Posted by Kevin Arnovitz
- The Nets are shipping Sean Williams out to the D-League: "From first round pick to 14er. Sean Williams has been shipped out to the Colorado 14ers in the NBA D-League. Williams played in 16 games, did not distinguish himself this season, was very confused about his role. The Nets New Jersey Nets want Williams to play. And he is not going to play with the Nets, given the roster situation. They have tried to find a trade and were real close earlier this season (Golden State, maybe?) but the deal never materialized. The longer he sits with the Nets the less his value is. The D-League has a showcase coming up next week and the hope is if Williams excels then maybe interest picks up."
- X's & O's of Basketball offers a visual breakdown of Brandon Roy's mid-range pull-up jumper: "What's great about B Roy's mid-range dribble pullup is the unpredictability factor. He starts out with the dribble and at any point he can stop on a dime and pull-up and shoot. As a defender, it's incredibly difficult to guard. If you give him any space, he'll just pop it. If you crowd him, he'll put it on the floor and blow by you, or draw the defense in and find the open man. Add in ball-screens, and it's nearly unstoppable."
- Bradford Doolittle at Basketball Prospectus looks at the week-to-week statistical team rankings, and concludes that your team's ranking on Thanksgiving is a very important predictor for success: "After some early volatility, the rankings solidified in the fourth week and have only changed a few spots here and there since then. We'll see what happens in the long run, but I suspect that November basketball tells us more than most would care to admit."
- 48 Minutes of Hell has more on how the Spurs are using their D-League team to audition prospects and employ the theories of Malcolm Gladwell. [Check out Bulletpoint #6 from Henry's December 11 post -- or the Gladwell piece -- for a fuller context].
- Things grow even more miserable for the Clippers: "[Zach Randolph's] bruised left knee -- thanks to the Toronto Raptors' Jake Voskuhl nearly a week ago -- could keep him out of the lineup for one to two weeks, or more, Coach Mike Dunleavy said Sunday. With the Clippers, day to day can mean week to week or month to month. It had seemed optimistic Tuesday, the day after the injury, and the team said Randolph did not have an MRI exam. Still, it's always necessary to qualify things with the Clippers. Randolph went to visit his family in Indiana for Christmas, rested the knee and took part in some practice Friday. The knee didn't feel sound by the next day, and he wasn't able to do much Saturday. He ended up having an MRI exam Saturday, which showed there was no structural damage. The Clippers will just have to wait until the bone bruise heals and Randolph has the necessary stability when he makes quick movements. 'Just got to get the strength back. It isn't so much pain,' Randolph said Sunday before the Clippers played the Dallas Mavericks."
- Steve Nash sits down for a 45-minute interview with NBC Sports' Graham Bensinger (link: The Huffington Post). Among the topics: Politics, playing for the Knicks, and his charitable work.
- Brandon Jennings on his first Christmas away from home [with accompanying pictures]: "Hope everyone had a blessed Holiday, and I hope everyone had a warm meal to eat. My Christmas was cool. Me, Terrence and my Mom had dinner at my teammate Andre Hutson's house. His lovely wife cooked a Bomb Dinner for us. It was great! First time ever being away from home for Christmas...I'm not gonna lie I enjoyed it. It was real laid back. Until next time, gotta get back to this Laker game."
- Pat Riley's texting shorthand (from Friday afternoon's Heat-Bulls game via Damon Agnos).
- Forum Blue & Gold doesn't see the logic in the Lakers' trading for Tyronn Lue: "The Lakers don't save any money in this proposed deal - Lue actually makes more than Mihm. They trade big for small, and they do it for just a back-up guy to fill in for two months. Because if you've seen Lue play at all recently, you know he is no Jordan Farmar... Did you watch Sasha Vujacic last night? He can play the point in the triangle. He had 17 points on 6 of 10 shooting, 4 of 7 from three, had a season best six assists to just two turnovers, and looked solid on defense. Some Lakers fans have this odd, unnatural affection for Lue and think he's a good defender. He is not. So far this season, opposing point guards are shooting over 60% (eFG%) against him, scoring 23 points per 48 minutes and have a PER of 22.7. That is the same as having a Tony Parker or Chauncey Billups playing against you every night."
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