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Grumpy Old Man
RED AUERBACH JABS PHIL JACKSON. Auerbach, 88, has had a tough summer with stretches in the hospital due to an undisclosed reason. He was back with his Celtics and in front of the camera taking yet another jab at Phil Jackson. Big Red says "Phil obviously is a good coach, you don't win that many games without being a good coach. One thing, though. He's been very fortunate. He picks his spots. That's all I can say. Larry Brown doesn't pick his spots. He's a great coach." First off...I'm glad Auerbach is feeling better. Second off....he is wrong. Jackson was an assistant to the Bulls before being promoted to the head coaching spot on the Bulls. As for the Lakers....yeah he chose his spot. But if all he had to do was show up...then Doug Collins and Del Harris would've won titles with those teams. But my main problem comes from the fact that these statements are coming from a man who had more talent than any team in his coaching era. Their numbers are up there hanging in the arena or somewhere in Springfield. Bill Russell won two titles as a player-coach with Red's team. Red also didn't have to do it in a salary cap era. Something that would've torn apart that Celtics team just as it did the Lakers. Now, I am not dimissing anything either has done....just figure out if you are the pot or the kettle.
SHAQ TWEAKS HIS ANKLE. Game #2...and Shaq is already hurt.
JOE PATERNO LOVES THOSE SPEEDY BLACKS. The dust hasn't even settled from Air Force football coach Fisher DeBerry's comments of African-Americans being faster than whites.....but JoPa has added a bit more. "You have to be careful the way you say things sometimes. Poor [Air Force coach] Fisher DeBerry got in trouble, but the black athlete has made a big difference. They have changed the whole tempo of the game. Black athletes have just done a great job as athletes and as peoplein turning the game around."
TOM BRADY HATES GENERAL MOTORS. Okay...follow this. In 2002, Brady was named Super Bowl MVP...which Cadillac gives a car to the award winner. Just after that, Brady andCadillac got into a sponsorship agreement with Boston area dealerships. The contract expired on January 1, 2004....but Cadillac ran two more ads after the deal had expired. Brady was miffed...but was dealing with the playoffs. He won the Super Bowl MVP a month later...and Cadillac awarded him another car. He was "awarded" it...but never got it. Later in the summer, Caddy finally got him his car...which Brady turned around and donated it to a local school for an auction. So this past January...as the Pats were making another Super Bowl run....Brady finally filed suit against General Motors for those ads they ran a year earlier [thank God Deion Branch won the MVP award; he received the Cadillac]. The two sides have now settled [Brady was looking for $2M]. Oh...the next Super Bowl will be played in Detroit. Headquarters for General Motors.
NFL NOTES. Do you think that San Francisco wishes they had Tim Rattay back?....Here are some of your starting QBs this week: Ken Dorsey, Charlie Batch, Vinny Testeverde, Gus Frerotte, Chris Simms and Jamie Martin....The Colts are the only team without a loss. In fact, no other team has less than 2 losses.
NEPOTISM IN SAN DIEGO. In order to try to keep Trevor Hoffman around...the Padres hired his dad to be the third base coach. Not even Notre Dame is that good!!
JAILED NUGGS. Well, new Nugget [and old NC State Wolfpack] Julius Hodge got out of a sexual assault rap [seems it was baseless]. But backcourt mate Andre Miller has a court hearing. Well, he had one earlier....but didn't show up. So he was arrested Wednesday and was bonded in time to play in Denver's season opening loss against the Lakers. Miller was notably tired and out of sync in that game. Add to the fact that George Karl has been suspended, Denver has lost Nene to injury and the team has started 0-2. Nice going!
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11/4/05 11:20 AM
He needs to drop from coaching and GM another 5 titles in different eras to be mentioned in a sentence before Auerbach that doesn't have "is not as good as" in it.
Jax was handed Shaq, Kobe, Jordan, Pippen.. Auerbach traded and scouted to get Russ, Hondo, Cowens, White, Parish, McHale, DJ, etc... The Celtics hit the lottery twice, and Red brought them back to the title. If the East Coast had less powerful cocaine, we'd have won one in the 1990s with the very last team he sculpted.
His team defenses and fast breaks revolutionized the NBA, while Tex Jackson's Triangle Offense was Jordan shooting 50 times a game. You or I could have coached Shaq/Kobe past New Jersey, and I like to think we could have beaten Detroit (which has a real coach) as well.
My favorite lil' known Auerbach dagger in the Lakers? Larry Bird was taken with a pick taken from LA for Charlie Scott. LA, in the next draft, eased that pain when they rooked the Jazz out of Magic Johnson for Gail Goodrich. They also got Worthy for Don Ford- after which the NBA prevented them from trading for a while. I'd put Jerry West a mile above Jax.
Funny thing about the Jordan/Russell/Bird comparison- it's really close. Boston and Chicago both had to gut out several teams drafting ahead of them before getting the guy that owned the NBA for 15 years.
That said, I think that Jackson can very easily run that Chicago Triangle with Kobe and win another title or four.. provided someone hands him another great talent. I don't say "good coach" lightly, and I think Jackson is in the top 5. There's just a huge dropoff after Auerbach and West- who I see as equals.