This Week's Show
We talk implicit racism, why Jimmy Butler is a Bull actually worthy of the MVP, and who "won" the Dion Waiters trade.
Hosts
- Andres Alvarez(@nerdnumbers)
- Produced by Brian Foster(@boxscorebrian)
Sources
Video Show
This Week's Poll
Show Notes
Implicit Racism
Patrick wrote a good piece on implicit racism.
Donald Sterling is an explicit racist. The Hawks were more implicit than explicit. We can see how it becomes harder to deal with racism as it moves to more implicit.
I've discussed implicit racism with E.J. Fischer before.
Take the Harvard Implicit Association Tests. It can help shed some light on this.
I don't think there is such a thing as a "meritocracy", be wary of anyone that uses that word.
Aamer Rahman has the best clip on "reverse racism" and why it's a myth.
The vlogbrothers have a great clip about racism in the United States by the numbers.
"Drunk Tank Pink" is a good book about how minor things impact how we behave. It's harder to divorce our emotion from our thought process than we realize.
As Patrick noted, there is hope. Dave Berri pointed out that noticing our biases can help improve the overall system. Sadly, the NBA doesn't want to ever admit being wrong in regards to referees.
We talked Hollywood's problem with race, particularly whitewashing roles(e.g. Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell.)
I forgot Jennifer Lawrence's name. She was great in the Hunger Games movies, but yes, it was an example of whitewashing. Don't get me started on Avatar.
Good discussion with Justin Halpern on Twitter about problems in Hollywood. Again, this hits more of an implicit racism problem.
Tina Fey's "Bossypants" is a good book on having a diverse writing room to help representation in Hollywood.
Shocker, movies that pass the Bechdel test, not only can do well, they've done great!
Stuart Scott will be missed. We've lost a great figure in sports.
ESPN was referenced in a great TED talk by Mellody Hobson as a good way to help improve diversity.
The REAL Bulls' MVP
I'm sorry; Derrick Rose's MVP is one of the worst in NBA history. It's up there with Michael Jordan's in 1998.
The 2011 Bulls, as well as the 1998 Bulls, were some strong deep teams.
Wow, Kyle Korver is currently in very unique company - http://t.co/h7EoILMtWQ
— Andrés Alvarez (@NerdNumbers) January 7, 2015
My MVP story started with some thoughts on Jimmy Butler I was tweeting.
Jimmy Butler has already had a better career than Derrick Rose http://t.co/ZMgU5xqbA2
— Andrés Alvarez (@NerdNumbers) January 4, 2015
Jimmy Butler's shot attempts per game went up by four AND his efficiency went up? What madness is this? #UsageCurves
— Andrés Alvarez (@NerdNumbers) January 5, 2015
Worth noting the brilliant Ari Caroline(@aricaroline) has Jimmy Butler in the Winscore Fantasy League. When I tried to trade for him, I was basically told Butler was untouchable.
The Dion Waiters trade
The Cavs got rid of Waiters, good, right?
This cements my theory that the Thunder were not a model front office.
If Waiters goes to OKC we can just end myth of "smart front office" and replace it with "lucked into Durant, Harden, Westbrook, and Ibaka"
— Andrés Alvarez (@NerdNumbers) January 6, 2015
How weird is it that the Warriors are the model franchise now?
No fantastic players were really traded here. Hard to be excited.
Kevin Durant has fallen for the "our environment can improve a bad player" dream. Maybe it will be different for OKC. He's not alone either. Magic Johnson's has made similar sentiments about J.R. Smith.
J.R.'s been in NBA 11 years. RT @MagicJohnson JR Smith could help the Cavs if he becomes more consistent and improves on his shot selection.
— Andrés Alvarez (@NerdNumbers) January 6, 2015
Shoutouts
Brian's shoutout is to J Rodger for a great Tweet on LeBron.
Lebron went fuck it I need to concentrate on GMing for 2 weeks here
— J Rodger (@ASFW_jrodger) January 6, 2015
KJ NBA gets my shoutout for an amazing Anthony Davis tweet.
@NerdNumbers Brow is like one of Calisi's dragons. Everyone's like "How fucking scary is this gonna get?"
— KJ_NBA (@KJ_NBA) January 6, 2015
I also give a belated shoutout to George Karl. Despite some flaws, he did some impressive things in Denver. Maybe I was a little too hard on him?