Well by golly there are some great NBA blogs out there! And certainly, a lot that aren’t written by me!

Here’s an excellent post of a Hierarchy of NBA Archetypes at some blog called Upside and Motor, that most certainly is not written by me. Nope, no Rob over there. Pinky swear.

• Fish doubts Jub-Jub. Cuban’s got a good point. I’m trying to figure out why everyone has completely forgotten about Jason Terry. Jub-Jub will show you, Fish! Jub-Jub will show you!
• You know what I’d say about a team that won more than 55 games a year for three years, went to the Western Conference Finals once and lost to the Western Conference Champions twice? They were off-track. You know what I’d say about at team that took a guy who couldn’t get off the bench last year in Golden State and has him starting, features a 700 lb. cactus covered in turkey grease and a point guard who literally spends twenty minutes a game lying on the floor to ease the endless pain in his back? Right on track, baby!
• “OH MY GOD! KEVIN LOVE HAD A BAD PRESEASON GAME! PANIC! PANIC, ALL OF YOU! HE CAN’T GET A SHOT OVER PEOPLE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! HE’S A BUST! A BUST, I SAY!” … Next Night: 14 points, 10 rebounds.
• I love mascots. I especially love mascots that kick cancer’s ass and come back.
• Here’s why I was concerned with the youth movement in the Bay. Nellie, quoted in the SF Chronicle: “There are a lot of situations [young/inexperienced players] can hurt you. And we understand that. A year ago, I knew exactly what I had. I had veterans come in who attended to business. This year, we’re different. We’re green and growing. We’ve got a lot of development to do here with our younger players. I would prefer a veteran team. I’d prefer an ass-kicking veteran team.” That’s all well and good, but eventually you have to go young, Nellie. And I know he understands that, but he’s not excited about it. To me that’s a recipe for disaster. And I wonder what he’s doing to the development of some players given how Brandan Wright resembles a beaten puppy more and more. Hat Tip to the must-read Eric Musselman’s blog.
• Daryl Morey is smarter than you.
• As if my misery over Ahearn wasn’t enough, the Blazers killed my dream of the first Hillbilly NBA player. I’ve just about had it with the wasteful approach of NBA teams. Shavlik Randolph got his spot. Really, Pritchard? Really?
• NBA Facial (Hair).
• Kirk Hinrich is the fall guy. No one remember when he was arguably the best player on a playoff team two years ago? No? No one? Okay, just checking.
• Well, whaddya know? BJD was right. Good work there, Team Blog America! Now, I’ve used the Barnes thing as a mechanism for bashing the Suns, but I don’t really believe it. Barnes was one of my favorites on the UNSTOPPABLE team. He’s got great motor (I know, I know, there’s just no better way to describe it. “He tries really hard all the time.”?) He’s got some versatility and he understands his role, whatever it is at the time. So I
• Pondering the Braided Dragon.
• Dream Shake goes ahead and says the excuse they’ll be using is not an excuse. With Dream Shake’s trademark ridiculous optimism, natch.
• Season ticket packages make me drool.
• Nightmare fuel.
• What the hell is going on with all the staph infections?
• “Oh….My Gawd! How DARE you insinuate that there’s a way to beat the Celtics. There is no way to beat the Celtics! None!” (Note: Does not apply to the Wizards or Bobcats or Hawks or Cavs or). Look, they’re the champs, and they have to be first on the “beat the man to be the man” list. But they’re fallible. Jesus, you sound like Jazz fans.

• KD’s got a plea for all of us: Be Patient With Shaun. Dealing with the D-League as much as I do, patience is something I think about and talk about a lot. Essentially it comes down to this. People talk about how there’s not enough talent for expansion or how there’s a limited amount of great basketball players. That’s not necessarily true. There’s a limited amount of elite basketball players. The real problem is that here’s not enough resources or time to develop great basketball players. So many guys need time to work through a variety of things. In Shaun’s case, it’s injury. In others, it’s off the court maturity. Some people don’t naturally have a big upper body frame and that takes time and resources to develop. And while this is a “what can you do right now” world, teams are slowly getting to a point where they’re clearing a high enough profit to spend time developing players. And “developing” does not mean “sitting on a bench and letting him work out with the team.” It means investing time and resources into a player because of his skill. Because on the other end, instead of quality reserves, you get guys that just “do enough.” And there’s room for those guys, too. But why not have both? So many guys with legitimate talent are wasted because teams are unable to spend the time and money into investing in their long-term prospects, it makes it a crapshoot on whether they’ll succeed. With Livingston, if you take a long-term approach to him, it could have huge benefits.
• The fact that the Spurs are willing to participate in Yoga is another reason Popovich is so ahead of the curve. You’ve got an aging, stiff roster. What do you do? Have them do something that has considerable emperical support for improving athletic ability in older bodies. Of course, when Fabricio Oberto does downward dog it must look like a female Hippo preparing for mating, but hey, whatever floats your boat.
• Deron likes the 1, thanks. Which I think is interesting, because he’s less of a creator than Paul (cue the hordes of Jazz fans that refuse to admit that Paul is better at anything; I swear, if I said Paul was better at making peanut butter sandwiches, they’d send me a 1,000 word email on how Deron understands that creamy is better than crunchy). Deron’s long-term prospects are becoming more interesting to me than Paul’s. We know what Paul’s going to be barring tragedy. William’s scoring instincts are a little better, and when this Jazz nucleus disbands (be it next year or, according to Jazz fans “never ever because Jazz players are a higher caliber of person; seriously, everytime Boozer gets blocked an angel gets its wings), Williams may decide to assert himself offensively even more. With a stockier body size and a pure scorer’s touch, couldn’t he become Baron Davis if Baron Davis never got hurt and actually had discipline and better vision? The idea of him controlling the whole of the offense (even more) with the ball in his hands is intriguing.
• This is the story of your red right ankle. As opposed to this.
• The Nets nailed it by getting Ben Couch on their web team. Ben was with the .Com before this and he’s funny, he’s fresh, and he’s a good interviewer. Case in point. Jarvis Hayes thinks his three point shooting should be up in the video game version of himself. I wonder if any NBA player plays the game and goes “Man! They think I am WAY better at shooting than I am. I could never hit that shot! What game were these guys watching?”
• In other news, Clay Bennett did NOT just buy the Sonics to move them, there ARE weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and you should not pay attention to the man behind the curtain.
• My dislike of Jameer Nelson is strangely offset by my slight affection for Rafer Alston. Both of them are often criticized, both of them have received tremendous front-office support, and both of them feel that they are backcourt leaders on their team. The difference to me is that there are times when you can clearly see Alston go “Screw it. I’m knocking this down.” And he does. He scores in short bursts and fights for his team when he’s on the floor. The thing that’s really turned me this offseason is that while Nelson has been saying how he’s the leader and he’s the guy and he’s the weapon, Alston has said everything you want to hear from your point guard. He’s been working on watching film, improving his handle, committing on defense, and has said publically that he wants to do whatever he can to facillitate the three-headed beast of McGrady, Yao, and Crazy Pills. He’s not concerned with minutes or points, he said he just wants to do what he can to help. The Shake needs to get a grip.
• I have to admire Pounding the Rock’s honesty. While some teams are blathering about how they’re underrated (say hello again, Jazz fans!), Spurs fans seem to be coming to grips with the death knell that hangs over the AT&T center. I keep going back on my feelings on them. I want to bury them. So desperately do I want to bury them. And there are actual reasons this year! But then I look and I see that Greg Popovich, Tony Parker, and Tim Duncan are all still working together. Do I think Manu’s going to be 100% this year? No. But is there anyone in the league better equipped to handle the load than Tim Duncan? I’ll guarantee you this. If they do go down, they’re going down guns slinging, and they’re probably taking a few of you with them.
• Oh, Good. NOW Amir Johnson is ready to contribute. Because I thought last season when he was a terrifying presence was nothing. It’s really unfair how good Joe Dumars is. Seriously. He’s just better at his job than most people are. What’s that? Aging power forward problem? Oh, hey, I’ve got one right here under my desk. What’s that? Billups getting exhausted? Hey, look! Rodney Stuckey! Neat! Try and imagine for a second what the Pistons’ film room looks like. I imagine it as some sort of 3D environment like in Minority Report where you can watch multiple images on a touch screen at once. And the scouts and Dumars just go in there and absorb knowledge. Sick.
• Carlisle wants to focus on the corner three. I’m just not seeing a dearth of shooters on this club with Stack and Kidd approaching Mummy Returns status. I mean, you get those corner threes out of solid rotation from the inside out, then the additional pass to the corner man. In the Mavs’ offense last season, that was JET. You really want to make JET into a perimeter shooter instead of a dartgun to the rack? It’s not like people are going to leave Dirk open. Oh, wait, I know, Kidd! BLAM!
• Two thoughts on Skiles (this Blog is amazing, by the way). One, the fit for him taking over a team that was defensively lazy is so natural. Bogut with some focus could be something tremendous and he’s got a young Ramon Sessions to hammer and mold. Bad news? Yet again, Charlie Villanueva manages to somehow lose his starting spot. The thing with Skiles is that if you don’t produce, you sit. It’s simple, it’s brutal, it’s short. Like life. But Villanueva needs a guy who believes in his talent and is willing to put in the time to bring the most he can get out of him out. Skiles doesn’t really flow like that.
• So Sactown Royalty says to me (and by me, I mean everyone, on the blog), it says, “Kevin Martin could win the scoring title.” I say “You out yo’ mind.” He says, “No, fer realz, Kev Martin can winz teh scorin tahtle.” I say, “OMG, LOL.” Then I read it and I think about it and I hate Sactown Royalty for being so good at what they do. I want to say it’s not possible. Then I think about that early season fadeaway floater I saw Martin hit where he drifted about twenty feet and nailed it from behind the basket. And I remember that Kevin Martin is not pleased with my lack of faith. *urk.
• Add Dominique Wilkins to the crew that says that if he had played in the lax defensive era of now, he would have ruled. The thing is, none of the undersized power forwards are really success stories. And personally, I’m a fan of more basketball, less trash talking and less pounding the crap out of one another. I have five months of football to get my violence fix, thanks.
• I’ve been thinking a lot about muscles and how so much of professional sports is specialized muscle control. My brother-in-law is a huge Crossfit geek and took me to one of their events two weekends ago. It was insane. You’re seeing guys who are linebacker to defensive end size and they just ruin everyone on boxjumps and agility exercises. Granted, linebackers and defensive ends are equally impressive but they’re also under constant professional training. Crossfit teaches functional fitness, so that you’re able to do really applicable things at a high intensity level really well. So much of what basketball players do is predicated by a select series of muscles in progression. I wonder what would happen if you added high intensity Crossfit-style workouts to an NBA regimen. All of this is a lead up to saying that Tyson Chandler is unfathomably athletic and strong.
• Ed Stefanski is another guy that I just marvel at for doing his job. Consider this. He has somehow managed to take a team that was built young, encourage a veteran point guard to the front, developed the young kids into not just talented, but winning players, and then added a true, legit, superstar power forward to put a lock down on the rotation and resign the other “superstar” on the team (for way too much money, but you can’t do everythig perfectly). Case in point? No more floating Thaddeus Young from spot to spot. He’s looking at the starting small forward spot. A 6-8, 220 small forward. I keep envisioning this Sixer squad as like the floating airships from Super Mario Bros. 3. Strong, sturdy, mobile, tons of big powerful weapons. East better gets some invincibility stars.
• I cannot stress this enough. If you haven’t been checking out Posting and Toasting’s training camp stuff, you need to. Absolutely phenomenal work. The guy deserves an award all by himself for it.
• Kevin Durant, best practice player, ever? He just sounds like that type of guy. We’ll see how big the jump is this year.
• Here’s a terrifying thought that would drastically change my perception of the Jazz. If Koufos comes in like a man on fire down low to give them a legit big man who doesn’t hang out too much on the perimeter or enjoy getting blocked repeatedly? Yikes.
• This is the nicest thing to come out of Bobcats camp… and all it really means is Brown has to completely change how he’s coaching. Yipee.
• There’s probably some truth to this. While Matrix isn’t all about scoring, he often defers when he needs to, the money is about right on.
• Oh, Lamar. Good to know you’ve finally got your head in the right place. Here’s the thing. If you told Ron Artest he’s coming off the bench in Houston, he’d say “Cool. Whatever. I’ll get mine. If you think we can win, let’s do it.” Now Odom is telling one of the greatest coaches of all time that he’s nuts for thinking about having him come off as the sixth man, which just means he’ll get more points with fresh legs a la Manu, and he’s complaining? On second thought, keep him out of Miami. They don’t need that kind of attitude.
• I’ve been hearing a lot about Marc Gasol’s work in camp. Don’t be surprised if he locks down the center job and becomes a fan favorite quickly.
• Previews start tomorrow, y’all. Holler.

• I really like Kornheiser’s Cartel. I do. I think they’re witty and fresh, whatever that means. But the boys put together a Grizzlies preview that reflects a pretty common thread. “These guys suck.” And while we freely admit that we take a much more acceptant thread towards bad basketball, there are some significant flaws here. Our season preview will get into this a lot more. But for instance, saying that the teams is in worse shape now than it will be in a year if it drafts Mullens is a little bit ludicrous. It essentially means that Darko has regressed, Warrick has disappeared, and Marc Gasol never panned out. I’m not saying that all three of those things can’t happen, but they have to ALL happen to justify moving up to get Mullens. Then there’s the idea of them jettisioning Crittenton, Arthur, Warrick, Arthur and a pick to move up to 1. Really? For a freshman out of Ohio State who’s not Greg Oden? With possibly either Ricky Rubio or Derozan there? Really? Additionally, I’m here to tell you, you can NEVER have too much depth at guard in this league. It’s become too guard centric. And signing Carlos Boozer and Lamar Odom? What, are they thinking “Hey, Rudy Gay’s pretty much one of the best all-around up and coming players in the league, let’s jeopardize his development by bringing in the human block magnet for a max contract and the guy who’s more inconsistent than your grandfather’s stool!”? This team has a young nucleus that’s going to be very dangerous if Iavaroni holds true to his word. They’re not going to win, by any means. Lord, no. But there’s a difference between being dangerous and winning. The latter means you’re actually a good team. The former just means you’re capable of putting the fear of God in some teams.
• Now would probably be a good time to tell you I’ve officially adopted the Grizzlies for the 2008-2009 season as my pet team and that I expect them to win 25 games.
• One more Grizzlies piece of news and then we’ll move on. I posted this weekend on how hard it is to conduct great interviews. Next year for the Season Awards, we need to include a category for best interview by a Blogger. And Chip Crain is extremely likely to win the thing. This second part of the Iavaroni interview is absolutely slammed with stuff. You can tell that the Grizzlies think Warrick’s going to have a coming out season if they can find time for him at the three in a three forward set with Gay and Darko at PF. He talks about Darko and the time he’s spending on him, on versatility at position, on the Summer League, it’s just great the whole way through. I keep getting the same sense from Iavaroni, which is that he’s exactly the kind of coach I would want, and philosophically he’s got a great vision. But there’s the looming fact that this franchise has to get turned around. Now. And if the wins don’t come, you can tell he knows it won’t work out well. It sucks to be a guy who’s visionary and yet under a ton of pressure to get wins, right now. Because the easiest way to get wins is to slow the game down, drag it out, and kill yourself on defense, and don’t take any chances on the offensive end. It won’t necessarily get you to the next level, but it’ll get you to the basic level. I don’t know if there’s a right combination unless the talent just merges this season.
• If this happened on my flight there would be a me-shaped hole on the plane from where I burst through like Roger Rabbit.
• Check it. Alana’s got new digs.
• Clips Nation is finally looking up. I can’t decide whether they’re a playoff contender or not (by the way, that phrase always means “in contention to MAKE the playoffs” not win them. There are only about six teams with a realistic shot at the championship). To me it depends on how my favorite rookie from last season, Al Thornton, does. If he steps up to the next level (and at Summer League, he looked terrifying), he and Baron could be enough. But he’s a second year guy and that’s a rough position.
• Great! The overrated Euro guy who no one has actual tape in finally signed after a ton of money and hassle. The championship is on the way, boys! Nice, Steve. Nice.
• I have a feeling Greg’s going to be changing his mind when he sees Marion punch the clock for a whole season (if he’s not traded, which of course he will be). Here’s the thing. Marion’s not going to be Mr. Locker Room Leader until he’s on a team without a veteran primary scorer. He has to be “The Man” in order for him to finally learn what that means (have I mentioned how much a trade to Memphis has made sense for him for the last two seasons?). As long as Wade’s there and he’s the Guy for that franchise, Marion’s going to do what he does, which is punch the clock, rebound, score, pass, hustle, defend, and do so at at a dazzlingly efficient clip.
• The John Salmons Enigma.
• Mark my words, this is a bad idea.
• Blake’s going to camp! Woot!
• This headline is only true on opposite day. Look, I loved Matt Barnes as much as anyone during the Mavs series. Workaholic oversized three? That’s the Matt Moore Special right there. But was it really just him being in the doghouse with Nellie last year? Really? That’s the only reason for an absolutely amazing drop in production? Why didn’t they sign him longer term? There are just a ton of question marks for this right now. The only good news is it means less Diaw at the 3 and more as a backup 4 or 5. Wait, that’s not good news. That’s horrible news. Oh.
• You know what also would have helped? Not missing two first round draft picks and arguably your franchise player for 25 games or more. This only serves to reinforce my belief that the Bobcats were better than advertised last season. Don’t believe me? Look at wins over Celtics and Lakers. That doesn’t mean I’m saying they were better, because I’m not completely batsh*t insane. But it does mean that when these guys got into a rhythm, they could compete. You can’t say that for the Sonics or Heat last year.
• Not going to lie. I sometimes wish I was Trey.
• Check out the new blog by the author of the Peninsula is Mightier, the Trade Journal. I’ll be submitting something soon. One suggestion. Site needs a Cap Judge, STAT.
• Caption: No, I didn’t cry in the NCAA tournament. Why do you keep asking me that? No. you cannot touch my mustache! No, I’m not going to Fort Wayne! What’s Fort Wayne?!
• D-Gate.
• I really like the black mid-stripe. That’s awesome. The Magic jerseys have always looked nice. You just can’t go wrong with a deep blue, black and white.

You can probably guess that I read a lot of interviews. So many that all the words seem to drip together a lot of days. And this isn’t to say that most of the interviews are bad (though a lot of them are), it’s just that the internet provides an absolutely staggering amount of content for an addict like me, and it’s hard to devise when you should pay special attention. So when one sticks out, it’s all that much more important.

A great example is the interview that Shawn Kemp’s Offspring (blog name FTW) did with Ryan Jones, former EiC of SLAM and noted author and all-around basketball scribe. It asks great questions, the interviewee is engaging without being over-the-top, and the anecdotes are actually substantive.

Tasty.

Interview:Ryan Jones

• As long as we’re not jumping to ridiculously premature conclusions after a good 35 game stretch. Better than Josh Smith? What?
• The phrase is: “scraping the bottom of the barrel.”
• Like it or not, here come the Suns.
• Beasley’s going to give me an aneurysm. He’s either going to end up as ROY, in prison, or both by the end of the year. Apparently he’s hitting the court early. I’m bamboozled and fascinated by this kid.
• PiM has a recipe for success. Much like the Colonel. Oh, I hate the Colonel. With his wee, beady eyes! And that smug look on his face! “Oh, you’re going to buy my chicken, oh!”
• Clips are gonna shock you, at least some people think so.
• The most interesting question to us in the league is “How much is X player worth?” Because almost no one is paid a reasonable amount. Everyone is either underpaid, overpaid, really overpaid, or Ben Gordon. The question reaches the shores of the rookie Grizz centers.
• In shocking news, Vince Carter gets the ball in crunch time and does pretty well with it. You’ll never believe it, but I’m actually going to let Vince have a chance to show some leadership with the young Nets this season. Of course, I expect him to fail miserably.
• JR Smith was much nicer to these guys than he was to me. I should have hit a hole-in-one.
• We were totally going to be a part of this awesome, awesome project, but A. I was in St. Louis and didn’t get back when I thought I would, and B. Graydon totally stole the game I was going to go to. I didn’t even know Graydon back then, but he and I were in the same building. Of course, he was sad and I was giddy watching the Spurs get worked.
• Dwyane Wade apparently f*cking rolls on Saturday, Donnie, the Jewish Day of Rest.
• What’s sad is how close this is to how Jazz fans actually think.
• Which Knick can step up?
• Your fantasy team Achilles’ Heel.