Phone call for King Pyrrhus!

When is a win not a win? Well how about when you win between 48-52% of the popular vote in a legislative election, but only get around 39% of the seats!

Which is exactly what appears to be happening in the wonderland that is Venezuelan politics.

I know that seats and votes are not one to one anywhere in the world, and other parties have pulled this off in the past, but this is a pretty big gap.

Boz offers some analysis here.

Actually, I am not sure what is more amazing: that Chavez's party lost the popular vote or that the loss was straightforwardly announced.

How many is enough?

Now I know Coach K is a genius, and I know that a lot of the big stars opted out, I know that it's only the FIBA World Championships, and I know about the trapezoid.

But, according to Julian Benbow of the Boston Globe, there are 6 point guards on the roster?

"After a six-day training camp in Las Vegas last week, USA Basketball trimmed its roster yesterday afternoon, and Celtics All-Star Rajon Rondo is one of the 15 players (including six point guards) remaining."

Let's see. There's Rondo, Billups, Westbrook, Rose, Gordon. That's 5. Does Steph Curry play the point? Really? If so, that's an awesome (and typical) Don Nelson misallocation of talent.

Even 5 is a lot though, innit?

Don't we need a bunch of bangers to soak up fouls and try to compensate for us not having dominant big men?

Wouldn't Nick Collison be a much better 3rd Thunder player on the team that Jeff Green?

I never thought I'd say anything like this and Tyler will likely hurt himself laughing, but where's Brendan Hayward? (OMG, I hate myself so much right now).

Can KD and the midgets win this thing?

A match made in heaven

Back in my Northern Virginia days, Tyler and I shared a pair of season tickets to the (then) Washington Bullets. One of the best parts of the games was the performance art of one Robin Ficker, a leather lunged fan who sat right behind the visitors bench. He would scream non-sequitors like "YOU CAN"T BEAT OUR WASHINGTON BULLETS" or other gems like "PHONE CALL FOR MICHEAL JORDAN". You could hear him throughout the building.

He is a lawyer and we used to joke about how he behaved in court. "YOU CAN'T CONVICT OUR LITTLE PURSE SNATCHER" or "PHONE CALL FOR CLARENCE THOMAS".

People, now he's a Republican political activist. Isn't that just about perfect? He just won the GOP nomination for the Montgomery Md. county council.

Phone call for Steny Hoyer!

hat tip to Zach M.

Separated at Birth: Hoops edition

Check it out right here!!

The right way and the wrong way.....

.....to score a lot of points.

The right way: Shaq! (1) be a center, (2) get 45 points on 25 shots, (3) throw in 11 boards, (4) have a +17 rating for the game, (5) get the W.

The wrong way: Russell Westbrook! (1) be a point guard, (2) get 33 points on 32 shots, (3) have 4 turnovers to go with your 5 assists, (4) have a -6 rating (tied for worst on the team) for the game, (5) lose.

Free at last

Starbury is finally free. I guess the Knicks were so embarrassed about Steph's $400,000 grievance that they just let him go (or maybe Stephon caved and gave up a more substantial chunk of his salary than the $1 million he'd said was his max).

In any event, if he signs with another team before March 1, he'll be eligible to play in the playoffs for that team.

I used to be a hater but this "Me and Stephon" set of mini-videos has made me into kind of a fan.




Check them all out here.

Thundercats are Go!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Thunder have traded Chris Wilcox and Joe Smith to the Hornets for Tyson F. Chandler.

Wow.

Hornets get expiring contracts and we get an honest to God center. Fantastic! Chandler has been hurt and less effective so far this year but I'da traded Wilcox and Smith for a pack of gum!

I think this also make the locally popular idea of drafting Blake Griffin if the Thunder get the number one pick make more basketball sense (i.e. Thunder really needed a center, Griffin is not really a center but now they have Chandler).

Big ups to Sam Presti.

Kevin Durant just keeps getting better

The Thunder got its 12th win last night, beating Greg Oden and the Blazers. KD had 31. Here are his month by month shooting percentages and scoring averages:

November: 22.9 points on 46% shooting
December: 25.1 points on 47% shooting
January: 27.8 points on 49% shooting
February: 31.7 points on 52% shooting

OK, February is based on 3 games and may not be sustainable, but Wow!

The biggest thing hindering further Thunder progress is taking care of the ball. They commit more turnovers than any other team in the Association (16) and offset that with only 20 assists.

For comparison, consider elite teams like the Lakers (23.2 assists vs. 13.4 turnovers) or the Spurs (21.9 assists to 11.8 turnovers).

Rookie PG Russell Westbrook has yet to demonstrate that he can play the point with an acceptable assist to turnover ratio. Last night he had 3 assists and 6 turnovers in 25 minutes!

Thunder >> Jazz ??

In a battle of ridiculous team names, the OKC Thunder routed the Utah Jazz last night with Mrs. Angus and I in attendance. There was a lot of good news. First, Chris Wilcox and Damien Wilkens both got DNP-CD'd! Second, Thunder scoring was very balanced with the big 3 (Durant, Green & Westbrook) each getting 20+ and 3 additional players also in double figures. Third, after an initial brain freeze by coach Scottie Brooks, Nenad Krstic spaced the floor, hit the open jumper and pounded the boards in the best performance by a Thunder 7 footer this year (low bar, I know).

When Krstic first entered the game, Brooks called plays to get him isolated in the low post. Those were painful. Two TOs and a blocked shot. I wondered aloud if Brooks had ever seen Nenad play before, but after that they used him in pick and pops and drive and dishes to great effect.

The other extremely encouraging thing about the game was the Thunder only took 6 threes while shooting 38 free throws. The big 3 all took the ball to the rim aggresively. This is a lot easier to do when Wilcox and Wilkens are not on the floor clogging the lanes and calling for the ball all the time.

So now the Thunder are 7-33 and have recorded their first win against an opponent with a winning record. They are 4-4 in their last 8. They are actually in danger of not having the most ping pong balls this spring.

A Late Xmas present from Sam Presti

Ladies and gentlemen, the Nenad Krstic era has begun in OKC!!!

Be afraid Robert Swift. Be afraid Johan Petro. Be very very afraid.

Actually I thought Presti had signed Nenad Medic and I was thrilled beyond words.

Here's some Serbian eye candy, people:

If it walks like a duck....

....and you are in an NBA arena, it must be LeBron James. Last night was the first time I'd seen him play in person (8th row, behind Thunder bench) and people, he really truly walks like a duck. Like a 6'8" version of Andre Agassi. It was fun watching him in pregame casual swishing 4 straight bombs from almost half court with basically just a flick of the wrist.

Mrs. Angus pointed out his duckwalk to me right away. Now I am trying to walk like that too!!

LBJ also treated us to some monster dunks, a couple of 3balls, and amazingly tough on ball defense against either Jeff Green or Kevin Durant.

Scottie Brooks, who has purchased some clothes that fit him (only appropriate for the winningest coach in Thunder history), needs to further work on his rotation (more Collison who was 5-5 with 6 boards and +5 in his 27 minutes), but has gotten the team to embrace the concept that Durant, Green and Westbrook need to be taking the bulk of the shots (they collectively were 23-48). However, the Thunder badly need another playa. Joe Smith 3-12 and -22. Earl Watson 2-5 and -17, Desmond Mason and Damien Wilkens both worked hard guarding LBJ, but they are both comically inept on the offensive end.

All Hail Scotty Brooks

Kudos, sir, you are now the winningest coach in OKC Thunder history.

Yes, the other shoe finally dropped and Scotty "why yes, this is my father's suit" Brooks has 2 W's, fully doubling the total of his predecessor.

The great part of this game was the ball was in the hands of Durant, Green and Westbrook down the stretch. They all made plays and they won a very tight game. No Damien Wilkens, no Desmond Mason, no Chris Wilcox. Durant Green & Westbrook are the future of this franchise and they should be in the fire as much as possible.

Kudos also to Nick Collison, my personal favorite Thunder for a gritty all around performance.

Here's some Scotty eye candy for y'all:

Same song, second verse

Mrs. Angus & I ventured out to see the Thunder again. Last time they blew a 17 point lead and lost to Phoenix. This time they blew a 21 point lead and lost to the Grizz.

Some observations:

Thunder don't know how to use Durant. At this point, he's a catch and shoot guy and is good in transition. They keep running isolation plays and post ups for him. He is no good with his back to the basket. Since they have absolutely no inside presence (take THAT Chris Wilcox), they can't go inside out at all and it hurts them.

Thunder are hurting at point guard. Earl Watkins just cannot stop himself from driving the lane, jumping into the air and then trying to decide what to do with the ball. Russell Westbrook takes way too long to get the offense started and seems uncomfortable running the show.

OJ Mayo is GOOD. Mrs. Angus commented that he had a super smooth shot and that the ball always seemed like it was going to go in. He's not flashy but he is the real deal. I really like his game.

Mayo and Rudy Gay appear to hate each other. They were fussin' at each other during the game, after which Gay appeared unwilling to pass the ball to Mayo and we could see him grimacing and rolling his eyes when Mayo got the ball in the half court set.

Marc Iavaroni has a strange rotation. He played down the stretch (last 8 or 9 minutes) with one starter, Gay, in the lineup. Kyle Lowery started at the point but Mike Conley finished there and absolutely destroyed the Thunder in the fourth quarter, just like Steve Nash did in the forth quarter of the Phoenix loss.

It's gonna be a long year but we have tickets to see the Cavs, Jazz, Spurs, Lakers (twice) and Wizards, so that should be fun!

Starbury gets Keyshawned

After again failing to agree on a buyout, Stephon Marbury has been told "not to participate in practice or attend games until further notice,” by GM Donnie Walsh.

Steph had (allegedly) recently refused to play for the now undermanned Knicks and has been scorching his teammates and coach in the press (see the article linked above).

For those who don't get the title of this post, check here.

This is an ugly situation, people.

Sooners in short pants

OU hoops is off to a good start, winning the NIT tip-off tourney and running their record to 6-0.
Blake Griffen, who perhaps might be the number one pick in next years NBA draft, is averaging 27 points (on 75% shooting) and 18.8 rebounds.

Wow! The weekend is off to a great start

Bye-bye PJ. Don't let the door hit you and all that!


"After losing 12 of 13 games to start the season, P.J. Carlesimo has been fired as Oklahoma City Thunder coach, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Assistant Scott Brooks will take over as the interim coach beginning with Saturday night’s game against the Hornets in New Orleans.

The final indignity for Carlesimo was a mortifying 105-80 loss to the Hornets on Friday night in Oklahoma City. General manager Sam Presti informed Carlesimo of the decision before the team boarded the flight to Louisiana.

Before the feeble start to this season, Carlesimo was 20-62 a season ago in Seattle. As the assistant GM in San Antonio, Presti had worked with Carlesimo, an aide on Gregg Popovich’s coaching staff. Presti and owner Clay Bennett considered firing him over the summer, but allowed Carlesimo a chance to salvage a second chance. With a roster gutted of veterans, this was a difficult job from the start."

PJ just couldn't settle on a lineup, be consistent with a rotation or with minutes, or even seem to understand what parts of games were critical.

People, he seemed to have fallen in love with Damian Wilkens! He either had an insane offense or had no ability to get people to do what he wanted, or didn't realize that Kevin Durant should be the showcase player. As for frying pan - fire considerations, when you are down this low, any variance has to be appreciated I think.

In praise of the superstar

Over at MR, Tyler writes an ode to the superstar. He argues that team players do less to "benefit society" than does the selfish superstar.

I largely agree, except that Tyler appears to believe that being a selfish superstar or a team player is a matter of choice, and that winning does not help raise the fame of a superstar.

I think both these beliefs are false.

Winning adds to the luster and fame of stars. how often do we hear that a superstar doesn't "have a ring" or that one has more rings than the other.

Superstars are not team players no matter what team they are on (nor should they be for the reasons Tyler gives).

The team players are marginal talents who can earn a good paycheck and some amount of "inside baseball" fame by doing what is needed for overall success. Shane Battier, call your office.

Ironically, too many superstars can be counterproductive to team performance.

Looking at the NBA, it seems that in the long run, one per team is about the max. Shaq and Kobe couldn't stay together. Pippen was nowhere near a superstar. In Boston's big 3, Ray Allen is a one dimensional player and very far from a superstar.

The closest thing to a counter example of my general point is Kevin Garnett; a superstar who really seems unselfish. Note that Starbury couldn't accept being on Garnett's team. From the past, maybe Magic would qualify.

So winning is part of the superstar's fame building and winning requires team players who help on defense while the superstar rests, set picks for the superstar, pass instead of shoot, and rebound.

Any team player would rather be a superstar but they don't have the skilz.

The worst situation is when a player whose skill set says team player tries to take it upon himself to be the superstar (phone call for Ricky Davis).

AI & Sheedy: together again for the very first time

Wow. Pistons trade Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess to Denver for AI. Incredible. Having Rasheed Wallace and Iverson on the same team is combustible. They can be kind of a cussin', fussin' NBA version of Butch and Sundance. It could be like putting on Waiting for Godot with a cast of Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock. In other words it could be very, very fun. Plus the Pistons are clearing a ton of cap room. Iverson is getting 20 million but is in the last year of his contract, while Billups has 3 years at 36 million left on his. Could Joe Dumars really be thinking LeBron?

Off the Schneid

Yes the Thunder now has a W people, 88-85 over the T-wolves. It's not pretty here in Loud City though. In three games they have yet to reach the 90 point mark,their overall shooting percentage is 41.9%, and their assists to turnovers ratio is approximately 1 (16.3 assists to 15.3 turnovers).

We are going to see the Thunder play the Celtics on Wednesday. Maybe they will hit 90?

Crisis Links

Here are three articles that haven't gotten a lot of play that I think are well worth reading.

This is the most scholarly, it's by Ed Leamer (hat tip to Mark Perry).


This is a great rant.


This one explains that we need a financial Isiah Thomas to overpay for bad assets (note that it contains some non-family friendly pictures but is *awesome*).