SB Nation - Darius Songaila

Lakers-Hornets Preview

DexterFishmore — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:00:20 -0000

When the New Orleans Hornets last came to visit, they were decomposing before our very eyes. It was early November. Their season was already heading south. They were the only team in the league to have lost to the Knicks. The players had stopped even pretending to play for tenuously employed coach Byron Scott, with franchise talent Chris Paul looking especially angsty. They were a wounded animal, barely clinging to life and staggering onto the highway just as the Laker 18-wheeler was starting to gather speed.

Sure enough, the Lakers splattered them all over the concrete in a gruesome 18-point blowout. The L.A. bench played almost half the game, and DJ Mbenga logged his only career double-double. Soon afterward, Scott was informed that his services as New Orleans coach would no longer be required.

The Hornets are back in town tonight, but the teams' lineups look a bit different than they did in November. Chris Paul is out with a sprained ankle, and Peja Stojakovic might miss tonight's game for personal reasons. The Lakers, on the other hand, are nearly at full health, with Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, whom the Hornets didn't have to face last time, back in action.

In other words, the highway's about to get bloody once again.

Just for giggles, though, let's start with some positives as far as New Orleans is concerned.

Weirdly enough, they've actually played pretty well without Paul. The Hornets have won four of their seven games with him on the shelf, and they're coming off a particularly impressive five-game stretch. Against opponents with a combined winning percentage of 0.634 (Phoenix, Atlanta, Miami, Milwaukee and Sacramento), they've held their own, going 3-2 in those games while both scoring and allowing 1.08 points per possession. Not bad for a team missing its only A-list talent.

New Orleans' strong recent performance is due in large measure to their promising rookie guards, Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton. These two hardly played at all under Scott, who for reasons unknown preferred the dubious veteran charms of Bobby Brown and Devin Brown. With Paul out and Scott gone, Collison and Thornton have seen substantially increased minutes, and both are proving they belong. Local boy Collison has posted strong assist and turnover rates at the point, while Thornton has shown the shooting touch that made him SEC Player of the Year.

Collison will start tonight and Thornton will come of the bench, with both of them playing 30 minutes or so. The leftover backcourt playing time will get soaked up by the two Browns. Don't worry, they're still horrible. They're both worse than Shannon Brown, and maybe even "Club MTV" hostess Downtown Julie Brown.

I'm gonna stop saying "Brown" now.

Up front, the situayshe for New Orleans is pretty blah. David West has had a couple good games recently, and there are worse centers around than Emeka Okafor, but those guys are overmatched against the towering Laker bigs. As mentioned, Peja might not go - he missed Sunday's game in Sacramento and is questionable for this one - but it's not like he's some super-scary weapon anyway. If he's out, expect lots of minutes for James Posey and Darius Songaila.

Stop laughing. It's not polite.

The Hornets aren't that great offensively, ranking 16th in the league in offensive efficiency, but man, they just suck on D. (A full stat comparison is at the bottom of this post.) Especially with master thief Paul out of the lineup, they don't have much hope of slowing the Laker attack. Gasol and Bynum will get plenty of tasty looks in the paint, and Kobe Bryant should have another 30-point game if he wants it.

Their solid recent play notwithstanding, the Hornets just don't have the talent to hang with a Lakers team that's been looking increasingly sharp and merciless. Expect first-half pwnage, followed by garbagio time, and then the usual "How much of this lead will the bench fritter away?" festivities.

A true test of the Lakers will have to wait. For now, they continue to munch on low-hanging fruit.

	Lakers	Hornets
*RECORD*	13-3	7-10
*NET POINTS*	+7.9 (2nd)	-4.0 (21st)
*PACE*	98.2 (6th)	94.6 (18th)
*OFFENSIVE RATING*	104.4 (14th)	103.8 (16th)
Turnover Rate (Off.)	13.1% (7th)	12.8% (4th)
FTA/FGA (Off.)	0.25 (26th)	0.26 (25th)
Free-Throw %	73.4 (23rd)	78.8 (5th)
Effective FG% (Off.)	50.1 (12th)	48.7 (21st)
True Shooting% (Off.)	53.4 (16th)	52.8 (21st)
Off Rebounding Rate	28.0% (8th)	27.8 (9th)
*DEFENSIVE RATING*	96.5 (3rd)	108.1 (27th)
Turnover Rate (Def.)	14.7% (10th)	12.7 (25th)
FTA/FGA (Def.)	0.27 (6th)	0.26 (5th)
Effective FG% (Def.)	45.4 (1st)	51.6 (24th)
True Shooting% (Def.)	50.0 (1st)	54.8 (22nd)
Def Rebounding Rate	72.4% (21st)	70.8 (28th)

All statistical terms explained here. Parentheses indicate league rankings. Numbers are courtesy of excellent sites Basketball Reference and HoopData.

Rumor: Orlando Magic to Meet with Free-Agent Point Guard Antonio Daniels

Ben Q Rock — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:53:19 -0000

More photos » by Jack Dempsey - AP

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There are conflicting reports of the Orlando Magic's desire to add a third point guard in the wake of starter Jameer Nelson's knee injury, which will sideline him for 4-to-6 weeks. GM Otis Smith told the Orlando Sentinel yesterday that he's not in a hurry to sign another point guard, as he'd like to see how Jason Williams and Anthony Johnson fare first. However, Alex Kennedy of RealGM reports that Tony Dutt, who represents free-agent point guard Antonio Daniels, is in Orlando and expects to meet with the team tonight.

UPDATE: Dutt confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel that he did indeed contact the Magic on Daniels' behalf:

"I talked to Otis about Antonio after Jameer got hurt. But I think they are going to wait a few days if they do anything," Dutt said by phone.

Dutt said that the Magic could sign Daniels, 34, to a non-guaranteed contract.

Our original story is after the jump.

I'm not sure what to think of this rumor, as I tend to believe Smith when he says he'd rather not make a knee-jerk move. However, Daniels appears to be the sort of player Smith would value, given his experience (12 years) and usually mistake-free play (career pure point rating of 5.2). It's a bit worrisome that his turnover rate has increased in each of the last 5 seasons, from a stellar 9.3% in 2004/2005 to a garish 18.1% last season.

Also adding kick to this rumor is that Dutt and Smith aren't strangers, as Smith has signed Dutt clients Rashard Lewis and Brandon Bass as free-agents during his tenure as Orlando's GM.

Daniels split last season between the Washington Wizards and the New Orleans Hornets. The Hornets sent him to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a deal for Bobby Brown and Darius Songaila in September; Minnesota released him at his request. He had a workout with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who would like to add another guard due to the uncertainty surrounding the troubled Delonte West, earlier this month, but a deal with them never materialized.

In 867 career games, Daniels has averaged 7.6 points, 3.4 assists, and 1.1 turnovers. We'll hold off on any further analysis until the Magic either confirm or deny the rumor.

2009/10 NBA Blog Preview: Washington Wizards

Mike Prada — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:00:16 -0000

More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

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This post is a part of the annual NBA Blog Preview series, sponsored by Celtics Blog and SB Nation. The project asks prominent NBA team bloggers to write a season preview for their respective squads. You can find links to all the other previews here. Today is the date for all the Wizards previews, so here is ours. Make the jump to read the whole thing.

Team Name: Washington Wizards
Last Year's Record: 19-63
Key Additions: Randy Foye, Mike Miller, Fabricio Oberto, Flip Saunders. If you want to be clever: a healthy Gilbert Arenas, a healthy Brendan Haywood, a healthy DeShawn Stevenson and $2.5 million from selling the 32nd pick in the draft
Key Losses: Darius Songaila, Etan Thomas (not key), Oleksiy Pecherov (not key), whoever was available with that fifth pick in the draft, the chance to draft DeJuan Blair.

1. What significant moves were made during the off-season?

Two days before the draft, the Wizards swapped the fifth pick and some frontcourt deadweight for Randy Foye and Mike Miller, two guys that certainly bring something to the table, but were overextended on an awful Minnesota Timberwolves team. Once Ricky Rubio slipped to the fifth pick, the trade was labeled as the Wizards "choosing" two role players over Ricky Rubio. This is a mischaracterization because neither Minnesota nor the Wizards expected Rubio to slip - keep in mind that the Timberwolves were desperately trying to swap the fifth and sixth picks to move up to the number two slot - but it is fair to say the Wizards went for proven guys rather than rookies. Ernie Grunfeld didn't want to draft a prospect that would need to develop, so he took sure things even though they might have lower ceilings.

As to whether the Wizards got as much value as they could ... that's a tough one. On the one hand, it was the league's worst-kept secret that the Wizards were going to swap that pick. Grunfeld certainly wasn't operating out of a position of strength, so it's impressive that he at least got two solid guys like Foye and Miller in a weak draft. On the other hand, Foye and Miller certainly aren't difference-makers on the level of, say, a Vince Carter, who was swapped for arguably a less enticing package that the Wizards could have put together. In addition, why do the move two days before draft day, when you don't know which players will slip? Maybe that fifth pick becomes more valuable once a team like Golden State or the Knicks or someone else sees Rubio dangling.

To this day, I'm not sure how to answer that question.

The underreported thing about the move is that Grunfeld was able to improve the team while shaving off some long-term salary. Miller and Foye both have contracts that end this year (though Foye has his qualifying offer), and by making this trade, the Wizards were able to eliminate the extra year on Darius Songaila's contract and the cost of paying the fifth pick from their payroll. This can be viewed either as a major coup for Grunfeld or a sign that the Wizards have conflicting priorities (winning and also saving money). The answer will probably depend on what happens down the road.

Regardless, the Wizards picked up two guys that fit into new coach Flip Saunders' system and the general win-now culture of the organization, though Foye has struggled to remember how to play the point guard position during the preseason. They'll improve the team in the short term, that's for sure.

If you're confused, let me try a poker analogy. (Maybe that confuses you more, we'll see). If this is the Wizards' idea of an all-in move, then it's very underwhelming. It's like shoving in 30 big blinds before the flop on Ace-Jack offsuit. However, if this is instead one of those plays you make to alter your table image in a way to help you make a bigger move later, or if this is one of those pots you go after in order to build your stack to become a difference-maker later in a tournament, then it's a worthwhile one. Here's hoping the Foye/Miller trade is a prelude of something bigger rather than a final move.

The Wizards also signed veteran Fabricio Oberto for the biannual exception to serve as an insurance big man and a good example to some of the young players on the team. Oberto had an excellent preseason, and I suspect he'll be a very good fit and a helpful piece to the puzzle. That said, it's tough for Wizards fans to look at the Spurs right now and see DeJuan Blair tearing things up in preseason. The Wizards could have drafted Blair with the 32nd pick, but instead sold it for $2.5 million in cash. That cash helped serve as a financial windfall for owner Abe Pollin for paying the luxury tax, and it made it easier to drop another $4 million if you include luxury-tax payments to sign Oberto, but Blair certainly provides a lot of elements (rebounding, toughness, a paint presence) the Wizards have lacked for years. Right now, one can't help but think that passing on Blair was a missed opportunity.

Am I forgetting something? Oh yeah, the Wizards hired a new coach, bringing in Saunders in late April. Saunders was clearly the best coach on the market, and that's even if Avery Johnson would have decided to leave his cushy ESPN job.

Saunders' balanced approach is perfect for this roster. He'll make subtle changes on offense to make the Wizards even more deadly in the half court, and he is a significant upgrade as a defensive coach over Eddie Jordan. He commands respect from the players because of his track record of success, and that's significant, because I don't know if this cast of veterans would have respected a young coach. Critics say that Saunders doesn't have a particularly great defensive reputation, but while he may not have as pronounced effect on his teams' defense as, say, Scott Skiles, the record shows his teams have been pretty solid defensively. Grunfeld was looking for a coach that could maintain the teams' offense while simultaneously upgrading the defense. Saunders fits the bill.

Saunders is also perfectly equipped to coach Gilbert Arenas. He's done a great job of involving Arenas in the team's decision-making, talking to him regularly over the summer and being completely transparent with his expectations. His offense is also known to improve the productivity and "pureness" of point guards. Just ask Stephon Marbury, Terrell Brandon, Troy Hudson, Sam Cassell and Chauncey Billups. Saunders is low-drama and all business, which sets a perfect tone in a locker room that may have gotten a little too crazy in recent years.

I'd venture to say Saunders is a bigger addition than any player the Wizards could have acquired. He's that good as a coach. The fact that it took me this long to remember to mention him shows you how much of an imprint he's already made on this organization.

2. What are the team's biggest strengths?

When healthy, this has always been a team that could score a lot of points. Now, with Saunders in tow, this should be a team that will score even more efficiently than before, spreading the ball around more than they used to and maintaining the proper floor balance to help fix their poor transition defense.

Saunders' grand plan is to put the ball in Arenas' hands and have him create a vast majority of the scoring opportunities. This is consistent with what Saunders has done with his point guards in the past, and it's a subtle, but significant change for Arenas. In Eddie Jordan's Princeton offense, Arenas was asked both to make plays on his own and score off others. He was essentially playing two roles - the point guard and the shooting guard. Saunders will instead use Arenas exclusively as a point guard, asking him to set up others more and do his own bidding off the dribble. Arenas has always been a better passer than he's perceived to be, and of course he's a spectacular scorer when healthy, but he often has struggled to balance those skills properly in such a way so that his teammates can play off him. Saunders' offense should simplify things for Arenas, and I expect him to have a very good year if healthy. He will likely lose some points off his scoring average, but I suspect he'll pick up more assists.

Saunders' offense should also help Caron Butler because Butler won't be asked to have the ball in his hands as much as before. Butler is not a bad creator, but it's clearly not his strength. Saunders should have him getting his touches in his comfort areas - 17 feet and in, on the baseline - rather than having him at the top of the key carrying the burden to create for everyone. It should help Butler's game and his longevity, as Butler has been hampered by nagging injuries in recent years.

Otherwise, Saunders' system, which emphasizes making the extra pass and getting the ball to the hot hand, should help a Wizards teams that has a lot of scorers, but hasn't really played much with each other. It's not that the Wizards are selfish - Miller, for example, was too unselfish last season, and Foye and Butler are good passers for their position - but they are still learning about each other's strengths. Saunders' pro-style system should ease the learning curve.

The Wizards are also a very deep team, though much of their depth is focused on the wing positions. They have several guys who have started games in the past couple years coming off their bench, and have some multi-position guys that can give Saunders the chance to trot out a ton of different lineups. It's a bit unclear how Saunders plans on using his depth, because he's favored tight, short rotations in the past, but he's an innovative guy who will figure out a good solution.

3. What are the team's biggest weaknesses?

Staying healthy. But that's a given. (Of course, two days after I write this, Antawn Jamison goes down for the first month with a shoulder injury. Boo karma).

Clearly, defense remains a weakness. Saunders is definitely a better defensive coach than Eddie Jordan. His Minnesota teams played very good defense, and I suspect the reason Saunders focused on offense so much in Detroit was because he knew offense, and not defense, was Detroit's weakness at the time. However, Saunders doesn't have a Kevin Garnett, Ben Wallace or Rasheed Wallace that can inspire the rest of his team to defend. The closest thing he has is Brendan Haywood, who is a tremendously underrated defender, but isn't the type of guy to light a fire under everyone else on the team.

There's actually a legitimate argument the Wizards are worse defensively than in the past on paper. DeShawn Stevenson, previously the team's stopper, might have his minutes squeezed with the additions of Foye and Miller, neither of which carry positive defensive reputations. Long, athletic Dominic McGuire started 57 games last year with all the injuries, but is unlikely to get too many minutes. Oberto is a solid position defender who is probably the best defensive backup to Haywood this team has seen in years, but he can't guard quicker post players and might not play much anyway.

The Wizards are hoping that a new voice will inspire a better defensive performance. Saunders has talked extensively about having one set defensive philosophy rather than several gimmick defenses to hide the teams' weaknesses, which is essentially what Jordan did. That should help a ton and eliminate a lot of confusion. It should be noted that, while Saunders is a big proponent of matchup zone, we haven't seen the Wizards practice it or go to it in games much, probably because Saunders wants to instill a core defensive philosophy first.

The Wizards are also hoping that a renewed commitment to defense in practice will help. Several players have said that Jordan didn't emphasize defense much in practice, and as skeptical as one should be with that statement, it is true that the Princeton offense takes a lot of time to pick up, meaning it needs to be practiced more than most offensive systems. With only a finite amount of time to practice, the more time spent making sure the players understand Jordan's complicated offense, the less time spent on practicing defense. Then again, the Wizards have used this rhetoric before. It means nothing until they prove it.

Those changes, along with reduced minutes for Arenas, Butler and Jamison and a healthy return for Haywood could easily vault the Wizards to the middle of the pack on defense. However, as we all know, unless your offense is historically good (think Phoenix circa 2005-2007), you need to be better than average on defense to be a legitimate championship contender. The Wizards are light years away from that status.

In particular, the Wizards are weak inside, at least compared to the other top teams in the league. Haywood is tremendously underrated, and Jamison is still very productive, but questions remain behind them. Andray Blatche is heading into his umpteenth must-produce year, and while he doesn't get enough credit for his diverse array of skills, he also has yet to show he can consistently be a role player for this team. Oberto is an effective player, but at 34, he is too old and in decline to be an effective third big man. Youngster JaVale McGee is a highlight player, but he still doesn't understand basic fundamental defense well enough to stay on the floor, and the Wizards have less patience for his mistakes this year than they did last year. A trade might have to happen to shore up this weakness in the short term.

The other potential problem is that there's just too much newness to adjust to quickly in a short period of time. Saunders still hasn't decided on a regular rotation, which hurts youngsters like Nick Young, McGee and Blatche because they're pretty inconsistent to begin with. Jamison's shoulder injury doesn't help because it's yet another thing to adjust to early in the season. I worry that, while the Wizards may be very dangerous late in the season once they've all learned to play with to each other, they may give up some games and key playoff seeding to get there.

4. What are the goals for this team?

I suspect the Wizards are thinking about this season like it's an Eastern Conference Finals or bust campaign. There's all this vague talk about "advancing in the playoffs," but the standard for organizational success seems to be making the NBA's Final Four. Still, with Boston, Orlando and Cleveland all making their move now, that's probably a pretty unrealistic goal to have. The Wizards could make a big trade and still be running fourth in a three-horse race. Unless one of those three suffers a rash of injuries, I have a hard time believing the Wizards will crack the top three in the East.

A more realistic goal would be to secure home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, win their first-round series and put up a decent fight against one of those top three teams. What would a "decent fight" entail? I'm not sure, but I think it's safe to say it would be a better performance than what Atlanta gave against Cleveland in the second round of the playoffs last year. The Wizards could then more easily justify another round of going over the luxury tax, which would include re-signing Haywood, Miller and maybe Foye while making a talent upgrade.

5. Why isn't Gilbert Arenas talking to the media? Isn't this a problem?

Two reasons. One, he wants to be a little more serious about his game, and maybe he feels talking is a distraction. Two, he feels like they took advantage of his crazy personality to write unfair things about him. His logic is, if he doesn't talk, nobody will be able to twist his words.

Does it make sense? No, not really. Most of the league finds a way to talk without getting their words spun out of control. But that's just Gilbert. He always has to position himself on one extreme or the other.

Does this all matter? No, not in the slightest. All that matters is his health. Arenas is still the most important player on this team, and with so few options behind him at point guard in a point guard-heavy offense, one could even argue he's more important than ever. We've already talked about why he fits in well with Saunders' offense, so as long as he's healthy, I suspect he'll have a great year. For now, his knee looks good, but this is clearly as much of a long-term question as a short-term one. We'll just have to hope for the best.

Projected Finish: 47-35

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

NBA Previews- The Hornets

atthehive — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:23:30 -0000

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As part of CelticsBlog's annual round of previews, it's the Hornets' turn.

Team Name: New Orleans Hornets

Last Year's Record: 49-33

Key Losses: Tyson Chandler, Rasual Butler, Antonio Daniels, Ryan Bowen, Melvin Ely

Key Additions: Emeka Okafor, Darren Collison, Marcus Thornton, Ike Diogu, Morris Peterson, Darius Songaila

1. What Significant Moves were made during the off-season?

New Orleans did its fair share of wheeling and dealing. Tyson Chandler for Emeka Okafor was the headliner, with the Hornets swapping out a defensive ace with injury questions. Okafor enters the season nursing his own injury, but the hope is he can offer more consistent minutes than Chandler did in '09. The Hornets also saved money by offloading Rasual Butler and Antonio Daniels. Via the draft, Chris Paul's new backup- Darren Collison- joined the team, as did Marcus Thornton, a potential scoring threat off the bench. Toss Darius Songaila into the forward mix, and the Hornets enter 2009-2010 with a significantly different look and feel- three new players will step into the starting roles (Peterson, Julian Wright, Okafor), and a plethora of backcourt and frontcourt minutes should go to Collison and Diogu.

2. What are the team’s biggest strengths?

The point guard position. Obviously, that's been the strength since 2005; however, the Hornets seem to have the backup PG position locked down for the first time in a while. The organization has shown continual confidence in UCLA's Darren Collison. On draft night, they took him over a variety of front court options. They unloaded incumbent 2nd string PG Daniels relatively early in the offseason. And instead of bringing in a veteran 3rd string standby, they decided to roll the dice on Minnesota's Bobby Brown. If things go according to plan, not only will Chris Paul be awesome, his backup will allow him a couple more minutes of rest a game.

3. What are the team’s biggest weaknesses?

One of New Orleans' biggest issues last year was an utter lack of offensive rebounding ability. Only 5 teams went one and done more often last year (now, granted 2 of those were Orlando and San Antonio... but they made up for it in many other areas). Granted, a lot of the problems had to do with severe injury issues. However, neither Okafor nor Ike Diogu is an o-rebounder in the ilk of a healthy Chandler, so that weakness could persist.

On that same note, front court depth was another huge issue. While the addition of Diogu should help, Sean Marks and Hilton Armstrong still figure to get decent minutes off the bench. That shouldn't need much elaboration. The bench sucked in general last year, but more on that under Question 5.

Finally, the team still lacks a creative scorer outside of West and Paul. Obviously, having three marquee scorers on one team might be a little too much to ask for, but having a creative wing would help snap the stagnant stretches the offense is prone to fall into. Some have hyped Thornton into the role. I'm not saying a 6'0" shooting guard can't get that job done; there are a few examples across the league. But I'll believe it when I see it.

4. What are the goals for this team?

Hard to say. From a media perspective, the Hornets certainly won't have too much expected of them after last year's disastrous ending. From a player perspective, I'm sure a few guys are feeling some pressure. David West will be 29 next year. Chris Paul's only 24, but his chances at a title have taken a step back from 2007. From a fan perspective, I feel like a first round series win would satiate the majority of New Orleans appetites. Realistic goals will only become clear at least a couple weeks into November. Between Okafor, Wright's starting job, Collison, and Diogu, there are simply too many new pieces to say for sure.

5. Will the bench suck as badly this year?

The second unit was arguably the Hornets' biggest shortcoming last year. Antonio Daniels is the only guy I can possibly defend. Julian Wright, serious step back. James Posey, mediocre. Morris Peterson, invisible. Sean Marks, eh. Melvin Ely, bleh. And that's without even getting to the unmentionables, Hilton and Devin. Speaking of which, we should combine them into one player this year. Delton Browstrong. Okay, that sounds way cooler than this combo player possibly deserves to. Helvin Brownarms. There we go. Helvin Brownarms.

The overall point is that the bench can't possibly be this bad again. I mean... it could. But it can't.

Darren Collison is a respectable player by all accounts. Ike Diogu can be rock solid if healthy. Peja Stojakovic could have a rebound year and keep his back healthy, coming off the pine. Of course, Marks, Armstrong, and the rest are going to pick up some minutes. But a second unit of Collison/Thornton/Peja/Posey/Diogu with light servings of Bobby Brown and some Kiwi sprinkles should easily outperform last year's. It simply has to.

So to answer the question, no the bench will not suck as badly.

Projected Finish: 53 wins
Projected Finish Rationale: None whatsoever

Ghosts of Wizards Past are Starting to Pop Up Again

JakeTheSnake — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 09:00:34 -0000

More photos » by Jack Dempsey - AP

Antonio Daniels could be coming to a town near you...unless it's Minneapolis...or Washington.

Browse more photos »

Training camp is in full swing around the NBA. Training camp serves as the alarm to basketball fans that the season is about to start. It's also a gives us a great chance to reminisce about old faces who are landing in new places, trying to extend their NBA career by latching on to training camp rosters, or in some cases trying to demand a trade.

After the jump, you can check out the latest news on the man pictured above, among others.

- You may recall that Antonio Daniels was shipped to Minnesota during the summer in exchange for Darius Songaila. Understandably, the 34 year old isn't too excited about the prospect of playing in bitter cold Minnesota for a rebuilding team. So it's not too much of a surprise to see that Antonio Daniels has asked for a trade. Wolves GM David Kahn has honored his request and will allow him to pursue trade options.

Daniels, 34, was acquired from New Orleans earlier this month mainly because Kahn opened more cap space for next summer by trading Darius Songaila and the two years remaining on his contract away. Daniels wants to play significant minutes so he score another sizable contract next summer, a prospect that, barring injury, isn’t likely with the Wolves committed to Jonny Flynn and Ramon Sessions at point guard.

He said he would trade Daniels to a team where he can play more — as he did by dealing Richardson to Miami for Blount — if he can get a similar expiring $6.6 million contract in return. Kahn said he believes helping players in that situation if possible is a bit of goodwill that eventually will benefit the franchise with other players down the road.

I've heard some fans bounce the idea of trying to re-acquire Daniels with Mike James' expiring contract. It's certainly an intriguing idea, but it has too much working against it. Mike James didn't leave Minnesota on the best of terms, so its had to see Minnesota rolling out the welcome mat for him. Likewise, there was some talk that AD had become very "negative and critical" near the end of his time in D.C., so there's no guarantee that either side would be excited about a reunion.

On top of that and more importantly, trading for Mike James wouldn't do anything to change the situation that they have on their hands other than to change the name involved in the conflict. If James was sent to Minnesota, he would immediately ask for a trade because he doesn't want to spend the closing years of his career on a rebuilding team any more than Antonio Daniels does.

- If you were wondering if Juan Dixon's invitation to the Back to Camp party meant that he would be back with the team again, you don't have to worry anymore. He'll be fighting for a roster spot in Atlanta along with Mike Wilks. You may remember Wilks played a few games for the Wizards two years ago when the team was decimated by injuries.

- You've probably heard by now that Juwan Howard signed with the Blazers, but he won't be the only ex-Wiz in Portland in training camp. Donnell Taylor will also be in Oregon trying to make the team. (Editor's Note: Taylor just got cut after this post was finished). Also, while we're still on the subject of Juwan Howard, it's probably worth noting that his son Juwan Howard Jr. has signed on to play at Western Michigan next year.

- Etan Thomas won't be the only former Wizard in Oklahoma City, Michael Ruffin received an invite to participate in the Thunder's training camp.

Around the Association: 2009-2010 Washington Wizards- Guess Who's Bizzack?

Atma Brother ONE — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 10:45:18 -0000

The Washington Wizards aka Washington Bullets aka Washington Warriors are last, but not least!

Hibachi is Bizzack!

via www.bballcity.com

Jump from GSW to the nation's capitol like Chris Webber, Tim Legler, Larry Hughes, Gilbert Arenas, and Antawn Jamison!

AB1's Fav 5 Gilbert Arenas Clips on YouTube

5. Impossible is Nothing Addidas Commercial

How can you not admire this guy's resilience in the face of adversity?

4.Gilbert Arenas 60pts vs. LA Lakers

I forgot to give my friends in SoCal aka ShallowCal a hard time about this one when it happened, so here goes:

Taking a bow and thanking Laker fans after dropping 60 on them was classic.

3. Gilbert Arenas Game Winners

These are all pretty nuts and they happened in one season (06-07).

2. Gilbert Arenas Bounce Pass Alley Oop to Jason Richardson

Good times man.

via images.usatoday.com

Good times.

1. It Takes 5ive Addidas Commercial

This one's hilarious, yet powerful. Or is it the other way around?

"But you're not a fool... are you?"

The NBA is simply a better league with Gilbert Arenas around. This guy is wildly entertaining to watch and often makes very little sense. Here's what I mean. From the visual and literary masterpiece created by our friends over at FreeDarko:

[diagram from The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac: Styles, Stats, and Stars in Today's Game]

I really hope he's healthy enough this upcoming season and beyond to continue his fun NBA career. Too bad Chris Cohan couldn't look him in the eye.

Gilbert Arenas

#0 / Guard / Washington Wizards

Height: 6-4

Weight: 215

Born: Jan 06, 1982

College: Arizona

			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
2008 - Gilbert Arenas	2	31.0	3.0	11.5	26.1	1.0	3.5	28.6	6.0	8.0	75.0	0.5	4.0	4.5	10.0	0.5	0.0	0.5	2.0	13.0

Rewinding 2k8-2k9 Season

19-63 "good" for the 2nd worst record in the entire association bettering Sacrapmento by 2 games. With Arenas missing 80 games, Brendan Haywood missing 76 and Caron Butler missing 15, they do have a legitimate excuse however.

I'm not a fan of the Wizards firing Coach Eddie Jordan after their first 11 games. I don't know if he's going to like the initial 76ers roster that much, but Fast Eddie is a good coach. Jordan (Eddie not Michael) would be a fine replacement for Coach Don Nelson on the Warriors a year or two down the line. I wouldn't mind that at all.

Projecting 2k9-2k10 Season

44-38 with the chance of advancing to the 2nd round if seeded in the 4 or 5 slot

In the East there's the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Orlando Magic. Then there's the Atlanta Hawks, Miami Heat, and Washington Wizards. There's a pretty sizable gap between the East's tier 1 and tier 2, but that doesn't mean this can't be one very fun season at the Verizon Center (I guess MCI isn't doing so well).

Who knows maybe our old friends Arenas and Jamison can get a matchup against their foes the Cleveland Cavaliers at some point in the 2010 NBA Playoffs. My fingers are crossed. Re-live the rivalry courtesy of Wikipedia:

Rivalry with the Cleveland Cavaliers

In the 2006 NBA Playoffs, the Wizards matched up with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in a first-round matchup, in what would turn out to be the first of three consecutive postseason matchups, as well as James' first-ever playoff appearance. The series was considered to be one of the most evenly matched of all first-round series that year. After suffering a loss in Game 1, Washington came back to win Game 2 and steal home-court advantage heading back to Verizon Center for Game 3. However, Cleveland stole home-court advantage right back. Washington came back to tie the series at two apiece with a win in Game 4, but suffered two consecutive one-point overtime losses and thus were eliminated 4 games to 2.

The Wizards and Cavaliers met again in the 2007 NBA Playoffs, this time as a 2–7 matchup. The Wizards were swept 4–0 by Cleveland. Antawn Jamison averaged a team-high 32 points per game in the series.

In April 2008, Arenas made comments saying Cleveland was only a .500 team since a midseason blockbuster trade. After the conclusion of the 2007–08 regular season, the Wizards and Cavaliers were pitted against each other yet again in a 4–5 first-round matchup. Following a regular-season win on March 13th, guard DeShawn Stevenson made comments saying LeBron James was "overrated." James responded to the comment by saying that he would not return the insult, as that would be "almost like Jay-Z [responding to a negative comment] made by Soulja Boy."^[17] Soulja Boy made an appearance at Game 3 of the series (played in Washington) in support of the Wizards; his music was played over the PA system.^[18] Jay-Z, a close friend of James, got involved in the rivalry as well, making a song that trashed Stevenson. The day after Game 3, James reserved a private room at Love Nightclub in D.C. for himself and his teammates. Jay-Z's new song was played while Cavs guard Damon Jones made negative gestures about the Wizards. Unbeknownst to the Cavaliers, Wizards star Caron Butler and his wife were also present, and they stormed out of the nightclub. According to the ABC broadcast of Game 4, Butler and the Wizards have sworn never to visit that particular club again, despite often frequenting it in the past. After suffering a late-game loss in Game 4 at the hands of a Delonte West three-pointer, Washington won a nail-biting Game 5 in Cleveland to bring the series back to Washington for Game 6 of the series. Prior to Game 6, Darius Songaila, a reserve forward, was suspended for inadvertently tapping LeBron James in the face in the first quarter of Game 5, and without Songaila, the Wizards suffered a season-ending defeat to Cleveland, and lost the series 4–2.

In the 2008–09 season, the series was split 2–2, with the teams winning both of their respective home wins. In the first Wizards' win on January 4, LeBron James was called for a traveling violation, which he later described as a "crab-dribble." The Wizards went on to win that game 80–77. On April 2nd, the Wizards' starting lineup included of Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood for the only time that entire season. The Wizards won the game, 109–101, snapping Cleveland's franchise-best 13-game winning streak.

Dating back to the start of the 2005–06 season, the Wizards and Cavaliers have played each other a combined 36 times (including preseason), far more than they have played any other team in the league.

That's some pretty entertaining stuff. If it weren't for DeShawn Stevenson (who?) talking smack about about LeBron, Soulja Boy would just be a one hit wonder.

Soulja Boy should drop an album like this in 2018.

via www.mp3ninja.com

Now at least he will forever be in the Wizards' wikipedia entry. I guess that's how they do the "Unstoppable Baby!"-ness over in the capitol.

Golden Predictions

Gilbert Arenas returns to form and drops 27 ppg, a few insane game winners, and some great quotes.
Our old friend named Antawn- not Antwan- drops another 20-10.
Caron Butler aka Tough Juice collects an impressive 20-6-4 nightly. Caron is the Washington Warriors version of Stephen Jackson (minus the trade demand and other drama).
Andray Blatche is a Warrior killer on Tuesday April 6th in DC. It IS a joke- 25 points (11-18 FG, 1-1 3pt, 2-2 FT), 12 rodmans, 5 dimes, 5 rejections, and 2 interceptions. Milk Carton: Andris Biedrins' defense.
Randy Foye proves to be a nice complement to Agent Zero in the Wizards' backcourt. Think the Timberwolves wish they just kept him instead of being embarrassed by Ricky Rubio?
3pt assassin and 921/0083">documented Warrior Killer Mike Miller gets out-dueled by Warrior sharpshooter Anthony Morrow in the 3pt %.
Sophomore Wiz 7-footer JaVale McGee (rookie per 36: 15.4 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 2.4 blk, 1.0 stl) has a better season than Warriors third year big man Brandan Wright (sophomore per 36: 16.9 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 1.9 blk, 1.2 stl).
Brendan Haywood solidifies the soft Wizards center with 9 ppg, 7 rpg, and 2.0 swats.
Nick James is a nice scoring and shooting 1st guard off the bench for the Wizards.
MIKE JAMES!!
Javaris Crittenton has about the same production as Marco Belinelli- not very good.
Fabricio Oberto misses the winning on the Spurs, but at least he doesn't have to fight falling asleep watching the Wizards on the bench like he did in San Antonio.
DeShawn Stevenson calls LeBron James "overpaid" and we call crack up.

Don't miss the retro-freshness our friends at Bullets Forever have for you 24/7!

2009-2010 Around the Association

Introduction

Atlanta Hawks: Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. The Hawks are for real.

Boston Celtics: Sheed in Green + Another Answer

Charlotte Bobcats: They Do Exist

Chicago Bulls: Ring Around the Rose-y

Cleveland Cavaliers: Now or Never

Dallas Mavericks: The Curse of the Dampier

Denver Nuggets: If it ain't broke...

Detroit Pistons: The Return of the Bay Boys

Houston Rockets: Yao-ch!, that's gotta hurt

Indiana Pacers: A One Man Show

Los Angeles Clippers: Warriors South No More

Los Angeles Lakers: Big Brother, Little Brother

Memphis Grizzlies: Going Back to Vancouver

Miami Heat: Need to get the point

Milwaukee Bucks: Saving a few buck$

Minnesota Timberwolves: Donde esta Senor Rubio?

New Jersey Nets: The Year of the Yi

New Orleans Hornets: Two first names, one great point guard

New York Knicks: Is it summatime yet?

Oklahoma City Thunder: The X Factors

Orlando Magic: Are they Vinsane? You be the judge

Philadelphia 76ers: Are they (Elton) Brand New?

Phoenix Suns: Who knows?

Portland TrailBlazers: The Fire Keeps Burning

Sacramento Kings: It's all up from here

San Antonio Spurs: An Apple a Day...

Toronto Raptors: So International

Utah Jazz: Reset Button

Washington Wizards

Rewind

Poll

How many games will Gilbert Arenas play in the 2009-2010 NBA regular season?

All 82- you're not a fool are you?

42 votes

71-81 games

71 votes

61-70 games

103 votes

51-60 games

75 votes

41-50 games

48 votes

Less than half the NBA season

109 votes

448 votes | Poll has closed

Around the Association: 2009-2010 New Orleans Hornets: Two first names, one great point guard.

jae — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:00:17 -0000

More photos » by Jack Dempsey - AP

Browse more photos »

In 2007-08, no team surprised the masses more than the up-and-coming New Orleans Hornets. Their full-time return to the Big Easy after two years as post-Katrina refugees saw them win 54 games and narrowly miss the #1 playoff seed in the jam-packed competitive Western Conference. They were a team on the rise. 2008-09 saw a modest dip in wins (oh what the Warriors would give to 'slide' down to 49 wins), but a seemingly greater slide in future expectations. Has the lustre of hope gone? Are the Hornets still a team to fear? Or are they but another of the strong but still flawed Western Conference not-elites, hoping for a miracle to challenge the true contenders?

(more after the jump)

Offseason Additions:

Darren Collison (draft #21 pick PG from UCLA)

Marcus Thornton (draft #43 pick G from LSU; acquired in trade from Miami for future picks)

Rasual Butler (addition by subtraction, traded away to the Clippers for a future 2^nd rounder)

Emoke Okafor (C/PF, trade from Charlotte Bobcats)

Bobby Brown (G, trade from Minn)

Ike Diogu (free agent)

Offseason subtractions:

Tyson Chandler (to Charlotte)

Antonio Daniels (to Minn for Songalia and Brown)

Darius Songaila (F, trade from Minn, subtraction by addition)

Outlook:

All hope and success for the Hornets starts with all-star point guard Chris Paul. Paul is one of the very few truly elite players in the game. The do-everything guard was equally adept shooting (22.8 ppg on 0.599 TS%) and passing (11.0 apg) and his diminutive size did not accurately predict his penchant for rebounding (5.5rpg) from the back-court. Indeed the man with two first names is one of the few players who can realistically be included in discussions about the league's best along with Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard and, of course Lebron James. And at 24 years of age, he may yet still see some improvement in his already stellar game. Whenever you have a player as good as Paul, you have a shot.

Paul is not a one-man team. PF David West is now a two-time All-Star. However, this probably somewhat overrates his actual contribution as his 21ppg came at only average efficiency and 8.5rpg in 39 minutes on the court is somewhat substandard for a frontcourt player. While still one of the rare "4"s who can provide that sort of scoring punch and allows for a true inside-outside game with Paul, but Karl Malone he isn't.

Unfortunately, the drop-off between Paul and West was mild compared to the drop-off between West and the rest of New Orleans' squad. At least some of the team's regression can be attributed to the loss of rebounding force and solid defensive center Tyson Chandler. Chandler was injured for large parts of the season and, in what appeared as entirely a salary move, Chandler was traded mid-season to the OKC Thunder, only to have the move rescended shortly thereafter when Chandler failed his physical. In the off-season he was again traded, this time successfully, to Charlotte for C/PF Emoke Okafor. Okafor, like Chandler is somewhat limited on offense, but a solid rebounder and defender. Okafor has also been hit by the injury bug in the past. Still, even moderate health from Okafor will be an improvement over the half season the Hornets were forced to make due with Hilton Armstrong, Melvin Ely and Sean Marks.

Wing play was similarly sketchy. Gone for 2009-10 is Rasual Butler, perennial contender for worst regular rotation player. How he managed to garner 32 minutes per night with a lone skill (+39% from beyond the arc) remains a mystery. James Posey was more effective, but played less. Peja Stojakovic is rapidly becoming nothing more than a spot-up 3 point shooter, and while still effective in that regard (and still seemingly unaffected by defensive pressure, hitting close to 40% whether wide open or closely guarded), he is not the player he once was in Sacramento. While the collective 2/3 play of the Hornets could light it up from beyond the arc, they will have to get more dynamic play from someone. With Posey and Peja already in their early 30s, the lone internal candidate will be Julian Wright who is still a mostly unknown entity. Also in the mix at the 3 will be combo forward Darius Songaila, acquired from Minn for Antonio Daniels. Unfortunately, Songalia is one of the few players who might not be an upgrade over Butler.

Prognosis:

Chris Paul, continued solid play from West, and more minutes at C manned by Okafor than they got from Chandler will boost New Orleans a bit, but they should still fall short of the top of the Western Conference.

54 wins.

(Warriors connection: Ike Diogu, proclaimed by Indy to be the "key" to the deal that sent Dunleavy and Murphy away from the Warriors, will join his 5th team in as many NBA seasons.)

For more on the New Orleans Hornets check out At the Hive:

2009-2010 Around the Association

Introduction
Atlanta Hawks: Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. The Hawks are for real.
Boston Celtics: Sheed in Green + Another Answer
Charlotte Bobcats: They Do Exist
Chicago Bulls: Ring Around the Rose-y
Cleveland Cavaliers: Now or Never
Dallas Mavericks: The Curse of the Dampier
Denver Nuggets: If it ain't broke...
Detroit Pistons: The Return of the Bay Boys
Houston Rockets: Yao-ch!, that's gotta hurt
Indiana Pacers: A One Man Show
Los Angeles Clippers: Warriors South No More
Los Angeles Lakers: Big Brother, Little Brother
Memphis Grizzlies: Going Back to Vancouver
Miami Heat: Need to get the point
Milwaukee Bucks
Minnesota Timberwolves
New Jersey Nets
New Orleans Hornets
New York Knicks
Oklahoma City Super Sonics
Orlando Magic
Philadelphia Sixers
Phoenix Suns
Portland TrailBlazers
Sacramento Kings
San Antonio Spurs
Toronto Raptors
Utah Jazz
Washington Wizards
Rewind

14 players in a new system: DeShawn Stevenson

Mike Prada — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:30:25 -0000

by Eugene Hoshiko - AP

No pictures of DeShawn, so you get Gheorghe teaching kids to play defense instead.

View full size photo »

Also see: An introduction to the series | Mike James | Javaris Crittenton | DeShawn Stevenson player evaluation

If DeShawn Stevenson does indeed work his way back into the regular playing rotation, it will mean he has distanced himself from a brutal 2008/09. One could make the argument that Stevenson was the worst rotation regular in basketball last season, with his awful shooting percentages and slower-than-usual defense. On the other hand, he had a severe back injury and played on it far too long, so there's no way he's going to be that bad again.

But Stevenson's role in next year's rotation is very tough to peg. Stevenson's old starting shooting guard spot is suddenly very crowded. Newcomers Mike Miller and Randy Foye both play the position, and youngsters Nick Young and Dominic McGuire both had their moments last year when Stevenson got injured. In addition, Flip Saunders has historically liked having big lineups, which opens up the possibility that Caron Butler may also be taking some shooting guard minutes. The organization still seems like it's sensitive to Stevenson's relative success as a starter in the past, so I suspect he'll be provided opportunities to retain his spot, but there are a lot of more productive players in the mix.

The previous regime loved Stevenson. They loved his supposed toughness, his rapport with Gilbert Arenas and his instinct to play through pain. They were willing to forgive his poor ball-handling, his shaky shot selection and his antics because they felt he provided a missing ingredient. He was defensive-minded even if he wasn't actually elite defensively. But will those same qualities make Stevenson a Flip Saunders favorite? Will he even be healthy enough to play? Jump to discuss.

Why he might play: Stevenson is a defensive-minded player, and there aren't too many defensive-minded players on the roster. He has the experience of playing with the other four starters already, so there would be less of an on-court chemistry adjustment needed. Flip has a history of sitting offensive-minded players and playing defensive-minded guys even if the offensive-minded player is more productive.

Why he might not play: There are a lot of bodies in front of him who fit Flip's offensive system better. Stevenson isn't very great coming off screens and was an extremely inefficient scorer until he remade himself into a three-point specialist in DC. Flip's off guards traditionally have better mid-range games and passing skills than a guy like Stevenson. His back injury also may not be fully healed by the start of the season. Remember, it took a long time for Darius Songaila to become fully healthy after he had back surgery.

My best guess: Stevenson was the past regime's favorite, but Flip will have too many better fits to choose from to play Stevenson much. I don't think he'll be fully recovered from his back injury as well. If Flip wants a more defensive-minded player, I think he'd choose McGuire over Stevenson because McGuire's length and help defense skills are better suited to his zoneish defensive system than Stevenson's ability to clamp on his man.

It's possible the Wizards play Stevenson a lot more early in the season in an attempt to showcase him for a trade. I suspect Ernie Grunfeld will want to clear his long-term salary off the books if he can. He already tried to include him in the Minnesota trade, after all.

Hornets Acquire Bobby Brown, Darius Songaila for Antonio Daniels

atthehive — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:59:38 -0000

More photos » by Jeff Lewis - AP

Browse more photos »

I'd normally put up a rapid reaction post right here... but hey, here's the full thing!

I think we all knew Antonio Daniels was on his way out. The timing was the surprise.

Darren Collison

For starters, I can't help but feel like DC is coming along well. I acknowledge I have no idea what the deal at backup PG is, but this is the sort of trade that could have been made midseason. With Daniels joining the Minnesota Point Guards, Collison should be the guy from Day 1. The coaching staff had to have given the green light to the front office at some point, and that's reassuring.

Bobby Brown

The Hornets also get Bobby Brown back in this deal. All of you should remember him from last year's summer league roster. The team had Chris Paul call him in an effort to retain him, but ultimately, a 2 year guaranteed offer from Sacramento trumped our training camp invite. It'd be naive to pretend like his star hasn't fallen a bit in the last year. He showed legitimate scoring potential at Cal-State Fullerton, regardless of his size. But last year, he posted a pretty mediocre 47.6% true shooting percentage. It would be foolish to write him off due to half a year in Sacramento and 20 more games in Minnesota... but thinking of him as a legitimate scorer might be equally silly.

On the plus side, an entire year of Bobby Brown puns!

Antonio Daniels

I know people will praise his professionalism and all that, but he was a steady, average producer. He is almost certainly a better passer than Bobby Brown, and has been a better ball handler through his career than Brown was last season. Additionally, his 4.0 FTA/36 minutes was a valuable skill off the bench. Brown won't come close to replicating that (1.7 FTA/36 last year). Daniels' career offensive efficiency (114) is likely far higher than whatever Brown's max will be (96 last year).

In approximately 245 defensive possessions with Sacramento, Brown ranked among the worst defenders, ceding about 5% more production than average to counterparts. Daniels, on the other hand, was quite impressive, holding opponents to about 8% less than their average production in approximately 265 defensive possessions with the Hornets. Brown improved tremendously with Minnesota, but a smaller sample size leaves me wary. Just observationally, Daniels 6'4" frame was valuable in help situations. I'm not sure Brown can emulate that.

So, as much as foot speed and age come into play, I think Daniels --> Brown is a certain downgrade, defensively and especially offensively. There is obviously the chance that Brown steps up his game. But the straight swap isn't necessarily so even.

Of course, Brown will be the third stringer. So he won't technically be Daniels' replacement; Collison will. That makes the swap worth it. As a third stringer, Brown should do just fine.

Darius Songaila

I'll have a fuller post on Songaila up soon. The initial scouting report is that (a) he can shoot, but he doesn't have three point range, (b) he makes his free throws, (c) he's a middle-of-the-road passer and rebounder, (d) he fouls pretty good. Perhaps a cheaper James Posey without the range?

Money

The Hornets save about 1.3 million dollars in sum (6.6 Daniels out, 4.55 Songaila in, 0.75 Brown in). This brings the net salary to $73,656,549, about 3.7 million over the luxury tax. This means that George Shinn would have to pay an additional 3.7 million dollars out of pocket.

So while it seems unlikely from a roster standpoint that the Hronets make another move... they might end up doing it anyways. Additionally, this trade brings the roster total to 15. I can't recall the last time the Hornets went into a season carrying 15 players, and I'm pretty sure it hasn't happened in the Byron Scott era.

One Possible Caveat

So overall, this trade sounds good and dandy. Get a solid 3rd string PG that we wanted last summer. Get a small/power forward that can foul and shoot pretty well. Get a million dollars off the books.

There is one issue that needs to be raised. One of the trademarks of Jeff Bower trades is that he acquires players with one more contract year than necessary. It happened with Mike James. We traded him for Antonio Daniels... and, again, it happened with Antonio Daniels. Now, the same is true with Darius Songaila. Songaila has a 4.5 million option for ~~2009-2010~~ 2010-2011 that he'd be foolish not to pick up.

Pre-trade, the Hornets had 66.99 million commited to 2009-2010 player salaries (with Daniels coming off the books). Post-trade, the Hornets have 73.2 million commited to salaries, which will again be over the luxury tax. Is the potential lack of flexibility worth a player who won't factor into longer term goals (Songaila)? I don't know, but it's an interesting issue to consider. I like this trade for sure, and it can't be too hard to move a 4.5 expiring... but, it's worth pondering.