I have seen various media mentions in recent days that the Suns are now playing better defense than they did under Mike D'Antoni. To which I say: Really? Sure, they allow about three fewer points per game. But they currently rank 26th in the number of points they give up per 100 possessions. Last season they were 16th by that measure, which matters far more than points per game. Why, you ask? Because pace obscures everything. If my team stops you a third of the time in a 90 possession game, you'll score about as many points as if you score every single time in a 60 possession game. Points per game would tell you those teams are close to equal, while points per possession would tell you the latter team is the worst in the history of basketball.
Chris Herrington of the Memphis Flyer: "Merely SIGNING Darius Miles doesn't trigger the cap hit on Portland. Playing him 10 games does. There is a chance that doesn't happen: Miles has to serve a 10-game suspension before he can be active, which means he's likely to only have a couple of games available before the team has to decide to guarantee him for the remainder of the season. It's possible he plays poorly in practice and never gets those 10 appearances in. Now, if it were me, I would make sure he sees the court 10 times just to stick it to Portland, but there's no guarantee that is going to happen." That's how I'd think, too, if I were a fan of any team other than Portland. However, I have heard that many front offices see it the opposite way. The GM club is small, and they all need each other to make deals. Chris Wallace has to deal with the Kevin Pritchards of the world. If Miles doesn't look like someone who can help the team, I don't think he'll stick, because there is always the chance it could make things complicated.
Bill Bridges, writing on Forum Blue and Gold, notes a change in the Laker defense: "As Frank Hamblen recently said, each player is playing his man and half of another by being ready to provide help for his team-mates. In the beginning of the season, the help was more judiciously applied such as when the opponent had picked up his dribble, or in the corners. This is a trap. The offensive player is put under pressure resulting in sub-optimal results such as errant passes. More recently the help has been coming at all times. This is doubling - not trapping. Doubling John Salmons when he is still has his dribble is not smart. This help is easy to beat with a quick pass out to the top, resulting in defensive scramble, and invariably, an open shot."
DKV Joventut has a small budget, but produces great players like Rudy Fernandez and Ricky Rubio, and wins more than you'd expect. There are several elements: Players empowered to make quick decisions on offense, defense that never rests, and playing time for youngsters. DraftExpress's Jonathan Givony has all kinds of details on how the system works. It is compared to Mike D'Antoni's system, sometimes.
This sounds like a really dumb quiz: How many NBA teams can you name in three minutes? What could be more basic? But the challenge is when you have say, 25, and can't think of any more teams, it's a weird brain exercise not unlike trying to figure out where you left your keys. Two pieces of advice: Go geographically. That'll give you a context to stay kind of organized in your mind. And don't bother typing in the city name -- that's not necessary. UPDATE: Perhaps not an original idea. A very similar quiz that came earlier.
Casey Wasserman is mostly known around the NBA as the rich young man who is, as the founder of the Wasserman Media Group, Arn Tellem's boss. He's also, I just learned today, on the board of Bill Clinton's foundation, and a major force behind trying to get the 50th Super Bowl to Los Angeles.
So far this has been a season when the good teams have been really good. And the rest have been not so good. And maybe that is not good for the NBA.
How colleges recruit players, by the Tampa Tribune's Joey Johnston, Ira Kaufman, and Nick Williams. Lots of stories of people with close personal relationships with top players getting paid, in one way or another, to see to it the player goes to this or that school. The idea is that this culture of corruption hurts players' personal development -- if the player is a cash cow to the people around him, the theory goes, the family and friends tend not to deliver hard truths for fear of being cut off. Interesting, then, that two of the guys suspended for being really, really, really stupid at the NBA Transition Program made this article: "Last season, a last-second shot by Kansas guard Mario Chalmers sent the national championship game into overtime. The Jayhawks went on to beat Memphis. On the bench was Chalmers' father, Ronnie, the program's director of basketball operations. Chalmers is now in the NBA. His father has resigned. Mission accomplished. ... Kansas State's Michael Beasley, last season's national college Player of the Year, once made an oral commitment to the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. But the assistant coach who recruited him, Beasley's former AAU mentor, Dalonte Hill, moved to Kansas State and received a $400,000 salary. Beasley signed with Kansas State."
Check my math, but I'm pretty sure that the Blazers (very recently the second best team in the West) could fall to ninth and out of playoff picture with wins by Phoenix, Utah, and Dallas tonight. Blazer fans are nervous nellies, but I can't say I'm too worried.
The Hawks beat the Celtics, and Peachtree Hoops explains how: "Cleveland's 11-game winning streak ended with an atypical win for the Hawks, fueled not by field goal defense, forcing turnovers, and making three-pointers but by out-rebounding their opponent on both ends of the court and getting to the free throw line a ton. It was a team effort on both counts. Mike Bibby and Joe Johnson took more than half of Atlanta's field goals but Marvin Williams and Al Horford led the parade to the charity stripe as six of eight Hawks attempted at least four free throws. Similarly, five Hawks corralled between six and eight rebounds on a night when there were few rebounds to be had."
Kevin Arnovitz of ClipperBlog tells us that of the 29 shots Mardy Collins has taken in a Clipper uniform, 13 didn't even draw iron. That has to be approaching some kind of record.
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