The Straight Hoop

Back in October, Kirk Goldsberry had an amazing piece ( Which warrants a read ) that introduced the concept of the Shotscore. By taking into account shot positions, the leagues expected output at that position and the players actual output at said positions, we may understand the great scorers in the league. By using this metric we gain an interesting perspective on the leagues best scorers. By analyzing the Shotscore with the newly installed SportsVU sports cameras we can gain a greater insight into a number of different aspects of a game. For instance, lets think about the shot selection of Russell Westbrook. Westbrook is obviously among the best players in the league and the criticisms of him has died down in recent seasons. That doesn't mean that there wont ever be some eyebrow raising when Westbrook takes more shots than Kevin Durant. And those eyebrows should be furrowing because Kevin Durant is Kevin Durant and he is, by that Shotscore metric, the second best scorer in th...

Every championship team has one. The player that just makes sense. A player that bridges the gaps in every other players game. The Heat have Shane Battier, OKC has Thabo Sefolosha, and the Spurs have every role player ever. Without these role players established championship contenders would find there window for a championship significantly smaller. These players need more recognition outside their home arena. So here's to you Lance Stephenson, for your evolution into one of the most role-iest of role players. The Pacers have been absolute monsters through the early goings of this season and Lance Stephenson's role can not be understated. The Pacers starting lineup has posted Of Rtg of 114 and a Def Rtg of 80 points per 100 possessions through 5 games. Lance Stephenson has taken his game to the next level, building off of the career year he had last season. The most interesting aspect of Stephenson's evolution is just how well it jives with how the Pacers operate. Pace...

Trades are an understood part of the NBA. Player swaps and moves become second nature from some. These are mostly rotation players swapping teams and contract flotsam to balance everything out. This is the normal and see it every season. However, every once in a while the trade of a superstar happens and captures the collective basketball consciousness of everyone even remotely interested. These trades can be a drawn out nightmare or quick, unexpected thrillers. Either way, there will always be questions. Which brings me to a trade that has been discussed from multiple angles and shifted the destiny of a potentially dominant team. Yes its the Harden trade everybody; the most interestingly disappointing trade in a long time.  . Now, I have already go on record to say that OKC might have not gotten fleeced by Daryl Morey and that what they got is pretty good compensation for the budding star of Harden. Completely change my mind. Never been more wrong about anything NBA r...

Competing in the NBA is such a multifaceted idea. One of the most compelling story lines in the NBA is how late season seeding will shake out. An interesting aspect of the playoffs is what they actually mean for each individual team. For most situations it would seem the expectations of the 1 seed would be vastly different than the 8 seed. But then there are the Bucks. With a win now owner the mere act of making the playoffs is a win. Unfortunately, when you are perpetually in "Win now" hoping to be playing meaningful games past April may not be the best idea. In the Bucks case though, those first round playoff exits seem to be season goals. I would go as far to say that the ceiling for every Bucks team constructed under this win now philosophy would be the East's seventh seed. I would also go as far to say that finishing with that low seed is the worst place for a team in the Bucks position. For one, the talent drop off from the 1,2,3,4,5 to the 6,7,8 seeds is about as...

So much for the new CBA putting a stop to super teams right? With Rocket's signing of Dwight Howard it's looking like another mega-team has emerged in Houston. One of the most interesting aspects of this purposed "super-team" is how its offense will work. With James Harden and Jeremy Lin, two ball dominant guards, and Dwight Howard there is the makings of a serious pick and roll team, its just up to McHale to suss out the details. Lucky for him, I have been thinking a lot lately of what their offense could look like in this coming season. For starters, this team should be picking and rolling other teams to death. The interesting twist becomes who should be handling the ball in these PnRs. Here is where it gets interesting. Harden is a PnR savant and Lin is no slouch in this area either so both could capably run this offense. The problem arises when Harden is the ball handler in these situations. Lin becomes VASTLY less effective when he doesn't have the ball in ...

So recently, I've been thinking a lot about the NBA as a business, largely due to the news that Chris Hanson backed a group apposed to the new arena in Sacramento. My first reaction to this news was a mixture of disappointment and understanding. It's strange really, I'm not at all surprised that he would try something like holding up the arena deal; he has at least 30 Million reasons to be bitter about how this whole situation went down. But still, its a move that makes me feel almost as dirty as if we would have actually gotten the the team. The only difference is that with this bad move does not come a team. If anything it may have hurt our chances to get a team. This is basically a perfect case study of when a fan tries to consolidate the worlds of being a huge fan and the business world of sports. In a lot of ways this is like attempting to mix water and oil. The interesting thing about Chris Hanson is that he resides in that weird area where the oil and water try to...

So I've been thinking about all the players I irrationally like and have decided to write about who I'm really going to buy into for the 2014 season right around the corner. Being the responsible, frugal person that I'am I will be looking for the most "bang for my buck" players. That means I will be looking at relatively under the radar players that I think will be decent to very good players. So basically I'm jumping on multiple bandwagons. Let the Wagon jumping commence! So I am all in on the Frenchman Evan Fournier. Coming straight out of Saint-Maurice, Fournier sports a skill set that I'm particularly fond of. He has the groundwork for everything you want in an off-guard, ball-handling, shooting, passing, and great size at 6'7. Playing for the arguably the deepest team in the league, Fournier was only afforded about 11 minutes per game, but man did he put those minutes to use. While he was a little turnover prone, he shot the ball extremely well ...