FanHouse JanneroPargo

Unless you're a diehard fan of either the Hornets, Bulls, or Lakers, you might not be all that familiar with the work of Jannero Pargo. He toiled mostly in obscurity throughout his six-year NBA career, and is now out of the league and playing for Olympiakos in Greece.

Pargo spent his first season and part of his second with the Lakers, and as such, got to see plenty of Kobe Bryant. He must have been watching really closely too, because in the following video, he does an almost perfect impression of one of Kobe's patented jump-shots.

Though members of the fanbase may think drastic upgrades are needed, it would seem that the Spurs are prepared to primarily hold the course going into next season. The Spurs re-signed veteran guard Michael Finley on Friday, according to MySA.com. Terms of the deal were not available, but his agentreported tht the deal was for more than the league minimum. Considering that Finely is 35, I wouldn't imagine it's a very long deal, either.

Finley rejected offers from the Celtics and from overseas to take another year with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and the rest of Greg Popovich's crew. The signing is another indication that the Spurs are more willing to go with an aging version of their championship squads than to pursue what they see as more risky options (*cough* Jannero Pargo).

Finley played sparingly last season, getting his usual share of big shots in the playoffs, but it's clear that the dropoff is increasing. The Spurs lost Brent Barry, who was the most productive of the older crew, while re-signing Kurt Thomas and taking their sweet time with Robert Horry. They did add Roger Mason earlier in the offseason, but one man does not a youth upgrade make. The key to the 2008-2009 season for the Spurs will not only be the health of the big three (Duncan, Parker, and Manu Ginobili), but the ability of the bench's remarkably ancient contingent to provide meaningful minutes.

We've got a NBA Overseas Defection Watch List Update for you, and we swear, we're running out of them. Former Hornets guard Jannero Pargo is headed to Moscow Dynamo, according to Woj over at Yahoo!. He'll be joining Bostjan Nachbar on the club.

Pargo is pretty much the epitome of feast or famine. He shot 39% last year, with a PER of 11.9. He also scored 30 points in a Western Conference playoff game against the Mavericks, and went down with his guns drawn versus the Spurs.

Pargo's a competent backup guard that was in a league that is short on competent backup guards. On one hand, for no team to have convinced him to stick around is kind of ridiculous. On the other, the fact that he's going to be pulling in $4 million in Russia guaranteed for a year is also kind of ridiculous. Pargo's likely to be back in the league next season, but he might want to learn some reservation. Maybe Moscow's a good place to pick that up.

Crystal Ballin' takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 26th NBA Draft.

Now that the Birdman (Ka-kaw) is back, the Hornets are really only one or two pieces away from contending for a championship that they could have won last year anyway. Which makes this pick tough -- New Orleans certainly has needs, but whether or not those can be immediately answered at 27 will determine whether they actually end up pulling the trigger on any first rounders.

Picks: #27

Needs: A scorer from the two. They need some frontcourt depth too, but they can acquire that without having to use a draft pick. Not to mention an immediate offensive impact shooting guard takes the pressure off of Peja and Chris Paul (vis a vis Jannero Pargo seeing more minutes at the point).

Best case scenario: Chris Douglas-Roberts or Courtney Lee somehow drops to the Hornets in the first ... which a lot of mocks actually have happening. I think they gets pulled on before then but, oh, the three letter nicknames we'd see. Give me a second, I'll figure something out for Lee.

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Hornets-Spurs Western Conference Semifinals Game 4 this afternoon.

1. Manu Happy Returns: Manu Ginobili returned to playoff form in Game 4, lighting up the Hornets for 31 points and 6 assists in Game 3. What's better, for the Spurs, is that he finally seemed to attack the rim after being held to the perimeter in New Orleans. Instead of his customary drive from the key, he instead used the wing more, driving in for albeit contested layups, and got back on defense instead of crying for the foul. Well, less so, anyway. He was downright brilliant offensively, though, nailing 3 three pointers and helping to open previously clogged lanes. He needs to repeat that performance tomorrow night against the Hornets for San Antonio to tie this thing up.

2. The Ineffective One Man Show: Chris Paul was a lot of things in Game 3. The words "amazing," "irradiant," and "transcendent" were just a few I read and heard about his performance. One word that did not describe Paul after that game, though, was "winner." The Spurs took a defending-Kobe-Bryant-like approach to Paul, choosing to let the All-Star point guard have his way, as long as his teammates were held in check. And for one game at least, the strategy proved effective. The issue will become whether they can keep the support players for New Orleans in check after a terrible Game 3 in which the Hornets were still within range until late in the fourth quarter. The Spurs also have to make sure Paul doesn't go too far. You can give the dog some slack to run around as long as he doesn't start choking you with it.

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Spurs-Hornets game tonight.

1. Matchup Madness: It honestly doesn't get much better than this for NBA matchup analysts. Tony Parker versus Chris Paul, a point guard cage match where Parker is suddenly the more experienced, larger point guard. Tim Duncan versus David West, where West's offensive versatility may enable him to be the only power forward in the league to hold Duncan to a draw. Throw in Tyson Chandler versus the Spurs' ability to attack the basket, the Hornets' ability to take away the Spurs' rebounding advantage, and you have a tactician's dream. All of that pales in comparison, though, to ...

2. Who Wants It More?: Yes, the clichéd question that abounds yearly in the NBA playoffs. Generally speaking, I don't subscribe much to this question. Phoenix didn't lose to San Antonio because the Spurs wanted it more. The Spurs won because San Antonio was able to take Manu Ginobili left to the hole whenever he wanted, and controlled the boards. Likewise, desire had nothing to do with Dallas' meltdown.

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Mavs-Hornets game tonight.

1. You Don't Have To Go Home But You Can't Stay Here: Fire Avery Johnson? Trade Dirk? Trade Josh Howard? All of those questions have to wait. The Mavericks aren't dead yet, and you don't bury the body till the soul is gone. It doesn't look good for the visitors, though. After an uplifting Game 3 went back and changed ... nothing. Not a thing. They said "We got the looks we wanted, they just didn't fall. They'll go in next time." And they did. All of the "JET can stop Paul!" talk was drowned out by this fact. Even if you stop Chris Paul, you let his weapons beat you. I want to believe, if only for the sake of dramatics, that the Mavs can turn this thing around. But in reality, this entire series has felt like the Mavericks were only a footnote for the Hornets' reclamation project. We'll see if the Mavericks are ready to call it a year or not.

2. Not Only Is The Future Now, The Past Is Then: You have to wonder if Jason Kidd may have irreparably harmed his legacy with this trade to Dallas. In New Jersey, he could have made the playoffs a few more years, collected a few dozen more tri-ple dou-bles and sailed off into the sunset. Now he's the old dude that can't keep up with Paul, who tried to decapitate Jannero Pargo, and may have ruined the Mavs' longterm flexibility. Kidd's still going to go down as one of the best in the game, but perhaps it would have been better to stay somewhere he could divert the criticism to others, like, oh, say, Vince Carter.

The Associated Press reports that Jason Kidd will not be suspended for his attempted decapitation of Jannero Pargo last night. This means Dallas can lose Game 5 in New Orleans on Tuesday without J.J. Barea being prominently involved.

No one seemed to call for Brendan Haywood's suspension based on his hit on LeBron last week, though a good chunk of pundits I've read this morning think Kidd deserves a night off. I'd count myself among those. On The Basketball Jones this morning, Kidd's flagrant was called "lazy defense." I disagree. Haywood's hit was lazy defense; he didn't rotate in time, and he gave LeBron a shove ... which was dumb, and could have seriously hurt the league's best player.

Kidd's transition defense was lazy. Once he had Pargo's head in his palm, though, he seemed far from lazy. Lazy people don't keep pushing down on someone's dome once they've horse-collared a guy. Lazy people don't put a little extra oomph into making sure the foul's a "hard, playoff foul." (Trust me, I know lazy defense.)

Just be glad this league decision didn't happen against Phoenix, or the Suns would be seceding from the NBA right about now. (This is a suspendable offense, but this isn't? Goodness.)

Jason Kidd picked up a flagrant-2 foul with 7:16 left in the fourth quarter and the Mavericks down 16 points to the Hornets at home. Kidd went up to defend against Jannero Pargo's drive to the hoop, and originally appeared to be defending the basket as casually as possible, until he wrapped his palm around Pargo's neck and didn't let go until Pargo hit the floor.



Kidd hung around by Cuban at the end of the entranceway to the locker room before heading out as the refs did a review to see whether it should be a FF2 or not, and uh, after you watch that sucker in full slow replay, it most definitely should. I bet Devin Harris wouldn't have done that.

Seriously though, that's a pretty bad time for the veteran/experienced point guard to get ejected because he's frustrated. I get that you're down 15 or so with not much time left, but it's the playoffs, Kidd. Back against the wall and what-not. Come on, man. Oh yeah, and that more or less accurately represents Dallas' collective understanding that this series is ov-ah.

HT: Odenized

Considering the enormous shadow that his 6-0 point guard casts, David West may be the best unsung player in the league, despite being an All-Star this season. West may have done as much as Paul to get a very inexperienced Hornets team to the 2nd best record in their conference. He averaged close to 21 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists, while establishing himself as one of the best power forwards in the game. At only 6-9, his offensive versatility has been key for the Hornets as he's managed to use his wide range of skills to torch teams with jumpers, drives, and post-up moves. Before the team started beating up on the Mavericks, I had a chance to talk to David.

FH: The pick and pop has been incredibly successful for the Hornets, especially with using you as the primary weapon. Is that set something you've always been familiar with, or is it something you've developed ?
DW: Well, no, it's something that's part of the NBA game, that I had to learn when I came in. It's really popular at this level. To a lot of people, it's the most valuable play in basketball. It's something you have to be effective at if you want to be successful.