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- Michael Pina of Red 94 has a wonderful take on the development of Kyle Lowry. One of the impressive pieces of that development has been his transformation into a semi-reliable three point shooter. As Pina points out, practice can’t be the only explanation or every motivated individual would be an NBA quality shooter. I spotted a few numbers which I think may add some complexity. Last season Lowry took a 27.2% 3PT% up to 37.6%. That’s a huge jump but it coincided with a huge drop in the percentage of his three point shots that were assisted on, 89.2% down to 63.6%. I haven’t watched enough of Kyle Lowry to say for sure, but perhaps he’s a player who’s jumpshot is more consistent when it comes off the dribble. Taking over as the full-time starter meant the ball was in his hand more and he could do more to create his own looks from behind the line.

- As a fan of the Trail Blazers, or basketball in general, if you could wave a single-use, orthopedic magic wand, who’s knees would you repair, Greg Oden’s or Brandon Roy’s?

- Tom Haberstroh shared a terrific interview he did with Dan Ariely, an expert in irrational behavior. This may come as a surprise, but he had plenty to say about both sides of the NBA lockout.

- The financial web site, 24/7 Wall Street, put together a list of Seven Pro Teams on the Brink Of Collapse. Three of the seven teams they select are from the NBA. The teams seem to have only been identified with the use of five specific criteria – 10-yr. change in attendance, 10-yr. win%, operating income (2010), year founded, and estimated value. Obviously this leaves out quite a few important factors in whether a team would actually fall apart. Still it was personally unnerving to see the Pacers on that list.

- I love new ways of graphically representing basketball data. Kudos to Corey Schmidt for his graphic representation of the different angles media coverage of Kansas senior TyShawn Taylor has taken over the past three seasons.

- Yesterday, ESPN reported there had been some discussion on what factors might determine the order of the 2010 NBA Draft if the entire season ends up being cancelled. It sounds as if the the most likely scenario would be a rank order based on the aggregate win% for each team over the past five seasons, with all the standard lottery structures in place. If so, the Minnesota Timberwolves would have the highest chance of ending up with #1. Thanks to @FredKatz for the reminder that the Los Angeles Clippers hold the rights to next year’s Timberwolves’ first round pick.