OFFICIAL Around The NBA Thread...... August

Oh, I didn't see this before my post, haha.

 

There's a cool podcast I listened to the other day all about chocking. People start thinking about the mechanics too much. The easiest remedy was singing a song you know to shut down that other part of the brain. If you want to fuck with someone, say, "You made that shot look so smooth! What were you doing with you elbow?"

 

The old golfer's trick. (As opponent to getting ready to his his tee shot), "Man, you've been hitting some really great tee shots today. Do you inhale or exhale on your back swing?"

BNM

 

Teams w/same GM last 5 years & seasons finished over 500 in last 10 years
Detroit - Bower 5 yrs - 1/10
SA-Buford - 17 yrs - 10/10
NO - Demps - 9 yrs - 4/10
Mia - Elsburg - 6 yrs - 8/10
Chi - Forman - 10 yrs - 6/10
Wa - Grunfeld - 16 yrs - 5/10
Uta - Lindsey - 7 yrs - 9/10
Phx - McDonough - 6 yrs - 3/10
Hou - Morey - 12 yrs - 9/10
GS - Meyers - 7 yrs - 6/10
Dal - Nelson - 17 yrs - 6/10
OkC - Presti - 12 yrs - 9/10
Tor - Ujiri - 6 yrs - 5/10
Mem - Wallace - 12 yrs - 7/10
LAC - Wohl - 5 yrs - 6/10
PDX - Olshey - 6 yrs - 7/10

Seven out of 16 teams with GM's in place for 5 years have finished over 500 for 7/10 years. 4 o teams have won Championships, 2 of them multi times.

 

My parents had me later in life. My dad would be almost 102 if he were still alive. He was a big time basketball player back in his day (late 1930s, early 1940s). He won all kinds of medals and trophies. I remember seeing them tucked away in his den closet when I was a kid. He played at a time when you needed a dominant center to win - and he was a dominant center. Back then you had a jump ball at center court after every made field goal. If you had a dominant center, it was pretty much like playing make-it-take-it. Huge advantage to the team with the best big man.

He shot his free throws underhanded. Everybody did back then. I've always been a good FT shooter (never below 80%, often pushing 90%), but when I was in high school and my dad was in his 60s, he could still beat me in a FT shooting contest with his underhanded, granny style. He had such a gentle touch and he was so relaxed at the line. He would just gently loft it up at the basket with a ton of backspin. He swished quite a few, but the ones that didn't go straight through would just seem to sit on the rim before falling through.

He was also a big Wilt Chamberlain fan back in the 60s when he introduced me to basketball as a kid. I was only 7 at the time, but I remember the season Wilt led the league in assists. My dad said Wilt was tired of being seen as a selfish scorer and a poor teammate. So, he said, I'll prove the doubters wrong and lead the league in assists. And, he did.

His biggest beef with Wilt was his FT shooting. Wilt tried other things to improve his FT shooting ( pull up jump shots from the FT line, shooting from 2 feet behind the line, when he said he was going to start dunking his FTs, they changed the rule so the shooter couldn't corr the line until the ball hit the rim), but his most successful season was 1961-62, when he shot granny style and was a career best 61% from the line. Not great, but better than the low to mid-40% range typical for his career. Why did Wilt abandon the underhanded style after his best season at the line? It made him "feel like a sissy".

Rick Barry, on the other hand, didn't give a fuck what anyone else thought (about anything) and used the underhanded style his entire career. He shot a combined .893 FT% between the ABA (.880) and NBA (.900). That's good for 1st in ABA career FT% and 4th in NBA career FT%. Barry was the career leader in FT% for both leagues at the time of his retirement (a distinction he held for over 20 years before Mark Price eclipsed his NBA career FT% mark). All of it underhanded. Barry was a notorious asshole, but you do have to admire a guy who says fuck it, I'm doing it my way no matter what anyone else thinks. No one since Barry has had the balls to do it.

Good article on the subject here:

https://www.si.com/nba/2016/06/30/m...berlain-rick-barry-nba-free-throw-granny-shot

BNM

 

If Larry Johnson had been a bad FT shooter, he would have been a natural choice. Marketable and ready-made persona... Grandma Ma shooting granny style free throws, brought to you by Joann's Fabrics and Fixodent!

 

I very much enjoyed reading this post, thanks for spending your time typing that up and sharing.

 

What happened to Bronk Grady?

 

I’ve wondered this too... @Gronk Brady you coming back?

 

I don't underatstand looking at a 10-year sample of production for teams who's GMs have been there for only 5 years minimum.

 

I have just come to the realization that Neil is not making any significant changes to the roster for yet another offseason, and it is very disheartening. This is the least excited I have ever been going into a new year because I know the product and I know there are major flaws... and I know I will be telling everyone I told you so at the end of next season. Without hope there is not much reason for me to post much until something changes.

 

What happened to getting your message out?

 

Glad you came to your senses. However, a lot of people have the same opinions as you do, so coming back to tell those people "I told you so" makes no sense.

 

But who will warn all of the new posters of how bad things are.....over and over and over and over and over over and over and over and over and over over and over and over and over and over over and over and over and over and over over and over and over and over and over ?

 

I hear yeah, I mean in a lot of ways I agree with your message, though I may not go as far. Glad to see you’re around .

 

I do look forward to your, “I told you so”, because absolutely nobody else here realizes that the team is mediocre.

 

Just a snap shot of longer of gm's that have been at these teams the last 5 years, against the team performance over a ten year period. I thought it interesting that some teams keep their gm around regardless of how the team performs over a long stretch. The other aspect only 16 teams out of 30 have had their current gm for 5 years or longer. Their are some long term gm's in the league.

 

Both of you guys please stop.

1. It's mildly irritating to see people regularly use bad grammar, improper lexicon and poor spelling;

2. As long as I can understand it, I never say anything. It's the discussion that counts, the rest is nothing more than a mild irritant that I can easily ignore.