David Andersen to Rockets

The Houston Rockets have signed center David Andersen(notes) to a multiyear contract to help make up for the loss of Yao Ming(notes).
The Rockets acquired the rights to the 6-foot-11 Andersen in a trade with Atlanta on July 14. Houston scrambled to find a center after announcing in June that Yao was out indefinitely with a hairline fracture in his left foot.
Yao announced last month that he would have surgery to repair the injury, a decision that will likely keep him out all of next season. The seven-time All-Star underwent the procedure the following week.
Andersen was a second-round draft choice of the Hawks in 2002. He has spent his career in his native Australia and in Europe, most recently in the Spanish League with FC Barcelona, where he averaged 11.1 points and 4.1 rebounds last season.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=As9ZctOlp9MgS27iCSEf_bmLvLYF?slug=ap-rockets-andersen&prov=ap&type=lgns

White of the Night: Jose Calderon

Beautiful night in Indiana, as the Pacers start three American Whites, and win a big one over the Rockets!

Interesting stat from NY: New York has outscored opponents by 53 points when Gallinari has been on the court during the four games since he returned from injury. Gallinari made our list of top performers again tonight, scoring a smooth 11 on 5, in only 17 min.

Sean Marks thrust into the starting C spot in N.O., and good to see him do well.

But, oh, J.C. Superstar! Jose Calderon, in his return from injury game, proves his worth, leading the Raptors to victory, and earning our White of the Night.


Top White Performers:

Nowitzki: 26p - 7 reb -- 36 min
Scola: 25p - 7 reb -- 38 min
Calderon: 23p (10 shots) - 10a -- 29 min
Bargnani: 22p (13 shots) - 5 reb -- 30 min
Turkoglu: 22p - 3 reb - 2a -- 38 min
Lee: 19p (11 shots) - 14 reb -- 34 min
P Gasol: 18p (12 shots) - 6 reb -- 28 min
Hinrich: 17p (11 shots) - 5 reb - 7a -- 32 min
Stojakovic: 17p -- 39 min
B Lopez: 15p - 8 reb -- 35 min
Nocioni: 15p (10 shots) - 6 reb - 3a -- 33 min
Murphy: 14p (10 reb) - 16 reb -- 33 min
Dunleavy: 13p - 4 reb -- 27 min
Vujacic: 13p (7 shots) - 2 reb - 3a -- 25 min
M Miller: 12p - 9 reb - 5a -- 29 min
Gallinari: 11p (5 shots) -- 17 min
Love: 11p (6 shots) - 5 reb -- 22 min
Marks: 10p - 7 reb -- 29 min
Novak: 10p -- 22 min
Szczerbiak: 10p (5 shots) -- 14 min
Radmanovic: 10p (5 shots) -- 13 min
Nesterovic: 9p (5 shots) -- 15 min
Pachulia: 9p (3 shots) - 6 reb -- 22 min
Najera: 9p (4 shots) - 6 reb -- 25 min
Foster: 8p - 7 reb -- 30 min
Barry: 8p - 8 reb -- 21 min
Ridnour: 7p - 4a - 5 stl -- 26 min
Gray: 7p - team high 7 reb -- 22 min
Biedrins: 6p - 13 reb - 4 blk -- 34 min

White of the Night: David Lee

Fantastic shooting nights for Dirk (30 on 16), Udrih (24 on 11), Scola (19 on 10), and Novak (14 on 7), but how can we not give the White of the Night to David Lee, for a monster 25p-16r game, leading Dantoni's squad in a vindication win over the sinking Suns!

David is having a banner year, and is currently second in the league for double-doubles. He is a sure lock on attaining All-Star status, and congratulations for him for bringing it strong every night, turning the Knicks around.





Nowitzki: 30p (16 shots) - 5 reb -- 36 min
Lee: 25p - 16 reb -- 35 min
Udrih: 24p (11 shots) - 3 reb - 3a -- 39 min
Stojakovic: 20p - 10 reb -- 39 min
Scola: 19p (10 shots) - 9 reb -- 34 min
Bargnani: 16p - 6 reb - 3a -- 40 min
Novak: 14p (7 shots) -- 24 min
Varejao: 12p - 8 reb -- 38 min
Walton: 11p - 2 stl - 2 blk -- 20 min
M Gasol: 11p - team high 6 reb - 3a -- 25 min
Collison: 11p - 7 reb -- 26 min
P Gasol: 10p - 6 reb - 3a -- 31 min
Gallinari: 10p (6 shots) -- 18 min
Alexander: 9p - 3 reb -- 11 min
Nash: 9p - 6 reb - 19a -- 38 min
Barry: 9p (4 shots) -- 23 min
Krstic: 9p - 5 reb -- 21 min
Fernandez: 9p -- 23 min
Szczerbiak: 8p - team high 10 reb -- 23 min
Przybilla: 6p - game high 15 reb -- 21 min
Anderson: 4p - team high 10 reb -- 16 min

The Synergy of White Basketball

It's a simple fact: White basketball players are better team players, and make those around them better. Chalk it up to better passing, more court awareness, less selfishness, better basketball IQ, and probably other reasons.

Look at the list of best 5 man units in the league, www.82games.com/0809/USORT13.HTM:

Denver's best unit includes Kleiza and Andersen.
Utah's best unit includes Korver, Kiriklenko, and Okur.
Portland's best unit includes Blake, Fernandez, and Pyzybilla.
Indiana's best unit includes Murphy and Foster.
Miami's best unit includes Quinn.
Chicago's best unit includes Nocioni.

So why is it that none of these guys starts?

Whites of the Night: Turkoglu & Nowitzki

Scalabrine starting at C seems to be just the thing the Celtics needed to get back on the winning track. Great for Brian, and great to seem him get more comfortable in his starting role, as his points are trending up!

The Italian rookie Gallinari (Knicks) finally gets back from injury. Can't wait to see him in regular action.

The co-Whites of the Night are Nowitzki and Turkoglu, for their equally spectacular offensive nights. Kleiza was also fantastic, and deserves recognition as well. Kleiza is a superb athlete and scorer, and deserves to be getting major minutes.


Nowitzki: 39p (20 shots) - 8 reb -- 39 min
Turkoglu: 31p (16 shots) - 4 reb - 5a -- 30 min
B Lopez: 28p (17 shots) - 10 reb -- 41 min
Kleiza: 26p (13 shots) - 5 reb -- 36 min
Okur: 23p (15 shots) - 11 reb -- 39 min
Ginobili: 21p (11 shots) -6 reb - 4a -- 31 min
Nocioni: 17p (8 shots) - 15 reb -- 31 min
Lee: 15p (9 shots) - 11 reb -- 39 min
Fernandez: 15p (11 shots) - 4 reb -- 33 min
Bonner: 12p - 11 reb -- 29 min
Kirilenko: 12p - 3 reb - 4a -- 34 min
Scalabrine: 11p (8 shots) - 4 reb -- 29 min
Rodriguez: 10p (7 shots) - 5a -- 21 min
Stojakovic: 10p - 6 reb -- 37 min
Alexander: 9p (6 shots) -- 9 min
Scola: 9p (5 shots) - 5 reb -- 26 min
Andersen: 5p (2 shots) - team high 9 reb -- 27 min
Przybilla: 2p (1 shot) - team high 10 reb -- 28 min

Whatever happened to... Kevin Pittsnogle

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — There is a middle school up the hill from the McDonald’s here, and behind it are several classroom trailers, the type that are added when space gets tight and are never taken away.

Kevin Pittsnogle has put aside his basketball career for a chance to help a high school team as an assistant coach and teach special education students in his hometown, Martinsburg, W.Va. Inside one of the trailers last Friday stood a tall man with a familiar face. He wore a Bugs Bunny tie and a gray dress shirt with sleeves rolled to the elbows. Tattoos spilled to his wrists. He spoke kindly to two of his special education students, who called him Mr. Pittsnogle.

On the inside of the door was a sign: “You are who you choose to be.” For now, this is who Kevin Pittsnogle chooses to be.

Less than four years ago, he was a basketball star and a folk hero, a homegrown kid with a funny name, a bowl haircut, a 6-foot-11 frame covered in tattoos, and a baby-soft 3-point shot. During West Virginia’s unexpected thrill ride to the quarterfinals of the 2005 N.C.A.A. tournament, his name became a taunting verb: you’ve been Pittsnogled. His mother still has a box of the T-shirts in a closet. Less than three years ago, Pittsnogle was an all-American senior averaging 19.3 points who led West Virginia to the 2006 regional semifinals. He expected to be chosen in the N.B.A draft. He was not.

Now, at 24, he is a middle school teacher in his hometown. He is also an unpaid assistant coach for a high school basketball team. He bowls in leagues three nights a week and occasionally plays bingo at Big Bucks Bingo. His wife, Heather, is a bank teller. They have two children and live in a double-wide trailer, and together they wonder how much appetite they have for uprooting their lives again so Pittsnogle can have one more chance at a basketball career.

People approach Pittsnogle because he is both an icon and one of them. They excitedly review his exploits at West Virginia, maybe his 22 points and 8 rebounds in the 2005 tournament against Texas Tech or the 25 points he had in the overtime loss to Louisville in the regional final. They tell him that they wish he were still playing basketball. “I’ll say, ‘Me, too — sometimes,’ ” Pittsnogle said. He laughed his good-natured laugh, and sounded like someone who truly was not so sure.

In two years he played for nine teams, in the Continental Basketball Association, the N.B.A.’s development league, the N.B.A.’s summer leagues, in France and in Puerto Rico. Last summer, he suspended the chase. He just wanted to come home again. “I thought, I’m done for good,” he said.


As a player, Pittsnogle is a pure shooter whose body does not match his skills. Kelvin Sampson, then the coach at Oklahoma, once called him a “two-guard who grew to 6-11.” After college, Pittsnogle’s weight grew, too, by about 40 pounds, to 300. “I kept hearing, ‘You’re overweight,’ ” Pittsnogle said. “ ‘You can average 20 points a game, but we’re not going to bring you up until you lose some weight.’ ” Instead, he shed the burden of hoop dreams. His circuitous journey, usually with the family in tow (a son, Kwynsie, is nearly 3, and a daughter, Amyyah, was born in May), grew tiresome.

But something happened on the way back to an ordinary life. Pittsnogle learned last fall that he had a thyroid condition that slowed his metabolism. It helped explain his fluctuating weight, long trending upward. Medication has helped him lose 25 pounds and re-energize his playing hopes. He is pondering N.B.A. summer leagues, one last time. “If I look the way I’m supposed to look, and play the way I’m supposed to play, I think I’ll get a chance,” Pittsnogle said. “If not, I’ll come back and live my life here.”

His attitude is dipped in realism. A teacher at his level makes about $25,000. A four-month season in the N.B.A.’s developmental league pays about the same, but would keep hope for an N.B.A. career alive. An offer, though, would force a decision over whether to leave the family behind or have his wife quit her job.

Playing overseas can be far more lucrative but more discombobulating. “I’m open to anything,” Heather Pittsnogle said, holding 8-month-old Amyyah while speaking Friday night over the din of a high school game between Jefferson and Hedgesville, a rival of Martinsburg High, where Pittsnogle starred. “But I might have to bite my tongue if we go overseas.”

Pittsnogle whispered into the ears of players as they came off the court and cheered good plays. People in the stands occasionally pointed at him.

Long after Hedgesville won, Pittsnogle stood in the gym, dressed in his Bugs Bunny tie and gray dress shirt, rolled to the elbows. On a dare, he grabbed a ball and effortlessly flipped a shot from behind the 3-point arc. It hit the back of the rim.

He asked for the ball again. This time, nothing but net. He shrugged. Kevin Pittsnogle has chosen who he wants to be. But he wants one more shot at being who he was.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/sports/ncaabasketball/16pittsnogle.html?_r=2

Croshere bounces again, to the Spurs

The Spurs signed veteran forward Austin Croshere to a 10-day contract Friday.

Croshere was waived by Milwaukee on Jan. 6 after appearing in 11 games. He averaged 3.3 rebounds and 2.2 rebounds.

The 12th pick by Indiana in the 1997 draft, Croshere had his best season in 1999-2000, averaging 10.3 points and 6.4 rebounds as the Pacers reached the NBA finals.

The former Providence star has averaged 6.9 points and 4.1 rebounds in 656 career games. He spent nine seasons with the Pacers before one-year stops in Dallas and Golden State.

In 68 playoff games, Croshere averaged 6.7 points and 3.6 rebounds.

White of the Night: Steve Nash

Shocker in Cleveland: Pavlovic starts, and sees the most PT of any Cav tonight. Weird how erratic minutes can be in the NBA. But he performs spectacularly, scoring 19 on 10, in a solid all-around game. Wally Szczerbiak puts together a magnificent game at the same time, scoring 14 on 6 shots! Good work guys. As usual, our White athletes perform well when given the starting nod because of an injury ahead of them, making you wonder why they aren't getting more time to begin with...

White of the Night honors tonight to Steve Nash, for a very solid 20p-7r-14a game. Way to go MVSteve! The old man still gots it.

David Lee, 21 rebounds, wow. Perfect shooting game too, 6-6 for 15 points.

Dunleavy and Hinrich look to be coming on strong after their injury hiatus, great to see for us fans of the White America ballplayers.


Dunleavy: 22p (15 shots) - 3a - 2 blk -- 28 min
Nash: 20p (10 shots) - 7 reb - 14a -- 45 min
Bargnani: 20p (14 shots) - 5 reb -- 40 min
B Miller: 20p (7 shots) - 9 reb - 3a -- 31 min
Pavlovic: 19p (10 shots) - 6 reb - 2 stl -- 43 min
Kleiza: 18p (11 shots) - 4 reb - 3a -- 30 min
B Lopez: 17p (10 shots) - 6a - 2blk -- 32 min
Ridnour: 17p (11 shots) - 10a - 3 stl -- 37 min
Murphy: 15p (9 shots) - 15 reb - 3a - 2 stl -- 41 min
Lee: 15p (6 shots) - 21 reb - 4a -- 42 min
Stojakovic: 15p - 6 reb -- 39 min
Radmanovic: 15p (9 shots) -- 15 min
Pachulia: 14p (8 shots) - team high 8 reb - 2 blk -- 30 min
Udrih: 14p (10 shots) - 2a -- 38 min
Szczerbiak: 14p (6 shots) - 4 reb -- 29 min
Bonner: 13p (8 shots) - 3 reb -- 20 min
Love: 13p - 14 reb (7 off) - 2 stl -- 25 min
Okur: 13p - 8 reb -- 30 min
Kirilenko: 13p (7 shots) - 6 reb - 4a - 3 stl -- 31 min
Turkoglu: 13p - 5 reb - 3a - 2 blk
P Gasol: 13p - 9 reb -- 20 min
Hinrich: 12p (6 shots) - 3 reb - 5a - 2 stl -- 30 min
Harpring: 12p (8 shots) - 2a -- 15 min
M Gasol: 12p (8 shots) - 10 reb - 3a -- 34 min
Nocioni: 11p - 6 reb - 2 stl -- 37 min
Biedrins: 10p - 9 reb - 2a -- 33 min
Przybilla: 4p - 11 reb (6 off) -- 21 min

White of the Night: Brad Miller

Overall, great night to be a White basketball fan! Seven of our guys scored 20 or more just tonight, topped off by Bargnani, who continues to impress in his starting role. But how can we not give the White of the Night to Brad Miller, for a monster 30p-22r game, leading his team to victory in triple overtime! Good work, Brad.

Newsflash: The Pacers start three White Americans! That is sweet enough, but then they go on to beat the Detroit Piston black-sketball team in a thriller! How sweet it is.

--Utah is fighting them for White Basketball standard-bearer right now, playing Whites for a full 63% of the minutes tonight.

--Ryan Anderson starting for the Nets, with Yi's injury. Man, this is his big chance, play like you belong big man!

--Breakout game for Joe Alexander too! Very nice. Play the man, coach!

Bargnani: 31p (14 shots) - team high 10 reb -- 39 min
B Miller: 30p (20 shots) - 22 reb - 2 stl -- 51 min
Lee: 30p (21 shots) - team high 10 reb - 6a - 2 stl -- 41 min
Ginobili: 27p (15 shots) - 3 reb - 2a - 3 stl -- 30 min
Ridnour: 25p - 9 reb - 4a -- 42 min
P Gasol: 21p (14 shots) - 5 reb -- 31 min
Nowitzki: 20p - 13 reb -- 38 min
Murphy: 18p (9 shots) - 13 reb -- 45 min
Udrih: 17p - 6 reb - 7a -- 56 min
Nocioni: 16p - 4 reb - 3a -- 30 min
Stojakovic: 16p -- 35 min
Korver: 14p - 4 reb - 2 blk -- 33 min
Koufos: 14p (9 shots) - 5 reb -- 27 min
Krstic: 14p (8 shots) - 11 reb - 2 blk -- 31 min
Collison: 13p (7 shots) - 11 reb -- 40 min
Alexander: 13p (8 shots) - 5 reb - 5a -- 17 min
B Lopez: 13p - team high 8 reb - 5 blk -- 31 min
Anderson: 13p (8 shots) - 4 reb - 2 stl -- 26 min
Hinrich: 12p (6 shots) - 5 reb - 6a -- 32 min
Biedrins: 12p (8 shots) - 14 reb - 4a - 5 blk
Dunleavy: 12p - 6 reb -- 33 min
Kirilenko: 12p - 4a -- 39 min
Bogut: 12p - 11 reb (6 off) - 2 blk -- 37 min
Foster: 11p (5 shots) - 7 reb - 4a -- 7 min
Harpring: 10p - 2 reb -- 17 min
Bonner: 10p - 5 reb - 4a -- 33 min
Okur: 9p - team high 9 reb - 4a -- 33 min
Scalabrine: 9p - 4 reb -- 27 min
Nesterovic: 8p - 5 reb -- 20 min

White of the Night: Dirk Nowitzki

Look at Birdman Anderson continuing his spectacular play, leading the team in boards and blocks, to go with 3 steals, in his 21 minutes. Oh yeah, and 15 points on 8 shots. The complete game!

Redick also continues his torrid pace, playing well, as usual, and trending up in minutes.

Nice game by Stevie Nashty, but his fellow MVP gets the prized White of the Night for his spectacular 44p-14r game! Monster game for Dirk!

Nowitzki: 44p (26 shots) - 14 reb -- 42 min
Nash: 23p (13 shots) - 5 reb - 6a -- 35 min
Turkoglu: 17p - 8a -- 35 min
Redick: 15p (9 shots) - 2 reb -- 26 min
Andersen: 15p (8 shots) - team high 10 reb - 3 stl - 2 blk -- 21 min
Hawes: 14p - 4 reb -- 27 min
Radmanovic: 12p (6 shots) - 6 reb -- 19 min
P Gasol: 11p - 7 reb - 4a - 2 stl - 2 blk -- 41 min
Pachulia: 10p - 11 reb (7 off) -- 31 min
Barry: 9p (5 shots) - 5a -- 17 min
Love: 8p - 9 reb - 3a - 2 blk -- 24 min
Udrih: 8p - 2 reb - 3a -- 17 min
M Gasol: 6p - game high 11 reb -- 39 min

White of the Night: Mehmet Okur

What can we say about the White of the Night - Mehmet Okur! WOW An historic game, scoring 43 on only 19 shots.

Great display of White basketball in the game between the Jazz and the Pacers, with White athletes accounting for 48% of the minutes and 51% of the points for the Pacers, and 45% of the minutes and 63% of the points for the Jazz. It hardly gets any better than that!

Breakout game by Brook Lopez! He would have been the WotN on just about any other night. Beautiful.

Stop the presses: Scalabrine starts for Boston... Whoa

It is nice to see Ukic continue to trend upwards with his minutes and production. Hopefully he can keep it up even after Calderon returns.

And oh, yes, welcome back, Kirk Hinrich.

Okur: 43p (19 shots) - 9 reb - 3a -- 28 min
B Lopez: 31p (17 shots) - 13 reb - 2 blk -- 40 min
Lee: 24p (16 shots) - 9 reb - 3a -- 33 min
Bargnani: 23p - 8 reb - 3a -- 38 min
Kirilenko: 23p - 12 reb - 3a - 3 stl - 3 blk -- 41 min
Dunleavy: 20p (14 shots) - 7 reb - 2a -- 23 min
Bogut: 18p (12 shots) - 10 reb - 3a - 2 stl -- 38 min
Ukic: 16p (12 shots) - 3 reb - 3a - 2 stl -- 23 min
Blake: 16p - 10a - 3 stl -- 39 min
Ridnour: 14p - 3 reb - 10a -- 36 min
Krstic: 12p (8 shots) - 4 reb -- 23 min
Murphy: 12p - 10 reb - 3a - 2 blk -- 31 min
Nesterovic: 12p - 4a - 2 blk -- ? min
Scalabrine: 11p - 2 reb - 2a -- 28 min
Foster: 11p (7 shots) - 8 reb - 4a - 2 stl -- 34 min
Humphries: 9p (5 shots) - 4 reb -- 20 min

White of the Night: Vladimir Radmanovic

Vladimir Radmanovic proves he is not ready to bury yet, taking advantage of his reinsertion into the starting lineup to earn the White of the Night!

Great to see Chris Quinn return to major action (31 min) down in Miami, let's hope to see more of that.







Turkoglu: 21p (12 shots) - 5 reb - 5a -- 37 min
Radmanovic: 18p (10 shots) - 7 reb - 2 stl -- 31 min
Ginobili: 18p (13 shots) - 3 reb - 4a -- 31 min
Belinelli: 17p - 3 reb - 2a - 2 stl -- 30 min
Bargnani: 17p - 9 reb - 3a -- 31 min
Udrih: 16p - 5 reb - 6a - 2 stl -- 35 min
Nowitzki: 15p - 8 reb - 2 stl -- 37 min
Nash: 14p (8 shots) - 5 reb - 12a -- 36 min
P Gasol: 14p - 18 reb (8 off) - 3a -- 39 min
B Miller: 13p - 7 reb - 5a -- 34 min
Quinn: 12p - 3 reb - 7a -- 31 min
Redick: 12p (9 shots) -- 28 min
Kapono: 12p (7 shots) - 2 reb - 2a - 2 stl -- 24 min
Biedrins: 11p - 9 reb - 3 blk -- 27 min
Dunleavy: 10p - 4 reb -- 22 min
Vujacic: 10p (5 shots) - 4 reb -- 19 min
Novak: 9p (3 shots) -- 12 min
Hawes: 8p - team high 8 reb - 2a -- 21 min

White of the Night: Nick Collison

Great game on Saturday night from Nick Collison, starting at C for OKC, winning the White of the Night recognition. Great to see Nick back in the lineup, with his thumb fully bandaged, but obviously still able to get the job done.



Top White game reports:
Okur: 22p (9 shots) - 6 reb -- 21 min
Collison: 21p (12 shots) - 9 reb (6 off) - 4a - 2 stl -- 35 min
Scola: 18p - 11 reb -- 27 min
Blake: 15p - 4 reb - 4a - 3 stl -- 38 min
Bogut: 14p (8 shots) - 7 reb - 2 blk -- 27 min
Lee: 14p - 11 reb -- 34 min
Ridnour: 12p - 9 reb - 6a -- 35 min
Fernandez: 12p (7 shots) - 6a -- 25 min
Morrison: 11p (6 shots) - 2 reb - 3a - 2 stl -- 22 min
Nocioni: 11p - 2 reb -- 33 min
Kirilenko: 11p - 7 reb - 7a - 2 stl - 2 blk -- 31 min
Harpring: 11p - 2 reb -- 17 min
Biedrins: 10p (5 shots) - 6 reb - 3a - 2 blk -- 33 min
Krstic: 8p - 2 reb - 2 blk -- 13 min
Love: 5p - game high 12 reb -- 22 min

Whites of the Night: Dunleavy & Murphy

White American basketball returns to Indiana! Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy combine for 46 points, very sweet, earning them both the White of the Night honors.

It is nice to see Novak earning more minutes for the Clips. Let's hope that trend continues, freeing up one of the best shooters in the league.

Alert, alert: Redick sighting in Orlando (sweet 15 on 7)!


Murphy: 24p (14 shots) - 6 reb - 3a -- 32 min
Dunleavy: 22p (14 shots) - 4 reb - 5a -- 23 min
P Gasol: 21p (13 shots) - 11 reb - 4a -- 41 min
Turkoglu: 21p (9 shots) - 6 reb - 4a -- 24 min
Bargnani: 21p (14 shots) - 8 reb - 2 blk -- 35 min
Hawes: 19p (11 shots) - 5 reb -- 28 min
Nowitzki: 19p (12 shots) - 7 reb -- 33 min
Redick: 15p (7 shots) - 4 reb -- 20 min
Novak: 14p -- 26 min
Scola: 14p (7 shots) - 6 reb -- 23 min
Varejao: 14p (10 shots) - 9 reb -- 35 min
Ginobili: 13p (9 shots) - 4 reb - 5a - 4 stl -- 25 min
Lee: 13p (8 shots) - 15 reb (7 reb) -- 37 min
Stojakovic: 12p - 4 reb -- 30 min
Bonner: 11p (6 shots) - 3 reb - 2 blk -- 22 min
Kapono: 11p - 2 reb - 6a -- 24 min
Nowitzki: 10p - 7 reb - 7a -- 38 min
Krstic: 10p - 3 reb - 2 blk -- 23 min
Ridnour: 10p - 3 reb - 5a -- 25 min
B Miller: 9p - 15 reb - 4a -- 40 min
Carroll: 9p (5 shots) -- 14 min
Nash: 9p - 12a - 2 stl -- 29 min
Collison: 8p - team high 10 reb -- 36 min
Amundson: 8p (3 shots) - 7 reb - 2 blk -- 29 min

White of the Night: Pau Gasol

Wow, some incredible games by our White athletes on Wednesday!

-- Awesome efficiency by: Bargnani, 25 on 9, Love 16 on 5, Okur 20 on 10!
--Biedrins with an insane stat line: 12p-17r-8a-3s-3b
--Amundson leads his team in rebounds, ripping down 14, including 9 on the offensive glass.
--Kleiza takes his starting opportunity to show off his skills, leading the Nuggets in scoring.
--Brook Lopez with 5 blocks to complement is 17p-8r night.

But how can we not give the coveted White of the Night to Pau Gasol for his monster 33p-18r game? Beautiful game by the Spaniard, yet again.

And let us not forget: welcome back, Mike Dunleavy!

P Gasol: 33p (21 shots) - 18 reb (8 off) - 2 blk
Bargnani: 25p (9 shots) - 4 reb - 2 blk -- 34 min
Kleiza: 21p (13 shots) - 7 reb -- 35 min
Turkoglu: 20p (12 shots) - 7 reb - 8a - 2 stl -- 37 min
Okur: 20p (10 shots) - 7 reb -- 28 min
B Lopez: 17p (11 shots) - team high 8 reb - 5 blk -- 31 min
Nash: 16p (9 shots) - 12a -- 43 min
Love: 16p (5 shots) - 15 reb -- 22 min
Szczerbiak: 15p (9 shots) - 5 reb -- 28 min
Korver: 15p (9 shots) - 6 reb - 4a -- 21 min
M Gasol: 14p (9 shots) - 10 reb - 3 stl -- 40 min
Varejao: 14p (9 shots) - 6 reb - 2 stl -- 32 min
Dunleavy: 14p - 4a -- 20 min
Belinelli: 14p -- 33 min
Kirilenko: 13p (10 shots) - 8 reb - 3a -- 27 min
Fernandez: 13p (10 shots) - 2 reb - 2a - 2 blk -- 30 min
Murphy: 12p - 6 reb -- 23 min
Kapono: 12p (8 shots) - 2 reb -- 25 min
Biedrins: 12p (8 shots) - 17 reb - 8a - 3 stl - 3 blk -- 38 min
Redick: 11p (7 shots) - 2a -- 19 min
Ridnour: 11p - 4a - 2 stl -- 22 min
Harpring: 10p (7 shots) -- 12 min
Nesterovic: 10p (6 shots) - 5 reb -- 16 min
Blake: 10p - 10a -- 33 min
Najera: 9p (6 shots) - 2 reb -- 14 min
Amundson: 9p - team high 14 reb (9 off) -- 25 min

White of the Night: Luis Scola

Weird news from Tuesday, Jan 6: Darius Songaila thrown into the starting lineup for the Wiz, then only gets to play less than half the game. Aaron Gray, Robert Swift, and Matt Carroll are stuck in the same "starting only to sit" routine. It is very weird.

Fantastic scoring night for Dirk, but the White of the Night award goes to Luis Scola for his monster game, pouring in 18 on 10 shots, and ripping down 17 rebounds. Nice job Luis!

Nowitzki: 34p (23 shots) - 4 reb - 3a - 2 blk -- 38 min
Turkoglu: 22p (12 shots) - 5 reb - 7a - 3 stl -- 34 min
Scola: 18p (10 shots) - 17 reb (6 off) -- 36 min
B Miller: 18p (12 shots) - 12 reb - 3a - 2 blk -- 34 min
Lee: 14p (9 shots) - 13 reb -- 35 min
M Gasol: 13p - 4 reb - 2 blk -- 29 min
Morrison: 13p (9 shots) -- 15 min
P Gasol: 10p - team high 8 reb - 5a -- 42 min
Redick: 8p (4 shots) - 3 reb -- 18 min

White of the Night: Mehmet Okur

Some very nice games in limited game action on Monday, Jan 5.

The Birdman actually led his team in rebounding in only 12 minutes of play, and Biedrins continues to rip down massive doses of rebounds, but the White of the Night goes to Mehmet Okur, for his efficient and high powered game manning the post for the Jazz.



Bargnani: 21p (13 shots) - 8 reb -- 36 min
Okur: 20p (12 shots) - 11 reb - 2 stl -- 33 min
Kirilenko: 15p (10 shots) - 5 eb - 3a - 2 blk -- 27 min
Murphy: 15p (10 shots) - 12 reb - 4a - 3 stl -- 31 min
Biedrins: 14p (10 shots) - 17 reb (6 off) - 3a -- 36 min
Bonner: 11p (7 shots) - 5 reb -- 31 min
Ukic: 11p (8 shots) -- 18 min
Koufos: 11p (6 shots) - 5 reb -- 19 min
Kleiza: 11p - 4 reb -- 21 min
Ginobili: 10p - 5 reb - 3a - 3 stl -- 26 min
Korver: 9p - 6 reb -- 24 min
Foster: 9p - 4 reb - 4a - 2 blk -- 16 min
Quinn: 8p (4 shots) -- 14 min
B Miller: 8p - 7 reb - 8a -- 32 min
Andersen: 6p (2 shots) - team high 9 reb -- 12 min

White of the Night: Vladimir Radmanovic

What a night for Radmanovic, making the most of his minutes, scoring 16 in only 18 minutes, on only 6 shots, enough to earn White of the Night for Sunday Jan 4.

Good to see Ukic and Novak in the top performers list, as well.

Nowitzki: 28p - 3 reb - 3a -- 34 min
P Gasol: 19p (9 shots) - 5 reb -- 28 min
M Gasol: 19p - 6 reb -- 28 min
Bargnani: 18p - 5 reb - 3a -- 36 min
Radmanovic: 16p (6 shots) - 4 reb -- 18 min
Novak: 15p (9 shots) - 2 reb 29 min
Fernandez: 14p - 5 reb - 3a - 3 stl -- 36 min
Lee: 14p - 14 reb - 2 blk -- 42 min
Blake: 13p - 3a -- 30 min
Ukic: 12p (6 shots) - 7a -- 23 min
Vujacic: 11p (7 shots) - 3 reb -- 25 min
Varejao: 10p - team high 10 reb - 39 min

White of the Night: Manu Ginobili

Great game by Manu Ginobili, taking the White of the Night award for Sat. Jan 3.

K-Love also deserves recognition for the noticable upswing in his game recently.

Ginobili: 21p (13 shots) - 3 reb - 3 stl -- 28 min
Stojakovic: 19p - 6 reb -- 40 min
Love: 18p - 12 reb -- 21 min
Scola: 16p (9 shots) - 11 reb -- 39 min
B Miller 13p - 9 reb - 6a -- 36 min
Nocioni: 13p - 3 reb - 3a -- 27 min
Murphy: 12p - 13 reb
Ridnour: 12p - 3 reb -- 29 min
B Lopez: 12p - 8 reb -- 30 min
Barry: 11p (6 shots) - 3a -- 23 min
Pachulia: 10p (4 shots) - 4 reb -- 17 min
Gray: 10p - team high 9 reb -- 32 min
Kleiza: 9p (5 shots) -- 10 min
Nesterovic: 8p -- 6 min
Alexander: 8p (4 shots) - 9 min

White of the Night: David Lee

What a way to start out the new year! Honestly, this has probably got to be the most solid overall night from our White ballplayers this year. Lots of high scorers, with some incredibly efficient games. Very sweet stuff, and very difficult to single out one guy for tonight's award.

Dirk led the night in PRA with 46, Varejao had an incredible game starting at C, Brad Miller was a monster on the glass and on offense, Pau led his team in rebounds and assists, Troy led his team in rebounds, assists, and steals, K-Love and Bonner shot the lights out... As I said, very tough to decide, but I have to give the White of the Night again to D-Lee for his sweet efficiency, hard work on the boards, and incredible 5 steals!

Tip of the hat also to Sasha Pavlovic, making our list of top performers for the first time this year.


Nowitzki: 31p - 4 reb - 5a - 4 stl - 2 blk -- 39 min
Varejao: 26p (14 shots) - 8 reb - 3 stl -- 31 min (starting C)
Lee: 26p (15 shots) - 11 reb - 3a - 5 stl -- 40 min
B Miller: 25p (18 shots) - 16 reb (8 off) -- 38 min
Okur: 21p (13 shots) - 13 reb - 2 blk -- 31 min
P Gasol: 21p (13 shots) - team high 11 reb - team high 6a -- 30 min
Love: 19p (9 shots) - 8 reb -- 25 min
Fernandez: 19p (11 shots) - 4 reb -- 36 min
Bargnani: 19p (12 shots) - 6 reb -- 32 min
Biedrins: 18p (12 shots) - 13 reb
Bonner: 16p (9 shots) - 29 min
Murphy: 15p - 18 reb - team high 5a - team high 3 stl
M Gasol: 15p - 11 reb - 2 stl -- 32 min
Stojakovic: 14p -- 36 min
Pavlovic: 13p (8 shots) - 5 reb -- 21 min
Ginobili: 13p - 6 reb - 6a - 5 stl -- 23 min
Nocioni: 11p (7 shots) -- 14 min
Belinelli: 10p - 6a -- 29 min
Przybilla: 10p (6 shots) - 7 reb -- 32 min
Kirilenko: 10p (6 shots) - 2 stl -- 11 min

White of the Night: Brook Lopez

Congratulations to Brook Lopez for a spectacular breakout game, starting at C for the Nets, earning the coveted White of the Night honors for the first time in his young career.

Barely beating out a very solid game from Andrea Bargnani, who performed spectacularly in his return to the starting lineup, including 5 blocks!

And let us not forget a tip of the hat to for Jose Calderon, continuing a very solid streak of play lately for the Raptors.

It is also really nice to see that Gortat has earned a spot in the regular rotation, after showing his worth while Howard was briefly down for the Magic.

Dec 31
Bargnani: 26p - 6 reb - 5 blk -- 41 min
B Lopez: 23p (13 shots) - 12 reb - 3a - 2 blk -- 37 min
Turkoglu: 18p - 9 reb - 4a -- 30 min
Calderon: 18p (9 shots) - 11a - 5 reb -- 34 min
Biedrins: 15p - 13 reb (6 off) - 2 stl -- 35 min
Gortat: 14p (9 shots) - 7 reb -- 18 min
Ridnour: 11p - 7 reb - 11a -- 34 min
Bogut: 11p - team high 9 reb -- 40 min
Scola: 11p - team high 10 reb - 2 stl -- 32 min
Nocioni: 10p - 5 reb - 4a -- 29 min
Andersen: 10p - team high 10 reb -- 16 min
Kleiza: 10p -- 14 min
Davis: 8p (3 shots) - 3 reb -- 16 min

Nenad Krstic joins OKC

Nenad Krstic’s basketball journey didn’t begin with the luxuries that accompany AAU basketball.


Unlike most American-born players, he missed out on the exotic travel and the free apparel. Such treats didn’t exist during Krstic’s childhood days in Serbia.

Krstic’s unlikely NBA story started with pick-up games on cement-cracked playgrounds and inside underground gyms as a lanky teenager in Kraljevo, then a part of Yugoslovia. Basketball served as a much-needed diversion that helped take his mind off the battle that ripped apart his war-torn country in the early 1990s.

"It was always something in sports, especially in tough times during the war,” Krstic said. "So it was always being in sports rather than being in the streets.”

But Krstic, the Thunder’s newest 7-foot center, has come a long way since having to lace up a pair of worn-out Converse because his cash-strapped family couldn’t afford to purchase him a quality set of shoes.

The Thunder signed Krstic to a three-year, $15.6 million deal that launches a new chapter in his NBA career. Krstic will not be in uniform tonight against Golden State and cannot suit up until the final paperwork is completed on his work visa.

But he is eager to embark on his second NBA stint. After four seasons in New Jersey, he started this one in Russia. Krstic was one of a handful of players to flee to Europe when overseas clubs outbid NBA teams for talent.

"I know it’s just going to take some time,” said Krstic, who scored 13 points with 12 rebounds in his final game with the Nets on April 16. "Two weeks ago I played a game in Russia, and all of a sudden I’m in the NBA again in the middle of the season... I’m feeling great and I can’t wait to start playing again.”

Thunder general manager Sam Presti had his eye on Krstic as a potential free agent target next summer but finalized the deal 32 games into the season to bolster an injury-plagued and underachieving frontcourt.

While Presti was a front office executive in San Antonio, the Spurs were so high on the 19-year-old Krstic during the 2002 draft that they reportedly guaranteed they’d select him with the 26th pick. The Nets plucked him at 24.

"I think he’s going to bring a number of different things to our team,” Presti said. "First and foremost an ability to stretch the floor, and he adds another player to our roster with a high basketball IQ that understands how to play the game and play at a high level. Clearly we’re thrilled to have him.”

Four years ago, Nets coach Lawrence Frank said he would have been happy just to get anything out of his newest rookie. Then teammate Vince Carter said he didn’t even know who Krstic was before being traded from Toronto to the Nets.

But Krstic quickly turned heads.

He averaged 14.1 points and 7.3 rebounds in 34 minutes a game in the final month of his rookie season. Krstic then averaged 18.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 56.3 percent shooting in four games against Shaquille O’Neal and the eventual champion Miami Heat in the first round of the 2005 playoffs.

Krstic seemingly was headed for All-Star status in 2006-07 before a knee injury limited him to 26 games. He was averaging 16.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 32.6 minutes before tearing his ACL in December 2006.

"You would hope that he’s going to be able to come in and help our team get over the hump in some of these games,” said Desmond Mason. "But you don’t want to put too much pressure on the guy like he’s supposed to come in and save the whole entire season.”

White of the Night: Steve Blake

Steve Blake and the newly starting Rudy Fernandez lead the Blazers over the suddenly reeling all-black Celtics! Sweet.

Paul Davis mans-up and plays a spectacular game, including 10-10 FTs, in his first start for the Clips! Way to go, Paul.

Hell if Pachulia doesn't put together another gem of an efficient night, as usual in spot minutes. Free Zaza!

Haddadi, who some of you might remember from the Iranian Olympic team this last summer, scored his first NBA points tonight. Good on ya, lad!

Nowitzki: 24p - game high 13 reb - 3a - 2 stl -- 38 min
Blake: 21p (12 shots) - 3 reb - 3a -- 38
Ridnour: 21p (15 shots) - 5 reb - 6a - 2 blk -- 41 min
Bogut: 20p (13 shots) - 14 reb - 4a - 3 blk -- 44 min
P Davis: 18p (10 shots) - 5 reb - 3a - 3 stl -- 38 min
M Gasol: 16p - 13 reb - 3a - 2 blk -- 40 min
B Miller: 15p - 13 reb (6 off) -- 38 min
Lee: 13p - 16 reb - 38 min
Ginobili: 13p (9 shots) - 5a -- 25 min
Udrih: 13p -- 27 min
Foster: 12p - 12 reb - 3a -- 27 min
Murphy: 10p - game high 14 reb - 2 stl -- 32 min
Amundson: 10p (6 shots) - 8 reb - 18 min
Pachulia: 9p (5 shots) - 5 reb - 1 stl - 1 blk -- 14 min
Varejao: 2p (1 shot) - team high 10 reb -- 24 min

White of the Night: Jose Calderon

Some great performances for all us White basketball fans last night, but I've got to give the prestigious White of the Night to Jose Calderon for his 21-6-16 night! Belinelli come in a close second for his spectacular game. Commendations to Love (17 on 7) and Scola (16 on 8) also.

--Utah looking more and more like a White Basketball team, their White players getting 50.75% of the total playing time in their deletion of the all-black 76ers! Sweet! Kirilenko also looks rejuvenated back in the starting lineup for Utah, filling up the sheet like the old days.

--The best rebounder in the league continues to perform miracles in spot minutes, of course I'm speaking of Zaza Pachulia.

--The Birdman thrown into the starting lineup for the Nuggets, but takes only 1 shot in 31 min??? Come on, Chris, play like you belong! He did lead the team in rebounding, but we expect more!

--Swift got the start down in OKC, nice to see. Go Big Red!

Belinelli: 23p (12 shots) - 6a -- 37 min
Calderon: 21p (14 shots) - 6 reb - 16a -- 44 min
Okur: 19p - 10 reb -- 35 min
Love: 17p (7 shots) - 7 reb -- 31 min
Nocioni: 17p (10 shots) - team high 8 reb -- 24 min
Scola: 16p (8 shots) - 5 reb -- 34 min
Kirilenko: 16p (12 shots) - game high 13 reb - 3a - 3 stl - 3 blk -- 36 min
Turkoglu: 14p - 5 reb - 8a -- 42 min
Biedrins: 13p (8 shots) - 15 reb - 2 stl - 5 blk -- 30 min
Korver: 12p (7 shots) - 5a -- 25 min
M Gasol: 12p - 5 reb - 3a - 3 stl - 2 blk -- 37 min
Kapono: 11p - 3 reb -- 30 min
Humphries: 10p - 4 reb -- 10 min
Pachulia: 8p (4 shots) - 8 reb -- 18 min

White of the Night: David Lee

Wow, what a game by David Lee, earning the White of the Night for Dec. 28!

Murphy and Biedrins continue their monster rebounding ways as well.

Lee: 19p (9 shots) - game high 12 reb (5 off) -- 37 min
Barea: 17p (12 shots) - 4 reb - 4a -- 28 min
Vujacic: 17p (10 shots) - 6a -- 31 min
Murphy: 16p - 16 reb - 4a -- 39 min
Belinelli: 14p (11 shots) -- 28 min
P Gasol: 13p - 9 reb - game high 7a -- 30 min
Varejao: 12p (8 shots) - 10 reb - 2 blk -- 32 min
Stojakovic: 12p - 8 reb - 3 stl -- 37 min
Kurz: 10p (4 shots) -- 9 min
Ilgauskas: 10p - 6 reb -- 27 min
Biedrins: 8p - 17 reb (6 off) - 3 stl -- 25 min
Diener: 8p (4 shots) - 4 reb -- 16 min

White of the Night: Hedo Turkoglu

Dec 27

Spectacular night from Hedo, scoring 26 on 12 shots, leading the Magic, and good old fashioned stat stuffer from Kirilenko for the Jazz. Also nice to see Fesenko, Korver, and Koufos step up for the Jazz.

Turkoglu: 26p (12 shots) - 7 reb -- 37 min
Kirilenko: 20p - 10 reb (5 off) - 5a - 3 stl -- 49 min
Ginobili: 20p (16 shots) - 4 reb - 4a -- 40 min
Bogut: 17p - 10 reb -- 26 min
M Gasol: 15p - 10 reb - 4 blk -- 41 min
Koufos: 14p (9 shots) - 4 reb -- 20 min
Bargnani: 13p -- 21 min
Korver: 13p (10 shots) - 6a -- 40 min
Fesenko: 12p (8 shots) - team high 11 reb - 3 blk -- 34 min
Nocioni: 11p -- 22 min
Calderon: 11p - 8a -- 38 min
Scola: 10p - game high 14 reb - 4a -- 46 min
Pachulia: 10p (7 shots) - 7 reb -- 20 min
B Lopez: 6p - game high 13 reb -- 30 min
Love: 5p - game high 10 reb - 20 min

White of the Night: Dirk Nowitzki

Dec 25 & 26

Utah, looking like a very White team, starting Koufos and Kirilenko, with Harpring, Korver, and Fesenko dominating the second team, resulting in Whites playing a remarkable 46% of the total minutes that game for the Jazz, leading them to victory over the Mavs.

Nowitzki: 30p (18 shots) - 5 reb -- 34 min
Belinelli: 22p (17 shots) - 4a - 2 stl -- 43 min
P Gasol: 20p (14 shots) - 5a - 3 blk -- 35 min
Turkoglu: 20p (12 shots) - 6 reb - 5a -- 36 min
B Miller: 20p (10 shots) - 8 reb -- 34 min
Koufos: 18p (11 shots) - 8 reb - 2 stl -- 29 min
Nowitzki: 17p (10 shots) - 8 reb -- 29 min
Calderon: 16p (9 shots) - 7 reb - 6a -- 38 min
Bargnani: 14p (5 shots) -- 21 min
Blake: 14p (11 shots) - 7a -- 38 min
B Lopez: 14p - team high 7 reb - 2 blk -- 31 min
M Gasol: 14p (10 shots) - 5 reb -- 23 min
Milicic: 14p (7 shots) - 5 reb -- 17 min
Nesterovic: 14p (9 shots) - 9 reb -- 27 min
Fernandez: 13p (8 shots) -- 28 min
Varejao: 13p (7 shots) - team high 13 reb -- 30 min
Nash: 13p (8 shots) - 4 reb - 8a -- 38 min
Gray: 12p (7 shots) - team high 11 reb (5 off) -- 25 min
Lee: 12p - team high 13 reb (6 off) -- 33 min
Ginobili: 11p - 4 reb - 4a -- 26 min
Kirilenko: 9p - team high 14 reb -- 38 min

White of the Night: Joel Przybilla

from Dec. 23rd:

Joel Przybilla earns the White of the Night honors for his monster game on the boards, ripping down 19 rebounds for the Blazers.

Nice to see Robert Swift in the lineup for OKC. He was performing well before his injury, so hopefully he will be back in the regular rotation soon.

Indiana looked a lot whiter tonight, even with Murphy out, as four of our guys got good minutes, including McRoberts and Diener. Very nice trend there, especially if they can keep it up when Dunleavy and Murphy get back.

Kirilenko: team high 22p (13 shots) - team high 11 reb -- 29 min
Nowitzki: 21p - 8 reb - 4a -- 35 min
Kleiza: 20p (10 shots) - 4 reb -- 26 min
P Gasol: 20p (10 shots) - 7 reb - 3a -- 35 min
Nocioni: 18p (10 shots) - 8 reb -- 30 min
Blake: 17p -- 31 min
Nesterovic: 13p - 3 blk -- 21 min
Foster: 12p - game high 14 reb (7 off) - 2 blk -- 31 min
Fernandez: 12p (9 shots) -- 21 min
Ridnour: 11p - 11a - 6 stl -- 44 min
Scola: 11p - team high 8 reb - 3a -- 31 min
Ilgauskas: 11p - 3 reb - 2 blk -- 27 min
Diener: 11p (6 shots) - 4a -- 18 min
Przybilla: 10p (6 shots) - 19 reb -- 39 min
Bogut: 9p - team high 11 reb -- 37 min
McRoberts: 8p - 4 reb - 5a - 2 stl -- 25 min
Pachulia: 8p (4 shots) - 4 reb -- 17 min

White of the Night: Chris Andersen

Chris Andersen, 6 BLOCKS, in only 21 minutes of play, wow! Chris is currently third in the league in blocks, at 2.4 pg, while averaging only 17 minutes. Keep up the great play, Birdman, you will be free eventually.

Props to Kleiza for a beautifully efficient night, 17 on 8 shots, and to Pau Gasol, for leading his team in rebounds, blocks, and assists.

Other White games of note the last couple nights:

Nowitzki: 23p - 9 reb -- 35 min
Kleiza: 17p (8 shots) - 4 reb -- 28 min
Lee: 17p - team high 8 reb - 4a - 4 stl -- 43 min
P Gasol: 15p - team high 7 reb - team high 6a - 2 blk -- 33 min
Blake: 14p - 3 reb - 4a -- 29 min
Udrih: 13p - 4 reb - 4a - 6 stl -- 36 min
Belinelli: 12p - 6 reb -- 29 min
Turkoglu: 12p - 5 reb - 7a -- 29 min
Andersen: 11p - 3 reb - 6 blk -- 21 min
Milicic: 11p (5 shots) - game high 8 reb - 3 blk -- 33 min
Scola: 11p (7 shots) - 4 reb - 4a -- 28 min
Songaila: 10p (5 shots) - 3 reb -- 24 min
Ginobili: 10p - 5 reb - 3a -- 23 min

Analysis: First 1/3 of Season

The good news is, a number of our guys are having better years than ever. The bad news is, many of our favorite and most well-known guys are having down years.

On the rise (better stats than last year):
Nowitzki, Calderon, Okur, Lee, Murphy, Biedrins, Ridnour, Blake, Hawes, Kirilenko, Varejao, Kapono, Bonner, Pachulia, Swift, Andersen, Belinelli, Rodriguez, McRoberts, Amundson

Treading water (about the same as last year):
Pau Gasol, Bogut, Udrih, Bargnani, Ilgauskas, Foster, Scola, Nesterovich, Przybilla, Radmanovic, Redick, Gray, Kurz

Declining production:
Turkoglu, Kaman, Mike Miller, Brad Miller, Stojakovic, Ginobili, Collison, Hinrich, Nocioni, Kleiza, Korver, Milicic, Barry, Szczerbiak, Quinn, Oberto, Morrison, Songaila, Vujacic, Carroll, Pavlovic, Scalabrine, Walton, Diener, Harpring, Najera, Jaric, Croshere, Madsen, Cardinal, Mihm

Here are our top 40 contributors, calculated by adding up their average points, rebounds, assists, and minutes played:

name PRA+M
Dirk Nowitzki 76
Pau Gasol 65.4
Hedo Turkoglu 64.2
Mehmet Okur 61.7
Andris Biedrins 61.7
Steve Nash 61.3
Jose Calderon 60.7
Chris Kaman 60.7
David Lee 59.8
Troy Murphy 57.9
Andrew Bogut 55.3
Brad Miller 54.3
Mike Miller 52.7
Beno Udrih 51.2
Zydrunas Ilgauskas 50.2
Spencer Hawes 50
Luke Ridnour 49.2
Andrei Kirilenko 49.1
Manu Ginobili 49.1
Peja Stojakovic 49.1
Marc Gasol 47.8
Steve Blake 47.5
Brook Lopez 46.2
Anderson Varejao 42.7
Rudy Fernandez 42.3
Luis Scola 42.1
Andrea Bargnani 42
Jeff Foster 41.4
Kevin Love 40.4
Rasho Nesterovich 40.4
Andres Nocioni 38.9
Nick Collison 38.5
Kirk Hinrich 38.5
Joel Przybilla 37.7
Jason Kapono 37.1
Linas Kleiza 36.4
Matt Bonner 34.9
Kyle Korver 33.7
Darko Milicic 31.6

White of the Night: Luke Ridnour

News of note:
Josh McRoberts had his first significant minutes of the season, and played very well, blocking 4 shots, white scoring 10 with 8 boards. Let's hope to see more of Josh!
Steve Novak also makes our list for the first time this season, showing some aggressive shooting in his minutes.
Diener also gets some rare minutes, and performs well.
K-Love down to 6 minutes??? WTF...
Luke Ridnour wins White of the Night for his incredible efficiency, leading his team to a blowout victory.

Okur: 23p - 13 reb -- 40 min
Ridnour: 18p (7 shots) - 7a - 2 stl -- 26 min
Calderon: 16p - 4 reb - 4a -- 35 min
Nash: 16p - 11a - 2 stl -- 37 min
Nocioni: 15p - 8 reb - 3a - 2 stl -- 41 min
Novak: 14p -- 18 min
Turkoglu: 14p - 5 reb - 7a - 2 stl -- 42 min
Bonner: 14p - 3 reb - 3a -- 29 min
Belinelli: 13p - 4a - 2 stl -- 34 min
B Miller: 13p (8 shots) - 9 reb - 4a -- 28 min
Ginobili: 13p (8 shots) -7 reb - 3a -- 24 min
Bogut: 12p - 8 reb -- 22 min
Kapono: 12p -- 26 min
Diener: 12p (6 shots) -- 15 min
P Gasol: 11p - 7 reb -- 42 min
Kirilenko: 11p -- 29 min
Biedrins: 11p - 9 reb - 3a -- 34 min
McRoberts: 10p - 8 reb - 4 blk -- 28 min
Kleiza: 10p (3 shots) -- 16 min
Foster: 9p - team high 10 reb -- 33 min

White of the Night: Marco Belinelli

Belinelli breaks out, playing a team high 42 minutes, racking up a career high 27 points, and earning the prestigious White of the Night award.

Nelson had some kinda fit of temporary insanity, starting 3 Whites (Belinelli, Biedrins, Kurz). It looks like someone whispered in his ear right after the game started, though, as Kurz only played 12 minutes...

Chris Andersen lead the team in rebounds and swats 3 shots in his mere 23 minutes. WTF??? Somebody, please, free the Birdman!

For games Friday:


Belinelli: 27p - 6a - 2 stl -- 42 min
Okur: 26p - 12 reb -- 47 min
Nowitzki: 24p - 6 reb - 3a -- 36 min
Scola: 23p - 10 reb (5 off) -- 3 stl -- 30 min
Ilgauskas: 23p (14 shots) - 6 reb -- 27 min
B Miller: 17p (9 shots) - 11reb (5 off) -- 35 min
Nesterovic: 16p - 8 reb -- 35 min
Nocioni: 16p - 6 reb -- 33 min
Bargnani: 16p - 5 reb -- 28 min
Lee: 14p - 14 reb - 36 min
Biedrins: 14p - 15 reb - 6a -- 32 min
P Gasol: 13p - 11 reb -- 34 min
Kirilenko: 12p - 6 reb -- 37 min
Milicic: 11p (5 shots) - 2 blk -- 23 min
Collison: 10p (5 shots) - 9 reb -- 26 min
Carroll: 10p (6 shots) -- 16 min
Andersen: 6p - 10 reb - 3 blk -- 23 min

White of the Night: Steve Blake

White of the Night: Steve Blake, for putting together a solid 22-10, to go along with 4 steals, helping to power the Blazers in an exciting victory.

Varejao starting at C, continues to outplay the guy (Ben Wallace) who normally starts ahead of him at PF. Weird how that works.

Not quite as weird as Biedrins getting only 23 minutes. At least Belinelli continues to rise in Golden State!

Solid White performances for games Wednesday and Thursday:

Nowitzki: 27p - 10 reb - 4a -- 38 min
Okur: 23p - 9 reb -- 29 min
Blake: 22p - 4 reb - 10a - 4 stl -- 38 min
Nocioni: 22p - 4 reb - 3a -- 35 min
Belinelli: 21p - 4 reb - 4a -- 38 min
Korver: 18p - 9 reb -- 31 min
Ginobili: 17p - 9 reb - 5a -- 30 min
Biedrins: 16p - 10reb (5 off) - 2 blk -- 23 min
Nash: 15p - 11a -- 35 min
M Miller: 14p - 7 reb -- 34 min
Ridnour: 14p - 3a -- 32 min
Varejao: 13p - 11 reb - 2 slt -- 34 min
Calderon: 11p - 5 reb - 10a -- 37 min

White of the Night: Jose Calderon

Good news for Jake Voskuhl, getting the midseason call up, signing with the Toronto Raptors, who are again becoming a very White team.

--Gortat performs magnificently at C for Orlando, yet again. This guy is for real.
--Bonner continues to improve in his starting role for the Spurs!
--Belinelli continues to shine with good PT. Meanwhile, Kurz relegated back to the bench. Grrrr... Stupid Nellie.
--Ryan Anderson again explodes when given the PT. He Needs To Be STARTING!!!

Close for the White of the Night was Pau Gasol, leading his team in rebounds, assists, and blocks, second in scoring, powering the Lakers to victory.

But I have to give it to someone who performed even better: Jose Calderon, who shot a perfect game, scoring 22 on only 8 shots, schooling the diminutive Chris Paul.


Nowitzki: 27p (22 shots) - 10 reb - 2 blk -- 41 min
Biedrins: 23p (12 shots) - 9 reb (5 off) - 2 stl - 2 blk -- 31 min
Calderon: 22p (8 shots) - 7a -- 36 min (2 nights ago)
Anderson: team high 21p (11 shots) - 9 reb -- 32 min
Nash: 21p (18 shots) - 6 reb - 6a - 2 stl -- 39 min
Bogut: 20p (12 shots) - 11 reb -- 40 min
Belinelli: 19p (14 shots) - 4 reb - 6a -- 31 min
P Gasol: 18p (12 shots) - team high 11 reb - team high 6a - team high 3 blk -- 34 min
Kapono: team high 17p (13 shots) - 4 reb -- 40 min
Bonner: 17p (12 shots) - 8 reb - 2 stl -- 33 min
Gortat: 16p (13 shots) - 13 reb (7 off) - 3 blk -- 27 min
Lee: 15p (9 shots) - team high 12 reb - 2 stl -- 30 min
Calderon: 15p (10 shots) - 8a -- 38 min
Hawes: 15p (12 shots) - 10 reb - 2 blk -- 28 min
B Miller: 14p (9 shots) - 10 reb -- 26 min
Ginobili: 14p (10 shots) - 5 reb - 6a -- 30 min
Okur: 13p - 6 reb - 4a -- 39 min
Milicic: 13p (8 shots) - 5 blk -- 30 min
Nesterovic: 12p (6 shots) - 1 blk -- 17 min
Kirilenko: 12p (6 shots) - 3 reb - 2 blk -- 31 min
Barea: 12p - 9a - 4 reb - 2 stl -- 34 min
Turkoglu: 12p - 7 reb - 8a -- 40 min
M Miller: 11p (6 shots) - 9 reb -- 39 min
Bargnani: 10p (6 shots) - 2 blk -- 23 min
Collison: 10p (5 shots) - 8 reb - 5a -- 21 min
Foster: 9p - 11 reb (7 off) -- 29 min
Murphy: 8p (6 shots) - team high 12 reb -- 22 min
Love: 7p (7 shots) - team high 15 reb (6 off) -- 26 min
M Gasol: 7p - team high 7 reb - 4a - 3 blk -- 23 min


Games of Efficient Beauty:
Calderon (22 on 8), Nesterovic (12 on 6), Kirilenko (12 on 6), Collison (10 on 5), Kleiza (6 on 3), Songaila (8 on 4), Pachulia (4 on 2)

White of the Night: Dirk Nowitzki

After a long season with mostly DNPs, Rob Kurz gets the start for the Warriors tonight, and demonstrates the high quality of his game! There are so many White gems in the league, who shine when polished off and given the PT. God bless you, Kurz, here's hoping we see a lot more of you.

Chris "Birdman" Andersen is officially getting the shaft. Playing in only 9 minutes (WTF!!!), Chris blocks 4 shots, plus 5 rebounds, with 6 points (on 3 shots) . One of the best defensive players, one of the most athletic, and extremely efficient on offense, and he is the 10th man off the bench??? What universe are we living in?

Gortat gets the start tonight for the Magic at C, performing admirably. While hesitant on O (only 5 shots), quite the monster on D, blocking 4 shots in his 30 minutes.

Bogut puts up a very solid 20-20, but how can we not reward Nowitzki with the White of the Night? Way to go, Dirk, for an incredible game.


Nowitzki: 46p (30 shots) - 8 reb - 4a -- 39 min
Turkoglu: 23p (15 shots) - 5a - 3 stl -- 40 min
Bogut: 20p (11 shots) - 20 reb (6 off) - 2 blk -- 41 min
Kurz: 20p (11 shots) - team high 7 reb - 2 stl - 2 blk -- 32 min
Lee: 17p (9 shots) - 19 reb - 2 slt -- 35 min
Kirilenko: 17p (8 shots) - 6 reb -- 30 min
Korver: 15p (9 shots) - 2 reb -- 29 min
Belinelli: 14p (8 shots) - 6 reb -- 21 min
Foster: 14p (10 shots) - 5 reb (4 off) - 3a - 2 stl -- 25 min
Udrih: 13p (12 shots) - team high 6a - 4 stl -- 27 min
Ridnour: 13p (7 shots) - 6a - 3 stl -- 31 min
Okur: 12p (12 shots) - 6 reb -- 33 min
Varejao: 11p (10 shots) - 8 reb (4 off) -- 37 min
Biedrins: 10p (7 shots) - 7 reb - 2 blk -- 24 min
Murphy: 9p (10 shots) - team high 11 reb -- 34 min


Games of Extreme Beauty (at least 2 points per shot): Kirilenko (17 on 8), Andersen (6 on 3), Pachulia (8 on 4), Croshere (7 on 3)

White of the Night: Steve Nash

What am I missing up in G.S.? Biedrins puts up stellar numbers every single night, yet his PT has been falling to almost half-game levels. WTF is going on with Nellie? His limiting Biedrin's PT seems totally irrational to me, as he is one of the most productive centers in the league. What is going on?

--Varejao starts in Ilgauskas' absence and plays magnificently. Just goes to show, he should be starting ALL THE TIME!
--Milicic and Gasol both starting in Memphis, paying off in a nice win for the Grizz.
--Walton remains in starting lineup for the Lakers, and has apparently gotten the triangle working again, leading his team in assists (8), playing 24 min.
--Belinelli continues his upward arc, getting a full 30 min of PT for the Warriors! And being aggressive, filling the stat sheet while hoisting up 15 shots.

None of our guys stood out head and shoulders tonight, so Steve Nash gets the White of the Night award for the highest P-R-A total, leading the Suns to a 1 point victory over the Magic.

Nash: 21p (18 shots) - 5 reb - 10a -- 35 min
Scola: 19p (12 shots) - 7 reb -- 24 min
P Gasol: 18p (16 shots) - team high 11 reb - 4a -- 37 min
Biedrins: 18p (14 shots) - 12 reb (5 off) - 3 blk -- 25 min
Varejao: 17p (10 shots) - 7 reb (4 off) - 2 stl - 2 blk -- 35 min
Udrih: 17p (13 shots) - 7a -- 34 min
Kapono: 16p (15 shots) - 5 reb -- 32 min
Ginobili: 16p (17 shots) - 4 reb -- 28 min
Nesterovic: 16p (12 shots) - 3 reb - 2 blk -- 26 min
Milicic: 13p (11 shots) - team high 11 reb (6 off) - 2 blk -- 35 min
Turkoglu: 13p (18 shots) - 6 reb - 3a -- 39 min
Calderon: 13p (9 shots) - 3 reb - 3a -- 29 min
Bonner: 12p (7 shots) - 4 reb - 3a -- 24 min
M Gasol: 11p (7 shots) - 3 reb -- 31 min
Bargnani: 11p (10 shots) - 7 reb - 4 blk -- 28 min
Blake: 11p (9 shots) - 8a - 2 stl -- 38 min
Hawes: 11p (9 shots) - 6 reb -- 29 min
Ukic: 10p (2 shots) - 4 reb - 5a -- 19 min
Murphy: 10p (7 shots) - team high 11 reb - 3a -- 36 min
Kurz: 10p (4 shots) - 3 blk -- 15 min

Games of Extreme Beauty (at least 2 point per shot): Ukic (10 on 2), Kurz (10 on 4), Gortat (8 on 4)

White of the Night: Jason Kapono

A few surprise starts:
--Jason Kapono, liberated by his new coach in Toronto, blows the lights out, and earns our White of the Night award for his 25 points and 8 boards!
--Adam Morrison for the Bobcats started and played a team high 37 min (but took only 7 shots???).
--Luke Walton was thrown into the starting lineup for the Lakers on Wednesday night after a bunch of DNPs and played well. It has been a real disappointment to see him buried, so here's hoping he continues to get more PT.
--Milicic starts for the Grizz, although he his basically splitting time with Marc Gasol at this point.

Chris Andersen should be getting consideration for defensive player of the year, but his low minutes continue to hamper his stats. In only 23 minutes off the bench, Chris blocked 4 shots, with 2 steals, to go along with his 6 rebounds (4 offensive). Why he is not starting in Martin's absense, I have no idea. Pure travesty.

Games of Extreme Beauty (at least 2 points for every shot): Belinelli, P Gasol, Ginobili, Biedrins, and Vujacic

White Highlights:
P Gasol: 28p (14 shots) - 5 reb - 4a -- 38 min
Ginobili: 27p (12 shots) - 5 reb - 3a -- 28 min
Kapono: 25p (16 shots) - 8 reb -- 38 min
Murphy: 20p (15 shots) - 20 reb - 6a -- 37 min
Biedrins: 18p (9 shots) - game high 14 reb - 4 blk -- 27 min
Stojakovic: 17p (11 shots) - 3 reb -- 26 min
Belinelli: 15p (7 shots) - 3 reb - 2a -- 14 min
Vujacic: 15p (5 shots) - 19 min
Varejao: 15p (12 shots) - 8 reb - 3a -- 33 min
Love: 14p (9 shots) - 14 reb (7 off) - 3a -- 31 min
Ridnour: 13p - 5a -- 26 min
Calderon: 11p - 14a - 5 reb - 3 stl -- 38 min
Foster: 10p (7 shots) - 12 reb (7 off) -- 25 min
Collison: 10p (7 shots) -team high 8 reb -- 33 min
Bogut: 10p - 9 reb -- 28 min
Carroll: 10p -- 25 min

White of the Night: Pau Gasol

Portland lost a close one to the Magic tonight (losing on a buzzer-beating 3 by their white nemesis Hedo Turkoglu). The Blazers were kept in the game by the stellar play of their second unit, call it their "white" squad, anchored by Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Rodriguez, and Joel Przybilla. Their respective plus-minuses tonight: Rudy +7, Sergio +11, and Joel +15, and they logged heavy minutes, 29, 24, and 25, but obviously not enough. Here's a radical idea, coach: start them! And dust off Shavlik Randolph for use in the front court while you are at it, and give us a real reason to cheer. Despite rumors, if your white team is winning, you will not be fired!

The Kings started three whites tonight, and beat the West-leading Lakers. See!

Dirk, I just laugh every time I read his stats. 33 shots! Ha! And only 2 assists, in his 52 minutes??? Dirk, mein freund, you are a ball hog of supreme proportions.

Rising star JJ Barea was the story of that game:
J.J. Barea continued his inspiring play for the Mavericks, scoring 21 points before fouling out. He had a fourth-quarter stretch of 11 straight points created, eight by himself—including a drive at Duncan and another around Parker—and a drive-and-dish feed to Kidd for a 3-pointer. Down the stretch and throughout the overtimes, Dallas relied on its new three-guard lineup featuring Kidd, Barea and Terry. "It was weird for us," Parker said. "We never saw them play like that. (Barea’s) a little like Steve Nash, dribbling 100 times. Sometimes it’s tough to guard him because you don’t know what he’s going to do."

I'm giving Pau the White of the Night award, because he had the best overall game.

Nowitzki: 35p (33 shots) - 10 reb -- 52 min
P Gasol: 25p (15 shots) - team high 12 reb (7 off) - 3 blk -- 42 min
Turkoglu: 24p (16 shots) - 5a -- 39 min
Barea: 21p (16 shots) - 5a -- 39 min
Okur: 21p (17 shots) - team high 13 reb - 4a - 2 blk -- 39 min
Nash: 19p (8 shots) - 4 reb - 10a -- 31 min
Ginobili: 18p - 6 reb - 8a -- 41 min
Szczerbiak: 16p (10 shots) - 5 reb -- 26 min
Songaila: 15p (13 shots) - 5 reb -- 27 min
Bogut: 15p (9 shots) - 11 reb (5 off) -- 26 min
Rodriguez: 14p (9 shots) - team high 7a - 2 blk -- 24 min
Bonner: 13p (5 shots) - 4 reb -- 29 min
B Miller: 13p (7 shots) - 7 reb - 5a -- 33 min
Ilgauskas: 13p (9 shots) - team high 6 reb -- 23 min
Udrih: 12p - 6 reb - 5a -- 29 min
Scola: 12p - 10 reb - 2 stl -- 32 min
Hawes: 11p - team high 9 reb - 2 blk -- 33 min
Przybilla: 11p (6 shots) - 11 reb - 2 blk -- 25 min
Lee: 11p - team high 15 reb -- 35 min
Ukic: 10p (5 shots) -- 17 min
Fernandez: 10p - 4 reb - 4a -- 29 min
Ridnour: 9p - 10a - 2 slt -- 32 min
Love: 8p - game high 15 reb (8 off) -- 26 min

White of the Night: Steve Blake

Steve Blakes earns White of the Night honors tonight for his solid night overall, including hitting the game winner 3 pointer to lift the Blazers to victory.

Look for Calderon's assists to go way up as his new coach unleashes the Raptors into a Dantoni- style running attack.

Marc apparently played his way back into the starting spot, posting a very solid game for the Grizz, leading them in steals, blocks, and rebounds.

Belinelli finally breaks through? Getting a whole 18 minutes, Marco produces 13 points, on only 7 shots, and 2 steals. Free Belinelli!

A bunch of our guys down with minor injuries right now: Kaman, Barry, Diener, Quinn, Gortat, and Humphries.

Solid games this night and last:

Blake: 19p (14 shots) - 7 reb - 4a -- 32 min
Biedrins: 17p - 21 reb - 5a - 3 stl - 2 blk -- 40 min
Fernandez: 16p (8 shots) - 8 reb -- 26 min
Scola: team high 16p - game high 15 reb (6 off) -- 33 min
Alexander: team high 15p (10 shots) -- 24 min
Calderon: 15p (9 shots) - 13a -- 38 min
Murphy: 15p (9 shots) - 6 reb -- 40 min
Collison: 15p (10 shots) - 10 reb - 2 blk -- 23 min
Morrison: 13p (8 shots) - 6 reb -- 22 min
Lee: 12p (8 shots) - 19 reb - 3a -- 37 min
P Gasol: 12p (5 shots) - 9 reb (4 off) - 5a -- 29 min
M Gasol: 10p - team high 8 reb (4 off) - 3a - 3 stl - 3 blk -- 34 min

White of the Night: Jose Barea

Two solid games in a row for JJ Barea, earning the coveted White of the Night as he got even better in his second start. Barea's 18 shots highlights my oft-repeated point: White SGs take note -- shoot like you belong, if you want to stay on the floor.

The experiments continue in Chicago, with Aaron Gray getting the start, and ripping down 9 boards in his 21 min.

The Birdman Andersen continues to produce miracles in ridiculously few minutes, blocking 4 shots in his 18 minutes, to go with 8 points (on 4 shots) and 5 boards.

Marc Gasol responds to his benching with one of his best games of the season.

The solid White games tonight:

Nowitzki: 24p (17 shots) - 11 reb - 3a -- 35 min
Barea: 22p (18 shots) - 4a -- 31 min
M Gasol: 21p (9 shots) - 7 reb - 2 blk -- 26 min
Stojakovic: 20p (10 shots) - 27 min
Nocioni: 19p (11 shots) - 3 reb - 3a -- 26 min
Kirilenko: 17p (12 shots) -- 23 min
Bonner: 14p (9 shots) - 6 reb -- 19 min
Collison: 14p (8 shots) - 8 reb - 2 stl -- 27 min
Pachulia: 13p (7 shots) - game high 12 reb - 2 stl - 2 blk -- 34 min
Love: 13p - game high 15 reb -- 33 min
Okur: 12p - 13 reb (5 off) -- 33 min
Oberto: 12p (5 shots) - 6 reb -- 23 min
Nash: 12p - 9a - 5 reb -- 38 min
P Davis: 10p (7 shots) - 3 reb -- 15 min
B Lopez: 6p - team high 11 reb - 3 blk -- 26 min

Welcome Jose Barea

Jose "JJ" Barea announces himself to the NBA world, barely even six feet tall, yet playing along side the designated PG, Jason Kidd, and lighting it up for Dallas. Great job, JJ.

Nice news to see Kevin Love in the starting lineup for the Wolves.
Bonner is also starting for the Spurs.Darko Milicic also moves into a starting role, taking Marc Gasol's place as starting center for the Grizz, then leading his team in rebounds, blocks, and steals. Joel Przybilla also leads his team in rebound and blocks, in 24 minutes off the bench. Redick starts again for the Magic, but plays only 18 min. Injury for JJ?

Other nice games over these two night:

Nowitzki: 39p (25 shots) - 9 reb -- 37 min
Okur: 21p (13 shots) - 5 reb - 2 blk -- 29 min
Ginobili: 21p (11 shots) - 4 reb -- 29 min
Nash: 20p (11 shots) - 10a -- 29 min
Barea: 18p (14 shots) - 4a - 3 reb -- 30 min
Varejao: 17p (9 shots) - 7 reb -- 22 min
P Gasol: 17p (11 shots) - 10 reb (4 off) - 6a - 2 stl -- 36 min
Ilgauskas: 17p (15 shots) - 8 reb - 2 blk -- 27 min
Lee: 15p (8 shots) - 11 reb -- 34 min
Murphy: 15p (10 points) - 6 reb -- 34 min
Bonner: 14p (8 shots) - 8 reb - 2 blk -- 28 min
Harpring: 14p (9 shots) - 7 reb (4 off) -- 11 min
Ridnour: 14p (10 shots) - 6a - 2 stl -- 32 min
Turkoglu: 13p - 7a -- 38 min
Biedrins: 12p (7 shots) - 7 reb - 2 blk -- 32 min
B Lopez: 11p - 10 reb -- 25 min
Bogut: 10p - 10 reb (5 off) -- 33 min
Calderon: 10p - 8a -- 31 min
Koufos: 10p (5 shots) - 3 reb (2 off) - 1 stl -- 6 min
Scola: 8p - 10 reb (4 off) -- 23 min

Black-sketball at its worst

Tonight's game between the Pistons and 76ers saw White players get exactly zero minutes on the floor. Not a single White player appeared during the game, at all. What a joke.

Any White person who pays money to support this travesty should be beaten with a stick.

White of the Night: Pau Gasol

Give the White of the Night honors to Pau Gasol tonight, leading his team in rebounds and blocks and second in scoring, on a very efficient night for the big man from Spain.

Other notable White players tonight:

Stojakovic: 24p (16 shots) - 6 reb -- 35 min
P Gasol: 22p (12 shots) - 13 reb (5 off) - 3 blk -- 36 min
Turkoglu: 22p (16 shots) - 3 reb - 4a - 3 stl -- 39 min
Lee: 16p (12 shots) - 16 reb (6 off) -- 41 min
Love: 16p (10 shots) - team high 12 reb (8 off) -- 26 min
Blake: 15p (12 shots) - 5 reb - 5a -- 34 min
Ilgauskas: 14p - 10 reb (6 off) -- 23 min
Fernandez: 13p (6 shots) - 4 reb - 3 stl -- 25 min
Ridnour: 12p - 10a - 4 stl -- 41 min
Radmanovic: 11p (8 shots) - 4 reb -- 19 min
Murphy: 10p - team high 10 reb -- 27 min
Varejao: 9p - team high 10 reb -- 19 min

Sacramento Kings: White Basketball on Display

The Kings, last night, again went with 3 white starters, Udrih, Brad Miller, and Spencer Hawes. All three got lots of PT, 36, 38, and 34 minutes respectively, and each performed well.

The three of them scored 73% of the starting units points, 68% of the starters rebounds, and 73% of the starters assists, White basketball on display!

The Kings lost, but only because of their second unit. The plus-minus for Miller was +4, Udrih +8, and Hawes +17. A winning combination indeed! Hopefully their coach (Theus, colored himself) recognizes their winning potential and sticks with that lineup, and stops messing with Hawes' minutes and role.

White of the Night: Troy Murphy

Troy Murphy earns White of the Night for his strong game against the Lakers, winning the game for the Pacers with his buzzer beating tip shot, just one of his 17 monster boards.

Other solid games over the past two nights:

Nowitzki: 29p (27 shots) - 10 reb -- 2 stl - 2 blk -- 43 min
P Gasol: 20p (12 shots) - 9 reb (4 off) -- 36 min
Lee: 19p (11 shots) - 12 reb -- 40 min
M Miller: 19p (13 shots) - 10 reb - 5a -- 34 min
Turkoglu: 19p (16 shots) - 5 reb -- 40 min
B Miller: 18p (13 shots) - team high 9 reb - 4 blk -- 38 min
Fernandez: 18p (11 shots) -- 21 min
Biedrins: 17p (10 shots) - 15 reb -- 34 min
Udrih: 17p (12 shots) - 4a - 3 reb -- 36 min
Murphy: 16p (12 shots) - 17 reb (6 off) -- 37 min
Korver: team high 15p (9 shots) - 4 reb -- 28 min
Blake: 15p (9 shots) - team high 6 a - 4 reb -- 28 min
Barea: 15p (11 shots) - 6a -- 24 min
Hawes: 14p (12 shots) - 7 reb - 6a - 3 stl -- 34
Ukic: 13p (9 shots) -- 16 min
Ginobili: 13p (11 shots) - 3 reb - 3 a -- 27 min
Kleiza: 12p (9 shots) - 4 reb -- 23 min
Love: 10p - 8 reb -- 22 min
Przybilla: 8p - 14 reb - 2 blk -- 25 min

Many of our guys are out with small injuries right now, including Foster, Harpring, Kirilenko, Kaman, Barry, and Bogut. Not to mention the longer term injuries to Hinrich, Dunleavy, Gallinari, and LaFrentz.

White of the Night: David Lee

David Lee racks up career highs in points and rebounds in an offensive spectacle between the Knicks and Warriors. Woulda loved to have seen that game. God bless D'antoni. What a difference a good coach can make.

Also want to make a tip of the hat to Matt Bonner, whose minutes have been on the rise, and showed his worth tonight with 17 points on only 7 shots, to go with 5 rebounds, in his 22 minutes.

From the WTF!!! files:
-- Belinelli starts, plays 7 minutes.
-- Kirilenko: 9 min PT
-- Redick starts, plays 30 min, shoots only 4 shots. Come on, JJ, get your head out of your ass. As a rare White who starts at SG, if you don't shoot like you belong there, you will be riding the pine real quick.

Solid White games of Saturday night:

Lee: 37p (29 shots) - 21 reb (8 off) - 3 stl -- 38 min
Ilgauskas: 23p (17 shots) - 17 reb (7 off) - 2 blk -- 31 min
Turkoglu: 22p (10 shots) - 5 reb - 3a - 4 stl -- 39 min
Nowitzki: 19p (12 shots) - 8 reb -- 31 min
Love: 18p (9 shots) - 12 reb(6 off) - - 28 min
Bonner: 17p (7 shots) - 5 reb - 2 stl -- 22 min
Songaila 16p (8 shots) - 4 reb -- 23
Biedrins: 16p - 7 reb (6 off) - 3 a - 5 stl -- 29 min
M Gasol: 16p (8 shots) - 6 reb - 24 min
Ridnour: 15p (9 shots) - 6 reb -- 31 min
Kleiza: 15p (11 shots) -- 24 min
Murphy: 13p (11 shots) - 11 reb -- 31
Udrih: 13p - 9 reb ( 4 off) - 7 a - 2 stl -- 29 min
Scola: 11p (7 shots) -- 24 min
Okur: 10p - 11 reb -- 34 min

White of the Night: Memhet Okur

Okur playing very solid for Utah since rejoining the team, good for him.

Don Nelson is a total crackpot. Will somebody push him over, he forgot to notice he is dead. Playing Biedrins only 20 minutes? No, he was not in foul trouble. Add it to the WTF!!! file.

The most notorious Blacksketball teams, ie teams that play with no significant white contribution on a regular basis, to be boycotted by all White Basketball fans:
Philadelphia (never any whites at all), Boston (an occasional couple minutes for Scalabrine), Miami (rare and short PT for Quinn), Washington (a rare Songaila sighting), Detroit (an occasional Hermann explosion excepted). Add Atlanta to the list when Pachulia is out.

Speaking of Zaza, he yanked down 17 boards, including 8 offensive, in his mere 24 minutes. What a stud.

And Hermann, again proving his worth in the little and rare time he is alloted: pouring in 16 points on only 6 shots, in his whopping 18 minutes.

I dream of an all-White team with Zaza and Hermann starting, and logging starters minutes, leading the league in rebounding and scoring. Instead of rotting on the bench on racist teams in a racist league.

Sweet White players on Friday:
Ilgauskas: 21p (13 shots) - 19 min
Stojokovic: 21p (14 shots) - 3 reb -- 31 min
Okur: 20p (10 shots) - game high 12 reb - 3 stl -- 32 min
Nowitzki: 19p (15 shots) 12 reb - 4 a - 3 stl -- 36 min
Hawes: 18p (13 shots) - team high 6 reb -- 20 min
M Miller: 18p - 8 reb - 4 a -- 41 min
Hermann: 16p (6 shots) - 4 reb -- 18 min
Kapono: 16p (10 shots) -- 21 min
P Gasol: 14p - 7 reb (4 off) - 4 a -- 39 min
Blake: 14p (9 shots) - 3 a -- 28 min
Ginobili: 14p (10 shots) -- 20 min
M Gasol: 12p - 6 reb (4 off) -- 33 min
Kirilenko: 12p (5 shots) - 6 reb - 3 a -- 27 min
Murphy: 7p - 12 reb -- 37 min
Pachulia: 3p - 17 reb (8 off) -- 24 min


WTF!!!
Biedrins: only 20 min

White of the Night: Troy Murphy

Troy Murphy earns the honors tonight for a very solid game (21/14) , scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter alone, leading his team to victory.

Other news for the night:

Sean Marks finally plays for the Hornets, logging a modest 6 minutes tonight, including a strong dunk.

The Birdman Andersen returns from injury, to lead his team in rebounding, in only 23 minutes off the bench.

Hawes, back to the bench for some reason, but swats an insane 6 blocks in his 35 minutes.

Okur: 21p (9 shots) - 10 reb -- 34 min
Murphy: 21p (11 shots), 14 reb -- 38 min
Nash: 20p (10 shots) - 6 a - 3 reb - 2 stl -- 27 min
B Miller: 20p -13 reb - 6 a -- 43 min
Turkoglu: 20p - 10 reb - 3 a -- 34 min
Lee: 17p (11 shots), 15 reb (4 off.) -- 44 min
Kirilenko: 17p (10 shots) - 4 a - 3 reb - 2 stl -- 30 min
Ilgauskas: 17p (9 shots) - 7 reb -- 13 min
Stojacovic: 17p (11 shots) - 3 reb - 3 a -- 33 min
Udrih: 16p (12 shots) - 10 a -- 43 min
Ginobili: 15p (8 shots) - 4 a - 3 reb -- 17 min
Kleiza: 15p (9 shots) - 3 reb -- 27 min
Hawes: 15p - 9 reb - 6 blk -- 35 min
Scola: 15p - 18 reb - 4 a -- 35 min
Szczerbiak 13p (6 shots) - 3 reb -- 24 min
Fernandez: 13p (10 shots) - 3 reb - 3 reb -- 18 min
Anderson: 13p (10 shots) - team high 8 reb -- 18 min
Turkoglu (last night): 12p - 7 a - 5 reb -- 38 min
M Gasol: 12p (8 shots) - 8 reb - 2 stl -- 32 min
Bargnani: 11p - 9 reb - 3 a - 3 stl -- 40 min
Calderon: 10p - 9 reb - 3 reb - 40 min

White of the Night: Steve Nash

Steve Nash wins the honors tonight, stuffing the stat box, almost pulling the triple double, leading his team to a close come-from-behind victory.

News of the last couple nights:

Three whites starting for the Kings, and the three of them score over 71% of the starting unit's points, and 55% of the Kings total points. In today's NBA, it doesn't get much better than that.

Milicic starts! Good for Darko, working his way back into the starting lineup as PF, leading his team in rebounds and blocks.

Ginobili returns! Manu puts together a very nice game in his first game this season, with some outrageous scoring efficiency, scoring 12, on only 4 shots, in only 11 minutes.

Bogut owns Dwight Howard, until he goes out with an injury in the 3rd quarter. Hope you recover quickly, mate, we love what you do!

P Gasol: 26p (12 shots) - 8 reb - 3 a -- 31 min
Okur: 26p (18 shots) - 9 reb - 2 stl -- 40 min
Nowitzki: 24p (15 shots) - 12 reb - 2 stl - 2 blk -- 39 min
Turkoglu: 22p (13 shots) - 9 reb -- 37 min
Murphy: 21p (16 shots) - 15 reb -- 31 min
Nash: 20p (14 shots) - 15 a - 8 reb -- 42 min
B Miller: 18p (12 shots) - 6 reb -- 34 min
Udrih: 17p (12 shots) - 8 a -- 34 min
Bogut: 16p (9 shots) - 4 reb -- 22 min
Biedrins: 15p (7 shots) - 9 reb - 2 blk -- 29 min
Hawes: 15p (13 shots) - 5 reb - 3 a - 3 stl -- 38 min
Szczerbiak: 15p (9 shots) - 4 reb -- 19 min
Kaman: 14p (13 shots) - 7 reb - 3 blk -- 40 min
B Lopez: 17p (15 shots) - team high 10 reb (5 off) - 3 blk -- 38 min
Stojacovic: 13p (12 shots) - 9 reb -- 30 min
Lee: 12p (8 shots) - team high 13 reb (5 off) -- 33 min
Blake: 12p (11 shots) - 5 a - 4 stl -- 33 min
Ginobili: 12p (4 shots) - 4 reb -- 11 min
Scola: 11p (9 shots) - team high 13 reb (6 off) -- 30 min
Ilgauskas: 11p ( shots) - team high 10 reb -- 20 min
R Lopez: 11p (7 shots) - 5 reb - 2 stl - 3 blk -- 25 min
Varejao: 11p (7 shots) - 6 reb -- 20 min
Milicic: 11p (9 shots) - 11 reb - 2 stl - 2 blk -- 30 min
M Gasol: 10p (7 reb) - 8 reb - 28 min
Przybilla: 10p (6 shots) - team high 12 reb - 2 stl - 2 blk -- 28 min
Redick: 10p (8 shots) - 3 reb -- 24 min
Morrison: 10p (8 shots) - 5 reb -- 22 min

White of the Night: David Lee

Very solid game for David Lee, starting and playing most of the game at center for the Knicks, as they win a shorthanded game with only seven guys.

Other solid games by your favorite players tonight:

Okur: 23p (15 shots) - 4 reb - 3 a -- 38 min
Blake: 22p (16 shots) - 5 a -- 37 min
Lee: 22p (16 shots) - team high 12 reb (5 off) - 40 min
Ilgauskas: 17p (12 shots) - 7 reb (4 off) - 32 min
Nash: 16p (7 shots) - 7 a -- 39 min
Kaman: 14p (8 shots) - 5 reb - 2 stl -- 44 min
Redick: 13p (7 shots, 8-10 FT) -- 27 min
Songaila: 13p - 4 reb - 2 stl -- 25 min
Nesterovic: 13p - 7 reb -- 37 min
Bogut: 12p - 17 reb - 4 a -- 41 min
Stojakovic: 12p -- 34 min
Murphy: 6p - team high 11 reb - team high 6 a -- 37 min
M Gasol: 10p (5 shots) - 6 reb (4 off) -- 25 min
Przybilla: 0p (0 shots) - team high 8 reb (6 off) - 3 stl - 5 blk -- 28 min

White of the Night: Andres Bargnani

Andres is clearly settling into his starting role, pouring in a career high 29 points, including 8-8 FT, as the tri-towers continues to pay dividends for the Raptors.

Some nice games last night:


Bargnani: 29p (15 shots) - team high 10 reb -- 44 min
Nowitzki: 25p (20 shots) - 10 reb -- 35 min
Biedrins: 23p (16 shots) - 10 reb (5 off) -- 35 min
Blake: 20p (14 shots) - 5 a -- 27 min
Kaman: 17p - 13 reb -- 29 min
Collison: 16p ( shots) - 13 reb -- 25 min
B Miller: 16p (9 shots) -- 29 min
Hawes: 15p (13 shots) - 2 blk -- 34 min
Bogut: 14p - 17 reb -- 25 min
Fernandez: 14p (9 shots) - 4 a - 2 stl -- 24 min
B Lopez: 14p - 6 reb -- 30 min
Lee: 13p (10 shots) - 12 reb - 3 a -- 39 min
Kleiza: 13p - 4 reb -- 22 min
Stojakovic: 13p - 24 min
P Gasol: 12p - 4 reb - 4 a -- 27 min
Bonner: 12p (8 shots) - 4 reb - 2 a -- 17 min
M Gasol: 12p (8 shots) - 8 reb -- 29 min
Przybilla: 10p (4 shot) - 10 reb -- 24 min
Murphy: 5p - team high 10 reb -- 37 min

White of the Night: Chris Kaman

Great night for the Caveman Kaman, earning the prestigous White of the Night award tonight! Playing an almost perfectly efficient game (11-13 FG, 3-3 FT) and filling up the stat sheet, team leader in points, rebounds, and blocks, second in assists, powering the Clips to victory.

Pachulia, rebounding machine! 18 total, 8 offensive, in his 34 starting minutes, wow. As I have detailed elsewhere, Zaza is one of the most highly skilled offensive rebounders in the league (he actually has more offensive rebounds than defensive rebounds so far this season), and is always quite efficient on offense. For some reason, he only put up four shots though, although he did earn 6 FTAs. Maybe it has to do with the two starting guards on his team taking 22 shots each! Good grief.

Bargnani starts, along with Bosh and ONeil, and Toronto wins again, surprise surprise, as the developing Italian leads everyone in scoring. Beautiful trend there!

Ahearn minutes trend up, all the way to 6! Ha ha, start him, coach! Popovic is crazy like that, starting a guy straight from the end of the bench. It may happen! The only guys ahead of him are a rookie (Hill) and an antique (Vaughn). Hell yeah, bring it on, and Blake, you better take 20 shots if it does!!!

Aaron Gray, the monster in the middle, gets the start for the Bulls! Promptly busted for DWW (Defending While White), picking up 3 early fous, and doesn't even start the second half. Beautiful, coach Vinny, just beautiful.

Shit that pisses me off:
Kleiza gets rewarded for his beautiful game last night with a grand total of 17 min PT.
Joe Alexander comes off his 31 min/14 point game to a very underwhelming 8 min PT.
WTF???


Kaman: 25p (13 shots) - 14 reb - 6 a - 4 blk -- 38 min
Bargnani: 25p (15 shots) - 4 reb - 2 blks -- 37 min
Nowitzki: 24p (17 shots) - 12 reb - 37 min
Kirilenko: 16p (6 shots) - 7 reb - 3 a - 5 stl - 4 blk -- 29 min
Bogut: 16p (13 shots) - 20 reb -- 40 min
Scola: 15p (12 shots) - 7 reb -- 41 min
Przybilla: 14p (6 shots) - 9 reb - 3 blk -- 22 min
B Miller: 14p (8 shots) - 8 reb - 2 a - 2 stl -- 34 min
Udrih: 14p (9 shots) - 4 reb - 7 a -- 33 min
Ilgauskas: 13p (11 shots) - 6 reb -- 28 min
Nocioni: 13p (13 shots) - 4 reb -- 26 min
M Miller: 10p (7 shots) - team high 10 reb - 6 a - 2 stl -- 39 min
Varejao: 5p - team high 11 reb -- 33 min

White of the Night: Linas Kleiza

What a weird night in the NBA: both JJ Reddick and Brian Scalabrine started! It would have been nice to see them both score 20, but they both represented themselves well, being thrown in with the starters after mainly getting DNPs.

Kleiza earns the honors tonight for his mind-boggling scoring efficiency, on only 9 shots scoring 25 to lead the Nuggets to victory.

P Gasol: 34p (21 shots) - 6 reb - 3 a -- 34 min
Nowitzki: 32p (21 shots) - 9 reb -- 36 min
Kleiza: 25p (9 shots & 13-15 FTs) -- 28 min
Turkoglu: 22p (20 shots) - 7 a - 4 reb - 3 stl -- 39 min
Nesterovic: 21p (19 shots) - 7 reb - 5 a - 2 stl - 3 blk -- 35 min
Croshere: 17p (11 shots) - 6 reb - 3 a -- 17 min
Biedrins: 17p (9 shots) - 9 reb (5 off) - 2 blk -- 33 min
M Gasol: 16p (6 shots) -- 23 min
Alexander: 14p (12 shots) -- 4 reb - 2 stl - 3 blk -- 31 min
Hawes: 14p (7 shots) - 4 reb -- 18 min
Fernandez: 13p (11 shots) - 7 reb - 3 a - 2 stl - 1 blk -- 35 min
Foster: 12p (6 shots) - 5 reb - 3 a -- 22 min
Rodriguez: 12p (8 shots) - 2 reb - 2 a - 2 stl -- 22 min
Gray: 11p (9 shots) - 5 reb (4 off) -- 21 min
Udrih: 11p (5 shots) - 5 a -- 27 min
Murphy: 10p - 19 reb - 4 a -- 37 min
Reddick: 10p (9 shots) - 3 reb -- 34 min
Lee: 10p (8 shots) - 7 reb -- 21 min
Nocioni: team high 8 reb -- 22 min

White of the Night: Luis Scola

Scola shoots like his name is Dirk or something, jacking up 20 shots tonight for the Rockets, leading the team in shot attempts and points. Nice work, Luis! I think he should definitely be more aggressive getting his shot off, but he is a great team player, and usually focuses on the dirty work, averaging only 9 shots a game. It is nice to recognize him as tonight's White of the Night.

Kirilenko missed the last two games with a dislocated finger, which was still slightly discolored and swollen after tonight's game, but he returned to his new role as Utah’s sixth man and flourished again, including a spectacular block of a Shaq dunk attempt.

Harpring was also back after some injury time off. Okur has returned and was available, but did not play tonight.

Kevin Garnett hit with suspension for striking Bogut in the face. This on top of last week's well publicized taunting of Jose Calderon and his refusal to acknowledge Pachulia. Can we say Garnett is an obvious racist? Or is he this much of a classless punk to black players too?

Ahearn plays his first minutes! Hitting a three pointer in his 4 minutes for the Spurs.

Mark Cuban, idiot owner of the Mavericks, will hopefully be serving jail time, charged today with insider trading.

Scola: 23p (20 shots) - 9 reb -- 34 min
Kirilenko: 19p (10 shots) - 7 reb - 3 a - 2 blk -- 32 min
Kaman: 17p - 13 reb (4 off) - 3 blk -- 38 min
Nash: 14p (10 shots) - 8 a - 3 reb -- 32 min
Korver: 11p (7 shots) - 3 reb - 3 a -- 22 min
Swift: 6p - 8 reb (4 off) - 2 blk -- 25 min

Welcome back Blake Ahearn

If anyone deserves a place in the big leagues, it is this guy, probably the best shooter on the planet.

The San Antonio Spurs signed guard Blake Ahearn on Sunday, adding a new face in the backcourt with Tony Parker still recovering from a sprained ankle. The Spurs signed the 6-foot-2 Ahearn from the Dakota Wizards of the NBA D-League. He played in 12 games for Miami last season, averaging 5.8 points and 1.6 assists. San Antonio made room for Ahearn by waiving guard Desmon Farmer. The rookie had not played since going 2-for-9 in the Nov. 7 game against Miami, when Parker suffered the injury that’s expected to keep him out until next month.

Blake is the the first GATORADE Call-Up of the 2008-09 NBA Development League season, and the 120th overall since the league began play in November 2001. The Call-Up marks the second of Ahearn’s career, following a stint with the Miami Heat during the 2007-08 season when he averaged 5.8 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 14.8 minutes in 12 games. A member of the Minnesota Timberwolves training camp this season, Ahearn appeared in five preseason games and averaged 7.8 points and 1.2 assists in 11.8 minutes.

Ahearn played in 41 games (15 starts) for the Wizards during the 2007-08 season when he earned the NBA D-League’s Rookie of the Year award and averaged 19.0 points, 3.5 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 29.5 minutes, while shooting 48.6 percent from the field, 43.9 percent from three-point range and 96.0 percent from the free throw line.

A standout at Missouri State, Ahearn averaged 13.1 points and 1.8 assists while shooting 42.3 percent from the field during his career. He finished his NCAA career as the all-time leading free throw shooter in NCAA Division I history, while finishing as Missouri State’s seventh all-time leading scorer with 1,677 points.

White of the Night: Dirk Nowitzki

Although I am boycotting the Dallas Mavericks because of Cuban's ridiculous defense of his racist, unAmerican player Josh Howard, I have to give it to Dirk tonight, pouring in 39 points and ripping down 15 rebounds.

Other news:

Bargnani finally back in the starting line up! Good job, Andres. Looks like coach is realizing he is too good not to start, and went with the tri-towers tonight, starting Bosh, O'Neil, and Bargnani to nice effect as they beat the Heat.

Kris Humphries also had a very solid game for Toronto tonight in his first significant action of the year.

Amundson had a game-high 3 blocks for the Suns tonight, in only 15 minutes of play. Good to see him get to show his skills every now and then, thanks to coach Porter's use of the deep bench, which is definitely something more coaches should do.

Nowitzki: 39p (27 shots) - 15 reb - 4 a -- 44 min
Turkoglu: 20p (15 shots) - 3 reb - 4 a -- 37 min
Nash: 17p (10 shots) - 7 a - 3 reb - 2 blk -- 37 min
Udrih: 16p (11 shots) - 5 reb - 4 a - 3 stl -- 35 min
Morrison: 14p (10 shots) - 3 reb -- 21 min
Lee: 14p (12 shots) - 11 reb - 3 a - 1 blk -- 36 min
Humphries: 14p (6 shots) - 9 reb (4 off) - 3 a -- 16 min
Bargnani: 12p - 4 reb - 3 a -- 31 min
Kleiza: 11p (4 shots) - 7 reb (4 off) -- 25 min
Bonner: 11p (9 shots) - 7 reb - 2 stl -- 27 min
Quinn: 11p (10 shots) - 3 a -- 24 min
B Miller: 10p - 8 reb - 4 a -- 37 min
Kapono: 10p (8 shots) - 3 a - 3 stl -- 18 min

Institutional Discrimination Against American White Basketball Players

Thinking of the massive scale of the European club basketball system, of which the Euroleague 24-team competition is just the tip of the iceberg, is it any wonder there are almost as many foreign whites as American whites in the NBA? Think for a minute about the disparity in developmental opportunities. There are hundreds of professional clubs all across Europe developing their native talent. Nothing like that exists in America.

The European clubs also have an explicit affirmative action policy for their national players, limiting the number of foreigners on each club squad. Thus, they can't just stock their team with 10 American players in the hopes of winning their games, they are forced to develop their local white talent.

American whites, obviously, have no such protections. In fact, they play against a huge handicap: the American collegiate system. America runs its sports through the school system, not a club system like Europe, so our minor league system is the college game.

Number one, that system is biased in favor of early development. Your long term interest in and success in sports is heavily influenced by your state of physical development when you are junior high and high school. Thus, if you are not physically mature in 9th grade, you won't even make the team in a large school, or at best you will be riding the bench, in either case, severely impacting your future potential in a negative way.

It is enlightening to note that black boys enter puberty almost two years sooner than white boys. Blacks also tend to start school at a later age on average, and get held back in early grades more. Thus, whites in the school system are facing a significant disadvantage in terms of physical development compared to blacks in the same grade level. Not playing in junior high will obviously affect your ability to make the team in high school, and not playing in high school makes it real hard to get recruited by a college.

And at the college level, the white player faces another huge barrier: colleges are run on affirmative action FOR blacks. Because blacks are worse students, American colleges are always struggling to bring up their black student enrollments, which would otherwise be lower than white enrollment on a percentage basis, making a college subject to legal sanctions under anti-discrimination laws. Athletic scholarships are method number one that colleges use to bring up the number of black students, because athletic scholarships are by definition not concerned with academic quality. Bringing in blacks on athletic scholarships allows colleges to boost their black student numbers in a way that, for some reason, everyone seems to accept. Thus, white are preselected out of athletic scholarships entering college, because of discrimination policy aimed to assist blacks.

Look at the larger racial pattern going on here. The European club system discriminates in the favor of European whites, the American college system discriminates in the favor of American blacks.

And so, where else can American whites turn to develop their athletic potential? The American college system is the minor league for the American pro system, so the bottle neck at the college level of course negatively impacts the number of Whites at the pro level. The bottle neck also impacts the number of American whites who can play overseas, since with no pro or college experience, they have no basis for getting signed to a foreign club contract.

See how screwed the American white basketball player is? Not just on the level of biological discrimination because of later puberty onset, not just personal discrimination based on myths of black athletic superiority (the false idea that "White men can't jump"), but on the institutional level that gives an opportunity to play at all, the American white faces huge barriers.

In order to have a level playing field for success, American whites would have a professional league that limited the number of American blacks and foreign whites, like foreign whites enjoy in their national leagues.

Facing discrimination by having to compete against older and more developed blacks in the school sports system, and discrimination in college admission policies, and discrimination limiting participation in foreign leagues, a professional league based on affirmative action to develop American whites is a matter of justice and equity mandated under civil rights legislation.

Before the days of federally mandated school integration and affirmative action, American whites developed quite well, and were some of the best ball players in the world. If we end the systematic discrimination against them, they can easily rise again to the same high levels again.

American Whites in Euroleague

The Euroleague competition is made up of 24 teams: 5 Spanish, 4 Italian, 3 Greek, 2 Turkish, 2 French, and 1 each from Croatia, Germany, Israel, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Serbia, and Slovenia. Each team has a majority of players from its home country on its 15 man roster. However, many players, even stars, play for clubs that do not represent their home country. There is an average of 3 Americans on each club.

You would think that for a continent that is overwhelmingly white, the European basketball leagues would be more friendly to American white basketball players. In fact, that is not true. American whites are rare in the Euroleague.

There are a grand total of 9 American whites in the whole league, and two of them actually play for other countries officially (Ireland and Scotland), and I am including one guy who is probably biracial. I am not including the one white Canadian.

The only ones you would probably recognize are Pat Burke and Casey Jacobsen. The others: Shuan Stonerook, Jared Homan, Adam Chubb, Jobey Thomas, Joey Beard, Drake Diener, and Robert Archibald. That is it, in the whole Euroleague competition. There are 74 total Americans on the Euroleague teams, meaning that whites represent just 12% of the American ballplayers. That sounds low, but it is about equal to the ratio of white to black Americans in the NBA.

However, there are many other Americans playing for other European clubs. However, there are so many clubs in the many different national leagues, it would be a major research project to track them all. To wit:

There are a host of basketball leagues in Europe, clubs organized as part of national leagues, such as a German league, a Polish league, an Italian league, and so on. The Euroleague is the top tier interleague, continent-wide competition, a league for the best of the best, the champions of the national leagues.

Thus, for example, the Italian league has 16 teams, 4 of which also play in the Euroleague. The Spanish league has 17 teams, of which 5 play in Euroleague. The German league has 18 teams, only 1 of which is in the Euroleague.

The Euroleague teams play games in their national league, as well as Euroleague games in between their national league games. The seasons are simultaneous.

The second-level continental competition is called the Eurocup, which consists of 32 teams. The third-level is the EuroChallenge, also consisting of 32 teams. Obviously, the situation is complex, and there are a ton of pro-basketball players in Europe, way more than in America.

White of the Night: Ryan Anderson

Since preseason, based on his measurable production, I have been pointing out that this rookie deserves way more playing time. Tonight, Ryan hammered that point home, scoring 17 points on only 5 shots, including 6-6 from the line, helping the Nets to a victory over the Atlanta "BlackHawks" (with Pachulia down, not having a single white to play at all). This follows on the heels of yesterday's game where he scored 15 on 7 shots.

Ryan came off the bench, but for the second game in a row, played more minutes than either starting forward, and has gotten the crunch time 4th quarter minutes in both games as well. Here's a radical thought, coach: the white rookie is clearly your best big man, so start him, play him 40 mpg, let him produce! "My whole life I've been out there starting, getting minutes so it's been different," said Anderson. "I've tried to stay positive and work my butt off, showing everybody I'm committed to the team."

In other good news, rookie Joe Alexander's minutes continue to trend upwards, playing 20 mintues tonight. Drafted with the 8th pick by the Bucks, Joe looked buried early on, but appears to be earning his coach's trust.

Nocioni: 20p (13 shots) - team high 11 reb - 2 stl -- 31 min
Bogut: team high 20p (14 shots) - game high 9 reb (4 off) -- 41 min
Ridnour: 19p (7 shots) - 4 reb - 4 a -- 48 min
Anderson: 17p (5 shots) - 5 reb - 1 stl -- 25 min.
Biedrins: 17p (15 shots) - game high 16 reb (8 off) - 4 a -- 36 min
Ilgauskas: 16p (11 shots) - 7 reb (3 off) - 3 a -- 27 min
Kaman: 15p (11 shots) -- team high 13 reb (6 off) -- 38 min
Murphy: 12p (11 shots) - game high 13 reb - team high 5 a -- 37 min
Nesterovic: 12p (13 shots) - 12 reb (5 off) - 2 blk -- 33 min
Scola: 12p (8 shots) - game high 10 reb - 3 a - 2 stl -- 32 min
Przybilla: 10p (5 shots) - team high 8 reb - 1 stl - 1 blk -- 21 min
M Miller: 10p (8 shots) - 5 reb - 5 a -- 32 min

Whites of the Night: Biedrins and Brad Miller

Brad Miller filled up the stat sheet across the board tonight (20p/11r/7a), earning co-White of the Night honors. The Kings are becoming a very easy team to root for, essentially playing 3 white starters, with all three of them dominating the ball, really. Hawes is technically coming off the bench (for some reason), but he is getting the lion share of minutes at PF, including the crunch minutes in the fourth quarter and OT.

Biedrins earns co-White of the Night as he had yet another monster night last night for the Warriors (17p/19r). Andris is by far the best center in the Western Conference so far this season, scoring at an slightly higher clip while pulling down a full 5 more rebounds a game than Yao, for example (who will no doubt be the All-Star starter because of racist Chinese voting).

Other news of note for tonight:

Robert Swift finally gets the start in OKC and plays a solid game (hopefully the Petro experiment is finally over)! Good for you, Robert.

Kosta Koufos (7'0 265) comes into his own tonight, posting a very strong game, playing 29 minutes as starting center for the Jazz (filling in for Okur).

Larry Brown continues the madness in Charlotte, actually starting Matt Carroll, then playing him only 18 minutes.

Ryan Anderson finally gets off the bench for the Nets, outscoring (by far) and playing more minutes than the starting forwards, helping propel the Nets to victory.

Strong games, home grown:
B Miller: 20p (16 shots) - 11 reb - 7 a - 2 stl - 1 blk -- 48 min
Hawes: 14p (10 shots) - 10 reb - 3 blk -- 36 min
Ridnour: 14p (10 shots) - 7 a - 6 reb -- 1 blk - 38 min
Lee: 18p (8 shots) - 6 reb - 1 blk -- 27 min
Anderson: 15p (7 shots) - 5 reb -- 26 min
Swift: 4p - team high 13 reb - 2 blk -- 27 min
Koufos: 9p, 10 rebs (6 offensive) - 5 blocks -- 29 min
Foster: 10p (6 shots) - 11 reb - 2 blk -- 18 min
Collison: 14p (8 shots) - 6 reb -- 29 min
Morrison: 15p (8 shots) -- 24 min
Bonner: 11p (6 shots) - 19 min

Strong games, imported:
Biedrins: 17p (14 shots) - 19 reb (7 off) - 1 stl - 1 blk -- 35 min
M Gasol: 18p (8 shots) - 7 reb - 1 blk -- 39 min
P Gasol: 15p (11 shots) - team high 10 reb (5 off) - 6 a -- 40 min
Nowitzki: 24p (18 shots) - 6 reb (3 off) -- 35 min
Bogut: 12p (8 shots) - 15 reb (5 off) - 2 blk -- 39 min
Udrih: 18p (16 shots) - 4 reb - 4 a -- 40 min
Turkoglu: 12p (10 shots) - 5 reb -- 27 min
Fernandez: 10p (6 shots) - 2 a -- 29 min
Kleiza: 10p (7 shots) -- 19 min

Injury Updates

Chris Andersen will not be playing much until December, out with a broken rib. He left the game last Sunday during the third quarter with a fractured rib after taking a charge.

Zaza Pachulia suffers a set back in his quest to regain the starting role, coming up with a strained left shoulder against the Celtics.

Zaza revealed a persistent anti-white racist double standard in the pregame, as Garnett refused to acknowledge Zaza because of their tough confrontation in last year's playoffs. As long as whites are submissive, they are accepted, but under no circumstances can they stand up for themselves. Whites who play with passion and stand up for themselves are for some reason vilified, usually by fans (exhibits one and two: JJ Reddick or Christian Laetner), and often commentators, and of course by black players, although that same behavior and attitude are applauded and respected in blacks.

Kirk Hinrich has a torn ligament in his hand, and will not be back until the spring.

Calderon is fighting a sore hamstring, hopefully he won't miss much time.

Troy Murphy is down with the flu, missing the Pacer's last game.

On the good side, Oberto's heart problem has settled down, and he is now back in the game, starting at C for the Spurs.

White of the Night: Rudy Fernandez

Rudy explodes! Scoring 25 on only 11 shots (8-8 FT), throwing in 3 reb, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block just for good measure.

Notable events from tonight and yesterday:

Rookie Koufos plays strong, after riding the pine all year, starting for the second time in Okur's absense: 12 points (7 shots), in 21 minutes.

Swift is definitely on the rise: playing a full 18 minutes, gathering up 7 rebounds and blocking 2 shots.

Steven Hill gets his first NBA minutes for OKC as well, pulling 3 boards in 2 minutes of play.

Top two scorers for the Kings last night: 19 from Hawes and 18 from Udrih.

Quinn looks like he is working his way back into the rotation in Miami, playing almost 30 minutes, scoring 10 on 7 shots and dishing 5 assists.

Pachulia starts again for the second night in a row, but played only 25 and 22 minutes, scoring 12p (6 shots) and 9p (5 shots), with solid rebounding as usual. How good can you play, and still not start in this league?

Other solid games by whites the last couple nights:

Udrih: 30p (20 shots) - 7 a - 5 reb - 2 stl -- 38 min
Jeff Foster: 16p (8 shots) - 7 reb (4 offensive) - 2 blk - 2 steals -- starting PF
Brad Miller: 16p (10 shots) - 11 reb - 8 a -- 40 min
Pau: 22p (15 shots) - 11 reb (5 off) -- 35 min
Varejao: 13p (5 shots) - 10 reb - 2 blk -- 22 min
Morrison: 16p (11 shots) -- 28 min
Kirilenko: 16p (8 shots) - 8 reb -- 32 min
Bargnani: 15p (11 shots) - 5 reb -- 26 min
Aaron Gray: team high 10 reb (5 offensive) in his mere 17 minutes.
Lee: 15p (9 shots) - 9 boards -- 30 min
Bogut: 10p - 17 reb (7 offensive)
Biedrins: 13p - 15 reb -- 43 min
Pryzbilla: 7 p (4 shots) - 10 reb -- 22 min
Marc Gasol: 16p (11 shots) -- 28 minutes

On the WTF list: Reddick buried; Belinelli still getting only 4 minutes a game, like clockwork; Herman again disappears, Lee's minutes dropping game by game, not even starting anymore....

White of the Night: Steve Blake

Steve Blake, where have you been??? Showing off his skill and aggressive play tonight for Portland: 20p (8 shots, 10-11 FT) - 5 reb - 4 a - 2 stl -- 32 min

Rudy continues his solid play, rising to the top of the ROY chart: 16p (10 shots) - 3 a - 3 stl -- 32 min

Hedo goes off the way it is supposed to be done: 35p (21 shots, 9-12 FT) - 4 reb - 3 a -- 42 min

Jeff Foster puts together a solid game: 15p (8 shots, 7-9 FT) - 5 reb - 3 a - 4 blk -- 36 min

Kapono gets some decent minutes tonight to show his stuff: 14p (10 shots) - 6 a - 4 reb -- 29 min

Marc plays a solid game against a monster Sun's frontcourt: 15p (11 shots) - 5 reb - 27 min

Quinn puts together a tight game, leading the Heat in plus-minus: 9p (4 shots, 6-6 FT) -- 21 min

Dragic plays to perfection in his 13 backup minutes: 8 points on 2 shots, going 2-2 FG and 4-4 FTs.

Robert Swift continues to build momentum, playing for over 12 minutes tonight and showing his worth: 9p (4 shots) - 7 reb. Very nice production for such limited time, definitely earning more.

McRoberts finally gets off the bench, playing 10 minutes for the Pacers.

White of the Night: Brad Miller

Welcome back, Brad, reminding us why we love your game so much: 14 p (7 shots) - 10 reb - 6 a - 2 blk -- 30 minutes.

Hawes also had a solid game, as Sacramento goes for the Twin White Towers to power to victory: 14p (10 shots) - 11 reb - 3 blk -- 20 min

Pau Gasol goes off, coming in a close second for White of the Night: 20p (10 shots) - 15 rebs - 3 a - 3 blk -- 33 min

Lots of other excellent performances on Sunday night:

Bargnani: 18p (10 shots) - 5 reb - 3 blk -- 27 min off the bench, way more production than the starter.

Dirk: 33 points, on 26 shots! He is probably the leagues biggest shot hog, no doubt.

Paul Davis finally gets off the bench for the Clips, and proves his worth: 10p (6 shots) - 18 min
Kaman does well in the same game: 10p (6 shots) - 9 reb - 3 blk -- 32 min

Biedrins again plays monster in the middle: 16p (14 shots) - 18 reb (5 off) - 4 a - 2 blk - 2 stl -- 31 min

Kurz plays a full 22 minutes for Nellie in the same game, and even Belinelli gets 11 minutes to prove his worth, scoring 7 on 5 shots.

Scola has a solid game too: 12p (9 shots) - 9 reb - 3 stl -- 32 min.

Pachulia starts, but only plays 9 minutes. That is kinda weird.

Meanwhile, Swift finally plays for OKC, getting a whole 8 minutes of PT.

White of the Night: Kevin Love

Kevin Love gets his first start tonight, and makes the coach look like a genius, putting in 20 points (team high) on only 7 shots (with 8-10 FT), and pulling down 8 boards in 30 minutes of play.

Biedrins was a close second, winning his rematch with Marc Gasol: producing game highs in points (27) and rebounds (12), on only 13 shots in his 35 minutes.

Marc Gasol had a statistically good night, scoring 8 on 4 shots, with 6 rebounds, but he only played 17 minutes because of foul trouble.

More good news from that game: Belinelli played for almost 10 minutes.

Other solid white gamers tonight:

Kaman: 23p (18 shots) - 11 reb (5 off) - 2 blk - 2 stl -- 42 min. The Caveman needs to stay mentally sharp and do this every game, it is that simple.

Brad Miller looks solid in his first game this season, sending Hawes back to the bench, although they played about the same minutes, and both put up solid games.
B-Miller: 11p (6 shots) - 10 reb - 2 blk -- 26 min
Hawes: 13p (9 shots) - 8 reb - 1 blk -- 21 min
Udrih also shows up strong for the Kings: 15p (11 shots) -- 32 min

Mike Miller does well for himself, scoring 16 with 6 rebounds.

Peja goes for team leading 20 points and a team leading 7 rebounds for the Hornets.
And STOP THE PRESSES!!! Matt Carroll gets off the bench for 27 minutes! Holy cow, what is going on? Larry Browns figures he might want to play his best shooter? Wow, what a concept! Matt goes a modest 3-8 for 7p - 4 reb - 3 a. Low and behold, Charlotte wins! Adam Morrison jacks up 9 shots in his 15 minutes, scoring 9 points, and hey, that is how you get it done.

Klieza scores 14 (on 10 shots) in less than 15 minutes!

Chris Quinn finally gets some minutes in Miami, pouring in 15 points on 9 shots in his 17 minutes.

Robin Lopez goes off for 14 points on 6-9 shooting in his first start as a Sun, to go with his team high 7 rebs and 2 blks, in his 30 minutes of play. Amundson has also earned some nice time for the Suns, playing 23 minutes off the bench, punching in 7 points, hauling 4 rebs and 1 blk.

Hinrich and Aaron Gray picked up the start for Chicago, but played on 16 and 15 minutes each. Weird. Kirk still picks off an insane 5 steals in that short time.

Okur and Kirilenko both pick up 16 points on 9 shots for Utah tonight in their 36 and 31 respective minutes. AK-47 also rips down team highs with 12 rebounds and 2 blocks.
Korver scores 13 on only 7 shots in his 23 minutes off the bench.

David Lee scores 13 on his 10 shots in almost 27 minutes, but only 1 rebound? What's up with that, D-Lee?

Varejao, very nice! 18p (12 shots) - 8 reb (3 off) - 3 stl -- 30 min
Szczerbiac goes off for 11 points on only 4 shots in his 26 minutes.
Ilgauskas scores 17 on his 9 shots, very efficient as usual in his 29 minues.

Scola: 14p (10 shots) - 7 reb -- 18 min

Barry: 2 shots in 29 minutes??? WTF

White of the Night: Luke Ridnour

Luke Ridnour is the White of the Night for his very solid night leading the Bucks to victory tonight: 20p (13 shots, 6-7 FT) - 11a - 7reb - 2 stl -- 42 min

Jose Calderon was close second: 24p (12 shots) - 8 a - 4 reb -- 35 min

A number of whites played well the in the battle of the whitest teams: Utah vs Portland.
Blake: 16p (10 shots) -- 35 min as starter
Pryzbilla: 7p (3 shots) - 16 reb (6 offensive) - 2 blk -- 37 min as starter
Rudy: 14p (8 shots) - 3 reb - 3 a -- 27 min off bench
Okur: 22p (14 shots) - team high 9 reb -- 36 min as starter
Kirilenko: 17p (8 shots, 7-8 FT) - 4a - 4 reb - 2 stl - 1 blk -- 32 min off bench


Other notables:

Mike Miller: 25p (19 shots) - 7 rebs - 6 assists -- 48 min

K-Love also posted a solid game making progress off the bench: 14 p - 9 reb - 3 blk -- 36 min

Andersen: 9p (5 shots) - 4 reb - 2 blk -- 18 min off bench

Bargnani: 12p (6 shots) - 4 reb -- 21 min off bench

Bogut had a solid game in support, bagging 10p (7 shots), 13 reb - 2 blks -- 37 min.

Biedrins: 12p - 11 reb (5 offensive) - 5 blks -- 34 min

Songaila played a surprising number of minutes tonight for Bullets, woops, I mean, the Wizards and put together some solid numbers: 9p (5 shots) - 2 blks -- 23 min.

Amundson also played some strong but limited minutes for a deep Suns squad: 6p (3 shots) - 5 rebs -- 10 min

Steven Hill picked up by OKC Thunder

The Thunder has signed Steven Hill, a 7-foot center out of Arkansas. Hill averaged 4.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocked shots as a senior and was the SEC Defensive Player of the Year his junior season. Undrafted, Hill was one of Portland’s final cuts.

"We worked him out twice in the summer,” Carlesimo said. "He’s not threatening to get in the rotation. We’re still trying to get Robert (Swift) and Mo (Sene) in the rotation. But he’s healthy, he can defend and block shots. As quick as he can learn (our system) he’s a guy we’ll evaluate and figure out whether he can help us.”

Hill, from Branson, Mo., was in Fayetteville, Ark., when he got a call late Sunday night.

"I knew a few teams were interested,” Hill said. "Obviously when you’re the final cut you’re disappointed. But I took a lot away from my first NBA experience. Now I’m elated. It will be a mental thing to learn the offense and defense as quickly as possible.”

White of the Night: Marc Gasol

Wow. Just wow. What a game. Marc leads the Grizz to victory tonight:
27 points, on 11 shots (w/ 9-11 FTs), 16 rebounds, 3 blocks -- in 35 minutes.

I think I have been the only person pointing out that he will be a top Rookie of the Year candidate. I guarantee you, after tonight's game, others will start adding him to the list.

Biedrins had a monster game in his own right tonight: 16p, 22 reb (9 offensive). However, no trips to the line, no blocks, 3 blocked attempts. Marc won the battle of titans tonight, clearly.

And hey, what do you know: Belinelli got off the bench! Played 4 whole minutes, and managed to hit a 3 pointer.

Caveman Kaman put in a solid night: 19p (12 shots), 10 reb, 3 blk, all team highs -- 39 min

Kirilenko also with an outstanding game: 15p (10 shots), game-high 11 rebs, and game-high 4 stl -- 32 min off the bench

Hinrich: 5 shots, 0 FTs, 4 points, in 35 minutes??? What is he thinking?

He needs to take a lesson from his oppenent tonight Hedo Turkoglu, who went 3-16 for 10p! Now that's what I'm talking about, that's how you have to play in the NBA: shoot like you deserve it.

Nocioni showed them how it is done, scoring 20 points, on 12 shots, in 26 minutes. Earned 9 trips to the line, to go with his team-high 7 boards. Nocioni needs to be starting.

Hawes continues his solid play as a starter for Sacramento, scoring 15p (11 shots) and team-high 8 rebs and 2 blks.

A ray of (white) light in Charlotte? Morrison went 4-6 for 10p in his 24 minutes. So, where is Matt Carroll?

Whatever happened to... Esteban Batista

Esteban Batista is a 6'10 268 PF out of Uruguay. This guy first came to my attention during the 2007 Olympic Qualifier, playing for Uruguay. He was totally dominant, utterly relentless around the basket, with his highly skilled footwork and physical presence. He finished that tourney averaging a 4th highest 20.8 ppg (on a team that averaged less than 80 ppg) and a competition-high 12.4 rpg, and keep in mind, that's in 40 minute games. To put that rebound total in perspective, the second-place guy had only 9.8 rpg.

Turns out he played in a couple seasons over '05-06 and '06-07 for the Atlanta Hawks, although not too much (70 games over two years with about 8 mpg). He played last year for Maccabi Electra of the Euroleague and is playing for them again this year.

You can get a look at his game, incredibly skilled and relentless around the basket, in the following clip, taken from his play in the Euroleague.

White of the Night: Andris Biedrins

Tonight demonstrates why I have been hyping Biedrins: 23 points (11 shots), 11 boards, 2 steals, 2 blocks, all team highs, in his 33 minutes. What a stud. Remind me again, why wasn't he starting for the past year or two?

Other notables:

The Nash Rambler scores 20p (10 shots) - 7 a -- 31 min

Rudy, in the same game, scores 20p (13 shots) -- 22 min

Walter Hermann, back in action! 16p (9 shots) - 7 reb (3 off) - 4 a -- 23 minutes of play! Coach, here's a suggestion: start the man! There's no law against starting a white scorer in Detroit, I promise.

Jose Calderon puts his talents on full display tonight, 25p (15 shots) - 9 a - 5 reb, in his 43 min. of play.

Hinrich finally realizes he is now a SG, putting up 13 shots, for 18 points, in his 25 minutes off the bench. And STILL led the team in assists, with 4!!! (Supposed "PG" who took his spot took an astounding 20 shots, to go with a paltry 3 assists, in 37 minutes. )

Birdman Andersen led his team in blocks (3) and rebounds (7) in his less than 16 minutes, but got into foul trouble, picking up an early 5. Play smart, Chris, and you will force them to play you!

Troy Murphy led his team tonight in.... steals (3) and assists (5)! Ha, didn't expect that one, did ya? To go along with his 10 points and 8 boards, not a bad night for the starting PF.

Hedo continued his torrid shooting, scoring 21 on 13 shots.

Zaza continues his magician-like work on the boards, clearing 8 rebounds, 7 of them offensive, in his 21 min of play.

Kapono also had a nice night for Toronto, scoring 9 on only 5 shots in his 25 mins. Shoot, Jason, shoot!

Szczerbiak put in a very nice 12 points for his 7 shots, playing 21 minutes off the bench. Also, for Cleveland, Ilgauskas scores 18 on 11 shots.

From the WTF!!! department:
Matt Carroll: DNP-CD

Warriors pick up Belinelli's option

Given the amount of PT Belinelli gets, you wonder why the Warriors would bother? Nelson is a bad coach, pure reputation. He overplays some guys, underplays the rest, and runs the dumbest offense in the league, consisting of nothing but one-on-one play.

Belinelli is a spectacular player. If he had been drafted by the Knicks, instead of Gallinari, getting to play under D'antoni, he would be an all-star this year. Instead, he rots on Nelson's bench. Pure b.s.

The Golden State Warriors on Friday exercised the third-year contract options on guard Marco Belinelli.

Belinelli, the 18th overall pick of the 2007 draft, averaged 2.9 points in 33 games last season. The Italian swingman will make approximately $1.55 million next season.

Marc Gasol, basketball man beast

Not just playing for the Grizzlies, playing LIKE a grizzlie. Marc is a man's man, and plays the game with Spanish passion, and already, in only his first two games of the season, playing toe-to-toe with the reigning all-star centers in the NBA. In his first game, it was containing the Great Wall of China, Yao, then last night, there he was shutting down all-star national team player Dwight Howard.

Foul trouble forced Gasol to sit most of the third period. But the 7-footer made his presence known with Howard, particularly in the first half. Gasol began to ruffle Howard's feathers midway through the second period. Howard's frustration led to a technical foul after a series of spirited possessions. On offense, Gasol attacked Howard with a series of post moves, and aggressively fought the Magic's big man for position while on defense.

The Magic center managed only four shots in the half, and at times appeared frustrated. “That was their game plan to fight me and get physical,” Howard said. Howard got a technical midway through the second period. In the third quarter, Gasol got in foul trouble, and none of the other Grizzlies big men had the same impact, allowing Howard to be more dominant.

Rudy Gay's game winning shot came after Gay came around a screen by Marc Gasol. Gasol gave Memphis a chance to win in the final minute after blocking a shot and then tipping out Quinton Ross’ miss with 26 seconds left and the score tied at 84. Gay’s 21-footer bounced over the backboard giving Orlando one last chance with 2.8 seconds left in regulation.

But with Gasol overplaying Howard in the low post, Kyle Lowry intercepted the inbounds for Memphis, setting the stage for Gay’s shot. Hedo Turkoglu's inbounds pass sailed over Dwight Howard's head and into the hands of Kyle Lowry under the basket. Memphis immediately called for time after the turnover. "Marc did a great job not letting Dwight get the lob," Lowry said. "I was just in the right place at the right time."

Whites of the Night: Bargnani and Turkoglu

Bargnani is one of the co-Whites of the Night, scoring 19, on only 10 shots, and blocking 3 shots, along with 5 rebs, in his 30 minutes. He clearly outplayed the washed up J. ONeil (2-10 for 5 p - 6 reb - 34 min), who for some reason, took his spot at starting C. Have you ever heard off an up-and-coming 1st overall draft pick having his development shut down, being replaced by washed-up old guy from another team? Only when the guy is white, obviously. What a joke. Way to show 'em tonight, Andres!

Turkoglu is my other co-White of the Night after he put together a fantastic night: 18 p (10 shots) - 9 reb - team high 7 a - 40 min

Caveman Kaman came alive tonight, with 15 p - 15 reb - 4 blk in his 44 min. He needs to keep his game at that level if he wants to make the jump to all-star status, and he was the closest American white to reach that level last year.

In the same game, the Birdman Andersen showed his skill, but despite outplaying both of them in the preseason, continues to play small minutes behind two lesser skilled blacks at PF and C. In only 15 minutes, Andersen had 5 p (2 shots) - 5 reb (2 off) - 3 blk. Free the Birdman!

Looks like nothing is going to hold Biedrins back now. He actually led the Warriors in minutes, producing 17 p (on 13 shots) and team high 13 rebs (5 off). Has Nellie had a momentary flash of sanity? Doubtful, since Belinelli continues to ride the pine, with another DNP-CD.


Kopono, only 4 shots in 21 minutes? Come on, give him the green light, coach!

Hinirch, only 3 shots 25 minutes? Dude, you've already been displaced at PG, you now need to shoot if you want any minutes at all. Wake up, Kirk!

At least the monster in the middle Aaron Gray got off the bench in Chicago, cleaning up 6 boards and 3 blocks in his 18 minutes. Compare the starter D. Gooden's 4 boards and zero blocks in 20 minutes. Meanwhile, starting PF Tyrus Thomas goes 2 for 17, with only 6 boards, yet plays 29 minutes. Are you kidding me? Nope, no double standard here, move right along, please.

Udrih: 1-7 for 2 p - 5 TOs - 21 minutes??? You better step up, Beno, only blacks can get away with numbers like that an expect to keep their spots in the NBA. Don't believe me, just look at the boxscore, when his own teammate at G went 2-8 with 5 TOs, but played 10 more minutes, as well as the above mentioned Thomas who starts and never gets pulled even while going 2-17.

Seriously, have you ever seen a white go 2-17? Number one, they are better shooters than that, and two, they would pass it off if they were having such a bad night, but three, they are never given the chance! The only high-volume white shooter in the league is Dirk! Time to start jacking up shots like the blacks that surround you, white men, or you will never get the publicity.

The secret to Nash's success

steve nash “the spokesman” – training from Bill Connely on Vimeo.

MVP night

These guys were MVP for a reason! Both showed up even stronger than normal tonight. Nash may actually put up more points under his new coach then ever before, highlighting his role as the league's best shooter. Both in Dallas under Nellie and in Phoenix under D'antoni, Nash was the prototypical pass-first point guard, creating for everyone else.

In the new system under Porter, Nash is a traditional PG, which means he is expected to be part of the offense, often a finisher of plays that started elsewhere. Look for his shot attempts and scoring to go way up this year, although his assists will probably go down (although his 13 on opening night goes against this speculation).

Tonight: Nash --> team-high 24 p (16 shots) - 9 a - 4 reb - in 36 min.

As for our other MVP, Dirk, what can be said. He is a team leader, a no-shame shooter, and one of the most unstoppable scorers in the world. Definitely, still the best white ball player on the planet.

Tonight: Dirk --> 36 p (22 shots & 14-14 FTs) - 7 reb - 2 blks - in 38 min.

Strong Season Openers

Some great performances to start out the year for the white athletes of the NBA! As you can see from the very efficient numbers below, the main thing holding many whites back from all-star status is their lack of shot volume. Team-first basketball is a beautiful thing, but it only takes one "black-hole" to ruin team execution. I would love to see a few all-white teams, so they could lift each others numbers up with selfless white team play, or for all the poor NBA guys who are usually stuck as the only white guy on the floor, more selfish play to lift their own numbers.

White of the Night --> David Lee: Fantastic! 16 p (9 shots) - 11 r - 5 a - in 35 min as starter.

Home Grown:
Murphy: 13 p - 15 reb - 3 blk, playing 35 minutes as starter,
Hawes: 12 p (8 shots) - 14 rebounds - 6 blocks! in 33 min as starter
K-Love: 12 p (8 shots) - 9 r (4 off) - 2 blk - in 18 min off bench in his first NBA game!
Hinrich: 15 p (10 shots) - 7 a - in 26 min off bench
M Miller: 11 p (7 shots) - 6 a - in 31 starting min.
Kapono: 15 points (8 shots) - 25 min.
Korver: 11 p (6 shots) in 24 min off bench
Pryzbilla: team high 11 reb in 25 min off bench
B. Lopez: team leading 8 boards off the bench in 25 minutes.

Imported:
Rudy: 16 p (10 shots) - 4 a - 2 stl - 29 min off bench in 1st NBA game!
M Gasol: 12 p - 12 reb - 2 blk in his first NBA start, 36 min
Nash: 13 p - 13 a - 2 r - 34 min
Scola: 12 p - 13 reb - 25 min
Ilgauskas: 15 p (on 5 shots!) - 8 reb - in 30 min.
Varejao: team-high 9 reb - in 26 min off bench
Calderon: 13 p (9 shots) - 7 a - 32 min.
Pachulia: 8 boards, 6 offensive, in less than 12 minutes.
Bogut: 9 points on 4 shots, and 14 points on 8 shots, in first two games
AK-47: 16 p (9 shots) - 2 blks - in 35 min off bench
Hermann: 10 points (6 shots) - in 15 min. Surprise surprise, I thought he was buried in Detroit.
Biedrins: 14 p (8 shots) - 12 reb (5 off) in 29 min as starter
Stojakovic: 16 p (11 shots) in 35 min as starter
P Gasol: 15 p (10 shots) - 7 reb - 33 min as starter
Okur: 13 p - 10 reb - 3 a - 39 min

The "Hoped for More" List:
Redick: 0-4 FGA for 2 p - 19 min
Ridnour: 0-6 for 2 p - 6 r - 5 a - 24 min
Bargnani 0-4 for 0 p - 20 min
Kaman: 3-9 for 8 p - 5 reb - 4 TO - 30 min
R Anderson: only 3 shots in 15 min
Foster: zero shots in 20 min
Barry: 2 shots in 20 min
CAndersen: 3 shots in 21 min
Milicic: 1-4 for 2 p - 2 reb - 17 min
Kleiza: 1-8 for 4 p - 21 min
Belinelli - DNP
Quinn - DNP

2008 NBA racial analysis

The white bloodbath of preseason waivers is finally over, the season is starting tonight, so we can do our 2008 racial analysis.

Only 47 American whites remain on opening day rosters, along with 41 foreign whites. Out of the 450 players (assuming 15 players per team over the 30 teams), that means the league is 19.5% white.

The whitest position is C, with 28 whites. PF has 23, SF has 14, PG has 12, and SG has 11.

Three teams lead the league with six white players each.

For us American whites, the clear team to root for is Indiana, with 5 white Americans, and 1 foreign white.
Portland has 4 American and 2 foreign whites.
Utah has 2 American and 4 foreign whites.

Minnesota is also a good one to root for, as all four of Minnesota's whites are American.
The Lakers have 2 American and 3 foreign whites.

Number of whites on roster, by team:
Indiana 6
Portland 6
Utah 6
LA Lakers 5
Milwaukee 4
Memphis 4
Cleveland 4
Phoenix 4
Toronto 4
Minnesota 4
Chicago 3
LA Clippers 3
New Jersey 3
Orlando 3
Sacramento 3
San Antonio 3
Charlotte 2
Dallas 2
Denver 2
Golden State 2
Houston 2
New Orleans 2
New York 2
Oklahoma City 2
Washington 2
Atlanta 1
Boston 1
Detroit 1
Miami 1
Philadelphia 1

American white players:

Aaron Gray	CHI	C
Adam Morrison	CHA	SF
Austin Croshere	MIL	PF
Brad Miller	SAC	C
Brent Barry	HOU	SG
Brian Cardinal	MIN	PF
Brian Scalabrine	BOS	PF
Brook Lopez	NJN	C
Chris Andersen	DEN	PF
Chris Humphreys	TOR	PF
Chris Kaman	LAC	C
Chris Mihm	LAL	C
Chris Quinn	MIA	PG
David Lee	NYK	PF
Jason Kapono	TOR	SF
Jason Smith	PHI	C
Jeff Foster	IND	C
JJ Redick	ORL	SG
Joe Alexander	MIL	SF
Joel Przybilla	POR	C
Josh McRoberts	IND	PF
Kevin Love	MIN	PF
Kirk Hinrich	CHI	PG
Kyle Korver	UTA	SG
Louis Amundson	PHX	PF
Luke Ridnour	MIL	PG
Luke Walton	LAL	SF
Mark Madsen	MIN	PF
Matt Bonner	SAS	PF
Matt Carroll	CHA	SG
Matt Harpring	UTA	SF
Mike Dunleavy	IND	SF
Mike Miller	MIN	SG
Nick Collison	OKT	PF
Paul Davis	LAC	C
Raef LaFrentz	POR	C
Robert Swift	OKT	C
Robin Lopez	PHX	C
Ryan Anderson	NJN	PF
Ryan Bowen	NOH	SF
Shavlik Randolph	POR	PF
Spencer Hawes	SAC	C
Steve Blake	POR	PG
Steve Novak	LAC	PF
Travis Diener	IND	PG
Troy Murphy	IND	PF
Wally Szczerbiak	CLE	SF

Foreign white players:

Ahmed Haddadi	MEM	C
Aleksandar Pavlovic	CLE	SG
Anderson Varejao	CLE	PF
Andrea Bargnani	TOR	PF
Andrei Kirilenko	UTA	SF
Andres Nocioni	CHI	PF
Andrew Bogut	MIL	C
Andris Biedrins	GSW	C
Beno Udrih	SAC	PG
Danilo Gallinari	NYK	SG
Darius Songaila	WAS	PF
Darko Milicic	MEM	C
Dirk Nowitzki	DAL	PF
Eduardo Najera	NJN	PF
Fabricio Oberto	SAS	C
Goran Dragic	PHX	PG
Hedo Turkoglu	ORL	SF
Jose Barea	DAL	PG
Kosta Koufos	UTA	C
Kyrylo Fesenko	UTA	C
Linas Kleiza	DEN	SF
Luis Scola	HOU	PF
Manu Ginobili	SAS	SG
Marc Gasol	MEM	C
Marcin Gortat	ORL	C
Marco Belinelli	GSW	SG
Marko Jaric	MEM	SG
Mehmet Okur	UTA	C
Oleksiy Pecherov	WAS	C
Pau Gasol	LAL	C
Peja Stojakovic	NOH	SF
Rasho Nesterovich	IND	C
Roko Ukic	TOR	PG
Rudy Fernandez	POR	SG
Sasha Vujacic	LAL	PG
Sergio Rodriguez	POR	PG
Steve Nash	PHX	PG
Vladimir Radmanovic	LAL	SF
Walter Hermann	DET	SF
Zaza Pachulia	ATL	C
Zydrunas Ilgauskas	CLE	C

Contract options picked up for foreign whites

The contract options were picked up for thee foreign whites today: Sergio Rodriguez (Portland), Andrea Bargnani (Toronto), and Oleksiy Pecherov (Washington).

Sergio (1st round draft pick originally from Spain) had his fourth year picked up, keeping him under contract through '09-10.

Pecherov (1st round draft pick from Ukraine) had his third year picked up.

Bargnani (1st pick overall from Italy) had his fourth year picked up.

Austin Croshere picked up by Bucks

Milwaukee picked up Austin Croshere (6'10 235 PF, 12th year) off of waivers today.

Rob Kurz waived, picked up

Rob Kurz (6'9 232 PF) undrafted rookie out of Notre Dame, was waived today.

Kurz appeared in four of Golden State's six preseason games, averaging 4.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in 14 minutes per game.

He gained notoriety for hitting a game winning shot with time expiring against the Bucks in China this preseason.

Update: Kurz was picked back up by the Warriors, on Nov. 3.

Coby Karl waived

Coby Karl (6'5 205 SG) waived today.

Coby Karl, who played in 17 games for the Los Angeles Lakers last season, was waived by the defending Western Conference champions Monday.

Karl, the son of Denver Nuggets coach George Karl, averaged 1.8 points, 0.8 rebounds and 4.2 minutes as an undrafted rookie free agent with the Lakers. He also played in 17 games with the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA Development League, averaging 17.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.1 steals.

The 6-foot-5 guard averaged 14.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists as a senior at Boise State two years ago. He ranks third on the school’s career scoring list with 1,698 career points and left the school as its leader in games played (127) and 3-pointers (266).

Gerry McNamara waived

Gerry McNamara (6'2 182 G) was waived yesterday.

The Utah Jazz waived guard Gerry to cut the team’s roster to 15, according to multiple newspaper reports Saturday.

The 6-2 Syracuse product appeared four games for the Jazz this preseason but played sparingly, averaging 2.5 points and 0.5 assists. He was brought in for a look five weeks ago in mid-September. However, there was little room for him in Utah’s backcourt and he was the only player remaining on the roster who did not have a guaranteed contract.

Whatever happened to... Casey Jacobsen

Casey Jacobsen (6'6 215 SG/SF) played last year for the Memphis Grizzlies (averaging 10.3 mpg and 2.0 ppg), but has moved on to Germany for the 2008 season, not even attempting to sign with an NBA team this preseason.

A two-time All American and three-time All-Pac 10 selection in his three years at Stanford, with a 49 point college career high, Casey was originally drafted by the Phoenix Suns with their 1st round pick at the 22nd spot. He spent 3 1/2 years with the Suns (averaging about 18 mpg and 5.5 ppg) before being traded to the Hornets for the last half of the '05 season, where he averaged 23.4 mpg and 7.6 ppg.

He then played for two years in Europe before spending last year with the Grizzlies. He played with TAU Vitoria of the Spanish ACB League for the '05-06 season, and the Brose Baskets of Bamberg in the German League for the '06-07, where he lead his team to the German Basketball Championship, earning the Finals MVP Award.

For the 2008 season, Casey has signed with the German League club ALBA Berlin.

David Padgett waived

David Padgett (6'11 260 C, undrafted) was waived on Sunday. Padgett appeared in three preseason games, averaging 3.7 points and 2.0 rebounds.

"... He is both mobile and coordinated, while having enough overall athleticism to get by, especially at his size. Despite shooting 60% from the field last season, Padgett somehow found a way to increase his efficiency from the floor even further, shooting 67% this season on slightly more scoring output. His highly efficient post game and superb basketball IQ certainly had a lot to do with that.

"In the post, Padgett has a very large array of moves. His go-to move is still his right-handed hook shot, which he can convert with in a variety of ways, but he mixes in dropsteps, turnaround jumpers, up-and-unders, and other moves as well. One of the things Padgett is best with is faking a spin off one shoulder, selling it very well, and then turning back off his other shoulder, putting up a hook shot, which he’s capable of doing with either hand. Padgett has always used an extensive series of fakes to get off his moves. Padgett’s post sense is outstanding, as he takes what the defense gives him incredibly well and rarely forces ill-advised shots, opting to reset the possession if he doesn’t like what’s there. While Padgett’s athleticism is definitely not ideal, his excellent coordination, mobility, and footwork help make up for that in the post, and he does show the athleticism to pull off moves such as drop-stepping from one side of the paint to finish with a reverse lay-up on the other side of the rim.

"As for the rest of his offense, you can’t understate Padgett’s ability to do the little things and how he applies his basketball IQ in all areas of the game. Lousiville ran a lot of their offense through Padgett in the high-post, as he shows good passing ability, hitting cutters and shooters alike. Even many of his turnovers were actually passes that went off the hands of his teammates. He’s also an excellent cutter without the ball, specifically in pick-and-rolls, where he reads the defense very well. It’s also quite the common occasion to see Padgett moving around the perimeter setting screens, and directing his teammates to their spots on the floor.

"On the defensive end, Padgett’s great basketball IQ stands out as well, as he plays a very fundamentally sound game while showing great awareness, always making the right rotations. These rotations in combination with his size and timing allow him to block some shots, but he’s not very dynamic here due to athletic limitations. In man-to-man defense in the post, Padgett shows great footwork and always keeps his hands up, forcing his man into tough shots, while also doing a good job not getting beat laterally. He can be pushed around by players with a strength advantage and shot over by players with a length and athleticism advantage, but he still makes them work for it.

"With his incredible feel for the game and high basketball IQ, he should get plenty of chances to make an NBA team, even with some of his limitations. If not, he should have a very successful career overseas, as long as he can manage to stay healthy. "

Nocioni should be a starter

Andres Nocioni (6'7 225 SF) led the Bulls to victory in their last preseason game, scoring 26 points, 9 in overtime, playing 44 minutes as a starter in the absence of Deng.

Nocioni's high-scoring game capped a pretty solid preseason, and highlighted how well Andres plays when given the minutes. In the five games he played more than 20 minutes (averaging 28 mpg), Andres averaged 18 points on only 12 shots, a very efficient clip, along with 5 rebounds.

Just by way of contrast, the starter Deng in the preseason also averaged 28 minutes, but scored only 11 points on 10 shots, along with 5 rebounds.

This reveals a classic case of someone being declared better simply because they've been declared starter, and given better minutes. Andres' numbers are dragged down by the games he played 15, 11, and 6 minutes, but WHEN GIVEN COMPARABLE MINUTES, his numbers are actually better than the guy starting in front of him.

Deng was a lottery first round draft pick (seventh overall) out of Duke, entering the league in '04.
Nocioni was undrafted out of Argentina, also entering the league in '04. Notice, from the stats below, how Andres has always been given fewer minutes.

Yet, compare the years when they both averaged the same 27 minutes. Given the same minutes, Andres scored more points (13.0 vs 11.7) on fewer shot attempts (10.1 vs 10.6), and gathered in more rebounds (6.1 vs 5.3).

Yet, Deng's minutes then shot up, to 33 and 37, while Nocioni's then fell to 26 and 24.

So what is the argument? You could say that Deng had greater "upside" and has contined to progress as a ball player. BUT, I have already shown that this very preseason, when given the same minutes, Andres is more productive!

From his very first year, Deng has been given more minutes, so a casual glance at the stats makes Deng appear the better player. But when they average the same minutes, Andres shows greater productivity, both in the past and now!

So why is Deng starting, and Andres backing him up? Obviously, the answer is right there, in black and white.



year 1:
LD 27:18 mpg, 11.7 ppg, 10.6 shots pg, 5.3 rpg
AN 23:23 mpg, 8.4 ppg, 7.4 shots pg, 4.8 rpg

year 2:
LD 33:23 mpg, 14.3 ppg, 12.2 shots pg, 6.6 rpg
AN 27:18 mpg, 13.0 ppg, 10.1 shots pg, 6.1 rpg

year 3:
LD 37:30 mpg, 18.8 ppg, 14.9 shots pg, 7.1 rpg
AN 26:30 mpg, 14.1 ppg, 11.0 shots pg, 5.7 rpg

year 4:
LD 33:47 mpg, 17.0 ppg, 14.2 shots pg, 6.3 rpg
AN 24:36 mpg, 13.2 ppg, 10.7 shots pg, 4.2 rpg

Matt Freije cut

Matt Freije (6'10 240 SF) cut by Bucks today. He played well for the Bucks' summer league team, averaging 11.8 ppg (2nd on team) as well as being the 2nd leading shot blocker, while leading the team in FG% and 3-point FG%. But in the preseason, his few minutes shrunk by the game, going from 20 to 15 to 13 to a few sub-10s and a couple DNPs. His best game was an 11 point night on 5-6 shooting in 13 minutes against Detroit.

Matt played briefly with the Hornets in '04-05 and the Hawks in '06-07 but has yet to find a season-long home in the NBA.

He played for Vanderbilt from 2000 to 2004, leaving as Vandy's all-time leading scorer, and was named First Team All-SEC as a senior, when he averaged 18.4 ppg and 5.4 rpg.

Good luck to Matt finding a basketball home elsewhere this year.

Chris Andersen should be starter

Chris Andersen put together a fabulous preseason for the Nuggets, and has clearly earned a starter's spot, outplaying both the starters at PF and C (Martin and Hilario).

In playing just about the same mpg each, Chris averaged more total rebounds, more offensive rebounds, more free throw attempts, and way more blocks, than either Martin or Hilario. He scored less, but only because he took less shots. His scoring efficiency, points per shot, was higher.

Rebounds: CA 8.3, KM 5.6, NH 5.3
Offensive Rebs: CA 2.5, KM 1.4, NH 1.2
Blocks: CA 2.2, KM 0.4, NH 1.0
FTAs: CA 5.5, KM 3.4, NH 5.0
Scoring Efficiency (points / FGA): CA 1.5, KM 1.25, NH 1.4

When a guy is a better scorer, rebounder, and defender, that usually means he is the starter, right? So why isn't he starting? Hmmm, why could it be??? Is it because Chris is missing the one most vital ingredient for playing in the NBA, dark skin?

Kirk Hinrich returns

Kirk Hinrich (6'3 190 PG) reminded the world how good he can be tonight against the Bucks. Playing 35 minutes off the bench, Kirk scored 25 on 10 shots, combined with a team high 7-8 on FTs, to go with 8 assists. Ehem, uh yeah, shhh, we won't mention the 7 TOs.... But great game overall!

Kirk averaged 16.6 ppg and 6.3 apg in 35 mpg as recently as '06/07. But his PT is likely to be much lower this year, after the Bulls have already installed a rookie PG in his place. The main reason he got so many minutes tonight was probably because the rook' went down with an injury in the 1st quarter.

Here's hoping Kirk can get his head in the game and keep his minutes high under his new coach this year.

Matt Carroll we miss you

Matt Carroll (6'6 212 SG, 6th year) is without a doubt, the biggest disappointment of the season so far.

In the last two seasons, Matt has become a well-established killer marksman, hitting an incredible 43% of his 3 pointers, logging significant minutes for him team, around 25 mpg. Two years ago he averaged 12.1 points, and last year, 9.0 ppg.

So far, this preseason, in which the Bobcats have failed to win a game, has been a total disaster for Matt. Typically getting less than 10 minutes per game, Matt is attempting only 3.6 shots a game, and averaging a paltry 2.9 points.

Leave it to Larry Brown, without a doubt the worst coach in basketball, to put a struggling young team in reverse, making them even worse than the year before, and to turn his best shooter into a scrub.

As reported in Charlotte:

The most common theme to these exhibitions is them trying too hard to please Brown. “We're playing too uptight,'' said Carroll. “He told us to play uptight on defense and loose on offense. Either we're doing the opposite, or just playing uptight at both ends. It's still the preseason, and we're trying to play the way he wants. Maybe we're trying too hard to do it, but that's not a bad thing right now.”

It's always funny to hear players lie to the reporters, trying to keep the happy face on.

Poor Matt. We miss you, buddy, and hope you can get a better coach soon.

Zaza Pachulia not ready for burial

Zaza Pachulia (6'11 280 C) has perhaps not resigned himself to oblivion on the Hawks bench quite yet. Last night, Zaza led Altanta to victory with the game winning basket, scoring 18 total (on 12 shots) and ripping down a team-leading 9 rebounds, including a dominant 6 on the offensive glass.

Zaza saw a major dip in minutes last year, as Atlanta went with the Dominican rookie Horford at C.

In '05-06, Zaza logged 31:23, and put up 11.7 ppg and 7.9 rpg (43% of them offensive), 5.2 FTApg
In '06-07, Zaza logged 28:06, putting up 12.2 ppg and 6.9 rpg (41% of them offensive), 5.2 FTApg

In '07-08, Horford logged 31:23, and put up 10.1 ppg and 9.7 rpg (32% offensive), 2.6 FTApg

Hmm, looks like a downgrade to me, as Zaza is much more skilled on the offensive end, including offensive rebounds.

Let's look at the patterns this preseason.
Zaza has played 20 mpg, producing 10.7 ppg (on 5.7 FGA) and 7.3 rpg.
Horford played 27 mpg, producing 9.6 ppg (on 7.8 FGA) and 8.0 rpg.

So, Zaza gets more points on less shots, almost the same rebounds, while playing only 75% of Horford's minutes.

And he's the backup? WTF?

Austin Croshere cut

Austin Croshere (6'10 235 PF) appears to be at the end of his long NBA career, being waived by the Pacers.

Austin entered the league as a first round draft pick by the Pacers back in '97, and logged his best years over the '99-00 and '00-01 seasons, when he averaged 23 mpg and over 10 ppg.

“This was an extremely difficult decision to waive Austin,” Pacers general manager David Morway said. “Austin’s a terrific professional and has represented this franchise extremely well and we appreciate his passion, dedication and commitment to the Pacers over the years.”

Josh Davis waived

Josh Davis (6'8 235 PF) waived by the Pacers today. Josh had a solid career in college playing for Wyoming, and was a star of the CBA, but has not mananged to latch onto much PT in the NBA.

Josh finished his 4 year career at Wyoming ranked 13th in scoring (1,439), second in rebounds (956), second in steals (140) and second in blocked shots. He was a three-time Mountain West All-Conference selection and earned Honorable Mention All-America honors at the conclusion of the 2001-02 season.

He was named 2003-04 CBA Most Valuable Player, Newcomer of the Year and All-League First Team, and ranked in the CBA’s top-10 in scoring average (9th, 18.7), rebounds per game (4th, 9.6), offensive rebounds per game (6th, 2.7), field goal percentage (7th, .590) and three-point field goal percentage (7th, .411). Josh has also played in Spain for Leon Caja Espana.

His career year in the NBA was '04-05 when he played 42 games for the 76ers, although averaging only 7.8 mpg.

Spencer Hawes breaks out

Monster game tonight for Spencer Hawes, abusing Yao Ming and the Rockets, with 25 points and 16 boards (both team-highs), including 6 boards on the offensive glass, in his 40 minutes of play.

“Anytime you’re going against a player like that (Yao), one of the best in the world, you have to be aggressive and can’t back down,” said Hawes.

Kevin Love shows up at last

Kevin Love (6'10 270 PF), much heralded rookie from UCLA, finally has a solid game for the Timberwolves. I must admit, I have expected more from him this preseason, but so far, his stats have been pretty weak.

In 21 minutes of action tonight, Kevin scored 14 on only 6 shots, including a team-high 5-5 FTs, and collected a team-high 10 rebounds, as well as 2 steals.

Very nice night for Kevin, let's hope he can build on the momentum and live up to his billing.

Jared Reiner waived

Jared Reiner (6'11 255 C) was cut today by the Philadelphia 76ers, despite not missing a shot the entire preseason. Of course, he only played in one game, for four minutes, going 3-3. Not exactly a fair tryout...

Jared played at Iowa, where he led the Big Ten Conference in rebounding as a junior, before bouncing around the NBA for a couple seasons.

Reiner played extensively in 2007 in the NBADL, averaging 13.9 points and 8.8 rebounds, being voted to the D-League All-Star Game and the All D-League Second Team. He also played in the top Spanish league with Polaris World last year before trying to catch on with the NBA again.

Luke Jackson cut

A former All-American at the University of Oregon, Jackson (6-7, 215) played in three preseason games, averaging 5.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 19.3 minutes. The four-year NBA veteran was 5-for-15 (33.3%) from the field and 1-for-4 (25.0%) from 3-point range.

Steven Hill cut

Steven Hill, the wild haired defensive specialist from Arkansas, was cut today by the Portland Trailblazers. Not really a surprise, as he saw just about zero PT during the preseason.

Blake Ahearn waived

Wow, as cynical as I am, this one kinda surprised me. Despite how well he has played in the preseason, Minny cuts Blake Ahearn, and keeps a washed up journeyman (Kevin Ollie) in his place.

Really makes you wonder what it takes for an unheralded white American to get a shot in the league. Very depressing.

Here is a video news report showing Blake's game winning shot the other night, plus an interview with him.

www.kxmb.com/video.asp?ArticleId=287795&VideoId=23072

Nick Fazekas waived

Despite leading the Nuggets in rebounding in their last game (in only 12 minutes of play), the Denver Nuggets waived Nick Fazekas. The forward, who is from Colorado, signed a non-guaranteed, minimum-salary contract before the start of the team's training camp in late September.

Fazekas is the all-time leading scorer in University of Nevada history, and a 3-time WAC Player of the Year award winner. He averaged 4.1 points and 3.4 rebounds in 26 games with the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Clippers last year in his rookie season, and over 17 points and 8 rebounds in the NBADL.

After receiving a qualifying contract offer from the Clippers in the offseason, Fazekas played on the team's summer league squad. But on Aug. 1, the two parties agreed to dissolve the offer.

Aaron Gray, monster in the middle

Aaron Gray (7'0 270) is a stud basketball player, begging to be used to his capability. Last year, his rookie campaign, his numbers were pedestrian, averaging 10.0 mpg, producing only 4.3 points and 2.8 rebounds.

However, a glimpse of his power came in the last game of the season, as he was given 35 minutes of PT, and produced 19 points (on 13 shots) and an eye-popping 22 rebounds.

Aaron's minutes this preseason have been all over the board, under the new coach and with lots of team injuries, let's just say there have been a lot of experiments with the lineup. The one constant: when given minutes, Aaron is a beast.

He has played 20+ minutes three times (out of six games so far) this preseason, but look at these numbers:
21 minutes, 10 boards (2 offensive)
24 minutes, 9 boards (5 offensive)
28 minutes, 11 boards (5 offensive)
14 minutes, 7 boards (3 offensive)

Not only does he put up big rebound numbers, overall, a full 40% of his rebounds are on the offensive end, which is an absolutely incredible stat, and truly demonstrates his skill.

These numbers are sick, and if given starters minutes, there is no doubt, Aaron would be one of the elite rebounders in the league.