A Closer Look At The Cavs Hot Start

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The biggest positive story of the new season is Cleveland’s 15-0 start, which puts the Cavs in pretty elite company.  Much has been written about this great start but I thought we could take another look, FAQ style, and see if we can squeeze a few more interesting nuggets… How is Cleveland doing this? In simplest terms, the offense has exploded.  The Cavs were a defense-first team last season (6th in defensive rating) that had to eke out offense (18th in offensive rating) by … [Read more...] about A Closer Look At The Cavs Hot Start

A Historical Look At NBA Pre-Season Odds

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With another season fast approaching, we are reminded that most teams enter the season with optimism about their chances to have a successful season, if not necessarily win a title.  Sometimes the optimism comes from good planning and other times from pipe dreams.   I was wondering what was the most objectively optimistic time for each franchise entering a season.  To that end, I thought a nice objective measure of legitimate optimism would be pre-season odds to win a … [Read more...] about A Historical Look At NBA Pre-Season Odds

The DC/Petro/Kenny Nets

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From time to time, we like to do deep dives on interesting teams of the past, like the Penny/Shaq Magic or the Barkley Rockets, that came close to the threshold only to fall apart.  Today, we are going to look at a team that never really came close to winning but was always interesting to me, the Derrick Coleman/Kenny Anderson Nets of the early 1990s.  This duo was billed as the Stockton/Malone of the 1990s.  Alas, DC and Kenny were deemed to be the ultimate Generation X slackers, … [Read more...] about The DC/Petro/Kenny Nets

Quick Thoughts: Transactions

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Now that the transactional stampede has slowed down, let’s pause to peek through some of what happened… Nets trade Mikal Bridges to the Knicks for picks and salary slots to be determined Nets trade the picks they own from the Suns to the Rockets for the remainder of the picks the Nets gave the Rockets in the 2020 James Harden deal From the Nets perspective, these are good deals.  The choice was to pair Bridges with whatever star-ish level play they could get (Trae Young, Brandon … [Read more...] about Quick Thoughts: Transactions

Ranking The 2023-24 Celtics

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How historically great were the 2023-24 Celtics?  It’s nearly impossible to compare teams from different eras on a head-to-head matchup basis because the rules and strategies have changed so much between generations.  It is not an apples-to-apples comparison when one wonders how the 1995-96 Bulls would play if they were magically teleported to the 2024 NBA.  There is also the thorny issue of whether the players are just better today, though I’m confident that the good players of … [Read more...] about Ranking The 2023-24 Celtics

NBA Finals Preview 2023-24: Can Anyone Stop Luka?

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At the beginning of the playoffs, Boston versus Dallas did not seem to be a likely Finals matchup but here we are.  Well, the Boston side of the equation was pretty predictable but Dallas has been a pleasant surprise.  Nevertheless, Dallas has shown itself to be a legitimate NBA finalist with Luka Doncic’s incredible shot making and a supporting cast that suddenly fits so well together.  Let’s run through the major issues of this series and see what comes of it… Did Boston get … [Read more...] about NBA Finals Preview 2023-24: Can Anyone Stop Luka?

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