Poor Man's Commish » nba

Odds stacked against Jeremy Lin to make the NBA

poormanscommish — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:58:46 +0000

Now that the NBA Draft is done, what are the chances of actually making the NBA? Here are some interesting numbers as analyzed by a Utah Jazz blogger. The data was collected for a ten-year period up through the 2007 NBA Draft. With Jeremy Lin projected not getting drafted at all, you can see that his chances of merely making the NBA are now even more astronomical than merely getting drafted. Still, it isn’t impossible and has been done before, as Warrior fans well know with Anthony Morrow and the recent spattering of D-League players…

(click to enlarge)

Excerpted from: JAZZ: Locke’s Jazz Report, 2009-10

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Clifford Ray, Rick Barry pick-and-roll praised by Hubie Brown

poormanscommish — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 19:10:31 +0000

After Glen “Big Baby” Davis’s game-winning performance in Game 4 of the 2010 NBA FInals the other night, NBA writer Steve Aschburner caught up with Celtics assistant coach Clifford Ray for some reminiscing and penned a great read, especially for Golden State Warrior fans. Here are some excerpts…

Please note that [head coach Doc Rivers] does not allow his assistant coaches to do interviews, a quirk in the league’s most personable head coach owing to some sort of “one voice” strategy. But he lifted the embargo on Ray for this story, because this is a big, fat anniversary year of something special for the man, and a fellow who often got overlooked back then shouldn’t get overlooked again.

…

“I defy anybody to find another team in any of the major sports that was such an underdog at the start of the season that wound up winning the championship,” Hall of Fame forward Rick Barry said. “We get to the Finals and we sweep the team that was supposed to sweep us? Please.”

…

“[Clifford Ray] and Rick Barry ran the best pick and roll in the league. Up until that time, probably in the history of the league!” said Hubie Brown, longtime TV analyst who had begun his pro head coaching career that season with the ABA champion Kentucky Colonels. “Mainly because you had Barry, one of the great scorers in the league coming off the screen, and then when Clifford would roll, he had great hands and he could finish in the paint. Rick Barry never missed a free guy when a guy was cutting to the basket.”

Said Barry: “I told Clifford I thought we could do wonders with the pick and roll. We had used it with Nate Thurmond, and Clifford was willing to come out and work on it.

I almost throw up now when I hear broadcasters say, ‘Wow, what a great screen so-and-so set.’ Men, you don’t ’set’ screens. … It’s the big man’s responsibility to put himself in the right position, at the right angle, where his teammate can run his man into him. That’s what Clifford and I did.”

…

[Al Attles], the Warriors coach, has a fondness for that group behind the hardware it won. “Every coach should have at least one team like that,” he said Friday in a phone interview. “They reminded people of a college team. We had that kind of camaraderie. Nobody was concerned about who did what. All they wanted was to win.”

…

“Clifford knew that I had a great bark but not much of a bite,” Barry said. “I was very demanding about things because I wanted to win. I guess he recognized that some of the guys were getting on edge about me being on them.”

Said Attles: “Rick was one of those players with an unwavering need to succeed. What they do goes against the grain sometimes of people.”

Ray, relatively new to Barry but clicking with him off the court as well as on, asked Attles and assistant Joe Roberts if he could hold a meeting. “They all looked up to me for some reason and I was the new guy,” Ray said. “I figured I might as well speak my mind. So I asked each one of them, ‘Can anyone in this room average 30 to 40 points a night, other than this man right here?’ Of course nobody could raise their hand. ‘So if you come in here and he’s sitting up on the [trainer's table] reading the paper, maybe because he needed the rest, why would you think he thinks he’s better than you, when he’s doing for you every single night?’

Read the whole article: NBA.com: Clifford Ray: Big man 35 years ago, big man now

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AJ Price’s injury opens up an NBA pg roster spot

poormanscommish — Tue, 25 May 2010 06:31:25 +0000

The dozen or so point guard Draft prospects including Jeremy Lin, our fan favorite of Dream League, just got an available roster spot — scarce as they may be (remember, there were 16 point guards drafted last year) — as A.J. Price of the Indiana Pacers went down with a broken patella and will be sidelined four to six months. That puts his return past training camp, and quite possibly past Opening Day and even as far as December 2010.

Here’s an excerpt from TSN:

“Price suffered the injury in a charity basketball game Saturday night in New York. He will have surgery Tuesday in Indianapolis, where he will also rehabilitate with the Pacers’ medical staff.

Price injured the same knee two years ago, suffering a torn ACL while playing in an NCAA Tournament game for the University of Connecticut.”

Read the whole article: Pacers G Price needs surgery, out 4-6 monthsYou might also like:

Al-Farouq Aminu shooting with elbow at eyebrow?

poormanscommish — Mon, 24 May 2010 16:43:13 +0000

Very interesting read over at DraftExpress, pertaining to Al-Farouq Aminu and Ishmael Smith working out ahead of the NBA Draft with renowned shooting instructor Dave Hopla in Los Angeles. Three things struck me: (1) I get the feeling Smith waited too long to get his shot fixed, but I’ll save my rants on long-term Draft preparation for another day, (2) Daniel Orton is really working on every facet of his game (good for him), and (3) Aminu is shooting with his elbow at his eyebrows?!

Here’s the excerpt, from the interview portion…

JH: What has it been like working with the legendary shooting coach, Dave Hopla? What he has worked on with you?

AA: He’s been working on my technique. Making sure I get my arm up, getting my elbow at my eyebrow. And he’s really been helping me with my jump shot.

I don’t know, give that a try. Feels totally weird, huh? Maybe we’re lacking context, but that is not how I’d be training someone to shoot. I don’t even think Larry Bird shot that high above his head.

In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone — not even Joe Schmoe — shoot with their elbow at their eyebrows, throughout 8 years of running tournaments and leagues, with me watching a good portion of over 100 teams playing every weekend!

There’s got to be more to this elbow-at-eyebrow thing than meets the eye. For now, it’s bugging me.

Read the whole article: DraftExpress: West Coast Workout Swing Part 2: Al-Farouq Aminu in Los Angeles

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Looks like Avery Bradley’s a point guard

poormanscommish — Fri, 14 May 2010 15:59:53 +0000

Chad Ford is following the NBA predraft training circuit and has filed a rather surprising report on former Texas freshman Avery Bradley. My observations this past season led me to believe he was an undersized shooting guard, but now I wouldn’t be surprised if NBA executives have him targeted as a point guard.

That means another point guard pick has been taken, because Bradley’s a shoo-in in this Draft. Therefore, it’s one less reason for Jeremy Lin to get drafted (which isn’t necessarily the same thing as to get a spot on an NBA roster).

Here’s an excerpt from Ford’s article on Bradley…

I’m still not sure if he’s a pure point guard, and that’s a serious drawback. But everything else looks pretty good. He’s super-quick and can change speeds on a dime. He showed an excellent jumper, with NBA 3-point range. He displayed the ability to score from just about everywhere on the floor. And when he got into it with the likes of Sherron Collins and Armon Johnson, his stifling defense gave them lots of problems.

I thought during the NCAA season, Bradley did show some nice defensive skills compared to the average college defender, which might not be saying much, but him being skinny and all, and his really sweet midrange jumper, I just didn’t see the D translating to the next level.

But if Ford is saying he’s shutting down Collins and Johnson, then maybe Bradley’s an NBA point guard from the defensive angle, then NBA execs are drooling. They’re thinking, “We’ll figure out how to fit him into the offensive scheme — at point.”

Back to his jumper. It’s the one comparison I can make to an NBA superstar: Michael Jordan. I’ve tweeted before about Bradley that he’s like Mike in that regard, but only in that regard. He squares up, he jumps high, his elbow is straight, and the ball is always in the middle of his springboard form.

Ford’s eyewitness account of stifling Collins and, to a degree Johnson (because I don’t think Johnson is that hard to contain, sorry) gives me food for thought that Bradley is worth a first-round pick.

Read more (ESPN Insider subscription required): NBA draft 2010: Avery Bradley, Lance Stephenson shine at Las Vegas workouts – ESPN

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DeMar DeRozan learning the NBA business

poormanscommish — Tue, 11 May 2010 21:59:51 +0000

Here’s a nice peek into an NBA rookie’s life. There’s a lot to learn about this business, and the Toronto Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan gives some good insights, including his reaction to comments from LeBron James that the Raptors didn’t want to make the playoffs (“that’s his opinion”), how he and a teammate once took a night drive 40 miles outside of Toronto just to explore, and rookie hazing (or lack thereof).

Especially as an historic NBA Draft approaches, I’ve become more and more amazed how these young players, often times barely legal as far as walking into a bar, are forced to make multi-million-dollar business decisions that even 35-year-olds working in the bustling high-tech Silicon Valley or the rigors of Wall Street like us, would have a hard time sorting out. Here’s an excerpt from DeRozan on that note, but the entire article is worth the read. There’s also another post by the New Jersey Nets’ Terrence Williams that precedes DeRozan’s post.

The tough stuff about the league is just realizing very quickly that you are expected to be grown. In college they make you run when you mess up. Here, they fine you! It’s your money. It’s really a business. No one is going to baby you and you have to be accountable for all of your actions. Being away from my family was tough when I was frustrated on the court. I wished they were there just to ease it up a bit, but I got through it. There was a period where I went through what y’all call the rookie wall. Nothing was going my way and that was tough for me. Chris Bosh really helped me out with that. He told me you can’t let your last game affect your next game. You have to learn how to brush it off and keeping going. He told me he went through the same thing. He really helped me out a lot with that.

Read the whole article: http://rookiechronicles.com/2010/05/demar-derozan-blog-wrapping-up-my-rookie-year/

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A few pg prospects return to college

poormanscommish — Tue, 11 May 2010 00:37:45 +0000

Jeremy Lin was not invited to the Portland Trailblazers’ recent workout, but in case you got the news second-hand (e.g., through another cut-up job by RealGM), that is actually good news for him and many other point guard draft prospects. In one fell swoop, and in recognition of the NCAA’s self-serving deadline of May 8, the Blazers did many people a favor by telling these invites that they ought to go back to college. Here were the key take-aways from the article by Joe Freeman of The Oregonian…

“The draft in general is quite strong, to be honest with you,” said Chad Buchanan, the Blazers’ director of college scouting. “I think there are a couple stars at the top and a lot of very good potential starters and rotation guys down to the early second round. It’s a deep draft.”

I might even add that we could see the landscape of the NBA change with this draft. The 2010 NBA Draft is so deep with big men, that we should see a return to more traditional lineups with either two 4’s or a 4 and a 5 in the frontcourt, instead of situations like the post-devoid Golden State Warriors or Atlanta Hawks where you have 6′9″ Al Horford playing center in the 2nd round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

I might add that the Draft is also well-stocked with athletic wings. So, the demand (and supply) with point guards and shooters is very low this year.

Here’s another take-away from the article…

Note: The underclassmen who worked out Friday were E’Twaun Moore of Purdue, Lavoy Allen of Temple, Talor Battle of Penn State, Malcolm Delaney of Virginia Tech, Eniel Polynice of Mississippi, Alex Tyus of Florida and Mike Davis of Illinois. Others working out were Dominic Waters of Portland State, Devan Downey of South Carolina, NBDL player Jeremy Wise, Donald Sloan of Texas A&M and Connecticut’s Gavin Edwards.

Here are my brief scouting reports on each of these players…

Moore — A tallish ballhandler who I really like, but he’s definitely one more year away. Really good passing skills. The return of Robbie Hummel to Purdue’s lineup next year will enhance Moore’s draft stock. He’s the only one in this group that really has a shot for making the NBA in 2011. Also, this is good news for Jeremy Lin fans, as one more pg has fallen off the radar, albeit probably ranked lower than Jeremy to begin with.

Allen, Tyus, Davis, Waters, Wise — Never heard of these guys. And believe me, I cast my net far and wide this season with respect to draftable point guards in competition with Jeremy. I hope to write more about these in the coming weeks before the Draft.

Battle — Too small for the NBA.

Delaney — A great scorer, but he’s being inserted at the 1 because of his 6-foot height. So, he’s a 2 trapped inside a 1’s body. He doesn’t have the right mentality or size to be an NBA 1. I don’t think it really matters if he returns to college. He could perhaps make decent money playing pro overseas.

Polynice — Spitting in the face of Terrico White ballyhooers, I will say that Polynice was, in my mind, Mississippi’s best player last season. He has nice NBA size for a big guard, but he really doesn’t have much skill beyond hustle. Another year in college to develop that skill will be helpful.

Downey — A terrific leader at the point-scorer position for South Carolina, unfortunately he’s too small for the NBA and he did not stand out at all at Portsmouth.

Sloan — A 2-guard, he showed he could score at Portsmouth, but didn’t do so with any flair or athletic prowess, i.e., he didn’t raise my eyebrows on a consistent basis.

Edwards — This UConn big man is just too slow for the NBA. He doesn’t bring anything of note to the table.

And finally, the best news thus far for Jeremy Lin fans, excerpted from the article…

Buchanan said he expects all seven underclassmen at Friday’s workout to return to school.

Once again, thanks to the Blazers for saving a lot of heartache on the part of these players.

Read the whole article: Trail Blazers begin NBA draft workouts | OregonLive.com

In addition, the more highly-touted Jimmer Fredette of BYU also returned to school.You might also like:

Kevin Durant: MVP? Maybe. MGS? Definitely.

poormanscommish — Sat, 01 May 2010 21:05:26 +0000

Most Grounded Superstar, that’s what I call Kevin Durant. TNT’s Kenny Smith said on the air last week that in three years, he’ll be the best player in the NBA, the Most Valuable Player. I don’t know if that will happen, but I sure hope it does. Here are some quotes that show how well-grounded he is. After a community event where he assisted a family on a grocery shopping spree…

http://www.nba.com/thunder/news/durant_takes_one_lucky_family__2010_03_13.html

“All they were going after was junk food,” Durant said later, grinning. “That’s something I remember when I was growing up. All I wanted was junk food, too. It was pretty funny.”

And how he gives autographs to kids from his neighborhood who knock on his front door (link is below)…

“A lot of kids come to my door asking for autographs or just want to talk,” Durant said before Friday’s Game 6 of a West first-round series against the Lakers at the Ford Center. “That’s pretty cool, especially around playoff time. A lot of kids like to come around and stuff. I guess they’re on spring break.”

…

“They just ring the door bell,” he said. “I got a glass door so I can see them coming up the street. But they always catch me at the right time… They might know my schedule. They come at the right time. That’s cool the fans really like us.”

…

When he is home, Durant said it would never occur to him to tell kids stopping by he can’t be bothered during the playoffs.

“No,” he said. “Because if I was a little kid and I knew an NBA player lived down the street, I’d do the same thing.”

Read the whole article at: Knock, Knock! Kevin Durant Really Is Here — NBA FanHouse

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Declining LeBron James global icon stock?

poormanscommish — Sat, 01 May 2010 17:57:22 +0000

Have you seen the latest video where the ballboy for the Chicago Bulls is waiting for LeBron James to hand him the sweatpants, and LeBron tosses it to the side so the ballboy has to pick it up off the floor? Shooting shirt A is not too far behind, followed by shooting shirt B. That’s three garments the poor kid had to pick up off the floor, in rapid succession.

Then we learned that, not too long ago, LeBron’s idea of adding cache to his LRMR corporation was to add Chris Paul to the team by having him buy equity in the company. Hmm, at this juncture and in this context, I’m not sure that CP3 was going to be a good fit, ya know?

I guess this wonderfully funny clip showing some Asian-Americans in New York not too fond of the Big Apple’s landing of LBJ as a free agent, is somewhat appropriate?…

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Carmelo Anthony pointing fingers while claiming he’s not

poormanscommish — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:00:08 +0000

If you’re like at least 80% of us, on your rec basketball team you’re probably not the best player, not the go-to guy. Let’s say you just had a playoff game and your team stunk it up. You personally played kinda so-so, maybe even a little subpar, but definitely inconsistently. At the same time, the best guy on your team just exploded for 39 points and 11 rebounds. Then he says this: “I’m not pointing fingers or anything, but I can’t do this by myself, guys.”

Now, let’s turn the tables. Let’s say you are that go-to guy and you’re the one who recorded the 39-and-11, but still lost.

Some of us may have been in those shoes before, despite clearly falling well short of becoming an NBA superstar. Maybe you were the best player on your squad, the only kid who played varsity high school ball on a crappy team in the intramural league. You scored 20 ppg. For the first playoff game, you scored 27 but you guys lost. Maybe your older, veteran point guard couldn’t hit any shots either.

I just don’t see anything gained by Carmelo Anthony saying, “Guys, I can’t do this by myself.” I mean, you’re the best player. If you have to do it by yourself, you’re supposed to do it by yourself. In this case, against a team that is playing far better as a unit, you have to do it by yourself. Isn’t that what Michael Jordan did in the early years? Isn’t that what Dwyane Wade and to an extent not as extreme, LeBron James, are doing as we speak?

It’s not a constructive thing to say, either. Maybe your team is just that bad. At the very least, they are what they are. You should be aware of their warts by now. Getting your inferior teammates to play better should be led by example, especially when you’re not the coach and it’s not your job to mentally prepare your teammates.

Believe it or not, I was one of those go-to guys during a blip in my younger years. You know what? I would’ve said to myself, “Screw it, Chris airballed that last one, I’m not going to pass to him next time no matter how open he is. And Chauncey’s cold today, so if it comes down to a contested shot for him versus one for me, it will be me. I’m creating a shot for myself before the double-team gets there. I’m demanding the ball out of bounds and dribbling it 94 feet until my teammates step it up. Me executing a difficulty 9 shot attempt is better than risking Chris doing something stupid. If I screw up, I screw up, but at least I didn’t let so-and-so screw it up again.”

That’s the executive decision you’ve got to make, as the superstar of the team after giving your teammates a chance. That’s why games are 48 minutes long. Keep in mind, you have to pick your spots. Not even MJ could go in sixth gear for the whole game.

I guess this gets filed in the bin entitled “don’t sweat the stuff that’s not under your control”, which includes ranting about referees, something I just can’t stand. Basically, I can’t stand whining, which is why I’m so taken aback by Melo.

To top things off, I haven’t ever seen MJ, LeBron, Brandon Roy, Paul Pierce, Kevin Durant, or even Kobe Bryant blaming teammates like that. Didn’t D-Wade score 46 the other day to stave off elimination? If that’s what you gotta do, that’s what you gotta do.

If 39-and-11 isn’t good enough, then just realize you gave it your best, or else go out and record 49-and-16. Assess the situation and act accordingly per your abilities. But please don’t whine about it and tell your teammates the kettle is black. It’s disrespectful for you to point out something that they already know. It also implies that you want to win more than your teammates do.

So, in effect, I just think Melo is reinforcing his rather one-dimensionalism here. He still needs to work on his full-court ball-handling abilities so that he need not rely on someone giving him the ball. He needs to have more games where he makes twenty trips to the free throw line.

It’s too bad. I really would like to consider him amongst the aforementioned as a fellow elite superstar, but this is a step in the wrong direction and keeps him out of the club. Moreover, this is definitely not going to help the already downtrodden team chemistry.

Not everyone out there will agree with me, though. Here’s the original post by BlackSportsOnline. I think they make a mistake by condoning Melo’s quotes, excerpted below.

In short, I think the editor at BlackSportsOnline ought to start playing in Dream League to get a first-hand taste in team/superstar dynamics. If he plays long enough, he’ll understand what I mean. Here’s Melo…

“I’m trying, I’m trying to beat them. I’m trying to do everything I can in my power to beat the Jazz,” Anthony said Sunday. “But, at the end of the day, I need some help. I’m not sitting here pointing fingers or nothing. As a unit, we’ve got to do this together. I can’t do this by myself…I’m in a battle. I don’t have time to worry about people’s feelings right now,” Anthony said. “I’m trying to win.”

Read their whole analysis at: Carmelo Anthony: “I Need Some Help; I Can’t Do this by Myself” : Robert Littal Presents BlackSportsOnline

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