2009 All Star Reserves

There are 12 reserve spots for each conference. The coaches must choose two guards, two forwards, one center, and then have two random picks.

With that in mind, here are the players I’d like to see selected.

Eastern Conference

Two Guards

• Joe Johnson
• Ray Allen

Two Forwards

• Chris Bosh
• Paul Pierce

One Center

• Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Two Wild Spots

• Jameer Nelson
• Vince Carter

Honourable Mentions: Danny Granger, Rajon Rondo, Devin Harris, Rodney Stuckey, Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis, Andre Iguodala,

Suns Players Defensive Efficiency Marks

In this post I’m going to look at some of their key players and what their on court/off court defensive efficiency numbers are:

Shaquille O’Neal

• On court – 110.5
• Off court – 110.8
• 0.3 points per 100 possessions better off

Amare Stoudemire

• On court – 110.6
• Off court – 110.7
• 0.1 points per 100 possessions better off

Steve Nash

• On court – 109.9
• Off court – 111.9
• 2 points per 100 possessions better off

Leandro Barbosa

• On court – 112.9
• Off court – 109.0
• 3.9 points per 100 possessions worse off

The two players of particular interest are the following; Grant Hill and Matt Barnes:

Avery Turns Down Grizzlies

ESPN reports

Avery Johnson has turned down the chance to make a swift return to an NBA bench with the Memphis Grizzlies.

NBA coaching sources told ESPN.com on Friday that the former Dallas Mavericks coach was offered a five-year contract by the Grizzlies to replace Marc Iavaroni, who was fired late Thursday after 1½ seasons in Memphis.

Johnson, though, elected to pass on an in-season comeback, preferring to remain in his new role as a studio analyst for ESPN.

“I’ve said all along [that] at the right time and in the right situation, I will coach again,” Johnson said Friday. “I am enjoying my time at ESPN and with my family. I think an awful lot of [Grizzlies owner] Michael Heisley and [general manager] Chris Wallace. I wish the Grizzlies the very best.

Smart man – This Memphis job is the type that can destroy a coach’s entire career.

I don’t see Avery taking over any club that doesn’t have a good shot at being over .600 his first year out.

Iavaroni Fired

How long has it been since we’ve had a coach fired in the NBA?

It feels like a long time since the bevy of coaches that were let go at the start of the season.

In fact my first reaction was that this was the first firing of the season, that’s both (1) how long ago, and, (2) how early those coaches were fired this season.

As I check my notes, Marc Iavaroni is the seventh head coach to be fired this season. Here’s a reminder of the other firings (I evidently need it):

• • Oklahoma City Thunder – PJ Carlesimo
  • Washington Wizards – Eddie Jordan
  • Toronto Raptors – Sam Mitchell
  • Minnesota Timberwolves – Randy Wittman
  • Philadelphia 76ers – Mo Cheeks
  • Sacramento Kings – Reggie Theus

Reggie Theus was the last one fired amongst that group, and he was let go on December 15th. This period in-between that firing and this most recent one is actually the longest in-season period between coaching dismissals that we’ve had this season. The previous high was 24 days or so at the begining of the season, which has been beaten out by this 38 day period.

ESPN reports the story

The Memphis Grizzlies confirmed late Thursday they fired Marc Iavaroni after giving him one and a half seasons worth of games in his first NBA head coaching job.

All-Star Starters Announced

RealGM reports

Western Conference
Tim Duncan
Amare Stoudemire
Yao Ming
Kobe Bryant
Chris Paul

Eastern Conference
Kevin Garnett
LeBron James
Dwight Howard
Allen Iverson
Dwyane Wade

Alonzo Mourning Retires

ESPN reports

So it’s official: Mourning’s calling it quits. He’ll do chores and play with his two kids and work on his golf game and promote his charitable causes. But after 15 seasons and countless career comebacks, he’s done chasing championships.

The seven-time All-Star center said Thursday he won’t return from a devastating leg injury Dec. 19, 2007 — the fourth anniversary of his life-saving kidney transplant. He had been working out at the Miami Heat complex and said he’s running and jumping again, but he feared another leg injury if he returned.

Raptors 2010 Salary Situation

I’m not an expert on the salary cap but this is my best understanding of the situation.

This is a follow up to today’s earlier explanation of Bargnani’s cap holds coming off his rookie contract.

So, where does that leave the Raptors in 2010? How much congestion does it truly cause?

Let’s start with the definite salaries …. also for this example let’s assume a cap of $62mil.

• Bargnani – $15.5mil – cap holds
• Bosh – $18.6mil – max contract for 7 year vet is 30% of cap
• Calderon – $9mil
• Kapono – $6.64mil – player option which he’ll use.
• Roko Ukic – $1.45mil

Also

Raptors 2010: Bargnani

Andrea Bargnani is going to be a huge issue for the Toronto Raptors in the summer of 2010. His rookie contract will be ending, and he will be a restricted free agent. With his array of skills, and considerable potential, and physical size he’ll be able to command a sizable chunk of money in free agency.

It’s impossible to guess how much because he’s still close to two seasons away from that date, and he’s clearly improving so the player that he is now isn’t necessarily the one who’s there in 2010. The Raptors could be talking about a max contract, maybe a 6 year $60mil contract, maybe a 5 year $40mil contract … hard to imagine it being less than that.

Anyway, there is another huge Bargnani related issue on the horizon for Toronto’s 2010 free agency hopes and that’s how much he counts against the Raptors cap while unsigned.

Bargnani’s Hot Streak – Update III

This is just a short post scribbling down some of Andrea’s impressive stats over this past hot streak. The numbers cover the 13 games Bargnani has played since taking over in the starting lineup after Jermaine went down against GSW.

Okay, I’m going to break this period of 13 games into four different periods

• The first six games where Bargnani’s shooting was out of this world.
• The first nine games total after Bargnani was still effective but starting to cool off.
• The final four games by themselves after Bargnani stopped hitting his jumper
• And lastly, the thirteen games overall.

Pistons New Sixth Man

Well it looks like we have our ending to the question of who will come of the Pistons bench … Who is the one who will sacrifice himself for the greater good?

“A lot of people have made a lot of things about this,” Hamilton said. “Regardless, you want to win games. Me and Allen both know that. They told me I was coming off the bench, that it was something MC (Curry) wanted and I said, ‘Fine, cool.’

“The bottom line is you want to win games. If this is the best way we can win a championship, then I am all for it. The thing is, we have two great scorers, me and A.I. We have to figure out how both of us can be our best.”

Curry gave several reasons for the change, and for taking so long to make the decision.

“We’ve been talking about this,” said Curry, whose team won eight of 10 games with a bigger lineup when Hamilton was out because of a groin injury. They lost five straight when he came back.

“We were 5-3 with the small lineup before Rip got hurt and I thought it was fair to give him an opportunity to see how it went when he came back. But we just weren’t good enough, especially starting off games.”

On defense, we never set the tone and we were playing catch-up from a defense and rebounding standpoint.”