2011 September | Hardwood Paroxysm

Archive - September, 2011

Exercises In Futility:The 50 Worst NBA Rotation Players, 10-1

September 7, 2011 in Commentary with 5 Comments

Photo from xcode via Flickr

A Danny Chau and James Herbert collaboration

Inspired by Top 100 lists created by Zach Lowe over at Sports Illustrated’s The Point Forward and the trio running CBSSports’ Eye-On-Basketball, we decided to run in the opposite direction. What if we ranked the worst players?So we set some guidelines and shortened the list down to 50. For one, all players had to have averaged 15 minutes of playing time last season. An arbitrary number, yes, but it kept things consistent.

And it’ll soon be evident (at least it was for us) that when ranking the worst, there really isn’t much of a formula. Arguments can be made for most of these players as the worst. We did our best to take context and potential into consideration, but this list is completely open-ended — that same open-endedness fuels the chaos, riles up emotion, and makes things fun.

Here are 50-41, 40-31, and 30-21, 20-11. We’re here. The final frontier. It’s been a long, painful journey. Let’s finish this one off right.

10. Andres Nocioni
F, Philadelphia 76ers

If this seems a bit high for Andres Nocioni, it shouldn’t. This isn’t 2006. We aren’t living in a world where he’s a hardnosed defender and efficient, lights-out shooter from anywhere on the court. This isn’t the Nocioni that’s going to give the hard foul or hound you on defense. He’ll give you five seconds of honest effort, but at any emerging signs of defeat, it’s as though some sort of trigger goes off. His body sags off the opponent, and it’s over. Dunk. Open jumper. You’ve won. And it only took a few seconds of work.

Nocioni’s offense has aged even more rapidly. Outside of his two years of brilliance in Chicago circa 2005-2007, Nocioni has been an inefficient scorer for much of his career. Nocioni still notches a barely-above-average three-point shooting percentage, but the area between the rim and the three-point line has become a ghost town, and will remain so until Nocioni decides to hang it up. He still (somehow) has the quickness to take his man off the dribble, but at some point in the isolation process, the body needs to stop, gather, and rise up. The problem is, this is where much of his quickness has abandoned him. He’s not a fast leaper, nor does he seem very willing to throw his body at his opponents. His running hooks, floaters, and layups are largely useless – almost as much as the range between 10-23 feet.

So what does that leave us with? A corroded player with a false reputation and a steadily declining utility quotient. If this ranking seems a bit high, watch him next year. We’re more than a half-decade away from 2006, and Nocioni makes that fact all too evident. -DC

9. Earl Watson
PG, Utah Jazz

I saw this Henry Abbott comment about Earl Watson and it made me happy:

Earl Watson doesn’t play much offense, so he’s always described as a defensive specialist. But not playing offense is not the same as being great at defense. To my eyes, there are plenty of better defenders.

Via Tuesday Bullets | 8/2/11

This is where I admit that I made an NBA hate list last year and Earl Watson is on it. So are 5 other players mentioned in this post. There are only 15 names on the list, so apparently I can’t stand players who are really unproductive and get rotation minutes. That or these rankings are totally biased because I rated players extremely poorly when I found them annoying. I think Danny kept that in check, though.

I should clarify the hate list thing — I don’t actually hate Earl Watson. In fact, I used to like him! Back when the Sonics existed, I was a fan of his defense (which has since deteriorated a fair bit) and his propensity to throw alley-oop passes. He’s always been a turnover machine, but I usually like point guards who try to make flashy passes even when it’s a bad idea. It’s not like I’m coaching them.

This brings me to P.J. Carlesimo and the reason why Earl Watson is on my “hate list.” In 2008-2009, Carlesimo started Watson for the first month of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s existence. Being a huge Russell Westbrook fan, I resented the hell out of Watson. The team was terrible but fun, so I watched almost every game on League Pass, rooting for them and yelling at their coach through the TV. I unfairly picked apart everything Watson did, outraged at every minute he spent on the floor at Westbrook’s expense. His alley-oop passes were still cool, but I enjoyed them begrudgingly.

When Scotty Brooks arrived and placed Russ in the starting lineup, that should have been the end of my grudge. Watson is an extremely ineffective player, but he really shouldn’t be an unlikeable one. I still get annoyed whenever he checks into a game, though — old habits die hard. -JH

8. Samardo Samuels
PF, Cleveland Cavaliers

Byron Scott: “[Samardo Samuels] has more talent and is more athletic than Kevin Love.”

Everyone else on the planet: “No.” -JH

7. Eddie House
G, Miami Heat

After reading Chris Ballard’s must-read “The Art Of A Beautiful Game: The Thinking Fan’s Tour Of The NBA” for the first time, I gained a tremendous respect for the pure shooter. The kind of psychological preparation that Steve Kerr went through to make sure he was dependable at any point in the game was intriguing, and it really shows the work and dedication of a man who was put on this earth to shoot and exclusively shoot for a decade of his life.

Eddie House isn’t Steve Kerr. I don’t care what the percentages tell you. I don’t care what his role has been for the last six seasons. House came into the league as a volume scorer. But I’ve seen stray cats dribble basketballs better than he does. So he resorted to shooting threes when he’s open. And good for him. He makes them often.

But it’s not the same as Kerr or other pure shooters. He has that scorer’s unrelenting braggadocio which is even more nauseating when you realize that he isn’t a pure shooter. He’s just a cocksure guy that was somehow too proud to develop anything resembling point guard, or even shooting guard skills. The absence of skills beyond shooting doesn’t make you a pure shooter. It makes you lazy, and makes your hubris grating and borderline offensive to the sanctity of the game.

That’s Eddie House. He shoots the ball. The end. -DC

6. Mike Bibby
PG, Miami Heat

You can’t redeem Mike Bibby.

In hopes of humanizing the blogosphere’s most reviled point guard, I spoke with Norma Wick, who covered the Grizzlies when Bibby began his NBA career. She said he was shy, but a bit of a prankster. He and Michael Dickerson were like Cuttino Mobley and Steve Francis — after being teammates in college, they always had adjacent rooms on the road in the pros. This is endearing, but it probably doesn’t change your opinion of him. You probably liked Bibby when he was a Grizzly, anyway. You might have loved him for the first five or six years of his Kings tenure. I did. But now? No.

Now, Mike Bibby’s game is as appealing as Richard Jefferson’s tattoo. As soon as you put him in the game you’re putting your defense at risk. In theory, he’d redeem himself for his defensive deficiencies by helping your offense. If his shot is on, then this… might be true? I mean, he did hit 45.5% of his threes for Miami in the regular season. He never created a good shot for himself or drove past a defender, but he had value as a floor-spacer, I guess. Ugh.

You can’t redeem him after watching him brick his way to the worst playoff run in NBA history. The man who was on the floor strictly to shoot couldn’t manage better than 28.1% from the field, playing with three of the best offensive players on the planet. He made me scream for more Mario Chalmers. He made me miss Carlos Arroyo (#25 here). He did these things. He is the worst. -JH

5. Jason Maxiell
PF, Detroit Pistons

Go to YouTube and type in his name. You’ll love him.

K, now go to Basketball-Reference. Same thing. Yeah, see that 2010-2011 season? Do you still love Jason Maxiell? He’s the worst.

You can and should still love Maxiell’s dunks and blocks, but let’s be realistic about his prospects as a rotation player. Aside from highlights plays, screen-setting, and baby-eating, you’re not getting anything from him. He could never shoot, pass, or dribble. He’s regressed in a big way on the boards. Last year was the third straight season that his production has dropped and this time he found himself out of the rotation for long stretches. It’s sad when the undersized overachiever stops overachieving. -JH

4. Yi Jianlian
PF, Washington Wizards

Four years ago, Fran Frascilla introduced Yi Jianlian as the anti-Yao Ming. He was new school. He was hip-hop. He was 50 Cent (an outdated reference then, let alone now). Indeed, after four years Yi could very well be seen as the opposite of Yao. While Yao carried his enormity with grace and nobility, there isn’t a basketball player alive more uncomfortable in his own skin than Yi.

You’ll never get the sense that Yi dislikes basketball. It’s clear that he very much enjoys it. But in a sport where height is king, Yi treats his towering frame as a burden. He’s that friend you have – the hopeless romantic that empathizes with every romantic comedy, and knows every line to 500 Days Of Summer– that internalizes the drama of cinema and tries to reenact his own life accordingly. Yi never wanted to be seven feet tall. He wanted to be the superstar wings that were universally recognized. He wanted to be Chinese Jordan. He wanted to be Kobe.

And it shows. It shows in his absolutely abysmal turnaround fadeaway which he insists on hoisting possession after possession. Pound for pound, he is easily the weakest player in the league. He uses none of his fluid, run-jump athleticism consistently, and for everyone who recognizes Yi’s talent, it’s maddening. He is a career 40.5 percent shooter. Yi honestly couldn’t be more of a letdown if he tried. He’s the worst.

Yi, I mean this sincerely: Go back to China. Go back home where you can dunk on anyone and everything. Go back to the style of play that’ll make you happy in a place where it is actually feasible. Go back to where you’re adored. You’re miserable here, and it’s making us miserable too. -DC

3. Targuy Ngombo
G/F, Minnesota Timberwolves

This isn’t about Targuy. We love Targuy from what little we know of him, but he’ll never step foot in the NBA.

This is actually about Rasual Butler. Unfortunately, Butler decided to hop on over to Gran Canaria, a team in the Spanish ACB league, after we finalized our top-50 list. I don’t quite understand why they want him, though. He’s the worst.

He’s the worst because he shot 32.3% from the field, and 33.8% from behind the arc. His only purpose on the floor is to shoot. He couldn’t do it. According to Synergy Sports Technology, he was 2-for-19 (10.5%) for the season in ISO possessions. That means on 19 separate occasions, Butler thought it was a fantastic idea to take more than two dribbles, try and inevitably fail to create space, and throw up a wild shot with literally no chance of going in.

Why does he do it? Because he’s made tough shots in the past. And by past, I mean four years ago. His mind still thinks he’s capable, and for a shooter, that’s all you need. There’s no mental filter that says, “Rasual, this is a really stupid idea. Don’t do this, or you’ll get benched.” So basically, he’s Travis Outlaw without the potential, athleticism, or base talent. Wow. Did we all just gag in unison? -DC

2. Chris Duhon
PG, Orlando Magic

Oh, Chris Duhon. What are you good at?

Nothing. You’re the worst. -DC

1. Stephen Graham
F, New Jersey Nets

This is it. The worst rotation player in the league is Stephen Graham. Watch the video above, painstakingly crafted with love and care (hate and disdain) by none other than James. It’s excruciating.

I think about fruit flies a lot. I think about their capacity for memory. I think about how they fly, and how they are probably frightened as hell by our slappy hands. But seconds later, they’re flying in the same vicinity with the same ignorance and audaciousness before. Do you ever wonder about the fruit fly in mid-flight as their memory resets? Do you think they scream out, “OH HEY!” every three seconds, as if they’re seeing the world for the first time for the millionth time?

This is what I think about when I don’t want to think about how awful Stephen Graham is.

Sometimes I wonder if Stephen Graham was bitten by a radioactive fruit fly. Because when he has the ball in his hands, for three seconds, he’ll look like a competent basketball player. Then he drives and rises up. And in that moment, his memory resets, and suddenly he doesn’t know what a ball is. The ball is either thrown violently at the hoop or slips out of his hands like he was trying to catch a catfish with his bare hands. There is no in between. He’s a terrific athlete, but there’s absolutely no excuse for going up for a layup and throwing the ball hard against the backboard.

He has the gifts of a prototypical NBA wing, but he also has hands like ostriches have opposable thumbs. He is the worst.And this time, we mean it.

Dribbling Through Traffic

September 6, 2011 in Great Exercises in Internet NBA-Related Postings with 13 Comments

This is back when I had skillz

I don’t have the best handles anymore, but I used to. When I was 7 years old, I’m telling you, none of the kids I encountered could match my crossover. You can say this is mostly because I was in Melbourne, Australia, where there just weren’t a lot of kids into basketball, but I’d like to think that I practiced enough to hold my own anywhere. If I left the house, the ball was coming with me. If I was watching TV, the volume would be turned up to drown out my dribbling. You’d think this obsession might be detrimental to other parts of my life, but that wasn’t the case. My mom could never get me to sit down and do math or read, so she started quizzing me while I worked on my handle. I soon began to excel at school.

That last bit is important, as before I picked up a basketball there were not a lot of areas where I excelled. This is the complete list: running in circles, yelling, smiling, breaking things, and disrupting my parents’ sleep. With anything involving concentration, I lagged behind the other kids. With anything involving hand-eye coordination, I lagged way behind the other kids. Coloring inside the lines? Couldn’t do it. Playing a musical instrument? Couldn’t do it. Swimming? Couldn’t do it, and dreaded being forced to try. I was born prematurely and although most of my earliest memories revolve around the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I am aware that I spent lots of time in a variety of doctors’ offices where I was diagnosed with developmental disorders ranging from ADD to Asperger’s to Tourette’s.

For some kids on the autism spectrum in their developmental years, not much progress can be made. For others, treatment can enormously improve quality of life. If you’re really lucky, treatment can eventually eliminate any signs of being different. I was absurdly lucky that my absolute hero of a mom dedicated every second of her time to helping me. Basketball ended up being a huge part of it. She exposed me to Magic, Michael, and Larry through NBA home videos and something clicked with me. I internalized the stories of how hard they worked and wanted to be one of them. Preferably Magic. So I practiced dribbling. Over and over, every day, even though I was terrible for the first couple of years. I kept at it, exhibiting a sort of discipline I’d previously never shown in any capacity. It was the extreme focus that I would have needed to become a good swimmer or violinist or whatever, but I didn’t care about those things. I loved to dribble a basketball.

“Man, you put the ball in my hand and I’m in another world,” [Magic Johnson] once said. “All my problems are gone as soon as I step out onto the floor and get that feel of the leather in my palm.
“Boom! Boom! Boom! Bounce that ball. Feel it come back up. Just caress it. And I know I can do anything with it. Me and that ball, we belong together. I’m in my own world and it’s the greatest feeling in the world.”
Via Magic all about sheer joy of playing, striving, competing, 8/29/11

Eventually, I was awesome at basketball for my age. And I became a damn good student, too, as my mom found out I was a sponge as long as I had a basketball in my hands. My other problems? Well, my hand-eye coordination got worlds better in general. My tics went away when I was dribbling a basketball… and since I was dribbling a basketball almost all of the time, at a certain point they were gone for good. Also, and this might shock you, people want to be friends with you when you’re good at a sport. I ended up teaching the kids who played more popular sports how to play mine. Basketball completely turned my social world upside down and re-wired my brain at a young age and I have those tapes of creative ballhandlers to thank for it.

It’s impossible for me to jump into my 4-year-old head and pinpoint why I became singularly obsessed with this leather ball, but I think the above Magic quote gets to the heart of it: creativity. I loved the sound of the ball bouncing and, when I played, it felt like I was making my own sort of music. When the ball truly is an extension of your hand, the possibilities on a possession seem endless. If you’ve got handles, you welcome the defender applying pressure. You think less and think differently, allowing your mental energy to go toward surveying the floor and determining your options. Then you just get to play. This is what made basketball fun for me.

Part of the beauty of this game is that if someone like me can be a good ballhandler, ANYONE can. You don’t have to be tall or athletic. You don’t have to have fantastic coaches (or be one). You just have to have the desire to get better every day. If you’re inspired by a Magic, an Iverson, a Professor, a Chris Paul, spend a few hours trying to do the things they do. Fail at it miserably, then keep trying.

Dribbling isn’t just a function or a skill. It’s an art. You know the most important thing about dribbling? You have to keep your head up.

Come Back To Us, La Bomba

September 6, 2011 in MISCELLANEA with 1 Comment

Photo by songglod from Flickr

Since we won’t have real basketball until 2012( hate you so much NBA lockout) I’ve been indulging as much as I possibly can in EuroBasket 2011 (I live on the west coast and I like sleep, so the early start times can be a problem). While some of you might watch it because you have a specific team to root for, or you love how well Serbia plays as a team, or Liam Canny entertains you to no end; I watch for one reason and one reason only: Juan Carlos Navarro. In honor of La Bomba, I am compiling a list of reasons why everyone should want JCN back in the NBA.

1. His floater

One of the most glorious and simultaneously under appreciated things in sports. Juan Carlos Navarro uses the floater more than is seemingly advisable, and yet he’s so freaking good at using it that it works. In fact I’m pretty sure this floater is 75% of the reason JCN is effective. He can toss it up from anywhere, at anytime, and it’s completely un-blockable. He’ll shoot it coming off the pick and roll, moving to the the left, moving to the right, over the top of Dwight Howard, even from the 3 point line (seriously I’ve seen him take a 3 point floater. It went in, of course.). Most NBA fans probably have no idea this divine combination of touch and guile even exists. That is unacceptable.

2. His Offensive Versatility

Juan Carlos Navarro is not a supremely gifted athlete, nor is he tall in stature. However, Navarro does possess pretty much every skill in the book, allowing him to mold his game to fit any situation. Need him to run point and create off the pick and roll? He can do that. Do you want a player you can run around off ball screens and knock down open jumpers? He’s your man. Is your team in need of an offensive spark off the bench? La Bomba can fill that role as well. Sure, Rubio gets most of the media and fan attention, but it’s Juan Carlos Navarro’s creativity that serves as the wind in the Spanish team’s sails.

3. His Nickname

“La Bomba” which (fairly obviously) translates to “The Bomb”. It’s pretty much the greatest nickname ever. It’s fun to say; try it once and you’ll never stop. After JCN hits one of his patented floaters you can run around your house screaming, “LA BOOOOOOMMMMMMBAAAA”. Plus since it’s in Spanish, whenever Navarro starts dropping in three-pointer after three-pointer you can say things like, “LA BOMBA CALLIENTE!!!” or “LA BOMBA EN FUEGO”. The inherent awesomeness of this nickname cannot be overstated.

4. He Can Replace JJ Barea

Think about it, other than JJ Barea who loses in this scenario? The Mavericks get a better player, and I don’t have to watch JJ play ever again. Seems like a win-win scenario to me.

5. Rudy Fernandez Finds a Friend

Remember how Rudy got all sad when Sergio Rodriguez was traded? He stopped being able to do anything except prance around and brick threes. Well pout no more, Rudy! With Jub Jub gone and La Bomba replacing him, Rudy won’t have to feel so lonely. He will finally have a friend to comfort him in a time of great need. They could even hang out and gel each other’s hair and stuff!

6. I Can Finally Buy a Navarro Jersey

Seriously. Go on the internet and try to find one right now. It’s impossible. You have a better chance of procuring an armed nuclear warhead.

7. He’s a Skinny Person With A Double Chin

It’s mesmerizing. I don’t understand how it’s possible. I have so many questions: Is there a diet one can go on to obtain this? Why not grow a thicker beard to mask it? Does it prove problematic with the ladies? What kind of exercises do you do to get rid of the double chin if you’re already skinny? Does it make wearing a bike helmet uncomfortable? Has he considered liposuction? Why do people think Rubio will be a good NBA point guard?

8. L.B.O.E

La Bomba Over Everything. Ball game.

Pau Gasol vs. America

September 5, 2011 in Great Exercises in Internet NBA-Related Postings with 9 Comments

Photo by lubright via Flickr

In this talk, I make the case that if you’re looking for value, you could do worse than to look around for players, techniques and skills that don’t fit the bigger and tougher macho mold.

via TrueHoop – The opposite of macho

A few months ago, Henry Abbott discussed the role of machismo in sports, basketball in particular. Instead of looking for the bigger, better, stronger, faster and quicker players, Henry proposed the idea of looking for the players, game plans or techniques that don’t fit the macho stereotype, and are thus likely to be undervalued, cheaper, or more effective. In his presentation at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, Henry gave seven different examples of less common, “softer” methods that contravene their testosterone-filled counterparts.

An example he lightly touched upon was foreign players and the superb value they’ve traditionally had because of their perceived softness. Although foreign players generally receive a lot of criticism, European players in particular are usually the butt of NBA-related jokes. The cliché for European players is that they’re soft (hey, there’s that word again!), weak, clumsy, erratic, one-dimensional “shooters/passers/ball-handlers”, and incapable of leading a team. Of course, this stigma couldn’t be further from the truth:

Dirk Nowitzki (MVP and Finals MVP), Pau Gasol (second-best player on two title teams), and Tony Parker (Finals MVP) played major roles on championship squads. Vlade Divac, Arvydas Sabonis, Drazen Petrovic, Detlef Schrempf, Toni Kukoc, Dino Rada (Radja in English) and Rik Smits had successful NBA careers (albeit brief ones for a Petrovic/Rada). Marc Gasol, Ricky Rubio, Serge Ibaka (born in Congo but has Spanish citizenship), Marcin Gortat, Danilo Gallinari, Luol Deng (grew up in England, has British citizenship), Omri Casspi and Nicolas Batum are some of the top young players in the league. Hedo Turkoglu, Andrei Kirilenko, Mehmet Okur, Jose Calderon, Peja Stojakovic, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Boris Diaw were once highly productive role players, All-Stars or even franchise cornerstones. Simply put, European players have had, and will continue to have, a lasting impact on the NBA.

From the above list, only Smits, Nowitzki, Gasol, Deng, Gallinari and Rubio were top-10 picks; the rest were either late lottery to late first round, second round, or undrafted. Think about that. Getting Parker with the 28^th pick? Snatching Divac with the 26^th? How about Gortat at 57^th? That’s great value, which fits seamlessly into Henry’s ideology. GMs, owners, and teams in general tend to shy away from European players because they’re not as masculine as American-born players (in most cases), have less fan appeal, and lack the ability to alter a franchise. This fear allows teams with smarter, riskier management to “steal” these players, improve their franchises and build contenders (you know, the goal of an NBA franchise).

Of course, not every European player is a sensation. There are countless (and I mean countless) examples of European players that never panned out in America. Darko Milicic, Johan Petro, Yaroslav Korolev, Sergei Monia and Nikoloz Tskitishvili are just a few of the higher (selection-wise) European draft picks that never achieved NBA stardom, or even mediocrity. Do these players, among many others, deserve to ruin the perception of European players? No. Should Michael Olowakandi, Kwame Brown, Adam Morrison, Marcus Fizer, and Kendrick Brown ruin American-born players’ credibility? No. There are busts in every draft class, regardless of where they’re from.

The scapegoat for the typical European-style of play over the past few years has been Lakers’ power forward/center Pau Gasol. Despite boasting one of the most versatile skill-sets in NBA history, Gasol is widely unappreciated, undervalued and ridiculed for being a “pansy” (to put it kindly). He’s taken as much ‘heat’ as any other player sans LeBron James. Some of his criticism is well deserved as Gasol struggles against physical post players and tends to randomly disappear at times, most notably in the ’08 Finals against the Boston Celtics and the ’11 Western Conference Semi-finals against the Dallas Mavericks (the only two playoff series the Lakers have lost over the past four years).

But should those weaknesses, combined with a couple of disappointing playoff series, undermine all he has achieved? Gasol’s one of the best rebounding, passing, shot-blocking and free throw shooting big men currently in the game, is effective and efficient, and rarely falters from his role within the Lakers’ offense and defense. He’s won two NBA championships, the Rookie of the Year award, seven European Player of the Year awards, a silver medal at the ’08 Olympics and a gold medal at the ’06 World Championships (including tournament MVP). Throw in All-NBA awards, All-Star appearances and countless other European awards/honors, and Gasol has one of the more decorated basketball résumés of all time.

I’m not here to give Gasol’s Hall-of-Fame speech, I just think he’s on the receiving end of underserved criticism. Criticism that is directly related to his style of play; he’s never going to bulldoze opponents like Shaquille O’Neal, coordinate a defense like Kevin Garnett, or impose his will like Tim Duncan. Gasol will sit back as a second banana, score 18-20 points, grab 9-10 rebounds, dish out 3-4 assists, block 1-2 shots, and shot over 50 percent from the field and 80 percent from the charity stripe. Rarely less and rarely more.

The Gasol conundrum is a microcosm of a much larger problem with most American sports fans. At first, no one took European players seriously. “Really? Those guys are going to come here and play an American sport?” Then, behind Divac and Petrovic, people began to realize Europeans could actually play. Euros had yet to seep through to mainstream success, though, so they weren’t a threat and weren’t taken too seriously. But then the 2002 World Championships, 2004 Olympics, and 2006 World Championships happened, and America’s confidence was shattered. The NBA instituted a new “protocol” for their national team, making it a multi-year commitment, ensuring continuity and increasing future output.

Instead of accepting the fact that players from other countries can be just as good, and sometimes even better than American players, there tends to be a reluctance to do so. “He’s really good, but he’s European…” “He’s an All-Star, but he’s soft…” Is this xenophobia? Not necessarily. But it’s something. And whatever it is, it should change. Not just because it’d be the decent, human-like thing to do (that counts too!), but because it’s what’s best for the game. If Gasol and Nowitzki have surpassed Duncan and Garnett as the creme de la creme of NBA power forwards, so be it. Get used to seeing 18-footers, fadeaways, sharp passes and wet, moppy long hair (that’s constantly being combed behind their ears).

Does that mean the game is worse now? No. The NBA, and it’s players, coaches and gameplans/styles, are constantly evolving. There was no 3-point line 35 years ago. There were barely any black players until the 1960s. Heck, European players didn’t start migrating until the late 80s. Things change. There’s always an adjust period to a major innovation, but it seems the development of European players has yet to be accepted by mainstream America. The public has come a long way since the 90s/early 00s, but there’s still a lot of ground to be made up.

It’s not unpatriotic to claim players from other countries are some of the best in the NBA (and better than other American players). If it’s a fact, it’s a fact, whether it’s acknowledged or not. Tony Parker knocked off LeBron James in the ’07 Finals. Pau Gasol helped defeat Dwight Howard (’09) and Kevin Garnett (’10). Dirk Nowitzki downed Miami’s Big 3 this past June. Who cares where they’re from? They’re playing in America, for American teams. Look at the positive; a game created in Springfield, Mass., has spread across the globe, influencing millions of lives outside the United States, and helping create the most competitive basketball league in the world. Europeans may not play the style of basketball American fans are accustomed to or prefer, but a lot of them are damn good ball players.

Pau Gasol is not macho. And that’s why he’s heavily detested, even by Laker fans. Many want him to be the key cog that’s traded, not Andrew Bynum or Lamar Odom (two American players with far less skill and talent than Gasol). Basketball pundits know Gasol’s true worth and are in the minority of supporters. But to the casual fan — which there are many of — Gasol is an overrated Euro that can’t handle the moment. Maybe it doesn’t matter too much in the grand scheme of things what the general person thinks, but it highlights an American apprehension towards accepting Europeans because of their “differences.”

It’s not that Gasol doesn’t play the right way, it’s that he doesn’t play the American way.

The Lowdown: Dan Issel

September 4, 2011 in Great Exercises in Internet NBA-Related Postings,NBA History with 2 Comments

Via 1043thefan.com

Pat Williams, general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers, says of Issel, “He’s not a pro-type center, not defensive-minded, not an intimidator, and you can’t win a title with him. But when his career is over, he’ll be an immortal.”

Via “King of the Rocky Mountains” by Douglas Looney

Years Active: 1971 – 1985

Career Stats: 22.6 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 2.4 apg, 1.0 spg, 0.5 bpg, 50% FG, 79% FT

Accolades: ABA Rookie of the Year (1971), All-ABA 1st Team (1972), 4x All-ABA 2nd Team (1971, 1973-74, 1976) 6x ABA All-Star (1971-76), NBA All-Star (1977), ABA All-Star Game MVP (1972) ABA All-Rookie 1st Team (1971), ABA Champion (1975 Kentucky Colonels)

The complaints of so-called dainty “bigmen” that prance around the perimeter are nothing new basketball fans. Elvin Hayes and Bob McAdoo took their fair share of heat in the 1970s for not being tough enough and so did Dan Issel despite the evident utility of such bigmen then and now (Dirk Nowitzki).

Issel, simply put, was a scoring machine. He still remains the University of Kentucky’s all-time leading scorer despite only playing 3 years there. In professional basketball, he retired as the ^4th all-time leading scorer behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Julius Erving. Issel did put up some highly impressive single season scoring averages, but like any accomplishment of this sort, it was heavily indebted to career longevity. Issel only missed 24 of a possible 1242 games in his career.

The course he took to these points was unorthodox for a center. Like Hayes and McAdoo, Issel was a marksman from long-distance. His jumper extended nearly out to the three-point line, which invariably drew opposing centers out of their comfort zone. Issel would either calmly sink the jumper or deceive the defender with a pump fake and make his way toward the rim. Another favored method for Issel was scoring on the break.

He was by no means someone you could describe as fast, but neither were opposing centers in his era, for the most part, and Issel had the bonus of a motor that never stopped running. And he hit the ground running in his professional basketball career.

As a rookie, he led the ABA in scoring with 30ppg in 1971 and led the Kentucky Colonels all the way to the ABA Finals where they lost in 7 games to the Utah Stars. The next season, the 6’9″ Issel was shifted to power forward to accommodate the arrival of 7’2″ Artis Gilmore to the Kentucky lineup. Issel showed no slowing down averaging a career high 30.6ppg that season. The Colonels were a huge success during these years. Losing another game 7 Finals heartbreaker this time in 1973 to the Indiana Pacers and getting revenge in 1975 in a 5 game championship route of Indiana.

That would be Issel’s last act as a Colonel. In the summer of 1975 he was traded 1st to Baltimore, which quickly folded, and then to the Denver Nuggets. Moving back to center, Issel teamed up with David Thompson and Bobby Jones to lead Denver to the ABA Finals in 1976 (beating Kentucky along the way) before losing to New Jersey in 6 games.

Merging with the NBA that summer, Issel and the Nuggets took their act to the NBA and there was no drama to their play. Despite roster changes (Thompson and Jones making way for George McGinnis and then Alex English and Kiki Vandeweghe in the early 80s) and coaching switches (Larry Brown for Donnie Walsh and then Doug Moe) the Nuggets always scored like Chicagoans voted: early and often.

This style reached its zenith between 1981 and 1985 when the Nuggets never failed to average less than 120 points a game for a season. And 5 different times Issel was part of a troika of teammates that averaged at least 20ppg a piece. Something that rarely happens ever let alone this many times on one team.

With all that high-flying amazement, the Nuggets never got back to a finals with Issel. The closest they came was the Western Conference Finals in 1978 (losing to Seattle) and in 1985 (losing to the Lakers). That ’85 series would see Issel score his final NBA points. Going out in style, Dan swished a 3-point bomb as the Great Western Forum crowd cheered him on.

A 6’9″ perpetually-balding center with a devilish grin is certainly not what we expect when thinking of ABA personalities and NBA legends. But Dan Issel was certainly one of the best and, indeed, he is immortal: his number is retired by the Nuggets, he’s a Hall of Famer and to this day retains the most successful pro career of any Kentucky Wildcat. Eat your heart out, Ron Mercer.

Ball Control

September 4, 2011 in Great Exercises in Internet NBA-Related Postings with 0 Comments

Picture by acockle via Flickr

Gearing up for the men’s basketball European Championships, an estimated 60,000 Lithuanians flooded streets in cities across the basketball-crazy Baltic EU state Monday in an attempt to set a new Guinness world record for dribbling.

Via “60,000 Lithuanians dribble for new record” by the Associated Foreign Press

Lithuanians clearly know it and surely you do, too: dribbling is an important exercise in the execution of basketball. As you also may have heard, keeping possession of the ball is extremely important as well. For without the ball, how can one score a basket? It is with this mind-blowing question that we find the intersection of dribbling and possession known as ball control. Yes, ball control. Ball control is what separates fancy pants, too-much-mustard-on-the-hot dog dribblers like Rafer Alston from truly competent and adroit floor generals.

This is not to say that turnovers are the sole measure of how competent a point guard is, but it is surely a good indicator when taken into proper context. Using Basketball-Reference, I was able to narrow down a list of guards who averaged at least 27 minutes per game, 4 turnovers per game.

27 guards show up on that list including such great PGs as Maurice Cheeks, Fat Lever, Doc Rivers, Terrell Brandon and Derek Harper. Leading the group in assists per game however is Muggsy Bogues with an average of 7.6. Burning the oil on both ends, Bogues is also 2nd-lowest in turnovers at 1.6. Clearly Bogues was the master of ball control.

Surely, being only 5’3″ tall was hugely helpful in the turnover department. Opposing players had a devil of a time trying to poke the ball away from Muggsy. But to attribute his poise to merely his height is insulting. After all, there are millions of men who are short in stature but only one has done what Muggsy has. That’s because the height was augmented by Muggsy’s dazzling physique that made him a powerfully lithe body not easily bullied away from the ball.

All of this however, merely explains the low turnovers. Between 1990 and 1995, Muggsy was second only to John Stockton in assists in the league. How to explain his amazingly high assist total? The eyes. As Muggsy has said himself, he learned how to dribble without needing to look at the ball, so he could constantly be on the lookout for seems, cutters and angles for passing. All of these skills combined to give Muggsy the lowest turnover-to-assist ratio for a starting PG in NBA history. Simply put: No one took care of the ball like Muggsy.

So the next time, you get into a discussion about best dribblers the NBA has ever had (a real hellraiser in sports bars, I know), don’t just get stuck on Tim Hardaway’s crossover, Bob Cousy’s Houdini tricks, or Steve Nash’s figure-8s through half-court sets. Remember that stellar dribbling, outstanding handles sometimes involve just taking care of the rock.

PS – Jose Calderon is the closest match to Muggsy. Maybe I have to rethink this…

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

September 4, 2011 in Great Exercises in Internet NBA-Related Postings with 0 Comments

Photo by Vectorportal via Flickr

“Win it all,” Artest said when asked what will the Lakers do in the 2011-2012 season. “Win the whole thing. That’s a guarantee.”

Yep, that’s Metta World Peace, né Ron Artest, guaranteeing a Los Angeles Lakers championship for the 2012 season. As Mike Medina points out, such a guarantee is fraught with peril. Firstly,the Lakers found themselves swept out of the 2nd Round of the playoffs last season. The team can be championship caliber, but it can just as easily be dismissed by a conference foe. Secondly, there may not even be an NBA season to win in 2012.

Those quibbles aside, the Player Formerly Known As Ron Artest is nonetheless giving just another in a long line of presumptuous guarantees and pronouncements by colorful NBA talents. Here are some others worth remembering…

[NOTE: None of the following guarantees were ever made and are purely the figment of my imagination]

World B. Free guarantees liberty and justice for all

In December 1981, Lloyd Free legally changed his name to World B. Free as a sign of his dedication to free all of humanity from the shackles of fear, want and bigotry. 1982 proves to be a disaster for Free’s campaign. War breaks out between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the Falkland Islands demonstrating mankind’s cavernous depravity as the islands are nothing more than barren, frigid sheep-breeding rocks. Meanwhile, Lebanon erupts into an orgy of violence as a civil war entangles neighboring states. To cap off the sad procession, Time Magazine abandons all hope for humanity by declaring the computer to be the “Man of the Year”.

Distraught over his failure, World B. delves ever deeper into his obsession with growing a half-fro despite every conceivable fashion dictate to the contrary.

Larry Brown guarantees to “play the right way”

Legendary basketball coach Larry Brown once was a solid point guard in the ABA. Appearing thrice in ABA All-Star Games, Brown took home the MVP for the 1968 exhibition and won a title as a member of the Oakland Oaks in 1969. Brown led the league in assists twice as well. Seemingly he had fulfilled his pledge to “play the right way”, but there was a sizable chink in his armor.

Larry just couldn’t stop turning the ball over. He led the ABA in turnovers twice with over 4.3 per game. By his final season in 1972, he’d gained some semblance of control over the problem, but the psychological damage had been done. Larry’s own failure to “play the right way” for all those seasons led him to become an unbearable, domineering presence to all future PGs he coached.

Nick Young guarantees to have the lowest assists per 36 min. ever for a SG

Donning an afro reminiscent of the ABA’s halcyon years, Nick Young has also channeled that league’s spirit by running and gunning. In fact, he’s taken the gunning portion to the extreme. Young has guaranteed that under no circumstances will he pass the ball intending to set up a teammate for a basket no matter how easy. Averaging a healthy 19.7 points per 36 minutes but a paltry 1.3 assists, Young effectively made good on his promise last year. This is insanely low even for a shot-first black hole. Glen Rice for example had a career average of 2.2 assists per 36 min. and he was 4x the marksman that Young is.

In a corollary guarantee, Young has also promised to make more 360 layups than any player in history.

Yinka Dare guarantees the finest one-game performance of the 1994-95 season

David Robinson. Hakeem Olajuwon. Shaquille O’Neal. Patrick Ewing. These are the titans of the post that 7’0″, 265 pound Yinka Dare was seeking to unseat when in a fit of Cassius Clay styled bravado he proclaimed that he would float like a Nigerian fruit bat and sting like a Sonoran centipede. On Armistice Day, 1994, the New Jersey Nets unleashed Dare’s fury upon the Washington Bullets. For three minutes, Dare delivered two personal fouls, a turnover, one defensive rebound and a missed shot.

Having made his point, Dare asked out of the game and declared he had nothing left to prove for the season. Indeed, if he could torment an over-the-hill Kevin Duckworth, what else was there left of Dare to prove?

Paul Allen’s Master Plan To Save Small Markets

September 3, 2011 in Breaking News,Commentary with 0 Comments

Weaver met with Blazers officials about replacing Rich Cho, who worked with Weaver under Oklahoma City Thunder GM Sam Presti.

via Blazers interview Weaver for GM job – NBA – Yahoo! Sports.

Blazers fans love to hate Paul Allen, and usually with good reason. We see him as the worst kind of overly meddlesome owner, one who has always been willing to spend to build a winner, but who can’t bring himself to just let his basketball guys do their jobs. He’s fired two extremely well-regarded GMs in the past two offseasons, and the general belief has been that Kevin Pritchard’s and Rich Cho’s main offenses have been not acting as yes-men for Allen. For Blazers fans, the losses first of Pritchard and then of Cho were tough to swallow, and Adrian Wojnarowski’s report last night of the team’s interest in Cho’s former Oklahoma City colleague Troy Weaver has prompted a round of here-we-go-agains. But perhaps we’re not giving Allen enough credit.

Maybe what we’re seeing here is Allen acting as something of a Robin Hood for small-market clubs. Those who argue against the need for increased parity always point to San Antonio and Oklahoma City as teams without the built-in advantages of, say, the Lakers, Knicks, or Celtics, who were able to build contenders through smart management and player development. And while not every team has close to those franchises’ level of front office, Allen is doing what he can to make it that way. Literally. His hiring of Cho from under Sam Presti a year ago was praised around the league, almost to the level that his ouster 10 months later was panned. But Cho landed on his feet, quickly taking the top job with the Charlotte Bobcats, the team he stole Gerald Wallace from during his stint in Portland. He immediately went to work in Charlotte, prying an extra top-10 pick from Sacramento on draft day. This drew plenty of eye-rolls from Blazers fans who wished he was still working on their behalf, but Bobcats fans had to feel like their team was in good hands. Which might have been Allen’s plan all along.

If the Blazers do, in fact, hire Weaver (which may come down to whether or not Weaver still has Cho’s phone number to ask questions about working for Allen), we could be seeing future of small-market basketball unfolding before our eyes:

1. Paul Allen snipes a highly-regarded executive from Portland’s toughest division rival, thereby weakening the Thunder and benefitting not only his team but also the Nuggets and Jazz.

2. This new GM pulls off a few one-sided deals in the vein of the Wallace trade, leaving the Blazers in better shape than when he started, and in the process building a reputation for himself as capable of running a team.

3. At the end of the season, the new guy is fired for some contrived reason having nothing to do with his talent or job performance.

4. He is promptly hired by another small-market club in need of a smart, level-headed GM. This move is praised by every NBA writer and executive, and boosts the confidence of that team’s fanbase. Now, one more small-market team is equipped with a talented and capable GM and is one step closer to competing.

5. Rinse and repeat.

Detroit, you’d do well to watch Portland next time there’s a season. This could be your future.

Exercises In Futility:The 50 Worst NBA Rotation Players, 20-11

September 3, 2011 in Commentary with 3 Comments

Photo by ElvertBarnes on Flickr

A Danny Chau and James Herbert collaboration

It’s been a summer of lists — or at least that’s how it has seemed. Over the past few weeks the NBA blogosphere has been inundated with them. Some see them as a pointless exercise in futility (you see what I did there), but no matter where you stand on the idea of ranking players, it makes for conversation. And this has been an offseason starved of honest-to-goodness basketball-related talking points.Inspired by Top 100 lists created by Zach Lowe over at Sports Illustrated’s The Point Forward and the trio running CBSSports’ Eye-On-Basketball, we decided to run in the opposite direction. What if we ranked the worst players?So we set some guidelines and shortened the list down to 50. For one, all players had to have averaged 15 minutes of playing time last season. An arbitrary number, yes, but it kept things consistent.

Here are 50-41, 40-31, and 30-21. Let’s continue with 20-11.

20. Dante Cunningham
F, Charlotte Bobcats (FA)

Some apologies are probably in order.

Dante Cunningham isn’t the 20th worst rotation player in the NBA. In lists like these, oversights are hard to catch, and by the time it was caught, it was too late to do anything about it. I wasn’t the keenest observer of the Charlotte Bobcats, and some assumptions were made on Cunningham’s position that unfairly vaulted him up the list.

Cunningham was a serviceable player who did exactly what the Bobcats asked of him. He was an efficient offensive player considering a majority of his shots are spot-up jumpers from 20 feet and in.

Cunningham will be backing up Corey Maggette (and at times Gerald Henderson, if that rumored D.J. Augustin/Kemba Walker backcourt duo is actually happening – which it shouldn’t) whenever the season starts, Cunningham will have opportunities to contribute meaningfully on offense.

Unfortunately, Cunningham isn’t a good defender, and it could very well be due to his position on the Bobcats. Offensively, he is definitely more of a 3 than a 4, but it puts him in a precarious position on defense. He isn’t the most active defender on the perimeter, often drifting out of position, and late to put his hands up, which becomes especially problematic when he has to guard gifted three-point shooters. Dante had a bit more success in Portland guarding bigger players, but with there likely won’t be a place for Cunningham in the PF/C rotation.

However, his defensive issues don’t justify his position in these rankings. Considering Cunningham played at the power forward position exclusively for Portland, I thought it was a safe assumption that he would play on the Bobcats, which were ravaged by injuries in their frontcourt. But it wasn’t safe, and that changed everything. For that, I’m sorry. —DC

19. Ryan Gomes
F, Los Angeles Clippers

When Ryan Gomes signed with the Clippers, I figured it was a no-risk move. Gomes had proven himself to be a smart, dependable role player. Why couldn’t he start at the 3 for a team that had offensive firepower at every other position? If he just played to the same level he did in Minnesota and Boston, it’d be a great fit.

It turned out to be the worst season of his career. Gomes shot 41% from the field, was hesitant with the ball on his way to a 12.7 usage rate, and rebounded less frequently than ever before. Oops.

Did we learn anything about Ryan Gomes, though? I think he confirmed that he’s much more of a matchup problem as a stretch-4 than as a 3, which is backed up by the data on 82games for his time as a Timberwolf. Gomes’s season is an illustration of how much fit matters in the NBA. Even if you’re the kind of guy that can write guest posts for ESPN, being a role player means your productivity is influenced as much by your collection of teammates and your coach than your own individual skillset. We hope that Gomes won’t be as bad in his second season with the Clippers, but it’s hard to project too much of a jump without a significant increase in minutes at the 4-spot. He’s the only person on Earth who must wish he saw less of Blake Griffin. —JH

18. Jamario Moon
SF, Los Angeles Clippers (FA)

I’m sorry, I’m not going to rip on Jamario Moon. I’ve rooted for this guy since I saw him make his debut as a 27-year-old rookie with the Raptors. I love when basketball vagabonds end up making it and you probably already know that his journey included multiple stints in the D-League, USBL, CBA, and WBA, along with stops in Mexico and, famously, the Harlem Globetrotters. I live in Toronto and, when he was traded to Miami, a lot of people seemed happy to never see him bite at a pump-fake or take an ill-advised three-pointer again. Those tendencies annoyed me, too, but I knew I’d miss seeing him rebound, defend, and finish on the break in person.

That said, Moon was downright irrelevant last season. He started 20 games, but you didn’t notice. And if you’re a small forward, the post-LeBron Cavaliers and the post-uhh… Corey Maggette Clippers should give you ample opportunities to separate yourself. As a fan of his, I want to believe that he can still contribute in a limited role on a team like the Thunder, but there’s no telling what kind of home he’ll find in free agency. —JH

17. Luther Head
G, Sacramento Kings (FA)

I don’t find myself thinking about Luther Head very often. His best season was four years ago, and there are no signs of him making a breakthrough to get back at that level. What was that level? 10 points in 27 minutes of action (Bobby Jackson is not impressed). He had the potential to be the next great sparkplug. But he never reclaimed that offensive potency again, which wasn’t near where it could’ve been. And outside of that potency, there isn’t much else to Luther Head.

In his sophomore season, he averaged 5 three-pointers a game, and made a ridiculous 44% of them. Comparing Head to Eddie House is wrong, and should be a crime. Luther was an outstanding athlete with a great handle. He wasn’t above driving baseline and crushing an opponent with a dunk.

But that was long ago. He’s still an effective shooter from range, but injuries and a lack of consistency have taken away the more dynamic parts of his game. I’d say more, but the fact is, it’s not going to get any better. He hasn’t devolved completely, and he’s still a very capable option off the bench. But he’s essentially been forgotten, and this means something. —DC

16. Manny Harris/Christian Eyenga
SF, Cleveland Cavaliers

If Antawn Jamison was the bed of parsley to LeBron James’ suckling pig dropped on the floor in a Cleveland restaurant, Manny Harris and Christian Eyenga are the cockroaches lapping up the grease that, for some reason, still hasn’t been mopped up.

Give it a few seconds (or hours). It’ll make sense. Plus, I lumped them together because you’ll never see just one cockroach. They always seem to come in pairs.

This was a Cavalier team (and offense) built exclusively around LeBron James. They didn’t choose to be the successors, but they are. It just so happened that they were also very, very bad.

LeBron played a lot of isolation ball in Cleveland. Not to be outdone, Harris and Eyenga both had a fair bit of their own throughout the season. Now, LeBron wasn’t the most efficient in isolation plays, but whatever he shot in Cleveland surely trumps the 28.3% combined percentage of Harris and Eyenga’s ISO posessions.

If there is a noticeable split anywhere, it’s in three-point shooting and defense. Harris has proven to be an above-average shooter with his feet set, while Eyenga is still trying to incorporate that type of range into his game. On defense, Harris is a terrible defender. Eyenga, on the other hand, is a contender for the worst defender in the entire league. Eyenga allowed 1.12 points per possession, almost 50% of all shots taken against him, and if you’re a spot-up guy behind the line? Having Eyenga in your face was probably more preferable than being wide open with no one within eight feet of you.

Manny Harris and Christian Eyenga are young, but we aren’t looking at the most highly regarded prospects coming into the draft here. They may be decent players down the road, but that’s not within sight. Maybe it was a little mean to lump them up. But misery loves company, and this was a match made in heaven. Or hell. —DC

15. Sebastian Telfair
PG, Minnesota Timberwolves (FA)

This is hard for me. I’m not going to think about SLAM covers or documentaries or EBC games on NBA TV. I’m not going to think about Coney Island. I’ll focus on numbers and facts.

Seven straight seasons of sub-.500 TS%. Five straight with a PER under 11. He’s too small to defend well, way too small to rebound, and only shot 53.1% at the rim last season. 19 minutes a game for a 17-win team.

Impressively, Telfair shot a career-best .359 on three-pointers. Unfortunately, the makes were pretty much all wide open. Kevin Pelton would say Bassy has very little gravity — defenses don’t feel they have to guard him. His defenders consistently went under screens, cheated off him, and played him for the drive. Sometimes, he made them pay, but it wasn’t enough to help Minnesota’s spacing. If last season was the beginning of him becoming a true outside threat, then perhaps he can remain in some team’s rotation… but that team would have to be terrible. —JH

14. Shelden Williams
F/C, New York Knicks (FA)

There are players that stake their livelihood on the ability to rebound. It’s a gift, an art, and an essential for all NBA teams. Players like Reggie Evans don’t really need to do anything else, because their talent in that one field is weighty enough to blur their liabilities.

Shelden Williams is not one of those players. He can set a good pick, and he’s is a good rebounder. He is. He is very good. But he isn’t great. And that’s unfortunate, because there is literally nothing else he does that is remotely serviceable.

Shelden Williams has only hit over 50% of his shots once for an entire season. For someone so limited offensively, it’s expected that shots should only be taken when they are wide open and right at the basket. The problem is, Williams is awful right next to the basket. Even if he catches the ball right underneath the rim, his lift is so nonexistent, any kind of outstretched arm will stifle the attempt. It’s kind of pathetic.

So Williams over the years has developed a jumper of sorts from 13 feet in. But the word “develop” implies it’s gotten better over the years. It hasn’t. It’s still a really low-efficiency shot (it’s not in the grander scope of all basketball players, but again, we’re talking about Shelden Williams). On a pick and roll, more often than not, he’s pulling up for a baby jumper. Because somehow, that is a slightly less problematic for Williams than a layup a mere inches from the rim.

If you played Shelden Williams for 36 minutes, he’d get you double figure rebounds. But why the hell would you do that? —DC

13. Wayne Ellington
SG, Minnesota Timberwolves

I’ve already written about Jonny Flynn, Darko Milicic, and Sebastian Telfair for this project. Good God, what a team this was.

When Wayne Ellington came out of UNC, there was hope that he could succeed as a pure scorer. On that stacked team, he showcased an effective three-point stroke and mid-range game. In the pros, only the three-point stroke remains. He appears to have some skills with the ball in his hands, but hasn’t really done anything with them at this level. He can create mid-range shots, but rarely converts them. He almost never attacks the basket, and when he does he usually misses. He does not draw fouls. He should be better than this, but I’m not sure he ever will be.

If Ellington’s production remains where it’s been for his first two seasons, he’ll find himself out of the Wolves’ rotation soon. The team isn’t great, or even good, but it has enough pieces that he shouldn’t receive minutes by default anymore. Unlike Flynn, he won’t get a fresh start to try to recapture the skills that haven’t translated. I guess Ricky Rubio and Not Kurt Rambis will have to be enough.

Don’t worry, Wolves fans. Wayne is the last one. —JH

12. Raja Bell
SG, Utah Jazz

Raja Bell played 68 games last year. It was more than he’s played in the past two years. He probably played it hurt. He’ll most have an extended rest period before the next season begins, but what exactly are we expecting from a healthy Raja Bell?

Raja Bell shot a disappointing 35.5% from behind the arc last year. That number would be perfectly fine for most players, but it was Bell’s worst percentage since his rookie and sophomore year – he’s been a 40% three-point shooter for much of his late-20s and early 30s.

Bell is still a capable on-ball defender, but he noticeably lost a step or two in his last season with Phoenix, and it’s been three years and several injuries since then. That said, he is one of the smartest and most well-conditioned athletes in the league. If anyone could make a return to form, it’d be Bell. But if last year is any indication, we’re looking at a diminished player. And considering how bothered he looked last year, this version of Raja Bell might be here to stay. —DC

11. Ryan Hollins
C, Cleveland Cavaliers

I’m just going to say it: Ryan Hollins is a Bargnani-esque rebounder who’s too skinny to play post defense and has no offensive game outside of three feet. He averages 6.1 fouls per 36 minutes. This is why he’s #11 on this list.

The rebounding thing is really weird. He’s 7’0 and he can jump like this:

If you’re that kind of athlete, you should rebound more than Hollins does by accident. You should also probably not turn the ball over twice a game when you’ve never been asked to create any offense. But hey, his dunks are awesome! And you can’t teach height!

In fairness, Hollins did have his moments as a Cavalier. He started for the last three weeks of the season. He played a big part in the win over the Heat. He shot 7-7 from the field against the Bobcats. He even shot 8-8 from the free throw line in the final game of the season. But you know what they say about centers… —JH

Staying Alive

September 2, 2011 in MISCELLANEA with 0 Comments

Ball-handling. It’s the handling of the ball. And nobody does so better than the point guard – he who has been placed on the court to take care of handling the ball, AKA, the ball handler.

Tautological statements aside, nobody can rival NBA floor generals in the art of bouncing the rock up and down in various ways in order to promote the state of their team’s possessions. And in this vast world of dribbling, there are many ways to go. Crossovers that break opponents’ ankles, trickster moves behind one’s back or between one’s leg, speedsters who just need to make sure they’re running straight before getting past whoever is in their way, and the hilarity that is Keith Bogans. Save for the pass and the shot, it’s the game’s most basic building block, and as the game has evolved, such has the dribble.

As is the case with so many things, though, handling the ball is never the goal – only the mean by which you achieve this goal. If a player bounces the ball of his defender’s knees, does three twirls, regains possession, and bricks the jumper, he hasn’t helped very much at all. Flash and flamboyance have infinite entertainment value, but as far as the game is concerned, the ball-handler’s responsibility is not towards oohs and ahhs, but towards keeping the ball within the grasp of his team until they get a good chance at scoring a basket. It isn’t necessarily pretty, but it gets the job done.

Andre Miller isn’t necessarily pretty, but he gets the job done. Miller has toed the line between boring and audacious his entire career: He’s a fantastic perpetrator of one of basketball’s most exciting plays, the alley-oop, perhaps the best lob thrower to ever step on an NBA court; and yet his shot is a 1950’s-esque set shot with a tendency to harmlessly bounce away. He sported one of the league’s best hairdos in the mid-2000s; but his offensive go-to move is planting himself on the block against what is inevitably a small defender, methodically backing them down, and creating for himself or his teammates from the depth to which he manages to succumb. He has been, for over a decade, one of the league’s top point guards, but never managed to break into the truly elite group defined by all-star appearances or TV billing in late May.

So it should come as no surprise that Andre Miller is a master at keeping the dribble alive. For both transition teams and slow-paced squads, Miller can often be seen slowly probing the defense, searching for a cutting forward or a mis-match in the block. Nothing spectacular, but always present, always dangerous, even if the volume is low – kind of like Andre’s entire career.

Of course, then we have this, the ultimate “keep the dribble alive” moment of all time.

Was this a dirty move? Probably. What makes a move dirty is a subjective question, but the disgusted look on Trevor Ariza’s face indicate the indecency of an ambiguous baller-bro-code being thrown away as Miller deceptively blows by him for 2. But the move is so effective that one wonders how, in a world full of “dirty” point guards, it hasn’t been replicated. Isn’t offense all about lulling your opponent to sleep, then catching him off guard? Isn’t that why point guards keep their dribble in the first place – so they can be readily available to catch any opportunity that floats their way?

Of course, because Andre Miller is Andre Miller, he can’t be the best even at what he’s best at. Strong as he is at maintaining the balance in his steps and the ball in his hands, he can’t rival the likes of Steve Nash running circles around a team’s entire defense, politely declining his opponent’s suggestion that he pick the ball up, until he finally spots an opening and nails either a fadeaway or a wide open shooter. Nor can he match the way Chris Paul, devoid of his speed but still well-versed in how one should use it, enters and exits and left and right and shields and BOOM! Aaron Gray.

No, that’s just not Andre Miller’s way. He was never athletic or talented enough – or, if we’re perfectly honest, mentally focused enough – to be the best. But he’s always around. Just chugging along, the dull thud of a basketball hitting a parquet floor every few seconds always present, until opportunity finally beckons. What he does once that chance arrives is another matter entirely, but the process should never be forgotten.

Page 6 of 7« First...«3 4 567 »