Apr 18, 2012; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks power forward Dirk Nowitzki (41) comes off the court during the game against the Houston Rockets at the American Airlines Center. The Mavericks defeated the Rockets 117-110. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE

11. Dirk Nowitzki, F, Dallas Mavericks: One of the league’s poster children for returning from the work stoppage out of shape (and to his credit, admitting it), Nowitzki struggled early as a result last season.  There were times in January that it was apt to wonder whether he would ever regain his form as one of the league’s best players; that’s what happens when a shot-making veteran like Dirk averages 15 points per game, looks a step-and-a-half slower than he ever has, and is coming off a championship season.  But then the light came on just as we should have always known it would, and Nowitzki was his normally awesome self in February, March, and for the most part even a humbling first-round playoff loss to the Thunder.

So the narrative of Nowitzki’s decline for the first few weeks of 2012 are long gone, but so is the thought that he’s among basketball’s top few players.  That’s hardly a knock, but it is something that the Mavericks must recognize if they want to squeeze another legitimate title run in while Dirk can still be a team’s first banana.  Like friend and former teammate Steve Nash, Nowitzki’s game revolves so much around skill and craft that he’s likely to play near his 2012 level for the next couple seasons.  That beautiful jumper and the multiple fakes, kicks, and such that set it up won’t be going anywhere, just as Nowitzki is likely to retain his height of seven-feet, too.  He’ll remain a devastating offensive player for the foreseeable future even if he relies more than ever on long jumpers – he’s scary-accurate on long twos by the way, ranking second in the NBA last season – and loses some semblance of the dribble-drive game that made him so dominant in the 2011 playoffs.  Nowitzki is just that talented a shooter.

In analyzing these rankings, it’s become obvious how difficult it is to assemble a list of the league’s best power forwards (or PFs masquerading as centers in the small-ball era).  Kevin Love is the only one yet to be named and that deserves more scrutiny, but in the last 10 spots alone Garnett, Aldridge, Bosh, Gasol, Griffin, and finally Nowitzki have come off the board.  The difference between those guys – with the possible exception of Aldridge – is razor thin, and a case could be made for each that they deserve consideration as that group’s best.  It’s truly splitting hairs at this point, though, and memories of June 2011 alone make Nowitzki as worthy or more than the rest.

10. Deron Williams, PG, Brooklyn Nets: Considered by many to be the NBA’s best point-guard just two or three seasons ago, a slew of new lead guard stars and Williams’ trade to the Nets made him a blip on the league’s recent radar.  That changed after last season when he was the most courted free agent available, and will change even more once this one kicks off and he’s officially the face of the Brooklyn Nets.

One of the game’s most well-rounded players, Williams struggles in nary an area.  He can play the role of scorer, distributor, and defender as well as most depending on the need of his team, and with the depleted Nets in 2011 and 2012 it was the former.  So while his shooting and assist numbers dipped considerably last season, it’s not necessarily indicative of any sustained decline; more so that he was surrounded by the last ragtag group New Jersey fans ever had the “pleasure” of watching.  That’s hardly the case in 2012, as Mikhail Prokhorov and Billy King were the offseason’s biggest aggressors is resigning Gerald Wallace and Brook Lopez and making a shocking trade for Joe Johnson.  So Williams has help this season, and it will be a welcome sight to see him play the way he was meant to as more of an overall creator.

The “problem” with Williams – and it’s a relative one, obviously – is that he lacks the singular trait(s) that makes the league’s other top point-guards so great: Nash’s shooting, Rondo’s vision, Westbrook’s explosiveness, Paul’s genius.  Williams doesn’t have that truly elite skill but that hardly matters.  His game isn’t always flashy (though he does this on occasion) but it’s always effective, and enough to warrant his inclusion among the NBA’s 10 best players.

9. Russell Westbrook, PG, Oklahoma City Thunder: The league’s most divisive talent deserves better than this, and it doesn’t take more than this to realize that.  With the slightest hint of projection in mind, it’s easy to imagine Westbrook will merit an unmovable place among basketball’s top quartet of James, Durant, Paul, and Howard.  It’s a small injustice he’s ranked below players like Bryant, Love, and Rose, and there’s a case to be made he’s already better than Wade, too.

The basketball world’s infatuation with the length and shot-making of his more heralded teammate has more than anything to do with the narrative that Wesbtrook can’t seem to shake: he’s not a point-guard, takes too many shots, and can’t coexist with Durant.  As little as several months ago there were many clamors for Oklahoma City to trade him, and before that consternation at his well-earned extension worth the maximum.  With a bit of improvement Westbrook will firmly hush those same critics; he’s clearly still developing the mental side of his game, and even at this cocooned stage he’s one of its most brilliant and effective players.

Imagine if Westbrook – 23 and in his fifth year ever playing point-guard, mind you – hones his three-pointer, learns the finer points of defense, or gains patience and overall understanding on the other end.  Just how much better will he be than he is now? Considering those are glaring deficiencies in his current game, warts just as or more visible than those of any other player similarly ranked, the answer is much, much better.  As in top three player in the league better.  Westbrook isn’t quite there yet, but he’s already better than two players ranked ahead of him (Bryant and Love), healthier than his closest contemporary (Rose), and perhaps already another’s equal (Wade).  And by this time next year, the rankings will show it.

June 5, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo (9) during the first half in game five of the Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat of the 2012 NBA playoffs at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

14. Blake Griffin, F, Los Angeles Clippers: Griffin improved measurably in 2012, upping his PER and field goal percentage while continuing to develop his mid-range jumper and exerting more effort on the defensive end.  And he helped lead the Clippers to one of the most successful seasons in franchise history.  But somehow, Griffin’s NBA Rank dropped four spots this year.  We never said these rankings weren’t flawed.

Having said that, Griffin’s worth is difficult to value with respect to the league’s other top players because it seems he could do so much more.  He’s still finding his footing in the post, needs work on his outside shot despite improvements made last season, must improve his dreadful free throw shooting, and could definitely get better defensively, too.  Even with all those still-healing warts, Griffin was still one of the best players in the NBA in 2012.  Given it was only his first year playing with Chris Paul, one can only imagine how much better he could be this season as the two enter their second year together.

If there’s a bone to pick with this ranking – other than Griffin’s aforementioned drop form 2011 – the biggest one could be how it related to Kevin Love’s.  Minnesota’s star power forward is closer to reaching his ceiling than the Clippers’, but that doesn’t at all mean’s he’s considerably better.  It will be interesting to come back to these rankings a year from now, and see how ESPN’s NBA world relates Griffin to Love and vice versa.  For now, though, if Love is anything more than three or four spots above Griffin it’s a major stretch.

13. Andrew Bynum, C, Philadelphia 76ers: It goes without saying this is a huge year for Bynum, his first as a team’s top option on offense let alone face of a franchise.  His contract expires after this season, too, and unless his notoriously balky knees give him trouble it’s tough to imagine anything but him re-signing for the max as a Sixer.  Of course there are many, many factors at play here other than Bynum’s knees and actual effectiveness, chief among them his relationship with the demanding – but genius, it should be noted – Doug Collins.  Can a player with Bynum’s history of volatility coexist with a coach like Collins? Both have said all the right things thus far, but only time will tell.

Assuming everything breaks right and Bynum has his head on straight, though, he’s liable to justify this lofty ranking.  Maybe basketball’s best post scorer, the light came on and finally stayed on for Bynum last season in LA.  No player in the league boasts his combination of sheer size and shooting touch from the basket area, and he learned to use that size better than ever in 2012 to gain consistent position low on the block.  He has a tendency to get tunnel vision with the ball in his hands and he’ll have to mind that more than ever as Philly’s biggest scoring threat, but this is a player that’s shown development every season he’s been on the floor; he can and will get better there as the season progresses.  And while he’s not Dwight Howard defensively, Bynum still makes a big impact as a shot-blocker and general space-eater in the lane.  He’s an awesome rebounder, too.

The clear second best center in the NBA, this spot seems about right for Bynum.  It feels strange to look above him on the list and see names like Gasol, Bosh, Nash, and Garnett, but that’s just how awesome a season he had last year.  Finally out of Kobe Bryant’s looming shadow, as long as Bynum is healthy and engaged he could break the top 10 in 2013.

12. Rajon Rondo, PG, Boston Celtics: Rondo remains the most unique player in the NBA, and as he gradually grabbed the reigns from Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in Boston last season he became one of its most polarizing.  Such is life when you’re almost as bad in a few areas areas as you are great in a couple more than that.

Maybe the league’s best ball-handler, passer, perimeter defender (when engaged), and its overall most creative player, Rondo remains a very poor shooter, can go full quarters without looking at the basket, and has a tendency to over-dribble.  He’s a polarizing personality, too, often clashing with reporters and sometimes teammates and coaches.  But to focus on the negatives gleaned from Rondo’s game would be remiss, because you’d be missing all the positives that could some day make him a candidate for Springfield.

A true maestro in the mold of Chris Paul or Steve Nash, you always know when Rondo is on the floor.  He’s constantly barking orders to teammates and yapping at opposing players, and always at his best when the game or moment is biggest.  Remember his virtuoso performance in game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals (a loss)? You can count the number of players capable of such brilliance on fewer than two hands, which makes his seven point outing in game 5 of the same series (a win) all the more confounding.  Until you look down the box score and see six rebounds, 13 assists, and four steals, that is.

There’s never been a player like Rondo.  He’s not a traditional point guard or one for the 21st century.  He’s not Isaiah Thomas, John Stockton, Jason Kidd, or Derrick Rose, but that hardly matters to the Celtics.  What does is his well-deserved rank as the game’s twelfth best player.

17. Carmelo Anthony, F, New York

Consider the following, and perhaps Anthony doesn’t even deserve the ranking legions of Knicks fans believe is at least 10 spots too low – Carmelo was part of just one regular Knicks lineup last season that had a positive adjusted +/-, and in it he played power forward (hat tip to ESPN’s Beckley Mason).  You won’t find a similar statement of fact about any of the players in this stratosphere of the rankings and rightfully so.  Prodigious talent will only take a player so far in the NBA if he refuses to adjust his game to best befit his team, and so far in his career Anthony just hasn’t done so consistently.

He’s a negative defensively despite his natural gifts, a ball-stopping, long-jumper-taking offensive presence, and is all too often out of shape and/or disinterested at different points of the season.  Anthony should be a true franchise player in the mold of James or Kevin Durant, a forward with prodigious skill and the unique ability to play multiple positions and roles for his team equally well.  But he isn’t, and to expect anything more now – at 28 and in his 10th season – will prove disappointing for Knicks and basketball fans everywhere.

On potential ability alone, Anthony is a near-singular player.  But “what if,” “could be,” and “flashes” only mean so much, and taking that in mind as well as the countless statistics that downplay his positive influence point to Carmelo being overrated at 17.  However, New York should take solace in the fact that the best season of Anthony’s career was 2008-2009, one in which he was coming off a Gold Medal in the Olympic Games.  It was easy to believe in ‘Melo back then, and if he replicates that performance in 2012-2013 many will again.  But I won’t be one of them.

16. Tony Parker, PG, San Antonio Spurs: The Spurs couldn’t have re-invented themselves the way they did last season without a surprise career year from Parker, and he delivered with aplomb.  Taking on new responsibilities on the floor and in the locker room at the behest of Gregg Popovich, Parker led San Antonio to the league’s best regular season record, an incredible run of 20 straight victories that lasted into the playoffs, and a near NBA Finals birth.  Not too shabby.

Always an awesome scorer and individual creator, Parker spearheaded the Spurs free-wheeling offensive attack by distributing more than he ever has, averaging a career-high 9.6 assists per 40 minutes.  Of particular note was his newfound proficiency at getting into the lane and finding awaiting shooters in the corner, a key aspect of SA’s overwhelming offense.  And despite owning the wheel of the Spurs’ breakneck pace, Parker didn’t turn it over much either, registering the third lowest rate of his career.

In the past it was hard to place Parker among the league’s point-guard hierarchy due to the presence of Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili alongside him.  But in 2012 the Spurs were his team first, and his new brilliance could be fully appreciated by seeing just how influential he was to the SA offense on a nightly basis.  He’s not on Chris Paul’s level and maybe not Russell Westbrook’s, but he’s clearly one of the league’s best players regardless.

15. Pau Gasol, F, Los Angeles Lakers: This is an interesting spot for Gasol, who may take on even less of an offensive role this season than he did in 2011.  With Steve Nash and Dwight Howard aboard, though, his opportunities – though fewer in quantity – will undoubtedly spike in quality.  And if LA runs as much Princeton Offense as Mike Brown recently indicated, it’s hard to imagine a big man better suited for his role in it than Gasol, and two better running mates than Nash and Howard, too.  Let’s just hope Kobe Bryant doesn’t mess it up by jacking a bunch of contested, off-the-dribble 20-footers.

Gasol will again play farther away from the basket this season due to the presence of Howard, and though he’s not in the extremely mobile mold of LaMarcus Aldridge or Chris Bosh he can still do a lot of damage from the perimeter.  He’s a very solid shooter from 18-feet and might be the league’s best passing big man, two key traits for an offense that boasts this much talent. He’ll be a constant weakside release valve, throw countless lobs to Howard, and run the occasional pick-and-roll this season for the Lakers, and it’s tough to imagine another player primed to thrive in that role more than him.

Defensively, Gasol isn’t the savant he is on the other end, but is nonetheless a solid player.  He’s stuck between not being quite big enough to handle centers like Howard or Bynum, and not quick enough to chase stretch 4s on the perimeter (a weakness exploited notably by Denver and Oklahoma City in the playoffs).  Still, he’s a good shot-blocker and a very underrated rebounder, and won’t be a negative here by any stretch.

That out of the way, is his ranking justified? It’s tough to choose between guys like he, Aldridge, Bosh, and Kevin Garnett at this point, but ESPN’s voters put him at the top of that group.  That might be a stretch but hardly worth consternation.  Gasol is still elite, and the one upcoming could be his best season in years.

Apr 7, 2012; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) drives against Milwaukee Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova (7) during the fourth quarter at the Bradley Center. The Bucks defeated the Trail Blazers 116-94. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE

As our own Sonny Giuliano continues counting down his estimable list of the top 50 players in the NBA, the folks over at ESPN are doing the same.  And finally, after weeks of slowly cutting the fat, the worldwide leader is down to ranking the league’s 20 best.

We covered NBA Rank late last month when it was in its infancy, beginning the countdown from the woebegone Eddy Curry at 500.  We offered our opinion on the places ESPN’s basketball minds gave the league’s lower-level guys, mostly opining that rookies were being extremely undervalued and noticing that slow, plodding big men dominated the 400s.

That became a bit redundant after a few days so we moved onto bigger and better things.  But the time to come back to NBA Rank is now, as the project enters the realm of elite and debate is ever prevalent and heated.  Without further ado, to the rankings!

20. LaMarcus Aldridge, PF, Portland Trailblazers: Before assessing whether or not Aldridge is ranked properly, its important to make note of his official listed position as a forward.  The Blazers’ website, the NBA’s and ESPN’s all list the 6’11” Aldridge as a forward, and that speaks to Portland’s intention to play him alongside a more traditional center like 2012 first-round pick Meyers Leonard.  Of course, Aldridge has played his best basketball manning the middle for the Blazers in the past, and as the game gets smaller and smaller conventional sense points to LMA playing Center full time as the best option for he and his team.  But Portland is going a different direction, and it’s a mistake.

With that out of the way, how does Aldridge’s value align with his ranking? Pretty appropriately.  A great player and clear All-Star, he’s still a notch below the league’s top-tier big men and didn’t show enough progression last season to say otherwise.  There was thought that after a breakout 2010-2011 he’d ascend amongst the game’s true best, but Aldridge might have peaked at what he is.  Right or wrong, we’ll find out soon given the talent surrounding him in Portland this season.  LMA will carry the biggest nightly load of his suddenly seven year career in 2012, and it will go a long way toward determining whether or not he’s the true franchise player this organization seems to believe he is.

19. Steve Nash, PG, Los Angeles Lakers: Nash kicks things off for the new-look Lakers’ quartet of stars at 19, an amazing feat considering his age and the burden placed on him for the last eight seasons as leader of the Suns’ breakneck attack.  And if offense was the only thing taken into account here, a great argument could be made that Nash deserves a spot firmly among the league’s top several players.  No player has had as much positive impact on his team’s offensive success than Nash since he came into the NBA in that fateful 1996 draft, a fact well-indicated by most any statistic available and the unreliable eye-test.  He’s just that brilliant with the ball in his hands, though, perhaps the best shooter and passer basketball knows.

But he’s got enough deficiencies on the other end to make this ranking hardly worth complaining over.  Nash had the lowest foul rate in basketball last season, evidence he placed even less worth on that end of the floor than ever.  Considering his reputation as a defender has always been shoddy and his slowly-decreasing lateral quickness, that’s indicative of his defensive value.  He had the lowest steal rate among point guards, too, and very rarely was asked to check opposing point guards, instead being “hidden” on a team’s least effective perimeter scorer.

Nash’s role with the Lakers will be supremely different than any he’s played in his career.  With Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, and Pau Gasol all deserving touches and the latter unlikely to usurp much ballhandling duty, his usage should plummet.  Is that a good thing for LA? The unequivocal answer is no,  and that speaks to just how great a player Nash still is.  Some food for though to end things – for this season only, would the Brooklyn Nets be better off with Nash or Deron Williams?

18. Chris Bosh, F, Miami Heat: Like Aldridge, Bosh is still officially listed as a forward.  And like Aldridge, Bosh is a multi-faceted scorer that is effective on the block, taking his man off the dribble, or spotting up for a long jumper.  But the Heat are smart enough to know they’re at their best when Bosh is the team’s de-facto Center, a long-held thought driven home by his awesome performance in the final 10 games or so of the 2012 postseason. (Of course, if the Blazers had a transcendant player like LeBron James to play the 4 they’d probably go this route, too).  And to Bosh’s great credit he’s embraced his new role with Miami, publicly reneging on his previous preference to play anything but the middle.  Kudos.

Oft mocked since 2010 for playing a clear third wheel to James and Dwyane Wade, those days are over.  Bosh established himself as a tough, versatile, two-way big man against the Celtics and Thunder in June, and has emerged as the perfect complement to James in the Heat’s small-ball attack.  He’s come a long way as a pick-and-roll defender and rebounder, too, indicative of his newfound comfort doing some of the dirty work we never thought he would.

Bosh, clearly and by any measure, is an All-Star and one of the best big men in the league.  But is he better than Kevin Garnett (ranked 21st) and Aldridge? Or on the same level as Pau Gasol, Blake Griffin, and Kevin Love (all yet to be ranked)? Those are very debatable questions, but ones that after 2011 weren’t worthy of discussion.  They are now though, and that speaks to Bosh’s place in the NBA.

April 22, 2012; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant (24) and Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Kevin Durant (35) battle for position on the court during the first half of the game at the Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest basketball players of all time.

That’s obvious and hardly revelatory stuff, but before we get into the meat of this article that fact bears repeating.  There’s no anti-Bryant bias here, instead just a clear understanding that he no longer has a place among the game’s true elite.  And he’s been absent this table for a few seasons now, a thought that analysts and stat-heads everywhere have come around to at various points in time.

After a 2012 that saw Bryant again put up predictably prodigious scoring numbers but career-low efficiency across the board and a lower impact than ever on defense, that he’s a notch – or maybe even two – below the league’s handful of top players should have been as obvious as his legendary historical status.  It certainly was to us, and the prevailing thought here was that only Lakers fans and those clinging to “hero-ball” sentimentality would believe otherwise.

Than CBSSports’ Eye On Basketball bloggers ranked Bryant fifth overall among all players going into 2012-2013, and our heads spun.  These are smart, talented, and obviously well-established NBA people that understand the worth of advanced stats and hardly get caught up in things like Bryant’s unmatched shot-making prowess.  They were smart enough to rank Russell Westbrook just a spot behind Bryant, and we like the order of the quartet ranked ahead of him, too.  Point being, these guys are some of basketball media’s best. Bearing that and last season in mind, how could they reasonably consider Kobe the league’s fifth best player?

We still don’t know, and their explanation makes it seem they’re not sure either.  But for the Eye on Basketball guys and the legions of Kobe-lovers everywhere, we present the following graphs.  Take from them what you wish, but there’s only one logical conclusion here, and it’s the one we already knew before compiling all this data – Bryant doesn’t belong.

*League rank in parentheses

*Position rank in parentheses

Apr 14, 2012; Newark, NJ, USA; New Jersey Nets guard MarShon Brooks (9) works the base line against Boston Celtics shooting guard Avery Bradley (0) at the Prudential Center. Boston Celtics defeat the New Jersey Nets 94-82. Mandatory Credit: Jim O

Super-Secret Stat: With Avery Bradley on the floor last season the Boston Celtics defensive rating 92.9, the team’s best mark among their regular contributors.  Additionally, Boston also fared worse defensively when Bradley was on the bench more than any other player, registering a defensive rating of 97.5.

Analysis: It bears mentioning that we were all aboard the Avery Bradley train long before Ray Allen’s string of injuries forced into the Celtics starting lineup, he established himself as arguably the game’s best perimeter defender, and he helped save Boston’s fledgling season. His combination of quickness, length, and mentality is a truly rare thing in this league, and coupled with his new understanding of team defensive concepts his success and overall influence on the Celtics was hardly a surprise.  But not even we saw Bradley becoming such an integral cog for Boston so soon, and a player that if available could very well have swung the Eastern Conference Finals against Miami in the Celtics favor.

It was a truly meteoric rise for Bradley, from bit playing point-guard to indispensable starter alongside Rajon Rondo.  And while his offensive exploits – namely cutting and a surprisingly accurate long jumper – were a pleasant surprise for the Celtics and of considerable worth to the team’s attack, Bradley still made his name and game on defense last season.  The relatively simple statistics of Bradley on/off defensive ratings above obviously indicate as much, but dig deeper and his profound impact on the Celtics’ season-ending defensive tear becomes even more clear.

Beginning with a March 25th win in Philadelphia that saw Bradley play a career-high 40 minutes, the Celtics registered an incredible defensive rating of 92.1 over the final 19 games of the season.  Not coincidentally, Bradley played 25 or more minutes in all of them and Boston went 14-5, storming back from a disappointing 26-22 record to win the Atlantic Division.

And in the 10 playoff games Bradley took part in before injuring his shoulder, he took things to a whole ‘nother level.  His on-court defensive rating in the postseason? A team-low 87.9.  Boston’s defensive rating when their dynamo defender was on the bench? 100.4, second higher on the team behind Kevin Garnett’s mind-boggling number of 116.5.  Opponents shot a team-low (among regular) 38.2% when Bradley was on the floor, compared to 44.3% when he was riding the pine.  Again, only Garnett’s trumps Bradley’s latter number, truly indicative of KG’s absurd worth to Boston’s playoff success.  But aside from him, the statistics show that no player had as much of a positive impact in the postseason for the Celtics as Bradley.

So the Celtics and their faithful can look back on 2012 and get depressed that Bradley’s injury caused them another chance at a title, or take solace in these numbers and point to an increasingly bright future.  Garnett, Paul Pierce, and the newly acquired Jason Terry may be in their golden years, but Bradley, Rondo, and the rest of Boston’s upgraded roster aren’t, and that spells good things for the Celtics in the immediate and coming seasons.

February 28, 2011; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards shooting guard Jordan Crawford (15) leaps to pass the ball between Chicago Bulls center Omer Asik (3) and forward Taj Gibson (22) in the first half at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-US PRESSWIRE

Super-Secret Stat: In the 747 minutes they played together last season for the Chicago Bulls, Taj Gibson and Omer Asik allowed a defensive rating of 86.4.  That number was the Bulls’ best among their top 25 most-used tandems and 8.9 points better than the team’s league-leading mark of 95.3.

Analysis: We’ll find out a lot about the Chicago Bulls and Tom Thibodeau this season, a team that will play without the 2011 MVP for half the year and one whose roster underwent a dramatic, if understated, overhaul in the offseason.  Frankly, if this were most any other organization with most any other coach at the helm, preseason prognostications predicting a Chicago playoff run in 2013 would be blasphemous.  But this is  the Rose-era Bulls and this is Thibodeau, and to expect such a significant drop-off isn’t prudent even given the new challenges this team will face once training camp opens in two weeks.

And putting the extended leave of Rose aside, there isn’t a bigger one than how the Bulls will adjust to playing without the departed Omer Asik, one of basketball’s most effective defenders and free agent signee of the Houston Rockets.  It sounds funny to say that the absence of a player who averaged just 15 minutes per game last season could have such a profound impact on a top-tier team like Chicago, especially when he’s a backup to one of the league’s best young centers in Joakim Noah.  But that’s how good Asik was defensively in his carefully managed minutes last season; he made Noah – a stellar, versatile interior defender that oft serves as Chicago’s on-court pulse – a fairly regular spectator down the stretch of close games.

But there’s a caveat here and it’s big, one that will prove instrumental in Asik’s career development as a Rocket and, more important for the purpose of this post, what it means for the Bulls in this season and ones to follow.  It’s today’s super-secret stat and whether or not Taj Gibson will be able to continue his nearly unmatched defensive prowess without the help of his Turkish frontcourt mate.

With Gibson’s continued development and the ever-underwhelming defense of Carlos Boozer last season, calls for increased minutes for the former were no longer hushed and ever-prevalent.  The difference in the Bulls team speed, quickness, and defense was clear as day to the naked eye when Gibson replaced Boozer in the lineup, and advanced statistics painted a very similar picture.  But this is where the need to dig even deeper into these complicated metrics is pertinent, because the numbers of Gibson were supplemented by the fact he played the majority of his minutes alongside Asik and vice-versa.  58% of Gibson’s floor-time was spent with Asik, and even more with the face-lifted group of Chicago’s defensively dominant bench units.

The Bulls signed veteran center Nazr Mohommed in the offseason to replace Asik, but logical signs point to Thibodeau shortening his post rotation in the long haul to a Noah-Boozer-Gibson triumvirate, and play smaller with Luol Deng at the 4 more frequently, too.  So, with an expanded role and Asik wreaking havoc in Houston, will Gibson’s huge defensive – and overall, it should be noted – impact carry over into 2013?

There’s no way to tell for sure, but his limited time on the floor with Noah last season is of great interest nonetheless.  The two yielded a defensive rating of 93.7 in 311 minutes last season, an exceptional mark still better than Chicago’s top-ranked average but one that pales in comparison to that of Gibson-Asik.  But just as important, the Bulls enjoyed a huge uptick offensively with Gibson-Noah manning the paint; their offensive rating in that same timeframe was an awesome 109.4.

Like with any roster change, it appears there is give and take with Asik’s departure.  Smallish historical sample size tells us when Gibson is on the floor in 2012-2013 the Bulls won’t be so otherworldly on defense but will be better on the other end, a take-off Thibodeau and company could surely stomach.  But there are just too many ancillary factors at play here – no Rose, new bench pieces, Deng’s health – to say that development is likely, meaning Chicago needs to pay close attention to Gibson’s effectiveness to keep pace in the East.

March 23, 2012; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz head coach Tyrone Corbin talks with forward Derrick Favors (15) during the first quarter at Energy Solutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-US PRESSWIRE

Super-Secret Stat: In the 113 minutes they played together in the 2012 regular season, Paul Millsap, Derrick Favors, and Al Jefferson posted a plus/minus (per 48 minutes) mark of +30.9.  That number led all three-man units that played at least 100 minutes by a full eight points.

Analysis: Utah has one of the brightest young rosters in the league and is coming off a surprise playoff appearance in 2012.  So on the surface all should be right in Salt Lake, the team and its notoriously dedicated fans content to watch green players develop and revel in hardly league-changing but shrewd offseason moves.

But the Jazz are facing a problem and it will only get worse as time goes by, even if it’s one any team would be happy to have.  Utah needs to address their roster’s redundancy in the post, and that’s something we’ve known for a long, long time.  Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson would be an awesome frontcourt tandem if the Jazz weren’t counting on them to be their two top players, and especially if the organization hadn’t acquired youngsters like Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter in 2010 and 2011.

But wait… what was that stat again? Utah can play their three best big men – who just so happen to be their three best players – on the floor at the same time? To actual success? And the sample size isn’t as tiny as you’d expect? Interesting.  Very interesting.

Millsap, Jefferson, and Favors all deserve minutes and each have a legitimate claim to status as Utah’s franchise player.  The former is one of basketball’s most unique and underrated two-way players (and a StS favorite), the median might be the league’s best post scorer, and the latter has a combination of size, athleticism, raw skills, and youth the other two don’t come close to matching.  But they’re clearly all big men, and even in today’s positional-revelatory NBA the prevailing thought is there isn’t enough space on the floor or enough opposing players for three post players to guard.

But this trio is an exception and they’ve made that clear in the limited time coach Ty Corbin has eschewed convention and played them all together.  And more stats than raw +/- paint that same beautiful, potentially game-changing picture for the Jazz.

Some quick statistical nuggets displaying their prowess and cohesion (in bullets for time and convenience).  They average (per 48 minutes):

• 106.7 points, 9.1 more than the team average
• 33.9 free throw attempts, 9.1 more than the team average
• 59.7 (!) rebounds, 16.4 more than the team average
• 11.0 turnovers, 3.9 fewer than the team average
• 75.8 (!) points allowed, 21.2 fewer than average
• 31.6% (!) opponent field goal %, 13.6% fewer than team average

May 12, 2012; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum (17) and Denver Nuggets center JaVale McGee (34) go for a rebound in the second half of game seven of the Western Conference quarterfinals of the 2012 NBA Playoffs at the Staples Center. Lakers won 96-87. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

Super-Secret Stat: JaVale McGee’s on-court/off-court splits as a member of the Denver Nuggets in both the regular season and playoffs in terms of offensive and defense ratings, rebounding percentages, and pace factors.

Analysis: There was major initial head-scratching at last season’s trade deadline when the Nuggets shipped the newly-signed Nene off to Washington in exchange for the crazy-talented and just plain crazy JaVale McGee.  Why break up the foundation of a promising core, especially to acquire a big risk like McGee? Then Nene was out a few more weeks with injury, the NBA world looked at his contract numbers, and it appeared Denver avoided a player that could become a salary cap albatross and got one that gave them some major flexibility in the future.

Fast forward to now and McGee is a key piece of the renovated Nuggets’ plans.  He signed a four-year, 44 million dollar contract with Denver as restricted free agent in July, a reasonable contract for a player with McGee’s extremely rare size and physical gifts.  True bigs are always overpaid in the offseason, and there was some thought that the Nuggets would be forced to overpay the mercurial youngster after his breakout playoff performance against the Lakers.  Instead, GM Masai Ujiri – the league’s best front office man, perhaps? – locked McGee up at a fair price given his current level as a player, and as a potential bargain if he continues the rapid development he showed in May.

McGee’s value has always been a hot-button topic in the league.  Despite his prodigious size and athleticism and flashes of tangible skill, his actual on-floor impact was never positive as a member of the Wizards.  Most interesting was his play defensively, as McGee is arguably the league’s best shot-blocker and easily grabs double-digit rebounds on occasion, but advanced statistics painted his overall influence as a net negative.

Did the trends that plagued McGee as a Wizard follow him to Denver? Were his individual playoff numbers indicative of his real on-court value? Can he run with Ty Lawson and the breakneck Nuggets? Check out the graphs below – original creations, by the way – and see for yourself.

Without further ado, to the stats!

May 12, 2012; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Denver Nuggets center Timofey Mozgov (25) defends Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum (17) in the first half of game seven of the Western Conference quarterfinals of the 2012 NBA Playoffs at the Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

Super-Secret Stat: With his team ahead or behind by three points in the last three minutes of games last season, Andrew Bynum shot a staggering 82.6% from the field, connecting on 19 of his 23 attempts.  He led the league (among those with at least 10 FGAs) in this regard by a healthy margin, outpacing second-ranked Chris Bosh by 10.4 percent.

Analysis: This is a tough thing to break down and sink your teeth into, as there are an almost endless amount of variables that come into play here and almost as many potential questions.  But two stand out – is Bynum actually the best clutch player in the league? and how much of his success should be owed to playing with Kobe Bryant and, to a lesser extent, Pau Gasol?

Tackling that first query is tough for any player as it is, let alone a plodding big man like Bynum who wouldn’t necessarily create many of his own opportunities in these situations.  But the clear thing here is that nobody in the league was more efficient than Bynum in the game’s final minutes in 2012, and that extrapolates to almost any time and point-differential combination you can come up with.  He shot 76.1% within five minutes of clock hitting zero and the score within five points, 77.4% under four minutes remaining and the score within four, and 57.1% (on an extremely limited sample size, mind you) with under one minute left and the score within three. The only instance in which he isn’t near the top of the leaderboard in shooting accuracy was in the last 30 seconds, an observation that means little given his lack of opportunities in those circumstances; he took just four shots with under 30 seconds remaining in games that were within a single possession.  So whether Bynum was or wasn’t the game’s “best” clutch player is obviously debatable, but what isn’t is that he was its most effective.  Nobody was as efficient a scorer as Bynum last year in the game’s waning and critical moments, and that’s a fact.

But what to make of Bynum playing alongside guys like Bryant – generally considered, rightly or wrongly, basketball’s best closer – and Gasol, a fantastic offensive player in his own right and gifted post-to-post passer? There’s no way to truly discern how much the presence of Bryant and Gasol influenced Bynum’s performance in the clutch without going back and looking at tape (something we don’t have access to), but it’s very reasonable to think his opportunities were easier because he was on the floor with them.  Defenses must pay even more attention than normal to Bryant in clutch situations and Gasol is a huge threat as an overall playmaker when defenses tend to scramble and get out of position.

Without tape the next best thing, of course, is to look at Bryant and Gasol’s individual clutch stats and the Lakers’ as a whole last season.  Bryant scored the second most points (143) in the league (Kevin Durant was first with 145) in 2012 with under five minutes left on the clock and the game within five points (now referred to as 5:5), but did so on just 36.1% from the field.  His usage rate of 41.5% ranked third in the league and obviously suggests Bynum deserved a bigger piece of the pie last year,but most important is that his assist rate was a surprisingly high 14.5.  That’s hardly near the top of the rankings but very respectable, and indicative that Kobe isn’t quite the me-first chucker some like to believe he is when it’s hero-ball time (for comparison – Chris Paul: 23.0, LeBron James: 20.0, Kyrie Irving: 7.7, Kevin Durant: 1.4).  Obviously some of those assists went to Bynum, and his extreme proficiency in the clutch starts to become more clear.  And Gasol? He shot a solid 49% from the field in 5:5 situations, and his assist rate was an awesome 36.5.

So last year, Bynum, essentially, was playing with the game’s most feared closer that passed more frequently and effectively in 5:5 than most stat-heads thought, and basketball’s most versatile offensive big man who morphed into a pass-first point guard in those same circumstances.  Bynum’s extreme clutch efficiency shouldn’t shock much then, and it’s even less surprising LAL led the league in 5:5 plus/minus last year with a +91, outdistancing second place Philadelphia by 15.

Teams were already scared of the Lakers in crunch time and rightfully so.  But what will they do this coming season, replacing Bynum with Dwight Howard and Steve Blake/Ramon Sessions with Steve Nash? That depends a lot on the style of offense they’ll employ down the stretch and how willing Bryant is to yield much of the ballhandling to Nash in these same situations.  Howard doesn’t quite have the touch of Bynum from outside five feet, but given his predecessor’s overwhelming success and the new presence of Nash in the Lakers’ crunchtime lineup, it’s very easy to imagine him leading the league in clutch shooting in 2013.

As for Bynum? It’s notoriously difficult for big men to be a team’s offensive focal point when the clock is winding down and the game is close, but Philly will undoubtedly try to make him so anyway.  But he’ll find it much, much harder to navigate crunchtime waters playing without Bryant and Gasol, and should come to back down to earth when it comes to clutch scoring.

Without further ado, to the stats!

May 24, 2012; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) goes up for a shot in the lane against Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert (55) during the first half in game six of the Eastern Conference semifinals of the 2012 NBA playoffs at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-US PRESSWIRE

Super-Secret Stat: In the playoffs and prior to game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, LeBron James attempted 39.4% of his shots within eight feet of the basket.  For the remainder of the postseason 49.4% of shots came from that distance, a full 10 percent increase in frequency.

Analysis: Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, you may remember, firmly planted James and the Miami Heat’s backs against the wall on the road down 2-1 to the feisty Indiana Pacers.  This was a must-win if there ever was one in a non-elimination game for the favorites, and James was facing as much scrutiny as ever for a middling performance up to that point in the series.  How did he and his teammates respond? LBJ’s 40 point, 18 rebound, nine assist performance is now the stuff of NBA postseason legend, and Miami overcame a halftime deficit to take control of the series again.

Watching that game and the rest of the playoffs unfold, a clear shift emerged in James’ play that evolved and became ever-evident in games 4 and 5 of the NBA Finals.  After Chris Bosh’s injury in game 1 against Indiana, Erik Spolestra embraced small-ball and played LeBron as Miami’s de-facto power forward for the remainder of the Heat’s title run.  Relying on his unparalleled versatility on both ends of the floor, Miami went with this lineup even as Bosh returned to the floor and full strength won a championship largely because of it.

Over that process much was made of James embracing his new role as post-up option, rebounder, and “big” in general and rightfully so; he appeared more comfortable with his back to the basket than ever and more reluctant to launch the mid to long range jumpers that are the bane of stat-heads everywhere.  But was that actually the case? Did LeBron adjust his scoring game that much from that masterful game 4 performance and on? The answer is one you expect but fascinating nonetheless – yes.  A big, big yes.

James’ shot distribution in the eight games before that Indy game and the 15 including and following it tell the entire story.  Prior to that fateful Heat win and visceral LeBron performance, 39.4% of his field goal attempts came from inside eight feet, 19.4% from eight to 16 feet, 21.9% from 16-24 feet, and 19.4% from 24 feet and beyond.  From that point on his shot locations are as follows – 49.4%, 17.9%, 16.9%, and 15.8%.

The latter set of numbers is a big departure from the former, with James increasing his shot frequency from close by a full 10 percent and lowering it from mid, long, and longer.  The NBA world has longed for James to embrace his power game as a true post force, and he clearly realized the advantages of that too in Bosh’s absence and with the Heat on the brink of elimination.  Such a drastic change in offensive approach is hardly circumstance, and the eye-test even did a better job of displaying LeBron newfound philosophy.  But it’s nice when the numbers back up what we see and in this instance that’s obviously the case.

What will be interesting to note is whether this trend continues into the coming season and the remainder of LeBron’s career.  Spoelstra and the rest of the Miami organization have seemed to embrace small-ball fulltime, and offseason reports say that Bosh is currently bulking up to play more Center.  But only time will tell there, and James – despite the Heat’s overwhelming success spurred by small-ball and his shot selection – has always hinted he prefers to play on the perimeter.  Will LeBron drift to his more usual spot on the wings and top of the key during this mostly useless (for teams like Miami, at least) regular season? Or use the season’s first 82 games to hone his deadly but still under-developed post attack?

A combination of the two is most likely, as Miami will undoubtedly  try to preserve LeBron’s body as much as possible until the postseason arrives.  But the Heat will need to integrate Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis into their playoff plans at some point, and there’s no reason to think they’ll abandon the strategy that won them the 2012 title once Spring finally rolls around.  When and how much they go that route during the droll of the regular season will go a long way towards determining home-court advantage in the playoffs, though, and considering that the rest of the league better hope the Heat don’t go small often.

Feb 22, 2012; Oklahoma City OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Reggie Jackson (15) drives to the basket against Boston Celtics power forward Kevin Garnett (5) during the second quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena Mandatory Credit: Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

ESPN’s annual NBA Rank has commenced, an exercise that ranks every player in the NBA from 500 all the way to the very top. The worldwide leader asked 104 basketball experts – basically analysts, writers, and bloggers – to assign all players a grade from a whole number of 1 to 10. Once that’s done, the numbers are calculated into a finite answer that gives a player a numerical value. From there it’s as simple as listing the players’ grades from lowest to highest, and NBA Rank is done.

This is obviously an exercise rife with objectivity and potential for error, but it’s a fun one nonetheless to get the NBA world’s almost-consensus opinion of a particular player going into a season. Basketball Twitter’s been buzzing about NBA Rank for days, debating grades certain players deserve and trying to figure out how to distinguish a 5 from a 6, a 7 from an 8 and so on. For instance, if LeBron James is the best player in the NBA is he the only one worthy of a perfect 10? What to do with aging stars like Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce – how many points is regression worth? And the opposite goes for younger players and improvement.

Lists like NBA Rank are far from the be-all end-all of determining a player’s worth, but the analysis they spark and the questions they pose is great fodder during this dormant time of the off-season. So we’ll analyze NBA Rank the day each grouping comes out, noting individual rankings that stick out one way or another and gleaning what we can from the lists as a whole.

Today’s list is players ranked 360-341.  To the analysis!

• Washington’s Chris Singleton kicks things off today at 360.  The sophomore has all the tools to be an awesome defender in the league – length (6’8”), strength (230 pounds), quick feet, anticipation, and the ability to check multiple positions – and he showed some of that off his rookie season.  But it was all lost because of his horrendous play on the other end.  Billed as a solid shooter from deep as a prospect, Singleton hit on just 34.6% from deep and a similarly horrible 37.2% overall mark.  Singleton is stuck in between positions offensively at this level, not possessing the handle to score off the dribble or the post-game to exploit his almost nightly size advantage at small forward.  That wouldn’t matter as much if he could shoot, of course, and last season he couldn’t.  His natural defensive gifts should keep Singleton in the league for a while, but he desperately needs to find his place on the other end if he’s going to be establish himself in the Wizards’ rotation.
• The Blazers’ Sasha Pavlovic shot 39.1% from the field, 29.3% from three-point range, and did it all playing alongside Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo, and Paul Pierce.  Yet his 2012 ranking of 357th bests his 2011 one by a whopping 66 spots.  Interesting.
• Chicago Bulls rookie Marquis Teague, ranked 356th, is due big minutes this season as Derrick Rose recovers from a torn ACL.  He played just one season at Kentucky and guided the Wildcats to a national championship, but his play was extremely erratic throughout the year and UK’s only lingering question entering the NCAA tournament.  He’s got loads of ability as ballhandler and creator, though, and is a plus athlete to boot.  Most scouts believe that he’s a better prospect at the same stage than older brother Jeff, starting point guard of the Atlanta Hawks.  Teague will struggle early with turnovers and could shoot a poor percentage from the field, but will be a better player in the long run after being forced into action until Rose returns.
• European import Alexey Shved – offseason signee of the Minnesota Timberwolves and a star of the Russian Olympic team – checks in at 353rd and it’s tough to know what to think about it.  After all, he’s got great size for a primary handler at 6’6”, great court vision, and plays with a wealth of confidence.  That’s a good start for any rookie, but players with his surface profile have struggled adjusting to the NBA game in the past.  Like Teague, he’ll get big minutes early due to injury – Ricky Rubio won’t return until early 2013 after tearing his ACL last Spring.  If Shved plays well he’s the type whose ranking could increase two-fold by next season, but it would be just as unsurprising if his adjustment is tough and he’s ranked lower.  Regardless, it’s always fun to see what happens with unique and intriguing players like him.
• Earl Clark was part of the Dwight Howard trade to Los Angeles, and could stand to play a bigger role for the Lakers this season than many are anticipating.  If that’s the case LA better hope he’s better than his rank of 351st indicates.  Coach Mike Brown has indicated he’d like to incorporate some Princeton offense into the Lakers attack this season, and that’s a system that works best with a perimeter oriented power forward.  Clark fits that bill, athletic and capable of making plays off the dribble if not respected.  But he’s been a major disappointment thus far in his career, and to expect a turnaround might be too much.
• Right above Clark ranked 350th is LA’s Devin Ebanks, a natural small forward who could easily play some small-ball 4 alongside Howard if Clark isn’t up for a subtantial and consistent role.  He hasn’t done that before for the Lakers, but it’s easy to imagine him thriving there as a weakside shooter and opportunistic cutter playing with guys like Howard, Steve Nash, and Kobe Bryant.
• Gary Forbes – a useful player for Denver in 2010-2011 now of the Houston Rockets – checks in at 349, and seems destined to ride the pine this season as his team’s entered full-on rebuilding mode.  Just a reminder of how loaded with players Houston is; Forbes is no scrub and could help a lot of teams as a deep perimeter option off the bench.
• The Thunder’s Reggie Jackson had an interesting rookie season.  Behind Russell Westbrook and Eric Maynor in the rotation at the beginning of the season, he was thrust into a big-time role when the latter tore his ACL in January.  He showed some natural scoring talent and athleticism but shot horribly from the field and sometimes struggled to get OKC into their sets.  Knowing he wasn’t ready for the postseason, the Thunder snagged Derek Fisher off the waiver wire in March and Jackson was relegated to spectator for most of the remainder of the season.  All that said, he still has a future in OKC as Maynor – full recovery or not – is likely to be with the team for just this year only and OKC sometimes like to play small with Westbrook off the ball.  So he’ll get his chances again this year; what he does with them is anyone’s guess.

July 17, 2012; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Memphis Grizzlies player Tony Wroten (8) during the first half of the game against Washington Wizards the at Cox Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

ESPN’s annual NBA Rank has commenced, an exercise that ranks every player in the NBA from 500 all the way to the very top. The worldwide leader asked 104 basketball experts – basically analysts, writers, and bloggers – to assign all players a grade from a whole number of 1 to 10. Once that’s done, the numbers are calculated into a finite answer that gives a player a numerical value. From there it’s as simple as listing the players’ grades from lowest to highest, and NBA Rank is done.

This is obviously an exercise rife with objectivity and potential for error, but it’s a fun one nonetheless to get the NBA world’s almost-consensus opinion of a particular player going into a season. Basketball Twitter’s been buzzing about NBA Rank for days, debating grades certain players deserve and trying to figure out how to distinguish a 5 from a 6, a 7 from an 8 and so on. For instance, if LeBron James is the best player in the NBA is he the only one worthy of a perfect 10? What to do with aging stars like Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce – how many points is regression worth? And the opposite goes for younger players and improvement.

Lists like NBA Rank are far from the be-all end-all of determining a player’s worth, but the analysis they spark and the questions they pose is great fodder during this dormant time of the off-season. So we’ll analyze NBA Rank the day each grouping comes out, noting individual rankings that stick out one way or another and gleaning what we can from the lists as a whole.

Today’s list is players ranked 380-361.  To the analysis!

• DeMarre Carroll of the Utah Jazz kicks things off today at 380.  He made nary a blip on the radar until being inserted into a depleted Jazz wing rotation late last season, and in the process he showed some real chops for defending and running the floor in transition.  He can’t shoot and doesn’t have much offensive game to speak of, but Carroll is a classic 12th man type, capable of playing multiple positions and filling a role when he’s called upon.
• Memphis Grizzlies rookie guard Tony Wroten comes in at 379th, and this is another case of a first-year player’s ranking meaning very little.  Wroten likely won’t get any run this season in a crowded Griz backcourt, but he has all the makings to be one of the league’s most unique players in a few years.  Blessed with great size, quickness, and court vision, he’s a true point guard at 6’6” and can defend any perimeter position.  Wroten’s jumper is abysmal – seriously abysmal – but he got to the rim at will in summer league regardless and fill the stat sheet with assists, rebounds, and steals, too.  That awful shot may keep him from ever becoming a true impact player, but Wroten should be much higher on this list several seasons from now.  Players with his combination of size, athleticism, court sense, and competitiveness are few and far between.
• Lakers reserve guard Andrew Goudelock is ranked 377th and that might be too high.  He’s a classic combo guard without a 1′s ballhandling ability and vision and the size or skill to play the 2, and to make it worse he’s a middling at best defensively.  The only thing Goudelock has going for him at this point is a somewhat reliable long ball; he hit on 37.3% of his three-point tries last year and should see more opportunities from there with Steve Nash and Dwight Howard aboard.  This is a big season for the second-round pick and will go a long way in determining the trajectory of his career whether it’s with the Lakers or not.  If 2012 second-rounder Darius Johnson-Odom can improve his jumper, Goudelock will be pushed for a spot in the rotation.
• Greg Oden is ranked 372nd despite his insistence that he’s far away from any sort of NBA comeback.  You hate to see anyone injured let alone a player with his wealth of basketball talent, and his presence here reminds how the fortunes of an entire organization often hinge on the health of a player or two.  With Oden and Brandon Roy fully healthy, the Portland Trailblazers would be challenging the Thunder and Lakers for Western supremacy.  Instead they’re in a full re-build behind LaMarcus Aldridge.  Sigh.  Here’s hoping Oden’s balky, balky knees hold up long enough for him to see the floor again, contributing off the bench for a good team.
• Chicago Bulls’ sophomore wing Jimmy Butler is ranked 371st and that’s a surprise.  By the end of the season he’ll have far outplayed this ranking as he’s due for a major, major increase in playing time and showed flashes of rotation-level talent in his rookie year.  Long with quick feet and an aggressive demeanor, Butler will step right into the role vacated by Ronnie Brewer as Chicago’s other perimeter stopper opposite Luol Deng and thrive.  How good he’ll ultimately be depends whether or not his streaky jumper develops; Butler was a complete non-threat from 20′ and out last season.  Regardless, he’s a likely fixture for the Bulls alongside Derrick Rose, Deng, and Joakim Noah over the next several seasons and will prove a solid, dependable player.
• Ranked 365th is Orlando Magic rookie and Dwight Howard-trade piece Moe Harkless, the 15th pick in June’s draft.  Harkless’ case is an interesting one in terms of both his college production and status in the league.  He played in the post for a St. John’s team lacking size and thrived, using his supreme athleticism and relentless motor to dominate on the glass and beat slower defender to the ball and rim.  Harkless is clearly a wing in the NBA, though, and his lack of perimeter skills accounts for him slipping to the middle of the first-round.  But his raw talent suggests he could eventually be a defensive-minded impact player there, and that’s no doubt how the Magic see him at the very least long-term.  Most intriguing is a YahooSports piece on the Howard trade that reads “relaxed trade restrictions on Harkless sent new Orlando GM Rob Hennigan over the moon.” Just what do the Magic see in Harkless’ future? Maybe more than every other team in the league and writer/analyst that covered the trade, which would make what seems like pennies on the dollar for Dwight to the majority much more for Orlando.  Interesting.

April 21, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Washington Wizards center Nene (42) against the Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

Perusing the basketball web into the earliest hours of the morning before bed last night led me to this video of John Wall casually playing one-on-one against Tyrek Coger, a marginal division one prospect from the high school class of 2013.  There’s nothing to be learned from that clip, but it encouraged me to dig deeper into Wall’s brief, up-and-down, two-year career as the point guard of the always-mercurial Washington Wizards.

Wall’s game didn’t take the jump many thought it would last season.  He still couldn’t hit a jumper to save his life, his high turnover rate from his rookie year spiked just a bit more, and even his assist rate dipped, too.  Wall’s PER jumped to a very solid 17.77, though, and his defensive rating and per-36 minute +/- were much better.  So even though he didn’t develop in his sophomore season the way hyper-athletic point guard predecessors Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook did, Wall was still a better overall player his second year in the league than he was in his first.

By far the most problematic area of Wall’s is his glaring, glaring lack of a jumper.  He shot just 3-42 (7%) from three-point range last year, and an absolutely abysmal 29.7% from everywhere on the floor outside the restricted area.  Wall doesn’t just need to find a perimeter shot, he needs to find an in-between and closer one too.  But those things can be developed, and Rose and Westbrook are as good an example as any of that.

So what struck me most in analyzing the numbers of Wall and the Wizards in general last season was the impact the trade for Nene had on the team.  Getting rid of the influence of Javale McGee and Andray Blatche this season should help Wall, but even more so is adding that of the veteran Brazilian center.  Nene played just 11 games for Washington last year due to injury but thrived when he was on the floor.  His personal numbers and the overall effect he had on a young Wizards roster is glaring to say the least – see for yourself.  All that even translated into wins for the Wizards, too, as Nene went 7-4 in a Washington uniform including five consecutive wins to end the year.  That needs to be taken with a grain of salt because of the small sample size and state of the league at the time (hello tanking!), but it’s worthy of mention nonetheless for an organization so badly needing just a glimmer of hope.  And maybe better than all of that is the early synergy developed between Washington’s two best players.  Wall and Nene had an undeniably positive influence on each other last season, evidenced by their individual and team-wide statistics when the two of them played together.

So there’s reason to be sort of excited for the Wizards this season.  Surrounding Wall with legitimate NBA talent that plays hard and the right way is a good enough start, and given the way he played with Nene last year and how his game seems to fit on paper with prized rookie Bradley Beal it’s easy to imagine Wall breaking out in his third season whether his jumper improves much or not.  And if it does, don’t be surprised to see he and the Wizards perform well above preseason expectations.

April 24, 2012; Oklahoma City OK, USA; Sacramento Kings power forward DeMarcus Cousins (15) fights for position against Oklahoma City Thunder center Cole Aldrich (45) during the third quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

ESPN’s annual NBA Rank has commenced, an exercise that ranks every player in the NBA from 500 all the way to the very top. The worldwide leader asked 104 basketball experts – basically analysts, writers, and bloggers – to assign all players a grade from a whole number of 1 to 10. Once that’s done, the numbers are calculated into a finite answer that gives a player a numerical value. From there it’s as simple as listing the players’ grades from lowest to highest, and NBA Rank is done.

This is obviously an exercise rife with objectivity and potential for error, but it’s a fun one nonetheless to get the NBA world’s almost-consensus opinion of a particular player going into a season. Basketball Twitter’s been buzzing about NBA Rank for days, debating grades certain players deserve and trying to figure out how to distinguish a 5 from a 6, a 7 from an 8 and so on. For instance, if LeBron James is the best player in the NBA is he the only one worthy of a perfect 10? What to do with aging stars like Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce – how many points is regression worth? And the opposite goes for younger players and improvement.

Lists like NBA Rank are far from the be-all end-all of determining a player’s worth, but the analysis they spark and the questions they pose is great fodder during this dormant time of the off-season. So we’ll analyze NBA Rank the day each grouping comes out, noting individual rankings that stick out one way or another and gleaning what we can from the lists as a whole.

Today’s list ranks players from 400-381

. To the analysis!

• Rookie Philadelphia big man Arnett Moultrie gets things started at 400.  He slid a bit on draft day, falling to Miami at pick 27 before being shipped onto the Sixers for future draft considerations.  It was an interesting trade for the Heat given their size, youth, and athleticism deficiencies up front; Moultrie is raw but big and and really run and jump.  He likely wouldn’t have contributed much for the champs this coming season, but a fresh, energetic body to free LeBron James from the post during the regular season could certainly have been used.  Moultrie is in Philly now, though, and figures to be a mainstay in the Sixers’ post rotation alongside Andrew Bynum for years to come provided he can develop into a reliable shooter from mid-range.  If those two can play together, the Sixers will have one of the biggest frontlines in the NBA and should hardly struggle on the glass.  Whether or not Moultrie is ranked correctly right now hardly matters, because this is a guy that’s likely to get much better.
• Tony Battie checks in just above Moultrie at 399th.  Nothing here shocks except his listed age of 36 years-old.  He seems much closer to forty than that.
• Atlanta Hawks first-rounder John Jenkins is ranked 398th, interesting given his stellar summer-league performance, prospective role this coming season, and his elite NBA skill – he might have been the best pure shooter in this draft.  Jenkins will get ample opportunity to prove this ranking wrong with the trade of Joe Johnson, and if he can defend admirably should do just that.  Shooters like him with solid size and average athleticism are rare, and it’s easy to imagine Jenkins leading all rookies in tries, makes, and percentage from beyond the arc in 2012-2013.
• At 395th, the Denver Nuggets’ Quincy Miller is an interesting case.  A long, deceptively quick athlete with a supposedly awesome stroke – though he’s yet to show it – MIller underwhelmed his one season at Baylor for the most part, failing to live up to his prodigious natural gifts.  Part of that, Denver hopes, had to do with recovery from an ACL tear he suffered as a senior in high school that robbed him of his superior explosion.  It was pretty shocking to see him fall to the second round on draft day; if he gets completely healthy and continues to add bulk, he seems perfectly suited for today’s NBA as a combo forward capable of running the floor with the Nuggets’ other thoroughbreds.  He’ll hardly play at all this season for a deep Denver squad, but is the most intriguing second-round rookie in the league.
• OKC’s Cole Aldrich comes in at 390th, and the Western Conference champs no doubt hope he’ll outperform that ranking.  The Thunder let Nazr Mohommed walk after this season and appear comfortable heading into the year with Aldrich as the team’s fourth big man, hardly lofty expectations for a former lottery pick.  But Aldrich has hardly shown much in the way of NBA skill thus far in his career, appearing a step slow on both ends and little to no offensive game.  But more troubling than his struggles with the ball are those on the other end.  One of college basketball’s best defenders in 2010, Aldrich isn’t quick enough to defend pick-and-rolls and lacks the size to lock down post scorers like Bynum and Dwight Howard.  He can still block shots, but OKC needs more from him and this ranking is indicative of that.  Regardless, if the Thunder are forced to count on him in a potential Western Conference Finals against Howard and the Lakers, they’ll be in big trouble.
• 387th ranked Doron Lamb of the Milwaukee Bucks will out-play that mark this season.  He’s a dead-eye shooter, moves well without the ball, is a deceptive athlete, and a game defender.  His game doesn’t have much of a ceiling, but he seems perfectly suited as a 10-year pro that comes off the bench for a good team.  And if Lamb ever develops his off-the-dribble game, could be even better than that.

March 20, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat center Eddy Curry (34) reacts during the first half against the Phoenix Suns at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

ESPN’s annual NBA Rank has commenced, an exercise that ranks every player in the NBA from 500 all the way to the very top.  The worldwide leader asked 104 basketball experts – basically analysts, writers, and bloggers – to assign all players a grade from a whole number of 1 to 10.  Once that’s done, the numbers are calculated into a finite answer that gives a player a numerical value.  From there it’s as simple as listing the players’ grades from lowest to highest, and NBA Rank is done.

This is obviously an exercise rife with objectivity and potential for error, but it’s a fun one nonetheless to get the NBA world’s almost-consensus opinion of a particular player going into a season.  Basketball Twitter’s been buzzing about NBA Rank for days, debating grades certain players deserve and trying to figure out how to distinguish a 5 from a 6, a 7 from an 8 and so on.  For instance, if LeBron James is the best player in the NBA is he the only one worthy of a perfect 10? What to do with aging stars like Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce – how many points is regression worth? And the opposite goes for younger players and improvement.

Lists like NBA Rank are far from the be-all end-all of determining a player’s worth, but the analysis they spark and the questions they pose is great fodder during this dormant time of the off-season.  So we’ll analyze NBA Rank on a daily basis, noting individual rankings that stick out one way or another and gleaning what we can from the lists as a whole.

Today’s list ranks players from 500-401.  To the analysis!

• Looking at this group in reverse order immediately elicits a humorous response.  At 500 and given the infamous as worst player in the NBA is free agent center Eddy Curry, with a rating of 1.21.  Curry’s story is well-known by now and it’s a sad one, a player with all the natural attributes – great size, feet, and touch – to be a force in the NBA plagued by off-court character issues and basketball/conditioning apathy in general.  It wasn’t long ago that Curry was the face of the Baby Bulls or even a prized free agent acquisition of the Knicks, let alone on the comeback trail just last season with the eventual champion Miami Heat.  But he’s a punch-line today more than ever and perhaps rightfully so, especially considering his rank is .25 points lower than 499th ranked Golden State rookie Kent Bazemore.  That’s sure to be the overall list’s biggest discrepancy from one number to the next, and it’s indicative of just how far Curry has fallen and what his perception in basketball circles.  If you’re feeling bad for him – and I’m starting to – read this awesome piece by Grantland’s Jonathan Abrams.
• If Curry is the first sexy name on the list, the Knicks’ James White is probably the next at 479th.  Maybe the best professional (as in NBA, Europe, etc.) dunker ever, White’s one-year deal for the veteran’s minimum caused a blip on the league’s radar this off-season, and given that and his surreal athleticism it’s kind of surprising to see him rank so low.  Of course, he’s never been much of a player domestically despite all that so it makes some sense; still, to see a player so relatively famous with a wealth of professional but non-NBA success down this far on the list stands out.  Especially given the Knicks’ sudden rush to sign him to a guaranteed contract out of the blue.  It will be interesting to see if he can crack New York’s barren wing rotation and prove this ranking wrong.
• Juwan Howard and Mike Bibby rank 476th and 471st, respectively.  Sounds about right, and it makes it even more amazing to remember that the Heat counted on each of them for significant playing time just 18 months ago.
• Darius Johnson-Odom (rank: 456th) had a great college career at Marquette but was drafted just 55th overall by the Los Angeles Lakers.  DJO plays a man’s game, always knowing where to be and the right play to make; he can drive and finish, too.  He’s not much of a shooter, athlete, and is of the dreaded combo-guard ilk, but he could see some floor-time in LA this season nonetheless.  LAL reserve perimeter options are very poor defensively, and given that and his feel for the game in general he could warrant spot minutes this season on occasion.
• The basketball media doesn’t see in Hasheem Thabeet what the Oklahoma City Thunder do.  The second overall pick of the 2009 draft is ranked 443rd.
• The Detroit Pistons drafted Missouri sniper Kim English with the 44th pick in the draft, and he looked like a steal during summer league play.  English is an absolute dead-eye shooter and a classiclocker room guy – he’s supposedly taken Andre Drummond under his wing in offseason workouts – that could stick in the league for a long time.  Every team needs a shooter deep on the bench, and if English can improve defensively it wouldn’t shock to see him do better than that.  He’s ranked 441st here, not necessarily high or low but noteworthy because of his one high-level skill.
• Ish Smith’s rank of 423rd has ruffled some blogger feathers.  A second round pick of the Houston Rockets in 2010, Smith was recently re-signed by the Orlando Magic and was very impressive in his limited court time with Golden State early last season.  His per-36 minute numbers really stick out: 11.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 6.3 assists,  and 2.3 steals.  Smith can’t shoot struggles to defend due to his lithe body, but is a blur on the floor and plays hard.  Smith is in line for a big minutes increase as Jameer Nelson’s lone backup, so we’ll know whether or not he’s worthy of such a low ranking soon enough.  But his extrapolated production and non-rookie status makes it seem a bit low.
• The Brooklyn Nets’ Tyshawn Taylor, ranked 417th, is one of the league’s best athletes at point-guard and showed off a much-improved jumper his senior year at Kansas. He’ll get some playing time for the cash-strapped Nets this season and should prove this ranking wrong.  He’s too electric athletically and too good a finisher to not thrive (relative to his draft positions) in the up-and-down open space of the NBA.
• The Portland Trailblazers’ Will Barton is under-ranked at 409th, too.  He was awesome in summer league play, showing deep (if streaky) range on his jumper and rare rebounding ability for a player his size.  He needs to bulk up and may not see the floor much his rookie year, but he’s a better talent than NBA Rank suggests.
• Jeffery Taylor of the Charlotte Bobcats is another rookie that deserves better.  A great athlete with rare size and strength on the wing known for defense, Taylor’s jumper was much-improved during his senior season at Vanderbilt, too.  He was drafted 31st overall but was considered by teams selecting in the 20s, indicating his potential niche as a defender and opportunistic three-point shooter.  Taylor is the type of player that every good team needs, and unfortunately that’s not the Bobcats.  But it would hardly surprise to see him contributing in the postseason a few years down the road.
• Free agent Josh Harrellson might very well be the 403rd best player in the NBA, but the league needs big guys that can grab a rebound and hit an open jumper.  He can do both those things and will eventually be picked up because of it.
• Two overall observations: rookies are, again, being under-appreciated and big men dominate this list.  The young guys are all second rounders, of course, but players like Tyshawn and Jeffery Taylor and Barton are simply better than this.  The rankers are weary of the unknown, it seems, but why not err on the side of optimism with regard to these guys? Wouldn’t it be more fun predicting good things for a rookie and being right than bad and being the same? As for this section’s propensity of big men, it’s pretty simple – stiffs are stiffs and every team needs size deep on their bench.

Via The New York Times

The New York Times published a fantastic profile on Brooklyn Nets minority owner Jay-Z today, detailing the hip-hop mogul’s involvement in the team in everything from breaking ground on the Barclays Center to advising security personnel how to frisk fans upon arrival.  His presence within the organization is well-known by the NBA public, of course, but just how instrumental he is to the team on a day-to-day and all-encompassing basis is fascinating, especially given his miniscule financial stake in the franchise.  Read the story to fully understand Jay-Z’s rare influence on the Nets, but below are 10 highlights of the article.

• Jay-Z owns just 1/15 of one percent of the Nets, paying just one million dollars for a stake in the the team in 2003.  He owned 1/3 of one percent of the team until Mikhail Prokhorov came aboard.
• It’s widely known that Jay-Z was instrumental in the design of Brooklyn’s logo and color scheme, but his influence here is bigger than that.  He personally appealed to the league’s objections of the Nets’ colors, a stance that centered on the NBA believing that “African-American athletes did not look good on TV in black.” A league source refutes that, of course.
• “Less Jersey,” Jay-Z says of the team’s in-game music choices, suggesting niche artists like Santigold.
• Jay-Z was nervous about meeting with David Stern to discuss his 1999 stabbing of a music producer, for which he received three years’ probation.  He described the incident as a corollary of “the world I lived in once.”
• Downplaying Jay-Z’s influence in breaking ground on the Barclays Center, Ratner says “Had Jay-Z not come along we’d still have an arena.”  City Councilwoman Letitia James, originally in opposition of the project, seems to disagree.  ”Bringing in someone who could identify with Brooklyn and African-Americans, that was slick.”
• Jay-Z gave Vince Carter a “pep talk” in 2007 after two poor playoff performances, to which he responded by scoring 37 points the following games.
• Advised Deron Williams on where to buy a home in the Brooklyn area.
• Aaron Goodwin, former agent to stars like LeBron James, Dwight Howard, and Kevin Durant on Jay-Z’s influence in free agency: “[Players] are going to take the phone call now.  They’re going to take the flight in. In years past the Nets wouldn’t have gotten that.  But now they’re in the game.”
• Jay-Z alerted a team executive of the Nets’ logo being too big on an ESPN graphic during the team’s whirlwind summer of free agency.  ”Call ESPN and get them to fit it.” They did.
• “Every detail matters,” Jay-Z says.

November 27, 2010; Sacramento, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins (15) talks with guard Tyreke Evans (13) against the Chicago Bulls in the fourth quarter at Arco Arena. The Bulls defeated the Kings 96-85. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-US PRESSWIRE

We tackled the Denver Nuggets here yesterday, a team far along and still trudging on its journey to a title few other teams in the league are willing to take – one (unless some unlikely individual development) without any superstars based on depth, versatility, and long and short term financial flexibility.  That’s a risk in today’s NBA wrought with SuperTeams, obviously, but Denver and GM Masai Ujiri have the smarts and have assembled the pieces to at least give it a try for a couple seasons as they watch Ty Lawson, Danilo Gallinari, Kenneth Faried, Javale McGee, and others grow under the watchful tutelage of George Karl.  And that was true even before they flipped Arron Afflalo and Al Harrington for the team’s lone All-Star, Andre Iguodala, a player that fits perfectly within Denver’s up-and-down, frenetic system on both ends.

So the Nuggets are all in on this for better or worse, but given their success in 2012 – pushing the old Lakers to seven games in the first round of the playoffs – it’s reasonable to assume the former, at least in terms of the regular season and a postseason series or two.  Some other teams are following Denver’s model whether they know it or not, containing young rosters replete with young talent but without a discernible franchise player.  The Sacramento Kings are chief among them, stockpiling translucent players with raw skill but unlike the Nuggets worrying little of roster fit or fiscal concerns.  And their confounding off-season did little to answer those prevalent questions their aggressive attitude with regard to player acquisition posed even before last season ended.

Quickly, a rundown of the Kings’ significant offseason moves:

• Drafted power forward Thomas Robinson fifth overall
• Signed combo guard Aaron Brooks to two-year deal
• Traded second-round pick to Toronto for combo forward James Johnson
• Re-signed power forward Jason Thompson to multi-year, six million dollar per-season deal

Most of this screams of typical Sacramento player redundancy and financial irresponsibility, and none of us should be surprised.  It’s all exemplified best with the acquisitions of Brooks and Johnson, two players with a history of poor attitudes/work ethic that will do little more to the Kings’ on the floor this season than complicate development for more important pieces.

Brooks was once a very nice player, leading that undermanned 2010 Rockets team to an inspiring playoff run against the eventual-champion Lakers and winning the Most Improved Player award that season, too.  But he was dreadful the next season in Houston and then Phoenix, shooting under 40% from the field and 30% from beyond the arc.  He spent last season playing in China and reports say he did relatively well there, but that really shouldn’t matter to Sacramento for two simple, glaring reasons: Isaiah Thomas and Jimmer Fredette.  Sacramento’s 2011 draft picks had glaringly different rookie seasons and the opposite of what their draft positions – 60th for Thomas and 11th for Fredette – suggested.  Thomas was awesome for the Kings and is clearly a keeper in some role or another, and has the type of personality and team-first style this organization desperately needs.  Fredette, though, was dreadful, compounding on all the questions his college game posed before the draft: can he play without the ball? can he and will he see the floor? is a point guard? can he defend his shadow? The unequivocal answer to those queries was no, and he showed little to suggest he’ll ever come close to justifying his draft position let alone sticking in the league.  But you don’t give up on an investment like that, and with Thomas already supplanting Fredette in the rotation the addition of Brooks just doesn’t make sense.  Both of these sophomores need playing time and a defined role to hone their games, and Brooks is an older, more injury prone version of what these guys do best – score with the ball, kind of like most every other player on Sacramento’s roster (Marcus Thornton, Tyreke Evans, Donte Greene, and Demarcus Cousins say hi).

Trading for Johnson and re-signing Thompson aren’t moves as questionable as that one, at least until you factor in Sacramento’s selection of Robinson.  Johnson has masqueraded as a small forward much of his time in the league but he’s clearly best as a small-ball 4, and the same is true of Thompson – that the Kings were comfortable playing him on the wing at all the last two years is ridiculous.  So they added one power forward, re-signed another for multiple years at a pretty steep price against the cap, then drafted one in Robinson (who, it should be noted, has a bright future).  But the Kings still have Greene and Travis Outlaw on the roster, too, a tandem of ‘tweeners still best suited to spreading the floor as undersized bigs.

Just what is Sacramento doing? Do they think Cousins is a potential superstar? His combination of size and skill is very, very rare, but mitigating circumstances (all that crazy) indicate that’s unlikely? Evans proved he isn’t last season and seems lost in his development.  Robinson? Perhaps an All-Star game or two in a watered down year if things break right, but hardly a franchise player.  Thomas? Fredette? Thompson? Please.

The Kings, like Denver, have all these assets, all of these young players who on the surface have value but can’t offer it to Sacramento because of how they fit on the roster with regard to both playing time and style (shoot, shoot, shoot).  Then there’s the whole issue of salary cap implications, something it seems they pretty much avoided altogether in compiling this zany group.  It’s not necessarily an awful thing for the Kings to be mostly capped out the next couple offseasons (there’s nothing worse than spending just to spend), but it would be a coup for Sacramento if they had more leeway to make moves with all these pieces at the trade deadline.  As it is, their collective hands are wound pretty tight in that regard.

So the Kings are the anti-Nuggets with regard to team-building even while seeming to employ the same strategy – a team rife with solid and versatile talent than can overwhelm the opposition with depth.  The only problem is that they’re making moves with just the first part of that in mind.  Assembling puzzle pieces by itself and throwing them together just isn’t enough to build a winner, a fact best exemplified by all the wheeling and dealing Denver does to make sure players and salaries fir their short and long term goals.  Sacramento doesn’t understand that, and in typical Kings fashion will undoubtedly realize it before it’s too late and have to start all over again.

May 10, 2012; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets guard Ty Lawson (3) reacts during the second half of game six in the Western Conference quarterfinals of the 2012 NBA Playoffs against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-US PRESSWIRE

Dwight Howard forced his way to the Lakers and Kobe Bryant, and Pau Gasol, and Steve Nash.  Chris Paul finally landed with the Clippers and the game’s best lob finisher, Blake Griffin.  Deron Williams was suddenly shipped to New Jersey/Brooklyn, then threatened to bolt on the open market free agency before the talent around him was upgraded by the additions Gerald Wallace and Joe Johnson.  Carmelo Anthony made no secret of his desire to play in New York with Amare Stoudemire and inevitably got his wish.  And it seems Chris Bosh and LeBron started it all in that now fateful summer of 2010 when they played the free agency field, eventually getting signed and traded by their original teams to Miami for pennies on the dollar to join Dwyane Wade.

The Orlando Magic, New Orleans Hornets, Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggets, Toronto Raptors, and Cleveland Cavaliers had that elusive franchise player in their grasp, drafting and developing these guys into stars they thought could eventually lead them to a championship.  Those teams found out, though, just how sharp the other edge of a superstar’s sword is when it neared time to discuss a second contract extension.  Unhappy with the talent or culture surrounding them or a combination of the two, James and Bosh made their intentions to feed the free agency frenzy clear from the beginning but left open the possibility of a return to their original clubs.  The backlash that followed them to South Beach – James especially, of course – was so rife with fan disgust and vitriol that stars had to find a new way to take advantage of player movement, and we saw it with Anthony a few months later.  Instead of leading the Nuggets on like a desperate mistress, he dumped them as soon as he could and indicated his wish to be traded, letting the public’s criticism tire throughout the process.  Utah and New Orleans saw it happening and reacted accordingly to get as much value for Williams and Paul as they could, while Orlando played the hapless role of Toronto and Cleveland as long as they could before finally caving and starting anew by trading Howard to the Lakers, effectively forming another SuperTeam.

That’s where we are in the league today and the above is pretty much how we got there.  James is mostly credited with starting the Superstar Movement Movement and these guys’ preference to play with someone else that could come close to matching their almost unparalleled abilities.  Whether or not that’s true doesn’t really matter – and the formation of the Big Three-era Celtics suggests it isn’t – but a prevailing theme exists here: the need in today’s NBA for not just one star, but two or three.  And if the players realize it, front office personnel obviously do too.

Except that of those Nuggets, it seems, the team that took the initiative and dealt their star for as close to fair value as they could.  This isn’t a new thought necessarily, that Denver is going against historical league convention and building a fiscally sensible team in every sense of the word; they’ve been headed that direction since trading Anthony at the 2011 trade deadline.  But shipping the recently extended, newly overpaid, and always injured Nene out at last season’s for Javale McGee? Facilitating the Howard-to-Lakers deal by trading the similarly priced Arron Afflalo and Al Harrington to Philadelphia for Andre Iguodala? That’s uncharted territory for even Denver in terms of financial forward-thinking and team-building, and it’s a model no other NBA squad is bold – or stupid, perhaps? – enough to undertake.

Acclaimed Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri has assembled the deepest roster in the league and one of its most versatile, a group that pushed the old Lakers to seven games riding the wave of those strengths and sudden and abrupt development from the ever-talented McGee.  And last week Ujiri added Denver’s only All-Star, Iguodala, to that core at the expense of a similar but inferior player and the Nuggets’ only aging player whose salary could eventually become a burden.

It’s an interesting and thought-provoking way to go about winning, and this roster will no doubt do a lot of that as long as stalwarts and likely starters Ty Lawson, Iguodala, Danilo Gallinari, Kenneth Faried, and McGee are allowed time to develop together.  They’ve got talented depth like (recently re-signed) Andre Miller, Corey Brewer, Jordan Hamilton, Wilson Chandler, and Timofey Mozgov behind them, too, so this team’s only question is just how much winning it will be able to do when Spring rolls around.  They’ll thrive in the regular season because of all that depth, versatility, and speed that George Karl loves to employ, but can a team full of Robins beat one like the Thunder or Lakers with multiple Batmans?

Only time will tell there, and even if Denver fails in that regard this season we still won’t know the answer.  Lawson, Gallinari, McGee, and even Faried are young and maybe future All-Stars, if seeming destined to fall just below that truly elite superstar level at their realized potential.  But if two years from now all these Nuggets managed was to win a playoff series or three, they can just hit the quick restart button again just the way they did by trading Anthony, Nene, and Afflalo.  At the very least that’s what all these proven but potential-laden, cost-effective assets buy you, unparalleled flexibility should a move to a struggling team need to be made or the right one to a playoff team just finally come along and put them over the top.

No superstars.  Young talent.  Unmatched depth.  Tradable assets.  Managebale salaries.  This is the Denver Nuggets, the NBA’s latest and most ambitious model for team-building, an organization that helped usher in and facilitate the SuperTeam movement not once but twice choosing to avoid it altogether.  We won’t know if it will work for a while, but in league more title-or-tank than ever it’s certainly a refreshing approach.

Unfortunately for the underdog Argentineans, though, Team USA has multiple Manus, and they stepped up when it mattered most in a 109-83 win for the red, white, and blue.  James, Kevin Durant, and later Carmelo Anthony led a dominant second half for the Americans that saw them run away from Argentina well before the fourth quarter clock struck all zeros.  In the blink of an eye this one was a laugher, the U.S. moving on to face Spain on Sunday in a rematch of the 2008 gold medal game in Beijing.

A relatively close first half score not withstanding, this team was as engaged on both ends as we’ve seen all summer long, playing defense with re-found precision and intensity while maintaining explosive offensive exploits.  Argentina – playing in what’s likely this group’s last Olympics together – was predictably competitive for as long as they could be, before Durant and James did what the world’s two best players have routinely done throughout their run on Team USA together.  James’ exerted his typical all-around dominance while finding Durant for four third quarter three-pointers, pushing a five point lead to an insurmountable one of seventeen.  By the time Anthony almost duplicated his record-setting performance against Nigeria in the fourth quarter by hitting four treys of his own, this game was all but over.

Durant led Team USA with 19 points, while Anthony and James followed with 18 apiece, the latter contributing a ho-hum seven rebounds and seven assists, too.  Kobe Bryant continued his suddenly hot-shooting ways from the quarterfinals in the first half, amassing all 13 of his points before intermission.  Ginobili paced Argentina with 18 points, and Andres Nocioni and Carlos Delfino each chipped in 15.  Delfino was especially influential in keeping this one close, hitting several first-half three-pointers when it seemed the U.S. were on the verge of blowing the game wide open.

Team USA meets Spain, FIBA’s second ranked team in the world, for the gold medal on Sunday, while Argentina faces a surprising Russian squad that held an 11 point half-time lead over the Spaniards in today’s first semi-final for the bronze.  Coverage of Team USA–Spain kicks off live on NBC Sunday morning at 10:00AM EST.