Links To The Present: January 12th, 2009

-Windhorst on how Andy has effectively stopped flopping defensively and replaced trying to draw charges with going straight up and contesting shots, which I don’t think I consciously noticed this season but is amazingly obvious when you start thinking about it.

–Very sad news about Ohio State product Michael Redd, whom Cavs fans coveted for many years. He was so much fun to watch, especially offensively; he had real elegance as a scorer. Hopefully we haven’t seen his last slingshot lefty three.

-Slate with the other side of the Gilbert Arenas fiasco.

–Golden State Of Mind informs the world that Monta Ellis had his shot blocked five times last night. In the third quarter.

-Andrew of WFNY with a post defending Mike Brown. I think I’ve made it fairly clear to regular readers that I think MB’s tremendously underrated. Bottom line is that people will always say that Mike Brown runs a bad offense, because he’s willing to live and die with the ball in LeBron’s hands and, just as importantly, lots of people say that Mike Brown runs a bad offense and it’s an opinion that’s become accepted. It’s shorthand for “I know basketball things,” even if it’s not necessarily true.

-Bethlehem Shoals has returned to Fanhouse, and his first column, dealing with NBA linguistics, is a good one.

-Great, my monitor is dying. This won’t end well. Until later.