Mellow Out On Melo

In Bill Simmons' recent mailbag, he agreed with a reader that called Carmelo Anthony a "13 year-old, manipulative girl."

You Have a Job and You Want to Go Somewhere Else

So, you have a job and you want to go somewhere else. You have told your boss's about this 9 months in advance. You have told them money is not an issue, the issue is both location and being on a cutting-edge team in order to do your best work. You have told them your wife does not like the location. You have told them you want to be closer to home. And you have told them all this without spreading it around the office that the people you work for just simply are not making the cut anymore.

Are You Being Manipulative?

What have you done that has manipulated the situation for your benefit? You did not negotiate with your bosses in order to artificially raise the price on your services. You are still giving your all at work everyday. You have given them 9 MONTHS instead of the two-week notice in order for them to prepare for your departure. You have made clear the reasons that they cannot retain your services.

Why Do We Hold Athletes to a Different Standard?

Why Do I Want the Mavericks to Swap Kidd for Nash?

Nash is a great player, as evidenced by his two M.V.P.s (even thought I do not think he deserved these.) At 36, he is still playing near or at the level of these seasons. He does everything you want from your point guard on the offensive end: he penetrates at will, he does not overdribble, he keeps the ball moving and, most importantly, he makes the right decisions. He also has the added benefit of shooting like an elite shooting guard.

Kidd was a great player, he is no longer the type that can dribble penetrate, he still makes good decisions but he has been ravaged by declining skills and his offensive role has basically been relegated to spot-up specialist.

Why, then, would I love to see a swap of Kidd for Nash so that if my Celtics meet the Mavericks in the Finals they would have a much better chance at winning?

KD: What Other Famous People Were Doing at the Age Durant Is Going to Win His Second Scoring Title

Obama: graduating from Columbia University

Eminem: cooking and dishwashing at Gilbert's Lodge

Edgar Allen Poe: raising $170 from his fellow cadets to pay for his 3rd volume of poetry

Who Is the Most Important Player on the Miami Heat?

The most important of the Heat 3 is Chris Bosh. He is not near as effective a player as Wade or Lebron. The reason he fulfills the title as "Heat's Most Important Player" is his strategic importance.

As I discuss in "Top 10 Isolation Players," Wade and Lebron fill very similar roles for the Heat. Bosh fulfills a unique role that the Heat cannot do without.

Why Are Kobe Bryant and Ray Allen Successful Way into Their 30s and Antoine Walker and Allen Iverson Not?

On ABC's broadcast of the Lakers-Celtics game yesterday, an analyst mentioned how Kobe Bryant actually made it to the arena before Ray Allen. Ray Ray is known for being the NBA player most likely to make it to the arena before anyone else.


These two are head and shoulders above the rest of the league when it comes to effort. This not only means making it to the arena before anyone else, it also means taking care of their bodies in the weight room.


Antoine Walker was known as the first player on the court and the last player off. Allen Iverson was notorious for his rant on "practice" and for his effort on the court.

First Impressions: Blake Griffin

Let me preface this article by saying, unfortunately, I got tired last night and was not able to watch the whole Clippers-Blazers game. Therefore, there are aspects of Griffin's game (especially his ability to finish with a jam) that I was not able to observe.

The first thing I noticed is Griffin does not leap for rebounds. You might think this is a weakness for someone with Griffin's leaping ability. It is actually a strength.

The Greatness Equation (Guest Article by Luke Ewalt)

The Greatness Equation

For the last few years, as I've watched the great players that I grew up idolizing (basically the original Dream Team) retire and give way to a new generation of superstars (basically the Redeem Team, with maybe a dozen other guys who didn't make the cut), I really began to wonder how these players stacked up against each other. And I don't mean just the biggest iconic names of their generations like LeBron vs. Kobe vs. Jordan. I'm talking even Barkley vs. Garnett. Or Nowitzki vs. Pippen. Or Reggie Miller vs. Ray Allen. How do those guys stack up against one another? Sure you can look at stats and see how many points or rebounds or assists someone averaged and compare them, but what about across different positions, who, by definition, are going to have wildly different averages in different categories? How could I compare Jordan or Magic to Shaq or Duncan? Hell, how could I really even compare any of them to Wilt or Russell or Kareem who played in completely different eras?

How Can Rondo (and you!) Improve His Free Throw Shooting?

Rondo is only shooting 41% on free throws this season and 62.1% for his career. You might think he is just a poor natural free throw shooter, but a closer look at his career splits reveals something:


October: 15 made, 29 attempted = 51.7%
November: 73 made, 145 attempted = 50.3%
December: 105 made, 156 attempted = 67.3%
January: 111 made, 176 attempted = 62.5%
February: 101 made, 170 attempted = 59.4%
March: 110 made, 156 attempted= 70.5%
April: 74 made, 116 attempted= 63.7%


This trend to warm up by mid December holds steady in every one of his seasons. While he still is not a great free throw shooter, if he was putting more effort into free throws during the off-season, he probably would be around 64.7% for his career (the average of free throws not in October or November, not a huge difference, but a pretty modest bump.) And it is likely that the extra work he put in would compound over the years.


Now let's take a look at his shot:

First Impressions: Kevin Love

Tonight, I am in the middle of seeing Kevin Love play a full basketball game for the first time (people might actually watch the T Wolves play by choice now!) My overall assessment is, despite having advanced skills when it comes to rebounding, touch around the basket area and shooting 3s and free throws, Love remains a middling NBA starting power forward because of an inability to make mid-range shots, happy feet, lack of toughness around the basket and poor defensive play when it comes to challenging fall-aways.

I suspect it will take him 2 years to become average in these areas, which will make him a top 10 NBA player.

Of course, it will come as no surprise to any NBA fan that Love impressed me with his rebounding (even more than I expected!) because his fundamentals were so solid. Boxing out has become a lost art among NBA players, but Love always puts a body on someone if they are around the basket area. If there is not an opponent within 12-15 feet of the basket, Love is a master at staying in the middle of a zone that does not interfere with a teammate's rebounding zone. (A very underrated skill which is just as important as boxing-out, and the reason that rebounds just seem to "find" Love.)

On the offensive end, his fight for positioning actually comes at the cost of his and his team's shooting chances. This is because he goes for positioning in areas where it is impossible to get a post pass. He makes up for this disruption in his team's offensive sets with offensive rebounds and putbacks. However, when he becomes more comfortable playing in half-court sets in places other than the 3 point line, I expect he will sacrifice some offensive rebounding to become more a part of the regular offensive flow.


His touch around the basket is impressive, but again it is in use basically only when he gets a rebound, as he is hardly ever in position to receive passes in the post. This also makes it doubtful that he has a good back-to-the-basket game or a good hook shot.


He is great and part of the offensive sets when he is shooting 3s. And he gets to the line and makes his shots there (I assume, but I have not seen enough of him, that he gets to the free throw line because of people fouling him when he gets an offensive rebound.)


He is not a good midrange shooter, which is why he is shooting .454 from the field despite shooting .437 from beyond the arc and having great touch around the basket. I expect this to improve GREATLY for 2 reasons:


1. young players tend to be bad midrange shooters (according to Hollinger) when they are starting out, and tend to think they are much better shooting there than they are.


2. He took a BANK shot in the 2nd quarter. Love is a true student of the game, and anyone who knows NBA history well knows that, for midrange shots, the bank shot is BY FAR AND AWAY the most efficient way to score, and NBA players seemed only to abandon it because it lost them style points. If you don't believe me about the effectiveness of bank shots, try to check out Tim Duncan play a few games.


The bigger problem with his shooting inside the arc is that when he gets the ball 10-18 feet from the basket he gets "happy feet" and travels. This is likely because he has not worked a ton on footwork and because he is nervous getting the ball in this area.


This problem should not be as self-correcting as the midrange shots, and it will be up to the coaching staff to find ways to incorporate drills for him within team play.


Love's biggest problem seems to be banging around the basket and contesting fall-aways. This is not a surprise for someone who has just entered the league two years ago and is 22 years old. He should physically mature up to a peak in his late 20s, even if he foregoes a ton of lifting weights and physical training (he seems like the type of player to do more basketball drills and less physical training. This tends to help players as they develop into their late 20s, but hurt them once they reach the wrong side of 30. Antoine Walker and Allen Iverson are prime examples of this.)


He needs to get more aggressive when contesting mid-range shots and in general on the defensive end. Big baby got a TON of uncontested looks (granted, he was not hitting them, but usually these are shots that he does make.) Love left Davis WIDE OPEN the whole game. When Davis decided to take Love to the hole, you could see this was because Love did not want to expose his poor post defense.


This is a problem of attitude and not a problem of skill. He has 2-3 inches on Davis, and Davis is not a threat around the basket area, so he can always rely on Darko (a great shot-blocker) to help out should Davis go by him.


Love is such a student of the game (watching him play for 2 minutes or even listening to him talk for 2 minutes will reveal this) that I doubt any of these weaknesses will exist for long. Barring injury, he is a sure-fire Hall of Fame player. But, if you do not believe me about him being a middling starting NBA power forward as of now, consider this list (in no particular order):


1. Chris Bosh
2. Kevin Garnet
3. Pau Gasol
4. Tim Duncan
5. Dirk Nowitzki
6. Amar'e Stoudemire
7. Carlos Boozer
8. Josh Smith
9. David West
10. Blake Griffin
11. Zach Randolph
12. Paul Millsap
13. Louis Scola


Love is still behind all these players, mostly because of his shortcomings on the defensive end. By the end of NEXT year, however, I suspect he will pass all these players except Gasol (and, possibly, Amar'e.)

Should We Forgive Ron Artest?

On November 19, 2004, Ron Artest was involved in a brawl known as "The Malice at The Palace." This brawl, especially because it involved fans, was one of, if not the worst, events in NBA history.


Artest is used to some rough behavior on the court, including one incident in high school where he witnessed his friend and teammate, Lloyd Newton, die from getting the leg of a table thrown at and lodged into his back.


When growing up in these circumstances, getting rowdy (even if it is not right) is understandable.


What makes it even more understandable is Artest's mental health issues and his willingness to address them.

How Rondo has Improved and How Likely is He to Break 14 Assists Per Game

(This article was originally posted on a different URL. All statistical analysis is prior to Delonte's injury and the night before Rondo's first return from injury. I do think Rondo will end up with about the same amount of assists I predicted here.)


Rajon Rondo is now in position to pursue the single season assists per game record.

Rondo is Improving his Team with Better Decisionmaking and more Precise Passing

He marches toward the record book while improving his team's chances at winning. In his pursuit of the assists record (14.54 a game by John Stockton in 1989-90, Rondo is now at 14.3 a game). While in the past he was able to find open teammates on the floor with ease, he has gained a much better understanding of where to place the ball and which players can handle certain kinds of passes.

Top 10 Current NBA Player Rivalries

NBA Player Rivalries have Cooled Down over the Past Two Decades, but Intriguing Match Ups still Exist


When most players match up against each other, they are more concerned about their team winning the game than upstaging the other player. There are the rare cases, however, where NBA players still do hate each other and will do anything to get the better of the other in a match-up.


NBA player rivalries have cooled down considerably since their heyday in the 1980’s and early 1990’s, where players like Isiah Thomas, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Bill Laimbeer and Kurt Rambis truly hated each other. Punches were thrown and brawls were had, especially when the Bad Boy Pistons were involved.


For the most part, that is not the case nowadays because fluid movement between teams and growing camaraderie among players is created due to greater contact playing in A.A.U. as youngsters, lots of cross-over in summer training sessions and contact during international ball play in both the Olympics and FIBA.


The following list is not a debate of who is the best in the NBA or who is the best at certain positions, as these “rivalries” have been increasingly fabricated by the media over the past decade and a half due to the lack of personal rivalries.


Many players in these “rivalries” could care less about what the other player does, particularly evident in the “Lebron James versus Kobe Bryant rivalry.”

NBA Players: Are They Now Position-less because of Move and Replace Offenses?

The following comments were about how you determine what players are playing what positions at what time during their time on the court. These comments were part of an article at http://www.basketball-reference.com/, which you can read in its entirety at http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=8359.


I could not have done a better job explaining this situation/problem then basketball-reference.com reader Eric. His comments (reformatted to make it easier for you to read) are as follows:


1. Eric:Thanks! I wanted to clarify one thing:


"You comment on them showing Kobe at the PG and SF positions as a evidence of that the statistics are misleading. What you failed to notice was they they only show him in those match-ups for 1% of the time. Certainly Kobe could have been cross-matched for a few plays during the season."


My point was not so much that Kobe being at PG/SF is questionable - I have no doubt that Kobe spent significantly more than 1% of the time defending the opposing PG or SF depending on who they were. My point was that I'm not sure that's what the 82games statistics even mean.