SB Nation - Devin Brown

Preview: Kings at Hornets

Ziller — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:00:16 -0000

by Steve Yeater - AP

THE OPPONENT

The Kings know no opponent better than the Hornets, because the teams have already faced off twice. This will be the Kings' second foray into New Orleans Arena. In the first match, the Hornets pulled out a narrow victory with both Chris Paul and Kevin Martin. The Kings knocked out the Hornets minus Paul in Sacramento during the last homestand. Paul has since returned.

New Orleans has played only once in the past week: Friday's home win over Minnesota in Paul's re-entry. Paul played lovely, with 16 points, 15 assists and eight steals. (Yes, eight steals. New Orleans gained nine steals, and Paul had eight of them. Good grief.) Each of Devin Brown, David West and Emeka Okafor scored at least 17 points in that win, too. Al Jefferson was the only Wolf who got off (20 points).

The key question in Paul's return was how the minutes of surprising rookies Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton would be affected. Collison played 18 minutes off the bench, occasionally playing in the same unit as Paul. Thornton tallied only 12 minutes. Upon taking over the team, Jeff Bower made it a point to insist Collison and Thornton would get playing time. We'll see if that increases tonight, especially considering the Hornets play tomorrow on the road, and again at home Friday.

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Chris Paul	11	34.4	8.3	14.2	58.3	1.8	2.9	62.5	4.7	5.5	85.2	0.3	3.4	3.6	9.7	2.2	2.3	0.1	2.8	23.1
David West	19	35.0	6.3	14.1	44.6	0.1	0.2	25.0	2.8	3.4	84.4	2.6	4.2	6.8	2.6	1.7	0.8	0.8	2.5	15.4
Peja Stojakovic	17	27.8	3.9	10.5	36.9	2.5	6.5	37.8	1.2	1.3	90.9	0.9	3.1	3.9	1.2	0.6	0.5	0.1	1.5	11.4
Marcus Thornton	14	19.4	4.2	9.8	43.1	1.4	4.0	33.9	1.4	1.9	74.1	0.6	0.9	1.6	0.9	0.9	0.7	0.0	1.7	11.2
Darren Collison	15	22.5	3.9	8.9	43.3	0.5	1.1	41.2	2.7	2.9	90.9	0.5	1.7	2.3	4.2	1.8	0.9	0.0	1.1	10.9
Emeka Okafor	19	30.1	4.5	8.2	55.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.8	3.4	52.3	3.2	6.9	10.2	0.5	1.5	0.6	1.9	2.9	10.8
Devin Brown	15	22.3	3.1	8.1	37.7	1.2	3.3	36.7	2.3	2.9	79.5	0.9	2.4	3.3	2.3	2.0	0.7	0.1	1.8	9.7
Bobby Brown	17	16.4	3.2	7.9	40.3	0.9	3.4	25.9	0.4	0.4	100.0	0.0	0.9	0.9	2.6	1.4	0.5	0.1	1.4	7.6
Morris Peterson	7	16.4	2.1	6.7	31.9	1.0	4.0	25.0	0.3	0.3	100.0	0.3	1.3	1.6	0.3	0.1	0.1	0.0	1.4	5.6
James Posey	19	22.4	1.7	4.4	39.8	1.1	2.7	39.2	1.0	1.2	86.4	0.4	2.9	3.3	1.5	0.9	0.7	0.3	2.3	5.5
Darius Songaila	19	15.4	2.4	4.5	52.3	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.6	0.6	100.0	0.7	1.9	2.6	0.9	1.1	0.8	0.3	2.1	5.4
Julian Wright	15	13.9	1.4	3.4	41.2	0.1	0.3	25.0	0.5	0.6	77.8	0.7	2.1	2.8	0.7	1.0	0.2	0.2	0.7	3.3
Hilton Armstrong	15	14.4	1.1	3.0	35.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.9	1.6	54.2	1.1	2.7	3.7	1.0	0.8	0.5	0.4	2.7	3.0
Sean Marks	5	7.4	0.4	1.0	40.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.4	50.0	2.4	1.6	4.0	0.4	0.4	0.0	0.4	1.6	1.0

THE KEY BATTLE

Paul vs. Tyreke Evans. This was a dandy of a knife fight the first time around, and I expect nothing less. Paul's quickness versus Reke's strength versus Paul's passing ability versus Reke's penetration ... a bevy of weapons.

INTERESTING SIDESHOW

Given how out-of-control and manic Sergio Rodriguez was during his 12 minutes Sunday, I'll be interested to see whether a) he plays much better, like Sergio! and not Sergio?!?, and b) how short of a leash Paul Westphal puts on him otherwise. I mean, the Kings have a great starting point guard, and a back-up point guard who has played phenomenally this year. If Sergio were, say, a player like Bobby Brown, there'd be no reason to play him ever, except in cases of foul trouble and injury. Third-string point guards get little play around the league. The reason you play Sergio is because he's awesome. If he's not, you can hide him.

BOLD PROCLAMATION

Donte Greene will outscore Devin Brown.

NUMERIC PREDICTION

Kings by 1. And New Orleans will never forget the name Bron Jockman.

DETAILS

5 PM Pacific tip-off. Game thread at 5 PM. Game thread No. 2 at 6 PM. Post-game thread at 7:45 PM. Recap at beer-thirty.

Confirmed: Hornets Terrible

DexterFishmore — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:03:23 -0000

This one's for you, DJ!

View full size photo »

When Phil Jackson decides to retire as coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, someone, somewhere will float the idea that Byron Scott should get the gig. Whether emanating from those feeling nostalgic for the Showtime years or (much more likely) from his agent, Byron's name is sure to come up. And when it does, I want Jerry Buss and Mitch Kupchak to break out the tape from tonight's game.

The Lakers hammered Scott's New Orleans Hornets for a 104-88 victory whose outcome was assured two minutes into the third quarter. Looking even worse than their now 2-5 record, the Hornets were a toxic mess. Their offense couldn't manage even a point per possession against a Lakers team playing without Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. Their defense allowed 1.17 points per possession even though the oft-maligned Laker reserves played 43% of the available minutes. At the end of the first and beginning of the second periods, Chris Paul moldered on the bench for over six minutes while the Lakers built a double-digit lead. And Scott insisted on playing guards Bobby Brown and Devin Brown, total zeroes who were completely overmatched in this game and probably shouldn't be in the league, ahead of demonstrably superior rookies Marcus Thornton and Darren Collison.

I'm not even a Hornets fan and I'm outraged by this. It's unacceptable that a magnificent talent like Paul has to spend the next three seasons with this turd of a team. I just hope Coach Byron Scott forever remains someone else's problem.

As for the Lake Show tonight, it was an awesome first half by Kobe Bryant, followed by a very solid mop-up performance from the bench. DJ Mbenga had a double-double [Ed.: mmm... double-double... I'll take two please], Shannon Brown tossed in 15 and Ron Artest and Lamar Odom both had strong overall stat lines in limited minutes.

More to come about this one in the morning. In the meantime, here's your box score, and the tempo-free numbers are below. The Lakers are 6-1.

	Poss.	TO%	FTA/ FGA	FT%	EFG%	TS%	Off Reb%	Def Reb%	PPP
L.A.	89	13	0.22	89	54	58	27	71	1.17
N.O.	90	14	0.27	83	41	46	29	73	0.98

P.S. - If you haven't done so, please also read commenter Justin N's Fanpost with his thoughts on the season so far, available here. It's good stuff and worth your time.

Lakers-Hornets Preview

DexterFishmore — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:00:35 -0000

Remember when the New Orleans Hornets were the next big thing? It wasn't that long ago, although to a Hornets fan it must seem like the Carter administration.

In the spring of 2008, the Hornets challenged the Los Angeles Lakers for best record in the Western Conference. They fell one game short of the conference's top seed, and then one game short of meeting the Lakers in the conference finals. With a seemingly young core of Chris Paul, Tyson Chandler, David West and Peja Stojakovic, the Hornets appeared on the verge of securing a more or less permanent seat on the NBA Security Council.

I say seemingly, though, because within that core group only Paul was really on the upswing of his career. And sure enough, last season involved some textbook-quality regression to the mean. Paul remained awesome, but West's play slipped a touch and Chandler and Peja missed substantial time with injuries. The Hornets tumbled to seventh in the conference and got roundhouse-kicked out of the first round by the Denver Nuggets.

On Sunday night they arrive at Staples with a 2-4 record and looking not terribly formidable. There's no more telling indicator of their decline than this: the Hornets are the only team in the NBA to have lost to the New York Knicks. And when someone's losing to the Knicks, I assume they're either butt-awful or point-shaving. The two aren't mutually exclusive, I suppose.

On the other hand, one of New Orleans' wins came against the Dallas team that blasted the Lakers, so they have that going for them. Let's go to the numbers, with the usual caveat about small, early-season sample sizes:

	Hornets	Lakers
Net Points Per Game	-6.3 (25th)	+3.5 (11th)
Pace	93.5 (22nd)	95.4 (15th)
Offensive Rating	105.2 (12th)	104.6 (14th)
Defensive Rating	109.9 (28th)	99.6 (9th)

(For those unfamiliar with the above terms, Pace means average number of possessions per 48 minutes. Offensive Rating is the number of points scored per 100 possessions. Defensive Rating is the number of points allowed per 100 possessions. League rankings are in parentheses.)

Like the Grizzlies team the Lakers just faced, the Hornets have been decent on offense and an utter catastrophe on defense. Their strength has been their shooting, or rather Chris Paul's shooting. He's been unreal in the first six games, making 62% of his two-point attempts, 72% of his three-point attempts and 87% of his free throws. Solve Paul, and you've solved the Hornets.

It would help if anyone had any clue how to do that. Paul is a point guard of surgical brilliance. With the ball in his hands, which is almost always, he goes wherever he wants to go, and he's a master when it comes to passing out of the pick-and-roll and drive-and-dish. Laker fans who watched the Houston game last week will recall how Aaron Brooks repeatedly sliced into the lane and found the Rocket big men for easy hoops. Well, Paul makes Aaron Brooks look like Smush Parker, and he makes Smush look like you and me.

Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, who have the size to make Paul's forays into the paint less inviting, won't play tonight. DJ Mbenga has similar size and even better shot-blocking facility, but he'll need to play with discipline and stay out of foul trouble. The Lakers will also need some plan to slow Paul on the perimeter, before he gets a head of steam en route to the basket.

I'd argue that Derek Fisher hasn't been that bad on D this year. He got torched by Brooks, but I thought he did a respectable job guarding Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City. That said, asking Fish to guard Paul has the potential to be a complete, NC 17-rated horror show. It thus wouldn't surprise me to see Kobe Bryant draw the assignment at times. New Orleans has the worst set of shooting guards in the league - according to our sister blog At The Hive, someone named Devin Brown will start at the 2 tonight - so Phil could easily dial up that defensive switch.

(Devin Brown, by the way, could be the worst player to start an NBA game this year. I do not exaggerate.)

The central problem for the Hornets is the gaping void of roster talent after Paul. David West and Emeka Okafor (the latter obtained in a trade that sent Chandler to Charlotte) are above average for their positions, but they're not quite All Star-caliber, and everyone else is either a has-been or never-gonna-be. Peja isn't anything like the threat he was during the LA-Sacramento holy wars. He can still hit threes but does nothing else on the court except be old.

Will the Lakers need another 40-point Kobe explosion to win this one? If the bench plays as well as it did against Memphis or nearly so, and if Ron Artest continues his stellar work on both ends of the floor, the answer is no. Even down Bynum and Gasol, the Lakers have enough talent and system to get to 6-1.

But if the reserves fumble around incompetently as they've been known to do from time to time, or if Paul runs wild for 40 minutes, things could definitely turn sour.

In conclusion, how cool is it that New Orleans has an actual place called the Voodoo Spiritual Temple? If I ever get married that's where it's going to be.

For His Next Trick, Byron To Start Devin Brown

atthehive — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:10:12 -0000

Yep. Yep yep yep.

I've made clear who I want starting at the 2, despite his struggles. Honestly though, I don't have anything against trying out a committee and seeing who performs. I'm just dubious when that committee includes Devin Brown.

A fifth starter who plays with Chris Paul, David West, and Emeka Okafor needs to be able to shoot and not take over offensive plays with those three guys on. Devin Brown does not fit this bill at all. He really has no range to speak of, as he shot 29% from three last season and 30% the year before. The unfortunate thing is Brown seems to think he's good at shooting- he attempted almost 100 last year after 146 the year before. Byron Scott, for whatever reason, has allowed him to indulge this fantasy. Moving him into the starting lineup into a role that has frequently been on the receiving end of kickouts for three does not, well, solve this issue. At all.

There is really just one positive to Brown's game, and that's his ability to get to the foul line on broken plays. On units that don't have much creativity, he can force himself to the hole and occasionally pick up some cheap points. Thing is, this skill set will not be needed with Paul/West/Okafor on the floor. In the slightest.

Baskeball Prospectus' defensive stats indicate that Brown is actually a pretty solid defender. That's the one area I could see this move sort of working. If he can do a good job over the next few games on some upcoming opponents, then who knows. Perhaps he wrests control of the job from Mo-Pete for good. He's already shown the inexplicable ability to completely avoid Byron's doghouse.

In sum, I see this failing pretty badly on offense, and maybe, maybe, yielding some defensive results. Either way, Byron has indicated that this is a "6 game tryout." Which means we can start the Marcus Thornton countdown- Thursday, November 19th vs. Phoenix.

12 more days, people.

Thunder Gameday: Oklahoma City Thunder at New Orleans Hornets

Mr Pappagiorgio — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:30:22 -0000

The first thing you need to know about tonight's second pre-season game is that it isn't "tonight's" game at all, its actually an EARLY afternoon game, which tips off at 1pm Local time. Once again, the game won't be televised, and you're only chance to watch this one is going to be listening to WWLS, The Sports Animal, on FM 98.1 / AM 640 in the Oklahoma City area, or on 97.1 FM in the Tulsa Area. Again if there is anyone out there with a little bit of pull or power that wants to push for all the pre-season games to be televised next season, we'd certainly appreciate it, and I think just by me watching the game it'll have better ratings that "Matlock" and "In the Heat of the Night" which apparently was more important for KSBI to broadcast than showing a Thunder pre-season game. So if you can get that taken care of for us, I'm sure all us die hard Thunder fans would appreciate it.

As the Oklahoman points out in this article, essentially four players are battling for one roster spot. Those guys are Ryan Bowen, Mike Harris, Tre Kelley, and local boy Michael Ruffin. In the Thunder's first pre-season game the other night against the Memphis Grizzlies, Ryan Bowen got a nice chunk of playing time to show what he could do, while the other 3 guys watched from the bench. Bowen got 21 minutes of playing time which he used to take just 2 shots, both of which he missed (1 of which was a 3 point attempt), grab 3 rebounds (1 offensive), block 1 shot, and turned the ball over just once. All in all, just looking at the stat-line its hard to judge his performance, especially when we didn't get to see the game since it wasn't televised, but he didn't have too bad of a game, considering he's making an attempt at being the last guy on the bench, so to speak. From the article linked above, it was his hustle that really stood out, and I think one thing all Thunder fans love, and me especially (which is why I love Nick Collison so much), is hustle. Today's game should give one of the other three an opportunity to prove what they can do. Click the jump link to hear some more about today's game and what we are hoping to see.

The first thing I'm looking for in today's game is Russell Westbrook, and whether that 10 assist effort the other night was a fluke, or if he's improved his style of play so much this off-season that he's already going to be one of the leagues better point guards this season. He took just 4 shots, and racked up assist after assist to go along with 4 rebounds and only turned the ball over twice. Sure, we're used to RW0 racking up at least double digits in points, but with the addition of James Harden to the mix, perhaps that pressure for him to score upwards of 20 points per game is being lessened, significantly. If that's the case, imagine how many double doubles the kid is going to have this season, seriously! If he can keep up distributing the ball like this he'll be pushing the double digit assist mark all season, and I think we can pretty much bet that he'll be at least double digit in score on a nightly basis as well, and that's not even mentioning his rebounding which can sometimes pop up there into double digits as well.

The next thing I'm looking for is Jeff Green, and a much a improved outing for him. In Wednesdays game he had probably his work game, at least statwise that I can ever really remember seeing from him. Again, its hard to know what else he was doing on the court just from listening to the game, but, in 26 minutes of play, he managed just 6 points on 3-10 shooting to go with only 2 rebounds and 2 steals. This is not the Uncle Jeff we know and love, and this is not the guy we expect to see on a nightly basis this coming season. So it'll be interesting to see how he responds today and what kind of game he has. I'm banking on a 16-20 point performance with 5-7 boards today for Jeff Green. Let's see if he can do it.

Thirdly, is that even a word? I guess so since spell-check didn't change it, anyway, we're going with it. Thirdly, I want to see more of the young guys, Serge Ibaka, James Harden, D.J. White, and Kyle Weaver. I want to see what Ibaka can do with 20-30 minutes if he was able to score 4 points (2-2 shooting) and grab 2 rebounds in just 4 minutes of playing time. I want to see if D.J. White can continue to perform at such a high level in back to back games, and against good competition. Perhaps throw DJ out there early in the first quarter to get him some time against Nola's starters and see what he can do. Of course to do that, you'd likely have to cut into Jeff Greens time early, but hey its pre-season, why not start D.J. and throw Green out there late in the first and let him work the remainder of the 1st and most of the 2nd before bringing D.J. back in with the rest of the starters to clean up the end of the half? Look at me trying to be coach here. Anyway, I'm just intrigued by the way D.J. played on Wednesday and want to see what the kid can really do, as I'm sure Uncle Jeff's performance was just a fluke, we all know what he's capable of.

Finally, I'm just interested to see what Brooks plans on doing today. Is he going to give starters 25 minutes of playing time again? Is he gonna play with the rotations more? Work some of the young guys in with the starters to see how they will work with our premier players and against better competition? What's he gonna do? How is he going to continue to get this team prepped for the season opener which is already less than 3 weeks away! Can you believe that? just 18 more days until live regular season Thunder basketball! Man I'm excited, so turn that radio (come on guys, its the Hornets!) on at 1pm today and Thunder UP!

Oklahoma City Thunder Roster

	#	Pos.	DOB	W	H	College
Ryan Bowen	40	F	11.20.75	218	6-9	Iowa
Nick Collison	4	C	10.26.80	255	6-10	Kansas
Kevin Durant	35	F	9.29.88	215	6-9	Texas
Jeff Green	22	F	8.28.86	235	6-9	Georgetown
James Harden	13	G	8.26.87	220	6-5	Arizona State
Mike Harris	-	F	6.15.83	240	6-6	Rice
Serge Ibaka	9	F	9.18.89	220	6-10	None
Tre Kelley	6	G	1.23.85	188	6-0	South Carolina
Nenad Krstic	12	C	7.25.83	240	7-0	None
Shaun Livingston	14	G	9.11.85	185	6-7	Peoria Central HS
Byron Mullens	23	C	2.14.89	260	7-1	Ohio State
Kevin Ollie	7	G	12.27.72	195	6-2	Connecticut
Malik Rose	9	F	11.23.74	255	6-7	Drexel
Michael Ruffin	51	F	1.21.77	248	6-8	Tulsa
Thabo Sefolosha	2	G	5.2.84	215	6-7	None
Etan Thomas	36	C	4.1.78	260	6-10	Syracuse
Kyle Weaver	5	G	2.18.86	201	6-6	Washington State
Russell Westbrook	-	G	11.12.88	187	6-3	U-C-L-A
D.J. White	3	F	8.31.86	251	6-9	Indiana

New Orleans Hornets Roster

	#	Pos.	DOB	W	H	College
Hilton Armstrong	12	C	11.11.84	235	6-11	Connecticut
Earl Barron	55	C	8.14.81	268	7-0	Memphis
Bobby Brown	6	G	9.24.84	175	6-2	Cal State Fullerton
Devin Brown	23	G	12.30.78	210	6-5	Texas-San Antonio
Darren Collison	2	G	8.23.87	160	6-0	U-C-L-A
Ike Diogu	1	F	9.11.83	250	6-9	Arizona State
Sean Marks	4	C	8.23.75	250	6-10	California
Emeka Okafor	50	C	9.28.82	255	6-10	Connecticut
Larry Owens	25	F	1.8.83	210	6-7	Oral Roberts
Chris Paul	3	G	5.6.85	175	6-0	Wake Forest
Morris Peterson	9	G	8.26.77	220	6-7	Michigan State
James Posey	41	F	1.13.77	217	6-8	Xavier
Darius Songaila	9	F	2.14.78	248	6-9	Wake Forest
Peja Stojakovic	16	F	6.9.77	229	6-10	None
Marcus Thornton	5	G	6.5.87	205	6-4	L-S-U
David West	30	F	8.29.80	240	6-9	Xavier
Julian Wright	32	F	5.20.87	225	6-8	Kansas

HIts: Jannero Pargo Comeback Edition

atthehive — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:16:54 -0000

Time to bring back last summer's "Hornets on the Internets" (cleverly entitled HIts) series and hopefully run it through the season. Ideally, I'll run it every few days that some significant Hornets' news comes out, and I'll offer my brief takes. For today, some news that's a few days old since this is the first one in a while.

There's been a lot of speculation that Jannero Pargo could return next year. Between the abysmal play of Devin Brown and the non-flashiness of Antonio Daniels translating itself into incompetence in many fans' eyes, more than one analyst has hailed Pargo the "missing piece." Says WWL:

The sudden-fan favorite is back in town. Only on Monday, he wasn’t practicing or trying out. He was there watching younger brother Jeremy go through a pre-draft workout with the Hornets. "I pretty much want the same role I had when I left here. I don’t think that role would be guaranteed to me, but if I come back here, I know the system, I know the coaches and I know the players. It just would be an easy transition for me. I can’t really talk about it, but yeah, I think there’s a mutual interest on both sides," Pargo said.

Neworleans.com confirms the mutual interest aspect of things:

For his part, Paul wants Pargo back. He has made that very clear. Scott wants Pargo back. Pargo's agent, Mark Bartelstein, admits mutual interest. Barring a financial snafu, it is obvious that Jannero Pargo is set to re-join the Hornets by July 11 (or soon after) for the 2009-2010 season. He fits extremely well in New Orleans. While he could play elsewhere, he knows the territory and would be very comfortable with his coach, teammates and minutes in New Orleans. He knows the way to the Alario Center without a GPS device.

Not sure what makes the author so confident about how "obvious" a Pargo return is... but he does sound sure of it.

The Hornets announced Friday that they had mutually agreed to part ways with assistant coach Kenny Gattison... but apparently things weren't as bright and sunny. From the Times-Pic blog:

"This was not a mutual parting," Gattison said via telephone. "In this economy, who would mutually agree to give up their job? Even though technically I only had a little over a month to go on my contract with the Hornets, given my years of service and contributions to the organization, I think some consideration should have been made toward my coaching career and my family."

"There's still work to be done. The mission is not complete until they win a championship. That's the objective. I wish them all the luck. It's a great organization. Incredible fans, the best fans in the NBA, and I wish the owners nothing but the best."

Nice to see him depart with kind words, even if the Hornets' organization did him no favors by not firing him sooner.

Devin Brown officially decided to remain with the Hornets at the end of last week, to nobody's surprise. It's hard to imagine many teams pursuing his services after his last season. In 2009-2010, he will make around 1.1 million dollars, or a 100,000 increase from last year. No other current Hornets have options, meaning Melvin Ely, Ryan Bowen, and Sean Marks won't be back unless the team decides to renew them.

Finally, Peja Stojakovic and Kenny Smith teamed up to help out First Book-Greater New Orleans. From neworleans.com again:

New Orleans Hornets Forward Peja Stojakovic has been named as an Honorary Advisory Board Member of the First Book-Greater New Orleans Advisory Board. "Reading is an important part of everyday learning and I believe that supporting literacy is fundamental for children's education today. It is my honor to be able to team up with First Book and do my part to promote children's literacy in the Greater New Orleans area," said Stojakovic.

A Big Three Of Their Own In Wisconsin?

Steve Weinman — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 05:00:09 -0000

Boxed Out: A weekly look at statistical oddities around the NBA

In the travesty of travesties, it appears that I can't find a box score for the celebrity game that took place on Friday night of the NBA's All-Star weekend. So we'll have to live with hitting the statistical highlights and lowlights of a short work week in the Association, complete with a triple-double from a certain point guard with whom you might be familiar. It's time for this week's edition of Boxed Out:

Marreese Speights, Monday versus Phoenix: 24 minutes, 11-for-16 from the field, 24 points, 7 rebounds, plus-9

Highly productive in half a game's worth of playing time. Certain Suns have been known not to guard people inside.

Antonio Daniels and Rasual Butler, Monday at Memphis: 5-for-27 from the field, 19 points

The absence of Chris Paul really depleted the Hornets' backcourt. It didn't help that Peja Stojakovic went 7-for-22 and Devin Brown came off the bench to give this team a 2-for-13 effort. This sort of thing is what allowed the Memphis Grizzlies to win a game in which they shot 36.4 percent, turned the ball over 19 times and went minus-12 in turnover differential.

But credit Memphis for out-rebounding New Orleans by an insane 64-38 count. It isn't often that a team grabs 20 offensive rebounds in a game.

Rafer Alston, Monday at Milwaukee: 2-for-8 from the field, 9 points, 2 assists, 4 turnovers, minus-25

He continues to be rather bad...

Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, Monday at Milwaukee: 3-for-17 from the field, 10 points

...but the stars on Rafer's team weren't much better.

Richard Jefferson, Charlie Villanueva and Ramon Sessions, Monday versus Houston: 27-for-45 from the field, 76 points

These guys just don't get enough pub amongst the league's star trios.

LeBron James, Tuesday at Indiana: 15-for-21 from the field, 13-for-14 foul shooting, 47 ponts, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 7 turnovers, 1 personal foul

He's really good. But his one foul (phantom or otherwise) came with less than a second to play in a tie game. Will we see Joe Crawford, Eric Dalen and Bennie Adams in this year's postseason?

Linas Kleiza, Tuesday at Miami: 2-for-11 from the field, 0-for-6 on threes, 4 points, minus-10

Presumably not exactly the way the former Missouri Tiger meant to celebrate the Zou's win over rival Kansas the night before.

San Antonio Spurs and New Jersey Nets, Tuesday at New Jersey: 13 turnovers

This isn't the first time we've had the Spurs involved in a game featuring an abnormally low number of turnovers. Those fellows like to take care of the rock.

Tim Duncan, Tuesday at New Jersey: 11-for-17 from the field, 27 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 blocks

I really enjoy his work.

Randy Foye, Tuesday versus Toronto: 11-for-22 from the field, 3-for-6 on threes, 8-for-8 foul shooting, 33 points, 8 rebounds

Another impressive rebounding game for the diminutive guard. Not so bad on the scoring either.

Richard Hamilton, Tuesday at Chicago: 37 minutes, 11-of-21 from the field, 30 points, 8 assists

The Pistons' starting backcourt in this game, which included Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo, totaled 20 points and five assists.

Erick Dampier, Tuesday versus Sacramento: 6 offensive rebounds (16 total)

The Kings as a team earned themselves three second chances on the boards.

New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors, Tuesday at Golden State: too many points

I can't help throwing my hands up in the air on this one and simply linking you to the box score. That's because these two teams followed up their early-season 138-125 shootout (a Knicks victory in November) with a 144-127 festival of no defense. Eight players scored in double-figures for the Warriors. Both teams had a player break 30 points and at least two more break 20. Lots of baskets hit. Few missed. You'll want to check out the whole shebang.

Vladimir Radmanovic, Wednesday versus Washington: 8-for-14 from the field, 5-for-10 from the field, 21 points

Trade paying dividends!

Mo Williams, Wednesday versus Phoenix: 18-for-26 from the field, 7-for-9 on threes, 44 points, 7 assists

He's been good for the Cavs. They've been even better for him.

Dwight Howard, Wednesday versus Denver: 4-for-7 from the field

He was the only Orlando player not to shoot below 50 percent for the game.

Hakim Warrick, Wednesday at Philadelphia: 43 minutes, 12-for-19 from the field, 7-for-9 foul shooting, 31 points, 8 rebounds

Nice game for a guy who never seems to be lacking for energy.

Roko Ukic, Wednesday versus San Antonio: 9-for-13 from the field, 22 points, plus-14

Good to know Rajon Rondo isn't his only victim this season.

Ramon Sessions, Wednesday versus Indiana: 15 points, 17 assists, 7 rebounds

The other two members of the Bucks' big three went for 49 points between them. Stars rising!

Sacramento Kings and Houston Rockets, Wednesday at Houston: 43 turnovers

Sloppy and sloppier.

Lamar Odom, Wednesday at Utah: 8-for-13 from the field, 19 points, 19 rebounds

At some point, we've got to give him some recognition for his inspired play of late. It's not exactly a habit for LO.

Nate Robinson, Wednesday at LA Clippers: 13-for-28 from the field, 2-for-11 on threes, 33 points, 15 assists, 9 rebounds

Heckuva way to step in for the injured Chris Duhon.

Al Harrington, Wednesday at LA Clippers: 8-for-24 from the field, 1-for-10 on threes, 19 points, 11 rebounds

And the technical foul for hanging on the rim that allowed the Clippers to cut the Knicks' lead to two in the final minute before tying it on a Zach Randolph lay-up.

Baron Davis, Wednesday versus New York: 5-for-17 from the field, 13 points, 20 assists

When is the last time this guy had a decent shooting game?

Steve Novak, Wednesday versus New York: 8-for-10 from the field, 6-for-8 on threes, 23 points

No shortage of shooting accuracy for this fellow.

Michael Beasley, Thursday at Chicago: 9-for-10 from the field, 21 points

And now he'll presumably be taking over at the small forward spot in Miami.

Brandon Roy, Thursday at Golden State: 14-of-21 from the field, 37 points

You know we don't go too long without giving him a mention somewhere.

Rajon Rondo, Thursday at Dallas: 44 minutes, 9-for-14 from the field, 19 points, 15 rebounds, 14 assists

It was incredibly fun to watch him tear up Jason Kidd and the Mavericks.

Kevin Durant, Friday versus Rookies: 17-for-25 from the field, 4-for-8 form the field, 8-for-8 foul shooting, 46 points, 7 rebounds, MVP

He is going to be participating in All-Star weekend's Sunday festivities for a long, long time.

That will do it for this week's Boxed Out. Please don't hesitate to shout out your favorites or let us know what we missed. Babble coming at you in the afternoon.

You know how this ends, but we'll say it anyway: Catch ya on the flip side of the meridian.

Hey! Orlando! You Forgot the D-League!

Scott Schroeder — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:25:34 -0000

Dear Otis Smith,

I'm not a fan of you right now. I wasn't a fan when you signed Rashard Lewis to the first billion dollar contract in NBA history. I wasn't a fan when you kept old Adonal Foyle over a developing James Augustine. Today, I'm certainly not a fan of seeing you nearing a deal to trade for Tyronn "freaking ZERO Upside and PLENTY of downside" Lue.

I posted quite a bit over at ThirdQuarterCollapse over the last couple days, the official SB Nation blog of your Orlando Magic. I put up a post here yesterday telling not to forget about the D-League and that post was picked up by Yahoo as well as HardwoodParoxysm. How you missed all of this, I'm not sure. The message was very clear: instead of going after an also-ran point guard, why not go to the D-League, where the talent is cheap, hungry, and at the very least has some upside?

I'll give you a bit of a history lesson, as you're obviously not all too familiar with the D-League. The D-League, or NBA Development League, is a place where players under the radar go to recognized. Some of them need lots of developing, yes, but others are NBA-ready and are just developing, honing their skills, waiting for the right situation to arise so that they can show the world what you, and other NBA general managers, have been missing.

See, there are quite a few players that have started in the D-League (or CBA before the D-League), got a call-up and their chance to shine, and now are success stories for the whole basketball world to admire! My first example is going to be one that your constituency will remember fondly, Darrell Armstrong. See, Armstrong originally went undrafted by the NBA, played in the Global Basketball Association, the USBL, and even the CBA before finally getting a look from your Orlando Magic. Darrell, besides his 1996 dunk contest entry, turned out to be a pretty good player, didn't he, Otis?

Hey Otis, how about Mike Wilks? You obviously thought he must have something to bring to the table after bringing him in this preseason. See, Mike played two seasons in the NBDL with the Huntsville Flight before getting a look in the NBA. Looks like he's put together a decent body of work over the past six seasons for a man like yourself to be giving him an opportunity.

Now, and stay with me even though we're moving a bit out of your comfort zone, I'd like to direct your attention to some other players that have turned out to not be terrible that started their career in the minor leagues: Lou Amundson, Stephen Jackson, Ronny Turiaf, Rafer Alston, Mikki Moore, Bobby Simmons, Devin Brown, Ime Udoka, Bruce Bowen, Von Wafer, Kelenna Azubuike, Malik Hairston and even your own Jeremy Richardson started their career as an NBA Call-up!

After seeing that, Mr. Smith, why is it that you were so afraid to look at one of the hungry, talented, hard-working, passionate individuals just waiting for that chance to prove to you just how much they belong on the NBA hardcourt.

Sincerely,

Ridiculous Scott

P.S. Please forward this on to your other friends in the NBA world, as they may as well take advantage of these players sitting right under your nose if you're not willing. Thanks!

Mo Williams Fills Up the Stat Sheet

Steve Weinman — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 05:00:10 -0000

Boxed Out: A weekly look at statistical oddities around the NBA

The more the Celtics win, the better my mood gets, which means the less of my pseudo-wittiness that you all have to deal with at the beginning of each Boxed Out. It's that simple and perhaps a good enough reason for even our non-Celtics-supporting readers to enjoy the Celts' recent hot streak. Let's start this Monday morning by goofing around with some numbers.

Atlanta Hawks, Monday at Miami: 26 field goals made, 7 assists

Only three players had a dime: Marvin Williams, Josh Smith (two) and Joe Johnson (four). Yep, point guard Mike Bibby didn't have a single assist to go with his five turnovers and 1-for-6 performance from the field. The Hawks as a team had 19 turnovers. Will there be a "RON-DO'S BET-TER!" chant in the comments section?

Ron Artest, Monday at New York: 4-for-19 from the field, 1-for-10 on threes

When one considers that Rafer Alston shot 3-for-10 and Tracy McGrady 7-for-20, it's really a small miracle that the Rockets managed to shoot as high as 38.9 percent as a team for the game.

Richard Jefferson, Monday versus Minnesota: 3-for-15 from the field, 0-for-5 from three, 10 points

Remember what I said last week about RJ perhaps getting more comfortable as the number one option in Michael Redd's absence? He didn't get off to a great start.

Chris Douglas-Roberts, Monday at Oklahoma City: 8 minutes, 2-for-2 from the field, 4-for-4 from the line, 8 points, plus-21

It's the plus-minus that gets me. The Nets lost this game by nine after trailing by as many as 30. Also, Devin "We'll see how I respond" Harris and Vince Carter combined for a monster 6-for-29 performance from the field in this game. Good stuff.

Travis Outlaw, Monday at LA Clippers: 8-for-9 from the field, 20 points, plus-24

Not a personal favorite by any means, but that's a very nice performance at the offensive end.

Mo Williams, Tuesday versus Sacramento: 15-for-24 from the field, 7-for-12 on threes, 6-for-6 foul shooting, 43 points, 11 assists, 8 rebounds

LeBron James also had a triple-double in this game, and the Cavs only managed to beat Sacramento by seven. Good on Kevin Martin for putting up 35 to keep the Kings around.

J.J. Redick, Tuesday versus Indiana: 5 minutes, 1-for-1 from the field, 2 points

We mention him because he was the only one of nine Magic players to score in this game who didn't find his way into double figures. Hedo Turkoglu (11), Rashard Lewis (24), Dwight Howard (22), Courtney Lee (14), Jameer Nelson (12), Mickael Pietrus (27), Anthony Johnson (10) and Tony Battie (13) all did as the Magic shot 54.9 percent from the field (and 15-for-33 from deep) en route to 135 points in regulation in blowing out the Pacers.

Also in this game, the Orlando bench shot 20 free throws. The Indiana roster shot 17.

Tim Duncan, Tuesday at Utah: 10-for-16 from the field, 4-for-10 foul shooting, 24 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 blocks

Every now and then, it's healthy to be reminded that Tim Duncan is really, really good. Except at foul shooting.

Charlotte Bobcats, Tuesday at LA Lakers: 117 points scored, 110 points allowed, 1 win

With my sincerest apologies to wondahbap (the site's resident fan of the purple and gold and an insightful commenter), wasn't that nice?

Also of note: The vaunted LA bench combined to shoot 6-for-25 from the field. Shannon Brown came off the bench to hit six shots all by himself for the Bobcats.

T.J. Ford, Wednesday versus Milwaukee: 14-for-21 from the field, 6-for-8 foul shooting, 0-for-0 on threes, 34 points, 3 assists, 5 turnovers, plus-1

Lots of interesting stuff there. The negative assist-to-turnover ratio and plus-1 mark in a game in which he was his team's scoring leader and his team won by eight both merit note. But even more intriguing, when was the last time a guard put up 30 points without attempting a single three-pointer? Probably a good idea in T.J.'s case, as he shoots only 31.6 percent from deep for his career.

Eddie House, Wednesday versus Milwaukee: 21 minutes, 10-for-13 from the field, 8-for-9 on threes, 28 points

Mentioned both because I love Eddie and because I fear incurring Toine43's substantial wrath again if I omit Monsieur Mansion for the second week in a row.

Keyon Dooling, Wednesday versus Toronto: 5-for-9 from the field, 5-for-8 on threes, 17 points

Something about that proportion of field-goal attempts that came from beyond the arc makes me want to open my window and scream, "I love Wal-tah!"

Kevin Love, Wednesday versus Detroit: 26 minutes, 6-for-11 from the field, 17 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 turnovers

Another nice game for the rook.

Devin Brown, Wednesday versus Denver: 24 minutes, 6-for-7 from the field, 3-for-3 on threes, 18 points, plus-15

A big reason the Hornets cruised past the Nugs by 13 despite not having Tyson Chandler and David West and getting a 3-for-12 shooting night and five turnovers from Chris Paul. Some props are in order for Peja Stojakovic as well for his 26 points on 10-for-14 shooting.

Kevin Durant, Wednesday versus Memphis: 14-for-23 from the field, 35 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 turnovers, 4 blocks

Is it just me, or does this sort of thing seem to be happening with increasing regularity of late?

Stephen Jackson, Wednesday at Dallas: 7-for-14 from the field, 2-for-2 on threes, 9-for-10 foul shooting, 25 points, minus-22

There has to be something unjust about Jax going minus-22 while Monta Ellis and Jamal Crawford (who played 25 and 23 minutes respectively) teamed up to score 10 points on 3-for-17 shooting with four assists and six turnovers between them, and they only wound up a combined minus-20.

Baron Davis, Wednesday versus Chicago: 1-for-10 from the field, 3 points

Welcome back, Baron.

Manu Ginobili, Thursday at Phoenix: 6-for-13 from the field, 18-for-18 foul shooting, 30 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 0 turnovers

Good showing.

Mark Blount, Friday at Indiana: 23 minutes, 7-for-12 from the field, 17 points, 8 rebounds

Imagine that: A guy gets paid $41 million over six years, and every so often, he shows up to play a half-decent game. Novel.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Friday versus LA Clippers: 10-for-16 from the field, 20 points, 11 rebounds, plus-24

A more successful return from injury than that of Baron Davis.

Al Jefferson, Friday versus LA Lakers: 34 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks

In a week full of big performances for Big Al, we felt we owed the first-time All-Star some attention (although giving up 27 and 15 to Andrew Bynum in this game wasn't so desirable).

Wait, what's that you say?

Let's rephrase: In a week full of big performances for Big Al, we felt we owed the promising young big man some attention (although giving up 27 and 15 to Andrew Bynum in this game wasn't so desirable).

Jose Calderon, Friday versus Milwaukee: 1-for-2 foul shooting

That's the first time in his last 39 regular season games that his free throws made and free throws attempted have not been equal. Going back to last year, Calderon had made 87 straight regular season free throws before the miss, good for the second longest streak in NBA history. Well done, Jose.

Derrick Rose, Friday at Sacramento: 11 assists

The Kings had 10.

Elton Brand, Saturday versus New Jersey: 18 minutes, 2-for-10 from the field, 5 points, 9 rebounds

Karma has its way of coming around. And that goes way beyond Saturday night's poor shooting for Elton.

Dirk Nowitzki, Saturday at Miami: 12-for-14 shooting, 30 points, 0 turnovers

Another guy whose routine excellence many of us (self no doubt included) sometimes seem to take for granted.

Nick Young, Saturday versus LA Clippers: 8-for-11 from the field, 22 points, plus-20

As I've said before, watching him shoot is an enjoyable pastime.

Ben Gordon, Saturday versus Phoenix: 8-for-14 from the field, 5-for-7 on threes, 5-for-5 foul shooting, 26 points, 6 assists, 0 turnovers

Another guy who isn't a personal favorite, but he earns credit for playing an impressive game in a Bulls win in Phoenix.

Joel Przybilla, Saturday versus Utah: 4-for-5 from the field, 6-for-9 foul shooting, 14 points, 17 rebounds

A 'thrilla' of a performance from the Vanilla Gorilla is always a good note to end on.

As always, please don't hesitate to let us know what we missed this week. You'll be shocked to know that we're back with the Babble this afternoon. See you on the flip side of the meridian.

Game 42: Hive Live

hldomingue — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 05:11:33 -0000

Denver 81 (30-16) | New Orleans 94 (28-14)

Tonight the Hornets faced a true test of their strength and will. In yet another contest without their two best post presences, the Bees were again looking to spread the floor and pray that a couple of guys would step up for big nights.

Remarkably, it worked. Again. Peja continued his hot streak finishing with 26 points on 10-14 shooting from the field. He also threw in five rebounds and three assists for good measure. For those of you following along at home, over the past two games Peja has dropped 52 points on 20-32 from the field (8-15 from beyond the arc).

The other player who stepped up? No, not CP3. Try again... oh forget it. If you didn't watch you'd never guess. Devin "Oh my God, please don't shoot" Brown played with a massive chip on his shoulder tonight, dropping 18 points on 6-7 shooting. Pretty much all he did was shoot, but those points came in handy due to an uncharacteristically off night for Chris.

The game started out extremely slow (at least for Hornet fans). In the first 6:30 of the game, we only managed 4 points. In fact, we scored those points within the first two minutes of the game. Between then and the 5:39 mark, here's a rundown of the Hornets' seven possessions:

Travelling, Julian Wright
Missed shot, Hilton Armstrong
Offensive foul, Peja Stojakovic
Stolen, Dahntay Jones from Chris Paul
Missed shot, Peja Stojakovic
Missed shot, Chris Paul
Offensive foul, Julian Wright

Not going to lie. We were preparing ourselves for a blowout at this point. But leave it to this group to surprise you. By the end of the first, we were only down one and had actually owned the lead once or twice before that.

From there, it was all Hornets, as New Orleans proceeded to outscore Denver in the remaining 3 quarters and seal the deal. Got to say, I was impressed with just about everyone tonight. The entire team played, and not a single one of our guys mailed it in.

Oh, and we're 3-1 without Tyson and D.West. Nice.

***
Couple of observations before I leave you:

Though he didn't quite contribute as much as usual, CP did log a double-double with 12 points, 10 assists, and 4 steals. Unfortunately his floater in the lane just wasn't falling. He looked slightly out of sync tonight, but I think that had a little to do with a bruised calf he's been fighting since getting kicked in the Philly game.
Thank goodness Devin and Peja showed up tonight because Paul and Posey combined to shoot an embarrassing 4-25 from the field. Oof.
While we're talking about poor shooting performances, the Nuggets went 4-22 from deep. Counting last game against Philly, our opponents are 6-36 from beyond the arc. Probably a combination of good rotation and cold shooters, but I'll take it.
Morris left the game with a sprained ankle and did not return. I think there's something in the water down here. Note: if you are traveling to New Orleans in the near future, bring your own water supply, otherwise you will be riding the pine in a suit.
We had 8 turnovers in the first quarter alone (3 from CP). Unacceptable. Sure, we tightened up and only allowed 3 per quarter after that, but 8 in 12 minutes is pretty outrageous.
Sean Marks had somewhat of a statement game. including two monster throwdown dunks in the first half. He then did his best Tyson Chandler impression, swatting a shot from Chris "Birdman" Andersen clear to into the eighth row.
Kenyon Martin was quite the hothead tonight. His continual arguing and dogging of the refs got him tech in the second half. (He almost got 2, but the ref walked away and chose to ignore him instead). I also seem to remember him getting t-ed up in Denver (the first time we played them this year) when he kicked the scorers table after a call against him. He's too good to be making those kind of frustrated mistakes.
Speaking of frustrated, George Karl is hysterical when he's angry. Most coaches will get a little dramatic when they bicker with the refs, but Karl jumps around and tugs at his hair like a cartoon character. Byron tends to be a little too stoic at times, but if Karl is the alternative, give me Byron any day.
Two celebrities graced the Hive tonight. The first was ex-Saints linebacker Rickey Jackson (who got a standing ovation). The other was Spike Lee... which was kind of strange, but exciting all the same.

Photos courtesy of espn.com

Composed to: David Bowie's Low

The opponent's take: Pickaxe and Roll