3MW Top Ten

Now that the NBA has dispensed (somewhat) with their millionaire squabbling, we’re back to what’s important which is BASKETBALL! With NBA Free Agency to open up Monday, 5th December at 10am (ET, USA), 3 Man Weave takes a look at our top ten free agents of 2011-12!

10. Tayshaun Prince (Unrestricted, Detroit Pistons)
The Pistons have finished with Prince. He was such a key part of those mid-2000′s Pistons teams, winning a championship in 2004 and making the finals again in 2007. But now he’s the guy who walked out on coach John Kuester and couldn’t maintain professionalism in what was no doubt a very trying season for the Pistons players. Hopefully, we see Prince in a fresh situation because let’s face it, the guy can still ball. He averaged 14.1ppg last year and there’s a number of teams looking for a defensive 3 man.

9. Caron Butler (Unrestricted, Dallas Mavericks)
The Mavs were without Butler in their NBA Finals victory and many questioned whether they’d keep him this off-season. The Mavs then traded for Rudy Fernandez as well as having Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Corey Brewer, Roddy Beaubois & the developing Domonique Jones under contract. Butler won’t stay with the Mavs and there will be a number of teams who would love to slot Butler’s scoring ability & playoff experience into their lineup.

8. JR Smith (Denver Nuggets)
We question whether JR would be as effective in any other system, as he is in Denver. He gets a TONNE of offensive freedom and his shot-selection shows it. We aren’t a huge fan of Smith and don’t see him playing as well anywhere else (other than perhaps the Knicks under Mike D’Antoni). But you can’t ignore a guy this talented, who can pour on points and is only 26 years old.

7. Jamal Crawford (Unrestricted, Atlanta Hawks)
Still no doubt a little annoyed he wasn’t offered a contract extension last year, we’ll see Crawford on another team in 2011-12. Crawford isn’t young anymore, but the 31 year old came off the bench for 14.2ppg in Atlanta last season. Realistically, Jamal could be that guy teams need to go from a playoff team to a finals team.

6. DeAndre Jordan (Restricted, LA Clippers)
Jordan was huge in 2010-11 for the Clippers. 7 points, 7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game in 26 minutes of action last season. Add to those numbers, DeAndre oozes potential and is a good friend of Blake Griffin. The Clips are only at $43m in salaries with 10 players under contract. They could comfortably re-sign DeAndre Jordan, sign rookies Trey Thompson & Travis Leslie and they’d still be comfortably under the salary cap. That being said, they have to offer him the contract he deserves (and will demand). If the Clips can’t do that, there’s around 10 other NBA teams with the capacity to sign him to a big deal.

5. David West (Unrestricted, New Orleans Hornets)
Great player, young, still hasn’t hit his ceiling and will be there for the someone to pounce on. It was well-known last season that West and his superstar point guard Chris Paul. Our thinking is that West will go elsewhere and the Hornets will let him go. We aren’t saying West is the bad guy, not at all. In fact we think he’d flourish in another situation (see Zach Randolph).

4. Marc Gasol (Restricted, Memphis Grizzlies)
Was one of the better centres in the NBA last season, averaging 11.7ppg, 7.0rebs, 2.5ass & 1.7 blk. Not to mention shot 53% from the field & 75% from the line. Marc then upped his numbers to 15.0ppg, 11.3rebs & 2.2blk in the postseason. At only 26 years of age and with only 3 NBA seasons on his body… Gasol hasn’t reached his potential. Mind you, the Grizzlies have money to spend so other teams will have to offer some huge money to get Gasol on board and hope the Grizz don’t match it.

3. Jeff Green (Restricted, Boston Celtics)
The Celtics have only 7 players under contract and around $56m tied up in Rondo, Allen, Garnett & Pierce alone. Green is restricted, yes. But the C’s won’t have the money to match the offers that Green is really worth. Before he was traded to Boston, he averaged around 15 points & 6 boards on an OKC team where he was the 3rd option behind Durant and Westbrook. Green is good enough to be a second option on a number of teams. He’s a good guy, a hard worker… and if not for the a couple of solid bigs in free agency this year, we’d have Green at number 1. Indiana and New Jersey would be our picks for Green.

2. Tyson Chandler (Restricted, Dallas Mavericks)
The big guy showed over the past season (realistically, the past 3 seasons) that he’s no longer the young kid who was drafted with Eddy Curry to the Bulls. Chandler may not have put up huge numbers for the Mavs, but a respectible 10.1ppg, 9.4rebs, 1.1 blocks and a whopping 65% from the field. Chandler was huge for Dallas in the Finals against Miami and many Dallas players have openly campaigned for Chandler to return. You’d have to think that Mark Cuban has pretty deep pockets but with their team salaries at $63m and only 10 players on their roster the Mavs may not be able to match offers for Chandler.

1. Nene Hilario (unrestricted, Denver Nuggets)
Nene led the NBA in FG% last season, averaged 14.5ppg, 7.6rebs, 2.0ass, 1.1stl & 1.0blk. He’s not Dwight Howard, but he can score, rebound, defend, has worked hard and in a time where we lack true big men… there is Nene. There’s not a better player at their position in this free agent class than the big guy from Brazil. The Nuggets have a number of unrestricted players (Nene, Kenyon Martin, JR Smith & Melvin Ely), as well as a few restricted players (Gary Forbes, Wilson Chandler & Arron Afflalo). We feel that Nene’s decision may have as much to do with the Nuggets’ approach to keeping his team-mates around as it will Denver’s & other teams’ offers to him.

Honourable Mentions

Thad Young (Philly) - Is restricted and the 76ers brass have openly said they’ll be matching any offer on Young. They won’t be letting him go, so hardly worth talking about.
Jason Richardson (Orlando) – Unrestricted free agent and very talented baller. But we’re not convinced teams will take a gamble on the guy who upset Steve Nash.
Shane Battier (Memphis) - Battier is extremely valuable to your team… hard to fathom for a guy who averaged 5ppg on .426% shooting after the trade to Memphis. But if you know basketball, you know that Shane Battier is that guy who helps you win games.
Kris Humphries (Nets) – We’ll be very surprised if Humphries leaves New Jersey. He’s one of the best big men in this free agent class but New Jersey was where Humphries found his feet. Coach Avery Johnson gave Humphries his chance, gave him his minutes and Humphries responded. The Nets will have to pay him to keep him, but it will happen.
Michael Redd (Bucks) – If you’re signing Michael Redd this offseason, you could end up looking very good. The former All Star who once averaged 26.7ppg in 2006-07 has played only 28 NBA games in the past 2 years. Redd’s contract paid him $18.3M last year and given he’s been paid… we don’t see Redd demanding big money. Let alone being in a position to command it. That being said, the guy is only a few years removed from being one of the best shooting guards in the game.

Who?

Charlie Scott. The New York playground legend was possibly the greatest to ever come out of Rucker Park. Once credited by Tiny Archibald with ‘inventing the crossover’, Scott was a baller’s baller. “You’d always think, one day I’d like to be out there and be able to be in that position to play in front of a packed house. Rucker Park, to me at that time, it was everything in basketball.”

The flashy 6-6 guard would join the North Carolina Tar Heels in 1966. He was the first African-American baller to play for North Carolina and the first to ever receive an athletic scholarship in the NCAA. Under Dean Smith, Charlie would average 22.1ppg & 7.1rebs and made three consecutive Final Four appearances.

Photo Source

But whilst today we embrace the steps that Charlie made as a pioneering black athlete back in the mid-60′s… it was a tough road. In an interview in 2001, Scott said ‘At that time, no matter how comfortable I felt with my teammates, they still had to deal with the fact that they never had been around black people, either. I still couldn’t go anywhere with their friends because their friends were still brought up in a South that was very separate…There was a lot of loneliness on my part and a lot of times I questioned myself why I was here.’ But even though a difficult time in his life, Scott still can’t help but see humour and positives, joking that black college basketball fans back then ‘had only one person to cheer for when they turned on the television.’ But Scott also had the support of his team-mates and his coaches. Especially Coach Dean Smith. Coach Smith was years ahead of his time and believed that race was no factor in basketball and treated life the same. Scott would later say ‘Dean Smith is the only father I ever had.’

During his four year career at UNC, Scott was also a gold medalist at the Olympics. In 1968, Scott would team up with Jo Jo White and a 19 year old Spencer Haywood to lead Team USA to a perfect 9-0 record and Olympic gold. Scott was the fourth leading scorer on that USA team, averaging 8.0ppg.

He’d already achieved more than most who come out of Rucker Park. He’d paved the way for black athletes, won Olympic gold, 4 years of college…but Scott wasn’t done. In 1970, Scott was drafted 106th overall by the Boston Celtics for his entry to the NBA. At the time the Celtics featured John Havlicek, Jo Jo White, Don Nelson, Don Chaney, Dave Cowens and a series of other veterans. Scott felt that an already stacked team wasn’t the best option for him to further develop his craft and he joined the Virginia Squires in the ABA. Surely part of the appeal too must have been UNC Alums Doug Moe, Larry Brown and Bill Bunting who were suiting up for the Squires at the time.

Charlie would average 27.1 point an outing and captured the ABA’s Rookie of the Year award. In his second season, Scott would be a part of one of the most exciting duos in NBA history as the Squire’s would acquire Dr J, Julius Erving prior to the 1971-72 season. Scott would average an ABA record 34.6ppg and Erving an impressive 27.3ppg in his rookie campaign. The Squires were exciting, but not winning. They would barely break .500, Scott was dissatisfied with ABA-life and took his talents (see what we did there?) to the NBA. By this time the Celtics had traded his rights to the Phoenix Suns for Paul Silas.

In his three years in Phoenix, Scott never averaged less than 24 points a game and represented the Suns at three consecutive All Star Games. But even though Scott achieved individual success in Phoenix, the team was never a contender and didn’t make the playoffs in those three seasons. Prior to the 1975-76 season, Charlie would be acquired by the team who drafted him, the Boston Celtics. Phoenix would receive Paul Westphal and draft picks in exchange for Scott. Then in some strange twist of fate, with Cowens, Havlicek, Paul Silas, Charlie Scott and his team USA team-mate Jo Jo White would carry the Celtics to the finals in a matchup with the Paul Westphal-led Phoenix Suns. Scott would drop 25 points in the deciding game 6 to go along with 11 rebounds and 5 steals.

Photo Source

Scott was traded to the Lakers 31 games into the 1977-78 season and at the end of that season he was traded to the Denver Nuggets where he played the final two years of his career before his retirement in 1980. Even though he played just 156 games of his 10 year career with the Celtics, it’s Boston where his heart is. ‘We shared a lot of things together as a team.  I just enjoyed my whole time there.  The friendships mean more than anything.  To this day I remain close to Jo Jo.  We get together as often as possible and talk on the phone all the time.  And that just goes back to the Tar Heels and the Celtics being like family.  Once you play for those organizations you become a part of the family, and that’s the way it will always be.’

After his playing career, he worked as the director of sports marketing at Champion, the sports apparel manufacturer, from 1990 to ’97 and then as the executive vice president of CTS, a telemarketing firm. In 2001, Charlie was hired by UNC-Alum Michael Jordan as a special assistant & consultant for the Washington Wizards. Scott now works for Russell Athletics in a consulting position in between being supportive of his son’s Shaun and Shannon. Older son Shannon was recently a McDonald’s All American and has been recruited by Ohio State.

When we started writing this story, we had no idea the journey that Charlie Scott had taken in his basketball career.

Charlie Scott. Now go watch that game 6 of the 1976 Finals.

 Andrew Toney was born in 1957, in Birmingham, Alabama. Toney did his full four years at Southwestern Louisiana University where he averaged 23.6ppg over his college career. He then was drafted 8^th overall in the first round by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1980 NBA Draft.

Now, you’re still most likely saying to yourself ‘Nope, I got nothing. No idea who you are talking about.’ Well, that’s why we are telling this story. Andrew Toney was the high-scoring, big-shot-taking shooting guard BEFORE anyone you’ve heard of. At 6-3 and 178 pounds, he was undersized at all times…but he was hurting teams in the playoffs before MJ, he was the Answer before Allen Iverson, he was the Hibachi before Gilbert Arenas, and he tore the hearts of the Boston Celtics out long before Kobe Bryant. The latter is the reason why we know him as ‘The Boston Strangler’. And not to mention, Toney did all of that whilst being on Philadelphia teams crowded with talent such as Julius Erving, Maurice Cheeks, Bobby Jones, Moses Malone, Darryl Dawkins and later on Charles Barkley. Check it out….

Toney killed the D with a combination of long and mid-range jumpers, slashing drives to the basket and surprisingly for a dude who was only 6-3, he had a phenomenal post game. Charles Barkley said in his book “Outrageous” that “Toney was amazingly strong, he and Moses were the only ones that could post me up!” Charles continued, “I thought he was the best player on the team when I got here. We had Bobby Jones, Moses Malone and Julius Erving but the only one I was in awe of was Andrew.”

You’re probably still asking why he’s known as the Boston Strangler? In the 1981-82 season, the Sixers were led by the masterful Dr J to a 58 win season and into the Eastern Conference Finals with the then NBA Champion Boston Celtics. That’s where it stopped being about the Doctor. Toney averaged 29 points a game in that series (up from his season average of 16.5ppg), and after the Sixers had squandered a 3-1 series lead, they were back to the Boston Garden for game 7 with the Celtics. Andrew Toney, The Boston Strangler, poured in 34 points against the champs and Philly dispatched the C’s 120-106, pushing them into an NBA Finals and giving Toney his infamous nickname of the Boston Strangler.

More than ten years later, Larry Bird was asked if he remembered Andrew Toney: “Do I remember Andrew Toney? The Boston Strangler? Yeah. I remember him. I wish we had him. He was a killer. We called him the Boston Strangler because every time he got a hold of the ball we knew he was going to score. He was the absolute best I’ve ever seen at shooting the ball at crucial times. We had nobody who could come close to stopping him. Nobody.”

In the season following (1982-83), the Sixers would acquire Moses Malone, post a 65-17 season record and return to the NBA Finals for a rematch with the Los Angeles Lakers. The result would be far different this time as the Sixers swept the Lakers 4-0 for their first and only NBA Championship.

Unfortunately for Andrew Toney, despite all the highlights, the champhionship ring and the big-game performances…he was also human. After posting a career-best of 20.4ppg in the 83-84 season and then 17.8ppg in 84-85, Toney would play only three games of the 85-86 season before undergoing surgery for bone spurs on his ankle and stress fractures in both feet. He returned in the February, but played only another 3 games before sitting out the rest of the season and posting a career-worst 4.2ppg for his 6 games played in ’86.

Toney would return and play with the Sixers in 86-87 (52 games) & 87-88 (29 games), but the injuries had taken such a severe toll on his body and his game that he’d never be at the same level again and he retired following the 1988 season.

In Andrew Toney’s 8 seasons in the NBA he was a two-time All Star Selection, won an NBA Championship ring, finished with career averages of 15.6ppg, 4.2 assists per game and 50% FG shooting…oh yeah, and sparked one of the most famous playoff series in NBA History were he led the Sixers to a de-throning of the then NBA Champ Celtics and earned himself the nickname ‘The Boston Strangler’.

THAT, is Andrew Toney.

The LA Lakers are one hell of a team. And that’s how they won game seven against the Boston Celtics….as a TEAM. Early on, it looked grim for the Lakers. The media and every basketball expert had already handed the Lakers the 2009-2010 Championship, even before the ball went in the air for the opening tap. Only 3 teams in 64 years have managed to win a game 7 on the road in an NBA Finals. The Celtics were up against it, but it didn’t look that way early on.

With Kendrick Perkins out of the starting lineup with a season-ending knee injury, Rasheed Wallace stepped in and took it to the Lakers in the first half with a series of post moves that looked like someone had wound the clock back to 2001. Kevin Garnett looked strong, Ray Allen hit threes and Big Baby Davis stepped in and made shots. But for the Lakers, Kobe Bryant shot terribly, Andrew Bynum was playing on one leg and the bench wasn’t contributing on the offensive end. And strangely, the Lakers seemed surprised that the Celtics, after 105 games since they started their 2009-10 campaign…weren’t going to just bend over for the Lakers? Um….what Celtics team do you think you are playing, LA?

The second half started the same and with Rajon Rondo’s lay-up with 8:23 left in the third, Boston were up 49-36. But LA would string together a handful of baskets, with some clutch play by Lamar Odom, the ever-dependable Pau Gasol and even Kobe Bryant would hit only his 3r d& 4^thfield goals of the evening to bring the score to 57-53 at the end of the third. Even though they were still being outlplayed by this tough Celtics squad, the LA crowd were energised enough for the Lakers team to ride that momentum into fourth where it was a completely different game.

The Celtics were scoreless for the first 3 minutes of the fourth quarter and following three free-throws from Kobe and a three-point play from Ron Artest, the Lakers had tied the game up at 61-61 and you could feel the pounding the Lakers were taking had ceased. Ray Allen would hit a series of free throws to push it to 64-61, but then with 6:11 left in the game, Derek Fisher, clutch as always, nailed a high-arcing three-pointer to tie it back up 64-64. The LA crowd went crazy, and the Lakers would go on a 12-6 run courtesy of Bryant and Gasol. Gasol’s layup with 1:30 left gave the Lakers a 76-70 edge and a Boston timeout.

Straight out of the time-out, Rasheed Wallace hit a three. Then at the end of the shot-clock, Artest hit a three for the Lakers. 9 seconds into the next Boston possession, Ray Allen nailed a three-pointer. Two possessions later, Rasheed Wallace would collect his 6^thfoul and send Kobe Bryant to the free throw line where he’d make both and give the Lakers an 81-76 lead.

With 16 second left in the 2009-10 season, Rajon Rondo would get the offensive rebound off a Ray Allen missed three pointer, dribble out to the corner next to the Lakers bench and nail a three to make it a 2 point game, 81-79. Sacha Vujacic would then be sent to the line, and hit possibly the two biggest free throws of his career to seal the 83-79 victory.

The Lakers have won their 16^thNBA Championship of all time, and they did it as a team. Fisher, Odom, Vujacic, Brown, Odom, Gasol, Farmer, Walton, Mbenga, Bynum, Powell and Bryant. All of them at some stage over the last few weeks have stepped up and made a difference. And especially in game 7, where Kobe shot a dismal 6-24 from the field, he needed his team more than ever and they all contributed. Kobe would still finish with 23 points and an impressive 15 rebounds, but Pau Gasol (19 points & 18 rebounds), Ron Artest (20 points) and Derek Fisher (10 points) all featured heavily to help Bryant win his 5^th NBA Championship and coach Phil Jackson’s 11^th coaching championship. For Kobe, this was the toughest of any of the Championships he’s been a part of, and for coach Phil Jackson, this victory will only make his summer even more interesting as he grapples with the option to return to the Lakers.

We are all very lucky…we’ve just witnessed something that has happened now 4 times in 30 years.  And between the two most successful franchises in NBA history, no less.  Congratulations to the LA Lakers, the 2009-10 NBA CHAMPIONS!

You gotta love home court in the NBA Finals. Game 6 saw a return to the west coast and a return to form for the LA Lakers. Away from the Garden in Boston and back in the Staples Center, the Lakers had their crowd behind them and dominated the Celtics from the get-go. Kobe Bryant scored 11 first quarter points on 5/6 from the field. Then as if it wasn’t going to be tough enough for Boston, Celtics centre Kendrick Perkins went down with a knee injury after only 7 minutes of action and would not return. The Lakers Derek Fisher then picked up two quick fouls and the Lakers went to Shannon Brown who chased Rajon Rondo around the court, helping to force him into a series-worst 5-15 from the field. Brown would also feature heavily in the games highlight reels , including an amazing alley-oop dunk that he caught from outside the backboard. Even the Celtics fans around the world oohing & aahing.

Perkins’ injury would force Rasheed Wallace & Glen Davis to play extended minutes, but unlike games 3, 4 & 5 in Boston, Wallace & Davis would not step up. They combined for 0-10 from the field. Boston’s starters also shot poorly with Ray Allen as the sole performer, scoring 19 points on 7/14 shooting.

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 26 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists and four steals. Pau Gasol would near a triple-double with 17 points, 13 rebounds and 9 assists and Ron Artest hit some big threes in the first half on his way to 15 points.

The Celtics may not be as deep a team as the Lakers, they may not match up with the Lakers talent…but Boston are easily the TOUGHEST team in the NBA. This Boston team may even be one of the toughest teams in NBA history, up there with the ‘Bad Boys’ Detroit Pistons of the 1980s. But by only midway through the first quarter in this one, the C’s were already hanging the hanging their heads and trudging up the court, looking beaten. Lakers were up 51-31 at the half and kept the pressure on for a 89-67 victory to force a final game.

And now…..game 7 is upon us. GAME 7! Do you know how often we get to see an NBA Finals go to seven games? 3 Man Weave does….this is the 5^th time in the past 30 years that the NBA Finals has gone to a seventh game. In fact, since the 1946-47 season, there have been 16 finals series go to seven games. And now, in the 2009-2010 season we have the two most successful franchises in NBA history dueling it out in game seven for the 17^th time.

Thursday night (Friday midday in Australia) will see the Boston Celtics step onto the Lakers home floor and attempt to do what only 3 teams in 64 years have managed to do. Win an NBA Finals in game 7 on their opponents home floor.  Whether you’re a Celtics fan or a Lakers fan…..you could be witnessing one of the greatest games in NBA history.