Billy King gets the axe, and Ed Stefanski -- Rod Thorn's right-hand man that teams have tried to hire away in the past -- gets to take over his hometown Sixers. In a poll on Philly.com, at the moment about 4% of respondents think King should have been retained. Ouch. The Inquirer's David Aldridge (Via the 700 Level): "It is not known whether Larry Brown, a consultant to the team and a close confidant of King's, would remain with the team in any capacity under Stefanski. A Philadelphia native, Stefanski played high school basketball in Drexel Hill at Monsignor Bonner (where he later was head coach for four years). He also played three seasons at Penn, where he graduated in 1976 from the Wharton Business School. He was a television analyst for ESPN before joining the Nets in 1999. Stefanski was named the Nets' GM in 2004. Stefanski was directly involved in the team's getting forward Vince Carter from Toronto, and assisted team president Rod Thorn in acquiring forward Richard Jefferson and drafting center Nenad Krstic."
Statistical expert Dean Oliver, on the APBRMetrics message board, talking about the Caltech basketball documentary Quantum Hoops: "It's a little bittersweet for me, having been on the early teams in the streak (we did win NAIA games, just not NCAA and our first season was a JV season). But it portrays Caltech the way it is -- very very intense, ignoring a lot of pain to enjoy what you have and to pursue bigger ambitions. (The movie mentions our star player not even going after a game to get stitches on a bad cut because he couldn't take time away from homework -- very emblematic of the life.)"
Anderson Varejao signing an offer sheet with the Bobcats, as explained by the Charlotte Observer's Rick Bonnell: "What's all this about? An educated guess: Varejao wants to become an unrestricted free agent as soon as possible. The Cavaliers wanted to lock him up for longer than two years at an affordable price. The two sides can't come to a compromise. So Varejao's agent, Dan Fegan, forced the issue by contacting the Bobcats. Charlotte general manager Rod Higgins has a history with Fegan. His former team, the Golden State Warriors, signed Fegan clients Troy Murphy and Jason Richardson to big contracts. Then the Bobcats acquired Richardson. And this summer, the Bobcats successfully re-signed another Fegan client, Matt Carroll. Varejao would certainly address the Bobcats' immediate need for help inside. He's an energy guy and a rugged rebounder. But the chances of the Bobcats actually acquiring Varejao appear remote. At best, this likely becomes a favor for an agent and an effort to show the fan base that the front office is trying to do something about the lack of depth among big men."
There are reports here and there that Pau Gasol is set to be traded, but people in Memphis like coach Marc Iavaroni say that's bunk. Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal: "Iavaroni brushed off another narrative that suggested the Griz are willing to deal 7-footer Pau Gasol, and his destination could be the Chicago Bulls. Gasol also seemed unfazed by his name's surfacing in a trade rumor -- albeit through a columnist's conjecture -- for at least the second time in the Chicago media since the regular season began."
Kevin Durant, Al Horford, and Dwight Howard all won monthly awards from the NBA, and they all have the same agent. Aaron Goodwin doesn't have a ton of clients, but he has some good ones.
I just noticed, on an older blog post, that Luol Deng is recommending the book "Who Moved My Cheese." Please, please, someone at NBA.com: have Luol lead an online book club, with discussions and everything. How great would that be? I won't be satisfied until I hear Mike Breen say this mid-broadcast: "Deng loves the mid-range jumper, but he hates Jane Austen."
Knowing that how referees call Yao Ming will be a key factor determining Houston's playoff success, Yao and the Rockets are going on offense to get in the heads of officials. First Yao Ming got himself ejected with a technical after fouling out against Sacramento. Then coach Rick Adelman says this, as reported by Fran Blinebury in the Houston Chronicle: "They don't want to give them calls." I think he was really frustrated when Brad Miller ran over him. He stepped in front of him. It wasn't that he got a foul call. There was no call. The official said, 'I didn't think there was enough contact.' That's really not a great explanation. Sometimes they call them with no contact. Here's a 7-footer and a 7-6 guy, they fell down, a collision. I said, 'If you want to call a foul on him, fine. But don't just say it's nothing.' I think that's what Yao was really frustrated with. Then from what I saw, he didn't hardly touch the guy when they fouled him out. He has a right to get a little frustrated sometimes."
The Sports Myth Busters are questioning the contents of LeBron James' closet: "Heal fast, Lebron. If you had to dig in your closet for that velour mess after only two games, I'd hate to see what you show up in next."
This Baron Davis interview might sell some video games, but it sure won't sell any cell phones, after his fails again and again throughout the chat. Also, he says he practices crazy shots every time he practices. I feel like I kind of knew that already.
English journalist Mark Woods on Sonics' potential departure from Seattle: "It would, in truth, provide the worst example of the cold corporatism of sport if the Commish did not intervene, somehow, to halt this trade. The NBA is, and always shall remain, a business. With owners, shareholders and a mighty bottom line. Any business, though, is only viable if it has customers who trust in the product. And in sport, there is another range of factors: affection, identification and passion. Forget that, and a team becomes as much a commodity as a tin of baked beans. And if that is sport in the modern era, it will not last. The links will be broken. The kinship will decay. Who wants to place their trust and loyalty in a friend who is here today but maybe gone tomorrow? If the Sonics decamp, the sanctity of the game will be chipped away once more, another blow in an age where the ties that bind are being yanked to breaking point by players who are ever more distant from those who cheer them on. It is a tremor which will not only be felt in Seattle but elsewhere too. And when that call comes, and the news breaks, the cries will be loud as faith turns to disbelief." What's most interesting about that? It's published on NBA.com. UPDATE: Weird. Seems this post has been taken down. Here it is in cache, courtesy of an alert TrueHoop reader. UPDATE to the UPDATE: I think the whole thing may have been caused by a misunderstanding. Scroll down and it's here.
TrueHoop reader Steve emailed saying he can't believe sportswriters aren't constantly using the phrase "the Nash equilibrum" to describe the Phoenix Suns. Look, that concept does apply nicely in some ways, to the extent I understand it. But I can assure you the reason it isn't used all the time is because most sports fans and sports journalists simply don't know what it is. Wikipedia may or may not clear things up.
Chris Herrington of the Memphis Flyer was not thrilled with Pau Gasol's performance last night in a one-point loss, and remembers a key play: "Gasol also was almost solely responsible for the most damaging breakdown of the game, at the end of the third quarter, when Jarrett Jack scored a lay-up over him and then Gasol tried to make it up with an out-of-character, risky in-bounds pass that he heaved into traffic. James Jones intercepted it and fed Travis Outlaw for a three-pointer to end the quarter. The back-to-back Portland buckets cut the Grizzlies lead from 7 to 2."
Andrew Moylan, guest columnist in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "According to a recent study from the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, the typical taxpayer share for new stadiums increased 19 percent from 1996-1998 to 2002-2004. From 1990-2004, stadiums that were built with 50 percent or more in taxpayer subsidies were $65 million more expensive on average than those built with less than 50 percent in subsidies. The reason? Not surprising, private financiers demand more fiscal accountability with their own money than bureaucrats do with other people's tax dollars."
On SportsHubLA, John Krolik makes the case that J.R. Smith might be one of the best warmup players in the NBA: "J.R. is a dunk-contest quality dunker, and loves to show off before games; he was tossing alley-oop reverse windmills to himself, tomahawking with authority, and throwing 360s with ease. Then he started shooting, drilling three after three before stepping back to the little hash mark on the sideline about 10 feet inside of half-court and starting drilling threes from there. It was absolutely incredible."
Basketbawful: "Trenton Hassell: He played exactly 10 seconds last night, contributing no meaningful statistic, or anything else meaningful for that matter. He didn't even put in enough time to earn a one trillion. That's kind of sad."
Some children use stickers and some cool software to demonstrate the importance of a high arc on your shot.
An email from Kyle Slavin: "Congrats on winning Best Blog. That doesn't come with a prize or a toaster or anything."
Knickerblogger names the worst article of 2007, and then rips it to shreds, line by line. This is the winner, a defense of the Knicks by Lou V. of paperback novel. Knickerblogger's destruction is hilarious, painful, and complete. It ends like this: "Not to be outdone, the author concludes with 'Why James Dolan Doesn't Suck.' He states that 'Dolan's handling of the Anucka Browne Sanders case is prototypical of his high moral fiber.' I guess I couldn't have said that better myself."
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