In raw and adjusted plus/minus for this young season, the standout Lakers have been Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol. No one else is even close, and most of the team is in the negative.
So wait, I thought Kings fans were convinced Tyreke Evans could play point guard. Now that the team is worse than expected, Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee writes: "They need a facilitator so they can move Tyreke Evans to shooting guard or small forward and exploit his strength and natural scoring instincts. Better yet, they need Geoff Petrie to acquire a more conventional point guard -- or a player whose skills would better complement those of Evans -- and accelerate the learning process. (The Kings are aggressively pursuing a move and reportedly have inquired about Atlanta's Jeff Teague and Houston's Aaron Brooks, among others, though team officials declined to comment on the speculation.)"
Very negative sports fan e-mails have really gotten to Ted Leonsis. He has a dozen big businesses doing all kinds of exciting things, and two pro teams, but he's dedicating no small part of his holiday weekend to getting away from the negativity of some hockey fans. He blogs: "The Capitals -- despite playing poorly in a few games of late -- are in first place in the NHL and we sell out every game. Best of times, worst of times. I have decided to chill just a bit this long weekend. I received some emails the last two days from Caps fans that are quite chilling using terminology around death; cancer; terminations; fire this guy; trade that player, etc. It is just a bit much and over the top. Rather than react, I am just going to unplug a bit and enjoy my family and share my perspective on happiness and family connectivity. I would suggest you all generate your reasons for being grateful and enjoy the weekend with family and friends. Be positive -- be happy -- show gratitude. Try a day without snark. Embrace happiness. Thank you."
I'm a huge advocate of beautiful new ways to display data visually. For instance.
A nice little Blake Griffin painting and poem.
Stan Van Gundy says Phil Jackson doesn't have any clue.
A new shoe claims to prevent the rolling of ankles. I want research!
See if you can name the player Beckley Mason of HoopSpeak is writing about: "He hucks a gross, flat, wounded duck of a jumpshot."
Allen Iverson has found a Friday's in Turkey, and says his diet is getting back to where it needs to be.
Some good Arvydas Sabonis advanced stats and video "what if" propaganda.
Rob Mahoney of the Two Man Game: "Rick Carlisle dubbed the affair a 'playoff-style game.' ... You don’t play playoff-style games against the Detroit Pistons." The Mavericks won with two key offensive rebounds.
Nick Young says that pre-game he happened to practice the exact shot he ended up making to win the game. That's awesome. Although, my inner cranky high school coach is screaming he should practice shooting from all his spots every pregame.
Paul Westphal on Cowbell Kingdom, talking about stopping Chris Paul: "When I was in Dallas, we lost to him in a five game series. We were convinced that if we made him go left, we could stop him. Both times he went left, we stopped him (laughing)."
Assessing how NBA players Patrick Patterson, Soloman Alabi, Gani Lawal, and Christian Eyenga are doing in the D-League.
JaVale McGee waving goodbye to Elton Brand who, incidentally, has been suspended a game by the NBA for this foul.
Rahat Huq of Red94: "Yao's health was the premise from which all else stemmed. It didn’t matter whether we could land ‘Melo if Yao was down. The Rockets must ask themselves: is this the way to run a team? If the revenue Yao brings allows the Rockets to spend in ways they otherwise could not afford, the choice to keep Yao may be justified. After all, there are few better alternatives and little use for cap space. But the psychological toll of his ailings, upon his teammates and this team, cannot be overlooked. It’s difficult beyond comprehension to gameplan for two different schemes. Baseball this is not and continuity and cohesion are requisite to success. There is a certain value in being able to say, 'this is how we play, and this is how we play every night.' The Rockets cannot do that with Yao Ming on their roster."