NBA Draft Update

by Ed Weiland

The 2009 draft remains shaky. I wouldn’t call it historically bad or anything like that. It suffers for two reasons. The first is it follows two pretty strong drafts. Most drafts would look weak compared to the ’07 and ’08 crops. The next is it’s strength is in wing players. Breaking the ’09 talent pool down into three basic groups of bigs, wings and points, I would say the bigs are extremely weak, the wings are strong and the points are slightly below average. The result of this will be many busts in the top 10 and a few steals late in the draft since bigs are drafted early and wings aren’t generally in high demand around the league and tend to slide more than any other type of players come draft day. The past draft that keeps coming up in my mind as one this will compare to is 1989. Continue reading NBA Draft Update…

Playoff Thoughts

by Harlan Schreiber

1.    It’s Over Johnny:    Count me in the crowd that thinks there isn’t much reason to watch Cleveland-Detroit, Los Angeles-Utah, or Denver-New Orleans.  Still, let’s take a look at what’s happened so far to see if there is anything to learn about these series: 

-Cleveland/Detroit:  This is playing out like your typical one-eight series.  Cleveland has pretty much controlled both games behind LeBron James and the rest of the cast has been perfectly fine.  What seems noteworthy is how much Detroit has struggled to score.  Rodney Stuckey is leading the team in scoring at 17 ppg but is an ugly 12-36 from the field (0-6 from three) and Rip Hamilton has 16 ppg on also weak 13-30 from the field.  A lot of this is a tribute to the great Cleveland defense but the Pistons regressed notably on offense this year (21st from 6th in 2007-08).  Losing Chauncey Billups obviously hurts but this team is both aging and not particularly hungry.  There is no great adjustment to be made here.  Detroit must hit shots to avoid a sweep, which seems unlikely given their talent level and their inertia.  Expect the Pistons to lean even more on Will Bynum, who has played so well this last month.  It’s a shot in the dark but that’s all Detroit has right now. Continue reading Playoff Thoughts…

NBA Playoffs 2008-09: Playoff Preview

by Harlan Schreiber

Finally, some tangible and meaningful games.  Even as a hardcore NBA fan, I found it hard to care too much about how seeding played out that last week.  Now, we can turn to what really matters…the playoffs.  This year’s playoffs seem to be straightforward on the top of the food train.  The more interesting questions come with who gives the favorites a run for their money.  Indeed, some Western teams have a lot riding in demonstrating that they are on the right track by testing the Lakers.  With that in mind, let’s take a look at the match ups: Continue reading NBA Playoffs 2008-09: Playoff Preview…

NBA All-Time Rankings, 2008-09 Update

by Harlan Schreiber

One of our favorite exercises is trying to place the most recent happenings to NBA history.  In order to help us in that regard, Kyle Wright, who wrote the excellent book “NBA From Top to Bottom” has passed on his 2008-09 update.  Just to give you a little context, Kyle has ranked every NBA and NFL ever from first to last.  The list is based upon his formula, which identifies several factors, including point differential, strength of schedule, and various other factors.  It measures each team against its own league and that dominance is reflected in the list, the formula does not factor in playoff showings or relative strength of the average player for each era.  Kyle’s very cool site, Sports From Top to Bottom can be found here.  Here is the full list, with each team’s historical ranking, rating with Kyle’s formula, and raw won-loss record. Continue reading NBA All-Time Rankings, 2008-09 Update…

Quick Thoughts

by Harlan Schreiber

1.    Award Stuff Part II:    We just finished up our award picks last week and I realized I left out a few things.  We made all our picks in terms of awards but we had also been reviewing each award historically speaking.  In that sense, we short thrifted our historical review of the Sixth Man, Most Improved, and MVP awards.  So, while we wait for final playoff seedings to be locked in, let’s look at some history. Continue reading Quick Thoughts…

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