By Henry Abbott
- Video of a labrador retriever with a decent handle, who can finish around the rim. (Yes, that's in the honored 'first bullet' slot. I swear, if I had a site with nothing but animal videos, we could kill. There's no arguing the hypnotic power of pet video.)
- If LeBron James switches to number six, he realizes he'd be carrying the torch for Julius Erving and Bill Russell. But several have pointed out that if you're going to ask players to retire #23 league-wide out of respect to Jordan, can you in good conscience wear the number of 11-title winner Russell? By the way, who are the #23s now in the NBA? Besides James it's Devin Brown, Marcus Camby, Toney Douglas, Stephen Graham, Wesley Matthews, Kevin Martin, Jodie Meeks, Byron Mullens, Jason Richardson, C.J. Watson, Martell Webster and Lou Williams. Also, some big-picture perspective on James' statements.
- Dwight Jaynes on the idea of retiring Jordan's jersey league-wide: "It may be the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever heard of. Especially for teams that Jordan beat or publicly scorned -- like Portland. Not only did Jordan hand the Blazers a loss in the NBA Finals, he has on a few occasions talked about how lucky he was never to have played here. ... I would hope we could somehow retain the impression that this league belongs to competitors. It belongs to the people whose will to win aspires to be as great as Jordan’s. And to honor those people, don’t ever hang another team’s player’s laundry in the rafters of their house."
- Deron Williams is tending to a family medical issue and is not with the team for the moment.
- A look at which Jazz lineups have had the best results so far. Also, Kyrylo Fesenko has been surprisingly good.
- Sasha Vujacic, enforcer.
- The Kids Don't Get It blog is wholly inappropriate, PG-13, playful well past the point of political correctness, and funny. It's also hard to excerpt on a family-friendly blog. But I managed to find this one line from their six-post season preview: "You realize that we’ve spent about two generations breeding and re-breeding Canadians in order to make Steve Nash, right? I mean, he’s got John Candy’s durability, Howie Mandel’s cockiness, and Avril Lavigne’s hair. He’s like our Canadian 6 Million Dollar Man."
- When do we get to the point where Delonte West's bosses tell him to stop worrying about work for a few months? This bouncing in and out of the lineup is stressing me out.
- Did Byron Scott golf his way out of a job?
- Matt McHale of Bulls by the Horns: "Here’s a rundown of the three-point shooting the Bulls and their fans have been suffering through the past few weeks. Luol Deng is actually hitting 75 percent of his threes … but he’s only attempted four of them this season. Jannero Pargo -- who was specifically brought it to provide another outside threat — is 3-for-11 (.275) on the season. (Although, to be fair, Pargo has been struggling with a creaky back. But still.) John Salmons is (prepare to throw up in your own mouth a little) 11-for-42 (.262) in the first eight games. Kirk Hinrich is 6-for-27 (.222). Brad Miller is 2-for-9 (.222). And Derrick Rose is 0-for-3. That’s it. At this point, Joakim might as well start chucking them up from downtown. I mean, even he couldn’t hit a percentage that’s much worse than the team’s designated shooters … could he?" As a follow-up: Looking at where the Bulls are getting their shots -- not from the efficient areas. Somewhere Ben Gordon giggles.
- Caron Butler, Mo Williams, Kevin Durant and Tim Duncan top a list of players who score efficiently in the final minute of very close games. (Via Daily Thunder)
- Numbers showing that for the Celtics, the story is health.
- An alarming little graphic in The New York Times wondering what would happen if the Nets and Knicks merged. The teams are a combined 1-16. If not for some LeBron James hype it's not clear the New York Metropolitan Area, in an MLB swoon, would even know the NBA season had begun.
- Nets rookie Terrence Williams plays three positions, but early evidence is that he's best as a small forward.
- Since he has been on the team, the Clippers have never won a game without Eric Gordon. Now he's out with a sprained groin, and they'll get to try some more.
- You know how teams seem to kill it in their first game after a coach is fired? Is that trend real, or perception? Anyone feel like going through lots of coaching records to find out? Hornet and Blazer fans would like to know. UPDATE: The "dead coach bounce."
- LeBron James missed a dunk, then Dwyane Wade made one. Video.
- Andrew Bynum and Jordan Farmar are better than last season, but not as good as two seasons ago, according to Wages of Wins. UPDATE: Last night's performance changed Bynum's numbers a lot.
TRUEHOOP CONTRIBUTORS
Henry AbbottTrueHoop ESPN Archive |
J.A. AdandeTrueHoop ESPN Archive |
Kevin ArnovitzTrueHoop ESPN Archive |
Chris BroussardTrueHoop ESPN Archive |
Chad FordTrueHoop ESPN Archive |
Israel GutierrezTrueHoop ESPN Archive |
John HollingerTrueHoop ESPN Archive |
Beckley MasonTrueHoop ESPN Archive |
Marc SteinTrueHoop ESPN Archive |
HoopIdeaTrueHoop @HoopIdea |
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