grizzknob

He played in 75 games last year (across 3 teams)

Not that it means a ton, but real plus minus happens to have rated Barnes higher on both ends of the floor than Pierce last year. http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/sort/RPM/position/5

Yeah I think you just read a whole heck of a lot into that article that wasn't even there. Here are some direct quotes: "The Grizzlies... maybe(sic) the best team in the Western conference..." "The Grizzlies match up well with the Warriors and may be able to grit and grind their way past the Spurs" "The Grizz plays well against the sexy teams, the Warriors and the Clippers. They probably will overpower the Blazers and the Mavericks. And they have multiple guys to slow down James Harden." "if they can avoid the Spurs, the Grizzlies might be the safest bet to make the NBA Finals out of a crazy Western Conference. Then again, even if they have to go through the Spurs, this year might be the Grizzlies' time." How you get from that to your interpretation that he doesn't think the Grizzlies are really an elite team in the West is beyond me.

This was true and a bit frustrating, BUT, at least they rectified it on that one play, getting it to Marc to go to work on Hawes and spacing so that the only logical help had to come from Lee's man.

Tony Allen just smothering Lillard down the stretch was very fun to watch. Good win. :-)

I worry about how such a long lay-off will affect our guys in this first game back. It's going to be hard to be 100% sharp in this one.

I've got a friend that's a big Spurs fan. He told me that the big thing lacking that no one seems to be talking about for the Spurs is Tony Parker. Said he's been crap all year, and if he doesn't improve, the Spurs can't win more than a round in the playoffs. He said Conley would destroy Parker in TP's current state.

I love the insights from TA in this article about the little things he thinks about that make him such a great defender. It's no blind luck he's right there in that passing lane, or that the attempted pick doesn't quite work at separating him from his man at all, or that something as simple as a dribble handoff can turn into a turnover if it's to TA's man and he knows it's coming. Good stuff.

1. TA 2. Udrih 3. KK 4. Calathes 5. JA 6. Leuer others - not unless injuries or blowouts occur.

Stop bringing in logic to the situation! Some people want to dream of TJones you should let them, regardless of it having a lower chance of happening than them being struck by lightning on Christmas Day.

What I want most is the defensive effort and communication to be there. It was sorely lacking in Cleveland.

real plus minus takes the quality of other players someone is sharing the floor with into account. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10740818/introducing-real-plus-minus

I still don't think Green is that good, or worth trading for really. He's a -1.93 in real plus minus, which is obviously below average and one spot below our hero Tayshaun Prince for SFs: http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/page/2/sort/RPM/position/5

Any team that manages to go 21-4 to start the season (or in any 25 game stretch really) **** well ought to be eyeing a championship. Something is wrong otherwise.

You know what trade is not at all overrated? Jerryd Bayless for Courtney Lee. Don't mean to trash Jerryd, but seriously, that's highway robbery.