Monthly Archives: January 2005

Dirk, The Daring Defender?

: Written by Mike Kurylo : 01-29-2005 : 2 Comments

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, on his webpage blogmaverick.com, advocates 2 Mavericks for the All Defensive team: Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard. The first nominee is a curious one that will raise a few eyebrows. Over the last few years, Dirk’s defense has been thought as mediocre at best. Last year the Mavericks were awful defensively; ranked 26th in defensive efficiency. Mark gives no evidence for Dirk’s change, but offers the following: This year, Dirk has become better than just a good defender. Dirk has become a very good defender, on his way to being one of the best defensive …continue reading

AlamoBlogger Part II

: Written by Mike Kurylo : 01-27-2005 : No Comments

[You should read Part I, which is just below this one. For those that are too lazy to scroll down, but not too lazy to click on a hyperlink, you can read Part I here.] Part I ended with my theory that coaches who win year after year are biased against for their consistency. The same could be said for Tim Duncan. This year there has been a lot of MVP talk surrounding Shaq, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, LeBron James. and Steve Nash. Let’s just run down Duncan’s qualifications: 1. 2nd overall in PER.2. His team has the best winning …continue reading

AlamoBlogger Part I

: Written by Mike Kurylo : 01-26-2005 : One Comment

There are few things you can rely on year after year in the sports world. The Yankees are going to spend more money on their team than anyone else. The Arizona Cardinals are going to loose more games than they win. Boxing is going to find yet another way to embarrass itself. And the Spurs will be playing excellent defense. According to my stat page, the Spurs are allowing 93.9 points per 100 possessions this year. That ranks them first in the NBA in defensive efficiency. Only the offensively challenged Bulls and the defending champion Pistons are within 4 points …continue reading

Suns 133 Knicks 118

: Written by Mike Kurylo : 01-25-2005 : 2 Comments

63.5% That’s what the Suns shot yesterday (eFG%). Just look at their big 6 (really a big 3 + a 3 large): Name……… Min Pts eFG% TS% S. Marion…. 42 20? 47% 1.01 Q. Richardson 39 25? 74% 1.47 A. Stoudemire 40 29? 54% 1.25 J. Johnson… 40 24? 66% 1.35 S. Nash…… 35 9? 43% 1.03 J. Jackson… 24 17? 106% 2.13 The league average for effective field goal percentage (eFG%) is 48%, and for True Shooting Percentage (TS%) is 1.05. The league leaders at these stats are 65% and 1.39 respectively. The TS% aren’t very high, but the …continue reading

Land Of The Rising Suns

: Written by Mike Kurylo : : No Comments

Last month, I did a little write up of the Phoenix Suns. With the Suns heading into New York on Tuesday, it’s seems like as good a time as any to revisit that column, and see how my analysis has stood up over time. The Suns main weakness is their bench. The Suns 5 starters are averaging 37 minutes a game, because they don’t have good options coming off the bench. If one of their starters hits the IR, the team will loose a good amount of production. True. Phoenix lost all 4 games that Nash missed due to injury. …continue reading

Two Points For Herb

: Written by Mike Kurylo : 01-24-2005 : One Comment

What will new coach Herb Williams bring to the Knicks? Here are two points that I’m most interested in. 1. Overall team improvement. Improving on the Knicks win/loss record is the highest priority right now, but I’m going to concentrate on the team’s offensive & defensive rating (also known as points per possession). Why? Studies show that a team’s pythagorean record (simply a record based on their points scored & allowed) predicts how a team will do the next year better than their actual record. But more importantly I’m interested in what kind of coach Herb Williams is. We don’t …continue reading

Coaching Change Not Always The Cure

: Written by Mike Kurylo : 01-22-2005 : One Comment

This morning the Knicks, who dropped 9 of their last 10, announced that their coach Lenny Wilkens (1332-1155, 54%) would step down. For the time being, New York will replace the winningest coach in history with the coach having the highest win percentage. Herb Williams (1-0, 100%) may give Knick fans some hope that he can turn the season around, but do midseason coaching changes work? I looked back over the last 5 seasons and checked every team that made a midseason coaching change: YEAR TEAM W L Net W% Team W%2000 PHO 13 7 0% 65%2004 NJN 22 20 …continue reading