ESPN

John Hollinger

  (3:09 PM)

Greetings all ... we're in the dog days here a little bit but the playoff races are starting to heat up ... let's get to it.

Sean (Atlanta, GA)

Do you wear a watch, John?

John Hollinger

  (3:09 PM)

Haha .. was just on Kamenetzky's radio program in LA and we ran a little long.

Charles (SD, CA)

John, Your computer rankings notwithstanding, how would you rank the top 5 teams on a personal level?

John Hollinger

  (3:11 PM)

1. Cleveland 2. LA 3. Boston 4. Utah 5. San Antonio. That's how I'd size up the "if everyone's healthy and rarin' to go" rankings, with Orlando penalized for Jameer Nelson's absence.

Alex (SF, CA)

How many good years do you think Magic missed out on by retiring at 31? Two? Three? More? Do you think Paul can keep this up until that point (31-32) or will small man injuries have taken their toll by then?

John Hollinger

  (3:11 PM)

Magic likely missed out on several -- by that point he was a very good shooter and at his size could have moved to a point forward role. CP is unlikely to play as well in his 30s -- few small guards have.

jared, orem ut

why back to back games and then three days rest! What are the leagues stats in the second night of a back to back when playing a team who isn't

John Hollinger

  (3:13 PM)

The league virtually never allows teams to play home back-to-backs; I'm not sure why but that's their policy. Since Atlanta is home on Friday, they had to play this game Wednesday. But you're right that it really inconvenienced the Jazz, who could have avoided the back-to-back.

Christopher, Germany

Have you already knocked out Adande for making a case for Deron Williams being a better point guard as Chris Paul AND mocking you for mentioning Paul in the same breath with Magic?

John Hollinger

  (3:15 PM)

I got in two arguments last night about Deron vs. CP, so apparently it's alive and well despite the overwhelming evidence in Paul's favor. Williams has yet to have a PER as good as Paul's from his rookie year, let alone match him in any of the four seasons they've played.

John Hollinger

  (3:17 PM)

As far as Magic goes, Adande's right that CP doesn't have a playoff accomplishment that can touch Magic's 42-15 ... and there's a chance he may never be given the opportunity. But if you compare any point guard post-merger (I intentionally left out Oscar since the stats from then are so incomplete), the only player you can compare to Chris Paul is Magic. I'm not saying he's better, just that it's the only comparison where Paul isn't obviously superior.

ed, LA

is wade's yr better than kobe's 2006 yr?

John Hollinger

  (3:18 PM)

Comparable on a lot of levels (big-time scorer without much help), and virtually identical in terms of PER (Wade is half a point higher at the moment, but that can change in the final four weeks). So yes, the parallels are fairly striking.

Gabe (New Rochelle)

But if your team allows you to have a lesser PER because of its role players and you can intelligently preserve yourself for the real prize wouldnt that be a "better" player? Being a great player statistically isnt much. Abdur Rahim anyone? Glen Robinson? Allen Iverson?

John Hollinger

  (3:21 PM)

I love when people trot out Shareef or Glenn Robinson as proof that stats don't work in basketball. Remind me again what they led the league in? At their absolute peak, I don't think either player ever cracked the top 20 in PER, let alone the league's upper echelon. And if the best player on your team isn't in the top 20, guess what ... your team, unless it's very deep or has several other similarly talented quasi-stars, isn't likely to do a whole lot.

Nathan (San Antonio)

Professor Hollinger- Do you predict that Boston will slip to the 3 seed and Orlando will beat them in the second round with home court advantage?

John Hollinger

  (3:21 PM)

I think even with homecourt the Magic won't beat Boston, unless Garnett's injury is much worse than we've heard so far.

Sean (Atlanta, GA)

We need an explanation why you have it Cleveland, LA, Boston. LA has owned both teams during the regular season, and has not even been at full strength.

John Hollinger

  (3:22 PM)

Because those were two games, and there are about 80 other ones.

Dave (Los Angeles)

Your thoughts on Rick Kamla naming Kobe as MVP?

John Hollinger

  (3:24 PM)

Not how I'd vote, let's put it that way. I really don't see how any rational person could vote Kobe ahead of LeBron when LeBron has the same record with worse teammates.

Andy (vegas)

If the Pistons get in as a 5-8 seed, can you see them scaring a team in the first round? You KNOW Orlando wants nothing to do with them....

John Hollinger

  (3:25 PM)

The Orlando match-up appears to be a good one for them, yes; Atlanta less so, as the Hawks have played Detroit very well this year. I want to see more of them down the stretch before I weigh on on their chances though.

Galway (SF)

Re: Kobe. Worse teammates AND a worse coaching staff.

John Hollinger

  (3:26 PM)

Ha ... I get a lot of emails about Mike Brown, but he may end up winning Coach of the Year.

Tyler (Salem, OR)

If you're Portland, which of the other western playoff teams do you hope you see in the first round?

John Hollinger

  (3:28 PM)

Certainly not Dallas. I think they wouldn't mind seeing Denver or New Orleans though. Really, I think the biggest thing for them is just making it this year -- everything after that is gravy.

Rob (Milwaukee, WI)

With Milwaukee and Chicago constantly flip flopping the 8th seed, who do you seen finally taking that last playoff spot?

John Hollinger

  (3:28 PM)

Charlotte. Bigger question is whether Chicago or Philly will be the other team joining them. Look at the Sixers' closing schedule -- they are not out of the woods yet. Not at all.

Justin (Denver)

So, what is your feeling on 3-8 in the Western Conference? Is it basically just a coinflip, or do you have a strong feeling on who the bottom 4 will be?

John Hollinger

  (3:30 PM)

It is, basically, probably a coinflip; subjectively, I think Utah will get the 3, Houston the 4, Portland the 5, New Orleans the 6, and Denver the 7.

John (Orlando)

How about D12's backup, Marcin "Polish Hammer" Gortat? 13 points and 15 boards last night?!?

John Hollinger

  (3:30 PM)

Gortat is the best big man nobody's ever heard of and may make himself some decent money this summer as a free agent.

Choy (Vancouver)

There are no rules WRITTEN saying who can and cannot be MVP. Why dismiss Dwyane Wade? He can if the voters want him to be, right?

John Hollinger

  (3:31 PM)

He absolutely can. But LeBron's had a better year.

Jeremy (New Orleans)

Why would any team want to play the hornets in the first round? Besides Kobe isn't CP3 the only player that can take over a series by himself??

John Hollinger

  (3:33 PM)

Matching up against CP is all about how good your pick-and-roll D is and how well your bigs can switch onto smalls. Blazers have some pretty mobile guys they can use in that spot so they've tended to do well against CP.

tom, Detroit

If Lebron didn't win the MVP last year, then there is no way Wade will win it this year. LBJ's numbers last year were incredible, he didn't win because his team wasn't at the top. Kind of like Wade this year. Wade should not win solely on the fact that Lebron didn't win it last year.

John Hollinger

  (3:33 PM)

I still think LeBron is the call here, but Wade is making it interesting. Six weeks ago I thought it was a one-horse race; now it's a two-horse race.

Ross (Laramie, WY)

Do you think the Nuggets are done or can they still win a first round playoff series, even with homecourt advantage?

John Hollinger

  (3:34 PM)

Can they? Yes, but they need both Kenyon and Nene to be 100%. This back problem with Kenyon has to have the Nuggies scared because it doesn't seem clear to me when he'll be over it.

Summit (Fresno)

Are you embarassed that you compared 5-time champion and top 5 player of all time Magic Johnson to a 5th year guard who's never been out of the 2nd round of the playoffs? I would be if I were you...

John Hollinger

  (3:36 PM)

Can we safely say that Chris Paul doesn't have a teammate as good as Kareeem Abdul-Jabbar? That isn't a stretch, right? People want to make comparisons all about the championships, but the opportunities are not distributed equally.

B (Utah)

I am praying for a D-WIll CP3 matchup in the playoffs. That would be an unbelievable serious, even if ESPN wouldn't hype it up like Kobe v. Lebron.

John Hollinger

  (3:37 PM)

I completely agree, except for one thing -- both players are pretty much nauseated by all the CP vs. Deron hype and would rather discuss just about anything else. So for them, it's going to be seven games of torture-by-media.

Matt (Portland)

Now that the Suns are all but eliminated, is it time to give up on their core and rebuild or do they give it another go next season with the "if we had Amare it would have been different" excuse?

John Hollinger

  (3:39 PM)

Their odds of getting back into it are better than you think -- they still have a major schedule advantage on the Mavs. Probably only a 1-in-5 shot at this point, but still too early to throw in the towel.

Tracy (Florida)

So Kobe isn't in the race for MVP? Wow.

John Hollinger

  (3:39 PM)

It's LeBron and Wade. Sorry. Kobe, Howard and CP are in the rearview, and not necessarily in that order.

Joel (Philly via Youngstown)

What free agent signing from last offseason goes down as the biggest mistake? Has to be Elton Brand, right?

John Hollinger

  (3:41 PM)

So far it's brand, but at least there's an excuse there that he's been injured the whole time -- maybe he comes back next year and turns out to be a monster. The same cannot be said for the folks who inked Andre Iguodala, Emeka Okafor, Luol Deng and Andrew Bogut to such big deals. The restricted free agent contracts from last year were the real mistakes, and nobody's talking about them.

Chris (Huntington beach, CA)

how can wade even possibly win it when nash won it over kobe in 05-06?

John Hollinger

  (3:42 PM)

Please, let's not use the most irrational MVP vote in league history as the baseline for future awards, OK?

Muayad (new york)

Why do you think Utah struggles on the road against winning teams? I know role players are generally not as good away from home, but why is there such a huge disparity in their records?

John Hollinger

  (3:43 PM)

I asked Jerry Sloan about this last night and he mentioned a lot of those games were early in the season when his team wasn't healthy, which is true. Still, it's been two years now where they've had a glaring lack of quality road wins, and I wonder if their physical style backfires on them when the refs aren't being intimidated by Utah's hostile crowd.

Nate (Portland, OR)

I hope you're right about Utah and New Orleans grabbing the 3 and 6 seeds respectively if only to add more fire into the Williams vs Paul debate! You see any other juicy first round match-up possibilities? Heat/Hawks comes to mind...

John Hollinger

  (3:45 PM)

I think Hawks-Heat would be good, but Heat-Magic -- with the Stan vs. Miami undercurrent -- would be so much juicier. Also, Hawks tend to bottle up D-Wade and force the other guys to beat them, which is why they've had a lot of success vs. Miami this year.

Utah's Hostile Crowd (ESA)

We are going to intimidate you into thinking D-Will is better than CP3.

John Hollinger

  (3:46 PM)

I see you've already got to Adande. It must be those distracting green seats ....

Jeff (Santa Barbara)

So you voted for Bryant over Nash in 05-06?

John Hollinger

  (3:47 PM)

I actually had LeBron atop my ballot, but Bryant, LeBron, Wade and Dirk all had a roughly equal claim on the award that season ... and none of them got it.

Haywood, New York City

I'm pretty sure your PER doesn't use the best factors in attempting to quantify the best players, instead you use factors to make Lebron better than he is.

John Hollinger

  (3:49 PM)

Yes, it's all a scheme for me to pump up LeBron at Kobe's expense. The fact that he creates more shots and converts a higher percentage of them has nothing to do with it.

Ariel (Albany, NY)

Why are the Knicks dismissed from the playoff race so quick? They are only 1.5 games out, are working Hughes into the system, and Nate Robinson is making a run at 6th man of the year.

John Hollinger

  (3:52 PM)

You looked at their schedule lately? Ten on the road, and five virtually automatic losses (at Orlando twice, at Cleveland, at Utah, at Denver), compared to only two gimmes (home vs. Sac and the Clippers). Nice win last night, sure, but in the big picture they aren't that good, they have a difficult schedule and they have to pass three teams.

Haywood, New York City

The fact that he runs a different offense, utilizing more pick and rolls boosts his stats. If L.A ran that Kobe/Gasol pick and roll all game, instead of just in the final moments, I bet Kobe would have similar statistics.

John Hollinger

  (3:53 PM)

In other words, Phil Jackson, arguably the greatest coach of all time, intentionally runs a system that makes his best player less productive. Sorry, not buying it.

Ian(Toronto)

John, do you figure the Raptors will keep Shawn Marion or do a sign and trade this Summer ? They seem to have a lot of needs and they aren't winning.

John Hollinger

  (3:54 PM)

I keep hearing that the Raps want to re-sign Marion, bring back Delfino and take another go with this group next year. I think that's lunacy, but that's what I'm hearing.

Joe, New Orleans

What are the odds that we get an article from ESPN with all the top writers weighing in on the CP3/D-Will argument? It frustrates that people even talk about this when one player is clearly superior... I just want resolution!

John Hollinger

  (3:57 PM)

Look, I've weighed in on this about as strongly as I can weigh in on it, and have been on the bandwagon about this since the start of last season. Simmons has rather emphatically joined me as well with the infamous Stone Temple Pilots comparison (though I'm saddened he didn't use Winger and Def Leppard for his band metaphor) ... so we've definitely been saying our piece.

Jazzfan

Deron had to play his way back in slowly this year after a major ankle roll and he gets crap from you because Paul's numbers are slightly better?

John Hollinger

  (3:58 PM)

No, not slightly -- Paul's numbers are massively better. Even if you draw a big red X through the first two months of Williams' season, Paul's numbers are better. Let's at least see Williams put up numbers that match Paul's *worst* season before we start trying to compare them as equals, shall we?

Matt (The Lake of Silver)

I think we should set up a blind date between "Utah's Hostile Crowd" and the "You're A Hater If You Say Anyone Is Better Than Kobe Clan"... Insecurity is something to share people!

John Hollinger

  (4:00 PM)

i think that is a fitting way to end this .. by uniting what are apparently the league's two most sensitive fan bases. Fittingly, they may be able to share a group hug during the Western Conference finals this year.

John Hollinger

  (4:00 PM)

That's all for today folks, but we'll do this again at the same time next week. Thanks again for all the great questions.