khandor’s sports blog

Where does your favourite team rank at the halfway point in the regular season schedule?

Related:

What it takes to win the NBA Championship

If there is going to be 1 home game on their regular season schedule this year that the Raptors will most definitely come away with a W it will be this evening’s contest against the Nets:

The published wagering line for tonight’s game [as of 1:00 PM this afternoon] is:

TORONTO RAPTORS -270

Even though this price certainly qualifies as a “Big Ticket”, with Deron Williams [PG], Kris Humphries [PF] and MarShon Brooks [OG] all absent from New Jersey’s line-up this evening, and Toronto playing the 1st of 7 games in a span of only 9 days, with a back-to-back on the road tomorrow night, in Philadelphia …

Season’s Greetings!

There are three main phases to the game of basketball:

i. Offense;
ii. Defense; and,
iii. Rebounding.

Developing an accurate understanding of the overall NBA talent which exists on the roster for each team at the beginning of the season is a fundamental aspect of properly evaluating the day-to-day goings-on across the league over the course of the season.

INITIAL ASSESSMENT OF TEAM ROSTERS IN NBA’S EASTERN CONFERENCE [as of Sun-Dec-25-2011]

Nets Are Scorching has an interesting post today concerning former New Jersey player Bill Melchionni.

From a slightly different perspective, however …

When looking at the following video clip, what exactly do you see happening between Bill’s nephew [i.e. Lee Melchionni, Duke] and Deron Washington [Virginia Tech/Detroit Pistons]?

FYI, the perspective of yours truly, posted earlier today, in the comments sections of Nets Are Scorching.

When Kris Humphries was strictly a back-up front-court player for the Raptors [i.e. in 2006-2007, 2007-2008 and 2008-2009] … and, then, needlessly traded away in a multi-team package deal to acquire Hedo Turkoglu [i.e. see A and B for further details] … there were very few – if any – other voices in the on-line hoops community extolling his virtues, as a solid future starting-calibre Power Forward in the NBA, if afforded a legitimate opportunity to ply his trade properly. Some 3-5 years later, however …

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Free Agency: Big Names

Who I’d pursue

• Kris Humphries [#3]. How many people heard of him before this? Well, here at the Wages of Wins network, all of us. That’s because he’s been surprisingly productive. Another great value-for-your-dollar player, he could be a great asset to any team, especially one lacking rebounders.

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it is gratifying to see that this corner’s original assessment of Kris Humphries’ actual basketball talent … made well in advance of others – i.e. including both stats gurus [!] and non stats-based NBA observers – was indeed highly accurate, while the vast majority of naysayers, at the time, have now been proven wrong.

The fact is …

While there is little-to-no “competitive advantage” generated by player “evaluations” that are exclusively post facto, based on simple comparative stats analysis, there can be a great deal of “competitive advantage” generated by taking careful note of the specific opinions [i.e. in the form of "evaluations" AND "projections"] offered by someone who legitimately has the ability to make an accurate assessment of a player’s actual basketball ability as much as 3-5 years in advance.

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PS. Cheers, “yertu damkule.”

What sorts of things c/should specific types of NBA players be doing at this time to generate the best possible CBA from negotiations with the group of owners who have decided to lock them out?

Exhibit A

Deron Williams’ sweet move

• Now there’s real pressure on Mikhail Prokhorov, and implied pressure on every owner with valued stars, to get the NBA season started on time. There’s nothing like watching the future of your franchise take the floor night in and night out in a chippy overseas league. If Williams gets injured in Turkey, it’s bad for Williams, but it’s dreadful for the Nets, who are hoping to use Williams to lure fans to a new arena in Brookyn a year from now, not to mention a big free agent like Dwight Howard. Without Williams, the Nets’ roster is pretty sad, and Prokhorov’s investment in basketball endures a major setback.
• The Nets can ill afford hardball. Before they can make Williams the centerpiece of the next phase of their existence, they need to woo him into signing a contract extension.

In this instance, it is likely going to be the owners’ group that cracks apart before the players’ association.

Approximately 3 years ago, this corner of the blogosphere first identified Kris Humphries – then, a back-up Power Forward for the Toronto Raptors – as someone with the attributes to excel in the NBA, if he would ever be fortunate enough to find himself in the right situation, i.e. with the right head coach and accompanying personnel that are “good fits” with his individual game. 

Kris Humphries, 2011 Game Logs

If memory serves correctly, this was the line-up suggested by yours truly:

STARTERS
PG, Jose Calderon
OG, Anthony Parker
SF, Jamario Moon
PF, Kris Humphries
C, Chris Bosh

KEY SUBS
PG, Roko Ukic
G/F, Joey Graham
PF/C, Pops Mensah-Bonsu

as a solid core group for the future development of the Toronto Raptors.

As the 2010-2011 regular season draws to a close  …

2006 NBA Draft – Rudy Gay, No. 8 Selection, 1st Round [instead of Bargnani-A]

2007 NBA Draft – No Selection

2008 NBA Draft – Roy Hibbert, No. 17 Selection, 1st Round [instead of O'Neal-J]

2009 NBA Draft – Derrick Brown and Marcus Thornton, 2nd Round [instead of DeRozan-D]

2010 NBA Draft – Ed Davis, No. 13 Selection, 1st Round

2011 NBA Draft – ?

it is interesting to think of what “might have been” for the Raptors, since that time, if Bryan Colangelo had the character and the basketball acumen required to build a championship calibre team, in Toronto, one brick at a time …

STARTERS
PG, Jose Calderon
OG, Marcus Thornton
SF, Rudy Gay
PF, Kris Humphries
C, Chris Bosh

KEY SUBS
PG, Roko Ukic
OG, Anthony Parker
SF, Derrick Brown
PF, Ed Davis
C, Roy Hibbert

RESERVES
SF, Jamario Moon
PF/C, Rasho Nesterovic

instead of going for a “roster re-vamp” or a ”home run” each off season.

Today’s NBA Standings look like this:

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with the next 2 games for Toronto and New Jersey scheduled to place later today and, then, tomorrow in London, England … a neutral site for both teams.

What is certainly curious, however, is that …

* New Jersey has recently been shifted to a -3.5 favourite, by those responsible for establishing the published wagering line, even though:

i. The average points scored per game for these two teams looks like this:

Toronto, FOR/98.8; AGAINST/105.0 [designated as Away]
NEW JERSEY, FOR/92.9; AGAINST/99.2 [designated as Home];

and,

ii. The Expected Score for this game looks like this:

Toronto, 99.0
NEW JERSEY, 98.95

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Published Wagering Line

Opening: NEW JERSEY -3/-110

Currently: NEW JERSEY -3.5/-110 [as of 11:15 AM today]

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Since the customary “home-court advantage” – i.e. minus an additional 3 points – is not in effect for today’s game, it would certainly seem to be the case that the Toronto Raptors are actually receiving an extra 3 points of value in this match-up againgst the New Jersey Nets, if the “Individual Match-ups” end up looking like this:

and Jay Triano does not get out-foxed by the ‘Lil General’.

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KSS Prognostication

Toronto +3.5/-110 is the selection for today’s game.

At this point of the NBA regular season schedule, each team has played at least 30 games.

Given the history of the NBA … and what it actually takes to be able to win 4 consecutive best-of-seven games series in the playoffs … there is now a strong possibility that the 2010-2011 League Championship will eventually be won by 1 of the 8 teams shown above in “neon green”.

To everyone who takes the time to visit this little corner of the blogosphere …

Happy New Year!

Unlike those in the blogosphere who might see little value in the decision which was made this past weekend by the basketball brain-trust in New Jersey:

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An NBA and D-League first: Terrence Williams demoted as punishment

FanHouse’s Matt Moore knows his D-League inside and out, and he doesn’t appreciate the developmental organization being used so flippantly:

Williams is a problem child for Johnson. And maybe he’s completely justified in his approach to punish the youngster to get him in line. But using the D-League seems like a creative solution for them, when in reality, it’s a reckless maneuver that only hurts Williams, the Nets, the D-League, and the NBA. Use the D-League for what it was designed to do: develop players. Don’t use it as your own personal timeout corner. You’re only hurting yourself.

Moore is right. There’s nothing that the D-League can do to make a person like Williams more punctual. If the guy can’t be bothered to make the bus on time in the big leagues, what’s a trip to a developmental league going to do? And shouldn’t it be New Jersey’s job to try and instill a sense of professionalism into this, um, professional?

That said, I wonder if the D-League can’t help but do something for Williams as a player, if not a person. And, actually, wouldn’t a rebirth as a player help change Williams, the person?

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yours truly would suggest the exact opposite.

What Avery Johnson & Co. actually did, in this instance, is wholely justified and an appropriate course of action to take, given these specific circumstances … if you are operating a professional team sport franchise with a minor league affiliate that’s designed to create a “training environment” for those with legitimate aspirations to eventually “make it”, as an actual pro, in the best basketball league in the world.

- showing up for work on time
- being prepared to do your job properly
- adhering to the instructions of your immediate supervisor

These are simple attributes which can quite readily be re-inforced to a required degree of performance by, either, a short or a long stint with a major league team’s minor league affiliate … where there are no Five Star hotels, no First Class Travel Sections, and only sparsely attended regular season games.

Part of what is sorely lacking in the NBA today, in far too many different situations, is the high degree of personal discipline and integrity required to actually function as a Consumate Team Player, who is trying his very best to win the most number of games possible … and, thereby, gradually improve the performance of the team, overall, to the point of being able to compete for and win a League Championship … rather than merely being an isolated individualist who just happens to be an adjunct member of a “troup” that is trying to provide an innocuous form of “entertainment” to its paying customers. 

Kudos to the Nets for taking this approach to effectively address their problem, and for using the resources at their disposal to help a young person improve his degree of professionalism in a pro team sport environment.