Matt Moore

Posted by Royce Young

Other than the fact that since it's August and we're all starved for NBA news, the schedule release typically doesn't have a ton of surprises. On the surface, all schedules are created equal with everyone having 41 home games and 41 road games. (Unless you're the Lakers and you get a couple extra home games when you go on the "road" to play the Clippers.)

But all schedules are not equal. Not in the slightest actually. Other than some teams getting contenders four times instead of three because of the way the scheduling rotation works and the fact the Clippers have a 10-game road trip (!), there's the issue of back-to-backs. And back-to-backs can take what looks to be an easy month and turn it into a 30-day grind.

The Bulls and Bucks lead the way with 23 back-to-backs. That's a bummer for the Bulls who had one of the highest totals in the league last season. For all you Laker haters, here's some more ammo: The champs only have 15, which is tied for the fewest in the league. The Suns have just 16 and the Thunder and Hawks have only 17.

Six teams have 22, six have 21, two have 20, six have 19 and four have 18. The full list:

1. Chicago - 23
2. Milwauke -  23
3. Charlotte - 22
4. Cleveland - 22
5. LA Clippers - 22
6. New Jersey - 22
7. Philadelphia - 22
8. Portland - 22
9. Detroit - 21
10. Houston - 21
11. Indiana - 21
12. Memphis - 21
13. New York - 21
14. Washington - 21
15. Dallas - 20
16. Orlando - 20
17. Boston - 19
18. Denver - 19
19. Miami - 19
20. Minnesota - 19
21. Toronto - 19
22. Utah - 19
23. Golden State - 18
24. New Orleans - 18
25. Sacramento - 18
26. San Antonio - 18
27. Atlanta - 17
28. Oklahoma City - 17
29. Phoenix - 16
30. LA Lakers - 15

One underrated angle on the back-to-backs is how many games a team gets against a team on the second night of a back-to-back. Phoenix has the most in the league with 15 games against teams that played the night before. The Suns are followed by Cleveland (10), Oklahoma City (10), Atlanta (10) and San Antonio (9).

The Lakers, who have the fewest back-to-backs in the league, only have four games against a team that played the night before. Sacramento has the fewest in the league with only one.

Related to that, the Bucks, Cavs, Celtics, Bobcats, Bulls, Grizzlies and Clippers all have four or more games against a team playing in its fourth game in five days with no rest. The Lakers, Suns, Warriors, Spurs and 76ers have zero such games.
 
And on the flip side of that, the Bobcats, Cavs, Bucks, 76ers and Wizards all have four games that are on the fourth game in five days with no rest. So clearly the league tried to even that out. You get some, you give some. A bunch of teams only have to do that once including the Suns, Thunder, Lakers and Heat.

Based on back-to-backs, days off and playing against unrested opponents, you could make a strong case that Oklahoma City and Phoenix have two of the most favorable schedules in the league. The Lakers, while having the fewest back-to-backs, also have one of the lowest amount of games against unrested opponents.

While the schedule is going to be unfair for some teams because that's just life, it's clear the league tried to even things out. Playing against a team that is coming in off a red eye flight and that played just 20 hours ago is a huge advantage. Probably even more than having a low number of back-to-back games.

But back-to-backs are just part of the schedule story. Who are the back-to-backs against? What about long road trips, days off and long home stands? In the end, it doesn't matter all that much. For the most part, the best teams win and the bad teams lose.

Info pulled from NBAStuffer.com

Posted by Matt Moore

As we told you in the Shootaround this morning, LeBron James had something to say on Twitter to all his critics of this past summer:


















Oooh, I'm so scared! What are you gonna do, use your extremely powerful position as the best player in the NBA and a multi-national business force, not to mention being a physically dominant human being to enact retribution on those that have criticized you?

...

This sounds famliar .

Anyway, not everyone is wetting themselves like I am at the prospect (love you, King!), including SBNation.com's Holly Anderson, who decided to have a little fun with James last night. Anderson posted a series of other (fake) proclamations from LeBron to his critics. My personal favorite?



Click through to read them all. Just don't tell you-know-who.

Posted by Matt Moore

It's been a pretty Jewish month in the NBA.

After Amar'e Stoudemire visited Israel to seek out his Jewish roots, LeBron has also embraced the Jewish world, though his focus (surprise) is on the business side of things.

TMZ reports that James met with Rabbi Yishayahu Yosef Pinto , the "Rabbi to the Business Stars" this week. He reportedly paid the consultant six figures for "spiritual guidance" regarding a retail deal that was hammered out on a private yacht.

I am not making this up. TMZ could be, but that seems unlikely at this point, especially given the photo and everything. Safe to say, LeBron's life is failry surreal. The rabbi apparently is a huge name in New York business, advising people like Rudy Giuliani, members of Congress, and various business giants. Of course, not all's peachy keen with the rabbi. His name has recently popped up in the press regarding a feud with business associate, Solomon Obstfeld, whom he rented an apartment from. Obstfeld later committed suicide and an private investigator is researching whether foul play was in fact involved.

James is definitely making that next step into significant business entity. And the company he keeps is now a reflection of that.

Posted by Royce Young

• Late yesterday, LeBron tweeted: "Don't think for one min that I haven't been taking mental notes of everyone taking shots at me this summer. And I mean everyone! "

• George Diaz of the Orlando Sentinel on LeBron's tweet : "Cancel the NBA season. Now. Be done with it, Mr. Stern. Skip all the formalities. Let’s just have the ticker-tape parade now. Break out the party favors South Florida! Crank up Will Smith’s old-school hit “Miami”, celebrating the majesty and magnificence of the Miami Heat. “Bouncin’ in the club where the heat is on. All night on the beach til the break of dawn.” Yeah baby! Jeff Van Gundy says they are going to win every single game, or something like that. The Heat will be on TV 29 times this season, coming close to the number of times you can watch Law and Order on any given day. And King James sent out this defiant shout-out on Twitter on Tuesday: “Don’t think for one min that I haven’t been taking mental notes of everyone taking shots at me this summer. And I mean everyone!” Now we’ve gone and done it! LeBron James is mad! We are doomed! What’s the point of playing?"

• The Basketball Jones has a list of the haters LeBron is taking mental notes on.

• Shaq says Kobe is the best he's played with: “A lot of people rank players from different opinions, but if you wanna go with ring standpoint it has to be Kobe,” O’Neal said. “LeBron is a great athlete, D-Wade is a great athlete, but it’s close. I’m lucky to have been able to play with both of those guys, but Kobe right now has had that eye for a long time. I’ve known him for a while. When he gets that eye there aren’t really too many people that can beat him.”

• Rich Cho has added two assistant GMs . One is Bill Branch, Oklahoma City’s director of professional player personnel and Steve Rosenberry, who served as Atlanta’s director of pro personnel/college scouting.

• Zach Lowe of CelticsHub with a lecture on expectations: "I have no clue whether the C’s will win 49 games or 60 games or 52 games next season, but I know for sure that 51 is a perfectly reasonable guess. And if they get 16 in the playoffs? Then we’ll forget the regular-season number pretty fast."

• Isiah Thomas is taking part in a photo protest: "Another decision by Thomas — one made in concert with his son, Joshua Thomas — has drawn considerably less attention, and it's something of a groundbreaker, too: Thomas participated in the NOH8 Campaign, a "photographic silent protest" of California's controversial gay marriage ban."

• Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press writes that the Pistons have an edge with McGrady because of their trainer: "The Pistons truly believe that they have an edge with strength-and-conditioning coach Kander, who has been with the team since the spring of 1992. They think his methods are great at preventing injuries (last season notwithstanding) and helping players overcome previous injuries."

Posted by Matt Moore

The story of the 2010-2011 national television schedule is about what you'd expect. Lots of Heat, lots of Boston, lots of Lakers, and the rise of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Boston Celtics surprisingly lead all teams in national television appearances across NBATV, ESPN, ABC, and TNT with 33 appearances. The Miami Heat, no shock, are second, with 29 appearances, while the defending champion Lakers appear 27 times. That number is likely to increase signficantly with NBATV's fan night. The Orlando Magic also appear 29 times, compared to the East's three-seed Atlanta Hawks, who appear just 14 times. Of the 15 games on ABC, 14 feature the Heat, Celtics, Lakers, or Magic.

New York appears 18 times, while Phoenix has certainly earned some faith from the producers, landing 25 national appearances. Oklahoma City were the big winners, with 24 big-time appearances, and the first post-Christmas ABC game, facing the Heat at home. It's a big win for a small market club.

Of course, most other small-market clubs didn't fair so well. Indiana is without a single appearanc. Charlotte and Memphis have 6 each, New Orleans 7, and Milwaukee only has 8, despite being playoff or near-playoff teams. This is in contrast to the Clippers, the freaking Clippers, getting 12 appearances. Win total didn't have much to do with these decisions.

Your top five nationally televised games not on Christmas, Opening Night, or MLK Day:

1. Heat at Magic, November 24th, ESPN: The Sunshine Massacre. The Heat's primary weakness, true size, is tested against Dwight Howard while Jameer Nelson could have a huge game against Mario Chalmers.
2. Lakers at Thunder, February 27th, ABC: Welcome back, Lakers. They barely got out of the Sooner state with their playoff lives last April and the Thunder should be improved. Kevin Durant will likely take this one personally, while Kobe loathes challengers to his throne.
3. Heat at Cavaliers, December 2nd, TNT: "Peace? Peace. I hate the word. As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee."-Cleveland
4. Blazers at Jazz, April 7th, TNT: Let's imagine Greg Oden stays healthy. Let's imagine Al Jefferson stays healthy. Deron Williams, Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Marcus Camby, Andrei Kirilenko, Paul Millsap. The Northwest Division is a bloodbath.
5. Lakers at Celtics, February 10th, TNT: It's refreshing when the networks give you two seldom-seen teams that never match up. It's a once-in-a-lifetime type game, really.

Posted by Royce Young

The schedule is out so let the analyzation begin. One of the many things to look at any time a schedule is released is the kickoff week. Often times, the first week or two can make or break a season for a team. Get off to a good start, you energize the fanbase, gain some confidence and build a little momentum. Get off to a bad one and the fans think "Here we go again," confidence takes a hit and already people are thinking lottery.

So who has the easiest go of it in the opening weeks? And who got the toughest draw?

Easiest Starts
Cleveland: Maybe the league was taking pity on the Cavs who had a rough offseason but Cleveland gets a favorable start. The Cavs kick off with a home game against Boston, but then other than a game against Atlanta, nine straight games against lottery teams, including Washington, New Jersey (twice) and Philadelphia.

Los Angeles Lakers: The champs get a favorable start as 7 of their first 10 are at home with the road games being against Phoenix, Sacramento and Denver. Most of the games are against sub-.500 teams from last season with only a couple against quality squads (Portland, Houston, Memphis). It should be another good beginning in Lakerland en route to defending the crown.

Orlando: The NBA hands a gift to the Magic who get to open a new arena with a batch of home games. It gets tougher for the Magic later down the line, but to start the season, Orlando gets 8 of its first 12 at home, with most of the tough games coming into the new Amway Center. The drawback is a couple back-to-backs but no set is against two contending teams.

Toughest Starts
Philadelphia: Any time you're breaking in the second overall pick you'd love to get a group of games against teams that he might be able to build confidence against. Evan Turner gets his first game against the Heat and then Atlanta. The schedule lightens a bit with tilts against Indiana, Washington, Indiana again and Cleveland, but then the Sixers face a tough five-game road trip including games at San Antonio, Oklahoma City and Dallas. Then a few weeks later in December, the 76ers have a six-game roadie against quality teams (Orlando, Boston, Chicago, Phoenix, Lakers, Denver, Golden State).

Memphis: Considering the Grizzlies start with five of their first seven on the road and then have home games Phoenix, Dallas and Boston, I'd say they qualify in the tough start category. Their road trip isn't brutal by any means (Lakers, Warriors, Suns, Kings) but it's definitely not easy. Memphis was a surprise team last season, but might struggle to get a hot start this year. The first month is littered with games against contenders and there's really no place for a three or four-game winning streak.

Phoenix: The Suns will be breaking in a number of new players and won't get a chance to ease into it. Phoenix starts on the road at Portland and Utah, then moves home for games against the Lakers, Spurs and Grizzlies. A four-game road trip waits later in November that takes them to Miami, Orlando, Charlotte and Houston. Phoenix plays more playoffs teams than not with eight of its 14 November games being on the road.

Posted by Royce Young

Amar'e Stoudemire's trip to Israel and quest for Judaism has been fairly well documented. Stoudemire has been looking into his Jewish roots to figure out exactly how Hebrew he is.

But it doesn't matter anymore. Because Adam Sandler has officially knighted Stoudemire a true Jew, in the best way possible. Or at least a one of Sandler's songs has been altered to include Stoudemire. Same difference.

Everyone knows Sandler's famous Chanakuh song. Jimmy Shapio of Sports Radio Interviews has helped make an adendum to it, including new Jew, Amar'e Stoudemire. The updated verse goes like this:

David Lee Roth lights the menorah
So do James Caan, Kirk Douglas, and the late Dinah Shore-ah
Guess who eats together at the Carnegie Deli
Amar'e Stoudemire and Arthur Fonzerelli

The NBA features two Jewish players: Israeli Omri Casspi of the Sacramento Kings and Jordan Farmar of the New Jersey Nets. When Farmar joined the Los Angeles Lakers in 2006, he became the NBA's first Jewish player since Danny Schayes -- son of Hall of Famer Dolph Schayes -- retired in 1999. And since Amar'e is officially in the club now thanks to slick audio editing, that makes three current Jewish NBA players.

Posted by Matt Moore

Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reports that the Pistons have signed Tracy McGrady to a one-year deal worth the veteran's minimum of $1.3 million. McGrady signs after a long, arduous process of trying to find someone willing to take a chance on him despite consistent injury issues and a body that no longer hold the athleticism that made him an All-Star. In Detroit, he'll provide bench scoring, and may make a decision to trade Tayshaun Prince easier for Joe Dumars as he attempts to swing a significant deal to improve the Pistons who struggled last year not only due to injury but significant chemistry problems.

McGrady showed flashes with the Knicks last season of being able to produce points like he used to, but would then follow-up those flashes with crashes back to reality, needing to sit out halves and entire games to recuperate. He has played 65 games over the past two seasons, dealing with ailing knees, shoulders, backs, and a bruised ego. He famously told reporters he would be undergoing surgery before alerting his team, and tried to find a spot on the Heat, Bulls, and Clippers before the Pistons elected to take a chance on him.

Prince has an $11 million expiring contract and is still a productive player when healthy, the kind of asset that can yield big results in a trade to a team looking to dump salary or a major player. If the Pistons decide to go for a cap-clearing move, McGrady provides a reasonable part-time option on the wing, and if the Pistons elect to move Prince for a significant upgrade at another position, it's possible they could take on a similar low-cost, low-minute wing to provide balance to McGrady's inconsistency. Either way, McGrady should help to some small degree with putting butts in seats this season for a team whose attendance has plummetted as they have left title contention.

The significant question is not what McGrady brings to the Pistons, but if his arrival signals the departure of Prince.