Box out Dale Davis.

Guard Reggie and Jalen.

Keep an eye on Austin.

Step on Rik Smits' feet.

Lets see if New York can handle that.

Important playoff note - David Wingate, inactive Knicks guard, had a plate of nachos at halftime of Game 2 of this series. (It's true, he did.)

The Blazers sure celebrated a lot after their Game 2 win over the Lakers.

Phil Jackson accused Scottie Pippen of playing an (illegal) zone defense. Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy responded by stating that Pippen doesn't do it nearly as much as Shaq does.

Rasheed Wallace must be double-teamed.

New York could use a Larry Johnson that shows up offensively and on the boards more than once every few weeks. He's invisible for games at a time, then suddenly shows up. Now, it's all well and good when different guys on a team take turns stepping up, but teams generally succeed when they know where their points are coming from. Sprewell and Houston (oh yeah, and Ewing) may be the first options, but some days it seems L.J. isn't even trying to create anything offensively, while other days he suddenly remembers that he's a lot stronger than most guys that guard him and creates in the post.

The Blazers can accept Shaq getting his points and rebounds, provided they force the rest of the Lakers to bomb away (and hopefully miss) from the outside.

And, as for teams that didn't make the playoffs:

After seeing what Doc Rivers did with the Orlando Magic, we expect the Hawks to name a fairly young, former NBA player as their next head coach. Perhaps Byron Scott, or Sydney Lowe.

No one is sure if the Charlotte Hornets will remain the Charlotte Hornets. Judging by the fact that Hornets playoff games were about as well-attended as pre-season Clippers games, it seems like there aren't enough fans in town willing to support the team, and perhaps the club needs to relocate.

Kenny Smith wants to become a coach. So does Isiah Thomas.

It figures that the year the New Jersey Nets find themselves with the number one pick in the NBA Draft, there are no absolute monsters to pick. No Shaq. No Duncan. No Iverson. This draft presents tons of role players. This is the draft to find yourself a terrific new 7th man. This is the draft to find players who can make your 3rd and 4th scoring options work hard in practice.

Kenyon Martin will probably get picked first, but we aren't sure if he's going to be an impact player or not. Perhaps, as a few people have suggested, he'll be a Bo Outlaw with more offense. Which would be a nice player to have, but when you pick first in the NBA draft you want more than "nice."
 

- InsideHoops "Random Fan"
5/28/2000
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