Comments on: Mavericks, Raptors Stave Off The Grim Reaper

By: Ted Nelson

Ted Nelson — Mon, 07 May 2007 09:35:30 +0000

Jon and Owen,

Finally you guys seem to, sort of, agree on something: that player performance is independent of coaching performance and you can just put the best 5 guys on the court and they’ll win. That there’s no strategy in basketball. And that motivating players, teaching them, and taking care of their emotions are all irrelavent.
For example, I guess that the U.S. National team just didn’t have the man power, because “it’s about superstars.” Dimitris Diamantidis was the Euroleague final four MVP, guess he’s the world’s biggest superstar and the secret behind Greece’s success.

It seems like a very odd viewpoint to me, but at least you guys are getting along.

By: Ted Nelson

Ted Nelson — Mon, 07 May 2007 09:16:01 +0000

FWIW, not sure what you were getting at Jon, but, Yao missed the game following that 9 point performance (that would suggest to me he might have been injured). Tracy McGrady also played a total of 7 minutes in that game and also missed the next game, and completely missed the other Rockets loss to the Warriors. Yao averaged 24.7 ppg and 12.3 rpg in 3 games against the Warriors this season. The Rockets were 1-2 in those games, but if their top 2 players were healthy they might have easily been 2-1 or 3-0.

FWIW, the Grizzlies held Gilbert Arenas to 3 points on 1-12 shooting in their 95-80 Nov. 24th win. Doesn’t mean that they weren’t the league’s worst defense and worst team.

By: jon abbey

jon abbey — Sun, 06 May 2007 00:00:08 +0000

“I find it hard to believe that coaching doesn?t matter when only a handful of coaches have won titles in the last 20 years.”

that’s not about coaches, it’s about superstars.

By: xduckshoex

xduckshoex — Sat, 05 May 2007 23:53:56 +0000

I find it hard to believe that coaching doesn’t matter when only a handful of coaches have won titles in the last 20 years.

And I also find it hard to believe that one of the best coaches in the League would not be able to get his star player better looks against that zone. Did he even try to play Dirk in the low post?

By: jon abbey

jon abbey — Sat, 05 May 2007 21:44:19 +0000

FWIW, for those advocating more Dampier, GS held Yao to 9 points on just 2-4 shooting in their 110-99 win over Houston on April 4.

By: Michael Zannettis

Michael Zannettis — Sat, 05 May 2007 21:18:25 +0000

Again, to me, the most shocking aspect of this series was that Matt Barnes was one of the key contributors to the “greatest” upset in basketball series history.

That being said, if GS is beats the Houston/Utah winner, then goes on to defeat the Spurs/Suns, do we then say that this series wasn’t an upset, because clearly GS was the best team in the west?

By: jon abbey

jon abbey — Sat, 05 May 2007 20:31:37 +0000

Avery Johnson’s one of the few smartest coaches in the league. if there was a good solution for them to match up against GS, I think he would have found it. FWIW, my friend made money at 11-1 betting on this series beforehand, it really wasn’t such a big surprise to people paying close attention.

By: Owen

Owen — Sat, 05 May 2007 20:14:48 +0000

“I don’t think they would have won regardless of what they did?”

Such a Jon Abbey thing to say.

On whether coaching is important – It’s an interesting topic. Part of me thinks a team really is only as good as the players out on the court. Coaches dont affect how players play, but they obviously affect how much they play. David Lee is going to be basically the same player no matter what Isaiah does. But if Isaiah only plays him 30 minutes per, the Knicks win fewer games than they would if he plays 37 minutes.

However, the WOW guy did some interesting work on this. FWIW, they think that some coaches do have a statistically significant impact and that Don Nelson actually is one of them. Of course he finds this by looking at Wins Produced projections and seeing to what extent teams outperform, so you aren’t going to like that Jon, but I thought it was an interesting insight when i read the book.

By: jon abbey

jon abbey — Sat, 05 May 2007 19:32:21 +0000

obviously coaching and strategy have plenty of effect on most games and series. but this was a terrible matchup for Dallas, on the court and off the court, and I don’t think they would have won regardless of what they did.

people can’t get past the different records of the teams, but GS was a different team once they settled into their new rotation in the last 15-20 games of the season. I watched them run Phoenix out of the gym in the first half of one game also.

By: Ted Nelson

Ted Nelson — Sat, 05 May 2007 19:23:55 +0000

So, coaching and strategy have no effect on the outcome of basketball games and playoff series??? “Matching-up” against the other team is the only thing that wins playoff series???