Champions Dethroned on All-Star Saturday Night
All-Star Saturday Night saw two reigning champions fail to defend their titles--and two former champions regain their crowns. The Detroit Pistons won the Shooting Stars competition for the second time in three years, Daequan Cook ended Jason Kapono's two year run as the Three Point Shootout king and Nate Robinson won his second Slam Dunk championship, narrowly denying Dwight Howard's repeat bid. Meanwhile, rookie Derrick Rose made a big All-Star Weekend splash by winning the Skills Challenge, punctuating his victory with a dramatic, double pump reverse dunk.
The Pistons faced a strong challenge from the host Phoenix Suns, who posted the best time in the first round and made their first five shots in the finals before struggling to connect from half court. Bill Laimbeer later explained that the key to Detroit's victory was a change in strategy: he had previously been the team's three point shooter but he realized that his vision is not what it used to be, so he ceded that role to Katie Smith, who he called "the greatest three point shooter in the history of women's basketball."
Derrick Rose glided so effortlessly through the Skills Challenge obstacle course that some observers wondered if he was really even trying his hardest--but Rose said afterwards that he had deliberately paced himself to ensure that he did not make any mistakes. Rose is very similar to LeBron James in that both players are pass-first oriented and know how to lead without being overbearing. They also both have great poise and a pleasant demeanor. Rose still has to hone his skill set to truly become an elite point guard but he has certainly started his career in a strong fashion.
Truthfully, this year's Three Point Shootout field will not go down in history as one of the strongest, as demonstrated by the fact that Rashard Lewis missed 10 straight shots at one point--and still finished in second place. Jason Kapono's stroke seemed to be off right from the jump and he never found a real groove during the event. That opened the door for his Heat teammate Cook, who survived a scare in the event's Finals by making his final four shots on the last rack to narrowly avoid elimination. In contrast, Kapono fell apart in the Finals, missing his final four shots. Cook and Rashard Lewis tied with 15 points each, so they battled in a playoff to determine the winner; Cook prevailed easily, clinching the victory while shooting from the second of five racks.
In the much anticipated Slam Dunk contest, Howard dunked on a 12 foot rim, did a wonderfully difficult slam in which he threw an alley oop to himself off of the side of the backboard--and still lost. Howard received perfect 50s on his first two dunks, while Robinson scored 46 and then 41, but in the end Robinson prevailed, capping off his performance by jumping over Howard and throwing it down. As Robinson said, Howard showed that he is a good sport and classy person by not balking at Robinson's suggestion about that dunk. Howard and Robinson are both great showmen who really seem to have a lot of fun during this event, so hopefully Robinson's comment about retiring from the Slam Dunk contest will turn out to be false.
Although no one would suggest that he outperformed Robinson or Howard, Rudy Fernandez did a couple great dunks that the fans in the crowd loved but only received a lukewarm response from the judges, prompting boos throughout the arena. However, fans voted for the Finals winner via text message, so it can truly be said that the people's choice prevailed in the battle between "Superman" and "Krypto-Nate."
Labels: Bill Laimbeer, Daequan Cook, Detroit Pistons, Dwight Howard, Jason Kapono, Nate Robinson
posted by David Friedman @ 5:36 AM
Dayton Daily News Flunks NBA 101
Dayton, Ohio does not have an NBA team, so I guess it makes sense that the
Dayton Daily News does not have an NBA writer. What does not make sense is that the
DDN repeatedly publishes articles about the NBA that are inaccurate and biased. Prior to the 2007 draft,
the DDN ran an article that
blasted local product and Ohio State player Daequan Cook, saying that scouts "question everything about him, including his ability to understand the game." That's funny, because the scout I talked to prior to the draft told me that Cook would be a first round pick, which turned out to be correct. The
DDN later ran a piece that suggested that Cook would be sent to the NBDL. Cook is averaging 7.6 ppg in 20.1 mpg for the Heat and he has even started a couple games. The
DDN also indicated that "stat-stuffer" is a negative term, apparently not realizing that it refers to a player who stuffs a boxscore with good statistics.
The Wednesday February 7 edition of the
DDN carried two NBA stories on page 2 of the sports section. Again, that seems like a lot of coverage for a city that does not even have an NBA team but that's OK; obviously, I believe that the NBA is worthy of a lot of in depth coverage--and maybe someday the
DDN will actually hire a writer who knows something about the NBA to provide such coverage. Instead, readers are stuck with an article about the upcoming three point shooting contest at All-Star Weekend that refers to a "fictitious" playground player named "Lamar Lundane" who was featured in a commercial in the 1980s (
the DDN writer did not even know that it was a
Reebok commercial, a tidbit that any true fan remembers). I suppose that "Lundane" is a fictitious player but Lamar "Money" Mundane, the actual subject of the commercial, grew up in Chicago and played at Marshall High School and Malcolm X Junior College. Former NBA All-Star and Chicago native Mark Aguirre once told Lacy Banks of the
Chicago Sun-Times, "If you wanted numbers, 'Money' was your man. They didn't have three-point baskets in those days, but that's what Lamar specialized in. He'd pull up from 25 or 30 feet and rain down jumpers."
Sometimes, I try to figure out how articles that are riddled with misinformation get published in the first place. If the author did not know the real story about Mundane, why didn't he spend five minutes and google the correct information? You may think that the answer to that is that he did not even know his real name, so if he did google it he would not have found out anything. Wrong! If you google "Lamar Lundane," google asks "Did you mean: Lamar Mundane?" I used to think that it was easy to be stupid and/or lazy but with the advent of search engines it actually takes a certain degree of effort to get the basic facts wrong.
The other
DDN article about the NBA had this headline: "Teamwork rarely on display in selfish NBA." It's not a good sign when the headline simply regurgitates a tired stereotype. The author of this piece, Hal McCoy, is a Hall of Fame baseball writer. He is truly one of the best baseball writers around. However, he drew his conclusion about the NBA on the basis of watching one game between Denver and Portland; McCoy admits in his first sentence, "Ordinarily, I wouldn't watch an NBA game unless somebody offered me a free $20 cigar, that is, unless LeBron James is playing." At least he is upfront about his bias; the bias in other sections of many newspapers is generally shrouded beneath a veneer of objectivity. McCoy's beef is that Kenyon Martin--who played at the University of Cincinnati and apparently loosely qualifies as the reason for local interest in this particular game--does not get the ball enough because Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson shoot a lot. Of course, if McCoy watched the NBA regularly, then he would know that Anthony and Iverson are two of the top scorers in the league, while Martin is an injury prone role player who is not expected to--nor capable of--carrying the offensive load. Iverson ranks in the top ten in assists this season but McCoy apparently believes that citing a few sequences from this game proves that there is a lack of teamwork in the NBA. There is nothing like drawing sweeping conclusions on the basis of minuscule data. Would McCoy think that it would be appropriate or fair for someone who knows nothing about baseball to watch part of one game and declare that the sport is boring because the players spend most of the time just standing around? There is an issue of respect here. If you are going to write about a sport that you don't normally watch, have enough respect for the players, the fans and writers who are informed about the sport to do your homework. Don't watch one game, decide that it fits your preconceived--and false--notions and then trash an entire league. I have been critical of Anthony and the Nuggets at various times but my critiques result from watching many games as an informed observer and analyzing what took place. I would never dream of doing a hatchet job on baseball--or anything else--the way that McCoy did to the NBA.
The bottom line is simple: write what you know. If you write what you know, then you will produce work that is passionate, informative and entertaining--and if you are assigned a subject that you know nothing about, do yourself and your readers a favor and actually make at least a small effort to do some research.
Labels: Daequan Cook, Dayton Daily News, Lamar Mundane, Writers Who Don't Know Anything About the NBA
posted by David Friedman @ 11:31 PM
Durant Has the Hype, but Horford is Doing Work in the Paint
With Greg Oden sidelined for the season, Kevin Durant has received by far the most coverage of any NBA rookie. He has scored the most points--and missed the most shots. Here are the rookie leaders in several statistical categories:
Scoring
-------
1) Kevin Durant, SEA 19.0 (.374 FG%)
2) Jianlian Yi, MIL 9.9 (.432 FG%)
3) Jeff Green, SEA 9.8 (.453 FG%)
4) Daequan Cook, MIA 9.0 (.465 FG%)
5) Sean Williams, NJN 8.9 (.628 FG%)
Rebounding
----------
1) Al Horford, ATL 10.1
2) Jamario Moon, TOR 6.5
3) Jianlian Yi, MIL 6.1
4) Jeff Green, SEA 5.4
5) Sean Williams, NJN 4.6
Assists
-------
1) Mike Conley, MEM 4.2
2) Acie Law, ATL 3.0
3) Kevin Durant, SEA 1.8
4) Juan Carlos Navarro, MEM 1.6
5) Al Horford, ATL 1.3
Minutes
-------
1) Kevin Durant, SEA 33.8
2) Al Horford, ATL 32.5
3) Jamario Moon, TOR 27.4
4) Jianlian Yi, MIL 25.5
5) Jeff Green, SEA 22.2
NBA Efficiency Rating
---------------------
1) Al Horford, ATL 15.3
2) Jamario Moon, TOR 12.1
3) Kevin Durant, SEA 11.8
4) Jianlian Yi, MIL 11.5
5) Sean Williams, NJN 11.3
Durant continues to receive the most hype but by any objective measure he is not the best rookie. Don't be deceived by his scoring average; Durant is the only rookie who has a green light to shoot at any time from any spot on the floor--and his field goal percentage and his team's record (2-10) show that neither he nor his Seattle Supersonics are profiting from Coach P.J. Carlesimo's decision to turn Durant into "Agent 35, Licensed to Shoot."
Horford ranks in the top 20 in the league in both rebounding and blocked shots. He is averaging 8.7 ppg while shooting .481 from the field. It may be impossible to win the Rookie of the Year award while averaging less than 10 ppg but there is no doubt that he is a more effective player than Durant at both ends of the court.
Yi's shooting percentage is not great but it is better than Durant's; Yi also grabs more rebounds and blocks more shots than Durant.
Sean Williams ranks sixth in the NBA in blocked shots (2.5 bpg) and is shooting well over .600 while nearly averaging 10 ppg. That kind of production in the paint at both ends of the court is more valuable than the one-dimensional game that Durant has right now.
The NBA Efficiency Rating is hardly the definitive word on player evaluation but it is a semi-useful "quick and dirty" tool to make general comparisons. Kevin Garnett has the best NBA Efficiency Rating (31.8). Horford's rating is slightly worse than Udonis Haslem's rating. Moon's rating is virtually identical with Mehmet Okur's rating. Durant, Yi and Sean Williams are keeping company with veterans like J.R. Smith, Jordan Farmar and Kenyon Martin. The bottom line is that none of this year's rookies--including Durant--are even close to playing at an All-Star level.
As a sidenote, it is interesting to look at what has happened so far with the three Ohio State players who were drafted in the first round. With Oden out and Mike Conley struggling before he too was sidelined by injury, Miami's Daequan Cook is putting up the best numbers among Buckeye rookies. This is no doubt a major surprise to his hometown newspaper, the
Dayton Daily News, which for some inexplicable reason published a story at the start of the season that suggested that Cook would be sent to the NBA Development League, a bizarre assertion that looked even more foolish
after his performance in his very first game. Cook will no doubt have his ups and downs like most rookies, but he has already displayed enough athleticism, shooting ability and confidence to become a rotation player for the Heat.
Note: All statistics are from NBA.com
Labels: Al Horford, Daequan Cook, Kevin Durant, Sean Williams, Yi Jianlian
posted by David Friedman @ 1:12 AM
