Playing in small market New Orleans, rarely on national TV, fighting and eventually losing an uphill battle in the MVP race with an established and prickly superstar, Chris Paul is an absolute darling of the NBA right now.  And certainly with good reason.  He's the most dominant small player certainly since Kevin Johnson, and you may have to go back further to the likes of Isiah Thomas and Tiny Archibald.  It doesn't hurt that he's got a fair amount of star quality on camera, and that he's playing in a city that everyone is pulling for.  The absence of sustained media coverage during the regular season has had the effect of highlighting a lot of positives (his stats, the New Orleans angle, the underdog) without the scrutiny that some over-exposed players get ('Kobe is selfish!', 'Duncan is boring!', 'Nash can't play defense!', 'LeBron is a crybaby!', 'Ginobili is a flopper!')

In fact, unless you developed a distaste for him in the ACC, perhaps owing to a loyalty to a rival Carolina basketball school, it's hard to imagine how anyone wouldn't love Chris Paul right now.

But I have a feeling that's gonna change.

My appreciation for Chris Paul the basketball player has increased significantly during the playoffs.  But let's face it - eight games on national TV in three weeks is probably more than I've seen him in three years of regular season basketball.  (The Hornets are often one of the teams the Clippers broadcasters don't happen to show, and this season there was a strange series of coincidences that had me out of town, unable to watch, for a couple of Clippers-Hornets games.)  At any rate, the guy is amazing.  He's obviously a gym rat who has developed every single junk shot around the basket - floaters, runners, scoops, pushes, spins, flips - and knows how to get them off around much bigger people.  But what makes him different from a thousand other guys who do that sort of thing, is that his shots tend to go in.  That, and the fact that he's the quickest player in the NBA, and no one can keep him out of the lane.

But for anyone whose been paying attention, we know that Chris Paul is no angel.  Intentionally punching Julius Hodge below the belt during the ACC tournament three years ago was one of the uglier on court incidents involving a top player in awhile.  And let's face it - that's the one the cameras caught.  Based on the situation - dead ball, Hodge unsuspecting, Paul surreptitious - it's pretty clear that he had every intention of getting away with his low blow.  He sucker punched little Julius, not because he was mad, not because he was in a fight, but because he thought he could.  Which I find disquieting.

I included Manu Ginobili on the list of superstars who are scrutinized and in some circles disliked for a reason.  Manu is a flopper, a grand tradition in soccer, the most popular sport in the world, and one elevated to an art form by his countrymen in Argentina.  But I'm becoming convinced that Chris Paul is a practitioner of a much more insidious form of the flop - the dead-ball flop.

In each of the three Spurs games so far, Paul has tried a dead-ball flop.  In the first two, he intentionally changed his route slightly to brush against Bruce Bowen, and then flew backwards, or crashed to the floor.  The initial reaction of the announcers in each case was 'Oh, Bowen is getting physical with Paul' but the replays clearly showed that there was basically no contact, and that CP3 was just as responsible for the contact as Bowen.  Last night, after the whistle blew on an illegal screen, Paul dribbled into the lane, brushed off of Fabricio Oberto, and went wildly spinning to the floor.  Again, the replay showed that the contact was incredibly minor, and that Paul was clearly embellishing.

I despise the dead-ball flop, and here's why.  A regular flop during the course of the game has an inherent risk - you're at a disadvantage if the referee doesn't make a call.  If you're defending the post, and you fly backwards on a little bump when you could have chosen to remain upright, and there's no whistle, you're basically giving away an uncontested layup.  I'm always intrigued by Jeff Van Gundy's tirades against flopping (good for him, incidentally) - he seems to imply that rule changes are necessary.  Well, let's be clear - no one would flop if it didn't work.  All that needs to happen to end flopping is for refs to stop rewarding it with calls.  As a basketball player, I tended not to take risks.  I didn't reach for steals, because even though sometimes it might have worked, it also leaves the defender at a disadvantage.  That's not how I was taught to play.  I feel the same way about flopping on defense.  I never did it, because I was taught to play defense the right way.  Other guys do it differently.  (By the way, I led my high school team in drawn charges by a wide margin every year I played.  I knew how to step in, and I knew how to let my body fly backwards on the contact - but there was always contact.

Tthe dead-ball flop is in no way a basketball play.  The flopper is free to try it as many times as he likes, with no repercussions whatsoever (except perhaps the occasional scathing critique in obscure NBA blogs).  Paul is VERY smart, and is looking for every advantage.  He knows Bowen's reputation.  If he can get a referee to buy his act, he can earn his team a technical free throw and perhaps even an ejection of an opponent.  And if the referee isn't fooled, we go on to the next play, because as far as I know there has NEVER been a player punished in any way for this sort of chicanery.

These clever attempts by Paul to gain an advantage during a stoppage in play, when the referees focus is elsewhere, is of course perfectly consistent with the Julius Hodge situation as well.  These are not isolated incidents.  The guy is smart, he's devious, and he's trying to win the game however he can.

Of course, this is all in the grandest tradition of great point guards, perhaps as indicative of his pedigree as a perfectly executed pick and roll.  John Stockton was arguably the dirtiest player in the NBA.  Isiah Thomas was a complete asshole on the court.  The same qualities that allow a comparative midget to fearlessly, sometimes ruthlessly, lead a team of giants (and to berate those much larger cohorts when they make a mistake) will lead them to bend the rules to create an advantage.  These guys are tough.  They're mean.  And they are very, very smart.  In fact, I'm sure if you asked Paul (or Stockton or Thomas), and if they were being honest in their answer, they'd say they're not breaking the rules at all.  They would admit to trying to gain advantage using a means that contradicts the spirit of the game.  But they also know that, for instance, it's not a foul if the refs not looking - and trust me, they know whether or not the ref is looking.

I'm not starting the "Chris Paul is a dirty player" club.  I'm not calling for any rule changes.  (Although the NBA does need to seriously consider fines for clear cut cases of dead-ball flops.)  I'm just saying.  The more exposure Chris Paul gets, the more people will really love his game.  And there will also be a few who grow to dislike him - a lot - and for good reason.

As it happens, our day began very early Wednesday Thursday morning.  The big canyons, the canyons we were really here to see, Chipitin and Matacanes, are pretty remote.  Although they aren't particularly far from the hotel as the crow flies, they are very, very far as the 15 passenger van drives.  So that meant a 6 AM departure followed by a long day in a canyon.

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After the excitement of bungee-jumping the night before, I was more than a little wound up.  In case you were wondering, it's probably not a great idea to release all your adrenaline into your bloodstream, and then go beddy-bye.  Please make a note of it.

We also had our first logistical snafu of the trip at this point.  Because Chipitin and Matacanes are so remote, we would be spending Thursday night in a cabin in the mountains rather than making the drive multiple tiimes.  We all knew that going in, but unfortunately no one had informed us that we were expected to move out of our hotel rooms for that one evening, and move back in Friday night.  For the majority of the 'Guinea Pig Group' this was simply not an option.  Although the language barrier complicated matters some, it was determined that we could pay the 900 peso rate and keep the room an extra night.  Myself, alone and traveling very light, I decided to save the 900 pesos and go ahead and vacate.  Cheri and Bob said I could put my bag in their room.  When I showed up with a day pack about one third full, Cheri asked me where the rest was.  Like I said, I was traveling light.

The drive was as advertised, muy difficile.  After a few miles we turned off the paved road and headed down into the Cumbres de Monterrey National Park.  For about 12 kilometers, we traveled over easily the worst road I've ever been on until we reached the base of the canyon.  Then we headed back up into the mountains for 10 more kilometers on a road that made me long for the comfort and safety of the first road.  Carved out of the side of a mountain, barely wide enough for a mule drawn cart let alone a big cumbersome van, who knows what would have happened if we'd ever met a vehicle going the other way.  During the long drive, Bob regaled us with stories from the mountains of Afghanistan where he was deployed with the 'snake eaters' from Special Ops.  BTW, my military jargon, non-existent before, is much improved after this trip.  For instance, I can now use Tango Uniform (Military Alphabet Code for T.U., 'tits up') in a sentence, as in "The Spurs are about to go Tango Uniform in their series with the Hornets.'  So I've got that going for me.

After who knows how long, we arrived at the town of Portrero Redondo.  And it was a town, amazing given it's remoteness, with a school, and a bar (such as it was) and farms.  After a brief stop at the cabin to drop off our sleeping bags, we left for the trailhead.

A short downhill hike brought us to the water course we would be following.  Like the day before, the top of the canyon was dry this time of year.  But it was immediately obvious that this would be an impressive sight during the wet season.  Massive, deep holes, empty in April but Olympic swimming pools at other times, sat at the base of each drop, carved into the limestone by rushing water.

From the top of the fourth rappel, we could hear water at the bottom.  We were meeting up with a side canyon.  This was a long straight rappel into a beautiful pool of clear, deep water.  The highlight though was neither the rappel nor the lovely pool, but rather the huge arachnids.  When I got to the water Barbara told me that I shouldn't swim too close to the rocks on the right because of the icky bugs.  I assumed she was kidding, but indeed, two HUGE spiders (I'm guessing from Paolo's description and their appearance they were some form of dolomedes) sat on a rock just above the water line.  Apparently, they wait for fish to snack on algae at the edge of the pool, and then they snack on the fish.  I'm guessing that they would not have had much success trying to eat me, but I didn't get close enough to find out.  When Maya got to the bottom of the rappel and saw them, she let out a wonderful, horror movie shriek.  I laughed.  It was funny.  Maya's a good screamer. 

As most of the group headed for the next rappel, Bob and I waited behind for Edgar. I had found a nice outcropping of rock about 12 feet high from which I could jump into the water, which I did a couple of times.  When Edgar got to the bottom, we helped him stuff the ropes and moved forward. 

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After one more long rappel into another beautiful pool (this one with a pretty long swim to get out), we came to the water slide portion of the canyon.  You pretty much have to see this thing to believe it.  The water throughout these canyons is doing some amazing things.  For one thing, the minerals leaching out of the limestone are constantly being deposited along the watercourse, building up these interesting formations.  But at the same time, the force of the water wears away at the formations as well.  The combination of simultaneously building up and wearing down in this case made for a smooth, rounded slope leading sharply to a deep pool below, with a deep natural channel cut right into the top just wide enough for the human buttocks.  The engineers at Raging Waters could not have done better.

We arrived at the top of this slide ahead of our guides, and unfortunately I knew I couldn't go further without them.  By the time Paolo got there and gave me the green light, I couldn't wait another second.  It didn't disappoint.  A slippery chute, with a couple of twists (keep that left elbow in if you decide to try it) and a nice 10 foot drop into the pool at the end.  Too bad there wasn't really an easy way back up to the top, or I would have been riding all day.  A definite E-Ticket.

But here's one case where my enthusiasm backfired.  Since I was chomping at the bit, I was the first to go.  Paolo was quite emphatic that I shouldn't get too far out of the water at the outlet to the pool, and I soon found out why.  It led to a 250 foot waterfall.  Don't worry; obviously I didn't slip and fall to my death or anything.  But I did have a problem.  The stream basically emerges here from a narrow canyon into a much wider valley (hence the huge waterfall).  As such, there is a wind tunnel effect above the falls.  The rappel down the waterfall (the last of the day) is long and complex, and requires a lot of preparation.  So after we all had a fun slide into the water, we sat for 45 minutes or so, soaking wet and shivering in the wind, waiting for the next rappel.  Of course the sun picked that moment to go behind the clouds as well.  It was a mite chilly.  Note to self - next time, wait at the TOP of the super fun water slide.

I was feeling a little guilty about rushing every down into this arctic wind tunnel, so I waited until near the end of the line to move forward.  Because of the precarious nature of our perch, I couldn't see the rappel that Paolo and Edgar and Nick had set up.  All I knew was that there was a LOT of screaming as each canyoneer disappeared from my view.  I soon found out why.

Although it's certainly possible to rappel down a 280 foot waterfall directly, there are plenty of reasons you might not want to.  For one thing, that's just a damn long way to be rappelling through water, which is fun for awhile, but which might get old after 100 feet or so.  And as Nick pointed out when I inquired, "It would be one hell of a rope pull at the end."  True.  At any rate, the guides set it up in two separate steps - the first a guided rappel to an outcropping to the right of the falls for about half the elevation, followed by a straightforward descent straight into the pool at the base of the falls.

A guided rappel, for those who are not familiar, is a little like a zip line.  A fixed rope was secured between an anchor at the top of the falls and a tree on the ledge.  (How Edgar got to that ledge is another story.  The answer: very carefully.)  Clipping into the fixed line using the safety tether attached to your harness, a second rope is then used to lower each person along the fixed line, suspended perhaps 250 feet in mid air.  Now, you're no more or less dependent on your equipment and your knots and your anchor on a standard rappel than you are drifting through space 250 feet off the ground.  Still, there's a little comfort to be gained from having your feet against the rock, controlling your own descent.  This was an entirely different feeling.

As each person began this uniquely harrowing descent, two things happened.  First of all, you passed directly into the waterfall.  It was a little unexpected and therefore more shocking, because the direct line of the guide rope appeared to take you above the water.  But of course with the added weight, the rope dipped very nicely under the falls and stayed there for awhile.  And if you wanted to get out of the water quickly, well that wasn't up to you, since Paolo was the one letting out the rope.  So that accounted for a lot of screaming.  (Wolf doesn't really like water, which I guess is why he joined the Air Force and not the Navy.)  The good news is that you eventually emerged from the water - but the bad news is that you left the perceived safety of the canyon wall to do so.  As the guide rope took each member of our group over the abyss and their striving toes could no longer grasp any portion of terra firma, that was invariably good for another set of screams.  If the first set of screams conveyed, "Oh crap, that water's cold!" the second set was definitely "Holy shit, what am I doing HERE?"

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The final rappel was spectacular, if somewhat more conventional.  The ledge we were on overhangs the pool, so the majority of the 150 drop is free hanging.  Wolf was the first to go, and Nick wanted to set it up so everyone would drop off the rope at the end into the water.  Wolf decided that it would be best to drop from about 10 feet.  After Wolf was gone, Nick reeled in about 15 feet more to a more manly height.  For my part, I decided to let go of the rope about 50 feet above the surface of the water - speeding downward for about 25 feet with friction slowing me, then freefalling the final 25 feet.  For what it's worth, I don't really recommend that method.  It's hard to get your feet under you when you disengage from the rope, and I ended up landing squarely on my ass.  Now, a butt flop is a lot better than a belly flop or a back flop, but it's still a shock to the system.

The grotto at the base of the falls is amazingly beautiful, and much more like something you might expect in a rainforest in Hawaii than in supposedly arid Mexico.  We still had a hike back to the cabin ahead of us, but we were done with rappelling and swimming for the day, so we were able to get out of our harnesses and wetsuits, and have a snack and relax while waiting for Edgar and Paolo to make their way down.  It was a wonderful way to end a spectacular canyon.

The ending to the day was pretty wonderful as well.  Of course we'd eaten little more than nutrition bars and trail mix all day.  Back at the cabin, some associates of Paolo and Edgar were barbecuing chicken and carnitas, vegetables and of course lots and lots of tortillas.  We must have eaten for two hours.

The cabin was very basic, but probably better than most of us expected.  With a couple of rooms and a couple of lofts and mattresses on the floor.  I'm told that someone snored, but it must have only been happening when I was asleep, because I never heard anything.

With the Clippers in desperate need of help in the backcourt, CSKA Moscow's EuroLeague victory over Maccabi yesterday should not go unnoticed.  It was CSKA's second title in 3 years, and of course the Clippers have crossed paths with them before, losing a pre-season game on the ill-fated training camp trip to Moscow in 2006.  It's also worth noting that two of CSKA's most important players are Greek point guard Theodoros Papaloukas, the Final Four MVP in 2006, and American shooting guard Trajan Langdon, this year's MVP.

The Clippers purportedly pursued Papaloukas last off-season to no avail.  He decided to stay in Moscow, and the rumor mill surrounding him has died down considerably.  (Maybe he has a new CSKA contract with a big buyout - I don't know.)  As for Langdon, the former Dukie, given that he has not one but two former teammates on the Clippers (depending on what happens with options, of course), he would seem to be a prefect fit for the Clippers if he were to decide to try his hand at the NBA again.

However, according to Ian Whittell's report from the Final Four in Madrid, he's simply not interested.  He's made a satisfying career for himself in Moscow, and he has no intention of pursuing an NBA dream at this point.  Still, it's one thing to say that - it's quite another to turn down a guaranteed contract with the chance to play (and live) in LA next to his friends Brand and Maggette.

Would he be able to make a significant contribution?  It's hard to say for sure, but if you remember him from college, you know he can shoot, and he still can.  He made close to 58% of his shots in the EuroLeague this season, and 46% of his threes (of course that's from the much shorter, 20'6" the international line).  He also would seem to be a good 'glue' guy.  This is a good team, that easily beat the Clippers in that 2006 pre-season game.  It's loaded with NBA caliber talent (David Andersen was 2002 draft pick, Papaloukas could be in the NBA for sure, Khyrapa played for the Blazers and Bulls), but it's Langdon who leads the team in minutes.  It should also be noted that although Langdon never got any traction in his first stint in the NBA with the Cavs, he suffered a knee injury as a rookie and never really got much of a chance after his knee surgery. 

Anthony Parker could be an uncannily accurate comparison - first round draft pick (Parker was chosen 21st in 97, Langdon 11th in 99), struggled to find a place in the NBA for three seasons, went to Europe to play for a top club, won multiple EuroLeague titles and a Final Four MVP.  Parker returned to the NBA at the age of  31 after 6 seasons in Europe and has been the starting shooting guard for the Raptors ever since, helping lead Toronto to the playoffs both of his seasons.  If Langdon is following the Parker plan, now is the time to return: he's been gone for 6 seasons.

Of course, that's the big problem with both Papaloukas and Langdon - age.  Papaloukas is 31; Langdon turns 32 next week.  If the Clippers are looking for a shooting guard to replace Cuttino Mobley, it would be nice to find one who is more than 8 months younger than Cat.  And if Langdon is as happy as he says he is, there's no way he's coming to LA for less than guaranteed money and a guaranteed opportunity to play.  He's not leaving his situation to come here and back up Mobley, and at 32, the Clippers shouldn't pursue him unless they want him to play NOW.

So in the end, it seems highly unlikely that Trajan Langdon will be reuniting with Brand and Maggette for anything other than an alumni game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.  But let's hope that the Clippers' scouts are looking hard for some backcourt help, even if Moscow isn't the answer.

I honestly did not think we would see this in the 2007-2008 season, but MBFGC, Big Sofo, Sofoklis Schortsianitis is back in action for Olympiakos.

The season began with MBFGC battling injuries and his own considerable girth.   Back in January, halfway into the season with Sofo having yet to play a minute, he entered a health clinic (fat farm) in Switzerland for an intensive three month program.  At the time , I feared that he might never get into playing shape.

Lo and behold, everything seems to have gone according to the most optimistic projections.  He returned from Switzerland after three months and re-joined his teammates.  And after about a month of basketball activities, he made his season debut on April 16, scoring 9 points in his first six minutes on the court and finishing with 11. From a 4/16 news item on the EuroBasket web site:

Sofocles Schortsianitis (206-C-85) is back in action. The powerful Greek center appeared last night in the court, this time with his uniform and ready to ramble. The game between Olympiakos and AEL 1964 was the 'kick off' game for the 'big Sofo'. The talented center scored his first 9 points in only 6 minutes, proving first of all that he wants to come back in action very soon. Big Sofo was much different in the court, with at least 30 kilos less, mood to run, passionate and above all ready to work hard in order to reach the best feasible level and become ready for the coming play-offs and of course if possible the games of the Hellenic NT for the pre-Olympic Tournament which will take place in Athens, Greece. Coach Panagiotis Yiannakis is definitely the most delighted person as he can add a 'weapon' in both of his teams, firstly at his club, Olympiakos and secondly and most important at his National team.

The sample size is minuscule (he's only played 41 minutes in three games so far), but so far his stats are encouragingly similar to the player we were so excited about: an efficient scoring machine (9 for 12 from the field) who also gets to the line (13 attempts in 41 minutes), but needs to shoot better when he gets there (he's 5 for 13), is a poor rebounder (only 5 so far) and is turnover prone (7).  Hopefully the extremely high turnovers are a function of his almost 12 month layoff from competitive basketball and he'll get sharper with more time.

Clearly, Sofo has worked hard to get onto the court.  No one is going to come out and say what his weight is or was, but the report above estimates that he was at least 30 kg lighter in his debut (which, as it happens, was the stated goal when he went to Switzerland).  That's 66 pounds for you Americans.  Almost 10 stones for the Brits.  That's a whole lot of weight to lose.

And although I know nothing of the personalities of Greek basketball, it seems entirely possible that circumstances have engineered a fortuitious break for the large young man.  While he was away, the Reds starting center, NBA veteran Marc Jackson was dismissed from the team. Then Olympiakos fired head coach Pini Gershon (a legend in European basketball, on the list of the 50 Greatest Contributors to Euro hoops currently being celebrated at the EuroLeague Final Four) and replaced him with Panagiotis Yiannakis.  Yiannakis is Greek, and has more of an incentive to develop a young Greek talent, all the more so given that he is also the coach of the national team.  In January it seemed essentially impossible that Sofo would be on the Greek selection this summer - but after making his dramatic return, and playing club ball for the national coach, it would seem to be back on the table.

He has a handful of important games to play before his season is done.  Although Olympiakos was eliminated in the EuroLeague round of 8 by CSKA Moscow, the playoffs in the Greek league start tomorrow, May 3rd.  As usual, Panathinaikos and Olympiakos finished one and two in the regular season, and are likely headed to another showdown in the finals.  So he's got a chance to re-assert himself on an important stage in advance of the National Team selection.  Greece has yet to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, but are among the favorites in the final pre-Olympic tournament in Athens that will determine the final 3 Olympic participants.  Although it's still a long shot on both counts, it's possible that MBFGC could meet Mr. Flippy in Athens in July.

After a relatively tame first day of canyoneering , things got a little more interesting on Day Two.  For one thing, there was a fairly strenuous hike involved.  From the parking lot of a regional park in Monterrey, we began to gain elevation almost immediately.  It was pretty clear from the first day that Paolo and Edgar, our Mexican guides, were used to slightly less aggressive groups (if not necessarily less skilled).  As Wolf, Bob, Maya and I began ascending the trail at a pace that suited us, it was Edgar who insisted we stop for a rest and wait for the others (Nick and Paolo were hanging with the slower group).  When Edgar cut us loose again, Bob began a virtual sprint up the mountain.  It was then that I realized the shape the guy was in.  I'm something of a hiking savant - I can sit on the couch watching basketball or at the computer blogging for 6 months, and then go out and hike for 4 days and keep up with (or even outpace) people who do it all the time.  I don't know why.  But I couldn't keep up with Bob.  No way.  Not if he didn't want me to.  I guess training with the Special Ops guys, carrying 80 pound packs for 16 hour forced marches, will do that - go figure.

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Of course we had to slow down, not least because we didn't really know where we were going, so as we came to forks in the road we had to wait for our guides.  After an hour and a half or so, we arrived at the drop in point for the canyon.

The mountains around Monterrey are limestone.  I'm not sure how it all works, but minerals leach out of the limestone into the water, and are left behind in the watercourse forming all sorts of weird and wonderful formations.  The upper part of the canyon was dry, and parts of the exposed stream bed looked like poured cement.  It was really quite fascinating.  In some places, stones were fused together with mortar between, in others smooth sheets of concrete lined the way.  It all looked like the work of human hands.

After the first couple of rappels we caught up with the water.  Rappelling through waterfalls is always loads of fun.  One thing that was particularly interesting about this canyon was that the water tended to appear and disappear.  No doubt the limestone had eroded, giving was underground channels periodically (we'd find out a lot more about this possibility on the final day).  So on one rappel, for instance, the top was a dry waterfall, but about halfway down, water came shooting out of two holes, like a fountain. 

The trip was billed as very wet, with lots of jumps into deep water.  And although we knew that the canyons on subsequent days were going to get progressively wetter, we were ready for some of those jumps.  We were in wetsuits, and on a pretty hot day (not scorching, happily) it was more comfortable to be in the water than out of it. 

As we came upon an outcropping of rock with a deepish looking pool 15 feet below, Maya and I asked Edgar if we were going to jump.  We were only half-serious.  He explained, in his broken English, "No, very dangerous."  There were submerged rocks on either side and in the distance, not to mention that you had to jump out far enough to even make it into the water.  In short, the landing area was pretty small, and a miss was a broken ankle waiting to happen.  He made if very clear that it would be a very, very bad idea to jump from there - and then he jumped.  We weren't sure if he was intentionally misleading us, or if we had simply misunderstood what he said.  At any rate, I immediately got to the edge of the rocks and prepared to plunge in.

Edgar pointed me to where I should land.  A large rock entered the water in front of me and was visible beneath the surface before if fell off.  To the left and right of that rock were other submerged obstacles.  I should aim for the big rock, but not jump too far so as to avoid landing on it.  Seemed simple enough.  Still, it was hardly straight down to the water, with slope and rocks to be cleared just to reach the pool.  His initial inclination was correct.  "Very dangerous."

I jumped... way too far.  (Damn my vertical!)  I landed squarely with both feet on the big rock in the distance.  I can't say how deep the water was where I hit the rock - but I hit it hard.  There was a series of gasps from the others watching.  Fortunately, I hit it square with no twisting, and I know enough to keep my legs flexed.  I sort of jammed my right ankle from the impact (although I didn't tell anyone), but luckily there was no significant damage done.  I walked it off.

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Fortunately, I had now demonstrated for everyone how NOT to do it.  Maya, Barbara and Bob all managed to jump and hit the sweet spot.  The others climbed down to a lower rock and jumped from there, or decided against jumping altogether.

The rest of the day passed without incident.  I cannot say the same for the evening .

Next - the canyons get serious.

The first line of Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina' says "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."  The ultimate goal of an NBA team remains to compete for a championship (I won't say win, because all you can do is build a team that is good enough to win - whether you actually get the ring depends on a million other factors).  By that standard, your team either needs to be at that level, or have a reasonable chance of getting there in the foreseeable future.  Happy NBA teams are in the hunt - everyone else is unhappy.

The Clippers are certainly an unhappy family right now, but in their own way.  (Let's face it, they've always been an unhappy family, and are as close to happy today as they have been in any off-season in the team's California history other than two years ago.  But they still have problems.)  They may be deluding themselves, but the Clippers believe they have a roster capable of competing, but that they were forced into the lottery by injuries.  We'll see.

Some lottery teams have hope in the form of young, developing talent.  Some have hope in the form of loads of room under the salary cap.  Some have both.  And some lottery teams have no hope at all - like the Knicks.

And then there are the playoff teams, who in some cases are even worse off.  The lottery teams have hit bottom - they don't have to worry about hanging onto anything, because they have nothing.  High draft picks are their reason to hope, and merely competing for a playoff spot (infinitely easier than competing for a ring) will likely appease their fans for a while. 

The Mavericks were eliminated in 5 games by the Hornets.  And although New Orleans had the second best record in the Western Conference, it still FEELS like an insult to the once-mighty Mavs.  With 3 wins in their last 15 playoff games, the Mavs fired their coach, who only a couple of seasons ago was the NBA Coach of the Year and still ranks near the top in career winning percentage.

The Suns may soon part ways with their own former COY, and now their window for winning a championship has been hermetically sealed - Nash is 34 and Shaq is 35, and against the Spurs they looked their age and then some.

But of the 16 playoff teams, none is in a worse position than the Denver Nuggets.  There's the simple fact that they're the only team to have been swept in this season's playoffs.  But it goes beyond that.  You could argue that they have more of a chance to compete next season than the Suns - after all, Iverson (32) and Camby (34) played like relative spring chickens compared to Nash and Shaq while Carmelo Anthony hasn't even entered his prime yet.  But Denver has other issues.

Like the salary cap.  The Nuggets have the third highest payroll in basketball, and unlike the Mavs, an owner who has no interest in paying the luxury tax indefinitely.  Stan Kroenke accepted the tab for the Allen Iverson trade and the assumption that he was buying a LOT of playoff wins.  Instead, he got one win followed by 8 straight losses.  With Allen Iverson scheduled to make close to $22M next season, and four other players (Anthony, Martin, Camby and Nene) in contracts that each average over $10M per, the Nuggets have nowhere to go.  Because none of those contracts are particularly trade friendly.  To be specific - Anthony could be traded, but they won't do that.  Martin and Nene are the definition of untradeable.  No one is going to take 32 year old Allen Iverson for $22M for one year.  And I'm not sure that anyone is particularly interested in 34 year old Marcus Camby for $22M for two years.

Like public relations.  J.R. Smith was the driver in a crash that resulted in the death of his friend last June.  Carmelo Anthony, after incidents involving marijuana in his backpack and in his car, not to mention the whole 'stop snitching' fiasco, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence a few weeks ago.  (I remember quotes from Anthony about being a 'leader' and a 'mentor' to Smith at the time of Smith's ordeal, and thinking he'd have to do some growing up of his own.)  Allen Iverson and Kenyon Martin are anything but choir boys.  And of course there was the fight with the Knicks in Madison Square Garden last season.  If Portland put together the Jail-blazers, doesn't this team deserve a similar moniker?  Call them the Denver-tentiary Nuggets.  Their on-court behavior (7 technical fouls in 4 games against the Lakers) only re-enforces the negative image.

Like underachieving.  Yes, the Nuggets won 50 games this season.  But right or wrong, with two All Star game starters, the defending defensive player of the year, and all those big contracts, the expectations are pretty high. 

The Nuggets have a decision to make about Allen Iverson this summer.  Do they extend him?  Do they re-sign him if he exercises his early termination option?  Smith is a restricted free agent, and that decision will be even tougher.  And they still don't have a viable solution at point guard, nor do they have the ability to sign one without going back above the luxury tax.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the Mile High City this summer.

Although there's some indication that it may already be too late , Phoenix Stan has convened a Star Chamber in the the NBA Blogosphere to decide the fate of Suns coach Mike D'Antoni.

Let me first point out that I called the Shaq trade a mistake from day one.  It's interesting that the conventional wisdom at this point is that it was D'Antoni's idea, and first year GM Steve Kerr had to be convinced.  The assumption early was that the new guy was the one pushing to shake things up.  So D'Antoni would seem to be culpable in his own demise.  Still, D'Antoni the coach should be separated from D'Antoni the GM.

Before I get too far into l'affaire d'Antoni let's look at what happened in this series.  It seems pretty clear to me that the personnel, and not the coach, lost to the Spurs.

1. Depth - Owner Robert Sarver's penny-pinching has deprived the Suns of several first round draft choices, as well as James Jones and Kurt Thomas over the last several seasons.  Grant Hill was a gamble that, surprise, surprise, didn't pay off when he was injured at exactly the time they needed him most (the fact that it was an abdominal strain, and not ankle related, is little consolation).  The Suns lacked depth three seasons ago - it has gotten progressively worse.
2. Style - Steve Nash won MVP awards in 2005 and 2006, and was a leading contender in 2007 when he arguably had an even better season.  Leandro Barbosa was the sixth man of the year in 2007.  In this series, neither was a factor (16 points and 8 assists per game for Nash, 10 points for Barbosa).  Did they each have a sub-par series, just one of those things?   Maybe.  Is Nash's age (34) catching up with him?  That's part of it, undoubtedly.  But let's face it - with Shaq and Amare clogging the middle and a dearth of three point shooters spreading the floor, Nash and Barbosa were not able to do what they do best - penetrate and dish (Nash) or penetrate and finish (Barbosa).
3. Shaq - I think most would agree that Shaq played pretty well in Phoenix; better than many expected.  But game 5 against the Spurs was a microcosm of why the trade was ill-advised.  On at least three occasions, Nash threw lobs to the front of the rim for him - he finished one of them.  The other two, he could not catch up to the ball, made the catch on the ground, and was immediately fouled.  Likewise, Boris Diaw fed him at least two perfect passes under the basket.  He missed layups as he was being fouled, and subsequently missed free throws (of course).  This is Shaquille O'Neal we're talking about!  His inability to finish around the basket is now entering Chris Kaman territory - and not Kaman 2.0 either, I'm talking Mr. Flippy here.  In a game the Suns trailed by 2 points with 20 seconds to play, Shaq cost his team at least 8 points on gimmes.  Forget about the free throws, since that was a known before the trade.  Shaq's athleticism has diminished to the point that he can't finish with authority around the basket.  Which makes him, what?  Erick Dampier?  Consider also that Shaq's well-known reluctance to give the regular season his all will likely doom the Suns to visitor status in the playoffs next season even in the best case scenario.  Does his presence in the playoffs make up for the loss of home court advantage?  Not if he can't finish.
   

So, like I said, the Suns lost this series because of the players on the floor.  Not that I was particularly impressed with the Spurs, but these Suns just weren't going to beat them.  Not running the offense through Boris Diaw in the low post.

So, I think it's dubious to conclude that the coach should be fired because the personnel is not as good as it once was.  I suppose you could make an argument that a different coach would fit the current personnel better.  But if you're taking that tack, it should also be noted that D'Antoni has had  just over 2 months post trade.  It's more than a little unfair to get rid of a guy (with two years left on his contract, no less) for not utilizing his personnel correctly, without even giving him a chance to have a training camp. 

But the more practical question before this Star Chamber isn't 'Should he be fired?' but rather 'Whom do you hire?'  Is there really a better coach out there, waiting for your call?  (By the way, what a difference a year makes, right?  Ten months ago, D'Antoni was the toast of the NBA, the genius credited with re-making Team USA in his offensive image, and top assistant Marc Iavaroni had been handed the head-coaching job at Memphis as D'Antoni-lite.  Now Iavaroni is long gone in trouble [UPDATE: I jumped the fun on that one - Iavaroni was only gone in my head, I guess], and D'Antoni is as good as gone.  I guess he'll have plenty of time to concentrate on Beijing.)

Mike D'Antoni's record coaching the Suns is 253 wins and 136 losses.  In full seasons as the coach he has never won fewer than 54 games!  And unlike fellow hot seat resident Avery Johnson who has an equally stellar winning percentage, D'Antoni did NOT inherit a 60 win team.  D'Antoni took over a team that was 8-13 and whose point guard was Stephon Marbury.  So recognize this: if you let him walk, his replacement will not be as good.  Period.  Maybe he will be less stubborn, maybe he will get along better with the GM, maybe he'll trim his mustache more judiciously, maybe he will throw better dinner parties: but he will not be as good a coach.

Another factor in all of this is entertainment value.  If Robert Sarver is as aware of the bottom line as they say, he should realize that D'Antoni's coaching style puts butts in seats.  It's certainly valid to question whether it can win a championship - obviously it hasn't so far.  But no team is more fun to watch, and the Suns have been playing to full houses since he arrived in the Valley of the Sun.

Just as was the case with the Shaq trade, I of course cannot speak to the interpersonal issues involved.  Was Shawn Marion a cancer in the locker room who simply had to go?  Is the relationship between D'Antoni and Kerr untenable?  I don't know.  But if the Phoenix Suns allow Mike D'Antoni to leave, it will be the latest in a series of front office blunders that will take the Suns from the most entertaining in team in the NBA and one of the best, to a boring also-ran in the Western Conference.  They're likely on their way to also-ran status regardless of the coach, and maybe the guy would be better off in Chicago with a bunch of young talent.  But there's no question in my mind that he's a great coach, and the Suns will be a lesser team without him.

The second in a series of posts about my recent canyoneering trip to Mexico.  If you only come here for the Clippers stuff and you're not interested, then don't read it.

Our first day of canyoneering was pretty tame.  The canyons were completely dry so there was no swimming involved.  I don't think we did more than 5 rappels, in two different locations.  I certainly would have opted for a more aggressive day one agenda, but by the same token I can understand the reasoning behind the schedule.  For one thing, we were getting to know our Mexican guides, Paolo and Edgar, and they us.  For another, the group was of course not of a uniform experience level.  Cheryl had done significantly less rappelling than me, for instance, and no doubt there were others in the group who were thankful for an opportunity to refresh their skill set in a relatively benign and leisurely couple of canyons.  And the scenery was certainly spectacular (though nothing compared to what awaited us). 

via nicoantonio.smugmug.com

On the second rappel of the day, Barbara and I were among the first to the bottom.  Being that it was a pretty large group, and that Paolo and Edgar were taking things slow on the first day, we had some time to kill.  So Barbara found a boulder and decided to do a little free climbing and invited me along.  Now, I've done some climbing in my day, but not for about 20 years.  And there's a reason I canyoneer as opposed to climbing - climbing is just a lot more dangerous.  Still, it's fun.  So we scrambled up the boulder a little, getting way more exposed than we should have, as Edgar kept one wary eye on us from his position belaying the others.  As we headed for the third rappel, Barbara and I both knew that we had found a trouble-making buddy for the rest of the trip.  Little did we know how much trouble we'd get into.

The highlight of the first day was dinner.  Leaving the second canyon, we stopped in the nearest "town" at a "restaurant".  Only, in this case "town" refers to a slightly wider place in the road with a couple of ramshackle houses, and "restaurant" refers to one of those houses, with some tables and plastic chairs in front.  Paulo stopped the van, spoke to the señora and we sat down at the tables in front of her house.  A few minutes later, she emerged with 4 large pots filled with rice, beans, potatoes, and a stew of pork.  And of course stacks and stacks of tortillas.  I don't usually eat pork, but I made an exception.  By the time we were finished, I think there were a couple of beans left, and maybe some rice.

Tomorrow - the trouble-makers get in trouble.

In the past, I have not frequently written about non-Clipper subjects.  Sure, there's the occasional homage to Suzanne Pleshette, but by and large I try to stay on-topic.  Still, this is my platform and my outlet for writing, so it's the place to go if I feel compelled to put pen to paper (err.. fingers to keyboard).  My recent trip to Mexico is one such occasion.

Arriving in Mexico, I knew little about the people I'd be spending so much time with over the next 5 days.  My good friend Nick from Zion Adventure Company would of course be there, as well as his delightful girlfriend Maya.  (By the way, the sexual tension between the two of us is palpable... but Maya never seems to get jealous.)  As for the other five Americanos making the journey, I knew next to nothing.

via nicoantonio.smugmug.com

I was not expecting to be among the younger canyoneers on the trip.  But as it happens, after Nick and Maya (who were after all in a slightly different, guide category), I was the third youngest.  This at first seemed more than a little surprising - although canyoneering is not the most physically demanding of activities, it can be grueling, and I hardly expected to be the 'baby' of the group at 45.  But after thinking a little more about it, the reason became more clear.  Nick was, for the first time, arranging an international trip.  And although the cost was quite reasonable for what was offered, when you add in airfare the expense is not minor.  In fact, Nick reached out to a group of former clients whom he assumed might have the time, the inclination, and the disposable income to go.  These people turned out to all be established in their careers, and not, for instance, 21 year old college students.

So as I walked up to the van, I met Wolf (the Delta pilot), Bob (the former Air Force colonel turned military consultant), Barbara (the Nurse, part time Accountant, seeming jack-of-all-trades, and Wolf's ex-wife), Cheri (the middle-school teacher, Bob's wife) and Cheryl (the corporate attorney).  Wolf and Bob had flown F-16's together in the Air Force; Barbara and Cheri had known each other since college.  And the four of them had been traveling together so long, that they continue to do so despite the fact that Wolf and Barbara are no longer married.  Cheryl on the other hand, had no prior connection to anyone in the group, other than a trip with Zion Adventure Company.

Mine was the last flight to arrive in Monterrey, close to midnight.  The others had been to dinner together in town prior to my arrival, and we still had a 75 minute van ride into the mountains to our hotel.   As it happens, this was on Wolf's 50th birthday, and there had been some Marqueritas (and apparently a giant chicken singing Happy Birthday) at dinner.  At any rate, there wasn't a lot of talking on the van ride, since everyone was pretty tired.

The next morning at breakfast I got a little better feel for my companions.  Nick confirmed for us what we all suspected already - we were guinea pigs.  Zion Adventure Company had never guided a group outside of the immediate environs of southeast Utah, let alone outside of the country.  And although he had met with the local guiding company that would be leading us on our Mexican adventures, he himself had never been in any of these canyons.  No one really had a problem with this.  In fact, most of us began to view it as an opportunity.  The Guinea Pig Group would be ready and willing to accompany Nick to any and all new destinations (at discounted rates, of course) before trips would be offered to other clients.  That's the theory anyway.

Having missed some of the conversations the night before, I thought it was a joke when Bob brought up Afghanistan ('Ha ha, let's canyoneer in Tora Bora.  Great idea, Bob.')  Turns out he was serious (more on that later).  Other suggested Guinea Pig destinations were Israel, Spain and Costa Rica.   Of course Wolf, the Delta pilot, can go anywhere in the world for free.  I had to pull Nick aside later to explain that while I had the desire, the skill set and the time to go anywhere and everywhere, I didn't really have THAT much disposable income (not until they start paying bloggers by the word, at any rate).

Tomorrow, the first day of canyoneering.

Well, I'm back from Mexico and fully recovered (except for the bug bites).  When I got back on Saturday, I took a quick look at the activity, and noticed that Thursday, April 24th, was one of the lowest traffic days in over a year.  My immediate reaction was, "oh well, it's the off-season, I was gone so there wasn't much to read, no big deal.'  Still, the massive drop off was disconcerting, especially for a weekday (weekends are another story).

And then I checked my email.

It turns out, as most of you are probably aware, the SBNation network was having some problems for a couple of days, the most severe issues occurring Thursday.  Rather than just ignore those issues (and let's face it, they didn't impact me), I thought I'd let you know what I know.

The issues were related to the upgrade to SBNation 2.0 as you might have guessed, but apparently not directly to the software.  As part of the platform migration, some new servers were introduced on Tuesday night / Wednesday morning in the wee hours.  Unfortunately, although it is very rare, there were problems with the memory in those new servers.  Given that it wasn't the first place anyone was looking, it took awhile to identify and rectify the problem.  Once the problem was identified and the servers were swapped out, the situation stabilized.

I guess the good news is that this was a minor issue for the Citizens of ClipsNation given the timing.  Blogs in Orlando and Washington actually had playoff games that night - that couldn't have been fun for Ben Q. Rock or pradamaster and Jake the Snake.

So at any rate, I apologize for the downtime on ClipsNation last week.  These are some of the growing pains associated with the success of the SBNation network.  Hopefully we're in a stable mode at this point.  And, by the way, thanks to Citizen John R for his excellent FanPost in my absence.