Basketball question

[Boris]

Does anyone know the dirt on why Motumbo is on Byron Scott's doo-doo list? Why does the coach refuse to play him?

[Sooga]

Not sure if Mutombo is in the doghouse because of something personal, but it's most likely because the Nets offense is extremely uptempo, and let's face it, if you had to describe Mutombo in one word, 'uptempo' would probably be near the bottom of the list, right above 'intelligible'. Add that to the fact that he's been injured and that the team hasn't gotten used to playing with him, and I think it's understandable why he hasn't been getting much play.

[IrishHand]

Mutombo's performance has been dropping consistently and severely over the past 3 seasons. He's probably close to 40, he's got a lot of minutes on his body, and if he weren't making 8 figures, he'd probably be giving retirement a serious thought.

The media also appears to like the whole "he doesn't fit with the Nets' uptempo offense" theory" - the only problem with that being that the Nets center doesn't play a part in their "uptempo offense": Actually, they run a fastbreak offense (which isn't the same thing) relying on their PG to run the ball down the opponents throats and their athletic players (Kittles, Jefferson, Martin) to run the floor for easy buckets. It's not like Aaron Williams or Jason Collins are running the floor much. Some people also suggest it's related to Mutombo's inability to be quicker on the floor in Jersey's Princeton offense. He's spent his whole career running around setting picks on offense, and I'm not sure how he's qualitatively any worse than Collins on this score.

Mutombo has become old and ineffective. He doesn't play as much because he no longer deserves too - much like Robinson in SA, or Ewing the last 2-3 years of his career.