Tag Archives: Dwight Howard

Weekend Podcast: Lakers vs. Celtics, Authenticity of Superstars and Dwight Howard Trade Machine

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From http://www.bouncex3.com/

The Weekend Podcast finally returns from the NBA lockout! David Berri and the Miami Heat Index discussed comparisons of Paul Pierce vs. Larry Bird and Kobe Bryant vs. Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley’s comment on “fake superstars” and the best teams for Dwight Howard to win a title.

The podcast is available from the Miami Heat Index blog.

Topics

  • Lakers vs. Celtics: How does Paul Pierce compare to Larry Bird in terms of Wins Produced? How does Kobe Bryant compare to Magic Johnson in terms of Wins Produced?
  • Authenticity of Superstars: NBA superstars are typically identified by their scoring but Charles Barkley said there are only six great players in the league. Which scorers selected for the All-Star team by the fans and the coaches actually produce like superstars?
  • Superman Trade Machine: Will the NBA’s new revenue-sharing plan enable small market teams like the Thunder or the Nuggets to compete for Howard’s services? Which teams should trade for Dwight Howard to ensure they can compete with the elite for the title?

The Worst Management of the Year Award Goes To. . . .

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For too long truly terrible management has not gotten the accolades it deserves. That is something we wish to rectify here at the Wages of Wins. That’s why we’ll be giving you periodic updates for the Worst Management in the League award throughout the upcoming NBA season. Also, unlike other most other awards, we recognize that it takes a team to make truly bad decisions. That’s why we won’t just be choosing a worst owner, GM or coach. No, only entire management teams are in the running for this award. Here is a breakdown of our criteria:

  • Bad moves. This includes bad trades, bad signings, questionable drafts.
  • Playing the wrong players. This includes playing the wrong players too much or the right players too little.
  • Bad PR. While not graded as highly as the other two, we do accept our perceptions of management are influenced by how they act in the media. We’ll just admit here that it has an impact.
For the purposes of this award, we are considering a “year” to be the period of time between the NBA Draft and the end of the playoffs. That means that offseason dealings count towards the season that they lead up to. But before we can begin tracking this year’s contenders, we’d be remiss if we didn’t first wrap up last year’s winners. And with that, my pick for worst management of the 2010-2011 is. . . .

The Orlando Magic

This pick is actually deceptive. The truth is that, when you have one of the best players in the league, you can hide a lot of bad decisions. However, when we delve into the details, the 2010-2011 Magic made some amazing moves to get on this list. Here’s a quick rundown.

Instead of playing big they decided to shoot – The Magic could have mimicked the reigning champion Lakers and played a strong trio of bigs with Gortat, Anderson and Howard. While Howard did get minutes, the Magic decided such greats as Richardson, Turkoglu, Lewis and Carter were more worthy of minutes than the other bigs.

Traded Marcin Gortat and a 1st round pick for Hedo Turkoglu – Turkoglu is a mediocre, old, overpaid small forward. Gortat is an amazing center. This move almost helped the Suns back to the playoffs.  On the other hand, the Magic got a mediocre player to surround one of the best players in the league.

Traded Rashard Lewis for Gilbert Arenas - Lewis had one of the worst and most expensive contracts in the NBA and was pretty much impossible to trade. Impossible, unless you are willing trade him for the only worse contract out there. Instead of benching Lewis behind their talented bigs they, they made a bad situation worse and traded for Gilbert Arenas. This saved a little cap space in the short run at the cost of an extra year and about $14 million in total salary. And this season, thanks to the amnesty, the Magic will only need to pony up $60 million to pay Arenas to go away.

Already in the running for next year

The Magic may not have made as many awful moves as other teams, but they made some of the worst out there. It’s no wonder Howard wants to leave the team. If the Magic continue with moves as bad as last year, they may be able to defend their title. They are certainly on to a smashing start with drunk dialing Dwight Howard!

Runner Ups

The Magic were a tough choice and we’d like to give a nod to a few of their competitors.

Hope you enjoyed this and we’ll keep you posted which managements are in the running this year.

-Dre

The Wages of Wins 3 on 3 Fantasy Draft

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On the Miami Heat Podcast Mosi Platt and Alfredo Artuaga brought up a great idea. If the NBA players put on a 3 on 3 tournament in a great venue such as Las Vegas who wouldn’t want to watch? Mosi even did a rundown of how the best three person combos on each team looked. With no NBA to watch the Wages of Wins Network decided it would be a lot of fun to draft three person teams (and one alternate) using a snake draft. We’ll be posting the results the next couple of days. Here are our contestants

  • Greg Steele, our Houston Rockets experts, has the 1st, 12th, 13th and 24th picks
  • James Brocato of Shut Up and Jam (a Seattle Supersonics/Oklahoma City Thunder blog) has the 2nd, 11th, 14th and 23rd picks
  • Patrick Minton of The NBA Geek (a Timberwolves blog) has the 3rd, 10th, 15th and 22nd picks
  • Arturo Galletti, co-editor of the Wages of Wins and head writer at Arturo’s Silly Little Stats has the 4th,9th, 16th and 21st picks
  • Ben Gulker of Pistons by the Numbers has the 5th, 8th, 17th and 20th picks
  • Devin Dignam of NBeh? (a Toronto Raptors blog) has the 6th, 7th, 18th and 19th picks.
Each contestant kindly added a few words explaining their pick. With that let’s run down the first round of picks.

Round 1

1) With the first pick Greg selects Kevin Love:

The differences between the 5-on-5 game and the 3-on-3 game
necessitate certain adjustments in player evaluation. Players whose
primary strength is attacking the basket are slightly less valuable in
ahalf-court game with no referees. Players with good long-range
jumpshots, good passing skills, and high basketball IQ are somewhat
more important in the 3-man game. K-Love gets checkmarks in each of
the above three areas, and is the best rebounder available in 3-on-3,
5-on-5, or any other permutation. The only downside to the pick is
that it leaves my team with relatively weak interior defense. -Greg

2) With the 2nd pick James selects LeBron James:

Love him or hate him, there’s no denying that LeBron is the best all-around player in the NBA. He can score (yes, he’s even a decent 3 shooter), rebound, pass, and defend with the best of them. He’s nearly impossible to guard, which makes him super valuable to a 3v3 team. He can get the basket practically at will, and if he doesn’t like his chances at the shot, he can find his teammate on the wing over the open 3 when the defenders collapse on him. If he decides not to drive, and to shoot the 3, I still like his chances. His ability to defend the wing and the post would also prove to be very valuable in a 3 on 3 game. -James

3) With the 3rd pick Patrick selects Kevin Durant:

When playing by 2s and 3s, Wade or Howard would clearly be the best choice her, but Durant is a beast in a game by 1s and 2s because he shoots so well from 3 and so efficiently when he drives.  I’m actually thrilled with this pick as I believe he’s the #1 pick in this format. -Patrick

4) With the 4th pick Arturo selects Dwight Howard:

Rough choice here for me and I’m torn. Best big or best small? I believe someone said something about a short supply of tall people. My pick is Dwight Howard. The defense, interior presence on offense, defense and the boards we all know about but I think the fact that it’s street ball pushes it over the top for me. Lots of no calls on fouls and lots of ridiculous blocks that would have been goaltends in an NBA game. I could see some two pointers getting blocked. Totally happy with this pick. -Arturo

5) With the 5th pick Ben selects Chris Paul

He’s a fantastic ball handler, excellent at breaking down defenses off the dribble, fantastic distributor, and pesky defender. With little-to-no help defense in a 3-on-3 setting, Chris Paul will have a field day. -Ben

6) With the 6th pick Devin selects Pau Gasol

I’m going to start with my big man – Pau Gasol. Other than Howard, he’s the best all-round big for this format. He can shoot from almost everywhere (don’t believe me? Check out his Eurobasket stats – 7/11 threes in 10 games), can rebound, pass, defend reasonably well. I have him ahead of Love because of his defense and basketball IQ. -Devin

Any surprise omissions? Also to clarify the rules this is a 3 on 3 tournament played half court, counted by 1 and 2 and the players honorably calling their own fouls.

-Dre

NBA Lockout: Foreign Invasion is a Phantom Menace

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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 who spread false information and he checks them twice thanks to his trusty Blackberry.

No Leverage for the NBPA?

Leverage?

Every week of the lockout, NBA reporters, bloggers and analysts discuss the latest rumors of a player going overseas and the impact it will have on the NBA lockout. Last week, the rumor was a Chinese team offered Dwyane Wade $2 million a month. The rumor turned out to be false and Wade said the time to consider playing in China “has not come.”

Last month, Matthew Yglesias argued the time has come for NBA players to use the leverage of playing overseas, like Deron Williams, and strengthen their bargaining position. There are three problems with the idea that NBA stars gain leverage in the NBA lockout by playing in foreign leagues:

  • FIBA enforcement of NBA contracts,
  • Too many stars under contract in 2011-2012
  • Limited jobs and money in foreign leagues.

If somehow the players manage to survive without a 2011-2012 season though there may be a silver lining: There are too many stars without NBA contracts in 2012-2013

FIBA Enforcement of NBA Contracts

There's worse?

On July 31st, FIBA announced it will approve players with NBA contracts signing with teams in their member leagues, as long as the players agree to honor those NBA contracts after the lockout. That limits the options of NBA players after the lockout to either playing in the NBA or a non-FIBA league.

FIBA enforcement of NBA contracts is the biggest reason NBA stars gain no leverage by playing in foreign leagues. The owners know the players will be legally compelled to honor their contracts or risk not playing competitive basketball at a high level anywhere in the world.

You think the NBA has a monopoly on basketball in the United States? It’s got nothing on FIBA. Players with NBA contracts could conceivably be prevented from playing for the Harlem Globetrotters. The Globetrotters are a FIBA affiliate along with every college conference and athletic association, the National Basketball Development League, Continental Basketball Association and United States Basketball League.

If the FIBA affiliates comply with FIBA enforcement of NBA contracts, then the only leagues available to NBA players would be the streetball and pro-am leagues they’re playing in this summer.

Unfortunately for NBA players, FIBA’s reach extends far beyond America. FIBA affiliates dot the globe, all the way from the Kabul Club in the National Basketball Association of Afghanistan to the University of Zambia Pacers in the Zambia Basketball Association. What about the Basketball Union of Zimbabwe, you ask? No dice. They’re a FIBA affiliate, too. For the full list of FIBA affiliates, download the FIBA Media Guide.

In order for the players to gain leverage in the NBA lockout by playing for foreign teams, they would have to upset the entire global power structure of professional basketball. The NBPA already has its hands full with the domestic power structure. It doesn’t need to take on an even bigger fight.

Too Many Stars Under Contract

Nene an International Star?

If the NBA stars under contract don’t have any leverage, then do the free agent stars have any leverage against the owners by taking their talents overseas?

The answer is “No” because there simply aren’t that many star free agents. Only four of the 133 players that are free agents in 2011 finished in the top 50 for all-star votes or received votes for the All-NBA team.

All-Star Votes for 2011 Free Agents

  1. Nene Hilario: 599,048 votes (5th among centers)
  2. Marc Gasol: 524,932 votes (6th among centers)
  3. Jamal Crawford: 246,130 votes (19th among guards)

All-NBA Votes for 2011 Free Agents

  1. Nene Hilario: 11 points (5th among centers)
  2. Tyson Chandler: 7 points (7th among centers)
  3. Marc Gasol: 3 points (9th among centers)

Nene, Pau’s little brother, Crawford and Chandler probably won’t be terribly missed by the owners if they decide to take their talents to Europe or Asia.

The 133 players that are now free agents produced 206 of the 1230 wins in the NBA last season (17 percent). The top 50 players in all-star votes produced 507 wins (41 percent). The most productive free agent is Kris Humphries, who produced 15.0 wins last season. The owners probably think the NBA will survive if Kim Kardashian’s fiance played overseas. In fact, if all 133 free agents went to play overseas, there are over 150 players in the D-League waiting to replace them.

Hmm… a lockout during an off-season with no big name free agents? It’s almost like the NBA planned this, isn’t it?

Limited Jobs and Money Overseas

Tons of Jobs Overseas?

The problem with the idea that players would gain leverage from going overseas is scale. NBA commissioner David Stern dismissed going overseas as a bargaining tactic because there simply isn’t enough money overseas to seriously threaten the NBA. Stern said foreign leagues couldn’t compete with the NBA for players’ services even if they offered them “a couple of hundred million dollars”.

Based on an article published by Alvaro Martin from ESPNDeportes.com, Larry Coon(author of the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement FAQ) estimated there were roughly 75 jobs available for NBA players in foreign leagues for a total of roughly $75 million in salary. As Coon stated on Twitter, that’s just a drop in the billion dollar bucket for free agents in 2011 and 2012.

Stern went beyond dismissing the viability of NBA players making a large exodus to foreign leagues. He also stated that NBA stars going overseas threatens to split the union because it would put a few extra dollars in their pocket while lesser paid players went without compensation during the lockout.

Stern has a point. It could be very important for the more financially secure players to let the less financially secure players negotiate for the spots in foreign leagues. Keeping the less financially secure players happy is the leverage the NBPA really needs to outlast the owners’ lockout. In the end, NBA players going overseas probably doesn’t shorten the lockout but increase the players association’s ability to survive a long one.

Why is it important for the players to survive a long lockout? While the NBA can scoff at Nene and Gasol threatening to stop being headliners in 2011-2012, a very different thing happens in 2012-2013.

Too Many Stars without NBA Contracts

No Defensive Player of the Year, No MVP, No Problem?

Things change for the players, however, if the entire 2012 season is lost. After 2012, the free agent pool gets star power. Fifteen of the 119 players that will be free agents in 2012 finished in the top 50 for all-star votes or received votes for the All-NBA team.

All-Star Votes for 2012 Free Agents

  1. Dwight Howard: 2,099,204 votes (1st among centers)
  2. Derrick Rose: 1,914,996 votes (3rd among guards)
  3. Kevin Garnett: 1,407,601 votes (4th among forwards)
  4. Chris Paul: 1,281,591 votes (5th among guards)
  5. Ray Allen: 890,951 votes (6th among guards)
  6. Tim Duncan: 839,599 votes (8th among forwards)
  7. Steve Nash: 718,934 votes (8th among guards)
  8. Russell Westbrook: 660,244 votes (9th among guards)
  9. Deron Williams: 657,806 votes (10th among guards)
  10. Kevin Love: 492,173 votes (14th among forwards)
  11. Raymond Felton: 397,301 votes (12th among guards)
  12. Jason Kidd: 394,793 votes (13th among guards)
  13. Danilo Gallinari: 390,658 votes (16th among forwards)
  14. Vince Carter: 353,143 votes (15th among guards)

All-NBA Votes for 2012 Free Agents

  1. Dwight Howard: 593 points (1st among centers)
  2. Derrick Rose: 593 points (1st among guards)
  3. Russell Westbrook: 184 points (4th among guards)
  4. Chris Paul: 157 points (5th among guards)
  5. Kevin Love: 48 points (9th among forwards)
  6. Tim Duncan: 43 points (10th among forwards)
  7. Kevin Garnett: 22 points (12th among forwards)
  8. Deron Williams: 19 points (9th among guards)
  9. Steve Nash: 17 points (10th among guards)
  10. Jason Kidd: 1 point (13th among guards)
  11. Eric Gordon: 1 point (13th among guards)
  12. Ray Allen: 1 point (13th among guards)
  13. Gerald Wallace: 1 point (14th among forwards)

If the NBA’s best center, point guard, reigning MVP and leading rebounder go overseas, they will be missed. The 119 players that will be free agents after 2012 produced 376 of the 1230 wins in the NBA last season (31 percent). If the 2012 free agents join the 2011 free agents and leave the NBA, then nearly half of the wins produced by players (582 Wins Produced) would be walking out the door and leaving a void that would likely be too big for the D-League and NCAA to fill with comparable talent.

Summing Up

Zach Randolph: model employee?

If half the production in the NBA could be lost, then the NBPA could have leverage, but it would come with the cost of losing an entire season’s worth of salary. Some players, like Zach Randolph, had agents stretch their 2011 salary across 18-24 months into 2012 and others, like Love, saved as much of their money as possible and followed the guidelines in the NBPA Lockout Handbook. Here’s hoping other players followed suit.

If the entire season is lost, then the owners face the risk of losing some of the NBA’s biggest stars and half the players with no recourse, and the players risk losing $2 billion dollars in salary (based on the owners latest proposal).

Of course, if the players really wanted to use playing overseas as leverage then they could decertify the NBPA. If the NBA gets its way in federal court, then all player contracts would be voided. NBA stars could play wherever they wanted (including their own league), without restrictions, since there would be no NBA contracts for FIBA to enforce after the lockout.

Such decisions would be very difficult for NBA players (reminiscent of the scene between The Architect and Neo).  But if the NBPA is able to convince its players wait out the owners and let the clock tick towards the 2012-2013 season (or decertifying) then it could be the difference between accepting or rejecting a bad deal from the owners that could cost all players hundreds of millions — maybe billions — of dollars in the future.

-Mosi

Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer, nor am I versed in sports law. I’m just a blogger with an opinion, a browser and access to Google.