Points in the Paint

» June 1, 2009 8:21 PM | By Brandon Hoffman
  • Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer:  “With LeBron James about to enter into the final year of his contract and saying he hopes the Cavs take another step forward — there’s only so far the team can go after being in conference finals, which makes the point rather clear — the onus is on General Manager Danny Ferry. Of particular interest are the two teams still standing. The Cavs were a combined 3-8 this season against the Los Angeles Lakers and the Orlando Magic and both figure to be very strong again next year. In the annual season wrap session with the media Monday, Ferry said that will be a driving force as they examine their options this summer.”
  • Dr. Daniel Amen, via Mike Penner of the Los Angeles Times:  “Odom freely confesses that he just can’t help himself when it comes to the sweet stuff and always keeps a stash on hand of Gummi Bears, Honey Buns, Lifesavers, Hershey’s white chocolate, Snickers bars, cookies and more. He eats the sugary snacks morning, noon and night, and even says he sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night, chows down on some treats, then falls back asleep. This is bad news for the Lakers. I’ve been telling my patients for years that sugar acts like a drug in the brain. It causes blood sugar levels to spike and then crash, leaving you feeling tired, irritable, foggy and stupid. Eating too much sugar impairs cognitive function, which may explain why Odom doesn’t always make the smartest decisions on the court.”
  • Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register caught up with L.O. today:  “Odom has a rebuttal: The games he played well in the Western Conference finals had something in common. In general, he said: ‘The games I play well are the games I eat candy for breakfast.’ Odom said he had Now & Laters and Starburst Jelly Beans before his increased production in Games 5 and 6 against Denver.”
  • DraftExpress analyzes the NBA’s combine measurements, and notes that “Blake Griffin measured out well from a height perspective, but he doesn’t appear to have great length at all. His standing reach and wingspan are both far below average for a power forward, which likely helps explain why he is such an unimposing defender and shot-blocker. In fact, amongst the 42 power forwards in our database who were selected as top-15 picks, Griffin is just a quarter of an inch from ranking dead last in the wingspan category, and an inch from ranking dead last in standing reach. Yikes.”
  • Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus:  “If you put the over-under on when a company will appear on an NBA jersey at five years, I would take the under. And if you put the over-under on when every NBA jersey is sponsored at a decade, I’d be awfully tempted. It makes sense that the NBA will be the first to experiment with sponsored jerseys. Under Stern, the NBA has always been the most progressive of the three major sports leagues from a business perspective, and quite frankly there are a lot of teams that could use the infusion in cash. The Arizona Republic has reported that the Mercury-LifeLock partnership (which also includes court branding) will be worth more than $1 million, a huge sum that could be enough all by itself to take the Phoenix WNBA franchise from the red to the black. In the MLS, where jerseys have been sponsorable since 2007, the average cost appears to be about $2 million, with the L.A. Galaxy and Seattle Sounders reportedly bringing in $4 million a year or more. In that context, you’d figure a struggling NBA team could potentially make somewhere in the eight figures by selling space on its jerseys.”
  • The Arsenalist at Raptors Republic says it’s time to trade Chris Bosh:  “Bosh has proven to be a perimeter-oriented PF who can’t adjust to dynamic defenses that throw different looks at him. He’s slow to negotiate double-teams and almost always fails to properly read the defender who is showing help but not yet helping. His anticipatory senses are weak which means he resorts to very generic and predictable moves which are often easy to defend and much more importantly, do not make his teammates better because he does not yield good shots for them. His drives to the rim do not have an outlet option and his decision-making at the elbow is slow and painful to watch. He does not have the basketball IQ or skill to warrant a touch on every possession, in other words, he’s not the guy you want to fall back on in times of crisis, and if I’m investing $21.5M a year in a player, I sure hope he can do that for me.”
  • Darren Rovell of CNBC.com:  “Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard has big endorsement deals with Adidas, T-Mobile, Warner Brothers, McDonald’s and Vitaminwater but should the NBA Finals go in Orlando’s favor, Howard might be the next big marketing icon. An E-Poll Market Research poll released exclusively to CNBC.com reflects that, for some attributes, Howard is already comparable to Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. Results of the company’s E-Score Celebrity Poll reflect that a representative sample of the US general population believes that Howard is currently as appealing as Michael Jordan, more appealing than LeBron James and has ‘more energy’ than his finals opponent Kobe Bryant.”
  • Charley Rosen explains the NBA’s referee rating system:  “At season’s end, the teams’ reports and the NBA’s internal reports — with the latter given the most consideration — are combined to rate the officials from 1 to 61. It also should be noted that a referee’s experience is an important X-factor here. Subsequently, the 32 highest-ranking refs are selected to work the first round of the playoffs; the top 27 work the second round; the best 20 do the conference finals; and the championship series is overseen by the 12 premier officials. Specific bonuses also accrue to each group. Although the specific amounts remain a closely guarded secret, estimates range from an extra $10,000 for those refs who make the first cut to about $50,000 for the diligent dozen. Each ref at every level receives the full bonus no matter how many games he (or she) may work during that specific series. However, it makes one wonder about the overall quality of the officiating staff when the likes of Violet Palmer and David Jones survive into the postseason. Moreover, experience seems to be the only reason why veteran refs like Bennett Salvatore, Danny Crawford and Joey Crawford — who are generally disrespected by many NBA insiders — are still on the job in late April, May and possibly beyond.” Rosen also argues for several changes that might improve NBA officiating.
  • David Friedman of 20 Second Timeout:  “There has been a lot of talk about the basketball statistics revolution, but Orlando Magic Senior Vice President Pat Williams recently told me, ‘There is certainly nothing wrong with advanced science but I am still a firm believer in judging horseflesh, you know? Dollar Sign on the Muscle, the old baseball scouting book. You’ve got to line guys up, you’ve got to evaluate, you need tons of experience from doing it for many years. You have to go into the gym and you have to study the product. Given a choice of the modern way or the old fashioned way, David, I’ll go with the old fashioned way.’ Williams said that the Magic do not rely on advanced basketball metrics when they make player evaluations.”
  • Adrian Wojnarowski:  “I’m a winner, King James proclaimed. So, there you go. That’s his reason for rushing out of the conference finals without so much as a nod to Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic. That’s his reason for marching to the bus and letting the Cleveland Cavaliers’ spare parts take care of his responsibilities in the interview room. Funny, but James stayed on the court to make sure the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks paid respect to him. As it turns out, there’s one thing allowed to happen at the end of a playoff series: Everyone bows down and kisses the King’s ring. Only, LeBron doesn’t have a ring. He’s never won a game in the NBA Finals. So, yes, maybe they just have to kiss his ass. ‘It’s not being a poor sport or anything like that,’ James said. No, nothing like that. Yes, James cares so much that it isn’t possible to be gracious and humbled. You know me, he told the reporters in Cleveland on Sunday. I’m a competitor. ‘If somebody beats you up, you’re not going to congratulate them,’ James said. ‘It doesn’t make sense for me to go over and shake somebody’s hand.’ Here’s the question: Who has the guts to tell him that he sounds like an immature, self-absorbed brat? Here’s the problem for the Cavaliers and James: No one.”

Category: 2009 NBA Playoffs, Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, International Basketball, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA Issues, Orlando Magic, Points in the Paint, Portland Trail Blazers, Toronto Raptors

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