Great Exercises in Internet Related Postings 5.5.09

Hilarity. Go down by 28. Crawl back into the game thanks to one team letting off and then crazy events like the Rondo turnover to Scalabrine prayer. Still lose. At home. Then say the other team sucks. Comments are gold on this.
Are the Lakers more profitable to the league than the entire nation of China?
Thanks to this I will be starting a band called “Keith Bogans’ Dribbling Adventures.”
Can you quantify hustle? Great stuff by Doolittle and company.
Meanwhile, I did a little conversation with the boys over at FH about Orlando-Boston 1 and the Rockets-Lakers.
Things that are awesome: Tom Ziller’s work on Battier v. Kobe. Things that are not awesome: Bringing attention to it which will make Kobe go OFF in Game 2.
If you look up ‘Desperate’ on Wikipedia, there’s a link to this. Take it from San Antonio, Boston. Leaning on the mascot white guy three point shooter is a bad plan.
Monster on the Boards wonders if Bynum is one.
I haven’t had a chance to cover the D-League this year. Next year? I plan on re-investing myself. But when I do return, I’m starting in a hole I helped dig. Because I gave Scott an opportunity, and now he is the Lord and Master of the D-League. If you’re not reading RU, get going.
Using logic to suggest that this Celtics team has only been real for about 365 days. One year dynasty, people. One year dynasty.
There’s a line being drawn in the Utah sand. And everyone is going to have to decide which flawed power forward they want to lose in the first round with. (Okay, I know, I made my point, no need to twist the knife in Utah. It’s the shot Ali never gave Foreman. Here’s a hint. Go with ManSapp.)
Matt McHale makes an argument for Hinrich that makes me want to give him a blog hug. And then awkwardly look at the ground after he waves me off. The idea among his supporters is that you can’t replace Gordon’s points. So it’s the number of possessions Gordon finishes with a score minus the number of possessions he single handedly kills. Gordon probably comes out ahead, he’s that great of a scorer, but is that remaining number of possessions worth the money?
I love the idea of Sheed retiring. Will I miss him? Absolutely. But it would be more evidence that Sheed may have gotten the most out of his life in the NBA that he could. He managed to be succesful, make money, win a championship, have a family, be himself, and walk away on his terms. I’m on a kick about players and coaches who winning isn’t everything to, and Sheed’s the statue outside that hall.
I’m really digging Povtak’s work at FanHouse. But this stuff is a little nuts. The Heat are so young. They have a serviceable point guard in training, with a ton of potential in Chalmers. Beasley has great offensive upside, which is really what they need. And they’re going to have cap room. I just don’t think Wade’s under that much stress to go somewhere loaded.
The rumors of their collapse are greatly exaggerated.
The biggest thing that bugs me in a possession is a pull-up jumper with more than 12 seconds on the shot clock when it’s not in transition. The second biggest thing that bugs me is missed layups. I recognize how hard it must be to hit layups against NBA defense. But watching teams blow those kind of opportunities, when you can actually get to the rim just kills me. So these numbers are fascinating to me, particularly on the bad end. You look at the teams that missed the most and you have to wonder “what if?” Side note: How unfair is it that 3rd Quarter Collapse has both Ben Q Rock and erivera, a terrific stats writer? Their PER per writer is off the charts.
My favorite Blowtorch post of the last two weeks.