A Look At Contracts

I know, I know, this has been done a million times. That doesn't mean I can't have fun with the subject too. Here's a list of some bad contracts broken down into a few different categories. I tried not to evaluate players still on their rookie contracts. I also steered away from expiring contracts because those actually have value even if the player is being grossly over-paid (I just couldn't resist a few of these expiring contracts).


Cashing in and coasting
Baron Davis - 3 more years at $13,050,000, $13,950,000, $14,850,000
Davis has never been the same since inking his new deal. Is it the long-term stability, his knees, or the absence of the Warriors run-n-gun style? Either way his production and efficiency have taken a nose dive since moving to LA.

Elton Brand - 3 more years at $15,959,099, $17,059,726, $18,160,354
The often injured Brand is 6 points and 3.5 rebounds below his career averages. And he is only getting older

Loul Deng - 4 more years at $11,355,850, $12,341,275, $13,326,700, $14,312,125
Deng actually beat his career number this season. Still, he eats a lot of cap space to produce at the rate of a 3rd option. I guess you could make the case that he should be able to relax after earning enough money to put him in the top .5 % of money earners in his home country.

Contract Year Dedication
Matt Carroll - 3 years remaining at $4,300,000, $3,900,000, $3,500,000
Scoring 9 points per for the worst team in league (at the time ) in his contract year earned him this fat contract. Carroll, an alleged 3-point marksman, hasn't shot over 27% from the arc in the 3 seasons since he signed this deal. Additionally, I have yet to see a white guy pull of wearing an arm sleeve, but nice try, Matt.

Larry Hughes - expiring contract for $13,655,268 paid by the Kings
Hughes chucked his way into a contract worthy of being LeBron's sidekick for the Cavs. The only problem has been Hughes chucking his way out of rotations ever since he signed this deal. He has played for 5 teams since signing, and I'm sure all the teams he went to thought they were getting a better player than he always turned out to be.

Andrei Kirilenko - One year left at $17,822,187
Kirilenko's points plunged 7 points after signing this deal in '06. He has been steadily improving his numbers since but not to the level of his contract year. To his credit, if was getting paid $17M and was married to a Russian Pop Star that allows me to cheat, I would do a lot crazier things than mentally checking out of my profession and cutting Mohawks in my hair.

Big Contracts that take up big bench space
Mark Blount - expiring contract at season's end for $7,962,500
Earned almost $8M to stay at home

Erick Dampier - one year left at $13,075,000
He earned this fat contract putting up 12/12 for the Warriors. In the 6 years since then his best numbers have been 9/8.5. Obviously the Mavs didn't learn from this after offering Martin Gortat hard cash to produce the same type of numbers. Luckily the Magic matched Gortat's offer sheet and now it is their headache

Kenny Thomas - contract expires at season's end for $8,553,125
Played 26 games for the Kings, averaging 1.2 points per

If he did want to mettle, Obama may void these contracts
Matt Bonner - expiring contract at $3,240,380
Does the Collective Bargaining Agreement mandate a certain amount of the leagues salaries to go to white Americans?

Brian Scalabrine - expiring contract at $3,413,793
Does the Collective Bargaining Agreement mandate a certain amount of the leagues salaries to go to white Americans?

Jason Kapono - one year left at $6,641,440
Okay, Kapono can shoot. But with a career average of 19 minutes per, $6.6M seems like more of a stretch than the yoga instructor from Couples Retreat.


Fresh Ink
Desagana Diop - 3 more years at $6,478,600, $6,925,400, $7,372,200
Lasagna Flop is making serious loot for only playing 27 games and 261 minutes. If he were paid by the point, every bucket would earn him roughly $406,000!

Hedo Turkoglu - 4 more years at $9,800,000, $10,600,000, $11,400,000, $12,200,000
Turkododo wants out of Toronto! Well I'm sure they would oblige your request if they could find any takers. With his coring down over 5 points per and his efficiency below his already inefficient levels, Tukododo needs a change of scenery. It was obvious that the team was better with the low-profile, less paid options off their bench in Sonny Weems and Antoine Wright.

Shawn Marion - 4 years at $7,305,500, $7,975,932, $8,646,364, $9,316,796
The aging Marion is already 5 points per below is career averages. His age is showing in more ways that his hairline. He's not the worst player to have on your team but when his deal expires he will be 37 years old. Ouch!

WTF
Gilbert Arenas - 4 years at $17,730,694, $19,269,308, $20,807,922, $22,346,536
As selfish and inefficient as they come. They may be able to sucker some poor team into taking this contract off their hands. It would still be a rip-off even if the team acquiring Arenas gave up next to nothing.



Peja Stojakovic - one year at $15,336,000
Peja got old fast. His contract may be a trade chip next season for the cash strapped Hornets. His efficiency has been declining and his field goal % are hovering right around 40%.

Luke Walton
The Walton name carries this contract for everything beyond the veterans minimum. To be fair, Walton averaged 11 points in 33 minutes in his contract year for the talent starved Lakers of 06-07.

Book Review: The Art of a Beautiful Game by Chris Ballard

Chris Ballard's book, The Art of a Beautiful Game, was an interesting and pleasurable read for a hoops junkie like me. It took me only about a week to read. He goes in depth on the greatest athletes the NBA has. The book is broken down into chapters that focus on common themes - rebounding, free throws, Kobe's killer instinct, etc. I would recommend it for serious NBA fans. It is interesting enough for the casual fan to enjoy but the insight's Ballard offers are wouldn't be a well received without a strong base of basketball knowledge. I rate it 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Things I found interesting or notable


Kobe
-Ballard says he has the highest killer instinct in the NBA
-Kobe studied NBA tapes sent by his grandparents while he was in Italy w/ his father, who played professionally
-Kobe took the singer Brandy to his high school prom
-Brian Shaw said the only player he saw work as hard as Kobe was Larry Bird
-Ballard said deep down Kobe is a basketball nerd

Shooters
-Steve Kerr retired w/ the highest 3-point FG % (45.4)
-Legend has it that Brent Barry made 97/100 3s in practice. Additionally, Chris Mullin once made 194 consecutive jumpers in a workout
-In 2005 Antoine Walker shot 645 3s, 100 more than the next closest player in attempts, and made 34.4%
-Jordan made only 5 of 35 3s when he participated in the 3-point Shootout - the worst score in the history of the contest
-Rashard Lewis said he could beat Ray Allen "maybe one out of 100 times" in a shooting contest

Rebounding
-Dwight Howard is 7', 265 lbs and can bench 225lbs 25 times. He has a reach of 9 1/2 ft with his 37" vertical
-Bill Russell averaged 22.5 rebounds for his career and Wilt Chamberlain averged 27.2 rpg in his best rebounding season
-No NBA player has got 27 rebounds in a game since 2002
-Danny Fortson said Shaq is the hardest guy to box out in the NBA
-Phil Jackson said Dennis Rodman was the most remarkable athlete he ever coached - not Jordan or Kobe

Dunking
-Jason Kapono is 6'8" and has never dunked in an NBA game
-Only 4% of the American population is over 6'2"
-Shawn Kemp said dunking was "better than sex"
-The dunk was banned from NCAA basketball from 1967-76

Free Throws
-Wilt missed 10 of 10 from the free throw line one game - in his 100 point game, he made 28 of 32
-Nearly 1 of 5 points in the NBA is a free throw
-71 year old Tom Amberry made 2,750 consecutive free throws, a Guiness World Record. Amberry hit over 500 consecutive FTs on 431 separate occasions
-2 years in a row Dwight Howard shot better from the field than the free throw line

Shane Battier
-Shane Battier's goal is to limit the guy he is guarding to under 44% shooting.
-Battier does this by playing the %s and angles.
-His greatest defensive weapon is contesting without fouling
-Battier said Kevin Martin is the best in the league at getting to the free throw line

Idan Ravin
-Idan Ravin is the "Hoops Whisperer". He trains LeBron, Kevin Martin, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Loul Deng and more
-He doesn't kiss players ass or tell them how good they are. He told LeBron he can't dribble
-Some stablished coaches don't like him because he is not part of the hoops fraternity
-Ravin usually does 45 minute training sessions w/ drills focusing on game situations with an element of conditioning

The Evolution of the Center Position
David Robinson is 7'1", 265lbs with small forward skills and a 34 inch waist. He averaged 21.1 ppg and 10.6 rpg for his career
-Dirk Nowitzki was traded on draft day for Tractor Traylor and Pat Garrity. Steve Nash was also acquired by Dallas for Pat Garrity, a #1 draft pick and 2 other players. Essentially they acquired 2 future MVPs for bench players
-Dirk became the 1st 7-footer to be in the top ten in the NBA in 3-point attempts and makes. He was also the 1st 7-footer to win the 3-point Shootout
-Yao Ming's parents were encouraged to mate by the Chinese Government. His parents were both very good basketball players. Yao was 5'5" at age 10! Yao never dorve a ca before coming to the US and is known for erratic driving skills. He is also the best back-to-the-basket center at free throws (near 86%)

Blocks
-During typical NBA season there are nearly 8,000 dunks - more than 3 per game. Only an average of about 300 dunks get blocked per season
-Manute Bol, the 7'7" Sudenese player, once blocked 8 shots in 1 quarter. He had more blocks than points in 8 of his 10 years in the NBA
-Mark Eaton blocked 456 shots in 1994-95, an average of 5.6 per game
-Reggie Evans had 18% of his shots blocked in one season
-In 2005-06 Chris Bosh blocked 74 shots without 1 going out of bounds
-Alonzo Mourning blocked 27 shots in a high school game

LeBron
-LeBron was never dedicated to weight training until 2008, 5 years after he was in the NBA. Now he does mostly core exercises instead of bulk lifts like the bench press
-LeBron covers baseline to baseline in 9-10 steps. The average NBA player needs 11-14
-LeBron says he jumps half a foot higher of his left foot than off 2 legs
-LeBron's hands are 9 1/4 inches long and he has been able to palm a basketball since 10th grade

Denver Nuggets Off-Season Shake-Up: The Opportunities and Possibilities Surrounding the NBA's 2010 Off-Season

Denver is in a tough spot. They have talent and are contending team. They have little room to shake up their roster, but not enough talent to be very confident about beating the Lakers, Spurs, Suns and all the other solid teams in the West. They had the 8th highest payroll last season and the vast majority of that will return next season.

The don't have draft picks either. Denver traded Charlotte's 1st round pick they acquired last season to Minnesota for the draft rights of Ty Lawson. They also traded their own 1st round pick for Steven Hunter (Whoops!). They traded their 2nd round pick of next month's draft to New York for Renaldo Balkman. This doesn't just mean that Denver doesn't have much of a chance at acquiring new young talent, but it also means they don't have picks to leverage in other trades.

The Nuggets was nearing $75M last season and $73M will return. Eating up big chunks of payroll are Carmelo ($17.1M), Kenyon Martin ($16.5M), Chauncey Billups (13.1M), and Nene (11.3M). Martin's contract is a problem. His contract is a actually a player option but I could not see any way he declines this option since his open market value is significantly lower. Carmelo has a player option after next season and Billups has a team option after next season. So if they were going to blow up their roster, after next season would be the time.



<<< Paid



Denver does have their full mid-level exception and bi-annual exception. After using their mid-level on Chris Anderson last season, they should look to make this money count this off-season. Bi-annual money can only do so much considering the most relevant bi-annual contract given out last season was to Flip Murray. They could upgrade at shooting guard with their mid-level, which could be Ray Allen or Ronny Brewer. JR Smith is too inconsistent and Arron Afflalo is only Arron Afflalo.

Another route they could take firming up their front court. Nene and Martin are both injury prone and no one wants to see Johan Petro getting playoff minutes next season. I like Udonis Haslem with this group or Tyrus Thomas. It is also important to remember that the mid-level and can split up between multiple players. So Ronny Brewer and Udonis Haslem could both potentially come as free agents.

What are their other options? JR Smith would draw some interest because of his potential, shooting ability, and athleticism. I'm sure most teams would want to stay away after considering his history of bad behavior. Additionally, I would pose the question: Is it too early to turn the PG position over to Ty Lawson? He showed promise but probably isn't ready to be a championship level NBA PG. Billups value is not going to get any higher and it took a hit with some of his ghostly performances this post-season. But he is a championship level PG, and many teams would give up some goods for his services.

It may be time for a shake-up for the Nuggets. The West isn't getting weaker anytime soon and the core of this Nuggets team has given it 2 solid tries already. If they don't mix things up, it will be more of the same for Denver.


This type of athleticism can off-set Smith's laundry list of legal offenses



Mbenga and Powell think he is ready to be THE point guard^^^

Rose Vs Westbrook: A Point Guard Comparison

Both 2nd year point guards are in the forefront of the new breed of NBA point guards. The new breed is the super athlete. The guy who isn't as statistically dominating in the college game as a Michael Beasley or Kevin Durant, but are a prized possession due to their size and athleticism. This trend is most evidently clear at the point guard position. Both Rose and Westbrook are listed around 6'3” and 190 pounds and have only one month separating them in age (Rose is a little over a month older than Westbrook). They play similar style of game which will be compared more in more depth throughout this article.

Westbrook had rather pedestrian college stats considering he was the 4th selection overall in the 2008 draft, 3 picks after the #1 overall selection, Derrick Rose. Westbrook entered the draft after his sophomore year at UCLA where he averaged 12.7 points per game in 33 minutes. His freshman year at UCLA was a learning season for Russell, only averaging 9 minutes a game and 3.4 points. This is an enormous jump from averaging 3.4 points per game as a freshman in college to averaging 16.1 points per game three years later for playoff team in the NBA. Part of this improvement should obviously be attributed to natural progression but what should not be over looked is the Russell's skill set being a better fit for the NBA game. There are multiple factors why the NBA structure fits the athletic point guard more than the college game. These include the limited hand checking in the NBA, more space to maneuver with a longer 3-point line, the limited capabilities of NBA teams to implore an effective zone defense, and the fact that most NBA players are deadly shooters, making it harder to help and recover.

Rose was much more of an NBA prospect coming out of high school than Westbrook. He certainly had some hype surrounding him but Michael Beasley was putting up huge numbers as a freshman at Kansas State during that same season. I remember thinking Beasley was the better player at the time. Boy, was I wrong! Beasley hasn't figured the NBA out yet and Rose is on the edge of super-stardom. Rose was ranked 5th in the recruiting class of 2007. Names ahead of him on the list of high schoolers include OJ Mayo, Kevin Love, Eric Gordan and the aforementioned Beasley. If Rose were to of stayed all 4 years at Memphis, he, like Kyle Singler, would be entering his final NCAA season next year. Rose showed enough in his only year at Memphis to get picked 1st overall. There was a debate between Rose and Beasley for the #1 pick but Rose's hometown team, the Chicago Bulls [1], had the selection. It was situation where it made as much sense to pick Rose as it did to not want to overlook the hometown boy who could come back to haunt the franchise. So Rose was the pick of Chicago, followed by Beasley by Miami, Mayo by Minnesota (later traded to Memphis), and then Westbrook by Oklahoma City.

That brings us to the NBA performance of Westbrook and Rose. Both players increased their scoring averages from their final college season to their rookie year in the NBA and then again from their rookie season to their second year in the NBA. What makes them different and in what ways are they similar? Comparing these two is made a lot easier because they play a similar amount of minutes and use a similar amount of possessions per game, with Rose slightly ahead in both areas. This has to do with Rose already being the man in Chicago while Westbrook is sitting in the passenger seat in OKC with Kevin Durant driving the car. I'll examine 5 important criteria to evaluate the players against each other. Those 5 categories are scoring, passing, ball control, rebounding/defense and shooting.

Scoring – At the current stage of each of these 2 player's development, Rose is a much better scorer. It shows through in averages and efficiency. While Rose scores more, he also shoots more shots. But the big edge in scoring is the efficiency in which Rose scores. He shot nearly 48.9% from the field to Westbrook's 41.8%. Rose also plays well with others. Rose was assisted on 32% of his made baskets compared to Westbrook at 20%. Westbrook will find it is not too difficult to score as many points as Rose if he would let others create for him. But one disturbing trend I noticed with Rose is his knack for avoiding contact when driving to the basket. I noticed it when I watched him play and the numbers backed me up. Despite attempting 177 more shots than Westbrook, Rose shot 84 less free throws. Part of this is Rose shooting more jump shots than Westbrook. Another part is Rose shying away from contact and using his floater instead of finding contact from a defender [2].
Scoring Advantage: Rose

Passing – Both players blazing speed makes them a terror in transition. Westbrook has elevated his passing game in his sophomore season in the NBA, averaging 8 assists per night. Rose averaged 6 assists per game, down .3 per game from his rookie average of 6.3 per. I believe that the best assist (did you really think all assists were created equally?) possible is an assist at the rim or for a dunk. In this area Westbrook puts Rose to shame. Westbrook assisted on 123 more baskets close to the rim or dunks than Rose did this season. Jump shots can be arbitrary (unless it is Kyle Korver or a few others receiving the pass), dunks and lay-ups are made fairly consistently in the NBA. My point being that both players can pass, but Westbrook's assists are easier to convert.
Passing Advantage: Westbrook

Ball Control – By ball control I'm focusing on turnovers. Both players are required to do the majority of the ball-handling for their team, night in and night out. Both teams play at a similar pace and get nearly the same amount of possessions per game (with Chicago getting slightly more). Both players made similar amount of ball-handling turnovers but Westbrook was 2 times more likely to charge than Rose. I guess Rose avoiding body contact on drives actually helps him as a ball-handler. I was surprised to see that Rose averaged half of a turnover less than Westbrook per game. With Rose already being the man of his city, he has the responsibility to take shots or create when the shot clock is winding down. Westbrook has Durant to take these shots in OKC, leaving Russell to do most of his damage in the first 15 seconds of the shot clock. I would think this would make Rose more turnover prone because he is forced to create even when the openings are not there. But he was not. Rose is more of a steady ball-handler, compared to Westbrook who seems to be more of a high risk, high reward handler.
Ball Control Advantage: Rose

Defense and rebounding – This is an area Westbrook really excels at. Rose has the tools to defend and rebound but seems rather inept. Westbrook was 10th in the league in steals at 1.3 per game while Rose averaged .5 less. This is a lot of steals over the course of an entire season. Westbrook averages an entire rebound more than Rose per game but this difference is made up in offensive rebounds. Westbrook is a remarkable offensive rebounder for point guard. He gets more offensive rebounds than Kevin Garnett and Antawn Jamison! He gets more offensive rebounds than his 6'11” teammate, Kevin Durant, and his 6'9” teammate, Jeff Green! Another key factor to comparing these two players' defense is how their teams fair when they are not on the court. The Thunder are almost 5 points per 100 possessions worse on defense when Westbrook is out of the game. The Bulls give up roughly the same amount of points whether Rose is on the court or not.
Defense and Rebound Advantage: Westbrook

Shooting - Neither player can shoot with range, both shooting under 25% from the 3-point line. Westbrook hoists over one 3-pointer per game. Why? Someone needs to take a page out of Josh Smith's book and cut out the 3-point shot. As far as shot selection, both players score equally as well on inside and close range shots. The difference in points per game between the two comes from Rose having a more effective jumper. Rose attempts 68% of his shots on jumpers and scores 11.1 points per game on these jumpers. Westbrook uses 60% of his shots on jumpers but only scores 6.1 points per game. This works out to a difference of 10% in eFG% [3]. That's a pretty staggering difference.
Shooting Advantage: Rose

Using the 5 criteria I find most important in evaluating point guards, Rose takes 3 out of 5. I think this would be the general consensus opinion without all the analysis, especially since Rose played on TV a lot more often than Westbrook so the public got a better look at him. Westbrook definitely does some things better than Rose at this point in his career. Plus, the things Rose does well are not so much better than Westbrook that the gap couldn't be closed in the next few years of development. So who would I take? I think you can't go wrong with either of them.


[1] The Bulls won the draft lottery with only a 1.7% chance of getting the #1 pick. This is the second largest upset in draft lottery history when the Orlando Magic received the #1 pick in 1993 with only a 1.5% chance. The Magic used the pick to select Chris Webber but traded his rights to Golden State for Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway.

[2] Nice link about Rose not getting to the free throw line:
http://blog.shamsports.com/2010/04/derrick-rose-isn-very-good-at-drawing.html

[3] eFG% is a basketball statistic (shooting metric) that adjusts for the fact that a 3-point field goal is worth one more point than a 2-point field goal. For example, suppose Player A goes 4 for 10 with 2 threes, while Player B goes 5 for 10 with 0 threes. Each player would have 10 points from field goals, and thus would have the same effective field goal percentage (50%). The formula is: eFG% = (FG + 0.5*3P) / FGA

Toronto Raptors Off-Season Shake-Up: The Opportunities and Possibilities Surrounding the NBA's 2010 Off-Season

Toronto is stuck with a plethora of bad contracts. $63mil in payroll for next season includes Bosh's $17mil. With Bosh's contract clean off the books, the Raptors would have room to sign a free agent, but not a max player. It may be hard to lure free agents to play for the Raptors, but to have Jose Calderon (3 years, near $30mil), Andrea Bargnani (5 years, $50mil), Jarrett Jack (3 years, $15.5mil), and Hedo Turkoglu (4 years, $44mil) tying up all your cash doesn't give the team much hope (not to mention Reggie Evans and Marcus Banks will together make $10mil next season and only produced 8ppg combined in 2009-10).

The Raptors have 4 unrestricted free agents this summer, none of them have much bearing on the state of the franchise. Amir Johnson, Antoine Wright are serviceable players but replaceable. Rasho Nesterovic and Patrick O'Bryant only played a combined 53 games and produced very little. Aside from picking up role players with exception money, Toronto's off-season will be hinged on Chris Bosh. Initially, Bosh's opt out determines the next move for the Raptors. It will be hard to bring in a quality free agent without over paying when the core group is Turkoglu, Calderon, Bargnani and Jack. No offense to the these guys, but that doesn't stack up with most other teams nucleus of players. Now, back to Bosh...



I have a hard time picturing any scenario where Bosh stays in Toronto. Granted, he can earn the most money over a long-term deal with the Raptors but I don't think that outweighs the darkness that is the future of the franchise with it's current pieces. With an excess of teams having money to blow, too many intriguing scenarios exist with Bosh in the middle. If, or when, he opts out, he will be the premier available post player of the summer, much more highly sought after than even Amare, if he becomes available. To form a truly unstoppable combination of players, skill sets have to compliment each other. That's why Bosh/Wade or LeBron/Bosh makes infinitely more sense than Wade/LeBron. Only one guy can iso at the top of the key with the ball, and both LeBron and Wade are accustomed to being that guy. But here are some interesting scenarios that could possibly play out with Bosh in the off-season as a free agent.

Re-sign
-Bosh stays in Toronto, regrets it for the next 6 years, and has to watch Hedo hobble around on defense until he can become a free agent again (which is when he would not make the same mistake of re-signing with the Raptors)

Free Agent Market
-Bosh signs with OKC adding solidifying their youthful optimism. He fits under the cap and fits a true need for the Thunder who have little or no scoring presence underneath. Westbrook, Durant, Green, Bosh, Ibaka and Green could do some serious damage as they continue to mature. The only problem with this scenario is how small of a market OKC is. LeBron can go anywhere and be a huge star. Bosh needs a huge market to elevate himself into super-stardom and it is clear he wants that with his weird YouTube videos and Twitter shenanigans. Given how under-exposed OKC was last season, it doesn't quite fit Bosh's attention seeking actions.

-Bosh goes to Miami to play with a re-signed Dwayne Wade. Miami would still have enough money to add more parts, Ray Allen or Mike Miller could be a nice compliment to Wade and Bosh. This dynamic duo, with a few helpers, could have a stretch of 4-5 years of in the top few teams in the East.

-Bosh goes to New York, forming a super squad with other big name free agents. Wade, James, Joe Johnson could all make sense, but none of them signing seems more likely to me.

Sign and Trade
The sign and trade seems to be the most likely scenario for Bosh. Using a sign and trade he could go to a contender which is what I would assume Bosh would like the most. As long as the traded salaries match up, he is fair game to all teams. The sign and trade is beneficial to both teams and even more beneficial than usual for Toronto since they have have historically had a hard time persuading free agents to sign with them even when they over pay. This way they don't have to convince another player Toronto is the right spot for them, it's $17mil worth of some other person's sales job. And there should be a bevy of teams that would trade some valuables to get Bosh. Here is a few sign and trade possibilities:
-Bosh to NY for a package that includes David Lee
-Bosh to LA for a package that includes Andrew Bynum
-Bosh to Dallas, Houston (Bosh is form Texas), Chicago
-Bosh to Cleveland in a package that includes Mo Williams, Delonte West and JJ Hickson. The Cavs would probably have to take on some bad contracts (take your pick, but most likely Turkoglu) too to make this work

Who makes sense in the draft (pick 13): Ed Davis (UNC), Hassan Whiteside (Mar), Ekpe Udoh (Baylor), or Danial Orton (Ky). Toronto lack front court toughness. Both Bosh and Bargnani and softies. I expect a focus on defensive toughness and an inside presence whether Bosh stays of leaves.

These videos cracks me up, especially the first one. It does have some foul language so be warned


Bosh and Colangelo have another chat

Philadelphia 76ers Off-Season Shake-Up: The Opportunities and Possibilities Surrounding the NBA's 2010 Off-Season

Philly is a below average team with very little cap maneuverability. Contracts coming off the books include Allen Iverson, Fransico Elson, Rodney Carney and Willie Green (In the unlikely event Green opts out). These combined salaries don't even equal the amount of the pay raises from existing contracts. Already approaching the luxury tax threshold, Philly won't be too active this summer unless they are unloading contracts for cheap. They do have their full mid-level exception and bi-annual exception so a few players could be snagged with that available cash.

The 76ers won the draft lottery last night, earning the number 2 pick overall. Evan Turner is widely regarded as the second best player in this draft, this is assuming John Wall goes #1 to Washington. If Philly drafts Turner and doesn't trade Thad Young or Andre Iguodala, the roster would seem pretty full of wing players with overlapping skill sets. I think they should consider trading down, trading Iggy or looking at Favors or Cousins with the second overall selection. But I think the most likely scenario is shipping Iggy out to make room for their selection, Turner.

Elton Brand looks to be one of the worst signings in recent years (26th in the league in salary compensation while ranking 98th in production) and he still has 3 years and nearly $51mil remaining on his latest deal. Jason Kapono and Samuel Dalembert are making a combined $18mil and only contributing limited stats in role player minutes. Andre Iguodala's contract is worth shopping because it may be able to return some value. With the current collection of hard to move contracts, it seems near impossible for the 76ers to win with Iggy, so his greatest value may ultimately be as a trade chip. The only untouchables on the 76ers roster should be Jrue Holiday and maybe Thad Young (due to their potential and easily absorbed rookie contracts). Other than that, the rest of the roster should at least be put on the auction block for potential callers.

(Jrue Holiday: one guy who is happy Philly got the #2 pick, instead of #1)

Breaking news: The 76ers acquired Doug Collins from the coaching recycling bin to be their new head coach. Collins seems like a smart cookie but I have to wonder if there was someone out there with an act we haven't seen already. But then again, a beer vendor dressed in a gorilla suit could have coached Philly better than Eddie Jordan and his Princeton offense failure.

Who makes sense in free agency: Tyrus Thomas, Ronnie Brewer, Brad Miller

Who makes sense in the draft: Evan Turner (OSU), Derrick Favors (GTech), DeMarcus Cousins (Ky)

In Defense of the Rim

I embarked on a quest to explore NBA's paint patrollers and found some interesting characters. These men who protect the basket with fouls, blocks and charges come in many different styles. Some players will only block shots (Dwight Howard [1]). Some players will only take charges (Nick Collison [2], but does he really have another option?). Some players do little of either shot blocking or charge taking, preferring to let human projectiles earn free throws by bouncing off their bodies (I'm looking at you, Carlos Boozer [3]). The final definitive style is a player who manages to find a rare balance between taking the charge and swat patrolling. To my surprise, the perfect match for this was Andrew Bogut [4].


[1] Howard's 2.77 blocks per ranked first in the league. He also had a charge rate .04 (well below league average) giving him the widest margin of blocked shots to charges taken

[2] Collison is the leader of pack when it comes to big men that are almost exclusively charge takers. He is one of only 3 players that protect the paint with their bodies more than with the blocked shot. Collison's .76 charges per game and .65 blocks per game set the standard of sacrificing your body. And he does this all in under 21 minutes per game! Another interesting case study was Ersan Ilyasova. A horrendous shot blocker (.27 a game) and fairly good charge taker (.58). I'm not convinced that he is as good at taking charges as the stats appear. My theory is that the other players just try to run him over as hard as they can because he resembles the serial killer Richard Ramirez [A] so damn much! You be the judge...











Another player of note that has such a unbalanced ratio of charges to blocks is Luis Scola, although his margin between charges and blocks is not on Ilyasova's level. He does have one advantage – players just don't have the same animosity toward him on their drive as they do when they are penetrating at the serial rapist Richard Ramirez's twin. They get one glimpse out of their peripherals at this retarded-looking version of Johnny Depp from Pirates of Caribbean and the contact becomes more sympathetic than of punishment delivered.













[3] Boozer implores the Zach Randolph defensive strategy. Go for the strip down low, never contest the jump shot, and then run to the defensive glass as fast as possible to collect the board. And this behavior is being rewarded in form a massive contracts! Boozer is terrible at both blocking shots and taking charges. There are certainly plenty of big men that are either bad shot blockers or bad charge takers. It's not their fault, they just don't do it well. But very few of the big men that are as deficient as Boozer in either of those areas feel the need to not even attempt to do the other. With the exception of David Lee... Yes, the same David Lee who got an all-defensive team vote this season (This is a mockery to the selection process!). Both players show a disgraceful effort of around .1 charges per and .45 blocks per. But don't forget about that quick ball swipe before they run to the glass for the defensive rebound. They are equally efficient at this technique, leading to about 1.05 steals per.

And if you were wondering about Randolph, he sits at .06 charges taken per, .42 blocks per, and .99 steals per. His proteges Lee and Boozer have surpassed his level of laziness and selfishness.

[4] Andrew Bogut should have been an all-star. He should have made it over David "I'm not going to stop you from shooting but let me get the defensive rebound if you miss" Lee and Al Horford, for sure. Bogut's .76 charges per game were good for 4th in the league out of players who played significant minutes. His 2.54 blocks per was second only to Dwight Howard.

The next closest player with rim protection balance was Marc Gasol. Gasol was in the top 20 in the NBA for blocks and was right behind Bogut in charges taken. He also added 1 steal per game which is rather impressive. Can we get some love for the non-American bigs who do whatever it takes to protect the paint?

Bonus material
The hybrid fouler and shot blocker has come to life. If there are any modern day Frankensteins out there, see if you make this happen:

If Dwight Howard and Carlos Boozer spawned a child, and that child grew up to take pictures of its reproductive organ, then posted those pictures on the internet, what would you get? You guessed it, GREG ODEN (Search for these pics on the net at your own discretion!)! Oden led the league in fouls per game by by a fairly wide margin despite playing between 6-8 less minutes per game than his closest competition for the crown of "Least Body Control By A Big Man [B]."


[A] This look-a-like is not an original thought of mine. I read it somewhere on the net but I can't remember where.

[B] Oden competes for this crown like he agreed to an incentive based pay raise in his contract for taking home this prize. His main competition for it are Jason Thompson, Marc Gasol, Dwight Howard, and Andris Biedrins. I really hope Oden can get healthy for next season so none of these other big men encroach on his territory (for their own sake because he will foul them hard if they do).

Boston Celtics Off-Season Shake-Up: The Opportunities and Possibilities Surrounding the NBA's 2010 Off-Season

Do you know what this NBA off-season needs? One more non-expert speculating on how the NBA's off-season will play out. And I think that non-expert should be me. Over the next month I will analyze every NBA team on their focus, priorities, options and possibilities for the 2010 off-season.


The Celtics return $63.3mil in payroll for the 2010-11 season despite being relieved of (or, at least drastically reduced) Ray Allen's near $20mil contract. Of course they can resign Allen, even though they are over the cap due to Allen's bird years, but I would have to think Boston needs to get some younger legs. With the large amount of free cap space available within the league, I would not be surprised if he got a deal worth more than the mid-level exception.

An even more interesting scenario would play out if Allen were to sign for the mid-level exception with a “dream team” free agent pairing – think Allen w/ Bosh and Wade in Miami, or Allen with LeBron and Bosh in New York. Allen could also jump on with another contender for the mid-level exception. Can you picture Ray Allen playing in Orlando's system with Dwight Howard? How about w/ Melo and Chauncey in Denver? But he could end up right back in Boston. I think this largely depends on the finish to this season and the desire Boston has to keep him. Boston is up 1-0 on Orlando as of today in the Eastern Conference Finals. It would be awful hard to disband a team that has had such a high level of success when all the pieces are healthy. But it may be the right thing to do.



While I'm discussing Allen, I would like to explain why he is so valuable despite his stats declining in recent years. No one in the league can shoot off screens as effectively as Allen. He has to be chased around all screens (and he has the stamina and conditioning to run around screens all game) because he is so lethal on the move without the ball and nearly automatic with his feet set. But the true beauty is the offense when Allen is not receiving the ball. With Allen's man still tied up chasing him around, whichever team he ends up playing for will be essentially playing 4 vs 4 on offense. Ever wonder why Rondo and KG hook up for alley-oops so easily? Mostly because the defense is missing a help side defender.

Moving on after that brief digression... Garnett and Wallace are both on the books for the next 2 seasons, both earning more than they are worth. Wallace will earn nearly $7mil in 2011-12! Major fail by Danny Ainge. Garnett will earn $21mil in 2011-12. He was well worth the $ when he signed the deal but his lack of mobility now makes him over paid. Is Garnett still effective w/ limited mobility and increasing age? Absolutely! His high release and overall intensity keep him in the top half of the league for power forwards. Rondo is locked up for a long while which is great for Boston. As far as them being active players this off-season, it is not very feasible.

They have a mid-level exception available which can be divided between multiple players. They may need to sign multiple players with the exception money because the depth of Boston is an issue. Daniels did not fit well in Boston and I would be surprised if he came back. He has no bird rights, so he would have to signed with exception money. I would bet my first born that Nate Robinson won't be back (especially if Doc returns as coach) after marinating on the bench since being acquired from the Knicks. The Celtics also own bird rights on Tony Allen. I would guess he would be back, especially if Ray Allen leaves town. Tony Allen has been a huge post-season surprise for the Celts. He may be able to turn this post-season into a better deal (yes, I realize what I just said... there is a lot of money out there to be spent, you never know) than the Celts want to give him.

Without a major trade, the Celtics are looking at a core of players very similar to this season. They may use exception money to grab a few role players. They also have a mid to late first round draft pick but I don't see how they acquire a real impact player without dealing. And it would take some guts to trade off these aging superstars after they won the 2007-08 championship, received an incomplete grade last season for not having KG in the playoffs, and shocked the world by eliminating the LeBronaliers and taking home court from Orlando.

Who makes sense in free agency: Randy Foye, Raja Bell, Kyle Korver, Quentin Richardson (that is a joke)

Who makes sense in the draft: Danial Orton (Ky), Avery Bradley (Tex) - his dog-nasty defense would fit in perfect for Boston, Lance Stephenson (Cincy) or Luke Harangody (ND) - only as a possible replacement for Scalabrine

Editor Note: I was informed Boston has no mid-level exception for next year. I was under the impression that each team's mid-level replenished each year. I'm not sure if Rasheed's mid-level qualifies for this next season too, or they used it somewhere else. I am positive that they did use their bi-annual on Marquis Daniels last off-season so they don't have that. Until I find out for sure if they do or do not have their mid-level, I will stubbornly leave the post unedited.