When the Knicks elected to pay Tyson Chandler about $15 million per season through 2015 I chalked the move up as “typical Knicks.” Now, I wasn’t suggesting that Tyson would become the next Jerome James, but it seemed to me like a pretty big financial reach to acquire a guy who had never carried anything over from one team to another. As you may recall, Tyson was underwhelming as a Chicago Bull, much improved as a New Orleans Hornet, downright awful as a Charlotte Bobcat, and excellent as a Dallas Maverick. The trend seemed to indicate that his level of play was directly linked to that of the point guard. He’d played his best basketball with the help of Chris Paul and Jason Kidd, but done little to nothing when working with the likes of Kirk Hinrich and DJ Augustin. My exact words, as taken from an article entitled The Preseason Is Over. My Thoughts On The Eastern Conference…, read as follows.
The big free agent acquisition to discuss here is obviously Tyson Chandler. I hope no one actually thinks this guy is going to come to New York and “change the culture,” as I’ve heard folks claim he did in Dallas. This is still a Mike D’Antoni team. I’m watching NBAtv as I type this, and some dude just said “Tyson Chandler brings a championship resume.” Okay, I suppose I can’t take the ring off his finger, but when did he suddenly gain all of these leadership qualities? I think the culture of New York will have a bigger impact on Tyson Chandler than Tyson Chandler will have on the culture of New York.
Sounds pretty stupid now, doesn’t it? Think back to December, though. Chandler, a 10-year veteran, had posted just three seasons worth clamoring about: the one that had just ended (a contract year with Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki), and two with Chris Paul down in New Orleans. He’d signed his first big contract with the Bulls in ’05 (six years, 60-some-million dollars) and had been dealt by ’06 (for PJ Brown and an unestablished JR Smith, no less). When I said what I said in December it hardly seemed ridiculous to deem Chandler a product of not only his situation, but also of his motivation. Mike D’Antoni’s Knicks and a shiny new contract? I thought I’d worded it perfectly–the culture of New York will have a bigger impact on Tyson Chandler than Tyson Chandler will have on the culture of New York.
I suppose this is where I begin rattling off all of the defensive stats and rankings which prove just how wrong I was, but is that really necessary? With all due respect to Marcus Camby, this isn’t his DPOY Award, and as NBA fans you all understand that. No one man can turn a team around on his own, but Tyson Chandler came in and anchored one of the league’s better defensive units while playing with a couple of guys who hadn’t bent their knees in years. It’s clear that I got this one way, way wrong, and I have no problem admitting that. To write about something as unpredictable as NBA basketball with the expectation of being right all the time… that would be stupid.
While there are still three seasons and $45 million worth of time over which things could turn sour, I think it’s safe to say Tyson Chandler has proven that he’s more than a product of ideal situations. He joined up with the offensive-minded Knicks, brought with him the exact kind of intense mentality the team needed from day one, and maintained that mentality for the entirety of a rollercoaster season. Would I have given him my DPOY vote? Honestly, I’m not sure. Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, and of course Dwight Howard would’ve all received a great deal of my consideration, but that isn’t really the point. Tyson Chandler was inarguably a leading candidate, and that alone showed all that there was to be shown–that Tyson Chandler does possess the ability and the qualities that he was paid so handsomely to bring to the table.
Congratulations, Tyson Chandler. You earned this.
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Since Wednesday night’s games pretty much sucked I’m only going to throw out some brief observations.
- The Spurs led the Jazz 53-28 at halftime… and I didn’t even feel that they’d played all that well. They’d missed some easy shots including layups and wide-open threes and committed a few unforced turnovers. As ugly as it was and ended up getting (114-83) for the Jazz, they’re lucky it wasn’t worse. To say the Spurs are rolling, that would be an understatement.
- The Clippers, who finished the season as the league’s second-best team in holding onto the ball, coughed it up 20 times in a 98-105 game-two loss. They really shot themselves in the foot with all the turnovers, allowing Memphis to get out on the break and convert the miscues into 20 transition points. Although Chris Paul had 5 of the giveaways, he also accounted for 29 points, 9 assists, and 5 steals. Paul singlehandedly had the Clipps within four at halftime but was unable to overcome the aggressive Grizzlies with little help from his teammates. I did feel that the officiating was somewhat questionable (FTAs were 39-18 in favor of Memphis), but I wouldn’t say the officials were the reason why LA lost.
- Kyrylo Fesenko’s assessment of Indiana’s 97-74 victory over Orlando is a lot more fun than mine would be…
