Five things to hate about the NBA

By Vikram Mohan Sports Central Columnist

I've found myself watching every NBA playoff game in the past couple of weeks that I can possibly watch. This is unusual, because I haven't really been an avid basketball fan over the last few years and don't like the direction that the game is going in.

But, for some reason, every night I make my way over to my "NBA" couch in the sitting room and watch every second of every game. The following are five things that I realized I hate about the NBA over the last week or so, and, hopefully, these will be enough to keep me from watching basketball for a few years.

1. Rick Adelman Still Has a Job

Has there ever been a bigger underachiever in professional coaching? He has been blessed with more NBA talent during his career than any other coach, yet his career playoff record up to this point is 60-54. Yes, he went 291-154 in his tenure with the Blazers, but he never won "the big one."

His teams won 59 games in the '89-'90 season, 63 games in '90-'91, 57 games in '91-'92, and coasted through the early rounds of the playoffs only to crumble when it mattered. I can forgive him for the Finals loss to the Pistons and the conference finals loss to the Lakers the year after, but losing to the '91-'92 Bulls is unforgivable.

Sure, the Bulls won 10 more regular season games, but just look at the rosters. After Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, the Bulls had B.J. Armstrong, Cliff Levingston, Bill Cartwright, John Paxson, Stacey King, Horace Grant, Scott Williams, Craig Hodges, and Dennis Hopson. This is probably the worst roster that I have ever seen.

Compare them with the likes of Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, Danny Ainge, Kevin Duckworth, Cliff Robinson, Jerome Kersey, Buck Williams, and Mark Bryant. I cannot think of a better playoff roster in the past 15 years.

Besides the obvious inside-outside balance and star power that this Blazers team had, the big guys down low played a rough, physical type of game similar to the Pistons who beat the Bulls the year before in the finals. A good coach would have pounded the ball down low on every possession and wore down the thin Bulls frontcourt.

The Bulls would have been forced to double-team Williams and Duckworth on the low-block, leaving Drexler, Porter, and Ainge with open jump shots.

What did Adelman do? He tried to "up the tempo" by letting Drexler and Porter run up and down the court recklessly and jack three-pointers. To anyone who still thinks that Adelman is a quality coach, I suggest you watch the beginning of the fourth quarter of Game 6 where the Blazers fell apart while Jordan was on the bench.

Which brings us to the present day. The Kings have enjoyed great success in the past three regular seasons, but have failed to meet expectations in the postseason. While I blame some of their shortcomings on Chris Webber and his inexplicable transformation from a power forward into a shooting guard, Adelman deserves most of the criticism.

First of all, his substitution patterns are awful. How many times in the past have you seen Doug Christie let all of that "this guy is tough/he has a lot of heart" talk get to him and take horrible shots at crucial times (Game 7 against the Lakers last year)? It happens in every Kings game, and it makes you wonder why, when the offense is stagnant, you do not bring in someone who can create their own shot.

Bobby Jackson is virtually unguardable and can get his own shot at any second. Why not at least sub him in for Christie and then rotate them offense-for-defense when the game is on the line?

Adelman seems to have learned from this mistake, since Jackson is averaging about 30 minutes in the series against the Mavericks.

His main mistake this year is not getting Keon Clark enough minutes. I mean, this is a guy they went out and got in the offseason for the sole purpose of exploiting the Lakers moreso at the power forward position. Yet, with Webber down, Keon is still only averaging about 16 minutes per game. Are they saving him up for later? In case no one noticed, the Mavericks are not rolling over like last year.

But instead of playing his only legitimate post player against a weak Maverick frontcourt, Adelman is playing right into Don Nelson's hands. Hedo Turkoglu is a very good player, but he is not the type of player that is going to dominate down low and who can get Dirk Nowitzki in foul trouble.

Seriously, if I were a Kings fan, I would send Adelman some tape of Keon's playoff performance last year with the Raptors. Maybe he forgot how good he is.

One more note on Christie. Adelman put him on Nick Van Exel when Van Exel checked into Game 6. I guess he did so since Christie is still considered an "elite defensive-stopper" for some reason and since Van Exel has been lighting them up. Yet, before Van Exel checked in, Christie was playing Raja Bell and not Michael Finley who is 10 times the offensive player that Bell is. How the hell does that work?

My second major problem with Adelman is that I have never seen him call a play. Not once when the clock is running and not once out of a timeout. Well, wait, I take that back. In Game 4 the other night against the Mavs, he raised up five fingers when the Mavs were making a furious run late in the game after Christie had taken a couple of shots too early in the shot clock.

According to ESPN, the play is called "five down," and it means that every player should be down the court before you take a shot. I do not even want to think about that.

2. Ben Wallace Praise

This guy is so unbelievably overrated. Yes, his rebounding stats are incredible, but how can anyone respect this guy? He has no basketball skill whatsoever, and he plays in the post player-deficient Eastern Conference. All he has is a freakish jumping ability. That's it. He has no knack for the ball like Rodman, and the only reason he blocks any shots is because he jumps higher than the shooter.

Not to mention that his offensive game is among the worst I have ever seen. He's basically Bo Outlaw with a 'fro/cornrows and twice the minutes. I hope the Pistons make the finals just to see Wallace cry when he breaks one of his painted nails trying to guard Tim Duncan.

What makes me hate him more is how commentators constantly gab about him, especially during this postseason. This, in spite of the fact that Derrick Coleman abused him down-low.

At one point in Game 5 in the Pistons/Sixers series, Mehmet Okur blocked a Sixers shot which led to a fast-break bucket. One commentator claimed Wallace was the one who started the break even though the only thing that he did was inadvertently hit the ball forward to Chucky Atkins with his hand. Doesn't Okur deserve credit for starting the break since he is the one who blocked the shot?

3. Horrendous Commentating

This has been one of the most poorly-commentated playoffs that I can remember. First of all, both TNT and ESPN had sideline reports about Nick Van Exel's post-game ice baths. Having to see Van Exel every other night in the playoffs is enough. I do not want to be thinking about him in an ice bath.

Here are just some of the mind-numbing comments that some of the "experts" have made up to this point in the playoffs:

Bill Walton: When Tony Parker threw away the ball on an inbounds pass at the end of Game 4, Walton said that Parker should be checked for being colorblind. This does not make any sense, though, since a person who is colorblind would be able to distinguish between the Spurs' black uniforms and Lakers' white uniforms.

Tom Tolbert: In the same game, Tom Tolbert kept saying "Hey, man, nice shot," and kept giggling about it. As if no one understood his reference, he brought it back up later and said that fans of the band Helmet would know what he was talking about, even though Filter was the band that sang the song. He did not even understand his own reference.

And in Game 6 of the Spurs/Lakers series, Bruce Bowen hit a three pointer early in the game causing Tolbert to claim that the Lakers should rotate over and leave Stephen Jackson open instead of Bowen. He also claimed that Bowen was at his best offensively when he had his feet set.

What makes this remark so painful is what Tolbert said later in the same game. Bowen drove to the hoop and scored and Tolbert said Bowen's game is at its best when he is not stationary and puts the ball on the floor to create his own shot. Not only does this not make sense in light of his first comment, but it was also the only time in my life that I've ever seen Bowen create his own shot.

Mike Fratello: In his keys to the Kings winning Game 4 versus the Mavs, he said that they needed to play a fast-tempo and have a steady low-post diet. How can you have a steady low-post diet when you try to play a run-'n-gun, fast-tempo game?

Mike Tirico: After Keon Clark tried a series of fakes on Eduardo Najera and turned the ball over, Tirico said something to the effect of "you can't do that, Keon... only the older guys can." Yet, Clark has been in the league for five years and is 28-years-old. That makes him older than more than half of the NBA's quality players. Also, why does Tirico insist on squealing after every made shot during the course of a game?

Sean Elliot: Nick Van Exel apparently gave Mike Bibby a "look" down the floor after hitting a jumpshot over him. Sean Elliot said that Van Exel was allowed to give such a look since "he's been here before."

What the hell is Elliot talking about? Bibby has started more playoff games in his career than Van Exel, and, before last season, Van Exel had not been in the playoffs since his last season with the Lakers in 1998.

The one positive development in basketball commentating during the last couple of weeks was that Danny Ainge left TNT to join the Celtics front office. Now I won't have to confuse his voice with Cheryl Miller's voice anymore.

4. USA Basketball Personnel Decisions

Everyone has been making a big deal about the new national team, so I figured that I would check out the roster. I was appalled at what I saw. First of all, Allen Iverson is on the team. I thought we were going to make an effort to win this year? Did people already forget why we lost last year?

It was because Paul Pierce is so selfish and threw up ridiculous shots every time he touched the ball. Iverson will do the exact same thing. I still do not understand everyone's fascination with Iverson. He shoots 7-for-40 every game, but is somehow considered a great shooter.

Another reason that he should not be on the team is that Ray Allen, Kobe Bryant, and Tracy McGrady are already on the team. Why do we need four selfish shooting guards? Even with Jason Kidd running the point, all of these guys are going to look for their own shot and will refuse to play as a team.

But the absolute worst personnel decision made by USA Basketball was making Roy Williams an assistant coach. Why do we want this guy associated with USA Basketball? All he does is underachieve and choke in big games. He's basically the Rick Adelman of college basketball.

5. "NBA Live '98" Omissions

I will never forgive the NBA for what they did to me last week. They ruined my favorite video game. I play "NBA Live '98" for Sega Genesis about twice a day or so. I created most of the players that I like on my favorite teams, since most of the rosters are outdated.

I usually do not play as the Lakers or pay attention to their roster, so I was shocked when I was playing as them and noticed that Rick Fox was not on their roster.

My first thought was that he must have been on another team, so I scrolled through every team's roster thinking that I would trade him to the Lakers. BUT THERE IS NO RICK FOX IN NBA Live '98 FOR SEGA GENESIS! They somehow left him out of the game!

I do not particularly care for Rick Fox, but how can I play an NBA video game that completely left out a solid NBA vet like Fox? Why couldn't they leave Craig Ehlo or Lorenzen Wright out of the game instead?

Article courtesy of Sports Central.