It’s been an intriguing week in the world of basketball. (It’s been an interesting-in-a-good-way week in my world too—it’s amazing how much better I’m feeling, though I’m not sure that’s meds or therapy or my own conscious efforts at attitude adjustment or just the black fog of a severe depressive episode dissipating, as it always eventually does, or all of the above—but that’s a story for another day.) First, there was all-star weekend, the best one I’ve witnessed in at least four or five years. A great, close-until-it-wasn’t rookie-sophomore game, highlighted by the fearlessness of Josh Smith, Ben Gordon, and Dwight Howard in the face of the obvious greatness of LeBron, Melo, and company, made up for the disappointment of Emeka Okafor (my favorite rookie) not being able to play, and even the all-star game itself was exciting and competitive, relatively speaking (though CWebb and Brad Miller should have started, dammit).
And then the fun stuff:* Steve Nash (MVP of the season so far, for sure) squeaking by in the first round of the skills contest and then nailing the second round; a sloppy (and disappointingly, Peja-less) but suspenseful three-point contest; and of course, the return of the dunk. Nearly a week later, I’m still talking about those dunks. I love a good windmill slam more than any other kind of dunk, I think, and Josh Smith did those beautifully (and did Dominique proud), but his trick with Kenyon Martin was even better than the ‘Nique slam. I hope Smith gets traded to a real team rather than being doomed to near-invisibility on the Team That Time Forgot for the next few seasons; he’s showing all the signs of being a superstar in the making, but there hasn’t been a superstar to come out of Atlanta since…well, since ‘Nique, probably. (Someone feel free to correct me on that.) And Amare Stoudemire’s soccer slams, ably abetted by Steve Nash, were a delight; I wish the second one had worked the first time, but when it finally did work, it was almost as much fun as the first. Stoudemire and Nash are favorites of mine, and Phoenix has been such a pleasure to watch this year. They remind of the Kings teams of just a few years ago: fast, high-scoring, and fun, with a camaraderie that’s obvious. In fact, with the Kings playing unevenly and having now essentiallly given up on the season (more on that in a second) and the Wolves being too depressing to watch half the time, Phoenix are practically my favorite team this season. I’ll still root for the Wolves, but I don’t feel very optimistic about their playoff hopes unless they make some kind of smart trade today. (And I can’t help rooting for the Knicks, but let’s not talk about that; if questioned directly about it, I will deny all knowledge of any such team.) There are other teams I’m enjoying this year, but I think I’m going to be pulling for Phoenix when we get deep into the postseason.
Except that maybe now I’m going to be rooting for Philly. I’m still reeling from last night’s SportsCenter scoop—now confirmed, I guess—that Chris Webber is going to Philadelphia in exchange for, well, hardly anything. “Gobsmacked” may be the only word that can adequately describe my reaction, although “stunned” would do the trick too. My initial response, I admit, wasn’t, “Wow, it’s going to be exciting to see how (or if) CWebb and Iverson mesh,” but “What were the Kings thinking?” Why trade Webber now, when he’s finally playing up to his potential on a consistent basis? Is it the Peja thing? I dunno, Geoff Petrie’s always struck me as a smart exec, and I love love love Stojakovic, but he’s not the player you build the franchise around (especially since he’s going to be a free agent after this season). And yeah, Cuttino Mobley was a fantastic pickup, and yeah, Bibby’s improving all the time and will likely continue to do so for a while, and yeah, CWebb isn’t getting any younger and who knows how long he’ll stay healthy…but he’s healthy right now, and I can’t help thinking that this move scuttles any faint hopes the Kings might have had of advancing in the playoffs. Corliss “Bobby Jackson should have won the sixth man award instead of me the year I won it” Williamson and Kenny Thomas sure as hell ain’t going to make a serious difference in getting them there. And geez, way to dispel any remaining illusion of the Kings as the ultimate team-y team; I think the magic of the Kings’ camaraderie left with Vlade last year, but it’s beyond gone now, and I don’t see it coming back.
I was so baffled by the trade that I stayed up way later than I meant to waiting in vain for SportsCenter to provide some sort of analysis beyond, “Wow!” It wasn’t until this morning that I started to think about the upside. Iverson’s never had a true superstar alongside him, and it’s going to be really interesting to see how that works out. Webber and AI could be an incredibly exciting combination to watch. I’ve always liked Iverson (since he was a freshman at Georgetown, in fact) and I think he gets an unfairly bad rap both on and off the court; he is a ballhog, but I suspect a lot of that is because he’s had to be…and now he won’t have to be. The move could be great for him and—more important, to me at least—great for CWebb too.
Webber is maybe my second-favorite player in the NBA (okay, third, but with my beloved former Gopher Bobby Jackson out for the season, I’ll cede the #2 spot to Webber; #1 is KG, of course, and will be till the day he retires). I’ve admired him since he was the fabbest of the Fab Five. My college hoops rooting habits are kind of all over the map; I’ve rooted for Kansas for years, long before I ever set foot or even contemplated setting foot in the state, and I still root for them except when they play Mizzou, since I kind of have to be a Tigers fan by geography. The hometown team I’ve always cared most about is St. John’s, though I’ve been known to root for Seton Hall on occasion too, and nowadays I root for Manhattan, not only because their nickname is the Jaspers and my big blue-point Siamese mix boy is named Jasper but also because they’ve been improbably good for a couple of seasons now. But mostly, I’m a Big Ten girl; the height of my college hoops fandom came when I lived in Minneapolis, and the Gophers were competitive for most of the time that I lived there, so the Big Ten became my conference of choice. There are Big Ten rivals that I hate (Wisconsin and Iowa, of course; I couldn’t call myself a Gophers fan if I didn’t hate those teams with a deep and abiding passion, but also Ohio State and Purdue; I can’t hate Illinois anymore because a) I’m about to become an Illini alum, and b) their streak has been so amazing that it would be churlish to want it to end, but deep down I still hate them anyway). And there are Big Ten teams that I like in spite of their being rivals: Michigan and Michigan State. So I was crazy about the Fab Five, who were thrilling in their freshman year and continued to be likeable and admirable even though they never quite achieved what they were supposed to. And I’ve stayed loyal to Jalen “Handsomest Man in Basketball” Rose and Juwan Howard throughout their somewhat checkered NBA careers. But most of all, I love CWebb. I remember seeing him interviewed as a freshman, and even then, it was clear that he was a remarkably mature and introspective young man, not only more articulate than the average college athlete but also more poised and pensive. I always wondered if his head would get in his way, and I still wonder sometimes if it does. As an NBA player, he’s had his growing pains and moments of brattiness, and he hasn’t achieved quite as much as fans like me might have hoped. But I’ve remained a fan and an admirer, and I’ll always cheer for him, in Philly or wherever. I’m looking forward to seeing how this trade plays out for him and Iverson both.
(And in the midst of all this, my Gophers quietly won both their games this week. I think they might be officially off the bubble now. A win tomorrow would be the perfect end to a memorable basketball week.)
*I heard Stefan Fatsis, usually one of my favorite sports commentators, on NPR talking about how all-star weekend had become too much of a show, and suggesting that the NBA should follow the lead of baseball and the NHL (that’s the No Hockey League, of course) by finding a way to make the game mean something. I couldn’t disagree more. The “show” aspect of NBA all-star weekend is precisely what draws me in; the NBA is better than some other leagues at combining sports with entertainment, and all-star weekend is usually massively entertaining, even when the quality of play isn’t anywhere near as high as it was this year. I love to see the veterans turn out, see the players laughing and having a good time, see the seasoned players rooting their hearts out for their younger teammates in the various competitions…and of course, listen to my favorite sports analysts in the world, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley, riffing endlessly on the whole thing. I watch the MLB all-star game because it’s there, but I don’t give it my full attention, because it’s basically a boring game unless there’s some young player who I’m particularly happy to see in his first all-star game. Mostly I just pay attention to make sure the American League wins, now that that determines home-field advantage in the Series. I watch the NBA all-star stuff because it makes me smile.