Erick Blasco

http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=895

That has to be photoshopped. I don't think K-Perk is physically able to smile.

What are your thoughts on KG, Horford, and Lee? I think the fans and coaches nailed the West, but the East is interesting.

You're right, usually I'll paint a more complete portrait of a player. Sometimes the more interesting thing is seeing what a player can do at his highest level. Seeing Yi more aggressive is the most interesting thing about his play because its an about face from his usual play. Illuminating his flaws wouldn't do too much. Same thing with Landry. I doubt too many people outside of Texas have seen him play more than a few times. I wanted to show why people were talking about him. Some people want the length shorted, you're not the first person who proposed it. It'll be hard for me to focus on a player's strengths and weaknesses while also keeping the video short, but if need be I'll only talk about two subjects. Thanks for watching the video, and the kind words. I really appreciate it.

Interesting tidbit, the Spurs have basically been top 5 defensively in rating the entire decade. When their offense has been as elite, they've won the title every year. Sometimes their offense has been right around 13-17. When that happens, the Spurs get bounced in the Conference Finals or second round, but they still make the playoffs and win a few series or two. You can win with elite defenses and average offenses, but you need both to win a title.

Those Phoenix teams were middle of the pack defensively in terms of ratings---17, 16, 13, and 16 during their four-year playoff streak. Boston's Title team was only 10th offensively. Detroit's title team was 18th in offense, and when they lost to the Spurs, they were 17th. A team that's awful offensively and terrific defensively will do about as well, usually a little better, as a team that's terrific offensively and terrible defensively.

What about how it was before where say the articles I post in the articles forum, I could also post on wordpress. I'd have no problems posting the articles up on AllDayNBA again.

Batum's a specialist, Fernandez is a really interesting player who has a lot of Manu Ginobili in him, but this may be a case of the Blazers needing a big man more than Fernandez and Batum. Basketball Prospectus ran an article on Portland's interior defense---they've been getting shredded at the rim ever since Pryzbilla went down. From the Wizards side, they need young talent---though go figure, they're asking for two wings.

LMAO that gif is hillarious!

Ummm, Jeffries guards point guards most of the time. The Knicks also switch most of the 1 through 4 screens they face so Jeffries ends guarding virtually every position on the court EXCEPT center. Lee doesn't commit a lot of fouls because he doesn't try to play defense. He doesn't try to contest shots. He doesn't try to get in good defensive position and do work early. I have scouting reports on all but about 4 teams in the league and those scouting reports have very little to do with generating value based on statistics. I also have some video work, check the media section of the forums. I've watched about half the games the Knicks have played this season. Lee also plays for a subpar team meaning his performance isn't conducive to wins. Nash's team is above 500. That also comes into play. You can't reward players for losing.

I thought the Thunder facing the Warriors was the NBA's biggest rivalry...

I'm actually not being sarcastic. Van Gundy IS very funny and knowledgeable, and he isn't afraid to call people out.

And before people say what about Nash's defense, Nash is so prolific offensively, not only at making plays himself, but at understanding situations and at being directly responsible for his teammates playing exceptional. Also, Nash has been on high-seeded playoff teams. IF you're going to be all offense (like Nash, Durant, and LeBron early in his career), be really absolutely amazing on offense. Lee's becoming really good but he's not a threat to drop 45 just by walking through the door.

That's not true. Lee IS the worst defender on the Knicks. Chandler and Duhon are average defenders. Jeffries is a very good defender. Gaillnari is a poor defender, but he can jump high enough to block a few shots. Off the bench, Robinson and Harrington are mistake prone, but aren't worse than Lee. There's a defensive statistic called dMULT, it measures how well all the players of a position perform when matched up against one player. In Lee's case, a dMULT of 1.00 would mean that players play exactly as well against Lee as they normally do. Lee's dMULT is 1.105. That's horrendous. He's not a great positional defender. He's not a shot blocker at all, and he often doesn't contest at the rim. Horford's been solid even when Smith was blowing his top and bricking threes the last couple of years. The All-Star game should be about rewarding the best players. I didn't know that basketball was only played on offense.

You're exactly right on the play call. Harrington was supposed to flare out and take Bargnani away with him, while Robinson was supposed to come off a Lee down screen and probably either isolate or screen/roll with Lee. Jack absolutely mugged Robinson and Robinson could never get off the screen and get to the top of the key. It was perfect defense. The Knicks had no timeouts left so they had to force a pass to Harrington and pray. They're prayers weren't answered and it was Jack who drew the charge. If the game came down to that final play, then Jack's defense, and in effect Toronto's defense, won the game. That's why they picked Jack up. Nice way to execute after a spirited late Knicks charge.

Williams has run of the most complex offenses in the NBA to perfection, orchestrating a pair of series victories over stingy Rockets teams, and decimating the Golden State team that upset Dallas several years ago. Last year he got into the paint at will against the Lakers defense and did a good job running an efficient offense against a good Lakers defense. He took over fourth quarters, and won Game 3 with a late game-winning jumper in the final seconds. If Utah had a starting frontcourt that could move, Utah's defense wouldn't detract from their effective offense. Billups' role in Denver is more to provide leadership and stability and also to set the Nuggets offense up into getting favorable isolations. He's another big shot maker and a plus defender who occasionally has trouble with warp speed since he's lost a half step. Billups is a very good player and you should be proud for pulling for him. Williams can do anything Billups ever could offensively, except shoot the three. He has better vision, is a better finisher, and is more reliable late in games. Defensively Billups is a notch above D-Will. Offensively Williams is dominant, and a top 10 player. Paul can absolutely take over games, though he plays too passively and hangs teammates out to dry more often than he should (like passing to a guarded player with 3 seconds left on the shot clock, having the shot clock run out, then yelling at that player for not being more aware of the clock).

The argument for Gasol I read somewhere is that should a great player be punished for being injured for parts of a first half? If at the end of the year Gasol plays his usual excellent basketball and puts up his usual excellent numbers, will people look back and feel dumb for not having him on the All-Star team? One of the reasons Deron Williams hasn't been an All-Star has been minor first half injuries. Now people ask themselves, why hasn't this guy been an All-Star, he's so good? Well, people have used that excuse to not select him. And in terms of basketball talent, Kaman's not a scrub by any means, but does anyone really want Kaman over Gasol? Gasol is Gasol and Kaman is a good player on an average team.

Think of the largest number you can think of. That number is how much better a defensive player Al Horford is over Lee (not really, but Horford is a very good defender, and Lee is horrendous). Horford's contributing to a very successful team while the Knicks aren't a playoff team. Smith should go to, but having KG and Iverson as starters really hurts.

lol, good game is an understatement. Dallas played a terrific game.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/231404-is-another-nba-lockout-inevitable More in a terrific article about a potential upcoming lockout and what could be done to prevent it.

It's the only video I have of Landry. He scored 27 that game but a lot of his points came at the line or as the result of bad plays by the Nets. I try to do a segment involving three teams, and this was backed up from late December. Landry is an interesting player right now. I wanted to see what he did well. I said that it's too early to declare him as 6th man but that he's a definite candidate.

How can people hate Jeff Van Gundy!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!!!?!?!?!?!?!? This makes no sense to me whatsoever!!!

The Chicago Bulls Western Conference Evisceration Tour continues. After let down losses to the Warriors and Clippers, Chicago's won at Phoenix, Houston, San Antonio, and now Oklahoma City on this streak. One more game at New Orleans, then the Bulls have a pretty comfortable month of February. Nice job by the Bulls to not panic after a tough start.

When the Chicago Bulls happened to the rest of the Western Conference. That and the Jazz are playing good ball right now.

Exactly, Landry puts so much pressure on defenses. They can never relax and assume he'll settle for a turnaround, he always puts defenders on their heels. If a defender isn't ready, he'll just turn and blow by him or spin around him. And he's a nasty finisher. He'll take a few jumpers too (though he's not a great shooter), but they're mostly when he's a safety valve at the elbow. He rarely faces up and shoots, it's always attack, attack, attack. And Landry's always under control and comfortable in traffic. A lot of players always attack but they have no control of their bodies near the basket. Landry's very comfortable in traffic and in control when he attacks. Thanks for the kind words!