SB Nation User Blog: manzell

A New Brandon Roy nickname

manzell — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:20:39 -0000

One of my greatest laments about basketball these days (and all sports in general) is that guys no longer have really good, colorful nicknames. When Mark "The Bird" Fidrych died, it only highlighted this fact.

Face it, NBA nicknames suck right now - Dwayne Wade aka D-Wade; LeBron James aka LBJ; Jason Kidd aka J-Kidd, Kevin "KD" Durant and Greg "GO" Oden, even Brandon Roy as B-Roy. they all suck. They're formulaic, marketing-driven... they're not based on the players personalities or idiosyncracies.

Anyhow, I think we've found a new nickname for Brandon Roy: The Closer.

Everyone is saying it. Bill Simmons, Hollinger, Hubie Brooks, everyone. It speaks to his game, his attitude, everything.

Just for fun, i'll throw in a poll:

Poll

Favorite Brandon Roy nickname:

B-Roy

25 votes

The Natural

148 votes

The Closer

30 votes

Other (comment plz)

6 votes

209 votes | Poll has closed

A thought on tie-breakers

manzell — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:53:14 -0000

First off, let me state that, if the Blazers wanted to avoid these tiebreaker scenarios, perhaps they should have won just one more game over the course of the season. I'll also make the assumption that all divisions are roughly equal and that wins are the true measure of what team is best over the regular season.

But...

Why is "divison winner" the first tiebreaker for playoff seeding? San Antonio is the #3 and Portland is the #4 because San Antonio won their division, and therefore get a tiebreaker. Except that, the only reason that San Antonio wins the division is because their divisonal rival, the Rockets, are one game worse than our divisional rival, the Nuggets. That is, San Antonio is winning the tiebreaker because they have a worse team in their division than does Portland.

Think about this - it makes no sense. Portland hade a theoretically tougher schedule - playing additional games against Denver rather than Houston, still manages to post an equal record, and gets penalized by the rules.

A more sensical process would be, say, record against ther 3rd division in the conference, head-to-head, etc. But divison winner is so dependant on strength of divison that it's really unfair to use as the first tiebreaker.

[OT] A realignment proposal

manzell — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:39:19 -0000

I was goofing around today and came up with this:

Division A: "Mountain League"

Portland
Sacramento
Golden State
Utah
Denver

Division B: "Sun League"

LA Lakers
LA Clippers
Phoenix Suns
San Antonio Spurs
That Other Team

Division C: "Gulf League"

Dallas Mavericks
Houston Rockets
New Orleans Hornets
Orlando Magic
Miami Heat

Division D: "Mason-Dixon League"

Memphis Grizzlies
Indiana Pacers
Atlanta Hawks
Charlotte Bobcats
Washington Wizards

Division E: "Great Lakes League"

Minnesota Timberwolves
Milwaukee Bucks
Chicago Bulls
Detroit Pistons
Cleveland Cavaliers

Division F: "Northeast League"
Toronto Raptors
New Jersey Nets
Philadelphia 76ers
New York Knicks
Boston Celtics

If you had to break this up into East and West conferences, ABC would be west and DEF would be east; you could do North/South (AEF/BCD), or even revolving conferences each year.

You could also do THREE conferences of two divisions each. I imagine the top two teams from each divison would advance to groups of 4 teams and have a "group phase" playoff where each team in a pool plays each other twice; the winners of the group and one wild-card team advance to a 4-team playoff bracket or whatever.

Anyyyyywhoo. Just thought I would share that.

A Darius hypothetical

manzell — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 02:31:31 -0000

Let's imagine for the moment that Darius Miles plays one minute (or less) tonight and one minute on Friday before being cut. Let's also imagine that Miles's role is literally non-existant - he stands (or lies down) on the court while the rest of the team plays 4-on-5.

Issue #1: This would be a clear attempt to sign and play Miles only for the purposes of harming Portland's Cap/Tax situation. Given the response to Miller's Missive (As It Should Now Forever Be Known), does the NBA do anything about this situation? Do they simply waive Miles' tax/cap status in relationship to Portland? Do they punish Memphis? Do they do nothing and say 'tough cookies' to PDX? Do they defer the amount until Darius shows his comeback is real or not? Does Portland follow through and sue? (note, Stern did not say they would not support a lawsuit, just as Portland did not say that teams could not sign Miles)

Issue #2: Let's say I'm Hamad Haddadi, who has played 6 minutes all season (or, God forbid, Darko). Does my agent file a new grievance on my behalf, reasoning that the team would rather 'waste' minutes on Miles in order to outmaneouvre another franchise rather than play their own 'legitimate' player(s)? What do scrubeenies around the league think about this?

Seattle Blazers Bar?

manzell — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:53:34 -0000

I'm in Seattle for the holidays... anyone have a recommend on a good bar in Seattle to watch Blazers game (note: Fox Sports Grill gets an automatic unrec)? I'm looking for something (in order of preference) in the U-District, Cap Hill, Downtown, or Uptown. Or possible Wallingford/Fremont. My criteria are a more or less laid-back/dive-bar type atmosphere, with inexpensive beers. I love hipster-spotting (no place beats the Goodfoot...) so a place with just enough hipsters to make it non-obnoxious is cool too.

Thanks.

Players from that Other Team?

manzell — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 20:15:38 -0000

There is a team that plays nominally in the Northwest Division that is looking to unload the following players, in exchange for a draft pick and/or an expiring contract.

Portland has 1 first round-pick and 4 (count 'em) 4 second round picks, along with LaFrentz's expiring contract.

Joe Smith: At this point in his career, a highly experienced version of Channing Frye. I'd consider him a rent-a-player/coach; he is due $4.5 this season and then expires. I've always liked Joe Smith, I think he is a good guy to have around the club. He won't demand alot of touches, he won't blow assignments on D, and he should be able to teach Aldridge and Outlaw a thing or two. Additionally, he'd provide the "veteran influence" that the media wants.

Chris Wilcox: A "true" power forward. He's due $6.75 for the rest of this season and then expires. His defense isn't great, but he is an athletic shot-blocker and effective interior scorer. He can rebound, in my opinion better than his numbers indicate. I would like him because he's a marked improvement over Diogu, and unlike LaFrentz, he can actually suit up.

Earl Watson: We don't need him, he can't help us, and he is horrible. Issue Closed.

Question: Is Joe Smith worth acquiring? We could technically do a LaFrentz for Wilcox + Smith deal; I don't know why the other team would want to do this... they would save about a mil in salary prorated over this season (so, about 1/2 a mil) for the pleasure of getting rid of two guys that they can non-tender the summer anyhow. We'd need to include probably a 1 and a 2 pick. Also, we'd have to waive Randolph or Diago to make this happen, because we couldn't put them in the deal.

The alternative is to do nothing, let LaFrentz, Diago, Randolph, and Frye(?) walk away and take 5 selections in the draft. Personally, I'd try to move into the lottery and then leverage that pick for a guy we really, really want (like Rodney Stuckey). I think it's time to renounce (or not renounce, who cares?) all our current overseas holdings except Kopponen, but honestly I don't ever see him contributing.

Ponder this Celtic fans...

manzell — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:23:07 -0000

Ponder this Celtic fans...

If you were already crying in your beer that you traded Brandon Roy for Sebastian Telfair (gah, even in 2006, an indefensible move), after reading that article, it may be likely that if you acquire Roy, your team becomes decently modest, you don't get Garnett (and Allen) the next summer, don't win the championship, but retain Doc Rivers as coach.

How not to end a game

manzell — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 05:48:55 -0000

There are all of our offensive possession, from the 4:00 mark onward in the 4th quarter against Orlando (time left on shot-clock in parans)

3:51 Roy makes 22ft shot (6 seconds left)
2:58 Roy makes 18ft shot (1 second left)
3:34 Roy 2-2 FT's (16 seconds left)
2:20 Aldridge makes 19-foot jumper (4 seconds left)
1:40 Outlaw misses 3-pt shot (7 seconds left)
1:15 Blake misses 3-pt shot (8 seconds left)
0:41 Blake turnover (5 seconds left)
0:05 Roy misses 3-pt shot
---

I didn't see the play which Roy got his free throws on, i'll just assume for argument it was a layup/close-in shot. What I do see is last years maddening tendancy: to abandon all offensive execution and jack up three pointer after three pointer. This time it happened at the end of the game.

8 possessions; 7 attempts; 8 pts. From 2-minutes on, 1 turnover, and 3 missed 3pters. Any one point would have pulled this game from the fire.

March to the Sea

manzell — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:29:40 -0000

I'm calling it now:

Portland will go 5-0 on this road trip. A professional victory over New York. Blowing the doors off of DC. A coming-out party against Boston. A high-scoring, 14 point win in Toronto.

This road trip will be like Sherman's March to the Sea - destroying everything along the way. Detroit now sees that they need Billups and don't have a real shot at LeBron anyhow. New York will descend into inner turmoil and realize they are not much better off than they were last year and turn their clock forward two summers. Celtics fans will wonder what the hell happened, create a conspiracy theory, and attempt to discredit the game when they lookc at the box score and see KG and PP combine for 19 points while Ray Allen goes 7-20 from the floor and attempts just 2 free throws. Toronto will lay down in defeat 5 minutes into the game.

When they look back on this season, this road trip will be remembered as a turning point of the year, in fact, the turning point of this generation's NBA. Just like Bird-Magic remade the NBA in the 80's or Jordan re-molding it in the 90s. For all the effort and time wasted looking for the "Next Jordan", it'll turn out to be a team - the Brandon Roy Blazers - that will be the defining frame in which the league will be viewed in the oncoming era. If the 2000's were an era of false idols (remember when Vince Carter was "NEXT"?), the 2010's will be a Rip City Era.

And if you really think Detroit is landing a marquee guy in 2010 when big markets such as New York...

manzell — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:35:59 -0000

And if you really think Detroit is landing a marquee guy in 2010 when big markets such as New York and L.A. and warm-weather cities such as Miami, Phoenix and Orlando will all be throwing money around -- not to mention deep-pocketed Portland, which will have assembled a contender at that point and remains the most logical destination for LeBron if he only cares about winning titles and nothing else (and also, Nike is right there)

ESPN Page 2 - Bill Simmons