Here is our regular look around the NBA — links to stories worth reading and notes to check out (stuff that did not get its own post here at PBT) — done in bullet point form. Because bloggers love bullet points.
• Kevin Durant for NBA Most Improved Player? Over at Sports Illustrated, Rob Mahoney looks at guys who made big strides this season and says the already impressive Durant should be on the list. A more likely MIP candidate is Serge Ibaka.
• J.R. Smith talks about how many tattoos he has... he lost count.
• Dwight Howard has tried to fix his free throw issues by stepping about six inches behind the line, notes Kelly Dwyer at Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie blog. Sure, that’s going to work.
• Russell Westbrook’s shot 45.7 percent last season, this season that has fallen off a cliff down to 40.4 percent. Why? Royce Young at Daily Thunder does a great job looking at why Westbrook’s jumper has gone askew.
• Speaking of shooting woes, here is a look at Deron Williams’ issues by Howard Beck of the New York Times.
• In what is a fitting and easy analogy, the Nets new home the Barclay’s Center had a number of bad bolts in it that could have led to serious structural issues.
• Ranking teams on how well and often they shoot the corner three, which is one of the most important shots in basketball. Teams that are really good at it this season include the Heat, Spurs and Knicks, not so coincidentally.
• I’ve never believed that they do, but here is some statistical evidence that those players-only meetings do help teams.
• Gregg Popovich, praising what Tiago Splitter brings to the table.
• Pretty soon you’re going to start seeing more and more D-League call ups to the NBA. Here’s a fantastic primer from Mark Deeks on guys to watch for.
• Boston just called Fab Melo back up from the D-League but only did so to better treat a concussion he suffered.
• Denver’s Ty Lawson is questionable for Thursday.
• The Hawks’ Larry Drew and the Clippers’ Vinny Del Negro today were named the NBA Eastern and Western Conference Coaches of the Month for December. Del Negro was pretty much a no brainer as his team went 16-0 and didn’t lose a game all month (should Vinny have to share the award with Chris Paul?). The Hawks are playing well this season for Drew and were 10-5 in the month.
• Along those same lines, the Heat’s LeBron James and the Clippers’ Chris Paul have been named Players of the Month by the league. Again this is about as shocking as Democrats and Republicans fighting about anything and everything.