"We're knee deep into the NBA season and before you know it we'll be talking about the trade deadline in wonder about where it all went. There are teams that are still tweaking rotations like it's training camp, and there are other teams that are legitimately packing their seasons in to play the young guys. Somewhere, Billy Hunter and David Stern are laughing at us all.

BLOCKED: THE SERGE IBAKA STORY

Serge Ibaka played 40 minutes and scored four points last night, but went off with a season-high 10 blocks and 11 rebounds last night. Check my prior work to get some back-story about the so-called defensive lapses that Scott Brooks and the local media have used as rationale for why his playing time has been stolen by ancient Nazr Mohammed, mediocre Kendrick Perkins, and a solid but fully-developed Nick Collison. You'll hear more about it today, with reports about his changed defensive approach framing the story of why a third-year player is not being developed when he has the potential to be a game-changer in the playoffs. It's bunk. Meanwhile, I'll keep on evaluating Ibaka's fantasy value by Brooks' willingness to play him, and not by some misguided explanation about a guy I've graded out as average-to-elite on 95 percent of his defensive possessions.

And on a separate note, any time Perkins gets a premeditated entry pass in the post, I immediately return my trust rating in Brooks' coaching ability back to Rambis. "