Why does anyone blog?
Why does the world need blogs? Isn't it just writing and pictures and stuff? Didn't we have that before?
There are a million answers to that question. And they differ from person to person.
But I'll tell you this: Blogs make it so that everyone is a candidate to publish stuff. And when lots of people publish, some of what appears is exceptional. There's just a lot of talent out there that gets unlocked, and that's a good thing.
For instance, we have learned in the last few months that Sebastian Pruiti can do one heck of a job breaking NBA plays down into visuals. He already runs a blog in the TrueHoop Network, called the Nets are Scorching. But in a side project (Nets fans need side projects) he started using still images and video in really clever ways to show off his knowledge of NBA X's and O's. It's really something.
For instance, did you notice, during the 3-point shootout on Saturday, that Channing Frye's left hand was so high on the ball it was forcing his shooting hand slightly to one side, and as a result the red, white and blue "moneyball" wasn't spinning nicely? Pruiti noticed, and has it all documented in nice pictures.
Did you notice how George Karl used a clever approach to keep the ball out of LeBron James' hands during a late-game inbounds? Sebastian has that in pretty pictures too.
This is what his newish blog NBA Playbook does. Attacking the zone. Using Andrea Bargnani as a shooting threat. Tactical mistakes in crunch time against the Cavaliers. Keeping Al Horford from scoring.
It's the kind of stuff real basketball geeks have always wished would be in their local paper -- but would alienate the paper's regular readers.
It's the kind of stuff bloggers get to do, and we're very pleased to announce that today, the NBA Playbook has become part of the TrueHoop Network.