Bird plays it safe on draft night

Bird got the player he wanted.

By selecting former North Carolina star Tyler Hansbrough 13th overall in last month’s NBA Draft, Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird became a lightning rod for post-draft criticism.

Nearly everyone with an opinion had something to say.

Hansbrough is too small for his position.

His skills don’t translate well to the NBA.

He won’t get the calls he’s used to getting in college.

He’s basically a young Jeff Foster.

While there’s truth to some of the knocks against Hansbrough, it’s hard to find fault in Bird’s pick.

With the huge exception of Kobe Bryant, future superstars are very rarely available at No. 13. Just look at the last five players selected at that spot — Brandon Rush (Indiana), Julian Wright (New Orleans), Thabo Sefolosha (Chicago), Sean May (Charlotte), and Sebastian Telfair (Portland). Not exactly superstar material. In the last 20 years, only two players selected at No. 13 have been named All-Stars (Bryant and Dale Davis).

Expectations were especially low for this year’s sorry excuse for a draft, where outside of Blake Griffin it’s hard to see a single draftee making much of an immediate impact.

Most teams instead tried to draft for potential, or “upside”, which can often be a bust waiting to happen. Taking unproven players is always a high-risk, high-reward move.

But with Hansbrough, Bird knew exactly what he was getting.

He won’t be an All-Star and he might not even be a starter, but Hansbrough should provide a decent interior presence and more importantly inject the Pacers with something they desperately need — an attitude used to nothing but winning.

It’s hard to find more impressive college credentials than Hansbrough’s. He’s a former National Player of the Year. He left UNC with career averages of 20.2 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, and became the leading scorer in school and Atlantic Coast Conference history. His teams went to two Final Fours and won the 2009 National Championship.

Hansbrough must be doing something right.

Bird accomplished another important thing on draft night. He got people talking about the Pacers again.

In recent years, the word “apathetic” couldn’t even begin to describe the Pacers’ dwindling fan base. The team practically gave seats away last season and resulted to gimmick promotions normally found in minor league baseball.

Like him or not, Hansbrough inspires debate.

And as the saying goes, any press is good press.

Pick a big guy, Larry

The Indiana Pacers can get significantly better tonight — if Larry Bird makes the right decision and drafts a frontcourt player.

Plenty of talented guards should be available at No. 13. Brandon Jennings, Ty Lawson, Jeff Teague, and Eric Maynor could all be solid pros.

It's time for an upgrade at power forward.

But the Pacers don’t need them.

With T.J. Ford and Jarrett Jack, they already have the best backcourt tandem they’ve had in years. In his first year as a Pacer, Ford was careless with the ball at times, but had solid stats (14.9 ppg, 5.3 apg). Jack had a career season (13.1 ppg, 4.1 apg) and is durable, having missed only six games over his four-year career. He should be brought back.

The Pacers’ frontcourt is a different story.

Jeff Foster is breaking down, Roy Hibbert is still developing, Troy Murphy is a perimeter player who could care less about defense, and Rasho Nesterovic isn’t coming back. With really no low post presence last year, the Pacers threw up 21 three-pointers per game, fifth-highest in the league.

Indiana obviously needs a big guy, so who should they get?

Unless somebody pulls a Danny Granger and plummets right to them, the best frontcourt players available at No. 13 should be DeJuan Blair, Tyler Hansbrough, and B.J. Mullens. Bird has made it known that he prefers four-year college players to guys that leave early, so that pretty much rules out Mullens. 

Blair or Hansbrough would offer a significant upgrade. More of a hustle player than an explosive athlete, Hansbrough could easily replace Foster. Though undersized at 6-6, Blair dominated the paint at Pittsburgh and could be the Pacers’ best post presence since Jermaine O’Neal.

Also, don’t rule out a trade.

The Pacers have a solid bargaining chip in Murphy, who despite his ridiculous contract won’t ever have higher value. Indiana could unload Murphy for decent value in return.

Smart moves shape NBA contenders

In 29 days, we’ve seen four Game Sevens, several suspensions, a 58-point beatdown of New Orleans courtesy of Denver, and Mark Cuban call out Kenyon Martin’s mom.

And the NBA Playoffs are only about halfway over.

How did the Lakers, Nuggets, Cavs, and Magic get this far? By having a competent front office.

It has taken forever, but the NBA finally has its version of the Final Four — the Lakers, Nuggets, Cavaliers, and Magic. Some took longer to get this far, but all four have one thing in common — a smart front office. Each team can basically point to one move that provided its missing piece.

Cleveland snags Mo Williams in three-team deal

Quick, name who the Cavs gave up in last year’s three-team trade to get Mo Williams. You probably can’t. That’s because one player Cleveland lost (Joe Smith) re-signed with the team, and the other (Damon Jones) couldn’t even crack Milwaukee’s rotation. Williams (17.8 ppg, 4.1 apg) is more than just a sidekick to LeBron James. On a lesser team, he’d be the No. 1 option. 

Denver swaps Allen Iverson for Chauncey Billups

Perhaps no trade has ever had such drastic impact on both teams as this one. Detroit went 24-30 with Iverson in the line-up. Denver went 52-25 with Billups. Iverson missed 24 games. Billups missed one. Iverson’s Pistons are sitting at home. Billups’ Nuggets have an outside shot at a championship.

The Lakers get Pau Gasol from Memphis for garbage

Not even Isaiah Thomas would make the deal Memphis made. The Lakers pried two-time All-Star Pau Gasol from the Grizzlies for the hefty price of major bust Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, and strangely, Gasol’s younger brother Marc. Only Marc Gasol still plays for Memphis, while Pau (18.9 ppg, 9.6 rpg) has given the Lakers much-needed inside scoring. Pau may be a soft defender, but the Lakers have a realistic shot at their second straight Finals appearance since his arrival. He has to be doing something right.

Orlando drafts Dwight Howard over Emeka Okafor

In 1995, Orlando reached the Eastern Conference Finals with Shaquille O’Neal, a dominant center nicknamed “Superman” who could score and defend, but couldn’t shoot free throws. This year, Orlando reached the Eastern Conference Finals with Dwight Howard, a dominant center nicknamed “Superman” who can score and defend, but can’t shoot free throws. A shot-blocking machine, Howard has by far been Orlando’s best big man since Shaq left town almost 15 years ago. And the three-point happy Magic don’t even get him the ball.

LeBron, Cavs look to start their own legacy

Some things in sports are pretty much guaranteed.

There will never be another team like the Chicago Bulls of the 90s. No other team will win six championships in eight seasons. No player is the “next Michael Jordan”.

The comparisons will never end.

But forget the Bulls’ entire decade of dominance for a moment, and just think about how hard it will be for any team to top Chicago’s 1995-96 season. During that year, the Bulls won their fourth title in six years and an NBA record 72 games.

Just look at the awards.

In 1996, Jordan joined Willis Reed as the only player to be named regular season, All-Star, and Finals MVP in the same season. Scottie Pippen made the All-NBA First Team. Phil Jackson was voted Coach of the Year. Toni Kukoc was named the league’s best sixth man. Even Dennis Rodman kept it together long enough to win his fifth rebounding title. Well, he did headbutt a referee… but that’s about as wild as the NBA got before the days of punching fans in the stands.

So throw out the possibility of any team living up to the Bulls’ lofty legacy. No one can sustain that kind of long term success, but if anyone can come remotely close to that level of dominance in the short term, it’s LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Cavs (66-15) are the East’s top seed, own home court advantage throughout the playoffs, and likely have the MVP in James.

Since his arrival in 2003, James has slowly transformed the Cavs from punchline to powerhouse. Cleveland has made the playoffs the last three seasons and went to the NBA Finals in 2007.

James averages nearly a triple-double (28.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 7.2 apg). He sells out arenas anywhere he goes. I’ve seen James play at Conseco Fieldhouse twice this season and No. 23 Cavs jerseys were everywhere. At last week’s game even Pacer fans cheered as James held an informal dunk contest with teammates during pre-game warm-ups.

The only knock on the LeBron-era Cavs is that they’ve had a weak supporting cast. Guys like Carlos Boozer, Ricky Davis, and Larry Hughes have tried, but none have been able to stick as James’ sidekick. But this year, James has finally found his Pippen in All-Star point guard Maurice Williams (17.8 ppg, 4.1 apg).

Just don’t expect these Cavs to stick together for long. Big men Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Ben Wallace are aging, Anderson “Sideshow Bob” Varejao should leave via free agency, and even James could bolt for New York in 2010.

But with home court advantage throughout the playoffs, Cleveland should take care of business and beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals. James would win his first title a year before Jordan got his.

If things don’t work out, at least James can do this:

No. 1 seeds should prevail in Final Four

This year’s Big Dance is nearly in the books, and my bracket is in surprisingly decent shape.

I correctly had North Carolina, Connecticut, and Villanova in the Final Four, but couldn’t have made a dumber pick for my fourth team – one-and-done Wake Forest.

The reward for making it through March Madness? .. a trip to Detroit.

Still, three out of four isn’t bad. Anybody could pick at least a couple Final Four teams when all four No. 1 seeds — UNC, UConn, Louisville, and Pittsburgh — had such dominant regular seasons. But the beauty of the tournament is it’s upsets, and only the two best top seeds made it through. UNC and UConn survived by utilizing their depth and absorbing opponents’ runs.

North Carolina made it look too easy.

Essentially a squad of All-Stars, the Tar Heels are the most loaded team in college basketball. Their entire starting line-up averages double-figures in scoring, and their best player, Tyler Hansbrough, has won just about every college basketball award known to man.

But Hansbrough wasn’t the reason UNC cruised to Ford Field. He had several down games, including a pitiful eight-point performance against Oklahoma in the Elite Eight. Guys like Ty Lawson (20.3 ppg in the tournament) and Wayne Ellington (19 ppg) stepped up, as three different Tar Heels led the team in scoring through four tournament games.

UConn won exactly the same way, with its depth.

Like UNC with Hansbrough, the Huskies have a dominant big man in the 7-foot-3 Hasheem Thabeet. Defenses held him to well below his averages in the tournament, but UConn found success by going outside and spreading the ball around. A different Husky led the team in scoring in each tournament contest, including freshman Kemba Walker, who came out of nowhere with a career-high 23 points against Missouri in the Elite Eight.

While fellow top seeds Louisville and Pitt survived scares from the likes of East Tennessee State, Morehead State, and Siena, UNC and UConn were hardly challenged. The Huskies’ largest deficit of the tournament was two points, and the Tar Heels only fell behind by five against LSU.

Michigan State and Villanova should put up a fight this weekend, but expect UNC and UConn to finally throw down for a national championship.

I’m going with UConn to win it all.

Thabeet should dominate inside and free up the Huskies’ perimeter players for open shots. That, and I just can’t pick against coach Jim Calhoun. UConn has won the title the last two times he’s taken them to the Final Four.

Pacers run into red-hot Jazz

When thinking of NBA championship contenders, the usual suspects come to mind. Boston… Cleveland… San Antonio… the Los Angeles Kobes.

Add Conseco Fieldhouse’s latest visitor, the Utah Jazz, to that list.

The Jazz haven't played this well since the days of Stockton, Malone, and Greg Ostertag's glorious buzzcut.

They may not get much media coverage playing out in Salt Lake City, but the Jazz (41-23) have been dominating the league with the best players you’ve never heard of.

Anonymous guys like Paul Millsap (14.3 ppg, 9.2 rpg), Ronnie Brewer (14.1 ppg), and C.J. Miles (9.6 ppg) are packing plenty of scoring punch to go along with stars Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams. The Jazz rank sixth in the league in scoring.

With all that offense, you’d think Utah would be a defensive pushover like the Pacers.

Not the case.

The Jazz lead the NBA in steals per game (8.9) and give up an average of 99 points per contest (13th in the league). Tuesday, Utah forced 22 turnovers while running its NBA-best winning streak to 12 with a 112-100 defeat of the Indiana Pacers. 

Mehmet Okur, a solid starter who the Pacers always seem to make look like an All-Star, was in typical form, scoring 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting. He put up a career-high 43 points in the teams’ previous meeting in January.

Indiana’s Troy Murphy scorched the Jazz with 23 points and seven three-pointers, but was ineffective in the second half. Even with Murphy shut down over the final two quarters, the Pacers managed to knot the contest four times.

But they couldn’t take the lead.

It’s almost as if the Jazz were toying with the Pacers, allowing them to creep to within single digits only to hit the gas and put the game away at will. The Jazz finally delivered the knockout blow with a 16-4 run late in the fourth quarter.

The good news for the Pacers (28-38) is that they’ll likely get Danny Granger back this week. Sitting two games out of the playoffs with 16 to go, they’ll need all they can get from No. 33.

Trade deadline lacks big moves

The NBA trade deadline is over.

...Where none of these teams want Jamaal Tinsley.

All the Amare Stoudemire and Vince Carter rumors to (insert your favorite team) can finally be put to rest.

No big names changed addresses, but a few deals went down before Feb. 19 and 18 players swapped uniforms on deadline day. Here’s a look at some winners/losers as the NBA landscape changes yet again.

Losers:

Indiana Pacers – Jamaal Tinsley is still a Pacer. Sure he’s a scumbag, but was a complete banishment really necessary? Two years ago, the Pacers had to unload an arguably worse character in Stephen Jackson, but instead chose to play him until he was dealt. They ended up eating two bad contracts for Jackson (Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy), but at least got two starters. The inactive Tinsley now has zero value, and most teams wouldn’t touch him with a 10-foot pole. Excellent work, Larry Bird.

New Orleans Hornets – Hornets forward Tyson Chandler was traded to the Oklahoma City Thu… oh wait, never mind. Hours after Chandler was shipped to OKC, a failed physical sent him right back to the Big Easy. How awkward is this? There’s no way Chandler comes back and gives 100 percent for a team that obviously thought he was expendable. This un-move really has to give Hornets players a lot of faith in the team’s management.

Sacramento Kings — Do the Kings even want to stay in Sacramento? The team ranks near the bottom in attendance and is hemorrhaging money. On Thursday, Sacramento dumped a ton of salary and dealt two of its best scorers– Brad Miller and John Salmons — while receiving no players of starting caliber in return. At 11-44, the Kings have the worst record in the league and have to be banking on winning the draft lottery. Doesn’t the “Las Vegas Kings” have a nice ring to it?

Winners:

Orlando Magic — The Southeast Division-leading Magic made the biggest deal of the day by picking up point guard Rafer Alston. Alston (11.4 points per game, 5.4 assists per game) should fill in nicely for injured starter Jameer Nelson (16.7 ppg, 5.4 apg). All Orlando had to give up was three fringe players and a low first-round draft pick. The Magic should go far.

Miami Heat – The Heat made their deal a few days before the deadline, and it was a good one. By trading Shawn Marion to Toronto for Jermaine O’Neal, Miami ensured it would not get stuck this summer letting Marion walk for nothing in return. While O’Neal is declining, he comes to Miami with something to prove and should be an upgrade for their frontcourt.

New York Knicks — Trade rumors swirled around two of the Knicks’ top young players, David Lee and ”Krypto-Nate” Robinson. Instead, New York dumped $6.2 million in dead weight by dealing Jerome James to Chicago for some immediate scoring help in Larry Hughes. The Knicks then sent little-used forward Malik Rose to OKC for a front-court contributor with an expiring deal — Chris Wilcox. Good deal.

Bench-warming Buckeye blogging away

Mark Titus has plenty of time to think.

The 21-year-old former Brownsburg Bulldog made the improbable leap from student manager to mens’ basketball player at Ohio State, but has seen just 30 minutes of playing time — in three seasons.

Ohio State junior Mark Titus keeps the bench warm for the Buckeyes.

Years of riding the pine might seem like mind-numbing boredom, but last October, the experience gave Titus and two teammates the life-changing idea to start a blog.

He calls it “Club Trillion.”

“We named ourselves ‘Club Trillion’, because as athletically limited white folk, we found ourselves riding the bench for the Buckeyes,” Titus wrote in his first post. “When the time came for us to get in, there would usually be one minute remaining in the game. So we  devised the plan of trying to get ‘the trillion’, which occurs when we play one minute and do absolutely nothing that would appear in the box score, thus making our stat line say one minute played followed by a bunch of zeroes.”

That clever title, combined with humorous and observational blog posts, vaulted Titus to a level of popularity never before seen by a bench-warmer. Since it started in October, “Club Trillion” has attracted nearly 500,000 visitors and gained countless fans, whom Titus refers to as the “Trillion Man March.”

“Club Trillion” recently hit the national stage, when Titus appeared on ESPN.com’s “BS Report” — an online radio show hosted by columnist Bill Simmons. At first, Titus thought his invitation to appear on Simmons’ show was a hoax. After all, this was his literary inspiration, a columnist whom Titus has read since his junior high days. But the request was genuine, and Titus appeared on Simmons’ program on Dec. 16 to discuss “Club Trillion” and his observations as 12th man of the Buckeyes. During the broadcast, Simmons joked that the like-minded Titus might actually be his illegitimate son.

“That’s when I think it started to take off,” Titus said. “He (Simmons) just e-mailed me, apparently one of my readers wrote to him. He’s a really cool guy to talk to, I like his stuff so it was good to get to talk to him.”

Titus updates “Club Trillion” twice a week, or whenever he finds time. When he’s not detailing his teammates’ off-the-court adventures, Titus likes to delve into a variety of topics — anything from how Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner has the greatest stubble-beard in the history of sport, to how the 80s rock band Journey might as well be an amateur Mariachi band without former lead singer Steve Perry.

Speaking of Journey, Titus has a running joke on his blog in which he links to a YouTube video of the band’s “Separate Ways” video when readers least expect it.

“I was trying to think of a running joke I could do,” Titus said. “It had to be subtle and you have to be observant to pick up on it. That Journey video was my favorite one so I try to think of different ways to tie it in. I’m just an Internet junkie.”

Titus’ fans are laughing.

“Club Trillion” t-shirts are a common sight at Ohio State. Titus said home fans excitedly chant his name, while on the road, he gets heckled about his blog posts. While Titus admits he would like to play more, he said “Club Trillion” could be the beginning of a career in writing. He is a marketing major and said he’s always been interested in either writing movie scripts or coming up with creative concepts for advertisements.

“I’ve accepted reality,” Titus said. “A lot of people in my situation kind of get down. But I just saw it as a chance to do something positive.”

Visit “Club Trillion” at http://clubtrillion.blogspot.com/

Butler off to fast start

INDIANAPOLIS — Not much was expected of the youthful Butler men’s basketball team when it was predicted to finish fifth in October’s Horizon League preseason poll.

But four months and many wins later, the No. 16 Bulldogs (18-1) are off to the best start in school history. And they’ve done it with three freshman starters, no seniors, and a 31-year-old coach who worked a desk job as a marketing associate just seven years ago.

Brownsburg grad Gordon Hayward and the Butler Bulldogs are 18-1, No. 16 in the country.

“It’s a real challenge every night when you’re suiting up in this league,” said Butler coach Brad Stevens, who now owns a 48-5 record in two seasons. “We’ve been playing good teams that are ready to play, and we also have guys that have never played against these teams. They’re learning on the fly.”

One freshman who’s proven to be a fast learner is Gordon Hayward, who last March capped his high school career at Brownsburg with a last-second shot that lifted the Bulldogs to their first-ever Class 4A state championship.

Hayward — now a collegiate starter — is still hitting plenty of big shots.

The first-year guard/forward averages 12.7 points per game, and leads the Horizon League in three-point shooting percentage (.462). Hayward was named the league’s player of the week on Jan. 2 for posting his first career double-double (19 points, 10 rebounds) during Butler’s 74-65 win at nationally-ranked Xavier.

Despite his deadly three-point accuracy, the 6-foot-8 Hayward posesses the size to be more than just a perimeter player.

“I just kind of take what the defense gives me,” Hayward said. “It’s really easy when you have teammates that are so good and can create for you. There have been so many contributions from so many different people. We’ve got so much depth on the team this year, it’s
great.”

Hayward has contributed with tough defense lately, as he posted four steals and a block during the Bulldogs’ latest win — a 78-48 destruction of Milwaukee on Saturday.

“It (defense) has always been a Butler principle,” Hayward said. “No matter what happens on the offensive end, we’re just going to come down and guard, and really try defensively to put teams out of what they want to do.”

Saturday’s home win over Milwaukee also drew 9,418 fans to Hinkle Fieldhouse. It was the largest crowd this season and the largest for a league game in six years. Hayward, who played in front of thousands of fans at Conseco Fieldhouse in last season’s high school state finals, is no stranger to big crowds.

“The atmosphere here was ridiculous,” Hayward said. “It was really great. I’ve got to give it up to our fans who came out here today and really supported us.”

Hayward himself is still a fan of Brownsburg basketball.

His high school days may be over — his No. 10 Indiana All-Star jersey now hangs in the Brownsburg gym — but Hayward still finds time to take in a game as often as possible.

“I was actually at the game last night,” Hayward said. “I still follow my team, for sure. I definitely go back as much as I can.”

Cardinals cap crazy season

It all started with Tom Brady blowing out his knee.

From there, the NFL season only got weirder.

The 2008-09 campaign had it all: the Dallas Cowboys turned into football’s New York Yankees, two doormats (Miami and Atlanta) won 11 games, an NFC finalist tied the Cincinnati Bengals, Kerry Collins revived his career — again, Brett Favre choked — again, the Detroit Lions tanked worse than the economy, and two No. 6 seeds snuck into the conference championships.

Arizona is in the Super Bowl.

And now, the Arizona Cardinals are in Super Bowl XLIII.

That’s right, the Cardinals, a team that’s made the playoffs just twice in the last 25 years with a 155-258-2 record during that span.

It seemed Arizona’s tradition of futility would continue this year. Matt Leinart and Edgerrin James both rode the bench, star receiver Anquan Boldin whined about his contract, and the team ran the ball worse than the Indianapolis Colts.

The ‘08 Cardinals made the postseason by finishing 9-7, but that record is a little misleading. Arizona went 6-0 against the pathetic NFC West, 3-7 against the rest of the league.

But this isn’t college football. Having a tough schedule doesn’t earn you any points.

Despite having an unimpressive regular season, the Cardinals got this far by fixing their mistakes in the playoffs. Arizona’s defense — ranked 19th in the regular season — gave up about six fewer points per game in the playoffs. The Cardinals’ rushing attack finished dead last this year, but Edgerrin James and Co. have averaged 111 yards per game in the postseason. Last but not least, Kurt Warner has been playing like it’s 2001 — the year he last took the St. Louis Rams to the Super Bowl.

Who saw this coming? Warner’s career has seen more ups and downs than the stock market. Just four years ago, Warner absorbed a career-high 39 sacks during a miserable season in New York, and it appeared he was about done. But this year in Arizona, he exploded for 4,583 passing yards and 30 touchdowns on his way to being the third-highest rated passer in the league.

A big part of Warner’s resurgence has been Larry Fitzgerald. After having a career regular season, the receiver carried the Cardinals through the playoffs with 419 yards and five touchdowns. His 419 yards broke the NFL record for yards in a postseason previously held by Jerry Rice. Even without much of a run game, Fitzgerald and the Cardinals’ passing threat have been too much for teams to overcome.

And that’s why the Cardinals (seven point underdogs) are going to surprise us once more, and pull an upset over Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl … even though common sense would say go with the Steelers.