Scott Cacciola of the Memphis Commercial Appeal: “For stat gurus like Roland Beech, who runs the Web site 82games.com and consults for the Dallas Mavericks, the work is rewarding. Numbers have a way of objectifying the chaos of the NBA. ‘A lot of the basketball stat guys are dismissive of the baseball stat guys, because baseball is a very easy game,’ Beech said. Whereas much of the action in baseball involves just two individuals, the pitcher and the hitter, basketball features 10 players on the court at one time and countless variables. Players depend more on their teammates, relying on them to defend and rebound and pass them the ball. ‘Baseball lends itself better to analytics,’ Wallace said. ‘Basketball on both ends of the court is a collaborative effort. When somebody scores a point, even if it’s a total 1-on-1 situation, there are other factors at play there.’”
Peter May of HoopsHype.com: “‘He does it all the time,’’ Rivers said of Garnett going to the floor on all fours. ‘And I bet he doesn’t even know it half the time because he gets so caught up in the game. But I look at that and say, ‘isn’t that great?’ ‘One referee said to me, ‘you better watch Kevin.’ And I said, ‘no, you guys should watch Kevin – and tell the rest of the league to do it.’ Wouldn’t every coach want their guy to get down low on defense, pound his hands on the floor, and be so into the game? When Duke does it, everyone starts clapping. When Kevin does it, people want to give him a tech. He’s so wrapped up in the game. I don’t have a problem with it.’ The officials didn’t either, at least not in those two instances. Rivers said he thinks it’s because the officials can hear what the fans can’t hear. ‘The reason I think a lot of the officials don’t T up Kevin is that it’s not a personal thing with him,’’ Rivers said of Garnett. ‘Heck, half the time, he’s talking to himself. They hear what Kevin is saying and they know it doesn’t lead to anything. With others, it’s more direct and personal. He has done that his whole career.’”
Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News: “We have never seen a mid-December like this in NBA history–there are early question marks about almost every player who signed a major free-agent deal in the summer and is now eligible to be traded, starting today. Almost every major free-agent signee perhaps SHOULD be traded and certainly will be mentioned often in trade talk. To paraphase Barkley: Bad deals, man, bad friggin’ deals. Really, because these mega-buck guys have turned so sour so swiftly, it may chill the 2009 market for sure, as everybody seeks to avoid salary-waste and holds the line until 2010, when LeBron-Wade-Bosh-Stoudemire hit free agency. (Bad news for Shawn Marion and others hitting the market next summer.) But back to last summer’s rich guys: Of those who signed deals larger than $45M, there are only three guys I’m going to put on the ‘safe/no-trade’ list: Andris Biedrins, Andrew Bynum (but not eligible to be traded yet because he signed so late) and maybe Gilbert Arenas.”
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports: “Mark Bartelstein could have grounds to terminate Pargo’s contract with the elite Russian team based on late payments to his $3.8 million contract. Multiple teams have interest, but the New York Knicks are considered the favorite because so few teams are willing to significantly increase payroll in these economic times. After New Orleans Hornets owner George Shinn made general manager Jeff Bower withdraw an offer to keep Pargo over the summer, the free agent guard’s best chance for a payday turned out to be the Dynamo. Yet now, most Russian teams are struggling to meet payrolls on time, what with money transferring so slowly through the banking system. The decline in oil prices has dramatically hurt most basketball ownership groups. Nevertheless, sources close to Pargo say that the Dynamo will make sure Pargo gets all of his money, and that they’ve worked hard to take care of him. The Dynamo have ultimately met their payments to Pargo but have been consistently late, one league source said. That’s happening everywhere in Europe, where several stateside agents say they’re still waiting on Russian teams to pay agent’s fees on contracts.”
Dave McMenamin of NBA.com: “Colin Pine was a 28-year-old stuck in the world of business and academia before he met Yao Ming. And then the Houston Rockets called, looking for somebody to accompany Yao, their 7-foot-6 rookie, as he made the transition from China to the United States. Suddenly Pine was a translator that travelled the country with an NBA team and co-starred in an internationally released documentary, The Year of the Yao. Yes, it’s good to know Yao Ming. Just ask 10-year league veteran Bonzi Wells, a one-time teammate of Yao’s. He couldn’t find an NBA team interested in his services this season, so he decided to go East — as in Far East — to sign with Shanxi Zhongyu in the Chinese Basketball Association. Wells’ signing underscores a fringe benefit of being a teammate of Yao. Not only do you get the All-Star big man on your side, you get to appeal to a whole new rabid fan base in China and the employment opportunities that come with that. Five current Houston players have shoe deals with Chinese sneaker companies (Shane Battier and Ron Artest with Peak; Luis Scola and Steve Francis with Anta; Chuck Hayes with Li Ning). And two former Rockets — Kirk Snyder and Mike Harris — have parlayed their exposure playing alongside Yao into gigs in the Chinese Basketball Association, just like Wells.”
Mark Heisler of the Los Angeles Times: “Sacramento Kings Coach Reggie Theus bit the dust Monday, becoming the sixth NBA coach to be fired this season. If the number isn’t unusual, the fact it happened with nine shopping days left before Christmas is. Add in the six fired after last season (Dallas’ Avery Johnson, Detroit’s Flip Saunders, New York’s Isiah Thomas, Milwaukee’s Larry Krystkowiak, Charlotte’s Sam Vincent, Chicago’s Jim Boylan) and the two who got out while the getting was good (Phoenix’s Mike D’Antoni, Miami’s Pat Riley) and we only need one more to make half of the league’s 30 teams. Making it truly remarkable, the other owners did this without their mainstay, the Clippers’ Donald T. Sterling, who hasn’t gotten to fire a single coach. One domino refuses to fall and, amazingly, it’s Donald’s coach, Mike Dunleavy. Even with three toppling who were behind Dunleavy (Washington’s Eddie Jordan at 1-10, Oklahoma City’s P.J. Carlesimo at 1-12, Theus at 6-18) and three who were ahead (Minnesota’s Randy Wittman at 4-15, Philadelphia’s Mo Cheeks at 9-14, Toronto’s Sam Mitchell at 8-9), Dunleavy is still standing. This is either a result of Sterling’s hard-earned wisdom, or Dunleavy’s contract, which has two more seasons worth $10.4 million after this one.”
Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee: “Kenny Natt doesn’t need to read the fine print. He knows what his job is. He’s the temp who occupies the seat until his replacement is hired, which in the current economic climate, means sometime next summer. But please. No more rookies, no more neophytes, no more mistakes. Geoff Petrie and the Maloofs need to find the right guy this time. There will be qualified, experienced, proven NBA head-coaching candidates out there. It’s time to attract one, sign him to a multi-year contract and put an end to the Kings’ chronic coaching charade. Common sense and due diligence are vital. This ongoing inability to secure an established head coach is as crippling as drafting lottery busts in consecutive years. Who pours cheap oil into a Mercedes, then wonders why the engine stalls? Right. The Kings.”
Thunderguru.com: “So, the Thunder jettisoned our offensively challenged coach, and brought in Brooks. Almost overnight the offense came alive. Our first game under Brooks, against the Hornets, the team was able to post an offensive rating of 112.5, easily the highest of the season, en route to scaring the Hornets on their home court. The offense has continued to be acceptably effective. In the 12 games under Brooks, our offensive rating has been 107.7 points per 100. The league average this year is about 106, so 107.7 would be good for about 10th best in the league. If you’ve watched the Thunder under Brooks regularly, you would see the offense humming along quite nicely most nights. But in a remarkable role reversal, Brooks has not been able to hold the line defensively. The defense has gotten progressively worse in the 12 games under Brooks. He took over a team with a defensive rating I previously mentioned was 105.7, somewhat above average. Since that time, the defensive rating has fallen to an average of 114.7 points allowed per 100.”
Mike McGraw of the Arlington Heights Daily Herald: “Tex Winter invented the triangle offense. Now Derrick Rose has inspired the triangle defense. Since the start of the season, opposing teams have been keeping extra defenders on either side of Rose to prevent him from getting to the basket. Finding open lanes seems to be getting more difficult as the season progresses. ‘I notice they take the help-side corner so they can have like a triangle in the middle,’ Rose said. ‘They’re blitzing (pick-and-rolls) a little bit, showing high so I won’t turn the corner and things like that. I’ve just been working on that in practice, and the veterans have been helping me out.’ Defenses have been willing to give the Bulls more good looks from 3-point range if it means cutting down on Rose’s penetration. Sometimes that’s been a successful strategy, sometimes not.”
Keith Langlois of Pistons.com: “The sample size is still too small to draw ironclad conclusions about the genius of inserting Rodney Stuckey in the Pistons’ starting lineup, but so far, so good. Through three games, the numbers of Stuckey, Rip Hamilton and Allen Iverson suggest the Pistons are on the verge of becoming the dynamic offensive team Joe Dumars envisioned when he pulled the Iverson-Chauncey Billups blockbuster two games into the season. Hamilton is averaging 25 points and shooting 54 percent in those three games, up from 16.3 and 43 percent prior to the lineup switch. Iverson’s scoring average is virtually the same pre- and post-switch, but his efficiency is up significantly. A 39 percent shooter before Stuckey joined the lineup, Iverson is shooting 50 percent over the last three games and had a 12-assist performance in one game. And his 20-point game at Charlotte on Saturday was his highest-scoring game in his last 11. Stuckey, too, has seen his numbers jump to 14.7 points and 9.7 assists while shooting a remarkable 68 percent.”
A. Sherrod Blakely of MLive.com: “The Pistons’ inability to finish games has been one of the contributing factors to their solid, but far from stellar 13-9 record. Those late-game struggles could be attributed to the numerous changes in the Pistons’ roster this season. ‘Consistency is what you search for,’ Pistons coach Michael Curry said. ‘That’s the biggest thing you try to search for. What we want to do is get consistent with the unknown.’ One of the ‘unknowns’ Curry has had to face is difficult lineup decisions. More often than not, Curry’s choices have resulted in solid players sitting on the bench in the final minutes of a game. ‘As I’ve said before, it’s a hell of a dilemma, but I cherish it,’ Curry said. For most close games down the stretch, Curry will go with a frontcourt of Tayshaun Prince, Antonio McDyess and Rasheed Wallace. The real challenge is deciding who will be on the floor in the backcourt.”
Paul Coro of the The Arizona Republic: “As much as the Suns have changed, they have come full circle since training camp opened. A team that started with a mission to be a more deliberate and defensive team returned to its form in previous seasons after a losing streak reached four games Dec. 4. The reins loosened in the next game, a victory over Utah, and the process of resuming up-tempo programming began. ‘It would have been easy for a coach to come in and just do exactly what we had done before,’ Suns guard Steve Nash said. ‘In some ways, you’ve got to respect the fact that Terry (Porter) came in and wanted us to work on some of those things. Now that we’re getting back to doing the things that we were good at doing in the past, it does look like we’ve been on quite a journey in two and a half months. I think everyone is feeling positive and optimistic nevertheless.’”
Lakers Blog: “While I didn’t ask him specifically, there’s no question based on past record that Odom includes himself in the evaluation of the seconds- nobody on the team tends to be harder on himself than LO. Frankly, I like that he’s calling out the group and showing ownership, talking about execution, and so on. Of course, talking about accountability and actually displaying it on the court are two different things, but having been asked to be a leader, that’s what Odom is doing. In terms of X’s and O’s some of the second unit issues relate to the square peg/round hole execution Fish talked about in the previous post. It can be fixed with better awareness and more discipline. One of the interesting things to watch on a team like the Lakers is the evolution of voices inside the locker room. Clearly Kobe is at the center of the Lakers- it’s his team- but he’s not necessarily the emotional core. That, to me, is Odom. Derek Fisher, meanwhile, serves as a sort of moral compass. Andrew Bynum is an emerging young voice, at least as it relates to speaking whatever might be on his mind. So it’s not just a question of the team learning to mesh on the court, but unify the voice off it.”
Fred Kerber of the New York Post: “Carter spoke at length yesterday about coming to a city that was ‘hockey, hockey, hockey’ 24/7 and watching both the sport and the Raptors grow before his eventual trade to New Jersey. ‘The fans didn’t really know when to cheer, and what they were cheering for,’ Carter recalled before leading the Nets in their rematch last night against the Raptors, whom they beat in an absolute thriller here last month – Carter starring – and whom they were destroyed by in New Jersey last Friday, Carter disappearing. The love affair that Toronto and all of Canada had with Carter soured after one interview following the trade. Carter admitted there were times when he eased up on the court. That came out that he quit on the team, hated all things Canadian, and would never let his grandkids drink Molson.”
Phil Jasner of the Philadelphia Daily News: “He made it clear that his points of emphasis included defense first, then attempting to run as much as possible, even more than the Sixers had down the stretch of last season, preferring early offense to having to revert to halfcourt sets. That, he said, would allow them to use Elton Brand – and perhaps others – more effectively in the post. ‘We put in a new offense, or we tweaked an offense, so guys were not as instinctive as they were before,’ DiLeo said. ‘They’re learning something new, and that’ll take a little time. It got sloppy at the end, but they gave a good effort. The thing is, we’ve got to be able to run, and run consistently. That’s what we’re going to emphasize in practice.’ In halfcourt sets, given the Sixers’ inability to deliver three-point shots, Brand had all but become a target in the post. Teams could confidently double-team him, daring the Sixers to try to beat them from the perimeter. In DiLeo’s scheme, the players have to be cognizant of crisply finishing plays, making certain the ball moves from side to side, making just as certain the players maintain movement.”
Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal: “Plenty has changed since Dec. 6 when the Griz fell behind by 21 points in the opening stanza and Iavaroni benched Griz forward Rudy Gay. ‘Coach is holding everybody accountable, one through 15,’ Griz point guard Mike Conley said. ‘If one guy is not playing defense, he’s snatching him out of the game and telling everybody what he did wrong. Then, he’ll put him back. … He wants energy and defensive-minded players out there. And he’s making us all into those kinds of players now. Guys might not like it, but what can you say when you’re winning? Everybody wants to win.’ Winning is what Iavaroni points to when asked about his slightly different approach. Lineup shuffling and shorter leashes on playing time came as a result of the Grizzlies’ seven-game losing streak.”
Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: “The beauty of Duncan is his consistency, quarter to quarter, game to game, season to season. ‘I pride myself in being consistent every year,’ Duncan said. ‘It ends up where I’m sitting around the same area (statistically) every single year. I’m very proud of that fact, and I hope to be able to continue to do that until I walk out of the door.’ From the beginning, Duncan has been a different breed of superstar. He has never been a player who starred by playing above the rim. Instead, he plays the game of a pool shark, built on guile and cleverness, knowing the angles and knowing his opponent better than his opponent knows himself. Those are the skills that made Duncan the centerpiece of four NBA title teams. They are the skills that, many NBA observers believe, might allow Duncan to delay the decline that eventually comes to afflict every player. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich calls Duncan ‘an anachronism,’ and for good reason: Duncan’s bank shot is something straight out of the book of Norman Dale. ‘You don’t see many people who are as successful as Tim with his level of athletic ability,’ Popovich said. ‘He’s not Mr. Athletic, and he knows that. He almost takes pride in it.’”
Jonathan Abrams of The New York Post: “The tenuous relationship between coaches and officials in the N.B.A. runs a gamut of emotions during the 48 minutes of a game. It travels from chummy to combative in a flash, and it is special to basketball because of the proximity of everyone involved: officials cross in front of coaches on the sideline every few seconds. The 61 full-time N.B.A. referees cycle from team to team and city to city, regularly officiating each team at least once or twice a month. Many coaches attempt to establish relationships with referees built on that familiarity. Whether the tactic works, however, is largely up for debate.”
