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Who to Blame in LA?

March 14, 2019 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

The Lakers struggles down the stretch have created the perception of crushing disappointment in Los Angeles. Like every other NBA follower, I wanted to quickly throw in my two cents as who is to blame/not blame. Let’s examine the issues FAQ style! -How disappointed should the Lakers be to miss the playoffs? Let’s start with the basics…the expectations in LA were a bit high but the reality is this team was not good. Even with LeBron James, the reasonable consensus was that the Lakers … [Read more...] about Who to Blame in LA?

MVP Droughts

February 25, 2019 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

I was just watching a feature regarding how Giannis Antetokounmpo has a very real chance of breaking the Bucks’ MVP drought. Milwaukee hasn’t had an MVP since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won the award back in 1973-74. As great a year as Giannis has had, it’ll be tough to overcome James Harden’s prolific scoring output. But this year's horse race doesn’t interest me yet. We can get back to that nearer to the end of the season. For now, I was more interested in going down the wormhole that is MVP … [Read more...] about MVP Droughts

On Retired Numbers

January 20, 2019 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

Recently, the 76ers finally retired Moses Malone’s number and OKC retired uber-role player Nick Collison’s number. This reminded of a study I did back in 2004, when the Spurs retired Sean Elliott’s jersey. At the time, I was struck by the decision. Elliott was a pretty good player but not a top tier star that one would expect to get the retirement treatment. The disparate types of players got me wondering what criteria are used in this process. At the time, I wrote an article studying which … [Read more...] about On Retired Numbers

Detroit and Denver, 186-184 (a quick look back)

December 14, 2018 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

On December 13, 1983, the Nuggets and Pistons played the highest scoring game ever, a 186-184 triple-overtime affair. I thought we could run through a few fast facts about the game: -Conditions were quite set for a high scoring game. The Pistons had much of the core of the Bad Boy defensive stalwarts of the late 1980s team but this earlier Pistons team was offense-first. Detroit was top in the NBA in offense and only 16th on defense (5th in pace). Denver was its usual all-offense team … [Read more...] about Detroit and Denver, 186-184 (a quick look back)

Enes Kanter and Turkey’s Best

December 7, 2018 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

This week, Enes Kanter, in response to being omitted from a list of Turkish NBA players, declared that he is the best Turkish basketball player ever. Mehmet Okur quickly took the time to tweet disapproval, saying that “this is just funny,” with an laughing emoji, meant to indicate that Memo was clearly better than Kanter. So, we have a bona fide issue: who is the best Turkish basketball player ever? Let’s break it down: The Pretenders First, let’s remember the guys with no credible … [Read more...] about Enes Kanter and Turkey’s Best

On Hot Starts

October 30, 2018 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

I chose to skip the conventional NBA preview because there is not a ton to say about the outcome of the 2018-19 season. The Warriors are prohibitive favorites and there is no apparent rival on equal footing at this point. This is not to say that such a rival might not emerge or that the Warriors’ dominance is a bad thing. Still, drama is low. Instead, I wanted to do a quick walkthrough of hot starts. Currently, Milwaukee Bucks are 7-0 and, statistically, the class of the NBA (a 16.36 … [Read more...] about On Hot Starts