Intro by KnickerBlogger on Thursday, February 1st, 2007 at 3:09 pm | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://www.nba.com/sonics/news/bulls070201.html

All the same, Chicago has one big fan - ESPN Insider's John Hollinger. Hollinger's power rankings, which debuted last month, have the Bulls not only atop the Eastern Conference as of Feb. 1 but ahead of two West teams, the L.A. Lakers and Utah, with superior records.

Hollinger's rankings have quickly become a lightning rod for criticism, with the ranking of the Bulls a favorite target. Criticism has come even from within the APBRmetrics community.

"Hollinger's new power rankings will be great for Chicago," commented Dan Rosenbaum, a consultant for the Cleveland Cavaliers, on the APBRmetrics message board. "In a week when they lose three games in the fourth quarter because they can't score, but win the fourth game by 40 over some hapless opponent, they will be able to feel good because they are moving up in the Hollinger power rankings."

Rosenbaum was being partially facetious, but his contention - that the college hoops-style blowouts registered by the Bulls are given too much credit by Hollinger's method - is a common and perfectly reasonable one. While the power rankings account for strength of schedule and recent performance, they are at heart based on team point differential, with win-loss record and the size of individual victories completely ignored.

"This is much less a factor than you might think," Hollinger answered his critics in a FAQ on his rankings. "NBA coaches tend to play their best players most of the fourth quarter as long as the margin is under 20, and as a result, even for the best teams only a small portion of their games are so one-sided that the starters can spend the second half yukking it up on the bench.

"Phoenix is a good example — even with all the one-sided wins, Steve Nash is playing a career-high 35.7 minutes per game."

It's important to note that no OTTERs were hurt in this study.

2 Comments

Intro by KnickerBlogger on Monday, January 29th, 2007 at 11:11 am | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=powerranking-FAQ&univLogin02=stateChanged

HOLLINGER: Probably the biggest question so far is how Phoenix can be ranked ahead of Dallas when Dallas beat Phoenix twice.

The problem with this logic is it asks us to ignore the other 40 games and focus, essentially, on the final six seconds of one game on Dec. 28, when Dirk Nowitzki made a 19-foot jumper to beat the Suns. That game was in Dallas, by the way, so once you adjust for the 3.5-point home-court advantage it comes out as a Phoenix "win" for the purposes of the rankings.

I should also point out that the Suns would have a 31-game winning streak right now if not for that game and an overtime loss to Washington. I think Phoenix is fairly obviously the best team in the league right now.

Along the same lines, the other common refrain emanating from north Texas has been to penalize Phoenix for its poor record against the West's elite, but that's a red herring. Phoenix played all those teams the first two weeks of the season when it struggled out of the gate.

I think John makes a good argument, but it's one I don't agree with. Prior to Dallas' last loss, I feel that they were the superior team. If he can discount the Suns first 2 weeks, then can't I discount the Mavs first 2 weeks where they lost to 4 western teams (including the Spurs & Rockets) as well & consider them 36-5?

BTW this morning I ran OTTER & the ModCol (2007 only rankings) were after Dallas' loss to the Bulls:
Phoenix 0.742538363
Dallas 0.740794029

Damn close if you ask me! The Suns superior record & point margin now outweighs Dallas' 2 head to head victories.

5 Comments

Intro by KnickerBlogger on Thursday, January 25th, 2007 at 10:36 am | permalink | trackback |

Marty Burns: West: ‘Best guess' is that Gasol will stay with Grizzlies

"The one thing I would like to make entirely clear is that it's going to take some kind of incredible deal for us to trade him," Grizzlies president Jerry West said Wednesday. "Our owner has said if we can accommodate him and satisfy our needs, we'd consider it. But if people think that there's a fire sale going on here, that's not the case."

Jack McCallum: Randolph or Gasol

"Randolph plays zero defense and that cancels out his offense, which is, to be sure, pretty damn good," one head coach said.

Said an assistant coach: "If he cared enough to get himself into shape, Zach would be an elite player. But he doesn't do that and the rest of the league knows it."

"I'd take Gasol in a heartbeat," another coach said. "He can step out and shoot — Zach really doesn't do that although he does have a soft touch — and Pau cares about the game."

I would take GASOL, too. Despite his stats, I didn't even consider Randolph for my All-Star team. But when he has the ball around the basket, it's worth stopping your channel-surfing away from the Blazers and taking a look.

Chris Sheridan (ESPN INSIDER): Where will Pau Gasol go? Here's nine possibilities

The Bulls are currently puttering along at five games over .500 and sitting fifth in the weak Eastern Conference, needing a capable low-post scorer like humans need oxygen.

What's more, they're one of very few teams that can offer the three items that are believed to be exactly what West wants: a likely lottery pick; disposable good, young players; and financial relief.

Adrian Wojnarowski: Down and out

West confirmed to the Memphis Commercial Appeal that he had preliminary discussions with Chicago, but Bulls G.M. John Paxson has to think long and hard about breaking up his talented core of young players with the belief that Gasol can be the cornerstone of a championship contender. Do you give up Luol Deng and Ben Gordon to gamble on Gasol's greatness? Kirk Hinrich?

Nets president Rod Thorn has been dying to trade for a low-post presence, but he's short on bargaining chips with Nenad Krstic and Richard Jefferson out after surgery. Still, as the Feb. 22 trade deadline nears, there will be teams trying to make a move for Gasol, who has $60 million left over the next four years of his contract. After breaking his foot in the world championships while playing for Spain last summer, Gasol missed 22 games to start the season. Memphis lost 17 of them.

So how about a friendly contest? Fire up your crystal ball, use a trade checker (RealGM), and let's see who gets closest to the actual trade.

6 Comments

Intro by KnickerBlogger on Monday, January 22nd, 2007 at 9:46 am | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-anthonysletter&prov=ap&type=lgns

Dear Nuggets Fans, Teammates, Stan Kroenke & the Nuggets Organization,

The day is finally here. It has been a very long wait for my first game back. Before the game tomorrow, I wanted to take the time to thank all of you for your support of our team and your support of me. I greatly appreciate the e-mails and letters from those of you who wrote to me expressing your support. I also wanted to let you know how excited I am to get back on the court and play with my new and old teammates. I have been going crazy for 36 days waiting to return. All my life playing basketball has come easy to me, but not being able to play has been the most difficult thing I have ever experienced as a player.

I've spent this time off working on my game and reflecting on who I am. And who I want to be. I want all of you to know that I plan to be better, stronger and smarter on the court than I've ever been before. I've never been more dedicated to becoming the best player and teammate that I can be. It has been very tough watching the team play without me, knowing that my mistake has made it very difficult for my teammates, the franchise and the fans. I've spent the time working extremely hard, and I plan to come back better than ever.

I've also spent time thinking about the huge responsibilities I have as the captain of the Denver Nuggets, the captain of Team USA, a face of the NBA, and a role model to young people. I'm aware that a great deal is expected of me, and not just as a player. I'm expected to make the right decisions, lead by example and to be a professional.

Once again THANK YOU for your support. I hope to express my appreciation by continuing to develop as a player and as a person. I can't wait to get out there and show everyone what the Denver Nuggets are capable of. I'll see you at the Pepsi Center on Monday night. I'll be the first one there.

Sincerely,

MELO

0 Comments

Intro by KnickerBlogger on Monday, January 22nd, 2007 at 9:41 am | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/kelly_dwyer/01/19/player.rankings/index.html

#2 Dwyane Wade

Didn't mind making the noise, and hardly mind retelling the story for the faithful reader(s): Wade tossed in a body-reversed runner off glass during Thursday's win over Indiana that made me gasp like a teeny bopper at a Herman's Hermits (or whatever the kids jive to these days) concert. No boffin in all of Florida would recommend the sort of spin Wade put on the leather for any sort of recreational activity, but you can't argue with the results, or Wade's January averages of 30.7 points, 8.5 assists, 2.7 steals.

2 Comments

Intro by KnickerBlogger on Tuesday, January 9th, 2007 at 3:32 pm | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://thehothand.blogspot.com/2007/01/today-is-35th-anniversary-of-ending-of.html

As those of you who are longtime readers of the Hot Hand page know, to estimate the probability of a perfect sequential run, we multiply the probabilities of the individual components (wins). If there were a uniform probability of the Lakers' winning each game (the way a coin always has a .50 probability of being a head), we would raise that probability to the 33rd power.

However, the 33 games in the streak would obviously have varied in their degree of difficulty. To account for this, I adopted a very simple model that pegged the difficulty of each game on whether the Lakers were at home or away and on the opponent's winning percentage from the previous season (the streak occurred early in the 1971-72 season, so same-season record probably wouldn't have added much).
...
For what it's worth, my estimate of the overall probability of the Lakers winning all 33 of the games they did during the streak is...

.0002, or 1 in 5,000.

0 Comments

Intro by KnickerBlogger on Tuesday, January 9th, 2007 at 9:50 am | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/46350

Every year at this time, we get caught up in the wondrous exploits of Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade, or in how awesome it was to watch the Suns and Wizards zoom up and down the floor. We've seen the annual Heat-Lakers Christmas confab, saw Agent Zero drop 60, and watched ‘Melo practice his hitand-run skills. So by this time, every year, we've completely forgotten about the league's most prominent franchise.

But lurking beneath the radar, you'll find the San Antonio Spurs merrily ripping off victory after victory while the shiny objects in the foreground divert everyone's attention. They've become so reliably, methodically good that it's become difficult to get anyone interested in their story. They're currently 24–11, have the league's best point differential, and are playing as well offensively as they have at any time in their team's glorious history — and somehow, absolutely nobody is talking about them.

Nobody, except Michael Zannettis.

1 Comment

Intro by KnickerBlogger on Tuesday, January 9th, 2007 at 12:18 am | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://www.nba.com/sonics/news/stoudemire070108.html

As the Seattle SuperSonics prepare to take on the Suns for the first time this season, Stoudemire looks a lot like the dominant Amaré of old - except for changing his jersey number from 32 to 1. After a slow start to the season, Stoudemire averaged 20.5 points, 9.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks during the month of December, recording 10 double-doubles in 15 games. Stoudemire's minutes are still somewhat limited, but he has shot 60.5% from the field.

3 Comments

Intro by KnickerBlogger on Thursday, January 4th, 2007 at 5:47 pm | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://www.knickerblogger.net/?p=449

In fact, one could argue that the NBA title picture should say Spurs, then everyone else. The Spurs rank first the way Tiger Woods is ahead of Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els, or how Spitzer won the gubernatorial election, or how Ali beat Sonny. The Spurs are two points per game ahead of the Suns, which translates to four wins in the final standings. Two points and four wins doesn't seem a lot, and it shouldn't if we're talking about average to above average, since it's relatively easy to improve a team from forty to forty-four wins. But it's considerably more difficult to get an already elite team into another stratosphere of competitive value, to go from sixty-two to sixty-six wins.

Best Spurs Team Ever?

4 Comments

Intro by KnickerBlogger on Friday, December 29th, 2006 at 8:46 am | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://www.nysun.com/article/45884

Watch out Mardy Collins, there's a new goon in town. He comes from the mean streets of Sioux City, Iowa, and doesn't weigh 200 pounds soaking wet. But if you believe Pat Riley, this menace to society is going to claim another victim soon if he isn't stopped.
The villain Riley speaks of is none other than Bulls bully Kirk Hinrich. Miami's coach claimed it was a dirty play by the Chicago guard that resulted in a wrist injury to Dwyane Wade in the first quarter of the Heat's loss in the Windy City on Wednesday.
"Hinrich pulled his hand. He does it all the time," Riley told reporters afterward."That's what he does. Anytime Dwyane comes off screens, they will always grab his shirt or grab his hands. It's a tactic down below the body — the official can't see it. He had Dwyane's hand, and [when Wade] tried to pull it out of there, I think something happened."
...
But the punch line here is that, in the same game, one of Riley's players committed an absolutely horrendous cheap shot, one that was far more worthy of scorn. Heat forward James Posey thwacked Chicago's Luol Deng — the team's best player this season — from behind on a breakaway and sent him to the floor. Posey was assessed a flagrant foul and immediately ejected from the game.

Hollinger is at his best when a situation has arisen that allows for a good degree of sarcasm.

It was "not done with any intent except to stop the shot," Riley said, which is technically true — he stopped Deng from shooting by clubbing him to the floor. Riley was also quoted as saying he thought Posey got all ball, which is true only if you think Deng's head is made of synthetic fiber and filled with pressurized air.

16 Comments

Intro by KnickerBlogger on Tuesday, December 26th, 2006 at 11:27 am | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/basketball/nba/12/25/nba.fights.why.us.ap/

"Listen, the NHL lets them fight. Fights happen in baseball. Fights happen in football. Why are we under scrutiny about our game?'' asked O'Neal. "Do you guys look at the NHL? Every day they're boxing. They throw the gloves off and just wear each other out. It would be interesting if you take that same question to the NHL and ask them why they're not under scrutiny about fighting.''

I'd also like to link to:

NHL Should Be Tougher on Violence

The NHL doesn't get it. They see life in a completely different prism from its fan base. As far as I can see, fans in all sports want to see the powers that be punish misbehaving athletes as harshly as they can. None of this paltry nickels and dimes fines and low-ball suspensions. If the NHL truly and honestly cared (and I think they do have the hearts in the right place) they would have thrown the book at Nichol.

Excuse us for being cynical on this one. It really does feel as though the NHL is more reactionary than proactive when it comes to this sort of stuff. Would the punishment been more severe had Spacek been hurt? What if something like this happens again (and it will) but this time someone breaks his neck or dies as a result of smashing his head on the cold, hard ice? I'm not entirely convinced the NHL would have handed Bertuzzi the suspension he received (I believe it was the longest in NHL history) if it didn't receive so much press in both Canada and the United States.

By contrast, the NBA has it right. Commissioner David Stern doesn't mess around. He sees that there's a social and behavioural issue with the NBA and he is seeking to quell this. When Carmelo Anthony pulled the chicken hawk punch of the century he was slapped for 15 games plus what amounts to roughly a $640,000 fine. I would submit that Nichol's was just as bad if not worse — and he got nine.

Last week on PTI, Mike Wilbon was visibly upset over the lack of controversy over this punch. Wilbon felt that race played a factor in the disparity of outrage between the NBA and NHL fights. There are certainly other elements involved as NBA players are just more visible (not behind a helmet or even a baseball cap), fighting is a ‘part' of hockey, and the NHL is the country's 6th most popular sports/entertainment (behind NASCAR & even poker). Nichol's attack was certainly outside what is acceptable in a hockey fight, and is considerably more violent than the Nuggets-Knicks fight. However the NHL only gave Nichol's a 9 game suspension, where 3 players involved in the most recent NBA fight received 10 or more games. So maybe the NBA players have a right to complain?

[Here's a youtube video of the Nichol's punch.]

22 Comments

Intro by KnickerBlogger on Tuesday, December 26th, 2006 at 10:47 am | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/16310130.htm

Charlotte Bobcats managing partner Bob Johnson has blocked minority owner Felix Sabates' effort to contribute his share of the team to charity.

Sabates wants to give his Bobcats stock, which he values at about $1.34 million, to the foundation that supports Carolinas HealthCare System. Sabates sits on the board of that system.

"I was surprised Bob wouldn't approve this, considering it's a donation," Sabates told the Observer in an interview Friday.

On Nov. 29, Sabates received a letter from Johnson's attorney denying Sabates' request to transfer the shares. The attorney, Van Sinclair, claimed the NBA does not allow not-for-profit or charitable entities to own an interest in its franchises.

A subsequent letter from Sabates to the health care system quoted Johnson as saying the NBA had nothing to do with the decision. Instead, Sabates wrote, Johnson told him he "does not wish to have any charitable organization in partnership with the Charlotte Bobcats. ...

"I am really surprised at his decision. I thought this would be a great opportunity for the Bobcats to become a real part of this community."

I'm really shocked at the lack of press on this issue. To me the worst part is that ownership lied about their reasoning, trying to shift the blame on the NBA.

1 Comment

Intro by KnickerBlogger on Thursday, December 21st, 2006 at 9:46 am | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://www.nysun.com/article/45516

Well now, a few days before the game, I have to do a Carmelo backtrack and say this looks like a great matchup. The hype will be on superstars Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant, but there's a lot here for hoops curmudgeons too. The Lakers have struggled since losing forward Lamar Odom and their struggles bring to mind another one of coach Phil Jackson's great teams. Meanwhile, Miami appeared to be in deep trouble when Shaquille O'Neal was lost for two months following knee surgery in November. Instead, they've hung tough and figure to be in the mix for a playoff spot.

Does anyone else see in 20 years a Christmas Day WWE Wrestling match sponsored by the NBA between Kobe & Shaq? My guess is that Kobe has Shaq pinned, but Chris Childs comes into the ring & hits Kobe with a metal chair before the 3 count.

I'm sorry I don't buy the Johnson's argument. Sure it should be a good game, due to injury circumstances, but I'd still rather see another ‘rivalry' if for nothing else the Kobe-Shaq one has been done to death. We've watched so much of Kobe & Shaq over the last decade, it's like getting another sweater for Christmas.

9 Comments

Intro by KnickerBlogger on Wednesday, December 20th, 2006 at 8:47 am | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://www.nysun.com/article/45495

LOSER: MINNESOTA. The T'wolves lose twice on this one. First, they lose because they weren't able to secure Iverson's services, and he would have paired with Kevin Garnett to give this floundering franchise a ray of hope. Second, they lose on another front, because Garnett is likely to go the same route Iverson did and demand a trade in the near future. Now that his management has proven it cannot come up with the goods to get him quality help, there's no point in holding off any longer.

Great article from Mr. H. Other winners & losers from John's column:

WINNER: CLEVELAND, MIAMI, AND DETROIT.
LOSER: THE CLIPPERS.
WINNER: VINCE CARTER.
WINNER: CHICAGO.

0 Comments

Intro by KnickerBlogger on Tuesday, December 19th, 2006 at 9:54 am | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://www.nysun.com/article/45369

The list is more notable for who isn't on it than who is — namely, Knicks' coach Isiah Thomas. Thomas was seen uttering a veiled threat to Anthony moments before the fight broke out, clearly mouthing, "Hey, don't go to the basket right now, it wouldn't be a good idea." on TV replays.
Adding to the circumstantial case against Thomas was the player whose flagrant foul began the event, reserve guard Collins, who had done the same thing the previous night at the end of a blowout loss to Indiana (note how the phrase "blowout loss" keeps cropping up).Plus, Thomas had been in other incidents involving threats to players, including one earlier this year with San Antonio's Bruce Bowen when he yelled "break his feet" to the Knicks' players.
...
With the Knicks already limping along at 9–17, this was about the last thing they needed. Unfortunately, Thomas's (suspected) retribution for a perceived slight by the Nuggets will set New York back even further in its quest to eke out a playoff berth. That will have to serve as his punishment, apparently, because the league has shown absolutely no interest in policing anyone not wearing a uniform.

1 Comment

Intro by KnickerBlogger on Tuesday, December 19th, 2006 at 9:44 am | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://www.nysun.com/article/45387

The best Bulls blogger, www.blogabull.com , published an interesting study over the weekend noting that Wallace's presence has changed the style of the Bulls defense, which is counterintuitive since Wallace is typically regarded as a superior — albeit older — version of the man he replaced, Tyson Chandler. In the past two seasons, the Bulls defense was built on a foundation of holding teams to a low shooting percentage; now they excel in limiting second shots and forcing turnovers. If they begin forcing bad shots, too, then they could move up further among the top defenses.

Original article from BlogABull: http://www.blogabull.com/story/2006/12/15/111621/3...

1 Comment

Intro by KnickerBlogger on Sunday, December 17th, 2006 at 12:34 am | permalink | trackback |

Original Article: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/basketball/nba/12/16/nuggets.knicks.brawl.ap/index.html

After the hard foul by Collins, Smith got up and jawed with Collins and Robinson jumped in to yell at Smith — who had thrown down a reverse dunk on a fast break minutes earlier.

"They were having their way with us," Thomas said. "I think J.R. Smith had just made one dunk when he reversed and spun in the air. And I think Mardy didn't want our home crowd to see that again. So he fouled him."

[Carmelo] Anthony rushed in and pushed Robinson in the neck, triggering the roughest moment, when Robinson and Smith went flying into the stands while fighting with each other. Anthony then threw his punch at Collins, then backed away toward the center of the court.

New York's Jared Jeffries ran from the baseline toward Anthony, but was tackled by a Denver player. The brawl stretched to the other end of the court toward the Nuggets' bench before coaches and security finally pulled Smith away and restored order.

6 Comments