Tuesday Insider

[Guest]

Forgotten ones making memorable impacts

by Chad Ford

Send an Email to Chad Ford

Also Below: The apocalypse hits New York | Hill good; Carter not so good | Random Game Notes | Peep Show

Yao Ming, Jay Williams and a host of other rookie lottery picks are all living the life. The cameras, the commercials, the billboards, the money and the love. Don't ever forget the love.

Twenty-eight select individuals from the draft class of 2002 got their three-year guaranteed contracts, an Escalade and a piece of the blacktop dream.

Even guy No. 28, the Hawks' Dan Dickau, gets his money, a chance to develop and the security that comes with being a first-round draft pick.

Guy No. 29?

His name is Steve Logan. He was a First Team All-Amercian selection last year — a fiery point guard who put up gaudy numbers on one of the best teams in the nation. Today, he is hanging around the Bay Area rehabbing an injured foot, hoping against hope that Warriors GM Garry St. Jean decides that he's worth a one-year, non-guaranteed minimum deal.

What a difference one draft selection makes.

J.R. Bremer can tell an even better story. Fifty-seven names were called on June 26th. His was not one of them. Forget, for a second, that he ranked fourth in the nation in scoring during his senior season at St. Bonaventure or that he outplayed most of his peers at the Chicago pre-draft camp.

"I guess I was one of the forgotten ones," Bremer told Insider this summer while playing for the Celtics in the summer league. Just hours later, GM Chris Wallace called his agent with an offer. A one-year contract. "It feels nice to be found," he told me later. "Real nice."

The impact of second-round picks and undrafted rookies has never been greater than this year. Thirteen second-round picks and an astounding 12 undrafted rookies made opening night rosters this season.

Call them the forgotten ones. The ones who once were lost, but now are found.

They run the gamut of talents and abilities. Three of them, Bucks big man Dan Gadzuric (drafted No. 34), Sonics forward Reggie Evans (undrafted) and Magic center Pat Burke, have already cracked the starting lineup.

A couple more, like the the Heat's Rasual Butler, the Lakers' Jannero Pargo, the Nuggets' Junior Harrington and the Grizzlies' Mike Batiste, are seeing meaningful minutes.

Several young prodigies like the Bulls Roger Mason Jr. (drafted No. 31) and Smush Parker (undrafted) will be charged with holding the clipboard and filling out out the injured list this year. But both have bright futures. Others like Burke and Raptors center Nate Huffman (undrafted) are veterans of the international game who are finally getting a shot.

"Going in, I didn't think, 'Hey, this is a longshot,'" Burke said just hours after getting the official congratulations from Magic head coach Doc Rivers. "I knew I could play. "

And then there's 29-year-old Juaquin Hawkins (averaging 30 mpg for the Rockets), who gives a new definition to the word "journeyman." Hawkins has played in Taiwan and Japan, the CBA, ABA, USBL and with the Harlem Globetrotters.

"It feels a lot better being on this end of [the final cut]," Hawkins said. "I've been so close but just couldn't get through. This is my third time around — I've been to two other camps and both times I was the last cut. Me being 29 years old, I was like I've had my chances, it's not in the cards for me. But this is truly a blessing."

Factor in another six former second-rounders making their debuts in the NBA this season (led by the likes of Emmanuel Ginobili and Marko Jaric) and you have an unheralded 59 new players in the NBA this season.

Now you know why jobless veterans like Jim Jackson, Danny Manning, George McCloud, Greg Anthony, Dell Curry, Rafer Alston, Tony Massenburg, Bryant Stith, Grant Long, Greg Foster and Tim Hardaway are a little peeved.

There wasn't a sudden surge in the talent pool this offseason. Guys like Hawkins, Evans and Pargo make rosters because they're young, cheap and expendable. Veteran free agents come with guarantees, larger minimum salaries and the requisite egos.

For example, the Warriors cut veteran point guard Alston, in part, because his contract became guaranteed if he made the opening night roster. Guaranteed for what? The veteran's minimum. Instead, the Warriors decided to keep second-year guard Dean Oliver. Oliver, another undrafted player, has no guarantees and his minimum salary is about $100,000 less than Alston's. Choosing Oliver over Alston wasn't a basketball decision, it was a financial one. Former stars like Jackson, Manning and Hardaway are getting squeezed for the same reason — it's cheaper to fill your roster with kids who'll accept anything just to make an NBA roster.

Sometimes, going with the young guys can really pay off. There are a significant amount of second round and undrafted rookie success stories out there. Eduardo Najera, the Mavs' 38th pick in 2000, signed a six-year, $23.25 million contract this summer. Michael Redd, the Bucks' second-round pick two years ago, recently signed a four-year, $12 million deal. Four second-round picks from the 2001 draft — Trenton Hassell, Gilbert Arenas, Loren Woods and Jarron Collins — have nabbed starting jobs and look to cash in big time next summer.

Just two players from the class of 2000 and four players from the class of 2001 have made it big, which speaks to the odds. But for these 31 or so forgotten ones, their one shot to shine is once in a lifetime opportunity.

Undrafted Burke gives Magic a lift

Brad Weinstein / San Francisco Chronicle

Bucks rookie to start

Tom Enlund / Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Upstart Evans mixes up Seattle youth movement

Percy Allen / Seattle Times

Hawkins' play drawing attention

Janny Hu / Houston Chronicle

Undrafted rookie makes Mavs' roster

Dwain Price / Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Woods makes statement

Robbi Pickeral / St. Paul Pioneer Press

The apocalypse hits New York

An 0-4 start, a broken sellout streak and another fourth quarter collapse (courtesy of a late 15-5 Bucks run) cap a helluva first week for the Knicks.

We knew they were going to be bad. This bad? Well, yeah.

With no future, and very little present, it's amazing that 18,100 people (about 2,000 more than showed up for the Nets' opener) think that watching the Knicks is worth two hours of their time, let alone their money.

Dentists should be handing out cards at the Madison Square Garden turnstiles.

"We have to avoid feeling sorry for ourselves, feeling down," Allan Houston told the N.Y. Times. "The first three games, we legitimately played well enough, had a reason to come in here with our head held high. Tonight I don't think we did."

"Wednesday [against the Kings], there has to be some pride, some passion. Maybe I just have come out screaming to surprise everybody. We have to show some pride."

"Every great thing ends," coach Don Chaney said. "What we have to do now is get the fans back. Nothing's forever."

Chaney was responding to the end of the Knicks' 433-game sellout streak, but he could have been talking about the Knicks, his job and just about anything associated with the Knicks these days.

Then, just when rock bottom smacks you in the face, you get a report out of the N.Y. Daily News claiming that Knicks president Scott Layden is trying to acquire the Mavs' Shawn Bradley. Seriously.

Is Layden trying to get fired?

Bradley has six years, $26 million remaining on his contract. The Knicks, who own a $4.5 million disabled player exception, could swap the exception for Bradley without giving up any players.

Bradley was supposed to turn things around this year. He showed up to camp in good shape and had an impressive preseason. But so far, in the regular season, he's managed just 7.3 ppg and 6.3 rpg.

And speaking of dying last gasps, the Daily News also ran what we expect to be a daily LeBron James update. When does spring training start?

Knicks Stumble to 0-4 With Loss

Chris Broussard / New York Times

Bradley is center of Knick attention

Frank Isola / New York Daily News

Trade Teams, Trade Places, Keep Clickers

Harvey Araton / New York Times

Nix The Quick Fix

George Willis / New York Post

All the L's can spell lots of luck in lottery

Mitch Lawrence / New York Daily News

Hill good; Carter not so good

Grant Hill is fine. Really.

"We're all foolish to think that we're going to go through a whole season — with three surgeries in the past two years — where you're not going to have some soreness," Hill told the Orlando Sentinel. "Every part of my body at different times has been sore. My right ankle has been sore. Now my left ankle is catching up. I don't think it's that big of a deal."

Magic players made a point to tell reporters that they were sore too. But it all rang a little hollow.

Hill is vowing to be back tonight. And he isn't going to take it easy.

"Last year, I tried to do that," Hill said. "The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak. This year, that's the way I play. I attack the basket. I try to draw fouls. I get in transition. That's what I do for a living."

The news wasn't quite as good in Toronto.

GM Glen Grunwald said there's no way the Raptors will rush their top player, Vince Carter, back into action, regardless of the short-term pain the team's feeling right now.

"Of course we're worried about the chronic nature, we don't want it to become a chronic injury," Grunwald told the Toronto Star. Carter is expected to sit for the next week.

"The surgery fixed the problem that he had," Grunwald said. "But with this particular injury, it flared up again, but not as seriously."

Coach Lenny Wilkens is freaked out. "You can't control injuries. That's just part of the game. But in my 30 years of coaching in the NBA, I've never had a team suffer as many key injuries as we did within such a short period of time. It was really weird."

Things were even worse in Dallas.

Results of Raef LaFrentz's MRI revealed a third-degree right ankle sprain. The recovery time is what the team had anticipated after the injury occurred in the third quarter Saturday. LaFrentz is expected to miss the next three to six weeks.

"The test showed no rupture," LaFrentz told the Dallas Morning News. "There were some torn ligaments here and there, but that's standard for a sprained ankle. It was a relief finding out that nothing else happened in there. It was scary when it happened, but it was good to find out it was just a sprain. We'll just keep ice on it and keep it elevated as much as possible."

Don Nelson said he didn't anticipate making a roster move to make up for LaFrentz's absence.

Hill: Ankle is fine

Jerry Brewer / Orlando Sentinel

Do smart thing, Magic: Rest Hill before it's too late

Mike Bianchi / Orlando Sentinel

Raps won't rush Carter to return, Grunwald says

Doug Smith / Toronto Star

Money ill-spent

Lacy J. Banks / Chicago Sun-Times

LaFrentz is out 3-to-6 weeks

Eddie Sefko / Dallas Morning News

Random Game Notes

Clearly, Jalen Rose and Donyell Marshall know how to play basketball, but is Bill Cartwright pulling a Tim Floyd on GM Jerry Krause? Cartwright has been stealing minutes from young players like Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry in favor of his veterans. The small picture result? The Bulls have been competitive in every game they've played. The big picture result? Curry and Chandler are taking another step back. Coaches have that competitive urge to play the best players. Clearly, giving Marshall and Rose the lion's share of minutes will help them win more games. But at what price? Chandler and Curry are starting, but not finishing basketball games. Their confidence is taking a beating and the Bulls' rebuilding program keeps having to push the timetable back. Chandler is averaging 7.3 points and six rebounds. Curry is averaging 6.5 points and 2.3 rebounds. Look for Krause to start getting restless if Cartwright keeps the butts nailed to the bench in meaningful situations. Krause wants to win now, too. But he knows long term, this team won't go anywhere if Chandler and Curry can't take it there.

The Suns have Shawn Marion, Stephon Marbury and Penny Hardaway. It isn't like they're hurting for offense, but early in the season, the Suns are averaging a disappointing 79 ppg. Blame terrible shooting. The team, as a whole, is shooting just 38 percent from the field. Marbury is shooting 34 percent from the field, Joe Johnson is shooting 29 percent, Hardaway is shooting 37 percent and Marion is shooting just 41 percent. The team three-point percentage (23 percent) is much worse. Monday night versus the Pistons no one could get it going until the fourth quarter. The Suns had just 55 points at the end of three quarters, and it took a fourth-quarter surge by Hardaway and Bo Outlaw to get the team back in the game. Clearly, Johnson is the weakest link right now. He's reverted back to the "where the [censored] am I?" play that got him shipped out of Boston his rookie season. Coach Frank Johnson has gottens better play from both Hardaway and rookie Casey Jacobsen.

Malik Rose is quickly establishing himself as the front-runner for the Sixth Man Award. He's averaging 15.5 ppg and 8.8 rpg in just over 25 minutes. His 23 points and nine boards Monday night versus the Grizzlies kept the Spurs in the game. The combination of Rose, Duncan (12 rpg) and David Robinson (11 rpg) is the best rebounding frontline in the NBA.

The Raptors, without Vince Carter and Antonio Davis, should have been toast against the Bulls Monday, but inspired play by a few afterthoughts — Voshon Lenard and Lindsey Hunter — should given fans hope. Both players looked washed up at the end of last season, but with the Raptors short-handed, they've both responded to meaningful minutes. Lenard and Hunter both scored 23 points in Monday night's win and are giving the Raptors a perimeter game that they've desperately lacked the last few years.

Bulls' kids need to grow up

Sam Smith / Chicago Tribune

Lineup change likely

Bob Young / Arizona Republic

Duncan saves day as Spurs beat Memphis in overtime

Johnny Ludden / San Antonio Express-News

Overtime Rap-ture

Doug Smith / Toronto Star

Peep Show

Warriors: Danny Fortson rejoined the Warriors on Monday after 16-day absence, but it will take some time before he works himself into the mix. "I think he needs more than a couple [practices]," coach Eric Musselman told the San Francisco Chronicle. "We've added a ton of stuff since he left. We'll just take it day by day. Right now, he has to learn a lot of stuff and get his rhythm back."

Rockets: The team got Kenny Thomas and Glen Rice back for practice Monday. But Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said the team has a long way to go to build the cohesiveness that was lost to preseason injuries. "I'm trying to get everybody in here and get the chemistry to work," Tomjanovich told the Houston Chronicle. "It's a big job. It doesn't mean just because somebody is back it's going to work automatically. The spacing is different, different sizes. It's not going to be easy. We're going to do out best to make it work. I haven't had a healthy same team for about a year. Now, as we're getting healthier I have to find a way to get all these things [together]. Right now, we have to play the same way we did last year. "

Blazers: Arvydas Sabonis, who strained his right hamstring in the second quarter of Saturday's loss to Denver, could go on the injured list this week. "I don't think Sabonis is going to be back for a while," coach Maurice Cheeks told the Oregonian. "I don't think he'll be back any time soon. I talked to our trainer and . . . I don't know."

Clippers: Quentin Richardson sat out practice because of a hyper-extended right knee, and an MRI exam later in the day indicated no damage. Richardson was termed day-to-day. Corey Maggette practiced Monday, but experienced swelling and underwent an MRI exam that revealed torn cartilage in his right knee. Maggette said he plans to play Wednesday, the L.A. Times reported.

Heat: Anthony Carter is returning to the Heat lineup tonight after a bout with strep throat and a sore neck. Carter, who earned the starting point guard spot over free-agent pickup Travis Best because of a solid training camp, will begin the season behind Best at least until he regains his stamina. "Probably, he'll [best] start [tonight], just based on continuity right now, until we get A.C.'s legs back underneath him," coach Pat Riley told the Sun Sentinel.

Cavs: Rookie Dajuan Wagner was cleared to begin working out with the team, but he's unsure when he'll be in good enough shape to actually begin playing with the team. "Juanny' is beginning to come on," Cavs coach John Lucas told the Morning Journal. "He's less than 10 days away. I'll have to see how he feels. It's like going back to the basics. But I have a really bright student."

Spurs: Speedy Claxton could face surgery after an MRI taken Monday revealed he has a small labral tear in his right shoulder, the San Antonio Express News reported. It is possible Claxton will not require arthroscopic surgery or that he will be able to postpone the procedure until after the season and continue to play with the tear. If he does undergo surgery, he could miss up to four months.

Celtics: Kedrick Brown could miss up to another month. A bone bruise that Brown suffered when he severely sprained his ankle Oct. 10 has not healed the way the Celtics had hoped. "Kedrick could be anywhere from another week to another month before he practices," coach Jim O'Brien told the Boston Globe. "He's got a deep bone bruise on his ankle. It's not the sprain but it's the damage that the sprain caused that's causing his delay. There's a definite setback."

Bucks: Rookie center Dan Gadzuric snared 10 rebounds and blocked three shots Monday night and continues to impress coach George Karl. "I told the rookie afterward that I wish I had the courage to play him down the stretch," Karl told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "But I don't think that would be a good experiment now."

Wizards, T-Wolves: Here's my vote for quote of the year courtesy of Kevin Garnett.Michael Jordan isn't nearly the draw he was a year ago. Last year, he played to standing room only venues wherever he went. This year, teams are having a hard time; some teams, like the T-Wolves, are having a hard time pushing the 40-year-old star. Garnett says he's a little shocked. "In compared to the past, in Minnesota with Jordan, yeah, I'm a little surprised. But nowadays, with snipers and bin Ladens running around, don't really [anything] surprise me anymore. Kind of messed up to say, but . . .Somebody told me they seen a flying monkey. There is flying monkeys, too. Flying squirrels and all kinds of [stuff]. Doesn't nothing surprise me these days."

Fortson returns, will take it slow

Brad Weinstein / San Francisco Chronicle

Rockets summary

Jonathan Feigen / Houston Chronicle

Sabonis' injury could leave Blazers shorthanded Wednesday

Jason Quick / Oregonian

MRI for Maggette

Elliott Teaford / Los Angeles Times

Carter to return tonight

Harvey Fialkov / South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Wagner starts from scratch

Bob Finnan / Lorain Morning Journal

Claxton may have surgery

Johnny Ludden / San Antonio Express-News

Setback detected in Brown's rehab

Shira Springer / Boston Globe

Perfect sense of timing

Tom Enlund / Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Jordan interest lacking

Steve Aschburner / Minneapolis Star Tribune