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By M.J. Darnell

Breaking the Chanes

There was no reason for Don Chaney to have to go out like that.

His last few days of the Don Chaney era are not something that Isiah Thomas should be proud of. He disrespected Chaney in just about every possible way. Ruben Patterson's groupies are treated with more dignity.

Let's just review a little of of what Chaney had to go through before he was fired. Fans couldn't go five minutes without demanding that he be fired. Assistants were hired for him without being consulted. The general manager took over practices. The same general manager went on TV and laughed and joked about firing him while he was still the coach.

The entire process was done wihout a hint of class or respect.

The fortunate thing for Don Chaney about the Lenny Wilkens hire is that it proves that there is absolutely no end to the recycling of coaches in the NBA. He'll resurface somewhere else, and if there's any justice in the world, he'll get an opportunity to slap Isiah's Knicks around, just like everyone else in the league does - well, not lately, but usually.

As for the actual hire of Wilkens, if Charles Oakley doesn't like it, I don't like it. Oak told the New York Daily News, "Lenny has to change his demeanor. If he reads this I hope he takes that advice like a man and doesn't take it personally. I'm just being real. I always loved Lenny... until I got to Toronto and I played for him."

Let's just try to enjoy the losses while we can...

As much as I'm enjoying the misfortune of the Lakers, it occurs to me that it's probably the best thing that could be happening to them at this point. These are the facts:

1) The Lakers are going to make the playoffs.

2) From here on out, the primary goal of the Lakers need not be anything other than keeping healthy for the playoffs.

3) In the playoffs, no matter how healthy or good they are, they are going to need bench contributions.

Which brings us back to their current misfortune. Actually, labeling it "misfortune" is somewhat debatable. This whole thing could work out beautifully for the Lakers. When Shaq, Karl Malone and Kobe Bryant return, they'll be rejoining a group of players that got better because they had to learn to live without three of their best players.

Slava Medvedenko is averaging 19.6 points and 9.3 rebounds over his last three games. The Lakers have never had someone that could spell Shaq and give them that kind of production, and the more playing time Medvedenko gets now, the more reliable he will be later. Guys like Devean George and Kareem Rush are learning to win in the absence of the stars. As much as I wish that this current swoon was the crumbling of the Lakers empire, it's really nothing more than a minor inconvenience for them, and if they can use it to get some young guys more experience and confidence, come playoff time, they're going to be glad it happened.

Can I Vote for a New Ballot?

Wondering why Vince Carter continues to dominate the All-Star voting?. It's definitely not entirely due to highlight dunks, Sportscenter appearances or Nike commercials.

Check out the All-Star voting ballot for Eastern Conference forwards. With the exception of a few names, you could read the Eastern Conference forwards ballot to most people and they wouldn't know the difference between it and the cast of The Love Boat.

Kevin Garnett fights for votes with Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki. Allen Iverson fights for votes with Tracy McGrady, Jason Kidd, and LeBron James. Shaq fights with Yao Ming, etc.

Vince just has no competition. What, is Tyson Chandler going to give him a run for his money? There's Jermaine O'Neal, sure, and he's a legit All-Star, but he's also someone who plays in a small market and has never had a Nike ad campaign built around him. And this isn't to say that there are no Eastern Conference forwards who deserving, but there aren't very many who have a high media profile. The fact that Vince leads the voting isn't any great endorsement of him, it's a lack of options.

And while we're on the subject, the NBA has to do something about the quality of the All-Star ballot in general. Was Rick Pitino put in charge of this? It's absurd.

There are guys on the ballot who have not played a game all year. Antoine Walker is listed as a Boston Celtic. There are guys on the All-Star ballot who don't start on their own team. Alonzo Mourning is on the ballot.

And that's not even getting into the issue of healthy players on the ballot who just aren't very good. No disrespect intended, but really, do we need Eddy Curry, Tim Thomas, or Greg Ostertag on the All-Star ballot? What, was there no room for Mark Blount? Evan Eschmeyer, perhaps?

Yeah, maybe I'm making a big deal out of something that doesn't matter a whole lot, but when you look at the fact that Alonzo Mourning and Chris Webber have combined for over 600,000 votes, it's easily conceivable that a deserving player would get left off the roster because fans vote for the most famous people. Tyrone from the old Arch Rivals Nintendo game would probably get a half a million votes if they put him on the ballot.

Here's my solution. Two weeks before the All-Star game, have coaches and players vote on the entire All-Star roster, 1-12. And from the rosters they select, in the next two weeks, fans can vote for starters. Don't announce the starters until tip-off. Add a little drama, eliminate a little injustice.

The Mighty 10:

1. Minnesota. Sactown and The D can both make arguments, sure, but going into San Antonio and taking home a 100-93 win... that's convincing.

2. Sacramento. Best record in the league. Peja's become one of the ten best in the league.

3. Detroit. 10 in a row? Nasty. Should win against Wiz and Bucks before a big game against San Antonio on MLK Day.

4. San Antonio. Too good of a team to be out of the Top 3, but... they lost to Atlanta. There's just no excuse for that.

5. Indiana. Second best record in the league, won 8 of their last 10.

6. LA Lakers. I dunno how, but they've won their last three. But they're still out of the Top 5. Hah.

7. Dallas. Clearly out of the upper echelon in the East, but still pretty good for the team with the NBA's worst defense. How is it possible to give up over 100 a game in today's NBA?

8. Milwaukee. The Bucks bench is on fire. They've actually pulled even with New Orleans in the standings and just won a big game over...

9. New Jersey. Continuing to be the only team in the Atlantic division over .500. What an accomplishment.

10. Houston. Won 5 of their last 7, although none of the wins were over anyone all that good.

Fallin' off:

New Orleans. 8th last week, but losing four in a row (including one to Chicago and one to Toronto in which they scored 78 points... with overtime) doesn't really help.

Denver. 10th last week, but I'm not about to forgive any team that loses by 26 to a Karl/Shaq/Kobe-less Lakers team.

The Meek 5:

25. Miami. Tough schedule recently, but they've lost four in a row.

26. Chicago. Miami's last win? 102-95 over the Bulls.

27. Orlando. Out of the cellar, baby. I don't know if they can keep the momentum going, though.

28. Atlanta. Lost by FORTY-SIX to a team that trotted out a front line of Devean George, Slava Medvedenko, and Ho Grant.

29. Washington. Lost the epic tilt last Friday against the Magic. I missed the game, but I'm sure it'll be on ESPN Classic soon.

The Mailbag

Q: How about showing some love for Paul Pierce? - Luke D., Virginia.

A: You got it. I loved seeing Paul Pierce's line from Wednesday's game against Houston:

4 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 turnovers.

That's just lovely.

Q: How can you possibly have four out of your top eight teams come from the Eastern Conference? The East sucks. - Chris, New Jersey.

A: Yeah, the East sucks. Hard to argue that. But Indiana, Detroit, and New Orleans are good basketball teams. If they were in the West, they certainly wouldn't contend for the conference title, but they'd be playoff teams.

What really sets the East apart in terms of suckiness is the bottom of the conference. Check out the Meek 5. All Eastern. The Midwest division doesn't have one team below .500. The Atlantic only has one team above .500. The East just has tremendous depth when it comes to terrible basketball teams.

Q: Put the Sixers in the Mighty 10! - Ryan, Delaware

A: No.

Comment, Question, Problem, Compliment, Tirade, Hate Mail? Feel free. mjd888@insidehoops.net (remove the 888)

M.J. Darnell runs www.themightymjd.com.