- David Thorpe (Insider) on the league's top rookie at the moment: "Teams know Evans wants to get to the rim, but most of them are not able to keep him from getting there -- at least without fouling." That's nothing new. Here he is last night. Here's video of Tyreke Evans as a high-school sophomore, killing it at Five-Star camp. You'll hear one bad word. It's a bystander, who watches Evans' dribbling behind-his-back at full speed in traffic, and seems to drop an involuntary curse. He said it, and a lot of people were thinking it.
- Matt McHale of By the Horns: "Here’s what I want to know. Once it became obvious that the Bulls couldn’t contain Evans with single coverage, why didn’t Vinny switch things up? Maybe throw a few double teams at him, try to get the ball out of his hands. Wouldn’t it be better to make, say, Beno Udrih or Jon Brockman try to beat you? Here’s another thought. Once it became obvious the Bulls were sleepwalking through the fourth quarter, why not insert Jannero Pargo? The guy is a spark plug. I can guarantee you Pargo would have been aggressive even if everybody else was standing around twiddling their thumbs. If you have somebody who can come off the bench shooting, what better time to use him than to counter a case of group lethargy? Look, I’ve tried to cut Vinny some slack. I mean, we all know he’s not Phil Jackson. We also know he’s had to deal with a brutal schedule, a variety of injuries and a group of underperforming players. But it’s the coach’s job to make the necessary adjustments when his team starts to let down. Defensive switches, strategic substitutions, demanding that his players attack the rim on every single possession to take advantage of being in the penalty. Any one of these things might have saved the Bulls from this catastrophe."
- Credit Sacramento's Paul Westphal for not ripping his young Kings team to shreds when they were down at halftime.
- Kobe Bryant and LeBron James each have new Nikes coming out on Christmas Day. According to a press release, Bryant's are $130 and James's are $160. One or the other of them will be able to brag about that. What's cooler -- being more expensive? Or more accessible?
- Christmas shopping at the NBA Store, and learning some terrible news: The Kevin Garnett made out of legos is not for sale.
- Bummer. Ryan Schwan of Hornets247 on losing to the defensively challenged Raptors: "The Hornets lost by 6. ... I counted three missed uncontested layups by David West, one by Okafor, and two by Peja."
- The danger of basing your Tim Donaghy thoughts on the 60 Minutes interview.
- Dennis Rodman says that he drinks too much, and that being famous is a "hard damn job." (Via Piston Powered)
- Whoa. Theo Ratliff has post moves?
- Kiki Vandeweghe gets to run a real practice for the first time since he took over the Nets.
- Really funny and amazing visuals of bad Wizard defense.
- If getting shot didn't keep Carl Landry off the court for long, dental work has no chance.
- Seriously. If you have intend to get any work done, don't click this link to go play this simple but hypnotic hoops game.
- Those singing elves on your doorstep may be Canadian hoops bloggers.
- Charles Barkley's mom always loved Nirvana.
Henry Abbott | email
TrueHoop, NBA- Senior writer for ESPN.com
- Founder of TrueHoop blog and network
- Began writing about NBA for magazines in 1999
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