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 more than Slovenian basketball fans love Goran Dragic right now (he carried them to a EuroBasket win)...
• The details of the incident that led to the DeAndre Liggins domestic assault charges have come out and it is ugly. According to court documents obtained by the Oklahoman, Liggins’ girlfriend said the Thunder player “hit her in the head with his hand and then punched her in the head when she fell on the ground” and all of that in front of their 2-year-old son. After that the woman locker herself in her bedroom but “Liggins reportedly kicked in the door, pushed her down, dropped a fan on her, stomped her with his foot and dropped an Xbox on her head.”
This is all still alleged, but if true the court should not be lenient in this case.
• While we are on this ugly topic, current Sixers Royce White (who has yet to play in the NBA) is under investigation for a domestic violence situation, reports TMZ. I’d say this would hurt White’s chances of ever getting on an NBA court, but I don’t think those chances were all that good anyway.
• The business school at Emory University did a study and ranking of the social media equity among NBA teams. The top five (in order): Lakers, Heat, Celtics, Bobcats, Warriors. Dead last are your Los Angeles Clippers.
• Dave McMenamin of ESPNLA with a fantastic story on Lamar Odom and why so many people around the league are rooting for him. Very emotional, personal stuff that couldn’t have been easy to write.
• The Kamanetzky Brothers had Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers on their podcast to talk Kobe Bryant, Mike D’Antoni and all things Lakers. Plus some Big Lebowski. They all wore socks during the making of the podcast, you can decide where for yourself.
• Forcing a lot of turnovers on defense doesn’t seem to help your offense as much as you would think (the idea is easy baskets in transition, but not so much).
• The smart bloggers over at Sports Illustrated take a look at the bubble playoff teams out there now. I’m with them that I think the Lakers miss the cut because their defense will be bad.
• Make of this whatever you want, but know he will get teased about this in the Nuggets locker room.
https://twitter.com/EvanFourmizz/statuses/375060624239112192
• Landry Fields is still trying to rehab from his elbow injury and as part of that has restructured his shot.
• Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and the team trying to build a new arena for the Kings in Sacramento announced Wednesday a new deal with the area construction unions on getting the project build. For those of you who love bureaucratic jargon it is a “Community Workforce and Training Agreement” and it covers the hiring and oversight of the more than 3,000 workers expected on the project. Part of the deal is that 60% of construction workers and 70% of apprentices get hired from the City of Sacramento and surrounding region. Which seems fair. This is all just another sign that project is moving along well.
• Andre Drummond is dating Jennette McCurdy. If you don’t know who McCurdy is, go ask your tween daughter.
• Here’s a long look at the future salary obligations of the 76ers, and how much room GM Sam Hinkie could have going forward. I think this takes an optimistic attitude, for example I think the Sixers may well let Evan Turner become a restricted free agent then keep him at a lower price (he might be wise to take the qualifying offer rather than the pay cut).
• Over at TrueHoop, they have been taking a long look at ways to reduce tanking (know now tanking is going to be a big story the second half of this coming season). There are ideas such as the ludicrous tournament of non-playoff teams, but I still think the best way is to say every team that doesn’t make the playoffs has the same chance in the lottery — last season in the East the nine-seed Sixers and 15-seed Magic would have the same lottery odds. That way, no reason to be super terrible. Nothing will eliminate tanking (even in my scenario this season the 8 seed team may try to tank into the lottery rather than just get crushed by the Heat/Thunder/whoever are the top seeds) but this will stop some teams from dumping all talent to get as bad as they can.
• For the second straight year, Toronto’s Jonas Valanciunas was named the 2012 FIBA Europe Young Men’s Player of the Year.