Erick Blasco

I saw parts of the documentary, very sad stuff. I never knew all the details until I watched it. And ECN, he wasn't just supposed to be the next Michael Jordan, he was supposed to be another Jordan playing against Jordan! They come from the same era and played against each other in college.

Wish I could've seen this game. Looks like it was a fun one (unlike all those blowouts from last year's playoffs). The Grand Efficiency Experiment is now 3-2, but they definitely look like a playoff team.

Terry has a history of choking and simply performed true to his history. Peja has a history of choking and surprisingly stepped through when his team needed it. New Orleans wins, Dallas loses.

Les Miserables I'm halfway through after starting last summer and ditching it for a while. The book is loooooong.

Ball Don't Lie has the answer to why not: http://sports.yahoo....ent-off?urn=nba,199822

The NBA Inefficient Talented Star Player experiment isn't working!

The NBA Efficient Role Player experiment is working!

Wasn't Okafor brought in for defense? Why can't he stop David Lee? The Hornets are a mess right now. On the other hand, Chandler's been a disaster for the Bobcats.

Who needs field goals when your opponent is a mess and you can smother them with defense? On another note, when is Charlotte going to play a team that's in the middle of the pact. So far they've faced arguably the two best teams in the East and arguably the two worst, smothering the bad teams and getting smothered by the good ones. They need to play the Raptors or the Sixers so people can get a good gauge on who they are.

1) Shawn Marion or Josh Howard? 2) Were you surprised at how the Mavs dominated the Lakers? 3) How do you see Dallas finishing this season? 4) Any thoughts on the Clippers horrible start? 5) Any thoughts on Emeka Okafor being a non-factor in New Orleans? 6) Who would win in a fight, J.J. Barea or our own referee Wali? 7) Greatest closer of all time, Mariano Rivera, Kyra Sedgwick, or the song by NeYo? 8) Greatest Fox of all time, Fox Mulder, Foxy Brown, Megan Fox, Foxy Cleopatra, or Chad Fox? 9) If there were a main event of a fight, but an epidemic broke out, what would happen? 10) Favorite movie that begins with the letter J?

I didn't think he had the range from deep to hit more than one or two a game though. He's in the perfect system to showcase his best skill, and his worst attributes (no rebounding, defense, or interior toughness) are redundant with his teammates so they don't matter as much. If you don't care about defense, being a bad defensive player isn't the worst thing in the world.

Just adding the source for the extension news: Courtesy of Ken Berger: http://ken-berger.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/11838893/18054246

As many others have said, the Kings are a mess and the Bucks don't have much healthy talent (Bogut and Redd are coming off of serious injuries). I saw Charlotte play against the Knicks, their defense is actually fine. Man are they going to have a touch time scoring though without Flip Murray and Raja Bell stretching the floor so Boris Diaw and Gerald Wallace can post. But they're still better than Milwaukee.

There's always 2 players I completely forget to add on. Last year it was Luis Scola and somebody else. This year, it's Brandon Bass and Ramon Sessions. Sessions would be ranked #21 before the season started, although seeing Baron Davis playing exactly as he did last season, everyone in the league moves a spot ahead of him.

I've seen Jennings play exactly zero minutes. Give me a chance to see what he can do!

It's not like there's a whole lot behind Williams. Nelson isn't a great defender either, isn't as adept at getting off his own shot, and is injury prone. Then there are has-beens and question marks. Baron Davis? Monta Ellis? Kirk Hinrich?

The Joker should take notes...

I think this Rockets team is almost as good as the 95-96 Bulls.

Here's a good article about the thought of the Lakers winning 70 games this year. http://sircharlesincharge.com/2009/10/28/how-realistic-is-70-wins-for-the-lakers/

Interestingly enough, the stat crunchers at basketball-reference.com have pegged the Wizards as the third worst team in the East. Source: http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=3675

Under. I'll go with 44.

What Howard did was the definition of choke. He had a chance to put away a Finals victory at the only place on the court where you can't be defended, and he blew it.

You mean, you don't think a LeBron for Redd trade is reasonable enough to ask for? J.J. Hickson, Cleveland's first round pick this year, Daniel Gibson and Zydrunas Ilgauskas' expiring contract could be enough. If not Gibson, substitute Delonte West.

When he's not saying ridiculous things (like calling Doc Rivers a conman and praising Vinny Del Negro's coaching) which he does a lot, Rosen's a must read. I trust the methodology so much of close analysis and it really opens your eyes to players and the game. There's also a psychological aspect Rosen touches on that nobody else aside from Bill Simmons writes about, but Simmons comes from such a fan-oriented paradigm that it clouds some of his judgments. Plus, he's hypocritical at times and petty in his attacks on Kobe. The other good writers out there are journalists who strictly report, or guys like Hollinger who look at each player as a walking equasion, which is perfectly fine. I think that because Paul's a better finisher than Nash, he ends up doing a bit more than screens. Even if you put two guys under the screen, he can still get to the rim and finish a bit better than Paul does. And yes, I will use the word paradigm in my articles but that's only because in grad school, I hear the word all the time.

Just a point, these rankings came out the day before the season started. Whatever has happened this season has no bearing on the ranking.