Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Indiana Pacers Opener – Don’t Be So Impatient; Questions Will Be Answered as the Season Plays Out

by Kent Sterling

Roy Hibbert and David West anchor the front court that will need to stay healthy for the Indiana Pacers to reach their potential – and win an NBA Championship.

We all want to know what’s going to happen with the Indiana Pacers this season. There is hope that championship caliber basketball will be played at Bankers Life Fieldhouse for the first time in a decade. We want to know what the future holds – and we want to know now!

How many games are the Pacers going to win, and can they beat the Heat and/or Bulls in the playoffs? Is Danny Granger healthy, and if he is, can he help the Pacers win? And what about the bench – are they going to be the upgrade we have been led to expect? Who can answers my damn questions?

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Well, because I like to see reality play out in real time, I have no idea. Danny Granger? I don’t know, and while I care about Granger the person, whether or not he can play this season at a level which will help the Pacers win is unimportant to me. Number one, I can’t control it, and second, the Pacers showed they can play at a championship level without him.

Granger can shoot, and as a component piece to an offense, he can shoot it in streaks and might be able to win a playoff game or two – like a Robert Horry or Glen Rice type player. If he continues to suffer nagging injuries, that will be very sad for Granger, but the Pacers will be fine. They are not dependent upon Granger for their success. Time will tell if the legs can endure.

Watching the national media this time of year drives me nuts. Seven months ago, the national baseball knuckleheads were lining up to support the candidacy of the Toronto Blue Jays as a favorite for the American League East crown. How’d that work out for everyone?

Two years ago, Vince Young declared the Philadelphia Eagles to be a “dream team”. They finished 8-8. In 2012, they were 4-12 and Andy Reid was on his way to Kansas City.

The moral of the story is that prognostication is a game for backup quarterbacks and people who are paid to be wrong in a compelling way.

Back to the Pacers, and their newly revamped bench. Larry Bird added Chris Copeland, Donald Sloan, Luis Scola, C.J. Watson, Rasual Butler, and Solomon Hill. Gone are D.J. Augustin, Gerald Green, Tyler Hansbrough, Miles Plumlee, Sam Young, Ben Hansbrough, and Jeff Ayres. Orlando Johnson is a holdover, and whomever doesn’t start among the Granger/Stephenson duo is added to the second unit.

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Which group will be better? On paper, this year’s second unit is at least a step up on the previous one. There is no comparison between Luis Scola and Tyler Hansbrough. Would you rather trust Green or Granger to knock down a shot? I thought so. Watson and Augustine are a little tougher to distinguish, but Watson is a vet who can defend. Young vs. Hill is a total unknown. I always liked Young’s effort, but the upside on Hill is significant. The other Hansbrough is a non-factor, and to be honest, all I remember about Ayres is the confusion I had last year when he was on the floor. I asked “Who’s that guy?” every time he reported.

I have a gift for remembering only the important details of a roster. It served me well with Ayres.

A lot of things can happen to make the real life version of the second unit perform at a lower level, but it would take some atrocious chemistry, injuries, and general malaise.

Whether the Pacers can beat the Heat and/or Bulls in the playoffs is a silly question. Of course, they can. Will they is the real question, and there is not a person on the planet who can tell you with confidence whether they will play each other in seven months. There are way too many variables to consider.

One thing I can tell you with certainty – the Pacers are 14-to-1 underdogs to win the NBA Championship, and that is a righteous number. The odds don’t reflect what oddsmakers honestly believe to be the chances of winning, but indicate where the money is being wagered. That Houston and Brooklyn are both 12-to-1 shows the bias people have toward star driven rosters and away from logically constructed teams. There is no well-informed NBA expert who would bet the Rockets or Nets in front of the Pacers.

The Pacers will sink or swim based upon their ability to avoid losing regular season games against less talented teams. They will need home court advantage to be favored in any series, and remember the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals came down to Game Seven in Miami. That would leave some to believe that the Pacers were only one game away. Not so fast, the Pacers finished 16 1/2 games behind the Heat in the regular season. That’s the deficit that Bird focused on closing with the acquisitions on Scola, Copeland, and Watson.

If they can maintain focus against Denver, Boston, Charlotte, Orlando, Phoenix, Atlanta, and other teams they should beat, while splitting with those believed to be playoff teams, they have a chance to make you $14 for every one you bet.

The Day Chicago Bulls PG Derrick Rose Lost 61-19 to a Bunch of Kids from Indiana

by Kent Sterling

This picture was taken before Derrick Rose developed his “greed” for winning.

There was a time when Derrick Rose was just a kid hooping. Before the national endorsement deal, before the ACL injury and his refusal to play in the playoffs, and before his recent comment that he’s greedy about winning. In May, 2006, he was just a kid trying to win a tournament like so many other kids.

Today, he is one of the shining stars in the NBA – a guy who is seen as a player capable of putting a team on his back and carrying them to an NBA Championship. There are still fans in Chicago wondering whether Rose should have played when his knee allowed it.

When we walked into Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana, a parent from a team that had just been dispatched in the semifinals of the Adidas Invitational by Derrick Rose’s Meanstreets Express team told me, “Get ready, you have no chance.”

I asked what he meant.

“The Rose kid cannot be stopped,” he told me.

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I looked at him like any father who was just told that his son’s team couldn’t do something. He just shook his head apologetically.

Rose’s team had just beaten Eric Gordon’s team, and that was the marquee matchup in the tournament. At that point Gordon was an Illinois commit, and Rose was rumored to be thinking of joining him, and I’m not sure whether Rose completely shot his wad in the semis or not.

The finals were scheduled to immediately follow the two semifinal games as is the case with most summer basketball tournaments. No one knew that Derrick Rose would become the NBA most valuable player. At that point, all anyone knew was that Rose was a top 10 recruit in the 2007 class.

The Spiece Central Stars had played against a lot of highly ranked players during the spring of 2006, and had beaten most. Overall, they finished their four-year run together 232-29. They were mostly unknown, but two would find their way to prominence while in college. Matt Howard became the 2011 Men’s Basketball Academic All-America of the Year and led the Butler Bulldogs to the NCAA Championship Game in both 2010 and 2011. JaJuan Johnson worked his way into a scholarship at Purdue, and then became a first team All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year in 2011.

In May, 2006, though they were just a couple of Indiana kids having a great time playing in Assembly Hall.

The game was not a blow out to begin with, as Spiece took a 19-15 lead, but Rose didn’t distinguish. You could hear parents ask one another, which one is Rose? And then the basketball started slicing through the net with alarming regularity, but no for Rose. No, the names of the kids hitting a torrent of shots were John Ashworth, Zach Hahn, Ben Botts, Nate Blank, and Ryan Sterling. The only way any of those kids will be associated with an NBA franchise will be if they own, run, or coach one.

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Suddenly, the halftime score was 45-19, and the game was all but over. The second half started like the first had ended with a bunch of made shots in a row until the score grew to a strange looking 61-19 with just over 12-minutes left.

At that point Mean Streets pulled the plug. Rose’s brother Reggie – the coach for Mean Streets – instructed one of his players to hold onto the ball near half court. Rose repeatedly yelled from the bench, “We got what we came for! We got what we came for!” Not sure what that might have been. Maybe the focus was on beating Gordon’s team, and not winning the tournament.

In four years of beating a lot of teams, this was the second time a team simply refused to continue to compete. It’s been seven years, and a lot can change in seven years. Maybe Rose’s greed to win wasn’t fully developed back in 2006.

Reggie Rose might have gotten what he came for, but Spiece went home with the trophy.

Indiana Pacers Open Tonight – Yesterday They Were Busy Too with Kids Against Hunger

by Kent Sterling

From left to right, Solomon Hill, Rasual Butler, and C.J. Watson wear fashionable headgear as they prepare meals for 60,000.

The Indiana Pacers are not just co-favorites to win the NBA’s Eastern Conference, according to contributors from Sports Illustrated, they are a team that enjoys making Indianapolis a better place through their work and example.

I’m not such a sap that I believe the ubiquitous marketing people who try to extoll the virtues of the players for their team. These folks are everywhere, and the truth is, most of the time they are full of crap. Most players like playing, cashing checks, and taking advantage of their position and wealth with women. Anything that gets in the way of those focuses is seen as a waste of time.

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The Pacers have some exceptions to that rule, and George Hill is at the top of the list. Yesterday, the day before the season opener against Victor Oladipo and the Orlando Magic, Hill was the face in front of the Kids Against Hunger event held on the Pacers Practice Court.

And Hill was more than the face. He and other players, including Solomon Hill, Ian Mahinmi, C. J. Watson, and Rasual Butler were actually doing the work to fill and seal servings of food for those in Indianapolis and Haiti who are in need. An incredible 59,686 meals were packaged by the Pacers and a hearty group of volunteers.

Every time I show up at a Pacers charity event, the 27 year-old Hill is front and center. He is an Indianapolis guy living his dream playing for his hometown team. Hill was a scoring machine at Broad Ripple High School (David Letterman’s alma mater), went largely unrecruited winding up at IUPUI, was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs, and was traded to the Pacers for Kawhi Leonard.

He’s locked in contractually through the 2016-2017 season, and that’s good news for the Pacers and Indianapolis. The need for players to show some emotional investment in the Indianapolis community is one of pragmatism. The ticket buying pool outside large markets like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, or even Atlanta or Philadelphia is minuscule, so it’s not enough to win, the team has to assimilate into the community or wither.

That means going to schools to pass out gifts to children in need, and it means sitting at a table filling bags with dry food. Forcing players to buy into that mindset is difficult because if the heart of a player isn’t relatively pure, people see through it immediately. The key is to draft and trade for a quality in addition to height, length, lateral quickness, hand size, touch, and grit. That’s a desire to leave the world a better place than they found it.

It makes people feel better about liking the players when they do good work. Winning is of the utmost importance, but the bind between a professional athlete and the town in which he plays can be largely determined by the good work they do. If the goofy bastards who brawled in Detroit and shot up the Eight Second Saloon and downtown Indy on a frighteningly regular basis had continued to win, fans would have bought tickets, but as soon as the team began to show chinks in its armor, it would have been adios.

This group of guys is driven to win and to help. They are easy to like, fun to deal with, and don’t make the media feel like morons for buying in. That begins with George Hill.

Tonight, the Pacers will get to work trying to win the franchise’s first NBA title since joining the league in 1976. Yesterday, the work they did will feed 59,686.

With Mike King Out as IndyCar Voice, Kevin Lee Should Be Next Man Up

by Kent Sterling

Kevin Lee is a righteous pick as the successor to Sid Collins and others as the radio voice of the Indy 500.

There are things I admire about Mike King. He was a shameless promoter of IndyCar Racing, and his voice conveyed his enthusiasm for the events he covered.

But I can’t lie and say I’ll miss King as the voice of IndyCar. If Kevin Lee is tapped as the new host for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network as he should be, I won’t miss King at all.

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It would be great to say that my distaste for King is purely professional, but it isn’t. King was one of the speakers an event for Emmis Communications at the Speedway a few years ago, and he spent a solid 15 minutes yelling at us for not viewing IndyCar as the top sports league in Indianapolis, and that anyone who didn’t lead with IndyCar news was an idiot.

Colts? No. Pacers? No. Indiana Basketball? No. IndyCar was the most beloved of all franchises for fans in central Indiana, and disagreeing revealed a thorough lack of understanding of sports, broadcasting, and basic physics.

The message was predictable but the tone was insulting – and I’m not easily insulted. Obviously, the voice of open wheel racing is going to believe that sport is the most important, and even if it isn’t, the message conveyed to a broadcast partner is going to reflect a high level of enthusiasm. I have no issue with that, but I wish I had a recording of King telling us we had no idea what we were doing.

That we would have alienated 85% of our audience outside the month of May was of no consequence. “If you don’t treat IndyCar as you’r number one asset, you don’t understand your business or sports in Indiana.”

I left that meeting believing King to be a shortsighted and self-indulgent tool, and never saw or heard anything compelling enough to talk me off that position. Maybe I should have turned my brain off during the meeting, but I’m not good at not listening. Maybe I should have long released my frustration with the dressing down we were forced to endure. Maybe I was too sensitive.

There is no question that King cared deeply about open wheel racing, and was a reasonably adept voice for the league’s broadcasts. The only gripe I ever had with the quality of the broadcast was King’s habit of asking a question of an analyst of corner reporter and then answering it himself. There is one more gripe, so I lied. His post race wraps were way too long. Radio stations want to carry the play-by-play, and get out as soon as possible. Carrying the show 30 minutes following the checkered flag is not serving the affiliates best.

I like IndyCar very much. There are warts – like an aversion to nurture conflict – but the drivers are good guys, and the racing can be very exciting. IndyCar needs a villain, and it always has. Other than that, I can be very happy watching an IndyCar race on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. To even hint that the IndyCar race at the Milwaukee Mile is more important to the majority of Indiana sports fans than a Colts event is madness.

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And why Kevin Lee as the replacement? Because he’s professional, knowledgeable, and understands how to orchestrate a broadcast. He takes his job(s) seriously, and will make those around him better. His vocal tone is also excellent for AM radio – and a healthy number of the affiliates are AM stations.

Plus, he’s a pleasant guy to spend time with, and that counts for a lot with a team of broadcasters who travel and work together every other weekend through the spring and summer.

Kevin is one of those guys who has paid his dues everywhere, and has earned a play-by-play role with someone. IndyCar would be very fortunate to be the group that nets him.

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Purdue Basketball – A.J. Hammons Suspended for Three Games – What Does It Mean

by Kent Sterling

A.J. Hammons is proof that sometimes God plays tricks on people. Every once in awhile, he matches the wrong brain and body.

Such is the case with center A.J. Hammons, who has always been physically gifted, but not a real fan of the game of basketball. That’s the assumption I make from watching him play and talking to former teammates at Carmel High School. And that is what this is – speculation informed by former teammates of Hammons to whom I have spoken.

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None of this should be taken as first hand testimony because I have never spoken to him. I’ve seen him play many times at Carmel and Purdue, but the insight into his behavior is gleaned from three guys whom I have asked to explain Hammons’ malaise.

“Great guy, but he doesn’t really like the game,” is what one told me, and was agreed with by the other two. One went on to say, “I can’t imagine how good he would be if he ever learned how the game works.”

He has NBA height, NBA length, and NBA athleticism, but the brain of an artist.

Coaches talk about the mythical switch that might flip to on at some point and win a National Championship. Most of these kids don’t have a switch – they are either wired to work and overcome adversity or they aren’t. The same thing either exists or doesn’t in all of us. Success is not easily won because many would kill for it. If a person has trouble getting out of bed for it, he or she better have an insane level of talent.

Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter is as good a guy at trying to mandate a certain level of hard work, but the best way to get a team to work at a championship level is to recruit kids who are already wired to engage in that behavior.

As for Hammons, he is the guy whose play with determine the heights to which the Boilermakers can ascend, and Painter is clearly trying to get his attention through a suspension because other methods have failed.

There is noting wrong with a seven-foot tall kid not enjoying the game of basketball. It happens quite a bit. Others get pissed off because they see it as wasteful, but it’s the decision of Hammons and those like him to decide what is important to him.

It might make no sense to any of us, for whom almost assured first round status in a game where virtually everyone earns more than $1 million per year would be a magical and wonderful occurrence, but that doesn’t mean that it is for him.

Painter needs to find a way to inspire a young man to embrace his potential in a game for which he has minimal love.

The question for Painter is how he can get a kid not wired to care to care a great deal. The answer today was to take the game away from him to hope that somehow missing it will cause his behavioral compass to spin to giving the kind of effort needed for Hammons to explore his potential.

Best Week of the Sports Calendar Is Here – All Leagues in Action

by Kent Sterling

This is the week. This is THE week. The NFL hit the halfway mark of the regular season, the NBA is ready for opening night. The World Series is now a best two-of-three series. College football is heating up as teams are halfway through the conference schedule. The NHL is about ten games into its season, and the exhibitions are giving us a peek at what we can look forward to in college hoops.

Life doesn’t get much better than this.

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Last night’s result notwithstanding, the World Series has been thrilling. As outraged as Cardinals fans must be this morning after watching Kolton Wong get picked off to end the game, they also have to be pleased that Wong is the kind of young man who faces the fire after the fact. His post game media work was heartbreaking.

Of course, being a runner whose run is meaningless without the man behind him scoring, you would think that he would shorten his lead a little, but I doubt he makes that mistake again. I was always taught that you never take a lead with both feet off the ground at the same time so that you can always more back to the bag. No matter how quick the baserunner, he can’t get back to the bag while he is in the air. The Cardinal Way is to avoid getting picked off, but to face the fire of the media afterward, and in that way Wong was magnificent.

That Game Four climax – the first pickoff to end a game in postseason history – came of the heels of a strange play Saturday night that allowed Allen Craig to score the winning run on an interference call. This has been a wacky series through four games where mistakes have been magnified – just as it should be with baseball.

The Red Sox have appeared to be the better team though out, but the Cardinals have been able to eke out a couple of wins, and stay alive. That’s the only way for a team without any hall of famers to compete during the postseason – pitching, defense, and the occasional consecutive hits to squeeze out a run,

The Colts enter week nine with a 5-2 record and the AFC South in a stranglehold. If they can take care of business against Houston and Tennessee, and then beat the Rams or Jaguars, the championship is locked up.

I am trying to figure out just how good a quarterback Andrew Luck can be. I can’t find an area where he doesn’t deserve an A. His physical skills are virtually perfect. He’s smart as hell, accurate most of the time, fast, and durable. Luck is able to shrug off most contact, and from a leadership standpoint, I can’t imagine anyone better. Not only does Luck set an incredible example, he defers attention and credit to the rest of the team.

It would take nothing short of virtual perfection to keep Colts fans from pining for Peyton Manning, and Luck has made most fans forgive Jim Irsay’s decision to release the current best quarterback who ever lived. Given a choice today which you would want to start a Super Bowl, I would take Luck – not for the future but for that one game.

The Pacers are going to open the season at home tomorrow night against Victor Oladipo and the Orlando Magic. This is the first NBA season since 2004 that has experts considering the Pacers as a threat to win the NBA Championship. No one knows exactly what might happen this season, but the Pacers appear to be a team willing to listen to its coach and leader, and work exceptionally hard.

Paul George is a splendid talent, but David West leads this team. If the Pacers needed a guy to reboot a teammate’s hard drive, who would you rather have do that – West or George. I would take West too. Nothing against George, but West is a serious guy whose eyes bore holes right into the core of your character.

Purdue is in rebuilding mode, but Indiana is inching closer to relevance. They need three wins in their last five games to qualify for a bowl, and given two road games against Ohio State and Wisconsin, it stands to reason that the home games vs. Minnesota, Illinois, and Purdue are the best chances. Minnesota is coming off upset wins against Northwestern and Nebraska, so they are to be respected.

It’s impossible right now to tell whether the Boilers, Butler Bulldogs, or Hoosiers will be stars or stiffs during the college basketball season. All could be very good, or mediocre. Brandon Miller enters his first season as a head coach at Hinkle Fieldhouse, and the Bulldogs first season in the reconstituted Big East. Experts have them picked ninth of ten, but Butler is used to being underestimated. Indiana is talented but young. Tom Crean has shown a knack for building bodies quickly, but can the Hoosiers mature to the point where freshmen play like juniors? That will tell be the bellwether for Indiana’s fortunes. Purdue will sink or swim based upon A.J. Hammons. He is capable of playing at the highest level, and also playing with indifference.

There is so damn much to write and talk about that making the choice is the fun part of the day. Today, I decided to not decide, and write about all of them.

Alabama Suspends Block Seating for Those Who Left Game Early

by Kent Sterling

Raise a few of these, and you get to make crazy demands of the student season ticket holders.

When you win National Championships like clockwork, demanding and irrational behavior is tolerated. Alabama suspended the block seating privileges of 20 student organizations Friday because they are prone to leave early during the regular blowouts in Tuscaloosa.

The scores of the five home games this season have been 35-10, 31-6, 25-0, 45-3, and 52-0 or an aggregate 188-19. To say the games lack drama is like saying McDonald’s hamburgers lack beef.

Coach Nick Saban’s quote to the Anniston Star about the fans is as strange as the policy that allowed Alabama officials to rescind the privileges, “My sense of it is, I always say the fans are a part of the team. Everybody else should have the same sort of commitment. You don’t have to do the work all week, you don’t have to practice, you don’t have to come in at 7 in the morning and leave at 11 at night, you don’t have to do any of that stuff. All you have to do is come to the game, drink beer, do whatever you want, party in the parking lot. I’ve never been at a tailgate in my life. All I’m asking is that you just come and have fun and stay for the whole game.”

I guess after outscoring his five home opponents by an average of almost 34 points, Saban can lose focus on the quality of play on the field, and allow his eyes and attention to wander to the empty seats during the fourth quarter.

Saban didn’t bother to mention the part where the fans aren’t members of the team, that they pay for tickets to attend the game, and that they are actually customers. The tickets for students only cost $10 each, but the students are still the customers.

The old saying, a saying people don’t pay too much attention to anymore, is “the customer is always right.” At Bryant-Denny Stadium, not only is the customer not always right, they are penalized for having the temerity to exercise their free will long after the result of the game they have paid to witness has been decided.

There is a bar in the Broad Ripple neighborhood of Indianapolis called The Red Key, and the owner used to mandate that everyone in the bar sit, no one swears, and coat were hung properly on a coat rack. Russ Settle gave character to the bar with his strict rules, about which he was very serious.

Saban and the collective boobery mandate attendance at a football game as though it’s an Abnormal Psych class. They happily mimic Settle’s zealous need to control, but strip all of the fun and whimsy. There is nothing whimsical about false imprisonment.

If I were an Alabama fan, I would tell Saban to go pound salt, and I would tailgate and then repair to a bar or apartment to watch the games with friends, but I went to Indiana, and that was the obvious choice regardless of Lee Corso, Sam Wyche, or Bill Mallory’s feelings.

Indiana Pacers – Rookie Solomon Hill Talks About First Camp and Expectations for Season

by Kent Sterling

When the Indiana Pacers drafted Solomon Hill out of Arizona in the first round of the 2013 NBA Draft, I was unsure what to make of the selection. Given the Pacers recent success with finding good people and players off the media’s radar, I suspended disbelief until being able to decide for myself whether he was worthy.

The way the media ranks players is generally the way we evaluate the rationality of each selection. When GMs don’t go chalk based upon rankings, fans think they have lost their minds. In truth, the media is the media for a reason and the GMs and scouts work for teams for the same reason. It’s the same dynamic that exists for movie critics, who are glib and evaluate through a prism that does not necessarily reflect reality. They are not in the movie business.

When “Lincoln” came out, I read some nationally respected reviewers that gave it two stars. What they were saying was that Steven Spielberg had failed in his direction of a historical epic. That’s a skinny limb to climb way out on. When the media eviscerates Donnie Walsh, Kevin Pritchard, and Larry Bird for their selection of a kid like Hill, they need to remember who they are.

Hill is a long way from proving himself absolutely worthy of that pick, but so far during training camp he looks capable, and engaged in the process of improving his game through hard work.

As a thoughtful and smart guy, he is also a really good interview. I gravitate toward Chris Copeland and him after practice because they both listen well to questions and provide interesting responses. Whether Hill plays a significant role for the 2013-2014 Pacers is yet to be seen, but he sure knows how to answer a question.

His demeanor on the court and with coaches shows a guy who wants to be a better basketball player at the end of a practice than he was when it began. That combined with his physical gifts gives him a hell of a good chance of making Walsh, Pritchard, and Bird of looking really smart.

I spoke with Hill today on 1070 the Fan’s “Ahead of the Curve.”

Hey Cubs Fans – Wait for Delivery Before You Invest Your Trust in Theo Epstein

by Kent Sterling

This guy needs some company, but until some good deeds are done, why would rational people join him.

Had a good talk with Dan Dakich on 1070 the Fan today. Dan related that he has decided to trust Cubs President Theo Epstein in his rebuilding of the Cubs as long as they are headed toward what the Cardinals have become. I told him in a less than polite way that he should think back to rebuilding efforts of John Holland, Salty Saltwell, Bob Kennedy, Dallas Green, Jim Frey, Larry Himes, Ed Lynch, and Jim Hendry before deciding that Theo the Genius is capable of that little trick.

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Chicago media and Cubs fans in large part have been willing over the last two years to believe in the five-year plan that coincides with the length of Epstein’s contract. They have seen Nate Scheirholtz, Ryan Sweeney, Edwin Jackson, Darwin Barney, and the rest of the square pegs as necessary evils while surefire all-stars Javier Baez, Albert Almora, Jorge Soler, and the newly minted next stud Kris Bryant polish their skills until they are ready to play for the rich and bored of Chicago.

They wait with baited breath for the next future ex-manager to be hired, hoping that he will last more than five full seasons, as no Cubs manager has since the late and lamented Leo Durocher. The list of candidates continues to grow, rather than shrink to a manageable list of finalists. Hmmm. Manny Acta, Dave Martinez, A.J. Hinch, Eric Wedge, Torey Lovullo, Rick Reneria, or some other poor bastard – tough choices.

Epstein’s formula so far is to deal valuable pieces after the teams he assembles prove themselves incapable of competing. The trades are for farm system upgrades – not necessarily pieces that will ever compete at the major league level, but those who will make for a more competitive experience as bonafide prospects move up the ladder.

That makes sense. In fact, the whole schematic makes a lot of sense. Build from the ground up. Draft to a culture. Teach them how to play the Cubs Way. First, you define what the hell “The Cubs Way” means, so they went out and hired eternally youthful first base coach Dave McKay because as a guy who spent 16 seasons in St. Louis with Tony LaRussa, he knows quite well what The Cardinal Way is. It all makes sense.

We’ll not quite all of it, because the Cardinals Way isn’t just about baseball; it’s about living and owning by a set of principles the Cubs are so far beneath they can’t see the Cardinals ass.

Sure, the Cardinals know to hit cutoff men, where they should be deployed, and how to run the bases, but what they also know is that treating the fans well is good for business if it reflects the overall goodness the team wishes to represent. The DeWitt Family not only provides the financial support needed to run the team, they also make sure that the business is run by credible and decent people. As with any for profit operation, there is a level of pragmatism that the Cardinals need to indulge, but as an overall philosophy, they seem to earnestly believe that by treating people well, the business will thrive.

Conversely, the Cubs seem to be of the opinion that lying and manipulating will achieve the results they crave. Owner Tom Ricketts threatens to move from Wrigley Field to strong-arm the city into approving his planned improvements, but not before guaranteeing a championship if the improvements are made. Ricketts would sooner overpay for a free agent than abandon the only asset of value that draws the misguided fans who plunk down the third highest ticket prices in baseball. Wait, Edwin Jackson was signed for four years and $52 million, so overpaying for mediocrity is a pool into which Ricketts has plunged. And guaranteeing a championship is as good an example of shameless pandering in the long history of a franchise that has had nothing going for it but the ability to pander for decades.

Buying tickets and watching this odd collection of underachievers who will be managed by the least bad manager willing to accept the job should wait for the day when the plan – this grand scheme – begins to show signs of working. I might be inclined to trust Epstein if not for the hollow rhetoric that spews from Ricketts’ mouth like perfumed bile.

The day a Cubs fan should feel good about trusting that the team and organization are headed in the right direction might be coming, but not until baseball and the business office are operated in a fashion that shows a genuine empathy and generosity of spirit for the fans who make it all go around.

That’s the real Cardinal Way, and until the shrewd moves to build the farm system are mirrored by reason and decency in the business office, it’s just another plan that circles the drain until the next bunch come along thinking they are the smartest men in the room.

2013-2014 NBA Position Rankings – Top Ten Power Forwards Led by Tim Duncan

by Ryan Sterling

The Big men! My favorite because nothing opens up the three point shot like a great big man who demands attention. The power forward position has transformed in the last fifteen years to include pick and pop and stretch four men.

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In my opinion there is still nothing better than a power forward who has a back to the basket game and can hit the 16-foot jumper. These were a little more difficult to come up with because each of these guys can bring different things to the table and there is no one standard to which they can be held.

Here are the rankings for the power forward position in the NBA.

1 – Tim Duncan

Tim Duncan reminded us all last season what a force he can still be in the NBA. He turned back the clock in a spectacular NBA Finals putting up 20.5 ppg and 12.3 rpg. Duncan blocked 6.4% of opponents two-point shots, the highest such number of his career. He made Chris Bosh look like a high-schooler for most of the NBA Finals. It seems like we all tend to forget Duncan is two time MVP, Rookie of the Year, three time Finals MVP, fourteen time All-NBA selection (10 first-team) and a fourteen time All-NBA Defensive Team selection (eight first-team).

Duncan in my opinion is the best power forward to ever play the game. At 37 years old Duncan is on the decline, but his game is not built upon his explosive leaping ability or his superior quickness. He has aged well in the NBA and has one, maybe two more years of high quality basketball left in him. Age has forced Duncan to play at a pace a little slower during regular season, but in the playoffs as the games begin to mean more and more we still have the pleasure of seeing Tim Duncan play like Tim Duncan of old.

2 – LaMarcus Aldridge

Over the last three years few players in the NBA have been as consistent as Aldridge. He has averaged 21.8 ppg, 21.7 ppg, and 21.1 ppg to go with 8.8 rpg, 8.0 rpg, and 9.1 rpg. Aldridge is exactly what you look for in your prototypical four man. He can play with his back to the basket and he an stretch out his jumper to about 18 feet. He shoots 50 percent from the floor and 80 percent from the free throw line. Aldridge throws out more assists than he does turnovers and his assist numbers have gone up every season he has been in the NBA.

Aldridge has plateaued in what he is going to do in this league and the only route for him to improve his status as a big man is to make a couple runs in the playoffs. Aldridge has accomplished everything in his career playing in obscurity in Portland. Fortunately for Aldridge, the Trailblazers have provided him a competitive roster with the additions of Robin Lopez and CJ McCollum. Lopez will allow Aldridge to play the power forward, which is his more natural position. Look for Aldridge to put up his usual 21 and 8 during this season, but you will pay more attention because the Trail Blazers will be a much better team.

3 – Dirk Nowitzki

I do not care what people say, Dirk can still play. He battled through knee troubles and played the fewest minutes of his career since his rookie year. He still went for 17 points and 7 rebounds per game. You could say Dirk started the transition from back to the basket power fowards to more of the pick and pop, stretch power forward with his style of play.

For his career Dirk has dropped 22.6 ppg, grabbed 8.2 boards and shot over 38 percent from deep. He is a twelve time All-NBA selection and has both a Finals and a Regular Season MVP. At 35, Dirk will be looking for a rebound year and I think he will have it. Dirk struggled all of last season with conditioning while trying to recover from knee issues. With a full off-season not interrupted by attempting to play for the German National Team, Dirk will be at full strength and that is not a good thing for the rest of the NBA.

4 – David West

West is the perfect player to lead the Pacers and his demeanor and leadership ability is a huge reason why the Pacers were able to take the Heat to the brink of elimination in the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals. Before his knee injury during the 2010-11 season West was arguably a top three four-man in the NBA. He had two seasons where he put up 20 ppg, 8 rpg and 3 apg. After a season recovering from that knee injury where he saw his numbers drop considerably, West got back on track scoring 17.1 ppg and grabbing 7.7 rpg.

Playing alongside Roy Hibbert gives West one-on-one situations in the post where he can go stretches being unguardable. West can step out and hit a 17 footer and hits over 80 percent from the foul line for his career. West will age well as his game is more Tim Duncan-esque allowing for him to play below the rim and be effective. West is the emotional center of the Pacers and brings a culture of toughness few in the league can match. The Pacers rewarded West with a three-year deal worth 36 million dollars and he will be worth every penny. Look for West to continue an upward trend in his third season since his serious knee injury.

5 – Zach Randolph

Another player on this list who plays the game below the rim. Randolph had been stuck in the mud in Portland, Los Angeles (Clippers), and New York, but he has found some traction in Memphis. Randolph had five seasons of 20 point, 10 rebound per game earlier in his career and while those types of numbers are no longer in the cards for the native of Marion, Indiana, he can still put up some excellent stats. Randolph has come a long way from being part of a deal that saw him traded from New York for Quentin Richardson straight up in 2009.

Playing alongside Marc Gasol has given Randolph a running mate who compliments his game and allows Randolph free reign of the paint. The only problems with Randolph’s game are his inability to knock down mid-range jumpers and he can check out mentally on occasion. Those problems aside Randolph will be a force this year as the Grizzlies will look to build off their Western Conference Finals appearance last season.

6 – Kevin Love

I really am not a fan of putting Love here, but when healthy Love has the ability to be the best power forward in the game. He only played 18 games last season, and has never played in the playoffs, but there is no denying the man can flat play the game. In 2011-12 Love averaged 26 ppg and 13.3 rpg while shooting .372 from three. In 55 games in 2011-12 he had 48 double-doubles, which led the NBA. In 2010-11 Love had 64 double-doubles in 73 total games, which was second best in the NBA and was the highest percentage in the NBA. In 2011-12 Love finished second in rebounding and fourth in scoring in the NBA, the last player to do that? The man atop this list, Tim Duncan.

Love’s game is a fusion of what power forward play in the NBA used to be and the new breed of pick and pop 4-men. Above all Love has the best outlet game in the world. No one throws an outlet pass off a board like he can. With the improvement of center Nikola Pekovic, Love can play with more space to work and has a front court mate who can actually play. Look for Love to have a standout year after recovering from a fractured hand.

7 – Kevin Garnett

One of the best power forwards to ever play the game. Unfortunately, he has no off switch and plays full out every second of every game. So unlike Tim Duncan, who can turn it off and on and still show flashes of greatness, Garnett is who he is at all times and pays the price. Granted, this season will be Garnett’s 18th, but he has seen significant drop off in his numbers since he joined the Celtics in 2007.

After nine straight 20-point, 10-rebound seasons Garnett has not put up a season with 16 points and 9 boards. The decline in numbers is evident, but the fire is still there. Perhaps we will see a rejuvenated Kevin Garnett this season joining the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets have far more depth at the forward position than Boston has had the last few years and with less minutes we could see more of the Kevin Garnett we grew up watching.

8 – Blake Griffin

The most exciting big man in the league, Griffin has given more highlight plays than any other player in the NBA. Too bad for Griffin highlights are not a stat I am using to determine this list. Griffin has many holes in his game that his athleticism covers up. He is a below average shooter and when taking on premiere power forwards his post defense can be lacking. Griffin already has two seasons of 20 and 10 under his belt and his ceiling is higher than any other on this list. What Griffin can do cannot be taught and that is run and jump.

Griffin needs someone to work with him to develop more of a consistent offensive game. If he can work to get a legitimate mid-range game to go along with some back-to-the-basket moves, Griffin can be scary good. If he does not develop that portion of his game, Griffin will not be on this list for as long as he should as athleticism is not forever. Look for Griffin to be his usual self, putting up high teens scoring numbers and somewhere around twelve boards per game. As Chris Paul correctly stated the Clippers only chance of being a championship contender is if Griffin plays up to his potential.

9 – Chris Bosh

I gave serious thought to not putting Bosh on this list. He has lost who he is as a basketball player. The compass he uses to determine his direction is constantly pointing southwest. Bosh has all the skill in the world. He can board, he can score, and he is an above average defender. Unfortunately, his numbers have gotten worse and worse each year since joining the Heat. He is only 29 years-old and has an opportunity to turn it around and take the image of him getting abused by David West, Roy Hibbert and Tim Duncan out our memories.

Chris Bosh is a 20 and 10 talent who seems confused about his role. LeBron and Wade need to have a sit down with Bosh and let him know what he needs to do. Stop shooting threes and get back to playing back-to-the-basket with a great face-up game. Bosh can be the player he was in Toronto he just needs help to get pointed back in the right direction.

10 – Josh Smith

Smith is capable of playing All-NBA basketball. He can be nonchalant at times and disappears from the stat sheet. If Smith can find some consistency and become a player who a team can depend on game in and game out, he can move up this list. If not, there are very capable players who will pass him by. Right now, he is on the border of not deserving a spot on this list, but his potential to be a perennial all-star gives him the nod.

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