Harlan Schreiber

First Round Fall Out: The Sweepees

April 27, 2015 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

The first casualties of the NBA playoffs have arrived. Both Boston and Toronto were swept out rather easily. This leads us to our first postmortem entry, our annual Playoff Fall Out segment. Let’s take a look at the two sweepees and where they are headed: -Boston Celtics: The Celtics checked all the boxes this season. They played hard, developed a decent young core, dumped Rajon Rondo for a nice return, maintained cap room, and even somehow made the playoffs. The fact that the Celtics … [Read more...] about First Round Fall Out: The Sweepees

Quick Thoughts

April 24, 2015 by Harlan Schreiber 1 Comment

1. Brooks Booted: Putting aside the merits of the decision, Scott Brooks’ firing is most relevant to the Thunder for what it likely reveals. First, Kevin Durant will be a free agent after next season and there is no way the Thunder would have fired him without Durant’s blessing. It also reveals that Durant may not be totally happy with the Thunder and adding a new coach would be an attempt to placate/keep KD. It is impossible to say exactly how likely it is that Durant will leave the … [Read more...] about Quick Thoughts

2014-15 Playoff Preview

April 17, 2015 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

The 2014-15 NBA playoffs presents an atypical playoff scenario. There aren’t several contenders to assess. Really, we are talking about the Golden State Warriors and everyone else. Only five teams have ever had more wins in an NBA regular season than the Warriors (GS is the fifth NBA team to win 67 games in a season). Seven of the nine other 67+ win teams won a title. The two exceptions are the 1972-73 Celtics, who lost in the Conference Finals to the Knicks (though Boston did have the … [Read more...] about 2014-15 Playoff Preview

Chris Mullin: Can You Go Home Again?

April 13, 2015 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

Last week, Chris Mullin was named the new head coach of St. John’s basketball team. This makes for a great story—the best player in school history coming back 30 years later as a coach. Of course, the fact that Mullin was a really good player in 1985 really has no bearing on whether he can coach (he has never done so at either the college or professional level) or whether he can recruit players (he has never formally done this either). Certainly, a school does get a nice little temporary … [Read more...] about Chris Mullin: Can You Go Home Again?

The Top 16: Does It Make Sense?

April 3, 2015 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

This year, the NBA has yet another spirited battle between very mediocre teams for low rung East playoff spots. The question has arisen again whether it is worth considering awarding the 16 playoff spots by record, regardless of conference. Adam Silver seemed to hint that a change could be coming when he told ESPN in December that “[u]ltimately, we want to see your best teams in the playoffs, and there is an imbalance and a certain unfairness [under the current system].” Let’s think through … [Read more...] about The Top 16: Does It Make Sense?

Calipari and the 1990s Nets

March 26, 2015 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

With Kentucky on the verge of going undefeated, the rumor mill is starting to heat up that John Calipari has nothing left to prove in college and that he wants another shot at the NBA. According to this report by Steve Popper of the Bergen Record, “[t]he NBA is the only place [Calipari’s] ever failed and it drives him nuts. He’s not the same guy he was then. He came to the NBA and he wasn’t ready. He’s ready now.” Popper goes on to note that Calipari gets his star players to all buy into an … [Read more...] about Calipari and the 1990s Nets