Have you ever heard people say, ‘they brought their A game’? Or a coach will demand, ‘you need to bring your A game’? Better yet, someone in the losing locker-room explaining to a reporter, ‘we just didn’t bring our A game’.

To me, that’s all wrong.  You need to bring something stronger. Something much better. Something that gives you a better chance of winning.  How about your A+ game!

In big games, your A game will not cut it. In any game, your A game may help you stay close, but in order to win the big games, you need to bring your A+ game.

Every possession matters.  Every shot, every pass and every rebound…matters! Each time you step between the lines, play with energy, defend and take care of the ball.

Step up your game and bring your A+ game!

Observations:

I watched the Denver Nuggets go into LA to play the Clippers Friday night. Bad news for the Nuggets. LA decided to play.  Play hard that is.  Carmelo Anthony started off the game scoring 17 points helping Denver to a 12 point lead early.  He was scoring from all angles.  But Chris Kaman, by way of Central Michigan University took it upon himself to dominate the low post.

The Clippers bench also did a great job led by Sebastian Telfair who thought he was back in Coney Island pushing the ball in transition and dribbling like he was auditioning for the latest And 1 Mix Tour.  Rasul Butler chipped in with 27. Clipper came out on top 106-99.  Do you think Clippers head coach Mike Dunleavy and Telfair sit down and talk Brooklyn Hoops? Dunleavy played at Nazareth High School, Telfair at Lincoln.  Would love to hear those two debate which is better, the CHSAA or PSAL?

“We have to somehow realize that we are everybody’s big game,” said Denver guard Chauncey Billups. “It’s not like a few years ago where you play the Clippers or somebody and it is just another game.”

That’s right CB, you guys are being hunted now!

Speaking of another ‘CB’, Charlie Bell of the Milwaukee Bucks (formerly of Flint Southwestern High School) has filled in for Michael Redd at the shooting guard position and has done a solid job. Last night he scored 19 points on 7-15 shooting including 5-11 from way downtown in leading the Bucks to a 103-98 win over Memphis. Milwaukee is now 8-3.

The New Jersey Nets are now 0-13 after losing to the Knicks on Saturday 98-91. Bring back Foots Walker, Mike Newlin and Mike Gminski!

Rasheed Wallace of the Boston Celtics is shooting 22 of 70 on the season from way downtown. Including 0-8 Friday night against the Orlando Magic.  What, him worry?

“I ain’t worried about it, honestly,’’ said Wallace, after he missed all eight 3-point attempts. “I probably rushed about two or three of them. Other than that, it’s good looks, they’re just not going for me. I’m not worried about my offense now. It’s still early in the season, I know I won’t be shooting like this for the duration of the season.

There’s a novel in us all… or so they say… still waiting to find mine, not fussy but the ‘next’ Harry Potter wouldn’t go amiss.

Anyway ex-soldiers Charlie Bell and Ian Deacon (AKA Eddy Nugent) have certainly found their inner author. Ian and Charlie have a new book on patrol, ‘The Map of Africa‘, that charts the exploits of Eddy Nugent in the British Army, a far cry from the rainy Manchester streets where he grew up. The semi-autobiographical book is a follow up to ‘Picking Up The Brass‘ and will provide a giggle for servicemen and civvies alike.

c/o Darth Holden licensed under Creative Commons.

This past Saturday night Milwaukee Bucks rookie guard Brandon Jennings went for 55 points against the Golden State Warriors. This cat is unreal! Can he go or what? (Let’s not forget he dropped 32 on the Denver Nuggets)

I’m so mad at myself for not taking Bucks veteran guard Charlie Bell up on his offer of inviting me to come out to Milwaukee to observe pre-season workouts!  Here’s Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports with a solid piece on Jennings.

When Under Armour hired Stone to get into the basketball endorsement game, all he did was bank his career, his credibility, on a skinny lefty kid who everyone feared would be broken overseas and an afterthought in the 2009 draft. Only, Stone always believed he had a deeper understanding of Jennings.

To Stone, there’s one story that tells it all. There’s a reference to which he always returns. Three years ago, Jennings had come to New York as a high school junior to play in the Elite 24 all-star game that Stone had started, and he won the MVP over players like Michael Beasley(notes) andKevin Love(notes). The next morning, it was Stone’s job to drive over to the Westin Hotel in Times Square and make sure the kids were awake by 8 a.m. on the way to LaGuardia for flights home. So, Stone walked into the hotel lobby at 6, the elevator doors opened and there was a vision that brought him back to his days growing up in the Bay Area.

“And here comes Brandon walking out with a basketball under his arm, a T-shirt and shorts,” Stone said. “He had just achieved his greatest accomplishment as a high school player, and he’s running out the door to go work out with Ben Gordon(notes). That always stuck with me.”

I’m learning more and more about Jennings, and I like what I am hearing especially the things he says about his performance. This guy “gets it.”

“The shots kept going in, and after a while the rim kept getting bigger and bigger and I just felt like I couldn’t miss,” Jennings said. “I guess I was in that zone, you know? But that doesn’t happen without [Andrew] Bogut down low, scoring in the post and opening things up for me. I’m not doing this alone here.”

Teammates giving each other credit-that’s playing the right way. I’ve seen players put up big numbers and not give anyone credit; “I could’ve had more if coach put me in earlier.” is what I once heard a player say at the press conference. Jennings has a new follower in this blogger/coach. I will follow his progress a lot closer.

How about his comments on the Knicks passing on him in the draft. This quote is for Herb Welling…

“I feel like I understand why teams like the Knicks passed on me, because I didn’t put up big numbers in Italy last year,” he said. “But you needed to see me in the practices, and the workouts, to see how I was coming along there. Hey, I’m a gym rat. You had to know that about me.”

A gym rat! I love it…End of story!

P.S.

If any of the Under Armour people read this entry, I would love to have my team endorse their basketball product!

-Coach Finamore

Hoops135@hotmail.com

I’m on Facebook and you can follow me on Twitter: @CoachFinamore

Milwaukee Bucks rookie point guard Brandon Jennings went crazy against the Golden State Warriors, dropping 55 points in victory, including 29 in the third quarter alone. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

Brandon Jennings didn’t want to go to college. He believed that if he was going to play, it would be for a paycheck, so, unable to enter the draft due to the age restrictions, the highly touted point guard became the first player to forgo college and make the leap from high school to professional European basketball. In making the decision to sign a one-year contract with Italian club Lottomatica Roma, the Oak Hill Academy star who won every major player of the year award as a senior believed he would see a substantial amount of action, thereby increasing his notoriety for the following year’s NBA Draft.

But things didn’t go as planned, and Jennings spent a majority of the season riding the bench. When he did play, he wasn’t all too successful, averaging 5 points, 2 rebounds, and one assist in 27 games while shooting just 35 percent from the field and 20 percent from three-point land.

His struggles on the European stage would presumably hurt his draft status, but his lowly statistics did no such thing. Recognizing the potential, the Milwaukeee Bucks selected the skinny 6′1″ 20-year old with the tenth overall selection. Milwaukee thought enough of his talent not only to make him a top-ten pick, but to let 23-year old starting point guard Ramon Sessions leave via free agency. The job was Jennings’, whether he was ready to take the reins or not.

It appeared he wasn’t. He averaged a satisfactory 10 points and 5 assists during the preseason, but was woefully inconsistent, scoring three points and dishing one assists one game and then scoring ten and racking up 12 assists the next. He had plenty of skeptics, and many deemed after the former performance that he simply wasn’t able to play in the NBA just yet. But boy has he proved them wrong.

Jennings narrowly missed out on a triple-double in his regular season debut against the Philadelphia 76ers. He scored 17 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and handed out nine assists, one rebound and one assist short of becoming the first player since Oscar Robertson to post a triple-double in his first game. To prove this performance wasn’t a fluke, he scored 24 points the following night against the Detroit Pistons, and 25 points three days later against the Chicago Bulls.

He struggled in his fourth game, posting a line similar to that in the preseason, scoring 9 points on 4-16 shooting while compiling just three assists in 27 minutes. He has since bounced back from this mediocre performance in a big way. He scored 17 points against the New York Knicks, one of nine teams that passed up his services, and then exploded for 32 points against a horrible defensive Denver Nuggets team to go along with 9 assists.

He played an even worse defensive team last night, facing a Golden State Warriors team that, coached by Don Nelson, is currently in disarray. Nelson grooms his players to be offensively oriented; they don’t have a single player that takes pride in defensive intensity, or playing defense at all. Playing Golden State, which came in allowing 110 points per game, Jennings went nuts on Milwaukee’s home-court.

He didn’t score in the first quarter, which makes his feat that much more remarkable. He was 0-3 shooting with a turnover. Then, beginning a layup to begin Milwaukee’s second quarter, he started to heat up. Fellow rookie Stephen Curry had the assignment of guarding him, and though he blocked his shot on the next possession and forced a missed jumper a minute later, his defense would soon wane.

Jennings hit a three-pointer three minutes after making a free-throw, giving him six points in 14 minutes. He reached double figures by halftime, skying for a tip-in and a dunk to give him ten points at intermission. He had a quiet first half, and his Bucks were down by eight. There was no sign that he would be in for a big night, that was until shots starting falling in the third quarter.

He drained a 16-footer over Curry with two minutes gone by, cutting a deficit that reached ten back down to eight. He hit another jumper, dwindling the margin to seven, and a three-pointer that whittled it to six. A possession later, he made it a four-point game by crossing over Monta Ellis and driving in for a layup. He cut the Warriors lead to three with a three-pointer, to one with a layup, tied it with a free-throw, grabbed the lead with a mid-range jumper, and extended the Bucks advantage to five with his fourth three-pointer. In the quarter’s first eight minutes, he amounted 20 points, picking Golden State apart for uncovered jumper after jumper and layup after layup. He was just getting warm, too.

He became a point guard for a few possessions, finding guard Charlie Bell and center Andrew Bogut for layups, before harkening back to the player who averaged 32 points per game in his high school career. With blazing quickness and the ability to stop on a dime, he continued his magnificent period, exploding in for a layup, pulling up for a floater in the lane, canning a long three-pointer from the top of the key, then a jumper from the angle. In the third quarter, Jennings scored an incredible 29 points. He made 12-13 shots, including 4-5 three-pointers. With this, his first half was a distant memory. He now had 39 points for the game, with another breathtaking quarter ahead of him.

His first points of the final period were free-throws, coming with nine and a half minutes remaining, putting him over the 40-point plateau. In spite of his scoring outburst, a jumper by Ellis gave the Warriors a 110-109 lead with just under four minutes left. Jennings said enough is enough and started his late surge. A nine-foot, high arching jumper regained the lead for Milwaukee, and a three-pointer without a defender within five feet increased the margin to a slim two. He made Golden State’s deficit six with a mid-range jumper, and then six again, thrusting the dagger deep in the Warriors heart by hitting his seventh and final three-pointer with 34 seconds left, icing a magical win for the Bucks.

He hit two free-throws with ten seconds left, creating the final margin of 129-125 in Milwaukee’s favor. Those two free-throws gave him 55 points, and an amazing 45 in the second half. In all, he made 21-34 field goals, 7-8 three-pointers, 6-8 free-throws, and still found time to dish five assists. His performance, in front of a raucous crowd of 15,000, was beyond belief, and overwhelmingly silenced every critic who thought he was nowhere near ready for the NBA, a league that he has dominated during his young career.

Wedding Bells

So as I posted yesterday last night was my mothers wading and it was a truely amazing, amazing experiance. Not only was it my first wedding but it was some of the most fun I’ve had in an extremely Long time.
The wedding was filled with people that I had no idea my mother knew.
Connie Payton( Walter Paytons wife)
Charlie bell
Dan gadzurich
(Milwaukee bucks players)

It was a great time.
Even more impressive than the guest list was the music.
A great mix of new and old.
Enjoy.

mr. hudson feat. kanye west – anyone but him

mr. hudson feat. kid cudi – everything is broken

Never Can Say Goodbye- Jackson 5

Dancing Machine- Jackson 5

Where have all the Flowers Gone- Earth, Wind And Fire

Shinning Star- Earth, Wind and Fire

My son Gabe and his Mommy Lyssa

Enjoy this great music like we all did last night

Until the next time
Remember
GoWithTheFlow

]]> http://f3606.wordpress.com/2009/10/17/wedding-bells/ Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:31:43 +0000 flowjohnson http://f3606.wordpress.com/2009/10/17/wedding-bells/

Wedding Bells

So as I posted yesterday last night was my mothers wading and it was a truely amazing, amazing experiance. Not only was it my first wedding but it was some of the most fun I’ve had in an extremely Long time.
The wedding was filled with people that I had no idea my mother knew.
Connie Payton( Walter Paytons wife)
Charlie bell
Dan gadzurich
(Milwaukee bucks players)

It was a great time.
Even more impressive than the guest list was the music.
A great mix of new and old.
Enjoy.

mr. hudson feat. kanye west – anyone but him

mr. hudson feat. kid cudi – everything is broken

Never Can Say Goodbye- Jackson 5

Dancing Machine- Jackson 5

Where have all the Flowers Gone- Earth, Wind And Fire

Shinning Star- Earth, Wind and Fire

My son Gabe and his Mommy Lyssa

Enjoy this great music like we all did last night

Until the next time
Remember
GoWithTheFlow

]]> http://pickandpop.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/long-drawn-out-but-very-personable-nba-previews-milwaukee-bucks/ Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:45:03 +0000 pickandpop http://pickandpop.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/long-drawn-out-but-very-personable-nba-previews-milwaukee-bucks/

By Justin Cherot

THE NBA IS BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!!!

And, you know, we here at Pick and Pop try to keep it as fresh and quirky as possible.  So, my plan for the next 32 (or some odd) days is to not break down how a team will do.  That’s for sportswriters with degrees and such, although I guess a night before the season tips off Colin and I will do something like that. 

Instead, I’m giving every single player in the league, even some guys that won’t even make the roster, a little ink.  Because not all players are created (and adored) equally by yours truly, some will have much longer anecdotes/analysis or what have you than others.  Case and point: would it be fair to give Dirk Nowitzki and Adam Morrison the same amount of space?  I haven’t gotten that far yet, but I’m willing to bet I won’t do that.

I guess to make sure the pecking order of the NBA isn’t completely ruined, I’m going to go in ascending order in terms of how I predict the teams will finish.  We stay in the NBA’s lower echelon (wondering if things will eventually stop looking so putrid) with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Michael Redd, if healthy, will find the basket early and often this season. His team, on the other hand... Photo by Nick Wass/AP.

Star

 

 

Michael Redd

It’s amazing what you can do with a little hardwork and dedication.  Sure, Redd was a horse in college, but while NBA scouts saw him as someone who could fill it up, they questioned, of all things, his ability to consistently hit jumpers.  That seems really funny almost ten years later, doesn’t it?  Not only has he learned to hit jumpers “consistently”, he’s become arguably the best jump shooter in the NBA.  If he comes back healthy this season, especially with the Bucks in a talent recession with the loss of Richard Jefferson and Ramon Sessions, Redd may lead the NBA in scoring… and, despite his strong ties to Christianity, on-court curse words.  I can see it now: “Damnit, Brandon!  Look at me when you’re passing the ball!!!”

The Other Starters

Andrew Bogut

Bogut really earned my respect as a basketball player during the 2006 FIBA tournament.  I felt lukewarm about his potential as a pro prior to his overmatched Aussie team going against the U.S., but I literally watched this man play every single position on the floor from one to five.  It’s like he would win the tip, and the “point guard” would give it right back to him to run the offense.  Even if it was in Milwaukee, he averaged about the quietest double-double in the NBA last season.  He’s got good touch around the basket, good floor vision, and, most importantly when it comes to NBA big men, he’s not soft.  I like him for about 16 and 11 this year.

Luke Ridnour

PROP BET ALERT!  PROP BET ALERT!  Over/under on 40 games before Brandon Jennings becomes the starting point guard.  I’ll gladly take the under.  Jokes aside, Ridnour may be inconsistent from the perimeter and a horrible defender, but that boy can move the rock.  One of these days he’ll be a good back-up point guard for a good team.

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute

I shall officially annoint thee “Black Najera”… more athleticism, far less range.  Again, this is a guy you want coming off the bench in spurts, not a guy you’re forced to play 30 minutes a game.

Hakim Warrick 

Instead of talking about Warrick’s tweener-trumping athleticism, it’s time for a short rant.  I just want to let ESPN.com that on Milwaukee’s depth chart Warrick apparently still plays for no one and Amir Johnson is their starting four man… which would be nice except Johnson was traded to the Raptors A MONTH AGO!!!  ESPN needs to get on their game if they want our link business.  One more strike, ESPN.  Just one more…

The Bench (at least according to ESPN.com assuming I can trust that these guys are still alive)

Brandon Jennings

As much as I love Stephen Curry, I really felt like Jennings would have been a better fit for the Warriors.  Instead of getting a pure (albeit very raw) point guard, they get more of a hybrid guy, and while the Warriors want him to come in and play, we all know what happens to hybrid guys.  While I pray that Steph-Cur is the exception to the rule, I’ll be keeping a close eye on Jennings.  We’ll see if his little European excursion turned him into a better player.  If it did, then the Bucks got a steal at number ten.  If not, well at least he has a passport.

Charlie Bell 

Funny how he ended up being a solid role player in the NBA and his running mate, former lottery pick teammate Mateen Cleaves ended up being a world traveler.  Bell has been surprisingly efficient offensively, and if I was creating an ideal basketball team Bell would probably have a place on it.  

Dan Gadzuric 

He’s one of the only basketball players I can ever think of who let people pronounce his name completely wrong for several years before finally correcting them.  I still have that problem with “Cherot”, but I’m such a nice guy that I feel bad for correcting people.  Maybe I should take the Gadzuric approach.

Kurt Thomas

I can’t find the video, but my favorite moment of the Kobe Doin’ Work documentary was when Kobe caught an inbounds pass and, in the same motion, managed to release the shot just as Thomas was coming over to swat it… and had time to say, “Gotcha!” as he watched the ball slice through the net.  It was funnier each of the three times they replayed the moment, too.

Carlos Delfino

Even though Delfino has been a staple in Argentina’s strong showings in international competition and despite a solid season last year, I keep waiting for him to be better.  Maybe I shouldn’t hold my breath.

Joe Alexander

I don’t know about Alexander.  While it’s true that he was a rookie last year and behind Jefferson, you’d figure he would at least crack the rotation, especially on a team that’s not so great.  I won’t use the “B” word quite yet, particularly because he’s athletic and he has some touch, but if he doesn’t play at least 20 minutes a game this season, I might start spelling it out.

Francisco Elson

I do these previews not because I’m trying to gain fans, not because I’m trying to get my name out there, not because I’m trying to get someone from ESPN.com to notice me and facilitate me getting my career started… but because I love learning new things.  And, I just learned the Bucks will be the only team in the NBA this season with two back-up centers from the Netherlands.  Awesome factoid!

Jodie Meeks

If Meeks had stayed in school, the Kentucky Wildcats would have definitely won a national championship that would inevitably get stricken from the record books because of shady recruiting practices five years later.  It may still happen, but only time will tell.

Roko Ukic

I pride myself on having an opinion on every NBA player, but I have to admit I haven’t seen Ukic play, and if I haven’t chances are you haven’t.  So, let’s learn together.

One minute into that video and I already like him better than Ridnour.  If you were like me and watched the entire thing, is there anything funnier than CDR from the Nets tripping like that?  It’s official: I’m hopping on the Ukic bandwagon!

Ersan Ilyasova

Ilyasova has a tough act to follow on YouTube… watching…watching…(asleep)…zzzzzzz…. okay, enough of that.  I’m going to go out on the limb and say, based on the video, that he could end up eventually starting for a bad team one day because of his shooting ability and length.  You heard it first.

Walter Sharpe

Good luck to you, kind sir.  Hope you didn’t buy a home in Wisconsin.

NBA Preview Archives

32. Sacramento Kings

31. New Jersey Nets

true story kids....stay in school and do your homework

kids, this is why you should stay in school and get your education and degree.

This is not to insult those who work at fast food, but it should rarely be looked at a career. It is a grind that you have to work until the day comes to work something better.

No one ever talks about what to do once the fans stop cheering your name.  Hopefully you have a good money manager…

true story kids....stay in school and do your homework

kids, this is why you should stay in school and get your education and degree.

This is not to insult those who work at fast food, but it should rarely be looked at a career.  It is a grind that you have to work until the day comes to work something better.

The Milwaukee Bucks have had an underwhelming off-season. After a 2008-2009 campaign where important coach Scott Skiles improved this team’s defense and toughness the same way he did in Chicago, Bucks fans have watched as three of their four most talented players have been let go.

First, Richard Jefferson was moved to San Antonio for cap relief, Kurt Thomas, and Amir Johnson (who was later traded to Toronto along with Sonny Weems for Carlos Delfino and Roko Ukic). Then, Charlie Villanueva was allowed to walk, choosing to sign with Detroit. Finally, the team declined to match Minnesota’s below-market-value offer sheet to Ramon Sessions. This is all kind of understandable in the scheme of things, as the Bucks are cash-strapped, in a small market, and nowhere close to being a serious contender. If you’re a Milwaukee fan, though, it had to hurt, epecially considering the Jefferson trade represented the colossal failures of the previous two summers, where they had 1) drafted Yi Jianlian 6th overall and 2) traded Jianlian and Bobby Simmons to New Jersey in exchange for RJ.

As I said, the off-season’s been underwhelming in light of what they’ve lost this summer, but let’s examine the guys the Bucks have added to the roster:

1. Brandon Jennings: Milwaukee fans can be legitimately excited about this rookie. You know the story: played in Italy last season instead of becoming another slave to the NCAA, sick handles, great court vision, tons of potential, but needs time to develop. He may have come under fire a bit earlier this summer, but he seems like a great kid. Anyway, he will probably make tons of mistakes, turn the ball over too much, and miss jumpers this season. That’s fine, he’s only 19. Be patient with him.
2. Jodie Meeks: He can score. He really can. He gave up the chance to be on an absolutely stacked Kentucky team this year in order to be picked 41st by Milwaukee. For his sanity’s sake, I hope he gets some burn this season and contributes. You know he’s going to be watching John Wall and company tear it up next year.
3. Hakim Warrick: This is the Bucks’ only real free agent signing. I guess he will replace Charlie Villanueva. He’s a different kind of player than Charlie V., but still an effective one. He can score, he can guard, and he can play both forward positions (although he is most suited to the 4). Good one-year signing, but is he part of the Bucks’ long-term plans?
4. Kurt Thomas: He’s exactly the type of player Scott Skiles likes – not flashy, but smart and tough. He’ll play excellent post defense, grab boards, and hit open jumpers from the wing. He’s way past his prime, but he’s still effective. If I’m Skiles, I’m happy to have him, but if I’m the GM I’m already looking to trade him to a better team for young talent.
5. Carlos Delfino: He has a chance to start at the 3 for Milwaukee. He’s got handles, he can shoot, and he rebounds at an excellent rate for a wing player. Watching him in Toronto, I appreciated his toughness and his ability to space the floor on offense, but I grew tired of his inconsistency. Let’s hope this is the year he avoids those 3-12 shooting nights.
6. Roko Ukic: We’re all infatuated by his potential – he’s a 6’5 point guard who can get to the basket and make very nice passes. However, his shooting and decision-making leave a lot to be desired. He’ll be 25 in December, so his deficiencies in these areas are worrying to even the most ardent Ukic supporters.
7. Ersan Ilyasova: He was below average in his first NBA go-round, but has been productive overseas. If you haven’t noticed, he’s absolutely killing it in Eurobasket right now, so Bucks fans have reason to be excited about him. You’ve gotta wonder if there will be minutes for him in the rotation, though – he’ll be competing against Luc Richard Mbah A Moute, Kurt Thomas, Hakim Warrick, and Joe Alexander.
8. Walter Sharpe: Um, Sharpe has played 20 minutes in his NBA career. I’m not going to pretend I have anything to tell you about him.

With these guys joining a healthy Michael Redd, along with Andrew Bogut, Charlie Bell, and Luke Ridnour, these Bucks could challenge for the 8th seed in the East. I see that as the ceiling for this season, given that Scott Skiles hasn’t worn out his welcome yet. He’s capable of making teams achieve more than they should on paper and is excellent at disguising individuals’ defensive flaws. This is what makes him a good coach.

I would be very worried about this if I was a Bucks fan, though. The last thing this team needs is a mediocre season where they finish with a record just good enough to keep them from getting a high draft pick. What I advocate is the same as what PG of All Things Hoops has called for: Play small-ball, trade guys like Kurt Thomas and Charlie Bell, and listen very seriously to trade offers for Michael Redd. The losses of Villanueva, Sessions, and Jefferson are only excusable if this franchise commits to a rebuilding plan. I know Skiles would hate to hear this, but this club doesn’t need a decent record in 2009-2010. At this point, Milwaukee fans just need a team that has a chance to compete a few years down the road.

I always talk about the ‘well-off’ helping others in need.  It’s the humane thing to do.  I have mentioned that every NBA player should run a basketball camp in their hometown or even help build a playground or basketball court in their neighborhood.

My guy Charlie Bell of the Milwaukee Bucks is doing his part by running a camp at the Boys and Girls Club in Milwaukee.  Read the story from the Bucks website via NBA.com

“There are a lot of camps out in the suburban areas,” Bell said. “I figure that no one hardly ever does any camps in the inner city for kids who can’t afford it, or can’t get there. There are a lot of Bucks fans who don’t get a chance to see a Bucks player, or an NBA player at that, so I just wanted to do something different to give back to the community and give them a chance to have an experience of a lifetime.”

Charlie is one of the best people you will ever meet.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for the kids to see that a Bucks player would take interest in showing them the fundamentals of basketball,” added Alicia Fleming, Club Manager of the Roger and Leona Fitzsimonds Branch. “The kids are excited to have an NBA player come into the community, show them skills and show them that they’re relatable. And Charlie is definitely a role model to them.”
Bell said he hopes to one day hold a camp in his hometown Flint, Mich., while also continuing to host free camps in Milwaukee. As a child in Flint, Bell never had the chance to attend a camp hosted by an NBA player.

“I think at the time there were a couple of players from Flint who were in the NBA, but they didn’t hold camps back at home,” Bell said. “No one ever threw a camp there. I wish they would have but they didn’t. That’s why I’m holding a camp like this. I want to try to get to the point where every summer I can be here (in Milwaukee) and also where I’m from (Flint) doing free camps just for the kids and just to give back. Hopefully next year we do it again.”

There are others who do the same across the country and hopefully even more step up to the plate and help out.  There are some kids out there that would love to attend camp but just can’t afford it.

-Coach Finamore

Hoops135@hotmail.com

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!

charlie bell…get that outta hereeee! LOL

In the NBA, it is always better to win a game than it is to lose one.

This said … Winning certain games, in and of themselves, can often mask specific deficiencies which, if left unchecked, will rot the core of an otherwise tasty apple. 

The only other time in the history of the Toronto Raptors franchise the dinos have started their season with a 3-0 mark was in 2004-2005, which ushered in two years of doom & gloom and, ultimately, resulted in the trading of their only superstar player [i.e. Wince Carter].

What were the root causes of the team’s many eventual problems that season?

1. The lack of QUALITY DEPTH throughout the roster.
2. An inability to REBOUND the ball like a team with a top notch QUALITY INDEX RATING.

Despite a positive start to the regular season, when a team (i) does not have confidence in the players on its bench AND (ii) cannot sustain a Positive Rebounding Differential, over an extended run of games, it is only a matter of time before its W-L record balances out and, quite possibly, tips in the opposite direction.

———————————–

FINAL SCORE: Raptors 91, Bucks 87
Game Info

POSITIVES

* 3FGM-A [%] vs Opp: 8-16 [50.0] vs 3-13 [23.1], +15 Pts
* FTM-A [%] vs Opp: 23-26 [88.5] vs 12-19 [63.2], +11 Pts 

NEEDED AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT

* Assist:Turnover Differential vs Opp: +4/22:18 vs +10/24:14 [Tor -6]
* REBOUNDING DIFFERENTIAL:

1st Half – Tor 20 Rebs, 41 Pts; MLW 20 Rebs, 40 Pts
3rd Q – Tor 8 Rebs, 19 Pts; MLW 7 Rebs, 21 Pts
4th Q – Tor 7 Rebs, 21 Pts; MLW 12 Rebs, 27 Pts 
TOTAL – Tor 35, 91 Pts; MLW 39 Rebs, 87 Pts   [Tor -4]

KEY POSSESSION OUTCOME[S]

* 00:21 4th Q … Tor 84, MLW 85 … Calderon’s Made 3PT-shot, which resulted from Sessions defensive miscue, i.e. helping off JC at the Top Of The Key, versus CB4’s Right Wing isolation … Tor 87, MLW 85

———————————–

The next time these two teams meet, if the Bucks get even slightly better performances from:

and give some additional PT to:

it would not be a surprise at all to see Milwaukee triumph on the scoreboard … given the Raptors lack of QUALITY DEPTH and their REBOUNDING DEFICIENCY.

Although both of these teams should be in the playoff hunt this season, in the Eastern Conference, the Raptors hold an edge due to the presence of Jose Calderon & Chris Bosh, who are each superior players to their counterparts on the Bucks.

Want a good guy cheap? Call the Bucks now.

Considering the ridiculous glut of small forwards clogging the Bucks’ roster, I understand the need to dump a contract or two.

Indeed, with Desmond Mason, Charlie Villaneuva, Richard Jefferson, and future bust Joe Alexander all on the depth chart at the three-spot — not even mentioning Michael Redd and Charlie Bell, both of whom have spent time, albeit briefly, as swingmen — it was clear at least one of them would have to go.

But that doesn’t explain why they gave away Mason for so little. He may have a replaceable skillset — shoot-first wingmen aren’t too hard to come by — but plenty of teams could have used him, or at least his expiring contract.

As for justifications for gifting Mo Williams away in return for a second-stringer like Luke Ridnour? There are none. It represents yet another reason why Bill Simmons’ campaign to manage the Bucks wasn’t completely preposterous.

Yes, Williams’ contract may have seemed a little too large for the Bucks, especially considering the inexplicably incredible play of back-up Ramon Sessions late last season (remember the second last game of the season, when he dropped 24 dimes on Chicago? Who saw that coming?). And sure, Mo was yet another scorer on a team already packed with bucket fillers.

But letting a sweet shooting (48% from the field in ‘07-’08), easy scoring (17.2 points a game) floor manager go for next to nothing is abominable roster management. If the best offer you can find for your starting point man is seriously a red-headed John Mayer lookalike who couldn’t beat out Earl Watson on the Seattle depth chart, take your finger off the trigger and wait a better offer to hit the inbox. Plus, you’ll be paying Ridnour, and his busted legs, $6.5m per year. Which isn’t good.

You’re telling me the Mason and Mo duo couldn’t bring a bit of frontcourt depth to Milwaukee? (In case you’ve forgotten, when Andrew Bogut needs a rest, the Bucks have two options: Jake Voskuhl and Dan Gadzuric). You’re telling me they couldn’t address their greatest need: someone who is capable of playing defense? You’re telling me Adrian bloody Griffin, who hasn’t averaged more than five points since ‘01-’02, Damon Jones, who isn’t good at anything but sporadically nailing open threes, and Luke Ridnour were the best the Bucks could do?

Good lord.

Only Chris Wallace at the Grizzlies would think a contract dump like this is acceptable, though even he would’ve at least negotiated the inclusion of a 2058 thirteenth round draft pick.

Finally, a quick note on Cleveland: Congratulations Danny Ferry, you finally did something right. Another team offered you a top-notch starting point guard in return for mediocrity, and you accepted.

Posted By: Anton

Note: Since this post was published, the Winshares formula has undergone some revisions of some substantive import, as well as a renaming. To see the most current iteration and accurate tables and graphs, please see the BoxScores page.

This post is a lengthy discussion of the theory and methodology behind the Winshares player value metric. If you are already familiar enough with Winshares, or are impatient, read the “In brief” section just below, and then you might want to skip ahead to the payoff graphics at the very end of this post. As always, comments and criticisms are encouraged!

In brief

Winshares are a statistic developed to estimate a player’s value in terms of wins. Combining individual statistics with team performance, Winshares allocate credit for team wins according to each team member’s contributions to team total production. As of the end of the 2007-08 regular season, Winshares are calculated as follows:

winshr = (val / team val) * team wins

val = pts – fgx*0.5603802 – ftx*0.9345311 + as*0.7697530 + or*0.8709732 + dr*0.7111727 + st*0.9190908 + bk*0.9495596 – to*0.8473544 – pf*0.7729732

Motivation

Why create yet another statistic that attempts to reduce all of player value to one number? Especially when there are so many other good and widely accepted measures already in use? Because the theory is sound, the operationalization is elegant, and the results appear valid.

Why use boxscore stats, ignoring plus/minus and everything that modern science now knows about possessions and efficiency, especially since defense is so poorly captured and other statistics, like assists, are arbitrary? Because boxscore stats go back to the beginning of professional basketball. Plus/minus is extremely data-intensive to calculate, and we have no way of getting that kind of data for most historical games. I’m ignoring possessions, and not emphasizing defense, because it is my belief that comparing one player’s boxscore stats to those of his team gives a reasonable estimate of player contributions–sometimes overestimating, other times underestimating, but on average, getting it approximately right. Mostly, though, calculating Winshares is possible as long as the same stats are tracked for all players on a team, and we know how many times the team won–meaning it can be applied very generally.

Why even try to use statistics to measure player value? You can’t capture that with a number! There is much to be said on both sides of this issue. I am of the opinion that statistics ought to be considered within a larger context of other data, qualitative and quantitative. However, I do feel strongly that numbers have a lot to tell us–they allow us the hope of greater objectivity, and therefore possibly less subjective, more accurate assessments. When applied identically to all players, Winshares will adjudicate “fairly,” paying no attention to max contracts, shoe endorsements, nicknames, or “intangibles.” Intangibles are tricky–they may indeed be part of player value, but they are also, by definition immeasurable, and may therefore expand to fill the role required of them? Was your favorite player not voted league MVP? Certainly they failed to consider his intangibles, which would have easily put him over the top…

Why are Winshares measured in that specific way? Don’t you know that linear weights are no good, or that assists are worth much more than you give them credit for? Read on…

Theory

Imagine a cooperative grocery store, owned by those who work there. At the end of one year, the store’s revenues exceed its expenditures by a large margin, and the workers are to be paid out of this surplus. One concept of fairness might dictate that a worker who worked p% of the total man-hours for that year ought to receive p% of the surplus. Arguably, he contributed p% of whatever effort determined whether or not the store would succeed, and should be rewarded accordingly. A worker working a large number of hours could be said to have contributed more to the store’s success or failure than another who only worked one shift a month–if the store profits by a large margin, that employee should receive a larger share of the windfall, just as if the store loses money, that employee should be held culpable for a larger share of the deficit.

Now imagine another similar store competing in the same market. Its surplus at the end of the year is twice that of the first store. Is it possible to compare the value, in terms of surplus, of employees from the two different stores? I would argue that it is possible: if pay is allocated in the same manner in both stores, with worker i in store j receiving payment in proportion to his labor contribution, the worker who receives the highest paycheck is the most valuable. That is, if pay is equal to worker man-hours over store total man-hours times store surplus, we can compare employees across any two firms in the same market.

But wait–what if some employees are more efficient workers than others? What if Alice can generate three times the revenue that Bob can generate in the same number of hours? Doesn’t our payment formula then overpay Bob and under-reward Alice, and doesn’t this complicate yet again the comparison across firms? Yes it does, and so we might try to find better measures of worker contributions to the surplus. Perhaps we could keep statistics on the number of cans shelved, or the number of transactions tendered, or the number of smiles flashed–if we could figure out even just the relative value of each of these things (that is, not necessarily how they each translate into surplus, but whether one smile is worth two cans shelved, etc.), then we are back on track. It doesn’t matter whether or not we can measure exactly how much revenue is brought in by each additional shelve stocked (although this would be interesting and useful), but if we know that it’s worth more (by some scalar factor) to clean the bathroom than it is to check receipts at the door, we can still estimate each workers contribution to the total amount of valuable work being done at the store.

This analogy carries over very well to sports, and specifically here, to basketball. A player who plays fully 1/5th of total team minutes played (that is 48 minutes per game for 82 games) ought to be credited with approximately 1/5th of his team’s success or failure–both of which can be measured in terms of wins. Using minutes to assess contributions runs into the same problem as in the stores above–they say nothing about efficiency–and as such, it is useful to find other statistics that more accurately estimate contributions to team success. The statistics employed in Winshares are boxscore stats, such as points, rebounds, assists, missed shots, etc. These are imperfect measures, but to the extent their relative value can be assessed, they may be useful in estimating each player’s contribution.

Calculation

Unfortunately, this relative evaluation is very difficult. It is often claimed by more “sophisticated” observers of the game that most fans fail to look past point-per-game numbers, giving infinitely more weight to scoring than to any other contributions. Yet, it is exceedingly difficult to identify just what the appropriate weights might be. Multiple regression analysis yields somewhat unsatisfactory results when applied in a straightforward manner–typically finding, for example, that offensive rebounds are actually detrimental to team success. Other work, including that done by Berri and Hollinger, is much more thorough, but leaves something to be desired (a topic which has been covered better elsewhere than can be possibly done by this author in this exposition).

As for Winshares, it would be disingenuous to claim that the ideal and true set of values has been found, but it is my belief that the reasoning is sound, and the results pass the “laugh test,” that is, given a subjective assessment of the sport, the relative importance of each boxscore statistic seems to be, at the very least, in the right order.

To identify the weights used, we may begin with a simple but strong assumption: the most valuable “good things” are those that opponents are most resistant to allowing, and thus are relatively rare, while the most detrimental “bad things” are those that a player is most trying to avoid, and thus are similarly relatively rare. With this in mind, I present counting sums for each of 8? boxscore counting stats from 1979-80 through 2007-08 (which I call the Modern era, characterized by the introduction of the three point shot to NBA play):

* field goals missed and free throws missed

Dividing each of these totals by the sum of the totals (17,008,507), we arrive at the following frequencies:

Normalizing these frequencies to that of points, we get:

Then, subtract each of the above from 1, so we are placing more weight on the rarer occurances, and set the points coefficient to 1, because the ultimate aim of all defense is to prevent scoring, and the ultimate aim of all offense is to score:

Assign positivity and negativity according to whether each is helpful or deleterious to team success, and we arrive at a set of scalars for estimating valuable contributions (often abbreviated val):

val = pts – fgx*0.5603802 – ftx*0.9345311 + as*0.7697530 + or*0.8709732 + dr*0.7111727 + st*0.9190908 + bk*0.9495596 – to*0.8473544 – pf*0.7729732

Any player’s val less than zero is then set to zero, but val is rarely a large negative number. Compared to the difficulty of valuable contribution assessment, the final steps in Winshare calculation are extremely simple: merely find each player’s percent contribution to his team’s total sum of valuable contributions from all players, and multiply this by team wins:

winshr = (val / team val) * team wins

We are left with an estimate of individual player value that combines individual contributions and team success, and allocates the most credit to those players who did the most to win the most. There is just one adjustment made to allow comparisons across all NBA seasons: for seasons prior to the official distinction between offensive and defensive rebounds, the formula is adjusted to incorporate total rebounds in their stead.

Discussion

The first thing to note is that as we apply the formula increasingly further back in time, we might become somewhat less certain of its absolute accuracy as the boxscore statistics on which it is based drop from the official record. Thus, for the very earliest years of the BAA, we might not be as confident in our estimate as for most years since, but the results are still very compelling, and seem to hold up to scrutiny despite the relative dearth of data. One of the merits of Winshares as a measure is that it is relatively flexible across a variety of situations, relying as it does on player percent contributions, which can almost always be measured in some manner.

Another caveat is to bear in mind that Winshares is a season-cumulative statistic, and so the ceiling varies by the number of games played in a season. Winshares for the strike-shortened season of 1998-99 are much lower than other contemporary seasons, due to the fact that all teams won fewer games than they normally would have. Adjustments can easily be made, however, by finding per-game or per-minute Winshare rates, and making comparisons at that level. This helps, too, in determining the impact of an injured player, given that he has played fewer games. However, the initial impetus for constructing Winshares was to estimate player value in terms of wins, and this is best done on a season-cumulative scale.

One thing done relatively poorly by Winshares in its current iteration is measurement of the value of players traded during the season. To do this completely accurately, it would be useful to isolate only the games the player appeared in for each of his several teams, looking at individual statistics and team wins within those sub-season units. However, this sort of analysis requires data not generally available in convenient form, and truly, the logical extension of this idea is fairly well captured by the plus/minus statistic. As it stands, Winshares still does a relatively good job (subjectively assessed) in measuring traded players’ value, but it is something worth noting.

Winshares in application

Often understanding is best achieved through application, and so I present

The Top 1,000 Winshare Seasons

covering the NBA, ABA, and BAA from 1946-2008. Keep in mind the above caveats about data availability, especially for seasons prior to 1951-52. In a similar vein, here is a list of

The Top 100 Winshare Careers

again, this is cumulative across the entirety of each player’s career, and so players with longevity are advantaged. I have included games played in this listing, to allow the reader to make his or her own adjustments.

Finally, every player, every team played for, 2007-08 season.

Geometric representation

One of the more useful ways to conceptualize Winshares is as player percent valuable contributions * team success. This has a particularly interesting expression in geometric terms, where Winshares can be thought of as the area of the rectangle created by multiplying valpct by team wins. The following series of visualizations depicts Winshares as a geometric comparison of player value. The color scheme is based on playing style–more detail on this classification may be found here.

2007-08 NBA: Chris Paul edges out Kobe Bryant as most valuable player according to Winshares, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce turn in stellar seasons for the Celtics, and LeBron James carries a huge load for his team, and is rewarded in terms of Winshares, if not in post-season success.

1986-87 NBA: A season featuring more all-time greats than perhaps any other (as noted here), we see Larry Bird and Magic Johnson at the height of their rivalry, Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon coming into their own, and too many other star players to even mention.

1971-72 NBA & ABA (combined): Classic Lakers and Celtics teams, a young Dr. J, Kareem’s greatest year, an almost-as-great year from Artis Gilmore, and countless other NBA past greats.

Sacramento Kings Franchise History: This storied franchise didn’t quite make the playoffs in a very competitive 2007-08 Western Conference, but its history is littered with greats such as Oscar Robertson and Chris Webber.