Tonight’s Starting Five

Shooting Guard:

Tonight is an example of what Vince Carter brings to the Magic.

In the Magic’s win over the Warriors tonight, he took over late in the third quarter when Dwight Howard was forced to sit after picking up his fifth foul. After three consecutive Warriors baskets including two layups, Carter went to work scoring eight points including three trips to the line in which he tagged CJ Watson with his fifth, Monta Ellis with his fourth and Anthony Randolph with his third—basically the three best players for the Warriors tonight. While the Warriors took the lead, it was Carter’s offensive savvy that kept the Magic within three at the close of the period.

Carter was also involved with eight key points in the last three minutes when the game was still up for grabs. He deflated Oracle arena with his three pointer that put the Magic up 117-114, then stole the ball following the Warriors’ timeout and got to the line, sinking both freethrows. He then found an open Mickael Pietrus for a three. Ball game.

Hedo Turkoglu was pretty good at creating his own shot and getting people involved, but his offensive game has nothing on Carter’s. The Magic don’t pull this one out without Carter’s contributions during crunch time.

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Small Forward

Still love me some Vladimir Radmanovic. The Space Cadet (as so endearingly called by Phil Jackson) helped energize the crowd tonight. His defense, as I said before,

He’s even shored up that non-existent defense, working to stay in front of his man and usually getting a hand in his opponent’s face.The best change that I’ve seen in Vlade, however, is his activity around the basket...Vladimir, on nearly every shot other than his own, dives towards the basket and uses his 6-11 frame to at least try and touch the ball. I’d say about 85-90 percent of the time he fails, but during that other 10-15 percent, he often makes positive things happen. He’ll get tip outs to teammates on the perimeter. He’ll get putback buckets. He’ll get offensive rebounds.And it’s these little aspects, nuances that he contributes, like the hockey assists and the hand up on defense that have added to his game and made it possible for him to stay on the floor even when his high-arching shot isn’t falling.

All of those things seem to be evident with him now that he’s getting major rotation minutes with the Warriors. Since joining GS, he’s averaging 32 minutes. His December has been spectacular, despite the three losses (the Orlando and Houston games were both very winnable). He’s averaging 15 points, 2.7 assists, 6 rebounds, 2.7 steals and shooting 44 percent from beyond the arc and 50 percent overall.

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Center:

Amare Stoudemire was a beast on the boards tonight against the surprising Sacramento Kings who gave the Suns a hell of a game that will hurt even more tomorrow when the face the Lakers.

Amare pulled down 21 caroms, including 9 offensive which justifies his STAT moniker. The somewhat disappointing reality is that this was only his fifth game of the season with double digit boards. While it seems like he’s been working to be better defensively, the extra board work clearly has taken its toll on his offensive game. In those five games, he’s shooting 48 percent. In all other games he’s shooting a blistering 59 percent but pulling down a paltry 5.6 caroms. He’s faced some big time centers in those five contests including Shaq, Brendan Haywood, Jermaine O’Neal, Dwight Howard and a thus far impressive Jason Thompson, which could account for the dip in shooting percentage, but it doesn’t explain the paltry glass work against lesser centers.

With Jason Thompson only playing 23 minutes tonight, Amare should have had nearly 30 boards. He got his hands on several, but it’s obvious that he doesn’t have a natural ability to rebound. Just watch a guy like DeJuan Blair to see the stark difference.

And, not to continue to pick on Amare, because I mentioned him to show appreciation for the work he put in tonight, but I have a problem with him not wearing his protective shades while shooting freethrows. I used to wear goggles before I found soft contact lenses, so I understand the discomfort. But he ditched his goggles last year and ended up on his face for 22 hours a day for nearly two weeks.

He should not be taking any unnecessary risks whatsoever. Good players aggressively box out the shooter. He could get poked in the eye on a box out. What I worry about the most is that one of his shots bounces long, or right back at him, and he gets poked in the eye because the shades are up on his head. Along those lines, he’ll never be aggressive to rebound his misses because he’s unprotected. Which, ironically or not, goes back to my beef with his paltry rebounding numbers.

Point Guard:

During the Suns/Kings game, a poll was taking on who the public believes to be the early favorite for rookie of the year. Brandon Jennings won outright with over 50 percent of the vote. Tyreke Evans came in second with only 23 percent. Yeah, I know dropping 55 points got everyone’s attention. And leading the Bucks, sans Michael Redd, to the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference is a big accomplishment. I know the stat geeks will point out that he’s leading the rookie class in PER (18.10) and scoring.

But Evans is playing equally as well, if not better. He’s averaging nearly a minute more per game, putting up 19 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds (the only other players to do so are Dwyane Wade, Lebron James and Andre Igoudala) and he’s playing in the Western Conference.

Jennings was phenomenal during the first 11 games of the season, a stretch that saw the Bucks go 8-3. But he’s largely been resting on that stretch to keep his numbers up. Over his last seven games, the Bucks are 1-6 and Jennings is averaging 14 ppg, 6.5 apg, 2.85 rpg, 1.42 spg and 2.42 turnovers on 30 percent shooting. Add to that the fact that the Bucks are ranked 29^th in strength of schedule, and Jennings, while a worthy candidate, should in no shape or form be the clear cut frontrunner for the ROY.

Meanwhile, over Evans’ last seven games, the Kings have gone 4-3 and he’s averaged 22 ppg, 6 apg, 6 rpg, 1 spg, and 3.71 turnovers on 50 percent shooting. The Kings have had it pretty easy as well ranking 24^th in strength of schedule, but it has to be noted that they are one game out of the Western Conference playoffs and doing so sans their star player on a team that many pundits picked to finish in last place.

The season is long. Picking awards now is stupid. But as of right now, Evans appears to be on his way up, while Jennings has fallen off quite a bit.

Power Forward

Speaking of beastly play and a guy with a natural talent for rebounding, look no further than Marcus Camby, the Clippers starting power forward. Camby has been on a five-game blistering of the backboards averaging 16 caroms including a 17-board effort tonight in a win against Indiana. He too had a 21-rebound game last week against, yeah, Indiana. In addition to his rebounding, Camby has been contributing across the, ahem, board averaging 3 blocks, 2.6 steals and 3.6 assists over that span while shooting 53 percent. While the competition has not been stiff (only the height-challenged Rockets has a winning record), it has to be noted that Camby punishes those teams that should be punished. Take notes STAT.

Some Tips on How to Fix the Clips

"I've taught you well young Jedi..."

As shown Wednesday night with their victory over the defending champion Celtics, the Clippers, when healthy and motivated, have enough talent to play with anyone. True, Boston was without Kevin Garnett. True, Paul Pierce hurt his thumb. True, the Cs were in the last game of a four-game westcoast road trip against some stiff competition (Utah, Denver and, er, Phoenix?).

Even still, the Clips were without Chris Kaman and Eric Gordon missed most of the second half with a bruised shoulder thanks to a nasty pick by Kendrick Perkins.

So, how to fix the Clips?

Obviously, a coaching change, or at least a coaching philosophy change is the most glaring necessity. Baron Davis needs to be allowed to do his thing on offense. On defense is another matter. This off-season, if Mike Dunleavy doesn’t fire himself, he should swallow his pride and strike up a deal between him and Baron that challenges BD to put in the effort and leadership on the defensive end every night. If Boomdizzle complies, he’ll be given the keys to the offense without any input from daddy Dunleavy.

Sounds like a fair compromise. I mean, this team is built to run. Zach Randolph flourished under Mike D’Antoni. Camby is a great passer and manned the middle in Denver’s top-rated, up-tempo offense the last couple of years. And Baron had his best seasons playing Nelly ball.

But that's on offense. The team's first priority should be focusing on becoming a defensive juggernaut. All the tools are there. A physical, athletic point guard. A gritty, scrappy young shooting guard. And a former defensive player of the year (Camby) as well as a 7-foot rebounding machine (Kaman). Sure, Randolph is a lost cause on defense, but Camby helped hide Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony last year. Covering for one out of five should be a breeze in comparison. In fact, they could pair off Randolph and Camby as the starting front court and Kaman and Jordan as the bench mob bigs.

All that’s left to shore up is the horrific, offensively inefficient black hole small forward spot. Notice how up top I neglected to mention that Al Thornton missed the game as a reason for the Clippers to be excited? That was intentional because frankly, it was probably this very reason that Clips had a shot to win in the first place.

I was of the opinion that Al Thornton was going to mature into a real basketball player this year. You can look at his 17 points per game and say, wow, he’s gotten a lot better from last season. Or you can look at the fact that his scoring rate has slightly gone down from 18.6 to 18.1 that his PER has actually gotten worse (12.3 from 12.5 a year ago) and that his three point percentage has fallen off a cliff. You will also notice that despite 10 more minutes per game, he’s only upped his other statistical averages slightly: 0.2 steals, 0.3 assists, 0.4 blocks and only 1 rebound (5.5 total for a 6-8 small forward with mad hops).

Kevin Arnotz over at Clipperblog has a very insightful analysis on the trouble with the Clippers small forward spot.

Thornton doesn’t shoot the three well at all (26 percent). He’s a definite ball stop who rarely ever passes (ranks 57th out of all small forwards in assist rate). He’s not an efficient scorer (ranked 38 out of all eligible small forwards in PER), getting to the line only 3.6 times per game despite his incredible leaping ability. Basically, he hoists up turn around jumpers all game. Plus, he’s a miserable defender who often looks lost to boot. If it wasn't for the lack of freethrows and passion to get to the rim, he's like the more inefficient version of Corey Maggette.

Has 17 point per game ever been more of a mirage?

Here’s an idea, the Clips need to scrap the Thornton project going forward. The Clippers, who didn’t move any pieces for expiring contracts despite the fact that they probably could have, have an opportunity to pick up some assets this off-season thanks to the horrible economic climate. Teams are selling low. Dunleavy needs to bargain hunt and Sterling needs to open up his pocket books just a little bit more taking on extra salary in order to field a team that could be very, very good.

For example, a player like Gerald Wallace would be ideal. He’s athletic, can kind of shoot the three, and is a great defender when not pressed to be the focal point on offense. He’d flourish running next to BD, as long as Dunleavy would be willing to let Baron do his thing. A Wallace deal might actually work out because he was being shopped hard (until his injury) this trade deadline.

Kaman for Wallace might not interest the Cats despite their desire for an offensive big to pair with Okafor, but the salaries are identical and the fit couldn’t be more perfect for both squads. Both have some questions—Wallace’s health, Kaman’s mental capacity (and health too)—but there’s no denying that if everything works out, both teams will be much better for making the trade.

A starting five of Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Gerald Wallace, Zach Randolph and Marcus Camby? That could be a fierce defensive unit. The bench wouldn't be elite, but it wouldn't be that bad consisting of Al Thornton, DeAndre Jordan, Steve Novak, Mike Taylor and perhaps Ricky Davis and Brian Skinner. That team would be tough to beat and could even, if squinting in a certain light, be a championship contender...okay, well at least a second round playoff team.

Another guy who could work, and I know this sounds kind of weird since the Clips aren't quite championship material, but James Posey would be a really nice fit. Sure, by the end of his contract he'll be horrible, hell, the Hornets are already regretting his signing, but he has all the right tools to make the Clips a sick defensive team.

And with nearly $20 million left on his deal, the Hornets will be looking even harder this off-season to find cap relief (see attempted Chandler trade)

The Clips should have the necessary contracts to make that deal happen in three of the following: Mardy Collins, decent but by no means the answer; Ricky Davis, who will most likely exercise his player option because of how horribly he's played this year and the lack of a market for him next year due to the down economy and his rep as a problem child; Brian Skinner, ditto with the player option, but more because he sucks than anything personally bad about him; and/or Al Thornton.

Despite the anti-Thornton sentiment already posted, keeping Al would be better than getting rid of him. He’s got a fairly reasonable contract and is still young enough (I guess) to discover honest-to-goodness basketball skills to pair with his incredible athleticism.

In fact, if the Clips do get Posey for Skinner, Ricky and Collins, the Clips would have an incredibly deep roster with a credible backup at every position.

That’s a lot of money for a known penny-pinching, non-active owner to invest in a horrible economy on a 15-43 squad destined for a top five pick in next year’s draft lottery. But, defense wins championships, and the Clips could be one of the best defensive teams with health and the right small forward.

Of course, Ron Artest is going to be a free agent as well...and he's shooting that long ball a lot better this season.

East Over West?

Wouldn't you know it. The year I decide to give the Westcoast the much deserved love it has been dying to have with this website, the year after the greatest and deepest western conference in the history of the sport, the season that was supposed to be even deeper and better than last, the Western conference has come out of the gates sputtering. Overall, the West has a losing record 31-36 to the East's 34-29. Egads. What's going on?

Well, the Clippers have sucked. Baron and Camby both have missed time. That one hurts because I was so excited about them. But, I still have hope that they will turn things around, just as soon as Mike Dunleavy decides to let the kids play (Jordan and Gordon please!!!!). In fact, I feel better about them than the Spurs whose weak bench and lack of a third star due to the Manu injury have resulted in San Antonio sucking. You can never count them out, but Tony Parker is playing out of his mind, and the team is 1-3. Portland lost Greg Oden in the early going (though, Joel Przybilla is playing great once again) and Brandon Roy can't shoot (and despite those two amazing shots last night, is at 40 percent). My hopes for Minny and Denver (who look to be getting back on the right track with Mr. Bigshot in town) were also, at least in the early going, a bit in vain. I still stick by my predictions. I think the Clippers can find momentum as Camby gets healthier and more in tune with the team. I think the Spurs will still end up being the Spurs, though a 7th or 8th seed seems more likely now. And, yes, Portland will be boosted by that miracle shot by Roy last night and start to roll. Even without Oden.

Westside Connection Pt. 1

Westside Connection will be posts that highlight a few different teams each week. Here's the first installment featuring the Clippers and the Nuggets.

-Denver, with their trade for Chauncy Billups, have boosted themselves up into the playoffs, especially considering the Clippers’ dreadful start, Portland’s injury to Greg Oden, and San Antonio looking like they have a big 2 and that’s it. Chauncy Billups is exactly what the Nugs need. He is selfless, a real point who gets others involved, and one who can muscle opposing guards and play way better defense at the one than Denver has seen in years. Plus, he will get the ball to Melo, J.R. Smith, and Nene, so the team will stop giving Kenyon Martin 12 shots per game. K-Mart is best as a finisher. Let Chaunce be the initiator. The team even has a decent bench now, with Linas Kleiza, Chris Anderson, Renaldo Balkman and Anthony Carter. You can even throw in Cheik Samb, who should get some minutes with Steven Hunter's knee being messed up.

-Another tough loss for the Clippers tonight. They played, for the first 3 quarters, as I had envisioned them playing when they made their roster overhaul. They held the high-scoring Lakers to only 71 points over the first 36 minutes. They played slowed down, grind-it-out defense. Marcus Camby got 7 boards and 4 blocks…in 16 minutes. He and Kaman with Baron (3 steals) is a formidable trio on defense. The rest of the team is shaping up too. Al Thornton, by the way, looks like the real deal on offense. He’s taken another step towards improvement. He’s got a pretty consistent, though admittedly ugly-looking fadeaway jumpshot that, when he shoots it, you look and think, “Damn, that’s ugly, no way that’s going…” and then he nails it. Mike Taylor is greased lightening. All he needs is a chance to, gasp, play more. 7 and 4 with only a single turnover in 12 minutes is better than anything Jason Hart could hope to do on his best day.

-The main problems for the team are that Baron hasn’t found his shot yet, they’ve played two whole games together, and that Mike Dunleavy doesn’t know how to utilize the talent he has on his team. He’s totally misused Ricky Davis.

-Come to think about it, I’m about to call for Mike Dunleavy’s head. Cat Mobley getting 39 minutes? Really? I mean, really? He shot 4-11 and actually improved his overall shooting percentage to 39 percent. He’s at 33 percent from beyond the arc. He’s sporting a 0.5 assist to turnover ratio, a nifty little 9.75 PER and jacking up nearly 14 shots per game. I don’t know what Eric Gordon has done, or if Dunleavy just has some sort of prejudice against athletic wings who get to the hole (Maggette), but EG should be playing. Period. No question. Who cares if the team struggles with him out there? They’re 0-5 anyway and Eric can’t possibly do any worse than Mobley. Plus, there’s plenty of upside. Gordon’s a solid defender, so there won’t be too much drop off there. What he brings to the table is the ability to actually shoot the freaking ball. He can rain threes from anywhere—which would open up the middle for Kaman and Camby to go to work instead of allowing opposing defenders just cram the middle. Thornton has improved his 3 (hit 2 of 3 tonight) but the team needs floor spacing. Gordon would provide that. Plus, he’s the future, and Mobley is not. I hope they are showcasing Cat in the hopes of trading him, but at the rate he’s “producing” the Clips would be better off sitting him and letting his rapidly fading rep of a savvy veteran do the talking.

-Uh…pretty much ditto for Tim Thomas. Though, while I’m sure DeAndre Jordan would bring some WOW dunks, he might look completely lost out there. Then again, pot-smoking Darrell Arthur is playing well out in Memphis, so why not roll the dice on the upside? What have they got to lose…More games?

-Check my Lakers blog for a Lakers update www.nflfootballonline.com/dodgerblue15/weblog/5230/how-does-kobe-be-better-than-mj.html