Insider Special: Good, Bad, & the Kitchen Sink

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The Good, the Bad, the Kitchen Sink

By Terry Brown

Monday, April 7 Updated 2:31 PM EST

Before any TV revenue is dispersed, every NBA owner should be strapped to a chair and forced to experience the range of emotions experienced by Jerry West as Kobe Bryant drilled that jumper from the top of the key at the buzzer against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night.

Or entered into a three-legged race with Mark Cuban.

The Good

Shaquille O'Neal, Los Angeles Lakers

Week's work: 4-0 record, 30 ppg, 15 rpg, 3.5 apg, 3.7 bpg, 64% shooting

Fee, Fie, Foe, Fum . . .

Chris Webber, Sacramento Kings

Week's work: 4-0 record, 24.5 ppg, 11.2 rpg, 4.5 apg, 1.3 spg, 42% shooting

The points and boards were average, the assists and blocks actually below and we haven't even gotten to the shooting percentage. But isn't that the point? Not only are Chris Webber and the Kings winning. They're winning ugly.

Jason Kidd, New Jersey Nets

Week's work: 3-1 record, 20.5 ppg, 7 rpg, 9.2 apg, 2.7 spg, 0.5 bpg, 10 triples, 44% shooting

If he's going to stay in New Jersey, then he might as well lead the league in assists and the Eastern Conference in wins.

Michael Redd, Milwaukee Bucks

Week's work: 3-0 record, 15.6 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 12.3 apg, 3.6 spg, 5 triples, 44% shooting

Sixthman of the Year. Quite possibly, Sixthman of the Decade, backwards or forwards.

The Bad

Antawn Jamison, Golden State Warriors

Weak work: 1-2 record, 20.3 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 2.6 apg, 0.6 spg, 0.6 bpg, 50% shooting

Too little, too late as 41 of this week's 61 points and 14 of this week's 25 boards were tallied after the Warriors dropped two games in a row in which Antawn Jamison had a total of one assists, no three-pointers, no steals and no blocks to fall three games below .500

Brad Miller, Indiana Pacers

Weak work: 3-1 record, 5.7 ppg, 7 rpg, 2 apg, 0.5 spg, 0 bpg, 25% shooting

Still hurt . . . ouch. All-Star . . . oops.

Tyrone Hill, Philadelphia 76ers

Weak work: 2-2 record, 3.2 ppg, 3 rpg, 0.2 apg, 1.2 spg, 0.5 bpg, 23% shooting

Not exactly how to win friends and influence new teammates.

Michael Curry, Detroit Pistons

Weak work: 2.5 ppg, 0.7 rpg, 0.2 apg, 0.7 spg, 0 bpg, 0 triples, 35% shooting

Very little quantifiable proof that he actually played this week despite logging 74 minutes by the boxscore after starting 71 of the 72 games he's participated in this season.

The Ugly

There is no proof that Ruben Patterson was beat down in practice by a teammate a few days ago because he scored only 16 points in four games this week or because he shot 8 of 21 or because he averaged 1.7 rebounds per game or one assist or 0.7 steals or zero blocks.

All we know for sure is that Zach Randolph, a guy who scored only 15 points this week, did the beating after Qyntel Woods, a guy who scored only three points this week, did the holding.

The Kitchen Sink

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

I say Tim, you say Duncan.

Allen . . . Iverson

Tracy McGrady needs only a letter, hyphen and prefix. Kobe is down to one name, Shaq is down to half, KG to two letters.

But the best player on the best team requires an accent, introductions, name tag with first, last, middle initial, mother's maiden and an excuse for having the league's best record by only one game despite averaging 28 points per game in the month of April.

In fact, he's increased his scoring average in almost every month this season, going from 20 ppg in October to 21.7 the next month to 23 the next and 24.2 the next and 27 the next to, shame on him, 26.9 the next and 28 the next.

In fact, he's increased his scoring average in every season of his career, going from 8.2 ppg in 1999 to 17.5 the next to 21.8 the next to 23.4 the next to 24.6 the next.

He wasn't the Rookie of the Year or the Sixthman of the Year or the Most Improved Player of the Year and, now, not even seriously considered for the Most Valuable Player despite scoring one more point per game than Duncan, 1.6 more points per game than Garnett, having only 1.2 fewer rebounds per game than Shaq while making 18 more three-pointers than Bryant and having a higher shooting percentage than McGrady.

He is, quite possibly, the most underrated player in the game today.

But you can call him Dirk.

SHUTTLESWORTH THE SAVIOR

Ray Allen played his first game in a Seattle Sonics uniform on Feb. 23, 2003 against the Los Angeles Lakers and lost. Since then, they are 15-7 with three more wins last week, two victories over the Lakers and big wins against the Jazz, Suns, Mavs, Timberwolves and Pistons. With him as their shooting guard, the Sonics have won 65 percent of their games which, spread out over the entire season, would have given them the fourth seed in the Western Conference and a better record than any team in the Eastern Conference.

PREHISTORIC PUSHOVERS

On Friday, Tim Duncan logged a total of 19 minutes while Tony Parker played only 26 as the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Toronto Raptors by 26 points in a 48 minute game. That following Sunday, Jason Kidd scored a total of 5 points on 2 of 9 shooting as the New Jersey Nets defeated those same Raptors by 9 points.

LONG-SIGHTED

San Antonio Spur Bruce Bowen hasn't shot a free throw in five games but has gone 10 of 16 from three-point range in that same amount of time, which might have something to do with the fact that he's shooting a despicable 39 percent from the line while shooting a league-leading 47 percent from long distance.

LONG SHOT

If Kobe Bryant, who has scored 23.7 ppg in the Lakers' four consecutive wins, wants to claim the first NBA scoring title of his career, he's going to need to score 65.8 points per game over the last five in order to surpass Tracy McGrady, who has scored 27.2 ppg in the Magic's four consecutive losses, assuming the latter continues to score a league-leading 32 ppg.

BEN THERE, DONE THAT

Pistons center Ben Wallace has led his team in rebounding in 70 of the 73 games he has played this season and the entire league at 15.4 per game but now that he's down with an ankle injury, it'll be up to sixthman Corliss Williamson, 4.4 rpg, and back up big man Mehmet Okur, 4.3 rpg, to pick up the slack since no other Piston starter averages more than 3.8 boards per game.

HOT CURRY

Eddy, first 3 games of the season: 4.6 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 0 apg, 0 spg, 0 bpg on 50% shooting in 14.6 mpg

Eddy, last 3 games of the season: 20.6 ppg, 8 rpg, 0.6 apg, 0.6 spg, 2.3 bpg on 67% shooting in 35.6 mpg

NBA ESPECIAL

Sacramento Kings (56-22) versus Los Angeles Lakers (46-31)

Thursday, April 10, 2003

The Staples Center in Los Angeles, California

7 pm PST on TNT

Believe it or not, by the time this game takes place, the three-time defending champs may be within shooting distance of homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs after many questioned whether the team would even make the postseason after Shaq's surgery. Believe it or not, by the time this game takes place, the Kings may have even more on the line.

THE END

"I didn't know what I was doing. But he didn't know what I was doing either."

—Tony Kukoc on defending Yao Ming last Wednesday. Or vice-versa.