Comments on: Layups: Effective Height, 2009-10 Edition

By: September Remson

September Remson — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:06:53 +0000

Thanks. Just glanced through your post. failed to have the time to browse the full thing. I subscribed to your rss feeds and trying forward to more.

By: kevin

kevin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:01:39 +0000

Well, I agree with you that a role player who is performing well isn't necessarily going to do as well with an expanded role. But, OTOH, at least you can identify players who are performeing above average. PER is completely deceptive. It rewards high-use but inefficient players and doewsn't penalize for taking bad shots. And defensive evaluation, well, don't get me started...

By: Neil Paine

Neil Paine — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:43:38 +0000

Yikes. I'm going to respectfully disagree with you there, Kevin. Didn't know you were in that camp...

By: kevin

kevin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:39:04 +0000

I suppose the apotheosis of "the tall lineup" occurred during the 1986 finals playoffs when The Celtics and Rockets rolled out these lineup against one another at one point:

Walton 7:1 (6:11 my backside)
McHale 6:10
Parish 7:00
Ainge 6:5
Johnson 6:4

Olajawon 7:0
Sampson 7:4
Peterson 6:10
Reid 6:7
Lloyd 6:6

By: kevin

kevin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:26:23 +0000

Actually, Jason and Neil, I was poking fun at Kevin Pelton, whom I got in a major fight wtih in another hoops blog (can't remember the name of it at the moment). He thinks Iverson is an alltime great. I think he is perhaps the most overrated player in NBA history, certainly the worst player (and by a huge margin) ever to win an MVP award. Hollinger's PER and the Prospectus stuff is nearly useless in terms of filtering statisitics to reflect win value. The best stuff by far is David Berri's WP40 over at Wages of Wins. Neil, you should hook up with Dave and use his stats in your site rather than Holllinger's and Peltons. They are way better.

By: Neil Paine

Neil Paine — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:07:22 +0000

Ha, wow, way to read between the lines there, Jason. I'll have to post about that at some point over the next few weeks...

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:05:04 +0000

Jay Oh, At http://basketballvalue.com/teamunits.php?year=2009-2010&team=LAL you can check out all Lakers line ups. Can't see Phil EVER EVER EVER playing Gasol - Bynum - Odom front court, their team is just not deep enough at the 4 for Odom to play as a 3.

Artest, Ron - Bryant, Kobe - Bynum, Andrew - Gasol, Pau - Vujacic, Sasha (unit) seems to be tallest I can find - except Artest is only 6-6, but has Kobe as Point.

By: Jason J

Jason J — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:17:22 +0000

Neil, I think Kevin's trying to challenge you to figure out what the shortest possible combination of 15 players would be who would be favored by WS to win the title? Are going to take that from him?

By: Jay Oh

Jay Oh — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:15:51 +0000

As much as I despise the Lakers, i'd love to see them go with a Kobe (PG), Artest (SG), Odom (SF), Gasol (PF), Bynum (C) lineup sometime in a blowout. I love tall lineups.

By: kevin

kevin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:14:14 +0000

So, does this mean the the reacquisition of Iverson by the Sixers will NOT lead to their title contention, then? How could so many pundits be so wrong about that?