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Editor's note: As part of "The Stein Line" every Monday, senior NBA writer Marc Stein gives his take on things in "Slams and Dunks."
|  | | Blazers owner Paul Allen can't like what he's seeing from his Seahawks, either. |
If you are anything like us, you would love to hear Paul Allen sit in front of cameras and microphones and for once explain why his general manager in Portland has the sanction to keep spending (and losing) zillions on a roster with multiple players with multiple arrests in their pasts.
If you are anything like us, you are not surprised to hear that, at a time when some Portlanders are calling for a boycott of the local basketball team, Allen is reportedly in New Zealand with the America's Cup entry he's co-funding.
If you are anything like us, it will elicit at least one chuckle when you hear that OneWorld Challenge -- backed by Allen and fellow billionaire Craig McCaw -- has been accused of stealing and using design information from three America's Cup rivals. Perhaps Bob Whitsitt put together that team, too.
It took a season and a good month, but zones are finally a standard NBA defense all over the league, as many predicted for Year 2 of the Almost Anything Goes era. Even the most stubborn anti-zoners are trying them now -- George Karl and, yes, Padre Pat Riley -- and actually sticking with them for more than two possessions. "Guys are starting to give it a chance, which makes sense," one Eastern Conference coach said. "You don't give up on your man-to-man after two bad possessions."
Unfathomable as Friday's comeback over scalding Dallas was, followed by a home win Sunday over almost-as-hot Utah, the Lakers were obviously due. They were 0-8 before those victories against teams with winning records. Also overdue for a sign of championship steel, frankly, was Shaquille O'Neal. L.A. went 4-4 with Shaq back before the Mavericks showed up, meaning O'Neal had used up his preseason. This weekend was time to look sharper and, although O'Neal didn't hurt the Mavericks as much as Kobe Bryant did, he looked a little more Shaqian against the Jazz with 32 points and 11 boards.
|  | | Pau Gasol has hardly resembled the Rookie of the Year under Hubie Brown. |
On the subject of welcome sights, Pau Gasol had 21 and 17 in Memphis' victory Sunday over Phoenix. That is significant progress from Wednesday's game in Phoenix, where Gasol -- after cutting the Suns' lead to two -- got zero shots in the last five minutes of a Grizzlies loss while the ball repeatedly went to Mike Batiste and Lorenzen Wright.
Jerry West is generally above reproach, so if he wanted Hubie Brown as his coach, West isn't going to get an argument. Brown, by contrast, has been questioned once or twice in his NBA life. So we ask the man Jerry hired to develop at least one star in Memphis: Shouldn't Gasol be getting the ball at the end of games, until he either becomes that star or proves he can't be?
By Christmas last winter, New Jersey's Rod Thorn had already clinched Executive of the Year honors for his Jason Kidd heist. As such, he's going to have to suffer through a long winter now that Dikembe Mutombo is out for a few months, especially since Deke was off to a near-invisible start even before he got hurt. Instant analysis, it's called.
Thorn, though, doesn't deserve the Suns-like heat he's bound to get. Not yet.
Trading away Keith Van Horn is not like parting with Kidd, one's of the NBA's 10 best players. Van Horn had to go for the sake of team chemistry; right or wrong, more than one Net decided they no longer wanted to play with the guy. Thorn, furthermore, didn't smugly proclaim Mutombo to be the final piece for a championship; he did make an attempt, albeit a hopelessly unrealistic one, to pry Kevin Garnett from Minnesota.
There's also this: Much as we'd never wish harm on anyone, what if Van Horn suffers some sort of long-term setback? Is the trade then suddenly a wash? Kidd-for-Stephon Marbury was easier to judge quickly because both injuries didn't interfere with the analysis. Moving for Mutombo only becomes a disaster in Jersey if it drives Kidd away in free agency.
Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here.
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