Muggsy Bradley : tall as Muggys, run like (Shawn) Bradley ...

Omer Kerr : tall as Kerr, shoots like Asik ...

Though the other ways around for these combo would be pretty good.

Rockets after a big run now lost 5 strait, some of their guys really look like their hitting a wall, expected from a team where almost no one played a full year as starter last year I guess.

Anthony Mason Plumlee

Darius Miles Plumlee
Donyell Marshall Plumlee
Bryce Drew Gooden
Antoine Carrmelo Anthony Randolph Morris Peterson
Kobe Bryant Stith
Manute Ginobili

Muggsy Bradley : tall as Muggys, run like (Shawn) Bradley ...

The poor man's Chris Paul Mokeski. Still better than Tate Georghe Muresan.

And the Bucks have finally won at Phoenix. First time since Reagan was in office.

Saw the Nuggets top Portland in OT Tuesday night. They pushed the lead up to 9 with about 5 minutes to go, and I said to my son, they are either going to win by 20 or they are going to win on a last second shot. Within a few (real time) minutes, it was pretty obvious which direction they were going.

On the way home, listened to the post game show. George Karl said something really interesting, talking about the growth of his team. He said the really good teams play hard 42 minutes a game. And that Denver had improved a lot over the past 20 games, and were now up around 32 to 35 minutes a game.

That captured the Portland game perfectly. They had 8 dominant minutes at the end of the game, and spurts of 3-4 minutes where they either whittled down a lead or built a slight cushion. Like a lot of their games the past few weeks, there was a period in the 4th quarter where their defensive pressure was so strong that the other team turned the ball over more times than they shot and missed. But they needed just a few more minutes of that level of intensity, and instead they retreated from working to playing and let Portland back in.

Anyhow, I thought of evaluating teams on the basis of the # of minutes of playing hard was pretty interesting.

Lowe is tweeting that the Suns have fired Gentry

Merciful end for Gentry. He's a good coach, but for the Suns to improve they don't need to be winning now.

first two i came up with were cutesy: allan ray allen and shelvin mack calvin.
some more are: willie warren jabali, dave meyers leonard, jason terry porter, david wesley matthews, reggie lewis lloyd, jarrett jack sikma (who is better than reggie jackson vroman).

Everyone looking forward to the Sixers/Raptors game tonight? Should be a fun one.

I'm probably not looking deep enough, but Jason Terry Porter strikes me as making a player not fundamentally different than his constituents, in either skills or talent level.

Michael Jordan Crawford amuses me because Crawford brings high usage and fearlessness in taking a shot to the table. Except there was plenty of that on the table already.

Kobe Bryant Stith is another wait-why-do-I-need-to-be-mashed-up-with-you guy, I think.

Almost all the tweets I've seen re: Gentry miss the point of the Suns being in the part of the rebuilding cycle where talent acquisition and talent development are more important than any Xs and Os. Kevin Pelton gets this (although I don't understand why he's down on the super-cheap signing of Scola - he'll be a great trade chip this coming offseason).

Jason Terry Porter - i thought jason terry davis was too boring, but you're correct. i actually like the similarity - sort of like with willie warren jabali (though jabali was, of course, better - also, i thought the latter it was a fun name).

really though, allan ray allen and shelvin mack calvin are all i needed to say.

This makes me like Zach Randolph even more.

Bulls and Celtics down to the wire in Boston.

What a #### jump ball call that was. Awful.

Crap, Rondo's fouled out.

Everyone looking forward to the Sixers/Raptors game tonight? Should be a fun one.

yeah, it actually was.

they're still ####### terrible, though. they pulled a win, but they had to come back from being 20 down, at home, against toronto, so it's not exactly a banner performance.

I want the Celtics in the playoffs.

Seriously though, if Rose is at even 75%, the Bulls can really do some damage in the playoffs.

I want the Celtics in the playoffs.

Seriously though, if Rose is at even 75%, the Bulls can really do some damage in the playoffs.

i hope that's an intentional allusion, because jesus ####### christ, does that sound exactly like what i've been saying the last two years.

Yes, the phrasing was intentional. Still, I'd like to think it's not as far fetched.

@KCJHoopAsked Noah if KG crosses line: "When we lose, I feel like he crosses the line. But since we've been beating their asses, I'm cool with it."

Heh.

The Bulls could absolutely end up in the Conference Finals.

Also, holy Durant. Anyone care to bet against him winning another scoring title?

Holy farging hell, the Nuggets lost at home to the Wizards. It's nice that they keep making the playoffs, but they just seem kind of pointless.

I'm disappointed that I can't do better than Rick "Joe" Barry Carroll with Rick Barry. Then there's legendary second banana Byron Scott Pippen.

Nuggets may very likely wind up in the 4th slot by the end of the month. They have 7 of their 8 remaining games at home. Thankfully, a few are against good teams so they are more likely to play hard.
But the comment about them being pointless feels kind of dead on.
This doesn't feel like a team that can play hard enough to win a playoff series, even if they have home court advantage.

[476] The Nuggets are going to play the Grizzlies in the first round and they are going to beat them. No idea what happens after that though.

Speaking of pointless, I'm overly excited about the Wolves signing Gelabele. They really needed a 3&d swingman earlier in the year. Now they're too far gone, but I still like him. Also signed Chris Johnson. He just sucks.

[477] If that's a 1st round matchup, the winner will likely lose in the next round, I would guess. I don't trust Denver to defend enough or Memphis to score enough to really make a run. Granted, it's only midseason, though, so a lot can change.

Moses is clearly baiting me by quoting Mr. Finger Guns. :-)

Josh Smith and Johan Petro for Pau Gasol. Who says no?

Josh Smith and Johan Petro for Pau Gasol. Who says no?

Certainly not the Lakers.

I was one asking to withhold judgment til we knew more about what Hunter did or didn't do, but I'm ready to say he was wrong now.

Since I was one of the ones arguing with you about this, thank you for following up on it. I think it's a shame that Hunter will basically be able to get away with this after having forced Fisher out.

The word, by the way, is that Smith is very available. He was suspended for a game by the Hawks "for conduct detrimental to team" and reportedly kicked out of a practice before that. He's a free agent after the season.

Moses is clearly baiting me by quoting Mr. Finger Guns. :-)

The whole finger gun thing has always been lame. And he made a big deal that he was going to stop it after the Newtown shooting, but sometimes he just can't help himself.

I didn't mention yesterday, but Deng's injury doesn't sound great. It's not terrible, but he's going to miss some time (although they officially won't even say he's not playing tonight when it's clear he won't). He had tweaked the hamstring before, and looks like he re-pulled it. He might struggle with that all year. I hate to see how the Bulls offense is going to look with him out too. I like Jimmy Butler and think he can do some nice things, but he's not at all reliable offensively yet.

Tyson Chandler Parsons

Wait, how did no one take that to "The Tyson Chandler Parsons Project"?

Lou Williams is out for the year.

The word, by the way, is that Smith is very available. He was suspended for a game by the Hawks "for conduct detrimental to team" and reportedly kicked out of a practice before that. He's a free agent after the season.

Other being a free agent at the end of the season, that's not really a status change for Josh Smith.

Though...

Lou Williams is out for the year.

...I suspect this sad news makes it more likely Smith is traded during the season, as opposed to Ferry playing hardball with potential trade partners and taking his chances on a better sign-and-trade deal in the Summer. But, without a great offer for Smith, I still think Ferry chooses to play the season out and take the cap space.

[474] in their defense the Wizards have been playing pretty well since John Wall got back.

Bird man to miami

mchale is an awful coach. using lin as a 3 point spot-up man. running harden/lin/parsons tons of minutes, benching lin / harden at the same time, having virtually no pick and rolls, playing ISO-harden (no picks/screens or cuts away), always spotting up forwards for 3 point shots so there's limited chance for them to get rebounds on misses, etc.

and i don't know whether it's mchale or morey who has almost instituted a "no 2 point shot unless it's 5 feet away". the reason a 3 point shot is good is because there's not a huge % difference in the 21 foot shot and the 24 foot shot. but there IS a huge % difference between the 10 foot shot and the 24 foot shot.

he's got four very talented players (harden, lin, parsons, asik) and if the rox are playing run and gun, they need to sub more. if they're playing halfcourt, they need to pnr/screen more. as is, they look awful - and many of those problems are the same ones that were present during the first games of the season, except that harden was bailing them out.

Lakers getting absolutely killed to start the game in Toronto. It's embarrassing to watch how little resistance they're putting up on the boards, and on defense in general.

Everyone keeps waiting for things to get better, and for the personnel to click with the game plan. It's not happening, and the more you watch this team the more you realize it'll never happen for this group.

there IS a huge % difference between the 10 foot shot and the 24 foot shot.

Obviously everything is contingent on openness, but the numbers don't really bear this out. Away from the rim, percentages stay relatively constant no matter the difference, as you can sort of see here:
http://hoopdata.com/teamshotlocs.aspx

Was just looking at Pau's numbers. I knew he was having a down year, but I didn't realize *how* down he was. What's going on?

@491 - yes, i should have clarified - depending on openness. the numbers cited are game/pressure (the closer shots are more likely
to be contested than the far away ones). however, there are many more opps for open closer shots in their game - they're just passing out for similarly open threes.

Houston is ninth in the league in ortg...

The inquiry, which focused on allegations of nepotism, conflicts of interest and potential misuse of funds, concluded that Hunter did not embezzle or steal from the union. But it found that Hunter’s current contract was not properly approved by union leadership, and that he failed to inform the committee of this fact; that he was paid $1.3 million for unused vacation time without independent review; and that he failed to disclose conflicts of interest when hiring family and friends.

The investigation also found that Hunter made decisions that “call into question his stewardship of union resources” when he considered investing millions of dollars in a failing bank without disclosing that his son, Todd, was a director. Hunter also pursued “speculative” business ventures; bought luxury gifts with union funds, including a $22,000 watch that he gave to Derek Fisher, the union’s president; and spent about $28,000 on personal legal fees for Charles Smith, the former executive of the National Basketball Retired Players Association.

Why does Billy Hunter still have a job? Also, I think the fact that the majority of the players in the NBA aren't college graduates is really hurting them here. Its pretty clear that Hunter thought and knew he could take advantage of a league that wouldn't question him. Especially compared to the leadership of the other current Player Associations/unions, Billy Hunter is scum.

Pau Gasol went for a season-high 25 points today. In related news, Dwight Howard was ejected in the second quarter.

Of course, in other related news, the Lakers lost to the Raptors anyway.

Suns name Lindsey Hunter (director of player development) as interim HC.

Assistant coaches Elston Turner and Dan Majerle may be leaving organization.

Isiah Thomas thinks Lindsey Hunter is going to be the greatest head coach in the league since himself.

It can't help Pau that's he has played on bad knees and out of position. We have beaten this topic to death, but I still think he should play all of the backup C minutes (and at least HE looked better today, and I am pretty sure they outscored TOR after Howard got the heave-ho).

I thought McHale did well as an interim with the Wolves a few years ago in terms of optimizing offense. As good as he was defensively, he did not coac it well.

flip