Roundball Mining Company - Denver Nuggets Blog

Pre-Game Five Links

April 28, 2010
by Jeremy

Here are a few links for you as we get ready for game five.

Chauncey is going to switch from C.J. Miles over to Deron Williams. Billups will probably get a friendlier whistle than Arron Afflalo, but I doubt there will be much of an upgrade with Chauncey on Deron. Billups looks gassed and I doubt the extra effort he will have to exert on defense is going to help alleviate that. I guess Williams is due for a bad game…

Kevin Arnovitz continues to cover this series like no one else. This article on how the Nuggets are not running their most efficient plays very frequently is as frustrating as it is true. I have written that when the Nuggets run almost anything other than isos, they seem to be able to get practically any shot they want. Unfortunately, they are too much in love with their “random” offense.

Faithful reader Bill Holicky has some statistical evidence that Carmelo needs some help if Denver is going to make any headway in this series. He points out that although there are only 16 teams in the playoffs, Denver only has two players in the top 50 in playoff PER (ESPN.com Insider required). Melo is sixth with a very impressive 27.63, but the next best Nugget is Arron Afflalo coming in forty-third with a PER of 16.84.

Professor Hollinger also points out that under Adrian Dantley the Nuggets long standing position as the best team in the league at earning free throws has flip flopped. It would seem officials are not afraid of Dantley’s bark (ESPN.com Insider equired), mostly because he rarely ever uses it.

Rob Mahoney wrote a very good piece on Carmelo for Pro Basketball Talk that I highly recommend.

For some reason I am beginning to feel optimistic about tonight’s game even though my brain is trying to convince my heart otherwise.

When Being Unselfish Goes Too Far

April 27, 2010
by Jeremy

J.R. Smith has been mocked and ridiculed again for something he tweeted. After the Nuggets loss to the Jazz in game four of their first round series Smith said that if you play selfish you lose selfish. Of course, everyone, including myself, thought that such a statement was pretty silly coming from a player who I once said was removed from a game due to a sprained shot selection.

The question is what exactly is selfish? You can be selfish on both offense and defense. You can be selfish in the locker room. The most common way to define selfish play is whether a player, or players, take too many shots. I think it is a very safe assumption that is the kind of selfish J.R. was referring to.

Was Carmelo Anthony selfish when he took 26 shots? I suspect most people would say, “No.” Carmelo made 13 of his 26 shots and his 39 point performance was what prevented the game from becoming a blowout earlier in the contest. On the other hand, Carmelo did take some bad shots, plus he turned the ball over a whopping nine times while only tallying one assist.

You can make an argument that Carmelo played great and was the reason Denver was within seven points in the fourth quarter. However, I think you could also argue that maybe the Nuggets would have been better off if Melo did a little more passing and a little less dribbling off his foot trying to force his own offense.

Was Chauncey Billups selfish when he took four long jumpers in the first quarter? After the game Chauncey claimed that he really focused on reversing the ball. I saw many more jumpers than swing passes from Chauncey.

Kenyon Martin launched three jumpers in the first quarter that he had no business shooting. Was he selfish? Ty Lawson was aggressive in looking for his offense and his play could have been considered somewhat selfish too. Chris Andersen missed a jumper and both Birdman and Kenyon missed shots when they tried to throw down a spectacular follow dunk instead of making an attempt at a safer tip in. Can we classify those efforts as a selfish attempt at style over substance?

In comparison, J.R. was on the floor for 8:14 seconds before he attempted his first shot. Aside from a three quarter court heave at the first half buzzer Smith only attempted four shots in 16:14 seconds of floor time in the first half. One shot was a breakaway layup and second attempt was the shot he took after he rebounded his missed breakaway layup.

Looking beyond shot totals, it was obvious that J.R. was making an effort to play unselfish basketball. He was a very willing passer and never was a “ball stopper” that George Karl has railed against in the past. He passed up open shots in order to give the ball to teammates who were in worse position than he was. I can see why after the game he might have felt like he was playing an unselfish style of basketball and his teammates did not reciprocate.

The flip side to that is J.R. did nothing to set his teammates up. He did not drive and attempt to earn an easy shot or get to the free throw line. He simply passed the ball around the perimeter when it came to him. That may be unselfish, but is it they style of play the Nuggets need from J.R.? It certainly was not particularly effective as all the passing only netted J.R. two assists.

I think it is exceptional that J.R. was trying to be coachable and implement the style of play that we all know leads to success for the Denver Nuggets. It is a small step forward in his development. Unfortunately, his efforts seem to be misguided. Unselfish does not mean passive and J.R. was incredibly passive, especially in the first half.

I understand J.R.’s frustration and appreciate his desire to promote unselfish play. The problem is if J.R. is not being a playmaker, it is bad for the team. Plus I would wait more than one game before I start calling people out on Twitter.

George Karl Interview

April 25, 2010
by Jeremy

Rick Riley interviewed George Karl and watched game three of the Denver Nuggets first round series against the Utah Jazz with him. Coach Karl is looking better, but is still very gaunt. You can tell how badly he wants the team to do well and it is sad to see his frustration and helplessness. He does have enough energy to poke fun at J.R. Smith though.

The Best of the Net - Previewing Nuggets vs Jazz

April 17, 2010
by Jeremy

I decided to compile the previews of the various Nuggets blogs out there, but continue to be disappointed over the lack of Nuggets blogs out there. If you have a Nuggets blog that I do not have a link to or know about, please send it to me). Come on Nuggets fans grab a keyboard and start typing. Anyway, here is what the internet has to offer when it comes to the first round series between the Denver Nuggets and the Utah Jazz.

For all the relevant ESPN.com coverage check out the Jazz vs Nuggets series page. If you are an Insider, make sure to check out the Scouts. Inc preview. I will be a part of Daily Dime Live tonight so come by and submit your questions or comments during the game.

Andrew over at Denver Stiffs has an all encompassing preview that I highly recommend.

The disturbingly talented Zach Harper over at Hardwood Paroxysm has some good insights into the series, and his own unique way of thinking of the series.

Kurt Helin at Pro Basketball Talk hopes the Nuggets can be contenders.

Nugg Love has a good preview for Nuggets fans to check out.

Basketball John at SLC Dunk chimes in with his always solid coverage.

The Basketball Jones has a very good series of mini-previews, I recommend you check them all out here.

The gang at Bal Don’t Lie has decided to back the Jazz, albeit before the news that Kirilenko will miss the series broke, but I recommend you read the preview anyway.

If you are looking for some motivation this time of year, the guys over at the Chris Andersen Files has you covered (trust me you will want to click on this link).

If you are looking for a place to watch the game online, ESPN3 has you covered.

One last thought from me before game time. This playoff season may very well be a defining one for Carmelo Anthony. We all know about his many struggles in the playoffs. Last season he broke through and produced what I believe was his best all around season this campaign. If he can lead the Nuggets to another deep playoff run, his career can continue an upward trend. On the other hand, a first round loss to the Jazz would make for yet another playoff flame out. The fact is Denver has never lost a series when they have home court advantage since Carmelo arrived. The sad aspect of that fact is they have only had two such series.

The NBA has a long history of talented players who never made much of themselves in the playoffs. Melo needs to prove last season was not a fluke and that he does not belong in their company.

Keeping Things Lively in Denver

April 5, 2010
by Jeremy

There is rarely a dull moment in Denver anymore. On Thursday they returned to their winning ways with a big win over Portland, saw Chris Andersen suffer an ankle injury, some foreign object flew into his mouth and the team had to deal with a locker room meltdown. Next Denver said all the right things about not taking the Los Angeles Clippers lightly, only to take them lightly causing a near disastrous first 18 minutes, we found out George Karl will not be able to come back from his cancer treatment unless Denver can make it out of the first round and news that Kenyon has begun running to test out his knee.

Aside from the Nuggets earning their first two game winning streak in over two weeks, I think the best news was actually the tantrum Kenyon Martin threw after his Range Rover was filled with butter popcorn on April Fool’s Day.

Do not get me wrong, yelling at and threatening your teammates after a big win is not something I prefer to have happen, but it was what Kenyon said that caught my ear. In an effort to coax information from those listening on who pulled the prank Kenyon exclaimed, “How ’bout if I don’t play in the playoffs until somebody tells me who did it.”

I learned in political science in studying deterrence that in order for a threat to be effective it must be credible and you have to be capable to pull it off. For instance the credibility comes from there being some kind of logic or connection between what behavior you are attempting to prevent and what you are threatening to do. For example, if I tell my daughter that if she does not turn down the television I am going to burn the house down, she immediately will realize that the chances of me burning down our house are remote. Therefore the threat is not a deterrent because it is simply not credible.

Secondly, the party attempting to deter someone else from doing something must be capable. Again, using the example of my daughter and the blaring television set if I tell her to turn it down or I will get iCarly canceled and removed from the air, she knows regardless of how badly I want to do it I am not capable of pulling off such a stunt and therefore my threat is without merit.

I would imagine you are wondering what my point is. Kenyon attempted to use his return as a threat to spur those around him to provide him with information. Kenyon did find out who was responsible for the joke and though his threat may not have carried much water I suspect it failed the credibility test as opposed to the capability test. In other words, it sounds to me like Kenyon fully expects to return and play in the post season.

It may not be much to go on as the official word is that no one knows if he can play again this season or not. Still I think it shows his mindset as well as the mindset of his teammates. Combine this threat with the fact that he is running and doing something other than peddling on a stationary bike and I am optimistic that he will at least attempt to return in the next couple of weeks.

Whether or not the comeback is successful is another story.

The Re-Return of Ty Lawson?

The other piece of really good news from this weekend was that Ty Lawson played 28 minutes and hopefully put the backup point guard spot in a strangle hold for the remainder of the season. Of course, we thought we had reached this point when Lawson played 20 minutes in Dallas last week, but then only garnered eight minutes against Portland on Thursday. At some point, with playoff positioning, and perhaps the season, on the line Adrian Dantley will stop trying to throw bones to Anthony Carter and let Lawson play.

There was a scary moment against the Clippers where Ty bumped his left shoulder and came out flexing and rotating his arm, but it certainly did not seem to have any kind of negative effect on his play.

George Karl Nearing End of Treatment

Again we send out our best wishes to Coach Karl as he has reached the end of his radiation treatment and only has one more round of chemotherapy remaining. The physical toll of what he is going through is still very high, but with treatment coming to an end his body can begin to recover. Get better coach and keep fighting!

Possessions Versus Minutes

March 26, 2010
by Jeremy

I have been an admirer of the increased utilization and availability of advanced statistics in the NBA. I have tried to the best of my ability to incorporate them into my analysis of games in a relevant way. From time to time I have wondered about stats I would love to see such as assists at the rim as opposed to assists on that come from a long jumper or how many calories I burn yelling at the television.

The other night I was watching the barn burner between the Golden State Warriors and the Phoenix Suns and witnessed Anthony Tolliver play nearly every single second of the game, 47:28 to be exact. The thought struck me that 47:28 during that game, where the two teams combined to score 234 points, Tolliver was responsible for covering Amare Stoudemire, carried a significant load of his own team’s offensive burden and was bammed on like few have been bammed on before, was much more grueling than 47:28 of a game between to slower paced teams.

I wondered instead of talking about simply how many minutes a player played in a game, why not look at how many possessions he participated in? Instead of simply tracking who played the most minutes per game or in a season, why not determine who played in the most possessions? I am not sure if anyone has asked this question. As far as I can tell no one has in the manner I am suggesting it.

A simple way to determine possessions could be to divide pace factor by the percentage of minutes played. Using the formula 0.96*(FGA +(0.44*FTA)+TO-ORB) to determine pace for the Suns/Warriors game we arrive with a pace factor of 107.7. Tolliver played 47.42 minutes so he was on the floor for 106.5 possessions.

There are two problems with this idea as I see it. First, certain players or combination of players play at a faster pace than others and simply dividing by minutes is not necessarily an exact determination of possessions every player was on the floor for unless like Mr. Tolliver, they were on the floor for nearly all of them. Secondly, is participating in fewer possessions necessarily more work than having to defend for 16 or 18 seconds every possession even though you may have played in fewer possessions? After all not every player runs the floor during a fast break, but conversely at any one time there are two or three players standing around during a defensive possession and not exerting any energy either. The consensus seems to be that playing at a fast pace is far more strenuous than playing at a slow pace regardless of the quality of defense that is played. The Nuggets have relied on that fact to dominate at home for years.

Some could laugh at my little formula as there are legitimate advanced statisticians who probably already know exactly how many possessions a player participates in during every game. That information is required in order to calculate on and off court stats such as offensive and defensive efficiency ratings by player. As I mentioned above, I suspect no one has really cared much about documenting possessions per game or possessions per season. Let this be the call to look at possessions instead of just minutes and games as a measure of longevity or current service time.

What kind of information could we figure out based on possessions played instead of minutes played? Currently Gerald Wallace leads the league in minutes per game at 41.8 and Monta Ellis is second at 41.4. These two provide a perfect example for how pace can show the difference in the disparity in the possessions these two actually play every game. Using John Hollinger’s team stats the Bobcats are one of the slowest paced teams in the league with a pace factor of 92.9 while Golden State leads the league in pace at 102.7. When we calculate the possessions they would have participated in based on the minutes they played we see that while Wallace was a part of 80.9 possessions, Ellis easily surpasses him at 88.6 possessions per game despite playing four tenths of a minute less.

Apart from trivial things such as who plays more possessions could there be any value to it? Is that kind of information really significant? Bill Simmons talks about the anecdotal evidence that many players lose their legs after playing in 1,000 games. Could that number be lower or higher based on the style of play that player has been a part of during his career? What if a player plays a significant number of seasons on a fast paced team?

We have seen how a fraction of a minute can make a big difference in possessions per game with our example of Monta Ellis and Gerald Wallace. Over the course of nine or ten games Ellis will compile an entire game worth of possessions above Wallace. Over the course of a season Ellis might play in enough additional possessions equal to eight or nine more games than Wallace. Playing for Golden State for seven or eight seasons could possibly take nearly a full season off of a players’ career in additional wear and tear.

That is something a GM might be interested in knowing, for all I know maybe they already do. If not, maybe this can be my little contribution to advanced statistics.

Thrashing the Thunder, Melo vs Durant, Adding Bigs and Some Links

March 4, 2010
by Jeremy

Box Score | Highlights

What can we take from the Denver Nuggets 119-90 dismantling of the Oklahoma City Thunder? The Nuggets were certainly due for a breakout game and the Thunder apparently forgot to drink their energy drinks this morning. The Nuggets certainly rediscovered their ability to pass, score in the paint and run the floor. However, Oklahoma City did not put up much of a battle.

In an attempt to document the expected conflagration between Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant Royce Young from Daily Thunder and I were asked to carry on an email conversation for the Daily Dime. Unfortunately, for Royce, the game was a disappointment, but we still managed to compare and contrast Melo and KD. (In case you missed it David Thorpe provided his own in depth breakdown of how Melo and Durant match up earlier today.)

After the duel between the two superstars failed to materialize Nuggets fans were still treated to some good news. Chris Andersen looked healthy again. Just two days after moving around the floor in Phoenix like an octogenarian he was spry and bouncy. All the evidence I needed to see came when Andersen stepped away from his man to challenge Russell Westbrook as he approached the rim from the right baseline. When Birdman met Westbrook in the air the point guard dished off to Birdman’s man Nick Collison. Andersen landed, recovered and leapt in time to block Collison’s point blank shot before it started on its way down. It was an impressive play and hopefully a sign that Bird’s chronic patella tendinitis will not be a problem in the near future.

As far as all the regular things we fret over from game to game such as pick and roll defense, rotations and offensive tactics, with the lack of competition I do not think there is anything to draw any hard and fast conclusions.

I guess there is one other thing we can say and that is Kenyon stop shooting from outside the paint. Please, you are killing me. He bricked a three pointer so badly off the backboard that security had to put the ball out of its misery to ease its suffering.

With little to reflect on as far as game action instead of calling it a night we will turn our attention to a question from drewjay. Should Denver be preparing to welcome Mark Blount to the team?

With the Nuggets searching for big man depth the bought out player field never quite materialized. As much fun as it was to daydream about Zydrunas Ilgauskas coming to Denver to hit shots and be really tall, there was never any real chance of that happening. He has played his entire career in Cleveland. They kept him around early in his career when it appeared he would never be able to run from one end of the floor to the other without breaking his foot and this is the best Cavs team, perhaps ever. There was never any chance he would end up anywhere else.

I had hopes of Drew Gooden becoming available, but after conflicting reports as to whether or not the Clippers were going to buy him out we found out the Clippers wanted him to stay. It makes sense for the other LA team to try to win as many games as possible to appear as a better destination for free agents. Had Gooden not been shipped from the Wizards to LA he likely would have been bought out, but alas it was not meant to be.

So who is left? Umm…how about Mark Blount and Mikki Moore? Any takers?

Considering the way the Nuggets are spending money, or should I say not spending money, the only way they will bring in another player is if that player is significantly better than one, or both of the Nuggets spare bigs, namely Malik Allen and Johan Petro. It is clear that Karl does not trust either one. They only get significant playing time when someone in front of them is injured or during blowouts.

I cannot see Blount enticing the Nuggets at all and I cannot imagine a player who has been played 15 minutes over the past 13 months coming onboard and earning any more trust than Allen has. However, with Moore there is certainly smoke. As Chris Tomasson has reported Moore is recovering from surgery to remove a bone spur on his right heel and could be ready to play be mid March.

Moore is no spring chicken at the age of 34, but he has only played in 557 games and as long as he is healthy could provide an upgrade over Malik Allen. If Moore does come to Denver it will certainly not be to play 20 minutes a night, but as a fourth big who can run the floor, bring energy off the bench and most importantly give Renaldo Balkman a run for his money in the bad hair competition he is probably worth the gamble.

Heck according to the video below Moore is a deadly shooter, great finisher, has an excellent post game and is an all around dominate force (you have to watch it simply to see where on the backboard the ball hits the backboard as he banks a turnaround jumper at the 50 second mark).

If the Nuggets pass and decide not to sign anyone I am not going to lose a second of sleep. I would much prefer not signing anyone to signing Blount. However, signing Moore would be a cheap move with little downside.

Sticking with news from Tomasson he has reported that Carmelo received an IV this morning and that he was slightly dehydrated which could help explain some of his lackadaisical play. If Melo plays like he did tonight after getting some fluids, I say hook him up to an IV every morning.

John Hollinger explains why Chauncey Billups’ 43.9% shooting percentage is historically misleading.

One more link to pass along although it is a little outdated. Sebastian over at NBA Playbook breaks down a lob play the Nuggets ran at Golden State to help ice the game last Thursday.

Additional Game 61 Nugget

Arron Afflalo hurt his thumb and reported had it x-rayed following the game, but he claims via twitter that he is fine and will play Friday.

The Return of Game Stats

I finally updated my spreadsheet and the advanced stats on the right sidebar after only three quarters of the season have passed.

Pace Factor: 98.6

Defensive Efficiency: 100.0 – OKC produced a Nuggets opponent season low FG%, 32.5%, and EFG%, 37.3%.

Offensive Efficiency: 120.6 – 30 assists on 44 makes

Friday Night Links

January 29, 2010
by Jeremy

The Denver Nuggets have just tipped off in Oklahoma City without Carmelo Anthony and I have a couple of links to pass along for your enjoyment.

I will be on Sports Talk Soup tonight at 9:30 Mountain. Click here for details.

Congratulations to George Karl on being named the coach for the Western Conference All-Stars.

David Thorpe makes the case for Ty Lawson to be in the Rookie/Sophomore Challenge and Chauncey Billups and Nene also have an argument why they should be All-Stars.

A fun idea from Dan at Piston Powered. Would the Nuggets be interested in bringing in more Detroit Pistons? I say no, but it is an interesting discussion.

The Stephen Jackson Rumors Will Not Die

November 6, 2009
by Jeremy

I do not think I have said anything about the Nuggets rumored interest in Stephen Jackson. Well, it is a story that just will not die. Originally the Nuggets’ interest in Jackson made little sense to me, but when RMC reader BMer emailed me the link on TrueHoop where Marc Stein again emphasized the Nuggets have interest in Jackson I realized it was time to take the possibility that the Nuggets would trade for Jackson seriously.

It took me a while to try to come up with a reason why Denver would be interested in Jackson after all he really is a small forward and clearly Denver does not need a replacement there. Plus Jackson is a chucker who loves having the ball in his hands towards the end of games and has famously said the he “makes love to pressure.” Once again, late game marksmanship is not a big area of need for Denver.

After a few minutes of consternation it finally donned on me why the Nuggets are interested in Jackson, his defense. I completely understand if you are confused. Jackson is not known as a defensive stopper. However, he has a history of frustrating Dirk Nowitzki and his defense on Dirk was a major factor in the Warriors defeat of the Mavs in the first round in the spring of 2007.

Even then the Nuggets’ interest in Jackson was not entirely clear. The Nuggets are better than the Mavericks and you usually do not make moves to address a weakness against a team you can beat despite that weakness. I kept thinking and I think I figured it out. Jackson has not only spent time guarding Dirk, but he has experience in covering Kobe Bryant.

Could that be it? Are the Nuggets looking for a two way player they trust to throw out against Bryant? Jackson is not the number one Kobe stopper out there, I am not entirely sure there is a number one Kobe stopper. Still the way to cover Kobe is to pressure him with a player long enough to challenge his jumper and strong enough to keep Kobe from getting prime position on the block while pre-rotating help in case Kobe drives. Jackson fits the bill as good as anyone.

The question then becomes what would the Nuggets have to give up in order to acquire him? From the rumors I have read I have not seen any names appear, but I am sure a few have been bandied about behind closed doors. I would think the Warriors would be interested in Nene and if that is the going price, it is no wonder Jackson is not a Nugget. In order for the Nuggets to give up a big man, they would need one back. The only combination that makes any sense to me is to include Kenyon and Andris Biedrins. Biedrins might help with the Nuggets defensive rebounding problem, but Golden State is not going to trade two starters away for Kenyon and filler. The biggest problem is the Nuggets most tradeable assets are guards and that is the area where the Warriors are the deepest.

The only deal that makes sense to me is if J.R. Smith is sent to a third team who sends a player to Golden State and Denver ends up landing Jackson (something like J.R. to Miami, Udonis Haslem and another player or pick to Golden State and Jackson to Denver). The only place for Jackson to get minutes in Denver would be shooting guard. As mentioned above Denver has a small forward and Jackson or Melo can play power forward from time to time, but Denver has a defensive rebounding problem as it is and that would only exacerbate it. I doubt J.R. would take kindly to Jackson coming in and playing at least half the game at shooting guard and Smith is the best combination of talent and contract the Nuggets have available.

Even if trading J.R. is on the table a three way trade would be very difficult to consummate. In the example above Miami is a very unlikely trade partner as they are making a point of preserving as much money for next summer as possible with dreams of teaming Wade with Chris Bosh or another high level big man. Maybe a team like Minnesota is interested and San Antonio showed interest in J.R. two summers ago when he was a restricted free agent. Then you have to worry about having J.R. haunt Denver for either a division rival or a fellow contender.

Ultimately, I do not see any realistic way Stephen Jackson ends up in Denver, but do not rule anything out.

Sometimes two minutes is not enough

There was another post on TrueHoop today by Chris Broussard that told an interesting story about the sale of their second round draft pick (number 34) last June. Apparently Cleveland had made an offer of $2 million to move up and draft DeJuan Blair. However, the Rockets came in with their record offer of $2.25 million. As you may know you only have two minutes to make your trade or selection in the second round and time ran out before Denver could go back to Cleveland to see if they would up their original offer. As good as I think Blair could be, I wonder if that extra $250,000 is worth having him end up in the Western Conference.

Nevertheless, it is interesting to see a little picture of what goes on behind the scenes on draft night and what a little bit of what could have been.

Movin’ on up

I missed this article by Chris Tomasson last week, but apparently it did not take very long for George Karl to stop thinking of Ty Lawson as just a rookie. Karl also bristles at the claim he does not play rookies who deserve playing time.

Karl on coaching

Mike Torico interviewed George Karl as well as Pat Rilley and Hubie Brown. Karl talks about the changes in coaching over the past decade or two and it is an interesting discussion. Karl tells a story about how Dean Smith told him he had to be able to take the blame for every loss and if he could not handle it, he should not be a coach. I do not think Karl has always been the first to take the blame over his coaching career.

And you want to be here because?

I was very surprised to hear that Renaldo Balkman had signed an extension with the Nuggets last week. I guess I should never be that surprised when a player agrees to be paid, in Balkman’s case he is receiving north of $5 million for three years, but I would think Balkman would be looking for the answer to the same question many fans are. Why doesn’t he play? Players like Balkman who play hard and do not demand a certain amount of shots to give an effort are typically held in high regard and I doubt he would have a difficult time finding a good team who would want him on board.

I do not think anyone who knows me would call me a prima donna or high maintenance, but if I thought I should be on the court, and I was not seeing playing time, I would look to play somewhere else whether I was offered a contract extension or not.

Then again, maybe the experience of playing for the circus that was the New York Knicks convinced him that as long as you can be on the roster of a good team with little drama, you do it. Balkman has never complained about playing time to the media and has claimed that he wants to play, but will do what the coach wants.

The Nuggets’ stance that he is a player who can still be developed is interesting and I agree he can get better, but the guy can play now. Let him.

In Game Tactics

I was just watching the end of the Cleveland Cavaliers/Chicago Bulls game and Cleveland may have lost, but LeBron James did something that caught my eye. A play after Derrick Rose had scored off a pick by Brad Miller LeBron told Anderson Varejao to switch from Brad Miller to Luol Deng. At first I was confused, which is my natural state, but then realized that James took Miller so that when Miller set the screen for Rose he could switch onto Rose. The plan worked and LeBron forced Rose to pass and then he even grabbed the rebound on the missed shot, raced up the floor and made an unselfish cross court pass to Mo Williams for an open three that would have put the Cavs ahead. Williams missed the shot and the Cavs lost, but I was impressed with how LeBron manipulated the Bulls into a situation where Cleveland had the advantage. He knew Rose was looking to score and wanted to take the best option away from Chicago.

The next step in Rose’s development is to recognize that and send Miller away so there is no chance to switch on the screen. Then if LeBron comes off of Miller to double it will leave one of the best shooting big men in the league open for a jumper.

NBA Chat on the Daily Dime

October 29, 2009
by Jeremy

I will be taking part in the mass NBA chat on the newly redesigned ESPN.com Daily Dime tonight featuring a handful of TrueHoop Network bloggers and a few members of the ESPN.com NBA writing staff as well. Check out the chat and send in your questions and comments.

Record	53 - 29
Pythagorean Record	56.5 - 25.5
Projected Pyth Rec	56.5 - 25.5
Defensive Efficiency	104.7
Offensive Efficiency	108.7
Pace Factor	97.3
Field Goal %	47.0%
Opp Field Goal %	45.6%
Effective FG%	51.1%
Opp Effective FG%	49.5%
True Shooting %	56.3%
Opp True Shooting %	53.5%
Def Rebound Rate	72.8%
Off Rebound Rate	26.0%
Total Rebound Rate	49.6%

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