Erick Blasco

I don't think it matters. The Lakers can catch the Spurs in the playoffs and can win a Game 7 in San Antonio.

To an extent. Some people are classifying him as a top-five point guard and I don't see it. The thing separating Westbrook from other elite point guards is that the other guards all range from good to great in their decision making, with Rose probably being the worst and Nash probably being the best. Westbrook also has some problems making simple passes and correctly reading defenses. His athleticism makes up for it as a playmaker, but against good defenses, OKC has to rely on a lot of one-on-one stuff to score and they make awful, awful mistakes late in games.

I forget that Evans is 6-6 and not 6-3, but the important thing is that he's not a point guard. I think we're agreeing on the same things with the concept though. But even if a player is looking to make plays for others some of the time, that player is still a tweener if he's dominating the ball and his size gives him some problems as a scorer. Look at Allen Iverson for example. He was a player who registered a decent chunk of assists, but he did so by massaging the ball on each possession. Yet he was too undersized (and took way too many awful shots) to really be an efficient scorer. And while tweeners have their uses, it takes interesting roster management to get the most out of a team by starting them. For the most part, the most efficient tweeners are sixth-man types, while the most voluminous tweeners play for inefficient teams. And by the way, it's good to have you back. I hope your rehab (and continued rehab) helps you become the Nitro you really want to be.

Agreed. The vid is lame.

But like BFT is saying, Deng isn't a tweener. He's just a really good player. When I think of tweeners I think of players like point guards who can't run an offense and look to score first while being undersized shooting guards who handle the ball a lot. I also think of athletic forwards without the range to play outside or the muscle to play inside. These assume limitations to the tweeners' positions. If a point guard can't run an offense, it limits the complexity and the IQ of the team's offense and almost certainly makes teammates worse by preventing them from being in positions to succeed. How can they when the point guard is looking to score all the time? If a shooting guard is undersized, that player may have trouble scoring at the rim, and may have trouble shooting over longer defenders. If that player handles the ball a lot, again, it prevents diversification in an offense. Players like Tyreke Evans and Monta Ellis are tweeners. You could call Russell Westbrook a tweener, but he's not as selfish as a ball-dominant scorer is. He's mostly just a bad decision-making point guard who can't run an offense (have you seen OKC's execution late in games? R-West is totally overrated on the pantheon of point guards). Steph Curry is likewise not ball-dominant and therefore not a tweener. He's just another guy who can't run an offense. With bigs, Jeff Green is a tweener. He shoots okay. He can play inside against certain matchups. But usually he gets beaten up by physical fours, and has trouble spacing as a three. He's a classic tweener. The other guys (KG, Odom), are just multifaceted fours with the extra skills to play outside on offense and defense.

I'm just going to leave this here: ...and more after the link, http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2011/3/23/2068061/dwight-howard-should-win-mvp-because-weve-been-through-this-before

Along with Luol Deng, he's probably the best perimeter defender in the game and he plays well off the ball and can occasionally slash to the rim. With so many ball-hungry players on the Grizz, he really fits in. He has been a strong signing, and is one reason why I don't think losing Gay is the end of the world for the team.

No, but when people are criticizing Randolph for having a horrendous basketball IQ, and you say "What makes you think he doesn't know the game," and there's recent definitive proof of him having no fundamental knowledge of what to do in a certain situation, it makes your praise of him look disingenuous.

The worst part is the shot clock. Too much time is spent with too little happening, which is one of the reasons I don't like watching soccer.

If only we had video to show Randolph not getting out of the way of an iso, standing in the middle of the paint for no reason, running away from the ball when he had a chance to salvage the possession into a screen/roll...you know, understanding the game of basketball...oh wait we do! http://nbaplaybook.com/2011/03/25/minnesota-lacks-a-plan-late/

Too many bad outside shots down the stretch for Florida, and Butler didn't make mistakes in overtime. Good game.

Chandler Parsons has a history of huge threes. Something to keep in mind.

A 30-footer...

This Nored kid has really stepped up.

Parsons has to either fight better around the screen or the Gators have to switch that.

He went too late, but he got an open shot and didn't let the Bulldogs get a final shot. I'm not totally against the shot.

Does Reggie realize that nothing Butler's guards have done have shown they can make the perfect pass on a pick-and-roll to hit Howard before the defense rotates?

Oh it is a bit ticky tacky, but it's still an automatic.

Err...he wrapped his left arm behind Macklin. That's an automatic.

Macklin has to play better defense, four fouls or not.

You can't wrap your arm behind a defender to get position.

Nice to see Len Elmore owning Reggie Miller. That hook is one of the few praiseworthy calls the refs have made this entire tournament.

Florida has a lot more talent than Butler. It's easier for the Gators to create points than it is for Butler to create points.

I wouldn't say they gave Jimmer the long three (except maybe the 30-footers he was taking). They pressured him pretty good and really funneled him into help. He was almost always met by a help defender on his drives.

For those claiming that its expensive to be a fan shelling out all their cash (And it is) to watch these games, keep in mind that most non-major-market NBA owners lose money every year.