Category Archives: Clippers

NBA Tipoff: 5 Things to Look Forward to This Season

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Every season a new story line that takes over the NBA. Last year, it was the Heat with their self-proclaimed fame, leading to a very timely demise at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks. This year, at least so far, we see rising to the surface of almost all nba conversations, the great mythical fables of young Blake Griffin and CP3, making a splash in the purple and gold lakes of Los Angeles.  With the regular season less than 12 hours away, I wanted to discuss 5 things I’m most excited for in the 2011-2012 season.

Josh Smith losing ~25 pounds in offseason

Smith has been hitting the practice facility day in and day out, beating his teammates to the gym, and usually being the last one there.  This sort of work ethic doesn’t go unnoticed, and even more evident is this-  J-Smoove is approximately 25 pounds lighter, proof that not all NBA players go with the Shawn Kemp diet during lockouts.  Jokes aside, I’m interested in seeing how Smith’s game is affected.  He is down to about 225 pounds on his 6-foot-9 frame. He says he desired the quickness he had as a rookie seven years ago.  So, good news: Smith will be dunking the ball, alot.

What troubles me however is that his leaner body will struggle against bigs in the paint, an issue that could force Smith to take more jump shots. Smith spent much of the 2009-10 NBA season in the paint, but reverted back to old instincts in 2010-11, settling for outside jump shots.  But, but .. Josh Smith hit a career-high percentage from three-point range in 2010-11! .. The problem with that is his career-high is a measly 33 percent from beyond the arc.

So here’s to Josh Smith’s quicker, leaner body and to all the fans and Coach Drew hoping it leads to everything but more jump shots.

How the LA Clippers will manage with little depth

The Clippers start a top 2 point guard, a top 10 power forward, and an athletic center who complements both their games.  Add 2 veteran shooters to fill in the blanks, and the starting five here is solid (CP3, Billups, C. Butler, B. Griffin, DeAndre Jordan). The Clips’ lack of depth up front is the only thing that keeps them from being a top notch contender, IMO. The Clippers are in desperate need of frontcourt depth and even after the adding Reggie Evans, the team is dangerously thin up front. At the moment, Griffin and DeAndre Jordan will have to log heavy minutes to get this team to a solid record and playoff berth. In a season where the schedule is unfriendly to say the least, wearing down their young bigs could prove to be troublesome as the season moves forward.

Russell Westbrook / OKC Thunder passing

Last year’s playoff run showed us a huge problem in the Thunder offense: no desire to pass the ball.  Each offensive play was seemingly an isolation set with whoever had the ball for that moment.  There was little off ball movement, and the frustration built play after play, both for the team and their fans.

I don’t like judging players on their stats, but rather how they impact a game.  You can have 0 assists but still be the main distributor on the team.  One of the understated ways in which great point guards (Jason Kidd or Magic for example) impact their teams is not simply by passing the ball to the open guy, but also in the way that their passing attitude infects the entire team’s mindset.  When a player like Kidd is on the court, it immediately becomes apparent that the way in which Kidd thinks about the game is infused into his teammates.  So, even when Kidd leaves the floor for his backup, the mentality of looking for the open man and running through the offense is still ingrained with the others.

So, please Mr. Westbrook, pass the ball a little more.  Go through the offense instead of continuous dribbling followed by a futile attack to the basket.  And last, but not least, be the floor general OKC needs, not the scorer it already has (KD).

Improvement in LeBron’s game?

I flip to the Magic/Heat preseason game the other night (Dec 21st) just as the game is starting, and Lebron did something for me to dislike him even more: he airballed a freethrow in the first quarter of the game.  After hearing so much about Lebron working on his game during summer, specifically his post game with Hakeem over the summer, I’d expect little things like airballing free throws to stop.  I say stop because it has happened before. Sure he had 27 points in 30 minutes, but what ‘chosen one’ would ever airball a free throw?

Since 2003, I’ve watched LeBron do very little to his game; let it be noted, he hasn’t really had to.  His pure strength and athleticism has provided him with great individual success in the league, and I can see why people would say he has very little to change to his game.  To all those people, you couldn’t be any more incorrect.  When teams really lock down on defense (say, the playoffs for example), LeBron’s constant drives to the basket aren’t getting it done. So, please Lebron, don’t work on your game just to tell us you’re working on it, but do it so you can actually win someting meaningful.  Put in time at the gym with just you and the ball. No Hakeem, no media, no nothing. Work on your game so you can stop airballing free throws.  Work on your game so that you can add an up and under move to your arsenal.  Work on your game so that you have moves B, C and D, when the defense takes away A. Work on your game so you can be remembered for something substantial, not just a sore loser who never reached his full potential.

Javale McGee Dunks

JaVale McGee can dunk the ball, and well, we all enjoy seeing dunks on people’s heads.  Pierre enjoys them too, mostly because he can stare them down after the fact. Welcome to the league young Vucevic.

Javale welcomes Vucevic to NBA

—–

This is the jump off, face off, kick off and first pitch

Opening serve or tee off, take your pick

I’m the Mailman delivering styles that I’m concocting

While my man Mr. E assists like John Stockton

I stay wilding, mad range like Ray Allen

And while you rock your anthem I refuse to stay silent

 Akrobatik - “Sportscenter”

 

This Week’s Delicious Hot Links: Where the Cavs Won the Lottery

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What is a Hot Link? Well, to most people, it’s a type of spicy hot peppery smoked sausages often found at barbecues in Texas and South America. Here in Stacheketball, it’s a list of links from this week’s best of the NBA Blogosphere.

Cavs: The Blog: John Krolik touches on a variety of topics related to the Cavs winning the lottery with the Clippers’ pick, including his belief that Kyrie Irving should, without a doubt, be the pick, and that he should be a star.  Not sure I agree that the Clippers’ decision to make the trade was done in the interest of the short term and at the expense of upside (ridding themselves of Baron Davis’ contract provides significant flexibility going forward), but it’s obviously a big moment for the fans of Cleveland.

HoopsWorld: I did my best to quell some of the hysteria over the Cavs’ improbable lotto win at ClipperBlog, but found the most common question among the commenters to be: why didn’t the Clippers put protections on the pick?  The answer — aside from the obvious possibility that Cleveland might not have agreed to the trade if the pick were protected — is that NBA rules prevent teams from going consecutive years without first round picks.  The Stepien Rule, as it’s known, came about, ironically, because of former Cavs owner and de facto G.M., Ted Stepien, needed to be protected from his own terrible judgment.

A Wolf Among Wolves: Timberwolves G.M., David Kahn, found himself in the spotlight again, and again for the wrong reasons.  His comments about the the last two lottery winners being represented by a widow and a child that suffers from a nerve disorder were questionable, but it may have been more than a conspiracy theory/joke gone wrong.  Ultimately, it follows his pattern of deflecting blame for past, and possibly future, draft failures.

Canis Hoopus on the connection between David Kahn and Birtherism.  The takeaway? Even if Kahn was onto something about the draft being rigged and even if he nails this pick, there may not be anything he can do to convince Wolves fans he’s capable of running an NBA team.

HoopSpeak: Somehow, the Bulls have managed to take what their coach, Tom Thibodeau, says and allowed it to fuel their success.  Anthony Bain presents this phenomenon in an excellent graphic representation.

RFH Collective: After game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Scott Simon finds it appropriate to look to 300 and the Battle of Thermopylae for insight.

DraftExpress: Now that the draft order is set, the first mock draft, from the best in the business.

TrueHoop: Kevin Arnovitz, as usual, takes time out of his busy schedule doing top-notch beat coverage of the Heat to address an issue that is far more important than any outcome of any game.  Suns president Rick Welts came out of the closet, and should be in line for a significant increase in quality of life because of it.  It’s an issue that hits home for Kevin, and, thankfully, one that the NBA and many of its current and former players are being proactive about addressing.  This is a wonderful trend that hopefully continues.  Even though Charles Barkley says that he played with gay teammates and doubts that a player would suffer from coming out, it’s refreshing to see such noticeable public faces of the league taking such a positive stand.

 

Charlie Widdoes contributes to ClipperBlog and the RFH Collective, as well as Stacheketball.  Follow him on twitter: @charliewiddoes.

The Most Fascinating Case of Zach Randolph

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Much has been said and written about Zach Randolph lately, and for good reason.  He is arguably the best player on a team that disposed of the top-seeded Spurs and then split the first two games against Oklahoma City, on the road, while looking nothing like an eighth seed.  Take the images of Dikembe Mutombo on the ground clutching the ball or Baron Davis walking into the arena wearing a bullet fedora then dunking on Andrei Kirilenko, and spread those over a few exhilarating weeks and you have Z-Bo, 2.0.

He has become the face of this unlikely winner – and a smiling, lovable one, at that – an image so unexpected for most NBA fans that it begs the question, what’s changed?  The guy has been kicked aside by three teams in his career, for reasons ranging from legal problems to a reputation for selfish play, a collection of factors that painted him as a malcontent with a contract he couldn’t live up to, no matter how many times he put up 20 and 10.  Conventional wisdom would suggest that it has to be something.

First things first: the legal issues are very real.  Some of them never amounted to punishment and a few could be chalked up to immaturity (underage drinking a few months short of his 21st birthday is something we can probably look past), but the rap sheet started before he was a McDonalds All-American and continued to grow throughout his NBA career.  Even people who others love to be around can make enough bad decisions and associate with enough bad people to be branded “bad news,” and for the majority of his time, Randolph qualified as that.  That his talent on the court made him one of the highest-paid players in the league only complicated matters.

He has always been a scoring and rebounding dynamo.  Since he became a regular in 2003-04 with Portland, he has averaged at least 17.6 points and eight rebounds every year, usually finishing among the league’s best power forwards in both categories.  But there is a thinking in basketball that producing on teams that don’t win means less, and for the bulk of his career, wins were scarce.  After coming into the league as the 19th overall pick in 2001 — a draft position due in large part to his checkered past and unorthodox style of play (read: crafty lefty without NBA athleticism) — he earned his first max contract as the anchor of a team that had some success early on but never managed to outgrow it’s “Jail Blazers” moniker.

By 2007, two years into a six-year, $84 million deal and coming off a season in which he averaged nearly 24 points and 10 rebounds, it became clear just how powerful perception can be, when the Blazers shipped him off to New York for Steve Francis’ horrendous contract and Channing Frye.  He had fit in all too well with a group that included troublemakers Rasheed Wallace, Qyntel Woods, Darius Miles, and Ruben Patterson, but failed to assimilate when the organization began to move forward with young stars, Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge.  As Henry Abbott noted in his excellent piece a couple days ago, the Blazers were ready for a new image, and couldn’t have been happier to have a player in Roy who not only matched Randolph’s production on the court, but wasn’t afraid to stand up for what was right in the locker room.

Randolph had burned his bridge with the team that drafted him, but very rarely in sports are players held accountable for their actions if they produce.  Barring the most extreme offenses — and even crimes against others like DUI’s and assault cases frequently get excused in this alternative reality — teams tend to value their investments far more than we might hope at times.  Putting aside “off court” issues for a moment, what we saw with Randolph in Portland was a situation in which a player was, in fact, producing at an elite level, but even that came into question amidst the losing.  The culture of the team and the city played a role in the decision to dump him, but from a purely basketball perspective, many believed that his game was, somehow, inherently suited to bringing teams down.

His 80 games with the Knicks served to further this belief.  Randolph may have had an opportunity to make right with the up-and-coming Blazers, but the little more than a season he spent with New York was tailor-made to torpedo his reputation as a player.  Most of his teammates were either one-dimensional (that dimension being volume shooting) or flat-out bad, the second best player (David Lee) played the same position as Z-Bo and did so in a far more fan-friendly way, and the man in charge of things was Isiah Thomas.  Zach Randolph got paid more than $13 million in 2007-08 to score a career-low 17.8 points and grab 10 rebounds a game for a team that won 23 games.  At 26 years old, the age at which players are presumed to be in their athletic primes, Zach had turned in a relatively typical performance by his standards, but the situation was so toxic that it became difficult for many to differentiate him from Eddy Curry.

By the time he got traded to the Clippers 11 games into the 2008-09 season, his value was at an all-time low.  Although Mike Dunleavy knew that he was getting a good player, the fact that he only had to give up Tim Thomas and Cuttino Mobley (who would never play another NBA game) spoke volumes.  Not to mention, there is (or was, hopefully) no better place for an athlete to go to cement himself as a player who can’t win than with the Los Angeles Clippers.  For those of us who watched him play those 39 games, it was clear that, at the very least, he could still play.  New York was the low point for him on the court, and his brief stint with the Clippers represented the small first step back.  You wouldn’t have noticed it from afar, because the Clippers were busy losing 63 games, but you could stay up to watch the late games and see Z-Bo putting up numbers on par with the franchise power forward who had bolted the summer before, Elton Brand.  He was surrounded by a disgruntled Baron Davis, a rookie Eric Gordon, and a sometimes-healthy Marcus Camby, but he did what he does: get buckets.

It was the first time in my life I began to consider just how thin the line is between a ball hog and a go-to scorer.  He had been labeled a black hole, but I couldn’t count the times I thought to myself, all you have to do is give him the ball anywhere inside the three-point line and he’ll score — hell, he even shot 34% from behind the arc.  What he did during that short time, shooting 49% and providing those moments that only Clipper fans can truly appreciate, made me appreciate just how special his game is.  Dunleavy knew it when he traded for him and his “untradeable” contract, and though his rigid approach may have been a primary reason for his firing, he steadfastly believed that you win by assembling the most talent.  Sometimes, that came at the expense of fit.

And that brings us to Memphis.  Despite his individual success, Z-Bo had no chance of staying with the Clippers for two reasons: yet another legal misstep (a DUI) and the presence of Blake Griffin.  Dunleavy unloaded him, again for nothing (Quentin Richardson never actually made his much-anticipated return to the Clips), to a Grizzlies team with its own history of losing and questionable personnel moves.  From Hasheem Thabeet to O.J. Mayo to Mike Conley, they had muffed draft picks and compiled a group that looked like it could reach .500 if things fell right, but appeared to lack any real upside.  And in Year One in Memphis, you could argue that’s exactly what happened.

But that’s the funny thing about basketball.  You started to hear whispers about how, at $16 million, Z-Bo might not be just a chucker with a terrible contract (not that he ever really was).  The team won 40 games.  They continued to build.  All of these pieces began to come together into a group that really fit.  Conley might not have deserved the extension he got, it turns out Rudy Gay and his contract weren’t so necessary this season, and Mayo may have been a better fit coming off the bench.  Guys like Sam Young, Tony Allen, Greivis Vasquez and Darrell Arthur weren’t the norm when Zach was in Portland or LA, to say nothing of his ideal post partner, Marc Gasol.

What does it all mean?  Mostly, that context is everything in basketball.  It’s easy to say now, but as a basketball player, Zach Randolph has been strikingly consistent over the course of his NBA career.  As Moe Smedley, Zach’s high school coach, told Henry Araton in his New York Times profile:

“Let me tell you something, I don’t want to knock these N.B.A. coaches because that’s none of my business,” said Smedley, a 33-year veteran of the Indiana high school wars, “but what you’re seeing is that Zach is finally playing for a team that has accepted him for who he is: a big man who can’t jump and takes funny-looking shots. But if you give him the chance, he’ll figure out a way to win.”

As Abbott noted, the legal troubles are not only significant, but also not entirely behind him.  Even recently, he has been associated with a couple of situations that simply do not reflect well upon someone who is driving a narrative about redemption and growth.  If those recur, then none of this really matters, because they are the types of people and activities that can and deserve to derail a career in professional sports.  But those are off the court, and there is certainly a chance that his new found commitment to his family life and his daughter allow him to separate himself from his past.  What’s most fascinating, to me, is the question not only of what has changed for him as a player, but if, indeed, there has been a significant change at all.

Depending on who you ask, there are some sound answers to those questions.  Abbott cites ESPN analytics guru, Dean Oliver, as pointing to his decreased reliance on ill-advised, long jumpers.  Oliver says, “Just by cutting down his mid-range jumpers to five per 48 minutes and maintaining or slightly increasing the number of layups he takes, he is getting better shots. He is now taking only about 25 percent of the team’s shots and those are much higher quality shots. He cut out the fat.”  This makes perfect sense.  It also, however, speaks as much to his teammates and the system in which Z-Bo operates as it does about his game as an individual.

I watched more of his games in New York and LA than any fan should be subjected to, and it’s hard for me to remember many cutters or opportunities to get easier shots within the “flow” of the offense.  That is what happens when you play with ball-stoppers like Jamal Crawford, Al Harrington, and Baron Davis, among others — Crawford himself is an example of what can happen when you get put into a more favorable team situation that allows you to play to your strengths.  Z-Bo looks better on defense and appears a more wiling passer, but those are also largely team-dependent.  His assist rate is actually down in his two years in Memphis from his career, but that probably speaks more to our inability to accurately quantify passing ability, because he is clearly making good decisions about when to move the ball.

After his 34 point, 10 rebound performance in Game 1 against the Thunder, Kevin Durant called him the best power forward in the league.  He isn’t, because Blake Griffin is.  But he’s up there, and he probably has been for a while.  It’s just taken the right situation for him to show it, and for us to get the chance to see it.

 

Charlie Widdoes contributes to ClipperBlog and the RFH Collective, as well as Stacheketball.  Follow him on twitter: @charliewiddoes.

 

The Triple-Double Fraternity Welcomes In Chuck Hayes and Blake Griffin

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AP Photo

Last night two players recorded their first career triple-double, Chuck Hayes and Blake Griffin.

Hayes, a 6’6 center, got his by scoring 13 points while recording 14 rebounds and 11 assists. Hayes is a notorious hard worker-high motor-type player so it is nice to see his efforts rewarded. Hayes was a key factor–as one might expect– in the Rockets 131-112 win over the Warriors. On the season Hayes is averaging 7.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, which makes this one of the more surprising triple-doubles in recent memory. It is not often you see a guy who averages such a miniscule number in one of those categories record a trip-dub. Good for Chuck Hayes.

Griffin, you know who Blake Griffin is, needed two overtimes to get his 10th assist, but hey, a triple-double is a triple-double. The Clippers squeaked past the Wizards in double overtime (the fifth overtime period played in two days at the Staples Center) 127-119, thanks in large part to Griffin’s impressive night. Griffin notched 33 points, 17 rebounds, and 10 assists. His last assist came from a kick out to ex-Wiz Randy Foye who buried a momentum three which sealed the game. Griffin had flirted with the rarified triple-double in prior games this season, but this was the first of his young career. While Griffin’s triple-double wasn’t expected it certainly wasn’t as random of Chuck Hayes’.

Hayes and Griffin now get their names listed besides those like: LeBron James, Rajon Rondo and Borris Diaw, all of whom have recorded a triple-double this season.

In other news around NBA the Pacers tamed the struggling Bobcats, which helped open up the Pacers lead to 3 games over both the Bobcats and Bucks–who lost to the Kings–in the enthralling race for the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The new darlings in Denver got an impressive W against the Spurs, albeit a shorthanded Spurs squad. The Magic stymied a Knicks team that is now under .500 for the first time since November 27, when they were 8-9. There were some other games too.

Ball Night!

In addition to Stacheketball Matt founded and runs the NBA blog, Momentum Three. You can find him on Twitter @Matthouston91 where he is not afraid to admit that he will be watching NCAA basketball tonight instead of the NBA. MARCH MADNESS Y’ALL

Breaking Down the NBA’s Best Benches

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With the trade deadline and waiver period in the rear view mirror and NBA rosters set for the stretch run, it’s only appropriate to do an exhaustive study on the teams with the best benches, right?  Right.

And since we already know which teams have the best starters – all that takes is a quick look at the standings, for the most part – let’s take a look at how much help they get off the pine.  First, a disclaimer: there are many ways to quantify the contributions of a bench, but for this exercise we will focus on quality over quantity whenever possible.  In the case of some teams, of course, there is value in both.

Portland:  It’s almost not fair, but Portland’s bench has to be considered the best in the league, if for no other reason than the presence of Brandon Roy.  Obviously a starter and one of the best players in the league if he didn’t have to deal with devastatingly balky knees, there are still few players who you’d rather have with the ball down the stretch.  The very definition of a bench player is someone who can’t quite handle the workload of a starter for one reason or another (in his case, long-term health concerns), but what he gives in spurts is as valuable to his team as many starters.  And despite attempts to limit playing time, he’s still playing over 31 minutes a game.

The addition of Gerald Wallace has also served to strengthen this unit, allowing Nate McMillan to play matchups with Wallace at the four and Aldridge at the five against smaller lineups, or using Camby at the five and bringing Wallace off the bench.  Either way, there is enough firepower at the top to give them the top spot despite a relative lack of depth compared to some of the other teams on this list.

Clippers: What was once justifiably considered a glaring weakness has all of a sudden become a real strength for the Clips, who can now realistically be called “deep.”  DeAndre Jordan’s emergence as a certifiable NBA starting center has allowed them to bring now-healthy Chris Kaman off the bench, and Kaman has accepted and responded to his new role with nearly 13 points a game since coming back from ankle injuries. Always a gifted shooter, especially for a 7-footer, he has upped his averages from 10-15 feet (53%) and 16-23 feet (45%) this season.  Few teams in the league have centers capable of scoring like he does, and none can say they are able to bring one off the bench.

Their precocious 19-year old backup point guard, Eric Bledsoe, was thrust into a starting role with Baron Davis out to start the season, but has come on strong of late (averaging 16 points over the last seven games) and shown the capability to impact the game in a variety of ways.  He ranks fourth among point guards in Rebound Rate and brings energy and athleticism on both ends of the floor that teams hope for from guards off the bench.  Al-Farouq Aminu’s 3-point shooting has cooled off considerably since the beginning of the season, but he has found a niche by using his length and finishing ability to impact the game.  While both rookies remain vulnerable to lapses in decision-making and are prone to playing out of control at times, they have contributed significantly to many of the team’s wins, and still offer gobs of upside.  Add efficiency-monster Craig Smith (60.6 True Shooting Percentage) and Randy Foye (10 games of 20 or more points) to the mix, and you have a formidable second unit.

Lakers:  The Lakers essentially have six starters, with Lamar Odom perfectly capable of filling in without missing a beat.  As it stands now, with Andrew Bynum healthy, he brings tremendous versatility off the bench.  He has a career highs in PER (19.8) and 3-point shooting (38%), and is 54% from the floor with his typically strong rebounding ability (8.7/game).  Regardless of his role, he remains an integral part of the team’s system, a perfect fit in the triangle offense with his length, passing, and ability to stretch the floor.  Given the fragile nature of the team’s starting center, his value cannot be overstated.

Perhaps the biggest addition in the offseason for the defending champs was Steve Blake, especially considering the defensive deficiencies of the starter, Derek Fisher.  But while Blake has struggled to contribute as hoped, another guard, Shannon Brown, has stepped up and provided a big boost.  He has upped his shooting percentages across the board and gives an older team much-needed athleticism and finishing ability that, again, fits the mold of an ideal guard off the bench.  Matt Barnes has only played in 42 of the team’s 68 games, but he adds toughness and defense along with 47% shooting that the Lakers hoped for when they brought him on.  It’s obviously a team that gets most of its production from the starters, but like most contenders not playing in Miami, they have their share of weapons in reserve.

Celtics:  Some – many, maybe – questioned the wisdom of trading Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City in return for Jeff Green.  Perk was a physical force for the Celts and a contributor to their strong defensive identity, but in trading their starting center, they may have actually strengthened their chances of a title run by augmenting their bench with Green, a case that Assistant Director of Basketball Operations, Mike Zarren, made at Sloan (did I mention how much I learned there?).  Green adds length and shooting off the bench, and is arguably better suited to contribute in Boston with a master distributor like Rajon Rondo and a system less reliant on individual scorers like Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.  Like the game I saw against the Warriors, Doc Rivers is often able to play a small lineup with Kevin Garnett as center and Green at the four because many teams lack a traditional center.  In addition to Green, the Celtics feature Glen Davis, another big capable of mitigating their relative lack of size with his bulk and scoring ability.   He has become a vital role player in his fourth year with Boston, averaging nearly 30 minutes a game.  The team has struggled at times to find a capable backup to Rondo with Delonte West unable to stay healthy, but between him and rookie Avery Bradley, there is at least the potential for capable fill-ins when Rondo needs a rest.

Phoenix:  Behind Steve Nash, the Suns may not have the most impressive starting group, but thanks, in part, to their early season trade with Orlando, they actually boast one a pretty strong second unit.  As evidenced by his success backing up Dwight Howard, Marcin Gortat has the ability to play starters minutes at center.  He ranks 12th in the league among centers in Rebound Rate and 14th in Adjusted PER despite coming off the bench, and remains one of the most underrated big men in the game.  Jared Dudley has become an incredibly valuable bench piece (40% from three), showing he is capable of contributing this year with a career high usage rate without any drop in efficiency.  In Aaron Brooks, they have one of the strongest backup point guards in the league, his style a nice fit for Phoenix’s uptempo offense.  Another piece from the Orlando trade, Mickael Pietrus, provides strong defense and scoring (53% True Shooting) on the wing.

Dallas:  For a team that “goes 10-deep,” the bench really gets most of its production from two guys: Jason Terry and Shawn Marion.  In his 12th season, Terry remains the prototype for a reserve guard, able to score in bunches as a deadly complement to Dirk Nowitzki.  He is around his career high in Usage Rate, but remains efficient from deep (38%) on his way to 16 points per game.  Though he is no longer the kind of disruptive force that made him a perennial first round fantasy pick, Marion has quietly continued to score efficiently (51% from the floor) and adapted his game to suit the needs of the team by shooting fewer than one three-pointer every other game.

Along with those two, the team has two “energy guys” in J.J. Barea and Corey Brewer and a very solid backup center in Brendan Haywood.  Barea is a worthy backup to Jason Kidd, with his energy and ability push the pace while knicking down threes at a solid clip (35%).   The newly-signed Brewer is 6’9” and a very strong wing defender who can finish at the rim (although he should never be allowed from farther away).  Haywood is efficient around the hoop (nearly 57% from the floor) and provides the team with a strong backup to Tyson Chandler.  In sum, it’s a group that supplements Nowitzki and Kidd to form one of the deepest units in the league.

 

Charlie Widdoes contributes to ClipperBlog as well as Stacheketball.  Follow him on twitter: @charliewiddoes.

Kim Hughes Was Saved By His Players

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Once in a while, a good story comes out of the Los Angeles Clippers, where it just seems full of doom as long as Donald Sterling owns the team.

In September 2004, assistant coach Kim Hughes (who, last year, was promoted to interim coach after Mike Dunleavy stepped down) was diagnosed with prostate cancer. His doctor said that he could hold off surgery for a few months but Hughes didn’t want to miss a chunk of the season with training camp coming up. Dunleavy recommended him to a second doctor. That doctor then said he could get surgery the next week.

The problem was that the Clippers didn’t cover Hughes’ medical insurance. Hughes was going to pay in the neighborhood of $70,000 for the surgery.

That’s where the Clipper players came in. Dunleavy let them know the news and Corey Maggette, Elton Brand, Chris Kaman, and Marko Jaric helped pay for the surgery. And it was a good thing the surgery got done because the normally slow-moving cancer was moving on a faster rate. Because of these players, Kim Hughes is now cancer-free. Hughes thanks these players every time he sees them. He mentioned that the players really don’t want to be recognized for it because they just wanted to help out their friend and it was the right thing to do. We all criticize and make fun of these players for one reason or another but, in the grand scheme of things, these players are really good human beings.

Definitely a heartwarming story.

HAT TIP: Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal-Times.

PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Gallardo/AP.

Rey-Rey is the founder of The No-Look Pass, in addition to being Editor of the ‘Stache. You can find him rambling away on Twitter: @TheNoLookPass.

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