Shallow Thought Of The Day, Vol XIII

Watching the Rockets last night, it seemed that the Trevor Ariza-Courtney Lee trade was, from the Rockets perspective, not so much about Trevor Ariza or Courtney Lee, as about Chase Budinger.

Shallow Thought Of The Day, Vol XII

Magic Johnson : Anfernee Hardaway : : Michael Jordan : Latrell Sprewell

Shallow Thought Of The Day, Vol XI

Chris Bosh, Udonis Haslem, Mike Miller, Joel Anthony, and Mario Chalmers is probably a better supporting cast than Anderson Varejao, Antawn Jamison, Mo Williams, Anthony Parker, and Delonte West. Oh yeah, Dwayne Wade helps, too.

Shallow Thought Of The Day, Vol X

From 2006 through 2010, Jason Collins has appeared in 280 games, logging 5448 total minutes. In that span of time, Collins has averaged 4.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, 0.8 blocks, and 5.4 fouls per 36 minutes. He has shot .391/.188/.473 for a true shooting % of .420. His offensive rating over that span is 87, and his defensive rating is 107. His PER is a whopping 3.9. He is set to make over 1.2 million this year as a member of the Atlanta Hawks. Enjoy it, Jason.

Shallow Thought Of The Day, Vol IX

How on earth did the 1984 Knicks, with a starting lineup of Bill Cartwright, Truck Robinson, Bernard King, Rory Sparrow, and Ray Williams, lead the league in Defensive Rating?

Shallow Thought Of The Day, Vol VIII

Did you realize that Magic Johnson and John Stockton peaked at the same time? By Win Shares, Magic's best 5 year stretch was 1987-1991. By the same measure, Stockton's best 5 year stretch was 1988-1992. (This is one of the reasons that the 1988 Lakers-Jazz WC Semifinals deserves to be remembered much more than it is.)

Shallow Thought Of The Day, Vol VII

One of the memes floating around this year's playoffs has been that this is Dirk Nowitzki's best chance to win a title. But I'm not sure this is accurate. The first reason is that I am pessimistic about this group's ability to win a title. Every team that has won a championship in recent memory has done so with great defense or two stars (usually both). This Dallas team has neither.

The second reason is that I think they have a better shot next year, or in 2012, because of Rodrigue Beaubois and some advantageous contracts. If Beaubois continues to improve, and gets 30-35 minutes a game, he could become the excellent second option that the Mavs need. They have Dampier's valuable contract to deal this summer, as well as Butler's expiring to add pieces. If they get a good return on those players, and if Marion can remain a good defender, then a starting five of Kidd-Beaubois-Marion-Nowitzki-Haywood (with Terry, the Dampier and Butler bounties, and Rookie X off the bench) would be improved defensively (with Beaubois guarding the quick guards that destroy the Mavs now) and offensively.

Shallow Thought Of The Day, Vol VI

Since February 1, Vince Carter is shooting .515/.489/.826 (in 22 games). He is averaging 19 points a game with 3.4 assists and only 1.4 turnovers.

Shallow Thought Of The Day, Vol V

While watching the Rockets earlier this year, they always seemed to go on a run when Kyle Lowry came in the game. His stats weren't that impressive; he drew a lot of fouls, but didn't shoot all tht well, his assist rate was good but not great, subjectively he seemed to be a very good defender, but he didn't get a ton of steals. Despite his less than stellar stats, his adjusted plus/minus has been among the best on the team all season.

Lowry was injured recently, and I was curious to see how the Rockets would fare without that "spark". As it turns out, not well. They have gone 2-6 in his absence, giving up between 97 and 125 points in each game, with the nadir coming against Indiana when the Rockets lost because they didn't have anyone who could guard TJ Ford. The Carl Landry-Kevin Martin trade didn't help (for this year, it'll help when Yao gets back), but the Rockets really miss Lowry right now.

Shallow Thought Of The Day, Vol IV

I should have some actual honest to goodness historical content here by the end of the weekend, but for now I'm content to present: this week in Stockholm Syndrome!

So, I was watching some of the Nets-Bucks game* on Wednesday (it seemed like a good idea at the time) when Keyon Dooling left the game with an injury, and the Nets broadcast team (Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel) expressed dismay (fair enough, it always sucks when someone gets injured). Then, perhaps getting carried away, they opined that Keyon Dooling was a competitor, and the Nets needed him to "keep that competitive edge going". Yes, those Nets. Then, after noting how washed up Jerry Stackhouse** was, the announcers return to the topic of Dooling, praising the veteran's competitiveness and swagger. Aside from a hilariously inappropriate use of swagger, I think this is a verifiable case of Stockholm Syndrome. Somebody may need to stage an intervention.
(For those curious, this sequence happened late in the 2nd quarter)

*It was a surreal experience to watch Luke Ridnour shred an "NBA" team.
**How sad is it that a pair of people praising Keyon Dooling still notice that Stackhouse sucks? That may be the low point of Stack's career.

Shallow Thought Of The Day, Vol III

I was perusing Mike Bibby's stats, and to my surprise, I discovered that Bibby is only 31. He's been a prominent basketball player since the mid 90s, and was a key player on a championship contender 8 years ago, so I thought he was older than that, but what's interesting is the amount of basketball "archetypes" Bibby has embodied in his career.

First, he was a key player on two outstanding Arizona teams (including a national champion), giving him "college star" status. Then, he was the "good young player on a bad team" with the Grizzlies for just long enough to make that phase of his career memorable. Then he moved to Sacramento just in time to become a key part of the better Webber-Peja-Divac teams, becoming a "key part of a great team". Then, after the Kings declined, he was the "good veteran trapped on a bad team." Finally, he was traded to the (young) Hawks, where he became the "veteran mentor", seeming old in comparison to Josh Smith and company.

Bibby was in each of these roles for at least two seasons, but never much longer than that, meaning that all of these phases of his career are distinct from each other, but never taking up too much of his career. And I think the final factor here is that Bibby plays "old" now, not running all over the place, and using the open three as his primary offensive weapon.

Shallow Thought Of The Day, Vol II

(Good) NBA Centers, 25 and Under, 2010 edition
Dwight Howard
Andrew Bynum
Brook Lopez
Al Horford
Marc Gasol
Andrew Bogut
Kendrick Perkins
Joakim Noah
Greg Oden

(Good) NBA Centers, 25 and Under, 2000 Edition
Marcus Camby
Brad Miller
Ben Wallace (if you consider him a center)

The current crop of young NBA centers doesn't match up to the late 80s, when the NBA had David Robinson, Hakeem, Ewing, Brad Daugherty, Vlade Divac, Rik Smits, and Rony Seikaly. But it's light years better than 2000, and comparable to 1980, when the NBA's under 25 centers included Moses Malone, Jack Sikma, Bill Cartwright, Alvan Adams, Tree Rollins, Darryl Dawkins, and James Edwards.