SB Nation User Blog: farfromfl

Daily dose of deadpan humor.

farfromfl — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:02:03 -0000

Daily dose of deadpan humor.

Hilarious video of the creator of Seinfeld interviewing Blake Griffin. 5 minutes of your morning towards a brighter more jaded and cynical day.

Dwight Howard has developed a jump shot!

farfromfl — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 08:40:18 -0000

Dwight Howard has developed a jump shot!

A video Dwight tweeted of a basketball workout. he hit like 9 of 13 mid range shots on the move. I loved it.

I'm concerned, however, with how that fits into his game. Dwight doesn't have the greatest handle in the game, and if he makes people respect his jump shot, just so he can take it to the rack, I think he's likely to pick up more turnovers. If he got the ball handling skills to play a mid range power forward's game, the shooting would be fantastic. Maybe I'm just not getting it yet. It's late.

Any progress is good progress.

Some poor analysis from Read Between the Baselines for you to get revved up over

farfromfl — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 04:00:12 -0000

Some poor analysis from Read Between the Baselines for you to get revved up over

The author demonstrates the vast knowledge he gained from watching the Magic in the finals last year by doing a misguided breakdown of their offseason.

How would David Lee fit with the Magic?

farfromfl — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:04:26 -0000

I saw this thought on another forum.

Gortat for Lee in December if Lee signs a one year deal with NY, which is appearing more likely by the day.

I've always loved Lee, for one, so understand that this post comes with a serious mancrush. That aside, we're talking about one of the best rebounders in the NBA at any size, that's got some good athleticism. He can finish, and play pretty decent D, and he's young.

NY likes Marcin Gortat. That much has been previously attested to. They need a center. Eddy Curry is one of the biggest (in literal and figurative terms) emabrrassments in the NBA. Too harsh? Remember where he was drafted, and watch him fade into history before his 6th year in the NBA. It's not going to be because of a career ending injury either.

I think the contracts will probably look similar. My question is, how would Lee fit.

74% of his shot attempts are inside shots (82games), and he doesn't shoot the three... at all... He shoots .355 on his 2 pt jump shots. He was a more prolific (3 per 48 for Lee, 1.9 per 48 for Howard), but less efficient (2.6 Ast to TO for Lee, 3.4 for Howard) passer than Dwight. He does pick up 10% of all available rebounds, but, all in all, I don't see him helping much on the offensive end with Dwight in the game.

His per of 19.07 puts him 9th among power forwards, ahead of Paul Millsap, Chris Anderson, and David West, but comments around NY indicate that he's a hindrance on defense.

With those thoughts in place, I'll make the case that the Magic should look elsewhere, despite the hypse, and his great rebounding numbers.

Anybody else thinking there's more homeless talent than money right now?

farfromfl — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:06:14 -0000

We've all been looking close at the FAs and thinking about how much it would take to sign them. I'm starting to wonder what the actual pool of money out there looks like. Lets have a look at the teams in the east, and what they're planning to sign this summer.

Atlanta is going to use their money locking up Marvin Williams. A qualifying offer of 7.3 mil is there to let everyone else know they mean business. They'll try to re-sign Bibby because they're comfortable with him. The Hawks need a true PG, but don't want to pay for one right now. (Ben, I caught you cheatin on Peachtree Hoops.)

The Boston Celtics have a full MLE extended to Rasheed Wallace. Apparently, he's keeping them waiting with his answer, to hear out other offers. Apparently, this is making Boston fans kinda nervous that Plan B will evaporate while Plan A is taking it's time. Plan B, by the way, is to split the MLE for Grant Hill and Antonio McDyess (They won't be that blessed. Only the Lakers are that blessed.)

Charlotte isn't the worst train wreck in the league anymore, but they'll still be in contention for at least the next two years. They've got the full MLE then they'll be pushing on the tax, but they don't want to spend much. The best player the Bobcats are even considering is Anthony Carter as a backup to Raymond Felton.

According to BlogABull, despite losing Ben Gordon, Chicago is strapped financially, and won't really be able to improve for next year.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have the full MLE and the 2 mil bi-annual up for grabs, and intend to use as much of it as neccesary to get either a former Pistons big, or a tall wing player like Grant Hill, Anthony Parker, Marquis Daniels, Josh Childress or Matt Barnes.

Detroit may not be signing anyone else, after their spending spree on Ben Gordon and Charlie V, but they're not done making moves. Expect either Rip Hamilton or Rodney Stuckey (I would automatically assume Hamilton if not for all of the statements out there by the team that he's staying.) to be traded before the season starts. With the firing of Coach Curry, the Pistons are in full blow it up mode.

Indiana has 8 mil to spend, but they are looking for bargain players. They're reportedly interested in Dahntay Jones (less than a mil last year), Anthony Carter, and Linas Kleiza. (Kleiza would be a great addition to fill out the Magic's SF rotation, BTW.) Pacer's GM Larry Bird say's they're in the midst of a "three year plan." Nothing flashy...

While D-Wade would prefer that Miami pick up some help so that they can win now, they are in 2010 mode. Don't expect much, although it's rumored that Iverson might be interested in going to the Heat. (To play PG to Wade's SG? That doesn't sound like a match made in heaven to me.) Riley wants to stand pat.

Milwaukee is looking at a full MLE that they might throw at Josh Childress, but that would prevent them from re-signing Ramon Sessions, who they would really like to keep around, in case Brandon Jennings is as bad as some scouts have been saying. (They drafted him because he might be as good as some scouts are saying, but it sounds, overall, like it's more athletics than skill and intelligence that's the buzz around Jennings.) If they re-sign Sessions, the Bucks are still going to have maybe half of an MLE to play with, until they move Bruce Bowen and Kurt Thomas in late August...

New York has offered Jason Kidd something in the range of 18 mil for 3 years, which is solid full MLE territory. Dallas offered him 25. So it seems the Knicks may still be on the hunt, maybe for a Grant Hill, or something else old. Seems Donnie Walsh's interested in old this year. Can't fathom why.

The Philadelphia fanbase seems extremely downtrodden, as a side note. To be honest, they don't seem to really have a direction this off-season, other than figuring out their PG spot. They don't like the idea of giving a long term contract to Andre Miller. They want a PG who's going to hold that spot for their rookie, (former HS player of the year) Jrue Holiday for two years. They threw out Brevin Knight... If that's not giving up on next year, I don't know what is...

The Washington Wizards have pretty much nothing to spend, but they're looking for a cheap big.

That boils down to either two above MLE deals, three MLEs, and five sub MLEs, unless Cleveland splits their money up, in which case we're looking at one, four, and six. I'll expect the latter. The Bucks re-signing Sessions would move one of those MLEs to a sub MLE as well.

Poll

Can the Magic still get better through free agency, or can they just fill out the roster? Who's your pick?

Linas Kleiza to fill out the SF rotation

21 votes

Brandon Bass for some muscle in the paint

20 votes

A swing at Shawn Marion for starting SF

20 votes

The relative type of better that needs explaining in the comments

10 votes

I think we're done here

8 votes

79 votes | Poll has closed

backup power forward options in exchange for Rafer

farfromfl — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:52:28 -0000

In no way shape or form are any of these options being discussed between the Magic and any of these teams, to my knowledge. I've simply compiled a list of desirable backup big men, and a list of teams that could use Rafer's services. Let's match em up, and then shoot at the results until a picture makes sense.

This list covers down on 14 big men, the number of years they've played, and their size, which I believe to be a key concern for the Magic. They're listed based off of Yahoo's rating for fantasy contribution. Not the perfect metric, but it's a system. We'll do a little more analysis on a few of them after we look at teams that could use Skip. Some of these guys currently play SF, but can move up. Size matters, but the talent of an Andrei Kirilenko can make you willing to scrimp on size a little.

Player	Team	Years	Height	Weight
rasheed wallace	detroit	14	6'11"	230
paul millsap	utah	3	6'8"	250
ronny turiaf	golden state	4	6'10"	249
matt bonner	san antonio	6	6'10"	235
boris diaw	charlotte	6	6'8"	235
andrei kirilenko	utah	10	6'9"	225
antonio mcdyess	detroit	14	6'9"	245
udonis haslem	miami	6	6'8"	235
nick collison	oklahoma	6	6'9"	255
spencer hawes	sacramento	2	7'1"	230
travis outlaw	portland	6	6'9"	207
luc richard mbah a moute	milwaukee	1	6'8"	230
brandon bass	dallas	4	6'8"	240
jason thompson	sacramento	1	6'11"	250
jeff foster	indiana	10	6'11"	250
jason maxiell	detroit	4	6'7"	260
renaldo balkman	denver	3	6'8"	210
zaza pachulia	atlanta	6	6'11"	275
leon powe	boston	3	6'8"	240
chris kaman	la clippers	6	7'0"	265

The team list focuses on the depth chart at PG and the number of bigs on the roster. I seperated the bigs into total players and those at the talent level we're looking at and above.

Team	Starter	Backup	Backup	Bigs	Quality
Atlanta	Mike Bibby	Acie Law		4	3
Boston	Rajon Rondo	Stephon Marbury		6	4
Cleveland	Mo Williams	Delonte West	Daniel Gibson	4	2
Dallas	Jason Kidd	JJ Barea		5	3
Golden State	Jamal Crawford	CJ Watson		5	2
Indiana	Jarret Jack	TJ Ford		6	2
LA Clippers	Baron Davis	Fred Jones		5	3
Miami	Mario Chalmers	Chris Quinn	Daequan Cook	6	3
Milwaukee	Luke Ridnour	Rookie		6	3
Minnesota	Kevin Ollie	Sebastian Telfair		6	2
Portland	Steve Blake	Sergio Rodriguez	Jerryd Bayless	5	3
Utah	Deron Williams	Brevin Knight		7	4

Based on what I've seen, I think Orladno's best opportunities for an upgrade at the PF backup would come from Boston, Dallas, the Clips, Milwaukee, Portland, or Utah. Atlanta, Golden State, and Indiana are short on quality bigs, which would require us to give them a quality big in return, which we don't have to give. (I'm considering Tony Battie to be just under the level of quality we're discussing here at this point.) Cleveland and Minnesota are locked up with the bigs they've got. Skip would be a slight upgrade for Miami, (Though Chlamers is developing well) but they've got a logjam at PG already.

This means our list of targets would include

Player	Team	Years	Height	Weight
paul millsap	utah	3	6'8"	250
andrei kirilenko	utah	10	6'9"	225
travis outlaw	portland	6	6'9"	207
luc richard mbah a moute	milwaukee	1	6'8"	230
brandon bass	dallas	4	6'8"	240
leon powe	boston	3	6'8"	240
chris kaman	la clippers	6	7'0"	265

I will go on record to garauntee that the Magic will not get Paul Millsap. He was a diamond in the rough, much like Marcin Gortat, but the cat got let out of the bag last year when Carlos Boozer went down for so long. The Jazz are very comitted to keeping him, in part because there is a great degree of uncertainty as to whether Boozer will stay in Utah. Kirilenko is a different matter. I believe the Jazz would let Kirilenko go. I'm just not sure that Rafer Alston is the right bait. They need a better backup than Brevin Knight. That's got to be on their shopping list. I just don't think they're ready to give up a guy who was in contention for 6th man of the year for Skip. I'm also interested in Kosta Koufos, who played verry well earlier this year, but Rafer has too much salary for a one for one there, and neither of our easily movable pieces (JJ and Battie) would work well for that deal.

Portland wants help in their backcourt. Steve Blake had a great year, that they know he is unlikely to repeat. Steve Blake is a backup point guard. Rafer wouldn't be a serious upgrade, but he would give them a solid two man rotation. They're shoping Sergio Rodriguez, and Jarryd Bayless plays a lot at the 2. Travis Outlaw is a great young player, and a great value for Rafer. Either team could move small pieces to make salaries work. Outlaw would give the magic solid defense, but his slim for a PF, and that could hurt things. The Magic really have a 3 man rotation in the 4 and 5 position most of the time, with Battie picking up the scraps. If we're looking for someone to fill Marcin's shoes, that person has to be bigger than Travis Outlaw. Joel Przybilla would work, for sure, but he is Portland's knee insurance on father time, er, Greg Oden. No, they are not letting go of LaMarcus Aldridge.

Mbah a Moute (MAM) turned some heads up in Milwaukee in his rookie campaign. He plays both forward positions, and started a number of games this year at the 3 spot. He's an active rebounder, puts up good percentages, and has quick hands. Again, he's not the biggest guy in the world, but he is athletic. The real draw here is that the Bucks are going to be starving for help at the PG position, possibly more than any other team this fall. Luke Ridnour will stay, but has a habit of getting injured. He's right around Rafer's talent level. Ramon Sessions is leaving Wisconsin. He's butted heads with Scott Skiles, and he's been pretty underappreciated by the Bucks in general. He has the talent ofr a starting role, and someone in the NBA is going to pay him for it. Charlie Villanueva might be a good fit for the Magic, but I'm not convinced his heroics this last year will move beyond his contract season, and I'm fairly sure he'll be overpaid for the length of his next contract.

I really don't have any problems with Brandon Bass, except for, again, his size. He's young. He's played well in Dallas, providing good rebounding, defense, and shooting percentages in about 20 min a game. He's a solid, dependable option. Dallas is a little heavy on bigs, and they could be losing Jason Kidd, although they intend to resign him if possible. JJ Barea has played admirably while he's been in, but he's not the answer if the Mavs run into any type of trouble.

Leon Powe might be one of the best options for the Magic, (and any other team in the league looking for a hard working forward). The Celtics are not going to be able to re-sign both Powe and Big Baby Davis. Stephon mMarbury is a man of questionable leadership, and sanity. Rondo can go all game long, but that can't be good for Boston. Skip could be a very good fit for them. Powe is physically the strongest player on the list, after Millsap (a beast), and Kaman (a bit of a marshmallow). He has great leaping ability, and plays very good defense. If I had to pick a replacement for Marcin, this is who I would pick. He works hard, on and off the court. You just have to believe tha this guy is going to continue to get better and better. He also has one of the best attitudes in Boston, not that that statement indicates much. (Honestly, he seems like a pretty nice, humble guy.)

The Caveman, at 7'0" 265, would fill out our big man rotation very nicely. The Clippers can't believe that keeping Marcus Camby, Zach Randolph, and Chris Kaman around is good for their team. You can't play three of them together, and none of them deserves anything but a starter's or major reserve role on an NBA team. Kaman is the lesser of the three. Camby is old enough to be ready for a rest, but he's such a defensive force that no team that's got him on the roster wants him out of the game. Remember, he was the defensive player of the year for the 07-08 season. We don't want Zach Randolph. No discussion. Move on. This logjam means someone has to move this summer. Combine that with the fact that their backup PG is fred Jones, and you can see an easy deal. With Baron Davis' injury history, the Clips need a solid backup, unless they want to go fish again for years to come. This trade seems like a match to me.

Now I haven't looked at salaries at all during this process, just needs. I know that salaries play a larger role than needs, I just haven't gotten to it. We'll see how much time I've got in the next few days. Maybe there will be a version 2 of this.

I also haven't explored th possibility of finding a way to get rid of Rafer's salary by trade and waive or something of the like, with the intention of re-signing the Hammer. We'll have to see.

Little Desmond has a word with Lebron and Kobe about Dwight Howard!

farfromfl — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:08:09 -0000

Little Desmond has a word with Lebron and Kobe about Dwight Howard!

So about that goaltending...

farfromfl — Mon, 11 May 2009 04:02:02 -0000

Pretty sure it was in the second quarter (I'm on a business trip, so I couldn't DVR the replay.)... Pietrus took the hit on his way to the hoop and Rondo got a good leap for what looked like a block, in addition to the foul. Replay indicated that the ball touched glass before Rajon trapped it. The goaltend was not called, and Pietrus missed both free throws.

Had it been called, arguably, the Magic would have won the game. A day or two after the NBA botched a late game foul call for the Mavs, this looks pretty ugly to me. Just sayin...

The venom for Rondo deserves it's own post.

farfromfl — Thu, 07 May 2009 10:58:23 -0000

I was truly inspired by squids opinions on the matter. =) I'm not nearly as worked up over it, but that's because I pretty much stopped actively watching the game before it happened, then DVRed back and forth over the incident in slo-mo a few times to make sure I knew what happened.

I'm a little annoyed with Skip for doing something so silly. (And honestly, it was silly. If you're going to hurt someone out of frustration, whether that frustration is from getting dogged or from get dirty elbow, shove the guy, or throw him into a scorers table.) But, I'm not surprised. Skips been known to participate in knuckleheaded activity before. I believe he had some trouble with the law towards the beginning of this season in Houston. It's my impression that his behaviour in Orlando has been considerably more mature than in previous stops during his career.

I'm more annoyed with Eddie House. His comments after the game were unnecessarily inflamatory. I saw an elbow from my angle. I don't think it was a planned elbow. I think he was going to run into Skip either way, because he didn't realize where he was when he turned around, but decided to rub it in when he did.

And even though the little roller disco punk didn't have anything to do with today's incident, I pretty much despise Rondo's attitude, and the way the NBA has empowered him, and the rest of the Celtics, to live off of this gang mentality. I don't remember much from the Bad Boy lakers years, other than who was involved, but I've noticed some pretty nasty flagrants this year, and Boston has been at the forfront of the majority of them. I was incensed that Dwight got suspended for his elbow and Rondo got off for a slap on Brad Miller and the Heinrich incident. I'm not saying Dwight shouldn't have been suspended, it was clearly an elbow aimed above the shoulders. I'm saying Rondo has been clearly far more violent than any other player in this years playoffs, and it's out of control. I fully expect this issue ot come up during this series, and if the league does not stop it now...

Lewis vindicates!

farfromfl — Fri, 01 May 2009 17:38:40 -0000

Is he overpaid? Considering that he's a borderline all-star and compared to other players of equivalent talent and experience, probably. Is he worth it? Based on his performance last night, I'd say yes. We have to remember that Lewis changed his game quite a bit when he came to the Magic. He plays around Dwight now, not vice versa. I'm of the opinion that he's an equivalent talent with his former teammate, Ray Allen. I think both fellas proved they can still get it done when faced with a depleted oster around them last night.

Bring on the Bulls!