Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyip3XVagLE

My case for the Lakers as the West’s best.  Enjoy.

This was our latest, discussing this week’s blockbuster deals around the league.  When asked, I argued that while the Nets got the superior player, New York had the better trade, just simply by virtue of having Anthony locked in definitively.

• Digging through the crates (of last week) with Dave Berri in this fantastic breakdown showing the Houston Rockets to be the ultimate team: “The Rockets are currently led by Kevin Martin, Shane Battier, and Kyle Lowry.  This trio has produced 14.1 wins this season, or 54.8% of the team’s total.  If this trio was what we had typically seen in the NBA – where a team’s top trio produces 76% of a team’s wins – then the Rockets would currently have about 18 Wins Produced.  And that would put them on pace for about 30 wins this year.  Just as we have seen across the past decade, though, the Rockets are much more than their top three players.”

• Once again, I’m very late in linking to occasional Red94 contributor and constant world-contributor Josh Frankel’s hilarious illustration of all that ails the NBA as we pass the halfway point of this season.

• Adrian Wojnarowski takes a break from all of the Carmelo drama to tell a very weird story of an almost-comeback from Reggie Miller that may have cost the lanky gunner a title.

• Hey, I’ve got an idea for a blog. It’ll just be really handsome looking with great videos of NBA players and their ridiculous crossover moves, with some heady commentary to boot. Oh, wait. That would be Shaky Ankles, Michael Pina’s very cool creation featuring dopeness like Dwyane Wade flinging Ronnie Price across the court without touching him. Damnit, I thought I had a winner with that one.

• Shane Battier wants to be a teacher after he retires, teaching life skills to high-schoolers. Pretty noble of the shutdown wing man, though I would have expected something a bit more erudite from the NBA’s smartest guy.