Last week, for my debut article here at Hardwood Paroxysm, I used shot location data from my mother site Hoopdata.com to see whether good shooting teams from a particular area from the floor enjoy an advantage against weaker foes in that shot location.  I found some compelling results; teams who dominate around the rim have generally shot better against weak post defenses, and vice versa.  I also discovered that a good three-point shooting team has not exhibited much of an improvement between facing a poor 3-point defense and an average defense, which was the only area to show that type of diminishing return.  So a team like the Suns, who terrorize opponents from downtown, may not see their deadly shooting talents magnify against a poor three-point defense.

My findings provided enough juice to take this a step further.  This time, I’d like to amp up the focus and look at specific teams this year.  I replicated the method I used last time and grouped the teams in tens depending on their opponent field goal percentage in each shot location.  I tossed the top ten teams into the “Good” pile, the bottom ten in the “Poor” pile and the rest in between were classified as “Average”.  You can find all this good info in the team shot location pages over at Hoopdata.  If you’ve read my work before, you know I really, really love adding colors to charts and graphs.  Each color has been formatted like a heat map to correspond with their relation to the group norm.  Looking at the FG% column, green fill illustrates a team’s excellent standing in that particular area and the opposite holds for red fill.  As it follows, yellow fill indicates a number close to the norm.  For the FGA column, the gradient ranges from yellow to burnt orange.   The colors should help you identify the extremes and digest the numbers faster.  The following chart shows how each team performs at the rim (layups, dunks, and tip-ins) when facing a good, average, and poor defense in the same area.

We’ll start with the Cavs.  They don’t miss at the rim, no matter who they face.  Led by LeBron James’ 73.8 at rim FG%, the Cavs shoot better at the rim against good defenses than 21 teams fare against poor ones. They shot 19-24 vs. the Lakers on Christmas Day.  In their two games against the 5th-ranked Pacers at rim defense, the Cavs nailed 30 of the 39 attempts at the basket.   LeBron’s finishing abilities are contagious in the sense that he pulls help defenders toward him as he drives, opening up easy buckets for his teammates cutting to the rack.

Looking elsewhere, the Raptors and Spurs are the only other two teams who finish above-average against all three groups while the Bobcats, Nets, and Bucks struggle against all defenses.  The Celtics wilt before top at rim squads but otherwise, they finish with gusto.  A lot of their problems at the rim would be solved if they never have to face the Magic.  In three of their four games against the Magic this season, the Celtics have missed 42 of their 73 chip-ins.  Granted, the Magic have the best post defense in the league but we’re talking layups here.

Do teams take more shots against poor defenses?  Not many, if at all.  On average, teams shoot 25.7 shots at the basket against good post defenses which is only one fewer than the rate against lesser defenses.   So the difference is marginal on the whole.  Interestingly enough, the Lakers don’t seem to be taking advantage against the weaker teams and actually take fewer shots at the rim in those scenarios.  Their .610 field goal percentage against poor defenses ranks 6th-worst in the NBA.  Kobe Bryant, who shoots 57.5 percent at the rim,  shares some of the blame for the Lakers woes.  He is actually a below-average finisher at the basket compared to his shooting guard positional comrades who average 59.8 percent.

Moving away from the basket, let’s take a look at how teams shoot on long twos.

Despite experiencing a sizable 22 point advantage in field goal percentage, teams don’t really look to take more long twos against poor perimeter shooting teams; teams average 0.4 fewer long twos against poor defenses than their portion against good ones.   It’s harder to distinguish between a good defense and a poor one in this range because the spread is so small.  The 10th best long two defense allows 40.2 percent whereas the 10th worst allows 38.6 percent.   Not a huge difference.

Nonetheless, some teams have really struggled against good perimeter teams.  Houston plummets from a healthy 42.2 FG% down to a league-worst 34.6 FG% as the going gets tougher.   Although, their distaste for long twos keeps that damage to a minimum; they take the second-fewest long twos in the game

It’s hard to fathom how difficult it is to shoot nearly 50 percent from this range but the Mavericks somehow manage to do it against bad perimeter defenses.  Led by long two resident Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavs have shot 50 percent or better 17 times this season from that area.  The Bulls?  Three times.  And they take average eight more heaves per game.

Let’s move along to our final destination: behind the three-point line.

Just as we saw with long twos, teams don’t tend to take more threes against poor 3-point defenses.  In fact, teams on average attempt more shots beyond the arc against good defending foes (18.3) than the average (17.3) and poor (18.2) opponents, despite knocking them down at a higher rate.

The Cavs are on top of their game in the most efficient areas on the floor.  Just as they were unfazed at the rim, Cleveland shoots well from downtown no matter who they face.  Not all 3-point shooting teams weather the storm like the Cavs however.  Contrast the Cavs with the Suns, another sharpshooting team, whose three point shooting numbers fall from .428 to .379 as their opponent improves.   Count Denver in that group, too.

With a .454 field goal percentage beyond the arc against poor 3-point defenders, the Spurs effectively shoot .681 with the added one point bonus.   That’s an amazing figure considering it’s more than 100 percentage points above the rest of the league, in terms of effective field goal percentage.  If the perimeter exploitation continues, the Spurs hope to draw either the Suns or Mavericks  come playoff time as they both rank among in the bottom ten in 3-point defense.  Otherwise, the Spurs are a below-average shooting team from beyond the arc.

While teams enjoy an advantage against the different quality defenses, they don’t launch more from the perimeter depending on their opponent.  Since the likelihood of nailing a shot from downtown is much smaller than at the basket, the perimeter ranks may be more random variation than true representation of strength.

Curious about the short and mid-range numbers?  Take a look at them here and here.  I saved them for the sake of  space but they’re definitely worth a look.

Several league executives suggested the Minnesota Timberwolves could be a sleeper for him. Minnesota general manager David Kahn has been researching Thomas and has plenty of assets – three 2010 first-round picks, multiple second-rounders and a host of expiring contracts – to make it happen. Once the Timberwolves trade Al Jefferson(notes) this summer, they can re-sign Thomas and plug him into the frontline with Kevin Love(notes). Jefferson is expected to be traded for a talented, young small forward.

Trading for Thomas would be a way to get a long, athletic power forward with upside, and the Timberwolves could easily re-sign him this summer.

via Timberwolves could make bid for Thomas – NBA – Yahoo! Sports.

For the sake of this article, let’s pretend this little rumor is true, which I hope it is not.

David Kahn drafted two point guards, one who obviously did not want to play in Minnesota and the other who was a reach, then used free agency money to sign Ramon Sessions, a point guard. Now, he’s talking about trading his best player, Al Jefferson, for a player that is widely regarded as a bust, whose most ardent supporters (of which I have been a member of until this year) have abandoned, who plays power forward but only contributes in ways that do not help the overall problems of his team.

This would be over a matter of months, not a straight up trade, but who is he going to land in return for Al Jefferson during a summer where everyone has their pick of free agents?

I’m trying to think of exactly how many offensive moves Al Jefferson has that Tyrus Thomas also has. And the only number I can come up with is… armbar.

We could end up with Ricky Rubio throwing turnovers off Tyrus Thomas’ hands. If we can get Darko and Joe Alexander on this team, I’m going to be ecstatic.

At that stage, Feb. 18 was going to be the easy part: Find someone operating below the tax to take on the $951,066 remaining on Wright’s contact, throw in some extra cash or a draft pick to make it worth their while, and then take a place in line for a $4.5 million rebate check that goes to all non-taxpayers.

That was five weeks ago, when Wright still was a bitter reminder of a 2004 draft gone bad.

Now? Now Wright is, undeniably, the Heat’s best small forward, a significant contributor, an anchor of the second unit.

And that has created a $7 million dilemma (the tax money that would have to be paid to keep Wright, plus the rebate money lost).

If winning still matters, if showing Dwyane Wade that such focus is unwavering, if Erik Spoelstra is to have a chance to comfortably secure a postseason bid, then how can Riley simply sell off an asset who finally has arrived?

The simplest solution might be to package Wright in a trade, and therefore create the appearance that he simply had to be included to serve the greater good. Then there would be no issue with the approach, just as there wasn’t when Caron Butler was included in the Shaquille O’Neal trade.

via Miami Heat Pat Riley needs to keep Dorell Wright – South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com.

You know, someone’s going to lose the 2010 summer. I mean, not everyone’s going to end up with a star. Most people assume the Knicks and Nets are sunk. After all, why would you leave a contender you’ve made a home in for a worse team? But someone’s still going to be out. And that’s where teams are stuck. Take the Heat, for example. Please. Wah-wah.

If Riley stocks up on players now, makes a huge trade, and it doesn’t work out, he’s got two realities. One, Wade’s gone. Riley not only has to prove he can get a superstar, but that he can get the right one to put next to Wade. And two, he’s without his best player, and still under the gun for a large sum of money, headed towards the post-lockout 2011-2012 season where there is very likely to be at least a considerably lower cap if not a hard one. Being on the books for $55 million under a $45 million hard cap would be like having sex in a very uncomfortable place, like the back of a Volvo.

That’s where Wright comes in. For a rebuilding team, for a long-term view of things, Wright’s a guy to keep, to build on, to see where his development takes him. But Riley doesn’t have that luxury. He’s got two options. Win big or burn the place down and sell it for insurance money.

I’m still at a loss for why the Memphis Grizzlies aren’t hurling offers at the Heat. Take the Lakers pick. Just take it. I’d trade the 30th or even 29th pick in the draft for Dorrell Wright so that the team has some semblance of a bench.

But Riley’s stuck, trying to make sure he pulls the right wire at the right time so the bomb doesn’t go off. Everyone thinks he’ll be there after everyone else detonates. Watching this Heat team, even with the recent wins, I’m not so sure.

• Omri Casspi is probably the new underground, above-ground celebrity. On one hand, he’s still a bit of an unknown quality for a lot of people; Casspi’s name doesn’t have the public draw of Tyreke Evans or Brandon Jennings, despite the fact that Omri has had an absolutely terrific season. But on the other, he’s still a highly-regarded rookie, and something of a cult hero. His game is smooth, he’s a mellow, charming cat, and oh, I don’t know, something about his national identity. Which makes me wonder: at what point do guys with a unique trait in the NBA start to view their trait as a burden rather than a gift? Is Omri already burned out on telling people how much it means to represent Israel? Or does that revelation come later, when everything he does matters more because he’s from Israel than it does because he’s a basketball player?
• Despite the fact that he probably out-performed DeMar DeRozan in the dunk-in/dunk-off, Eric Gordon was still really supportive of the concept. Can’t say I agree. I just don’t see either competitor really taking it seriously, especially when the very nature of the event tells the competitors to save their strength for the rest of the Rookie-Sophomore game, avoid injury, and save their best dunks for the actual contest.
• If Dirk Nowitzki isn’t the funniest player in the NBA, he’s certainly among them.
• Another thing I talked to Eric Gordon about that I thought was pretty interesting — draft classes always have a sense of camaraderie, because often the prospects have grown up together and competed with and against each other at every level along the way. The obvious exception though, is international players. Guys like Danilo Gallinari wander into a party where everybody already knows each other.
• James Harden’s beard is even more impressive in person than it is on TV.
• Just in case you were curious: NBA players are not so great with Chinese pronunciation, and none of them are aware what the current Chinese symbol is. SO STOP ASKING, MEMBER OF THE CHINESE MEDIA #21.
• Russell Westbrook spent the second half of the Rookie game gunning for Kevin Durant’ scoring record, but Chris Bosh/Patrick Ewing pulled Russ with a few minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and the record still in reach. The Durantula, who was coaching the rookies, met the move with standing applause. But after just about talking Ewing’s ear off begging to get back in, Westbrook finally broke him. Some impressive plays followed, but Durant’s record is still intact.
• Royce Young, Steve Weinman, and Spencer Ryan Hall are not only tremendous writers who you should be reading daily, but tremendous guys as well. Had tons of fun hanging with the fellow TrueHoopers (Moore included, of course, as well as The Blogfather himself), and that’s really the underrated part of the whole experience; the player access, the events, and the glitz all make for great times, but a lot of those that cover this game are just incredibly friendly, interesting people. And to top it all off, some of us blogger/writer types had a great run of pick-up hoops on Sunday morning at SMU, courtesy of NBA.com’s Art Garcia. Good guys, great writers, and solid ballers to boot.
• I appreciate Brandon Roy’s sartorial taste.
• There was a lengthy break between the end of the D-League All-Star Game and the beginning of H-O-R-S-E, so the emcee for the day took it upon himself to entertain and engage the waiting audience in the meantime. So he did what any sane human would do: called a large amount of people down to the floor, and played a giant game of ‘Simon Says’ while cackling into the microphone. Yeah, that was fun.
• If you’ve never heard Gerald Wallace speak, YouTube him immediately. I’m not even sure the average recorder can register sound at that low of a pitch…which makes transcription a bit tricky. Also: FIRST BOBCAT ALL-STAR EVER. If that’s not a reason for a party, then I don’t know what is. Looking forward to the ‘Cats first ever playoff appearance, too.
• Speaking of H-O-R-S-E, I still have yet to watch it on television, but I’d assume it dragged its feed a bit. BUT, the final shoot-out between Durant and Rondo was fantastic, even if the shots were completely pedestrian threes. But Rondo. Shooting threes. Come on!
• Some events happened on Saturday night. Kinda wish they hadn’t.
• Don’t ever, under any circumstances, drive to Cowboy Stadium. It was nightmarish. I was stuck in traffic for what seemed like days, and ultimately parked somewhere in Argentina and had to hike over. Not as much fun as you’d think, especially considering the bizarrely chilly weather in Dallas.
• Al Horford is a terrific interview. Maybe it was the first-time All-Star glow?
• Even though the parking and traffic are horrendous, the stadium really is a marvel. Pictures and video don’t do it justice…you really to see the place from inside-out to grasp  just how impressive it is.
• Look, Paul Pierce, we need to talk. I know you want to put together an attention-grabbing ensemble. But you don’t need to go for a salmon coat one night and a pink plaid on another. A bit much, don’tchathink?
• You probably noticed during the game, but most of the Nike guys were all wearing these odd colored shoes: a hue I can only describe as ‘electric teal’ (electric teel?) for the blue-clad Easterners, and something of a fluorescent red for the Westerners. No good, Nike. No good.

All-Star Weekend is now over. I spent much of the past few days watching all the associated shenanigans and overall it was pretty good. The game was unusually competitive and still featured a bunch of sick highlights, dribble moves, alley-opps, dunks and other big plays. Good times. Sort of like Saturday night — except the exact opposite.

Oh well. Win some, lose some.

Along those lines, we wanted to bring you the best and worst of the weekend. Here’s a full breakdown: Lion Face/Lemon Face-style (which, if you forgot, is based on this).

And feel free to add any of your own personal Lion Faces and Lemon faces from the weekend in the comments below.

Lemon Face – Dunk Contest

Dwight’s reaction sums it all up. (via @jose3030, who you need to follow)

There’s obviously only one real way to make the contest culturally relevant again. You open it up to players not in the NBA and let them have some sort of extended dunk-off tournament where the best guy (or two) gets a spot in the contest. We’re past the point where all the best dunkers in the world are in the NBA. LeBron, Dwight and a few other guys are definitely as good as it gets for the most part, but there are all these semi-pro dunk teams around who do this stuff for a living. (For evidence, see the “amateur” contest from this weekend below). If the NBA wants to keep elevating the level of this contest, they need to bring in better — or at least more willing — talent. It’s not like your average sports fan knows who Shannon Brown or DeMar DeRozan is any more than The Air Up There or some obscure French dude with ridiculous springs. Nor do they care who the person dunking is if it isn’t someone who is already famous.

Sure, the NBA wants to promote their young players and the occasional Nate Robinson will emerge to semi-stardom, but it’s not like even great performances from guys like Gerald Green turned them into anything more than footnotes on the All-Star Weekend Wikipedia page. So let the non-pro dunkers enter and win a few so that the LeBron-type guys will hopefully be more up for suiting up and repping the NBA to “bring the trophy back to the league.” Also, remove any contract clauses that force players to defend their championship the next year. I’m guessing that part of the reason LeBron didn’t compete was because he didn’t want to be obligated to do it for five years straight after he kept winning. The Vince Carter one-and-done contest was the best ever and although I would have liked to see him again, it’s just as good that he never returned. Lastly, give the winner a big check, obviously. This should have happened years ago. Pony up $1 million, Sprite, and let’s make this thing exciting again even without props and throwback jerseys.

Lion Face – Nate

He shouldn’t have been in the competition since he obviously doesn’t have any more dunks to show the world, but he even though the dunks he did do weren’t revolutionary, they were still pretty nice. Doesn’t come close to making up for a terrible contest, but it wasn’t really Nate’s fault. Blame the other three guys who brought literally no creativity, excitement, “HOLY S***” factor or showmanship to the table. More memorably, Nate did some color commentary during the Rookie Challenge game and was unexpectedly really good at it. I figured he would be passable, but he actually did great work. Much better than Reggie Miller — despite the fact that he had to stay on guard to avoid Kevin McHale’s advances. Word aaapp!!! (pic via @BlazersEdge)

Lemon Face – Reggie Miller

It pains me to say this since he was my childhood hero and all, but Reggie has to get off the sidelines. Put him into the studio if you want, but he’s just awful giving his unfiltered reactions to things on the court. And it marred the whole weekend.

Lion Face – Tyreke Evans

This guy will be in the big boy’s game on Sunday next year and showed us exactly why during the Rookie game. He’s an uberstar in the making and even had the gravitas to share his MVP trophy with DeJuan Blair, who put up an impressive 20/20 himself. Thanks for taking Tyler Hansbrough though, Larry Bird. I really appreciate it. (I’m lying.)

Lemon Face – Brook Lopez

I love ya, Brook, but what with the normally dominant sophomore squad getting easily handled by the rookies on Friday night, it’s starting to look like no team with you on it can win. Plus, what’s the deal with that supplex you put on Dejuan Blair right at the end of the game? Dude has no knees. Be easy, Bro Lo.

Lion Face – Alicia Keys & Shakira

Apparently they sing, too. (Here’s a good shot of Shakira, also from @jose3030)

Lemon Face – Usher’s Wardrobe

You looked ridiculous.

Lion Face – The Basketball Jones

Good work by Skeets, Tas, JD and The Intern bringing the off-beat coverage all weekend. Here are a two of my favorites videos. Find more here.

TBJ – NBA Winter Olympic Dreams

TBJ – Valentine’s Day Poem Writing

Lemon Face – H.O.R.S.E.

I like the idea, but the HORSE game was a pretty terrible again this year. Some of it is on the guys they selected. Not a lot of creativity, which is perhaps even worse than not having any creativity for the dunk contest. If you agree to do this, at least spend 15 minutes before you get there to think up three or four quirky shots. Omri had a kick-the-ball-at-the-rim thing that didn’t work and nothing else. Rajon had nothing aside from that standing-on-top-of-the-scorer’s-table jumper that anyone would have come up with. KD wasn’t much better, but he at least has a little personality. Seriously … c’mon, guys. Bounce it off the floor. Take some lefty jumpers. Do a hook shot from three. Throw up some underhand shots or behind-the-back shots. Whatever. Just do something interesting. Some trick shots, perhaps.

So there’s that, which made it weak. But worse is the presentation. There’s no need for all the lag-time and commentary by EJ, Kenny and Chuck. We really don’t need replays of routine jumpshots, TNT. Just make the whole thing more casual and ditch the ref involvement. It’s not that serious. Just get three creative guys who like putting on a show, give them the ball, tell em to shoot in order and get out of the way.

Lion Face – Rajon Rondo

Who knew he could hit like 8 threes in a row? More than anything, it just goes to show that even the “bad shooters” in the NBA are amazing and that watching two guys shoot three-pointers is more entertaining than this H.O.R.S.E. event.

Lion Face – Steve Nash

For doing this as he was introduced for the Skills Competition less than 24 hours after lighting the Olympic torch/cauldron/bonfire/whatever it was. (via @jose3030)

Lemon Face – You…

…if you didn’t watch the Legends Brunch. It’s probably the best part of the weekend. Bill Walton spoke and Wolf Blitzer was there. What more do you need to know? (Some coverage here if you missed it.)

Lion Face – Cowboys Stadium

I wasn’t there so it’s hard to say much. 108,000 and change is pretty amazing though, even if Jerry Jones unfortunately had to be one of them #cowboyssuck

Lemon Face – Jerry Jones

Good work by him, just needed to point out that his face literally looks like a lemon — a lemon you find at the bottom of a Corona bottle the day after a party.

Lion Face – Governator

Look at him. He loves it.

Lion Face – Zach Randolph

It took a while, but I have learned to accept that Zach Randolph has redeemed his career by becoming a high-caliber veteran who taught his teammates how to win rather than being just a career malcontent who brought sadness and orphan tears wherever he went. It’s weird. But I’m cool with it. What I was still not ready to see, however, was Z-Bo being the guy who would start playing defense in an All-Star Game and spur everyone else to start taking it seriously. But that happened. Remember that Dwyane Wade behind-the-back pass that was going out of bound before LeBron saved it through-his-legs to Rondo, who threw a behind-the-back-pass of his own to a cutting (I think) Wade? That would have been the highlight of the night … but Z-Bo challenged the lay-up and fouled the shooter. Then, Zach again challenged a layup within the next minute, again fouling pretty hard. The game then decidedly shifted towards the competitive and people stopped taking bad shots, instead dumping it into the post and penetrating for layups rather than launching forced fadeaways. And the result was the best finish since the MJ game in 2003. Thanks, Z-Bo. Still not sure what sort of electro-shock therapy or labotomy you had, but it sure has been effective.

Lemon Face – David Lee & Gerald Wallace

Both of you “deserved” to be All-Stars, but you’re both boring during the actual game. Thus, that’s why I never really care when guys like Lee, Kaman and Marc Gasol don’t make it. Guys like Derrick Rose, Chauncey and Rondo are built for these types of games and always better selections in my world — all other things being relatively equal.

Lion Face – Wade and LeBron and DWill and Melo

You saw them. You know why.

(Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)

Every night he finds his usual place on the tip of the bench.  As a nightly back up for two point guards, one who happens to be an all-time great, Mavericks rookie Rodrigue Beaubois is stewing.  As of late his highlight reel abilities have been relegated to garbage time minutes in double digit wins or rare blowout losses and it’s only a matter of time before Beaubois makes his mark.

He’s gleamed with splotches of excellence here and though. Most notably in a mid-November game against Milwaukee just two nights after Brandon Jennings dropped his internationally renowned 55 points on Golden State. Going up against a Dallas squad which was playing on the second night of a back to back, the Bucks rookie went on a tear late in the game, scoring 13 in the fourth and forcing overtime.

Dallas looked sluggish.  They looked, scratch that, they were unable to contain Milwaukee’s point guard.  That was until Rick Carlisle uplifted Beaubois off the bench and told him to stick Jennings.  The Frenchman made it his mission, holding him to just two points the rest of the way as Dallas went on to win.  That defensive performance caused Brandon to tag a label on his fellow rookie that most television analysts and writers have been reserving for himself. Rodrigue Beaubois is the future of the Dallas Mavericks.

When Josh Howard was injured early in the season Roddy got some burn as the starting shooting guard; it allowed him to strictly focus on scoring and concentrate on his own personal production, but that’s not quite what the Mavericks had in mind when they traded their 24^th overall selection—seven-foot Byron Mullens—to Oklahoma City for Beaubois’ rights.

Once it’s time for Jason Kidd’s September song to be sung, it will be Beaubois who carries Mark Cuban’s club in the next decade.  Will he ever develop into a franchise point guard able to make decent players around him good and good ones great? Time will tell on that, but in the near future watch him slowly pick up everyone else’s slack.  Jason Terry is just one of many Mavericks who understand how worthy their rookie can be not only in making a deep playoff run this year, but possibly winning a championship a couple years down the road.

He’s 6’ 2” with a 6’10” wingspan giving him a body destined to roam the perimeters of a basketball court. Athletically speaking, apart from Rondo, there might not be a point guard in the game who can touch him.  The comparisons to Boston’s #9 don’t stop there. Beaubois is in literally a perfect situation that should only get better as he enters the opening few years of his NBA career. Instead of being thrown into a disheartening losing atmosphere, he’s able to bide his time and study with one of the greatest point guards who has ever lived in Jason Kidd.  The two of them watch reportedly watch film daily together, boning up on such important things like how to defend and run a crisp pick and roll and how to see the entire court and be patient enough to let the right option develop in front of you.

If there’s any career path he’d aspire to follow it’d be Rondo’s.  Feed the top dogs for a few years before allowing your natural athletic ability to blossom.  Four years from now, Rodrigue Beaubois could be that breakout all-star. (When asked how he thought his game compared to Rondo, Beaubois responded he was just as good only a better shooter.)

Right now his team has an immediate need for his defensive services and his coach knows it. (In the past couple of weeks point guards have been torching the Mavs with ease.  Most notably Andre Miller’s 52-point performance and Monta Ellis dropping a career best 46.)

On a roster that includes an aging yet still able-bodied Shawn Marion, Rick Carlisle has been quoted as saying, “[Beaubois] brings an element to the game with his body type that we really don’t have anywhere else on our roster.” It’s impressive praise for a player who should be seeing more and more minutes as the season progresses.

Whenever Kidd chooses to hurl his kicks over the proverbial telephone wire, Beaubois will likely have come into his own. A young, quick, unguardable point guard who finds himself complimented by two or three seriously skilled players while also understanding it is he who is most valuable for the team.  All things run through him and he runs all things.

Incoming Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov doesn’t really strike anyone as the hands-off, let-the-man-do-his-job kind of guy, so how this relationship would work remains to be seen. Plus, the Daily News article goes on to speculate about Colangelo bringing in Mike Krzyzewski from Duke as coach, even though Coach K made jokes about that idea over the weekend.

But with the way the Nets season has unfolded, Coach K is the only real hope New Jersey has to luring one or two of the big three free agents — LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh — to town. The pitch is they would be coming to Brooklyn and have a great roster around them in a couple years.

via Colangelo would consider running the Nets – ProBasketballTalk – Basketball – NBC Sports.

Sorry, been waiting to use that headline since “Kenny and The Nets” popped into my head while watching the TNT crew during HORSE over All-Star Weekend.

(Side note: Being the professional that I am, I was totally cool during the surreality of the weekend, talking with players, coaches, and executives.  The one tough thing? Not immediately running over to Ernie Johnson and tackle-hugging him, screaming “ERNIE!” Also, he got an enormous ovation from the crowd when he showed up at Jam Session.)

Kurt goes into the Colangelo idea and all of this adds more to my fire of “The Nets are one big conspiracy theory that no one sees coming but me” angle. Everyone thinks I’m mad. But I would like to point out that Cleveland miraculously wins the #1 spot with James coming out with only a 25% chance and if there’s one thing you take away from how LeBron, Wade, etc. act, it’s that they are more than basketball players, that they run this game.

Colangelo+Coach K (who knows LeBron and Wade from the Olympics)+LeBron+Wade/Bosh/Amar’e+Lopez+Wall+Yi+CDR+3 first round picks and you think I’m nuts for seeing how this would be an attractive package?

I don’t think K’s in it, though. I just think he’s too smart to think his tactics will carry over to the NBA. There are college guys and pro guys and very rarely, very rarely do they intersect. Larry Brown is a great example, but in the NBA, he’s widely considered an anomaly. K is brilliant, but he’s brilliant through a forced regimen that you can’t force NBA players to adopt. You can try, but there’s too much ego due to too much money. Scheyer has no ego. Because he knows he’s nothing, without K. NBA players? Not the same deal. He and Calipari are two sides of the coin, and neither will turn the NBA video game on.

Colangelo, though, would be in a position to manage the greatest basketball organization of its time if he were to successfully court LeBron. That’s the kind of impact that cements a legacy, and that’s hard to pass up.

This is all going to end with everyone re-signing where they are and I’m going to look like the kid standing in line at the rollercoaster the’ve shut down and no one has told him.

Gerald Wallace is an All-Star. Crash. An All-Star. Soak it in. And tonight I expect him to demolish the dunk contest. Mostly because he doesn’t really care about it. Which I think at this point is important for the event, to have no-mind.

I asked Wallace whether he still had set winning the rebounding title as a goal. Turns out, Crash hasn’t given up on that dream yet. Wallace was one of the more thoughtful, interesting players I spoke with this weekend.

Dar Tucker absolutely killed it last night in the dunk contest, closing by dunking over 7-Footer Brian Butch. An absolutely incredible performance. Would you like to see it? Would you? Would you really?

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The following are reflections on Thursday and Friday from Dallas, Texas for All-Star Weekend. Let’s go in chronological order, shall we?

• By some stroke of divine providence, I was able to make it to Dallas. The flight before and after mine was canceled due to the record 24-hour snowfall in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.  Mine was only slightly delayed, and touched down without any problems. I like to think this was my karmic reward for always donating to save homeless pets at PetsMart and the fact that Vince Carter went Nova last week.
• Having lived in Texas four years, I cannot stress enough how big of a deal this storm was. If a few flakes fall? GRAB ALL THE SUPPLIES YOU CAN AND IMMEDIATELY HEAD TO YOUR BOMB SHELTER! With six inches of snow? Jesus, I’m surprised they didn’t just call off LIFE ITSELF.
• I know many people’s weekends were ruined by the weather, but I will say this. Landing late lead to this little escapade. After getting my rental car, I had to make it from DFW to downtown Dallas in less than an hour during rush hour, in the worst snow storm in the history of the city. I am stunned, stunned I did not have to get out of the vehicle to beat someone to death with my man-bag. (Yes, I have a man-bag. It is not a purse. I don’t have lip balm in it. I carry that in my pocket. Not really. … Or so you think!)
• The credentials office closes at 6PM. It is 5:55PM and I am at a complete stop on the highway… 300 feet from my exit. I can see it. I can smell the perfume, printer toner, and wariness towards bloggers I’m so close. I was so frustrated from the drive that I was tempted to just abandon the vehicle at the side of the road and walk it. Good thing I didn’t, since being dead would have greatly impacted my ability to cover this weekend’s events.
• But I made it. With about four seconds to spare. I was actually technically late, but the good people in NBA PR were still there and kindly provided my credential.
• Which was important, because I had arranged to stay with a copy editor friend in Fort Worth, instead of my hotel like on Friday and Saturday. Without a credential, I would have nowhere to go in a city I’m not familiar with that was rapidly shutting down due to road conditions. Which would have meant I would have been at a bar for six hours before attempting to drive to Fort Worth. Not ideal. There wasn’t even anyone I could go hang out with, since all the rest of the media was even more delayed than I was. Luckily it all worked out for the best. I still went to the bar.
• Rookie-Sophomore practice was interesting because of who hung out. Mayo and Morrow got into a HORSE competition during shootaround. Yes, my heart almost exploded at the awesomeness. Morrow was draining left-handed threes. Watching them match one another was pretty nifty. Mayo’s going to end up as one of the truly great shooters of his time, and I say that not just as a Grizzlies fan. His devotion to repetition in form is what makes a great shooter, and he’s got it. Morrow seemed to really take the weekend in stride. That’s the best part about Rooks-Sophs, is they’re all pretty happy to be here.
• Mayo, Beasley, and Mayo were all hanging out, just chillaxin, which seemed like an odd mix.
• Beasley ____blocked me on an interview with Mayo. He grabbed a mic, and busted in on my interview to start asking Mayo questions. He asked me “Oh, I’m sorry, am I interrupting?” as if the entire point of this thing wasn’t interviews. But what am I going to say? “Yes, Michael Beasley, you are interrupting. Chill out, he’ll be with you in a minute?” Then he wandered over to interview Craig Sager who was in a purple suit. You know, like you do.
• Kevin Love predicted a 37 point win for the sophomores. FAIL.
• The opulence of the event is pretty overwhelming up close. The nicest hotels, draped in expensive signage, crazy posse members, the whole shebang. It is ridiculously over the top, and that’s before we get to the MCs.
• Media Availability is like some bizarre mixture of cattle feeding time and a circus. I tried really hard to come up with a word other than circus, but there really isn’t one. The cliche is incredibly apt. There’s lots of goofy people with cameras dancing around, and everyone’s gawking at players like they’re freaks. Which, you know, being incredibly tall and long and athletic, they kind of are.
• Almost got ran over by Dirk walking to his table. That was fun, in a terrifying way.
• It’s stunning to me that so many people are there to ask questions which are completely and stunningly banal, and they ask them over and over, to only five people. There are seventy people around LeBron, and Gerald Wallace is just hanging out in a corner with five people around him. UNDERSTANDING-QUALITY-STORIES-FAIL.
• Zach Randolph was confused at why people were talking about this being his “comeback year,” “a rebirth year,” “a rejuvenation year.” He kept responding to questions like “Um, I’ve been doing this the whole time, my numbers are the same, it’s just the situation that’s different.” He also talked about New York clearing space for LeBron, even though when he was there it was still Zeke’s reign and they were trying to win. But he had nothing but positive things to say about Memphis and he firmly believes Marc Gasol is worthy of being an All-Star (truth!).
• Al Horford is the chillest bro, ever.
• Carmelo Anthony’s media horde was bigger than Durant’s, which surprised me. Then I had to consider it. Is Kevin Durant a bigger presence in the NBA now than Melo? How much of that has to do with Melo always being great, but never making huge leaps in his game?
• At the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest (the best moment covered here), James was in attendance. Simmons had written about his ability to take over a room, which I thought was a lot of wank-wank before this weekend. Not. At. All. Every single human being watched everything he did, from playing with his kids to rapping with Drake, there was nothing he did that failed to captivate.
• I’ll have more D-League stuff later, but I did want to note that this was the best D-League Dream Factory I’ve seen. The energy was higher and better than it’s ever been. Guys were freaking out over each other. The winning dunk was sick, but Alonzo Gee made a good showing as well.
• And of course, the best part is the hard hitting interviews.

• Dallas has done a fantastic job of hosting. Promotion is everywhere, local radio is all over it (even though they won’t stop talking about how the NBA will never compare to the NFL -thanks for the breaking news, sports radio), the facilities are clean, well-run, and transportation’s been moderately efficient. Cuban’s done a great job in running this show.