Luol Deng Makes His First All Star Game

Luol Deng was drafted by the Chicagio Bulls with the 7th overall pick in the 2004 draft. If you have been following my post's for a while you know for the longest time I was down on Luol Deng because he never lived up to his potential. He was always good, but never great and lived up to all the athleticism that Bulls fans thought he could. This was early on in his career when he was trying to develop into the type of player he wanted to be. Now, he has found the right style to his game being a slasher, jump shooter, and even adding the three pointer to his game. The movement he means to an offense you can only understand by watching Bulls games. 


His defense can also not be underrated. He can guard so many 2's or 3's and keep with the top shooter's in the game. Now under his second year under Tom Thibodeau he has really come into his own. With all the nagging injuries that he experienced early on in his career behind him, the mentorship of a good coach has had a endless impact on Deng (and Rose for that matter).

Deng is putting up pretty similar numbers compared to the last few years, but he finally got recognized by the other coach's in the league for his effort and all the little things he does that impact a game. Deng is the glue of the Bulls and deserves to be an All Star!

Converse "React Juice" Shoes

On the ESPN NBA Today Podcast Mike Yam and Tim Legler talk about Converse "React Juice" Shoes (about 14 minutes in) which was a popular shoe during the late 1990’s. What made the shoe popular was the green juice in the shoe, which was under the heel of the shoe. The shoe was endorsed by Larry Johnson. You can see the popular commercial here:

No one knew if the juice was toxic or not as Tim Legler discussed on the podcast. He started wearing the shoe during the 1995 season when he received a shipment of them. In a preseason game there was an incident where Danny Ferry’s “React Juice” Shoes started leaking and they had to stop the game and clean it up. They thought it was an isolated incident and only one defected pair. Then during a practice in the 1995 season when Tim Legler was wearing the "React Juice" Shoes, it started leaking and almost injured teammate Chris Webber. Webber did a split because the juice was all over the court. They stopped the practice when Legler realized his shoes were leaking. Eventually the shoes had to be recalled.

You can check out Pictures of Converse "React Juice" Shoes.

Why doesn't Dwight Howard want to come to Bulls?

Dwight Howard originally said he didn't want to come to play for the Chicago Bulls. No one understood why he wouldn't want to play alongside MVP Derek Rose and the other great role players we have in Chicago. With a great point guard and Howard the Bulls would have a great chance to win some Ring's for years to come. With a young dominant point guard in Rose (23 years old) and Dwight Howard (26 years old) the most dominant defensive center and a great inside scorer, the Bulls would have a great combination. With the right role players, like the Bulls have now, it’s hard to imagine what the Bulls could do.

The one obstacle was Dwight Howard said he only wanted to be traded to five teams and the Bulls were not one of those five teams. It came out from this Yahoo Article that it was because Howard and Rose are both Addias big endorsers. It wouldn't be good for Addias to have two of their young superstars on the same team. It would be harder to reach more markets if there in the same market!

Later he backed on his statement in the public and said he would go to the Bulls, but we don't know if he actually changed the list he gave the Magic on the Teams he would play for. Adding a player of Howard's Caliber would bring the Bulls to the next level if they don't have to give up Loul Deng who is the glue of the team. The Bull's have a lot to offer the Magic so let's make this deal happen.

Bulls Should Have All Star game

Recently Jerry Reinsdorf, chairman of the Chicago Bulls came out and said he doesn't want the Chicago Bulls to host an All star game. The Bulls have not hosted an All Star game in 24 years and he wants to keep it that way. He said Chicago would not host the All Star game unless he was forced to. In this article he explains all the positives for the city, but doesn't think there are many benefits for the team, season ticket holders, and fans. As a Bulls fan I was taken back to hear that they don't want to host the All Star game. I don't know if I would go to the festivities if it was at the United Center, chances are probably not, but it would be cool to see Chicago have it again.

Sports Teams Loosing Fans

This article by Yahoo sports shows 12 sports teams across the four major sports of NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL that have had the lowest atteandance from 2001 to 2010. Most of the teams have performed poorly causing their fans to loose interest in their teams.

Can you guess the 12 major league teams with the least fans?

According to this article they are:

1. Cleveland Indians
Decrease in attendance: 56.08 percent

2. Baltimore Orioles
Decrease in attendance: 44.00 percent

3. Seattle Mariners
Decrease in attendance: 40.54 percent

4. Pittsburgh Pirates
Decrease in attendance: 33.78 percent

5. Oakland Athletics
Decrease in attendance: 33.51 percent

6. Detroit Lions
Decrease in attendance: 25.18 percent

7. Arizona Diamondbacks
Decrease in attendance: 25.05 percent

8. Philadelphia 76ers
Decrease in attendance: 24.94 percent

9. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Decrease in attendance: 24.78 percent

10. Indiana Pacers
Decrease in attendance: 24.32 percent

11. Columbus Blue Jackets
Decrease in attendance: 21.76 percent

12. Oakland Raiders
Decrease in attendance: 21.32 percent

Some of the teams on this list were bad for many years, but are finally on the way up like Detroit Lions, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The rest have been bad for years and may continute to be bad for years so you can't blame there fans for not spending their money on a bad product. Hopefully they will turn things around, but sadly for many of the teams on this list, they could be mediocre at best for years.

Wilson Chandler heading to China

With the NBA lockout looming a handful of NBA players are going to play overseas. So far all of these players have received opt out deals so they can come play back in the United States when the NBA lockout ends, if it ends this season. I just heard that Wilson Chandler, a DePaul alum who was a free agent has agreed to play in China for one year. So in the lockout ends this season he will be stuck in China and will have to wait until next season to come back to the NBA. I think the NBA lockout will last the entire season, but it is an risk for an 24 year old who is young and talented.

NBA Position Rankings

Move Bitch Get Out The Way

Look at the explosion off the wrong foot. Most righties will jump off the left foot, but that doesnt seem to apply to JR Smith. With that acceleration i bet he could have taken off from the free throw line and put it down 2 handed. Unbelievable! Especially to a short, jewish, white boy

Marketing Campaign aimed to Land Lebron James

I heard that the Chicago Bulls had a four day ad campaign targeting Lebron James from last Monday June 28th through this past Thursday July 1st when free agency officially started. I am surprised that here in Chicago I heard nothing about this at all while it was going on. I heard rumblings of this on Saturday, but didn’t hear anything about all four segments (across the four days) until today.

This four day campaign was paid for by the Leo Burnett agency which is based in Chicago. Each day the ads gave Lebron James a different challenge. This Ad campaign seemed to be aimed at debunking the notion that Lebron shouldn’t come to Chicago because he would be in Michael Jordan’s shadow and compared to Jordan. Well, Lebron James is already compared to Michael Jordan and would be anywhere he goes. Thus, instead of trying to promote the many great reasons why Lebron should come to Chicago, they just aimed at getting across this one message.

I first heard about this Ad campaign on the radio, but I had trouble finding more information about it and pictures. So I included pictures of each Ad, which I thought was really well done. Here is the break down by day:

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Sources:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Chicago-is-daring-LeBron-James-to-play-for-the-B?urn=nba,253378

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-07-01/sports/ct-talk-lebron-james-pitch-0702-20100701_1_leo-burnett-air-jordans-chicago-cityscape

http://www.wgntv.com/entertainment/viral/wgntv-we-dare-you-july1,0,2025152.story

God Shammgod

I was looking through the history of NBA drafts and stumbled across the greatest sports name in sports history. Drafted in with the 46th overall pick in the 1997 NBA draft by the Washington Bullets was non other than God Shammgod. Although his collegiate statistics were not very strong at Providence College, it would be a sin to not draft a guy named God Shammgod. As a self proclaimed sports expert, I feel guilty that I had never heard of this guy before. He only netted 61 points in the association, but his name should be retired and put in the hall of fame. G.O.A.T

The Boston Celtics Did Not Get The Memo

Vince Carter Makes A Lefty 3-Pointer

Andris Biedrins Makes 3 Million Per Free Throw

Yup, Andris Biedrins is batting 3-23(.130) from the free throw line. That would be a record.

NBA Team Efficiency: Possessions

I feel like I need to write something or i'll get kicked off the blog. So here is my half-hearted rant on basketball.

I have spent a great deal of time trying to prove to the world the importance of free throw attempts for teams and individual players, as well as breaking down how to analyze scoring efficiency for individual players. However, basketball is a true team sport and no one individual will his team to victory, except MJ of course. The premise is quite simply. Disregarding the efficiency of a team's offense or defense, a crude way to predict their success is simply through the number of possessions a team generates relative to their competition. Basically a +/- system of possessions. It can be surmised that the team with more possessions will have more chance to score and all else being equal should win more games than they lose. Obviously, this is not the whole story, because being able to make shots, earn free throws, and excel defensively factor into the equation.

So how can a team go about getting more possessions than their opponents? The rules of the game ensure that after one team scores, the other team gets the ball, but it is still possible to gain possessions or better yet steal possessions from the opponents. The combination of a few stats from any box score can usually indicate which team won without even looking at the final score

1. Difference in field goal attempts - If one team takes 90 shots an the other takes 80, that is a good sign, but no the end of the story
2. Difference in free throw attempts - You can assume every 2 free throws is equal to 1 possession, so it has to be factored into difference in field goal attempts
3. Difference in turnovers - If one team forces 5 more turnovers than the opposition, that is basically a 10 possession difference
   
4. Offensive rebounds - Rebounding your own missed shot adds an extra possession, allowing for the opportunity to score more points.

Corey Maggette is having the best month ever

A little history on Corey Maggette. He grew up playing basketball on the Chicago playgrounds before taking his game to Duke University. He was one of the first Dukies to leave college before his senior, thanks to his incredible build(6'6") and physic(225LB). Spending most of his career playing for the Clippers in LA, he has been the model of consistency. Though never the best player on his team, nor the team leader, his career output of 17/5/2 with .457/.321/.821 makes you a lot of money in the NBA. He has always been an underrated player who's efficient style of play gets overlooked in the numbers driven league.

At age 30, he is enjoying the best season of his career. Despite taking a modest 12 shots per game, he is averaging 20.6 points per game. A shot efficiency difference of 8.6, would rank as the best differential of all time, and even more impressive given extremely low shot output. He has been able to accomplish this great season by shooting an unheard of 55% from the guard position to go along with 84% on the 8.6 free throw attempts he puts up each game. You may be asking yourself what the big deal is? A lot of players should be able to do that. Well, no. 55% from the field is probably equivalent to a baseball player hitting .360, while 8.6 FTA is like walking 100 times in a season. Both incredible achievements. Let alone both in the same season.

However, those season stats aren't even in the same statosphere when compared to what Maggette has accomplished in the month of January. He has increased his shot total to just under 15 per game in the 10 games he has player this month, while his point total has soared to 29.2 per game. That is an unimaginable scoring efficiency difference of14.4!!!! He has averaged nearly 2 points for every shot he takes from the field. Imagine if Kobe Bryant had that type of efficiency. Considering his 23 shots per game, that would equate to about a 45 point per game average. In reality, Kobe only averages 28. So Maggette is scoring 1 more point, while taking 8 less shots than the great Kobe Bryant in this month. Sure this is a tiny sample size of 10 games, with no chance of Maggette extending this production through the entire season, but this accomplishment cannot be overlooked. I would equate it to Sammy Sosa hitting 20 homers in June of 1998.

So how has Maggette been able to pull of this Wilt Chamberlinian performance you may ask? His triple slash lines are a good start, 29/7.5/4 and .588/.375/.906, but the biggest thing is his free throw proficiency. He has attempted at least 10 free throws in all 10 games this month. In comparison, Kobe has only done that twice this month, and Derrick Rose's career high is only 9. So he's averaged 12.7 FTA and hit 90 percent of those for a sweat 11.5 "free" points each game. So the combination of a crazy high field goal percentage and a dozen free points equals the single most efficiency scoring month I have ever seen.

Maybe Corey Maggette can start getting some love around the NBA

What Is The Bulls Achilles Heal?

Half way through the NBA season, we can be pretty sure that the Chicago Bulls are a slightly below average team. They sit in the 9th spot of the weak Eastern Conference and are getting outscored by 4.7 points per game, which is 4th worst in basketball. The offense has been the weak point this season, averaging 92.7 points per game, only better than the 91.6 of the injury plagued Detroit Pistons.

Lets quickly figure out the source of the scoring differential between the Bulls and their opponents. In simplest terms, the offense tries to score points and the defense tries to prevent them. Hence the point differential. I recently described that there are only 3 ways to score in the NBA, so which of these 3 is the source of the Bulls struggles.

1) Take more shots than your opponents, or shoot a higher percentage to make more shots. The Bulls are being out-shot by less than 1 attempt per game, which is minimal, and are shooting 1% less from the field than their opponents, which only equates to 1 extra shot made per 100 attempts. Neither of these are significant enough to make up a 4.7 point differential.

2) Make more 3 point shots as they are worth 50% more than a regular field goal. The difference in the 3-pt field goal percentage is 0.1% between the Bulls and their opponents. Thats 1 extra made every thousand chances. Completely irrelevant. However, the opponents have made 251 out of 750 attempts, while the Bulls have made just 129 out of 386 attempts. Thats 122 more trifectas over the course of 35 games. Thats appoximately 3.5 more 3-pointers per game, equaling an extra 3.5 points for the opposition. Obviously, the Bulls miss those 2.1 3-pointers Ben Gordon averaged last year. Also, they shot and unrealistically high 38% from the arc last year, which has regressed back to a respectable 33% this year. Their lack of a 3-point shooter may be the difference between getting into the playoffs and not.

3) Take more free throw attempts per game, which will lead to more "free points". The Bulls have been out-shot by only 21 free throws this season, just over half a free throw per game. This figure is insignificant in the big picture.

Hopefully it is now clear that the main macroscopic issue of the Bulls offense this season is the 3-point shot. I would recommend that instead of that stupid 20 footer Loul Deng loves to take, he should take a step back and throw up some 3's. Same risk, 50% more reward.

ESPN has a "who gives a F%*@ department"

I just learned, from the bottom line on ESPN, that Ben Gordon scored the 10 millionth point in NBA history.

1) What are the odds that is actually accurate? None
2) How is this number relevant to anything? It's not
3) Will this information ever be to useful to anyone under any circumstance? Nope
4) Who at ESPN thought this was something that needed to be reported? Tim Kurkjian maybe
5) 10 million? Thats still 48 million less than Ben Gordon is making on his contract. Report that shit

Basketball Scoring Efficiency

I have been fascinated with the efficiency of scoring in the NBA for quite a while. Through my studies of box score on a nightly basis, it is actually very easy to assess why each team wins on a daily basis. It's not as easy as simply scoring more points than the opponents, but it's also not that much more complex.

There are only 3 ways to score points in the NBA

1) Make more shots than your opponents. This can be accomplished in several ways. Take more shots. Shoot a higher percentage. Get more rebounds. Force more turnovers

2) Make more 3-pt shots. Since a 3 pointer is worth 50% more points than a 2, you can add to your point total without increasing number of shots

3) BY FAR THE MOST IMPORTANT IS FREE THROW ATTEMPTS!!!!! How many times will I have to emphasize this stat on this blog. If I could chose a single category for the Bulls to lead the league in, it would be FTA. FREE POINTS PEOPLE. Here a real example from todays Bobcats/Heat game. The Heat took 12 more shots, made 1 more, 2 more 3-pointers, 5 more rebounds, and 2 more points off turnovers. Who do you think won the game? Obviously the Heat, right? Nope. Charlotte took 15 more free thrown and made 14 more to win the game easily by 10 points. Thats how important free throws are. So not to Loul Deng when you have the option of a 20 footer, which he shot 36% last year, or drive to the basket. Always drive the ball! Even if you miss the inside shot, odds are you will get fouled which will lead to FREE POINTS. This drives me crazy

So that is how you score in the NBA. Team scoring is simply an integration of each individual player on the team. So my question inquiry is who are the most efficiency scorers in NBA history. My sample consisted of the top 30 scorers in NBA history, all averaging over 22 points per game over their entire careers. Obviously, many team circumstances are involved in determining a players efficiency, but my hypothesis is that scoring efficiency is mainly an inherent property much like batting average and yards/att.

The differences between the players in terms of shots attempted, made, 3-pointers, and free throws are nicely condensed within points per game. Instead of analyzing every players ability in each scoring category, we can simply look at the overall scoring efficiency. I did this simply by subtracting field goal attempts per game from points per game.

Big men are expected to have high efficiency scoring, due to their increased shots from within 10 feet. Yet it still takes skill to get position and have the ability for make easy shots, hence it cannot be overlooked. Shockingly, Adrian Dantley has the highest efficiency of any player in NBA history. Scoring over 24 points per game while taking less than 16 shots is simply amazing and unmatched in NBA history. Most of the less efficient scorers on the list are high volume shooters which "artificially" inflates point totals. Not to say that they are not great players, just less efficient. Rick Barry, Pistol Pete, Vince Carter, and Allen Iverson all fall into this category.

FJM: Gilbert Arenas Edition

ESPN.com has the hilarious details of Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton western style stand-off

An argument commenced during a card game on the team's overnight flight back to Washington from Phoenix on Dec. 19 and escalated into a heated exchange between Arenas and Crittenton.

A "heated exchange" is defined as a couple swears and maybe a chest bump. Once someone takes out a pistol, it officially escalates to the "mo fo's got a gun" category.

Arenas placed three guns he owns on a chair near Crittenton's locker stall and invited him to pick one before practice on Dec. 21. Sources said that Crittenton subsequently let Arenas know that he had his own gun.

He really is Agent Zero! Got guns and everything. Only in the NBA are all disputes solved through the exchange of weaponry. "Dude, so sorry for sleeping with your wife. Let me make it up for you. Here's a bazooka."

Arenas and Crittenton pulled guns on each other over a gambling debt during the pre-practice confrontation at the Verizon Center.

Jordan was a notorious gambler. I wonder how many times he needed to pull out the semi-automatic to "resolve" his gambling debts. Rumor is that MJ left basketball for 2 years because David Stern suspended him for gambling related activities. Clearly Stern packs more heat than his airness.

Quoted Arenas as saying, "That's not the real story." The newspaper also reported that the argument between Arenas and Crittenton was over "who had the bigger gun"

I'm pretty sure that argument happened in the shower after practice, so not technically a lie

Arenas may not play Saturday against the San Antonio Spurs because of soreness in his left knee

Errrrr, because he's being investigated by the FBI and NBA security for threatening to kill a guy. If charged with a fellony, the Wizards may be able to void Arena's untradeable $111 million dollar contract. The Wiz should really go back to being called the Bullets. It's more politically correct

Arenas was right after all, "Impossible is nothing...if you got guns to back you up". I wonder if Arenas was packing heat when I saw him at the airport in Washington this past summer

An argument for Del Negro

I do not have a good enough basketball eye to be able to judge the ability of an NBA coach. I dont have enough knowledge of what plays they run, what defense they are running, what inbound plays they call(which cubsfan always criticizes). Basically, i dont have a good enough eye to be able to distinguish the difference between players not being skilled enough to execute plays, or the coach not being skilled enough to call/practice the right plays. And obviously many NBA GM's also can't because there have been hundreds of bad NBA coaches. So how can you Sexy Rexy, Cubsfan, or anybody really judge how good or bad Del Negro is?

All you are basing your opinions on is the word of so called NBA "experts". Experts have been wrong before, and they will continue to be wrong for many years to come. Del Negro took the Bulls to the playoffs with a crappy team that didnt even have Deng and almost knocked off the defensing champs. I would argue that Del Negro is no worse than an average coach. The fact that this bulls team has more than 7 wins this year is utterly amazing to me.

Nobody i know is skilled enough to judge the abilities of a basketball coach. The only legitimate reason to fire Del Negro is the negative perception of him that has spread throughout the NBA, such that free agents may shunt the Bulls because of Del Negro's perception. Perception is not always reality, but that may not matter to Wade and Bosh, hence Del Negro has to go.