Carnival of the NBA - inaugural edition

I'm watching the new dream job and wondering why ESPN didn't put Tim Hardaway through that process before that disaster of a tenure...

But no time for that, onto the Carnival. For those don't know about blogging carnivals, it basically takes a subject and looks around the blogosphere to gather what the people are saying, er...blogging. So away we go...

With the trade deadline rapidly approaching, the guys at Celticsblog look at the C's expiring contracts and young talent and wonder if GM Danny Ainge has something major up his sleeve, or at least something with Gary Payton...

Knickerblogger is one step away from bringing a 'Free Michael Sweetney' sign to the Garden, seeing that his per-minute production exceeds those playing ahead of him. But then there is the question of how much we can trust those pesky per-minute statistics

According to the general public, per minute stats are bad way of assessing a player's ability, but are more important than per-game stats. They are a useful measurement that changes with a player's minutes, and are ridiculous and meaningless.

Also, looks like he picked the All-Star MVP right...not bad.

Maverick Blog (not to be confused with that blog) is also having fun with stats, tying the subjective (all-defensive team votes) and the objective (+/- stats) to rank the NBA's best defensive players...

Forum Blue and Gold looks at the race for the last Western Conference playoff spot, with the Lakers currently holding it with Denver and Minnesota on the outside looking in. But Kurt believes chances are good they'll keep the spot:

I’d rather be the one being chased rather than the chaser. For all the problems the Lakers have had thisseason — lack of a team identity, losing a coach, Kobe missing 14 games — they are still in the playoffs and can make a push. I like our chances.

On the other end of that 'chase', Timberwolves blog is still trying to pick up the pieces of the Wolves' shockingly disappointing season so far. GH is unimpressed with a recent win over the Nets, while Petey looks at Chad Ford's trade scenarios for the likes of Sprewell, Cassell, and Sczerbiak, suggesting maybe a trade with the Celtics would work out better...

Speaking of Spree and Cassell, Spurs Blog is pretty angry at them(to put it lightly) for tanking on a team with someone like Kevin Garnett, who as shown by his recent TNT interview is pretty much the anti-Sprewell in terms of where his priorities lie:

At this point I'm getting emotional-- some sadness but mostly anger. I need to get some things out in the open, things that no sportswriter has the guts to write, and I'm going to be as blunt as possible.

SuperSonicSoul gives props to those Sonics in the all-star game, which allowed me to see that they've given point guard Luke Ridnour the nickname Lil' Frodo. But that suggestion of bringing back the old-times time? I hope (and think) it was a joke...

As I mentioned last week, Scott at Raptorblog has some kind words for the Bulls...

Hornets247.com has an extended baselines column, which points out that that the Bobcats and Hawks may actually be worse than his Hornets...

The recently updated Les Bullez wonders aloud what kind of excuse for a halftimeshow he just witnessed during the All-Star game. I personally didn't watch it, but the musical selections seen odd at best. Like it is writing about the Bulls, it has to be fun writing about the Wizards, a team that is having a great season and growing every game...

Another East power is Miami, and David Eisenberg over at Crazy from the Heat is rolling out the red carpet for the return of Alonzo Mourning, but kind of wishes that Wes Person will get released instead of (as reported) Wang Zhi-Zhi.

Would you rather have an over-the-hill shooter or a 27-year old 7-footer sitting on IR? Seems to me an easy call.

Like Sweetney, Wang shows great per-minute production...

NBAFanBlog has spent the past couple of weeks giving midseason status reports for all teams, and is now relaying all the trade-chatter surrounding the aforementioned deadline...

BlazerTalk, where I first learned of the Darius-Miles-suspension-payoff-gate, looks like its taking a break from the hoops and taking some scenic pictures of Oregon. With the way the Blazers have been this season, hard to blame them.

Hey! that was fun, hope you take some time and check out the links mentioned in this week's carnival. That's right, I'll try and do this weekly, although I've noticed that other carnivals are rotated among bloggers(hint hint).