I think Ron Artest is doing his best to learn how to make a better man of himself. And even though he's had some hard times due to ignorance when Ron first came in the league, I think that 5 years down the road we'll be talking about Artest with a lot more respect than he gets now. For example, read this article in the Wall Street Journal about how Ron Artest is managing his entourage. I credit The Big Lead for bringing this to my attention. Here are some excerpts:
"There are so many people that have figured out how to get money from athletes legally that when you have friends that you think might be capable of doing something, your first instinct is to give them a shot," says Mr. Artest, 28, who taught himself to do his own taxes and accounting several years ago using Quicken, after a series of bad experiences with professionals. (His business-management agency now handles his accounting.)
Ron is teaching himself computer software, which shows some motivation. This may explain why he wanted to work at Circuit City--he just likes technology a lot, I think. And later...
Mr. Artest says he doesn't regret the opportunities he was able to give his friends. However, he adds, he did learn one lesson: "I wasn't running it as a business, as it should have been run."
Ron is trying to make himself into a businessman in the right way. I commend him for it, and hope that fans won't forever hold that incident in Detroit against him. But on the other hand, I like the slightly crazy side of Ron too. Here is a video that I don't believe any major sports blog has linked to yet, from Ron's time with the Pacers. Ron pulls down Paul Pierce's shorts...and then sings an apology to Paul afterward!
I have a confession to make. I was (deep breath) a Laker hater. While others ooo'ed and ahh'ed over the three-peat a few years ago, I was busily hoping for someone to grab Rick Fox's oiled mane and slam him to the ground, or irritatingly quoting Robert Horry's shockingly low regular season averages and complaining that the Lakers got all the breaks. However, I have decided to reform and love this current edition of (bad cultural reference alert!) the Jackson Five. Haha! But seriously folks, are they not...
MR CAPS MUST ACT NOW TO PREVENT THIS MOMENT OF INSANITY.
Again?! Look, there's nothing insane about me giving this batch of Lakers a chance! The only time I am insane is when I write you into my posts. Please see yourself out.
It wasn't for Internet mating! Besides, there's nothing wrong with what two consenting Ethernet cables do in the privacy of their packaging.
SIGH. AND WITH JOKES LIKE THAT, YOU WONDER WHY YOU NEED ME?
Ok, ok, that was pretty corny. Let me leave you speechless with my brilliant reasons why the Lakers roster is worth loving. First, you can't talk about the Lakers without mentioning Kobe Bryant. The man has overcome personal adversity and the criticism of an unusually vocal cast of haters to be an MVP candidate and lead the Lakers to compete for the Western Conference. I find his story to be uniquely American as he has recovered from his fall from grace. It's almost like the Prodigal Son or something.
FALL FROM GRACE? PERSONAL ADVERSITY? KOBE BRYANT HAS HAD TWO SOURCES OF PERSONAL ADVERSITY IN HIS CAREER. ONE IS ABOVE HIS SHOULDERS. THE OTHER IS BETWEEN HIS LEGS. NEITHER IS THE FAULT OF ANYONE BUT KOBE.
Oh come on, Kobe rape jokes are so tired! I admit that what happened in that Colorado hotel room was possibly a crime. But I also think his crime was more the result of her aggression in tracking him down and wanting to spend time with him rather than some sort of cold-blooded rape plans on his part. And are we going to bring that case up for the rest of his life?
MR CAPS RECOGNIZES KOBE'S TALENT AND THE PART THAT PHIL AND SHAQ PLAYED IN SAVAGING KOBE'S REPUTATION. BUT MR CAPS IS ADAMANT ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF THAT CASE. BEING A MEMBER OF KOBE'S "UNUSUALLY VOCAL CAST OF HATERS" SHOULD NOT INVOLVE SCREAMING "NO! NO!"
Thanks for making me nauseous. Let's move on, ok? I know you won't have anything bad to say about Pau Gasol. The kind bearded giant is a class act whose arrival has fueled the Lakers surge to the top of the conference.
THAT THING ON PAU'S FACE IS NOT A BEARD. IT IS A RESCUE MISSION FOR HOMELESS DWARVES. PAU IS A CHARTER MEMBER IN THE WHINY EUROS CLUB, ALONG WITH KIRILENKO. "WAAH! I AM NOT BIG STAR ON WINNING AMERICAN TEAM! WAAH!"
The Grizzlies are a mess. Sometimes divorce is necessary for the sake of the kids, you know?
YOU ARE COMPARING THE TRADE TO A DIVORCE?! THE GRIZZLIES ARE STILL IN THERAPY AFTER THAT ASSAULT!
We're over our alloted quota of rape jokes for the day, which is ZERO. Moving on, what about Lamar Odom? He's a nice guy whose daughter died, and I love the quirkiness of his left-handed offensive game.
WHAT ABOUT LAMAR ODOM? MR CAPS BELIEVES THAT LAMAR ODOM'S SUSPENSIONS FOR MARIJUANA ARE NO COINCIDENCE, BECAUSE LAMAR FITS THE STONER REPUTATION. HE DOES NOT HURT ANYONE, BUT HE IS OUT OF IT MOST OF THE TIME. QUICK, CAN YOU REMEMBER ONE PIVOTAL MOMENT IN LAMAR'S CAREER? ANYTHING AT ALL?
I cannot. But your argument is that Lamar is bad because Lamar is boring? If that's the best you can do, I'm going to win this case that the Lakers are lovable yet. I still haven't mentioned Derek Fisher yet, otherwise known as my hole card. How can you not love this hard-working Christian veteran player?
ASK THE UTAH JAZZ. YOU ARE GOING TO TELL MR CAPS THAT THERE ARE NO FLIGHTS BETWEEN SALT LAKE CITY AND THE TREATMENT CENTER IN LA FOR HIS DAUGHTER? THE JAZZ ONLY LET HIM GO BECAUSE HE WAS EATING UP CAP ROOM AND THEY NEEDED GOOD PR. MR CAPS EXPECTS MR. "POINT 4" TO BE HUMILIATED BY CHRIS PAUL AND DERON WILLIAMS IN THE PLAY-OFFS.
Unfounded paranoia coupled with irrational hatred is no way to go through life. I grant you that it's surprising how little people are talking about the point guard match-ups in the play-offs. In the last games the Lakers played against each team, Paul had 27 pts and 17 assists, and Deron went 26 and 12.
But let's talk about that Laker bench. Quite a few decent guys on that bench with heartwarming stories. You have NBA tradition with Luke Walton and Cody Karl, European sharp-shooters in Sasha and Vladimir, and the heart-warming story of Ronny Turiaf's struggles with heart problems. What's not to love?
THE LAKERS BENCH IS LIKE A WHO'S WHO OF PREPPY NBA PLAYERS WHO CAN NOT ACTUALLY PLAY. IF MR CAPS HAD LADY PARTS, HE WOULD CARE ABOUT THE LAKERS BENCH. BUT BEING A MAN, HE FINDS COCKY OVERRATED PAC-10 ALUMS AND ANONYMOUS EURO-TRASH TO BE BORING AT BEST AND PUNCH-INDUCING AT WORST. RONNY'S HEART PROBLEMS ARE CANCELED OUT BY HIS DANCING PROBLEMS AND CLUBBING PROBLEMS, AS SEEN BELOW:
SPEAKING OF CLUBS, ARE NOT ALL THE LAKER BENCH PLAYERS GUYS YOU WOULD WANT TO FIGHT IF YOU MET THEM IN THE CLUB?
I don't have lady parts either, so I could care less about the looks of the bench. All right, enough about the players. Let's talk about Phil Jackson. He has overcome hip surgery and...wait, what's happening? I feel a warm feeling in the pit of my stomach! My palms are getting sweaty! I can't feel my face! What is it? I have had this feeling before, but I can't remember why it happens.
REJECTION BY A GIRL? ALTHOUGH YOU SHOULD RECOGNIZE THAT FEELING BY NOW.
No, it's...it's my Lakers hatred! It's back! Phil Jackson is an aging hippie who discarded his parents' Christianity for some vague Zen Buddhist teachings that justified his drug use! Despite fawning specials on his coolness during half-time, the only thing "hip" about Phil Jackson was recently replaced via surgery! Rather than take time off and re-unite with his second wife, he rushed to take the Laker job and hook up with the owner's daughter! He intentionally manipulated Kobe and the public perception of Kobe just so he could stay on Shaq's good side! He plays mind games with everyone, even beating up on the hard-working Horace Grant just so that the team would rally around Horace! Being some sort of psycho-babble guru in the NBA is like being the smartest student in a special ed class--who is his competition anyway? If it were not for having so many Hall-of-Famers on his team, he would not have won all those rings! WOO!!!
YES! FEED THE HATE! FEED THE HATE! WELCOME BACK TO THE LAKER HATERADE WAGON! DOWN WITH THE PURPLE AND GOLD! DOWN WITH THE AGING COURTSIDE CELEBRITIES HOOKED ON CENTRUM AND BOTOX! DOWN WIH THE FAIR-WEATHER FAITHFUL AND THEIR SENSE OF SPORTING ENTITLEMENT! IT IS GOOD TO HAVE YOU BACK ON THE WAGON!
Phew, that was close. I almost made it through the entire Lakers roster, too. It's hard to hate the Laker players, but Phil Jackson is my Anti-Love. Ready for the NBA play-offs, MR CAPS?
YES, RIGHT AFTER MR CAPS FINISHES CREATING HIS MYSPACE PROFILE AS A FAKE FEMALE FAN OF THE BIG LEAD. WHAT'S THE OVER/UNDER ON HOW MANY COMMENTERS WILL BEFRIEND ME AND SEND ME DESPERATE MESSAGES?
Zero, just like real life, and it'll be you sending the desperate messages. Good luck with that.
I was prepared to take Tyler Hansbrough and Kevin Love seriously as NBA prospects if they took their teams to the Final Four. Remember, neither Gonzaga's Adam nor Duke's JJ was able to do so during their POY seasons. But I think the NBA will still have to wait for its Blue Collar Hero. Who is the Blue Collar Hero? He is usually a white American, looks human enough that the average fan can identify with him, but still has a certain amount of expertise on the basketball court. Let's face it; many fans buy tickets not only to enjoy the artistry of the game, but to see someone succeed who looks and seems a lot like them. #1 on the Blue Collar Hero list is, of course, Larry Bird, but other Blue Collar Heroes have included John Stockton and Tom Chambers.
So what candidates does the NBA have for this vital position? Kirk Hinrich? Steve Nash, if everyone will forget he's Canadian? Chris Kaman, if one looks past the haircut? White Americans have never had fewer reasons to identify with the league. I'd like to pretend this doesn't matter to anyone, but I am sure it does.
Your Random NBA photos are of Eddy Curry.
Secondly, Craig Holcomb, a white former recruiter for Iona, was allegedly fired for having a black wife. I am usually suspicious about the veracity of such stories. However, this old NY Post article seems to indicate that Craig performed well at his position:
It started after the 2004 season when the administration, in a power struggle with Ruland, forced out three assistant coaches, including Craig Holcomb, an established recruiter. Iona already had Burtt and Soliver, so an upheaval of the coaching staff was like a spot of rust on the base of a support beam - easy to overlook.
"Craig was really plugged into the AAU programs," said one source. "Losing him set them back at least one season, probably two."
Unfortunately, it does seem as if Craig was unjustly fired after all. I hope Iona has the decency to settle this now and give him the money he deserves, instead of going to trial and further embarrassing themselves. We shall see... Oh, and finally, go to this ESPN.com interview with George Clooney, in which he breaks down the baller skills of Jim from the Office and Tom Cruise. George Clooney was a former high school basketball center on a very bad team. On a talk show, George admitted that they were terrible and played many homecoming basketball games.
I was just thinking about this on my way into work this morning. Do you realize who coaches the top four teams in the East this season? 1. Doc Rivers. Career Highlight: Losing in the first round of the play-offs, done four times. 2. Flip Saunders. Career Highlight: Losing in the first round of the play-offs seven years in a row, and then losing the conference finals series for his last three play-offs tries. Cheer up Detroit fans! Only four more lost conference finals to go! 3. Stan Van Gundy. Career Highlight: Lost in second round his first year, then lost in conference finals in his second year. 4. Mike Brown. Career Highlight: Lost in second round his first year, then lost in the NBA Finals in his second year.
So we have one NBA Finals appearance between all four coaches...and that belongs to the most inexperienced, Mike Brown. We have two younger coaches who might be future coaching gurus in Stan and Mike. However, usually future coaching gurus don't allow themselves to get run out of town the year the team wins the championship (Stan) or refuse to have any offensive strategy whatsoever (Mike; yeah, I'm a bitter Cavs fan, so?).
Let's compare those coaches to the top four coaches in the Western conference, shall we? 1. Byron Scott. Career Highlight: Two NBA Finals appearances in his first three years. 2. Gregg Poppovich. Career Highlight: Four NBA Championships. 3. Phil Jackson. Career Highlight: Eight NBA Championships. 4. Jerry Sloan. Career Highlight: Two NBA Finals appearances.
I believe this may be the main reason why the West is so much better than the East. The West has all the good coaches! It doesn't get any better when you look at the next four teams for each conference, either. The West trots out Mike D'Antoni, Rick Adelman, George Karl, and Avery Johnson. Those coaches combined have two NBA Finals appearances, or one more than the top four coaches in the East have.
First, a preamble before I ramble. I don't like talking about myself on here, because I've noticed a familiar pattern befalls male sports bloggers who talk about their lives. At first, people respond in a favorable manner; that's partly because the sports blogger tells his most interesting stories first. Then, after some period of time, readers start competing with the writer, or they make fun of their quirks (i.e. Will's t-shirts, Matt's skin tone, BDD's weight, etc.). That's ok to a certain extent, but then readers start judging all of the writer's output by his personal anecdotes ("only a man who owns a cat would say that", or some other nonsense). Also, it's hard for a writer to stop writing about themselves once they start, and writers tend to be so oblivious to their personal biases. Besides, do you really want to know that I've watched more than one episode of the Miley and Mandy Show in my life, or that Tavis Smiley may be my favorite late night talk-show host? See? Really, you don't want to know more. Here's all you need to know about me; I am a former high school athlete, I tend to favor the underdog and/or minority because I often perceive myself as one, I'm a Christian, and I'm a fan of most Ohio teams. That outlines my main biases well enough so that you can be properly aware of them. However, I'll talk about myself briefly for this post.
Your NBA player random photos are of Zydrunas Ilguskas this time.
A few weeks ago, I was at the gym playing a game of pickup basketball. I was having an unusually good day, having hit 3 of 3 from behind the arc and having nutmeg'ed (sorry, soccer term) two of the other team's players. (The secret is to charge directly at the defender, then push the ball through their legs at the last possible moment and run past them to get the ball). I owed my success to our very good post player, who was drawing double-teams that allowed me to get open. (I also have a theory that my recent weight gain is acting as ballast, ha, allowing me to get better arc on my 3-balls). At the end of the game, I got the ball one last time behind the arc. However, as I prepared to shoot, a little voice said something like "3 of 3 is good enough for today" and I missed the shot! They rebounded my miss, went down and scored, and beat us by 11-9.
That's what the killer instinct is about to me; the ability to view things in an illogical, unbalanced manner on the court. Whether you are 7 of 8 or 1 of 8, you believe that you will make the next shot, and that you deserve the last call. It's also a state of unnatural focus. I lacked the killer instinct, and thus I was unable to maintain my basketball zone where I could not miss, and started to doubt.
Now, an interesting question when surveying the NBA teams is, which guys have the killer instinct? The fact is, you don't want your role players to have a true killer instinct, else they'll be taking the shot that your star should be taking. On the other hand, to be a role player in the NBA, you must have been a star somewhere. So you probably do have somewhat of a killer instinct.
Another interesting question is how one feels about teammates with killer instincts. There's a mercilessness and lack of grace that is strongly identified with the killer instinct. Look at how Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant would at times mercilessly heckle inferior players, to the point of ruining some talented teammates. Is that bad attitude worth the superior performance? I have to say, from the male athletes I have known, the better the player was, the bigger jerk the player was. Do you put up with the abuse in practice, or challenge them?
A final question is, do you really want a chaplain in basketball? I once sat down and tried to investigate for each sport whether you would want religious players or not. (This is highly sacriligious and nonsensical, FYI). I decided that baseball should defintely have chaplains; baseball requires a lot of patience and perseverance, which are definitely religious traits. Even football seems to benefit from religion; the top-down nature of religion meshes well with the top-down nature of football, where many sacrifice without crowds knowing their names. I don't know if I'd want my defenders to be religious, but on the other hand a safety who knows the power of forgiveness is less likely to fret over being burned on a play and thus lose his confidence. But what about basketball? The game is so creative and quick that I don't see a natural connection to religious traits. Could a major star be religious and still keep that killer instinct? After all, much of the killer instinct relies on a certain level of arrogance and confidence that seems mutually exclusive with religion.
It's a scattered news and notes column today. By the way, can someone tell me why the NCAA's are better than...high school boys basketball state tournaments? I'm disturbed that I enjoyed the boys high school basketball tournaments on TV more than the NCAA tournament this year. No awkward TV time-outs, no all-knowing or overbearing announcers, and a focus on letting the game tell the story. How refreshing! And the game is much more "pure" at the high school game than at the college level. I'm just curious to hear if anyone out there actually prefers high school basketball to other levels. (Important NBA games are still #1 to watch for me, but high school may be #2 now, followed by college men's #3, WNBA #4, and pick-up #5).
Because this post is so mediocre, I'm filling it with random Gary Payton candid shots. Of course, let me pay appropriate homage to the masters of inserting intriguing photos in NBA articles--Free Darko. I believe what I'm doing is different, and hope they agree, but I want to respect and acknowledge innovators who were first with related ideas.
Cuban Blogger Ban I found myself wondering today why Cuban had banned bloggers from the locker room. Surely there had to be more to the story than what I had learned so far? After all, Cuban himself is a blogger; so how could he ban bloggers and decrease coverage of his team? The link points to a call for a blog ban on Cuban by Jordi Scrubbings.
I listened to Cuban chat with Bob Costas on Saturday. He all but admitted that the "lack of space" reason was an excuse, and that he is not sure what blogger criteria to set to sort through blogger applications for locker room access. He also made a few comments about blogging having been around for 12 years in one form or another and how it was really no big deal anymore. Quite honestly, I have to agree with him on this; what, you've never heard of Geocities? Live Journal? Even those elementary AIM profile pages? Software has made it easier to publish, and broadband Internet speeds have allowed us to embed videos, but those are about the only real changes I see, except that the mainstream reader is more aware of blogs.
However, turns out that DallasBasketball.com is warning that there is more to this story than you think. Before I get into the details, how many views do you think DallasBasketball.com got in February? 50,000? 500,000? No, the total is 3,300,000! I used to read this site often because SLAM online would link to them. Anyway, they are claiming the following:
"And finally – yes, you heard this here first, too: There is something more to the story of the DMNews-blogger being banned from the Mavs locker room. And while the paper has turned itself into a martyr here, when the truth emerges, it will be interesting to see if the real story is covered with the same intensity as the first-blush story."
I wish I could hyperlink to the story, but I was unable to find a permalink for the story. Just search "blog" on their page, it's around 3/19 or so. Dallas Basketball has been a reputable site for a while. I'd suggest keeping an open mind on the blogger ban for a few more days and seeing what further news does come out of this story. They give a clue as to why the blogger(s) got banned on their page, but I'll let you find it.
And please do visit DallasBasketball.com! I dislike it if a blogger rips much of their post material from another site and then gives very little attribution in the post itself. I'm only posting this because I think not enough sports bloggers have read that info on their site (it was only one of several footnotes, so it may have been ignored).
Bill Simmons is Kobe Bryant I recently realized that one of the reasons we judge Bill Simmons so harshly is how alone he is at ESPN.com. (That and he keeps trying to write about other topics than basketball...please Bill, that's your best sport! His columns improved as soon as the Patriots and Red Sox were done, am I not right?) Look at who used to write for Page 2--literary legends like Hunter Thompson and David Halberstam, or unique, already-respected voices like Ralph Wiley. When they died, they really were not replaced, and ESPN decided to go with numbers over quality. ESPN didn't even replace Dan Shanoff, to some extent. So no wonder we judge Bill more harshly now--he has no protection in the line-up over there. But it's Bill's fault too, in some ways; he's willing to be the big fish in the ESPN pond instead of one of several fish at, say, Yahoo!. Here's how I came to that conclusion.
Listen to the Bill Simmons podcast with Ric Bucher if you haven't already done so, especially around the 19:00 mark. Ric Bucher makes an analogy asking Bill what he would do if he had been Kobe Bryant. Ric essentially says the following: What if you signed a contract with ESPN with originally good writers around you, but then ESPN stuck you with low-quality writers and told you "you're our cash cow, deal with it, but we won't let you go" and you couldn't leave while watching Yahoo! get all these good writers? Bill laughed awkwardly and admitted this hits close to home.
This isn't my blog column, but imagine for a moment how sports blog history changes if ESPN would have fully funded Page 2 and Page 3 in 2005-2008 the way they did at the start. Would Deadspin and The Big Lead ever have gotten a foothold in sports blogging?
UPDATE: Please see new information at the bottom of this post.
How have teams that made a deal soon before or on the trading deadline been performing since that date? After all, one would think that a few teams would show instantaneous improvement after acquiring such good players for so little. It's only been about 10-12 games since the deadline, but that should be enough to show improvement, right?
Let's compare team records before and after the Trading Deadline of February 22nd. To adjust records for when the acquired players had actually arrived, I'll be using games from February 24th until today. I labeled the results as being mixed if the winning percentage before 2/24 was within 5% of the winning percentage after 2/24.
Lakers acquire Pau Gasol: Memphis Grizzlies: Record before February 24th: 14-41 Record on/after February 24th: 1-9 Improvement? NO
LA Lakers: Record before February 24th: 38-17 Record on/after February 24th: 7-4 Improvement? MIXED (69% Win vs. 64% Win)
Heat acquire Shawn Marion, Suns acquire Shaquille O'Neal: Miami Heat: Record before February 24th: 9-45 Record on/after February 24th: 2-9 Improvement? MIXED (17% Win vs. 18% Win)
Phoenix Suns: Record before February 24th: 38-17 Record on/after February 24th: 6-5 Improvement? NO
Nets acquire Devin Harris, Mavericks acquire Jason Kidd: New Jersey Nets: Record before February 24th: 25-31 Record on/after February 24th: 3-7 Improvement? NO (45% Win vs. 30% Win)
Dallas Mavericks: Record before February 24th: 36-19 Record on/after February 24th: 8-4 Improvement? MIXED (65% Win vs. 67% Win)
Cavs acquire Ben Wallace from Bulls, Wally Szerbiak from Sonics, Bulls acquire Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden from Cavs: Cleveland Cavaliers: Record before February 24th: 31-24 Record on/after February 24th: 7-5 Improvement? MIXED (67% Win vs. 65% Win)
Chicago Bulls: Record before February 24th: 22-32 Record on/after February 24th: 4-7 Improvement? MIXED (41% Win vs. 36% Win)
Seattle Supersonics: Record before February 24th: 15-39 Record on/after February 24th: 1-12 Improvement? NO
Spurs acquire Kurt Thomas from Sonics: San Antonio Spurs: Record before February 24th: 37-17 Record on/after February 24th: 7-5 Improvement? NO
Seattle Supersonics: Record before February 24th: 15-39 Record on/after February 24th: 1-12 Improvement? NO
The results? 5 teams showed mixed improvement since 2/24, and 5 teams showed a definite slump in record since 2/24. The best improvement in record was the 2% increase in winning percentage from the Dallas Mavericks. The results indicate that teams should be careful of expecting instant improvement from deadline deals, as it is clearly not happening. Even the Lakers, Spurs, and Mavericks, who were definitely perceived as having won their deals in the short-term, have not shown clear improvement. And in the ultra-competitive West, where seeding is everything, making any deal at all near the deadline may be a huge mistake. Those teams fighting for play-off seeding will now have to play excellent basketball over the remaining 15 games or so just to break even on the deal. Sure, trades may be worthwhile for play-off matchups; but trades hurt your seeding for those match-ups.
UPDATE: I decided to update the post with the details of what I said in the comments, so I don't get the same comments over and over again from readers invited to "feel free to poke holes" in my argument. The Lakers fans have been at their passionate best to ask me to consider the wonders of Pau, and run the numbers for 10 games immediately after the trade was consummated, rather than after the trading deadline. I defend my original choice of using the same timeline for all teams. The reasons were so that I could be absolutely sure that all traded players were now on their new teams, and (ironically enough) to defend myself against charges of having picked favorable timelines. But since the Pau trade happened 3 weeks before the deadline, the Lakers fans have a fair point in asking for a new timeline. I re-ran the numbers based on 10 games after the trade.
The Lakers went 9-1 during the 10 games in which Pau played for the Lakers immediately after the trade. (For the record, during that streak they only beat (and played) two teams with winning records: Phoenix on the night they debuted Shaq, and Orlando. But, the games were mostly on the road.) Thus, the Laker record definitely shows strong improvement immediately after trading for Pau Gasol. That means that 1 of the 10 teams I surveyed, the team (Lakers) that supposedly ripped off the other trading partner the most (Grizzlies), was the only one that showed improvement. Does that invalidate my main result, which was "The results indicate that teams should be careful of expecting instant improvement from deadline deals, as it is clearly not happening"? I think not. I'll take 9 out of 10 odds of success any day of the week. But the Lakers fans made a good point that deserved to be heard, and so I updated this post. Whatever this blog's many, many faults are, I hope intentionally suppressing the truth will never be one of them.
And for the record, commenter Boney jokingly asked me to run the Pistons numbers after acquiring Juan Dixon. It's 40-15 without him, 8-3 with him, for identical 73% Win percentages. Believe it or not, I think that acquiring Juan Dixon was a great move to bolster a traditionally thin Pistons backcourt. He's been giving them 10 mpg and shooting at a 47.2% clip from the field. If he can play well enough to stay in the shortened play-off rotation, maybe Chauncey, Tay, and Rip won't be as tired in the play-offs this year. It is my opinion that this is an overlooked reason why the Pistons fell to the Cavs last year.
Bryan and I dissected our feelings on the Barkley video where he criticizes Christians over at prayersforblowouts.com. As I usually do on here when I employ demographic bias, I'm warning? notifying? you that we're both Christians and thus our commentary will be biased in that way.
My suspense-filled move to another site will not happen this week. KSK rejected my idea for a storyline around "Eddie the Happy Referee's Neighborhood." Apparently they don't have an opening for NFL fiction aimed at children--who knew?! Sigh. Don't they know how long it took me to photoshop black stripes onto the white T-shirt for the illustrations?! Heartless, I tell you, heartless.
Hmm, drag out the suspense for the one reader that cares (thanks, Google Search Robot!) or stop stringing my readers along? Let's just say that the move is currently cryogenically frozen, but could begin wiggling again in the near future. It's alive! Besides, it's fun pretending (?!) to be a pathetic blogger attempting to leech on to various web-sites and being rejected. Whose site should I hypothetically attempt to latch on to next?
Eh, I may give myself the week off from blogging. But if any video can buy your temporary forgiveness (or sharpen your thankfulness for my absence, whichever), this NBA video can. It's Reggie Miller, Chuck Person, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and many more on NBA "Freedom of Speech"--also known as trash talking. Anyone know where the original is from?
Is it me, or does Jason Kidd's new girlfriend Hope Dworaczyk look a lot like Joumana? They have the same vibe of the not quite white, not quite Latina woman with long dark hair. Hmm...although I definitely think Hope is cute, that's not what I'm talking about when I refer to the luck the New Jersey Nets have had over the last five years. Photo credit to James Crump/Getty Images.
Anyway, over the last 7 years the Nets have had a ridiculous number of lucky personnel guesses. Here's just a short list: Nets trade Eddie Griffin to Houston for Richard Jefferson, Jason Collins, and Brandon Armstrong. Since when does an NBA team trade down in the draft for much lower picks? Sadly, Eddie's dead now, while RJ is playing like a star. And for the record, Richard Jefferson is not gay.
Nets trade Stephon Marbury to Phoenix for Jason Kidd. If Amare, Stephon, and Shawn all got along and stayed healthy, this trade wouldn't look quite so good. But at the time, this trade seemed like a win for Phoenix; they shipped a troubled guard with image issues out for at least equal, if not superior talent. (Marbury was coming off a year where he scored nearly 24 ppg for the Nets).
Your random NBA candid photo target for this week is Kyle Korver (amusingly, though, I just realized he's a former Nets draft pick. Go figure.) Sorry the picture is rotated incorrectly, but the "Jesus Hates the Yankees" shirt was too funny to pass up.
Nets refuse to resign Kenyon Martin. Remember, Bruce Ratner, the Nets owner, even apologized for this later on. So what happens? Kenyon goes to Denver, and promptly falls apart phyically. His best season in Denver barely matches his 3rd best season in New Jersey. Talk about dodging a bullet! And not signing Kenyon leads to...
Nets trade Alonzo Mourning and change for Vince Carter. According to this SI article, Mourning himself did his best to force the trade, and accused the Nets of trying to ruin his career and health by overplaying him when he returned from injury. He also slammed them for not resigning Kenyon Martin...so New Jersey turns him into Vince Carter! Ridiculously good luck, yet again, because Mourning turns out to be only half as good as he was before the kidney trouble.
Nets pass on Shareef Abdul Rahim, August 2005. Shareef was 29-ish at the time, coming off a 16 ppg season with Portland, and had never been on a decent team. There was good reason to believe he would blossom if paired with Kidd, and the Nets desperately needed an inside presence. Then, weird stuff happened during the physical, the Nets pass...and Shareef also falls apart in Sacramento.
I love the caption on this one. She was at Applebee's, saw him coming out of the restroom, and cornered him for a picture.
Nets trade Kidd, forward Malik Allen and swingman Antoine Wright to Dallas for 24-year-old point guard Devin Harris, forwards DeSagana Diop and Trenton Hassell, guard Maurice Ager, two future first-round draft picks, $3 million and semi-retired former Net Keith Van Horn, whose rights the Mavericks own. This last one is probably just as good as the rest; the Nets trade an aging coach killer (what, you think Byron Scott fell by himself? He was pushed!), front office meddler (him and Joumana both) and wife beater for a much younger point guard, picks, cash, and a chance to lure Diop into staying in New Jersey. It's outright theft, and was even before it looks like Avery and Jason may not get along.
Oh, and let's not forget the Nets turning non-lottery first-round draft picks into serviceable big men like Nenad Kristic, Josh Boone, and Sean Williams. Again--quick, give me a list of big men drafted low in the first round who did anything at all in the NBA? Zach Randolph and Carlos Boozer? That's about it off the top of my head. In addition, Josh and Sean went to college, they didn't fall just because they were high school players.
At this rate, the Nets will trade Vince Carter to Cleveland for Lebron James, sigh. What's most interesting to me is how little the Nets have actually accomplished in the regular season. Quick, what do you think is the max number of season wins for the Nets in the last 7 years? We're talking about a team with 2 Finals appearances...and they only broke 50 wins once, at the grand total of 52. Lucky! And for the record, if you are a Nets fan, go over to http://www.gigginonya.com, where Becky and Ben will take care of you.
I was playing 21 (i.e. pickup basketball) last night, and I got killed, as usual. It's not because I'm a bad basketball player; I'll block your shot, snare a fair amount of rebounds, and pass to the open man. But I can't create my own shot to save my life, and that's what 21 is all about. That means I usually end up taking contested foul-line jumpers, rather than the high-percentage opportunities I could get from post-ups and dribble-drives. The only way I score easy buckets is via a sneaky left-hand hook on a post-up.
To help you stay awake, these NBA Monday posts will also feature some NBA player candid photos. Today's victim is Shane Battier.
I started thinking about how this problem of mine applies to the NBA, and it actually fits quite well. That's why a big man is so vital to winning championships; they create easy buckets from post-ups. And then it becomes clear why Michael Jordan was able to be an exception to that rule. He and Scottie Pippen were 6'6"+ masters of the dribble-drive, which is the only other way a team can obtain easy buckets. Thus, the Easy Bucket Principle is as follows:
No NBA team can win a championship without at least one player being able to create his own shot in the lane.
Look back at your championship teams, and you'll see that this applies to nearly every champion in the last 25 years, whether it's via the postup to Duncan, O'Neal, Abdul-Jabbar, McHale, and Olajuwon, or the dribble-drive of Jordan, Pippen, Bryant, and Erving. Look at the teams that couldn't quite win the championship, and they contain plenty of excellent point guards that couldn't finish at the rim (Johnson, Payton, Price, Stockton, Starks) and high-scoring forwards/centers that didn't rely on a post-up game enough (Barkley, Kemp, Nowitski, Ewing). In fact, perhaps this helps explain the Ewing Theory; Sprewell off the dribble-drive was a better source of easy baskets than a Ewing post-up. The exception to the principle, admittedly, is the Detroit Pistons in the late 80's. (The Detroit Pistons of 2004 used Rasheed Wallace post-ups extensively when Karl Malone got hurt in the Finals, so they still sort of count.)
The good folks at 82games.com did a study on points in the paint and found that, although helpful, it's not a perfect indicator. I would argue that the problem is that a skilled point guard or fast break offense can inflate a team's true easy bucket capability. To clarify by example, I do not consider Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Amare Stoudamire, or Zydrunas Ilguskas to be sources of easy buckets. None possess a true post-up game or the size to consistently score on bigger players via the dribble-drive. In addition, the true usefulness of a source of easy buckets is late in the game, where players are too tired and defenses are too tight to create buckets via jump shots or dribble-penetration. It is then that easy buckets are most needed.
Random photo of Shane Battier II; don't you just love the Duke basketball polo shirt?
Given that principle, let's analyze the trades of the last month: 1. LA Lakers obtain Pau Gasol. By the Easy Bucket Principle, this is an awesome trade. Kobe Bryant still is a source of easy buckets, but as he has aged, he's a little less likely to slash all the way to the hole. Adding Pau Gasol's postup threat is a great move and makes them a championship contender.
2. Phoenix Suns obtain Shaquille O'Neal. By the Easy Bucket Principle, this is even better than the Gasol trade. While he's looked old recently, Shaq is the Easy Bucket MVP over the past decade. The Phoenix Suns get rid of Shawn Marion, who was not at all a source of easy buckets. Although he scored often in the lane, those were usually a result of hustle plays or Nash feeds.
3. Dallas Mavericks obtain Jason Kidd. By the Easy Bucket Principle, this is a useless trade. Jason Kidd isn't big enough or fast enough to score off the dribble-drive on a regular basis. Although he may help pass the ball to shooters or cutters, the Easy Bucket Principle could care less. What's worse is this entire Dallas Mavericks team lacks a source of easy buckets until Dirk learns to score in the post.
4. Cleveland Cavaliers obtain Ben Wallace and Wally Szerbiak (not spelled correctly). By the Easy Bucket Principle, this is worse than making no trade at all. Drew Gooden had a post-up game of sorts; Ben Wallace has none. Larry Hughes could get to the basket off dribble-drives on occasion, when he wasn't taking bad shots; Wally Szerbiak can only wait around for the ball to be passed to him for a 3-point shot. There's an argument to be made that Ben and Wally enhance Lebron's own position as a source of easy baskets. But I have severe doubts even on that count. Ben will clog the lane more than Drew did and not finish as well, while Wally is only useful to Lebron when Lebron posts up or penetrates far enough that he could finish on his own sans pass. Although I thought this deal was great when I first looked at it, it's a failure according to the Easy Bucket Principle. Chicago may actually have obtained the best players in the deal.
So what do you think of the Easy Bucket Principle? Is it nonsense? Common sense? Let me know in the comments. By the way, my thanks to truehoop.com for Friday's link. Several new commenters left interesting points of analysis that made me think deeper about the post.
On Saturday afternoon, I was feeling lazy, so I picked up the remote control and turned on the TV. I soon found a thrilling game between Connecticut and South Florida, won on a last-second shot by Connecticut in overtime. You can see the game recap, photos, and video here. I've been impressed by the Big East games I've seen on Saturday's--lots of close games and intriguing project players like Thabeet from U Conn. For a shot-block affectionado like myself, the game was almost as good as it gets.
However, the problem is, I'm firmly entrenched in Big Ten country, and have been for most of my life. Why am I watching Big East games instead of Big Ten games?! Well, the Big Ten, in its infinite wisdom, decided that I should not be able to watch all their games unless I get a special cable package. And since I have never had cable (either it's been too expensive for me, or I'm concerned about the wasted time), I don't have a chance to watch Big Ten games. The result? My loyalties are shifting to the Big East. Oh sure, you can call me traitor and say I must not have cared that much about the Big Ten to begin with. And you'd be right, at least as far as basketball is concerned. But don't just think about that--what about the kids and teens growing up right now watching Big East ball and cheering for Marquette and Notre Dame instead of Wisconsin and Indiana? And what about the pros--will the next Lebron James be able to say he grew up watching Lebron on TV? Or, because his family's too poor to have cable, will the kid say he only saw Lebron or Kobe on bootleg videotapes and once a year in June during the Finals?
As I type this, the NBA All-Star game is going on. I love the NBA All-star festivities and believe the NBA hosts the best All-star game of all leagues. Yet, I can't watch it on my TV, because I don't have TNT. I can't even watch the NBA Western or Eastern Conference Finals without a cable package. I remember being able to watch the Cavs on basic TV as late as 2004? or so; now, you need an FSN package to watch their games. And yet, when the games were free, the Cavs were building a strong fan base in large cities like Pittsburgh and Columbus. Back then, my brother bought a Cavs play-off ticket package, and we went to more games than usual, just because we identified more with the team now that we could watch them on a regular basis. Is the short-term gain really worth losing intensity in the long-term from your fan base?
I wish I could have picked a better topic for my first NBA Monday post, but it really does annoy me. I'd love to support the NBA, and the NBA needs me based on its falling Harris poll popularity numbers. But if it takes a trip to a local sports bar or $50 a month just to get a basic game package from cable, it makes it difficult. I'm sure most of you already have cable and wonder what the big deal is. But when I was in school and lived off-campus, there was no way I could afford it; and I'm sure I'm not the only one to be in that situation. The NBA and college basketball needs to stop sacrificing tomorrow's fan base for the sake of today's dollars.
