The Ivy League’s last NBA representative, the Portland Trail Blazers’ Chris Dudley (Yale, ’87), says he’s retiring after this year after 15 seasons with six teams. Orlando Magic coach Doc Rivers seemed to suggest another old-time center, Patrick Ewing, might do the same.
Rivers, whom Ewing reportedly doesn’t speak with much anymore, gave Ewing his first “DNP-CD” (did not play-coach’s decision) on the scoresheet last week after almost 1,200 games.
“[Retirement is] a decision he’s going to have to come to,” Rivers said. “I don’t think any of us can help him. If he asks my opinion, I’ll give it to him.”
Shot back Ewing: “I’m still a player.”
The retirement question also still hangs over the heads of Tim Hardaway and Mitch Richmond. Hardaway, who will be 36 before next season, is being bought out by Denver and is angling to catch on somewhere. Richmond, 37, out of the Lakers’ rotation, also says he won’t quit. “I feel I’ve got a lot of basketball in me,” Richmond said.
Winner: Jerry Stackhouse, getting ready to raise a Central Division banner that Grant Hill never came close to in Detroit, is getting the last laugh after Hill criticized Stackhouse when he left Detroit for Orlando.
Said Stackhouse: “When Grant left, nobody thought I could lead this team anywhere. I know he must be feeling bad that the team he left took off like it has and he wasn’t able to be part of it. I would feel sad about it, but who knows? He has $93 million to help him cheer up.”
Minnesota feud: Interesting read-between-the-lines slap at coach Flip Saunders by Kevin Garnett during the Timberwolves’ recent slide: “It’s kind of hard when you have a coaching staff that changes the plan periodically and you totally can’t come out and [play] one style,” Garnett said. “The coaching staff switches up pick-and-rolls and a lot of defensive schemes when, really, that’s how you jell. That’s Flip’s system and we run it, but we’ve got to have some kind of consistency to it to try to form some kind of chemistry.”
Once-heralded pickup Marc Jackson hasn’t played much as Saunders continues to fiddle with the lineup.
What if? So where would Utah and Seattle be if they were in the East? Both have 19-11 records against Eastern teams, which translates to a .633 winning percentage, which would be second to the Nets in the East. Even the Clippers, historically a poor road team and out of the playoffs in the West, have a record against Eastern teams that would rank sixth in the East.
Left off marquee: Keith Van Horn is chafing a little over New Jersey Nets coach Byron Scott’s backhand slap.
“Somewhere down the line, you’ve got to add that other marquee player,” Scott said. “Jason [Kidd] is definitely marquee, and most teams have two great players. We have one great player.”
Said Van Horn: “I feel that I’ve contributed as much as I can for the team to be successful. Within the offense, the way we play as a team, the way we get up and down, I feel I’ve done as much as I can.”
Missing: What ever happened to John Amaechi? The center from England via Penn State who emerged in Orlando has disappeared in Utah, barely playing and getting into disputes on the bench with coach Jerry Sloan.
“I told John I was going to suspend him for one game,” Sloan said. “He didn’t like that I yelled at him. There are always sideshows in this game, things that have nothing to do with basketball. But I am going to run this team as I see fit as long as I’m here.”
Fine alums: Maybe it’s that famous Cincinnati skyline chili. Distinguished alumnus Kenyon Martin leads the NBA in games suspended for flagrant fouls, and recently was called on it by the league. Second is Danny Fortson, another Cincinnati player, who just returned from losing more than $200,000 in salary for flagrant-foul abuses. Says the equally unrepentant Fortson: “That’s the only way I know how to play. Why should I stop playing hard? So someone can elbow me in my face?” Martin has lost almost $400,000 in fines from flagrant fouls. “Maybe it’s the University of Cincinnati thing,” Fortson said.
