Erick Blasco

Maybe the struggles also stem from my prediction of the Sixers struggling without Andre Miller. In fairness to Philly, it's a new system, they have a player new to running a team, Brand is coming off a major injury, and Speights is hurt. Of course the team isn't going to have leadership with Miller, but, the Sixers have been second half teams over the course of the last three years. Maybe they'll run the streak to four years this season.

That actually wasn't the NBA's dealing. It was some nonsense with the IOC getting spooked by the fact that he was putting up clips online. The blog post is here http://coachingbetterbball.blogspot.com/2008/08/croatias-team-of-sharp-shooters.html I wouldn't be surprised if the NBA has a similar agenda, but I've seen blog posts around the net that go pretty in depth, though they're mostly team specific. I guess I'll just hope that I'm not important enough for the NBA to care.

I was just concerned with finishing the thing. Wasn't really thinking. I'll add stuff to the end of the credits next time.

Anyone can sign up for the directors account? I heard that when you start off, Youtube will still only allow you to post 10 minute clips even with a directors account. Vimeo looks fine. I like how there's no time limit, and they give you 500MB storage a week. I don't plan on doing these more than once a week so 500 mb is fine for me. If for some reason problems arise, I'll look into getting a director's account on youtube. I just don't want to split the file. There's also problems with the sound. I say impressive, by my count, 456,000 times. I would have redone the whole sound but this piece was going on 3 weeks and I just wanted it done. The next one should be better. Glad everyone enjoyed!

NM, default setting is to make videos private, I updated it.

It says that? Setting up an account with Vimeo is 100% free. Youtube restricts videos to 10 minutes. Most of these clips will be longer than 10 minutes.

Hey guys, I've been working hard the past two weeks to put together a small video piece highlighting some of the things I mention in my articles. It's not too timely (video editing is a [expletive]) but this is the first episode. It's about the Milwaukee Bucks and Greg Oden. It's amateurish, but I know some of the mistakes I made and how to correct them. I don't know how to embed so I'll just link to the video. Enjoy! Erick Blasco's NBA Gameplan Episode 1

You're better than most.

http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=786

http://espn.go.com/chicago/columns/blog/_/post/4669588/name/friedell

http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/john_schuhmann/11/19/numbersgame.battier/index.html?rss=true

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/bobcats/story/1065882.html

Ba dum, ching!

Gooden has a few of those games a year where you'll just go, whoa, this guy can really be a difference maker. And then he goes back to drifting.

Here's a good article on why the Hawks are doing what they're doing From Charley Rosen

This was a real good game. Dallas took advantage of the few mistakes San Antonio made (like McDyess overhedging on Terry's screen with Dirk), and Dirk made some huge plays. Duncan forced a bad shot in overtime and it really hurt the Spurs on the other end. Pretty well played by both sides, props to Dallas for coming up big when it counted.

lol comprising not compromising!

To an extent you can. Neither is a good defender, but at least you can pick up good habits from a poor defender who works hard. Turkoglu's a pretty lazy defender in his own right though. People talk about his block on Kobe, but he got beaten so badly off the dribble that he was behind Kobe and in good position to block a jump shot from behind. A good play for staying with it after getting beat, but very fluky.

They did, and they don't really care about Bell. They got rid of Jackson, that's good enough. Bell would gain nothing from being on the Warriors so he'll sit out, heal his shoulder, and regroup next year. I'd doubt they'd even play him.

Then blame the people who were there and aren't. Andre Miller, Reggie Evans, and...uh....does Theo Ratliff count?

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It does help to have Kobe on your team! Houston hasn't been a great defensive team this season at all, and neither really has Orlando. Boston really hasn't shut down the three point line very well this year. Phoenix, New Orleans, New Jersey, and Indiana all lit them up. Basically, it's why their defense didn't play all that well in those games. If you see a team with good defensive FG stats, but bad eFG%, that team isn't defending the three-point line. And since threes are worth more than twos, eFG% is a better indicator of defense because it takes into account the added value of the three-pointer.

That's like saying if only the Bobcats knew what offense was this team would be nasty. Toronto has other flaws too besides their defense.

How can you build a complete team with a player who plays the wrong way? The only way to make a team with Iverson work is to surround him with defensive specialists and hope he scores enough. It's how the Rockets won 22 games a few seasons ago, but that didn't work either, and will only work in a short-term circumstance. Of course morale would go down with a team of professionals dedicated to playing the right way taking on a player who only can play with the ball in his hands. Denver did have a lot of problems aside from Iverson. Carmelo was lazy, J.R. Smith hadn't seen the light, Camby was a fraud and nothing Iverson did changed that. Iverson didn't make the team better and his intrinsic qualities make teams worse. The Pistons tried to incorporate him into their offense. They didn't want Iverson to do his thing, at least not as a starter. But there's only so many times you're going to curl hard off a screen without getting the ball. I can't compare Detroit's situation this year to last year because it's a completely different Pistons team, but there's no question Iverson contributed to the team's disarray, especially by refusing to come off the bench when it was proven that he wasn't cutting it in the starting lineup and Hamilton was tearing it up off the bench, and when Iverson sat out the rest of the year. He also gave up on the team with the lame-[expletive] back excuse. He didn't want to succumb to the thought that he's not as good as his ego. Carmelo said the entire team quit against the Lakers in 2008. That's an example of a player quitting three seasons in a row. No wonder his teams underachieve, he's a quitter and a loser.

They also went three of the final four seasons with him winning less than 41 games, with the only time they went over was in 2004-05 when they won 43. He won 50 games with Philly one time. Let's not make it seem like he made them a consistent winning ball club. They went from a 35-win team in his last half season to a 40-win team and a 41-win team with Miller. I'm not talking about the Nuggets, I'm talking about the 00-01 team of players who killed themselves alongside Iverson. Of course the team wasn't going to do the same the next season and they lost in the first round. Nobody cares about the offense from that Nuggets team, even though only J.R. Smith and Linas Kleiza shot well against the Lakers. Anyone who scouted that team knew their defense was made of glass and any team with patience would pick them apart. Lo and behold, the Lakers massacred them. Take him out, put in Billups, all of a sudden the team is more committed to playing defense. All of a sudden the ball moves more and things happen without the ball. The offense becomes multi-dimensional and Denver takes off. Last year's Nuggets team could defend, as opposed to playing at such a fast pace that opponents get seduced into taking and missing long jump shots. When Denver needed stops, they got them. Birdman plays the exact same defense Camby does, and Nene's a lazy defender. But all the players who were already in Denver played better defense with Billups than with Iverson. Denver wasn't going to beat any team that postseason except maybe Houston. Utah's offense would shred them, San Antonio would wear them down, Chris Paul would go bananas, Dallas could score on them and defend them. That Denver team was a sweep waiting to happen. Nobody believed their defensive numbers were accurate indicators of their defense. Nobody.