Posted by Neil Paine on August 3, 2010
I'll admit I've been critical of Bill Simmons' initial take on the LeBron "Decision", but I criticize because I care: whether I agree or disagree, I'm a big fan of Bill's work (he certainly gives me a lot of topics to work with), and I especially love it when he has author/pop-culture guru Chuck Klosterman […]
Posted in Layups | 18 Comments »
Posted by Neil Paine on February 16, 2010
It's an annual rite of passage for the Sports Guy, ranking the top "trade values" in the NBA from 1-40. This year, he breaks it into multiple parts: Part 1 and Part 2. Do I agree with all of it? Of course not. But I definitely appreciate the effort, and it's a fun read no […]
Posted in Layups | 5 Comments »
Posted by Neil Paine on December 14, 2009
One of the long-held NBA aphorisms used to explain the gulf in championships between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, arguably the two greatest centers of all time (OK, Kareem & Shaq might dispute this notion, but that's another argument for another day), is the idea that Russell played on Celtics teams stacked to the rafters […]
Posted in Analysis, History | 13 Comments »
Posted by Neil Paine on August 9, 2009
This isn't specifically basketball-related, though he did encounter his share of hoops memorabilia: Bill Russell's signed Converse All-Stars, a replica of Larry Bird's Wooden Award, this awesome collection of throwbacks, a copy of Dr. J. vs. Larry Bird in: One on One, old-school card sets like this and this, a 1969 Minnesota Pipers Schedule featuring […]
Posted in History, Just For Fun, Layups, No Math Required, Non-Basketball | 2 Comments »
Posted by Neil Paine on July 30, 2009
In the style of this hilarious piece he did a few summers back, ESPN's always-entertaining Bill Simmons brings us his takes on the offseason's biggest storylines using quotes from "Almost Famous". From a statistical perspective I don't always agree with what he writes, but it's still always worth reading, if not simply for the humor […]
Posted in Just For Fun, Layups, Offseason | 8 Comments »
Posted by Neil Paine on June 16, 2009
Apropos of our little Kobe debate in the comments of another post, ESPN.com's own Sports Guy, Bill Simmons, has written a piece that I think perfectly sums up my feelings on Kobe, the Lakers, and the entire experience that the media gave us in these playoffs (especially during the Finals):
Posted in Layups, Playoffs | 46 Comments »
Posted by Neil Paine on February 13, 2009
Over at ESPN.com, the Sports Guy came out with his always-entertaining "NBA Trade Values" column this week. Kobe fans (who I'm told make up approximately 95% of our readership here at the BBR blog) will chafe at the idea of Bryant ranking 6th, but all in all it's a fun and informative read. And if […]
Posted in Layups | Comments Off on Layups: Simmons’ Annual “Trade Values” Column
Posted by Neil Paine on August 16, 2011
Nathan emailed us this question today: "I stumbled across the 97-98 Cavaliers page for some reason and noticed that during that season they started Wesley Person, Shawn Kemp, Cedric Henderson, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Brevin Knight, with Derek Anderson starting 13 games. So that's 8th-year player Kemp, 3rd-year player Person, and 4 rookies in the top […]
Posted in BBR Mailbag, History, Trivia | 15 Comments »
Posted by Neil Paine on August 3, 2011
HS Class Rank Player Classification 1998 1 Al Harrington Starter 1998 2 Rashard Lewis All-Star 1998 3 Korleone Young Scrub 1998 4 Dan Gadzuric Starter 1998 5 Stromile Swift Regular 1998 6 Ronald Curry Did Not Play 1998 7 JaRon Rush Did Not Play 1998 8 Joel Przybilla Starter 1998 9 Quentin Richardson Starter 1998 […]
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Posted by Neil Paine on July 11, 2011
As a follow-up to this afternoon's list of the Top 593 Players of 2012, here's a positional breakdown for the 452 players who played at least 1 game in 2011:
Posted in Insane ideas, Just For Fun, Projections, Statgeekery, Statistical +/-, Win Shares | 66 Comments »
