(Editor's
note: This was written just before the start of the season)
At the dawn
of each NBA season, we are bombarded with run of the mill preview magazines,
littered with writers all too eager to serve up long winded answers to
their burning questions for the upcoming season. Will Grant Hill return
to his All Star form? Can Michael Jordan carry the Wizards into the playoffs?
Is it possible for the Bulls make The NCAA tournament? While these and
other queries are sure to elicit responses from around the globe, I thought
I would delve a little deeper, and ask a question that is very important
to the future chances of all NBA teams.
What significance
do the numbers 19.1, 9.5, 13.4, and 4.2 hold for the upcoming season?
Give up do
you?
All right,
let me drop my first hint. It has something to do with the 1992 - 1993
NBA Season.
Getting closer?
I figured you
would. As an astute reader I am sure you have figured out these are scoring
and rebounding averages for two players during the aforementioned season.
In the interest of time, I will spare you the search through the record
books, and tell you that these numbers were put up by Detlef Schrempf and
Derrick McKey.
The casual
fan may be wondering what two aging veterans who don’t figure to crack
their team’s rotations have to do with the upcoming season, but once again,
the knowledgeable fan remembers that Indiana sent Schrempf to Seattle in
exchange for McKey. This trade looked absolutely criminal at the time it
went down. Schrempf was Indiana’s best player, a major factor in the scoring
column and on the glass. McKey was more of a spare part in the Pacific
Northwest. His numbers were miles away from the league leaders, and people
had no idea what would possess Indiana to make such a move. But something
funny happened on the way to this going down as a truly lopsided deal,
both teams started winning, and winning big. Seattle and Indiana both went
on to great success in the mid to late 1990’s, becoming players on the
big stage, and appearing in the NBA Finals.
The point to
all of this, is that it takes a while to see how offseason changes are
going to affect each team. Most would have predicted a precipitous slide
for the Pacers after dealing Schrempf, and yet they ended up a much improved
ballclub. Last year it looked like Miami was going to be the team to beat
in The East with the additions of Brian Grant and Eddie Jones. Come playoff
time, however, Charlotte, led by young Baron Davis, and Heat castoff Jamal
Mashburn, ran them out of the gym three nights in a row.
Every time
a sports league kicks off a new year, I am reminded of the old adage that
says, “Predictions are tricky, especially when they’re about the future.”
Just remember that no matter what the hype machine in Secaucus tells you,
basketball is still very much a team sport. A lot of things have to go
right for a team to be good, and even more has to go right for a team to
be a champion. So before you look over the rosters, and assess your team’s
chances, just remember that all changes are merely cosmetic until proven
otherwise.
