khandor’s sports blog

Welcome back NBA.

FYI …

re: Basketball on Paper WAR and the Best Peak Regular-Season Players Since 1978

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Comment #45
khandor Says:
August 1st, 2011 at 11:29 am

re: “Also the #1, #3, and #8 seasons are all from the ’80s. They belong to Jordan, but they took place in the ’80s.”

When MJ was at his most prolific level of statistical production, as an individual player, the teams he played on were incapable of winning the League Championship. Hmmm … However, as he then began to develop a more mature/sophisticated understanding of “How the game of basketball is actually supposed to be played, at its highest level of competition”, he produced individual stats which were less prolific AND the teams he played on were then able to capture multiple League Championships. Hmmm … Likewise, other all-time great players like Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird are only found further down the stat charts which purport to measure accurately the “individual ability” of an individual basketball player who, by definition, functions exclusively within a “team” environment comprised of 3 main phases [i.e. Offense, Defense and Rebounding]. Hmmm … It continually amazes that so many seemingly intelligent people spend copious amounts of time looking in the wrong direction when trying to identify correctly those who rightfully qualify as being amongst the legitimate group of GOATs. In no particular order … What determines an individual player’s ability to play the game properly are relatively innocuous things like Assists, Rebounds, Assists/Turnovers, Steals, Deflections/Tips, Blocked Shots, Successful Helps & Rotations, Penetrations [i.e. allowed & made], Appropriate Cuts & Floor Spacing, Screen & Pick execution [i.e. setting & evading], Conditioning, Energy [i.e. positive, neutral, or negative], Team Spirit, and Competitive Greatness … the group of which cannot yet be found in a single reliable metric, TTBOMK. Conversely, examining “Just how far above the production level of an ‘average’ player someone is,” would appear to be little more than a giant waste of resources … at least, when it comes to increasing the current level of understanding for what’s actually required to win the League Championship. In the end, isn’t THAT really what the game is all about?

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In general, Neil Paine does a terrific job running the Basketball-reference.com blog.

According to Dennis Velasco …

The 10 best shooting guards of the last three decades

OTOH …

According to yours truly, the 10 players in this specific list should actually be ranked in the following order:

1. Michael Jordan;

2. Kobe Bryant;

3. Clyde Drexler;

4. Dwyane Wade;

5. Joe Dumars [NOTE: Should actually be considered only as a Combo Guard];

6. Manu Ginobili;

7. Ray Allen;

8. Reggie Miller;

9. Tracy McGrady; and,

10. Mitch Richmond;

as elite level basketball players … if one is going to evaluate them properly, as Off Guards, while considering ALL relevant aspects of the game.

Related:

Joe Dumars ranked the 9th best shooting guard of the last 30 years

According to the following report …

Murphy debating between Celtics, Heat

… a veteran NBA Big Man, who averaged 14.0+ ppg and 10.0+ rpg during both the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons, now has a very interesting choice to make. 

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Between Pat Riley and Danny Ainge?

Hmmm …

Watch the following sequence of events and then identify correctly what crucial mistake the 76ers made which resulted in their loss to the Celtics [on Thursday]:

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Should they have gone “under” the pick, instead of switching?

Should they have gone “over” the pick, “shown hard” with Garnett’s defender, and then “recovered back” to their original checks?

Should they have ”trapped” the pick?

Or, should they have done something else, altogether different?

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The specific take from this corner …

The main mistake which Doug Collins made in this instance was his deployment of this specific Group of 5 players against the Quintet that Doc Rivers put on the floor:

PG – Holiday vs Rondo
OG – Williams vs Robinson
SF – Meeks vs Allen
PF – Iguodala vs Pierce
C – Young vs Garnett

which amounted to the following “Individual Match-up” categories:

For Philadelphia -> 3 Smalls [i.e. Robinson, Rondo & Allen] + 2 Mediums [Iguodala & Young]

vs

For Boston -> 3 Smalls [Robinson, Rondo & Allen] + 1 Medium [Pierce] + 1 Big [Garnett]

What Doug Collins should have done instead was use THIS specific Group of 5 players on this final possession:

PG – Iguodala [Medium] vs Rondo [Small]
OG – Williams [Small] vs Robinson [Small]
SF – Meeks [Small] vs Allen [Small]
PF – Young [Medium] vs Pierce [Medium]
C – Battie [Big] vs Garnett [Big]

… and the 76ers would have probably won this game outright, by getting a defensive stop on this possession, regardless of what specific play the Celtics decided to use.

Understanding properly how “Individual Match-ups” actually work is the key to understanding the NBA game.

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PS. If you actually watched this game on television, like yours truly did, then, you should have been able to see the look of absolute horror which came over the face of Ed Stefanski [Sixers GM] … believe it, or not, it was very much like this … when he first surveyed the floor, saw the 5 players Coach Collins sent out, from the preceding time-out, to defend against the 5 players deployed by Doc Rivers, and mouthed the following 5 words of fright and dismay: “No! What are you doing!” Right now, the 76ers might well be the best 7-15 team in the NBA, considering they have lost at least 3 games [i.e. L1, in OT; L2, in OT; and L3] in mind-boggling fashion. :-(

Related:

The Celtics game-winning pick & roll and the Sixers poor defense of it

The Lakers’ defense gets it done

The Lakers pressured the Celtics all night, making life particularly miserable for Paul Pierce. The defense was all the more stifling because Kobe Bryant continued to play rover, sloughing off Rajon Rondo in the half court to plug holes and double-team the ball. Bryant’s strategy was nothing new, but the Lakers’ quickness to the ball, readiness on ball screens and relentlessness on those traps were unprecedented. Literally. The Lakers’ defensive rating of 75.3 on Tuesday night was their best mark of the season — and far and away the Celtics’ worst offensive output since opening night.

A real key was Phil Jackson’s decision to have the Lakers “trap” more aggressively vs Boston’s “Pick and Pop” offensive action, in conjunction with allowing Kobe Bryant to rotate out, at least initially, to the temporarily “open” shooter … whoever he might be … while consistently “helping off” of Rajon Rondo.

When this version of the LA Lakers plays with this sort of well-coordinated Offense, Defense and Rebounding they are simply the best team in the NBA.

The NBA Finals [v.2009-2010] tip off this evening in Los Angeles.

While Rounds 1, 2 and 3 have produced some fair-to-good basketball, this version of the Finals should prove to be an entirely different kettle of fish.

These 2 teams are quite evenly matched.

The Lakers, however, signed Ron Artest last summer for one reason only.

i.e. To have him defend either LeBron James or Paul Pierce in the NBA Finals. 

If Ron Ron does his job properly, from a physical standpoint, and can play Da Truth to a virtual stand-off, then … all else being equal … the Lakers will be hoisting another championship banner to the rafters when the 2010-2011 kicks off in the fall.

It really is as simple as that.

Enjoy what should be a real hum-dinger of a series!

Craig Kwasniewski [The Association], a die-hard LA Lakers fan and season-ticket holder, smacks one a clear country mile, when reviewing the precise reasons why the Boston Celtics SHOULD simply “stay the course” with their latter-day version of the Big Three:

Celtics Should Keep Ray Allen for One Last Ride with The Big Three

I think it’s insane to break up The Big Three so soon after hanging banner 17.  Shouldn’t they be allowed to give it one last shot together?  Shouldn’t we consider that this might be a rough patch in a long season?  Why break up a good thing so quickly, did you not forget the 22-year championship drought?

Anyway, here are a few reasons why the C’s should keep Ray Allen and give The Big Three one last chance at a title:

The long regular season. Relax Boston… I know it’s cold and miserable back east and the long winter is getting to you but you really need to be reminded how The Association works.  The NBA regular season is a very long 82-games over six months. Mix in preseason and hopefully a long postseason and you’re looking at a 8 or 9 month season. Veteran teams always seem to hit a lull somewhere between Christmas and Easter. It’s impossible to bring playoff efforts when your key players are in their 30′s… it’s just not possible (and the ones that did, like the Pat Riley Heat teams in the late 90′s collapsed in a heap by playoff time).  Just ride out this rough patch, usually teams find their second wind around March Madness.

Don’t be so quick to blow up the Big Three.  Counting playoffs The Big Three era has lasted about 2 1/2 seasons for a total of 253 games.  Actually that sounds like a good number of games… a good run at legitimate title contention, right?  Not really when you consider that the C’s were last legit contenders when Bird retired in 1992.  That’s 15 seasons with 6 brief postseason appearances (and only one conference championship appearance in 2001-02 with the Jim O’Brien chuck-and-duck era) for a grand total of 1,275 games.  Suddenly 253 games doesn’t sound like a lot does it?  Maybe you might want to remember the long drought before sending off a future hall-of-fame guard for a quick fix.

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In the judgment of yours truly, Craig’s take is 100% on the money.

Although Ubuntu! may not have enough left in the tank this season to be able to actually win-it-all, again … with the Lakers, Magic and Cavaliers being as strong as they are right now … it sure as heck DESERVES THE OPPORTUNITY TO TRY, at least, ONE MORE TIME, even bloodied and battered.

Simple put … that’s THE RIGHT STUFF of which True Champions are made, whether or not they, in fact, succeed on the court together.

Despite winning the 2007-2008 NBA Championship, there are certain many? individuals, who are highly active in the on-line hoops community, that consistently attempt to put down the effectiveness of Doc Rivers’ coaching.

In reality, however …

What Doc keeps doing, repeatedly, is simply knocking ‘em outside the yard … with coaching expertise like this:

Example 1, via specific play design

Example 2, via specific verbal communication with his players

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Rivers won’t go with flow

They were words spoken when a team loses a game it should have won, and after blowing an 11-point halftime lead to the Magic yesterday at home, someone in the Celtics’ locker room said them.

“We’re better than Orlando.’’