The NBA Thread

[buffcoat]

Never played a game in the NBA, but this is the scariest player I ever saw:

http://stilespoints.blogspot.com/2010/03/michael-graham-georgetowns-enforcer.html


Followed by Moses Scurry.

[Cotton]

this has been cracking me up all morning: http://www.heatfansounds.com/

[Big Plastic Head]

this has been cracking me up all morning: http://www.heatfansounds.com/

That is pretty awesome.

[Pregnant Pause]

New spirit of Nem 76ers!  Although, I'm already dreading the inevitable 5 year, 45M extension for Spencer Hawes, Vucevic is going to be a pretty close approximation for much cheaper.  Sixers have like 6 games in the next 7 games, so we'll see how things are looking next week, but I haven't been this excited for PHL basketball in a long time. 

[senorcorazon]

this has been cracking me up all morning: http://www.heatfansounds.com/

That is pretty awesome.

I want this lady to follow me around all day so that when I get a little low energy she can yell out "ALL-RIIIGHT! YOU CAN DO IT!"

[dave from knoxville]

So I am doing these power rating things again this year

   10-Jan
1   Miami
2   LA Clippers
3   New York
4   Chicago
5   LA Lakers
6   Boston
7   San Antonio
8   Atlanta
9   Dallas
10   Toronto
11   Orlando
12   Oklahoma City
13   Golden State
14   Charlotte
15   Philadelphia
16   Indiana
17   Portland
18   Denver
19   Cleveland
20   Phoenix
21   Utah
22   Minnesota
23   Houston
24   Memphis
25   Detroit
26   New Orleans
27   Sacramento
28   New Jersey
29   Milwaukee
30   Washington

[jbissell]

I think you explained your system last year (or maybe that was baseball?), but could you give a refresher? Seeing the Knicks at #3 was quite startling.

[Greggulator]

Yeah, I'm interested in this too!

In my eyeball test to start the season, the Top teams are so far:

1) Miami. (Playing lights out, unfortunately.)
2) OKC. (The Maynor loss is going to hurt them but Harden's becoming what we thought he would become.)
3) Chicago (D-Rose is somehow even better.)
4) Portland (Gerald Wallace is the most underrated player in the NBA. I *LOVE* this team.)
5) 76ers (Somehow I've seen them the least. But I love their depth. Doug Collins is terrific.)
6) Clips (I'm not sold at ALL and am predicting a giant flame-out.)
7) Lakers (Injuries are going to hurt them but Bynum is ridiculous.)
San Antonio (The old guard still have it, despite Manu. They just make smart moves every year and are a joy to watch.)
9) Pacers (I like this team and hope they stick.)
10) Orlando (They play really worried but Ryan Anderson is a MAN.)

Atlanta has a good record but I hate that team. They don't share the ball or play any semblance of defense, save for highlight play blocks. Dallas lost way, way, way more than anyone could have predicted. I really want to go all in on the Nuggets but am on a holding pattern. Boston bores me to tears. Toronto and Utah are strangely decent. Minnesota is the most entertaining team in the league.

THAT IS ALL.

[bananagrabbers]

I was bullish on the Sixers before the year started, but they're even exceeding my expectations.  Now that I'm dreaming of a division title, I'm sure they'll fall back to earth.

16 of their next 20 at home, though.  Scheduling mess might allow them time to gain some more attention if they run up a lopsided record.

[buffcoat]

I don't follow the NBA very closely, but I have a local interest question.  Why is Charlotte so bad, and why do they seem so incapable of fielding any kind of NBA team?

[Greggulator]

I don't follow the NBA very closely, but I have a local interest question.  Why is Charlotte so bad, and why do they seem so incapable of fielding any kind of NBA team?

Charlotte IS capable of fielding an NBA team. Their first team set all kinds of huge attendance records when they started out and had some of the most popular selling merchandise in any sports league of the era. They were a hit from the start and then ended up fielding some very good teams headlined by Larry Johnson, one of the most telegenic stars of his time. (His "Granmama" commercials, for instance.) But then the team soured just as the owner George Shinn completely alienated the community in some sordid affair and the like.

At the same time, Charlotte also has a lot of competition from college basketball, as you probably know. But you have four teams (Duke, UNC, NC State, Wake Forest) in the area with huge followings which date back for generations, along with some other area schools like Charlotte and Davidson which also pop up on the national radar here and there.

The Bobcats have been kind of miserable from the start. They haven't had any "new" factor since they're essentially a replacement team. Their nickname is terrible and alienated the community. There was a "pick the name of the team" contest that they promoted and instead they went with Bobcats at the owner's behest, since his name was Bob.

Now they're led by Michael Jordan who doesn't really have any clue what he's doing as an owner. The team's best player since its return has been Gerald Wallace. I love Gerald Wallace but he's not a megastar who can define a franchise. He's a very good player but not someone to build a team around.

Their roster is filled with nobodies. Their best player is DJ Augustine, a point guard who would start on maybe only three or four other teams. Their most widely known player is probably Boris Diaw who was a very good player on the Phoenix Suns a few years back when they were one of the most exciting teams of the past 20 years. Now, he's about 45 pounds overweight and really doesn't care.

The only other players worth watching are Kemba Walker, a young PG who was the national player of the year in college last year who has shown some flashes of potential. They have another 19-year-old rookie named Bismack Biyombo who has an incredible last name and is from the Congo.

It's not that they're bad. They are bad, but they're not the worst team. But they're easily the most pointless.

[buffcoat]

This is the sense I get, that there is no point to their existence.  A bit like the then-Vancouver Grizzlies, maybe.  What if you put an NBA Team in a city and nobody cared.

The George Shinn stuff was just gross.  And I agree that Michael Jordan's track record as an exec leaves a lot to be desired.  They can't even be interestingly bad, like the Clips have been.

And agreed on the Bobcats thing.  One of the most absurdly, obscurely egotistical moves I can remember.  Most people don't know why the team has a stupid nickname; they just know the team has a stupid nickname.

The arena's not bad; I went to see a Final Eight game there a few years ago and liked it ok.  I don't know how it compares to other NBA arenas, but it compares favorably to the RBC Center (especially as the RBC Center has to do such regular double duty) in terms of being oriented around the court.

[Gilly]

It pains me to say it, but the Wolves need Beasley back. His shots are being allocated to players who don't have any business taking any more shots than the ones they shoot now. If he could just use a little better judgement when he comes back about shot selection, the Wolves could be a good team.

[dave from knoxville]

So I am doing these power rating things again this year

   10-Jan
1   Miami
2   LA Clippers
3   New York
4   Chicago
5   LA Lakers
6   Boston
7   San Antonio
8   Atlanta
9   Dallas
10   Toronto
11   Orlando
12   Oklahoma City
13   Golden State
14   Charlotte
15   Philadelphia
16   Indiana
17   Portland
18   Denver
19   Cleveland
20   Phoenix
21   Utah
22   Minnesota
23   Houston
24   Memphis
25   Detroit
26   New Orleans
27   Sacramento
28   New Jersey
29   Milwaukee
30   Washington

This year I am using a simple variation on classic spelling bee rankings. If you beat someone ahead of you, you move up. If you lose to someone behind you, there's about an 80% chance you're going to drop. If you have the day off, you drift close to where you are according to whether others move ahead or behind you. I am doing this as an experiment to see if it improves predictively as the season goes on. In the first full week, it missed 29 times. In the second full week, it missed 21 times, but 2 weeks is certainly not statistical evidence.

In the past I have used a more scientific method of pairwise comparisons in an iterative system. In that system, every result has an effect on every team, but if this version works just as well, it's much easier to update. The new method will respond more quickly to winning and losing streaks than the more scientific version. I think that may be good.

The surprising Knicks sild into the top slot last night with Miami and Clippers losses.

[Greggulator]

I went to Sixers/Knicks last night.

I can't say enough good things about the Sixers. They didn't have their legs last night (every missed shot was short) but they have absolutely no quit in them. They were down 17 and made it really tight at the end.

Every player does a little bit of something on the court. Lou Williams is a very good approximation of Manu, save he doesn't have the court vision but knows how to play.

Evan Turner is nice. He finds a way to do things that contribute.

They don't have that one guy who can take over a game scoring. If they had a Kevin Martin or Monta Ellis type, they'd be a title contender. Of course, to get a guy like that they'd have to give up a piece. But they have the depth to make a move.

I hate this Knicks team. I'm predicting a public Melo/Amare argument within the next six weeks. They ran Melo as a point last night. That's fine and everything since he's a terrific isolation player and that gives him an easy look. But he just does not like to pass the ball at all. He called his own number a bunch of times last night. Also, he's not a great passer in a set. I don't have a lot of faith in him getting the ball to Amare in the right spot.

Shumpert's got a lot of energy. Chandler's a monster in the paint. They're going to need him to stay on the court though since they don't have anyone who can keep a guard out of the lane and Melo/Amare aren't defenders.