This Week's Show
Dre is back to talk: the Daryl Morey and Mark Cuban Feud; FCC changes to the NFL's blackout restrictions; and Vegas' over/under odds for the NBA Season.
Hosts
- Andres Alvarez(@nerdnumbers)
- Produced by Brian Foster(@boxscorebrian)
Sources
Video Show
This Week's Poll
Show Notes
The Morey/Cuban Feud
Morey and Cuban have had some words for each other lately.
In the offseason, the Mavs made it personal by signing Chandler Parsons.
The Rockets tried to fire back and sign Dirk Nowitzki.
My thoughts:
If the NBA went the WWE route, they'd have their own network and one of the shows would be a Reality Show about the Mavericks/Rockets feud.
— Andrés Alvarez (@NerdNumbers) September 29, 2014
Brian made sure to point out that Ariza may be an upgrade to Parsons.
Patrick Beverley is a natural replacement to Jeremy Lin
Losing Omer Asik isn't likely a big deal as Terence Jones seems to be an excellent replacement
The Rockets have seemed to be fortunate that they've had some missteps that are quickly erased. Case in point, losing Lowry but then immediately getting Harden.
The FCC and the NFL's Blackout Restrictions
Last week I talked about the NBA being foolish with their digital rights.
The FCC unanimously voted to remove the NFL's blackout of local games if its stadium tickets don't sellout.
Of course, this doesn't mean change will be quick. One or more TV stations, who already earn lots from the NFL, will have to choose to air the games.
Teams do benefit from local TV deals, but not all markets all equal. Making the overall reach of each league is sadly not the goal of every owner.
Here's the map of NFL fans by county I discussed.
Vegas Over/Under for the NBA Season.
The Over/Under odds for the NBA season have been released.
It's become an annual tradition for Patrick to hit Vegas and put some money down on the NBA season.
Patrick gave his thoughts on the Timberwolves already. Take the over!
We discuss quite a few teams. Tune in to hear more!
Reminder, the Spurs' minute allocation last season has never been done before by a championship squad!
Shoutouts
Jonathan Weiler (@jonweiler) is a must follow and must read. Check out the ESPN Watch. This week his discussion on the University of Michigan and Shane Morris earned our shout out. We shout Jonathan out so regularly here I said we should just give him a lifetime achievement award and be done. Jonathan said he'd prefer the weekly praise.
@NerdNumbers @boxscorebrian I'll take the recurring mentions!
— Jonathan Weiler (@jonweiler) October 1, 2014
Dean Oliver (@DeanO_ESPN) was recently hired by the Sacramento Kings. We're huge fans of Dean, and there couldn't be a better person in an NBA front office. Of course, we've been critical of the Kings lately, so the bar just got higher for them this season.
Billy Beane! After a heartbreaking loss, the A's get to keep the stupid "can't win in the postseason" narrative. The A's did some significant moves this season, and were obviously a playoff worthy team. Always next year.
A note on predictions
Last season we gave our predictions for the NBA season. I give us full credit for explaining our reasoning (minutes, and how we thought players would play.) However, we gave odds on many things like hitting the over/under, making the playoffs, etc. These odds were wildly off. We are critical of models around here a lot. We have to take our own medicine. Our confidence model last season was not up to snuff. We'll try and do better this season. That said, I think trying to guess minutes and, as a result, wins are really rough. Still, people enjoy it, so we'll have them again.