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Saturday, March 19, 2016
Telling It All Podcast With Matt Cowen - Premier League, 2016 Presidential Primaries, NCAA March Madness First Round
Topics Include: Will Leicester City Win The Premier League (1:00)? Who Will Get Relegated (3:45)? Impressions of the Rumored European Super League (6:45). Champions League Quarterfinals Preview (8:00). The Rise of Donald Trump (10:00). Trump Moving Into The Center (12:40). March Madness First Round Overview (15:25).
SoundCloud Podcast Homepage: https://soundcloud.com/ctellallsports
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Looking At Cam Newton Through The Lens Of Jack Johnson
Throughout history, people have cultivated their own self-identity by orienting themselves against contrasting social groups. By
outlining the different physical and social behavior of others, individuals
defined their own existence and re-affirmed their self-perceptions. F. Scott Fitzgerald challenged the natural propensity to neatly classify
the human experience when he said, “Show me a hero, and I’ll write you a
tragedy."
Jack Johnson and Cam Newton are the most visible representations of external figures attempting to project their own self-conceptions and anxieties onto the actions of others. While the overt racist vitriol shouted at Johnson in the early 1900's was reflective of the gradual hardening of Jim Crow America and a reaction to his threat to racial norms, recent condemnation of Newton’s on-field behavior, mainly his post-touchdown celebrations and the dabbing, have similarly mirrored the social environment of this modern time. Just as there have been attempts in modern society to obscure the systematic mistreatment of African-Americans, the “it’s not race” argument surrounding Cam Newton from both the black and white media have been suggested to deflect attention away from the maintenance of racial boundaries more than a hundred years since Johnson. Horror over Johnson and Newton’s individualism have shown the urgency to precisely project onto others dichotomous categorizations of good versus evil, rather than recognizing that all people fit into a gray area somewhere between “heroism” and “tragedy.”
White anxiety towards Johnson was entrenched in his unwillingness to comply with the athletic and social standards of his race in the early 20th century. He drove fast, dated the woman he wanted, and was a symbolic precursor to Muhammad Ali. The duplicity of the term “unforgivable blackness” in Ken Burns’s 2005 Jack Johnson documentary not only reflected Johnson’s egoism to live “without the dictation of any man," but also how he “unforgivably” distorted white self-identity. In her fantastic piece on Cam Newton, Kate Aguilar pointed out, “Black culture cannot fully exist separate from White cultural practices as they each, in part, define themselves against and through the other.” Whiteness has always been filtered through its juxtaposition to blackness, and white superiority can only be defined through that very contrast. Johnson recalled about his Fight of the Century with James Jeffries in 1910 in Reno, “Hardly a blow been struck when I knew that I was Jeff’s master," showing how white masculinity could not be defined through the inferior and subservient “other" because of Johnson's boxing prowess.
Sports often function as a bodily performance of a particular identity and facilitate formations of masculinity, so Johnson’s conspicuous domination of the white male body arose widespread unease over the reversal of the power relationship between the two races. The fight between Johnson and Jeffries was halted prior to “the great white hope,” being knocked out because the image of a black men standing over a white man would symbolically assert Johnson’s agency. In a voiceover in the Ken Burns documentary, William Pickens said, “Better for Johnson to win and a few Negroes to be killed in body for it, than for Johnson to have lost and all Negroes to be killed in spirit by the preachment of inferiority from the combined white press." When blacks were treated as inferior non-entities under the boxing color line in the 1900s, they were a product of white manifestations, but by Johnson defining himself independent of external social agents, he became a menace to white self-perception. Unlike when heavyweight champion John Sullivan refused to fight any black boxers during his reign as title holder from 1885 to 1892, which allowed the white man to set himself against the non-being black man, Johnson’s victory called into question white self-perception. The idea that the masculine supremacy that Johnson showed in the ring would extend to all political and social spheres of life created a discernible and explicit animosity towards the impetus of that movement, even if Johnson did not see himself functionally acting as a symbol of blackness.
Whereas Johnson was overtly attacked because of his “unforgiveable blackness,” the portrayal of Cam Newton as disrespectful and arrogant have come out of a more implicitly defined uncertainty over how his blackness defines those around him. The psychological projections of white individuals have been exhibited through the media’s discourse around Newton. After the quarterback abruptly walked out of his post-game Super Bowl press conference, former NFL player Bill Romanowski tweeted, “You will never last in the NFL with that attitude. The world doesn’t revolve around you, boy!”
While Romanowski’s tweet may ostensibly seem like a referendum on Newton’s lack of post-game sportsmanship, it was a not so well hidden code for the racial underpinnings that promote only specific types of normative behaviors. In his terrific examination of Peyton Manning as "The NFL's Great White Hope," aligning the external perceptions of Jeffries with the public's orientation towards Manning, Andrew McGregor referenced the idea of “produced whiteness that downplays racial difference." While Romanowski may not have as explicitly projected his racial angst towards Newton like people did in the past towards Johnson, he clearly implied it through his rhetoric. By referring to Newton as “boy,” his comments showed the continued evaluation of blacks as not having the capabilities to develop into socially accepted men.
Even if Romanowski somehow did not intentionally direct his comments at Newton with racial malice, which is highly doubtful from someone who previously said he would "try to get him by the neck and choke him at the bottom of the pile," the linguistic connotations of the word “boy” speak to a prevailing subconscious desire to differentiate whiteness from blackness. McGregor acknowledged that, “behavioral critiques of non-white athletes rely on race,” even when race may supposedly be dissociated from the actual content of what an individual is saying. Romanowski continued a line of dehumanizing blacks for their behavior that is heavily steeped in a historically racial power structure.
For all the idiocy of The League, one of the most pointed scenes of the show was in season two when the guys discussed how code words are always used to intentionally or even unintentionally describe players based upon their race. Key and Peele similarly satirized how sportscasters are so prone to race based categorizations of athletes.
The divisive reactions to Johnson and Newton were similarly extended to their reflection on the black community itself, furthering proving that individuals function in society as reflections of other’s projections of them. The fears of upper and middle class blacks of Johnson were manifested in his strand of “blackness.” In the Ken Burns documentary, Booker T. Washington said of Johnson, “A man with muscle minus brains is a useless creature,” because his perception of black progress was rooted in individual educational growth rather than directly “fighting” social inequality. Washington was wary of Johnson’s open dissent of established rules of conformity, particularly his miscegenation with white women. By arousing fears amongst white men of removing the purity of what they perceived to be “their women,” Johnson was not the exemplar of black representation that Washington had hoped would promote black discipline.
While the criticism of Cam Newton has been less explicit, it has similarly been formulated based upon a lack of comfort with what he represents. In response to Ryan Clark’s comments that “it wasn’t racism at work, but culture,” Kate Aguilar pointed out that “his culture is a part of a racial framework.” Not only did Clark misconceive of the interdependency of race and culture, but he even more importantly attributed the criticism of Newton to his divergent culture, subconsciously implying that black culture, a manifestation of race, could not in itself be a form of culturally accepted expressionism.
Jack Johnson and Cam Newton are the most visible representations of external figures attempting to project their own self-conceptions and anxieties onto the actions of others. While the overt racist vitriol shouted at Johnson in the early 1900's was reflective of the gradual hardening of Jim Crow America and a reaction to his threat to racial norms, recent condemnation of Newton’s on-field behavior, mainly his post-touchdown celebrations and the dabbing, have similarly mirrored the social environment of this modern time. Just as there have been attempts in modern society to obscure the systematic mistreatment of African-Americans, the “it’s not race” argument surrounding Cam Newton from both the black and white media have been suggested to deflect attention away from the maintenance of racial boundaries more than a hundred years since Johnson. Horror over Johnson and Newton’s individualism have shown the urgency to precisely project onto others dichotomous categorizations of good versus evil, rather than recognizing that all people fit into a gray area somewhere between “heroism” and “tragedy.”
White anxiety towards Johnson was entrenched in his unwillingness to comply with the athletic and social standards of his race in the early 20th century. He drove fast, dated the woman he wanted, and was a symbolic precursor to Muhammad Ali. The duplicity of the term “unforgivable blackness” in Ken Burns’s 2005 Jack Johnson documentary not only reflected Johnson’s egoism to live “without the dictation of any man," but also how he “unforgivably” distorted white self-identity. In her fantastic piece on Cam Newton, Kate Aguilar pointed out, “Black culture cannot fully exist separate from White cultural practices as they each, in part, define themselves against and through the other.” Whiteness has always been filtered through its juxtaposition to blackness, and white superiority can only be defined through that very contrast. Johnson recalled about his Fight of the Century with James Jeffries in 1910 in Reno, “Hardly a blow been struck when I knew that I was Jeff’s master," showing how white masculinity could not be defined through the inferior and subservient “other" because of Johnson's boxing prowess.
Sports often function as a bodily performance of a particular identity and facilitate formations of masculinity, so Johnson’s conspicuous domination of the white male body arose widespread unease over the reversal of the power relationship between the two races. The fight between Johnson and Jeffries was halted prior to “the great white hope,” being knocked out because the image of a black men standing over a white man would symbolically assert Johnson’s agency. In a voiceover in the Ken Burns documentary, William Pickens said, “Better for Johnson to win and a few Negroes to be killed in body for it, than for Johnson to have lost and all Negroes to be killed in spirit by the preachment of inferiority from the combined white press." When blacks were treated as inferior non-entities under the boxing color line in the 1900s, they were a product of white manifestations, but by Johnson defining himself independent of external social agents, he became a menace to white self-perception. Unlike when heavyweight champion John Sullivan refused to fight any black boxers during his reign as title holder from 1885 to 1892, which allowed the white man to set himself against the non-being black man, Johnson’s victory called into question white self-perception. The idea that the masculine supremacy that Johnson showed in the ring would extend to all political and social spheres of life created a discernible and explicit animosity towards the impetus of that movement, even if Johnson did not see himself functionally acting as a symbol of blackness.
Whereas Johnson was overtly attacked because of his “unforgiveable blackness,” the portrayal of Cam Newton as disrespectful and arrogant have come out of a more implicitly defined uncertainty over how his blackness defines those around him. The psychological projections of white individuals have been exhibited through the media’s discourse around Newton. After the quarterback abruptly walked out of his post-game Super Bowl press conference, former NFL player Bill Romanowski tweeted, “You will never last in the NFL with that attitude. The world doesn’t revolve around you, boy!”
While Romanowski’s tweet may ostensibly seem like a referendum on Newton’s lack of post-game sportsmanship, it was a not so well hidden code for the racial underpinnings that promote only specific types of normative behaviors. In his terrific examination of Peyton Manning as "The NFL's Great White Hope," aligning the external perceptions of Jeffries with the public's orientation towards Manning, Andrew McGregor referenced the idea of “produced whiteness that downplays racial difference." While Romanowski may not have as explicitly projected his racial angst towards Newton like people did in the past towards Johnson, he clearly implied it through his rhetoric. By referring to Newton as “boy,” his comments showed the continued evaluation of blacks as not having the capabilities to develop into socially accepted men.
Even if Romanowski somehow did not intentionally direct his comments at Newton with racial malice, which is highly doubtful from someone who previously said he would "try to get him by the neck and choke him at the bottom of the pile," the linguistic connotations of the word “boy” speak to a prevailing subconscious desire to differentiate whiteness from blackness. McGregor acknowledged that, “behavioral critiques of non-white athletes rely on race,” even when race may supposedly be dissociated from the actual content of what an individual is saying. Romanowski continued a line of dehumanizing blacks for their behavior that is heavily steeped in a historically racial power structure.
For all the idiocy of The League, one of the most pointed scenes of the show was in season two when the guys discussed how code words are always used to intentionally or even unintentionally describe players based upon their race. Key and Peele similarly satirized how sportscasters are so prone to race based categorizations of athletes.
(The audio of the scene is from 3:25-4:15)
Everyone subconsciously partakes in this use of language, like how we all called Aaron Craft a terrific "coach on the floor" for Ohio State or how we always reference the terrific motor of J.J. Watt. Kenny Vacarro pointed this out when asked about Andrew Luck's "deceptive speed," saying, "Not deceptive. Just because he's white doesn't mean he's deceptive. He's actually a great athlete."
Key and Peele sketch
The divisive reactions to Johnson and Newton were similarly extended to their reflection on the black community itself, furthering proving that individuals function in society as reflections of other’s projections of them. The fears of upper and middle class blacks of Johnson were manifested in his strand of “blackness.” In the Ken Burns documentary, Booker T. Washington said of Johnson, “A man with muscle minus brains is a useless creature,” because his perception of black progress was rooted in individual educational growth rather than directly “fighting” social inequality. Washington was wary of Johnson’s open dissent of established rules of conformity, particularly his miscegenation with white women. By arousing fears amongst white men of removing the purity of what they perceived to be “their women,” Johnson was not the exemplar of black representation that Washington had hoped would promote black discipline.
While the criticism of Cam Newton has been less explicit, it has similarly been formulated based upon a lack of comfort with what he represents. In response to Ryan Clark’s comments that “it wasn’t racism at work, but culture,” Kate Aguilar pointed out that “his culture is a part of a racial framework.” Not only did Clark misconceive of the interdependency of race and culture, but he even more importantly attributed the criticism of Newton to his divergent culture, subconsciously implying that black culture, a manifestation of race, could not in itself be a form of culturally accepted expressionism.
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Telling It All Podcast With Stacy Tell - Oscars Preview
Topics Include: Movie Review of 2015 (0:15). Expectations For Chris Rock As Host/Rory Confuses Chris Rock and Chris Tucker (3:00). Best Actor In A Supporting Role Discussion (5:20). Leonardo DiCaprio Finally Winning Best Actor (7:00). Memorable Scenes From The Best Picture Films (9:00). Best Picture Expectations (14:00). Best Actress Category Overview (18:00). Best Director Thoughts (20:30). Which Actor/Actress/Movie Do You Really Want To See Win (28:45)?
SoundCloud Podcast Homepage: https://soundcloud.com/ctellallsports
Thursday, February 4, 2016
NBA Mid-Season Quick Thoughts
We are a little more than a week away from the NBA All-Star Game, the unofficial mid-point of the season that is nowhere close to half-way through the year because teams will have already played nearly 65% of their games by that point. However, such irrationality has similarly extended over many areas of the association so far this year.
You want absurdity, how about Blake Griffin punching a Clippers equipment manager before following him outside and taking a few more swipes at him in the worst sports hand related injury since Jason Pierre Paul? You want unexpectedness, how about a team firing a coach after they went to the NBA Finals the year before and started the season with a conference best mark of 30-11 (all of Israel now hates the Cavs)? You want foolishness, how about Bryon Scott and Sam Mitchell currently holding two of the thirty NBA head coaching jobs, one of whom constantly criticizes his own young point guard in the media while Tom Thibodeau is eating hamburgers and watching basketball alone in his basement? You want preposterousness, how about Paul George averaging more than 23 points per game on 40 percent field goal shooting just a year and a half after his horrific right leg injury? You want nonsensicalness, how about Tim Duncan being 10th in Real Plus-Minus despite being the same age as Gary Oldman (all ages are estimates)?
Speaking of Tim Duncan, the greatness of the Warriors and Spurs has been just as awe-striking as anything else this year, but very understandable given their talent level, offensive fluidity, and defensive coordination.
The NBA has never seen a team like the Warriors. Steph Curry is a guy that not only kills you with his otherworldly shooting but also the fear he evokes from other teams whenever he is on the floor. Draymond Green is so versatile, as he can make plays off the screen and roll while also being physical enough to guard power forwards and centers defensively. The Warriors are 45-4 as of today, one game ahead of the pace the Chicago Bulls were on during their 72-win season in 1994-1995. I have no problem with Golden State going after the record as long as none of their players are risking their health for the playoffs. Since Steph has not even played in 14 fourth quarters so far this season and is not overburdened with minutes, the record is that much more attractive to go after because the team has not overstretched itself. Plus, it is a chance to be in NBA lure forever!
The machine that is the San Antonio Spurs is in full force once again. Not only did the addition of LaMarcus Aldridge give the Spurs a guy that can get his own shot in the post with his turnaround jumper, but Kawhi has extended his range and is behind only J.J. Redick in three point shooting at 48.7 percent this year (who would have thought the latter half of that sentence was possible two years ago). Golden State is currently 22-0 at home while the Spurs are sitting at a perfect 27-0 in games played in San Antonio, and only twice in the 82-game NBA season have two teams both finished with three losses or fewer on their home floor in the same season (in 1995-1996, the Bulls were 39-2 at home and the SuperSonics were 38-3 in Seattle [rest in temporary peace Seattle basketball] and the following season Chicago went 39-2 at home again while the Jazz went 38-3 in Utah).
And I did not even mention the Thunder, who on any given night can have Westbrook and/or Durant go off, and the Cavs, who will undoubtedly reach the NBA Finals in what would be LeBron's 6th straight trip (a remarkable feat regardless of his odd social media musings).
With that being said, here are some small NBA patterns I have seen emerge through the first half of the season:
The Matthew Dellavedova-Tristan Thompson Pick And Roll:
It may not be Steph and Draymond, Reggie Jackson and Andre Drummond, or Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan running the screen and roll, but Dellavedova and Thompson seamlessly get the Cavs a couple buckets every night with their attacking action. What makes the Delly and Double T pick and roll so enjoyable is that you half-expect Delly to dribble the ball of his foot or Thompson to forget what hand he shoots with at any moment, and yet their screen and roll remarkably works time and time again. Delly slowly lunges down the court, dribbling low to the ground and not very smoothly, and eventually takes the Thompson screen to begin the Cavs offensive set. He eventually continues for a step down the line after the pick to give TT time to get to the rim, at which point he tosses up the lob for Tristan to finish at the bucket. And this happens on a nightly basis, something that Delly and Thompson worked several times against the Warriors in the first two games of the NBA Finals until Golden State snuffed it out, and went under Delly on screens and made sure that Thompson's defender stuck with him to prevent the lob.
In this play from earlier this year against the Pacers, Monta Ellis trailed Thompson's screen over the top, and as Myles Turner stepped up to prevent Dellavedova's floater, Delly threw up the lob for Thompson in what has become a nightly occurrence for the Cavs. Delly and Thompson have formed a nice connection on these types of plays dating back to last year, and Thompson often jumps up before Delly has even picked up his dribble because he knows the lob is coming. It is especially helpful that Tristan can finish at the rim with both hands to go along with his outstanding vertical leaping ability. Delly's funky hesitations make it difficult for defenders to read his decision-making. Thompson's scoring frequency in plays in which he is the roller in the screen and role has been 67.9% this season per NBA tracking statistics, putting him behind only DeAndre Jordan, Dewayne Dedmon, and Rudy Gobert for players who have been involved in the play type at least 20 times. Thompson's role to the rim has also opened up Delly's floater and the pass to the opposite corner when the help defender comes down to ward off the Thompson catch and finish at the hoop, opening up threes for J.R. Smith, Shumpert, and Richard Jefferson (he is still playing America, just like how Tom Conti is still out there acting somewhere).
Sure, dollar for dollar, Thompson is not worth the 5-year, 82 million dollars the Cavs spent on him in the off-season, a figure that certainly surprised DeMarcus Cousins (that contract will look like a bargain once the cap jumps up and Ryan Anderson is getting paid 18 to 20 million a year). However, Thompson is a player that can switch onto smaller ball handlers if needed on pick and rolls and a guy that doesn't need the ball to be effective, something the other Cavs core group of players cannot say at all. Thompson has 36 made fields goals this season on alley oops, which is behind only DeAndre, Dwight, Drummond, and Anthony Davis in the NBA. Many of those passes have been courtesy of growing cult legend Matthew Dellavedova, who is still nowhere near Boban status for NBA nerds. I think we may be seeing the point guard teaching his fellow Aussie Nick Kyrgios how to throw up some lobs in the near future (no guarantees because Kyrgios would definitely just yell at him incoherently, especially since he is a Celtics fan).
Goran Dragic's Struggles With The Miami Heat:
Once upon a time, Goran Dragic was unhappy as a member of a three point guard system in Phoenix with Eric Bledsoe and now NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas. Dragic disliked having to play so much off the ball and not controlling the flow of the team's offense. In his defense, he was relegated to standing in the corner a little too much for a guy that made the All-NBA Third Team the year before.
Well, how much has really changed in Miami? Dragon's usage rate, which was 24.5% in his last full season in Phoenix on their surprise 48-win team, has dropped all the way down to just above 20% for the Heat. D-Wade still initiates a lot of Miami's offensive possessions, especially from the right side of the floor where he loves to back down his defender, shake one way, and then take a fadeaway jumper over the other shoulder. Meanwhile, Dragic is a guy that loves to get out into the open floor and run, but Miami is 29th in the league in John Hollinger's pace factor, only above the Jazz and their Trey Burke-Raul Neto point guard horror show (acquiring Jeff Teague is a move I would make if I were in the Jazz's position even if it meant giving up Alec Burks).
Dragic is not a natural fit in the slow it down Heat offense where he is not constantly working the pick and roll on every possession. Goran is a slashing point guard that likes to get into the lane, which is not to say that he is incapable of playing off the ball because he did at times with Bledsoe in Phoenix to devastating effects. However, he is not getting to the rim as often in Miami, partly because of his own reticence to assert himself into games. Kyrie, who is also much more effective creating plays on his own, shoots around 40 percent from three, helping the Cavs when LeBron takes over ball handling duties to stretch the floor. On the other hand, Dragic was just a 34.7 percent shooter last year from deep, making things a little more crowded inside for Miami. At times, defenses sink off Goran and the Heat do not swing the ball as quickly around the court as some other teams in the league to exploit over rotations and defensive creases.
It may be too early to fully give up on Goran, especially as Dwyane Wade plays into his 13th season at the age of 34 with his history of knee ailments. Wade will definitely be giving up more of the team's scoring responsibilities as the offensive fulcrum in the near future. Moreover, the Heat were just 3-5 over an 8-game stretch recently when Dragic was out with a strained left calf, including two straight games against the Thunder and Bucks when they were held under 80 points.
As the first play of this video montage shows, Dragic is so good at leaning into defenders and then stepping back to get his shot away in the paint, a reason why Miami needs him to be much more aggressive attacking downhill. Goran has a really nice spin move to get back to his favorite left hand, and he can still finish at the rim with his right hand when need be.
Overall, though, Dragic has looked as out of place in Miami as he did towards the end of his run with the Suns, and the Heat have been the anti-Hawks with individual pieces that have not added up to collective success over the last year plus.
Playing Elfrid Payton and Victor Oladipo Less Together:
Who are the Orlando Magic? Like so many other young teams in the NBA, the Magic have really struggled to find an identity so far this season, and Scott Skiles has tried out so many different lineup combinations that it may not be long before we see Shabazz Napier starting games at point guard (just kidding, unless LeBron says he wants to see Shabazz start and then it will probably happen).
I like the idea of starting the game with Elfrid Payton and then bringing Victor Oladipo off the bench to give the team more spacing offensively. Of all the Magic's 3-man playing combinations, Oladipo's four lowest net points per 100 possessions are times he has been on the court with Payton because of their combined inability to shoot the three (the Magic take 8 less threes than their opponents when Payton and Oladipo are out there together). Payton and Oladipo still play significant minutes together, but by not starting them with one another, it gives Oladipo the ability to be the team's primary ball handler in the second unit. With shooters all around him, like Evan Fournier and Mario Hezonja (Scott Skiles is finally starting to trust him more despite some of his on-ball defensive deficiencies), it opens up the lane for Oladipo's long strides to drive the ball. I would like to see Oladipo change the speed at which he goes to the rim to make him more unpredictable off the bounce. He also needs to finish a little better with contact at the hoop, but he is a terror with his speed in transition. Oladipo is very long and quick going from side-to-side, which allows him to guard opposing lead guards if he is playing at the point position without Payton.
In these highlights from last season, the play at the 1:15 mark is a great example of how the Magic's spacing with Luke Ridnour and tree point specialist Channing Frye freed the entire lane for Oladipo to drive down after the screen and pop from Frye. When Oladipo sees that the paint is open, he is so hard to get in front of because of the quickness of his first step. Elfrid Payton can continue to survey the floor, thread passes in traffic, and work the pick and roll with Nikola Vucevic, and Oladipo can have the floor spacing he needs to attack the rim if the two play separately.
You want absurdity, how about Blake Griffin punching a Clippers equipment manager before following him outside and taking a few more swipes at him in the worst sports hand related injury since Jason Pierre Paul? You want unexpectedness, how about a team firing a coach after they went to the NBA Finals the year before and started the season with a conference best mark of 30-11 (all of Israel now hates the Cavs)? You want foolishness, how about Bryon Scott and Sam Mitchell currently holding two of the thirty NBA head coaching jobs, one of whom constantly criticizes his own young point guard in the media while Tom Thibodeau is eating hamburgers and watching basketball alone in his basement? You want preposterousness, how about Paul George averaging more than 23 points per game on 40 percent field goal shooting just a year and a half after his horrific right leg injury? You want nonsensicalness, how about Tim Duncan being 10th in Real Plus-Minus despite being the same age as Gary Oldman (all ages are estimates)?
Speaking of Tim Duncan, the greatness of the Warriors and Spurs has been just as awe-striking as anything else this year, but very understandable given their talent level, offensive fluidity, and defensive coordination.
The NBA has never seen a team like the Warriors. Steph Curry is a guy that not only kills you with his otherworldly shooting but also the fear he evokes from other teams whenever he is on the floor. Draymond Green is so versatile, as he can make plays off the screen and roll while also being physical enough to guard power forwards and centers defensively. The Warriors are 45-4 as of today, one game ahead of the pace the Chicago Bulls were on during their 72-win season in 1994-1995. I have no problem with Golden State going after the record as long as none of their players are risking their health for the playoffs. Since Steph has not even played in 14 fourth quarters so far this season and is not overburdened with minutes, the record is that much more attractive to go after because the team has not overstretched itself. Plus, it is a chance to be in NBA lure forever!
The machine that is the San Antonio Spurs is in full force once again. Not only did the addition of LaMarcus Aldridge give the Spurs a guy that can get his own shot in the post with his turnaround jumper, but Kawhi has extended his range and is behind only J.J. Redick in three point shooting at 48.7 percent this year (who would have thought the latter half of that sentence was possible two years ago). Golden State is currently 22-0 at home while the Spurs are sitting at a perfect 27-0 in games played in San Antonio, and only twice in the 82-game NBA season have two teams both finished with three losses or fewer on their home floor in the same season (in 1995-1996, the Bulls were 39-2 at home and the SuperSonics were 38-3 in Seattle [rest in temporary peace Seattle basketball] and the following season Chicago went 39-2 at home again while the Jazz went 38-3 in Utah).
And I did not even mention the Thunder, who on any given night can have Westbrook and/or Durant go off, and the Cavs, who will undoubtedly reach the NBA Finals in what would be LeBron's 6th straight trip (a remarkable feat regardless of his odd social media musings).
With that being said, here are some small NBA patterns I have seen emerge through the first half of the season:
The Matthew Dellavedova-Tristan Thompson Pick And Roll:
It may not be Steph and Draymond, Reggie Jackson and Andre Drummond, or Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan running the screen and roll, but Dellavedova and Thompson seamlessly get the Cavs a couple buckets every night with their attacking action. What makes the Delly and Double T pick and roll so enjoyable is that you half-expect Delly to dribble the ball of his foot or Thompson to forget what hand he shoots with at any moment, and yet their screen and roll remarkably works time and time again. Delly slowly lunges down the court, dribbling low to the ground and not very smoothly, and eventually takes the Thompson screen to begin the Cavs offensive set. He eventually continues for a step down the line after the pick to give TT time to get to the rim, at which point he tosses up the lob for Tristan to finish at the bucket. And this happens on a nightly basis, something that Delly and Thompson worked several times against the Warriors in the first two games of the NBA Finals until Golden State snuffed it out, and went under Delly on screens and made sure that Thompson's defender stuck with him to prevent the lob.
In this play from earlier this year against the Pacers, Monta Ellis trailed Thompson's screen over the top, and as Myles Turner stepped up to prevent Dellavedova's floater, Delly threw up the lob for Thompson in what has become a nightly occurrence for the Cavs. Delly and Thompson have formed a nice connection on these types of plays dating back to last year, and Thompson often jumps up before Delly has even picked up his dribble because he knows the lob is coming. It is especially helpful that Tristan can finish at the rim with both hands to go along with his outstanding vertical leaping ability. Delly's funky hesitations make it difficult for defenders to read his decision-making. Thompson's scoring frequency in plays in which he is the roller in the screen and role has been 67.9% this season per NBA tracking statistics, putting him behind only DeAndre Jordan, Dewayne Dedmon, and Rudy Gobert for players who have been involved in the play type at least 20 times. Thompson's role to the rim has also opened up Delly's floater and the pass to the opposite corner when the help defender comes down to ward off the Thompson catch and finish at the hoop, opening up threes for J.R. Smith, Shumpert, and Richard Jefferson (he is still playing America, just like how Tom Conti is still out there acting somewhere).
Sure, dollar for dollar, Thompson is not worth the 5-year, 82 million dollars the Cavs spent on him in the off-season, a figure that certainly surprised DeMarcus Cousins (that contract will look like a bargain once the cap jumps up and Ryan Anderson is getting paid 18 to 20 million a year). However, Thompson is a player that can switch onto smaller ball handlers if needed on pick and rolls and a guy that doesn't need the ball to be effective, something the other Cavs core group of players cannot say at all. Thompson has 36 made fields goals this season on alley oops, which is behind only DeAndre, Dwight, Drummond, and Anthony Davis in the NBA. Many of those passes have been courtesy of growing cult legend Matthew Dellavedova, who is still nowhere near Boban status for NBA nerds. I think we may be seeing the point guard teaching his fellow Aussie Nick Kyrgios how to throw up some lobs in the near future (no guarantees because Kyrgios would definitely just yell at him incoherently, especially since he is a Celtics fan).
Goran Dragic's Struggles With The Miami Heat:
Once upon a time, Goran Dragic was unhappy as a member of a three point guard system in Phoenix with Eric Bledsoe and now NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas. Dragic disliked having to play so much off the ball and not controlling the flow of the team's offense. In his defense, he was relegated to standing in the corner a little too much for a guy that made the All-NBA Third Team the year before.
Well, how much has really changed in Miami? Dragon's usage rate, which was 24.5% in his last full season in Phoenix on their surprise 48-win team, has dropped all the way down to just above 20% for the Heat. D-Wade still initiates a lot of Miami's offensive possessions, especially from the right side of the floor where he loves to back down his defender, shake one way, and then take a fadeaway jumper over the other shoulder. Meanwhile, Dragic is a guy that loves to get out into the open floor and run, but Miami is 29th in the league in John Hollinger's pace factor, only above the Jazz and their Trey Burke-Raul Neto point guard horror show (acquiring Jeff Teague is a move I would make if I were in the Jazz's position even if it meant giving up Alec Burks).
Dragic is not a natural fit in the slow it down Heat offense where he is not constantly working the pick and roll on every possession. Goran is a slashing point guard that likes to get into the lane, which is not to say that he is incapable of playing off the ball because he did at times with Bledsoe in Phoenix to devastating effects. However, he is not getting to the rim as often in Miami, partly because of his own reticence to assert himself into games. Kyrie, who is also much more effective creating plays on his own, shoots around 40 percent from three, helping the Cavs when LeBron takes over ball handling duties to stretch the floor. On the other hand, Dragic was just a 34.7 percent shooter last year from deep, making things a little more crowded inside for Miami. At times, defenses sink off Goran and the Heat do not swing the ball as quickly around the court as some other teams in the league to exploit over rotations and defensive creases.
It may be too early to fully give up on Goran, especially as Dwyane Wade plays into his 13th season at the age of 34 with his history of knee ailments. Wade will definitely be giving up more of the team's scoring responsibilities as the offensive fulcrum in the near future. Moreover, the Heat were just 3-5 over an 8-game stretch recently when Dragic was out with a strained left calf, including two straight games against the Thunder and Bucks when they were held under 80 points.
As the first play of this video montage shows, Dragic is so good at leaning into defenders and then stepping back to get his shot away in the paint, a reason why Miami needs him to be much more aggressive attacking downhill. Goran has a really nice spin move to get back to his favorite left hand, and he can still finish at the rim with his right hand when need be.
Overall, though, Dragic has looked as out of place in Miami as he did towards the end of his run with the Suns, and the Heat have been the anti-Hawks with individual pieces that have not added up to collective success over the last year plus.
Playing Elfrid Payton and Victor Oladipo Less Together:
Who are the Orlando Magic? Like so many other young teams in the NBA, the Magic have really struggled to find an identity so far this season, and Scott Skiles has tried out so many different lineup combinations that it may not be long before we see Shabazz Napier starting games at point guard (just kidding, unless LeBron says he wants to see Shabazz start and then it will probably happen).
I like the idea of starting the game with Elfrid Payton and then bringing Victor Oladipo off the bench to give the team more spacing offensively. Of all the Magic's 3-man playing combinations, Oladipo's four lowest net points per 100 possessions are times he has been on the court with Payton because of their combined inability to shoot the three (the Magic take 8 less threes than their opponents when Payton and Oladipo are out there together). Payton and Oladipo still play significant minutes together, but by not starting them with one another, it gives Oladipo the ability to be the team's primary ball handler in the second unit. With shooters all around him, like Evan Fournier and Mario Hezonja (Scott Skiles is finally starting to trust him more despite some of his on-ball defensive deficiencies), it opens up the lane for Oladipo's long strides to drive the ball. I would like to see Oladipo change the speed at which he goes to the rim to make him more unpredictable off the bounce. He also needs to finish a little better with contact at the hoop, but he is a terror with his speed in transition. Oladipo is very long and quick going from side-to-side, which allows him to guard opposing lead guards if he is playing at the point position without Payton.
Monday, January 25, 2016
Telling It All Podcast With Dylan Flanagan - State And Future Of United States Tennis, Australian Open Second Week
Topics Include: The State Of Tennis/ATP Tour Financing (1:00). The Future Of United States Tennis (7:35). The Advantages And Disadvantages Of College Tennis (14:15). Seven Empty Seconds As Mysterious As The Missing Audio From The Apollo 11 Moon Landing (16:35). Australian Open Men's Singles Second Week Predictions (16:45).
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Sunday, January 24, 2016
Telling It All Podcast With Ben Goodman - AFC/NFC Championship Games, Mets Signing Yoenis Cespedes, Cavs Firing David Blatt, Australian Open Second Week
Topics Include: Broncos AFC Championship Game Victory Over The Patriots (0:30). Our Thoughts On The Panthers Dominating The Cardinals In The NFC Championship Game (11:40). Reactions To The Mets Re-Signing Yoenis Cespedes To A 3-year, 75 Million Dollar Contract (14:00). Second Week Preview of Australian Open Men's Singles (19:00). Super Bowl 50 Predictions For Broncos And Panthers Game (23:30).
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Saturday, January 23, 2016
Telling It All Podcast - English Premier League, David Blatt Firing, AFC/NFC Championship Games, Oscars Nominations/Predictions
Topics Include: Can Leicester City Win The EPL Title (0:45)? The State of Manchester City and Manchester United (4:15). What Clubs Will Get Into The Top Four (9:30)? Discussion of the Relegation Battle (11:30). Reaction to the Cavs firing of David Blatt (14:50). AFC Championship Game Preview (22:10). NFC Championship Game Preview (26:35). Oscar Nominations/Oscar Predictions (31:30).
SoundCloud Podcast Homepage: https://soundcloud.com/ctellallsports
Telling It All Podcast - ESports Overview
Topics Include: Discussion on Call of Duty World League (1:10). Breakdown of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive StarSeries XIV/Dreamhack Leipzig (12:20). Halo Championship Series Overview (22:20).
SoundCloud Podcast Homepage: https://soundcloud.com/ctellallsports
Friday, January 15, 2016
Parity Galore In College Basketball
Kentucky lost to UCLA. UCLA lost to Monmouth. Monmouth lost to Dayton. Dayton lost to La Salle. La Salle lost to Drexel. Drexel lost to Division II Alaska Anchorage. By the transitive property, Alaska Anchorage is better than Kentucky (yes, I took the time to plot all of that out). Maybe Mikhail Prokhorov and the Nets should consider offering Alaska Anchorage head coach Rusty Osborne a 12-year, 120 million dollar contract instead of John Calipari.
College football has been dominated by a few schools over the past couple decades. Urban Meyer and Nick Saban have won 8 of the last 13 National Championships and continue to be greedier than Meryl Streep at an award show.
However, the college basketball world has become increasingly "flat" as Tom Friedman would like to suggest. Here is a Russell Wilson level cliche: any team can truly beat any other club on a given night in college basketball. Obviously, that is not to say that powerhouse programs like Michigan St., Kansas, North Carolina, and Duke are out of the title picture. Overall, though, the top of college basketball has never been so close to the middle tier of teams in the country, as the middle class of college hoops has improved while the top teams in the country all have significant flaws.
There are anywhere from 10 to 15 teams that could win the National Championship this April in Houston, and for the life of me, I cannot remember a year with this much game-to-game uncertainty. A little less than a month ago, Clemson shot 27.1% from the field in a 23-point loss to Georgia on the road, and yet they just started ACC play with victories against Florida St., Syracuse in OT, Louisville, and Duke. How do you explain Kentucky getting totally outplayed by Ohio St. at the Barclays Center, a Buckeyes team that was so bad earlier on in non-conference play that UT-Arlington came into Columbus and beat them? Everybody was high on Virginia's prospects for a run despite losing Justin Anderson to the NBA after they beat West Virginia, Villanova, and California in consecutive games, but the Cavaliers then lost to Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech in ACC play. Teams in the top 25 losing games left and right has now become an accepted occurrence in college basketball.
The top teams in the nation are not strong enough this year to win on their off nights, and now it is just about figuring out when that evening will come for each squad. College basketball is just about as predictable and consistent as Cuba Gooding Junior's acting career because North Carolina can "show you the money" and beat Maryland behind flawless games from Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson, but they can also have a Boat Trip like performance and lose to teams like Northern Iowa.
Looking back at some of the past NCAA tournaments, the highest aggregate seeding for the four National Semifinalists was 26 during the wacky 2011 tourney. Eventual champions UConn were a 3 seed and only received that spot because they won 5 games in 5 days in the Big East Conference Tournament after going a mere 9-9 in conference play. Butler was an 8 seed, the first eight seed to get to the Final Four since North Carolina and Wisconsin in 2000 and the first eight seed to get to a title game since Villanova won it in 1985 against Georgetown. Kentucky was a 4 seed, and cinderella darlings VCU were a 11 seed, at the time joining LSU in 1986 and George Mason in 2006 as the only double digit seeds to make it to the Final Four. I think we could definitely see something wild unfold this March once again, but hopefully at the end of it we will get a better title game than the 53-41 National Championship game stinker we got back in 2011 (the worst title game I have seen since UCLA never got close to Florida back in 2006).
Why does college basketball lack a more typical top-heavy nature this season, a sort of structure that gets Bernie Sanders so upset?
One explanation is that some of the non-perennial hoops powers have not lost a lot to the NBA over the past few years and their players have continued to develop their games as upperclassmen. Whereas Duke had to replace Jahlil Okafor, Justice Winslow, and Tyus Jones, five of the seven players that get double-digit minutes for Butler are juniors and seniors. People sometimes overemphasize the role returning starters and upperclassmen play in the success of a team because if a team struggled with them as freshman or sophomores, they are not going to be better with them as juniors and seniors. However, for the Bulldogs to bring back all-conference caliber players like Roosevelt Jones and Kellen Dunham, it levels out the playing field against some of the bigger programs in the country. Seniors Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker are the reason why Wichita St. has won 7 NCAA Tournament games over the past 3 years, Buddy Hield is a scoring machine for Oklahoma and has dramatically improved as a shooter over his 4 years in Norman, and Kris Dunn came back after having late lottery potential and is now a definite top 5 pick (Providence could get back to its first Final Four since the Rick Pitino-Billy Donovan combination got them there in 1987). All three of those guys are leading experienced and upper-class heavy teams, especially Hield with Oklahoma because they have a very short bench and four of their five starters are juniors or seniors.
At the end of the day, you need talent to win games. The need for experience in college basketball to achieve success is often a media narrative (I feel like Ted Cruz when he was attacking the New York Media at the debate in Charleston last night), but it is an advantage to have a supremely gifted player with more a better feel for the game than a freshman who is still trying to figure it out (look at the difference between Brice Johnson and Skal Labissiere).
Another explanation for the parity in college basketball is that transfer rates are at an all-time high, and players at lower-level schools are now transferring to mid-level and second-tier programs. While Duke, Kentucky, and Kansas continue to go after the nation's top recruits, teams like Oregon, Pittsburgh, and even Louisville, who missed out on some of the top freshmen they were going after and ended up with just one top 30 recruit, have looked to established players from smaller schools to bolster their roster. The influx of transfers into tournament caliber teams, particularly but not limited to power conference schools, have allowed teams like Iowa St. to compete with programs like Kansas. Despite Fred Hoiberg leaving to go to the NBA and pestering Bulls fans by not being able to figure out the best big-man combination between Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, Pau Gasol, Nikola Mirotic, and Bobby Portis, nearly 14 percent of players still transferred in college basketball in 2014 (not all of them could go to Iowa St. anyway). Damion Lee, who transferred from Drexel, and Trey Lewis, who transferred from Cleveland St., and are now far and away the two best players on a Louisville team that ranks at the top of Ken Pomeroy's adjusted defensive rankings. Lee and Lewis are both really quick and Lee is absolutely fearless, especially when he starts to get into a grove from three.
Some of the non-traditional college basketball powerhouses, like Butler and Wichita St., have been able to offer playing time and larger roles to guys at bigger schools that were never given the opportunity to shine or never quite fit in with their team. Conner Frankamp went from 8 minutes a game as the 9th or 10th guy on Kansas in 2013 to a key part of a good Wichita St. team, and has given the Shockers a 43 percent shooter from three. Tyler Lewis, a former McDonald's All-American and top 50 recruit, never found his place at North Carolina St. and is now a really productive pass-first point guard for Butler. The same kind of story goes for Kuran Iverson, who left Memphis after two years to play for Rhode Island and have a bigger role. Dylan Ennis, who averaged nearly 10 points a game for a 33 win Villanova team last year, left the school to go to Oregon to handle more of the basketball with highly touted freshman Jalen Brunson coming to play for the Wildcats in the backcourt with Ryan Arcidiacono. Unlike in the past, where many players would sit and wait for their opportunity at a big-time school because they thought they could only be recognized by NBA scouts from a few programs, players know that getting onto the floor is the most important thing for their future. As Robert Sarver would say, millennials want instant gratification or else they move on (I say that half-jokingly).
Finally, the quality of freshman that came into college basketball this season pales in comparison to the past, hurting the top programs that have continually replenished their talent each year through strong freshmen classes. LSU's Ben Simmons (a player so good he gets shout outs from Barack Obama), Duke's Brandon Ingram (his wingspan is as long as Giannis and Kawhi), Henry Ellenson from Marquette, Diamond Stone of Maryland (had a 39 point, 12 rebound game in his first ever Big Ten contest against Penn St.), Caleb Swanigan from Purdue (forms a monster front line duo with A.J. Hammons), Arizona's Allonzo Trier (unfortunately is out with a broken finger), Dedric Lawson of Memphis, and Florida State's duo of Dwayne Bacon and Malik Beasley have certainly all stood out for their respective teams. However, equally as disappointing have been Kentucky's Skal Labissiere and Isaiah Briscoe (one NBA scout way too harshly eviscerated Labissiere recently), Cheick Diallo of Kansas, Chase Jeter of Duke (Coach K has no trust in him at all), Justin Simon of Arizona, and Antonio Blakeney of LSU.
Moreover, for whatever reason, it seems as though the destinations of the top recruits were more spread out in 2015. Ben Simmons went to LSU, Cuonzo Martin and California got two top ten recruits with Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb, Henry Ellenson, a Wisconsin kid, stayed home and went to Marquette, and Ben Howland and his slow pace, let me control my team's entire motion offense landed Malik Newman at Mississippi State. In 2013, all but one of the top 12 recruits went to Kansas (Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid), Duke (Jabari Parker), Kentucky (Julius Randle, Andrew Harrison, Dakari Johnson, James Young, and Aaron Harrison), Arizona (Aaron Gordon), or Florida (Kasey Hill and the biggest college basketball disappointment in a long time with Chris Walker) according to ESPN. The next year, half of the top 18 recruits on ESPN went to either Duke, North Carolina, or Kentucky (Okafor, Jones, and Winslow went to Duke, Justin Jackson, Theo Pinson, and Joel Berry landed at North Carolina, and Trey Lyles, Karl Towns Jr., and Devin Booker went to Kentucky). This year, of the top twenty recruits according to ESPN, seven of them went to schools that did not even make the NCAA Tournament in 2014, creating a diversification of talent in college hoops.
College football has been dominated by a few schools over the past couple decades. Urban Meyer and Nick Saban have won 8 of the last 13 National Championships and continue to be greedier than Meryl Streep at an award show.
However, the college basketball world has become increasingly "flat" as Tom Friedman would like to suggest. Here is a Russell Wilson level cliche: any team can truly beat any other club on a given night in college basketball. Obviously, that is not to say that powerhouse programs like Michigan St., Kansas, North Carolina, and Duke are out of the title picture. Overall, though, the top of college basketball has never been so close to the middle tier of teams in the country, as the middle class of college hoops has improved while the top teams in the country all have significant flaws.
There are anywhere from 10 to 15 teams that could win the National Championship this April in Houston, and for the life of me, I cannot remember a year with this much game-to-game uncertainty. A little less than a month ago, Clemson shot 27.1% from the field in a 23-point loss to Georgia on the road, and yet they just started ACC play with victories against Florida St., Syracuse in OT, Louisville, and Duke. How do you explain Kentucky getting totally outplayed by Ohio St. at the Barclays Center, a Buckeyes team that was so bad earlier on in non-conference play that UT-Arlington came into Columbus and beat them? Everybody was high on Virginia's prospects for a run despite losing Justin Anderson to the NBA after they beat West Virginia, Villanova, and California in consecutive games, but the Cavaliers then lost to Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech in ACC play. Teams in the top 25 losing games left and right has now become an accepted occurrence in college basketball.
The top teams in the nation are not strong enough this year to win on their off nights, and now it is just about figuring out when that evening will come for each squad. College basketball is just about as predictable and consistent as Cuba Gooding Junior's acting career because North Carolina can "show you the money" and beat Maryland behind flawless games from Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson, but they can also have a Boat Trip like performance and lose to teams like Northern Iowa.
Looking back at some of the past NCAA tournaments, the highest aggregate seeding for the four National Semifinalists was 26 during the wacky 2011 tourney. Eventual champions UConn were a 3 seed and only received that spot because they won 5 games in 5 days in the Big East Conference Tournament after going a mere 9-9 in conference play. Butler was an 8 seed, the first eight seed to get to the Final Four since North Carolina and Wisconsin in 2000 and the first eight seed to get to a title game since Villanova won it in 1985 against Georgetown. Kentucky was a 4 seed, and cinderella darlings VCU were a 11 seed, at the time joining LSU in 1986 and George Mason in 2006 as the only double digit seeds to make it to the Final Four. I think we could definitely see something wild unfold this March once again, but hopefully at the end of it we will get a better title game than the 53-41 National Championship game stinker we got back in 2011 (the worst title game I have seen since UCLA never got close to Florida back in 2006).
Why does college basketball lack a more typical top-heavy nature this season, a sort of structure that gets Bernie Sanders so upset?
One explanation is that some of the non-perennial hoops powers have not lost a lot to the NBA over the past few years and their players have continued to develop their games as upperclassmen. Whereas Duke had to replace Jahlil Okafor, Justice Winslow, and Tyus Jones, five of the seven players that get double-digit minutes for Butler are juniors and seniors. People sometimes overemphasize the role returning starters and upperclassmen play in the success of a team because if a team struggled with them as freshman or sophomores, they are not going to be better with them as juniors and seniors. However, for the Bulldogs to bring back all-conference caliber players like Roosevelt Jones and Kellen Dunham, it levels out the playing field against some of the bigger programs in the country. Seniors Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker are the reason why Wichita St. has won 7 NCAA Tournament games over the past 3 years, Buddy Hield is a scoring machine for Oklahoma and has dramatically improved as a shooter over his 4 years in Norman, and Kris Dunn came back after having late lottery potential and is now a definite top 5 pick (Providence could get back to its first Final Four since the Rick Pitino-Billy Donovan combination got them there in 1987). All three of those guys are leading experienced and upper-class heavy teams, especially Hield with Oklahoma because they have a very short bench and four of their five starters are juniors or seniors.
At the end of the day, you need talent to win games. The need for experience in college basketball to achieve success is often a media narrative (I feel like Ted Cruz when he was attacking the New York Media at the debate in Charleston last night), but it is an advantage to have a supremely gifted player with more a better feel for the game than a freshman who is still trying to figure it out (look at the difference between Brice Johnson and Skal Labissiere).
Another explanation for the parity in college basketball is that transfer rates are at an all-time high, and players at lower-level schools are now transferring to mid-level and second-tier programs. While Duke, Kentucky, and Kansas continue to go after the nation's top recruits, teams like Oregon, Pittsburgh, and even Louisville, who missed out on some of the top freshmen they were going after and ended up with just one top 30 recruit, have looked to established players from smaller schools to bolster their roster. The influx of transfers into tournament caliber teams, particularly but not limited to power conference schools, have allowed teams like Iowa St. to compete with programs like Kansas. Despite Fred Hoiberg leaving to go to the NBA and pestering Bulls fans by not being able to figure out the best big-man combination between Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, Pau Gasol, Nikola Mirotic, and Bobby Portis, nearly 14 percent of players still transferred in college basketball in 2014 (not all of them could go to Iowa St. anyway). Damion Lee, who transferred from Drexel, and Trey Lewis, who transferred from Cleveland St., and are now far and away the two best players on a Louisville team that ranks at the top of Ken Pomeroy's adjusted defensive rankings. Lee and Lewis are both really quick and Lee is absolutely fearless, especially when he starts to get into a grove from three.
Some of the non-traditional college basketball powerhouses, like Butler and Wichita St., have been able to offer playing time and larger roles to guys at bigger schools that were never given the opportunity to shine or never quite fit in with their team. Conner Frankamp went from 8 minutes a game as the 9th or 10th guy on Kansas in 2013 to a key part of a good Wichita St. team, and has given the Shockers a 43 percent shooter from three. Tyler Lewis, a former McDonald's All-American and top 50 recruit, never found his place at North Carolina St. and is now a really productive pass-first point guard for Butler. The same kind of story goes for Kuran Iverson, who left Memphis after two years to play for Rhode Island and have a bigger role. Dylan Ennis, who averaged nearly 10 points a game for a 33 win Villanova team last year, left the school to go to Oregon to handle more of the basketball with highly touted freshman Jalen Brunson coming to play for the Wildcats in the backcourt with Ryan Arcidiacono. Unlike in the past, where many players would sit and wait for their opportunity at a big-time school because they thought they could only be recognized by NBA scouts from a few programs, players know that getting onto the floor is the most important thing for their future. As Robert Sarver would say, millennials want instant gratification or else they move on (I say that half-jokingly).
Finally, the quality of freshman that came into college basketball this season pales in comparison to the past, hurting the top programs that have continually replenished their talent each year through strong freshmen classes. LSU's Ben Simmons (a player so good he gets shout outs from Barack Obama), Duke's Brandon Ingram (his wingspan is as long as Giannis and Kawhi), Henry Ellenson from Marquette, Diamond Stone of Maryland (had a 39 point, 12 rebound game in his first ever Big Ten contest against Penn St.), Caleb Swanigan from Purdue (forms a monster front line duo with A.J. Hammons), Arizona's Allonzo Trier (unfortunately is out with a broken finger), Dedric Lawson of Memphis, and Florida State's duo of Dwayne Bacon and Malik Beasley have certainly all stood out for their respective teams. However, equally as disappointing have been Kentucky's Skal Labissiere and Isaiah Briscoe (one NBA scout way too harshly eviscerated Labissiere recently), Cheick Diallo of Kansas, Chase Jeter of Duke (Coach K has no trust in him at all), Justin Simon of Arizona, and Antonio Blakeney of LSU.
Moreover, for whatever reason, it seems as though the destinations of the top recruits were more spread out in 2015. Ben Simmons went to LSU, Cuonzo Martin and California got two top ten recruits with Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb, Henry Ellenson, a Wisconsin kid, stayed home and went to Marquette, and Ben Howland and his slow pace, let me control my team's entire motion offense landed Malik Newman at Mississippi State. In 2013, all but one of the top 12 recruits went to Kansas (Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid), Duke (Jabari Parker), Kentucky (Julius Randle, Andrew Harrison, Dakari Johnson, James Young, and Aaron Harrison), Arizona (Aaron Gordon), or Florida (Kasey Hill and the biggest college basketball disappointment in a long time with Chris Walker) according to ESPN. The next year, half of the top 18 recruits on ESPN went to either Duke, North Carolina, or Kentucky (Okafor, Jones, and Winslow went to Duke, Justin Jackson, Theo Pinson, and Joel Berry landed at North Carolina, and Trey Lyles, Karl Towns Jr., and Devin Booker went to Kentucky). This year, of the top twenty recruits according to ESPN, seven of them went to schools that did not even make the NCAA Tournament in 2014, creating a diversification of talent in college hoops.
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Telling It All Podcast - 2015 Sports Year In Review
Topics Include: Who Won The Year In Sports In 2015 (0:30)? Who Were The Biggest Disappointments (4:00)? What Are You Looking Forward To In 2016 (6:00)?
Podcast Notes:
American Pharoah is the only horse to have won the Triple Crown and the Breeders' Cup Classic. Sunday Silence is the only other horse to have won three of the four grand slam of racing in the same year (won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Breeders' Cup Classic in 1989).
Jordan Spieth (-18 at Masters, -5 at U.S. Open, -14 at British Open, -17 at PGA) finished the four majors at a combined 54 under, surpassing the record set by Tiger Woods in 2000 at 53 under (-4 at Masters, -12 at U.S. Open, -19 at British Open, -18 at PGA).
Pablo Sandoval and Rick Porcello are under contract for 4 more years, and Hanley Ramirez has a 22-million dollar vesting option for 2019 if he accumulates 1,050 plate appearances between 2017 and 2018. Tear, tear for Red Sox fans.
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