SB Nation User Blog: goodlucksaturday

Roy Hibbert: The Invisible Giant

goodlucksaturday — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:10:37 -0000

[From the FanPosts, goodlucksaturday wonders what is going on with the streaky Roy Hibbert. Just one of several great FanPosts of late. I need to do a better job of promoting these to the front page. -TL]

I'm putting out an APB for Roy Hibbert. His crime is going MIA during games and all in all losing the effectiveness that had him so promising in the first half of this season when the team also looked promising.

Where'd you go, big fella!?

Roy, a double double machine earlier this year, got himself 15 minutes of action last night in a start, but was not hindered by foul trouble. He was hindered by Roy trouble. He put up 0 points on 0-3 shooting and pulled down 1 rebound.

This is becoming a trend of sorts for Hibbert, who despite a serviceable 7/7 game against the Kings on Wednesday, hasn't put together a truly inspiring performance since he last double doubled...three weeks ago.

The team is 5-2 when he scores in double figures, and he was a vital part of the offense for that one stretch of games that have been played really well. When the team was struggling early last night to get into the paint, I think we would've been able to count on Roy to wreak havoc inside while the rest of the guys tried to figure things out and weather the storm that ultimately cost the game.

I'd wonder if it's confidence, but I think Brandon is eating up all the confidence excuses, leaving myself to wonder what happened to the Hungry Hungry Hibbert.

Danny Granger's Milestone Friday

goodlucksaturday — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:12:18 -0000

[From the FanPosts, goodlucksaturday notes an 3-ball milestone within reach on Friday for Danny Granger. Only 2055 to go to reach Reggie! - TL]

So assuming Danny Granger plays on Friday, which I don't think he should, but I imagine he will anyway, he'll have a shot at becoming a #2 all-time franchise leader, which means quite a bit considering how far ahead Reggie Miller is in most categories.

The record? Three point field goals. Granger has currently made Slick Leonard and the Pacer faithful exclaim "BOOM BABY!" 505 times, just one shy of Bill Keller's 506, which was recorded from 1970-1976.

Though Keller's three point numbers would likely be higher as he exited the ABA (as the ABA exited itself) at the age of 28, coming off of his most prolific season going long, the number is 506.

If Granger doesn't move into second place tomorrow against the Wizards, it certainly won't be for a lack of trying. Granger is averaging 10 three point attempts per game and has 40 on the year, currently second in the NBA with Rasheed Wallace (who has played two more games than Granger), both seven behind Danillo Gallinari, who sits at 47 after five games.

Granger will also get his 10,000th minute of NBA and Pacer action if he plays Friday in the first quarter of the first quarter. He'll become the 30th player to log 10,000 minutes as a Pacer, and the first since Jamaal Tinsley in 2007.

At least a little bit more worth seeing for the team's already busy game against the Wizards tomorrow night.

Foster Out 2 Weeks with Ankle Sprain, Hansbrough May Be Back This Week

goodlucksaturday — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:47:18 -0000

Foster Out 2 Weeks with Ankle Sprain, Hansbrough May Be Back This Week

A big loss with Foster. Hopefully he can come back, but just what need: more injuries. Hansbrough may be ready to make his debut on Friday pending no setbacks.

May be seeing a lot of McBobs.

Hansbrough Nickname?

goodlucksaturday — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:44:19 -0000

So I'm looking for a good way to shorten "Hansbrough." Most players on our team have a good way to shorten their name, or a nickname worth calling them by, or their first name works just fine.

With Granger, it's easy to just call him "Danny." Though any number of Batman references are fun as well. Rush is easy for me to go with "Brandon" or "B.Rush". Dunleavy can be "Mike" or "Duns." Murphy is pretty easily "Murph." I like "Roy" for Hibbert, though I love Hungry Hungry Hibbert, it's way too much to type. I've personally adopted "S.Jones" and "D.Jones" for our new Jones duo due to the awkwardness of Dahntay and Solomon, but I don't think anyone else is going to be jumping on that bandwagon. McRoberts is easy to just make any reference to a beard or Bob, or McBob, JoshMcBobs, etc. "TJ" is easy, "Jeff" is iconic, and "Watson" works everywhere.

But I haven't figure out a good way to shorten "Hansbrough." I fiddled around with "Hans," but that was terrible. I can't even muster up the courage to post another one I had tried out a couple of times. I haven't done enough keg stands to be able to stand calling him "Hansbro," he's definitely not a "Tyler." It's an easy name to say, but it's a tough name to have to keep typing. I haven't noticed any real shortening on his name, or nickname around here, and whatever his college nickname was (The Animal or something?) I don't care for at all.

Since we're not too far from camps and preseason, I figured I'd see if anyone had any good ideas on how best not to have to slave over the awkward "H-a-n-s-br-ou-g-h" typing in the dark winter months.

Just How Affected are the Pacers in Losing Quisy and Jack?

goodlucksaturday — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 03:54:05 -0000

[Note by Cornrows, 09/05/09 6:48 AM EDT - From the FanPosts, goodlucksaturday takes a closer look at the Pacers without Jarrett Jack and Marquis Daniels. ]

Much is being made of the Indiana Pacers loss of Jarrett Jack and Marquis Daniels. On the surface, that’s 26.7 PPG that are just not there anymore. From a team that averaged 105 PPG last season, are the Pacers set to average about 78 points this year? And do the Pacers have the spots filled in to make up the difference?

I want to cover that, in an attempt to see if the loss of Marquis Daniels’s and Jarrett Jack’s offense will result in a less capable offense, considering both essentially being replaced by Dahntay Jones and Earl Watson who don’t have offensive reputations like Daniels and Jack do.

The first thing I think should be cleared up is the idea that the 26.7 combined average of the two players is what we could expect, on average, from the two players. In fact, below is the list of every game in which both players combined for 27 points in the same game:

November 5, 2008 – vs. Phoenix: Daniels, 19; Jack, 8 (L)
November 12, 2008 – at New Jersey: Daniels, 16; Jack, 13 (W)
November 21, 2008 – vs. Orlando: Daniels, 25; Jack, 5 (L)
November 22, 2008 – at Miami: Daniels, 25; Jack, 8 (L)
November 28, 2008 – vs. Charlotte: Daniels, 20; Jack, 10 (L)
December 7, 2008 – vs. Boston: Daniels, 26; Jack, 17 (L)
December 15, 2008 – at Washington: Daniels, 20; Jack, 16 (W)
December 17, 2008 – vs. Golden State: Daniels, 23; Jack, 24 (W)
December 26, 2008 – at Memphis: Daniels, 28; Jack, 6 (L)
December 30, 2008 – vs. Atlanta: Daniels, 11; Jack, 22 (L)
January 2, 2009 – at New York: Daniels, 13; Jack, 29 (W)
February 18, 2009 – at Charlotte: Daniels, 14; Jack, 18 (L)
February 20, 2009 – at Minnesota: Daniels, 24; Jack, 18 (W)
February 22, 2009 – vs. Chicago: Daniels, 16; Jack, 16 (W)
February 23, 2009 – at New York: Daniels, 28; Jack, 33 (L)
February 25, 2009 – vs. Memphis: Daniels, 14; Jack, 20 (W)
March 1, 2009 – vs. Denver: Daniels, 19; Jack, 28 (W)
March 3, 2009 – at Sacramento: Daniels, 18; Jack, 26 (W)
March 4, 2009 – at Portland: Daniels, 28; Jack, 17 (L)
March 7, 2009 – at LA Clippers: Daniels, 10; Jack, 25 (W)
March 10, 2009 – vs. Utah: Daniels, 7; Jack, 21 (L)

Essentially, in an 82-game schedule, Jack and Daniels combined for 27 points just 21 times in the season, and the team went 10-11 in those games. Both players reached their season average in the same game eight times less, resulting in a much more successful outing, as the team went 9-4 in those games.

But does a 9-4 "stretch" in an 82-game schedule really mean that much? Is it so black and white that losing those games take the Pacers from 36-46 to 31-51? It seems that even basketball-reference.com’s Win Shares agree that the five game difference in that 9-4 record makes up the sum total of the "contributions" both players made, as Jack is credited with 4.3 WS, while Daniels is credited with 1.4. So from a plus/minus situation, the Pacers can expect to be five games worse.

But that’s pure subtraction with no addition. If we go on that, then the loss of Rasho Nesterovic and Maceo Baston put the Pacers down another 3 wins, so on subtractions alone, we can expect a 28-54 record for the 2009-10 season. (As a side note, Stephen Graham was credited with 0.0 WS) But the fact is the Pacers did make additions, even as uneventful as they might be compared to the Ron Artests and Shaquille O’Neals moving around this offseason.

It seems unfair to bring in the WS for players on another team, in another system, for another coach, but the WS additions include 2.1 (D.Jones), -0.2 (Watson), and 1.9 (S.Jones), putting the Pacers at roughly 32-50 if Tyler Hansbrough and A.J. Price make absolutely no contributions, Mike Dunleavy is injured again all season (he led the team in WS in 07-08 with 9.0), and Roy Hibbert and Brandon Rush don’t improve at all.

The fact is, however, the Pacers are set to improve with the talent they have. The issue at hand seems to be that the talent is a bit secondary. A bit "championship" minded without the "championship" crown jewels. Continuously believing that Granger can only be a second fiddle, that Hansbrough will work hard, but won’t be a contributor at all, and that Rush’s flurry at the end of the season was fluky and we should expect him to be more of the player he was most of last year, instead of showing growth in his second year.

Of course, that was the same thing last year. The team did perform. Had they had some more defensive presence or a little bit of help with injuries, perhaps they could’ve made the playoffs. Most of these factors will still be wearing the blue and gold in 2009-10.

But it can’t go without saying that the loss of Daniels and Jack do hinder the team’s offensive capabilities. There’s no denying the team is in fact worse offensively without those two players. The good news is that they are better defensively. The idea seems to be that the loss of Daniels and Jack’s offense cannot be offset by the improvement of defense by D.Jones and Watson, when in fact, it can.

It’s not entirely fair to say that losing Jack and Daniel’s capable offensive game is the same as losing their production. Marquis Daniels played in 54 games last season. Dahntay Jones played in 79. That’s 25 games where even limited offense is more help than not being on the floor at all. In addition, Daniels showed tremendous offensive capabilities when he started, and didn’t shine as a bench player. Though it’s not entirely fair to go on the straight minutes, here they are anyway before we work with them a bit:

Starting: 43 Games, 34.5 MPG, 15.3 PPG
Bench: 11 Games, 19.5 MPG, 6.8 PPG

Like I said, it’s not fair to look at the numbers directly and have it tell the story, but it does help showcasing the production. Daniels started 43 games in place of an injured Dunleavy and a "still trying to get it" Rush. That’s where he was able to produce. Off the bench, however, he put up numbers that can be covered fairly easily. But not only are the numbers down due to lack of minutes, the production is also down:

Start Per 36 Minutes: 43 Games, 15.9 PPG
Bench Per 36 Minutes: 11 Games, 12.5 PPG

Daniels offered almost three and a half points less of production when coming off the bench last season. The loss of Daniels’s offense can hurt the team, but only if they can’t rely on Mike Dunleavy or Brandon Rush for offense, which I believe they can (at least in Dunleavy’s case). It may be a product of an injured Daniels or a limited sample size, but even an injured Daniels helps prove the point that Daniels’s production, as valuable as it was when the team needed it, is not essential to the team’s success if they have their roster available.

It becomes more difficult to sugarcoat Jarrett Jack’s loss given the season Earl Watson had last season, buried deep on the bench in Oklahoma City. Jack played in all 82 games, played admirably in his time, but did answer defense by playing more offense. Watson is a defensive upgrade, as ever slight as it might be, and while the point production may not be there, again, like with Daniels and D.Jones, the defense can help minimize the need for offensive production.

Really, for the Pacers, it's all about options now. They didn’t have many defensive choices last season, and they were 36-46 because of that. They were a fast and exciting offensive team, but with no defense, they couldn’t be expected to be contenders, despite winning against the top five NBA teams last season. To sum it up again, the loss of Daniels and Jack takes away offensive options that were there before, but the addition of D.Jones and Watson adds defensive options that weren’t there before. The team won’t need to score big if they can defend big, and if they can defend big, playoff basketball will return to Indiana.

An Old Jersey Question

goodlucksaturday — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:52:48 -0000

All right, I'm going to say from the get go that this is going to be a bit of an odd Fanpost, but I figured I'd go for it, because it intrigues me greatly. Basically, I'll start it off that I grew up collecting basketball cards as it is the root and cause of the concern.

I'm currently cataloging my collection through Beckett and I'm up to the 1998-99 Topps set, which is all well and good, catalog and move on. Except that one card caught my eyes. It's a Matt Harpring rookie card from the set (yeah, I know you're jealous), but it's not Harpring's textbook form that has me taken aback, rather it's the player contesting the shot: Antonio Davis.

Now there's something pretty odd about A.D.'s jersey, but I'll let you see the card and hopefully get a good look at it.

Essentially what we have here is a sort of stripped down pinstripe jersey, but instead of the block lettering, it features the FloJo lettering. What? Anyone familiar with Pacers jersey history knows the FloJo jersey that was present during the 1994 and 1995 Playoff runs went to pasture after the 1996-97 season, paving way for the classic pinstripe jersey that went to war with Michael Jordan, the Lakers, and the entire Palace of Auburn Hills.

But this jersey doesn't seem to add up. It seems the photo would've had to be taken during the February 26, 1999 game that the Pacers lost, though of course, good luck finding photographs of a random NBA game from 1999. But what was the occasion that the Pacers would have worn almost a hybrid of the two jerseys for a game? I know I don't recall ever seeing these jerseys.

I was kind of hoping someone here might remember seeing them at one point and can recall what they were and why they were worn, be it a budget cutting situation due to the lockout or simply an alternate that never caught on. Any answers you have are more than I have.

Tales from the Road

goodlucksaturday — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 04:03:03 -0000

So I attended my first Dodgers game today. I had tried unsuccessfully for a few years now to try and get down to Cincinnati to see the Dodgers in person. I'm pretty glad that this 2009 team was my first to see in person, just because I know I was pretty frustrated last year and wouldn't have enjoyed myself as much as I did today had they won last year compared to if they had even lost today.

A friend of mine who's a big Reds fan and I attended the game and decided to watch the game from left field. I'd been to a few MLB games, but I hadn't had a chance to sit in the outfield, and to get to see Manny do work (if you can call it that) up close was going to be really neat. While I wasn't surprised at the large amount of Dodgers fans at the ballpark, I was surprised at the left field stands being split nearly half and half. While you could see Dodger fans sprinkled throughout the stadium in their blue, our section was full of Dodger fans with dreads, Mannywood signs, and drunken waves that would never achieve full cohesion beyond our section.

Though I doubt I'll be able to get out to LA to see a game at Dodger Stadium anytime soon, it was nice to be in a part of the park that had as close to that feel as I could get in a rival park, even though the Dodger fan in front of me was a full moon rising whenever he stood up. As for Reds fans and Manny, the Reds fans relentlessly heckled Manny in the outfield, requesting a fan that caught a warm-up ball from Manny throw it back on the field. Manny even got into a jawing match with one patron, but Dodger fans obviously showed much love and support, and I found it hard to not get swept up in the Manny support as well.

As for the game, yeah, I know we all enjoyed it. Orlando Hudson's homer landed four seats from me, an empty four seats I might add, bouncing off the railing into the reactionary fist of an old man. Unfortunately, the ball found its way into the sun and I had lost sight of it before I heard it clank just feet away from me. It's no doubt something I'll carry with me for my entire life that I had a very realistic chance to catch a Dodger homer, but lost it in the sun and couldn't peg where it went before it was too late.

I was having a difficult time registering that I was actually at the game for the first two innings. Looking down to see Manny Ramirez right in front of me and Juan Pierre a few yards away, to see guys that I've been a fan of for as long as they've worn the Dodgers blue in person, it was really neat. It's not something I get from seeing any other team I cheer for because I usually do it with some sort of regularity.

For anyone who hasn't been to Great American Ballpark, I'll say that the left field stands offer a nice view, but I don't recommend them, especially for day games. The sun sets right in your line of vision and to top it off, the jumbotron is literally above your head. If you aren't in the first five or six rows, you will never see a replay.

As it turns out, my parents attended the game and (I assume) took the pictures I didn't. They sat above the Dodgers dugout, so I can post pictures from their seats when I talk to them next, which should be tomorrow. I would've talked to them after the game about it, but even then, I doubt I'd want to post them tonight since I'm beat and I want to see how the Colts fared in their preseason game tonight (and see if Eric Gordon is in attendance again) before I went to bed, but I just wanted to share my first experience seeing my favorite baseball team, however late it may be compared to anyone who gets to see them with any regularity or spent their childhood in Chavez Ravine.

Reggie Miller's Tabloid Moment

goodlucksaturday — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:46:22 -0000

Not to be confused with Conan's Tabloid Moment, Reggie's a little less incriminating, but it's a nice way to break up the injury woes.

So you find yourself walking along the beach in beautiful Southern California. You look up and see a banner flying above. Oh, what does it say? Huh?

via image.examiner.com

Oh, my!

This particularly saucy story is reported by the The New York Post about the text messaging between Reggie Miller and Ali Kay, fiancée of millionaire Alex von Furstenberg, who flew the banner.

As with all stories, there are numerous sides to it, as Reggie's lawyer states the texting was not all Reggie's doing, that Kay sent him some provocative images and continuously texted him, ultimately saying, "This is a ridiculous and absurd story about a single girl who exchanged text messages with Reggie Miller."

The story goes on to say that Reggie and Kay met at a Lakers game in February, and began exchanging texts regularly in March, though von Furstenberg suggests that Reggie had run into Kay at a local grocery store and followed her from there, sending her hundreds of texts.

Ultimately, the Post reports a happy ending in the ordeal, as according to Reggie's layer, the two parties have spoken and resolved the issue.

Pacers Among the League's Worst?

goodlucksaturday — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 15:25:11 -0000

Charley Rosen of FOXSports.com believes so:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/9838532/The-NBA%27s-seven-worst-teams-for-next-season

Nevermind that confusing praise on Hansbrough's athleticism at the Combine, the Pacers output as one of the league's top offensive teams, the already at least average defense of Granger, the perfect fit Dunleavy has in this system (for when he does return), the improvement of defense, despite lack of "description", the numerous close losses and wins against top teams, and no mention of the possbilities of Hibbert and Rush improving one bit, the Pacers are "chump" team in Rosen's eyes.

While I believe we may not be much better next year, I certainly don't think we're going to go from being 36-46 to...well...around 26-56. Maybe Rosen means well and just hopes Indiana can land that franchise PG in next year's draft.

Rasho Nesterovic will be a Toronto Raptor, Again

goodlucksaturday — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 04:15:22 -0000

Rasho Nesterovic will be a Toronto Raptor, Again

Apropos, Rasho a go go to Toronto. Whoa. What do you know? Though an expected blow, Rasho was quite the pro although he was merely so-so a year ago and his leaving doesn't leave me in woe. He'll make a year's worth of dough in Toronto. Farewell, Rasho!