This week’s rankings are brought to you by Scott at RU. Enjoy.

1. Mike Harris, Rio Grande Valley Vipers (27.2 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 59% FG) – “Most Valuable in the D-League should be good enough for a bench gig, you’d think.” — Matt Moore

2. Carlos Powell, Albuquerque Thunderbirds (22.1 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 4.8 apg, 50% FG) – There really isn’t much more you could want out of a 6’7″ forward, actually.  I’ll let Jon L’s comments explain the rest: “Powell does many things very well: He’s top 10 in the league in scoring; is averaging just under six assists per game – as many or more as some starting point guards; Just under two steals per game, again in the company of point guards. Just five rebounds a game and not much of an outside shot, but now we’re just nitpicking.”  And if you’re looking for than five rebounds out of the small forward spot, you’re definitely nitpicking.

3. Reggie Williams, Sioux Falls Skyforce (26.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 3.1 apg, 58% FG, 38% 3pt) – From the always lovable Jon L: “Scott (here) and Steve (here) have both written about Williams recently, but in a nutshell he’s an extremely efficient scorer, he can rebound a bit, and he’s focused more on defense recently, probably for the first time in his career. He’s carrying the Skyforce and has been for weeks. Some NBA team needs to call Williams up before Tony Fritz runs him into the ground.”

4a. Morris Almond, Springfield Armor (28.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 52% FG) -Myself and Weinman Gchatted (Is that what it’s called?) about this one for a long time last night.  Almond is an amazing talent, but he really doesn’t have any upside.  Eventually, and I’d suggest sooner rather than later, he should go to Europe and make some money.  Still, as Weinman noted, He’s “in a tough spot because he won’t be a go-to guy at next level, but waaaay too talented not to get another shot.”

4b. Dwayne Jones, Austin Toros (17.7 ppg, 15.0 rpg, 2.1 bpg, 62% FG) – I’m just going to kindly point out that Jon didn’t rank him and he’s still this high on our list.  If you take the three of us that did rank him, he’d be top-3.  As per usual, I’m just going to point out the fact that he sleep walks and gets those numbers, so I kind of hate him, but ball don’t lie.  Weinman went pretty in-depth with him the other day.  Maybe I can convince Jon L to do the same by sending him to the Showdown at Cedar Park next week.

6a. Dontell Jefferson, Utah Flash (18.0 ppg, 5.6 apg, 3.6 rpg, 43% FG) – Succinctly, Weinman puts it best: ”He’s run into all kinds of scoring efficiency issues in January. Possibly related to rumored knee concerns that may have cost him call-up to Jazz earlier in the month?”  I’ll also add that he’s shot 6-for-29 from the field in his past three games to explain why I ranked him the lowest of the four.

6b. Rob Kurz, Fort Wayne Mad Ants (18.2 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 1.5 bpg, 54% FG, 46% 3pt, 80% FT) – Kurz gets my mid-season award for using the D-League most effecitively. Last season with Golden State, he was primarily (read: only) a pick-and-pop shooter. After that gig didn’t fly in a number of opportunities this offseason (Orlando Summer League with the 76ers/Nets combined team, Vegas Summer League with the TWolves, preseason with the Cavs), he came to the D-League and has worked on becoming more than a shooter. It’s actually really working. I’m not sure how much credit to give to his coach (Joey Meyer was also credited for developing Ramon Sessions while in the D-League), but Kurz is now able to score in the post and averaging over 10 boards per game as the lone bright spot for his struggling Mad Ants. Oh, and don’t worry – his 47% shooting from beyond the arc proves he’s still able to shoot as well.

8. Mustafa Shakur, Tulsa 66ers (19.9 ppg, 6.4 apg, 4.5 rpg, 2.1 spg, 50% FG, 35% 3pt) - While I was quick to write Mustafa (I refuse to refer to anyone but Tupac as ‘Shakur’) off earlier this season, every time I watch him, I become more impressed. He’s an efficient scorer, an above the rim finisher, and has held together the 66ers very fluid roster. Considering he’s shooting over 50% from the field, over 35% from beyond the arc and has greatly improved his free-throw shooting this month, I don’t really know what the NBA teams would be looking for that he isn’t currently bringing to the table. Defensively, he’s big enough and athletic enough that, at worst, he’s going to outperform which ever player he’s matching up with. I can’t say he’s great on defense, but there are many worse options in the D-League.

9. Coby Karl, Idaho Stampede (28.3 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 3.8 apg, 49% FG, 32% 3pt) – Before you go crazy looking at the numbers, realize he’s only played in four games and it was with an Idaho team that was still struggling to find it’s new identity.  Then read Jon L’s comment: “Seeing as how I’m the guy who ranked Karl the highest, perhaps I should explain. It’s probably a stretch to say he can play three positions, but he can handle and pass the ball with some skill, he can shoot threes and he can rebound a little bit. Karl was on Cleveland’s roster this season before getting cut just as his contract would’ve been guaranteed, and at age 26 he’d be a solid bench contributor for someone else.”

10. Antonio Anderson, Rio Grande Valley Vipers (16.1 ppg, 6.1 apg, 4. rpg, 1.2 spg, 47% FG) – I didn’t rank him, so I’ll leave this comment for Weinman: Remember when I said he would be rising on my list every week? That was before he took a nosedive in every major statistical category in January, highlighted (lowlighted?) by swooning from 58 percent true shooting in December to 51.5 in January. Still love his long-term prospects though. -sw

To round it out, Moore’s comment for why he ranked Desmon Farmer may as well apply to my ranking of Othyus Jeffers and Jon’s ranking of Rod Benson: “Mario West got called up. If he did, Farmer deserves a burn.”  I’d throw JamesOn Curry in that mix as well.

Multiple league sources say the Spurs’ front office has researched and debated pursuing Stoudemire to play alongside Tim Duncan(notes).

There are questions for the Spurs to answer: Would they be willing to part with the personnel – including possibly Manu Ginobili(notes) – to make a deal happen?

Do the Spurs want to re-sign Stoudemire to a contract extension and swell their payroll?

Do they believe Stoudemire could be the difference for their fifth championship?

All questions with no clear answers for the Spurs – yet.

via Spurs consider bidding for Stoudemire – NBA – Yahoo! Sports.

Before we get started, I’d like to make something clear. Talking about how ridiculous trade rumors are to talk about is the NBA equivalent of talking about rushing the court in college basketball.  It’s gotten to a point where talking about how annoying it is is actually more annoying than the rumors themselves. Look, it’s fun. There are always a few trade moves, usually much less sexy than the ones you want, but every so often, you get a year like 2008. Where about five teams made massive deals. So let the people eat cake, allright? I’m not saying you should believe the rumors or that we shouldn’t make fun of them. But they’re worth talking about.

So the Spurs are usually involved in these types of discussions, usually when they’ve hit a mid-season slump and people are asking if the window has closed. And then they rip off a long series of wins following the All-Star break and cruise into the playoffs. I’ll admit this season feels different and quite a bit more desperate, but it’s something to consider.

I have a hard time believing the Spurs are going to go for someone who is that much of a defensive liability. Jefferson was never considered an all-world stopper, but there was potential there. Amar’e, you look at his defense, and it’ s just a headache. It’s a mess of poorly coached instincts melding with a lack of effort. And while I think Amar’e gets a bad rap and that he could evolve into a good defensive player as he gets older, the Spurs don’t really have time for that kind of move.

And the moment Manu becomes a deal-breaker, this deal is broken. Because the Spurs are not giving up Manu freaking Ginobili.

The other candidates on the list of Amar’e suitors are interesting; perhaps most interesting is Miami. I can definitely see Riley saying “Let’s just wait and get him in Free Agency.” But if that were to happen, he’s playing a dangerous game. Because the further the Heat slip into mediocrity, the redder Wade’s going to get and the more he starts looking at starting over somewhere. Which then means they would have to overpay to get Amar’e in quickly to be able to reel Wade back in, which leaves them in a Clippers-Baron-Davis kind of place, potentially. Making a move now would cement them a lock of at least the fifth seed and gives them a future foundation between Amar’e and Beasley that could be used to anchor Wade’s ambitions down.

Life moves pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around once in a while, and your star free agent and the best player in franchise history could walk right out the freaking door and leave you and the Sausage King of Chicago staring at your soup.

At the behest of several readers, below are the usage charts in relation to Offensive Rating, courtesy of Basketball Reference. For more information on the methodology and the first batch of graphs, you can find it here.You can click on the charts for a bigger version.

Each measure is on its own scale, measured based on the range of the values. As with PER, the relative relationship of the two points is something to consider,but there are always confounding factors, and the minutes issue comes into play. For this one I did remove players averaging less than five minutes per game. If you’re looking for takeaways, look at those with high usage rates and relative lower offensive ratings.

Enjoy! (more…)

The Lakers are not reaching their potential. They are 5-5 in their last 10 games, 1-2 on this road trip. They played better against a Toronto team that plays well at home, but it was still a better overall game from them than we have seen recently. It’s one of those things I notice in baseball (not sure if the stats would back me up) — when a slumping hitter is about to break out of that, they seem to go through a phase where they start hitting the ball hard but still make outs. They drill the ball but right at the shortstop, or the centerfielder robs them of a home run. Is that where the Lakers are?

Or, do the Lakers need to be shaken up?

via Forum Blue And Gold » Do The Lakers Need To Make A Trade?.

(Side note: I’m about the only one that thinks so, but ‘Bridges to Babylon’ Era Stones were awesome)

Lakers fans. I understand. I do. You’re used to getting what you want. And hey, you had a good team, then turned the rotting corpse of Kwame Brown into one of the top four power forwards in the league. So why not do it again?

You’re 33-11. Yes, that means the magical 72 wins dream is dead and buried and gone forever. But you’ve still won three times as many games as you’ve lost. You’re still going to be the top seed in the West, have a cakewalk to the Finals, and in all likelihood will have homecourt advantage in the Finals. Worst case scenario is you have to travel to Cleveland for a game seven, and if that happens, you’ve got bigger concerns than picking up an extra point guard because that means your bigs got bullied again.

But in the meantime, chill out. You’re in a slump. It happens. Artest has plantar fasciitis, Bynum has always had trouble finding his place with Gasol, Gasol’s coming back from injury, Kobe’s beat to hell. But he’ll get over it, as will Gasol, Bynum is icing on a tasty cake, and Artest’s a wackaloon anyway. Your point guard problem? Your problem is that the head of the union who has hit about a bajillion huge shots from your franchise is geting old. It’s unlikely you can have a top five player at every position. If you really start to meltdown and find yourself approaching .500, which would take losing twenty games in a row, then yeah, panic. But for now, chill out. And if you want to look at trade options, why not stay away from guys like Kirk Hinrich, who even though he’s an anchor around their necks, the Bulls know is their biggest trade piece. They’re not giving him up for peanuts. Not everyone is as foolhardy as Michael Heisley.

And a note to the rest of the league, you shouldn’t be entertaining any offers from LA. I don’t care how bad you are. Let’s say you want to be competitive in five years. If you give them your best players, they’re still going to be good! If you’re just looking to survive financially, recognize that if you make them better, they’re likely to come in and lay a beating on you that will drive off ticket holders. Stay. Away. From. The. Rich. Man.

On the behalf of Eddy Rivera, Jon Nichols, and the extended SB Nation family, I’d like to welcome you to Orlando Pinstriped Post, the SB Nation blog about the Orlando Magic.

Over the last two-plus years, I’ve blogged the Magic using the name Third Quarter Collapse, or 3QC for short. I’m attached to it and like it a lot, but over the last year or so it’s become clear to me that the name is not befitting of a championship organization. It needlessly accentuates the negative, however harmlessly, and does not immediately connote “Magic.” We felt like we needed a name that better represented the team and the city, one of which anyone and everyone could be proud. Thus, we’ve included the city name in our new blog title, while “Pinstriped” recalls the Magic’s uniforms, both past and present. “Post” has a nice double-meaning as both a news outlet and the part of the basketball court on which the Magic’s dominant centers–first Shaquille O’Neal, and now Dwight Howard–do their best work. Ask any casual sports fan which team Third Quarter Collapse is about, and you’ll get plenty of different answers, probably representing teams in the NBA, NFL, and NHL. But ask the casual sports fan about the Orlando Pinstriped Post? It has that Magic ring to it, which is why we’re so excited about it.

via Announcement: 3QC is now Orlando Pinstriped Post – Orlando Pinstriped Post.

That was written on December 17th, when the Magic were 19-6.

Since that time they are 10-10.

I’m not sayin’.

I’m just sayin’. ‘

Mami never let it get out of control, nor never get overwhelmed by LeBron. They played with intensity, and when Dwyane Wade went frigid in the second half, other players picked it up. But clear criticism remains.

What the hell exactly was that last shot? It was Dwyane Wade one-on-one with LeBron James, arguably one of the games’ best defenders and a much larger gentlemen. Under normal circumstances that would be a bit of a challenge for Dwyane Wade. But when you’ve watched him miss shot after shot, including two straight free throws that would have pretty much salted the game, don’t you have a responsibility to take the ball out of his hand?

via Heat lose another opportunity, fall to Cavs, 92-91 | Hot Hot Hoops.

Let me answer that one real quick: No. No, you do not have a responsibility to take the ball out of Dwyane Wade’s hands on the last shot of a game when he’s on the Miami Heat. I don’t care if he’s missed fifty shots in a row. I don’t care if an alien is about to burst out of his chest and sing “Hello, My Baby.”  You give Wade that shot every single time. Because he’s Dwyane Wade and the “had a bad half and then drained the game winner” is squarely in his wheelhouse. Who else are you going to give a game-winner over the Cavs to? Cook? Chalmers? Beasley’s elbow 15 footer?

Everyone was freaking out over that game because of the second quarter (one in which the Heat did not score until a little over 3 minutes remained, I might add). But these two teams have to be in absolute full-bore with things just right to make it a good game. Otherwise it’s two plodding offenses with relatively stout defenses featuring two of the top players in the game. Which can be exciting, but only if things go right. They didn’t last night.

With the Bulls starting to warm up, the Bobcats peeling off a bit but still dangerous, the Raptors pushing for separation, the Heat need to figure out some way to start winning consistently. But as I’ve wondered since the beginning of this season, I have no idea how that’s going to happen. Beasley’s fine for what he is, and JO has a few moments now and then. But it’s easy to say that this team may be the most unreliable offense outside of Chicago in the playoff picture. And that’s not going to improve any time soon without a major trade.

Last Thursday, I published player pair data for every NCAA Division I team at my own site, Basketball-Statistics.com. This was inspired by the NBA player pair data that has been available at 82games.com for the last few years. As I mentioned in my last article:

82games has compiled statistics showing how teams have performed with two specific players on the floor together. These “player pairs” are a complementary data view to our 5-man unit stats that measure unit performance. By focusing on two players at a time we can better understand which guys bring out the best in each other.

Unfortunately, that data is not currently available at 82games for NBA players. If it becomes available, I’ll be happy to point you in that direction. Until then, I have calculated the player pair data for the current NBA season, and it can be viewed here:

http://basketball-statistics.com/nbaplayerpairs.php

Enjoy!

Your Man Devine : nbaoffseason: davidcho: Classic Mavericks. ….

Wow.

Turns out Happy Walters, Amar’e's agent, whose name I made fun of earlier, is not only awesome, but apparently a heavy duty rap mogul that’s worked in music production on some big movies over the last twenty years.

No confirmation if he’s this Happy Walters.

Shows you what I know about rap culture. My bad.

Oh, and Happy was the inspiration for the title of “Happy Gilmore” by Adam Sandler. Sandler was his best man at his wedding. What in God’s name is up with this world?

Anyway, as comeuppance, here’s a list via IMDB of Happy’s musical background in film.

1. Dawn of War (2010) (pre-production) (music supervisor)
2. The Fighter (2010) (post-production) (music supervisor)
3. MacGruber (2010) (post-production) (music supervisor)
4. Season of the Witch (2010) (completed) (music supervisor)
5. Dear John (2010/I) (music supervisor)
6. The Spy Next Door (2010) (music supervisor)
7. “Masters of Horror” (music supervisor) (10 episodes, 2005-2006)
   - Haeckel’s Tale (2006) TV episode (music supervisor)
   - Pick Me Up (2006) TV episode (music supervisor)
   - Sick Girl (2006) TV episode (music supervisor)
   - The Fair Haired Child (2006) TV episode (music supervisor)
   - Deer Woman (2005) TV episode (music supervisor)
   (5 more)
8. Employee of the Month (2004) (music supervisor)
9. Blade II (2002) (music supervisor)
   … aka Blade II (Germany)
10. The One (2001) (music supervisor)
    … aka Jet Li’s The One (UK)
11. The Fast and the Furious (2001) (music supervisor)
    … aka The Fast and the Furious (Germany)
12. Head Over Heels (2001) (music supervisor)
13. Double Take (2001) (music supervisor)
14. NSync: Bigger Than Live (2001) (music supervisor)
15. The Family Man (2000) (music supervisor)
16. Turn It Up (2000) (music supervisor)
17. Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000) (music supervisor)
    … aka The Klumps (Australia)
18. The Dancer (2000) (music supervisor)
19. The Next Best Thing (2000) (music supervisor)
20. Rush Hour (1998) (music supervisor)
21. There’s Something About Mary (1998) (music supervisor)
    … aka There’s Something More About Mary (USA: DVD title)
22. The Big Lebowski (1998) (music supervisor)
23. Zero Effect (1998) (music supervisor)
24. Slam (1998) (music supervisor)
25. Scream 2 (1997) (music supervisor)
26. Gang Related (1997) (music supervisor)
    … aka Criminal Intent (International: English title) (USA: working title)
27. The Locusts (1997) (music supervisor)
    … aka A Secret Sin (UK)
28. Spawn (1997) (music supervisor)
29. Fall (1997) (music supervisor)
30. 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (1997) (music supervisor)
31. Little City (1997) (music supervisor)
32. Rhyme & Reason (1997) (music supervisor)
33. To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (1996) (music supervisor)
34. The War at Home (1996) (music supervisor)
35. Kingpin (1996) (music supervisor)
36. Jaded (1996) (music supervisor)
37. The Scarlet Letter (1995) (music supervisor)
38. White Man’s Burden (1995) (music supervisor)
    … aka White Man (France)
39. To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995) (executive music producer)
40. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995) (music supervisor)
    … aka Power Rangers: The Movie (International: English title: TV title)
41. Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead (1995) (additional music supervisor)
42. Bad Boys (1995) (music supervisor)
43. Prêt-à-Porter (1994) (executive music consultant)
    … aka Prêt-à-Porter: Ready to Wear (Canada: English title)
    … aka Ready to Wear
44. Love and a .45 (1994) (music supervisor)
45. Blankman (1994) (executive music producer)
46. Airheads (1994) (additional music supervisor)
47. Blown Away (1994) (music supervisor)

Troy Murphy was literally one made FT away from being Above Average in all 5 categories. Instead he is Above Average in 4 out of 5

via Looking at “VORP” With Colorful Charts, Vol. 2: Shooting Percentages.

On Twitter, one of the WFNY crew pondered about if the Cavs would get Jamison or settle for Troy Murphy, their other supposed target, pre-Amar’e availability (or re-availability, whatever).  I responded that the Troy Murphy idea was more up Ferry’s alley. A value deal, versus the homerun. I said Ferry was a Value Brand shopper. Dude probably drinks Dr. Thunder.

But then I started wondering after taking a look at Jared’s fantastic chart breakdown of the Pacers’ performance compared to average, how good is Murphy in terms of a trade asset?

The verdict? Pretty damn good.

Troy Murphy is 30 years old, Jamison is 33. Murphy makes $11 million this year and a little under $12 million next year, which is an expiring contract year (SUPER TRADE VALUE BONUS x3!). Jamison makes $11 million this year, $13 million next year, and $15 million the year after, when he’ll be 36.

Jamison is averaging 22.5 points per 40, 8.8 RB per 40, 1.1 steal and .2 blocks per 40. Murphy is averaging 18.0 points per 40, 12.4 rebounds per 40, 2.5 assists, 1.1 steals, and .8 blocks per 40. Jamison has a PER of 19.55, Murphy a PER of 18.19.

Wowzers. That’s much closer than I thought it would be.

You could argue that Jamison is a star, while Murphy is not, that Jamison is a difference maker, which I’ve been arguing for weeks, while Murphy is not. Check the standings. Indiana’s a half game better than Washington, with Arenas only having been out a month, and having Haywood, Butler, and Mike Miller versus Granger, Dunleavy, and Hansbrough.

It’s pretty apparent that the difference between these two guys may not be as wide as we thought, if we’re looking at actual production. I still believe that Jamison is the right play, a guy capable of going off in a pick and roll set versus LeBron. But if the Cavs can’t weasel him free of Washington, it’ll be a lot easier to hand rebuilding Indiana Z’s Get Out of Cap Jail Free Card and get Murphy. Murphy’s younger, cheaper, and if he doesn’t work out, you’ve got an expiring contract for next year.

Jamison may be the sexiest pick, heck, the right pick, but when trades are so difficult to accomplish, Murphy may be the easy way out. And what’s more Dr. Thunder than that?