The Boxscore Geeks Show: The 1996 Bulls vs. the 2016 Warriors: Three Point Edition

This Week's Show

We dig deeper into the 95-96 Bulls versus 15-16 Warriors time traveler grudge match debate, including some really cool three point shooting charts from Dre's article this week. There is also some Concussion movie talk and American Economics Association panel criticism.

Hosts

Andres Alvarez (@nerdnumbers)
Produced by Brian Foster (@boxscorebrian)

Sources

You can watch us live at twitch.tv/nerdnumbers; we usually go Tuesday or Wednesday at 9:30 pm EST. Follow us on Twitter and we'll keep you posted!

Please subscribe to Channel NerdNumbers on YouTube and like us on iTunes!

Video Show

Footnotes

Some think the 96' Bulls would crush this year's Warriors. We're not so sure, especially when you factor in the change in three-point shooting in the NBA.

The Rockets have been very good at taking smart shots. The problem is teams with better players(like the Warriors) have been doing that too.

We talk some basic stats about the Bulls and Warriors. Some helpful cheat sheets.

The defense rules have changed a lot since 1996. Here's a great Reddit post on some of the rule changes.

Great interview from Ethan Sherwood Strauss with Steve Kerr on this exact subject!

Brian mentions that Gregg Popovich also doesn't like threes.

I'll never embrace it. I don't think it's basketball. I think it's kind of like a circus sort of thing. Why don't we have a 5-point shot? A 7-point shot? You know, where does it stop, that sort of thing.
-Gregg Popovich

Brian had his own reply to this, which I thought was brilliant.

To answer his question, it stops at 3. There have been 2 point shots and 3 point shots and that's all there's been for decades, it's pretty ridiculous as far as slippery slope argument go.
-Brian Foster

Reminder, SportsVU is now standard in the NBA, but even a few years ago, teams were on the fence about investing the six figures a year to do it.

Brian talks how the Warriors' are using Catapult Sports technology to possibly put players on a "pitch count."

We talk about Dave Duerson's treatment in the movie "Concussion." I got a chance to see the movie and have to agree that as a real person, who did suffer from CTE, he was unfairly treated, unjustifiably so, by the filmmakers.

Jason Pargin on the Cracked Podcast explains some great points that I reiterate. Movie plots follow specific formats, and people will lie with good intentions, but with a lot of potential to backfire.

Officer William Murdoch is another person wrongfully portrayed in a "based on real events" movie. Sure, the movie was Titanic...but still.

One huge issue with the CTE problem is how political the realm has become. Even the National Institute of Health is having issues with the "no strings attached" thirty million dollar donation from the NFL.

Shout Outs

First, thanks to Randomname, a commenter who inspired me to add Boban Marjanovic to the #BSGTop10 this week.

Thanks to E.J. Fischer (@glorioushubris) for this fantastic Boban video!

I shout out the American Economic Association for finally having a Sports Economic panel at their conference this week. There are some big names on the panel. However, Tobias Moskowitz is the only real academic on the panel with some background. It would be nice to see at least a few more academic names on this panel.

Brian shouts out the amazing 4th Down Bot that the New York Times has on Twitter.

It’s 4th-and-5 for the Bengals from the Broncos’ 34. I would try a field goal.
— NYT 4th Down Bot (@NYT4thDownBot) December 29, 2015