There’s a trend going somewhat unnoticed in the NBA this season, not to mention somewhat unexplained.
“I think maybe it’s new coaches and new players,” says Utah coach Jerry Sloan, one of the victims.
“I think it’s some teams not drawing well at home,” adds Bulls coach Phil Jackson, another victim.
Of what?
The loss of the vast home-court edge. It has been axiomatic in the NBA for years that most teams win 75 percent of their home games. There have been many reasons cited: home crowd, kinder officiating, travel-weary opponents and familiarity with the baskets, floor and lighting.
But this season, that big home-court edge is evaporating.
The Bulls, for example, have won virtually as many road games (20) as home games (22), and the Jazz, a notoriously poor road team and dominant home team, has only three more home than road victories.
“Some young teams have gotten better,” says Sloan, “so they come in and your team assumes they’re the same team and they’re going to be easy to beat, and you have a tendency not to prepare as well.”
But even historically strong teams that are down this season, like Philadelphia and Atlanta, have virtually as many home as road victories.
“Those are two of the places,” says Jackson, “where they really don’t have the home-court advantage because they’re drawing 7,000 to 8,000 people, and it’s very disappointing to the players and they don’t get the same beneits at home some other teams do.”
Of course, that doesn’t explain their good road records, and it’s similar all over the league. Even lowly Minnesota has nearly as many road as home victories.
What it probably means is that parity is coming to the NBA, as it has to pro football, and the draft and lack of player movement because of the salary cap is turning the NBA into one big crapshoot.
Economic front: It seems the White House stimulus is working. Orlando’s Nick Anderson just signed a $12.75 million extension that tops off at close to $4 million, Shawn Kemp’s extension from Seattle averages $3.6 million through 2002 and Jim Jackson’s six-year deal at Dallas is for $19 million, with $4.6 million the final season.
As for Jackson, he may be for real. Said teammate Terry Davis: “I told Derek (Harper) that Jim’s a lot better than I thought he was. I thought he was an average player, another one of those draft choices.”
New era: As if the season hadn’t already been hard enough on Washington coach Wes Unseld, Miami’s Steve Smith flipped the ball off the backboard and then tried to dunk it during a rout of the Bullets last week.
Said an exasperated Unseld: “When I was playing, if he’d done that, he would have been wearing his intestines on the floor. But it’s a different time now. You’re surprised when your own guys don’t high-five the guy after something like that.”
Seats available: It’s not all SRO in the NBA. The Atlanta Hawks have been outdrawn in the Omni-according to actual attendance-the last two months by the minor-league Atlanta Knights hockey team. The Knights have had three sellouts this season to the Hawks’ one.
Speaking of hockey, the Minnesota North Stars’ move to Dallas reportedly prompted the Mavericks to offer Jackson that six-year deal. The Mavs’ 14,000 season-ticket base of a few years back is down to 9,800 and is projected at 7,000 next season. There’s an early estimate of 12,500 season tickets for the relocated North Stars.
More woes: The Philadelphia 76ers are drawing barely 60 percent of capacity; the Houston Rockets, despite a hot team, give free tickets to anyone who test drives a car at one of owner Charlie Thomas’ dealerships; the Heat is in an arena dispute that could wind up with them moving outside Miami; and the SuperSonics supposedly will move from Seattle in the next two years if they can’t remedy arena problems.
On guards: Nets coach Chuck Daly on his plans to replace the injured Kenny Anderson a week ago: “I had another guard. He’s in Atlanta (Mookie Blaylock).” Now Daly is singing the Michigan fight song to Rumeal Robinson, who has been averaging 20 points in Anderson’s absence and led the Nets to a blowout of the Suns in Phoenix.
