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[te-ko92]

Davis honored as top player
Freshman becomes first Naismith Player of the Year for UK
Throughout its storied history on the hardwood, Kentucky had yet to win the sport’s most prestigious award. That streak ended Sunday when freshman forward/center Anthony Davis was named winner of the 2012 Naismith Trophy presented by AT&T as the Men’s College Player of the Year, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced. He joins Texas’ Kevin Durant (2007) as the only freshmen to win the award. Davis was honored at the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ Guardians of the Game Awards Program at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, La.

Other finalists for the award included Draymond Green (Michigan State), Doug McDermott (Creighton) and Thomas Robinson (Kansas).

Davis, who racked up conference awards for his regular‐season performance, including SEC Player of the Year, SEC Freshman of the Year, SEC Defensive Player of the Year and a first‐team All-SEC selection, averaged 14.1 points and 10.1 rebounds per game this season, leading the Wildcats to an SEC regular-season championship. Entering the 2012 NCAA tournament as the No. 1 overall seed, Kentucky has relied on the solid play of Davis, who has averaged 15.2 points and 11.2 rebounds in the tournament, and matched his regular‐season average of 4.6 blocks per game. Kentucky defeated Louisville Saturday 69‐61 to make its first NCAA championship game berth since 1998.

“All four of our Naismith Trophy finalists put together a compelling campaign to win the award this season, but in the end, Anthony’s stellar play for the Wildcats was simply too much for voters to ignore,” Atlanta Tipoff Club Executive Director Eric Oberman said. “Congratulations to Anthony, the University of Kentucky and all the finalists for achieving tremendous success. They are all wonderful ambassadors of this sport, and we wish each of them the best of luck in their future basketball careers.”

Davis also became the first Men’s Naismith Trophy winner from the SEC since LSU’s Pete Maravich won in 1970.

“I’m so proud of Anthony. Here’s a guy who’s taken the fourth‐most shots on our team and yet he’s the best player in college basketball. He defers to his teammates,” Kentucky head coach John Calipari said. “He bought into our system and basically said, ‘Tell me how you want me to play.’ He’s been the ultimate team
player and I couldn’t be happier for him.”

Davis was selected by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s National Voting Academy, comprised of leading basketball journalists, coaches and administrators from around the country, in addition to fan voting via text message, which accounted for 25 percent of the final results ‐- more than any other national college basketball award. The voting academy based its criteria on player performances throughout the season. The vote was tabulated and certified by the accounting firm of Habif, Arogeti& Wynne, LLP. HA&W is the largest independent accounting firm in Georgia and one of the top 50 firms in the United States.

Today, the Naismith Trophy presented by AT&T is regarded as the most prestigious national basketball award and is given annually to the men’s college basketball player of the year.

“We congratulate all of the Naismith nominees and especially 2012 winner Anthony Davis for their inspiring athletic performance and sportsmanship,” said David Christopher, Chief Marketing Officer, AT&T Mobility. “This has been an historic year and we are proud to welcome Davis to this exclusive group of elite
athletes.”

Other notable men’s college player of the year winners include Michael Jordan (1984), Ralph Sampson (1981‐1983), Larry Bird (1979), Patrick Ewing (1985), Bill Walton (1972‐1974) and last year’s winner, Jimmer Fredette, from BYU.

[Monta Ellis #11]

Tom Thibodeau confirms Rose will return before season ends


When will Derrick Rose be back?

He is sitting out his 11th straight game Monday night, and the Bulls have not been pressured to put him back in the lineup too soon because the Miami Heat have put it in cruise control and not pressured Chicago for the top seed in the East.

But at some point you want him back to shake off the rust and get his timing back during the regular season before the Bulls have to take on the Knicks in the first round (most likely).

Rose said that would happen Sunday and coach Tom Thibodeau confirmed it Monday, via the twitter of KC Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.

No real shock there. But the Bulls need Rose to be right come the playoffs. They are title contenders, but they have a smaller margin for error than the Thunder or the Heat (at least when the Heat are firing on all cylinders). Expect him to play at least half a dozen games.

Richard Hamilton returned to the Bulls lineup Monday night.


http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.c...-ends/related/

[T-Snell]

Stan Van Gundy liberates himself in exposing Dwight Howard’s power play for a new Magic coach


Within the Orlando Magic, there were those suspicious of the possibility that Dwight Howard could’ve played the past two games with so-called back spasms, sources told Yahoo! Sports. Only Howard knows his threshold for pain, but everyone else knows this for a fact: His threshold for criticism is far less, and the possibility of becoming the bad guy for Stan Van Gundy’s eventual dismissal troubled him far more.

Howard has been calling for the firing of Van Gundy since the summer of 2011, a source close to the coach said, and those demands have included the dismissal of general manager Otis Smith, too. The Magic locker room has been divided for most of the season – most siding with Van Gundy, some with Howard, sources say – and it had reached a critical mass with Howard sitting out losses this week to Denver and Detroit.

“The organization has allowed Dwight to set up the coach,” a league source close to management and the coach said. “They have to have a reason to blame someone. If they win, and he gets fired, everyone will know it’s on the player. Losing gives everyone the out when the season’s over, especially Howard.”


So Van Gundy walked into Thursday morning’s shoot-around, a fresh batch of reports surfacing that Howard wants him out, with a decision made in his mind: No more lying. Van Gundy was done playing make-believe. He was done dodging, denying and, yes, lying. He told the truth.


“The only thing that I’m ever uncomfortable with is bull-[expletive],” Van Gundy finally said.

This set off a surreal scene, when an unsuspecting Howard strolled over to his coach, thinking he had dismissed the stories with the organization’s running lie. Only, Howard found out that Van Gundy had liberated himself, told the truth, and left Howard stammering with his empty, embarrassing denials.


Van Gundy had a plan here. He understood that these Magic, losers of four straight, couldn’t go on this way. He wanted it out there: Yes, I’m gone. So stop tanking. Stop trying to get me fired. When the season is over, you’ll get your wish. For now, let’s play. Let’s try to win.


“It was that,” a source close to him said, “or they just fire him, and it’s over.”


Van Gundy walks away with several millions of dollars if he gets fired. He’s no hero here, but he is an honest man on the matter. Ownership has completely lost control here. Privately, Van Gundy believes that ownership gave Howard the power to fire him once he agreed to opt-in for the 2012-’13 season. Howard was as good as gone to New Jersey, had sent word over and over, and backed out in the last 24 hours before the trade deadline.

For the first time, Howard realized that he was driving down LeBron Street, realized the criticism that was coming his way for forcing a trade, and he hit the brakes. He slammed it into reverse, turned around and did the one thing that could give him instant gratification: Stay one more year, get a standing ovation in Orlando, and restart this circus next summer.


For the Magic, it is far more important to keep Howard over Van Gundy. It doesn’t matter that Howard will someday regret pulling this power play. It doesn’t matter that Howard hadn’t accomplished much significant until Van Gundy arrived to coach him, push him, and help make him a three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, an NBA Finalist. Van Gundy is great, but you have to pick the star over the coach. Always. Still, you don’t do it this way. Unless Howard decides to sign his five-year extension, he doesn’t get to fire one of the NBA’s five best coaches. If he signs, well, that changes everything. That’s business.


Yet, Howard doesn’t have the courage of convictions, and that got exposed Thursday when he couldn’t simply stand there and say, ‘Yes, I’ve told management that I want someone else coaching the Magic.’ It would’ve been liberating for Van Gundy, the locker room, the franchise, but it wasn’t surprising Howard remained silent, because ownership has created a culture where they’ll constantly cover for him. If he was willing to stay five more years, well, these are flaws that you’d live with for the best center on the planet. That’s basketball. That’s business.

When Stan Van Gundy walked out of that shoot-around on Thursday morning, several of his closest confidants believed he would be fired before the Magic met the New York Knicks on Thursday night. He didn’t care. The truth set him free, and he had to admit to some associates, it felt pretty damn good.


This is a star league, and Howard had always believed that he needed to leave Orlando to have the stage, the platform, to be the biggest in the world. Well, he finally had it on Thursday, and he stood there, stunned, stammering and waiting for someone to save him. Everyone could’ve lived with this unpleasant truth, this behind-the-scenes reality, but Dwight Howard had to keep playing make-believe in the Magic Kingdom. He finally drove back down LeBron Street, pedal to the floor, and there’s no turning back now.


http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_yl...dy_magic040512

[Monta Ellis #11]

Nets nearly had trade for Howard


When Nets brass called it a day March 14, the eve of the NBA trading deadline, they did so believing they had a deal with the Magic for Dwight Howard in place. Yes, Howard almost became a Net.

But he also was on the verge of becoming a Laker if the Magic hierarchy had gone through with its threat of playing hardball with the indecisive superstar center.

According to league sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Orlando brass got fed up with Howard’s yes-no-maybe posturing and threatened to trade him to the Lakers, not his desired location, if he did not sign an agreement to waive the opt-out clause for the final season of his contract. Howard eventually signed the papers, but only after he was told “he would be a Laker by the end of the day,” according to one source.

While both sides proclaimed loyalty as a factor in Howard’s decision to stay in Orlando, the contentious nature of the process gives the Nets ample hope they still may open in Brooklyn next season with Howard on their side.

“[The Magic] do not want to go through it all again,” said one source who claimed Orlando wants a commitment from Howard on an extension before training camp to avoid his bolting as a free agent in 2013. “[The Magic] are determined to avoid another year of that.”

By opting in for the final year at $18,091,770, Howard is bound to Orlando only through next season. Now come renewed reports Howard wants Stan Van Gundy out as coach for there to be any chance he will remain in Orlando, and Van Gundy said Thursday Howard wants him fired.

Howard, whose camp had permission to talk to the Nets, Mavericks and Lakers, really only had one destination.

“He was adamant: New Jersey, New Jersey, New Jersey,” a source claimed.

Which would explain the confidence about landing Howard among the Nets, who play the Wizards in Newark Friday night [7:30, YES, WFAN (660 AM)] following a 2-2 West Coast trip. When their bid to get Howard dissolved in the final hours of the NBA trade deadline, they moved to contingency plans, including trading for Gerald Wallace. Other plans include pursuing Boston’s Kevin Garnett in free agency.

But the Nets thought Plan A — which at the end was Howard for Brook Lopez, MarShon Brooks, Mehmet Okur and two first-round picks — would occur.

Howard — who has sent confounding mixed signals all season, first saying he would not opt-in, then saying he would — brought the confusion to another level before the deadline.

He told teammates he was “all-in” for this season, then said next season, too. Great, thought Magic brass. Let’s get it in writing. But Howard, via a conference call, told Magic executives he would not sign an opt-in pact. The Magic and Nets seemed poised to deal. After the game, Howard did another about face. Yes, he would sign, he told the Real GM website. The Magic, though, had heard enough. They told him if he did not sign the agreement by noon, he would be traded to the Lakers.

Before the deadline, Howard also went with two teammates, to, of all places, a Waffle House. He sat seeking advice and called his parents and friends.

Orlando played its trump card. Sources for months maintained Howard wanted no part of the Lakers, that he did not want to follow the legacy of Shaquille O’Neal. Orlando leaders had one other reason for the threat: They favored the Lakers’ package of Andrew Bynum, Devin Ebanks and Steve Blake over the Nets’ offer.

Howard, of course, signed and everyone spoke of loyalty, which would have been better served had he signed long term. So the Magic have the game’s most dominant center locked up — until the nonsense starts again.


http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/nets/...8i5NoU0tzoXxeM

[Monta Ellis #11]

Cavs holding cap space for LeBron?


Luxury tax rules will bite back a little harder in 2013, forcing even high-spending teams into a form of austerity. And bearing in mind that cap space is amorphous based on which players re-sign with their existing teams, here are the teams in the best cap situation heading into the summer ... Cavaliers, $21.9 million: Cleveland has been diligent with the flexibility it received in the sign-and-trade that ultimately sent LeBron James to Cleveland. And while a growing number of league observers believe the Cavs may very well end up holding onto their room until they have a chance to reclaim LeBron when his early termination option comes up in 2014, the Cavs have plenty to spend this summer if they so choose.


http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_r...SI&eref=fromSI

[Monta Ellis #11]

Stoudemire return date pushed back to April 13 at earliest


Not that anybody was really expecting Amare Stoudemire back soon anyway….

But the dates for Stoudemire’s return got pushed back a little bit more. According to Newsday, Stoudemire will be out 2-4 weeks from when he got the epidural shot in his back, not from the injury.

That was last Thursday. So the earliest Stoudemire could return is April 13 against Washington, which doesn’t seem likely at this point.

“It’s still day-to-day,” interim coach Mike Woodson said. “You’re talking 2-4 weeks maybe, if that. I keep saying day-to-day in hopes that he might come back. After taking the shot, they’re still saying 2-4 weeks. All I can do is wait. Two to four weeks can’t come fast enough, put it that way.”

If two weeks is April 13 four weeks would be April 27 — the playoffs start April 28. How much help would Stoudemire be for the Knicks if he comes back rusty for the playoffs (and still maybe not able to play at 100 percent).

So far it hasn’t been a huge problem — the Knicks have been able to win enough to hold on to a playoff spot without Stoudemire or Jeremy Lin, and with a banged up Stoudemire. But the Knicks didn’t come into this season with the goal of just making the playoffs, and it’s hard to see how a first round playoff series with the Bulls works out well for them.


http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.c...liest/related/

[Monta Ellis #11]

Syracuse's Fab Melo to enter NBA draft


SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP)

Syracuse center Fab Melo is entering the NBA draft after a breakout season in which he twice was held out because of eligibility issues.


The 7-foot sophomore from Brazil made the announcement Thursday. He averaged 7.8 points and 5.8 rebounds for Syracuse (34-3) this past season. He led the Big East in blocks per game and was named the conference's defensive player of the year.

''Being able to play professional basketball has been my dream since I first starting playing this game and now I have the opportunity to accomplish that dream,'' Melo said in a statement. ''Coach (Jim) Boeheim and the rest of the Syracuse staff have helped me develop as a player and as a man, and I will always be appreciative for what they've done for me.''

Melo missed three games in late January due to an academic issue, was reinstated, and just before the start of the NCAA tournament was ruled ineligible again and did not play another game.

The Orange, the East's top seed, still advanced to the round of eight before a loss to Ohio State deprived them of a berth in the Final Four.

Melo had 88 blocks this season for Syracuse, which was ranked No. 1 for six weeks. The Orange opened the season with 20 straight wins before losing 67-58 at Notre Dame without Melo. Syracuse then won 11 in a row.

Melo was just one of several storylines in an Orange season that won't soon be forgotten. It began with the dismissal of associate head coach Bernie Fine after two former ballboys accused him of sexually molesting them in the 1980s. While charges have yet to be filed against Fine, he was fired in late November. Boeheim and the university are also facing a defamation suit filed by the ballboys, Bobby Davis and stepbrother Mike Lang.

Despite the issues, the Orange finished 17-1 in conference play.



http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebask...a-draft-040512

[Monta Ellis #11]

Ray Allen sacrifices for C's success


When Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers is asked about the reasons for the immediate success of the Big Three, he often reflects on how selfless Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett were in coming together, each player immediately sacrificing shots and a bit of the spotlight he once owned in his respective city in order to achieve a greater goal of winning as a team.

That sacrifice and an ability to grasp their individual roles contributed heavily to Boston's hoisting a title banner during the 2007-08 season. Now, five years later, members of the Big Three are sacrificing themselves yet again in hopes of repeating the feat.In a season that already saw Garnett begrudgingly shift to a full-time center in order to mask the team's overall lack of size, Allen is the latest to swallow a bit of his pride while being shuffled to a reserve role given the recent emergence of second-year guard Avery Bradley.

The mere suggestion of moving the league's greatest 3-point shooter and a surefire Hall of Famer to a reserve role sparked feverish debate earlier this week. Allen heard the rumblings and, despite initially rejoining the starting lineup in his return to action Wednesday night against San Antonio, he agreed to come off the bench Thursday night in Chicago -- only the fourth time in his NBA career that he had appeared in a reserve situation.

When asked before his return if he'd be willing to accept a move to the bench, Allen smiled and said, "Whatever Doc needs me to do." But his body language suggested, "Whatever Doc needs me to do -- as long as I'm a starter."

Somewhere over the next 24 hours, Allen had a change of heart. Whether it was forced upon him or not, Rivers made the player look mighty selfless by telling reporters Thursday that it was Allen who agreed to the idea in order to help the team.

In a sport where individual numbers often trump the collective good, both Garnett and Allen have shifted outside their comfort zones in hopes of group success.

Some will lament that the Celtics are 0-1 in the Allen-as-a-reserve era, but the move showed plenty of potential against Chicago. Part of the benefit of having Allen off the bench is that both Pierce and Garnett will get the opportunity to get going early offensively -- Pierce did just that in Chicago, scoring 12 points in the opening frame as the Celtics took an early advantage. Allen then has the chance to provide an offensive spark off the bench, something the team has desperately desired in recent seasons, and he will often be the focal point of the second-unit attack.

On Thursday, Allen finished with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting over 31 minutes. He was still on the floor during key moments and found ways to be a factor despite going 1-of-4 from 3-point land.

Bradley had one of his quieter offensive games since joining the starting lineup (the team was 5-0 with him as a starter before Allen returned). He chipped in nine points on 4-of-8 shooting, but was hindered by foul trouble over 27 minutes of action.

As with moving Garnett to center, Rivers admitted the idea had been in his mind for a while. The Celtics entered the season with thoughts of moving Garnett to the 5, but it wasn't until the start of the second half that they committed to it full-time. The loss of centers Chris Wilcox and Jermaine O'Neal for the season only made the decision easier.
The Allen-Bradley swap was a little more complex. The Celtics had shown signs of thriving without Allen earlier in the season, going 5-0 without him even before the recent ankle soreness shelved him again. And Rivers seemed to be considering the idea of utilizing Mickael Pietrus with the first unit given the defensive improvements the team saw with him on the floor.

When Allen's ankle sidelined him last month, Pietrus initially took the starting spot, but endured a Grade III concussion in Philadelphia, forcing Bradley into the starting role.

There was some concern that a backcourt of Rajon Rondo and Bradley might be exploited due to a lack of size, but their defensive intensity actually allowed Boston to thrive at both ends of the court. That, coupled with Bradley's own emergence as a scorer, left the Celtics playing maybe their most inspired ball of the season recently.

Rivers still wanted to give Allen some time with the first unit upon his return in order to get him back in a rhythm, but the switch came quickly, and it might be because the numbers are so undeniable.

The Boston starters with Bradley are now plus-24.53 in overall rating differential, posting an offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) of 112.21 and a defensive rating of 87.68 in 111 minutes of court time. Offensively, the team is nearly 13 points better than its season average (99.61) with that lineup and 12 points better than its defensive average (99.22).

What's more, those numbers are even better than the offensive (102.32) and defensive (100.91) ratings posted with Allen with the same starter group over 291 minutes this season.

Time will tell if those stats are sustainable, but if Boston fancies itself as a defensive team, Bradley clearly gives the Celtics the best option at the start of games. Allen gives the bench the best chance at adding scoring and, when Pietrus is able to return, they would provide a powerful 1-2 punch.

Yes, the move made all sorts of sense, but that didn't make it easy to execute. Allen made it easy by being a pro and accepting the shift.

Rivers swears players don't mind whether they are starters or reserves, so long as they get their typical minutes. But it's simply undeniable that a player like Allen -- with 1,141 career starts to his credit -- would be sensitive about a move. And still, for the second time in his career, Allen is sacrificing himself for the better of the team.

The Celtics hope it leads to similar results.


http://espn.go.com/boston/nba/story/...boston-celtics

[Урош94]

Lamar Odom, Mavs part ways

Lamar Odom's brief and bumpy ride with the Dallas Mavericks has come to an abrupt end.

The Mavericks and Odom spent Easter Sunday working out a parting, according to sources close to the situation, that frees the struggling Odom to leave the team immediately without actually being released.

"The Mavericks and I have mutually agreed that it's in the best interest of both parties for me to step away from the team," Odom said in a statement to ESPN.com. "I'm sorry that things didn't work out better for both of us, but I wish the Mavs' organization, my teammates and Dallas fans nothing but continued success in the defense of their championship."

Sources said Monday that Odom's departure will be immediate and that the Mavericks intend to simply list him as inactive for the rest of the season instead of outright releasing him, leaving open the possibility that they could still trade him after the season in conjunction with the draft. Any team that has Odom on its roster as of June 29 must buy him out by that date for $2.4 million or otherwise accept responsibility for the full $8.2 million that Odom is scheduled to earn in 2012-13.

Even if either side had pushed for a formal release, there is little upside to taking that step now with Odom ineligible to play in the playoffs with another team because he wasn't waived before the March 23 deadline. One source close to the 32-year-old told ESPN.com that the decision sets Odom up to "clear his head and start getting ready for next season" after his career-low numbers and minutes continued to dip as the season wore on.

Odom will not be at practice Monday, sources said, after he was given just four first-quarter minutes of playing time Saturday night in Memphis, accounting for the low point of a consistently rocky season in Dallas following his trade in December from the Los Angeles Lakers.

Odom's representatives pushed for the trade to Dallas after it became known that the Lakers had agreed to trade Odom to the league-owned New Orleans Hornets as part of a Chris Paul blockbuster that was ultimately vetoed by NBA commissioner David Stern in his role as the Hornets' lead decision-maker.

Throughout Odom's season-long struggles to adapt to his new surroundings, Mavs officials and players have repeatedly expressed confidence that the former Laker could still be a playoff X-factor, pointing to the team's 0-7 record without him as evidence that his presence -- if only for the minute relief Odom gives star forward Dirk Nowitzki -- has helped the team on some level.

But exasperation with Odom's languid play reached an apparent breaking point in Memphis. Both coach Rick Carlisle and Nowitzki refused to discuss the Odom situation after Dallas' 94-89 defeat to the Grizzlies.

"No Lamar questions tonight," Carlisle told reporters.

Nowitzki, meanwhile, fielded questions for four minutes about his own struggles in the Memphis defeat -- including two late turnovers -- but ended the interview when asked about Odom.

"I'm done talking about that," Nowitzki said.

Associates of the veteran forward, meanwhile, have long maintained privately that his lack of a clear-cut role with the Mavericks -- where minutes behind Nowitzki are limited -- complicated the transition. Lakers star Kobe Bryant said as much after a game in Dallas recently, describing himself as "pleasantly surprised" that the Odom deal wasn't coming back to haunt his team.

"It's tough," Bryant said. "He comes to a team that's pretty much set, you know what I mean? So it's hard for him to find his niche. The fans, they don't really understand what he does or how he can do it, you know what I mean?

"I hope they don't unlock that mystery. I know. I know how to use him and to use his skill set and this, that and the other. But with this team, the roster that they had being pretty much set, it's tough for him to be able to find his groove here."

After declining to offer defensive anchor Tyson Chandler more than a one-year deal in the offseason to preserve future salary-cap flexibility, even after Chandler's pivotal role in the Mavericks' championship breakthrough last season, Dallas used the resulting trade exception created by Chandler's sign-and-trade move to the New York Knicks to bring Odom in with the idea that the parties could help each other greatly on a one-season basis.

Dallas was initially seen as an ideal destination for Odom to start over after the jolt of being discarded by the Lakers, but he began the season well short of peak condition after a tumultuous summer on a personal level and never quite caught up.

Left reeling by the July murder of his 24-year-old cousin and a fatal car accident days later that killed a teen pedestrian after the car he was riding in as a passenger collided with a motorcycle, Odom did almost no basketball training during the five-month lockout. The contrast in preparation to his final season with the Lakers was stark; Odom won NBA Sixth Man Award honors in 2010-11 after spending the bulk of the summer of 2010 with Team USA, often playing as a center for a squad that won the FIBA World Championships in Turkey.

Odom leaves the Mavericks averaging just 6.6 points and 4.1 rebounds in 20.5 minutes per game while shooting 35.2 percent from the field and 25.2 percent on 3-pointers, all career lows by some distance.

Unlike a leave Odom was granted just before the All-Star break, there are no plans to bring him back to the team this time, sources said.

http://espn.go.com/dallas/nba/story/...es-immediately

[T-Snell]

Leaders of NBA’s elusive ‘hockey assist’


Commentators often mention the elusive “hockey assist” as an important potential statistic that could prove that Player X is a better passer than his regular assist numbers might indicate. But tracking hockey assists isn’t easy. Basketball moves very fast in real time, and defining what should count as a hockey assist is tricky. Imagine a possession in which one player hands the ball to a point guard at the top of the key, clears to the corner and watches as the point guard records an assist several seconds later on a pick-and-roll. Has that initial player contributed anything meaningful?

Good news: 10 NBA teams have purchased a super-sophisticated camera system from STATS LLC that tracks every movement on an NBA court to a precise degree. These are the same cameras, you’ll recall, that told us Tony Parker is the fastest point guard in the NBA. These cameras can track and sort everything, and the STATS folks decided to track hockey assists using a specific definition: A hockey assist, for STATS, occurs when Player X passes to Player Y, and Player Y then records an assist after holding the ball for two or fewer seconds and taking zero dribbles. The goal of the two seconds/no dribbles criteria is to isolate situations in which the initial pass — the hockey assist — has compromised the defense to the degree that the player who then records the “real” assist has little work left to do other than make a relatively simple pass.

So, who has the most hockey assists? Who records more hockey assists than we might expect? Who records fewer than we might expect? Before we answer, it’s important to note the caveats here: The STATS cameras are in only 10 of 30 arenas, and in order to filter out random noise, the STATS study supplied to SI.com tracked only players who have appeared in front of the cameras in at least eight games this season. That rules out some pretty darn good passers, including Chris Paul and Deron Williams.

Without further ado, here’s the hockey assist leaderboard, with total games tracked in parentheses:

1. Derrick Rose, 1.9 per game (10 games)
2. Steve Nash, 1.6 per game (8 games)
2. Raymond Felton, 1.6 per game (11 games)
4. Mike Conley, 1.4 per game (8 games)
4. Tony Parker, 1.4 per game (31 games)
6. Brandon Jennings, 1.3 per game (29 games)
6. Rajon Rondo, 1.3 per game (26 games)

All tied at 1.1 per game: Russell Westbrook (35 games), Darren Collison (12 games), Manu Ginobili (15 games) and Jose Calderon (29 games).

You’ll notice that the hockey-assist rankings don’t line up with the overall assist rankings. Rondo and Calderon drop, while allegedly so-so passers like Westbrook, Conley and Jennings shoot up the rankings. Each of those three players, along with Ginobili, has a higher ratio of hockey assists to regular assists than the average player tracked in this study.

You could read this data any way you like, which makes it both confounding and interesting. It may end up saying just as much about a player’s teammates as it does about a particular player.

Take Conley, for instance: He averages a ho-hum 6.8 assists per game for a team that has ranked near the bottom of the league in assist rate every season he’s been in the league, but he does well here. Why? Well, he has the ball quite a bit, and he runs a lot of pick-and-rolls with Marc Gasol, one of the best passing big men in the league. How would John Wall (just 0.5 hockey assists per game in 19 games) or Calderon (fourth in the league in regular assists) fare in this category had they played a ton of minutes this season with a big-man passer on Gasol’s level?

Jennings ranks just 18th in assists per game and doesn’t have a big man on Gasol’s level, but he finds himself this season as the trigger man for a newly pass-happy Bucks team that assists on a higher percentage of its hoops than all but one team (Boston). Is Jennings improving as a creator, or is he benefiting from a dynamic team context? It’s probably a bit of both.

We might expect Rondo, the league leader in assists, to do better here, especially because Kevin Garnett remains a splendid interior passer. But on an aging team of players who aren’t as good as they used to be at creating their own shots, Rondo’s job is to make the last pass — to set up a shot attempt, rather than start a series of passes leading to an eventual open look. The same might true of Ricky Rubio (just 0.6 hockey assists in 26 games); Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic have worked mostly as finishers this season, and Minnesota’s wing players aren’t especially threatening passers.

It’s fitting that Rose is the leader by a decent margin, because that stat matches well with the eye test and says quite a bit about both Rose and his teammates. You can picture those hockey assists in your head right away, can’t you? Rose sets up for a pick-and-roll with Joakim Noah, and Noah’s man decides to trap Rose above the three-point arc. Rose threads a bounce pass to Noah at the foul line, and Noah, seeing Carlos Boozer’s man rotating his way, slips a quick-hitter to Boozer for a layup. The sequence happens so often, both because Rose demands so much attention and because Noah and Boozer are clever passers capable of playing either role in the above scenario.

The appearance of two San Antonio guards here is not a surprise; no team whips the ball around as quickly or precisely as do the Spurs.

Lastly, Westbrook does quite well here, considering he averages just 5.4 assists for a team that ranks last in assist rate. And Westbrook actually ranked even higher based on the criteria STATS first used in defining hockey assists, says Brian Kopp, a vice president at STATS. The company started with a broader definition of hockey assists that would have allowed for the final passer to hold the ball for up to four seconds and take two dribbles before dishing the actual assist. The company chose that benchmark after studying how the NBA scores actual assists. When using this definition for hockey assists, Westbrook averaged more such secondary dimes than any player in the STATS sample, Kopp says.

But the company ultimately decided the four seconds/two dribbles standard counted too many mundane passes that did little to break a defense, and thus did not fit well with the concept of hockey assists. The company is open to other criteria sets somewhere in between the initial one and the current one, which is a reminder that we are at the beginning stages in this marriage of advanced stats and video technology. The possibilities are exciting.


http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2012...hockey-assist/

[Monta Ellis #11]

Bryant will sit out Wednesday night against San Antonio


SAN ANTONIO - Kobe Bryant eased off the training table at one end of the recreation center gym Tuesday, limped past a group of reporters, said a few "Wassups," and walked outside to talk to a couple of die-hard Lakers fans waiting for autographs.

The Lakers defeated the New Orleans Hornets without the league's leading scorer Monday and lost Saturday to the Phoenix Suns without him.

They said he's improving, but not enough to allow him to play tonight against the San Antonio Spurs.

Officially, Bryant's status for tonight's game remains day-to-day because of a sore left shin. Also officially, the Lakers don't mind him sitting out for a third consecutive game because of a condition called tenosynovitis.

"The good part about it is we have a couple more shots at them," Lakers coach Mike Brown said of facing the Spurs tonight and twice more in the next 10 days. "It's OK that it's taking time for him to get (his shin) right."

The Lakers play the Spurs tonight, then Tuesday at Staples Center and once more April 20 in San Antonio after not playing them once during the first 58 games of the lockout-shortened 66-game season.

"That is a little weird," Brown said.

Bryant, who was hurt on March 31 when he was kicked in the shin in the first quarter of the Lakers' victory March 31 over the Hornets, acted as cheerleader and assistant coach while seated on the bench during the first two games on this three-game trip.

"I felt like he really brought the group closer together because he was so engaged with what we had going on," Brown said. "He was always in the mix and when you see your leader in the mix, it makes everyone else want to be a part of it, too."


http://www.dailynews.com/lakers/ci_2...ednesday-night

[Monta Ellis #11]

Mark Cuban says reality show might have distracted Lamar Odom


When the Lakers traded Lamar Odom to Dallas in December, reports surfaced that the Lakers believed Odom had become distracted by the reality show in which he co-stars with wife Khloe Kardashian.

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said Tuesday that he doesn't regret allowing Odom to continue taping the show after moving to Dallas.

But does Cuban believe the show might have been a distraction for Odom or the Mavericks?

"To our guys? No," Cuban said. "To him? Possibly. I do think that if you know you're on camera all the time, you know you're on camera all the time."

Asked what he meant by that, Cuban said, "It means you pay attention to how you're going to look on camera."


http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/archi...ight-have.html

[Monta Ellis #11]

Knicks forward Amar’e ‘looking good’ in rehab workout

CHICAGO — Lookin’ good.

Knicks coach Mike Woodson paid Amar’e Stoudemire a compliment yesterday, saying Stoudemire was “looking good’’ after he ran, jumped and dunked during drills at yesterday’s morning shootaround before the 98-86 loss to the Bulls at United Center.

The power forward, sidelined with a bulging disk in his back, appears to be inching closer to a return but will not play tonight in Milwaukee — which is two weeks after the Knicks gave him a 2-to-4 week timetable following an epidural steroid injection.

Returning for Sunday’s home matinee against the Heat has not been ruled out, but the situation remains murky because Stoudemire has taken a vow of silence and not spoken about the injury since suffering it 2 1/2 weeks ago.

“He’s still working out, taking it a day at a time,’’ Woodson said. “He looks pretty good, but again it’s going to be Amar’e and the doctors to figure out when he decides to make his return. Until he tells me he’s ready to play, I got to go with the guys I have in uniform.’’

Woodson said Stoudemire would not need a practice before playing and would not lose his starting spot.


http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knick...cBJNnFMNXd4kOO

[Monta Ellis #11]

Collins yanks Turner, Hawes from lineup


NEWARK — Doug Collins lived up to his word of giving Sixers starters one more chance to get themselves together.

When it didn’t work in Sunday’s 24-point loss to the Boston Celtics, the Sixers coach made two changes before his team played the New Jersey Nets on Tuesday. The first was starting Jodie Meeks in place of Evan Turner, and the second was starting rookie Nikola Vucevic at center in place of Spencer Hawes.

Collins said he felt like he had to do something as the Sixers came into the game having lost four straight and 10 out of 14, falling to the final playoff spot in the East, just 1½ games ahead of ninth-place Milwaukee.

He said Turner and Hawes were disappointed, but they understood.

“I think they’re very strongly in favor of whatever we have to do to win basketball games,” Collins said. “I talked to (owner) Josh Harris, and he was saying the easiest thing to do is stay status quo and hope this works itself out. ... Josh used a great thing with me. He said, ‘In (his) business, it’s called intelligent risk.’

“In life, that’s what you have to take, intelligent risks, and there’s no telling if it’s going to work or not. But maybe we’ll find a little mojo here and start playing better.”

Collins said he wouldn’t commit long term to this move, saying that he’s going to take a “wait and see” approach.

“I’ve learned there are no absolutes,” Collins said. “I’m hoping we’re going to get some good results. We’re trying to get a spark.”

The first move was somewhat expected. Meeks had started the first 38 games of the season before Turner replaced him in the starting lineup March 5. At the time, Collins said Turner would start for the rest of the season.

But Collins said lately that Meeks spaces the court better with the other starters — better than Turner, who needs the ball in his hands the way starters Andre Iguodala and Jrue Holiday need it.

“That’s what I wanted to do,” Collins said of starting Turner for the rest of the season. “From our standpoint, I think it’s going to help Evan a little bit because, with that second unit, he’s going to have the ball in his hands a bit more.“With our starting unit, we have three guys who tend to want to hang back and not get that ball in their hands. When that happens, we lose the early part of the break. We have to get that early part of the break back.”

The other move was surprising. Hawes had started every game that he had been eligible, even after missing 27 of 29 games with an Achilles’ injury.

Vucevic, meanwhile, had seldom played lately. That changed Sunday against the Celtics, when Vucevic played 29 minutes, scored 14 points and had 13 rebounds in the Sixers’ 24-point loss.

“It looked like he had been revitalized and gotten that energy back,” Collins said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how he and Elton Brand are together.”

That’s true for the rest of the Sixers as well.

http://www.courierpostonline.com/art...ws|text|Sixers

[Monta Ellis #11]

Wizards’ Jan Vesely looking to score


The first double-double of Jan Vesely’s career came mostly as a result of three important factors: John Wall’s willingness to look for him in the open floor; Vesely’s ability to finish at the rim in unique and athletic ways; and facing a level of competition in Charlotte that is inferior to anything he has seen in the NBA. Vesely had 11 points, 11 rebounds, two blocks and two assists in the Wizards’ 113-85 victory on Monday over the Bobcats and it was another important step in his development as an offensive player. His offensive repertoire is still restricted to layups and dunks, but the rookie forward from the Czech Republic is at least showing a willingness to operate a few feet from the rim.

He took a career high 11 field goal attempts – including a team-high six in the first period – against Charlotte. He also took three shots from beyond seven feet, making one, but he didn’t show the passivity with the ball that often infuriates Coach Randy Wittman.

“Vez has started started to get more aggressive offensively, which we talked about, he and I, and I want to see him continue to do that,” Wittman said.

In his first 42 games, Vesely averaged 3.3 points and 3.4 rebounds and scored at least 10 points just three times. But he has scored in double figures in four of his past six games, starting in place of the injured Trevor Booker, and is averaging 9.5 points on 62.5 percent shooting and 5.8 rebounds over that stretch. He also had a career-high 14 points in a loss to Milwaukee.

Wittman still has to implore Vesely to be more assertive on the offensive end, to ensure that the Wizards aren’t playing four-on-five when they have the ball. Last week against Detroit, Vesely declined to take an open jumper, before he had his pass stolen by Pistons reserve Jonas Jerbko. Wittman threw his hands up and shouted, “Shoot the ball!”

Vesely took just six shots the next night in New Jersey, but he had little choice but to be more involved against Charlotte. He provided several highlight dunks, with Wall feeding him for a lob pass that Vesely flushed over Bismack Biyombo and a lob pass that Vesely guided off the backboard as he got fouled.

Still limited offensively, Vesely has scored 82.2 percent of his 197 points inside the paint this season. He also gets 75 percent of his scoring from assists.

Vesely made his first jumper in Indiana on March 29, and he is beginning to realize that he won’t gain confidence in his jump shot until he takes – and makes – a few. This season, Vesely is just 3 for 24 in shots beyond nine feet, but also 3 for 20 in shots between three and nine feet. He made an eight foot jumper in Charlotte and plans to take a few more.

“I try to work on my offensive skills. I try to put it in the game,” Vesely said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...EX8S_blog.html