Stifler, one might recall, was the bombastic, smug, self-proclaimed “Stif-meister” from those popular “American Pie” movies. Stifler partied the hardest and talked the loudest. In the high school hallways, kids couldn’t afford not to hang out with this dude — but no one truly liked him that much.
Joakim Noah has these Stifler symptoms. Now, one cannot knock Noah’s basketball accomplishments. The big man on campus was the soul of Florida’s back-to-back national championship teams. But he was easy to hate because he was, well, bombastic and smug. And it has all caught up to the NBA rookie Noah, who last weekend got into a shouting match with Chicago assistant coach Ron Adams. The Bulls franchise suspended him for one game. But the Bulls players reportedly voted that he should be suspended for a second game. Unanimously.
“There’s a line,” Ben Wallace told reporters after the Adams incident. “He crossed the line.”
Then, Noah reportedly had a brief tiff with Wallace after Noah’s first game back this week.
“The level of respecting the game is something that’s changing,” Denver coach George Karl said. “Players probably look at it differently than I look at it. I would never ever do, what some of my players do to me, to any coach — a coach I liked or disliked. I believe you’re disrespecting yourself and disrespecting the game more than you’re actually doing the coach-player thing.”
Point taken. There are a handful of youngsters who have been coddled since their first jump shot, and when they get handed from AAU and the big state U to the NBA, there’s a culture shock. But, really, this is more a Noah thing than a general rookie thing.
One of the most celebrated college players of the past decade has discovered that in the NBA, his Stifler shtick is so 2007.
As former NBA player Eddie Johnson wrote in his blog: “Will someone please tell Noah to shut up!”
Noah can talk big and put on goofy suits for draft night. But the only way he’ll pull it off is if he also earns the respect of his teammates. There’s not an “I” in “team,” but there is one in “integrity.”
Pass-happy.
In Denver’s Thursday win against Utah, the night Linas Kleiza put up 41, point guard Anthony Carter had 11 assists and just one turnover. It was Carter, both Kleiza and Karl said, who fueled the fast-break offense that night. Denver had lost the previous two games, and those nights, Carter wasn’t much of a factor.
“In a quiet way, we mirror Anthony Carter a little bit,” Karl said. “Which we got to kind of change and do better when he isn’t playing his “A” game. But when he does give us an “A” game, we seem to be in a good place.”
Carter entered the weekend averaging 6.1 assists per game.
In games Carter makes four or fewer assists, Denver is 5-7. In games he has eight or more, Denver is 6-1. Obviously, you can’t put Denver wins and losses solely on Carter’s back — the Nuggets have Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony, after all — but this is a fascinating gauge of Denver’s offense.
Shaq an all-star?
Miami coach Pat Riley said Shaquille O’Neal should be an all-star. That’s adorable. Riley said Shaq is “deserving.”
Dwight Howard will start the game, and it looks like Detroit’s Rasheed Wallace could nab the reserve spot. Their numbers are similar — O’Neal averages 14.3 points and 7.8 rebounds, while Wallace averages 12.7 and 7.2. But Wallace is on a good team.
I’m not the first to say that giving O’Neal one of the “at-large” all-star roster spots is wrong. Of course, his playfulness would enhance the exhibition game. But going back to the idea of integrity, putting him on the team instead of a deserving all-star reserve isn’t fair to the hard-working potential all-star.
Who’s the MVP?
Is it the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant? Maybe New Orleans’ Chris Paul or Orlando’s Howard?
To Karl, the answer is easy — Boston’s Kevin Garnett.
“Statistically and performance-wise, Garnett is not the MVP,” Karl said. “But what he has brought makes him MVP. What he has done to a team that couldn’t win, looked bad a lot, didn’t have a defensive focus, lost control of shot selection — now, they do none of that. Is it (coach) Doc Rivers or Kevin Garnett? I’ll give Doc some credit, but I know Kevin.
“What we all want is your leader being your leader in the locker room, leader in energy, and Kevin does that, too.”
SPOTLIGHT ON: Caron Butler, F, Wizards
Last season, Butler was a first-time all-star, and this season, he’s playing even better.
Butler is averaging 21.7 points and 4.4 assists, both career-highs, and 6.9 rebounds, to boot. Oh, and he’s third in the league with 2.30 steals and fourth with a 90.8 free-throw percentage.
And this week, Butler unleashed a you-should’ve-seen-it dunk against the Knicks. He sliced into the paint and received a pass in motion, leaping toward the basket for an emphatic, one-handed slam.
Without injured Gilbert Arenas in the lineup, Butler has ascended to be a team leader for the Wizards, who remain in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt. Butler has scored in double figures in every game but one, energizing the lineup with his aggressive play.
On Monday this past week, Butler was instrumental in Washington’s biggest win of the season. On the road at Boston, he scored nine points in a 25-6 run to end the game, which the Wizards won 88-83. Butler told reporters after the win: “Our eyes are on winning a championship. Hopefully we get Gilbert back by March, and when he comes back we will be even more dangerous.”
