Court Vision: Latest news in the NBA

• In defense of Monta Ellis, who (as has been noted in this space) is racking up assists this season as never before.

• How good is Eric Gordon right now? How good could he be in the future? And how much is he worth to the Hornets as we approach tonight’s midnight deadline for contract extensions?

• Houston general manager Daryl Morey with a candid Q&A about the state of the Rockets, whether he cares about Kyle Lowry making the All-Star team and (perhaps most intriguing) his vision for how the Rockets should play in the future.

• Andrea Bargnani returned from injury and the Raptors finally won again, but Sam Holako of Raptors Republic is unhappy with how much Bargnani had to play in that win over Phoenix – and what that playing time says about Toronto’s other big men:

I have nothing positive to say about this game. It took 42 minutes from Bargnani, after missing six games, to win this one. 42 MINUTES! You have to assume he still isn’t 100% since that’s how the pro’s work. Amir and Ed played so terrible that Casey couldn’t spare more than 6 minutes at the power forward. Think about what that means for a minute; guys that were considered core members of the future could only give an injured man, who missed six straight games with injury, 6 minutes of relief against the one of the few teams in the league I wouldn’t trade the Raptors straight up for.

• Jonny Flynn admits the Ricky Rubio hype unnerved him a bit during his two unproductive seasons in Minnesota.

• Digging into the numbers to find four x-factors that determine whether the Celtics win or lose.

• The Trail Blazers ran away from the Grizzlies, 97-84, on Tuesday, but Ben Golliver of BlazersEdge is very upset about how Portland’s bench players handled the quest for 100 points – and free Taco Bell for the fans:

Absolutely unforgivable decision by Nolan Smith to take the final Chalupa 3-pointer instead of feeding Luke Babbitt for a repeat of his Monday magic. I was genuinely upset. I’m still genuinely upset. We were robbed of a chance at history.

Hilarious. Also hilarious: This quote from Craig Smith, who has embraced the “rhino” nickname:

Craig Smith has taken to referring to himself as Rhino, constantly using the third person, which is as funny as it sounds. He tried to pass the buck about it when he got called out. “It’s the fans putting me into the third person,” he claimed, before admitting, “It’s my alter ego. I’ve got to let it be known.”

Later, his succinct self-portrait: “Wide, girthy. Just like a Rhino. Sometimes my horns are visible.”

And with that, “sometimes my horns are visible” takes one of the lead spots in the race for Best Quote of the NBA Season Known Mostly to NBA Die-Hards.

• A very interesting thing to monitor as this bizarre season goes on: Home-court advantage appears to mean even more this season, at least so far.

• Terry Pluto on how the Cavaliers should build their post-LeBron team.

• Seth Rosenthal of the Knicks-themed blog Posting and Toasting writes some of the most consistently hilarious NBA-related stuff, and that the hilarity comes amid top-notch NBA analysis only highlights the laugh factor even more. Witness the Jared Jeffries line in this recap of New York’s blowout win over the depleted Bobcats.

• Something rare: A blog post from an NBA owner explaining why his team fired its coach. In this case, the owner is Washington’s Ted Leonsis.

• The strange story of Orlando’s Daniel Orton, who could join Fran Vasquez as a Magic first-round pick to contribute literally zero minutes of playing time to the team.

• David Thorpe, chatting by video at ESPN’s TrueHoop, says the schedule is wearing on players, producing subpar decision-making, missed shots and much more Jazz-style “flex offense.” Almost every team is running a very basic flex set at least a few times a game, and some teams are running it often. Thorpe is dead on.

• More on the Kings’ arena situation.