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Rajon Rondo is making it clear how important point guard play is in the NBA playoffs.

Rondo is the first player with at least 20 points and 16 assists with no more than one turnover in a playoff game since Tim Hardaway for the Golden State Warriors in 1991, who had 27 points, 20 assists and one turnover against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals. Rondo, Hardaway and Magic Johnson are the only players to accomplish this feat in the last 25 years.

In the last 25 seasons, a Boston Celtics player has had at least 16 assists in a playoff game eight times. Rondo has seven of those performances (Larry Bird had the other in 1990).

Rondo consistently gets it done in the playoffs. Among players in NBA history with fewer than three turnovers per game, only John Stockton (10.1) averages more assists per game than Rondo (8.6).

With Rondo on the court in the playoffs, the Celtics are 14 points better per 100 possessions than they are when Rondo is off the court.

Their offense is significantly better with Rondo, scoring 21 more points per 100 possessions. They're shooting 10 percentage points higher from the field and 13 percentage points higher on 3-point attempts, and they're averaging nine more assists with 5.5 fewer turnovers per 48 minutes with Rondo on the court.

A popular definition of a great point guard is one who makes his teammates better. There’s no better example of that in the playoffs than Rondo with Kevin Garnett. When Rondo is on the court in this series, Garnett is averaging eight more points per 48 minutes and shooting 25 percent better from the field.

Garnett, Avery Bradley and Brandon Bass are all scoring more, shooting better and have a better plus-minus when Rondo is on the court.

How important is a reliable point guard in the playoffs? Just ask the Bulls, who lost Derrick Rose to a torn ACL and went from an NBA title favorite to a First Round underdog.

Or how about the New York Knicks, who were outscored by a combined 60 points in their first three games against the Miami Heat before barely staying alive in Game 4?

Certainly, injuries to Jeremy Lin and Iman Shumpert have hurt the Knicks at point guard. No team has fewer assists (12.5) or more turnovers (19.5) per game in the playoffs than the Knicks. Their starting point guard, Baron Davis, who exited Game 4 with a dislocated patella, has 13 assists and 13 turnovers in the series. Every single other playoff team has at least one player with more assists per game in the playoffs than Davis, who leads the Knicks.

Still not sure how important strong point guard play is in the playoffs? Over the last three seasons, point guards with at least 12 assists are 19-6 in playoff games.

Fueled by the play of second-year point guard Jeremy Lin, the New York Knicks went 8-1 from Feb. 4-19, and got back to .500 for the first time since Jan. 15.

Since then, the Knicks have dropped five of their last seven and at 18-21, are three games below .500 for the first time since Feb. 10.

In the last seven games, the Knicks have struggled establishing their pick and roll offense -- something they executed very well when winning eight of nine games.

From Feb. 4-19, New York ran pick-and-roll plays 18.7 percent of the time. That also allowed the Knicks to get away from running an isolation-dominated offense (14.7 percent of the plays) which had made up the most of their ball-handling plays this season. In their last seven games, the Knicks’ pick-and-roll percent has dropped to 12.1, despite their points per play in that offense increasing from 0.67 to 0.75.

In the meantime, the percent of their isolation plays has gone up to 15.3 percent, which also happens to coincide with the return of Baron Davis and Carmelo Anthony. This season, Davis and Anthony rank first and second, respectively, in the NBA in percentage of isolation plays.

Lin less effective in pick and roll
Lin’s breakout performance came against the New Jersey Nets on Feb. 4, scoring 25 points off the bench. Lin averaged 25.0 points on 50.9 percent shooting when the Knicks won eight of nine games. Since then, Lin’s overall production has decreased. In the last seven games, Lin has shot just 38.5 percent, and his scoring has dropped to 16.1 points per game.

Lin also has seen his pick-and-roll production decrease, averaging just 6.9 points on 36.8 percent shooting on such plays in the last seven games. When the Knicks went 8-1, Lin averaged 9.3 points and shot 44.1 from the field running the pick and roll.

Lin and the Knicks’ inability to run the pick-and-roll in the last seven games has prevented the point guard from scoring in the paint. After averaging 12.0 points in the paint and shooting 54 percent from Feb. 4-19, Lin has averaged 7.4 points on 42.6 percent shooting in the paint in his last seven games.

Sunday was a day in which Kobe Bryant made like Magic Johnson and Rajon Rondo made like both Johnson and Larry Bird.

In the afternoon’s first game, Bryant hit the game-winning shot with 4.2 seconds remaining to give the Los Angeles Lakers a 94-92 win over the Toronto Raptors.

It was the 16th time that Bryant hit a game-winning shot in the final five seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime, since his career began in 1996-1997. That’s the most in the NBA in that span- two more than Carmelo Antony.

Rondo raised his game a level in a 95-91 win over the Chicago Bulls, with 32 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds. A check of Basketball-Reference.com shows that he’s the fifth player with a 30-15-10 game since 1990, the other four being Johnson, Jason Kidd, Baron Davis, and LeBron James.

The last Celtic with a 30-15-10 game was Bird against the then-Washington Bullets in April, 1987.

The Boston Celtics have now allowed fewer than 100 points in 25 straight games. The Elias Sports Bureau notes that’s the longest single-season streak by any team since the 2004-05 Bulls (26 straight) and the seventh-longest streak in the shot-clock era, which dates to the 1954-55 season.

The NBA record is 36 straight games, set by the 2003-04 Detroit Pistons.

Elsewhere around the league the Miami Heat blew out the Atlanta Hawks, marking the sixth time this season, the Heat won by at least 20 points. Only the Bulls and Philadelphia 76ers have more blowout wins than Miami. However, the Sixers have been the on the receiving end of two of the Heat's routs.

LeBron James finished with 23 points, 13 rebounds and six assists for his 106th career-game with 20-10-5. Since 2003, his rookie season, James has the second-most such games behind Kevin Garnett.

Plus-Minus Note of the Night
Washington Wizards guard John Wall finished a +28 in a 98-77 win over the Detroit Pistons. It was the best plus-minus for Wall in his 97-game NBA career.

With chaos raging around the league and their owner suddenly in the middle of it, the Cavs' front office is dealing with a different hot potato. How it plays out could affect several title contenders.

According to league sources, it has become clear that Baron Davis’ brief stay in Cleveland is likely coming to an end. How it comes to an end, though, is complex and could have an impact on where Davis ultimately lands next. As of Friday morning the Cavs had not decided how they wanted to proceed with Davis. Meanwhile, the point guard was in Cleveland and expected to report to training camp.

For some time Davis has been a candidate to be waived by the Cavs using the amnesty clause, which would remove the two years and $28 million the Cavs owe him from the team’s books and create more than $10 million in salary-cap space. This was not the plan all along. Things changed when the Cavs won the draft lottery and took Kyrie Irving, who is now their franchise player. In addition the team has a solid backup point guard, Ramon Sessions, on the roster.

In recent weeks, sources said, Davis had been counting on becoming a free agent and setting his sights on the Lakers, Knicks and Heat. His agents have been in talks with the Cavs to facilitate the process this week.

However, the Cavs are not sure they want to amnesty Davis. They still believe he has value to the team and think he could potentially become a strong trade asset later this season or next summer. The Cavs, sources said, were also turned off by the thought of Davis being paid by them but ultimately ending up in Miami helping LeBron James compete for a title.

Trying to work through the issues, Davis’ representation has also been involved in buyout talks with the Cavs, sources said. In a buyout, Davis might have to give up some of the money owed to him over the next two years but he would become an outright free agent. In this case, he would not have to pass through the league’s new amnesty waiver system where another team could bid and then acquire his rights.

Davis figures to be significantly in demand, especially in New York where starter Chauncey Billups appears on his way out to facilitate a Tyson Chandler signing. If the Lakers are unable to complete a trade for Chris Paul, they would also likely remain in the race if Davis gets out of Cleveland. The Heat are also in need of a point guard.

If Davis is amnestied another team could block those moves by bidding on Davis. After they finish making their moves, the Knicks, Lakers and Heat aren’t expected to have salary cap space and therefore could not bid on Davis.

After Blake Griffin landed in the Los Angeles Clippers' lap in the summer of 2009 after a disastrous 19-63 season, the organization gradually committed itself to a rebuilding blueprint. This later became known to Clippers fans as "the Oklahoma City template," once the Thunder took off during the 2009-10 season.

The Clippers would build around their future superstar (Blake Griffin) and his trusty perimeter sidekick (Eric Gordon), both of whom were on rookie-scale contracts. In the meantime, the team stockpiled intriguing assets, such as DeAndre Jordan, Eric Bledsoe and Al-Farouq Aminu. The Clippers managed to unload Baron Davis for the shorter, less-expensive contract of Mo Williams. Though the front office had meager offers for Chris Kaman, they held onto their All-Star center with the appreciation that he'd fetch more as his contract nudged closer to expiration.

There were a couple of hiccups along the way. The draft pick they sent to Cleveland along with Davis projected to be in the 8-12 range turned into a Kyrie Irving, a stroke of bad luck (the lottery pick had only a 2.8 percent chance of landing at No. 1). But for the most part, general manager Neil Olshey exercised discipline and foresight. Rather than overspend for middling talent in a dash for the No. 8 seed, the Clippers took a waiver on low-cost options such as Gomes and Randy Foye during the summer of 2010. Neither set the world on fire, but the Clippers' primary objective was keeping the balance sheet free of clutter as Griffin and Gordon approached their primes, even if it meant visiting Secaucus for a couple more years.

By agreeing to a three-year with Caron Butler, $24 million deal, the Clippers have taken a detour from their planned route. A franchise that's been protective of its cap flexibility will now pay $8 million to a small forward who is coming off a severe knee injury and has posted a player efficiency rating (PER) of 13.77 and 14.25 each of the past two seasons, respectively. Since the 2005-06, Butler hasn't played more than 67 games in a single season.

D.J. Foster of ClipperBlog took a look at where Butler stands, three months shy of his 32nd birthday:

Here’s the biggest problem with Butler -- [Butler] is a high usage scorer. Butler’s career usage rate (the percentage of offensive possessions used by a player during his time on the floor) is 22.7 percent. Last year in an injury-shortened season on a championship Dallas Mavericks team, it was at 25.1 percent. That ranked him seventh in the NBA for small forwards, ahead of guys like Paul Pierce and Rudy Gay. Short version: Caron Butler uses a lot of possessions.

... With Chris Kaman coming back healthy and demanding a big chunk of the looks (he hasn’t passed up an open 15-footer since, oh, 2005), and Gordon and Griffin demanding more possessions if anything, where are all these shots for Butler supposed to generate from? Who loses all those possessions?

... Let’s say, despite all that, you’re sold on Butler as the scorer the Clippers need. Sixteen points a game at 44 percent shooting is nice. He’s got a nice midrange game and can slash. OK. I’m with you.

But if the priority is placing shooters around Gordon and Griffin — and unless something has changed, it is — then why add Butler? Prior to what can probably be labeled as a statistical outlier (43 percent in 29 games last season), Caron Butler was a 31 percent career 3-point shooter. On his career, he’s attempted less than two 3-pointers a game. He’s not a deep threat or a spot-up shooter by any means, and he doesn’t really stretch the floor because all of his damage is done in iso situations, off his own jab steps. If you want to chase good 3-point shooting numbers in a small sample size, Al-Farouq Aminu’s start to last season works just as well.

The Clippers don't have a legitimate ball-mover on the floor to help jump-start their gummy 23rd-ranked offense. Now they'll have a player at the small forward position whose assist rate ranks below the likes of Kaman, Zach Randolph, Chris Wilcox and Corey Maggette.

Is Butler an upgrade over Ryan Gomes? Yes, so long as he's in uniform -- something he often isn't. The small forward market is dwindling by the hour, so it's likely the Clippers felt the urgency to do something at the 3 spot. But for a team that hopes to add a max player alongside Blake Griffin (who, himself will demand a max contract before the expiration of Butler's deal) and needs to find money to retain Eric Gordon and DeAndre Jordan in the next year, the cap hit for an aging small forward with a high injury risk and ball-stopping tendencies doesn't conform to a model of smart team-building that have made the Clippers relevant and potentially on the cusp of something bigger.

• Who's going to contend for the gold at the 2012 Olympics in London? The Painted Area has your morning line. M. Haubs reiterates The Painted Area's strong belief that "we fully expect 2012 to be the year in which the torch of South America basketball officially gets passed from Argentina to Brazil."
• Stephen Jackson samples Chris Broussard and the late Eazy-E among others in his new lockout-themed video [PG-13]. (Hat Tip: Eight Points, Nine Seconds)
• Baron Davis, using rustic fashion to diffuse the pressure.
• Via The Guardian's Music Blog, Miles Davis and John Lennon play 5-3-1 at Lennon's birthday party in 1972.
• Nets Are Scorching's Mark Ginocchio on the extremely artful, but generally detested Rick Barry. Also at NAS (via Brooklyn Fans), the Nets hold PA Announcer tryouts. After a full season in Miami where fans endure a human weed wacker at the microphone, I'd like to see more arenas return to the baritone, gravitas and old school stylings of the Lakers' of Lawrence Tanter.
• Rudy Fernandez's stint with the Trail Blazers ended on draft night. Dave of Blazers Edge writes that, in retrospect, Fernandez's tenure in Portland was disappointing, particularly when you consider that "Rudy came to the team at the center of the perfect storm, in just the right environment to raise expectations."
• PistonPowered continues its walk through Pistons history, zeroing in on the 1968-69 season when Detroit traded local legend Dave DeBusschere to the Knicks for Walt Bellamy. At the time, the Pistons were regarded as one of the least competently managed teams in the league and they wouldn't reach the postseason again until 1974. Also from PistonPowered, Austin Daye is having a rough go at it for BC Khimki in the Euroleague.
• Michael Schwartz of Valley of the Suns writes that Phoenix would benefit from a hard salary cap in both the short term (the Suns have only $24 million committed in salaries after next summer) and the long term (they wouldn't have to get into an arms race with the Lakers, et al).
• Will someone please reboot the scoreboard at the Verizon Center?
• The literary journal lives: Seth Rosenthal of Posting & Toasting rolls out the first installment of Knicktion, a series of creative written works that are Knicks-ish in theme.
• Via Hooped Up, a very cool rendering of Magic Johnson by Korean artist Kim Min Suk.
• Michael Beasley confesses to IamaGM.com that his 2K12 rating of 78 is "higher than I thought."

• J.A. Adande joined Baron Davis on the campus of UCLA, where the Cavs point guard will try to maintain a GPA, not a PER. At Hardwood Paroxysm, Holly MacKenzie shares a story about how, several seasons back, Davis blew her off in a locker room in Seattle, only to track her down later on in the tunnel to make amends: "[Davis] taught me a lesson: players can be cranky, and sometimes you’ll approach them after a bad loss or performance when they’re angry or bitter or caught up in something. But often times, how someone treats you on that single occasion isn’t a fair representation of who that person is."
• Davis coached LeBron James in a Drew League game on Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles. Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports: "[Drew League director Dino] Smiley said many fans tweeted and sent text messages about James’ arrival. 'Every edge' of the court in the tiny gym, Smiley said, was packed. Smiley said the gym doors were eventually closed shut during James’ game by law enforcement officers, who told fans if they left they couldn’t return"
• Thunderground Radio evaluates how Sam Presti fared in 2010-11. Was the Perkins-Green trade necessary? Can Reggie Jackson make an impact in the backcourt?
• Blake Griffin is a monster and, barring injury, projects to be a indomitable franchise player. For the Clippers, that's the easy part. The more elastic variable for the team is Eric Gordon. If the Clippers aren't able to land a marquee superstar, could they still be a force in the West with Gordon as their featured perimeter threat with Griffin down low, provided DeAndre Jordan and Eric Bledsoe continue to grow? Nick Flynt of ClipperBlog takes a look.
• What happened to the Trail Blazers after they broke up their Finals core in 1993? A retrospective from Blazers Edge.
• I'm a sucker for any basketball post that prominently features Bob Walk, who pitched for the Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates. A pitcher named Walk would the equivalent of a hoopster named Travel. But the thrust of the Negative Dunkalectics' post by Chris George is not the dubiously-named Walk, but the playing career of Warriors head coach Mark Jackson: "Mark Jackson was a comparatively small and non-athletic man, largely informed by a street game, who managed to use a few moves over and over again to put up much better numbers than he 'should' have. The combination of the back down, the baby hook, the no-look passes, the teardrop, and the push shot made him one of the most frustrating point guards of his era, even if he never had the ability to be a true star."
• Jason Terry delivered the first pitch at Sunday's Texas Rangers game to Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler. Dirk Nowitzki via Twitter: "Was jet's first pitch at rangers game better than mine? Didn't anyone see it? Let me know."
• Who is Manuel Velez Pangilinan? He's the very wealthy, very influential guy behind the pair of exhibition games at Araneta Coliseum in Manila between a slew of NBA stars and standouts from the Philippine Basketball Association. The two games were standing room only and tickets on the secondary market ran as much as four times face value.
• The WNBA named its 15 best players ever. Ball in Europe follows with its 15 best Euroleague women players in history.
• Hakeem Olajuwon, Marco Belinelli and Hedo Turkoglu: Each initially excited Raps fans when he signed on the dotted line, only to fall way short of expectations. For good measure, five Raptors draft picks that raised eyebrows.
• Six years prior to putting on a Raptors jersey, Olajuwon logged 39 points and 17 rebounds in the Game 6 clincher of the 1995 Western Conference finals against the Spurs. NBA Off-Season presents another in their Lockout Classics series.
• If Kobe Bryant is Derek Jeter, then Derek Fisher is Jorge Posada. Does that make Robert Horry Scott Brosius?
• Look out, Monday. Wes Matthews is in mission mode.
• Kings big man Jason Thompson: "Congrats to the NFL on ending their Lockout....NOW its OUR TURN!!!!"

By Ramona Shelburne and Chad Ford

The Los Angeles Clippers and Cleveland Cavaliers have agreed in principle to a trade that would send Baron Davis and the Clippers' 2011 first-round draft pick to Cleveland in exchange for Mo Williams and Jamario Moon, league sources confirmed to ESPN.com.

The deal saves the Clippers considerable money the next two seasons while giving them a younger point guard who made the All-Star team while playing with LeBron James.

Davis is still owed nearly $28 million over the next two seasons and the balance of his $13 million contract this year. Moon's contract expires after this season. Williams is owed the balance of his $9.3 million salary this season and, with player options of $8.5 million for each of the next two years, could potentially get out of his contract altogether. The savings should give the Clippers more flexibility in free agency the next two seasons.

The Clippers would give up a likely top-10 lottery pick to make the savings happen. "That just shows you how much we hate this draft," one Clippers source told ESPN.com.


• To see dozens of NBA trade rumors, check out NBA Rumor Central

The Elias Sports Bureau tells us that when the New York Knicks hosted the Phoenix Suns on Monday it was the 24th NBA game played at Madison Square Garden on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the highest total at any venue. The Staples Center is second with 20 MLK Day games played.

Traditionally, the Knicks have done well to defend home court on MLK Day, however Monday the trend was broken as the Suns handed the Knicks their sixth loss in the 24 home games played on this historic day.

Amar'e Stoudemire scored a season-high 41 points, which is the most for him since scoring 44 on March 19, last season against the Utah Jazz. It's the 16th time in his career that Stoudemire has topped 40 points, but only the third time his team has lost the game. Stoudemire has now scored at least 20 points in 25 straight games, the third-longest streak in Knicks history (he entered the game tied with Bernard King). Next on that list are Patrick Ewing (28) and Richie Guerin who is the franchise leader at 29 straight.

Stoudemire’s day was impressive, but Los Angeles Clippers rookie Blake Griffin had a day that will be etched in history forever.

Griffin had a career-high 47 points, the highest total by any NBA player in a single game this season, and the most by a Clipper since Charles Smith scored 52 points at the Denver Nuggets on December 1, 1990. Griffin’s 47 points were also the second-most by any player in a game on MLK Day (Gilbert Arenas had 51 for the Washington Wizards against the Jazz in 2007).

What makes Griffin’s performance even more interesting is that his 79.2 field-goal percentage (19-of-24) was the highest by a rookie who took at least 20 shots in an NBA game since Dec. 6, 1984, when Hakeem Olajuwon made 18-of-22 (81.8 percent) for the Houston Rockets.

It gets better.

In the history of the NBA, only two other players under the age of 22 have ever had a game like Griffin's … Michael Jordan and Rick Barry. Griffin also became just the second rookie over the last 25 seasons to record at least 45 points and 10 rebounds. The other was a 20-year old Shaquille O'Neal back in February of 1993.

Now clearly nobody had a day like Griffin, but there was one more individual performance we couldn’t overlook.

Derrick Rose recorded his first career triple-double, which was the fourth against the Memphis Grizzlies. Over the last five seasons; Baron Davis, LeBron James and Brad Miller have also had triple doubles in Memphis. The only team that has allowed more triple-doubles at home over the last five seasons is the Sacramento Kings, who have surrendered five.

The Dallas Mavericks snapped the Utah Jazz’s 7-game win streak making it the third time this season they’ve snapped streaks of seven or more games. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it’s the first time in franchise history that they’ve snapped three streaks of seven or more games in a single season. The last teams to do so were the Hawks, Pistons and Lakers, all during the 2008-09 season.

• At 11-9 the New York Knicks record is over .500 after 20 games for the first time since the 2001-02 season. Amare Stoudemire led the way with 34 points, his third straight 30-point game, which is the fifth time in his career he's strung together streaks of at least three straight 30-point performances.

More from Elias: Stoudemire has 491 points and 174 rebounds in 20 games for the Knicks. He's the first player in Knicks history to score that many points and haul in that many rebounds in his first 20 career games with the team. Honorable mention goes to Bob McAdoo, who had 483 points and 244 rebounds in his first 20 games with the Knicks.

• The Denver Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday despite making 12 LESS field goals. One major reason is because they went to the free throw line 59 times. The last team to take that many free throw attempts in a game was the 2006-07 Knicks, who went to the line 63 times against the Detroit Pistons on Dec. 27, 2006.

• Kevin Garnett had 17 rebounds, all on the defensive end of the floor, in the Boston Celtics' win over the Chicago Bulls. He's the first Celtic to have that many rebounds and no offensive rebounds in a game since Larry Bird on Feb. 25, 1990 against the Nuggets. It was also the second time in KG's career that he's had 17 defensive rebounds and no offensive boards in a game.

• Rajon Rondo had 19 assists, five shy of his career high that he set back on Oct. 29. In the last three seasons, the only other players who have had multiple games with at least 19 assists in the same season are Steve Nash and Baron Davis.

The last player with three games with at least 19 assists in the same season: Deron Williams and Chris Paul during the 2007-08 season.

The basketball in Miami
The concentration of talent in Miami has created a dramatic storyline the NBA hasn't seen in years. In late October, the narrative will finally give way to live basketball, as the offseason machinations fade into the background. Fans and observers can debate whether a team of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami is healthy for the NBA, and the Heat's first final-possession scenario will likely launch silly arguments about who rightfully deserves to be called "the man" in Miami. Lost in the cacophony of hysteria is the single most fascinating question headed into the 2010-11 season: What will the Miami Heat's 94 or so possessions look like on a nightly basis? How will James play off Wade and vice versa? How do you defend a Wade-James pick-and-roll? Will we see a lineup of Eddie House, Wade, Miller, James and Bosh (talk about the end of positional orthodoxy!)? Will Bosh benefit from the disproportionate attention opposing defenses will have to devote to the perimeter? And how will Bosh handle the more workaday duties of being the big man down low? However you feel about what's transpired since the beginning of July, the experiment being assembled in Miami is a basketball lover's dream. If you find Miami's personnel unlikable, then root like hell for the opposing defense. Either way, you won't be disappointed.

The blueprint in Oklahoma City
The Thunder emerged last season as the most promising young outfit in the NBA. They finished with 50 wins and gave the Lakers their toughest Western Conference playoff series. Then, this offseason, they extended a max contract to Kevin Durant and fortified their bright young core by adding Morris Peterson, Daequan Cook and first-round draft pick Cole Aldrich. In some sense, general manager Sam Presti's decision to essentially stand pat might have been one of the the boldest move of the offseason. Many executives with a talented core and some money to spend would've committed to a high-dollar addition, but Presti stayed the course. He's banking that the maturation of Durant, Russell Westbrook, Jeff Green, James Harden and Serge Ibaka will continue and vault the Thunder over of the scrum in the Western Conference. Is he being realistic? Can the Thunder ride a frontcourt of Green, Nenad Krstic, Ibaka, Nick Collison and Aldrich into the ranks of the NBA elite? Can a team that sustained no major injuries last season decline to add a single major pieces and still pick up 5-10 wins? The answer to these questions will give us an idea of how much "upward trajectory" is worth in the NBA.


The power of Nash
Amare Stoudemire provides us with one of the best controlled experiments in recent years.
Watching him run the pick-and-roll with Steve Nash in Phoenix for eight years, we grew to regard Stoudemire as one of the most prolific power forwards of his generation. In New York, Stoudemire will benefit from the presence of coach Mike D'Antoni, who conceived many of the schemes that enabled him to flourish, but will be without Nash for the first time since 2004. How will swapping out Raymond Felton for Nash affect Stoudemire's game? Back in Phoenix, a 36-year-old Nash will have to replicate what he did during his 2005-06 MVP season when Stoudemire missed virtually 79 games -- cobble together an offense with imperfect parts. How Stoudemire performs without Nash as his dance partner and how Phoenix fares with an offense that will be more reminiscent of their 2005-06 season -- when Nash maximized the versatility of Shawn Marion, Boris Diaw and Raja Bell -- will tell us a lot about Nash's enormous impact on the game he plays as beautifully as anyone.

The defense in Chicago
The Boston Celtics' return to the NBA's upper echelon was predicated first and foremost on their defense. They unleashed a pressurized force field designed and implemented by Tom Thibodeau, and ultimately adopted by other teams around the league, including the Los Angeles Lakers. This June, the Bulls tapped Thibodeau to fill their head coaching vacancy. He joins a Bulls team that put together a strong defensive season last season, finishing 10th in efficiency. Skeptics might look at Derrick Rose -- whose defensive instincts are a far cry from Rajon Rondo -- and Carlos Boozer and conclude that Thibodeau doesn't have the personnel to succeed the way he did in Boston. Yet in 2007, Thibodeau took a quintet that featured Ray Allen (who had a horrendous defensive reputation coming from Seattle), an undisciplined big man in Kendrick Perkins, a second-year point guard in Rajon Rondo who'd started only 25 games and made them one of the best defensive units in basketball. With Joakim Noah anchoring the interior, the lanky tandem of Luol Deng and Ronnie Brewer on the wings, Boozer's sharp basketball IQ and Rose's gifts, Thibodeau should have the tools to sculpt a top-5 defense. If the Bulls buy in, we'll have a better understanding whether Thibodeau's kind of tactical expertise is transferable -- and an inkling of just how dangerous the Bulls could be.

The reign in Los Angeles
A calm has set in over Los Angeles, where the Lakers went about their offseason business with all the fanfare of a routine annual checkup. While the rest of the basketball universe was focused in on LeBron James and south Florida, the Lakers quietly added veterans Steve Blake, Matt Barnes and Theo Ratliff and re-upped head coach Phil Jackson. Even when the Lakers were stringing together three consecutive titles at the beginning of the millennium, there was always a swirl of intrigue surrounding the club. That's no longer true, as the Lakers have assumed a posture of professional incumbency the league hasn't seen in quite some time. Will the Lakers ride the precision of their system, the collective experience and poise of their core and the natural attributes of their defense to a fourth straight Finals appearance? Barring serious injury, is there anything that can disrupt the Lakers' rhythm? Is a successful formula ever in danger of becoming predictable?

The patience in Portland
Before the Oklahoma City Thunder became next year's model, the Portland Trail Blazers were on the brink of creating something special. The sketch of a winner was stenciled on the Rose Garden floor -- an all-powerful wing primed to take big shots, a talented power forward oozing with finesse, a defensive and rebounding force in the middle and smart supporting players who embraced their roles. Injuries and disruption turned the 2009-10 campaign into a holding pattern, but the pieces are still in place for the Trail Blazers to achieve. Health remains a concern, as Greg Oden will try to return from a fractured left patella. But if the big man can log 2,000 minutes, Portland should be able to complement their Top-1o offense with the kind of dogged rebounding and efficient defense that made them a popular No. 2 pick headed into last season. The question those with an affection for Portland don't want to ask is, how bright is the team's future if he can't?

The possibility of youth
The appeal of the league's top-rated rookies runs much deeper than individual performance. Their presence can ripple beyond whatever spot on the floor they happen to occupy. Blake Griffin not only has the power to explode to the rim every time he touches the ball, but he also has the potential to transform Baron Davis into the joyful point guard the world fell in love with in the spring of 2007. John Wall's well-honed instincts won't just fill up the box score, but also could revive a fan base in Washington that was teased with meaningful basketball a few years ago, only to watch their franchise return to the wilderness. DeMarcus Cousins could become the Kings' more formidable presence in the frontcourt since Chris Webber left, but more important, he and Tyreke Evans have a chance to redefine what big-small combos can do in the rapidly changing pro game. "Upside" is a word thrown around a lot in June, but watching that potential unfold produces unique findings. And that's why we watch.

Bryan Gold, who documented Steve Nash's annual soccer game for TrueHoop in New York earlier this summer, is back on the West Coast. On Saturday, he took in Baron Davis' inaugural kickball game, whose proceeds went to Rising Stars of America, Davis' nonprofit in Los Angeles. The event took place at Davis' alma mater, Crossroads High School in Santa Monica, Calif. In attendance: Jessica Alba, Tayshaun Prince, UCLA alums Matt Barnes and Earl Watson, Eric Bledsoe and the Collins brothers, among others.

Judging from the video, Crossroads is a hitters' park.

• From Basketbawful: "The Nyets are now 30-100 since Devin Harris said 'We knew we were going to be a playoff team' way back on December 9, 2008."
• The average player doesn't have the ball in his hands 80 percent of the time he's on offense. During those instances, where and how he sets up in the half court in relation to his teammates is vital. If you're in a system that relies on good spacing, that's especially true. Kelly Dwyer at Ball Don't Lie: "How many times this year do I have to see Bynum post up eight feet from the hoop on the low left block, only to see Artest think it sane to then post up just below Bynum on the same block three feet from the hoop. It defies logic, spiraling from any template. And yet, the Lakers let him do it, likely thinking that they can put up with not playing their best because of Ron while still managing to win the title."
• At Basketball Reference, Neil Paine has assembled the best NBA playoff teams in history in a bracket. I'm drawn to the 8-9 matchup in Pool C: '95 Rockets vs. '77 Trail Blazers.
• Timothy Varner of 48 Minutes of Hell on how Manu Ginobili is solving the Spurs' most intractable problems: "Manu Ginobili is making everyone better, most noticeably the previously pronounced dead on arrival Richard Jefferson. Jefferson is openly campaigning for heavy minutes alongside Manu Ginobili. It’s almost as if Gregg Popovich turned to Manu and said, 'I can’t figure this guy out. Can you fix him for me?' And then Ginobili grabbed Jefferson by the hand, walked into a nearby phone booth, and emerged in Superman garb. Jefferson can be seen just behind Ginobili, with a fistful of cape. Problem solved."
• Skeets and Tas pay homage on St. Patrick's Day to the NBA's prominent Irish contingent -- players like Chris Quinn, Troy Murphy and ... Lamar O'do'm.
• Aaron Brooks longs for the McDonald's Shamrock Shake.
• The Washington Post poses a crucial question for those who like that silky smooth feel on their jumpers:"[I]s there a launch angle that gives the maximum probability of a perfect telegenic swish?"
• In a video interview, Jerry Colangelo tells Bloomberg's Michele Steele, "There could be a seismic switch this summer in terms of power in the NBA and which teams are going to be relevant over the next four or five years."
• Smart column from John Schuhmann looking back at his preseason predictions. Among his miscalculations (shared by many): Eddie Jordan's impact in Philadelphia, the Thunder's stratospheric rise and the Bucks' surprisingly stingy defense.
• Baron Davis' vote for Rookie of the Year.
• ESPN's Stats and Info Department tells us that only two active players have won both an NBA and an NCAA title: Rip Hamilton and Nazr Mohammed.
• There's a limit to what fans with limited expectations can reasonably tolerate. After Minnesota's 152-114 loss in Phoenix on Tuesday night, Canis Hoopus tries to name what Timberwolves fans are experiencing right now and comes up with a neologism called apastration: "It's somewhere in between boredom and apathy, frustration and anger, regret and hope, and all sorts of other polar and not-so-polar dichotomies."
• Why the Most Improved Player award is a misnomer.
• A close look at Ron Artest guarding Tyreke Evans.
• Reggie Evans would like his alma mater to perform a thorough interview process, thank you very much, in its search for a head coach to replace Todd Lickliter.
• Rajon Rondo tells HoopsTV, "I don't care who we play in the Finals."

When the Los Angeles Clippers relieved him of his head coaching duties nearly five weeks ago, Mike Dunleavy conceded that his team needed to hear from a fresh voice. Dunleavy moved upstairs in his role as general manager and readied himself for the trading deadline and the June draft. He took a bow after the Clippers were able wipe $5.5 million off the books at the deadline to put themselves in position to extend a massive contract in the 2010 free agency chase, and scheduled scouting trips to get an up close look at this year's crop of college talent. Dunleavy was slated to be in Greensboro this weekend to catch the ACC Tournament. On Tuesday, those plans came to abrupt halt as the organization completely disassociated itself from Dunleavy. Clippers' assistant general manager Neil Olshey will assume the position of GM.

Olshey's route to the top echelon of the Clippers organization is fascinating. He first arrived in Los Angeles as an actor, having appeared on a couple of ABC soap operas that taped in New York City. Once he came west, Olshey continued to work as a commercial actor, but ultimately ended up in the local high school basketball coaching ranks. He held an assistant coaching job at powerhouse Artesia High School, which has produced a bevy of talent in recent years, from Jason Kapono to James Harden. In 2001, Olshey landed at SFX, Arn Tellem and David Falk's agency, where he served as director of player development and prepped the company's clients for pre-draft workouts.

When Dunleavy got the head coaching job with the Clippers in 2003, Tellem recommended Olshey for a position. Olshey was hired by the Clippers as director of player development, the same title he held at SFX. From there, Olshey moved up the ranks. He assisted Dunleavy on the bench during the 2004-05 season, and was elevated to director of player personnel a season later. Once Elgin Baylor was ousted as general manager in favor of Mike Dunleavy in October 2008, Olshey was promoted to the role of assistant general manager, a job he held until Tuesday, when he claimed the mantle as the Clippers' general manager.

Sources around the league maintain that with Dunleavy focused primarily on his coaching responsibilities, Olshey has been the main pipeline into the Clippers' organization for a while now. Though Dunleavy -- and Clippers president Andy Roeser above him -- had veto power over any personnel moves, Olshey was the guy you called when you wanted to discuss deals. If that premise is correct, then Olshey had a big hand in getting the Clippers where they want to be financially heading into the summer.

The Clippers are placing a premium on flexibility as they strip their personnel down to the bare essentials in preparation for an active offseason. Only Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Blake Griffin, Chris Kaman and DeAndre Jordan are under contract for 2010-11, and the organization will have somewhere in the neighborhood of $15-16 million to spend in free agency. Removing Dunleavy further enables them to reformulate, rebrand and reload.

In addition to extending a hefty contract to an elite player, might the Clippers also be looking for big names to preside in the front office and on the sidelines? Hours before the Clippers announced Dunleavy's termination, a report surfaced that Larry Brown reached out to the Clippers regarding a possible return to Los Angeles. Given the outcome in Charlotte's ownership situation, the likelihood of Brown taking a second tour with the Clippers seems unlikely, but the rumor does speak to the Clippers' desire for a complete makeover.

The timing of Dunleavy's firing is interesting considering that the Clippers are playing out the string under an interim coach. Evidently, the organization decided that even with one year remaining on his four-year, $22 million contract extension, Dunleavy's presence no longer offered value for the future. Personnel decisions of this magnitude are usually couched in conciliatory language, but the Clippers' press release was especially pointed:

The organization has determined that the goal of building a winning team is best served by making this decision at this time. The team has simply not made sufficient progress during Dunleavy’s seven-year tenure. The Clippers want to win now. This transition, in conjunction with a full commitment to dedicate unlimited resources, is designed to accomplish that objective.

The Clippers have placed themselves in a unique and advantageous position. Last month, they signaled that there's a potential opportunity for a top free agent to name his own coach. On Tuesday, that hypothetical was extended even further -- name your own coach and general manager.

If only the Clippers could say, "Name your owner."