ESPN NBA

Some jerk beat Chris Bosh to registering the domain www.chrisbosh.com. So Bosh went after the cybersquatter. All sorts of legal wrangling later, Bosh has won damages, his domain ... and a zillion other domains the same guy had been squatting.

There are nearly 800 names in the list, and Bosh and his internet consultant, Hadi Teherany of Max Deal, say they'll return them all to their rightful owners for free.

Which means a good chunk of the basketball world will be owing Bosh a favor. The list is thick with basketball players in the NBA, overseas, college and high school. There are also some football players, political sites, Britney Spears' child, singers, a site or two that sound raunchy, and the Mexican wrestler "El Octagon."

Just a few of the many NBA names on the list:

• SamCassell.com
• SteveNash.com
• AmareStoudemire.com
• AndreIguodala.com
• JJRedick.com
• EddyCurry.com
• CarmeloAnthony.com
  
• BrandonJennings.com
• DelonteWest.com 
• LuolDeng.com
• KobeStopper.com
• CaronButler.com
• DeronWilliams.com
• DariusMiles.com
  
• BryanColangelo.com

(Also on the list is AaronAfflalo.com, even though that Denver player spells his first name "Arron.") The vast list of names also includes instructions for athletes and celebrities to get their names back from Bosh, if they wish. Paging El Octagon ...

• Bret LaGree of Hoopinion on Larry Brown's ejection via replacement referee: "Larry got his 2nd T from Kevin Scott, who never got within 35 feet of Brown before, during, or after the call. Brown tried to engage any of the refs on the occasion of his ejection but none would speak with or possibly even look at him. Rather than deal with the issue directly, Scott walked to the opposite end of the court and appeared to attempt to enlist a befuddled police officer in asking/making Brown leave the court."
• The Knicks and Nets have both claimed to have the most cap space of any team in 2010. Who's right?
  
• The Bulls like each other.
• Dean Oliver, the Denver Nuggets' statistical consultant, and the case for drafting Ty Lawson. Also, I think Oliver is in a very small club of team stats experts: He gets to inform the front office on personnel decisions, and the coaching staff on game strategy. Also, Lawson was part of a Nugget lineup that played very well in Beijing.
• Hope in Philadelphia, where a 3-0 preseason has people feeling good. Elton Brand tells Philadunkia: "All the major injuries are totally behind me and I feel great. Plus Thaddeus Young and Andre Iguodala have gotten better over the summer as well as I so we're going to have a good formidable team."
• The Blazers -- one of those teams that has had a messed up cable deal that makes it hard for some fans to watch games -- say that by January they hope to have video of every game streaming live on their website, which would be an NBA first.
• Jermaine Taylor and Chase Budinger didn't get a lot of attention on draft day, but they're looking pretty good in preseason.
• Rasual Butler makes the Clippers better.
• Gregg Popovich has inspired winemakers, and now vegetable growers.
• Kevin Durant's one-game plus/minus in last night's OT victory over the Suns: plus-24. That's what I'm talking about!
• An old video clip of Delonte West and Paul Pierce, pre-Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett trades, talking about how good the Celtics are going to be.
• In my review of SonicsGate yesterday, I listed four goals of the movie. Producer Adam Brown adds two more: To preserve the history of the Seattle SuperSonics. Since that history is now officially owned by Clay Bennett, we needed to document some of the good times as well as the team's demise. OKC didn't celebrate in June 1979, and they didn't cry in May 1994. We did, and we deserve this document to remind us of that. Also, to get the issue back in people's mouths here in Washington with the primary goal of getting an NBA team back. Ultimately we have to convince our politicians that a 50% privately funded arena deal will create jobs and boost the economy while allowing us to regain this cultural asset."
• Malcolm Gladwell on the ethics of a gladiator mentality.
  

• Shocking bit of news: Wayne Winston, the Indiana University professor I have quoted extensively in the last couple of weeks, and has been Mark Cuban's statistical consultant for the last nine years, just told me that his contract with the Mavericks has not been renewed. He assures me it's not related to his spilling the beans to TrueHoop. Winston has a professor job, and a book that just came out, and says he has not yet put much thought into whether or not he'll pursue work with other teams.
• It's probably time to stop thinking as players from the EuroLeague as raw projects, compared to, say, NCAA players. Consider the resume of young King Omri Casspi: He scored nine points in 18 minutes a game in the Euroleague, shooting 52% from the floor. Do those numbers mean anything? It's easy to make a case that his competition -- all grown men -- was better than an NCAA title team. In his final game of the season he shared the court with Carlos Arroyo, Dee Brown, Daniel Santiago, Juan Carlos Navarro, (current Buck) Ersan Ilyasova, Fran Vasquez, and (current Rocket) David Andersen among others.
  
• 20 points, 11 rebounds, eight blocks ... meet the new Roy Hibbert! (He's a Pacer, in case you didn't know.) His college coach is not surprised.
• Since Bill Davidson's death, the ownership picture of the Pistons has been a little unclear. The insight: Per Davidson's will, the team is being run by a committee featuring his widow, the president of Palace Sports and Entertainment, and some other unknown people. So, is that clear?
• If you're mad that you can't watch your team on TV this preseason, talk to Dwight Jaynes: "I cannot believe the sense of entitlement among today's sports fans. Sorry, kiddos, but right here you're going to have to hear an old guy give you one of those 'back in my day' talks. You see, when I was growing up, you got one Game of the Week in baseball (and it was usually the Yankees). One (if you were lucky) pro basketball game of the week, maybe a Notre Dame football game on Saturday -- you've probably heard all about it. And for most of the life of the Portland Trail Blazers the philosophy was that you didn't give your games away on television. At most, there were 20 televised games a season. That was it. But this season every single regular-season Trail Blazer game will be on television. Now some people without Comcast won't get all those games, but the fact is, a majority of the people in this market will be able to see every game. To a guy like me, that's pretty incredible. And I guess it makes people moaning about no telecasts of exhibition games seem kind of petty. I mean, really? Really? When every single REAL game is available to you? Sorry, but I just can't muster up much of a sense of injustice over this one. Be patient. You're going to see plenty of games."

• A prediction this year's champion will come from the East, where David Berri's numbers say Orlando, Boston and Cleveland are far ahead of the rest of the conference.
• They asked all the Blazers which NBA players they respect the most. Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan tie for first with three votes each. 
  
• Chris Douglas-Roberts has the messiest locker of all Nets, and he doesn't like getting taped up for games, because the tape hurts the skin on the bottom of his feet. Also, word that Douglas-Roberts and Courtney Lee are locked into a "nasty" battle for playing time.
• The Madrid team's whole starting front line is injured for their exhibition against the Jazz this afternoon. Madrid's new coach, Ettore Messina, blogs about the slow work of integrating many new players.  On Sports.ru, he also writes about a player who won't be playing for Madrid: "As we agreed terms with [Pablo] Prigioni, a possibility to talk to Ricky Rubio came up. So, good offers were made both to Joventut Badalona and the player himself. After a week of thinking, Ricky decided that he wanted to spend the following two years (before leaving for the NBA) in Barcelona, close to his family and friends. At that point there was no way persuading him to come to Madrid. Though, obviously, we still wish him good luck." Worth noting that Messina has the impression Rubio will come to the NBA in two years -- even though it would make financial sense to wait for three.
• Antawn Jamison doing yoga.
  
• Sergio Rodriguez, for a moment, forgot which team he was on.
• I have a pet theory that long players who can hit open jumpers, pass and play D all over the court are super valuable to any team. Suns rookie Earl Clark could be one of those guys. 
• Weird thing: Dennis Rodman is one of the best players in NBA history, thanks to the fact that nobody has really ever rebounded like he did. That's what makes him great. Yet it's clearly not what people most loved about him. Here's how I know that: I just spent 20 minutes trying to find a really good highlight reel of his rebounding prowess. I thought it would be something we could all learn from, especially about recognizing and pursuing rebounds out of your area. And there are a zillion highlight reels of the guy. But as far as I can tell just about all of them are mostly dunks, fights, blocks, 3-pointers and clowning. It feels a little like we love those elements of basketball so much that even when we're celebrating a great rebounder, we won't actually do so with, you know, rebounds.
• It's getting to be just about time for Julian Wright to show what he can do. How did the young Hornet fare in a preseason game against the Hawks? Bret LaGree of Hoopinion was there: "Julian Wright has a great (I fear it may be an innate) ability to overcomplicate a situation, to try to squeeze three moves into a play where only one is necessary but that wasn't in evidence tonight. At the start of the game, he and Morris Peterson would spot up outside the arc, leaving the paint (extended) to Paul and West, maybe Sean Marks if he set a ball-screen for Paul. Wright would cut to the basket if his man helped defensively. The three he missed was in rhythm and as good a look from that range as he's likely to have. The 16' jumper he made on the baseline in third quarter looked very instinctual. He was far superior to the Hawks 2nd/3rd string in the fourth quarter."
• The assertion that if roles were reversed -- Will Bynum has been a first-round pick, and Rodney Stuckey had been undrafted -- Bynum would be the Pistons' starter.
• "More Than a Game" -- the LeBron James documentary -- is said to rank up there in the sports documentary world with the Muhammad Ali story "When We Were Kings." High praise, indeed.
• "We Believe" proved to be a bad tagline for the Clippers.
• Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "The officiating by the replacements was so atrocious that fill-in official Robbie Robinson could become the first referee to ever be fired twice by the NBA."
• Clark Matthews, writing for Daily Thunder, on the cheap seats in Oklahoma City: "Do we have to keep calling the third tier 'Loud City?' I know the Hornet marketing team, which did an excellent job selling the sport to this market, came up with the idea, and a lot of people have embraced this, but I've sat up there a lot. It isn't loud and it's not a city."
• Pacer rookie A.J. Price wore the wrong gear to practice and couldn't be in the team photo. Travis Diener, writing on the Indianapolis Star's website: "Those darn rookies. You've got to hold their hands through everything."
  

• Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: "Brandon Jennings admitted he was in awe playing at the Palace on Wednesday night. But that feeling quickly faded for the Milwaukee Bucks' rookie point guard, as he was tossed into the fray for 27 minutes in the team's second pre-season game. Jennings faced a tough task trying to guard Detroit's Will Bynum, and the Pistons backcourt dominated in a 113-104 victory over the Bucks at the Palace of Auburn Hills. But the 20-year-old Jennings also showed some progress with a team-high 18 points, six assists and six steals, despite five turnovers. 'I was out there playing a lot and I was a little fatigued,' said Jennings. 'I just had to play through it and keep playing. I'm not going to lie; I was a little nervous today, playing in the Palace and Detroit basketball. A lot of players came through here, guys like Isiah Thomas. I felt I just had to come out here and run the team and focus on the defensive end.' "
• Jason Quick of The Oregonian: "There is a tendency around the Trail Blazers to be careful about what is said about Greg Oden. Nobody wants to apply pressure on the 21-year-old center. Nobody wants to raise expectations any higher than they already are for the former No. 1 pick. But on Wednesday, after the Blazers second preseason game this season, nobody needed to say anything about Oden. The play of the new-look center is speaking volumes. With a lighter frame, and a brighter outlook, Oden continued his resurgent comeback campaign with 20 points and 12 rebounds during the Blazers' 89-86 win over Sacramento at Arco Arena."
• Terry Foster of The Detroit News: "The real treat was Will Bynum (23 points, six assists), who runs the point better than anyone for the Pistons and that includes Stuckey -- the man they want to run it. Bynum is not an elite point guard, but he gives the Pistons exactly what they want. He is an unselfish player who can get into the lane and make good decisions."
• Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: "The Orlando Magic did not draft a shooting guard and sign another two-guard like they did the season before. No, this season the Magic just made a trade to acquire an eight-time all-star who plays shooting guard ( Vince Carter). Welcome to J.J. Redick's world. At least he can keep his sense of humor. 'Hey, I'm still here,' Redick laughed before the Magic's ragged 90-86 preseason win against the Miami Heat on Wednesday night at Amway Arena. While the Magic keep putting other two-guards between Redick and more playing time, he actually has closed in on defying doubters after three seasons."
• Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald: "The NBA is a watered-down product. The salary cap slowly has whittled benches across the league down to faceless entities, punchless sparring partners in practice and fill-ins who hope not to undo the work of their betters at gametime. But the Celtics went into last night's preseason opener against the Rockets with a modern-day anomaly. The reserves have dished out as much as they have absorbed during the first part of training camp. The second unit of Rasheed Wallace, Marquis Daniels, Glen Davis, Eddie House and Brian Scalabrine beat the starters in a scrimmage last Saturday in Newport, R.I., and figure to win a lot more. 'It's crazy,' Kendrick Perkins said of the burgeoning rivalry between the starters and reserves. 'They make us work every practice. We have no slack on the backup side, so every practice is really like a game. They're good. They have a lot of shooters. They have Eddie House, he's 10 years (in the league), Rasheed 15, Marquis seven, Baby three, Tony six, so they have a lot of experienced guys on their team.' "
• Michael Lee of The Washington Post: "Nick Young entered this season determined that his name would not be preceded by the word 'backup,' stating before training camp that he hated sitting on the bench and was going after the starting job. That was a bold declaration coming from Young, who carried a happy-go-lucky demeanor his first two seasons in Washington. It also followed a summer in which the Wizards improved their back court with the additions of Mike Miller and Randy Foye, and DeShawn Stevenson returned from a back injury. Young feels that he squandered an opportunity last season, when injuries provided an opening for playing time that he was unable to fully take advantage of. He didn't believe he had any more time to waste. 'I always wanted to be a great player. This is the year to get it rolling,' Young said after scoring 11 points with four rebounds during the Wizards' 101-92 win against Memphis. 'It's my third year. It's time for me to grow up and get my name out there. This is the game I love and I just want to get better every year. I didn't want to be forgotten.' "
• Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press: "Brian Cardinal has a receding hairline that makes him look more suited for a 50-and-over league. He admits he is not good enough to be a starting power forward in the NBA, yet he is approaching his 10th season in the league. Cardinal has been a backup with each of his five NBA teams, including the Wolves last season. He has never averaged more than 9.6 points in a season, but his value is measured more in work ethic and a lead-by-example attitude. 'I can't dunk on anybody, but the game is far bigger than being the greatest athlete or having a muscled-up body,' Cardinal said. 'It's about playing smart and doing the right things. That's why I've been fortunate to play this long.' Even if Cardinal makes the Wolves' final roster, he knows most of the playing time at power forward will be divided between Al Jefferson and Kevin Love. Jefferson was a freshman in high school when Cardinal was drafted by Detroit in the second round of the 2000 NBA draft. Love had yet to reach high school."
• Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News: "One of the coaches stood in the locker room late Tuesday night, marveling about DeJuan Blair. Then he paused and changed direction. 'I love Ian Mahinmi,' he said, 'but ...' The coach roots for Mahinmi, as does everyone in the Spurs organization. Mahinmi has done everything the Spurs have asked. Still, on this night, the coach couldn't help but see the contrast. Blair turned 20 in April, and this is the first time he's ever lived more than a block from home. And yet: He showed more basketball instincts in his first NBA game than Mahinmi had in four years. It's October, and there are no guarantees Blair will be getting minutes in November. Still, his undeniable skill was on display. Blair had 19 rebounds in the first 22 minutes of his pro life, and this is something that works in any arena in any city."
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston
  Chronicle: "We just watched 75 fouls and 102 free throws in one basketball game. OK, it's preseason. If you pay full price to watch these games, you're not too picky, anyway. But just as the teams learn all that must be corrected in time for the season, so must the league. 'Replacement refs' should become a euphemism for 'preseason refs.' The league cannot go through real games like this."
• Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: "The Suns' annual propensity for giving up second-chance points undermines the defense and slows the pace. The task becomes tougher with Shaquille O'Neal gone and Robin Lopez out six to eight weeks. The Suns were 30-12 when they outrebounded their opponents last season and 12-24 when they did not. Outrebounding foes more often is misleading because, as the NBA's top shooting team, the Suns had fewer misses for teams to rebound. The Suns were 22nd in defensive rebounding percentage and gave up the fourth most offensive rebounds. 'It's a pretty heavy task of us, knowing we're a small team, but we should be able to do it,' Stoudemire said. 'For the most part, we have to rebound as a team. We also have good defensive guards. Grant (Hill) is a great rebounder for his position. Even Steve (Nash) gets in there and mixes it up. The big thing is us big guys have to grab those big boards.' "
• Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun: "A new team and fittingly a new locker-room. Well, not really new, just dressed up. Immediately upon entering the Raptors' inner sanctum, and before you even get to the actual dressing room, the first thing you see is a tight, enlarged photo of the Raptors' hands coming together in a pre-game huddle that will be repeated every time they take the floor. It's one of those shots that catches the eye because it's a little different but it's the message it sends -- togetherness -- that is the real point. On the opposite wall is the word Raptors spelled out with the initial letters in the words Respect, Accountable, Proud, Together We Shall Prevail, Organized, Responsible, Standards, all things the team is expecting their players to be. Venture further in and more words to live by adorn yet another wall. This one reads: Do the right thing. Do it the right way. Do it that way all the time. The room itself where the players lockers are remain unchanged -- other than the nine new name plates above those lockers. At least Rasho Nesterovic got his old locker back."
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: "His memories of Nov. 29, 2008, are vivid. It was a Saturday night. Newly named interim coach Scott Brooks had just told him he would be starting his first career game, against the Memphis Grizzlies. And that's when the knots started forming in the pit of his stomach. 'Oh it's a whole lot different,' Russell Westbrook said of his nerves just before the Thunder opened its preseason schedule. 'I'm so chill now. I'm so calm and cool.' Westbrook then went out and proved it, backing up his claim with a near perfect floor game in the Thunder's 99-91 loss. His final stat line -- five points, 10 assists, four rebounds -- wasn't jaw-dropping. But considering he turned the ball over only twice, took just four shot attempts and could have had 15 assists had his teammates knocked down a few more shots, Wednesday's opener was about as good as it gets."
• Ron Green Jr. of The Charlotte Observer: "Charlotte Bobcats rookie Gerald Henderson was on the court in Cleveland Tuesday night in the first semi-official minute of his NBA career when he found himself with the ball. Henderson, the former Duke All-American, came off a screen and turned the corner, the basket in his sights. From the corner of his eye, he saw Shaquille O'Neal coming his way. Even rookies know certain things. 'I was, like, this isn't going to be good,' Henderson said. O'Neal swallowed Henderson's dunk, fouling the rookie hard in the process. Henderson made one of two free throws, and the first of what will likely be several professional baptisms had occurred. 'It was one of those welcome to the NBA moments,' he said."
• Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer: "The team won't admit it publicly, but any way it's viewed, the Cavs are short a point guard. Add the continuing uncertainty surrounding Delonte West and it is only clearer. At the moment, it may not be a fatal flaw. If everything goes to plan, it may not even matter. But if there is one sure thing, it is that things rarely go to plan -- as West is currently proving. West began a second leave this season Wednesday, this one excused, to handle personal matters. He had not played in either the open scrimmage or first preseason game. There's no denying that is worrying. 'We're concerned about the state of Delonte because we want him here,' LeBron James said. 'You want your full team to see what your full potential is, but at the same time we're going to give him time.' James didn't say he was concerned about the point guard situation, but deep down he and his teammates must be to some degree."
• Tribune newspapers: "If this had happened a month ago, the San Francisco Chronicle and city officials would have joined the list of parties skewered in Michael Jordan's Hall of Fame induction speech. The newspaper published photos Tuesday of Jordan smoking a cigar during a practice round at Harding Park, despite the city's ban on smoking on public golf courses. City officials asked the PGA Tour to remind Jordan he can't smoke while being an honorary assistant at the Presidents Cup. 'It was sort of a gentle nudge reminding them that smoking is illegal and that we would appreciate their support,' Recreation and Park general manager Phil Ginsburg told the Chronicle. As for enforcing the $100 fine on Jordan? Matt Dorsey, the spokesman for City Atty. Dennis Herrera, remains unsure how that will play out. Said Dorsey: 'But don't expect me to ask him for it.' During a Q&A on Monday, Jordan said, 'I'm not even supposed to be smoking, but this was a practice round and no one said anything.' Jordan still had his cigar Wednesday. He simply chewed on it without lighting up."

• Olympiakos is coming to Ohio to play the Cavaliers, and there will soon be a judge's ruling to determine whether or not they'll have to leave behind some little things like ... their team plane ... to satisfy former player Chris Morris' agent, whom the Greek Club stiffed ages ago. In case you don't remember Chris Morris, here's Michael Jordan dunking over him, blowing the minds of Morris' own New Jersey teammates.
• When the Kings' staff loaded video onto YouTube of their new coach's first post-game news conference, I'm sure they were hoping to keep online fans pumped up and informed. I'm sure they were not hoping that the first comment would be (from jcr24): "Oh God. We're going to suck all year."
• If you practice really hard, and pursue your dreams ... maybe one day you can have your birthday party at midnight, in the cramped galley of an airplane, before sitting out the big game with a sore achilles. 
• Wow, I guess LeBron James has some serious mojo in Cleveland. He calls Braylon Edwards childish, and BLAMO -- the wide receiver is instantly traded to the Jets. James also plays his first game with Shaquille O'Neal, and ends up 15 points in 15 minutes, while taking just seven shots. And here he is on Entourage (PG-13 for language).
• 37th pick in the draft, playing in his first pre-season game. DeJuan Blair was lucky to even get  22 minutes for a veteran team like the San Antonio Spurs. But how about 16 points and 19 rebounds?
• Now we can all have photographs of ourselves dunking.
• Eddy Curry spent the summer on the William Wesley weight-loss plan, and it worked: Curry is said to have lost 40 pounds. But the Knicks are shelving him anyway, saying he may be lighter, but is not game-ready, and pulls a muscle every time he steps on the floor.
• David Stern, overseas, says the NBA has been stealthily hiring.
• Bulls rookie James Johnson hits a game-winner. Joakim Noah will never be beat in the race to congratulate a teammate.
• David Lee turned down a chance to be a Blazer, because he was worried about playing time in a world of LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden.
• Positive signs for Wizard fans.
  

If you were stranded on an island, and could have just one thing, what would it be?

Andre Miller scores big romance points for his answer.

Wayne Winston is a professor at Indiana University and for the last nine years he has been Mark Cuban's stat guru for the Dallas Mavericks. Winston's recently published book "Mathletics," explains much of his work -- complete with formulas and spreadsheets. Earlier in the series (which is being discussed elsewhere, too) we have learned about:

• Post 1: Statistics, the Maverick's kryptonite and Ben Gordon. (And a follow-up.)
• Post 2: The player of the decade, Andre Iguodala's curious production and why the Cavs lost.
• Post 3: The amazing Danilo Gallinari, buzzer-beating 3s, the perils of starting Greg Oden and great Laker lineups.
  

In the final installment, Winston focuses on coaches and referees:

On Mike D'Antoni and Going Small
Mike D'Antoni, I think, is the guy who changed the game. You spread the floor and go small, and these big guys become dinosaurs. That was a stroke of genius. Didn't win a championship, which is too bad, but that's the biggest change in the game I see.

Who'd have thought that Brandon Bass, Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard, Jason Terry and Jason Kidd is the Maverick's best lineup? It hardly makes sense. But for the last two years, that's been by far the best thing they've got.

On Tim Donaghy
They should have spotted him. I really feel there's a big debate. The NBA is more secretive about how they analyze referees than we are in chasing Osama bin Laden.

What I looked at is ... most people think that what he did was determine who won games. He didn't. He was into total points. 

At the time Rick Carlisle was hired, Wayne Winston's stats said Rick Carlisle was the best coach in the NBA "and it wasn't close." (Photo by Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)

So I went back to every game where the line moved. If the line moves a lot, people bet money. And in those games, there were way more free throws called than you'd expect. And that's how you'd make scores higher. To make a game go over the over number, you would call free throws. Basically, he did it.

The NBA will never tell you who made which call. But if you make public, in those games, how many of the calls were made by Donaghy ... that's what they should be checking, and maybe they are. 

But they found out about Donaghy from the FBI, right? They should have known. They have the right data. I know they hired Las Vegas people, they hired people to do this stuff. 

On Referee Bias
Are refs biased against teams? Like Joey Crawford, I don't think he was biased against the Spurs [as has been suggested].

Honestly, every team has certain refs that they hate and are convinced are out to get them. The way you should analyze that is: Does your team play worse with those refs?

With Jeff Sagarin, my best friend and my partner in this stuff, we would analyze: When a ref refs your game, across the years, does your team play statistically worse than expected? That could mean either he hates you, or his reffing is so antithetical to the way you play that it affects your style. Either way is bad.

Now, most of the time I think you'll find a ref has no significant impact on a team's performance.

Dan Crawford was a negative effect on the Mavericks, if you analyze it this way, in the playoffs. Given the record, the Mavericks think Dan Crawford doesn't like them. Whether he does or not, I don't know. But I mean, I think the NBA should be doing that, and I don't know that they are.

They need to come clean on what they do. If there's another ref who's found to cheat ... I think the reffing thing is very important. The integrity of the game: Without that we don't have a game. 

For People Who Hate Advanced Basketball Statistics
Every time I write about statistics, a certain portion of TrueHoop readers get upset. Whatever it is that they love about basketball, all these formulas and statistics seem to ruin that.

And I'm not entirely unsympathetic.

For instance, I have written that I'm against the use of performance enhancing drugs because you want to root for players who are doing things that you understand. Running and jumping and dunking the ball. A player does a good job, and we cheer that. But if it's really that the guy at the BALCO lab did a good job ... not as fun. If it becomes about drugs, then what you'd be seeing on the court is really in large part the work of someone in a lab somewhere ... and maybe we don't want to buy a ticket to watch that.

I could see that it would be the same with stats. If this is where the game is being played now, maybe that's not exciting to some people. What do you say to them?
I see what you're saying.

I just think we're trying to give the proper information they need to make good decisions. I don't think that's a bad thing. Wouldn't you want your coaches to have all the data needed to make informed decisions, like you'd want the doctor to order all the tests before deciding what operation to do on you.

I mean, should the doctor not do the tests? I don't know. This is getting to philosophy 101.

I think the skeptics would say: "I don't want the word 'data' in a discussion of coaching."
It's like the Mona Lisa. You can't quantify its appeal. But I think most fans want their team to win legally. And the stats are not the be-all and end-all. They are just one factor. The coach's intuition ... Rick Carlisle last year. Oh god last year was he good. I watch every game on League Pass. There were ten games last year that, going into the last five minutes they should have lost. And they won nine of them. He had all the information, but he just pulled the strings.

On Using Stats in Hiring a Coach
We did a study that showed he was the best coach in the NBA the last ten years. It's part of why Mark hired him.

How would you evaluate a coach? 

We looked at every player that was traded to a coach's team. We looked at their rating the year before in our system and then how they did when that coach got them. And look at the difference. Carlisle crushed everybody. We sent that to Mark [Cuban] and a week later he hired Carlisle. (And I think he said that was part of it -- it wasn't the whole thing.)

But it wasn't close. He was at least two standard deviations better than average. He jumped out and there was nobody else close. He kicked everybody's butt on that.

Phil Jackson ... is he really good or did he just have Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant? That debate will go on forever. It kills me that we don't have the data going back before 2000 to try to answer that.

• Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles has a brilliant way around the NBA's ban on criticizing replacement referees: "A huge percentage of our fouls," he says, "were legitimate."
• Kevin Arnovitz of ClipperBlog, toying with the notion of The Return of Baron Davis:  "Baron is an unquestionably better conditioned man this October. He seems genuinely mortified by his status as an accessory to last year's debacle. Although he's not surrounded by perfect complements to his game, he knows he can trust Eric Gordon, experiment with Blake Griffin, and have Rasual Butler as a viable option in the corner for a kickout 3. Contrast that to what he was offered at the outset of last season. Davis' ego is bruised -- and that's a good thing. Whatever pleasure he derives from his extracurriculars, he understands that without some corresponding gratification in the league, those accouterments aren't worth much. The documentaries, cross-cultural endeavors and clubs are all nice -- but Baron Davis can't be Baron Davis unless he's part of the league's constellation of stars and playing basketball well into May."
• John Hollinger's player ratings are posted, and Kevin Durant is the story (Insider). He's poised, says Hollinger, to lead the league in points per minute. There are a ton of reasons to be very excited about what's next from him. But there are still things he's really not good at: "There's no question about Durant's scoring; it's all the other elements of his game that raise eyebrows. He's a very poor passer and makes far too many turnovers for a jump shooter, weaknesses encapsulated by a -3.10 Pure Point Rating that was the fifth-worst among small forwards. Durant also gave a poor accounting at the defensive end, with the Thunder surrendering 8.2 points more per 40 minutes with him on the court than off it. His adjusted plus-minus was a horrid -8.62 points per 100 possessions, a stat that's even more alarming because the Thunder had a bad bench. His rating from his rookie year wasn't much better."
• Some guy says he got punched in the face. That's the what. The why? Story is it has something to do with NFL player Braylon Edwards having a real dislike for LeBron James.
• There have been some suggestions lately that Lamar Odom -- impending reality TV presence, celebrity husband -- may be craving the spotlight more than in the past. Exhibit Q, for questionable: About 85:15 into this video, he's wearing a wireless microphone in training camp. He sure appears to be headed to the bathroom. Before going, though, he looks off-camera, presumably at the tech in charge of his mic, taps the mic, and says "I'm good." As in, no need to unclip me for this.
• Byron Scott in the Shreveport Times, with potentially bad news for Chauncey Billups, who likes to post up small guards, and plays for a Hornets' rival: "A lot of times guys are trying to post [Chris Paul] up, but our guys that are six, seven inches taller than him are having a hard time in the post because he's so strong now. A lot of it comes with maturity and age. You get a little bit stronger and a little bit bigger. But the biggest thing is that he hasn't lost any of his flexibility or quickness." (Via Hornets247)
• One pre-season game in, Taj Gibson seems comfortable in the NBA.
• Hey look, it's Jamal Mashburn, Jason Kidd and that other guy who used to be famous.
• "Mad Men" fans, that's not Don Draper on the Nuggets' preseason roster. That's Donte Draper, and he made a highlight reel.
• Danny Ainge, Rick Carlisle, Mike Dunleavy, Danny Ferry, Daryl Morey, Sam Presti, Ed Stefanski ... meet your new team in charge of modernizing how the NBA uses instant replay. Change is upon us. 
• Tim Varner of 48 Minutes of Hell watching DeJuan Blair: "Will any rookie outperform DeJuan Blair on a per minute basis? I doubt it. He looks sensational. He's the exact same rebounder we saw at Pitt, plus he has soft hands, can finish around the basket, is an efficient passer and, surprise, surprise, has a little bit of a spot up game. Clippers fans, don't kill me. DeJuan Blair is Blake Griffin's biggest obstacle on his path toward the ROY. Don't get me wrong. The total minutes thing will remove Blair from the conversation, but per minute ..." Whether it happens like that or not, the fact that  a sober-minded observer like Varner says it could is reason enough to praise the Spurs for making good use of the draft's 37th pick. Also, Varner says Manu Ginobili looks tremendous.
• Michael Redd is playing like a healthy man.
• If the Nets had a lot of rubles to spend on players, what would the roster look like?
• Shaquille O'Neal once saw LeBron James pass the ball, and still thinks it's amazing.
• Nicolas Batum is called the best player in a Blazer scrimmage. Martell Webster, the guy who had Batum's starting small forward spot before his injury, says he hopes Batum is the starter.
• The Salt Lake Tribune's Ross Siler in London, where it is said the NBA would one like to have a permanent NBA team: "It should be noted that The O2 [arena], built by the same people as Staples Center, would be the most impressive NBA arena today if it housed a team."

• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: "Perhaps the setting was fitting, a reminder of how far Tracy McGrady must go. But for the first time since microfracture surgery last spring, McGrady, 30, practiced with the Rockets on Sunday. He went through a few stints of the scrimmage, moving well and without pain in a small, but significant step in his comeback. His first participation in training camp did not alter his schedule. General manager Daryl Morey said it was 'part of the process.' The Rockets expect McGrady to be out at least until an MRI scheduled for Nov. 23. Still, he played and all reports were that he played well. 'He looked good, real good,' forward Trevor Ariza said. 'He was real poised, real confident. He may be a ways away, but I think he looked good.' McGrady was less enthusiastic. He had been going through occasional five-on-five workouts in Chicago, though the Rockets were more encouraged by his energy and intensity Sunday than in those workouts. But McGrady seemed to have the steps to be taken, rather than made, in mind. 'It's another steppingstone toward making progress and trying to get back on the basketball court,' he said. 'I'm feeling pretty good. We just have to take our time on it. We'll see how I feel tomorrow and talk about it with the trainers and see what they want me to do. This is what I expected, to take caution, come out one step at a time and gradually ease my way back in to it. This is the first time I went up and down with the team. I still have a lot of work to do.' "
• Marcus Thompson II of The Oakland Tribune: "The Warriors, I'm told, were really close to officially picking up Brandan Wright's option. They were definitely going to do it, but were waiting as a matter of safe practice. But once he came into camp looking good, it was a no-brainer. Now, not so sure. Of course, this is the very reason they waited, for the just in case, I think. Do you pick up his option? If Wright misses six months, he won't return until March. And even then, he won't be 100 percent. He will certainly be out of shape and rusty. So you can count this season as a wash. Which means, you are going into 2010-11 with the same questions/concerns about Wright that exist this season, and that's assuming that shoulder is ever right again. Do you pick him up for 2010-11 under these circumstances and hope he recovers fully? Or do you cut your losses now and pick up the extra cap space next summer?"
• Drew Sharpe of the Detroit Free Press: "Allen Iverson should shut up and move on with his life. But he just can't. He threw another dagger into Michael Curry's already decomposed coaching carcass, telling ESPN that the former Pistons coach lied to him about never having to come off the bench. Iverson referred to his one year in Detroit as 'the worst year of his life.' Can someone give the poor man a Kleenex? It's nonsense like this that kills the NBA's reputation, furthering the perception that its stars are little more than whiny, self-absorbed millionaires with little regard for the concept of team."
• Dave D'Alessandro of The Star-Ledger: "The pressure he faces is unlike that of the typical NBA player, and for the first time, Yi Jianlian seems ready to acknowledge that. Because you wondered: Does he feel it at all? An inane premise, as it turns out. Anyone whose every move is followed by 1.3 billion countrymen and a few dozen people in New Jersey knows he's under the microscope this season, even if you're the great stoic. So one week into camp, it's time to find out how he is handling the pressure of his job, because that is precisely what everyone in the organization has feared since his disappearing act over the last month last season. 'Try to be different from last year,' the Nets forward said Sunday, when asked what he wants out of his third NBA season. 'Show everybody that I'm better from last season. That I've changed.' Everyone changes, and in his case, it can only be for the better. But sometimes circumstances don't change. He still has a bull's-eye on his back -- a broader one now, since the injured Yao Ming isn't going to get much media attention while he spends the next 12 months in the whirlpool or on the treadmill. 'Probably more focus on me, a lot more this year,' Yi agreed. 'To me, I'm going to try to put myself in the game and control what I can control. It will be there. I know that.' "
• Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune: "Jonny Flynn estimates he and Brandon Jennings -- the first ballyhooed prep star to bypass college ball to play in Europe for a year -- participated in 'eight or nine' pre-draft workout together, including one at Target Center that convinced new Wolves boss David Kahn to choose Flynn with the sixth pick. Jennings went to the Bucks at No. 10. 'It seemed like he was everywhere,' Flynn said. 'I couldn't shake him. Everywhere I was at, he was there.' The two began their pro careers Sunday night inside Bresnan Arena, where Flynn started for a Wolves team that built early leads of 10-2 and 14-3 and never trailed on a night when they attempted 56 free throws and made 50. ... 'Overall, I give myself a good grade,' said Flynn, who also had seven assists and three turnovers. 'With Al Jefferson and Kevin Love out there, there's a lot of room for a guy like me to get to the basket.' "
• Joe Freeman of The Oregonian: "Teammates and coaches have praised Andre Miller for his superb passing ability, on-court leadership and veteran savvy. Early indications suggest that he is going to be an asset for this team, if not a force that helps propel the Blazers to a playoff run. But as positive as the on-court reports have been, Miller's off-the-court demeanor has raised an equal number of eyebrows. After a frosty media day introduction, Miller has gone out of his way to make it clear that he is in Portland to work, not to build relationships. 'I come to practice and go home,' Miller said. 'I practice and put in the time, talk to guys during practice and keep going. If it was college, then maybe that would be different. But this is a professional environment … a business. That's just how I get down.' ... An immeasurable part of the Blazers' rebirth the past two seasons has centered on the remarkable chemistry among the players. From group dinners and movie outings on the road to that New Year's Eve celebration on the team plane two seasons ago, the Blazers have thrived, in part, because of their tight bond. In light of that, it seems only fair to wonder what impact Miller's indifference to making friends and building off-court relationships will have on his new organization. 'You have to be you, whatever that is,' McMillan said. 'Be real. And guys will go with that. Andre is going to be real and that's all we can ask. Our chemistry is going to be fine. On the floor he's done what he's needed to do. Off the floor, he's done what he needed to do. You haven't heard of any issues with him. So are you in there hanging out? Do you go to dinne
  r? We don't know. But I think he's going to be fine.' "
• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: "Vince Carter has experienced just about everything during his 11 previous NBA seasons, but tonight's exhibition opener against the Dallas Mavericks will provide a career-first: his debut with the Orlando Magic. Carter acknowledged that this preseason will be more important than others because the Magic will try to develop chemistry with a bunch of new players who are expected to play key roles. 'Each game, I think, is important for us and this team,' Carter said. 'Yeah, it's your first game and the excitement's there, but I think for us, it's getting our new team and our guys established and understanding what he [Coach Stan Van Gundy] wants.' Oh, Carter noted there's one other benefit to facing another team. 'I'm tired of Dwight [Howard] elbowing me in the cheek on screens,' Carter said, smiling."
• Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: "Basketball fate has a sense of humor. How else can you figure the Orlando Magic stealing two players from the Mavericks this summer, then getting teed up as the first preseason opponent tonight at American Airlines Center? Actually, 'stealing' is a little strong. But the Magic definitely prevented the Mavericks from getting center Marcin Gortat, a primary free-agent target. And they signed Brandon Bass away from the Mavericks. Tonight, both will be at AAC as members of the Magic. 'Brandon is a good friend, a family friend, but Kris Humphries is definitely filling in thus far,' Jason Terry said. 'And you know what? Brandon owes me some money, and I think he did just get paid, so hopefully I can collect.' Bass indeed parlayed his two seasons in Dallas into a four-year contract with the Magic worth $18 million. He returns tonight with a reasonable shot to start at power forward."
• Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald: "Though Ray Allen may not spend time 'worrying' about his future, he does have a clear goal in mind. He wants to stay a Celtic. He wants to remain a part of the Boston and New England community. 'Definitely that would be the ideal situation for me,' Allen said. 'I know what it's like to live in two other NBA cities (Seattle and Milwaukee). I don't want to know what it's like to live in any more. Obviously it would be my preference to finish my career here as a Celtic. Hopefully we raise one or two more banners in my time. Three, if possible. I would love it. That would be great.' So would be, for Allen, taking up residence with other local icons. 'Boston is a great sports town,' he said. 'It's a town that forever you're imprinted on the lives of the people. To be able to still do things in the community once you've finished playing is great. Tedy Bruschi won't have any problem doing that. I see Cam Neely and I've played golf with him a couple of times. He still has a presence in the Boston area. You know, it's wonderful to be able to raise your kids up in an environment where you still have an impact philanthropically.' "
• Mike Jones of The Washington Times: "Younger players like Andray Blatche and Nick Young, who admittedly are more visual learners and had trouble remembering the plays the last few seasons, have picked up Saunders' system with more ease thanks to the iPod Touch devices featuring Flip Saunders' entire 750-page playbook and video clips of how each play should be run. The Wizards feel more united thanks to the off-court activities, and the unconventional teaching methods have made practices fly by. 'He keeps it fresh, keeps it fun, always has you expecting something different,' Caron Butler said. 'It's the same thing, getting your reps in, but [the methods are] always something different, so it keeps it fun.' Keeping things fresh and unpredictable is exactly what Saunders had in mind, but the unconventional approach is nothing new for him. The tools (like the iPods) may be a pioneering wave of the future. But going back to his days as basketball coach at Minneapolis Junior College at the dawn of his coaching career, Saunders has tried to find unique ways to prepare his players."
• Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: "Counterintuitive as this sounds, Charlotte Bobcats forward Alexis Ajinca should start worrying when the coach stops yelling at him. That's not much consolation when Larry Brown is on you more than any teammate. Still, the attention Ajinca is getting in this training camp reflects his potential and the minutes available at power forward. He can either embrace that or shrivel under it. 'When coaches don't correct you, then they've probably forgotten about you,' Brown said of all the yelling he's done with Ajinca. 'There's a difference between coaching and criticism,' Brown continued. 'I wouldn't want to play for coaches criticizing all the time. But I also wouldn't want to play for coaches who aren't teaching.' "
• Mary Schmitt Boyer of The Plain Dealer: "Christian Eyenga, who was the Cavs' first-round draft pick last June, made a name for himself in Spain over the weekend. The Congo native won the Spanish (ACB) League dunk contest Saturday night. His signature moment was throwing down a slam while grabbing a small teddy bear off the rim with his mouth. The 6-foot-5 Eyenga signed a three-year contract with DKV Joventut, Ricky Rubio's old team, in July but has an opt-out to come to the Cavs next year."
• Marlon W. Morgan of The Commercial Appeal: "As the Grizzlies head into their ninth season in Memphis, their marketing campaign centers around building unity between the team and community. During the last three seasons, the Grizzlies have been punchlines throughout the NBA while enduring seasons of 24 victories or less. But a youth movement that has seen players like Rudy Gay, Mike Conley, O.J. Mayo and Marc Gasol develop, combined with the acquisitions of power forward Zach Randolph and perennial All-Star guard Allen Iverson, has the city abuzz. The team said season ticket renewals are up 15 percent over last year, while new season tickets sales are 150 percent above last season."

Wayne Winston is a professor at Indiana University and for the last nine years he has been Mark Cuban's stat guru for the Dallas Mavericks. Winston's recently published book "Mathletics," explains much of his work -- complete with formulas and spreadsheets. The first few posts have generated a lot of discussion, and an apology to Troy Murphy, on TrueHoop, Wayne Winston's personal website, and the foremost basketball analytics discussion board. In this installment, Winston begins by discussing Tim Thomas and Danilo Gallinari.

Here's an example of a guy I think is really underrated, and if he's healthy can help the Mavericks immensely: Tim Thomas.

Last year, every good lineup the Knicks had included Tim Thomas. They traded him. I don't know why.

Winston says Danilo Gallinari was the key to the Knicks' good play for a stretch last season. "The guy just can shoot with his eyes closed. And he's not a bad defender." (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images)

The Knicks had a streak last year where they were pretty good, right? The way they were pretty good was they put [Danilo] Gallinari, Thomas and [Al] Harrington on the floor. They spread the floor and they were unguardable.

Gallinari ... his effective field goal percentage was like the best in the league. The guy just can shoot with his eyes closed. And he's not a bad defender. They were really making a playoff run and than he got hurt and that was it.

And they got rid of Thomas and they didn't have that lineup anymore.

Some coach told me that "there's ice cream among the s---." That's what you're looking for with the lineups. If the players are bad, there's probably a couple of combinations that work.

The amazing thing is, teams play lineups that don't work.

Like the Bulls. The five lineups they played the most last year were all bad. I mean, how dumb can you be? 82games.com has some of this data. How you can not look at how your lineups perform is beyond me. It really is.

But the lineup stuff, I really think we're good at that.

I really think I can look at a playoff series, and look at that data, and I can basically mine that stuff. I think the Mavericks are one of two teams to win 50 games nine straight years and that's how long we've worked for them. I think that's part of it. A very small part obviously. But I think they have better information than most people, with what we do.

What's the process? You're in Indiana ... How do you inform the Mavericks what's going on?
Oh e-mail. There's a website that Mark [Cuban] gets, and it has all the player ratings and the lineup ratings, and a scouting report for each game. I send a lineup calculator that breaks down how each combination of players does in and out of the game.

I haven't talked to Mark on the phone. Ever. I have met him in person a couple of times, but it's all e-mail. That's how Mark is. I don't have his cell phone, I don't know his number. If he decides to call me, that's great.

The only game I went to, it was horrible, I went to that Game 6 double overtime when they got eliminated by Phoenix. They had a 13-point lead in the third quarter, and as soon as they put Alan Henderson in I knew it was over because he was terrible that year.

Then it came down to this big debate. Do you foul when you're up three? They let Steve Nash hit a 3 to tie that game. Almost no coach will foul until there's five seconds left in the game. I think that's something we don't know the answer to. But that's something we could study.

You should definitely go for 3 at the end of the game if you're down two. I think there's no question of that. Most coaches don't. The only team that did that, that I know, was Reggie Miller and the Pacers. They always did that. They always let Reggie take that shot. They would want the buzzer to go off with the ball in the air and it worked a lot of times.

I feel like I've seen Kobe do that.
Yeah, I mean Kobe's probably done it too. But the math is solid there. If I've got the ball and I can take the shot with the horn going off, you should go for 3. You only win the overtime half the time. Suppose you have a 50% chance of hitting the two. So you make a shot half the time, and then you win in overtime half the time, you win the game just 25% of the time.

But if you shoot the 3, you've got at least a 30% chance. That's all you need to know.

[Houston GM] Daryl Morey, I guess, never talks about what he does. That article about Shane Battier, though, you know the one I'm talking about? A lot of that was adjusted +/-. They have their own adjusted +/-, I guess.

The dataset we use is every minute of every game -- who's on the court? That's really, to my mind, where the game should be.

When Greg Oden played in Joel Przybilla's place with Portland's starting lineup, Winston says the team was far less effective. Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images)

I hate fantasy football, for instance, because it totally wrecks the whole point of the game, which is to win. When the quarterback throws the pass, and you have the running back, you get mad. Well if it's your team, you shouldn't get mad. Oh it's horrible. It's not why you like basketball or football. I mean, Adrian Peterson is the best player in fantasy football and he didn't even help the team, hardly, last year.

If you had unlimited minutes, adjusted plus/minus would be a perfect metric. We don't, so sometimes it'll mess up. When it does, there are little adjustments that we make, that I don't want to talk about, but I think that's why we do a better job than some of the other people.

There are some problems with the data analysis that can make it difficult to analyze a player. Most people who are running plus/minus are using canned stats packages like SPSS or SAS. And I think if you do that you can't make the adjustments very easily for the players whose numbers will be screwed up by the normal process.

But that's like our secret so we don't talk about that much. The lineup stuff ... after a bunch of games you can really see the three-man combinations that work. You can see that others don't work. Things pop out.

Are there teams that have great lineups that they just don't know about?
Oh yes. You see all kinds of things. For instance, in the Bulls/Celtics playoff series last year, everyone talks about Kevin Garnett being out. But if Luol Deng had been healthy, the Bulls would have won. I'm pretty sure.

The average team plays something like 4-500 lineups a year. Amazing.

In Portland, the lineup they played the most was pretty good. LaMarcus Aldridge, Nicolas Batum, Steve Blake, Joel Przybilla and Brandon Roy was 14 points better than average. Put in Greg Oden for Przybilla ... it's one point worse than average.

For the Blazers, there are some great lineups I see to close games. Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Rudy Fernandez, Joel Przybilla and Steve Blake. They played 167 minutes and were 32 points better than average.

That's the starting lineup with Rudy in place of Batum.
Right, so it's 17 points better with that one substitution.

There are a lot of minutes here, so that's a lot of data.

The key to the Lakers -- it doesn't take a genius to figure it out, is you close with Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, and Kobe Bryant. If you do that, you can't really go wrong.

You take out Bryant and leave Odom in, they were good. You take out Odom and leave Bryant in they weren't good. That's why I say Odom was better than Bryant.

OK, this is what they closed with: Trevor Ariza, Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom. That's 18 points better than average. And isn't that the one that closed every game? That's a good lineup, and they played that one the most.

Artest will be interesting.

Another good lineup is if you take that same thing, but put in Luke Walton for Fisher. Or Walton for Ariza. That's just as good. Doesn't make any difference.

This lineup is off the charts, and didn't play much: Bryant, Gasol, Odom, Luke Walton and Shannon Brown.

That lineup won by 55 points a game. They played 50 minutes together.

There's things like this on every team. Let's look at Houston. They should know everything. I had dinner with Daryl Morey once when he still worked for Boston and I showed him what we do. So he knows what we do. I don't know what he does, but I know he does a lot more.

I'm happy for him. He's a really nice guy, he's been very supportive of my book and he's good for the math people. He's the "Moneyball" of the NBA.

The Rockets six lineups that played the most, five of them are ten points or more better than average.

The only bad one was Rafer Alston, Shane Battier, Tracy McGrady, Luis Scola and Yao Ming, and they won't be playing that one this season.

More to come from Wayne Winston on Monday.

• Michael Wallace of The Miami Herald: "Players and coaches said Alonzo Mourning already is having an impact in his new role as Miami's vice president of player programs. Mourning watched Thursday's practice with other members of the Heat's front-office staff and spoke one-on-one with several players after the workout. He also has mentored players in the weight room and over lunch. 'Alonzo's got a lot of wisdom,' Dwyane Wade said. 'He'll be great in that role.' "
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: "Though out until late November at the earliest, Tracy McGrady has attended Rockets practices, a change from past seasons that Rockets coach Rick Adelman said would help McGrady see the changes this season. 'I think it's better,' Adelman said. 'Sometimes it's hard to go through really long practices. Do you sit like Yao (Ming)? What would Yao do here. He probably doesn't show up because I might put him in the scrimmage. 'I think it's better to be around your teammates as much as you possibly can and be a part of it. We don't know how long (McGrady) is going to be out. He needs to know what we're doing. It's different. We're not doing the same things we did before because we don't have the personnel.' Until then, McGrady and Shane Battier, who is out until next week at the earliest, do offer two more voices at the workouts. 'Tracy, he knows what's happening,' Adelman said. 'It's good. He and Shane have been good, talking to guys as they come out. I'd rather see them out on the floor. That would be a lot easier.' "
• Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: "Brian Cook drilled his 3 and shouted toward the Toyota Center rafters 'It's about … time.' He was referring only to that shot, coming late in an afternoon when he believed too many shots had missed. But the cry of frustration could have as accurately described his escape from his past two seasons, especially since his trade deadline deal to the Rockets. 'It's always difficult not to play,' Cook said. 'This last year-and-a-half has been real tough for me. It was the first time in my life I haven't played and didn't have a role on the team, where I wasn't even coming in and shooting the basketball or rebounding, playing D and contributing to the team. 'I kind of got into a dark place where I didn't know what was happening. As the NBA goes, I'm getting older (28) and there are younger guys coming in. But I still want to be competitive. There's a lot of things I could have done differently, been more mature, not blown up, losing my mind.' Cook, a 6-9 forward, said he had not lost his temper around the Rockets, but did let his frustration get the better of him. 'Everybody sometimes just snaps and does things the wrong way,' he said. Cook's frustration only grew in each of the past two postseasons when each of the past two teams that traded him -- the Lakers in 2008 and the Magic last season -- went to the NBA Finals a few months later, eventually meeting one another last season."
• Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: "Big men are going to take the spotlight for the Mavericks in the next few weeks, starting tonight at a scrimmage during the Fan Jam festivities. And it's not just Drew Gooden and Erick Dampier who will spend the preseason battling for playing time at center. It's Kris Humphries, too. He's a power forward by trade, but he has the size and physical nature to play center. Quality has always been an issue for the Mavericks at center. Quantity won't be a problem this season. 'Competition for minutes at the big positions is stiff,' coach Rick Carlisle said. 'We've got a lot of guys who are experienced.' Humphries in particular has been a surprise during the early days of training camp. Acquired in the Shawn Marion trade, the 6-9, 235-pounder from Minnesota has spent five years in the NBA with Utah and Toronto and has fought through some fluke injuries, like the broken fibula he suffered early last season when he was kneed in the leg. So far this fall, there have been nothing but rave reviews from the Mavericks."
• Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: "So far, the camp experience has been different for each of the Spurs' three most important players. Parker has had his prescribed 'Brunge time.' Ginobili has had his minutes monitored closely, occasionally sitting out all or parts of a workout. Duncan has yet to be limited at all. 'Everything in a way is by the seat of the pants,' coach Gregg Popovich said. 'Every day will be a little different. They're all on a different schedule. The object will be to have all of them fresh come playoff time.' Indeed, despite the copious amount of ink spilled on the Spurs' offseason additions, the bulk of their championship hopes still rests on the health of their Big Three. Since last winning the title in 2007, the Spurs have now gone two consecutive postseasons without their talented triumvirate at 100 percent."
• Michael Wallace of The Miami Herald: "By now, you've probably seen the YouTube clip of Dwyane Wade murdering the Boyz II Men hit, End of the Road, during his Wade's World Foundation celebrity weekend bowling event last month in Chicago. Even worse, you may have actually turned up the volume and heard his karaoke version of the song. In short, Wade probably owes Boyz II Men an apology. Wade improved his defense to an All-World level last season. But he may have been at his defensive best after Thursday's practice, when he tried to explain his performance on the mic. His publicist and friend, Lisa Joseph, re-posted the less-than-grammy-worthy performance on the Internet earlier this week to give Wade's friends another round of laughs after the initial wave wore off. Wade took it all in stride and said the video probably got 20,000 more hits in one night. 'Everybody was scared to get up there, and I decided to get up there and be a leader,' Wade said of his decision to take the stage and flex his vocals. 'Unfortunately, it was a camera around. It (sounded) a lot different in my head. When they put the music on and the words, it turned out a little differently.' "
• Tania Ganguli of the Orlando Sentinel: "Dwight Howard's lack of moves in the low post have been one oft-criticized aspect of his game. 'Have you ever seen a better athlete with worse low-post moves? Er, move?' wrote ESPN.com's Bill Simmons in a diary of Orlando's Game 4 loss to the Lakers in the NBA Finals. 'He's like a jukebox with one song - and in this case, the song is, 'I'm going to turn right, bring the ball down low, take a dribble, put my shoulder into my guy and shoot a jumphook.' I think the Lakers know it's coming, Dwight. No offense.' But to Howard, that's not the real issue. 'People say that, but when you get double-teamed every play, it's hard to get post mov
  es,' Howard said. 'My biggest thing is passing out the double team and allowing my guys to get shots, trusting them. That way I have an easier chance to score.' The Magic have given him plenty of practice with that this week. Nearly every time Howard touched the ball in scrimmages on Wednesday and Thursday, he was double-teamed. And just in case he needs it, he's also paid a lot of attention to his jump shot. Howard said he worked on it every day and even circulated a video this summer in which he ran up and down a court drilling 15-footers."
• Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News: "Jonas Jerebko is a rarity in Detroit professional sports. He's a Swede who doesn't play for the Red Wings. The 6-foot-10 rookie forward was unique back in Sweden, too, for his love of basketball. 'I wasn't watching the NBA growing up,' said Jerebko, alluding to the lack of basketball coverage back home. 'It was the NHL and European soccer and that's about it. The only NBA would be the Finals when they'd show some highlights. In Sweden, basketball is maybe number seven or eight of all the sports. Everybody plays soccer growing up, and you have hockey and handball. Hopefully me signing and coming over here will help the basketball in Sweden.' What spurred Jerebko's interest in basketball? 'I grew up in a basketball family,' Jerebko said. 'My mom played, and my dad played at Syracuse. They've helped me a lot. I've always been playing basketball. I went to the camps over here because there are no camps in Sweden.' "
• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: "Don't tell the third-year big man Friday's exhibition opener against the Pacers in Indiana isn't a big deal. For the first time in his NBA career, Joakim Noah has reported to camp in shape, eager to build on his strong finish to last season. That's not to say Noah didn't have his offseason fun; pictures of him at Lollapalooza are everywhere on the Internet. But he combined focus with his fun -- extending range on his jumper, adding 10 pounds of muscle, playing with the French national team. 'I feel very confident,' Noah said. 'Plays like that one definitely help. There were times earlier last season where I wasn't as confident. I worked really hard to get stronger and improve my shot during the offseason. I understand my role. I'm not trying to do too much. But we have a different team with (Ben Gordon) gone. He was a big part of what we did. If I need to step up offensively, I will. If not, I will keep affecting the game by busting my (butt).' "
• Frank Dell'Apa of The Boston Globe: "Marquis Daniels committed to the Celtics in July, eventually signing a one-year deal worth $1.99 million, turning down more lucrative offers because of the championship chances in Boston. 'A lot of guys just talk about that,' Daniels said of sacrificing on his paycheck. 'Some people actually do it. I had goal in mind. This is a great organization, great teammates, great coaching staff. I like our chances of achieving the goal we have in mind. In the end, hopefully, there can be the glory. I'm just taking a step back to go forward.' "
• Michael Grange of the Globe and Mail: "The Toronto Raptors aren't exactly sure what role DeMar DeRozan will play when they break training camp and begin the regular season. But the high-flying rookie from the University of Southern California has already been stamped 'approved' by NBA royalty. The final negotiations were still being done yesterday, but DeRozan said he expects to be signing an endorsement deal with Nike and more significantly will be the only NBA player this season to wear the signature shoe of Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers star and reigning NBA Finals most valuable player. 'That's great, that's big, being able to wear one of my favourite player's shoes,' DeRozan said yesterday."
• Chris Young of the Toronto Star: "Next up -- Chris Bosh: The Movie. Or at least, a little taste of it. Bosh's latest project -- First Ink, a high-def rendering of the Raptors star's latest rendering -- gets sneak-preview status alongside the first-night headliner at this weekend's Canadian Sport Film Festival. The 40-minute documentary is two weeks away from completion and is scheduled for full DVD release later on next month, but a three-minute teaser is on deck Saturday at the festival, returning for its second year. The Toronto production company behind the film followed Bosh and shot footage in Toronto over a two-month period this summer. Bosh's first tattoo -- from inception to first sitting -- is the jumping-off point for a look at the player who may well be heading into his final season in a Raptors uniform. 'It's a little bit of comedy, and it has a documentary part,' Bosh told the Star's Dave Feschuk Thursday at Raptors training camp in Ottawa. 'It's maybe a side of me nobody's ever seen. It's got that same skit feeling to it (as some of Bosh's youtube videos). We've got some funny ones. There's some good stuff in there. Hopefully it'll be entertaining to people, and really interesting and artistic.' "
• Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee: "After two years of being pummeled around the basket, often elevating and landing on someone's foot, frequently twisting the ankle he now tapes, Kevin Martin is embracing change. And he's right. And smart. He needs to adjust, or he can count on a shortened career. 'I love contact,' Martin said the other day, 'but in a perfect world, I'll be going to the foul line maybe seven, eight times this year instead of 10. I have to take more jumpers and (shots off) curls so I don't take such a beating.' There is an impressive precedent here. Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen experienced similar epiphanies in their mid-20s. So did Doug Christie, whose wiry physique most closely resembles that of his former teammate. All three were superb athletes who improved their jump shots and, as they aged and physically matured, more selectively slashed to the rim. 'Kevin wants to be stronger, not at the start of the move but at the finish, so when he absorbs the contact, he lands with better balance,' added David Thorpe, Martin's offseason trainer. 'That doesn't mean he won't get hurt, but it improves his chances of landing with some stability.' This makes sense. The combination of Martin's body type (a skinny 6-foot-7, 185 pounds), unconventional form and passion for hanging above the rim make him too inviting a target."
• Marcus Thompson II of The Oakland Tribune: "Maybe Monta Ellis' comments Monday that he and Curry wouldn't work together as a tandem illustrates Ellis' development. Members of the organization are certainly touting Ellis as much improved. They say he's 100 percent healthy. They say he's matured. They say he's motivated like never before. Ellis' development on and off the court has them all but promising big things. 'He will have a great year this year, if he stays healthy,' said Warriors coach Don Nelson said. 'Monta, after this season, he'll be a made man.' Three significant changes are at the root of Ellis' alleged transfo
  rmation. Perhaps chief among them was the Warriors' decision to back off their stance that they reserved the right to terminate Ellis' contract, which officially ended the controversy of his moped accident."
• Brian T. Smith of The Columbian: "When the Blazers were the joke of the NBA from 2004-06, Joel Przybilla was part of the joke. When Portland posted consecutive 27- and 21-win seasons, redefining the lows to which a rebuilding franchise can sink, Przybilla wore black and red. And now that Rip City has returned, and the Blazers appear to be on the verge of once again becoming a Western Conference powerhouse? Portland's 7-foot-1, 255-pound center is still around. Perseverance has paid off for Przybilla. So has faith. A tattoo illustrating two praying hands, draped by a cross, is inked into the 29-year-old's left shoulder. 'I knew things couldn't get any worse, man, to tell you the truth,' Przybilla said Thursday. What pulled Przybilla through? What convinced him to stay a Blazer, while other free agents avoided Portland during the franchise's recent lean years? The former University of Minnesota standout said the knowledge that good people were in place, primarily coach Nate McMillan and general manager Kevin Pritchard, made the difference."
• Kurt Kragthorpe of The Salt Lake Tribune: "Generally, Carlos Boozer's reception would be best described as chilly, although not openly hostile. There were muted cheers during pregame introductions, grumblings after each of his three missed shots in the first half and some sustained boos when he stood at the free-throw line in the third quarter. The response was much more positive when he twice poked the ball away from Denver's Nene for steals. So it is apparent that Jazz fans' love of Boozer will be conditional. That's still better than the outright anger directed at him in March 2007, the first time he returned to Cleveland in a Jazz uniform, or the way Derek Fisher was treated here in November 2008 after coming back with the Lakers. In each of those cases, the visitors were being punished for perceived betrayal of the franchises. Some of that sentiment exists here about Boozer, certainly."

• Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune: "Kevin Love's tweeter is broken, but he promises a glorious comeback. Love, a child of the computer age, embraced the Twitter social-network phenomenon as enthusiastically as any pro athlete, so much so he unintentionally broke the worldwide news that Kevin McHale wasn't coming back as Timberwolves coach and honestly offered up his comments on the team's confounding draft night. He hasn't tweeted since Aug. 14. For now, rookie Jonny Flynn is leading the Wolves, both at point guard and with the Twitter. 'I got shut down a little while from the Boss Man,' Love said. 'But be on the lookout: I'll be back. I just got tired of (Jim) Stack or (Fred) Hoiberg calling me and telling me not to tweet about this, not to tweet about that. I just said, 'What happened to the First Amendment law?' ' David Kahn, the Wolves president of basketball operations, said he wants Love to feel free to tweet and will encourage him to do so."
• Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal: "Marc Gasol insists he couldn't be more ready to patrol the paint for the Grizzlies. Why wouldn't the 7-footer be following his summer workout program? Forget for a second that Gasol played a lot of basketball this offseason, helping his national team capture the European Championship. He tackled something much bigger than tournament games in preparation for his second NBA season. 'Collseroz By Tibidabo,' Gasol said, naming the mountain in Spain that he regularly ran for eight miles to shed 25-30 pounds. 'It was great because when you get to the top you can see all of Barcelona. But it's not easy getting there.' Gasol, significantly slimmer and quicker, figures the hard work he put in to transform his body will make this season easier. Griz coach Lionel Hollins challenged Gasol to arrive at training camp able to run the court much better than he did during his rookie season. 'He's running the court really well,' Hollins said. 'That's something he labored with last year. His agility and quickness will really help at the pace we're trying to play.' Hollins wants Gasol to be a factor in the Grizzlies' up-tempo offense."
• Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News: "The Simple things like regaining his shooting touch and the feel for the game will come easily, 'like riding a bike,' the Sixers' Jason Smith said. Interesting choice of words. Smith tore the ACL in his left knee in August last year while working out, causing him to miss all of his second season. The rehab was grueling, and it was one exercise in particular that Smith recalls. 'About a week or so after the surgery, they put me on a stationary bike,' said the 7-foot forward/center. 'My knee was still swollen and very tender, but they put me on the bike and told me to pedal. When I first tried, I could only move the pedal a very little bit. It was so frustrating. Gradually I could do a little more as I worked on it, then one day - and I'll never forget it - I was able to make one full revolution with the pedal. It sounds so insignificant, but man, I'll never forget that. It was cake after that.' It was a small step in the road to recovery, but as thsoe who have ever had to rehab a serious injury know, that's what keeps you sane during all the sweat and frustration."
• Dan Duggan of the Boston Herald: "When Glen Davis walked into the Wai Kru mixed martial arts gym in Allston last month, you can forgive owner and head trainer John Allan for getting excited. Not being a basketball fan, Allan's feelings had nothing to do with training an NBA player. Instead, Allan saw a massive 6-foot-9 project with the physical tools to become an MMA star. 'Initially I was salivating because I was like, 'Oh, I have the next big heavyweight star,' ' Allan said. 'It was close to the end of the lesson that someone informed me that I was actually training Glen 'Big Baby' Davis from the Celtics.' Despite the disappointment that he hadn't uncovered a future UFC star, Allan went to work with Davis. And there was no kid-glove treatment for the professional athlete. Though Allan said his top priority always was to avoid injury, Davis was put through rigorous daily workouts. 'With a name like Big Baby, when I found out that's what he was called, I was a little surprised because he was all business,' Allan said. 'He comes in here and he knows what I want him to do. When I tell him what to do, he does it. There's no hesitation. He works hard, and he loves it, which helps.' "
• Frank Isola of the New York Daily News: "David Lee may look like the hard luck loser of the free agent market; he went searching for a $60 million contract and the Knicks got him for $7 million. Still, Lee did get a $6 million raise off a 50-loss season and he is convinced that his pot of gold - whether it's from the Knicks or another team - will be waiting for him next summer when the fifth-year forward/center becomes an unrestricted free agent. 'I want to be part of the solution here, and the solution right now is to do a one-year deal and next summer we'll talk again and we'll see what it comes to,' Lee said of his sometimes tense negotiations with the Knicks. 'I don't resent anybody. I think things ended up going great. Mr. (Donnie) Walsh was very up front with me about that. It was a compromise. 'We're going to compromise by taking care of you for one year. It won't hurt our salary cap going into the summer of 2010. We respect what you've done for our team and we want to have you happy going into this season and ready to contribute toward making the playoffs,' said Lee, recalling what Walsh told him."
• Tania Ganguli of the Orlando Sentinel: "I wondered what was up a few minutes ago when this tweet appeared on Rashard Lewis's Twitter account. 'Call me at 407-545-6592 for real & tell me what my intro should be to my Saynow #. it's my #, Ill be calling y'all back thru this # sometime' Josh Robbins and I sat around pondering what that number could actually be -- obviously Lewis wouldn't give out his personal phone number on Twitter -- for a few minutes before I made him call it and let me listen on speakerphone. Good move by me. He's now going to receive texts from SayNow.com, a phone messaging site through which celebrities communicate with their fans. The site's been mostly used by entertainers, though in a New York Times story, its founders said they wanted athletes and politicians involved, too. According to the site, Carmelo Anthony and Ray Lewis have SayNow accounts, as do Marlon Wayans, Tori Spelling, Tyrese Gibson and many musicians from T.I. to Bo Bice."
• Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: "Mike D'Antoni tried making Amaré Stoudemire a co-captain two seasons ago. The title didn't carry over to last season. But bestowed the honor again with Nash and Gran
  t Hill, Stoudemire feels better prepared to lead. 'It feels great,' Stoudemire said. 'I definitely have been working on it and studying what it takes to be a leader. I've read books on it to figure out what it takes to be a successful leader. With Steve and Grant, watching those guys over the past few years definitely helped me a lot. I'm getting up there. I'll be 27 in November.' Stoudemire said his reading list included books about ancient Chinese commander Sun Tzu and becoming a general, as well as Wikipedia entries on leadership."
• Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News: "In the 2 1/2 months that passed between his final game as a Detroit Piston and his first day as a San Antonio Spur, Antonio McDyess contemplated his future in the NBA. His conclusion, reached in the hours before the free-agent market opened on July 1: Unless he got a contract offer from the Spurs, he would retire, giving up on his quest for an NBA championship ring after 13 seasons. 'That's how strong I felt about coming here,' said McDyess, the 6-foot-9 veteran who figures to be the team's starting center on opening night. The Spurs felt strongly enough about adding McDyess to their reshaped roster to offer him a three-year contract worth about $15 million. Both sides feel fortunate to finally have connected. 'There have been years when I've been trying to come here before, but they turned me down,' McDyess said. 'I feel privileged to be here.' "
• Mike Jones of The Washington Times: "Now playing for the third coach of their short careers, Blatche and Young have decided to follow McGuire's lead and take a serious approach to basketball. And McGuire, who last season drew motivation from the offseason birth of his first child, is aiming to continue his growth in his third year. Instead of coming into training camp overweight as in the past, Blatche spent the summer working on his conditioning entering his fifth season. He even changed his jersey number from 32 to 7 to symbolize his new dedication to working hard every day. Young, in his third year, heeded coach Flip Saunders' prodding that he stop smiling so much on the court and play with a more aggressive attitude. He spent much of the summer working on eliminating extra dribbling before taking a shot and on popping jumpers off screens. 'It was time for them to grow up, and they know that,' center Brendan Haywood said. 'I think with new staff coming in, they didn't wanna be labeled a certain way, so they're taking a more professional approach.' "
• Sekou Smith of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "It's taken all of two full practices with his new teammates for Hawks guard Jamal Crawford to clear up any misconceptions who and what he is on the basketball court. Sure, they already knew he could score with the best of them. He is, after all, one of just four players in NBA history to score 50 or more points with three different teams, joining legends Wilt Chamberlain, Bernard King and Moses Malone in that elite club. But they had no idea he was such a gifted passer and tenacious defender as he's shown in the first hours of training camp. It's those two surprising traits, in addition to Crawford's ability to score in bunches from virtually anywhere on the floor, that are expected to make his transition a smooth one. 'It's the same feeling we had after our first practice when Mike [Bibby] got traded here,' Marvin Williams said. 'The previous point guards we had were guys that were more conservative and guys that were just trying to get the job done. Just like Mike, Jamal has that flash to his game that you don't really appreciate until you're out there with him.' "
• Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press: "There's a training camp rule in the NBA that limits teams to one 'contact session' per day. Timberwolves assistant coach Bill Laimbeer is still trying to get used to the rule. After the Timberwolves completed Wednesday morning's practice at Bresnan Arena, Laimbeer sent a text message to his good friend and former Detroit Pistons teammate Joe Dumars, now the club's president of basketball operations. Laimbeer told Dumars the Wolves had a 'non-contact' practice. Laimbeer said Dumars replied: 'This is the new NBA, Billy.' For Laimbeer, a 6-foot-10 power forward who developed a notorious reputation for physical play during his 13-year NBA career, watching basketball for more than two hours with minimal contact is strange, if not absurd. 'We would scrimmage twice a day,' Laimbeer said of his training camp days with the Pistons. 'We would line up five on five, throw the ball up and play.' The rule, installed in 2005 to reduce injuries, limits teams to scrimmaging in either the morning or evening practice during camp. That leaves the other session for drills, conditioning and implementing new systems for offense and defense."
• Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press: "When Will Bynum was asked about this being a contract year, Kwame Brown leaned in and interrupted: 'He talks about it every day. 'I need to get mine. I need to get mine.' I hear him all the time saying that. I hear him. I tell him don't worry about all that, but he don't listen to me.' Bynum laughed and said: 'What's wrong with him?' Anyone who knows Bynum knows that the potential of a big payday will do little to change his approach. After kicking around the NBA, overseas and the NBA Development League for three years, he finally found stability with the Pistons. He started last season as the third point guard behind Chauncey Billups and Rodney Stuckey. But by the end of the season, the 5-foot-10 point guard finally proved he belonged in the NBA. After a summer of working out with noted fitness guru Tim Grover in Chicago -- alongside NBA stars LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Gilbert Arenas -- Bynum is eager to build upon last year's success."
• K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune: "The last Bulls fans saw of Brad Miller, he was playing impact minutes down the stretch of the epic playoff series against the Celtics and getting knocked upside the head by Rajon Rondo. But don't feel sorry for the veteran center. The scam he pulled over the offseason endures. Miller got to travel the world filming footage for 'Country Boys Outdoors,' a new TV show he's co-hosting that premieres on The Sportsman's Channel this month. A self-described 'hick' from Kendallville, Ind., who long has been passionate about hunting and fishing, Miller found himself chuckling over his good fortune when he, say, hunted red stagg or rabbits in New Zealand. 'We've been filming stuff for over three years,' Miller said."
• Mike Wells of The Indianapolis Star: "Roy Hibbert may have ended last season as the Pacers starting center, but the second-year player has to continue to get better if he expects to start this season. Just as he did during the team's media day last week, coach Jim O'Brien said starting positions are up in the air (unless your last name is Granger, Ford or Murphy). If early indications mean anything, Solomon Jones is not going to just hand the starting job o
  ver to Hibbert. You can't blame Solo for thinking that way because it's not like he's playing on a team that's a lock to make the playoffs. 'I think it's wide open,' O'Brien said after practice Wednesday. 'It's not just between those two guys, Jeff (Foster) is also a possibility, too. I don't have any preconceived ideas of how that's going to play out. They're all going to get plenty of opportunities to get looks in game situations during the exhibition season.' "
• Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel : "The last time Ersan Ilyasova put on a Milwaukee Bucks uniform, he was a timid 19-year-old and still far from ready to contribute in a significant way. Now, more than two years later, the Turkish player is back with the Bucks and being counted on as an important part of coach Scott Skiles' power forward rotation. Following two seasons with Regal FC Barcelona, the 6-foot-9 Ilyasova actually looks the part of a National Basketball Association player. 'He's played competitively at a very high level,' Skiles said. 'Just look at his body; his body is filled out. He's got a nice skill set. Even when he played before here, he showed flashes of those skills. He could make threes. He can pass the ball; he's got nice length. He's been a good rebounder.' One other ingredient has been added to Ilyasova's game, a healthy helping of confidence. That comes from playing with one of the top clubs in Europe and also playing a starring role for Turkey's national team."
• Kerry Eggers of The Portland Tribune: "After missing virtually the entire 2008-09 season -- and the Trail Blazers' first sniff of the playoffs in six years -- with a stress fracture of the left foot, Martell Webster can't imagine there is a player on the Portland roster more eager for the team to return to the postseason. 'Not after experiencing what I experienced,' the fifth-year small forward says. 'It's one of the hardest things a professional athlete could go through -- to be there when a team wasn't good, and now that they've taken the turn and reached the playoffs, and you aren't a part of that? That leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. I'm hungry to get there again.' Webster has a new jersey number -- switching from 8 to 23 -- and a new lease on his career after going down with the foot injury in a preseason game a year ago. He tried to return on Dec. 7, playing five minutes against Toronto, before aggravating the injury and being forced to call it a season."

• You think the Lakers will retire Shaquille O'Neal's jersey? With bridges burned in Orlando and Miami, not much to show for his time in Phoenix, and twilight years in Cleveland ... O'Neal has the chance to become the greatest NBA player ever to not have his jersey retired.
• So, if Gilbert Arenas won't entertain us with off-court wit ... who will?
• The Spurs drafted, in DeJuan Blair, a player who grabbed a greater percentage of offensive rebounds than some teams. Blair, by himself, was a better offensive rebounder than Colorado was all together. The thing is, the Spurs are the worst offensive rebounding team in large part because they don't stick around to grab them, preferring instead to get back on defense. So ... how will Popovich play Blair? Something to watch.
• Little Amare Stoudemire.
• NCAA, if you're looking for an example of somebody who came to college for the basketball, but stayed for the academics ... here's your guy.
• Portland owner Paul Allen -- who knew? -- has just survived a profound health scare.
• Mike Dunleavy says he homebrewed what we now call effective field goal percentage in contract negotiations during his playing days.
• Video of Hakeem Olajuwon working out with Hasheem Thabeet and just a little time with Kobe Bryant. What a contrast in students for Olajuwon, huh? Maybe the most gifted and fluid offensive wing force in the modern NBA, compared to a big man whose offense, some scouts say, doesn't even belong in the NBA.
• The NBA offered some referees $575,000 to retire.
• First significant injury of the season: Bull Aaron Gray. Tyreke Evans has been sitting, too, although no word that it's serious.
  
• Shooting 3s from the corner: A good idea.
  
• NBA TV's Real Training Camp focused on the Denver Nuggets, and Roundball Mining Company's Jeremy has insight: "J.R. Smith is traditionally a slow starter, and in past Real Training Camps he has not had good shooting performances. Today he was on fire. In fact, I do not remember seeing him miss a shot. J.R. will be out the first seven games of the season, but hopefully when he comes back for game eight he will be shooting like he did today."
• Assessing the Thunder's depth chart, which is confusing thanks to multiple players who play multiple positions.
• The Bucks had a crisis last season: No one could hit a 3. Jeremy of Bucksketball: "But the Bucks have taken steps to rectify the situation, right? Supposedly. Don't get me wrong, the Bucks have done a thing or two this off season designed to rectify the three point shooting problem, I'm just not certain I'm buying all the moves. They've brought on Carlos Delfino, an alleged shooter; Ersan Ilyasova, a possible shooter; and will be bringing back a healthy Michael Redd, a slightly overrated shooter. In the process of adding (and re-adding in Redd's case) these three the Bucks managed to lose one of their best shooters from last year in Charlie Villanueva ..."
  
• RapsFan of RaptorsRepublic on Bryan Colangelo: "We all read between the lines, that BC swung for the fences this summer and put together what he thought was a solid team that improved over last season (and to a degree I do share this sentiment), but when he actually came out said the goal is 50 wins, wow. You would have hoped he learned his lesson from last season's claim that this was the most talented team he has assembled in Toronto, and managed expectations. He went the other direction, and what that has done is fuse most fans, and the media to a degree, with a new sense of optimism."
• Brandon Roy tells Benjamin Golliver of BlazersEdge about the sneaky defense the Blazers are working on: "It's a man defense but it's that we're so tight and we're helping so much it appears that it's a zone just to throw the opponent off."
• Charles Barkley says Twitter is for losers.
• Ron Artest, comic book character.

• What obligation to teams have to their fans to keep them informed about injuries? Zach Lowe of CelticsHub: "As for the state of [Kevin] Garnett's knee toward the end of last season, it's reasonable to assume the Celitcs knew more than they revealed publicly. To us, as outsiders, it seemed a near certainty that Garnett would play in the post-season; the announcement that he would not came as a surprise gut punch. But the team likely knew the odds were against Garnett playing. At the very least, they knew there was a significant chance he would not play. Should they have told us that? Do they owe us that sort of openness?"
• Stan Van Gundy follows many different kinds of new basketball statistics, and is particularly a fan of John Hollinger's work. He also says Otis Smith's easiest decision of the off-season was bringing Adonal Foyle back.
• Beno Udrih says the Kings lacked direction last season (when they were coached by Reggie Theus until mid-December, then Kenny Natt): "We were definitely confused."
• Sam Amico, on the ClevelandFan.com, writing about Cavs guard Mo Wiliams: "Williams preferred to keep things light, continuously insisting that he's beat everyone on the team in pool. But that was news to fellow backcourt-mate Daniel Gibson. 'Oh no he hasn't,' Gibson said with a grin. 'He hasn't played everyone. That sounds like a challenge to me. Tell him I accept.'"
• A tale of Brandon Roy interrupting his own workout to greet a rookie, and invite him to come in to work out together the next day. Dante Cunningham tells BlazersEdge: "That's somebody that I want to go to battle with."
• I've talked to many team stat people who don't know which other teams even have stat experts. Everyone knows about the Rockets, Mavericks, Cavaliers, Nuggets, Celtics, Spurs and Blazers. Jeff Bower, Hornets GM, tells Hornets247 that his team has been on it for years, and has their own internal measures and databases. He also describes Vince Carter and Antonio McDyess as two of the bigger off-season acquisitions.
• Drew Gooden, holding it together.
• Clipperblog's Kevin Arnovitz: "Baron Davis looks fantastic, a shadow of his 2008 self. How did he get in such good shape over the summer? 'Crack,' Davis said in jest, before attributing his svelte physique to a summer regimen that had him either in the gym or in Asia -- both sure-fire ways to drop LBs."
• Alando Tucker loses a bet, has to grow a rat tail like Eddie Murphy in "Coming to America."
• Tony Parker will be doing limited duty in Spurs' training camp. That could be an opportunity for George Hill, who looked good in summer league.
• Jeremy from Bucksketball quotes Scott Skiles on Luc Richard Mbah a Moute: "Whatever Luc's high water mark as a player is going to be in the league he's going to reach it. When he's done playing you're going to say he's gotten the most out of his ability."
• Patty Mills was drafted in the second round by the Blazers, then broke his foot. He's almost recovered, though, and angling to make the NBA. (Via BlazersEdge)
• "All hell fell loose." It's a new saying, and I love it. Credit Tracy McGrady. 
• Jerry Sloan urges his players to cut the replacement referees some slack.
• LaMarcus Aldridge is disappointed his contract isn't done.
• UPDATE: Watch a Warriors' practice live online right now.
• UPDATE: It's back! The infamous off-season "15 pounds of muscle." A year ago we dug into this phenomenon. In an Oregonlive podcast, the Oregonian's Jason Quick made the point that the last time you saw all these players they were gaunt, gassed and spent by the rigors of the season. A lot of players are looking big and ripped for that reason alone. A TrueHoop reader urged us to consider what 15 pounds of meat would look like. That's like a Thanksgiving turkey. Is it really possible to add that much bulk?