Points in the Paint

» April 15, 2009 8:51 PM | By Brandon Hoffman

Jonathan Abrams of The New York Times: “Most professional basketball players do not take permanent residence in the cities where their teams play, so for those not headed to the playoffs, the prevailing mission is to get their luxury vehicles shipped home safely — across the country, or even across the world. Bentleys, Cadillac Escalades and Range Rovers will be crisscrossing the country, aboard vehicle transport haulers or driven by friends and family of the players, many of whom have a renowned affinity for expensive and elaborately customized vehicles. ‘I would say 9 out of 10 guys don’t live in the actual city that they play in, so you’ve got to ship your cars,’ said Keyon Dooling, a guard with the Nets who is headed home to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. ‘You’re not going to drive it halfway across the country and put all those miles on it.’”

More words of wisdom from Jerry Sloan: “Some great players have been able to do that [return from injury],” said Sloan. “Our guys have struggled with it. . . . You have to fight a little bit harder. Sometimes you think you got to go a little bit easier. Everybody has a different approach, afraid they’ll get hurt doing it. I always liked the Michel Jordan thing, he tried to come out and break his foot after he broke it once. And that pretty well tells you where you are.”

Tom Ziller of FanHouse: “The Lakers defense is great — not stellar, but quite good. No. 6 in the league. Kobe’s fantastic, Pau Gasol closes well, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom are credible defenders, Trevor Ariza is a monster. But there’s a real weakness for this defense, an Achille’s hand of sorts: the Lakers are pretty pitiful on the defensive glass, all things told. No. 18 in the league, worse than a whole host of awful defensive teams.”

Ryan Schwan of Hornets 24/7 makes a case that Chris Paul has improved defensively. The numbers are pretty convincing, but I don’t think CP3 has improved enough to warrant a place on either of the NBA’s All-Defensive teams. His selection to the All-NBA Defensive 2nd team last season was a “shamockery.”

Kevin Arnovitz of ClipperBlog scouts Marcus Camby’s defense. I live in Denver. I watched Camby play for the better part of five seasons. He’s a terrible pick-and-roll defender and he very rarely alters shots that he can’t block. Arnovitz does a great job of highlighting Camby’s strengths and weaknesses. BallerBlogger contributing writer xphoenix and I have had many heated discussions about Camby. X thinks that Camby is a dominant defender, and the numbers certainly support his argument. I still say Camby’s a defensive sieve.

I love Bill Simmons’ MVP criteria: “Question No. 2: In a giant pickup game with every NBA player waiting to play, and two fans forced to pick sides with their lives depending on the outcome of the game (I think this is how the annual Rucker League tournament works, by the way), who would be the first player picked based on the way everyone played that season?” That’s one way to eliminate bias. Simmons ranks the MVP candidates from 450-to-1.

The AP: “TNT completed its regular-season NBA coverage with a 14 percent increase in viewers, its second straight year of double-digit growth. The network averaged more than 1.7 viewers for its 53-game schedule, up from 1.5 million last season. That was its best figure in a full season since 1995-96, when it drew nearly 1.9 million per game for Michael Jordan’s first full season back from retirement.”

Cavs GM Danny Ferry on the keys to Cleveland’s success: “I think the keys have been, for me, or the stuff I’ve enjoyed most is the stuff not everyone gets to see. Our group works. They work before practice; they work after practice. The group of guys – they’re competitive as hell and they love to play basketball. And that’s we’ve been able to have a sustained level of success throughout the year.”

Chris Ballard of SI.com: “While other players warm up in long-sleeved shirts over T-shirts, Howard ambles around in a tight, futuristic-looking tank top, shoulders like twin armoires. Explains Howard, ‘I used to be the skinniest person in the world, so now that I’ve been lifting, yeah, I want to take my shirt off.’ Magic trainer Joe Rogowski say lifting is ‘almost like his escape, his hobby.’ If so, it is a fruitful one. Howard is not only the strongest player on his team but also one of the strongest in the league. Before this season, ‘just for fun,’ Rogowski put Magic players through combine-style drills. Howard benched 225 pounds 25 times, or what an average NFL lineman might do. He also maxed out the grip strength machine at 90 pounds per square inch with both hands; most Magic players scored in the 50s and 60s. Says Rogowski, ‘That’s like a dog’s bite.’ Howard also possesses unusual athleticism for a man his size. With a running start he has a vertical leap of 37 inches, and he has touched a spot two feet, 6½ inches above the basket.” (Via Third Quarter Collapse)

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