If you are like me, and don't really follow any sports other than the NBA, then I'd be remiss in my duties if I didn't suggest you read True Hoop on a regular basis. There are other NBA blogs web magazines, most of which are listed on Henry Abbot's blogroll, but True Hoop has the best balance of original content (some republished from various magazines) and quotes/links from the usual suspects (Charley Rosen, Steve Kerr, Peter Vescey, Steve Smith, et al). Check it out, add it to your RSS feed.
Actually, I still feel a twinge of guilt paying so much attention to any sport. I realize sports are 'bread and circuses', distractions from the real matters that weave the woof of our lives, but still, a perfectly executed give-and-go is a thing of beauty. Even a pick and roll, as mundane and frequently utilized as it is, can exhilarate.
Football (American style) is brutal and boring, baseball is mostly just boring, soccer reminds me too much of when I played (and was in shape, before I blew out my knees), lacrosse has too many flip-flops, yadda yadda. Basketball is elegant in contrast.
Speaking of Charley Rosen, Rosen has this to say about the Bulls best SF, in Rosen's list of all-time best small forwards....
No. 3 - SCOTTIE PIPPEN
Pippen was a dynamic scorer in half-court situations and also an accomplished finisher on the run. He could play big and he could play small; there was no aspect of the game he didn't master. He was as comfortable in the triangle offense as Brer Rabbit was in the briar patch. But what sets Pippen above the rest is his ability to play suffocating defense at any of the skill positions (point guard, shooting guard, and small forward). Indeed, the only flaw in his game was a tendency to shoot impulsive 3-pointers when the shot-clock was still in the high-teens.
While Pippen was usually aloof with civilians, he was the player that the other Bulls turned to for advice and solace. (They were all much too afraid of MJ's caustic and insulting remedies for their comparatively inferior talent.) Moreover, it was Pippen who orchestrated the Bulls' stingy defense — making on-the-spot adjustments, and instructing his teammates (including MJ) when to double, when to rotate, when to sag, when to go over and when to go under screens.
On the defensive end of Chicago's six championships, Pippen was Phil Jackson's surrogate coach-on-the-court.
narco-detail: If I was an NBA player, this would be my position: SF. Not good enough handle to be a guard, not big enough to be a brute inside.
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