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Week One of Hubie 101

by Chad Ford

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Also Below: Will Juwan run with the Bulls in 2003? | Another Spree dead end? | Will DerMarr Johnson ever play again? | Peep Show

Memphis Grizzlies coach Hubie Brown is whipping his team into shape.

Chemistry. Defense. Discipline. Style.

That's the 10-day plan Hubie Brown outlined to his players the minute he stepped foot in Memphis.

Ten days to make an impression on the new coach. Ten days to fill that blank slate up with both the good and the bad. Ten days to start giving their coach their maximum effort. Ten days, to finally win a basketball game.

Today is day seven. Their record is 0-11. The team is 0-3 under Brown. When will things finally start looking up for the Grizzlies?

According to Kevin Garnett, and several Grizzlies players, the team has already turned the corner.

Tuesday night, the Timberwolves needed overtime before defeating the Grizzlies, 110-106.

"That's a very good team, man," Garnett told the Memphis Commercial Appeal after the game. "Their record doesn't reflect how they played. Hubie should be more than satisfied. They're not winning but their effort is definitely there. They made it a dogfight."

"We loved our effort," Brown said about the loss. "There were a lot of encouraging things for us."

Encouraging? To say the least.

The effect that Brown has had on the team is already palpable. Before Brown, the Grizzlies were putting up listless performances, getting down by 20 points to bad teams and letting their opponents score at will. Now they're playing defense, giving each other high fives and giving the effort every night it takes to stay in games.

Insider talked to two sources inside the Grizzlies to get their take on how Brown's plan is working out.

1. Chemistry — It's coming along. Brown has chosen a set of guys for the first unit and second unit and he's stuck to it. In another three days, when the Grizzlies get three days off to practice, he'll revisit his units again. Right now Jason Williams, Gordan Giricek, Drew Gooden, Pau Gasol and Stromile Swift are playing on the first unit. Earl Watson, Wesley Person, Shane Battier, Mike Batiste and Lorenzen Wright are seeing minutes with the second unit. Brevin Knight and rookie Cezary Trybanski are the odd men out.

It's no coincidence that the first unit includes all five of the Grizzlies' most promising young players. Gooden, Giricek and Gasol are the Grizzlies' future. But if Brown can get through to Williams and Swift, the team's improvement will accelerate at a rapid pace.

Brown's second unit is already his favorite. Tuesday night, that unit, led by Battier's aggressive play, built a 47-33 lead midway through the second period. "That [second] group worked it," Brown said. "They just ran out of gas."

Jason Williams

Point Guard

Memphis Grizzlies

Profile

2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

11 11.7 2.1 6.3 .409 .900

2. Defense — Williams, to put it mildly, has a bad rep. His work habits are lousy. His defense is worse. And his shot selection rivals his barber selection. It flat out stinks. So if you want to gauge the Grizzlies' newfound commitment to defense, look no further than the greatest source of the problem — Williams himself.

"I had to change from last year to this year," said Williams this weekend. "And I had to change from the beginning of this season to now."

Brown offered every player on the team the chance to create a new rep. Williams is taking advantage. Over his first three games with Brown he's shooting 45 percent from the field, averaging just 1.3 turnovers per game and he's playing defense with a newfound vigor.

"That's probably the first time I've ever had to pick up and play full-court defense like that," Williams said. "I think I can do it if I put my mind to it. That's what Hubie wants me to do, so I don't have any choice. It's either do it or sit on the bench. I don't like sitting on the bench."

Drew Gooden

Forward

Memphis Grizzlies

Profile

2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

11 15.4 6.4 1.6 .463 .673

3. Discipline — Speaking of sitting on the bench, Brown's stern warning that players will either play for him or sit at the end of the bench seems to have hit home. Players are showing up for practice early, paying attention to every word that comes out of their coach's mouth and diving for every loose ball in games. If their concentration lapses, even for a second, Brown is in their face.

For example, when rookie Gooden blew a defensive assignment with 10 minutes to go in the third quarter Tuesday night, Brown got in his face. "The next time it happens, you're coming out." It didn't happen again.

Even the Grizzlies' wild child, Williams, admits it was time for a change.

"Everybody is talking about my past, but he and I are in this together. We're on the same page," Williams told the N.Y. Daily News. "See, he doesn't put up with no B.S. and he makes us play. He's somebody who knows what it takes to win and he's not going to give in on anything. If he tells you he wants to do something, by God, you better do it. Or else he'll stop everything until you do. This team needed a guy like him. I needed a coach like him. He wants to help me, and I definitely want to help him, any way I can."

4. Style — This one's a little harder to quantify three games into Brown's tenure. The team is playing hard, playing with passion, and for the first time in awhile, playing to win. "If anybody says they don't see the positives, they're lying to you," said Griz forward Mike Batiste. "There are just little things we have to correct."

"We're real close to changing all of this," Gasol said. "And not just winning one game but giving ourselves a chance to win every night."

WHAT'S NEXT?

The effort is there. The teaching curriculum is in place. Now Jerry West and Brown must decide whether the talent base is there to make bigger things happen.

Brown has already indicated that the Grizzlies are missing a major piece of the puzzle.

"We need to develop an all-star player that we can count on in the last three minutes," Brown said on Monday. The need for a go-to guy was evident again Tuesday night in the Grizzlies loss to the T-Wolves. After Williams scored with 3:16 left in the extra period, the Grizzlies offense went cold. The team didn't score another field goal until Gooden's shot with 18 seconds left.

When you look at Memphis' current roster, you understand the concern. Gasol is the natural candidate, but he's struggled more than just about anyone else in Brown's new system and doesn't have the shooting prowess it takes to become the team's clutch guy. After that the pickings are slim. Gooden and Giricek are both promising, but they're rookies. Person doesn't have the demeanor. Ditto for Swift and Wright. Battier has the mindset, but he doesn't have the offensive tools to take over a game at the end. Williams has the tools, but he doesn't have the head.

Brown obviously believes that same thing, claiming that the "go-to" guy spot is very much up for grabs.

"In the second half of the season, you'll know exactly who's going to be here next year," Brown said. "And you'll know exactly who we're going to, and who is going to be our main guy."

So who will be here next year? Gasol, Gooden, Giricek, Battier and Watson are all keepers. Williams and Michael Dickerson are virtually untradeable. Everyone else should probably keep their bags packed. Hubie and Jerry are cleaning house.

Working OT, Griz stumble

Ronald Tillery / Memphis Commercial Appeal

Wanted: One Grizzly go-to guy

Ron Higgins / Memphis Commercial Appeal

Old-school Hubie tackles modern Memphis mess

Mitch Lawrence / New York Daily News

Defensive mindset suits 'new' J-Will

Ron Higgins / Memphis Commercial-Appeal

Will Juwan run with the Bulls in 2003?

Juwan Howard

Forward-Center

Denver Nuggets

Profile

2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

7 12.7 7.6 1.9 .380 .684

It's still very early to be talking about what free agents will or won't be doing next summer, but the Chicago Sun-Times has an interesting piece on who the Bulls may targeting.

Bulls fans, you better sit down. According to the Sun-Times, the Bulls are considering making a run at Chicago native Juwan Howard next summer.

Howard, the poster child for outrageous, over-inflated contracts, becomes a free agent in 2003 and will be commanding a much lower salary than the $20.6 million he's earning this season. The Bulls won't have any cap room to work with and will be targeting him with their $4.5 million (likely to go up to $5 million next season) mid-level exception.

Jalen Rose, for one, is leading the charge. (Unofficially, of course. Given Rose's problems with the scandals at Michigan, the last thing he needs is a tampering charge). "I'm on the phone with Juwan every day," Rose told the Sun-Times.

While Tyson Chandler is already being groomed as the team's power forward of the future, Howard is the type of unselfish veteran player who could serve as a great mentor.

The Chicago Tribune is also getting into the act. The Tribune's Sam Smith is back on the pulpit urging the Bulls to add a veteran frontcourt player this season. His suggestion? He's back on the Brian Grant bandwagon. Grant makes $11 million this season and has five years remaining on his contract. Smith suggests the Bulls offer Jamal Crawford (and I'm assuming Marcus Fizer and Eddie Robinson to make the numbers work) to infuse the team with some veteran talent

Howard would be perfect fit

Roman Modrowski / Chicago Sun-Times

Bulls too young to win regularly

Sam Smith / Chicago Tribune

Another Spree dead end?

Knicks GM Scott Layden is still trying to put his best spin on the Knicks' 2-8 start.

"We're all disappointed with losing games," Layden told the N.Y. Post. "One of the things I would say: We've been in all the games, other than Utah, and there's been a lot of good signs. We've played a lot of good basketball. No one's happy, no one in the organization is happy with the eight losses, but you could see we've played a lot of good basketball. Now with Latrell back, he's given the team a great lift. You can see the last two games we've played very good basketball."

Unfortunately, Layden's attempts to trade Latrell Sprewell and use the team's $4.5 million disabled player exception aren't going well. Pistons GM Joe Dumars said Tuesday that he isn't interested in making a deal for Spree. This comes a day after a source within the Pistons told Insider that the team was considering making an offer to the Knicks.

Of course, Dumars shot down rumors this summer about trading Jerry Stackhouse, only to turn around and ship him to the Wizards for Richard Hamilton. The N.Y. Daily News reported today that the Pistons and Knicks did talk this summer about a Sprewell-for-Stackhouse trade.

Other rumors that have the Knicks talking to the Blazers and Suns about taking Spree also appear to be dying slow deaths. It's possible that the Knicks may be stuck with what they have for the entire season.

Layden admitted the $4.5 million exception will be tough to use before the Dec. 2nd deadline. "It's tough to predict our chances of using it. It does expire early in the season. We'll work hard to see if we can use it. It's a chip and teams have expressed interest in getting involved in a trade."

Asked about Sprewell's future, Layden told the Post, "I never speculate on trade rumors on our players. He's part of our team and all the guys are part of our team and we focus in on the group we have."

Layden Upbeat On Knicks ... Honest

Marc Berman / New York Post

Spree of rumors

Frank Isola / New York Daily News

Chaos Amid 4TH-Quarter Morass

Marc Berman / New York Post

Will DerMarr Johnson ever play again?

DerMarr Johnson is out of the hospital. The halo that he wore around his broken neck is gone. The concerns about his ability to live a normal life have disappeared. He now sits on the Hawks' bench, in street clothes, cheering on his teammates. But two months after Johnson fractured four vertebrae in his neck in a fiery car crash, the one thing no one knows is whether he'll ever play basketball again.

"This is a terrible injury," Hawks' team physician Dr. Michael Bernot told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. "D.J. is so lucky to be walking around and on his way to healing. Lucky to be alive."

"He can live a perfectly normal, active life, but I don't know if that can include basketball," Bernot said. "There is a question about collisions and diving on the floor. Basketball players take terrible falls. . . . On the other hand, he is only 22, very flexible, very light."

Despite Bernot's explanations, Johnson doesn't understand why the Hawks won't let him play basketball this season. The team declined its option for a fourth year, meaning Johnson will be an unrestricted free agent next summer. He wants to get back onto the court as soon as possible to prove to other teams that he still is able to perform at a high level.

Johnson says he understands the Hawks' reluctance.

"It's a lot of money. There's a lot they don't know, but I'll play somewhere next season," Johnson said. "One thing I've learned. Bones heal. I broke my arm twice. That healed. Bones break and they heal. I don't understand why I can't play this season when the bones heal."

Sitting in limbo

Jeffrey Denberg / Atlanta Journal-Constitution

'You just saved DerMarr Johnson'

Michael Lee / Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Peep Show

Lakers: Shaquille O'Neal was cleared by Dr. Robert Mohr to return to the Lakers on Friday night against the Bulls at Staples Center, O'Neal's agent, Perry Rogers told the L.A. Times. O'Neal, who had surgery on his big right toe Sept. 11, had targeted Friday's game, pending clearance by Mohr, who performed the procedure. "I'm not a savior," O'Neal insisted before Tuesday's game against the Dallas Mavericks. "However, I think I can bring their spirits back up."

Magic: Grant Hill continues to maintain his composure, despite the constant questions about his health. "These are career mornings for him," coach Doc Rivers told the Orlando Sentinel. "Every morning, his career is on the line. He has to wonder how he's feeling, and if there's a little soreness, if something is wrong. There has to be some mental baggage. Very few people could play through that."

Heat: As promised, Pat Riley shook up the starting lineup on Tuesday and the result was a rare victory. Point guard Travis Best was reinserted into the starting lineup. Former starter Anthony Carter was dropped from the rotation, with Mike James and Eddie House instead seeing time. Also on the outs was second-round pick Rasual Butler. "I told the guys we were going to sort of rebalance the energy, get a different look," Riley told the Sun Sentinel. The tighter rotation allowed Caron Butler to flourish. Butler took an aggressive stance on nearly every touch. "It fired him up as little," Riley said. "He was aggressive. He's a strong player, and he's got to use his body."

Pacers: The team is one win away from its best start ever. The Pacers are doing it playing a throwback brand of basketball that doesn't utilize the three-point shot or some gimmick defense. They're simply outplaying teams in the paint and outworking them on both ends of the floor, while keeping every man on the floor involved. "It's old-fashioned basketball," coach Isiah Thomas told the Indianapolis Star. "Five men working together sharing the basketball. Nobody is really concerned with how many points they get, how many assists or rebounds they have. It's grade-school basketball. Pass to the open man, if the open man has a shot, he shoots. It's a new concept."

Clippers: Speaking of throwback basketball, coach Alvin Gentry is trying to get his guards to get the ball down low to Michael Olowokandi and Elton Brand. Gentry believes only a handful of teams have a center capable of neutralizing Olowokandi and a power forward who can slow Brand. Several have one but not the other. Quite a few have neither. Olowokandi, who was once viewed as the weakpoint in the Clippers' attack, is now viewed as the cornerstone. Olowokandi took 19 shots, made 11, and scored 24 points in the Clippers' victory Monday over the Warriors. He took five shots, made two, and scored eight points in a loss Sunday against the Sonics. "We pounded the ball inside," Gentry told the L.A. Times. "That's where our strength is."

Pistons: Forget about the fact that the Pistons are currently ranked 25th on offense and first on defense. Coach Rick Carlisle wants a better effort on the defensive end. "I think guarding somebody is a better way to get off to a better start," he told the Detroit Free Press. "You can bellyache about missed shots and all that, but . . . we've got to be defending at a high level. When you're ranked 23rd in the league in assists, and when you're ranked in the bottom half of the league in turnovers committed, you're not getting the job done as a team. We've got to do a better job of helping each other play better at the offensive end, and we've got to do a lot better job defensively."

T-Wolves: Wally Szczerbiak, sidelined for seven of the Wolves' first 11 games with what now is termed a sprained little toe on his left foot, will wear a protective boot on that foot until this weekend. He figured to miss at least five more games, beginning Tuesday night against Memphis at Target Center, after being placed on the injured list. "We've got to get that thing to where it's not hurting him to practice and play," coach Flip Saunders told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "It's too early in the season to go through [this]."

Shaq Cleared for Friday

Tim Brown / Los Angeles Times

Despite questions, Hill stays gracious

Jerry Brewer / Orlando Sentinel

Shakeup works wonders

Ira Winderman / South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Pacers poised to tie best start

Sekou Smith / Indianapolis Star

Inside Information Is Getting Through

Elliott Teaford / Los Angeles Times

Carlisle cranky over slow starts

Helene St. James / Detroit Free Press

Szczerbiak to wear protective boot

Steve Aschburner / Minneapolis Star Tribune

[Boondocks]

Thanks weaseldom for the insider.

Interesting take from DJ, good to hear that's he doing OK but does he underestimate the seriousness of the injury he suffered?

[Diesel]

That the Hawks front office is purposely driving the price and want of DJ down? I mean if they expect him to be healed... Wouldn't that include for impact as well? Hawks may be looking to resign DJ for a medium salary over a long term. It's getting a developing star at a resonable price?

[chillzatl]

His value is about as low as it could get. An unproven player with a broken neck? He's not going to be getting huge offers from anyone. I think if the Hawks offer him a contract, he will take it regardless. Right now it's just too early to speculate. DJ is the ONLY person who says he will definitely play again. Nobody is going to gamble big money under that situation.

[cyman3]

DJ may never be the same...

we'll see though!