Harlan Schreiber

Playoff Thoughts

May 30, 2008 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

1. L.A. Land: The Lakers impressively dispatched the Spurs to make their first NBA Finals since they lost to the Pistons in 2003-04. It's hard to figure why the Lakers were able to excel this entire series, winning easily in two games and erasing big Spurs leads in the other games. In the end, the Spurs had no answer for Kobe Bryant and couldn't muster enough points to stave off the inevitable Laker runs. Going forward, no matter who wins in the East, we will have a historical … [Read more...] about Playoff Thoughts

Transactions 5/1-5/16

May 22, 2008 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

Dallas Mavericks 5/14 Name Rick Carlisle head coach Let's see...so the Mavs get rid of their old coach because they thought he was too controlling on the offensive sets and restricted Jason Kidd, only focused on defense, and grated on the players. So of course Rick Carlisle is the perfect replacement! Carlisle, though a very sharp guy, has really put a premium on controlled offense, similar to Avery Johnson, and supposedly teed off people in Detroit. Granted, if Carlisle is a clone … [Read more...] about Transactions 5/1-5/16

Playoff Thoughts

May 16, 2008 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

1. More Home Stuff: Last night, the Celts, were again beaten on the road to drop their road record 0-6 in the playoffs. We reviewed this a bit last time but I wondered how unique this playoff's home dominance was. Fortunately (for me), John Hollinger was kind enough to beat us to the research punch, letting us know in a great article today that home playoff teams won 65% of second round games in the 2000s. This year the home teams are winning at a 95% rate (until the Lakers beat the … [Read more...] about Playoff Thoughts

Playoff Thoughts

May 13, 2008 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

1. Homing In: After the Cavs win tonight in Cleveland, home teams have now one every game this round, with the exception of Orlando's loss at home in Game 4 against the Pistons (even this was a one-point loss). This trend of home winning raises some interesting questions. The most obvious questions: Are the lower seeds ultimately doomed in round two? Is this home winning trend a historical anomaly? Let's start look at each series and see if we can answer these questions and others that … [Read more...] about Playoff Thoughts

GM Report: Isiah Thomas

May 6, 2008 by Harlan Schreiber 1 Comment

One of the first things we did when started the site was to endeavor to conduct comprehensive reviews of each and every GM in the NBA. We've been going by team, alphabetically, over the years but have been somewhat slow going lately. Honestly, we've been stuck on the New York Knicks for a while now. The reason we haven't really jumped into an evaluation of the Knicks is because no GM has been more examined and scrutinized then the recently fired Isiah Thomas. In any event, we do know that … [Read more...] about GM Report: Isiah Thomas

Transactions 4/4-4/30 (Coaching/Management Edition)

May 2, 2008 by Harlan Schreiber 1 Comment

Charlotte Bobcats 4/27 Relieve Sam Vincent of head coaching duties 4/29 Name Larry Brown head coach Weird times in Charlotte. Firing your handpicked coach after a single season can never be considered a good thing and this is the second time Michael Jordan has done this (see Hamilton, Leonard in Washington). Vincent didn't seem horrible from afar, though it wasn't clear why he needed to play Jeff McInnis so much (though it also wasn't clear why the GM even put McInnis on the … [Read more...] about Transactions 4/4-4/30 (Coaching/Management Edition)