No, Phil Jackson has never coached a dream team. Chuck Daly coached the 92' Dream team and he's best known for coaching the 2-time NBA champion Pistons (89-90).

Grazie Spanish Inquistion! I think Phil should have got the bid to coach the USA team! I mean, the man has 10 NBA Championships (9 coaching), I think he's earned it! :p

Well, it looks like the centers for the 2004 team will be Tim Duncan and...BRAD MILLER? He's probably the next-best American center right now (Vlade and Olowokandi can't play for the U.S.). Shaq or no Shaq, the U.S. team should be able to take home the gold as long as they get some time to practice before the games.

Why can't Elton Brand play center? Or Jermaine O'Neal!? I'd take Jermaine over Brad Miller ANYDAY of the week! My boy Jermaine can't get no love or what!?

Even though Brad Miller's having a good year.. this just goes to show how weak the Center position is right now.

Because they're not centers...Those two had their chance at the World Championships and they got their asses handed to them by the Yugos, the Argentinians, and probably even the team from the lost city of Atlantis. A lot of the European teams have big, traditional centers, and our 6'11" small forwards disguised as centers really don't do the job.

Hey SI, I'm glad to see a fellow Bucks observer out there. Michael Redd is dynamite and I was happy to see him get resigned! They lost again tonite, this time in Pheonix. Also, Ray Allen will be out 5 games, due to Shaq's damn big foot! Tim Thomas is also hurt. Looks like the Green Bay Packers aren't the only ones with injury problems in the state of Wisconsin.

It looks like you guys got hosed in the Glenn Robinson deal. He's averaging a good 23 points a game in Atlanta while Tim Thomas hasn't lived up to his "potential". Anthony Mason hasn't done anything since being acquired either and George Karl made a fool of himself at the World Tournaments.

You're right, something must be wrong with the water in Wiscounsin.

At first I never understood why the Bucks traded Glenn Robinson for Tony Kukoc! What a horrible deal for the Bukcs organization, but then I heard that Allen & Robinson didn't get along. See, that's a shame. 2 great guys like that, could have MAYBE one day, been good enough to win a championship, and now because of some differences, they won't. Good luck with Tony Bucks!

Thanks Irish, they are gonna need it with all the injuries now. "Big Dog" was always the kind to take plays off and Ray Allen is a role model for kids to look up to. Hopefully, Allen will be back on December 5 when they play in Atlanta vs. Robinson. My other favorite team is the Mavs so I'm happy at their great start. That brings up another trade the Bucks made: 1998 Draft day- Bucks draft some guy named Dirk Nowitzki from Germany and trade him away with Pat Garrity to Dallas for Robert "Tractor" Traylor. I was ecstatic at the time, being a huge Michigan fan. Now it has to go down as one of the worst trades in NBA history.

It's cool, Dallas is 1 of my favorite teams too so I'm happy that they're doing good. Be happy that at least Dallas is doing good with Dirk! And congrads on moving up to Capo!

That was a bad trade, but I think it is universally agreed upon that the worst trade happened in 1980 between the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics. The Celtics sent the #1 pick to Golden State for the #3 pick and a young center. The #1 pick ended up being Joe Barry Carroll (who was later nicknamed "Joe Barely Cares"), and the #3 pick ended up being a pretty good player named Kevin McHale. And that center was some guy they called "The Chief," Robert Parish.

Speaking of the NBA draft, I was thinking about the best top 5 picks of all time. I would have to say that the 1984 draft had a great top 5. In order, they went Akeem Olajuwon, Sam Bowie, Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins, and Charles Barkley. That's 3 first-ballot hall of famers and a solid 15+ year pro.

Thanx a bunch Irish! It took me awhile but I'm now a Capo.

One of the worst trades (or best, if you're looking at it from my point of view) in history has to be Marbury for Kidd.

Another one of the worst may wind up being Mutombo for Van Horn and McCullough. I'm hating it more and more every time I see Dikembe play.

I disagree. The Net's didn't need Van Horn anymore, they already had the younger Richard Jefferson, who was ready to take the starting spot and provide with similar production. Van Horn's relationship with the Nets had already been pretty bad after he choked during the playoffs on more then a couple of occasions.

As for Mutumbo, he's an upgrade over McCullough and even at the end of his career, he's still a top center in the league. Collins should be getting most of the minutes by next season either way.

Phoenix 82 Nets 75. The Nets are 10-5.

The Nets shot 29.5%. There isn't even a decent performance or two to cite.

And the Lakers fell again, Corpuzzi. They don't look so invincible, even with Shaq. They might not even make the playoffs :p Right now they're 5-10, 2 1/2 games out of the eighth spot.

I'm still not worried. If they're still not in the 8th spot by the All-Star break, then I'll start worrying. You have to remember that Shaq is still nowhere near game shape, and it could take him a couple months.

The Mavericks have proven they can play defense and they're still waiting for LaFrentz and Van Exel to join the lineup.

If they beat the Pacers tonight, the Mavericks will be tied for the best start in league history.

lLA Clippers 126 Nets 118 (Overtime)
Nets fall to 10-6

This is a game that the Nets would not have lost last year. But these are the "new" New Jersey Nets, the ones with the corpse Dikembe "Stone Hands I Can't Catch the Ball in Traffic" Mutombo and Rodney "Boy I Got Washed Up Fast" Rogers. Yes , hoops fans, I can be hard on the only team in pro sports that I truly love, But Remember: I"m a native New Yorker.

Anyway, a 10 point lead early in the fourth became a 5 point deficit after a 17-2 run by the Clipps. The Nets rallied, and led by 3 with 9 seconds to go, then left Andre Miller wide open for the game tying shot. In overtime, the Nets were just a bunch of turkeys. Kidd scored all 7 of their points. Seems like he's become their only scoring threat. Scored 37 points on 12-24 shooting (6-9 on 3's; the team shot 15-29 on 3 pointers), but only had 8 assists.

Special mention to Andre Miller. In addition to the game tying shot in regulation, he scored 37 points and had 16 assists. Seems to me the Clippers could surprise a few people before season's end. Maybe even make the playoffs.

It's funny because last night during the Clips/Nets game last night, me and my cousin were saying how Andre Miller didn't look like a good fit because he had bigger assist numbers w/ the Cavs last year...and how disappointing the Clips had been playing...and what do ya know, they beat the top East team and Andre Miller goes off.

Don't worry, plawrence, the Nets will reach the NBA Finals once again. They're the cream of the crop in the East.

I question Shaq's desire also. My good friend who is a die hard Lakers fan also complains about Shaq's "light switch" dominance.

I think the Lakers buy into the "light switch" too much. And, I thought it was over for the NBA because I thought the 7 game classic w/ the Queens would wake up the Lakers and they'd go on a 71 win tear.

Shaq probably just thought, I'll get it going sometime in February/March...scary thing is, by the time he's in shape...what will the Lakers record be?

It's all moot, I still think the Lakers will take it this year.

They seem to have these kind of games every once in awhile, re-newing talks of possible playoff contention. If they wanted to surprise anyone it should have been 2 seasons ago, they were let-downs last season after a lot of hype. Also, their 6-10 record isn't anything to boast about and there's talk Alvin Gentry may get fired (huge mistake).

Things aren't going as good as they may seem for the Clippers.

Nets 93 Trail Blazers 86. Nets go to 11-6

This was really like four separate games. The Blazers led 30-17 early second quarter. The Nets looked terrible, and had committed about 10 turnovers. Then the Nets went on a 58-20 (!) run, to lead 75-50 late in the third. Portland came back with a run of their own, 34-9, to tie the game at 84. Then Kidd took over in the last couple of minutes, and the Nets held on for the 93-86 win.

They've shown a disturbing trend this year in running up leads, and then letting the other team back in it, something that rarely happened last year. It looks like they also think that they can turn it off and on at will, like the Lakers.

Kittles "bruised" his knee and left the game, but from the way he was holding a towel over his face and the anguished look he had, I'm afraid it might be more than a bruise. The Nets also played without Mutombo, which was no loss IMO.

As usual, Kidd carried the taem with his scoring - 28 points on 10-17 shooting.

Sonics 96 Nets 95. Nets fall to 11-7.

Another brutal loss. Up 95-91 with 14 seconds to go, Desmond Mason hit a jumper to make it 95-93. With 10 secs left, the Sonics fouled Richard Jefferson, who missed both shots (just as he did last year in playoff game 5 against Indiana), and instead of calling a timeout, Seattle pushed it up and Brent Barry hit a 3 pointer (just as Reggie Miller did to tie last year's game 5 vs. Indiana, and force double overtime). Kidd Mussed the game winning layup the other way.

Playing without Mutombo and Kittles, the Nets were undermanned, and got only 14 points from their bench. As usual, Kidd was the leading scorer, with 27. Lucious Harris, who is a definite candidate for the 6th man award, had 23.

qb][/QUOTE]I'm still not worried. If they're still not in the 8th spot by the All-Star break, then I'll start worrying. You have to remember that Shaq is still nowhere near game shape, and it could take him a couple months.[/QB][/QUOTE]

I agree. It is still so early. The Lakers, without Shaq in the preseason, are going through the rustiness that preseason usually shakes loose. As long as he stays healthy going forward they will slowly chip away at the teams ahead of them. They may end up with the best record in the west, but they are similar to the Yankees with all that post season experience. I think the Laker bashers should wait before declaring the Lakers dead too soon.

Plawrence, hey dude, I haven't posted on here in like a week due to the holidays & work (they kept me freakin BUSY at Blockbuster!). Ok, well I'm back! As for the Nets, I looked today how they were doing on ESPN, and they're like 3 games behind Phily! What the heck happened in this week that I've been gone!?? Also, I know my Mavs lost once (we all knew it would end sometime), but they're starting a new winning streak!

Great win by my Jazz against the Pacers. We took a big step in that direction Monday night with a hard fought 102-91 victory over the Indiana Pacers, who arguably have been the NBA's best team during this early part of the season.

John Stockton led the way with 22 points and 10 assists while playing a masterful floor game that kept the quick, youthful, and talented Pacers at bay. Calbert Cheaney also shut Reggie Miller down, holding him to 0 points.. No doubt about it, the Pacers are the quickest and most talented team my Jazz have faced so far this year. But the Jazz proved to be the better team, at least last night.

The Jazz are playing as good as anyone right now and honestly, I haven't seen them play this good since 2000. Harpring is playing better then Marshall ever did and Jackson may be the best back-up point guard in the league. Greg Ostertag is playing with newfound motivation and hussle.

I'm just hoping we can continue it in our next game against the Lakers.

Alright, tonights a goodnight for 2 reasons, the Wizards won and so did the Nets! Washington beat Milwaukee 103-78 with Jordan starting again & scoring a game-high 25 points. As for New Jersey, they beat Atlanta 87-72 with Richard Jefferson who went 9-12 from the field for a game-high 22 points! Jefferson seems to really be fitting well into his role as a starter & I'm happy for him. He seemed like a cool guy on Beg, Barrow, & Deal.

The Bucks layed anoter crappy game on the road and got blown out by the Wizards. MJ was great and others stepped up. Ray Allen comes back on thursday vs. Big Dog and Hawks so it should be a fun game to watch.

Wow, I just saw the box score for the Houston/San Antonio game and Yao just went crazy tonight! He had 27 points & 18 rebounds on 10-18 shooting. Now I'll admit, I've been critizing Yao for awhile just because I felt he hasn't lived up to the hype & I felt he was overrated personally. But tonight he shut me & all the other critics up with that performance. Sure it was only 1 game, but he adjusted a lot faster than I thought he would. Only game 17 & he destroyed a team like San Antonio with 2 big guys in Duncan & Robinson. Congrats Yao! I'm sure Mike Wilbon will be braging tomorrow about "his boy Yao" on ESPN's PTI!

PS-Congrats badguytony on moving up to Capo!