Quite Frankly, Not That Bad a Season

Of course, everyone knows what comes now ...

Summer league!

Hoop may never end, but at least the NBA now goes underground for a well-deserved rest after a great season, whether anyone noticed or not. The playoffs were the best in years with seven of the 15 series going six games, four going seven and three teams rallying from 3-1 deficits to force Game 7s, capped by a thrilling Finals ... that drew a 4% increase in TV ratings.

The NBA now defines not hot. Sports Illustrated just put Lawrence Taylor on the cover with a banner promo for a baseball midseason report and a box with three promos for stories about NASCAR, the World Cup and the Tour de France.

The Heat winning the NBA title was on page 143.

And for the maraschino cherry atop the sundae of David Stern’s week, how about that ESPN draft telecast?

Stephen A. Smith, who plays rage better than anyone since Jack Nicholson, almost melted down on the set like the Wicked Witch of the West. Stephen A. finally became so apoplectic at Portland’s folly, he sputtered he might have more to say the next day but was too upset to discuss the Trail Blazers further.

Entertaining as this might have been for Jerry Springer fans, it was totally divorced from reality, but check me on this:

Portland gives up its No. 4 pick, Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff and Viktor Khryapa, getting out from under the $23 million it owes Ratliff, and takes back Raef LaFrentz and Dan Dickau, who have $40 million coming.

That allows the Trail Blazers to get LaMarcus Aldridge, generally ranked the best big man in the draft, and Brandon Roy, the top-rated guard.

THE TRUTH? YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH! THE TRAIL BLAZERS STOLE THIS DRAFT BUT I CAN’T EVEN TALK ABOUT IT! I MIGHT HAVE MORE TO SAY ABOUT IT TOMORROW, OR I WOULD IF I WAS WRITING, WHICH I’M NOT, SO CHECK BACK OCT. 1!

Suggesting Stern wasn’t in his best mood, either, he engaged host Dan Patrick in repartee, a mistake because live TV wasn’t the best place to suggest his irritation by asking if Patrick would say anything positive about a draft pick.

Replied Patrick: “I like Paul Tagliabue better.”

Tagliabue, of course, is the NFL commissioner whose draft is like a gathering of Greek gods atop Mt. Olympus, compared with this reality programming.

Stern may have seen more of Stephen A. than Stuart Scott, who discussed some heartwarming moment with every draftee. You could almost see a thought balloon above Stern’s head saying, “I wonder if we can put this on NBA TV next year?”

I still think Stern is by far the most able commissioner. There may be nothing he needs to do to attract the all-important buzz but move up the start for his Finals games.

On the other hand, it would be a good idea to do something.

Happily for Stern, lots of things went right this season.

The East rose again, or at least produced enough good teams for another competitive Finals. That was three in a row after five Western walkovers.

Dallas owner Mark Cuban became the NBA answer to George Steinbrenner, turning whomever the Mavericks played into America’s Team.

(Cuban might have also been pivotal in their fall. Mild-mannered Dirk Nowitzki just chastised him, saying, “We can’t lose our temper all the time on the court or off the court and I think he’s got to learn that too ... not yell at the officials the whole game. I don’t think that helps us.”)

Kobe Bryant’s brilliant month of January, capped by his stunning 81-point performance, galvanized players and fans alike, proving he was The Next Michael Jordan.

LeBron James’ inspirational play after Feb. 1 proved he was TNMJ.

Dwyane Wade’s inspirational play after Kobe and LeBron had gone home proved he was TNMJ, at least until the start of next season.

The NBA got the Los Angeles market back, even if it was represented as much by the Clippers as the Lakers.

Happily for the Clippers, they’re no longer the Clippers. No matter how it turns out, they just put $13 million on the table for Sam Cassell and $31 million for Vladimir Radmanovic, as opposed to their old low-balling, foot-dragging approach.

With Coach Mike Dunleavy doing the negotiating, you’d think owner Donald T. Sterling, who knows his asking price -- $6 million a year -- would have locked Dunleavy up, but stay tuned on that one.

Unhappily for the Lakers, they’re no longer the Lakers, nor are they likely to be in the foreseeable future.

If it’s only beginning to dawn on them, the handwriting was on the wall from the moment they traded Shaquille O’Neal, after Jerry Buss didn’t hire Pat Riley in a last-ditch try to keep O’Neal and Bryant together.

That left only a lose-lose choice between Shaq and Kobe. The No. 1 priority should have been to avoid having to choose.

Predictably, the Lakers lost. Signing Radmanovic makes it official.

That white handkerchief you hear flapping is Buss abandoning his salary-cap strategy ... and his tradition of putting it all on the line to be great.

After all they’ve been through, their crushing first-round loss to Phoenix after leading, 3-1, the Clippers’ ascension into the second round, Shaq winning a title, with two more seasons left before they got cap space and James set to sign an extension, the Lakers put it all on the line just to be better.

(Not that I think it was working the other way. That was the problem: Heads, they lost. Tails, they lost.)

Unfortunately for the league, not all of the East rose.

The Knicks’ corporate boss, James Dolan, showed that no matter what he does to embarrass the franchise, he can top it.

The farcical Larry Brown firing was concluded in an invitation-only “press conference” with seven beat writers, after which Dolan and Coach-President Isiah Thomas were grilled on the house network by a team announcer. The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman named it “Bootlickers’ Ball.”

The atmosphere at the draft in Madison Square Garden was mutinous, with chants of “Fire Isiah!” answered by “Sell the team, Dolan!”

Like Brown, Thomas is a sharp guy with foibles, destined to be swallowed whole. Isiah, who’s daring to a fault, defied the mob, taking unknown Renaldo Balkman, who wasn’t even in the guide of the 100 top prospects, in the hope he’s the next Dennis Rodman.

“Renaldo is not here,” announced Stern, over the fans’ horrified reaction.

“And it’s probably a good thing,” Patrick said.

The days are long past that a league has to have a championship team in New York, but a black hole is something else. Sports Illustrated’s office is in New York. New York is baseball-mad after 10 years of Yankee prominence. SI is baseball-mad.

As to next season, it will have its own adventures:

* Allen Iverson will be traded. He would already be in Boston, which put up the best package -- Wally Szczerbiak, Al Jefferson, Gerald Green and the No. 1 pick -- if 76ers GM Billy King hadn’t peered into the future and realized what the sight of Iverson in the playoffs wearing Celtic green would mean for King’s career.

* Coaches on the firing line include: Mike Montgomery, Warriors; Doc Rivers, Celtics; Bernie Bickerstaff, Bobcats; Terry Stotts, Bucks; Mo Cheeks, 76ers; Rick Carlisle, Pacers; Dwane Casey, Timberwolves, Sam Mitchell, Raptors.

* Most likely to hire Larry Brown: 1) Warriors; 2) Bobcats; 3) Celtics, 4) Bucks.

* Most likely time frame for Brown’s hiring: 1) November; 2) December; 3) January.

* Next season’s rookie of the year: Adam Morrison.

* Next season’s MVP: James.

* Next season’s winner of the Donald T. Sterling Award for Crummy Management ...

OK, it’s too early to start, but I may have more to say Oct. 1.