Today’s Best NBA Stories

– Brett Brown begins the task of shaping Noel

“It’s a real eye-opener for me where, in my old job, you saw just hardened men, veterans, who knew how to navigate 82 games,” said Brown, the Sixers’ head coach. “It’s such a skill, a mind-set, a toughness, that people have the ability to back things up, and that’s life in the NBA. Our group has to learn that now. Nerlens has to learn that now, and I’m very curious.”

Read it here: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/20141102_Brown_begins_the_task_of_shaping_Noel.html

– Can the Spurs’ defense survive without Tiago Splitter? (from JGomez, poundingtherock.com):

Read and view it here: http://www.poundingtherock.com/2014/11/2/7147257/spurs-defense-tiago-splitter-aron-baynes

– Van Gundy knows Pistons shooters will revert to form, so focus goes to D, ball movement, screens (from Keith Langlois, nba.com/pistons):

” (S)hooting wasn’’t a point of emphasis of Sunday’’s practice, one that left Van Gundy pleased with the demeanor of his 0-3 team for its spirit and attentiveness the day after a disheartening home-opening loss to Brooklyn. All the things that lead up to shooting, however, were high on the docket.

Among them: cleaning up defensive breakdowns, getting better ball movement and setting sturdier screens. Van Gundy counted 20 points Brooklyn scored simply because of game-plan mistakes in the defense. Get more stops, he says, and your shooters are going to play with more ease and confidence, not feeling like every possession is do or die because of an alarming yield on the other end.

““I honestly believe that stuff goes hand in hand. If you’’re not stopping people and then you go down and have to make shots, that’’s not easy. But when you know your defense is holding and you’’re sort of playing free and easy, the game gets better.””

Read it here: http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/van-gundy-knows-pistons-shooters-will-revert-form-so-focus-goes-d-ball-movement-screens

– The Houston Rockets, Andrew Wiggins, and transition threes (from Jack Maloney, Hardwood Paroxysm):

Read and view it here: http://hardwoodparoxysm.com/2014/10/31/film-room-friday-houston-rockets-andrew-wiggins-transition-threes/

– Randy Wittman, Byron Scott and Understanding Shot Selection (from Ian Levy, nyloncalculus.com):

” Both coaches are working with a misunderstanding is bigger than the relative value of two and three-point baskets. While it’s framed as an analytics discussion this really about understanding the strengths, weaknesses and preferences of players and how best to put them in positions to succeed. Wall and Beal are capable of attacking the basket and that’s where the majority of their drives should end. The Lakers don’t have the same quality of penetrators and, without a legitimate post threat besides Kobe, attacking the rim is often indistinguishable from forcing the issue.

Analytics offers some general rules of thumb about which shots to pursue. The final determining factors should be how open the shot is and the personnel involved. That, ultimately, is where Scott and Wittman seem most disconnected from conventional wisdom.”

Read and view it here: http://nyloncalculus.com/2014/10/30/randy-wittman-byron-scott-understanding-shot-selection/

– Blake Griffin still finding room to improve (from Robert Morales, Long Beach Press-Telegram):

“He works on his game so much that as long as he’s healthy, in is prime, he’s going to continue to improve, continue to play at an extremely high level. The mental side of things, for him, I think is the biggest challenge.”

Funny Redick should say that. Besides working hard on his shot with his shooting coach during the off-season, Griffin ventured into a different realm more than usual.

“I think this summer I watched more film than I ever have before, just to kind of break down things and try to see things from a different perspective,” Griffin said. “I hope it will be put to good use. Really, the only thing about it is that mental side.”

Read it here: http://www.dailynews.com/sports/20141029/blake-griffin-still-finding-room-to-improve-for-clippers

–  Lakers’ defensive issues main contributor to 0-4 start (from Mark Medina, insidesocal.com):

“Scott has chalked up the Lakers’ perimeter defense mostly toward leaving corner three-pointers uncontested out of fear of leaving the top of the key open. Scott has implored for the Lakers to play on offense at a deliberate pace and for his team to hustle back on defense to ensure more half-court sets. Scott also took aim at Lakers center Jordan Hill and forward Carlos Boozer.

“Our bigs got to do a better job,” Scott said. “You’re playing against teams like this that run multiple pick and rolls, if we’re trying to trap it, our bigs got to be up there. If we’re trying a hard show, our bigs got to get up there. There were too many times our bigs were just flat and back on their heels. You can’t do that with these guys. They’re too good.”

Hill conceded he needs to improve on defense, but he also spread the blame.

“We definitely got to communicate. Everybody does,” Hill said. “There’s a lot of wide open layups. There are times I had to help the guard and no one cracked out on my man. But we’ve been having trouble the past couple of years on the defensive end. We have to make it our main focal point. If we communicate, talk loud and be in the right position at the right time, we shouldn’t have nothing to worry about with getting any wins or contesting against any other good teams.”

Read it here: http://www.insidesocal.com/lakers/2014/11/02/lakers-defensive-issues-main-contributor-to-0-4-start/

Tyson Chandler (from Bobby Karalla, mavs.com):

” The Mavs’ prodigal son at center is averaging 2.0 offensive rebounds this season, second on the team only to Brandan Wright (who also deserves plenty of praise for his play this week). Chandler has battled against some of the best rebounders in the NBA to do it, too — during this week’s three games, his adversaries included Tim Duncan, Derrick Favors, Anthony Davis, and Omer Asik.

It’s the situations in which Chandler gives Dallas a second chance that matters most. Per NBA Stats — every single one of you should check out the league’s newly designed stats page right away! — 1.7 of Chandler’s offensive rebounds have followed shots from at least 13 feet, and all of them have come with at least one opponent in the immediate vicinity, what the NBA refers to as a “contested” rebound.”

Read it here: http://www.mavs.com/player-of-the-week-tyson-chandler/

– Saturday’s Games (from Jonathan Tjarks, Patternofbasketball.com):

Read it here: http://patternofbasketball.blogspot.com/2014/11/saturdays-games.html

More Player updates:

– Brandon Jennings: http://www.freep.com/story/sports/nba/pistons/2014/11/01/detroit-pistons-brandon-jennings/18344449/

– Jimmy Butler: http://www.csnchicago.com/bulls/bulls-clutch-effort-shows-depth-jimmy-butlers-game

– Darren Collison: http://www.sacbee.com/sports/nba/sacramento-kings/kings-blog/article3518485.html

– Shane Larkin: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/knicks-guard-shane-larkin-holding-nba-best-article-1.1995674

– Brandan Wright: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/11/01/6250911/wright-right-back-into-a-zone.html

– Donald Sloan: http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/sloan-steps-spotlight   and    http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/sloan-steps-spotlight-part-2

– Bojan Bogdanovic: http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/brooklyn-nets/post/_/id/21019/bogdanovic-nba-adjustment-not-that-easy

– Devin Harris: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dallas-mavericks/headlines/20141102-sefko-harris-new-foot-and-all-thriving-in-new-role-now-that-he-s-healthy.ece

-Trevor Booker: http://www.sltrib.com/sports/1775300-155/booker-jazz-utah-game-games-angeles

Playoff Update, NBA Officiating, Coaches: College to NBA, Donald Sterling

– West and George bring Pacers back from the brink of elimination (from Bob Kravitz, indystar.com):

” One minute, they were facing a 3-games-to-1 deficit that only eight NBA playoff teams have overcome. Daunting? There’s a 3.7 percent chance of winning a series from that position.

The next minute, they were making heroic plays, the kinds of plays that keep a season on the brink alive for another couple of days — or weeks or months.

When it had to happen, it was the Pacers’ leaders, their best players, who made it happen.

David West and Paul George.”

Read it here: http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/kravitz/2014/04/26/kravitz-west-george-bring-pacers-back-brink-elimination/8222221/

– Raptors’ Terrence Ross has unfortunately shrunk in playoff spotlight (from Eric Koreen, nationalpost.com):

Read it here: http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/04/26/toronto-raptors-terrence-ross-has-unfortunately-shrunk-in-playoff-spotlight-against-brooklyn-nets/

– Mavs backcourt punishing Spurs (from Jeff Caplan, NBA.com):

“…the unfolding and improbable story line of this first-round series that the eighth-seeded Mavs suddenly lead 2-1 over top-seeded San Antonio is the dominance of the Mavs’ backcourt”

Read it here: http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2014/04/26/mavs-backcourt-punishing-parker-and-co/

– Reggie Jackson’s Heroics Embraced By OKC (from Brian Windhorst, ESPN):

” Frankly, the Thunder should be down 3-1 and have their backs against the wall. They are not because Jackson happened to have the best game of his career when his star teammates were basically at their worst.”

Read it here: http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/page/dime-140426/reggie-jackson-steps-okc

And this from Royce Young (dailythunder.com): http://dailythunder.com/2014/04/reggie-jackson-saves-the-world-as-okc-takes-game-4/

and from Ben Golliver at Sports Illustrated: http://nba.si.com/2014/04/27/reggie-jackson-thunder-grizzlies/

– Improbable shot helps Mavs take Game 3, strengthen upset bid against Spurs (from Rob Mahoney, Sports Illustrated):

” When Vince Carter’s turnaround, buzzer-beating three-pointer splashed through a backlit net on Saturday to earn Dallas a 109-108 win, it carried with it a full frame of context. It was a moment that could not be set apart from the 144 minutes of playoff basketball that came before, every one of them saturated with improbability. Just a week ago these Mavericks seemed destined, under the weight of empirical evidence, to play the victims in a short series dominated by the Spurs. Instead they’ve challenged the West’s top-seeded team through three games in ways that once seemed impossible.

” We’re well past the point of attributing Dallas’ push to strategic surprise or underdog pluck. With Carter’s game-winning shot and every moment of electric basketball that preceded it, the Mavs claimed a 2-1 series lead and the triumph of genuine competition. We have, against long odds, a hell of a series — much of it still left to play.”

Read it here: http://nba.si.com/2014/04/27/mavericks-spurs-nba-playoffs-game-3-vince-carter/

– Noah’s time to shine without Nene (from Nick Friedell, ESPNChicago):

” Tom Thibodeau and his Chicago Bulls players didn’t want to speculate whether Washington Wizards big man Nene would be suspended for Sunday’s Game 4 of their Eastern Conference playoff series after head-butting Jimmy Butler late in Friday’s Game 3. But now that the penalty has been doled out, it figures to be the single biggest break of the series for the Bulls.

Nene’s presence in the Wizards’ lineup can’t be overstated.

He has affected this series in a lot of different areas — but the biggest issue for the Bulls has been how his length has disrupted Thibodeau’s offense. Specifically, how Nene’s size and activity has limited what Joakim Noah has been able to do at times on the high post. ”

Read it here: http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/bulls/post/_/id/19081/noahs-time-to-shine-without-nene

– Troy Daniels and the Question of Obscurity (from Brian Schroeder, Hardwood Paroxism):

” In case you didn’t see, the Rockets managed to escape Portland with a Game 3 victory last night, thanks in part to the heroics of rookie guard Troy Daniels. While this was undoubtedly one of the most surprising things of an already abnormally surprising postseason, what irked me as a staunch follower of the D-League wasn’t the surprise with which Daniels’ shot was greeted, it was the sort of…gleeful ignorance of his existence that followed. Like the idea that a D-Leaguer was capable of hitting a big shot is an incredible, unpredictable idea. Like Jeremy Lin never existed.

At the expense of coming off as preachy, here’s some context for why Troy Daniels hitting a three point shot is one of the least surprising things in basketball. A four year player for Shaka Smart at VCU, Daniels both appeared for the school’s 2011 Final Four team and set their all-time record for threes made in a season. In 2013, he set an Atlantic 10 record for three pointers made when he dropped 11 of 20 from downtown against East Tennessee State. After going undrafted (mainly due to the fact that while he’s a great three point shooter, that’s basically all he does), Daniels played for Charlotte at the 2013 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. He attended training camp with the Bobcats before he was cut in October. Soon after, he signed with the Houston Rockets, and after bouncing back and forth with them, was finally assigned to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, where he proceeded to become perhaps the best shooter in the entire sport.

” At this point in time, the biggest hurdle in the D-League’s road to becoming a true minor league isn’t finances or the long wait for universal single affiliation. It’s the smugness of NBA people who would rather make the same tired points over and over than take advantage of the fact that the sum of all human knowledge is accessible from their smart phones and spend five minutes once in a while to learn something about their team’s D-League affiliate, so the next time a Troy Daniels shows up, we can judge them as basketball players instead of novelty acts. As contributors worthy of celebration instead of random pulls of a slot machine.”

Read it here: http://hardwoodparoxysm.com/2014/04/26/troy-daniels-question-obscurity/

– ‘Joey Crawford’ is trending on Twitter — why the NBA wishes he weren’t (from John Canzano, oregonlive.com):

“…what The Oregonian has learned in the last week about the officiating regulations, and the league’s attempt to steer public discourse about officiating, raises an important question for commissioner Adam Silver’s league.Is it interested in the officiating being the best it can be?”

Read it here:http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf/2014/04/canzano_joey_crawford_is_trend.html

(BI Note: This is the latest in Canzano’s series on NBA officiating.  You can check out the earlier installments by clicking on the links in the box at the right hand side of the story)

– A whole new ballgame for NBA-bound college coaches (from Jerry Zgoda, startribune.com):

” Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations Flip Saunders vows to look in “all places” for the correct candidate who has both the “clout” and head coaching experience to replace retired Rick Adelman. That likely includes looking at established college coaches — Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, Florida’s Billy Donovan and still possibly Iowa State’s Fred Hoiberg among them.

Read Jerry’s “look at what kind of leap a college coach must make” here:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wolves/256846721.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue

–  Sterling and Silver (From ESPN Insider David Thorpe)

“The league owners and commissioner have a number of avenues available to punish Donald Sterling. But the loudest message needs to be spoken with one voice: It is time for you to sell the team. We will do our best to help you get the most appropriate price. That is our job. But there simply cannot be a place in this league for you. It is not fair to any of our players, owners, executives, coaches and the thousands of staffers who make their livelihood in the NBA to have to suffer from their connection to such primitive comments. You are welcome to enjoy the profits of the sale of the team in any manner you choose, save one, and that is as a part of the NBA.”

– Donald Sterling is the NBA’s and its owners’ mess, not Chris Paul’s and the Clippers’ (from Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo Sports):

“Sterling has never been a Clippers problem, but an NBA problem. The commissioner’s office believed Sterling was sick and dying, that he would go away, and only he comes back to haunt and embarrass the NBA again.

” This isn’t about Chris Paul, the president of the National Basketball Players Association. This isn’t about Doc Rivers, the president and coach of the Clippers. It isn’t on them to make declarations and stage protests now. The NBA chooses its owners, and it makes its rules. It wields an iron fist with executives, coaches and players, and now it needs to do its job to begin the process of removing him as an owner.“

Read it here: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/donald-sterling-is-the-nba-s-and-its-owners–mess-to-clean-up–not-chis-paul-s-and-the-clippers-181729322.html

– Time for Silver to do Stern’s dirty work with Sterling (from Phil Taylor, Sports Illustrated):

” It was more than nine minutes of hypocritical, illogical, racist talk. The words were shocking (and, it must be said, equally pathetic), but the fact that he said them is not. People who think like Sterling don’t just go away, they keep reminding you anew of the ugliness in their hearts. Maybe you can forget about them for a while, but they keep festering, like a sore, unless they are dealt with properly.That’s what NBA officials never understood. They knew what kind of man Sterling was better than anyone. They heard not just the public stories of his racism — including former Clipper GM Elgin Baylor’s allegations in a wrongful termination suit that Sterling brought women into the shower area of the locker room and told them to “look at those beautiful black bodies,” as though the players were racehorses — but they heard the private ones, the ones that didn’t make it into depositions or news reports, as well.And the league did nothing.”

Read it here: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nba/news/20140426/donald-sterling-clippers-racism-nba-adam-silver/

 

 

Playoff Update – Day 8, Replay Discretion, Donald Sterling and more

– Make-or-Break NBA Playoffs Weekend (from Zach Lowe, Grantland.com):

” We have a monster weekend of games in what has become a shockingly unpredictable and wild first round. Let’s take a quick spin around each series, focusing on some of the key questions…”

Read it here: http://grantland.com/features/nba-playoffs-preview-round-one-weekend-two-2014/

– Blazers’ lesson plan continues into playoffs (from Daniel Nowell, ESPN):

” With the Rockets and Blazers tied and the clock under 35 seconds in Friday’s Game 3 in Portland, the Rockets had the ball for the game’s penultimate shot.

James Harden took a high screen from Dwight Howard, and another, and another still.

Throughout, Nicolas Batum stayed on Harden’s hip, fighting through the screens and steering the bearded guard into trouble. Dorell Wright tipped the ball loose, and Williams dove on it. But Houston’s Jeremy Lin careened in just a half second later, corralled the ball and threw a wild overhead pass to rookie Troy Daniels, wide open and all alone on the opposite wing.

Daniels, in his sixth NBA game and just weeks removed from playing in the D-League, cashed in.

It was a broken play, and a perfect one. In a series with two overtime games in its first three, it was the sort of play that has a way of seeming inevitable, a manifestation of how fickle the bounces can be and how razor thin the margin between two teams. Batum had played it perfectly. Williams had all but recovered the loose ball.

But the result was three points the other way.”

Read it here: http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/67823/blazers-lesson-plan-continues-into-playoffs

– Troy Daniels Saves Rockets (from Ramona Shelburne, ESPN):

Read it here: http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/page/dime-140425/daily-dime

– John Wall and Brad Beal bring the star power, but the Wizards don’t go up 2-0 without Trevor Ariza (from Conor Dirks, ESPN):

” The big stage has been kind to Bradley Beal. Just 20 years old and in his second professional season, Beal took the reins in Game 2 of the first-round series against the Chicago Bulls, scoring 26 points and pulling down seven rebounds to lift the Washington Wizards to an overtime win and a 2-0 lead.

After an inconsistent and often inefficient season, it wasn’t evident that Beal was ready to be a featured playoff scorer. Two magnified games later, it’s clear why the Wizards believe he will be exactly that.

Beal joins first-time All-Star John Wall in a guard duo so potential-laden and presently exciting that the public can no longer dismiss Washington’s backcourt as something merely of the future. Potential’s recognition, though, is as much about observing what a player lacks as it is about hoping he’ll become something greater than his current incarnation. While Wall and Beal grease the cogs of their own development with increasingly zealous performances, it is left to one of Washington’s unsung heroes to ease the inevitable growing pains of rapidly maturing talent.

Enter Trevor Ariza.

…

”  Ariza was slotted as the backup to Martell Webster coming into the season, and by many he was seen as eventual trade bait. His contract expires at the end of this season and he was a clear roster redundancy after the Wizards re-signed Webster for four years, $22 million and drafted Otto Porter Jr. third overall.

Now it’s hard to imagine this incarnation of the Wizards without him.

The “glue player” demarcation is overapplied, reached for when other easy definitions fail, and an easy definition would not be fair to the dynamic (contract) season Ariza has had.”

Read it here: http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/67796/trevor-ariza-washington-wizards-swing-mate

– Butler keeps his head to keep Bulls alive (from Fran Blinebury, NBA.com):

” Give Jimmy Butler credit for keeping his head.

No small feat when a guy the size of Nene is trying to rip it off.”

Read it here:http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2014/04/26/butler-keeps-his-head-to-keep-bulls-alive/

– Mike Dunleavy saves the Chicago Bulls’ season (from Mike Prada, SBNation):

” Chicago toughened up, and an unlikely candidate gave the Bulls new life in D.C.”

Read it here: http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/4/26/5655008/mike-dunleavy-bulls-vs-wizards-nba-playoffs-2014

– Nets’ Johnson Continues to Punish Raptors (from John Schuhmann, NBA.com):

” It seems that you can’t consider Joe Johnson without considering his contract. He’s overpaid, yes.

But when you look through that lens, you can lose sight of how valuable Johnson is on the floor and how much of a problem he’s been for the Toronto Raptors in their first round series with the Brooklyn Nets.

We’re three games in and Toronto has yet to find an answer for Johnson, who led Brooklyn to a 102-98 victory in Game 3 and a 2-1 series lead on Friday with 29 points on 17 shots. He scored 21 in the second half as the Nets took control of the game and then held on down the stretch.”

Read it here: http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2014/04/26/nets-johnson-continues-to-punish-raptors/

– ‘Iron Man’ Mike Miller? Surprisingly so (from Steve Aschburner, NBA.com):

” Had Kendrick Perkins sat on Mike Miller at any point in the past three seasons the way he did Thursday night in Game 3 of the Oklahoma City-Memphis playoff series, a team of EMTs immediately would have rushed to the court carrying a Gulliver-esque spatula. Whatever parts of Miller hadn’t already gone splat would have been scraped up and deposited in the Grizzlies’ trainers room, perhaps not to be seen again until preseason camp.

But here in 2014, that Miller – the one held together with duct tape and baling wire when he managed to play, which wasn’t all that often – is gone. He’s been replaced by one who can laugh off Perkins’ little in-game sitdown and, more important for Memphis, by a guy who did this:

Played in all 82 games.”

Read it here: http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2014/04/25/iron-man-mike-miller-surprisingly-so/

– Warriors search for lineup options (from Scott Howard-Cooper, NBA.com):

” The coach had something of a threat.

Mark Jackson, his team down 2-1 and unable to stand up to the Clippers in play or intensity, said Friday he was considering a change to the Warriors lineup for Game 4 on Sunday afternoon, hoping to find big men who will at least match the aggressiveness of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.

“I could make a change,” Jackson said. “I won’t say whether I will or with who. But it’s possible. We’ve got to figure out a way to present some resistance. I think things are going a little too smoothly right now for Blake.””

Read it here: https://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2014/04/25/warriors-search-for-lineup-options/

– Devin Harris, healthy again, gives Mavs boost (from Jeff Caplan, NBA.com):

read it here: https://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2014/04/25/harris-healthy-again-gives-mavs-boost/

– Amir Johnson takes high road from preps to NBA playoffs (from Sean Deveney, Sporting News):

” When it comes to the debate around the NBA’s age limit, forward Amir Johnson holds a unique place.

Back in 2005, Johnson was chosen out of Westchester High School in Los Angeles with the 56th pick, by the Detroit Pistons. After that year, the league raised its age requirements, effectively ending the practice of drafting players out of high school.

That makes Johnson the last NBA player drafted out of high school. “I am the Jeopardy question,” he says now. “Who is Amir Johnson?”

That’s something Brooklyn Nets fans have been asking after Johnson’s Game 2 performance for the Toronto Raptors.

Johnson struggled in the opener, unable to contain smaller Nets star Paul Pierce and leading many to wonder whether he should be moved to the bench in favor of Patrick Patterson. But in Game 2, Johnson bounced back with 16 points and nine rebounds in helping to lead the Raptors to the franchise’s first playoff win in six years.”

Read it here: http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/story/2014-04-25/toronto-raptors-amir-johnson-nba-playoffs-age-limit-brooklyn-nets-paul-pierce-louisville-cardinals

(BI note: One of the funniest moments of the playoffs occurred when announcer Dick Stockton, reading from notes that apparently said that Johnson attended “Westchester H.S. (LA)”, commented that Amir attended h.s. in Louisiana)

– Hibbert becomes symbol of Pacers’ struggles (from Associated Press):

” Fairly or not, Roy Hibbert has become the symbol of all that’s wrong with the Indiana Pacers.

He hopes to turn that around Saturday, no matter what his role.

The 7-foot-2 center has struggled mightily in the first three games against the Atlanta Hawks, raising the possibility of coming off the bench in Game 4. The top-seeded Pacers are down 2-1 in the best-of-seven series and must steal a win at Philips Arena to avoid a mammoth upset.

Coach Frank Vogel was tightlipped about his lineup plans. The Pacers have been more effective against the eighth-seeded Hawks with a smaller unit on the court – and Hibbert on the bench.

“You’ll find out tomorrow,” was all Vogel would say Friday, not long after a spirited film session at the team hotel.”

Read it here: http://www.nba.com/2014/news/04/25/hawks-pacers-friday-offday-game-3-preview.ap/

– Brad Stevens’s educational first year in Boston, in focus (from Charles P Pierce, Grantland.com):

” Some seasons ended last week. Some seasons ended badly. Some seasons ended badly, but in such a way that people actually rejoiced in how badly they ended. This is great fodder for barroom debate and talk-radio rhetoric. This was extraordinarily weird for the people whose livelihoods depend on having not too many seasons end badly, because that is how careers end badly. This was an extraordinarily weird time to coach, say, the Boston Celtics.

“There’s a couple different ways to look at it,” said Brad Stevens, after Boston had lost its last game of the season, badly, to the Washington Wizards on April 16. The Wizards, as they say, were “playoff-bound.” (Well, you would only say that if you were a sportswriter of the long-dead variety. Anyway, the Wizards are continuing to prosper, John Wall being one of the league’s great growth stocks at the moment.) The Celtics were … incredibly not.

“Are you going to get better in your role, or are you going to expand your role?” Stevens continued. “What I mean by that is: Are you going to get better at what you do well, or are you going to get better at some other things that make you, give you the chance instead of being the eighth guy to be the fifth? Or instead of being the fifth to be the third?”

Read it here: http://grantland.com/features/brad-stevens-boston-celtics-tanking-2014/

– How and where the best shooters get buckets (from Kirk Goldsberry, Grantland.com):

” Given the wonders of contemporary computation and troves of new kinds of basketball data, it’s a shame that at the end of the year we review only the same old standard statistical categories and reward the same old kinds of quantitative triumphs. As it turns out, when you examine which players led the league in field goals in different parts of the scoring area, you can reveal diverse forms of greatness. (Kirk takes) a look at which players led the league in made shots from the different spots around the court (as well as) the NBA’s most efficient shooters from different spots on the floor.”

Read and view it here: http://grantland.com/features/nba-best-shooters-2013-14-season/

– Ron Howard: The Ant Who Won’t Cry Uncle (from Lee Jenkins, Sports Illustrated):

” On March 29, Howard sank yet another pull-up from the left wing at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. The game stopped. The crowd of 4,024 stood for three minutes. Fans sobbed. Joyner ran to the parking lot and fetched the carrot cake with cream-cheese icing, cooling in her car. Howard’s 4,254th point set a D-League record, recalling Crash Davis’s 247th home run. “A dubious kind of honor,” Crash says in the bush league classic Bull Durham. “I think it’d be great,” Annie Savoy replies. “The Sporting News should know.”

Like Crash Davis, Howard has been to the Show, if only for a sip of coffee. After his first year in Fort Wayne he signed with the Bucks and played in the preseason. When they released him, coach Scott Skiles said, “You’re good enough for the NBA.” Since then the D-League has reported 235 call-ups, but none for Howard. He went to training camp with the Knicks, again with the Bucks and last fall the Pacers. Scouts wanted to see him at point guard, so he slid over and still averaged 20.5 points this season. But he is now 31 in a sport that prizes teenagers. “It drives you crazy,” Howard admits. He could be mayor of Fort Wayne, but if the Pacers summoned him tomorrow, he’d run a fast break down I-69 and get cheered on the way out of town. Such is life in the minors.

Read it here: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nba/news/20140425/ron-howard-nba-dleague-scoring-record-fort-wayne-mad-ants/

– NBA Will Consider Giving Refs More Replay Rights (from Brian Mahoney, Associated Press):

” After further review, the play stands as called.

Not because it was right, but because referees weren’t allowed to determine it was wrong.

NBA officials were already considering expanding referees’ instant replay options before two key plays in this postseason couldn’t be changed even after refs saw them on the monitor.

For now, the rules are clear about what referees can look at. But Commissioner Adam Silver said the league will “inevitably” reach a point where they can do more.

“So far, in terms of all of our triggers, we’ve tried to maintain a line of what is clearly objectively ascertainable,” Silver said Thursday. “You know, foot on the line or not, buzzer or not. My sense is where we’ll end up is giving the referees more discretion over what they can look at once we go to replay.”

Silver’s comments to a group of Associated Press Sports Editors came hours before Atlanta’s Jeff Teague tossed in a wild 3-pointer as he dribbled left with the shot clock winding down and the Hawks leading Indiana by six. When officials later reviewed the shot to see if Teague was behind the arc, it was clear he had first stepped out of bounds before shooting. As Indiana players screamed for the basket to be overturned, referee Tony Brothers explained that it couldn’t be.”

Read it here: http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/nba-giving-refs-replay-rights-23470733

– Kings Free Agency Advantage with Gay & Thomas (from Jonathan Santiago, Cowbellkingdom.com):

Read it here: http://cowbellkingdom.com/2014/04/26/sacramento-kings-own-incumbent-advantage-with-free-agency-looming-for-rudy-gay-and-isaiah-thomas/

BI comment: We can’t let the latest Donald Sterling outrage go unnoted: the league must step in – a huge fine is not enough – his cumulative  hideous offenses (of which this is just the latest) merit expulsion as an owner.  Now!

Sacramento Kings own incumbent advantage with free agency looming for Rudy Gay and Isaiah Thomas – See more at: http://cowbellkingdom.com/2014/04/26/sacramento-kings-own-incumbent-advantage-with-free-agency-looming-for-rudy-gay-and-isaiah-thomas/#sthash.iXdmxN4l.trYZQOeY.dpuf