My grandma is a terrible cook. So I used to cringe whenever we were going to have Thanksgiving dinner at her house and always gave a fist pump when I found out it was going to be at my parents’ house.
When there was a back and forth discussion between my grandma and my mom in which one would say, “we’ll have it at my house,” and the other responded with, “no, no, we’ll have it at our house,” and they kept alternating their offerings, I usually had an internal battle of sadness and happiness that looked something like this:
Lion Face: Dwight Howard Marey Carey was right; this guy is huge. Dwight Howard dominated the paint against the Hawks and took over the second half in which the Magic took complete control of a game that looked hopeless for the Orlando faithful. Dwight scored 16 points in the second half of this game. He had 10 rebounds in the second half. He used the left-handed hook shot. He used the drop step. He grabbed boards. He changed shots. He peeled potatoes and then mashed them. He made real cranberry sauce after he saw that people were just squeezing theirs out of the can. He stopped watching Funny People after the first hour in order to make sure he was entertained by the movie. He made Tom Hanks get a haircut after he saw Angels and Demons. He also did this:
Lemon Face: Hawks Second Half Everything Outkast asked it once but I’ll ask it again: what’s cooler than being cool? That’s right – ice cold. Well, the Hawks were ice cold in the second half and gave this game away. In the first half, they were handling the Magic by scoring inside, making the extra pass, and knocking down three-pointers. In the second half, they forced it inside when it wasn’t there. They made just one of their last nine three-point attempts. They went to the free throw line just seven times in the entire game with only one of those coming in the fourth quarter. Orlando made 11 shots in the third quarter; the Hawks made 11 in the second half. They were outrebounded 34-16 in the last 24 minutes of this game. Hell, Anthony Johnson outscored them in the fourth quarter!!!!
Lion Face: Anthony Johnson…wait, THAT Anthony Johnson? 15 fourth quarter points for Anthony Johnson! What in the name of a broken down Jason Kidd giving up 40 to AJ in a playoff game is going on here? I understand the idea of giving Anthony Johnson whatever he wants and if he beats you then he beats you but at the same time, that only works if you’re scoring more points than him as a team.
Lemon Face: My Ability to Watch A Second Game After Gorging Myself Too…much…food…tryptophan…setting…in…can’t….concentrate…on…anything…HOLY CRAP WE HAVE AN EXTRA ROLL…TNT…blowout…putting…me…to…sleep…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Lion Face: Carlos Boozer 28 points on 12/14 shooting? Eight rebounds, five assists, and three blocks? Three blind people reporting their wallets were taken during the game? Now, that’s the Carlos Boozer in a contract season that we all know and love!
Lemon Face: Day After Shopping As someone who worked in a mall for years and can assure you that working in retail is worse torture than any waterboarding, let me tell you that the day after Thanksgiving sales are NOT worth it. Sure, there are a couple of amazing deals on limited quantities of big ticket items but people are a horrible brand of animal and will run over you if they find out they get free batteries with a TV remote. Just stay in, give it a week or two and wait for the second wave of sales. Trust me; they’re coming.
Lion Face: Joakim Noah Elbows Lead to Joakim Noah Dunks “Hey Mehmet, is it true you’re FROM TURKEY?” – Noah
“Yes.” – Okur.
“Well, Happy Thanksgiving!” – Noah
They should love this game. Players are quicker and smarter and more athletic and more educated than ever. These guys have been hit with game tape after scouting report after DVD after assistant’s tutelage over and over and over, and despite that goaltend or the stupid 21-foot jumper, these players are better and smarter and stronger than ever.
We’re drawing from across the globe now. You want to know where this game is at right now? My two favorite rookies are from Compton, and Israel.
For as much as this year has been in the crapper for everyone, there’s an overriding sense of optimism, which is refreshing. I would have gone for the “What I’m Thankful For” post, but really, you should feel that way from reading this site, every day. Beyond the snark, beyond the analysis and all that, we want to celebrate the league that gives us joy, for whatever reason. To provide some small respite from the inglorious, undramatic dark sludge that can sometimes infect our lives. Basketball’s not everything, but it helps.
Happy Thanksgiving, all.
(PS: The fact that I’m mentioned in this piece made me spit out the Cabernet and Coconut Cream Pie I was eating. So I’m sending Dwyer the bill for dry-cleaning my eatin’ pants.
Allen, who was sitting next to Glen Davis, began to explain his likes and dislikes of certain foods.
“The one food that I couldn’t and still can’t wrap my mouth around is cranberry sauce.”
“Hmm?!” Davis tries to say as he nearly spits out his water.
“Cranberry sauce- never could get into it. But you know what? I wasn’t even a big fan of turkey for a long time, and stuffing, and you know how your taste buds change as you get older? Collard greens! I didn’t eat collard greens. I used to eat corn, my mom made these beans with ground beef in it. She made plenty of stuff like ribs, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, but like true Thanksgiving food I wasn’t a big fan of.”
“Stuffing!” Davis yells out, as if he can already taste it.
“Yea stuffing, she started making stuffing with meat in it, and the other things,” Ray says back. “Now it’s like I love it. Now it’s off the hook.”
“Still can’t eat cranberry sauce?” Baby says, still finding it hard to believe.
“Nah I don’t eat cranberry, but collared greens are some of my favorite,” Allen responds.
Seeing how captivated Big Baby was by the discussion it was easy to see how important Thanksgiving was to him growing up.
“[It was] like a party,” he said, deep in thought. “Food galore. Ham, turkey, chitlins- a whole lot.”
I like reading about Ray Allen, pretty much whenever. Usually guys that have their heads on straight off the floor as much as he does lack a certain level of killer instinct (it’s called “perspective”), but Allen manages to rule as a person and as a player.
…
That said, that’s not why I shared this at all. I shared this because I read Davis’ comments in this dialog and kept imagining Davis with torn purple pants and scars from battling The Abomination. Seriously, why is his speech like the incredible Hulk?
“HMM?! BIG BABY LIKE TURKEY! BIG BABY LOVE CRANBERRY SAUCE! BIG BABY NO LIKE TRYPTOPHAN! TRYPTOPHAN PREVENTS BIG BABY FROM EATING MORE! BIG BABY EAT!”
It’s Thanksgiving and there are NBA games on TV. This is a good thing. After you’ve destroyed a pound of mashed potatoes, several helpings of candied yams, and enough turkey to sedate a rhinoceros (or Kirstie Alley), TNT will have a couple of games on TV for you. And the games are actually good matchups.
So with that, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and a safe day after of shopping. Here is what I’m thankful for in reference to each game:
Can Birds Fly Higher Than a Floating Magic Wand? It’s Abracadabra vs. Cawwww-Cawwww!
(Magic at Hawks, 8:00PM EST on TNT)
I’m thankful for the fact that Jason Williams is back in the NBA. I love watching him hop in unison with his dribble before he pulls up for a quick three with the quick pull back of his hands.
I’m thankful for J.J. Redick’s jumper. It’s really a picture perfect thing of beauty. Even if you hate him for his hair, his lack of a proper tan while living in Florida, or for his Dukeness, you should still take great pleasure in seeing him let it fly.
I’m thankful for Rashard Lewis when he’s leaning left on his outside shot. I don’t have any stats to back this up but I’d estimate he makes 130% of his shots when leaning left. That’s right; some of them go in twice.
I’m thankful for Dwight Howard’s ability to rattle a rim. It sounds simplistic but it really is fun to see him try to rip down the Shaq-proof rims.
I’m thankful for the fact that with a shorter haircut, Stan Van Gundy looks like Paul Blart.
I’m thankful for Ryan Anderson’s ability to step into any lineup and help a team not skip a beat.
I’m thankful for Josh Smith actually caring about his job this year and what it means for the demise of the rest of the NBA.
I’m thankful for Joe Johnson’s smoothness. I know Josh Smith got the stupid moniker of J Smoove but Joe Johnson is probably the silkiest player we’ve seen since Walt Frazier.
By the way, I’m thankful for the fact that I met Walt Frazier last night at the Kings-Knicks game. That was F’ing cool.
I’m thankful for Jamal Crawford’s ability to shoot a team in or out of any given game. I love the gunslinger mentality. It’s why I almost bought a Cuttino Mobley jersey several times in my life. Almost. I’m thankful for Jeff Teague, his quickness, and the fact that he’ll come out of nowhere in three years and amaze everybody with how he runs a team.
I’m thankful for Mike Woodson’s mustache. I feel like I can finally appreciate its beauty.
I’m thankful for the size of Zaza Pachulia’s head. As someone who has a huge head myself, it’s nice to see a bigger planet on someone’s shoulders.
And I’m thankful for the fact that the Hawks are good once again. Stacey Augmon can stop rolling in his grave.
Okay, This Turkey Has Me Wanting to Pass Out in a Pool of My Own Drool But I Need to Stay up for This Battle of Point Guards… (Bulls at Jazz, 10:30PM EST on TNT)
I’m thankful for Deron Williams’ crossover.
I’m thankful for Derrick Rose’s attempt to beat that crossover with one of his own.
I’m thankful for both of them when they pull the ball back from the defender, step back and let it fire.
I’m thankful for both of their abilities to surprise a defender with a vicious dunk.
I’m thankful for Mehmet Okur’s time on Sex and the City. I hear he did great work on there.
I’m thankful for the fact that Carlos Boozer will not receive a pay raise this off-season.
I’m thankful for the fact that Paul Millsap’s pay raise was modest enough for me to still enjoy him. Now, if only he’d be good again…
I’m thankful for Andrei Kirilenko’s hair tribute to Jerry Sloan by having that swooping combover.
I’m thankful for everything Joakim Noah. I think he should have his own 24-hour uStream. I want to follow him around constantly.
I’m thankful for the Bulls surviving without Tyrus Thomas. Hopefully, it will show them he isn’t needed around there and that they can move on from him.
I’m thankful for Vinny Del Negro’s overmatched, blank stare in the fourth quarter of games and the calmness that Derrick Rose gives the team after they glance over at the sidelines and VDN’s glazed over eyes.
I’m thankful for the fact that Jared Wade calls him Vinny of the Black.
I’m thankful for Eric Maynor, Wesley Matthews, and Kyrylo Fesenko.
I’m thankful for Ronnie Brewer’s athleticism.
I’m thankful for Kyle Korver’s jumper when he’s squared to the basket.
I’m thankful for Kirk Hinrich’s on the ball defense.
And most of all, I’m thankful for basketball and this community of basketball bloggers/readers. Like many of you, I’m sure, I was always more obsessed with this sport that features Orange Roundie than any of my friends. I was hungry for more box scores, featured stories, and bullet points at the end of newspaper articles. The first thing I looked up on the internet when my family got a computer was a full listing of NBA rosters. Second, of course, was porn. And it wasn’t until I stumbled across people like Bethlehem Shoals, JE Skeets, Matt Moore, Rob Mahoney, Henry Abbott, Tas Melas, Trey Kerby, John Krolik, Kevin Arnovitz, Holly Mackenzie, Corn, Kelly Dwyer, Gian Casimiro, and many others that I realized how much love there is for this game.
You know what I’m thankful for on this Thanksgiving holiday?
Matt and Ben will show you:
Lion Face: Gerald Wallace
Gerald Wallace is one of those players that you want him to be better than he actually is. He can do a little bit of everything and is stuck between star and intangibles guy. But what sets him apart is two-fold: 1) he fills up a stat sheet like Eddy Curry fills out some underwire and 2) he has a gear on the court that most players don’t have. He has a gear that gets him as close to being a star as his skill set will allow. And sometimes it results in some really fun things on the court. Last night’s game was an example of one of those fun things. 31 points on 12/20 shooting and 11/12 free throws to go with 13 rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two blocks. Roar with your lion face, Gerald. Roar with all of your might!
Lemon Face: The Pacers-Clippers Game
What is wrong with you two? Seriously. What is wrong with you two? I mean, was there any effort out there tonight? Don’t try to answer that! It’s a rhetorical question! I know there wasn’t any effort out there tonight! Don’t try to make the excuse of Marcus Camby’s 21 rebounds! That won’t cut it this time. With 114 missed shots in this game, 21 rebounds should be the lowest amount of boards he would theoretically grab! I am very disappointed in you two! You just sit around all night, doing nothing, and when you actually DO something, you lazily do it, expecting everyone to marvel at the fact that you got off the couch and put down the Nintendo controllers! PS3? Whatever! You know my point! Now, I want the two of you to think about what you did tonight. And go to your room until you’re ready to be a productive member of the NBA.
Lion Face: Paul Pierce
I don’t know how he does it. You look at him and he seems like the least athletic professional basketball player, this side of Jerome James. He’s slow. He has almost a neutral vertical leap. He doesn’t move well side to side and he has a slow first step. But he may have the greatest body position on each drive we’ve ever seen. Not only that, but Paul Pierce is also one of the smartest offensive weapons we’ve seen in the last 15 years. He knows every angle on the parquet much like Jeanette Lee knows the lay of the felt and the bounce of the bumpers. The Philadelphia 76ers have every uber-athletic defender to cover him that you’d ever want and yet, they can’t out think him on the court. He veteranized his way into 27 points on 10/15 shooting with six assists and six boards. I just can’t figure out how he gets to the spots on the floor that he gets to.
Lemon Face: Jason Williams
Jason, I love you. I really do. I love you in the most plutonic way a man can love another man who shaped his basketball youth with chicanery and 50-foot bounce passes. And I love the fact that you came back. It wasn’t your time to go last year and we needed one more good run from you. And look at you tonight! 25 points on 12 shots with eight assists to one turnover. Holy crap, that’s a great game. But you can’t have a chance to seal overtime, at worst, with two free throws and as a career 81.3% free throw shooter miss two from the line with nine seconds left in the game. Trey would not have you Big Up yourself.
Lion Face: My New Tattoo Across My Shoulders That Says Super Cool Putback, Game-Winning Dunks
I don’t know if it was goal-tending or not and frankly, I don’t really care. It was a hell of a heads-up play by the NBA soph.
Lemon Face: Bucks Starters
I know it’s the night before Thanksgiving and everybody would rather be home with their families but have a little fire in your belly for crying out loud. The starters in green accounted for just 37 of the Bucks 99 points against the Hornets. They shot 13/44 from the field. They made fewer shots as a whole than Hakim Warrick and Luke Ridnour did off the bench. And on top of that, the Pterodactylous Jennings didn’t have wings of fire. Rather, he had an ice-cold affect on his team’s offense and needed Luke Ridnour to almost bail him out of a 14-point on 4/15 shooting performance.
Lemon Face: Minnesota Timberwolves
You’re an embarrassment to the game of basketball. Sure, they scored 111 points and only lost to the Nuggets by 13 but don’t let that fool you. All that means is the Wolves’ second string is better than the Nuggets absolute garbage time players. The Wolves don’t compete. They’re probably the worst team in the NBA. It’s either them or the Knicks. I know the Nets are 0-15 but they’ve sustained big injuries to get them there. The Wolves have been injured too but at the same time, they have no backup plan when Al Jefferson is killing the competition. Jonny Flynn is too inconsistent. They have no outside shooting. And Brian Cardinal is prominently involved. 1-14 is just the stepping stone to the top draft pick this summer and I hope you draft John Wall and try to make an entire team of point guards. At least then you’d be interesting. Okay, I need to calm down and stare at KG’s MVP picture for a while…
Lion Face: Corey Brewer
With that said, Corey Brewer, have a game tonight! 22 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, two steals, one block and no turnovers. He did all of this in 29 minutes. It may not seem like much to you but as a Wolves fan, it’s all I’ve got right now. I’m reading Bill Simmons book and trying to figure out how to get him in to the front office and David Kahn out. So when Corey Brewer has a game like this, I’m going to revel in it. Ohhhhhhhhhh will I revel!
Lemon Face: New York Knicks
I really feel for Knicks fans. I was at the Kings-Knicks game on Wednesday night and I saw first hand what they go through on a close to nightly basis. They are listless. They are a collective 11 listless players with a David Lee stuck in the middle. But the problem is that David Lee is a one-side of the court type of player. He’s useless on defense. And the rest of them are just completely disinterested in competing. Al Harrington should be arrested for stealing $10 million from the Knicks this season. Chris Duhon wouldn’t even make the JV basketball team that I coach. Larry Hughes on the court is the cruelest joke you could play on someone. And I don’t know what Jared Jeffries job should be but I know it sure shouldn’t basketball.
Lion Face: Donté Mother F’ing Greene
There have only been four games in the past 23 seasons in which a player has made six threes in the same game in which he blocked six shots. Donté is playing out of his gourd right now. He’s making the smart play. He’s only taking good shots (for the most part). He’s moving his feet on defense and using every physical advantage he has on the basketball court to shut his man down. He made Al Harrington look like Al Harrington tonight. And he was tossing shots like Josh Smith was dressed in a Donté Greene costume. A few of the blocks were extremely aggressive. I made a painting of how I viewed them.
I called it “Celebration” because the blocks were sexual and violent. Speaking of sexual and violent, he also did this:
Lemon Face: Houston Rockets
You can not play a division rival on your home court and give up 130 points on 65% shooting from the field. That’s just embarrassing. At the same time…
Lion Face: Dallas Mavericks
How about putting up 130 points against a division rival on their home court? And what about doing so on 65% shooting? Damn impressive, Mavericks.
Lemon Face: Monta Ellis’ Fourth Quarter
Monta Ellis was essentially rope-a-dope’d by the San Antonio Spurs tonight. He played the entire first 36 minutes of this game and finished the third quarter with 38 points. He was looking to cook a 50-point night until he ran out of gas in the fourth. That’s when the Warriors gave up and the Spurs took home the victory. It was classic Ali-Foreman all over again. Monta finished with 42 points, which is impressive but not nearly what it looked like the night would shape up to be.
Lion Face: Monta Ellis’ Everything Else
But my god, check out those first three quarters, will you? Monta was feloniously efficient in the first 36. He got to the layup whenever he wanted to and he wanted to get there a lot. He made George Hill look like Troy Hudson. He would have made Troy Hudson look like the French. And he made a French man look like the surrendering Swedes! He couldn’t be stopped early and it was the only thing impressive, tolerable or relevant about the Warriors. The sad thing is that even with the 42-point performance, he was a -21 for the plus/minus tonight.
Lemon Face: New Jersey Nets
0-15, huh? Well, at least it’s a hard 0-15. It’s definitely not one of those soft 0-15s.
Lion Face: Jason Kidd
Jason Kidd is now second on the all-time assists leaderboard in the history of the NBA. He passed Mark Jackson tonight for sole possession of spot number two. He’s still about 5k behind john Stockton for all-time and would have to average 13 per game over the next five seasons to catch Stock but at the same time, over 10 thousand assists is really incredible. Congrats, Mr. Kidd.
One More Lion Face: LeBron James Wishes You a Happy Thanksgiving
LeBron James would like to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and remind you to have some stuffing:
A proposition: in the spirit of me not wanting to gouge my eyes out of their sockets, I propose that the Raptors and Bobcats play a half-court game tonight. The Raptors never play defense, and the Bobcats never play offense. Each Bobcats stop gets 1.5 points, each steal gets 3. It just makes sense when teams like this play each other, and it allows guys like Andrea Bargnani, Tyson Chandler, Gerald Wallace, and Jose Calderon to do their thing without the fuss of limitations. But hey, if you’d rather watch Larry Brown’s magical half court sets and the overwhelming defensive tenacity of the Raps, then by all means.
So Far Over the Radar, It’s Under the Radar
Miami at Orlando (7:30 EST)
As far as the three “true” Eastern contenders go, the Magic have consistently been most in line with expectation. The Cavs have bounced back from a slow start and slow defensive rotations, but despite LeBron’s best efforts, this team isn’t nearly as epic as advertised. The Celtics were supposed to pick up right where they left off with a healthy and rejuvenated Kevin Garnett, but all I see is a team still struggling to properly execute. So much has been turned upside down in Boston and Cleveland this season, and as such the two most impressive teams in the East have been these: the deep as all hell Orlando Magic, and the still surprising Atlanta Hawks.
If you need more incentive to watch this game, then shame on you.
On the Edge
Philadelphia at Boston (7:30 EST)
The Celtics are hardly teetering, but I still get the sense that they’re in limbo. They show their true colors for stretches, completely shutting down opposing offenses with swift adjustments and perfect execution. But just a minute later, it’s like a completely different team took the floor. What was most impressive about the championship Celtics was their synergy. It was more than a bunker mentality, it was as if KG was the hive mind. Each player worked within the context of the scheme not because it was the right thing to do, but because it was as if their brains couldn’t function otherwise. That team was their calling, their purpose, their basketball lives, and they demolished anything and everything (except the Bobcats) that stood in their path. Until I see that same synergy again, I don’t see Boston keeping up with Cleveland, Orlando, or Atlanta.
But the Sixers, and Elton Brand, clearly are on the edge of something. I pretty much use these Sixers games as an Elton Brand progress report, and this is perhaps the most appropriate time to do so; after turning in disappointing performance after disappointing performance, Elton has finally put together a stretch run that could make even a Philadelphia sports fan smile. It’s as if Elton peered over the ledge and saw the unending blackness that could become his career, and scared himself into real production. I don’t know that I’d expect that same production against KG and the Celts, but stranger things have certainly happened.
In This Scene, the Cavs Will Be Slaloming
Cleveland at Detroit (8:00 EST)
Allow me to indulge in a quick metaphor. For a few brief moments, the Cavs meet some resistance. Unlike the Cavs of old (read: 2008-2009), this squad sputters out of the gate, and a surprisingly prepared Pistons team will do more than just keep pace. But once everything is squared away, LeBron squares up and coasts. Cleveland may drift in and out of the wake just for fun, but the downside to being a merely average NBA team is that top-notch squads will just outclass you.
He Doesn’t Look a Thing Like Jesus, But He Flies Like a Pterodactyl
Milwaukee at NOLA (8:00 EST)
They’ve got youth! The’ve got fire! They’ve got Brandon Jennings! ‘Sova! Darren Collison! Marcus Thornton! And hopefully as little of Bobby Brown as possible! I’m not expecting flawless basketball but I am expecting a damn good time, and if you’re in the mood to take notes then tune in to the new kids. One of the most brilliant things about the season’s opening stretch is the youth and energy of the league’s youngest talent. Y’know, before they get jaded with road trips, and groupies, and the rigors of an 82 game schedule that throws their bodies into a blender and laughs maniacally when they beg it to just turn the blend settings down to 3.
But these are the golden months!
You Are Not a Plucky Hero, The Nuggets Are Not an Evil Empire, and This Is Not the Grand Arena
Denver at Minnesota (8:00 EST)
Given: The Denver Nuggets are crazy good, and the Minnesota Timberwolves are crazy bad.
Given: The Wolves have no matchups to exploit against the Nuggs.
Given: Jawaibberwocky.
Given: ‘Sota’s weak perimeter D will receive headbutts from Carmelo and J.R.
AS SUCH: The Nuggets win by 27 points because there is no hope in this world, and because the Timberwolves play some pretty terrible basketball.
On Sleepless Roads the Sleepless Go
Dallas at Houston (8:30 EST)
Of all the teams in the league that Mavs would not want to play right now (just after playing their starters way too long and losing to the Warriors), the Rockets would have to be near the top. Last time these two met, the Mavs came back from the a substantial deficit due to fresh legs and loaded barrels, but it’s going to take something special tonight. If you see a box score with the Mavs ahead, set your Tivo’s for stunned, because someone is going off. Otherwise, Dallas will be huffing and puffing the dust of the quickest and hard-workingest of teams in the West, if not the league.
To the Victors Go the Spoils…And For Those of You Not Following Along, The Spoils Are a Loss to the Spurs
Golden State at San Antonio (8:30 EST)
But on the other side of last night’s coin, the Warriors aren’t likely to fare well either. Six men in blue with tired legs will combat the Spurs, but San Antonio has the personnel, the flexibility, and the system (though you wouldn’t know it from their play this season) to completely rock their world. I can’t think of a better match for Monta Ellis than George Hill, and although Parker’s return from injury hedges the glory of that match-up, you’re still likely to see it a great deal as TP rests on the bench and Ellis plays every minute of tonight’s game. Expect some vintage, ruthless execution from the Spurs tonight, with a healthy dose of open corner threes against a Warriors team that struggles to maintain defensive focus.
Aziz, Light!
Memphis at Phoenix (9:00 EST)
The Grizz clip Iverson’s name from their program and like magic, they perform. That development instantly turns the Tinsley signing into a reasonable one, and the Randolph mistake less exaggerated. I wouldn’t dare say that the situation in Memphis is a good one, but there have been much cloudier days. Next step: convincing Mike Conley to play like Mike Conley.
The Little Things
New York at Sacramento (10:00 EST)
I’m thankful for Tyreke Evans, on every drive, jumpshot, or traveling violation.
I’m thankful for Wilson Chandler, who somehow has ridden the highs of Mike D’Antoni’s system into new lows.
I’m thankful for Jason Thompson, because not only is he awesome, but more minutes for Shock means less minutes for Sean May.
I’m thankful for Danilo Gallinari, whose shooting ability was not overrated by Pringles.
I’m thankful for Beno Udrih, who periodically comes out of his comatose state to play decent basketball.
I’m thankful for Nate Robinson, regardless of which basket he shoots at.
I’m thankful for Omri Casspi, who is at least ten times better than I thought he was.
I’m thankful for the guiding light that will one day come from Toney Douglas, provided he can get some consistent minutes.
I’m thankful for Knicks-Kings in November, because this is the greatest sport on the planet Earth.
A Win!
New Jersey at Portland (10:00 EST)
You know, just in case it actually happens tonight. CALLED IT.
As players get older, the belief is that they learn the tricks of the trade and get better at defense. During their first few years, they’re ill-equipped and unable to have a positive impact on defense, despite their superior athleticism and energy.
Do the numbers support these beliefs? We must turn to the always-useful Basketball-Reference.com. Using its Player Season Finder, I put together a spreadsheet containing every season from every player (minimum 500 minutes played) for the past five years. Using this data, we can see how Defensive Ratings change as players get older. Defensive Rating was developed by Dean Oliver, and it estimates the number of points a player allows per 100 possessions. Obviously, a lower number is better. To read more about it, check out the Basketball-Reference glossary. Let’s take a look at the chart:
I limited the age range from 19 to 36 to avoid outliers. On the x-axis, we have the age, and on the y-axis, the average Defensive Rating for that age. The results seem to confirm the common belief. Younger players tend to post higher (worse) Defensive Ratings than older players. Real life doesn’t work perfectly, so there are some fluctuations. However, the correlation is strong, indicated by the relatively large R^2 (explanation here). Therefore, there does appear to be something to the notion that players get better defensively as they get older.
We can also produce a similar graph using Defensive Win Score, a similar measure to Defensive Rating (for more information, check the glossary again). Basically, DWS is the amount of wins a player adds to his team through his defense. The chart is below:
The R^2 is slightly smaller, but the general idea is the same. Players get better defensively as they get older. Not considerably so, but statistically significantly so.
However, we must approach these results with caution. Let’s say, hypothetically, that big men generally have lower Defensive Ratings. Let’s also say, hypothetically, that big men stay in the league longer than their shorter counterparts. These two scenarios would combine to make it look like players get better defensively with age. What’s a simple way to account for complications such as this? Take a look at the data position by position.
To start, let’s look at centers:
The results appear to be clear as day here. The line is a little wavy, but centers sure seem to get better defensively as they get older. The average for 35-year olds is over three points per 100 possessions lower than the averages for 19-, 20-, and 21-year olds. Do power forwards react the same way to age?
Simply put, yes. These results tend to go with common logic. Many raw and young big men commit silly fouls, ignore help defense, go for the spectacular block too often, etc. However, we should not treat these results as gospel, as I will explain later.
How about small forwards?
Just like the previous two positions, it appears small forwards age well, at least on the defensive end. The magic number for this position appears to be 29. Small forwards that were at least 29 years of age during the last five seasons performed much better on the defensive end than their younger counterparts did. Let’s take a look at shooting guards:
We keep seeing the same results. No matter what position you look at, the story is the same. Players get better on defense as they get older. Finally, let’s take a look at the inevitable and see how point guards get better defensively with age:
Woops. That trend line has an oh-so-slightly negative slope, but it’s not exactly a great fit for the data (the R^2 is practically 0). Clearly, then, point guards don’t follow the same path as other positions. Older is not better in this case. For a position that often relies so much on speed and quickness, this makes sense. However, even point guards in their prime (around the age of 27) don’t perform significantly better than the young ones.
To wrap this up, we can make the following statement based on the data: Except for point guards, players generally get better on the defensive end as they get older. However, there are a number of issues to address before we go too far and actually believe that bold statement I just made:
The statistic I used, Defensive Rating, is far from perfect. Defense is one of the hardest things to measure accurately with statistics, and this measure is no different. It is highly team-dependent. Good defenders on poor defensive teams will be underrated, and vice versa.
Although there is a correlation between age and Defensive Rating, that doesn’t mean it’s a causal relationship. It may not be that all older players are better defenders. Perhaps the only way to stay in the league if you’re getting older is to play solid defense, so the ones that don’t are selectively removed. Or maybe strong defensive teams like to acquire veterans, which boosts those player’s Defensive Ratings.
Finally, although it is a pretty large sample-size (five years of data for 1,641 data points), the data still could be misleading. For example, if there happened to be a strong crop of old centers during the past five years, that position’s results may be inaccurate. I limited the sample to five years because I don’t like using data that is very old. The style of the NBA changes constantly, so using information from say, 10 years ago, may not be smart.
UPDATE: After doing some more research, we may have to re-think things. Thanks to suggestions by Ryan Parker and Mike G at the APBRmetrics board, I decided to plot the average change in Defensive Rating (the difference between the current year and the last) for each age. It is below:
Looking at the graph above, we notice a couple of things. First, over the last five years, players of all ages tend to get worse defensively on a year-by-year basis. Whether it’s because of improving offenses or declining defenses, scoring has increased during each of the last five years.
More importantly for this study, we see that older players are declining faster than younger players are. For example, during the last five years, a 26 year-old is likely to have a Defensive Rating 0.5 points higher than he did a year ago. On the other hand, a 35 year-old is likely to have a Defensive Rating 1.5 points higher than he did a year ago. The difference between old and young isn’t much, but we can probably say that old isn’t definitively better than young.
Like I said in my original post, selective bias may be a problem. After all, this most recent research doesn’t dispute the fact that as a whole, when you look at all the old players, they tend to be better defensively than the young players. But that’s not because they got better as they got older. The data shows this. What we may be able to say now is that aging doesn’t improve your defensive abilities, and if you want to stay in this league as a veteran, you better be good at defense, because teams will “selectively remove” you from the league if you’re not.
Check out Basketball-Statistics.com for much more like this, where I presumably get things right the first time.
That’s what Bob Ryan says here, a statement bound to stir a response. I’m sure there’s a few bloggers that can confirm or refute this assertion based on stats. For the record, KG is averaging 13.2 PPG, 7.6 RPB, 1.0 BPG, and 2.3 APG, while shooting 48% the floor. All of these numbers, while sub-par for the Ticket, sound like he still belongs in the upper third or better of all NBA big men.
I went ahead and gave KG some help, plopping in a filter for Power Forwards that play 20+ minutes a game, with at least 10 games played. So if you’ve played well but only played in four games (I’m looking at you, Yi’s DRR), you don’t get special placement. 20+ minutes a game may seem low, but you have to factor in guys who are playing above-average ball but not getting minutes. I did per 40, because, well, that’s just intelligent. Here’s where he’s at.
PER: 15th (Just above Matt Bonner!!! This says something about the metric or about Matt Bonner. You decide which.)
DRR (percentage of available defensive rebounds gathered): 8th
TRR (% of total rebounds available): 11th
True Shooting %: 25th (!)
Usage (% of possessions used): 13th
Blocks per 40: 10th
Weighted Assists per 40 (weighted for 3pters): 11th
So, there you go. He’s top 10 in two categories, and only below 15th in two. Throw in the immeasurables like team leadership, communication, defensive presence, veteran savvy, and yelling and barking at teams he knows his team is better than in meaningless games in November, and I think you can conclude Garnett’s not an average power forward. He’s a slightly above average power forward so far.
I don’t know if I’m comfortable with that idea. I’m just going to say he’s awesome and hope El Tigre Monstruoso doesn’t eat me.
The Dallas Mavericks: All I know is, this Monta Ellis character comes out of thin air in the middle of the goddamn court while his buddies are flying around on wires cutting everybody to shreds, and he just stands there waiting for the Mavericks to try and get a hand in his face with light coming out of his mouth!
This is my favorite post in the history of everything. I’m going to print it out and read it at night under the covers with a flashlight (not fleshlight). I’m going to carry it with me always like a security blanket. I’m going to make this post the Godfather to my children. I’m not saying I would have sex with it, but if I had to have sex with a blogpost, like HAD to, I’d choose this post.
I’m gonna talk about the most asked question I get after every game: where did the 3 ball come from?
My first answer is behind the 3pt line, lol. The second answer is that I’ve worked hard on that for about 2-1/2 years. I started developing it when I came to Portland, never really used it, was more down low and it just wasn’t in the offense.
When the last season was over I took 2 weeks off and got right back in the gym and started working on my game. I would spend 2 hrs in the wee hours of the morn and come back and strictly work on the 3 ball later in the day. All that hard work payed off so far and in this system it’s my job to shoot. It’s everyone’s job to shoot, be a threat, be a scorer at all times and that’s why we’ve been successful so far. We play with 5 unselfish scorers.
I love that Frye worked hard at something unconventional, which is difficult to learn, and added it. In Ballard’s book (which I will be discussing at length with Part II coming this Friday-ish), he talks about how to be a great shooter you either are or you aren’t, and I believe that’s true. But I think you can work to add something to your game, particularly if it’s something very niche-ish like a top of the key three pointer as a center.
Channing Frye succeeding just fills me with happiness. Oh, Jesus, I’m starting to sound like StackMack. If I start squealing over rookies just put a bullet in my head, okay?
