ESPN NBA

• Owning an NBA team might not be as miserable as some make it sound. University of Chicago economist Kevin Murphy, who is consulting the players union, speaks about the glory of equity in an interview with NBA.com's Steve Aschburner: "There are a couple of things that are really attractive. One is, historically, you’ve seen franchises appreciate in value and that appreciation has more than outstripped any cash-flow losses that you’ve had. And if you’re in the right tax position, it’s actually pretty good because you’ve got a tax loss annually on your operating and you’ve got a capital gain at the end that you accumulate untaxed until you sell it and then pay at a lower rate. So you get a deferred tax treatment on the gains and an immediate tax treatment on the losses, that’s not a bad deal."
• The Milwaukee Bucks never stop working, but they're fundamentally a poor offensive club. If that's going to change, an inefficient Brandon Jennings will need to improve his shot from long-range, learn how to draw some fouls and figure out how to finish.
• A legal battle between Michael Beasley, his former agent and an AAU power broker grows uglier. Beasley's third-party complaint against Curtis Malone, his old AAU coach, reads: "In summary, Third-Party Defendant, in concert with [Bell Sports, Inc.] corrupted every mechanism of honest guidance Beasley had in his life to assist him to pursue the best NBA agent available, which seriously deprived Beasley, both economically and otherwise." Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports has more.
• Do you remember whom the Trail Blazers got for Sam Bowie in 1989? He wasn't Michael Jordan, but a very, very nice piece nonetheless.
• The sale of the Atlanta Hawks to Alex Meruelo might be on the verge of collapsing because Meruelo doesn't have sufficient resources. How was Meruelo going to finance the sale? By borrowing from the sellers. There's mounting evidence that this a lousy template for the sale of a big-league sports franchise. We present the Los Angeles Dodgers as Exhibit A, but there are others.
• In a piece that cites the $33.5 million in public funds the city of Indianapolis coughed up to the Pacers (termed a "forgivable loan"), but makes no mention of the nearly identical amount the team paid to Mike Dunleavy Jr., T.J. Ford, James Posey and Jeff Foster in 2010-11, Anthony Schoettle of the Indianapolis Business Journal tells Pacers fans to root for the owners in CBA negotiations.
• Even those who want fewer games on the NBA schedule feel the quality of play suffered during compressed 1998-99 season. Was the frenzied, abbreviated free agency period that followed the settlement also a factor? Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don't Lie: "The 1998 free agent class, in terms of sheer numbers, was the largest ever; and instead of 29 teams taking their time as they worked through the hundreds that were available, the league and its players were forced to take fewer than three weeks to figure out where about half its workforce was going to play for the next few years." The free agency and player movement blitz that will be launched by a resolution is going to be a blast for NBA fans. General managers will have to recruit, react, pivot, hedge and react again in a split second. Is that a good thing? When you're staffing an office or choosing where you want to work or go to school, is your process better served with a careful evaluation of the candidates or a close consideration of how you think you'll fit in? Or is everyone better off by rushing into partnership? Which model do we think produces better personnel decisions?
• No arguments whatsoever with J.J. Redick's food trinity.
• Evan Turner learns that pet ownership isn't always what it's cracked up to be.
• This could be a fun artistic exercise for Heat haters and lovers alike.
• A.C.L tears: not just for pro athletes and aging amateurs anymore.
• Trey Kerby of TBJ pays a visit to 48 Minutes of Hell to talk about Tim Duncan, Matt Bonner and wedding parties on the 4-Down podcast.
• Riot police and demonstrators clash outside the Oakland apartment of Ethan Sherwood Strauss of Hoopspeak. His account of Wednesday night's events is full of nuanced imagery and observation -- and also this: "A certain neuroses prevents me from subsuming my personality into any collective emotion. It’s rooted more in an intense fear of getting manipulated than any grand, righteous code."

Every acquisition has a cost, which is one of the bedrock principles of bartering. Unless you're purchasing Manhattan or annexing the Sudetenland, it's virtually impossible to get something for nothing. The NBA's trade market has three primary currencies in circulation: talent, cap relief and flexibility -- with the latter two linked to some extent. On Wednesday, Houston, New Orleans, Indiana and New Jersey cooperated on a blockbuster trade that saw each team forfeit assets in service of a larger goal.

Houston Rockets

Coming: Courtney Lee
Going: Trevor Ariza

On the surface, the deal for the Rockets appears to be a cost-cutting measure. Houston re-upped Luis Scola and Kyle Lowry this summer, while signing Brad Miller to a free-agent contract. Deep into luxury tax territory, the Rockets unloaded the remaining four years and $28 million on Ariza's deal in exchange for Nets guard Courtney Lee.

The Rockets' front office deeply believes the best value contracts in basketball are max deals granted to transcendent superstars, and rookie scale contracts belonging to productive young players. In Lee, the Rockets get a young wing who will earn only $1.35 million in 2010-11. In addition, the Rockets hold a team option on Lee for $2.23 million in 2011-12. That's real value for a 24-year-old with the talent to start. A $6.3 million trade exception doesn't hurt either.

Lee and Rockets starting shooting guard Kevin Martin train together in the offseason -- the latter regarded as an older brother to the third-year guard. Although Lee might not be the stopper Ariza is, he is capable of covering either guard position and can certainly tread water against some of the league's less dynamic 3-and-D small forwards. Lee will find strong organizational dynamics in Houston, similar to what he encountered during his rookie season in Orlando, where he succeeded. With Ariza's departure, the Rockets will have to figure out who picks up his minutes beyond Lee and whether that means experimenting selectively with Martin at the 3 spot.

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New Orleans Hornets

Coming: Trevor Ariza
Going: Darren Collison and James Posey

The wing has been an enduring problem for the Hornets dating back to Desmond Mason, Bostjan Nachbar and J.R. Smith. Ariza might not rank on Chris Paul's list of the top 25 guys he most wants to play with, but the second Ariza puts on the teal, he'll instantly become the most athletic and versatile wing New Orleans has seen in recent years -- but at an enormous cost.

Collison has one of the best value contracts in basketball. He'll earn $1.3 million this season and carries team options for $1.46 million and $2.31 respectively over the subsequent two seasons. As a rookie, Collison played more than 2,000 minutes and compiled an impressive player efficiency rating of 16.55.

There's no guarantee Chris Paul will be sticking around New Orleans after his contract expires in the summer of 2012, and Collison's presence was a healthy -- and cheap -- insurance policy against that departure and any injury. Removing the remaining $13.4 million of James Posey's contract and the addition of Ariza's gifted -- but limited -- game seem to be an expensive bounty for a player with the potential to be very special and who is already contributing on a nightly basis.

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Indiana Pacers

Coming: Darren Collison and James Posey
Going: Troy Murphy

"Point guard, Indiana Pacers" has been the NBA equivalent of "Drummer, Spinal Tap." The Pacers haven't been able to buy a break at the top of the floor for several seasons. Jamaal Tinsley, Anthony Johnson, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Jarrett Jack and, most recently, T.J. Ford and Earl Watson have all walked through the revolving door in Indianapolis.

A.J. Price, picked in the second round of the 2009 draft, showed some promise in his rookie campaign. But the acquisition of Collison finally locks down the point for the Pacers for the foreseeable future.

Normally, a salary like Posey's would be an onerous burden, but the Pacers have one of the cleanest spreadsheets in the league going forward -- only $18.8 million committed in 2011-12 before you tack on Posey's deal. The addition of Collison gives the Pacers the freedom to buy out Ford and not overpay for the services of Watson.

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New Jersey Nets

Coming: Troy Murphy
Going: Courtney Lee

There's a pleasing symmetry to this deal, and it ends in Newark where Murphy arrives in exchange for the departing Lee. Murphy offers a lot of appeal for the Nets. First, he's in the final year of his contract, which will pay him a hair under $12 million in 2010-11. Second, he gives the Nets a stretch 4 who can crash the defensive glass and deliver smart interior passes, assets the Nets want alongside Brook Lopez's more traditional skill set.

What about No. 3 overall pick Derrick Favors? The power forward out of Georgia Tech turned 19 the week following Orlando summer league. With Yi Jianlian moving down I-95 to Washington, there will be plenty of minutes for Favors in the Nets' frontcourt rotation.

The Nets will presumably fill the void left by Lee with a platoon of Terrence Williams, Anthony Morrow and Quinton Ross -- three players who share absolutely nothing in common. Williams' versatility and range of talents span the board. Meanwhile, Morrow could beat Ross in a shooting contest wearing a blindfold, but few players in the NBA can torment perimeter scorers the way Ross can.

• The Bulls could use an additional long-range shooter for their wing rotation and, on the surface, Rudy Fernandez seems like a nice fit. So let's say the Bulls are able to acquire Fernandez from Portland in a deal. Could Fernandez reasonably expect more minutes in Chicago than he received in Portland? Matt McHale of Bulls by the Horns: "Look at Chicago’s roster: Derrick Rose, C.J. Watson, Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver, Luol Deng, James Johnson, Carlos Boozer, Taj Gibson, Joakim Noah, Kurt Thomas and Omer Asik. That’s a pretty deep team. How many minutes would Fernandez get in a backcourt that includes Rose, Watson, Brewer and (probably at times) Korver? Last season, Rudy became 'disgruntled' playing 23 minutes a game (down from 25 the previous season). How many minutes would he see on the Bulls?"
• Playing an all-out zone defense doesn't translate into much success at the NBA level. As Sebastian Pruiti demonstrates at NBA Playbook, many of the bedrock principles of the zone simply aren't available to NBA defenses because of the defensive 3-second rule.
• Assuming Kendrick Perkins isn't suited up on opening night, which O'Neal should start for the Celtics?
• Yesterday, Tim Varner of 48 Minutes of Hell wrote that it's just a matter of time before NBA teams will be examining the DNA of potential signees. Today, economist Tyler Cowen looks at a paper that suggests some populations are more genetically predisposed to collectivism and mutual cooperation than others. The researchers say, "Genetic association studies suggest that variation within the genes of central neurotransmitter systems, particularly the serotonin ... and opioid ..., are associated with individual differences in social sensitivity, which reflects the degree of emotional responsivity to social events and experiences." Cowen is rightly skeptical, but you can imagine how a credulous NBA organization might want to examine a point guard's serotonin level before entrusting him with running a team for five years.
• PistonPowered features a graph you don't see every day: Percentage of minutes played in 2009-10 by players acquired the previous summer.
• Deuce Bello is a freaky shooting guard out of High Point, North Carolina's Westchester Country Day. Count Kevin Durant among his admirers: "Do me a favor, when u get a chance go look at this high school kid Deuce Bello on youtube...most bounce i ever seen in high school..wowww."
• Yi Jianlian gets a fresh start in Washington this fall. David Thorpe, who has been training with Yi, offers Truth About It's Kyle Weidie this prescription for Yi's game: "I think he should play a game like Rashard Lewis ... Shoot the three, play a shot fake and attack game and spread the floor. He should be really, really effective in transition with John Wall because Yi is unbelievably fast."
• Sactown Royalty is tracking support in the Kings' small forward battle between Donte Greene and Omri Casspi. No word yet on Nate Silver's prognosis.
• Wizards owner Ted Leonsis once pitched a reality series he described as “The Apprentice meets Touched by an Angel.” A couple of years later he was asked to be a judge on "Shark Tank," but declined.
• Oh, you just knew it was coming. Gold's -- not the chain of gyms but the makers of horseradish found at most North American Passover seders -- is challenging Amare Stoudemire to ingest large amounts of the stuff on a piece of matzo to test his Jewish roots. Pun intended.
• Jerry Reinsdorf on the Bulls' six championships: "Michael couldn’t have done it by himself. The rest of the players and Michael would not have been enough. It took Scottie to put us over the top those six times.”
• SLAM recently published a piece on Steve Francis titled, "Where is the love?" A Vancouver Grizzlies fan weighs in with his answer at Daily Thunder.
• Rasual Butler is getting his reps in. He tweets that he went 500 for 598 from mid-range today.
• Want a quick video primer on each of the national teams competing in Turkey next month? Check out FIBA TV's video page.

... is the one you use in the game's final seconds.

At other times in the game, timeouts are handy and all. They have some effect, we assume, right? At any time in the game you can settle your team down, charge them up, quiet the crowd, draw up a play, make a substitution or whatever. They're worth something all game long.

But they're extremely valuable when there are just a few seconds left in the game and you just got the ball. No one can convince me otherwise.

Now (to randomly pick on one of a zillion coaches who does the same thing) watch how the Pacers finished last night's game against the Bucks:


When Andrew Bogut missed that free throw, Troy Murphy grabbed the rebound. The Pacers were down three with 4.2 seconds left.

That proved to be enough time for T.J. Ford, the smallest player on the court who at that moment had made a massive one of the 27 3s he had attempted on the season, to run full speed to the spot where a defender was waiting for him, ignore a shooter in the right corner for lack of time, and launch a 3 that missed by a country mile. Game over.

It wasn't all that surprising. From the instant the Pacers got the rebound, the whole play had a desperate, Hail Mary feel to it.

With a timeout, the Pacers probably still would have lost. As they had proved on the play before, it's tough to get a good look at a 3 when the defense knows that's what you want. But -- I can't prove this, but I bet somebody can (cough, Daryl Morey, cough) -- I'd wager the Pacers would have been much more likely to score coming out of a timeout. Yes, they give the defense time to set up, but the defense was already set up in this case. With a timeout, the Pacers would get to move the ball to half-court if they want. They get to insert the optimum personnel. They get to diagram a play. They get to catch their breath. They get to free up their go-to guy with picks. They get to have all their players within 30 feet of the hoop they're shooting at. They even get to make a pass or two if they're so inclined. They can even go Phil Jackson and use the whole court in a cleverly planned play (watch the 2:50 mark).

In short, they get to do something that we have seen work many times in NBA games.

But they had no timeouts.

Why? Because they had already used three of them in the last two minutes. One with 1:13 left, down four points. Another with 28 seconds left, down five. And the final one with 18 seconds left, down 3.

That last one, when they called it, was the one that got me antsy.

Think about that moment. You're down three, with 18 seconds to go, with the ball. Maybe there is some gunslinger coach out there who would just burn all the clock and then fire a 3 for the tie at the buzzer. If you're that guy, cool. Hats off to you, swashbuckler. But nobody does that.

Instead your only real plan has to be to shoot twice. You're going to inbound the ball once with 18 seconds left, and one more time, likely after you intentionally foul.

So, you should plan on two possessions. One with almost no time pressure, one with extraordinary time pressure. Don't you have to save a timeout for that later play?

Instead, the Pacers' coaching staff could only look on -- what could they do? No timeouts! -- as their team got a horrible shot with the game on the line.

Posted by Kevin Arnovitz

The Hoop Doctors have unearthed 10 interesting facts while poring over data from the 2008-09 season. Among the findings:

Troy Murphy was assisted on 100% of his 3-pointers made finishing with 161, which was 12th best in the NBA. That helps explain how he finished 3rd in 3-point shooting percentage at 45.0%, even though he is a 6-11 forward/center.

Troy Murphy: On the receiving end 100 percent of the time. (Photo by Allen Einstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

This raised some eyebrows. As Celtics Hub's Zach Lowe e-mailed, "Every single one of Troy Murphy's 161 threes had an assist attached to it? Every one? There wasn't one instance when an assist wasn't deserved?" 

In the service of truth-squadding, I cued up Murphy's oeuvre of 3-pointers from last season.

You know what? 

Among the dozens of 3s, there isn't a single shot that doesn't warrant a dime, even if you subscribe to the strictest definition of assist.

Murphy gets his 3-point attempts in a variety of ways -- almost always near the top of the arc. He's particularly lethal in transition, which makes sense when you consider that the Pacers were the third-ranked squad last season in pace. Murphy is especially adept at trailing the ball handler on the break. As T.J. Ford or Jarrett Jack penetrates into the lane against the backpedaling defense, Murphy will fill the void in their tracks. Ford or Jack will then kick it out to the trailing Murphy, who hits. At other times in transition, he merely spots up where his teammates know to find him. 

In the half court, Murphy knows how to position himself for a clean pass from the post player.  As the defense collapses down low on the big man, Murphy will shift along the arc to create the easiest possible pass out of the post. Also in the half court, Murphy gets a bundle of 3-point attempts on the simple pick-and-pop out on the perimeter. Teams who trap Ford or Jack on that action repeatedly pay, as Murphy launches before the defensive rotation arrives.

Murphy wasn't the only sniper to be assisted on 100 percent of his 3-pointers. According to 82games.com, the list includes Matt Bonner, Mehmet Okur, Kyle Korver and Antawn Jamison.

Players on the other end of the spectrum? Dwyane Wade (29 percent of 3-pointers assisted), LeBron James (36 percent) and Steve Nash (42 percent) -- each of whom can be characterized as a guy who doesn't need a permission slip to shoot the ball. 

UPDATE: Reports are that T.J. Ford is out of the hospital and on his way home. 

You have probably already seen the play, in which Raptor guard T.J. Ford -- who missed an entire season a couple of years ago after a spinal injury -- hit the deck hard after a foul by Atlanta rookie Al Horford.

Ford is was immobilized and carried off the court on a stretcher.

ESPN's John Hollinger reports:

Teammate Anthony Parker was the first one to reach Ford. "I just said 'Lay back, don't move,' because it seemed he was kind of on his side. It seemed like he was panicking a little bit, and started breathing hard," said Parker, who began waving for the medical staff to come over almost immediately.

After a lengthy delay, Ford was immobilized and taken off the floor strapped to a board on a stretcher, an eerie reminder of the injury that he suffered earlier in his career that caused him to miss the entire 2004-05 season when he was with the Bucks.

On a positive note, Ford's teammates said they saw him moving before he was taken off, something Raptors spokesman Jim LaBumbard confirmed.

Ford was taken to Atlanta's Piedmont Hospital. Meanwhile his teammates had to leave him and fly back to Toronto for Wednesday's game against Dallas. Director of Baskeball Operations Marc Eversley and assistant trainer Rory Mullin stayed behind to be with Ford, who was expected to stay overnight at the hospital.

Ford is especially vulnerable to hits like this because he suffers from a congenital condition called spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal column. That's why the hit on Feb. 24, 2004, when he crashed into Minnesota's Mark Madsen, was so damaging -- he ended up with a bruised spinal cord and underwent surgery that May which fused two vertebrae in his neck.

An ESPN.com News Services story adds:

Former NBA player, coach and Ford workout coach John Lucas told ESPN.com that he spoke with Ford's girlfriend, Candace Dixon, Tuesday night and that she told Lucas that Ford had feeling in his arms and legs and did have range of motion. Lucas said Dixon told him they were awaiting results of a CAT scan and that Ford didn't lose consciousness.

Michael Grange of Canada's Globe and Mail was watching on TV, where he had the misfortune of seeing everything frame by frame:

If you look at it carefully it's apparent that Ford was out, or at least in some way compromised, before his head ever hit that floor in Atlanta.

Horford's hand comes down on Ford's head and pulls it back, compressing the neck with considerable force. An instant later Ford's body is still in the air but it's changed in attitude. He's slumping. He's got no sense of where he is. He makes no effort to adjust his fall or break it by reaching back with his arms.

Then, as we have likely all seen by now, Ford hits the deck. Hard. Grange then documents that this kind of incident is all too common for Ford:

The summer before Ford was to enter the University of Texas he had another scary moment when he hit the floor and didn't get up. He was diagnosed with spinal stenosis, which, put simply, is abnormal narrowing of the openings of the vertebra through which the spinal cord runs.

Surgery was considered and but eventually ruled out and Ford enjoyed two stellar seasons at the University of Texas without incident.

But it is that condition -- which is congenital -- that informs all his problems since. When Ford gets hit or falls in an unusual way it puts pressure on his spinal cord in a way not experienced by other people. End of story.

And it would be the end of the story except that Ford keeps playing; keeps taking shots, and keeps experience numbness in various parts of his body.

-- In the spring of his sophomore year, after he had declared for the NBA draft and signed with an agent, Ford was playing pick-up at Texas and had another scary moment. He was slapped across the neck, hit the floor and didn't move for the entire hour it took for an ambulance to arrive and remove him.

-- After the Bucks drafted him No.8 overall in 2003 Ford was exceeding expectations when he collided hard with Mark Madsen of the Minnesota Timberwolves and didn't get up. He landed on his tailbone, but the jarring fall caused a whip-lash effect severe enough that he bruised his spinal cord. He was out of basketball for a year-and-a-half.

-- Ford was incident-free for his last season in Milwaukee and his first year in Toronto until he was slammed to floor after getting tangled up with Vince Carter in Game 5 during the playoffs last season. He was diagnosed with a stinger -- basically an irritation of the nerves that emanate from his neck and run across his shoulders and down his arms.

-- He suffered another stinger just two weeks ago in Dallas after Josh Howard hit him in the chest, and missed five games.

While we are all so used to athletes getting hurt, and then making recoveries and getting back on the court. Grange is anxious to stop seeing Ford -- the doting father of a toddler -- carried off on a stretcher so often. Hard to argue that one, but surely the only way to make certain that doesn't happen again is for Ford to retire, which is no picnic either.

My thoughts are with T.J. Ford and his family, for sure.

A Note About Al Horford
What's not most important right now is the guy who hit Ford in the head. But as long as this incident is the topic, let's take a moment to discuss Horford. I don't know what he was thinking at the moment of the incident, but I have met Al Horford -- who was called for a flagrant foul and ejected on the play. Over the last six months I have talked to plenty of people who know Horford. Sekou Smith of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution knows him and echoes what everybody I have talked to thinks about the rookie: he's a guy who plays extremely hard, but not the kind of guy who would intentionally hit or injure T.J. Ford in the head. (Despite Sam Mitchell's initial reaction, that's essentially what Raptor players have told reporters they believe happened, too.)

If I've learned nothing else about Al Horford the past six months, it's that he's a class act. That was clear the first day I met him and it was never more clear than last night, after his hard fouls sent Toronto point guard T.J. Ford crashing to the floor late in the Hawks' loss to the Raptors at Philips Arena.

I'll be the first person to sound off in defense of this guy, because long before everyone else had vacated the premises Tuesday night, Horford made his way to Piedmont Hospital to check on Ford, who remained under observation overnight but reportedly had movement in all of his extremities.

Horford was one of several people affiliated with the Hawks to go directly to the hospital to check on Ford - Dominique Wilkins and Josh Smith's father Pete S
mith were there, too - and make sure he knew that what happened was purely accidental.

Horford, I'm told, waited quite a while for Ford to get done with tests just to make sure he got the chance to speak with him personally. And when told that Horford came to check on him and wanted to speak with him, Ford let it be known that he knew Horford's lick wasn't intentional and that he welcomed Horford to stop by and visit.

None of that will make it on the highlight shows. But it's just an example of the class shown by all involved.