Category: General NBA insight

As always the official All-Star voting ballot is released just a few weeks into the regular season, giving fans to vote for their favorite players long before they really prove worthy of being named to an All-Star team.

The fan voting is for the starters, not reserves.

Here’s the list of players on the ballot: NBA All-Star ballot

Upon seeing the story in the Daily News hinting at Marbury’s possible departure from the Knicks, I decided to try to see what I could get for him by using the ESPN Trade Machine

Here are the successful results and the reality:

1 – Marbury to Washington for Antawn Jamison. Marbury gets to play with Gilbert Arenas for two years and that pushes DeShawn Stevenson to the bench while making Andray Blatche the starting power forward. On the Knicks side of the equation, a Marbury departure will make Nate Robinson the starting point guard or push Jamal Crawford there and Quentin Richardson to the starting shooting guard. If they put Jamison into the starting five, it makes him the small forward.

2 – Marbury to Sacramento for Ron Artest and Mike Bibby. Marbury becomes the point guard in Sacramento and Bibby becomes the point guard for the Knicks. As for Artest’s role he becomes the starting small forward and Quentin Richardson becomes the sixth man. Back in Sacramento, Francisco Garcia becomes the starting small forward.

3 – Marbury to Portland for Raef LaFrentz and Darius Miles – That’s a total unrealistic deal for both sides at least I think it. LaFrentz barely plays and Miles is coming back from major knee surgery and a lot of money.

4 – Marbury to Phoenix for Shawn Marion – Another unrealistic trade but if Phoenix ever offered this, I’d do this quickly. Marbury probably in this instance supplants Raja Bell as the shooting guard while Alando Tucker maybe moves to replace Marion. Marion slides over to small forward in New York, Crawford the point and Richardson the two-guard.

5 – Marbury to New Orleans for Peja Stojakovic and Bobby Jackson. Another unlikely one but Marbury gets to be the two-guard alongside Chris Paul. Bobby Jackson becomes the starting point guard, Richardson goes to the bench and Stojakovic starts at small forward

(Note this thing also said I could trade him for Jason Kidd, obviously that’s not happening)

6 – Marbury for Michael Redd and Dan Gadzuric. In theory not a terrible trade but both players have four years remaining. Gadzuric becomes Eddy Curry’s backup while Redd becomes the starting shooting guard and Crawford moves to the point. Marbury becomes Milwaukee’s starting shooting guard.

7 – Marbury for Kobe Bryant. Both players have similar salaries but Bryant has a no-trade clause. Should this happen, both would simply be the starting two-guards.

8 – Marbury for Cuttino Mobley and Corey Maggette – Marbury plays with Sam Cassell while Mobley becomes the starting two-guard and Maggette the three, pushing Crawford to the point and Richardson to the bench.

9 – Marbury for Jermaine O’Neal – The money is similar and so are the years remaining. The Knicks essentially would play with two power forwards alongside Curry while the Pacers use Marbury as the point or in reserve role.

10 – Marbury for Baron Davis – Money is similar and so are the years. Both players become the point guard. Another doubtful trade.

11 – It also says you can get Allen Iverson straight up for Marbury but that is as likely as George Karl and Isiah Thomas having a meal together.

Boston @ Indiana – The last time Boston was 6-0 was way back on November 15, 1987. They reached that point with a 103-98 win at Market Square Arena. Larry Bird scored 11 of his 24 points in the first quarter and the Celtics made 10 of their 13 shots.

But of more recent history is that they’ll be facing the last coach that won a playoff series for the Celtics and that was Jim O’Brien, who in 2003 guided the Celtics to the Eastern Conference semifinals. O’Brien stepped down just as Danny Ainge took over and dealt away players such as Antoine Walker and Eric Williams for the likes of Raef LaFrentz and Ricky Davis.

As for the present, the 5-0 start has seen the Celtics win by an average of 16.6 points – a figure that would be larger if not for a three-point win in Toronto. They have had six quarters in which they have outscored the opponent by double digits.

As for the Pacers, their present three-game losing streak makes that 3-0 start seem like a thing of the past. They were last seen coughing up a 25-point lead and losing 113-106 to the Nuggets and they’ve also seen Danny Granger’s drop as he is 18-of-50 and 0-of-13 from three-point range in his last three contests. The loss to Denver came a night after they blew an eight-point lead and gave up 20-2 run in Charlotte.

Seattle @ Orlando – If the Sonics had been able or wanted to re-sign Rashard Lewis, they might have had a win or two. They take an 0-7 mark into this and have never been 0-8. So what do they plan on doing to combat the losing, especially after coming within four points of the Detroit Pistons Sunday night. I do not know just yet but from someone who saw the game, the Sonics played well enough against teams not named the Pistons. Five of Seattle’s seven losses have been by single digits so maybe the laws of statistics could be in their favor.

As for Orlando, the Magic are 5-2 with Lewis, who is averaging 20.2 points and one of the many long-range shooters that pace a team that has four games with at least 10-pointers. Their defense is far from being perfect as Stan Van Gundy said it was a bunch of things, especially pertaining to the low post the other night in New York when I asked him.

Another thing to expect if you’re defending the Magic is that they will keep shooting. If 10 misfire, they figure the 11th will go in and chances are Dwight Howard will grab a majority of those misses although he might have some problems if Chris Wilcox and Nick Collision are on the court on the same time. They make the Sonics one of eight teams with two players averaging eight rebounds .

Miami @ Charlotte – Now that Miami has won for the first time since April 13, they can begin the season. Taking this back-to-back with Charlotte and Seattle might be very important because a back-to-back with Boston and New Jersey is next. The Heat are the worst team in the league when it comes to scoring at 84.5 points but if they can get the Bobcats to cave into the slow, plodding halfcourt style they can and probably win this. That’s among the things they did in New York in a 75-72 win. They also came back from six down in the final six-plus minutes, holding the Knicks to one basket and no points in the final 2 1/2 minutes. They also have been getting the big time blue collar effort from Udonis Haslem, who resembled many of the players that Pat Riley used to coach in New York with his 16-point, 16 rebound showing. That’s my unscientific analysis of the Heat, here’s some scientific analysis

As for Charlotte, they’ve never been this good this late in a season. Last year it took the Bobcats 14 games to get to four victories, in 2005-06 it was 12 games and in 2004-05 it was also 14. They already have an 90-88 win over Miami and that was a game they nearly lost. But of course like many teams that have yet to consistently win, late-game execution can be a problem like it was in Sunday’s 85-82 loss to Houston. They were up five heading into the fourth and up seven with 6:05 remaining. The teams like the Pistons, Spurs, Suns usually expand that lead to double-digits while the losing or inconsistent teams blow it or make it tough and that’s what happened. They allowed the Rockets to hang in there and they eventually took the lead and the superstar got the call when Tracy McGrady got a call against Gerald Wallace in the waning seconds.

Continue reading “Connections and Storylines for a Tuesday”

The Knicks did something they used to do when they were good and that was allow less than 80 points. How rare is that these days for this defensive deficient team?

It is so rare that is has only happened 16 times since Isiah Thomas took over things on Dec. 22, 2003. Before Sunday’s 75-72 loss, they had won their last 13 games when allowing under 80 points but of that streak went back to a 77-67 loss against San Antonio on January 27, 2004.

So how about the rest of the league?

Boston Celtics – have won their last two when doing so dating a 79-74 loss vs. New Jersey on April 14, 2006.

New Jersey Nets – 13 in a row going back to a 79-67 loss vs. Seattle on 11/17/2004

Philadelphia – five in a row going back to a 77-76 loss vs. Houston on 12/4/2004

Toronto – six in a row going back to a 74-66 loss at Detroit on 4/9/2004

Chicago – lost one 78-72 at Milwaukee on November 3. had won 18 in a row going back to a 77-73 loss on 12/17/2003

Cleveland -22 in a row going back to 75-67 loss at Toronto on 1/7/2004

Detroit – 12 in a row going back to a 79-74 loss vs. New Jersey on 3/26/2006. Before that 23 in row going back to a 75-74 loss to Portland on 12/18/2004

Indiana – three in a row going back to a 78-71 loss vs. Minnesota on 12/23/2006

Milwaukee – 28 in a row going back to a 79-77 loss at Chicago on 4/18/1999

Atlanta – three in a row going back to a 77-75 loss vs. Portland on 11/27/2005

Charlotte – has only done it once

Miami – 14 in a row going back to a 78-77 loss at Detroit on 11/26/2004

Orlando – 16 in a row going back to a 75-68 loss vs. New York on 11/3/2003

Washington – seven in a row going back to a 79-76 loss vs. Indiana on 4/3/2005

Dallas – two in a row going back to a 75-71 loss at Denver on 4/6/2006

Houston – one going back to a 77-72 loss vs. Boston on 2/25/2006

Memphis – 21 in a row going back to a 78-67 loss at San Antonio on 12/15/2003

New Orleans – 1o in a row going back to a 76-67 loss at Denver on 11/29/2004

San Antonio – 28 in a row going back to a 73-67 loss at Houston on 1/15/2005

Denver – seven in a row going back to a 71-60 loss at Indiana on 11/4/2003

Minnesota – 70 in a row going back to a 79-78 loss at Dallas on 11/30/1991

Portland – five in a row going back to a 78-65 loss at New Jersey on 3/15/2006

Seattle – 35 in a row going back to a 79-77 loss at San Antonio on 2/8/2000

Utah – six in a row going back to a 79-70 loss vs. San Antonio on 11/30/2006

Golden State – five in a row going back to a 78-75 loss vs. Portland on 11/3/2004

LA Clippers – one in a row going back to a 77-75 loss at Seattle on 3/1/2007.

LA Lakers – two in a row going back to a 76-74 loss vs. Houston on 12/18/2005. before that 16 in a row going back to a 79-78 loss vs. New York on 4/1/2001

Phoenix – 56 times in a row, have never lost when doing so

Sacramento – 38 times in a row, have never lost since moving to Sacramento

The genesis for this post was reading the various stories and blogs on the Orlando Magic who hit 10 three-pointers and that got me thinking about the following hypothesis: can teams win when they allow at least three-pointers? This year a game has featured one team hitting 10 three-pointers in the following instances:

10/31 Orlando hits 12 and beats Milwaukee 102-83

10/31 Indiana hits 13 and beats Washington 119-110 in overtime

10/31 New Orleans hits 10 and beats Sacramento 104-90

10/31 San Antonio hits 13, allows 10 and beats Memphis 104-101 (both teams took 23)

10/31 – Denver hit 11 and beat Seattle 120-103
11/1 – Phoenix hit 11 and beat Seattle 106-99
11/2 – Cleveland hit 12 and beat New York 110-106
11/2 – Toronto hit 13 and beat New Jersey 106-69
11/2 – New Orleans hit 11 and beat Portland 113-93
11/2 – San Antonio hit 12 and beat Sacramento 96-80
11/3 – Orlando hit 10 and beat Washington 94-82
11/3 – Memphis hit 10 and lost to Indiana 121-111
11/3 – Utah hit 12 and beat Golden State 133-110 (Warriors had 13 but took 31)
11/4 – Boston hit 12 and beat Toronto 98-95 (OT) (Raptors were 10-of-25)
11/6 – Orlando hit 10 and beat Minnesota 111-103
11/6 – New Orleans hit 14 and beats the LA Lakers 118-104
11/7 – Orlando hit 10 and beats Toronto 105-96
11/7 – Phoenix hit 11 and loses to Atlanta 105-96
11/7 – Memphis hit 10 and beats Seattle 105-98
11/8 – Dallas hit 10 and beats Golden State 120-115 (Warriors go 11-of-25

So far that is 20 games which teams have hit 10 three pointers and only two have lost.