– Paul Pierce, Wizards buy into Randy Wittman’s team defense concepts (from Jorge Castillo, Washington Post):
“One-on-one defense, that wins defensive awards,” Pierce said Monday when asked about the supposed defensive drop-off without Ariza, “but team defense wins championships.”
Read it here: http://tinyurl.com/kqxxrnq
– Larry Sanders embraces opportunity to be a bigger part of Bucks offense (from Matt Velazquez, jsonline.com);
‘ In the system head coach Jason Kidd is trying to implement, the Bucks’ big men are going to be central to the offense. Kidd called Sanders the anchor of the Bucks’ defense but said he and the team’s forwards are going to have more control on the offensive end of the floor.
“We’re using our bigs to be playmakers,” Kidd said. “Being the quarterback is a part of it. Understanding that we play through our bigs — it doesn’t have to be on the box, but on the elbow.
“A lot of times the bigs don’t have that opportunity, but I think here we believe they can make all the right plays.””
– Could Shavlik Randolph Be This Year’s Surprise Player For The Phoenix Suns? (from Sean Sullivan, brightsideofthesun.com):
Shavlik Randolph is probably the most overlooked player on the Phoenix Suns roster. On a team that is loaded with top-end talent, quality role players, and promising young rookies, Randolph is one of only a few veteran players who doesn’t seem to have a clearly defined role as of yet, or a guaranteed spot in the rotation.
But could that change?
Read it here: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2014/10/6/6915449/could-shavlik-randolph-phoenix-suns-surprise-player-miles-plumlee-alex-len
– Oklahoma City Thunder: What makes Andre Roberson the clear favorite to start at shooting guard? (from Anthony Slater, newsok.com):
” He was pesky on defense, a nightmare on the glass and blew up pick-and-rolls all over the court. Throughout the Thunder’s Blue and White scrimmage on Sunday, Roberson flashed the unique skill set the Thunder loves so much – the score-off-others, defense-first approach that makes him the clear favorite to land the vacant starting shooting guard spot.
But more eye-opening – in the scrimmage that likely served as his most impressive public showing since joining the Thunder – Roberson looked to have improved on his most glaring weakness. He’s a shooting guard that can’t shoot. Or, at least, hasn’t been able to.”
Read it here: http://newsok.com/what-makes-andre-roberson-the-clear-favorite-to-start-at-shooting-guard/article/5349175
– Short night for Rose; strong debut for Mirotic (from K. C. Johnson, Chicago Tribune):
” Championship habits are built as much in October as they are in June, so a deeper team will certainly help balance Thibodeau’s proven formula of relentless attention to detail and win-everything mentality with making sure players are ready for what, on paper, could be a long haul.
“I don’t subscribe to the notion that (exhibition) games aren’t important, regular-season games aren’t important,” Thibodeau said before the game. “If you study winning and study guys who have won big, everything is important.”
Read it here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/ct-web-bulls-wizards-spt-1007-20141007-story.html
and more from KC: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/chi-nikola-mirotic-shines-in-bulls-debut-20141007-story.html
– Why Pau Gasol Perfectly Complements Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah (from Andres Montero, Bleacher Report):
” Gasol brings one of the most versatile offensive games along with his high IQ. He’s capable of scoring in a variety of ways, from pick-and-roll to mid-range jump shots to a deadly post-up game that very few can defend.
Rose has never had someone in the frontcourt with this skill set, and Joakim Noah, an avid passer, may have the perfect partner for some high-low action.”
Read and view it here: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2222622-why-pau-gasol-perfectly-complements-derrick-rose-and-joakim-noah
– With Purpose and Perspective, Nets’ Kevin Garnett Enters His 20th Season (from Andrew Keh, NYTimes.com):
” If it is indeed Garnett’s last season in the N.B.A., he has every intention of making it a more productive one than last season, when he averaged career lows in most statistical categories and shot only 44.1 percent from the field.
Garnett said he wanted to be more assertive on the offensive end this season. Last season, he made it clear that he knew he was not a primary scoring option on the team. But Garnett revealed during this preseason that his role last season, beyond simply being diminished, was not clearly defined in his mind. He said he did not always know how he fit into Coach Jason Kidd’s system.
His teammates noticed his hesitance.
“I think, last year, Kevin turned down a lot of shots,” said Deron Williams, the Nets’ starting point guard. “I think he felt like he was just trying to be a team guy. But being a team guy doesn’t mean turning down shots. I think he knows he can score the ball, he can be aggressive, and I think that’s what he’s going to look to do this year.””
– Patience key for Nerlens Noel after rocky Sixers debut (from Jimmy Toscano, csnphilly.com):
” One thing that is very clear with the Sixers and Noel: They are preaching patience. While Noel would love nothing more than to take the NBA by storm, it’s apparent that he’s a long ways away from that moment. Perhaps tonight was that wake-up call for him after getting his first real action against NBA players.
“I think this is going to take a while,” Brown said. “And it’s not an insult to anybody; it’s just reality. The summer league and NBA are worlds apart. They are worlds apart. And there has to be a real patience that we have, that I have with him, and we help him. He hasn’t played basketball for a long time, so any weight of expectation is unfair. It’s going to take time, and time he will get.”
Read it here: http://www.csnphilly.com/basketball-philadelphia-76ers/patience-key-nerlens-noel-after-rocky-sixers-debut
– Nerlens Noel a work in progress (from Sean Deveney, Sporting News):
“He leaves his feet, he gambles, he is above the rim whenever he wants to be, he jumps twice easy,” Brown said. “We want to tap into his athletic gifts where I am happy to turn this into a track meet, thinking we have an advantage. I think there is a quickness advantage at times where he can just catch and go on people and be at the rim in one dribble. I want to encourage him to be fearless on the weak side. I don’t care how many illegal defenses he gets called for. I don’t care. Those things, we want to give him the freedom to just let his athletic gifts shine and polish him up as he gets older and he understands NBA basketball a little bit better.”
– Despite its promise, Michael Carter-Williams is not focusing on the future (from Michael Kaskey-Blomain, philly.com):
“All I can do is control what I can control,” Michael Carter-Williams emphasized at Media Day last week. “I can’t control when [Joel] Embiid is ready to play. I can’t control when Dario [Saric] comes over here. My main focus has to be on the guys that are playing.”
Read it here: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/Despite-its-promise-Michael-Carter-Williams-is-not-focusing-on-the-future-.html
– Strengthening the Weakside: The Key to the Blazers’ Defensive Improvement (from Willy Raedy, blazersedge.com):
” Last year, the Blazers’ weakside defense was well…rather weak. How can they go about strengthening it and what would that mean for the season?”
Read and view it here: http://www.blazersedge.com/2014/10/6/6897193/portland-trail-blazers-strengthening-weakside-defense-key-blazers-defensive-improvement
– Trail Blazers’ Meyers Leonard embracing ‘hybrid’ role as nontraditional center (from Joe Freeman, oregonian.com):
” It was hardly a headline-grabbing moment, but if you listened carefully enough to LaMarcus Aldridge speak last week during the Trail Blazers‘ media day, he divulged a not-so-little secret about the team’s center of the future.
He might not be a center at all.
“Meyers is a center?” Aldridge said, referring to Meyers Leonard, when a reporter inquired about the Blazers’ unique trio of centers. “I thought he was a power forward.”
As the No. 11 selection of the 2011 NBA Draft continues his evolution from project to productive big man, it’s becoming more and more clear that his mix of athleticism, shooting, speed and passing ability make him perfectly suited to be a “stretch four” rather than a traditional center. At the very least, Leonard is becoming a “hybrid” big man who can play a little power forward and a little center, depending on matchups and lineups.”
Read it here: http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2014/10/trail_blazers_meyers_leonard_embracing_hybrid_role.html
– Stan Van Gundy’s offensive and defensive priorities (from Sean_Corp, detroitbadboys.com):
” The preseason is less about wins and losses and more about preparing your team for the regular season. With that in mind, it might be a good idea to consider Van Gundy’s offensive and defensive priorities. They’re no secrets — they are emblazoned on giant signs at the Pistons’ practice facility at the Palace of Auburn Hills.”
Read and view it here: http://www.detroitbadboys.com/2014/10/7/6934673/pistons-stan-van-gundy-offense-defense-priorities
– Julius Randle’s Lakers preseason debut was successful (from Drew Garrison, silverscreenandroll.com):
” Julius Randle’s NBA career began with a bang as the rookie wowed the crowd at Valley View Casino Center with a thunderous dunk. It wasn’t all peaches and cream for Randle during his debut in the Los Angeles Lakers preseason victory, but he looked like the NBA-ready product the Lakers gladly selected with the seventh-overall pick in this past summer.
Randle sat in the Lakers locker room soaking in his NBA debut while the media frenzy in San Diego hung onto Kobe Bryant’s every word following his successful return to the game of basketball just down the hall. It’s hard to imagine a better way for a rookie to start his career than a powerful dunk, and Randle said he felt “pretty comfortable after that,” following the Lakers’ win. For fans, it was a sight for sore eyes in need of youthful athleticism. For Randle, it was a “great way to break the ice.”
Read it here: http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2014/10/7/6933863/la-lakers-julius-randle-debut-preseason-denver-nuggets
– Kobe Bryant thrives in post in preseason opener vs. Denver (from Drew Garrison, insidesocal.com):
” Once Kobe Bryant stepped on the court here at the Valley View Court Casino, he did not wow any fans with any spectacular theatrics.
OK, so his mere presence and starting lineup introduction sparked the 10,108 Lakers fans to cheer him with with the same intensity as a playoff game. But Bryant didn’t follow that up with any jaw-dropping plays that made you wonder how he defied gravity.
Instead, Bryant followed up on a hiccup that entailed an airballed jumper near the top of the key with a vintage performance that will serve a blueprint on how he will try to play out at least the two years remaining on his contract. The Lakers’ 98-95 preseason victory over the Denver Nuggets featured Bryant scoring 13 points on 5 of 12 shooting and dishing out five assists in 21 minutes, all mostly off of the Lakers’ star primarily operating in the post.”
Read it here: http://www.insidesocal.com/lakers/2014/10/06/kobe-bryant-thrives-in-post-in-preseason-opener-vs-denver/
– The Hornets should run more (off-ball) screens (from Chris Barnewell, atthehive.com):
” Last year, Charlotte was pass-happy. They always moved the ball, if for no other reason than not letting it sit in one place. This was useful in wearing out the defense and creating lanes, but the team still struggled at shooting. This season, when they move the ball, they’ll now be free to let it fly from deep, which adds another asset to their offense. But why stop there? If you’re going to add the 3-point shot to your team, then go all in with it. Start throwing some off ball screens into that offensive package.
Watching the team last year, they liked running pick and rolls, but they didn’t run too many off-ball screens. The main reason for this was defenses didn’t consider their shooters enough of a threat to fight through the screens. They almost always went under them. Sometimes this worked out by creating an open passing lane, but more often than not it was wasted away the shot clock.
Now, they have legitimate shooting threats, a brilliant coach, and a huge threat down low to pull defenses away from the perimeter. Charlotte can now start a screen bonanza.”
Read it here: http://www.atthehive.com/2014/10/7/6905401/the-hornets-should-run-more-screens
– The Cavs Have All the Makings of a Title Contender (from Zach Lowe, Grantland.com):
Read it here: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/nba-windows-the-cavs-have-all-the-makings-of-a-title-contender/
– Cavs GM David Griffin must become a miner of diamonds in the rough (from William Bohl, fearthesword.com):
” Acquiring stars makes team-building a much easier task, but in no way does the presence of so many high draft picks mean the front office can rest easy. Now that the core of the team is presumably locked in for the long haul, Cleveland’s brain trust must concentrate on surrounding them with adequate role players. The problem, of course, is that three large salaries means the team will have to get creative in order to fill out the roster with useful players.”
Read it here: http://www.fearthesword.com/2014/10/7/6915493/david-griffin-must-become-a-miner-of-diamonds-in-the-rough
– Celtics benefit by Evan Turner multi-tasking (from Mark Murphy, bostonherald.com):
” He was the No. 2 pick in the 2010 NBA draft, and at his best Evan Turner has made that distinction sparkle.
More often, though, Turner’s draft status has been used against him. He never settled into a comfortable role in Philadelphia. And when the Sixers traded him to Indiana last spring, Turner got lost in the NBA’s most public soap opera.
He returned to the floor with the Celtics in last night’s 98-78 exhibition win over his former Philadelphia team, and Turner didn’t have time for the old stigma.
“Right now, I just want to earn my minutes, baby,” he said. “Other than that, it’s a lot of stuff I keep to myself and maybe I’ll write it in an autobiography.”
Well, not really. That so-called “stuff” has a lot to do with not finding his way to this point in the greatest basketball league on earth. The Sixers, mired in a rebuild that’s even further down the standings than the Celtics, weren’t a good fit. Neither was Indiana.
Turner, who led the Celtics with an impressive showing of 15 points, 10 rebounds and six assists last night, is hoping for a clearer plan under coach Brad Stevens. A very early sample tells him that he’s in the right place.”
Read it here: http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/celtics_nba/boston_celtics/2014/10/celtics_benefit_by_evan_turner_multi_tasking
– Ten guys you might not know (but should) as 2014-15 nears (from David Aldridge, NBA.com):
-Celticsblog.com is hosting previews from top bloggers for each team n the Association.
First up, are the blogger previews for the Central and Northwest Divisions.
You can check them out here: http://www.celticsblog.com/2014/10/5/6913631/nba-previews-2014-central-and-northwest-divisions
– Has the NBA’s biometric data tracking boom gone too far? (from Eric Freeman, Yahoo Sports):
” For nearly a decade, NBA cognoscenti have argued about the usefulness of advanced statistical metrics like Player Efficiency Rating and Win Shares. Recent advancements in the last few years, though, have made both sides in those arguments look relatively conservative. New optical tracking systems such as SportVU and biometric tracking systems like Catapult have allowed teams to measure players in terms of the efficiency of their on-court movement and their levels of exertion during practice. Franchises have more information on their players than ever before, which theoretically allows them to identify problem areas, improve more rapidly, and avoid preventable injuries.
Yet the expanding popularity of these systems has raised important questions about the ethics of teams tracking players to this extent. In a new feature for ESPN the Magazine, Pablo S. Torre and Tom Haberstroh dig into the issues at play and where teams may choose to track players next. It’s not so much about the limits of knowledge as what teams shouldn’t be allowed to find in the first place”
Read it here: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/has-the-nba-s-biometric-data-tracking-boom-gone-too-far-070039861.html
– How the NBA’s New TV Deal Could Blow Up the Salary Cap (from Zach Lowe, Grantland.com):
Read it here: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/nbas-new-tv-deal-blow-up-the-salary-cap/
– Ten Things To Know About The NBA’s New TV Deals (from Steve Kyler, Basketball Insiders):
Read it here: http://www.basketballinsiders.com/ten-things-to-know-about-the-nbas-new-tv-deals/
And for those with access to ESPN Insider:
– Examining & Debunking some of the hype spouting from training camps across NBA (from Amin Elhassan & Kevin Pelton):
Read it here: http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11654878/debating-carmelo-anthony-really-underrated-other-superlatives-nba
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