Wednesday Bolts – 6.29.11
There was an odd piece on Grantland yesterday talking about stats. Tom Scocca of Deadspin wrote about it: “Yes, if you want to get technical about it, J.J. Barea did have a teammate who is seven feet tall and has won a league MVP and who somehow beat out J.J. Barea for the Finals MVP award. But: grit and hustle! The Mavs were “outmanned” by every statistic by most of their playoff foes. Except their regular-season scoring margin, which was better than half their opponents’. And their 57 wins. Only one of their four playoff opponents had more. If you care about numbers.”
Hardwood Hype has 20 questions for the league: “Given the scrutiny and day-to-day reexamination of his value that he’s subjected to, should Russell Westbrook take a page from Ron Artest’s book and henceforth be known as “Blogosphere?”
Another great take on the Grantland thing, this one from Ziller.
The BIO convention in Washington DC (which is a big deal evidently) had some Oklahoma flavor: “At one end of the 1,600-square-foot OKBio space, a constant stream of people stopped to take photos of a life-size cardboard cutout of Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant, which was one stop on a “scavenger hunt” that involved 16 organizations out of hundreds of exhibitors at the Biotechnology Industry Organization conference. Footprints affixed to the aisle floor led BIO show visitors from the entrance of the exhibition hall directly to the Oklahoma booth.”
This planking thing is weird. But naturally, Nate Robinson joined in.
Chris Broussard of ESPN.com thinks OKC should get Chris Paul: “Like you said, since there’s no official wish list for CP3 we’ll leave the field open. So I say New Orleans should trade him to OKC for Russell Westbrook. Chris may want a bigger market but he did really enjoy his time in OKC when Katrina forced the Hornets to move there temporarily. With Kevin Durant and James Harden to dish to, Paul would wreak havoc on the West as well as the league. He’d also turn Serge Ibaka into an alley-oop beast, not to mention get Kendrick Perkins several easy buckets a game. In OKC, he wouldn’t have to worry about Amare’s aching knees, and last year CP3 attempted just 11 shots a game, so there’d be no more ignoring KD in the waning moments. It’s a match made in heaven — if winning (and not locale) is what matters most. I must say this: I could have picked Orlando, which would be a swell destination with Dwight, but the Magic don’t have a realistic trade scenario that works so I nixed it.”
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com says hope isn’t high for a deal by June 30: “For the owners, sources say the NBA’s legal team does not seem inclined to file a pre-emptive lawsuit — known as a declaratory judgment — asking a federal court to rule that the work rules it has proposed do not violate antitrust law. Such a move would strictly be made to assure the NBA a home-court advantage by putting the case in a court that historically has been pro-management in labor disputes. If the players decertify and file an antitrust lawsuit first, they could do so in any jurisdiction where the NBA does business or has a team — thus strengthening their chances of getting a pro-labor court. Given all that, the court of appears to be heavily tilted away from the possibility of a deal by Thursday night. So if you like lockouts, pull up a chair and get your popcorn.”