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Mike D'Antoni resigned as coach of the New York Knicks on Wednesday. His agent Warren LeGarie says the parting was "a mutual decision" because D'Antoni and the team have "conflicting views of the Knicks' future."

What’s certain is that the recent past hasn’t been pretty for all parties involved.

After starting last season 28-26, the acquisition of Carmelo Anthony raised expectations in the Big Apple as the Knicks were supposed to join the Eastern Conference elite. Instead, New York went the opposite direction losing 38 of 70 games since. The Knicks scoring has gone down by almost six points per game since that fateful trade.

‘MELO DRAMA
The major crisis that ended the coach’s tenure is not a secret. New York has just been better with its superstar on the bench, especially this season with new point guard Jeremy Lin on the floor.

Since his return from injury 10 games ago, the Knicks are scoring 12 more points per 100 possessions and allowing 12 fewer points with Anthony on the bench.

But Lin or no Lin, Anthony simply wasn’t thriving in Mike D'Antoni's system.

Anthony is in the midst of one of his worst offensive seasons of his nine-year career. He’s shooting a career-worst 40 percent from the field. His 21.3 scoring average is his lowest since his sophomore season with the Nuggets.

Over the last 10 games, no two-man combo for the Knicks has put up a worse plus/minus rating than their two stars: Anthony and Amare Stoudemire. Anthony has put up a minus rating with every Knick he's played with over that time.

The best combo for the Knicks over last 10 games? Jared Jeffries and Steve Novak (+28).

The best combo for the Knicks this season? Jeremy Lin and Steve Novak (+122).

New interim head coach Mike Woodson will now have to figure that riddle out.

MISSING NASH
The entire drama in New York highlights a stark comparison for D'Antoni’s career. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, D'Antoni’s career win percentage is .733 in games he's coached when Steve Nash played for him. In games without him, he’s recorded just a .385 win percentage.

THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE
The Knicks, who won seven straight games in February, have now dropped six in a row entering tonight's contest with Portland. With a defeat tonight, they would become the first NBA team since 2004 to have both a winning streak and a losing streak of at least seven games within a 20-game span (fact courtesy of Elias).

After winning 60 games and the top seed in the East, the 1992-93 Knicks were still underdogs when they met the two-time defending champion Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals. New York guard John Starks had been an underdog his entire improbable career, but found himself with the ball and a chance to take a commanding 2-0 series lead over the champs.

With 50 seconds left in Game 2, Starks dribbled on the right wing as Patrick Ewing rushed over to set a screen intended to spring Starks into the middle of the court. But instead of using the screen, Starks hesitated, feinted middle then exploded into the wide open space along the baseline. Bulls forward Horace Grant rotated to meet him outside the paint but arrived a step late. Starks gathered off of two feet and rocketed into the rafters of Madison Square Garden to deliver a violent left-handed flush that dislodged Grant’s goggles and the sanity of Knicks fans everywhere. For good measure, Michael Jordan appeared in the poster to futilely swipe at the ball as Starks flew by.

Nothing and everything made sense; Starks was up, Jordan was down. The rim-rattling dunk shook the basketball world to its core.

Over on the New York bench, a young assistant was startled -- not by the outrageous dunk, but by a strange mutation in Chicago’s pick-and-roll defense. What Jeff Van Gundy saw on that play would change the series, and inform the evolution of NBA defense over the next 20 years.

“That was the first time, late in the fourth quarter, that I had ever seen in the NBA any team force the ball to the baseline in the side pick-and-roll,” says Van Gundy.

“I know they weren’t well-coordinated and that’s what led to that dunk, but I think it turned the series around for them.”

The Bulls' defense had adapted right in front of the world and almost no one noticed. Though the adjustment led to an iconic moment for their opponents, the Bulls continued to use this new coverage on side pick-and-rolls to dismantle the Knicks, and particularly Starks, who averaged more than six turnovers in four straight losses while his scoring and assist averages plummeted.

NBA defenses built off of this moment over the next 20 years, and today’s Chicago Bulls, coached by defensive genius Tom Thibodeau, are the finest example how this simple idea has evolved into a devastating strategy for defending pick-and-rolls.

On every pick-and-roll, the Bulls send the ball handler away from the middle of the court. On side pick-and-rolls, that means forcing the ball down to the baseline, where the offense’s options quickly diminish.

A detailed examination of the Bulls' pick-and-roll philosophy gets pretty granular pretty quickly, but the guiding principle is dictating where the ball handler can go -- or more fundamentally, can’t go -- and loading up the help defense accordingly.

Against Starks and the 1993 Knicks, Horace Grant was a step or two late. But today’s Bulls, aided by altered illegal defense rules that allow for Thibodeau’s signature strong side zone defense, are virtually always on time.

The history of NBA strategy is a conversation, or argument, between styles. Chuck Daly’s Bad Boy Pistons were a response to Pat Riley’s Showtime Lakers. While Thibodeau, then an assistant with Van Gundy in Houston, was designing defenses to chew up pick-and-rolls, current Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni’s spread pick-and-roll offense provided the counterargument.

The goal of Thibodeau’s pick-and-roll coverages is to “keep the ball on the strong side to limit how much the weak side has to help and protect, so you’re not getting caught up in long rotations,” according to Van Gundy.

Not coincidentally, those long rotations and closeouts are precisely what D’Antoni’s offense is designed to create. In fact, Van Gundy credits the system D’Antoni developed in Phoenix with helping to advance defensive schemes around the league: “The high pick-and-roll with Phoenix with four shooters and Stoudemire rolling to the rim made it so you couldn’t show,” meaning the help-and-recover schemes teams had been using for years simply weren’t tight enough to prevent Phoenix, with their extra shooter (the now endemic Stretch Big Man) from getting wide open looks.

At its maddening best, D’Antoni’s offense generates wide swaths of space around the paint by stationing three shooters around a pick-and-roll involving a dynamic ball handler and an aggressively rolling big man.

During New York's magical seven-game winning streak in February, Jeremy Lin, Tyson Chandler and sweet-shooting Steve Novak perfectly embodied these roles. Not pictured: Carmelo Anthony and (for the most part) Amare Stoudemire.

But since returning their full complement of players, the Knicks have struggled, winning just three of their last 11 games. It comes as no surprise that the Knicks are also running far fewer pick-and-rolls.

The outlook is gloomy in Gotham, but remember that Euro-influenced drive-and-kick offenses that spread the floor with multiple attacking wings has historically been as successful as any against Thibodeau defenses. The Orlando Magic bounced the Celtics from the 2009 playoffs (while Thibodeau was the defensive assistant) with that strategy, and the Knicks have enough versatile scorers to exploit the Bulls' defensive rotations.

But to do that, to overcome Chicago’s strong-side pressure, the Knicks must adhere to the space and movement principals of D’Antoni’s system. They must keep the ball whipping around the perimeter, with either the dribble or the pass. Holding the ball, even to fake, and even when the fake is effective, only allows Chicago’s help defenders time to get in position.

This is one of the few NBA games in which the name on the front of the jersey matters nearly as much as those on the back. There's a historical backdrop of bad blood, but tonight also puts a fine point on a broader philosophical conversation between D’Antoni's spread offense, at its best the most productive system yet developed, and Thibodeau’s league-leading defense.

The echo from that roaring Starks dunk along the baseline can be heard throughout this game, in the howls of its passionate fans, and the tactical grappling of its coaches and players.

Although Donnie Walsh has long gone to great lengths to make clear that his 2010 strategy does not revolve around any one player, to Knick fans there's nothing like the idea of getting LeBron James. On Thursday they will get their opportunity to make that pitch.

When they do, they will have a lot of things to sell that are widely known: A very rich owner, perhaps the best local market in the world, and a coach who's famously fun to play for.

But there are three less-discussed elements to their pitch -- some that make the Knicks look good, and one less so.

Mike D'Antoni and LeBron James have history
D'Antoni's Suns teams were delightful in their high-scoring ways. And it's undeniable that with the right point guard, and D'Antoni's brilliant offensive system, James would be a candidate to become the best finisher in the history of the game, and the Knicks would be unbelievably fun to watch.

It is often pointed out that James has played for D'Antoni before, on Team USA. But those aren't necessarily the best memories. When D'Antoni packs for Cleveland, in addition to a nice suit, he's packing some history.

Way back in 2006, Mike Krzyzewski's coaching staff -- D'Antoni, Nate McMillan and Jim Boeheim -- were asked to vote on which players to cut first to get down to the 15-player traveling roster. They ended up cutting Shawn Marion, Adam Morrison and Luke Ridnour. But, as I reported in 2006, three out of four members of that staff voted to make James the first player cut. It has never been made public which coach voted which way, and Mike D'Antoni would not comment on the topic now.

And the whole thing ended up not mattering, as Team USA honcho Jerry Colangelo overruled the coaches anyway.

But especially at that point, and even now, James has very seldom earned anything other than raves for his work on the basketball court. This episode stung.

In addition, while D'Antoni's system is friendly to players, D'Antoni is not always so. D'Antoni has locked horns with everyone from Larry Hughes to Al Harrington. Nate Robinson played a key role in some Finals games this season for the Celtics, but after some differences of opinion with his coach, Robinson was benched for close to a month of this past season, and was eventually traded to Boston.

A player
I spent a very enjoyable 20 minutes on the phone with Danilo Gallinari, who won't be on the recruiting trip -- he's home in Italy working out.

But Gallinari has a role to play for the Knicks in free agency. The general consensus is that the Knicks have a lot of cap space and a big city, but Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Toney Douglas, Eddy Curry and the like wouldn't mind people noticing that they have some players, too.

The 6-10 Gallinari is one of the finest shooters in the game. His statistics after two seasons compare favorably to Dirk Nowitzki's at the same stage. He is plainly the pick of the litter. And though he was booed vociferously by Knick fans on draft night, he has earned plenty of cheers since, especially after emerging victorious from a physical scorer's duel against Carmelo Anthony in March. (Anthony on Gallinari, postgame: "I love what he is doing ... It was kind of fun to see him hold his ground and not back down.”)
Here he explains some things you might not know about him:

• On toughness: "Basketball is a physical sport. It's a man sport. If you don't like that, you don't like basketball. I like that. I love that. And I don't care. ... It's a good thing for European players to come to the NBA and get respect from the All-Stars, and I think I did that. I love the physical game, and I don't care who I'm playing against I just try to be as physical as I can and as aggressive as I can. That's how you get respect from the greatest players in the league. It's exactly the same way in Europe. ... I don't think it's bullying. It's just the way basketball is. It's also the way life is. If you're young and you want to gain respect and you want to be an important guy in whatever job you do you have to develop that. Older guys will try to eat you, and develop you, and pick on you. That's the only way. You have to be strong. If you can not meet that challenge, you have to change jobs."
• On defense: "I wanted to have new challenges I asked Mike [D'Antoni] to let me guard, every game, the best scorer and the best player on the other team, and I think I did a pretty good job. I like any kind of challenge, and I like to play defense, even if I am a good shooter and a good offensive player. He said OK, no problem, we'll do it. That game we played against Denver at home, everyone talks about that one against Carmelo Anthony, so that was a highlight."
• On research: "Donnie Walsh told me at one point during the season that I have a lot of characteristics that remind him of Larry Bird. He gave me DVDs of Larry Bird and his game. I was watching video with the coaches, and trying to understand the things that I have to work on."
• On how he has recovered from back surgery in April 2009: "I played in 81 out of 82 games. Almost every game. My back feels great. I was so happy at the end of the season, because after the surgery I played 35 or more minutes a game. It was great for my season, for my mind, for my confidence. I was really really happy. ... I always do routine exercises now, before the game, after the game, before practice, after practice ... that's the only way. That's what I have to do every time, and it works."
• On position and fit: "I can play three or four. I can play with anybody."
• On his pitch to free agents: "We are the Knicks. We are New York, and we want to win. The words 'New York' and 'win' they live together. To make them live together, we have to build a really good team, and that's what the Knicks will do this summer."

Allan Houston and the family
Allan Houston is something of a Knicks' legend, and cuts a very likable figure as the coach's son who played the right way and brought a lot of thrills to the Big Apple faithful. He is thought to be on a track to be a very influential member of the organization for decades to come. His presence in a meeting with LeBron James' inner circle would serve the Knicks any number of ways.

One of the ways it could make a difference, however, is personal and steeped in history.

William Wesley's name comes up again and again in just about any story to do with James' free agency. If you have followed Wesley's career at all, you'll notice that one of the key breakthroughs in his career -- the thing that got him out of selling sneakers for a living -- was his involvement with the early 1980s Louisville basketball team that starred Wesley's friend Milt Wagner.

Back when Louisville set about recruiting Wagner, one of their assistant coaches flew to New Jersey to get to know him better. One of the people they sought out was his good friend who worked in the sneaker store. They even encouraged young "Fresh" Wes to expand his horizons a bit, and consider that he could have a bigger role in sports one day. Wes was inspired, and did just as the assistant coach suggested, including traveling to Louisville to spend time with the team.

Anyway, do you know who that assistant coach was? Allan Houston's father, Wade. Wesley has had a strong relationship with the Houstons ever since, and has known Allan since he was a child.

Will that sway LeBron James? Not likely. But knowing there are both connected to Wesley can only encourage James to at least give Houston's message its due.

One of the simple ways of experiencing basketball is by talking about it with people who share your love of the game. One of the people I enjoy rapping with is John Krolik of Cavs the Blog and SLAM Online. The best conversations are the ones that produce interesting questions, then aim to answer them. Here are some of those questions about the NBA John and I have been bouncing around in our last couple of conversations:

As guys get freakier and more athletic, are we witnessing an end to positional orthodoxy?
JK: We're definitely seeing a lot of blurring in positional lines, particularly outside of the center position. One thing in particular I like is the rise of the true combo guard. Early in the decade, we got a lot of alleged "combo guards" who were really just superpowered bench gunners given control of teams with mixed results; Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, et cetera. (Iverson is Iverson.)

But now we're really starting to see effective players who are a cross between the one and the two in a good way, and they're being complimented with other multi-skilled guards rather than going with a strict point guard/shooting guard backcourt. In San Antonio, they put Tony Parker, who's a great scorer for a point, next to Manu, who's a great playmaker for a shooting guard, and things went well. The double-combo backcourt of Mo Williams and Delonte West turned Cleveland's backcourt from a disaster area to a huge strength last season. Even Jason Kidd, the truest of points, is playing with JET and JJ Barea, and has even become adept at knocking down catch-and-shoot 3s off of other people's assists. Phil Jackson's won only 10 championships using an offense that doesn't require a traditional point. And so many young combo guards are coming in with tons of talent: Tyreke Evans, Russell Westbrook, Brandon Jennings and even John Wall, who should definitely be put next to a guy who can pass and shoot when he comes into the league so that he can spend some time in each game going on guilt-free scoring rampages. Wall might be the combo-guard messiah.

KA: This is a beautiful trend because it's created a much more diverse range of basketball styles. Very few teams around the league look alike, even though many of them run much of the same stuff. The fact that so many players can do so many different things on the floor creates an exponentially greater number of things a team can do schematically. On many teams, shots on the floor can be drawn up for almost any player at any spot! Part of this can be attributed to athleticism. One the things that made a power forward or a center a big men was his ability to perform big men tasks -- rebounding, shot-blocking, the ability to routinely get high-percentage shots close to the rim. Today's NBA perimeter players have the athleticism to do a lot of that -- and many of the bigger guys in the league have perimeter skills, as well.

This seems like a nice segue to ...

Do traditional big men have a future?
KA: Whether you chalk it up to the prohibition of hand-checking or the stylings of Mike D'Antoni's Phoenix Suns teams (I'd argue that former rendered the latter), the professional game has undergone a seismic shift over the past decade. Perimeter play has taken over. Today's power forwards have big guard games and two of the top three players in 3-point attempts are 6-foot-10. It's a world gone mad, but you can't complain about the product on the court. The NBA has never been more fun to watch, and we're just getting started...

...or are we?

Trends have a way of feeling permanent while they're being experienced, but they rarely last forever. At some point, laws of macroeconomics take over. Right now, there aren't more than a handful of big men in basketball who have refined post moves and can drain a running right-handed hook with consistency. Teams don't value those attributes as much as speed and 3-point shooting. But as more and more players have the ability to drain 100-200 3-pointers per season at a 40 percent clip, the demand will shift. Kids who arrive on the NBA's doorstep with the ability to dominate the game inside with uncanny efficiency will be shopping skills that few teams will be able to defend.

JK: I'd say the hand-check rules imposed an artificial set of circumstances that forced a change, so I don't think we'll see the pendulum swing all the way back to where it was. But I think guys are finding out that even though big men need to be faster and more skilled than they used to be and can't count on getting minutes just because they can score with their backs to the basket and do nothing else (i.e. Eddy Curry), the post-up game is still a valuable weapon. Look at the Lakers. Andrew Bynum, when he's engaged, defends the rim, gets rebounds and is quick enough to find room and finish off of others, but also posts up. Pau Gasol plays the high-post, runs the floor, gets rebounds, passes beautifully and can knock down the mid-range jumper, but also has a wonderful post game. And of course Kobe can and does do just about anything that's possible for a basketball player to do, but also utilizes the post game.

I'd say that the post-up specialist won't be in vogue again in the foreseeable future, but more and more bigs and wings who can do what's demanded of them in the post hand-check NBA are going to find that the actual post game is still a hugely valuable weapon, especially as fewer and fewer teams know how to defend it.

Of the current young up-and-coming teams, which ones are for real and which ones will provide an entertaining illusion of success?
KA: When sizing up a team's future prospects, the first thing I ask myself is, "Can I imagine this team ranking in the top half of the league defensively?"

Oklahoma City is the quintessential upstart squad. They're fun, charismatic, dynamic, athletic ... and not all that impressive as an offensive unit. It's the Thunder's defense that's led them to a 17-14 record this season. So long as tough, lanky defenders like Russell Westbrook and Thabo Sefolosha are patrolling the perimeter (and James Harden too), opponents are going to have a tough time scoring against them. With that Kevin Durant angle pick-and-roll as the anchor of their offense, they're a good bet to win a playoff series sometime soon.

Brandon Jennings has sparked any and all attention the Bucks have received this season, but Milwaukee's frontcourt of Andrew Bogut, Ersan Ilyasova and Luc Mbah a Moute have put up gritty defensive numbers. Mbah a Moute comes as no surprise, but I was shocked by Bogut's stats, until I looked at his figures under Scott Skiles last season -- also really, really good. Once they get a (healthy) shooting guard who can play drive-and-kick off the Jennings-Bogut pick-and-roll, the Bucks could be dangerous under a coach who was booted from his last gig in Chicago after assembling the league's top-ranked defense and the Eastern Conference's 3rd best record the previous season.

Sacramento's lousy defensive numbers don't concern me right now. They strike me as a team that's going to experience a major overhaul over the next 18 months, and a big part of that metamorphosis will be acquiring some pieces around Tyreke Evans who can defend. I have less faith in Memphis, Minnesota, Golden State and, to a slightly lesser extent, Philadelphia, who all have rosters riddled with defensive ciphers.

JK: I think Oklahoma City wins a playoff series when their backcourt clicks into place, and that's close to happening. I love Westbrook's game and think he has a ton of potential, but he just needs to be more disciplined. He pushes the ball, plays great defense, and does all these little things, but then he'll throw up a bad jumper, brick a full-speed reverse layup, or make a silly pass, and his true shooting percentage and turnover rates are way off of where they need to be because of that. It'll be interesting to see if the answer there is Harden maturing to the point where he can play 30-35 minutes a game and cover some of Westbrook's weaknesses with his shooting, playmaking and ability to create off the drive. (Combo guards!) But I think that young frontcourt is the envy of a lot of teams in the league, Sam Presti keeps getting valuable pieces without giving up much, and I'd call the future very bright there.

For Sacramento, the short-term question is how Tyreke is going to work with Kevin Martin. They might cancel each other out or become absolutely unstoppable together, although they might need to do the latter to make up for Martin's suspect defense. But Thompson, Hawes, Casspi, and even Brockman all look like keepers, and Tyreke has given every indication that he can be built around.

In Milwaukee, I think they should be having serious brainstorms on how they can hide Mbah a Moute on offense so they can keep him on the floor longer, maybe even looking for a stretch four so they can put Mbah a Moute closer to the basket offensively and use him like Detroit used Ben Wallace. He's that good defensively.

I agree with you about the rest of the teams, although I give Memphis some upside because I think it's a bit too early to completely give up on Hasheem Thabeet as an impact player defensively; if Orlando could build a defense around Howard and four perimeter guys, there's a chance Memphis can as well. (A chance, mind you.)

What is it about Stan Van Gundy that we like so much?
JK: I think we've got a pretty narrow view of how to evaluate coaches, because we don't see the vast majority of what they do and we're trained to look for their failures and not their successes. Coaches almost exist to be fired, and every time they make a mistake with their play-call or substitution, it'll get talked about the next day.

I think the biggest job of a coach isn't to call timeouts strategically or be a genius with his in game substitutions. (Although both are definitely important, especially the latter.) I think the job of an NBA coach is to set up a system that best utilizes the talents he has available to him, and that's where Stan Van Gundy comes in, especially last season. Of his five starters, he had three guys with below-average defensive reputations, Dwight Howard, and a rookie.

Instead of trying to have everyone play straight-up or stick Rashard Lewis at the three, he evaluated what he had -- the best shot-blocker in the league and more quickness on the perimeter than most other teams had. So he stuck Lewis at the 4 and never looked back, and built a defense around running other teams off threes and keeping Howard at home under the basket. What happened? The Magic gave up the second fewest made baskets at the rim, the second fewest made 3s per game, and more shots from 10-15 feet and 16-23 feet than any other team in the league. They also had one of the league's three best defenses in terms of efficiency.

Offensively, he had Dwight Howard, who can catch and finish with the best of them but isn't a great post player, more shooting and playmaking at the forward spots than most anyone, and a bunch of guys who can shoot threes. So he had Howard look for catches at the rim, ran 3/4 screen-rolls, and had his players shoot a bunch of threes rather than try to do what everyone else was doing. Van Gundy's failures last season were there for the world to see, but what he did extremely well was more subtle.

KA: I like his press conferences, too. The irony of Van Gundy is that popular perception sometimes paints him as inflexible. But as you said, no coach sculpted a more sensible system for his personnel last season than Van Gundy. He did a full appraisal of his talent, saw where he had edges over his opponents at each position (ballhanding at the 3, shooting at the 4, mobility at the 5) and designed his offense to exploit those advantages.

This isn't to say there's anything wrong with building an elite team by first implementing the system, then by populating that system with players whose talents most conform to it. Whatever works, by all means. Just win. But the ability to create a system around a disparate collection of talent that was brought together randomly is in many ways even more impressive.

Should LeBron James be playing more power forward?
KA: Despite James’ size, strength and efficiency on the glass, Mike Brown has him firmly situated at the small forward slot. In fact, you have to go pretty far down the list of Cleveland’s 5-man lineups to find units in which James is playing power forward. But in the six lineups that feature James surrounded by one traditional big man and three smaller players for at least 10 minutes, the Cavs outscore their opponents 96-83 (prorated for 48 minutes).

Those numbers are enough for me, but let’s think about it in practical terms. We’ve already discussed how positional dogma is a thing of the past in an NBA that’s much smaller than it was 10 years ago. When thinking about how to best maximize LeBron in the half-court, wouldn't you prefer that he drag a bigger defender out to him in order to create more space on the floor for your offense? And defensively, wouldn’t a team like Cleveland, whose primary weakness has been its plodding frontcourt, be better served by having LeBron cover Rashard Lewis on Orlando’s pick-and-pop or Boston’s bigs on the Celtics’ rotating screen-and-rolls? Doesn’t it make more sense to challenge Stan Van Gundy and Doc Rivers to match up with a more athletic lineup? And wouldn’t Cleveland benefit from more transition opportunities?

Would team rebounding suffer? When you look at those aforementioned six lineups with LeBron at the 4, the answer is no. Apart from the political stickiness of limiting the minutes of the Cavs' veteran big men, I have trouble seeing how making the Cavs a more athletic team around LeBron comes with much downside.

JK: The short answer is that I'm extremely confused as to why LeBron doesn't get more time at the 4 position, at least for around 10 minutes of his time on the floor. I understand some of the reasoning behind not giving him significant minutes down there. The Cavs show hard on every perimeter screen, which would require LeBron expending more energy on the defensive end than the Cavs are comfortable with, especially in the first three quarters. And of course, the Cavs don't want LeBron in foul trouble under any circumstances. And generally speaking, the Cavs' big men are better players than Jamario Moon, who typically plays the 3 in the Cavs' small-ball lineup. But LeBron getting the ball in the 10-15 foot range and making his move from down there is absolutely deadly, and that small-ball lineup should definitely be something used more often to keep opposing teams on their toes.

What confuses me more than anything is that while the Shaq/Varejao frontcourt has some offensive issues and the Shaq/Hickson frontcourt has some serious defensive issues, a Shaq/LeBron frontcourt hasn't been tried at all this season, and I mean at all. I suppose the reasoning is that LeBron would be forced to expend way too much energy on the perimeter defensively as Shaq sags to the paint on pick-and-rolls (LeBron's never gotten minutes at the four alongside Z either), but with the Cavs supposedly looking for a "stretch 4" at the deadline to make life easier for Shaq, it's odd that they haven't at least tried using LeBron in that role.

How Real is Dallas?
KA: Little known fact: Of the 50 5-man units that have played together the most this season, two of the top three in overall efficiency belong to the Dallas Mavericks. Whether it's Jason Terry or J.J. Barea at the shooting guard, the Mavs' big names are absolutely crushing their opponents on both ends of the floor. Dallas is a Top 5 defensive squad and features one of the game's great shotmakers in Dirk Nowitzki. They also have tremendous flexibility to match up with opponents on either end. They can play old-school or new-school. Want to tease the Mavs with small ball? That's fine, because they're perfectly good going with three guards and moving Shawn Marion and Nowitzki into the frontcourt. Want to try to outmuscle them? Erick Dampier may have an outsized contract, but he's also one of the better basket protectors and garbage collectors in the league. Opponents shoot a measly 57.4 percent at the rim against the Mavs -- only Boston, Cleveland and San Antonio are better.

More than anything, the Mavs strike me as a team composed of professionals. These are serious basketball players led by a serious coach. Is it possible that a squad with so many thirtysomethings breaks down physically over the course of an 82-game season? Perhaps. But where some see brittleness, I see experience. In fact, I see shades of the best San Antonio Spurs squads. I see a team that truly understands its collective talents and limitations and puts a premium on execution.

Can they compete with the Lakers in late May? I'm not sure anyone in the Western Conference can, but Dallas -- with its length, smarts, and perimeter prowess -- might just be the toughest competition the Lakers encounter.

JK: Dallas has a ton of talent, Dirk is right up there with the best players in the league, and the team defends. My caveat would be that they're thinner than people think, and much more dependent on Dirk. As of December 26th, Dallas was +11.6 points per 100 possessions with Dirk on the floor and a stunning -16.5 points per 100 with Dirk on the bench. As bad as LeBron and Kobe's benches are, their teams are only -8 when they sit, to offer some perspective.

A lot of that has to do with Drew Gooden; Gooden's plus-minus is -23.1, and as someone who's watched a good deal of Gooden in his life, I can tell you that's not random noise. Drew Gooden is the anti-Battier. I'm also not a huge J.J. Barea fan. He's fun to watch and works fairly well with Kidd offensively, but I believe you were the one who said he plays defense "like a man frantically searching for his car keys," and the plus-minus numbers support the theory that Barea's somewhat of a defensive liability. Dallas can play with anyone, especially when Dirk's on the floor, and if they do something to get a better backup for Dirk than Gooden and hide Barea's defense a little better (maybe play more Beaubois, who's gone through growing pains and will probably continue to do so, but has lockdown defensive potential), I'd call them a true force to be reckoned with in the West. If not, I'd say they have a solid puncher's chance of knocking the Lakers off their Western Conference throne.

How do we begin to make sense of adjusted plus-minus?
JK: Outside of the obvious conclusion, which is "no one stat or metric, no matter how advanced or intricate, is ever going to come close to saying everything about one player," I have two thoughts on adjusted plus-minus.

The first is that I get how the basic +/- you see in box scores and 82games.com's version of plus-minus work, but I still don't totally understand how advanced plus-minus works, and that's a problem. I mean, I get the theory, that it adjusts for having good or bad teammates or playing against good and bad opponents, but how exactly does it define "good" and "bad"? Is "good" based on the other guy's adjusted plus-minus, or is the value of others derived from something like Player Efficiency Rating? Aren't both approaches problematic? Right now, adjusted plus-minus is sort of "He's good. Trust me," which I have trouble swallowing as a fan and certainly can't use to convince friends or readers of a guy's value.

The second problem is one that will get fixed over time, which is that we still don't really know how to read plus-minus type stats yet. We know with a stat like field goal percentage that a shooting guard is going to have a lower field goal percentage than a center, but we also know that the guard is probably shooting more 3s, shooting his free throws better and taking tougher shots than the center. We know how to read that stat.

But because plus-minus is one number and so nebulous, we don't know which plus-minus numbers to take with a grain of salt and which ones not to. I'll bring up the semi-infamous Durant example here. Durant had terrible +/- ratings for his first two seasons, but has been incredible in year three. Was the Durant phenomenon ever even real, or did Durant actually improve this year in ways the stats didn't see? If we want plus-minus metrics to be as legitimate as the box score ones, we have to stress-test it like we have the conventional numbers that came before them.

KA: I'm drawn to adjusted plus-minus because I'm desperate to find any metric that will approximate a player's defensive value, something we just don't have the tools to do right now. I'm more faithful than I probably should be given the lack of stress tests you talk about. Your point is well-taken and I'd add that stats like these are only valuable to the extent that they're predictive. There will always be players who make colossal jumps or experience unusual crashes in productivity, but apart from outliers, a stat must be dependable enough to offer a clear -- if general -- estimation of what that player is worth in the past, present and likely future. I've begun to spend more time examining the adjusted plus-minus numbers of 5-man units rather than individuals, in part because it seems more practical.

I suspect we'll know a lot more in three to five years than we do now. The metric's practitioners (and the people who trust them) will have a better sense of where the numbers skews, what those number might miss and the kind of noise those numbers create. In the meantime, I'll continue to watch the 2-year figures (and eventually 3-year, and 4-year). Any system that values Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Chris Paul, Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant as the five best players in the NBA has to be on to something, right?

Posted by Kevin Arnovitz

• When Austin Daye was being sized up as a pro prospect, one of the first shortcomings mentioned by his naysayers was his lanky build. Watching him up close in Las Vegas, Daye seems wholly unintimidated by back-line defenders. He actually initiates contact off the dribble, and it rarely throws him off his drive. He's gotten to the line 16 times in the past two games. He also recorded a double-digit rebound total for the third consecutive game. 
• DaJuan Summers has the proverbial nose for the ball. When Pistons point guard Sean Singletary drove baseline, Summers made a hard basket cut down the lane to collect the pass. When his man left him alone on the weak side, he crashed the offensive glass. That's how you get 15 shot attempts even though your team isn't running stuff for you. Summers hit only five of those 15 shots in his final Summer League game, but helped himself as much as anyone over the course of the past week.
  

Jonny Flynn didn't start ... but finished frequently. (Jack Arent/NBA via Getty Images)

• After a silent first quarter against the Pistons, Cavs rookie Christian Eyenga got involved, did some nice work off the dribble against Daye, and worked hard defensively against the Pistons guards. Eyenga was the quickest guy on the floor when he was out there. The Cavs haven't been looking for him at all this week -- and he never calls for the ball -- so it's been hard to get a feel for the full range of his skills.
  
• Jon Brockman is a hoss. Even though he looks like a tree trunk, he actually moves his feet well, has the makings of a good team defender, and did a nice job on a couple of Toney Douglas-Jordan Hill pick-and-rolls. There's no offensive game to speak of, but a good find by the Kings.
  
• There's a good pick-and-pop player inside Jordan Hill, but it just hasn't materialized yet. Against the Kings, he demonstrated the mobility to work within Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni's system and get himself shots. "He's got a lot of offensive talents," D'Antoni said. "He just has to get a little stronger and get his jump shot down to where he's confident with it." Hill went only 3-for-11 from the field.
  
• Jonny Flynn didn't start on Friday, but he took sole ownership of the game when he checked in at the start of the second quarter. Time and again, Flynn would get a hard screen from one of his bigs (both Garrett Siler and Adam Parada did good work), then exploded through the middle into daylight, absorbing any and all contact. In the fourth quarter, Flynn unleashed the theatrics: a behind-the-back pass to Parada, a two-handed dish over his head backward to a waiting shooter, a kickout to the arc while he was airborne in traffic. He finished with 21 points on 7-of-11 from the floor, and a perfect 7-for-7 from the stripe.
  
• In eight days, James Harden has yet to take a truly questionable shot. He's the most measured rookie in his class on the court. Even his turnovers are of the "... but it was a good idea" variety. 
• James Johnson's game can be disjointed at times. It's not that he looks lost. It's just the opposite -- he's a small forward with too many choices. Johnson couldn't buy a shot Friday (2-for-11 from the field), but he made four or five beautiful plays for teammates -- including a pinpoint interior bounce pass in traffic between two defenders to find James Augustine for a layup. Johnson finished with seven assists. 
• There's one team out here playing at maximum effort: The D-League Select. On the pro squads, everyone has an individual agenda. A contracted, first-round stud is out there for an entirely different reason than the journeyman trying to catch the attention of a European scout. The D-Leaguers, some of whom had offers to warm the bench of an NBA Summer League roster but opted for DLS -- as they're known in abbreviation -- are collective underdogs. 
• David Thorpe on Ty Lawson: "When he has to be your best offensive player, he's going to look average. This is one of the reasons he didn't stand out in the pre-draft camp a year ago in Orlando. But give him four talented players around him, and he'll make that collective group better than most other point guards could -- especially if those players can run." Friday, Lawson was playing with Coby Karl, Sonny Weems, Ronald Dupree, and Cedric Simmons, so he stopped deferring. Lawson initiated the offense himself, keeping the ball off high screens to either drive or shoot. He poured in 26 points on 17 possessions. 
  
• Word association with Blake Griffin. 
• Zag Alert! Swingman Micah Downs carried Phoenix on Friday. He hit from distance, slashed from the wing, posted up his smaller defenders, racked up five steals, and was key in transition en route to 19 points on 12 possessions. 

Posted by Kevin Arnovitz

New York Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni's résumé spans the Atlantic Ocean. Before he moved stateside in 1997 to launch his career in the NBA, he was among the most successful coaches in Europe. He won two Euroleague titles as a coach. Equally important, D'Antoni developed his trademark coaching style that helped establish his standing as one of the most dynamic coaches in the NBA. Ask any player in the league which coach they'd most like to play for, and D'Antoni would probably win in a landslide. 

As a veteran of professional basketball in both Europe and North America, D'Antoni is a good person to explain the presence of many European coaches and agents who are in Las Vegas to assess some of the less familiar names on the Summer League rosters and work out deals with them. D'Antoni used to be one of those guys here doing the evaluating. 

He shared his thoughts on the subject with TrueHoop:

Hedo Turkoglu and Shawn Marion -- a study in contrasts...and similarities. Did Nate Robinson have a breakout year? And how are Lakers fans processing the Ron Artest acquisition? 

Zarar Siddiqi of Raptors Republic: "Investing for 5 years in a 30 year old [Hedo] Turkoglu is about the same as investing for four years in a 31 year old [Shawn] Marion. I like the signing because he adds a whole new dimension to the team but at the same time feel that his best years could be behind him and that Orlando nabbed him when he was ripe for the picking, i.e. after a miserable year with the Spurs. Hopefully [Brian] Colangelo's not reaching on a has-been product like he did with Jermaine O'Neal. In this year's playoffs he showed a real knack for using his size to guard the pick 'n roll and defended Kobe Bryant and LeBron James well enough in stretches. He's no Marion when it comes to one-on-one defense but he's nothing to be scoffed at. Also, we finally got a guy that doesn't start choking his heart out in the clutch. Having the scoring touch of Turkoglu in the lineup might even allow the Raptors to test rookie DeMar DeRozan as a starter, much like the way the Magic did with Courtney Lee. With a big frontline of [Chris] Bosh-[Andrea] Bargnani-Turkoglu, an athletic shooting guard and a hopefully injury-free point guard in Calderon, the Raptors starting five looks respectable -- at least on paper."

Max Handelman of Beyond Bowie: "The Matrix was a player that most fans would have probably salivated over during his days in Phoenix when he was one of the top undersized rebounders in the game, considered one of the better defenders in the game, and a player that didn't require the ball in his hands to be effective. Cut to today, when Shawn Marion, at just one year older than Hedo Turkoglu and with career averages in scoring, rebounding, steals, block shots, and field goal percentage vastly exceed that of Hedo Turkoglu, is looking at potentially getting cut by the Toronto Raptors to clear salary cap space to sign Turkoglu. I wonder how Marion feels today facing this reasonably humiliating prospect. It wasn't more than a few seasons ago that Marion was in the thick of the Western Conference contenders on Phoenix, earned a spot on Olympic and World Championship teams, and was considered a nightly matchup nightmare for most teams ... Which brings us back to the Trailblazers and conventional wisdom. The Blazers thought they needed Hedo Turkoglu. And they were willing to commit $10 million a year to him. But Hedo made it clear that he didn't need them. Now, Portland is sitting with this cap space, looking for a veteran difference maker who can both improve their offensive efficiency and defensive presence. Granted, Marion and Turkoglu are very different players. But Marion looks to be sitting right out there..."

Mike Kurylo of Knickerblogger: "[Nate Robinson]'s per minute stats verify that 2009 was a career year. The Knicks' guard had career bests in per minute points, assists, rebounds, steals, fouls, and free throw attempts ... In [Mike] D'Antoni's offense Robinson seemingly has carte blanche to go to the hoop, and he does with vigor ... Watching him, it's amazing that the diminutive guard is able to score from inside so frequently and efficiently even with contact. On the court Robinson has matured a little bit. His propensity to commit meaningless fouls has decreased, and D'Antoni keeps him from arguing with officials. Nate still has his eccentric theatrics, for example this season's on the court Will Ferrell man-crush. It's commonly thought that Robinson's other big deficiency is his height. However teams didn't exploit Robinson in this manner, as I rarely saw other guards post him up. Instead his true Achilles' heel was revealed as he saw increased minutes this year: defending the pick and roll ... Still all-in-all Nate was one of the more productive Knicks in 2009, and is worthy of a contract extension. His potent scoring is an asset alone, but Robinson contributes with passing, steals, and rebounds as well."

THE FINAL WORD
Forum Blue & Gold: Lakers fans continue to grapple with Ron Artest's pending arrival.
Ball in Europe: Get Ready for 2009-10 Euroleague, Eurocup, and FIBA EuroChallenge!
Valley of the Suns: Getting inside Steve Nash's head.

(Photos by Chris Graythen, Ron Turenne, Chris McGrath/NBAE via Getty Images)

ESPN's Eric Neel, talking to Mike D'Antoni about the night Kobe Bryant scored 61 on his Knicks team (part of a longer article you have probably already seen, but should really read):

[Mike] D'Antoni passed Bryant near center court, walking onto the floor minutes before the house lights were dimmed for pregame introductions, and said, "Hey, Kobe, what's going on?"

This is a phrase D'Antoni uses the way your mom greets company at the door, asking folks to come in, sit down and talk a spell. It's a West Virginia welcome between friends.

D'Antoni was one of Bryant's idols when the kid was growing up in Italy and D'Antoni was starring in the Italian Professional League. Kobe wore D'Antoni's No. 8 as a young Laker. The two became brothers in arms while spending three years as part of Team USA, too. They won gold together.

"And he won't even look at me," D'Antoni says, raising both eyebrows.

No "Whassup, Mike?" no quick head bob, no raise of the eyebrows, nothing. Pursed lips. Boxer's shoulder wiggle. Steely, faraway stare.

D'Antoni laughs. Shakes his head a little. As if to say, I tell you what, that Kobe Bryant, he's pretty damn good.

"I knew right then we were f---ed."

Mike D'Antoni should be thinking draft position. John Paxson should be thinking extension for Ben Gordon. Think Mo Williams and Delonte West will snap out of their slumps? Think long and hard: 

Mike Kurylo of Knickerblogger: "[T]he Knicks should concede the rest of the season and use the remaining 15 games to prepare for next year. One way is to allow Nate Robinson to be the starting point guard (which may have already occurred). Another is to give minutes to Wilcox, Curry (if healthy), Samb, and Nichols in order to better understand how they may help the team...

And in the interim, playing the reserves would increase New York's standings in the June draft. While the only team that they might realistically pass is Indiana ... it's just as important for New York to not allow any of the teams ahead of them to improve their draft day position ... From any perspective the worst scenario would be New York passing all those teams in the standings without making the playoffs. If D'Antoni shifts his main focus from winning individual games to developing the end of his bench, New York would probably avoid such a undesirable fate."

Matt McHale of By the Horns: "Ben Gordon has been the Bulls' leading scorer for the past five seasons. That also happens to be the same number of seasons that Gordon's been in the league. But despite that fact, nobody knows yet whether he's even going to be in Chicago next season … and opinion is pretty firmly divided on whether or not John Paxson should spend any more of the team's precious salary cap space on him. That's too bad. I know BG is streaky and woefully undersized, but he brings it every night, and has been since his rookie campaign."

John Krolik of Cavs the Blog: "Mo appears to have hit some sort of a wall, because every other game it seems like his shot's not there, which suggests tired legs more than it suggests something mental keeping him out of his rhythm. Delonte, on the other hand, is in a major, major funk. He played gritty defense and got to the rim a few times, but his shot is off to the point he just can't buy one from outside the paint and he's not moving the ball right now. There's no option here -- we just have to wait for him to snap out of it, because we don't win in the playoffs without him. He's our Lamar Odom -- he's the difference between good and great for us."

THE FINAL WORD
Raptors Republic: Toronto fans are thinking draft.
Hoopinion: The Hawks brutalize Dirk Nowitzki.
48 Minutes of Hell: Some competing thoughts on the Spurs bench. 

(Photos by David Sherman, Larry W. Smith, Ronald Martinez/NBAE via Getty Images)

From Howard Beck's article in the New York Times:

Nate Robinson is still bothered by a sprained left ankle, which he injured in Saturday's loss to Miami. "He just said he can't go left," Mike D'Antoni said. "I didn't know if that was because of his ankle, or he just can't go left." 

Most coaches wouldn't even try to be funny in that situation. Many others wouldn't razz their players in front of reporters.

D'Antoni is the only one I can think of who can pull off a public razzing like that -- and it doesn't seem mean at all. It's not laced with criticism. It's just a joke. Well done.

A circular firing squad in Phoenix.  Chris Paul leaves defenses running in circles.  Quin Snyder comes full circle in Austin.  Circle the wagons with the TrueHoop Network:   

Michael Schwartz of Valley of the Suns: "This is not how the Suns wanted to celebrate their All-Star Game, with nary a mention of Steve Nash or Mike D'Antoni, but with Craig Sager asking everyone from Shaq to presidential runner-up John McCain what they thought of the imminent Porter firing that the team has yet to announce, a question Shaq termed as 'unprofessional' for the occasion.

Knowing how news like this always seems to leak, the Suns probably would have been better off just firing Porter on Thursday if this was what they were planning all along.

Obviously they wanted to prevent it from becoming a focus of the weekend, but by vehemently denying the rumors that apparently are about to be proven true, the state of franchise limbo the Suns were in with everybody wondering what the hell was going on was even worse."

Matt Moore of Hardwood Paroxysm: "The problem is that this club was made of veterans, who are ready to win now. They don't need to be pushed, prodded, or bullied. Even Amare, who could use tough love, needs it within the context of a relationship he trusts, not a bully sent in to shove him around... 

It wasn't Porter's fault that he didn't do what he needed to, or that he did it badly.  He was brought in to do something that wasn't going to work regardless. Porter could have taught a young team to walk before they run, but the Suns were ready to fly. And in the confusion they crashed and burned.

...[Steve Kerr]'s got a great basketball mind and may even have a tremendous mind for basketball business.

None of this changes the fact that he has completely submarined the Phoenix Suns franchise and is now spreading the blame. That Porter was ill-equipped to lead this team isn't his fault, it's the fault of the person that chose a drill sergeant for a general's job. Kerr not only sacrificed this team's soul, he led it to the dungeon to chain it. Everything has been driven off of the Kerr Defensive Concept." 

Ryan Schwan of Hornets247: "Chris Paul relishes contact, lapping it up like LeBron James laps up media coverage, and he's been that way since his rookie season. I can remember in his first game against Houston, he was dribbling up the court in front of Yao Ming, spotted the lumbering giant out of the corner of his eye, and smoothly took a step directly in front of the big man and decelerated.  Yao went down like a poleaxed cow as he tripped - and pretty much crushed Chris Paul under him.  A moment later, Paul popped up, a foul was assessed to Yao, and Paul was on the free-throw line.  Good times.

Paul still uses this tactic.  In the open floor, he frequently slides over in front of a guy trying to get up the court quickly, stopping them from getting to their cover.  This is not, however, a tactic you'll see very often from another player because of the turnover risk entailed:  If there's contact and no whistle is called, it's hard to keep a handle on the ball.

Paul, of course, has one of the best handles in the game.  Even when he gets bumped hard, he's mastered this odd little jump where he leans way forward and dribbles straight down.  Since the ball isn't moving any direction but down, the ball comes straight back to him, and can't squirt free, while the jump aids in drawing whistles.  It's a great move.

This year, however, Paul has adapted the move so that he doesn't use it solely in the open floor any more.  It's now become a dangerous part of his Pick and Roll game..."

THE FINAL WORD
Celtics Hub: A stroll through the C's draft history. 
48 Minutes of Hell: What Quin Snyder's been up to.
Raptors Republic: Sizing up the Marion-O'Neal trade.

(Photos by Noah Graham, Barry Gossage, Chris Graythen/NBAE via Getty Images)

A Spurs fan misses the old Suns.  Hating the Lakers unconditionally is as clichéd as bandwagoning.  Dallas hits its open shot.  Counter-intuition reigns in the TrueHoop Network: 

Josh Tucker of Hardwood Paroxysm: "Look, I get that you hate the Lakers. I really do. But going off like a ticking time bomb every time the Lakers get a break, and then looking the other way when they get a raw deal, doesn't make you clever, witty, or insightful. It makes you boring, predictable, and tired, not to mention completely unoriginal.

While we're at it, so does criticizing Lakers fans for being 'bandwagon fans,' or for being arrogant, smug, or condescending. Your anti-Lakers bandwagon is just as cliché, and your self-righteous attitude toward Lakers fans is just as arrogant, smug, and condescending." 

Graydon Gordian of 48 Minutes of Hell: "The Phoenix Suns have become a complete enigma to me. In some sense, they are struggling mightily. Compared to the gaudy regular season records they have posted for the last several years, their 25-18 record looks mediocre. As opposed to being in a race for home court advantage throughout the playoffs, they are in a race for the playoffs itself.

Shaquille O'Neal is having what some are calling an All-Star caliber season, but in order to do so he has displaced the comfort and effectiveness of many of his teammates. Coming into the season, Suns fans were talking about how Amare Stoudemire might make a run at MVP. Now Amare is rumored to be on the trading block. For years, Nash was the golden boy of the NBA: Exciting to watch and always a gentleman, win or lose. But in recent months he has betrayed his frustrations regarding the current state of the team. That being said, I have no doubt the boys in purple and orange will have their game faces on come this evening. When the silver and black come to town, the players formerly known as "fun-and-gun” get serious.

I have never been a defender of Mike D'Antoni. I always thought '7 Seconds or Less' was a flawed system and that Popovich could consistently outcoach D'Antoni over the course of a 7 game series. But, in some ways, the Suns-Spurs rivalry of old is something I dearly miss. Yes, the memories and malice remain. But, the presence of D'Antoni made the rivalry about so much more than two fan bases driven to the edge of insanity by their anger."

Rob Mahoney of The Two Man Game: "To be honest, I've been really reluctant to do this recap.  Or any recap for this team, really.  Every win is 'hopefully something to build on' and a 'statement game,' and every loss is a 'wake-up call.'  How long until this team starts to form a cohesive on-court identity and actually plays with some consistency, one way or another?

I did find relief in at least one way, though: the Mavs can make open shots.  That's better than what they've been doing lately.  Josh Howard in particular was absolutely stroking it, and that's a sight for sore eyes.  That 12-footer on the baseline is going to be there for Josh, whether he has to spot-up or create.  Another weapon for the arsenal, supposing it's not just a product of a Warriors complex."

THE FINAL WORD
Wizznutzz: The ESPN Trade Machine now includes Don Rickles and a live lion. 
Knickerblogger: The Knicks are playing their best ball of the season...the video.
By the Horns: Introducing the Dull-Negro-Meter.


(Photos by Harry How, Sam Forencich, Nick Laham/NBAE via Getty Images)

Posted by Kevin Arnovitz

• Kurt from Forum Blue & Gold will have his eye on Jazz rookie Kosta Koufos during tonight's Lakers-Jazz game.  Kurt cites David Thorpe's description of Koufos' arsenal: "Want to get an idea of how diversified Koufos' offensive game is? Here's how he scored his buckets in the Jazz's big win over Dallas: Offensive-rebound putback, layup off a dive in low-high action, step-through off a loose ball, race to the rim from the left-hand side, left-hand dribble and right-hand layup over Erick Dampier, rim-to-rim sprint and dunk, pick-and-roll left-hand finish, dive-to-the-rim dunk in low-high action, right-hand hook (and 1!) off a pick-and-roll."
• In response to Bill Simmons' claim that Steve Nash's numbers were inflated under Mike D'Antoni, Michael Schwartz from Valley of the Suns counters: "[W]hy is Nash averaging just 14.8 ppg and 8.3 apg this season after his stellar four-year run under D'Antoni? Simmons makes the point that those numbers are in line with what Nash averaged in his final season in Dallas. And although they're down from what he's done in Phoenix, who can complain about the 34-year-old Nash's numbers being in line with his 29-year-old self? Sure, I'd attribute some of the decrease to Nash getting up there in age and fighting injury issues such as the back spasms that have kept him out of most of the past two games. But also the Suns just don't need him to be the same kind of point guard he was under D'Antoni. Nash used to be the engine that made the system go, a vital cog that would result in the entire system blowing when he's not around. Now he's more of a propeller, as the Suns still need him to run their best, but they have a Diesel to carry the load if need be."
• Sorting through his mailbag, Dave D'Alessandro defends Nets coach Lawrence Frank against the pitchfork people in New Jersey: "[I]t's pretty clear that this coach has a) devised a pretty potent offense for the talent they've assembled; b) inspired terrific starts from his two best players; c) is right on schedule in developing one of their rookies into a top-10 center; and d) used the role players as well as anyone could (possible exception: Najera), given their glaring limitations. Maybe he's made mistakes, but that's just a second-guess - he had seven new guys he is still learning about. If they get out of this month with anything close to a .500 record, he should be a COY candidate."
  
• Aron Phillips at Dime wonders, "Will there ever be another team with so many NBA coaches" produced from its ranks as the 1985-86 Boston Celtics? 
  
• The new-look Bobcats are 4-5 since the big trade.  Queen City Hoops says that Boris Diaw deserves some of the credit, but that much of the progress can be chalked up to the upward trajectory of Emeka Okafor and Gerald Wallace since the deal: "Since Boris' arrival, Gerald has been unreal - 20.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.5 steals, 1.3 blocks...With Boris around, Okafor has gone off to the tune of 17.3 points, 12.0 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game."
  
• Raja Bell will be out of action again tonight.  Rufus on Fire doesn't like Larry Brown's depth chart behind Bell: "Matt Carroll, inexplicably, gets another start in Raja Bell's absence. Morrison's a wreck right now, Carroll's just as bad, and starting two point guards is a recipe for rejuvenating Michael Redd. How badly does Shannon Brown have to practice before Larry Brown realizes he has a perfectly capable stopgap solution already on the roster?"
• Micah Hart has some New Years resolutions for the Atlanta Hawks.  Compensating for Mike Bibby's defense at the point is among them: "One of the main reasons New Jersey swept the Hawks back in November was the performance of Nets' PG Devin Harris, who used his quickness to get into the lane as he torched Atlanta for 63 points in two games. Other quick point guards have done very well against the Hawks also, and defending their penetration has really been the biggest achilles heel for the Hawks D. We all know Mike Bibby won't be making any All-Defensive teams anytime soon, but knowing his shortcomings on the defensive end...the Hawks are going to have to figure out other ways of clogging the lane to keep the Harrises and Roses of the world from forming a lay-up line."
• Kelly Dwyer notes that it's a great night for League Pass subscribers, because every team in the NBA is in action.  Even lonely ol' Channel 764 will have a broadcast.
• On the docket is a Magic-Heat contest.  Third Quarter Collapse isn't buying that "it's just another game": "Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy has said countless times that playing the Miami Heat is just another game .. but everyone knows, including the Magic players, that he delights in beating his former team. "
  
• Peter Robert Casey's examination of the descriptive verbs highlighting each one of NJIT basketball's 40 losses will remind Infinite Jest fans of Jim Troeltsch's hijinks as the in-house sportscaster at Enfield Tennis Academy: " I decided to riffle through the archives see exactly how the SID went about this challenge over the last, say, 40 losses. After being topped, toppled, carried, stopped, propelled, held off, beaten, edged, thwarted, pulled away, upended, defeated, chilled, worn down, lifted, fallen, and lost multiple times, it doesn't surprise me that Casciano had to take a T.O. for health reasons."

Posted by Kevin Arnovitz

Georgia Tech head basketball coach Paul Hewitt has experienced the full gamut of coaching ups and downs.  In 2004, he led the Yellow Jackets to the NCAA title game.  He's also suffered some brutal seasons in the unforgiving ACC.  Hewitt has been bitten by the one-and-done bug. In recent years, Chris Bosh, Thaddeus Young, and Javaris Crittenton all departed Georgia Tech after a single season.  Hewitt recently visited with TrueHoop to discuss Thaddeus Young's evolving game, how the Brandon Jennings experiment affects college recruiting, Anthony Morrow's splashy start in Golden State, Javaris Crittenton's struggles, and his beloved New York Knicks.   

TrueHoop: As a recruiter, how can you protect yourself from the one-and-done?  Is there any way to target kids who are uniquely suited to the college game but, maybe because of their size, or because they lack a true position, or because they aren't a pure athlete, might be more likely to stay three or four years?

Hewitt:  No.  I look for kids who are uniquely suited to Georgia Tech.  Some of them are a little high on the radar.  Some are lower when they get to us, then they develop into quality players.  If you look at Georgia Tech as a whole  -- not just basketball, but baseball, football, golf -- they've done an unbelievable job of turning out professional players and a lot of them leave when the opportunity arises. It's gone on forever.  It went on with Bobby [Cremins]; it goes on with us. I'd love to figure it out one day, but you go after kids who are right for the program.  Some of them are going to leave.   

TH: As you go around the country and meet kids and their families, is the Brandon Jennings scenario real?  Are there Division One recruits who are looking at Europe and thinking that's a legitimate option?

Hewitt:  I haven't heard much of it among the kids I've talked to.  You hear whispers and rumors:  "This kid is looking at it or "that guy is looking at it.  The only advice I'd have for kids who are looking at that as an option is that they should have it written in their contract that if they don't make it as a professional player, the pro team pays for their college education, much the way they do in baseball.  I hope it works out well for Brandon Jennings.  I hope it works out well for any kid that does it.  But I think they have to be very, very careful and structure their contract in a way that if they do miss -- and the odds say they are going to miss -- that they have an ample fallback plan.

TH: Do you think Jennings is the tip of the iceberg, or do you think this is a novelty or an experiment?

Hewitt: Today I think it's a novelty.  It's such an adjustment to go to Europe as a 17 or 18-year-old kid.  There's the language -- you turn on the TV and you don't know what anyone is saying -- different kind of food.  You're really put into a man's world because of how the coaches are going to drive you.  So right now, it's a novelty, at best.

TH:  Thaddeus Young.  He almost seems like he was born for the pro game. 

Hewitt: He's gotten off to a great start.  Every time I run into people from Philadelphia they have nothing but great things to say about him. He's got a great work ethic.  He converted from being a 4/5 in high school to a 3 with us.  Now when they play him at the 4, it's somewhat natural to him.  But he's continued to evolve and develop.  He did a lot of good work with Mark Price in the off-season.  Mark worked him out last summer at the Sewanee Sports Academy and Thad tells me all the time that really helped him speed up the process of becoming a 3 man in the NBA.  

TH: He's really learned how to move off the ball to fill space...

Hewitt: That's right...Particularly for a guy who played around the basket as much as he did in high school.  If you look at Thad's last ten games his freshman year, he averaged something like 19 or 20 points a game.  He really started to get it.  He started shooting the three well, attacking the basket.  He still couldn't go right [laughs].  That's something we always teased him about, but he's gotten better with that.  But you could see it coming along.  I think had he decided to come back for a second year -- and it was a close decision; he decided to make the move at the last minute -- he easily would've been a Player of the Year candidate, an All-American candidate.

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Posted by Kevin Arnovitz

• If you read one item today, make it Tom Ziller's "Vortex of Suck" exegesis.  Ziller uses a few different variables -- the Potential, Performance, and Assets of the league's worst squads -- to determine "the Bleakest Team in the NBA," the Charlotte Bobcats. 
• Mike D'Antoni would like to see Al Harrington's teeth.
  
• CelticsBlog has mixed emotions about Tony Allen: "TA's physical talents allow him to do some very good stuff on a basketball court.  He has the quickness and leaping ability to get to the basket and to earn trips to the foul line.  Those same attributes as well as his boundless energy can help him toward becoming a lockdown defensive player.  Playing hard is a good start.  But playing hard needs to be coupled with playing smart in order for that hustle to be as meaningful as possible."
• More High School athletes are turning to specialized Web sites to get their résumés and game tape to scouts and recruiters: "Now, do-it-yourself services have emerged that allow student athletes to showcase their abilities for a fraction of the price [of private consultants]. Aside from beRecruited.com, other sites include Prepchamps.com, TRUpreps.com (owned by CBS Corp.'s MaxPreps unit), ActiveRecruiting.com, Collegecoaches.net and SportsWorx.com. There are also numerous sport-specific sites."9
• 48 Minutes of Hell informs us that "San Antonio has a losing record against Milwaukee during the Tim Duncan era."  Who knew? Timothy Varner and Frank Madden from Brew Hoop have a solid dialogue over at 48MoH about the inscrutable Milwaukee Bucks.
• Corporal punishment will earn you a technical foul in the NBA. 
• Matt Watson says that Michael Curry, who previously ruled out consigning one of the Pistons' perimeter players to the second unit, might be reconsidering: "Earlier this month I asked Curry if he'd thought about benching Iverson for Stuckey (which, to be honest, seemed more plausible than simply starting three guards and playing four players out of position) and he looked at me like I was crazy. But last night? He admitted in front of a dozen reporters and a couple of television cameras that it's not only a possibility but perhaps inevitable, at least so long as defense is a priority."
• Michael Schwartz of Valley of the Suns says that while Shaquille O'Neal dominated Oklahoma City's anemic front line last night, he's still wary of making O'Neal the focal point of the Suns' offense: "So everybody agrees it was great to give Shaq enough touches to dominate tonight, but I'm still leery of slowing things down too much with Shaq down low on a regular night."
• What Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind can tell you about the New York Knicks: "In the end scene of that film (that goes on for about a half hour), they do that awesome special effect where all the clouds boil together over one place, in that instance Devils Tower. In this instance, it's Madison Square Garden. This is a perfect storm of oversized combo forwards with no respect towards defense, underachieving shooters, uncoordinated big men, random hustle junkies, and Wilson Chandler."