In advance of Monday's meeting in Dallas, I sent some questions about the Mavericks to Jonathan Tjarks of SBNation Dallas. My questions along with his answers are below, after the jump. Be sure to keep an eye on SBNation Dallas for my answers to his questions as well.

These Q&As are always fun and informative. There's nothing like getting the scouting report first hand from the guys that know the team best. Enjoy.

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So, Steve Perrin and our frenemies over at the OKC site, Welcome to Loud City had a little conversation about each other's favorite teams. Steve's answers to J.A. Sherman's questions are in the fanshot below or here, and J.A.'s answers follow the break. Unnerstand?

The Thunder are, of course, absolutely killing it with the best record in the NBA, and should be a good tough measuring stick for the Clips. And J.A. should have some pretty insightful opinons about the thing that is Thunder basketball.

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One of the advantages of belonging to the SBNation network is that I've got an 'in' with an expert in pretty much any sporting subject you can imagine.  If we wanted to get some perspective on whether Blake Griffin should consider a career in mixed martial arts, I could just ask the guys at Bloody Elbow.  (I just realized, I really should ask Andrew from Male Pattern Fitness for his perspective on Griffin's insane training regimen with Frank Matrisciano.)  For now, I've asked the terrific SB Nation Oklahoma Sooners blog Crimson and Cream Machine to share some insights from Blake's college career.

Clips Nation:  Blake Griffin averaged 24.7 points, 14.4 rebounds and 65.4% shooting last season at Oklahoma. Wow. I mean, just wow. I'm trying to imagine what a detractor might say about those numbers. He didn't play against great competition? Well, the Big 12 ain't the Patriot League. He doesn't have a jump shot? Well, given that he shot 65% against constant double teams, seems like he didn't need one. So I guess I'm asking, are those numbers as amazing as I think they are? If you had to put on your 'constructive criticism' hat, what could you say about Blake's sophomore season?

Crimson and Cream Machine: Blake took great strides in developing his jump shot from his freshman to sophomore years. While it still isn't perfected he's come a long way and reached the point where defenders had to play him out of the paint. His high shooting percentage just verifies that he was unstoppable under the basket and if he continues to develop a jump shot then look out!

My "constructive criticism" would be his performance from the charity stripe. Griffin shot a dismal 59% from the free throw line. His style of play gets him to the line often and his 133 misses were wasted opportunity.

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All good Clipper fans have two blogs bookmarked:  ClipsNation and Clipperblog.  Kevin Arnovitz began writing Clipperblog in early 2006, a couple months before I started blogging about the Clippers myself.  Over three years later, a lot has changed in the NBA blogosphere, and I don't think either or us had any idea what we were getting into.  But if I'm half the blogger Kevin is, then the Clippers as a team don't deserve the quality blogging they inspire.  I've always loved Kevin's work (no one writing about the NBA in any medium breaks down plays better) and we see each other at Clipper games and talk from time to time.  But we've never collaborated on the blogs - until now.  When we ran into each other at the Clippers training facility the day after the lottery, we dove into a discussion about the team and realized that it was good stuff that our collective communities would lap up with a spoon.  We thought about just firing up the digital recorders then and there, but decided that maybe an email exchange would be more accessible.  This series, which will play out over the next week or so, is the result.

The conversation continues:  Part Two

From: Kevin Arnovitz
To: Steve Perrin
Date: June 3, 2009

Steve:

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where to begin a dialogue about the state of the Clippers. Should we zero in on the upcoming draft and the prospect of Blake Griffin joining the team?  Should we fully diagnose what the Clippers need to do on their long road back to respectability?  Should we take a look at the franchise from 30,000 feet and survey all the destruction since the hopeful days of the youth movement and the 2005-06 run? Should we answer the persistent, facile "It’s the Clippers" rap that infects most discussions about the club? I suspect we’ll touch on all the above.

I hit a crisis point this last season trying to blog the Clippers. I started Clipperblog in the winter of 2006 because the team was playing quality basketball that was, by and large, going uncovered. The basketball is what lured me to the blogosphere and what kept me writing late into the night. The Clippers were only a middle-of-the-pack offensive squad that season, but more nights than not, they exhibited a coherent, watchable brand of basketball — and, man, did they play some good defense. Breaking down Clippers games was a fun exercise, and even when they played badly, the loss was part of a larger narrative that meant something.

Maybe I’m the fair-weather type, but if the basketball isn’t worth a thoughtful critical analysis, I have a difficult time maintaining interest. That might be more of a commentary on the craft of blogging than it is on the Los Angeles Clippers. I imagine most restaurant critics love their jobs — but what would happen if they were restricted to only the worst joints in town?

Last season, the Clippers ceased to be interesting from a basketball standpoint with a few exceptions — Eric Gordon’s maturation, the two or three Mike Taylor games, the challenge of getting a limited, but prolific shooter like Steve Novak shots. Apart from that, it was painful to dissect — much more so than the losing teams at the beginning of the decade. To put it in the simplest possible terms, I have no idea what the current team aspires to be, what it wants to accomplish on a given offensive possession, or hopes to deny on a defensive one.

There’s something instructive about having this conversation in the shadow of the NBA Finals. Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen a lot of good basketball played by smart, well-assembled teams who know what they’re doing. In contrast to what we had to endure for six months, Orlando has been a revelation of what an adroit system looks like in the hands of players who understand (and have been conditioned to understand) how to maximize their talents on the floor. It isn’t just the Magic. Houston demonstrated what a franchise can do by making good choices with empirical savvy. The Bulls, decimated by injuries and reconstructed on the fly, still  achieved a measure of success, even with an unexceptional coach. The Nuggets weren’t expected to compete for anything this season, but by not being afraid to take risks, Mark Warkentien remade a team with a semi-toxic culture into a winner.

Let’s fast forward exactly one year. In an ideal world, is there a hypothetical sentence about the 2009-10 Clippers that could fit snugly at the end of the preceding paragraph?

Click here to read Part Two.

In advance of the Grizzlies game, I exchanged another set of questions with the fine Grizzlies blog, 3 Shades of Blue.  I know I learned something.  For instance, I didn't realize that Lionel Hollins had been given an 18 month contract, although I probably should have.

ClipperSteve:  The Grizzlies began the season with a glut of young point guards - Mike Conley, Kyle Lowry and Javaris Crittendon were all there, and some even thought that O.J. Mayo might be able to play some point. Now Lowry and Crittendon are both gone. So I have a few questions for you: Did you feel good about what you got back (a couple of first round picks, though neither seems likely to be high) for Crittendon and Lowry? Did the Grizz pick the right horse by giving the job to Conley? Does Mayo have any point guard in his future, or is he a pure shooting guard (I think I know the answer to that last one)?

3 Shades of Blue:  I'm fine with what we got in return for both Critt and Lowry, which was the return of our heavily protected 1st round pick from the Wizards from the Juan Carlos Navarro trade the year before and Orlando's 1st round pick, respectively. Critt is...a project, to be kind and Lowry is Earl Watson, Part 2 in my opinion. So it goes without saying that I'm happy that they finally decided to give the keys to Mike Conley without having him "compete" to be the starter, when the job should have been his from Day One anyways. I thought the team did the right thing by having Damon Stoudamire start games last season, so that he didn't get thrown into the fire right away, but screwed things up by splitting time equally between Conley and Lowry, often pulling him after the most common of mistakes.

Mayo was a PG through Junior High and High School, but was moved to SG at USC as a necessity. In the same manner, he is the best SG the Grizzlies have, while they have a decent (at worst) PG in Conley, so he gets to play the 2 here in Memphis. Head coach Lionel Hollins actually came out and said that Mayo isn't a point guard...and I agree with him. I think that Mayo has some point guard-like skills, but ultimately believe that he is best served to be a SG similar to Dwyane Wade, where he can be a facillitator when he needs to be, but his primary focus is on scoring. Of course, that's just my opinion, and there are plenty out there that believe that O.J. would be even better if he was moved to the 1. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see what comes of that.

CS:  Speaking of Mayo, we have a rookie shooting guard here in LA named Eric Gordon. Perhaps you've heard of him. Have you gotten to see him much? Can you compare and contrast his game to Mayo's? Did you ever think you'd see the day when the guy playing in Memphis had all the press, and the guy in LA was the relative unknown?

3SoB:  I've seen Gordon play about 8 times this year and he is very impressive. I'd love to see a 3-point shooting contest between Gordon and Mayo, as they possess two of the most beautiful jumpshots in the game today. Gordon has an advantage over Mayo in the athleticism department, as he has a quicker first step and explosiveness, but Mayo seems to be able to create better, both for himself and his teammates. I think their relative levels of exposure has more to do with their respective teammates than any difference in their talent levels. Baron Davis and Zack Randolph command a lot more ink than Rudy Gay and Mike Conley do, after all.

CS:  Sorry to ask Marko Jaric questions two Q&As in a row, but you have to admit, he's pretty fascinating right now. Marko has missed his last 21 field goal attempts heading into Tuesday night's game against the Lakers. He is 0 for 20 in six games since the All Star break, which just happens to be when he married Adriana Lima. So he's married to a Brazillian super model, and his jump shot has completely left him. Fair trade, right?

3SoB:  That's a trade that I think any of us would be willing to make. Especially since he still gets paid, regardless of whether or not he ever hits another shot. LOL

CS:  What's the latest on the head coaching job? Are they going to let Hollins start a season this time, or is he just the Designated Interim Coach for Memphis? If you were Chris Wallace, who would be on your short list? While you're at it, care to take a crack at fixing the Clippers' coaching situation?

3SoB:  Hollins is on an 18-month contract, meaning that he will definitely be the coach through the 2009/10 season, and has a 3 year option after that, which the organization can exercise if they decide that he is "working out".

If I were Chris Wallace, my short list would be very short indeed. And it wouldn't include any of the guys collecting paychecks talking about the game that constantly pop up whenever an opening comes up either. That means no Jeff Van Gundy, Avery Johnson, Doug Collins, et al. No, I'd probably take a flier on Flip Saunders as a good coach to get a young team into the playoff picture. If that failed, then I'd probably look for someone outside the normal venues, such as international coach David Blatt or the Grizzlies own assistant, Dave Joerger. Both men have extensive head coaching experience and have been very successful everywhere they have been, as well as having reputations for being very creative and inventive with their schemes on offense and defense.

The Clippers problems start with Mike Dunleavy and end with Donald Sterling. One can be fixed...the other is much more difficult to extricate, unfortunately. My condolences on that.

Thanks for playing!  Great answers as usual.  Keep an eye on 3 Shades of Blue for ClipperSteve answers to their questions.

Unfortunately, I haven't been doing too many of these Q&A's this season, which is too bad because they're always a lot of fun, and provide a great perspective.  I think you guys are going to particularly enjoy the Q&A that 3 Shades of Blue posted for this game - they asked their questions of both myself and Kevin from ClipperBlog, so you have your two favorite Clipper bloggers insights collected in one place.  (Kevin, pithy and succinct, Steve, verbose and detailed.) 

Here are the questions I asked of Joshua Coleman at 3SoB.  Check them out before the game, and be sure to link over there to read what Kevin and I had to say.

ClipperSteve: It's been 1 year and 5 days since Pau Gasol was sent to the Lakers.  Break it down for me with the benefit of some elapsed time.  How do you feel about it one year on?  Marc Gasol is obviously playing well.  But the Kwame money is pretty much just sitting there.

3SoB: With each day that goes by, I actually grow to like the Pau Gasol deal more and more.  Marc Gasol and Darrell Arthur (acquired with the Lakers' first round pick from that trade) are both playing well -- and the ability to get D.A. is what made it possible to give up Kevin Love to get O.J. Mayo.  Cause and effect can be a wonderful thing if you know how to trace things back up the line.  : )

I realize that plenty of fans of other teams are still annoyed that Chris Wallace "handed" the Lakers a great piece, but as he said in a recent interview with us, you cannot base trades on what it does for the other team.  You make trades to improve your own team, which is what he did then and continues to do.  It hasn't paid immediate dividends, but it looks promising for the future.

CS: Marko Jaric, Quinton Ross and Darius Miles.  You added three former Clippers in one season.  You may have already picked up on this, but I'm not sure that building your team around former Clippers is the way to go.  I notice that Marko has actually gotten some minutes lately - I'll assume that's because Lowry is hurt and Crittenton is gone.  How has he looked?  Marko did some things very well when he was a Clipper - he's a good defender and gets his hands on a lot of balls.  Has he learned how to finish plays?  How has Darius played?  Tell the truth - Wallace just did it to Pritch-slap the Blazers, right?  Thanks for that.  We owe you one.

3SoB: LOL -- I won't say that picking up the Clippers' leftovers was actually part of the plan, but it has worked out well for the Grizzlies this year.  Marko was actually our best point guard at the start of the season, but didn't get much playing time because this season was supposed to be about developing talent for the future more than wins and losses.  That's something that is difficult for many fans to accept, but it has become increasingly obvious that Marko Jaric is much better at PG than the SG/SF role that he was shoehorned into during the first half of the season.  Jaric still isn't a great finisher and he still looks to pass more than shoot (sometimes to a fault), but he has played very well when given playing time at PG.  With Lowry expected to be out for a few weeks, I think that Memphis fans will grow to appreciate his contributions even more than they ever thought possible.

Ross and Miles have been solid contributors, although many outsiders simply see them as cheap veterans to fill out the roster.  Darius was actually signed because he's better than any other frontcourt player on the free agent market or in the D-League.  The fact that it takes Portland out of the offseason free agent bonanza is just a great bonus for us and the other 28 teams in the league.

CS: You alluded in your questions for me about inferiority complexes.  I do wonder if our two organizations are viewed as less professional than other teams.  When contracts were about to be guaranteed a month ago, Chris Wallace traded for Shaun Livingston (hey, another former Clipper!) and then waived him in a straight money making deal.  The Clippers did the same thing with Hassan Adams as well as Cheikh Samb (although they kept Samb).  At the time, I blasted the Clippers for looking amateurish on the Adams deal.  Truthfully, I liked the way Wallace handled it better - at least he was honest and said, "Hey, we made a little money."  But doesn't it make our organizations look petty to be making these nickel and dime deals, helping other teams circumvent the salary cap rules?  Is this part of the problem for the Clippers and the Grizzlies?

3SoB: I think that it does affect how the rest of the league views us, but in Memphis' case as one of the smallest markets in the league, it only makes sense to improve the bottom line at every opportunity.  If our front office can get teams like the Heat (Shaun Livingston) and Rockets (Steve Francis) to pay off the contracts of the players they are sending us, plus a little extra, why should I care that it helps the owner out?  I don't understand why it is that most fans don't recognize that even though most owners are billionaires, nobody likes losing money and professional sports franchises are still a business.  Michael Heisley hasn't made a profit on this team over the last few years and I'd like him to be willing to spend money when the team is ready to return to the ranks of playoff competition, so I'm absolutely willing to let him sign off on "nickel and dime deals" this year when we are obviously going to be awaiting the bounce of lottery balls.

Got a chance to do a quick Q&A via email with Ben from Ben's Suns Blog in advance of the game.  My answers will be posted over there, Ben's answers are below.  Enjoy.

ClipperSteve:  Shaquille O'Neal - What the hell?  Did this guy find the fountain of youth in the desert?  I didn't think we'd ever see Shaq playing this well again, and certainly not this early in an NBA season.

Believe me, I'm just as surprised as you are.  I thought the trade for Shaq was a necessary and bold move by the organization in order to fill some of our gaps.  Last year, I thought Shaq played about as good as we would see.  Truthfully, it really propelled Amare into a beast and all Suns fans were excited to see even more of that this year.  Many of us saw the Diesel as being even more of a compliment to Amare and there was even talk of Amare having an MVP-type year.  I absolutely never predicted that Shaq would play so well that he'd turn into the focal point of our team, nor did I want him to at the start of the season.  Now, it's hard not to justify him being an all-star and being the MVP of the team.  It's truly mind boggling. 

 

To Shaq's credit, though he has been calling for the ball more; he's also producing when he gets it.  A huge criticism of mine for Amare this year was that he wanted to be the man (in the likes of Lebron or Wade) but he wasn't justifying getting the majority of touches and/or shots.  This year, Shaq has played out of his mind individually but he's also involved the collective team.  Much of the credit for Shaq's success is our training staff and Aaron Nelson.  He's rejuvenated Grant Hill, kept Nash fresh when D'Antoni rode him into the ground, and has helped Shaq find his stride.

It's scary to think what this team is capable of if everyone can accept their roles (i.e. the Mavericks game).  I guarantee no one will want to face them in the playoffs.

ClipperSteve:  Whose team is this?  Is it Shaq's team?  Nash's team?  Amare's team?  Terry Porter's team?

Great question.  In my humble opinion, this team is a two-headed monster of Shaq and Nash.  We need Shaq's presence in the post but we need Nash to create.  In following the team, it's clear that Amare has taken a step back in terms of a leadership role.  It's really Nash and Shaq who will propel this team to what they could be and the team will live/die with their play.
 
Having said that, the Porter experiment has made some fans excited and driven others crazy (I'm guilty of both). I think that he and Steve Kerr have a bold, yet necessary, vision for the Suns and it will certainly take some time to develop. At the beginning of the year, we virtually stopped running which translated into losses. Shaq certainly was playing well and keeping us in games but we didn't have that blend of half-court sets and our run & gun.  With the acquisition of J-Rich, it's allowed the Suns to mandate a need for running, but when we need to slow it down we have the Big Cactus playing phenomenally.
 
However, I think it was necessary that we went through that phase and experimentation period to discover what our strengths and weaknesses are. Porter has a more disciplined approach to coaching which I think was absolutely needed four our younger guys. All in all, many of us are still in a wait-and-see phase.

ClipperSteve:  The team seems to be playing really well since the Jason Richardson trade.  What is he bringing to the team, and why has he fit in so well?

I can't even begin to describe my excitement regarding the trade when it happened, and it's intensified even more now.  With the acquisition of Jason Richardson, the Suns immediately became younger and more athletic at the 2 guard causing other teams to game plan for that position; whereas they certainly didn't have to with Raja. Boris has been a thorn in the Suns side for quite some time and Suns fans were sick of waiting for him to fulfill his potential. Richardson gave us a Joe Johnson-type player that we haven't had since 2004-2005 who can create his own shot and run the floor. Raja and Boris, as it was widely reported, were a cancer in the locker room so having two great guys in Richardson and Dudley immediately jump started the Suns into having fun and smiling again.
 
We really should be undefeated since the trade if not for the incredibly lucky shots that were made late in the game by the Blazers, Spurs, and Pacers. We also didn't lose that much on defense with Raja losing a step in recent years (he gave up 50 to Jamal Crawford for crying out loud). Richardson has played beautifully thus far and will improve even more with time in our system.
 
He's also (aside from the DUI) been a team player, willing to sacrifice some of the shots he was getting in Charlotte for the betterment of the team.  He gives Nash another weapon in the post (he's proven to be an effective post player thus far) and an athletic guy off the break.  With J-Rich, Hill, and Barnes we have a solid group of tough wing-type players who can all score and defend fairly well.

Thanks for your time Ben.  Remember to stop by Ben's Suns Blog for my answers to his questions.  If I recall correctly, they were pretty good answers.  But I was pretty sleepy at the time, so who knows really.

Last season we tried to do Q&A sessions with bloggers from upcoming opponents whenever possible and they were always interesting and informative.  So in advance or tonight's game against the Hornets, I exchanged some questions with the terrific SB Nation blog, At the Hive.

ClipperSteve:  How's the James Posey thing working out?

At the Hive:  About as well as Hornet fans could have hoped. He's played some terrific man defense on the likes of Kobe, LeBron, and McGrady, and has already drained a ton of clutch three point looks. Recently, he's been in something of a slump- coinciding with the team's poor play. But the thing with Posey is that the constant hustle and effort is there every game. So even on a night where he goes 0-4, his pursuit of loose balls and his relentless defense make him worth having out on the floor.

At the Hive:  Yeah, I've been lucky to watch his entire career thus far. West has always been one of the hardest working guys on the floor. His first couple years, he didn't have a good offensive game by any stretch of the imagination. He was semi-undersized (6'9", 225-230) for his position. But he earned his playing time by working hard on the glass. His rookie year, he posted an offensive rebound rate of 14%. That might not mean anything at first glance, until you consider that Dwight Howard's career offensive rebound rate is 11.8%. Tyson Chandler- who led the league in offfensive rebound last season- has a career rate of 12.7%. Basically, West was working his butt off, night in and night out, for an 18-64 team. He wasn't promised extra minutes, he really wasn't promised anything. I don't think you'll find too many guys in the NBA willing to work like that, with so little to play for. Byron Scott noticed that.

He encouraged West to develop a midrange jumper, in the 10-12 foot range. West took him up on that challenge, and by his 3rd year- 2005-2006- he could stroke it from about 17 feet. That year, New Orleans drafted the perfect player for West- a guy who could penetrate easily and find West for that midrange jumper. In recent years, West has become pretty fluent at an isolation game as well. But it really took his work ethic and for the team to take a leap of faith on him. I know the media loves to talk about how Chris Paul "created" David West, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

At the Hive:  Hahaha, no, you're not too far off on this one. Chris Paul on and off the court is like Jekyll and Hyde. The biggest thing with Paul is that he hates to lose. I know that sounds ridiculously cliche. But Paul takes on a whole other level of intensity when the team starts to trail, or team effort isn't there. He'll rip his own teammates as easily as he'll get in opponent's faces. And it's when he's in that angry/intense space that he'll try those sneaky plays. So I wouldn't put him in that Matt Barnes/Bruce Bowen category of cheap shotting opponents wily nily. You have to get him pretty riled up before he retaliates. That said, Paul's chippiest games have come against Baron Davis. It's not even close- Davis gets him fired up like no other. During his time in Charlotte/New Orleans, I always found Baron one of the better trash talkers in the league. Not so much in the Gary Payton sense, but more the "humorous jab, then walks away laughing while his opponent fumes" type of talk. So I wouldn't be surprised to see some fireworks.

At the Hive:  Didn't see him nearly enough, maybe a couple minutes towards the very ends of games. For some reason, Byron Scott didn't play either of the two roster invites at all during preseason. So I can't really say on Jordan. As far as third string point guard... well, good question. Byron Scott despises Mike James. Devin Brown had a pretty bad ankle sprain last night. So the better question might be who is our second string point guard? We might see Julian Wright or even James Posey bring up the ball tonight.