We hear it all the time. NBA analysts call one point guard “pass-first” and another “shoot-first.” Or they say one guy is “turnover-prone” while another “takes care of the ball.” But really, what makes a player a “pass-first” point guard? How carefree must he be with the ball to be considered “turnover-prone”?

I first tackled this subject two years ago, and settled on the shot-to-assist ratio to determine whether a player is “pass-first” or “shoot-first.” The higher the number, the more of a “shoot-first” player he is. To determine whether or not a player is “turnover-prone,” I calculated each player’s assist-to-turnover ratio. The higher the number, the better the player is at taking care of the ball.

I narrowed the list of players to 33, one for each team plus a few extra for teams like Cleveland, Sacramento and Denver, who have a couple of players manning the position. I also added eight prospects (indicated in green) just to see where a few of the younger guys land. Here’s the graph — it’s small, but if you click it, you’ll get to a bigger version:

So the pass-first/shoot-first aspect goes left to right, and the turnover-prone players will be towards the bottom, while the guys that take really good care of the ball will be up top. Players indicated with a blue diamond are in the Top 10 in this group in Efficiency Per Minute. I set the axis for each category at the average of the 33 players in question, so 1.97 for FGA-to-assist and 2.70 assist-to-turnover.

Two years ago when I conducted this study, seven of the top 10 EPM performers were in the top left quadrant (pass-first, takes care of the ball). This year, only five of the top 11 (I included both Rondo and Calderon, since they tied for #11) are in that quadrant. This is due to the emergence of three shoot-first, (fairly) turnover-prone guards who are emerging as stars: Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook and Stephen Curry.

A few takeaways:

Ty Lawson looks like a star. He is #13 in this group in EPM, so if he can continue to post big numbers in bigger minutes he’s poised to join the Top 10 sometime soon.

Kyle Lowry isn’t too far behind him. It’s not clear if Houston has decided that Lowry is their point guard of the future, but he is #16 in EPM and is well above average in assist-to-turnover ratio.

Brandon Jennings can still become a Top 10 point guard. Two years ago, I would have said that Jennings would have to drastically change his game to join the elite group of point guards, but with the way Rose, Westbrook and Curry have emerged, he can continue to be himself. One thing I’ve noticed with his game is that he has a tough time finishing around the hoop when he gets bumped, which is something that Westbrook and Rose excel at. Jennings needs to master the floater — that way, he can use his quickness to get into the lane pretty much any time he wants, and then get his shot off without taking a big hit.

Roddy Beaubois is an interesting prospect, but it’s doubtful he’s going to be a quality starter in this league… unless he changes his game to become more of a distributor. He doesn’t need to turn into Jason Kidd, but right now he’s an outlier so he needs to take better care of the ball and create a few more opportunities for teammates. You may notice that Tyreke Evans is very close to Beaubois, but he really needs to play shooting guard.

If John Wall can take care of the ball, he’ll be right there with Deron Williams. For a rookie, Wall’s numbers look great. Sure, he’s a little turnover prone, but no worse that Westbrook, Billups, Collison or Curry. He’s a playmaker, so once he cuts back on the turnovers, his assist-to-turnover ratio really has a chance to skyrocket. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s up in the area of Maynor and Lowry with a blue diamond next to his name in a couple of seasons.

I missed this tidbit from a TrueHoop post from about a week ago:

The Nuggets have a great offer on the table now, but might see some merit in stalling, too. For one thing, it’s hard to see what could happen to make the Nets’ current offer disappear. Derrick Favors has spent much of the season playing behind Kris Humphries in New Jersey, and unlikely to increase his market value drastically. Then there’s some gamesmanship surrounding the Nets’ 2011 draft pick. Very high picks like that one, used skillfully, are nearly essential ingredients to winning titles, and they’re damned hard to find. As the Nuggets root for that pick to be as high as possible, they root, of course, for the Nets to lose. And every loss matters, as a heated battle is under way for the NBA’s worst record. The 10-27 Nets have the NBA’s fifth-worst record today, but they’re a mere two games out of the 8-29 Cavaliers’ first, or last — depending on your perspective — place. Of course, the Nuggets can’t do anything to make the Nets lose more … or can they? Giving them an All-Star like Anthony may well cause the Nets to rip off some wins. It sounds a little out there, but one thought is that the longer the Nuggets keep Anthony from the Nets, the better that Nets’ pick is likely to be.

Gamesmanship, indeed.

Let’s assume that on Jan. 7 the Nuggets decided that the offer of Derrick Favors, Devin Harris and a first round pick for Melo and bad contracts was an agreeable offer. The trade deadline isn’t until Feb. 24, so during that span, the Nets would play 20 games. If the Nuggets were to trade Carmelo on Jan. 7, it would almost certainly help New Jersey’s win/loss record during that span. The Nets are currently winning at a .244 clip. Let’s make another assumption: They start winning at a .500 rate once Carmelo is on board. So that means they would go 10-10 during the 1/7 to 2/24 span instead of 5-15.

Those five wins could be very important come lottery time for the Nets’ 2011 first rounder that will no doubt be included in the Anthony trade. As an example, at the end of last season only four games separated the team with the third-worst record (Kings) from the team with the ninth-worst record (Knicks). As a result, the Kings had a 15.6% chance of landing the first overall pick while the Jazz (who had the Knicks’ pick) had just a 1.7% chance of winning the #1 pick.

So assuming that the Nets aren’t going to pull the offer from the table (and that Carmelo is agreeable to signing an extension with the Nets), Denver stands to benefit by dragging its feet as long as possible.

Per ESPN…

As of late Sunday night, sources said, New Jersey was poised to receive [Carmelo] Anthony, [Chauncey] Billups and [Rip] Hamilton, with Denver landing two future first-round picks and six players. The Nuggets’ haul would feature Nets rookie Derrick Favors, former All-Star guard Devin Harris and Nets sharpshooter Anthony Morrow. In addition, the Nuggets would bring in the New Jersey threesome of Quinton Ross, Ben Uzoh and Stephen Graham included for salary-cap purposes.

Detroit, meanwhile, was to receive Nets big man Johan Petro and the expiring contract of Nets forward Troy Murphy, with the Pistons motivated to join in by the $17-plus million in long-term savings they’d earn by shedding Hamilton’s contract.

Denver threw a wrench into the works by choosing to play Anthony and Billups in Sunday night’s game against New Orleans. Generally, if a player is about to be traded, the team sits him down until the deal is consummated to avoid a deal-killing injury. The Nuggets’ move indicates that the trade is not as close to the finish line as some would like to believe.

If this deal does go through, it looks fairly equitable from all sides. The Nets get their man, and they also upgrade (in the short term) at point guard. Billups is getting on in years so one wonders if the inclusion of Harris was at the Nuggets’ request. Denver would get a young prospect at power forward (Favors) and a proven guard (Harris) whom they can plug in at the point or move to another team for another piece to the rebuilding puzzle. I suspect that Ty Lawson is the future at point guard in Denver, and Harris could potentially bring in more talent later. After what happened to the Raptors and Cavs this summer, getting Favors and Harris for Anthony and Billups isn’t a bad haul. I’m sure there will be a first round draft pick or two included as well.

If anyone is wondering why Carmelo has apparently become agreeable to signing an extension with the Nets, it’s probably due to the Knicks’ inability to offer the Nuggets something equitable. If Melo finishes the season as a Nugget, the uncertainty of the next collective bargaining agreement could mean that Anthony would leave a lot of money on the table by passing on the Nuggets’ extension offer. In other words, he’d like to lock up his contract now, and since the Nets and Nuggets have worked out a deal in principle, Carmelo can start counting his money. Certainly the prospect of continuing his career with Billups in New Jersey/Brooklyn also has to help.

If this deal does go through as described, the Nets could have a starting lineup of Billups, Hamilton, Anthony, Kris Humphries and Brook Lopez. That might be enough to turn the Nets into a playoff team despite the 10-27 start. After all, they’re only five games out of the 8th and final playoff spot in the East.

LeBron is in some fairly hot water (…again…) after he spoke without thinking (…again). Here’s what he said about the idea of a less watered-down NBA.

“Hopefully the league can figure out one way where it can go back to the ’80s where you had three or four All-Stars, three or four superstars, three or four Hall of Famers on the same team,” James said. “The league was great. It wasn’t as watered down as it is [now].”

“[Contraction] is not my job; I’m a player but that is why it, the league, was so great,” James said.

“Imagine if you could take Kevin Love off Minnesota and add him to another team and you shrink the [league]. Looking at some of the teams that aren’t that great, you take Brook Lopez or you take Devin Harris off these teams that aren’t that good right now and you add him to a team that could be really good. Not saying let’s take New Jersey and let’s take Minnesota out of the league. But hey, you guys are not stupid, I’m not stupid, it would be great for the league.”

Anyone who knows the definition of ‘contraction’ knows that’s what LeBron is talking about here. Some people believe that it would be good for the NBA if there weren’t so many teams because there would be more stars on each team and the quality of play would go up. The downside with this strategy is teams (like Minnesota and New Jersey in LeBron’s example) would no longer exist.

So LeBron is in favor of contraction. Wait — no he’s not:

“That’s crazy, because I had no idea what the word ‘contraction’ meant before I saw it on the Internet,” James said after the Miami Heat’s practice Monday. “I never even mentioned that. That word never even came out of my mouth. I was just saying how the league was back in the ’80s and how it could be good again. I never said, ‘Let’s take some of the teams out.’ ”

“I’m with the players, and the players know that,” James said Monday. “I’ve been with the players. It’s not about getting guys out of the league or knocking teams out. I didn’t mean to upset nobody. I didn’t tell Avery Johnson to leave either. I didn’t say let’s abandon the Nets, and not let them move to Brooklyn or let’s tear down the Target Center in Minnesota. I never said that.”

Welcome to Semantics 101, with Professor LeBron. No, he didn’t say that we should be “knocking teams out,” but he did say how great it would be if the league weren’t so watered down, which would absolutely require fewer teams. He didn’t say the T-Wolves shouldn’t exist, but he did say it would be great if Minnesota’s star player were arbitrarily moved to another team. What happens to the T-Wolves in his world?

Just because he didn’t say the word contraction doesn’t mean that he didn’t come out in favor of contraction.

I like the Sportress of Blogitude‘s take on this:

Aha! That is sound, logical reasoning right there. How can LeBron be in favor of something if he has never even heard of the word until he saw it on the internet? Allow me to illustrate: let’s say – simply for the sake of argument only – that some misguided pundit argued that killing some of the babies born into the world every day would be an effective means of population control. Obviously, such a deplorable opinion would generate a lot of controversy. But if someone later asked said pundit how they possibly could be in favor of infanticide, that person could potentially argue that if they have never heard of the word “infanticide” before, how could they be in favor of it? Unless a person can identify the exact word which perfectly describes some particular act, they cannot in any way support said act, even if that person previously stated they were in favor of exactly what that particular word means. It’s all about semantics, you see.

Well played, LeBron. Well played. Your keen mastery of logic mystifies us all.

That about sums it up.

According to the New York Post (a bastion of honest, sober reporting if there ever was one), the Denver Nuggets are taking their sweet time committing to the four-team trade (discussed here in more detail) as they see if there are any better offers out there. As it is currently constructed, the Nuggets would received Derrick Favors, Andrei Kirilenko and two first round draft picks, which isn’t a bad haul all things considered.

Marc Stein of ESPN is reporting that the deal is in neutral and that the Nuggets are going to hope that Anthony shows up to the team’s media day on Monday and “beg him to stay.”

It’s not even clear if Anthony has signed off on the Nets by agreeing to sign the three-year extension required to get New Jersey to give up Derrick Favors and Devin Harris to acquire his rights.

Rumored four-team trades have a way of falling apart, but this story seems to have legs, so I’d peg the chances of this getting done at around 40%. This week should be interesting as the Nuggets’ camp opens and Anthony has to decide whether or not he wants to report to work.

The New Jersey Nets and ESPN analyst Avery Johnson have reached a verbal agreement to hire Johnson as the Nets’ new coach.

Johnson, who has been working for ESPN since his dismissal from the Dallas Mavericks after the 2007-08 season, was the NBA’s Coach of the Year in 2005 and took the Mavs to the NBA Finals in 2006. He posted a record of 194-70 in three-plus seasons, good for a winning percentage of .735, and will be reunited in New Jersey with point guard Devin Harris.

This could be a good thing for Harris, who had a nice season in Johnson’s last year in Dallas, averaging 14-2-5 and 48% shooting.

It strikes me as funny that it has taken Johnson this long to get another job. He was 190-74 (.735) in four seasons in Dallas and was the Coach of the Year in 2006.

Anyone outside of his entourage who claims to know what LeBron is going to do is being disingenuous. He loves the fact that he’s the center of attention even though the playoffs are still in full swing. He often speaks of July 1 in grandiose terms and that’s because, like most superstars, he has a very high opinion of himself.

That said, I found myself rooting for the Celtics in their series with the Cavs because as a writer, Cleveland’s early exit throws LeBron’s future to the wind. He could land any number of places.

Though the LeBron Tracker makes me a little nauseous, I thought I’d take a stab at handicapping where King James might end up. I’ll include the six teams that ESPN deemed worthy of making the top banner and add the Mavs for good measure. For each team, I’ll outline why he’d sign and why he wouldn’t. I’ll also rank (on a scale of 1-10) how he fits from a personnel standpoint.

In terms of fit, I look to the last few premier wings who have broken through and won at least one title as the best player on their team. I’m talking about Kobe Bryant, Paul Pierce, Dwyane Wade and Michael Jordan. What do they have in common? Kobe, Pierce and Wade all played with top notch big men — Gasol, Garnett and Shaq, respectively — while Jordan had Scottie Pippen. In other words, they all got to play with another All-NBA (Top 15) caliber player when they won their title.

They also enjoyed good coaching. Jordan and Kobe had Phil Jackson, Wade had Pat Riley and Doc Rivers did a great job of coaching the ’08 Celtics. They were also all surrounded by good shooters who could make teams pay for double-teaming their respective superstar.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the major players in line for LeBron’s services and try to handicap their chances of signing the league’s most valuable player.

CAVS (25%)
Why he’ll sign: Loyalty, comfort, familiarity. He’s from the area and he doesn’t want to leave town after an early postseason exit, as it would effectively destroy basketball in the city of Cleveland. Shaq will be gone and there’s an opportunity for an upgrade at head coach.
Why he won’t sign: Too much baggage. The franchise has had seven years to build around him and they’ve made just one Finals appearance. Suspect flexibility with the roster.
Fit: 5/10 The Cavs have a pretty good shooter at power forward (Antawn Jamison) and a good shooter at point guard (Mo Williams), but neither player is even average on defense. There are a lot of solid-to-good players on the roster, but no one approaches the Top 15 sidekick that helped the aforementioned wings win their titles. It’s tough to find that kind of player via trade, but that’s how Gasol, Garnett and Shaq came to play for the Lakers, Celtics and Heat. Cap-wise, if they re-sign LeBron, they won’t have any cap space to speak of until the summer of 2012 when Jamison’s salary is off the books.

KNICKS (25%)
Why he’ll sign: There’s enough cap space to sign Chris Bosh or Dwyane Wade, so the chance to play with another superstar. The Big Apple. Madison Square Garden. The opportunity to resurrect basketball in one of the world’s greatest cities. The chance to play for Mike D’Antoni, whom he knows through Team USA. LeBron’s ego is built for the Big Apple.
Why he won’t sign: The supporting cast isn’t good enough. D’Antoni doesn’t care enough about defense. The internet makes playing in a big market not as significant as in years past.
Fit: 8/10 A potential pairing with Chris Bosh (or Dirk Nowitzki) would be ideal. Dwyane Wade might work too, since Wade is a deadly crunch time scorer and there are plenty of shots to go around in D’Antoni’s up-tempo system. James Dolan isn’t afraid to spend, so the Knicks would be able to add title-hungry vets left and right. The Knicks are the one team that truly has the opportunity to build a roster around LeBron, and that might appeal to him.

BULLS (25%)
Why he’ll sign: A very nice supporting cast consisting of future Top 15er Derrick Rose, Luol Deng and Joakim Noah. It’s a chance to play for the team that MJ played for. There’s an opening at coach, so there’s flexibility there. The Bulls could potentially move Luol Deng and/or Kirk Hinrich in a sign-and-trade to bring another big name (Bosh?) to join the party.
Why he won’t sign: The Bulls will always be Jordan’s team. It could be tough to play with a ball-dominating guard like Rose. The Bulls are not known for acquiescing to their stars, and LeBron is used to having a big say in personnel decisions after seven years with the Cavs.
Fit: 7/10 There’s a lot of talent in Chicago, but it’s a questionable fit. Deng is a bit undersized to play the four, and the Bulls don’t have a lot of solid shooting at the complimentary positions. Rose could be the Top 15 sidekick LeBron needs, but since they both handle the ball so much, offensive flow is a concern. If the Bulls can swing a trade for a top-notch power forward, the fit becomes an 8/10 or 9/10.

HEAT (13%)
Why he’ll sign: Dwyane Wade. Dwyane Wade. Dwyane Wade. And if the Heat can give Michael Beasley away, they’d have enough cap space to sign a top-notch big man like Bosh, Nowitzki, Stoudemire or Boozer as well. Also, Pat Riley said that he could return to the bench if need be, which would give LeBron the experienced coach that he craves. Oh, and the weather’s nice, too.
Why he won’t sign: Miami is Wade’s town and they have a recent title, so LeBron’s arrival wouldn’t mean as much as it would elsewhere. Plus, Heat fans don’t seem terribly loyal; there were usually plenty of good seats still available this season, and the Heat made the playoffs.
Fit: 7/10 It’s not clear how a LeBron/Wade dynamic would work, especially in crunch time. Does LeBron play off of Wade, or vice versa? Still, you’d think that with two Top 5 players, they’d find a way to make it work. Again, if the Heat are able to move Beasley and sign a star big man, the fit rises to 8/10.

NETS (5%)
Why he’ll sign: Brook Lopez is a future All-Star and, despite his lackluster season, Devin Harris is a nice point guard. The Nets have the #3 pick, which could turn into Evan Turner or Derrick Favors. New owner Mikhail Prokorov has money coming out of his ears and would likely spend whatever’s necessary to surround LeBron with the best supporting cast possible. The pending move to Brooklyn would put LeBron in NYC.
Why he won’t sign: This was the worst team in the league last season and it could take a while before the supporting cast is championship-ready. The move to Brooklyn is nice, but it’s still at least two years off — does LeBron want to play in Newark for two years in his prime? Doubtful.
Fit: 7/10 It’s the same issue as in Chicago and Miami — can LeBron play with a ball-dominating guard? But Harris would gladly defer while Rose and Wade may not. The Nets have a great young big man in Lopez, something that the Heat and Bulls can’t offer right now. However, he’s not a court-spacer like Bosh or Nowitzki are.

MAVS (5%)
Why he’ll sign: He and Dirk would create a terrific pick-and-pop combination. Mark Cuban has proven that he’s willing to spend in order to build a winner. There are several good players already in place.
Why he won’t sign: The Mavs and Cavs may not be able to work out a deal. In the West, the Lakers still rule and would make a Finals appearance that much tougher.
Fit: 7/10 Jason Kidd is a sharpshooter now, and with Jason Terry at the other guard spot, LeBron would be surrounded by shooters. However, the Mavs are getting older so the championship window seems smaller than some of his other options. The presence of the Lakers makes this move quite risky.

CLIPPERS (2%)
Why he’ll sign: The Clippers need a small forward and LeBron would have a chance to play with a good, relatively young supporting cast. It’s Los Angeles and he can battle with Kobe for the key to the city.
Why he won’t sign: It’s the Clippers. They’re cursed. Why does he want to share a city with Kobe? Baron Davis is a ball-dominating guard. Moving to the West means that he’ll have to deal with the Lakers in the postseason.
Fit: 6/10 LeBron and Blake Griffin could make a nasty one-two punch. Eric Gordon is an up-and-coming two guard and Davis can still make plays at the point. Chris Kaman is an All-Star center. Davis would have to defer and it’s not clear how he and Gordon would perform as spot-up shooters.

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