Johnathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports: Having had a full preseason to see the zones, to analyze their use, evaluate the advantages and disadvantages they offer and consider how they will change the NBA forever, we have just one question:
What zones?
Kevin Willis sounded as if he was caught in the Twilight Zone when he announced that Kelvin Cato would be an "elite" center. Shawn Kemp might want to try the zone diet. We're still trying to figure out what time zone the Suns are in this week.
But somehow, we don't think David Stern's blue-ribbon, special, double-secret committee on rules changes got together last season to discuss the Rockets' centers, Kemp's girth or the time in Phoenix. The NBA decided to allow almost any defense anyone wanted to play -- excluding stationing defenders in the lane for more than three seconds -- and that zones were to come to the NBA.
So where are they?