Coast To Coast

Coast To Coast is your bi-weekly (as in, twice a week, not every other week…or does that mean it’s semi-weekly?) look at the NBA outside of Cleveland through the perspective of the Cavaliers. Because the Cavaliers are a better rebounding team than the Magic.

Am I the only one who is actually somewhat hoping the Celtics really do sign Stephon Marbury? I mean, he’s a circus in Boston before he has even signed there. After Marbury told reporters the Celtics had promised him they would sign him if he could get a buyout from the Knicks, the Celtics were quick to deny that report and said no verbal commitments have been made. CelticsBlog’s Jeff Clark says:

So, can a player be a distraction in the lockerroom while still under contract with another team?  If anyone can, he can.

It’s funny, in a way, because I would assume if the Celtics have been talking with Marbury, it could technically be considered tampering as Marbury is still under contract with the Knicks. But in the NBA, someone else has to report cases of tampering…the league won’t investigate it independently. I bet nobody really cares, though, because I don’t think most teams care if the Celtics do sign him. If they’re anything like me, they’re more morbidly curious about how Marbury will affect the “ubuntu” locker room environment in Boston.
[No Commitment To Starbury]

The Orlando Magic are the best team in the East.

At least Danny Granger believes that to be the case. It’s kind of scary in some ways, because the Cavaliers and Pacers have had some tough matchups this year, and Granger has been great in one game against the Cavaliers, but was completely shut down in the other. But having played the Celtics three times, the Cavaliers twice, and now three times against the Magic, Granger knows all 3 power house teams quite well. Danny has his thoughts on who the best of them is:

They are the best team in the East,” Indiana’s Danny Granger said. “Two words—Dwight Howard—explain it. He is the most dominant player since Shaquille O’Neal—hands down.

Now, granted, they had just finished getting crushed by the Magic 135-111, so that game was fresh in his mind. The Magic held Granger to 10 points, which is pretty good….but not as dominant as the 4 points LeBron and Delonte held him to when they played in December.
[Pietrus Returns, Leads Magic to 135-111 Win]

Poor Caron Butler. Seriously. I can’t imagine how tough a season like this must be for great players like Butler and Antawn Jamison. It seems like an absolute nightmare for them that they are 9-36 in a season in which they had high hopes. But Butler doesn’t think it’s a nightmare, he thinks it’s more like being on a hidden camera show on MTV:

Every day I feel like I’m being punked and I’m waiting for Aston Kutcher, because I just can’t believe we went from that to this. I mean, I’m like ‘Brendan, is your hand really hurt, for real? Gil, are you really still not right?

It’s hard for me not to sympathize with him. Anyway, you need to check out the link to TruthAboutIt’s page for a pretty funny photoshop job on this topic.
[Caron Butler Wants To Be Punk’d]

LeBron just wants be able to root for his teams. In an interview with ESPN’s Chris Broussard for an upcoming issue of The Mag, LeBron talks about the supposed Cavs “fans” who would put him down for not rooting for the same teams they do:

“I’m a fan too,” LeBron told me, before staying an extra hour after practice to shoot jump shots with Mo Williams and Daniel Gibson. “And if I’m a fan of these teams, the fans should respect that. I respect the fans that come to watch us. But you can’t take the kid out of me. Ever since I was a kid, I loved the Cowboys and I loved the Yankees. This is my job, this is what I do and I respect that, but you can’t take the kid out of me and tell me to stop liking the teams I grew up loving. That’s like telling me I can’t like Michael Jordan because he killed the Cavs a lot. That’s my childhood. That’s what I grew up doing.”

I know not everyone agrees with me, but I’m on LeBron’s side on this. Sure, it would be fun if he was a Browns and Indians fan, but who he roots for in his own time is his concern, not ours. As long as he keeps wearing a Cleveland uniform and trying to bring this city a Championship, I will root for him. But evidently, some “fans” want LeBron to leave just because he roots for the Yankees and Cowboys. That is unreal to me. But anyway, LeBron gives those “fans” reason that their worst fears may come true, and LeBron may be sticking around:

“Ever since I’ve been asked about the Cavs, I never gave any indication that I was leaving or that I wasn’t happy here,” he said. “I think the franchise has definitely done a great job of giving me a team and putting me in position to win ballgames, so I’m happy here and I look forward to getting better this year and in the years to come.”

All I know is I really, really hope I can say “I’m sorry” to all of those people who are Cleveland fans but don’t want LeBron to stay (and they do exist, as CRAZY as that seems). I hope LeBron keeps torturing them for years and years and years to come.
[Behind The Story: Stray Cav?]

‘Duh’ Magazine reports: Rebounding Is Important! I kid, but this is actually a really great look at the importance of rebounding to winning the NBA title. The Painted Area, one of the new ESPN TrueHoop Network basketball blogs, illustrates that in order to make it to the Finals, let alone win the title, you have to be a good rebounding team. The Painted Area’s Jay Aych writes:

Basically if you want your team to make the Finals, you must hope for a positive rebound margin for the regular season. And if you want to take home the Larry O’Brien trophy, at least a +1 rebound per game margin is pretty much required. Don’t have to be the best rebounding team to win the title, just can’t be a subpar board team.

[…]

So fans of Orlando, San Antonio, Denver, Detroit, & New Orleans have to feel a little uneasy because these teams all have rebound margins hovering around the 0 rpg margin mark. While contenders like the Celtics, Lakers, Cavs, and Rockets are strong boarding clubs all above the key +1 rpg threshold as of Jan. 25.
Here are the margin numbers for the top 10 teams this season:

Lakers: +3.2
Cavs: +3.1
Celtics: +5.4
Magic: -0.1
Spurs: 0.0
Nuggets: +0.4
Hornets: -0.5
Blazers: +4.3
Rockets: +2.5
Hawks: -1.6

You know, it seems somewhat surprising to me that the Magic are such a weak rebounding team. They have the leading rebounder in the NBA in Dwight Howard, and they shoot a lot of perimeter shots which leads to plenty of rebounding opportunities. But while the Magic get a lot of rebounds themselves (they rank 5th in the NBA in total rebounds), they give up the 8th most rebounds to their opponents.

The Magic shoot the ball really well from 3, and that’s one of the ways they have been able to overcome this shortfall in their game, but it’s much easier to rebound consistently over a 7 game series than it is to shoot 40%+ from beyond the arc. I suppose that’s the point of this study.

And I can think of no finer way of ending this edition of Coast To Coast than that.
[The Importance Of Good Board Scores (Part II)]