1. San Antonio has always been so patient with its approach, but considering that Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook will only be better, the Lakers basically became Voltron, the Nuggets added Iguodala, and the Clippers should only improve, doesn't there have to be some concern that the Spurs, who have been so good the past two seasons in the regular season, essentially did nothing?
Well, I wouldn't say the Spurs did nothing. They just didn't do anything that came close to what the Lakers did. But quietly, San Antonio re-signed its own free agents -- Danny Green, Boris Diaw and Patty Mills -- and, oh, yeah, kept that Tim Duncan guy around for three more years. It's been an incredible run, so no need to blow it up just yet. The Duncan era will run its course over the next 2-3 years, and the Spurs will be well positioned to do it all over again.
2. You have any thoughts on the very non-NBA traditional approach to the coaching staff going on in Charlotte?
I think it's evidence that the worlds of pro and college coaching aren't as separated as they used to be. There's a lot of overlap, and the Bobcats' approach speaks to that. Of course, it also speaks to hiring coaches on the cheap. You're clearly going to pay less for college assistants with no NBA experience than for NBA-tested assistants. Having said that, the Bobcats do have a nice mix of NBA and college experience on the bench next to Mike Dunlap. But as teams crunch the numbers, more and more are finding ways to save money on coaching staffs. I don't think there's enough evidence yet to judge whether that's good or bad.
3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will reportedly finally get his statue, so he can stop writing letters about it. Where do you put Kareem all-time?
He's certainly top 10, though putting them in order is so difficult and subjective. For example, Michael Jordan is the best player I've seen in my lifetime, but I can't say with conviction that Oscar Robertson wasn't better. I just don't have that frame of reference. And how do you compare a perimeter player like Jordan to a physical specimen like Wilt Chamberlain? Different players, vastly different eras, etc. So the best I can do -- the cop-out answer, if you will -- is take a stab at where Kareem ranks among the all-time centers. How about 1. Wilt, 2. Russell, 3. Kareem, 4. Hakeem, 5. Shaq?
4. NBA TV showed Kobe's 81 the other night. Considering how defenses have shifted with multiple defenders and how rarely we're seeing truly great scoring performances lately, you think anyone's going to touch that for the foreseeable future? Heck, even break 70?
I don't think I'll see someone eclipse Bryant's 81 in my career covering the NBA. But 70? That seems possible. Kevin Durant will do that someday.
5. It's Labor Day, Ken, and I hope you have a good one. Who's the hardest working guy in the NBA, player, coach, or executive?
This is both a great question and a trick question, because it leaves me vulnerable to snubbing a lot of deserving people. So in general, the hardest working guys in the NBA are 1. defensive assistant coaches, and 2. assistant GMs. The game has tilted so dramatically toward offense that the role of the defensive assistant has become paramount. Scouting, drawing up game plans, studying video, cutting it up for the players to study individual matchups ... the work never ends, and the sleep never begins. Guys like Mike Longabardi on the Celtics' bench make head coaches like Doc Rivers seem incredibly smart, and they rarely get the credit they deserve. On the front-office side, the GMs/team presidents get all the credit and blame, but the No. 2 front-office guy is the workhorse behind every pick, every signing and every trade. Masai Ujiri wouldn't be recognized as one of the game's shrewdest GMs without Pete D'Alessandro crunching the numbers and running the cap projections at lightning speed behind the scenes. Ditto for Tom Penn as Kevin Pritchard's right-hand man and cap expert when both were in Portland. Warriors assistant GM Travis Schlenk wears multiple hats -- doing pro and college scouting, running payroll scenarios based on a series of proposed trades and interviewing prospective draft picks at the pre-draft combine. How did the Brooklyn Nets completely remake their roster in a matter of days this past July? Wouldn't have been possible without the endless hours and CBA savvy of assistant GM Bobby Marks. Send Wizards assistant GM Tommy Sheppard a text, and the question isn't whether he will respond, but from what country. (And the real question is, will he even remember which country he's in?) The list goes on ... and I don't want to mention any more for fear of leaving someone out. Suffice it to say that one of the reasons things are so quiet in the NBA in late August is because guys like the aforementioned and dozens more are flat on their backs with exhaustion.
