We’ve populated our database with all the box scores from the 2009-2010 season to date, and nightly box scores should be added to the database around 2am EST every night, which will also be the new time we update our stat database hopefully –- still might have some kinks to work out with that latter par. At this time, we have no plans to add box scores from prior to this season, but that could change if I get bored.

In addition to our advanced stats, we’ve tried to incorporate all the integral things fans are used to from the box scores offered at NBA.com and ESPN.com, while keeping the standard stuff in a format everyone is familiar with. We think we’ve worked out all the kinks over the past few days, but as always let us know if you spot any problems, and also if you think there’s something we could add or something we could display in a more user-friendly way.

Among the new things included in each box score are Four Factors, Offensive and Defensive Efficiencies, Possessions estimated, Shot Locations, Assist Locations, the usual Advanced Metrics, And1s, Plus-Minus, and pretty much everything else from our advanced database.

via Hoopdata – NBA Statistics and Analysis.

Thanks, Santa! It’s just what I wanted!

Here’s a few examples of what you can use this data to look at.

• “Wade took 11 of his 31 shots from 16-23 feet at 45.5%, second best from any range. But at the same time, it illustrates that he wasn’t attacking as much as the Heat probably need him to, an effect of the back injury that’s limiting him. “
• “Anthony Carter had a terrific game in the middle of Denver’s vomitous night, with 5 of his 7 assists going to the rim, and contributing 10.7 points on 9.3 possessions used, second best on the team behind Nene.”
• “Ramon Sessions clocked in a 39.0 Usage rate with only a 49.6% TS% and 33%AS rate. In short, he sucked loudly.”
• “The Hornets essentially split one of the four factors and won two of the others, losing only eFG%. Sometimes you don’t have to hit your shots to win. Today the Hornets needed to.”

That’ll hurt the ol’ point differential – Bullets Forever.

I’m going to file this post alongside Seth’s classic in my special file for epic FAIL recap posts.

More on the Wiz in a bit.

That Deftones CD that has their cover of the Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” on it. It’s darker.

Gift card to The Black Angel. I don’t care for how much. Whatever. Like it matters.

Johnny the Homicidal Maniac: Director’s Cut. Right, like you get why it’s cool. So lame.# Hangover on DVD.

Admission ticket to Disneyland Paris for when I get back to Europe. “Why?” You wouldn’t understand.

via Athlete Christmas Lists: Darko Milicic « this is the city line..

Devine’s got the Christmas NBA blog post on lockdown.

I’ve done campy Christmas posts in the past. I’m not going to this year. But if I was, I’d want to be like Devine.

/swoon

Also, I don’t know how I’m going to live with knowing Darko’s gone. I mean, I know he’s already gone, we might as well speak about him in the past tense. But to leave America with such bitter feelings about the peak of your profession. Sad.

I don’t know if you heard, but over the Summer, the Houston Rockets essentially swapped Ron Artest for Trevor Ariza. The former is a bit of a wildcard, known for ill-advised 3s, elite perimeter defense, and something about snake eggs. The latter is a superb athlete, a tremendous wing defender, and an emerging shooting threat.

So why is it that the Houston Rockets were so woefully underestimated coming into the season, when the only significant difference between last year’s playoff team and this year’s would-be playoff time is the (occasionally bad) shot creating abilities of Artest?

I…I don’t know. Count me among the many that refused to acknowledge Houston’s potential. I didn’t see where the points were going to come from, even if Ariza is a young, talented player on a perfectly reasonable salary. Call me crazy, but I wasn’t sold on Aaron Brooks’ ability to score consistently, much less run an offense. And I saw some problems among their rotation of bigs, which had fallen to three productive if undersized power forwards in the absence of Yao Ming. Not only is none of that true, but we’ve seen virtually the opposite. Ariza may not be capable of producing shots at an elite level (as his .383), but his ability to get out in transition and connect on reasonable 3-point attempts has been crucial to Houston’s surprisingly competent offense. Aaron Brooks may not have the most efficient lines, but he’s proven that he has the speed to be a Tony Parker-esque penetrating and scoring point guard, albeit one with a much better touch from outside. And those Rocket bigs? The ones who were supposed to have problems against traditional centers and more physical lineups? They have Houston as the 7th best offensive rebounding team in the league, the 13th best defensive rebounding team, and provide an interesting amount of versatility with the defense of Chuck Hayes, the scoring of Carl Landry, and the savvy of Luis Scola.

In terms of efficiency, the Rockets are a perfectly average team. But considering that Yao Ming is on an extended vacation and Tracy McGrady is just starting to see the court, that’s more than commendable. It stands testament to just how good of a coach Rick Adelman is, and just how far pure effort can get you in the NBA. A limited roster of second round cast-offs and undrafted diamonds (or at least opals or something) int he rough is just 6.5 games behind the Los Angeles freaking Lakers. And all they’ve done to get there is everything they said they would based on everything they’ve always had. Daryl Morey simply waited as pundit after pundit (and blogger after blogger) penciled the Rockets into the lottery, biding his time until the scoreboard and the standings could sway the collective opinion in a way he never could.

Tulsa, Okla., December 18, 2009 – The Tulsa 66ers announced today that the team has acquired forward Deron (Der-ON) Washington from the Los Angeles D-Fenders in exchange for forward Keith Clark.

Washington (6-7, 215) was drafted third overall by the D-Fenders in the 2009 NBA Development League Draft. Through eight games in the 2009-10 season, Washington has averaged 9.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per contest

via 12.18.09 Tulsa 66ers Acquire Forward Deron Washington

The 66ers roster now includes Bryon Mullens, assignee, Latavious Williams, fresh out of high school uber-prospect, Steven Hill, monster on the boards, Mustafa Shakur, dagger-man, and Larry Owens. Granted, they’ve underperformed, but with the addition of Williams, who was brilliant, and I mean brilliant at summer league with the Pistons a few years ago, and has great ability to get to the rim, they’ve not got depth, talent, and speed. They have to start getting wins, now, right?

Oh, wait, they’ve got two back to backs with RGV and Reno. Nevermind. Man the West is tough.  How tough? You’ve got 9 teams in the West, seven in the east. Three teams in the East are above .500, six in the West. Yikes.

Okay, I know NBA All-Star Weekend isn’t until February, but I just wanted to let you all hear it from me first: I will NOT be participating in the Slam Dunk Contest. I was offered a spot in the contest not too long ago but politely turned it down. But hear me out on this one.My agent came to me last week and asked me if I wanted to participate in the Slam Dunk Contest and I was like…‘Nah.’ I’m just not a dunk contest dunker, you know what I mean? I don’t even do any good dunks in games. I can’t jump as high as those guys, either, so I’ll leave that up to the Rudy Gays and the Dwight Howards to show off in the Dunk Contest. I’ll pass on that.Don’t get me wrong, though. I was really honored to be asked. There’s a lot of great dunkers in this league and they decided to put me out there, to call on me but I had to gladly say ‘no thank you.’ Besides, I think it’s more fun to watch than to be in.

via Why I Passed on the Dunk Contest.

So Durant’s out, which isn’t a huge deal. He doesn’t really throw down the ones that make you want to cry in fear. It is a shame, though, considering a Durant v. LBJ matchup would be epic on so many levels. But then, LeBron’s been waffling too. If we get stuck with a bunch of no names in Dallas, I’m going to be pretty miffed. This should aspire to be the greatest dunk contest of the decade (won’t be Carter’s year, obviously, but you have to try).

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like the more obscure guys, but it would be great to see some elite players go at it in this one. With Howard out, I imagine Rudy Gay will be back, even though I’ve never been impressed with his dunks in-game or otherwise. Man it would have been nice if Tyrus were to not hate the exhibition and not be recovering from injury. While not a superstar, he could definitely play the villain.

Maine’s Trey Gilder finished with a 23-point, 10-rebound double-double in 38 minutes off the bench for the Red Claws. He shot 9-of-12 from the field. Teammate Lester Hudson, in his second game on assignment from the Celtics to Maine, finished with 17 points, including connecting on 3-of-5 from three-point land.

via D-League Daily Developments

Maine is so good. So, so talented. Three assignees, a deep roster. Good coaching, good facilities. Seven in a row now, for the Claws.

IDAHO’S TOLLIVER CALLED-UP TO PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS

The Portland Trail Blazers today signed Anthony Tolliver of the Idaho Stampede.  Tolliver has appeared in all seven of Idaho’s games this season, averaging 20.7 points, 9.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 36.9 minutes.  He has recorded three double-doubles this season, including a season-high 30 points, to go with 11 rebounds, in a win over the Reno Bighorns on Nov. 30.

TULSA ADDS ZABIAN DOWDELL

The Tulsa 66ers announced today that the team has acquired point guard Zabian Dowdell. Dowdell played in Italy during the 2008-09 season, where he averaged 19.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 2.2 steals in 37 games.

SPRINGFEILD ADDS CAMPBELL

The Springfield Armor acquired their first pick in the expansion draft, Marcus Campbell.   Campbell, a former Mississippi State Center, played on various NBA D-League teams including the Austin Toros, and the Idaho Stampede, In four seasons in the NBA D-League, Campbell has accumulated 1,487 points, and his 1,017 rebounds and 171 blocks rank fifth and sixth, respectively, in league history.

FORT WAYNE ADDS JARED REINER

The Fort Wayne Mad Ants acquired 6’11” center Jared Reiner.  Reiner has five years of professional basketball experience, including stints in the NBA for the Chicago Bulls (04-05) and the Milwaukee Bucks (06-07).   He signed with the Phoenix Suns during the 2005-06 season but suffered a season-ending knee injury.  In 2006-07, he played in 28 games for the Sioux Falls Skyforce averaging 13.8 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.

I probably underrated Tolliver in our rankings. I just have shakes about guys that go up and back down. I wanted to post on a likelihood to stick if they made it up. But with Portland’s injury situation, this was a really smart move. Grab the guy the Spurs had invested a bit in, add some frontcourt depth, see if he can’t be an energy guy off the bench if Pryz gets stacked with fouls and you have to go small.

I like the Mad Ants picking up Reiner, too. He’s a fringe NBA guy who could get a call-up, but in the meantime, he’s likely here for the remainder of the season if the call-up doesn’t come. He’s played in Europe before so if he’s here, he’s likely not going to go back on a whim. And having gone to camp with multiple teams, he’s got some contacts.

Springfield adding Campbell at least gets them a volume rebounder. Now if they could just pick up a win.

Miami struggles at home. Mario Chalmers isn’t committed to his team. Dwyane Wade’s fat. And then you steamroll the conference champions and it all goes away for a day.

So that was unexpected, to say the least. Orlando looked awful while Miami looked pretty darn good, on the way to a 104-86 victory.

This was one of the games I’d asked for at the beginning of the season. Smooth. Consistent.

Executed at a high level. Non-heart-attack inducing. And lo and behold, that’s precisely what we got against one of Miami’s marquee opponents.

via Didn’t see that coming: Miami Heat roll over Orlando Magic, 104-86 | Hot Hot Hoops.

I don’t get this club. I really don’t.  On the one hand, I thought that preseason prognostications of them falling back into the lottery were overkill. Having a top-three player in the game when two teams in your division don’t have a top 15 player between them is enough to win a handful more than you lose. And when they started out on fire, I was skeptical. I mean, yeah, they play together and I think QRich has actually been huge for them and JO is playing well, but come on. There’s no bench and no dynamic non-scorers And I’m a Dorrell Wright guy! So when they fell back to Earth last month, it made sense. Hang around the five to seven seed, make a little run towards a home-heavy part of the schedule, done in the first round.  But they keep dropping games like this, and it’s maddening.

They get clobbered by Denver, and get an unlucky bounce against the Lakers (unlucky because they didn’t have the last possession, because that’s what it came down to. Kobe’s shot had nothing to do with luck). They squeaked by the Kings in a game where they led the whole way but kept giving the Kings life, then get smacked in the face by Dallas. Then come out and yank down the pants of the defending Eastern Conference champions and kick them into the mud.

This is after they beat Denver in the early part of the season, downed Orlando less than three weeks ago, and in the middle got clobbered by OKC and Cleveland. Which team is it? The NBA eschews the notion of “any given day” because generally the best teams are the most consistent. But with the Heat, it really is any given day. They can knock off Orlando in a laugher after getting crushed by Memphis a few days ago. There’s no making sense of them.

Is that good or bad for their chances? You have to figure they’ll win more than they lose since they’re not dropping a lot of games to bad teams. They’re losing some games they should win, but not a majority, and they’re winning some games they should lose, but not a majority. Maybe by the time April rolls around that will be a boon, because even if they’re not very good, they can be good against anyone.

Michael Pina is a contributing writer for the Hoop Doctors, the Huffington Post, and Hoops Addict. He’s here today to ask the question of if the Hornets should bite the bullet and go all-in on a change-up.

It’s not that bad. Really it isn’t. Yes there’s the losing record, the fact that through the first two months there was a Henry Hudson-esque mutiny towards Byron Scott and a threatening ankle injury for the franchise point guard. Add in a recent bludgeoning by the Knicks that saw Chris Duhon do his best proctologist impersonation (six threes from a 30% shooter) and still things could be worse. Much, much worse.

The season’s still in its prepubescent stage. Chris Paul is back, says he’s healthy and is conducting his troops like the future Springfield bust that he is. At their house, aka The Hive, New Orleans is 8-3; giving up nine fewer points per contest than when they’re on the road.

As long as the aforementioned Paul is in a Nola uniform, they’ll be competitive. It’s clear Scott’s inconsistencies were wearing thin on the team and the shakeup should prove beneficial, but none of this necessarily means they’re a championship contender. What we do know is they won’t quit as some accused them of doing in last year’s postseason.

So right now who are the Hornets? They’re a financially strapped bunch that’s a lot older than you think. 32-year-old Peja Stojakovic can still snipe with the best of them but defensively he looks, to put it nicely, God awful. Both him and David West are regressing (West’s currently putting up 15.7 points per contest which is his lowest since 2004-05).

Their recent draft picks have been on a Rodney White level of discouraging and haven’t performed anywhere near up to par. (Julian Wright and Hilton Armstrong have yet to tie their shoes correctly.)

Regardless they still have some nice pieces. Most notably Chris Paul who controls NBA games better than you do with an Xbox controller.

James Posey, who is either the leagues most overrated or underrated sixth man depending on your expectations, continues his relentless defensive intensity, on floor leadership and three-point accuracy that got him his mildly unrealistic four-year $25 million dollar deal.

22-year-old Chris-Weinke-ancient rookies Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton have been playing pretty solid, specifically Thornton. Like a sorority girl eyeing a lonely bottle of mango flavored vodka, the Hornets were familiar with the Baton Rouge native and aggressively pursued.

For a second lets look at the team realistically and not through Bud Fox’s eyes. This means treating 2007-08 like an aberration instead of a progressive step towards the league’s elite that some stubbornly still believe.

In order to seriously compete, Nola’s got to wheel and deal. A blockbuster, division shake-up type move.

Here’s an idea. Take Stojakovic and West, two players who are closer to the mountain’s summit than its base, throw in Julian Wright and send them to Toronto for the stupendous Chris Bosh, Rasho Nesterovic and Reggie Evans. With Toronto playing unsatisfactorily so far this season, the probability of re-signing Bosh is decreasing by the day. It’d make sense from the Raptors standpoint to, at the least, grab two former all-stars for him. From Nola’s perspective, they’d be adding one of the best players in the league for the rest of the year. Should they choose to do so, the Hornets could then build around a Paul/Bosh nucleus that would vie for a championship these next few years.

If no trade goes down, there’s still one shining light to look at. While Paul was out with his ankle injury the team stayed afloat, going 4-4. They’re still in contention to make the postseason but expectations should be tempered. This isn’t three years ago and Tyson Chandler isn’t walking through that door.

Ben, Matt, if you please.

Lion Face: WHO DO YOU THINK MORTAL? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!!!

I tend to run more on the negative these days than the positive. With the franchise I despise more than any other with a lockdown on the title for the next two years, it’s hard to get moved, especially in a world where those feelings are so often expressed quickly and eloquently by better writers than I on these here blogospheres. Not having a team, I usually take a backseat to the team’s writers. And while I’m very happy for Blazers fans after everything they’ve gone through this season, I’m going to take this one. I loved Bayless pre-draft, and then I saw him in Summer League and it was one of those moments that stick with you. His performance was revolutionary. And so to hear Nate say after the game that he was going to have to learn to play point, was infuriating. But that was nothing compared to watching him rot on the bench, never allowed to work past his challenges, to develop past his limits. I couldn’t believe he could be that obtuse.

Trying to make Bayless into a pure point is like trying to use a switchblade to scoop ice cream. But tonight, finally, Jerryd Bayless arrived. And there was fire.

When Bayless had two turnovers in the 2nd quarter after a strong start, I expected Nate McMillan to send him back to the dungeon. But Nate stuck with him. Whether it was Andre Miller’s inability to do any of the things they paid him to do that he has yet to do this season, a gut feeling, or the Ghost of squandered talent past, Nate stuck with him. And it paid off.

Bayless used his inside-outside game on offense to feed the other. So he was taking corner three-pointers directly off the pass from Roy (who the Suns were packing the lane against), and not thinking about it. Just release. And it fell. Praise be, it finally fell. That gave him the confidence to attack the rim, which he did, relentlessly. You have to foul him. He’s too fast not to foul. Throw in a few easy buckets, and one absolutely sick reverse off a Roy feed to the baseline, and you’ve got yourself a career high. He was dialed in. He was swarming to the ball on defense, snaking in and swiping as he followed through on assignments, and communicating with his team.

After a big three late, the kid let out a roar. The kind of raw emotion that people say you don’t find in the NBA. It was about a year and a half of being held under water. It was about finally proving he belonged here like he said he did. It was raw, it was honest, and I had already jumped out of my chair and was yelling with him.

I’m a writer, so I’m of course bent to the dramatic. But on a night where the focus was on the absence of their star lottery pick and when the center they buried like they had been doing to Bayless torched them from outside, it was deeply poetic to see Bayless be the star on this game, to deliver the victory by playing his game. He managed to find a way to work alongside his teammates, even feeding them after a few choice under-basket loop-probes (a la Steve Nash). He was a complement to Brandon, not a competitor, nor a counter. And when he missed the game-clinching first free throw at the end of the game, his teammates were there to rub his head and tell him not to worry about it, even though Bayless was killing himself for it anyway. That’s important. He’d just had the best game of his life, and was still livid he missed that free throw.

Maybe it was just one night, maybe this is all he gets. But his ability to attack, to fight, to kill isn’t something that drifts. It’s a quality that you have to encourage and harness. If given the opportunity, he can do those things. Jerryd Bayless needs to start. But until then, I’m willing to just be thrilled that for a night, he had arrived.