Tuesday, May 30, 2006
[Kings] Message to the Maloofs: Stop it before it's too late
Yes, I am mentioning to their potentially blind hiring of Mr. John Whisenant as the new Sacramento Kings head coach. (Although reading from Sacbee, you would get the impression that it has already set in the stone, if not earlier than the ugly dismiss of Adelman...)
Sorry Maloofs, but John Whisenant is NOT the appropriate candidate to the head coach job of Kings, as of now, for several obvious reasons:
1. He has absolutely NO NBA-related experience. Mr. Whisenant has NEVER been a player, head coach, assistant, general manager, scout, and any kind of team stuff members of NBA in his basketball career, and in the league history, there's almost zero coach would get any success under similiar background. (The only current head coach as I can recall of lacking NBA experiences before directly becoming the head coach in this league, is Flip Saunders of Pistons. However, Saunders has been one of the best CBA head coaches for 7 seasons before he got promoted by the TWolves)
Yes, Whisenant brought Sacramento it's first professional title last season and was the WNBA coach of the year, however, NO WNBA head coaches have any success in the NBA as of now, and there's even only ONE WNBA head coach, Michael Cooper (led the LA Sparks to 3 titles in WNBA), who got promoted to the interim head coach of a NBA team (the Nuggets in 04-05), and his short stint had a losing record (4-10) while leaving a bad rep with players.
Bottom line is, I don't know if the Maloofs had any ideas about this, but NBA is a completely different basketball league than any others existing right now. It's an 82-games long season with players full of ego and agendas, and too many issues going on on and off the court other than simply basketball. Too many fans who can't wait to kick Rick Adelman out of the Kings gate probably ignored about the fact that in the past 8 years, this team has almost no locker room problems and was always in a peaceful atmosphere, no matter the drastic change of different players, and the team, despite the first 2 months of 05-06 season, always responds to the coach. I doubt seriously that "coach Whiz", without any significant coaching experience than the WNBA, could acheive the similar status without harsh experiment period between him and the players, but it seems like it's the price the Maloofs are WILLING to pay right now, what can you say?
There was little success for coaches in other organization (whether it's CBA, WNBA, NCAA or europe basketball league) in their first coaching season in NBA. In hiring Whisenant, the Maloofs are putting the Kings, who had a late surge last season and is on the rise again after the arrive of Artest, into another uncertain position, and you can imagine how will the local fans react to it, if the team once again had a losing season and falling to the bottom of Pacific division. Don't forget, the next oppotunity of public voting for the approval of sale tax as the new arena buliding fund is on this August...
2. How will the dismiss of Adelman and hiring of Whisenant give any impressions to the players, especially Artest and Wells? Both were blossomed under the free-lance approach from Adelman, and now the team is replacing him, who led the team to 8 consecutive playoff berths, to a former WNBA head coach with no NBA experience. How will they react to that? It could be a road show waiting to happen everyday in the locker room. Whisenant demanded tight, high pressure team defense to every of his players and got significant success in the WNBA, but what kind of reactions will he get from the NBA players if he is applying the same approach? (see Rick Pitino in Celtics for an example) Don't forget, Ron Artest wanted out of Indiana because his head coach Rick Carsilie, one of the best X-&-O strategist in the league, put strict orders on his players both in offense and defense.
3. There are certain more capable candidates around. How about Eric Musselman (Griz assistant who led the Warriors to the brink of playoffs few years ago), Mario Elie (a tough, no-nonsense veteran who is gaining experiences on the Warriors bench right now) or Mark Iavaroni (Who is one of the up-coming assistants in the league and almost became the Blazers head coach last season before McMillan jumped in)? The 3 names above all had more NBA experiences in their resume, been regarded as one of the better possible head coach candidates by experts before, and had lower risks in their possible head coach transition period to this team.
However, the interview sessions held by the Maloofs and Petrie for searching a new head coach, was inelegant and crass, to say the least. They only interviewed Musselman and Elie before talked with Whisenant, and appeared to end their search just after that. Considering the close relationship between Whisenant and the Maloofs in the past 30 years (Whisenant was a successful businessman and acted as an advisor in Maloofs' purchasing of the Kings back in 1998), one can't help but wonder: is this another important decision, that followed the recent trend of this franchise, that the owners again put their hands and alter the outcome?
Actually, after all the things happened in the past 12 months, I won't be surprised by the answer of this question. It's just sad that the Maloofs finally let their emotion and blind judgement took over, and ignore the professional opinions by 2-times best GM of the league.
As I said earlier, this might be just another straw on the back of camal named Geoff Petrie. I won't be surprised now if Petrie resigned at any juncture in the future, and that could just be what the Maloofs planned for all along, since Whisenant also acted as the GM in the Monarchs...
4. Speaking of the Monarchs, how will the "promotion" of Whisenant leave any message of the defending champion of the WNBA? Sure, this is all just part of the Maloofs' business, but it's blatantly unfair to the Monarchs and its fans. This could be another rude awakening of Maloofs' public image and relationship to the fans.
With all those said above, I am not ruling out the possibility, even if only slight, that Whisenant could coached respectful results to the Kings, should he become the head coach. However, the whole fiasco once again demonstrated the arrogance, blindness and stupidity by the Maloofs in their interference of professional decisions which should be made by professional people. And this is the biggest problem of them all, regardless of the possible outcome from their decisions.
Link to Whole Post
Sorry Maloofs, but John Whisenant is NOT the appropriate candidate to the head coach job of Kings, as of now, for several obvious reasons:
1. He has absolutely NO NBA-related experience. Mr. Whisenant has NEVER been a player, head coach, assistant, general manager, scout, and any kind of team stuff members of NBA in his basketball career, and in the league history, there's almost zero coach would get any success under similiar background. (The only current head coach as I can recall of lacking NBA experiences before directly becoming the head coach in this league, is Flip Saunders of Pistons. However, Saunders has been one of the best CBA head coaches for 7 seasons before he got promoted by the TWolves)
Yes, Whisenant brought Sacramento it's first professional title last season and was the WNBA coach of the year, however, NO WNBA head coaches have any success in the NBA as of now, and there's even only ONE WNBA head coach, Michael Cooper (led the LA Sparks to 3 titles in WNBA), who got promoted to the interim head coach of a NBA team (the Nuggets in 04-05), and his short stint had a losing record (4-10) while leaving a bad rep with players.
Bottom line is, I don't know if the Maloofs had any ideas about this, but NBA is a completely different basketball league than any others existing right now. It's an 82-games long season with players full of ego and agendas, and too many issues going on on and off the court other than simply basketball. Too many fans who can't wait to kick Rick Adelman out of the Kings gate probably ignored about the fact that in the past 8 years, this team has almost no locker room problems and was always in a peaceful atmosphere, no matter the drastic change of different players, and the team, despite the first 2 months of 05-06 season, always responds to the coach. I doubt seriously that "coach Whiz", without any significant coaching experience than the WNBA, could acheive the similar status without harsh experiment period between him and the players, but it seems like it's the price the Maloofs are WILLING to pay right now, what can you say?
There was little success for coaches in other organization (whether it's CBA, WNBA, NCAA or europe basketball league) in their first coaching season in NBA. In hiring Whisenant, the Maloofs are putting the Kings, who had a late surge last season and is on the rise again after the arrive of Artest, into another uncertain position, and you can imagine how will the local fans react to it, if the team once again had a losing season and falling to the bottom of Pacific division. Don't forget, the next oppotunity of public voting for the approval of sale tax as the new arena buliding fund is on this August...
2. How will the dismiss of Adelman and hiring of Whisenant give any impressions to the players, especially Artest and Wells? Both were blossomed under the free-lance approach from Adelman, and now the team is replacing him, who led the team to 8 consecutive playoff berths, to a former WNBA head coach with no NBA experience. How will they react to that? It could be a road show waiting to happen everyday in the locker room. Whisenant demanded tight, high pressure team defense to every of his players and got significant success in the WNBA, but what kind of reactions will he get from the NBA players if he is applying the same approach? (see Rick Pitino in Celtics for an example) Don't forget, Ron Artest wanted out of Indiana because his head coach Rick Carsilie, one of the best X-&-O strategist in the league, put strict orders on his players both in offense and defense.
3. There are certain more capable candidates around. How about Eric Musselman (Griz assistant who led the Warriors to the brink of playoffs few years ago), Mario Elie (a tough, no-nonsense veteran who is gaining experiences on the Warriors bench right now) or Mark Iavaroni (Who is one of the up-coming assistants in the league and almost became the Blazers head coach last season before McMillan jumped in)? The 3 names above all had more NBA experiences in their resume, been regarded as one of the better possible head coach candidates by experts before, and had lower risks in their possible head coach transition period to this team.
However, the interview sessions held by the Maloofs and Petrie for searching a new head coach, was inelegant and crass, to say the least. They only interviewed Musselman and Elie before talked with Whisenant, and appeared to end their search just after that. Considering the close relationship between Whisenant and the Maloofs in the past 30 years (Whisenant was a successful businessman and acted as an advisor in Maloofs' purchasing of the Kings back in 1998), one can't help but wonder: is this another important decision, that followed the recent trend of this franchise, that the owners again put their hands and alter the outcome?
Actually, after all the things happened in the past 12 months, I won't be surprised by the answer of this question. It's just sad that the Maloofs finally let their emotion and blind judgement took over, and ignore the professional opinions by 2-times best GM of the league.
As I said earlier, this might be just another straw on the back of camal named Geoff Petrie. I won't be surprised now if Petrie resigned at any juncture in the future, and that could just be what the Maloofs planned for all along, since Whisenant also acted as the GM in the Monarchs...
4. Speaking of the Monarchs, how will the "promotion" of Whisenant leave any message of the defending champion of the WNBA? Sure, this is all just part of the Maloofs' business, but it's blatantly unfair to the Monarchs and its fans. This could be another rude awakening of Maloofs' public image and relationship to the fans.
With all those said above, I am not ruling out the possibility, even if only slight, that Whisenant could coached respectful results to the Kings, should he become the head coach. However, the whole fiasco once again demonstrated the arrogance, blindness and stupidity by the Maloofs in their interference of professional decisions which should be made by professional people. And this is the biggest problem of them all, regardless of the possible outcome from their decisions.
Link to Whole Post
Thursday, May 18, 2006
[Barca] WE ARE THE CHAMPION!!!
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
[Barca] What a Long, Strange Trip it has been.
也許在三年、五年、甚至十年之後，我們才會真正體會到
巴薩在這個球季的表現有多麼的偉大。
儘管在這支球隊可能即將拿下歐洲最高榮譽獎盃的前夕，
我有時還是不太敢相信這幾個月來在眼前發生的這一切。
對我這種從 99 年的衛視轉播開始認識這支球隊的球迷來說
，巴薩一直是藝術足球和熱血精神的象徵，而在更深刻地了
解這支球隊的歷史和文化背景之後，我更折服於加泰隆尼亞
的人文素養和強韌生命力。
然而，在我成為巴薩球迷的日子裡，美麗的足球，始終不能
讓他們得到最終的榮譽。這支球隊水銀瀉地的進攻和打落牙
齒和血吞的奮戰精神，會讓你慶幸自己竟然有幸目睹他們的
比賽；但每一次當他們因為防守、失誤或差勁的運氣而輸掉
比賽時，你會感到在這個世界上，沒有人能夠分享這種難熬
的痛苦。
在這支球隊還擁有 Rivaldo, Kluivert, Guardiola, Luis Enrique,
Overmars, Simao, Rochemback, Sergi, Frank De Boer, Christanval,
Hesp, Dani...等人的日子裡（沒提到的球員們，不好意思，
我愛你們每個人，除了那個被丟豬頭的傢伙之外），支持
巴薩，有時候並不是件容易的事。你所得到的快樂和痛苦（尤其
是因為重複出現的老問題而帶來的痛苦）並不等值，並且天枰
還有曾經越來越往痛苦一端傾斜的趨勢。
儘管這隻球隊仍然偶有靈光一閃的演出（誰能忘記 Rivaldo 在
2002 年離開巴薩前的帽子戲法，幫助球隊拿到歐冠資格？我是
有幸目睹現場直播的球迷之一），但日子的確是越來越難熬了。
我還記得 2002 年底，當 Van Gaal 二進宮卻不能帶來令人滿意
的成績，Riquelme 被冷凍，主席 Gaspart 在主場被球迷狂噓時
，我曾經真的以為這一切將會繼續這樣無可救藥下去，明年甚至
沒辦法在電視台看到他們的比賽。
然後，改變悄悄的來臨。Antic 穩定了球隊，他們在歐洲賽場持
續連勝（直到被 Zalayeta 的一腳踢出歐冠），之後是主席改選
，一個我當初並不支持，覺得他只會開空頭支票的律師 Laporta
選上了，而他選了一個我當初並不特別喜歡的總教練（因為他在
歐洲盃的帶隊表現。我曾經一直期待球隊會找 Koeman 來）Rijkaard
來帶領這支百廢待舉的球隊。
之後的事情應該不用再贅述下去了。現在，他們和最後的榮冠只有
一步之遙。
在觀看體育賽事近二十年之後，失敗者如我越來越了解一件事：
能夠看到自己真正支持的球隊拿下最高的榮譽，或甚至只是有
機會拿下最高的榮譽，不只是幸運，更可能是一生難得的機會。
除了有形的實力，無形的運氣和人和或許也同樣重要。
And as a fan, you gotta cherish it.
Because it could be an once-in-a-lifetime thing.
（這也是為什麼，儘管今晚的風雨再大，也不能阻擋我前往 Sports 17
的決心）
As a fan, you gotta do what you gotta do.
而我相信，所有巴薩的球員和教練們也會表現出他們應該表現的。
我不會預測今晚最後的贏家會是誰，但我對巴薩有絕對的信心。
這樣的信心，或許正是支撐這支球隊一路過關斬將最重要的動力
之一。
Enjoy the moment, and make it a memorable one.
Visca el Barca!
Link to Whole Post
Monday, May 15, 2006
[Jerseys] Jerseys and Apparels for Sale
My Photo Album
My Photo Album 2
My Yahoo Auction
Both will keep updating in next 3 months.
If anyone who read this blog has interests in any of the items, leave me a message and I will give you a good discount.
Link to Whole Post
My Photo Album 2
My Yahoo Auction
Both will keep updating in next 3 months.
If anyone who read this blog has interests in any of the items, leave me a message and I will give you a good discount.
Link to Whole Post
Thursday, May 11, 2006
[Kings] Shame on you, Maloofs
To say I was disappointed by their attitude to Mr. Adelman is a huge understatement. It's not the decision of not bring him back (since I am more on the side of changing for the better until recently), but the process in doing so that really hurts.
They never dared to inform Adelman about their decision (which has made long ago, it seems) face-to-face, Joe Maloof even didn't dare to tell Adelman that he will get dismissed this Monday on the phone. Instead, they asked Petrie, the best friend and the one that recommended Adelman for the head coach job 8 years ago, to be the messenger.
Maybe I shouldn't be surprised about the lack of class and respect by the Maloofs after seeing all their moves in recent years, especially in contacting with Phil Jackson and trading Peja. But there was little reason to have sympathy for Peja, since it's him who announced he wanted to be traded way back in the summer of 2003. In a sense, Peja just got what he wished for.
But Adelman? This is the lame-duck coach yet still led his team to fight till the last moment. And look what he got.
Their comments of blaming Adelman is not a good enough coach in stressing defense now looks more like a shot at Petrie, since he was the guy that brought Adelman here, and is the guy who is most responsible in bringing all those offensive-mind players (Artest excluded) here for the coach in last 8 years.
When the Maloofs gave full financial support to Petrie, Adelman coached the team to the west finals in 2002, and this team became the BEST team league-wide in defensive FG% during the 2002-03 season, and was the BEST team in the playoffs, until Chris Webber blew his knees.
Then, the Maloofs began to tighten their budget, this team lost the defensive-mind players like Jimmy Jackson and Keon Clark, and they never were able to hold a strong bench again until this season, when 2 youngsters selected by Petrie started to shine. Adelman forced to shorten his rotations in such circumstances, and he began to be criticized by the fans about his reluctant to use bench players, and the poor team defense.
It will be one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) mistakes in the franchise history if they really force Petrie out in the near future. While there might have less than 5 coach candidates out there who could do better (and satisfy the bosses) in this situation, I can bet there's none out there that could lead this team like Geoff. But I guess maybe the brothers really think they are capable of ride the monster after watching the master did this for the past 8 years.
In the history of this league, it NEVER ends up pretty when the boss trying to overrule the professional guys and manipulate the team, like Harold Katz of the Sixers in the 80's and Jerry Buss of the Lakers in 2003. I just hope the 2006 Kings are not the next one.
Now I wouldn't be surprised if Geoff suddenly resigned from the current position in any moment if he couldn't take it anymore eventually, and I think he is actually the guy that hurts the most in this all fiasco.
And one point. I bet the Maloofs were feeling kind of relieved while the Kings finally got kicked out by the almighty Spurs, or it could be hard to make the decision. And that really makes me feel sick.
Link to Whole Post
They never dared to inform Adelman about their decision (which has made long ago, it seems) face-to-face, Joe Maloof even didn't dare to tell Adelman that he will get dismissed this Monday on the phone. Instead, they asked Petrie, the best friend and the one that recommended Adelman for the head coach job 8 years ago, to be the messenger.
Maybe I shouldn't be surprised about the lack of class and respect by the Maloofs after seeing all their moves in recent years, especially in contacting with Phil Jackson and trading Peja. But there was little reason to have sympathy for Peja, since it's him who announced he wanted to be traded way back in the summer of 2003. In a sense, Peja just got what he wished for.
But Adelman? This is the lame-duck coach yet still led his team to fight till the last moment. And look what he got.
Their comments of blaming Adelman is not a good enough coach in stressing defense now looks more like a shot at Petrie, since he was the guy that brought Adelman here, and is the guy who is most responsible in bringing all those offensive-mind players (Artest excluded) here for the coach in last 8 years.
When the Maloofs gave full financial support to Petrie, Adelman coached the team to the west finals in 2002, and this team became the BEST team league-wide in defensive FG% during the 2002-03 season, and was the BEST team in the playoffs, until Chris Webber blew his knees.
Then, the Maloofs began to tighten their budget, this team lost the defensive-mind players like Jimmy Jackson and Keon Clark, and they never were able to hold a strong bench again until this season, when 2 youngsters selected by Petrie started to shine. Adelman forced to shorten his rotations in such circumstances, and he began to be criticized by the fans about his reluctant to use bench players, and the poor team defense.
It will be one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) mistakes in the franchise history if they really force Petrie out in the near future. While there might have less than 5 coach candidates out there who could do better (and satisfy the bosses) in this situation, I can bet there's none out there that could lead this team like Geoff. But I guess maybe the brothers really think they are capable of ride the monster after watching the master did this for the past 8 years.
In the history of this league, it NEVER ends up pretty when the boss trying to overrule the professional guys and manipulate the team, like Harold Katz of the Sixers in the 80's and Jerry Buss of the Lakers in 2003. I just hope the 2006 Kings are not the next one.
Now I wouldn't be surprised if Geoff suddenly resigned from the current position in any moment if he couldn't take it anymore eventually, and I think he is actually the guy that hurts the most in this all fiasco.
And one point. I bet the Maloofs were feeling kind of relieved while the Kings finally got kicked out by the almighty Spurs, or it could be hard to make the decision. And that really makes me feel sick.
Link to Whole Post
