Poor Man's Commish

Odds stacked against Jeremy Lin to make the NBA

poormanscommish — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:58:46 +0000

Now that the NBA Draft is done, what are the chances of actually making the NBA? Here are some interesting numbers as analyzed by a Utah Jazz blogger. The data was collected for a ten-year period up through the 2007 NBA Draft. With Jeremy Lin projected not getting drafted at all, you can see that his chances of merely making the NBA are now even more astronomical than merely getting drafted. Still, it isn’t impossible and has been done before, as Warrior fans well know with Anthony Morrow and the recent spattering of D-League players…

(click to enlarge)

Excerpted from: JAZZ: Locke’s Jazz Report, 2009-10

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Kobe’s personal scout/traitor

poormanscommish — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 04:22:16 +0000

Being a full-time Poor Man’s Commish can be kinda cool sometimes, but there are other hoops-related jobs out there. How about personal scout/traitor for Kobe Bryant? That’s what Mike Procopio was, in a recent profile in the New York Times (linked below).

He grew up a Boston Celtics fan literally within a stone’s throw of the Gahden, so that’s why he’s also a traitor and was paid to be by Kobe.

Here’s an example of his chessmaster skills…

On defense, they planned for Bryant to pick up Rajon Rondo near the free-throw line, use his length, and escort him into interior defenders. On offense, they noticed that Boston never left the ball-side corner and hoped to counter that with quick passes to the weak side for open shots before Boston could recover.

There’s also a small bit on how to defend Russell Westbrook.

Love this stuff!

Read the whole article: In Beating Celtics, Bryant Had Help From a Son of Boston – NYTimes.com

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Draft prospect Tiny Gallon is from Vallejo

poormanscommish — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:46:46 +0000

Another name gets added to the Bay Area’s stable of elite hoops athletes, to join Mark Payne (UC Davis, pg Draft prospect of 2011) of Stockton, Adrian Oliver (all-conference sg at San Jose State) of Stockton, Orlando Johnson (all-conference sf at UC Santa Barbara) and, of course, Dream League’s fan favorite Jeremy Lin.

His name is Tiny Gallon, 2010 NBA Draft prospect. His Twitter account (@TINYGALLON24) says he’s “a dude from VALLEJO”. He was actually born there, then moved to Houston in the eighth grade.

Here are some excerpts from a recent article…

“When you know a player for so long who can pass the ball, it’s great because he trusts me already out on the court,” Gallon said. “He’s someone I have chemistry with on and off the court. I think people will see that. If we’re reunited, it’d be awesome.”

That was Tiny explaining the interesting possibility of bring drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks and re-joining his AAU teammate, Brandon Jennings.

Here’s more on his game…

Gallon was first interviewed by the Bucks during the NBA draft combine in Chicago. It was at the combine that Gallon made 19 of his 25 three-point attempts during the workouts.

“Talking to coach [Scott Skiles], I think he liked me,” Gallon said. “He said they’re missing a forward who can play inside and shoot. There aren’t too many bigs who can step out and shoot the three like me. I guess that’s what makes me different from a lot of bigs.”

I saw him play a couple times on TV while I was really scouting Oklahoma teammate Willie Warren, and I didn’t recall anything amazing about Gallon’s game except that he broke the backboard against Gonzaga, and that he didn’t appear 6′10″ on TV, although that may have been because he was overweight at the time.

I hope to revisit some tape so I can scout him specifically.

Read the whole article: Jennings’ former teammate, Tiny Gallon, excited for reunion if Bucks call his name on draft night – JSOnline

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Clifford Ray, Rick Barry pick-and-roll praised by Hubie Brown

poormanscommish — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 19:10:31 +0000

After Glen “Big Baby” Davis’s game-winning performance in Game 4 of the 2010 NBA FInals the other night, NBA writer Steve Aschburner caught up with Celtics assistant coach Clifford Ray for some reminiscing and penned a great read, especially for Golden State Warrior fans. Here are some excerpts…

Please note that [head coach Doc Rivers] does not allow his assistant coaches to do interviews, a quirk in the league’s most personable head coach owing to some sort of “one voice” strategy. But he lifted the embargo on Ray for this story, because this is a big, fat anniversary year of something special for the man, and a fellow who often got overlooked back then shouldn’t get overlooked again.

…

“I defy anybody to find another team in any of the major sports that was such an underdog at the start of the season that wound up winning the championship,” Hall of Fame forward Rick Barry said. “We get to the Finals and we sweep the team that was supposed to sweep us? Please.”

…

“[Clifford Ray] and Rick Barry ran the best pick and roll in the league. Up until that time, probably in the history of the league!” said Hubie Brown, longtime TV analyst who had begun his pro head coaching career that season with the ABA champion Kentucky Colonels. “Mainly because you had Barry, one of the great scorers in the league coming off the screen, and then when Clifford would roll, he had great hands and he could finish in the paint. Rick Barry never missed a free guy when a guy was cutting to the basket.”

Said Barry: “I told Clifford I thought we could do wonders with the pick and roll. We had used it with Nate Thurmond, and Clifford was willing to come out and work on it.

I almost throw up now when I hear broadcasters say, ‘Wow, what a great screen so-and-so set.’ Men, you don’t ’set’ screens. … It’s the big man’s responsibility to put himself in the right position, at the right angle, where his teammate can run his man into him. That’s what Clifford and I did.”

…

[Al Attles], the Warriors coach, has a fondness for that group behind the hardware it won. “Every coach should have at least one team like that,” he said Friday in a phone interview. “They reminded people of a college team. We had that kind of camaraderie. Nobody was concerned about who did what. All they wanted was to win.”

…

“Clifford knew that I had a great bark but not much of a bite,” Barry said. “I was very demanding about things because I wanted to win. I guess he recognized that some of the guys were getting on edge about me being on them.”

Said Attles: “Rick was one of those players with an unwavering need to succeed. What they do goes against the grain sometimes of people.”

Ray, relatively new to Barry but clicking with him off the court as well as on, asked Attles and assistant Joe Roberts if he could hold a meeting. “They all looked up to me for some reason and I was the new guy,” Ray said. “I figured I might as well speak my mind. So I asked each one of them, ‘Can anyone in this room average 30 to 40 points a night, other than this man right here?’ Of course nobody could raise their hand. ‘So if you come in here and he’s sitting up on the [trainer's table] reading the paper, maybe because he needed the rest, why would you think he thinks he’s better than you, when he’s doing for you every single night?’

Read the whole article: NBA.com: Clifford Ray: Big man 35 years ago, big man now

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AJ Price’s injury opens up an NBA pg roster spot

poormanscommish — Tue, 25 May 2010 06:31:25 +0000

The dozen or so point guard Draft prospects including Jeremy Lin, our fan favorite of Dream League, just got an available roster spot — scarce as they may be (remember, there were 16 point guards drafted last year) — as A.J. Price of the Indiana Pacers went down with a broken patella and will be sidelined four to six months. That puts his return past training camp, and quite possibly past Opening Day and even as far as December 2010.

Here’s an excerpt from TSN:

“Price suffered the injury in a charity basketball game Saturday night in New York. He will have surgery Tuesday in Indianapolis, where he will also rehabilitate with the Pacers’ medical staff.

Price injured the same knee two years ago, suffering a torn ACL while playing in an NCAA Tournament game for the University of Connecticut.”

Read the whole article: Pacers G Price needs surgery, out 4-6 monthsYou might also like:

Al-Farouq Aminu shooting with elbow at eyebrow?

poormanscommish — Mon, 24 May 2010 16:43:13 +0000

Very interesting read over at DraftExpress, pertaining to Al-Farouq Aminu and Ishmael Smith working out ahead of the NBA Draft with renowned shooting instructor Dave Hopla in Los Angeles. Three things struck me: (1) I get the feeling Smith waited too long to get his shot fixed, but I’ll save my rants on long-term Draft preparation for another day, (2) Daniel Orton is really working on every facet of his game (good for him), and (3) Aminu is shooting with his elbow at his eyebrows?!

Here’s the excerpt, from the interview portion…

JH: What has it been like working with the legendary shooting coach, Dave Hopla? What he has worked on with you?

AA: He’s been working on my technique. Making sure I get my arm up, getting my elbow at my eyebrow. And he’s really been helping me with my jump shot.

I don’t know, give that a try. Feels totally weird, huh? Maybe we’re lacking context, but that is not how I’d be training someone to shoot. I don’t even think Larry Bird shot that high above his head.

In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone — not even Joe Schmoe — shoot with their elbow at their eyebrows, throughout 8 years of running tournaments and leagues, with me watching a good portion of over 100 teams playing every weekend!

There’s got to be more to this elbow-at-eyebrow thing than meets the eye. For now, it’s bugging me.

Read the whole article: DraftExpress: West Coast Workout Swing Part 2: Al-Farouq Aminu in Los Angeles

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Portsmouth prospecting: Jeremy Lin’s hidden numbers

poormanscommish — Sat, 22 May 2010 00:45:45 +0000

While ballyhooing the performances of Jerome Randle and Mikhail Torrance, I also reported the consensus that Jeremy Lin is a bonafide point guard prospect. I shall now present to you further evidence of his value to a team at the point position, perhaps more-so than even Randle or Torrance, backed by numbers.

Can you guess which of these stats correspond to which player?…

PER-40: 18.2 ppg, 11.6 apg, 2.7 spg, 5.3 tpg, assist-to-turnover: 2.2
PER-40: 15.7 ppg, 9.1 apg, 4.1 spg, 4.1 tpg, assist-to-turnover: 2.2
PER-40: 23.9 ppg, 8.3 apg, 0.5 spg, 6.4 tpg, assist-to-turnover: 1.3

These are the numbers from the three-game performances at Portsmouth, normalized to per-forty-minutes, and listed in order of assists-per-game (actually, per forty minutes). Which one would you take as your point guard? I’ll match the stats to the players at the end of this blogpost.

As you can see in the embedded YouTube clip above, Jeremy demonstrated his point guard acumen. His second and third games were even better. Before the third game, I even told him that Randle and Torrance had incredible games the night before, so if there was a UConn or Georgetown performance left in him, now would be a good time to bust that out.

Only he would be able to tell you if he took my suggestion to heart, but he almost did bust out. In his third and last Portsmouth game, he scored 13 points, but went 0-for-4 from the free throw line, so he easily could’ve finished with 17. He had a typical day at the office from the floor, going 6-for-7. He went 1-for-2 from beyond the arc. He collected 7 assists, had 4 steals, and blocked a shot. However, he committed 5 turnovers, 2 of them right before halftime after getting too deep under the basket, and after having a really strong stretch of play leading up to that. Those turnovers kind of took the wind out of the sails and he couldn’t muster up another stretch like that in the second half.

As I have maintained since the day I saw him first play in the Summer of 2008, he’s the ultra-unique type of guy you want on a talented team. Someone who will distribute and facilitate. Someone who doesn’t need to shoot, but makes the most of his shots.

The point guard I want on my team also can make steals to start fastbreaks, as well as block a shot or two every now and then on defense.

Here are the answers…

Randle: 18.2 ppg, 11.6 apg, 2.7 spg, 5.3 tpg, assist-to-turnover: 2.2
Jeremy: 15.7 ppg, 9.1 apg, 4.1 spg, 4.1 tpg, assist-to-turnover: 2.2
Torrance: 23.9 ppg, 8.3 apg, 0.5 spg, 6.4 tpg, assist-to-turnover: 1.3

With Randle, you’ll see that he’s got high points per game and high turnovers, which means he dominates the ball and can tend to take more gambles than you’d like. It’s even more acute for Torrance, who has an alarming rate of turnovers. The low steals-per-forty is also an indication that Torrance doesn’t necessarily turn defensive possessions into offensive ones, although he does play solid straight-up defense.

With the blocked shots, we had this by game…

Randle: 0, 0, 0.
Jeremy: 0, 1, 1.
Torrance: 0, 2, 0.

So, who’s making more things happen on the court, both on the offensive and defensive ends? Well, they all are (maybe not so much Randle on the defensive end), but if there’s a way to impact both ends of the floor without actually relying on scoring, albeit a huge facet of the game of basketball, Jeremy’s doing that.

That is the underlying thesis that I’ve been trying to get across for the past two years. Now there is hard evidence and relevant context.

Let’s take Goran Dragic, for example. He backs up Steve Nash on the Phoenix Suns. Occasionally, Dragic will have great stretches of play where you can actually envision him carrying the torch after Nash retires. Dragic is very unselfish and his approach to the game is just like Jeremy’s: a facilitator, a distributor.

Granted, if I were to choose between the two, right now I’d have to pick Dragic over Jeremy for the obvious reason that Dragic has already proven himself at the relevant level. Dragic is taller and has a nice three-point shot, while Jeremy is more explosive from point A to B and can make things happen on defense. But they have very similar approaches to the game.

Sometimes when people dismiss Jeremy’s chances for the NBA, what gets lost is the importance of role players, the reality of the job of being an NBA GM. It’s not all about the superstars. Remember, 20% of the rosters this past season were filled by D-Leaguers.You might also like:

Point guard prospect Ben Uzoh

poormanscommish — Tue, 18 May 2010 20:08:37 +0000

Among those such as Jeremy Lin vying for an NBA point guard spot is Tulsa’s Ben Uzoh. Chad Ford of ESPN recently got to see him play during training sessions in LA. Uzoh also made an appearance at the Portsmouth Invitational, but had the misfortune of being on the same team as Mikhail Torrance, who basically stole the show.

I have seen Uzoh play a few times this past season, including at Portsmouth, but I’ll save my scouting report for later. Suffice it to say for now, the bottom line is, I do not think as highly of Uzoh as Ford does. Here’s Ford’s take on him…

I know Uzoh isn’t getting a lot of love right now. Of all the top guys I saw Monday, he was the only one not invited to the Chicago pre-draft camp. But I think he has a chance to be a solid role player in the NBA. He was very good in the workout, showing elite athleticism, shooting the lights out and fighting hard on defense. His handle and decision making need some work, but he’s another guy who could provide a scoring boost off the bench.

Read more from Chad Ford (ESPN Insder subscription required): NBA draft 2010: Damion James, Jordan Crawford, Luke Harangody workout analysis – ESPN

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Not all NBA defensive principles translate to rec leagues

poormanscommish — Mon, 17 May 2010 17:57:04 +0000

Clarence Gaines, former scout for the Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls, recently tweeted his Seven Defensive Principles — stuff that he garnered from years working with Phil Jackson and Tex Winter. Obviously a lot of it can be useful for your rec league squads. However, one truism I noticed may be more applicable in the NBA than in rec leagues, or anywhere else…

3, “Stop Penetration.” The ball must be stopped. We will push sideline and baseline (outside).

In high school varsity, I was taught to never give up the baseline. Why? Because you’ll always have help middle. That’s typically true if you’re looking at chess pieces on a board and all the chess pieces are “normal”.

However, in the NBA, you have super-athletic shotblockers who can cover a lot ground. So, in the NBA, you do try to force your man baseline, although this is not necessarily always the case, depending on any particular matchup.

Read the whole article: Twitlonger: On Defense: “Determination to outplay your opponent, to shut him down, get rebounds, hustle doYou might also like:

Looks like Avery Bradley’s a point guard

poormanscommish — Fri, 14 May 2010 15:59:53 +0000

Chad Ford is following the NBA predraft training circuit and has filed a rather surprising report on former Texas freshman Avery Bradley. My observations this past season led me to believe he was an undersized shooting guard, but now I wouldn’t be surprised if NBA executives have him targeted as a point guard.

That means another point guard pick has been taken, because Bradley’s a shoo-in in this Draft. Therefore, it’s one less reason for Jeremy Lin to get drafted (which isn’t necessarily the same thing as to get a spot on an NBA roster).

Here’s an excerpt from Ford’s article on Bradley…

I’m still not sure if he’s a pure point guard, and that’s a serious drawback. But everything else looks pretty good. He’s super-quick and can change speeds on a dime. He showed an excellent jumper, with NBA 3-point range. He displayed the ability to score from just about everywhere on the floor. And when he got into it with the likes of Sherron Collins and Armon Johnson, his stifling defense gave them lots of problems.

I thought during the NCAA season, Bradley did show some nice defensive skills compared to the average college defender, which might not be saying much, but him being skinny and all, and his really sweet midrange jumper, I just didn’t see the D translating to the next level.

But if Ford is saying he’s shutting down Collins and Johnson, then maybe Bradley’s an NBA point guard from the defensive angle, then NBA execs are drooling. They’re thinking, “We’ll figure out how to fit him into the offensive scheme — at point.”

Back to his jumper. It’s the one comparison I can make to an NBA superstar: Michael Jordan. I’ve tweeted before about Bradley that he’s like Mike in that regard, but only in that regard. He squares up, he jumps high, his elbow is straight, and the ball is always in the middle of his springboard form.

Ford’s eyewitness account of stifling Collins and, to a degree Johnson (because I don’t think Johnson is that hard to contain, sorry) gives me food for thought that Bradley is worth a first-round pick.

Read more (ESPN Insider subscription required): NBA draft 2010: Avery Bradley, Lance Stephenson shine at Las Vegas workouts – ESPN

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*Poor Man's Commish*

Odds stacked against Jeremy Lin to make the NBA

Kobe’s personal scout/traitor

Draft prospect Tiny Gallon is from Vallejo

Clifford Ray, Rick Barry pick-and-roll praised by Hubie Brown

AJ Price’s injury opens up an NBA pg roster spot

Al-Farouq Aminu shooting with elbow at eyebrow?

Portsmouth prospecting: Jeremy Lin’s hidden numbers

Point guard prospect Ben Uzoh

Not all NBA defensive principles translate to rec leagues

Looks like Avery Bradley’s a point guard

Poor Man's Commish