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BasslineSpin.com December 29, 2008 ...I
was an eyewitness (although we left early) to the worst home Kings loss in
Sacramento history last night at ARCO Arena. The Boston Celtics played
defense like they were teaching it. Sacramento countered with nothing.
Yikers—it was bad. The final was 108-63. ...I don’t even know where to start
with the Kings. It must be frustrating to all involved to see such horrid
play. Individual efficiency has slipped from the start of the season for
everyone not named John Salmons or Bobby Jackson. I just computed the current 2008-09
season EFR’s for Sac and it is not pretty. Donte Greene is at .268 (68th at SF). This tells
me that Greene should be playing only in blowouts. December 17, 2008 ...Let’s
check out rookie efficiency. I will list the rookie, his current efficiency
and finally where that would rank him at his position versus all who played
over 300 minutes last season. ...Anthony Randolph .498,
11th at SG. ...George Hill .492,
13th at PG. ...Greg Oden .548,
16th at C. ...Marreese Speights .570,
18th at PF. ...Derrick Rose .459,
18th at PG. ...Anthony Morrow .452,
21st at SG. ...Brook Lopez .510,
24th at C. ....Marc Gasol .500,
29th at C. ...Ryan Anderson .474,
24th at SF. ...O.J. Mayo .442,
24th at SG. ...D.J. Augustin .423,
25th at PG. ...Russell Westbrook .409,
26th at PG. ...Rudy Fernandez .424,
27th at SG. ...Javale McGee .493,
29th at C. ...Kevin Love .515,
30th at PF. ...Mario Chalmers .394,
33rd at PG. ...Roy Hibbert .432,
35th at C. ...Michael Beasley .433,
39th at SF. Eric Gordon .363,
44th at SG. ...Robin Lopez .381,
46th at C. ...Jason Thompson .463,
47th at PF. ...Luc Richard M’Bah A Moute .392, 51st at SF. ...Nicolas Batum .390, 52nd at SF. ...Darrell Arthur .406, 59th at PF. ...Bobby Brown .343, 60th at PG. ...Courtney Lee .331, 60th at SG. ...Joe Alexander .303, 65th at SF. ...Donte Greene .289, 66th at SF. ...Brandon Rush .274, 67th at SF. December
15, 2008 ...Jose Calderon still
has not missed a free throw this season. Dude is 56-56! ...Jason Kidd is not getting to the free throw line
much anymore. Kidd has only 20 attempts so far this season. For perspective, Peja Stojakovic, who lives on the perimeter, has
been to the line 25 times already. ...Now that fan voting results are
creeping in—when we list the guys who are playing like All-Stars this
season—we will use the fan vote as a factor. So - in the East the fans so far
say they want Lebron James, Kevin Garnett, Dwyane Wade, Allen Iverson, and Dwight Howard as starters. Iverson doesn’t deserve
it but if that is how it goes down we would add Devin Harris, Rajon Rondo, Chris Bosh, David Lee, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Antawn Jamison, and Caron Butler. Rondo, Lee, Jamison, and Butler are
all long shots as the coaches will surely add Paul Pierce and Joe Johnson. Ray Allen is
having a good year and could be rewarded as well. Rashard Lewis is also a possibility. In the West
there is no way around someone worthy being shutout. The fan vote right now
has Tim Duncan, A’mare Stoudemire, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, and Yao Ming as starters. I have no issue with any those guys as
All-Stars. We, thinking progressively as always, would add Tony Parker, Chauncey Billups, Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Andris Biedrins, Kidd, and Brandon Roy. That would leave Shaquille O’Neal, Al Jefferson, Steve Nash, Tracy McGrady, Ron Artest, and David West on the outside looking in. Reality
says Biedrins won’t make it and coaches could dock Parker for his early
injury. Carlos Boozer has
probably been hurt too long already. Marcus Camby has
been brilliant but the Clippers losing record will most likely doom any
All-Star hope for him. December
9, 2008 ...The Kings beat the Lakers tonight at ARCO Arena.
It was cool to feel the energy in the building again. The Kings played well
(even finishing with two assists for every one turnover!). Bobby Jackson, and Francisco Garcia hit big shots for Sacramento to end
their eight-game losing streak. ...It occurred to me that Sac matches up
better against teams that don’t have a real crafty, quick, get-to-the-hoop,
type Point Guard. ...A
Spin Around the NBA...If you ever needed a prime example
of why the “Lenovo Stat” or “Plus/Minus” stat is misleading—look at Delonte West’s +27 from tonight’s
Cavs
boxscore. I am a Delonte fan (he’s on my fantasy team) so I
am not knocking him - I am just using his line as an example. Tuesday
night—he was 2-9FG, with a .333 EFR for the contest. He did dish eight
assists without a turnover but… +27??? It says here that has EVRYTHING to do
with being Lebron James’ teammate.
James’ EFR was obscene in the Cavs blowout win over the struggling Raptors.
Over 1.000 (a perfect game in my book) was Lebron in 30 minutes. So West has
the high plus minus because he is on the floor with Lebron not because West
was exceptional. You follow?...The Pistons are 8-9 since Allen Iverson joined the team. ...Joakim Noah is not scoring at all in Chicago but
he is rebounding and blocking shots and he has more assists than turnovers.
...I am happy for Quentin Richardson in
New York. I have always liked his demeanor but I thought about two years ago
that he was done as a NBA player. His back was hurt and he was nothing more
than a stand still shooter. Now Q is healthy and seemingly rejuvenated with Mike D’Antoni. |