This Week's Show
The geeks are back to talk the NBA playoffs. The Clippers collapsed, the Bulls got buried, and no, MJ couldn't take LeBron in a game of one on one. Tune in!
Hosts
- Andres Alvarez (@nerdnumbers)
- Produced by Brian Foster (@boxscorebrian)
Sources
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Video Show
This Week's Poll
Show Notes
Brian
A running theme is we like to come up with good adjectives about our producer Brian. He said he'd prefer ones that don't give him such a god complex. We'll see how that goes.
I compared Brian to a "bad entourage member." This is a reference to a Mike Birbiglia routine, which amazingly, there is a transcript for! How great is the internet?
The Clippers vs. the Rockets
The Clippers are an absurdly top-heavy team. A real GM could probably improve them a bit.
The Clippers have Chris Paul and Blake Griffin locked up long term. They have DeAndre Jordan's bird rights. There is no excuse not to keep this core together and build some better depth. Full Clippers salary data here.
If the Clippers lose DeAndre Jordan over contract disputes, it will be as silly as losing James Harden over $4 million a year.
To be clear, the Rockets let go of Tarik Black to sign Josh Smith. We were not and are still not fans of this.
Reddit noted that Josh Smith has outshot Kyle Korver from three this postseason.
Josh Smith was terrible in the first four games in this series. If it wasn't until the fourth quarter of game six, there would be no world the Josh Smith move seemed wise. The universe has a sense of humor sadly.
With the Clippers falling, the reality is the Warriors not winning the title will be a huge disapointment. I say this even as a person that hates the playoff tests.
The Clippers remind me of the 2008 Celtics but without the age issues. Here's hoping Steve Ballmer capitalizes on it.
I note on the show that if Chris Paul wants to get rid of DeAndre Jordan, I will have no sympathy for him not winning a title.
The East - Ugly Ball
Game six of the Bulls versus the Cavaliers was ugly ugly basketball.
The Hawks had trouble dispatching the Wizards. Reminder, the Wizards were a 46 win team in the East!
The Bulls without Pau Gasol versus the Cavalier without Kevin Love, who's excited?
The Warriors versus the Cavaliers would be reminiscent of the 2007 Spurs versus the Cavs.
A Mexican restaurant without sopaipillas is unacceptable in my opinion. Sadly, many in Wisconsin exclude these on their menus! I'll give El Jaripeo a shout out for having an excellent sopipilla.
The Eastern conference is like a Mexican restaurant without sopaipillas and watered down alchohol. That's my take at least.
MJ vs. LeBron James
In a survey about who would win in a game of one on one between Michael Jordan and LeBron James right now ... thirty-four percent sided with Michael Jordan. This is absurd. Heck, I think the idea of an in-prime Jordan keeping up with LeBron James is absurd. LeBron has two inches, forty pounds, and a much better shooting range than MJ!
Reminder, MJ had a shortened three-point line for two years in his career.
I may getting a little greedy with Curry in this comparison, but I still think people overrate MJ to a degree.
In one on one MJ (in their primes) wouldn't take: LeBron Durant Curry To name a few.
— Andrés Alvarez (@NerdNumbers) May 14, 2015
I feel Michael Jordan is a lot like the "Attitude Era" in Wrestling. People fondly remember it, and I believe overrate it. Yes, Jordan and the Attitude Era were both amazing. But it's not as if either were without fault. And, it's not as if there haven't been things since that are as good or better in some aspects.
The shooting guard position has traditionally been a role that's arguably misused. Michael Jordan is one of the few shooting guards in history to significantly outperform his position. While that's very impressive, it isn't enough, to me at least, to dethrone other players.
Behind the Scenes - Position Adjustment
One part of the Points over Par metric is the use of position comparisons. We've got a flaw in our code regarding this at the moment. We are in the process of revamping how we do positions. We'll keep you in the loop there, but we discuss some of this on the show.
Shout Outs
Dave Berri for asking about the guest docket on the show:
@NerdNumbers Who is the guest?
— David Berri (@wagesofwins) May 19, 2015
Haralbos Voulgaris wins at basketball and Twitter.
He’s run the #s and he isn’t impressed. Coltrane for Clips GM in 2016 #DOG>DOC pic.twitter.com/Ar6rhTaJ6S
— Haralabos Voulgaris (@haralabob) May 18, 2015
Doc really has no idea how bad a GM he is this blows my mind http://t.co/lnRZ0ErDUn pic.twitter.com/ntZnEIJjJy
— Haralabos Voulgaris (@haralabob) May 18, 2015
Also, congrats to Patrick and his fiance Karen who got engaged this last week!