Erick Blasco

Yeah, good game today.

Bargnani had no defensive pressure on him by Humphries, nice isolation call, Bargnani was just short on the jumper.

Oh goodness, the defender guarding Vujacic went under the screen. That's awful. The Nets ran this play against the Suns too and got a Nash foul on Morrow.

Nice play call---three curls, Vujacic spots up deep, and hits a long, long three.

Lopez with some solid defense all game long. Johnson isn't a strong enough finisher near the basket.

Very good defensive possession by the Raptors. They overloaded the strong side on the double and since Lopez has poor vision he couldn't pass to the open man. Then DeRozan rotates nicely on a screen/roll and draws the charge on Humphries.

Was that Amir Johnson with a nice block on a broken play? D-Will bobbled the ball earlier in the possession though which really blew up that play. Gaines was forced to create which is not something you want happening more often than not.

Humphries gets run through by Bargnani. He doesn't move his feet and winds up off balance at the point of contact. Strong move by Bargnani.

Williams is getting past his initial defender whenever he wants and the Raptors are bringing a guy to the paint to cut him off. If Humphries were a better jump shooter, Williams would have 30 assists. His pocket passes have really set up his teammates, but he hasn't been great at setting up his own jumper.

What a lucky break for the Nets...DeRozan gets called on a fluky goaltend.

Outlaw is such an awful defender. DeRozan pumps on a step back jumper and Outlaw goes sprawling into him. He has no discipline in his game.

...and the fans are doing the wave /facepalm

Not a great pass by Gaines---at Humphries' feet---but a good catch, good hands, and a strong finish. Lopez blocks two shots the last two possessions.

Awful vision by Lopez. The open man was in the corner, but Lopez panicked and forced a pass to Williams.

Very athletic finish by DeRozan

Jared Jeffries is the defensive-minded big who will come over and fill the emergency minutes. 6-9 swingman Brewer isn't playing any backup power forward.

Neither can shoot but one can actually play defense. And without knowing the contracts, I'd infer that Balkman is cheaper.

What about this team: PG: Salary cap SG: New Collective Bargaining Agreement SF: Reduction in total salaries PF: Abolition of the mid-level exception C: Human desire for players to not take salary cuts just to play with Stoudemire/Melo. And there's less than a 1% chance of the Knicks winning a title with their roster as presently constructed and there's no guarantee Paul/Williams join the Knicks.

Great find and a testimony that with a little bit of luck a player can excel on an individual basis and create team success purely on the basis of being an exceptionally bright basketball player. Knicks fans get the chance to understand the difference between Landry Fields and an Anthony Randolph that fans of other teams don't.

From 2006-2008, here are the 27-30 picks taken... Sergio Rodriguez Mo Ager Mardy Collins Joel Freeland Arron Afflalo Tiago Splitter Alando Tucker Petteri Koponen Darrell Arthur Donte Greene D.J. White J.R. Giddens Splitter has some potential, but really only he and Afflalo have developed into reliable rotation guys (Rodriguez too maybe), with Arthur and Greene fringe players who have some uses. Going back to 2003 we see: Leandro Barbosa Kendrick Perkins Josh Howard Maceij Lampe (very strong 2003 draft) Sasha Vujacic Beno Udrih David Harrison Forfeited pick (Joe Smith) Linas Kleiza Ian Mahinmi Wayne Simien David Lee So there's some potential going back, but aside from Lee, there's no All-Star potential outside of the very strong 2003 draft. Johnson may develop into a quality backup, which is about the best you can hope for from the 26-30 pick of a weak draft. He should be better than the Petteri Koponen's and Joel Freeland's of the world though. A bit more recently the picks consisted of: DeMarre Carroll Wayne Ellington Toney Douglas Christian Eyenga Jordan Crawford Grevis Vasquez Daniel Orton Lazar Hayward Ask yourself if you'd rather have Johnson or the average of all these players.

Billups has run less than half the amount of screen/rolls that Felton ran, and has never been in a screen/roll oriented offense. Melo is also not a screen/roll player. The last time Stoudemire played in a system that wasn't 100,00,000% geared towards solely screen/rolling for him to generate points was when he played with Shaq, which he griped and griped about. I wonder if Billups is the right fit for the Knicks.

I think overrated works fine. He's not the best in terms of vision, passing, shooting, and is far too attack-centered to know how to run an offense. He's quick and can score which doesn't absolve him of his inability to run plays. He's more average than people want to believe.

Brewer has this reputation as a good defensive player strictly on steal percentage, quickness, and long arms---the guy is an awful defender. He's always reaching and gambling and is totally off balanced. He also has poor help concepts and isn't strong. He has one of the most undeserved defensive reputations in the league.

Peja hasn't played, he wouldn't qualify, and Willie Green is by no means a bad defender.

Nash plays respectable team defense and Phoenix' help defense can sometimes be coordinated enough to stop teams. As bad as Nash is, he has his moments.