Intro by Hoopinion on Monday, December 18th, 2006 at 1:28 pm | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/basketball/nba/12/18/brawl.suspensions.ap/index.html

NBA scoring leader Carmelo Anthony was suspended for 15 games Monday...Nate Robinson and J.R. Smith each got 10 games...Mardy Collins, whose hard foul on Smith sparked the fighting, was suspended six games and Knicks teammate Jared Jeffries will miss four. Also, the Knicks' Jerome James and Denver's Nene were both penalized one game for leaving the bench area during the chaos.

Stern fined each organization $500,000.

3 Comments

Intro by Hoopinion on Friday, December 15th, 2006 at 11:39 am | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/sports_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_83_5215475,00.html

There is no denying he is a nice little player, Iverson. Nice selfish little player. Plays hard. Can score. Causes trouble. Is defensive, not on the court, just in the world. Couldn't cover a sneeze with a tablecloth.

If what Kelly Dwyer told us yesterday is true, then I'm guessing Bernie's going on vacation starting this weekend and didn't want to miss out on providing the good folks of Denver with this ugly hatchet job (or its indirect argument for the value of quantitative analysis).

Really, any portion of this column could suitably engender disgust, but the key paragraph to understanding Lincicome's worldview reads:

"Iverson is just too seriously peculiar for comfort, like the nutty uncle at the picnic. You try to keep him away from the folks you have to do business with during the week."

Gotcha.

13 Comments

Intro by Hoopinion on Thursday, December 14th, 2006 at 12:27 pm | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA121406.06C.BKNspurs.notebook.3631753.html

After missing Monday's game with the Clippers because his flu symptoms left him drained, Vaughn was back in uniform for Wednesday's game at the AT&T Center against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He was a vital part of the lineup that turned around the game in the second half with some aggressive defense that included some full-court pressure.

I did not see the Spurs/T-Wolves game last night but according to the gameflow data at PopcornMachine.net Vaughn played 2 minutes and 6 seconds in the 3rd Quarter wherein he turned the ball over once and the Spurs were outscored by 4 points. He re-entered the game with 3:34 left and helped push an 11 point lead up to the 13 point final margin of victory.

1 Comment

Intro by Hoopinion on Monday, December 11th, 2006 at 11:59 am | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://celticsblog.net/blog/?p=2561

Bidding:
# Update - Sacramento: May be offering Bibby
# Charlotte: MJ is interested
# Minnesota: Glenn Taylor says he can't afford him | Then seems to change his mind
# Golden St.: Warriors might be interested

Passing:
# Dallas: Cuban says nope
# New York: Isaiah isn't interested either
# Denver: Karl says no thanks
# LA Clippers: Sterling says he's not a good fit (can't find the link)

It appears that Jeff will be updating this post as events (and, likely, non-events as well) transpire. There are also a couple of bonus links regarding Garnett to Chicago rumors.

13 Comments

Intro by Hoopinion on Friday, December 8th, 2006 at 2:03 pm | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=116552519007895100

Sometimes [Randolph] will pass out of the post –he's much better at this than in previous seasons – but other times he just heads to the basket against whatever coverage he sees. He's successful a good portion of the time, but that isn't doing a lot for the development of his teammates.

I pondered this as I tried to figure out why Martell Webster seems to do better off the bench than when he starts. Well, part of it is that he's not on the floor with Randolph as often. He gets a chance to get into some sort of rhythm.

If only Portland got rid of Zach Randolph, Martell Webster's potential could go from George McCloud to slightly better than George McCloud.

3 Comments

Intro by Hoopinion on Wednesday, December 6th, 2006 at 12:41 pm | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/jack_mccallum/12/05/choosing.sides/index.html

Andres Nocioni and Udonis Haslem, power forwards for the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat, respectively, have different styles. Nocioni is a typically versatile Argentine, able to play out on the floor, shoot threes, keep the ball moving, etc., while Haslem is a close-to-the-basket hard-hat. But much of the grit for their respective teams comes from these power forwards, both tough-minded, I'm-not-backing-down-from-anyone type of players.

Udonis Haslem

Andres Nocioni

They appear to be awfully comparable players at the moment but by virtue of Haslem being both a year younger and having played one more year in the NBA I'd take Haslem both in terms of career-to-date and likely future value.

5 Comments

Intro by Hoopinion on Tuesday, December 5th, 2006 at 12:28 pm | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1165272611206&call_pageid=969907729483&StarSource=RSS

"We've slowed down a little bit," said Mitchell. "We started doing stats and charting our possessions, and we realized we were getting better opportunities when we ran more sets."

The new approach has, at least anecdotally, been working...In their last five wins, the Raptors have attached their 78 shots to 26 free throw attempts. In other words, they're choosing quality over quantity, especially from long range. They made a horrendous 29 of 115 three-pointers (25 per cent) in the five consecutive Western losses last month. In their five most recent wins they took about eight fewer three-point attempts per game while making a slightly more respectable 30 per cent.

Meanwhile their scoring average, to contrast the five losses in the West with the five most recent victories, dropped off only about a point, from 99.2 to 98.0. That they have played comparatively inferior teams, that their NBA newbies are figuring it out, hasn't hurt.

Though it demonstrates the difference between scoring average and offensive efficiency obliquely, I found this to be a well-written account of the Raptors re-assessing their offensive priorities.

3 Comments

Intro by Hoopinion on Wednesday, November 29th, 2006 at 11:36 am | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/061129

It's not the NFC.

24 Comments

Intro by Hoopinion on Tuesday, November 28th, 2006 at 12:40 pm | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1164667810657&call_pageid=969907729483&col=970081562040

After the fiasco in Atlanta on Friday, when Hawks officials missed a key Raptor basket — an oversight that never registered with the Toronto bench — the team has now decided one of its approximately 40-member travelling group will be solely responsible for making sure all of the team's points are counted.

Keith D'Amelio, the team's assistant trainer and strength and conditioning coach, is now in charge of scoreboard watching.

I'm surprised that the inability of an NBA team to keep score accurately doesn't rate the same level of attention as, say, the ethical issues raised by the Chicago Bulls' organizational policy regarding the wearing of headbands.

I'm pretty sure that every high school and college team has an assistant, a manager, or a trainer keep track of player fouls, timeouts, and scoring. I'd be curious if most, some, or none of the NBA teams have someone doing likewise. If the answer to that is "most" or "some," that the Raptors did not would further the argument for dismissing Sam Mitchell.

2 Comments

Intro by Hoopinion on Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006 at 11:36 am | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/basketball/16071771.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

‘'It still was a game going into the fourth [quarter], and they started making shots and we started missing shots,'' Heat coach Pat Riley said. "We get very discouraged when that happens.''

I'd be discouraged too if I couldn't find five guys on my active roster who could handle Bobby Jackson, Jannero Pargo, Rasual Butler, Cedric Simmons, and Marc Jackson for three minutes and fifty-two seconds to open the fourth quarter.

I would not, however, deal with my discouragement by getting myself ejected for a slap-fight with Marc Jackson (as Alonzo Mourning did halfway through the fourth quarter) or attempting to knock Chris Paul out of the game with an elbow/forearm to the head (as Antoine Walker did with three minutes left in the game).

Also, per yesterday's posted story, the increase in point guard scoring across the NBA may simply be due to Gary Payton playing 31 minutes a night.

1 Comment

Intro by Hoopinion on Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006 at 11:23 am | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sonics/2003442407_soni22.html

OK, this one should be simple: Who is the Sonics' most valuable player?

According to the Lenovo Stat, Allen, the six-time All-Star and the Sonics' leading scorer, isn't even in the discussion.

It's not Ridnour or Lewis, although that wouldn't be a bad guess. Don't even think about Chris Wilcox or Damien Wilkins. And Collison and Watson are closer to the bottom than the top.

Give up?

It's Johan Petro.

3 Comments

Intro by Hoopinion on Thursday, November 16th, 2006 at 11:25 am | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/nba/article/0,2777,DRMN_23922_5147758,00.html

Martin underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee at the Steadman Hawkins Clinic in Vail, a procedure moved up a day because of a cancellation. During the surgery, performed by Dr. Richard Steadman, significant damage was found, more than a magnetic resonance imaging exam previously revealed.

This is either an example of why you should or why you should not spend $32 million on four power forwards ($36.5 million on five if you want to include Najera) in a particular year.

1 Comment

Intro by Hoopinion on Wednesday, November 15th, 2006 at 11:44 am | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://www.nysun.com/article/43549

This season has been a particularly humbling year in this regard, as the draft class is living up to its reputation as one of the weakest in memory. In fact, looking at the performance of the rookie crop thus far, the 2006 first round could go down as one of the great stinkers ever — right up there with the infamous 2001 draft, whose biggest "stars" were Kenyon Martin and Mike Miller. (The one true star from that draft, Michael Redd, was a secondrounder).

It's never to early to go on the record with a prediction. Especially one that can't be verified for a number of years. In that spirit, I will reiterate my belief that PJ Tucker will be one of the ten best players from this draft class.

14 Comments