We are less than two weeks into the NBA season. So far the early returns have been surprising. The Atlanta Hawks are currently 4-1. The Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns have combined for only two wins, and one of these came from a game between these two teams. Of course …
JC Bradbury – of Sabernomics fame – has offered two comments this week related to items posted in this forum. The first is on the discussion of payroll and wins in baseball. The second comment is on the latest from Michael Lewis – Blind Side. Bradbury on Payroll and Wins …
About six weeks ago King Kaufman – the sports writer at Salon.com – wrote a column that criticized our work in The Wages of Wins. Kaufman’s work has a number of problems, some of which I will examine in subsequent postings. Today I want to focus on Kaufman’s claim that …
We are now at the halfway point of the NFL season. So now is a good time to tell the story about what we have learned so far about quarterbacks in 2006. What we have learned is that quarterbacks are inconsistent (okay, I said that before). Every team has now …
The Fab Five. Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, Ray Jackson, Juwan Howard, and Chris Webber were Michigan freshman who all started for a team in the NCAA title game. As sophomores these five repeated as title participants. Yes, these five lost both championship games. But years later few people can name …
In The Wages of Wins we use just a little bit of statistics. Much of the book is still friendly, easy to follow, words. But every once in awhile we let it slip that as professors of economics – who all have taught econometrics – we are basing our conclusions …
Frequent readers of The Wages of Wins Journal might have noticed that Marty and Stacey are not contributing much anymore. Marty’s excuse is The New York Times. Today he has penned his fourth Keeping Score column for the nation’s leading paper. Given the difference between what The New York Times …
The New York Knicks waived Jalen Rose last Monday. And now it has been announced that he will be joining the Phoenix Suns. The Suns appear to be getting quite a deal. As noted by CBS Sportline (via hoopshype.com), Rose was scheduled to be the 13th highest paid player in …
Yesterday I told the story of Maurice Taylor, a player Isiah Thomas waived this summer. Today I thought I would tell another story about the Knicks – yes, another one – with a focus on the players Taylor is leaving behind. Last year the Knicks spent more on playing talent …
Can a team add wins by subtracting a player? Consider the case of Maurice Taylor. A few weeks ago Isiah Thomas waived Taylor. Was this a good move? Consider Taylor’s career thus far. In nine seasons he has posted averages of 11.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. Per 48 …