ESPN NBA

Ahh, the quote from the anonymous scout. No doubt, full of lies and deceptions a fair amount of the time. But always fascinating reading, and at times incredibly insightful. (I remember the first time I got one, as a reporter. I felt like such a big shot.) These are men who do not believe hype. They speak on cold, hard truths.



NBA.com's team previews include anonymous scout quotes about every team in the league. Some highlights of that those anonymous scouts had to say:



THE EAST

• On Paul Pierce: "I think everyone wants to run more with Phoenix and Dallas showing that you can win that way, but I'm not sure Paul Pierce is a get-up-and-down-the-court kind of guy."
• On Vince Carter: "It's not exclusively a Princeton offense like it was a couple of years ago. They'll run it until Carter gets the ball on the wing and then everybody gets out of the way. You're just trying to get to get him out of his comfort zone, maybe catch the ball a step or two further out, so that he doesn't use that explosive first step to get to the basket in one dribble. You've got to make him using at least two dribbles and give the defense a chance to rotate."
• On the Knicks: "Because they play so much one-on-one, you can put your defenders in position to help early, because you're not as concerned about ball movement."
• On Allen Iverson: "Iverson can be a decent defender at times, but he wants to stay in the game, so he won't be aggressive."
• On the Raptors: The idea there will be to go to the Phoenix/international style of play, trying to push the ball, run guys off screens, run your point guard off of pick-and-rolls where he can break the defense down and find guys for open shots. They may have the second-best talent in the division, but they're young and they haven't played together.
• On Tyrus Thomas: "I'm anxious to see how Tyrus Thomas falls in line. He could be very, very physical or he could go down the same road as a Stromile Swift: A Louisiana kid that's very athletic and every once in a while you see spurts but just nothing real consistent."
• On Cleveland's big men: "One thing they do have going at the defensive end is they do have guys that will rebound the basketball. Their bigs -- Drew Gooden, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Anderson Varejao and Donyell Marshall -- do rebound. Teams aren't going to get easy put-backs."
• On Detroit without Ben Wallace: "I think Ben gets a ton of calls that really helped them. Now all of a sudden, those charges and no-calls are going to be called fouls on them."
• On Indiana's tough division: "Even if they're healthy, I still don't see them finishing any higher than fourth in their division. I don't see them overtaking Detroit, Cleveland or Chicago."
• On Milwaukee's big men: "They have two very good, young bigs -- Charlie Villanueva and Andrew Bogut. Bogut is going to be a solid player in this league. Charlie is going to be good and has the capability of being great if he would put everything into it. Offensively, skill-wise, he's as skilled a big as I've seen in a while. Defensively, I don't think Charlie's going to guard anybody."
• On Atlanta: "Josh Childress is so-so, Joe Johnson can't carry a team, he's a second or third option, Pachulia isn't a guy you need to worry about. Josh Smith, I thought was exceptional coming out of high school, but he hasn't blossomed quite yet. Shelden Williams is one of the few guys from this draft who's MOST ready to play, but he's a little undersized (I don't know if that 6-9 is legit) and not quick enough to play the three. Claxton can push the ball, but again, he's not a top tier point guard, you don't need to worry about him like a Nash or a Kidd. Marvin Williams played well at the end of last year. Lot of people thought he could have been No. 1 in 2005. He's as athletic as anyone. He could be a stud, but he wasn't outstanding last year."
• On Charlotte: "All of these guys are decent, but there's no one you need to worry about, until they get that superstar, they're gonna be a run of the mill NBA team."
• On Miami: "Have you seen the age of the guys on this team? Payton's 38, Zo's 36, Shaq's 34. They've won a title. They may be primed for a let down this season."
• On Orlando: "Jameer Nelson is starting to flourish, and Carlos Arroyo had another great showing on the international stage. It'll be interesting to see how long Hill sticks with Nelson as the starter."
• On Washington: "Their three perimeter guys are the best in the East when you talk ones, twos and threes... With the offense they have, and that they actually TRY to play some defense, they could challenge in the division."

THE WEST

• On Denver: "Who'll play at the two-spot? J.R. Smith can play. The one thing that will help J.R. -- in New Orleans they ran a Princeton offense -- George Karl is just a 'get it out, run and go,' coach. So, that will help him."
• On Mike James: "Mike James is going to be okay. Mike played well in Toronto because he was playing for a contract, but he also played selfishly. What teams will probably do is just get the ball out of Mike's hands; When he comes off a pick-and-roll they're not going to let him shoot those jumpshots they let him shoot last year. He also has Kevin Garnett on his team. Garnett's not going to stand there and not say anything when James comes down and throws up four straight threes on four straight possessions."
• On Zach Randolph: Every time Zach Randolph gets the ball, he's going to shoot it.
• On Seattle: "They don't rebound the basketball and I don't think they'll guard. So, they'll beat some people they're not supposed to beat because they're making threes. But then they'll lose a lot of games where people will say, 'Well, how'd they do that?'"
• On Deron Williams: "Deron Williams is going to be better in his second year in the league. He's a good defender but he's not the quickest guy."
• On Golden State: "Their strength will be coaching and potentially Baron Davis too. I hate putting it on one guy’s shoulders, but if you can get the most out of Davis you’re going to be one of the most feared teams out there. If he is healthy and ready to roll, then you have a very deep team and a very athletic team."
• On the Clippers: "In order to beat them you’re going to have to basically run them and try get into their bench."
• On the Lakers: "Kobe started to recognize that he has the ability to score 80-plus points, and therefore, his pump fakes mean more than anybody else’s since Larry Bird’s. That’s where he can get his assists and the young people involved."
• On Steve Nash: "It's all based around Nash. If you can get physical with Nash and make him play D for most of the shot clock, you can slow down their offense."
• On Sacramento: "They’re a very dangerous team from the sense that they have their leaders, their veterans and they have guys that are role players that know their role and don’t need a lot of shots like Brad Miller and Jason Hart."
• On Dallas: "The playoffs hardened them last year, their experience is invaluable now."
• On Houston: "The way to beat them is really put some athleticism after them and make them play long periods of defense that takes McGrady out…run him through double screens, run him through staggered screens off the baseline and make him chase his man around."
• On Memphis: If they are hovering around the .500 mark when Pau comes back healthy, you are talking about a very confident team with renewed energy for the second half of the season.
• On the Hornets: "If you lose Chandler for any problems such as foul trouble or just not playing well that night, you have to rely on these rookies to step up and that’s maybe where you can get after them a little bit if you have a center/back-to-the-basket 4-man who can expose their frontline in some pump fakes that’s where maybe you can get their Achilles' heel."
• On San Antonio: "Even though they didn’t seem like one of the most dominant teams last year, they had the best record in the West and have the ability to do it again if Parker is healthy."