The Pacers really came to play tonight with David West setting the stage for a great start to the game. Indiana made their first 8 shots and were on pace for a 50-point opening quarter half-way through the period. Then, ya know … Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George.

Dirk Nowtizki.

Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul.

But in all seriousness.

Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George.

Ball movement from willing passers.

In the third quarter … Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George Paul George.

Meanwhile, David West and Darren Collison.

Here is how each guy played individually tonight. Agree? Disagree? Express your thoughts below in the comments or yell at me (@8pts9secs) or Tim (@TimDonahue8p9s) on Twitter.

	David West - 37 MIN | 9-11 FG | 6 REB | 5 TO | 20 PTS You like efficiency? West got ya. You like great passing that didn’t show up in assist column? Had that, too. You like scoring 8 pts in the opening 3 mins? He’s your guy. You like E. Honda defense on Dirk? On it.
	Danny Granger - 36 MIN | 5-18 FG | 3-5 FT | 5 REB | 5 AST | 16 PTS Was better than his line and tracked down 5 ORBs, some that made his 13 misses non-hurtful. Kept that ball moving and helped show that it’s becoming increasingly irrelevant who scores as long as someone is.
	Roy Hibbert - 37 MIN | 3-13 FG | 14 REB | 3 AST | 2 BL | 9 PTS The Pacers won in the defending champs’ building and Roy gave them nothing on offense. Kinda scary when you think about it. Meanwhile, crushed the glass.
	Darren Collison - 33 MIN | 5-12 FG | 4 REB | 6 AST | 13 PTS Steve Nash who? This guy hasn’t made many bad decisions this week and once again provided everything you could want from the guy running your offense. Why would Indy fans want anyone else right now?
	Paul George - 41 MIN | 11-19 FG | 9 REB | 5 AST | 5 STL | 30 PTS Wish there was something above an A+. Career game from a guy who looks like we’ll be saying that again soon. The total package tonight. Blew up Twitter. Hard to put it in words.

	Dahntay Jones, SG 13 MIN | 2-4 FG | 2 REB | 4 PTS Ate his tough guy pills enough to get Brendan Haywood all riled up and, to much surprise, is becoming a great, reliable contributor off the bench in a lot of ways.
	Louis Amundson - 2 MIN | 0-1 FG | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 PTS Barely played.
	A.J. Price - 15 MIN | 1-6 FG | 2 REB | 4 AST | 3 PTS Had his second straight really shaky night. Hurry back, George Hill.
	Tyler Hansbrough - 19 MIN | 0-1 FG | 1-2 FT | 2 REB | 1 PTS His inability to contribute in many games is becoming worrisome. The starting unit was so good it didn’t matter but it will at some point.
	Lance Stephenson - 5 MIN | 1-2 FG | 3 REB | 0 AST | 2 PTS Played fine.

Related posts:

1. Post-Game Grades: Pacers Beat the Lakers in LA
2. Post-Game Grades: Pacers Beat Up Cs in Boston
3. Post-Game Grades: Pacers Show Some Valiant Come Back-ability to Beat the Raptors in Toronto

On a night where he dropped a career-high 30 points on the strength of hitting 7 threes, Paul George also found the time to track down Jason Terry to swat away his would-be breakaway layup — before it even left his hand. He followed that up but scurrying back to the other side of the court and hitting a try. George finished the game with a line of 30 points (on 11-for-19 shooting, 7-for-11 from deep), 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals blocks. Not so bad for a second-year player. Or, ya know, anyone.

UPDATE: Mike Wells, the Pacer beat writer for the Indianapolis Star, spoke to George about the block after the game and he had this to say.

“I knew I could close out on him,” George said. “JT is losing some speed on that Jet. I knew I was able to catch up to him and make a play on that. I came down on the other end and A.J. (Price) found me.”

These Pacers say the darnedest things.

No related posts.

You can follow Jared Wade (@8pts9secs) and I (@TimDonahue8p9s) during the game on Twitter for the Pacers’ side. From the Mavs side, be sure to check out our True Hoop sister site: The Two Man Game. Also, some great follows for the Mavs – Rob Mahoney (@RobMahoney), Connor Huchton (@ConnorHuchton) and Ian Levy (@HickoryHigh) – each offer both Mavs insight and are well respected as great NBA minds among the blogosphere.

Thanks to Jared for putting together the Lance highlights for me.

By the way, the Mavs should be taken seriously, not serious. :facepalm:

Having trouble seeing the video due to the music? Click here for a music-free version.

For my fellow stat geeks and obsessive-compulsives, I give you the fact sheets.

Pacer Fact Sheet

Mavericks Fact Sheet

Related posts:

1. Twitter Video Preview – Pacers Are Goin’ to Disney World!
2. Twitter Video Preview: Can the Pacers Sweep the Celtics in the Garden This Year?
3. Twitter Video Preview – Pacers Face Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio and the T-Wolves

After all the fireworks and rumors in the free agent and trade markets yesterday, many Pacers fans are scratching their heads. Why, they wonder, are the Pacers just sitting on $20-ish million in cap room and not throwing everything but the bathroom sink at guys like Nene, Marc Gasol or Jamal Crawford? Why not do everything you can to improve a team that in last year’s playoffs looked like it might only need a few more keys pieces to turn the corner towards contending for the Eastern Conference Finals?

Because, as Larry Bird has said, having flexibility and being under the cap may be more valuable than just acquiring any one player. It affords so many advantages. And these will become even more pronounced once the new luxury tax kicks in a few years.

I won’t explain all the reasons why this is the case. Because Mark Cuban, who was reportedly one of five owners to vote against the new collective bargaining agreement ratified yesterday, did it much better than I can in an email to Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas. (via @RobMahoney)

If this were the old CBA rules, we probably would have kept everyone together. But the rules changed.

If we were able to sign everyone to two-year deals, that would have possibly changed things as well, but that wasn’t in the cards either.

What you are missing is that it’s not about the luxury tax. It’s about the ability to improve our team going forward.

The reality is that in the new system, cap room will have far more value than it had in the past. I realize that everyone is all freaked out about how and where free agents and future free agents are going, but it’s not just about getting one guy.

We are not saving cap room in hope of that one super special free agent being there. It’s about being in the position to improve every year and possibly add some significant, younger players next year and in future years.

What I don’t think people understand is that once a team hits the tax level the ability to improve our team is reduced dramatically. In addition, your ability to make trades is reduced. So basically, if we made the move to keep everyone together with five-year deals, the team we have today is going to be the team we have for the next five years. If we were a young team it would be one thing. But we are not a young team.

In the past, it was different. If we had a problem, I could fix any mistake by having Donnie find a trade and just taking on more money. That is how we got Jet, the Matrix, JKidd, Tyson. It was always about taking on more money. That trick doesn’t work any more for teams over the tax. So we have to change our approach. By getting back under the cap, we have a ton of flexibility not only for free agent signings but also trades. If we can get the right guy(s) via free agency, great. if we do it via trade, great. We have that much more flexibility to make moves.

Again, I know this is tough for all of us after winning a championship. But we still believe as much as last year we are in a position to compete for a championship.

The difference is that with this approach, we can be in a position to compete for a championship this year and to reload and continue to compete in future years.

By just signing everyone to long-term deals, there is no chance of that happening.

We won last year because we put ourselves in a position to create opportunities that brought us the right players at the right time.

We structured contracts in ways that gave us upside. The rules are different now, and while it makes it tougher this year because of the affection we have for many of the guys that are leaving, if we want the Mavs to be able to compete for championships in future years as well, it’s a hard decision, but I believe the right decision.

Related posts:

1. Your 2009 Pacers Fan Jam Highlights/Lowlights
2. Bird’s Boss: “Larry Bird Has Everyone’s Confidence Here”
3. Larry Bird Hasn’t the Time for Your Impatience

Dirk Nowitzki was on the Mavericks’ bus to the Orlando airport when his phone vibrated and he saw the text from Larry Legend.

It was a congratulatory message from Larry Bird, the man Nowitzki passed on Tuesday night for 25th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.

“That’s pretty cool,” Nowitzki said.

Pretty cool, indeed. Bird has been a fan of Nowitzki’s throughout his career and Nowitzki said he feels privileged and humbled by passing Bird.

I love, love, love Dirk so don’t get me wrong here, but more than anything, this just makes me sad since it reminds me how injury-shortened the end of Bird’s career was. He was the guy smacking his dome on the parquet while diving headfirst after loose balls and stubbornly refusing to take time off even as back started to fail, so it wasn’t a Yao Ming situation of bad-luck genetics. Still, had his body held out a little longer, Dirk’s name wouldn’t be ahead of his on the leaderboard. Not yet anyway.

Mostly, however, congrats to Mr. Nowitzki.

And don’t worry, Paul Pierce. You should be getting a similar text around this time next year.

Related posts:

1. Lost in Translation – Larry Bird: “This Franchise Is FUBAR. It’s Gonna Take a Minute”
2. Larry Bird Sells a Ford Escort
3. Wolves Offer Al Jefferson for Danny Granger. Larry Bird “Immediately” Turns It Down

I focused on Monta’s explosive scoring ability in yesterday’s GSW/IND game preview because (a) he’s been killing it lately, and (b) his game is an apt microcosm for the entire Warriors team; he can shoot his team to victory or defeat all by himself, just like Golden State.

And while the Warriors aren’t a great team — or even a good one, frankly — and the Pacers have generally been holding opposing teams to low FG% numbers (although, less so over the past five games), the one thing that the Indy defense has really, really struggled with all year is guarding the pick-and-roll. As you’ll notice when you watch the video below, G-State routinely used the high pick-and-roll early in the shot clock to decimate the interior defense of the Mavericks the other night.

And this has me worried.

The good news is that Indiana can’t possibly play worse PnR defense than Dallas did. But the bad news is that I’m not sure Indy will have any triumphantly more successful answer to stop an aided-by-a-screen Monta off the dribble either.

I suppose we’ll find out for sure in about 8 hours. In the meantime, someone get Monta a moped.

Related posts:

1. Game #15 Preview: Stay Out of Monta’s Way or You’ll Pay. Listen to What I Say. How About I Just Go Eat Some Hay? I Could Make Things Out of Clay. Lay by the Bay. I Just May. What D’ya Say?
2. Game #6 Preview: The Night Where We Find Out If Early-Season Trends Are Meaningful

Last night, during the game, I tweeted this:

Game #14 Recap: Dallas Good, Pacers Bad

I cannot tell you how tempting it is to simply go with that. Really, when it comes down to it, that’s pretty much the core of what happened last night.

Dallas is a team with two future Hall of Famers surrounded by some talented and athletic role players. They have Rick Carlisle, and appear to still be in the period of their relationship with him where his excellent basketball mind still eclipses his utter inability to run a locker room. They are establishing themselves as serious contenders, equipped with a very potent offense and a solid defense.

The Pacers, on the other hand, are a team that has one injured and struggling All-Star, surrounded by a cast of poorly matched role players. While I am of the opinion that O’Brien has done a generally good job here, he is basically a middle of the road coach. He’s not going to greatly enhance (or impair) the talent he has at hand.

The Pacers 113-92 loss to the Mavericks last night was not damaging in and of itself. Even at home, a team of the Pacers’ quality is generally reduced to hoping for a win against a team of Dallas’ quality, as opposed to expecting a win. The problem is the way they lost.

With the possible exception of about a five-minute flurry towards the end of the first half, your Indiana Pacers were completely and irredeemably uncompetitive. They rarely attacked at either end, and they got pounded on the glass 54-33.  They settled for jump shot after jump shot. After having only 2 turnovers in the first half, they piled up 13 in the second. Despite the fact that Dallas was credited with five second half steals, I cannot for the life of me remember a single Pacer turnover that wasn’t unforced. Dallas recorded some impressive defensive stats, but they accomplished it largely by watching the Pacers miss a lot of rushed jump shots.

Last night’s 21-point loss marked the seventh time in eight losses that the margin was double digits. That’s almost half of last year’s total, and we’re barely one-sixth of the way into the season. Eleven of the Pacers 14 games have been decided by double digits, compared to a league low 24 last season.

It would be nice to agree that this team is Jekyll-and-Hyde, as Danny Granger termed it a couple of days ago. But it is really more Heckle and Jeckle. If you look at the season as a whole, it’s not a case of either playing unbelievably well or unbelievably poorly. It’s really a case of some unbelievably poor play peppered with a hot quarter or half here or there against weaker competition. To my recollection, they have not put together four good quarters once this season, though they have strung together a lot of bad quarters.

Too often, this team seems to collapse under their own frustrations. Bad breaks almost always snowball into a run for the other team. They seem very fragile, as if they’re about to shatter at any moment. Some of this could be coaching, and some could be the injuries giving players more responsibility than they’re prepared to handle.

However, I think a lot of it is simply a void in leadership within the roster. Danny, while a great guy, simply doesn’t have the temperament to be a team leader. This is actually true of everyone on that team. There are far too many passive personalities. This is where the team really misses Jarrett Jack.

Many believe that Dahntay Jones has filled JJ’s shoes admirably, even exceeding him. I am not one of them. I like Dahntay a great deal, and I think he is going to be a valuable player for this team during the transition. I love the attitude he brings to the team, and I think he has some fine leadership qualities. However, he seems to bring a different type of energy than Jarrett.  Now, clearly I don’t have first hand access to the locker room, so this is speculation, but Dahntay seems more confrontational than JJ (the row with TJ notwithstanding.) The energy from the team and in the locker room was much more positive last season, and I’m forced to conclude that Jarrett Jack was  a big part of that.

Sometime this weekend, the Pacers will depart for a four-game Western swing. This is perhaps the most forgiving trip out West I’ve ever seen, playing four teams with a combined winning percentage of .443 as of this morning. They’re going to need to take this time and this trip to get their collective act together, or this season’s going to get away from them in a hurry.

Game Notes:

• Mike Dunleavy was strong in his return. It took him exactly 16 seconds to get his first bucket, cutting strong to the basket and receiving a pretty feed from Jeff Foster. He was on the floor for the last few minutes of the second, when the Pacers cut a 22-point lead down to 9. He finished with 13 points in 16 minutes.

• If you’re watching to see who’s losing minutes to Dunleavy, last night’s blowout might not be a great indicator due to the extensive garbage time. Dahntay finished with 25 minutes, 9 below his season average, and Brandon Rush played 27.

• Buckaroo Banzai (Tyler) had a promising performance cut short last night, when he missed the second half with a bruised knee. He finished with 4 points, 5 boards, and a couple of assists in his 8 minutes. There was no word after the game as to how badly he was hurt.

• The home crowd expressed their displeasure with the Pacers’ performance, booing loudly for turnovers and missed shots throughout the second half.

• Perhaps the Pacers should have known it wasn’t going to be their night at the end of the first quarter. Jason Terry launched a three that slammed off the backboard bounced directly to a member of the Lollipop Guild who had somehow managed to wander onto the court.  The munchkin promptly picked it up and drained a three at the buzzer.

“We represent the Dallas Mavericks. The Dallas Mavericks. The Dallas Mavericks. And in the name of the Dallas Mavericks, we wish to let you know we kicked your ass!”  (From L to R: Rodrigue Beaubois, Jason Terry, JJ Barea)

Related posts:

1. Game #12 Recap – Too Little, Too Late
2. Game #7 Recap: Making the Most of the Moment
3. Game #11 Recap: Blown Out by the Bobcats

Dallas Mavericks @ Indiana Pacers
Conseco Fieldhouse
Indianapolis, Indiana
8:00 PM EST

Glossary: Offensive Rating | Defensive Rating | eFG% | Pace

Lose Three. Win Five. Lose Four. This should be the second of six straight wins, right? Our own little bastardization of the Fibonacci sequence.  (If you’re wondering, we’d finish 47-35. Great, but we’d be on a losing streak at the end of the regular season, and end up being swept in the first round of the playoffs.)

Ok…we’re done with that.

So, let’s move on an look at some of the big stories for tonight:

• Mike Dunleavy will make his first appearance since February 8th. There are lots of things to watch with him, including how rusty he looks, how well he fits into the line up, and how the minutes are distributed.

• Danny Granger is also planning to give it a go tonight, after missing Wednesday night’s victory with a knee injury.  Given the Pacers’ history with lingering injuries, this move causes me a little heartburn. Danny was struggling to move with his heal injury, so it’s very unlikely that this issue will help.

• Without Erick Dampier, the Mavs have no one of size for Roy Hibbert go against. It will be interesting to see whether Roy will exploit or be exploited by Drew Gooden and James Singleton. This might be a night that Solo sees more action than Roy.

• Dallas runs a very small, but talented backcourt foursome. Veterans Jason Kidd and Jason Terry lead the way, but they are augmented by a pair of diminutive young players in Jose Barea and rookie Rodrigue Beaubois (BOH-bwah). It will make for some interesting matchups for the Pacers. If I were coach, I’d use Dahntay and Brandon on Kidd. (But, if I were coach, we’d be 0-13.)

• The Pacers will be hoping to pick up just their second victory against a winning team this season. Excluding Boston, Pacer wins have come against teams with a combined 18-49 (.269) record.

• Follow us on twitter tonight, and pretty much every game @8pts9secs or @toothpicksray.

• There will be plenty of times that we’ll be able to complain about Troy Murphy’s defense. Wednesday night was not one of them.  T-Murda was physical and aggressive with Chris Kaman, who entered the game averaging over 20 points a game. It’s true that Kaman posted a double-double, but it was on 3-for-19 shooting.

• I could see two separate incidents from my vantage point that underscored how out of sync this team is. The first came early in the fourth with Luther Head on the right wing. Murph cut right, apparently moving to set a screen for Head. Before he could set the pick, Head bolted to the middle of the floor, nearly colliding with Murphy. The play ended with a scrambling layup by Head, but in the midst, both Murphy and Foster were looking at each other and shrugging. The second play came with a little under 5 minutes left, when Murphy was on the right wing and Foster was on the baseline under the basket. Ford had the ball at the top of the key, waiting to run a pick and roll. Troy and Jeff exchanged shrugs and pointed towards the foul line, but neither made a move. Belatedly, Foster made a half-hearted attempt to come up, but by that time, TJ had started to just improvise. Fortunately, the Clippers D was pretty much just standing around at that point, and Ford found Dahntay for a three to make it 77-70.

• There was an interesting little scene shortly after Dahntay Jones has switched over to guard Baron Davis.  Things had gotten a little chippy between Ford and Davis earlier in the quarter, and Baron had responded with seven straight points.  Coming out of a timeout with about 5 and a half minutes, Dahntay confronted Davis in front of the Pacer bench.  I couldn’t tell what was being said, but Dahntay was clearly giving Baron a piece of his mind.  He wasn’t quite jabbing his hand in Davis’ chest, but he was coming about as close as you could without making contact.  It could have just been joking, but all I know is that Baron didn’t score for the rest of the night, managing to only get one more shot.

Baron rehearses for his role as Prince Vultan in the upcoming remake of Flash Gordon. The great ones are always in character. (photo by Michael Conroy – AP)

Related posts:

1. Game #4 Preview: Need Win, Will Travel
2. Game #10 Preview: LeBron Shows Up
3. Game #11 Preview: Good Day for a Road Win

Here are all of the TrueHoop Network season previews for the individual teams. As an added bonus, Henry Abbott will have some more stuff up later in the day over at TrueHoop, Matt Moore has his piece on undersized guards at Hardwood Paroxysm and Haubs has his “10 NBA Questions for the 2010s” at The Painted Area.

And let’s hope the network’s 32-win prediction for the Pacers proves low.

TEAM	BLOGGERS SAY	WINS*
	Bret Lagree | Hoopinion “The Hawks have not built, nor do they appear to be building, a championship contender. … Joe Johnson is poised to be a free agent in the summer of 2010. Johnson is not a franchise player, yet he’s the Hawks’ best player.”	45
	Zach Lowe | CelticsHub “It seems reasonable to say anything short of an 18th championship would be a disappointment.”	58
	Brett Hainline | Queen City Hoops “Great defense + equally bad offense = average. With an improving division around them, that equation does not get them their first playoff berth. But at least they won’t suck.”	36
	Matt McHale | By the Horns “During the offseason, the Bulls lost free agent Ben Gordon, whom many people considered the team’s best or second-best player (after Derrick Rose). Memo to Chicago fans: Don’t sweat it. Seriously. Gordon will be replaced by John Salmons, who not only gave the Bulls almost as many points per game (18.3 versus 20.7) but was slightly more efficient in how he scored them.”	43
	John Krolik | Cavs the Blog “After last season’s playoff heartbreak, Danny Ferry has changed up the equation … However, Shaq could disrupt the delicate offensive and defensive chemistry the Cavaliers rode to 66 wins and the conference finals, despite the fact he will be the best player LeBron has ever played with if he continues to play like he did last season. The big question for the Cavs this seasons whether they overreacted to two clutch 3s by Rashard Lewis, or made the risk they needed to take to finally get LeBron a ring.”	61
	Rob Mahoney | The Two Man Game “’Rebuilding’ teams seek financial flexibility and the acquisition of young, productive assets. Quality squads amass veteran talent, no matter the cost, in pursuit of a title. Defying all logic, the Mavs have simultaneously moved in both directions.”	50
	Jeremy Wagner | Roundball Mining Company “The only players still on the roster who exceeded expectations in 2008-09 were Nene and Birdman. It is reasonable to expect every member of the Nuggets, other than thirty-something Chauncey Billups, to improve.”	53
	Dan Feldman | PistonPowered “However the minutes shake out between Chris Wilcox, Kwame Brown and Ben Wallace, they won’t be as good as Rasheed Wallace. But Sheed wasn’t that great last year. He looked old and disinterested, so the drop here won’t be too steep.”	36
	Rasheed Malek |Warriors World “Under the ownership of Chris Cohan, the Warriors have made the playoffs exactly one time and have gone through numerous coaches, players and executives. Going into this season, Larry Riley is the man in charge taking over for Chris Mullin.”	28
	Anup Shah and Brody Rollins | Rockets Buzz “The speed revolution has overtaken some of basketball’s peers, most notably football … Is basketball headed in the same direction? [Aaron] Brooks provides an excellent case study. Beginning the year as the Rockets number one threat on offense with Ron Artest’s departure and injuries to Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, Brooks will have every opportunity to prove that size really doesn’t matter.”	39
	Jared Wade | Eight Points, Nine Seconds “It’s hard to believe that anything short of the postseason will remove the dark cloud over Conseco. … Ultimately, it will come down to one thing: [Mike Jr.] Dunleavy’s knee.”	32
	Kevin Arnovitz | ClipperBlog “[Blake] Griffin and [Eric] Gordon may not be saviors, but they’re something. Griffin’s skills and his tenacious work ethic (the guy runs up sand dunes in his free time) will be a boon to a team desperate for cultural overhaul. Gordon offers an enticing combination of spot-up shooting and forays into the paint. He finished third in true shooting percentage among starting off guards in his rookie campaign, something that can only help a team that ranked dead last in offensive efficiency last season.”	32
	Kurt Helin | Forum Blue and Gold “God, is it good to be hated again.”	64
	Chip Crain | 3 Shades of Blue “The 2009-10 version of the Grizzlies have put together a starting five where every player scored 30 points or more in a game last year. The oldest starter is only 28 years old (Zach Randolph) and the youngest won’t turn 22 until after the start of the season (O.J. Mayo). They are young, talented and hungry for success. So why do most people focus on the two players not on a rookie contract this season?”	20
	Matthew Bunch | Hot Hot Hoops “38.6 minutes. 30.2 points. 49.1 percent shooting. Five rebounds. 7.5 assists. 2.2 steals. 1.3 blocks. That’s what [Dwyane] Wade averaged last season. You’re going to keep that guy out of the playoffs? Good luck.”	44
	Jeremy Schmidt | Bucksketball “If the Bucks get anything out of their three small forwards, if they can keep [Andrew] Bogut and [Michael] Redd healthy and if they get a season worthy of the number ten selection out of Brandon Jennings at the point, the playoffs will be within reach. But that’s a lot of ifs.”	29
	Patrick Hodgdon | Howlin’ T-Wolf “”Ever since his arrival, David Kahn has had seemingly one mission, other than to look like the smartest guy in the room at every turn, and that is to get as much cap space for next summer as he possibly can. … The obvious question lies in whether or not the Wolves will actually be able to lure one of the better free agent players to come to Minnesota.”	23
	Mark Ginocchio and Sebastian Priuti | Nets are Scorching “Lingering doubts about Brooklyn could spoil any change the Nets have of landing a top free agent next summer.”	29
	Niall Doherty and Ryan Schwan | Hornets247 “Enter Emeka Okafor. He’s a near match to a healthy Chandler, is more durable, and doesn’t look like he’s having muscle spasms when making a post move.”	47
	Mike Kurylo | Knickerblogger “2010 could be New York’s return to winning.”	31
	Royce Young | Daily Thunder “The Thunder may not win more than half their games, but with over half the roster unable to get an alcoholic beverage still, steady improvement and progression is the name of the game.”	34
	Zach McCann | Orlando Magic Daily “Take away either Hedo Turkoglu or Courtney Lee and the Magic aren’t getting to face the Lakers in the Finals. No way. But does that mean the Magic were wrong to let them go? Were the Magic foolish to allow a borderline All-Star and a possible future All-Star leave the team when both clearly wanted to stay in Orlando? Absolutely not. I believe the Magic are an entirely better team than they were four months ago.”	59
	Carey R. Smith | Philadunkia “The travesty of a deal that Billy King gave to Samuel Dalembert remains easily one of the worst contracts in NBA history. Hopefully this season Dalembert, his inflated self-worth and his contract will be dealt for a couple of expiring contracts and some much-needed cap space.”	39
	Michael Schwartz | Valley of the Suns “Two years ago the Suns were chic championship picks. Last year, the Suns were (accurately) thought to be a fringe playoff team. This year there are almost no expectations outside of their locker room. … There will be no mistaking what the Suns are this season: a lightning-speed team that will score points in bunches and likely give them up almost as quickly while struggling badly on the boards. But they will once again be the most exciting team in basketball.”	46
	Max Handelman | Beyond Bowie “The Blazers effectively bumbled their way to a 54-win season despite a mediocre performance from Greg Oden, the loss of Martell Webster for the season, and at times starting three rookies. This team is only getting better, kids.”	53
	Zach Harper | Cowbell Kingdom “Enter Tyreke Evans — a bulldozer-sized menace who will test the strength of every team’s defense at its entry point. He immediately creates matchup problems against teams with traditional point guards and will look to have a similar impact as fellow Memphis alum, Derrick Rose.”	22
	Timothy Varner | 48 Minutes of Hell During the Celtics heyday, Red Auerbach boasted a winning percentage of .719. In the modern era, Pat Riley’s Showtime Lakers played to the tune of .733. Phil Jackson’s Jordan Bulls dominated the 90s with an otherworldly percentage of .771. Jackson’s three-peat Lakers? .735. In his 12 seasons with San Antonio, Gregg Popovich, whose cynical disdain for the regular season runs more than skin deep, has, nevertheless, posted a winning percentage of .707. That’s the company the Spurs keep. What should we expect this season? 58 wins and a run at the title. Same as every other year.”	55
	RaptorsRepublic “How is a rookie(ish) head coach going to integrate nine new players into a new system with two new assistant coaches?”	41
	Spencer Ryan Hall | Salt City Hoops “With young Wesley Matthews providing the good luck charm, Boozer in a contract year, Deron Williams with a chip on his shoulder, and a new longer-haired version of Andrei Kirilenko the Jazz have no reason to be anything other than beastly this season. And I mean that in a good way. Every prediction from the Jazz camp, however, comes with the ominous caveat ‘If we can stay healthy.’”	46
	Kyle Weidie | Truth About It “Flip Saunders has never gotten a team ‘there.’ That worn out cliché always runs rampant, plaguing almost every coach who hasn’t won … until they win. Red Auerbach (647), Larry Brown (1,900), and Dick Motta (738) all took their lumps before winning a championship (games coached before title season). Don’t be surprised when what you think is impossible becomes a reality. … 2010 is the Chinese Year of the Tiger. Factor in Gilbert Arenas’ stomach tattoo and the fact that the Wizards play their home games in D.C.’s Chinatown, and all the cards are in place.”	42
* As predicted by a consensus of all TrueHoop Network bloggers.

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