Posts Tagged ‘Charles Barkley’

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Dwight, D’Antoni And The Lakers’ Big Rift?

May 21, 2013  ·  8:08AM



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HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – For months it appeared the Los Angeles Lakers’ free-agent summer plans would hinge on the relationship between two men, Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant.

The Lakers’ two biggest stars had to find common ground if this multi-million dollar experiment is going to bear fruit in the future. They had to be on the same accord going into the summer for Howard to ignore the other options he has as an unrestricted free agent and stick with the Lakers after a tumultuous first season in Hollywood.

Not everyone is convinced that the Howard-Bryant dynamic is the linchpin to the Lakers’ plans, though. Another man, Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni, could very well be the central figure on the Lakers’ side. Perhaps it’s his relationship with Howard, and not Bryant, that holds the key to the future between the All-Star big man and the franchise known for Hall of Fame big men.

As folks in Orlando can attest, this could be the start of Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak‘s very own Dwightmare!

While Howard hasn’t so much as spoken a word publicly about his future, there are rumblings in Los Angeles that he plans on entertaining free-agent pitches from the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks, as well as the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers, instead of simply agreeing to the $118 million offer the Lakers have planned for him on July 1 when free agency opens.

Howard’s rationale for listening, however complex, apparently has as much to do with his murky relationship with D’Antoni than any of the other factors, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com:

According to sources with knowledge of the situation, part of the discussion between Howard and Kupchak centered around Howard’s frustration with D’Antoni — particularly how the center felt marginalized as the coach looked to Bryant and Steve Nash for leadership and suggestions and discounted Howard’s voice.

Every player was afforded the opportunity to meet with Kupchak individually after D’Antoni left the room, but few spent as much time as Howard and Kupchak did together. Antawn Jamison also had a separate meeting with Kupchak without D’Antoni present, but that was because of a scheduling conflict.

Kupchak left the meeting with Howard undeterred, telling reporters he was “hopeful” and “optimistic” that Howard would be back with the Lakers next season and beyond, yet there have been several developments in the last couple weeks that could have an effect on Howard’s decision.

D’Antoni chose not to retain assistant coach Chuck Person, a Howard confidant, on his staff for next season. Also, Lakers assistant coach Steve Clifford, who was with Howard in Orlando for five seasons before both of them came to L.A. last year, has become a hot head coaching candidate, interviewing with Milwaukee and receiving interest from Charlotte.

One source described the potential departure of Clifford, coupled with the loss of Person as “removing the buffers,” between Howard and D’Antoni, “which is a bad thing.”

Howard’s relationship with Bryant seemed much healthier at the end of the Lakers’ season than it did at any other time throughout the season. He visited Bryant at the hospital after he’d had Achilles surgery and Bryant spoke glowingly of Howard during his exit interview.

Bryant is going to do his best to mend fences and rebuild bridges this summer for the Lakers in what is truly a colossal summer for the franchise. The NBA’s social media king took to Twitter to spread that message to the masses:

But if there is a rift (spoken or not) between Howard and D’Antoni, even Kobe might have a hard time fixing it. Especially with all of the other options that will be presented to Howard in about six weeks.

The Lakers cannot afford to enter the 2013-14 season with Bryant still on the mend from that Achilles injury and only Nash and Pau Gasol as headliners in a Western Conference that could be as deep as it’s been in years. Having Howard on board would keep the Lakers among the playoff crowd. Without him, there is no telling where the Lakers land.

While the situation seems dire to some, Kupchak believes he has a better grip on things than the rest of us think. More from McMenamin:

Kupchak did not seem worried about any potential rift between player and coach.

“I think Dwight likes winning, he likes performing at a high level,” Kupchak said. “I think he’s fine with Mike D’Antoni, but I’m not really concerned if players like a coach, so I don’t ask that question. Our coaches are evaluated by wins and losses.”

Kupchak was further pressed about the possibility of a coaching change being dictated by a player.

“This organization has a precedent with that kind of a situation and I think we learned our lesson,” Kupchak said, referring to when Paul Westhead was fired in the early ’80s and the decision was tied to Magic Johnson‘s wishes. Whether that was the real story or not, both Johnson and the Lakers organization took a hit for how it was perceived.

We’ll know better in six weeks just how big a rift there is, if at all, between Howard and D’Antoni.

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your latest Dwightmare!


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Shaqtin’ A Fool: Top Five Hard Fouls

May 1, 2013  ·  2:02AM


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Shaq unveils a special edition of “Shaqtin’ A Foul” as he counts down the hardest fouls in NBA history.

#shaqtin

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Want To Be ‘Relentless’ Like Mike, Kobe? Trainer Grover Tells How

April 16, 2013  ·  1:36PM

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Tim Grover got a lot busier and way more popular in the instant it took Kobe Bryant to crash to the floor for the final time Friday night at Staples Center. In that moment, Grover went from being known as the sports trainer to some of the world’s and the NBA’s most elite athletes – clients that include Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Gilbert Arenas, Charles Barkley and the first and most famous, Michael Jordan – to someone with rare insight into the rehabilitation facing the Lakers’ superstar as he struggles back from season-ending and career-threatening surgery on his left Achilles tendon.

In what now seems a bit of timing both fortuitous and unfortunate, Grover laid out the “blueprint” for that rehab in a book released Tuesday. Sharing insights gleaned from more than 20 years inside some of the most exclusive and intense gyms and weight rooms, he wrote “Relentless: From Good To Great To Unstoppable” (Scribner, 2013). In it, Grover examines the mind-and-body commitment his clients put into their sports excellence. He lays out his three categories of competitors – “coolers, closers and cleaners” – and writes about the attributes that differentiate them.

He even explains why, in his opinion, Miami’s LeBron James isn’t yet on the “cleaner” level with Bryant and Wade among today’s greatest players.

Mostly, Grover wanted potential readers to understand that the lessons in his book can be adapted to life’s other pursuits beyond athletics. “This is the mentality, this is what goes through their heads, this is what I’ve learned to push their buttons,” Grover said. “It’s not about the physical, it’s about the mental.”

With the 2013 NBA playoffs fast-approaching, with Bryant’s rehab soon to begin, NBA.com talked with Grover about his book and the qualities that separate sports 1 percent from the rest:

NBA.com: You’re known for how hard you get players to work – in some cases, how hard they push to get you to push them – but you and I spoke recently about the need for NBA players to get their rest. Whether that means fewer minutes, skipped games, lighter or cancelled practices or more sleep away from the gym, there’s a tendency for more coaches to ease their guys into the playoffs. What do you make of the trend of sitting out games?

Tim Grover: Look at MJ’s championship seasons – the least amount of games that he played in any one of those years was [78]. Out of the six championships, four of them were 82 games, one was 80 and one was [78].

NBA.com: Jordan was known for his extreme work ethic and competitive fires, to the point that “Relentless” could have been the title of his memoirs. When you look at that level of drive and current players who flirt with it, can you get a sense of whose teams is going to win a championship?

TG: Each round of the playoffs takes on its own personality. There’s enough pressure on an individual, but once the pressure mounts, the question is how each individual is going to handle it.

NBA.com: So someone like Kobe revved it up even well before the playoffs. Because, this year, he needed to?

TG: You saw it the last few games.

NBA.com: You put Bryant in the same category as Jordan and Wade and a few others: “Cleaners.” Explain the differences, though, between a “closer” and a “cleaner.” In sports, we think of a closer as someone great at what he does: the pitcher who gets the ball to lock down victories, the coach who tranforms a solid team into a champion, and so on. How does someone do better than that to become a “cleaner?”

TG: A closer comes in and does it one time. A cleaner comes in and repeats it numerous times. What I’m trying to say is, hey, there’s another level above a closer. That’s a person who comes in – like a Michael Jordan, like a Larry Bird – and repeats what he does, under different conditions, different pressures, and the results end up being the same. It’s extremely rare. But the way they think and the way they apply themselves can be applied to anybody and to everything. You aren’t going to play basketball like Kobe Bryant, like Chris Paul or Bird did, but you can still have the same mentality they had. (more…)

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Kobe Could Add to Career-Ending List

April 13, 2013  ·  2:55PM

Basketball is a game of split-second decisions and lightning fast moves, giant leaps and great falls.

As Kobe Bryant himself said in a post on Facebook, it was a move he has made “millions of times.”

With a torn Achilles tendon, the question is whether the 34-year-old All-Star will become the latest to join a list of NBA players who have had their careers ended by horrific injury?

MAURICE STOKES — He was the 1956 Rookie of the Year with the Rochester Royals, averaging 16.5 rebounds and pulled down 38 rebounds in a single game. A three-time NBA All-Star as the franchise moved to Cincinnati. On March 12, 1958 at Minneapolis, in the last game of the regular season, Stokes drove to the basket, drew contact, fell to the floor, struck his head and lost consciousness. He returned to the game and three days later scored 12 points with 15 rebounds in a playoff game at Detroit. On a flight following that game, he suffered a seizure, fell into a coma and was left permanently paralyzed. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic encephalopathy, a brain injury that damaged his motor-control center. Stokes died 12 years later at age 36. He was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2004.

BILLY CUNNINGHAM – The Kangaroo Kid was a four-time All-Star, three-time All-NBA first teamer and 1967 champion with the 76ers. He was also the ABA MVP with the Carolina Cougars in 1973. On Dec. 5, 1975 in a game against the Knicks in Philadelphia, he was driving down the left side of the lane with Butch Beard challenging. Halfway down, Cunningham pulled up short, his knee locked, and he fell to the floor in a heap, having torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. In 11 pro seasons, Cunningham averaged 21.2 points and 10.4 rebounds. He was 32. He was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 1986.

CHARLES BARKLEY – The 11-time All-Star and 1993 MVP was averaging 14.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in his 16th NBA season as a member of the Rockets and had long seemed indestructible as a he carved out a career as one of the great power forwards of the game despite standing only 6-foot-6. Barkley was in Philadelphia, the city where his NBA career began, positioning himself for a rebound barely eight minutes into the first quarter on Dec. 8, 1999 when he collapsed to the floor, rupturing the quadriceps tendon in his left knee. Typical Sir Charles, as he was being carried off the floor, said: “Just what America needs, one more unemployed black man.” Refusing to let the injury become the last image of his career, Barkley returned on April 19, 2000 in Houston for a game against Vancouver long enough to grab a signature offensive rebound and score a put-back basket, then walked off the court. He was 35. He was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2006.

ISIAH THOMAS – Perhaps the greatest little man ever to play in the NBA, he was a 12-time All-Star and led the Pistons to back-to-back championships in 1989 and 1990 and was the MVP of The Finals in 1990. Thomas averaged 19.2 points and 9.3 assists in his 13-year career. Already bothered by an assortment of injuries including a strained arch, broken rib and hyperextended knee, he tore his right Achilles tendon with 1:37 left in the third quarter on April 19, 1994 in a home game against the Magic. “I felt like I got shot with a cannon,” he said. “When I did it, I thought it was my Achilles. I had no control of my foot. I don’t know exactly what happened.” The career-ending injury also kept Thomas off Team USA for the 1994 World Championship. He was 11 days shy of turning 33. He was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2000.

DIKEMBE MUTOMBO – The eight-time All-Star, four-time Defensive Player of the Year, two-time rebounding champ and second-leading shot blocker in NBA history played 18 seasons with six different teams. The great rim protector who made his finger-wag at opponents following a blocked shot his signature, was playing with the Rockets when he collided with the Blazers’ Greg Oden in the second quarter of Game 2 of a first-round playoff series at Portland on April 30, 2009 and fell to the floor. Mutombo had ruptured the quadriceps tendon in his left knee. “It is over for me for my career,” he said that day. He was 42.

YAO MING — The 7-foot-6 center from Shanghai was the No. 1 pick in the 2002 draft by the Rockets and an eight-time NBA All-Star. He’d been plagued by an assortment of foot and ankle injuries and it was originally believed to be just a strained tendon in his left leg when Yao had to leave the court just six minutes into a game at Washington on Nov. 10, 2010. An MRI later revealed a stress fracture in his ankle. “You hope this is the last surgery for him,” teammate Shane Battier said. “Good lord. That guy’s seen more hospital beds than Florence Nightingale.” But Yao never played another NBA game and announced his retirement in July 2011 at age 30.

JAY WILLIAMS – The 6-foot-2 point guard led Duke to the NCAA championship in 2001, national college player of the year in 2002 and was the No. 2 overall pick in the NBA draft by the Bulls. He averaged 9.5 points and 4.7 assists as a rookie in Chicago. On the night of June 19, 2003, Williams crashed his motorcycle into a streetlight on Chicago’s North Side. He was not wearing a helmet, was not licensed to drive a motorcycle in Illinois, and was also violating the terms of his Bulls contract by riding a motorcycle. Williams’ injuries included a severed main nerve in his left leg, fractured pelvis and three torn ligaments in his knee including the ACL. He required physical therapy to regain use of his leg and never played another game in the NBA. He was 21.

SHAQUILLE O’NEAL — At 7-foot-1, 325-pounds-plus, the 15-time All-Star, four-time champion, three-time Finals MVP and two-time scoring champ appeared undentable and unbreakable during his 19-year NBA career. Playing for his sixth team, O’Neal was bothered by foot problems throughout the 2010-11 season in Boston. He returned to the lineup on April 3, 2011, but played just six minutes before limping down the court on a Celtics possession in the first minute of the second quarter. “The doctor thought it was very minor. Scary more than anything,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “But we’ll see.” Shaq returned to play just 12 minutes in two games in the second round of the playoffs against Miami and announced his retirement on Twitter in June. He was 39.

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Griner Wouldn’t Be Longest Draft Reach

April 4, 2013  ·  2:57PM

HANG TIME, Texas – Never underestimate Mark Cuban’s knack for attracting attention. And who could blame him if the idea was to draw it away from his underperforming team that is ironically keeping a team of barbers on hold at the same time they’re about to cut off their string of consecutive playoff appearances at 12 years?

Should the Mavericks draft Brittney Griner?

Let cranky Geno Auriemma be outraged and throw bricks. Let former greats of the women’s game Nancy Lieberman and Ann Meyers Drysdale offer their words encouragement to the Baylor star. Let Griner give even the most outrageous hope and dreams to any little girl who has ever dribbled a basketball.

Let’s face it. The Mavs selecting Griner wouldn’t be the first unusual pick in the history of the NBA draft. And before you snicker, remember that somebody took Pervis Ellison, Greg Oden, Kwame Brown and Michael Olowokandi No. 1. Here’s a reminder of a few others off-beat choices down through the years:

JIM BROWN (Syracuse Nationals, 1957 ) – The Nats didn’t have to reach outside the city limits to take a flyer on the guy who would become perhaps the greatest player in NFL history. Brown played four college sports — football, basketball, lacrosse and track — at Syracuse. He even averaged 15 points a game for the basketball team in his sophomore year. But even though there was little doubt that Brown was bound for a career on the gridiron, the Nats made him a ninth-round pick.

Other notables in draft: “Hot Rod” Hundley (No. 1 overall by Cincinnati, traded to Minneapolis); Sam Jones (No. 8 by Boston).

FRANK HOWARD (Philadelphia Warriors, 1958) – It wasn’t just his physical stature at 6-foot-8, 275 pounds that caught the attention of the Warriors in the third round. He could really play and was an All-American in basketball at Ohio State. But baseball was Howard’s first love and he signed with the Dodgers and had a 15-year career in the majors, hitting 382 home runs with 1,119 RBIs.

Other notables in the draft: Elgin Baylor (No. 1 overall by Minneapolis); Hal Greer (No. 13 by Syracuse).

BUBBA SMITH (Baltimore Bullets, 1967) — Long before he became known for playing the role of Moses Hightower in the Police Academy movies and starring in Miller Lite commercials, the 6-foot-7 Smith was an All-American defensive end at Michigan State. His height attracted the attention of the Bullets in the 11th round of the NBA draft, but Smith was the No. 1 overall pick of the NFL Colts and a champion in Super Bowl V.

Other notables in the draft: Earl Monroe (No. 2 overall by Baltimore); Walt Frazier (No. 5 by New York).

BOB BEAMON (Phoenix Suns, 1969) – Who could blame the Suns for taking a flying leap? After all, they were coming off a 16-66 record in their expansion season in the league and Beamon had just shattered the world long jump record by more than a foot at the Mexico City Olympics. Beamon had grown up playing street ball in New York, but was strictly a track and field athlete in college at Texas-El Paso. The Suns picked him in the 15th round of the draft, but he went back to school and graduated with a sociology degree from Adelphi University.

DENISE LONG (San Francisco Warriors, 1969) — The 18 year old out of Union-Whitten High in Iowa was the first woman ever drafted in the NBA, taken in the 13th round. She had averaged 69.6 points and had a single game high of 111 points in her senior year. NBA commissioner Walter Kennedy voided the pick, calling it a publicity stunt by Warriors owner Franklin Mieuli and also noted that high school players weren’t eligible at the time. Mieuli brought Long and other female players in to play before Warriors home games.

Other notables in the draft: Lew Alcindor (No. 1 overall by Milwaukee); JoJo White (No. 9 by Boston); Mack Calvin (187th by L.A. Lakers).

DAVE WINFIELD (Atlanta Hawks, 1973) – It wasn’t just the Hawks who were trying to get their talons on one of the greatest all-around college athletes ever with their fifth-round pick. He was also drafted by the Utah Stars of the ABA and the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL, but went to baseball when the San Diego Padres chose him as a pitcher. In college at Minnesota, Bill Musselman once called him the best rebounder he ever coached. But Winfield did quite well in baseball, a 12-time All-Star with 465 career homers.

Other notables in the draft: Doug Collins (No. 1 overall by Philadelphia); Kermit Washington (No. 5 by L.A. Lakers).

BRUCE JENNER (Kansas City Kings, 1977) — Before face lifts and the Kardashians, there was a time when Jenner was known as the “world’s greatest athlete” after taking the gold medal in the decathlon at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal and the Kings made him a seventh-round draft pick. He never played in college and the closest Jenner ever got to basketball stardom was when he sank a shot during the singing of YMCA in the 1980 movie Can’t Stop the Music, which starred the Village People.

LUSIA HARRIS (New Orleans Jazz, 1977) – Here’s the real forerunner to Griner. A 6-foot-3 pioneer of the women’s game who led Delta State to three consecutive national titles, Harris was the second female ever drafted by an NBA team when the Jazz made her a seventh-round pick. Just imagine the show if she had been given a chance to team up with Pete Maravich in the backcourt. Harris showed little interest in her selection and declined a tryout invitation from the Jazz. It was later revealed that she was pregnant at the time.

Other notables in the draft: Bernard King (No. 7 overall by New York Nets); Jack Sikma (No. 8 by Seattle).

TONY GWYNN (San Diego Clippers, 1981) — After he set the San Diego State assist records for a game, season and career, he was hardly a reach for the Clippers in the 10th round of the draft. Gwynn said that dribbling strengthened his wrists and helped with bat speed and his on-court quickness made him a better base-runner. It all added up to a Hall of Fame baseball career with 3,141 hits and eight N.L. batting titles.

YASUTAKA OKAYAMA (Golden State Warriors, 1981) — Tallest player ever drafted by an NBA team? Not Yao Ming or Gheorge Muresan or Manute Bol. Try Okayama, who was 7-foot-8. He earned a second degree black belt in judo in his native Japan and began playing basketball at age 18 at Osaka University of Commerce. Okayama attended the University of Portland (Ore.), but did not play there. He was a member of the Japanese national team from 1979 to 1986. He never signed with the Warriors or attended a camp.

Other notables in the draft: Mark Aguirre (No. 1 overall by Dallas); Isiah Thomas (No. 2 by Detroit).

CARL LEWIS (Chicago Bulls, 1984) — It might have been the year when Michael Jordan earned his first gold medal, but Lewis was definitely the biggest star of the L.A. Olympics, tying Jesse Owens’ record of four track and field gold medals. Though he never played basketball in high school or college, a West Coast scout recommended drafting Lewis in the 10th round because he was “the best athlete available.” That same year the Dallas Cowboys drafted him in the 12th round as a wide receiver. Lewis stayed with sprinting and the long jump to become arguably the greatest track and field athlete ever.

Other notables in the draft: Hakeem Olajuwon (No. 1 overall by Houston); Michael Jordan (No. 3 by Chicago); Charles Barkley (No. 5 by Philadelphia); John Stockton (No. 16 by Utah).

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Hang Time Podcast (Episode 107) Featuring Sam ‘Big Smooth’ Perkins

March 6, 2013  ·  7:40PM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – The post-All-Star weekend portion of the NBA’s regular season brings out the clown in those of us who are tasked with running this marathon from start to finish every season.

That includes TNT’s Shaquille O’Neal, who can’t seem get enough of my smiling face, and my co-hosts here on the Hang Time Podcast, “Benedict” Lang Whitaker and Rick “The Backstabber” Fox. Sources tell me that they’ve gotten in on the conspiracy plot, too.

Apparently, they’re lobbying for a name change around here. “Sekou Smith’s Hang Time Podcast” doesn’t do it for these guys anymore. (This is how New Edition broke up back in the day!)

It’s all good, fellas.

Just remember, don’t start any trouble if you don’t want any trouble.

Luckily for these haters we have a non-stop stream of great action and headlines to keep us busy. That includes having a special guest on Episode 107 of the Hang Time Podcast, the one on and only Sam “Big Smooth” Perkins, a guy we like to call the original “Stretch 4.” Long before it was chic to have your power forward working his game from beyond the 3-point line, Big Smooth was doing damage from distance for the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, Seattle SuperSonics and Indiana Pacers.

Perkins was a co-captain on the gold-medal winning 1984 U.S Olympic Team and a first-team All-Rookie pick in 1985 with the Mavericks. He will also forever be known as the man in the middle of Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley. They went off the board at No. 3, 4 and 5, respectively, in the 1984 NBA Draft. Perkins and Jordan were teammates at the University of North Carolina, where they helped the Tar Heels to the 1982 NCAA title.

He reminisces about his playing days, his first impressions of a young MJ, his pioneering moves as the original Stretch 4, his work as player development coach with the Texas Legends of the D-League and a whole lot more.

We made sure to share our thoughts on LeBron James and the Miami Heat’s 15-game (and counting) win streak, Serge Ibaka‘s peculiar box out tactics, the state of the Los Angeles Lakers this week (how long can Kobe Bryant‘s right elbow hold up?), Harlem Shake Fatigue Syndrome hitting the streets in Minneapolis, the new leader in Braggin’ Rights (he’s from the Bahamas) and plenty more on the robust Episode 107 of the Hang Time Podcast.

LISTEN HERE:

As always, we welcome your feedback. You can follow the entire crew, including the Hang Time Podcast, co-hosts Sekou Smith of NBA.com,  Lang Whitaker of SLAM Magazine and Rick Fox of NBA TV, as well as our new super producer Gregg (just like Popovich) Waigand and the best engineer in the business,  Jarell “I Heart Peyton Manning” Wall.

– To download the podcast, click here. To subscribe via iTunes, click here, or get the xml feed if you want to subscribe some other, less iTunes-y way.

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Howard Says He Could Have Sat Until Now

March 5, 2013  ·  8:30PM

OKLAHOMA CITY – Dwight Howard was roundly criticized for not playing through the pain of a torn labrum in his shoulder earlier in the season. But has the Los Angeles Lakers’ center received fair praise for playing this season from Day One after undergoing back surgery just seven months earlier?

After Wednesday morning’s shootaround in preparation for tonight’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder (9:30 p.m. ET, TNT), Howard reflected on the surgery and the recovery process.

“Looking back on it I could have sat the whole season until now and started playing now, but I just felt like we have such a great opportunity,” Howard said. “Some of these guys, their windows for winning are very small and I just wanted to get back and try do whatever I can to help this team, knowing that I wasn’t in great shape. My body wasn’t all the way there yet, but I wanted to do whatever I could to help this team win.”

Howard has played in 54 of the Lakers’ 60 games and has averaged 16.1 points and 12.0 rebounds. When he missed games with the shoulder injury, he took criticism for not playing through the pain from all angles, from teammate Kobe Bryant, who would later soften his stance, to TNT analysts Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley.

“Sometimes I have gotten beat up for it, but that’s fine,” Howard said. “I took all those hits and I keep moving. I’ve been doing whatever I can to get back into the shape that I’ve always been into, and it takes a while. The people who watch games, they see me playing so they think that it’s all good, but it’s just a time thing. I’ve got to keep going, keep pushing myself and get better.”

Howard said he’s been told the recovery time from the type of back surgery he had is one year. And in an interesting twist, Howard said he has occasionally texted with former Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who was thought to be on his way back to coach the Lakers when the club fired Mike Brown, and recently told Sports Illustrated that the coach the Lakers hired instead, Mike D’Antoni, has not properly used Howard.

“I’ve asked people who really just helped me out, guys like Phil text me,” Howard said. “He understands how it is to come off back surgery. He just said it takes a full year to recover so you can’t beat yourself up over the things that are happening this year. That’s what I’m trying not to do.”

Howard underwent the surgery last April, which ended his season with the Orlando Magic. He was traded in August to L.A., where he had already been rehabbing his back. He said he was determined to play at the start of the season.

It’s certainly been a rough season, both mentally and physically as the star-studded Lakers fizzled out of the gate under Brown, who was canned after five games. He’s had an icy relationship with Bryant and he quickly became disenchanted with D’Antoni’s offense and his lack of touches on the block.

Things have finally taken a turn for the better over the last month with the Lakers winning 13 of their last 18 games and reaching the .500 mark at 30-30 heading into Wednesday’s measuring stick game against the reigning Western Conference champs.

Howard has looked more agile and explosive in recent games, and he acknowledges that he is only now starting to feel more like himself. He said he’s thought many times throughout the season that he came back too soon, but he said he’s forced those thoughts from his mind.

“I said that plenty of times but I don’t want myself to be thinking so much about what I should have done, what if I would have waited until this time or that time,” Howard said. “I just know the harder I push myself every day to get better every day, to get in shape, my body will respond. And then this summer after the season I get an opportunity to really train and get my body right.”

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Ellis Shot Answers Prayer, Not Question

February 28, 2013  ·  12:09AM

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HOUSTON — A week ago nobody could figure out the Bucks. It seemed they had spent most of trade deadline day trying to trade Monta Ellis to Atlanta for Josh Smith and, when that failed, added another guard in J.J. Redick.

Can you spell “crowded backcourt?” Redick joined Ellis and Brandon Jennings in what looked like the kind of traffic jam that could tie up an intersection, let alone a team trying to hang on in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

“I don’t know what Milwaukee is doing,” Charles Barkley said on TNT. “They are just trying to cover the market on guards.”

The rest of the pundit class joined in a collective scratching of heads.

On Wednesday night, the Rockets were left scratching their heads when Jennings almost held onto the ball a half-tick too long, finally got it to Ellis and he put up a running, one-legged, one-armed turnaround that practically licked all of the paint off the rim before falling in to give the Bucks a 110-107 win.

It was the second time in two nights that Ellis played key role down the stretch. Coach Jim Boylan had sat Jennings for the final 3:32 on Tuesday night in Dallas and used Ellis to close out a win in Dallas. He finished with 22 points, nine assists and six steals against the Mavs. In Houston, Ellis racked up 27 points, 13 assists and six steals.

“I play basketball. Whatever the team needs me to do, I’m willing to do,” Ellis said in Dallas.

“I just got the shot off and got out of there,” Ellis said in Houston.

Nothing really has changed about Ellis’ game since the trade deadline. He’s still the most indiscriminate shooter in the league, hitting just 9 of his 24 shots against the Rockets, and that horn-beating prayer truthfully wasn’t much of a stretch from some of the others he’s hoisted along the way.

The Bucks lost their first three games coming out of the All-Star break by a combined six points, including one overtime defeat. But now they’ve taken a mini-sweep through Texas because the player they tried to trade away and who could opt out of his contract next summer, has given them the kind of sudden charge that usually comes from grabbing onto a high voltage wire.

So Ellis can bolt from Milwaukee if he wants; Redick might just be a short-term rental until he becomes a free agent in July; the starting point guard Jennings has got to wonder if he’ll watch end of any more games from the bench as the backcourt resembles a crowded elevator at quitting time. Oh, and the question remains how the deadline deal really made the Bucks any more capable of knocking off Miami or Indiana in the first round of the playoffs.

While everyone else is trying to figure out the strategy of the front office, all the Bucks are trying to do is win enough games to maybe catch Boston for the No. 7 seed.

Shocked? Only the guy who provided the electricity isn’t.

As the referees gathered ’round a TV monitor to review the final shot and some of his celebrating teammates returned to the floor to wait for an official ruling, Ellis was out the tunnel and gone without checking.

“I didn’t need to,” he said. “The buzzer went off when it was rolling around the rim. There was no need for me to come back out … I didn’t need [any] explanation.”

Despite all the coast-to-coast puzzlement at the trade deadline, apparently neither do the Bucks.

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Shaqtin’ A Fool: All-Chuck Edition

February 22, 2013  ·  2:30AM


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The Chuckster just turned the big 5-0 so Shaq decided to dedicate a special Shaqtin’ A Fool episode to Sir Charles. Vote for your favorite Shaqtin’ A Fool moment!
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The First 50 Years With Sir Charles

February 20, 2013  ·  1:26PM

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When you walked into Charles Barkley’s little slice of the locker room, you might as well have stepped into a whole different world. It was a world where heads were shaved, complimentary tickets distributed, insults hurled, jokes told, social commentary delivered, reporters sent away sated and one of the best basketball players on the planet had to prepare himself for the next game. All of it seemed to occur in the space of five minutes.

“There will never be another player like me,” Barkley once said. “I’m the Ninth Wonder of the World.”

You know? He was right.

Here is Barkley, 13 years after lacing up his sneakers in an NBA game for the final time, more popular than ever as a television personality, opinionator and, well, just plain liver of life.

If Michael Jordan’s 50th birthday on Sunday felt like a royal occasion with seemingly everyone in the basketball world taking time to genuflect in the throne room, then Barkley’s, coming just three days later, has all the trappings of the morning after a keg party. In other words, a lot more fun.

The Chuckster’s persona — and at times, even his person — has almost grown large enough to be one of those floats in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and that’s actually the perfect image, full of hot air, constantly changing course with the wind and barely tethered to earthbound reality.

He says so many things, and it is our job to figure out which ones he really means. For in these ongoing best days of his life, it seems that everybody still wants to know the real Charles Barkley. Trouble is, the answer has always been a lot more complicated than the question.

During his playing days, was Barkley the obnoxious, overbearing sort who once charged toward the stands to spit on a boorish fan and wound up hitting an 8-year-old by accident? Or the sincerely apologetic type who responded by buying season tickets for the little girl and her family?

Was he the nit-picking critic that found fault in every single thing done wrong by his teammates? Or the selfless, ideal team players who charmed the socks off everybody in the locker room and at the same time lifted them to heights?

Is Barkley the fun-loving fellow who likes to joke and cajole his way through encounters with the media? Or the guy who would always tackle the tough issues of race and child-rearing with his whip of a tongue?

Remember the stir he created with a simple phrase: “I’m not a role model.”

How out of touch is that view today in an era of Tiger Woods, Marion Jones, Alex Rodriguez, Lance Armstrong and Oscar Pistorius?

His was the first voice you normally heard upon entering the locker room and usually the last you heard on the way out. And truth be told, for all the the times his teammates would roll their eyes at some of the things he said, that role of spokesman/court jester was one they needed him to fill almost as much as the slot as one of the greatest power forwards of all time.

“I know a lot of people say a lot of things about Charles Barkley,” his former Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich once said. “But I’ve never seen a guy who loves this league more than he does. He follows the game. He loves the game so much.”

Who else but Barkley could sit there on the TNT set week after week on Thursday nights and be so outrageous? And who else but Barkley would constantly take the wildly popular show to new heights by allowing himself to be the constant butt of jokes.

There was the time Kenny Smith played the role of a bouncer controlling the velvet rope outside the “Champions Club” and kept taunting the ringless Barkley about the partiers inside.

“Hey Chuck, Zan Tabak’s in here,” Smith said laughing. “Look it’s Jack Haley, Chuck. Jack Haley!”

And, of course, there was Barkley paying his “I’ll kiss your ass” bet to Smith when the rookie Yao Ming hit the 20-point mark in a game.

Smith showed up the next week with a donkey in the studio, but only Barkley would have unthinkingly believed he had to actually pucker up to the back end of the four-legged ass.

He could have an MVP season and carry the Suns to the 1993 NBA Finals, grab a career-best 33 boards in single game (more than the entire opposing team) and, at an honest 6-foot-4 1/2, toil away to be the shortest player ever to lead the league in rebounding.

Mostly, Barkley could be himself.

Once, when pondering such a milestone birthday, he said: “I just want to be living the day after I turn 50.”

In that case, check in tomorrow when The Chuckster will still be living turribly large.

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