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Can LaMelo Win ROY?

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LaMelo Ball’s recent wrist injury likely ends his season with 41 games played.  He has been the best rookie this season but does his abbreviated season disqualify him from contention?  Well, that really depends on how good the competition is.  In this particular case, most of the other rookies who have played have had dubious value.  Let’s run through the stats of all rookies with at least 1,000 minutes played so far: -Ball, 41 gms, 1,174 mins, 15.9 ppg, .451 FG%, .528 … [Read more...] about Can LaMelo Win ROY?

Revisiting DJ for Robey: How Did It Happen?

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Nearly 38 years ago, the Celtics made one of the great trades in the history of the franchise when they got Dennis Johnson a strong starting point guard from Phoenix for Rick Robey, who was a solid backup center, but nothing more.  Boston would go on to make the next four NBA Finals, winning two, while Robey was out of the NBA by 1986.  After the runaway success of the Celtics, the trade was widely seen as an obvious fleecing by Red Auerbach of Jerry Colangelo and the Suns. This … [Read more...] about Revisiting DJ for Robey: How Did It Happen?

The Most Random All-Stars: Dana Barros and Tyrone Hill

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The 1995 All-Star game led to two of the oddest picks, in retrospect, in All-Star history, Dana Barros and Tyrone Hill.  Barros was a 27-year old 5’11 three-point specialist.  Hill was a generic starting power forward.  How did two average(ish) role player become All-Stars and did they have any argument to make the team?  The cases for Hill and Barros were separate and distinct but the overarching theme arises from the weird Generation X kerfuffle that enveloped the NBA at … [Read more...] about The Most Random All-Stars: Dana Barros and Tyrone Hill

Chris Finch, David Vanterpool and NBA Coach Hiring Trends

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When Minnesota fired Ryan Saunders last week, they immediately hired Chris Finch, an assistant coach with the Raptors.  The move caused some controversy because the T-Wolves passed over Saunders’ associate head coach David Vanterpool, who is Black, for Finch, who is white.  Several players expressed disappointment that Vanterpool wasn’t even considered for the job.  Marc J. Spears wrote an article for The Undefeated where he explored the frustration of many Black assistant … [Read more...] about Chris Finch, David Vanterpool and NBA Coach Hiring Trends

NBA 2020-21 Awards So Far

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As we approach the halfway point of the season, I thought this would be good time to do awards picks for the season that has been so far.  Granted a lot could change but let’s jump in and take a look: MVP:  Before the season, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, and Giannis Antetokounmpo were the safe bets.  They were the best players for the three likely best teams.  They have all been very good so far but Nikola Jokic has been even better.  Jokic leads the NBA in most … [Read more...] about NBA 2020-21 Awards So Far

Quick Thoughts

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1. All-Star Game A Mistake?:  It looks like we will have an  NBA All-Star game this year even though the pandemic has made things more complicated.  Even in the best of the times, the All-Star game was of dubious utility to more hardcore fans.  We have written repeatedly about our ambivalence towards the All-Star game, as the defensive effort, has noticeably waned over the years to the point where the NBA finally tweaked the rules last year to get a competitive fourth quarter … [Read more...] about Quick Thoughts

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