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Tag Archive - Carmelo Anthony

Expectations & Subversion: How The Spurs Let A Song Go Out Of Their Heart

April 19, 2012 in by with 3 Comments

Photo by Joost J. Bakker IJmuiden on Flickr

When it comes to comparing sports and music, there are few tropes as tired as linking jazz and basketball. Hell, I’ve done it. But as it goes with most clichés, it comes up again and again because there’s a kernel of truth in it, because it can be a useful way to see the game. Like a quintet on the bandstand playing a standard, the five players on the floor in basketball are working within a structure that allows for fluidity and improvisation. The things they’re doing are all interconnected, interdependent, and when one of them shifts his approach, it affects the entire fabric of the play. There’s initiative, understanding, recognition, response. The idea of basketball players as jazz musicians rewards our conception of the game as beautiful, a work of art, even.

But there are other ways to expand our sense of the game via music. What if we instead consider the plays a team runs as being akin to the basic units of pop music: the verse, the chorus, the bridge? After all, the cagiest pop songs play on our expectations with each new section, adding wrinkles and subverting convention, much like Steve Nash does with the basic pick and roll.

Consider, for example, the chorus of Christina Aguilera’s “What A Girl Wants,” which begins at 1:11 in the video below.

The chorus to the song is essentially the same refrain repeated twice, a common enough structure for the hook of a pop tune, but there’s something a little off-kilter about this particular one. The first time, the first line is a pickup into the chorus—that is, “What a girl wants” is sung so that it’s the word “wants” that falls on the first beat of the chorus. The second time through, the line lands slightly differently. It begins on the first beat and the word “wants” falls on the second beat of the chorus. It’s a little rhythmic trickery that keeps it from being repetitive.

And rhythmic trickery is more or less what defines the relationship between the pick and roll and the slip screen. Here’s Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol running the pick and roll (excuse the ABBA—it’s just the cost of doing business):

Being one of the most fundamental basketball plays, the bread-and-butter pick and roll establishes expectations. The big man will set the pick and the guard will run his man into the pick, letting the big man roll to the hoop. It’s the first time through the chorus. But once the defense is anticipating the straight pick and roll, it’s time to bring out the slip screen. Here’s Bryant and Gasol running it:

As you can see, as soon as Cousins has bought the pick and roll and started hedging in an attempt to stop Bryant from turning the corner towards the middle, Gasol breaks for the bucket, gets the easy pass from Bryant, then feeds it to Lamar Odom under the hoop. This is the second time through the chorus, where a little wrinkle keeps us on our toes.

But that’s playing in a subtle way with expectations. In both music and basketball you can go with a giant misdirection. Consider a staple of hard rock dynamics, the quiet chorus after the bridge as demonstrated by the Smashing Pumpkins in “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” (bridge starts at 2:28 if you want to skip ahead):

At 3:06, just when the conclusion of the bridge seems to be building towards another full-blast chorus, everything except for guitar and vocals drops out, plus the vocals are down an octave from early iterations of the chorus. We’re primed for the big guns, but the song goes in a completely different direction.

Now take a look at the wide-open three-pointer Steve Novak managed to get at the end of the Bulls-Knicks game on Easter at the end of regulation:

Jared Dubin does a great job of breaking down this entire play right here, but the basic thing that made such an open look possible is that everyone was expecting it to go to Carmelo Anthony. Once Anthony gets the ball at the three-point line, he’s doubled, allowing Novak to float out to the opposite side of the floor. His shot, unfortunately, doesn’t go down, but regardless of that, it’s a great play, made possible because everyone’s expecting the big heroic chorus from ‘Melo. Instead, they get the quiet, guitars-and-vocals chorus from Steve Novak.

The thing about basketball, though, is that these patterns don’t happen in isolation, but rather overlap and affect each other over the course of the game. The pick is the foundation of several different plays and can also be part of a larger scheme in either a directly useful or misdirecting way. When it comes to layering motifs and patterns, there a few teams that do it better than the San Antonio Spurs and few bands that do it better than Menomena.

Menomena, from Portland, Oregon, compose their music in a fairly unique way. One of the members begins with a part that gets recorded and then looped while the other members add new parts that interlock with the original part. The early result is reams of rough material that is then shaped into songs as parts are pulled away or added. By the time the compositions are complete and ready to be recorded as full songs, they’re often staggeringly complex songs built from the simplest pieces. Here’s an example from their 2007 album Friend and Foe, a song called “Wet and Rusting”:

You can hear the song begins with a spare melody (“I made you a present …”) repeated twice, followed by a second part sung once (“It’s hard to take risks …”). Since these lines are barely accompanied it’s hard to conceive of them as verses or choruses—they’re just bits right now. The form begins to repeat, but then extends under the second part, this time backed by a guitar line instead of the ghostly piano that backed it the first time. When the piano returns with drums and bass in tow, the words evaporate. The middle instrumental section stays at home harmonically with the first two parts but explores new textures. When the initial lyrical part returns at the 2:21 mark, there’s a new vocal line laid in under it. As the song reaches its dynamic peak, it’s not achieved with new material, but rather by juxtaposing all the previously played parts against one another. It’s an unusual way to build a song, but it’s pretty standard for a basketball offense.

Take the San Antonio Spurs. In a recent game against the Lakers, they hammered the pick and roll with Tony Parker and either Tim Duncan or Tiago Splitter early, probably because the Lakers are notoriously weak defending it. They like to mix it up a bit, with Parker often dishing the ball off before running through the paint to emerge on the other side to receive it again and run the pick and roll. But eliminating transition baskets, the game on offense for the Spurs began with these three plays:

The first one is simple enough: Duncan steps out to set a screen, Parker gets separation from Ramon Sessions (who goes over the screen) and Andrew Bynum is too deep to defend the jumper. This is the first verse, the “I made you a present” of their sets. In the second play, Sessions tries going under the screen, but that still gives Parker room to shoot and he sinks it. This is the repeat of that first melody (“And when you unravel …”). In the third play, Splitter sets the pick and tries to roll, but Pau Gasol closes out and bothers the shot enough to force a miss. The Spurs have established the pattern and now the Lakers have reacted well enough to defend it.

So the next time they run a pick and roll, they run it a little differently:

Here, Splitter sets the pick twice and Bynum and Sessions both follow Parker while trying to shield Splitter from the pass as he roles. But in the meantime, Duncan has slipped away from his defender into the open space by the free throw line extended. He catches the pass from Parker and makes the jumper in rhythm. This is the development of the initial melody into the second melody, the “It’s hard to take risks” part of the Menomena song. It exists in the same general tonal world (that is, it’s not a key change or a big dynamic change), but it’s a little different approach, and just enough to throw us off guard.

But the Spurs haven’t forgotten about that first part. They go back to it, with Parker running a simple pick and roll again on the wing:

Sessions doesn’t want to leave Ginobili, so Parker has an open shot. It’s interesting to note that even as Parker makes the open jumper, Bynum has dropped too low in the post to defend Duncan if Parker had passed it off. This return to the fundamental pick and roll is not simply a rehash of the initial action, but instead is colored by the results of the earlier pick and rolls and Duncan’s made jumper. It is, effectively, the first melody supported by the xylophone and acoustic guitar from “Wet and Rusting.” It’s not just a play, but instead a play that’s been opened up by the plays preceding it.

As the game progresses and the Lakers try to counter the Spurs, the sets become more nuanced and layered. Look at these two possessions:

What begins as a pick and roll turns into multiple screens as the double comes on Parker. In both examples, Bonner’s initial pick is basically a decoy. It draws Gasol and Sessions to the ball and Bonner floats out to the three-point line on the opposite side of the floor. In the first clip, he dribbles closer before handing the ball off to Stephen Jackson and screening his man to allow Jackson the elbow jumper. In the second, Splitter steps out to set yet another pick that Gasol has to go around to get to Bonner, whom Bynum can’t effectively cover. Bonner drains the three. My favorite part of that second one is that Splitter’s screen is actually a slip screen and he’s rolling wide open to the basket as Gasol and Bynum try to close out on Bonner. If Bonner had wanted to, he could have dished it right to Splitter for an easy dunk or layup.

To me, this is the full development of what started as a basic pick and roll at the beginning of the game. That verse melody is now being layered against the secondary melody and a new melody on top of that while the rest of the band provides support. The Spurs have forced the Lakers to adjust and then adjusted to those adjustments. Looking at the second clip, by the time the play has gotten to this point:

… the Lakers are pretty much done for. Look at all the space that Bonner and Jackson have now on the right side of the floor. By the time it gets to here:

… Devin Ebanks has closed out on Jackson in the corner, creating space for Splitter to roll to the basket while Bonner lifts up for a three he’s more than capable of hitting. The Lakers have been manipulated into playing the Spurs’ game.

And by the end of “Wet and Rusting,” the listener has been suckered into Menomena’s game. We’ve heard each of the pieces that have come before in isolation and we’ve heard them pressed against each other, but by the time they all come together into a multiphonic rush of voices and instruments, we’re hearing something greater than the sum of its parts, something greater than that first melody, greater than a simple pick and roll.

A Hero Comes

April 9, 2012 in by with 3 Comments

Photo by Pensiero on Flickr

There are many, many logical and sound reasons to conclude that what we call “hero ball” is a terrible way to try to win basketball games. Speaking statistically, paying attention to the ins and outs of advanced metrics, a player working in isolation in the clutch is at best a shakey proposition. At worst, it not only loses the game, but pisses off teammates. And yet it happens all the damn time.

Take the game this past Easter Sunday between the Knicks and the Bulls. Once the Knicks blew their gargantuan lead, they found themselves down three with thirty seconds to play. And they drew up a beauty of a play that you can read all about here, but for now, just watch it:

Just look at that: solid screens, fake action, Melo being generous with the rock, an unexpected player getting a wide open look. And the shot doesn’t go in.

By way of contrast, let’s watch Carmelo Anthony’s game winner in overtime:

This is by any definition hero ball. Just a spot up three-pointer by the team’s best player and it won them the game. This was, by the way, after an earlier Anthony three that was just as flagrantly heroic tied the game to send it to overtime.

And we loved every single minute of it. Anybody who’s ever argued for the sanity and reason of running well-designed plays should admit that they were as floored by this as any casual fan who still judges players by their rings. We loved it because we’re more Kirk than Spock, more Han Solo than C3PO. We don’t want to know the chance of successfully navigating the asteroid field is is approximately three thousand, seven hundred twenty to one. We don’t want to hear that the odds of getting out of here are  approximately seven thousand eight hundred twenty four point seven to one. When the game is on the line, we don’t want a fancy plan. We want:

And I’m not citing those pop culture examples just for fun. See, our stories teach us to go against the odds. They tell us that against all reason, one hero must emerge from the rabble and lead the good guys to victory against every expectation we have for failure. When people say they want the ball in Kobe’s hands with the clock winding down, it’s not even really because they think he has a better chance of hitting that last shot than another player. It’s because the story demands that he take and make that last shot.

None of this is to say that attempting to make mathematical sense of the game or indeed that any attempt to bring more reason and clarity to the game is ill-advised. The game needs to evolve, to become something new in response to new ideas. But isn’t its wild ridiculousness what lies at the core of our love for it? Isn’t this ultimately why sports are so great in the first place? Truly great games like the Knicks-Bulls tilt this past Sunday stand on the border between the real world and fiction. The stories inside them lash out at the rules that give the game structure, at the probabilities and plans and diagrams. Hero ball doesn’t make statistical sense, but it makes narrative sense for people who grew up on stories of heroes overcoming fantastic odds. Can it demonstrably be show to hurt your team’s chance to win? Absolutely, but one need look no further than the trials of LeBron James to see that there are a lot of people who would rather see him lose with the ball in his hands than make the smart play.

Basketball is not just a sport, not just a reflection of percentages and points and metrics. It’s a reflection of our culture, of both its best and worst aspects. Every buzzer-beating three affirms it in our blood: we might take a Steve Novak jumper home to mom and dad, but we want to stay out all night and party with a Carmelo Anthony iso.

Tremendous Tandems: Kevin Durant And Russell Westbrook Aim To Make A Baker’s Dozen

April 3, 2012 in by with 1 Comment

Through 52 games the prodigious pair of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have scored 2,711 points this NBA season, a shade more than half of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s entire point total. Both lead not only at their position in points-per-game, but have been mainstays in the top five on the PPG leaderboard all year long.

Twenty two times this season has this potent pair of assassins posted at least 25 points in the same game, 42% of the entire OKC schedule. Any given night you have to pick your poison, choose which to tie up hoping your roulette gamble pays off and you don’t get torched by the other. Should RussWest, averaging 24.5 PPG as I write this a few hours before the Thunder will square off with the Memphis Grizzlies, go on one more tear and manage to bump up his scoring average to 25.0, he and Durant will become just the thirteenth tandem in NBA history to post 25 PPG for the same team.

The feat has been accomplished only 15 times previously in NBA history by a dozen sets of twosomes.

• Accounting for 57% of their team’s 100.6 average scoring in 2000-01, Shaquille O’Neal put up 28.7 PPG while Kobe Bryant chipped in 28.5 PPG. The Los Angeles Lakers would take the title in dominating fashion.

• Accounting for 57% of the Lakers’ scoring once again in 2002-03, 100.4 PPG, Kobe would knock back 30.0 PPG while Shaq played an increasingly disgruntled second-fiddle to Bryant putting up 27.5 PPG. The Lakers would lose to the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs in the second round of the playoffs.

• Accounting for 52% of the Lakers’ 101.3 points-per-game in 2001-02, Shaq continued his prime with 27.2 PPG to Kobe’s up-and-coming 25.2 PPG en route to the last three-peat seen in the NBA.

One other tandem, also of Royal Blue and Gold, decorates the annals of prolific pointdom with three appearances on this list of copious scoring in combos.

• Accounting for 52% of the 1964-65 Lakers’ 111.9 points, the logo himself, Jerry West, dropped 31.0 PPG to Elgin Baylor’s 27.1 PPG. The team would lose their third trip to the Finals since moving from Minneapolis to LA to the Bill Russell-led Boston Celtics. You will see these super-twins again shortly.

• Accounting for 51% of last season’s superteam Miami Heat 102.1 scoring on average, LeBron James threw down 26.7 PPG while Dwyane Wade followed closely with 25.5 PPG. Still fresh in the memory is their Finals loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

• Our current tandem chimes in here currently accounting for 50% of the Thunder’s 103.7 PPG offensive output, Kevin Durant in a heated scoring champ battle with Kobe knocking down 27.7 PPG as of April 1 to Russell Westbrook’s much-improved efficiency leading to 24.5 PPG. Postseason fate: TBD

• Dipping under the majority mark for the first time on this list with 49% of the total 109.7 PPG we find the 1963-64 Lakers led by Jerry West’s 28.7 PPG and Elgin Baylor’s 25.4 PPG. They would be bounced by the St. Louis Hawks in what was then the first of three rounds of playoffs, who would in turn be bounced by the eventual Finals-bounds San Francisco Warriors led by Wilt Chamberlain.

This season’s Heat also finds 49% of their 101.3 PPG led by LeBron’s 26.5 PPG and D Wade, although Wade is not near enough the 25 PPG highlighted here with 23.0 PPG. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though. Dominating your team’s scoring in tandem is by no means a guarantee of a title. Only three on this list have managed to reel one in — all Lakers squads — and only three others even have a Finals appearance the year of making this list.

I can’t be the only one to be at least a little surprised that the Boston Celtics, in all their historical glory, only give us one fleeting glimpse in this group. Without looking I’d wager they do appear on more passing lists though. Nevertheless, I present to you…

• Larry Bird and Kevin McHale, accounting for 48% of the 1986-87 Celtics’ 112.6 PPG, Bird hitting at 28.1 PPG, McHale at 26.1 PPG. However, Magic Johnson and the Lakers would take the playoff cake. Sadly, this would be Larry Bird’s last Finals appearance.

Four different dynamic duos accounted for 47% of their team’s scoring, listed here in order of team PPG. Two would fail to reach the postseason, two others would get relatively early vacations, losing at the conclusion of round one.

• In 1960-61 the Cincinnati Royals would put up an astounding 117.9 PPG behind Oscar Robertson’s 30.5 PPG and Jack Twyman’s 25.3 PPG. But it would be in vain as Cinci would finish the season dead last in the Western Division, then the Western Conference, failing to make the playoffs.

The Big O and Jack Twyman

• Before Willis Reed and Walt Frazier there was Rich Guerin and Willie Naulls who, in the 1961-62 season, led the New York Knicks and their 114.8 PPG with 29.5 and 25.0 PPG, respectively. Despite leading the NBA in attendance in the famed Madison Square Garden that year the Knicks would finish ahead of only the expansion Chicago Packers in the regular season standings, missing the spring season.

• When you think Pistol Pete Maravich you think… Lou Hudson and the Atlanta Hawks?! Putting up a third-best-in-the-NBA 112.4 PPG in 1972-73, Lou Hudson would lead the Hawks with 27.1 PPG with Maravich a free throw behind at 26.1 PPG. Although his most prolific scoring years would be with the New Orleans Jazz, Maravich would never see the playoffs there. This particular year the “Hudson Hawks” would lose to the Boston Celtics in the “first round.”

• The Knicks and Amar’e Stoudemire isn’t the first time someone tried to build a super-core around Carmelo Anthony. In 2007-08 the Denver Nuggets acquired Allen Iverson to pair with Melo and put up an NBA second-best 110.7 PPG, AI dropping 26.7 to Melo’s 25.7 PPG. Hopes were high coming in.

But the Nuggets would fizzle rather than sizzle, getting swept in their first round playoff series with the LA Lakers. Denver is the only other team on this list aside from the Lakers that can boast more than one dynamic duo. Read on to find out who.

• For the third time in four years, in the 1966-67 season, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor would be most prolific on offense, leading the Lakers’ 120.5 PPG with 28.7 and 26.6 PPG each. Yet that elusive ring continued to evade The Logo, and would for a few seasons more as LA would fail to reach the Finals for the only time in a six-year span this year (they lost all five Finals visits between 1964-65 and 1969-70). But West isn’t done yet…

Our other Denver Duo checks in twice in the space of three years here:

• Accounting for 45% of the Nuggets’ 1981-82 point total of 126.5 PPG, Alex English at 28.4 PPG, and Kiki Vandeweghe at 26.7 PPG, terrorized teams with a fast-paced attack in Doug Moe’s first year in charge in Denver.  And then…

• …in the 1983-84 season the tandem would flip-flop, English leading with 28.4 PPG to Kiki’s 26.4 PPG accounting for 44% of the Nuggets’ 123.7 PPG. But like Carmelo Anthony they would be plagued by first and second round playoff exits.

• Battered but not broken, Jerry West would finally break through and get off the schnide in the NBA Finals, albeit it not with Elgin Baylor carrying the bulk of the load of sidekick scoring duties. West is the only player to appear four times on this list of monumental immortality, and the only one to lead the points punch for every tandem appearing more than once. But his partner in crime this time would be Gail Goodrich. In 1971-72 the Lakers would put up 121.0 PPG, West and Goodrich accounting for 43% of the total output, 26.6 and 25.9 PPG apiece.

• Russell Westbrook needs to average 26 PPG over the Thunder’s final 14 games to solidify his and Durant’s standing on this list of scintillating scoreboardery.

A Final Note, Taking It To A Trio

Last season, the trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh all scored at least 25 points in a game four times, although two of those times were after the 66 game mark. This season they have done so only once thus far with the 66-game season quickly winding down.

This season, the trio of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden have scored at least 25 points each in a game two times. Don’t be too surprised if they do so a lot more often in the near future.

Lion Face/Lemon Face 12/25/11: The Return Of Lion Face/Lemon Face

December 26, 2011 in by with 2 Comments

It’s baaaaack… Fellow Paroxite James Herbert and I will be working on our facial expressions. And in the spirit of Christmas, which by the time you read this will be long gone, we’ll be determining who was naughty and who was nice. It’s what Santa would have wanted.  

Take it away, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck:

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rngjZ10yUyA&feature=player_embedded]

Lion Face: Carmelo Anthony

Okay, maybe not the most pristine performance as a point forward (some bad reads and passes), but it didn’t matter. This was one of Melo’s finest performances period. 37 points on 17 shots. He took and made almost as many free throws (13-15) as his number of attempted field goals. Open shots, step-through three-pointers, contested fadeaways. Again: 37 points on 17 shots, which should be totally sustainable. But seriously, it’s  great to see New York basketball back. And as one of the many Melo detractors on the interwebs, I really wouldn’t mind seeing more performances like this in the near future. – Danny Chau

Lemon Face: Toney Douglas

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVl2QfGR16k]

I’m starting to hate this meme. Because he doesn’t do good. He shoots everything and anything. He bricks threes. He vastly overrates the touch on his runners and floaters. What he doesn’t do (because he doesn’t really know how) is run a team. And you can’t expect someone to do something he doesn’t know how to do. Douglas led the Knicks in field goal attempts with 19. That’s two more than Melo, who scored 18 more points. The Knicks need a point guard in the worst way, but they officially do not have a single capable soul on the roster. Iman Shumpert, their pet project (whose problems are very much similar to Douglas’s) has gone down with a knee injury, and Mike Bibby is not capable of anything. So this means more of Douglas doing what he do. Have fun, New York. And hope to every deity in the universe and beyond that Melo figures out this “point forward” thing. -DC

Lion Face: Rajon Rondo

He made jump shots. Plural. Oh, and, 31 points (on 19 shots!), 13 assists, 5 boards, 5 steals, OH NO I’M BECOMING MR. BOXSCORE. Okay, Rondo was responsible for pretty much anything positive the Celtics’ did on offense. His shot looked smoother at the free throw line and on J’s. In the third quarter alone, he had 10 points and six assists. The Knicks in that quarter? One assist. I’m mad the Celtics dropped this and it’s not because I’m anti-Knick. I just hate that Boston wasted his performance. Also, I’m glad nobody heard the noise I made when this happened:

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOfqfyc5e3w]

I missed that so much.  -James Herbert

Lemon Face: Shump Shump Sprained Sprained His Knee Knee

Don’t act like you’re too cool to like Iman Shumpert. Yeah, some Knicks fans have ridiculously high expectations and yeah, dude shot 3-13 and a lot of them were easy shots. But hey, a lot of them were easy shots! Shump’s mistakes were endearing to me — he’d make a nice move, then he’d flub a layup and I’d be like, “Awww, Shump Shump! You’ll finish it next time.” After colliding with Chris Wilcox, next time won’t be for another 2-4 weeks. This might actually mean 2-4 weeks of Mike Bibby. I thought we were past that, NBA. -JH

Lion Face: Miami Heat Offense / DOUBLE ALLEY-OOP

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul9iPU2pQVQ]

Wade in the post. LeBron in the post. Neither settled for wily, contested three-pointers because there was very little need to do so. If this is a preview of what’s to come, the league should be petrified. Sure, Dallas looked awfully out of sync, but the Heat are finally in their element thanks to Erik Spoelstra’s willingness to loosen the reins a bit. Oh, and about that alley-oop. This team has a knack for making the spectacular seem ordinary. LeBron turned a potentially bad situation (a blown dunk or a steal by Marion) into an easy two points with a play that was both loud and understated at the same time. The game is really easy for the Heat right now. It’s incredible/frightening. – DC

Lemon Face: Vince Carter and Lamar Odom

It’s almost unfair to single out one Maverick, so I picked two. While failing against Miami was a TEAM effort, these two recent acquisitions stood out. VC missed the Mavs’ first two shots of the game and finished 2-6 from the floor. He was benched at the start of the second half in favor of Delonte West. Odom went 1-6, got himself ejected halfway through the third, and kept showing up in reality show commercials all damn day. -JH

Lion Face: Andris Biedrins

Biedrins looks like he hates basketball less this year
December 25, 2011 10:52 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
@BeckleyMason
Beckley Mason

I love the version of Biedrins that enjoys basketball! I keep reminding myself it’s just one game, but he looked engaged and confident and this is exciting, dammit. Good Andris Biedrins protected the basket and had a weird knack for getting rebounds in traffic when people really should be outmuscling him. He also finished at an incredibly high rate. I’ve no idea where he went for two years, but Good Andris Biedrins showed up. Is it just that he’s finally healthy? Has Mark Jackson fixed him? Was it just a Christmas miracle? -JH

Lemon Face: Chauncey Billups

It’s one thing to be a fun-suck by making safe and ordinary decisions (which are probably for the best). It’s another to disrupt the flow of the game with ill-advised shots. Billups went 6-19 from the field, so yeah, even Toney Douglas shot better than him from the field. Most of his misses came from threes that he was just so confident he’d make. Open, contested, it didn’t matter — though this has been the case for years now. Problem is, he’s playing alongside the best point guard of this generation and the most promising young big man in the game. He shouldn’t be taking the most shots in the game, especially when he’s missing more than twice as many as he’s made. Billups, I get it. You didn’t want to get pushed around by teams. But you’re in a good opportunity right now. Stop trying to sabotage it.

Of course, the performance would’ve been a lot more worrisome if the Clippers lost. Winning is a spray-on band-aid. - DC

Lion Face: DeAndre Jordan

Eight blocks, and a thousand other altered shots while only committing two fouls. This is noteworthy, since DeAndre had three or more fouls in 72.5% of the games he played last season. DeAndre was impressive on defense last night to say the least. His effort on surely mask his woes at the free throw line. Speaking of which… - DC

Lemon Face: Mark Jackson’s Hack-A-DeAndre Tactic

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah3eg8bBPaM&start=001&end=007] - DC

Lion Face: Ryan Anderson’s Fantasy Basketball Value 

Ryan Anderson is sitting by himself in a dining hall at an elongated dinner table feasting. The Magic, as currently constructed, don’t have a clear-cut second or third option, and all signs seem to point to Anderson to fill those spots on some nights. He’ll have plenty of opportunities to camp out behind the three point line as shown by his 6-12 shooting from three last night. It’ll be unreasonable to expect a double-double every night, but Anderson is a capable rebounder who should be able to get six or seven a night. If Anderson improves his rebounding numbers, he could be what Troy Murphy was for fantasy basketball a few years ago, except a much more prolific outside threat. Pick him up in the late rounds and shock your friends with your competence. – DC

Lemon Face: Metta World Peace

I’m not ready for MWP to be this bad. I felt like something terrible was about to happen every time he touched the ball and, most of the time, I was right. And when did he get so slow? -JH

Lion Face: Derrick Rose’s Threes

The story is his game-winner over Pau Gasol, but what I’m really excited about is his stroke. Rose made four of his six three point attempts. This one time I wrote about how working on his post game shouldn’t come at the expense of becoming a more consistent shooter. It’s just one game, but man, those shots looked effortless. -JH

Lemon Face: Derrick Rose’s Free Throws

There were none. He went 0-0. We’ve been saying it forever: this shouldn’t happen to the point guard version of LeBron. -JH

Lion Face: The Bulls’ Last Second Stop

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNvmLnvsIdw]

It took me a few replays to realize it was Deng who blocked it. How beautiful is that, everyone converging, no one coming close to fouling him? -JH

Lemon Face: Luol Deng’s Haircut

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J43xQ4dTAxY] – DC


#NBArank leads player discussion … which is a good thing

October 24, 2011 in by with 4 Comments

Photo by Blog Gallery from Flickr.

Over the past couple of months ESPN.com released its NBA player rankings, a process in which 91 basketball experts ranked 500 NBA players (including rookies and certain free agents) on a scale of 0 to 10 based off of the player’s current value.

To no surprise, many of the rankings started controversy on Twitter, Facebook and the ESPN comments section. However, a perturbing trend in the fan reaction to the rankings has been the overvaluing of offensive-minded players, an ode to these players’ apparent bond with fans.

Fans and writers alike can discuss and determine player rankings all they want, but for the most part there appears to be a clear-cut hierarchy in the NBA. There are superstars (LeBron James), stars (Amar’e Stoudemire), All-Stars (Kevin Love), sixth men (Lamar Odom), role players (Tyson Chandler), young players with potential (JaVale McGee), journeymen (Matt Barnes), benchwarmers (D.J. Mbenga) and … Mike Bibby.

Certain players don’t have palpable placements, though. Carmelo Anthony seems to border the superstar and star titles. Monta Ellis is a good scorer, but does that alone merit a top-30 rating (I mean, he doesn’t contribute much else)? Where do John Wall and Blake Griffin rank, based off of the fact that they’ve only played one season and still have ostensible flaws?

In the reaction to these player rankings, the public shows what they value most in a basketball player. Is it efficiency? Production? What about the good ole’ eye test? Locker room guys?

The intangibles that factor into player rankings are too difficult to quantify or explain; they’re different for everyone. But the one asset that always seems to factor into most fans’ voting – albeit, a flawed view – is offensive output, particularly scoring.

Look no further than the most controversial reactions to #NBArank. The rankings that caused the most quarrels (other than LeBron at #1) were Kobe Bryant (#7), Derrick Rose (#8), Carmelo Anthony (#11), and Monta Ellis (#41). To most fans – from their Twitter and Facebook reactions – Kobe and Rose should’ve been in the top-5, Anthony should be top-10, and Ellis should be top-30 at the worst.

The four players all ranked in the top eight in scoring and are unquestionably a few of the league’s most exciting players to watch. They warrant much of the opposing defenses’ attention, can create scoring opportunities from almost anywhere on the floor, and are capable of scoring 40 points on any given night. They must be all be underrated, right?

Wrong.

On the surface, these players should rank higher.

Rose was last season’s MVP, and led his team to the Eastern Conference Finals. He has engraved himself in the hearts of Bulls fans and is in the conversation for best point guard in the NBA.

Kobe is arguably a top-10 player of all-time. He’s the best player on the NBA’s most illustrious franchise (yes, even more so than the Heat or the Celtics), is the game’s “clutchest” player (perception-wise), and is arguably the game’s most popular player (along with LeBron).

Anthony is playing in one the league’s biggest markets (with one of its biggest and most loyal fan-bases), is widely considered to be one of — if not the most — complete scorers in the game, has a fan-friendly “thug” perception, and is clearly one of the game’s most popular players.

Ellis is the apple of most Warriors’ fans eyes (except Ethan Sherwood Strauss, and rightfully so), the offensive engine of one the league’s fast-pace, high scoring teams (eh, I’d say it’s more of Stephen Curry, but I’m going with perceptions here), and is an exciting and sometimes dominant scorer.

Honestly, what’s there to complain about?

Well, a lot. All four players have significant flaws that (theoretically) led to their drop in the rankings and coming up shorter than most expected.

Rose isn’t an efficient or effective offensive player, is an average outside shooter, and is an average defender. This was covered extensively during the MVP debates in March and April.

Bryant’s athletically ability and offensive dominance is quickly fading as time ticks away and his knees wear out. He’s still an elite player, but a shell of what he used to be.

Anthony doesn’t play much defense (and no, George Karl wasn’t the first to notice), and doesn’t create well for others (he’s basically above-average in only two categories – scoring and rebounding).

Ellis is one of the game’s least efficient offensive players, doesn’t play much defense, and is out of control (on- and off- the court).

But to fans, none of this matters. Most generic basketball fans only care about two things: winning and scoring.

Fans, naturally, love when their team wins. That’s the main goal in sports, isn’t it? [Insert cliché about how character and values matter.] If the team is winning, all is usually well. But fans also love offense. They love players that can score, especially in creative manners (no matter the inefficiency). They love seeing crossovers, 360 dunks, step-back jumpers and buzzer beaters. If a player can give them exciting, fast-paced, highlight-filled games, they will love him – no matter his weaknesses.

Regardless of what statistics, bar graphs or charts say or tell you, fans have loyalties to the players that excite them, take their breath away, and leave them wanting more. That is why they are so adamant in defending these offensive-minded players; by ranking them lower than where the general fans feels the player should be ranked, a fan takes it as a disrespect to something he or she likes. No one likes to be disrespected.

In this case, Bryant, Rose, Anthony and Ellis are those players. Is there a chance the more analytical, stat-based voters were a little too harsh on low-efficient scorers that sometimes hurt their team’s offense more than they help it?

Sure. There’s always room for error.

But either way, the fans can’t be swayed, as they’ve developed a bond and connection with the players they look up to and hope to emulate. Sometimes it seems most fans use too much emotion to judge players, while analysts stick by the numbers. Is one way better than the other?

At this point in time, it’s unclear. That’s a conversation for another day. I lean towards statistics in my arguments, but that’s just me. Both sides have their advantages. At least these rankings breed discussion, which sparks and maintains fan interest in the sport we all love.

In the time of a lockout, some basketball conversation is better than none.

Take The Next Step, Carmelo

October 8, 2011 in by with 8 Comments

Photo by lukeroberts on Flickr

 

You might’ve seen this video of Kobe Bryant saying he’d like to play with Carmelo Anthony:

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GK5sjh7zJw w=640 h=360]

The most interesting piece of information from that clip is that Kobe told Carmelo that if he was to come to L.A. he’d expect him to join him for 6:00 AM training sessions. Apparently he wasn’t thrilled with this idea, but can you imagine if this had happened? Put aside all the reasons why Bynum for Melo never made sense for the Lakers and think about what Anthony would be capable of if he was as obsessed with basketball as Bryant. Imagine a fully realized version of Melo, using his quickness, strength, and basketball IQ to be a top-notch defender. Those who are unfairly labeled as Carmelo haters are quick to say that he has the tools to develop on the defensive end in a good system — I’d say a system where Kobe Bryant is screaming at you for missing an assignment is the best kind.

Obviously, Carmelo Anthony is not going to play for the Lakers. He’s where he wanted to be, with a co-star in Amar’e Stoudemire who, despite showing good leadership qualities last season from the beginning of training camp, is not Kobe Bryant. And Bryant might be the only guy, save for Kevin Garnett, who I can picture chastising Anthony for playing lazy defense and forcing him into early-morning weightlifting sessions. Bringing Mike Woodson in should help, but I still have my doubts about a Mike D’Antoni team holding him accountable for his bad habits. This means if he’s going to have the career season we want from him, it’s on him. Fortunately, there’s precedent.

If Paul Pierce hasn’t been a leader in the past, then what makes them think he’ll become one this season? He’s saying all the right things now, but when they start to lose tough games, that’s when it’s going to start hitting the fan. They don’t want to wait too long to unload him, because when the player dictates a trade by complaining and setting a bad example, the team gets much less value in return–like Toronto did last year with Vince Carter.

Via Sport’s Illustrated’s Boston Celtics 2005-2006 Preview, 10/24/05

The above sounds pretty silly, given that it was written before the most statistically productive season of Paul Pierce’s career, the season where Bill Simmons says in The Book of Basketball, Celtics fans saw him become “everything we ever wanted.”

He wanted to be a Celtic. He wanted to be there when things turned around. He believed the Celtics were his team, for better or worse, that it was his personal responsibility to lead them. Everyone will remember his ‘08 season, but Pierce’s greatest season had already happened, the year he accepted the responsibility of a franchise player and killed himself every night. The groundwork for everything that happened afterward was laid then and there. Where did it come from? I couldn’t tell you. But it’s the reason a team like Denver ends up keeping ‘Melo for two extra years, because you never want a great player “getting it” as soon as he’s playing for someone else.

Via The Book of Basketball, p. 358

Pierce was 28 when he got it. Anthony is 27 and he clearly sees the Knicks as his team. It’s fantastic that he wants to be involved in off-court stuff, but to show that he’s worth completely gutting an exciting, promising team, he’s going to have to make the same on-court commitment that the veteran Pierce did. The season before Pierce’s career year ended with him yelling at Doc Rivers in a timeout during a blowout loss in Game 7 of the first round when Rivers was getting on him about defense. The end of Anthony’s first half-season with the Knicks wasn’t as dramatic, but it was disappointing – a first-round sweep at the hands of Pierce’s Celtics should be enough to motivate a man trying to lead his own championship contender. And while I submit that I have no idea if that series ever saw D’Antoni criticize Melo for his defensive focus, a couple of months prior his former coach said more than enough.

Approaching this (partial?) season, there’s already reason to be optimistic about Anthony – he’s healthy. Apparently his knee and elbow had been bothering him for the last seven years, and in May he finally had surgery on them. In addition to this, he’s slimmed down a bit. Despite my affinity for the pre-Melo Knicks and the post-Melo Nuggets and this scary Isiah Thomas stuff, I can get excited about seeing Amar’e and Melo work with a training camp under their belts. I’m not sure this team has the depth to properly compete against the upper echelon, but a true superstar turn from Anthony would certainly make that seem like a more realistic proposition. I can see it happening. Please don’t make me look stupid, Melo.

Life After The Fall

August 10, 2011 in by with 1 Comment

Photo by Jennifer Endom

It’s been a little more than a month since the lockout began. That’s it. Time has limped and crawled since the official end of the NBA season, and at best we’re looking at another three months of non-activity. For NBA players, the lockout has become a simulation of life after the NBA — after guaranteed contracts and endorsements are over. And like the inevitable slide that occurs with age, the lockout and all of its undesired effects are largely out of their control. This drought has made it clear that basketball won’t always be present on the horizon.

For current players locked out, it means twiddling their thumbs (not literally) while the storm passes. Still, they are lucky. Within a year, the process will resume. Basketball will be played, and large quantities of money will be made. For an unfortunate group of others, an NBA lockout has become a permanent reality.

CBS Sports’ Jeff Goodman detailed the struggles of the high school recruiting class of 2002, a class that was supposed to be one of the most talented in years. In the top five are familiar all-stars in Amar’e Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Bosh. Three names. But going down the list into the top-25, names are hazy — some uttered with a faint recollection and others with a sigh. Out of the 25 players, only a few managed to survive on their NBA journey.

Amar’e Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony, Raymond Felton, Chris Bosh and J.J. Redick.

Yes, that’s it.

“Are you serious?” Redick said when informed there were only five NBA guys. “That is nuts. No way.”

“Those numbers are alarming,” added former UNC star Sean May, who spent last year in Turkey. “We had one of the best high school classes ever.”

via Class of 2002 a cautionary tale for today’s All-Americans | CBSSports.com

Other names in the top-25 include:

  • Former Timberwolves/Kings gunner Rashad McCants, who was ranked No. 4 in the nation. He’s since been exiled from the NBA, more for his eccentricities than any malicious doing.
  • Sean May, whose conditioning woes and frequent injuries have kept him away from the league.
  • Four-year Duke point guard Sean Dockery, who may be most remembered for his rivalry with Will Bynum for Chicago supremacy. Bynum currently plays for the Detroit Pistons. Dockery never played in an NBA game.
  • Lenny Cooke, a player primed to be the next star NBA swingman. Goodman wrote an excellent feature on his fall from stardom, and how he’s picked up the pieces.

Of course, these are only a few of them.

Yahoo! Sports’ Marc Spears noted that numerous NBA players have returned to college during the lockout. The work stoppage has players adopting a new perspective on their life not only as basketball players. There is life after basketball. Those forced into a head start on that life echo the importance of education:

“Get your degree,” [Michael] Thompson said. “Everyone that was there won’t be there when it goes sour. Everyone blowing smoke up your ass won’t be there. Go to a good school because, at the end of the day, you have yourself. No one is going to help you.”

via Class of 2002 a cautionary tale for today’s All-Americans | CBSSports.com

There are no tragedies here, but the account of so many dashed dreams is certainly unfortunate. These forgotten faces from the Class of 2002 serve as a reminder that there is no perfect formula for NBA success. Relevance one day can swiftly and unmercifully be taken away. But fate and success — in the NBA and otherwise — favors (but does not guarantee) those with a stable foundation. Players both past and present are learning that it’s never too late to start building.

No Hard Hats Required*

April 29, 2011 in by with 0 Comments

Now that the Knicks (and Rangers) have gone into their offseason hibernation a little later than usual, the $750-million renovation of Madison Square Garden has begun in earnest.

(And $750M to remake a building — and not build a completely new one — is plenty earnest.)

By the time fans return to MSG at the start of the 2011-12 NBA season (if we get one), gone will be the narrow concourses, a visitor’s locker room so small that owners of even the most cramped studio apartments would sniff at the square footage and bathrooms so cozy that men stand uncomfortably hip-to-hip at the urinals.

(Also gone: cheap seats, which were never really cheap in the first place, but goodness …)

Some say changing MSG could strip the place of its character, but those not chained to sepia-toned nostalgia and haunted by Red Holzman’s ghost know the place, for the reasons listed above, needed to change.

What will mostly remain at MSG, however, is what you last saw of a team swept out of the postseason.

Hardcore Knicks fans may disagree with this and after 39 seasons since their last NBA title, may want more immediate changes and better results. But even bandwagon fans such as myself (though I have lived within three miles of Madison Square Garden for a third of my life), know that in the context of their recent sordid and sad history, the Knicks standing relatively pat should provide something the franchise hasn’t had in a while: stability.

Instead of overhauling the roster as they tried to do, it seemed, on the fly and every six months to please the coterie of frustrated fans, the Knicks will not tear down and renovate the roster this summer. They will tweak, they will seek out a living and breathing center who can defend and rebound for stretches at a time (no need to score, though) and a decent backup point guard to spell the 34-year-old Chauncey Billups.

One of the reasons the Knicks will only do a touch-up is that they don’t have the cap room for an overhaul. On Wednesday, the Knicks announced they would pick up Billups’, $14.2M option for 2011-12. While that seems to be a lot of dough for an aging point guard, the Knicks’ had no alternative. They had to retain Billups. The heady, steady Billups may not be the ideal for Mike D’Antoni’s breakneck offense, but the Knicks have had far worse options (cough, cough Duhon).

(All of which reminds me of a back-and-forth with Denver coach George Karl and Billups after the Nuggets stole him from the Pistons for a washed up Allen Iverson.)

“There are times I’d like Chauncey to play a little faster in the fourth quarter,” Karl said of his point guard, who was playing at an MVP level in the second half of the 2008-09 season.

When told of Karl’s wish, Chauncey smirked and said, “I bet he would.”

After all, coaches may control playing time, but players control the tempo. Whether D’Antoni will push the issue of pushing the ball with Billups remains to be seen. But Mike D. and Billups can make it work. Billups runs the pick-and-roll well, he makes good decisions with the ball and defenders can’t go under screens when he has the ball. D’Antoni, who rides his stars like horses who are put away wet, will need to manage Billups’ minutes and that’s why the Knicks need to find a backup who can hold his own for 20 minutes per.

Finding that guy is a job for this guy — Donnie Walsh. If Knicks are smart — and they haven’t been in the past — they will sign Walsh to a contract extension. He helped lure Amar’e Stoudemire, which in turn helped him to be able to trade for Carmelo Anthony and Billups.

It all could go wrong, though. These are the Knicks and James Dolan is still running the show. You know of Dolan (but who really knows him?). The one who let Isiah Thomas run roughshod over the franchise only to reportedly and repeatedly seek his counsel. At the press conference for the Anthony trade, Dolan tried to Obi-Wan his way through by telling the press, Isiah Thomas was not involved in this deal and he was not the basketball droid the media was looking for.

Of course, no one fell for it. This is why Walsh, according to reports, wants full autonomy. Can you blame him? The Knicks can only move forward if they remove the person from the process who has been holding them back. And if Dolan wants to bring Isiah back, here’s hoping the NBA does what it did the first time: send it into the fourth row. It’d be great if David Stern could step in and appoint someone who loved basketball and who understood what hoops means to the city to run the team in the “best interests of basketball” as Bud Selig did with the L.A. Dodgers.

(Yes, I just suggested David Stern act like Bud Selig, but considering what Donald Sterling — the Donald Trump of the NBA — has been able to get away with, don’t expect the NBA to do anything in New York.)

But more than anything, the Knicks organization outside of Walsh needs to realize it won’t be easy, especially here and especially against emerging teams such as the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat. Yet, as winners, they’ll never need to pay for a meal in the town again. Just ask Walt “Clyde” Frazier, who once said, “There’s nothing like winning in New York.”

(True. Few towns back in the ’70s would be able to foment Walt’s transformation into Clyde…)

Still, the Knicks are far from a championship team, and could be for a while. But for the first time in a long time, as the walls of their arena are torn down, the Knicks have at least tried to set the foundation for future success at MSG.

Now, it’s up to them to find all the pieces to make it fit.

* For the team, not for the building

Make It Through The Wall

March 1, 2011 in by with 1 Comment

Professional contest eaters have my utmost respect. Yes, it’s a crude showing of excess; it’s overindulgence to the point of physical and psychological torture. But it’s a gift that requires a complete dismissal of all the body’s warning signs and defense mechanisms. That takes a certain combination of willpower and crazy. Eating is the easy part. Persevering as everything slows to a crawl and your body begins to collapse. That’s hard.

It’s something you have to face personally to understand.

I ate 85 chicken nuggets at a local eating contest. I didn’t win it, but I surely didn’t lose it. There were men and women decades (and upwards of 250 pounds) my senior that weren’t able to put down as many as I did. But eventually – for me, at around the 70th nugget – the people eyeing the same goal as you fade away. There is nothing but you and the mound of flesh, glistening with oil and fat, staring you dead in the eye. At that point, two seems like a pretty lonely number.

You feel your body begin to cave. You see the pile of nuggets, steadfast in their plans to destroy you. You feel your jaws begin to falter, and you feel the oil begin to crawl towards the back of your throat. You taste defeat. It’s salty and monotonous. Monotony is lethal.

Drudging towards 80, I felt my hands and feet begin to tingle. Curiously, I asked for five more. If 80 was my unscalable wall, 85 would be my victory, my consolation prize, my token of self-respect.

For Denver Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri, the number was four. Four new players: a victory if one could exist in such a hopeless situation, a consolation prize consisting of four promising athletes with significant talent, and a deal that kept Denver’s self-respect intact.

(h/t to James Herbert of Outside the NBA)

With that, a sigh of relief and more. Wide-eyed and smiling, Karl had an unmistakable rosy glow on the Thursday night following the trade.

He was clearly drunk.

Plastered. In excitement, in the new opportunities afforded, in hope. So much has been made about Carmelo Anthony leaving this Denver Nuggets team in ruin. Immediately after rumors of Anthony’s trade to New York were confirmed, we saw a haggard Karl answer questions listlessly outside his car. Something changed between Monday night and Thursday’s broadcast. Something forced him out of the gloom, and forced him to marvel at the freedom of the roster and the freedom in his control.

Whatever changed his outlook, we witnessed it against the Boston Celtics.

The team was assembled less than a week ago, nowhere near the amount of time needed to build sufficient chemistry. Nonetheless, there was a distinct sense of unity amongst the players. After all, Melo wasn’t the only one who was traded, and he wasn’t the only one who had to face uncertainty for months on end. The four Knicks traded were essentially told their contributions to New York’s resurgence weren’t good enough. The Nuggets that have remained played through the first half of the season in an inoperable haze without so much as a scheme or identity. These Nuggets, if only for the rest of this season, have one. While their backgrounds and talents differ, they’ve been brought together because of Carmelo’s shadow. Now the only thing left to do is escape.

This shouldn’t be too difficult. The Nuggets losing their two most potent scorers and most dominant ball-handlers will provide an opportunity for neglected offensive schemes, and a swift death to isolation-heavy offense. In the three games before the trade, Denver logged 51 assists. In the first three games without Anthony, the team logged 71. Ball movement will be imperative, and it would be surprising if more pick and roll opportunities aren’t created with Ty Lawson, Raymond Felton, and J.R. Smith all sharing ball handling duties.

One very intriguing element to this new team is the versatility of Wilson Chandler. While he’s played only one game in Denver, he’s already established himself as an extremely important two-way player. Chandler defended almost every position on the floor against the Celtics, including some impressive defense against Glen Davis who outweighs Chandler by at least 50 pounds. In less playing time in his previous 51 games with the Knicks, Chandler is efficiently producing better numbers. There aren’t any drastic leaps for better or worse in any statistical category, but there are incremental improvements across the board. It may be a small sample size, but an efficient and improving Wilson Chandler can only mean good things for Denver’s future.

There are too many questions regarding the future. We don’t know how Nene will handle the extra defensive attention with Melo gone. We don’t know for certain if Ty Lawson will keep his starting role. We don’t even know if this same team will exist past the season. But if Thursday was any indication, these Nuggets should be a thrill ride full of hell-raising defensive pressure, a lot of ball movement, and a lot of explosive scoring from an array of sources, however long it lasts. The Celtics game may have just been a mirage, but this team could legitimately go 10 deep. Against Boston, Karl played 10 players, none playing over 31 minutes, and none playing less than 13. Even more astounding is the shot distribution, as only one Nuggets player, Kenyon Martin, took more than 10 shots. Granted, this isn’t going to happen every night, but it’s a testament to the depth that this team now possesses.

Perhaps this was the only way that Denver could have operated in a post-Melo era. After allowing one player to overshadow the entire franchise for months, the only conceivable way for the team to progress was to construct an identity contrary to Anthony’s. Karl has a chance to construct one of the more creative and dynamic teams in the league, while stressing what was once the calling card for a Nuggets franchise at the cusp of an NBA Finals appearance two seasons ago. A commitment to team ball and defense. Sounds fun. Sounds almost foreign the way the first half of the season had gone for Denver.

Seven years have passed since Carmelo Anthony first shook David Stern’s hand, solidifying his place in Nuggets history. Seven years have passed and this team finds itself without its leader, without its cornerstone. But Denver finds itself in exciting territory far removed from the road to ruin that was once anticipated.

Carmelo was the wall. Denver has gotten over. It aches for a bit, but nothing that time and a few antacids can’t fix.

Have Ball, Will Travel: Carmelo Anthony

February 8, 2011 in by with 4 Comments

In this installment of Have Ball, Will Travel, we’ll take a closer look at a Carmelo Anthony spin move from last night’s game between the Nuggets and Rockets, which ended up sending Anthony to the line for two of his 50 points:

It’s not an easy sequence to dissect; the angle on Anthony’s spin and the positions of the other players in the lane at the conclusion of Anthony’s move make it difficult to assess the its legality with 100% certainty. Based on the available evidence however, Anthony’s quick spin toward the rim looks like a well-executed play that is perfectly legal according to the NBA’s traveling rules.

The key to the move’s legality is the initial dribble, and luckily that’s one of the sequence’s less debatable points. Anthony releases the ball from his hands to dribble before lifting his pivot foot, and gathers the ball while taking a step. By rule, Anthony is allowed two more full steps upon the completion of his dribble, which he takes. The only possible snag would be the spin, but Anthony’s rotating pivot appears stable, and the move itself is quick enough to not disrupt any interpretations of the traveling rule based on the “two-count” method.

Spin moves are a breeding ground for traveling violations; they can give such a ridiculous advantage when executed (and called) incorrectly, that players naturally try to emulate those moves in order to gain that same advantage. The result is a lot of pivot sliding and lifting, a lot of which goes uncalled due to the speed at which those moves occur. Anthony’s in the clear on this particular play, though. Once he establishes his spin pivot, he holds it beautifully until planting his other foot for his next step.

H/T on this play selection to Patrick Harrel.

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