» March 9, 2009 7:02 PM | By Brandon Hoffman
- Matt Wiesenfeld of the Biz of Basketball: “The smartest businesses take advantage of opportunities in the moment, refusing to be influenced by market conditions. The NBA is doing just that by extending its international reach to India even while its teams at home in America are being offered economic lifelines through the league office. India, like China before it, is a potentially huge market for the NBA, which has done better growing the game internationally than other leagues. The NBA will establish an office in India and establish grassroots programs to showcase the sport. This investment is also a boon to the NBA partners such as adidas, Electronic Arts and Spalding, all of whom will be getting involved with products on the ground customized for the unique Indian audience. Right now there are approximately 4 million Indians playing basketball, from a population of over a billion people.”
- Who’s better — CP3 or Williams? Rosen certainly picked an ideal time to cast a vote for Williams as the fourth-year point guard was named the Western Conference Player of the Week for games played Monday, March 2nd, through Sunday, March 8th. D. Will averaged 25.3 points and 11.3 assists in wins over the Rockets, Nuggets, and Raptors. I’m a late convert to the school of CP3. I felt that Williams was the better player as recently as last season. I agree with Rosen’s scouting report. Williams is the better scorer and defender. But Chris Paul is on another level. No one manages a game like CP3. His basketball IQ is off the charts. Both players have excelled versus top competition. Williams’ size will help him withstand the wear and tear as he ages, but Paul’s smarts will make up for his physical limitations.
- Ivan Carter of the Washington Post: “As the Wizards continue winding down this brutal season, the two things on everyone’s mind are Gilbert Arenas and the identity of the next head coach. As for Gilbert, who is not on the four-game trip that wraps up Monday night in Minneapolis, I don’t think he’s going to play this season. In fact, players I’ve spoken with feel the same way. I have the same feeling — call it intuition — when it comes to Brendan Haywood, who is on the trip but hasn’t practiced yet. As for the next coach, all signs point to Flip Saunders.”
- CelticsBlog: “First of all, 2nd place means likely having to face the Magic in the 2nd round. On paper that looks bad because they have the 3rd best record and they just beat us. But looking at the playoff brackets right now, is the 2nd round going to be that much easier for the 1st seed? If the playoffs started this week and assuming the top seed wins the first round series, they’d have to play the winner of the Hawks vs. Heat series. We all know how tough the Hawks could be and does anyone really want to face a motivated Wade in the playoffs?”
- Mike Brown Coaches by Feel, Not Numbers. David Friedman, writing for CavsNews.com reports that Cavaliers Coach Mike Brown isn’t a “stats guy.” Brown also reveals that Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich isn’t “a stat guy either.” Brown and Popovich aren’t alone. Kurt Helin of Forum Blue & Gold discovered that Phil Jackson “doesn’t believe in” advanced stats last summer. I bring this up because Dean Oliver of the Denver Nuggets proclaimed that “The teams at the top of the standings do it,” Oliver said, “and the teams at the bottom of the standings don’t” when talking about quantitative analysis at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference last weekend. Brown, Popovich and Jackson preside over three of the top five teams in the NBA. What does that say about advanced statistics? Maybe it speaks to the human element involved in player management. An element that is seemingly impossible to quantify.
- Sam Amico of Pro Basketball News: “Longtime readers are well aware of how I often write that Phoenix’s Steve Nash plays basketball like a soccer player. Well, Wade plays like a two-way football player. On defense, he steps into passing lanes and makes interceptions like a free safety, then sprints down the floor for an easy score. On offense, he looks like former Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders, as Wade sidesteps and jukes his way past defenders — all while dribbling a basketball and (young players take note) keeping his head up.
- David Stern on social media: “You know, I’m an old school guy,” Stern said, “but I recognize that the new-school players are quite popular. I’ve heard coaches describe it. Remember, I live in New York, and Nate Robinson is a VERY exuberant player, and that’s kind of nice too. Although I go back to an era when if you dunked on somebody you pretended as if, ‘Oh, that’s just a normal day at the office.’ You just pick up go down and indicate to the guy that you could do it any time you wanted to. And so that’s what Bill Russell used to epitomize, that’s what Larry and Magic used to do, even with Dr. J and Kareem, you just did it. But that’s changed, and you know what? That’s because everything has changed. If you Tweet, you’re telling the world about everything. If you’re on social media, you’re telling the world about everything. So I consider the exuberance to be a reflection of the way people are growing up and the way they’re expressing themselves.”
- John Hollinger of ESPN.com: “An earlier panel on the fan experience was highlighted by an interesting back-and-forth on entertaining versus winning, with former Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy taking the latter approach and Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke extolling the necessity of the former. In doing so he made a point which few execs will readily admit — that chances are, no matter how smart the organization, they’ll only win the title about once every 30 years, and in the long run will end up around .500. In other words, teams need to engage fans in a way that makes them come back even when they’re not winning.” Once every 30 years? What does that say about the Lakers and Celtics, who have won 31 of the league’s 62 NBA championships?
- Bethlehem Shoals of the Sporting News: “As fans paying good money for tickets, or reserving the television for three hours straight, we want opposing teams to hate each other. It just blows our minds that players in different jerseys could not only be tight off the court, but bring those emotions onto the field of play — and have them fuel the competitive spirit. Then we remember how great it felt to grab a rebound over our mothers in family pick-up ball, and everything makes sense. I actually think it’s in the Bible or something. But sometimes, athletes cross the line. That would be when they become — gasp — actual fans of one another.”
Category: Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, New Orleans Hornets, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, Points in the Paint, Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards
Tags: Abe Pollin, Boston Celtics, Brandon Roy, Chris Paul, Cleveland Cavaliers, David Stern, Deron Williams, Dwyane Wade, Flip Saunders, Gilbert Arenas, Houston Rockets, Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Mike Brown, NBA Teams, New Orleans Hornets, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, Points in the Paint, Portland Trail Blazers, Ron Artest, Steve Nash, Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards
Discuss in Forum
March 10th, 2009 at 4:01 am
“Maybe it speaks to the human element involved in player management. An element that is seemingly impossible to quantify.”
Don’t confuse player management (coaches) with player recruitment (gms). Mike Brown may not use advanced stats but the Cleveland Cavaliers do. The reason that Cavs have been high on Delonte West since he came out of St Joes and finally traded for him was because of advanced statistics.
Honestly, every time I watch a nationally televised game and they wire up the time out huddles, I hear something like this:
Phil Jackson: “we’re reacting to them, you guys need to start forcing the issue”
Mike Brown: “Keep working hard. Keep talking to each other. We get stops at this end, the shots will start falling.”
Popovich: [something sarcastic] followed by “Wow, look, we made a couple shots, they missed a couple shots, and we’re suddenly winning. Basketball’s an easy game gentlemen.”
and Doc Rivers has to take the cake. Anytime I hear him wired he says the most generic things. I’m waiting for the day he says “we just gotta score more points than the other team, guys. You can do it.” (if he hasn’t already said it)
It seems that many coaches allow the assistant coaches to draw up plays. I know on the Cavs, Mike Brown almost never draws up plays on offense, and often times lets the players decide what to do. It seems that head coaches do their micromanaging in practice. So to say they don’t use advanced statistics isn’t necessarily an indictment against their worth. Just my two cents.
March 10th, 2009 at 7:45 am
I know the Cavaliers front office uses advanced stats (check yesterday’s fundamentals). And if the Cavs use them, San Antonio probably uses them too. I just think it’s interesting that three of the top five teams in the NBA are led by coaches who don’t put a lot of stock in numbers.