Monthly Archives: November 2011

Tracy McGrady, Playoff PER, and Context

A few weeks ago, I happened across an interesting stat. I was noodling around the internet and decided to look up the all-time leaders in career playoff PER.  Interestingly, number eight on the list is Tracy McGrady. Behind Michael Jordan, George Mikan, Lebron, Shaq, Tim Duncan, Hakeem, and Dirk and ahead of Dwayne Wade, Charles [...]

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The Player’s Need For Unified Expression

Here we are. Stuck, helpless, and very, very frustrated. After Monday’s decision by the player’s union to unanimously reject the owner’s “last best” offer, it’s now evident that the multi-billion dollar tug-of-war decision will be placed in the hands of our nation’s brutally efficient judiciary system. Scary words (litigation) have replaced happy words (basketball). Lawyers [...]

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Kyle Lowry and the Mysterious Jumper

“I was never shooting in games before because I always drove to the basket. I have just been getting confidence from the coaches and teammates to shoot. It’s been hard work. I had the stigma I couldn’t shoot, even in high school.” How can someone—after already establishing themselves with a lifetime’s worth of a sample [...]

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On the NBA: Why I Might Not Want Basketball Just Yet

I’ve never even been able to consider the thought of missing NBA games. The very notion gives me crackhead shivers, the kind that you get in the morning after a particularly long night of dehydration and/or dancing. As a man with his fair share of not-so-enviable bad habits, though, I know that simply satisfying every [...]

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Breaking Down Kevin Martin As A Franchise Player

Every championship contender has its separate yet connected segments. The uncompromising rebounders, self-sacrificing passers, and defensive enthusiasts. The creative coaches who know how to play complicated match-ups and designate rotations, the shrewd wheelers and dealers sitting in an office high above the battlefield, and the owners, who seem interested enough in the sport of basketball [...]

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