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Best of the ACC, NBA Style

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In furtherance of our best NBA pros by NCAA major conference we turn now to the ACC.  Just a reminder, the guidelines can be found here.  Anyway, here’s the ACC list:

12. Miami: PG: Guillermo Diaz, SG: John Salmons, SF: James Jones, PF: Tim James, C: Tito Horford

11. Virginia Tech: PG: Bimbo Coles, SG: Dell Curry, SF: Perry Young, PF: Allen Bristow, C: Wayne Robinson

10. Boston College: PG: Michael Adams, SG: Dana Barros, SF: Jared Dudley, PF: Craig Smith, C: Sean Williams

9. Virginia: PG: Roger Mason, SG: Bryant Stith, SF: Marc Iavaroni, PF: Olden Polynice, C: Ralph Sampson

8.  Florida State: PG: Charlie Ward, SG: Sam Cassell, SF: Bob Sura, PF: George McCloud, C: Al Thornton

7.  Clemson: PG: Chris Whitney, SG: Greg Buckner, SF: Larry Nance, PF: Horace Grant, C: Elden Campbell/Dale Davis

6. NC State: PG: Spud Webb, SG: Vinny Del Negro, SF: Thurl Bailey, PF: Tom Gugliotta, C: J.J. Hickson

5. Maryland: PG: John Lucas, SG: Steve Francis, SF: Joe Smith, PF: Buck Williams, C: Tom McMillen

4. Georgia Tech: PG: Mark Price, SG: Stephon Marbury, SF: Matt Harpring, PF: Chris Bosh C: John Salley

3.  Duke: PG: Johnny Dawkins, SG: Luol Deng, SF: Grant Hill, PF: Elton Brand, C: Mike Gminski

2.  Wake Forest: PG: Muggsy Bogues, SG: Chris Paul, SF: Josh Howard, PF: Rodney Rogers, C: Tim Duncan

1.  North Carolina: PG: Raymond Felton, SG: Michael Jordan, SF: Vince Carter, PF: Rasheed Wallace, C: Brad Daugherty

-Miami and Virginia Tech barely field full lineups

-Virginia has somehow avoided any pros of note since the early 1990s

-Florida State is essentially tied with Virginia.  Virginia is all forwards while FSU is all guards.

-Clemson is even deeper in the frontcourt (we even left out Tree Rollins) but the lack of guards prevented a high ranking versus NC State.

-Georgia Tech, Duke, and Wake Forest are all about tied.  Wake’s two huge stars give them the edge in my opinion but you could make an argument for everyone of them.

-UNC is obviously number one and probably has the best team since 1980.

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Best of the Big East, NBA Style

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NCAA tourney time is upon the world of hoops.  I won’t use this time to talk about the NBA game versus the NCAA game (I like them both).  Nor am I going to give you my predictions for this year’s brackets.  Instead, I thought we could look at the programs and the pros they have yielded.  With the help of Basketball-Reference.com we’re going to go through the major programs and their best NBA starting five.  I did this several years ago but times have changed and this is always fun to revisit.

As for criterion, I am not assessing the best college players but rather the best pros from that program.  For examle, Christian Laettner is probably the most valuable forward/center in Duke history but, as a pro, he’s no Elton Brand.  If pro careers are close, however, college success will be a tie-breaker.  We’re also limiting our inquiry to 1980 and beyond.  This is not to denigrate previous eras but the fact is that NCAA tournament became a big deal starting with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson in 1979 so it only seems fitting to only look at players stats since that year (if a player’s NBA career started before that time we’ll consider his post-1979 stats only).  We also reserve the right to play the best lineup of available players.  So, if Georgetown has Alonzo Mourning and Patrick Ewing, one can play power forward and the other can play center but you can’t play Dikembe Mutombo at small forward since that would never work in real life.  So let’s jump in and see what we have by conference.  Today, we’ll do the Big East ranking them based upon their staring lineups:

THE BIG EAST

16.  West Virginia:  PG: None, SG: None, SF: Joe Alexander, PF: Devin Ebanks, C: None

15.  South Florida: PG: None, SG: Dominique Jones, SF: Curtis Kinchen, PF: Solomon Jones, C: James Grandholm

14.  Rutgers:  PG: Eddie Jordan, SG: John Battle, SF: Quincy Douby, PF: Roy Hinson, C: James Bailey

13.  Seton Hall: PG: John Morton, SG: Terry Dehere, SF: Eddie Griffin, PF: Mark Bryant, C: Samuel Dalembert

12.  Pittsburgh: PG: Vonteego Cummings, SG: Sam Young, SF: Charles Smith, PF: DeJuan Blair, C: Mark Blount

11.  Providence: PG: God Shamgod, SG: Eric Murdock, SF: Eric Williams, PF: Austin Croshere, C: Otis Thorpe

10.  Louisville: PG: Darrell Griffith, SG: Derek Smith, SF: Rodney McCray, PF: Pervis Ellison, C: Felton Spencer

9.  Villanova: PG: Kyle Lowry, SG: Kerry Kittles, SF: Doug West, PF: Tim Thomas, C: Ed Pinckney

8.   Cincinnati: PG: Nick Van Exel, SG: Ruben Patterson, SF: Pat Cummings, PF: Kenyon Martin, C: Danny Fortson

7.   Marquette: PF: Doc Rivers, SG: Dwyane Wade, SF: Chris Crawford, PF: Maurice Lucas, C: Jerome Whitehead

6.   St. John’s: PG: Mark Jackson, SG: Malik Sealy, SF: Chris Mullin, PF: Ron Artest, C: Jayson Williams

5.  Syracuse: PG: Sherman Douglas, SG: Billy Owens, SF: Carmelo Anthony, PF: Derrick Coleman, C: Rony Seikaly

4.  UConn: PG: Ben Gordon, SG: Ray Allen, SF: Caron Butler, PF: Clifford Robinson, C: Emeka Okafor

3.  Notre Dame: PG: John Paxson, SG: Kelly Tripucka, SF: Adrian Dantley, PF: Laphonso Ellis, C: Bill Laimbeer

2.  DePaul: PG: Rod Strickland, SG: Quentin Richardson, SF: Mark Aguirre, PF: Terry Cummings, C: Dave Corzine

1.  Georgetown: PG: Sleepy Floyd, SG: Allen Iverson, SF: Jeff Green, PF: Alonzo Mourning, C: Patrick Ewing

A few observations here:

-It is amazing that West Virginia has produced pretty much no pros since the Jerry West Era.  I’d expect this to change as Bob Huggins continues to manage the program.

-There are several levels to the rankings, which I know are far from scientific.  After West Virginia and South Florida (who can’t field a full lineup), Rutgers, Seton Hall, Pitt and Providence are rosters without bona fide starters at every position.

-You could make an argument that Notre Dame through Marquette could be shifted around, as they are all close on aggregate talent.

-A good DePaul program feels like a long time ago but they were manufacturing really good pros in the 1980s.

-Georgetown has clearly the best team in the league.

-Like Pitt, Notre Dame has continued to be pretty good in the NCAA without producing many pros in the past decade.

-UConn has a nice team but they seem to have a high concentration of two guards and not so much up front or at the point.

Next time we’ll look at the ACC….

Transactions

Transactions: 1/15-2/25 Part II

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New Orleans Hornets

2/4      Signed Sasha Pavlovic to a 10-day contract

2/23    Traded Marcus Thornton and cash to Sacramento for Carl Landry

On a talent basis, Thornton for Landry was a pretty fair exchange.  The issue here was not talent but money.  Mark Cuban criticized the trade because the Hornets, which are owned by the NBA and capitalized collectively by the NBA owners, made a trade that added a bit to the Hornets’ payroll ($750,000) in the deal.  Cuban’s stated his beef thusly: “If New Orleans is taking back $2 million [pro-rated for the last few months of the season] and I own 1/29th of it, I’m going to go against the grain and say that’s just wrong.  There’s no way, with their payroll, having to dump salary before they were sold to us; now they can take on more salary while they’re losing money.  That’s just wrong every which way.”

Cuban raises an interesting point.  He wants the Hornets to be payroll neutral while he is kicking in cash to keep them afloat.  On the other hand, we are not privy to agreements that the owners made about New Orleans before they bought out George Shinn.  We do know that:

-The Hornets were losing money

-Shinn didn’t have the capital to keep them going

-Shinn was not easy to deal with and was a detriment enough to the NBA so much so that they were prepared to buy him out before finding an outside buyer

-The NBA wants to keep the Hornets attractive enough for another prospective buyer

Given what we know, it would make sense that a fairly competitive team should be willing to raise payroll a tiny bit to keep up appearances.  If the Hornets are treated purely like a holding company, it probably looks worse to its perceived value than having to pick up an extra $750,000.  I understand Cuban’s complaint in the abstract.  It is his money (he is kicking in about $27,000 for the salary) but it is in the NBA’s interest to make this team look good and to try to keep its primary asset (Chris Paul) happy in the short term.  Presumably, Cuban will also get a return on the investment when the team is actually sold.

If the Hornets turn into a neglected team or an expansion team, the NBA and Cuban lose value on the re-sale.  Moreover, Cuban’s complaints only serve to undermine the NBA’s claims that they can hold onto the Hornets until a suitable buyer is found and potentially hurts the NBA’s bargaining position with outside prospective buyers.  If Cuban has to pay less than he has in per diems to busts like Desagana Diop or Evan Eschmeyer, that is a small price to try to keep normalcy in New Orleans.  Still, it is hard to dispute that the NBA will have to make a sale soon.  The Hornets will have to make some difficult personnel decisions (on Paul and David West) in the near future and no matter what decision is made the NBA will face criticism unless it is made by a third-party owner that is concerned with the future success of the team.

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Transactions

Transactions: 1/15-2/25 Part I

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Atlanta Hawks

1/28    Signed Damien Wilkins for the remainder of the season

2/23    Traded Mike Bibby, Maurice Evans, Jordan Crawford, and a draft pick to Washington for Kirk Hinrich and Hilton Armstrong

This can best be described as a modest upgrade.  Bibby is pretty much cooked as his game has declined in all facets the last two years.  Hinrich is a better player on every level now.  The caveat is that Hinrich hasn’t been more than average for a while and he won’t turn Atlanta from decent playoff team to serious contender.  Nevertheless, a small improvement is better than nothing.

Boston Celtics

2/24    Traded Marquis Daniels and cash to Sacramento for a 2017 second-round pick

2/24    Traded Nate Robinson and Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City for Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic

2/24    Traded Luke Harangody and Semih Erden to Celveland for a 2013 second-round pick

2/24    Signed Chris Johnson to a 10-day contract

Apparently, trading Perkins has rocked the world of the Celtics core and the fans.  It is true that Perkins was a very solid starting center and that he did a great job on Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum.  It is also true that both Shaquille and Jermaine O’Neal are iffy to stay healthy at center.  On the other hand, Perkins was coming off of a major injury, had not yet been very effective (was the worst scoring non-Harangody scorer on Boston this year) and is about to become a free agent.  The Celts were also desperate for a wingman after Daniels went down.

Taking away all the emotional responses, Perkins’ role in holding down Howard may be overblown.  The Celts are 2-1 against Howard and the only game they lost to Orlando (on Christmas Day), Howard was held to 1-4 shooting and six points while being guarded by Glen Davis.  In Perkins one game against Orlando (a Celtic win a few weeks ago), Howard had 28 pts on 10-20 shooting and 28 points.  In fact, the win stemmed from locking up the Orlando perimeter players.  So, Perkins is a help on Howard but he is not essential to Boston on that front or even against the Lakers should they meet again in the Finals.

In terms of talent exchanged, Green for Perkins is almost a perfect fit.  Good all-around players without much star potential, both of whom will be free agents at the end of the season.  Getting Green and also Krstic, a useful bench player is a net win for Boston.  With the defensive team the Celts have, this trade should be a small benefit and a defensible move. 

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Quick Thoughts

Hail The Three-Point King

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Last week, Ray Allen surpassed Reggie Miller to become the the leader in most three-pointers made.  The record itself is hardly written in stone.  The three-point shot is a relatively new record and it took the NBA nearly a decade before team’s routinely used it as normal part of the offensive game.  By way of a quick history, the shot came into being in the NBA in 1979-80 and was mostly a novelty.  In watching the old footage, one can see that the teams would only use the shot as a Keystone Kops routine where with a minute or two left the players on the trailing team would dribble out to the three-point line, turn around and shoot without getting squared away.  Predictably, the shot was not a huge success at that time.  This changed over time and the early 1990s were really the first time players came into the NBA using the three-point as a staple of the most teams’ offensive strategy.

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Quick Thoughts

Quick Thoughts

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1.    The Cavs Make Me Want To Puke: Before the season, I thought that the Cavs looked like the clear worst team in the NBA.  I was pleasantly surprised to Cleveland get off to a respectable start at 7-9, only to go 1-34 run since and be in the throes of a 25-game losing streak.  Could the Cavs really be this bad?  In a word…yes.  This is the worst offensive and defensive team in the NBA  Their best player is Ramon Sessions, a decent guard, and the only other above-average player right now is Antawn Jamison.  While they have taken an odd route to get to 8-34, ultimately, this is a typical terrible team.

Going forward, though, the historic losing streak should come to an end very soon, with nine straight home games coming up.  It’s not that Cleveland is that much better at home (5-17 versus 3-27 on the road) but the slight difference should come up once in a nine-game stretch.  When will the win actually come?  Let’s take a look at the possibilities:

-2/9 v. Detroit: The Pistons are a terrible 6-21 on the road.

-2/11 v. L.A. Clippers: The Clipps have played better but are still 3-17 on the road

-2/13 v. Washington: Of course, everyone, has this one circled on the calendar.  The Wiz are a remarkable 0-25 on the road.

-2/16 v. L.A. Lakers: Ummm…this is probably not a candidate for a win for the Cavs.

-2/23 v. Houston: Houston should win but they aren’t great on the road (11-18)

-2/25 v. New York: Respectable 12-14 on the road but they were the last team the Cavs beat so far this season.

-2/27 v. Philadelphia: A poor 7-19 on the road.

-3/2 v. San Antonio: The best road team in the NBA…should be fun.

The Cavs are legitimately awful team but not so bad that they shouldn’t snap the streak soon.  As much fun as the Wiz game could be if both teams come in with bad streaks, I think the chances are that Cleveland beats Detroit or the Clipps first.  In fact, the Cavs could end this home stand at 3-6 or 4-5.  Not great but I’m guessing Cleveland fans would take it.

Of course, all this is much ado about nothing.  Whether they are historically awful or merely regular awful, the Cavs are in rebuilding mode.  I’m sure Dan Gilbert feels like a schmuck for his boasts post-LeBron right now but the goal should be to put the team in the position to get good quickly.  The team is almost devoid of young talent and Gilbert should not be shy about dumping the players who worked with LeBron but not so well as primary players for picks/cap room.  Unfortunately, the best trade chip, Anderson Varejao, is out for the season and, therefore, unmovable.  In meantime, Cleveland should focus the rest of this year seeing if J.J. Hickson can develop into a good player and trading Jamison if possible.

2.    Best of the Worst: Bill James once observed that one of the problems with bad teams is that they tend to blame their best players for futility when, in fact, the ire should be focused on the bad players.  The tendency, is to wonder why the stars can’t transcend the scrubs when the question should be why the team can’t amass fewer scrubs.  With that in mind, I thought we could look at the worst teams, record wise, for the last 20 years to see how good their best players were and whether the “stars” ended up being a meaningful players for the future of the franchise.  We’ll pick best player as the regular player with the highest PER (I know PER is not the absolute answer in player assessment but works most of the time):

Year Team W-L Best Player Age PER Afterwards
1990-91 Nuggets 20-62 Michael Adams 28 22.3 Traded for Lottery Pick (Mark Macon)
1991-92 T-Wolves 15-67 Pooh Richardson 25 17.6 Traded for Chuck Person, Micheal Williams
1992-93 Mavs 11-71 Derek Harper 31 15.9 Traded in middle 1993-94 for Tony Campbell
1993-94 Mavs 13-69 Tim Legler 27 16.1 Released after the season
1994-95 Clipps 17-65 Loy Vaught 26 17.1 Injured back after two more decent seasons
1995-96 Grizz 15-67 Greg Anthony 28 18.6 Left as free agent after one more season
1996-97 Grizz 14-68 Shareef Abdur-Rahim 20 17.4 Had four more good years for Grizz
1997-98 Nuggets 11-71 Johnny Newman 34 14.9 Left as free agent after the season
1998-99 Grizz 8-42 Shareef Abdur-Rahim 22 20.7 Traded for Pao Gasol after 2000-01
1999-00 Clipps 15-67 Derek Anderson 25 16.9 Left as free agent after the season
2000-01 Bulls 15-67 Elton Brand 21 20.4 Traded for Tyson Chandler after season
2001-02 Bulls 21-61 Jalen Rose 29 18.4 Traded for Antonio Davis in mid-2003-04
2001-02 Warriors 21-61 Antawn Jamison 25 17.1 Traded to Dallas for Nick Van Exel one year later
2002-03 Cavs 17-65 Zydrunas Ilgauskas 27 19.4 Remained with Cavs for the rest of the decade
2002-03 Nuggets 17-65 Juwan Howard 29 17.2 Left as a free agent after the season
2003-04 Magic 21-61 Tracy McGrady 24 25.3 Traded for Steve Francis after season
2004-05 Hawks 13-69 Ty Lue 27 16.2 Traded for Mike Bibby in mid-2007-08
2005-06 Blazers 21-61 Zach Randolph 24 16.9 Traded to Knicks in 2007
2006-07 Grizz 22-60 Pau Gasol 26 24.1 Traded in mid-2007-08 for Kwame Brown
2007-08 Heat 15-67 Dwyane Wade 26 21.5 Still with team
2008-09 Kings 17-65 Kevin Martin 25 19.2 Traded to Rockets in mid-2009-10
2009-10 Nets 12-70 Brook Lopez 21 20.1 Still with team

So, the vast majority of bottom dwellers dumped their best players rather quickly, with the notable exception of Ilgauskas.  This doesn’t mean it was always a great move.  Notably, Elton Brand could’ve really helped the young Bulls in the mid-2000s.  More recently, the Heat worked to keep D-Wade (though they didn’t exactly try to avoid losing that season) and the Nets have refused to trade Lopez too.  For the Cavs, there isn’t really much worth keeping and they are sure to purge most of this roster rather quickly.