Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Wisconsin Basketball: Better Than Average, Nothing More

Photo Courtesy of thebuckeyebattlecry.com
Commuters in Minneapolis rush hour can get to work in less time than it takes the Wisconsin Badgers to score. 
Wisconsin (22-8) finds itself consistently looking like the focal point of a wake. 
While the chemistry and work ethic are there, the team's ability to create (other than Jordan Taylor) and find a steady stream of offense are not. 
The Badgers beat teams with discipline and a sloth's pace. 
They frustrate with aggressive, fluid defense and a patient, pass-heavy offense. 
It works.
The team has reached the NCAA Tournament in all 11 seasons Bo Ryan has coached. 
But it only goes so far. 
No matter how many wins the Badgers collect during the regular season, they cannot get past the more athletic foes. 
Not consistently, anyway. 
Once has UW made it deeper than the Sweet Sixteen, and that was largely due to the fact it played three straight teams seeded 10th or lower.  
During Ryan's tenure, the Badgers have not defeated a top four seed. 
That trend may not soon change. 
The Badgers are 19-2 this season against unranked teams, compared to 3-6 against the best competition. 
Ryan gets the most out of his players and runs a good system. 
But it seems as though there should be a point where finishing 25th in a race becomes unacceptable. 

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Jeremy Lin: Ability Without Care

Photo Courtesy of the AP
Jeremy Lin mania has rocked the NBA like Ozzy Osbourne has shaken up the stage.
He is a marketable monolith both domestically and abroad and has rejuvenated a star-lusted league with unassuming dominance.
As great as his start has been, Lin is mistake prone like an AA member.
For every one-and-a-half flashy passes turned buckets and nearly each made field goal, Lin loses the ball.
Since snatching a starting role in the Knicks' backcourt Feb. 6, Lin has recorded just two games with fewer than four turnovers.
Overall, Lin has scored 246 points, collected 94 assists and produced 67 turnovers in 12 games.
The 20.5 points per game is fantastic. So is the nearly eight assists per tilt.
The 1.4 assist-to-turnover ratio is bad for a point guard.
And his 5.6 flubs each time out is downright atrocious.
His play-making abilities have certainly helped the Knicks, which are 9-3 since Lin became a starter.
But the decision-making needs to ameliorate before the value of the player matches the attention he receives.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Moneyball: A Fact-Based Review

Reality is a matter of perception that can vary from individual to individual.
The movie “Moneyball” is a transcription of a new-age idea brought to life by the mind of Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane.
The story is compelling and romantic in the way the game of baseball is, with characters — most notably Beane himself, played by Brad Pitt — learning to accept themselves for who they are while overcoming past demons.
“Moneyball,” teaches — nay — preaches to “be true to thyself and thyself be true.”
The film showed there is anguish and uncertainty in defeat and confidence and triumph in victory.
Nonetheless, “Moneyball” is not without its flaws.
Some crack the very foundation upon which the flick sits.
“Moneyball” is a story about numbers. Numbers are facts. And facts, although sometimes misconstrued, tell the truth.
Ostensibly the Athletics were in a bind prior to the 2002 season because Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon and Jason Ishringhausen walked for more money. That’s what the movie conveys anyway.
What the movie producers failed to reveal is that the Oakland organization had found, groomed and developed arguably the best front-end starters in baseball.
Barry Zito won the American League’s CY Young Award in 2002. Behind Zito stood Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson.
Miguel Tejada, whose name was only mentioned in passing throughout the film, won AL MVP.
Tejada and Eric Chavez, two players already in the Athletics system before Moneyball techniques were instilled, formed a formidable left side of the infield.
The film isn’t focused on the big picture, though.
Its end aim is to proscribe baseball’s traditions and praise sabermetrics (numbers).
Any other storyline, even if it was a major player behind Oakland’s 103 win season, was omitted from the script.  
Peter Brand (played by Jonah Hill) is brought on to “recreate” (as the movie puts it) the void left by the departure of Giambi and company.
Whom the team acquired, though, is not historically accurate.
In the movie, Jeremy Giambi is said to have been coming from the Yankees, swapping places with his brother.
Chad Bradford, another key 2002 off-season sign in “Moneyball,” is described as a nobody, coming from essentially nowhere.
There’s a scene where he personally thanks Beane for being given a chance to prove himself.
In reality, Giambi and Bradford had already been with the team.
Concerning Bradford, he pitched in 35 games for Oakland the season prior.  
Never mind Beane’s daughter in the movie was singing a Lenka song that released in 2008, when the film was set in 2002.
Other parts of "Moneyball" were just odd.
For some reason, the movie seemed to climax during the game between the Kansas City Royals in which Oakland blew an 11-run lead before winning it courtesy of a walk-off home run from Scott Hatteberg.
During this time, Beane thought back to his failure as a “sure thing” player, which flayed his peace of mind and challenged his resolve.
Sure, the A’s were trying to make history by winning for the 20th consecutive time.
There’s drama in that.
Had Oakland lost, though, the course of the season would not have changed.  
The real climactic point in the movie seemed to be an afterthought.
The movie scarcely seemed to play up final game of the year, a loss to the Twins in Game 5 of the ALDS after holding a 2-0 series lead.
Oh well.
Overall, “Moneyball” entertained.
Despite its glimpses of magnificence, however, the movie, like the A’s teams under Beane, doesn’t win its last game. 

Thursday, February 2, 2012

NBA All-Star Game: Hollywood Hoedown

The NBA All-Star starters were named Thursday and the Western Conference is almost entirely from Los Angeles.
Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum of the Lakers and Chris Paul and Blake Griffin of the Clippers will join Kevin Durant for the West in Orlando Feb. 26.
They will play opposite three-time All-Star and reigning league MVP Derrick Rose, game host and leading vote-getter Dwight Howard, the Heat's Dwyane Wade and LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony.
The league locked out to start the season has seen marquee players, including three All-Star Game starters (Paul, James and Anthony), move from small markets to big cities in the past year.
It's understandable the game's lesser exposed talents due to their location -- Kevin Love, for one -- would not be voted in to start.
Overall, though, the fans got this one right.
Reserves will be named next Thursday.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

J.J. Barea: Good Acquisition, Frustrating Results

David Kahn showed some business sense when he went out and acquired insurance for incoming point guard Ricky Rubio.
An altogether new lifestyle and new language faced Rubio when he arrived in Minneapolis prior to the start of the season. To simultaneously help hasten and accommodate the proclaimed point guard of the future, Kahn acquired Spanish-speaking and Puerto Rican-born J.J. Barea.
The 6-foot veteran point guard is a high energy player who was considered to be an x-factor during Dallas' run to a title last season.
If Rubio struggled early, Barea would be a viable option for the Wolves, in addition to the returning Luke Ridnour, at the point.
The team chemistry move for Barea was brilliant on Kahn's part, especially since Rubio has been so fantastic -- he was named Rookie of the Month for January.
When it comes to Barea's own production, however, a lot is amiss.
In fact, the Wolves would quite possibly be better off without him.
Barea has been hampered by various leg injuries for much of the season.
The Wolves are 2-5 in the seven games he has played versus 8-7 in the 15 he has missed.
During his collegiate career at Northeastern, Barea shot anything and everything, en route to leading the country in shot percentage; he took more than 38 percent of his team's attempts.
Relegated to a backup role in the NBA, Barea hasn't had the opportunity to become a full-fledged black hole.
But it's still pretty bad.
Barea settles for a lot of 3s early in the shot clock and is notorious for driving wildly into the teeth of the defense. He often throws up prayers at the rim hoping Newton's laws of motion or the referees and their whistles will bail him out.
Most of the time, they don't.
Overall, he is shooting below 38 percent on the year, yet it is he who leads the team in shots per minute played, at a touch under .5.
Not even the proclaimed ball-hog and inconsistent Michael Beasley shoots at that rate (.454).
There's the defensive woes, too.
Barea has a negative plus/minus when out on the floor because of his small stature, this coming from a guy who has played for good teams throughout his career.
Beside, Minnesota has a lot of depth.
Coach Rick Adelman is admittedly tasked with finding playing time for all of his contributors.
One solution would be to let Barea ride the bench and simply be a cultural mentor to Rubio.