Westcoast Slant

What's Wrong with the Heat?

2010-11-24T20:51:00.001-08:00

With their third straight loss in a row, including a 19-point drubbing by the Indiana Pacers (who now have a better winning percentage), the grand experiment with grouping three of the League's top ten players together on the Miami Heat appears to be reaching depths unforeseen by many in the media.

I expected some bumps in the road, but I figured the team would at least be exciting to watch. In fact, they’re quite boring outside the occasional Wade to Lebron or Lebron to Wade alley-oop. After watching several of their games this year, I’m noticing a couple of things.

First of all, it’s obvious that Wade and Lebron struggle when they aren’t dominating the ball. That’s about as “duh” of a statement as I can get. But, let’s really break it down.

Tonight against the Orlando Magic, at the 10-minute mark of the fourth quarter, Lebron subbed out for Zydrunas Ilgauskus and Wade came in for Jamaal Magloire. Over the course of the next four minutes, Wade dominated. After a Bosh three-point play, Wade had his hand in nearly every positive play—he got to the line and made a pair of freethrows, assisted on a Big Z jumper, assisted on an Eddie House three, burned Reddick baseline for a dunk, hit a running jumper and-one to put the Heat up 88-87. In a four-minute span, he carried the Heat to their first lead since the 4:50 mark of the first quarter.

As soon as the Heat took the lead, up from the bench came Lebron and I had a strong feeling that the Magic were going to win the game despite the Heat holding all the momentum.

Look, I’m not trying to make big sweeping statements. According to plus/minus, the Heat’s three best lineups all involve the big three.

But I’m convinced that Bosh and Lebron don’t know how to do “dirty work.” For the last couple of seasons, Lebron’s compiled wicked stats, flown in for momentum-shifting breakaway blocks, barreled his way to the hoop for monstrous dunks...he's basically been able to have all of the glory, all of the spotlight moments. But he’s always had others to do the dirty work. Anderson Varejao being the foremost, but also guys like Delonte West, Jamario Moon, Ben Wallace, Joe Smith. All of those guys set mean picks, grabbed offensive rebounds, played all-defense caliber defense (well, not Moon), showed on the pick and roll, took charges, etc.

This year's Heat don't really have that guy, especially now that Udonis Haslem is out for several weeks. Jamaal Magloire might have been that guy seven years ago, and he can do some damage in 15-minute spurts, but he’s not close to the same ilk as Varejao, Wallace or even Smith. And he certainly can’t do it for 25 minutes a night.

Instead, Lebron’s got Chris Bosh, another guy who’s never really done the dirty work, but more because he’s just not physically built to do so. Unlike Lebron, however, Bosh has not had a complimentary guy to do it for him (let alone four or five)—hence the inability to advance past the first round.

I had high hopes for Bosh (who has started to come around offensively thanks in part to Wade sitting out with injury) because he was the garbage man during the Beijing Olympics. He did all those little things that helped the team win and shot 70 percent basically because he was the recipient on pick and rolls and put backs.

He works beautifully on the pick and pop with Wade. But with Lebron on the floor, everything seems to grind to a terrible halt. Lots of Isos and standing around watching. While some of that has to be on coach Spoelstra, as the team's best player, Lebron has to take most of the, ahem, heat for this. He’s the only player who hasn’t changed his game at all. Sure, he’s giving the ball up a bit more so that Wade can dominate for a while, but he hasn’t really changed the way he goes about his game.

If he’s not the main focus of a play, he tends to float on the perimeter. With his strength and athleticism, he should be the ultimate version of Trevor Ariza when he’s playing off the ball. Instead, he’s averaging a career low in rebounds. The most damning sign of all is his 0.4 offensive rebounds per game. Lebron’s never been a great offensive rebounder mainly because he’s always been the guy creating offense, but now with Wade and Bosh attracting so much attention, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be getting at the very least one offensive board per contest.

Besides, Wade has done that. He’s always been a great offensive rebounder despite also shouldering the burden of carrying teams (far less talented then Lebron has had). Wade is averaging 1.2 O-boards a game from the guard position and he gives up four inches and 45 pounds to Lebron. Wade is averaging more total boards than Lebron, more blocks (1.1 to LBJ's 0.6) and more fouls. All effort categories. All dirty work.

Not only that, but Wade also looked like he worked on his three-point shooting this offseason. He came out the gates sizzling hot hitting 11-26 before his current shooting slump where he's missed 18 of his last 19 attempts over his past six contests. The point is, he knew he was going to have to play off the ball and worked on his three-point shooting . In fact, the one three he made tonight was the one where he got his feet set and squared up—a spot up shot.

If the Heat want to be the best team in the league, and by all means, they should at least be the best starting five in the league with Carlos Arroyo playing out of his mind and Big Z at supreme efficiency, Lebron is going to have to take a page from Kobe’s playbook and become a firefighter. (Quick side note: Gotta love Arroyo for recognizing the opportunity of his lifetime and not shying from the moment. A career 44 percent shooter and 33 percent from beyond the arc, Arroyo is hitting at 50 and 64 respectively. Yeah, 64 from three).

What I mean by firefighter is Lebron’s going to have to be the guy who does whatever the team needs. Basically, Wade will orchestrate the offense and set everyone up while Bosh plays that ideal, complimentary scoring option. Lebron’s going to have to be the guy who fills in all of the gaps--the ultimate role player.

He’s going to have to drop the I’m-no-longer-Jordan-I’m-Magic schtick.

As I wrote a couple weeks ago, Lebron ain’t no Magic. The sooner he realizes this the faster the Heat will get on track. Lebron’s going to have to get his hands dirty. He’s going to have to start diving to the hoop for offensive rebounds instead of watching from the perimeter as Wade throws up a fadeway jumper. He’s going to have to take it upon himself to shut down the opposing team’s best player whether that’s Kobe or Dwight Howard. He’s going to have to start focusing more on his defense and less on his stats. With his freak athleticism and strength, stats will come. They might not be as pretty as they have been. His PER might not lead the league and he might not get many triple doubles, but dude has all the potential to be a consistent 5x5 threat every single night. On this team, there's no reason why he shouldn't average at least two blocks, two steals and two offensive boards a game.

No reason.

Do I think that’s going to happen? No. As evidenced by “The Decision” and his butt-hurt talk in its aftermath, Lebron is not lacking in pride and subsequent arrogance. I have no personal insight into his mind or his life or anything like that, but the fact he didn’t work on his game at all this summer shows me that he thinks he can be Lebron, simply add Wade and Bosh, and win it all.

Lebron’s going to have to change the most if he wants this to work. He’s the most talented player on the team, the most versatile and the most dominant. But that just means he’s the most suited to be the ultimate Trevor Ariza—the ultimate Scottie Pippen.

If and when Lebron gets his inner KG on, look out NBA.

Jazz Heat: Milsap's 46

2010-11-09T21:40:00.000-08:00

First things first, Paul Milsap. Wow. 3-3 from 3 and 46 points. He's looking great on offense. Duh. New teammate Al Jefferson, however, is not. I've watched three Jazz games thus far, and in all of them, Big Al's looked lost and simply hasn't been able to finish plays. It's like he can't believe he's getting the ball when he's open. I still think that he'll come around, but not sure how everything is going to work out when Mehmut Okur comes back. Who starts? Jefferson, who's generously listed as 6-10, looks closer to 6-8. As was the case in Minnesota, he's really a power forward. But, how can you bring Milsap off the bench when he's been playing so well? Sloan will figure it out. Look for this team to be dangerous come playoff time, especially when Deron Williams can throw up 19 and 12 assists in 24 minutes of basketball. Crazy. Once Al starts hitting those little chippies he's seemingly constantly missing, Williams' assists will jump up. One last nitpick I noticed about Jefferson, he gets his hands on a lot of rebounds, but fails to pull them in on way too many occasions. Not to continue to compare him to Carlos Boozer, but Boozer pulls those balls in.

As for the Heat, notice how Dwyane Wade was the guy finishing the game. From the point in the fourth quarter when the Jazz took the lead 81-80, Wade scored 19 of the final 34 Miami points and hit the game tying three with 17 seconds left. Of course, he blew a crucial freethrow in regulation that would have made CJ Miles' three-point heave a must and Milsap's last second put back moot. Speaking of freebies, I know Utah's defensive game plan involves a large amount of fouling, but the fact that Miami shot 47 freethrows to the Jazz's 21 despite the Jazz scoring 56 points in the paint to Miam's 36, just is a bit curious. No conspiracy theories here, just an observation.

Another observation, or something to watch for, is if any of these guys make the all-star team. Well, as starters at least. Not only do the Heat have a huge target on their backs thanks to Lebron's decision, his butt hurt commercials and twitter proclamations, the big three's pyrotechnic-filled dance fest announcing their greatness to the world, and all of the media (ESPN cough, cough) hype, not sure the fan vote will be there for any of them. Add to this theory the indisputable fact that none of them are having real standout seasons (especially Bosh), there is every possibility that none of them start in the all-star game. I wonder how that plays on their psyches.

It's apparent that Bosh's mental state is already frazzled. He's a much, much better player than he's shown in the first eight games, but with his comments about trying to fit in and needing to just go out and play, paired with his inability to have an impact on the glass (only one double digit outing coupled with a couple of games with only one, yeah, one rebound) and Bosh's soft label continues to follow him around even though he's no longer the man on this team. If his struggles continue along with the Heat's mediocre play through 25 games or so, it won't be Lebron taking the brunt of the backlash. Bosh is going to get his share of criticism despite being the third wheel on this team.

As for Lebron, I just don't see the Magic in him. Sure, he makes some great passes, but his "creating" for others is wildly overrated. Passing to an open man is not necessarily creating a good shot for someone else. Lebron can hit the guys that are open, but he doesn't always create for his teammates. Not like Magic. Just as a point of reference, Magic's Lakers led the league in offensive rating seven times and finished second twice. A Lebron-centric team has never led the league in offensive rating. In fact, the best a Lebron-led team has finished is fourth in 08-09. And for those who say the Cavs didn't have the necessary talent, just check out how well they're doing right now without the King.

Are the Heat going to be good? I believe they can be, after all, they're already a good defensive squad. However, could I see egos getting in the way after some all-star snubs and a continued bout of losing? Sure. I could also see Wade or Bosh or both going down for an extended amount of time and unlike the 09-10 Cavs (12-deep squad) this Heat team lacks enough impact players off the bench. We're only eight games into the new season, but 72 wins is already out the window. The Heat better start focusing on just playing hard and smart for 48 minutes each and every night because taking things for granted has gotten Lebron exactly zero rings.

Toronto vs Sacramento (108-111) 110110

2010-11-02T02:27:00.000-07:00

Why we love Reggie Evans...

Reason number one. At the 2:45 mark, the Raptors are spread out around the perimeter, Weems is out at the right wing, Jack is up at the top of the key while DeRozan is spotted up in the right corner behind the three point line. Bargs is at the left baseline side with the ball. He jab steps twice, and then shoots it over Dalembert. When the shot goes up, the only Raptor in the key is Evans and he’s surrounded by Udrih at the top, Garcia, Landry and Antoine Wright. The thing is, Evans sees the first jab step by Bargs and he immediately goes into rebound mode rudely introducing himself for the fifteenth time already to Carl Landry, who is undersized to begin with. There’s no real way he should have the rebound, and he doesn’t get it, but he does jump, get his fingertips on it and make Wright miss it. Ball goes out of bounds on Wright, Raptors’ ball. Where the stat for that? It gets the team an extra possession, but it can’t be quantified by the limitations of our current statistical systems. It’s not a rebound, though it’s just as good as an offensive board, and it’s not a steal. In the boxscore, it doesn’t exist.

Reason number two. At the 1:40 mark, still in the first, Evans is given the ball in the post. I’m not entirely sure why Calderon delivers the ball into him with 14 seconds left on the shotclock. Reg doesn’t really have anything resembling a postgame. But, regardless, in the ball goes to Evans. Garcia dives in from the right corner and knocks the ball loose. Reggie is after itand it takes him out to just within the three point arc. Garcia, a physical player, is leaning into Evans with his arm stretched out. So, naturally, Evans pulls a Kobe/Durant and earns two freethrows sinking both. While he did find his way into the boxscore on this play, the entirety of it does not truly get accredited to him because he drew a foul on Garcia and gifted him with an elbow to the jaw for his trouble.

Reason number three. Dude pulled in 19 rebounds—10 of those on the offensive end. Is he the reincarnation of Dennis Rodman?

Reason number four. The beard. Along the same line of thinking as reason number three, since Evans doesn’t sport hair up top, he should start dying his beard different colors.

Dalembert sure did look overweight and out of shape, not that I hold that against him in the slightest seeing all the work he did for Haiti earthquake victims this past summer. Of course, I’m not paying him $13,428,129.

An aside. Evan’s replacement is Amir Johnson. This guy grabs my attention not because he can’t get away from fouling (at 16 minutes per he’s averaging 4 fouls), AJ looks like a giant Andre from Outkast. In honor of this observation, I now christen Amir Johnson—

Andre the Giant.

A side note: can’t tell for certain, but Kleiza could probably get away with some of his traveling if he didn’t make it look so much like traveling. If he made it look better, (for example Kobe, Wade, and Roy are masters), mainly, he needs to stay more grounded and stop shuffling his feet.

And finally, what a crazy couple of plays to end the game. Ty Evans sets up Casspi for a layup that Casspi makes harder by reversing it. He misses, but Ty gets the O board and briefly sets up before attacking again and finding Casspi in the corner for what seems like a backbreaking three.

Then there was DeMarcus Cousins spinning through the lane and and flipping it up and in (he looked so excited after he made it, pumping both fists. Gotta love that energy). Followed immediately by Bargs hitting a three to put the Raps within three points.

And then, of course, DeRozan seeming to gather himself in the air and then dunk it to pull the score within one, 108-109.

Thoughts on Opening Night

2010-10-27T17:09:00.001-07:00

Obviously the highlight game, the one everyone was looking forward to (my wife watched it…she’s a Celtics fan, though is torn because she despises Shaq), was the Heat vs. the Celtics. And, while it got off to a rocky start for the Heat, all it took was for Lebron to grab control of the game and almost single-handedly pull the Heat to within one triple of tying the game with a minute to go in the fourth quarter.

The fact the Celtics have been playing together for a couple of seasons was enough to push them ahead. While I think the Heat will eventually be a formidable team (as long as the big three stay healthy) I can’t help but point out that the Cs were integrating new, large pieces into their style of play as well. Love Rajon Rondo's 17 assists and 3 turnovers, but he still can't shoot 2-9, which has got to be somewhat disappointing for Celtics' fans hoping to see Rondo take his game to superstar levels. If he continues with that busted jumper, his ceiling is all-star occasional game-changer. If he could hit threes? Top three point guard easily.

On a side note, watch out for Jermaine O’Neal who is really in an ideal situation to have a helluva year—efficiency-wise at the very least. He’ll get to split time with Shaq, Glen Davis and Kevin Garnett, so he won’t be exposed to 30-plus minutes of banging down low every night. The dude is only 32 and had an underrated season last year with Miami (though all anybody remembers is his horrific playoffs). While he can’t dominate with size like Shaq, and he’s not the beast of a defender that Kendrick Perkins is, overall, JO is definitely the Cs best all-around center.

As for the Heat, they’ll be fine, though 72 wins never seemed so far away. And they are going to struggle mightily against teams with big centers.

Tuesday, the Heat tallied 17 turnovers to only 15 assists. Bosh had 8 points and 8 boards on 3-11 shooting, while Wade shot 4-16 with 6 assists and 6 turnovers. Lebron had 31 points and 3 assists, but turned the ball over 8 times. Cleaning up the turnovers will come with familiarity.

Another side note: while it's been said that the Heat will struggle to guard big centers, most notably Shaq and Dwight Howard, is it completely insane of me to think that Lebron should get some time covering Howard? Just a thought. Both are freak athletes, and while Bron gives up a couple of inches, he might actually weigh more than Howard. Of course, you don't want your best player getting in foul trouble, but he's never had that problem before. Besides, it wouldn't be for the whole game, but, I'm thinking they might have to go with that...unless Jamaal Magloire, Big Z and Joel Anthony are going to unload all 18 of their fouls on Howard.

That Houston tandem of Kevin Martin and Aaron Brooks is going to be a nightmare matchup. Both have slight frames, and therefore struggle defensively. But with Yao an intimidating presence in the key, one that can foul with abandon thanks to his strict 24-minute time limit, Martin and Brooks’ defensive liabilities will be masked to a great extent. That is the Yao effect.

For the Lakers, Pau Gasol has suddenly become the man on the team with Kobe working back from injury though, it’s hard to say ‘working back’, then read Kobe’s 27, 5, and 7 statline. Matter of fact, it’s hard to say Pau is the man when it was obvious he struggled a bit taking so many shots. Yao’s size had a lot to do with that, but Pau also settled for 8 jumpers outside the key. He hit one. It’s the first game and the first time Pau has been the go-to option on the Lakers, so he’ll improve. In fact, the broken play where he picked up Kobe’s fumbled drive and scored was the second biggest play of the game.

If Shannon Brown can continue to shoot like that? Sasha Vujacic won’t see the floor, which means his stock will continue to plummet, meaning when he becomes a free agent at the end of next June, the offers will be minimal. All that to say that the soon-to-be Mr. Sharapova might need to borrow from his wife-to-be in order to pay for that $250,000 rock he bought her. By the way, Shannon is leading the league in PER at this moment in time.

Bryant played extremely well on the offensive end, especially in light of the fact he’s in the latter stages of his rehab on his surgically repaired knee. But, his defense was atrocious. Martin and Lee both blew right by him like he was a traffic cone on several plays. One wonders if his lateral quickness will come back this season.

If it doesn’t, Kobe’ll be better at covering small forwards. And if Brown continues his stellar play and becomes the designated 2-stopper, than we might begin seeing that Brown, Blake, Kobe wing combo that finished Tuesday’s game a lot more often. Which means that Ron Artest is going to lose minutes. Wonder how that’s going to sit with him?

One last point and why I love Kobe so much. Coming out of a Lakers timeout at the 2:48 mark, the Lakers are up 103-97. Kobe has a chat with Steve Blake, moving his arm in a circle like he's diagramming a play. He’s teaching, or at least relaying to Blake the holes in the Houston defense that he sees.

Fast-forward to the end of the game, Lakers down by one point with 20 seconds left on the game clock, Kobe drives to the hoop, stutters, sucks the defense in, and then kicks it out. While it almost looks like a pass to Gasol, who pulls his hands away at the last second, the ball sails perfectly into Blake's hands as he is circling back up to the top of the key, finding him in rhythm.

The newbie, who along with Theo Ratliff and Matt Barnes had to watch the rest of his teammates collect some gaudy jewelry before the game, knocks down the game-winning 3 pointer.

Now, tell me how that’s not making your teammates better…

The Greatest Season Ever: Post 3

2010-10-26T16:27:00.000-07:00

Beginning in 2003, the San Antonio Spurs reeled off three straight championships every odd year. Not forgetting their chip in 1999, and its safe to add historical precedence to the list of reasons why the Spurs should rightly be considered dangerous in 2011. With the foundation of Tim Duncan/Greg Popovich and Pete Holt/R.C. Buford, the Spurs have all the makings of a team that if healthy, should be considered in a class with Boston, Orlando, Los Angeles and Miami.

It is my humble belief that the Spurs are the deepest they’ve been since 2003.

Last season, the team made it to the Western Conference Semis with Tony Parker hobbled and Richard Jefferson clearly still trying to find his way in a system that takes most a year to acclimate to. To his credit, Jefferson has been very candid about his struggles last year. He’s even put in one-on-one time with Greg Popovich and with a new, fat contract in tow, seems to be more than willing (dare I say driven?) to focus on molding his game to fit with what the Spurs have successfully done for over a decade (at least 50 wins for the last 11 seasons).

Parker is in a contract year and is only 28. Despite the pounding his body takes due to his attacking style of play, with George Hill’s emergence and Pop’s brilliant time-management skills, Parker will get the best of both worlds. Plenty of rest. But plenty of opportunity to return to the 50 percent shooting and 18 and 6 he consistently put up the five seasons prior to last.

Outside of Lebron, potentially the biggest offseason acquisition for a legitimate contender? Tiago Splitter. For those who don’t know, Mr. Splitter was named the 2010 Spanish League MVP last year. A couple of other recent Spanish League MVPs? Luis Scola (twice) and Marc Gasol. Sure, there was an adjustment period for both, but they each shot over 51 percent and both had PERs better than 16 their first seasons in the Association. And neither got to play and learn from Tim Duncan. Splitter is tough, unselfish, smart and defensive-minded. Basically the perfect fit in the Spurs system. Best of all, he’s only 25.

As for the rest of the roster, Gary Neal, another Euro-find, is polished enough to contribute right away and there is absolutely no reason why the Spurs’ drafting magic can’t continue. James Anderson will join DeJuan Blair, George Hill and to a certain extent, Alonzo Gee, as an immediate contributor with plenty of upside still yet to explore.

Look, people are rightly talking about the Boston Celtics (me included) and how they should still be the most feared team in the East, always providing the caveat of health. So, what makes the Spurs any different? Well, besides the fact that they have three championships with the Manu, Parker, Duncan core to Boston’s one with Pierce, Allen, KG.

I expect a Western Conference Finals bid for the Spurs barring no major injuries.

Despite my affinity for Kobe Bryant and my belief that he is widely undervalued, I still recognize that there’s little debate that Duncan has been the decade’s best. As a big man with a new defensive presence protecting him, I’m confident that he’ll continue to play at an elite level.

Especially with how svelte and fit he’s looked in the preseason. It’s preseason, but he did put up 10 and 7 in only 16 minutes a game.

Some quick thoughts on a few other teams.

The Orlando Magic are also not being given the proper amount of respect. Is Vince Carter past his prime? Yes, but he’s still a really good player and any marginal improvement from last season, which is a reasonable expectation, could be enough. Especially if Dwight Howard has figured out how to utilize his speed and athleticism to punish the two centers that have been his kryptonite (Shaq and Kendrick Perkins). If, if, if…sure, but Miami, LA, Boston all of have plenty of ifs as well.

Look at the Magic. They are perhaps the deepest team going into the season. Two-deep at every position, the Magic can easily withstand any injury to anyone on the roster that is not season-ending. That goes for Howard as well, seeing as how Marcin Gortat would start on no less than 13 other teams. Ryan Anderson, who was stolen from New Jersey in the Carter trade, is a Troy Murphy-in-training. Brandon Bass provides size and offense off the pine. Mickael Pietrus is good from beyond the arc and a defensive menace while Quentin Richardson started 75 games last year for the Heat. And if Orlando had not matched Chicago’s offer, J.J. Redick would be starting at the two for the Bulls.

Hell, Chris Duhon has 137 starts over his past two seasons.

The Magic have a new state-of-the-art arena; a terrific coach who has talked earnestly about unwinding from previous stressful highs; a deep as the ocean bench, and several trade assets that could be used come February to snag a whale of a catch…

I’m going to watch the Toronto Raptors this year. I thought last season was going to be a grand experiment testing if a Euro-style team could be successful in the NBA. Only problem was that Jarrett Jack and Chris Bosh still played like Americans. Now Bosh is gone, and Andrea Bargnani has assumed the mantle of franchise player. Bargs is the prototypical European player. Tall, skilled. A stretch-five with a deficiency in the rebounding and physical play that the NBA demands.

A very intriguing player is Linas Kleiza who led Lithuania this past summer to a bronze medal behind 19 points and 7 boards on 52 percent from the field. He’s a bit laterally slow for a small forward, but he’s big, strong and weighs close to 250. He’s also 25 and coming into his prime. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the Raptors go-to scorer this season and average 16-18 points.

In fact, I’d be willing to bet that five or more players will be averaging at least 10 points.

Freak athlete DeMar DeRozan will get plenty of looks to have a breakout sophomore campaign. Leandro Barbosa, with a year’s distance from his mother’s death and the injuries he endured, will be looking to reprise his sixth man of the year role. Bargnani will be shouldering a greater scoring load. And the dynamic duo of Jarrett Jack and Jose Calderon has me thinking of 07-08 when T.J. Ford and Calderon shared the lead guard spot and both had highly efficient seasons.

This year’s Raptors are going to be weak inside and will survive by moving the ball and spreading the wealth on offense and by implementing a variety of zone defenses and team rebounding concepts. If the team gels, they could win 35-40 games and snag a playoff spot and officially announce what has been steadily gaining momentum—that Euro League style of play and players are both NBA-ready.

The Greatest SEason Ever: Post 2

2010-10-13T15:36:00.000-07:00

In my opinion, I feel like the Utah Jazz are getting an upgrade in Al Jefferson and if he lives up to his potential (remember, he’s only 25 years old) this Jazz team could potentially be a Western Conference Finals contender. Carlos Boozer was completely at home in the flex offense, and was probably a better rebounder and passer, but Jefferson is bigger. Out west, size matters. Also, Jefferson has averaged over 20 ppg while shooting close to 50 percent with a bevy of third-string point guards and combo guards running the show in Minnesota over the past three seasons. Now, he’s playing with arguably the best point guard in the Association who loves to pass. And let’s not even get into coaches. Jerry Sloan is easily a top-5 coach. He’s a Hall of Famer. No question Jefferson will benefit from Sloan’s greatness. Jefferson is a certified 20 and 11 and will probably shoot in the high 55-58 percentile this year.

Now, if he can use his size on defense, I think the Jazz have the potential to be better this season than last (as long as injuries don’t bite them too hard). Sure, they lost a lot of wing depth when Portland stole away Wes Matthews, and the Bulls (along with Boozer) swooped up Kyle Korver and Ronnie Brewer.

But the additions of Raja Bell, Gordon Hayward and Jeremy Evans have the potential to offset those losses, if not immediately, then certainly in the future. The hope is also that the maturation process of young guys like CJ Miles and potentially Othyus Jeffers or Ryan Thompson continues.

I get the line of thinking from Utah brass—Hayward is the new Korver, Evans is the new freak athlete, and Bell is the steady, defensive-minded, three-point shooter replacing Matthews. I like the mix. Even if Evans and Hayward are in fact, a year or two away.

Though Bell has only played in 73 games over the past two seasons, he’s maintained his ability to shoot lights out beyond the three-point line (around 43 percent). While he may not be the elite defender he used to be, and he’s certainly not the athletic defender and steals machine that Ronnie Brewer was, Bell is far more of an offensive threat and will hold his own playing scrappy defense sans gambling. With Andrei Kirilenko, Bell and Deron Williams, this Jazz team could be a much improved defensive squad.

Evans has the potential to be something really special, especially in a system that creates easy looks for him. With Bell on the floor, you can play Evans at the three and not worry about a lack of outside shooting. Evans will be free to slash and crash the glass. And he’s an excellent rebounder who is currently tied for the team high with Jefferson thus far in preseason (in 18 less minutes too).

Now, don’t get me wrong, Matthews is a very nice player, but at nearly $7 million per season for the next five, not sure he lives up to that contract. He shot well last year, played solid defense, and learned how to fit in, but is he really $1.2 million better than Trevor Ariza (for that matter, Lamar Odom makes $8 million)? Ariza is at least equal defensively, a far better athlete and pick-pocket, and just as good, if not better, of a spot-up shooter, evidenced by his 41 percent from beyond the arc post all-star break (after Kevin Martin joined the Rockets). And the two are separated in age by a single year, though it should be noted that Ariza has six years in the L to Matthews’ one.

Speaking of Ariza, I think he’s going to have a bounce back season. After the Rockets acquired Martin, Ariza blew up and once again became the ultimate glue guy. Every single statistic except ppg, went up or improved in efficiency. With Chris Paul running the show in New Orleans, David West the clear-cut second banana, and Emeka Okafor providing a relevance in the post, Ariza will have the freedom to roam the range.

He’s going to put up about the same averages, it’s just that everything will be done at a more efficient clip. I think 14 ppg, 7 rpg, 3 assists, 2.2 steals and a block while shooting 47 percent is very realistic.

The Greatest Season Ever: Post 1

2010-10-08T10:09:00.000-07:00

Been a long time since I last posted something. No time like the present to start it up again. I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about an NBA season before. So many changes, so many exciting storylines: the Superfriends, the Lakers 3peat aspirations, the maturation of young teams like the Bucks and Thunder, the refusal to concede of veteran championship squads like the Celtics and Spurs, vindication mixed with a pinch of revenge for the Cavs, and of course Blake Griffin.

Here’s an interesting thought. If Andrew Bynum really will be out until December, a Lakers squad sans the soon-to-be 23-year-old is not nearly “faraway best in the west.” In fact, without Bynum, Dallas has a much deeper, bigger team and suddenly Portland has the size advantage and the Thunder no longer is too small.

On a quick side note, I honestly think expectations are too high for OKC. First of all, while the team has extremely talented bigs, all of them are really power-forwards, except for Cole Aldrich who’s big, but also a rookie. In addition, the Thunder have never won a playoff series and they’re a young team (average age was 24 last season). The last Finals team whose best players had never won a playoff series before that season was the Shaq/Penny Magic in 94-95. And as good as Durant is going to be this year, not sure he’s at 94-95 Shaq level. Shaq, because of his sheer size, caused massive adjustments on both ends of the floor. Durant’s awesome, but he still lacks defensively, and in three seasons he’s never averaged three assists. Even Melo averages more than three assists. Hell, a third-year Shaq only had 16 less assists (in three less games) than a third-year Durant. So, yeah, Durant’s got a ways to go before he impacts entire games like young Shaq. End, somewhat long “quick side note.”

All that to say, if Bynum is out? Yeah, definitely I can see the Thunder beating the Lakers.

And, I really, really like a healthy San Antonio team. Especially if Richard Jefferson learned anything at all from Greg Popovich over the past month in their one-on-one time. A Jefferson closer to his 08 self, a healthy Tony Parker (who, for whatever odd reason a lot of people seem to be overlooking), and 2010 MVP of the Spanish League Tiago Splitter, along with Duncan, Ginobili and Pop—that team is Lakers-with-Bynum good.

So, I’m not convinced that the Lakers are far and away favorites in the West. On a similar line of thinking, I don’t understand how people believe the Heat are going to automatically roll to the finals. Could they win 70 plus games? Absolutely. In fact, if they don’t, it’s going to be somewhat disappointing. I mean, come on. They’ve got arguably the Association’s top two talents and arguably the league’s best power-forward. I know Pau Gasol is widely considered the best power forward. And I think he’s a wonderful player. Top-15 for sure. But he’s playing with Kobe Bryant! Who’s Nowitzki played with? (Okay, Nash, but he’s no Bryant). How about Chris Bosh?

Forget Bynum, Artest, Odom, and Phil’s HOF coaching, Bosh has never even played with one other great player. I mean, Vince Carter…Sure, VC had MJ talent, but without the MJ drive to go with it, the former Tar Heel high water marked at all-star/best dunker of all time—which is sadly poetic considering VC stopped doing the dunk contest because he didn’t want to be known as a dunker.

But, I again digress. Back to Bosh. While he never has played with much talent, he’s also never been coached by the best. No offense to Kevin O’Neil, Sam Mitchell, and Jay Triano. O’Neil has an NBA record of 33-49 to go along with his 187-194 career college record. Mitchell won coach of the year, but in four full seasons, his teams only had one season over .500, a 41-41 season, a 33-win club and a 27-win club. Triano’s 65-82 for his career.

I know Spoelestra (career 90-74 record) is no veteran coach, but he did a phenomenal job with last season’s team that finished second in opponent FG%, second in opponent points per game, and seventh in defensive rating according to basketball-reference.com while ESPN’s John Hollinger had them rated as the fourth best defense. That’s all the physical evidence I need to accept that he truly is Pat Riley’s disciple. Whatever you may think of Pat Riley, there’s no denying his ability to win. And in terms of quality of NBA coaches, Riles walks closest to Red Aurbach.

So, it will be interesting to see how the storyline concerning Bosh’s status in the NBA goes and how people’s view of Gasol as the best power forward will change now that Bosh is playing with Kobe-Bryant-level talent, under the direction of a Hall of Famer.

Remember, Bosh shot 77 percent during the 2008 Olympics. He also led the team in rebounding and as a roleplayer, he was free to play tenacious defense. With Lebron and Wade this season, I could easily see a healthy Bosh shooting over 60 percent from the field and averaging 11 plus rebounds while leading the team in scoring and being a beast on defense.

AI Back In Philly

2009-12-08T01:14:00.000-08:00

Allen Iverson looked rusty in his return to the 76ers after a short-lived one-month retirement. Iverson brought energy to the entire squad in the first half. Samuel Dalembert defended the paint like Dikembe Mutumbo swatting away six shots and finished with a game high 15 rebounds. Thaddeus Young worked inside and attacked the basket to finish with 21 points. AI looked to get his teammates involved, perhaps a few times to a fault. He ended the game with 11 points, six dimes and five boards. Modest stats in light of his supersized career. However, there he was enough of a potential threat that he drew double teams and allowed the other AI, Andre Igoudala, a chance to show what he can do when he doesn’t have to face double and triple teams for entire games.

Igoudala was making everything during the first half, including a 94-foot heave a split second after time expired at the end of the second quarter. He ended the game with 31 points, but only scored eight of them in the second half and six of those came on a pair of triples during the closing minute when the game had already been decided.

Iggy’s production fell off for one specific reason. After a solid, but unspectacular first half in which he had six points, three rebounds and three assists, the Nuggets backed off of doubling Iverson. Instead, they made the adjustment of putting speedy Ty Lawson on him. Lawson was able to stay in front of AI, who admitted after the game that his legs were tired (he shot 4-11 in 38 minutes). With Lawson shadowing his every move (even blocking one of his shots), the Nugs were able to double on Igoudala and force him into tougher looks.

That being said, as Iverson gets his sea legs, he’ll be a 15 to 20 point threat every night and will draw doubles on enough occasions that it will make life easier for Elton Brand, Thaddeus Young and at times Igoudala. He might not be a 30-per-game scorer anymore, but I wouldn’t bet against him dropping 30 at least a couple of times before the season is completed.

If the Sixers can maintain the defensive work they put in during the first half, limiting the League’s highest scoring offense to a paltry 41 points, then the addition of Iverson’s offense should be enough to make a legitimate push towards the playoffs, even for a team mired in a ten-game losing streak at 5-16. A bit on that defense to end. Thaddeus Young hounded Melo into a miserable 5-21 shooting affair. Iggy is one of the best wing defenders in the Association and Elton Brand, at one time in his career, could play some D. If Dalembert can bring a consistent effort on defense, this team will be much better. Stingy defense will lead to transition buckets and this team is still at its finest when running the break.

Tonight’s Starting Five

2009-12-05T23:37:00.000-08:00

Shooting Guard:

Tonight is an example of what Vince Carter brings to the Magic.

In the Magic’s win over the Warriors tonight, he took over late in the third quarter when Dwight Howard was forced to sit after picking up his fifth foul. After three consecutive Warriors baskets including two layups, Carter went to work scoring eight points including three trips to the line in which he tagged CJ Watson with his fifth, Monta Ellis with his fourth and Anthony Randolph with his third—basically the three best players for the Warriors tonight. While the Warriors took the lead, it was Carter’s offensive savvy that kept the Magic within three at the close of the period.

Carter was also involved with eight key points in the last three minutes when the game was still up for grabs. He deflated Oracle arena with his three pointer that put the Magic up 117-114, then stole the ball following the Warriors’ timeout and got to the line, sinking both freethrows. He then found an open Mickael Pietrus for a three. Ball game.

Hedo Turkoglu was pretty good at creating his own shot and getting people involved, but his offensive game has nothing on Carter’s. The Magic don’t pull this one out without Carter’s contributions during crunch time.

* * *

Small Forward

Still love me some Vladimir Radmanovic. The Space Cadet (as so endearingly called by Phil Jackson) helped energize the crowd tonight. His defense, as I said before,

He’s even shored up that non-existent defense, working to stay in front of his man and usually getting a hand in his opponent’s face.The best change that I’ve seen in Vlade, however, is his activity around the basket...Vladimir, on nearly every shot other than his own, dives towards the basket and uses his 6-11 frame to at least try and touch the ball. I’d say about 85-90 percent of the time he fails, but during that other 10-15 percent, he often makes positive things happen. He’ll get tip outs to teammates on the perimeter. He’ll get putback buckets. He’ll get offensive rebounds.And it’s these little aspects, nuances that he contributes, like the hockey assists and the hand up on defense that have added to his game and made it possible for him to stay on the floor even when his high-arching shot isn’t falling.

All of those things seem to be evident with him now that he’s getting major rotation minutes with the Warriors. Since joining GS, he’s averaging 32 minutes. His December has been spectacular, despite the three losses (the Orlando and Houston games were both very winnable). He’s averaging 15 points, 2.7 assists, 6 rebounds, 2.7 steals and shooting 44 percent from beyond the arc and 50 percent overall.

* * *

Center:

Amare Stoudemire was a beast on the boards tonight against the surprising Sacramento Kings who gave the Suns a hell of a game that will hurt even more tomorrow when the face the Lakers.

Amare pulled down 21 caroms, including 9 offensive which justifies his STAT moniker. The somewhat disappointing reality is that this was only his fifth game of the season with double digit boards. While it seems like he’s been working to be better defensively, the extra board work clearly has taken its toll on his offensive game. In those five games, he’s shooting 48 percent. In all other games he’s shooting a blistering 59 percent but pulling down a paltry 5.6 caroms. He’s faced some big time centers in those five contests including Shaq, Brendan Haywood, Jermaine O’Neal, Dwight Howard and a thus far impressive Jason Thompson, which could account for the dip in shooting percentage, but it doesn’t explain the paltry glass work against lesser centers.

With Jason Thompson only playing 23 minutes tonight, Amare should have had nearly 30 boards. He got his hands on several, but it’s obvious that he doesn’t have a natural ability to rebound. Just watch a guy like DeJuan Blair to see the stark difference.

And, not to continue to pick on Amare, because I mentioned him to show appreciation for the work he put in tonight, but I have a problem with him not wearing his protective shades while shooting freethrows. I used to wear goggles before I found soft contact lenses, so I understand the discomfort. But he ditched his goggles last year and ended up on his face for 22 hours a day for nearly two weeks.

He should not be taking any unnecessary risks whatsoever. Good players aggressively box out the shooter. He could get poked in the eye on a box out. What I worry about the most is that one of his shots bounces long, or right back at him, and he gets poked in the eye because the shades are up on his head. Along those lines, he’ll never be aggressive to rebound his misses because he’s unprotected. Which, ironically or not, goes back to my beef with his paltry rebounding numbers.

Point Guard:

During the Suns/Kings game, a poll was taking on who the public believes to be the early favorite for rookie of the year. Brandon Jennings won outright with over 50 percent of the vote. Tyreke Evans came in second with only 23 percent. Yeah, I know dropping 55 points got everyone’s attention. And leading the Bucks, sans Michael Redd, to the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference is a big accomplishment. I know the stat geeks will point out that he’s leading the rookie class in PER (18.10) and scoring.

But Evans is playing equally as well, if not better. He’s averaging nearly a minute more per game, putting up 19 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds (the only other players to do so are Dwyane Wade, Lebron James and Andre Igoudala) and he’s playing in the Western Conference.

Jennings was phenomenal during the first 11 games of the season, a stretch that saw the Bucks go 8-3. But he’s largely been resting on that stretch to keep his numbers up. Over his last seven games, the Bucks are 1-6 and Jennings is averaging 14 ppg, 6.5 apg, 2.85 rpg, 1.42 spg and 2.42 turnovers on 30 percent shooting. Add to that the fact that the Bucks are ranked 29^th in strength of schedule, and Jennings, while a worthy candidate, should in no shape or form be the clear cut frontrunner for the ROY.

Meanwhile, over Evans’ last seven games, the Kings have gone 4-3 and he’s averaged 22 ppg, 6 apg, 6 rpg, 1 spg, and 3.71 turnovers on 50 percent shooting. The Kings have had it pretty easy as well ranking 24^th in strength of schedule, but it has to be noted that they are one game out of the Western Conference playoffs and doing so sans their star player on a team that many pundits picked to finish in last place.

The season is long. Picking awards now is stupid. But as of right now, Evans appears to be on his way up, while Jennings has fallen off quite a bit.

Power Forward

Speaking of beastly play and a guy with a natural talent for rebounding, look no further than Marcus Camby, the Clippers starting power forward. Camby has been on a five-game blistering of the backboards averaging 16 caroms including a 17-board effort tonight in a win against Indiana. He too had a 21-rebound game last week against, yeah, Indiana. In addition to his rebounding, Camby has been contributing across the, ahem, board averaging 3 blocks, 2.6 steals and 3.6 assists over that span while shooting 53 percent. While the competition has not been stiff (only the height-challenged Rockets has a winning record), it has to be noted that Camby punishes those teams that should be punished. Take notes STAT.

K-O-B-E

2009-12-05T17:43:00.001-08:00

Kobe Bryant won that game last night. (You can check out his miracle three here.)

Look, I don’t mean to belittle Pau Gasol’s tip back that tied the game with a minute to go or his pair of clutch freethrows to bring the game within two with nine seconds to go. I especially don’t want to overlook Derek Fisher’s step back three that put the Lakers within a point with four seconds left in the game. All of those plays were critical, vital even.

I’m also not going to argue that Dwyane Wade missed a freethrow after Fisher’s triple that would have ensured the Heat at least overtime. Hell, the guy went 12-18 from the stripe last night (a side note, Wade’s freethrow total nearly matched that of Bryant, Gasol, and Andrew Bynum combined (21), who, as noted in ESPN’s Weekend Dime make up three of the top five players in the NBA in scoring in the paint).

But I will say it again. Kobe won that game. He put the team on his back going into the fourth quarter and turned a 76-76 tie into a six-point Laker advantage a minute and ten seconds into it. The boxscore indicates he only had three assists, but he fed several wide-open looks to Ron Artest, Fisher and Shannon Brown (a combined 9-32) that they just didn’t hit. He was moving the ball around in the first half and only took six shots.

And because of his last second game winner, nobody is even talking about him slicing between three defenders and fading away to a hit running-bank to end the first half.

Kobe also helped to limit Wade to 2-9 from the field in the first half.

In fact, Bryant seemed to make it his mission to harass Wade and outside of about six times a high pick came and Wade made something happen via scoring himself or assisting on a bucket or getting to the line, Bryant accomplished his mission. Wade did a lot of his damage when matched up against Brown and Artest. Brown, while energetic and athletic, doesn’t possess the savvy necessary and Artest, who is a brute and can hang with bigger small forwards, doesn’t have the speed to hang with Wade.

The Black Mamba put full body pressure on Flash and forced him into tough shots or giving up the ball (though I’m still not sure why Bryant picked him up at half court and beyond).

Offensively, Kobe put on a show as well. He hit a now standard fake left, turnaround fadeway jumper, a running, left-handed baby sky hook, as well as a couple of different and ones, including a scoop shot off a drive into JO (which could have been a charge…)

And of course, he hit this shot. Watch it again. Staples Center…Where Kobe happens.

Oh, it’s also where Sasha Vujacic can put up a statline of zeros across the board and yet still manage to have a +6 in the +/- department. (Hint, he was in during the last few seconds of the game when Fish and Kobe both hit their improbable threes.)

The Kidd/Harris Trade

2009-12-03T14:33:00.000-08:00

Two years removed from the Jason Kidd for Devin Harris trade and the Mavericks have to feel somewhat justified for their decision.

Sure, Harris played like an all-star last year, but managed to play in only 69 games and the Nets failed to make the playoffs largely because he missed those 13 games. This year, he’s already missed ten and the Nets have been historically horrific (0-18). In fact, the 26-year-old Harris has averaged 69 games per season in his five seasons, with a high of 80 games, only 61 of them as a starter. Which brings into question how Harris, who relies on his athleticism and speed, will age going forward seeing as how he has already proven to be frail in his youth.

Furthermore, while Harris made the all-star team last season, his numbers were boosted by an incredible November in which he averaged 26 points and 6.5 assists on 48 percent shooting and an equally impressive February where he averaged 25.7 points and 7.1 assists on 46 percent. He also had a horrible January where he averaged 16.6 points and 6.4 assists on 39 percent as well as a miserable close to the season with 12.3 and 5.7 averages on 41 percent. This season? His numbers look a lot closer to his January/April than his November/February at 15.6 points and 5.4 assists on 36 percent. I know he’s coming back from injury, but that’s the point.

Meanwhile, the 36-year-old Kidd has missed seven games total over the past four seasons and while he’s no longer a hall-of-fame caliber point guard, Kidd has transformed himself into a valuable asset and key cog on a Dallas team that is currently leading its division. And while Kidd’s numbers have taken a hit due to age and a decline in athleticism, he’s managed to make himself better in other areas. Kidd has the highest true shooting percentage of his career (.592) and it isn’t even close (last year at .550 was his second highest). More specifically, his three-point (48) and freethrow (90) shooting are both career highs. And it’s not like he forgot how to do what he does best. Kidd is a very close fourth in the league in assists at 9 per game.

While there is every possibility that Harris will remain an all-star level talent, being injured doesn’t help the Mavs who are in win-now mode. The Mavs don’t make a surprising run to the playoffs last year with Harris sidelined for 13 games. Likewise, they don’t lead the Southwest division this year with Harris missing ten.

There were, of course, other variables involved in the trade, though none of them matter all that much. Antoine Wright and Trenton Hassell are pretty much semi-decent defensive players who offer little else, DeSagana Diop is an overpaid (thanks to the Mavs laughable five-year, $31-million contract) third string center, Malik Allen is a bench warmer and Mo Ager isn’t in the league right now.

As for the two first rounders Dallas gave up, the Nets turned one of them into Ryan Anderson who turned into basically Courtney Lee. The other we’ll have to wait and see during this upcoming draft, though, because of how well the Mavs are playing, it won’t be a high pick. A Harris and Lee backcourt could be formidable, even if they are a bit undersized. But the duo has to remain healthy. Lee’s already missed seven games this year as well.

Even with Kidd at an advanced age, going forward, the Mavs have already found their point guard of the future in Rodrigue Beaubois. At 21 years of age, he’s putting up very similar numbers to Harris’s rookie campaign. Of course, Beaubois has something Harris didn’t when he was a 21-year-old rookie—the unique ability to learn from and develop under one of the greatest point guards to ever play in the Association.

Yeah, the guy the Mavs traded Harris for…

A Buck for A King

2009-12-01T00:40:00.000-08:00

If you took a poll before the season began of the vast majority of people who care about NBA basketball, 99.8 percent of them would have told you that the Milwaukee Bucks and Sacramento Kings would spend this season vying for the dubious honor of being the worst team in their respective conferences. Even the most positive glass half full Bucks faithful would have told you that the playoffs were a stretch and the most optimistic Sacramentonians would have been ecstatic with 30 wins.

Of course, there was plenty of ink dedicated to the franchises two respective rookie point guards. On that front, nothing has changed, not with Brandon Jennings’ 55-point explosion, his 22 ppg average or his dynamic ability in leading the surprising Bucks to a 9-7 record. Nor with Tyreke Evans leading the Kings to an 8-8 record in the ultra-competitive Western conference, while averaging nearly 19 ppg, 5 assists and 5 rebounds and joining the Dwyane Wade/Andre Igoudala/Lebron James trio of wings who are averaging at least 18 points, 5 dimes and 5 boards.

So, I’m sure you’ve heard of them if you’ve even remotely been paying attention to the NBA.

But the rookie sensations are only half the story. Here’s a few guys from both the Kings and the Bucks who probably haven’t gotten too much ink, but whose importance and contributions to the hot starts of both teams can not, nor should not be overlooked. Basketball is a team sport and these guys have helped put Ws in the left column.

Bucks:

Andrew Bogut

Andrew Bogut is being more aggressive on the block which has resulted in a career year in the scoring department capped off by his 22 point, 15 board, 3 assist, 4 block, 3 steal-night on Monday. This season, in the games the Big Aussie has played in, the Bucks are 6-2 (both losses by shots at the buzzer). More importantly, Jennings has shot 45 percent when Bogut plays as opposed to 36 percent when he doesn’t. While Bogut may never live up to being taken over Deron Williams and Chris Paul, in a twist of fate, it’s worked out pretty nicely now that Jennings is on board. Outside of Greg Oden, haven't seen any 7-foot double-double machines with a post game in the last three drafts.

Luke Ridnour

Remember this past offseason when everyone had no idea why the Bucks wouldn’t re-sign Ramon Sessions, a 23-year-old guard with a career PER over 17? Remember in August of 2008 when everyone questioned the Bucks motive in trading for Luke Ridnour? Well, Jennings is the answer to question one and Ridnour has thus far answered that second question. At 28, Luke is having his finest season blowing away his career highs in field goal percentage (51), 3-point percentage (38) and PER (18.39). He’s hit some clutch shots and has been key in facilitating the Bucks offense when Jennings goes to the bench.

Ersan Ilyasova

Ilyasova’s two seasons playing in the ACB with Barcelona have done wonders for the 22-year-old. While I don’t hold too much stock in per-minute numbers, Ilyasova’s rebound rate puts him in the top 25 rebounders in the entire Association and he hits threes at a 36.4 percent clip, which is a rare combination. While he sometimes looks skittish during crunch time, there’s no doubt that his emergence has helped soften the blow of losing Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and to a lesser extent Joe Alexander. Ilaysova has averaged 14 points and 8.6 rebounds over the past five games. While the Bucks lost four of those, it must be noted that they lost to the Magic by two points and the Hornets by three and were missing not only Mbah a Moute, but Andrew Bogut and for all intents and purposes, Michael Redd.

Carlos Delfino

I’ve always like Carlos Delfino’s game and though his shot hasn’t been falling and his rebounding is down, he has been money from beyond the arc at 42 percent, a crucial aspect of the Bucks offense.

Kings

Omri Casspi

I love watching Casspi play. While it’s notgood that his freethrow percentage (47.4) is nearing his three point percentage (45.7), in another light, you can think of that as phenomenal even if you have to sit through the occasional hack-a-Cass. Casspi is averaging 10 ppg and 3.7 rpg on 51.7 percent shooting, but more than the boxscore, he’s one of those players who just makes things happen. In fact, he is third on the team in +/- behind, well, behind the next two players.

Beno Udrih

ESPN’s John Hollinger is pretty reserved in his bias, but when the numbers speak to him, he sometimes listens with a vengeance. To that end, he’s been extremely critical of Beno Udrih after the Kings signed the 27-year-old to a five-year $32 million contract before last season. Udrih is currently making the Stat-king eat a bit of crow. Using Hollinger’s own system, Udrih is putting up nearly a 17 PER, which ranks him ahead of such all-star players as Devin Harris, Jameer Nelson, Mo Williams, Gilbert Arenas and Jason Kidd, while also outplaying up-and-coming talents like Tyreke Evans, Derrick Rose and Aaron Brooks.

Sergio Rodriguez

I knew Sergio would have a blast in a Paul Westphal-run offense. So far, when given the opportunity, he’s played out-of-this-world. In his last five games, he’s gotten 20 minutes per and done wonders with the limited time. He’s shot 56 percent, including 41 percent from three, while averaging 13 points and 4.6 assists to only 1.4 turnovers. The Kings have won three of those contests (sure, they included the Nets and the Knicks, but still). Right now, the Kings have an extremely potent three-guard combo that doesn’t include Kevin Martin. Who would have thought?

John Brockman

Mr. Garbage man has to get some love here, since he’s fourth on the Kings in +/- and fourth in the entire Association in rebound rate. When put in that light, his 2.8 points and 3.7 boards on 61.5 percent from the field look pretty spectacular for a 6-7 power forward.

What Worst Trade Ever?

2009-11-30T17:02:00.000-08:00

So people still think the Pau Gasol trade is the worst heist in the history of the NBA? Still scratching your head about why the Grizzlies swapped the elder Gasol for Kwame Brown, Aaron Mckie, Marc Gasol, Javaris Crittenton and what basically became the draft rights to Darrell Arthur?

Please stop.

First off, Kwame and Mckie were pure salary dumps that helped put the Grizzlies in the position to get…well, they went out and got Zach Randolph. While I question that choice, in some respects I understand it, especially considering the Grizzlies drafting of Hasheem Thabeet.

You can denigrate the Thabeet selection all you want. But that was a Heisley move. So Chris Wallace, like he’s done for quite some time now, tried to make the best of it.

Yeah, Pau Gasol is a stud. He was a key component in getting the Lakers their 15^th championship last season. The Lakers are a ridiculous 120-35 with the elder Gasol in the lineup. But this year has been a coming out party for the younger Gasol who is turning into a monster himself.

If you look at the trade now, you can see that despite Heisley’s best efforts it has turned out rather nicely thus far. Marc Gasol is a 25-year-old banger averaging 16 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists on 64.3 percent shooting. He’s one of only two centers (the other being Marcus Camby) in the League that is averaging at least 1.5 blocks and over a steal per game.

And he hits free throws at a 76 percent clip.

Remember, this guy was the reigning MVP of the ACB League, the second best league in the world, before coming over to the States last season.

Of those players who have played at least ten games, Marc has the highest true shooting percentage (68.8) in the NBA after Chris Paul. He’s got more double-doubles than David Lee, Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki. And in his last game against the Clips Sunday, Gasol dropped this statline: 26 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals on 13-18 shots.

Gasol’s PER of 22.57 ranks him 21^st in the entire league and sixth amongst centers behind his brother Pau (who has only played five games), Duncan, Dwight Howard, Nazr Mohammed, and Greg Oden. Outside of the anomaly of Mohammed (we’ve seen his stud for two weeks routine before) that’s some pretty lofty company. And while Mohammed only plays 14 minutes a night, Gasol is tied for second amongst centers with Brook Lopez in minutes per game at 35.9 (the injury-prone Chris Kaman leads all centers at 36.9, just another reason why Dunleavy should be fired).

So, a Gasol for Gasol swap all by its lonesome would have been looking pretty decent now. But add to Marc the services of 28-year-old Randolph, who, despite the horrific rep, is averaging 19 points and 9 boards and 2 assists and shooting over 50 percent for the first time since his sophomore season, and we begin to see the real value of the trade.

While history tells us that Randolph’s good behavior probably won’t last, it has to be noted that he’s having the second best season of his career and the team is actually winning too.

With the Gasol/Randolph duo, Rudy Gay’s matured game and the surprising run of Jamal Tinsley (who knew?), the Grizz find themselves with a 4-1 record over their past five, which really should be a 5-game winning streak after blowing a 22-point lead against the Clips.

And this is without seeing what Arthur, who had a pretty decent rookie season but is out with a torn pectoral muscle, can bring to the table as well as who the Grizzlies will draft with the pick they had returned to them when they traded away Crittenton to the Wizards.

In five years, we could be saying that the Grizzlies got the better end of the deal, even if the Lakers win three more championships, seeing as how Pau couldn’t carry a team all by his lonesome (no one can).

So please, please, please. Let’s stop with this most lopsided trade of all time talk. That’s so, 2008…

09-10 Season Preview: Hornets

2009-09-16T17:55:00.000-07:00

New Orleans Hornets

This team, out of any of the other playoff-hopeful teams, has the least margin for error. I’m talking microscopic. Could the 09-10 Bugs compete for a championship this year? While anything can and does happen in the NBA, the Bugs have a realistic shot at a championship if three main things come to pass.

The first is what avoided them last season…health. Everyone needs to stay healthy this year. Last season, Tyson Chandler missed 37 games, Morris Peterson missed 39 and Peja Stojakovic missed 21. Add to that Julian Wright only playing in 54 contests due to falling in and out of favor with Byron Scott, and it’s amazing that last year’s team won 46 games.

Peja, in particular, is key to the Hornets’ chances of making a championship run. When Peja is healthy and shooting like he has proven he can over the course of his career, the Bugs are formidable. This is a dude who is only 31-years-old. Last season, back spasms not only caused him to miss games, it also hampered him into missing plenty of shots. His field goal percentage fell below 40 percent for the first time since his rookie campaign.

But remember, this is a guy who was the best shooter in the league for six or seven years running (no offense Ray Ray). He posted back-to-back-to-back seasons of 48 percent shooting, and then averaged 24 a game for second best in the league on his way to carrying the Kings to a 55-27 record while finishing fourth in the MVP voting. (I don’t want to throw salt on an open, festering wound, but CP3 finished fifth last season).

Point is, dude was and has the potential to be wicked good. Injuries have pretty much derailed his career up to this point, but it should be no surprise then, that when he was healthy two seasons ago, and played in 77 games and shot 44 percent, that the Hornets won 56 games, took the Spurs to seven in the second round, and had CP3, this close, to an MVP. With Paul and David West on board, the Bugs don’t need Peja to be an MVP, just a lethal and efficient and healthy third scoring option.

Finally, the Bugs will need huge contributions from all of their young players. Before we get into this point, I’d like to point out the major weakness of this team and why it will be hard for them to break the top five in the west let alone contend for a championship even if everything breaks in their favor.

Similar to the plight of the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Bugs just don’t have enough big bodies. Sure, they have four power-forwards in David West, Sean Marks, Ike Diogu, and the recently acquired Darius Songalia, but West and Diogu are undersized, Songalia fits in, but is not a difference maker, and Marks is 34, thin and not athletic. As for center, the Hornets have Okafor and the thus far hugely disappointing Hilton Armstrong.

Fun fact. There’s nobody over 7-feet on the roster. And in a conference that boasts Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol, Greg Oden, Joel Przybilla, Amare Stoudemire, Al Jefferson, Andres Biedrins, Chris Kaman, Marcus Camby, etc. etc. not having 7-footers who are at least decent is a huge problem.

Armstrong has proven to be one of the most turnover-prone players in the NBA. To make matters worse, statistically, his rebound rate last year was only slightly better than the 6-foot Chris Paul. Chandler blossomed when he turned 24, so there remains a sliver of hope for Hilton, but unlike Hilton, Chandler showed signs of being good before hooking up with CP3, while Hilton’s been pretty god-awful even playing with him.

The addition of Okafor, at the very least, is an upgrade over Chandler in that he’s more likely to play 75 plus games. He’s also more well-rounded bringing a much better offensive game. But there’s plenty of downside to his acquisition as well. Okafor is undersized, can’t jump or finish like Chandler, and doesn’t play bigger than he is (a la Chuck Hayes, Charles Barkley, etc.). He’s also not as mobile as Chandler, thus creating a major dilemma for the team’s stated desire to run more this season.

Of course, Okafor’s never had the opportunity to play with anyone even remotely close to the caliber of Paul, and seeing as how CP3 is widely considered to be the best point guard in the league, I’m sure Okafor’s game will improve through osmosis. Chandler’s game exploded when he hooked up with Paul and I suspect Okafor’s game will have a similar up-tick. He could very well shoot over 60 percent this year. Okafor's offensive presence will also ease the burden on David West. West has been a solid second option for three years running now, but despite playing back-to-back seasons of 76 games, over his career, he hasn't been the most durable.

But even if Okafor posts better numbers than last season and West plays another 76 games, the Bugs will still struggle to match up with the bigger teams. I mean, West had a career year in rebounding averaging 8.9 two seasons ago, so Okafor has got his work cut out for him. Signing James Posey (whose "intangibles" and defense were perfect for the Celtics at the money he used to make, but remain the bare minimum for a team who needs much more from a player making $6.5 million) two offseasons ago instead of a big body continues to haunt New Orleans.

Okay, back to the youngins. The Hornets, as commissioned by owner George Shinn, will be looking to develop and play their young guys, which should spell out good things for both the team as a whole and those stated young guys.

Julian Wright, Marcus Thornton, Diogu, Armstrong and Darren Collison should therefore get every opportunity to develop and succeed.

Backup point guard, a huge positional weakness last year, suddenly has become a strength with the drafting of Darren Collison. After trying to fill the position with journeymen Devin Brown, Antonio Daniels and Mike James to varying degrees of unsuccess last season, the Bugs now finally have a player who can orchestrate a successful team while Paul rides pine.

My affection for and excitement over UCLA alum Collison is well documented in this blog. But his play during summer league (18.5 points, 4 assists on 45 percent shooting) and his history at UCLA that includes one trip to the championship game and two other final four appearances, should give Hornets fans comfort that when Paul comes out of the game, the ball will be in very capable hands.

What will be interesting to see is how much Collison and Okafor play together. Collison played four years under Ben Howland who ran half-court, slowed-down, methodical offensive sets. As mentioned above, this is ideal for Okafor’s offensive game. Either way, Collison’s presence will lessen Paul’s minutes and provide a confidence in the bench that wasn’t there last season.

While there are those who think the Hornets reached for Collison at 21, I’m of the opinion that any big man they took at that position had too many question marks to make a true difference this year. San Antonio taking DeJuan Blair was lower risk because of the lower draft choice and because he won’t be crucial to their rotation. Anything he gives the Spurs will be a major bonus. But Blair on the Hornets? That would be like a much shorter Chandler saga all over again. No thanks.

Another boon to the bench will be Marcus Thornton who was one of the top scorers in the Summer League and has a varied offensive arsenal and good range that should help out a second unit in dire need of scoring.

And whether or not he starts or comes off the bench, the wildly inconsistent Wright must take a huge step forward in his game this year for any talk of a deep playoff run. While a superb defender, Wright settles for too many jump shots and has no post game whatsoever. Consistency on offense will go a long way for him to get minutes.

Diogu, is entering his fifth year, but has only played in 187 total games, at about 12 minutes per contest. With a career 16.1 PER, he is the prototypical John Hollinger player in that he puts up efficient and eye-opening per-minute stats, but has never actually gotten the minutes. Case in point, his ten game stint with Sacramento last year resulted in a 24.9 PER which would make him better than Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Al Jefferson and Amare Stoudemire. Hornets success this year hinges on if Diogu can come in with the Bugs second unit and be the offensive force his numbers suggest he is.

All in all, if healthy, and if the young players progress as planned, and if the Bugs can get 07-08 Peja back, then it's within the very realistic realm of possibility that this team will be a 50 to 55 win squad and could finish as high as the 2^nd or 3^rd seed. If any or all of those things go awry, the Hornets will struggle to a bottom seed or might fall out of the playoffs all together.

The Admiral Better than Superman?

2009-09-11T00:10:00.000-07:00

Everybody knows that Michael Jordan is being inducted into the Hall of Fame today. He's entering with John Stockton, Jerry Sloan and David Robinson.

After reading an insightful post on the Painted Area, I began to reflect on just how much, in my mind at least, David Robinson’s overall value had fallen. My lingering memories of him were of his cheesy McDonald’s commercials, his devout love for Jesus and his complete dismantling at the hands of the Dream.

It got me thinking about the greatest centers of all time and where Robinson fits in. I’d always rated Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell as the top three centers, followed closely by Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O’Neal. Going over numbers and awards and quality of play, I’m leaning to exclude Mr. O’Neal from the top five and slip the Admiral right on in there.

First off, I understand that Shaq has four rings to Robinson’s two, and while they both have one MVP, Shaq has what many consider to be the more valuable finals MVPs (three of them). But I don’t think Russell was better than Kareem because he has 11 rings to Mr. Skyhook’s six. And O’Neal’s four rings have become Jordanesque in that many people believe he won them on his own. But that’s a discussion for a different blog.

O’Neal has eight all NBA First Team selections to Robinson’s four, but it must be noted the difference in eras. Robinson played and succeeded during an age of centers. Two years ago, ESPN ranked the top 10 centers of all time, and while I don’t agree with the order of the people on it, it will be noted here that five of those players played during Robinson’s career.

Robinson caught the tail end of Moses Malone’s career. He was subject to the Dream Shake of Hakeem. He tussled with Patrick Ewing and then he banged with Shaq (Robinson, was, of course, the fifth).

In addition, while not all-world, Robinson also faced off against Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutumbo, and Arvydas Sabonis, three centers, that in their prime, would have been the best center in the league (outside of Shaq) during Shaq’s prime reign.

Entering his prime at the age of 26, the Big Diesel spent the majority of his time playing against one of three kinds of centers. The past-their-prime rapidly aging group including: Olajuwon, Robinson, Ewing, Sabonis, Mourning and Mutumbo. The bad-to-the-pretty-good group that included: Kurt Thomas, Shawn Bradley, Vlade Divac, Greg Ostertag, Jermaine O’Neal, Erick Dampier, Zydrunas Ilgauskus and Marcus Camby. And the just-getting-their-feet-wet group including: Dwight Howard, Yao Ming and Pau Gasol.

While Howard will most likely grow into a HOF caliber player, with Yao Ming's career in question, the rest will have a hard time making anyone’s top 20 centers of all time list, let alone a top 10. So, looking at the centers and the conditions of the centers Shaq played against while he dominated the league, it’s no wonder about his dominance.

To put an exclamation on this point, the centers Shaq has faced in the finals on his way to three Finals MVPs include: Dale Davis/Sam Perkins; a 34-year-old Mutumbo and Todd MacCulloch; the fearsome combo of MacCulloch/Jason Collins; and the combo of Erick Dampier/DeSagana Diop. And while the Lakers did beat Duncan/Robinson, go back and check the history books on who really won those series for the Lakers (hint, hint, Kobe/Shaw).

When facing a legit center in the finals (Olajuwon and Ben Wallace), Shaq has gone 1-8.

As for Robinson, the Admiral beat Ewing for his first ring and the combo of Mutumbo/Collins for his second. He also ousted Shaq/Kobe in 02-03.

As for how well Robinson matched up against Shaq, the Diesel overall wins the battle in terms of production, but lost in the overall wins column 12-11. The stats follow:

Shaq: 26.1 ppg, 12.1 rpg, 2 apg, .5 spg, 2.7 bpg on 53.6 percent shooting
Rob: 18.6 ppg, 10 rpg, 2.6 apg, 2.1 spg, 1.6 bpg on 47 percent shooting

Looking at the numbers more closely, however, we see that Robinson played half of these games well into his 30s. If we compare the games from 2000 back, we see that it’s a lot closer.

O’Neal: 26 ppg, 12.1 rpg, 1.88 apg, .5 spg, 2.4 bpg on 55.6 percent
Robins: 21.5 ppg, 10.6 rpg, 3.11 apg, 2.35 spg, 1.7 bpg on 47.3 percent

Since we’re on numbers, let’s take a look at their careers.

O’Neal: 26.9 PER, 24.7 ppg, 11.2 rpg, 2.6 apg, 0.6 spg, 2.4 bpg, 58 percent
Robins: 26.2 PER, 21.1 ppg, 10.6 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.4 spg, 3.0 bpg, 52 percent

The numbers are very close. Of course, Shaq has played three more seasons, going on four, but Robinson’s career numbers look mighty good next to Shaq’s, especially with that 1.4 career steals and three blocks(a feat only Olajuwon and Robinson share). Looking further at PER, here’s a list of their prime career numbers.

Shaq: 28.5, 28.6, 26.4, 27.1, 28.8, 30.5, 30.6, 30.2, 29.7, 29.5
Drob: 26.3, 27.4, 27.5, 24.2, 30.7, 29.1, 29.4, 27.8, 24.9, 24.6

O’Neal is clearly better over a sustained period of time, but I bet Robinson’s numbers surprise you. Not only that, but his best year, a year he averaged 30 ppg, 10.7 rpg, 4.8 apg, 1.7 spg, and 3.3 bpg on 50.7 percent shooting, tops O’Neal’s 30 ppg, 13.6 rpg, 3.8 apg, .5 spg, 3 bpg on 57.6 percent shooting by the slimmest of margins.

Offensively, PER does an adequate job of interpreting their relative offensive games and comes to the conclusion that O’Neal’s was better.

But basketball is played on two sides of the court, and here is where Robinson separates himself from O’Neal and where PER no longer helps us. While there is no perfect way of measuring defensive presence, even when Shaq was at his penultimate self, he still never showed on the pick and roll.

David Robinson led the league in rebounding on two separate occasions, was selected to the NBA All-Defensive First Team four times, the second team four times and also won the Defensive Player of the Year award in 91-92. In comparison, Shaq has never led the league in rebounding (was runner up on four separate occasions), has made the All Defensive Second Team three times, and has never come close to a DPY award.

Going further, only three of Robinson’s 14 seasons saw the Admiral with Defensive Win Shares below five and one of those seasons was the year he missed all but six games. For seven consecutive years, he had DWS over six—quite a bit better than known defensive stalwarts like Dikembe Mutumbo and Alonzo Mourning.

Robinson’s DFWs were also very comparable to Patrick Ewing and Ben Wallace during their prime stretches of defensive dominance. For reference:

P Ewing: 5.4, 6.7, 7.9, 7.8, 6.4, 6.1, and 6.9
Big Ben: 6.2, 7.2, 7.5, 8.9, 6.4, 6.6 and 6.7
D Robin: 7.2, 7.7, 6.8, 6.3, 6.3, 6.9, and 7.3

As for O’Neal, his DWS are quite a bit less impressive. He managed seven in his dominant 99-2000 MVP season, but only had one other season over five (his rookie year at 5.9). He’s played in a 130 more games, yet still trails Robinson in career DWS by 16.2.

To further exemplify this point, the Spurs, with David Robinson as an active member of the roster, never finished outside of the top ten in defensive rating. During Robinson’s career, the Spurs led the league in defensive rating four times, were second three times and third three times.

Obviously adding Duncan in 97 helped tremendously as Robinson aged, but Robinson-led teams still managed to lead the league twice and come in third two other times. Furthermore, Robinson’s team went from third in defensive rating with him, to last in the season he missed, back up to second when he and a rookie Duncan joined forces.

As for Shaq, his Orlando-led squads never finished higher than 11th and his Miami-led squads never finished higher than sixth. He’s also been a part of some of the worst defensive teams, including last year’s 26th ranked Suns, and while it certainly wasn’t all his fault, he did play 33 games for the 24th ranked Heat in 06-07.

In 1999-00, that one shining year, Shaq’s MVP season, he dominated the league as did the Lakers who led the league in defensive rating. However, the year before Shaq’s MVP, the Lakers were 23rd in defensive rating and the year after? They reverted back to 21st.

And here’s why I believe that in spite of O’Neal’s offensive brilliance, Robinson should be ranked ahead of him. O’Neal had all the tools to be the best center of all time, but he chose to coast on his athleticism and dominating size rather than hone his game.

Shaq’s career is continuing to be more and more the question of what could have been. What could have been if he could hit 60-65 percent of his freethrows? What could have been if he and Kobe stayed together? What could have been if he developed a couple of post moves or truly took to making Amare a better player? What could have been if he had simply worked as hard as Jordan or Bryant?

In fact, Robinson should be celebrated over Shaq because he was everything Shaq was and is not. He worked tirelessly to keep his body in peak physical condition. He didn’t chase money and fame in a bigger city but stayed true to the Spurs, a small market team, his entire career. He never needed to be the center of attention. He made 74 percent of his freethrows throughout his career. And while Shaq and the Admiral were and are both well-liked by many, Robinson never bad-mouthed anyone.

When Duncan joined the team, Robinson not only mentored and helped develop the blossoming star, but he stepped aside, adjusted his game and took a complimentary role. He amped up his already impressive defense and worked hard at rebounding and defending while letting Duncan shoulder more and more of the offensive load.

We all know Shaq’s story. A man who jumped the Orlando ship as soon as the glitz of Hollywood became available. A man who despite what he says, has always made it all about himself. A man who, after winning his first MVP, decided to take more and more time off during the offseason and come into camp in worse and worse shape. A man who, in spite of his lazy offseasons, demanded a raise while he was in the middle of a contract paying him $26 million. A man who spent most of his time off the court at other ventures besides basketball, including movies and music, but never improved any aspect of his game (save for that one season where he shot over 60 percent on freethrows). A man who has bounced from team to team and bad-mouthed everyone on his way out the door.

For a 7-foot-1, 350-pound man with nimble feet, crazy agility and uncanny speed to call himself the Most Dominant Ever and never lead the league in rebounding, pretty much sums up all the above points.

And while he did, in some ways, step down and let Dwyane Wade take center stage when the Heat won in 06-07, he was ultimately selfish with the Penny and Kobe situations and despite all his lip service, stunted Amare Stoudemire’s growth last year.

Maybe you disagree, maybe you think I’m just a Shaq hater, but due to Robinson’s defensive presence and his underrated offensive game that was both prolific and efficient, not to mention his leadership and ability to be a better teammate I’d say Robinson was a better overall player than O’Neal.

Congrats Admiral on the Hall of Fame. You clearly deserve it.

Season Previews 09-10 Edition "Thunder"

2009-09-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

Oklahoma City Thunder

The franchise formerly known as the Seattle Supersonics has turned into everyone’s favorite offseason darkhorse/cinderalla team. Yeah, I think they’ll improve a great deal from last year’s 23-win effort, first and foremost because there’s no way (save a Kevin Durant injury) that the team gets off to another horrific 3-29 start. I mean, after that terrible beginning, aided by the midseason acquisition of Nenad Krstic, the team went 19-30 to begin 2009.

But I’m not drinking the Koolaid to the point where I believe they can make the playoffs…not just yet. My concerns do not lie with the core group. Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Russell Westbrook and now James Harden make, perhaps, the most promising 1-4 in the whole league. It’s that fifth position, normally considered along with the one as the most important position in basketball, that has me worried.

Of course Krstic’s presence was not the only reason for the success enjoyed by the team to begin the new year, but he was certainly an upgrade over the undersized body of Nick Collison (who is a solid player as a power forward, but definitely not a center), or the rawness of Johan Petro or the one-way play of Chris Wilcox (also undersized) or the plodding, unrefined game of Robert Swift. (Just for the record, B.J. Mullens doesn’t look like the answer.)

And the Thunder need a true center, a Tyson Chandler-like presence—a rebounding, defensive-minded five who eats space in the middle. And yet, I not only understand, but I completely agree with why Sam Presti opted to move away from Chandler.

But that’s neither here nor there.

The addition of Etan Thomas, while certainly not the answer, is a good start…if he can stay healthy. When given minutes and when he’s been able to keep himself on the court (has averaged only 53 games over seven seasons and missed one season entirely), Thomas has been a pretty effective center. While he’ll most likely be the backup, Thomas, though a bit undersized, brings energy, rebounding and some shot blocking to the table. He’s not known as the best clubhouse guy (just ask Brendan Haywood), but perhaps, coming to a team of youngsters as an elder statesmen will be just what he needs to keep his attitude in check (a la Stephen Jackson).

As for Krstic, who I expect will start, the dude can shoot, has an offensive game plan that he executes well and has enough length to make the opposition think about coming into the paint. In the season of his knee injury, Krstic was averaging 16.4 points, seven rebounds and two assists on 52.6 percent shooting with the Nets and many thought he would be the center of the future. But the injury limited him the next year and following his disappointing 07-08 season, he moved to the Russian Super League for a brief stint to regain his old form. As he proved last season with the Thunder, the 25-year-old is a quality player to be sure, but despite being 7-0 feet tall, his game is more power forward than center. He's been playing really well in the Eurobasket Championships the past couple of weeks and was the best player on the floor against Spain which included both Gasol brothers. Krstic led the Serbian team to victory as well.

So, with the team the Thunder will have going into the 09-10 season, a great deal of its success will ride on the thin (though reportedly 10-lbs more muscular) shoulders of one man. Since being chosen second overall in 2007, Durant has increased every aspect of his game by leaps and bounds. From 20 points per game as a rookie, to 25 as a soph, he also improved his shooting percentage (43 to 47), his three point percentage (28 to 42), his rebounding (4.4 to 6.5), his assists (2.4 to 2.8) and his minutes played (34.6 to 39) while maintaining his turnover rate. That’s remarkable improvement in only a single season. While I believe he will make progress this year as well, I wouldn’t expect his numbers to jump quite as much as they did last year. He could very well push for 30 points per game, but I am of the impression that that would be to the detriment of the team as a whole.

Watching Durant come out to Summer League in Las Vegas and sit on the bench, bond, and offer advice to teammates James Harden, Sean Livingston, Mullens, D.J. White, Serge Ibaka and Kyle Weaver, not to mention the half dozen other guys he won’t even be playing with this year, solidified in my mind that he is all about the team and is serious about his role as a leader. It also won him the respect of everyone on the team from the last man on the bench to Scott Brooks.

While I didn’t catch all of Summer League, I caught enough and read about enough to know that no other star player on any of the other 29 teams came out to Vegas and sat on the bench for nearly every game like Durant did. I saw Baron Davis out there, but he was dressed up all snazzy and sat in the bleachers. Durant was on the bench, well, except when he got on his feet to cheer his squad on.

The Thunder have had one more year to mature. I caught Russell Westbrook working out over at HAX in L.A. a month ago and he’s looking to have a big season. While his scoring will most likely remain around the 12 to 15 point mark, look for his assists to go up and his shooting percentage to be better by a few percentage points. He’ll need to be a better distributor with this team who are growing up together and will feature a lot of weapons. In addition to the obvious primary importance of KD and the refined, Euro-game of Krstic, Westbrook will have Harden/Thabo Sefolosha and Green as starters.

Green, like KD, has matured rapidly over the past two years. His production jumped across the board in his sophomore year as well—10.5 to 16.5 points, 1.5 to 2 assists, 4.8 to 6.6 rebounds, .6 to 1 steals, 27.6 to 38.9 in three-point percentage and 42.7 to 44.6 overall field goal percentage. Being that he’s playing a bit out of position as an undersized power forward, he’ll need to boost that rebounding even more to help offset the lack of a true interior presence, but if his overall post game (both offensively and defensively) has developed and if he’s learned a few new things in guarding bigger, stronger players in the post, those improvements will be just as vital to the Thunder’s success as anything from Durant or Westbrook.

I got to watch Harden play in Summer League and, like many other pundits and scouts out there, I was impressed with his ability to make the right play. Don’t get me wrong, he’ll go through growing pains in his rookie campaign, but seeing the pieces he has around him already, his skill set is perfect.

The big thing I harped on last year for team success was the importance of depth. I chose the Lakers, Jazz, Rockets and Portland to finish in the top four in the west last year based on this theory. While the Rockets and Jazz finished in the bottom half of the West’s playoff teams, depth helped soften the blow of Tracy McGrady’s season-ending surgery and it also helped keep the Jazz afloat while they suffered a myriad of injuries to all of their key players.

Depth on the Thunder is looking like a strength. Livingston has a lot of potential and has been slowly making his way back from his devastating knee injury two seasons ago. If he can regain anything close to the form he showed in his last year with the Clips, he’ll lead a bench that will include Sefolosha, Collison, Thomas and Weaver all of whom were capable starters at various points of last year. Of course, Sefolosha and/or Thomas could win the starters roles, which would send Harden and Krstic to the bench. If this happens, the bench will be more dynamic, though not as good defensively, while the starters will be better defensively, though not the offensive force. Either way, the bench will be at the very worst, solid.

If every "if" is answered, this team could potentially push for the playoffs. But without a true center, I find it very difficult to see how they can consistently win against those squads with a big front court. Playoffs or not, this will be the year that everybody outside of Oklahoma City proclaims Durant's name in the same breath as Kobe Bryant, Lebron James and Dwyane Wade.

Season Previews 09-10 Edition "Nuggets"

2009-09-04T15:35:00.000-07:00

Denver Nuggets

I’m not going to outright say that Denver is going to take a step back, I’m just leery of hyping up last year's success. While they’ll be good, contender is a bit of a stretch for my vocabulary. I honestly think they’re not going to be any better, and more likely than not, slightly worse than last year.

For as dominant of a finish as this team had to the regular season, it only improved by four games over the previous season. So I get that Chauncey Billups brought with him stability and consistency at the point guard position, but adding a healthy Nene and the energy and shot-blocking/altering ability of Chris Andersen off the bench was just as big for the team. All this “most lopsided trade in the history of the sport” is so far overblown, it’s become tiresome. AI wasn’t the anti-Christ and Billups wasn’t the Savior.

Look, I’m not trying to diminish the impact that Billups had on the overall culture of the squad, his leadership and ability to effectively run an offense are clearly better than Allen Iverson’s, who is a natural-born shooting guard.

But to give all the credit to Billups is like giving all the credit to Kobe Bryant or to Lebron James or Dwight Howard—it’s just so, unbasketball-like. A variety of different things, including the Billups acquisition, allowed the Nugs to make their run.

For starters, Nene had a terrific season two years ago, before injury put him down. At 26, he has clearly been a player on the rise, so his career 08-09 season had more to do with his maturing and remaining healthy than Billups’ influence. Mr. Big Shot really didn’t have all that much influence on Birdman’s game, outside of the occasional lob and all the missed shots that made for offensive rebounding opportunities.

True, culture change can be a huge difference. Billups initiating the offense, actually looking for Nene as a first option or swinging the ball over to Smith for the three, those little things help make a basketball team flow. But, looking back, not sure the culture changed all that much. I mean, J.R. Smith was and continues to be a knucklehead. Kenyon Martin continued to lose his cool, pick up Ts, etc., and ultimately, the Nugs choked and slunk away when the pressure was on just like they had when AI was on board.

Furthermore, when one really sits down and evaluates the Nuggets playoff run, they’ll see that they faced a severely crippled Hornets team and a Mavs squad playing over its head with arguably its second best player (Josh Howard) gamely playing on one leg. Even still, in game three, if Dirk Nowitzki or Howard or Jason Terry hit a couple of free throws, or Melo doesn’t hit that three, the series could have been easily 2-1 instead of 3-0, and then, who knows how it would have ended up?

Just like the Lakers didn’t dominate the Magic who were equal in talent (if only Jameer had been healthy…), the Nugs didn’t dominate the Mavs, a significantly worse team (last year) in terms of talent and health. To me, that speaks a lot more about how Denver measures up then the pyrite shine of a western conference finals showing and a two seed in the injury-depleted west.

With that long-winded intro, we get into this year’s squad. As with all teams, health will play a major factor in the success or failure of the 2009-10 Nuggets. While some teams, like the Mavs, Lakers and Blazers can ably withstand injuries, the Nuggets do not have that luxury. In addition, many of the players that are being counted on to remain healthy have a history of injury and/or suspension. Case in point, Smith will already miss seven games to start the season because of suspension and had some questionable Twitter posts this summer that caught the ire of the public.

As for injuries, in the four prior to last season, Nene had missed nearly two complete seasons and in the other two averaged less than 60 games. Kenyon Martin, who has survived micro-fracture knee surgery on both knees has averaged about 68 games per year, excluding the year he played in only two contests. Backing up Nene and Martin is Chris Andersen, who was kicked out of the league for testing positive for a “drug of abuse” which defined by the NBA includes cocaine, PCP, meth and acid. All of these drugs take money to support and the Birdman just signed a new five-year deal worth nearly $26 million. While all indications point towards him remaining clean, it only takes one slip-up to be right back nose deep in drug addiction.

The only other bigs on the roster are Johan Petro and Malik Allen and if Petro is the first big off your bench, you aren’t a contender, at least not this season.

As for the backcourt, Billups is one year older, and he seemed to tire in the playoffs. The drafting of Ty Lawson and the retaining of Anthony Carter is just what the doctor ordered. Lawson tore up summer league. Take that for what it’s worth, but he does have a track record as a winner with UNC. He also has the perfect point guard to learn from in Billups and to a certain extent Anthony Carter, both who have maintained a workmanlike attitude and use veteran smarts to level the playing field in their favor. Lawson excels when he has weapons around him, and, well, the Nugs supply is not as abundant as last year. In fact, with Smith most likely moving into the starting lineup, Lawson might have to emulate his Summer League run where he averaged 17 points a game.

When Smith returns from suspension and gets inserted into the starting shooting guard spot, projected starter Arron Afflalo will be the two for the second team. While he was a good get and can emulate a lot of the things that Jones brought to the table at a younger and cheaper price, he can't do what Smith does. What could happen, and might be good (if Smith remains content with a sixth man role) is if Afflalo can win that starter's gig during Smith's suspension. We'll see how Afflalo plays and what George Karl wants to do.

Speaking of the bench, or lack there of, one thing to watch out for is who backs up Carmelo Anthony. Linas Kleiza’s burn was spotty in the playoffs, but during the regular season, dude played in all 82 and averaged 22 minutes a game. The only other small-forward type left on the team is Renaldo Balkman, and while his hustle and athleticism will work well in transition, unless he suddenly learned how to shoot outside of five feet at even a decent clip this summer, Kleiza’s overall game and outside shooting are going to be sorely missed.

If the team ends up signing Desmond Mason, who still has some of that dunk-contest winning leaping ability, his lack of any semblance of an outside shot (that goes in) will not be the answer either. In fact, the team would be better off just playing the 25-year-old Balkman for all the little things he contributes that Mason doesn’t.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. Melo will be primed and ready to bounce back from a down year. He absolutely murdered in the playoffs, averaging 27, 6 and 4 while shooting 45 percent (would have been even better but he faltered against the Lakers) and if that is any indication of where he’ll be next season, the Nugs could push the 55-win plateau. Of course, when he does average 27 a game, Billups supporters will point to it and say how much Chauncey has helped Melo mature and completely neglect to acknowledge that Melo averaged 29 points playing with Iverson. But, whatever.

If Nene stays on the court for 75 plus games and Martin plays 70 and Birdman and Smith don’t get suspended (anymore), and Melo rises back up to a top ten NBA player, the Nuggets will have a championship caliber starting five. But their almost inevitable fall from last year's heights will be because of the salary cap and Stan Kroenke's reluctance to pay it. A weakened, inexperienced bench pushes the Nugs back to the middle of the pack.

Of course, if the bench somehow develops, like Petro suddenly blossoms, Lawson makes a run for rookie of the year and Afflalo comes up huge, a championship could be in sight.

But in reality, I just don’t think this team has the depth to make a legit run because the bench has been significantly downgraded while a lot of other Western powers have upgraded. Plus, that’s a lot of “ifs” to be counting on. And iffy ifs at that.

Any extended injury to Nene, Melo, Billups, Martin, and/or Smith, and the Nuggets will struggle to win 45 games in the uber-competitive Western Conference.

Season Previews 09-10 Edition "Kings"

2009-09-03T16:30:00.000-07:00

We are back from a month and a half long hiatus.

With less then a month until training camp breaks, thought it would be a good time to start our annual season preview. There are quite a few “ifs” that could make or break any of the 30 teams this upcoming 09-10 season. Getting away from the formula of those websites that break down teams and rank them in some order that they then try to justify (like we admittedly tried to do last year), we thought it would be nice to try something outside of what has become commonplace in the sports writing/blogosphere.

Here at Westcoast Slant, we’ll simply be breaking down each team and giving realistic outcomes without any sort of finishing order or power ranking, etc. While it may not be as controversial as a ranking system, it will undoubtedly be more insightful for those who are interested in the game of basketball and not the dark art of fortune telling. So, of course we’ll begin out west with teams that are pretty much set with their rosters going into training camp.

Sacramento Kings

Let’s be honest, expectations for this team are not high and many pundits believe that they will be the worst team in the entire Association next season. While it’s easy to label a team that only won 17 games last year as next year’s winners of the worst team award, give me any season and we’ll see teams projected to do poorly, actually do okay. I’m not saying the Kings will make the playoffs, but recent history teaches us not to bet against promising youth. Many thought the Oklahoma City Thunder were going to be historically bad, especially after their putrid start, but their young players developed as the season went along and the team went 10-16 after the All-Star break after having gone 13-43 before it. Check out this blog for another example of a young team defying expectations and the ensuing enjoyment that fans got out of it.

With that in mind, these “ifs” if answered positively, could mean 25-30 wins for the Kings, doubling last season’s effort.

The first if is obviously true for every team we’ll be covering over the next couple of weeks. If the Kings stay healthy, they could make a run at 30 wins. This is no easy feat considering the Kings franchise player, Kevin Martin, has only averaged 61 games over his five seasons. Last year he played in 51. The year before? 61. So, it’s not like his injury last season was the exception to the rule. Kid misses games plain and simple. If Martin can stay healthy, he could average 25 points a game and do so in the K-Mart way, which is super-duper efficiently.

Along those lines, there’s the whole if Tyreke Evans and K-Mart can coexist question. For what it’s worth, I like the pairing. Yes, Evans is untested as a point guard, but if nothing else, the Kings will be shooting a lot of free throws next year since Evans and Martin prolifically get to the charity stripe. Also, Martin averaged 20 a game playing with gunners Mike Bibby and Ron Artest (on less shots) which only proves that he finds ways to score no matter how many shots he gets. It’s not like Evans will be jacking up 30 shots a game (at least, I hope not). There’s plenty of shots to go around on this squad. Evans and Martin, if healthy, will make a dynamic backcourt that has the ability to average 45 points a game.

And don’t count out a small ball lineup that will feature Martin at the three, Evans at the two and newly acquired Sergio Rodriguez leading the break.

While this offseason depressingly saw the Maloofs cutting payroll like a paper shredder, there are two things that Kings fans should be excited about for the 09-10 season. First, the roster is filled with talented youth. Outside of the expiring contract known as Kenny Thomas (K-9), the Kings do not feature anyone over the age of 30. Their current star player (Martin) is 26 and their star of the future (Evans) is 19. Jason Thompson is 23 and Spencer Hawes is 21. And as far as K-9 is concerned, there’s a slim possibility he nets some moderate talent being that he’s one of the bigger expirings this year.

The second thing to be excited about is Paul Westphal. For all the haters out there (Tom Ziller), Westphal has a 267-159 coaching record, for a .626 win percentage. A number that is only bettered by four other current coaches with more than a season under their belts (Rambo doesn’t even have half a season so he doesn’t count). The coaches are Phil Jackson, Greg Popovich, Mike Brown, and Stan Van Gundy.

While I’m not trying to put Westphal in their company, though, I guess that’s exactly what I’ve done, I am saying that he’s had success as a coach. Big time success in fact, success that included a trip to the finals, something Mike D has only dreamed about.

And Westphal knows how to run an offense. He was like the OG D’Antoni back in the 90s. During his three full seasons guiding the Suns, Phoenix led the league in offensive rating the first two seasons, and finished third in his last. They also averaged 59 wins during that span.

Evans could grow into a Kevin Johnson type player. Martin is already a superior offensive player to my all-time favorite Sun, Thunder Dan Majerle (though, nowhere close defensively) but I won’t even try to say that Thompson is a poor man’s Barkley because, well, that would be a stretch even my imagination can’t justify. But there are some similarities. Andres Nocioni can shoot. Spencer Hawes can shoot. Francisco Garcia can shoot. Omri Casspi could shoot in Europe. There’s no reason outside of bad chemistry or disgruntled players that this squad won’t be effective in a Westphal-run system.

Looking at that lineup, the Kings have some intriguing pieces that just need time to grow up together. However, there is the potential problem of lack of playing time, even on this, a most likely lottery-bound team, due to the redundancy in the current makeup of the roster.

Evans is slotted to be a one, but the Kings committed big money and years to Beno Udrih last summer—$32 million over five years to be exact. They also acquired Rodriguez this offseason and neither Rodriguez nor Udrih can legitimately play the two. Where and if Udrih plays will be a big question especially considering his latest injury that is estimated to put him out until right before training camp. He’s not really a point guard/point guard, though he did average six assists the last 16 games of the season. His high-end midrange game is not as effective or as valuable with Evans on board, and if the Kings decide to run next year, Sergio’s game is tailor-made for that style.

Further complicating matters is the logjam at small forward where Francisco Garcia, Andres Nocioni, recently drafted Omri Casspi and the as-of-yet disappointing Donte Green all look to play. Garcia can and will play some shooting guard, and Casspi is supposedly versatile enough to play three or four different positions, but he’s never played in the NBA, so I won’t jump to any conclusions. He’ll get some burn because of his scrappiness and work ethic and overall energy, but it’s unlikely he’ll be a major contributor this year due to the plethora of small forward options.

Assuming Evans is able to quickly adapt to NBA-life, the next biggest improvement to the team will most likely come from the bigs. Thompson must build on his solid rookie campaign. People made a fuss about his advanced age coming out of college, but he’s still only 23. There’s plenty of room for growth—polishing up that raw offensive game and learning the nuances of defense being most important. Hawes is another who will need to continue to develop.

Surprisingly, the man who could have the biggest impact (no pun intended) on the team is the injury-prone Sean May who could be pushing both Thompson and Hawes for minutes by midseason. May could be the poster child for John Hollinger’s PER system and why I use it as one of several tools for evaluation, but refuse to place too much importance on its findings. For me, it’s more like a guidebook. Two years ago, May’s per-40 minute numbers looked very impressive, 20, 11 and three assists with a 19.22 PER. But injuries, weight issues and reality have proven May to thus far be considered a bust. He’s played all of 82 games in four seasons. Seeing that he’s only 25, there’s every possibility that he could have another stellar year playing as Thompson and Hawes’ backup without the pressure of a starting role. Of course, there’s also the likelihood that he’ll miss 60 games.

Overall, Kings fans shouldn’t be too depressed. Come the trade deadline, the Kings will be a major player with K-9, even if they prove to be just window shopping. Furthermore, the additions of Westphal, running point guards Rodriguez and Evans and the potential of May combined with the continued development of Hawes, Thompson and Martin mean that the Kings will be fun to watch and will be a lot tougher than a year ago.

If things fall the right way (which would pretty much be the opposite of last year), the Kings will be quite a bit better than people think, though, playoffs are a pipedream at best.

No Thanks AI

2009-07-14T15:05:00.000-07:00

I had mild interest in this upcoming WNBA season, that was until Candace Parker got pregnant and missed the first four or five weeks. Now that the Sparks are pretty much out of contention with Lisa Leslie on the shelf with a knee injury, and Parker is “working” her way back into shape, my interest is once again below zero.

The good news, the NBA has continued to give to me despite its season ending several weeks ago. Movement around the league this off-season has been exciting with plenty of intrigue (Shaq traded to Cavs, Carter traded to Magic, Artest signing with Lakers), back-stabbing (Turkoglu leaving Portland for Toronto) and straight up conniving (Orlando’s plan to sign Bass and match the offer sheet on Gortat leaving the Mavs with nothing).

Recent news has Allen Iverson talking with the Clippers. I hate this idea. First and foremost, the Clippers don’t need a starting shooting guard or point guard. Their starting backcourt is solid with two pit bulls in Baron Davis (when healthy and motivated, which, with a Chinese shoe deal coming out this year, I’ve heard he is both) and rookie sensation Eric Gordon. Iverson has already publicly stated that he sees himself as a starter and reinforced that claim by sitting out the rest of last season when his starting job was put up for grabs in Detroit.

The Clippers likewise, have a bevy of talent down low. Obviously Blake Griffin has a bright future, but so too does second year big man DeAndre Jordan. Chris Kaman, when healthy, is a pretty formidable center and Marcus Camby, when healthy, is a rebounding machine and block artist.

That leaves the small forward spot as the lone weak link on the team (there’s some issues with back up shooting guard, but that’s for another post). The Clippers should be focusing their attention on finding a starter at the three and quit looking into filling seats via AI.

Filling seats won’t be a problem, especially in Los Angeles who love front-runners. All the Clips need to do is build a hard-working, exciting team that wins. Right now, they have the makings of exactly that.

Adding Iverson will ruin all of the wonderful things that have happened this off-season (getting the number one pick, shedding Randolph and his horrible attitude and contract). How many jerseys does Sterling think Iverson will sell if he’s on a one year contract? I mean, how many jerseys did he sell as a Piston last year? Whatever that number is, it isn’t enough to justify bringing him here. If this were two years ago? I would have been jumping for joy at this notion. But with the additions of Griffin and Gordon, Iverson’s place is on some other team.

I know that Quentin Richardson is coming to town (hopefully the Zach Randolph trade does not fall through), but the small forward spot is still the Clippers most glaring weakness. I honestly believe that Al Thornton’s best position is coming off the bench, or starting for some other team not named the Clippers. Thornton never met a shot he didn’t like, and unfortunately, his favorite shots are fade-away jumpshots from just within the three point line.

I think offering part or all of the mid-level to one or two of the following four players would serve the Clippers much better than signing AI for the full midlevel.

Linas Kleiza: He brings toughness and versatility to the small forward spot, not to mention three-point shooting that is sorely lacking on this team. He’s big, a decent defender and can get to the hole when he’s the third or fourth option. The bad thing, he’s restricted, so if the Clips lowball him, the Nugs would probably match. In this economy, he might not be worth the full midlevel, though, last year, $5 million for him would seem about right.

Marquis Daniels: Had a breakout year starting in place of Mike Dunleavy Jr. averaging nearly 14 points, 2 assists and 4.5 rebounds on 45 percent shooting. He’s versatile enough to play three positions (though, point guard is not a strong suit). I think he’d fit in nicely switching between the 2 and 3 and adding scoring punch off the bench. The problem with him is that he can’t shoot threes.

Jamario Moon: The Heat will probably sign Moon, but he is super athletic and was a good running mate with Dwyane Wade and would make a good running mate on this athletic team. Drawbacks for him include a head that seems detached from thinking far too many times than should be acceptable for a 29-year-old and a questionable work ethic.

Ronald Murray: Murray was up for sixth man of the year last year, brings a veteran presence, and can back up either guard spot. He brings a good scoring punch that the Clips can use coming off the bench.

Another option I thought would work nicely for the Clips is to trade Chris Kaman and Al Thornton to the Houston Rockets for Shane Battier and Brian Cook. Battier brings several things to the table that are exactly what the Clips need.

First and foremost is intelligence. No offense to Dunleavy (okay, a little), but this team has never been considered cerebral. Battier is like the brain of a brain. Battier also is a proven winner (Duke, Memphis, Rockets). Don’t laugh at that Memphis inclusion. When he played for the Grizzlies, they made the playoffs. As soon as he left, they were one of the worst teams in the league. That’s not putting all the success on him, but it speaks volumes to his presence and importance. Battier would also give the Clippers a lockdown perimeter defender. He’s always worked best with a shot-blocking big behind him, and Camby and to a lesser extend DeAndre Jordan bring blocks in spades. Finally, leadership is sorely needed on this team, and though Battier isn’t vocal, he and Artest were the co-captains of last year’s Rockets squad that were the only team to push the Lakers to seven games in last year’s playoffs.

Brian Cook can be looked at as a big who can shoot outside jumpshots, or he can be looked at as a $3 million expiring contract. Either way, his inclusion in the trade can be of some benefit if employed correctly.

Losing Al Thornton is no big loss. He’s a shoot-first player on a team that doesn’t need any more scorers. He brings nothing else to the table. He can’t play defense. He doesn’t move the ball. He doesn’t rebound. But on the Rockets, who are in need of scorers thanks to injuries to Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, he’ll fit in nicely taking the place of Von Wafer. Kaman also gives the Rockets a young, big center who will benefit greatly from playing with the vastly underrated Luis Scola, the athleticism of Carl Landry, and the toughness of Chuck Hayes.

Shrewd Customer?

2009-07-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

Color me curious, but I think Bryant not opting out of his contract is a shrewd business move. Sure, there's talks of a three to four year extension, but that's not supposed to happen until later in July. While a lot of media are focusing more closely on Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza (as they most certainly should be) I can't help but think that Kobe is using his position to leverage the Lakers. He wants the whole team back, and if he had opted out he would have distracted Lakers brass from pursuing Odom and Ariza (I mean, he would then become the number one priority for the Lakers). Also, if he worked out a new contract, he would be guaranteeing himself as a part of this franchise before knowing for sure if Ariza and Odom would be back. He seems to be back in love with the Lakers, but he remembers what happened last time he signed on the dotted line with promises of building a contender. Two straight years of Smush Parker and Kwame Brown. Kobe's learned from his past mistakes. With him only signed for one more season right now, the onus is on the Lakers to fork over the money for both Odom and Ariza, which would make Kobe happy, and would help solidify in his mind to sign that extension.

Throwing out Trades

2009-06-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

Portland wants a point guard who can hit shots, not turn the ball over, has a lot of experience, and is great in the half court. Sounds like Jose Calderon to me. The Raptors want a point guard filled with potential who will push the tempo, likes to run and is exciting. Sounds like Sergio Rodriguez to me.

If the Blazers throw in their $3 million trade exception and Martell Webster, we’ve got something cooking. Calderon is a better version of Steve Blake. He always makes the right pass, loves to set up an offense in the half court (90 percent of the Blazers playbook) and is a great shooter. His defense isn’t what the Blazers crave, but word has them looking at trying to get Kidd or Nash, so defense obviously isn’t the biggest consideration here.

Calderon played in the Olympics and on the Spanish national team that won the world championships, so he’s got experience that Steve Blake just doesn’t have. He's far younger than Nash or Kidd or Andre Miller. The added bonus is that the Blazers get to rid themselves of the potential logjam at their wing spots by dealing Webster, who’s shooting and athleticism is precisely what the Raptors could use at the 2 or 3. Plus, Webster is only 22 years old and has reasonable contract.

The Blazers already had one of the most efficient offenses in the league last season, add Calderon to the mix, one of the most efficient point guards in the league, and we're looking at a crazy formidable offense. With another year of development, the thinking would be that Greg Oden can make up for any lack of defensive prowess on Calderon's part.

Another trade that I thought was really thinking outside the box is bringing Shaq back to Los Angeles. No, not the Lakers, but the other squad that calls Staples its home. The Clippers could offer Marcus Camby and Baron Davis for Shaq and Goran Dragic. This does two things for the Clippers. One, it rids them of BD's contract and two, it brings them instant ticket sales. Shaq has his own built in fan base here in LA. A lot of the Kobe haters have subsided since, oh, I dunno, last week. But that being said, while at the parade, I saw plenty of #34 jerseys amidst the sea of purple and gold. Shaq would bring the Clippers organization its biggest personality, since, well, ever, and add some much needed credibility to the laughingstock franchise of the NBA. Dragic would be thrown in just to give the Clips a point guard in return. I saw Dragic working out with BDA Sports (same agency that has helped Darren Collison and Brandon Jennings rise up the draft boards), so I know he's at least trying to get better.

With BD gone, the Clips could either search for a point guard via free agency, try to trade Kaman for a point guard, or get underway with the Eric-Gordon-as-point-guard project (that looks like it could be successful based on EG's play last season) and look to fill their vacancy at shooting guard via free agency. If Shaq doesn't work out, then the Clips will be free of $20 million next season and enter into the summer of 2010 with Eric Gordon, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Kaman and Zach Randolph plus a bunch of cap room. Once Randolph expires, retires or gets traded, the Clips future suddenly looks a lot more promising.

For the Suns, it gives them a dynamic point guard in case Steve Nash is really considering bolting for New York next year as well as the exact type of center that Amare Stoudemire needs...a shot blocking, rebounding machine who only needs maybe 6 to 8 offensive touches a game. Not only physically, but mentally Camby is the type of player that Amare should begin to learn from. He needed Shaq like a rapper needs more sycophants.

For next season, I think it would be fascinating to see how Nash and BD play together. I mean, Kerr has already tried everything possible, why not reinvent D'Antoni's wheel? The Suns want to go fast? Why not two elite point guards sharing the backcourt? We've seen some successful pairings of point-guard types sharing a backcourt. The Bad Boy Pistons had Isiah and Joe. This year, the Mavs ran with Kidd and Terry quite often and Charlotte had a nice go (relatively speaking) with Raymond Felton and D.J. Augustin. Of course, if the BD/Nash backcourt doesn't pan out, the Suns could always go to a point guard by committee approach. Two years ago, the Raptors were really successful with T.J. Ford and Jose Calderon interchanging from bench to starter. The Suns could do the same and keep both BD (who has had injury problems the past few years) and Nash (who has battled fatigue and back issues) fresh and happy for the playoffs.

This might not be the ideal fit for both franchises, but for the Suns, it's better than getting a straight cash dump. They'll get some of that in Camby's expiring, but will also get back talent (albeit slightly overpaid) that they wouldn't be able to find elsewhere. Even if Nash walks next year, BD, Jason Richardson, Leandro Barbosa and Amare Stoudemire could potentially be one piece away from legit championship material.

Not to Panic

2009-05-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

Following an NBA team or any team can be an emotional roller coaster. It's a natural reaction to want immediate change when you see something not end up how you wanted it to end. So I can understand Mavericks fans who want Cuban to blow up this team. Despite their best efforts, they lost in five games to the Denver Nuggets.

Were the Nugs a better team then the Mavs in this post season? Of course. They won the series quite handily--though, if the Mavs don't clank several free throws and actually put a body on Melo in the final few minutes, this series would be heading back to Dallas for a game 6. So let's not overreact and say blow it up. Mavs fans need to cool out on the idea that the Nugs had vastly superior talent. They did have more talent, after all, Linas Kleiza saw 47 total minutes of action, none of which came in the decisive game 5.

But they didn't have waaay more talent. Let's not forget certain factors here.

First and foremost, Dirk Nowitzki was THE MAN. Hands down the best player in this series, no apologies to a lights out Carmelo. Melo had the benefit of playing with Billups who created a lot for everyone, including #15. Dirk, on the vast majority of his buckets, got them himself. Sure, Kidd was out there playing, but he was too busy passing up easy layup opportunities and instead spent his time jumping up in the air and trying to find someone to pass to as he was coming down. Everyone calls Dirk a choke artist because of his failures in the Finals and his early exit against the Warriors, but few people talk about his clutchness against the Spurs and the Suns and in playoffs in general. You can add this series to his admittedly impeccable post season resume. The Big German averaged 35 points, 11.6 rebounds, 4 assists, and a block on 53 percent shooting, 39 percent from three and 92 percent from the line. Don't get it twisted...those are Larry Bird-like numbers.

Another major factor is that Josh Howard was playing on two gimpy ankles. He gave it his best shot, even managed a gritty 14 points in the final game, but he was shooting threes with his arms and had absolutely no lift. For his career he's been around 35 percent from the great beyond. This series? He went 1-15. Also, a completely healthy Howard defensively slows Melo down a lot more than a gimpy Howard. I'm not saying he would have shut Melo down, not really possible anymore, but there's no way Melo averages 30 for the series if Howard is healthy.

Remember the job Howard did against Dwyane Wade in the 06 Finals? Now, before you start laughing and telling me that Wade was Jordan-esque in his one and only finals, look at some of the facts. Again, history has a weird way of being remembered. First of all, kid shot 97 free throws in six contests. 97! That's 16 attempts per game. That's only ten less than the Mavs averaged as a team. Sure, there are many benefits to playing alongside a healthy and motivated Shaquille O'Neal, but we all remember numerous phantom fouls called. And even with all the freebie points he was given, he only made 75 of them...for a ho-hum 77 percent. Sure, Wade averaged 35 points a game, but he shot below his season average (47 to 49 percent) and had two horrific games to start the series shooting 38 percent thanks to the defense of Howard. That kind of defense was sorely missed against the Nugs. Howard just couldn't rotate or move his feet like we know he's capable of. He'll be 30 next year, but he doesn't rely completely on his athleticism and could be solid for at least the remainder of his contract. Cuban was right not to trade him when everyone was clamoring for him to and he'll be right to keep him this off season too.

The disappearance of Jason Terry was perhaps the Mavericks greatest weakness. Dude couldn't find it in either round. After shooting 46 percent for the season, the Jet (you know, I am rescinding this name from Jason Terry...only Kenny Smith deserves the title)...Terry shot a putrid 39 percent.

So, if Howard is at full strength and Terry hits, uh, I dunno, 41 percent of his shots, then we're looking at a different series.

Still, are these Mavs good enought to win it all? Probably not. As Kevin Garnett has taught us...Anything is possible...but without a legitimate center, the Mavs are going to struggle to defend. Cuban said he's willing to pay the luxury tax if it makes sense. Says he wants to do something big this off season. Is he perhaps eyeing someone like Tyson Chandler? Or does he want a bigger fish like Chris Bosh? Marion, Odom, and Boozer will most likely be free agents. And don't sniff at Zaza Pachulia and Anderson Varejao. Either would instantly upgrade the Mavs defense, toughness and hustle.

Bottom line is, the Mavs don't need a vast overhall. If Kidd resigns for closer to the midlevel, then all this team really needs is a defensive-minded center. That might be easier to say then to achieve, but it's not like the squad is in complete shambles. It's unfortunate that injuries are a reality, because who knows how good this team would have been if Howard had been healthy.

Brief Notes

2009-05-13T16:07:00.001-07:00

Kobe Bryant was not going to let Sunday's embarrassment carry over any longer. For 48 hours he had to hear about how his team was soft and how he was pissing away his best chance to win a title. How a soft team, an inconsistent team can't win it all.

Tuesday night, he was sure to make his point and polish it off with an exclamation. Still, this Rockets squad missed a lot of the same shots they were making Sunday. Sure, a lot more were contested, but there were still plenty of wide open looks that just didn't fall. Don't be surprised if the make it a game tomorrow.

Also, think how close the Mavs are from being tied up in this series instead of facing elimination. Two stinking freethrows in three tries.

Givers and Takers

2009-05-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

The real culprits responsible for the Mavs' loss to the Nuggets Saturday...

This past weekend in the NBA gave viewers some pretty ugly basketball.

After a great game Friday night by the Lakeshow, the Purple and Gold, the supposedly "most talented" team in the playoffs, got out-hustled, out-muscled, out-rebounded, out-manned, out-balled, out-scored and flat out embarrassed against a team who's best player was just knocked out of the playoffs with a hairline fracture in his foot, who's second best player hasn't been playing since March, and who's third best player shot a putrid 4-19.

The "most talented team" in the playoffs lost by 12 after a "spectacular" fourth quarter from Pau Gasol who scored 18 of his 30 points in what commentator/former coach Jeff Van Gundy called a "meaningless quarter." After Sunday's loss, there is no such thing as Lakers pride. Even the most ardent, hardcore, biased Kobe lover couldn't defend his/her favorite team on anything that went on yesterday (except maybe on Kobe's subpar, but even-keeled game).

Throw in what was almost a game in Hotlanta Saturday (well, until the third) and that makes two awful 3-hour spots of television. This in spite of Lebron's eye-popping 47, 12, and 8 statline.

Then there were the buzzer beaters.

My cousin told me a few weeks ago that the Celtics were completely sunk without KG because they had the worst front court in the playoffs. This was WITH Miami still alive and kicking. I agreed they were sunk, but still thought they had enough to get out of the first round and knew Kendrick Perkins, at least, was waaaaaaaaaay better than all this "worst front court in the playoffs business." As much as I hate the dude for all his scowls and showoff two-handed dunks where he literally gets a foot off the ground, Perkins is averaging 12.5 points and 11.5 boards with nearly 3 blocks on 61 percent shooting. That is the opposite of sucking.

What we did wholeheartedly agree on was that Big Baby Davis sucked. I use "sucked" in the past tense, because the dude that KG made cry has been hot, especially in this series against the Magic, and seemed to put an exclamation point on this fact with his two clutch, Ray Allen-esque 17-footers in the closing seconds of Saturday's game. Talent-wise, he's still by far the worst power forward left in the playoffs, but effort-wise, and production-wise, he's out-playing Lamar Odom and Josh Smith (quite handily too) and for all the talk of how he can't gaurd Rashard Lewis, their statlines are eerily similar. Baby's posting an 18 and 7 with 1.3 steals on 46 percent shooting while Lewis is at 20, 7 and 1.3 on 48 percent shooting. Pretty damn good for a second round draft pick who was labeled as undersized and out-of-shape.

Finally, enough with the whining from Mavs fans about the last non-call in yesterday's game 3 loss. Was it a blown call? Absolutely. Was it the reason you lost? Hell no.

Hey, I’d be pissed for that non-call too. But, as I was watching the game unfold in the final minutes, watching Dirk and then Terry and then Howard all miss free throws, I couldn’t help but think…man, these missed free throws are going to come back and haunt them. If Dirk Nowitzki hits both of his freebies at the 5-minute mark, that would have put the Mavs up by 3 instead of 2. If Jason Terry hits both of his freethrows near the 2-minute mark, that would have put the Mavs up by 5 instead of 4. If Josh Howard makes both of his freebies at the 1:30 mark, that would have put the Mavs up by 4 instead of 3.

Any one of the Mavs three BEST players hits those freebies that the refs were giving to them, and the game either goes into overtime, or the Mavs win. Simple as that. Don’t blame the refs for that last non-call. The refs gave the Mavs plenty of opportunities to the tune of 49 free throws. The Mavs had their chances…three of them…from their three best players, and they all choked.

Ball game. Series.

The Lakers Got Talent?

2009-05-05T12:06:00.000-07:00

The media and everyone across the United States believes the Lakers have the most talented team. They've got the all-star talent and finesse game of Pau Gasol. They've got the freak athleticism and length of the one in a million Lamar Odom. They've got the size and strength of Andrew Bynum. They've got a deep, talented bench. Blah Blah Blah Blah.

I don't see it.

I see Kobe Bryant, as a very close second best talent in the league, taking a soft team to 65 wins. Are there nights when they look like the most talented team? Sure. But if Gasol and Bynum and Odom were so talented, they wouldn't have needed Kobe to score 28 points a night.

No one in the world outside of Pau Gasol, can get Pau to make a wide open shot from fifteen feet. How many of those did he miss last night? No one in the world, except for Lamar Odom, can get him to make more than 1-6 from the charity stripe. No one in the world, not even Gary Vitti apparently, can keep Luke Walton healthy for any long stretch. And no one in the world, outside of Sasha Vujacic, Trevor Ariza and Derek Fisher can get them to make more than zero threes out of ten. How much more open does Kobe have to get his players?

I mean, not even Michael Jordan could clear an entire arena full of people and make the place feel like the practice floor.

Kobe tied for the team high in assists, had as many rebounds as Odom and Bynum combined, and had one less point than the combined offensive output of Gasol, Bynum and Odom. Tell me, how is this team so talented?

In fact, if we run down the rosters, outside of Kobe being the best player on either squad, it would be a hard case to make that the Lakers are more talented player for player than the Rockets, and this is a Houston team missing its supposed best player in Tracy McGrady.

Kobe's better than Shane Battier. No questions there. But the rest of the roster, if not a toss up, then it clearly favors the Rockets.

Aaron Brooks is better than Derek Fisher. Faster, better at getting to the hole.

Artest is far better than Ariza. Though less athletic, he's a better scorer and more well-rounded not to mention an elite defender.

Scola has been playing much better than a hobbled Bynum, and is a far more polished player anyway.

Yao is better than Pau. Just as good a shooter, but he's 7-6 and defends the basket through intimdation perhaps even better than Dwight Howard. I mean, Dwight has to jump to scare people, Yao just has to stand there.

And, even the Lakers vaunted bench doesn't seem to quite match up with the Rockets. Von Wafer is better than Sasha Vujacic. Kyle Lowry is better than Farmar or Brown. Odom, on any given night, could be the best player on either team and probably has Landry beat, but on any other given night, he could also be Mr. Invisible.

Luke Walton, while skilled, is the opposite of consistent whereas, with Chuck Hayes, you know exactly what you will get night in and night out. No question Hayes is the better player.

I've already run down a list comparing the Cavs and Lakers lineups. But, if you look at some of the other teams in the playoffs, the Lakers don't stack up much better against them either.

Kobe edges Melo, but Billups is far and away superior to any other guard on the Lakers. Nene's a lot closer to Pau than people think, especially considering what a beast he is on the defensive end. Kenyon Martin might give up a little to Odom. But, Dahntay Jones, a non-gambling Ariza, is at least a wash with the Lakers starting SF.

And the benches? J.R. Smith, way better than Sasha. Anthony Carter, much more consistent and savvy than Farmar or Brown. Linas Kleiza, a better shooter than Walton. Chris Anderson might end up being the Nuggets MVP for this series with Dallas seeing as how he's been so effective against Dirk. Needless to say, the Birdman's been way better than Bynum.

Right now, the Lakers would be favored in matchups against Dallas, Atlanta, Boston and perhaps Orlando in terms of overall talent.

The Lakers are clearly more talented than Dallas and Atlanta...period. But, if the Celtics had Kevin Garnett and the Magic had a healthy squad including Lee and Nelson, than the Lakers wouldn't be more talented than either of those teams.

In fact, the only reason the Lakers are the favorites is because of #24. I'll go deeper into this "The Lakes are the Deepest Most Talented Team" argument in the coming days. I still expect the Lakers to make the Finals, but it won't be because they have the most collective talent, it will be because they have the most talented player in the West.

Lopsided Trades and Round 2

2009-04-30T12:01:00.000-07:00

With the Nuggets surging into the second round of the playoffs with their complete dismantling of the New Orleans Hornets, there's a lot of talk of how lopsided a deal the Iverson for Billups trade was. I've gone over the Pau for Kwame/Marc Gasol/Darrell Arthur/J Critt deal many times before in this blog and my others, so I'll just briefly recount why that wasn't such a bad deal for the Grizz.

The Grizz freed themselves of Pau's huge contract saving over $30 million, got back their conditional first round pick from the Wizards by trading Crittenton and added two starters in Marc Gasol, one of the best most consistent rookies in a deep rookie class, as well as the upside of Darrell Arthur. Depending on who they draft with their conditional first round pick, in a couple of years, the trade could look nearly even.

The same can be said about Iverson for Billups. Has Mr. Big Shot been Big for the Nugs? Of course he has. Is he the sole reason for their ascension (which, in all honesty was only four games better than last year in a conference riddled with key injuries: Chandler, Ginobili, Parker, Bynum, TMac, Boozer, Williams, Amare, Monta Ellis, Terry, Howard etc.)?

No way in hell.

A healthy Nene is just as big. The more than pleasant surprises of Dahntay Jones and Chris Anderson (who was second in the league in blocked shots despite only playing 21 minutes a game) and the continued health of Kenyon Martin have also been major contributing factors.

Everyone talks about how much better Billups has made this team, but few mention how Melo had his worst shooting percentage (44 percent) since his sophomore campaign after having a career year in that area (49 percent) last season playing alongside Iverson.

Also, the thing about trades is that year one only tells a fraction of the story. Shaq for Odom/Grant/Butler looked horrible at first, but it turned into Odom and Gasol which, from the way the Lakers are playing, looks to be even better than anything Shaq would be giving the Lakers right now. Similarly, Kidd for Harris is looking more and more like a pretty decent, as opposed to a horrifically awful, deal.

If the Pistons get Chris Bosh or Dywane Wade or Amare Stoudemire this off season or the next, they'd look pretty damn smart for trading for Iverson this season, in a year when they had little hope of beating the Celtics or Cavs. After Sunday's (May 26) inevitable thrashing, all that delicious AI salary, all $21 million of it, is no longer on their books.

On the flipside, the Nugs will have a hard time keeping this group together seeing as how Kleiza might be snagged away and Dahntay Jones and Chris Anderson are unrestricted free agents who were both making $750 grand. Those salaries are sure to at least triple, and for a team that was doing everything it could to get under the salary cap, those two vital cogs might not be back, especially if the Nugs get manhandled by the Lakers, if they even make it that far to begin with.

Let's not get it twisted. For all this new hype surrounding the Nugs, people are forgetting that they faced a hobbled New Orleans team that had absolutely no bench, and maybe 2/5ths of a starting five worth a damn.

The Mavs, meanwhile, faced a hobbled Spurs team, who was similarly without a bench (though, I'd take the Spurs bench in a heartbeat over the Hornets bench) and with or without key injured players. The Mavs, in their four convincing victories, won by an average margin of 13 points. That's against the 4-time champion Spurs, the best team of the new century.

I mean, if the Spurs had matched up against the Hornets, who would have been favored in that series? It would have been close, but I'm still picking the Spurs. I mean, what have the Hornets even really done? They have never made it past the second round. Parker is not quite Chris Paul, but he's close and even a hobbled Duncan is better than West. I'd also go with Pop over Scott.

All that to say that the Mavs played and beat a tougher opponent than the Nuggets and aren't getting nearly the hype the Nugs are because they only beat blew out the Spurs by 21 in their most lopsided victory.

So, for the Nugs to cruise through their first round series is a good sign of a team gelling at the right time, but a 58-point beating of an already beaten team does not convince me that the Nuggets are a vastly superior squad to the Mavericks (as Charles Barkley continued to state during last night's Inside the NBA). In fact, this Nuggets team could very much lose to an equally hot Mavericks squad.

And, if that's the case, then is this Denver team really worth $70 plus million? And if it isn't worth $70 million and doesn't have true championship aspirations, then wouldn't it have been better served to keep AI for one last season and aggressively pursue a player that could put them over the top in the West with the extra $21 million?

Don't judge the trades in their first season. I'd give them at least three years. Being a GM is about patience and planning as much as it is about being in the moment.

Round 2, as much as round 1 did, will show everyone how much influence the blockbuster trades of the past two seasons have had.

Men from the Boys

2009-04-23T10:43:00.000-07:00

Loved this comment by Byron Scott,

"This is still pitty-pat basketball to me. This is not physical and aggressive basketball the way it was in the '80s and '90s. This is so watered down compared to then that it's unbelievable. I think Kobe (Bryant) said it best: some of the things that (Utah Coach) Jerry Sloan used to do and some of the things we did in the '90s, they wouldn't allow you to do now. From that standpoint, it's not really a physical game. I wish they would go back to some of those rules from the '90s. It would separate the men from the boys."

I think this comment is hilarious considering that if the game was played the way it was back in his day, Scott's best player, the supposed best point guard on the planet, Chris Paul, would not be nearly as good as he is.

I honestly believe that Paul is struggling so much in this year's playoffs because he's not getting the calls he was getting during the regular season. Outside of Dywane Wade's miracle finals where I'm pretty sure he got a foul called against the Mavs for the wind generated from one of the ref's whistles, the playoffs are a tougher, meaner, more physical beast. That's why Nash's Suns could never make it. That's why Nowitzki couldn't win. That's why the Lakers didn't win last year.

Tough, gritty teams, like the Spurs, like the 3peat Lakers, and like the Celtics, have been the champs.

Look, I'm not trying to take anything away from Paul's toughness. Pound for pound, he's probably the toughest guy in the league (would've said AI, but he quit, and quitters aren't tough). What I'm saying is that if you could grab and hold, hand check, clothesline guys without getting suspended for half a year, then Chris Paul, at 6 feet, 180, would get creamed.

Paul is great, maybe the best, at creating contact. Nine times out of 10 he's the one who initiates the contact to draw a whistle. He's a master at changing pace, then stopping on a dime to get guys to run into him, or driving hard to the basket and putting his shoulder (and elbows) into bigger defenders to get a whistle.

But, he's not getting those calls in the playoffs.

-Speaking of not getting calls, Mr. Kobe Bean Bryant needs to shut up. He bitches after every single non-call. In fact, I'm kind of tired of all the Lakers whining about non-calls. Play the game. Pau and Bynum scream after every play like they've been raped. Kobe often doesn't get back on defense because he's glaring at the ref. STOP moaning, get back on defense, and get the ball back.

-Back to the toughness aspect of the playoffs. With a healthy Kenyon Martin, a healthy Nene, a drug-free Birdman and a swapping of the Answer for Mr. Big Shot, the Nuggets have become a nasty defensive team. Can't say enough about the defensive swagger of Dahntay Jones either. Even Melo, and to a lesser extent J.R. Smith have bought into the defensive mindset, and this post season, it shows. It's shining even.

-Rajon Rondo, I apologize for saying you were only good because of Pierce, Ray Ray and K.G. Clearly, you are the Celtics best player right now. Rondo's averaging 24 points, 11.5 assists, 10.5 rebounds (yup, a trip dub) and 3.5 steals on 48.7 percent shooting while only turning it over 1.5 times. If the C's could've pulled out that first game (I'm looking at you and your bricked free throw Paul Pierce) then Rondo would be the unquestioned MVP of this postseason so far. And for those people who think the Celtics need to win this year or their window is closed, Rondo's name should be and will soon be up there with Deron Williams, Chris Paul and Tony Parker. Add him to KG, Jesus and the Truth? That's still the best team in the East, maybe in the League.

Beides, there's no gaurantee the Cavs will be just as good or even make it to the Conference Finals in the East next year. Big Z and Big Ben will be older, and there's a possibility Varejao won't come back. And if Blake Griffin is added to the Washington Wizards, look out for that team too. Yeah, you heard me right. The Wiz could be damn scary next year with a healthy roster and Blake Griffin.

-So much for the Hawks sweeping the Heat. Yeah, Wade had a great game last night. He hit 6-10 from beyond the arc (one of which was that crazy bank shot over two guys fading to his right about three feet beyond the line), but let's see if he or his team can repeat that performance three more times. I highly doubt the Heat are going to shoot 66 percent again. I say Hawks in 6.

-This story about Tracy McGrady and then this one from ESPN's Truehoop got me thinking about why Dywane Wade can't be put ahead of Kobe Bryant or Lebron James as far as best player goes. Health is definitely a skill and Bryant and James have proven they can stay healthy. Guys like Manu Ginobili and Tracy McGrady have or had the skill/talent to be considered the best in the game, but neither player had the genes or the sheer will power to stay off the injured reserve. I remember a time when it was a legitimate argument of whether T-Mac was better than Kobe. Now, that argument seems stupid and inane, but during that 02-03 season, it was close, especially seeing as how Kobe had Shaq and Mizzy had, er, Andrew DeClercq.

For all the advanced statistics that will tell me that so and so player has per 40-minute averages of this and a rebound rate of that, if he doesn't actually play 40 minutes a game for a full season, then I can't rank that player ahead of another player who does, just because that player is not as efficient.

So, right now, Bron Bron is the best player, Kobe the most well rounded and skilled.

Wade, he's like a slightly lesser version of each mixed together.

And while we're on the topic of best player, the MVP award will be handed out soon. All those Denver fans shouting for Chauncey Billups are looking pretty smart right now, especially considering how he's handled Paul in their matchup thus far. But, as much as people want to give credit solely to Chauncey, the remergence of Anderson along with a fully healthy Nene are equally responsible for the Nugs turnaround this year.

For those people who were touting Dwight Howard as an MVP candidate, no most valuable player fouls out of a must win home game in the playoffs and then watches from the bench as his team wins anyways--winning behind the shooting stroke of a rookie no less. Orlando's in more trouble than I think they're willing to admit.

Making a Livingston

2009-03-31T15:20:00.000-07:00

The OKC Thunder have just signed former Clipper lottery pick Sean Livingston to a multi-year deal. Great pickup in my opinion. Livingston has been playing in the NBA Developmental League for the Tulsa 66ers. Though not eye-popping, his numbers are pretty good: 9.5 points, 6.0 assists and 3.5 rebounds in 11 games.

Why I like this move, despite the tremendous play of Kyle Weaver and Thabo Sefalosha of late, is that in spite of creating a sort of potential logjam at the guard spots, it is a low risk, high reward situation. Livingston, a former #4 pick in the draft, was touted as a baby Magic coming out of high school. While those lofty expectations will most assuredly never be met, the kid's got plenty of potential. He's also a 6-7 point guard who can play and defend all three positions. Nobody really talks about his importance to that Clippers team that won 47 games and made it to the second round of the playoffs in 2005-06. But after coming back from an early season back injury, Livingston was second on the team in assists and filled the backup point guard role as well as filled in for the injured Corey Maggette. In the postseason, he was even better averaging 7.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.8 assists on 47 percent shooting in 27 minutes over 12 games.

Of course, there are two major knocks on the kid. One, he's injury prone: lower back stress reaction, torn cartilage in his right shoulder, dislocated right knee cap, and of course this horrific accident where he tore the ACL, PCL, MCL and lateral meniscus in his left knee. The most games he's ever played 61.

The other, is one he shares with Russell Westbrook. Neither can shoot a lick. Still, Westbrook is 20 years old and has the rest of his career to improve his shot. With a healthy Livingston, Westbrook can play like a shooting guard, but guard the oppositions point guard and Livingston has the versatility and length to cover 1-3. Livingston also brings a much needed asset on this team, the ability to pass. With a career 2.35 assist-to-turnover ratio, he would rank number two on the team by a mile (After Ear Watson, who, if it wasn't blatantly clear before, the writing is most definitely on the wall with this acquisition, ditto for Atkins). And his A/To ratio has trended upward all three seasons he's played, from 2 to 2.5 to finally 2.55 in his final season with the Clippers. That would put him in the top 20 in the league, whereas, right now, outside of Watson, the team doesn't have a top 50 A/To player.

And then there's that potential. Before his season-ending, nearly career-ending injury, Livingston was shooting 47 percent and averaging 9.3 points, 5.1 assists, 3.4 rebounds, 1.09 steals and 29.8 minutes while garnering that very nice 2.54 assist-to-turnover ratio. And, right now, today, the kid is only 24 years old.

Again, nice potential pick up by the Thunder.

No More Revisionist History

2009-03-26T17:33:00.000-07:00

Yo Mike, don't forget about us...

There’s been a lot of talk about who is MVP this year. Lebron James' Cavs has the best record in the league and the best stats. In my opinion, as many others assess as well, he’s the clear cut choice. However, the arguments that make the case that he has a worse team than Kobe Bryant, I’m just not buying. I broke down the idea of skill versus talent in a previous post to begin to exemplify my point.

Call me a Kobe apologist, but the dude has always been knocked for playing with Shaq to earn his rings and not being able to lift mediocre talent deep into the playoffs. While Kobe currently is playing with a very talented squad, his mediocre teams were “mediocre” at the very best, and only because Kobe was on them. With starting centers, Kwame Brown and Chris Mihm, and starting point guards Chucky Atkins and Smush Parker, and starting small forward Luke Walton, it’s fair to say that Kobe’s talent was sub-mediocre to downright awful. His most talented sidekick has been Lamar Odom, and everyone knows Lamar is the epitome of inconsistency.

The idea that Michael Jordan won six championships all by his lonesome is one that infuriates me to no end. ESPN’s Chris Broussard does this all the time. So, what I have done is compiled a team of current players that could somewhat matchup with the 95-96 Bulls team that won 72 games in terms of style of play, production and talent-level. It’s a difficult thing to do, trust me, because that Bulls team had several players with whom there are no real comparisons in today’s game.

Anyway, here’s what I came up with.

Michael Jordan (29.4 PER): Dwyane Wade (30.2)
Thought I would go with Kobe? Well, this season, Wade’s numbers are more reflective of MJ. Kobe’s game will always be a prettier version of MJ’s, but as far as raw numbers, Wade’s season is right there with Jordan’s 95-96 campaign.

Scottie Pippen (21.0 PER): Paul Pierce (17.1)
Actually, last year’s Pierce is a better comparison. Even still, Pierce isn’t the defensive sieve that Pippen was, though he’s a better offensive player. Less steals, but a better clutch scorer.

Luc Longley (11.9 PER): Marc Gasol (16.5)
Gasol is more polished than Longley, even at this early in his career, but they both have similar skill sets and put up similar numbers. Neither was a great rebounder, both can pass fairly well, and both have a certain amount of finesse to their games.

Ron Harper (14.4 PER): Marquis Daniels (12.9)
This comparison isn’t perfect either. Both are big two guards who,
due to pretty good handles, can play the point guard position. Both
could average 18 plus on a bad team. Both are poor outside shooters. Harper was better, because he was a much better defensive player, but this comparison holds up pretty well, especially considering that Daniels has improved somewhat in that area this season.

Dennis Rodman (13.6): ?
There really isn’t anyone like Rodman in today’s NBA. David Lee gets a bunch of rebounds, but not nearly as many as Rodman, plus the Worm’s in a different universe defensively. Dwight Howard is close with the rebounds, but of course, his offensive game, though raw, is the same distance from Rodman’s O as Rodman’s D is to Lee. To appreciate how truly unique Rodman was, you have to consider that the league’s leading rebounder right now, Howard—who is a good 3 inches taller and 40 plus pounds heavier and light years more athletic—would only be having Rodman’s 10th best rebounding season. And even at that, Howard’s year (his best I might add) isn’t quite as good. Rodman’s tenth best season came when he was 37. Howard is 23. My immediate comparison jumps to 2000-03 Ben Wallace, but even though Wallace finished first, second, first in rebounding those three years, he collected only 181 more rebounds in 31 more games than Rodman did as a Bull and averaged 4 less rebounds per game over that same span. Of course, Big Ben (a four time defensive player of the year recipient) also brought the blocks and steals. The Worm, a former two-time defensive player of the year himself, did so by never once averaging one steal or one block in any of his 14 seasons. Rodman was a better man-on-man defender, while Big Ben was the best help defender of at least the first half-decade of the 21st century. Rodman was equal parts Ron Artest (mentality), Bruce Bowen (defensive-style) and Ben Wallace (rebounding). So, there really is no comparison for Rodman, but Wallace circa the turn of the century, is the closest I was able to find.

The BENCH:

Toni Kukoc (20.4 PER): Hedo Turkoglu (14.55)
The best comparison in terms of skill set is probably Hedo Turkoglu. But Turk’s nowhere near as efficient. Maybe last season’s Turk matches up better (17.66 PER).

Steve Kerr (15.2 PER): Steve Blake (14.8)
Blake averages more assists because he has to, and nobody in the league today (and only Tim Legler back in 95-96) can compare with Kerr’s 51.5 percent from deep. Blakes 43 percent, while good, is nowhere near that lofty mark. Even still, the two Steves have a lot of similarities. Both are super efficient point guards who take care of the rock and are deadly from beyond the arc.

Bill Wennington (11.0 PER): Kurt Thomas (14.2 PER)
Not super great at anything, but hardnosed defenders who liked to bang and had a decent 15-foot jumper.

Jud Buechler (14.1 PER): Sasha Vujacic (12.3)
Though one was clean cut and the other is greasy, both are non-athletic white boys who have sloppy handles, but excel at shooting and playing gritty, mosquito-annoying defense.

Randy Brown: Brevin Knight
Nothing special, but feisty and efficient.

Jason Caffey: Chris Douglas-Roberts
Rooks who did the little things.

Dickey Simpkins: Jamal Magloire
Simply the numbers matched up.

Jack Haley: Mark Madsen
Complimentary, annoyingly dorky white boy at the end of the bench.

So, this "new" Bulls team is pretty awesome right?

PG: Marquis Daniels
SG: Dwyane Wade
SF: Paul Pierce (circa 2008)
PF: Ben Wallace (circa 2002)
C: Marc Gasol

With a bench consisting of Hedo Turkoglu (circa 2008), Kurt Thomas, Steve Blake, Brevin Knight, Sasha Vujacic, Jamal Magloire, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Mark Madsen.

Now, you telling me that if this team was constructed like this today and they won the championship, that we would all say, hell, Dwyane Wade carried this team all by himself?

Come on…

Kobe Str8 Smushed!

2009-03-16T10:45:00.000-07:00

Smush Parker must be suffering from the same sort of memory issues that Shaq suffers from. In this interview now circulating the internet, Smush says playing with the Lakers was overrated, that he had NO beef with Phil Jackson, that Kobe is the reason for all the Lakers problems, and that Shaq is one of the best teammates.

First off, this is coming from a third string point guard, who, playing alongside Kobe, had the only two seasons of his NBA career that will be remembered. Coincidentally, with Kobe pulling double and triple teams every night, Smush was able to score 11 points a night on 44 percent shooting. Outside of that, in his other 126 NBA games, Smush averaged 5.6 points on 39 percent shooting on in three seasons on 5 different teams. Hell of a career Smush.

As for his supposed beef against Kobe, perhaps Smush forgot about this little interview where he said Kobe's a great teammate and that he's really helped him with the Triangle Offense.

As for his non-beef with Phil Jackson...

Sunday, March 4, 2007

Smush was taken out of the game with 5:40 left and he walked over to the bench and swore at Jackson. Jackson shook his head in acknowledgment and went about his business of coaching the team. After the game, Jackson made it a point to talk to Parker about his reaction."I usually don't iron things out like that after the game," Jackson said. Parker, who missed 4 of 5 shots and finished with three points, "just kind of got flaccid," Jackson said.

April 7

Lakers guard Smush Parker lashed out at Coach Phil Jackson on Thursday after being benched for the entire fourth quarter of Wednesday night's 90-82 loss to the Clippers. Jackson said he thought Parker looked fatigued and was not applying sufficient defensive pressure. Asked whether he would be ready to play in tonight's game against the SuperSonics in Seattle, Parker said, "I was ready to play [Wednesday] night. I wanted to play [Wednesday] night. I didn't appreciate being benched." Facing reporters at the team's El Segundo training facility after practice and before heading to the airport for the team's flight to Seattle, Parker was asked what he thought he had to do to get back on the court. "I feel fine. I felt I did everything I need to do to be out there. I gave up trying to read that man a long time ago," he said, referring to Jackson. Jackson said he and Parker had spoken earlier Thursday. "He talked, I listened," Parker said. "That's usually how it goes. He just asked me if I got my energy back. I was like, 'Energy? I never lost it.' " With the Lakers trailing 75-69 after three quarters Wednesday, was Parker surprised he wasn't put back in? "I'm always surprised when I don't play," he said.

Check out the Smush Pot!

As for Kobe playing with Smush, here's my favorite blogger David Friedman's take on the matter.

Hopefully Smush is having a great time in China. I guess he thought he deserved to go this past summer so decided to play out there waiting for the next Olympics (shhh...don't tell him that they'll be in England in 2012).

Skill Versus Talent

2009-03-13T17:15:00.000-07:00

Charles Barkley on last night’s TNT telecast when discussing this year’s MVP said that if you substituted Lebron for Kobe on the Lakers, that the Lakers would win 70 games because the Lakers have far superior talent.

Chuck speaks from his heart, which can be funny at times, bold at others. In this instance, it’s just ill-informed. Kobe and Lebron have different games. Kobe’s really changed his game this year with Gasol, Odom and Bynum clogging the middle. He’s become primarily a jumpshooter which accounts for nearly 80 percent of his shots.

The Lakers really only have three players who can hit from beyond the arc outside of Kobe, Sasha Vujacic, Jordan Farmar and Derek Fisher. That’s why the subtraction of Vladimir Radmanovic has hurt their offense whether people want to admit it or not. Luke Walton is horrible from outside of five feet, as I’ll show in a second, and Ariza is a streak shooter at the absolute very best.

82Games.com sheds some stats on the matter showing the percentage of jump shots taken by each player and their subsequent effective field goal percentage from that area.

Fisher: 86 percent jump shots, 55.6 percent EFG
Odom: 41 percent jump shots, 37.8 percent EFG
Gasol: 42 percent jump shots, 47.6 percent EFG
Bynum: 35 percent jump shots, 41.5 percent EFG
Ariza: 57 percent jump shots, 42.5 percent EFG
Walton: 69 percent jump shots, 37.4 percent EFG
Vujacic: 90 percent jump shots, 48.6 percent EFG
Farmar: 65 percent jump shots, 44 percent EFG
Powell: 60 percent jump shots, 41 percent EFG

Only three of the Lakers regular rotation players shoot better than 45 percent as jump shooters: Fisher, Vujacic and Gasol. Everyone else, especially Odom and Walton (starters), shoot a pretty bad percentage as jump shooters. Walton is especially horrible considering that 70 percent of his shots are jumpers. Vlad Rad was at a blistering 57 percent EFG. The Lakers dip in offensive efficiency of late and their lack of bench production can directly be tied to Luke moving into the starting spot and Vlad Rad moving to Charlotte.

At the very least twice a game, Kobe will drive and kick out to a wide open Walton who will clank the three or the 15-17 footer. That’s two dimes a game, without exaggeration. In fact, if you look at the games or even the quarters the Lakers do well, it’s when Walton is a factor on offensive and hits those shots.

Bottom line, especially with Bynum, the Lakers score the majority of their points in the paint. As the team’s best perimeter player, Kobe’s job is to hit jump shots. And considering he’s the number one option who takes the most difficult shots, his 46 percent EFG is pretty amazing.

On the flipside, Lebron’s 42 percent EFG from jump shooting is rather pedestrian. His bread and butter is taking it to the hole where he takes nearly 40 percent of his shots and is shooting 70 percent. That’s better than most centers, and is equally amazing.

His team is designed to shoot jumpers. Here are their stats.

Williams: 87 percent jump shots, 54.5 percent EFG
West: 79 percent jump shots, 53 percent EFG
Szczerbiak: 88 percent jump shots, 52 percent EFG
Ilgauskus: 65 percent jump shots, 46 percent EFG
Gibson: 89 percent jump shots, 48 percent EFG
Pavlovic: 70 percent jump shots, 56 percent EFG
Varejao: 41 percent jump shots, 34.6 percent EFG
Hickson: 40 percent jump shots, 31 percent EFG
Wallace: 25 percent jump shots, 18 percent EFG

Outside of the power forward spot, this team is a deadly jump shooting team with four players well over 50 percent EFG and one who is close at 48 percent. And while Ilgauskus is not quite as effective as Pau Gasol (46 to 48), he takes nearly 20 percent more jumpers than Pau and for the most part is just as deadly.

My point in all of this is that replacing Kobe with Lebron would most likely make the Lakers worse. Even if Lebron is a better talent than Kobe (not saying he is) or can do more for a team (he does), his presence on the Lakers would probably do more harm than good.

First and foremost, with Bynum and Gasol clogging the lanes, he’d have a much harder time driving to the hoop and getting his bread and butter shots. His outside shooting runs hot and cold, whereas Kobe is far more consistent, and would lead to a lot more 5-25 games like the one he threw up against the Lakers who forced him to take midrange shots and threes and effectively kept him away from the basket.

He’d also make Odom completely irrelevant. Odom’s best weapons are his abilities to drive, finish and pass, and Lebron’s a stronger, better and vastly more consistent version of the long, ball handling savy wing player.

Without Odom, the statement that the Lakers have more talent than the Cavs is completely untrue.

Also, instead of kicking it out to West, Williams, Gibson, Szczerbiak or Pavlovic, Lebron would be dishing to Walton, Ariza, Vujacic, Farmar and Fisher.

In fact, the opposite of what Barkley said might be more true.

On the flipside, if Kobe were on the Cavs, he’d be forced to take it to the hole, where he’s shooting inside shots at a 66 percent clip. Not Lebron-esque, but not shabby to say the least. It should go without saying, but just to make it crystal clear, it’s far easier to make closer shots than to make farther shots…

Kobe is also a much better freethrow shooter than James, so while he might not finish as many drives, he’d make up for it with his proficiency behind the line. He’d also get more assists kicking it out to actual shooters that can actually shoot.

Of course, because Bron Bron and Kobe play different positions, he’d also eliminate one of the perimeter players, either Szczerbiak or Pavlovic, but that just means the team would be better on defense.

As for Barkley’s comment, this isn’t fantasy basketball. If you added Lebron and subtracted Kobe from a Lakers fantasy basketball squad, then sure, you’d be the hands down favorite to win your league. In real basketball, floor spacing, coaching, style of play and maximizing the talents on your squad are vital for success.

Kobe’s ability to create space for his bigs, while remaining highly efficient for someone who is asked to shoot 80 percent of his shots from the perimeter, is why GMs, coaches and players around the league still believe him to be the best player in the league. Lebron is the best at what he can do, but he can’t do everything.

So while Kobe is not quite as good at being Lebron, he’s vastly better than Lebron is at being Kobe.

Finally, the Lakers are said to have a lot of talent although this reputation is based on the performances of four kids under 25 who had breakout seasons last year. So far, Bynum has failed to stay healthy and only started to play like he did last year for less than ten games. Farmar and Vujacic have grossly regressed. Only Ariza has started living up to his potential.

Of course, the prime example of talent not yet realized is Mr. Lamar Odom. Mr. Unfulfilled Potential. And even Lebron James can’t make Lamar consistent.

On the other side, the Cavs have a very specialized, skillful team. So while the talent might not be better, the skill level most certainly is. Wallace and Varejao are defensive bigs who grab boards and are good on the screen and roll. Both have very limited offensive talent, but their presence makes the Cavs a great defensive team.

As pointed out above, the Cavs also have a bevy of shooters. Shooting is a skill that takes years of practice. So while Wally world isn’t more talented than Odom, he’s definitely more skillful. The Lakers have a bunch of talented athletes, Ariza, Farmar, and Bynum, but no one can say that they are skillful. And, the one skillful rotation player outside of Fish and Gasol is Walton. And Walton is skillful at everything but shooting.

So, sure, maybe Kobe has more talent on the Lakers, but the Cavs have more skill.

Which is better?

The standings say they’re about even…

Some Tips on How to Fix the Clips

2009-02-26T17:39:00.000-08:00

"I've taught you well young Jedi..."

As shown Wednesday night with their victory over the defending champion Celtics, the Clippers, when healthy and motivated, have enough talent to play with anyone. True, Boston was without Kevin Garnett. True, Paul Pierce hurt his thumb. True, the Cs were in the last game of a four-game westcoast road trip against some stiff competition (Utah, Denver and, er, Phoenix?).

Even still, the Clips were without Chris Kaman and Eric Gordon missed most of the second half with a bruised shoulder thanks to a nasty pick by Kendrick Perkins.

So, how to fix the Clips?

Obviously, a coaching change, or at least a coaching philosophy change is the most glaring necessity. Baron Davis needs to be allowed to do his thing on offense. On defense is another matter. This off-season, if Mike Dunleavy doesn’t fire himself, he should swallow his pride and strike up a deal between him and Baron that challenges BD to put in the effort and leadership on the defensive end every night. If Boomdizzle complies, he’ll be given the keys to the offense without any input from daddy Dunleavy.

Sounds like a fair compromise. I mean, this team is built to run. Zach Randolph flourished under Mike D’Antoni. Camby is a great passer and manned the middle in Denver’s top-rated, up-tempo offense the last couple of years. And Baron had his best seasons playing Nelly ball.

But that's on offense. The team's first priority should be focusing on becoming a defensive juggernaut. All the tools are there. A physical, athletic point guard. A gritty, scrappy young shooting guard. And a former defensive player of the year (Camby) as well as a 7-foot rebounding machine (Kaman). Sure, Randolph is a lost cause on defense, but Camby helped hide Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony last year. Covering for one out of five should be a breeze in comparison. In fact, they could pair off Randolph and Camby as the starting front court and Kaman and Jordan as the bench mob bigs.

All that’s left to shore up is the horrific, offensively inefficient black hole small forward spot. Notice how up top I neglected to mention that Al Thornton missed the game as a reason for the Clippers to be excited? That was intentional because frankly, it was probably this very reason that Clips had a shot to win in the first place.

I was of the opinion that Al Thornton was going to mature into a real basketball player this year. You can look at his 17 points per game and say, wow, he’s gotten a lot better from last season. Or you can look at the fact that his scoring rate has slightly gone down from 18.6 to 18.1 that his PER has actually gotten worse (12.3 from 12.5 a year ago) and that his three point percentage has fallen off a cliff. You will also notice that despite 10 more minutes per game, he’s only upped his other statistical averages slightly: 0.2 steals, 0.3 assists, 0.4 blocks and only 1 rebound (5.5 total for a 6-8 small forward with mad hops).

Kevin Arnotz over at Clipperblog has a very insightful analysis on the trouble with the Clippers small forward spot.

Thornton doesn’t shoot the three well at all (26 percent). He’s a definite ball stop who rarely ever passes (ranks 57th out of all small forwards in assist rate). He’s not an efficient scorer (ranked 38 out of all eligible small forwards in PER), getting to the line only 3.6 times per game despite his incredible leaping ability. Basically, he hoists up turn around jumpers all game. Plus, he’s a miserable defender who often looks lost to boot. If it wasn't for the lack of freethrows and passion to get to the rim, he's like the more inefficient version of Corey Maggette.

Has 17 point per game ever been more of a mirage?

Here’s an idea, the Clips need to scrap the Thornton project going forward. The Clippers, who didn’t move any pieces for expiring contracts despite the fact that they probably could have, have an opportunity to pick up some assets this off-season thanks to the horrible economic climate. Teams are selling low. Dunleavy needs to bargain hunt and Sterling needs to open up his pocket books just a little bit more taking on extra salary in order to field a team that could be very, very good.

For example, a player like Gerald Wallace would be ideal. He’s athletic, can kind of shoot the three, and is a great defender when not pressed to be the focal point on offense. He’d flourish running next to BD, as long as Dunleavy would be willing to let Baron do his thing. A Wallace deal might actually work out because he was being shopped hard (until his injury) this trade deadline.

Kaman for Wallace might not interest the Cats despite their desire for an offensive big to pair with Okafor, but the salaries are identical and the fit couldn’t be more perfect for both squads. Both have some questions—Wallace’s health, Kaman’s mental capacity (and health too)—but there’s no denying that if everything works out, both teams will be much better for making the trade.

A starting five of Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Gerald Wallace, Zach Randolph and Marcus Camby? That could be a fierce defensive unit. The bench wouldn't be elite, but it wouldn't be that bad consisting of Al Thornton, DeAndre Jordan, Steve Novak, Mike Taylor and perhaps Ricky Davis and Brian Skinner. That team would be tough to beat and could even, if squinting in a certain light, be a championship contender...okay, well at least a second round playoff team.

Another guy who could work, and I know this sounds kind of weird since the Clips aren't quite championship material, but James Posey would be a really nice fit. Sure, by the end of his contract he'll be horrible, hell, the Hornets are already regretting his signing, but he has all the right tools to make the Clips a sick defensive team.

And with nearly $20 million left on his deal, the Hornets will be looking even harder this off-season to find cap relief (see attempted Chandler trade)

The Clips should have the necessary contracts to make that deal happen in three of the following: Mardy Collins, decent but by no means the answer; Ricky Davis, who will most likely exercise his player option because of how horribly he's played this year and the lack of a market for him next year due to the down economy and his rep as a problem child; Brian Skinner, ditto with the player option, but more because he sucks than anything personally bad about him; and/or Al Thornton.

Despite the anti-Thornton sentiment already posted, keeping Al would be better than getting rid of him. He’s got a fairly reasonable contract and is still young enough (I guess) to discover honest-to-goodness basketball skills to pair with his incredible athleticism.

In fact, if the Clips do get Posey for Skinner, Ricky and Collins, the Clips would have an incredibly deep roster with a credible backup at every position.

That’s a lot of money for a known penny-pinching, non-active owner to invest in a horrible economy on a 15-43 squad destined for a top five pick in next year’s draft lottery. But, defense wins championships, and the Clips could be one of the best defensive teams with health and the right small forward.

Of course, Ron Artest is going to be a free agent as well...and he's shooting that long ball a lot better this season.

Stats, Stats, Stats.

2009-02-24T17:45:00.000-08:00

By now, everyone has read the Michael Lewis New York Times piece on the importance of Shane Battier. If not, here it is.

Lewis points out the different problems with the current way of rating players, namely by the stats that are available. With all the new mathematical formulas being produced by guys like John Hollinger, David Berri, Daryl Morey, etc., it’s a mystery why the NBA doesn’t simply begin accumulating basic stats and widening its scope with what stats are relevant.

Money and star power drive the NBA, and most stars are created by the numbers they put up, which leads them to getting paid more. In the case of some players (Corey Maggette I’m looking at you), better stats doesn’t always figure into a better team or a better game, or, on a larger scale, a better NBA.

This being the case, instead of trying to tell players that playing Basketball A is better than playing Basketball B, simply expand the stats and give relevance to aspects of the game that don’t include scoring, but most certainly affect and shape how the ball gets into the basket (or doesn’t).

The problem with the current stats in the NBA is that there simply aren’t enough of them. In professional baseball, you can track how many times a guy gets a hit when he’s playing outside, at night, when the temperature is 62 degrees in the month of April. The NBA doesn’t need that sort of analysis, but expanding past points, rebounds and assists is a definite must and should have happened years ago.

There are almost no truly helpful defensive statistics to speak of. A guy like Battier should get paid more if he contributes to winning, which would ultimately encourage other players, up-and-coming players, children still learning, to play the game “the right way.”

The biggest blemish on Michael Jordan’s influence, was that his game and subsequent fame created a whole generation of ballers who tried to emulate him but lacked the skill to do so. I mean, nobody’s Jordan—Kobe and Lebron included.

Hence, a generation of a bunch of me-first, shoot-first, ball hogs, who, to the detriment of the league, were handsomely rewarded for the number of points they put up.

This is just a basic beginning, and comments and suggestions are encouraged. But I’ve put together a list of both defensive and offensive statistics that would infinitely benefit the NBA.

DEFENSE

1.) Possession Change Blocks (PCBlk): Blocks that lead directly to possession of the ball.

-Blocks (Blk): Blocks that result in a missed shot, but where the offensive player retains the ball.

2.) Possession Change Deflections (PCD): Deflections or tipped balls that result in a change of possession (similar to a steal).

-Steals: When a player directly takes the ball away or intercepts a ball from the other team thus resulting in a change of possession.

3.) Out of Bounds Deflections (OBD): Deflections or tipped balls that go out of bounds.

4.) Turnovers Forced (ToF): When a defensive player hounds a ball handler and it leads to some sort of turnover—bad pass, travel, three seconds, etc. Includes double teams.

5.) Offensive Fouls Drawn (OFD): Charges taken.

6.) Block fouls (BF): Due to the subjective nature of blocks/charges, record the number of defensive blocking fouls. A defensive player who amasses 3 blocking fouls is of a higher value than someone who commits 3 touch fouls.

-Personal Fouls (PF): Would be the total accumulation of fouls.

7.) Shots Contested (SC): Any time a player puts up a hand within a foot of an offensive player shooting. Would most certainly be up for personal opinion by the score keeper, but it would at least give an indication as to how many times a player actually does this.

8.) Changed Shots: Any time a player causes an offensive player to adjust his shot, pass out or miss his shot.

9.) Defensive stops: An accumulation of the times a team gets a stop given to every individual player on defense at the time. Will somewhat account for zone defenses and include possessions that end with missed freethrows. This stat would by no means be perfect, but it’s a more exact indicator than +/- and would have nothing to do with offensive output.

OFFENSE

1.) Fouls Drawn: Records how many times an offensive player gets fouled. Includes non-shooting fouls.

2.) Mega Assist: Assist leading directly to a dunk or layup (alley-oop)

3.) Free throw Assist: Assist that leads to freethrows (1/2 assist for 1 made freethrow, 1 assist for both made freethrows).

4.) Outlet Pass: Number of times player receives ball and throws past half-court.

5.) Assist-Assist (Hockey Assist): Assist given to a pass that comes before the pass that leads to a made bucket.

6.) Screen Assist: Any screen set that directly ends with an offensive basket made.

7.) Double Team Drawn: The number of times player attracts two active defenders.

A lot of these new stats are really subjective, but the only truly non-subjective stats are made buckets. Even rebounds can get hazy when it comes to tapping it to oneself (think the Rodman rebound). Some of the stats, like Possession Change Deflections and block fouls would change the way we look at steals and fouls, but change is needed, if not entirely good.

Ask Obama.

Subjectivity is a part of basketball whether we like it or not. And no matter how closely we scrutinize referees or how many replays or how many refs we throw out on the court, there will always be blown calls.

In my opinion, Chris Paul commits an offensive foul every time down the court. Ryan Schwan of Hornes247 might believe Paul’s just a crafty devil. Either way, Paul initiates contact and the majority of the time gets the call.

The same subjective nature of fouls called could be said about Shaq. And Lebron. Etc.

What these stats I’ve proposed would do, despite a relative amount of subjectivity involved, is improve the way we record the game and give greater insight into the level of talent and skill that each and every player has on the court.

I mean, why else would a brilliant mind like Jerry Sloan play Jarron Collins 10 minutes a game?

Stats should be able to tell us why.

Some Thoughts on the Trade Deadline

2009-02-19T18:57:00.000-08:00

Yawn...Kind of like masturbating without, well, without the grand finale.

Vince Carter stayed put. Raef Lafrentz’s expiring was held onto. Wally World is currently on his hands and knees thanking every known deity. Amare and Bosh are still in Phoenix and Toronto. Even a slightly better than marginal difference maker like Richard Jefferson didn’t move. The Wizards are exactly the same.

I had a whole post about Tyson Chandler that you can check here, but that had to be scrapped because, well, that trade was scrapped.

Alston to the Magic still doesn’t make them a legit contender (not anything close to what Nelson did), but it gets them out of the first round now. Watch out for that Rocket defense to suddenly start imposing its will on teams. Kyle Lowry is a pitbull defender and lightning quick. Shane Battier’s rounding back into shape. And now that T-Mac is out for the season, Artest will move back into the starters roll. That defense could be 22-win-streak good. Potentially anyway.

Thabo Sefolosha to the Thunder was a great pickup. If Chandler was on their team, despite my post about him not being that good, would have made OKC by far and away the undisputed winners of this year’s deadline. As it is, they still might be. Sefolosha gives them a wing who can defend. He’s 24, so there’s a possibility that shooting stroke develops with more consistent playing time.

The Kings cut a lot of salary for next year. Good for the Maloofs. Bad for their fans. Nocioni won’t help them much, especially considering he plays positions that are currently filled on the roster with actually good or developing talent.

Watch out for the Suns. Grant Hill is jumping and playing like it’s 99. Nash is back to the MVP-in-the-SSOL-system point guard everyone loved for the past half decade. Amare is dropping 40 point games. Shaq is running. I mean, who gives a crap about defense? If they can drop 120 points every night, I’d love to see what team can defend all of those offensive weapons. Hell, J-Rich, the number one option on last year’s Cats is the fourth option on this team. He’s a career 18 ppg scorer. And that bench has suddenly become an honest to goodness asset. Sure, I’m not going to overreact just cuz the team straight murdered the Clippers on back-to-backs, but I will say that this is the most talented team that Phoenix has had in the entire Nash era. I mean, Barbosa is literally the sixth option on this team.

Hell, Goran Dragic loves him some D’Antoni ball. In his last three games, he’s shooting 72 percent (13-18) while averaging 11 points and 3 assists in only 21 minutes of game time. The turnovers are high, but comparing that to what he was two months ago?

The Suns are scary now. The Lakers should be scared. They’ve got the offensive firepower, the size, and the star power to match up with the purple and gold. And they’ve also got a whole team worth of experience.

In the second half, look for the Jazz, Suns and Rockets to rise, while the Mavs (just not as good), San Antonio (injured Manu) and Hornets (no depth) fall.

The Big Mastermind

2009-02-17T12:00:00.000-08:00

I’m sure you’ve heard that the Phoenix Suns are in dire straights.

The Suns have fallen to ninth in the playoff race. They’ve gone 5-5 in their last 10 including two in a row before the all-star break. They lost to a group of mediocre teams: Charlotte, New York, Golden State, Chicago, Minny, and even Philly should be thrown in there. Those are teams that a squad who fancies itself championship material just can’t be losing to on a consistent basis.

Coach Terry Porter was just given the axe after a mere 50 games this season.

Owner Robert Sarver wants to cut costs at any expense, despite swallowing the remaining $4 million on Porter’s contract, including trading away his most valuable asset in Amare Stoudemire.

Steve Kerr, who ruined the team by demanding a defensive-minded approach on a roster with nothing but offensive-minded players and then trading his best defensive players away (Marion, Bell, Diaw) for offense-only type players (Shaq, Jason Richardson), has put everyone and their mother on the trading block…well, all except for the one player who can’t physically play any defense at all (Nash).

At the center of the storm, is a man who is trying to weasel his way into another situation that will add rings to his fingers. It’s surprising that more people haven’t seen this obvious ploy, especially considering he’s the biggest man in the NBA.

Shaq is trying to become a Laker again. All year the signs have been there. He’s been downplaying the feud between him and Phil and him and Kobe since September. His exact words were "marketing ploy." When the all-star game shaped up to feature him, Phil and Kobe once again, he started rehashing about how the three of them created the drama, created the interest, but that there were no hard feelings. He’s been repeatedly saying how he and Kobe were the best duo the league had ever seen. Talking about how much he respects Phil. Two weeks ago, he out of the blue declared Kobe as the best player in the NBA, making it a point to rate #24 over Lebron.

During the all-star game introductions, he donned a mask and danced with the JabbaWockees instantly becoming one of the most talked about highlights of the weekend. Having created enough of a buzz with the media about the “dynamic duo” in the weeks leading up to the game, despite only playing 11 minutes during the game, he was named co-MVP with Bryant. He even laughed, heartily I might add, at Kobe’s joke about “Steel Magnolias.”

This after a summer in which he mocked Kobe in a freestyle with the chorus, “Kobe, tell me how my ass taste.”

See, Shaq, despite the jovial appearance and goofy personality, is truly a mastermind. His whole performance, this whole “I love Kobe and Phil” rhetoric is all part of his greater plan.

He’s trying to remind L.A. how fun and cool and Hollywood he is. He’s trying to get himself out of the sinking boat that is the Phoenix Suns and put himself into a position that maximizes his showmanship as well as gives him the best chance to get ring number 5 and possibly even 6 over the life of the rest of his contract. And what a way to exit.

Come back to Los Angeles. Reunite with Kobe. Repair old wounds. Swoop in and ride Kobe’s superior talent and hard work, but receive all the credit and fame, knowing that the naysayers will discount Kobe (who hasn't won without Shaq) and give all the credit to him. If they win rings, it'll just be like old times. Exactly like old times in fact.

See, in order to be considered the best, he has to get more rings. Nobody’s touching Russell’s 11. Besides, Russell played during a different era. An era where one team dominated and it just so happened that Russell was on that team. I’m not discounting his greatness at all, but to hold any NBA player up to that standard is unrealistic.

Therefore, the modern day bar is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s six. And Shaq knows this.

He also knows that the Lakers have plenty of bigs. Andrew Bynum will be coming back, perhaps this season, so taking back-to-backs off won’t hurt the team at all. He knows that Pau Gasol is the perfect complimentary player for his skills, unlike Amare.

He also knows that a big segment of Los Angeles still loves him and that an equally big segment of L.A. (perhaps the same segment) loves the idea of trading Lamar Odom.

Hopefully, Mitch plays this one as smartly and patiently as he's played it the last couple of years.

Seeing as how the Suns are now going to revert back to team basketball under Alvin Gentry and fastbreak a lot more, Shaq’s all-star numbers are going to take a severe hit.

His welcome in Phoenix has outworn itself quicker than any of his last few stops.

So he wants to revisit his best and most memorable stop.

From the inside looking out, it sure seems like Shaq needs L.A. Badly.

Too bad for him, the feelings aren’t mutual.

Somewhere, there’s a message about not burning bridges, something about karma…

Lakers Fall, D-Will Rises

2009-02-12T00:21:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm pretty sure Kobe Bryant misses Vladimir Radmanovic. Luke Walton can be good. Emphasis on "can." And he certainly understands and executes the triangle more effectively than Vlad Rad. But damn, there's no doubt in my mind that Kobe misses Vladi. Luke can't shoot to save his life. Vlad, as shown by his 8-16 from beyond the arc in two games with the Bobcats, most certainly can.

The Lakeshow shot a stinky 5-19 from three last night (mostly behind Kobe's 1-7) but boy hooie could they have used a streaky 3-point shooter.

Luke Walton is frustrating. In the third quarter, Pau Gasol steals the ball and Luke streaks down the court for an open layup. Mehmut Okur (yeah, the super fast guy on the Jazz) closes in on Luke and tries to swipe at the ball and hits Luke's left arm. Luke misses the gimme and one opportunity. He then steps up to the stripe and bricks both freethrows basically turning a for sure and-one into a turnover. On the defensive end, Lakers get the stop with Paul Milsap airballing straight to Kobe. Kobe brings the ball up and chucks up a semi-contested 20 footer (more on his poor shot selection in a second). Luke hustles down and almost has an offensive rebound that is knocked out of his hands by Ronnie Brewer. Luke takes the ball out, gives it to Gasol, gets it back and curls around and then tries to lob a pass to Pau. The ball is stolen. The Jazz fastbreak. Fisher makes a great play to stop C.J. Miles dribble. Miles passes back to Brewer but Luke makes the hustle play of recovering back on defensive and then knocking the ball out of bounds.

Three consecutive series that end with Luke almost making a 3-point play but coming up with nothing, almost getting an offensive rebound, and then almost making a steal.

As for Kobe, I don't know what happened or what's been said to him since Bynum went down, but he's not looking to pass much at all. He's not moving the ball as much anymore and is instead taking a bunch of contested shots. Little ball movement. A lot of one on one. When he's on, it's brilliant. But when he's taking tough shots and they ain't falling? He needs to start working the ball around.

The Lakers played crap defense last night (the Jazz shot 59 percent from the field and scored 113 points) but it was Kobe's poor shot selection that cost the team the game. He took 33 shots, and add to that 4 other attempts that ended in fouls...that's 37 attempts...three times as many as the next closest Laker (Pau and Odom who shot a combined 15-26).

Mr. Bryant...pass the damn ball. What happened?

Mr. Odom, three straight games and three career rebounding nights. If he can keep this production up, he'll grab 50 boards the next time the Lakers play the Jazz during the last regular season game. Ha.

Speaking of the Jazz, Mr. Deron Williams is blazing hot as stated in the last post. He dropped 31 and 11 on the Lakeshow. Amazing how people still think Chris Paul is so much better.

On Point

2009-02-10T00:28:00.000-08:00

If I told you that there was a point guard out there who, when given 40 minutes of starter’s PT, averages 16 points, 9.5 assists (with a 3.1 assist to turnover ratio), 1.7 steals and 4.5 rebounds, all on 45 percent shooting, you’d say those are all-star worthy numbers, especially in the East.*

Well, you might be surprised that this dude was coming off the bench and only getting 15 minutes a game. So who was starting in front of him? Chris Paul? Deron Williams? Tony Parker? Uh, try Luke Ridnour.

Now, those numbers aren’t rounded per 40 minutes, those are actual game time 40 minute numbers. His name is Ramon Sessions, and if you don’t remember a 5 game stretch last April during which dude averaged 14 points and 15 dimes on 50 percent shooting, then you obviously weren’t playing fantasy basketball. I picked him up and then dropped him and nearly lost my league’s championship due to that stupid move.

Well, this year, against Detroit this past Saturday, due dropped 44 points and 12 dimes on 72 percent shooting.

Never understood why Milwaukee went out and traded for Luke Ridnour this past offseason. I get why they traded away Mo Williams. Big contract, injury prone, wasn’t known to play defense, and Sessions seemed to be a big time talent ready to take over. But, looking at how well Williams has been playing (big time all-star snub) this season, seems like Damon Jones, Ridnour and Adrian Griffin is a ho hum package.

Ridnour’s played pretty well this year. He’s hit some big shots, but Sessions is the real deal and should have been manning the point all season long. Over the next four weeks, with Ridnour sidelined, the Bucks will get to see a whole bunch of Sessions. He’s got to work on a consistent J, but he’s great at getting to the hole and finds open men.

* * *

I know it’s only over the course of 6 games, but anyone who still doesn’t believe Deron Williams is at least on par with Chris Paul, better do a double take. Finally starting to show his health after playing most of the season on a still recovering ankle, Deron has gradually played himself into his MVP caliber form.

In the new year, Deron’s averaging 23 points, 10.3 dimes and 3 boards on a scalding 49 percent shooting. Chris Paul’s at 22, 11 and 5.4 on 50 percent. Paul’s been better, but no question there is a legitimate debate there.

* * *

Sometimes a new coach and a little bit of freedom is all a guard needs to take off. The Grizz have most assuredly been boosted by the return of Darko Milicic (only two of Memphis’ 15 victories have come without the big Serb), but it’s been a loosening of the reigns by new head coach Lionel Hollins that has helped starting guard Mike Conley Jr. take that next step a lot of us bball freaks thought he would take this year.

After a shaky first game with Hollins at the helm, Conley’s really responded to more freedom posting 13.6 points, 6.4 assists and 4.4 boards on 44 percent shooting over the past 7 games. The most important stat, 4 of those games ended in Grizzlies’ wins.

* * *
Another example of setting a point guard free can be seen on the Dallas Mavericks. At the end of last month, coach Rick Carlisle told Kidd to be more aggressive and stopped calling plays for the 14-year, surefire hall of fame veteran. The result? A 5-1 record against some pretty good teams—Orlando, Portland, and Miami. The results shouldn’t be surprising, least of all to Mavericks brass, who, according to owner Mark Cuban’s blog, have J-Kidd rated as the second most productive player behind only Lebron James based on the Mavs’ own enhanced and complicated player and team evaluation system.

No disrespect for Mr. Trip Dub, but any system that evaluates team and player stats and comes out with J-Kidd as the second highest rated player in the league has a LOT more tweaking to do before it gets it right. Just for the record, Kobe Bryant is 15th on the list, behind border all-stars like Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis and luminary talents like…er, Randy Foye.

Trade Talk (Amare for Bosh)

2009-02-06T17:23:00.001-08:00

Amare should have gone a long time ago. But if he’s got to go now, then why not make the following deal?

Chris Bosh and Anthony Parker for Amare Stoudemire and Leandro Barbosa

From Phoenix’s standpoint, it seems like they are giving up more talent, but think about it. If you put the selfless Bosh, who does all those little things to help teams win (think his quiet dominance in the Olympics) on this team, they have to immediately shoot to the top of everyone’s Western Conference favorites, not just this year, but certainly next as well. Bosh had no problem doing whatever was needed of him on the Olympic squad (a good example of why Amare should have played over the summer), whether that was blocking shots, rebounding, taking charges, whatever. He’s also got the ability to drop 40 on any given night. Sounds exactly like what everyone hoped Amare could be. What's even better, Bosh's game meshes much more fluidly with Shaq's.

Bosh will be a free agent in 2010, but Phoenix’s window is now, that’s what Kerr said when he traded for Shaq, so they have to go after the title this year and next. Besides, Bosh might even sign an extension since he’s a Texas native, and Phoenix has Texas-weather and culture in abundance. Also, in the here and now, Parker is an upgrade on defense and doesn’t need to have the ball in his hands to be effective, but can still have big Barbosa-like nights on occasion. Besides, his salary (nearly $5 million) comes off the book next season which would be in line with the Suns desire to shed payroll.

From Toronto’s standpoint, throwing Barbosa into the mix gives them two assets in exchange for Bosh. Basically, they’ll be giving up the better overall player right now for one who has the potential to be better, but has not yet lived up to it along with a dynamic wing player who can play some backup point guard. Calangelo’s been trying to move Parker anyway, so this allows him to retrieve one of his own draft choices (who he loved back in Phoenix I might add). Calderon is the perfect Amare compliment on the pick and roll (well, besides Nash), who does everything Nash does—pass well, lobs well, shoots well, etc. just not quite up to Nash’s level.

With Amare going back to the pick and roll every other play, he would be the unquestioned focal point of the team and would bring 28 and 9 every night as the featured star—something Bosh was unable to do consistently. His crushing inside presence should allow Jermaine O’Neal to patrol the paint on defense, and sit outside and shoot jumpers (he’s better at this at this stage in his career) while Amare goes to work inside on O. Think about this, if Amare goes to the East and averages 30 a game, you don’t think the Raptors would have a chance to make the playoffs? Bosh can’t do that. He can do a lot of other things, but he can’t do that. An Amare led Raptors could finish 20-9 the rest of the way, which would, according to John Hollinger be enough for them to get into the playoffs. If the Raptors start to roll and everyone is suddenly talking about Amare as an MVP candidate rather than a bad choice to start the all-star game, Sun Tzu will have the motivation he needs to bring his “gorilla game” each and every night. He might even, gasp, break into double digit rebounding for once in his career.

Calangelo has ties to Phoenix, obviously, and if neither side feels like they are getting screwed over, then this could be a case of trading stars in need of a change of scenery and could work out well for both teams both in the short term and long term.

Thinking BOLD

2009-01-26T22:58:00.000-08:00

With extremely deep teams like the Blazers, Lakers, Jazz, and Houston, this season, the second unit, or bench squad, has become nearly as important as the starters.

Teams like the Nuggets, Spurs, Cavs, and Magic have developed benches this year and remain at the top of their divisions due to that added depth. While injury-plagued teams like Houston and the Jazz have hung in the playoff race mainly due to their depth.

On the flipside, good to very good teams like the triple H trio of the Heat, Hawks, and Hornets haven’t been able to take that next step due to their thin benches.

In light of all this, it’s definitely time for some gut checks from certain NBA stars who say they want to win, who say they want to do whatever it takes… Well, it’s time for some NBA teams, namely, NBA coaches, to be BOLD.

There were a few teams that started this bold thinking. Ironically, the team who has a rep for being boring, has taken some of the boldest steps over the past few seasons…and you know what? They’ve won the whole damn thing four times. From mining the wealth of European stars to sitting stars for the entire fourth quarter in potentially winnable games, the Spurs have been that BOLD team.

They also did a little move that has helped make them one of the greatest franchises in league history. That would be bringing Manu Ginobili, a superstar talent, off the bench.

This season, other teams have followed suit.

Exhibit A: the Los Angeles Lakers, who, admittedly, copied the Ginobili experiment and asked Lamar Odom, who had pretty much started every single game of his career, to lead the bench mob.

The result? The Lakers have the best bench in the entire league. Trevor Ariza and Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic along with Odom change the entire pace of the game and play frenetic, fast-paced ball, that aggressively traps and oftentimes fullcourt presses and makes life miserable for the opposition who has to try and adapt to two different styles and basically gets a group of starters playing off the bench.

As a side result to that, the Lakers 7-foot future, Andrew Bynum, is starting to blossom playing alongside all the veterans. Pau Gasol has meshed perfectly with the 21-year-old and Kobe Bryant and Fisher are looking to get him the ball.

Oh yeah, the Lakers sport the best record in the West (35-8). Pretty nifty outcome for thinking bold, wouldn’t you agree?

Exhibit B: the Utah Jazz, who, despite all the injuries to key players have remained in the playoff hunt. They started the season bringing Andrei Kirilenko off the bench, and before Boozer and then Milsap went down with injuries, that little trick was working like a $5,000, well, nicely.

Hopefully, you can see where this post is headed.

Aside from exhibits A & B, there is also the recent Jermaine O’Neal experiment. The Raptors have been fortunate enough to have Andrea Bargnani absolutely balling (20 points and 7 boards on 50 percent shooting in January) and have the luxury, much like the Lakers and pre-injured Jazz, of bringing a known star talent off the bench. While O’Neal’s star has faded considerably, so far, the bold move is paying off. The team has since rattled off a couple in a row (yeah, the Kings and Bulls, but still).

As for some of the other teams in the league, they have not been thinking boldly, and have clung to the tried and tested and the old school ways of coaching.

Maybe it’s Terry Porter and Michael Curry’s coaching styles that are preventing them from seeing the larger picture. Maybe it’s the fact that they are first year coaches (well, fairly new to coaching in Porter’s case) with big shoes to fill. Maybe it’s the high profile star power that they are dealing with. Or perhaps it's a combination of all of these things

Whatever it is, the obvious solution is staring them in the face and they are refusing to go with it.

I’ve been talking about bringing Nash off the bench for quite some time now. Check here for that blog.

Recapping, it gives the Suns two strong units. Nash, if playing his style of basketball (run and gun) can turn anyone into a viable contributor. But force him to slow down and play with Shaq? Then we have his highest turnover percentage of his career (worse than his rookie campaign) and his lowest FG percentage in four years.

Starting J Rich, Amare, Shaq, Grant Hill and Barbosa or even Dee Brown, would allow J-Rich to have a more useful impact in the offense. Shaq has won four titles in his career, and they’ve all been playing with a great wing player. Now, this Shaq isn’t close to 3peat Shaq, nor is he quite Heat Shaq, and, J-Rich ain’t even a poor-man’s Kobe, but neither is he a catch and shoot, fourth option. With Shaq and J-Rich, the duo-dynamic is there.

With this lineup, Grant Hill can run point forward and be in charge of the main ball handling duties. Besides, in a half court offense that focuses around Shaq, all a team simply needs is a point guard who can dump the ball into the post and shoot the long ball (think Scott Skiles, think old Jason Williams, think Ron Harper, think Brian Shaw). Leandro Barbosa might not be as smart a player as any of them, but he’s definitely at least as talented.

With the starters set, Shaq accumulating fouls on the defense early, battering the bigs, abusing the post, with about 3 minutes left in the first quarter, that’s when the Suns will unleash the hounds. A second unit of Nash, Barbosa, Barnes, Amundson and Amare would be devastatingly fast and explosive.

Bringing a two-time MVP off the bench, now that’s thinking BOLDLY.

Which brings me to another former MVP who should be coming off the bench. How many conference finals have the Detroit Pistons been to the past six years?

Six.

They accomplished this feat based not on any superstar talent (though, Mr. Billups is proving that he’s definitely a working man’s superstar—think a point guard’s version of Brandon Roy). Instead, they built a strong team unit, that knew how to play well together—very well, excellent in fact.

Ben Wallace/Antonio McDyess, Rip Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, and Chauncey Billups.

Sure, over the years, they’ve replaced core guys here and there. The first being Wallace. The team quickly filled his hole with McDyess and Jason Maxiell. Despite the change, they didn’t really miss a beat.

This season, wisely predicting the emergence of Rodney Stuckey after easing him into the system last year, they sent Chauncey packing to “renew” the point guard position like they did with the center/power forward spot two years before.

But instead of continuing this natural cycle, they’ve tried to force a square peg into a round hole.

AI’s the Detroit’s Yoko Ono.

No disrespect to the Answer, but the question is where should he play, and the solution is on the second unit.

A superstar coming off the bench? Yes, think Ginobili.

But Ginobili is no Allen Iverson…right from both sides of that argument.

So, instead, let’s look at this in a different light. Do you remember way back in 2001, back when Iverson was the face of the Sixers franchise? Do you remember who the other faces he was playing with were?

Nope, neither does anyone else. The point is, he won his MVP that year and took that team to the finals with a group of nobodies (sorry Mutumbo).

If AI is options 1,2 and 3 on a second unit featuring Amir Johnson, Aaron Afflalo and Jason Maxiell, irregardless of the noticeable regression in his game this season, he will kill second units like it’s 2001. He’s still AI. He’s still a top 10 shooting guard.

On this Detroit team, his rightful place is to lead a second unit squad. His place is to kill second units.

He’s not here to change the flow of that tight as hip hugger jeans’ camaraderie and team-first approach. Let’s face it, try as he might, AI isn’t a team-oriented guy. He’s a great, great teammate, but not a team player. There’s no team in AI.

Bringing Iverson off the bench would not only keep that first unit flowing like they have for the past six years, but it would also allow the youngins to develop into the system. Look how beautifully Stuckey has progressed in this model.

AI is most likely only a one year rental. Why has Curry allowed him to muck up the system? Let's be real. Iverson's got zero rings. He got close, but he’s never won anything. The Pistons system got them a ring and another finals appearance.

In Phoenix, the newbie, Shaq, is the one with the rings. Despite it previously being Nash’s team, going with the ring bearer isn’t a bad idea.

But in both cases, BOLD thinking needs to be adopted. Bringing both of the former MVP guards off the bench will boost both squads into the elite class, giving them both elite starting units and elite benches.

Remember, not everyone can be Boston and mesh superstar talent together.

The Lakers have been bold this year, and they have a huge depth advantage as well as the best bench in the league and are poised to represent the West in the Finals once again.

The Spurs have been bold for years and have four rings to show for it.

And, there’s no BOLDER statement than winning a ring…

Wade vs Kobe

2009-01-12T01:44:00.001-08:00

There was some hype going into last night’s Heat versus Lakers game that featured the two premiere shooting guards facing off in Los Angeles. There was added intrigue for Lakers fans, due to the Heat being one of only 6 other teams who have beaten the reigning Western Conference champs.

The game featured the league’s top (Wade) and third leading scorer (Bryant) butting heads. Literally. Wade finished the game with an ice pack on his head and Bryant had to have 4 stitches above his right eye. It was a gritty matchup, unlike their high-scoring affair three Christmas' ago.

The Heat stayed in the game thanks to the hot shooting of rookie Michael Beasley who drilled 10-16 shots for 23 points and the three point accuracy of Daequan Cook who shot 5-9 from downtown. Looked like he got his wrist slapped at the end of the game, but I see that happen to Kobe all the time, so, no harm no foul I guess. The Lakers stayed in the game thanks to Andrew Bynum's 24 points and Fish's 11 assists and Pau's 18 rebounds.

As far as the main event matchup is concerned, if you were to simply check the box score, you would read that Kobe got badly outplayed by Wade. Flash finished with 27 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks, shooting 10-22 from the field.

On the other side of things, the reigning MVP made only 5-14 shots, finishing with 19 points, 7 assists, and 2 rebounds with no steals or blocks.

What the boxscore does not tell, is that Kobe, despite the poor shooting night, had the better night of the two. While Wade was pretty much asked to do everything, it was obvious that Kobe’s main responsibility was to stop Wade. #24 was up in #3’s jersey from the moment the ball was inbounded on every single Heat possession. Wade’s going to be smelling Bryant’s sweat at least until Miami plays Minny on Tuesday.

Both star guards played the entire first quarter. During that quarter, Wade shot 3-6, with a turnover and 2 assists. Kobe, amassed 6 assists and but only 3 points on one attempt.

Kobe and Wade both sat out at the beginning of the second quarter. Lakers had a 26-21 lead, and carried that until Wade entered at 8:08. At about the 7 minute mark, with Kobe still on the bench, Wade goes on a tear and proceeds to hit a 3 pointer, 2 freethrows and a 21-foot jumper to tie the game at 34-34. Overall, he’s 2-3 from the field.

At 5:33 of the second quarter, Kobe checks back in. With Kobe hounding him again, Wade finishes the quarter with a made bucket, 2 assists and 2 turnovers.

In the first half, while going up against Bryant, Wade shot 4-7, with 3 turnovers and 4 assists. When Kobe was out, Wade shot 2-3, with a pair of made freethrows.

The third quarter began with both playing the entire 12 minutes. With Kobe hounding him again, Wade misses all four of his attempts and the Heat’s 1 point lead vanishes into a 60-73 lead for the Lakers. At the 2:30 mark, Wade puts the team on his back and scores a layup and draws a foul on Gasol for the and-one. He gets to the line again for two more freethrows. Then misses another shot. For the quarter, Kobe went 4-7 from the field and 1-1 from the line with 1 assist. Wade shot 1-6 and 3-3 from the line with no assists. The Lakers carry a 71-77 lead into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth, Wade and Kobe both sit. Wade enters first at the 9:33 mark. In the span of a minute, from 8:25 to 7:24, Wade scores 7 points, all while Bryant is still riding pine. His flurry turns a 77-85 lead for the Lakers into a 3-point game 82-85.

Kobe Bryant enters at 7:11 and Wade doesn’t score the rest of the way shooting 0-4. He does, however, amass 4 assists in the final 7 minutes of play, with 3 in a row that helped knot the game at 102. But he doesn’t score, nor does he get to the line.

With Kobe manning Wade up, Flash shot 5-17 from the field, hit 3-3 freethrows for 13 points and had 8 dimes to 3 turnovers. When Trevor Ariza or Sasha Vujacic was covering Wade, Flash was 5-5 from the field, 3-4 from the line for 14 points and had one assist and no turnovers.

Basically, Kobe forced Wade, pretty much all by his lonesome (I mean, he did get help defense) to become a distributor while he was guarding him. On the flipside, Kobe was constantly seeing double teams, and while Flash did guard Kobe throughout the game, Kobe saw Marion down the stretch.

So, while the final box score heavily favors Flash, it was Mamba who was the silent killer and the main reason the Lakers were able to pull this game out. He played some mean, mean defense tonight, and was a huge reason why his team won despite his putrid 35 percent from the field.

More and more evidence that box scores barely tell half the story.

Above all, this game was a unique testament to the greatness of two players, displayed in completely different ways. Wade showed his brilliance by scoring half of his 27 points in the tiny window of 5 minutes when Kobe was not guarding him. Even more impressive is how Kobe was able to slow down the league's leading scorer to a 5-17 shooting performance in the other 35 plus minutes the two played together.

Dunk Contest: Blow it Up!

2009-01-07T17:27:00.000-08:00

The Dunk Contest needs to be fixed. It seemed to be getting better (thanks J-Rich) but over the past two seasons there has been some questionable judgment from the judges that has unfortunately lead to questionable winners with gimmicky, but not dunk-champ-worthy dunks.

Here’s a great article that sort of covers the basis for today’s post written by Bethlehem Shoals of Sporting News.

He basically tears down this year’s competition, reducing Dwight Howard and Nate Robinson to “novelty acts” and then chastising the omission of Gerald Green.

Oh, and any world in which Gerald Green, inventor of THE BIRTHDAY CAKE, gets snubbed for this motley bunch is not one that values the Dunk Contest as I know it. Green can jump over anyone, has that perfect mix of agility and length to make his flight downright balletic, and comes up with crazy stuff. And he has managed to stick in the league and grow up a little.

“But my major beef is with the selection process. I don't know who comes up with the first three, or the fan fave options. I don't think, though, that it's the judges. And given what a miserable track record some have had for recognizing brilliance, seeing past the obvious, or even seeing what the heck was going on, it seems like they should be the ones consulted.” I agree wholeheartedly with the travesty of not inviting Gerald Green back into the fold. His ideas for dunks were great and his athleticism translates into eye candy.

I also agree that the selection process is horrible and that the judges are old and tired and miss some of the more subtle, yet beautiful to watch (especially in super-slo motion) dunks by lesser known players.

This point has been highlighted in recent years.

Exhibit A: Nate Robinson’s "win" over Andre Igoudala (who had the best dunk I’ve ever seen outside of Vince Carter’s whole contest) after the little dude tried to dunk it 50 times before finally getting it.

Exhibit B: Dwight Howard’s “Superman” dunk that was more like a Super lay-in and had nothing on Green’s cupcake dunk.

Both are prime examples of “star” power over actual ingenuity and execution.

Here’s what I think should be done.

First off, forget this four-player garbage. I miss the eight-player format. Better, yet, why not invite ten players? What about twelve? With that many participants, each player would only get a couple chances in the first round. This will limit the standing around and waiting. Keep the action moving.

Out of a field of 10 to 12 contestants, you’re going to get a lot of creativity. Sure, there will probably be some bad stuff too, but it will also add variety and cut down on watching a dude attempt one dunk for 45 minutes.

I’ve written about how much more athletic today’s NBA is then 10-15 years ago. Every team has at the very least an MJ-esque athlete (not player or talent, strictly athleticim-wise) on their roster. Some teams have two or three of these types of athletes.

Why not give some new blood a chance to shine? I mean, the NBA has already implied this very thing in the contest's “Rising Stars” moniker. Hell, why not give other guys who would otherwise never get to go to the All-Star festivities, not just newbies, an opportunity to participate?

For example, a five-year vet like Dahntay Jones, making $800,000. Dude’s got crazy hops, has thrown down some wicked dunks this season, why not give him 30 seconds to market himself to the fans, a chance to grab a bit of spotlight? Who knows, he might put on a show and give the Nugs more buzz when they travel.

I understand that the NBA is star-driven. That’s why Chris Paul gets awarded extra assists on official stat sheets and can initiate contact and still get the foul and Dwyane Wade can’t be touched, and K.G. can bark and wag fingers and tell everyone to go eff their mothers without getting T-d up, etc. etc.

But, due to this fact, the NBA should also be all about creating stars as well. While Gerald Green isn’t a star, he did sell a bunch of jerseys when he won the contest and put on a great show in the process.

Having a larger field will get more players into the competition, and give more fans reason to watch. It will also take pressure off of the contestants and allow them to just go out and try something. Think “safety in numbers.”

It might even attract some of the league’s biggest stars (Kobe, Wade, Lebron) to come out and try a dunk in the first round, knowing they won’t have to invest a whole mess of time or energy into the event. And if they do well, and the crowd wants them to keep going, they just might.

This year’s selection of Rudy Fernandez, Russell Westbrook and Joe Alexander is a fine starting point. The NBA could go a step further and run video highlights (using NBA trademarked game footage) during commercials of all of the would-be contestants so that the fans could vote their top 10-12 into the event.

We've already seen players trying to promote their all-star selections via youtube or myspace (Amare, Bosh, etc.), so why can't the NBA promote the dunk contest? The NBa coul run 20 second commercials on all the potential candidates so that the fans could decide and vote in who they want to see. This gets the causual fan interested and invested in the event as well. The league could even have the candidates (or the teams) themselves put together the highlight reels.

How fun would those commercials be? How excited about the dunk contest would you be watching 10 or 12 different commercials of the various potential dunk contestants?

Letting the fans have complete control over something superficial like the dunk contest is exactly what fan voting is about. Tracy McGrady and VC getting voted in as starters for the AS game simply based on their name is a travesty. But the dunk contest? Fan voting would be perfect. This would also eliminate the Bird Man and Bob Sura entries of years past.

Here’s a list of a bunch of guys who could be in the dunk contest, a lot of them from teams who probably won’t get much, if any representation during All-Star weekend (click on them to see their youtube highlights):

Wolves: Rodney Carney
Rockets: Von Wafer
Raptors: Joey Graham
Warriors: Anthony Randolph
Lakers: Trevor Ariza
Jazz: Ronnie Brewer
Wizards: Nick Young
Clippers: DeAndre Jordan
Heat: Dorrell Wright
Bulls: Thabo Sefolosha

Come on NBA. The world is changing. The dunk contest needs to change too (and I'm not talking about the wheel of fortune crap either...)

Christmas Day Notes

2008-12-26T11:10:00.000-08:00

CELTICS vs LAKERS

-The Celtics had as much to do with giving that game to the Lakers as the Purple and Gold had to do with taking it. Making only 5 of 22 threes, committing 22 turnovers, openly bickering with each other, and foul trouble from the Celtics “all-star” point guard were major culprits in the 19-game streak ending.

-Kobe played brilliantly in the last 3 minutes of the game. Instead of forcing it and trying to be the hero, the Lakers got the win. Bryant amassed four assists, three defensive rebounds and hit two buckets. The first, perhaps quietly the biggest of the game, came 20 seconds after KG had just given the Cs the lead 81-79 after the Green men had been trailing all night. Kobe brought the ball down and hit a fadeaway 18-foot jumper from the right corner to tie the game back up. If the Lakers don’t have that bucket, Mr. Mo (momentum) would have swung completely in the Celtics favor, and the Cs, instead of bickering and forcing quick/tough shots, probably pull this one out and everyone today would be talking about the end-of-the-world for the Lakers and who needs to be traded and Phil needing to be fired, etc. etc.

-After that big bucket though, the double team started to come and Kobe just kept giving the ball up to Pau. Pau gets credit for being the key to the Lakers win and while he did shoot 3-3 from the field and 3-3 from the line, his looks were all directly related to the wizardry of 24.

-I’m almost at a point where I want the Lakers to scrap the triangle offense at different points during games. Especially against tough defensive teams. Blasphemous? Perhaps. But, when Kobe and Pau, or Kobe and Bynum play pick and roll, there’s not much teams can do to stop it. Well, that is unless Bryant decides to force things. If he keeps the ball moving, then no team, the Celtics included, can keep up with the excellent passing or the wide open looks Walton or Radmanovic (who barely played), or Vujacic are going to be getting. Odom and Pau are excellent passers and Bynum is a willing passer. This team should average 25-30 assists a game.

-I love D-Fish, but there is never a time in a Celtics/Lakers game where he needs to square up his defender, dribble back and forth for several seconds and then chuck up a shot without passing the ball (I counted three times he did this). With the talent and shooting prowess and creative ability of his other teammates, there’s never really a situation where Fish needs to run this play.

-Odom played confident. He needs to play with that swag in every single game. He’s the man on that second unit. He’s the go to guy, the focal point who makes everything happen. He played a great game. Solid defense. He put up numbers across the board with 2 steals, 2 blocks, 2 3s, 2 assists and 7 boards to go along with 10 points. As always, he’s the Lakers X-Factor. When he’s on, the Lakers are unbeatable.

-Gasol got nasty. He pushed back K.G. letting him know that he ain’t no Jose Calderon. He also gave a hard body check to Rondo. Poor kid was crumpled on the floor, feeling that blow last night, and I’m sure he's feeling it today. Oh yeah, and Pau sealed the game for the Lakers by hitting all of his shots in the last three minutes. Que fuerte!

Gasol

2008-12-23T17:28:00.000-08:00

I know this sounds crazy. I've had some crazy ideas on here before...like, for the Suns to bring Steve Nash off the bench. Well, here's another crazy idea. How about instead of benching Odom, who is really good at help defense, how about bring Gasol off the bench. Gasol, much like Odom, is a selfless player. That's how he's been able to co-exist with Kobe so well. What he's not so good at, is well, tough defense. Bynum's struggled a bit, but bringing him off the bench would just add to his mounting frustration. Pau Gasol is the perfect facilitator type that the second unit, now without Jordan Farmar, can rely on to keep the offense flowing. Think Boris Diaw in 06. Plus, he's legit down low. Surround him with Vladimir Radmanovic, Trevor Ariza, and Sasha Vujacic, and that's a great bench unit. Odom plus Bynum plus Kobe plus Walton plus Fish makes for a tougher, more help happy defense that is also a bit more versatile than with Pau and Bynum. Just a thought.

Eastern Point Guard All-Stars

2008-12-23T12:15:00.000-08:00

Thoughts on potential Eastern All-Stars Rajon Rondo, Devin Harris and Jameer Nelson among others.

Dimes of Wisdom Blog

2008-12-18T14:26:00.001-08:00

New post on my Dimes of Wisdom Blog. Sam Cassell for the HOF.

Master Deceiver

2008-12-11T16:06:00.000-08:00

I bit. I believed the dude. I’ve hated on him for quite some time, but this year, I said, “Jordan, you are going to be as unbiased as you possibly can be in your writing, and you are going to take the dude at his word.”

Well, Amare and Shaq came up with Amare’s new nickname, Sun Tzu, and, you know what? He’s lived up to that name perfectly. Amare has used deception, or, more blatantly, lies, to try and make me believe that he has become something that he is not. Here are some examples of his art of war…

"I want to be Ron Artest,” he said all the way back in September. “I want to be that guy you fear when you see him guarding you."

"My goal is to become a phenomenal defensive player,'' he said in November. "That's my goal, to be a phenomenal defensive player night in, night out, no nights off. And ultimately to win a championship.'

So far, the Suns are 21st in points allowed, 24th in defensive rating and 22nd in defensive rebounding. This from a team who with Shawn Marion, sported the best offense (SSOL) last year while also maintaining a ranking of 16th in defensive rating.

And speaking of D’Antoni’s offense…

"I couldn't be more ecstatic about the decision,” he said in September about the hiring of Terry Porter and the leaving of Mike D’Antoni. “[Terry Porter] is very organized. He knows what it takes to win. He wants to be the champion. That falls into the category of the Stoudemire brand and also the Phoenix Suns brand. We want to be champions, whatever it takes to do it."

"A lot of defensive drills,'' he said of his coach’s practices at the beginning of November. "We're going over the different tactics of defense. It's very important from my standpoint, being a young player. I never really had long practices on defense. It was never really forced. We talked about it, but as far as practicing it and really going through the preparation, it is the first of my career.''

Just last week, that tune has hit a sour note. He’s openly been questioning Porter’s coaching. After getting beat down by the Lakers in their first meeting two weeks ago, he said the Lakers "were fluid, flowing,” and added, “I remember when we looked like that."

So now, he misses his old style of play after he threw D'Antoni under the bus with his "this is hte first time I've ever been taught how to play defense..." quotes. Throwing former teammates and coaches under the bus while complaining and never taking any blame...Sounds very…uh, Shaq-like.

Way back in September, Sun Tzu oozed enthusiasm, and yes, quite a bit of cockiness as well. "Expectations are higher than they've ever been. As I improve and I get better, we get better. I have no problem putting the total weight and everything we have on my shoulders. If we lose, I have no problem taking that burden. If we win, just make sure you guys give props where props are due. We're ready."

At the end of November and into December, his enthusiasm has lost all of its shine instead weathering down to a harsh, loud glare.

He’s suddenly “absolutely” looking at free agency in 2010. "As a player,” he said, “You should look at the teams you might want to play for. The city you may want to live in. The system you may want to play in. The economy. The cost of living. Everything. It's about what's best for you."

Always what’s best for himself…

“Right now,” Sun Tzu said, “I’m a little frustrated."

Well, he should be. Despite being a freak of nature athlete, Stoudemire is 23rd in the league in rebounding with a paltry 8.3 per contest. He’s sitting behind his own teammate Shaq, who plays 11 minutes less then him; Andrew Bynum and Drew Gooden who both play nearly 8 minutes less; and David Lee who averages 2 more boards but plays nearly 5 minutes less.

Spin his per 48-minute rebounding numbers and he comes in at 68th in the entire league. While I don’t put too much stock in per-48 minute numbers (because, they aren’t real) any big man who thinks of himself as a superstar can in no way shape or form average in any stat form, less boards than Darko Milicic (59th) and Ryan Anderson (63). Or maybe that’s why he gave up his nickname, STAT, cuz he couldn’t live up to it.

I read an article
(http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/sports/articles/2008/12/09/20081209suns1209.html) that tries to make it sound like Amare’s very body is the reason for his inability to rebound. Ha Ha. He’s blamed everyone from his former coach to his present coach’s style, to the lack of another big man, to, now, finally, his small frame…

You telling me that Dirk Nowitzki and Pau Gasol are stronger and more athletic than Tzu? Or that all 6-foot 5-inches of Chuck Hayes who averages half of Amare’s rebounding in less than half the time (4.4 boards in 15 minutes) is better equipped to rebound despite being 4-5 inches shorter? Or that David Lee’s body is more blessed.

Dude…just man up and get the rebound.

As it stands now, Suns Fu has utilized his new name quite well. He's mastered the art of deception...of deceiving himself.

You know, that new haircut he’s sporting got me thinking about who he looks like. And then it hit me. To borrow a line from the always eloquent Mr. T,

“I pity the Foo…”

Trade Me!!!!!!

2008-12-10T17:25:00.001-08:00

Couple of trades went down today. So, forgive me for interrupting the Lebron/Kobe team whatever it was I was trying to do last week.

First off, is the three-team deal involving the Hornets, Grizzlies and Wizards.

The Wizards got point guard Mike James and combo guard Javaris Crittenton. The Grizzlies got a Wizards future first-round pick. The Hornets got guard Antonio Daniels.

Now, from the Wizards standpoint, not entirely sure what they are doing. They’ve got a whole host of guards, DeShawn Stevenson, Nick Young, Dominic McGuire, Juan Dixon, and, oh yeah, Mr. $111 million man Gilbert Arenas. With the trade, they are subtracting one guard and adding two more. Mike James, let’s be honest, is a salary dump thing. And, adding JCritt means that they got the most potential talent out of the deal, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that, JCritt, much like he was on the Grizzlies, doesn’t really have a spot in the rotation. Of course, Crittenton does have a chance to be better than all of the guards on the Wizards' roster not named Gilbert (actually, kind of plays like GA without the range), but, he’s only 20 and Hibachi is supposed to be coming back into the rotation in the next few months.

As for the Grizzlies, I really don't like this deal. Critt was one of their more valuable pieces. Sure, the more DNPs or 3-minute outings he racked up, the further his value fell, but trading him for a conditional first round pick? Eh. This team needs veterans, not more youth. Hell, their starting rotation averages 21 years of age. Adding more draft picks to this team is like herding more kids into Neverland Ranch. Just more youth for the man in charge to screw up.

As for the Hornets, Antonio Daniels is exactly what they need…in theory. Daniels is pretty banged up. He spent the early part of the year recovering from a knee injury and has recently dealt with some back issues. After back-to-back seasons (05-07) where he averaged 80 games, Daniels has been injury-prone this year and last. He’s had all sorts of ailments all over his body: sprained wrist, messed up ankle, bone spurs. But, when he’s right, or, that is, if he can get right, he will be a welcome addition to the squad. His ability to play turnover-free basketball and run the point as well as consistently get to the line, is exactly the type of production the Hornets lack. On defense, he’s great at drawing offensive fouls. He’ll struggle to guard quicker point guards, but he’ll have a lot of help with a defensive-minded second unit.

As for the other trade between Phoenix and Charlotte that sent Boris Diaw, Sean Singletary and Raja Bell to the Bobcats in exchange for Jason Richardson, Jared Dudley and a second round pick…I have my reservations.

First and foremost, I have my reservations because I know who the respective GMs are. If you’ve read this blog, we all know what Steve Kerr has done to the Suns…hint, he’s really big and frequently pops off at the mouth.

As for Charlotte Bobcats GM Rod Higgins, he’s done some piss poor work himself. And, like Kerr, in only a season and a few months. He signed PF/C Emeka Okafor, SF Gerald Wallace and SF/SG Matt Carroll all to huge and lengthy contracts well beyond what any of them deserve (especially Carroll). Then he exercised the rights to two more SFs Adam Morrison and Jared Dudley (okay, he can kind of play power). This year he signed Marcus Williams, Donell Taylor, Andre Brown, Justin Williams, and Linton Johnson, and then waived each and every one of them.

So, forgive me if this trade smells of disaster from the get go. Higgins needed to trade for some big bodies, and instead flipped a guard and a small forward for two guards and a small forward on a team littered with, you guessed it, guards and small forwards.

I mean, I get why he got Bell. Bell’s a Larry Brown guy through and through. Bell came up with Brown on the Sixers. Brown helped mold him into the player he is today. But, that was 8 years ago. Bell isn’t close to what he was defensively, even two years ago. His 3-point percentage is up, but you have to consider that he’s trading in the passing skills of Steve Nash for the combo of D.J. Augustin and Raymond Felton, and the spacing provided by Shaq and Amare, for the no spacing provided whatsoever from Nazr Mohammed and Okafor.

But Diaw? Diaw is represents everything that makes Brown furious. A talented, lazy, non-head user. And that’s for three more seasons. Have fun with that Larry.

Worse comes to worse, in the end, the Cats saved a few million dollars.

Say what you will about Richardson’s overall game—lacks handles, can’t play D, doesn’t know how to pass—but dude could consistently score 20 a night. Diaw and Bell are the opposite of consistency.

Who knows, Diaw could blossom under Brown and get back to averaging 16, 6 and 6. Truly scary numbers…

As for the Suns, they got the best player in the trade, but they also added his $12.5 million salary for three more seasons. He’s a dude who lives off his crazy athleticism (twice a dunk champion) coming off of arthroscopic knee surgery. He’s a bit one dimensional, but he’ll make that starting five a lot better…if everyone is willing to share the ball. Cough, cough, Amare, cough.

The problem here is that Phoenix swapped out Singletary as well, leaving them with statistically, one of the worst players in the NBA, Goran Dragic, backing up Steve Nash. And for a team whose main goal this season was to get a lot better at defense, trading J-Rich for your best defender is like a Mormon marrying a pornstar. Dudley’s got some game, like a garbage man (cleans up trash, gets down and dirty), but he’s sort of redundant with Matt Barnes.

We’ll see how this all turns out. Amare could be content in taking less shots and instead focus on defense and rebounding so J-Rich can get his 16-18 points per. The Suns defense could get better despite trading their best defender for a horrible one. Grant Hill could act as a point-forward off the bench…er, wait…this all sounds so familiar.

Lebron's Got Great Teammates

2008-12-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

I can’t get away from it because it has inundated our basketball news and the blogosphere and will continue to do so for the next two seasons. So, what the hell, I’ll just roll with this Lebron wanting out business.

Because he is not quick to stomp out the rumors, and in fact adds fuel to the media’s fire about wanting to leave, today, Westcoast Slant would like to dispel the myth that Lebron James does not play with good players.

Article after article, blog after blog talks about how Lebron’s team is nowhere near the talent-level of Kobe’s team and due to his out-of-this-world stats and inherent ability to “make his teammates better,” Lebron James is hands down the best player in the L.

We’ll skip his defensive shortcomings…huge blocks, like I’m sure you’ve seen on SportsCenter or something (www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUQxRptIPvM) are great fun to look at, but let’s not get confused with those kinds of blocks being signs of great defense. Sean Williams of the Nets was second in the league last year in blocks per 48 minutes and had some monster blocks due to his athleticism and length. This season, however, he can’t dislodge his butt from the end of the bench because of fouls and horrible defensive fundamentals.

Blocks are an overrated stat. It’s really an image thing and that goes back to the “image” of the Lakers being better than the Cavs.

Taking a charge is definitely not as pretty or exciting to watch as sending the opposition’s shot into the 8th row, but it’s always better than a blocked shot because it punishes the offender with a personal foul and a turnover. Blocks have their place (mostly the intimidation/embarrassment factor) and shot blockers definitely can act as deterrents (Mutumbo, Hakeem, etc.) that act as huge game changers…but blocks, in general, are not as valuable as taking charges. That’s why Anderson Varejao, though not flashy, is every bit as good a defender as Andrew Bynum. Just in a different way. But we’ll get to that in a second.

Now, I’m not saying the Lakers don’t have more upside talent (they are younger), but as far as production goes, this battle is closer than some might imagine.

Let’s dissect the two teams. Because Kobe and Lebron play different positions, it’s hard to exactly match up, player-for-player, position-by-position. However, there are certain skill sets that individuals bring to a team: shooting, defense, ball-movement, energy, etc. That’s how I’ve paired the players off.

Pau Gasol vs. Zydrunas Ilgauskus
Andrew Bynum vs. Anderson Verajao
Derek Fisher vs. Mo Williams
Vladimir Radmanovic vs. Wally Szczerbiak
Jordan Farmar vs. Delonte West
Sasha Vujacic vs. Daniel Gibson
Lamar Odom vs. Ben Wallace
Trevor Ariza vs. J.J. Hickson

Pau vs. Big Z
Basically, Big Z is the hairless, OG Pau (by like two years). He has a great 15-17 foot jump shot. He’s a face up, finesse-style 7-footer who can also play with his back to the basket. Great freethrow shooter for a big. An excellent offensive rebounder, but weaker on the D glass than you’d want from the tallest dude on the court. He gets a good number of blocks just because he’s so long. And he keeps his PER in the 18 to 22 range with a high water mark this season of 24.9. Pau’s a better passer and more athletic but he’s also lankier and doesn’t take up nearly the same amount of space. And he’s not quite perfected the offensive rebound like Big Z. Pau’s better, but it’s close. And, Lebron’s had Big Z for all six years. Kobe hasn’t even played a full season with Spaniard—it just seems like they’ve been balling together since they were kids.

AB vs. AV
Real talk. Anderson Varejao’s ceiling is the floor to Andrew Bynum’s two-story house, but in the here and now, they are both equally effective. Varejao is annually in the top 10 for offensive fouls drawn and is a beast on defense in ways that Bynum has not even begun to learn. He’s fantastic at showing on screens, making him great against the pick-and-roll, is the energizer bunny in the hustle department and controls the glass. Bynum’s got length and the intimidation factor going for him, but he’s 21, has never played a full season, and still seems to be a little bit too concerned with his scoring touches. Bynum’s got better box score numbers, but this is a tie.

Fish and Mo
Statistically, this one isn’t even close. Intangible-wise, it’s a wash. While last season, I would have argued that Fisher’s influence was worth at least 8 wins (6 in fact), this year, with everyone buying into Kobe’s leadership, that Fish intangible loses some of its luster. He’s putting up nearly identical numbers as last year, but shooting 2-point shots a whole lot worse. Mo’s playing worse than last year too (more on that tomorrow), but his presence is much like what Fish brought to the Lakers last year and his numbers are far and away superior.

Farmar and West
Again, this isn’t about upside. Farmar, at 22, would seem to have the brighter future. In the here and now, Delonte is playing out of his mind. He’s shooting an insane 51 percent from the field and 44 percent from beyond the arc for a whopping 64 percent TS% (true shooting). J-Far brings energy and floor leadership off the bench, but he’s shooting poorly. This one’s really close despite the stat disparity. Farmar’s importance as the second unit’s go-to scorer and floor general can’t be measured, and if they were getting equal minutes I’d sway to Farmar, but Delonte’s been HUGE this year. Edge has got to go to him.

Vlad Rad and Wally World
This comparison is pretty straightforward. The numbers are nearly identical across the board, so, we’ll have to go with more advanced stats. Wally’s PER 14.68 trumps Vladi’s 12.25. Wally’s 1.1 WS also trumps Vladi’s 0.6. Wally’s 105 and 124 offensive and defensive ratings are better than Vladi’s 97 and 100.

Machine and Boobie
They do the same thing, except one is a feisty defender while the other is a decent passer. Both signed to pretty decent money extensions this off-season. While both have struggled to live up to the money, no question the Machine has been better, though if Boobie could play against OKC, Golden State, and the Knicks every night, than he’d money.

LO and Big Ben
Both of these guys don’t necessarily fill up the box score to be effective. Their games are both predicated on things that box scores don’t show. Wallace is an aging defensive ace, who has regained some of his lost form from a year ago. He’s swatting nearly 2 shots a game (again, a bit overrated) but is rebounding much better than he has in two years. Odom has seen his minutes reduced and has taken on a sixth man role, but he’s been quietly putting together a stellar season. He gets the nod because he makes the Lakers second unit starter-quality, especially considering the starters OKC, Memphis, and Washington are throwing out there.

Riza and Hix
Trevor Ariza by a mile right now. But if Hickson can continue to improve on his game and bring energy off the bench, he could fill a very similar role that Ariza has on the Lakers. Right now, Trevor’s the Lakers MVP in my humble opinion.

The rest of the Lakers bench is better, but of the dudes that actually get PT, the talent disparity and the level of production is nearly equal. Tomorrow we’ll continue with this conversation and focus on how Kobe and Lebron do or do not “make their teams better.”

Been Wrong. Been Right.

2008-12-01T17:50:00.000-08:00

So far so good on most of WCS' pre-season predictions.

Though, for all the ones we nailed on the head, there’s also been a few where we’ve hit our collective thumb instead.

Sure, there were some gimme calls. The Lakers and Thunder for example. Everybody got those. NASCAR fanatics could've called those. It's not brain surgery to predict the Lakers would rock and the Thunder would hit rock bottom.

Houston’s had injuries, played ugly, but still find themselves at the top of the West. Ditto for Phoenix. Ditto for Utah. All at 11-7. Though, of the three, Utah is still the most promising. They’ve compiled their record without the services of their best player (Deron Williams) while dealing with injuries up and down their lineup (Kirilenko, Boozer, Williams, Brewer, etc.)

And, like Old Faithful, the freaking Spurs have been the freaking Spurs.

Here's a link to all those predictions if you missed them the first time around.

http://westcoastslant.blogspot.com/2008/10/how-west-was-won.html

As for the miscues…

I went against conventional wisdom and believed that the Clippers could eek their way into the first round of the playoffs. I thought Ricky Davis would have a great year. I thought Kaman and Camby would form a formidable duo. I thought the team defense would be one of the best in the league…yeah, well, I should’ve known. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine them trading for Zach Randolph. I even joked about Dallas doing that trade in desperation. Well, these are desperate times in Clipper land, and that’s saying a lot. The main problem is simple. It’s talent (Baron) versus ideology (Dunleavy), and so far, it’s produced a 3-13 record. Yuck.

I also misfired on Minnesota. I didn’t really think they had a shot to make the playoffs, but I did believe they would be a much improved team. I listed seven factors that were necessary for the Wolves to make the postseason. Here’s the ones they’ve got semi-right. Al Jefferson is close to averaging 23 and 11 (22 and 10), but, in spite of a slightly better team defense, Big Al’s D isn’t close to where it needs to be. Half a factor fulfilled there. The Clippers, have, well, been the Clippers. 1.5 factors fulfilled. Kevin Love is kinda a legit NBA player, which makes it half a factor bringing our total to 2 factors fulfilled. And the ones that have gone wrong? Dallas has not fallen off a cliff—J Kidd’s actually playing pretty well (nowhere near Devin Harris however). Denver has risen to scary playoff opponent (more on this in a sec). Randy Foye had one transcendent game, and has otherwise been a huge disappointment. Corey McCants never happened (Brewer is now out for the season, which, with the infusion of Rodney Carney into the mix, might actually help the team’s offense). In the end 2 of 7 ain’t going to get it done. And it hasn’t. Minny’s currently sitting at 4-11.

I give myself a little bit of a break on the Denver prediction (still somewhat of a miscue) because I didn’t know they were going to trade for Chauncey. Mr. Big Shot has been a revelation for the team, and now, if everyone stays healthy (I’m talking to you Nene and you Kenyon Martin) this team could be very scary come playoff time. Their defense got better in spite of losing Camby (that’s thanks to the AI/Billups tradeoff) and they even have a decent bench. Once J.R. Smith smoothes things out with Karl, bringing Chris Anderson, Smith, an underrated Anthony Carter, Renaldo Balkman and Linas Kleiza off the pine is a definite asset.

Okay. So we've established some of the predictions I reached on. Some of the ones where a lot of things had to go right for them to be, well, right. As for the things I actually did get right? There are two big thoughts that have been money when most everyone else was saying differently.

The Hornets look dreadful. Their defense has been awful. Their current rating is worse than the league average. While Chris Paul has been stellar, David West, Peja Stojakovic, and Tyson Chandler are all playing worse than they did last season. And the bench? The bench has killed the team. Especially the lack of a point guard and any semblance of a decent bigman. If you added up the PERs of Hilton Armstrong, Sean Marks, Melvin Ely, and Mike James, their collective PER is 8 points less than Chris Paul’s PER (22.8 to 30.9). Pathetic. But, the bench is and will continue to be their problem. Using Devin Brown at the point guard position is not a long term nor short term solution. James Posey has played big, but his presence has made Julian Wright relatively, well, irrelevant.

And finally, my babies. I put them all the way into the top four in the West, and they’ve played a smidge better than that. That’s the Portland Trailblazers. While everyone was off riding the Hornets’ stinger, we here at Westcoast Slant believed that the Blazers, with an excellent, top-of-the-line coach (Nate McMillan, remember what he did with that Seattle team a few years back) and a huge host of talented, energetic, youth (as in 10 deep) would be a big player in the West. Atop the Northwest division (tied with Denver) Aldridge and Roy have been playing well (Roy got player of the week honors), the rooks, Batum, Fernandez and Oden have been better-than-expected to great, and Joel Przybilla has been out-of-this-world. Oh, and the bench is one of the best in the biz.

The reason for this post, is because Westcoast Slant is a new site. We want our faithful readers to know that we have a good to great grasp on the happenings of the NBA. Of course, there’s still 60 plus games to play, so the back-patting and/or razing should be held off until the end of the season.

In the meantime, keep reading and commenting!

What can Happen in 2 Games

2008-11-28T14:20:00.000-08:00

*In the two games where Eric Gordon has started, where he’s been given more than 5 minute increments of time to play, he’s averaged a cool 24.5 ppg, 3.5 apg, 3 rpg, 4 spg, and a sparkling 47 percent from beyond the arc including a beauty of a 3 pointer that tied the game against the Nuggets in the final half minute. That’s against two good teams. The Hornets, though not playing that well, are still considered elite, and the Nugs have moved up on everyone’s power charts. Both of them were Clippers losses, but the Clips had a real shot of winning the Nugs game, but came up short on a Marcus Camby 3-point heave with 3 seconds on the clock. You read that right. Anyways, Mike Dunleavy should relieve himself of coaching duties and let Kim Hughes, who filled in admirably on Wednesday night, coach the rest of the season. The team just looked more fluid with him calling the plays. He even let DeAndre Jordan get PT (well, he had to thanks to Kaman’s injury, but it was nice to see Jordan get time).

*In two games as a starter, Paul Millsap of the Jazz has averaged 22.5 ppg, 13 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1 bpg, 1 spg, on 65 percent shooting. Sure, one of the games was against Chicago, who lack any sort of interior presence, and the other game was against the super young Memphis Grizzlies, but that sort of production doesn't just materialize out of nowhere. Millsap is the real deal, and a big reason why watching Carlos Boozer walk, or trading him before the deadline, is not going to be that difficult for the Jazz this off-season. He’s a better defensive player, and has improved in all aspects of his game. His inside moves, mid-range jumper, passing out of double teams, and defensive recognition have all improved, and he’s shooting a career best 55.9 percent from the field and 74.5 percent from the line.

*Kevin Durant’s so far 2 game experiment at the SF position for the woeful Thunder has produced mixed results. Against Phoenix he got to the line 8 times and converted all 8, leading to a 30-point performance. He only had 4 boards however. Against Cleveland a night later, he managed only 13 points and 1 rebound and shot 6-16 in a game that Lebron only played 17 minutes. In the end, I think this move will benefit his overall game, though, he'll need to add muscle for sure. The interesting aspect of this is what this does to Jeff Green, who has been playing much improved from last season. Green, no matter how well he's been playing, is still a questionable draft pick in my mind especially considering guys like Rodney Stuckey, Spencer Hawes, Thaddeus Young, Julian Wright, Brandan Wright and even Joakim Noah were still available.

*Better without Shaq? In the two games the Diesel has sat out this season, Amare Stoudemire has only compiled 24 ppg, 7 rpg, 2.5 apg, on 65 percent shooting. Steve Nash almost had a triple double against Oklahoma City the other night, 20 ppg, 15 apg, and 8 rpg, but also had 7 turnovers and the Suns barely beat the worst team in the league. Against Chicago, Nash played only 24 minutes and had 6 points and 5 assists. While I’m still convinced the Suns should have never traded for Shaq, especially giving away Marion, I won’t go so far to say that Shaq has been the main problem with the Suns this year. Look no further than the manchild. He’s got game like a man, but a brain like a child’s. I thought the key to the season would be Amare’s maturity and ability to play defense and rebound. If he did those things, the offense would come naturally and he’d be a legitimate MVP candidate. So far, Amare is under 8 rebounds per game and averaging over half a block per game less. Plus, he’s whining about wanting to be the man and seriously considering his options in 2010 (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=smith_stephen&page=Stoudemire-081128). The curse of 2010 has reached all corners of the NBA. Even Darko Milicic is talking about going back to Europe in tw years (http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/nov/27/milicic-admits-hes-homesick/?partner=RSS).

The NBA, where forgetting 2008 and focusing on 2010 happens.

Thanks a bundle New York.

Keep it Slanted West…

Eastern Thoughts

2008-11-26T15:50:00.000-08:00

-I’m sick of Lebron talk. Sick of it. So here I go putting my two cents into the conversation. Danny Ferry should trade LBJ straight up for Dwyane Wade. An even better trade would be Shawn Marion, Wade and Marcus Banks for Lebron, Wally Szczerbiak, J.J. Hickson, and Eric Snow’s expiring contract. Miami sheds Banks’ horrible deal and adds a rookie big (something they direly need) with promise. They also free up a crapload of cap space for next season. The Cavs? They get even better with Marion and Wade replacing Lebron. And, for the record, don’t think Wade would mind going to a contender. Don’t think he’ll be talking about how much he loves Chicago or sport a new pair of “Windy City” sneaks or make a whole media circus out of what may or may not happen in 2010. Pretty sure Flash will be 100 percent satisfied with his situation and go out and get another Finals MVP to add to his collection. Which reminds me, how many does Lebron have again?

-Accursed Derrick Rose. Was trying and trying and trying to figure out ways to spin the story to make O.J. Mayo more deserving of the ROY trophy this season. More points, more boards, more steals, better defender, and more minutes. Rose has a better PER, shooting percentage and assists numbers. In the end, it comes down to wins. It’s a tight race for sure, but the Eastern Conference has proven to be the more difficult conference so far this year, and Rose has his team at 7-8 while Mayo’s Grizz are at 4-10. Sure, Mayo’s playing on a team full of kids, but Rose has zero capable big men to play alongside. Huh, might’ve just proved Mayo’s more deserving after all.

-Big props to the UCLA kids this season. While some have struggled (Baron Davis, Russell Westbrook) others have shined brightly Trevor Ariza, Jordan Farmar, and to a certain extent, Kevin Love. Those are all West coast guys though, so I have to show love to Luc Richard Mbah a Moute who has helped the Bucks to a surprising 7-9 record without the help of Michael Redd who has been out with an ankle injury. Mbah a Moute has been the team’s defensive ace and is averaging 10 points and 7.6 rebounds.

-Too bad Ernie Grunfeld needed a scapegoat after doing a horrible job in creating zero cap flexibility with a ho-hum roster that, even if completely healthy, never had a legitimate shot at contending for a title. Farewell Eddie Jordan. You had the Wizards back on their way to respectability. Sure 1-10 sucks big time, but it's not your fault your starting center and supposed star player were both done before the season got going. But after an offseason that saw your GM give away $160 million to two players, one on the wrong side of 30 and the other an injury-prone loud mouth who has never won anything of significance, you have been shouldered with the blame. Farewell Ed. You'll land on your feet somewhere else.

If it weren’t for the Clippers, Grunfeld would be the worst GM in the Association. Hmm...fire Dunleavy...hire Eddie Jordan...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Walsh Should be Punished not Praised

2008-11-24T17:29:00.000-08:00

Okay, I get the fact that over the past few years (last year especially) the media constantly berated and destroyed the New York Knicks organization over and over and over and over and over…ad nauseam. This fact cannot be denied, nor will I try to.

But glorifying Donnie Walsh for trading away his two top scorers on a winning ball club, for a malcontent who hadn’t played in two weeks (Al Harrington, who, even when he’s good, isn’t Jamal Crawford good), an aging vet (Cat Mobley) and the league’s most abusive offender of the term “talented underachiever” (Tim Thomas)?

While I get the thought process behind the moves, I don’t accept it. Especially not this high praise and undue glorification the media has vomited forth. I don't care if those were Walsh's moves to begin with. They are, from a basketball standpoint, horrific moves.

The thought process is to clear cap space for that magical 2010 season when all the top players in the NBA will be free agents…namely Lebron James. And, even if James skips on the suddenly “tantalizing” New York offer, any number of the other players available will be foaming at the mouth at a chance to play in Madison Square Garden with the run-n-gun fun of Mike D’Antoni.

Well, we can scratch Amare Stoudemire off that list, unless, gasp, the big baby, mans up for his shortcomings and finally realizes how good he had it under Mike D.

But I won’t hold my breath. After all, he’s got Shaq as his mentor.

Anyway, I bring this point up because the Memphis Grizzlies and David Wallace routinely got roasted last season for their shedding of Pau Gasol. And this is why I created WestCoast Slant. Because East Coast teams (I guess technically Memphis is in the East, but they are a west coast team) get all kinds of unfair publicity.

Blogger Brian McCormick has a great little blog just about this. Well worth the read.

www.highfivehoopschool.blogspot.com/2008/11/why-do-nba-tv-personalities-hate.html

I’d like to take this moment to add to his ideas.

First and foremost, the deal that Chris Wallace made gains more and more credibility the more his new team gets burn together. Though only sporting 4 wins so far, this team has kept almost every game close (the Knicks and the Dallas games aside).

And the players the Grizzlies got?

Marc Gasol has a 16.91 PER and is one of the top rookies, shooting 58.8 percent in only 30 minutes of action. A 23-year-old rookie with silky jumper, who is 7-1, 285 and has a high basketball IQ that has translated well to the American game would seem to be promising enough compensation for Pau Gasol but throw in Darrell Arthur and Javaris Crittenton and the trade looks almost lopsided in favor of the Grizzlies.

I went over this a couple of weeks ago, but the point must be made known. In only 23 minutes of play, Arthur is averaging 7 and 7 and his 12.83 PER would be a lot better if he could just get his shot down (seems to be a team-wide problem outside of O.J. Mayo and Gasol). His per 40-minute averages are 12 and 12 with 2 blocks (sound like Al Horford to you?) Remember, Arthur’s only 20.

Crittenton, who hasn’t gotten any burn, is 20 as well. Who knows what the Grizz are planning on doing with him, but don’t be surprised if JCritt starts to show his promise if and/or when Mike Conley or Kyle Lowry is traded. Remember, Critt’s main problems are his decision-making and lack of an outside shot. Those are both fixed with practice and game-time. He’s got all the other tools to be an outstanding player—quickness, athletic ability, good handle, etc.

In fact, the average age of the starting five for the Grizzlies is an absurd 21-years old. And they’ve played well in all of their games accept for the two previously mentioned.

Let’s get off of Wallace’s back please. In fact, the irony of all ironies would be if the Grizzlies sit on their cap space and try to sign Lebron themselves. And, thinking in terms of purely just winning…the Grizzlies have all of the tools necessary for Lebron.

Sure, in 2010, the team would have to pay a huge luxury tax (resign Mayo and Gay and Conley/Lowry), but if they could somehow dump or buyout Marko Jaric and Antoine Walker before then, they could have enough cap space AND the ultimate team set up to sign Lebron...mind you, a young team that would have been playing together for 2 years. That sort of built-in consistency and team camaraderie is hard to find. And Lebron's game "fits in" (understatement of the century) with any sort of basketball.

The Grizzlies are and will be athletic able to run and defend. They have a D'Antoni disciple as a coach for those who believe Mike D will be a big selling point for New York. The Grizzlies already have a deadly marksman and feisty defender at the shooting guard spot (Mayo); an athletic,defensive-minded SF with a shaky handle, who can shoot the 3 and is excellent at finishing (Gay); a bruising big with finesse and the ability to make the right play at the right time (Gasol); and one of the following point guards: a pass-first point with lighting speed (Conley) or adefensive, frenetic energy-hound (Lowry). Once Conley and/or Lowry learns to shoot the 3, all the team would need is a power forward.

Enter the King.

Slam Online has a great breakdown of how Lebron is the perfect power forward:

LeBron still starts games at the three and spends a good deal of time out on the perimeter working off screens 30 feet from the basket and will keep the defense honest with deep jumpers every now and again, but the dynamic backcourt play has allowed LeBron to weave elements into his game that we previously only saw on Team USA–playing the high post and driving from the elbow, posting up deep, sealing off and getting easy buckets, getting more fast-break looks and quick post-ups early in the shot clock before the defense can load up, weak-side and back-door cuts often finished with Alley-Oops, and 1-3 pick-and-rolls with Mo Williams that have been effective both ways. He’s been off-the-charts effective when put at the four, where he spends about half as much time as he does at the three–his per-48 minute stats at the four-spot are (this is not a typo) 50/11/9 on 60 percent shooting, for a PER of an even 50. I’ll take that. The +/- statistics for LeBron at the four are favorable as well–the team’s best five-man unit is the reserve crew that puts West and Gibson in the backcourt, Wally Szczerbiak at the small forward (and Wally’s been terrible), and LeBron and Varejao in the front-court. While the unit doesn’t defend or rebound well enough to be a true option, as a curve ball it’s been devastatingly effective.

The results of LeBron’s new gameplan have been staggering. LeBron’s percentage of shots taken “inside,” which is a good place for LeBron to be because he’s one of the five best players in the NBA at converting from that area and easily the best perimeter player, has gone up from 38 to 45 percent, easily the best mark in the NBA for any perimeter player who takes nearly as many shots as LeBron, and his foul drawing rate has also risen. (He’s even displaying a far more confident free throw stroke.) All of these things have LeBron on pace to finish with career-high marks in points per 48 minutes, field goal percentage, true shooting percentage, assist rate and PER, despite the fact his jumper has been way off to start the season. (Despite LeBron’s second consecutive summer of showing a confident outside stroke, LeBron has started the year shooting what would be an easily career-worst 24 percent from three-point range and 35.7 eFG% on his jump shots–usually he finishes at 40 percent.) LeBron is basically dominating without a jumper right now, and there’s no reason to believe it won’t come around to at least his career-average in the coming weeks.

The whole article can be found at http://slamonline.com/online/nba/2008/11/break-it-down-new-look-cavs/

With his newfound ability to play the ultimate power forward, what team is better set up to compliment Lebron’s unique talents? New York players might have a lot of heart, but none of them mesh well with Lebron's talents (okay, maybe Q Richardson, but he's injury-prone). In fact, of the players left, the only player of real note plays the power foward position (David Lee). Nate Robinson needs the ball. Chris Duhon can't shoot. Wilson Chandler is a poor man's Lebron.

The Nets are a bit more prepared to welcome in Lebron with Devin Harris transforming into a stud point. But they have Yi Jianlian at SF and a glut of power forwards. Plus, without that Brooklyn addy, Lebron ain't going to want to play in Jersey.

So, what about the Grizz? Hey, it might not be sexy in terms of pub, but if Lebron is truly about winning, then the Grizzlies have set up the perfect team. He’d be the elder statesman, and only one of a handful of guys in the league that the egos of Gay and Mayo would actually bend over backwards for.

Grizzlies fans are just waiting to bubble over with excitement for their team. Winning breeds a lot of stuff, including endorsements (as if Lebron needed to go to the Knicks to get any bigger or better endorsements than he already has). Sure the endorsements aren't there. But the spotlight will follow Lebron wherever he goes. And there would be a ton of glory to be had. But, it all comes down to what Lebron is playing the game for. Money or Championships...

I hope to God Lebron spits in the face of the New York Knicks, who have made a travesty out of the NBA. People said Isaiah Thomas was a horrible G.M.

I concur.

But Walsh sacrificing two entire seasons of basketball for cap flexibility holding onto the intangible nature of hope...hope—by no means a guarantee—of signing a major free agent is the ultimate in tanking and should not be encouraged or praised, but in fact punished by the league.

And a guy like Chris Wallace, in a mini-market like Memphis, trading away his best asset for a collection of high-upside, high-talent players who have produced right away—that sort of General managing should garner votes for GM of the year.

Free Nash

2008-11-21T11:12:00.000-08:00

Okay Suns fans, you aren’t going to like to hear this. But it’s the reality of the situation. And it’s not just for the sake of the Phoenix Suns, but really, for the betterment of the entire NBA. A league lost one of its brightest stars the second Shaq found his way onto the Suns.

It’s time to trade Steve Nash.

Last night’s trouncing by the Los Angeles Lakers, who, despite seeing Kobe jack up 23 shots and get only 24 points for his trouble, still got spanked by double digits. That beating really solidified this notion. ESPN’s Henry Abbott of TrueHoop blog has a great breakdown of what the new Suns offense looks like under Terry Porter from last night’s Suns/Lakers showdown.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-36-82/13-Seconds-or-More.html?post=true

Back at the end of April, when the Suns had been ousted in the first round, I wrote a three part series about the team on my Lakers blog. Here are a few excerpts from the first part:

*Getting Shaq changed everything. He and Amare have now become the focal points. Everyone else, including Nash, is expendable.

*Nash, is no longer Nash. After that brilliant game one, and as Mike D’Antoni continued to refocus his offense, Nash went from near MVP to all-star play to bench player to completely irrelevant. In fact, he had three turnovers in the last couple of minutes, the last one, completely sealing Phoenix’s fate.

Let’s go over this again. Steve Nash’s production has, indeed, gone down across the board. Dumping the ball into the big fella has made him completely irrelevant. Goran Dragic could do that (more on this in a sec). Nash has no freedom to penetrate with two huge behemoths clogging the lane, and his defensive shortcomings make the Suns renewed focus on that end an even steeper hill to climb. Think Mount Everest as opposed to Mount Whitney.

Because the offense is focused in on Shaq and Amare, Nash has no real place on the team.

The second part of last year’s Suns series focused on looking for ideal trading partners for Steve Nash. Here is that blog in its entirety.

http://www.nflfootballonline.com/dodgerblue15/weblog/1802/suns-part-2-trade-nash.html

Now, all of those trades have become impossible seeing as how Allen Iverson has been moved to the Pistons and Baron Davis signed with the Clippers.

What about trading Nash for Anthony Morrow, Al Harrington and C.J. Watson/Brandan Wright? That would have worked out beautifully for both teams. Too bad Harrington is headed to New York. So, reunite Nash with Mike D. Or ship him off to Philly. How about Charlotte for rookie D.J. Augustin and Marion-lite, Gerald Wallace…maybe?

Marion. Sigh. I hated the Marion trade. People say that Nash was the engine to the Seven Seconds or less offensive Ferrari, but Marion was the suspension, the wheels, the turbo. He was the welding that held the car together. Once they traded him, it was like sticking that Ferrari engine into a Big Rig and trying to make it work.

So, Steve Kerr trade Nash right now, while his value still seems high due to the past five seasons of work he has put in. Two more months of 13 and 7 for a player pushing 35 will not bring back much, especially if the Suns struggle. So trade the Canuck immediately. Kerr, you need to look for a point guard who can defend, and, if at all possible, has the ability to shoot 3 as well.

Of course, if Suns fans really, truly can’t see themselves without the man who has become the face of the franchise, there is another possibility that Terry Porter should strongly consider. Bring Nashty off the bench.

Start Leandro Barbosa when he comes back. Hell, start Goran Dragic. All that first unit needs is someone to dump the ball into the bigs. Have Nash come off the bench with Matt Barnes, Boris Diaw and Robin Lopez. Look at how effectively bringing a proven starter, a proven star off the bench has worked for the Lakers (Odom), Jazz (Kirilenko) and Spurs (Manu, the last few seasons). Basically whenever Shaq is in the game, sit Nash. It would give the Suns a different look and also maximize the talents of all the players they have on their roster. Nash could come in and create, create, create, push, push, push and be his SSOL self. Remember how good the team was when they had Diaw at center? Remember how good Diaw was playing off of Nash? That's what this year's Suns second unit could be. Nash could create for offensively challenged Robin Lopez, and Warriors fans know how much Barnes relishes playing in a more chaotic atmosphere. Get past the idea of starter/sub and focus on how to best utilize a mish-mashed roster that, as it is constructed right now, doesn’t quite work. Besides, in today's NBA the best teams have the most quality in their second unit (Boston, LA, Jazz, Detroit, etc.).

Otherwise, admit the error in judgment, and trade the two-time MVP. Let the butterfly out. Everyone wants to see that Ferrari flying.

Free Nash.