Updated: November 30, 2009, 12:16 AM ET

Five Good Minutes With Phil Jackson

Little Ceremony In This Torch-Passing

By J.A. Adande
ESPN.com
Iverson
Iverson

Allen Iverson's retirement announcement didn't unleash a powerful emotional reaction from me because I don't think we've seen the last of him and, as it dawned on me Wednesday night, we've already seen the next of him: Brandon Jennings. And for Jennings to truly grow into that role, Iverson has to go. It's the natural order of things.

I tuned in to Milwaukee's game in New Orleans (that I'd even consider watching a Bucks-Hornets game knowing full well Chris Paul wasn't playing is a testament in itself to Jennings), and there was the Iverson phenomenon all over again. The most compelling player on the court was a scrawny little guard wearing No. 3.

Perhaps I've been watching too much "Lost" or other time-traveling science fiction shows, but I believe you can't have the past and future versions of the same person actually meet. It disrupts the space-time continuum. OK, perhaps that's speculation based on imaginary issues. On a more practical level, we do know that two objects can't occupy the same space at the same time. And we've seen that the evolution of basketball is based upon building off a precedent, not simultaneous interaction.

Michael Jordan wouldn't have developed into the player he became without watching Dr. J and David Thompson. And clearly Kobe Bryant is who he is because he had the MJ template to follow. Jordan's career overlapped with Julius Erving's for only three years. Kobe had only two years in the league with the real Jordan (MJ's time in a Washington Wizards uniform isn't a part of the official Jordan canon), and it's not a coincidence that he's the closest approximation to Jordan that we've seen. Notice how none of the so-called Next Jordans who played against him in his prime actually fulfilled that promise? That's in part because Jordan wasn't having any of it and still had a way to stomp them back down into their place. But they also bore the burden of being compared directly to him rather than merely being reminiscent of him.

Read the full post on TrueHoop, ESPN's NBA blog

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Schedule: Sunday, Nov. 29

 Pistons 94, Hawks 88
 Box score | Recap

 Clippers 98, Grizzlies 88
 Box score | Recap

 Suns 113, Raptors 94
 Box score | Recap

 Celtics 92, Heat 85
 Box score | Recap

 Magic 114, Knicks 102
 Box score | Recap

 Spurs 97, 76ers 89
 Box score | Recap

 Rockets 100, Thunder 91
 Box score | Recap

 Wolves 106, Nuggets 100
 Box score | Recap

 Kings 112, Hornets 96
 Box score | Recap

 Lakers 106, Nets 87
 Box score | Record

• Complete schedule

Net Losses

Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images

Nets center Brook Lopez might continue to puzzle over the Nets' losing ways if his team falls to 0-17.

Elias Says

• New Jersey (0-16) and Minnesota (1-15) both lost Friday night. This is only the second time in NBA history that two teams have started 1-15 or worse in the same season; it also happened when Denver and Toronto started 1-15 to start the 1997-98 season.

For those who don't recall, the Timberwolves hosted the Nets in both teams' season opener on Oct. 28, with Minnesota taking the 95-93 decision.


• The Suns beat the Timberwolves 120-95 on Friday night and have scored 1,791 points in 16 games this season (an average of nearly 112 per game). That's the most points scored by any NBA team in its first 16 games of a season since the Shaquille O'Neal-led Magic scored 1,836 points to start the 1994-95 season.