Quality Shots: 9/14

We'll make this the name for now, but keep voting in the poll.  As always, drop anything relevant in the comments.

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• Move over, Gilbert Arenas, Darius Songaila also has a blog!  (Really, who doesn't have a blog these days).  Songaila's just contributing to the EuroBasket blog, so I guess it's not the same, but he still is blogging.  Nothing crazy in there, but he offers an interesting reason for why he's playing in the tournament.
  
  I didn't get to play a lot last year with Washington because of the injuries so one part is it is good for me to play a good level of basketball, get ready for the season and get in shape. I don't think you can get a better level of competition during the summer than we've got right now.

  I don't dispute the level of competition, but isn't the offseason for improving yourself off the court, and not necessarily on it?  I mean, I guess playing helps, but there's more of a risk for injury, isn't there?  [Hat tip to WOTSTW, by the way.]
  

• There's an interesting question being debated on the Real GM boards: Does it make sense to move Gilbert to shooting guard?  My first inclination would be to say no, but this realization by RealGM user nate33 surprised me.
  
  Looking at the team numbers, the Wizards score 109.7 points per game and yield 103.1 when Daniels is on the floor. That's a 6.6 point disparity When Arenas is paired with Stevenson the team scores 108.5 and yields 107.3, that's just a 1.2 point disparity. It doesn't surprise me that the team is better offensively with the Arenas/Daniels combo, but I am surprised at how much better they are defensively.

  I still wonder whether playing AD with Gilbert would work over the course of a season in terms of superstar morale.  Think about it: Gil's probably not going to take it that well if he's always playing off the ball, and you have to keep the superstar happy, especially when he could opt-out next year.  I'd use it in key spots,  like they did in the second half of 2005/06, but not regularly.
  

• Add another team to the Michael Ruffin sweepstakes.  Considering the GM, I couldn't be happier.
  
• I don't want to talk about this.
  
• The artist that brought you the Jarvis Hayes mix also brings you Antonio Daniels and DeShawn Stevenson.  Also, check out this guy's channel; it's like he's cornered the market on obscure NBAers.