If you wanted to hear some guffaws, get some real deal basketball experts together and have them watch the closing minutes of last night's Bulls vs. Bobcats game. Seldom have I seen three entities -- the two teams and the officials -- compete so diligently for the "most disappointing performance of the game" award. The Bobcats made several silly mistakes, and many of their key buckets were low percentage shots that happened to go in. The Bulls ... I don't know what that is they're running, but it's surely not an offense. It's more like everyone move ineffectively, or stand still, then let ineffecient scorer and notorious wrong-place, wrong-time guy Drew Gooden try to figure it out as the shot clock expires. Or Ben Gordon can shoot one-on-three while drifting out of bounds. And neither team defended particularly well. But, of course, the capper was that the game was essentially won with three D.J. Augustin free throws that replays show never should have been awarded.
The Knicks just lost to the Suns and the Lakers. Two losses. But nevertheless, you have to really give a lot of credit to Mike D'Antoni. These were two games that mattered on the NBA schedule. They were fairly close. For the least few years, these have been the kinds of games where the Knicks would have gotten spanked, and then gone on their way. Maybe this time in a year or two they can actually win these kinds of games.
TrueHoop reader Brian e-mails: "While I should have been studying for my law school finals, I instead was doing some thinking and math. Should he decide to stay for his senior season, Stephen Curry has a pretty reasonable shot to break Pete Maravich's NCAA scoring record. Pistol scored 3,667 points at LSU from 1968-70 (at 44.2 ppg over 83 games, his record would have been WAY WAY out of reach if freshman had been allowed to play, or if there had been a 3-point line, but that's the number on the books). Stephen Curry had 1,661 in 70 games through his first two years, and this year he's averaging 31.9 through 9 games. If he were to play 70 games over his junior and senior years, he would need just under 29 ppg to break the record, which seems like a reasonable figure. That being said, it's a big assumption to say he'll forego guaranteed millions as a probable lottery pick in '09. ESPN has him as the fifth prospect on their list as of today. I know his dad, Dell, made some decent coin as a multi-year NBA vet. He's not a guy who needs to turn pro to provide for his family. So maybe. But probably not. The dollars are pretty staggering. It comes down to the chance to be an all-time legend and BMOC vs. immediate financial stability for life. The chances to break this record are going to come few and far between. Someone like Stephen Curry is pretty much the perfect storm. To have a shot at the record today, you need to put up big numbers as a freshman, and most freshmen capable of putting up 20+ tend to be big-time prospects with one foot out the door (Durant, Beasley, etc). Being undersized, and a bit of an odd duck by NBA scouting criteria, coupled with playing at a smaller program where he is options 1-4 on offense, he is probably the best case scenario for a shot at the record. The fact that he is from a family that is financially set (provided Dell was good with the money, and didn't get burned over the last couple months) just adds to the chances. He's not going to be the last shot ever to break the record, as some 'sky-is-falling' columnists might eventually claim, but he's definitely our best shot in a while. I'd love to see him stay and give it a shot. On the other hand, I would already be mentally be spending thay signing bonus."
Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News: "'The same day he was born, he developed pneumonia and his lung collapsed,' says Jaime Barea, J.J.'s father. 'For 24 hours after he was born, he was struggling. For 10 days, he was in the ICU. The doctor came to us one day and said, 'He's fighting very hard. He's a fighter.' After all these years, we know now what the doctor was talking about.'"
And you thought you watched basketball closely. Consider this e-mail from TrueHoop reader Michael: "It seems like there has been a shift in the way that 'effort' is being rewarded, specifically around steals and rebounds. In the past it always seemed like the player ending up with the ball would get credit for the steal and/or rebound. But I've noticed recently, i.e. this season, that scorekeepers are awarding steals to the person causing the loss of possession and rebounds awarded to the person tipping the ball out (if the tip was intentional as many small guards like to do when they rebound)." Anyone else notice anything like that?
I have to insist that you read Gabe Muoneke's first-hand account, on HoopsHype, of starring in a post-game altercation in China. One memorable line: "I wasn't angry, injured or distraught. My wife was angry, mother-in-law was scared and my kids are now racists." Also, did you know Bonzi Wells is playing in China? He must be thrilled he turned down that big deal from Sacramento a few years ago.
0.000000000000001416%. According to TrueHoop reader Derz, that's the statistical probability that an average NBA player would get a steal in 105 straight games, playing 37 minutes per game. Chris Paul just did it, tying Alvin Robertson's record.
An NBA prospect perfects his trade by being suspended from his college team, and getting a regular job sorting through junk. Honestly? A lot of players could probably benefit from something like this -- I'm reminded of Scottie Pippen showing me all the scars on his forearms from when he used to work in a desk factory.
Anthony Macri, on Basketball Prospectus, goes in-depth describing draft prospect Blake Griffin. The disappointing thing, of course, is that a lot of Griffin's success comes from being bigger and stronger than opponents, which won't apply in the NBA. Macri concludes like this: "In the NBA, expect Griffin to continue to rebound the ball at an outstanding rate and be more of a garbage scorer early in his career with more opportunities to put up numbers as his game grows, in particular his ability to hit a jump shot. He is a lock as a top-two pick and will have an impact on someone's roster as a starting power forward from day one, however, his long-term status without improvement is likely to be that of a role player off the bench who provides energy, rebounding and the occasional scoring outburst. If, however, he refines his face-up game, leans out slightly and is able to develop explosion toward the goal, he could break from this mold and be a high-level contributing starter for an NBA playoff team."
Terry Porter gets his number retired in Portland. My favorite player growing up would now like to cap off that pleasant night by smushing his former team tomorrow night. Great anecdote from long-time Blazer beat writer Dwight Jaynes: "Terry was known for his clutch free-throw shooting. He was as close to automatic in a close game as you're going to ever get. Pressure made him better. One season, though, he started out a little slow from the free throw line. So, as was his way, Porter was putting in extra time after practice trying to work his way through the shooting problems. My son, Will, often got to attend practices with me on days he wasn't in school and was under the basket rebounding for Terry. This was pretty common and the players liked the fact that even though he wasn't very big, he hustled after the ball, rifled it back to them and didn't mess around. Besides, this was in the days of two assistant coaches -- not seven or eight. There wasn't anyone else around to rebound for them. Casually, being a curious kid who was playing basketball in high school, my son asked Porter why he'd changed his routine at the line from the previous season. He probably knew Porter's routine because he used to copy it like a lot of other kids in town. Good shooters have EXACTLY the same rhythm and bounce at the line on every single shot. Terry pondered the question about his routine. I really don't think he'd noticed that he'd changed a couple of little things. But in the next game he went back to the pre-shot routine he'd used the previous season and was right back to his old accurate self at the foul line. Problem solved. That night during the game, Bill Schonely mentioned on the radio broadcast that Porter thought he'd figured out his problem at the line and had gotten a tip from Will Jaynes at practice about his routine that he hadn't thought about. Man, what a thrill for a young kid."
Ben from BlazersEdge: "Brandon [Roy] came out for some jumpers pregame. Coach Dean [Demopoulos] was feeding him the ball and he started off like 1 for 4 from about 18 feet . Dean said, simply, 'wrist.' Brandon nodded, was careful to snap his wrist a bit more on his follow through, and promptly hit 6 of his next 7, most all net."
Chris Black (via the blog of Michael Grange of the Globe and Mail) on Devin Harris: "Harris has turned himself into a Top 10 player (not point guard, player) in the NBA. It's actually amazing to see, and makes that Dallas/New Jersey trade look worse every day. Here's a question: Harris must be considered for future dream teams right? Here's another question: Who do you take as your starting PG if you're starting a team right now, Harris or Deron Williams?"
Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic: "A couple courtside reporters said that Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver never clapped during D'Antoni's introduction. I was watching D'Antoni so I couldn't tell you. I do know that D'Antoni never met or spoke with Sarver or Steve Kerr during his two stops at the arena Monday. It took Steve Nash and Mark Cuban a while to even say something to each other too."
Bloggers are getting NBA people fired, or so Kevin McHale would have you believe. Of course that's absurd ... if the blogosphere held sway with owner Glen Taylor, McHale would have lost his job ages ago. Bloggers have been killing that guy forever.
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