Two Hoops

Two Photos of Basketball Hoops that I Took Today

On a different note: In 1959, Jean Royer became mayor of Tours and held that position until 1995. During that time, Toronto suffered through several equally leftist mayors yet seems not to have witnessed the improvements seen in Tours.

Tour Charlemagne

Royer was known as le bon roi Jean and the French legislation that protects small local stores from retail conglomerates is known as le loi Royer. The mayor restored many parts of the old town - especially le Place Plumereau - and otherwise protected historically and culturally significant buildings.

Place Plumereau

An out-of-town group, the Ontario Municipal Board controls the protection of Toronto’s architectural heritage. Traditionally, the board sides with developers and permits historical buildings to be replaced by drab, dreary, and indistinguishable condominiums and big-box stores. Certainly, it is the free market at work but there is something to be said about a town full of unique pieces of architecture. Putting one’s foot forward is best done with discretion, like Spain’s Fernando Torres shot the ball where the goalie wasn’t doing to be in a moment, not directly in the German keeper’s path.

Non-Plumb Building in Place Plumerau

From Crombie to Sewell to Miller, Toronto’s government has been ineffectual, due to a lack of knowledge or a lack of commitment. Ontario’s government has been likewise indifferent. If public officials purport to care about certain causes, they should lobby tireless for them, even if they are a little to the left. Doing something is better than doing nothing.

Place du 14 Juillet

On one hand Tours has missed out on some innovation but on the other hand it has gained an identity north of the Boulevard Béranger; modern developments, like the T.G.V. are located on the south side of the boulevard. Frankly, Tours is more interesting than Toronto. Practically, it is a better city for no other reasons than it has figured out how to use urban planning to install public washrooms, includes bike and pedestrian lanes, and protects its heritage.

Three Windows

I Wrote this While Waiting in the Airport

Like 1999, the Toronto Raptors have made a draft-day deal, exchanging their draft pick for a big from the Indiana Pacers. Like 1999, a (relatively) new General Manager is hoping that this is the move that helps the Raptors exchange their “Participant” ribbons from the past two years for real playoff glory. Trading the seventeenth pick, Rasho Nesterovic, T.J. Ford, and likely Maceo Baston for Jermaine O’Neal should do the trick.

Rasho is fundamentally sound, defends reasonably well, cares for the team, and is a nice guy … but there are also reasons why he’s always the second or third best big in his draft year, his free agent year, or most of the deals he has been involved with. He lacks athleticism and dominant post moves. No qualms with Rasho’s toughness but he doesn’t demand a double-team and won’t take over games in the fourth quarter.

T.J. Ford needed to go, sooner rather than later. Despite all of his positives, Ford’s injury risks balance with O’Neal’s concerns. Ford was also destroying the team’s chemistry and making this trade now allows Colangelo to firmly commit to Jose Calderon. With any luck, Colangelo will also commit to someone who can teach Calderon how to handle a double-team during the screen and roll and penetrate and kick against a large centre; foiling Tom Thibodeau and Dwight Howard should be two of his main goals this year.

Jermaine O’Neal is a great fit for the Raptors although the $44M contract over two years is not so good. Chris Bosh likes to work from the wing or the high post and O’Neal should complement him inside. He will be an excellent option on the block down the stretch of games and will be double-teamed, opening room for Jason Kapono, Anthony Parker, and Carlos Delfino. And O’Neal will post an enormous “Stay Out” sign near Toronto’s basket.

The Raptors must decide whether to start Kapono, Delfino, Jamario Moon, or Andrea Bargnani at the 3. I think that Kapono will be the best fit, as his shooting will benefit tremendously from the Raptors’ inside presence. But Sam Mitchell will have options down the stretch. Bargnani should come off the bench as the sixth man, also as the first forward back-up, until he proves he deserves otherwise and Delfino should back-up the guards.

Colangelo needs a P.J. Brown/Udonis Haslem/Nazr Mohammed-type to fill a forward spot in the rotation (unless Primo Brezec or Kris Humphries show that they have improved) and should use the mid-level exception to fill this role. Or he could split the mid-level and also sign the back-up point guard required, since Darrick Martin won’t do this year. Jamario could get some burn, but it’s imperative that he attack the rack much more. Under this scenario (two players remaining to be signed), Joey Graham is expendable but he might be the twelfth player on the roster.

Of course, O’Neal’s knee could still be problematic, Bosh’s plantar fasciitis might flare up, and Calderon could be horrendously injured at the Beijing Olympics. Irrespective of all of those possibilities, I think the deal will work. Toronto will not surpass Boston as the Atlantic Division Champion but they have a good shot at the fourth seed in the playoffs and they should take care of the Orlando Magic if they meet again in the post-season.

(Kidney issues aside, if I were Bryan Colangelo, I would have spent picks 25 or 26 trying to trade-up and get Darrell Arthur because I think he’s a nice fit for the bench or picks 28 to 33 trying to get Mario Chalmers for that back-up point spot.)

Ifs and Buts

If he were alive, Red would be proud: a Boston Celtics squad that sacrificed individual glory for team success and when faced with adversity knew no other recourse that to turn up the defensive intensity won the Association title. And they smoked the Los Angeles Lakers to do so.

Certainly the team had talent - a modern triad to match Russell, Cousy, and Havlicek - but they came closer to the Auerbach intangibles than any other recent champion. These Celtics didn’t necessarily run the court but Pierce and Garnett dominated the screen and roll at both ends of the court. Boston didn’t control the paint by force but their teamwork shrank the court and controlled the glass, five peers working together. Their offence didn’t score consistently in the hundreds but they made key outside shots and constantly moved the ball.

If he weren’t such an avid Zen follower, Phil would be frustrated: towards the Lakers team that he coaches for their lack of toughness and also towards himself because he didn’t make adjustments down the stretch. Jackson shouldn’t be upset in a destructive way but motivated to make positive, proactive changes.

It’s not a time for the L.A. organization to overreact and panic but players must improve their performance under pressure. The return of Andrew Bynum will increase defense and rebounding but the team must add a veteran defensive small forward and depth inside. Pau Gasol can still play the Pinch Post to attack Tom Thibodeau’s defence but the Triangle Offence needs to evolve, adding new sets like Slice Passes, Backdoors, and Screen and Roll Counters and emphasizing principles like more motion away from the ball and better team ball movement.

If both teams repeat their successes, they should meet again in the Finals next year. But, like 1985, the outcome should be the opposite of the previous season.

The Right "Stuff"

Kobe Bryant said that if he’d been told in training camp that Los Angeles would have to win three straight games to claim the Association title, he’d take it for sure. On the other hand, Phil Jackson felt that the Lakers hadn’t grasped the significance of their situation between Thursday and Sunday. In a sense, both were right.

Boston was laying their bodies on the line, playing through pain. Doc Rivers told them to play every minute of Game 5 like it was their last. The Celtics had bought into a season-long philosophy of team play and personal sacrifice for a long-term goal. You can only rely on short-term goals like “not in our house” for so long. Eventually, a team has to play hard, play smart, and play together consistently.

Finally the Lakers got the line more frequently but there is work to be done defending the screen and roll and Paul Pierce’s subsequent penetration.

Kobe has the right perspective. It’s not the end of the world if the team loses because they will be in good shape next year. After losing to the Detroit Pistons in five games in 2004, the Lakers experienced an annus horribilis followed by two mediocre seasons before acquiring the players to get to this point. Kobe’s dissatisfaction did not prevent him from winning the most valuable player award and he has always been able to overcome tribulations on and off the court.

Kobe understands that it’s only basketball and he has a record of performing under pressure. The Lakers need to get him the ball more often in isolation situation.

Likewise, Rocco Mediate understands that it’s only golf. From his performance on the back nine of the U.S. Open and following interviews, Mediate seems to have a good sense of perspective. He is honoured to play with Tiger Woods, not intimidated by him. Mediate also understands that he can’t control how his opponents play and said that it’s pointless to root against someone in golf. He added that he had tried to win with his putts on the eighteenth green, having assumed that Tiger would make his putts.

Balancing that calm attitude is Tiger’s intensity and determination. A new Nike campaign features Earl Woods speaking about how his son will be the most focused golfer in the world. It’s important to keep things in perspective but it’s also important to have a little bit of attitude.

Before Game 7 of the 1969 Finals between the favoured Lakers and the aging Celtics, L.A. owner Jack Kent Cooke ordered some Lakers championship balloons to hang from the ceiling of the L.A. Forum. Bill Russell - who wanted to win his last game as a player more than anything - walked over to Jerry West and told him that “those f----- balloons are staying up.” West averaged 38 points per game and won the Finals M.V.P. Award but Boston beat L.A. one more time, claiming their eleventh title at the time.

Rocco Mediate has a fair chance and I don’t think he’ll shoot himself in the foot today but generally speaking, it’s important never to bet against Tiger Woods.

Experience Matters?

Like the 1983 Edmonton Oilers lost the Stanley Cup to the New York Islanders and the 1998 Brazil team lost the World Cup to France, it appears that the 2008 Los Angeles Lakes will lose the Association title to the more experienced Boston Celtics. The gifted Oilers and Brazilians won the subsequent championships in fairly dominating fashion; it remains to be seen whether the 2009 Lakers will do likewise.

Thursday’s Game 4 was disastrous for L.A.: the first half the manifestation of every possible lucky bounce followed by the second half which showcased Boston’s outstanding focus. Often, older teams rely on intelligence and intensity more than their athleticism. For example, the San Antonio Spurs will make countless adjustments until they regain the upper hand whilst the Celtics turn up the heat defensively.

Athletic teams, such as the Lakers cope better with opponents that adjust because they possess a natural advantage anyways. When young players meet a squad that is outworking them, they have trouble processing that superior performance. They should be better but they aren’t and the reasons for the discrepancy are highly intangible: fighting through injuries, battling for every rebound and loose ball, not stopping until the ball is through the hoop.

Assistant Coach Tom Thibodeau’s defensive is essentially a match-up Man-to-Man, with plenty of help and rotation. The team may trap screen and rolls or shrink the court with a sagging defence but they don’t make a lot of changes. When behind, they pick up the energy and play harder. Even Head Coach Doc Rivers out-coached his counterpart by picking up a T at the right time and reminding the veterans who play for the team that he coaches to pick up their intensity.

Is Phil Jackson the same person who previously won titles in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles? The fact he has (probably) twice coached a more talented team to defeat against a more passionate defensive team in the Finals raises the question.

The current Lakers squad can still win. I think that it’s a matter of getting their star post Andrew Bynum back, adding a couple more veteran threats to the bench and teaching Pau Gasol and Vladimir Radmanovic how to defend and rebound with their heads and hearts. I thought that they had enough talent to get the job done but apparently I was mistaken.

Kobe, Derrick Fisher, and Jackson had been there before and should have better helped their teammates prepare but they seemingly haven’t. This first hand experience should teach L.A. how to defend, stop the ball, rotate and recover, get to the rim, and rebound as hard as they can throughout the championship series. Like Wayne Gretzky and his young teammates losing to the hardened Islanders dynasty, the Lakers will have the edge when these two teams meet again in the 2009 Association Finals.

"Alone"

In the fourth season premiere, House - without his usual team - faces a philosophical dilemma. Normally, the doctor believes that people lie but symptoms speak truthfully. Throughout the episode, the patient’s reactions contradict the information on her chart and her health deteriorates. Cuddy becomes so infuriated by House’s actions that she commands him to find a new team and orders other hospital staff to “stop enabling him” with conversation.

The solution is simple: an allergy goes undetected because family members have misidentified the victims of a building collapse, resulting in swapped charts. The delay was not necessarily caused by the missing team. Although more opinions would have put more ideas on the table, House’s management style habitually dismissed suggestions that contradicted his strong beliefs. The problem lasted the full hour of television time because House refused to step back and take a wider perspective.

All of Greg House’s recommendations were based on the premise that the philosophy which had served him well countless times previously was appropriate in this case. However, it was a subjective framework; although they conflicted with the chart, the symptoms presenting at that time were objective. House’s decisions were complicated as he wrestled with his philosophy. Diagnoses like the allergy were suggested by objective events but ruled out for subjective reasons. It’s great to develop a philosophy in coaching or any other field but nobody can rely solely on their beliefs. Someone who takes such pride in his objectivity like House should have earlier realized how his subjectivity was colouring his choices and adjusted his methods to suit the case.

Shine a Light

Martin Scorsese’s film about a Rolling Stones concert, Shine a Light, puts on a good show. I was expecting more of a documentary; not This Is Spinal Tap but a film that shone light on the band’s intricacies, like how that Simpsons’ episode revealed that Keith Richards spikes his lemonade and Mick Jagger mows his own lawn.

Bill Clinton introduces the Stones and mentions that he did likewise at a climate change fundraiser because “they care as much about this issues as we do.” Hopefully they purchased carbon emission credits to make up for lights that were “burning [Mick Jagger’s] ass.” Keith Richards must have a cigarette tech to assist his guitar tech equip him.

Poor mixing aside, it was a satisfying film. It was my second most enjoyable trip to the Bloor Cinema in the past six months (behind His Girl Friday but miles ahead of I’m Not There). Not that Shine a Light is the most sophisticated feature ever produced but there is entertainment, mixed with comedy, throughout the film. In an Ideal Quality World, I would have liked less guitar and more lead vocals.

Scorsese begins the film with black and white sketches chronicling his frustrations in getting a set list from the band so he can plan his direction. The concert itself is interspaced with interview from the band early in their career. Guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood describe their interesting relationship. When asked by Dick Cavett whether he could see himself “doing this” when he’s sixty, Jagger replies “Oh, definitely,” drawing plenty of laughs from the audience.

And drummer Charlie Watts possesses excellent taste in fashion, self-assurance and self-confidence, and probably a thorough philosophy about life and his place in the world.