Humanitarni projekt Verjemi v svoj koš, ki ga vodi Esad Babačić, že nekaj let skrbi za obnovo propadajočih košarkaških igrišč po Sloveniji. Kar nekaj vrhunskih športnikov in drugih javnih osebnosti je ambasadorjev te akcije, vedno pa se pridružujejo tudi novi. To poletje smo združili moči in izdelali koledar za leto 2010, v katerem je zbranih 12 črnobelih portretov vrhunskih slovenskih športnikov, s čimer smo opozarjali na akcijo, pridobivali nove ambasadorje, s prodajo koledarja pa bomo zbirali nova sredstva za obnovo igrišč po Sloveniji.

Ker pa so to športniki, je bilo fotografiranje nekaj posebnega, saj so seveda zelo na tesnem s časom. Brez Esada, ki je športnike kontaktiral, bi sami to težko izvedli. Veliko je k izdelavi fotografij pripomogel mobilni studio, ki sem ga vlekel na razne konce po Sloveniji, in pa Nina Blaž, tokrat v produkciji moja asistentka, v post-produkciji pa oblikovalka. Zadevo sva imela hitro postavljeno, hitro razstavljeno, stestirano, izmerjeno svetlobo…

Večji odstotek fotografij so košarkaši, saj je navsezadnje Verjemi v svoj koš predvsem košarkaški projekt, in ti so bili še prav poseben izziv, ker resnici na ljubo, sem en mali palček proti njim. Jaz še normalnim ljudem nisem ravno konkurenca v višini, kaj šele nekemu Nesteroviču ali Brezcu. In zato imamo stole. )

Kranjska Gora. Primož Brezec. foto: Nina Blaž

Vsi so prijetno presenetili s svojo odprtostjo, prijaznostjo in sproščenostjo. Res so face (po domače) Prigode? Jah, Zavec me je fajn ustrašil med fotkanjem. Sara, mi je dala svojo srebrno olimpijsko kolajno okoli vratu. Še največ smeha paje bilo v Kranjski Gori med fotkanjem Nachbarja in Brezca.

Foto: Nina Blaž

Koledar je izdelan s perforacijo med fotografijo in mesečnim koledarjem spodaj, da lahko po končanem letu otrgate mesece stran in vam ostane knjižica portretov. Potem pa kemik v žep in s knjižico po posvetila in avtograme. Koledar se da naročiti v spletni trgovini Stadion. Izkupiček gre v dobrodelne namene.

And to translate for my foreign friends:

Verjemi v svoj koš (Believe in you basket) is a humanitarian project, run by Esad Babačić, and it’s been arranging the renovation of outdoor basket courts all over Slovenia for many years. Many top Slovenian athletes are its ambassadors. So this summer, we got together to produce 12 BW portraits of top athletes for 2010 calendar. During this time, we got new ambassadors, made headlines, and all the sales of the calendar will go for the project.

But because they’re athletes, photographing them was special. They’re on a tight schedule. We would have a lot of difficulties getting them all if there weren’t for Esad. My mobile studio was of big help, I could drive it around the country. And another big help was (my) Nina Blaž. In production, she was my assistant – we had everything assembled and disassembled very fast. In post-production, she was the designer.

Since the project aims at basketball courts, basketball players were a bit emphasized, and they were of course my biggest challange. Frankly speaking, I’m a dwarf in comparson to them. In hight, I can’t even compete with normal people, let alone Nesterovič or Brezec. And that’s why we have chairs (photo above).

All the athletes surprised us with their openness, friendliness and their comfort in front of the camera and a stranger (I only knew Robert Kranjec – the ski jumper – personally). But we were friends like in a instant. Anecdotes? Well, Dejan Zavec, gave me quite a scare during the shoot. ) And Sara Isaković put her Olympic silver medal around my neck (photo above). Most laughs? Gotta be the Boštjan Nachbar and Primož Brezec photo shoot in Kranjka Gora. )

The calendar is designed with perforations between the photos and dates, so that you can tear off the months at the end of the year and you have a booklet of twelve portraits. Then, all you need is a pen and you’re off to collecting autographs. You can order the calendar at an online shop  Stadion. The money goes for renovation of basketball courts around the country, keeping the kids off drugs other than the basket ball. Thanks!

Le še razlaga fotografij in koncepta (prej pozabil): Vsi v kavbojkah in beli spodnji majici, brez rekvizitov na temo njihovega športa (stolček je bil za poze), na belem ozadju, ČB, visok kontrast. Portret mora izžarevati njihovo osebnost, hkrati pa nakazovat njihov šport, če se le da. Pri večini mi je to tudi uspelo, pa čeprav smo imeli pri nekaterih manj kot 15 min časa za dobit pravo fotko.

Explanation: All athletes were supposed to wear jeans and a white shirt, no props to show their sport (that little chair is for poses only), white background, BW, high contrast. The photo should show their personality while hint at their sport at the same time, if possible. Mostly I managed to show that, despite having sometimes less than 15 minutes to get the best shot.

Το Buzzer Beater υπερήφανα ανακοινώνει την επιστροφή του!

Δεν μπορούμε να δώσουμε μεγάλες υποσχέσεις, αφού ο Ελληνικός Στρατός μας κρατάει ακόμα δέσμιους. Αλλά σίγουρα θα ξεπεράσουμε τα hits του google και φυσικά θα μεταφέρουμε όσο είναι δυνατόν, τα τελευταία πιο ασήμαντα αλλά και άκρως ενδιαφέροντα νέα από το μαγικό κόσμο του ΝΒΑ. Η αλήθεια είναι πως το blog θα μπορούσε να ανοίξει πολύ νωρίτερα αλλά η Art & Design Team δούλευε πυρετωδώς για τη δημιουργία του νέου header.

Η επιστροφή του Buzzer Beater θα ανεβάσει ακόμα πιο ψηλά τη δημοτικότητα του ΝΒΑ, κάτι που φαίνεται να χαροποίησε ιδιαίτερα τον David Stern.

Βλέποντας τους Nenad Krstic, Carlos Delfino, Carlos Arroyo, Jannero Pargo, Earl Boykins, Primoz Brezec, Brandon Jennings κ.α. να επιστρέφουν άτακτα στο ΝΒΑ αφού γνώρισαν από πρώτο χέρι την έλλειψη οργάνωσης στην Ευρώπη (συν πολλά ακόμα που θα τα αφήσουμε καρφιά για άλλα posts), δε θα μπορούσε να μη κάνει come back το Buzzer Beater από τη παραμεθόριο.

Κατ’αρχάς, έχουμε ηθική υποχρέωση να αφιερώσουμε το πρώτο βίντεο σε έναν από τους πρωτεργάτες για την επιτυχία του Buzzer Beater, τον Ron Artest. Αλλά και να ευχαριστήσω όσους συνέχιζαν να μπαίνουν κατά καιρούς στο blog και να το κρατάνε ζωντανό. Το επόμενο κομμάτι  της Celine Dion είναι αφιερωμένο και σε εσάς…

The Philadelphia 76ers are about ready to kick off the 2009-10 campaign Wednesday night in Orlando.  The Sixers, under new head coach Eddie Jordan, started the preseason 4-0 and finished with a 5-3 record.  Jordan has said that he is pleased so far with what he has seen, but we won’t truly know how good they are until the regular season begins.  The team has made their final roster decisions, so let’s go through each position to see who will be playing for the Sixers this season.

Point Guard

Starter: Lou Williams

This will be by far the the biggest question for the Sixers this season.  The loss of veteran point guard Andre Miller to free agency has caused a lot of questions among critics as to whether or not the Sixers will be able to fill that spot capable of producing the same numbers as Miller.  Rather than put all the burden on one player, the Sixers will most likely rotate in and out different players to play point guard in the beginning of the season.  If one player appears to stand out from the rest, look for that man to become the full time starter.  However, for now, Lou Williams will get the start and see the most playing time at point guard.  This will be Williams’ first season as a starter, and depending on his play, we’ll see if he remains there throughout the duration of the year.  Williams was very effective coming off the bench for the Sixers last season, averaging nearly 13 points per game.  He has also done well so far this preseason.  I am glad to see Lou get the opportunity to start after putting in several years coming off the bench.  I expect him to have no trouble scoring, forcing turnovers, or hitting clutch free throws with the game on the line.  What concerns me about Williams is his poor shooting percentage, especially from beyond the arc, as well as his ability to take care off the basketball.  He also will probably struggle early on in running the offense, including the fast-break which Andre Miller ran so well, until he gets comfortable playing over 30 minutes every night.  It will be a struggle for Lou early on, but hopefully he will be a quick learner and adapt to the change from being a reserve to an every day starter as soon as possible.

Reserve: Jrue Holiday

Backing up Williams, will be 1st round draft pick Jrue Holiday.  While the team has high hopes for Holiday down the road, this will probably be a building year for the Sixers top draft choice.  Holiday is still very raw, having only played one year at UCLA before leaving for the NBA.  He was regarded as the best high school player in the country in 2008, but struggled to live up to the hype last season at UCLA, having a very mediocre year for a very mediocre Bruin team.  The Sixers love his potential to dominate, but still realized he is a work in progress.  It may take a couple seasons before Holiday is able to play to his potential.  Until then, he will serve as a backup seeing limited time in the beginning of the season.  Depending on how well he plays, Holiday could see his minutes increase as the season progresses.

Shooting Guard

Starter: Andre Iguodala

No surprise here as Andre Iguodala begins his sixth season with the 76ers.  The Sixers will turn to Iguodala to provide the majority of their points every game.  Iguodala has usually been an 18-19 points per game player, a number the Sixers would like to see increase this season.  If Iguodala ever wants to be among the elite of the NBA guards, he will need to improve both his 3 point shooting and free throw percentage.  Iguodala averaged barely over 30% from beyond the arc last season.  This has to improve as the team cannot continue to get poor three point shooting from its backcourt.  In addition, he was inconsistent from the free-throw line all year, including the playoffs.  He shot 72% from the free throw line, about 3% fewer than his career average.  As the Sixers go-to player, Iguodala needs to be able to hit free throws to close out games.  Recall all the games last year that the Sixers lost on a buzzer beater.  Buzzer beaters usually occur because a team failed to close out the game at the free throw line.  Hopefully Iguodala will have improved since last season, which should result in him averaging over 20 points per game, something the Sixers have lacked from one player since the departure of Allen Iverson.  One thing we should not have to worry about are Iguodala’s defensive abilities.  He continues to improve each season, and should draw the opposing team’s top perimeter threat each game.

Reserve: Willie Green

Willie Green will be a solid backup for Iguodala.  He should see between 15-20 minutes per game unless he struggles, which could allow for Jason Kapono to get more playing time.  Green has struggled in the past when he was chosen to start games, but has usually excelled when coming off the bench.  Green can be inconsistent in terms of his scoring production, but can be counted on to take care of the basketball when he is in the game.  He is, however, a major defensive liability, so it is critical that Iguodala stays out of foul trouble so that Green will not have to play for a large portion of the game.

Reserve: Royal Ivey

Ivey should see limited time off the bench for the second straight season.  He can provide a little offense but is of little value beyond 10 or more minutes of playing time.

Small Forward

Starter: Thaddeus Young

Thaddeus Young is the player I expect to improve the most from last season.  He is entering his third season in the NBA, and has gotten better each year thus far.  Now it is time for him to the next great leap forward.  He shoots a great overall field goal percentage (49.5 % last season), but I would like to see him get more involved with the offense.  Despite averaging over 15 points per game, the former Georgia Tech star would often take fewer than ten shots per game.  Getting him more involved in essential for the Sixers, as he is also the best 3 point shooter (34%) of their five starters.  The best thing that Thad has going for him is that he is only 21 years old.  He hasn’t even come near to reaching his prime.  This gives all of us great optimism that he will continue to progress and become a great NBA player.

Reserve: Jason Kapono

Kapono will see a lot of time off the bench this season, mainly in place of Young.  The Sixers’ newest acquisition should help the team improve from its league-worst ranking in 3 point shooting.  Kapono is a pure 3 point shooter, and he won’t hesitate to take plenty of shots from beyond the arc.  This can really add a new dimension to an offense which is mainly known for its fast-break abilities.

Reserve: Rodney Carney

Carney returns to the Sixers looking to get his NBA career back on track.  He is good for eating up some minutes while grabbing some rebounds and providing offense from down low and beyond the arc.  He is currently nursing a strained hamstring, which will limit his minutes for the first few weeks of the season.  But Coach Jordan has liked what he’s seen from Carney and says he will see significant playing time this season.

Power Forward:

Starter: Elton Brand

Elton Brand is healthy (for now) and ready to make an impact on this Sixers team.  He was signed last season to give the Sixers a dominant low presence that they have lacked for many years now.  Instead all he gave them was inconsistent play and a spot on the injured reserve list for most of the season.  Now that he is back, Brand needs to step up his game and give the Sixers a consistent presence in the post that both provide easy points, as well as making it difficult for the opposition to dominate the Sixers down low they way they have recently (Dwight Howard in last year’s playoffs).  For the 29 games that Brand did play last season, all his numbers were significantly less than his career averages.  He needs to be scoring between 16-22 points each game, along with around 10 rebounds each night.  The only way the Sixers will have a chance to contend in the Eastern Conference is if Brand has a great year.  The Sixers need to have that low post presence that can go to for easy buckets and to limit all the big forwards (i.e. Howard, Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O’Neal) they will face in the East.

Reserve: Marresse Speights

Last season’s first round pick Marresse Speights should take big strides this season.  His offensive skills alone will get him more minutes this season.  If Brand or Dalembert struggle, Speights may see himself play over 20 minutes a game.  He has tons of potential and on a team that is desperately looking for a consistent scoring big man, Speights is going to play a big role on this year’s team.

Reserve: Jason Smith

Smith has a very solid rookie season before missing all of last year with a season ending ACL injury in the preseason.  The 7-0″ Smith will see limited time off the bench, mainly to eat up minutes for Brand and Dalembert when they’re in foul trouble.

Center: Samuel Dalembert

Dalembert is back as the starting center once again for the Sixers and the same question remains as always: Can he stay out of foul trouble so that he can actually make an impact on the game?  Well if history is any indication, then the answer will continue to be no.  Dalembert’s biggest strength is his ability to control the paint defensively.  However, he has not been able to do it without constantly fouling the opposition.  This leads to a massive reduction in his minutes and never allows for him to get into the game.  When Dalembert is able to stay out of foul trouble, he usually plays very well.  He can score down low as well as rebound on both ends of the court.  If Dalembert can finally stay out of foul trouble, he can help the Sixers solidify their front court play which well greatly improve their chances to win against the top teams in the league.

Reserve: Primoz Brezec

The Sixers signed the seven foot Brezec to give them a defensive presence off the bench when Dalembert goes out for foul trouble.  He will be expected to fill the role that Reggie Evans played last season.  Expect him to come off the bench and provide rebounds and some scoring.

5 Keys to the Season

1.  Elton Brand–>Brand must play well for the Sixers to have a chance to contend this year.  It’s as simple as that.  Enough said.

2.  Consistent point guard play–>The team took a big hit when they did not resign Andre Miller, who was the quarterback of the fastbreak that was so big in the Sixers offense for the past two seasons.  They will need Lou Williams to come through for them, otherwise it will be tough for this offense to get on track.

3.  3 point shooting–>The Sixers have ranked last in the league for the past two seasons in 3 point shooting.  The addition of Jason Kapono should help that ranking improve, but it is still not enough.  Andre Iguodala, Thaddeus Young, and Lou Williams need to be able to hit 3 pointers for this team.  Iguodala especially must improve, so that defenses will be forced to play the Sixers on the arc, rather than around the paint in anticipation of a drive to the basket.

4.  Smart Defense–>The team needs to play defense without fouling.  The Orlando Magic were always shooting free throws during last year’s playoff series.  Samuel Dalembert especially must stay out of foul trouble so that he will be able to assert himself as a major defensive presence in the paint.

5.  Strong Start–>The Sixers play a relatively easy schedule in the first month of the season.  If they’re able to start strong while working out any problems at the same time, they will give themselves a great chance to contend for a top-4 spot in the conference.  If they start slow, they will still probably make the playoffs but will find it very difficult to get one of those top spots which would allow them to avoid playing Cleveland, Orlando, or Boston in the first round.

Regular Season Prediction: 45-37 to finish 2nd in the Atlantic Division behind Boston and 5th in the Eastern Conference behind Cleveland, Orlando, Boston, and Atlanta.

Die Cleveland Cavaliers sind nochmal auf dem Transfermarkt aktiv geworden und haben ihren Kader verstärkt. Leon Powe wird nächste Saison an der Seite von LeBron James auflaufen. Powe ist auf dem Court ein Arbeiter, der all das macht, was andere Spieler auslassen. Defense, Rebounds, Hustle und ab und zu mal ein paar Punkte. Ein guter Fang, auch wenn gemunkelt wird, Powe wäre lieber bei den Celtics geblieben.

Jamaal Tinsley ist nachwievor ohne neuen Arbeitgeber. Diese Woche soll es zu Verhandlungen zwischen Tinsley und den Miami Heat kommen, die gestern erst Mark Blount für Quentin Richardson getradet haben. Tinsley Agent zufolge sind drei bis vier Teams an den Diensten seiner Klienten interessiert, darunter auch die New York Knicks, bei denen der Point Guard letzte Woche ein Workout absolvierte.

Primoz Brezec, der zuletzt in Europa (Lottomatica Virtus Roma) auf Korbjagd gegangen war, ist zurück in der NBA. Er unterschrieb bei den Philadelphia 76ers für ein Jahr. In 321 NBA Partien kam der Slowene im Schnitt auf 7,6 Punkte und 4,1 Rebounds. Vor allem seine Erfahrung und seine Größe sollen die 76ers in der kommenden Spielzeit besser machen.

Dass die New Orleans Hornets auf einem Sparkurs sind, ist schon seit längerem bekannt, an diesen halten sie sich auch eisern. Dem ist kürzlich Rasual Butler zum Opfer gefallen. Butler wurde für einen zukünftigen Zweitrundenpick zu den L.A. Clippers getradet. In der vergangenen Saison bestritt er alle Saisonspiele für die Hornets und brachte es durchschnittlich auf 11,2 Punkte und 3,3 Rebounds pro Spiel.

Durante estos ultimos años se ha dado el caso de que varios jugadores NBA vienen a europa , la principal  causa ha sido la diferencia del euro contra el dolar aunque algunos dicen que es debido a que la NBA es muy individualista. Aquí unos casos.

1º: Josh Childress:

La pricinpal causa de su llegada a Grecia fue su contrato: 20 millones a razón de 3 años.

Ha sido casi una decepcion debido a que a promediado 10 puntos por partido cuando se esperaba que tras ser importante en Atlanta fuera capaz de ser una estrella en europa.

2º: Primoz Brezec:

Fue elegido en la posición 27 del Draft de la NBA de 2000 por Indiana Pacers. Tres años después y tras jugar escasos minutos, fue elegido en el draft de expansión por los Bobcats.

Este año ha firmado por la Lottomatica de Roma a cambio de 18 millones por 4 años.

Ha conseguido demostrar que esta hecho para jugar en europa y el haberse ganado ese contrato.

3º: Carlos Delfino:

Delfino juega de alero y es uno de los argentinos que brilló en la NBA. En la temporada 2007/08 de la NBA jugó para los Toronto Raptors, donde cumplió su mejor campaña en la NBA.

Actualmente integra la plantilla del Khimki BC de la Superleague rusa. Se dice sea el jugador mejor pagado de esa liga y el tercer jugador mejor pagado de Europa.

There’s no Raptors stuff going on so lets look elsewhere for infotainment. Starting off with the classic video game Mortal Kombat. Shao Kahn and his coarse soul-sucking voice always echoed in the arenas as the likes of Sub Zero, Scorpion and Liu Kang fought to their ultimate death in a tournament that yielded two Hollywood movies (both mediocre). Today we find out that that Shao Kahn had a distinctly different side which never made it to the gaming consoles, a side that might surprise you, shock you and just may cost you your faith that Mortal Kombat is the greatest video game of all time. See for yourself.

On to the association, somebody remind me just exactly what Ben Gordon is good at. I remember he turned down a multi-year deal last summer only to post a sub-par season on a Bulls team that severely underachieved. One of the signs of the apocalypse (I believe its Genesis 2:34) was undersized shooting guards turning down contracts and struggling to gain form the following year and then getting stuck in two minds whether to take the qualifying offer or a deal at a lower yearly rate. Either way, Ben Gordon is no good.

The Lakers are one of the first teams to start differentiating their regular season games by charging more for “premium games”. I don’t have a problem with this at all as long as they reduce the prices for the “shit games”, you know the ones where you see the Bobcats on a rainy Wednesday night to a tune of 7,000 people. That would even things out.

Quality posting at HoopsHype where the author points out that there’s a good chance that Zach Randolph will start the season as a member of the Knicks thus nixing the idea that they’ll be a different team this year. There’s no doubting that the Knicks roster is oozing with enough slime to pollute an ocean but Zach Randolph is a little different. He’s the one dysfunctional Knick whose talent can be brought out to good potential if a coach is able to harness his emotion and gangsta attitude by channeling his anger properly. The identity of the Knicks has always been that of a strong no-nonsense defensive team that hustles and that’s exactly what’s been lacking in New York since before van Gundy left. Defense brings discipline and D’Antoni hardly addresses that problem so it becomes inevitable that the undisciplined Knicks will continue to struggle.

Darius Miles will be looking to fill the role of James Posey on the Celtics. It’ll never happen. Maybe Miles can bring the same defensive values to the team (athleticism, length) but his jump shot is brutal and he has trouble getting motivated. My money’s on Bill Walker producing more. Actually, my money’s on Willie Solomon or Hassan Adams doing more for us than what Miles will do for Boston. Here’s a fact: we improved more than the Celtics this off-season. That should make you feel better.

Bosh-hater Charley Rosen’s talking about how old timers still have a valuable place in the NBA. He’s right, one can’t expect to win playoff series with young guns alone. On a similar note, this Raptors team right here could use some hard-nosed NBA veterans that can get in teammates’ ears and opponents’ faces when things hit a rough patch. I know I sound nostalgic when I say this but I miss Charles Oakley, hell I even miss Antonio Davis. When was the last time a Raptors team stepped on the floor and you felt like we were the tougher, meaner team?

The Wizards are looking for an inconsistent utility tweener so its natural they turn their attention to Juan Dixon. Good luck to Juan, he could’ve done more in Toronto but was a victim of Mitchell’s poor substitution patterns. On that note, remember when we acquired Primoz Brezec and he started off with a great game against the Knicks and we all momentarily thought that Colangelo had swung a deal that could’ve actually helped us down the stretch and heading into the playoffs. How wrong we all were……

Feed?

An apparent flurry of text messages have been exchanged between FIBA luminaries Luis Scola and Yao Ming in their respective Olympic training camps. These messages indicated two things; yes, you can use mobile phones in China, and yes, that the Artest trade is sending ripples through the otherwise staid — let’s say boring — Houston Rockets roster.

Artest? Let me send an SMS text message to my colleague Luis Scola.

Contrary to The Sport Count’s initial commentary on the subject, it appears as though the Yao-Ron relationship might be a little more tenuous than we initially considered.

Exhibiting sage wisdom, Yao used his oversized numpad to text the following:

“For some reason, I like (Artest),” Yao said. “Because in the games we play against him, I hate him.

Which makes perfect sense… I guess. Yao continued:

“We will think about it, of course. Hopefully, he’s not fighting anymore and going after a guy in the stands.

Well informed… Looks like Yao has been doing his scouting on YouTube. At least, it shows that the internet is working in China.

“We worry about the new attitude to the team. We are adding talent to the team and we need that, but building team chemistry is important.”

Is it just me, or have Yao’s cliches have really come along? He might not have the ghetto slang of say, a Primoz Brezec, but he’s pretty much talking like like a typically uninsightful NBA coach, or even better, a typically equivocating HoopsHype blogger (that’s what you get for stealing our Kemp story and not linking us, bitches).

Posted by: James

Goodbye Good Sir

Today, it was revealed that Primoz Brezec will not be continuing his NBA career*. Roma has poached the 7-foot Slovenian from the Raptors. Damn you Brian Colangelo. Despite your all-league style, all-league offseason deals, and phenomenal tie-knots, your lack of appreciation for the Primoz is truly disappointing. He was the best 12th man our great country has ever seen.

In spite of the immense sense of loss coursing through my veins, Primoz’s departure has provided me an opportunity to reveal the reasoning behind the pseudonym. Considering the small window Raps’ fans had to appreciate the Primoz**, it is a true testament to the man’s awesomeness that I chose to name this blog after the Eastern European Prince. His gregarious charm was immediately apparent to players and fans alike after joining the Raps in a deadline deal. Although I initially knew nothing about the schizophrenic giant, I immediately developed great expectations for the Primoz era. These expectations were surpassed in ways impossible to foresee.

Mr. Brezec, because of the fantastic, and impossibly short-lived Resign Primoz Brezec, tales of your admirable lack of self-awareness were easily available. This is what I learned: although you are a 7-foot white man from Eastern Europe, you did not allow physical or cultural restraints to hinder the pursuit of your ideal lifestyle: Ol’ G. Because of this amazing clash of origins and current life, you will forever be remembered as a beacon of personal choice throughout this great land***.

Mr. Brezec, although your influence was primarily drawn from your breathing example of self-recreation, it does not mean your on-court presence wasn’t appreciated. In fact, for a player with next to no playing time, you made an incredible impression. From your unbelievable rotation of accessories to your inexplicable hatred of opposing mascots, your month of bench duty was the greatest stretch a neglected Raptor ever put forth. Though it was tragically, and amazingly, cut short by a pre-game stretching fiasco, your time in Red will not be forgotten.

Mr. Brezec, despite receiving scant playing time, your presence within our nation not only provided constant entertainment, it also provided a vital message for Canadian youth: Do not allow nationality, race, creed, appearance, or stature dictate the person you wish to become. And because of that I know, This is Not a Goodbye. I eagerly await the inevitable news’ reports regarding the spread of Onyx worship and Long Sleeve Tall Tees in Rome. We will be watching, cheering, and dropping jaws like you were still in the GTA. Best of Luck Mr. Brezec.

Your Indebted Namesake,

Primoz Forever

*This season

**Just 13 Games

***Most likely my property, but possibly elsewhere

Good morning, in today’s edition of the blog we’ll jump straight to some Maurizio Gherardini quotes where he’s talking about how there is an equal distribution of talent across the globe and that you’re as likely to find the next Michael Jordan in Azherbaijan as in North Carolina. The funny little fat guy says:

“I believe situations have shown you may find talent around any corner. There is no place where there are going to be better diamonds than other places. Spain is probably the best model in Europe and I would expect to see more players coming from there. The former Yugoslav republics have been the biggest producers of players in Europe, somehow because of their love of the game and the physical structure of people in the area, and so I expect that to continue. I think South America will always be a continent to look at. I think Africa, if the quality of the teaching keeps improving, if they are capable of putting together simple structures to work on their games, has a great possibility of developing intriguing talent for the future,”

There’s some truth to what he’s saying, as the game spread to more and more parts of the world the chances of finding good players becomes higher. I’m just not sure that right now is the time to draft European question marks as the top pick in the NBA draft, that’s all.

There’s a great fact in that article about how James Naismith taught the game in the late 1890’s to Christian missionaries on their way to China and how it helped spread the game there to the tune of them having more NBAers than us in 2008. On a side note, how does getting blown out against Croatia and almost losing to Korea make you feel as a Canadian? I have to say that there’s a tinge of embarassment in our national team’s performances, obviously I don’t know enough about the program to recommend fixes but as a casual fan of the national team I think you’ll agree that I speak for everyone here when I say, “Come on….I mean, come on people…please…come on, its getting a little ridiculous…huh? Yeah..that’s right..come on now”.

Oh, did I mention we lost a summer league game to Golden State where Joey Graham was our best player, I think it happened yesterday, or maybe even the day before. I don’t know, I’m just glad its over. Somebody find out how Andrea Bargnani’s off-season is coming along and what his plans are, I want to scrutinize his every move this summer, how many jump shots he takes, what he bench presses, how many times John Lucas gets a rebound over him, what he eats for breakfast, what TV he watches, what drills he’s doing, how he’s moving laterally, if he’s learned to pump-fake, if he’s learned to box out, whether he’s learned to make a mid-range jumper four times in a row…everything, I want to know everything!

Primoz Brezec walked out on us and signed with Roma. Its hardly worth a mention let alone a quote but its the summertime so why not:

“I am very happy and proud to play next year in Rome. It’s beautiful to return to Europe after seven years in the NBA with one of the best teams on the continent, with the great, successful coach Repesa and the most beautiful city in the world. The determining factor for my choice was the link with Dejan Bodiroga.”

Garbage time will never be the same.

Oklahoma City Thunder? That sounds like a WNBA team. Speaking of which, if you’ve been catching the summer league games on Raptors TV you’ve probably seen the WNBA commercials which end with the guy screaming all excited, “Now this is what the WNBA is all about!!!”. That right there is how bad summertime sports are.

Side step to some Blue Jays talk, I think its far worse to be a Jays fan in this city than a Raptors fan. The Jays have zero chance of making the post-season in the next 10 years. Seriously, they now have to be better than two of New York, Boston and Tampa Bay to even have a shot at the post-season. Before you shrug and go “Tampa Bay??”, I say yes, Tampa Bay! That team has sucked for the last few years but along the way has managed to develop some solid pitching and great hitting to top the AL East. This year is not a fluke but a sign of things to come.

I remember watching Shawn Green and Carlos Delgado not too long ago and thinking that if this team could just make a couple more signings here and there, they’re right there on the cusp of contention for a playoff spot and maybe even go deep in the post-season. That summer they let Green walk, didn’t replace him and assumed Delgado would hit at the same clip next without realizing that teams were going to pitch around him…blah! Frustrating man, the Jays have been looking forward to “next year” in July for 13 straight seasons, if I’m them I trade Roy Halladay and get something for him while he’s at his peak. That team’s not going anywhere, dropping 2/3 to Tampa sealed their fate, we needed a solid sweep to get things going and it just didn’t happen. Bryan Colangelo is a genius compared to J.P Ricciardi.

Thanks to the ArseBlog for the link on Sunday, 12,000 hits and counting for the Arsenal vs. Barnet post. Wow, there are a lot more Arsenal fans than Raptors ones, that’s for sure.

Tras una semana perdido en países en los que “baloncesto” era apenas una palabra de cuatro sílabas sin ningún significado cognoscible, vuelvo y me encuentro con muchas novedades interesantes, entre ellas…

Que Marcus Camby está en los Clippers: Para reducir un poco la kobedependencia de Baron Davis en los Clippers, y para reducir también un poco la carga de nóminas en los Nuggets, “Samurai” Camby ha sido traspasado al “otro” equipo de Los Ángeles a cambio de una (testimonial y lamentable) opción de intercambiar segundas rondas del draft de 2010. Raptors, Knicks, Nuggets y ahora Clippers… Este chico no tiene lo que se dice buena suerte con los equipos en los que juega y siempre va de mal en peor. Eso sí, ya no puede acabar en ningún sitio aún más malo. Bueno, sí, tal vez los Grizzlies… Deportivamente, me queda la duda de cómo se combinarán en el campo él y Chris Kaman…

Que James Posey ha fichado por los Hornets: Tras dejarse querer por media liga, uno de los hombres decisivos en las pasadas finales ha terminado marchándose a New Orleans, donde le han prometido un puesto de titular y, de paso, 25 milloncejos de dólares a lo largo de los próximos cuatro años. Y es que tener dos anillitos pesa mucho…

Que los Dallas Mavericks están probando a Darius Miles: La eterna decepción que es Miles ha hecho algunas pruebas con Dallas, después de hacerlo también con Boston, Phoenix y New Jersey. Miles fue liberado por los Blazers tras sufrir una lesión que podría haber puesto punto y final a su carrera, pero la actividad que está demostrando este verano hace pensar más bien lo contrario. Eso sí, salvo que la cosa haya cambiado mucho, seguirá siendo un fruto seco como jugador. Y encima, según las reglas NBA, si un equipo le ficha y juega más de 10 partidos, su salario seguirán teniéndolo que pagar los Blazers. Qué cosas… Y hablando de decepciones:

Que los Hawks están interesados en Kwame Brown: Al parecer, Kwame ha hecho algunas pruebas con Atlanta, que anda buscando algún hombre grande que haga compañía a Zaza Pachulia y Al Horford. Estoy seguro de que tiene que haber algún otro hombre grande suelto en la NBA que sea mejor que Kwame… Por Dios, incluso pueden llamar a Papadopoulos o a Kasun, que seguro que cumplen mejor…

Que Deron Williams ha extendido su contrato con los Jazz: Tres añicos por casi 50 kilos, y una opción a un cuarto por casi 20 milloncejos más. Se ve que Utah y Jerry Sloan confían en el chaval, y no les importa gastarse los cuartos…

Que Ronny Turiaf ya es un Warrior: Los Lakers han decidido no igualar la oferta de 17 millones por cuatro años que los Warriors habían hecho a Turiaf, y el francés nacido en Martinica ya es nuevo jugador de Golden State. Parece que los Lakers confían en el dúo Gasol-Bynum, aunque no sé quién les dará minutos de descanso desde el banquillo. ¿Chris Mihm? ¿DJ Mbenga? ¡Qué miedo! Y en cuanto a los Warriors… ¿17 millones por Turiaf? ¡Estamos todos locos!

Que Primoz Brezec ha firmado por la Lottomatica: Después de que su nombre sonara para el Real Madrid, parece que el esloveno ha preferido marcharse a Roma. Aunque lleva dos años en muy baja forma por las lesiones, es un jugador interesante si está en buenas condiciones, así que ojito con él en Euroliga…

Que Carlos Delfino tiene pie y medio en el Khimki de Moscú: Parece que el argentino ya no ha conseguido engañar a nadie más en la NBA y ahora probará a sacar algo de pasta en Europa por la patilla. A los primeros que ha engañado ha sido a los rusos. Se habla de 8,5 millones de euros por 3 temporadas. Me remito a mi última frase en el párrafo de Turiaf. ¡Casi tres kilos por temporada por un tipo como Delfino! ¡Qué locura!

Que Croacia y Grecia jugarán los Juegos Olímpicos: Ésas han sido las dos primeras selecciones que han logrado el pase en el torneo preolímpico. Los croatas con Marko Tomas como una de sus principales referencias y los griegos, sin Papadopoulos, pero con Papaloukas… ¡y Schortsianitis! La última plaza se la dirimen en un partido a cara de perro esta noche Alemania y Puerto Rico. En los teutones, Dirk Nowitzki (líder de anotación del torneo, como siempre, por encima de los 25 puntos) está recibiendo ayuditas interesantes de Chris Kaman. En Puerto Rico, Carlos Arroyo es duda.

Que España ya ha empezado a rodar: Aíto ya ha cerrado el grupo (con Ricky), ayer pasamos por encima de Portugal sin Pau Gasol, y esta noche toca Rusia, que debería ser algo más complicada, y contra la que tenemos una espinita de la final del Eurobasket.

Eso sí, parece que Garbajosa sigue sin decidir por quién fichar… ¿o lo ha hecho ya? ¿Me he perdido algo más?

En este zoco que es el mercado de verano las cosas cambian de un día para otro, lo que parecía hecho se complica y lo que parecía imposible parece mascado. Si hace menos de 48 horas decía que el lituano Darius Lavrinovic lo tenía hecho con el Barcelona, parece que pese a haber superado sus pruebas médicas, ahora se ha metido el Dynamo de Moscú de por medio y el gemelito podría darle plantón al Barça. Y si ayer hablaba de que el Real Madrid tiene que intentar reforzarse un poco más, era porque se me había pasado por alto una de las serpientes veraniegas relacionadas con el equipo de Joan Plaza. Y es que al parecer suena cada vez más el nombre del esloveno Primoz Brezec como refuerzo para el juego interior madridista, siempre y cuando logren quitarse de encima a Lazaritos y su gordísimo contrato, algo que parece que Olympiacos, el equipo que parece dispuesto a comprarlo todo este verano, podría asumir. Brezec, ex Pacer, ex Bobcat, ex Piston y en la actualidad jugador de Toronto Raptors, no ha acabado de cuajar en la NBA pese a tener algún año majo con Charlotte. Sus condiciones son a priori interesantes (2,16, intimidación y buen juego al poste), pero su estado físico es una duda, ya que se habla de una posible lesión crónica discal que complicaría el traspaso. La verdad es que, en buen estado, es un jugador muy interesante para Europa, y junto con Massey y lo que el Madrid ya tiene (Felipe y Hervelle), formaría un juego interior bastante majo. Eso, más el fichaje del tal Quinton Hosley (a quien hoy he leído definido como “el próximo Pete Mickeal” y me ha entrado la risa tonta) y de Pepe Sánchez haría que el equipo sólo necesitara algún retoque menor más para completar una plantilla más o menos competitiva. Pero vaya, que no hay nada en firme sobre Brezec, son todo rumore, rumore…

Y mientras tanto, el Barcelona renueva su ofensiva por el checo Lubos Barton, mientras busca algún incauto que se quiera llevar a Mario Kasun con un lacito. Podría probar con Olympiacos, nunca se sabe… un juego interior formado por Lazaros y Super Mario sería digno de ser contemplado, palomitas en mano. El Barça también le está siguiendo la pista a la última perla estudiantil, Sergio Sánchez. Y mientras, Unicaja vuelve a intentar echarle la caña a Garbajosa, al que también sigue queriendo el Madrid, aunque empieza a sonar demasiado hombre alto para el equipo blanco.  

En resumen, que todo esto no son más que cábalas… pero tampoco hay muchas cosas mejores que hacer en verano, ¿no?

We are just a few hours before NBA free agency gets started, and it is that time of year when sports talk typically turns to the changes that Ernie Grunfeld should make to Wizards. Well as many know, the Wizards have their own free agents to worry about – Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison and Roger Mason, Jr. After signing Gil and Antawn (and most likely losing Roger), the Wiz will not have a significant amount of money to spend on free agents, nor will they have a lot of roster space. They currently have 10 players under contract, not including Gilbert, Antawn, Roger and

The Wiz need someone in the paint who can rebound, block shots and occasionally score. And while Brendon Haywood had his best season last year and the Wiz just drafted JaVale McGee, it is important to look for help here – particularly since no one knows yet how Etan Thomas will play if/when he fully recovers. And because of the limited amount of money that the team is expected to have available, it is important to look at potential players that will not break the bank. Below is a list of potential free agents that appear to best fit this criteria.

NAME	TEAM	08 SALARY	POINTS*	REBOUNDS*	BLOCKS*	FG%*	FT%*
Primoz Brezec	Raptors	$2,750,000	7.6	4.1	.41	.500	.706
P.J. Brown	Celtics	$226,650	9.1	7.7	1.02	.460	.794
Theo Ratliff	Pistons	$199,452	7.9	6.1	2.63	.497	.711
Adonal Foyle	Magic	$1,219,590	4.1	4.8	1.64	.476	.499
DeSagana Diop	Nets	$2,146,000	2.1	3.9	1.19	.433	.517
Jamaal Magloire	Mavericks	$231,183	8.6	7.2	1.03	.479	.65

es*Career averages

• Primoz Brezec, who is 28 years old and 7-1 and 252 lbs, could have the best long term potential. He is not much of a shot blocker, but he has showed the ability (in the 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 seasons), to score in the double-digits and pull down around 6 rebounds a game.
• P.J. Brown has been a solid player for a number of years and at 6-11 and 239 lbs, he is not afraid to bang with anyone. However, at 38 years old, you may only get 1 more season out of him.
• Theo Ratliff, at 35 years old and 6-10 and 235 lbs, is intriguing. Ratliff has been the best shot blocker on the list. If he is currently healthy, he could provide the Wiz with an excellent, defensive-oriented backup center for a season or two allowing McGee some time to develop.
• Adonal Foyle (6-10 and 270 lbs) fits into the same category as Theo Ratliff, while not as proficient in blocking shots. And while he is two years younger (33 years old) and more expensive, I would tend to lean towards Theo Ratliff instead.
• DeSagana Diop (7-0 and 280 lbs), much like Primoz Brezec, is an interesting choice because of his age (26 years old). He played on a team that runs (Dallas) and one that runs a similar offense (New Jersey), so you would think that he would have an easier time fitting in with the Wizards. And since he is still young, you have a player who can continue to develop and legitimately challenge for the starting position. Diop, like Brezec, are at the high-end of the pay scale for this list of players, but still in the range of bargain shopping.
• Jamaal Magloire (6-11 and 265 lbs) at 30 years old still has a number of good years in him, but is also a former all-star performer at the center position. However, the style of play that best suits him is not the style that the Wizards play.

Considering this list, the two players that most interest me are Theo Ratliff and DeSagana Diop – for largely two completely different reasons. Theo was a very good shot-blocking center, but may be well past his prime. If he can be effective in limited minutes, Ratliff could be an effective defensive presence off the bench. He would be a short-term solution, buying the Wiz a year or two for some of the younger guys to develop. Diop, on the other hand, is better suited to compete with Haywood for the starting position – which could have a negative effect on Haywood. He is also young enough that he could be a potential fit for a few years to come. Given that the Wizards just drafted JaVale McGee, I don’t think picking up a young guy like Diop is the best move. However, the relatively low salaries of Diop, Ratliff and the other players mentioned above means that there are some potential bargains available to the Wiz if they are looking for a backup center to grab rebounds, block a couple of shots and score a few points in the paint.

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.

These are my top 5 shitty NBA GMs (or GM Coach combinations). I only seriously thought about 4, because Isiah Thomas is such a natural lock for the #1 spot.

5. Michael Jordan/Sam Vincent, Charlotte Bobcats.

Jordan/Vincent is already a disaster. Two stunningly financially irresponsible trades have destroyed the Bobcats salary cap flexibility and hardly improved the team. Moreover, Vincent, MJ’s handpicked coaching choice, has proven to be a hard-headed manager, which is fine unless you’re trying to radically change the playing style of the team. Vincent decided that Raymond Felton wasn’t a natural PG, pushed him to the SG spot (and even started him at SF!), all without any consideration that the team had no one to replace Felton at the PG spot. Then, as Primoz Brezec indicated in a recent interview, he clashed with players and irrationally deprived a decent center of respectable playing time. Brezec eventually got himself traded and is now on the Raptors, a comparative basketball heaven at this point.

4. John Paxson, Chicago Bulls.

Paxson goes from having an up and coming team to a relative disaster. Inside scoring? Consistent play from guards? Veteran leadership? The coach you started the season with? Now, the team has Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes to hang its hat on. Hughes, you will remember, is the subject of famed internet website heylarryhughespleasestoptakingsomanybadshots.com. This kind of thing should be a gigantic red light. We all defended Paxson’s earlier inactivity by saying that he was stocking up pieces for a big move later on, but now that he completely botched that, what’s left of arguably the league’s most promising team only a year ago? In particular, Paxson should have dealt Ben Gordon. There’s no way you can build a team around a player who is so incredibly streaky, and there doesn’t seem to be a good solution to his impending contract extension.

3. Otis Smith, Orlando Magic.

As Danny has pointed out before, Otis Smith is wasting his opportunity this year. It was abundantly clear that Jameer Nelson was not a quality starting point guard, but Smith gave him a large extension anyways. Nelson is a poor defender, a poor shooter, and a poor penetrator. Why commit to him!!! Why!!! As Danny and Bill Simmons pointed out, to make matters worse, Smith could easily have topped the offer San Antonio made for Kurt Thomas and brought his team needed size and defensive toughness. Instead, he’ll likely let his expiring contracts go for naught, and won’t be able to improve the team as much due to salary cap restrictions. Thanks for nothing, Otis.

2. Chris Wallace, Memphis Grizzlies.

Wallace thoroughly botched the trading deadline. Again, like Danny mentioned earlier, Wallace should have leveraged Pau Gasol to rid himself of Brian Cardinal’s overpriced contract, and possibly add more talent to his roster. Instead, he sold Gasol for next to nothing and tried to foist Cardinal on Mike Miller’s suitors, who (of course) had no reason to bid high considering that Gasol was just had for table scraps. Unless Wallace deals the two sometime this summer, he will have defeated the entire purpose of the Gasol trade by failing to go all the way with the rebuilding project. As you can see, it takes a special kind of idiot to botch things on this level.

1. Isiah Thomas, New York Knicks.

There is no point in attempting to explain the disaster this man has been. I will say this though: he is as bad a GM and Coach as he was a good point guard. That’s saying a lot.

Danny’s take:

Honorable Mention: Billy Knight, Hawks- Yeah, I know he’s doing a decent job now, but just imagine how monumentally badly he screwed up by taking Marvin Williams over Chris Paul (who WANTED to play for the Hawks) and Shelden Williams over Brandon Roy and/or Rudy Gay. Also deserves some blame for their complete inability to add any quality size other than Zaza and Horford over the past 5 years- even one depth big would help significantly.

5. Isiah Thomas, Knicks- Isiah has done many things wrong in his time at Madison Square Garden, but at least he is absolved of some blame because of how terrible the Knicks’ situation was when he took over and the fact that he has actually drafted well. I’ve written at length about him, so I’ll leave that as/is.

4. Danny Ferry/John Paxson, Cavs- This two-GM (Ferry and his predecessor) have an astonishing asset in LeBron James, the type of guy who players would love to play with, yet they have put nearly no-one of legitimate substance around him in five years. Now, I like Z as much as the next guy, but other than Boobie Gibson and the recent trade they have done a terrible job.

3. Otis Smith, Magic- Honestly, it takes effort to do as badly as Smith has done (with one notable exception, of course). Drafting Dwight Howard was phenomenal, but heinously overpaying Rashard Lewis (and giving up a pick to do it) and giving Jameer Nelson an undeserved big money extension has basically hamstrung the Magic for the foreseeable future despite a complete lack of a starter-quality 1, 2, and 4, coupled with a complete lack of size other than Superman and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

2. Michael Jordan, Bobcats- OK: Imagine a team that is a complete blank slate, except for Gerald Wallace and Emeka Okafor. This team has cap space, some young talent, and the possibility of plenty of draft picks. Good. Now, imagine drafting Adam Morrison over Brandon Roy and Rudy Gay, trading away the #8 pick in the 2007 Draft, and taking all of the potential cap space with Jason Richardson and Matt Carroll (who is signed for SIX YEARS). Basically, they went from a potential-stocked organization to a middling team in the East with little potential upward growth and the possibility of losing Okafor. And that’s not even mentioning the move of expiring contracts for Nazr Mohammed’s killer deal…

1. Chris Wallace, Grizzlies- He would have been #1 before today, but Pat Riley revealed this morning that he was willing to take on Brian Cardinal’s contract to get Mike Miller. They could have given up only expiring contracts for them (with the most logical deal to me being Jason Williams, Ricky Davis, and Dorrell Wright for Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal, and Kyle Lowry, to balance it out). Of course, the man who already ruined the Celtics was unimpressed with that move, despite trading Pau freaking Gasol for cap space and a small amount of young talent. Words cannot describe how bad he is at his job.

This trade is hardly worth it’s own post but since we’re all Raptors fans it’s mandatory to beat a topic, however inconsequential, to it’s ultimate death. If you’re sick and tired of hearing about the trade deadline and would like a more entertaining and humorous read, look no further than funnyman Dinosty’s take on the situation. For those of you who like to suffer, read ahead:

Reasoning for trade

Juan Dixon was doing very little as a Raptor and wasn’t being utilized to his full potential. With Calderon being a vastly superior player, the introduction of Dixon at the point was a significant drop-off and he never cracked the regular rotation, even falling behind Delfino at the PG spot. He was unhappy and felt that his talents deserved more playing time, obviously it wasn’t happening with the Raptors and Colangelo moved him. That’s what we know for sure. Was Colangelo’s primary intention to improve the team? No, otherwise he would’ve made a “real” trade, not a journeyman for journeyman swap which added nothing but a different ass for the bench to warm. The trades that were being discusses earlier involving Joe Smith and Mickael Pietrus were the trades Colangelo was trying to pull but failed to do so. The Juan Dixon trade was nothing more than respecting a seldom used veterans trade request (not demand) and in return bag another expiring contract. I’m sure that if Brezec had even a single more year at the same numbers, this trade does not happen.

What does Primoz Brezec give us?

Nothing much and it’s not a slight against him. He can’t possibly be looked at as the solution to our rebounding problems, he’s a hardly used player who’s already behind Andrea Bargnani and Rasho Nesterovic in the depth chart while his Per 48 rebounding is well below the undersized Kris Humphries. We already have a big body going to waste in the form of Maceo Baston and Sam’s as stubborn as a mule when it comes to the rotation. If he thought cracking the Detroit lineup was hard, wait till he gets a sense of how Sam works. I can’t seem to figure out what Brezec will give us that his fellow Slovenian Rasho Nesterovic can’t. Therefore, one is forced to conclude that this trade was nothing more than a convenient swap which came with some cash. A can’t lose situation. I read an argument in the now legendary 70+ page thread that Brezec will be able to help us out in case we face Cleveland in the playoffs. I have a hard time believing that even a washed up Ben Wallace, Anderson Varejao or Big Z will be intimidated by Primoz, at best he’ll be good for 6 fouls. Well, let’s see how he plays (if he plays) and talk about his game then. Until then, Primoz, meet bench. Bench, meet Primoz.

Should Colangelo have pulled a Cleveland-type deal?

No, I think he was wise not to jump into the trade market with reckless abandon. Cleveland did end up making their team a lot better with the acquisition of Ben Wallace, Joe Smith (who the Raptors liked), Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West. In the process, Danny Ferry also acquired Wallace and Sczerbiak’s behemoth contracts. No sane Raptors supporter would’ve been an advocate of a drastic makeover which is sure to put a financial straight-jacket on your club for the next few years. If Cleveland fails to click with the new additions, it’ll be one of the worse trades ever. If they manage to get to the NBA finals, Ferry will be known as a proactive GM that saw in Wallace what others didn’t. I’m of the opinion that this was a trade made to keep Lebron happy, they had already missed out on Mike Bibby and Jason Kidd and wanted to give Lebron some help, any help.

The reason why fans are disappointed

Nobody is expecting anything from the Dixon deal, nobody is saying that we got robbed. That would be crazy talk. Fans are upset that we’ll be entering the playoffs with the same weaknesses as last year. What adds to the frustration is that players such as Francisco Elson, Kurt Thomas, Reggie Evans, Drew Gooden and Joe Smith were all available at reasonable rates and Colangelo failed to orchestrate a trade. This is a legitimate grievance and even the staunchest of Colangelo supporters can’t deny. Excuses such as rebuilding and being cautious with the salary cap are just that, the bottom line is that this team had a very obvious need which still remains unfulfilled. Maybe, just maybe, Bryan Colangelo might be totally cool with making a first-round exit as long as his plan of building around Bargnani and Bosh and adding a free agent a summer from now remains intact.

Where do we stack up?

Cleveland has upped the ante in the race for 3rd and looks to have the edge on Orlando. I’m ready to hand Cleveland the third spot which might be a good thing for us. If Cleveland finishes 3rd, it means the Raptors will finish somewhere between 4th – 6th. If Orlando finishes behind Cleveland and we manage to hold off Washington, we’ll get the 4/5 playoff matchup we want – Orlando. Taking out Cleveland in the playoffs is impossible for the Raptors, way too much rebounding for us to handle and the Lebron factor is too big to overcome. I’m a little scared of Gilbert Arenas to welcome a Washington matchup. Even with Arenas out, Jamison and Butler would cause us serious matchup issues and once you throw Arenas in there you have to think he’ll wash out whatever Calderon does. Blatche has all the skills to have a Mikki Moore type series and if Haywood decides to play, we’ll be in trouble. The Orlando matchup against Dwight Howard is the most likable. Howard can be neutralized by Bosh and I believe it’s always easier to slow down a superstar big man who doesn’t have the ball at the start of the play rather than a superstar guard, which is what Cleveland and Washington present.

The trade deadline is over and the Raptors continue to remain a very easy team to prepare a game-plan against. If you stop Chris Bosh, half the job is done. If Calderon continues to play at such a high level, he might be able to give us an outside chance in a series. However, in a playoff setting when the opposing coach has had time to devise a plan to slow down our offense, it’s up to our defense and rebounding to hold down the fort and I just don’t feel confident that we can step up to the challenge. I suppose a lot depends on whether Jorge Garbajosa can come back and spark our defense, maybe Colangelo is relying on Bargnani to have a strong finish to the campaign and doesn’t want to hinder his progress by acquiring a player who might bite into his playing time. Whatever the key to playoff success is, it’ll have to come from within. There’s no help coming anytime soon.

Thanks for reading and posting your thoughts. Till after the Knicks game.

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As has become the case in recent years, the biggest in-season NBA trades took place well before today’s NBA, with the Shaq, Kidd and Gasol blockbusters not having the added stresses of a 3 p.m. Thursday deadline to compete with.

Today’s biggest deal, as of the time of this writing, is a three-way trade which may have been classified as a blockbuster five years ago, but to call it that right now would be a bit of a stretch.

David Aldridge reports (using the word “blockbuster” in his headline, likely in an effort to invalidate my previous paragraph) that the Cleveland Cavaliers have acquired Ben Wallace and Joe Smith from the Bulls and Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak from the Sonics in exchange for Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes (going to Chicago) and Donyell Marshall and Ira Newble (on their way to Seattle). The Sonics also receive Adrian Griffin from the Bulls.

The move is a bit curious from Cleveland’s standpoint, as Wallace has struggled all year long and does not contribute nearly the same amount of offense as Gooden. Wallace’s reputation as a superior defensive player obviously gives him the advantage over Gooden in that respect, but the Cavs paid a steep price to try to improve the team around LeBron James. The additions of Szczerbiak and West are more interesting, in my view, as Szczerbiak gives the Cavs a potentially dangerous shooter that can take some pressure off of James, while West is young and has a lot of potential to contribute this season and down the road. Also working to Cleveland’s benefit is that they were able to rid themselves of Hughes’ contract, though they had to take on a similar albatross with Wallace’s deal.

Dealing Wallace and Smith will likely allow the Bulls to pair Gooden up with Joakim Noah, giving them a pair of athletic big men down low.

Another three-way trade was completed earlier today when the New Orleans Hornets acquired Bonzi Wells and Mike James from the Houston Rockets for Bobby Jackson, Adam Haluska and a second-round pick. It gets a little more complicated from there, so I’ll just directly quote the ESPN.com article:

Memphis receives Brazilian forward Marcus Vinicius from the Hornets. The draft rights to Ukrainian forward Sergei Lishchuk, a second-round pick of the Grizzlies in 2004, were sent to Houston. The Grizzlies, which also get cash considerations from Houston, acquired the draft rights to Senegalese center Malick Badiane, a second-round pick in 2003, from the Rockets.

In a less significant deal, the Toronto Raptors sent guard Juan Dixon to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for center Primoz Brezec.

Yesterday, the defending NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs got involved in the trading, sending Brent Barry back to Seattle along with center Francisco Elson and a 2009 first-round pick in exchange for power forward Kurt Thomas.

We’ll be back later in the day should news of any other big deals break.

UPDATE: Shannon Brown, Cedric Simmons and a second-round pick in the 2009 NBA draft are also going to Chicago in the finalized three-way Cavs/Bulls/Sonics deal.

Two other small deals to report, as former Blazers guard Taurean Green has been dealt to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for guard Von Wafe while the Rockets picked up Gerald Green from the T’Wolves in exchange for Kirk Snyder, a second-round pick in the 2010 NBA draft and cash.

This is what happens to you when you’re practically sound asleep at 1AM typing on your keyboard on a desk that’s not so steady.

I apologize for the bundle of spelling errors that are gonna pop up as this blog post goes on. Anyhow, here’s my little unique perspective of terrible, or ‘not-too-good’, NBA teams, summing them up individually in a sentence or two, capped by a division. I’ll explain which division means which.

The John Goodman Division (Not the actor. Some other cat.)
There is only room for one team in this division. The team is usually moody, a loner and a bit of a whack. To be more brief and brevly concise, the team is usually coached horribly and has no business being in the league. They sit alone at the bottom of the pack.

The Peter King Division
This division consists of two teams with an idiotic head coach. He is either brainless and clueless on how to draw up a play or he simply doesn’t know how to get his team ready to step out onto the hardwood.

The hybrid Tiki Barber, Michael Strahan, Shaun Alexander Division
Known as “the Gap,” the Tiki Barber, Michael Strahan, Shaun Alexander Division comprises of the two other teams that are a little far — but not too far — from the three worst teams in the league. These two clubs are notorious for inept play by turning the ball over and careless mistakes.

Without further-afreakin-ado: Let’s roll!

The John Goodman Division
The New York Knicks — What can you say about the hapless Knicks? They have a tumultuous point guard in Stephon Marbury, two big men in the post (everyone’s favorite thug, Zach Randolph, and shipman Eddy Curry) that can’t play defense to save their lives, and of course — Isiah Thomas — the unanimous No. 1 Douchebag of 2007 (chosen by yours truly).

The Peter King Division
The Minnesota Timberwolves — Minnesota fans are definitely banging their heads around watching Kevin Garnett showcase his talent in Boston — but let me say this: I bet they’re probably going nuts over that Foye-for-Roy deal last year, too.

The Miami Heat — I remember in 2005 when the Heat acquired Fatoine Walker, Jason Williams and James Posey. I know there’s Gary Payton and yaddee-yaddee-yah, but I’m talking about the three main entrees that people loved dishing out so much in ‘05 predicting that title. They won the title. But look at the pathway of attrition they’ve cycled through now. They have a deadweight contract in Shaquille O’Neal until 2010. A bunch of old bastards sitting around on the bench. Oh, and Pat Riley — do I need to say anything? He’s nothing more than mediocre in my eyes.

The hybrid Tiki Barber, Michael Strahan, Shaun Alexander Division
Charlotte Bobcats — Hey, Charlotte, I was a big fan of Walter Hermann. I was all for you guys keeping Brandan Wright (even if he was a Tar Heel) and not trading for the poor man’s Vince Carter aka Jason Richardson. And what was wrong with Primoz Brezec? MJ [Michael Jordan] was one hell of a basketball player, but he’s putting the Bobcats IN hell with these idiotic moves with GM Rod Higgins. Nazr Mohammed’s contract doesn’t run out until 2010 or 2011. He’s a below average player, in my mind, and wasn’t worth giving up Hermann and Brezec so easy to the Pistons. But y’know what they say — idiots will be idiots and good teams will be good teams. Oh, nobody says that, I just made it up, but it’s true.

The Memphis Grizzles – 30th defensively in the league? Are you kidding me? I know somebody in the OH-SO “NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION” has to be 30th in the league defensively, but come on, you’re professionals! Oh well, like I said: someone has to be last in the L defensively.