The NBA’s future

The NBA draft lottery came, each team was licking its chops at high school phenom LeBron James. The Cleveland Cavaliers, next door to James’s native Akron, Ohio, would have been the territorial pick in the NBA’s old days. Now, however, they had to contend with the winning records and percentages of the other 12 teams that didn’t make the playoffs.

No problem.

The Cavs landed versatile, 6-8, 18-year-old swingman. James, who just signed megabuck multi-year contracts with Nike and Upper Deck trading cards, averaged 30.4 points, 9.7 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.9 steals in his senior year at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School. The Memphis Grizzlies will likely pick Carmelo Anthony, the freshman who led Syracuse to the national championship this season.

Based on the teams’ records, the Denver Nuggets and Cavaliers each have a 22.5 percent chance (225 out of 1,000 lottery balls) to get the number one pick in the draft, to be held at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York on June 26. And speaking of New Jersey, despite having a cast on his left wrist, James blew into Farleigh Dickinson’s University’s Rothman Center for last year’s Adidas ABCD Camp for high schoolers, and promptly drew more attention than past attendees Tracy McGrady and Stephon Marbury.

Unfortunately for the teen-ager, several media members (many of whom weren’t even at the ABCD Camp) took the opportunity to attack him in print). At any rate, he seems to be carrying it all in stride. The draft hopefuls will get a chance to show their skills in the NBA’s Pre-Draft Camp at the Moody Bible Institute’s Solheim Center in Chicago from June 3 to 6.

And if name recall is worth anything, then Omar Wilkes should have it made. The 6-4 senior at Loyola High in Los Angeles, Wilkes is a smooth shooter like his father, 6-6 former Los Angeles Lakers swingman Jamaal Wilkes. Silk averaged 18 points per game in a 12-year career, won three championships with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, and is known for his trademark behind-the-head slingshot jumper. He was also an All-American at UCLA under John Wooden, and there is a strong chance his son may spend a year or two there before jumping to the NBA.

"I want to carve my own niche, but I wouldn’t go there just because he did," the younger Wilkes declares. "If it’s the best place, I have no problem following in his footsteps."

Meanwhile, on October 30 and November 1, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Seattle SuperSonics will open their 2003-2004 NBA regular season schedules with two games at Saitama Super Arena in Japan, the venue for the 2006 FIBA World Basketball Championship for Men. This will be the sixth time that the NBA has staged regular season games in Japan since 1990, and it will be the second visit for each team. Japan has been very good to Seattle.

In 1992, the Sonics won both their games against the Houston Rockets at the Yokohama Arena. Two years later, the Clippers were swept in their series against the Portland Trailblazers. Here in the Philippines, "NBA Madness,"an interactive exhibit for basketball fans, will start touring various malls from May 30 to July 6.

NBA "imports" Tony Parker (France), Pau Gasol (Spain), Andrei Kirilenko (Russia) and Marko Jaric (Serbia and Montenegro) will also serve as coaches for the third annual Basketball without Borders, which will take place June 28-July 1 in Treviso, Italy. This was a project initiated by the NBA a few years ago to help promote peace through basketball in war-torn parts of Europe.

The question many people are asking is what will happen to the Los Angeles Lakers. The first concern is the health of head coach Phil Jackson, who underwent an angioplasty and missed a playoff game for the first time in his career. An angioplasty is a form of surgery to open up a blood vessel which is constricted by fat or other adverse health conditions. It is performed by inserting a tube through the side of the chest and into the blood vessel concerned (usually in the vicinity of the heart). At the end of the tube is a balloon that is partially inflated to stretch open the blood vessel. It feels like you’re having a heart attack. However, the latest innovation involves leaving a metal ring or stent in place to keep the artery from closing up again. It is an exhausting procedure, but usually leaves no ill effects.

In the January edition of ESPN magazine, television analyst and NBA champion center (with the Portland Trailblazers and Boston Celtics) Bill Walton predicted the fall of the Lakers. Among other factors, he cited (as he often does) Shaquille O’Neal’s being out of shape, and Kobe Bryant’s taking too many shots. But his biggest point was trying to unmask Jackson as a "quick-fix" coach who doesn’t have the patience or the ability to build a team for the long-term.

On the surface, you can’t question success. Jackson’s Chicago Bulls are the only NBA team to have won one hundred percent of their NBA Finals series, and no other team can boast of such a record. The former New York Knick is also the only coach to have taken two different teams to championships.

Upon deeper inspection, though, Jackson won each grand slam with a different set of players, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen being the only constants in that sea of change. Horace Grant, Bill Cartwright, Ron Harper, John Salley, Bill Wennington and many other players were in and out of the line-up during those two runs. Even with the Los Angeles Lakers, Jackson has had a revolving door policy that has dismantled his teams every year. This season, though the lack of a stable bench, the recurring injury to O’Neal and the selfishness of Kobe Bryant made the three-time champions come up short.

Next year, there are rumors that Karl Malone will leave the Utah Jazz, take a massive pay cut, and join LA. Scottie Pippen, who has not had the wherewithal to lead Portland to a title, may return to Jackson’s waiting embrace. The revolving door turns yet again.

It is improbable that Jackson will change his pattern. After all, this will be the first time that he has failed in LA, so the honeymoon is far from over. But perhaps he should consider bringing in younger players to take over the tired legs of his aging bench. And if Shaq’s foot doesn’t heal, Kobe will be emboldened to take over 40 shots a game once again. And we know that’s not a good sign.

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Watch this week’s episode of The Basketball Show at 4 p.m. over IBC-13. This week’s episode features John Arigo, the Hugnatan brothers, Norman Black, and Nash Racela’s move to let go of the LBC Batangas Blades to concentrate on his job as an assistant with the Coca-Cola Tigers. You can e-mail us through [email protected].