Letter from Summer League
Posted July 10th, 2007 by Brian Windhorst
Las Vegas — Greetings from South Nevada, where the temps are hot and the action at the Vegas Summer League is, well, not. Greg Oden and Kevin Durant, the two headliners, haven’t played well so far. No big deal, I’ve been to five summer leagues and see lots of top picks struggle. It means nothing, really. Durant can’t make a shot and Oden keeps fouling, largely because he’s using his hands too much. They will both be fine. But here’s a few Cavs happenings.
–Anderson Varejao met with the Memphis Grizzlies over the weekend in Las Vegas. The Cavs have also met with Varejao’s agent, Dan Fegan. Varejao and the Cavs are far apart right now, which is to be somewhat expected. As has been discussed here before, it is hard to put a value on him. That said, there are signs the Grizzlies may present Varejao with an official offer sheet after Wednesday, when free agents may sign. Depending on how aggressive the Grizzlies are, the Cavs will probably have to do some stewing. Danny Ferry has been saying he will match, which follows normal strategy. Fegan has been playing hardball, which follows normal strategy. So we’ll see what happens and just how much everybody values Varejao, but things could heat up very soon.
–Daniel Gibson played well the first two games, but couldn’t finish either. He had a cut on his face that required stitches in the first game and he sprained his left ankle against the Chinese on Sunday. It isn’t bad, but Gibson told me it had swollen a bit. He’d been playing well, scoring 14 points in the first half and often looking like the best player on the floor Sudnay. At this point, he probably was. The Cavs and Gibson himself are not ruling out a return, but it’s highly doubtful he’ll play again this week. He told me he plans to workout again with John Lucas in Houston for the rest the summer, which is what he did last year. Overall, he just continues to impress and the organization is extremely excited about his future.
–Shannon Brown is playing with more poise than he showed last year. He’s put some hard work into developing his mid-range game it seems. He is so very impressive with his aggressive drives to the basket and flashy dunks, which he’s had a few of already. He had 26 points against the Chinese as he repeatedly drove to the basket and finished. But they were playing zone and couldn’t stop him, so I don’t know how to judge it. In the other games, including tonight when he went 5-of-19 against the Suns, he’s struggled to hit a high volume of shots. He has been playing point guard some, although he is not one and will not be one probably. He’s thrown some great passes but he’s dribble happy, often taking too long to get into a move. Overall, he’s better and he’s still working very hard, he has a chance to make a push for playing time come this fall.
–Dwayne Jones plays very hard and he fights for every rebound. His skills, though, are still very raw. Not sure about his future with the team.
–Darius Rice, a lanky 6-foot-10 shooter from Miami, has been the most impressive non-roster player for the Cavs. He scored 21 points in the win over the Suns and had 19 against the Spurs on Saturday. The man can shoot and can create his shot a little bit for a guy his size. Worth watching some more.
July 10th, 2007 at 9:37 am
Brian,
Can you please recap how sign-and-trade deals work and comment if Memphis is a possibility with Varejao? Kenny Roda on WKNR was a proposing a sign-and-trade of Varejao for Mike Miller and Hakim Warrick, but that seems like a lot for Memphis to give up.
JoBu
July 10th, 2007 at 10:53 am
Hey, larry, your wish has been granted. I don’t know if it was Continental, Greyhound or his thumb and a cardboard sign, but however he got there, he finally made it.
July 10th, 2007 at 11:04 am
Forget Mike Miller, that’s just wishfull thinking. He makes far more than Varejo would sign for so that trade isn’t workable. Besides, we need a POINT GUARD.
Has LeBron petitioned to get Romeo Travis a roster spot (or at least a training camp invite?).
Will someone please take Ira “nothing” Newble off our hands. The dude is a total stiff, a Paxson moronic waste of cash, and irritating. The guy contributes nothing other than stupid Darfur petitions. Keep your stupid politics out of this Newble.
July 10th, 2007 at 11:09 am
Sign and trades are pretty simple, but become a bit more complicated with restricted free agent.
One thing to remember is that the second Andy SIGNS an offer sheet with another team, he may no longer be part of a sign and trade. If the Cavs were to match the offer sheet, he may not be traded for one year. The player can waive that right, but he still is not alllowed to go to the team which signed him to the offer sheet.
The key here is that the Cavs have enough open conversation with him to prevent him from signing a sheet before they can see if an S&T is a possibility.
July 10th, 2007 at 11:18 am
The other issue to worry about with Andy is the BYC. If we do work out an S&T with some team and Andy gets more than a 20% raise he is a BYC player.
In that case, for trade purposes the salary which is used is the greater of his previous year salary (900k) or 50% of his new salary. Lets say he signs a sheet for 7 mil per year, then his salary for trading purposes is 3.5 million.
The other issue here is that Memphis is under the cap so the BYC doesn’t apply to their end of the deal. It still does to the Cavs though. Meaning that they could only take back 125% of the 3.5 million in salary + 100k.
So if Andy signs for 7 mil per year, we can take back 4.5 million in total salary. This could get very complicated and it would come down to if the Grizzlies want him bad enough to take one of our crappy contracts too. I see it as very unlikely.
July 10th, 2007 at 11:27 am
The Washington Post has the Wizards pushing Navarro in a package with Etan Thomas and his contract. If Navarro is legit, it might be worth it if Varajao walks and we get nothing in return. Though the 15 percent trade kicker makes a really bad contract a pretty terrible one. Has anyone seen enough of Navarro to know if he would be a significant addition for next year?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070901929_pf.html
According to one source, Grunfeld is asking any team interested in Navarro to take center Etan Thomas as well. Thomas has three years and more than $20 million remaining on his contract plus a 15 percent trade kicker that would have to be paid by the team acquiring him. According to sources, teams that have expressed interest in Navarro include the Cleveland Cavaliers, Memphis Grizzlies and Miami Heat.
July 10th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Alan, we don’t know anything for sure. BW could be sitting in his basement ordering takeout and watching the games on NBA TV.
July 10th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Etan Thomas ain’t coming here-Danny Ferry cannot afford another empty contract with nothing in return. Thomas is Washington’s Ira Newble-a guy who can’t play and stiffed a team for a long-term deal. Forget about Navarro-he’s nothing but potential. This team can’t afford to throw cap space anymore on potential, particularly Euro types that have high failure rates (last year is was Jaskevecious, remember??).
Go get a tried, true, veteran winning point guard-not a Euro hope along with a muscle bound stiff who can’t play.
July 10th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Did anyone here sign Ira Newble’s Darfur petition?
LeBron James was smart enough NOT to!
Can we trade Newble (and his $3Million 2007/2008 contract) a used pair of Evan Longoria’s panties?
July 10th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Right, “Euro types” with potential never work out… just look at how the Ginobli and Parker experiments turned out in San Antonio. The Spurs drafted Parker in ‘01, but of course, they probably would have been better off getting a tried, true veteran winning point guard like, oh I don’t know Eric Snow.
Manu came to the Spurs in ‘02 even though he was drafted in ‘99. The Spurs should have just left him overseas, though… we’ve all seen where putting “Euro types” with potential gets you…
No, I think you’re right… let’s go after a tried and true point guard like Earl “Not only can I dribble through your legs, I can also walk under them” Boykins. He’s only 31 and only once averaged more than 4 assists per game… but he’s a Cleveland guy and he’ll defer to LeBron’s stand at the top of the key for 20 seconds before I make a decision offense.
July 10th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Kenny Roda doesn’t understand the NBA and sign & trades if he thinks the Cavs could get Mike Miller and Warrick for Varejao in a S & T. The team losing the FA in the deal doesn’t get great value in return and isn’t in the position of power in the negotiations. It’s more about just getting something in return rather than lose the player for nothing. There’s no way Memphis will give up anything close to that.
Etan Thomas is overpaid but is a pretty decent backup PF/C. Navarro does have talent and almost all successful Euroleague vets who have come into the NBA the past few years have been pretty successful in the NBA. Jasikevicius is about the only exception. If the cost wasn’t too high I’d be fine with a deal bringing in those players.
Randy, I guess you must be in favor of genocide.
July 10th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Nice one Marc!
July 10th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Oh, come on Marc, that’s just plain dumb For every one Tony Parker, there’s ten Jiri Welschs. International players are the Flavor of the Month. The vast majority are no better than some black guy you can find domestically. Aside from the fact they can sell the product overseas, the only reason the league office loves the international players is because it allows the league to get a little bit whiter.
July 10th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
The Cavs still have a trade exception they can use in any deal, IIRC. They were trying to deal it for one of Phoenix’s draft picks. Miller would be a great addtion, skills wise, to the team. I don’t see why a deal couldn’t be worked, even at 50% of any salary Andy would sign. Figure the Cavs would match up to around 8 million, so if the Grizzles want him, they will have to be willing to pay him at least that anyway. That 4+ million and Newble’s expiring contract pretty much get us there. On the other hand, packaging Snow in the deal and setting our sights higher on Gasol, Memphis gets rid of a disgruntled player, saves a LOT of money and gets a young big. I look around and see players like Zach Randolph or Ray Allen actually get traded for, and I don’t think it’s too crazy.
July 10th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Alan, the stalker routine is getting tired. What is your obsession with posting here? Did Brian get the job ahead of you?
July 10th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
Even if Varejao signs an offersheet, he can still be part of a sign and trade if both Varejao and the team that made the offersheet agree to recind the offer.
July 10th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
Marc-first off, did I say anything about Earl Boykins???? I said tried, true, NBA veteran…….aka Jason Kidd ok? Next point,
Tony Parker and Ginobli are not the norm, rather the product of an excellent Spurs talent system. Andrew Bogut is more the Euro norm. Shall I go on and on and list a bunch of names? Your naming of two great Euro players doesn’t make them the norm-for every one of them there are at least 10 busts, total busts.
This team has far too much to lose by staking the off-season on unproven talents like Navarro. He may be great, the greater odds are that he won’t. We have neither the time nor the risk to take that on-we need the real deal. (and again, please don’t use Earl Boykins as that example).
July 10th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
I can’t believe I just read a comment where someone here is “fine” with bringing in an overpaid total stiff like Etan Thomas.
And now for some real excitement………………
“Ira Newble for 3…………….”
July 10th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Andrew Bogut isn’t a Euro, he’s an Aussie who played college ball in the U.S. Easy mistake to make, they are only about 9,000 miles apart.
July 10th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
Did anyone see Daniel Gibson play this season? The young intelligent guy who shoots, penetrates, makes free throws and plays defense? The guy who dunked on the Pacers in November, took over the starting point guard job in January and buried the Pistons in games 4 & 6? I am positively exhausted with people who think we need overpaid veterans like Mike Bibby and Jason Kidd who have NO RINGS having played for much better teams than we have right now. Aside from their empty trophy shelves, breaking the bank and/or mortgaging our youth for either one of these guys shrinks the dreaded LeBron window that everyone is so worried about. Kidd is retired in three years or less. Bibby had a rotten unmotivated season (just what we need) and would give us a starting backcourt with TWO 40% shooters! So come 2010, Kidd or Bibby wasn’t the answer and suddenly we look a lot like the Timberwolves do right now! We have to rebuild and LeBron’s contract is up. How fun will that be?
For those of you who “want it all now”, please note that shooting your load for overpaid veteran talent is the model in New York and Boston. We’ve tried it once and exhibit A is Larry Hughes whom everyone wants to see get run over by a truck so we don’t have to watch him hobble up another season of bricks!
Compare Daniel Gibson’s rookie season to Mark Price’s. Nobody cared who Price was and he had to fight the great John Bagley for playing time. Slowly…gradually…he DEVELOPED into an All-NBA point guard. Gibson has all of Price’s tools and then some. Based upon his ROOKIE season, already renowned work ethic, the wait shouldn’t be long. In the mean time we won’t be hanging ourselves with expensive veterans who haven’t won anything and play every other night like they don’t care!
The San Antonio model is to build. People laughed at Ginobli and Parker when they came into the league. Look at them now. Sometimes you just have to be a little patient and bring your team along the right way. Ever heard of chemistry? We can be playoff cannon fodder for the next three years, or build something special that LeBron will want to play with through his prime years.
Shannon Brown is also worth waiting for, folks. I’d hate to see him coming to the Q wearing a different uniform in a couple of years. Trading him for a short term fix would be very foolish on our part.
P.S. If the Nets or Kings will hand over Bibby or Kidd for Hughes, Marshall, Jones, Snow, Wesley, Newble and Pollard, I’d take that deal. Not gonna happen.
July 11th, 2007 at 12:45 am
Actually, Etan Thomas is a classic example of why the Cleveland media is always so unintentionally freakin’ funny. When Thomas was re-upped a few years back, that contract followed what the Wizards media referred to as Thomas’ “breakthrough season.” Well, turns out that was a far as Thomas was going to progress as a player. Thomas didn’t break anything but a midlevel exception bank when they matched the Bucks’ offer sheet.
How many times have we heard that exact same description used for a guy in Cleveland? That word “potential” is little more than nebulous bullcrap to sell hope to the masses.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I could swear that BW referred to Pavlovic as having a “breakthrough season.” The media folk sure love that silly phrase.
July 11th, 2007 at 5:06 am
Couldn’t have said it better myself, Temple-man!
July 11th, 2007 at 9:46 am
Let’s go get Navarro and Etan Thomas………get excited!!
I can see the Bulls fearing those moves.
July 11th, 2007 at 10:02 am
Hmm…With Steve Francis getting bought out, what would y’all think of bringing him here?
July 11th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
If you losers really want to improve your team, the first thing you should do is trade that Nike creation to Seattle for a real basketball player -Kevin Durant! The second thing you should do is get that high school coach fired.
Then you losers might actually have somewhat of a chance. And just to remind, Lebron James is a skilless fraud!
Andrew Bogut is not Australian. He’s from Serbia/Croatia.
July 11th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Mick, I’ve had the same thought for some time. The CAVS should jump all over getting Steve Francis signed. The guy has been in a real bad situation in New York. If healthy, he can man the point and run the break.
If it doesn’t cost more than a one year trial……..get this one done. Nothing to lose, and lot’s of upside. He’d pair well with LeBron.
July 11th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Reporters seem to hate on Francis quite a lot, and I’m sure some purists will say he’s not a “true” point guard, but so what?
Francis can do everything and it seems to me he’s gotten a bad rap. He’s always been willing to play second banana: Howard and the big Chinese fellow (I’m drawing a blank) both made great strides playing with Francis. And I can’t say Howard made any huge jumps since he left Orlando, at least.
If Francis were put in a happy situation, who knows how well he can play. He used to be the ‘next Iverson,’ only bigger.
July 11th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Eric: Bogut’s parents were Croatian immigrants — he was born and raised in Australia
July 11th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
I think the Bulls are more worried about why they got taken out by old and busted Detroit in six games than they are of any moves the Cavs will make. And who let the Sonics bandwagoner in here?
July 11th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Francis is a fat slob me first gunner who can,t get along with anybody.
Why do you think he is being passed around like a hot potato. Go after
Ridnour who is a great white boy point who can pass shoot and can free
throws. He reminds me of Price. We need one white boy who can speak
English. The others sound like they have marbles in their mouth especially
Sashay who talks like this UBBA FLUBBA DER WENGEN MUDDA.
July 11th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
Ok, who let the retard near the computer? Eric, time for your meds.
July 11th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
Memphis signed Darko. Any other real suitors out there for Andy? We may get him back at a reasonable price yet…
July 11th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
Darko to Memphis. This has to be considered good news for the Cavs and their attempt to sign Varejao. Looking forward to BWs news.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:47 am
At least Varejao knows where he stands in the NBA food chain, he’s considered to be worse than both Nocioni and Milicek. And yet he’s still better for the Cavs than Ilgauskas. Am I the only Cavs fan that finds this depressing?
I wonder why that guy is such a piss-poor shot-blocker. For all that epileptic arm-waving and flopping, you’d think he’d occasionally be able to swat a shot.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:50 am
Did I misspell Darko’s name? It doesn’t look right.
July 12th, 2007 at 8:48 am
Etan Thomas is still available.
July 12th, 2007 at 9:24 am
Brian - with Varejao now likely to sign for no more than $5 mil or less, any possibility of a sign and trade with the Wizards for Blatche & the rights to Navarro? Not sure how the numbers would work or who else would need to be involved for the Cavs to trade Varejao and some other asset(s) for Blatche, Navarro, and Etan Thomas’ big contract. While I don’t love Thomas (or his contract), he’d make a good backup big man to Z, and this the only trade I can think of that would address the Cavs holes (guard who can shoot, backup Center) without potentially creating new ones.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
“Address the Cavs holes?” The Cavs already have a few guards that can shoot. Too bad they’re great at H-O-R-S-E, but can’t do anything else. How in the world does some Eurostiff “address” anything? Watch as Mike Brown commits suicide when another talentless clown blows a defensive assignment.
And if they want an Etan Thomas clone to backup Ilgauskas (why isn’t Ilgauskas the backup??), then why not simply use part of the midlevel exemption and sign Alan Henderson to a one-year contract?
“Address the Cavs holes?” Please. Danny Ferry is the type of bozo that still puts 39-cent stamps on his envelopes. And then doesn’t understand why it was returned to sender.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
I meant midlevel exception, not exemption…oh, who cares.
July 12th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Mr. Tucker: I’m assuming you are referring to Varejao’s shot blocking skills, which are indeed pretty lackluster. He looks to take charges, and not leaving his feet is part of his MO.
Like much of the garbage that comes out of Bill Walton’s (and some other broadcasters’) mouth, his criticism of Z’s ability to block shots is actually unfounded. It’s true that he was down the last two years - but his minutes have dropped since 2004, when he was sixth in blocks in the NBA. The Cavs, if you remember, were getting absolutely killed in 2005 from the three point arc - teams were going inside less and less. On top of this, he’s used more and more in offensive substitution situations. Ilgauskas has twice in the last four years finished in the top six in the NBA in blocks, and twice in the top eight in blocks per game. He is likely to finish his career somewhere in the top fifty or so all-time in blocks and the top 75 or so in blocks per game. He is slow on the the pick and roll, late on help defense, but Zydrunas Ilgauskas is not a lousy shot blocker.
July 12th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Yes, I was speaking of Varejao’s lousy shotblocking skills, not Ilgauskas’.
Although, since you did raise the point…I’ve never hidden my disdain for many stats, because they’re often relatively meaningless, but you’re not even close with those Ilgauskas shot-blocking numbers. Look ‘em up, you’ll see what I mean.
For a guy that’s 15-feet-tall, Ilgauskas can barely clean the gutters on his house, let alone block a basketball. Walton is absolutely right. I mean, when you really think about it, it’s shocking. Why is this? It’s not like his arms are stubby short. I think it’s because for some quizzical reason, he usually keeps his arms to his sides. You’d think that with the Cavs’ staff of 156 assistant coaches, at least one over the course of the past ten years would have possessed enough professional insight to say, “Hey, Albino Tall Guy. Keep your arms up. The basket is 10-feet-high, and you with your arms in a vertical position are 20-feet-high. Do the math.”
July 12th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
fascinating conversation you are having with yourself there alan.
July 12th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, …….okay danny what are you waiting for, the natives are getting restless, do something, before you make me lose my mind up in here, up in here, when I come back from the world game you had better had made a trade or I will whomp your boat shoes wearin a$$
July 12th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
It’s too late! The draft is long past and free agency is for all intents and purposes over! The Cavs have done nothing at all!
I guess they’ll just split up the exception among Mike Wilks, Matt Bullard and Milt Palacio, which was probably the plan all along.
July 12th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
Oooh! I hadn’t even considered the excitement of a Milt Palacio reunion. Let’s get all the Cavs greats back. Maybe we can get Palacio and Smush Parker on the same team to address the guard deficiencies.
Is it too late to get Vitale Potapenko to back up Z?
July 12th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
I’m all tingly with anticipation in regards to the potential of Etan Thomas and Navarro. Etan Thomas career stats are in the range of 1.2 ppg and 1.4 rpg-the dude is relatively a great bricklayer at about 2 feet of range. Navarro-well, he’s potentially on target to the one in 15 Euro’s that makes it big.
Yeah…….to all those fans who keep writing about Etan Thomas and Navarro………puleeez!
July 12th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
While I don’t agree with Mr. Tucker in any regards on the Z topic, I have to say he’s on target with his accessment of a almost 40 year old Alan Henderson being much the better than Etan “love my hair” Thomas.
July 13th, 2007 at 12:23 am
Terry Pluto’s Hair, you are such a maroon. If you really had any semblance of basketball scouting skills, you would know that J.R. Bremer is the man. Not only will he be able to fill the gaping hole at point guard, but as a wily veteran of the Spanish league, he can groom Navarro. Maybe literally, for all I know. Does Navarro have a lot of bushy back hair?
July 13th, 2007 at 9:27 am
Regarding Z’s blocks and blocks per game:
basketball_reference.com says it, so it must be true. Ilgauskas was 4th in the league in blocks in 03-04 and was 6th in the league in 04-05 (both years in which he averaged over 30 minutes per game). Also, the same site lists him as 7th in the NBA in blocks per game in 03-04 (2.5), and 8th in 04-05 (2.1). Chuck is right, at least according to this site.
On the other hand, Ilgauskas’ block rate (minutes per game notwithstanding) really dropped off this year. He went from 3.2 blocks per 40 minutes in ‘03 to 2.5 in ‘04 to 2.4 in ‘05 to 1.8 this year.
The same site lists him as having the 73rd most career blocks in NBA history and the 29th highest blocks per game rate in NBA history.
July 13th, 2007 at 9:45 am
I can’t wait for the inevitable spin story that Reverend Pluto will write at the end of the summer justifying the astounding lack of activity by the Cavs this summer. The inevitable re-signing of Varejao (who apparently is a less desirable free agent to other teams than Darko and Noccioni) will be heaped with praise, phrases like “keeping the core together” will be bandied about, despite the fact we will be essentially bidding against ourselves. Take your pick of the following quotes that will undoubtedly spill from Boatshoes’ lips in August:
1. We didn’t want to disrupt the core chemistry of an NBA Finals club.
2. We believe shannon Brown and Daniel Gibson will develop into viable championship caliber guards.
3. We believe Z will switch from Stoli to Grey Goose over the off-season, thus delaying the obvious deterioration in his play over the past three years.
4. Mike Krzyzewski is like a father to me.
5. Dwayne Jones has been watching the best damn sports show period all summer; it’s likely he will morph into John Salley as a contributing rotation big man.
6. Drew Gooden neck muff has actually fused with his vertebrae; this will allow him to be extraordinarily agile and aggressive. By december we anticipate it will have penetrated his cerebrum, thus multiplying his basketball acumen ten fold.
7. Lebron promises to change his shooting form only twice this upcoming year.
And the mighty reverend will be there blushing away, dictating it all into a talkin’ cavs sunday bore-a-thon.
July 13th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Good one, Doc. But at this point I’d prefer that kind of article to the sad sack, preachy father/son saga we’ll get if Ferry trades for Bibby.
July 13th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Considering the fact they started keeping blocked shots stats beginning with the season that started five minutes ago, “NBA history” stats for blocked shots are fairly misleading. As are most stats.
For Christ’s sakes, the guy is taller than the Empire State Building, and he’s not swatting three to four balls per game? The dude should be able to block two with his knees, no matter how many minutes he plays! It’s ridiculous.
July 13th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
doc, you ripped off that “bidding against ourselves” theme from me, and I am offended in a major way. With that being said, a mighty “two thumbs up” kudos for your Stoli and Grey Goose reference.
July 13th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
The NBA began counting single season blocked shot and blocks per game as an official stat in the ‘71-’72 season, so that’s a fair point. It still amounts to 36 seasons worth of stats, but it is less impressive in that context.
On the other hand, Ilgauskas has racked up his “career” total in what amounts to 7 full seasons, or about 5 full seasons had he averaged 40 minutes a game. Most of the other players on that list had more minutes and seasons to get their blocks.
SI did a feature a couple months ago about the lost art of shot blocking. If I remember correctly, they asserted that blocks as a stat were decreasing across time. Your father was a better shot blocker than your son will be — that kind of thing.
July 13th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
Sorry AT, I didn’t realize “bidding against ourselves” was the “yippe kai yay mother effer” of the sports blog world. My apologies to you and Bruce Willis. And Kevin: The sun is shining. We’ve had beautiful days. Kindly close the Macbook Pro for five minutes and get some fresh air, son. The esoterics will be there in September.
July 13th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
And how about for getting Coach K’s name spelled correctly (on the first ad-libbed try, sans googling.)
And why exactly is Greg Oden having his tonsils removed? I can just see the scene. After another 1-5, 12 foul performance ((I love the unlimited foul rule, you would be be able to designate one guy on your team who can commit an infinite number of fouls thereby creating a modern day equivalent of Chuck Nevitt– only instead of a freakishly tall thin white stiff with a porn stache it would be a barbaric overweight muscled dude without a lick of basketball talent (perhaps someone from the UFC)who would hack the opposing talented big man until he could prove he could make free throws…… another aside; what would this have done to Shaq’s career? Aren’t free throw woes the same as a cleanup hitter’s inability to hit a curve ball……. ))Sam Presti notices that Oden has a little “tickle” in his throat and immediately calls for a surgeon to perform something, anything to get his number one pick off the court.
If anyone can understand the syntax and puncuation of that last paragraph, you win a Grammar Star.
My wife and I had a discussion this evening about the way we say Merlot like Merloh and Beaujalais like Bow-zha-lay in the foofy french way but we continue to pronounce Detroit and St Louis in the usual crass hard consonant American way. Why is that? Because we’re superficial and pretentious. If we think other people will find us sophisticated and intellectual if we drop a few consonants on wine, we’ll do it. But Detroit? You mean that place that smells and represents one of the more frightening places on earth? DetroiTTTT baby.
July 13th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
doc, so now you know. I accept your apology. Willis probably is OK with it, too. He seems pretty cool on those late night talk show interviews. I don’t think he’ll have a problem with you.
July 14th, 2007 at 7:34 am
Doc,
Thanks for your concern. I went swimming yesterday; how about you?
For the record, 5 minutes checking the stats at basketball-reference.com, 5 minutes doing some very brief and easy math, and 5 minutes writing out the observation. So, you consider 15 minutes research to be a Herculean amount of work? That says a lot about you.
Just as an aside, I’ve now posted three time this article, and these were the first posts I’ve made in maybe 3 weeks. You posted three times (and a lot more words) in this article, and you’ve commented a lot more throughout the year on each article than I have. So of course, I’M spending too much time at the keyboard. I take an earlier comment back — you aren’t better than that.
July 14th, 2007 at 9:53 am
Kevin,
You had me at hello. Did you swim the butterfly or freestyle? The butterfly kills me. Could never do it. As for my frequent posts, well, frankly, I lack friends and outside interests. I struggle with brief and easy math. But take it easy kid. Just teasing you a bit.
On another note, as the pool of available free agents dwindles down to the likes of Keith mcLeod and Darrick Martin, my enthusiasm for the upcoming season approaches the unbridled anticipation I have for the DVD release of season 6 of Everybody Loves Raymond.
July 14th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Is season 6 before or after Chris Elliott joined the cast?