Last season, fifteen point guard's played more than 2,000 minutes and had an assist to turnover ratio that was less than 2.50.
1) Smush Parker, 1.49
Parker, now with the Heat, struggled greatly last season with the Lakers. In Miami, Parker will be looked upon to come off the bench and handle the ball more effectively, as well as shooting the ball from the perimeter at a high percentage.
2) Jameer Nelson, 1.79
Nelson was a suprise for me to be so high on this list. With the addition of Rashard Lewis this season, Nelson will most likely greatly improve this ratio. He will be expected to take care of the ball more effectively this season and look to score less.
3) Gilbert Arenas, 1.88
Arenas is a combination guard, who has no limitations of offense. Arenas will most likely land in a similar spot next season.
4) Mike Bibby, 1.97
Bibby had a rough season last year as the Kings did not make the playoffs. This season, Sacramento hopes that Bibby will play more of the role of a pure point guard and that some of their young players will develop into more of scorers.
5) Devin Harris, 2.03
This is a pivotal season in the development of Harris. At this point, Harris needs to enter into the class of one of the league's best pure point guards. The Mavericks hope to make it to the NBA finals this season, and Harris will play an important role in this.
6) Mo Williams, 2.06
Williams is a combination guard, who spends most of his time at the point guard spot. Williams signed a long-term deal with the Bucks this season and they hope he will continue to develop as a player.
7) Leandro Barbosa, 2.17
Barbosa is a unique player who gets the green light at all times. He is more of a shooting guard than a point guard, but does play the point guard spot occasionally to spell Steve Nash. Barbosa looks to provide energy and score points and looks less to distribute the ball to teammates.
8) Tony Parker, 2.20
Again, it was suprising to me that Parker landed in the top ten in the assist to turnover category. Being that San Antonio is coming off a championship, it will probably work well for them if he lands in a similar spot this next season.
9) Jarett Jack, 2.23
Jack is in a pivotal time in his career. With a competitive situation at point guard for Portland, Jack will need to have a strong season. With a handful of scorers on the roster, Jack needs to do a better job of protecting the ball and increasing his number of assists this coming year.
10) Stephon Marbury, 2.25
Marbury has struggled during his career to find his proper place on his team's offense. Although he is a talented scorer, he is in a point guard body. If he could maintain his scoring numbers, increase his assist numbers, and decrease the number of turnovers, he would be a better player and his team would be better off.
11) Derek Fisher, 2.28
Fisher is a shoot-first point guard at this time in his career. Backing up Deron Williams last season, Fisher was looked upon to provide energy and scoring off the bench. This season with the Lakers, Fisher will be expected to distribute the ball more and provide experience.
12) Mike James, 2.30
James is a combination guard who struggled last season to find his role in Minnesota. This season with Houston, James will need to perform well right from the start. With a great deal of competition at the point guard spot, if James does not take care of the basketball immediately, he will be relegated to a bench role. If this is the case, the Rockets will most likely use him as their primary bench scorer.
13) Luke Ridnour, 2.36
Ridnour is in a very critical season for his career. He fell out-of-favor last season with Seattle's coaching staff, but have a whole new group of coaches this year. Seattle will spend this season determining if Ridnour is the guy to lead them in their rebuilding process, or if he will be expendable.
14) Earl Boykins, 2.43
Although Boykins is the smallest player in the league, he is more of a scorer than point guard. Boykins became a free agent after last season, when he forgoed his $3,000,000 player option on his contract with the Milwaukee Bucks. He will likely join a team to fill the role of an experienced scoring guard off the bench.
15) Jamaal Tinsley, 2.47
Tinsley has struggled to improve throughout his career with the Pacers. This season may be his last with Indiana if he does not show improvement. The Pacers have begun to rebuild their roster, and they most likely need a point guard who excels at distributing the ball and playing tough defense. Tinsley does neither of these things well.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Reshuffling the Rockets
Randy Kim of AOL Sports wrote an insightful commentary yesterday on how Daryl Morey overhauled the Houston Rockets this offseason entitled "Rocketing to the Top".
As the offseason winds down and training camps prepare to open, it's a good time to try to determine which NBA squad improved itself the most this summer.
There are a few obvious choices: By trading for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, the Celtics quickly grew from a young rebuilding club to an Eastern contender. Both the Blazers and the Sonics have new hope thanks to the arrival of ballyhooed rookies Greg Oden and Kevin Durant, respectively. And by trading for the controversial Zach Randolph, the Knicks acquired a 20-10 player who could help carry New York back to the postseason if he can stay out of trouble.
All of these were subpar clubs that finished last season well out of the playoff picture, however. As far as the league's top teams are concerned, few made any significant changes this summer. In fact, look over the list of seven teams that won 50 or more games in 2006-07 and only one squad stands out as a franchise that made major improvements this offseason. Only the Houston Rockets had the gumption to add a new coach, two new point guards and a new starting power forward to a 52-win team.
What makes these drastic changes even more improbable is that this summer was Houston's first under new general manager Daryl Morey. And even more remarkable still? The Rockets GM is all of 35 years old.
Naturally, because of his assured roster moves, young age and close friendship with Oakland A's mastermind Billy Beane - the subject of the best-selling book "Moneyball" - Morey has quickly earned a reputation as the league's resident wunderkind who relies on objective statistical analysis more than pure basketball intuition. To that end, Morey doesn't deny borrowing from Beane's philosophies, yet he maintains that a good hoops executive can't make decisions based on stats alone.
"I think with every decision, whether it's baseball or basketball, what (Beane) and I and others are trying to find is some level of objective evidence to confirm your beliefs," admits Morey during a telephone interview. "And with each decision, there should be some component of analytical and objective evidence, and some component of more traditional methods.
"In baseball it just turns out that the sport lends itself to those decisions being driven more by objective evidence," continues Morey. "But in basketball, given the high level of interaction between the players and the play - you know, did a guy make the shot because there was a good pick, or because there was bad defense, or because the guy's a good shooter? - it's very hard to isolate those things, so you need to blend (scouts and statistical analysis) a lot more, and traditional scouting is something (the Rockets) value highly."
Morey is also aware that while being seen as a new-school, number-crunching GM was vital to him getting the Rockets job, there are also challenges that can come with that kind of reputation.
"(As a young GM, there probably are) some feelings of, 'He's a kid and he hasn't paid his dues,' " admits Morey. "But I've found that as a group, the GM's in the league are extraordinarily smart and welcoming. It's a very small community, and even if you aren't a fan of whoever's running another team, it's in everyone's best interests to keep those relationships strong."
Morey's theory of keeping relationships strong was perhaps best put to the test when the Rockets showed interest in a player the rival Spurs held the rights to: talented Argentinean power forward Luis Scola. Morey felt the chances of San Antonio GM R.C. Buford cutting a deal with their intra-division - and intrastate - rivals were slim. But Buford said Houston had a shot at acquiring Scola and he stuck to his word.
"We felt like throughout (the Scola trade) was a bit of a long shot because both of our teams are reluctant to trade with each other within the division," says Morey. "But I give R.C. a lot of credit. He told me that we would have a shot at the (Scola) deal if we were the highest bidder, and we were."
Morey doesn't just credit Buford as being a fair man, however. When asked if there's one team that he'd like to model the Rockets after, the Rockets GM is quick to mention Buford and Gregg Popovich's Spurs as the franchise that best knows how to navigate the NBA's tricky talent landscape while also winning games.
"You can look at lots of teams getting a Tim Duncan-like player, like maybe Kevin Garnett in Minnesota, and the pieces don't form around him well," says Morey. "But I think that (Buford and Popovich) have done a tremendous job of taking a smart, methodical approach to maximizing the talent around Tim Duncan. I'm extraordinarily impressed by the Spurs and hopefully we can copy just a small piece of what they've been able to do."
In his effort to mimic San Antonio's success, Morey hasn't just gone after Spurs players like Scola and Jackie Butler, however. Similarly to the Spurs, Morey places a precedence on eschewing long-term deals for anyone other than a team's stars - in Houston's case, Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming - and showing stern fiscal responsibility when it comes to signing complementary players.
"Teams that don't (manage the salary cap) well get hurt, especially with teams like New York and Dallas coming off, basically, (a period when they would take) any contract on and not worry about the luxury tax," says Morey. "With those homes sort of going away, it makes the discipline of managing to the cap more important. And the teams that do it well will be able to pick up extra players and picks."
Having cap flexibility to grab those "extra players" is precisely how Morey was able to improve his team's one weakness: at point guard. In fact, it could be argued that Morey was a bit over-zealous as he now has six point guards on the Houston roster: Rafer Alston, Aaron Brooks, Steve Francis, Mike James, John Lucas and Bob Sura. But Morey maintains there can be strength in numbers.
"(Mike James is) probably the best shooter of all of the guys we've got, which is obviously always at a premium," explained Morey. "Rafer's more of a pass-first, up-tempo guy, and probably the best team defender ... And then Steve's just the ultimate guy who can get to the hoop and cut and rebound."
In fact, maintaining team chemistry might be a bigger challenge for new coach Rick Adelman than figuring out the point-guard rotation. Alston has been arrested twice this summer, something that Morey has openly said he's troubled with. And Francis, whom Morey admits kind of fell into the Rockets' laps, has a reputation as a me-first player who needs the ball in his hands to succeed. Morey, however, thinks they have a new Francis (nee "Stevie Franchise") on their hands.
"In most of (Adelman's) systems, a guy who's going to succeed is a cutter," says Morey. "It's very difficult for the guards to dominate the ball, or whatever criticisms there have been with Steve in the past. I think to Steve's credit he's taking winning over money, and he's got a new attitude."
So with all of these moves, does Morey see the Rockets as contenders for the title next year? The answer: While Morey isn't so green as to make brash predictions for the Rockets, he is still young enough to be openly optimistic.
"We felt like we were a good team last year but there was still a gap between us and the Spurs and the Suns and the Mavericks, and we feel like this offseason we've closed the gap," answered Morey. "We feel like we're in the mix (for a title) and certainly not getting farther into the playoffs would be a big disappointment for us."
So where does a thirtysomething exec who makes such a big splash in his first offseason come from? Well, for Morey, in the same way that most players have the lifelong dream of someday going pro, he has always yearned for a career in sports.
"I was always huge into sports from a very young age; my honeymoon was at the Olympics," admits Morey. "I did leave that goal (of a career in sports) for a little while, because it's extraordinarily hard to get a job in sports. But eventually I got my shot when I helped the Celtics' eventual owners buy the team."
From there, Morey networked within NBA circles and got pulled into the Rockets' fold by longtime Rockets GM Carroll Dawson. Dawson took Morey under his wing and introduced him to a number of league execs before he propped him up in the driver's seat.
"I knew some people through the Celtics, but Carroll was in a different network than Danny (Ainge), and he was very gracious with (his introductions)," says Morey. "And I think often when you come into a new situation, like maybe Sam Presti in Seattle, you have to make moves quickly, because you want to make those moves before things settle in."
But as quickly as Morey has made a splash, he hopes to mimic Dawson's longevity.
"He was around 28 years. I hope I make it that far," says Morey, before laughing to himself in wonderment. "I've got a little while still."
Given how well things have gone for his team so far, Morey stands a good shot at sticking around long enough to shed that "new kid" label. But in the meantime, don't be surprised if the Rockets win a couple of games along the way.
http://sports.aol.com/story/_a/rocketing-to-the-top/20070910192909990001
As the offseason winds down and training camps prepare to open, it's a good time to try to determine which NBA squad improved itself the most this summer.
There are a few obvious choices: By trading for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, the Celtics quickly grew from a young rebuilding club to an Eastern contender. Both the Blazers and the Sonics have new hope thanks to the arrival of ballyhooed rookies Greg Oden and Kevin Durant, respectively. And by trading for the controversial Zach Randolph, the Knicks acquired a 20-10 player who could help carry New York back to the postseason if he can stay out of trouble.
All of these were subpar clubs that finished last season well out of the playoff picture, however. As far as the league's top teams are concerned, few made any significant changes this summer. In fact, look over the list of seven teams that won 50 or more games in 2006-07 and only one squad stands out as a franchise that made major improvements this offseason. Only the Houston Rockets had the gumption to add a new coach, two new point guards and a new starting power forward to a 52-win team.
What makes these drastic changes even more improbable is that this summer was Houston's first under new general manager Daryl Morey. And even more remarkable still? The Rockets GM is all of 35 years old.
Naturally, because of his assured roster moves, young age and close friendship with Oakland A's mastermind Billy Beane - the subject of the best-selling book "Moneyball" - Morey has quickly earned a reputation as the league's resident wunderkind who relies on objective statistical analysis more than pure basketball intuition. To that end, Morey doesn't deny borrowing from Beane's philosophies, yet he maintains that a good hoops executive can't make decisions based on stats alone.
"I think with every decision, whether it's baseball or basketball, what (Beane) and I and others are trying to find is some level of objective evidence to confirm your beliefs," admits Morey during a telephone interview. "And with each decision, there should be some component of analytical and objective evidence, and some component of more traditional methods.
"In baseball it just turns out that the sport lends itself to those decisions being driven more by objective evidence," continues Morey. "But in basketball, given the high level of interaction between the players and the play - you know, did a guy make the shot because there was a good pick, or because there was bad defense, or because the guy's a good shooter? - it's very hard to isolate those things, so you need to blend (scouts and statistical analysis) a lot more, and traditional scouting is something (the Rockets) value highly."
Morey is also aware that while being seen as a new-school, number-crunching GM was vital to him getting the Rockets job, there are also challenges that can come with that kind of reputation.
"(As a young GM, there probably are) some feelings of, 'He's a kid and he hasn't paid his dues,' " admits Morey. "But I've found that as a group, the GM's in the league are extraordinarily smart and welcoming. It's a very small community, and even if you aren't a fan of whoever's running another team, it's in everyone's best interests to keep those relationships strong."
Morey's theory of keeping relationships strong was perhaps best put to the test when the Rockets showed interest in a player the rival Spurs held the rights to: talented Argentinean power forward Luis Scola. Morey felt the chances of San Antonio GM R.C. Buford cutting a deal with their intra-division - and intrastate - rivals were slim. But Buford said Houston had a shot at acquiring Scola and he stuck to his word.
"We felt like throughout (the Scola trade) was a bit of a long shot because both of our teams are reluctant to trade with each other within the division," says Morey. "But I give R.C. a lot of credit. He told me that we would have a shot at the (Scola) deal if we were the highest bidder, and we were."
Morey doesn't just credit Buford as being a fair man, however. When asked if there's one team that he'd like to model the Rockets after, the Rockets GM is quick to mention Buford and Gregg Popovich's Spurs as the franchise that best knows how to navigate the NBA's tricky talent landscape while also winning games.
"You can look at lots of teams getting a Tim Duncan-like player, like maybe Kevin Garnett in Minnesota, and the pieces don't form around him well," says Morey. "But I think that (Buford and Popovich) have done a tremendous job of taking a smart, methodical approach to maximizing the talent around Tim Duncan. I'm extraordinarily impressed by the Spurs and hopefully we can copy just a small piece of what they've been able to do."
In his effort to mimic San Antonio's success, Morey hasn't just gone after Spurs players like Scola and Jackie Butler, however. Similarly to the Spurs, Morey places a precedence on eschewing long-term deals for anyone other than a team's stars - in Houston's case, Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming - and showing stern fiscal responsibility when it comes to signing complementary players.
"Teams that don't (manage the salary cap) well get hurt, especially with teams like New York and Dallas coming off, basically, (a period when they would take) any contract on and not worry about the luxury tax," says Morey. "With those homes sort of going away, it makes the discipline of managing to the cap more important. And the teams that do it well will be able to pick up extra players and picks."
Having cap flexibility to grab those "extra players" is precisely how Morey was able to improve his team's one weakness: at point guard. In fact, it could be argued that Morey was a bit over-zealous as he now has six point guards on the Houston roster: Rafer Alston, Aaron Brooks, Steve Francis, Mike James, John Lucas and Bob Sura. But Morey maintains there can be strength in numbers.
"(Mike James is) probably the best shooter of all of the guys we've got, which is obviously always at a premium," explained Morey. "Rafer's more of a pass-first, up-tempo guy, and probably the best team defender ... And then Steve's just the ultimate guy who can get to the hoop and cut and rebound."
In fact, maintaining team chemistry might be a bigger challenge for new coach Rick Adelman than figuring out the point-guard rotation. Alston has been arrested twice this summer, something that Morey has openly said he's troubled with. And Francis, whom Morey admits kind of fell into the Rockets' laps, has a reputation as a me-first player who needs the ball in his hands to succeed. Morey, however, thinks they have a new Francis (nee "Stevie Franchise") on their hands.
"In most of (Adelman's) systems, a guy who's going to succeed is a cutter," says Morey. "It's very difficult for the guards to dominate the ball, or whatever criticisms there have been with Steve in the past. I think to Steve's credit he's taking winning over money, and he's got a new attitude."
So with all of these moves, does Morey see the Rockets as contenders for the title next year? The answer: While Morey isn't so green as to make brash predictions for the Rockets, he is still young enough to be openly optimistic.
"We felt like we were a good team last year but there was still a gap between us and the Spurs and the Suns and the Mavericks, and we feel like this offseason we've closed the gap," answered Morey. "We feel like we're in the mix (for a title) and certainly not getting farther into the playoffs would be a big disappointment for us."
So where does a thirtysomething exec who makes such a big splash in his first offseason come from? Well, for Morey, in the same way that most players have the lifelong dream of someday going pro, he has always yearned for a career in sports.
"I was always huge into sports from a very young age; my honeymoon was at the Olympics," admits Morey. "I did leave that goal (of a career in sports) for a little while, because it's extraordinarily hard to get a job in sports. But eventually I got my shot when I helped the Celtics' eventual owners buy the team."
From there, Morey networked within NBA circles and got pulled into the Rockets' fold by longtime Rockets GM Carroll Dawson. Dawson took Morey under his wing and introduced him to a number of league execs before he propped him up in the driver's seat.
"I knew some people through the Celtics, but Carroll was in a different network than Danny (Ainge), and he was very gracious with (his introductions)," says Morey. "And I think often when you come into a new situation, like maybe Sam Presti in Seattle, you have to make moves quickly, because you want to make those moves before things settle in."
But as quickly as Morey has made a splash, he hopes to mimic Dawson's longevity.
"He was around 28 years. I hope I make it that far," says Morey, before laughing to himself in wonderment. "I've got a little while still."
Given how well things have gone for his team so far, Morey stands a good shot at sticking around long enough to shed that "new kid" label. But in the meantime, don't be surprised if the Rockets win a couple of games along the way.
http://sports.aol.com/story/_a/rocketing-to-the-top/20070910192909990001
Sunday, September 9, 2007
4 to Watch for Next Season
Of the top 20 players ranked by double-doubles last season, four of them were not expected by most to finish in this elite group.
Emeka Okafor, C, Charlotte Bobcats
39 double-doubles, 9th
After injuries forced Okafor to miss most of the 2005-06 season, he came back very strong this past season maintaining a strong points per game average and improving both in rebounds per game and blocks per game. Okafor still needs to improve greatly from the free throw line. When he catches the ball on the block, he needs to recognize double-teams and then find the open man more consistently. Continued superior play on defense and improving his scoring average will help the Bobcats contend for a playoff position for the first time in their franchise history.
Al Jefferson, PF, Minnesota Timberwolves
38 double-doubles, T10th
From March 1 to the end of last season, Jefferson was sixteenth in the league in points plus assists plus rebounds per game, beating out players like Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, and Dwight Howard. If Jefferson can maintain this level of play, now with Minnesota, he will continue his leap as one of the best post players. Jefferson will be a key component of Minnesota's rebuilding process and will be looked to score consistently each night this season. On defensive, Jefferson still needs to make major strides and has to cutdown on the number of fouls he commits.
Tyson Chandler, C, New Orleans Hornets
34 double-doubles, 14th
Chandler was second in league last season in rebounds per game and thirteenth in blocked shots per game. Chandler's biggest problem continues to be a large amount of turnovers committed. He often is called for setting illegal screens or committing three-second violations. Additionally, Chandler frequently struggles to catch the ball and throw passes away. Playing with a talented point guard like Chris Paul, these problems cannot continue. With their core locked up for the next several years, the success of this current version of the Hornets may be tied to Chandler's development.
Josh Smith, SF/PF, Atlanta Hawks
32 double-doubles, T17th
Smith is a unique player with incredible athleticism, who can play the shooting guard, small forward, and power forward positions. Last season, Smith was one of only six players who averaged more than 15 points per game, 7 rebounds per game, 1 steal per game, and 1 block per game. Kevin Garnett, Elton Brand, Amare Stoudemire, Gerald Wallace, and Shawn Marion were the only other players to reach this milestone. Smith excels at finishing on the fastbreak, but struggles with any consistentcy on his outside shot. He excels at blocking shots and getting into passing lanes to steal balls, but he tends to have mental lapses on the defensive end. In order to improve, Smith needs to get better at creating his own shot and shoot the ball from the perimeter with more consistency.
Emeka Okafor, C, Charlotte Bobcats
39 double-doubles, 9th
After injuries forced Okafor to miss most of the 2005-06 season, he came back very strong this past season maintaining a strong points per game average and improving both in rebounds per game and blocks per game. Okafor still needs to improve greatly from the free throw line. When he catches the ball on the block, he needs to recognize double-teams and then find the open man more consistently. Continued superior play on defense and improving his scoring average will help the Bobcats contend for a playoff position for the first time in their franchise history.
Al Jefferson, PF, Minnesota Timberwolves
38 double-doubles, T10th
From March 1 to the end of last season, Jefferson was sixteenth in the league in points plus assists plus rebounds per game, beating out players like Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, and Dwight Howard. If Jefferson can maintain this level of play, now with Minnesota, he will continue his leap as one of the best post players. Jefferson will be a key component of Minnesota's rebuilding process and will be looked to score consistently each night this season. On defensive, Jefferson still needs to make major strides and has to cutdown on the number of fouls he commits.
Tyson Chandler, C, New Orleans Hornets
34 double-doubles, 14th
Chandler was second in league last season in rebounds per game and thirteenth in blocked shots per game. Chandler's biggest problem continues to be a large amount of turnovers committed. He often is called for setting illegal screens or committing three-second violations. Additionally, Chandler frequently struggles to catch the ball and throw passes away. Playing with a talented point guard like Chris Paul, these problems cannot continue. With their core locked up for the next several years, the success of this current version of the Hornets may be tied to Chandler's development.
Josh Smith, SF/PF, Atlanta Hawks
32 double-doubles, T17th
Smith is a unique player with incredible athleticism, who can play the shooting guard, small forward, and power forward positions. Last season, Smith was one of only six players who averaged more than 15 points per game, 7 rebounds per game, 1 steal per game, and 1 block per game. Kevin Garnett, Elton Brand, Amare Stoudemire, Gerald Wallace, and Shawn Marion were the only other players to reach this milestone. Smith excels at finishing on the fastbreak, but struggles with any consistentcy on his outside shot. He excels at blocking shots and getting into passing lanes to steal balls, but he tends to have mental lapses on the defensive end. In order to improve, Smith needs to get better at creating his own shot and shoot the ball from the perimeter with more consistency.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Spurs Maintain Core in Attempt to Repeat
For the first time since the San Antonio Spurs began their run of great success, they will be returning the same core players. In the past, their championship teams have always lost key pieces the following season – Sean Elliott due to health issues after 1998-99, Stephen Jackson and David Robinson after 2002-03, and a collection of players in 2004-05.
1998-99
Significant Contributors: Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Sean Elliott, Mario Elie, Avery Johnson, Jaren Jackson, Malik Rose, Antonio Daniels, Steve Kerr, Jerome Kersey, Will Perdue
Lost the next season: Will Perdue (left for Chicago - played 37 games and averaged 3.7 rebounds per game with the Spurs), Sean Elliott (kidney – missed the first 63 games)
2002-03
Significant Contributors: Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Stephen Jackson, Malik Rose, Bruce Bowen, David Robinson, Manu Ginobili, Steve Smith, Steve Kerr, Kevin Willis, Speedy Claxton, Danny Ferry
Lost the next season: Steve Smith (Portland - played 19.5 minutes per game), Steve Kerr (Portland - played in 75 games), Stephen Jackson (Atlanta - third on the team in points), Speedy Claxton (Golden State – averaged 15.7 minutes per game), Danny Ferry (retired – played in 64 games), David Robinson (retired - fourth on the team in points per game)
Notes: On July 25, 2001 San Antonio traded Steve Smith, Steve Kerr, and a 2003 second round draft choice to Portland for Derek Anderson.
2004-05
Significant Contributors: Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Bruce Bowen, Brent Barry, Devin Brown, Beno Udrih, Robert Horry, Rasho Nestorovic, Malik Rose, Tony Massenburg, Nazr Mohammed, Glenn Robinson, Mike Wilks, Sean Marks
Lost: Devin Brown (Utah - sixth on the team in points per game), Malik Rose (New York – see below), Tony Massenburg (retired – played in 61 games), Glenn Robinson (retired – see below), Mike Wilks (Cleveland - played in 48 games)
Notes: Robinson was signed at the end of the season and played in 13 of the team's 23 playoff games and nine regular season games. On February 25, 2005, the Knicks traded Nazr Mohammed and Jamison Brewer to the Spurs for Malik Rose and conditional 2005 and 2006 conditional first round picks.
2006-07
Significant Contributors: Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Bruce Bowen, Brent Barry, Michael Finley, Fransisco Elson, Matt Bonner, Beno Udrih, Fransisco Oberto, Robert Horry, Jacque Vaughn
Lost: Melvin Ely (played in 6 games last season), Jackie Butler (11 games), Eric Williams (16 games), James White (6 games).
Notes: The Spurs drafted Tiago Splitter and Marcus Williams in this past year’s draft. With the signing of Ime Udoka and Ian Mahinmi, it is very likely that the Spurs will not bring in either rookies this season. Splitter will most likely stay overseas for the entire year and Williams will play in the NBDL.
Unlike previous seasons, the Spurs will bring back the exact same core from last season. Adding Udoka to defend skilled wing players and Mahinmi to rebound in the paint, the Spurs may even be stronger. For the first time in their franchise history, the Spurs will try to successfully win back-to-back championships.
1998-99
Significant Contributors: Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Sean Elliott, Mario Elie, Avery Johnson, Jaren Jackson, Malik Rose, Antonio Daniels, Steve Kerr, Jerome Kersey, Will Perdue
Lost the next season: Will Perdue (left for Chicago - played 37 games and averaged 3.7 rebounds per game with the Spurs), Sean Elliott (kidney – missed the first 63 games)
2002-03
Significant Contributors: Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Stephen Jackson, Malik Rose, Bruce Bowen, David Robinson, Manu Ginobili, Steve Smith, Steve Kerr, Kevin Willis, Speedy Claxton, Danny Ferry
Lost the next season: Steve Smith (Portland - played 19.5 minutes per game), Steve Kerr (Portland - played in 75 games), Stephen Jackson (Atlanta - third on the team in points), Speedy Claxton (Golden State – averaged 15.7 minutes per game), Danny Ferry (retired – played in 64 games), David Robinson (retired - fourth on the team in points per game)
Notes: On July 25, 2001 San Antonio traded Steve Smith, Steve Kerr, and a 2003 second round draft choice to Portland for Derek Anderson.
2004-05
Significant Contributors: Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Bruce Bowen, Brent Barry, Devin Brown, Beno Udrih, Robert Horry, Rasho Nestorovic, Malik Rose, Tony Massenburg, Nazr Mohammed, Glenn Robinson, Mike Wilks, Sean Marks
Lost: Devin Brown (Utah - sixth on the team in points per game), Malik Rose (New York – see below), Tony Massenburg (retired – played in 61 games), Glenn Robinson (retired – see below), Mike Wilks (Cleveland - played in 48 games)
Notes: Robinson was signed at the end of the season and played in 13 of the team's 23 playoff games and nine regular season games. On February 25, 2005, the Knicks traded Nazr Mohammed and Jamison Brewer to the Spurs for Malik Rose and conditional 2005 and 2006 conditional first round picks.
2006-07
Significant Contributors: Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Bruce Bowen, Brent Barry, Michael Finley, Fransisco Elson, Matt Bonner, Beno Udrih, Fransisco Oberto, Robert Horry, Jacque Vaughn
Lost: Melvin Ely (played in 6 games last season), Jackie Butler (11 games), Eric Williams (16 games), James White (6 games).
Notes: The Spurs drafted Tiago Splitter and Marcus Williams in this past year’s draft. With the signing of Ime Udoka and Ian Mahinmi, it is very likely that the Spurs will not bring in either rookies this season. Splitter will most likely stay overseas for the entire year and Williams will play in the NBDL.
Unlike previous seasons, the Spurs will bring back the exact same core from last season. Adding Udoka to defend skilled wing players and Mahinmi to rebound in the paint, the Spurs may even be stronger. For the first time in their franchise history, the Spurs will try to successfully win back-to-back championships.
The Business of Sports: Here Come the Technocrats
The Business of Sports: Here Come the Technocrats
Wall Street Journal
By Russell Adams | September 16, 2006
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115813109459661786.html
This past spring, the Houston Rockets hired a 33-year-old guy with almost no playing, coaching or scouting experience to be the National Basketball Association team's general manager of the future -- a move that reverberated loudly in the basketball world.
In some corners, the hiring of Daryl Morey, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan School of Management), part-time business professor and former financial consultant, signaled the official arrival in the NBA of the data-oriented approach to running a team chronicled in "Moneyball," Michael Lewis's 2003 best-seller about baseball's Oakland A's. Others saw it as evidence of an owner gone mad.
The Business of Sports
As sports has grown into big business, the teams and leagues have gotten serious about how they find off-field talent. Plus, as any nonathlete who has tried knows, it takes a lot more than desire to get to the top of the sports business.
But at 226 Causeway St. in Boston, where the NBA's Boston Celtics conduct business, the Rockets' move brought validation. It was the Celtics that, three years earlier, had given Mr. Morey, then a financial consultant who had never sniffed an NBA front office, his first job in professional sports.
"It's so much fun trying to do things in a way they haven't been done before," says Wyc Grousbeck, managing partner and governor of the Celtics. "I didn't hire him thinking he was going to become an NBA GM. But why couldn't a junior consultant become an NBA general manager?"
Striving for Efficiency
Since taking over the team in late 2002, the Celtics ownership group has exemplified the challenges of bringing modern business sensibilities to a tradition-bound franchise operating in a world historically averse to change. They've replaced nearly half of the team's employees (some of those through natural attrition), turned the ticket-sales operation into a yield-management business that allows them to use inventory data to maximize revenue, and built a small army of statisticians to unearth valuable information -- on ticket sales and players' performance -- for the front office and coaching staff.
It's a phenomenon playing out throughout sports in recent years: Having spent astronomical sums on their franchises, a new breed of aggressive, tech-savvy owners are demanding greater efficiency in an often pathetically inefficient industry.
But they're not always well-received. The Oakland A's success and "Moneyball" made baseball front offices around the league more open to number-crunching general managers, setting off a turf war between these outsiders and the baseball lifers who view their experience in the game as a requirement for entry. And in the NBA, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's convention-defying approach -- whether it's turning the arena into an all-purpose entertainment venue or exploring new statistical tools for measuring player performance -- is part of what has made him one of the league's most polarizing figures.
The group of venture capitalists and private-equity investors, who in 2002 paid a then-record $360 million for the Celtics, arrived at the beginning of this sea change, but with the added challenge of melding modernity with tradition. By then, the proud franchise of Bob Cousy, Bill Russell and Larry Bird had fallen into a distant third in the Boston sports hierarchy -- behind baseball's Boston Red Sox and the National Football League's New England Patriots. So when Mr. Morey mastered the NBA salary cap in a weekend while doing a valuation analysis for the prospective owners, the group saw someone who could help maximize an underleveraged asset.
"I said, 'Daryl, you're going to look pretty good in green if you get this deal done,' " recalls Mr. Grousbeck.
Modernizing Ticket Sales
As senior vice president of operations and information, Mr. Morey's first job was to modernize the ticket-sales operation. He tapped a Cambridge company called StratBridge Inc. to install technology allowing the sales team to visually analyze, in real time, who the customers are, where they're sitting and what they're willing to pay for tickets. A 40-inch plasma screen on the wall of the sales office shows a map of the TD Banknorth Garden, with each seat rendered a different shade to indicate availability and sales patterns. The 25-person sales team uses that data to study buying trends and develop promotions -- sometimes just hours before the start of the game -- to sell unused seats.
"It's about finding the right seat for the right price for the right person on the right night of the week," says Rich Gotham, the team's chief operating officer. "It's not rocket science."
Since the new system was implemented a year ago, Mr. Gotham says, the team has doubled its group-sales business and remained at the top of the league in individual ticket sales. But he adds that it's not all about the technology; they've significantly increased their sales staff as well.
Scott O'Neil, the NBA's senior vice president of marketing, says 22 of the league's 30 teams have since adopted the same system. "The Celtics are one of the most forward-thinking, innovative and creative teams when it comes to using data and taking the analytical approach to decision making," says Mr.O'Neil.
Evaluating Players
But basketball operations is where this approach might ultimately produce the biggest rewards. Mr. Morey also had long explored basketball analytics and had worked as a consultant at Stats Inc., a company that provides sports statistics and analysis primarily to teams, leagues and media outlets. At Stats, he had developed a way to apply the Pythagorean theorem of baseball - which predicts wins based on runs scored and runs allowed -- to other sports. Mr. Morey offered to do statistical analyses for the Celtics, which gave him the go-ahead to hire a small team of statisticians who would provide input to the basketball operations and coaching staffs.
One of the first big projects was a regression analysis of 25 years of NBA drafts to determine which college statistics best equate with NBA success at each of the five positions. The stats group now is developing a similar database of European players, says Danny Ainge, the Celtics' executive director of basketball operations, as well as an analysis of the composition of NBA championship teams. But Mr. Ainge plays down the utility of statistics for evaluating basketball players, saying it is "dangerous" to assume the numbers can tell you everything.
"I still am in favor of the old-fashioned way of spending time and studying players," says Mr. Ainge, who adds that the statistical information is merely a complement to what the scouts say.
He says that his skepticism is, in part, a function of the newness of this approach, and that data showing which combinations of players perform best together have been helpful to head coach Doc Rivers and his staff.
For his part, Mr. Morey says he takes a balanced approach, and that while he's "obsessive about testing beliefs about what helps a team win using analytics," the foundation of his beliefs come from traditional approaches. "I'm not someone who leads with numbers," he says.
For sure, the team so far has had mixed results producing a winner -- on and off of the court. The Celtics have lost more games than they've won in two of the past three seasons. And over that period, they've never been higher than 18th in the league in attendance. This season might bring more of the same, as the team remains light on stars and loaded with talented but inexperienced players.
Team officials say that in sports, business only booms when the team wins.
The key is squeezing the most out of the asset when demand is low so that you can maximize growth when the team is winning. The model for getting the most out of an asset is just across town, where the Red Sox have squeezed every last penny out of historic Fenway Park. In so doing, the Red Sox have opened themselves to criticism from some baseball fans who see a front office full of bean counters willing to stomp on tradition.
Emotional Investment
The Celtics' new regime has been similarly aggressive on the business side, but team officials say they realized early on that they couldn't operate the team like they operate any other business. Buying a season ticket or a sponsorship, say team officials, is an emotional investment that demands personal attention from the team.
"It's very much an interpersonal industry," says Mr. Gotham, "and you can't just take a quantitative approach. The successful organizations understand that pretty well."
The Mavericks' Mr. Cuban advised these owners early on to let the fan base know that the owners are the team's biggest fans. Mr. Grousbeck is such a staple in the stands and around the team that some of the players have taken to calling him a clone of Mr. Cuban. At least it's not an act.
Mr. Grousbeck is a lifelong fan of the team. And in that, he's far from alone among the ownership group. Stephen Pagliuca, a managing director of Bain Capital, one of the biggest buyout firms in the world, is a Celtics diehard with a basketball court in his house. Robert Epstein, a principal at Boston real-estate company Abbey Group, is a graduate of Mr. Cousy's basketball camp. And James Pallotta, a managing director at Tudor Investments Corp., plays in a regular pick-up game at Harvard University's gym with several former NBA players. Mr. Grousbeck has asked if he could play but was told he's not good enough.
Wall Street Journal
By Russell Adams | September 16, 2006
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115813109459661786.html
This past spring, the Houston Rockets hired a 33-year-old guy with almost no playing, coaching or scouting experience to be the National Basketball Association team's general manager of the future -- a move that reverberated loudly in the basketball world.
In some corners, the hiring of Daryl Morey, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan School of Management), part-time business professor and former financial consultant, signaled the official arrival in the NBA of the data-oriented approach to running a team chronicled in "Moneyball," Michael Lewis's 2003 best-seller about baseball's Oakland A's. Others saw it as evidence of an owner gone mad.
The Business of Sports
As sports has grown into big business, the teams and leagues have gotten serious about how they find off-field talent. Plus, as any nonathlete who has tried knows, it takes a lot more than desire to get to the top of the sports business.
But at 226 Causeway St. in Boston, where the NBA's Boston Celtics conduct business, the Rockets' move brought validation. It was the Celtics that, three years earlier, had given Mr. Morey, then a financial consultant who had never sniffed an NBA front office, his first job in professional sports.
"It's so much fun trying to do things in a way they haven't been done before," says Wyc Grousbeck, managing partner and governor of the Celtics. "I didn't hire him thinking he was going to become an NBA GM. But why couldn't a junior consultant become an NBA general manager?"
Striving for Efficiency
Since taking over the team in late 2002, the Celtics ownership group has exemplified the challenges of bringing modern business sensibilities to a tradition-bound franchise operating in a world historically averse to change. They've replaced nearly half of the team's employees (some of those through natural attrition), turned the ticket-sales operation into a yield-management business that allows them to use inventory data to maximize revenue, and built a small army of statisticians to unearth valuable information -- on ticket sales and players' performance -- for the front office and coaching staff.
It's a phenomenon playing out throughout sports in recent years: Having spent astronomical sums on their franchises, a new breed of aggressive, tech-savvy owners are demanding greater efficiency in an often pathetically inefficient industry.
But they're not always well-received. The Oakland A's success and "Moneyball" made baseball front offices around the league more open to number-crunching general managers, setting off a turf war between these outsiders and the baseball lifers who view their experience in the game as a requirement for entry. And in the NBA, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's convention-defying approach -- whether it's turning the arena into an all-purpose entertainment venue or exploring new statistical tools for measuring player performance -- is part of what has made him one of the league's most polarizing figures.
The group of venture capitalists and private-equity investors, who in 2002 paid a then-record $360 million for the Celtics, arrived at the beginning of this sea change, but with the added challenge of melding modernity with tradition. By then, the proud franchise of Bob Cousy, Bill Russell and Larry Bird had fallen into a distant third in the Boston sports hierarchy -- behind baseball's Boston Red Sox and the National Football League's New England Patriots. So when Mr. Morey mastered the NBA salary cap in a weekend while doing a valuation analysis for the prospective owners, the group saw someone who could help maximize an underleveraged asset.
"I said, 'Daryl, you're going to look pretty good in green if you get this deal done,' " recalls Mr. Grousbeck.
Modernizing Ticket Sales
As senior vice president of operations and information, Mr. Morey's first job was to modernize the ticket-sales operation. He tapped a Cambridge company called StratBridge Inc. to install technology allowing the sales team to visually analyze, in real time, who the customers are, where they're sitting and what they're willing to pay for tickets. A 40-inch plasma screen on the wall of the sales office shows a map of the TD Banknorth Garden, with each seat rendered a different shade to indicate availability and sales patterns. The 25-person sales team uses that data to study buying trends and develop promotions -- sometimes just hours before the start of the game -- to sell unused seats.
"It's about finding the right seat for the right price for the right person on the right night of the week," says Rich Gotham, the team's chief operating officer. "It's not rocket science."
Since the new system was implemented a year ago, Mr. Gotham says, the team has doubled its group-sales business and remained at the top of the league in individual ticket sales. But he adds that it's not all about the technology; they've significantly increased their sales staff as well.
Scott O'Neil, the NBA's senior vice president of marketing, says 22 of the league's 30 teams have since adopted the same system. "The Celtics are one of the most forward-thinking, innovative and creative teams when it comes to using data and taking the analytical approach to decision making," says Mr.O'Neil.
Evaluating Players
But basketball operations is where this approach might ultimately produce the biggest rewards. Mr. Morey also had long explored basketball analytics and had worked as a consultant at Stats Inc., a company that provides sports statistics and analysis primarily to teams, leagues and media outlets. At Stats, he had developed a way to apply the Pythagorean theorem of baseball - which predicts wins based on runs scored and runs allowed -- to other sports. Mr. Morey offered to do statistical analyses for the Celtics, which gave him the go-ahead to hire a small team of statisticians who would provide input to the basketball operations and coaching staffs.
One of the first big projects was a regression analysis of 25 years of NBA drafts to determine which college statistics best equate with NBA success at each of the five positions. The stats group now is developing a similar database of European players, says Danny Ainge, the Celtics' executive director of basketball operations, as well as an analysis of the composition of NBA championship teams. But Mr. Ainge plays down the utility of statistics for evaluating basketball players, saying it is "dangerous" to assume the numbers can tell you everything.
"I still am in favor of the old-fashioned way of spending time and studying players," says Mr. Ainge, who adds that the statistical information is merely a complement to what the scouts say.
He says that his skepticism is, in part, a function of the newness of this approach, and that data showing which combinations of players perform best together have been helpful to head coach Doc Rivers and his staff.
For his part, Mr. Morey says he takes a balanced approach, and that while he's "obsessive about testing beliefs about what helps a team win using analytics," the foundation of his beliefs come from traditional approaches. "I'm not someone who leads with numbers," he says.
For sure, the team so far has had mixed results producing a winner -- on and off of the court. The Celtics have lost more games than they've won in two of the past three seasons. And over that period, they've never been higher than 18th in the league in attendance. This season might bring more of the same, as the team remains light on stars and loaded with talented but inexperienced players.
Team officials say that in sports, business only booms when the team wins.
The key is squeezing the most out of the asset when demand is low so that you can maximize growth when the team is winning. The model for getting the most out of an asset is just across town, where the Red Sox have squeezed every last penny out of historic Fenway Park. In so doing, the Red Sox have opened themselves to criticism from some baseball fans who see a front office full of bean counters willing to stomp on tradition.
Emotional Investment
The Celtics' new regime has been similarly aggressive on the business side, but team officials say they realized early on that they couldn't operate the team like they operate any other business. Buying a season ticket or a sponsorship, say team officials, is an emotional investment that demands personal attention from the team.
"It's very much an interpersonal industry," says Mr. Gotham, "and you can't just take a quantitative approach. The successful organizations understand that pretty well."
The Mavericks' Mr. Cuban advised these owners early on to let the fan base know that the owners are the team's biggest fans. Mr. Grousbeck is such a staple in the stands and around the team that some of the players have taken to calling him a clone of Mr. Cuban. At least it's not an act.
Mr. Grousbeck is a lifelong fan of the team. And in that, he's far from alone among the ownership group. Stephen Pagliuca, a managing director of Bain Capital, one of the biggest buyout firms in the world, is a Celtics diehard with a basketball court in his house. Robert Epstein, a principal at Boston real-estate company Abbey Group, is a graduate of Mr. Cousy's basketball camp. And James Pallotta, a managing director at Tudor Investments Corp., plays in a regular pick-up game at Harvard University's gym with several former NBA players. Mr. Grousbeck has asked if he could play but was told he's not good enough.
R.C. Buford's Travels Through Europe
On September 30, 2006, the Express-News published a story by Johnny Ludden called "Blazing a Euro trail: Eight-day travelogue details nuances of Spurs' scouting". Ludden accompanied Spurs general manager R.C. Buford on a European scouting trip from December 8, 2004 to December 15, 2004.
The article below is a daily recount of their travels:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/global-includes/printstory.jsp?path=/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA100106.05N.BKNspurs.travelogue.11750bd.html
The article below is a daily recount of their travels:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/global-includes/printstory.jsp?path=/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA100106.05N.BKNspurs.travelogue.11750bd.html
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Milwaukee's Negotiations with Yi Jianlian
Today, Peter Lattman of the Wall Street Journal wrote an article entitled "Milwaukee's Secret Weapon For Snagging a Chinese Star". Lattman provides insight on how the Bucks negotiations with Yi Jianlian went from being very far apart to a signed agreement.
After the Milwaukee Bucks made Yi Jianlian their first-round pick in the National Basketball Association draft in June, questions lingered over whether the tea would be able to persuade the Chinese basketball start to come on board. After two months of negotiations the Bucks last week signed a multiyear agreement with Mr. Yi.
The team’s secret weapon in sealing the deal: Z. Julie Lee, a partner at Foley & Lardner LLP in Milwaukee. Last week, Ms. Lee accompanied Bucks owner Sen. Herb Kohl and two team officials to Hong Kong where they came to terms with Mr. Yi.
Ron Walter, a Bucks senior executive, asked Ms. Lee to work on the assignment the day after the NBA draft. It was a natural fit: Ms. Lee, a native of China and graduate of Beijing University, speaks fluent Mandarin and specializes in representing Foley’s clients in their business dealing in China. “Her role was extremely important,” Mr. Walter said. “It was Julie who was really able to open the lines of communication, facilitate the discussions and create mutual trust” between the two sides.
Ms. Lee, 38 years old, moved to the U.S. in 1992 to pursue graduate work in environmental policy, but later switched courses, and earned a law degree from Northwestern University in 1998. She joined Foley & Lardner after law school and was elected to the partnership earlier this year, shortly after she became a U.S. citizen. During the final stages of negotiations in Hong Kong last week, she not only assisted in the contract talks, but also served as an interpreter for Mr. Kohl and the Bucks officials.
“When I was growing up in China, becoming a lawyer practicing in the United States was beyond my wildest dreams,” she said. “Representing an NBA team in negotiations with a Chinese basketball star? That wasn’t even on the radar screen.”
So is Ms. Lee a Bucks ticket holder? “Not yet, but I’m going to get some.”
After the Milwaukee Bucks made Yi Jianlian their first-round pick in the National Basketball Association draft in June, questions lingered over whether the tea would be able to persuade the Chinese basketball start to come on board. After two months of negotiations the Bucks last week signed a multiyear agreement with Mr. Yi.
The team’s secret weapon in sealing the deal: Z. Julie Lee, a partner at Foley & Lardner LLP in Milwaukee. Last week, Ms. Lee accompanied Bucks owner Sen. Herb Kohl and two team officials to Hong Kong where they came to terms with Mr. Yi.
Ron Walter, a Bucks senior executive, asked Ms. Lee to work on the assignment the day after the NBA draft. It was a natural fit: Ms. Lee, a native of China and graduate of Beijing University, speaks fluent Mandarin and specializes in representing Foley’s clients in their business dealing in China. “Her role was extremely important,” Mr. Walter said. “It was Julie who was really able to open the lines of communication, facilitate the discussions and create mutual trust” between the two sides.
Ms. Lee, 38 years old, moved to the U.S. in 1992 to pursue graduate work in environmental policy, but later switched courses, and earned a law degree from Northwestern University in 1998. She joined Foley & Lardner after law school and was elected to the partnership earlier this year, shortly after she became a U.S. citizen. During the final stages of negotiations in Hong Kong last week, she not only assisted in the contract talks, but also served as an interpreter for Mr. Kohl and the Bucks officials.
“When I was growing up in China, becoming a lawyer practicing in the United States was beyond my wildest dreams,” she said. “Representing an NBA team in negotiations with a Chinese basketball star? That wasn’t even on the radar screen.”
So is Ms. Lee a Bucks ticket holder? “Not yet, but I’m going to get some.”
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