Human Victory Cigar

This is from Pistonsforum.com, and is a post by webz, a long time Australian member who has been traveling the world, and took in the 2008 Detroit Pistons season ender in Cleveland. His first NBA road game, following his first NBA home game the night before against Minnesota.

The following is my account of one of the best Pistons experiences I’ve ever had. It will contain little to no analysis about the game, so if you aren’t interested in hearing the excited ramblings of a Pistons fan you might want to skip this. I’ll leave the game analysis to the Lee, Dre, D4E and company.

My first Pistons game last night against Minny at home was pretty special. But I think this tops that.

Some may say that this was just a meaningless game. Some who watched it from the comfort of their couches may say LeBron and Z weren’t playing so there was no feeling. These people are probably right. But to me it wasn’t a meaningless game…

• Maybe it’s because I’m still pumped about watching the game live…
• Maybe it’s because I watched the entire 2nd half 6 rows back right behind the Pistons bench…
• Maybe it’s because I went into a hostile environment and went home a smug winner…
• Maybe it’s all of those things. But to me, this game was every fans dream. (or maybe just mine ).

So I ended up getting into the game. I still hadn’t decided about going and it was 5:30pm, but ended up getting the bus into town anyway. Tashawn kinda convinced me that if I couldn’t get a cheap Cavs ticket I could always check out some baseball (Tigers-Indians).

I watched the first quarter from a Sports Bar & Grill on 4th St about 2 blocks from the arena while eating my dinner and having a beer. No LeBron. I decided I could try and use this to help get a discount from the scalpers I was to meet in a few minutes time.

Talked to a few scalpers who waved me off when I said I only wanted to spend $20-30. They were peddling courtside seats. Walked a bit further and found a couple more guys. They were trying to sell me a nosebleed ticket on the end of the court for $40. I was feeling pretty cocky cos I really wasn’t bothered if I saw the game or not. (The stein of beer I had probably helped too )

I bargained one down to $25 using my ‘But LeBron isn’t playing, I ain’t paying THAT much!’ The guy was starting to get sick of me and he said, ‘Look, you’re just one person. All you need is to get in the door and you could just sneak down to a better seat.’

I thought, ‘You know, you’re right. Let’s try that.’

Got inside and went to my allocated seat. It was rubbish. But I decided to stay there for the 2nd Quarter and scope out some kick-ass seats down lower. I kept my eye on a few that were never filled during the whole Q. At half time I went down. If I got stopped I was going to use my line of ‘I just want to take some photos’. It was half time after all, it should seem innocent enough. Well, it was not necessary. Security was non-existent and I just walked on down and sat myself 6 rows from the court, directly behind the Pistons bench. Sweeeeeeet. It was a few minutes into the start of the 2nd half before I relaxed and knew I was safe. From then on it was just fantastic.

I took some photos which I will post a bit later on. I could see all the guys on the bench. It was interesting to watch them interacting with each other. I noticed the whole time I was there I did not see anyone say one word to Cheik Samb (or vice versa). He truly looked like a loner at the end of the bench and I felt a bit sorry for him that he was invisible to the rest of his teammates. Nice suit though.

Meanwhile Sheed was being Sheed, throwing things at Maxiell while Flip was addressing them during a timeout, then hiding behind Terry Porter. Playing with the fans, making funny gestures to the camera when he appeared on the big screen.

Side note: Hayes went to the bench in the 2nd half and Arnie Kander was working on his left shoulder. He didn’t look too bothered about it and he checked back into the game later on, but remember - you heard your Pistons injury report here first! Tay also appeared to be limping slightly when he walked off at the end of the game.

So, the game itself was a gem from the Zoo crew. All game we were just hanging around 5-7 points down, the crowd seemed pretty confident of a victory. Whenever we made a sweet play, all these people were saying, ‘Who the hell was that?’ (Stuckey), or ‘Who keeps hitting that baseline jumper?’ (Afflalo)

But to see that mental change in the Zoo crew during the 4th quarter was pretty special. You could just see the intensity pick up. Herrmann was a bundle of lightning caught in a Gatorade cup. Stuckey was a hot knife scything through Cavalier butter. Dixon was nailing cold-blooded dagger after dagger…

Then when Walter nailed that 3pt bomb from 40 feet out I just couldn’t hold back a loud ‘Whaaaaa-ha-hoooooooooo!!!! Oh MYYY!!’ Up until that point I had disguised pretty well to anyone around me that I was a Piston fan. I thought they might alert security or something about my stolen seat. Haha.

After that, they knew. And I didn’t care. I was too busy enjoying it.

The crowd were stunned. All of a sudden they were down. A lot… and then it was all over. I hung around after the game for a bit to let the crowd leave and watched Afflalo give his interview to George and Special K. Then walked through downtown Cleveland with a big smile on my face and went home.

It was a pretty special night. If you bothered to read this far, thanks. I’m happy to share my Pistons experiences with some of you guys. I’ll be back at the Palace on Sunday for Game 1. Only a Pistons win there might be able to top this.

Introduction
Enough of the 2007 / 2008 NBA season has elapsed for me to evaluate the best of the best by position and to put up a candidate for league MVP. The approach, like all things statsprocket-ish, is empirical (at least up to the end), statistical, and semi-complicated. Briefly, what I’ve done to rank players is described below. As always, thanks must go to www.dougstats.com for providing NBA stats in formats easy to drop into Excel.

The ranking methodology…

• Select all players who have appeared in more than 50 games
• Rank by total Sprocket Points generated and select the top 50
• Create three Sprocket Points based ranking for each player…
• Rank by count of Sprocket Points for a measure of total statistical production
• Rank by percent of team Sprocket Points for a measure of how important the player is to his team
• Rank by relative production, the ratio of % of Team Sprocket Points to % of Team Minutes to distinguish players who produce more just because they play a lot of minutes
• Weight and average the three rankings for a final measure
• Weights are 0.4 for the first ranking, 0.2 for the second, and 0.4 for the third

(The tables in each section below show all of the measures used and the final ranking and include all player’s in the league’s top fifty.)

Point Guards

It’s either a bad year for point guards or Chris Paul is simply too good for everyone else. No other guard is even close. CP3 ranks 4^th among the top 50 players in Sprocket Points produced, 4^th in percent of team Sprocket Points, and has a productivity index (% Sprocket Points / % Team Minutes) of 161 which is 6^th best in the league. Kidd, Nash, Davis, and Williams round out the top five, but are a clear step down. Add in the Hornets overall team record and there really is no doubt about who’s having the best year.

Calderon is having a surprisingly good year and if he were playing the same number of minutes as the other top guards (assuming no drop off in production), would probably have cracked the top five. The Piston’s Billups is not having a bad year at all, but just isn’t the kind of player who generates as much on the court, and is playing the second fewest minutes (!!!) of any point guard among the league’s top 50.

Shooting Guards
Although not quite as clear as the point guard ranking, Kobe Bryant does stand alone at the top of the shooting guard ranking. In general shooting guards do not contribute a huge share of overall team Sprocket Points (tend not to generate assists, blocks, or rebounds, but tend to turn the ball over and to shoot a lower percentage than other positions). If you also consider team record, no one else comes close.

Roy is having an extraordinary year for a second year shooting guard, but many of the other top rated players are on bad teams – Wade, Carter, Iguodala, and Johnson. More top shooting guards are on bad teams than any other position.

Small Forwards
Nothing much to say here. Lebron James dominates his position more than any other player at any other position. Like him or hate him, he plays 14% of the minutes for the Cavs and produces 23.2% of their statistical productivity, for a gaudy Productivity Index of 166 – 66% more productivity per minute than the average NBA player. LBJ plays forty-one minutes a game (tied with Joe Johnson for the most minutes played of the top 50) and produces 47.7 Sprocket Points per game, ranked number one among the top 50.

He is the only small forward in the top thirty-nine players of the top fifty. Perhaps with the recent trade his share of team production will fall a bit, but it’s so far down to the second best small forward that James will still dominate the ranking.

Power Forwards
Often players are omitted from MVP type rankings because they play on bad teams. So, how about Marion who gets traded to a bad team mid-season? And is he a four or a three anyway? In any event, Garnett is more productive overall and has a productivity index a few points higher. Marion has a higher share of overall team productivity, but he doesn’t play with Allen and Pierce either (though at least part of the season with Nash and Stoudemire). If you consider the Celtics record and all the other things that Garnett brings to the game that never end up in the stat sheets, then it really isn’t close. KG is still #1. Boozer gets an honorable mention with a very strong season, but not a top tier one.

Centers
And last, the closest ranking of them all. I think you can make a case for any of the top three. Howard does as much with the minutes he plays as any other player with the top Productivity Index rank (though only fractions of a point higher than Duncan and James). He is the most important player to his team among the top fifty, accounting for nearly 27% of the Magic’s statistical production. (And it’s not as if no one else on the team is any good – Turkoglu is the 4^th best small forward this year.)

Duncan isn’t nicknamed the Big Fundamental for nothing. He’s so solid you could build a house on him, and that’s pretty much what San Antonio has done. In fewer minutes than any of the top three he’s the fifth best in the top 50 in total Sprocket Points, and in a virtual tie for first with Howard on the Productivity Index. His rank of 9^th on % of Team Sprocket Points probably says more about the balance and productivity of the Spurs than anything else.

Many wouldn’t put Camby in this ranking, but I think his performance this year forces the issue. He has played in 62 of the Nuggets’ 64 games and averaged over 35 minutes per game. He is second in the league in total Sprocket Points, only trailing James by 2.8 per game. He is 5^th best in share of team Sprocket Points despite playing with Anthony and Iverson who have the ball in their hands most of the time. He does slightly less with his time on the court (Productivity Index of 160) than the other top centers, but is still 8^th best among the top 50.

All considered though, I think the decision is between Howard and Duncan. Camby has had an extraordinary season so far, but no one would take him over either of the other two to build a team around, and he does rank third among the three. Add to that Denver will not (at this point), in a travesty of the rules, make the playoffs, and Camby must drop out.

For the Productivity Index Howard and Duncan are within 0.1 index points, so that’s a tie in my book. Duncan is a good step down in terms of % of Team Sprocket Points, but then Howard doesn’t play with Parker and Genobli. If Duncan were to play Howard’s minutes without a drop-off in production, he would rank higher in total Sprocket Points. If he were to play James’ minutes with only a small drop-off, he would lead the league in Sprocket Points. The Spurs’ record is very similar to the Magic (44-22 and 44-24 at this point), but they play in a much tougher conference. Put it all together and think Duncan gets the nod.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the rankings is Al Jefferson who is having probably the strongest year of any player you never hear about – and stronger than most you do hear about. Maybe the coming Spring thaw will motivate a national sports writer or two to head north to the Twin Cities. One more year to go on his contract and after that Al becomes the biggest free agent deal going (big sign and trade deal this Summer?).

League MVP
Now it gets tough. James, Duncan, Paul, Garnett, and Bryant, and only one trophy.

• Kobe has to be the sentimental choice. He has never won the MVP and is perhaps the scariest guy in the league with the ball and the game on the line. The Lakers have the most wins of any team of the final five other than Boston, but Odom has been solid, Bynum was playing at a level that would have put in contention for best center, and Gasol has been reborn since heading west. But, he is the only one in the top five with not in the top ten in at least two of the key rankings. Best heart.
• Garnett is playing perhaps his best basketball and the force of his personality has melded the Celtics into a real team. Even with Pierce and Allen, perhaps in spite of Pierce and Allen, I’d argue Garnett has done the best job of team leadership of any in the top five. It could well depend on whether you think the MVP has to dominate his team’s production, which Garnett has not. Best leader.
• Paul is very consistent across the rankings, 4^th, 4^th, and 6^th. And the Hornets are only one game out of first place in the tough West without another star name on the roster, though the same could be said for the Lakers and the Cavs. Most consistent.
• Duncan is hard to ignore. His team is winning and he does as much with his time on the floor as any other player. No weaknesses.
• And finally, there is James – ranked the best of the bunch, but taking 41 minutes a game to do it in. And playing on the worst team in the group, with arguably the weakest supporting cast (at least until the trade). Most dominating one on one.

Knocking out Bryant, despite the fact that I’d like to see him win an MVP, isn’t too hard. His Productivity Index isn’t up to the standards of the other four. And at 38.5 MPG, at least some of his overall production comes from playing so much with relatively weak players. Garnett has subsumed his game a bit to fit in with his new team and ranks 23^rd in percent of team productivity. He isn’t dominating a good team the way Duncan, and Paul do. Sorry, KG. James has no problem dominating his team, he is the highest ranked of the five in % of Team Sprocket Points, but his team isn’t that hard to dominate, and it takes him 41 minutes per game to do it in. LBJ is out.

Duncan and Paul is a tough call. Their weighted average ranks are only 0.1 apart. If they played the same number of minutes their total Sprocket Points per game would be nearly identical. Paul has a higher share of team production – question is whether the Hornets with Paul, Stojakovic, and Chandler can be called a weaker team than the Spurs. They do have a better record playing against the same competition. I guess a tie won’t work. My MVP is Duncan.

The Low, known for his Sour Notes, has a personal blog that couldn’t be more aptly titled.

Ornery Guy

The most recent “ornery” post expresses his feelings about Shaquille O’Neal’s move out of Miami

I’m completely amazed at the NBA GM’s ability to so quickly toss aside the presence of a solid center year after year after year. At least this time there is a general consensus that the “star” is not to blame. No body holds Wade responsible for the deterioration of the Miami Heat. Unlike Kobe Bryant, Wades displeasure was at least masked by his thinly veiled commentary, Fav Five spots, and being wheeled off the court, in tears, in a wheelchair a la James Brown’s famous “cape” performance after a shoulder injury.

Granted, O’Neal has had his share of injuries and slow starts, but in my opinion, he takes more physical punishment night in and night out than any other NBA player in history and should be granted some leeway when he decides to take it easy for a summer. Additionally, America has seemed to develop an America’s Next Top Model approach to weight in all facets of public life. True, America is the heaviest country as of late due to our obsession with ridiculously unhealthy food, however, Shaq is nowhere near the Oliver Miller of the present day NBA. People just need to get off of it.

and the significance of the trade to the Western Conference and the Phoenix Suns.

However, the one thing that kept PHX from advancing, they have just acquired. PHX now has an ability to exist in the half court and are now no longer forced to fast break their way to wins in the postseason. As we all know, the transition buckets often dry up in the playoffs and only the Showtime Lakers seemed to be immune to it. That doesn’t happen by mistake. When you have Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy on your roster, there’s a good chance that teams will not be able to stop you from getting fast break points.

So, now that the Suns have THE big man inside, you can believe they will be handing out full doses of double barreled fun for everyone this postseason. Keep in mind that San Antonio will not be taken down easily, but if there is one team prepared to do so, PHX is game. Unfortunately for the offense worshipers, Kobe will not be going back to the Big Dance, especially if they have to go through the Valley of the Sun.

But the best line, may have been the last,

Get ready world, The Phoenix Suns just might make it happen. That’s right Sir Charles. You better get ready to put Steve Nash in your Fav Five.

The low key, hard working, quiet and selfless Steve Nash in Sir Charles’ Fav Five? Now that would be ornery. And downright unbelievable.