Havlicek interview

["Thomas Murphy" <tfmiii@worldnet.att.net>]

Ran across this - thought you might be interested - Tom Murphy
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http://www.nypost.com/sports/26461.htm
HAVLICEK: RULE CHANGES MAY HELP NBA

By PAUL SCHWARTZ

May 11, 2001 -- He never imagined he'd be in a place like this, where
official NBA ashtrays and butter knives, not to mention every possible piece
of apparel from every team is on sale under one roof, sitting on prime real
estate on Fifth Avenue.
"I never thought there would be anything like this," John Havlicek said
yesterday.

The Hall of Fame forward, who at 61 still looks as if he could contribute
about 35 hard minutes, made an appearance yesterday at the NBA Store, where
film clips and a larger-than-life photo of Allan Houston are the only traces
of the NBA playoffs in this city, with the Knicks experiencing an early
recess.

The man they called Hondo, the pride of Boston and a Knicks-killer with the
famed Celtics, sees all the flash and dash of today's game and politely
passes on the jam session. He favors his more earth-bound time, the '60s and
'70s, when the shorts were shorter and the ties that bind were longer.

"I wouldn't change my era for anything," Havlicek said. "The team's stayed
together. We were much closer, we probably had a greater appreciation for
each other, because we knew there wasn't a million-dollar contract right
around the corner as there is today. It was more of a family situation."

This is not merely the complaints of a former player waxing poetic about his
days in the league. The NBA knows its game needs work, plenty of it. Why
else would the league adopt a series of drastic rule changes without even a
trial?

Havlicek says he's not sure how the addition of zone defenses will affect
the product, but he does know he's no fan of the pound-it-into-the-post,
dump-it-back-out style that leads to so much one-on-one isolation play.

"I don't like that," Havlicek said. "I don't know how these rule changes are
going to affect it. I think speeding up the game is definitely going to
change some aspect of it. I think what the zone is going to do, I think
they'll probably try and say 'let's get the ball up the floor before they
can set up the zone,' which would be a positive."

For what it's worth, Havlicek likes the Bucks coming out of the Eastern
Conference and the Lakers over the Spurs in the West. "The way Shaq is
playing right now, it appears the Lakers have somewhat of an edge," Havlicek
said.

Speaking of O'Neal, his breathtaking performance thus far against the Kings
(two games of 40-plus points and 20-plus rebounds) has evoked images of Wilt
Chamberlain. Havlicek, of course, had a bird's-eye view of the famous
Wilt-Bill Russell rivalry, and while he respects Shaq, he knows he does not
face the quality at center that Wilt faced on a nightly basis.

"When you have expansion the way you have it today you dilute the league,"
Havlicek said. "I can't go against expansion because it provides jobs for
people and entertainment for people. But if you make this a 16-team league
you would really have some kind of dogfight for championships."