Built Ford Tough

The problem with that is DeRozan doesn't have the handles or a good enough first step to be able to continuously attack the basket, so he has to rely on scoring within the flow of the offense. You can get by with having a tight handle and a slow 1st step like an Evan Turner or you can get by with having a weak handle and an explosive first step like Leandro Barbosa, but you can't get by without either one and, unfortunately, DeRozan lacks both. You could see it countless times in this game. He would put the ball on the floor but he wouldn't be able to create enough seperation between himself and his defender because of his lack of explosiveness. When that didn't work, he was forced to try and get creative with his handle and all that really resulted in was him attempting a sloppy behind the back move and eventually he would lose control of the ball and needed to kill his dribble. It isn't necessarily that he doesn't want to be aggressive on offense because in this game, unlike others this year, he was trying to get into the paint. He just simply doesn't have the ability to do it on a consistent basis. That is why he is so much better in transition because it is usually either one dribble pull up or one dribble and extend to the hoop. He doesn't have to create space for himself, which he really struggles with, because the floor is already open and all he has to do is focus on finishing, which he is solid at doing. Unfortunately for us Raptors fans, these two areas of weakness are two of the more difficult things to improve on. You can improve your shot through hard work and it has been done many times, but not too many people are able to go from being a weak ball handler to a good one (it is doable, though) and even less people are able to improve their first step. I'm not counting him out by any means, but the idea that DeRozan is going to develop into some 20-25 point per game 1st or 2nd option just doesn't seem plausible. The Pacers are quickly becoming one of my least favourite teams in the league with their constant complaining. They want to play a rough, physical style of game, a style of game that will inevitable lead to fouls being called against them, yet they bitch to the refs after every single whistle. David West, Dahntay Jones and Danny Granger are the absolute worst at this. You breath on them and they think they should get a call and none of them have ever committed a foul based on their reactions to every whistle. It is why I like George so much. He plays physical but take his calls in stride and rarely complains to the ref because he knows that if you are going to play like this, you are going to get some fouls called on you. If any Pacer had a right to complain about some of the calls tonight, it was George but he kept his mouth shut and played. Speaking of Granger, loved seeing him stink up the joint and then get himself ejected after the one good play he made in the entire game. The guy has way too high of an opinion of himself for such an average player. You think he is the second coming of Jordan out there with the way he acts. It is pretty entertaining really. For the Raptors, there really wasn't much to say. They played hard, very physical but at the end of the day, that physicallity is basically what cost them the game. They simply committed way to many fouls and gave the Pacers too many free points. They also really missed Bargnani down the stretch as their offense was completely dependent on Barbosa flailing at the rim. On a final note, I applaud Casey for the excellent tanking decision to leave Jamaal "I've airballed 3 of my 9 free throw attempts this season" Magloire on the court during the crucial final possession. It was even better that he decided it would be a good idea to inbound the ball to him and give the Pacers the opportunity to commit a foul and send him to the charity stripe where he could have the opportunity to airball another one, which, of course, he came through with flying colors.

Williams is absolutely torching the Suns. 26 points and 12 assists on 9-13 shooting including 4-5 from three. Oh yeah, there is still 2 minutes left in the 2nd. He has either scored or assisted on something like 65% of the Nets points in this game. The Nets started the game 1-6 from three and since then they have gone 11-14 including 7-9 in the 3rd quarter as Deron drains yet another 3 to give him 29 on the night and 16 for the quarter.

Price channeling his inner Steve Nash while filling for the injured star. 9 points and 6 assists on 4-4 shooting and allowing Deron Williams to drop 16 points and 9 assists on 5-9 shooting.

Jennings and Livingston - 30 points on 11-17 shooting. Rest of Bucks - 33 points on 14-45 shooting. Bucks losing by 27.

I swear, every game I watch that Love plays in, he attempts at least 14+ free throws and nearly half his points come from the line. Either that or he doesn't get to the line and ends up scoring like 10 points or less. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve them or anything like that becaue he works his ass off down low, but it is kind of remarkable how a player who sees most of his offense come from jumpers gets to the line so much. Its like every time he gets the ball in the paint he manages to draw the foul. Nice job from Jack to prevent Love from getting the ball on the mismatch, but Vasquez commits the silly foul on Rubio. Just a bad foul. Hornets down 4 with a minute or so left after two straight poor fouls on the perimeter from a Hornets guard.

So I guess it takes Bargnani getting injured for DeRozan to realize that he is at his best when attacking? He got the game started by getting to the line and making a layup, then he stepped outside for jumpers. He is so much better when working inside-out as opposed to just settling. 14 points for him in the 1st quarter already. Time to watch the Leaf game, though, so I'll post my thoughts after I watch it on League Pass later tonight.

He wouldn't be much worse than he is now when you consider he shoots most of the time now anyways. He benefits from having Harden and Durant, obviously, but he is much more of a scorer by nature than Rondo is and having to become a number 1 scoring option would require much less of an adjustment for him than it would if you were to throw Rondo into that role. Rondo can certainly do it because nobody can stay in front of him, but he isn't as capable at it as Westbrook is, nor is he wired to look to take over a game with his scoring like Russel is. I'd still rather have Rondo because Westbrook as a number one option isn't going to be leading you to a championship or anything like that anyways, so give me the better defender and playmaker. Rondo's game is better suited as a complimentary piece than Westbrook is. If you do need a more explosive scorer, you go with Westbrook, but like you touched on and I mentioned, do you really want to build a team around Westbrook? You probably don't want to build one around Rondo either, but I'd still rather have him handling the point and look to rebuild with him.

Pacers look completely disinterested to start the game. Poor turnovers, bad shots, bad fouls (DeRozan has been fouled twice on jumpers) and constant complaining to officals.

They'd be worse off in the short term since Rondo is the better distributor and would get guys like Allen and Garnett the looks they need to be at the most effective (Pierce as well, although he can still create his own much better than the other two). Once those three retire, you could argue they'd be better off with Westbrook as he is much more capable of carrying a team than Rondo. Rondo is probably the better point guard, but his game relies more on having players around him while Westbrook has more of a scorers mentality and is more capable of carrying a team offensively as he doesn't necerssarily need talented players or finishers around him to be at his most effective.

Rubio gets all the hype because of his flashy plays, but in my mind, Irving has easily been the best rookie this season. He doesn't have anywhere close to the offensive weapons that Rubio has (Love, Beasley, Ridnour and Barea >>> Jamison, Gee, Sessions, Varejao) yet he has still put up 16.6/5.2 on 47% shooting while leading the Cavs to .500 basketball. He is only playing 27 minutes a night as well, which is 2 less than Rubio. Rubio is a great story and all, and he has played very well, but Irving has easily been the best rookie to start the year. Cleveland would be lucky to have more than 1 or 2 wins without him and yet he has them playing .500 basketball and in the hunt for one of the final playoff spots in the East. This is from a team who was expected to contend for another top 5 pick this season. My top 5 would be: 1. Irving 2. Rubio 3. Brooks 4. Leonard 5. Morris

I guess Davis is starting after all. I'm watching Raptors Game Day and Sherm and Amber both said he is starting. Devlin also tweeted it. Glad Casey came to his senses and didn't start Magloire because he "matches up" better with Hibbert. Lets be honest, at this point in his career, Magloire doesn't match up with anybody. I like him as a vet presence, but his actual time on the court should be minimal.

The Knicks best chance at getting Nash would likely be in 2012 free agency. I don't really see them being all that interested in a guy like Toney Douglas when they have Aaron Brooks as an undersized, chucking 2 guard. Landry Fields may interst them some, but I don't see them coveting him enough to trade Nash for, assuming that they would be open to dealing him. Also, when can the Knicks even trade a 1st rounder? I know they Houston their pick this season but what other kinds of owed picks do they have, if any? Nash has expressed interest in signign with the Knicks and, as far as I know, he has stated that he wants to end his career with one of 3 teams, which are Toronto, New York and Phoenix. Signing him in the summer is probably their best bet to land him, and much, much more likely than making a trade for him in my mind.

I wouldn't hate it, but I wouldn't be jumping for joy if it happened, either. I fully admit that I am a huge Schenn homer and he is my favourite Leaf player, along with Grabovski. JvR is good, young, has potential, would fill the need of size in the Leafs top 6 and has playoff experience. I just love Schenn's physicallity, mean streak and think that he is the type of defenseman who you absolutely need on Stanley Cup winning team. So I am pretty neutral on the idea. If the Leafs do trade Schenn I'd rather see them use him as part of a package for a legit number 1 center as opposed to getting a winger since they are deep on the wings with Kessel, Lupul, Kulemin, Kadri and MacArthur.

No Bargnani tonight. Will Toronto score over 70 points? Magloire is expected to start in his absence because he "matches up" with Hibbert better than Davis .

Casey says that he is day-to-day and won't play tonight. Barbosa says that he will be out for a couple of weeks. If I had to guess, he will miss tonights game, will miss the back-to-back in Chicago and Atlanta and then will return towards the middle/end of next week. EDIT: My bad on one thing, I forgot that the back-to-back is tonight and tomorrow, not Sunday and Monday.

Sounds likes talk have died down, but I figured it was still worth posting.

Well, at least Montreal didn't take Stajan off the Flames' hands.

Back to Calgary, according to Duthie. And Bob McKenzie takes it further.

Looks like I was wrong about Minny. Unless he is traded for picks and prospects, of course. Another team I forgot to mention is the Sharks. Havlat is hurt, Wilson is a silent operator and Cammy is a proven playoff performer who could add a much needed boost to a team who are proven playoff underperformers. EDIT: And Ron Hextall (Kings assistaint GM) said he has not been dealt to LA.

Where does he end up? Before we find out, lets take a guess. Toronto has been rumored to be looking to deal and Burke said yesterday that something is close to happening. He has mentioned about adding size, though, and Cammy doesn't add that. Philly has been scouting lately, but as far as I know they have only been at Toronto games. Gillis said that Vancouver was "open for business" but, again, they are looking to add size and bottom 6 players. Minny? Rangers? Back to LA? Dallas needs PP help and he is excellent on the PP. I don't know why, but I'm thinking it might be Minny. Just a gut feeling.

He has been dealt, just don't know where yet. Habs players on the bench are asking Mike Johnson where he got dealt during the Habs/Bos game. I wonder if he told Cunnyworth that this was "his last game"?

There is definitely a chance, a very good one at that. Basically everybody from Ford, Givony, Mockdraft.net, Thorpe, Fracshilla, etc... have Davis going number 1. It is by no means a lock because there is still a lot of the college season left, but Drummond has been far from impressive and a lot of scouts have questions about his motor, passion for the game, effort level, etc... It would not surprise me in the least if Davis is taken over Drummond, should both of them declare.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/218233/Andre_Miller_Not_Pleased_With_Backup_Role_Would_Prefer_To_Start_Elsewhere How many teams would he even be a starter on at this point in his career, anyways? Most of the contenders already have point guards that are as good or better than Miller, other than the Lakers. I don't see many rebuilding teams looking to add a player like him to steal minutes from their developing point guards, and would Miller even want to go to a team where he has no chance of making the playoffs? I can understand that he wants to start and play as much as possible, but I just don't see there being much of a market for him in free agency. The Knicks would likely be interested, possibly the Lakers but other than them, reall, who else would? Dallas if they miss out on Deron and Kidd retires?

Yeah, that was some pretty ridiculous defense by KG. I understand you want to crowd a shooter, but he took it a little overboard there. That was probably a good thing for the Mavs, though, since it made it really easy for Dirk to get to the hoop.

http://tracking.si.com/2012/01/12/chris-bosh-says-hed-take-dwyane-wade-over-lebron-james-in-the-clutch/ Probably not the most media savy move Bosh could've made, but, I guess you have to respect his honesty.