There was a rather revealing article regarding Theo Ratliff’s defensive prowess, or lack thereof, back when he was still a relevant commodity. It went somewhere along the lines of yes, he leads the league in blocks, but actually, he’s a below average defender at his position. Why? Because the main reason he gets so many blocks in the first place is because he lets his man get by him constantly. His blocks are always from behind, and while he does do that part well, there are plenty other times when he isn’t able to correct his mistake. Better to have someone who is able to stay on his man and force him into taking a low percentage shot.

Moon is similar in this regard. I don’t know what % of his blocks were from behind, but you have to also remember that he goes for the block *every* shot/pump-fake. He may have been good at some other aspects of defense, but he was horrible at playing the kind of smart defense that doesn’t show up on a box score, hence the Raptors being torched by opposing swingmen every single game.

On a similar note, some news outlet dubbed Joey Graham as a “superb defender” when they wrote about Cleveland’s interest in him. So I guess teams must be clamoring for Joey’s services now, but what I want to know is who is better? Superb defender Joey Graham or solid defender Jamario Moon?

Do try to remember, though, that when comparing contracts, the context is important. Jack received more as a RFA to ensure Indiana wouldn’t match. Moon received more as a RFA to ensure Miami wouldn’t match. Barnes received less as a UFA because the deal is essentially a one-year showcase for a better deal next off-season. Which leaves Delfino, who doesn’t quite fit any of the above situations. Normally, he should receive closer to what Barnes is getting if re-signed by Toronto; closer to what Moon is getting if signed to an offer sheet by another team. However, and this is what sucks, it’s his leverage and not his actual worth that is warranting a $5 mil/year figure.

None of this means Moon is worth what he’ll be getting with Cleveland though.

Nocioni’s overrated. And he’s Argentinian, not Spanish.

If you think this could be good right know, something like this could be worked

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=n4k5mf

Not sure if the king could bite but, two expiring deals and Wright defense could do it. They would also save a lot of money in the future by trading nocioni. We just won’t use George and Banks, so it’s basically nocioni for wright

That’s how i saw the finished roster right before the turk trade

PG: Calderon/Ukic/Banks
SG: DeRozan/Delfino/Wright (or Almond via Free agency)
SF: Turk/Kleiza/George (or joey?)
PF: Bosh/Evans/Pops
C: Andrea/Rasho/POB

That’s a good roster in my opinion, a Second Round of the playoffs roster. Not impossible to get. With Banks, Joey or George and POB desactivated and with Wright and one of pops or evans out of the rotation

Now, right before the Jack’s signing, and after the summer league and the words of the GM and his assistent saying that douby will probably have a spot in the roster, it’s a little different. This is how i see it

PG: Calderon/Jack/Douby/Ukic/Banks are you kidding me? 5 PG? it’s insane
SG:De Rozan/Delfino/Wright with Jack playing a lot at the SG
SF: Turk/George (or joey?) with Carlos playing most of the back up SF
PF: Bosh/Evans
C: Andrea/Rasho/POB

Actualy, i like a lot more the first roster i saw, it’s more balance, now we have 5 possible pg with only 2 playing regulary (and maybe one of ukic and douby) only one valuable SF and only 2 PF

By the way, I like almond much more than Wright

When talking about LeBron, don’t forget that the Cavs are owned 15% (not sure about the correct %), so if they know what they’re doing there’s a chance for him to make MUCH more through endorsements/branding in Cleveland than NY.

Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.

In this case, the argument isn’t ‘let’s bring back Joey for $5mill/year and see if we can get him starting by the all star break, we know he’s got it in him!’, it’s ‘let’s see if we can get him at a heavily discounted rate where his role is clearly defined as a back-up to step in and play 10-15 minutes of hustle basketball while Hedo rests his back. If that’s what we’re looking for and Joey’s the best option/value, then why not at least consider it?

It’s asinine to simply say that because he was once on the Raps, he should never play here again unless your initials stand for Vince Carter