Archive for the 'Layups' Category

Over the weekend, I was invited to participate in NBA.com's Blogger Q&A with TNT analyst/2-time NBA champion Kenny "The Jet" Smith, so I asked him a question about the format of the Finals and how it felt to have home-court advantage (and disadvantage) in the NBA Finals. Many thanks to YouCast and the NBA for setting this up!

Over at Celtics Hub, Zach Lowe looked at our defensive 4 factors numbers in this year's playoffs, and saw that the Boston Celtics are forcing an absolutely ridiculous % of turnovers... And not just relative to this year's teams, but relative to some of the greatest playoff defenses of all-time, despite hand-checking rules geared to reduce turnovers. Which is one of the biggest reasons why the Celts are playing better on D in these playoffs than they did in 2008, when they were one of the greatest defensive teams in NBA history.

(Hat tip: TrueHoop.)

Over at APBRmetrics, longtime BBR reader/commenter DSMok1 has been putting together a great thread about the expected value of a draft pick, expanding on a post Justin made last year. The graphs are really fascinating, especially with regard to the possible range of production you might get at each draft slot, as well as the odds of getting a good player by pick#, and the chart of the surplus values of each pick#. With the lottery being held last night and the draft quickly approaching, that thread is a must read.

When Antawn Jamison was traded from the Wizards to the Cavs in February, it not only increased Cleveland's chances of winning a title, but it also meant his massive Bethesda, MD estate would soon be put on the market. Luxist has the goods:

"Jamison's Bethesda mansion is a six bedroom home done up in a lavish style. The listing says that the home was built in 2008. It has more than 12,000 square feet of finished space and includes an elevator, four car garage, library, kitchen and catering area, large master suite with a sitting home, home theater and more. The basement sports a wine cellar and poker room. There are theme bedrooms for some of Jamison's children including a sports-themed room for Antawn Jr. and a princess-themed bedroom for one of his daughters. The property is on .59 acres and has an outdoor hot tub."

Oh, and Jamison's asking price? Just a cool $4.15 million.

From What Would Oakley Do?, here's an entertaining look at this year's playoff teams from a Shakespearian perspective. And pretty insightful, too -- for instance, if any NBA team has ever looked like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, I'd say the Hawks last night were it.

The horror...

"Former NBA All-Star Antoine Walker is eyeing an NBA comeback. Louisville coach Rick Pitino says Walker will work out with several [Louisville] Cardinals during the next few weeks. Walker hasn't played in the NBA since 2008 and has suffered legal and financial woes since stepping away from the game ... Pitino, who coached Walker at Kentucky in the 1990s, said he also hopes Walker will talk to his players about the temptations that come with life as a professional."

At his blog, new Wizards majority owner Ted Leonsis voiced his approval of Wayne Winston's Mathletics (in addition to David Berri's Stumbling on Wins). The point is this: if Ted likes those books, I bet he'd also like the Basketball-Reference.com blog, where we dive into NBA statistical analysis every day. Also, it's nice to see an owner openly embrace the use of metrics in sports decision-making, since that mindset often filters from the top down throughout an organization.

16 years later, music historians generally look back at 1994 as a time of major changes to the cultural landscape -- the death of Kurt Cobain, the arrest of Tupac Shakur, Green Day breaking through into the mainstream, etc. They also consider it the end of the so-called "Golden Age of Hip-Hop", the genre's most innovative and artistically-fulfilling era. Perhaps not coincidentally, 1994 also marked the release of B-Ball's Best Kept Secret, a "compilation album released by Epic Records that featured NBA players performing songs with hip hop artists". With the likes of Brian Shaw, Dana Barros, and Jason Kidd on the mic, is this the album that led to the Golden Age's end? Or was it merely the final ray of brilliance in the Era? You be the judge:

Read the rest of this entry »

Via Sporcle, here's an interesting new take on a leaderboard quiz... Can you name the 2009-10 NBA stat leaders by the college conference of the player's alma mater?

Okay, this is awesome... It's a post from Andrew Sharp of SBNation about the greatest feuds in NBA history, and while the current Pierce-Richardson dustup (which apparently stems from Q-Rich's recruiting visit to Kansas almost 15 years ago) leads the way, he also delves deep into Rodman-Malone, LeBron-Deshawn, Randolph-Patterson, and more. My personal favorite, though? Ha Seung Jin vs. Nenad Sinanovic, hands down.

Let's play the feud!

(Hat tip: TrueHoop.)