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In his latest blog, TSN NBA Analyst Jack Armstrong looks at the latest offseason acquistions made and the rumour mill on Rudy Gay. 1. ERIC BLEDSOE (Suns): I love this acquisition for Phoenix. I love his potential and like the fact that hes a two-way player with a good level of competitive spirit to him. Hell add some life to that team and set a good tone for them. Im sure well see Kendall Marshall or Goran Dragic being moved after this trade. Bledsoe needs to play and get a chance to play thru his mistakes in order for him to get to the next gear. If Dragic stays, I could see them playing small ball with the two of them and make folks match them. Dragic was brought in by the previous administration, so all bets are off. Suns look like theyre all in on Bledsoe. Good pick up. 2. DAVID WEST (Pacers): There were lots of question marks when Larry Bird signed him a few years back coming off the knee injury in New Orleans. It was a gamble that paid off well for both sides. Hes a fierce competitor and fits their team beautifully. And it was done in a professional and understated fashion. This relationship works in many ways and its good to see an organization that has gotten up off the mat after the Malice in the Palace doing business the way theyve done it for Years and Years in a decisive/basketball oriented way with true substance and minimal flash. 3. JJ REDICK & JARED DUDLEY (Clippers): I love these pickups by L.A.! They knew they couldnt hold on to Eric Bledsoe and theres nothing like having perimeter players that know how to play. These two have terrific basketball sense and theyre winners. Redick can stroke it and has better than adequate floor skills. And hell compete defensively in spite of being a step slow. Dudley is a classic overachiever - I loved him at Boston College and hes been one of those guys that the stats are always a bit deceiving. He makes fundamentally sound plays and Doc Rivers will enjoy Coaching him. 4. RUDY GAY (Raptors): Theres rumors flying around that the Pistons would offer Toronto the expiring contracts of Rodney Stuckey and former Raptor Charlie Villanueva for Gay. Im sure other teams with cap money to spend might try to get in on the action if Gay is going to be available. Bottom line, a move with him and/or DeMar DeRozan will tell us lots about which direction Raptors GM Masai Ujiri is going to take this in his first year. Make a run at one of the three final playoff spots in the East that I think will be wide open for the taking (with the direction that the Celtics, Hawks and Bucks look like theyre taking) or shed assets, gain future picks, acquire talented young players with favorable early contracts and improve the cap outlook with the goal of improving the chances of getting a transformative draft pick next June 2014. 5. MIKE DUNLEAVY, JR (Bulls): I like this pickup for Chicago. Hell fit their system and I love his shooting ability and hoops IQ playing with this squad. Hell get lots of looks with Derrick Roses penetration. Hes a coachs son, gets the whole team concept and will be a reliable, efficient and steady player for them. A good teammate. Cheap Adidas NMD 2019 .5 million, one-year contract on Friday. Hawkins, who turns 41 in December, will compete with Rex Brothers for the closers role at spring training. Adidas NMD R1 Clearance . Ashley Youngs cross was inadvertently headed by Chester into his own net in the 66th minute, allowing United to claim a third straight league win. "We had to dig deep with our fighting spirit and weve done that," United striker Wayne Rooney said. http://www.cheapnmdonline.com/ .com) - The Montreal Canadiens embark on their first road trip of the season as they head out west to battle the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. Adidas NMD Triple Black For Sale . According to a report from the Winnipeg Free Press, the Bombers will name Acting GM Kyle Walters to the post full time. Adidas NMD Clearance . -- The Magic have their first victory of the new year. The Oklahoma City Thunders two worst losses this season -- a 26-point loss to the Golden State Warriors in Kevin Durants first game against his former team last month and a 19-point loss to the Portland Trail Blazers Tuesday night -- share something in common, and its not just that I happened to attend both of them.Those performances were also Oklahoma Citys two worst games of the season in terms of finishing around the basket. That fact has important implications for how teams defend the Thunder and MVP candidate Russell Westbrook -- who had two of his three worst games of the season by game score at Golden State and Portland -- going forward.Oklahoma City lives in the painted areaIn a league obsessed with the 3-pointer, the Thunder have never been that team, and this season -- without Durant -- they are especially anemic from outside. While Oklahoma City ranks in the middle of the pack in attempting 3s, the teams 32.8 percent accuracy ranks 26th in the league.Instead, the Thunders offense relies on beating a path to the rim. Oklahoma City takes a league-high 38.3 percent of its shots in the restricted area, per NBA.com/Stats.Naturally, Westbrook leads the charge. Only DeMarcus Cousins, at 8.9 per game, has averaged more attempts in the restricted area than Westbrook (8.8).While Westbrook is something of a volume finisher -- his 57.3 percent shooting on those attempts is worse than league average (60.2 percent) -- theyre such good shots that merely attempting them has been a good thing for the Thunder, except against the Warriors and Blazers.Packing the paint against Oklahoma CityThe combination of the Thunders non-shooting and effectiveness getting to the basket leads to an inevitable conclusion: The best way to stop Oklahoma City is to pack the paint defensively, sagging off shooters and creating extra resistance around the rim.Nobody has achieved that better than Portland did Tuesday. After the game, Blazers coach Terry Stotts highlighted his teams presence in the paint -- not just the guy guarding [Westbrook] or the screener, but everybody. I thought that was effective for us.What did that look like?In the play above, Westbrook has drawn a favorable switch, getting matched up against Portland center Mason Plumlee. But the slower Plumlee has reinforcements. All four other Blazers have at least one foot in the paint, including Allen Crabbe playing far off his assignment (Andre Roberson, a 30.4 percent 3-point shooter).With so much help behind him, Plumlee could comfortably play up on Westbrook and force him to shoot a contested jumper that the Thunder guard missed.When Westbrook did get into the paint, he found a big man in his ppath with enough help to recover and defend after a Westbrook pass.ddddddddddddIn this case, Enes Kanter missed a contested attempt over Meyers Leonard.Despite lacking a strong shot blocker, Portland actually has surrendered the leagues second-lowest shooting percentage in the restricted area at 55.8 percent this season. (The Utah Jazz, who host the Thunder tonight, are at 54.9 percent behind the more traditional rim protection of Rudy Gobert.)Against Oklahoma City, the Blazers were able to improve on that strong mark. The Thunder shot 43.2 percent, their season-worst mark, in the restricted area.Portland took advantage of the absence of Oklahoma City shooting guard Victor Oladipo, who leads the team with 51 3-pointers, to pack the paint more than normal. But the Warriors showed earlier this season the ability to generate similar results against a full-strength Thunder roster. Golden State did it by aggressively playing off Roberson and also conceding open 3s to rookie Domantas Sabonis, whos shot 42.4 percent from beyond the arc this season but averaged just one make per game.On the above play, for example, Draymond Green sits between Westbrook and the paint, paying little attention to his man (Sabonis) as Durant defends two Oklahoma City players while still getting in position to help.Can the Thunder beat a packed paint?Oklahoma City can mitigate the effect of aggressive paint-packing with good player movement off the ball, which makes it more difficult for one defender to handle two players.Overall, the Thunder have been reasonably effective offensively with Westbrook on the court, posting a 105.6 offensive rating, which would be good for 11th in the NBA this season. With Westbrook on the bench their offense collapses, averaging just 93.5 points per 100 possessions.Still, as the season goes on Oklahoma City can expect to see more teams following the lead of the Blazers and Warriors. Expect teams to be particularly aggressive packing the paint come the playoffs, when theyll have more time to game-plan for Oklahoma City. Already, NBA.coms John Schuhmann notes that the Thunder have the worst record of any current Western Conference playoff team against the rest of the conferences top eight, in large part because of their poor offense -- with games against Golden State and Portland factoring heavily into that.If Oklahoma City is to have success in the postseason, the team will have to find out a way to pull opponents away from the basket by making enough 3s to make them think twice about packing the paint. ' ' '