Tag Archives: Pacers

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Unlocked … 2012 NBA Season Report #2

Well, since the last time we did this report, the league has crammed in another 116 games.  As we had pointed out then, the effects of the lockout and the accelerated offseason showed in some pretty shoddy basketball.  Well with more data, through 241 games the league PPP is still at 0.998, a far cry from last year’s 1.04.  Put another way, currently only 6 teams are above that number this season compared to 15 a year ago at this time.  Just like last week, we can see other metrics.

  • Turnover Rate: Last Year: 15.3% of possessions, This Year: 16.0%
  • TS%: Last Year: 54%, This Year: 52.1%
  • Shots per possession: Last Year: 0.962, This Year: 0.958.

With even two more weeks, the trends have been getting worse, instead of better.  The turnovers remain up, while the shooting is going down, and so the leaguewide scoring has gone down with it.  Just like we mentioned last time, it is tempting to attribute this to great defense – but given the lack of cohesion on so many rosters and the limited time together, it feels a lot like poor offense is much more to blame.  One place this might be evident is leaguewide foul shooting.  A year ago it was 76.4%, while this year it is down to 74.5%.  There is no reason for this to be the case other than guys just shooting poorly.  The league 3P% (35.6 to 34.0) has dipped as well.  So if you think that there have been a lot of low scoring, high turnover, poor shooting games – it’s not just you.

That said, despite the hide your eyes bad level of offensive play, and the way too aggressive schedule – the league is starting to unfold.  The latest rankings are in a permanent home this year, so hopefully you can skip right to the good stuff without reading all this jibberish.  However, if you are reading this – might as well get some observations out of the way:

  1. The Sixers hold the number one position again.  Granted, their losses to the Knicks and Heat do not give much confidence that this is the team’s true level.  However, they have clobbered the flotsam on their schedule.  120-89 over the Wizards, 112-85 over the Kings, etc etc.  This has led to that very lofty league’s #1 defensive ranking.  The Sixers are still excelling at preventing good looks, as their league best TS% allowed shows.  In particular, they continue to do a sensational job at limiting high value shots – leading the league in fewest three pointers allowed and 3rd in FT rate allowed.  That said, in the blowout loss to Miami, the Sixers allowed 54% shooting, 7 threes made in 89 possessions and 21 FTs, all much higher than their lofty levels, and all actually closer to last in the league than anything.  The Sixers seem to be above their heads, but the empirical case for them is still strong.
  2. This early in the season it is interesting to note teams whose rankings and record do not match.  A glaring case is the Indiana Pacers, whom the writer-sphere seems to think is a team to watch and whatever.  Certainly their depth is a virtue in this short season, and they have a number of good, close wins – last night at the Lakers most prominently.  The defense has been excellent, in particular leading the league in FG defense.  Without any other sensational fundamentals, their 41% FG allowed has carried them to the league’s 5th rated defense.  However, their scoring margin has not been that eye popping, mostly because of a gang which so far has not shot straight.  The 41% FG allowed is great.  The 41.9% FG of their own?  Yikes.  Fortunately, they have shot the three well (4th in the league and could stand to shoot it more) and have been one of the best teams in the league at converting at the foul line.  This has propped them up to 23rd in TS%, still not good, especially with the team being a pedestrian 26th in shots per possession.  The Pacers need to crank up the efficiency on that end of the floor.
  3. The big mover in a good way though has clearly been the Grizzlies – which is particularly surprising given the extended absence of Zach Randolph.  As you recall, last year’s late run sans Rudy Gay was driven by almost a 1976 style of play with very few three pointers and a maniacal attention to getting inside.  What is interesting is that much of their offensive style has not changed – actually they have kind of turned into the 2008-2010 Boston Celtics.  They are still not shooting the three (second from the bottom in threes per possession), they don’t get to the line much – but they shoot the twos very well, 4th in overall FG% and that has kept their TS% in the middle of the pack despite being only average at generating shots (16th – this is better tham the Celtics normally do since the Grizzlies actually crash the boards and limit turnovers).  The drop in shot generation and getting to the line has limited the offensive bonanza that their FG% would portend.  Z-Bo clearly helps in both areas.  Just as clearly, he doesn’t help play defense – and the Grizzlies have continued to be an elite turnover generating team – the Tony Allen Experience indeed – and that has been more than sufficient to offset any defensive rebounding help Z-Bo offered.  The Grizzlies were the best team in the league a season ago at preventing looks at the basket.  Now, that is not the case, but they have managed to stay a respectable 7th.

As far as the rankings through the games of 1/22/12? (Rankings from the first report – 1/8/12  – in parentheses):

  1. (1) Sixers (11-5)
  2. (5) Bulls (15-3)
  3. (3) Heat (11-5)
  4. (6) Hawks (12-5)
  5. (10) Thunder (13-3)
  6. (4) Nuggets (12-5)
  7. (9) Lakers (10-8)
  8. (13) Jazz (10-5) Suns (4-4)
  9. (16) Mavericks (10-7)
  10. (2) Blazers (9-7)
  11. (24) Grizzlies (9-6)
  12. (17) Magic (11-4)
  13. (12) Spurs (10-7)
  14. (7) Clippers (9-6)
  15. (14) Pacers (11-4)
  16. (11) Timberwolves (7-9)
  17. (19) Rockets (9-7)
  18. (8) Suns (6-9)
  19. (20) Celtics (6-9)
  20. (18) Hornets (3-13)
  21. (23) Bucks (6-9)
  22. (22) Warriors (5-10)
  23. (25) Knicks (6-10)
  24. (15) Raptors (4-13)
  25. (21) Cavaliers (6-9)
  26. (29) Nets (5-11)
  27. (28) Kings (6-11)
  28. (27) Pistons (4-13)
  29. (30) Wizards (2-14)
  30. (26) Bobcats (3-14)

Anyway, hopefully the season report will be a semi-regular feature.  Even still, the rankings will be updated at least once a week.

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2011 NBA Power Rankings – Week 16

The Heat continue to lead – but really at this point it is hard to say their lead (less than 2 points) is significant at all.  Really, where the fun is taking place is at the bottom of the playoff races.  As always, the methodology can be found here:

Rank Team W L Off Def Road SOS Rating
1 Spurs 46 9 103.857 (2) 95.95 (7) 1.782 1.643 (22) 11.332
2 Heat 39 15 103.568 (3) 95.419 (4) 1.88 1.288 (29) 11.317
3 Celtics 39 14 100.071 (13) 93.243 (2) 1.585 1.78 (16) 10.194
4 Lakers 38 18 103.549 (4) 97.208 (9) 1.813 1.561 (25) 9.714
5 Magic 35 21 100.948 (10) 95.576 (6) 1.75 1.759 (17) 8.881
6 Bulls 36 16 98.522 (17) 92.768 (1) 1.683 1.368 (28) 8.805
7 Mavericks 38 16 101.86 (8) 98.115 (14) 1.685 2.239 (1) 7.669
8 Hornets 33 23 98.389 (18) 95.429 (5) 1.75 2.238 (2) 6.947
9 Thunder 34 19 102.678 (5) 100.679 (18) 1.783 2.132 (4) 5.914
10 Nuggets 31 25 104.646 (1) 102.647 (27) 1.688 1.79 (15) 5.477
11 Sixers 26 28 98.748 (16) 96.888 (8) 1.815 1.668 (21) 5.344
12 Knicks 27 26 102.558 (7) 101.344 (19) 1.783 1.731 (18) 4.728
13 Rockets 26 30 101.834 (9) 101.536 (21) 1.813 2.13 (5) 4.241
14 Hawks 34 20 99.652 (14) 98.068 (13) 1.815 0.666 (30) 4.066
15 Grizzlies 30 26 98.003 (19) 97.6 (10) 1.875 1.569 (24) 3.847
16 Blazers 31 24 99.472 (15) 99.133 (15) 1.909 1.472 (27) 3.721
17 Suns 26 26 102.626 (6) 102.381 (24) 1.683 1.793 (14) 3.72
18 Jazz 31 24 100.302 (12) 100.37 (17) 1.655 1.721 (19) 3.308
19 Pacers 24 28 97.06 (23) 97.755 (11) 1.75 1.674 (20) 2.729
20 Bucks 21 33 93.826 (29) 95.109 (3) 1.88 1.949 (10) 2.545
21 Bobcats 24 31 96.111 (25) 98.017 (12) 1.718 1.642 (23) 1.455
22 Warriors 24 29 100.326 (11) 103.012 (28) 1.585 2.103 (6) 1.001
23 Clippers 20 35 97.758 (21) 101.764 (22) 1.591 2.098 (7) -0.318
24 Pistons 20 36 97.637 (22) 102.465 (26) 1.75 2.036 (8) -1.042
25 Kings 13 38 95.365 (26) 100.022 (16) 1.51 1.501 (26) -1.646
26 Timberwolves 13 42 96.896 (24) 102.407 (25) 1.782 1.903 (12) -1.826
27 Raptors 15 40 97.873 (20) 103.914 (29) 1.782 1.927 (11) -2.332
28 Wizards 15 38 95.307 (27) 101.975 (23) 1.717 2.136 (3) -2.815
29 Nets 17 39 94.858 (28) 101.368 (20) 1.75 1.794 (13) -2.965
30 Cavaliers 9 46 93.778 (30) 104.932 (30) 1.909 2.017 (9) -7.228

What is notable from this week:

  • Obviously the Pacers are surging towards the playoffs.  18-27 two weeks ago, they have suddenly bolted to 24-28.  The coaching change would imply the usual bump that comes with it.  However, look at the numbers and the actual fundamentals underneath have not improved greatly.  The offense has improved from 96.3 to 97 points per game while the defense has gone from 97.4 to 97.8.  Obviously this is a small sample, but the stats have not shifted too dramatically, and mostly on the offensive side.  However, look at the strength of schedule.  In this 2 week span the Pacers have also slipped 8 spots in strength of schedule rating.  Really the coaching change seems to be less explanatory than a sudden shift in schedule quality.
  • The Nuggets-Grizzlies race for the 8th spot (seriously) is down to 1 game.  On paper the Nuggets still seem to have the best case – but that 27th ranked defense is a real problem.  The Grizzlies have been consistent on that side of the ball so far this season – consistent enough that the Nuggets #1 offense has not been enough to get away.
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2011 NBA Power Rankings – Week 4

(this covers the events through November 22, 2010)

As the worm turns – here we are again for another batch of power rankings.  What is interesting about how the season has evolved is that early on, it sure felt like a Heat-Lakers oligarchy.  However, the Hornets hot start changed things.  This week the third #1 in four weeks (see here for the methodology):

Rank Team W L Off Def Road SOS Rating
1 Celtics 10 4 103.354 (5) 93.944 (3) 2 2.804 (7) 14.214
2 Heat 8 6 103.69 (4) 95.377 (5) 1.25 3.38 (3) 12.943
3 Spurs 12 1 105.357 (2) 95.998 (6) 1.346 1.551 (20) 12.256
4 Lakers 12 2 108.875 (1) 98.868 (12) 1.5 -0.764 (29) 10.743
5 Hornets 11 2 100.761 (12) 94.026 (4) 1.615 1.812 (17) 10.162
6 Magic 9 4 100.716 (14) 93.552 (2) 1.346 1.558 (19) 10.069
7 Mavericks 8 4 101.559 (10) 96.959 (8) 1.458 3.208 (4) 9.266
8 Bulls 7 4 100.624 (15) 97.05 (9) 1.591 3.032 (6) 8.196
9 Nuggets 7 6 101.936 (9) 100.709 (15) 1.885 3.175 (5) 6.286
10 Bucks 5 8 93.121 (30) 92.447 (1) 1.615 3.987 (2) 6.276
11 Pacers 6 6 98.666 (20) 96.513 (7) 1.458 2.266 (12) 5.877
12 Blazers 8 6 101.296 (11) 99.846 (14) 2 1.688 (18) 5.139
13 Jazz 10 5 99.928 (17) 98.55 (11) 1.867 1.854 (16) 5.099
14 Bobcats 5 8 100.133 (16) 99.086 (13) 1.885 1.861 (15) 4.793
15 Thunder 10 4 102.621 (7) 102.203 (20) 1.5 2.403 (10) 4.32
16 Suns 7 7 104.303 (3) 106.631 (30) 2.25 4.153 (1) 4.076
17 Hawks 8 6 102.752 (6) 101.12 (16) 1.5 0.386 (27) 3.518
18 Sixers 3 10 96.433 (26) 97.677 (10) 1.885 1.938 (14) 2.578
19 Raptors 5 9 99.036 (19) 102.176 (19) 2 2.322 (11) 1.182
20 Rockets 3 10 100.742 (13) 103.996 (28) 2.154 2.123 (13) 1.023
21 Knicks 6 8 102.232 (8) 103.193 (24) 2.25 -0.543 (28) 0.746
22 Grizzlies 5 9 96.649 (25) 101.195 (17) 1.75 2.705 (8) -0.091
23 Warriors 8 7 99.281 (18) 101.796 (18) 1.867 0.504 (26) -0.144
24 Pistons 5 8 98.406 (21) 102.527 (21) 1.885 0.914 (24) -1.322
25 Nets 4 9 98.306 (22) 102.939 (23) 1.885 0.769 (25) -1.979
26 Cavaliers 5 7 96.898 (24) 102.566 (22) 1.75 1.246 (23) -2.672
27 Wizards 4 8 95.655 (28) 103.551 (26) 1.75 1.247 (22) -4.899
28 Timberwolves 4 11 94.591 (29) 103.665 (27) 2.1 1.327 (21) -5.648
29 Kings 4 9 97.193 (23) 103.401 (25) 1.346 -1.232 (30) -6.094
30 Clippers 2 13 95.858 (27) 106.451 (29) 1.633 2.634 (9) -6.326

What to make of things?

  • The Lakers being 4th is a matter probably of undervaluing them.  Per usual, their schedule is frontloaded with patsies and home games, as their strength of schedule seems to indicate.  As such, their tough games are ahead of them.  The eye test puts them higher than 4th, especially when Bynum returns – but right now the chances to score brownie points have not been there.
  • The Celtics came off of a couple of curious losses to the Thunder and the Raptors (though the Raptors to date have actually been fairly not-horrible), but then came the absolute destruction of the Hawks, whose offense is starting to fade a bit.  The Celtics defense remains as stout as ever, 3rd in the league.  What has improved in the early going this season is the offense, off to a sharp 5th after last year’s more pedestrian numbers.  The real key to this is the turnover rate – which has dropped from their usual “among the worst in the league” to a fairly manageable 13th this season.  In spite of them continuing to be one of the worst teams in the league at creating looks at the bucket (offensive rebounding still not good), the reduction in turnovers has given their top ranked true shooting team a chance to actually convert opportunities into points.
  • One of the interesting early season pleasant surprises have been the Indiana Pacers.  Considering their lack of true top shelf talent, that they are 11th, even early in the season, ahead of teams like the Jazz or Thunder, is a pleasant harbinger for the future.  True, their record is only 6-6, but their defense, ranked 7th in the league, has given their team a chance to compete.  This of course was shown most latently in their shocking win in Miami Monday.  How have they done it, despite a pedestrian offense.  Jim O’Brien has his flaws, but he has always been able to coach defense.  To his credit, the team has shown spunk on that end, despite what looks to be a lack of athleticism for the most part.  They have a competitive 9th ranked TS% defense – which is surprising considering they hack quite a bit (26th in the league at fouling) and are a mediocre three point defense.  What has happened is that they – even after trading Troy Murphy – have become a superior shot prevention squad.  They force turnovers at a solid league average level – and have the 4th best defensive rebound rate.  Add those together and they are a strong 8th place in preventing looks per possession – augmenting their strong shooting defense.  If the defense keeps up, one would think some of their offensive flaws most notably their turnovers and their absolute inability to get to the line, could lead to some pleasant surprises in the win column as well.
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2011 NBA Preview: Teams 18-13

Before we get to the meat, a side note:

  • I only managed to catch the final two fights on UFC 121.  I am normally not a huge MMA guy, but when the top needle mover in the sport is going, I am up for it.  Brock Lesnar since coming over from fake sports (I knew him from WWE) has been a force of nature unlike anything MMA has seen before.  However, Cain Velasquez was the first guy he faced who was legitimately faster than him.  Lesnar came out hot but Velasquez was ready for it and after the initial rush Velasquez beat the living crap out of Lesnar.  What a performance!  Lesnar needs to figure out how to defend himself when he gets sent down – this almost killed him against Carwin.  Also, sadly, Jake Shields sucked – gave me no reason to think that John Fitch does not deserve to UFC’s #1 contender for GSP – as horrible as that sounds.
  • Wow is Lesnar’s chin awful or what?

Now, back to basketball.

As we rise up the rankings, we have passed bad teams, interesting but unripe teams, uninteresting but skilled teams … now we start getting into fringy playoff sides.

18. Indiana Pacers (21st overall in 2010, 26th offense, 14th defense)

Really the Charlotte Bobcats forecast in our previous entry and the next two entries might qualify for the least interesting teams in the league for this season.  They aren’t bad in any sort of customary way, they might even make the playoffs to be a punching bag for a really good side – but I don’t see much sizzle here.  Danny Granger is a terrific player, but clearly more of a #2 than a #1.  Darren Collison is an excellent point guard prospect, and unlike TJ Ford seems to know that passing is a good idea.  Still, is he going to be on the Rose-Rondo-Deron-CP3 sort of future short list?  But then: Brandon Rush, Tyler Hansbrough, Dontae Jones, Roy Hibbert, Mike Dunleavy.  There are a lot of decent players here, but decent is it.  To his credit, Larry Bird recognized the stasis and went for some high ceiling low probability guys in Paul George and Lance Stephenson in the draft.  If some of that works, maybe this is a playoff team and attractive to a free agent with the cap room they have.  But I don’t know.

CAN WIN THE TITLE IF: Paul George reaches his ceiling and Darren Collison is a lot better than I think (and I respect him a lot), while Granger remains a high efficiency scorer.  Really, they might have to join the NBDL too.  This is a potential playoff team, but I don’t see what that potential means.

17. New Orleans Hornets (19th overall in 2010, 16th offense, 22nd defense)

Much drama was had regarding Chris Paul’s flailing about and tacit demanding of a trade.  Really it was part of a very eventful offseason.  Jeff Bower, the GM and interim coach left, the Hornets got someone from the Spurs (always a decent idea) and hired Monte Williams as coach, a lauded assistant I know nothing about.  They traded for Trevor Ariza to give some athleticism and drafted Quincy Pondexter for even more.  The team has some talent, but really they are the West’s Washington Wizards, who placed a lot of high value bets on decent players who did not deserve such faith.  One man’s Caron Butler, put simply, is another’s Peja Stojakovic.  Fortunately for the Hornets, they have some cap room next year, but will they fulfill Chris Paul’s wishes to have a chance to win without him making a pinkie swear promise with somebody?

CAN WIN THE TITLE IF: NBA teams are only allowed to play one point guard on the floor with no other players.

16. Phoenix Suns (3rd overall in 2010, 1st offense, 19th defense)

So THIS is the fallout from one of the most joyous seasons in Suns history.  Sure they lost a tough series to the Lakers, but the season was such found money that it is hard to argue the season was nothing but a screaming success.  So they celebrated by losing Amare Stoudemire to the Knicks, bungling the situation so they could not get a giant cap exception.  They then signed Hakim Warrick, traded for Josh Childress and traded for Hedo Turkoglu, one of the ghastliest contracts in the NBA.   Louis Amundsen, their energy big man off their remarkable bench left for Golden State.  The end result is Steve Nash is surrounded by a bevy of small forwards, and a couple of VERY soft big men.  Also gone is the shooting prowess of Leandro Barbosa.  Honestly, I am not sure besides Steve Nash, Jason Richardson and Channing Frye, where the firepower is coming from outside.  Can they play the breakneck pace they always do and shoot well?  Sure.  But their defense, not a strength a year ago (and it actually WAS a strength under D’Antoni) could be earth shatteringly bad.

CAN WIN THE TITLE IF: They somehow match last year’s true shooting percentage and offensive efficiency while Robin Lopez turns into Marcus Camby.  They need to defend marginally well and rebound.  They could majorly overachieve again, but I don’t expect any team that scares away a guy like Steve Kerr to be achieving much of anything.

15. New York Knicks

In a fun coincidence, we follow Mike D’Antoni’s old team with his current one.  On the bad side, the Knicks plan to get LeBron James as a colossal failure.  They had no way of knowing about the pinky swear promise, and as such they built up their fans’ hopes for nothing.  Some have called the offseason an unmitigated disaster.  I am inclined to empathize, but given this – their offseason was actually pretty good.  They signed Amare Stoudemire.  Sure he has no partner in crime, but by not splurging otherwise, there is some possibility to get that guy.  They fleeced Golden State trading David Lee’s one dimensional ass for Anthony Randolph who has Shawn Marion sort of ability dripping off of him.  They signed Raymond Felton to one of the smartest deals of the offseason – while that might not be a perfect fit on the court, he was a great value.  There is not the three point gunning in this lineup to satisfy D’Antoni, but there are the athletes to run, run, run.  The Knicks have the talent to get back into the playoffs at least.

CAN WIN THE TITLE IF: If the 2005 Suns magic strikes again and these guys all DO become great 3 point gunners.  There are a lot of 129-122 results in this team’s future.  There is no real title hope here, but the entertainment value will be there.

14. Atlanta Hawks (8th overall in 2010, 4th offense, 15th defense)

What is interesting about the Hawks offense is that they basically succeeded by not passing.  Their noted isolation heavy attack relied on shooting a lot and rebounding misses.  They led the league in lowest turnover rate because guys just shot it when they had it.  Their 4th ranked offensive rebounding stat shows how they were efficient.  They did a great job at making sure stuff was heading to the basket, such a great job that they had some slack when the ball did not go in.  That said, this team had great health and a great season off the bench for Jamal Crawford, and Josh Smith is one of the covert best players in the NBA.  Really this is the most predictable outfit in the league.  They are good and durable and playoff caliber.  But they just aren’t good enough to beat top teams in the postseason.  This has shown the last two years with their drubbings in the second round – their isolation offense gets exposed and they have no plan B.  If individual talent fails, what to do?  Allegedly new coach Larry Drew is trying to add some motion, but it’s hard to see them changing much.

CAN WIN THE TITLE IF: The United States east of Atlanta crumbles and falls into the sea.

13. Denver Nuggets (10th overall in 2010, 6th offense, 16th defense)

Denver is in a weird place in their development.  10th a year ago, some of that can be attributed to George Karl’s bout with cancer.  Really, this side is not significantly different from the team that outplayed the Lakers for five games in 2009 – and is the best foul drawing team in recent history.  However, health, status all of that is in flux.  Does Carmelo Anthony want out?  He has been heard making noises about a pinkie swear promise with Chris Paul, or Meg Ryan or Amy Adams, I don’t know.  But there is some evidence of unrest.  Their desperately thin frontcourt is in even more peril as Kenyon Martin and Chris Andersen have significant knee issues.  While Al Harrington (a good pickup) gives them some floor spacing, he hurts their already meh defense.  The team can shoot though, especially if JR Smith can stay more consistent than he has been, and Ty Lawson has all the makings of a star just waiting to escape the cage his coaches have put him in.  Denver could win the title – the talent is there, but this is very much like what a football preview writer might have said about the Minnesota Vikings.  This could REALLY go in any direction.

CAN WIN THE TITLE IF: Carmelo Anthony stops making doe eyes at the East Coast and plays the basketball he is capable of, their thin big rotation stays healthy and Ty Lawson and JR Smith give them a true energizer dream backcourt to supplement what the old hand of Chauncey Billups can offer.  Denver could win 55 games, they could win 35 … I am totally flummoxed.

 

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2010 NBA Draft: Trades and More

Well, so much for the wisdom of my mock draft notions.  However, the trades continue – and almost all of them were driven by money.  We saw Chicago and Miami seriously clear the deck to possibly add one of the monster free agents.   We also saw a smaller, leaner team like Oklahoma City take advantage of the financial aid.  So let’s go through the trades and where we end up.  We discussed some of them previously, but now for draft night itself.

Chicago Bulls send Kirk Hinrich and the 17th pick (Kevin Serraphin) to the Washington Wizards for a future 2nd round pick: In other words, the Bulls drove Kirk Hinrich to O’Hare in order to get themselves a chance to get 2 of the big kahuna free agents.  Obviously if this nets Lebron and Chris Bosh, this is a major win.  That said, the Wizards did pretty well.  One can quibble on the cash, but the Wizards got a young raw body in Serraphin they could try to develop or stuff overseas – and Hinrich is a very useful 3rd guard to go with Arenas and Wall.  The Wizards might suck next year, but there will be hope and interest.

New Orleans Hornets trade the 11th pick (Cole Aldrich) and Morris Peterson to the Oklahoma City Thunder for the 21st pick (Craig Brackins) and the 26th pick (Quincy Pondexter): The Hornets were up against the luxury tax – and these problems endangered the ability to keep the team together, and perhaps made a previously unfathomable Chris Paul trade even theoretically possible.  Fortunately for real NBA fans this might have been averted.  Of course count on the Oklahoma City Thunder and Sam Presti to pounce on the chance to play the draft game.  The Thunder need more bench scoring and more size – Peterson can supply the former.  Cole Aldrich is not a star – but he is one of the surest things in the draft.  He is a rotation player.  The Hornets with Pondexter get an elite athlete and defender, and Craig Brackins has the inside-outside potential to be a good stretch-4 in the league.  Considering they did this deal for financial reasons – they got a solid talent haul.

Oklahoma City Thunder send the 18th pick (Eric Bledsoe) to the Los Angeles Clippers for a lottery protected future #1: Bill Belichick would have wept with joy at this trade.  The Thunder, seeing limited possibilities in this draft, end up spinning Bledsoe to the Clippers for a protected pick.  This keeps them with future draft assets, and if the Clippers make the playoffs it will be as a low seed so what the hell.  For the Clippers, they do get a talented guy who can possibly spell Baron Davis.

Dallas Mavericks trade cash to the Memphis Grizzlies for the 25th pick (Dominique Jones): The Grizzlies had a bunch of picks – they did not want to pay them all, so this made sense – though an international stash might have been better in a stronger international year.  Why the Mavericks moved up to get a guy who replicates what Jason Terry and Rodrique Beaubois do?  Hey, it’s Cuban’s money.

Dallas Mavericks trade the 50th pick (Solomon Alabi) to the Toronto Raptors for a future 2nd round pick and cash: Another roster spot the Mavs did not want to pay.  For the Raptors, who are so size deprived, this was a no brainer.  It’s a shot in the dark – but unlike a first rounder there is no onerous contract to worry about.

Atlanta Hawks trade the 24th pick (Damion James) to the New Jersey Nets for the 27th pick (Jordan Crawford) and the 31st pick (Tibor Pleiss) -  the Hawks spin the 31st pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for cash: Damion James is a nice player – one of the most NBA ready guys, though his upside is limited.  What is hard to understand is why the Nets dealt a valuable pick (#31) to move up 3 spots in the draft.  The marginal value of the move up is nil.  Jordan Crawford has much more upside than James does.  The Hawks wanted cash more than another player, so of course the Thunder swoop in to clean up the mess and collect another asset to stash overseas.

Minnesota Timberwolves trade the 16th pick (Luke Babbitt) and Ryan Gomes to the Portland TrailBlazers for Martell Webster: This is another curious deal.  Gomes is a useful and only partially guaranteed deal.  Luke Babbitt has as much upside as any wing in the draft.  Martell Webster is a promising young player – but has not really shown that wow.  How this is a fair match I don’t know.  Given that Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard was doing this after being told he would be canned – this is a much better deal than his employers deserve.

Minnesota Timberwolves trade the 23rd pick (Trevor Booker) and the 56th pick (Hamadi Ndiaye) to the Washington Wizards for the 30th pick (Lazar Hayward) and 35th pick (Nemanja Bjeilca): I have no opinion on this.  Booker can play – but I was surprised the Wizards agreed so much.

Indiana Pacers trade the 57th pick (Ryan Reid) and cash to the Oklahoma City Thunder for the 51st pick (Magnum Rolle): Rolle is 24, but athletic and tall.  Pacers need that.  I have no idea who Reid is.  

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Overall, the Blazers, Thunder and Celtics (who got Avery Bradley – a Monta Ellis talent – with more defense – and Luke Harangody who profiles as the type of player NBA types undervalue) managed the exercise nicely.  The Timberwolves were full of sound and fury – but not sure where it took them.  And then there are the pants (h/t Esquire):

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Gameday – Part One

Free associating is a poweful thing, especially when one has a bit of a block for writing.  However, songs have been a common theme in blogs I have been regularly checking out, and indeed NQ’s latest post on the ESPN 30 for 30 on Reggie Miller had me thinking about the confluence – gameday songs.  Now, I am decidedly a non-ath-a-lete, but hopefully the tag cloud on this blog’s front page give some indicator where my head’s at in terms of interests.  Sports matter, and the right sort of themes undeniably work.  Obviously, Queen and Gary Glitter have been co-opted to such a degree that it is cliche.  But excluding such silly arena rock things, what songs are best to get excited for working out, a big game, or what have you?  Like something as cliche as the old intros of the nba on CBS:

A couple that leap to mind:

The Name of the Game - a driving beat, just exhiliration, no lyrical significance

Bombs over Baghdad – it’s OutKast, that’s a start.  Add one of the great non-intros in music …