At
this time of the season there’s not much basketball
being played, but there are lots of games to take an interest
in, and most of these games resemble a card game of some
sort. Picture yourself sitting at a card table, the green
felt beneath your hands, your opponent in a shadowy gloom,
it’s time to make your play.
There’s
a lot of poker being played right now, in fact two tournaments
running side-by-side involving some of the same players.
There’s the coaching search tourney, drawing to
its close. Several players have made their bets and laid
their cards down on the table. Cleveland, Philadelphia
and Orlando have made their moves with Mike Brown, Maurice
Cheeks and Brian Hill respectively. Cleveland and Philadelphia
have gambled hoping for a flush and a straight respectively,
Orlando settling for a solid pair and a low wager. If
it was my money, I’d want to be in Cleveland’s
seat and if I was Philadelphia I’d be worried about
my next meal. With three coaches under contract, Philadelphia
is betting the house on Maurice Cheeks, my throat would
be dry and my hands shaking.
The high
stakes players are still around. The Lakers, Knicks and
Trailblazers have all shown the ability to throw some
money around, but are busy staring at their cards hoping
that a deuce is actually a king. Nobody knows what is
in the Blazers’ hand, but there are a whole lot
of face cards already on the table. I’m hoping
for the proverbial ace up the sleeve with Flip Saunders,
Phil Jackson and Scott Skiles out of reach.
The other
poker tournament is all about the draft. Nash has given
us plenty of table talk; he’d prefer a taller guard
from college with good character who can shoot. Unfortunately
there is no such player this year. He’s talked
about trading the pick for a veteran, saying Nick Van
Exel’s waivable contract and the pick is very attractive,
and yet still saying that a top level shooting guard
is probably not available. There’s talk of trading
down, or if you are the Charlotte Bobcats, talk of trading
up, down, backwards and forwards. There’s even
a threat from Charlotte saying that “Nash’s
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player” won’t
be available past them,
a bold move, but a likely bluff. We won’t know what’s
been going on until the first two picks are taken. If Atlanta
picks Chris Paul (or Charlotte with that pick) Portland
has drawn an inside-straight. Otherwise I expect, but more
realistically hope, for a trade.
Once
poker season is over, it’s time for a relaxing game
of Gin Rummy. In all likelihood Nash will be looking down
at his cards and noticing that a lot of them look the same
and aren’t really helping him. It’s like he
has pairs of fours, sixes and eights. With two or three
moves he can lay down a nice hand, but which cards to lay
down? With the drafting of Gerald Green or Marvin Williams
the Blazers will be looking at the draft pick, Sergei Monia,
Viktor Khryapa, Travis Outlaw, Darius Miles and Ruben Patterson
all of whom are more three than two. Between Darius Miles
and Ruben Patterson that’s about 81 minutes a game
from their point of view. Add the need to develop all these
young players and a familiar feeling of dread sets in.
Even under the best scenario, with Outlaw, Monia and Green
all able to play the ‘2’, that’s still
three players per position without including the $9 million
albatross that is Derek Anderson. Nash will have to lay
down a couple of cards this off-season, knowing full well
that his opponents might snap them up and lay them down.
Look for Ruben Patterson to have a great year somewhere
else, and expect one of our young, promising players to
become a solid contributor elsewhere while another one
here fails. That’s just the odds of the game.
Finally,
what are we, the fans, playing? We’re playing Solitaire,
fiddling with the deck, shuffling it around and passing
the time. We spend our time arranging the cards to our
pleasing, wishing we were taking part in a bigger game,
with more participants and for higher stakes. But there’s
another name for the game of Solitaire, and it should
be the watchword of a Blazer fan, what we need now most
of all, is Patience.
-EnglandDan |
