Mavs

Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN’s TrueHoop and ClipperBlog talks Western Conference NBA with us today for the long-awaited Talking About Practice: Episode 4.

Kevin just saw his Clippers get smacked around by the Rockets on Wednesday night, so we start with Houston and that inevitably leads into some talk about efficiency and advanced stats. But we get back to talking about more general Western Conference stuff before long, focusing on the Lakers, Nuggets, Mavs and, of course, the Clippers. The stylistic reconstruction that has revived Al Thornton’s career is discussed and we analyze this as something that may fit into the ad-hoc termed “Josh Smith Corollary” that centers around a player forgoing the things on the court that he doesn’t do well and, instead, increasing his utility and efficiency to the team by concentrating on the things he does do well. Josh Smith has famously sworn off of three-point shots this season, and Kevin has seen a similar change in Thornton. We speculate as to whether other guys like Carlos Boozer are or can benefit from such self-realization.

We also chat about ESPN’s TrueHoop Network. Given my involvement in that whole thing via Eight Points, Nine Seconds, I’m admittedly not the best person to be asking Kevin about this stuff. But it is a big topic and an intriguing development in not just NBA circles but in the evolution of the sports blogosphere at large, as anyone who attended either of the Blogs With Balls sports blogging conferences this year can attest to.

And for all you 80s sitcom fans, we also talk for a solid 10 minutes about Benson. Not sure how that happened, but we were able to come to at least one thrilling revelation. I’m not going to spoil the amazing payoff that will surely be sweeping the collective mind of America come this afternoon, but let’s just say that one of the world’s great mysteries has been solved.

I would also be remiss if I failed to give a shout out to our boy AI. (That’s what it’s called in “radio,” right? A “shout out”?) There would be no Talking About Practice without you, Mr. Answer, and, frankly, I wasn’t ready for an NBA without you either.

Welcome back.

And as always, you can subscribe to Talking About Practice on iTunes, where rankings and reviews are appreciated.

Known Associates: Al Thornton, Benson, Blogs With Balls, Carlos Boozer, Clippers, ESPN, Josh Smith, Kevin Arnovitz, Lakers, Mavs, Nuggets, Rockets, Talking About Practice, The Answer, TrueHoop Network

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