Basketball blog with takes on basketball and anything related to basketball . . . as well as a haven for jingoists everywhere - in America.

 
Those are some pissed off refs

The NBA refs, in response to the suspension of one of their colleagues, staged a protest of turning their jerseys inside out and coloring in the number of their colleague. The refs say that the suspension was uncalled for and overly strict. The NBA says the suspension was not just for the one blown call.

Now where do I stand? Seeing that there are some really bad calls pretty much every day in the NBA, the one blown call shouldn't be enough to draw a 3 game banishment. Now whether the suspension is just for that one call or not will be seen. The most interesting part will be what the NBA does to the refs who protested. The refs are already saying that the NBA tried to bully them out of doing the protest I have a feeling this won't be the last we hear about this.

--posted by Tim at 11:11 PM | | Permalink

 
Wolves End Nets' Streak

13 wins in a row is damn impressive. However, I don't think it is as impressive that some have made it out to be. Of the thirteen wins, only four were against teams with winning records. Of those 9 with losing records, they are all at least 7 games below .500. Thirteen wins in a row is very impressive, but lets not read more into this than there is.

--posted by Tim at 10:01 AM | | Permalink

 
Injury News

Vince Carter to miss two to four weeks with ankle sprain. Imagine that. Vince Carter got injured.

Ron Artest will be out "indefinitely" after surgery to repair ligaments in his hand. If this is an extended absence, this could really hurt the Pacers when it comes to seeding. Al Harrington will be starting in his place. They'll definitely lose some consistency and defense from the switch to Harrington. They should be able to weather the storm, but if this absence spreads to 4-6 weeks it could cost them a few spots in the playoff seedings.

--posted by Tim at 11:15 PM | | Permalink

 
Jazz make two deals

Deal 1 details:

Utah gets Gordon Giricek
Orlando gets Deshawn Stevenson

Personally, this trade seems like kind of a wash to me. I think Utah did well to get something for Stevenson while they could. His value won't get any higher than it is now. As for the Magic, they're hoping Stevenson will continue his improvement. Giricek at this point is what he is. This is the future versus the now, where both look mediocre. Also of note is that Giricek's contract is up so he comes off the books

Deal 2 details:

Utah gets Tom Gugliotta, two conditional first round picks, a 2nd rounder in 2005 and cash
Phoenix gets Keon Clark and Ben Handlogten.

Utah did this for the picks and the cap space, pure and simple. Phoenix did this for, well, I'm not sure. Clark can come off the cap at the end of the year, but if they wanted someone to come off the cap they should've kept Googs. My guess would be that Phoenix plans on keeping both Clark and Handlogten (or at least Clark). In any case, this deal won't matter this year since Googs isn't gonna be a contributor, Clark hasn't played all year and still doesn't have a return date set, and Handlogten is done for the year.

--posted by Tim at 11:15 PM | | Permalink

 
Sheed traded again.

Here are the details:

Detroit gets Rasheed Wallace and Mike James
Atlanta gets Chris Mills, Zeljko Rebraca, Bob Sura and a 1st rounder from Milwaukee.
Boston gets Lindsay Hunter, Chucky Atkins and Detroit's 2004 1st rounder

As Lang Whitaker put it, the Hawks are dead set on getting worse before they get better. Draft pick is fine and all, but they are picking up nothing but scrubs in these trades and giving away good players.

Detroit looks like a clear winner in this. They gave up guys who are barely playing and a draft pick that will be towards the end of the round for the front court scorer and a solid guard to backup both positions. This trade is great for the Pistons and in my mind vaults them to second favorite in the East after New Jersey (you're the favorite til you lose in my book).

As for the Celtics, it seems like they were kinda just here to make the salaries work. The draft pick only has value if they end up packaging it to get something better.

--posted by Tim at 10:39 PM | | Permalink

 
Guess Who's Back

It's been a while since we've heard from Charley Rosen, but he's back with his absurdities and Kobe-hate. In honor of Charley's return, I give you some excerpts from the article with some commentary from me.

"The one move that would have restored team harmony and resurrected the efficiency of the triangle offense and the intensity of the Lakers' defense would have been risky and controversial -- trading Kobe Bryant."

Trade Kobe Bryant? Absolutely absurd. Next.

"In Bryant's myopic view of NBA action, discipline -- on and off the court -- is for losers and chumps. Kobe's preferred game plan is to disregard his teammates and shoot when the spirit moves him. He believes his teammates' function is to get him the ball and get out of his way. Any player or coach who dares to criticize Kobe is, according to Kobe, dissing him."

At no point does Rosen explain how he know this (not that I actually think he does). Given the other articles he's written, does anyone think that any of the Lakers will actually talk to Rosen? Me neither.

"Word of the players' discontent with Kid Kobe even has leaked into the media. Rumors abound that Bryant has challenged his biggest critic to fisticuffs and that Shaquille O'Neal indeed has been tempted to oblige. So far, cooler heads have prevailed."

Again, Charley knows this how? After he "quoted" Tex Winter only to have Winter say he was full of shit, I don't really trust Rosen's rumors.

"Every shot that Kobe makes when he free-lances outside the context of the triangle," says one Lakers insider, "only feeds the monster."

Of course from an anonymous source . . . Perhaps the voices in Charley's head are "Lakers' insiders."

Charley's best moment in the article is the end when he proposes trades for Kobe. Amon those listed are Corey Maggette, Allan Houston, and Al Harrington - AL HARRINGTON!!!

First off, Maggette is a) an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, so the sign and trade of Kobe to the Clippers would be a waste. Why not just sign Maggette and let Kobe walk? They can't do it earlier because a straight up deal doesn't work under the cap.

As for Houston, that trade couldn't work straight up. Houston makes to much. As for Al Harrington. No one in their right mind would do a trade where Kobe and Al Harrington were the principles. Not that anyone would do any of these ridiculous trades. This article is simply more of Rosen spewing his garbage to anyone who will listen - which includes me. I mean, who doesn't like a good laugh to start the day?

--posted by Tim at 10:55 AM | | Permalink

 
2 Minute Drill

USA Today looked at the people who produced the best in the last two minutes of "close games" (games in which the lead at 2 minutes was 5 or fewer). Now what I'm about to say may not surprise those of you who remembered that USA Today is the same paper that brings you a player rating system which a) weights all categories he same and b) said Brad Miller was better than Shaquille O'Neal. This whole article about clutch performers is bullshit. The sample sizes are so small that none of the data they accumulated is useful. For example, the most clutch free throw shooters are Peja Stojakovic and Shareef Abdur-Rahim. My problem with this is that they make this jusdgement based on the fact that each of those two are 16-16 in the aformentioned situations. These are guys that shoot hundreds of free throws over the course of a season. A sample of 16 means absolutely nothing. So while this stuff makes for good headlines, it means nothing.

--posted by Tim at 11:53 PM | | Permalink

 
NY Gets Thomas. Mohammed

The details:

Hawks get Joel Pryzbilla, Michael Doleac, and 2005 Knicks 2nd rounder
Knicks get Tim Thomas and Nazr Mohammed
Bucks get Keith Van Horn

Is it me or did the Hawks give up a decent center and get nothing in return? Mediocre to below average centers and a draft pick they'll probably waste is all they got back. I know cap space, draft pick, future, blah blah, but if you're a Hawks fan aren't you getting tired of this?

As for the other teams, the Bucks did well for themselves. Pryzbilla was just chillin on IL and Thomas isn't as good as Van Horn. They both have the same question marks on them though (toughness and consisten mainly). The Knicks seemed to do pretty well, but that's only true if they actually use Mohammed. It looks now like he's kinda stuck in a logjam behind Dekembe Mutumbo and Kurt Thomas. Thomas can help them as well, particularly while Allan Houston remains on the IL. In my opinion, the Bucks and Knicks did good for themselves. The Hawks . . . well, they're the Hawks.

--posted by Tim at 11:43 PM | | Permalink

 
Trade Rumors!

Matt over at Bulls Blog (linked above) talks about a rumor that has Jerome Williams getting sent to the Sixers for Aaron McKie and Amal McCaskill. I like JYD, but that seems like a pretty steep price for a guy who plays D and rebounds. McKie is pretty valuable on that team and McCaskill is actually seeming like he has some value in Derrick Coleman's absence. I don't like the proposed offer right now, but I could probably be swayed pretty easily to the other side.

--posted by Tim at 1:10 AM | | Permalink

 
All-Star Saturday Notes

I caught most of it since we had pretty much no customers. So here are my notes on what I saw.

- Who let Cuttino Mobley into the three point contest? WHen the announcers refer to you as a "volume shooter," you shouldn't be in the three point contest. It could have been worse. They could have let Cat into the skills competition. We'd still be waiting for him to pass the ball to that basket.

- There weren't any great performances in the 3 point shootout, but the ending was fantastic. Peja Stojakovic goes into the last rack needing to make the entire rack to tie Veshon Lenard. He drains the first 4 balls of the rack and gets the last one off with 1 second left on the clock, only to have it rim out. A pretty exciting finish.

- For being such a high flyer, Ricky Davis sure laid an egg in the dunk contest. Not that he was the only one to miss a dunk (there were plenty of those, but we'll get there later), but missing two in the first round?

- Given all the misses, isn't it appropriate that when it came to the final round, Fred Jones starts with a miss, only to be followed by Jason Richardson bouncing one off the iron as well.

- Dunk of the night goes to Richardson, bouncing it off the backboard, catching it in mid-air and then going between the legs and throwing it down with the left. That one got a vocal reaction out of me in the middle of the store.

--posted by Tim at 12:44 AM | | Permalink

 
Rookie Game Notes

I have good news and I have bad news. As you know, each year I watch the All-Star Weekend festivities and post my thoughts as I watch the game. The bad news is that this year I have to work Saturday, so you are probably gonna get the thoughts I still remember after I get off on the snippets of action I managed to actually see while at work. That's the bad news. The good news is that the Rookie Game was tonight and I watched it and took notes. So without further ado, here we go.

- The kid announcing the starting lineups is pretty damn annoying. He's doing this annoying growling thing with his voice. Just not a good idea. I'm sure they thought it would be cute, but it's not.

- What are the odds that someone is gonna try and bounce the ball off Carlos Boozer's dome again?

- Assistant coach for the Rookies is Kareem Abdul-Jabar. He's mad he can't get a coaching job in the NBA. What a slap in the face it must be to not be good enough to be head coach in this game.

- Amare Stoudemire and LeBron James are matched up. Who thought that was a good idea on either offensive end?

- Poor Chris Kaman. First Yao just drops a turnaround jumper on him which is followed the next trip down by Carlos Boozer dropping a two hand hammer on him.

- Carlos Boozer on Carmelo Anthony isn't a good idea either. Boozer looked like he was standing still as Melo blew by him.

- "It's been a see-saw game here thus far." - The play by play announcer 2:30 into the game.

- If you're scoring at home, it's been 5 minutes of game time, 3 passes that have glanced off of or gone through the hands of Amare Stoudemire, 30 combined points and about 3 jump shots even attempted.

- If you're still scoring at home: 13 minutes, 1 pass from Flip Murray, 5 missed dunks.

- Kirk Hinrich to James for the vicious one hand throw down on the alley-oop.

- Tayshaun Prince jumpers 3, Rookie team jumpers 4.

- Apparently now we've shifted from dunks to threes as the last three trips down for each team have included three point attempts.

- Damn, Flip Murray unleashed a viscious crossover on LeBron.

- Just saw Chris Bosh again. God those red Raptors unis are awful.

- Marko Jaric seriously looks like someone woke him up 5 minutes before the game. What's up with the hair, both facial and on top of his head.

- One sign Manu Ginobli isn't ready to be a star in the NBA - he has no tatoos.

- Tayshaun Prince has one of the least smooth shot releases ever. It seems to be working okay for him so far though as he has hit 3 threes.

- And after 20 minutes, we have a defensive struggle - 72-59 Sophomores.

- "All of a sudden we have a game" - with the score 75-63 a minute and a half into the second half.

- Dribble, dunk, repeat . . .

- Carmelo Anthony just dribbled the ball through Carlos Boozers' legs on his drive to the basket. Does Boozer just have a target on him?

- I hate to say it, but the dunks and lack of defense is getting boring and there is still about 12 minutes of it to go.

- Jay-Z is getting interviewed by Sheryl Miller right now. I love Jay, but why she is asking him actual basketball questions is beyond me. Also of note, LeBron is "Roc, La Familia."

-Apparently TNT has lost interest in the dunking too, cause the halved the screen to show an interview with Shaquille O'Neal while the game was going. Shaq looks crazy bored, but that could be the Sager effect.

- Dribble, layup, repeat . . .

- Chris Kaman just came thundering down the lane from the 3 point line and stuffed it down with one hand. I've now seen it all. Chris Kaman dribbling . . . whoda thought?

- 129-104 with 3:43 left. Oh yeah and dribble, dunk, repeat.

- Amare Stoudamire just set a new scoring record for the Rookie game.

- The whole night I've been waiting for that one play that makes me glad I watched. That Jason Williams going behind the back and off the elbow type play. I don't think it's coming.

- The last 2 minutes is basically a dunk contest. Everyone ("defense" included) gets out of the way and the guy does a dunk. Then they go to the other end and do the same thing. Personally I don't like this, but the fans at the game seemed to like it. Personally I'd like to see them at least pretend to play some D, and to stand aroudn and watch guys dunk at the end is pretty weak. Show some pride at least.

--posted by Tim at 8:18 PM | | Permalink

 
Report: 76ers fire Ayers, name Ford as replacement

Never saw this coming. Ayers lost control of his players when he was at Ohio State and the same seems to have happened here. The team isn't playing that well (21-31) and for a team that was in the playoffs last year and above .500, that's unacceptable. Even with the record, the seeming fact that Ayers "lost the team" is the main reason for this firing. Either way, I'm not surprised by this. I didn't like the Ayers hiring in the first place.

--posted by Tim at 9:14 AM | | Permalink

 
Eastern Conference All-Stars

This one will be shorter, since there's a lot of the same themes showing up as with the West. With that being said, onto the post.

The Starters

Vince Carter - Where do I begin. Do you remember in Batman Forever where the Riddler gets all the people to put those things on their TVs and can control their minds through it? That is essentially what has happened here. The mechanism may be different, but who is doing this voting? I know the East is the weaker conference, but Vince Carter probably shouldn't have even made the team let alone be starting. Ugghhh. The reality is that this is caused by the league's newfound strictness when it comes to the players' positions. With McGrady, Pierce, etc all classified as guards, it took away a lot of good options for this spot. Despite that there were still more worthy people for it. Personally I would have chosen Ron Artest, but to Vince's credit his PER is about 1.5 points higher than Artest's. However, Carter plays pretty much no defense and Artest is one of the best defenders in the NBA which makes up the point and a half in my mind.

Jermaine O'Neal - No question about O'Neal. The guy has developed into quite a player. He borders on unstoppable in the post and is very good defensively as well. The best power forward in the East by far.

Ben Wallace - Wallace wins by default. His numbers are still very good, but not at the level he was last year. But none of that matters, because who else was there to pick?

Tracy McGrady - Another guy having a down year compared to last season, but that's partly because he set the bar so high last season. McGrady's PER is still 4th highest in the NBA. The guy can play and he's gonna be a fixture on the East All-Star team for the foreseeable future.

Allen Iverson - I love AI, but he shouldn't be starting. Jason Kidd should be. It's not an egregious error, but an error nonetheless.

The Reserves

Ron Artest - Maybe crazy doesn't appeal to the voters. Artest has been much better behaved this year and would be my starter.

Baron Davis - He's carried his team, but he needs to lay off those threes. He's made a lot of them, but when you've taken as many as he has you should have a high number made. 30.3% from downtown. That's Antoine Walker territory.

Jason Kidd - Again, we have a guy who is down compared to last year, but still is playing very good. Should be starting over AI.

Jamal Magloire - A repeat of a theme, just a different one than with Kidd. Magloire got on due to the positional strictness. Plain and simple. I know it. You know it. He knows it. Let's move on.

Kenyon Martin - 18 and 10 gets you on the All-Star team in the East for sure. Hell, if Jamal Magloire gets to go, Kenyon's 18 and 10 surely gets him in. Note to Kenyon: This does not entitle you to a max contract.

Paul Pierce - Another deserving choice. Pierce is having another solid years. Pierce is another one who could shoot less threes, but he's not shooting the 9.2 that Baron Davis is. Another guy who will be a fixture on these teams for the foreseeable future.

Michael Redd - The Pro Basketball Prospectus cover boy is having his coming out party. Those who read the first PBP knew about him and how good he was. Now that he's getting more minutes, everyone is taking notice. His PER is 21.05. A mere .06 behind AI. The guy can play.

--posted by Tim at 12:29 AM | | Permalink

 
Eastern Conference All-Stars

This one will be shorter, since there's a lot of the same themes showing up as with the West. With that being said, onto the post.

The Starters

Vince Carter - Where do I begin. Do you remember in Batman Forever where the Riddler gets all the people to put those things on their TVs and can control their minds through it? That is essentially what has happened here. The mechanism may be different, but who is doing this voting? I know the East is the weaker conference, but Vince Carter probably shouldn't have even made the team let alone be starting. Ugghhh. The reality is that this is caused by the league's newfound strictness when it comes to the players' positions. With McGrady, Pierce, etc all classified as guards, it took away a lot of good options for this spot. Despite that there were still more worthy people for it. Personally I would have chosen Ron Artest, but to Vince's credit his PER is about 1.5 points higher than Artest's. However, Carter plays pretty much no defense and Artest is one of the best defenders in the NBA which makes up the point and a half in my mind.

Jermaine O'Neal - No question about O'Neal. The guy has developed into quite a player. He borders on unstoppable in the post and is very good defensively as well. The best power forward in the East by far.

Ben Wallace - Wallace wins by default. His numbers are still very good, but not at the level he was last year. But none of that matters, because who else was there to pick?

Tracy McGrady - Another guy having a down year compared to last season, but that's partly because he set the bar so high last season. McGrady's PER is still 4th highest in the NBA. The guy can play and he's gonna be a fixture on the East All-Star team for the foreseeable future.

Allen Iverson - I love AI, but he shouldn't be starting. Jason Kidd should be. It's not an egregious error, but an error nonetheless.

The Reserves

Ron Artest - Maybe crazy doesn't appeal to the voters. Artest has been much better behaved this year and would be my starter.

Baron Davis - He's carried his team, but he needs to lay off those threes. He's made a lot of them, but when you've taken as many as he has you should have a high number made. 30.3% from downtown. That's Antoine Walker territory.

Jason Kidd - Again, we have a guy who is down compared to last year, but still is playing very good. Should be starting over AI.

Jamal Magloire - A repeat of a theme, just a different one than with Kidd. Magloire got on due to the positional strictness. Plain and simple. I know it. You know it. He knows it. Let's move on.

Kenyon Martin - 18 and 10 gets you on the All-Star team in the East for sure. Hell, if Jamal Magloire gets to go, Kenyon's 18 and 10 surely gets him in. Note to Kenyon: This does not entitle you to a max contract.

Paul Pierce - Another deserving choice. Pierce is having another solid years. Pierce is another one who could shoot less threes, but he's not shooting the 9.2 that Baron Davis is. Another guy who will be a fixture on these teams for the foreseeable future.

Michael Redd - The Pro Basketball Prospectus cover boy is having his coming out party. Those who read the first PBP knew about him and how good he was. Now that he's getting more minutes, everyone is taking notice. His PER is 21.05. A mere .06 behind AI. The guy can play.

--posted by Tim at 12:28 AM | | Permalink

 
Sheed the Hawk

The details of the deal:

Hawks get: Rasheed Wallace, Wesley Person
Blazers get: Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Theo Ratliff, Dan Dickau

Let's be upfront about one thing right now. Dickau was in there solely for the purposes of making salaries work, because no one actually wants his ass. As for the rest of the guys, the Hawks may actually have a use for Person but most likely he was in there for the salary as well. Ratliff gives the Blazers someone to play center besides Dale Davis. Now for the real key points of the deal. Sheed for Shareef. I think I like this move for the Blazers. The Blazers starting lineup recently was as follows:

Damon Stoudamire, Derek Anderson, Zach Randolph, Rasheed Wallace and Darius Miles

Now the Blazers have played very well since inserting Miles into the starting lineup, but Mo Cheeks doesn't strike me as that superstitious. Given that, I think the Blazers lineup will be as follows:

Stoudamire, Anderson, Ratliff, Randolph and Abdur-Rahim

I like that lineup, but whether it wil actually be the one that is used and whether it would or will work is always somethimg that will need to be observed.

As for how the Hawks did, that will depend on a few things. The first is how committed Sheed is. Since I don't think the Hawks will stop CTCing, it shouldn't be a problem. The second is whether they can get Sheed to actually play down in the block like he used to. He's a good player out on the wings, but he could destroy people in the post, especially in the East. The Blazers haven't been able to get Sheed to stay in the post for a couple years now. Maybe the change of scenery will inspire him to return to his roots. The third thing that will affect how the Hawks did is whether they keep Sheed, and if he does leave if they can get something for him. Really, this summer will probably tell how this trade really worked out.

--posted by Tim at 10:16 PM | | Permalink

 
Raptors take advantage of Warriors' collapse

I was planning to do the East All Star post tonight, but I ended up watching the Grammy's, so it will probably get done tomorrow night. However, I couldn't let the night pass without posting about the Warriors scoring a mere 2 points in the 4th quarter of their overtime loss on Sunday. 2 points in a quarter is something that happens in NBA 2K2 when you're playing the computer with 5 minute quarters. That's not something that should be happening in the NBA in real life. These are professional basketball players, yet only one of them could manage to make a shot for 12 minutes. Absolutely brutal.

--posted by Tim at 11:54 PM | | Permalink

 
Western Conference All-Stars

This one may be kinda boring just because there isn't that much you could disagree with. Most of my objections are slight objections (as opposed to those that will come whwne I do the East). Anyway onto the post.

The Starters

Kevin Garnett - Garnett is just an absolute beast and has just been silly good this year. He is #1 overall in PER and his 29.19 is 3 points better than second place, which is the other forward on this team. How can you argue with this choice? Simply put, you can't.

Tim Duncan - Duncan is #2 overall in PER at 26.49. The Big Fundamental is actually down in FG%, FT% and assists, but his overall productivity is at the same level as last year thanks to increases in steals and a drop in turnovers. Duncan is easily a top 5 player in the NBA, let alone the West and deserves this spot.

Yao Ming - I agree with this pick only because Shaq has missed as many games as he has (15 thus far out of 47). Since the league wants to be sticklers about positioning, Yao is the obvious pick. While some still feel he is underachieving, he is definitely the second best center in the West after O'Neal.

Steve Francis - And here is where we have our first problem. Francis is down in damn near every statistical category, so lets reward that by giving him the starting nod in the All-Star game? Francis is shooting below 40% from the field! Francis doesn't even deserve to make the team, let alone start. Sam Cassell should be starting and another Steve, Steve Nash, should have been on the team as a reserve.

Kobe Bryant - Personally, I would prefer Ray Allen be starting since I think both have missed games and Allen has been slightly better thus far. This is no where near as bad as voting Francis as a starter. Bryant, despite his legal troubles, has been pretty good so far. He's been much worse than last year though. Now having other guys around that can actually do something with the ball and having a rape trial hanging over his head probably accounts for much of that. Not as obvious a starter as in years past, but I can't object that much to the choice.

The Reserves

Ray Allen - He's missed a fair amount of games, but he's been very, very good thus far (23.71 PER). Good enough that I would have chosen him as a starter. He's easily the best player on that Sonics team and getting away from George Karl seems to have done wonders for him.

Sam Cassell - The good news is that he ended his streak of missing the game. The bad news is that he got robbed of a starting spot because the fans weren't paying attention. I must admit I had doubts that Cassell would be as good as before since he would be flanked by KG, Spree, Wally World and Troy Hudson. I even went as far as to try and trade him from my fantasy team before the season started (Big thanks go out to Eric McErlain for not responding to my trade offer and forcing me to keep Sam I Am). I was sooooooo wrong. Cassell is scoring more, assisting more and his percentages are up across the board. And many of these changes are significant (+1.8 assists from last year). Makes me wish I still had my Cassell replica jersey from when he was a Rocket.

Andrei Kirilenko - Kirilenko is not a star in any one category, but is very, very good in almost all. That well rounded game is what makes him an All-Star. The guy is averaging 2.8 blocks and 2.1 steals. Good luck finding a lot of guys who do that. He's only 22, so he's only gonna get better. So while his game is probably gonna get even better, his Skeletor-like looks are probably here to stay. Hopefully he doesn't feel like getting another mohawk.

Brad Miller - He's been huge for Sacramento. Having said that, the only reason he got on the team is because the league is being a stickler about the position stuff. The coaches should have found a way to get Elton Brand on the team and probably would have at Miller's expense had it not been for the league being so picky. Having said that, if another center was to be chosen after Yao and Shaq, it would be Miller. He's a big reason that the Kings have been so good despite missing Chris Webber. He passes well, shoots pretty well, and moves without the ball. He fits right in with the Kings and it's been a very good fit thus far.

Dirk Nowitzki - Dirk is way down from last year almost across the board. His percentages, his scoring, his rebounding and even his steals are all down. Despite that, I wouldn't bump Dirk for Brand. This is mainly based on the number of games Brand missed though.

Shaquille O'Neal - He doesn't miss 15 games and I say he should be the starter.

Peja Stojakovic - People wondered what would happen when Webber was gone. Well, now we know. Peja has taken over that team and is an unmitigated star. He is scoring pretty much at will from anywhere on the court and he's rebounding fairly well too. If it weren't for the fact that KG is just freakishly good, Peja would be starting.

--posted by Tim at 1:42 PM | | Permalink

 
Draft Post

It's coming, but probably not til Friday. So until then you can read last year's East and West posts. And if that isn't enough, read the East and West from the year before that.

--posted by Tim at 9:34 AM | | Permalink

 
All-Backup Team

Over at Next NBA, the following question has been posed:

"If you can create a new team with only backup players, who would be your starters, your coach (only unsigned coach), and which city (location)?"

I answered there, but I liked the question so I'm posing to all of you as well. Here's my response:

Coach: "The Czar" Mike Fratello - He's won uptempo with the Hawks. He's won slow down with the Cavs. The guys just wins. And when you have a team of backups you need that.

PG: Nick Van Exel - When healthy, the guy can flat out score. There are few guys I like watching as much as NVE because you never know when he's gonna come running down on the break and stop 30 feet out and drain a three. Fratello won't like that probably, but I like it.

SG: James Posey - For the most part, Posey is good at everything, great at nothing. With Van Exel around I don't really need Posey to score, which is good cause he doesn't shoot well. Despite the shooting, Posey can score by slashing to the basket and does do pretty much everything else well, which is why he's here. Someone on the wings needs to play some D.

SF: Desmond Mason - Similar to Posey, Mason scores without shooting well. Mason also rebounds well and defends well. Hence, he's here as the SF.

PF: Mo Taylor - Taylor looks to be finally getting back to 100% after the achilles injury that sidelined for an entire season two years ago. His rebounding of late is even better than pre-injury and he's scoring like he did when the Rockets signed him. It could just be a hot streak, but he's on my fantasy team so I'm hoping it isn't. He doesn't play defense, but that's why we have the center we have.

C: Adonal Foyle - Theo Ratliff with rebounding. That's the best way to describe Foyle. He's pretty inept on offense, but he rebounds well and defendse well, which we'll need with Taylor on the team.

City - Vegas Baby!! Vegas!!!!! Would there be a better home court advantage? Vegas would be even better than New Orleans. My guys would be used to the scene in Vegas, but the opposing players would be so hung over come game time. And when your team is comprised of backups, you need any advantage you could get.

--posted by Tim at 9:14 AM | | Permalink