’s teammates have also not exactly come to his defense which may be a telling sign of whose side they are really on.

As things stand right now all signs seem to be pointing to the fact that Howard, regardless of whether or not he truly asks for a trade this off-season, will not be in Orlando past next season’s trade deadline. Assuming Howard does get traded, the three teams originally on his list, the New Jersey Nets, Los Angeles Lakers, and Dallas Mavericks would seem to be the top destinations. But a recent report came out stating that Howard signed with the Magic simply to avoid a trade to the Lakers. If this report is indeed true then it would seem that the Lakers could automatically be eliminated from Howard’s possible destinations.

If, and when Howard is traded, and as of right now all signs are pointing to it just being a matter of time, then the likely destination is the New Jersey Nets. Both Howard and Deron Williams  are good friends and have wanted to play with each other for a while now. Going to the Nets would ensure that Howard would be happy with his current team, and on a team with a real chance at making some noise in the playoffs.

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First off let me start by saying that I have watched every minute of every single Laker game this season, at the same time though I’m a realist and not a crazy fan who thinks the Lakers are going to win every single game. Now after stating that I can get to my point that, contrary to many people’s opinion, I feel that the Lakers are better when Kobe is deferring to Bynum inside and not jacking up 28 shots a night.

Take, for example, the Lakers game against the Los Angeles Clippers. By looking at the box score, provided by ESPN.com, we can see that in the Lakers game against the Clippers Kobe took 19 shots to Bynum’s 20, both shot efficiently at 13-19 and 13-20 respectively, and the Lakers won the game. But, in contrast to this well playedgame by the Lakers, we can look at the Lakers game against the Oklahoma City Thunder , a game in which theLakers lost by 9. By looking at the box score we can see that Kobe, on that night, went 7-25 while Bynum went an efficient 10-15.

Now as you can clearly tell there is a problem with what Kobe did against the Thunder. Kobe decided that against the Thunder he wanted to be the hero and lead the Lakers to a victory when in fact, none of his shot were falling. Instead of deferring to Bynum, who was killing Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka down low, he decided to take matters into his own hands, ultimately killing the Lakers’ offensive tempo in the third quarter and costing them the game. The Lakers were controlling the tempo and had all the momentum until the third quarter when, once again, their offense stagnated due to too much isolation, involving Kobe, and not enough ball movement.

What Kobe did against the Clippers is what he should be doing all the time, at first deferring to Bynum and then, when the time is right, take over the game late and step on the throat of any opponent in the Lakers path. Kobe, without question, is one of the most, if not the most, clutch players in the NBA and can seal a game when need be, Bynum cannot. If Kobe can pick his spots early, like he did against the Clippers, realize when he needs to dish off to Bynum inside, and then seal a Lakers victory late, the Lakers will have a legitimate chance at yet another NBA title.

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]]> http://www.rantsports.com/courtcrusades/2012/04/10/andrew-bynum-not-kobe-bryant-is-the-key-to-a-los-angeles-lakers-championship/feed/ 0 http://www.rantsports.com/courtcrusades/2012/04/02/miami-heat-to-be-audited-over-potential-profit-sharing-violations/ http://www.rantsports.com/courtcrusades/2012/04/02/miami-heat-to-be-audited-over-potential-profit-sharing-violations/#comments Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:02:08 +0000 Joshua Casey http://7.4436 So far this season everything has gone well for the Miami Heat, they are currently 37-14 and second only to the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference. But just because everything is fine on the court for the Heat, that doesn’t necessarily mean that off the court all is well also. According to a report in the Miami Herald a government agency, headed by Miami-Dade Inspector General Chris Mazzella, has started to look into the Miami Heat’s finances.

According to the report the Heat and Miami-Dade county had an agreement in place, when American Airlines Arena was built in 1999, that the team must share 40% of all profits that exceed $14 million per season. But apparently the team has never exceeded that amount, reporting that they made $13.2 million last year. But Miami-Dade county has a different story, stating that the Heat have made a record of $60 million in revenue since LeBron James, and Chris Bosh have joined the Heat.

On Friday Mazzella said that he is trying to figure out whether any of the profits the Heat have made should have been shared with the county of Miami-Dade, based off of the agreement to build the Heat’s arena on Biscayne Bay. Mazzella talked with the Miami Herald and issued this statement, “This particular contract had not been audited and we decided to take a look at it. We usually look at contracts that are supposed to be producing revenue for the county.”

With the recent additions of LeBron James and Dwayne Wade, not to mention that American Airlines Arena frequently accommodates artists such as Britney Spears, Marc Anthony, and shows like Disney On Ice, it’s hard to think that in a single year they have not made over $14 million in profit. “Pollstar, which is a concert industry publication, ranked American Airlines Arena seventh in the nation, and 18th in the world, with 340,000 tickets sold from January to September of last year.”

The Heat constantly sell out games (seating 19,600 fans) and during the 2005-2006 season made a deep run in the playoffs and won the NBA championship. Adding one of the biggest, if not the biggest, and most polarizing basketball players in the world has not pushed the Heat’s profits over $14 million? I don’t know about anyone else but to me, this sounds a little fishy.

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The Lakers were in desperate need of a point guard and saw Lowry as their solution, the inclusion of Luis Scola, who was also to be rumored in a potential Gasol deal, would also provide a big man for the Lakers to fill the empty void that Pau would leave. But when Lowry came down with an apparent groin injury, it seemed that all hopes of a trade to the Lakers, or any other team, would have to be put on hold. Lowry was initially diagnosed with a groin injury, but according to a report by Jonathan Feigen of UltimateRockets.com, it was more than just a simple groin injury that was plaguing Lowry.

Apparently when Lowry went to the doctor’s office to get a check-up on his groin injury, one day after the Rockets game against the Raptors, the doctor seeing him realized that what Lowry had was something more than a simple groin injury. “The doctor that did the MRI was like, ‘You don’t look right. We need to send you over to a real doctor,’ ” Lowry said. “He sent me to the Knicks’ doctor (Lisa Callahan). She had me in the office and my temperature rose from 100 to 103 in an hour. She said, ‘It’s time to get you admitted. Something’s not right.”

It turned out that Lowry did have a groin problem, but he also had a bacterial infection that, if not treated properly, may have caused more damage than simply sidelining Lowry for the remainder of the NBA season. “(If not for the groin problem), I wouldn’t have got the MRI. The MRI helped me find what was really wrong with me, why I was sick and why I felt the way I felt.” Lowry, who is now doubtful to return this season due to this bacterial infection, is doing fine now, and is taking all the necessary steps to make a full recovery.

At this point I don’t think that, with the scare of a disease that could have cost him his life, Lowry needs to be worrying about playing this season. Rather he should be focusing on simply getting healthy.

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According to a report on HoopsHype.com, (per a Bill Simmons Tweet), Vinny Del Negro is now treading on “super-thin, could-go-any-day-ice.” The fact that the Clippers got blow out on the road by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday doesn’t exactly help matters too much for Del Negro. Another factor that may play into Del Negro’s inevitable departure, is thealleged altercation that Del Negro got into six days ago after a Clippers loss to the Phoenix Suns.

According to the Los Angeles Times Del Negro could be heard yelling at the Clippers after their 23 point loss the Thunder on Wednesday. Del Negro also admitted to the media that he was upset at his players, and expressed his anger towards them in the locker room post-game. Del Negro reportedly used the words, “approach, “compete”, and “defense” in his post-game tirade.

Del Negro expressed his anger toward the media by saying, ”We have to get the mentality of we have to play a certain way to win right now… But our overall approach and everything to the game has to be better. That’s what is disappointing to me. We have to do a better job of being in the moment from the get-go and not waiting to get into the game.” It seems that it’s only a matter of time until Del Negro is driven out of Los Angeles and replaced with a more capable, and impertinent coach who actually knows that they’re doing.

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