It dawned on me watching the Cavs that Lebron has the same problem as Dirk. He can't do it alone but he gets criticized as tho he should. Paul Pierce was having a very average game six but KG and Rondo found ways to make up for it. Pierce won't get criticized because he buried a few late buckets but he was afforded a horrible first half by his teammates. It just reinforces the theory that you have to have two superstars on your team in order to win a championship.
Jordan was a superstar on a good Bulls team but wasn't close to championship level until Pippen came along. Yes, great players make other players around them better but he can't make them a superstar. Just look at every championship team and you'll find players who would still be great on their own but collectively they make a championship team. Lebron did not have a championship cast around him. Shaq is still a decent center but he gets in foul trouble and can't be counted on. Jamison is a shell of the guy who was so crafty around the basket a few years ago. Jamison has never ever been able to play any defense but his defense against the Celtics hit an all time low. He can't stay in front of anyone and doesn't have the size to guard down low. Now the question. Where does Lebron go?
I find it hard to believe that Lebron will stay in Cleveland if they can't bring in another superstar. Cleveland is just not a place that people want to be. Bosh and Wade are the names out there that people assume Lebron wants to hook up with. If he somehow ends up in Miami then you can bet that will be followed by Pat Riley saying he has the desire to coach again. I think the best bet is meeting up with Bosh in New York. I mean, why not? You play in the most famous arena in the world with another top ten player in Bosh. I don't think Chicago is the right move. You want to be compared to Jordan but you'll never live it down if you don't win multiple championships. Let me give you my sleeper pick.
No one but me reads this so I can say this. I really think the Mavericks have a decent chance at landing him. They have the cap room and they wouldn't have to give up Dirk so you're playing with another superstar. You're in Dallas and not Cleveland. You have one of the best owners in sports who will do anything to make you happy. You'll have a suite at Cowboys stadium with the chance of playing games there on occasion. Plus, you're out of the eastern conference. You're going to have to deal with Dwight Howard for the remainder of your career in the east. Kobe is in the twilight of his career. Duncan is no longer on a championship team. Yes, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony are still young and on the rise but I don't find them nearly as intimidating as Howard. I just think that if Lebron wants a chance to win a title next year then the Mavs are his best option.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
The new Tiger needs his old swing back
SportsbyBrooks.com is reporting that Tiger Woods is parting ways with Hank Haney after six years. I think this is a good move for Woods. Tiger has struggled with his game off the tee since he left Butch Harmon in the summer of '02. He has rarely had stretches where he drove the ball like he did for a lot of 2000-2001. But why did Tiger leave Harmon in the first place?
When Tiger rebuilt his swing after the '97 Masters, he undertook a process that didn't fully come together for almost two years. Tiger's game at that time was built on power and timing. If his timing was on then he was unbeatable. But he didn't want to rely solely on his timing because he knew that it wouldn't consistently hold-up under pressure. The changes that Harmon suggested were tailored to Tiger. After all, no one in the world knew how Tiger's swing worked better than Butch Harmon. Harmon knew that Woods had incredibly fast hips thru the hitting area so designed an address position to to combat "getting stuck" on the downswing. "Getting stuck" is a term players use when their arms are not out ahead of their body but instead behind your hip on your downswing. Harmon had Tiger's hands farther away from his body at the address position. This caused Woods to bend more from his hips at address. His address position now dictated that he become a two-plane swinger of the club. This worked brilliantly for Tiger for a few years. Tiger eventually got to the point where he no longer needed to see Harmon on a consistent basis. His swing was essentially on autopilot. But somewhere around 2002, Tiger's swing started to have some inconsistency.
Tiger won the 2002 Masters with one of the most boring finals rounds in recent memory. I'll always remember that round as the day when absolutely no one played well in the final round. He then went on to win the U.S. Open at Bethpage. Tiger played awesome on Sunday to win by a couple of shots. If it wasn't for his third round 81 at The Open, Tiger could have been staring at a grandslam at the PGA in August. But a few weeks before the PGA, Woods informed Harmon that he no longer needed his services. Why? There could be several reasons. Maybe Woods didn't like Harmon taking on so many other students. Some say he didn't like how much Harmon was profiting from being associated with Woods' success. My theory is that Tiger kept wanting to change his swing. He kept wanting to find ways to get better. But as Harmon saw it, how much better can he really get? He won four majors in a row and five of six at one point. Harmon thought he just needed to stick with was he was doing and he would find all the success he wanted. But Tiger saw it a different way and thus the exit of the teacher that led Woods to six USGA amateur titles and eight majors. Tiger thought his main swing problem was his swing-plane. He thought that he was too far under-plane going into the ball. He went all of 2003 without a formal teacher. Then in 2004 he asked Hank Haney what he thought.
It became official in early 2004 that Hank Haney was Tiger's new teacher. Hank Haney's main focus of his teaching was the one-plane theory. Haney believed the correct way to swing the club was to swing on a plane that was parallel to the shaft angle at address throughout the entire swing. This was drastically different from how Woods swung the club from the previous few years. Woods had to change his address position to where he stood much taller than he had with Harmon. This also brought his hands in closer to his body at address. The changes in his swing started to come together in late 2004. By 2005, he started playing better than he had in a few years. He won the Masters in a playoff and placed 2,1,4 in the majors the rest of the year. Tiger looked to be back. Some started to note that although he won two of four majors, he seemed to struggle off the tee with his driver. This continued into 2006. His swing looked great except when he had the driver in his hands. He only hit his driver once during the 2006 British Open. He missed the fairway badly and the never came close to hitting his driver again. There were patches where Tiger did drive the ball well. There was even a stretch where he won 9 of 12 tournaments he played in. But at the 2007 Masters, Tiger briefly held the lead in the final round only to give up that lead. Tiger played very poorly that day and finished a few shots back of Zach Johnson. It was odd to see Tiger struggle with his swing so much on the final day of a major. The 2007 U.S. Open also finished a similar way on Sunday. Tiger just didn't have his swing when he needed it finishing second to Cabrera. Tiger managed to win the PGA that year and in 2008 he won his third U.S. Open title. Then came the knee surgery. Tiger came back to the game ready to dominate because he felt his knee could now withstand the rigors of hard practice. But the major season didn't go the way Tiger thought it would. He even lost his first 54-hole lead at the PGA. Then came the scandal and Tiger was away from the game until The Masters. Even though Tiger finished fourth, he hit some of the worst shots off the tee that anyone can recall. I guess that was when Tiger knew he couldn't make it work. But, why?
I've read and seen just about every Hank Haney teaching guide out there. I think Hank Haney's knows the golf swing very well. Haney is a disciple of Jim Hardy and Hardy believed that your body determined if you were a one or two-plane swinger of the club. I just simply believe Tiger was built to swing the club on two planes. I also think Tiger didn't fully buy into everything Haney said. I think Haney gave his input and if Tiger didn't like it he would disregard it. Woods didn't fully buy into his theory the way O'meara did twenty years earlier. That was a disadvantage to Haney. I also think Haney shares Woods' desire to try to constantly improve and he wasn't afraid to suggest changes to Woods' game. Tiger and Hank knew this day would be coming if he couldn't turn his game around. Tiger is at the point in his career when players usually peak and not go the other way. It was time for him to make this change. So who will now take over?
Unless he has someone in mind, I think Tiger will take his time in selecting a new teacher. For starters, I think Butch Harmon is not a candidate because I don't think he wants to be. Dale Lynch, Geoff Ogilvy's teacher, was a rumor that was going around last year when some thought Haney was on the way out. Tiger, incidentally, does not pay his teacher a crazy amount of money as some think he would. Harmon was on salary for $50,000 a year. Woods also had a rule that Harmon could not work with any other players at a tournament if Woods was still on site. He could only work with other players after Woods left the course. There are several great teachers out there to choose from. I think Peter Kostis would be a great choice. He threw out a couple of theories as to why Woods is struggling with his game and they make the most sense. But with his CBS schedule, he may not be able to be at Tiger's beck and call. Whoever it is will realize how thankless that job is soon enough.
When Tiger rebuilt his swing after the '97 Masters, he undertook a process that didn't fully come together for almost two years. Tiger's game at that time was built on power and timing. If his timing was on then he was unbeatable. But he didn't want to rely solely on his timing because he knew that it wouldn't consistently hold-up under pressure. The changes that Harmon suggested were tailored to Tiger. After all, no one in the world knew how Tiger's swing worked better than Butch Harmon. Harmon knew that Woods had incredibly fast hips thru the hitting area so designed an address position to to combat "getting stuck" on the downswing. "Getting stuck" is a term players use when their arms are not out ahead of their body but instead behind your hip on your downswing. Harmon had Tiger's hands farther away from his body at the address position. This caused Woods to bend more from his hips at address. His address position now dictated that he become a two-plane swinger of the club. This worked brilliantly for Tiger for a few years. Tiger eventually got to the point where he no longer needed to see Harmon on a consistent basis. His swing was essentially on autopilot. But somewhere around 2002, Tiger's swing started to have some inconsistency.
Tiger won the 2002 Masters with one of the most boring finals rounds in recent memory. I'll always remember that round as the day when absolutely no one played well in the final round. He then went on to win the U.S. Open at Bethpage. Tiger played awesome on Sunday to win by a couple of shots. If it wasn't for his third round 81 at The Open, Tiger could have been staring at a grandslam at the PGA in August. But a few weeks before the PGA, Woods informed Harmon that he no longer needed his services. Why? There could be several reasons. Maybe Woods didn't like Harmon taking on so many other students. Some say he didn't like how much Harmon was profiting from being associated with Woods' success. My theory is that Tiger kept wanting to change his swing. He kept wanting to find ways to get better. But as Harmon saw it, how much better can he really get? He won four majors in a row and five of six at one point. Harmon thought he just needed to stick with was he was doing and he would find all the success he wanted. But Tiger saw it a different way and thus the exit of the teacher that led Woods to six USGA amateur titles and eight majors. Tiger thought his main swing problem was his swing-plane. He thought that he was too far under-plane going into the ball. He went all of 2003 without a formal teacher. Then in 2004 he asked Hank Haney what he thought.
It became official in early 2004 that Hank Haney was Tiger's new teacher. Hank Haney's main focus of his teaching was the one-plane theory. Haney believed the correct way to swing the club was to swing on a plane that was parallel to the shaft angle at address throughout the entire swing. This was drastically different from how Woods swung the club from the previous few years. Woods had to change his address position to where he stood much taller than he had with Harmon. This also brought his hands in closer to his body at address. The changes in his swing started to come together in late 2004. By 2005, he started playing better than he had in a few years. He won the Masters in a playoff and placed 2,1,4 in the majors the rest of the year. Tiger looked to be back. Some started to note that although he won two of four majors, he seemed to struggle off the tee with his driver. This continued into 2006. His swing looked great except when he had the driver in his hands. He only hit his driver once during the 2006 British Open. He missed the fairway badly and the never came close to hitting his driver again. There were patches where Tiger did drive the ball well. There was even a stretch where he won 9 of 12 tournaments he played in. But at the 2007 Masters, Tiger briefly held the lead in the final round only to give up that lead. Tiger played very poorly that day and finished a few shots back of Zach Johnson. It was odd to see Tiger struggle with his swing so much on the final day of a major. The 2007 U.S. Open also finished a similar way on Sunday. Tiger just didn't have his swing when he needed it finishing second to Cabrera. Tiger managed to win the PGA that year and in 2008 he won his third U.S. Open title. Then came the knee surgery. Tiger came back to the game ready to dominate because he felt his knee could now withstand the rigors of hard practice. But the major season didn't go the way Tiger thought it would. He even lost his first 54-hole lead at the PGA. Then came the scandal and Tiger was away from the game until The Masters. Even though Tiger finished fourth, he hit some of the worst shots off the tee that anyone can recall. I guess that was when Tiger knew he couldn't make it work. But, why?
I've read and seen just about every Hank Haney teaching guide out there. I think Hank Haney's knows the golf swing very well. Haney is a disciple of Jim Hardy and Hardy believed that your body determined if you were a one or two-plane swinger of the club. I just simply believe Tiger was built to swing the club on two planes. I also think Tiger didn't fully buy into everything Haney said. I think Haney gave his input and if Tiger didn't like it he would disregard it. Woods didn't fully buy into his theory the way O'meara did twenty years earlier. That was a disadvantage to Haney. I also think Haney shares Woods' desire to try to constantly improve and he wasn't afraid to suggest changes to Woods' game. Tiger and Hank knew this day would be coming if he couldn't turn his game around. Tiger is at the point in his career when players usually peak and not go the other way. It was time for him to make this change. So who will now take over?
Unless he has someone in mind, I think Tiger will take his time in selecting a new teacher. For starters, I think Butch Harmon is not a candidate because I don't think he wants to be. Dale Lynch, Geoff Ogilvy's teacher, was a rumor that was going around last year when some thought Haney was on the way out. Tiger, incidentally, does not pay his teacher a crazy amount of money as some think he would. Harmon was on salary for $50,000 a year. Woods also had a rule that Harmon could not work with any other players at a tournament if Woods was still on site. He could only work with other players after Woods left the course. There are several great teachers out there to choose from. I think Peter Kostis would be a great choice. He threw out a couple of theories as to why Woods is struggling with his game and they make the most sense. But with his CBS schedule, he may not be able to be at Tiger's beck and call. Whoever it is will realize how thankless that job is soon enough.
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