In case you missed it Dave was recently asked by the fine folks over at Freakonomics to offer his thoughts up on realigning the leagues in Major League Baseball. You can read all about it here:
If each league has an odd number of teams then on most nights there would be an inter-league game. These games don’t matter as much.
If the each league expanded to an even number of teams it would make for more meaningful games. Dave thinks this is unlikely.
The leagues alternatively could expand the playoffs to make the outcomes more random and make more money. Dave thinks this is more likely.
Head on over and check out Dave’s responses (and of course the replies of the other brilliant people that were asked to contribute).
<-Dre
P.S. Dave asked me to put this up as a favor because he is busy getting other important Wages of Wins Network work done. I did so with the threat I’d publicly ask a question at the end. Here’s my question:
We’ve been saying any rules in the new CBA will likely not improve the competitive balance in the NBA. Is the best route to increase the length of the playoffs? For example we could give the 1st seeds a bye and up the teams in the playoffs by 2.
Mosi Platt (@MIA_Heat_Index) is the Miami Heat writer for the Wages of Wins Network. You can normally find him at the Miami Heat Index. In addition to making sure the world knows the greatness of Dwyane Wade, Mosi also helps keep haters in line. Mosi makes his own lists of people that spread false information and he checks them twice thanks to his trusty Blackberry.
Kobe Bryant, Amar’e Stoudemire, LaMarcus Aldridge and Yao Ming were the most overrated players at their positions by NBA fans and the media in 2011.
I used the following steps to identify the players most overrated by the fans and the media:
Players were grouped by their designated position on the All-Star ballot and All-NBA teams.
Players were ranked by the number of wins they produced and the number of votes they received from fans for the All-Star teams and media for the All-NBA teams.
Players with a difference of more than two spots between their ranking in wins produced and their rankings in votes for the All-Star and All-NBA teams were considered the most overrated by the fans and the media. (Editor’s Note: Mosi also politely added the underrated players for contrast)
Overrated and Underrated Guards
Ten guards were overrated on the fans’ All-Star ballots in 2011 and nine were overrated by the media.
The 2011 All-Star game MVP was the most overrated guard by NBA fans and media.
Most Overrated Guards by the Fans
Kobe Bryant: 1st in All-Star votes, 8th in wins produced
Ray Allen: 6th in all-Star votes, 10th in wins produced
Derrick Rose: 3rd in All-Star votes, 6th in wins produced
Gilbert Arenas: 17th in All-Star votes, 20th in wins produced
Vince Carter: 15th in All-Star votes, 18th in wins produced
Most Overrated Guards by the Media
Kobe Bryant: 2nd in All-NBA voting, 9th in wins produced
Derrick Rose: 1st in All-NBA voting, 6th in wins produced
Tony Parker: 8th in All-NBA voting, 13th in wins produced
Manu Ginobili: 6th in All-NBA voting, 10th in wins produced
Monta Ellis: 11th in All-NBA voting, 15th in wins produced
Four centers were underrated by the fans and six centers were underrated by the media.
What’s hurt fan appreciation of Horford more – playing out of position or playing in Atlanta?
Most Underrated Centers by the Fans
Al Horford: 10th in All-Star votes, 2nd in wins produced
Andrew Bogut: 9th in All-Star votes, 5th in wins produced
The most underrated center by the media got the best of the most overrated in this clip.
Most Underrated Centers by the Media
Emeka Okafor: 13th in All-NBA voting, 8th in wins produced
Tyson Chandler: 7th in All-NBA voting, 3rd in wins produced
Check out this spreadsheet for all the analysis of the overrated and underrated players.
One of the stories told in the Wages of Wins is that NBA fans and writers love scoring. All of the players at the top of the most overrated lists scored more than 20 points per game, with the exception of Yao. The only player at the top of the most underrated lists that scored more than 20 points per game was Love. How much cologne does that guy have to shell out to get some respect?
How many bottles of “Numb#rs” did David Stern get to put Love on the All-Star team?
