This is our old blog. It hasn't been active since 2011. Please see the link above for our current blog or click the logo above to see all of the great data and content on this site.
In other words, think about who is on the Celtics right now, and then think about who they used to be. Kevin Garnett was one of the greatest players of all time at his peak. Ditto Shaq. Ray Allen & Paul Pierce were "alpha dogs" of their own teams. Jermaine O'Neal was a stud big man (10.5 Win Shares in 2003). Heck, even Rasheed Wallace and Michael Finley, who are no longer Celtics but were at the time of Normandin's post, used to be stars. The only question is, has any veteran-laden team had more latent talent than this summer's Celtics (pre-Sheed/Finley departures)?
I'm admittedly a little behind the curve here, but I thought I'd throw some linkage to the player ratings for NBA 2K11 (which, as I was informed by a GameStop rep via phone-call several minutes ago, comes out midnight next Monday). Lots to disagree with there, so let me know in the comments what 2K's most egregious mistakes were... Also, for an alternate take, check out this blog where "Rashidi" offers his own (more reasonable) ratings. Happy gaming!
For every bargain pickup in today's NBA, there's always going to be another player whose weak performance bears little connection to his outsized salary. A few weeks ago, we linked to Marc Normandin's Basketball Prospectus article about potential summer steals, so it's only fitting that we link again to his follow-up: offseason acquisitions whose compensation is not commensurate with their SCHOENE projections.
Posted in Layups, Projections | Comments Off on Layups: Basketball Prospectus on Possible Summer Busts
The equivalent of Christmas morning amongst hoops stat-wonks, it's the annual unveiling of John Hollinger's NBA previews over at ESPN. And I'm sure the player comments are not far behind, either... Unfortunately, people who aren't ESPN "Insiders" don't seem to be able to access JH's stuff, which is sad -- but I guess the man has to make a living, just like the rest of us. And for those lucky enough to have Insider, enjoy.
Although it's barely pertinent from a basketball perspective (Willie Sojourner, Fred Sheffield, and Walt Davis -- who apparently was a world-record-holding Olympic high jumper before his rather mediocre NBA career -- are the only hoops names on the list), Heimo Elonenhas compiled a neat list of pro football, basketball, and baseball players who were track and field stars before pursuing a career in a different sport (as you might expect, lots of NFL players turn up here). All in all, it's an interesting piece of research if you're a sports fan.
Of course, no discussion of ironic vintage NBA apparel would be complete without also acknowledging the legendary Straight Cash Homey Dot Net, who for more than three years has been posting a collection of the most ridiculous jerseys in captivity. The majority of the people in their photos lack the self-awareness about jersey selection that the East Village hipsters have, but then again, when you're sporting an Isaac Austin jersey, does the level of irony with which you wear it really matter?
"We're very astonished, to say the least, that not one team has contacted us with any interest," Moore told AP. "I just don't understand it. What has Allen Iverson done to not warrant interest in him?"
File this under, The Player is Always the Last to Know.
If you're a longtime reader of this blog, you know that Artis Gilmore is always the answer to at least one of our recurring questions: "Who is the very best (eligible) basketball player in history that isn't in the Hall of Fame?" In fact, sometimes it seems like we should just retire #6 on that Keltner List questionnaire, because it doesn't matter which player we're looking at... unless you're Artis Gilmore, the answer is "no". Gilmore owns #6.
And thanks to a hat-tip-worthy link by TrueHoop, I learned today that the A-Train has a blog, where he gives his perspective on various basketball topics (including an offer last week to help Greg Oden with his game). I was also pleasantly surprised to see a number of guest posts lobbying for Gilmore to be in the HoF, which we couldn't be more in favor of here at BBR.
A while ago, I posted a link to Drew Cannon's Basketball Prospectus piece on new positional designations, and it got some good conversation flowing about what positions and roles mean to a 5-man unit. Well, here's another take on team-building from a positional/skills perspective, courtesy of Fanhouse's Tom Ziller and Bethlehem Shoals. In particular, this is a very interesting way to visualize player skills (on a continuum from "big-man" to "point guard") and how they may mesh together as a team, especially in the sense that there are certain aspects of the game that need to be covered by somebody in every unit.
