Sept. 10,  I finally parted ways with my colon.  Thanks to all who who said a prayer or two for my surgery, and my recovery. To all my friends, who texted, emailed, visited, in the hospital and in the house,  SALAMAT PO!!! I have a  9 inch scar in the middle of my stomach. Youch!!!  So much for parading around the beach. On a positive note, my Doctor, actually gave me free liposuction, and took out the fats in my stomach. Thanks Doc. I entered the hospital, a light heavyweight weighing 175lbs, I left weighing like a welterweight, at 147lbs. Now more than two months  later, I have managed to gain some of it back. Oh well……

Zach even stayed overnight to help mom watch me. But I think he just enjoyed eating my hospital food.

Me with my breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus merienda....

My 3 special ladies were there to support me

The day of my operation, was probably the fastest day of my life. The nurses woke me up at around 4pm, to do the final prep, which included, one final trip to the john, and giving me my pill to knock me out. A brother from the chapel of St. Lukes, passed by and gave me some blessings and prayers, and it gave me the confidence I needed. I immediately felt the effects of the pill they gave me. I remember turning to Janice and telling her to kiss me already, because I was literally falling asleep, then ZZZZZZ.  During my 4 hour plus operation, Janice documented  the waiting period, and aftermath of the operation. With the help of my Ninang  Tessie Tomas who was there, along with my Mom, my Mom in law, and Tita Julie Lingan, during my operation, please watch this. If you are squeamish, don’t bother. Click here to view.

As I mentioned two months have passed since my colectomy, and now I would say I am back to 90% healthy. Just recently, I played my first basketball game. Not bad, a couple of baskets, a couple of rebounds and assists, lots of missed shots. Hehehe. I was just happy to be playing.

So many things have happened since my operation. I didn’t know where to begin to or what to write about in this blog. Should  I write about Ateneo’s double back to back championships?  My successful concert with Tux in Singapore or my vacation in Singapore?  Ondoy?  I decided to write an easy article, something that I have wanted to write about since the last  NBA season ended.

MY ALL TIME PHIL JACKSON TEAM

Phil Jackson just won his 10^th Nba  championship, surpassing Red Auerbach. Who would make up Phil Jackson’s all time dream team?

10 NBA Championships for PhilJax

STARTERS:

G – Michael Jordan  G- Kobe Bryant  C- Shaquille O’Neal   F- Scottie Pippen  F- Dennis Rodman

At Guard, Michael "Air"Jordan

at the other guard, Kobe Bryant

In the middle, The Big Diesel, Shaquille O'Neal

At one forward spot, Scottie Pippen

At the other forward, The Worm Dennis Rodman

RESERVES:

G- John Paxson  G- Ron Harper  G- Derek Fisher  G- Steve Kerr

Paxson finished off the Lakers and the Suns with his clutch outside shooting

Harpers's defense and versatility helped Jackson win titles for the Bulls and Lakers

D Fish in the clutch for the 2009 Lakers

Kerr took over Paxson's role as outside shooter in the Bulls' 2nd 3peat

F – Toni Kukoc  F-  Lamar Odom  F- Robert Horry  F- Glen Rice

"The Waiter" served up outside shooting and assists to his Bulls teammates

A decade later, another #7 and another lefty, Lamar Odom, helped Jackson win a title.

"Big Shot Rob" in the clutch

Glen Rice helped Shaq and Kobe win their first crown

C- Pau Gasol  C- Horace Grant

The Nba Conquistador Pau Gasol of the Spanish Armada

Grant won 3 titles with the Bulls and helped LA win one more.

Honorable Mention:   BJ Armstrong, Rick Fox, AC Green, Bill Cartwright, Luc Longley, Will Perdue, Craig Hodges, Trevor Ariza,Cliff Levingston

Game time: Rodman rebounds the miss, passes to  Pippen who brings the ball down, he looks left and sees Jordan on the left block, Kobe on the right wing, Shaq in the middle. Who will he pass to? What a dilemma. Pip might average 20 assists a game with this lineup.

Once the starters build a sizeable lead against their foes, the second team comes in with two left handed and versatile forwards, The Waiter Toni Kukoc  and Lamar Odom. Brute force is replaced with finesse as Pau Gasol comes in. Defense and clutch outside shooting are provided by Ron Harper and John Paxson.

The third team,  comes in to finish the game. Composed mostly of outside shooters with unlimited range, Steve Kerr, and Derek Fisher at the guard spots, “Big Shot Bob” Robert Horry, Glen Rice at the wings and Horace Grant, a big guy who plays outside.

What a team. Arguments can be said that Jackson has been lucky to have elite players, but Red had Russell and Cousy, Riley had Magic and Jabbar, Daly had Isiah and Joe D., so why cant PhilJax have his?

One of the best clutch performances of all time, Pippen helping the flu-stricken Jordan after he defeated the Utah Jazz with an outstanding effort.

Rodman and Kukoc celebrate their 2nd championship together

Shaq and Kobe during happier times

Getting these star players to buy into a complicated offense/system like the triangle takes imagination,  creativity and lots of patience. Who will join these 15 players? Artest? Bynum? Morrisson?

Can you imagine these two in the same backcourt?

Will Jackson win his 11th ring in 2010?

Let’s wait and see. Agree or disagree with my choices, I would love to hear from you. Thanks.

BTW, who do you like better, the Laker Girls or the LuvaBulls?

Great to be back… you know!!!

NYC IS A STATE OF MIND, BEST REPRESENTED BY CHARLES OAKLEY’S ELBOW. I’LL BE BACK.

Sam Smith's book gives the backstory on the Bulls' first championship.

It’s hard to remember now, but Michael Jordan was not always a six-time champion with an impeccable resume on his way to this weekend’s Hall of Fame induction.

In fact, he and the Chicago Bulls did not break through and win a championship until his seventh season.

Their major barrier: the Detroit Pistons.  Masterfully coached by the late Chuck Daly, the “Bad Boys” from the Motor City defeated Jordan’s squad three consecutive years from 1988 to 1990. 

Daly devised a special defensive strategy, called “The Jordan Rules.”  The goal was to ensure that Jordan did not beat the Pistons by frequently double teaming him and thereby getting the ball out of his hands and by wearing him down physically.

For a time, it worked. 

In 1991, though, Jordan had a vastly improved team featuring an emerging Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, center Bill Cartwright and the steady John Paxson in the backcourt.

This squad swept the Pistons and went on to beat Magic Johnson’s Lakers in five games in the finals. 

The victory led to the iconic image of Jordan holding the trophy in tears as his father James lovingly massaged his neck and shoulders. 

Chicago Tribune sportswriter Sam Smith chronicled the first championship season, as well as many before and after, and gives a behind-the-scenes look at the action in The Jordan Rules.

Smith’s title has a double meaning.  

In addition to the defense that Daly devised and his team implemented, it refers to the two sets of rules for Bulls during Phil Jackson’s tenure: one for Michael, and one for everyone else.

Smith’s book has a gossipy and prescient feel, as Jordan’s supernatural talent is depicted in descriptions and anecdotes guaranteed to bring a knowing smile to the face of Bulls’ fans.  

One such nugget has Jordan dunking on the far smaller John Stockton of the Utah Jazz, prompting a fan to yell at him to pick on someone his own size.

The next trip downcourt, Jordan flushed the ball over the 6′11″, 270-pound Mel Turpin.  

On the way back on defense, he turned to the fan and asked, “Is he big enough?”

The book also has a gossipy and prescient feel, as Smith shows Jordan already being somewhat of a prisoner of his immense fame and often treating teammates unkindly.  

Some of the less appealing moments come when he flashes a bunch of tickets in the faces of teammates who are unable to get any.  He psychologically destroys Brad Sellers, whom he deems unfit to play in the NBA.  His cruelty toward General Manager Jerry Krause, who contributes to his own humiliation by not understanding the boundaries between players and front office workers, comes through, too. 

The Jordan Rules is not pure snark, though.

Smith shows Jackson trying to expand his team’s horizons by talking about the first Gulf War-one that the former Craig Hodges opposes.

The book is also the story of team coming together and accepting their coach’s triangle offense and underlying message that they must trust each other in order to reach their ultimate goal.

One of the book’s most memorable scenes comes during a timeout in the final game of the championship series.

Jackson repeatedly asking Jordan, each time with increasing force and volume, who is open.

“Pax,” Jordan finally answers.

“Then get him the fucking ball,” Jackson replies.

Jordan does.  Paxson knocks down four jumpers down the stretch.  The Bulls become champions. 

The Jordan Rules is neither great literature nor even particularly high quality sportswriting.  Still, for fans preparing for this weekend’s induction and hungering for some memory of the days when the dynasty began, it may be just what they need.

Paul M. Banks a.k.a. The Sports Bank, NBC Chicago Street Team

Two Days before the NBA Draft, the Chicago Bulls got great news about their small forward depth. Luol Deng, out since Feb 28th with a fractured tibia, started running and looks to make a full recovery without surgery. If only the Bulls’ salary cap space could recover from the massive wound inflicted by Deng’s contract. It will be interesting to see how this news affects the Bulls’ plans. New General Manager Gar Forman will likely use one (or maybe both) of the team’s two first round draft picks on someone who played at least a couple years at a big name program. It’s how former GM and current VP of Basketball Operations John Paxson operates. Here are three candidates fitting that bill.

Arizona’s Chase Budinger

The name value is there and he could potentially be gone when Chicago’s on the board at #16 but more than likely falls into the mid-20s, so maybe the Bulls can grab with their second pick at #26. He likely would have been a lottery pick if he declared after his freshman or sophomore seasons. This past year however, Budinger stock fell like the Dow Jones. Budinger spoke about the meaning and prestige of being drafted high.

“There is some status, but I try to look past that. When they get to the NBA, every rookie is going to be on the same level. Look at a guy like {Orlando Magic F} Courtney Lee, who was picked later. He became starter and he’s getting a lot of minutes on a very good team,” Chase said.

Louisville’s Terrence Williams

One of this draft’s top small forwards, Williams was very candid at the combine about Draft workouts. “Some other players don’t really work out because they feel they’re already secure in a certain spot, and that surprises me because you’d think that people who love basketball would play regardless,” Williams said. He also expressed his love for the idea of playing for the Bulls. When a reporter reminded him how rare that is (a player so honest about wanting to play for a specific team) he didn’t back away from his comments. Will Chicago reciprocate?

Pitt’s DeJuan Blair

He only measured in at 6-6.5 in shoes which is far from the ideal size for an NBA power forward. But his physicality and 7-2 wingspan will help wipe away any doubt teams have about his future productivity. Blair is pretty confident: “I don’t think there was a better offensive rebounder by far in this class at all. There’s something about that ball, I go get it,” he said at the combine.

In addition to his rebounding, NBA Draft aficionados also buzz bout Blair’s astonishing weight loss (40 pounds in three weeks). Blair had a sense of humor about it. “I told my mom about it this morning, she said did you cut off your leg off?” Get ready for the next best-selling book: “The DeJuan Blair Diet.”

See more of Paul M. Banks’ work at the Washington Times, Walter Football.com and The Sports Bank

Most people had LeBron and the Cavs in the Finals at the start of the playoffs and with good reason.  The East was pretty weak this year; Boston was banged up, Orlando has a reputation for choking, Detroit traded away their floor general, and nobody else was a real contender.  The Cavs should have cakewalked into the Finals.  They didn’t.

With last night’s loss, the Cavs failed to make the Finals and meet their end of the bargain in the epic Kobe vs LeBron matchup that we were all supposed to be “witness” to.  This shouldn’t come as a surprise.

A lot of people are crowning LeBron as the best player in the league (he’s not, Kobe is) and the next Jordan (Oscar Robertson is still the greatest of all-time but I won’t argue this now).  He has a ways to go to warrant either one of those titles.  First off, he has to win a title to even be in consideration.  Kobe has 3.  It is irrelevant that Kobe had Shaq for all 3, Jordan had Pippen, who wasn’t as good, but is still considered one of the top 50 players of all-time.  This brings up my next point.  LeBron should not be expected to win it.  His team is dreadful and he has no help, the “do it all by yourself” strategy went out of style when the Pistons won in 2004, besides, how many teams won it with one superstar and a bunch of stand-ins?  This leads to my third point.  To be the best, you have to make your teammates better.  Jordan made guys like Paxson, Kerr, and Kukoc all better players.  He even helped advance Pippen’s game to the next level which allowed him to be a top 50 player.  Kobe is galvanizing good players like Pau Gasol with stand-ins like Vujacic, Shannon Brown, and Luke Walton and making them all better than they actually are.  LeBron has yet to do this.  He’s a excellent scorer, and excellent rebounder, and an excellent assist man, but he isn’t making his teammates better.

A team is as good as the sum of its parts.  I once again reference back to the 2004 Pistons who had the greatest team that I’ve ever seen play.  They took down a team with 4 Hall of Famers (Kobe, Shaq, Gary Payton, and Karl Malone).  The reason they won is because they had 10 man rotation with legit players who all played as a team (they were bringing guys like Mehmet Okur and Mike James off the bench).  Cleveland doesn’t play as a team.  LeBron takes the ball and does with it what he wants.  I’m not saying he’s a mole but they need to get him off ball more.  Until the other guys feel like they aren’t 4th fiddle to LeBron being 1, 2, and 3, they won’t get better.

I guess Nike is gonna have to refine that puppet commercial to have Kobe talk about his 4 rings… unless Dwight Howard has something to say about it.

Well, it looks like Stan Van Gundy is no longer hosting his panic parties on the sidelines. He and the Orlando Magic have strung together three straight playoff victories, one on the road in Boston in a seventh and deciding game, and last night in Cleveland, making this only the Cavs’ third loss at Quicken Loans Arena since the beginning of the regular season. While recognizing the Magic’s ability to come back from a 15-point halftime deficit and make some huge shots in their final possessions, I’d like to address a recurring theme: Is LeBron James too generous?

LeBron had 49 points last night, but it certainly wasn’t enough. He also had 8 assists, which can go a long way towards making the defense play you differently. Still, when LeBron drove the lane as time dwindled, he chose to kick the ball out, eventually leading to an open three-point attempt for Delonte West, from the same spot he had just hit a three two possessions before. One could argue that LeBron should have just put his head down and forced up a shot. After all, he did just draw a sixth foul on Dwight Howard the possession before on a three-point play. However, I think trusting in your teammates is one of the most difficult things to do, especially in that situation. Perhaps even more difficult is accepting the fact that even as the best player in the world, you’re not invincible.

LeBron was tired. As the Magic made their comeback at the start of the fourth quarter, Mike Brown opted to rush James back into the game at about the 10-minute mark, cutting his much-needed rest short. Overall, James played 41 minutes and took 30 shots, making 20 of his attempts. Perhaps his increased activity paired with the long layoff between rounds caused fatigue. LeBron shooting 6-10 from the line isn’t necessarily odd, but it is much worse than the career-best free-throw percentage of 78% he enjoyed during the regular season. With fatigue comes a loss of focus, and with a loss of focus comes missed free-throws. Perhaps Brown should not have reacted so quickly to get LeBron back into the game. Still I have to wonder, if LeBron had more rest, would he have had enough energy to get to the hoop and draw another foul?

I’m certainly not saying LeBron made a mistake by kicking the ball out. Mo Williams was camped at the three-point line, and could have had a decent shot at the basket. As the defense reacted, Mo swung the ball to Delonte West in the corner for a better look. The Cavs got a quality shot; had West connected, I would not be typing this post right now and everyone would be praising King James for being so unselfish and generous. But when I hear people say things like “LeBron HAS to take that shot” and “Jordan would have NEVER passed the ball in that situation,” I have to think that any coach would want his team to get a good shot at the basket, no matter who it is…unless we’re talking about Ben Wallace from 20 feet. I’ll leave you with some reminders of what Jordan chose to do in big games in the Finals, resulting in some of the biggest plays of the championship years in Chicago.

Sure, Jordan could have driven all the way to the basket and force up a shot, but instead he trusted his teammates to make the right call and find an open John Paxson.

Jordan told Steve Kerr to be ready for the shot right before the play. And who was the first man there to celebrate with Steve? Jordan. Sure, MJ probably would have punched him in the eye in the locker room had he missed, but that’s another story for another time.

J$ recently brought up the argument that Joe Johnson is not a “dominant player” because he cannot “win a game by himself” with the likes of Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, or possibly Paul Pierce. This raised the question in my head, well, can a player win a game by himself? Even a player as dominant as those listed above?

My conclusion was, no. Consider the best player of all time, Michael Jordan. The man won 6 NBA championships. But, did he win any of them “by himself”? He had fantastic players around him: B. J. Armstrong, Bill Cartwright, Horace Grant, John Paxson, Steve Kerr, Toni Kukoc, Dennis Rodman, Robert Parish, and one of the 50 best players of all time – Scottie Pippen. Ask yourself this question – could Michael Jordan have won 6 championships if he had not had Pippen by his side for all 6? The answer, I think, is no. He probably would have won at least one, and more then likely more then one. But for instance, they might not have even won the ‘93 championship had Paxson not hit the game winning 3 in game 6 that was passed to him by none other then Pippen.

To say a player can win a game by himself is to say that he can do so with little or no contribution from his teammates. Basketball, more then any sport except maybe football, is a sport that relies on team unity and the ability of all players to perform certain roles and mesh as a team. The only player that comes to mind who had EVER won games consistently by himself (not on just one given night) was Wilt Chamberlain when he was AVERAGING 50+ points a game. I think you can make the argument that it is more possible for college players to control games in college then in the NBA. I think you can attribute that to a wider distribution of talent.

So, can a player win games by himself? If so, who? If you can make a good argument I can be swayed. But, if Michael didn’t do it, then it better be a damn good argument.

If you don’t know, now you know.
“The” Hans Appen

Rule #3 – Excuses? What are those?

Last night, when the Bulls got locked into the seventh-seed position in the Eastern Conference for a first round matchup with the defending champion second-seed Celtics, I was pretty sure that we would have been witnessing a Boston sweep. Of course, this was assuming that Kevin Garnett (even a 50% healthy one) would be on the floor. With today’s announcement that KG will likely be sitting out of the entire playoffs, though, the Bulls’ loss to Toronto on Wednesday night (which prevented them from moving up to the sixth-seed) now looks fortuitous since they get a banged-up Boston team having to play the third-seed Magic and a healthy Dwight Howard. Granted, I still think that the Celtics have a substantial upper-hand since Paul Pierce will still be the best player on the floor and Ray Allen is what Ben Gordon could be if you added a heavy dose of consistency, but this has at least turned a series that was a virtually guaranteed sweep 24 hours ago into a scrum that could reasonably go up to 6 or 7 games.

The Bulls’ best chance to be competitive is to use their relative athleticism to push the tempo against a half-court-oriented Celtics offense and downgraded KG-less defense. This would be similar to the method employed by Scott Skiles’ Bulls team that swept the Heat (who happened to be that season’s defending champs) in the 2007 playoffs, albeit Vinny Del Negro’s group has better offensive weapons counterbalanced by a significantly worse defensive unit. After having a little bit of a lull in January and February, Derrick Rose has been rejuvenated in March and April (to the point where the point guard winning the Rookie of the Year is the biggest lock out of any of this year’s NBA individual awards) and John Paxson’s trade for John Salmons and Brad Miller has been a relative success. I’ll admit to having known virtually nothing about Salmons when he got sent over by the Kings (and I watch a lot of basketball), but his cockeyed jump-shot has grown on me to the point where his apparent recent injury issue has me much concerned than the fact that Luol Deng has been shut down. Salmons is one of a rare breed in the NBA: he’s a solid contributor and scorer that’s getting paid commensurate with the value he provides to the team. This means that he’ll be getting a Deng-like overpayment by the Bulls or some other team after next season (see also Kirk Hinrich and Ben Wallace). Regardless, I can’t believe that I’m writing that the health of some guy that I thought was the name of an entrée at Red Lobster a couple of months ago will end up swinging a game or two for the Bulls one way or the other against the defending champs, but it sure looks that way.

I still say that the Celtics will take the Bulls in 6 games (as opposed to 4 if Garnett were playing), although I also envision Derrick Rose having a couple of games that will serve the general public notice of his phenomenal skills (to the extent that it doesn’t know already) at the most difficult position to play in as a rookie in sports outside of quarterback. While D-Rose won’t put on a performance on par with Michael Jordan dropping 63 points in the old Boston Garden in the 1986 playoffs (against a Celtics team that would go on to win the NBA title that year), which led Larry Bird to famously proclaim that MJ was “God disguised as a basketball player” (and if Basketball Jesus makes a statement of that nature, you know it to be true), I think that it’s great that young point guard is going to get some playoff experience right away against a veteran club. From the moment that the Bulls won the NBA lottery last year, the focus of the organization has been to build around Rose to create a legitimate championship contender two or three years down the road. Outside of having Vinny Del Negro as coach (unfortunately, it’s 99% likely that we’re stuck with him for at least another season – I’m sure I’ll be posting a long overdue rant on this subject sooner rather than later), the Bulls are at least on the ascent where they should be set up nicely when the all-important 2010 free agent class hits the open market. Until then, I’ll enjoy some playoff basketball back in Chicago after a one-year hiatus.

(Image from Sports Illustrated)