Now that more than a quarter of the season is in the books, we don't have many aberrations in the player rankings as Pau Gasol, Kevin Love, Deron Williams, Chris Paul and LeBron James comprise the top-five.
An interesting week of prevalent deception is nearly over and the actual picks are hours away. Hundreds of hours have been spent watching the 60 players that 30 teams hope will improve their club in the coming years.
Born within six months of each other in opposite corners of the world, two seven footers who are finalists for the Basketball Hall of Fame this fall are two of the best ever to play the center position.
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by Brandon Hoffman
Charlotte Bobcats ' forward Gerald Wallaceremains hospitalized after suffering a collapsed lung and a fractured rib in a collision with Lakers' center Andrew Bynum Tuesday night. Bynum was assessed a flagrant foul, and the NBA is reviewing the play to determine if any disciplinary action should be taken. It's unfortunate that Wallace was injured, but Bynum's foul doesn't even fit the description of a flagrant foul penalty 2, which usually involves a wind up, hard contact, and follow through. There's some belief that Wallace's injury might influence the NBA's decision. I think that would set a bad precedent. Injuries happen. Bynum's foul on Wallace wasn't malicious.
Ron Artesthinted that he might have to sit out until the All-Star break on Tuesday but reversed that stance a day later. Rockets' coach Rick Adelman was not pleased to read the news in the paper. "I think there's a way to do things, a way to follow protocol or procedure," Adelman told the Houston Chronicle. "I don't feel like I should have to read it in the paper about what a guy is doing. Usually, if someone's hurt, whoever it is, they see the trainer. The trainer looks at them, gives them treatment, and we can make some kind of plan. If it is more serious than that, they go see the doctor, and they talk to me about it, I talk to the player and we move on from there. I think this was the wrong way to do it. We've had this happen a number of times where it gets in the paper where there is a time frame or an absolute thrown out there. I think that's not the way we need to do things. I knew nothing about any of that." Artest is suffering from a bone bruise in his right ankle but came off the bench last night to score 9 points in Houston's 95-93 loss to the Sixers.
Asked to comment on what has plagued the Mavericks on defense this season, Dirk Nowtizki responded: "You name it. Pick-and-roll. One-on-one containment. Transition. Rebounding. Rebounding actually is OK. But it's all over the place. We got some work to do." The Mavericks are 16th in points allowed per 100 possessions and 8th in defensive field goal percentage. As Tim McMahon of the Morning News pointed out today, the Mavs have been mind-numbingly inconsistent on the defensive end, "No team has a bigger points-allowed differential in wins and losses than the Mavs this season. They're giving up 91.6 points per win and 109.7 points per loss." Dallas' perimeter and interior defense is bad, and it's probably not going to get better. Jason Kidd is Dallas' first line of defense, and he's no longer capable of stopping penetration. Dallas' help-side defense is just as weak.
The Orlando Magic are willing to sign to Coach Stan Van Gundy to a contract extension after this season. Orlando really lucked out when Florida Gators' Coach Billy Donovan backed out, and they were lucky enough to snatch Van Gundy away from the Sacramento Kings . Van Gundy is a terrific coach. He's great with the X's and O's, and his players love playing for him. Van Gundy is intense, but he doesn't take himself too seriously. It's only a matter of time before we start mentioning him alongside the likes of Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich.
Today's Fundamentals: T-Mac plays through the pain, Shaq's influence on Amare is questionable, B. Roy would like to be"invisible," Rosen speculates on MJ's place in today's game, Boston's talkin' bout practice, Isiah is working behind the scenes, the Cavs are killing it at home, & who would you take: LBJ or D. Howard?
The YouTubes are slow today. There's this dunk "on" Yao Ming. But I'm not impressed. How about a vintage clip from the "Human Highlight Film" Dominique Wilkins:
Brandon Hoffman is a contributing writer for RealGM. Read his NBA blog at BallerBlogger.com. Email Brandon at ballerblogger@yahoo.com with comments or questions.
