Friday, March 22, 2013

Did The Oklahoma City Thunder Make The Right Choice, With Russell Westbrook over James Harden?

Analysts most often bring up Serge Ibaka and more importantly his contract, as the reason the Thunder had to move James Harden. Ibaka though plays an entirely different position than Harden. Every championship level team needs a rim protector as the last line of defense such as Ibaka. The person the Thunder really chose over Harden was Russell Westbrook.

So did the Thunder make the right choice?



Durability:
When ever committing yourself to a franchise cornerstone, you always want a player who can stay on the court. Westbrook has never missed a game in his entire five year career. Harden missed six games due to a hamstring injury during his rookie season, but hasn't missed a game since. They are virtual twins in this category. Both appear to be carved from granite.
Edge: Push

Athleticism:

The only player in the league that can rival Westbrook's athleticism is LeBron James. Harden can't hold a candle to Westbrook. Lets enjoy some Westbrook dunks


Edge: Big for Westbrook

Defense:
According to Basketball-Reference.com  they are equal on the defensive glass with Harden averaging 4.0 RPG to Westbrook's 3.8 RPG. Also nearly identical in SPG with Harden averaging 1.9 SPG to Westbrook's 1.8 SPG. Blocks gives no separation either with .04 to 0.3 respectively for Harden and Westbrook. Westbrook edges Harden in Defensive rating which is an estimate of points allowed per 100 possessions with 104 to Harden's 107. The only large discrepancy is in Defensive win shares which is an estimate of wins contributed to the player due to his defense. Westbrook has contributed 3.2 wins this year to Harden's 2.3, nearly a full win more.
Edge: Westbrook

Offense:
Harden has a sizable advantage in PPG with 26.3 to Westbrook's 23.4. Westbrook though has the better APG with 7.5 to Harden's 5.9, but that difference could be contributed solely to the presence of the leagues best scorer in Kevin Durant. Harden is the best at getting to the free throw line in the entire league with a league high 10.2 FTA per game. Westbrook ranks sixth in the league at 7.0 FTA. Yet, would have to increase his attempts by 45.7% to equal Harden, that's quite a bit. Harden shoots .449 FG% over 17.0 FGA to Westbrook's .437 FG% over 18.9 FGA. From the three point line the disparity is larger as Harden shoots .374 to Westbrook's .323, also Harden shoots 6.0 threes per game to Westbrook's 3.7. Harden makes more threes and takes more threes. The advanced metrics don't help Westbrook's case either. Harden's true shooting percentage (TS%) which takes into account 2-point field goals, 3-point field goals and free throws. Harden's TS% is .611 to Westbrook's .531. Their effective field goal percentage (eFG%) which takes into account that 3-point shots are worth one point than 2-point shots, also favors Harden .515% to Westbrooks .469%. All these stats are shown in the offensive win shares as Harden has 9.3 to Westbrook's 6.5. Harden beats Westbrook in nearly every category even though Westbrook's usage rate of  32.4% is higher than Harden's 28.7%.
Edge: Big for Harden



Westbrook wins in athleticism and defense. Harden in offense and a push in durability. The thing that separates these two most to me, and why the Thunder should have kept Harden over Westbrook is mentality. Westbrook's mid game temper tantrums and spats with media members have shown he is volatile and immature. Harden never spoke out about his sixth man role with the Thunder and seamlessly became the Rockets leader despite arriving just before the start of the season. Harden is the type of man that lets his actions speak for him. He is the type of guy everyone wants in their locker room. If I was Sam Presti I would have had kept Harden and shopped Westbrook. The crazy thing also is the Thunder definitely could have gotten more in return for Westbrook as well. Daryl Morey is happy and that is an understatement, Harden is in Houston. Westbrook is phenomenal talent but Harden is better suited for winning championships.








Friday, March 15, 2013

Don't Leave Me Pop

Yesterday, the Spurs won 50 games in a season for the 14th season in a row, extending their own NBA record.

This stat reminded me once again why I love the Spurs and Gregg Popovich.

Because more so than Duncan, Parker or Gionbili the Spurs are Greg Popovich.

No coach in the NBA maximizes the the talents of each individual on his team better than Gregg Popovich. It is the one quality that separates him from all other coaches currently in the NBA. Regardless of who comes and goes through San Antonio, they always play better here than they do any where else. Players such as Bruce Bowen, Malik Rose, Speedy Claxton, Rasho Nesterovic, Nazr Mohammed, Fabricio Oberto, George Mason, George Hill, Chris Quinn and etc. Then you have current examples on the roster in Matt Bonner and Danny Green.
Popovich simply understands the psychology of players better than any other coach in the league. He understands not only how to get the most out of players individually, but also how to get 13 grown men to come together around the common cause of winning. He just simply knows how to uses the pieces of his team to create the picture perfect puzzle.

When Tony Parker went down a few weeks ago with an ankle injury that was reported to keep him out a month. I thought this is where the Spurs fall off and become average. The team's best player and on floor orchestrator, would be a loss that Pop's system couldn't handle. They simply slid Corey Joseph into the starting lineup and increased the workloads of Manu Ginobili and Gary Neal. The Spurs have played as if missing Parker is just like missing any other player, not like missing an MVP candidate (which he has been this season).

And on Monday the Spurs had arguably their biggest win of the season, a 105-93 defeat of last year's Western Conference champs, the Oklahoma City Thunder. With main contributors being Tiago Splitter, Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard.

The Popovich system at its quintessential best.

No Tony Parker and going against one of the two best teams in the league, no problem. Just another night for Greg Popovich.

Earlier this season the Spurs were fined 250,000 dollars for sending Parker, Duncan, Ginobili, and Green home prior to game in Miami. Result? They only lost to the defending champs 105-100. When all the players commit to play as one they can compete with anybody.

One of the most egregious things I hear about the NBA is that the Spurs are boring to watch. These people are not true fans of basketball or the NBA. They are simply "fans" who digest their basketball in highlights on SportsCenter.

How can you think Popovich is boring when you look at this?


No team is more fluid and beautiful to watch than the Spurs. Their floor spacing and ball movement is second to none. They give nightly effort on the defensive end, which 2/3 of league's teams can't claim.

When other coaches fall asleep and dream of what their team could play like, they are greeted by dreams of the Spurs.

Then I get sad to think we don't have too many more years left enjoying the mastery of Gregg Popovich. Will he retire with Duncan or hang on a little longer with Parker? He is already 64 years old, how many more years can he submit to the grind of travel in the NBA?


With Phil Jackson already gone, I look around the the NBA and wonder who will carry the torch after Popovich is gone? Who is the next true great leader of men? Scott Brooks? Mark Jackson? Eric Spolestra? Tom Thibodeau? I just don't see Jackson, Riley or Pop in any of those coaches. I could be wrong and hope I'm wrong. Cause the NBA needs people like Popovich.

Don't leave me Pop, I'm not ready.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Kobe Bryant 2013 MVP




"An ice age here, million years of mountain building there. Geology is the study of pressure and time. That's all it takes really, pressure, and time."

A line from one of my favorite movies of all time Shawshank Redemption, embodies my feelings towards Kobe Bryant.

For as long as I have been watching basketball, Kobe Bryant has been the player I have despised the most.

It was part in fact that he played for the evil empire Lakers. I've hated the Lakers the way I've always despised the Yankees and Cowboys. The rebel in me loathed the anointed "America's teams".

It was part in fact he was considered as the "Next Jordan". And being a child of the 90's Jordan is something of a basketball messiah in my eyes. Beyond comparison.

The reasons for my dislike of the man had nothing to do with his play, but what he represented.

Then somewhere during the progression of this season my hatred turned into admiration for one Kobe Bean Bryant.

What Kobe has done this season has been astonishing and jaw dropping.

He has been an amoeba for the Lakers this season, changing from scorer to facilitator to scorer to facilitator. Being whatever the Lakers needed him to be at that particular time.

He has had to deal with three different head coaches. And Mike D'Antoni's stubbornness to implement a system mid season that didn't fit the talents of "his" team.

Injuries and extended absences to All Stars Steve Nash and Pau Gasol.

The drama and inconsistent play of the team's fourth All Star and prized off-season acquisition Dwight Howard.

A team so progressed in age on the perimeter, it has had to lean on the 34 year old Bryant to cover opposing point guards.

All of this helped contribute to the Lakers being eight games under .500 on January 23rd. A hole that no team in NBA history has climbed out of that late in the season to make the playoffs.

Then on top of all of this the organization lost it's patriarch Dr. Jerry Buss in February.

Yet, here we are on March 11th and the Lakers are playing the best basketball outside of Miami. Not only are they going to make the playoffs, but just might claw their way to the sixth seed in the Western Conference.

Sure, Dwight's re-commitment to defense and rebounding deserve a ton of credit.

But, Kobe has lead the Lakers not only on the court but more importantly off of it. He has used his vast knowledge of the psychology of a team, learned from the greatest of all time Phil Jackson. To steer the Lakers in the correct direction.

Kobe's will and determination has pulled the Lakers away from the discussion of one of team sports greatest failures.

Kobe's will and dedication has bled through to the rest of the Lakers, especially Howard.

Howard comments to the LA Times earlier this week showed Kobe's effect, "We talked and [Bryant] told me what he did when he had problems, and I see it for myself now." "He was always saying, 'I get into the gym and shoot 5,000 shots.' To see it shows me how dedicated he is." "You see it and it just kind of gives you more inspiration."

Just a few weeks ago headed into All Star weekend most people had wrote of the Lakers playoff chances. Now not only will they make it, but will make noise when the get there.

This is all thanks to Kobe Bryant and that is why I believe he is the 2013 MVP.



Sure, LeBron James is putting together a statistical season that few have ever accomplished. But, he hasn't been as valuable to the Heat this season as Kobe has been to the Lakers.

LeBron has benefited from the relax of pressure from last season's championship. As well as continuity of the Heat's roster, the only change the addition of Ray Allen the leagues best shooter and one of the league's best gentlemen. All of this helped LeBron prosper this season.

The mine field Kobe has guided the Lakers through this year is one of those things that can't be defined by statistics. Kobe's leadership and tenacity in the darkest of hours can't be defined by the player efficiency rating.

LeBron has the best statistics in the league, but that doesn't automatically mean he is the league's most valuable player.

LeBron plays on the best team, but doesn't mean he is more valuable than Kobe.

LeBron is the league's best player, just not the most valuable in 2013.

I used to hate you Kobe Bryant, but now I can't do anything other than admire you.

I guess all it took was pressure and time.


Friday, March 8, 2013

First Take, Richard Sherman, and Why the Haters Just Don't Get It

No sports show on the planet has more critics than ESPN's First Take and Skip Bayless in particular.

The critics of First Take and Skip Bayless are numerous and boisterous.


Yesterday, Richard Sherman went on First Take and spent his time attacking Skip Bayless, in the most public display of this type of criticism towards the analyst.


Sherman directed statements at Skip such as, "In my 24 years of life, I am better at life than you." "You have never accomplished anything." "I am an All Pro Stanford graduate, and those are accomplishments you can aspire too, but will never accomplish."

Sherman said Skip was a "cretin". 

He wanted to vocalize his opinion that he was the better human being, but in the manner he went about it made him look like the fool. 

Skip receives more criticism than anyone on the sports airwaves. But, all his statements are aimed at what athletes do in their profession. He never stoops to comments that attack an athlete's moral character.

He verbalized that he felt Skip's opinions don't matter because he does not use statistics consistently. 

Somehow in this new statistical analyst era, it seems that you can not have a valid opinion unless it is derived from statistics. The opinion that you can not have a valid opinion if it is derived from simply consistently watching the games, is preposterous. I didn't need statistics to know that LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Tom Brady, Jerry Rice, Shaquille O'Neal, Michael Jordan, and etc. are dominant players in their sports. My eyes can tell me that. 

Statistics can be used to attempt to validate both disagreeable and agreeable arguments. An example of this is you could say Matthew Stafford, Tony Romo, Andrew Luck, Josh Freeman, Carson Palmer and Matt Schaub are all better quarterbacks than Eli Manning because they all had more passing yards this past season. Eli is universally regarded as the best quarterback of the group, but the passing yard stat could be used to argue he isn't. Point is just like there are many sides to an argument, there are a plethora of statistics that can be used to back any statement. 

The use of statistics doesn't automatically mean a point is valid.

Sherman during the interview showed irritation of Skip's comments that he was not in the same class as Darrelle Revis. An argument that Richard Sherman brought on himself with this Bleacher Report piece during Super Bowl week in New Orleans.



Then Sherman concluded the First Take interview saying, "Nobody listens to you."

This is the thing that sticks in my side about not just Sherman but First Take's critics in general. That their opinion is the show is garbage and it's main attraction Skip Bayless is a joke. That anybody who watches this show is doesn't know real sports. Yet, for them to have these opinions mean THEY WATCH THE SHOW!!!

My favorite example of these type of haters, was best diagrammed in Howard Stern's movie Private Parts. When Paul Giamatti's character the WNBC content manager Pig Vomit tries to figure out Stern's success:

Researcher: The average radio listener listens for eighteen minutes. The average Howard Stern fan listens for - are you ready for this? - and hour and twenty minutes.
Pig Vomit: How can that be?
Researcher: Answer most commonly given? "I want to see what he'll say next."
Pig Vomit: Okay, fine. But what about the people who hate Stern?
Researcher: Good point. The average Stern hater listens for two and half hours a day.
Pig Vomit: But... if the hate him, why do they listen?
Researcher: Most common answer? "I want to see what he'll say next."

The simple fact is just like Stern, Skip and First Take are in the business of viewers. They are not in the business of just having viewers who think positively about the program. As long as people are watching, the show is creating the advertising success that keeps them on the air.

Just like the old adage says, there is no such think as bad publicity.

So all these haters can express their displeasure of Skip and First Take on TV, Twitter, and all forms of social interaction. Yet, by doing so are HELPING THE SHOW SUCCEED!!!

If they truly want Skip and First Take to disappear, then they simply need to stop paying attention.

Stop watching and then degrading the opinion's of Skip Bayless.

Simply stop waiting to see what Skip will say next!