“We’ve got to figure out a way to be not as flat,” Brown said. “Obviously you don’t want that to happen, but this is a long season. For us to be able to get the win is good.” [Brian Windhorst's Game Recap]
“We’ve got to start hanging some banners up there,” James said. “Just got to.” [Brian Windhorst's Beat Blog]
“Rudoy said Ilgauskas has been working out extensively 3-4 times per week in Manhattan’s Chinatown area.” [George M. Thomas on Z's Return]
“The 7-footer had another great game Sunday, scoring 23 points with six rebounds in a Russian Superleague contest. He’s averaging 12.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and shooting 72 percent in the Superleague games.” [Brian Windhorst on Sasha Kaun]
“It’s evident that all of the players have bought into Stan Van Gundy’s grand design and accepted their roles. If this process continues and the specifics are perfected then, at the very least, the Magic will square off against Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals — and could easily give the cocky Cavs a run for their money.” [Charley Rosen on the Magic]
Cavs on top of the Fanhouse Power Rankings.
“And then there’s LeBron James who, if you want to get technical about it, beat everyone to the punch on this one. James put his Cleveland on the map, raised its profile around globe; he’s not just bigger than Cleveland, he’s past markets themselves. Yet there’s no reason to believe he’d be willing to do this for any city other than his hometown.” [Bethlehem Shoals re-examining "small-market"]
You can’t vote for Z to play alongside LeBron in the new NBA Jam. We need to start a petition…
Tom Haberstroh looks at the value of assists: “Interestingly, although most three-pointers are assisted (81 percent) according to 82games.com, the effect of a pass is smallest (+3.7 percent) compared to the others.” By this measure, LeBron’s assists appear devalued since so many of his potential assists are 3 point attempts.
Tweak out your browser with a Cavs Theme!
Fun Tweets:
“Just saw Shaq. He’s looking quite fit and aerodynamic, too…shaved off goatee.” [Brian Windhorst]
“da only thing missin is shaqalicious. happy shaq break http://bit.ly/shaqbreak” [The Real Shaq]
“LeBron James is about to beat Kobe Bryant’s record as youngest to score 15,000 points by a mere two years.” [hoopshype]
“Better hands- Hickson or Braylon Edwards?” [Rick @ WFNY]
On the Haberstroh article: When I first saw that the value of an assisted 3 point attempt was barely any higher than the value of an unassisted 3 point attempt, I couldn’t quite believe it. As someone who has played the game of basketball at the pick-up level, I can assure you that being squared up and ready to fire away is much easier than shooting off the dribble, especially from the 3 point line. And I’ve read plenty of article from analysts touting the prowess of guys like Steve Nash and LeBron James who shoot the vast majority of their 3s off the dribble. So what gives?
John pointed out to me that there is a lot of noise in this statistic – I agree with him. Since 81% of 3s ARE assisted, it tends to reason that it MUST be MUCH more difficult to hit 3s off the dribble that from a set position. If it wasn’t, then people would just be jacking them up off the dribble all over the place – and they aren’t. And on a team like the Cavs, outside of Mo Williams, can ANYONE that LeBron passes to hit a 3 off the dribble?
Here’s how I try to analyze what this stat is saying.
1.) The guys TAKING 3s off the dribble are good at it because they are the ball handlers/playmakers and no one is going to pass it to them, therefore they shoot a fairly effectively from 3 point range without being assisted to. Read: Nash, CP3, LeBron, Kobe.
2.) Taking a 3 off the dribble is generally considered a “bad shot” unless you are good at it. Therefore, most players shy away from it. Here’s an example. As John pointed out the other day, Varejao as a finisher in the post is Jamison-esque. But Varejao’s no Roy Hibbert. I would imagine he converts a blistering rate of assisted layups/dunks and a moderate rate of his own unassisted post moves. But he’s still going to TAKE them once or twice a game. Now look at someone like Anthony Parker who has an astounding 86% of his jump shots assisted! He literally ALMOST NEVER takes a 3 off the dribble, and my guess is when he DOES do it, it’s not because the shot clock is winding down (LeBron and Mo take all those low percentage shots) it’s because someone has blown a coverage and he has a wide open 3 that he can shoot in rhythm so he does. My guess is that most players fit this mold. They are either GOOD at chucking off the dribble or they only do it when it’s a high percentage, good shot.
Therefore, it’s only 20% of the time that 3s are unassisted, and those are the times when players think “I have a good look here”, when guys that are swung the ball and are already set almost ALWAYS launch 3s.
The reason you see a huge difference between the 3 and the close shots is because teams will definitely force things around the hoop. 55% of Shaq’s “close” shots are assisted, which means 45% are unassisted. Now what is a higher percentage shot, Shaq cutting in from the weak side or having low enough post position that he can go up right away with the shot (crediting the passer with an assist) or Shaq receiving the ball on the block, backing his way down, allowing a potential double team to come, and eventually going up for a hook over a defender? OBVIOUSLY the 1st one. But does that stop Shaq from doing the 2nd? No.
I hope all this makes sense. This is how I interpret the results of this stat. And on a team like the Cavaliers, LeBron’s assists are MORE VALUABLE in my opinion than most PGs because they are leading to so many wide open 3 pointers and uncontested pick and roll dunks. The 3s wouldn’t even be ATTEMPTED if it weren’t for LeBron’s passes (given the Cavaliers roster). They would be replaced by junk in the paint. Here’s an example of what I mean. When LeBron missed those two games, the Cavs not named Jamison (a guy who is COMFORTABLE shooting 3s off the dribble) shot 16% from 3. 6/36.
On the season the Cavs are shooting 38% from 3.
Tom, let’s allow the author to do the writing and us readers should just stick to commenting.
Yeah it’s a long comment, I try to keep my “thought” associated with certain links very short. I definitely wanted to say something about the Haberstroh article but I decided against anything long-winded IN LTTP so I just figured I’d fire away in the comments section. It’s a good topic for debate.
I really am losing my patience for Charley Rosen. The cocky Cavs. Why are the cavs cocky? HAs anyone on the Cavs come out and said that they expect to be handed the Trophy? Or…are they cocky because Charley Rosen still thinks it’s 1968 and teams aren’t allowed to actually have fun.
Rich – Rosen used to be Skip Bayless-esque when it came to all things LeBron/Cavs.
I don’t think the Cavs are cocky. They are nothing compared to Boston, Orlando, or Denver. Those 3 teams are cocky! He probably gave them that label because they dance around and have fun with each other. But they don’t try to show up the other team. They are respectful to their opponents on the court and off the court. It’s OK that teams don’t like the Cavs camaraderie but there is no way the Cavs do that stuff out of cockiness – they just genuinely like rooting for one another! They are their own biggest fans.
I actually don’t think Orlando is cocky. Boston, yes…trash talking non-stop is fairly cocky, cause there is only so much you can say before getting to the heart of the talking which is “I’m better than you.” Now, there are plenty of ways to say that, but that’s usually what trash-talking boils down to. Denver is probably percieved as cocky because of J.R. Smith…which is understandeable. However, we have a cavalier who does the same thing that J.R. does that really bothers me, Boobie. Both leave their hand up forever and start walking back down the court after hitting a 3 in a home-run trot. I dunno why this pisses me off, because I really don’t mind any show of arrogance at all in pro sports, but this bothers me.
Orlando has said repeatedly that they will beat the Cavs in the playoffs and get the “respect” they deserve. Melo said that if it wasn’t for back to backs his team would be undefeated.
In a game earlier this year, nuggets were down at half-time and Melo said “we’ll win this game” and they ended up losing by 20.
I’m not a huge fan of all of Boobie’s 3 point poses. He learned them from Damon Jones. (Who was hilarious when he did them) Boobie definitely tries to play with “swag” which can be annoying since he’s not that good, but every player does something different to feel comfortable.
The thing that strikes me as odd about the Haberstroh article is that it doesn’t really answer the question in a way that is bottom line useful. The okay, so 2-point shots are improved more by an assist, according to his numbers, which I think y’all question for valid reasons, but they are still worse shots than 3 pointers, especially assisted three pointers. If you account for the extra point by multiplying three point percentage by 1.5, the eFG% on assisted threes is 56.8, which is a full 11% higher than the percentage for assisted 2 point shots, it’s obvious that in most circumstances you should pass to the open 3 point option, not the 2 point option. However, under Haberstroh’s system the 2-pointers are given more credit. Even if it increases the value of that particular two pointer marginally, it’s still a bad decision overall. Similarly, assists to set up a 91% dunk are given less than 1 point in his system, whereas assists to set up a two pointer that is about half as likely to go in are given more than point….this makes no sense to me.
The choice for the ball handler is not, do I set up an unassisted 2-point shot for that guy or do I set up an assisted 2-point shot; the choice is do I set up an assisted dunk, or an assisted 3-pointer or an assisted 2 pointer. It’s clear that the assisted 2 pointers are still the worst shot of the bunch, why are we rewarding people for setting them up?
I don’t think Cavs fans need to try and explain away that assist stat. Virtually every time a new stat or way of interpreting numbers comes out, its overwhelmingly positive about Lebron. Lets not get greedy and turn the ones that dont elevate him to the absolute highest level into pro Lebron stats as well. Otherwise we aren’t any better than Kobe fans : p
Oh and @Tom Pestak, you said: “Varejao as a finisher in the post is Jamison-esque.” Nah… I think Jamison is Varejao-esque : )
On the Cavs Theme page, scroll down a bit to the part with the Cavaliers Toolbar. I think it might need updating.
Cavaliers sign Devin Brown? No thanks.
Ok…March Madness is back!!Great day. Terrible coaching + bad FT shooting + huge shots = fantastic basketball.
On the terrible coaching part…I don’t know how many games I watched where a team was down 3-6 points..and in the next 5 minutes that deficit would grow to something around 15-16…and the coaches just refused to let go of one of their 4 remaining timeouts. Seriously coach, who cares how many you have saved for that last 2 minutes when your down 18. CALL TIMEOUT.
On a side note, I’d like to see more coaches call timeout when their offense is struggling. So many times coaches only call timeouts when the other team hits a few shots in a row, but I’d like to see more coaches call timeouts when their own team starts bricking a few bad shots and not gettin good looks….scoring a basket is just as important as keeping the other team from scoring a basket.
/off-topic rant off.
Thats funny that you would say that Rich because I felt coaches were being way to loose with their timeouts (at least in the games I saw)…
I was specifically thinking of the St. Marys vs. Richmond game. I turn it on and Richmon is up 1…next thing I know, its like a 13 point game and Richmond has yet to call a timeout. When the coach finally calls a timeout, they show the number remaining and he had 4 more left. So, he had all his timeouts and just chose to watch his team go down by a ton. Don’t get it.
OU baby, live 30 minutes from Athens and have partied there many a time…good times on the block tonight I’m sure.