Erick Blasco

You can't have so many high volume players on a roster though. Nobody does anything without the ball and the game degrades to my shot, your shot. If Randolph doesn't get enough touches, he'll start shooting whenever he does get the ball. Ditto for everyone else. You can't score that way. Having him in the starting lineup would be a disaster. You need players who can be fine as fourth or fifth options. In the starting lineup, you think Iverson is passing the ball and being a second option? He never has, and since in his estimation he's God, why would he? No winning team will take him on because they know he's a loser player. No losing team needs the headache (except maybe New Jersey). Aside from a fluke season with teammates who mutilated themselves for him, and during one of the worst stretches in a conference's history in any sport, Iverson has been on disappointing teams his entire career, bringing a Pistons franchise down with him, leaving the Sixers in shambles while watching them accomplish modest success without him, leaving the Nuggets in shambles while watching Denver achieve the most success they've had in forever without him, accomplishing worse playoff successes for teams than the players he replaced or replaced him (Miller, Billups). Iverson has a fluke MVP, some empty points, a crossover, and a giant ego. Let him be crowned king of the Hall of Disappointments. So many players have accomplished so much more with so much less.

The Team's overall FG percentage is 9th in the league, and their effective field goal percentage against is 3rd best, meaning their defense has been outstanding. Plus, they've hardly played any road games.

You know what sells tickets? Winning games. If Philly is scared to death of attendance figures, they should've kept Andre Miller. What's the point of using an over-the-hill star to sell tickets? Is it working with Elton Brand?

Most of what Bosh brings offensively are taken away by the fact that he gets really pushed around under the basket. Duncan's not as strong this season as he's been in the past (he's slimmed down a lot and was pushed around by Oden in their game against Portland) but he's still a very good interior defender and a great help defender. Sure he can't guard the perimeter real well, but neither can Bosh. Offensively, Bosh has tended to see his game go south when his teams have needed him the most. Until he breaks that trend Duncan will always be the choice. I have zero confidence in Bosh dominating more than one playoff game in a series while Duncan can still turn in four or five exceptional efforts per series.

More focus on Gasol the basketball player, and less focus on Gasol the CSI: Miami actor.

Iverson won't make a difference in sucky teams not sucking. The Sixers can suck with Iverson, or they can suck without him and not pick up bad habits from him.

Well, we'll see. Check in around the end of January when the Spurs put things together every year.

The average age of San Antonio's roster is 29.17. Dallas has the exact same age, at 29.17. Orlando is third at 28.71 with Boston next at 28.33 Yet Dallas, Orlando and Boston are contenders and the Spurs are not? The Lakers are seventh at 27.77, a shade younger than Denver and New Orleans. I don't know what it is but for some reason older teams are better at winning than younger ones. In terms of years of experience, the Spurs are fourth with the Lakers (gee the Lakers are the most experienced team in the league, I guess they're too old to win), Magic, and Mavericks ahead. San Antonio's role players include Antonio McDyess and his accurate shooting, George Hill, a player who impresses every scout with his talent and defense, Roger Mason's ability to perform under pressure, DeJuan Blair's rebounding prowess, Keith Bogans' ornery defense, and Richard Jefferson's two-way game. Sure Matt Bonner is strictly a shooter, Michael Finley is done, and Theo Ratliff is past done, but the last two are players number 12 and 13 on the roster, and Bonner's spacing is necesarry. San Antonio is fine. Those role players played without Duncan and Parker last week and beat the Mavs and Raptors.

It means that with their effort, smarts, and Aaron Brooks' gun-slinging, the Rockets can beat anyone, anywhere, though probably not for four out of seven games. For Atlanta, we're seeing a maturation in Josh Smith's game that is paying off big time. Of course it doesn't mean that the Hawks will be contenders, but they're worth keeping their eye on closely. The Lakers are fine, they just have to care, play harder, and play smarter, things they really aren't doing right now. Denver's played really well to start the season. Their biggest question marks from last year were their bench scoring, whether Afflalo could replace Dahntay Jones, and whether the roster would keep playing at a high level. They passed those tests with high marks except for Smith's defense. That leads me to believe that they'd have a fighters chance to beat anybody in a playoff series, including the Lakers.

Because Boston was done in 2008 when they didn't even make the playoffs the year before. The last postseason series the Spurs lost with a healthy Manu Ginobili was in 2006. Food for thought.

Three years ago people thought their time was done, five years ago people thought their time was done...

All the preseason and early season forecasts have tabbed the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers as the prohibitive favorites to represent the Western Conference in this year’s Finals. After trouncing the Lakers 105-79 though, the Denver Nuggets reminded the NBA that omitting them from title talk would be erroneous. Quite simply, few teams have either the offensive firepower or the defensive energy the Nuggets have, yet alone both. Here’s the rundown on how the Nuggets do what they do. Offense Because Denver has terrific three-point firepower (6-16 at the game at hand), they generate tremendous spacing for their isolations, high and wing screen/rolls, and post ups, where double teams are quickly punished. This is important because so many Nuggets are accomplished one-one-scorers while doubling as willing passers. Carmelo Anthony is Denver’s go-to-guy and has one of the most well-rounded offensive repertoires in the league. It was his 18 points in the second half that turned a two-point halftime nail-biter into a 26-point romp. Of Anthony’s 25 points, eight came in transition, nine came on baseline drives with strong finishes, four came on cuts without the ball (including a clever fake screen, dive, catch, and dunk), two came on a screen/roll where he shook off the contact of Luke Walton and nailed a jumper, and only two came on a standstill isolation jumper. Only a select few in the NBA posses Anthony’s combination of speed, strength, and shooting form. Kobe Bryant has it, no doubt. LeBron is developing the jump shot, but he can’t attack from the multitude of areas on a court Anthony can because he can’t post up and rarely plays along the baseline. Brandon Roy doesn’t have the overpowering strength, and Dwyane Wade doesn’t have the range. The point being that Anthony is a rare breed in the NBA. He’s even an exceptional passer! Chauncey Billups couldn’t shake Derek Fisher—1-8 FG—but he got the ball to the places it needed to go to—8 AST, 1 TO. Arron Afflalo hit his open jumpers—4-4 FG, 8 PTS. Nene showed off explosive spin moves in the pivot and sank two of his three jumpers, while Kenyon Martin bricked the majority of his awkward drives and line-drive jumpers. Each made nifty interior passes whether on the move or feeding cutters. J.R. Smith showed off his electric talents to their full extent—7-16 FG, 4-10 3FG, 20 PTS. Chris Andersen worked hard on the offensive glass with six offensive rebounds among his 11 total. Ty Lawson showed warp-speed quickness, an accurate jump shot, good vision, and extreme athleticism when he capped off the game with a poster dunk late in the fourth. If he can remain accurate from the outside, he’ll easily replace the scoring lost with Linas Kleiza overseas. Of course the Nuggets had their problems. They missed over a dozen layups, overhandled and overpenetrated at times (especially Smith and Billups), and generated many of their points from poor Lakers court balance. On the other hand, they demonstrated an unselfishness juxtaposed with their aggression with their sterling ratio of 28 assists on 37 turnovers. The fact is, Denver has as much scoring punch as anyone, and can easily overcome most of their mistakes with a J.R. Smith hotstreak or three. Defense Denver plays an aggressive double teaming defense that turned the tide in the third quarter. Wing screen/rolls and corner screen/rolls are trapped aggressively, with the pass back to the middle of the court often overplayed. When doubling the post, doubles are hard and tight, choking the airspace of the player trying to post up, and forcing the post player to swing the ball to blind spots. Those double teams result in turnovers (Denver forced 16 Lakers turnovers) which fuel their fast break (16 fast break points). When asked to play one-on-one, Afflalo did a yeoman’s job holding down Kobe Bryant. While Kobe recorded 19 points, the majority came against Smith, Martin, and Andersen. Afflalo is already filling Dahntay Jones’ shoes nicely. Denver’s interior rotations were generally on point, forcing the Lakers to miss a dozen layups of their own. Denver’s rambling, scrambling style coaxed the Lakers into taking more bad shots than they’re accustomed to, which proceeded to more run outs and more transition opportunities. Martin and Anthony made several exceptional defensive rotations. However, while the Nuggets defensive blitz allowed them to take control in the third quarter, they also showed many holes which will need to be corrected. Too often Smith would give up on Kobe’s drives, leaving Bryant with uncontested pull-ups. Smith also was totally flustered when presented with a baseline screen causing Chris Andersen to switch onto Bryant. The resulting no-match led to an easy score for Kobe. The hope is that as Smith gets back into playing shape, his defense will pick up, a reasonable expectation. While Martin had no problems shoving Kobe to the floor on off-ball cuts, he was abused on the glass by Odom and Bynum early in the game. When Bynum attacked Andersen directly, the Birdman was unable to spread his wings and contest. Also, simple pump fakes would get the Birdman to spread his wings and soar out of the play. Nene’s interior rotations were hit-or-miss, and he too had trouble with Bynum’s length and strength around the basket. The Nuggets responded to their first major test with a satisfactory performance on both ends. However, the caveat is that the Lakers were playing the second game of a back-to-back on the road, and were without Pau Gasol. The Nuggets can also counter that J.R. Smith is still rounding into form after his early season suspension. The Nuggets won the first battle between the two conference powers, but a three-week January-February stretch where the Nuggets go to San Antonio, Los Angeles, Utah, and Cleveland, while hosting Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio, and Sacramento will be a better determinant as to how capable the Nuggets are of winning the war.

It's clever, witty, silly, and absurd, with a few poignant moments sprinkled in. If that's your cup of tea, it's a blast to read and you'll be chuckling throughout the book. If you like The Hitchikers Guide, you'll pick up the other four books in the series very quickly. It's a pretty light book so I don't know just how deep you can delve into it for a class, but it's definitely one of the funnest books you'll ever read.

Arenas, Stevenson, Foye, Young, Miller, James...how is that a weak backcourt? Gee we have too many defensive holes, not enough continuity and ball movement, and too many shot-happy chuckers. Let's go sign Earl Boykins to solve these problems!

I wonder how they're doing financially though. They almost salary dumped Chandler last season, and rumor is that the Hornets aren't in good shape. They might be in salary dump mode even more next season, even with cap room. Plus, even if they sign, say, Chris Bosh. The role players on the Hornets have never stepped up their play. There's no improvement coming from within the organization, and subsequently, no depth. They need more help then one free agent splash.

Mayday! Mayday! Going down! The New Orleans Hornets’ season may only be nine games in, but after their awful 124-104 disaster in Phoenix, they’re clearly a team in distress. Whether or not their calls for help can be answered depends on the nature of their emergency. Let’s take a look. Not counting the garbage time in the final quarter, New Orleans ran 63 designed plays by my unofficial tally. Of those 63 plays, nearly half were predicated on Chris Paul: 20 screen/rolls, 3 isolations, a backdoor cut, and six attacks in early offense. Such an unbalanced offense! Phoenix’ gameplan was to go under every screen and let Paul shoot away to his heart’s content, which he did with considerable accuracy (4-7 3FG). Still, Paul’s ball dominance combined with his invitation to fire away left his teammates mere spectators on too many possessions. Still, Paul’s screen/rolling game plan did generate success. Paul tallied 23 points for the Hornets on his 20 screen/rolls, five points on his three isolations, two points on a nifty backdoor cut, and 11 points on 6 transition opportunities. With Paul asked to create offense, New Orleans generated 41 points on 30 possessions, roughly 1.4 points per possession, a sparkling number. While Paul was fine as New Orleans’ offensive captain, he got zero help from his senior officers. David West started off the game by aggressively driving at Amare Stoudemire and knocking in a banker. After spraining his knee quickly after he wasn’t the same, generating two points on six post-ups and isolations for the duration, not including an embarrassing missed open-court put back layup. Emeka Okafor was even more of a disappointment. He was okay as the screener for Paul, and a couple of off-ball cuts netted him four points, but he only generated a pair of points on three individual post attempts. Specifically Okafor: Had trouble establishing position on Channing Frye on the block, and if he did establish post position, Frye and Stoudemire prevented him from getting a step or angle to the basket.Posted Frye from the right mid-post, couldn’t back Frye down, and clanged a 14-foot jumper off the backboard.Established deep position in the right box (only after rolling hoopward on a Chris Paul screen) and sealed Stoudemire. Eventually the ball found its way to Emeka and he converted a mini-hook.Set up shop in the right box while David West took a screening position outside on Paul. When Stoudemire tipped his hand too early to overplay the screen, West slipped the screen, Paul fed Okafor, and a nifty pass from Okafor to West netted two free throws.Several times tried to back his man down, went nowhere, and was forced to make harmless passes back out.Posted on the right block and made a nice pass to a cutting Stojakovic, but Stojakovic bungled the layup.Didn’t provide much more offense than Tyson Chanlder could have provided. That’s a grand total of four points in nine opportunities for New Orleans’ supposedly fearsome frontcourt. However, West’s game continues to be overrated by many (including yours truly), and Okafor’s a middling player masquerading as some kind of star. No wonder New Orleans lacks substance outside of Paul. New Orleans’ other staple plays were Devin Brown isolations—two points on four occasions, and Marcus Thornton isolations—three points on three trips. Interestingly enough, the two times Devin Brown ran screen/rolls resulted in five points. Peja Stojakovic humiliated himself—0-8 FG, 0 PTS. Devin Brown couldn’t break Jason Richardson pressing him, and dribbled the ball off his leg out of bounds. He also had two shot attempts blocked, missed nine of his 12 shots total, and teams with Stojakovic to form the least athletic wing tandem in the league. Darren Collison, Marcus Thornton, and Bobby Brown can only play one or two-man games, and only with the ball in their hands. Hilton Armstrong—3-7 FG, 1 AST, 2 TO, 6 PTS—is half a status away from bust. On one drive he had a step on Louis Amundson only to have his dunk attempt and body rejected to the floor. Julian Wright took a single shot, rushing in transition and botching a layup in garbage time. Does anybody in the league do less with more than Wright? James Posey hit his threes—3-3 3FG—while Darius Songaila was the only player who played with any passion—3-3 FG, 8 PTS. And on the defensive side of the ball? Aside from Stoudemire eating Okafor’s lunch on the floor (wasn’t Okafor supposed to be a star defender?), and on the glass (wasn’t Okafor supposed to be a star rebounder?), Leandro Barbosa and Jason Richardson each outjumped Okafor to a pair of boards. The more disturbing sign was that Barbosa’s and many of Amare’s came while Okafor had them boxed out. Paul picked up four steals (one when he ripped a sloppy Goran Dragic handle, and one when a pass was thrown right at him), was nailed by screens, was constantly guessing, and was thoroughly befuddled by Steve Nash. Stojakovic threw Grant Hill an open-shot buffet. Posey was totally reactionary and played without any fire. Judging by his defense the past two years, his body is in Father Time’s clutches, and his heart is in Boston. Armstrong played like a welcome mat. The Hornets’ stable of point guards and combo guards all get picked apart by screens, and all are shot over by bigger opponents. Even Dragic was pulling and shooting over (supposed defensive ace) Paul. Paul plays defense completely by guessing, while the other guards play completely by reacting. New Orleans’ interior rotations were non-existent, and Okafor and West were in perpetual no-mans land defending screens, especially in the first half. Only Darius Songaila brought anything close to his A-game. This includes Byron Scott whose perpetual screen/roll offense only works like a finger in a dyke. There needs to be more weak-side action, cross-screens, and opportunities for other perimeter plays to handle the ball freeing Paul to add the wrinkle of being able to attack without the ball. Scott’s offense has no imagination, and good teams will either choke Paul off (like Denver did last postseason), or dare Paul to beat them with his jump shooting, each way leaving his teammates less and less involved in the offense. As is, New Orleans has too many players who fail to meet hyped-up labels. West isn’t the All-Star he’s supposed to be, Posey isn’t the lockdown defender he’s supposed to be, Paul isn’t the ace defender he’s supposed to be, Okafor isn’t the rebounding presence and post player he’s supposed to be, Armstrong and Wright aren’t the talents they’re supposed to be, and Byron Scott isn’t the elite coach he’s supposed to be. No wonder, as New Orleans hopes to tread water this early in the year, that they aren’t the contender that they’re supposed to be.

After dealing away Richard Jefferson, and letting go of Charlie Villanueva and Ramon Sessions, the Milwaukee Bucks appear to have one of the least talented rosters in basketball. Throw in the fact that Andrew Bogut is recovering from back surgery and Michael Redd has been out, and the Bucks have the makings of a bottom-feeding basketball team. Yet after trouncing the listless Knicks 102-87 in a game that was over at halftime, the Bucks stand with a record of 3-2. Are they that good? Or are the Knicks just that bad? Let’s examine how the Bucks are prevailing. Offense Despite having a reputation as a grind-it-out halfcourt offense, Milwaukee looked to push the tempo and exploit the Knicks’ porous transition defense. When Milwaukee slowed down, they looked to post up Andrew Bogut, run various cross-screens, down-screens, and dive cuts away from the ball before allowing Bogut to go one-on-one. Wing screens and drive-and-kicks were also parts of Milwaukee’s arsenal. Brandon Jennings is Milwaukee’s high-prized rookie sensation and he showed a lot of potential—7-16 FG, 0-2 3FG, 4 REB, 3 AST, 5 TO, 17 PTS. On the plus side, Jennings has good command of the ball with both hands, despite being left-handed. He’s very quick and has the ability to turn the corner of screens and get into the paint, where he unleashed two very creative right-handed layups over the course of the game. Jennings has an advanced floater which he can unleash anywhere inside the foul line with success. He has good instincts on the break and made plays happen in a broken field, including hitting a floater between two Knicks, and seeing Andrew Bogut beating the Knicks down the court in transition. However, Jennings showed poor floor awareness, once stepping on the baseline before receiving a pass, another time stepping on the endline after overpenetrating on a drive. He forced several other passes and multiple shots, especially after the first quarter. In one third quarter sequence he noticed Luke Ridnour checking in at the scorers table for an early substitution so Jennings promptly pulled-up around a screen early in the shot clock and airballed a three. Jennings’ jump shot mechanics aren’t up to snuff right now. He doesn’t have a lot of backspin on his shot, and he kicks his leg out when he rises up, throwing off his balance. It’s a small wonder he was shooting over 40 percent from downtown coming into the game. Right now, Jennings’ offensive game is very raw and unpolished, though he doesn‘t seem averse to distributing the basketball. He’s definitely a creative player, but his lack of size, his broken jumper, and his terrible shot selection leave much to be desired. Andrew Bogut played like a number-one overall draft pick—8-14 FG, 8 REB, 4 AST, 2 TO, 22 PTS—hitting hooks with either hand (though generally the left hand from the right box), running the floor, and making nifty passes from the high post. It should be mentioned that his counterpart, David Lee, lacked the size or the strength to bother Bogut’s hooks or defend him one-on-one. When Bogut’s on his game, he eats up space inside and can overpower smaller centers. Luke Ridnour—5-12 FG, 0-4 3FG, 4 AST, 2 TO, 10 PTS—ran a steadier ship than Jennings in the first half, making all sorts of tricky passes and wrong-footed floaters to tantalize the Knicks. As the game wore on, he, like Jennings, forced too many shots, and he also lacks range on his shot. Carlos Delfino has sticky fingers. He never gave the ball to the point guard in transition taking the Bucks out of two scoring opportunities, and he shot the ball nearly every time he saw it. Nonetheless, he converted two early threes and made a sharp baseline cut for a layup. Charlie Bell—2-5 FG, 1-2 3FG, 1 AST, 2 TO, 5 PTS—traveled, was out of bounds when he caught a pass, and was generally useless. Hakim Warrick reached the stratosphere whenever he was cleared for takeoff—nine points, and two frightening dunks. Jodie Meeks had a hot hand and rode it—7-11 FG, 5-7 3FG, 19 PTS. Ersan Ilyanasova was all over the offensive glass—six offensive rebounds, 13 overall—made the extra pass—four assists—executed several timely cuts off the ball, and is a much more polished player than he was his first go around in the league three years ago. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute can’t find the basket with a Sherpa. Despite not having a very polished offensive cast, the Bucks befuddled the Knicks with their constant cutting, their committed weak-side action, the playmaking of their point guards, Bogut’s reliability, and in all honesty, the fact that the Knicks played with zero enthusiasm. Against teams that bother to try, the Bucks will have trouble consistently finding the hoop. However, given that Scott Skiles is coaching Milwaukee, they’ll always be prepared and they’ll always play with effort and enthusiasm, a great equalizer to offset a lack of talent. Defense The Bucks played a swarming pressure-oriented defense that will ambush teams unready to play. Jennings and Ridnour were each able to pressure the point guard up the court taking time off the court and disrupting the Knicks rhythm. Screens were combated a number of ways. Because Andrew Bogut isn’t mobile enough to hedge, the Bucks had him zone the paint while the player defending the ball looked to overplay the screen and send him away from it. As a result, the paint was protected from Knicks’ drives. David Lee was left with open jump shots because of the tactic, but couldn’t connect. If the Bucks didn’t overplay the screen, the strong-side wing would pinch the ball-handler for a beat and scramble back to his man. If the player defending the screener was mobile enough, the Bucks would trap the ball-handler for a beat before the screen-defender would scramble back to his man. The frenetic helping and recovering coaxed the Knicks into bad shot after bad shot, and 10 first quarter turnovers. Individually, Jennings has the athleticism to pressure the ball with success. It’s easily his best defensive quality. Because of his diminutive frame (169 pounds), he gets rerouted by screens, and he picks up careless fouls easily. When the Knicks used his man as a screener, he was confused and made a half-hearted attempt to stop the ball-handler, but in reality, was nowhere near the ball-handler or the screener. Basically, Jennings plays like the rookie he is and has a ways to go before he’s even adequate on that side of the ball. In fact, few of the Bucks played appreciable one-on-one defense. Bell bit on a pump fake 20-feet from the basket, Ilyasova had trouble staying in front of Galinari, Bogut had only moderate success defending Lee, etc. The only real stopper the Bucks have is Mbah a Moute, who has quick feet, quick hands, and a wingspan which can span rivers. However, since Milwaukee plays with so much defensive energy, and since the way to beat their pressure requires constant offensive work (weak-side action, backcuts, patience to let them make a mistake), they’ll slow down any unwilling opponent with hustle alone. So while it’s doubtful the Bucks will continue their modest early success, credit should be given to the team for playing with discipline and enthusiasm to offset their moribund roster. Given that attitude, the Bucks can beat all but the best teams at home, though they don’t have the horns to make a serious playoff push.

With legitimate title aspirations governing the Blazers, their home date with the San Antonio Spurs would be a good barometer to indicate who the Blazers are, and who they will need to be come playoff time. For the game-at-hand, they were 96-84 winners, but lets look at the particulars. With Portland’s offense sputtering and Andre Miller stagnant over the early part of the season, the Blazers added Miller to the starting lineup, moving Steve Blake to the shooting guard position, and bumping Brandon Roy to small forward. The results of the move were noticeable. Portland was able to get out and go much more effectively, tallying 12 fast break points. They were last in fast break points coming into the game.Portland had crisp ball movement, reversing the ball from side-to-side before setting up their post ups and isolations.Portland could still play Blake and Roy in their natural positions on defense, while hiding Miller on Keith Bogans. Despite Miller shooting only 2-9, several of his attempts were forced shot-clock beaters. He would only drive opportunistically, seeing a defender overplaying the post, reading the defense overplaying a screen, or bulling his way into the paint in early-offense. He posted up once and drew a double team, however, Travis Outlaw missed a wide-open three. Defensively, Miller executed several good rotations, and used his long arms to rip Manu Ginobili twice. However, Miller also lacks a quick defensive first step, couldn’t get around several screens, and gave up on a Keith Bogans backdoor cut. LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden represent Portland’s main post offense, but both operated to mixed results. When asked to post Matt Bonner, Aldridge could hardly gain any leverage and wound up missing two twisting fadeaways. Aldridge also tried to post Duncan from the right box in the second quarter, but he couldn’t back him down, couldn’t get past him with his left hand, and missed a twisting contested baseline turnaround. Naturally, Aldridge was much more forceful when posting Michael Finley instead. Defensively, Aldridge was too often asked to guard San Antonio’s guards after switches and he was always a half step too slow. His best play of the night was rotating in front of a rolling Tim Duncan to draw a charge. Oden was also a mixed bag. Early in the game, he rushed a right hook and missed badly, though he also calmly sank a 12-foot jumper. Defensively, he tended to drift and be off balance when guarding the post one-on-one. That tendency to not stay planted strong to the ground resulted in two early fouls and a quick trip to the bench. It wasn’t until after he came back where he became a force. He took his time more with his hook shots, set up Duncan with a baseline drop step, and from the right box, simply overpowered Duncan into a muscular layup. Defensively, Oden played patiently. Not buying fakes, not following penetrators’ dances, but zoning the rim and waiting for the ball to leave the shooters hand before attempting to swat it. As a result, Oden had great success as the game wore on contesting one-on-one post moves, and altering shots at the hoop. Straight linear drives were able to get past Oden, but he stayed with Manu Ginobili and swatted away a late layup attempt. Oden’s interior rotations were precise, though he made no attempt to contest multiple long jump shots by Bonner, Duncan, and McDyess. Still, Oden showed some versatility and raw talent on offense, and discipline on defense, meaning he’s making strides to becoming the dominant center he’s been projected to becoming. Portland’s bench is deep and versatile. Travis Outlaw only has eyes to shoot, but his long-stepping, high-jumping offense puts points up in a hurry—4-9 FG, 9 PTS. Rudy Fernandez had a tough game—1-5 FG, 1 AST, 0 TO, 3 PTS—but he can shoot, slash, pass, and defend. Martell Webster played out of control, but he ran the court hard. Jerryd Bayless certainly isn’t a point guard. When he gets the ball, he’s in constant attack mode. However, while he’s an athletic, fearless scorer, he tends to overhandle and force his offense. Plus, his defense is poor. Joel Pryzbilla grabbed 13 rebounds, including 10 in the first half alone. He set tremendous screens, did a great job protecting the rim, perfectly contested Duncan’s face-up game, and does anybody play better post defense? For 34 minutes, the Blazers shared the ball, executed their offense, didn’t commit egregious turnovers, and were in total control of the game. However, as the third quarter ran down, Portland started making only one pass before hoisting up shots, they started penetrating wildly, they started making sloppy passes, and they started committing turnovers. Their 18-point lead was trimmed to seven. That’s when Brandon Roy went to work. Roy quietly had 13 points and no assists until the fourth, only forcing one play, letting San Antonio dictate where they wanted the dagger. He scored off the dribble, he scored in the post, he connected on a catch-and-shoot, he got to the line, but always in the context off the offense. But when San Antonio made their run, Roy sank a pull-up jump shot with Bogans’ hand in his face, rocked Bogans right-and-left before blowing by him for a layup, threw an accurate lob pass which Oden turned into a layup, and connected on an incredible pull-up, all keeping the Spurs at arms length. Every time Portland needed a bucket, Roy would deliver, hitting all three of his attempts, scoring 10 of his points, and doling out both his assists in the final stanza. The game further solidified Roy’s status as a bona-fide star. What to make of the rest of the Blazers? If Oden can continue to progress, he’ll give the Blazers another fail-safe scorer to combat defenses, which will be a boon to their playoff chances. However, it should be noted that Oden was double teamed only a single time. Also, it’s imperative he learn to defend early without fouling.Portland’s forwards are still a mite soft.Either Miller or Blake must stay on the court with the second unit. Bayless is a talent but he isn’t a point guard.With Miller on the court, Portland was able to create easy baskets in transition. With the athletes on the Blazers bench, Portland should be best served playing Miller the initial six minutes with the starting lineup, resting him the remaining six minutes, and giving him the entire second quarter playing alongside Webster, Fernandez, and Outlaw to start the period.Portland has depth at every position and can survive injuries to anybody except Roy.The Blazers offense is precise, but the team loses its way too easily when Roy isn’t on the court. The core of the team has been around too long to chalk it up to inexperience. It’s time for the Blazers to grow up.With Pryzbilla in tow, Portland can match up with every center the league offers.The Blazers have a good combination of athleticism and strength, talent and intelligence, scorers and support players. As it’s been since he was drafted, Portland’s future rests in Greg Oden. The one thing Portland hasn’t consistently had has been a post player who can command double teams. Without that post threat, the Blazers have to labor too hard to generate easy points. Miller will help with some of that, but nothing generates offense better than a commanding post presence. Oden’s not there yet, but he’s much better than he was last year. On that basis, Portland’s not there yet, but the team is much better than it was last year.

After jumping out to a 21-point lead, the Charlotte Bobcats tried their best to give away a surefire win. Too bad they were facing the equally inept Knicks, backing their way into a 102-100 double-overtime win that was high on drama, but low on crisp, clean basketball. While Larry Brown has the Bobcats trying to play the right way, and while the Bobcats do have some nice pieces, there’s so little firepower across the roster that the team may win the Nobel Peace Prize. With such little scoring punch across their roster, Charlotte’s staple plays were either high screen/rolls for Raymond Felton and D.J. Augustin, or post ups for Gerald Wallace and Boris Diaw. However, those post ups didn’t lead to much success for either player. Wallace posted up a total of 15 times. Out of those 15 post ups, he shot 3-6, was fouled in the act of shooting twice (hitting all four free throws), committed a turnover, had ball movement lead to a three-pointer by Diaw, had ball movement lead to three missed jumpers, bobbled the ball leading to a pass that gained no advantage, and drew a non-shooting foul. Excusing the non-shooting foul, Wallace’s post ups only lead to 13 points on 14 possessions, a subpar ratio. Diaw posted a total of 13 times. Out of those 13 times, he shot 1-5, drew a foul in the act of shooting twice (hitting all four free throws), passed out four times leading to missed shots for teammates, and threw two passes which gained no advantage. His post-scoring ratio was even worse, six points on 13 possessions. Combine Diaw and Wallace, and Charlotte’s main offensive option only generated 19 points on 27 possessions against a horrendous defensive club. Ouch! In fact, both Wallace and Diaw are miscast as primary scoring options. Wallace aggressively attacked the basket and both backboards (15 REB), but he’s not explosive enough to consistently score against double teams, he’ll commit turnovers if pressured, and he’s a terrible jump shooter. Plus, while he started off the game playing quick-handed defense leading to innumerable deflections and steals, his defense sagged off as the game wore on as fatigue set in. Unfortunately, with this sad sack, he may not last the season. Diaw isn’t a prototypical featured scorer either. He looked to make the extra pass and showed good touch when slipping screens, but he’s simply not good enough to take on double teams and score. Both players showed enough down low that causes one to believe that they might be able to hold their own against single teams. However, Charlotte’s spacing was awful. That’s what happens with a ball club that shoots 3-18 from three-point land. Neither Diaw, Wallace, Raymond Felton nor Stephen Graham are accomplished three point shooters so Vladimir Radmanovic played substantial minutes trying to stretch the floor. However, Vlad-Rad embarrassed himself—2-9 FG, 0-4 3FG, 5PTS—by bricking the majority of his shots, including an airballed three and a botched layup in crunch time. Tyson Chandler was another disappointment, bobbling catches, missing layups, and having a five-foot hook come up three-feet short. He ended the night with almost as many fouls (six) as rebounds (eight). Raymond Felton played smart, fearless basketball. However, he can’t make a jump shot unless he’s wide open, and doesn’t have big time talent. He wouldn’t be starting on a winning club, but would make an excellent backup. Give him credit for a handful of tough finishes down the stretch which were crucial to Charlotte surviving. D.J. Augustine made several poor decisions with the ball, namely kicking out a few passes when he driving angles to get to the rim, and leading Tyson Chandler with a bounce pass into three defenders leading to Chandler picking up an offensive foul. But he’s a tough finisher at the basket, is super-quick around screens, and may is Charlotte’s only versatile shooter until Flip Murray and Raja Bell come back. Stephen Graham is a powerhouse scorer in an open field and near the hoop, but he too lacks a consistent jumper. Gerald Henderson threw a pass to nobody, Nazr Mohammed bobbled a pass and missed a fadeaway, and Derrick Brown’s only play of measure was an uncontested dunk. Defensively, the Bobcats displayed great on-ball pressure, especially early. Players holding the ball loosely were attacked, dribbles were challenged, and deflections were the norm. Wallace and Diaw had their fingertips on a number of careless Knicks dribbles, and token pressure frequently resulted in Knicks turnovers. The only Bobcats who played serious minutes and weren’t up to snuff defensively were Radanovich, who was a disaster, and Graham, who frequently lost track of his man and the ball. Otherwise, the Bobcats held the Knicks to under 39% shooting, with a very good true shooting percentage under 44%. It was that obnoxious defense that won Charlotte the game. However, as presently constructed, the Bobcats need Raja Bell and Flip Murray to provide enough offense just to come close to beating any respectable team. Charlotte simply doesn’t have the offensive juice to earn their franchise’s first trip to the postseason.

In recent years, the Utah Jazz have lacked athleticism in their frontcourt, have struggled on the road, and have been unable to avoid waves of injuries to key players. After losing in Denver to the Nuggets 114-105, early returns on this year’s Jazz are that not much have changed. Utah’s offense was okay—their defense was another story. Andrei Kirilenko and Ronnie Brewer are okay defenders, but neither is a true stopper. Brewer had no defensive first step and was lit up by Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, and Ty Lawson one-on-one, while Kirilenko was routinely outmuscled by Anthony on drives to the hoop. In fact, despite Anthony registering 30 points, the Jazz were saved by the fact that he missed three shots in the shadow of the basket. Worse, Utah simply doesn’t have the athletic frontcourt to challenge penetrators attacking the basket. Mehmet Okur drew a pair of charges, but he’s not mobile enough to come over from the weak side and challenge an assault on the rim. Paul Millsap isn’t a shot-blocker, and the landlocked Carlos Boozer may be the worst interior help defender in basketball. For all the talk of Utah’s toughness, they allowed 14 offensive rebounds, many coming as a result of not boxing out. As a result of Utah’s lack of shot blocking, they often have to sell out on their help, leaving perimeter shooters with open jump shots. The only Jazz player who played quality defense was Ronnie Price who showed quick feet, quick hands, and terrific toughness. Of his highlights, he pick pocketed a Ty Lawson dribble, showed strong hands digging in and tying up Kenyon Martin, and drew a charge when Arron Afflalo tried to run him over. Utah’s offense on some nights will be good enough to compensate for their defensive deficiencies, but not with the performances they received from some of their stars. Aside from his non-existent defense, Carlos Boozer played as if his mind were on another team. He refused to play in the pivot, instead fading away and bricking all seven of the jumpers he took. Of his shots at the rim, he only converted three of seven looks, and he tallied seven his 12 points in garbage time. If Boozer isn’t going to dominate down low, he should be shipped out for some much needed shot-blocking. If Miami and Chicago are rumored destinations, perhaps packages involving Joakim Noah and Jermaine O’Neal could be had. Sure, the Jazz would need a lot more than Noah, and O’Neal’s brittle play would give Sloan indigestion, but the Jazz are going to be stuck as a good, but not great team with their current frontcourt. Kirilenko made some plays—6-12 FG, 5 REB, 4 AST, 2 TO—but was a non-factor in the fourth quarter, Brewer still can’t shoot straight—2-5 on jumpers, and after a hot start, Okur cooled off—5-11 FG, 13 PTS. Millsap played hard, working down low, driving to the hoop, posting up, and even knocking down an 18-footer, but he didn’t play smart. He committed three turnovers, and had a tendency to drive into situations he couldn’t get out of. Plus, an awful high-looping outlet pass was intercepted by Anthony. Carmelo paid back the gift by including Millsap in a poster dunk. Kyrylo Fesenko should a good combination of fluidity and force, finishing strong on the receiving end on several Deron Williams screen/rolls. Ronnie Price tended to overpenetrate, but he hit a nifty running layup over Chris Andersen. With Utah’s role players running hot and cold, and Boozer nowhere to be found, Deron Williams had to try and save the Jazz, and he didn’t disappoint—9-15 FG, 2-3 3FG, 8-8 FT, 3 REB, 13 AST, 5 TO, 28 PTS. In fact, of Williams’ five turnovers, one was a drop by Boozer, one was a rare five-second violation when he looked to pass to cutters in the post that never opened up, and a third came after catching an outlet pass and being shocked by Ty Lawson impeding his path, leading to a travel. Throw in a palming call, and only one of Williams’ passes misfired. However, while Williams is a star, unlike LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, or Dwyane Wade, he isn’t a transcendent player who can reel off basket after basket after basket against good defenses. And while the Jazz are a good team, unlike the Lakers, Orlando, Boston, Cleveland, and San Antonio, they don’t have the kind of smart, tough, athletic interior frontline that can take games over on the defensive end. Expect the notes to come out flat for the Jazz come playoff time.

Despite the Orlando Magic being last season’s Eastern Conference champions, a host of NBA followers believe the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers to be the season’s top two beasts in the East. As it so happens, the scheduling gods decided to pit the two powerhouses against each other to tip off the 2009-2010 NBA campaign. While a single game is but a footstep in the marathon of the NBA regular season, it’s a good chance to see what each team can do and what each team will need to do in order to be the last team standing after the Eastern Conference Championship curtain closes. On the basis of Boston’s impressive 95-89 victory in Cleveland—a place the Cavs went 39-2 last regular season—they are head and shoulders ahead of Cleveland for conference supremacy. Here’s why. Boston After starting off the game in pajamas and sleepwalking to an early 21-7 deficit, the Celtics displayed better balance and more versatility than the Cavs. Whether via Kevin Garnett post ups, Paul Pierce screen/rolls, Ray Allen transition threes, or give-and-go’s to Rajon Rondo, Boston created better shots for more players than Cleveland did. While Pierce didn’t come close to matching LeBron James’ numbers, he did seal the victory with ten straight fourth quarter points. The Celtics would target Shaquille O’Neal in screen/rolls, and with Shaq too cumbersome to move, Pierce would wind up with and sink a pair of mid-range jump shots to doom the Cavs. Speaking of poor screen defense, whenever the Celtics targeted Zydrunas Ilgauskas in a high screen, Rasheed Wallace would be wide open behind the three-point line. It was Wallace’s slick shooting—3-6 3FG—that helped the Celtics recover from their inauspicious start, while fending off the Cavs in the end. Wallace, Pierce, Ray Allen, Eddie House, and Marquise Daniels all had the touch—9-19 3FG. Boston did an especially good job spotting up in transition. Kevin Garnett appeared a step slow. He had no lift or explosion, yet he sank a critical fall away bank shot with Shaq draped all over him. Plus, as the game wore on, Garnett appeared more limber on the defensive end. Kendrick Perkins fought his way to near-even terms with Shaq, registering nine points to Shaq’s 10. Perkins even showed developing range on his jump shot, sinking two of five 12-foot jumpers. Ray Allen was able to post Daniel Gibson for profit. Boston’s bench severely outplayed Cleveland’s bench. Daniels, House and Wallace made their shots while Ilgauskas, Daniel Gibson, Jamario Moon, and J.J. Hickson bricked theirs. Daniels even showed he might be able to play backup point guard in a pinch. Boston sank their free throws, 22-26. The Celtics fought harder for loose balls, and had more range to track down missed shots. Consider Rajon Rondo outworking Mo Williams to a debilitating offensive rebound leading to a Ray Allen jump shot, and Rondo again, taking a rebound away from Ilgauskas to secure another extra possession for the Celtics. How many point guards make as many plays as Rondo does without being spectacular scorers? Boston’s defense was much tighter than Cleveland’s, especially on the perimeter. Rajon Rondo wouldn’t let Mo Williams initiate Cleveland’s offense, Perkins was able to slug it out with Shaq, Marquise Daniels played quick-handed defense on LeBron for several possessions, and Rasheed Wallace continued to remind the world that he’s a Hall-of-Fame class help defender, both on his impeccable rotations and on his ability to show and recover on screens. It was this defense that forced the Cavs to revert back to typical Bron-ball—dribble around, maybe get a screen, maybe not, and have everybody else stand and watch. Not everything worked perfectly for Boston. Rasheed Wallace showed no inclination to play in the post, a fact that is mitigated by Boston’s share of power scorers and their opponent’s interior muscle. Boston, and especially Perkins, get careless on their screen-setting. Three-times this resulted in the offensive player needlessly mauling a defender and a foul being called. Garnett looks two steps slower, and six inches lower off the ground when running and jumping. His high release and ability to unleash post moves without dribbling will compensate on the offensive end, but will he be able to cover ground defensively? The Celtics still don’t have an adequate backup point guard. Sheldon Williams missed nearly every single one of his rotations and had a pass flat-out go through his hands on offense. What do the Celtics see in him? Still, the Celtics have a championship-caliber defense with offensive firepower. With Orlando a relative unknown with so many major new pieces, the Celtics are the safest pick to represent the East in the Finals. Cleveland First the good. LeBron’s jumper was solid, 7-14 with better mechanics. He sank four of his nine threes, and connected on three of his five jumpers from within the arc. Bron-Bron also had two of his customary highlight-reel blocks, stuffed a Pierce jumper back in his face, and closed out well on the perimeter. James’ halfcourt, on-ball defense was overrated last season, but he was solid against Boston. Shaq was occasionally able to zone the basket defensively walling off Boston from a few good looks. Anthony Parker hit two of his three standstill treys, and hit a nifty foul line jumper off a weak-side curl. Daniel Gibson applied good on-ball pressure to Allen. However, many of the same problems that sank Cleveland last season haven’t been rectified. The Cavs still do a poor job defending power forwards who can shoot the three. The pick-and-pop game dissected them last season; how are they going to stop Wallace and Orlando’s suite of frontcourt gunners? The probable answer is that they wont. While LeBron occasionally posted up with success, he was stationed down low too infrequently. In general, Cleveland’s offense lacked movement. Shaq wasn’t a non-factor, but he doesn’t have the agility to trump a hard-working grunt like Perkins. Mo Williams couldn’t get to where he wanted to go and compensated by jacking up bad shots and turning his head defensively. The better the competition, the brighter the lights, the more and more Williams gets exposed. With Shaq mediocre, and Williams a disaster, the Cavs couldn’t find another player to create his own offense. Plus Jamrio Moon took quick shots and made an awful closeout on a Marquise Daniels three. They really miss Delonte West’s toughness and versatility. J.J. Hickson is a D-leaguer masquerading as a rotation player. The Cavs screen defense was porous as was their transition defense in tagging spot-up shooters. Anthony Parker was guilty of this transgression, though perhaps Toronto doesn’t instruct their players to aggressively chase off the line. If so, this area could easily improve. Still, the more things change, the more things stay the same. The Cavs are still too much LeBron, not enough everything else.

They're playing so well right now, I wouldn't change a thing. Richardson's playing some good defense right now, and Beasley gives the lineup some scoring punch. If it aint broken, don't fix it!

It's different for every team. Usually I'm against it, especially if it's a problem of the players not executing instead of anything the coaches are doing. Look at the Nets for example, they're struggling but virtually none of it is Lawrence Frank's fault, he's doing the best he can with no talent. With New Orleans though, they've failed to adapt their game the past three years and teams know exactly how to play them (Let Paul go crazy at the expense of his teammates, or rough Paul up and trap all his screens). The Hornets have played stale, and Scott isn't getting through. The team lacks imagination, and they're playing a grind-it-out style with up-tempo players. I have no qualms about Scott getting fired, he hasn't done a good enough job the last season-plus.

Stay in front of Nash, post Nash, score on Nash without the benefit of a screen, do anything off-the-ball, get his teammates to play hard, bring back Tyson Chandler, bring in some depth, get rid of Okafor and Stojakovic, get Posey to give a damn, fire Byron Scott...

Portland might be able to capture an 8 seed without Roy, but he's a superstar (a legit one) who makes everyone around him better and who pulls wins away from potential losses. The Blazers don't want to think what they'd be without him.