John Hollinger is a Dangerous Nerd

Sonics Have Worst Defense Ever"? (Insider)

I will say this: the Supersonics' defense is indeed atrocious. It's just not the worst ever. Jay Bilas was right when he said that Luke Ridnour couldn't guard the chair that Bilas was sitting in on draft day. Luke is actually a fine off ball defender who can get into passing lanes and disrupt the opposition's transition game. But that doesn't matter because the NBA is primarily a half court game especially in crunch time.

The Supes are also hampered by the developing twin towers Bob Swift and Johan Petro. Watching the Sonics play, opposition big men salivate when they get the ball in the paint against these guys. Just this week Pau Gasol hung 44 on the Supes and Yao Ming followed that up with 28. That's 28 considering he didn't play much in the fourth quarter because the Rockets had led by as much as 40 and the game was over at half. It is not unreasonable to expect the seven footers to dramatically improve as they get more experience and begin to feel their defensive oats, but right now there is no respect level from the other team. That strains the already limited perimeter defense as they have to cover for our post weakness. There's no denying the Sonics are bad at defense.

But still...worst ever? Hollinger's rating is based on opponent's points per 100 possessions adjusted for free throws and three pointers. That number is then measured against the league average. I can make up formulas too, John. I was once involved in the creation of a drink called the Holocaust consisting of Maneschevitz and 151. Hollinger rated that one of the highest VERs or all time. (That's vomit efficiency rating and a yuk if you're scoring at home.)

How about a crazy abitrary stat like pure average points against? John Hollinger doesn't want you to know that this year's Sonics don't even make the Top 100 worst defenses since 1979-80 (advent of the 3 point line). NOT IN THE TOP 100 YA HEARD? Worst team ever if you're wondering? Try the 1990-91 Denver Nuggets. Opponents averaged a mind-boggling 130 points against them. That is per game. I didn't believe it myself which is why I linked to the game log so you could see that debacle score by score. They had a rookie Chris Jackson by the way.

There is no team in the Top 50 highest opponent's points per game later than the 1992-1993 Dallas Mavericks at 32. There is no team in the Top 100 later than the 1994-95 Golden State Warriors at 85. I would think this is due to the bruising defensive styles introduced by the Pat Riley Knicks teams of the mid-90s. Hollinger might be getting carried away with his worst ever claim because we've been spoiled by good defense in terms of total points for a little over a decade. So like, there's that.

Footnote:

In positive Supes news Hollinger did note that the team has shown marked improvement under Bob Hill owing to the acquisition of Earl Watson. It also helped to hit Danny Fortson in the knee with a lead pipe and trade Reggie Evans to get rid of those fouling machines.

I love databasebasketball.com.

The Pro Life Movement: Not For Bears

I'm killing you with content today. Still featuring Westberg's newly discovered blog.

How do you and yours celebrate the birth of a new family member? Britney Spears does by having a nude sculpture of her pregnant self on a bearskin rug made for the Pro Life cause. But of course!! I've always been pro choice but I can say I'm finally swayed by this. The topper is of course that this pro life monument features Britney on top of a dead bear's skin. You get the message bears? You're GODLESS!!
The terrifying evidence:

A new internet hero (add Right Said Fred)

Peep this shite. All I can say is finally.
Hot Carl's Steamy Pile

A response to the linked post-

Point of order: that was by no means a small novelty song. Try worldwide smash hombre. Point of odor: poop stinks.

That song is fucking genius in retrospect. Imagine this dude (maybe it was two dudes) debuting Too Sexy to a stunned and delighted audience. He ends with "I'm too sexy for this song" as he drops the mic, spits on the audience and walks off stage to the sound of his own reverb: song song song song. The crowd is silent for a moment and then there is a week long gay riot in the warehouse district of Berlin where the show was.

If that's not enough please enjoy Adam Morrison's Five Stages of Grief(courtesy SG Links).

Weezy, I think I love you.

Chris Wilcox aka Weezy - Last night: 30 points, 14 rebounds. Two nights ago: 16 points, 19 rebounds.

Since joining the Sonics 15 games ago Chris Wilcox is averaging 14.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. These numbers are far more impressive than previous highs of 8.6 points and 4.7 boards in his second year with the Clips. Wilcox has found yet another level in his last five games averaging 18.6 points and 10.2 rebounds. Four years after being selected in the lottery after a national championship year at Maryland, Weezy is finally beginning to realize his potential.

Wilcox's Seattle numbers become yet more impressive when one views the efficiency with which he achieves them. Always an economical shot, Wilcox has never converted below fifty percent on field goals in his career. With the Sonics his field goal percentage has skyrocketed to above sixty percent. In his rookie year Weezy shot a Chris Dudley-like fifty percent from the charity stripe. With the Supes he is shooting just below eighty percent. The improved production suggests that a career high thirty minutes per night sit quite well with the Braided One. As Usher said, let it burn.

Today in the Times Bob Hill revealed that before the trade Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy gave Chris Wilcox a vote of confidence saying, "if a running team ever gets the guy, he's going to be great". So far Dunleavy looks to be quite prescient. Too bad his son is gay.

Best play by play man in the world Kevin Calabro mentioned last night on the broadcast that not only has Weezy provided needed production in the paint, but already has positively influenced the morale of the increasingly moody Rashard Lewis. Rashard has an option to void his contract after next season. Earlier this year he had intended to do just that citing the Sonics' poor play. With the addition of Wilcox and Watson, Rashard's outlook on his future in Seattle is reportedly rosier. Pretty good for a guy who this past month had initiated a Vince Carter-esque tank job.

Chris Wilcox's stout neck has earned him membership in the Jennifer Love Hewitt Memorial Club of People Whom Attempting To Choke Would Be A Waste Of Time. Sprewell would have better results stealing bread in Agrabah than wrestling with that head trunk.

Since the debut of Wilcox and Watson the Supes are 6-4 - not out of this world, but a vast improvement for a team that has had a winning percentage languishing in the .300s. There is hope again in the LQA!! Hope I say!!

My early tournament fears (add racism)

Utah State has a point guard named David Pak (no relation to Robert) who will turn 30 years old later this year. It's remarkable that a player of his vintage is playing at the highest level or college basketball. What kept him from playing the game at an earlier age? It must have been a heroic career in the US Military or something like that. After all, we are talking about a white man from ultra-conservative Utah right? Well, actually Mr. Pak got a late start on life due to the petty matter of serving eight years in prison for RAPING A WOMAN AT KNIFE POINT. Yikes.

From a basketball standpoint what worries me for the Huskies is the fact that this man, through his violent past and prison experience, has to have a higher level intensity-wise than our guys. He's simply willing to go places our guys won't. I'm scared. For everyone.



King Kaufman had another wonderful article today about the WBC (which I hate).



The gist: The 2004 USA Olympic Basketball team full of multimillionaire superstars won a bronze in Athens and was roundly criticized in the press for being selfish, having bad attitudes, and generally being lazy. The 2006 USA WBC team is in danger of being knocked out of the tournament tonight well before the finals. This team is also full of multimillionaire superstars, but I don't see the same outrage in the press.

Could it be because the basketball team looked like this?
And the baseball team looks like this?
I'm sure race has nothing to do with it.

I've been watching too much Project Runway...

I watch sports every day, as much as possible without Makaela trying to kill me. Notice I don't care if she wants to kill me. The breaking point is if she actually attempts to do me physical harm. To avoid that certain eventuality Mak has a couple of shows that get watched. One of them is Bravo's Project Runway.

Last night the three finalists had to pick a partner from the eliminated cast members to help them on their final piece for the show. Before they were picked I said, "Whichever of the guys gets to pick first is going to take Nick." Sure enough it happens. Santino has the next pick and I predict, "He's taking Andre." Boom. Dead on again. I didn't guess for Chloe because I was scaring myself.

The "You're Fired!" sendoff line on this show is hilarious. When you lose Heidi Klum informs you with gravitas that "You're out of style." That is the ultimate slap in the face for these designers. Well, not the ultimate. When speaking of Chloe a couple of weeks ago Santino said "I've never been impressed with people I consider to be good pattern makers, but not good designers." Take my word for it. That fucking stings.

Big finale next week America. I would be shocked if Santino doesn't win.

The on court future of the Sonics

I would like to go on record that I think Rick Sund is doing a great job with the Sonics' personnel. The Sonics are doing things the right way with young players on the relatively cheap.

The current NBA cap is at 49.5 million. The Sonics are on the books this year for 50.75 million. They're not actually over the cap though due to Bird rights and a host of other rules that I don't exactly understand. (I need to read John Hollinger's Pro Basketball Prospectus.) Their current payroll ranks them 25th out of 30 teams in the league.

Here's a current salary breakdown of the Supersonics:
http://www.hoopshype.com/salaries/seattle.htm

Blah blah blah salary. How about the players? It doesn't matter what they cost if they're no good. Here's what I see the Supes rotation being next year (starter/backup):

PG Ridnour/Watson
SG Allen/
SF Lewis/Wilkins
PF Wilcox/Collison
C Swift/Petro

I don't think Steve Nash is that far off in terms of a goal for production from Luke Ridnour. Both players are suspect defensively, but both are uncanny when it comes to scoring at assists. Compare these numbers from Nash's third season to Rid's current third year:
Nash 7.9 PPG 5.5 APG 37 3P%
Ridnour 11.8 PPG 6.9 APG 26 3P%

The only glaring problem there is Ridnour's three point percentage. I can't for the life of me figure out why this guy can't shoot anymore. He was positively lethal in college. I've been watching Rid shoot for years, and I have to believe that this is an anomaly. It's definitely in his head too. I remember at the game last night he passed up a wide open baseline three by stepping in and taking the 20 foot two. You can't shoot scared. Earl Watson is signed for too much money right now, but his deal isn't as bad as people think. I think Earl is more than capable of playing the 04-05 Antonio Daniels role on this team for the next few years. He's a steady hand and a better defender than Luke. Against teams like Phoenix the Supes can now go with Watson and Ridnour in the backcourt, Ray at the 3, Rashard at the 4, and Collison/Wilcox at the 5. Versatility is invaluable.

Ray Allen is underrespected right now. There are less than ten players in the league who can dominate a playoff series like he did against the Kings last year. We have one of them. He singlehandedly kept us involved with the Spurs too. Surprise at the end of the post for Ray's backup.

Rashard is an amazing scorer. He is an impossible matchup for most teams. Down the stretch last night the crunch time o flowed not through Ray, but Rashard. Dump it to Rashard iso in the post. Rinse, repeat. Can't be stopped. Wilkins has turned out to be a great find. He's willing to do what the coach tells him to which is a quality shared by a lot of these Sonics. Catching on as an effort guy he has now tallied a healthy handful of twenty point performances. Who'd a thunk? You also have to love that reasonable deal that keeps him with us through 2010.

The power forward position is still shaking out obviously with the addition of Chris Wilcox. I was very intrigued by his performance last night. He showed some nifty one hand post moves and he's lightning quick off of the floor. In one sequence Wilcox had a missed 6 footer and he followed his own shot in traffic for a tasty jam. It's nice to have a PF who actually likes to play in the post. What a change of pace. He runs the floor very well too. Nick Collison is a vital piece of the Sonics with his winning experience and effort. His mid to long range jumper has developed nicely also. Gone are the days of Art Long and Ansu Sesay. Thank god.

Which brings us to the center position aka the ultimate x factor. The bad is that these guys are unproven. The good is that we have no idea where their ceiling is. Raise your hand if you knew Bob Swift was going to develop into a nightly legit double double threat. You sir are a liar. His maturation this year has to be a scary thought for the rest of the league. Bob will swat your shit and then run the floor and dunk on your dome piece. Then he will go into the stands and finger your mom and wife. He's bad. Petro is a great athlete no doubt about that, and I can't wait to see what he's capable of spelling Swifty.

Now about that backup SG. Oh, I don't know...how about Brandon Fucking Roy? Sure to be available when the Sonics pick in the lottery, Brandon will be a better defender in the league than Ray Allen. His ability to lock down opposition point guards will be as valuable to the Supes as it is to the Dawgs. His unselfish offensive game will be immediately productive and not disruptive to team chemistry because he doesn't force shots. Also, the city loves him.

PG Ridnour/Watson
SG Allen/Roy
SF Lewis/Wilkins
PF Wilcox/Collison
C Swift/Petro

The Sonics have options on all of these players through 2008 except for Chris Wilcox. Wilcox along with Petro happens to be the least essential piece at this juncture by the way. If you put these players in the oven for the next season and a half, the Sonics could have a tasty cake. This is how you rebuild, folks. Hats off to Rick Sund.