- At Wages of Wins, Dave Berri looks at Elton Brand’s declining numbers, and how they might have cost Mo Cheeks his job: “Brand’s WP48 [Wins Produced per 48 minutes] is 0.075 this season. And last season it was only 0.058. Both marks are below average and not exactly consistent with the $80 million contract Brand received this summer. Of course the Sixers didn’t think they were signing a below average Brand. In 2006-07 Brand’s WP48 was 0.213, and it was this player the Sixers hoped to have (and it was this player people thought about in forecasting the performance of this team). If this was the Brand the team was playing, the Sixers would currently be on pace to win 45 games. And again, Cheeks would still be employed.”
- If you’re like me, then you tivo a lot of games to watch later in the evening. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to know whether the Clippers got blown out before you commit to watching the entire game? There is, with the tag “only a Warriors fan would think of this.”
- Mark Heisler thinks Donald T. Sterling, whatever his motivation, is playing it smart by sticking with Mike Dunleavy: “This is either a result of Sterling’s hard-earned wisdom, or Dunleavy’s contract, which has two more seasons worth $10.4 million after this one. In either case, it may turn out to be the smartest thing the Clippers have done, or the luckiest thing to happen to them, since Donald noticed Staples Center might have enough dates for a third tenant just months before it opened.”
- Mike Dunleavy tells Jonathan Abrams of the New York Times about working NBA refs: “If you only complain about things that are right as opposed to calling wolf, then you put a bug in somebody’s ear, saying, ‘Look, I see the other team doing this all the time, can you take a look at it?’ Then, I think, a lot of times, you can potentially get a response.”
- Dunleavy tells Hoopsworld that he likes what he sees from Eric Gordon, particularly on the defensive end: “I’ve been really pleased with where he is defensively. We put him on really tough guys and he’s responded well. He’s still got a lot to learn.”
