If you’re looking for your NBA fix, you should read what these seven bloggers expect to see this season from the Southwest Division teams they cover.

While the amounts of votes cast dipped a little in the second round, the battle to advance didn’t diminish. Four of the eight match-ups were decided by less than 20% while Shane Battier and Jason Maxiell continue to rip through all challengers. Will someone be able to step up and prevent Battier or Maxiell from advancing to the Finals?

Last week’s Advanced Stats 101 studied two key defensive APBRmetrics in hopes of understanding how advanced statistics can propel the way we collectively think of defense. This week’s piece aims to shed similar light on rebounding, an aspect of the game that seems very straightforward but which careful consideration shows to be anything but.

Hoops Addict caught up with Josh Smith this weekend to chat about everything from his role at adidas Nations to his recent re-signing with the Atlanta Hawks.

After a riveting opening round which saw over 70,000 votes cast, the 32-man field has been cut in half. There were some mild surprises (Julian Wright), some convincing wins (Jason Maxiell) and some close calls (Thaddeus Young), but don’t lose interest after one round, things are only starting to heat up in Hoops Addict Floor Burn Tournament.

Most recently in this continuing space, Advanced Stats 101 has looked at APBRmetrics for Player Shooting as well as exploring Team and Player Offensive Ratings. Given the old adage that defense wins championship, it seems only appropriate to follow with a look at two key defensive stats and their application.

Somewhere between 11.7 rebounds per game at Miami University and three championship rings at point guard with the Chicago Bulls, Ron Harper’s career took a dramatic twist. In an attempt to determine exactly when or where said twist occurred, one must take a good long look at perhaps the most overlooked career of perhaps the game’s best generation.

Each night ESPN’s Sports Center, NBA.com and YouTube are flooded with clips of players soaring through the air for rim rocking dunks, buzzer beating three-pointers or blocked shots that make your jaw drop in amazement. While those are all entertaining plays, teams who win Championships need players who are willing to get a little dirty and do the little things to help their team win. As valuable and crucial as these players are to their respective teams success, these players rarely get the credit or respect that they deserve. With that in mind, the First Annual Hoops Addict Floor Burn Tournament will kick off this week.

As the brilliantly executed “There Can Only Be One” ad campaign told us, winning an NBA title confers a player with many perks, including respect from their peers, admiration from fans, and an affirmed sense of validity. It would seem for at least one Boston Celtic, it promotes one more upshot: delusions of grandeur.

When it was announced on Monday that the Detroit Pistons had unofficially come to terms with Kwame Brown, it stumped a considerable portion of the basketball community. Even more confusing though, than general manager Joe Dumars shelling out eight million dollars for the former draft flop, is the fact that he did so despite an already sound front court and the promise of so much more. When the deal officially crosses the table, probably later this week, stop considering this an underwhelming move on the heels of a disappointing playoff exit. By acquiring Brown, Dumars not only nabs another project to work with, but opens up even more options to finally make that trade we’ve all been waiting for.