By Chris Benassi on 12/17/2009 11:34 AM
There's a block party in Charlotte.
Well, maybe not the kind you were thinking of. There’s no old-school Michael Jackson tunes playing across the “block” and some break-dancing to go along…this kind of block party only takes place in Time Warner Cable Arena.
We all know that Dwight Howard, Chris Anderson, and company are truly among the elite shot-blockers in this game of basketball, but that’s the problem. Everyone knows that. If everyone knows it, then the asking price for such players will skyrocket through the roof. What everyone doesn’t know is that the Charlotte Bobcats are clearly the weakest team in the league in terms of shot protection or in other words, Charlotte cannot effectively get a shot off that isn’t partially swatted by an opposing player.
Before we dig in a little deeper, let’s take a look at the blocks allowed per game leaders through this point of the NBA season. At this point, we can assume that these numbers won’t vary all that... Read More » |
By Chris Benassi on 12/5/2009 1:51 PM
I mentioned in my previous post about the Portland Trail Blazers’ early-season struggles how Portland’s dominance in rebounding is masked by the fact that they currently carry two of the truly elite rebounders in the game. Well one of those rebounders just fractured his patella and won’t be suiting up until next season at the earliest. You know, the one who looks like he is your grandfather despite the fact that he was born in 1988.
That’s the great thing about having a guy like Joel Przybilla on your bench. No other team is as stacked in the rebounding department as Portland is, but Portland’s dominance on the glass is heavily dependent on getting quality minutes from Greg Oden and Przybilla every night. While LaMarcus Aldridge is no slouch, the rest of the team is nothing to brag about in arguably the team’s biggest strength.
The other night, Portland was able to squeak out a win at home against a scrappy Houston Rockets club while Przybilla was able to register 35 minutes... Read More » |
By Chris Benassi on 11/30/2009 8:36 PM
There’s no denying that Brandon Jennings is off to a fabulous start this season as the floor general of the up-and-coming Milwaukee Bucks. But around the time when rookies score 55 points in a single contest is when things can get a little crazy, especially in the wonderful world of fantasy basketball.
In one of my leagues, Brandon Jennings was just traded for the great Tim Duncan. Is Duncan on the decline? Absolutely. However, there’s no way one can justify placing Brandon Jennings in the same league as Tim Duncan in the world of fantasy or real basketball. So to the guy in my league who pulled this one off and all of the other savvy owners out there who have pulled off similar stunts early on this season, congratulations!
Again, I’m not saying that Jennings hasn’t been great, but he’s simply not in the same breath as the great players in this league...not yet anyway. My biggest concern with Jennings is his inability to spread the wealth to his teammates.
Typically,... Read More » |
By Chris Benassi on 11/16/2009 9:38 AM
The best offensive point guard in recent memory is Steve Nas----, oh wait I meant to say Jose Calderon.
Most NBA fans would never consider Calderon to be in the same league as the likes of Chris Paul, Steve Nash, or the great John Stockton. Maybe it’s because Calderon plays north of the border for the Toronto Raptors. Maybe it’s because the up-and-coming star point guard is one of those guys from Europe that no one knows about. After all, the causal basketball fan didn’t really understand how great Pau Gasol was until he was playing alongside Kobe Bryant. Those Laker games tend to be nationally televised a bit more than those of Gasol’s former team, the Memphis Grizzlies.
Before you report what would appear to be such blasphemy, let’s give this idea some thought.
What’s the purpose of an NBA point guard?
This is might be one of the most misunderstood questions in the game today. The point guard is essentially the quarterback of the basketball... Read More » |
By Chris Benassi on 11/13/2009 2:59 AM
As a kid, I would spend countless hours at the basketball court near my house, shooting hoops. Every day when I came home, my fingers would be charcoal black from bouncing the ball on the asphalt so many times, but I really developed my three-point shot along the way. Unfortunately for me basketball wasn’t in my future as I only practiced shooting from long range and was challenged in the height department, as I only stand five foot nine inches today.
I believe that my story is a very similar one to young aspiring athletes as well. Somewhere along the way, it became ingrained in our minds that the most important aspect of sports is the scoring one. In such a results-driven society, we tend to skip right to the “what happened” notion rather than the “how did we get there” one. Perhaps this is why our eyes go straight to the point, touchdown, and home run columns when perusing our favorite (or fantasy) teams’ box scores.
The importance of outcomes is stressed heavily in fantasy... Read More » |
By Chris Benassi on 11/10/2009 6:10 AM
Toney Douglas sure isn’t making life easy for Mike D’Antoni.
The 6-1 rookie combo guard out of Florida State put on a show the past two games, netting 37 points while connecting on seven of his 12 three-point attempts. While most of his minutes came as garbage time in the in losses to Milwaukee and Utah, it’s still very impressive for the young player.
Sometimes adversity brings out the true character of individuals. For those of us normal folks, it might be the ability to find a job in this economic downturn. For the 2009-2010 New York Knicks, it’s finding a way to overcome a terrible 1-6 start to the season.
After a miserable first half in Monday night’s home game against the Utah Jazz, D’Antoni went with the young Toney Douglas to lead the charge. Unhappy with incumbent starting point guard Chris Duhon’s play, D’Antoni was digging for something, anything that would be able to give his team a spark. While their 1-6 record was not the worst in the league, the Knicks... Read More » |
By Chris Benassi on 11/6/2009 4:12 AM
The 2008-2009 Portland Trail Blazers were a team on the rise, a team that won more games than anyone could have expected. Many of Portland's doubters suggested that they simply didn't have the experience necessary to accomplish the things that they did last season. A 1-2 start at home so far has Blazer Nation extremely worried compared to their impressive 34-7 home record last season. The rough start provokes the question: What's wrong with this season's Portland Trail Blazers?
Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing. Portland was absolutely dominant last season in terms of controlling possessions. The Blazers' scheme was predicated on valuing each possession and they executed it well, leading the NBA in rebounding rate and shooting an impressive 46.5% from the floor as a team. Unfortunately for Portland, they were so efficient last season, that their productivity was sure to tail off at some point.
It doesn’t take a basketball rocket scientist to see that Portland’s... Read More » |