NBA - Artigos e Análises Estatísticas para discussão

[Taka]

Eu assustei-me logo no início de temporada e não previa coisa boa. A chegada do Pringle não ajudou em nada e continuamos na mesma. Estamos quase a meio da temporada e vejo o caso muito mal parado. Acredito numa ida aos PO, se atinarmos (o problema está aqui, o Pringle não parece querer que atinemos).

 

Fiz previsão jogo-a-jogo e, de uma forma um pouco optimista, deu-me 28-17. Exactamente o que precisamos :facepalm:

[andriy pereplyotkin]

Realmente é complicado, e nem estou a puxar a brasa à minha sardinha. Acho que têm ali umas 22 vitórias garantidas. O problema são as outras 6. E claro, se é possível que ganhem alguns jogos aos Clippers ou a outras do nível, também é possível que uma das teoricamente mais fáceis surpreenda.

[Taka]

O meu maior receio é o envelhecimento da equipa. Este tinha de ser um ano de ataque sério ao anel e estamos longe disso.

 

Na próxima época, Kobe terá 35 anos e Nash 40. Começa a ser muito tarde para ganhar um campeonato, antes de procedermos ao rebuild da equipa em 2014 ou 2015. E acredito que, se o Kobe ganhar em 2014 o anel que tanto quer, retira-se (libertamos 30M de cap + o do Nash, certamente) e poderemos atacar o Lebron nessa off-season. Espero que o Dwight opte for ficar este Verão, porque vai certamente girar à volta dele os próximos anos, se não conseguirmos outro franchise-player.

[Bynum Lover]

Eu acho que ainda lá vamos, não consigo imaginar uns PO sem os Lakers, mas é um incógnita o que esta equipa vai fazer. Porque temos sempre equipa para ganhar a qualquer contender, mas na realidade podemos sempre perder com uns Wizs ou uns cats. Tudo vai depender dos próximos jogos, é uma questão de confiança, tivemos agora 2 vitórias, e a ver se aproveitamos o b2b dos Heat, que vão a GS hoje e amanhã jogam connosco, pode ser um jogo muito importante para recuperar até porque ele não estão em grande forma.

[LgD]

Não me parece que consigam.

[vakjew]

Ver os Lakers falhar os PO's já é bom, vê-los falhar os PO's quando foram buscar o Nash e o Howard até sabe a pato fds.

[Pat Riley]

Ver os Lakers falhar os PO's já é bom, vê-los falhar os PO's quando foram buscar o Nash e o Howard até sabe a pato fds.

 

Não lances já os foguetes. Também andava já com o palhaço na mão, mas ver estes dois últimos jogos dos Lakers, pá começaram a jogar basquetebol. Não sei se não arrancam para uma run, e chegam a 8ª seed. É esperar mais 10 joguitos e ver.

[Nuk]

Não lances já os foguetes. Também andava já com o palhaço na mão, mas ver estes dois últimos jogos dos Lakers, pá começaram a jogar basquetebol. Não sei se não arrancam para uma run, e chegam a 8ª seed. É esperar mais 10 joguitos e ver.

Ganharam aos Cavs e aos Bucks, não são propriamente duas grandes vitórias. Se eles nestes próximos 6 jogos, mantiverem a forma e ganharem 5 deles aí acredito-me se ganharem menos, acho que não vão chegar aos PO's, apesar depois terem uma série bem grande de jogos fáceis.

[ProkhoLov]

Ainda vão a tempo de conseguir um lugar sim senhor. É muito difícil, mas não duvido que consigam pelo menos o 8º lugar para protagonizar uma 1ª ronda de qualidade seja contra os Clippers, Oklahoma ou Spurs. Sem trocar o Gasol e mesmo com aquele banco, acrescento.

[Pat Riley]

Ganharam aos Cavs e aos Bucks, não são propriamente duas grandes vitórias. Se eles nestes próximos 6 jogos, mantiverem a forma e ganharem 5 deles aí acredito-me se ganharem menos, acho que não vão chegar aos PO's, apesar depois terem uma série bem grande de jogos fáceis.

 

O problema não está nas vitórias. É o que disse tanto neste como no geral. O basquetebol que jogaram. O Ball movement foi excelente nem parecia a mesma equipa. A defesa que usaram contra os Bucks é que meh, a pressionar como o crl, muitas double teams um exagero do crl, depois quando alguém lançava dava sempre ressalto ofensivo pos Bucks :lol:

[Bynum Lover]

Eu acho é que já lhes bateu a cena que têm de dar mais. Já chegaram à conclusão que se ' não comerem a relva' ( :mrgreen: ) não vão lá. E o Kobe foi o exemplo, com a pressão que fez no Jennings em que este até disse que foi a defesa mais apertada que sofreu em toda a sua carreira. Este jogo com os Heat parece-me bastante determinante, se ganharmos podemos avançar para uma senda de vitórias, se perdermos, voltamos ao mesmo de sempre.

[NIkeL]

Eu fiz previsão muito rápida jogo a jogo e contei 18 vitórias, bem longe do que precisam. Possivelmente ganham mais que 18, mas não vai ser fácil chegar ao número desejado.

[Kaz]

Where have all the gunners gone?

 

There once was a time when dozens of players had gaudy scoring averages.

 

Brent Barry e-mailed. He was wondering why these days so few NBA players average 20 or more points per game.

 

There's just nine in the whole league, at the moment, he pointed out. As recently as 2007-2008 there were 27.

 

2007/08

 

2012/13

 

Three times as many!

 

Remember, those are the most exciting players to watch. The human highlight reels, the putting-butts-in-seats guys, the players a million kids on a million blacktops dream of becoming.

 

And two-thirds of them have essentially gone missing. As if stolen.

 

Gone with them are a bundle of special memories, including almost all the 50-point nights.

 

If aliens had lured them to another planet to start a highly rated hoops league there, we'd have a massive story worthy of Hollywood.

 

But they have disappeared in some other way that's tougher to notice. Slipped out the back door. And ... crickets. Our scorers have gone, our scorers have gone and ... barely a whisper.

 

What is going on?

Barry had some theories:

Playing-time cutbacks?

Lots of injured stars this season?

Teams playing at a slower pace?

 

This was serious. I fetched a legal pad and scribbled down those theories, and added some of my own:

Scoring down in general?

Top players shooting less by choice in the name of efficiency? (The highest salaries that used to go just to the highest points-per-game guys now tilt to those with the best scoring efficiency.)

More stars saving early-season energy for the playoffs?

Coaches giving more big minutes to elite defenders, which would both keep more shooters on the bench and make opposing scorers less effective?

Better team defense? The effective kind of rotating/switching defense that was an outlier for the Celtics in 2008 is now commonplace, which could make scorers less effective while also making those would-be big scorers more tired from running around so much?

 

Scoring

 

Scoring is down, a little. A typical NBA team so far this season has scored about 98 points per game. That number was 99.9 in 2007-08, and a whopping 109.9 in 1986-87. It's part of the story, but it's not the whole thing.

 

Minutes

 

Just about a year ago exactly I did some rough-and-ready research and found that teams whose top players play a ton of minutes don't win NBA titles. Not anymore. They used to. But not in recent years.

 

The best theory I heard to explain that came from David Thorpe, who laid the blame it on that hustling, switching team defense. Once upon a time, lots of teams preferred an "isolation" offense, which meant one player dribbling alone against one defender, while as many as eight guys caught breathers. On many NBA plays these days, nobody stands around. It's common to see 10 guys flying all over the court. This is not your daddy's NBA. It's great for fans and team play, but it's much tougher for players: A minute of play, the theory goes, is now much more work than it used to be, and one result is that more rest is required.

 

I went into this season expecting that more smart teams would limit their top players' minutes, Popovich-style, not because they are weak in the mind nor because they are not in good-enough shape. But because it works.

 

Basketball-Reference was built to answer these kinds of questions, and what I found was that while some top teams may be managing minutes, plenty are not. I dug in, using the top 10 players in minutes played as a test. In the first 36 games of the 2007-08 season, the 10 players with the most minutes played logged a combined 14,281 minutes. This season, that list includes Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard, and the total minutes they have played is down to 13,793. So maybe that's having some effect.

 

And while there are plenty of heavy-minute players this season, some of those on limited diets of playing time, because of injury or strategy, are players who might have scored more in a different season. Brook Lopez, Tim Duncan, Jamal Crawford, Kevin Martin, Kevin Garnett and Derrick Rose are among those who'd threaten the 20-per-game with a typical alpha-scorer's playing time.

 

But it's not some massive historical trend that big names are sitting more. I checked 1985-86, too, back when Dominique Wilkins and Larry Bird were scoring at will, and in that season the top 10 combined to play even fewer minutes than today's big names.

 

Joe Johnson is something of a poster child here: He was scoring 21.7 points per game five years ago playing the second-most minutes in the league. This year he's playing less and scoring just 17.1 points per game. In other words, Johnson is one of the players Barry was e-mailing about, one of the players who has been affected by ... whatever is happening.

 

Did they rob us of this transcendent scorer by sitting him? Not exactly.

 

His minutes are down, but his scoring is down even more -- even with his old minutes, he'd only score 18.5 points per game at this season's scoring rate. That's the trend: There are plenty of gifted scorers playing the kinds of minutes that used to get you 20 points per game. Those players just aren't scoring as much now.

 

Something else is up.

 

Pace

 

Maybe the game has slowed down? It would explain a lot. Simply keeping the ball longer before shooting would explain now the same number of minutes played would result in fewer possessions, fewer shots and, importantly ... fewer points.

 

It's so perfect!

 

But it's not happening. The average pace has bounced around this season but is just a tad slower than five years ago, at 91.7 compared to 92.4.

Shot selection

 

OK, so teams are playing at the same speed, and the high-minute players are playing about as many minutes as ever.

 

Maybe they're just shooting less? Maybe stat geekery has inspired some kind of revolution in thinking, and suddenly all those inefficient gunners are thinking twice about jacking up bad shots?

 

Despite the lack of total points, top players do have slightly better field goal percentage (46.7 compared to 45.7 percent) this year compared to five years ago.

 

Again using the the players who lead the league in minutes this season as a sample group of the kinds of players who are candidates to average 20 or more points per game, we find ... this theory strikes out too. The truth is, they're shooting more often.

 

This year those top players are taking a shot every 2:19 of play, compared to every 2:24 five years ago. (In 1985-1986 they shot every 2:10, which is a lot of shooting.)

 

I had been abusing the numbers of Basketball-Reference for some time, but they simply would not give up the answers I was looking for.

 

Time for another perspective.

 

 

 

As soon as I explained the issue to Thorpe, he declared "I know exactly what's going on."

 

The defense.

 

Thorpe explains it best in the video, but the gist is this: In recent years more and more NBA coaches have signed up for the defensive philosophy, popularized by Tom Thibodeau since 2007-08, of "flooding ball-side box."

 

This is not the same as double-teaming, but it has some similarities. When the ball is on one side of the court, watch for this: Very often an extra defender sneaks over to join the action, bringing a crowd of defenders closer to the ball. It's something that became legal when the NBA began allowing zone defenses in 2001, but it took until 2008 for coaches to really figure out how to take best advantage.

 

That's when the big-time gunners started to disappear.

 

Flooding the side of the court with the ball makes everything tougher for that star scorer, starting when he makes the catch and assesses options. Driving lanes are tighter or closed off entirely. More defenders have more ability to get hands in faces. It's difficult to reach favored spots on the court, and to operate once there. These are the times that try virtuoso's souls.

 

And when there's an extra defender on one side of the court, the good play is pretty obvious: pass to the other side, where your team has the numbers advantage.

 

If Thorpe is right, that this team defensive technique is to blame for our new shortage of big scorers, there are various ways you might expect the data to have his back. For instance, secondary scorers -- those guys catching the ball on the sparsely defended weak side -- ought to be scoring more, while top players could expect to see an uptick in assists.

 

That's all happening. Stars putting up big numbers are incredibly hard to find this season compared to five years ago, but overall team scoring is down only about two points per game -- the non-star scorers must be picking up a little slack.

 

And as for assists, in 1985-86, the 10 players who played the longest minutes in the season's first 36 games combined for 1,308 assists. Five years ago, that number was 1,482. This year it's all the way up to 1,768.

 

Not getting to the line

There's one other part of this story. A big part. And it's this: Free throws are more rare than ever. There are 22.3 per game on average this season, which is the lowest level in NBA history. And it's not a one-year aberration. The second lowest year ever was last year. Every season since 2008-09 is in the top 10 all-time for fewest free throws.

 

Now we're getting somewhere.

 

Top players are simply not getting to the line.

 

Those high-minute players combined to shoot more than 2,400 free throws in the first 36 games of both 1985-86 and 2007-08. This season, they stepped to the line just 1,757 times.

 

In a way, this is one mystery solved. Pace mildly slower. Minutes slightly lower. Scoring generally down a bit. Free throws are down hugely compared to all of history and 10 percent over the last five years. New defenses can explain some or all of that, and it's more clear than ever why so few players are averaging 20 points per game.

 

But this mystery comes with a sequel: Why so few free throws?

 

One theory is that the NBA has reduced some of the referee trickery available to big scorers, for instance, by discouraging the "rip-through" move which led to cheap free throws for top scorers. Refereeing oversight has evolved, too, with the league looking over referees' shoulders more than ever in the name of a consistently called game. Perhaps "star calls" are on the wane generally.

 

Another possible explanation, however, is that Thorpe's defensive theory explains this too: with extra defenders around, perhaps players simply aren't attacking the rim, where big numbers of fouls are drawn, as often as they used to.

 

If so, that could be a major factor -- the major factor, even -- in explaining why top players aren't scoring like they used to.

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/53534/where-have-all-the-gunners-gone

[pedrituh_9]

Nets Keep Gaining With Carlesimo At Helm

 

^{Joe Johnson is rising with coach P.J. Carlesimo.}

 

NEW YORK -- The explanation was blunt and a tad crude, but when Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov had to come down out of the Canadian Rockies last month to fire Avery Johnson, it was with a clear mandate.

 

"We have a basket of talent," Prokhorov said just more than three weeks ago. "And they are capable of much more."

 

Finding the root of the Nets' midseason turnaround is as uncomplicated as Prokhorov's assessment suggested. They are now 11-2 since Prokhorov dropped the ax and promoted P.J. Carlesimo after their solid 88-85 victory over the New York Knicks Monday at Madison Square Garden.

 

Seven games back of the Knicks when they made the coaching change, the Nets are now a game back in the Atlantic Division and again have sights set on a top playoff seed as they reach midseason at 25-16.

 

 

AP Photo/Kathy Willens

Joe Johnson is rising with coach P.J. Carlesimo.

Recently, an NBA team did a study of midseason coaching changes over the last decade. The results showed there was only a 1 percent difference in win percentage, in the negative, on average when an interim coach takes over. Mike Woodson going 18-6 after Mike D'Antoni was fired last season was such an outlier from the norm that it earned him the job long-term.

 

The basic reason for the historic interim malaise is simple: No matter who has the clipboard, the players are the same.

 

In the Nets' case, though, while the players haven't changed, their individual performances certainly have. Carlesimo has made minor adjustments to the rotation, encouraged a bit more freedom on offense and lightened the mood with the occasional joke.

 

But the reason the Nets are suddenly potent is because their players, especially their high-paid stars, have started to act like it.

 

"A game plan is meaningless if the guys don't execute it," the frank and experienced Carlesimo said after his latest win.

 

Joe Johnson is shooting nearly 10 percent better on 3-pointers and averaging two more points per game since the change. His hanging jumper over J.R. Smith with 22 seconds left, the last of Johnson's 25 points, ultimately made the difference on Monday.

 

Brook Lopez is healed from a foot injury that derailed the Nets in December and probably sealed Avery Johnson's fate. He has five double-doubles since Carlesimo took over. If you know Lopez's rebounding history, that's no small feat. Against the Knicks, his aggression in rebounding scrums with Tyson Chandler was downright admirable as he ended up with 11 boards and 14 points.

 

As the league's highest-scoring center, his last month of play has probably assured Lopez of his first All-Star appearance.

 

But nothing has spurred on the Nets more than Deron Williams. Totally down on his own play around Christmas -- he said he was "playing like crap" -- after signing a $100 million deal last summer, Williams has gotten it going. He's not exactly playing like a superstar, but he has broken out of a miserable shooting slump (his 3-point shooting has leapt 7 percent) and he's averaging almost two more assists per game since Carlesimo has taken over.

 

"I feel like I was a big part of why we were losing," said Williams, who had 14 points and 12 assists in the latest win. "Our focus, energy and enthusiasm have been a lot better … [Carlesimo] is different than a lot of coaches I have played for, his style and sense of humor."

 

The Nets aren't running any different plays since Carlesimo was installed. He's calling a wider variety of them and has attempted to get the team to play with more pace, which has led to more scoring. As a result, the Nets are averaging about eight more points per game under Carlesimo than they did under Johnson. That's a significant increase following an on-the-fly changeover.

 

As one league scout said about the Nets: "They're not playing different, really, but they're playing harder."

 

It also sure does help when more of the shots go in the basket, no matter who is drawing them up.

 

"Whenever you have a guy that means that much to you, your franchise player, when Deron picked it up, we picked it up," Nets veteran Jerry Stackhouse said. "I don't think there's any coincidence. Yeah, the coaching change, you can spin that all you want to, but the guys on the court are the ones who really matter."

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime

[vakjew]

Forbes NBA Team Values:

http://www.forbes.com/nba-valuations/list/

 

Bucks em último pobre nuk :(

[Nuk]

Nada que já não soubesse, somos uma cidade pequena sem grande atracção é normal não termos valor nenhum.

[Pat Riley]

Vocês é que deviam ir para Seattle não Sacramento.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tou a brincar antes que me mates.

[Nuk]

Vocês é que deviam ir para Seattle não Sacramento.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tou a brincar antes que me mates.

Maior parte do pessoal de Milwaukee gostava que a equipa fosse para Seattle, se isso significasse melhorias. Eu não desgostava apesar de provavelmente ser estranho ver um dos históricos da NBA mudar de nome após 45 anos de história sempre com o mesmo e sempre na mesma pequena cidade. É como tudo tem os seus pros e os cons.

 

Edit - A prova disso é que o nosso GM ia deixar a equipa no final da época e o presidente tava preparado para vender, mas como o grupo de Seattle ficou com os Kings, cagou no assunto e renovou por mais 3 anos com o GM, o que não é lá grande coisa se objectivo é evoluir.

Editado 24 Janeiro 2013 por Nuk

[andriy pereplyotkin]

NBA PM: The Truth Behind Trade Rumors

 

Between now and February 21, there will be hundreds of trade rumors and maybe a couple of deals. Every year, only a handful of trades are actually completed, but there’s never a shortage of rumors. That’s in large part due to the nature of trade discussions.

 

In the weeks leading up to the trade deadline, virtually every team in the league will have a conversation. These talks are either to gauge interest in their own players or to see which players the other team is willing to move. With so many conversations taking place, it’s no surprise that some of these discussions leak to the media, sometimes when an executive wants to scoff at a terrible proposal and sometimes when they want to generate more interest in a certain player.

 

Around this time of year, teams are always open to having a conversation. It doesn’t mean they’re shopping their players or looking to make drastic changes, it simply means a team is doing its due diligence and seeing what’s out there. This is the time of year when it becomes clear which players are untouchable and which players could be had. If a team is willing to discuss a trade for their star player, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re shopping that player, but it does suggest that they’re open to moving him for the right price. There are some players that are untouchable (Kevin Durant) and making an offer will draw a laugh. There are others who are hard to obtain, but possible to acquire nonetheless.

 

However, there’s a common misconception about trade talks. Most people think that two general managers get on the phone and work out a trade. In reality, that’s not how the process works. Most trades start with a conversation between lesser executives. These executives talk with as many other executives as possible and see what potential trades are on the table. Only then are the possible deals brought to the general manager, who then decides which trade to make.

 

It’s also not uncommon for teams to make calls and gauge interest in a player who isn’t on their roster. This is done when teams are looking to acquire a player and flip them to another team, or when they’re trying to get a third team involved in the talks.

 

There’s a funny story that executives like to tell. Back when Amar’e Stoudemire was with the Phoenix Suns and the team was gauging interest in him, one executive realized that Stoudemire was obtainable and wanted to see what he could acquire if he flipped Stoudemire to another team. He called a number of teams and told them that he had Stoudemire if he wanted him, and he wanted to know what they’d be willing to offer. There was only one problem: One of the teams that this executive called up was the Suns, who were amused that they were being offered their own player.

 

Around the trade deadline and the draft, teams will have a war room that features a whiteboard with potential trade scenarios and contract information for players. This is where the front office will meet to discuss their options and survey the league.

 

Many times, the rumors that you read about are trade talks that went nowhere. Sometimes, a trade rumor will surface a month after the talks died. That’s why when most trades are completed, there aren’t any rumors in advance of the deal. Executives try to keep active talks from reaching the rumor mill because it can hurt negotiations and upset everyone involved – the player, the agent and the other executive who now has to do damage control as well.

 

While we often hear about “offers” that have been made, that’s not how teams classify talks. An offer is made when the negotiations are complete and the two sides are ready to finalize the deal with a trade call to the league. Everything before that is just negotiating and discussing the potential framework of a deal.

 

Trade talks aren’t as simple as they seem. There are a lot of people and steps involved before a trade is announced and your favorite team is introducing their new players. Keep that in mind over the next month as the trade deadline approaches and rumors surface left and right.

[Nuk]

http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/2013/01/cavalier-film-room-smash-mouth-kyrie-irving/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

Ainda não li mas parece-me bastante interessante.

[Pat Riley]

Maior parte do pessoal de Milwaukee gostava que a equipa fosse para Seattle, se isso significasse melhorias. Eu não desgostava apesar de provavelmente ser estranho ver um dos históricos da NBA mudar de nome após 45 anos de história sempre com o mesmo e sempre na mesma pequena cidade. É como tudo tem os seus pros e os cons.

 

Edit - A prova disso é que o nosso GM ia deixar a equipa no final da época e o presidente tava preparado para vender, mas como o grupo de Seattle ficou com os Kings, cagou no assunto e renovou por mais 3 anos com o GM, o que não é lá grande coisa se objectivo é evoluir.

 

Fiquei surpreendido com a tua resposta. Pensei que tivesses uma opinião completamente contrária. Assim como as pessoas de Milwaukee pensei que fosse algo do género "podemos nunca passar de uma equipa de 1st round, mas ao menos podemos ver os nossos jogadores aqui na nossa cidade todos os dias", e não um "mudar se isso tornar a equipa melhor".

 

É engraçado como as mentalidades lá são tão diferentes.

[Nuk]

Fiquei surpreendido com a tua resposta. Pensei que tivesses uma opinião completamente contrária. Assim como as pessoas de Milwaukee pensei que fosse algo do género "podemos nunca passar de uma equipa de 1st round, mas ao menos podemos ver os nossos jogadores aqui na nossa cidade todos os dias", e não um "mudar se isso tornar a equipa melhor".

 

É engraçado como as mentalidades lá são tão diferentes.

Eu apenas quero o que é melhor para a equipa. Se mudar de cidade for o melhor e os fans tiverem de acordo, tudo bem.

 

Mas duvido que a equipa saia da cidade agora, a não ser que seja para Wisconsin mas é praticamente a mesma cena que estar em Milwaukee.

[andriy pereplyotkin]

Phoenix Suns GM wants to win, not honor past

Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports3:26a.m. EST January 25, 2013

 

There was a time when Planet Orange meant something very different in Phoenix, when the annual playoffs runs and scintillating seven-seconds-or-less style meant the city was ablaze for its team. Now? Planet Orange is a place where there's always a fire to put out.

 

The Phoenix Suns' decision to part ways with well-liked and respected coach Alvin Gentry and replace him with unproven Lindsey Hunter last week was the latest unpopular move in what has become the most painful regime change going in the NBA. It came after owner Robert Sarver had sworn Gentry was safe for the entire season even with the team's struggles, and it remains unclear what prompted the timing of the ousting.

 

From the sign-and-trade of beloved point guard Steve Nash to the rival Los Angeles Lakers in the summer to the unsuccessful signing of Michael Beasley to the ugly fallout of the Gentry firing (assistant Dan Majerle resigned and assistant Elston Turner has reportedly done the same), every move made these days is another blow to the Suns' battered approval rating. The heat is on Suns ownership and management more than ever before.

 

But third-year Suns general manager Lance Blanks — who found himself dousing more flames this week after he had a heated argument with veteran Jermaine O'Neal — insists there's a plan in place that will pay off so long as there's some patience.

 

"I feel, actually, great (about the big-picture)," Blanks said in a lengthy phone interview with USA TODAY Sports. "In this business, you can't wiggle your nose and manufacture success, or rub rocks together. You've got to roll up your sleeves and do the things that are necessary to be successful."

 

And that, as Blanks saw it, included promoting Hunter from his position as player development coach to interim head coach - even if it meant he came under fire.

 

Blanks, the former player who came to the Suns in August of 2010 after a decade spent as a scout and front-office executive with the San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers, is wired to win it all. He was part of two championships with the Spurs, then switched sides to endure the heartache of losing to San Antonio in the 2007 NBA Finals while with the Cavs.

 

If he can survive the firestorm of scrutiny that continues to come the Suns' way, he wants to settle for nothing less than championships in Phoenix, where the many playoff successes have been so wildly celebrated but a title has eluded the Suns in their 44-year history.

 

This interview took place before Sarver said in a radio interview that he saw Blanks as a talented executive who is "terrible" at public relations, but it made this subplot all the more interesting: A request to interview the Suns' president of basketball relations, Lon Babby, for this story was rerouted in Blanks' direction. Blanks, to his credit, was more than willing to detail the controversial decision to put Hunter at the helm and address a number of perceptions about the hire.

 

In a community where the bond between the team and its town has been among the best in the league for so long, hiring Majerle — or, "Thunder Dan" as he was known during his time with the team in the late 1980s and '90s — would have played better publicly. But Blanks, who clearly headed the hire and is well aware he'll either be seen as bold or bone-headed depending on how Hunter turns out, saw him as the more talented coach. Hunter is off to quite a start, as the Suns downed Sacramento in his debut on Wednesday and beat the Chris Paul-less Clippers in Los Angeles on Thursday night.

 

"First off, it was clear that he was the right guy based on what I was hearing from the support staff, from players, and others," said Blanks, who - like Babby - joined the Suns after Steve Kerr's abrupt resignation as general manager and the Sarver-led free agency period in 2010 in which Phoenix added the likes of Hakim Warrick (now in Charlotte) and Channing Frye on long-term deals and Amar'e Stoudemire signed in New York. "And the thing that I kept hearing is that they wanted to have the level of accountability, structure, leadership, honesty, someone who was willing to tell them the truth to their face. And they were all saying — as I saw it, and as we saw it in the interview process — they were saying 'Lindsey' without saying 'Lindsey.'

 

"He's a 17-year NBA veteran player. He's been around the business, roughly, about 20 years. He's worked in front offices, he worked for us scouting for little to nothing. He's a workaholic. He gets in the office at 6 in the morning, easy. He's up late at night with the guys getting shots up. …There is a precedent for (this sort of hiring). We've seen other teams recently who have hired young guys who have played who can relate to the players well and who are willing to develop them and challenge them and make them as good as they can be. It just made sense."

 

Blanks, make no mistake, was saying "Jacque Vaughn" without saying "Jacque Vaughn." Before the Orlando Magic hired the former Spurs point guard as their head coach last summer, Hunter was, to the surprise of many who didn't have him on their radar, a finalist for the position. Blanks said there was another Western Conference team that wanted Hunter on its coaching staff as well, so the Suns were relieved when he stayed put.

 

Yet because of the widely-held perception that Hunter had been deemed the heir apparent on the bench going into the season, his presence put unwelcome pressure on the coaching staff. That much was clear in the reaction of the assistants to the Hunter hire, as Majerle has since eviscerated his former bosses publicly and Turner made the decision to leave.

 

Both men were interviewed for the job, but Majerle would later claim that the two-day process was a charade. Blanks, however, swears the two-day interview process that led to Hunter's hiring was sincere.

 

"At no time have I or did I talk to Lindsey about being the next coach (before Gentry was gone)," Blanks said. "I just think it was a function of what happened to him last summer with that interview process. We sat there, and we were going down parallel tracks — 'what do we do?' And absolutely it was a process where we go, 'Well we can interview this guy or interview that guy. We can call someone possibly from the outside in.' We went through every possible scenario.

 

"Why would I put myself and the organization and our front office under so much scrutiny if it wasn't a pure decision. Why do that? That's stupid. So at the end of the day, I did what I thought — along with Lon and (director player personnel) John (Treloar) — what we thought was the best decision for the organization. Lindsey Hunter had no idea we were going to interview him until four or five hours before we interviewed him. If you ask me this every day for 20 years, I will tell you the exact same story…because I'm speaking from my heart, so I don't have to make up stuff, or spin it, or anything else."

 

Hunter, like the rest of the Suns' staffers, will be re-evaluated in the summer before the decision is made whether to give him a long-term deal.

 

"We see Lindsey as being a high-level, talented coach with a lot to prove," Blanks said. "He's never walked the sideline or blown the whistle in practice or called a timeout. He's got to prove himself. He has a lot of the raw matter within him that I think is required to be a very good head coach, but he's still got to go out and execute it. That's why he's interim.

 

"Right now we're beginning to evaluate Lindsey as well as other alternatives and options. But mostly we're giving most of our focus to Lindsey, because he needs the support and we want to maintain a level of integrity with him. But Day One when the season is over, we'll begin to evaluate who the best candidate is going forward."

 

Planet Orange may be flaming out in not-so-fine form at the moment, but the Suns do have the sort of assets that could lead to a turnaround. The Nash deal netted them first-round picks for this June and in 2015, and the 2013 pick — which is unprotected — is looking like it could be in the lottery because of the Lakers' shocking struggles. The Suns are on the lookout for the next piece of their core, having missed out on Eric Gordon when the New Orleans Hornets matched their maximum contract offer last summer and taken part in the Rudy Gay talks with the Memphis Grizzlies that may now have to wait until the summer. What's more, Phoenix will have approximately $7 million in salary cap space this summer and $20-plus million in 2014.

 

Blanks, it's safe to say, hopes he's around to see it through. He has this season and next on his contract, while Babby is in the last year of his deal.

 

"We have draft picks, and we have cap space, and those are things that you need in order to continue to build your roster," Blanks said. "I feel good about where are position is. Now it's just about executing and continuing to make the right decisions to begin to turn things in the right direction that we want to be."

 

And, if possible, to start improving his dangerously-low local approval rating.

 

"I can't be arrogant enough to think that we're just going to come in from outside of that community, and be accepted right away," Blanks said. "(Phoenix) is a very attractive, nice place to live, a wonderful community. And the organization — as successful as it's been — has never won a championship. That's something that I aspire to do there. Whatever the case may be, I'm going to put in every amount of work and put forth every amount of effort to make that happen. That's the goal. We're a long ways from there now, but that's the ultimate goal."

 

Esta é para ti, perdigas.

[andriy pereplyotkin]

AS MEMPHIS SHEDS, OKC STANDS AS BEACON

January 31, 2013 · 11:56AM

 

HANG TIME SOUTHWEST – As Memphis, $37 million lighter after Wednesday’s dumping of Rudy Gay, visits Oklahoma City tonight, crystallized further is the small-market Thunder standing as the league’s one-and-only Super Team built to survive this new era under a sharp-toothed collective bargaining agreement.

The Super Team era is dead and the staggering luxury tax penalties that take effect next season scared Memphis straight into a salary sell-off. The Grizzlies moved lesser pieces in a deal last week that spared them from the last of the dollar-for-dollar tax penalty this season and could have allowed them to take one more postseason stab with its core four — Gay, Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol and Mike Conley.

But the Grizzlies’ new ownership and management groups decided not even to do that. Gay is now a Raptor. Who knows where Randolph and Gasol will be come July?

Soon even LeBron James and the Super Friends might have to short-circuit LeBron’s “not one, not two, not three…” proclamation because the owners’ demands in the CBA is squeezing the three superstar model onto life support. LeBron, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will be owed a combined $62 million in the 2014-15 season before which all three can opt out. That three-player total already tops this season’s salary cap and is just $8 million from entering the luxury tax.

Starting next season, the luxury tax penalty increases incrementally with each $5 million over the threshold.

The Lakers? The Nets? The Knicks? The Spurs? The Bulls? Name another team with a core as young, as talented and as manageably locked up as the Thunder with All-Stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and ever-emerging big man Serge Ibaka. Surely not the Grizzlies. Perhaps the Los Angeles Clippers if they re-sign Chris Paul this summer to pair long term with Blake Griffin.

“We like our team,” Durant told NBA.com recently. “[General manager] Sam Presti, [assistant general manager] Troy [Weaver], do a great job of putting everything together and making it work, bringing great guys in here that fit with each other, making money fit, the salary cap, all that stuff. They make that work and we really trust them in every decision they make because they always try to put our team in position to do well.”

Presti and Co. made their difficult-but-necessary CBA-related move just days before the start of the season, further confirmation that the three superstar era is as good as dead when they gave up on signing James Harden and traded him to Houston. The deal netted sharpshooter Kevin Martin, and any criticism of the CBA pistol-whipping OKC into a chemistry-disrupting deal on the heels of an NBA Finals appearance evaporated with its seamless transition and fast start.

“We got rid of James, that had to happen, but we didn’t get rid of KD,” OKC coach Scott Brooks said. “We’re going to be good for a long time. KD is still here and Russell, and we have some young guys that are improving. Serge is only 23. Jeremy Lamb (Houston’s No. 12 overall pick acquired in the Harden deal), he hasn’t played much, but he has a chance to be really good, he’s only 20. [Hasheem] Thabeet, he’s not a known guy, then we’ve got some first-round picks.

“So we’re excited about where we’re going, but still we want to win a championship now. We’re not playing for next season or the next season after. We’re like every team, if you have a chance to win you want to win now.”

The Thunder are the favorite to return to the NBA Finals and a combination of shrewd decisions and foresight by the front office, good timing and great luck have positioned them to rule the West, if not the league, for seasons to come. No other team has such desirable young talent locked up for the long haul and locked into contracts that make it at least possible to swim around the luxury tax line of doom without being financially severed by the sharks.

Durant and Westbrook are 24, and Ibaka, incredibly, is only 23. Durant is already signed to a max deal through 2015-16 and Westbrook is too, and through 2016-17. Ibaka signed an extension in the offeseason and is on board through 2016-17 on a reasonable deal that will begin to pay him $12.3 million next season.

Martin becomes a free agent after this season. With just one playoff series in his first eight seasons with Sacramento and Houston, Martin, who is making more than $12 million this season, says he wants to re-sign with OKC.

And if OKC needs an escape hatch, Presti still holds the amnesty card, which he can use, if he so chooses, next offseason on a player such as center Kendrick Perkins, who will earn $18.6 million over the next two seasons.

“Our management does a great job of putting the right people around the organization,” Westbrook said. “It’s showing and it should help us out for years to come.”

The new CBA is ending the Super Team era and it threatens any young building team with uncomfortable decisions and short-term cohesion.

At the moment, no team is better positioned to conquer it than the Thunder.

[Carson Wentz]

OKC é um caso fantástico. Small Market, a construir do draft como ninguém (well, Spurs com o Duncan, mas eram tempos diferentes), a não ter medo de fazer as escolhas realistas. Só é pena terem surgido da "morte" dos Sonics.