Throwin' Elbows: The high price of winning

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http://www.sportingnews.com/voices/sean_deveney/20020815.html
 
by Sean Deveney
 
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 Throwin' Elbows: The high price of winning 

August 15, 2002  Print it 


Now, let's just suppose -- and before outraged Lakers fans prepare to fire 
off angry emails, remember we are just supposing -- that this little toe 
surgery Shaquille O'Neal could wind up undergoing hampers the big guy into 
missing several weeks of the season. And let's suppose he never really gets 
himself into good shape, or that there is a problem with the toe, or that he 
has some epiphany during rehab and decides to chuck this whole NBA thing and 
enroll at the University of Montana's forest rangery program to study the 
colonization habits of fire ants. Let's just suppose that you are a head 
honcho of an NBA front office, and you think that somehow, the Lakers are 
vulnerable. 

Or, let's suppose you're running the Kings, and you don't think your bunch is 
all that far behind the Lakers, with or without Shaq. 

Here's what you are going to have to do: Bite the bullet, friend. Pay the 
luxury tax. This might be your chance to smile all the way to the NBA 
championship, but you'll have to lay out a payment to the tax man to get 
there. At a time when every team seems to be making cost-cutting, tax-dodging 
moves, no matter how absurd (the Magic trade Don Reid and a first-round pick 
to Denver for a second-round pick, for example), it's nice to see that some 
teams are willing to pony up for a chance at a championship. 

 The Kings certainly took a step toward that goal when they officially 
announced the signing of ex-Raptors sparkplug Keon Clark to a one-year deal 
at about $4.5 million. It might take some time to find Clark's spot in the 
Kings' big-man rotation, which already includes Chris Webber, Vlade Divac and 
Scot Pollard, and might take even more time to acclimate Clark to the Kings' 
read-and-react, motion offense. But by signing Clark, the Kings get another 
big inside player who can score, who skies for rebounds and who can block 
shots. 

When it comes to playing the Lakers, you won't see Clark defending O'Neal --- 
I mean that literally, because even if he winds up on Shaq, he would be 
blocked from view by either of Shaq's thighs --- but you will find him 
helping to expose LA's power forward weakness and filling in at center when 
O'Neal and Divac rest. There will be a minutes crunch among the Kings' three 
forward slots, with Peja Stojakovic and Hedo Turkoglu also getting floor 
time, but in the West, too much size is an enviable problem. 

One thing that is telling about the Clark signing, though, is that the Kings 
have conceded to being well over the projected luxury tax threshold of about 
$51 million. The Clark deal puts the Kings over $60 million for the coming 
season, and that is before Mike Bibby's expected mega-deal. In all, the Kings 
could be over $70 million in payroll for the coming season, which probably 
would leave the Maloof brothers shelling out more to players than their 
higher-profile counterpart, Dallas' Mark Cuban. 

Even in the East, where every team is a potential NBA Finalist, the Nets have 
ramped up their payroll in order to take their best shot at the Lakers. When 
the offseason began, the Nets were in a comfortable spot, the defending 
champion of the East and without any major free-agent troubles. The team 
could have sat on its roster, kept itself reasonably close to the tax 
threshold and had as good a chance as any team to win the conference. 

Instead, the Nets opened the wallet, and got more value out of their 
mid-level exception than any team has gotten this summer, landing Chris 
Childs (around $1.75 million) and now, Rodney Rogers (around $2.75 million), 
with a measly $4.5 million total. That $4.5 million ensures the Nets are over 
$53 million and likely will be a tax payer. 

But in shifting the roster around --- adding Dikembe Mutombo while shipping 
out Keith Van Horn and Todd MacCulloch, signing Childs and Rogers --- the 
Nets have addressed all of their needs. They got an intimidating, if elderly, 
big man in Mutombo. They got an experienced backup point guard who can also 
play shooting guard in Childs. They got a slightly less talented Van Horn 
replacement in Rogers, but he is a better 3-point shooter and he is tougher, 
more aggressive and will meld better with his teammates. The Nets are in good 
shape to return to the Finals and --- who knows --- maybe even win a game or 
two. 

In all, the signing of Clark could put the Kings over the top against the 
Lakers, should the teams meet next May. The Nets' moves could at least ensure 
New Jersey a couple of wins in a Finals rematch, should the occasion arise in 
June. Both teams will pay for it when the tax man comes around, but it will 
be worth it. 

CHAMPS DE-LUX 

Speaking of the Lakers and the luxury tax, the talk about Jerry Buss being 
cheap rings a bit hollow now that the team is prepared to enter the season 
with a payroll over $60 million. That will probably mean a payment of $8 
million, at least. Of course, Buss did not have much choice. Even without the 
signings of Devean George, Slava Medvedenko and Brian Shaw, the Lakers were 
looking at a payroll near $55 million. And LA signed those three guys on the 
cheap --- about $5.2 million total. 

FLEXING SOME MUSSEL 

A story related by a friend of new Golden State coach Eric Musselman (and 
confirmed by Musselman), who can be pretty intense, but who has a lighter 
side, too: 

There was a time when Musselman was coaching Rapid City in the CBA, and the 
Thrillers were facing rival Sioux Falls. Because there is so much turnover in 
CBA rosters, coaches usually take the brunt of the abuse from rival fans. 
Fans in Sioux Falls would chant "Weasel" at Mussleman while the PA system 
would play Randy Newman's "Short People" (Musselman is 5-8). 

In one game, Musselman was taking excessive abuse from two fans behind the 
Rapid City bench. During a timeout, Musselman told his players that at the 
end of the timeout, they should all duck. When the time came, Musselman 
sprayed water into the crowd, dousing the two fans. Thereafter, Sioux Falls 
fans would bring umbrellas to games when Musselman was in town. 

THE LIST 

Now that former Blazers center Arvydas Sabonis has been working out in 
Portland, there is great anticipation among smart-aleck basketball fans and 
journalists everywhere, who enjoy cracking snide remarks at Sabonis' expense. 
You know, really mature remarks like, "Hey, I bought a tent the other day. Or 
as Sabonis would say, a hat," or, "He can still hit the outside shots, but 
when he drives, he looks like his wife after a few highballs." Such 
giddiness. 

That got me thinking of recently retired players that I'd sure like to see 
make a comeback. That soon had me ticking off names, which soon had me making 
a list. As always, your additions, comments and insults are readily welcome. 

1. Sabonis. His noggin is simply fascinating. 

2. John Salley. I remember during the 2000 Finals, Salley played about 3 
minutes, but during every practice, he was surrounded by a media throng 
waiting for him to crack jokes. This is a man who once described LA as a 
great place to play because, "The women don't wear pantyhose." 

3. Sam Perkins. He had one of the great nicknames (don't get me started on 
all those "T-Mac," "J-Wil" and "C-Web," nicknames): Big Smooth. The NBA needs 
more quality nicknames. 

4. Olden Polynice. I have a friend back home who was hit by a car while 
riding his motorcycle twice, and sued for big damages both times. The kicker 
-- both times, it was a priest who hit him, and he sued 'em both. Some things 
are just too weird to happen twice, and Polynice's arrests for impersonating 
a police office are in that category. Won't someone sign Olden and give him a 
shot to make it three? 

5. Bryant Reeves. With Big Country gone, and with Greg Ostertag an off-limits 
joke target for a while (he did give his sister a kidney, after all), who's 
supposed to take all these overweight, flat-topped, barefoot bumpkin cracks? 
There's always Todd MacCulloch, but he is a decent player, and I would not 
quite call what he has going on a flat top.